The Sixfold Trial - Session 14: The Asmodean Knot, Part IV

Dramatis Personae

Alizander Carmelizzia - Human (Varisian) sorcerer
Carlos Santiago - Half-orc (Alkenstarian) wizard
Slavé/Jancen – Tiefling (in guise as a human) rogue

Tavo Dechirent - Human cleric of Pharasma
Vaeden Corleone - Human rogue

Oathday, 29 Neth, 4708 A.R.

The Returners proceed through the heart of the Asmodean Knot, wending their way through its impossible angles and infinite staircases until they finally make their way through and into the final stage of the demiplane. Moving past half-finished areas of the Knot, the party meets a formidable challenge in the Flawed One – the mummified and animate corpse of a former servant of Dargentu Vheed. The Flawed One surprises the Returners in an old storeroom within the Knot, and gets a solid strike against Vaeden before being eliminated. Vaeden’s arm turns an ugly purple where it was hit by the Flawed One, and the weakness spreads quickly through his body, bringing Vaeden to the verge of death.

Finally, the party enters the final chamber created within the Asmodean Knot by Avengen Doskivari – the Crux Sanctum – a huge cavern half-filled with a nauseating grey-green sludge. The party fights the guardian of the Crux Sanctum, a strange and rare creature featuring traits of both a bearded devil and a sewage-loving otyugh. Szasmir recognizes in the creature certain characterstics of an old colleague, the bearded devil Molikandus, another former servant of Dargentu Vheed who betrayed his master long ago. Molikandus sends a small retinue of lemure devils against Tavo, Carlos, Vaeden, Jancen, and Alizander, all of whom are experiencing significant fatigue after their trials in the Asmodean Knot. With the help of Szasmir the group manages to defeat Molikandus and his lemure servants, and at last discover the object of their quest into the Asmodean Knot – the Chelish Crux. The Chelish Crux appears as a wooden and metal dodecahedron that measures about six inches in diameter. Each face of the 12-sided crux is carved with a different rune, and when one looks upon the thing, the observer has the unsettling sensation that he can see too many or too few sides at once. Alizander tosses the crux on the floor in an attempt to discern the method of opening it, to no avail. Exhausted after their time in the Knot, the party makes its way out of the complex. Szasmir takes his leave of the Returners, declaring their contract to be fulfilled, for now. Tavo, Vaeden, Carlos, and Alizander use a room discovered within the Knot that allows them to instantly teleport to their respective homes, while Jancen (Slavé) decides to make his way back through the Knot and into the Lord-Mayor’s villa. Jancen is confident that the revelers of the previous night will likely be still at the mansion, either comatose or just coming to following the night’s events, and wishes to speak to return the bust of Asmodeus to Crosael and speak to the majordomo regarding Sian Daemodus.

So ends The Sixfold Trial, part II of the Council of Thieves.

Treasure

· Rope of climbing (from the Flawed One)

· From the Crux Sanctum:

o +1 keen short sword

o +1 defending short sword

o +1 cold iron light mace

o +1 returning javelin

o Necklace of fireballs III

o Ring of protection +1

o Ring of feather falling

o Wand of cure moderate wounds

o Wand of rusting grasp

o Golembane scarab

o Scroll of contagion (CL 9^th)

o Spellbook with 30 spells

o 1300 gp

o Andoran philosophy book (worth 200 gp)

o Illustrated book on Osirion (worth 230 gp)

o Libra Malfactum (3 volume work on the teachings of a spirit naga) (worth 400 gp)

o Ivory box (worth 800 gp)

o The Chelish Crux

· From earlier exploits in the Asmodean Knot:

o Pearl of power II (recovered from dead elf, formerly unidentified)

Experience Awards

· The Flawed One (mummy) – 1600 xp

· Lemures (4) – 1600 xp

· Molikandus, the Outcast King (barbazu-otyugh amalgam) (reduced for assistance from Szasmir) – 2000 xp

· Story Award (recovering the Chelish Crux) – 4000 xp

· Story Award (fulfilled contract with Szasmir) – 1500 xp

· Total – 10,700 xp

· Per PC (5) – 2140 xp

· Fame Points (infiltrating the Knot without direct observation – rumours that Aberian’s Folly has been “cracked” by a group of insurgents spreads over the next couple of months) – 2 points

Current XP Totals per PC

· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé, Vaeden – 15,695 xp each

· Tavo – 15,040 xp

· Nagiphax – 9135 xp

· Croso, Orem – 2875 xp

· Total Current Fame Points – 10

The Sixfold Trial - Session 13: The Asmodean Knot, Part III

Dramatis Personae

Alizander Carmelizzia - Human (Varisian) sorcerer
Carlos Santiago - Half-orc (Alkenstarian) wizard
Slavé/Jancen – Tiefling (in guise as a human) rogue

Tavo Dechirent - Human cleric of Pharasma
Vaeden Corleone - Human rogue

Oathday, 29 Neth, 4708 A.R.

The group decides to leave the chain-room and heads up the stairs into the room labeled ‘Observation’. There they encounter Livia, an unusually talkative (and perhaps half-mad) imp and former familiar of Darghentu Vheed. Livia claims to have been continuing Vheed’s work since his disappearance decades ago, and bids them enter the phobia rooms and retrieve ‘prizes’ from each for her. In return, they will find themselves cured of their insanity (of which they were unaware they were suffering from….) and she will answer for them six questions. Alizander, Jancen and Szasmir head into the phobia rooms, facing several creatures (vipers, spiders, stirges, and small fire elementals) while Tavo stays behind with Livia.

Szasmir speaks to Jancen, indicating that he knows that he carries a heavy burden (the runecurse), and that he knows of a way to be rid of the curse altogether. Jancen seems interested, and Szasmir says that he will tell him how to get rid of the curse if he will locate a person for him, a young girl he once had the pleasure to meet in Westcrown by the name of Amra Tailor. Jancen suggests that Amra may be dead, or very old, by now. Szasmir smiles and says, “Indeed, her body may have aged, but the soul remains the same.” Jancen agrees to help find her location and inform Szasmir when he finds out. Szasmir, pleased with the agreement, tells Jancen that the surest way to remove the runecurse is to turn it back on its creator by tricking them into accepting it. Szasmir says that he recalls the grey-skinned, red-haired woman who let Eliandru free referred to the elf as an ideal carrier, and believes that she may have been referring to the runecurse, in which case she could have been involved in its creation.

Meanwhile, Carlos, in disagreement with Alizander’s decision to parley with the imp, leaves the Observation room and heads further into the Knot, with Vaeden following. Carlos and Vaeden find a large cavern featuring a small lake of rank water, filthy with sewage and detritus. Carlos reads a magical aura on a small island in the middle of the lake, and succeeds in using magic to transport the item across the lake without venturing into the putrid water. Carlos and Vaeden are attacked by a elemental presence within the and Vaeden is hit by a watery appendage before the two manage to escape the room and leave the elemental behind. Carlos examines the item recovered and discovers that it is an unholy symbol of Asmodeus. As he analyses the symbol, he can feel a brooding intelligence within it, and is somehow possessed of the sure knowledge that the symbol contains a fragment of the spirit of its creator, Avengen Doskivari, the first mayor of Westcrown after the Thrune Ascendency and a powerful priest of Asmodeus. Carlos senses that he could communicate with the intelligence if desired, but quickly pockets the unholy symbol instead.

Alizander, Jancen, Szasmir and Tavo are successful in retrieving Livia’s ‘prizes’ (small gemstones) from the phobia rooms, and Livia rewards them by using magic to commune with dark powers. Jancen, Alizander, and Tavo ask her a number of questions and learn several items of information, including: that the shadow creatures stalking the streets of Westcrown were brought into existence by the breaking of an artifact called the Aohl into its twin components – the Morrowfall and the Totemrix; that the writhing chains in the room nearby hold a creature called a kyton and that it powers the Asmodean Knot by acting as a conduit to the Nessian Spiral below Aberian’s villa; that there are three fragments of Avengen Doskivari’s spirit in the Knot – a red crystal glaive, a book about a drowned adventurer, and Avengen’s unholy symbol; that the Chelish Crux (the object of their quest in the Lord-Mayor’s villa) is located in the Crux Sanctum, through the heart of the Asmodean Knot; and that one of the obstacles the party may face in retrieving the Chelish Crux is a creature called the Flawed One, which may be distracted by one or all of Avengen’s spiritual fragments. Finally, Jancen asks where he might find the woman Amra Tailor, and learns that she still lives in the Rego Sacero region of the city. Jancen gives this information to Szasmir, thus ending the deal made with the bearded devil.

Carlos and Vaeden rejoin the group at this time and the party continues its journey through the Asmodean Knot. They soon come to the heart of the Knot – a series of endless shafts stretching into oblivion above and below, with twisting stairs up and down that impossibly lead back to each other. Each circular chamber features several stone archways that are either open or sealed shut with stone masonry in random patterns, depending on when the party enters each chamber. As the group makes its way through the puzzling Knot’s Heart, they hear a raspy, female voice, “I see you managed to convince someone to set you free devil. Well, it is their mistake.”

“And who are you, anyway? Did Crosael send you? She has been far too concerned with my doings these last several weeks. I’m sure she wonders where I have been for the last two days. No matter, I shall dispose of you, learn whatever secrets you have discovered in here, and get out of this place. Crosael can put her mind at ease.”

The owner of the voice is none other than the grey-skinned, flame-haired tiefling woman spoken of by Szasmir. She attacks out of the darkness of the shaft, accompanied by a shadow companion. The party attempts to manoeuvre around the narrow steps to fight the woman and her shadow companion. Jancen decides to play the coward, and recoils from his attacker. He removes his backpack and tosses it to her, “Here, take it, you can have what we’ve found in here, just don’t kill me!”

The woman catches the backpack and slings it over her shoulder, spitting at Jancen in disgust before slashing at him with her barbed short sword. “You sniveling fool, stay there on your belly while I take care of your friends. I’ll deal with you momentarily.”

The tiefling woman dances around the confined battlefield in a dazzling display of swordplay. Finally, however, Jancen’s daring play comes to fruition. The runecurse in the backpack takes effect on the woman, and the bone devil Nyxervex steps from the fiery pit of Hell to claim its victim. The tiefling gasps in dismay, looks over her shoulder at the backpack slung over her shoulder, then to Jancen. Her screams echo up and down the infinite shaft as Nyxervex tears her into shreds before disappearing from whence he came, leaving little behind except the few items she carried.

Treasure (from Sian Daemodus)

· Spider venom (5 doses) (save Fort DC 14, frequency 1/rnd for 4 rounds, effect 1d2 Str damage, cure 1 save)

· Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds (2)

· Potion of Gaseous Form

· Potion of Invisibility

· +1 Leather Armour

· +1 Short Sword

· Masterwork Hand Crossbow (19 bolts)

· Hat of Disguise

· Bejeweled bust of Asmodeus (worth 800 gp)

Experience Awards

· Giant spiders (2) – 800 xp

· Stirges (6) – 1200 xp

· Small fire elementals (1/2 normal due to help from Szasmir) – 600 xp

· Story Award (parleying with Livia and earning her aid) – 1500 xp

· Story Award (retrieved Avengen’s unholy symbol and avoided water elemental) – 800 xp

· Sian Daemodus (tiefling woman) – 3200 xp

· Story Award (avoided runecurse by turning it back on Sian Daemodus) – 4000 xp

· Per PC (5) – 2420

Current XP Totals per PC

· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé, Vaeden – 13,555 xp each

· Tavo – 12,900 xp

· Nagiphax – 9135 xp

· Croso, Orem – 2875 xp

· Total Current Fame Points – 8

The Sixfold Trial - Session 12: The Asmodean Knot, Part II

Dramatis Personae

Alizander Carmelizzia - Human (Varisian) sorcerer
Carlos Santiago - Half-orc (Alkenstarian) wizard
Slavé/Jencen – Tiefling (in guise as a human) rogue

Tavo Dechirent - Human cleric of Pharasma
Vaeden Corleone - Human rogue

Wealday, 28 Neth, 4708 A.R.

Vaeden empties a bag of marbles on the stairs, sending one of the lacedons tumbling back down to the first landing. It doesn’t take long, however, for the rotten, bloated undead to reach the prison cells, where battle begins in earnest. Alizander and Vaeden fall prey to the lacedons’ diseased maws, and are stricken numb by the sickly poison oozing from their black, rotten fangs. Jencen begins reading from the book recovered earlier in the Knot, and succeeds in distracting the leader, whom the group assume to be the Drowned Jabe referred to in the book.

In the heat of battle, no one notices the exchange between Jencen and Alizander, and are not there to intervene when Jencen shoves Alizander into one of the empty cells with Drowned Jabe, barring the door closed behind the stunned sorcerer. Jencen mutters a curse to Alizander through the door, damning him for passing the runecurse on to him, before turning away. Alizander manages to escape and, for the present, puts the episode out of his mind.

The lacedons’ paralyzing attacks begin to take their toll on the party, and Tavo brokers a verbal deal with Szasmir in a risky, last ditch attempt to save his companions. Szasmir agrees to the hastily-worded terms, and gives Tavo his word that he will assist the group to navigate through the Asmodean Knot, with the understanding that they will help him to destroy his former master, Dargentu Vheed. In the event that Vheed is no longer present, the party and Szasmir will agree to part ways, never to see each other again. The deal signed with a word, Tavo releases Szasmir from his prison. The mad devil destroys the remaining lacedons with glee, and the strange red crystal glaive he weilds seems to absorb the creatures’ thick, black blood.

With the drowned ghouls defeated, the party decides to shore up defenses in the prison cell area and recuperate for a time. Szasmir paces and mutters to himself throughout the night, setting most of the party members on edge. The bearded devil frequently slips in and out of lucidity, speaking to himself or his red crystal glaive at one moment, and calmly asking Tavo and other party members if they have had enough rest the next. The party discerns several names from Szasmir’s mutterings, including that of Molikandus, who they determine may have been an associate of Szasmir’s at one time, and Elandriu, an elfin thief that the party decides must have been the dead elf they discovered in the Knot’s entrance. Szasmir also refers in spits and curses to a silent, slight woman with blood-red hair, skin the colour of brushed steel, and a mouth and eyes that glow as red as the pit of Hell. The woman apparently set Elandriu free, deciding that the elf might be a useful carrier (whatever that implies), but dismissed Szasmir outright.

Oathday, 29 Neth, 4708 A.R.

Upon waking, the adventurers continue deeper into the Asmodean Knot with Szasmir at their side. They move quickly through the damp, rank room with the pool that hid Drowned Jabe and his brethren, and thence down a rough hewn, steep tunnel. There, the party comes to a doorway leading to a series of steps – one leading up in the centre and two leading down to either side. Vaeden briefly explores a side passage leading to a deep, red-glowing pit with a mass of iron chains writhing above it, seemingly attached to shadowy stalactites thirty feet above. Within the tangle of chains appears to be a mutilated humanoid body. Bits of flesh, torn muscle, and splinters of bone seep through the links in the centre of the sphere of chains.

Experience Awards

· Drowned Jabe (lacedon ghast) – 600 xp

· Lacedons (3) – 1200 xp

· Deal with Szasmir – 1600 xp

· Total – 3400 xp

· Per PC (5) – 680 xp

Current XP Totals per PC

· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé, Vaeden – 11,135 xp each

· Tavo – 10,480 xp

· Nagiphax – 9135 xp

· Croso, Orem – 2875 xp

Total Current Fame Points – 8