The Infernal Syndrome - Session 25: Rumble at the Gatehouse

Dramatis Personae

Alizander Carmelizzia - Human (Varisian) sorcerer
Boecca – Half-orc inquisitor of Erastil

Carlos Santiago - Half-orc (Alkenstarian) wizard
Nagiphax – Cyclops-kin rogue/barbarian

Slavé/Jancen – Tiefling (in guise as a human) rogue/assassin

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

Toilday, 14 Calistril, 4709 A.R.

Nyxervex the bone devil uses its ability to assume invisible form to keep the Returners at a disadvantage. The Returners outnumber the osyluth by a considerable margin, however, and eventually force Nyxervex to retreat to the Rasdovain gatehouse, sealing the entrance with a magically-created wall of ice.

Repeated blows from Vaeden, Nagiphax, and Boecca eventually damage enough of the icewall that the group can enter the gatehouse. There they find several of Nyxervex’s servants – oversized lumbering lemure devils – and battle is once again joined. The fight spills over into the looted and ruined Rasdovain manor as the Returners harry the lemures from a distance. Nyxervex eventually rejoins the fight, first trying to fool the group and wear it down using an illusory projection of itself, then wading headlong into the fray once it becomes clear the illusory projection has worn out its effect. Nyxerves is gradually beaten down by the group, but alas, manages to teleport away before anyone can land a final, killing blow.

As Boecca, Vaeden, Tavo, Nagiphax, and Carlos are busy dealing with Nyxervex and the lemures in the Rasdovain gatehouse, Jancen and Alizander head to the surviving wing of Aberian Arvanxi’s manor, and come to the large black door leading off from the now-destroyed dining hall. Jancen sets of a noisy alarm when he touches the door; Alizander manages to open the locked portal with a spell. The door opens to a long stairwell leading downwards. Jancen heads down and eventually exits into an underground chamber featuring banners hanging from ceiling to floor depicting the circled crimson cross emblem of Cheliax. The tiefling’s heightened sense of vision reveals several humanoid shapes behind the banners. Before he is able to react, Jancen is attacked by the four figures – three men and a woman, all wearing fine suits of leather armour and wielding slim rapiers. Two of the rapiers slip in between the greaves of Jancen’s armour, drawing blood on their way out. Jancen winces at the pain, then steps back from the four thieves and raises his own sword in defence, claiming only to be looking for Crosael.

“Crosael,” says one of the men, “well you’re a little off track then aren’t you? She’s upstairs in the house, unless that blasted she-devil got her. With any luck she’ll get “the Dealer” too, bloody halfling. I suppose you just happened to open the door upstairs by accident did you? Better start talking berk, if you expect to get out of here alive.”

Through some skillful diplomacy, and more than a little trickery, Jancen manages to convince the thieves to let him go visit Crosael. Jancen heads back upstairs and joins Alizander, telling him that he believes they have found the entrance to the Nessian Spiral – the dungeon underneath Aberian’s manor that houses Liebdaga the Twin. As the two are talking, they are set upon by four more thieves who emerge from a second doorway into the surviving wing of the manor. As the thieves get closer, Alizander and Jancen see that they are led by a halfling – rarely seen in Cheliax except as slaves and servants. As the halfling approaches, he seems to be absently toying with a small deck of cards in his child-sized hands.

“Only two of you hmm?” says the halfling, his voice tinged with a note of sarcasm. “No matter, with any luck the osyluth has taken care of your friends by now. We’ll have you delivered to the Council soon enough.”

Treasure

· Magic longsword (properties unknown)

· Magic composite longbow (properties unknown)

· 50-foot silk rope

· Masterwork longspear (worth 152 gp)

· Magic arrows (16) (properties unknown)

Experience Awards

· Lumbering Lemures (3) – 4800 xp

· Total – 4800 xp

· Per PC (7) – 686 xp

Current XP Total per PC

· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé, Vaeden – 35,231 xp each

· Boecca – 32,476 xp

· Nagiphax, Tavo – 31,486 xp

· Total Current Fame Points – 15

Council of Thieves, Part 4: The Infernal Syndrome - Session 24: Ground Zero

Dramatis Personae

Alizander Carmelizzia - Human (Varisian) sorcerer
Boecca – Half-orc inquisitor of Erastil

Carlos Santiago - Half-orc (Alkenstarian) wizard
Nagiphax – Cyclops-kin rogue/barbarian

Slavé/Jancen – Tiefling (in guise as a human) rogue/assassin

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

Toilday, 14 Calistril, 4709 A.R.

Jancen and Boecca manage to come to a truce of sorts, and agree to deliver Aberian to the authorities. They convince Aberian that it is in his best interest to turn himself into the dottari, and the Lord-Mayor (still in Boecca’s shackles) agrees to accompany the two Returners. Jancen has other plans in mind, however, and leads Aberian through the city and into the Rego Crua (the northern ruins), where, much to Aberian’s dismay, he is handed over to Pontia and the Order of the Scourge for questioning.

Meanwhile, Carlos scouts over the blasted ruin of the Lord-Mayor’s estate, both invisible and flying in order to avoid detection. He notices little activity, beyond several dottari guards at barricades blocking entrance on foot into ground zero, but does get a closer look at the deep crater left behind by the explosion. While in the crater, a growing sense of dread and fear builds until a panicked Carlos finds he cannot stay in the area any longer, and makes his way back to the rest of the Returners, whom he finds talking with a dottari lieutenant at one of the barricades.

Vaeden, Tavo, Nagiphax, and Alizander speak to the dottari, questioning the guards and the lieutenant about activity at the ruined estate. The dottari lieutenant is vague on details, muttering something about seeing several small, fire-shrouded devil-creatures wielding tridents entering the Rasdovain gatehouse just north of the ruin. Vaeden and Tavo sense something off about the distracted lieutenant, and determine that he may be under some sort of enchantment or compulsion. With the help of Carlos, they manage to remove the charm effect from the lieutenant, and learn that he was recently attacked and dominated by a lanky, feral-looking man who called himself as Jerusen and kept referring to the “Master of Shadows”. The Returners suspect that the Master of Shadows may be Ilnerik Sivanshin, the half-elf believed to be in possession of the Totemrix, twin to the Morrowfall and the other half of the Aohl artifact. The lieutenant is grateful to the Returners, and warns them to be on the lookout for Jerusen, who is surely aware that the lieutenant is no longer under his control. The lieutenant grants permission to the Returners to enter the area, and appoints one of the other dottari as commander of the barricade guard while he heads to a dottari guardhouse to make his report and seek protection.

Jancen and Boecca return and join the rest of the Returners at this point. Jancen and Vaeden decide to enter ground zero first and scout the area from the shadows. They avoid the raging tornadoes of fire that surround the crater, finding they give off almost no heat whatsoever until they approach within ten feet or so. The two rogues notice something lurking in the rubble as they near the still-standing east-wing of Aberian’s Folly. Unfortunately, the figure has also been watching them, and suddenly takes flight. A lithe and beautiful female form rises into the air on a pair of glistening black-feathered wings. She wields an ebony bow tinged with flecks of fire, and strikes an imposing silhouetted against the backdrop of blistering hellfire tornado and smoky night sky. The erinyes devil brings her bow to bear, and just as she readies to fire at Vaeden, Boecca lets loose an arrow from his vantage point about 200 feet away. The arrow flies true and strikes the erinyes at a critical joint where her wing meets her shoulder. Pain lances through the devil’s body, stunning her momentarily and sending her plummeting to the ground below. The rest of the party, still waiting behind the barricade, witness the event and rush into the area. The erinyes invokes the darkness and torment of hell in an effort to keep the Returners off of her, but the wound in her shoulder proves too great, and she falls under the attacks of the Returners. Before she succumbs, she manages to scream for aid from a being named Nyxervex – a name several of the Returners recall from their excursion into the Asmodean Knot several months ago. Nyxervex soon reveals himself, stepping from the Rasdovain gatehouse just north of the crater. The imposing 9-foot tall bone devil joins the battle, striking at the Returners with its skeletal claws and poisonous stinging tail.

Experience Awards

· Story award (delivering Arvanxi to the authorities) – 4800 xp

· Story award (removing enchantment from dottari lieutenant) – 3000 xp

· Isavenda (erinyes devil) – 4800 xp

· Total – 12600 xp

· Per PC (7) – 1800 xp

· Fame Points (for delivering Arvanxi to the authorities) - 1

Current XP Total per PC

· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé, Vaeden – 34,545 xp each

· Boecca – 31,790 xp

· Nagiphax, Tavo – 30,800 xp

· Total Current Fame Points – 15