Legends of Katapesh - Legacy of Fire

Game Master justaworm

Battle weary, you all return to the fountain room with the marid genie Shazzathared keeping the band of kobolds occupied with a dramatic retelling of a group of heroes that managed to prevent the plans of an awakened Runelord of Greed. "You're still alive! Wonderful news. Though, its looking like only barely. What happened?"

Bahir smiles wearily, "We have faced many a wicked bein today...

Just finished finals week so I will summarize...He relates and embelishes the stories for Shazzathared and the kobolds benefit...with translations provided by those that speak draconic of course, ;eving nothing out. From their fight against the demon-worshiping lizards, to the encounter with the darnoc, and ending with the epic confrontation with the Black Jinn being smote down by our unshakable faith in the Dawnflower.

Diplomacy check for relating the story: 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (1) + 24 = 25

...but it is obvious he is exhausted and it steals some of the thunder from his story.

"Amazing, Shazz speaks after listening to Bahir and the rest of you recap the day's events. "It sounds like you just need to find this mirror in the towers above and return it to the Vizier. I have no doubt you will do this, and I have no doubt I will be telling your story one day." Shazz also takes the time to cast her healing spells, bringing everyone back up to full health.

"However it goes, please, I must ask that you come back here and check on me. Even if you lift the curse of the palace, this curse of the fountain may still remain. There's also this matter of this wish."

As the conversation dies, Shazz continues her story ... " and they found themselves in a place called Runeforge ..."

... slowly, you drift off to sleep.

Please level up to 14. You may want to re-look over the loot list as well for a refresh.

You all awaken the next morning to a beautiful prayer-song sung from Shazzathared. The kobolds eagerly leave you some fresh kill of rats and fire-bats and expectantly await your praise.

Its a fresh day, you all feel your power increase, and now you have confirmation that the Impossible Eye is somewhere in an upper tower. There is only one upper tower you haven't explored, though you aren't exactly sure how to get there apart from attempting to fly up. There are two sets of unexplored doorways in the haunted palace area that you left behind, which is basically where the tower is as well. There are still a number of unexplored areas in the holdings of Argbadah, the bronze giant, and his command of fire giants.

Once the group is ready to depart Hazreem strokes his scraggly beard thoughtfully, "I do not relish the thought of flying to that tower and dealing with the dragon who guards the sky. We should return to the haunted palace and see if we can find a way up to the tower from there."

"Yes, I agree that makes the most sense. Perhaps we can avoid the darnocs area until we figure out how to put it to rest. Before we do that, we should figure out where we will end up should we step through that flame where we fought the cult and hydra."

I am going to memorize 2 remove curses in place of my Angelic Aspect spells to try and cure the ghul. I believe it was Mah'ysa's intention to memorize some divinations to determine whether it is a good idea or not to step through that flame where the demonic priests body disappearred. Or perhaps Shazzathared can answer with knowledge or magics of her own?

After hearing the tale of the defeated hydra and the disappearing Cleric of Flauros, something clicks inside Shazz's head, "Bahir!", she blurts out suddenly, "Go check all of the treasury maze rooms again. The only genie I ever saw down here was Jhavhul himself and surely he wasn't bringing treasure down in his own hands. I bet that placing offerings onto the flaming basin may just teleport them into the treasury. It's certainly worth a shot."

---

In discussing the healing of the ghul back into a jinn, you can recall that her curse has already been broken. Now she is stuck as a ghul still. Your knowledge religion checks at the time revealed that you basically needed Resurrection, True Resurrection (which is slight overkill), Wish, or Miracle, to pull this off. There may be other similar type spells, especially in that I dont know the druid spell list well, but they need to be similar to power to Resurrection. Mahy'sa, being 13th lvl cleric now, can cast Resurrection though.

Bahir: I would just have Mah'ysa cast Resurrection on her which should bring Aliya back to life. Once this deed is accomplished then we can escort Aliya back to the Fountain room then check out the treasury maze rooms.
.
It looks like Mah'ysa's player has dropped from this game, plus the MM game as well. Should we recruit a replacement player or just NPC Mah'ysa for the time being?

Plan sounds good to me Hazreem. Let's NPC Mah'ysa through the rest of this chapter. After all this time, it would be a shame to not finish the campaign with her. I'm still holding out hope she'll return, but either way it wouldn't be easy to introduce someone new in the prison or for someone to take over running Mah'ysa and do her justice with her long and colorful history. I say, if she hasn't returned by the time we finish Chapter 5 then recruit a new player at that time.

You have to pass back and forth through the treasury room just to get to and from this place, just FYI. You all know the pattern easily and so you dont have to go through that again. To get through the treasury to this area, you cover 3 rooms and didn't see anything on the way in.

So it sounds like:
- Rescue the janni ghul noble
- Explore the treasury

Then, ?
- Explore the rest of the haunted palace doors (2 you missed).
- Just try and go straight into the highest tower. You can tell that the tower is connected to the haunted palace wing of the castle. When you left the garden you came out on a roofwalk and could see the exterior of the tower there. You went into a door which led to this area.

My vote is the haunted palace doors as our next step, after the janni and treasury. Then, finally, the highest tower.

I vote with Bahir here.

sounds good to me

Me, too.

Bahir leading the way, you cautiously move through the treasury maze room by room, hoping that Shazz's suspicion was good. By thinking of each symbol as you step through the doorway, you are instantly transported to the room that matches the symbol. After a few rooms, you visualize the salamander rune and appear in that room. The twisted, broken body of the fire cult lizardfolk cleric, Bassadoum, lies in a heap in the center of the room.

After a search through his body and Efreat casting detect magic, you discover a number of interesting magical items.

He was carrying a staff made of twisting darkwood ornately shaped and carved. It radiates a moderate aura of enchantment.

Upon its head, there is a simple copper headband with a small yellow gem set as if it were a third eye in the middle of his forehead. It radiates a strong transmutation aura.

Around its waist sits a thick hide belt, scarred with impressions of fiendish visages, each shifting between a scowl and a smile. It radiates a moderate transmutation aura.

He finally had two magical rings around his clawed fingers. One looks blue as glacial ice. It radiates a moderate abjuration aura. The other looks like a simple, plain band, and it radiates strong abjuration aura.

Spellcraft (Staff DC 23): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15
Spellcraft (Headband DC 27): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (7) + 11 = 18
Spellcraft (Belt DC 23): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22
Spellcraft (Blue Ring DC 26): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 13
Spellcraft (Simple Ring DC 30): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15

Hazreem looks over the magical items briefly in case Efreat has any issues discovering the magical properties but is unable to assist him.

You guys can match your rolls to whichever item, though that doesn't help Hazreem in this case.

Mah'ysa also tries to check the items over, "I also sense the strong power in these items."

Mah'ysa Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15
Mah'ysa Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
Mah'ysa Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14
Mah'ysa Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28 -- Headband
Mah'ysa Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

Mah'ysa also struggles to identify the items, but after some study she discerns that the headband is a Headband of Mental Prowess (see above). I applied the roll to the highest item it would cover.

Bahir smiles widely, "Well, that is one mystery solved...and one less demon-worshipper we'll have hounding us in this place." He does keep a watchful eye out as the others are engrossed as to the various magical properties of the items we have recovered. He catches a glimpse of the belt as it is passed between them, "I don't think I like the looks of that." He detects evil on the belt.

The belt doesn’t radiate evil, but the infernal depictions obviously leave much to be desired about it.

spellcraft checks:1d20 + 18 ⇒ (11) + 18 = 291d20 + 18 ⇒ (19) + 18 = 371d20 + 18 ⇒ (10) + 18 = 281d20 + 18 ⇒ (17) + 18 = 351d20 + 18 ⇒ (6) + 18 = 24
After reviewing the items, "The staff contains enchantments of charming for persons or other creatures; myself or Mah could use it. The headband increases one's reasoning and willpower; I already have one so someone else should use it. The belt is called an Infernal Cord and I don't recommend that we use it. The Blue Ring is one of resistance to cold. I am not sure about the other ring."

Hazreem nods in reply, "I don't need any of these items. Let's drop them off with Shazz and check up on Aliya."

Mah'ysa should use both the staff and headband. Drop the Belt off with Shazz and see if she can identify the other ring.

You quickly head back to Shazz and tell her about what you found. She carefully studies the ring, first casting detect magic and then casting identify. "Yes, this is a quite powerful ring of protection. I am sure one of you will be able to put it to good use."

Hazreem slips the ring on his finger, "This will help out a lot. Thanks, Shazz."

Hazreem swaps out his Ring of Protection +2 for the +3 Ring.

"Yes. I'm sure. Now, get us out of here," she smiles.

Mah'ysa, NPC

"I have a pretty powerful headband already, Efreat. I will pass on this one," Mah'ysa responds to Efreat.
She has a headband of inspired Wisdom +4. Probably better than +2 Int, +2 Wis.

"Efreat, would you use that Staff?"

Also, noticeable with a night's rest is that both Pae and Bahir are still suffering from the Darnoc's touch. No matter how much healing they receive, they still feel tainted.
Pae can't heal 19 hit points.
Bahir can't heal 1 hit point.

Bahir tries one of his remove curses on Pae.
Remove Curse: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (2) + 14 = 16

And failing that...
Second Remove Curse: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (19) + 14 = 33

Efreat responds, "I could use the staff."

After not quite being able to break the curse on Pae, Bahir's second casting is able to break through the vile magic. Pae immediately feels the taint of the darnoc leave him.
Pae is still down 19 hit points

While that is going on, Mah'ysa watches over them and kind of snaps back to reality at Efreat's response. "Oh .... yeah , here Efreat. I think it suits better than me."

Mah'ysa then turns back to Pae and Bahir and pulls out the wand of Cure Moderate Wounds. She begins to try and heal Pae.
CMW: 2d8 + 3 ⇒ (2, 6) + 3 = 11
CMW: 2d8 + 3 ⇒ (5, 2) + 3 = 10
2 charges used, 27 charges left

Mah'ysa, laying her gentle hands on Bahir' shoulders, calls upon Sarenrae to try and remove the small hint of taint within Bahir. The purifying light of Sarenrae wells up inside him and he feels the corruption of Bagoas leave him as well. "There, my love. Lets heal this janni and finally get out of this place."
Remove Curse: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (7) + 13 = 20
Still down 1 hit point

Is there any other business down here with Shazzathared?

I think we are ready to depart now :)

staff of charming added to equipment. cast mage armor, overland flight and see invisibility before we leave.

Just a reminder that wouldn't escape your characters; Bagoas will probably be on the throne again, which is just outside the entrance to Aliya's chambers. Just in case that changes any preparations. If you want to be creative, and have the means, there are probably other ways to get in.

Mah'ysa casts endure elements on herself and on Spooky. She pats the cat gently on the head as it jumps into her lap and purs, "Just a little longer sweetie. We should be out of this crazy place soon," she smiles hopefully.

The group heads back down to the main doors to the throne room of the Haunted Palace that come in from the open courtyard that the giants are holding. Pae stealthily creeks the door open and indeed Bagoas is back, his ghostly form just sitting upon the throne. He doesn't pay any attention to the door opening slightly.

Hazreem decides to shift into his elemental form, growing in size exponentially. Wild Shape into Huge Air Elemental.

"Have we ever figured out how to permanently banish him?" He asks softly.

Excellent question! Everyone can make a straight Wisdom check, based on 3 clues:
1. Your discussion with Aliya
2. Your previous interaction with Bagoas
3. Your previous K(Religion) check for a Darnoc.

Mah'ysa Wisdom, +5: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

Wisdom Check: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

wisdow:1d20 ⇒ 15

[ooc]Wisdom: [ooc]1d20 - 1 ⇒ (10) - 1 = 9

Wisdom: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (20) + 0 = 20

Hazreem snorts, "Sounds like he has a superiority complex. He will demand we bow before him as he believes he is the ruler of this place. Not sure how we convince him otherwise."

I assume Pae would share all that information, so yeah everyone can feel free to look behind the spoiler and think on it.

Sorry, I've been away from my computer for far too long. Pae would definitely share his thoughts with everyone.

Pae whispers, "Perhaps if we just play along with his delusions, he won't harass us anymore."

I am currently out in the field for the next month. Please DMPC Bahir as needed.

Bahir nods, "If that's what it takes to put the evil soul to rest than let's call him by whatever title makes him feel better about himself."

Waiting to see if Efreat has something he may want to add about the problem before we continue.

"I suppose we can try and appease his ego."

The party moves forward into the room, and just as before the ghostly figure stands from his throne and booms, "Approach and prostrate yourselves before Bagoas, the inheritor and ruler of Bayt Al-Bazan."
If he recognizes you from before, he doesn't make any indication of it.

Hazreem slowly approaches the darnoc, his form swirling in the hot desert-like air. Once he gets about 40 feet away he prostrates himself as ordered...ready for Bahir to commence the attack.

Efreat prostates himself next to Hazreem, "Oh great Bagoas! Inheritor! Ruler of Bayt Al-Bazan! Grant us passage through your domain that we may see its wanders and know the extent of your greatness!"
diplomacy:1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23