Mission+to+Kondor

__**Mission to Kondor**__
Summary wrapup of past several sessions

ER and Raven asked by City-State leadership to head south the to little known country of Kondor. This is all un-official, so if the group gets in trouble(dang they know us well), we are on our own. We are to try to get a better understanding of the political and deity organizations. As there has been minimal contact officially, even the Druids from the region do not report to the High Druidess. The group has a couple of contacts, Bud, a former guard/adventurer, that ER knows well. Also, a prince who was helped by the group kill off a pack of marauding monsters.

Group visits Toli Khanate to learn the language of Kondor. Find out the Kondorians are xenophobic with strangers, the better we speak natively the more results we get. Visit Bud in Riverway, get told NEVER mention being in a guild. There are no guilds. Guild is a bad word. Rastik and Neville give each other a look of disbelief. Everyone is caste bound. Selection is made by diety "guidance" to assign those as best fit for thier caste. Church is very involved in gov't. Also, learned of the "Chosen", unsure if really an organization or a third race who helped the Kondors in ancient times.

Padasi learns of Sif election going on for new "Bishop" between brother and sister. Also told party that dueling with fighting sticks is only combat, anything else could get jail time. Prince takes group to party and gets drunk. Yuri is "winner" of entering blind-fight contest with sticks but its a joke, he thinks is to fight one but 4 are put in fighting ring. Also, champions of stick competion square off, winner picks Padasi as "companion" for the evening. Raven is slightly disturbed by overt display. Prince worried of insult, Raven explains that he is not insulted but states this is not what he thinks is proper or entertaining but also not his culture and must exhibit some discretion. ER, Zaldison and Lea have encounter with a "chosen" supporter, who would have fire-balled them if he thought it would kill them. Learn some more why Chosen are held in high respect for helping save Kondor from "shadow".

Session 2: Investigate old wizard ruins in swamp, "The No Return" ruins. Located in a swamp known for the immense size of its monsters, uber snakes, hydras, wyverns. Found a huge stone head, radiated magic, a few miles from ruins. Yuri sends message to Druid council for any information. Yuri chats with a large snake name Nagini, that seems to be bi-polar schizo, it talks of eggs and the friend inside.

Move thru ruins place is mostly an underground fortress, fight stone and skeletal guardians. Group sees all the doors are warded by holy symbols to keep something inside. Make to a central chamber and find a hidden room with 4 beds, each bed has an evil skull on it with a pile of dead bones at the foot of the bed. Battle ensues in main chamber, of undead attack but party survives, though Max gets caught in a nasty flamestrike, almost dies. Find a library, this place was used by a mage who became corrupted by shadow and tried to betray vecna. He attempted to use the guilds and corrupted them to get power in Kondor. A powerful force attacked and captured the traitor and imprisoned him here. As we search for body, we encounter "energy" waves that could add/substract years of your age. Found the skeleton remains, shackeld to magic cuffs, next to a plane portal that was defective. The mage died of old age from the various energy blasts but in reading his memoirs, part of his essence is in the stone head and is trying to use the monsters to free himself. We decide to destroy the stone head and end up fighting the uber giant snake, Nagini, good work by mages as walls of force trap it for a while, as the group destroys the stone head, it explodes but a glowing shimmering dark ball of energy is left behind. Luckily we destryoed it before it could kill anyone, though some saves had to be made or death was certain. Yuri would not let us kill the snake. We make deal with snake Nagini to be protector/escort of swamp herbalist village in return for sheep/pork to eat as reward.

Session 3: Max, Rastik, Neville go on a sneak. Rastik acts a rich drunk as bait for thief. Max and Neville provide backup. Got drop on a thief and grilled him for info. Discover there is an gang or "guild", called the Scorpions, THE top gang in (Kondor or Riverway??). They are linked to Loki. All Loki temples double as gambling halls. Also the trio find out about two other minor gangs, the Baboons and the Snakes(odd gang name as its generic, per the info gathered). Max does some gambling in temples, while in disguise. However, a group of locals either get tired of his winning or figure out he is imposter and rough him up and kick him out. Max showed restraint from fire-balling the group. As he is about to leave, a lady calls from the doorway, asking if Max is interested in some work. Hmm, maybe it was a test. Loki Lady is recruiting for some help. All her people are known and needs to recover a missing merchant guild "princess" for largest guild in Riverway. Max brings in Rastik and Neville. Find out merchant "princess" has joined Scorpions to get out of arranged marriage to #2 merchant guild. The trio are able sneak her off, Max delivers her to Loki Lady, she then lays out an offer, this was a test and passed with flying colors. Nobody knows who did it or how. Loki Lady is recruiting for her own organization to counter influence of Scorpions. She needs better "talent" and Max has no local ties, would be perfect addition. She asked her offer be conveyed to Max's "side-kicks" as well.

Session 4: Trip to GoldMist