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

Mother of Flies - Session 41: Walcourt Raid, Part IV

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 searching Walcourt for the entrance to the basement, finally discovering a long, downward-spiralling staircase on the second floor near the opulent chambers reserved for Sandor the Strange. After pilfering the diviner’s effects, the party makes its way down the stairs, Slavé scouting ahead. The air becomes noticeably cooler and more humid as they decend down the long staircase. The air is reasonably fresh to most of the Returners, though Boecca notes the slight scent of sewer.

At the bottom of the stairs the Returners come to a stone landing overlooking a dark cavern pool. A flat-bottomed boat with a pole for pushing it is moored to the platform’s edge. Parts of the north and west walls are mortared stone, but the rest is a natural formation and extends eastward around a bend in the flooded tunnel. The ceiling soars twenty feet overhead through a maze of stalactites. To the north, a ten-foot-high water-filled tunnel exits past a set of rusty bars. Boecca indicates that the scent of sewer emanates from the northern tunnel.

The party begins to cross the pool – Tavo and Boecca in the boat, Alizander levitating just behind it, tethered with a rope, Carlos just out of the water atop the clay golem’s back as it wades through the pool, Slavé levitating and pulling himself across the ceiling, and Alfred flying in amongst the stalactites. About halfway across the pool, the group is ambushed by three 8-foot tall lobster-like monstrosities, tiny eyes gleaming above mouths full of writhing tentacles. One of the chuul’s grabs Tavo in its massive claw and feeds him into the tentacles mass. Tavo feels his muscles and joints seizing uncontrollably as he is coated in a glistening substance coating the tentacles, and just barely manages to fight off the paralysis. Boecca, too, is grabbed by one of the chuuls, but is dropped when the chuul is struck by a lightning bolt cast by Alfred. Carlos’ clay golem pulverizes one of the chuuls into chowder, and the other two are eventually dispatched by the other Returners.

Alizander sends a group of summoned water elementals ahead in the tunnel. As the elementals round the bend in the east, a horrible baying and howling reverberates through the cavern. The water elementals return and describe the pool ending in a pebbly beach around the bend in the east, which leads to a grotto featuring several chairs and tables. The Returners recognize the baying echoing through the chamber – shadow mastiffs. Rounding the bend, the group confronts the mastiffs from the shore, confident the beasts will not advance into the water. With spell and arrow they defeat the mastiffs, and head into the guard landing. The Returners realize that they need to regroup and recover after the last couple of hours exploring Walcourt, but are concerned that the mastiffs’ baying has alerted the rest of the dungeon’s denizens. Slavé decides to scout a little further and opens the door leading north from the landing. In the short hallway beyond, Slavé catches sight of a green, misty form just before it disappears through another doorway to the north. If there was any question about whether the dungeon’s denizens knew the Returners were here, there is no longer.

Treasure

· From D19. Abode of Sandor the Strange

o Scale model of Walcourt (false vision focus) (worth 2000 gp)

o Varisian Harrow deck of enameled wooden plaques (worth 500 gp)

o Silver mirror (worth 1000 gp)

o Brass orrery (worth 200 gp)

o Diamonds (5) (worth 2500 gp total)

o 880 gp

o Sandor’s spellbooks

· From D17. Stiglor’s Chamber

o Assorted gems (worth 5780 gp)

o +2 Shadow studded leather armour

· From F1. Hidden Grotto

o Sparkwake starknife (worth 10,824 gp)

Experience

· Spiked pit traps (3) – 7200 xp

· Lightning bolt trap – 2400 xp

· Chuuls (3) – 9600 xp

· Shadow mastiffs (4) – 6400 xp

· Total – 25,600 xp

· Per PC (6) – 4267 xp

Current XP Total per PC

· Carlos, Slavé – 112,969 xp

· Alfred – 110,414 xp

· Boecca – 110,394 xp

· Tavo – 106,324 xp

· Alizander – 104,984 xp

· Fame Points - 21

Mother of Flies - Session 40: Walcourt Raid, Part III

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.

Alizander, Carlos, Boecca, and Tavo are ambushed while investigating the body of Vassindio Drovenge from the floor above. An invisible spellcaster unleashes a fireball in the room, engulfing the group in flame. The Returners respond with spells of their own – glitterdust to reveal the spellcaster followed by black tentacles to halt his escape. The attacker is shrouded in a veil of gold dust, but manages to evade the grasping tentacles and glides out of sight.

Alfred hears the battle from the secret passageway within the outer wall and finds a secret door leading to the Walcourt grounds. He exits the secret passage, flies over Walcourt and dispels his slowly creeping cloudkill spell, then joins the rest of the group.

Slavé continues to explore the rooms in the lower east wing of Walcourt. He finds a secret door leading to a long-disused section of the building consisting of dusty storerooms and closets. In one of these storerooms Slavé comes across the desiccated skeleton of an old resident of the complex. Always wary, Slavé uses his bag of many tricks to conjure a sodden dog and sends it into the room first. The skeleton springs to life as the dog enters the room; a long, thick, disgusting tongue appendage shoots out of the skeleton’s mouth, biting the dog and sending into paralytic spasms. The skeleton lurches out of its chair with alarming speed, searching for the invisible Slavé. Slavé leads the undead creature on a wild chase through the dusty hallways, managing to get in several devastating attacks on the thing with his crossbow, even pinning the skeleton’s distended fanged tongue to the back of its skull with one well-placed bolt. The creature attempts to escape, but ends up running directly into the path of the other Returners, who waste little time destroying the murderous undead.

Meanwhile, the party is set upon once again by the invisible spellcaster, this time from the Walcourt grounds just outside of the room containing the remains of the Drovenge patriarch. The spells fly between the attacker and Carlos and Alfred. The attacking wizard is once again revealed by a glitterdust spell, and Alizander makes a daring decision to charge. He slams into the attacker and succeeds in pinning him to the ground. After several more hits from the Returners, the attacker finally submits and reveals himself – a handsome wizard with dark hair and beard, wielding a staff carved in the likeness of a coiled blue dragon. Through interrogation, the Returners learn that the wizards name is Sandor, sometimes called the Strange by the other Council members. He has been working as a guild wizard for the Council for some time, first under Vassindio and then under Ecarrdian and Chammady following the coup. He professes to being an opportunist, only working for the Council to fund his interest in astronomy and astrology. The party is almost ready to believe him, especially after he reveals that the dungeons below Walcourt hold the Returners’ likely target – the Lord of Shadows, a powerful vampire that controls the shadows and night terrors of Westcrown. Something about him unsettles Alizander and Boecca, however, and the half-orc inquisitor uses his arts to wrest the truth out of Sandor – that he is secretly a member of an organization called the Night Heralds who has quietly been keeping a watch on the stars for his true masters to return from beyond the Dark Tapestry. Sandor’s speech becomes increasingly mad as he spouts prophecy of the Dark Tapestry and the far realm, until he is finally silenced by Boecca.

Treasure

· From the Dark creeper footpads

o Masterwork daggers (5) (worth 750 gp total)

o Black smear poison (5) (worth 900 gp total)

· From C10. Dining Room

o Note/Invitation

· From C21. Forgotten Storage

o Assassin’s dagger (worth 5302 gp)

o Potions of invisibility (3) (worth 450 gp total)

o 12 citrines (worth 2400 gp total)

· From Manus Undiomede (mohrg)

o Gold eyepatch (worth 150 gp)

· From Sandor the Strange

o Scroll of shadow walk (worth 825 gp)

o Bracers of armour +4 (worth 8000 gp)

o Headband of vast intelligence +2 (Use Magic Device) (worth 2000 gp)

o Key

Experience

· Council thieves (6, from session 39) – 4800 xp

· Shadow rat swarm (from session 39) – 1200 xp

· Dark creeper footpads (5) – 6000 xp

· Dark stalker guildsman – 4800 xp

· Guillotine trap – 6400 xp

· Manus Undiomede (mohrg) – 4800 xp

· Sandor the Strange (diviner) – 12,800 xp

· Total – 40,800 xp

· Per PC (6) – 6800 xp

Current XP Total per PC

· Carlos, Slavé – 108,702 xp

· Alfred – 106,147 xp

· Boecca – 106,127 xp

· Tavo – 102,057 xp

· Alizander – 100,717 xp

· Fame Points - 21

Mother of Flies - Session 39: Walcourt Raid, Part II

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

Oathday, 21 Pharast, to Fireday, 29 Pharast, 4709 A.R.

The brawl in Walcourt spills over into multiple maze-like chambers. Alizander and Boecca deal with the remaining dark stalker guildsmen in the Council offices. Carlos stands guard in the main guardroom, prepared for any other intruders to come through the four as-yet-unexplored doors. Slavé peers through the arrow slit into the dark hallway beyond the brutal spear trap he discovered. Alfred floats invisibly into the same room and collides with the also-invisible Slavé, who luckily manages to maintain his composure and continue manning the spear trap. Soon enough, three Council thieves make their way down the hall, and Slavé activates the trigger mechanism on the trap, sending a wall of spears through the flimsy wall, pinning the first thief to the wooden wall behind. The other two thieves push past their dying comrade and into the trap room, to find it apparently empty as they are unable to see the invisible Slavé and Alfred. Slavé sneaks back down the hallway he came from, hearing the sound of dark folk through one of the doors in the hallway.

The dark folk storm into the trap room, shouting at the two Council thieves in their strange, unknown language. The Council thieves back away from the dark creeper footpads, wary and perhaps afraid of the dark folk. Alfred, meanwhile, sees his time to strike, and invokes a choking cloudkill spell to waft over the tightly packed gang of dark creepers and Council thieves. The deadly cloud sends all of the dark creepers and thieves into violent convulsions as its poisonous vapours penetrate their lungs and bloodstreams. The dark folk die in flashes of bright light; a blinding series of brilliant white flashes, momentarily illuminating the halls and rooms of Walcourt in stark light and defined shadows.

Beocca and Alizander, meanwhile, discover what appears to be a Council conference chamber, outfitted with a massive slate table, leather chairs, and a number of what appear to be fine works of art on the walls. Alizander retrieves an ebony tinderbox from the table; it contains a small amount of ash that radiates a faint magical aura. Boecca jerks to attention when he notices a small, plum-sized semi-transparent sphere float very quickly through the air in the hallway behind him. Neither of the adventurers are fast enough to exit the conference room before it is engulfed in a series of chilling cold blasts from small nozzles hidden in the walls. Alizander and Boecca leave the room promptly after the trap is sprung, neither of them eager to face its frosty bite again.

Slavé heads downstairs, following several escaping dark folk, where he encounters a swarm of strange rats, more shadow-stuff than rat. He runs from the creatures and manages to avoid them, heading south through the east wing of the maze-like guildhouse.

The Returners upstairs notice the flying transparent spheres several more times, but hesitate to investigate their source. Alfred recognizes the spheres as the result of a spell called prying eyes, a powerful scrying spell. Carlos, eager to find the basement, decides to unleash his newly-created clay golem. The massive golem begins pounding on the floor, eventually finding a weak point and falling through to Walcourt’s first floor, directly onto a large oaken table holding the body of a badly-mutilated victim. Moth-eaten curtains of red velvet drape the walls of the square chamber; low-burning torches burn in sconces mounted between them. Carlos, Alizander, Boecca, and Tavo follow the golem – Tavo brandishing the Morrowfall before him.

Alfred makes his way back to the room with the spear-trap that was sprung by Slavé, and heads down the hall from whence the Council thieves came. Through several empty rooms later, Alfred comes upon another group of Council thieves, these ones waiting beside a narrow, cramped shaft leading to the first floor below, one of them wielding a noose as if to hook something from the shaft. Realizing five thieves could probably overwhelm him in direct combat, Alfred sickens them all with a stinking cloud and descends through the shaft to the first floor below, finding himself in a narrow secret passage between the outer wall and the rooms of Walcourt. At the bottom of the shaft is a collection of 13 hats of assorted sizes and styles hanging on pegs – none of them radiate magic, and their purpose is unclear.

In the curtained room, Alizander, Carlos, Tavo and Boecca are attacked from secret doors behind the curtains. The Returners make short work of the novice thieves attacking them, and send most of them running. The clay golem smashes through the set of double doors in the room, exiting into Walcourt’s grounds. The other Returners examine the body on the table and realize after some investigation that it is none other than Vassindio Drovenge. The Drovenge patriarch’s lower jaw has been torn away. Tavo determines that the grandfather of Chammady and Ecarrdian Drovenge was tortured for some time before he was finally granted death. The Returners all remark on the strangeness of the room – a torture chamber as one’s first welcome through Walcourt’s front doors.

Treasure

· From the Dark creeper footpads

o Masterwork daggers (10) (worth 1500 gp total)

o Black smear poison (15 doses) (worth 2700 gp total)

· From the Dark stalker guildsmen

o Masterwork short swords (6) (worth 930 gp total)

o +2 Leather armour (3) (worth 6540 gp total)

· From the Council thieves

o Coins and jewelry (worth 900 gp total)

· From D11. Nightmaster’s Office

o Council documents (worth unknown)

· From D10. Daymaster’s Office

o Council documents (worth unknown)

· From D15. Council Chamber

o Tinderbox containing magical ash (worth 100 gp for ebony tinderbox; ash unknown)

Experience

· Dark creeper footpads (10) – 12000 xp

· Dark stalker guildsmen (2) – 9600 xp

· Novice thieves (4) – 1600 xp

· Council thieves (3) – 2400 xp

· Wasp arrow traps (2) – 12800 xp

· Cone of cold trap – 12800 xp

· Spiked pit trap – 6400 xp

· Total – 57600 xp

· Per PC – 9600 xp

Current XP Total per PC

· Carlos, Slavé – 101,902 xp

· Alfred – 99,347 xp

· Boecca – 99,327 xp

· Tavo – 95,257 xp

· Alizander – 93,917 xp

· Fame Points - 21