Mother of Flies - Sessions 42 and 43: The Lord of Shadows

Dramatis Personae

Alfaren “Alfred” Eredel – Elf transmuter

Alizander Carmelizzia - Human (Varisian) sorcerer

Boecca – Half-orc inquisitor of Erastil

Carlos Santiago - Half-orc (Alkenstarian) evoker

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

Tavo Dechirent - Human cleric of Pharasma

Starday, 30 Pharast, 4709 A.R.

The Returners continue their assault on Walcourt, doing battle with the minions of the Lord of Shadows – vampire spawn, a vampire sorceress, a small army of shadows, and a menacing, inky-black denizen of the plane of shadow that Alfred recognizes as a nihiloi, or devashade. Following the battle Carlos discovers an interesting folio in the sorceress’ chamber, a beautifully illustrated edition of ‘The Six Trials of Larazod’ with an inscription on the front cover that reads: “Property of Thesing Umbero Ulvauno”, the insufferable blowhard who gave the Returners a hard time during their stint as actors.

While Alizander, Tavo, Carlos, Alfred, and Boecca battle Ilnerik’s minions, Slavé continues his search through the dungeon and finds several Wiscrani nobles barely alive in a small holding cell. One of the nobles he recognizes as Eirtein Oberigo, a crafty and sly man the Returners last met at Aberian Arvanxi’s Cornucopia party many months ago, following their performance in The Six Trials of Larazod. Slavé assists Eirtein and discovers the noble was a member of the Council of Thieves under Vassindio Drovenge. For Slavé’s help in escaping Walcourt’s dungeon, Eirtein tells him the following:

· Ecarrdian’s and Chammady’s bid to take over Westcrown has been pushed forward by the interference of the Returners, and it won’t be long now before they launch their endgame.

· There is a lower level to the dungeon, accessible only through a very well-concealed and magically-locked secret door. To locate and open the secret door requires a magical ash to be smeared in the eyes of the searcher.

· The secret guild treasury is located in the lower level.

Finding their way to the secret undercrypt of Walcourt, the Returners first face an exotic, six-armed giant guarding the Council treasury. Alfred recalls reading about the violet-skinned being long ago - a calikang, an ancient and much-diminished race of giants from the distant Vudran peninsula, prized as guardians for their ability to enter periods of long stasis. The calikang puts up a mighty fight, killing Tavo with a blast of electrical energy, but finally succumbs to the Returners’ greater numbers.

As Tavo lays dead on the floor of the treasury, his soul exits the material plane and enters Pharasma’s boneyard. Rather than transitioning from Pharasma’s boneyard to serve the goddess in her spire as a devoted follower, Tavo has a vision of a grim hellscape – dense boreal forest coated in grey, ashen snow; harsh wastelands and craggy mountains interspersed with massive stone and iron fortifications. Looming above one of the fortifications is a thin, pale-skinned devil in coal-black armour wielding a black short sword, a legion of devils and undead behind him, beckoning to Tavo:

“Lorcan I am called. Welcome to forever, devoted one.”

With a painful gasp the vision is suddenly over. Tavo opens his eyes to find himself back in the Walcourt treasury, the sail retrieved from Delvehaven and embroidered with the breath of life spell draped over his body, Alizander sitting beside him. “Welcome back friend,” says Alizander, “it’s not time to visit your goddess just yet.” Tavo speaks nothing of the upsetting vision he had during the few moments he was dead.

Slavé wastes little time moving on and opens the door leading south from the treasury, leading straight into the resting place of Ilnerik Sivanshin. Two open stone sarcophagi covered by a heavy grillwork of iron bars reside in the east and west alcoves of the room. The half-elf vampire leans against a block of stained marble at the far end of the room, his eyes shimmering with hate, swarms of shadow rats crawling over him and throughout the room. He pulls the Totemrix out of a pocket, bathing the room in darkness, before Slavé hastily slams the door shut again. The final battle against the master of Westcrown’s shadows begins. The Returners rush to position themselves, opening the door to his chamber and bombarding it with fire and other spells. The vampire himself is nowhere to be seen at first, apparently invisible, but Alizander notices a lever on the far side of his chamber move, and the two sarcophagi in the east and west alcoves begin to fill up with water. The screams that come from the rapidly-filling sarcophagi sound very much like Nagiphax and Rhialto, and Alizander and Slavé rush into the room to rescue them. Ilnerik finally shows himself, appearing in the midst of Carlos, Alfred, Tavo, and Boecca without warning, furiously attacking each of the startled Returners and warding off Tavo’s attempts to use the Morrowfall against him. Slavé manages to slip in and disarm Ilnerik, stealing the Totemrix right out of the vampire’s hands. As the shocked vampire stares at Slavé in shock, Boecca gets the upper hand with a halt undead spell, freezing Ilnerik in his tracks. Tavo strides confidently up to the half-elf vampire, brandishes the Morrowfall in his face, and unleashes a killing beam of pure sunlight, vapourizing the vampire into oblivion.

Slavé reluctantly hands the Totemrix to Alizander, who reunites with Morrowfall and Totemrix into a single unit – the Aohl. As the two artifacts come together, the magical powers they emanate suddenly cease. With the defeat of Ilnerik Sivanshin and the reuniting of the Morrowfall and Totemrix, the oppressive shadow-threat looming over Westcrown’s nights for the last 30 years is lifted once and for all.

Treasure

· From F8. Silana’s Chamber

o Rare edition of ‘The Six Trials of Larazod’ (worth 750 gp)

· Promised reward from the Oberigo family

o 500 pp (worth 5000 gp)

· From F10. Treasury

o +2 ghost touch chainmail (worth 12,650 gp)

o +4 full plate emblazoned with the symbol of Abadar (worth 8825 gp)

o Sword of the planes (worth 11,315 gp)

o Light crossbow +3 (worth 9167.5 gp)

o Ring of protection +4 (worth 16,000 gp)

o Staff of healing (worth 14,800 gp)

o Carpet of flying, 5 ft. x 10 ft. (worth 8750 gp)

o Horn of blasting (worth 5000 gp)

o Bronze griffon figurine of wondrous power (worth 5000 gp)

o Philosopher’s stone (artifact)

o 108,406 cp (worth 1084 gp)

o 27,312 sp (worth 2731 gp)

o 8480 gp

o 2323 pp (worth 23,230 gp)

o Gems (worth 27,750 gp)

o Magnificent jewels (7) (worth 35,000 gp total)

o Art and furniture (14) (worth 28,000 gp total)

· From Ilnerik Sivanshin

o +3 leather armour (worth 4580 gp)

o Amulet of mighty fists +2 (worth 10,000 gp)

o Belt of physical might +4 (Strength, Dexterity) (worth 10,000 gp)

o Ring of protection +3 (worth 9000 gp)

o Rod of shadowy splendour (worth 12,500 gp)

o Boots of teleportation (worth 24,500 gp)

o Jewelry (worth 3000 gp)

o Walcourt master key

Experience

· Vampire spawn (4) – 4800 xp

· Nihiloi – 12,800 xp

· Silana, vampire sorceress – 6400 xp

· Shadows (8) – 6400 xp

· Calikang – 19,200 xp

· Ilnerik Sivanshin – 51,200 xp

· Story Award (banishing the shadows from Westcrown) – 36,000 xp

· Total – 136,000 xp

· Per PC (6) – 22,800 xp

· Fame points (rescuing Eirtein Oberigo) – 1

· Fame points (banishing the shadows from Westcrown) – 5

Current XP Total per PC

· Carlos, Slavé – 135,769 xp

· Alfred – 133,214 xp

· Boecca – 133,194 xp

· Tavo – 129,124 xp

· Alizander – 127,784 xp

Fame Points - 27

The Infernal Syndrome - Session 34: Cleanup

Dramatis Personae

Alfaren “Alfred” Eredel – Elf transmuter

Boecca – Half-orc inquisitor of Erastil

Carlos Santiago - Half-orc (Alkenstarian) evoker

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

Tavo Dechirent - Human cleric of Pharasma

Fireday, 17 Calistril, 4709 A.R.

With Liebdaga defeated and the immediate threat of devilish incursion into Westcrown mitigated, the Returners make their way back through the Nessian Spiral. The jets of steam, blasts of fire and incessant howling and hissing prevalent while the infernal duke Liebdaga the Twin – the Spiral’s engine – was alive have ceased, and the place radiates an uncomfortable, cloying silence. Zovarue the medusa rages at the party when they return to her library, as she finds herself still bound to the room, unable to leave as she had thought. She blames the Returners for keeping her imprisoned and attacks, lifting her veil and turning several of the party members to stone before they are able to act against her. With the help of the nearby kolyarut inevitable, Signatory Vaccha (and a promise to release the kolyarut inevitable from the binding effect keeping it in the Spiral), the still-mobile Returners manage to defeat the furious medusa.

Sunday, 19 Calistril, 4709 A.R.

The group takes time to recoup following the battle with Zovarue. Tavo attempts without success to free Signatory Vaccha from the Thrune binding spell, and vows to return with renewed vigour at a later date. Finally, the group exits the Nessian Spiral into the early morning hours of 19 Calistril. The city is dead quiet; the silence especially noticeable in the absence of the massive pillars of hellfire that raged only days before. A cool late-winter mist lingers in the air, seeping into the crevices and cracks in the rubble as if anticipating the coming daylight, clinging to the last vestiges of night.

As the group crosses the ruined courtyard of Aberian’s mansion, a charging shape springs out of the darkness with the speed of a wild animal. It smashes Carlos with a powerful swing of its arm before loping back into the dim mist, physically hurting the half-orc wizard and leeching his life-force. Several party members catch a glimpse of dimly-glowing orange eyes, an almost-naked, lean but tautly-muscled torso, and a feral, blood-soaked and fang-filled mouth. The Returners gather their wits quickly and mobilize against the creature and bring it down, overwhelming the slavering vampire creature with their greater numbers. Tavo makes the killing strike with the Morrowfall, burning the vampire with deadly sunlight and sending it into oblivion.

With the vampire dead, presumably the same one that had dominated the dottari lieutenant the group met at the barricade days ago, the party wastes little time examining the Mhartis gatehouse at the far end of the ruined courtyard. There they discover a small group of nearly-starved Mhartis guards, confused and disoriented as they come out of a reverie induced by the vampire’s mind-control. The guards tell them the story about how the vampire, which called itself Jerusen, terrorized the Mhartis house and killed or drove out most of the guards and servants. They tell the Returners that Jerusen referred to someone called the “Master of Shadows”, perhaps the elusive vampire Ilnerik Sivanshin, former chronicler to the Pathfinder Donatalus Bisby.

The Returners help the Mhartis guards out of the area and get them some help before finally going back to the Adventurers’ Quarter and their respective homes for some much-needed rest. Over the next several days, news of the Returners’ exploits in the Nessian Spiral and their efforts in defeating the hellish incursion into the city spread, and the group’s fame grows with it. Sascar Tilernos hosts the Returners in the Tilernos estate in the noble district, granting them a reward for her rescue and letters of writ permitting them entry into the Parego Regicona.

Still, not all is well in the city of Westcrown. Dottari and Hellknights of the Order of the Rack continue to clash and argue over jurisdiction. Shadows still stalk the night streets, joined now by the occasional errant devil that entered the city during the initial explosion at Aberian’s Folly.

Slavé is distressed to learn upon returning to the Order of the Scourge headquarters in the northern ruins – the Rego Cader – that Aberian Arvanxi escaped custody during a skirmish with a group of rogues too well-armed to be mere thugs. Pontia Runario, the local Scourge paralictor, tells Slavé of a sudden increase in resistance in the northern ruins that arose during the chaos after the explosion at the mayor’s manor. She describes guerilla soldiers armed with well-made weapons – rapiers and concealable hand crossbows – too expensive to belong to the average street-tough.

The Returners are approached by citizens on the street daily – requesting assistance with annoying neighbours, money to help rescue a failing business, healing for a dying mother, help escaping the city of Westcrown. Some Wiscrani exhibit resentment towards the Returners, blaming them for the recent turmoil, wishing for a return to days when the ever-present dottari, Hellknights, and Asmodean priests kept order and routine, even if it was with an iron fist.

Treasure

· From Zovarue

o Wand of make whole (CL 10^th, 16 charges) (worth 2400 gp)

o +1 Mithral dagger (worth 1250 gp)

o Headband of alluring charisma +2 (worth 2000 gp)

o Amulet of natural armour +1 (worth 1000 gp)

· From Jerusen

o Masterwork hand crossbow (worth 200 gp)

o 10 +1 crossbow bolts (poisoned with medium spider venom) (worth 950 gp total)

o Amulet of natural armour +1 (worth 1000 gp)

o Cloak of resistance +1 (worth 500 gp)

o Ring of protection +1 (worth 1000 gp)

· From House Tilernos

o 5000 gp for the return of their daughter, Sascar Tilernos (see session 31)

o Letters of writ permitting entry into the Parego Regicona

Experience Awards

· Jerusen, feral vampire – 6400 xp

· Story Award (defeating Ilnerik Sivanshin’s thrall and putting a stop to his influence in the Aberian Folly ruins) – 4000 xp

· Story Award (saving the Mhartis guards and solving the mystery of the invasion into the Mhartis house) – 6000 xp

· Total – 16,400 xp

· Per PC (5) – 3,280 xp

· Fame Points (for defeating Liebdaga the Twin and ending the threat to the city) - 2

Current XP Total per PC

· Carlos, Slavé – 73,355 xp each

· Alfred – 74,800 xp

· Boecca – 74,580 xp

· Tavo – 73,590 xp

· Alizander – 56,935 xp

· Total Current Fame Points – 20

What Lies in Dust - Session 21: Delvehaven, Part IV

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
Vaeden Corleone - Human rogue

Toilday, 9 Abadius, 4709 A.R.

The Returners continue their exploration of Delvehaven, fighting their way past two shadow mastiffs before making their way downstairs into the cellar level. Tavo decides to stand guard at the top of the stairway while the rest of the group continues on. Jancen scouts ahead, gliding silently through the darkened hallways of the long-empty but once opulent lower level. As the main group makes its way downstairs, dim light filters through the hall, casting dancing shadows across the dust-choked flagstone. Jancen continues scouting the hallway, peering first into Delvehaven’s insect museum, then a small wine cellar and tavern.

Vaeden, meanwhile, heads in another direction and scouts another room featuring a upraised stage with a gold, green, and magenta mosaic in the form of an intricate glyph of a road vanishing into the horizon.

As Jancen and Vaeden sneak through the cellar, Alizander, Carlos, and Boecca enter the insect museum. The glass display cases lining the walls of the room are generally smashed; their former contents of desiccated and artfully-mounted specimens strewn about the floor. Most impressive are the larger, giant-sized vermin on display. Dog-sized ants, man-sized spiders, and even a horse-sized scorpion are mounted in threatening postures, although in each case, the immense preserved monster is badly damaged and, in some cases, in pieces. As the three walk about the room, they each feel a disquieting presence. Boecca, in particular, gets the sensation of sudden hunger pangs combined with an unmistakable desire to feed on the flesh and drink the blood of his companions. Ashamed by the overwhelming sensation, and worried that he may be falling under the influence of some unholy force, Boecca pulls out a small vial of holy water and a pinch of silver dust and consecrates the area in the name of Erastil. As he releases the fine silver dust into the air, the hundreds of vermin in the room suddenly lurch into violent life as phantasmal legs, wings, and heads reattach in a single sudden storm of hungry ghost bugs. An instant later, the verminous storm collapses on itself in a cannibalistic orgy, the phantasmal creatures tearing themselves apart and feeding on each other. As the storm of ghostly bugs flies and crawls through Boecca, Carlos, and Alizander, they each receive the sickening vision of feasting on human and half-orc blood and flesh. Wounds appear on their arms and legs that look like bit marks left by decidedly human (and half-orc) teeth, and each of the companions feels himself growing fuller, as if their bellies were distended with flesh chewed from the bodies of their friends. The phantasmal storm of insects disappears as quickly as it began, leaving the companions in a temporary state of shock. Boecca is particularly affected, and doubles over in nausea and shame at the implications of what happened.

Vaeden hears the commotion and returns to his friends in the insect museum, but finds them unwilling to discuss what happened. Jancen, meanwhile, continues scouting ahead of the party, and arrives at a reading room containing the ominous skeletal remains of several individuals – one seated in a velvet sofa, the others a mess of bones in the centre of the room. Carefully looking into the room, he notices something scrawled in crude lettering on the wall opposite the seated skeleton: “He who steals from me dies by my hand.” The grisly pile of skeletal remnants heaped in a mound in the centre of the room seems to testify to this threat. Jancen calls the rest of the Returners over at this point.

The party decides to attempt a séance with the spirit of the reclining skeleton. They open the Chelish Crux and retrieve their last remaining grave candle. Khazrae Kuelata, the severed erinyes head residing within the Crux, is surprisingly quiet and lucid at the time, and tells the party that she believes the skeleton to be the remains of the famous Pathfinder, Donatalus Bisby. As the grave candle is lit, the room seems to darken apart from the single flickering flame. A cold halo surrounds the skeleton, but before the group is able to commune with its spirit, the skull levitates into the air, shouting, “Thieves, thieves, thieves in my house! You did not heed my warning. Now you suffer the consequences!”

A pair of incorporeal shadows rises from the mound of skeletal remains in the centre of the room and attacks the Returners. Bisby’s skull joins the fray, using its latent magical power to send a heart-stopping haunt at Alizander – a vision of his dead wife, rotting and decomposed, floating towards him with his death in her eyes. Alizander feels a stabbing pain in his chest at the vision of his lost love, but manages to shake the vision off. He tosses the Khazrae’s severed head at Bisby’s skull before capturing it in a sack. The rest of the party defeats the undead shadows, and the skull seems to cease its frantic and insane babbling. Alizander opens the bag; it is initially dismissive of the party’s attempts to communicate with it, but becomes much more cooperative after Alizander identifies himself as a Pathfinder.

The essence of Bisby’s spirit, through his animated skull, is able to fill in several holes in the story the party has already learned of his trials following the retrieval of the Aohl. He fears his companion, Ilnerik Sivanshin, stole part of the Aohl and fled to Nidal to sell it there. Bisby explains how the Aohl, once its two components were separated, no longer had countering forces to keep them in check. The portion Ilnerik left behind was called the Morrowfall and depicted an eagle’s head, the representation of a long-dead sun cult, the name of whose god has fallen into obscurity. This portion grew unstable over the week that followed Ilnerik’s departure, periodically emitting blinding and searing blasts of sunlight so that the Pathfinders were forced to secure it in a deep vault below, both for its security and to prevent the blasts of light from hurting anyone. Bisby tells the Returners that the entrance to the vault is in the Summoning Chamber nearby, and that to open the way, one must spell out the words “Behold the Amber Arca” on the red door.

He also warns the party that it seems likely that the other half of the Aohl, the Totemrix, had a similar building of power. Bisby knows that this portion of the Aohl is the counterpart of the golden eagle – the long-dead demon lord of shadows Vyriavaxus – and he fears that the Totemrix, with its power uncontested by the Morrowfall, may have worked a most unholy transformation on his old friend Ilnerik. He confides as well that “dark spirits” have recently passed through these halls, and that even now he can feel their intrusions in the vault below, beyond his reach. Worse, these “dark spirits” have in them a hideous familiarity – Bisby worries that his friend Ilnerik is behind their appearance, and that they seek to destroy the Morrowfall, which even now works to oppose the Totemrix. With the Morrowfall’s destruction, who knows what shadowy growth and vile magic the keeper of the Totemrix might unleash?

Soon, Bisby feels his lucidity fading. His final act is to thank the Returners for the few minutes of sanity they have given him, after which his skull fades back into silence.

The Returners take several moments to search the room before leaving and loot several items from Bisby’s skeleton (deciding the old Pathfinder would not be overly upset, especially if the items help them reunite the two halves of the Aohl). Jancen is the first to head back down the hall. As he rounds the corner to the hall leading to the Summoning Chamber, a figure springs from the darkness in front of him – a lithe, white-haired elf woman wielding what appears to be two wooden stakes. As she charges toward him, Jancen catches a glimpse of her brilliant red eyes and sharp, gleaming canines before raising his sword in defense. Jancen avoids her initial attack and retreats down the hallway. The elven vampire follows and calls a vampire thrall to her aid.

The elven vampire and her thrall are eventually defeated. As the elven vampire falls, she looks into the face of Boecca. For a moment her large, almond-shaped eyes lose their red glow, and Boecca imagines he can see something other than hate and malice in them. “Please”, she says in a cold, flinty voice, “deliver me from this shame….” The vampire’s physical body dissipates into a blood-tinged mist at that point, and floats down the hallway, through the double doors leading to the Summoning Chamber. One of her wooden stakes lies on the floor in front of Boecca, as if enticing him to follow and finish the deed.

The party follows the retreating mist and enters the Summoning Chamber. Using the password provided by Bisby, they open the secret portal leading downstairs to the vault. There, they face a massive dark hall, once barred by three separate layers of huge vault doors of stone, each now forced apart and hanging askew. Just past the doors are large piles of rubble on which numerous mirrors have been affixed, their reflective surfaces aiming towards the end of the hall. A bright light radiates from the far end of the hall, its energy building and pulsing every few moments. Believing this to be the Morrowfall, Jancen begins advancing down the hallway. The rest of the party heads down another hallway to the west, towards another set of double doors – perhaps the final retreat of the mist-form of the defeated vampire.

As Jancen passes the last broken vault door, the bright light becomes even brighter, and a searing blast fires down the corridor just to the right, narrowly missing him. He runs toward the light as it starts to build again, this time releasing an explosion of blinding light. Jancen closes his eyes just in time, but the intense light still leaves his skin red and blistering. He reaches the end of the hall as the nimbus of light begins to pulsate yet again. As he puts his hand on the source of light, it instantly diminishes, leaving the area shrouded in utter darkness. Jancen is momentarily blinded as the light disappears, but can feel the rough shape of an avian head in his hand – the Morrowfall.

Vaeden, Alizander, Carlos, and Boecca open the double doors to a chamber lined with shelves filled with scorched and burned books and scrolls. In the centre of the room is a coffin. Standing over the coffin is a dark, cloaked figure holding a wooden stake in its hand. The figure plunges the stake into the body of the elven vampire lying in repose within the coffin, slowly turns around, and rises to face the Returners.

Treasure:

· From the Hall of Armour

o +1 full plate +1 (worth 1325 gp)

o +1 light fortification breastplate (worth 2175 gp)

o Masterwork chain shirt (Tian Xia style) with facemask (worth 300 gp)

· From Bisby’s Final Resting Place

o 6 vials of strange dye

o Manticore spike chopsticks (worth 15 gp)

o Bloodstones (6) (worth 300 gp total / 50 gp each)

o Masterwork bolas (worth 152 gp)

o Silver signet whistle (worth 60 gp)

o Golden bell carved with Thassilonian runes (worth 450 gp)

o Ring of swimming (worth 1250 gp)

o Cowardly crouching cloak (worth 900 gp)

o Lens of detection (worth 1750 gp)

o +1 leather armour (worth 580 gp)

o Ring of protection +2 (worth 4000 gp)

o Animal-bane light crossbow +1 (worth 4170 gp)

o Efficient quiver (worth 900 gp)

o Mithral-headed crossbow bolts (60, in quiver) (worth 1500 gp / 25 gp per bolt)

o Javelins of lightning (2, in quiver) (worth 1500 gp / 750 gp each)

o Wayfinder (worth 250 gp)

o Dusty rose prism ioun stone (worth 2500 gp)

· From Vahnwynne Malkistra (elven vampire)

o Wooden stake +1 (worth 1150 gp)

Experience Awards

· Shadow mastiffs (2) – 3200 xp

· Haunt – verminous cannibal storm – 2400 xp

· Shadows (2) – 1600 xp

· Bisby’s skull – 2400 xp

· Hellcat door trap (bypassed) – 3200 xp

· Vahnwynne Malkistra – 3200 xp

· Weakened vampire spawn – 1200 xp

· Story Award (speaking with Bisby’s spirit) – 6000 xp

· Total – 23,200 xp

· Per PC (5) – 4640 xp each

Current XP Total per PC

· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé, Vaeden – 27,295 xp each

· Boecca – 24,540 xp

· Tavo – 21,960 xp

Council of Thieves, Part 3: What Lies in Dust - Session 15: Within the Crux

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.

Tavo, Vaeden, Carlos, and Alizander return to the Adventurers’ Quarter to recover and nurse their wounds. Tavo accompanies the weak and sickly Vaeden to the Returner’s safehouse and gets Arael’s assistance in attending the rogue’s deadly affliction. When their initial ministrations prove unsuccessful in removing the effects of the mummy rot, Arael scours the city for help and finds it in the form of Barella, a travelling cleric of Arael’s own patron, Iomedae. Barella, a stout and muscular woman with a soft voice at odds with her rough exterior, agrees to aid her fellow brother of the cloth in exchange for a place to lay her head for several nights (in addition to the cost associated with her spellcasting). Barella is successful in removing the mummy’s curse from the near-dead Vaeden, and also cures him of the dreadful effects of the disease.

Jancen, before returning to the Adventurers’ Quarter, finds the Lord-Mayor in his villa and confirms their meeting for the following week. He also finds Crosael and tells the majordomo of Sian’s treachery. Crosael expresses shock at the news and berates herself for not being more diligent when hiring Sian. She is grateful to Jancen for returning the missing bust of Asmodeus.

Fireday, 30 Neth to Wealday, 12 Kuthona, 4708 A.R.

The party takes care of several items of business during this two week period. Nagiphax the Cyclops-kin decides her community would be better served if she remains behind the bar at the Beer Golem Tavern where she can keep an eye on those close to her. She remains a member of the Returners, yet decides not to accompany the party on further forays out of the Adventurers’ Quarter. Carlos scribes several spells into his grimoire and works on crafting magic items; Alizander strolls about the Adventurers’ Quarter extolling the virtues of the Returners and coming dangerously close to running afoul of the dottari on several occasions; Vaeden keeps his ear to the ground and gets a sense of the latest feelings among the former adventurers and disenfranchised nobles in the Quarter; Slavé / Jancen meets with Pontia and is later informed by one of Aberian Arvanxi’s messengers that the Order of the Scourge has been given the permits to establish a small base in the former Church of Erastil in the northern ruins of the city (the former hideout of the Bastards of Erebus); Tavo continues cleaning up the old Church of Erastil until confronted by Hellknights of the Order of the Scourge. Through some careful diplomacy, Tavo manages to broker a deal with the Hellknights and is allowed to stay on at the site as a resident mortician. After all, the Hellknights figure they may rack up a body count being located in the heart of the Dospera.

During this time, the party also consults with Arael, Janiven, and the Pathfinder Ailyn Ghontasavos. Ailyn is overjoyed that the party managed to retrieve the Chelish Crux, and relates once again her story of the Pathfinder Donatalus Bisby and his chronicler, Ilnerik Sivanshin (see session 8 summary), encouraging the party to open the Crux and continue its investigation into the link between the shadow menace and Delvehaven, the old Pathfinder lodge.

Oathday, 13 Kuthona, 4708 A.R.

Alizander is finally successful in deciphering the Chelish Crux puzzle box. The item snaps open, unleashing its contents onto the floor of the Returners’ safehouse. One larger item the size of a chicken rolls under a nearby pew and emits a loud, offensive keening in a raspy female voice. Retrieving the object, the party finds itself in the possession of a disturbing relic – the severed, yet very vociferous and very much alive, head of some devilish female creature. Between curses and epithets screamed in the Infernal language of the Pit, the party learns that, once upon a time, the head was known as Khazrae Kuelata, and that she was a mighty erinyes assassin who ran afoul of her master – the archdevil Moloch. Rather than slay her, Moloch had Khazrae’s body destroyed, wings and all, and left her a talking head so that she could endure perpetual humiliation at the hands of her former comrades. Over the centuries, Moloch tired of the increasingly mad Khazrae, and she was eventually lost in a gamble to a mortal wizard – one Dargentu Vheed, who later became the Lord-Mayor of Westcrown. Khazrae was afforded a place of honour on display in Dargentu’s home, until she finally overstepped her bounds and informed guests of Dargentu’s more delicate indiscretions. Khazrae has languished within the darkness of the Chelish Crux for decades.

Between rage-filled diatribes against Dargentu, Moloch, and every other former associate of Khazrae’s, the party discovers that Dargentu resided within the Pathfinder lodge of Delvehaven, and that Khazrae has some familiarity with the site. Finally, the party tosses the erinyes’ head back in the Chelish Crux, closing it to silence her Infernal ramblings.

The other items found in the Crux include a portfolio (which contains several Delvehaven accounting ledgers, a list of several missing Delvehaven Pathfinders, and a poorly-written poem entitled ‘Cugny’s Wedding’ that Alizander discovers is a cipher leading to a hidden Pathfinder cache at something called the Wave Door), several scrolls and wands, and a silver box containing four grave candles – necromantic items that permit communication with the dead via their mortal remains.

The list of missing Pathfinders identifies some names of interest and possible leads for the party to investigate prior to entering Delvehaven. It’s contents are as follows:

“Mayor Vheed,

Presented below is what I have been able to piece together regarding the Pathfinders who escaped notice after they sealed Delvehaven during the initial riots in the pre-Thrune unpleasantness. After the passage of seventy-some years, it would seem likely that only Sivanshin still lives, and if you wish, I can send my agents north to Nidal to attempt to find him. The use of grave tallow to interrogate those who have been dead these past several decades ironically makes them more available to interview than Sivanshin – provided we can find their remains, of course. I am happy to report that I’ve made some progress in that area.

1. Donatalus Bisby: Leader of the Amber Privateers and one of only two survivors of a journey to darkest Mwangi – he has firsthand knowledge of at least one magical artifact that could serve our needs for control. It would seem Bisby was sealed inside one of Delvehaven’s vaults as the others fled, but I’m unclear if this was a voluntary sacrifice.

2. Ilnerik Sivanshin: Bisby’s chronicler, a half-elf, Sivanshin fled Westcrown a week before Aroden’s Fall. Evidence suggests he fled north, toward Nidal, and with a stolen relic.

3. Coriana Heavenscape: A Westcrown native and, if rumour is to be believed, an aasimar. Coriana remained in Westcrown and organized the Father’s Bulwark, one of many groups of rebels glorious Thrune smashed in the pursuit of establishing order. She was slain and her remains collected by the Sisters of Eiseth – I’ve got them sifting through their holdings in an attempt to find her.

4. Loremaster Liriam: Delvehaven’s master of lore – no other would know more about the vaults below. Alas, no evidence of his survival has surfaced – like Bisby, his remains might still lie within Delvehaven. I do suspect he was the author of “Cugny’s Wedding,” and if so, your suspicion that it is a cipher may well be correct.

5. Venture-Captain Aiger Ghaelfin: Aiger was certainly the one who ordered the sealing of Delvehaven. My earlier research indicated that he planned on fleeing Cheliax for Absalom, but further investigation revealed this to be false. He remained in Westcrown and fought alongside Coriana in the Father’s Bulwark, but was laid low by a Thrune wizard who petrified him and then smashed the resulting statue. Scuttlebut among the blood bookie circuit is that the remains of the man’s petrified body have been in the possession of one of the lesser noble houses involved in bloodsport, but I’ve not yet determined which family (I suspect the Luccas). These filthy has-been nobles play well enough when faced with Thrune’s agents, but without the direct aid of your allies, master, I’m afraid I won’t be able to learn more….”

With the evidence provided by the Chelish Crux, the party decides to start their search by investigating the Wave Door alluded to in the cipher within the ‘Cugny’s Wedding’ poem, hoping to find more information in the cache described by the cipher. With Ailyn’s help, the party determines that the Wave Door is located over the water in Cutlass Cove, about a quarter mile from Delvehaven and Rego Sacero’s eastern shoreline.

Fireday, 14 Kuthona, 4708 A.R.

The party purchases two rowboats and, after greasing the hand of a dottari port-guard, rows out to Cutlass Cove just before sundown. Even with the aid of Alizander’s wayfinder, It takes the group some time to find the location indicated in the poem – some 300 feet northeast of the black-sand beach on Wort Rock – and by the time they do find the spot, the sun is well below the horizon. Before Alizander is able to activate his wayfinder and recite the Delvehaven oath (one of the steps necessary to open the Wave Door), the group is attacked from below the (thankfully calm) waters by three undead shadows – clearly guardians of some sort. Tavo suffers the cold, life-sucking touch of the shadows several times, and falls utterly drained to the planks of the rocking rowboat. Alizander finds himself in the cold night-water, also weakened by the shadows’ deadly touch, before the undead are finally dispatched. Alizander is dragged back into the boat, and the party gathers itself for several moments before the sorcerer illuminates the now-dark cove with his wayfinder and begins to recite the Delvehaven Oath.

Treasure

· From the Chelish Crux:

o Erinyes’ head (Khazrae Kuelata)

o Scroll of heal

o Scroll of remove curse

o Scroll of scrying

o Grave candles (4)

o Wand of break enchantment

o Wand of death ward

o Delvehaven accounting ledgers

o List of missing Pathfinders

o Cugny’s Wedding (poem cipher leading to the Wave Door cache)

o Silver box (worth 250 gp)

Experience Awards

· Story Award (opening the Chelish Crux and recover the clues within) – 2000 xp

· Shadow – 800 xp

· Faded shadows – 1200 xp

· Total – 4000 xp

· Per PC (5) – 800 xp

Current XP Totals per PC

· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé, Vaeden – 16,495 xp each

· Tavo – 15,840 xp

· Nagiphax – 9135 xp

· Croso, Orem – 8200 xp

· Total Current Fame Points – 10