Session 12.0 The Stronghold & the Staff

DATE: 2017-02-17

The mysterious Elf, Elwyn Voss hired the party to seek out the Staff of Forlorn Hope.  He suspects it will be found on the fabled Skyside Stronghold.  The party had heard of the Strongholds but never referenced  in the singular.  Their first instinct was to ask which one.  In truth, there is only one and the rest are illusions, travelling all over the planet.  The Stronghold was built specifically to protect the Staff by the legendary Dwarf – Arnon Reed, one of the great heroes of the Chaos Wars.

How do they find the real Stronghold?  They just so had in their possession the very item that could do it.  The Orb is a magical item created by the same Dwarf and can be used to display the location of the Stronghold.

Getting to the Stronghold proved to be a challenge.  Taking a flying machine provided by Voss, the pilot was an android identical to “man” they knew as Ocker – naked Locke.  Someone apparently did not like Voss and his hirelings to investigate the Stronghold because it turns out that Locke was sabotaged.  The flying machine crashed in the Rust Wastes north of Nestora.

Encountering left over “left forms” in the rusty sands of the desert, the group finally met the Junkmaster, Davani.  She helped them repair the ship and soon the group were on their way.  Landing on the Stronghold was all too easy.  The Skyside Sovereign – the ruling AI of the Stronghold – was all too welcoming.

Lesson learned – never trust an AI that has been isolated for 400+ years.  The Sovereign through everything it could at them with the intent on converting them to cyborg warriors to guard the staff.  The party was ultimately successful and retrieved the Staff.