DM Aron Marczylo's Curse of the Crimson Throne Part 3 (Inactive)
Game Master overfiend_87

Jerin is up.

Jerin fires off another charge of his LB wand.

lightning bolt DC 14 reflex save 5d6 ⇒ (6, 4, 2, 4, 2) = 18

I will be glad when I can get back some of my more useful spells...this wand is almost used up!

Jerin fires off another charge of his LB wand.

lightning bolt DC 14 reflex save 5d6

I will be glad when I can get back some of my more useful spells...this wand is almost used up!

1d20 + 11 ⇒ (3) + 11 = 14

And with that bolt the creature dissappears, returning to it's realm. The case is opened with a key off Bahor's body you find 10 pounds of exotic cigars, smoking weed and other minor narcotics.

Searching your way back to the entrace to try the nearest room and find yourself in what appears to be a library. There are two floor-to-ceiling bookshelves decorated to the south and west walls of this chamber, faving a curved north wall on which hand six grotesque paintings depicting tortures, murder, cannibalism and even necrophilia. All these paintings have blue as a primary colour in the scenes and it disturbs you how life-like the images are. You swear if you didn't know any better Salvatore had people commit these acts in front of him for him to witness. You can tell it's his work without even reading the name on it or seeing the mark where he puts his signature in the corner. The helpless dead woman in one of the portraits appears to even be dressed like a princess and the man hovering over her has pericing blue eyes and a royal looking blue cloak.

There are also two glittering chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, providing more than enough lighting for anyone sprawled on the dozens of cushions strewn about the room to read by.

Though the library is small it is well stocked with a wide variety of books so Jerin should feel in his element here. There are many books ranging in topic from poetry to philosophy th essays to fiction. Tawdry romances are shelved next to detailed explorations of the nature of conjuration magic in no apparent order. A fair number of the books appear to be written in Vudran and are concerned with topics and themes common to a distant land, or so you can assume from illustations of a few if you don't speak the language, but the books appear larger than they should be so you can surmise that it covers wider more detailed topics and subjects.

After having cleared this floor you now head up the stairs and once up here you can oversee the guarden downstairs, still looking perfectly natural despite the fact from your perception you are walking on clouds above this area. You all feel a bit of a sweat as the heat from below fills this area.

First pair of double doors you come to are the most grand doors you have seen, polished to perfection and beautiful carvings galore. The doors are unlocked and as you enter you know immediately that this was Golario's room.

The crowning glory of this dazzling chamber is, without a doubt, the four-poster canopied bed that takes up a full quarter of the room. Silk sheets, gossamer curtains, ebony bedposts depicting tigers and cobras chasing monkeys in an endless circle, and a half-dozen huge pillows combine to create a resting place fit for a king.

There appear to be many Strange and ferocious animal heads mounted on the walls, their eyes looking almost alive. A towering redwood cabinet stands against the eastern wall, while to the west sits a massive desk covered with books and scrolls and a large green paperweight the size of an apple. An exotic-looking five-footlong stringed instrument sits on display on a bronze stand near the desk, and a spherical birdcage containing several brightly colored songbirds hangs from the center of the ceiling above.

The furnature in this room alone Curnach can surmise costs 3,000 gold, however attempting to carry it out of here is going to be difficult.

The animal heads Curnach looks at curiously with Jerin. Each head having a description beneith it. a Barakot Peacock, a Ukhrul Wolverine, a Khar Great Skink, a Kothar Great Bat, a Vimerian Tiger and a Johar Long Viper, but something doesn't sit right with Curnach as they do look like the animals described, but something is off about their preportions and that's when Jerin gasps at his realisation.

These heads are the heads of Rashakas. Jerin can even tell that they appeared to have been younger that Golorio, meaning that these were possibly his own children though a few appear to be older. This seems to be some grotesque collection of his family that he killed and hung on the wall for decoration.

The papers on the desk appear to be a combination of astrological charts, maps of the world (including several of Vudra), and various bits of non-incriminating paperwork involving the day-to-day business of running a noble family. The paperweight appears to be a green coloured bloodstone. You also notice an exotic stringed intrument called a Jawassan Sitar. It is decorated with gold filigree work depicting crocodiles eating storks.

After leaving this room you come to a door that leads into a small hallway with three rooms. The first one you enter looks like a bedroom that has been kept in great condition. This austere chamber is apparently the sleeping chamber of someone quite orderly. The bed is made, sheets drawn tight against the mattress and pillows arranged perfectly at the head, and a dressing table and chair at the bed’s side are both dustfree and polished to a shine. Apart from that you don't appear to notice anything of particular value or interest.

The door before you appears to be made of ebony, but as you touch it you manage to notice the there is an illusion on it to disgusie the fact it is made from iron. With Bahor's keys it doesn't take much to get inside, though it gets stranger.

Inside are plain ebony walls that seem to glisten with moisture. Above, the chamber rases fourty feet to a domed ceiling set with eight wedge-shaped windows; to the north, east, and south three additional tall glass windows rise up from floor level to the dome. The room itself is empty, save for a thirty-foot-tall tree with sparkling gold and green leaves, its roots burrowing in and out of the floor. A breeze tickles the branches above, and as the leaves waver, the sound of crystal bells filters through the room.

Before you enter you see that the tree is glowing with magic and the entire area around it appears to be glowing with some kind of intense aura. The tree's school of magic Jerin can tell is Illusion but the area covering the room is from the school of Adjuration.

Arkona's Palace so far

Ammendment:

The illusion Aura is a Strong Aura. The Adjuration Aura is a moderate aura. The walls with it's moisture also glow magic giving off a moderate evocation aura.

Jerin advises everyone of the Aura's.

We should be careful, the evocation or abjuration aura could indicate a trap or magical defense in here. If only we had true seeing, we could see what was really in here without setting off anything.

I am unsure where the trap might be, however if someone can determine the trigger, I can attempt to disarm it from35 to 40' if necessary.

And if all elsee fails, I can just walk into it and see what happens. I trust that you three would see to my care should it incapacitate me.

I am unsure where the trap might be, however if someone can determine the trigger, I can attempt to disarm it from35 to 40' if necessary.

You don't believe you've come across a trigger. The Aura fills the room and you can't see it being centralised anywhere like with traps.

Krenn marches on ahead if no one can do anything about the various spell effects.

Yep. unless we discover anything, the Krenn tank will move into the room.

Preception: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (4) + 15 = 19 <-- carefully watching for any normal or magical traps.

Curnach takes his time, sitting down and slowly and meticulously inspecting the room with his eyes, looking for anything amiss.

Take 20 on perception, for a total of 41.

Neither of you don't think you see anything else inside the room besides the large tree of myth and legend sitting in the centre of the room. Once you tell Krenn that he takes a step into the room.

As he takes a step his body is racked with intense pain and thought he fights against it, he still manages to take the full brunt of the magical effect. The energy in the room appears to be attempting to keep him outside the room like some kind of invisable barrier, but since he survived the wounds caused by this magic he is now inside. He reaches out and the tree appears to be solid to his own touch, though remembering you mentioned it was an illusion his hand passes through it, revealing to him a single iron cabinet that appears to be locked. On top of it is a bloodstone that is glowing magical with moderate divination aura. The aura in the room appears to be still active despite Krenn having stepped into it.
12d6 ⇒ (6, 1, 4, 4, 1, 4, 5, 2, 1, 5, 3, 1) = 37

1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

Curnach winces as Krenn is wounded by the magical effect in the room.

I suggest no one follow Krenn for now. Krenn, can you bring the bloodstone and cabinet back out here?

Curnach winces as Krenn is wounded by the magical effect in the room.

I suggest no one follow Krenn for now. Krenn, can you bring the bloodstone and cabinet back out here?

was about to say the cabinet (which it later says under treasure as a safe) is made out of iron and incredibly heavy, however since I looked at his strength I realised that the point was moot :p

Bwahahaha... Oh, and as I mentioned to DM on MSN, we're also looting the bulky furniture. Breaking table legs etc. off to make it more portable in our bag of holding, and we'll use Mending later to fix it all up to sell as its mundane rather than magical ;).

We should just take over the house as our base.

The title of this module is 'Escape from Old Korvosa' and I still have a strong feeling we'll be leaving the city soon. That and the legal battles to claim ownership could take months :P.

Krenn emerges with the cabinet and stone, setting them down gently.

That was painful, indeed. Krenn will describe what he saw and felt inside in case the details are of any use to the other three.

We should check it for traps and see what is inside. We could use some more gold and I don't mind taking it from a filthy creature such as this.

You don't appear to find any traps, though it is locked, however as you have the keys you open it with no problem and inside you find a huge pile of letters, and documentrs containing oaths of loyalty, debt, servitude that show you just how vast the Arkona's influence over Korvosa's crime scene actually is. With this is the Arkona's mansion was completely looted, they can call upon these favours and have everything returned with reletive ease.

Sifting through them you find a entire roster of the city's thieves' guild (known as the Cerulean Society) is in the Arkona's pocket. The most recent bit of the correstpondence between Glorio Arkona and Guildmaster Boule commands the Cerulean Society to "bottle up" during the quarantine, to let things unfold as they may, so that the citizens will be "properly desperate" when theAkrona's decide to make their move with "The fool seneschal" to usurp the queen and gain control over all of Korvosa. The letter closes with a promise from Glorio to gift all of Old Korvosa to the Cerulean Society to do with as they see fit. These papers can politicaly destroy the Arkina family if taken to the govoners, once Ileosa is handled with.

You also find a some papers on a magic ritual of somesort, but it would take some time to decipher as it's in code. Whatever it is, it looks somewhat complex.

Apart from the papers, there are some real treasures inside the chest. Three keader bags full of coins (4,000 sp, 2,000 gp, 500 pp), 5,500 gp worth of assorted gems and jewles and a lacquered cherrywood and ivory +1 holy light crossbow. The working on this is quite exquisit and beautiful, too good to throw away.

Krenn will stand watch over the room as the more academically inclined sift through the papers discovered.

Jerin looks at the coded paper keenly, he is looking forward to trying to figure out the code to unlock its secrets.

Should we rest here or hide overnight and come back tomorrow to seek out were the captives are?

We can hole up here, now the palace has been cleared.

Agreed, I rather doubt that anyone would be foolish enough to attack us here. But, there remains the question of what happened to the seneschal and Vencarlo. Wasn't Glorio speaking of some dungeon? Perhaps we have missed something.

His labyrinth he is keeping them in. We are in no shape to tackle it right now- and as I previously surmised, these documents confirm the Seneschal's value to the Arkonas. Therefore, he won't be in direct danger. We'll hole up here for the night and tackle his labyrinth in the morning. I will keep hold of these documents, with the exception of the coded document. I look forward to bringing down what is left of their family...

Krenn nods in agreement at the notion of resting here.

Do we need to make any steps to deal with anyone that may come to the house? Deliveries and such already scheduled?

Does anyone have any healing they want to use up before resting?

Bar the doors- and i'll see to everyone's wounds...

Curnachs skill with treating wounds has become so adept he no longer even uses the healers kit; substituting its supplies with an incredibly and intuitive grasp of anatomy, simple bandages, herbs and a little Druidic magic he is able to significantly heal everyone's wounds.

Treat Deadly Wounds on everyone, Curnach can take 10 without healers kit and still hit DC25, which cures everyone of 18HP (HD + Curnach's wisdom bonus).

Llyra should probably expend her remaining channels and spells- i'd rather not tap into the wands unless we absolutely have to when we have a renewable resource. After Treat Deadly Wounds, Curnach is fully healed.

I use my channel energy - 2 remaining:

Channel Energy: 5d6 + 5d6 ⇒ (2, 5, 6, 4, 1) + (6, 4, 6, 2, 2) = 38

If anyone is still down, let me know. I have 4 CLW, 2 CMW and 1 CSW left, should be more than enough.

Treat Deadly Wounds + the channels covers Krenn who was the most down. Aren't your channels 4d6 though?

Not sure, I have Magical Knack so I am +2 CL, I though that would increase the Channel Energy as well. Not sure since I now see that it is Cleric Level, and not Caster Level.

I don't think it counts towards channeling, just spells.

Jerin sits down to take a crack at the coded document and make sure we have a complete inventory of all of the magic items and determine if there are any we should use right away.

Do we have a list of the magic items we have obtained so far?

By the way, that crossbow will be very effective against any Rakshasa's we face in the future so keep it handy.

not quite cleared, but almost.

After this room you attempt the one next door. The door is unlocked and you come across a bathing area. The bath is large enough to accomidate more than one person if desired and it appears to be magical, giving off some minor transmuation. The air here is humid and filled with vapour from the boiling water, though you find as you touch the water, it changes temperature as the will of the one who is currently using it and the walls appear to be protected with magic as to not be spoiled by the water.

The bath appears to be fixed into the masonary and not portable.

The next room is a small washroom that has a very intricate looking pipe system. The only thing here of value appears to be a toilet that keeps the air clean and any waste going in turned into fresh water. It's worth 150 gp however it does weigh 300 lbs and would be quite comical to carry around.

The final room appears to be a barracks for the other minor members of the family, who you have already delt with. Beyond that you don't notice anything else of value.

I will take the bow unless Krenn wants it. Neither of us have Rapid Reload, so it will be a slow process, but definitely better than no damage I was doing.

I will take the bow unless Krenn wants it. Neither of us have Rapid Reload, so it will be a slow process, but definitely better than no damage I was doing.

It's a light crossbow so it only takes a move action to reload unlike heavy ones which take full round actions to load.

Hmm... Yeah ok, i'll draw the line there. Its not worth lugging around a toilet for 150GP. P.S- Heavy Crossbows take a standard not full round. P.P.S- It'll come out of your share and its worth a lot but if you want it sure. Too expensive for too little damage to justify it to myself :).

She can at least carry it until we reach the point where we are selling stuff. I don't mind her taking it; Krenn should be busy staying between casters and any more rashakas we run across and trying to overcome their DR with good old-fashioned brute force.

Yeah carry for now of course.

As long as we are fighting Rakshasas, I think that having it is a good idea. Once we are done here, I have no problem selling it as it is rather expensive and not really what I need. Would rather have a +2 or +3 whip.

The night goes on and the alarm eventually stops after a few hours. As the morning comes you don't come across any of the servants that were milling around during the day.

Spell prep time. Krenn, look busy ;). Maybe he can do the rounds, make sure nobody made it inside during the night...

Absolutely. Krenn will make sure the others are busy with their preparations before he takes a slow, careful circuit around the house again. He'll confirm any windows and doors to the outside are still locked and barred. He'll go to the kitchen, find some flour, and use it when he is walking around to make sure no one is hiding in closets, etc.

Jerin is ready to go dungeon crawling, updated his spell selection accordingly.

New spells selected, added:
Level 1 - Bless and Weapon Against Evil for 2 Shield of Faith spells I did not use before,
Level 2 - Align Weapon for Silence and Death Knell
Level 3 - Chain of Perdition and Prayer for Blindness/Deafness and Archon's Aura (I don't think I should have had Archon's Aura anyway as it is a lawful spell and Calistra is rather non-lawful)

I approve of Prayer. My spell list is almost entirely different and is very defensive in nature, so i've only got spontaneous fireballs and a couple of empowered ones to fall back on. I'm expecting some pretty grisly things might happen down there and have contingencies prepared.

Just before we enter the labyrinth, Curnach will cast Feather Step on both Llyra and Krenn (duration 90 minutes), and Greater Animal Aspect upon himself (duration 9 minutes, GM note this gives Curnach +2 perception). He will also cast Death Ward on both Llyra and Krenn (9 minutes). Strongly advise marching order of Krenn at the front with Llyra in second rank, Jerin in 3rd and Curnach taking up the rear.

With Align Weapon, I can cast it on my rapier and then toss it to Krenn to cause a lot more damage if we run into any more of these Rakshasas.

Can't you just align Krenn's axe? Hes honestly better off using it. Plus your emasculating him :P.

Edit: I also find it extremely unlikely we would encounter Rakshasha in their labyrinth. Curnach would point out over breakfast they appear to be too fond of luxury to dwell underneath their palace.

Edit 2: I see, needs to be piercing damage too. Its not a bad spell to take down there even if I think the chances of meeting another Rakshasha are very low.

Yep - There are not a lot that have DR versus multiple things as the Rakshasa do, but having a good aligned weapon is always a plus. I assume that Jerrin will be able to tell us when it will be helpful. And for lesser DR, I have the Weapon Against Evil which overcomes DR of 5 or less I think, will have to recheck.

Decided to get the Chain of Perdition as well. I think that it can go and trip and otherwise screw with invisible creatures. Always nice to blind and trip things so that Krenn can whack their heads off.

I agree that we are unlikely to see any in the dungeon level, but it doesn't hurt to be ready. I'm thinking traps, illusions, constructs, outsiders, undead... Lots of low maintenance stuff.

Next time we encounter one, Jerin is mad enough with those damned things that he is just going to drop a hungry pit on one and let it get ground into chopped meat the slow way...if it saves Curnach can use his water spell to push it into the pit the same or following round...

I remember the tactic. Hydraulic Push and Torrent have both been prepped (they are a staple part of my spell list).

Krenn checks out but doesn't manage to find any new intruders in the palace. The area outside seems pretty empty after what had happened with the Arkona's, word has possibly spread about an attack on the palace.

The secret entrance is under the 10-foot-diameter stone platform, where the elephant possibly once stood. After pressing the hidden pressure plate, causing the entire disc to rotate slowly like some kind of immense cap unscrewing itself. It turns at 180 degrees, a curved opening appears, revealing a flight of spiral stairs that decend downwards. You can also get the strong odre of dampness and plant life.

As you enter you can feel the cool wings blowing up with the strong smell of ocean as you can hear water below you spashing against shores. You enter a cavern with a series of rope bridges that decend even lower from ledge to ledge, eventually reaching the bottom, but up here at the top you see a strangely breathtaking beauty. A guarden of all manner of strangely coloured fungi, lichens and molds. The fungi have clearly been cultivated and shaped into all types of symmetrical patterns that aren't seen in nature, transforming the ledge into a sort of underground fungal guarden. There are flickering torches here and there, burning in sconces above the fungi.

From the ledge up here to the water below appears to be a 100 foot drop, but from the look of it it's still 50ft from the rope bridge that leads down into a lower area at the point where the first bridge decends.

MAP