Nagiphax as Ilsandra the Erinyes

Nagiphax - Rogue 2 / Barbarian 1 - in costume as the sultry erinyes devil Ilsandra, in the play The Six Trials of Larazod.

Artwork by Luis Boisvert.

Council of Thieves, Part 2: The Sixfold Trial - Session 8: The Shadows Lengthen

Dramatis Personae

Alizander Carmelizzia - Human (Varisian) sorcerer – works and performs at Cayden’s Blessing
Carlos Santiago - Half-orc (Alkenstarian) wizard – works at Rhialto’s Tonics and Talismans
Nagiphax - Cyclops-kin rogue – works at the Beer Golem Tavern
Slavé – Tiefling (appears human) rogue – detective in dottari employ

Tavo Dechirent - Human cleric of Pharasma – employed as a mortician and coroner
Vaeden Corleone - Human rogue – former nobleman, often seen at Alfred’s Smithy

Fireday, 27 Rova, to Starday, 17 Neth, 4708 A.R. (2 months)

The party members return to their normal lives for a time. Tavo begins to repair and repurpose the ruined church of Erastil in the northern ruins, contending with squators, thieves, and the occasional bold goblin raid. Slavé attempts to curry influence with his dottari superiors in an attempt to increase his rank within the organization. Nagiphax, Alizander, and Carlos continue their work at the Beer Golem tavern, Cayden’s Blessing, and Rhialto’s Tonics and Talismans, respectively. Vaeden continues with his studies on the shadow creatures plaguing Westcrown, waiting for the opportune time to face one of the creatures in the dead of night.

Tales of the Returners exploits and success against the Bastards of Erebus grinds through the Westcrown rumour mill and becomes the topic of discussion in smoky taprooms and perfumed parlours from the Rego Scripa to the Regicona. As the weeks pass into months, talk of the Returners wanes to an occasional murmer, and Janiven and Arael begin meeting with the group again at the shrine to Aroden, under the shadow of the Arodennama.

Sunday, 18 Neth, 4708 A.R.

Alizander receives a visit from Ailyn Ghontasavos, the Pathfinder Society member who suggested Alizander meet with Janiven on that fateful afternoon, months ago. Ailyn tells Alizander that she has been in Westcrown studying the abandoned Pathfinder lodge of Delvehaven, and that she believes that the key to stopping the shadow beasts stalking the night streets lies within the lodge. She suggests that they meet with Arael, Janiven and the rest of the Returners before relating her tale. At the shrine of Aroden, Ailyn tells her story to the group:

“In late 4605, a Pathfinder named Donatalus Bisby returned to Westcrown from a mission to the Mwangi Expanse – a mission previously believed to have been lost. Bisby’s unexpected return brought much celebration, despite the fact that of the dozens of Amber Privateers who traveled with him to the southern jungles, only he and his chronicler, the half-elf Ilnerik Sivanshin, had returned. Word soon spread that Bisby’s journals would revolutionize what was known about certain lost tribes of the Mwangi, and that he brought back with him a potent artifact. Yet before his journals could be published, the god Aroden died.

“Upon Aroden’s death, panic seized Cheliax. Details of what happened in Delvehaven are sparse, but it seems that the majority of the Pathfinders stationed in Westcrown – Bisby included – perished in the riots and mayhem. Worse, his journal and all of Delvehaven’s artifacts were cut off from the society for over thirty years. In 4674, many years after House Thrune seized control of Cheliax, they made a great show of reopening Delvehaven and inviting a select few Pathfinders back to run the lodge – but those choices were not the Grand Lodge’s to make. The House of Thrune only agreed to Delvehaven’s reopening if Chelish Pathfinders of their choosing were to manage the site, and the Society reluctantly agreed to the conditions. Securing an accurate list of what had and hadn’t survived in Delvehaven’s vaults was a political nightmare – the House of Thrune and their pet Pathfinders reported that nothing of value remained, but they were resistant to letting anyone from outside make their own inventory and exploration of the ruins. To the public, the lodge seemed to be run by the Society, but in truth we have very little idea exactly what was going on in Delvehaven during those years. The whole situation seemed to be coming to a head, with a full-on clash between House Thrune and the Society imminent, but as things worked out, Delvehaven didn’t remain under Thrune’s control for long. In 4676, something happened in Delvehaven that caused the deaths of all the Thrune Pathfinders and its subsequent sealing by the government itself. The House of Thrune has to this date refused to open Delvehaven or allow the society access to the lodge, and various conflicts with the Aspis Consortium and the House of Thrune in other parts of Cheliax have effectively distracted us from Delvehaven’s legacy. General consensus in the Society today is that Thrune looted Delvehaven to the root and that nothing of value remains within.

“But I’m not so sure. Over the past several months I’ve grown more and more intrigued by the unexplained mysteries of exactly what happened in Delvehaven. Of perhaps more interest to you and your friends, the group you call the Returners, is that I’ve learned a bit about the artifact Bisby returned with, an artifact that was in Delvehaven at the time of Aroden’s death and that hasn’t been seen since. Notes on this artifact are vague, alas, but from an initial report sent from Delvehaven just before Aroden’s death, it would appear that the artifact had ties to a dualistic religion of light and shadow. The fact that it was only a few weeks after the House of Thrune closed up Delvehaven that the shadow beasts first appeared in Westcrown can’t be a coincidence. I suspect they found this artifact in Delvehaven, but in so doing triggered the lodge’s defenses and caused something. I’m not saying that the source of the shadow beasts is hidden in Delvehaven – but in my experience, there are no coincidences.”

“Of course, there remains the issue of getting into the lodge. My studies in the libraries of Skyreach in the Great Lodge in Absalom have revealed that responsibility for guarding the site of Devlvehaven has been passed from the House of the Thrune to the mayoral office. Worse, the fact that the House of Thrune has been engaged in an act of rewriting history since its rise to power means that reliable information about Delvehaven has become incredibly scarce. I know that there are several powerful magical locks and wards on the lodge placed there by House Thrune to prevent entry, and my research has shown that keys to the locks and documentation relating to those wards exist in only one place – Aberian’s Folly, the palatial estate of Lord-Mayor Aberian Arvanxi. Further, the House of Thrune’s devotion to order and tradition all but ensures that these keys and documents are kept in a complex, twelve-sided puzzle-box container known as a Chelish Crux, and that if it has been secured anywhere within Aberian’s Folly, it is likely to lie within the manor’s vault – a place known as the Asmodean Knot. Unfortunately, my research hit a dead end after that, and regardless, I am at a loss at how to infiltrate the Lord-Mayor’s manor without attracting undue attention.”

Most of the group is eager to do something about the shadow menace, even if armed with such fragile information. Several of the Returners recall seeing posters around the city advertising a casting call for actors in the Six Trials of Larazod, a notorious piece of Theatre Mortressci – plays where not only the cast’s reputations, but their very lives, are on the line during each performance – being produced by the Lord-Mayor himself. The Lord-Mayor’s love of theatre and opera is well-known throughout the city, and he is credited with the construction of many new and extravagant opera houses (all in the Asmodean black and red style popular in the capital city of Egorian), in addition to the introduction of progressively more violent and questionable entertainments. Lord-Mayor Aberian Arvanxi always invites his cast back to his villa for revelry following a production’s premier, parties that sometimes last for days, with the revelers lost in a drug- and orgy-induced haze – surely enough time to explore the mansion, find the Asmodean Knot, and retrieve the Chelish Crux without anyone – the Lord-Mayor included – being the wiser. The party agrees to audition for the play in the hopes of getting invited into the manor.

Moonday, 19 Neth, to Sunday, 25 Neth, 4708 A.R.

The party members audition for the play the following day under the severe eye and scathing insults of Robahl Nonon – the play’s director – a short and stout man sporting a silver-rimmed monocle. Each of the party members succeeds in obtaining a part in The Six Trials of Larazod. Vaeden takes the part of Tybain, the bumbling paladin of Aroden and comrade of Larazod. Slavé plays Drovalid, the torturer who has a change of heart and joins Larazod’s side. Tavo plays Dentris, the sharp-tongued wizard who has a knack for biting insults and a quick wit, who acts almost as a father figure to Larazod. Nagiphax takes the part of Ilsandra, the seductive erinyes and member of the judging Council who abandons her post in her lust for Larazod. Carlos the half-orc wizard is cast as Monris Blackward, a fiendish dwarf with blood-red eyes who frequently punctuates dramatic scenes in the play with blasts from his bagpipes. The role of Larazod, the tiefling accused of cavorting with demons, goes to Alizander. The party rehearses over the next week with their fellow actors: the insufferable Thesing Umbero Ulvauno, playing the part of the Magistrate Maleficarum – Montigny Haanderthan; the larger-than-life diva Visbarontess Delour Aulamaxa, the narrator and one-woman chorus of the play; the rising starlet Calseinica Nymmis, playing Ilsandra’s twin erinyes sister, Telphousia; and the stagehand and illusion-crafter, Millech the Hump. After suffering through the admonitions of Robahl Nonon, the thinly veiled threats and insults of Thesing, and the not-so-thinly-veiled contempt of Delour towards Calseinica, the cast gives a dress rehearsal of the play at the Limehouse Theatre near their own Adventurers’ Quarter to a crowd of rough and rowdy locals. Apart from a minor incident with a donkey, the dress rehearsal is a resounding success, and the cast is in high spirits for the premier of the original, uncut version of The Six Trials of Larazod to be held tomorrow night at the Nightshade Theatre in the noble district of the Regicona. That is, of course, until Thesing reminds them that The Six Trials of Larazod was banned after its first, and only, performance 200 years ago, and that it’s earned a reputation as the deadliest of the so-called “murderplays”.

Experience Awards

· Story Award (minimum 15 in base Popularity) - 900 xp

· Story Award (befriending Millech the Hump – Carlos) - 600 xp

· Story Award (befriending Calseinica – Vaeden) - 400 xp

· Story Award (befriending Delour – Slavé) - 600 xp

· Story Award (successful casting calls) - 2400 xp

· Story Award (dress rehearsal) - 3500 xp

· Total - 8400 xp

· Per PC (6) - 1400 xp

Frienship Benefits

· Millech the Hump – Non-offensive magical assistance during performance at the Nightshade Theatre (Carlos)

· Calseinica - +2 morale bonus on all skill checks during performance at the Nightshade Theatre (Vaeden)

· Delour – can name drop Delour Aulamaxa 1/day to receive a 20% price reduction on any item up to 500 gp (subject to GM discretion) (Slavé)

Current XP Totals Per PC (after session 8)

· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé, Vaeden – 6655 xp each

· Nagiphax – 6135 xp

· Tavo – 5995 xp

· Croso, Orem – 2875 xp

The Bastards of Erebus - Session 7: Down with the Bastards!

Dramatis Personae

Alizander Carmelizzia - Human (Varisian) sorcerer – works and performs at Cayden’s Blessing
Carlos Santiago - Half-orc (Alkenstarian) wizard – works at Rhialto’s Tonics and Talismans
Nagiphax - Cyclops-kin rogue – works at the Beer Golem Tavern
Slavé – Tiefling (appears human) rogue – detective in dottari employ

Tavo Dechirent - Human cleric of Pharasma – employed as a mortician and coroner
Vaeden Corleone - Human rogue – former nobleman, often seen at Alfred’s Smithy

Oathday, 26 Rova, 4708 A.R. (continued)

Alizander jumps down the hole in pursuit of the escaping rogues. He misjudges the distance of the jump and lands heavily on a pile of crates and furniture that Dravano the Digger used to reach the ceiling and claw his way through the earth. Dazed and prone on the ground, Alizander is just able to register that he is deep within the secret hideout of the Bastards of Erebus, and that there are several more tiefling rogues and thugs nearby.

The battle against the Bastards of Erebus continues, and several more party members climb or jump into the hole leading to the Bastards’ lair. The leader of the Bastards, a cleric of Asmodeus named Palaveen, joins the skirmish from an adjoining chamber. He sends his two controlled wolf skeletons into the fray, hoping to create enough confusion among the party that his rogues can finish them off. Unfortunately for Palaveen, Tavo manages to wrest control of one of the undead wolves and pits it against the other one. Carlos is rendered unconscious early in the battle, but manages to come to his senses and, having exhausted the majority of his spells for the day, resorts to using his exotic, double-barreled wheel-lock pistol. The combatants are surprised and shaken by the weapon, never having experienced or seen such an unusual device before. Carlos uses this to his advantage and fires off several good shots, including one that fires clean through Palaveen’s hip. During the battle, the Bastards recognize that Vaeden is the most tactical-minded of the attackers and set upon him. Vaeden takes down several of the tiefling rogues before finally succumbing to his wounds and falling unconscious. Nagiphax, working tactically with Vaeden, also manages to bring down several Bastards.

Slavé, meanwhile, remains above-ground and rushes over to the tiefling thug that Tavo and Nagiphax left bound in the church. Slavé reveals his tiefling heritage to the thug and tricks him into believing he is a friend of the Bastards who wishes to join their group. He unties the thug, who urges Slavé to follow him through the church and into the Bastards’ underground lair to circle around and enter the battle from behind, hopefully to take the attacking party by surprise. Slavé agrees in order to see if he can learn anything about the Bastards and the hideout. The thug leads Slavé deeper into the lair, pausing in a hallway guarded by four of the Bastards’ hell dogs – fighting dogs that have been fed a steady diet of tiefling blood – and indicates to Slavé that there is a secret door here leading to Palaveen’s chamber. Not wishing to get into a situation that he can’t get himself out of, Slavé bluffs the thug into thinking the heated battle on the other side of the door is about to spill into the hallway, and the two retreat back into the church. Slavé decides the thug is of no more help to him, and fires a crossbow bolt through the poor sod’s neck.

The battle between the rest of the party and the Bastards finally comes to an end with the death of Palaveen, marking a major victory for the Returners against the criminal element that has been allowed to fester within Westcrown. Searching through the Bastards ill-gotten gains, the party finds many of the items that were reported stolen from various tradespeople in the city. In addition, they find a note among Palaveen’s things that suggests a connection between the Bastards of Erebus and another organization thought to have been eradicated over 200 years ago. The note reads:

“Palaveen – While we appreciate the work of your Bastards, the Council never intended this association to be anything more than that. We shouldn’t need to remind you that if your tiring applications continue, we’ll need to solve this problem in a manner less concerned with your continued good health.”

Several party members recall the tales of the legendary Council of Thieves, the most influential criminal organization to have graced the streets and halls of power of Westcrown. Said to have assembled in the late 4200s, the Council of Thieves was an amalgamation of numerous gangs and thieves’ guilds in Westcrown that came to dominate city’s underground element, so much so that at its height in the 4300s the at least half of Westcrown’s noble families were rumoured to hold ties to the Council. Many leaders of the Council of Thieves were said to have become wealthy enough to purchase land and titles for themselves, or blackmail others into bequeathing the same. In the end, the Council became too powerful for its own good, and is believed to have been eradicated in the late 4400s. Could it be that the Council of Thieves still exists, or is the Council alluded to in Palaveen’s letter an upstart organization capitalizing on the Council’s mythical status? The thought weighs heavily on the Returners’ minds.

Treasure

· Studded leather armour (4) – from tiefling rogues – 50 gp

· Light crossbow (4) - from tiefling rogues – 70 gp

· Crossbow bolts (40) - from tiefling rogues – 2 gp

· Short sword (4) – from tiefling rogues – 20 gp

· Thieves’ tools (4) – from tiefling rogues – 60 gp

· Potion of Disguise Self – from Palaveen

· Wand of Cure Light Wounds – from Palaveen

· +1 Breastplate – from Palaveen

· Morningstar +1 – from Palaveen

· 470 gp – from rogues and Palaveen

· Gems (stolen) – returned

· Pearl (stolen) – returned

· Masterwork dagger (stolen) – 151 gp

· Masterwork rapier (stolen) – 160 gp

· Masterwork jeweled short sword (stolen) – 600 gp

· Masterwork light mace (stolen) – 152 gp

Experience Awards

· Tiefling rogues (6) - 1200 xp

· Wolf skeletons (2) - 800 xp

· Palaveen - 800 xp

· Hell dogs (avoidance via bluffing the Bastards) - 440 xp

· Story Award (defeating the Bastards) - 3600 xp

· Story Awards (returning stolen gems) - 1800 xp

· Total - 8640 xp

· Per PC (6) - 1440 xp

· Fame Point (defeating the Bastards) - 1

· Fame Point (returning stolen gems) - 1

· Total Fame Points (Council of Thieves Part 1: The Bastards of Erebus) - 5

Current XP Totals Per PC (after session 7)

· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé, Vaeden – 5255 xp each (advance to level 3)

· Nagiphax – 4735 xp

· Tavo – 4595 xp

· Croso, Orem – 2875 xp