Session 2.13

## The Liberation of Zatzan

*In Attendance:  Chris (as Chris lol), Lauren (Aurelae), Rick (Rael), Shane (Indigo), Thayer (Gramarsh), Ryan (Carric), Steve (Kamara), Cathy (Aurianya) – and Dindan*

The morning after the chaotic battle and subsequent annihilation of the Red Hyla military city of Sawsob, a small strike force is heading for the Red Hyla capitol city of Zatzan.  The group, dubbed the ‘Zatzan Assassination Committee, Mitigation of Red Retaliatory Invasion Subcommittee (ZAC MORRIS), plans to end the Hyla war once and for all by assassinating King Zatzan.  The group is composed primarily of Hardholme’s stealthiest heroes.  Gramarsh accompanies them in case the group gets into trouble.

Based on our knowledge of Red Hylan psychology, whoever defeats the standing king will become the new king, so we decide to bring Dindan, who is one of the more prominent figures of the Red Hyla Resistance (RHR).  If the situation allows, it would be best to allow Dindan to duel and kill Zatzan himself.

A map of the city of Zatzan was provided by the RHR, showing four possible locations that King Zatzan may be located:  Zatzan’s harem on the east side of town, Zatzan’s manor on the south side of town, the new docks on the northwest side of town, or the battle arena in the north center of town.

### **City of Zatzan, Harem**

* The group approaches the city slowly to determine the best point of entry.  Gramarsh is disguised in a prestidigitated Behemoth skin suit that we procured from the Sawsob attack, in case we meet other Hyla and need to be disguised.  It turns out that the city walls are only about 3 ½ feet tall!  Rather than fast-talking some gate guards, we decide to simply climb over the wall behind the Harem to avoid notice.  Rael uses Stone Shape to turn a piece of the wall into a round orb that looks like a bomb.  “For insurance,” he states.  Within the city, there is a lot of disarray – shouting, crying, and Hyla running about.  It seems that news of the Sawsob attack travelled fast, after all.  The alley behind the building is tight, and there are no people around.
* Rael and Carric immediately volunteer to check out the harem.  Rael casts Tongues on himself to bridge the language barrier and disguises himself as a Red Hyla concubine, Carric enters under his invisibility cloak with certain appendages poking out, and Aurianya sneaks in all stealthy-like.  The harem actually isn’t that great inside…  It’s full of many Hyla doing Hyla things, but it’s impossible to tell the males and females apart.  “I mean, it’s a Hylan Fuck-factory,” Rael muses momentarily, “…Nah, not gonna fuck a frog today; we’ve got things to do.”  Within the harem, many people seem concerned, talking about what the hell just happened at Sawsob.  No one seems to be mentioning King Zatzan, so it’s pretty clear he’s not in this location…  The three heroes decide to leave and return to the back alley.
* Outside the harem, Kamara, Gramarsh, Indigo, and Dindan wait in the alleyway, while Aurelae climbs to the top of the building to scout.  The buildings in this city are actually pretty nice, as far as Hylan architecture goes.  Her sharp elf eyes are able to detect a lot of activity happening at the docks and at the battle arena, but Zatzan’s manor appears to be deserted.  We should visit either the docks or arena if we hope to find him.  Upon climbing down and relaying this information to her party, the bards and rogue emphatically vote to infiltrate the abandoned manor and rob the place!

### **City of Zatzan, Manor**

* To avoid detection within the city, the group jumps back over the low perimeter wall and sneaks around through the marsh to the opposite side of the city, then they re-enter the city behind the manor.  “Uhhh, Guys…?”  Gramarsh plaintively asks, “What am I doing here??”  The barbarian is itching to smash some skulls, but it isn’t happening so far.
* True to most Hylan architecture, the manor isn’t much more than a large mud hut; there isn’t glass on the windows or anything.  The party crawls through one of the back windows.  The manor is definitely nicer than the harem, and there are a lot of weird and eccentric decorations.  There are seven obsidian Master (Illithid) masks hanging on the wall; the party swipes these, each taking one.  There are bunnycorn horns and various shells set about in decorative fashion; Gramarsh picks one up and breaks it in his hard grip!  There are soova-hide clothes and fist-sized jewels; we definitely take the jewels!  There is a giant rainbow-colored shell set as a centerpiece on a table!  Aurianya wants to steal it and asks Gramarsh to lift it; he’s able to, but it’s a struggle – there’s no way we’re getting out of here with it.  The party also finds a nice armory filled with obsidian weapons!  Everyone helps themselves to some of these weapons.  Dindan takes an obsidian hatchet, Aurelae helps herself to some obsidian-head arrows, while Kamara and Indigo take daggers, etc.
* Rael decides he needs to see Zatzan’s bedroom…  The party makes its way to the back of the manor and files into the room, only to come face-to-face with a very confused maid who was previously dusting the furniture.  She stares for a moment at the seven intruders.  Before she can scream in fright, Rael casually explains that we work for King Zatzan and asks her if she knows where he is right now.  She answers negatively; she doesn’t know his current whereabouts.  “That’s a shame,” Rael answers, “But you can leave now.” He waves her toward the door.  “Leave?  You mean, I can have the day off??”  “Yes, dear, the day off,” Rael pointedly finishes, “--Get Out.”   The maid hurriedly makes her way toward the door, where she encounters a floating obsidian Illithid head.  She screams and runs the rest of the way outside.  Carric chuckles to himself as he lowers the mask and removes his invisibility cloak.
* The group notices a painting of Zatzan (the person, not the city) on the wall.  He looks like one of the giant Nartox-like creatures!  He appears similar to Shar-Gorath, but he’s red instead of purple, like some of the generals encountered in Sawsob!  “Dindan, can you take this guy on?” Kamara asks.  Dindan definitely cannot defeat him alone; we’ll need to help him.  Rael cuts the portrait out of the frame, rolls it up, and takes it with him, all the while musing on the possibility of killing Zatzan and taking the throne for himself.

### **City of Zatzan, Docks**

* The party decides that the next likely location of Zatzan would be the docks.  They abandon the manor with their loot and take to the city streets, utilizing the back alleyways to avoid detection.  “Uhhh, guys…?  Why am I here?!”  Gramarsh is becoming agitated that we’re simply sneaking about and not fighting our way through town.  The group works together to sneak through the back alleys on their path northward to the docks.  Carric scouts ahead under his invisibility cloak, giving a disembodied thumbs-up when the coast is clear.  Indigo sends Archimicerus, his familiar, flying ahead to scout for him.  Unfortunately, the familiar is a little too excited and makes noise along the way.  Gramarsh tries his best to sneak, but it doesn’t come naturally to the loud Half-Orc Barbarian; Aurianya does her best to assist him in this endeavor, keeping an eye out ahead for him.  Aurelae climbs a nearby building and hops across along the rooftops, while Kamara sneaks close up against the buildings’ walls.  Rael uses his acrobatic skills to hop among building corners and nearby hiding places.  The combined effort is a success!
* As the heroes proceed, they run into a group of rough-looking Hylan teens in the alley, throwing rocks and sticks and whatnot.  This could spell trouble if they draw attention to us!  Carric immediately offers to sell them drugs to diffuse the situation.  But ah… Carric doesn’t speak Abyssal!  So his plan falls flat.  Rael steps in and summons illusion magic, causing a terrifying mass of writhing black tentacles to emerge from behind his body.  “Flee…” his voice is dark, echoic, and menacing through his Tongues magic,”Flee, and Don’t. Make. A Sound.” [Rolls a 28!]  The group of Hylan teens quickly scatter in silence!!!
* Upon reaching the docks, the party sees that the area is very open.  Scouting the vicinity from a hiding place, they see that Zatzan is nowhere to be seen!  This only leaves the battle arena, to which the party travels via the alleyways.

### **City of Zatzan, Battle Arena**

* Upon reaching the arena, Carric scouts ahead under his invisibility cloak. He enters the front door undetected and sees a battle-to-the-death between two Red Hyla gladiators.  There’s a relatively small crowd of about 200 Hylans watching; apparently the news of Sawsob’s destruction is keeping most folks’ attention, and attendance at the arena is thin today.  At the far back of the arena, sitting upon a throne on a raised dais, sits the Big Ugly himself, King Zatzan!  As suspected from the portrait, he’s a big red deformed Nartox.  However, the portrait’s creator was VERY generous when painting Zatzan’s features; he looks much worse than depicted.  It seems he’s dealing with the news of his lost military by watching his subjects kill each other in combat.  Not many guards are here at all, either – just a skeleton crew.
* Aurelae, Kamara, Rael, and Indigo sneak into the arena above the side walls and position themselves in the stands around the edge.  Dindan, flanked by a somewhat-well disguised Aurianya and Gramarsh in his Behemoth skin suit, wait at the main entrance for the current battle to end.  Carric, having borrowed Rael’s Immovable Rod, walks under his invisibility cloak into the stands, right next to Zatzan.  The king is messily devouring snacks and slopping about.  Was that a Red Hyla leg he just tossed into his mouth??  Dindan is having major reservations about challenging this monster to battle, but the entire party is successful in pumping him up and encouraging him, especially Carric & Indigo! [Nat. 20 each]  Dindan is READY!!!
* Once the two gladiators’ battle is finished (ie. One of them is dead) and they clear the floor, Zatzan is laughing and clapping his hands.  He’s immediately interrupted by Dindan, who is swaggering onto the arena floor, slow-clapping and followed by a Behemoth with a droopy sideways face and another Red Hyla that looks furry and almost cat-like.
* Dindan dramatically points to Zatzan and yells, “Zatzan!  Your reign has come to an END!!!”  Zatzan retorts, “Hahaha!  You can’t take down the Mighty Zatzan!”  Carric, standing under his cloak next to Zatzan, quickly places the Immovable Rod across Zatzan’s lap and clicks it into place!  This king is going NOWHERE!
* Zatzan tries to stand up, but cannot!  Dindan lifts the obsidian hatchet he procured from the manor and throws it at Zatzan!  The axe spins through the air toward the king and hits its mark deep in Zatzan’s forehead, right between the eyes!  The king falls back dead!!!  There’s a moment of complete silence, as the stunned crowd of Red Hyla are trying to comprehend what the hell they just witnessed in the last few moments.  Aurianya quickly lifts Dindan’s arm into a victory pose!  Rael casts Major Illusion to cause many more Hylans to appear among the crowd and cheer Dindan’s victory!  The confused spectators stare for a moment at the sudden appearance of many more people, but they actually start to cheer and clap too!  Dindan walks to the center of the arena and shouts, “I AM YOU KING NOW!!!” to the riotous applause of the crowd!
* However – HOWEVER…! A deep growl rumbles from Zatzan’s body as he leans forward.  “Not so fast!”  This dude isn’t dead yet!  What?!  He pulls something out of his pocket… it’s a flask of yellow mutagen!  He raises it into the air, then smashes it over his head!  The mutagen works quickly as it transforms his body into something even uglier!  His skin becomes bubbly, and he grows in size!  He grows around the hatchet in his forehead, to where the handle is embedded deep.  He grows AROUND the Immovable Rod, to the point where it’s now INSIDE of him!!!  The crowd is screaming now… Wait, they’re cheering!  They’re cheering for Dindan!!!
* Initiative Time!  Gramarsh, who’s been itching to kill something the entire day, wastes no time in going on the offensive!  The silly Behemoth suit is ripped off, and he dashes toward the raised dais.  He climbs the wall to where Zatzan sits, with his berserker rage and frenzy in full force!  He almost falls and kills himself on his giant axe, but he grabs onto the railing instead and smashes Zatzan repeatedly as hard as he can! [Crit. miss, then Nat. 20 after using Inspiration]
* Aurianya dashes behind Gramarsh, and uses him as a ladder to reach the dais!  She’s piggybacking him, and she sneak-attacks Zatzan with a quick stab!
* Rael casts Wall of Flame in a tight cylinder centered on Zatzan, roasting him.  He then casts Mantle of Inspiration on Carric, Aurianya, and Gramarsh.  Gramarsh finishes climbing up the dais and moves around behind Zatzan, with Aurianya continuing to piggyback him.
* From the opposite side of the arena, Aurelae begins to fire obsidian arrows into Zatzan.  They all land in his head, around the axe handle!
* “What can make this situation possibly worse?” Kamara wonders.  He then uses his psionic magic to cast Ego Whip on Zatzan, which fills him with self-doubt!
* Indigo runs next to Zatzan, lifts up the Ars Goetia, and opens it so that the Book can devour him!!!  But… the book does nothing at all… No wind or light show or anything, like it’s just a regular book.  Indigo closes it and steps back like a jackass.
* Carric steps away from Zatzan and uses his Tentacle Rod on him!  The tentacles slap him in the face and close around the self-doubting king’s head and throat.
* Amid all this action, Dindan marches up with a fervor and climbs up the dais.  He grabs the axe handle that’s still protruding from the king’s forehead and pulls with all his might.  He struggles for a bit, but he’s finally able to pull the hatchet free!  The force of the pull and hatchet’s release causes Dindan to fly backward!  He falls off the dais, toward the arena floor, but he lands on his feet and uses the stored momentum to launch the hatchet through the air once again at Zatzan!!!  The hatchet sings through the air, spinning toward the king in a blur, and lands with great force in the SAME hole on his forehead, finally killing him once and for all!!!
* Rael immediately runs to Zatzan and hesitantly begins to dig through his body to find the Immovable Rod.  The others help Dindan in the gross task of removing Zatzan’s head for his claim of the throne.  Aurianya stays away from the disgusting body, but uses Mage Hand to pick his pockets.
* Dindan lifts Zatzan’s severed head for all to see, and the crowd goes wild!  A New King!
* Dindan reminisces back to when he first met everyone at the West Temple.  [Season 1, Session 3]  The group of heroes had fought a group of Red Hyla at the Temple during their first exploratory visit into the Red Hyla lands.  The battle had ended with a communication that neither side wanted to fight, but that the heroes should leave the Red territory immediately; this was Dindan who spoke with them that time.  He thanks the party for the mercy shown to him that day and says that it was then he realized that war wasn’t necessary.  It was around then that the Red Hyla Resistance was born.
* The heroes met Dindan a second time on their journey through the swamps to the Blue Hyla city of Matmar [Season 1, Session 8].  It was at this time that he was convinced that the Resistance’s mission was worthwhile.  He met the heroes a third time [Season 2, Session 8] when the group saved him and some Resistance allies from a group of Behemoths.  Dindan was almost killed at that time, but Fallynde saved his life!  Dindan appreciates the sympathy the heroes have shown to him, and he will show the same sympathy.  He hopes that the citizens of Hardholme and the Red Hyla can work together in the future.  He says that we are welcome in the city of Dindan from now on.

### **City of Dindan**

* Rael questions Dindan about Dar’s motives and the explosion of the Gem Mines during the previous year.  Dindan doesn’t know anything about Dar; he just knows that he (Dindan) tried to talk sense into Zatzan concerning the war, but Dar showed up and ruined everything with the promise of weapons.  Perhaps Dar just wanted another battle so that he could be a big hero again??
* Dindan plans to turn the harem into a brothel!
* Dindan asks that someone from the party make a speech on behalf of Hardholme to the Red Hyla citizens.  Being the only Hardholmian Councilor present, Rael makes a moving speech.  We’ve been at war for decades, and we cannot continue along this path of annihilation.  We must work together to build a better future; together, for Kazzaran’s Valley.  “Let there be Peace!  And a feast!” Dindan snaps his fingers, and his new aids get to work on putting together a delicious meal for all.
* As the party eats their meal, the sun is setting over the swamp, causing the myriad of stars, moons, and planets to shine brightly.  Are these moons revolving around our planet?  Or are we on a moon ourselves?  The meal actually tastes pretty good!  It’s Hyla Jerk Soova!  Aurianya dances along to some music off to the side with some Hyla, while Carric sits in a mist, smoking menga with another group.  “We’ve got to replace this cloud cover somehow…” he muses.  Aurianya tells Gramarsh that she enjoyed riding on his back.  “I would love to ride on your back as well,” Rael teases Gramarsh.  “Hm!  That sounds good to me!” Gramarsh replies.  “Ah, but too bad he’s dating your ex,” Aurelae says to Rael, speaking of Gramarsh and Sarat’s exploits at Kamara’s wedding. “Eh… we talk…” Gramarsh trails off.
* Dindan likes the idea of opening a dance arena in town.  Aurianya offers to help him convert the battle arena into a dance arena!  Dindan also says that he is giving the city of Matmar back to the Blue Hyla to demonstrate his commitment to peace.
* The party goes on into the night, and everyone has a great time.