Dramatis Personae
Alizander Carmelizzia - Human (Varisian) sorcerer
Carlos Santiago - Half-orc (Alkenstarian) wizard
Slavé – Tiefling (in guise as a human named Jencen) rogue
Tavo Dechirent - Human cleric of Pharasma
Vaeden Corleone - Human rogue
Wealday, 28 Neth, 4708 A.R.
The party takes some time to discern the properties of the items taken from the dead elf. Alizander is shocked when he realizes that the tattered parchment he withdrew from the backpack is in fact the vehicle for a runecurse – an insidious curse that subjects the one who accepts the cursed item to some future calamity (often a hostile visitor from Hell or something equally as undesirable). The infernal text on the parchment indicates the name of an osyluth devil – one Nyxervex – as the one to carry out the curse. Alizander pockets the parchment, knowing that unless he can somehow get someone else to accept the item, this Nyxervex will come for him.
After consoling the shaken Varisian, the party continues into the Asmodean Knot. The hallways beyond the entrance are guarded by a trio of large, spine-covered hellish hounds that bray a maddening, incessant howl. The howlers send Alizander into unconsciousness before finally being dispatched. In the shadowy hallways that the howlers prowled, the party finds a collection of books focused on methods of torture (both as a means of interrogation and entertainment). One book in particular stands out for its relative newness and lavish illustrations – Drowned Jabe and His Miserable Brothers and Sisters. Jencen (Slavé) peruses the work; it tells the tale of a thief and his companions who came to the Asmodean Knot and drowned there, only to live on after death as ‘Drowned Jabe.’
The party moves deeper into the Asmodean Knot, navigating through a mind-numbing series of rooms featuring shafts and stairs that, impossibly, seem to twist and turn back upon themselves. The party narrowly avoids the undead shadow beasts that guard this bewildering place. Indeed, Tavo succeeds in bending one of the shadows to his own control, and bids it follow them as they leave the looping shafts and enter an old, forgotten prison are of the Knot. Within the prison, the party finds only one surviving inmate – a leering, rambling, somewhat insane bearded devil gone mad from years of imprisonment. Jencen is the first to spot the barbazu, and immediately thinks the runecursed parchment may be linked to the devil. Alizander (still somewhat delirious from the howlers’ braying, and increasingly distraught by the runecurse) offers the parchment to Jencen, who, in a moment of addled wits, accepts it, and thereby transfers the curse from Alizander to himself. Alizander skips happily away, eager to leave the devil behind and continue into the Knot. Jencen, realizing his error, watches as Alizander disappears down the hall, his eyes like black daggers. Tavo, Vaeden, and Carlos come down the hallway and join Jencen. They turn their attention back to the barbazu.
The devil holds and caresses a strange, red crystal glaive. He slips in and out of lucidity, one moment shouting in rage at ‘Lord Vheed’ (whom several party members recall as the former mayor of Westcrown, prior to the current Lord-Mayor Arvanxi) for some past slight, and another begging for release. The party learns that the barbazu’s name is Szasmir. Tavo, Jencen, Vaeden and Carlos debate over the wisdom of making a deal with the devil, while Alizander leaves the prison and continues downstairs, arriving in a large and dank room featuring a large pool of churning, muddy water. Alizander fires a bolt of electricity into the water and is answered by a trio of rotting, waterlogged ghouls dressed in tattered rags that burst out of the muck. The three undead creatures are followed closely by another, larger drowned man with empty, black eyes. The stench that emanates from the larger one is overpoweringly horrid. Alizander bolts from the room and runs upstairs, waving his arms and gesticulating wildly before slamming hard into the half-orc Carlos. The drowned undead quartet follows close behind.
Treasure
· Book – Drowned Jabe and His Miserable Brothers and Sisters – 400 gp (grants +2 competence bonus on Knowledge (religion) checks made on topics relating to undead)
· Handy Haversack – from session 10
· Scrolls (chill touch, command undead, ray of exhaustion, vampiric touch, false life) – from session 10
· Wand of Restoration – from session 10
· Runecursed parchment – from session 10
Experience Awards
· Howlers (3) – 2400 xp
· Shadows (2) – 1600 xp
· Total – 4000 xp
· Per PC (5) – 800 xp
Current XP Totals per PC
· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé, Vaeden – 10,455 xp each
· Tavo – 9800 xp
· Nagiphax – 9135 xp
· Croso, Orem – 2875 xp
· Total Current Fame Points – 8
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