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