What Lies in Dust - Session 22: Delvehaven, Part V

Dramatis Personae

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

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

Toilday, 9 Abadius, 4709 A.R.

Vaeden is the first to react, and strides confidently into the room to confront the cloaked figure. As he crosses the threshold, he catches something out of the corner of his eye – another figure in the room, clinging to the high ceiling like a spider. Vaeden calls back to the rest of the group to let them know there is another enemy in the room before advancing on the cloaked figure. Vaeden holds a string of garlic bulbs before him as he advances. The cloaked figure recoils from the garlic, averting his red-glowing eyes from the hated substance and brandishing his barbed short sword in defense.

The vampire spawn on the ceiling spits a curse at Vaeden and orders him to step away from Master Jair. Vaeden ignores the undead thrall’s compelling voice and continues to rebuke the cloaked vampire – Jair. Jair, meanwhile, steps away from the repellant garlic and invokes a prayer to Norgorber, the Keeper of Secrets: “By Norgorber’s will, the world shall evermore be hidden from you, its secrets forever dark.” Vaeden senses a dark shroud covering his eyes and is struck utterly blind.

Carlos pulls out the scroll of sunburst from its case and shouts for everyone to get out of the room and behind cover. Before the vampires are able to react, he reads the words on the scroll. The letters flare into brightness as he reads each word. As he finishes the scroll, the illuminated letters grow more brilliant, until the brightness seems to coalesce into a single blinding bead of intense light and heat. Jair and the vampire thrall look on in dismay as the bead travels into the room. The bead reaches the far corner of the room and seems to implode upon itself, growing suddenly dark before exploding into a supernova of blinding, burning light. As the Returners eyes readjust to the dim light of the vault, all that remains of Jair and the vampire thrall are two human-shaped piles of grey ash. Jair’s short sword, chain shirt, and golden unholy symbol of Norgorber lay on the floor near the ash.

Jancen, meanwhile, continues exploring the vault at the end of the hallway, and retrieves several other items from small plinths in the circular room. These include a mithral rapier identified as “Whisperlash, the dueling sword of Baron Augustine II, the Cold Veteran of Oppara”, a well-preserved, five-fingered, long-nailed mummy’s hand identified as “Hand of the Pharoah of Nagas, Osirion”, and an exquisite chess set of alabaster, ebony, and mother of pearl identified as a chess set gifted from Taldor to Cheliax in 4315 AR. As Jancen is examining the finds, he sees a figure coalesce out of red mist nearby. Luckily, Jancen imbibed a potion of invisibility before advancing into the vault and remains unseen by the figure – a ragged-looking vampire thrall.

The thrall spends several moments in the vault, looking for evidence of the one who managed to retrieve the Morrowfall and stop its erratic bursts of light. Jancen quietly makes his way back up the hallway. Meanwhile, Alizander leaves the room with the remains of Jair and his thrall, and makes his way towards the vault. As he rounds the corner he notices the thrall heading back down the hallway. The battle ensues once more, and Boecca, Vaeden, Tavo, and Carlos rush toward the vault as they hear Alizander in combat. As the fight against the single vampire spawn continues, two doorways to either side of the stairway leading back up to the cellar open to reveal two more vampire spawn, and another vampire leader – this one broad-chested and wearing little more than short breaches and an extensive array of swirling, maze-like tattoos. The vampire steps out of the door opened by his vampire thrall and fires two shots from a massive repeating crossbow at Carlos and Alizander. The brutish vampire spits a wad of sticky, clotted blood when he sees Alizander: “Filthy Varisian, you’ll be the first to feel my teeth tearing into your flesh; I’ll suck you drier than an Andoran spinster.”

Thankfully, for Alizander, the tattooed vampire’s threats do not come true, and the Returners defeat the remaining vampires lurking in Delvehaven’s vault. They follow the vampires’ retreating mist-forms to their nearby crypts – hastily established in the old Delvehaven mausoleum. Under Tavo’s advice and instructions, the party drives a wooden stake through the body of each vampire and grisly remove each vampire’s head in order ensure that none of them will return to haunt the halls of the old lodge ever again.

With the vampires destroyed, Jancen finally makes himself known once again. The group quickly searches the rest of the vault level, discovering several ancient treaties in one of the rooms. Boecca, new to the group and unused to Jancen’s devious methods and habit of striking out on his own, confronts the limping rogue, demanding to know where he was and if he had to do anything with the bursts of light suddenly ceasing.

Treasure:

· From Vahnwynne Malkistra’s body (elven vampire)

o 2^nd Wooden stake +1 (worth 1150 gp)

o +1 leather armour (worth 580 gp)

· From Father Jair

o +1 chain shirt (worth 625 gp)

o Short sword +1 (worth 1155 gp)

o Wand of inflict moderate wounds

o Masterwork hand crossbow (200 gp)

o 10 poisoned crossbow bolts (poison not yet identified)

o Gold unholy symbol of Norgorber (worth 200 gp)

o Master Liriam’s wayfinder (worth 250 gp)

· From The Mazeflesh Man

o Repeating heavy crossbow +1 (worth 1350 gp)

o 20 bolts (worth 1 gp)

o Golembane scarab (worth 1250 gp)

· From the Amber Arca (vault)

o Whisperlash, mithral rapier (magical, properties currently unknown)

o Hand of the Pharoah of Nagas (magical, properties currently unknown)

o Taldoran chess set (worth 3500 gp)

o The Morrowfall (minor artifact, properties currently unknown)

· From the Chamber of Treaties (values currently unknown)

o Treaty – Declaration of Haliad I, ca. 4138 AR

o Treaty – letter from Count Andachi, ca. 4042 AR

o Treaty – Minkai declaration of war, ca. 3616 AR

o Treaty – letter from Shadowcount Thenris IV of Nidal, ca. 4577 AR

o Treaty – Taldoran peace treaty, ca. 2133 AR

Experience Awards

· Father Jair, vampire cleric of Norgorber – 3200 xp

· The Mazeflesh Man, vampire fighter – 3200 xp

· Vampire spawn (4) – 4600 xp

· Story Award (securing the Morrowfall) – 9700 xp

· Total – 20,700 xp

· Per PC (6) – 3450 xp each

Current XP Total per PC

· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé, Vaeden – 30,745 xp each

· Boecca – 27,990 xp

· Tavo – 25,410 xp

· Total Current Fame Points – 12