The Mischief Night Masque of the Rani
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The Wolf's Head that replaced the doors to the Impossible Fortress' throne room this passed Mischief Night as drawn by PakPak's player Rob A. |
Mischief Night once again had come to Orm. Two years after a celebration went mysteriously wrong, the people of Orm were ready to return of to partaking in the pre-spiritual holiday revieres of the night traditionally entails. The homes of Orm were decorated with carved beets casting a dim glow from their candles. Wood for the bonfire near the Monument of the Old Gods was stacked high while the sacrificial animals for its fires were being selected. And, yes, Ormens donned their traditional papier-mâché masks and deep-hooded robes to costume themselves as spirits and demons.
A select few of Orm's adventuring community received messages from the near-by Impossible Fortress. Each sealed with the manticore symbol of that fortification's ruler: the Rani. These missives noted how each of them had caught notice of the court of the Rani. Instead of enjoying Mischief Night on the streets of Orm, they were invited to join a secretive costumed masquerade within the halls of the Impossible Fortress. The following adventurers accepted their invitations and dressed in the accompanying costumes:
- Armeen (Level 3 Cleric fo Danu): as a dragon-rider whose lower half was disguised as the dragon
- Bludoon (Level 1 Dwarf): as a green-faced devil
- Copra Kaan (Level 6 Vatspawn Antaur): as a dragon himself
- Fancy Jean-Yves Beauvollier (Level 6 Bard): as the famed hero Spell Captain Trom Prefacti
- Freedom (sapient cat): no costume, just snuck into the Impossible Fortress
- Journeyman Crannoc (Level 5 Magic-User): in just the fanciest of dress with a small domino mask
- PakPak (Level 5 Kobold): as a dryad in a tree struck by his recently retrieved magic hand axe
- Phasmo (Level 4 Magic-User): as a space wizard
After presenting their invitations once again to the Rani's steward, the dwarf Merdinus costumed as a stone statue, they were lead to the dining hall by the guard Serjeant Xos who was costumed as a Orman prisoner. The mixed company of adventurers from the Drinking Crow and the Burning Witch were seated next to:
- Esifar- Cleric of Danu and leader of the Illustrious Company of Khourau dressed as a squid
- Exile XII- Golden vat spawn member of the Illustrious Company of Khourau dressed as a "human"
- Geoph the Gnome- former 111th Company member and aspiring publisher dressed loosely as a forest nymph-type
- Whiskers Redbeard- Guildmaster of the 111th Company dressed as
After the meal had ended, the guests were lead into the throne room. In a balcony up above stood four forms: the Rani and her three wards. The Rani, pallid in color, was costumed in a dark velvet gown with black fur accents and a narrow lupe-like mask. Her eldest ward, Morwaine, was costumed in a garish mockery of the common-folk of Orm. The second-eldest ward, Glamora, donned a scandalous dress styled in inspiration of a Impossible Fortress guard. The youngest ward and sometimes-patorn to adventurers, Valoris, wore an altered gown of the Imperial Mother. The Rani addressed the crowd promising them a night where they would live free of the rules of common society. This Mischief Night, they would all live free as they should.
At that moment, the autumnal wind forced the throne room's doors open casting a gloaming light throughout the hall. The dark form of Lady Blackmarsh stood at the threshold while spirits and small fey being flitted about the room. Her curse filled the throne room. The Rani and those of the Impossible Fortress did nothing to prevent the sacred copse of trees from burning following the wrecking of the Purple Rose and the raid on Orm by the Night Raiders (called by themselves the Worthy Dead). For this shirking of treaty obligations between human-kind and fey, Lady Blackmarsh invoked her right-by-treaty to perform a mischief upon the Impossible Fortress as punishment. The Rani and her court would spend their night with their true natures revealed to all.
How did each adventure return to Orm? Check out this post here.
Treasure
- A fancy axe worth 100gp claimed by Bludoon
- A full set of silverware worth 1500gp
- A golden chandelier worth 2000gp
- Sack containing six portions of the Rani's Chef's Magical Dried Soup (one portion doubles natural healing for a day or the whole sack can be used as an ingredient in the Cooking Downtime granting advantage on the 2d6 roll).
Experience Points
- 3600xp from treasure
- Wolf-Man guards defeated 9 x 19xp
Player Character Cut
- 500gp ea. if PakPak uses a downtime to have Meag, the Apprentice Smith, melt down the silver and gold. Otherwise, they party must try to unload the items in the black market run by the Crooked Hand.
- 538xp ea.
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