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In the last days of the Great City, a great darkness awoke and looked on the unknowing populace with ancient malice and hunger. But there arose heroes that challenged the challenged the darkness for dominion. This is what they did before they shook the Spire and the Heavens.
THE MURDERER's TRAIL
Five old friends were walking through Midtown one rainy evening when the night was broken by a woman’s scream for help! Moving to investigate, Silas, Velika, Tilver, Dain and Holys found a young woman being set upon by a pair of violent thugs. They each bore the the double-finger ring of the Pale Dogs gang as well as the trademark black-painted fingernails. The two ran off, leading a hurried chase through the city. After interrogating their captives, the heroes discovered that the two Pale Dogs had been hired by a man they knew as Doffel to kill the young woman, whose name was Phon Quatermail. They carried a note describing exactly what she looked like and how to find her and where to get paid afterwards.
The heroes learned that Phon worked at a seamstress shop called Saches here in Midtown. She spent much of her time at St. Gustav’s Chapel, as she was a devout Lothianite. Traveling to St. Gustav’s they spoke to the resident priest, Fabitor Thisk. Fabitor knew Phon fairly well and was worried about her. He strongly suspected she was pregnant as a result of a recent love affair, and that she believed the affair is over. He didn’t know who Phon’s lover was, but he feared that the whole relationship was a problem. He implored the heroes to watch over her.
At Saches, the y discovered that at times it seemed as though Phon had more money than she should—not a lot more, but she never really appeared to have money problems.
Proceeding to the warehouse mentioned in the murderer’s note (on Able Row in Longbottom), they were attacked by a pair of assassins (Vagger and Laucio) who were intent on murdering Phon’s murderers. Beaten and intimidated, they admitted that they were hired to murder Phon by a local crime boss named Toridan Cran. They were trying to cheat the Pale Dogs to whom they subcontracted the murder.
IMAGE OF TORIDAN CRAN AND CRONIES
Confronting Toridan Cran in his “burrow” (a fortified block of townhouses), the heroes fought a desperate hand-to-hand battle and defeated Cran and his cronies. The axe-wielding half-orc Toridan nearly killed both Velika and Holys before he was defeated. The heroes learned from Cran’s books that someone named Methul Watcher had hired Cran to murder Phon Quatermail and specifically demanded that Cran hire out the murder. Here, the trail went cold. “Methul Watcher” seems not to have existed, likely an alias for whomever wanted Phon dead.
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THE TROUBLE WITH GOBLINS
The old Grayson house was haunted. Strange sounds and eerie lights plagued the abandoned home in the North Market. Through Brother Fabitor Thisk, the neighbors hired the heroes to look into the haunting. In reality, the house has never been haunted. It does, however, have a direct link from its cellar down into an ancient section of Ghul’s Labyrinth. This means that monsters have sometimes wandered up into the city from the house, starting various rumors. Most recently, the house was the lair of some goblins that had come up from below the city. They hunted at night, preying mainly upon pets, but occasionally taking down a lone citizen, whom they dragged back to the house. Generally, though, they stole rather than hunted, breaking into houses and taking food, valuables, and anything they could get their little hands on.
The heroes routed the goblins, as well as some ancient undead that had moved up from the Labyrinth to plague the goblins. They collected their fee and began to hold a very minor reputation as problem solvers.
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THE TEMPLE OF THE RAT GOD
On the Street of Million Gods, tucked away amid a number of other very small temples literally built one atop another, the Temple of the Rat God appears to be nothing more than a nondescript door leading to the half-basement level of one of the adjoining temples. Those few who have even heard of the Rat God know him to be a cruel, petty, and bloody deity venerated by those who revere vindictiveness, selfishness, and spite. He also is a god of pestilence, filth, and disease. It comes as no surprise to anyone that many of the followers of the Rat God are, in fact, ratmen. To protect themselves, these ratmen either pose as humans (heavily cloaked in voluminous garments) or never leave the temple by way of the streets. But the secrets of this temple go deeper than just the presence of the ratmen. In truth, there is no Rat God at all. This hidden temple is a front for the veneration of Abhoth, a hideous being of chaos known as one of the “Galchutt”. Its adherents and clerics are chaos cultists known as “The Ebon Hand”, conducting vile, bloody rites.
The heroes learned from word on the street that a little-known temple was looking for help from someone with a lot of knowledge of machines. What they discovered was that the Temple of the Rat God had located some dangerous chaositech and was attempting to repair it prior to fencing it on the black market. They infiltrated the Temple of the Rat God from within, killing many ratmen and Ebon Hand cultists, though the leaders escaped into the city.
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THE SMUGGLER'S DAUGHTER
Not long after their victory at the Temple of the Rat God, Our heroes were approached by a priest of Asche named Mand Scheben. Mand told them that he had heard they had a run-in with Toridan Cran. He offered to hire them for “a risky venture”, but asked them to meet him at the famous Castle Shard to learn more. He explained, “The Lords of Castle Shard are my friends, and they have some small concern in this matter. Asche looks favorably upon them, because of their importance to Ptolus. More of them I cannot say.”
IMAGE OF LORD ZAVERE AND LADY RILL
Considering its reputation for strange events and stranger residents, almost everyone in Ptolus has heard of Castle Shard. Its current lord and lady are Lord Zavere—rumored to have once been a blackguard of the highest order, now reformed—and Lady Rill, said to be a fallen paladin turned sorceress. The Castle itself is so ancient that many believe it to have as existed as long as the Spire itself. There are records of its existence long before the city of Ptolus.
On arrival at Castle Shard, Our Heroes were met by the majordomo, Kadmus, a warm and kind old man who treated them well. They met Lady Rill only briefly, as she floated by, seated cross-legged on a platform held aloft by softly tweeting birds. The met with Lord Zavere, a courteous man who exuded confidence and competence.
Zavere told the heroes that Toridan Cran had an older brother, Linech Cran. Linech, though still a small-time thug, controlled a more powerful criminal enterprise than Toridan, and had crossed Zavere’s and Rill’s interests in the past. Zavere knew that Linech Cran had somehow come into unexpected money and was using it to expand his operation. Cran was hiring adventurers for some unknown mission and Zavere wanted Our Heroes to accept the job and report on what Cran was doing. Mand Scheben explained that Cran ran a drug-smuggling operation for the Balcazar crime family and manufactured the drug shivvel on an island somewhere out in the Whitewind Sea. Rumors were that something bad had occurred on that island. Our Heroes job was to find out what.
Our Heroes agreed to take on Zavere’s mission and reported to Linech Cran’s burrow. Cran hired them for a special job. His daughter Linele died on an island in the Whitewind Sea. The ship carrying her body back to Ptolus (the Arrowhead) sank in the Bay of Ptolus after a fire swept the ship. Cran believed it was no accident. He hired Our Heroes to go down to the Arrowhead and retrieve his daughter’s body and its sealed glass coffin. He supplied them with potions of water breathing for the job. In Cran’s office stood what appeared to be a solid gold statue of some Ptolusite nobleman!
Zavere later told them that Cran’s statue was in fact the polymorphed form of a friend of his, one Lord Abbercombe, and suggested that he would reward them handsomely for the return of Abbercombe.
Traveling to the wreck of the Arrowhead, the Heroes dove down and encountered a pair of violent sahuagin and their pet shark. They defeated the sahuagin but found that the Arrowhead had been ransacked and the glass coffin was gone. The debris trail of the sahuagin was easy to follow and it led them to a series of underwater caves. After sneaking around a bit, they fought some sahuagin, a giant crab and encountered some human slaves who told them the caves were below a manor house belonging to the Balcazar crime family.
In the caves, Our Heroes found Linech Cran’s daughter, Linele. Only Linele wasn’t quite as dead as advertised. She seemed very much alive and her mere presence caused powerful visions of death and destruction in those around her. The visions revealed that Linele herself was responsible for the utter destruction of her father’s drug operation out on the island. She seemed confused and frightened, but two things became obvious. First, she had somehow returned from the dead as a vampire even though she was clearly unaware of that fact. Second, she owned a pocket watch that was possessed by a demon.
Our Heroes managed to talk Linele into giving up the pocketwatch and to come away with them. They returned to Linech’s Burrow where Linele attacked her father, blaming him for all that had happened on the island. Against their better judgment, Our Heroes rescued Cran from his daughter and cut a deal with the crime boss. They would take Linele away where he would never see her again and in exchange, he would give them the statue of Lord Abbercombe. Cran questioned them closely about anything else in the coffin, eventually admitting he wanted the pocket watch. The Heroes wisely lied about having it and carted Lord Abbercombe back to Castle Shard.
Castle Shard where Zavere and Rill were horrified at what happened to Linele and advised the Heroes to turn her over to the Brotherhood of Redemption. They were even more concerned by the pocket watch and refused to keep it themselves, advising the Heroes to take the watch to the Pale Tower and turn it over to the Malkuth.
The Heroes turned Linele over to the Brotherhood of Redemption for safekeeping and help. But before they could take the watch to the Pale Tower, they were surrounded by a group of vampires who called themselves The Covenant of Blood. The vampires were clearly powerful and at their demand, the Heroes gave up the demon-possessed watch.
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THE WINGED CHEST
Later, the Heroes encountered a duo of ogres in the back alleys of Old Town that had somehow crawled up out of the Labyrinth to prey on the upper world. Between them they dragged a very special chest.
The chest measures about three feet long, two feet wide, and two feet tall and weighs three hundred fifty pounds. It appears to be made of wood bound in bronze, with small bronze plates set into its back and sides; images of winged horses are engraved upon the plates. A hefty, built-in lock is obvious at the front of the chest. The chest has so far defied all attempts to unlock it or determine its contents.
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END OF THE TRAIL
Several months later, the Heroes were again approached by Brother Fabitor Thisk. He told them that Phon Quatermail was missing. She was several months pregnant and he was worried for her. However, Fabitor did have one sensational piece of information: he’d learned the identity of the father of Phon’s baby: Helmut Itelstein, married firebrand leader of Ptolus’s separatist Republican movement. Fabitor revealed this only reluctantly - he didn’t like feeling as if he’d spied on his parishioners.
Inquiring at the Temple Observatory of the Watcher of the Skies, the Heroes learned that Itelstein was out of town, but were able to discover the location of his home on Limit Street at the western edge of the Temple District. Watching the house for awhile, they saw that the supposedly empty house was occupied. Sneaking in, they encountered a pair of Fate Weaver soldiers guarding the pregnant Phon. Questioning the Fate Weavers after their defeat, Our Heroes learned that Helmut Itelstein believes that certain children called “runebearers” spell certain and imminent doom for the city. Despite the horrid nature of the act, Itelstein believes that only by destroying all runebearer children (including his own with Phon) can the city be saved.
In Itelstein’s home, the Heroes found several maps of important government and Church locations (the Administration Building, the Imperial University, the Holy Palace, etc.), along with a few notes on infiltrating or even destroying them. The rescued Phon steadfastly refused to believe that her talented and charming lover would ever really do her or her baby any harm.
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RESIDENT OF CASTLE SHARD
The Heroes were contacted by the dark elf and famous criminal Shilukar. The wanted murderer had made them an offer they didn’t feel they could refuse. He knew the secret to returning Lord Abbercombe to life and would reveal it to Zavere and Rill in exchange for sanctuary from the law inside Castle Shard. After talking it over, the Heroes decided to tell Zavere and Rill who in turn felt they could not refused Shilukar’s offer. They offered asylum to the vicious murderer and purveyor of chaositech in exchange for the elixir which would free their friend from his golden stasis.
After much research, you have learned that you might be able to get into the Winged Chest by acquiring a device known as Neveran’s All-Key, which could open any lock, regardless of the magic involved. Doing research the libraries of the Delver's Guild produced a satisfying result: A bizarre cult called the Crimson Coil, whose god or religious practices are unknown, last held Neveran’s all-key and kept it in a now-abandoned brothel called Pythoness House in Oldtown.
You now stand before that selfsame structure, ready to investigate.
You will find a link to the map at the upper left of this and every page. For your convenience, here it is again:
I have heard some odd things about the cult that formed this house in the past. I question how true some of these rumors about their abilities are considering they failed to protect the cult.
I have heard some odd things about the cult that formed this house in the past. I question how true some of these rumors about their abilities are considering they failed to protect the cult.
"Hmmmm, I don't know. One of the prostitutes here once told me I'd be back one day beside a Litorian male with a beautiful silver aura. She asked me to make sure to bring him in with me, she'd be waiting to welcome him. I wonder if she's still here ..."
Dain limps forward into the arched gateway and peers around at the courtyard. He leans on his spear, looks back towards his friends, and says in a soft voice,"An old place. Many stories." He crouches down, and as he does so, Magill, his raccoon companion, scurries forward to join him. Together they examine the ground, looking for any signs of recent visitors to Pythonesse House.
"I'll take your word for it. I don't know anything about this place. Keep a sharp eye, Dain."
Roll to assist Dain's perception check:
[Since Holys was expecting that we're wandering around an abandoned brothel today, he isn't wearing his expensive clothes and jewelry, just regular clothes. I'll try to note whether he's dressed up or not at each day, in case it makes a difference. He is however always wearing his signet ring.]
"If you say so. I say she failed to see her own end. And since this place is supposed to be deserted I doubt we will see any old inhabitants unless they are dead inhabitants."
Silas moves towards the door by going where Dain has already searched.
"Exactly", Velika whispers. She pulls up the hood of her cloak and begins to move quietly, behind Silas, towards the door.
Seeing Velika move cautiously forward Silas will also guard where he steps to avoid being heard by those inside as he moves up to the front door.
"Well, no one should have been here since the Knights of the Pale raided it 3 years ago. Though, I think that made them quite unpopular for a while. People tend to enjoy the idea of prostitute-seers. Makes them feel like they're contributing to something greater, while thoroughly enjoying it." He chuckles.
-Posted with Wayfinder
The entire structure sits atop a hill overgrown with weeds and shrubs amid the tall, unkempt grass. The hill is surrounded by a wrought iron fence in poor repair. In the front, a gate in the fence swings in the wind.
Rats and mice scurry away into hiding places among loose stones as anyone enters the overgrown courtyard. The walls are so high that it almost seems like an interior chamber, except that it lacks a roof. Sunlight finds its way into this place only rarely—mosses and fungi cover the stones more so than weeds or grass. Everything feels damp, and there is a palpable chill that was not felt outside. An open archway ahead and to the left leads into the structure, its door long gone.
A set of narrow and slippery steps leads up to a small well on a ledge that sits twelve feet above the level of the courtyard on its eastern side. A ledge, also twelve feet high, runs along the west portion of the courtyard, too, but there is no easy way to reach it.
Dain and Holys find a few bootprints here and there, but they could be weeks old.
Once everyone enters the grounds, a strange voice echoes out, seemingly from the stones of Pythoness House itself. It sounds like a whisper, but is very clear: “Come to me . . .”
Velika flashes a wicked grin at Silas, then turns back to the house and casts detect magic.
The house? No. But when she happens to look back towards the gate, Velika sees a powerful evocation covering the entire entrance.
"Oh, Silas, she really doesn't want you to leave! There's a wall of force across the courtyard entrance behind us."
Silas shakes his head. "If they left magic like that behind we should be wary of other traps. For now though I think we can assume that was not done by the shade of a dead prophetic prostitute cultist. He moves up to the door and looks around to see if anything else is out of place.
Dain picks up a couple of loose stores. He tosses one out the gate and watches it bounce off the invisible wall. He stares at it for a moment, his head tilting to the left while his eyes glaze over. With a lurch, his head snaps up straight again and his gaze refocuses. "Hmmph" he says, sagely.
Dain then shuffles up the narrow steps and peers down into the well.
The damp room is filled with leaves and refuse blown in through the open doorway. A red carpet, dark with moisture and grime, covers most of the floor. The walls are bare stone, most of it rather crude, although upper portions were rebuilt with greater skill. A staircase along the northwestern wall of this chamber leads to a ledge twelve feet above to the north. (A bridge up there connects that ledge to a similar one on the south end.) The ledges are likewise covered in refuse, but not as much as the main floor. A mildew-coated, heavy curtain hangs to the east, concealing another room.
Silas notices two figures hiding in the dark. One the size of a large man, the other the size of a large child. They spring to the attack!
Initiative Order
Tilver (surprised)
Holys (surprised)
Dain (surprised)
Silas
Velika (surprised)
Ratling
Ratbrute
Silas, go!
Silas speaks in an ancient language and moves his hand in a gesture of warding as a shimmering field comes to life before him. He then calls out a warning, "Two ratmen inside."
The smaller ratman darts out and fires his crossbow at Silas. The little barb lodges in the big litorian's armor without effect. A moment before Silas can react, there is a huge shadow hulking in the doorway and a nine-foot long sword slashes out. Silas dodges out of the way as the jagged piece of steel slams into the cobbles where he had stood.
"Death and blood!" yells the brute in a strangled cry. "Blood and souls for the Rat God!"
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Initiative Order
Tilver
Holys
Dain
Silas
Velika
Ratling
Ratbrute
Anyone, go!
Silas growls at the giant rat and mutters, "What kind of stupid rat would attack me?" as the thought boils his blood sending strength through his body he draws his mighty curved blade and tries to behead the giant creature.
Dain lets the stone fall from his hand as he reaches into his spell component pouch and pulls out a small piece of parchment. He chants and gestures, projecting his need for protection to the city's spirits, and a shimmering field surrounds him.
Dain grips his spear in both hands and shifts into a fighting stance. He limps back down the stairs and moves towards Silas. Magill follows just behind him.
Velika reaches into a pouch and then smears a pat of butter between her fingers as she gestures and chants, focusing on the large ratman.
The big sword shoots out of the monster ratman's hands!
Tilver, Holys, go!
"Curses!"
Holys steps back (have moved on map) and summons his own invisible barrier of force - around his body. The ratmens' utterings mean nothing to him.
Spells remaining/total:
2nd (4/4)—scorching ray
1st (6/7)—burning hands (DC 17), mage armor , protection from evil, ray of enfeeblement (DC 15)
(DC 15)
0th (at will) —acid splash, arcane mark , detect magic , flare
(DC 16), light, open/close (DC 14), prestidigitation, read
magic, resistance
"Careful! The small one carries diseases! And the big one...well, it's big and tough." Tilver steps up and tries to spear the ratbrute.
As Silas, Holys and Dain invoke protections, Velika causes the ratbrute's weapon to squirt from its hands and Tilver attacks.
The two ratmen squeak something to each other then retreat towards the stairs. The ratbrute draws a javelin as he goes while the ratling retreats up the stairs and reloads its crossbow.
.
.
.
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Initiative Order
Tilver
Holys
Dain
Silas
Velika
Ratling
Ratbrute
Anyone, go!
Silas follows the giant rat creature and attempts to dart around the weapon as he moves in to strike the creature.
Tilver rushes in behind Silas and tries to stab the ratling on the stairs with his longspear.
As Silas darts in, the huge ratman strikes at him with a javelin that would have struck home a powerful blow but for Silas's mage armor. Instead, it deflects harmlessly off his breastplate. The same cannot be said for Silas's falchion which slices across the chest of the lightly-armored ratbrute, causing it to howl in rage and anger. A moment later, Tilver joins Silas, though the ratman easily parries the outthrust longspear.
At that moment, two more antagonists appear on the bridge overhead (see map of level 2) and drop oversized bombs with lit fuses! Each bomb explodes, engulfing both Silas and Tilver but stops short of harming either ratman.
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Initiative Order
Tilver (22 damage)(deafened 1 round)
Silas (22 damage)(deafened 1 round)
Ratlings on bridge
Holys
Dain
Velika
Ratling
Ratbrute (21 damage)
Holys, Dain, Velika, go!
Holys launches a bolt of acid at the rats dropping bombs from the upper floor.
(ranged touch; base +2, dex +2)
(acid damage)
Spells remaining/total:
2nd (4/4)—scorching ray
1st (6/7)—burning hands (DC 17), mage armor , protection from evil, ray of enfeeblement (DC 15)
(DC 15)
0th (at will) —acid splash, arcane mark , detect magic , flare
(DC 16), light, open/close (DC 14), prestidigitation, read
magic, resistance
Velika pulls out her gun and moves toward the doorway. As she walks, she begins to tell the tale of their previous victory against the ratmen in the Temple of the Ratgod, reminding her companions of their heroic victory.