Game 2: The Puppeteer

Written by

The Puppeteer was the second game of the Azulia campaign. It occurred on November 1st 2015, real world time. It was proceeded by Forbearance of Decay. It is followed by The Puppeteer, Part Two.

## Intro

*As the light of Illuma begins to pour into his cabin, Roscoe stirs. He can now hear the echo of hammers and voices of many men working nearby. Slowly, he rises and prepares himself for the day. The wounds of preceding day still pang his physique.*

*Stepping out onto deck, he is greeted by Rocko, the helmsmen. "G'morning, sire," he says, "Admiral Otto has arrived and is ready to see you." He glances toward the tall, lumbering human clad in bright, flowing regalia. "Unfortunately, it seems Varis is slow in recovering. His wounds haven't seen improvement since yesterday." Roscoe nods wearily before traversing towards the admiral.*

## Meeting With The Admiral

"Greetings," Admiral Otto loudly bellows as he reaches forth for a handshake. "So you are one of the heroes of Golden Hammer. I'd expected taller!" He laughs. "Quite the achievements, the gnomes have told me of your heroics. Two dragons in as many days is a mighty feat for anyone!" His voice trails off before softly continuing, "I've heard of your comrades wounds; I've sent our best medics to tend to him as well. And alas, no bad news comes alone. It seems a covenant of practitioners of dark magic, worshipers of Fester, have taken up residence on the island of Black Rock. What we do know, is they seem to be using their dark magics to resurrect the dead as mindless servants. Our scouts inform us that the Kingdom of Rile has placed itself at an alliance with the heretics, supplying them with condemned prisoners."

"A small team like yourselves would be perfect to these effect, yet the injuries to your comrade detriment this. In lieu of the circumstances, I will provide the services of a member of my finest O.S.T.R. special forces unit." he turns around and yells, "Morgoth, over here!" The gnomes appear horrified as an armor clad half-orc strides up the ramp. The admiral laughs, "Morgoth, allow me to introduce you to the great Roscoe."

"Morgoth grumsh!"

The admiral groans, "Brutish he may be, he is among the greatest fighters in the kingdom.

"And loyal," he adds.

## Black Rock Landing

The adventurers depart for Black Rock shortly thereafter. As the island comes into view Morgoth holds watch, "There it is" he points to a giant crater in the middle of the island. The from the distance it almost looks to be covered in mold, but as the it comes into view, it becomes cognizant that it is actually filled with slow lumbering human forms. The zombies the admiral spoke of!

Morgoth quickly takes charge, ordering the ships broadside toward the zombies firing to clear it out. Unnoticeable to the heroes from the rising dust, an arrow, without warning, fires over the airship. Before anyone can react, another strikes the underside, splintering the hull.

"Evasive maneuver!" Morgoth yells. As Roscoe and the others continue firing, Morgoth dashes to the cabin, taking command. He directs Rocko to re position the airship behind the belligerents. In transit, Roscoe and the mercenaries manage to destroy one ballista. Morgoth positions the airship for a lone commando assault from above on the remaining ballista. Deploying a rope from the airship and repelling down, Morgoth quickly kills the ballista operators.

Peering down the tunnel, Morgoth notices reinforcements pouring out, upon which he fires the remaining ballista ammo into the tunnel destroying enemies by the scores. Having destroyed the remaining zombies and clearing the landing zone, the airship lands.

## The Chamber of Horrors

The heroes regroup and venture into the already cleared tunnel. Dimly lit, no one but Morgoth can see inside. He stops the other players from lighting torches to ensure a stealthy entrance. The dimly lit tunnel continues for some time before the heroes can see a dimly lit storage room in the distance.

Suddenly, several kobolds can be seen scampering across from right to left in the room ahead. Slowly the adventurers move forward investigating the room. As they do so, another running group of kobolds encounter them. During combat, they eventually surprise attacked from the other side of the room by more kobolds and a human magic user. When the heroes seem victorious the human darts back into the passageway and up a ramp.

As the heroes peer around and up the ramp, they notice a giant boulder waiting to crash down on them. The group enlists Roscoe to sneak up and set off the trap, which he does successfully. Unwittingly, the boulder, however, crashes blocking the entrance up! As Roscoe is forced to initially fight the now surrounding crowd alone. Eventually, Morgoth and the others are able to pull the boulder from the entryway, gaining access. As Morgoth makes it to the top, he sees Roscoe suffer a near mortal wound from the attackers. Quickly Morgoth makes his way between them and directing Roscoe to safety. The adventurers come to prove victorious in the arduous battle and they rest up and bind their wounds.

## The Dragon

Adventuring further into dungeon, the heroes come across a sight much like the day before with dark cultists using their magic upon a young dormant dragon. The heroes engage the cultists quickly becoming victorious. In his dying throes, however, a cultist is able to cast a fireball upon the dragon, waking it. While Morgoth, initially tries to explain the situation to the dragon, it will have none of it, quickly moving on the offensive.

Suffering severe wounds, and realizing the extent of the dragons power, Morgoth knocks the dragon over and yells for his comrades retreat. While Morgoth and Earl's athletic prowess allows their quick retreat, the others fall behind. The dragon quickly fells and incapacitates Roscoe. As the dragon catches up to Walter he is quickly devoured and killed by the dragon.

Escaping from the labyrinth, Morgoth yells for the airship crew to man their battle stations. The ravenous black dragon darts from the mouth but is quickly destroyed by the might of Trindle's Resolve's main battery before the dragon can reach the ship. Defeating the dragon, Morgoth dashes into the dungeon to discover the fate of his comrades. Despite his efforts he is unable to stabilize Roscoe, who passes. He gathers the bodies of both his allies and carry to them to ship.

## Outro

Morgoth returns to the airship and rallies his remaining allies. "They've killed both Roscoe and Sheila, it's time that they pay dearly! Who is with me!?". Morgoth's rallying cry stirs his allies who follow Morgoth's charge into the remaining tunnel.