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

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

What Lies in Dust - Session 20: Delvehaven, Part III

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.

The Returners, now bolstered with the addition of Boecca, a half-orc inquisitor eager to mete out Erastil’s justice on a city of devil-worshippers, head back to Delvehaven and brave its dusty halls once again.

The group heads first to the Nautalica, where they faced the deadly shadow-infused triceratops skeleton. They find the massive aquarium has ruptured since their last visit, spilling its contents of mouldering fish skeletons across the floor. The party determines that several of the bones of the triceratops have been removed since their last visit. Upon further examination they discover several footprints throughout the now-sodden muck and dust on the floor. The footprints seem to appear and disappear without any obvious entrance or exit from the room.

The Returners gather what useful items they can from the detritus spilled from the broken aquarium before proceeding deeper into Delvehaven. They continue through the large double doors leading south and enter an open-air courtyard, where they fight a frantic battle with five unsettling children’s toys animated with malevolent soul foci. After defeating the soulbound dolls, the party examines an unusual blue-metal dais in the centre of the courtyard that renders anyone on top of it invisible. The presence of a number of weapon racks under the terrace along the courtyard’s outer wall suggests that the Delvehaven Pathfinders may have used the dais to practice their blind-fighting abilities.

The party leaves the courtyard through another set of double doors leading to the southern wing of the structure. Within the half-moon-shaped building is the former Delvehaven Council Chamber – a spacious room featuring a gigantic nightscape mural on the ceiling. The mural’s bands of stars stretch to form an outline of the Pathfinders’ famed Glyph of the Open Road. Wooden stairs lead up to a balcony circling the upper level of the Council Chamber, where another set of double doors leads back out to the courtyard and a rickety wooden bridge connecting the southern wing to the main northern wing of the lodge. As the party heads up the stairs towards the doors, they are set upon by a pulsating yellow orb. Several party members receive body-shaking jolts of electricity from the ill-tempered will-o’-wisp before the group manages to surround the alien creature and strike it down.

The party heads back to the northern wing of the lodge and explores the upstairs level, which consists almost entirely of guest rooms. One notable room contains a water elemental that appears to be bound to the pool in the room – perhaps the Mirrorskin creature referred to by the spirit of Venture-Captain Aiger Ghaelfin.

Treasure:

· From the Nautalica

o Ancient triangular coins (5) (250 gp – 50 gp each)

o Indigo jade bracelet (225 gp)

o Darkwood wolf’s-head scepter (20 gp)

o Continual flame gems (7) (840 gp – 120 gp each)

o Gray bag of tricks (waterlogged, but functional)

· From the Soulbound Dolls in the Rostrum of Vanishment

o Soul foci (3)

· From the Council Chamber

o Ornate lantern (450 gp)

Experience Awards

· Soulbound dolls (5) – 3000 xp

· Xyscerace (will-o’-wisp) – 2400 xp

· Total – 5400 xp

· Per PC (6) – 900 xp each

Current XP Total per PC

· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé, Vaeden – 22,655 xp each

· Tavo – 21,960 xp

· Boecca – 19,900

· Total Current Fame Points – 12

What Lies in Dust - Session 19: Delvehaven, Part II

Dramatis Personae

Alizander Carmelizzia - Human (Varisian) sorcerer
Carlos Santiago - Half-orc (Alkenstarian) wizard (deceased)
Slavé/Jancen – Tiefling (in guise as a human) rogue

Tavo Dechirent - Human cleric of Pharasma
Vaeden Corleone - Human rogue

Starday, 29 Kuthona, 4708 A.R., to Moonday, 8 Abadius, 4709 A.R.

The party continues the fight against the powerful shadow-infused triceratops. Alizander, like Carlos, falls in the thick of battle, sacrificing his life in the effort to defeat the monstrous creature. In the end, Vaeden and Jancen manage to destroy the thing and retreat from Delvehaven with Tavo and the bodies of Alizander and Carlos.

Back at the Returners’ safehouse, the surviving members of the group consult with Arael, Janiven, and Ailyn. Ailyn agrees to purchase the nearly-complete set of the Pathfinder Chronicles from the party, and Vaeden, Tavo, and Jancen begin searching for the expensive material components to bring Alizander and Carlos back from the dead. Barella, the itinerant priest of Iomedae who assisted the Returners when Vaeden was ill with mummy rot, agrees to perform the ritual to raise the fallen heroes. With some coaxing, the spirits of both Alizander and Carlos are ushered back from the planes of their gods – Alizander from Cayden Cailean’s domain in Elysium, and Carlos from the realm of Nethys in the turbulent Maelstrom.

The Returners take the rest of the week to rest and recover before venturing back to Delvehaven to continue exploration of its storied halls. During that time, the group meets decides it could use some assistance during its investigation of the old lodge, and after some inquiring takes on an Inquisitor recently arrived in Westcrown.

Treasure:

· From the Library of Inducted Experience:

o Pathfinder Chronicles collection (75% complete) (5000 gp – sold to Ailyn Ghontasavos)

Experience Awards

· Shadowy triceratops skeleton – 3200 xp

· Orientation trap – 400 xp

· Story Award (rescuing Carlos and Alizander) – 1000 xp

· Total – 4600 xp

· Per PC (5) – 920 xp each

Current XP Total per PC

· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé, Vaeden – 21,755 xp each

· Tavo – 21,060 xp

· Total Current Fame Points – 12

What Lies in Dust - Session 18: Delvehaven, Part I

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

Starday, 22 Kuthona, 4708 A.R.

The party uses two of the grave candles retrieved from the Chelish Crux to hold scéance with the spiritual fragments of Venture-Captain Aiger Ghaelfin and Coriana Heavenscape.

From Ghaelfin, the party learns some details of the layout of the old Pathfinder lodge:

“Delvehaven, yes, a great museum it was. A museum and a gathering place for friends and fellows. It was a great lodge, in its time. Delvehaven is comprised of four levels:

The ground level: a stately and grand place, featuring the great library, the grand vestibule flanked by the foyer of reflection on one side and the foyer of fellowship on the other. The Nautalica: a grand and exotic feasting hall. No feasting occurs there now, I fear. The Rostrum of Vanishment, where we often practiced our ability to fight unseen foes. And finally the illuminated Council Chamber, where we discussed matters of great importance – ventures to unknown lands, archaeological expeditions among the ruins of the ancients – under a blanket of stars and a permanent image of the Glyph of the Open Road.

The upper level: apartments, guest rooms, the vanity room where Mirrorskin awaited each of us every morning.

The cellar: featuring the tavern, where we traded stories of our travels and the finest elven vintage. The Mariner’s Display and the Insect Museum – featuring replicas of famous ships and specimens of the rarest insects.

Finally, the vault below the cellar: where we kept our most priceless treasures, and the most dangerous.

But we failed in protecting Delvehaven, and in protecting the city of Westcrown against the depredations of those who care naught for history. Those who would rewrite history in their own favour, and damn us all to Hell in the doing. Alas, I failed my Coriana…oh my Coriana….”

At that, Ghaelfin’s spirit is wracked by choking sobs and remembered anguish. The spirit is no longer responsive.

From Coriana Heavenscape, the party learns that her good friends Ilnerik and Bisby had a falling out in the lodge’s final months, and that Ilnerik left without a word several weeks before the god Aroden’s death, and that in the days after his departure it became apparent that he took half of the strange relic that he and Bisby had recovered in the Mwangi expanse. Bisby himself had grown increasingly paranoid and protective of the remaining half of the relic. Coriana saw the complete relic only once – it was gold and black, with two heads – a bird head and a bat head. As far as she knows, Bisby remained inside the lodge after it was sealed.

Coriana also tells the party that she helped Loremaster Liriam create the extradimensional space in Cutlass Cove, and that the keys left there can be used to open the doors to Bisby’s chambers, the Summoning Room, and the triple doors leading to the Gauntlet of the Sun (as Bisby began referring to it after retrieving the relic) in the vault under the cellar.

As Coriana speaks to the party her gaze lingers on Vaeden Corleone, and the spirit appears to have a moment of reflection:

“I know you. Nicolo? Nicolo Davion; is it you? Are we dead? Yes, we were killed together by those Thrune soldiers and that wizard, Commandra. Commandra Voxlay. Aiger tried to convince me to leave the city; told me that it was doomed to suffer under the Thrune ascendancy. But I could not leave, and your house, House Davian, bravely resisted the Thrune tyrants. But Aiger Ghaelfin was right, wasn’t he? We were powerless against Thrune, powerless against the might of Hell. I should have listened to him. No. I made my choice, as did you. It is good to see you, even in this cold place called death. It is not what I expected – death. No elysian fields, no golden host to greet us on white steeds. Perhaps the gods are a sham, and Hell is but a dream of our own creation.”

The spirit of Coriana Heavenscape vanishes into the ether. Vaeden recalls the stories told to him in his youth by his keeper, the elf Alfred. He remembers the name Nicolo as that of his great-grandfather, patriarch of House Davion at the time of Aroden’s death. Coriana’s words suggest that there may be more to the story of House Davion’s fall than Alfred has seen fit to reveal.

Starday, 29 Kuthona, 4708 A.R.

After spending a week in preparation, the party decides to take on the task of exploring Delvehaven. Although it has sat largely undisturbed for the past century, rumours of haunting, dangerous wards, and strange goings-on surround the place. The lodge itself faces the meandering Adivian Walk, the road that runs along the eastern shore of the Rego Sacero; the far side of the road at this point overlooks a 30-foot-high bluff that drops into the waters below. The party arrives at the site in the early afternoon. The area is generally not well travelled (the notorious building keeps folk away). The party has little trouble bypassing the seized and rusted gate barring entrance to the expansive and overgrown courtyard. Once inside, Carlos, Alizander, and Vaeden detect the presence of numerous magical traps warding the grounds. The party members gingerly bypass these areas and approach the front doors of the lodge. The sagging veranda, its columns think and mildew-spotted with age, adorns Delvehaven’s façade. Two huge oaken doors stand in the centre of the veranda, a carving of a road receding into the horizon inscribed within a circle decorating each portal. A wooden placard above the doors hangs precariously from rotting joints, its face bearing an inscription that reads:

To liberate the Past for the knowledge of Today

To live the maxim that fortune is earned by the bold

To prove there are no boundaries

Amazingly, the doors leading into the lodge are unlocked and slightly ajar. There is little evidence of activity on the threshold, and the party moves inside.

Approaching the Grand Vestibule, the party members take a moment to let their eyes adjust to the dim light before moving on. They move as a group through the Foyer of Fellowship and back into the Library of Inducted Experience, where the party members read several books that seem to draw the readers into their mesmerizing pages, leaving each of them shaken but possessed of new insights as a result of reading the strange tomes.

It is within the Nautalica, the old feasting hall of Delvehaven, where the party meets its first challenge. The animated and shadow-infused skeleton of a huge beast, some tri-horned reptile from a long forgotten land, steps from behind the murky waters of the Nautalica’s massive aquarium. Luckily, the cautious party manages to act before the beast attacks. Vaeden begins to circle around the aquarium, intent on sneaking up behind the creature. Alizander and Carlos hurl spells at their foe, while Jancen and Tavo retreat to safer positions. The shadowy creature responds by exhaling a greasy black ray towards Alizander, missing by inches. Another barrage of spells from Carlos and Alizander ensue before the two move back out of the room themselves. The creature follows, and Carlos receives the full-force of the beast’s central horn. The shadowy triceratops punches the bony horn through Carlos’ stomach, lifts the wizard off his feet, and slams him against the wall. Carlos slides off of the horn and into a bloody, lifeless heap.

Jancen manages to get in and pull Carlos body out of the way while Alizander gets the beast’s attention, moving backwards down the hall. In a moment of inspiration, Alizander summons a powerful gust of wind and physically blows the shadow-stuff off of the triceratops skeleton. The shadowy tendrils float behind the skeleton, inching through the air back towards the host. For the moment, however, Alizander is successful in rendering the creature bereft of its shadow-power. Vaeden continues to sneak up behind triceratops, hoping to get in a single, tactical strike.

Treasure:

· From the Library of Inducted Experience:

o Pathfinder Chronicles collection (75% complete) (worth currently unknown)

Experience Awards

· Story Award (scéance with Ghaelfin and Coriana) – 1500 xp

· Isolation sphere traps – 4800 xp

· Transposition trap – 2400 xp

· Total – 8700 xp

· Per PC (5) – 1740 xp each

Current XP Total per PC

· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé, Vaeden – 20,835 xp each

· Tavo – 20,140 xp

· Total Current Fame Points – 12