Way of the Wicked - The fall of Andoran, Chapter II (Inactive)

Game Master increddibelly

Observing the laboratory, Caladwhen moves about as though doing a mental inventory. After a time, she nods satisfactorily and finally speaks up "Yes, this will meet our needs. When we more time available, I'd like to cleanup and setup a lab here."

Approaching the golem, Cala's expression glimmers a hint of wonder briefly.

Knowledge Arcana: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (7) + 14 = 21

After a quick inspection, Caladwhen ponders aloud "This could be useful, but I'll need more time with it."

Oret, as always, remain silent. However, he does join Talon and Aerent in searching the Throne room.

Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25

Aerent flicks his hand at Talon's sword in a playfully dismissive manner, "I make my own luck."

Oret, as always, remain silent. However, he does join Talon and Aerent in searching the Throne room.[dice=Perception]1d20+12

Oret notes the nonsense word at the back of the throne easily - it's the obvious spot to hide something, and average humans never disappoint *sigh*.

All good questions for our resident mage, as Oret doesn't speak Abyssal, nor can he detect magic. :-P

well, you have the insight to question the placement of the note :)

1-4 contains a dead minotaur. For some reason, it looks as if it died yesterday - but that doesn't explain the spear pinning him to the floor. He bears upon his arm a tattoo of a white horse skull with three burning green eyes. You've come to recognize this as the symbol of a servant of Vetra-Kali.

1-6 is a chamber that does not reveal anything about its original purpose; a fireball or some other equally disastrous spell must have been set off here 80 years ago when the Victor and his retinue raided the Horn. With some difficulty, you find some barely identifiable shards of bone and ash in this blasted room, to mark the demise of a small group of acolytes and raiders.

Talon can't help but chuckle at the room "Cala! I have a present for you!"

1-9 and 1-10 were once a tavern, used to keep the Horn's guards and servants content. It's actually not in terrible shape, considering the rest of the Horn's inventory. No food or drink remains, though; but with a few handfuls of gold, the bar would be fully operational.
basically, all you need is a keg, a mop, and a wench. And I do believe Aerent has one of those back in town!

1-13 Acolyte's Quarters.
Hidden under a pile of rubbish, is a small book.
One of the acolytes, Brother Zander Trask, kept a journal. The journal is frankly rather dull and mostly a repetitive and quite boring record of the day to day drudgery of being a lowly acolyte of the temple. Unfortunately, it's simply too mind-numbingly dull, to read in one sitting.

1-23 Capture cell
this chamber has a cage of stout iron bars, stretching from floor to ceiling. Anyone who blundered through the hole on the level above, would be trapped here.
It's obvious that the hole in the ceiling once contained a trapped hatch - and it might be worth spending some petty cash to get it working again.
There are some solid iron rings in the south wall; a perfect spot for manacles.

1-25 this room is thoroughly wrecked by the Victor's men. Sifting through the wreckage, you learn this room was once a Torture chamber. It is now in sore need of repair if you ever wish to use this room again as intended.

1-29 A soiled, ragged silk tapestry hangs on the far wall. It is difficult to make out, but the great white horse skull that adorns it is surrounded by a ring of jagged daemonic iconography, that loosely translates "All must ride with the Horsemen"

that's pretty much the first floor - some things left to figure out for you, if you'd so desire. Shall I wait with Level 2 until you tell me you're bored with this floor?

After spending some time in the lab, Caladwhen joins the others in the large throne room, and takes a look around. Approaching Oret, Caladwhen trace his stare towards the throne.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (16) + 11 = 27

"I see it too."

Curious, Caladwhen approaches the throne and kneels down beside it. Brushing the dust off the wording, she raises her left eyebrow inquisitively.

"If I had to guess, it's a command word. The language is abyssal, but even in that tongue it's gibberish." Squinting at the writing a moment longer, Caladwhen quietly adds "Yet this can't be just nonsense." Waving her hand over the base of the throne, Caladwhen whispers in elven "Dan llie olin."

Casting detect magic, and investigating a full three rounds.

Knowledge Arcana: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (8) + 16 = 24

In the I-4

Entering the room, Caladwhen smiles upon realization of the rooms warding. Walking beside Talon, a small grin forms "And a very welcome present it is. This room is a simple yet fabulous invention, such a nice way to preserve the undead, though that was never the intent." Looking over her shoulder to Zombie Kumanda, Caladwhen adding wickedly "I guess we have a place to stash your last victim Talon."

Ooo, a room that preserves from decay... that is actually a really nice thing to have for a necromancer. IB, when Caladwhen has time, she will want to take some time with the Golem to try and figure it out. With such a high DC, it might make sense if Talon helped, to try and boost the Arcana roll.

By all means I'll help with the Golem. With how long it's going to take we can probably just take 20, that will be us arcane casters main hobby for the next few weeks

I'm fine with taking 20's. There's no pressure but the time limit of two weeks. We're in the afternoon of day 2 of 14.

This might be a good time to figure out where you all want to sleep. There are plenty of 'empty' guard rooms you can claim for yourself. If you prefer to sleep together, there are rooms large enough for that as well.

There are no beds - but stuff like that would be solved by sending a bunch of goblins out to fetch stacks of fresh leaves and create a temporary nests -erhm- mattress in the spots you designate. Not much, but still better than a bedroll.

I suggest you get used to the fact you have slaves -erhm- minions, and use them as much as possible for simple tasks ;)

I'll see if I can get something close to the ceiling in a tall room made, perhaps a hammock

Noticing the diminishing light from outside the Horn, Aerent heads toward the former Guard Barracks (1-12). "I'm not sleeping with the goblins again, I'll be here if anybody needs me - there's plenty of room if anybody else wants in."

Saying that, he removes his weapons and armor, then begins cleaning the room as well as he can, taking out the broken furniture and any remaining personal effects. He heads over to the tavern and finds several tattered towels which he tosses into the room. After inspecting the room, he scowls at the remaining dirt and grime. Grimacing, he heads back toward the front of the Horn and proceeds down the stairs after making sure the treant was nowhere to be seen.

After twenty minutes, Aerent reappears, followed by several of the goblins. Some carry crude buckets filled with water while others carry large oak branches full of thick green leaves. Ordering the goblins to put everything outside the room then get back to their caves, he picks up a bucket and starts throwing water around the room, making sure to cover the tops of the walls and all the corners of the floor. He then grabs the rags and starts scrubbing the walls down, trying to rid the room of dirt and grime caked on through the decades.

Another hour passes before he finally stops. He drinks deeply from the remaining bucket of water before gathering up the boughs and moving them inside the room where he forms a crude bed.

I guess it takes a couple of hours total for him to clean out the room? Also, don't want to step on Sindran's toes with the goblins, but figured some water and tree limbs weren't asking too much.

I really like Talon's idea :) And Aerent is using the minions for exactly what they're here for. Nice :)

The treant is a nuisance, and will need to be dealt with at some point, but at least he's not stealthy. After half an hour, he's gone past the horn and is far enough to allow you to execute your plans without being interrupted by the tedious do-gooder.

The jungle is full of vines, that with some effort can be turned into a hammock. In fact, some goblins use a hammock in their own lairs downstairs; all they have to do is make a bigger, stronger version of what they usually do. The minions even work some large leaves into the crude vines, make it nice and soft on the inside. If others want hammocks, the Bane Wogs will gladly spend an afternoon making them, showing of their skill to their new masters.

Talon is evidently pleased with the outcome "Well done indeed. I'm glad you are skilled in such things". Hmm, perhaps I won't kill ALL of them when this is done.

Aware of the dying hours of the day, Calad begins to scope out a suitable place for a room. Deciding it best to be near the laboratory, Cala takes over the former armory and guardroom (I-17 and the connecting I-2). Immediately, Caladwhen skulks around the acolytes chambers and orders Kumanda to remove any debris, and then to pilfer any salvageable furniture from other rooms, particularly bookshelves, cabinets and a bed.

After finding what furniture she can, Caladwhen returns to her room and makes a quick of her hand and murmurs in elven "Pok-li." Immediately a just of wind appears, and begins to clean and dust the room as Kumanda places the furniture in place.

Essentially, I-17 will be a sitting room to read and relax, and where Caladwhen will cast Alarm daily before resting. She'll post her zombie guards at the door to I-2, where she will have her inner sanctum. She'll prepare the mend spell, and fix any soiled or broken furniture the following day, and make the room as comfortable as possible.

The room being in a satisfactory a condition as she can get it for the time being, Caladwhen heads to see the others. Approaching Talon first, Caladwhen notes "We should fly up to the top level, investigate the rooms we haven't been able to access yet by foot."

I can bring a few others if I prepare some Fly spells as well, but I don't think we've been up there yet have we?

just to be clear; we have been to the rooms on level 3 that are accessible through te spiral staircase. You have not yet visited the other rooms on L3, as well as the sanctum (essentially the sanctum is L4). If you do head to the Sanctum, remember the huge, hyperactive lightning elemental circling the top level...your characters would! Level 3 can be accessed from the outside through the stairway. However, did you mean to go to level 2, or indeed level 3 like you said? It's all up to you - but I'd like to know :) oh and while we're at it, let's label the goblin caves level 0. Then everything makes sense.

Cala was specifically referring to the rooms only accessible by flight on the third floor (rooms 3-2 though 3-11) and not the top level with the Elemental. That elemental will have to be dealt with in-time, but we're still in exploration mode I think at this point. We'll have to get to level 2 shortly as well.

I can also simply carry people up there to save spells

okidokie, I'll describe l3 ASAP

while flying to the 3rd level, it's clear that climbing up from the 2nd level landing(2-1) could be done by anyone with moderate skill. (Adequate handholds, DC15 climb check). However, it'd be far easier to fly or levitate to the third level entrance.

The landing platform(3-1) is baroquely adorned, every surface decorated with countless daemons tormenting and triumphing over living creatures, foolish enough to oppose them. Like below, at both ends of the hallway is a bas relief of Vetra-Kali sitting crosslegged, and like below, pressing the eyes sets or resets the pit trap in the middle of the entranceway.

Currently, the pit trap is broken; there is no hatch. This allows you to see down into 2-5 where any unfortunates would be caught.

Once inside, the entranceway is a large hallway with five doors. The baroque decoration continues and everywhere are bas relief carvings showing the dastardly doings of daemons.

Six green ominous flickering continual flames (one beside each of the single doors and two beside the double doors at the end) light this hall.

3-2 Blasted Chamber of the High Priest
This was once the personal chamber of the mortal leader of the Sons of the Pale Horseman. The last high priest dwelled here, and judging from the various writings, apparently she was known as "Ezra Twice-Damned". Now it is empty save for ash and splinters. The chamber was wrecked by a tremendous explosion such as a fireball.

There is a currently-not-so-secret door here - it is partially cracked open. What was once a finely made secret door (DC 30 to find) now only requires a DC 10 Perception skill check. If this room were cleaned, the door patched and closed, this could again be a well concealed secret door.
In my infinite wisdom (ahem) I have photoshopped away this not so secret door. The door leads east into 3-3

3-3 The burned library
Such a waste. This room once held one of the greatest collections of blasphemy. Now, just ashes and shreds of smoked parchment. All that remains is an inscription: "Behold the secrets of Death. Use them for My Glory."

Yep, just like that. All gone! I bet Cala has some serious feelings towards the Victor now.

3-4 Guard room
However, none remain.

3-5 Fane of the Three-Eyed-Prince
As ornate and baroque as the entryway hall (3-1) is, it pales before this expansive and vaulted chamber. This is the Horn’s third temple -- reserved only for the High Priest and his elite retinue. Most of the Sons of the Pale Horseman never entered this temple and never experienced
the strange rites conducted within. The fane is adorned with a riot of lurid color. Brilliant bas reliefs depict daemons of every sort engaged in countless acts of wanton evil, callous destruction and inhuman savagery.

Rows of pews allow a congregation of the chosen to gather. The podium is doubtless the source from where many a foul sermon of Abaddon’s wisdom and bile was delivered to those gatherings.

At the front of the chamber are four shrines (A-D).
A – A white shrine decorated with bas relief depictions of open pits of the dead and lepers crying in anguish.
B – A shrine of red stone decorated with cruel iron weaponry and scenes of slaughter.
C – A shrine of black stone decorated with images of mortals wasting away from hunger and starvation.
D – A shrine of pale green stone adorned with a skull with two coins over its eyes and an inscription of jagged abyssal writing which reads “Behold a pale horse. Its rider is Death and all shall follow him.”
E – A large bas-relief image of Vetra-Kali sitting crosslegged holding his greatest work, his masterpiece, a vial of some sort. Below the vial is inscribed a name ‘The Tears of Achlys.’

The three eyed daemon prince pays homage to the four shrines, but there is no doubt that this fane is built primarily to honor the prince himself.

Anyone who approaches this image of the daemon prince is afflicted by fearful visions (as the fear spell)

On all the other walls are litanies of the deeds of this monster. It was Vetra-Kali who crossed the great void and came to the prime material plane to establish the Sons of the Pale Horseman. It was he who oversaw the construction of the Horn of Abaddon and it is because of this that the Horn superficially resembles this horror from another world.

Will Save: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

Man, really seems like it might be worth it to pick up abyysal

Oret spots a key in Vetra-Kali's hand covered in Abyssal gibberish.

Flying up to the third floor, Caladwhen lands gracefully on her feet and enters the into the hall beyond the landing pad. While waiting for Talon to taxi the others up, Caladwhen observes the various abyssal writings in the room.

Planar Knowledge: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22

When everyone is finally assembled, Caladwhen rejoins the group. Motioning towards the writings, the elven women adds in a plainly disinterested tone "The abyssal writing describe the ascension of Vetra-Kali from Leukodaemon to the deacon of pestilence."

Entering the library, Caladwhen sighs at wrathful work of the Victor "The Victor certainly was thorough." Approaching the bookshelves, she adds with a derisive laugh "The Victor was a fool; he should have expropriated these materials rather than burn them, for to know thine enemy is to have power over them."

In the Fane of the Three Eyed Prince

Entering the vaulted temple, Caladwhen rolls her eyes at ever so heavy choice of decor "Oh, it's all so wretched; this room is even more ostentatious than the last one." Walking past the pews, Caladwhen approaches the shrines at the far end of the room.

Starting from the west side, Caladwhen observes the white shrine depicting the lepers and the dying and smiles ever so slightly while murmuring "Well, this I can appreciate at least." Moving past the red shrine with disinterest, Caladwhen halts at the bas-relief of Vetra-Kali.

Gripping her head as though in pain, Caladwhen suddenly looks horror struck as visions of pain and torture befall her, and invade her mind. Self-centered as she is, the images swimming in her head involve pain to her own person, and threaten to overwhelm her.

Will Save: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20

Get a hold of yourself, none of this is real. In fact, this protection is nothing more than type of magic I mastered long ago. As quickly as the fear came, Caladwhen reasons away the terror and regains her senses.

Intelligence Check: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Speak abyssal, check. Will save DC 18, check. Intelligence check, DC 18, check... and we're off!

With her mind back in focus, Caladwhen observes the statue and suddenly laughs, almost as she was mocking the statues as she realizes how simple a puzzle it presents. "It's on the damned key, unbelievable."

Approaching the statue, Caladwhen speaks in the same dark tongue she used to converse with Hexor and Vexor.

Nearing the shrine, Cala producing a small strand of leather from her belt pouch, and whispers in ancient elven "Naehil las-une." The leather strand appears to loop around her finger, after which she points at the vial. Suddenly the vial begins to float, and seems to follow her command as it lifts into the air for all to see.

"Behold gentlemen, the Tears of Achlys."

Casting levitate on the Tears of Achlys, and raising it up high for some dramatic effect.

Nice, Cala :) I'm sorry to rain on your parade...

Such a shame these tears of Achlys are only stonework. At least, you now have some idea what they look like, so you're not as like to get misled by the lord of pestilence.

And yet again Oret proves that his meditative techniques have given him a focused mind, by discovering a secret door in the east wall! It is well concealed (DC 30 Perception check to find) but closer inspection reveals that it radiates a strong field of conjuration magic.

ick, Conjuration. Cala, sorry to rain on your parade once more ;)

The secret door is in the north-east area of 3-5, approximately 10 ft from the north wall. Yeah; you guessed it. Now let's hope your characters are clever enough ;)

Oh well, that's what I get for writing a post late at night when I should have been in bed! Conjuration magic, however, is fine by Cala... she uses it frequently; it's divination and illusion that are her opposition schools.

Upon closer inspection, Cala adds "Or not. Well, whenever something is too good to be true, it probably is."

ach - my bad. Well in that case, good news! the secret door radiates magic! :p

is no one investigating the secret door? I'm a bit baffled. Well, There's more on the 3rd floor :) I'll post the other rooms later.

She might have assumed that if she noticed it she would investigate it

fair enough.
Again, the trigger to the room's security mechanism is pressing Vetra-Kali's three eyes together in unison. The secret door slides in, then sideways, to reveal room 3-6. A huge, 40x60ft room, covered in darkness, cob webs, wrecked pews, worthless temple paraphenalia, discarded masonry, piles of moulding boards, broken -- oh well, you get the picture.

This is not exactly a treasure room; so why anyone would go to the trouble to hide this junk behind an *extremely* finely made secret door, is beyond you...
...unless you're particularly clever, (or discuss this problem in the group, to Aid Another) and manage a

I guess we'll come back to 3-5 and 3-6 at some point, but I'd like to get the exploration behind us asap. So, moving on:

3-7 Antechamber
Priests once waited here to greet visitors. Now it is empty and devoid of anything interesting or valuable.

3-8 The Lightning Scarred Room
A great magical battle was fought here, probably between the wizards of the “Sons” and the priests of Sarenrae. The deep gouges cut into the stonework reveal where powerful spells once blasted out, again and again and again and again.
Now, other than its scars, this room is empty and unremarkable.

3-9 Meditation Hall of the High Priest
This room has no furnishings.
The phrase

There is a circle of more Abyssal script, repeated over and over again, in the center of the floor:

3-10 Sacrifice Holding Cells
This long row of six cells (A-F) having stout steel doors and good locks (DC 30). Here the “Sons” kept their sacrificial victims and playthings until the moment was right to offer them to their daemon gods. Now it is empty.

3-11 Chamber of Delights
Once this was the great brothel chamber of the high priesthood. The rewards for serving Vetra-Kali were doled out here in sumptious excess. When the Victor raided this hall, he ordered the erotic murals defaced and the great chamber purged of any hint of its original purpose.
Now it is simply a gigantic empty room. There are plenty of hints to its former use, in the form of dozens of defaced murals.
Even a furtive examination will reveal hints of the wanton excesses once depicted here.
Most disturbing are the obvious evidence that not everyone who visited the brothel was human. or even humanoid. But that's probably for the best, as not all of those who 'worked' here were human. or humanoid. or alive.

sanctum and 2nd floor are left to go through. I'll go through the docs and see if I can just post the whole thing.

is no one investigating the secret door? I'm a bit baffled. Well, There's more on the 3rd floor :) I'll post the other rooms later.

Sorry, I should have at least posted Cala's intent to investigate the magical aura... just been a hellishly busy week at school.

Intelligence: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11

Sindran just frowns at the secret room before leaving to find more interesting things to look at.

Sindran just frowns at the secret room before leaving to find more interesting things to look at.

That's OK, you made DC10 to aid another; your frown may trigger thoughts in the brighter minds of the group ;)

the target DC is now INT DC18

Sorry, I should have at least posted Cala's intent to investigate the magical aura... just been a hellishly busy week at school.

you should nothing, it's a game. I'll admit it would've been helpful :) This exploration part is *cross my heart* the dullest part of the game, ever. I think you'll all appreciate that it must happen, though; I'm trying to get the point across that you have a huge dungeon all to yourselves now, to do with as you please (oh and there's a ritual) and the only way to do that is to show you what's there. We've covered 70% though, so it's not long now.

So please everyone, could you roll an INT check? everything above DC10 aids the highest roll. Sindran, you already have, no need to roll again.

Int Check: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15

target DC is now 14, thanks to Oret and Talon.

Int: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

Aerent looks around...

1d20 - 1 ⇒ (5) - 1 = 4

Intelligence Check: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

Well, that ought to do it. I wonder if the teleportation magic on the throne is at all linked to this room?

Walking towards the secret door, Caladwhen looks at it a moment in wonderment.

Placing a hand on the door, Cala adds "This place is seeped in conjuration magic, which in this case likely means a teleportation spell is active, right?" Looking at the room with its seemingly worthless litter, Caladwhen leans against the wall a moment, again lost in thought. Out loud, Caladwhen begins to posit a possible explanation "It's possible this is a safe room. The only way out of this room is through this door, meaning some other method of transporting would be required to get here, at least in theory." After a moment, Caladwhen snaps her fingers and quickly adds "The throne; I think perhaps the throne is linked to this room. Such an invention would be useful to the High Priest, would it not?"

Turning towards the others, Caladwhen motions at the secret door. "There will be a password to open this door from the inside I suspect. It's likely either the abyssal inscription on the throne downstairs, yah or some other mantra known to the High Priest, like that phrase nan in his meditation chamber."

When speaking those words, Caladwhen will be sure to use perfect Abyssal to see it they might be the command trigger for the door.

Wait, wait, I was about to go to bed when I remembered something... I think Talon's sword hinted at the trigger earlier when Aerent was sitting in it.

"Yah. Yeah. You. Feeling lucky?"

The hilt sort-of twists so it can stare(?) Aerent sitting in the throne, in the eyes.

I bet if you say Yah on the throne, it takes you to room 3-6. From inside 3-6, you say a password and open the door to the shrine room in 3-5? Am I onto something here IB, or am I way off?

1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

How appropriate...!

Turning towards the others, Caladwhen motions at the secret door. "There will be a password to open this door from the inside I suspect. It's likely either the abyssal inscription on the throne downstairs, yah or some other mantra known to the High Priest, like that phrase nan in his meditation chamber."

...
I bet if you say Yah on the throne, it takes you to room 3-6. From inside 3-6, you say a password and open the door to the shrine room in 3-5? Am I onto something here IB, or am I way off?

You really do have int 20! I love it when you folks pick up hints <3

The passwords found so far are not related to 3-6, however, Cala is absolutely right that they are passwords of some kind.

Now...what sort of password would a priest of Vetra-Kali be likely to install, so that only those of the 'proper' motivation would be likely to say something like that out loud in 3-5...?

Okay folks - can you guess the password...? The one who gets it right, can earn some bonus XP :D

Feeling particularly sharp of mind after a good night's rest, Sindran takes another crack at cracking the door's password.
Suddenly his shoulders drop in disbelief, and he facepalms. "duh."

He walks to the statue of Vetra Kali and speaks the ward against the fear effect of the statue:

This time, the door to 3-6 doesn't slide away, but it slowly evaporates into thin air!

The room beyond...is not really a room. Instead, it is a pocket dimension overlaid over another room of exactly the same size.
This is the treasure vault of the Sons of the Pale Horseman. This is the place where the lion’s share of their wealth yet remains...! Heaped about this room is the accumulated wealth of the Sons, in neat piles.

The treasure vault was never discovered by the Victor and his men. It’s hardly surprising – they were not seeking riches. Instead, they sought to purge every last daemon and priest from the Horn of Abaddon, and that they accomplished. And so for eighty years, the vault has lain undiscovered and quiet.

Well...not entirely quiet...

After the initial glee of the discovery settles, you notice movement in the dark, near the back. And then, some more. 3 dark shapes slowly float forward, and at their head is this apparition.

Sindran grins at the large amount of wealth still remaining, but the movement immediately catches his attention with the half-orc's darkvision.

He speaks to the apparition in front even as he tries to ascertain what they are.

Knowledge (planes): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (5) + 12 = 17