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I started Rise of the Runelords with my Pathfinder group three weeks ago, on the autumnal equinox (to fit perfectly with the Swallowtail Festival). I've been looking all over the Rise of the Runelords forum and I've noticed this very neat thing that people do - create journals of their party's adventures. So, here's my attempt. I have no idea if I'll keep these up, but for the moment, I'm very interested.
Ithil Hin, a half-elven hunter with extremely typical stats (high dex, wis, str, mediocre cha, con, int). Took a wolf companion and the Primal Hunter archetype.
Meridia, a half-elven waves oracle who rolled crazy high Dex and Int and used their racial +2 to get a good Cha as well. No stats are lower than 13 (their Wisdom). Took the Wasting Curse.
Cordelia, a kyton-spawned (for flavor) tiefling witch with the Sea Witch and Coral Witch archetypes. Took an coral otter familiar.
Haast, a devil-spawned (also flavor) tiefling magus hexcrafter. Rolled fairly evenly, 12-14 in almost every stat.
Yllemsa, a merfolk arcane bloodrager with similarly balanced (and fairly nuts) stats, averaging a 15 post-race bonuses.
Every character is transgender and bisexual, as is basically always the case with my parties.
Ithil and Cerberus entered Sandpoint only a day before the Swallowtail Festival, stopping in to get cleaned up and restocking. However, he chose to stay after heroically saving Aldern Foxglove from the goblin commando Gresgurt.
Tragically, Meridia perished in a shipwreck a month prior to the Swallowtail festival, only to wash up on shore three weeks later. She was alive . . . almost. Her flesh is constantly partially rotted and dripping, and she smells of sea water no matter what she does. Hannah Velerin tended to Meridia after she washed ashore, claiming Gozreh returned Meridia to life for some purpose. Meridia remains doubtful of any divine intervention.
Luckily for Meridia, after her crew was officially confirmed dead, her contract to Beleven was destroyed, but the deed to her house was not by the time she returned, much to Beleven's displeasure.
Cordelia's soul was mangled from the beginning, and the beings of the shadow plane barely recognized hir as a mortal. Ze grew up nearly feral along the shadow plane coast of Magnimar, becoming fascinated with aquatic animals at a very young age. Coastal reefs, diverse and strong, kept hir attention the most, until at the age of 15 a whippoorwill, an avian servant of Pharasma, brought hir an offer: continue their study, their obsession with reefs, and they would be granted great powers, and brought to the material plane where other mortals could learn form them. They accepted.
Unfortunately, the 6'3" kytonspawn was not very welcome in Magnimar, and after creating quite a stir blaming the city for the pollution and destruction of its coastal reefs. They followed the Lost Coast to Sandpoint, where they began sleeping on the beach in a mound of trash beneath Junker's Edge.
Eventually, Haast set out to hone their skills, selling their services to a Magnimarian noble Keleri Deverin who needed help retrieving The Star of Desna, a family artifact, before the coming Swallowtail Festival. During this brief contract, they retrieved an interesting journal. The other adventurers they worked with were shortly thereafter inducted into a secret society called the Order of the Esoteric Eye, but they were less welcome, instead sent along with a courier to deliver the Star to Keleri's cousin Kendra, the mayor of Sandpoint.
Upon arrival, Haast decided to stay a time in the Rusty Dragon, interested in the tales they'd heard of the Sandpoint Devil - a fine monster to stake their reputation in a small, vulnerable village.
When her rage finally abated, Yllemsa regained her wits to discover another warrior, a friend of hers, dead by her hand. Soon thereafter, she was exiled, and she fled closer to the coast to avoid later being hunted by the people who had once been her family.
Over the past few months, Yllemsa has felt mysteriously drawn to the coastal town of Sandpoint, recently building up the courage to begin visiting the docks and talk to locals regularly. At first, the city guard was hostile to her, expecting that she was a spy or an enchantress, but after weeks of relative inactivity, they've stopped posting someone to watch her at all times. After defeating seven goblins, including a commando, during the raid on Sandpoint, Sheriff Hemlock along with many others have been far more welcoming to Yllemsa. They may know little about her interest or intentions, but she clearly shares an interest in killing goblins, and few question her presence now.
In addition, I also swapped out several Sandpoint NPCs that I and/or my players found boring for OCs I've developed for previous campaigns. This includes:
Vorvashali Voon and The Feathered Serpent has been replaced by Skaadi, an elf-changeling white-haired witch who runs the local magic shop, The Haunted Broomstick. She is in her mid-fifties and is intended as a romanceable NPC, although her romance arc is complicated somewhat by her accursed heritage - and the fact that she has been actively ignoring her mother's Calling for several years now.
Nisk Tander's Bottled Solutions has been replaced by Vivianne, a half-elf, half-orc (called a vashtar) vivisectionist who assists in teaching Magical Theory at Turandurok Academy. The locals are extremely nervous at her presence, and the only way she manages to keep her doors open is through significantly up-charging adventurers and paying well for harvested monster organs.
Savah's Armory is now the Polyarmoury. In addition, Savah is in a romantic relationship with Ameiko Kaijitsu, who is also in a romantic relationship with Shalelu Andosana. As my PCs are mostly very young, these three have been acting sort of like surrogate moms for a lot of them (especially Ithil and Cordelia, who are very young and haven't had mother figures for most/all of their lives).
Shalelu is also exes with Daviren Hosk. She pretends it never happened, while he's still bitter if she's mentioned at all.
Lastly, I've added class levels to some random NPCs and charted out possible paths to them becoming adventurers. This so far includes:
Aneka Avertin - The party really took a shining to Aneka after she was attacked by a goblin during the raid (and later gave Cordelia free bread). Aneka is currently a Commoner 1/Rogue 1 looking to become a "monster hunter" in order to get out of a potential courtship with Aldern Foxglove, who has started sending her mother letters to inquire after her daughter.
Shayliss Vinder - Shayliss and Ithil really hit it off after meeting during the Swallowtail Festival hide-and-seek game. Shayliss will be appearing in Book 2 as a Vigilante in order to prove her father's innocence in the Skinsaw Murders.
Besk Magravi - After several of my players gravitated towards Risa's place, I started fleshing out Risa's children a bit more. Besk is just a commoner, but she has the ability to use mage hand at-will. She may, with a bit more prodding, become an Evocationist.
Session 1 details to follow (trying to recruit my players to participate in journaling).
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Our first session went basically exactly to script. We established ahead of time how long everyone had been in Sandpoint (with Haast as the newest, having just arrived with the Star of Desna from the Pathfinder 2.0 Playtest the previous evening) and why they decided to attend the Swallowtail Festival.
Everyone tried out the different games at the festival. Haast and Ithil placed bets on themselves versus Gorvi, Savah, and Sabyl at weigh lifting (Ithil won by a large margin) and they got to meet Savah.
Ithil also played hide and seek, met Shayliss, and ended up losing because they were too busy being charmed to hide properly.
Several party members tried to show off on the balance beam to one-up Ameiko (who insisted on flipping off of it) - although it didn't go very well. Haast's pride was pretty wounded by this point, so they stopped playing festival games.
Cordelia spent much of hir time at the dock dunk tank, trying to mock fellow teenagers into playing the game. Unfortunately, hir version of mocking is . . . subtle, to say the least. People thought ze was being warm and consoling after they failed to dunk Cordelia in the ocean.
After most of the festival had concluded and the PCs were thoroughly overwhelmed with the number of NPCs I had introduced (whoops), the raid started. Our merfolk bloodrager was in a wheel barrow at the time and ended up having to be pupshed into range of the goblins, but this ended up working out remarkably well as Yllemsa took out the first two encounters almost entirely by themself.
The Waves Oracle mystery's fog sight ability also nullified any teeth these encounters may have had - my goblins couldn't find the NPCs before Meridia shot them, nevermind actually hit them.
The final fight to protect Aldern from the goblin commando was . . . a little disappointing. The spellcasters piled spells on immediately (taking out all of the goblin warriors with one color spray, then ill omen + doom on the commando), and the commando went down with one bloodraging power attack from Yllemsa. The only person who took significant damage through this whole affair was the witch who insisted in melee fighting with a boar spear (and remained up with 1 hit point).
Aldern Foxglove made a bit of an impression, going from a whimpering loser to a graceful flirt in the span of about 12 seconds. We didn't have any 'attractive female human, elf, or half-elf PCs', and between him being interested in a merfolk or being interested in an attractive male half-elf PC, I went with the latter. He's been talking up and flirting with Ithil Hin every time they've met since.
Ameiko arrived shortly thereafter and welcomed the party to the Rusty Dragon. The party was pretty eager to get to know her, so those who didn't have other housing arrangements agreed to stay with her for the time being.
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This session went very much as expected, with most of the PCs leaving feeling pretty good about what their characters did and how well they functioned (except Cordelia's player, who was a little frustrated that they didn't have any combat capabilities yet due to having taken a very utility-focused archetype).
In our little debrief after the session, the only NPC who made much of an impression was Ameiko, but the party was interested in getting to know Savah and Risa better.
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Session 2
The second session started off with me recounting how people were treating them differently the night and morning after the goblin raid. For people who were residents of Sandpoint (like Meridia), this was just overt friendliness - a box of cookies, thanks, a round of drinks. For people who were new (and a bit sketchier to the townsfolk), this mostly meant they weren't being actively avoided.
Conveniently, every member of the party elected to do a thing I had prepared in my notes and tailored to that specific party member:
In addition, when I mentioned Ezakien's daughter who 'perished in the same fire as him', they asked where her remains were. When I said they had never been recovered, they immediately assumed Nualia was a villain and that she might be the one who stole the bones. They didn't ask any follow-up questions about her, though, so they know nothing about her origins (including that she's an aasimar).
Cordelia's summary of the conversation with Aneka? "I've only known Aneka for a day and a half but if anything happened to her I'd kill everyone in Sandpoint and then myself."
-> As such, I started plotting out a way for Aneka to become more involved in the adventure, ultimately settling on an entanglement with Aldern Foxglove.
Ven arrived a few minutes later to find Shayliss and Ithil together. Ithil tried to very wittily explain what he was doing here, but Ven just socked him in the face until he figured it was time to bail, only grabbing his bow on the way out (leaving all his armor, gear, and clothes). The party thought this whole encounter was an absolute riot, and actually just found Shayliss more endearing for handling the whole thing so clumsily as soon as she got caught.
This whole section was a lot of fun, given that everyone's characters are transgender and none of them are human, so we had a good time of having the tailors fiddle around with a lot of different ideas to make things work. The fact that Meridia, the only gender-conforming, human-looking character, is perpetually moist thanks to their Wasting Curse didn't help the matter. Haast ended up making an impression on Sybil, the half-elven guildmaster, for being both deeply androgynous and also extremely beautiful when dressed up like nobility instead of a traveler.
Aldern proceeded to talk through most of the play by asking Ithil everything about his training, his family, his backstory etc. and insisted on informing Yllemsa on the background of every cultural reference they couldn't understand due to having lived underwater their entire life. At best, the party found him a little annoying, but ultimately useful.
Aldern invited everyone to drinks at the Rusty Dragon, where the party encountered Ameiko and her father having a shouting match. Aldern was the only person who understood Minkain, so he tried to give the party an idea of what was going on.
When Cordelia tried to intervene, Lonjiku freaked and said, "Is this the clientele your establishment attracts? Monsters and filthy vagrants? I won't have it. I won't have this damned building associated with my name any longer."
This was the first direct thing the party heard from Lonjiku in Common and it immediately made them hostile. Ithil started growling, Haast kept their hand on their sword, etc. Lonjiku noticed the situation was turning against him and tried to grab Ameiko etc etc.
Cordelia ended up forcing him out at spear-point, even chucking the spear after him when he gave his parting remark ('You're as dead to me as your mother!'), although not properly aiming to hit. He bolted as soon as the door was closed to get away from them.
The session ended with the party absolutely hating Lonjiku and trying to comfort Ameiko about being disowned from her family. She deflected with her joke about 'jackass stew' but thanked the PCs for their concern, explaining that her father was probably just looking for a reason to disown her as it was and that she had no interest in her father's business or legacy as it was.
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To wrap up the session, I asked for some feedback about the NPCs. Everyone adored Ameiko, which was little surprise. Aneka was another favorite, and a lot of people expressed interest in seeing more of Savah, Risa, and Sabyl. I'm still working on how to incorporate Sabyl more, but this is where I ended up developing Aneka's plot involvement and using Risa's Place as an alternative to some of the Rusty Dragon events I had plotted out.
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Session 3
Seeing as Session 2 handled almost all of the roleplay encounters of Part 2, we sped up to get into the Glassworks at this point.
The party broke off to do their own stuff while Shalelu went to go see Ameiko, but it turned out Ameiko was off with her girlfriend Savah, so Shalelu spent the afternoon with Haast instead, teaching them everything she knew about the current situation with the goblin tribes and the goblin heroes.
Ithil hit up the Polyarmoury and found Ameiko and Savah hanging out there. Savah was excited to sell him a large portion of her new stock of special (cold iron, silver, and living steel) arrows.
Cordelia had started hir classes at Turandurok Academy (civics and magical theory), and met the youngest Avertin child: Carver Avertin. He's a sullen child, 16, who spends most of his time doodling in a notebook filled with sketches of body horror and monsters. Most of his fellow classmates avoid him, especially because many of them (correctly) suspect that the monsters represent them.
Ithil wanted to go on a date with Shayliss, but was scared of Ven, so he paid Cordelia in bread to go and see who was working at the General Store. When it was Ven, Cordelia politely explained that ze had been paid to report to Ithil who was working - and promptly was ejected from the store. Mind you, Ven still has all of Ithil's gear minus his bow and quiver.
Meridia hit up Risa and her kids for a game of Bridge where they discussed how peculiar Hannah and other worshipers of Gozreh are. In addition, Risa made fun of Meridia's tapestry reading, even while supporting the authenticity of any of Madame Mvashti's predictions. Besk flirted with patrons a bit and showed off her mage hand wherever possible throughout this time.
For the rest of the evening, everyone gossips with the patrons of the Rusty Dragon and learns what they can from Shalelu about the goblin heroes (and laughs uproariously at their names, especially Ripnugget).
Ithil Hin wakes up to realize that a comb he'd been gifted on Day 2 of the adventure (it is now Day 7) is missing. He makes a guess as to who may have taken it, but doesn't suspect Foxglove.
Shalelu is leaving with Hemlock, so she departs in the early afternoon after preparing some flowers for Ameiko. The party is all having lunch at the Rusty Dragon when Aneka Avertin comes in, finding Haast in front of the Help Wanted board. She asks what it is like to be a sellsword and what it takes to get started. At first they're a little dodgy about it, but once Haast realizes Aneka is serious, the party all begins to offer some advice and ask why she's interested in mercenary work.
Aneka explains that for the past week her mother has been getting letters indicating Aldern Foxglove's interest in courting her daughter. Alma was quick to recommend a match, especially given how Aneka had been complaining for years about running Sandpoint Savories. Aneka is hesitant to accept, and some of the party members encourage her to decline. Eventually, she says she'll consider becoming a mercenary further and see how realistic it would be to get herself a weapon, some armor, and other gear. Now several party members are interested in what's going on with Aneka and expect return appearances from her.
That night, after Ameiko has found the note from Tsuto and left for the Glassworks, Shayliss starts pelting Ithil Hin's window with pebbles. When he opens his window, she shows him a bag filled with his gear and gestures for him to come down. Naturally, he decides to make an acrobatics check (and rolling a 28!) to slide out through the window and flip off the roof, which he pulls off spectacularly, locking himself outside for the night.
Shayliss offers him back his gear along with an apology for her father's behavior. Inside the bag is his lost clothing and armor, some chocolates, and some Slender James (my party insists that rations all include jerky called Slender James). He thanks her for bringing it to him, and she tells him "Now, please don't get mad, but I kind of told my dad that you seduced me while I was working and none of it was my idea."
A lot of players rolled their eyes at her, but Ithil just said, "Yeah, that makes sense. I'll try and patch things up with him somehow. Want to come up and share the chocolates?"
Before this smooth maneuver can pay off, however, they realize they've locked themselves outside and end up having to pelt Haast's window to be let back in. Haast proceeds to make fun of Ithil for having sex with Shayliss for... well, the rest of the campaign as it currently stands.
Once everyone is together, Bethana hands the PCs the translated note (it was the first time I had a physical prop, and Haast read it for the party). Cordelia immediately said, "Well, this Tsuto guy sounds like a bastard," and Bethana explained what she knew of Tsuto and his relationship to Ameiko. Concerned, everyone set off, armed, to the Glassworks.
The party found the Glassworks locked up, and none of them had Disable Device nor had a battering ram. They were worried about the scene they'd cause by trying to hack their way through the window and shutters. As they went around trying all of the doors, some passers-by asked them what they were doing, at which point Meridia pulled off a brilliant diversion: "That thing I was just doing - pretty creepy, right? You'd be concerned if you saw someone doing that, right? Then you should join the Neighborhood Watch!" and rolled like a 20 Diplomacy to start a speech about the importance of a Neighborhood Watch.
Meanwhile, Ithil climbed up on top of the Glassworks to look for an alternate entrance. He immediately found the Glassworks occupied by goblins, and, most disturbingly, found Lonjiku Kaijitsu's corpse preserved in thick sheets of glass. He let Haast, Cordelia, and Yllemsa know (and Yllemsa cast Fins to Feet, expecting a fight). Then he broke a sky light (the goblins rolled terrible Perception) and opened the door for the party, who spread out around the furnace to block off all of the exits.
Because we have a large party with high stats, I made the goblins more numerous and more intelligent than recommended in the AP. Unfortunately, this led to a two-hour long battle, halfway-through which Tsuto arrived and complicated things by stunning the Oracle. The battle turned quickly, however, as 4 goblins went down in one turn and the party quickly piled on Tsuto, who tried to flee - except that, when she had legs, Yllemsa had a 40' move speed. Soon enough, Yllemsa and Haast managed to corner Tsuto and knock him unconscious, tying him up and gagging him on a work bench while they inspected the rest of the Glassworks.
Meridia found his journal and handed it off to Cordelia and Haast, then found Ameiko a moment later. Cordelia's healing hex brought Ameiko back to consciousness, but they decided to speak to her in the furnace room - you know, the one filled with Lonjiku and his workers' corpses. She managed to answer their questions and ask her own, but she clearly was very, very far from OK. The party then split up - two of them accompanied Ameiko to see Mayor Deverin, two of them brought Tsuto to the garrison, and Yllemsa went to pawn Tsuto's stuff. Meanwhile, the players inspected Tsuto's journal entries (also handouts), and other than laughing at Tsuto being kind of a punk about his girlfriend's transformation, they were concerned with what they saw.
This led to the party rolling knowledge checks on everything they could - Kn: Planes on "Quasit", Kn: Local on "Nualia", Kn: History on "Malfeshnekor", Kn: Geography on "Thistletop", and rolling so well on each of these (26 on Malfeshnekor! - for which I gave them just the knowledge that they'd heard the name in relation to ancient Thassilon, and that he'd disappeared from history with the fall of Thassilon) that they quickly pieced together a lot of the potential threats to Sandpoint. They agreed to trap or collapse the smuggler's tunnel and prepare the town for a second raid. Only Yllemsa was hesitant, saying they wanted to explore the smuggler's tunnel (I gave their player a secret hint that Yllemsa felt compelled to go down the tunnel).
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After the session, I asked them what their plans were going forward so I could prepare how the city responded. They gave a few answers:
1) They'd explore the Smuggler's Tunnel, but they'd inform the mayor that they'd like to collapse it to protect Sandpoint.
2) They'd make the knowledge that Sandpoint might be raided again by up to 300 goblins as public as possible, but keep Nualia and Malfeshnekor out of it - make it look more like Tsuto had made a bargain with local goblin tribes.
3) They'd wait for Tsuto to be tried for his crimes.
4) They'd prefer to reinforce Sandpoint against another raid than try and strike out against Nualia's forces directly.
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Session 4
Before this session started, the players clarified that for the next session, they wanted to focus on exploring the smugglers' tunnels underneath the Glassworks and help prepare Sandpoint for the potential raid.
Mayor Deverin supports the party exploring the smugglers' tunnels and recommends collapsing them afterwards, but Ameiko warns that may cause a collapse somewhere in Sandpoint, potentially creating another infrastructural weak point to be exploited. They decide not to proceed with any action in the smuggling tunnels until the party has checked them out - the Mayor asks them to report their findings of the situation to her as soon as possible.
Mayor Deverin then called upon Daviren Hosk to assign a courier to go after Sheriff Hemlock and ask for further reinforcements from Magnimar - doubling the guard wouldn't be enough to deal with the forces they were inspecting. Daviren volunteered to take his fastest horse, Shadowmist, and go himself, departing that evening. Unbeknownst to the players, he was captured soon thereafter and brought to Thistletop, recognized for his eradication of the Bonecrusher tribe. Then, Ameiko left the party to attend to her father's manor and his staff.
The following morning, Ameiko and Savah meet with the party and is informed of the contents of Tsuto's journal. She doesn't think the town can stand up to demons and an aasimar spellcaster (she knew Nualia just enough to know she was a cleric of Desna) on top of the goblin tribes, even with reinforcements, and suggests that they find ways to fight dirty - picking off members of the tribes, trapping the Glassworks, and the like. The party says they'll consider it. Then, Ameiko gifts the party her rapier (Tsuki no ha) and Savah donates her MWK Chain Shirt. I altered Ameiko's weapon into a Mithral Rapier with the ability to cast detect fiendish presence at-will.
Meridia meets with the mayor about the idea of a Neighborhood Watch, and, after Meridia quells the mayor's concerns that people (re: nobles) would feel spied upon, she suggests that Meridia meet with her cousin Gaven to organize the citizens, then report to Hemlock when he returns.
Lastly, Ameiko charges Bethana with keeping the Rusty Dragon in order while she meets with the families of the Glassworks employees who died.
The party then sneaks around for a while (having high-dex characters, multiple of which are tieflings, makes this surprisingly effective), getting a good idea of which rooms have monsters. They dump the sinspawn's body outside of Erylium's sanctum (which cannot be opened without a holy symbol of Lamashtu), get weirded out by the magical auras of the waters of lamashtu, and ambush the next two encounters. The prison sinspawn in particular die terribly due to an ambush beginning with a casting of murderous crow, a spell I'd never seen in action before until right then.
When the party enters the ancient study adjacent to the torture room, Meridia concludes that the Catacombs must have been an ancient labratory in which powerful Thassilonian spellcasters experimented on living things, creating the sinspawn and strange skeletons found in the prison cells adjacent to the labratory. The presence of transmutation auras throughout the entire complex gets most of the party to agree - at which point, Cordelia and Yllemsa both notice flashes of Thassilonian writing on the wall, but can't make it out in time. This . . . really spooks the party out, and they try several things to try and get the writing to re-appear, but they can't figure out a mechanism to make it do so.
Soon, they stumble across Korvorus, who neutralizes most of the party with his acid breath and looks like their first real fight, especially when Yllemsa falls into a pit with a zombie (who proceeds to deal a fair amount of damage!). However, then everyone came together and buffed Yllemsa, who proceeded to crit Korvorus and deal 46 damage . . . much to everyone's delight. His weapons, along with Ameiko's gifts and Tsuto's gear, proved to round out solid upgrades for almost every character, and they enjoyed Korvorus's longsword - Twilight - most of all, even moreso that it seems to be little more than half-worked magical iron that shines light in a 30' radius, making the wielder into a permanent beacon.
We stopped here, thankfully, giving me a chance to respond to how easily the party had been tearing through the dungeon by both increasing the difficulty and amount of loot in Erylium's sanctum.
Session 5 will begin with the party's confrontation of Erylium, then move onto the Chopper's Isle side quest to bring the party up to 3rd level (And finally force them to ask what the 'Late Unpleasantness' is, as they've skipped right past it every time it has been brought up).
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After the session, the party (and their players) agreed on some in-world and out-of-world roles they'd take on.
Haast: Dungeoneer - Decides party actions in a dungeon, maps dungeons, manages spell duration tracking and the dungeon binder.
Yllemsa: Treasurer - Tracks the party currency, treasures, trophies, and moderates allocation and expenses
Ithil: Journalist - Writes letters to his father about what is going on, also serving as a recap for the party
Cordelia: Adventurer - Keeps notes of the adventure sessions and makes notes of quest progress and information
Meanwhile, I've compiled different references for Nualia's journal online, merged them, and added/changed stuff to make my own version of Nualia's journal . . . which is now 23 pages long and spans 9 years of her life. Whew.
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Our campaign slowed down a bit, so I haven't really been posting. Here's an overview of the sessions right after that, though:
Session 5 probably went worst of all the sessions we've had so far. It was almost three hours of just the fight with Erylium (plus 3 Sinspawn - 2 extras plus the one from the AP, except created with Yllemsa's blood, not Erylium's).
The session started off well enough. The party was real creeped out when they entered the Sanctum - the party rolled a 28 on a Kn: Religion check about the pool and consulted Lamashtu's Bestiary (from the levitation room) and, as the Oracle started to explain the baptismal rites of Lamashtu, the Bloodrager approached the Runewell.
Now, Yllemsa and I had previously established that Yllemsa became a bloodrager as a result of contact with a minor runewell they encountered about a year ago, and that they were mysteriously called to Sandpoint. Only now, staring at the well, did they know what they had been looking for. And as they reached out to touch it . . . Erylium used hold person. While Yllemsa was frozen, Erylium cut them to bring another Sinspawn to life, the others bursting in from the side doors.
That was all well and good, but Erylium was virtually unkillable for the party - her flight, invisibility, and slumber hex all caused them a lot of grief. I planned for this, however, and included a magically preserved painting of Lamashtu as part of the loot - something Erylium would not stand to have them touch even when she was out of spells, and she ultimately died trying to protect. The party was interested in the origins of Quasits (and Erylium in particular), and performed Heal to remove her heart.
Now, we had a 6th party member joining after that, so the party met Tad Marcellus (a Grippli from Tian Xia) selling a tome inscribed with the Sidhedron rune to Brodert Quink, prompting them to start a conversation. Tad explained that he felt compelled, as a Warpriest of Desna, to come to the Lost Coast due to the growing presence of demons - Lamashtu's servants, the party suspected, but Pazuzu as well.
Then it was Market Day, so we called the session quits so the party could work on buying/selling at home.
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We started Session 6 with Ithil taking command of the party's funds, and purchasing equipment for every character - alchemical items, bow upgrades, scrolls, and the like. I had established that, once a week on market day, Sandpoint qualifies as a Large Town for the purchase of items, so they made sure to spend virtually everything on this day.
Yllemsa received a MWK Exotic Horse Saddle from Larz Rovanky, commissioned by Daviren Hosk for their help in the goblin raid. They still didn't have a horse, but considering how short the distances had been so far, they didn't mind. They decided to save up a bit of money to get a horse later.
Haast saw a Wanted poster for a bandit known as Redshiv, preying on farmers-turned-refugees fleeing the Hinterlands for Magnimar due to increased goblin raids.
Shayliss took Ithil out on a date of sorts near Junker's Edge. Ithil figured this was some sort of sexual rendez-vous, but Shayliss really just wanted to know what happened in the Glassworks. Ithil ended up telling her everything EXCEPT about Erylium and Lamashtu's subterranean chapel, including the contents of Tsuto's journal. Thus, she learned about Nualia's involvement and her potential transformation into a demon via the destruction of Sandpoint.
We cut to Cordelia returning to hir dorm at Turandurok Academy, ze ran into Carver Avertin, youngest child of Alma Avertin. Carver was pacing the halls, clearly frightened. He asked Cordelia if ze heard his brother, Casp, who had been talking to him through the walls. When ze said ze didn't hear anything, Simon Korvut, now an Attic Whisperer, appeared before them and conjured a minor image depicting Casp's death - but in a way they knew didn't happen.
Cut back to Ithil and Shayliss. Shayliss paused their conversation, saying she could hear crying - crying that sounded like her mother. When the crying went away, Shayliss shared how her mother had been murdered by the Chopper 5 year sago. She talked about Old Man Stoot and how harmless he had seemed - and, come to think of it, how harmless Nualia had seemed back when Shayliss was just a kid.
Then, Ithil noticed foot prints leading from the shore underneath the Old Light towards Chopper's Isle, and Shayliss decided she'd had enough for the night and walked home.
Haast agreed quickly, and went to interview Cordelia and Carver about the previous night. When they met up with Ithil at lunch and heard about Shayliss 'hearing her mother cry', as well as the footprints towards Chopper's Isle, they decided that was the place to investigate. They recruited Yllemsa and Tad to help as well - Yllemsa for aquatic dangers, and Tad for climbing the sheer cliffs of Chopper's Isle.
Thanks to Tad's superior climbing abilities, they got up the cliffs quickly, and scoured the island for clues. Ithil and Haast found a pile of bones along the south of the island mysterious and unnerving, but it didn't seem to lead them anywhere. On the other hand, Cordelia found a mostly burned-out old cottage. They found a trap door and down they went.
I added a Necrophidius and 2 rat swarms to the Ruins of Wrath beneath Old Man Stoot's cottage, just to give this group of 6 adventurers something to beat up. They couldn't identify the statue of Pazuzu in the room, but there were not happy to find what appeared to be more Thassilonian ruins under Sandpoint - especially not in conjunction with obvious demon worship.
They made short work of the monsters, and the haunt created by The Chopper's remaining consciousness failed to hurt anyone, so their time in the ruins was mostly investigative. Cordelia added Stoot's notes and texts on Pazuzu to their recent pile of information on Lamashtu to look at later. They found Simon's remains, asked Aneka about his parents (finding that his mother had been murdered in front of Das, but Das remained alive), and returned them to Das. They also notified Father Zathus of what the island contained and looked for ways to destroy the evil presence that still lurks there.
All in all, I'd call this session a huge success - Shayliss and Aneka became much bigger characters to the players, and they finally got a grasp on the Late Unpleasantness, as well as how devastating it really was on the town. For the first time, they read the plaque at the Sandpoint Cathedral honoring those that had died - including Nualia Tobyn, and finally understood why her remains had never been searched for.
The session ended with everyone declaring what they wanted to do with downtime:
Cordelia - Read all of the notes left by Jervais Stoot; Read Erylium's Bestiary; Identify the statue in The Chopper's lair (Pazuzu)
Yllemsa - Return to the Catacombs of Wrath, and try and identify the seven-pointed star branded on their body (as well as plastered over the two sets of ruins they had seen)
Haast - Spend time with the city guard to try and learn more about Ripnugget, Bruthazmus, Tsuto, and Nualia
Tad - Get acquainted with the acolytes of Sandpoint Cathedral
Ithil - Patrol the hinterlands near Sandpoint for signs of Shalelu, and learn more about Thistletop
Meridia (not present at session) - Research hundreds of pages of notes found in The Catacombs of Wrath writen by Erylium about the residents of Sandpoint.
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Session 7 was a little odd and entirely homebrewed. The party really wanted more information before moving forward, so I dug around on these forums and crafted a series of skill challenges to determine how far they could get in their research. I also threw in some RP sections to see how much they would discuss with various NPCs around town - Sabyl Sorn, Brodert Quink, and Kendra Deverin in particular.
Yllemsa visited Sabyl Sorn asking about the seven-pointed star (that they drew for reference), but Sabyl said she didn't recognize it. Then they visited Brodert, who identified it as the Sidhedron Rune - he couldn't say much beyond that. Yllemsa brought up what they had learned from Meridia - that the Sidhedron Rune was connected to magic and magical theory in some way - and Brodert said that matched the analyses done by his fellow scholars, but he thought the evidence was a little slim. Lastly, Yllemsa confided that they had encountered a runewell under water in an old Thassilonian ruin, which excited Brodert to no end - he immediately began devising a method that would allow him to get to these ruins, becoming so deep in thought that he forgot Yllemsa was even there.
Haast played cards with a group of guards. They found the information on Tsuto, Ripnugget, and Bruthazmus largely repetitive to what they had already found out from Ameiko and Shalelu, but the information on Nualia was quite new. (They discovered that, with a little bit of prompting, two of the young guards started making jokes about how unfair it was that such a hot piece of ass had died. When questioned, one of the guards said they'd heard from a friend [Delek] years ago that Nualia was a slut who just pretended to be a good girl.) This was the first instance where they'd really heard anyone talk about Nualia before her death, so they found that pretty interesting.
Tad just met some NPCs. As a new party member, he just wanted to get more acquainted with the town, so we started with the cathedral. He didn't notice anything weird about the 'Ancient Varisian Standing Stones' in the center of the cathedral.
Shalelu returned from scouting the Hinterlands, and said it looked like the Seven Tooth Tribe had been largely wiped out by . . . something. And now they were camped out as refugees in front of Thistletop. However, it looked like Ripnugget was still at Thistletop. The party tried to figure out potential strategies for getting past the bulk of Thistletop's forces - when somebody recommended going by water, Shalelu mentioned that it was believed that a trio of harpies lived on the Three Cormorants between here and there. Haast recalled from talking to the city guard that Ripnugget was known for killing a harpy, and asked if these harpies were related. Shalelu said she thought so, and the party started working on a strategy to bribe the harpies to work with them in exchange for revenge on Ripnugget and the Thistletop tribe.
The party set off immediately, finding a series of cairns that led them to the tomb. They were surprised to find the symbol of Desna at the stone doors to the tomb - and even more surprised to find what looked like a decimated troop of goblins just inside. They took out half of the survivors in one turn before the survivors begged for mercy, but they manacled them together until they could leave the tomb.
Further in, in a large hall that had clearly been the site of a skirmish, they found a Mist Wight who, upon seeing the holy symbol of Desna, greeted them and asked them why they had come here. They said they were here for a hobgoblin whose corpse they hadn't seen. The Wight explained that a hobgoblin and several bugbears had barricaded themselves inside the tomb of another tomb guardian they had destroyed, and invited them to try and get the barricade down (the wight's spawn had been unable to). The party agreed, just now noticing a cracked soul gem as part of the wight's armor.
They broke through the barricade, slew Big Gugmut's companions, and captured Gugmut, planning to offer him to the Harpies of the Three Cormorants as a show of good faith. The Wight told them to leave to avoid further bloodshed, and they agreed, bringing Gugmut with them.
The party happily announced they got Gugmut, much to Shalelu's confusion, and locked him in a cell next to Tsuto. They briefly met another occupant of the Rusty Dragon for the night named Lyrie Akenja, then decided to rest before setting out for Thistletop via the water tomorrow.
Both in terms of learning more about the world and having fun with the dungeon, this session went really great! Plus they've started working with Shalelu, Ameiko, and Savah as a team, although Ameiko is still busy handling the affairs left by her father.
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So, skipping ahead a bunch, my party ran Session 29 tonight. If you're interested in how Book 3 went and the various homebrew I've made since then (largely based around fleshing out the villains and the conflict between Lamashtu and Pazuzu), you can find that here: Players Took Lucretia's Bait.
Once that was out of their way, they realized they had ~ 100,000gp unspent, and picked up some cool items, including the Undercutting Axe and Corset of Dire Witchcraft, items specifically curated by local merchants to try and sell to the party. Rynshinn Povalli made enough money to look into opening a new front Magnimar, and although the party doesn't know her that well, they were very flattered to see how she'd designed items specifically to suit their aesthetic tastes.
97,000gp later, and the party is much more on-track for their gear, with almost everything being +2 and everyone wearing stat-boosting belts/headbands. Sandpoint also recouped its losses by hosting an auction for Longtooth's corpse and magic items.
Ameiko made a speech about how much she hated this place and how worthless it'd become thanks to Lonjiku and Tsuto haunting the place, and how she'd decided to sell it - and how someone had already taken her up on the offer: her girlfriend, Savah, now one of the richest people in Sandpoint thanks to the good business of the Sandpoint Heroes.
Additionally, she'd come to realize that she hated being a noble and missed her days running the Rusty Dragon, and Lucia Scarnetti had agreed to sell it back to her.
Then, she invited everyone to have some drinks and snacks, put on their protective gear, and smash everything that remained of the Glassworks. The party made some rolls for showing off how well they were smashing things while "Bad Reputation" played and it was an overall very fun thing. They were glad to see Ameiko laughing and having fun, as the past months had weighed extremely heavily on her.
Continuing on in Jervais's notes, they realized that he had met the Harbinger one night on what is now Chopper's Isle soon after the Runewell of Wrath re-activated, and that he'd met with it monthly on the new moon up until his death. They attempted to scry the Devil with this newfound information, but the spell dissipated each time they tried.
Haast went to Savah with an idea: why don't the two of them take on the Sandpoint Devil together, invite a representative from the newspaper to watch, and advertise their businesses by slaying it? Needless to say, she was hyped about the idea, and they made a deal.
They've also gotten into the bad habit of using dimension door to get around town with 0 consideration of how startling it is for people - especially bad given their love of threefold aspect and overland flight to really spook people when they show up. Their power (and confidence) has increased so dramatically since before they faced Xanesha that their friends barely recognize them.
(For background, Skaadi is a changeling witch who has ignored her mother's call for years, but has had increasing trouble as various half-sisters have been brought into her mother's fold and moved into the area. She refuses to join the coven with her sisters.)
Skaadi, unsurprisingly, was not super interested in Cordelia's idea and recommended they not get too close to the other witches in the area - especially one with pale white skin and black hair (very much the opposite of Skaadi's appearance - a necromancer, and her younger sibling). Cordelia asked if they could just get coffee sometime, and Skaadi agreed to that much - as long as the coffee was at her place. Given the party's interactions with her (where she's been a cryptic, somewhat sinister presence), watching her interact with a teenager she had a lot in common with made her seem much more approachable than the party thought.
Finally, Cordelia head out to go pick up Nualia's corpse. They saw Belor Hemlock waiting on the cathedral steps for them, and when he tried to hail them over, they immediately became suspicious and refused to approach. He came over instead, and when they asked if he was here to stop them, he admitted it.
"I've been having you tailed for a while now," he said, "And I-"
They cut him off with a, "You d*ck! I thought we had a relationship built on mutual trust, Belor.
The conversation quickly broke down as Cordelia wouldn't let him explain why it was important that they take responsibility for what they were about to do, but he did manage to say, "I know I can't stop you, but I hope you'll do the right thing here," without specifying what that was.
They told him off one more time, then walked into the cathedral seriously pissed off.
The hags performed the ritual of reincarnation, and Nualia was reborn as an elf with black hair and violet eyes. They gave her clothes, then immediately all clamored to ask her things - almost none of which she could answer. When she saw the statue of Lamashtu and was asked if she would be taking her rightful place as Lamashtu's general, serving alongside Lord Mokmurian - she bolted. Cordelia promised they'd handle Myrianna and ran after Nualia, who quickly got lost in the halls of the Kreeg Clanhold.
Cordelia quickly realized Nualia didn't recognize them (they'd only met for about a minute before Nualia's death, and they had mage armor, defending bone, countless eyes, threefold aspect (elder), and overland flight up, so they didn't really look anything like they did when they'd defeated Nualia back in Book 1. Cordelia explained that it was them and their team who had defeated Nualia back then, but after they found Nualia's journal, they decided to bring Nualia back to life. They handed Nualia her journal back and apologized for the way Sandpoint's people had treated Nualia.
To their surprise, Nualia... wasn't angry. She didn't like that her journal had been read and her story shared with so many people, but her anger at everyone who'd mistreated her seemed to have just... evaporated. The trauma and hurt was all still there, but all of the drive born out of wrath was just gone.
Nualia started asking a hundred questions - about why she'd been brought back, about what had happened while she was gone and what had happened to her team, and discovered that things had simply continued on at the same frenzied pace without her. She was told about a conspiracy to destroy and enslave Golarion, got very confused when it was described as a "giant revolution," and asked if this was the same war that she was supposed to be a part of - the war to punish humanity and purge corruption from civilization. And that's when it clicked for Cordelia that Nualia's grooming had been about more than hurting her for Lamashtu's fun - Lamashtu had been involved in whatever Mokmurian was attempting to do for a long time now.
Cordelia asked Nualia to return to Thistletop (my party's base) with them, and she agreed.
They went and got food, running into the other party members one at a time until they all were eating lunch together, welcoming Nualia back and asking her about her time in the Boneyard (Haast in particular had been getting used to spending time there - he's died a few times now). Then, they laid out everything they knew about Mokmurian, Xanesha, Lucretia, and the runewell of greed.
When they outlined the stakes as "hidden forces manipulating giantkind into going to war with humanity for the sake of restoring Thassilon," Nualia asked whose side they were on. The party took a moment, shrugged, and said, "we just don't want a war at all" - they all had different motivations, but each thoroughly disagreed that war was necessary or good as a way to handle the emergent conflict between humans and giants.
Then, they offered her a job: help them quell the calls for war and investigate the conspirators fueling the runewell, and not only would she get an equal share of the wealth they found, but she could have all of her old gear back, her old room, and they'd pay for her restorations and anything else she needed to get into fighting form.
She realized she had no job skills, no prospects, no home, and little desire to return to set work (how she'd managed her Deific Obedience to Lamashtu back in Magnimar). And so, she agreed to write up a list of conditions for working with them, and she'd do it.
The session ended there, with the main question the party was left with being: why the sudden change in Nualia? Why isn't she angry about what happened?
And only one character who knew: Yllemsa. They were branded with the sidhedron by a minor runewell of wrath one year ago, and had since come to realize that their body now acted much like a runewell - whenever they killed someone, the wrath in that person's soul became their own, fueling their arcane bloodrage. Killing Nualia had unlocked their first Arcane Bloodrage, and killing Ironbriar had unlocked the second (they, at one point, saw 5 seals around the brand, but don't know what unlocking them does). Nualia wasn't angry because her soul had become totally cleansed of her greatest sin - and her greatest drive.
And that was Session 29!
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Session 30: Heart of the Woods
My party decided it was time to make good on the deal for Nualia's reincarnate, even if they didn't particularly care about staying in the good graces of the hags. The idea of a 'dark spirit' messing with a forest filled with fey was enough of a worry for most of them, especially given that Shalelu lives nearby (she relocated to Fort Rannick to help out Jakardos - and to get away from Ameiko for a bit, as the two of them broke up at the end of Book 2).
They got the standard bits of information for this section - fey have been acting cruelly: spoiling food, sabotaging trade lines, and spiriting people away at night. They'd already asked the hags where they could find Myrianna - in the Shimmerglens - so the party instead learned what they could about fey in general. Then, Cordelia decided to get some additional information via akashic communion.
Q: What sort of creature is Myriana, who was slain by Lucrecia?
A (Roll 32): Cordelia saw images of a nymph peaking from a still pool of water and laughing.
Q: How do you kill a nymph?
A (Roll 28): Cordelia saw many images of spells, arrows, and weapons of all kinds failing to harm nymphs across the ages, then an image of a nymph impaled on a cold iron sword.
Q: What sort of fey live in the Shimmerglens?
A (Roll 30): Cordelia saw fey of all kinds - pixies, fairies, satyrs, nymphs, dryads - all living happily and peacefully among the wildlife. Then, the sky turned dark, the trees withered, and the fey all began to bleed black from their eyes and mouths.
Then, the trance ended.
"Well, that's ominous," they said. "But I think it'll be easiest for us to teleport there. We'll go in the morning."
The part that I handled very differently than the book was the encounter with the weeping dryad.
The party came to a clearing, the first area they'd found with light filtering in through the trees, as well as the first not-dead tree they'd seen: a giant oak tree. Figuring this might be home to a dryad, they approached it and tried to assess the tree's condition.
Cordelia touched the bark, and a face emerged from the wood, followed by a torso. The face lacked eyes, and black tears dripped from the sockets over a broken body - in addition, her windpipe was crushed, and she was unable to speak.
Cordelia: "I'm a friend - I'm going to heal you."
Cordelia reached out and healed the dryad, which was at least enough to let her speak.
The dryad wept for Myrianna, inconsolable until the party said that they were here to find Myrianna and put her to rest.
The dryad recounted her tale (minus all the rape - I've been greatly decreasing the amount of rape in this campaign for my players) while the party pieced it together with what they already knew. They were very surprised to discover that Myrianna was actually a nymph and not a hag, and even more surprised to hear that she and a mortal ranger had been lovers.
"She's become like a human - unchanging, despairing. She won't let us go even though we're already dead. Please, you have to convince her!; convince her to let us go."
The party agreed emphatically, and the dryad used what strength she had to reach and touch Cordelia's arm, transferring the knowledge of how to reach Myriana's Grove to them, then collapsing, exhausted. The party promised to return, then set off. They gained the benefits of good hope for the remainder of their time in the Shimmerglens.
... and then they walked right into the phantom ship half-buried in the soil. Fearing curses, or simply costly distractions, they skirted around it entirely and continued on towards Myrianna's Grove.
"Hey, Myrianna? We know where Lamatar is."
And Myrianna emerged from the pool, screaming and enraged, blinding the entire party (I was using a custom Myrianna with much higher save DCs - lower than Joey Virtue's suggestions, but still 25-27. Unsurprising that everyone failed).
Undeterred, the party explained that they had seen Lamatar on Hook Mountain after he was taken captive by the Kreegs, then given over to Myrianna's sisters as a pet.
"Sisters?" she asked.
"Briselda, Grelthaga, and Larastine?"
"Those monstrous hags are no sisters of mine! - but... they have him? They have Lamatar?"
"He's become a wight - a type of undead, and he serves them now."
Myrianna demanded that he be brought back to her, that she could bring him back and make him whole.
Ithil (to the party): "Is it even possible to bring back an undead? I thought reanimation destroyed their soul or something."
Cordelia: "Yeah, I don't think so, but I don't think she can find rest until we at least try. I can just pop on over to Hook Mountain and try and bring back a piece of him - I think she's going to try a reincarnate or something."
Nualia: "Can she... un-blind us then?"
Cordelia: "No, but I can as soon as this is over, I just don't want to get blinded again immediately."
Cordelia (to Myrianna, who they can hear is standing very close): "I'll be right back," and they teleported away.
Ithil: "... Cordelia just ditched us, didn't they?"
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Cordelia tried asking for Lamatar, now the front sentry to the Hook Mountain Clanhold, to just give them some of his hair, but he didn't respond. Not wanting to start a fight, Cordelia made their way back to the coven's spot, and just went for it:
They told the hags that they had a friend, Aldern, who liked to make weird paintings of people incorporating their hair, and he'd seen Lamatar alive once and wanted to make a painting of him (incorporating hair). After a little convincing (and hints that Aldern might paint the hags as well), the hags agreed - and offered some of their own hair as well.
Cordelia cut off some of Lamatar's hair and used their last teleport to return to Myrianna's grove, where Ithil was regaling Myrianna with his life's story.
They handed over Lamatar's hair, and Myrianna went to go pray on a little island in the middle of her pool.
Ithil: "But this... isn't going to work, right?"
Yllemsa: "I don't know, but she seemed pretty confident even knowing he was undead. I don't think she'll blame us if the spell fails -"
Cordelia: "-when the spell fails..."
Yllemsa: "Well, I don't think she'll blame us. Unless she does, in which case, whoops."
Finally, the party caught sight of a light glowing in Myrianna's hands.
Myrianna: "This is a magic mortals forgot, you know. How to channel life force into your magic. I can't blame them; they'd likely die if they tried. But in the First World, magic isn't so limited as what you call spells..."
Myrianna drew the light into her bosom, and with a flash, she was gone. In her place stood Lamatar Bayden, naked and confused
Lamatar: "Is this . . . is this Myrianna's grove? What is this? Where is she?"
The party explained what had happened to Myrianna and Lamatar, until the memories of that day suddenly returned to him and he began to cry.
As the party decided to give him a moment, Cordelia realized they had a band of hair wrapped around their wrist that hadn't been there before. It wasn't magical, but looking at it brought them a sense of ease . . . (Myrianna's Inspiration).
Ithil: "Once he's recovered a little, we should get Lamatar to the Black Arrows. They'll be happy to see him."
Lamatar: "No... no, I won't return. Myrianna gave everything she had left to me, and I . . . I'll do the same. I will remain here, as her legacy."
Ithil: "What do you want us to tell the Black Arrows, then?"
Lamatar: "The truth. The man known as Lamatar Bayden, Captain of the Black Arrows, is dead. One day, when I know what I have become, I will take a new name, but for now I will remain and protect this place."
Ithil (tearing up, whispering to party): "That's so sweet. I mean, this is all awful, but they're so... cool."
Ithil: "Oh, wait, the dryad... I should check on her. Then we'll go back?"
Lamatar: "I will see you to the edge of the Shimmerglens - for now, I don't know if this place is safe."
The party checked on the dryad's tree on their way out, and found it withered and dead, with no sign of her.
They created a sylvan hideaway as soon as they reached the edge of the forest, and decided to wait to teleport straight home. The Shimmerglens and Hook Mountain weren't their's to fix after this point, they figured.
The party has come to the conclusion, out of game, that they're unsure their characters would actually try and reach out to Lucretia and Mokmurian, now knowing how manipulative and cruel they are in their missions, but not entirely willing to oppose them either. They're considering holding back in Sandpoint and looking for an opportunity to make contact safely, but I'm considering diverting them into a quest in the Sandpoint Hinterlands if they aren't interested in Jorgenfist.
Specifically, I'm thinking that Cordelia's new key may lead to a failed Runeforge prototype that Karzoug devised, which would give the party a chance to become acquainted with some key information:
1) The need for a location like Runeforge, as well as ongoing negotiations to create one.
2) Prototypes of "runeforged" weapons
3) Documentation of Chellan's creation
4) More information on the Scribbler and the war between Karzoug and Alaznist
5) Confirmation of the existence of a runewell of greed and the fact that it's in Xin-Shalast.
An additional hook I think I could use is Ithil's clan, who were last located on the Storval Plateau about a year ago. If they reach out to him for help about hostilities from local stone giants, I think the party might find interest in attempting to start a giant revolt by revealing the purpose of the sidhedron rune.
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Session 31: Haast's Folly
Aneka arrived a bit later with cinnamon bread, everyone had a good chat while going over the equipment they'd be using on the assumption that the Sandpoint Devil was actually a demon. Savah also got to debut her Longtooth Hide armor.
They expected the Devil to arrive onto Chopper's Isle on the night of the new moon, so they set up there, letting Lincoln hide in the Chopper's hatch to watch while they waited behind the trees for the Devil to show. Haast had earlier purchased a goat to be tied to a stake on the island as bait, so they just watched it for the first few hours of nighttime.
Around midnight, a heavy fog rolled over the town, and once it reached Chopper's Isle, they lost all visibility. Lincoln wasn't sure what was going on, but the rest of them used the moment to regroup so they wouldn't lose each other in the fog.
A few minutes later, and they heard something heavy land on the south of the island, and moved in slowly. The goat started to freak out, but whatever landed seemed to ignore it, so they kept moving forward, just a few feet at a time, casting spell and drinking potions as they go
Finally, as they approached the southern edge of the island, Savah felt something touch her shoulder behind her, and spun around to attack. Before it landed, though, she found herself looking into the luminous yellow eyes of a horse's head with wolf's teeth, and became fascinated.
Aneka went to support her, and immediately became fascinated as well. Haast, now transformed into a giant gargoyle, decided to support as well... and promptly became fascinated.
(My Sandpoint Devil was an Advanced Variant Sandpoint Devil with telepathy 100' and a hypnotism gaze attack).
It tried its hand (hoof?) at a phantasmal killer on each of them, but each saved on at least one of the effects. It tried speaking to them quietly, to convince them that they and Sandpoint were in great danger, and that only Lord Pazuzu might protect them now. And it told Savah to try saying 'Pazuzu' three times in one breath to make sure she would be safe.
She ended up convinced and began the prayer, but just as she finished, she suddenly fell unconscious, and the Devil screamed, throwing everyone but Haast into a panick. Aneka jumped from the island, Lincoln closed the hatch and fled into the Chopper's shrine (and Savah was unconscious), but Haast replied by striking the Devil with trial of fire and acid. It continued screaming up until it stepped back into the mist and suddenly disappeared. A few minutes later, the fog dissipated as well, but Savah remained unconscious.
They rushed her to Hannah, who, familiar with the legends of Pazuzu, said she didn't believe Savah was possessed. She scolded Haast and Aneka for trying to take on a creature of legend for nothing more than bragging rights. Savah woke up an hour later, saying she felt alright, she had just suddenly become terrified and collapsed all of a sudden.
Haast reported to his allies that the Devil had even more abilities than they had expected, and he'd need more help next time.
The party described almost the entirety of Book 1, including relatively-unknown information, like the contents of the Catacombs of Wrath. They tried to cover up finding Nualia's journal, but Ithil had already mentioned it back in Book 2, so they ended up sharing most of Nualia's backstory as well. They cut out several murders she committed and her interactions with the Skinsaw Cult, and Cordelia purposefully tried to paint a very sympathetic image of her (and the rest of the party didn't contradict it).
Mid-discussion on her, Nualia (now called 'Tanya') entered the room, then quickly got shoo'd out b/c she's terrible at lying. Cordelia followed her out while Nualia freaked out a little about having her story shared, but Cordelia promised that they were going to to try and improve her image in Sandpoint using the play. After a little convincing, Nualia agreed to have some information shared in exchange for royalties (she's proven to be very money-conscious), and Cordelia agreed to that.
Cydrak proposed the following structure for his play
0) Chorus of aeons/angels [proposed by Haast] for a Greek chorus.
1) Swallowtail Festival / Character Introductions
2) Investigation around town; Sandpoint Glassworks; Entering Thistletop and finding Nualia's journal
3) Nualia's backstory
4) Final confrontation. Epic duel in which Ithil and Haast valiantly die for Sandpoint and definitely aren't eaten by dogs. (this was the biggest sticking point for the party, most of whom wanted to insist that it was all less dramatic, but they eventually conceded).
5) Haast meeting the chorus and singing the end with them.
Cordelia asked if they could have some sort of side-show for presenting the historically accurate facts of what was depicted in the play, but Cydrak mostly avoided that question.
One of their number was captured, and gave up a piece of information: the Brotherhood had a spy in Sandpoint, but he didn't know his name.
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Belor Hemlock contacted the party, saying that the spy in Sandpoint had been captured, and he wanted to see the party ASAP. They arrived soon afterwards, and he said that he received a letter from Kaye Tesiarani, along with the delivery of the spy, Jonal Mendor, stating that one of her employees had gotten a great deal of information from him before handing him over. Additionally, this employee was willing to share everything they'd learned - but only with the Heroes of Sandpoint. If they were interested, they should come to the Pixie's Kitten at their earliest convenience and meet with them.
The party tried going down and talking to Jonal, but found him entirely unhelpful - his merchant story checked out, and he claimed no knowledge of the unsavory activities of the Seven that had been recently revealed. Furthermore, he didn't have the signature tattoo that most members of the Brotherhood seemed to have, so they left him alone and headed for the Pixie's Kitten.
The most recent addition at the Pixie's Kitten, Calypso moved to Sandpoint at the conclusion of Book 2. She's a medium-height Chelish woman with deep black skin and a blue-gold color palette, most commonly distinguished by the gold rings she wears in her hair. She aided Yllemsa during the investigation into B-7, claiming to work with a faction of people protecting the Lost Coast. She is, as Yllemsa has deduced, a changeling and Shayliss Vinder's half-sister, but has been a resource at several points throughout the campaign.
Calypso re-introduced herself to the party, sat down, and started in on her explanation.
1) Jonal Mendor had been her client back in Magnimar, and at the time she had known he traded with the Brotherhood of the Seven, but hadn't known of its significance. Now that she started seeing him again in Sandpoint, she became suspicious, and got him to start talking. The party has relied on her ability to charm people twice in the past, so they didn't question how she pulled this off.
2) Jonal was the one who developed the list of victims that the Brotherhood used to designate targets, and the late Jass of the Pixie's Kitten helped him do it.
3) Jonal provided alchemical supplies to the Brotherhood of the Seven, but he wasn't an alchemist - the bulk of his supplies came from a contact in the Sandpoint Hinterlands. This contact was a ghast named Kanker, who had been working with B-7 before he started trading with them. However, in order to trade with Kanker, Jonal needed to provide him with fresh elves - which he did in more than 20 cases. Kanker primarily provided magical poisons (which the party had come into contact with when facing off against Ironbriar).
4) Calypso knew about the ghoul plague through a 'contact' from the town who knew more about Kanker than even Jonal, but she would only put a single person in contact with them. Haast volunteered, and they arranged that meeting.
I was quite surprised at how easily the party took how much Calypso knew and how calmly she treated the information. They simply find her helpful, and not suspicious, and don't really think she's hiding anything.
For reference, Calypso's family is a Hag's Coven that works for the Black Maga. They're worried about this whole greed-harvesting business, though, and want to stay established in the Hinterlands, so they've aligned themselves with the party.
1) Kanker provided a different one-off favor for B-7: changing Aldern Foxglove into a Dread Ghoul in order to throw the Hinterlands into disarray while Aldern completed the murders required of him.
2) Anyone Kanker kills is guaranteed to rise as a ghoul without relying on ghoul fever - burn any corpses he creates.
3) Kyle also indicated that he was some kind of necromancy researcher, and sold Haast a spell to potentially help find Kanker called carrion compass.
Kyle was, as the players guessed, actually Sage, the witch who worked in the basement of the Sanitorium from Book 2, but decided not to call them out on it as long as they were being helpful.
Wow, this is a really nice example of how to keep going when you're off the rails. It's nice that the players are rethinking allying with Team Evil, though.
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Thank you tonyz! You've been very positive about how I've been handling the campaign, which is appreciated.
I thought I'd cover in brief how I'm re-directing my party based on the interests they've shown, and how I plan to merge it back into RotR.
1) A branding room for converts to Kabriri
2) A 'birthing' pit where humanoid creatures are starved, then dropped into a pit of corpses. Those who refuse to eat die in the pit, while those who eat turn into Imperial Ghouls.
3) Kanker's Repose, a sanctum from an even earlier shrine to Urgathoa. The shrine is built over the tomb of two Daughters of Urgathoa, who Kanker has an alliance with. This area contains complicated, incomplete maps of the Pit, which shows the location of his 'lab' - a collapsed Thassilonian cloning facility.
Inside is a 'failed Runeforge' known as the Forge of Greed, surrounded by various abandoned projects. The only successful creation from the Forge of Greed itself was Chellan, the Golden Woman, who ultimately proved unstable and deteriorated over the course of only a few years. Her body was later forged into the sword by her same name.
Additionally, the party will learn about the development of 'Runeslave' technology, and learn a bit about Fleshcrafting and Philosopher's stones, although these things are a little less immediately relevant.
Lastly, the party will find the sarcophagus of Morzan, the head researcher for the Forge of Greed, who was entombed as a record of this failed laboratory, as well as copies of her reports to Karzoug. Peace talks between the seven nations of Thassilon for the purpose of creating Runeforge are what ultimately led to the facility's abandonment, but there will be no clear indication of where to find Runeforge or if it was actually completed as planned.
1) Determine whether this Hellfire Flume was, in fact, where the advisor Xaliasa was stationed, and recover any remains if possible (or lead Lucretia to them).
2) Do not further interfere with Mokmurian's efforts in Variasa.
In exchange, Mokmurian will pass Sandpoint over in the coming invasion, and may even lend forces to help the PCs establish peace in the region if necessary. [This effort at making peace is due to Lucretia, Mokmurian, and Karzoug's realization that Cordelia is as skilled a spellcaster as Mokmurian himself, and a hope to court them to their side.]
The party is extremely wary of Lucretia, but they may take the hint of Mokmurian's interest as reason enough to begin investigating. If not, I have a contingency.
Back in Book 2, the party defeated a wizard named Ardelia Enelva who was a former colleague of Brodert's that appeared to be trying to re-activate the Hellfire Flume. It is through her notes that Brodert came to realize that not only was he correct about the Hellfire Flume's purpose, but that Alaznist had been attempting to use the Underdark to connect multiple Hellfire Flumes along Bakrakhan's shared border with Shalast. Having gained a measure of proof that he was correct, Brodert became more withdrawn, recognizing that putting forth solid evidence of the Flume's purpose might draw scholars who wish to replicate the Flume.
The Flume was not the only artifact of the ancient past that Ardelia had been interested in, however. She also showed interest in the seven standing stones of Sandpoint Cathedral, believing they were Thassilonian in origin. Without informing the party, Brodert began to study the stones, searching for evidence that she was correct (and, incidentally, becoming an Expert 7 / Wizard 1 through the study of her spellbook).
I haven't decided on the exact mechanic of it yet, but Brodert believes that the standing stones can grant access to yet more subterranean ruins - or simply act as a marker for descent. Either way, he believes excavating under the temple will eventually locate these ruins.
And here's where Nualia's knowledge comes in handy - back when she was hooking up with Delek in the smuggler's tunnels, she became familiar with their layout, and eventually discovered tunnels right underneath the chapel that she used to sneak out. If there are ruins beneath the chapel, the party could probably access them without disturbing the church or relying on the mechanism of the standing stones (the solution should be originally devised in the party's attempt to access Kanker's lab).
The dungeon they locate contains the control room for the Hellfire Flume, catacombs, and an extraction lab meant for harvesting materials from those slain by the Hellfire Flume (and preventing their rise as undead). Completing this dungeon doesn't provide a lot of lore on its own, but it will grant access to the dungeon's entrance and connect to the proper Underflume.
The Underflume here also held a military project - the creation of magi. Alaznist spent much of her rule attempting to create the fusion of body, steel, and magic that she called Magi, but never perfected it - all of the Undead Magi that remain here are Sigilus, an archetype incapable of using Spellstrike or wearing heavy armors. Here Haast should be able to learn much about the origins of the techniques that have been perfected in the past 10,000 years.
Lastly, the haunts of this area will mostly be of those who died in the Cataclysm - of the terror they felt moments before the end came, and of the dread they felt preparing to weather it. They'll also see brief glimpses of Anizorah and Alaznist.
Down deeper, they find Anizorah's personal quarters. Here the haunts will continue, but these are Anizorah's own haunts - records of a sort of her (romantic and professional) relationship with Alaznist, and the preparations they were both making to survive the Cataclysm while continuing to wage war with Shalast. Of course, like all the Runelord's plans, Alaznist's was delayed far, far longer than expected, and she is only now beginning to field servants with any hope to retrieve Anizorah. Anizorah who's consciousness left this world long ago, unable to wait for Alaznist to return.
Finally, the party finds a teleportation circle - to a subterranean laboratory made especially for Anizorah and the other Haruka defectors.
Here The Black Maga remains to this day, unable to contact nearly anyone, and having drawn sustenance and power only from the offerings mortals have granted her in the past century or so (raising her from her torpor). She was able to establish an empathic link with Peggy, or Peg o' Ness, the sea hag and a servant of Lamashtu several years ago, who brought together a coven to serve the Maga's interests in exchange for her extraordinary wisdom and knowledge of the distant past.
The greatest of these servants is Yggra, a Night Hag who has watched over the Lost Coast for hundreds of years, one of many evil creatures lured by the seal created by Ashavah to contain Uvaglor, Lamashtu and Pazuzu's bastard child during the Age of Darkness.
The Black Maga's knowledge is truly vast, and in her prison, the party may have the opportunity to learn much of Thassilon if they are willing to listen. Maga is one of the only surviving creatures to have known Xaliasa, a spy in the service of both Karzoug and Alaznist who ultimately turned on them both, hoping to free Maga in service to Lamashtu before his death in the Cataclysm.
It is through Maga that the party will have an additional opportunity to learn about Runeforge's existence, as well as why it was so valuable to the Runelords. If the party is willing to trust her at all, she might even propose a solution to everyone's problems - revive Xaliasa, learn the location of Runeforge, forge weapons capable of destroying the rising Runelords (or, more immediately, the powerful Mokmurian), and share this information with Maga's servants. In exchange, she will command them to protect Sandpoint, buying the party as much time as they might need to seek out Runeforge.
Yggra's late coven-mate was Shayliss's mother, so she hoped to instead shape Shayliss into a hateful weapon for Lamashtu's wielding, but she proved remarkably inflexible to this end.
I'm still waiting to see how Book 4 goes, but my current idea is that Yggra will attempt to have Nualia slay Shayliss and take on the power of the brand and take her rightful place as Lamashtu's general, ready to strike down Karzoug and Alaznist both (something about "The Runelords will rise again - if we allow them to") and claim the land as her own. This will backfire terribly, of course - Nualia gets along with the party quite well, and Lamashtu's abandonment hurt her deeply. She won't fall for Lamashtu's temptations a second time.
I'm still working out how to merge this idea into Xaliasa's resurrection, but that will likely be a divine gift Lamashtu grants in response to Yggra's prayers.
I know this is extremely off the rails and draws heavily from the Sandpoint guide, but given my party's extreme hesitation to take on Mokmurian's forces for fear of feeding a runewell of greed, I'd like to both validate this strategy as well as provide them most of the key information they'd get in Jorgenfist - as well as some key backstory they wouldn't get otherwise! The fact that Chellan is never mentioned in the story bugs me to no end, for instance - and I wanted to give Maga a bigger role than some hazard you're supposed to ignore!
And showing pieces of Alaznist's love life is... too great a temptation to pass up. I know my party will eat that up.
Hello Askar hope you are well! I just caught up on the last few posts, and man 100k excess wealth? That sounds exciting, both as a GM and as a player I'd think. Those two items you noted are super cool, and the Axe seems like it could be particularly useful for sure haha
This got really long, just commenting on stuff as I read it. Feel free to not engage in my strange musings and infinite questions haha. I'll spoiler these and hopefully keep up to date so I don't hijack your thread so much!
I really like what you did with Ameiko's Party! And as a whole, it sounds like Savah and Ameiko are great supporting casts for your story. I think I might take a bit of that idea but rename the event to "Ameiko's *Going Away* Party". I've been sewing a lot of seeds for Jade Regent in my campaign, from some Swamploration to using the new Varisian PC to add in most of Jade Regent's supporting cast with the that PCs caravan. Shalelu is being replaced with Iconic Merisiel, who I wove into the Jade Regent backstory and had arrive back in town on the same ship I had two retired PCs leave on.
Ameiko hasn't been as important to the PCs mostly because I have her in the kitchens and depressingly moping around these days after the events of Book 1, but I'm sure some will be sad to see her go; but the Party will likely be a highlight of the work filled week my PCs got ahead of them.
Your Devil stuff is interesting; it looks like you've seeded in Chopper's Isle, which I'm springing on my PCs within the next few sessions. Are you using any more metaplot from Pazuzu vs. Lamashtu?
Who am I kidding though... You've worked The Pit in there, so it would seem so perhaps!! I've been debating about whether I should or not for months... How are you planning on doing it? Have you wrote up the dungeon yet? James Jacobs has been saying on streams if he'd ever get the chance it would be upwards of a 100pg Mega Dungeon, which is so crazy to me. If you need any maps for it, I'd be happy to help, as I custom make maps myself ^_^
"bantered a little about the ethical ramifications of reviving a terrorist " got a chuckle from me. I suppose she kind of is when it comes down to it lol
Poor Nualia... I'm not so sure how I would take that kind of thing as well.
...Lamashtu had been involved in whatever Mokmurian was attempting to do for a long time now.
Wow... I've really never considered the implications of what Lamashtu could have been striving for there...
Yllemsa's connection to Alaznist has me very intrigued... Was the Sihedron branding and Arcane Bloodrage something you guys worked together on? What state is Alaznist in in your campaign?
Also, how are you handling Nualia as an effective PC in your campaign? Are you changing the balance of anything to match, or requiring any of your PCs to have Leadership?
Ooofff, a whole party blinded! Funny that Cordelia just left them like that haha
I see the key isn't for the Pit, but for more foreshadowing, and rightly so!
Man, seeing this story be so... gray is very strange. Its very unique and I'll bet that my feeling of having no clue where its going extends to you as well a bit haha.
Ohhh, I was a little confused about your version of the Chopper's Journal and why the New Moon meetings occurred... But I see why now, to set up the fight. My PCs are destined to face it too, with two Varisians being in the same caravan affected by the Devil several years ago (though these two don't know of their connection, which was hilarious to me when they met).
I wrote and posted my Chopper Journal a while ago, but I might go back and modify mine to allow for this as well. It raises some questions as to why the Devil shows up, how no one sees it, and why it doesn't attack the citizens though, hmm
I like the dramatic explanation of your Advanced Devil after the facinations haha... I never thought about how intelligent it should be ran but... I suppose it truly oughta be as Pazuzu's harbinger, huh?
Just, wow, at that fight though. I agree that that is a very fitting battle for PCs to lose/break even with, as narritively the stakes aren't too high, and it also serves as a bit of a lesson. What was going through the Devil's head that night?
That play idea is so wholesome, as is Cordelia's attempts to help Nualia (Tanya)
That one-shot is mighty interesting :o a player running Campaign adjacent material, who'd a thought?
The Kanker tie-in is really intriguing, as are these "Magical Poisons" Ironbriar used on the party, bet that was a good time for them ^_^
I noticed there are some different shops and locations in your Sandpoint, like the Witch's store and Polyamoury; were those worked in strictly off PC interest? I wish I could work in a Sandpoint Bulletin... It seems like such a useful tool for the players and the GM, but would be strange to add in mid campaign.
I cannot lie dude, your ideas and modifications to the campaign are really impressive. I'm honestly surprised and confused how all of this has come about in the span of 30 sessions lol
I am very intrigued by your plot with Brodert, the Hellfire Flume, and that entire dungeon, really. Brodert has been an essential NPC in the entirety of book 1 for my PCs, as my players are convinced that everything Thassilon is what RotR centers on, and as such I've been offering the PCs more opportunities to learn about it. Brodert's sent them on two different quests already, and they've listened to his lore filled rants on his theories on what feels like a dozen occasions. Going through my old notes, my own thoughts for the dungeon involved the descendants of Alaznist's Flameshaped Soldiers (From a Wayfinder issue) who managed to survive and thrive through Earthfall in the underdark and formed a primitive society that believes the Surface world to be dead. Due to their literal nature as well as fear of Alaznist, who is a deity to them, they still maintain the Hellfire flume with trained soldiers. I wrote that up before JJ's Sandpoint book, though, and quite frankly your adaptation of that is cooler haha.
I'm a bit confused by the ending to the Underflume, however; is Alaznist actually alive in the Underflume or?
Your weaving of the Lamashtu vs Pazuzu metaplot still never ceases to amaze me. You even throw in so many other third parties in there too, I wish I could remember enough of the setting to keep them all relevant like that!
Anywho, sorry this got so long, and I hope you and your players had and continue to have happy holidays!
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Ah, hello again Jay! I'm going to briefly go over what's happened in my campaign, then I'll tackle some of your questions.
Session 32 was basically just a dungeon crawl. The party used carrion compass on some ghoul eyeballs they thought might be related to Kanker and were led to the Pit. Once inside, and once they'd dealt with the mind fog (my party enjoys a good extended life bubble at the start of every adventuring day), they discovered the trampled remains of ghouls - ghouls who had clearly had longer to transform than the farmers they'd been dealing with before.
The eye led them deeper into a tunnel network, eventually emerging into a hallway marking the start of the temple. After that, it really was just a dungeon with some interesting lore tidbits about both Kabriri and Urgathoa, and they managed to get through the whole thing and Kanker in one go (although not the optional 'boss' Daughters of Urgathoa I put in the final sepulcher). They managed to locate Kanker's lab and made a plan to get there.
The highlight of this session, to me, was the fact that it was the first time the party went into a dungeon with a strategy - and their strategy this time was to buff up and just not stop moving no matter what happened. And they pulled it off pretty well, with most of their buffs staying up until the end. Poor Nualia, with her 20' move speed, only really got into melee in the final fight, and she was suffering from 3 negative levels at the time :( Her crits were still pretty scary though.
Soon before the runewells reactivated, both Pazuzu and Lamashtu were grooming someone in Sandpoint, hoping to use them to their own ends. When the runewell of wrath flared to life, it granted both of them an opportunity to snatch up the one that they had chosen, as both had enough wrath deep in their souls that they were affected terribly.
As such, Jervais Stoot and Nualia Tobyn acted as the entry points for members of the town and the PCs to get more familiar with both of these gods. Jervais left behind his notes, and Nualia left behind both her journal and a codex on Malfeshnekor. Erylium, incidentally, left behind that bestiary of Lamashtu's servants. All of these little articles became props for me to introduce these meta-villains as the true puppeteers behind the events, but dramatically outside of the PCs reach.
After that, I fashioned out a loose chain of command for the both of them. Yggra and the Red Bishop came in at the top (Night Hag Witch 11; Mothman Cleric 11), with Lamashtu's chosen being the more powerful of the two, as appropriate to her greater status. Then they each needed an acting agent in the hinterlands: Peg o' Ness and the Sandpoint Devil. Both cunning and cruel, but one with largely non-overlapping domains (water and air).
Those agents each had pawns (Peg o' Ness had her late cousin Maella's, and Yggra's, changeling children; the Devil coerced the harpies of the Three Cormorants into service). And each was interested in eliminating the agents of the other - the party was easily able to convince the harpies to help kill Nualia, for instance, and Peg o' Ness has steered the party as Bevanaka as she wished.
Finally, each faction has a very distinct goal in the region, and they're very similar. Pazuzu wishes to free his son, Uvaglor both for the terror it would create, as well as the damage it would inflict on Lamashtu's reputation (and agents). Lamashtu hopes to free her daughter Maga, in part out of sympathy for her long captivity, and in part to became her herald over the seas once again.
For the larger picture, I just paint Lamashtu as the kind to play both (or all) sides, pitting even her own agents against each other, as long as she's in good with the side who wins. Pazuzu, on the other hand, is much more single-minded and has a noble streak to him, seeking to destroy anyone who would harm those loyal to him. As such, regardless of which villain the party is up against at any time, there's a good chance Lamashtu has a hand in it - even if she's also clearly fought to take that villain down in some way or another!
I shot them a vague idea - would they be interested in having Yllemsa's arcane bloodrage be connected to an artifact, so Yllemsa would be more tied-in with the plot? And they said sure.
Yllemsa's backstory, with a little cooperation, became focused on Yllemsa's discovery of a strange well in collapsed ruins they were exploring, a forbidden place among their clan. They felt drawn towards it, touched it, blacked out, and awoke to find that they had murdered several people, including a loved one, and that a seven-pointed star was now branded on their flesh.
After being exiled, they felt drawn to the land, eventually making their way to a specific town: Sandpoint. They hung out at the docks for weeks, trying to figure out what drew them to this town, when they got wrapped up in the Swallowtail festivities. When they located the Catacombs of Wrath, they knew immediately that this was why they were here, and since have even started living in there.
The lore I've created to justify this is as follows: Alaznist was the first runelord to use minor runewells. While their power was limited, one of their major strengths was the connections between them. It was well-known that the runewells allowed communication, but a hidden facet of their creation was the fact that they were all entrances to her own demi-plane, the Eye of Fury (originally created by defectors from Haruka, as she could not wield conjuration magic herself). Karzoug uncovered this fact thanks to his spy in Runeforge and later the Hellfire flume (Xaliasa), and created a similar plane - the Eye of Avarice.
The mechanism that Xaliasa never uncovered was something managed solely by Alaznist's Harukan lover, the archmage Anizorah. Anizorah devised a necromantic mechanism by which the runewell of wrath's greatest weakness (distance) could be overcome. Within its radius, the runewell searches for creatures completely absent of wrath in their soul and calls out to them. If they make contact with it, the Eye of Fury embeds a rough copy of the runewell on the person with a tiny radius, including a door to the Eye of Fury. If and as that person kills, the souls of those they've slain are filtered through them, such that they absorb all of that person's wrath.
Of course, one person is not meant to hold the wrath of many, so this has some side-effects. The two people so infected in my campaign, Yllemsa and Shayliss Vinder, have both manifested arcane abilities far beyond anything they were previously capable of, and receive a small boon every time they take a particularly wrathful soul. At certain stages of accumulating wrath, 'seals' on their body have to be broken in order to allow them to continue building it. For Yllemsa, this is the Arcane Bloodrage features. For Shayliss, this is the additional elements she masters as a Warlock.
While truly fueling the runewell of wrath could eventually open a door large enough for Alaznist to step directly into the world though, Anizorah devised this mechanism as an intermediate stage. If all of the seals are removed on the 'door' to the Eye of Fury on a person, Alaznist gets just large enough of an entrance to the world to inhabit that person's soul. At first, they have strange dreams, showing them runes and scenes beyond their comprehension, largely meaningless. Then, they start seeing some of Alaznist's memories. Then, Alaznist can speak into their mind directly. Then, she takes their body as her own. The goal is to get enough control over someone to use them to properly fuel a runewell.
Ardelia Enelva was another such person branded earlier in the game, an evoker and former colleague of Brodert Quink's. Her strange dreams led her to study Thassilon and Thassilonian magic to the degree possible, but she was stopped by the party long before she could do anything particularly heinous.
Additionally, the party has heard of at least one other person being called a 'Branded' by Bevanaka and the Changelings. This person is Lyara, a Medusa Kineticist aligned with Yggra and Lamashtu's other servants. She works as a lawyer in Magnimar, searching for the most wrathful people to serve as a public defender (and later killing them). She carefully hid several of her murders as Star Killings by carving the sidhedron on them after they died. She took over the Shadow Clock after Xanesha's death, and is currently investigating Lucretia. Unfortunately, Lucretia has noticed this.
Skaadi (and the Haunted Broomstick), as well as her sibling Sage and mother Yggra, are from that same campaign. Skaadi's design was so popular among my players, it felt like a waste not to recycle her when she never actually got to have her story.
Vivienne was ALSO from that same campaign, only she never even got to be introduced. She's half-elf, half-orc, so I wanted to put her in there to confirm that that is a race in Golarion (so long as I'm running it), as well as just to have an Evil Poisoner Lady around for the goth-loving gays in my party. She's actually connection remarkably smoothly into some side content run by Ithil's player, which included ANOTHER vivisectionist alchemist named Viv, who was a friend of Vivienne's. They both secretly served Urgathoa, and had the Potion Glutton feat.
The implication here being that Vivienne and Viv alike were likely in contact with the cult of Kabriri and met the Daughters of Urgathoa, and have now lost a mentor of such in Kanker. So sad :(
The final change (swapping Rynshinn for Sybil) is yet again a recycle from my previous campaign. Sybil was a wife to the mysterious Senator in that campaign, and organized all of the parties in that campaign's main city. I reworked her actually so I could make Rynshinn younger, making the stuff that happened with her parents more recent, and also making her one of Cordelia's classmates at Turandurok. The fact that they both ended up being queer ace folks feels like a bit of a missed opportunity, given that Cordelia has never spoken to Rynshinn a single time.
I am, however, about to start a political plot revolving around Calistria's followers' exclusion from Sandpoint's charter, so Rynshinn will be coming into the spotlight very, very soon >:)
BTW - if you want to add a Sandpoint Bulletin but it seems too weird, there's an easy in for that. Just say it's a new business, and Sandpoint just got its first printing press! Maybe the Mercantile League bought 2, donating 1 to the city in an act of good will?
That said, its usefulness declines after Book 2, as the party isn't in Sandpoint all the time...
Oh, and one more development I've been working on!
The big shift to the play is that now, Nualia and Cordelia are the main characters. Cydrak, with his wonderful +23 to Sense Motive and the right questions, has accurately guessed that 'Tanya' is Nualia reincarnated. What's more, after Cordelia's one-on-one interview, he has come to the conclusion that not only did Cordelia bring Nualia back to life - they did it because they're in love with Nualia!
As such, the play actually opens with the party facing Nualia in an epic battle, after which they find her journal. The rest of the play is largely composed of flashbacks telling Nualia's story, as well as the party discussing what she did (and mourning Ithil and Haast, among a few other details). Cordelia acts as the narrator, and becomes increasingly distressed throughout the narration, dramatically breaking into tears while reading at one point.
And at the end of the play, there is a time-skip in which Cordelia studies The Black Arts to bring Nualia back . . . out of love.
To make matters worse, he really wants to find a big New Actress to try and replace Alishanda (given that the party found out she was Xanesha and murdered her), so the casting call is being more openly advertised than normal.
One of Cordelia's friends, Lily Viskanta, was Delek's younger sister. Her whole family was butchered by the Brotherhood of the Seven as they searched for Delek on Nualia's behalf, and she was only spared because Nualia healed her and let her flee.
Anyhow, Lily is now 17 and trying out for the part of Nualia Tobyn, who she feels a strange connection to . . .
I love drama and chaos.
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Session 33 didn't have a whole lot going on, but I'll hit the highlights.
The party suffered a lot of permanent negative levels as a result of some bad saves against temporary levels, and Nualia only just learned restoration, so they decided to back off of the dungeon for now until Nualia could get rid of those levels (so, one week). In addition, they agreed to use the time to come up with a plan to go to Jorgenfist.
They heard about some commotion this morning having to do with ledger pages nailed to City Hall, and asked her to ask around about it (she has the highest Diplomacy). So Nualia poked around the Fatman's Feedbag and heard that a figure known as 'H' was responsible for the ledger pages, which indicated that Titus Scarnetti had paid the Fatman's Feedbag for 'services rendered' one day before each of the grain mill fires in the previous months.
The party has met 'H' before, and believe that she is Shayliss Vinder (given that they know both can control fire). Cordelia and Yllemsa decided to go talk to her about it, but she denied any knowledge of the ledger or 'H,' and suggested that 'H' was just some pyromancer, and the fact that the Runewell of Wrath had granted her pyromancy didn't make her the only suspect.
They were pretty skeptical, but during the conversation, Shayliss managed to sell them 1 chocolate bar and 30 Slender James (this world's Slim Jim's). Yllemsa's going to be eating a lot thanks to wearing the Belt of Gluttony, so they've just decided to get food everywhere all the time. Shayliss also got to actively mock them while doing it, so she found it all pretty satisfying despite the accusation.
For clarity, Shayliss definitely is 'H', but my party hates being impolite or accusing anyone of lying, so they keep letting it go when it comes up. She's also got a doppel in the event that she needs an alibi (for instance, this morning - she didn't leave her shop in the morning around the time 'H' posted this).
He just reported that everything went well in the Pit and to say 'thanks' to Kyle. She tried like, several times to proposition him, but it took him several minutes to understand that that was what was going on.
Ithil: "Ohhhh, okay, I see. Yes?? We can do that."
Calypso: "You can just go now if you'd prefer."
Ithil: "Oh, great. Bye."
Everyone forgets that Ithil is like, a young half-elf man ever since he got reincarnated into a tiefling body.
Ithil did have such a good time hanging out with the employees of the Kitten that he's decided to hang out in the lounge and invent more drinking games, though. He seems pretty uninterested in actually using it as a brothel.
They ultimately found nothing suspicious about the play, and just hoped he was taking care of himself. They are still a little wary of the fact that it's a totally open casting call (as in, amateurs welcome), but are considering sitting in on the public rehearsals to see how people try to act as them.
1. "Cool Motive, Still Murder" (about Nualia)
2. "Mr. Foxglove, (or Die Aldern, you Dumb B@#+&)"
3. "Oh s~#* it's a dragon" (about the raid)
4. "Oof" (about the Cataclysm - it's basically a punk song about the research Cordelia is doing about Thassilon).
5. "My Friends are Going to Save Varisia (f&~& off)" (trying to get an iconic piece out before Cydrak's play can get popular)
They also brought up the stuff with H and all the shady s*%$ the Scarnettis have been up to, and that got Ameiko talking about the City Council - including the most recent meeting. Apparently, Sybil, master of the Sandpoint Textile Guild, has amassed a small fortune and employs dozens of people, and has threatened to leave Sandpoint entirely for Magnimar (leaving dozens of people unemployed and hurting one of Sandpoint's only successful trades at the moment).
Her condition to not abandon Sandpoint? The expansion of Sandpoint's charter to include protections for worshipers of Calistria. Literally the entire council is against it, according to Ameiko, but they're also very afraid of losing the textile guild when their economy is already fragile due to all of the attacks they've weathered.
Cordelia became VERY hostile that Ameiko wasn't more supportive of religious tolerance on principle, even when she tried to bring up the context of religious and ethnic tensions in decades past. That conversation was brought to a halt basically by Ameiko telling them to 'drop it,' which is probably the only time she's pushed the party away on something.
I'm developing this subplot because several of the PCs allies are associated with Calistria, but hide it (including Shayliss, Skaadi, Kaye, and the Masters of Dungeons). Additionally, I explain Nualia's dad's views on chastity and sin as having more to do with a reactionary Varisian religious movement in response to an increased number of Calistrians and elves in the Lost Coast than Desna's actual stances on sex.
It also means that, if the party actually wants to help Sybil achieve her goal, they have a reason to try and bring Calistrian worshippers together, which could potentially be quite fun.
Cordelia arrived back at their dorm a few days later to find a note on their desk. It read:
Hi Cordelia! I have a gift for you that just arrived; why don’t you stop by my room to pick it up?
Best wishes,
Lily
When Cordelia arrived at Lily Viskanta's room (one of Cordelia's best friends and Delek's [Nualia's dead ex] younger sister), Lily was surprisingly bubbly and warm. She apologized profusely for not having gotten Cordelia a birthday gift in time for their actual birthday, but she hoped she could make up for it!
Lily: "When you told me Sheriff Hemlock had been tailing you, I just got so mad, so I thought I'd put a stop to that! I had to tail you myself, of course (sorry about that), but the good news is I found your tail!"
With this, Lily opened up her closet to reveal a young girl bound up, gagged, and with a hood over her head. Cordelia was a little surprised, but Lily just dragged the girl out, sat her on her bed, and pulled the hood off.
Lily: "I present to you Gaia Acari, expelled from Turandurok 2 years ago for fighting with other students."
Cordelia paused for a moment to think, then said, "Okay, I was originally planning to blind whoever I found out was tailing me, but you're just a kid so . . . if you promise not to scream, we can just talk, okay?"
Gaia nodded.
Cordelia didn't get rid of the gag just yet. They asked, "Did Belor Hemlock hire you to tail me?"
Gaia shook her head 'no.'
Lily made things extra creepy by wrapping an arm around Gaia, putting a finger under her chin, and saying, "Now, if you lie to us, things are only going to get much worse."
(My table, who've known Lily Viskanta for a year now, were more than a little shocked at her behavior here. She had been nothing but a mild mannered tutor, so I guess they didn't quite anticipate . . . uh. This coming from her.)
Gaia still shook her head no, and Cordelia un-gagged her.
Cordelia: "If not Belor Hemlock, who hired you?"
Gaia: "His name is Jubrayl. He told me he was a 'concerned citizen' after the skinsaw murders started and paid me to follow you around - because of that necklace you wear. The one with the star."
Cordelia: "... tracks. Okay. What did you manage to find out about me?"
Gaia: "Just, like, your habits, and who you talked to, and stuff like that. It was impossible to tail you all the time, since you don't really... sleep."
Cordelia: "Hmm. Well. I don't really like people following me, Gaia. And I'm not really seeing why I shouldn't make an example out of you for it."
Gaia: "Please don't! I could tail people for you. I can work for you instead."
Cordelia: "I don't really do things that way."
Gaia: "Then... I could give you information. How about - you friend Yllemsa? I could tell you what I've found out about them?"
Cordelia: "... whatever you have to say about Yllemsa, I'm sure I'll find out sooner or later."
Lily: "Aww, Gaia, you're being so disappointing. Do better."
Gaia: "I don't know what else you want from me! All he wanted was information; he hasn't done anything to you. And neither have I."
Cordelia: "I suppose you have a point, but I really don't want you following me anymore. How much is he paying you, anyway?"
Gaia: "A gold a day."
Cordelia: "Huh. Well. I'll tell you what. You're going to give up on the tailing work - for good. And I'm going to get you back into Turandurok so you don't have to worry about food and housing, okay?"
Gaia: "... but I was expelled... and I need the money."
Cordelia: "Not as much as you need to not be blind, right?"
Lily grinned wickedly at that, while Gaia tried desperately to assess her options or figure a way out of this deal.
Gaia: "... okay. Just please let me go."
Cordelia stood up and headed for the door. They said, "I'll handle things with Ilsoari. And I'd better not see you following me ever again, Gaia. Lily, try not to hurt her when you're putting her back wherever you found her. And I'd better not see you following me ever again, Gaia."
Gaia: "Okay."
Lily: "Okay! Happy belated birthday, Cordelia!"
And Cordelia left the room, reeling at the discovery of what kind of person one of her best friends apparently was, but not really sure what to do about it.
The party agreed, and teleported Ithil.
Remembering that scry was a spell, Cordelia also tried casting the spell on the giants they'd scarred back during the Sandpoint raid. They ended up just scrying a severed hand in a rubbish heap.
Annoyed but not quite done, they tried scrying a giant who had been from a different group during the raid, hoping that they wouldn't have been as suspicious of the scar. This scry worked out, and they were able to listen to a conversation going on around a campfire about a giant named Drogart, his cruelty, and his oppressive management. The scryed giant also complained about Barl being killed, as they thought he was a much better leader.
The session ended there, with the party hoping to see the auditions before making any more moves regarding Jorgenfist. They also decided to invite Nualia along so they could pass along her critiques about her characterization, which she surprisingly agreed to.
Fun fact: Lily Viskanta is going to try out for the part of Nualia.
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Sessions 34 and 35
One of our players recently started running Iron Gods, and as a result, we've started playing RotR every other week. My plans for this book are finally on track - here's what's been going on.
They notice a noblewoman dressed in all black wearing a veil over her face sitting in the far back during the auditions, and suspect that it's someone here to mourn Alishanda, Xanesha's public identity. Nevertheless, they find her pretty suspicious, so Cordelia tries to follow her when they leave, but doesn't find any trace of her once they're outside the Town Hall.
The second day of auditions are for the villainous characters - Tsuto, Nualia, and a stand-in for Nualia's ex Delek (named Derek). Tsuto and Derek have barely anyone auditioning for their parts, but Nualia has around 40 people trying out for the part - including, the party notices, Lily Viskanta (Delek's younger sister). The noblewoman is back again today, just watching from the back.
Lily goes up to audition, clearly extremely nervous. Nualia quickly remarks on how pretty she is, and the whole party side-eyes her (without bringing up who Lily is). Lily does her audition monologue (which is a soliloquy while Nualia sets fire to the Sandpoint Chapel, mind you), and, while she's terrible at animating while talking, she speaks exactly like Nualia does, which weirds people out a little.
When Lily finishes her audition, the noblewoman in the back approaches her and starts talking to her more quietly than the party can hear. Haast watches them, planning to intervene if anything gets weird - and then it gets a little weird. The noblewoman grabs Lily's chin and looks her straight in the eyes, says something that makes her blush, then turns to leave.
Yllemsa: "Okay, that's definitely Lucretia."
Cordelia: "It might not be Lucretia."
Everyone but Cordelia: "It's probably Lucretia."
Haast waves goodbye to Cydrak, turns invisible, and starts following the noblewoman. Outside of the townhall though, she turns and looks straight at him, then continues on her way to the White Deer Inn.
Haast: "Yeah, probably Lucretia."
Yllemsa has a very brief scene where they come home to the Catacombs of Wrath to find some goblins playing in their levitation chamber. They just let them go without saying anything, finding them harmless.
Sybil basically turns this as an opportunity to sway Cordelia to her side on the matter by talking about Vernah and her elven lover Iremiel, and the marginalization that Calistrians experienced in Sandpoint until most of them left. This is sort of a more fleshed-out version of the story provided in the Sandpoint Campaign Setting Guide; in effect, there was a reactionary Desnan religious movement to push Calistrians (and by association, elves) out of Sandpoint and the surrounding area starting about 30 years ago, and reaching a head about 18 years ago, when there was a brutal string of slayings that Sybil believes was carried out (justly) but Iremiel.
She also relayed her theory that somebody in Sandpoint - perhaps a member of the Mercantile Guild - put out a hit on Iremiel, given that he was murdered mere days after giving up his post as High Priest of the Temple of Calistria in Magnimar.
Cordelia sympathized with Sybil's attempt to honor Vernah and Iremiel's memory (and to care for their daughter, Rynshinn), and decided not to interfere in the matter.
Cordelia scryed him, picked him up via teleportation, and brought him back to Thistletop to have a War Room meeting.
The party discussed various strategies at length, with Nualia advising an aggressive kick-in-the-door strategy to scare the giants away, and Aneka wondering if they could make use of their divination, invisibility, and mobility tools to make their way to Mokmurian and simply assassinate him.
Most of the party members were more hesitant, however, especially about reaching the interior of Jorgenfist. As such, they agreed to try and locate Lucretia in hopes of convincing or coercing her to grant them entry to Jorgenfist. Given that she appeared to have no love for (stone) giants generally, they couldn't figure out what Mokmurian could give her that they couldn't hypothetically give her were they to come into power instead - so they decided to scry her and talk to her.
Cordelia scryed, Lucretia rolled a Nat 1 to resist, and Cordelia found her sitting in the White Deer Inn. This triggered Lucretia's detect scrying and Lucretia just turned to look straight at Cordelia with an expression like -_-
Lucretia: "May I help you?"
Cordelia: "Oh, hey Lucretia. I wasn't expecting the spell to work on the first try."
Lucretia: "Yes, I was expecting it to take a bit longer once you resorted to this. Again: may I help you?"
Cordelia: "Oh, right. I was hoping we could talk."
Lucretia: "All right. Let's get brunch somewhere; where is good to eat around here?"
Cordelia: "Oh, I don't eat, but there's a Vudran restaurant in Magnimar. Have you ever had Vudran food?"
Lucretia: "I'm afraid not."
Cordelia: "All right, let's go there. I'll send you the address."
Lucretia: "Sounds wonderful."
--
Cordelia and Yllemsa meet up with Lucretia at the restaurant two days later. Lucretia and Cordelia are both wearing rings of sustenance, so they each just get an orange lassi, but Yllemsa orders one of everything on the menu (as they're wearing a cursed Belt of the Glutton that forces them to eat 10x as much.
Cordelia: "So, what are you doing in Sandpoint?"
Lucretia: "Ah, yes. I'm working on a proposal for you all, but I wanted to have a look around town before I did. I heard Sandpoint repelled a raid from giants and dragons recently - I thought it'd be nice to get to know such an impressive city!
Yllemsa: "What's the proposal?"
Lucretia: "Well, I'm still working on it, you see. You caught me a little earlier than I planned for."
Yllemsa:
Cordelia:
Lucretia: "Oh, you want me to tell you about it."
Cordelia: "Um, yeah."
Lucretia: "That's fair. This is not finalized, you see, but in brief, I've come to offer you a trade: help me determine whether or not this is truly the final resting place of a man known as Xaliasa (and if so, help me locate his remains), and in exchange, Sandpoint will be spared in the forthcoming war. In addition, Mokmurian will formally acknowledge your control over this region - the boundaries of which are one of those details I have not finished yet."
Cordelia: "If you're bringing terms to Sandpoint, we don't want to talk to you - we want to talk to Mokmurian himself."
Lucretia: "And that's a lovely sentiment, but given the knife still sticking out of my back from last time we worked together, I'm not about to escort you to Jorgenfist. You've already proven yourself plenty dangerous, so don't expect me to prove myself stupid."
Yllemsa: "... that's fair."
Lucretia: "Excellent. I'll let you know when I've finished the formal statement I plan on bringing before your City Council, as I expect they'll want you in the loop on the matter."
Yllemsa: "So, who is Xaliasa then? Why is he so important?"
Lucretia: "I'm afraid I can't quite say. I was only informed of the raid on your town after the fact, and the only details I've been provided regarding Xaliasa is that he was once an advisor to Runelord Alaznist. I know you two are still interested in what we can learn from Thassilon, so I'm sure you see the value in this."
Cordelia: "Yeah, I get that. Hm. And you think he's in Sandpoint?"
Lucretia: "Sandpoint already has a number of ruins beneath it, does it not? I met a man in town named Brodert Quink who certainly believed there was more to be found than the so-called Catacombs of Wrath. Speaking of which, that brings me to the other request we have. We'd like you to destroy the runewell of wrath underneath Sandpoint."
Yllemsa: "We were already planning on it. The trouble is, well, the well has bonded with somebody."
Lucretia: "Oh?"
Yllemsa: "Yeah. It appears that runewells of wrath can bond to somebody and grant them powers. We're not sure how it works, but we're afraid they might die if we destroy it."
Lucretia: "An understandable concern. If you lack the funds to resurrect them, I'm sure we could make an arrangement."
Cordelia: "Oh yeah. We could just raise her."
Yllemsa: "... unless it destroys her soul."
Lucretia: "Well, in that case, it's best to make sure no one else gets bonded to it, right?"
Yllemsa: "Yeah, okay. We'll talk to her."
Lucretia: "Good. Is this arrangement suitable for the time being, then?"
Cordelia: "It is - although, I have one more thing I'd like to bring up."
Lucretia: "Oh?"
Cordelia: "Keep your hands off of Lily Viskanta. We know what happened to your last ex, and I don't want that happening to her."
Lucretia: "Whatever do you mean?"
Cordelia: "You killed her!"
Lucretia: "I think that's rather unfair, but I see your point. I had no intention of putting my 'hands on' that girl anyway. She's a friend of yours, I take it?"
Cordelia: "Yes. And you should stay away from her, too."
Lucretia: "Fine, fine, if that will make you happy. I promise you that I never meant her any harm, however."
Cordelia: "Whatever."
Lucretia: "Well, this has been lovely - and these drinks are fabulous, by the way - but given that I can't so easily teleport my way around, I really must be getting back to Sandpoint. I suppose we'll all be rather busy shortly, but I'll be sure to make some time to come out and see this play Mr. Drokkus is putting on about you all. I would like to know more about your adventures, after all. A pleasure as always Cordelia, Yllemsa. Say hello to ... erm... the other ones for me.
The party discovered a fair number of illusory walls hiding passageways within the smuggler's tunnels, and found that they actually cris-crossed all over town. They were getting discouraged that they wouldn't find anything Thassilonian until the very last passageway led them into some abandoned ghoul burrows, which then led them into - wouldn't you know it - the staircase of a Thassilonian ruin. The Hellfire Catacombs.
- The Hellfire Catacombs is a 3-part dungeon consisting of a Laboratory, Guest Suites, and Control Center for the Hellfire Flume.
- Bypassing the traps in the area requires that one swear a specific oath to Alaznist - an oath the party doesn't know, so for the time being they just had to rely on Aneka and dispel magic to get them through a room at a time.
- They found a statue of Alaznist with the paint fully intact, and got a pretty good idea of what she must have looked like. They later found a dress and ranseur much like the ones depicted in her statue laid out in front of a wall scroll, on which was written an oath to Alaznist.
- They defeated a Giant Caryatid Golem blocking the path to a deeper area of the dungeon that they believed would connect to the Underflume, then doubled back to town before delving.
And that's where we left off. I let them level up to 12, and informed them that they'd be staying 12 until they successfully resolved the conflict with Mokmurian, or accomplished a task of equal importance. Most of the encounters I've designed for this book were for a level 12 party, so I just wanted them to be that already (and most of them were really looking forward to the upgrades they'd achieve at that level).
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I have some updates regarding my campaign.
Session 36 was rather simple, with the party dungeoneering through the Underflume. They experienced the Fleshwarping laboratory (with Sinspawn and a Legendary Chimera), found a haunt of Archmage Anizorah discussing the war effort and Alaznist's alliance with qlippoths. Deep lore that for now doesn't appear to connect to the main campaign, although they were very disturbed to find that Alaznist would stoop to working with qlippoths.
That said, I have (unsurprisingly) been tinkering with the meta-plot I discussed back in my post outlining my Book 4 plan.
Nualia's origins - Nualia was born to human parents in Riddleport, where she was acknowledged essentially from birth to have a divine destiny to Desna. Yggra, ever-watchful for opportunities to be cruel to Desna's most beloved things, took this as an opportunity to swap her own infant daughter with Nualia, dropping Nualia off at the church of a man she knew to be cruel. She left her there for many years, waiting for resentment towards Desna to grow naturally in her heart - although it didn't quite take, despite her father and the town's best efforts to the contrary.
When Nualia was an adolescent, Yggra decided to take a more direct approach, and began to appear in Nualia's dreams as Desna. She directed Nualia and Delek together intentionally, as well as encouraged Nualia to become pregnant, in a manner she understands as motherly caring. Then, when Nualia was at her lowest following Delek's rejection, she began to appear in Nualia's dreams not as Desna, but as an avatar of Lamashtu, leveraging Lamashtu's motherly image as a parallel to Nualia herself. And when Nualia burned her father to death a year and a half later, she knew her work was coming to fruition.
Yggra stopped guiding Nualia at this point, instead traveling throughout Varisia to prepare cults of Lamashtu for Nualia's arrival - including the Annis Hags of Hook Mountain and the Lamia Priestesses of Jorgenfist.
Yggra views herself and Nualia as the culmination of a 10,000 year old scheme put into place by Lamashtu to dominate the Runelords of Thassilon and the people of Varisia, and she plans to use the power of the runewells to do it, starting with the minor runewell of wrath beneath Sandpoint. She also wishes to make a blood sacrifice to Lamashtu to call Xaliasa from the grave, so that Nualia and those who would serve her may be equipped with runeforged weapons, strike down the agents of the Runelords who might arise, and claim her rightful place as the Queen of the land and people most beloved by Desna. Nualia is to be the one Runelord, and will strike down those who might awake and interfere with Lamashtu's plans.
Nualia, unless the party cooperates, isn't going to go along with this of course. Knowing her whole life was manipulated by a specific person may be enough to reignite the wrath in her heart with the desire to kill Yggra.
Of course, Yggra's children are going to make that awfully difficult... and her rejection of them is no guarantee that they won't resurrect Xaliasa from his 10,000 year old grave.
[b]Note: I'm taking this alternate approach to reviving Xaliasa given that my party is going out of their way to avoid fueling the runewell of greed, the very thing that is supposed to draw Lamashtu's attention. This builds on the Lamashtu vs Pazuzu thread, and indirectly builds on the conflict past and present between Alaznist and Karzoug.
I also need to develop the core plot thread. Following up "Lucretia's Return" from my previous posts, Lucretia has reached out to Mokmurian to scribe a letter to the people of Sandpoint to mark the beginning of the invasion of Varisia, as well as outline the most basic details of the deal he's made with the PCs. The document I'm working on is here on Google Docs. A rough draft of the letter Lucretia will read is in the spoiler below.
My name is Mokmurian. I am one of the Plateau People, or a Stone Giant as we are known to humans. As this letter is being read to you, my agents are speaking with representatives of the other city-states of Varisia, Riddleport and Korvosa, as well as your mother city of Magnimar, to bring them my declaration of war on behalf of the giants of the Storval Plateau. But to you, my agent Lucretia instead brings an offering of peace.
I assume many of you know of The Empire That Fell in a Day, Thassilon of Old, ruled by the Seven Runelords. The legends of my people speak of the Dark Ones, servants of the Seven Lords, who dominated and enslaved giants of all kinds, using them to build the mighty empires of Thassilon. It was under the command of these wickedest and strongest of giants that the ancestors of the plateau people were made to construct the monuments of the empire, like the Old Light that rests on your western shore.
As a child, I blamed the greatest of giants, who rose above their kin and forced them to labor. But in the many decades since, I have realized it is not they, but the Lords they served, who were responsible for the horrors inflicted on my ancestors. The Dark Ones built the mightiest empire the world has ever known, but that corrupt humans were left to rule it, for their magic was mightier still.
My name is Mokmurian. I am a wizard the likes of which has not been seen in this land since the days of Thassilon. I am, perhaps, one of the Dark Ones spoke of in legend, leading giants to build a great empire. But I will not do this for the sake of humans - I will do this for giants and giants alone. My agents bring these declarations of war to reclaim what is, and has always been, the land and works we alone are entitled to.
Ruins of Thassilon lay above and below your town, but despite our legitimate claim to the land you now live on, I have chosen to spare you. First, I wish to acknowledge the bravery with which you defended the city from Teraktinus, the scout I sent forth to Sandpoint two months ago. Second, I acknowledge the protectors of your town as like-minded individuals, who wish to see a mighty empire rise in the land of Varisia again, and with whom I would like to be allied in the days and years to come. As long as the Heroes of Sandpoint, and Sandpoint’s citizens themselves, do not rise up to stop our conquest, I will acknowledge your rulers as equals in this endeavor.
I will await your response for fourteen days, through my agent Lucretia. If she is harmed or otherwise rendered unable to provide your answer after fourteen days, I will recognize this as a refusal of my offer, and thereby a declaration of war.
With deepest respect,
Mokmurian
Now, Mokmurian is being a little inauthentic here - he's certainly planning to take Sandpoint eventually. His real goal here is to create tension between Sandpoint and the PCs, by planting the suggestion that the PCs are aligned with him. If people think they have been false heroes while ultimately working for a warmonger, that could make things politically tricky for them - and perhaps even push them out and into Mokmurian's grasp. He deeply desires to possess them, given their power nearly matches his own.
It should make for a fun time - Lucretia will be reading this letter to the Sandpoint City Council as soon as the party has located the resting place of Xaliasa.
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Session 37 did not go quite as planned.
She came to Sandpoint seeking a monster known as the 'Night Witch,' who she hopes to damn to take to hell for the trafficking of mortal souls and creation of undead. The 'Night Witch' is Yggra, mentioned in the posts above, a night hag responsible for much of the grooming Nualia underwent years ago, and one of the most powerful mortal servants of Lamashtu in the world.
Freya got a hint from a sorcerer that Yggra might be near Sandpoint, as one of the sorcerer's contacts, a contract devil, had one of the mortal souls that was to go to it after death revived somehow (this being Haast's reincarnation at the start of Book 2). The party shared everything they knew (from extremely high Kn: History and Kn: Planes checks) about the Night Witch with each other, but didn't share any of the leads they had about the Night Witch - for instance, the fact that she might have changeling children in town, or that Nualia used to run a cult of Lamashtu.
Freya first came to speak to Belor Hemlock in order to make clear what her work would be and to keep law enforcement out of her way, and that was where the party encountered her and had this discussion. They saw her on her way before asking Belor to keep quiet about Nualia and to give them a chance to look into the matter before informing Freya of anything they knew.
Realizing that Haast's reincarnation was likely the matter Freya referred to, the party decided to go check in with Skaadi (who, to their knowledge, performed the reincarnate) about the Night Witch.
Once Skaadi woke up properly, Cordelia asked Skaadi if she was the Night Witch, and Skaadi denied it. Cordelia explained some of the things they were worried the Night Witch was up to and that Freya had shown up searching for her, and Skaadi cautioned them not to get involved with the Night Witch - but if they wanted to keep her out of their dreams, she'd be willing to sell them dreamcatchers for 4000gp a pop.
Cordelia decided to let the rest of the party in (given that Skaadi said she wasn't the Night Witch) and asked if the Night Witch had caused Skaadi problems before, to which she mostly responded with a groan.
Skaadi: "I mean, yeah. And she's not 'the Night Witch' - her name's Yggra. She's my mom."
Skaadi explained a little about her history with her mom - how her mom had stalked her all across Varisia, how she could change your memories and put thoughts in your head, how she could possess you, or your friends, or random people around you and you can never know whether she's there or not. Her house is protected - with dreamcatchers and detect scrying and other effects - but there is no such thing as genuinely getting out of Yggra's reach.
Cordelia: "Would you like to get rid of her? Permanently?"
Skaadi: "Of course! But that's not a thing. She's not someone you can fight. Not you, and not this scary lady who came to town, either."
The party contested this, listing off the many mighty enemies, but Skaadi just shook her head.
Skaadi: "I know you guys are strong, but this isn't a matter of her being strong. You can't account for all of the ways she can control you. I'm serious. I know you're not as ready as you think you are."
They inquired as to what she meant by this, but she refused to talk unless she was paid - which isn't unusual for her, so they quickly paid her 100g for whatever information she could provide.
Skaadi: "You guys have never even dealt with the damn scrying eyes you have on you all the time, and that's - that's basic stuff! What have you got against mind control, or necromancy, or-"
Cordelia: "Wait, what scrying sensor? What are you talking about?"
Skaadi: "The ones you always have on you. You and Nualia."
Cordelia and Nualia looked at each other.
Cordelia: "Just us?"
Skaadi: "Yeah."
Cordelia immediately removed their sidhedron medallion, and, once Skaadi confirmed that that removed the scrying sensor, excused themself (and most of the rest of the party) to go see Lucretia. Nualia did ask for Skaadi to make her a dreamcatcher though, and Skaadi agreed to help the party take precautions against Yggra, as long as they kept paying her up front for her services and information.
Cordelia demanded to know who had been spying on them through the medallions and why.
Lucretia: "Who? My Lord, of course."
Cordelia: "Who is that? Your Lord? No one else seems to call Mokmurian that - why are you being so respectful?"
Lucretia: "Yes, Mokmurian is watching you, although not strictly because he intended to. You wore the medallions without any prompting, from what I recall. And what does it matter how I refer to him?"
Yllemsa: "Yeah I guess... like, it shouldn't be that surprising. It does seem convenient for communication. Logistically speaking."
Cordelia: "But it's creepy! He's a creep! Why does he need to scry us all the time?"
Lucretia: "Well, they weren't made for you, to be fair."
Cordelia: "It's creepy if he's watching you, too. Why does he need to watch you all the time?"
Lucretia: "He doesn't. But, like Yllemsa said, doesn't it seem awfully useful to be able to see what your lieutenants are up to at any time? And if your enemies happen to pick one up, what's so bad about knowing the ins and outs of their capabilities, relationships, and so forth? Creepy or not, the medallions seem rather smart in my opinion."
Cordelia: "Well, I don't like it. If Mokmurian once to know what I'm up to, he can talk to me himself."
Lucretia: "And I see you've already taken yours off. Do you need my help with something? For instance, how is the affair with Xaliasa going?"
Yllemsa: "It's going... fine. No trouble. Haven't found him yet though."
Lucretia: "Ah, well that's good to hear."
Everyone: "..."
Lucretia: "If that's everything..."
Yllemsa: "Yeah. Alright. See you."
Yllemsa: "Oh, hey Sage."
Sage: "Hello."
Yllemsa: "So, how do you feel about Yggra?"
Sage: "..."
Sage: "Oh, okay. You know that name."
Yllemsa: "Yeah."
Sage: "Yeah. Okay. Um. She's cool. Very smart. Helped me out a lot. Don't really know what to say, we don't exactly talk a lot, she's just. She's my mom."
Yllemsa: "Yeah. I heard about her from Skaadi. Thought you might know where she is."
Sage: "Why?"
Yllemsa: "A dullahan came into town looking for her. An infernal reaper sort of woman named Freya, looking to punish people involved in necromancy."
Sage: "Aaaah, okay. Ha. I see the issue there. Yeah, don't worry, no one can find her. She doesn't really communicate that way, she just puts the information she needs you to know in your head and you remember it when you need it. Unless you're mad and want me to leave...?"
Yllemsa: "No, not really. Like, I don't care that your mom is the Night Witch or anything, I just think you should be careful. And I'd like to know more about Yggra because I like, know she exists now."
Sage: "Oh, okay."
Yllemsa: "..."
Sage: "..."
Yllemsa: "..."
Sage: "So, yeah, I'm not really supposed to talk to you about this yet, but you're kind of getting ahead of the curve here, so just. Skipping ahead a little: Lamashtu's cool."
Yllemsa: "Oh?"
Sage: "Yeah, I think you'd like her. She's not really a huge... fan of undead or anything, and I'm kind of the undead guy, but she's really clever, and my mom is like the only person I know who seems to get her plans. But from what I gather, she doesn't want Varisia to fall to ancient Thassilonian magic, so we were planning to use you and the other Branded folks to kill or control everyone who might be trying to bring a Runelord back, which I think is a good move. We've been trying to get you on board for a while, but I know Lamashtu isn't the most popular."
Yllemsa: "Oh that's agreeable. And I've had some nasty run-ins with Lamashtu's worshipers, but I don't have much of an opinion on her myself. I'd like to keep the runelords dead, though."
Sage: "Yeah!... I can't tell you too much else that's cool about her, I don't really handle that, but I trust Yggra. And screw that Mokmurian guy anyway."
Yllemsa: "... yeah."
Sage: "Well... if you want more info about Lamashtu, you can talk about Calypso about it. I'm gonna go check on my zombies."
Yllemsa: "Alright - see you."
After that, the party returned to the Underflume, slew the Worm that Walks Cleric of Yamasoth Verzazmian, and then immediately dimension door'd out again after making some notes about where and how to teleport in and out of the dungeon safely.
We're getting close to the end of Book 4 here - once the party has reached the end of the Underflume and met The Black Maga (and encountered several haunts), they'll learn Xaliasa's true identity and allegiance, as well as how he died. Then Yggra will call her children together to plead for Lamashtu to revive him and accept Nualia back into the fold. Depending on the pacing that seems appropriate, Mokmurian's forces will march on Magnimar before or after that.
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Session 38 made the jump to Roll20, which took a bit of work, but the session went alright once we figured out how to get the tokens to work right.
Quickly enough, Cordelia mentioned that they'd found out that Skaadi was the Night Witch's daughter, but that she had no contact with her mother anymore. They also politely asked that Freya NOT kill Skaadi or destroy her life, which she found rather funny.
In exchange for the lead, Freya gifted them a book of legends, and they offered to give her a copy of Notes on Pazuzu they'd found from Chopper's Isle, which she kindly accepted as well. The book contained a number of legends, as well as a blank entry that read "The Night Witch" followed by four blank pages.
The book of legends is a magic book that transcribes the results of augury, divination, commune, and legend lore. It also acts as a focus component for those spells. The transcription is written in the hand of the 'answerer', so it's patron-dependent in the flavor. I just included that clause to make the casters a little more aware that someone is responding to their divinations - a thing I want them to be conscious of when they pick up the revelation quill later.
Cordelia: "What are you doing here, Lucretia?"
Lucretia: "Well, seeing as you all took off your medallions, if I want to know what's going on down there, I'll have to accompany you. Is that a problem?"
Cordelia: "So you're going to spy on us?"
Lucretia: "No, I'm going to help - I'm interested in Xaliasa, if you remember."
Ithil: "Yeah . . . that makes sense."
I don't remember exactly what he said, but Ithil somehow called Lucretia "Cordelia's friend," and Lucretia looked delighted.
Lucretia: "Wait, do you call me your friend to your friends?"
Cordelia: "... anyway, we're going now."
Lucretia: "Ah, yes, hand-holding time."
She reached out her hand.
Cordelia: "You know dimension door, you don't need to hold our hands."
Lucretia: "But I don't know how deep to go, and I'd rather not phase myself into a wall. And besides, I want to be part of the team."
Haast: "Yeah, let's all just hold hands and get going already."
Yllemsa: "Sure."
Lucretia: "Yay! This is going to be a lot of-"
Lucretia cut off as a large black arrow suddenly sprouted from her chest. At this point, the party spotted a large, black-feathered bird-man hovering over the Old Light, apparently emerging from invisibility.
Lucretia: "Oh s!&~."
The bird-man won initiative after Yllemsa, who just delayed their turn. He swooped forward and fired another arrow, getting ANOTHER crit and dropping Lucretia to -3 HP.
Haast identified the man as a Kuchrima, a type of lamia-kin, and started to buff up in preparation for a fight.
As everyone started to spread out and get ready for the fight, they saw how the guy's bow tore through Cerberus, and Cordelia called for everyone to group up instead. They all linked hands, and dimension door'd into the dungeon along with Lucretia, who got a cure moderate wounds to get her back on her feet.
They took a moment to get their bearings, concluded that the Kuchrima must be an assassin here for Lucretia, and decided they wouldn't be having anyone else killing her, so they'd stay down here and figure out a different way out.
Haast stepped in when he heard that they were all magi, mentioning that he himself was a self-taught magi. This was basically the exact right thing to say, as he put on a small demonstration of his abilities, including Spellstrike, which these magi (Sigilus magi) had never managed to perfect. Thoroughly impressed, they asked Haast to come with them to see Anizorah, who was in charge of the Magi program here. The party accepted, using the walk over as an opportunity to ask about Xaliasa.
Info they got about Xaliasa:
- A bit of a creep
- Worships Lamashtu, and spends a lot of time in her shrine
- Was likely crushed to death during the Cataclysm, and nobody has heard from him since then.
Lucretia was very pleased with these developments. They also found that there used to be an elevator that made access to the shrine easy, but found that 1) it is inactive and 2) they didn't know what an elevator was, so that led them nowhere.
Once they were nearing the Theater where Anizorah now rests, the old magi suddenly became nervous, then recommended the party go speak to her alone. They refused to enter the hallway to the Theater, and simply watched the party from around the corner. The party triggered a sirocco trap protecting it, but Aneka managed to deactivate it before anyone got hurt, and then proceeded on into the theater.
Haast: "Anizorah?"
No response.
They crept forward slowly, looking for someone to volunteer to step into the circle of paintings. Lucretia and Yllemsa did so, but rather than any sort of trap triggering, the skeleton simply turned to dust on their approach, and a small stone rolled away from her body. Haast picked it up, and that's when the demilich awakened.
Everyone made their saves against her wail, which gave them some pretty good momentum going into the fight. They encircled her as quickly as possible and just started wailing on her, dealing almost 100 points of damage (through DR 20/-!) before her next move (and she had legendary initiative, to boot). Her telekinetic storm and host of spells put up a good fight, but eventually she dropped thanks to Yllemsa's persistent damage and a lucky crit from Ithil.
They inspected the stone Haast had found - a large violet gemstone in a crest of electrum - and concluded it was likely her phylactery. Yllemsa attempted to destroy it, and was afflicted (along with everyone other than Lucretia) with a haunt, showing them how Anizorah had used this stone, called a Crystal Cradle, to grant herself a wish - a wish that one day after the Cataclysm, Alaznist would return to this world and rule as the One True Runelord. (The Cradle took her soul and turned her into a lich as a result, but the long wait for Alaznist to return left her without drive, and she became a demilich thousands of years ago.)
Our session ended with looting Anizorah's hoard and trying to decide what to do about her seemingly indestructible phylactery. They gave the phylactery to Lucretia, Anizorah's staff of souls to Haast, her scholar's ring to Cordelia, and her scrolls and magic scroll case to Aneka. They left the paintings for the time being, and continued on to the second floor of the Underflume.
We are... so close... to the end of Book 4. Next session the party will meet The Black Magga and find out what happened as a result of them ignoring the Kuchrima (and his Vrock and harpy buddies they didn't see). After that, they just have to figure out whether The Night Hag or Mokmurian is more relevant to them right now, and they'll have their final confrontation of Book 4.
If anyone is interested in this version of the Underflume, I've Roll20 maps, haunts, and loot for the whole thing.
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Session 39 had some big reveals and even bigger messes - I even managed to get a gasp out of my players this time.
The head magi, now a geist, let out a great sigh and said, "The effort is appreciated, but her power holds us to our posts. That said, you have committed treason, so I'm afraid -"
Aneka: "I mean, we've ultimately done no harm. She'll return none the worse for wear, and we'll leave." (She rolled a 36 on Diplomacy)
There was some more conversation, but the party pretended they were going to leave, then ran back down the corridor to the theater, and down to the lower level of the Underflume. The undead did not follow them.
Xaliasa has been your assistant for over a month now, and you've been doing everything you can to make him comfortable. Alaznist informed you when you brought it up that extracting information about Runeforge was strictly forbidden - that Xaliasa was to be the one and only exception to the rule that none may enter Runeforge and ever leave again - but if he was putting what he'd learned there to any use, you surely cannot tell. Even the quasit you provided him with, Erylium, hasn't been able to ascertain anything of his knowledge, though she has started speaking quite highly of him.
But today, you can bear not knowing no longer.
Xaliasa is busy studying one of the vrocks inside the binding circles, occasionally making sketches or notes inside his notebook. The twisted monster he's drawing - a warning of what this creature may one day become - already appears to be suffering.
Just another reason not to ask him something right now - another reason you'll ignore.
"So, Xaliasa, I-"
"Yes, Master?"
"-mm. Well. I was wondering. Why did you transfer here?"
"Under your command, you mean?" He tilts his head curiously.
"No, no - to the war front. You're a researcher, this surely must have been a step down from our facilities at Runeforge."
He freezes. At first, you think you've made him angry or suspicious, that he'll report this breech to Alaznist.
Slowly, then, he shrugs.
"Can't say."
"Right," you say, as if you'd simply forgotten, "you've sworn not to."
He shakes his head. "No, it's not that. I don't remember."
"You don't . . . remember?"
"I'm afraid not. Not Runeforge, and not why I was discharged - or released, whatever might have been the case."
"They did something . . . to your memory?"
He nods.
"And you remember nothing?"
"Yes. As in, no. Well... not nothing, exactly."
"Oh?"
"Sometimes . . . I can still remember something. Not information, really, just a tune. I don't know the words, but . . ."
He hums a few bars of music, but the tune is unfamiliar - and it tells you nothing.
"I'm sorry to hear that - about that memory."
You're not doing a very good job of hiding your disappointment, but if he notices, he doesn't comment on it.
As he turns back to his notebook, he says, "I don't think this is such a disappointment either, though. I feel useful here in a way I - at least I imagine - could not have been there. And access to Alaznist's qlippoth allies is a unique position if ever there was one. I imagine we two are of the select few who will have such an opportunity in this lifetime."
"Hmm. Well said."
You decide to give him a little space, and back away into the supply closet. As such, you do not notice a strange occurance - Xaliasa turns to face you as you leave, a bloodshot eye splitting open from the center of his skull. For just a second, a wicked grin appears on his face, and then the vision ends.
The haunt caused confusion, and the party took a few rounds of beating themselves up before those who saved managed to lock down everyone else (Lucretia was very helpful here).
If it wasn't clear from the above haunt text, I altered the story of the Scribbler to help set up his appearance in Book 5.
Cordelia entered that room, and found a switch labeled "Flume / Prison." They flipped it from Flume to Prison, and the pentagonal room lit up with the same soft blue light and arcing electricity. After they tested it, Lucretia said they had nothing to worry about and entered the room, vanishing as her body was struck by countless electrical arcs. Figuring she probably didn't disintegrate herself just to trick them, they followed suit, vanishing one at a time.
They re-appeared in an identical room somewhere else, at the end of a long, inconsistently-lit hallway that seemed to extend further than they could see. As they traveled down the hallway, they realized they'd entered a warped dimension, where multiple planes of existence were being drawn together. Now thoroughly wary, they reached the end of the hallway and entered into a small rectangular room, where one wall was pitch black and reflective.
It took them a moment to realize that the black wall was actually thick glass, and on the other side of it was a watery abyss - they couldn't see any surfaces or creatures on the other side, even with dark vision, only water. Fearing they were about to encounter a 'leviathan' of some kind, some turned away, fearing a horrific appearance, gaze attack, or something similar.
And then the low, malevolent voice of a monster appeared in their minds with the simple word, "Visitors..."
Cordelia and Ithil introduced the party, and soon got the creature's name: The Black Magga. Cordelia managed to recognize the name through Kn: History, but felt too nervous to try and share the information beyond acknowledging that they'd heard of her before.
Magga: "And what brings mortals to my cell? It has been a long time, after all."
Cordelia: "Oh we're here for . . . Xaliasa? Do you know Xaliasa?"
Magga: "Xaliasa? It has been a long time since I heard that name. Before his passing, I gave him a more fitting one: The Scribbler."
Yllemsa, the only person familiar with that name, gasped, but then shook their head and did not speak.
Magga: "That sad boy is long dead now. Why do you seek a corpse?"
Cordelia: "A . . . friend of ours asked us to find him. A wizard, a stone giant named Mokmurian. He's interested in reviving Thassilon, kind-of."
Magga: "A wizard interested in Thassilon? Hmm... ah, I see. Times have not changed much then. I expect he's searching for Runeforge, then. Certainly some would seek out even a corpse for answers of that place."
Lucretia perked up when Runeforge was mentioned (no Sense Motive needed).
Lucretia: "Oh? What is Runeforge?"
Magga: "I never had much interest in the projects of the Runelords, but you’re not the first to pry. From what Alaznist told me in her kindly visits, however, Runeforge appears to be an agreement for civilization’s advancement. A place where the Seven’s chosen wizards and alchemists could congregate to work and share without the watchful eyes of their lords or the demands of society. To that end, it almost sounds freeing . . . but it is also a binding place, a life sentence of labor for the greater good. But that I could have found it, it would be nothing but a smoldering ruin."
(The party had recounted what they saw in the haunt from earlier to Lucretia, so she already knew that Xaliasa claimed not to remember Runeforge either, just vague memories of a tune. Through his scrying, Karzoug at this point effectively counted Xaliasa out as a source of information. Clever Lucretia, however, has not walked away empty-handed, as she pocketed Anizorah's phylactery after the party defeated her.)
The party went on to learn more about the Black Magga and ask her if she was the Night Witch - instead, she informed them that Yggra was her chosen disciple in the free world, and that she had willingly granted Yggra her powers before they totally atrophied. They're not sure which powers Yggra inherited exactly, so they're assuming that 1) she can call storms, 2) you can't speak her name if you've ever seen her, and 3) she's impervious, or at least invisible, to the gods.
Soon enough, they bid the Black Magga adieu, with Ithil offering to come visit her later. "She's got to be lonely," he said.
- After they teleported away from the fight with the Kuchrima, he dragged Brodert Quink out of his house and interrogated him.
- Nualia and Skaadi showed up and got into a fight with the Kuchrima, and ushered Brodert back into his house.
- Nualia and Skaadi won their fight against the Kuchrima, but some gongornians showed up, slaughtered the Kuchrima's invisible allies, and started making their way down into town (from the Old Light).
- Nualia and Skaadi tried to fight, but were mowed down in seconds.
- ???
- Nualia was taken to the temple for treatment, it was found that she had an implanted egg (from the Gongornians), Hannah Valerin was called to treat her.
- The PCs arrived with Lucretia, who was seeking healing, and got put in the same room with Nualia and Hannah. Nualia was still unconscious.
- When Cordelia spent their healing capabilities to get Nualia conscious again, Nualia asked where Skaadi was - and thus the party found out that Skaadi was missing.
- The party spent all of their remaining spell slots healing, and agreed to use Cordelia's flexible spell to cast scrying on Skaadi before the end of the session. They fear either Freya or the Night Witch has gotten ahold of her, and are putting everything else on hold until she has been returned.
Next session will be our finale for Book 4 - the party versus Yggra, the Dreamwalker Night Hag (in Shayliss's body), Peg o' Ness the Sea Witch Druid, Sage the Gravewalker (with an enthralled Freya) and Calypso, the Seducer (with a dominated Skaadi). Depending on where the fight takes place, additional mooks will either include Wrathspawn (at the Catacombs of Wrath) or Yaenits (at The Night Witch's Abode, a small shrine and portal in the valley of the Tors. While it's little more than a camp, a mirage arcana has transformed it into something more grand - I haven't designed the map just yet, but I'm starting to tinker now).
Now that Lucretia knows that Xaliasa's corpse can't provide the information she needs, she's going to try and put the PCs on the beat of the Runeforge to see if they can manage to locate it themselves. Additionally, she is finally ready to give terms to Sandpoint on Mokmurians behalf, so that Magnimar and Mokmurian's branded giant army can both be destroyed without interference.
Additionally, Lucretia suspects that Anizorah, as Alaznist's self-proclaimed lover, might be a source of information on Alaznist and how she tried to survive the Cataclysm, even if her consciousness left her immortal body - so I suspect that phylactery to be showing up again sometime later in Xin Shalast, unless the party does something about it before Mokmurian's forces arrive.
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Session 40 got broken into two parts because the fights were big and difficult, but here is, in brief, what went down.
- Yllemsa got an invite via dream from the Night Witch telling them to bring Nualia and come to her to receive the power to defeat Mokmurian.
- Yllemsa waited for the rest of the party to leave Thistletop to go shopping to talk to Nualia, who was skeptical, but agreed they should use the opportunity to sneak out and find this Night Witch.
- At market day, Haast, Aneka, and Ithil ran into Lucretia, now recovered from getting shot in the chest.
At lunch, Lucretia posed a question to them: is it justifiable to sacrifice a handful of people to save tens of thousands more? While they had some qualms about it (specifically, that it's better if people choose themselves as sacrifices rather than designating them arbitrarily), they both agreed that was morally justifiable. They also took particular notice that, when asked to set a ratio of how many sacrificed to how many saved/protected, Lucretia was very quick to settle on "1:10,000".
[I picked this number because I previously stated that Lucretia attempted to sacrifice 300 people in Turtleback Ferry, and the population of Xin-Shalast used to be almost 300,000. I'm assuming here that she knows about the Leng Device.]
They asked her why she would be concerned about moral philosophy just as she was leaving lunch, and she said, "There are millions of people in this world who have died for absolutely no reason at all," and left.
Haast commented that he was surprised Lucretia cared one way or another that people died, to which Ithil agreed.
- Yllemsa and Nualia agreed to ask Cordelia to come along to make sure they could teleport out if need be.
- Y/N/C followed Yggra's instructions and entered the Mosswood, where a goblin they assisted in a coup (Grendel Bloodclaw) back in Book 1 was waiting for them, having clearly turned half-fiendish. They were escorted to a beautiful, lush, and clearly impossible cliffside filled with waterfalls and flowers, where they found Freya, clearly under some sort of magical compulsion.
- They came to the Night Witch's Abode, staffed by Yaenit guards, where a masked woman with red hair greeted them.
The masked woman removed her mask and revealed herself to be Shayliss Vinder - but the party wasn't fooled, recognizing this as some sort of possession ability.
Seeing that Shayliss had been taken (along with Skaadi), Y/N/C got rather angry, and demanded to know why Yggra acted in bad faith by kidnapping their friends. She countered that bringing Shayliss here to be sacrificed was a kinder and easier way to handle things, and the party could simply resurrect her afterwards, but they weren't having it.
Nualia whispered to the party, asking how long someone could be dead and still reincarnated. Once she had her answer, she changed her tune, and said she would do it - she would sacrifice Shayliss.
Although, as soon as she got within melee range of Shayliss/Yggra, she just started attacking, planning to steal the body and resurrect her elsewhere. Yllemsa followed suit, killing Shayliss in under a round, and a huge wave of power exploded out from Shayliss, harming everyone, but partially being absorbed by Yllemsa, who grew noticeably stronger (gaining the effects of heroism for the duration of their rage).
- After market day, Ithil discovered the sunlight dappling the path back to Thistletop strangely bright, and shaped like footprints. Thinking that might be a sign from Sarenrae, he cast replay tracks and found an illuminated path leading him into Mosswood. He brought Haast and Aneka along, moving as quickly as he could, and showed up halfway through the fight with the Yaenits at the Night Witch's abode.
- The party freed Freya from mental control, then grouped up to go find and kill the Night Witch.
- There was a major confrontation (all the enemies I mentioned in my last post, plus a Fiendish Mature Adult Black Dragon), in which Skaadi died, Peggy was taken to hell, Sage was knocked unconscious, and Yggra escaped through a portal to a destination elsewhere in the material plane.
- As the party rounded up everyone who could be revived, Nualia found a puzzle box in Yggra's home, a memory box that contained a note reading, "Seek Runeforge to defeat Runelord."
- As the party discussed among themselves the conversations they'd had with Lucretia and Yggra, they put together a guess: Mokmurian found a Runewell of Greed six years ago, re-activated it, and set about filling it in order to somehow literally bring back Thassilon. The number of souls he needs is equal to 1/10,000th the population of Thassilon at its height. He's not reclaiming Thassilon's monuments out of sentiment, but a practical desire to control the infrastructure of Thassilon when Thassilon is somehow revived.
Not a perfect guess, but a pretty impressive one. Someone also put forth the idea that a runewell is what MAKES one a Runelord, and Mokmurian is going to 'ascend' using it.
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Session 41 was the interlude between Book 4 and Book 5, and we actually had to break it into two smaller sessions, as the conversations it sparked ended up being the most extended intra-party roleplays we've had so far.
That conversation covered a lot of topics, but most of it was just banter and discussing the party's misgivings with the animation of the dead. Sage clarified that they focused on reanimation methods that only rely on flesh, not the corruption or destruction of souls, and that was enough to assuage the concerns of most of the party (except Cordelia). This led to an intra-party argument and Cordelia flying off towards town with Sage's spell poppet.
Cordelia took the poppet to Lucretia (at Sandpoint Cathedral) and talked through the situation a bit with her before leaving the poppet at Turandurok, which Ithil promptly broke into and stole back for Sage (given the party, minus Cordelia, had agreed should be restored their powers and set free, given their largely parallel goals). This would prove ironic literally by the following session.
After that, Aneka and Haast spent a lot of time with the skeletal magi down in the Underflume, and ended up finding a set of armor that was supposedly protected by the haunting spirit of Xaliasa... who was nowhere to be found. After bypassing a trap and a wall of force, Haast acquired the Black Knight Armor Set, worth a whopping 92,000gp, without killing the skeletal magi who were technically in charge of looking out for that wing of the Underflume. He did end up swearing an oath to serve Runelord Alaznist (who he believes is dead) to do so, though. I'm not sure how that's going to come up again later, but it definitely is.
After a bit of small talk, Lucretia brought up her most recent offer: join Mokmurian's forces, and they'd all receive personal boons:
- Haast would become Mokmurian's champion, with wealth and glory
- Cordelia would have access to the Therassic Library, and be provided a home somewhere in Varisia of their choosing
- Ithil would be granted land and title, to rule over Turtleback Ferry
(Yllemsa and Nualia were not initially offered anything).
Everyone quickly turned against these offers, saying they'd have to sit and abide a genocide for what effectively added up to material benefits. Once Lucretia saw how little interest this was garnering, she made a gamble and switched gears:
Lucretia: "Even when you weren't here, Sandpoint was able to handle itself against a number of stone giants, wasn't it?"
Haast: "Yes."
Lucretia: "How severe was the damage?"
Haast: "One building destroyed, several more damaged. No deaths on Sandpoint's end."
Lucretia: "And now that you're here, you are the most powerful people in this town, aren't you?"
Haast: "... among them, at least."
Cordelia: "Don't be like that. We are. We're the strongest."
Lucretia: "Of course you are. Stone giants are no match for you, not anymore. And Sandpoint is an unfortified town known to struggle with goblins. How do you think Magnimar or Korvosa will fare against a stone giant attack?"
Haast: "... what are you saying?"
Lucretia: "I'm saying there's something you ought to have put together by now. You've seen the size of Mokmurian's forces, I know you have. How many does he command."
Ithil: "Around... 300... I think?"
Lucretia: "Around 300, yes."
Haast: "... ah, the same number you were going to sacrifice in Turtleback Ferry. It's not an army - not a real one. The giants are sacrifices."
Lucretia: "Precisely. There will be no genocide against humanity happening on our watch - hardly what could even be called a war. A doomed campaign, that is all. We need those their souls - their greed - but that is all."
Cordelia: "But why? To power a runewell?"
Lucretia: "Also a good guess - yes and no. The runewell is just fuel source in the end. What we really hope to use is the Leng Device, a . . . window of sorts. A moment frozen in time of ancient Xin-Shalast, before the cataclysm. The Device, if used correctly, should allow us to open a much bigger window, and bring the ancient city through in its entirety."
Ithil: "You want to bring a city through? Just the architecture, or . . .?"
Lucretia: "The architecture, certainly, but not just that. The people, the culture - everything lost in the Cataclysm could be restored, just as it was."
Ithil: "So you're resurrecting them? Haven't their souls already been judged?"
Cordelia: "No, no, she's not talking about resurrecting them. This is powerful magic. Chronomancy."
Lucretia: "Precisely. I won't pretend to know how to works, but this way, Xin-Shalast will never experience the Cataclysm. This isn't sacrificing 300 lives to resurrect 300,000, but sacrificing 300, removing the sin from their souls before they are judged for their crimes, and rescuing 300,000 who may yet be saved."
Cordelia: "And what would Xin-Shalast do then? You talked about returning Thassilon to Varisia; you didn't just mean one city, right?"
Lucretia: "Of course not. It would be difficult, for a while, merging our current infrastructure with Xin-Shalast's, and our exact course of action would have to take into account the various bureaucrats and other sorts brought through in the process, but once that is concluded, we would to remake Varisia in the image of Shalast. Architecture, culture, law, and magic. A civilization where monsters, giants, and humanoids live side-by-side. Who among contemporary civilizations could say no to such a thing?"
Cordelia: "Wait . . . so Mokmurian is really OK sacrificing other giants to restore a city known to enslave giants? Why would he do that?"
Lucretia: "I suppose you don't know him personally, so that's a reasonable question. I'll tell you simply - Mokmurian has no love in his heart for stone giants. He was born a runt, and expected to have little esteem in his tribe unless he developed the magical talents of a sorcerer. But he wasn't a sorcerer either, and imitated it through wizardry - cursed, Thassilonian wizardry, by their estimation. His wife discovered what he'd done, and he was branded an exile, not fit to live among Stone Giants any longer. He eventually took refuge in the Therassic Library, where he discovered much about Thassilon, including how to find the ancient city of Xin-Shalast. There he stumbled - buffoonish - into the Runewell of Greed, and the Leng Device."
Cordelia: "Why did you join him? You don't seem to like him very much."
Lucretia: "Like him? I don't have to like him. Our goals are the same - to restore Xin-Shalast to glory, rather than leaving its spires a crumbling ruin, picked at by the lamia who remain there after all these years. My sister and I decided to ally with him to do this, and we trusted his magic and cunning to get us this far. He is stronger than us - and the strongest will rule in Xin-Shalast. That is, honestly, where you come in."
Everyone: "?"
Lucretia: "You heard of Runeforge from The Black Magga. Well, Mokmurian found something of this place as well in the Therassic Library - reference to a project headed by the Abjurationists of Edasseril. Runeforged weapons, or weapons designed to fight wizards and magical creatures, each tied to a source of magic (it really tells you something about what Thassilon was like, that they developed anti-wizard weapons, huh?). We can't be entirely sure what will happen after Xin-Shalast is returned to Golarion, but we can be sure that there will be a great many transmuters in the city who may be less than cooperative. Runeforged weapons may be just the thing we need to deal with them, or at least assert our position. And they may be helpful when dealing with the remnants of Thassilon's other realms, should that ever be an issue."
Haast: "Those sound... really cool."
Ithil: "Yeah. I want one."
Yllemsa: "It definitely seems prudent to have those on-hand if you're going to do something so chaotic. You want us to find Runeforge so you can get Runeforged weapons?"
Lucretia: "While I'm certain that any remnants of Runeforge will have more to offer than just weapons - yes. For now, that is what we need."
Ithil: "Why us? I don't get why you'd want our help with any of this."
Haast: "Powerful fighters are always important. Even without a military conquest, Mokmurian's forces will be depleted if they're all sacrificed, and things will go over smoother if we're there."
Lucretia: "Of course. Not to mention, some of you are already very powerful arcane casters in your own right - if we hope to restore the tradition of Rune Magic to Golarion, Mokmurian will need pupils."
And that's when, most surprising, Ithil said, "Officially, I'll think about it and give you my answer. But I think, almost certainly, I'll swear myself to Mokmurian, as long as I'm given control over Turtleback Ferry."
With Ithil the first to commit, the rest of the party was quick to follow suit - except Yllemsa, who had been offered nothing.
Lucretia asked to speak to them alone, and when they were alone, confided that she and Mokmurian had reason to believe there were forces at work in service to Runelord Alaznist, and the restoration of Bakrakhan, an empire formerly at war with Shalast. In hopes of avoiding the revival of an ancient war, Mokmurian would like to ask Yllemsa for their assistance in the location and destruction of the minor runewells of wrath, as well as the recruitment, containment, or killing of people who had been branded by the runewells.
Lucretia: "Contemporary Golarion couldn't survive the destructiveness of Thassilon's wars. It is best Xin-Shalast, and only Xin-Shalast, be brought back. If there is anything you need or want, beyond living a comfortable life after this is all over, you need only ask. Connected to the runewell as you appear to be, you are invaluable."
Yllemsa: "All I've wanted for the past two years is to find and destroy the Runewells. If you and my friends need help beyond that, I'll give it. I'll swear myself to Mokmurian."
Thoroughly pleased that she had received such a positive response from Sandpoint's Heroes, Lucretia decided it was time to stop handing them information, shut up, and spent the next 20 hours boiling holy water in the runewell of wrath until it crumbled to dust.
My party has joined Mokmurian's forces, on the collective condition that 1) he help them kill The Black Magga and 2) he help them kill The Night Witch, as well as their individual asks. And with that, they've completed Book 4, rose to level 13, and will soon begin their quest to locate Runeforge!
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Session 42 required a lot of prep time, but moved pretty quickly.
In brief, I introduced the Ultimate Intrigue rules for a town hall debate about whether protection for Calistria's worship should be added to the city charter. The party won the verbal duel (barely) with the help of Lucretia, Nualia, and a few folks around town. Unfortunately, several people recognized Nualia in the process... and once the town hall was over, Lucretia went up to speak.
Lucretia's speech / Mokmurian's letter, or at least a draft of it, is posted up earlier in this thread as "Mokmurian's Proposal to Sandpoint" - thanks to the events of last session, the party knows that this is in part bogus, and that Mokmurian's army is not a legitimate invading force.
After the town hall, and over the next few days, they convinced Sandpoint to remain uninvolved in the conflict, but promised that they would teleport to intervene if Mokmurian actually tried to siege Magnimar.
With layers of deception at play, they reported what they had accomplished to Lucretia, and agreed after 7 days that they would all swear themselves to Mokmurian. As a result, Lucretia offered that they all go to Jorgenfist to meet him before the fighting started.
In the Pit, they found the corpses of 6 dragons (3 red, 3 blue) laid out to ring the pit. Lucretia explained a bit about the rituals they performed there and why dragons made such good sacrifices, then continued on.
The party encountered Seleval and Zaelsar in their shrine, and other than messing with Seleval a little (for offering condolences for Xanesha's death), they simply let Lucretia give pleasantries and moved on. They were a little unsure about whether Seleval and Zaelsar respected Lucretia or were making fun of her, but they did pick up that Lucretia, for once, talked about herself as much lesser than her sister. I forget the exact substance of it, but as they moved towards the monastery, they had a chat with her about the 'politics' here, and Lucretia suggested there was very little anyone could do about the political situation.
Finally, just before entering the monastery, the party pulled off a crazy DC 45 Kn: Planes check to ID the curved architecture as a defense against a hypothetical extraplanar creature known as the 'Hound of Tindalos' - at which point Lucretia determined it was probably best to avoid the monastery's defenses entirely. She dimension door'd them all the way to the Library Entrance - known in this game as the Hall of Prayers.
Mokmurian (invited by Zaelsar's sending spell) entered a few minutes later. He said that, were the party anyone else, he'd have them killed where they stood for their slaying of Xanesha and Barl Breakbones. However, given that they had won Lucretia's trust, and that they had explicitly come to help activate the Leng Device, they had his respect. He asked Lucretia to see to their induction immediately, and that he would call on them as soon as he had need of them.
Lucretia mentioned that she needed his assistance immediately to grant Cordelia's wish (access to the Therassic Library) so they could begin searching for hints about Runeforge. Luckily, he was under calm emotions in this hallway, so he accepted this, granted them access, and had the librarian make a key copy for Cordelia. Beyond that, he asked Lucretia to induct the party and report to him when that was completed.
The session ended with Cordelia, Yllemsa, and Nualia being formally inducted by undergoing the Sidhedron Ritual, also gaining the benefits of magical tattoos that Lucretia made. Ithil had other business to attend to, meanwhile Haast started to get to know the denizens of Jorgenfist. Next session will begin mid-tattooing, with different party members reading passages from ancient texts while the others get tattoos.
The Therassic Library is a temporary tattoo parlor. Oh, and the party has immediately decided to throw the Clockwork Librarian a birthday party.
Next session: "The Emerald Codex of the Therassic Order"
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Session 43: "The Emerald Codex of the Therassic Order"
Between sessions, I posted up the results of research the party did the week prior in the Therassic Library. If you're interested, I'll post the full version of the checks below.
DC 35 - Lissala’s faith was prevalent throughout all of Thassilon from its very inception through its destruction to the point of near-invisibility - the runes of the seven nations, as well as the seven schools of magic, are all words of wisdom from Lissala’s faith (with no perfect translation into Varisian, nevermind Taldane): wealth, fertility, honest pride, abundance, eager striving, righteousness, and rest. The sidhedron was her holy symbol, representing leadership blessed with her wisdom and virtue.
-- Nualia’s check got the above information --
DC 38 - While there were seven words of wisdom representing leadership, there were also seven virtues for the faithful: ambition, vigilance, courage, patience, tenacity, dignity, and devotion. These virtues fell out of use following the death of Xin, first king of Thassilon.
DC 40 - Thassilonian rune magic is, to be more precise, Lissalan rune magic - each of the original runelords, as well as Xin, was a devotee to Lissala. Once upon a time, the runelords’ single-minded devotion to but one of Lissala’s principles of wisdom was called the Heresy of Sin, but that concept was expunged early in Thassilon’s life. Lissala herself, it is said, accepted that mortals could not reasonably be expected to fully embody her wisdom, and to master but one was adequate. Thus, sin magic and rune magic became one in the same.
DC 45 - Despite being the creator of rune magic, Lissala is not the source of its power. Whatever force in the universe grants the runes power is unknown, though Lissala’s high priest claimed that only the runes themselves could grant one the wisdom to understand their power, but that it was neither innate nor divine. As such, devotees should record the runes not only in their minds, as wizards do, but in their flesh and soul.
DC 50 - The ritual Lucretia performs on the party, as well as has been performed in Mokmurian’s forces, is both arcane and divine. It is true Lissalan sin magic. While Lucretia’s performance of it may be secular, in the time of Thassilon, these tattoos and brands would have marked one as a subject and citizen of Shalast. To be a citizen of Shalast, and to serve the Runelord of Greed, is inherently the same within the context of Lissala’s faith.
DC 35 - Rune magic emphasized order and detail, and is highly rigid in how it can be wielded. Almost all known users of it were wizards and clerics of the empire Thassilon, who wove runes into architecture to magically reinforce it.
DC 38 - Rune magic does not account for a school of divination. It is unknown if rune magic users were capable of wielding divination magic - or, if they did, if it was wielded with runes.
DC 40 - Architecture was not the only thing rune mages and rune priests were known to inscribe runes into. Ancient vellum especially has been found imbued with rune magic, some of which has even been discovered to have been human flesh. It was debated even in Thassilon to what degree this was an effectual practice beyond mutilation, especially in Shalast (who saw the practice as unsavory, if not barbaric).
-- Yllemsa’s check got the above information --
DC 50 - The ritual Lucretia performs on the party, as well as has been performed on Mokmurian’s forces, imbues their flesh and soul with rune magic, strengthening their connection to arcane powers. The caster’s tattoo Nualia and Cordelia receives purifies ephemeral comprehension and grants spells full power without the clarification that somatic and verbal components grant spells. The reservoir tattoo of greed Yllemsa receives concentrates magic within their runic flesh such that it does not decay, much like the preservation magic used in Thassilonian architecture.
DC 33 - The exact cause of this war was unknown, but a few theories appear to have been popular. The most common claim among the texts here is that the demon lords Alaznist served had an endless desire to grow and consume mortals (and the material plane), and Shalast was simply the easiest target - Shalast’s other neighbors may not have had large militaries, but they had stable social hierarchies that lasted more than a thousand years, unlike Shalast, which had been in a near-constant state of upheaval until Runelord Karzoug took control.
DC 35 - Whatever the reasons for the war, despite its longevity, Bakrakhan’s weapons of war and fleshwarping advanced much faster than Shalast’s investigations into fleshcrafting and reality bending. While Bakrakhan had suffered massive losses for the first 100 years of war, the creation of hellfire flumes saw to it that Bakrakhan’s borders were never lost.
DC 40 - Shortly before the Cataclysm, the monks of the Therassic Library fully expected Shalast to lose the war. Once sinspawn immune to polymorphing entered the field, it was expected that Bakrakhan would simply chip away at Shalast’s magical population until the military collapsed - in fact, this very monastery was tasked through royal decree to find a way to reanimate soldiers through the use of transmutation, rather than necromancy.
45 - There was only one major armistice in the history of the war - a six-year truce during which military and non-military personnel were involved in talks concerning a laboratory known as Runeforge. Once Runeforge was actually constructed, however, the war re-started.
50 - There was a failed project that took place during the armistice between Bakrakhan and Shalast called Greedforge. While most of its experiments were colossal failures, in terms of expense, there were two successes within the records of the Therassic Library: The first, the invention of a method called runeslaving, which turns a soul cleansed of sin into a reservoir of sorts for sin magic while binding that soul to its ‘caller’ (a concept stolen from Alaznist’s sinspawn experiments).
The second, the successful transmutation of gold into living flesh. The result of the second was a woman known as Chellan, the Golden Woman, who was apparently Shalast’s final great hero in the war. It is said that she ‘lost her form’ after a short time, Greedforge was shuttered, and the destruction she caused in her short life was the last time Shalast ever successfully launched an attack on Bakrakhanian soil.
-- Cordelia's check was 57 --
We briefly discussed the contents of what the party found out, but the only thing that stuck out to them as significant and/or particularly interesting was the idea of runeslaving, a process they'd never heard of before. Nevertheless, given that Nualia had been 'cleansed' of a sin, they were a little worried that meant she could become runeslaved.
During their work in Sandpoint and Jorgenfist, the party members received a summons, then a letter from Mokmurian. In brief, it asks them to enter the Black Tower and retrieve the Emerald Codex, a record of great importance that Mokmurian uncovered via divination some years ago. After a bit of divination confirmed what they'd heard, and after Ithil confirmed that the harpy monks did not appear to regularly enter the Black Tower, the party teleported inside.
"Great misfortune awaits those unenlightened who tread upon the land of the dead."
A bit of spellcasting confirmed that the drop from the trap door was far (180'), but no issue with feather fall and fly, so everyone went down together. Cordelia very jealously watched as Yllemsa carried Nualia down, given that Nualia is the only one who can't fly in some form.
As soon as the party was in the chamber, they noticed the dead-center sarcophagus shining with emerald-green light, and immediately began to cast defensive magic.
Pretty much the whole party saved against paralysis, and those who didn't, Nualia immediately freed them. Additionally, the Black Monk's opening breath attack did nothing, as the whole party was warded with life bubble.
Tragically, despite being built as a murder machine, Cordelia slapped the monk with Misfortune and quickened bestow curse, so his flurry of blows became rather pathetic. He managed to tear through most of Yllemsa's HP (no failed saves against mummy rot), but that was all he managed before getting hit with 7 physical attacks, a disintegrate, and a pillar of life. The disintegrate left him with 1hp, at which point the party noticed the scroll case he was protecting, and finished him off more gently with a magic missile.
As he lay, crumbling, on the ice, he struggled with all of his might to keep the party from taking the Codex, but his resistance only turned his body to ash.
The party returned to Mokmurian straight-away, afraid of encountering other Thassilonian enemies or traps.
Soon enough, Mokmurian was able to identify the problem - the lock was too complicated for his knock spells, and the fact that the lock was non-magical meant it couldn't be dispelled. However, he was able to detect a trap - one he suspected was more of a threat to the Codex than to a would-be robber.
After some discussion, the party decided to have Aneka take a crack at it - with her monstrously high Disable Device and special trap-management skills, they figured the best they could do was unleash her on it. After dropping every skill-buffing spell they had, Aneka rolled her Disable Device checks . . . and had the Codex open in 30 seconds.
The party cheered, gave her double high-fives, and promised her some reward soon, as they doubted anyone else on the continent could have dealt with something so intricate given weeks, nevermind less than a minute!
Mokmurian removed the scrolls and inspected them - the party spent a good ten minutes fawning over the Scroll of Enlightened Rituals - that is, the spell scrolls written on wyvern hide from the book (although I buffed them for a 13th level party, so they were a little nuts). Then, Mokmurian found the Anathema Archive, and cheered, thanking the party again.
Mokmurian: "Thank you, my comrades, this is exactly what I wished you would find! The Anathema Archive - a record made from glabrezu flesh, containing the darkest secrets the Therassic Order ever found on the Runelords. Forgive my impatience - but there is something I must ascertain. I recommend those of you who are not prepared for its arcane secrets avert your eyes, for I fear the archive is cursed."
Everyone but Cordelia looked away - Cordelia flew up by Mokmurian's shoulder to watch. Mokmurian partially unfurled it, where the enfleshed eye of the Glabrezu who had been turned into this awful scrolled looked at them.
Mokmurian: "Archive, tell me now: where may I find Runeforge?!"
Cordelia got a 51 on their Knowledge check, gaining information as if they'd studied the topic in the Therassic Library. Then, the runes faded, and the scroll snapped shut.
Mokmurian swore, clearly exasperated that he once again could not locate Runeforge - but he gained the knowledge that the Forge was locked in a separate plane of existence and warded from all divinations, meaning information-gathering was no longer a solid avenue. Further research would have to be conducted with planar magic.
Frustrated though he was, Mokmurian acknowledged the party's good work, and asked what they wanted in return for it. They asked to keep the Scroll of Enlightened Rituals in the library, and to be able to use them if they needed them, and for Aneka to keep the Codex scroll case / puzzle box as a trophy. Mokmurian accepted that, and also gifted them his scroll of contact other plane for the sake of continuing their own research.
When the party returned to Sandpoint, they discovered that the city council had decided on its answer for Lucretia - they would remain neutral in the coming war, and would not assist Magnimar in any way. Literally everyone involved knew that was a lie (everyone knows the party will intervene), but it was still the correct answer, and Lucretia complimented their wisdom.
Finally, Haast received a dream from Lucretia that night.
Lucretia: “We have no need to sack Magnimar, though that is what Mokmurian’s forces expect they’ll be doing. They underestimate the city walls - without support, they would simply be picked off one at a time without ever breaking through the gate. But Mokmurian fears that this would demoralize them, and his forces would break and flee - that is why we must make a deception.”
“Lokansir’s powers will ensure they make it through the gate - I recommend as few people be there when that happens as possible, as likely they will all lose their lives. Once the giants are inside, they’ll create a lot of damage, but you should be able to keep casualties to a minimum. Once most of the forces are inside, Mokmurian, Lokansir, Seleval, and Zaelsar are to group up and teleport out of harm’s way as they are surrounded. If I understand Magnimar’s layout, it should be a slaughter through Keystone and Naos, but without magical support, the giants’ casualties will be absolute.”
“Here’s where things get messy, I’m afraid. After you gave me the tip that the so-called Night Witch was plotting Mokmurian’s murder, I wondered who among our forces could have leaked information, especially those who know of our connection to the runewell. And while I doubt they are the only ones involved in this conspiracy, I’ve discovered at least two members - Seleval and Zaelsar. Both have been contacted by an unknown night hag multiple times in recent weeks.”
“I suspect that, when they are to regroup with Mokmurian and Lokansir, the two of them will incapacitate Lokansir and dimensional anchor Mokmurian, allowing human forces to defeat them and giving the Night Witch an opportunity to use the runewell of greed for her own, unknown purposes. Needless to say, we can’t let this happen.”
“Unfortunately, Mokmurian gives his agents a lot of freedom, and he doesn’t find the evidence that they’ve been speaking to a night hag compelling enough to remove them from the siege. I’m not to be on-hand when this happens, and I’m not powerful enough to stop them even if I were.”
“This is where I need you to come in. If Seleval and Zaelsar make any move against Mokmurian, I need you to kill them and allow Mokmurian to escape - preferably without revealing your allegiance. I can’t be sure of when such a betrayal will happen, but I suspect it will be when Magnimar’s forces regain the advantage in the streets.”
“Go to Magnimar. Expect the gate to fall. Watch Seleval and Zaelsar as closely as you can, and make sure Mokmurian can escape. Got it? I’ll see you after.”
The session ended with the party agreeing that they would aim to protect the Twin Gates of Naos, and leave the defense of the Alabaster District and Keystone to Magnimar's own forces.
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Sessions 44 and 45 made up the Siege of Magnimar.
The climax of the siege came at Serpent's Run, which Mokmurian blasted into as a signal for his chosen forces to re-convene. The party slaughtered their way through the Alabaster District to get to him, then slew his guards (Jarl Uldretch, Frost Giant Barbarian 6 and Drogart, Stone Giant Monk 5, some mooks).
Mokmurian congratulated them - they had defeated the most powerful giants in his army (minus Lokansir), and given him the perfect subjects for the Runeslave Cauldron. He transformed the mooks to look like him, Lokansir, and Jarl Uldretch, and asked Yllemsa to wound him so his blood could fool a blood biography spell. He specifically used Conna the Wise's corpse to imitate his own, for reference.
Lokansir arrived at Serpent's Run. Mokmurian asked Seleval to heal him - and got dimensional anchored, just as Lucretia predicted. Lokansir turned on them and attacked the party... who figured out that he might be possessed, and cast out the possessing soul with sphere of warding.
Seleval and Zaelsar, sadly, put up very little fight, as Yllemsa's Spellbreaker completely wrecked them, and the whole encounter was over within 3 rounds despite being CR 16.
Haast was pissed - Yggra must have been the one possessing Lokansir, but they didn't have the tools or magic necessary to capture here, just barely defend themselves. Meanwhile, Mokmurian was furious that two of his agents had betrayed him, meaning he had lost Xanesha, Barl, Seleval, and Zaelsar, all valuable beyond his disposable army.
He turned to the party, calming himself, and thanked them for standing with and protecting him.
Lucretia arrived, frustrated that she hadn't arrived in time to face Seleval and Zaelsar, but pleased with how the siege was going (that is, disastrously for the giants, and Mokmurian still alive). Mokmurian essentially promoted her for warning him about this betrayal, and promised he would not fail to listen to her a third time.
Almost motherly, Lucretia said she'd be moving to Jorgenfist for the forseeable future, but they knew how to contact her, and she'd reach out to them when she had updates. And then they teleported away.
At this point, we're introducing a new PC, an agent of Mokmurian. His name is Iago, Minotaur Skald of Baphomet, who is going to try and help the party improve their PR. Additionally, he's a talented smith, and should they find Runeforge, Mokmurian has sent him to smith runeforged weapons.
Next session will cover a few downtime scenes that I can't simply post in a campaign log, as well as an earthquake following the death of the Lord-Mayor of Magnimar... and the return of the Scribbler. Only, Yllemsa lives in the Catacombs of Wrath, so things are not going to be as far along by the time the party investigates.
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Session 46 introduced a new PC: the minotaur skald Iago, a Belkzen War Drummer in service to Mokmurian.
Much like Mokmurian, Iago grew up as a runt in a community devoted to the protection of the surface from the Underdark. Given how little his genuine talents for music were appreciated, he left his homeland and joined a mercenary band of outsiders operating out of Belkzen, who taught him the skills he needed to survive. Now, almost all of his former allies are dead, and he wears a fortune in the gear of the fallen, as well as his own signature magic item: magical drumsticks carved from the horns of a satyr.
A huge amount of stuff was resolved during downtime, but I'll cover it just in brief:
- Ithil cleansed the Misgivings with the help of Proctor Imikar, then got to work helping the land heal from its years of corruption. He offered to have Haast use the land for some help with the labor.
- Haast moved the Lost Coast Mercenaries HQ to the Misgivings, and Cordelia built said HQ using a lyre of building and summon laborers.
- The Rusty Dragon officially re-opened with Ameiko running it again! And the Magic Item Guild officially opened its doors as well.
- A bill to amend the Sandpoint charter passed in Sandpoint, aiming to legally protect the worship of Calistria. The bill is still in Magnimar and has some troubles in its future.
- Lucretia and Haast started looking for ways for Haast to become more powerful, incluing the possibility of fleshcrafting Haast a new body and/or turning him into a lich. This is being done in secret, but Haast has begun amassing resources to become a lich.
- Ithil has begun traveling throughout the Sanos forest seeking to make friends within the feywilds for the day he will rule that land. He even found what he believes to be a portal to the First World, though he doesn't quite know how to traverse it safely yet.
- Lucretia adopted Cordelia, bought them a home, and helped them and Nualia move in. They now live at the former Foxglove Townhouse. Lucretia's (and Cordelia's) last name is now Vianu, as they both needed a last name for legal reasons.
- Yllemsa took Leadership on Brodert Quink, and has begun to provide him with wizardly resources, including spellbooks and a scholar's ring to be his arcane bond. He's been teaching Yllemsa the legends of Thassilon, instead of just the choppy bits they've encountered in Thassilonian ruins.
- Iago met and took an immediate liking to Calypso, my OC witch of Lamashtu. He's also made friends with Ameiko.
- Sybil Renner, my slightly-altered version of Rynshinn Povalli, asked out Haast to the Magnimar debut of the upcoming Swallowtail Heroes play.
The Play scene was... really long, given that I wrote out a good chunk of the play, and it gave Iago and Nualia a chance to RP with the group (about how much really happened). The second half ... took some artistic liberties, and revolved around Cordelia reading Nualia's journal, falling in love, and imploring Pharasma to resurrect Nualia to have a chance to redeem her soul. Once Cordelia recognized the direction the play was going, they turned invisible and started looking for Cydrak to intimidate him - leaving to Ithil following them, and nearly Iago following HIM, though Haast managed to talk anyone else from getting up during the play.
The play concluded, the party was called on stage to take a bow with the cast and crew, and Nualia used that as an opportunity to bolt. Ithil tracked her down and talked to her and offered his support. She ultimately said she wanted to be alone to figure things out (she had no idea Cordelia was in love with her, and wasn't sure if that was true, but Ithil said he was pretty sure it was).
Everyone congratulated Cydrak and the cast for doing a great job, except for Cordelia, who 'had some notes' about the entirety of the second act, leading to them fuming for about a solid day while the rest of the party... well, partied.
After Cordelia slept (with a ring of sustenance), Lily Viskanta, one of their closest friends (and Delek's younger sister) was just coming back from the play's afterparty. They asked Cordelia about how they were doing and how they had told Cydrak not to put all that stuff in, then asked if Cordelia and Nualia were dating. Cordelia said they weren't - and then Lily asked them out. Stunned, confused, and still pretty upset, Cordelia said yes, beginning the most awkwardly out-of-step PC/NPC relationship I've ever seen. We got a very cute picture of them together though.
Nualia (in Magnimar) came home from a morning jog and told Cordelia she'd heard the Lord-Mayor died of a heart attack last night, but he'd already been resurrected.
Ithil awoke to find a seagull with a blood-covered neck and face outside his window, trying to get his attention. He cast speak with animals and got the following warning: "a great evil stirs beneath Sandpoint. Gather your allies" and "Lamashtu's clawing hands must be swatted away from this land." When Ithil asked who had sent him, the gull only replied, "It matters not who sent me beyond that today, they are an ally." He immediately went and retrieved Iago, Haast, and Aneka, who were at the recently-erected Mercenaries HQ. Aneka used her Shrinewalk to teleport to Magnimar.
Haast, Iago, Yllemsa, and Ithil congregated at the sinkhole, where they met with Jaren Basvear as he was sectioning off Tower Street, and Cordelia teleported into Turandurok and promptly ran into Lily again. Lily let them know about the sinkhole, and Cordelia invited her to come along. Lily felt a little too awkward with Nualia there, and said she'd like to hear about it later and went to her room for the time being.
The party met up, and started to investigate the Catacombs of Wrath (now pretty renovated, given Yllemsa's been living there for 5 months). Soon they found the newly-cleared stairway (VERY new - Yllemsa had been sleeping in the levitation chamber just over an hour earlier). They cast their longer-duration buffs and went down.
The party immediately got split up once they entered the fog, and all stopped moving and began calling out loudly for each other, trying to find each other. During this time, the Scribbler appeared, greeted them, and began asking his questions. Cordelia quickly countered his questions with an offer: for each question he got to ask, they'd ask a question of him back. The Scribbler was delighted, and started coming every few minutes to ask a question and answer a question.
After about half an hour of this and being confused by the fog, the party finally dumped dispels until they got rid of the fog and found that they were sitting only a few squares from each other - and found the room completely filled with dense writing in ink and blood. We called the session there.
The rest of Lamashtu's shrine and translating the Scribbler's rhyme will take place next session.
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Wow, it appears I've failed to do an update for a few weeks.
Session 47 was just the party going through Lamashtu's shrine. They spent quite a while (2 hours, I think) talking to the Scribbler and Yerrin-ku, doing their best to avoid provoking them but also making it clear they could defeat them if they needed to (they'd already defeated Anizorah, Xaliasa's old boss). The party got quite a bit of good information out of this, roughly in-line with what the book expects the Scribbler to communicate in this section.
They also talked to Yerrin-ku (and Vex, a conjured succubus) about why Lamashtu had sent them specifically - two demons they had faced before. They didn't find much helpful information from those two, as the information they'd been brought in for (to catch the Scribbler up on the past 10,000 years of history) wasn't really new information for them.
When they asked the Scribbler about his plans, he stated foremost that 'it would be unwise to make a decision before I understand the lay of the land,' and that he would ultimately do 'whatever Lamashtu's wisdom guided him to.'
Eventually, the party asked if a member of theirs could enter deeper into the shrine to gather information on Runeforge - as they hoped to eliminate any possible Runelords and their servants should they rise (something The Scribbler vocally supported). He agreed to this, and brought Yllemsa to the back of the shrine - where his forbiddance spell alerted him that Yllemsa was not all right in Lamashtu's eyes.
Determined to simply kill Yllemsa and cast speak with dead on them, he turned on them, and ordered all of his summoned minions to attack at once.
What followed was a messy brawl that lasted almost three hours, but at the end of it, the party had defeated every enemy in the Shrine of Lamashtu (Yllemsa even defeated 10 CR 10 Hounds of Lamashtu solo while separated from the group).
They looted his gear (all given to Nualia) and the revelation quill, but saved studying his writing for next session.
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Session 48 was investigation-focused, using the various resources the party has accumulated to this point to once-and-for-all locate Runeforge.
With that information in hand, they split up, taking what they'd found to Brodert Quink, the Dome of the Savored Sting (whose members owed them a favor), and to the Librarian of the Therassic Library. Each of these was able to contribute some useful information, but it wasn't until all of the information they offered was put together than the party could successfully narrow it down to a single location: Rimeskull, overlooking Lake Stormunder.
The party split up, with half of them going to scope out the terrain and any local settlements near Stormunder, and the others remaining to do research with Lucretia (and get magical tattoos that allowed them to see through fog - they really hated dealing with the Scribbler in fog). Lucretia was able to give them a little advice - to look for Edasseril's researchers regarding runeforged weapons, and to Shalast's researchers for support once they were inside.
Brodert Quink also outfitted the party with research notebooks and a few other pieces of equipment, imploring them to make the discovery of their lifetimes. They also had him study and identify the revelation quill, which Cordelia has since pocketed in case the party needs to ask for advice later. They're glad to see that the Peacock Spirit is not truly dead - though they wonder a bit why nobody's heard from them in thousands of years.
Ten days later, the party met up again in a small human/orcish village near Stormunder, now with a sense of the dangers and conditions of the area. Ithil took them to the seven standing stones, and the party used their research notebooks (filled with some basic information about Thassilon's rulers) to identify each of the statues. Using scrolls and other items prepared entirely with Thassilonian rune magic (which they thought would be the only kind to work), they triggered all of the statues at once and collected their keys.
Thoroughly pleased they had understood the poem, and that all their efforts were paying off . . . the party failed to detect Arkrhyst, who opened up a fight with a breath attack with no warning.
The session ended there, at both a high point and a point of fear - for they'd heard legends of Arkrhyst in their studies, after all.
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session 49 was almost entirely the fight with Arkrhyst. I ran him as a Wyrm White Dragon (CR 16), and he came in buffed to the nines to face the party. They were very afraid, and they had reason to be.
The fight was at a stand-still as the party tried to figure out how to face him, but once they were buffed up and Yllemsa managed to pull out a full-round attack on him... they realized how far out of their depths they were.
For the Bloodrager's full-round, hasted, buffed attacks had all missed.
They promptly began blasting him with every dispel effect they had, and switched primarily from attempting physical attacks to magic. That, tied with Yllemsa dishing out like 240 damage in a single round, was enough to get him to dimension door to safety, although not before he crit-killed Yllemsa.
Still, the party was prepared, and Nualia and Cordelia simply greater teleported to Jorgenfist while the rest of the party tried to hunt down Arkrhyst. They set out for Xin's mouth via flight, hoping to catch him recuperating, but froze when they saw the huge statues inside the path. Eventually, they realized the statues weren't a threat, and a dispel magic (natural 20) managed to reveal the invisible passageway leading down, so they made for it . . .
Then noticed a freezing fog cutting off the way they'd come in. Ithil, with his new ability to see through fog, found Arkrhyst on the other side of the fog, and the party charged right for him, before ultimately losing him as he burrowed into the mountain.
They ultimately decided to wait there, rather than attempt to pursue Arkrhyst through the earth, giving Cordelia, Nualia, and Yllemsa the chance to catch back up with them when they teleported back.
They met back up, decided that slaying Arkrhyst wasn't the important thing here, and flew down the chasm, emerging in the Frozen Cathedral. Afraid of being ambushed here, Cordelia opened a fairy ring retreat and had the party haul the lightest goods in there to be sorted. They left the coinage and armors to avoid dealing with them, then hid inside the retreat between sessions.
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Session 50 began with the party returning to the poem, figuring out the key 'puzzle', and opening the portal to Runeforge. The portal sang on a song in Azlanti, so they stayed for a while to listen to it, then stepped through the portal into Runeforge.
Before anything else, they took the time to check out each of the statues, as well as how the hallways looked beyond them. I luckily was prepared with (most of) the hallway descriptions, so they got a good idea of the themes and/or aesthetics of each wing. They also got a pretty clear impression that something had happened in Edasseril's wing, and decided to check out the aftermath.
Eager to move on before another pulse could build up, the party split up north/south. Those in the south spotted the mustard jelly, then immediately backed away - all except Iago, who wanted to try and charm it. This led to a surprisingly difficult (if short) battle, and the party grouped up and all headed north this time, ignoring the room the jelly had come from entirely.
As half of the party (Iago, Haast, and Cordelia) are envious, they got a pretty good understanding of what ethillion was as soon as they encountered it - and promptly, without explanation, they all drank the stuff. Then they prompted their other party members to drink as well, and they all drank a single dose before bottling the remainder up.
Concluding that the damage to the wing was too substantial, and that they didn't have the capabilities to dig any more of it out, they left the wing, waited for their items to come back online, and headed into Shalast's Vaults of Transfigurative Wealth.
They paused to have a conversation with the mephits around the whale sculpture, learning a bit about the 'mean silver man' who 'cast mean spells' at them, as well as the peculiar, Tiny-sized portals to the Elemental Plane of Water that were commonly concealed within statues in the wing. They paused for a moment to appreciate the aesthetic tastes of whoever designed the Vault (and whoever had gone so far as to make a gate for a fountain, but agreed to protect the mephits from harm.
Now, I had a bit of trouble deciding how the golems in this wing were constructed. Almost all of my PCs bear sidhedron tattoos inducting them into Karzoug's service, but none of them are 'greedy' as recognized by Runeforge's sin-detection mechanic. I ultimately decided that the golem's programming was likely to favor explicit cues, and decided they would only be interested in Haast - who first lacks such a tattoo, and also wears a full set of Bakrakhanian military garb.
Thanks to some well-placed walls of force and all of the golems failing vs. the Retribution hex, the 4 golems were destroyed with little effort.
Yllemsa paused here to speak to the goldfish in the ponds, discovering that they had no need to eat and had no concept of rest - and indeed, viewed their ponds as something of a paradise. In addition, the goldfish here were unusually intelligent, if not knowledgeable about anything beyond the ponds they lived in.
Yllemsa: "Runeforge isn't quite what I expected. It's almost kind of... goofy."
As they reached the last fountain before entering the Research Center, they found an ashy-skinned woman coughing up water. When they asked here if she was okay, she replied, 'Like Hell I'm okay - I've been a goldfish for the past several years.'
After the party took the time to assure her they were allies of the transmuters of Shalast, and that they were here to gather resources to restore Shalast from beyond time, she introduced herself as Pallen, a servant of the former master Izomandakus. She had been polymorphed, she explained, by Ordikon, a member of their ranks who had long ago transformed his flesh into mithral. It was an arrogant attempt, she claimed, to replicate the miraculous creation of Chellan, but no one in the party recognized the reference.
Ultimately, the party concluded that Ordikon had turned on his fellow researchers, and that it would be best to install Pallen in his place. With that, they decided to explore the remainder of the wing.
... and walked right into Ordikon's trap: a symbol of slowing, an arcane cannon, and a Platinum-Clad golem. Paired with the fact that he seemed to know whey were coming, and they were left very afraid they'd failed to prepare for the encounter.
He split the party in half with a wall of force, and they decided there was no time to waste. They'd have to destroy him immediately.
And then, to their delight, Cordelia hit him with a quickened ill omen and feeblemind, and while his cannon and golem put up an admirable effort, the fight was a brutal stomp as Ordikon cowardly fled for his life, ultimately dropping dead inside of one of his fountains.
Damn you, bard's escape!
Pallen asked to take Ordikon's staff, but was first threatened, then negotiated with as the party recognized there was little reason to get in her way. They gave her a new item to form an Arcane Bond with, and agreed to find her a way of escaping Runeforge, on top of defending the Vaults from the other 5 remaining wings of Runeforge. In exchange, she gave her (very basic) knowledge of the other 6 wings and who ruled them.
They also, notably, convinced her that Karzoug is indeed dead, and it is instead one of the other Runelords who must have re-activated the runeforge pool. With that in mind, she decided there was no reason to remain any longer, as the runeforge pool would surely lose its powers without the Runelords supplying it with power (as it had thousands of years ago).
The party is planning to use some of the information Pallen (Garundi/Azlanti Human Transmuter 12) provided them to decide what their next move will be - who they think they can ally with, who they ought to destroy, and who might know how to make runeforged weapons, now that the Wardens of Envy have been annihilated.
Sounds like you're all having a great time.
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Sessions 51-55 saw the party through Runeforge.
Through the teleporters, they encountered very-beefed-up Warriors of Wrath and Wrathspawn, and tore through like half of them in two rounds, until Athroxis called to them through some spell, commanding everyone to stop fighting, and issuing a challenge to the party to come to the Hall of Testing to face her.
Instead of immediately fighting, they hung out outside the smoke gate (part of a screen effect - I was running Athroxis at CL 15), telling her they weren't interested in fighting, only in finding a way out of runeforge for the people who were trapped here. She invited them in to speak, whereupon the party explained the existence of the Leng Device, as well as their goal to return Xin-Shalast to the present. With an incredible (I think 47) Diplomacy roll, they even convinced her that this was ultimately good, given that every other Thassilonian nation had been utterly destroyed, with Bakrakhan having completely fallen into the sea.
Athroxis offered them an option - figure out how to activate the Master's Circle and do so, and she would allow them to leave unharmed. The catch being, she and her warriors would be leaving as well, to see if truly nothing remained of Bakrakhan.
Nervous that she might find a way to resurrect Alaznist, the party withdrew for the time being, saying they would meet her again when they had spoken to the other denizens of Runeforge.
The Peacock Hall (with 7 Lv. 10 Simulacra) gave them substantially more trouble, with one character even dying due to being repeatedly battering blast through a wall of nausea. Nevertheless, once the party dealt with the enemy invisibility, a bard's escape was all they needed to slaughter the simulacra.
Hopeful of finding Vraxeris past the secret door, the party put away their weapons and entered Vraxeris's study, only to find him dead in his chair. They did Heal and some other things, concluding that he must have died extremely recently, although some party members guessed that Runeforge might have preservation effects on dead flesh.
They moved on without interacting with the body at all, finding the two chambers filled with dead clones. They conducted more tests on these, perplexed to find that their blood hadn't coagulated yet, as if they too had just died.
Finally, they moved into the burned-out library, poked around, found a Scroll of Spell Knowledge, and opened the door to the last room - Vraxeris's bedroom. And found the demonic simulacra (dressed ALMOST like maids, which super skeeved the party inside. Then they closed the door because that seemed like a situation they were not prepared to handle.
Turning their attention back to the study, they decided to rest here, using their extra time to start reading Vraxeris's journal and take a look at some of the other volumes. There, for the first time, they found a confirmation of which Runelord's runewell had triggered the others - the runewell of greed. Vraxeris's journal also seemed certain that this meant Karzoug was returning to the world, so the party agreed they needed dominant weapons as soon as possible.
Inspired by the presence of all the peacock motifs around, they used the Revelation Quill to ask the Peacock spirit how handing over the demonic simulacra to Delvahine would go (now that they knew they needed a vessel of sin from her wing). They got a 'Weal' response, disguised someone as Vraxeris, and ordered the simulacra to leave with them.
The party entered the Iron Cages of Love with the simulacra in tow, no weapons drawn, and stopping immediately inside to try and catch someone's attention. As soon as they were spotted by the wing's guardians (Delvahine's daughters, dressed like proper maids), they explained their purpose in the wing, as well as the fact that they'd found Vraxeris dead, and asked to speak with Delvahine.
Given how unlikely their story seemed, I asked for a Bluff check, but they passed it easily (having a Skald in the party really changes things...), and the Guardians escorted them closer to the pavilion, showing intense disgust for the vacant simulacra the whole time.
The party got their invite in. Though they protected themselves against mind fog, they failed their saves against detect thoughts, which Delvahine used to cut through any bluster and get to the heart of what they wanted. The party proposed a deal before she even managed to, on top of explaining why Vraxeris died and that they had brought the simulacra so Delvahine could use or dispose of them as she wished.
Needless to say, Delvahine was very pleased, and asked for two of the party members to accompany her to her boudoir. They accepted (on the condition that they could cast deathwatch), and spent time with Delvahine while the rest of the party discussed their next moves.
Given that my Delvahine is a homebrew greater succubus bard, Ithil left his rendez-vous with Delvahine afflicted with insanity, while Nualia just had a nice time, immune to both level drain and confusion effects. She even healed Ithil after they were done. Ithil was rewarded with a ring of unnatural lust for his efforts.
Delvahine announced her intentions to become the Queen of Runeforge, and the party congratulated her, though quietly concluded that they'd better get out of Runeforge as soon as they could now that they had the vessels they needed. She gave them one last parting gift: a warning that a dragon named Arkrhyst was in Runeforge and looking for allies.
The party, nervous about spending too much longer in Runeforge now that multiple wing leaders (and Arkrhyst) knew they were there (and believing Karzoug was gaining power), they all immediately forged dominant weapons, figuring eliminating Karzoug as quickly as possible was more important than being equally prepared for any subsequent Runelord who may emerge.
Karzoug's statue animated, and congratulated them on finding the secret of Runeforged weapons.
Karzoug: "You are just as resourceful as Lucretia said, and I am well pleased. But now I must ask you - what do you intend to do with those weapons?"
Yllemsa's player: "Do I recognize this as Karzoug's voice? Or is it more like Mokmurian's?"
Me: "Although it's very similar to Mokmurian's voice, this is more human, and a little higher. Thinking back to Thistletop, you definitely think this is Karzoug's voice."
Haast: "With these? We intend to make sure the Runelord remain nothing but a memory to this world."
Karzoug: "While I admire your optimism, you'll never have that chance. For your petty resistance, you will die here, in Runeforge."
Of course, against 6 characters, 5 of them with dominant weapons and 1 with a golembane scarab, the statue could do little - even its slow was eaten up by the dominant weapons. Of course, that did its job well - the party was pretty satisfied with the power of the weapons, even becoming eager to cut down Karzoug's forces with them.
One question remained though: had Lucretia set them up? Had she used them as bait to draw Karzoug's attention away from Mokmurian? Or was she being puppeted without her knowledge? They'd have to find her as soon as possible.
Along with Pallen, the party made their way back to the Hearth of Wrath and said they needed to speak with Athroxis. A wrathspawn named Ivod asked them to come with him, notably to a room they'd never been before - the Fleshwarping Lab. Cautious that they might be about to enter a trap, they insisted on stepping on the teleport pad all at the same time. They appeared to find several warriors of wrath, wrathspawn, and Arkrhyst waiting for them, with their exit blocked by a resilient sphere placed by a clever Warrior.
The party won initiative however, and bard's escaped inside the sphere, using it as a defense until the teleporter activated and whisked them away. On the other side, the party blot the teleporter runes and decided to make their own way, saying they had no intention of killing anyone who did not attack them (though they did kill Ivod in spectacular fashion).
The party returned to Athroxis's chamber, saying they'd been attacked by some of her warriors and a dragon. She cursed and swore that the warriors who had consorted with the dragon were mutineers - she had explicitly forbade them from dealing with the dragon after she'd turned him away. This left the party in a bit of an awkward situation, but they eventually negotiated a deal with her - they would open a portal to Golarion, allowing her and any warriors not sealed in the Fleshwarping Lab to leave along with them and Pallen. They would also help her and the warriors get to a nearby town, procure for them supplies (including a modern map), and then go their separate ways.
Athroxis accepted, and went to retrieve the remainder of her warriors - 9 Warriors of Wrath and 3 Wrathspawn. Before stepping through the circle, the party announced to them that Karzoug was returning to Golarion, and every effort would need to be made to make sure he did not return to power. Athroxis agreed, but said she would first put her mind to seeing what remained of Xin-Bakrakhan.
The party stepped through, casted a teleport, a re-appeared within the Frozen Cathedral.
They used every spell they could think of to help the Warriors to get out - from making a 200' long rope ladder to get up the Deadly Slide, to casting extended life bubble on everyone, to using a fairy ring retreat to pause before the first town so the Warriors could be better-prepared for interacting with modern civilization and giving the town itself a heads-up about the warriors and the supplies they needed.
After about a day of rest and study, Athroxis was able to identify the location she wanted to take her warriors - Magnimar. She'd heard of the massive bridge that once extended from Xin-Bakrakhan, and figured that would be the place to start her search. The party warned her that any reckless use of magic could bring any number of mercenaries and monsters their way, and recommended they speak in Varisian anywhere they might be observed.
With that done, the party decided it was time to check in with Mokmurian, and all teleported to Jorgenfist
They said that Karzoug had contacted them, and said that Lucretia had provided him with information about them. Mokmurian appeared unsurprised, and while the party was at first confused, the fact that Mokmurian suddenly was calling him 'Lord Karzoug' eventually clued them in - Mokmurian was working for Karzoug.
They got upset with him - why hadn't he revealed that he was working under Karzoug! If they'd known that, they would have made different choices, such as NOT setting a bunch of Bakrakhanian warriors loose on Golarion, and focusing on a different set of runeforged weapons. Only Haast didn't seem interested in talking to Mokmurian about why he'd chosen to deceive them - Haast just started enchanting his weapon and buckler.
Mokmurian and Haast rolled initiative, and Haast won, but didn't move to attack. What followed was an incredibly tense exchange measured in rounds, while Mokmurian offered Haast either the option to become a champion or die. Haast liked those odds, but his party members eventually persuaded him and Mokmurian to put away their weapons (and spells), so they could hear Mokmurian's story.
They found that Mokmurian had a 'shard of the Runelord's soul' within him, and that he had dedicated the past 6 years to filling to runewell and restoring Xin-Shalast. He said that Lucretia and Xanesha were the left and right hands of 'The Most High,' and that the Lucretia had taken an interest in the party specifically for their diverse skill set and unique attitude towards Thassilon. When Xin-Shalast was returned, he would become Karzoug's first giant apprentice, and the party would become champions to bridge the gap between the ancient past and the modern day - heroes who had already saved Varisia from a terrible war.
The party said they needed time to think, and Mokmurian suggested that they meet with Lucretia - who had returned to the Hin manor - to hear more about her side of the story. They agreed.
The party returned to the Misgivings and found Lucretia waiting for them, the dining table already arranged, and sat down to talk. They cast communal tongues so neither Pallen (who couldn't speak Common) nor Ithil (who couldn't speak Thassilonian) would be left out of the conversation. Lucretia offered them tea and sandwiches, and I was honestly very pleased they were willing to eat the food without a second thought, even when they were talking to her about tricking them. They just trusted that poisoning them wasn't her style, and they were right.
Haast: "I thought I made it very clear that our deal with you was stipulated on not bringing a Runelord back."
Lucretia: "Perhaps that is what you meant, but the thing I promised was that the Leng Device would not bring a Runelord through time. And it won't. When the runewell is filled, it will bring Karzoug into Golarion, and with its power he will drag Xin-Shalast into this world. He's the one who built them both, after all."
The party asked her a bit about the Most High, and Lucretia explained a bit about the worship of avarice, as well as how only Karzoug would be considered a legitimate ruler in a restored Xin-Shalast, as well as the only one who could keep order.
The party brought up their complaints, and even posed a solution - why not allow Karzoug to return, save Xin-Shalast, and then kill him? They even brought up Barl Breakbones - an ally of Lucretia's she'd helped them assassinate because he wasn't fit to rule.
Lucretia: "That was different. Barl was incompetent and weak."
Haast: "And Karzoug is incompetent and strong. It doesn't make a difference as long as we can beat him."
At this point, Lucretia made a bit of a weird face and gestured up at herself - with a successful Sense Motive check, the party realized she was gesturing at her medallion.
Most of my players, all at once: "Oh f%~+. Oh g$@!@#nit! It was never Mokmurian watching us!"
Lucretia: "I understand you've had a very stressful few days everyone. Why don't you take a little retreat from this conversation?"
Understanding her secret message once again, the party bowed out of the conversation (leaving Pallen with Lucretia), went out of sight, and cast fairy ring retreat, cutting off the scrying before removing the medallions.
After a pretty substantial freak out 'What do we do?!?!' moment from the party, they realized they had one resource that didn't appear to be aligned with Karzoug at all - the Revelation Quill. They used Contact Other Plane and started asking questions. Some really critical ones are copied below:
Q: Can we activate the Leng Device without Karzoug?
A: Not without a Runelord of Greed
Q: Does Lucretia only want Xin-Shalast's return?
A: Yes
Q: Does the Most High only want Xin-Shalast's return?
A: No
Q: Has Karzoug's philsophy towards rulership shifted towards benevolence since he last ruled Shalast?
A: No.
From this, they gleaned a few things. First, Karzoug absolutely could not be left alone. Second, there was a chance that he wouldn't be needed to operate the Leng Device if someone else could become the Runelord of Greed. Third, there was a rift in priorities between Lucretia and the person she served - meaning there was a chance that, if they helped Lucretia's priorities, they could get her to switch sides.
After Session 54, the party was so conflicted about what to do they nearly split, but before doing that, they decided to make a spread-sheet to see if they understood everyone's positions and if there was any path everyone was OK taking. They ended up with two results:
- Either fight Karzoug's forces head-on, but convince Lucretia to switch sides OR
- Pretend to side with Karzoug, look more into how one could become a legitimate Runelord, and betray him, preferably putting someone in his place.
We'll be finding out which it is next session, which will mostly involve the party preparing for what is to come with various NPCs who've been part of their journey. Also maybe they'll finally do the Therassic Monastery dungeon floor...
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Session 55 was composed entirely of interactions with various NPCs to try and reach a consensus about how to proceed.
The conversation with Lucretia went on nearly two full hours, so I don't remember all of it, but a few critical points came up.
- Iago convinced Lucretia to reveal why she was so absolutely invested in Shalast and so loyal to Karzoug and The Most High, and she admitted that she was born in Xin-Shalast more than 10,000 years ago, and that she had been chosen to bring Karzoug back following the Cataclysm.
- Haast asked her to genuinely try and convince them Shalast 'isn't that bad' - she told them what she missed about it, but emphasized that no matter how good or bad Shalast was, it deserved to be saved regardless.
- Lucretia explained that her interest in the party came down to a belief that they could bridge the gap between contemporary Varisia and Xin-Shalast, but that would be impossible if they did not ingratiate themselves with the incoming regime.
- While the party agreed that Xin-Shalast should be saved, they definitely disagreed with Lucretia on what should happen after. Most of them supported eliminating the government, while others thought that installing a different ruler would be enough to allow Shalast to integrate with the rest of the world. Lucretia contested the idea that anyone but Karzoug was prepared to be Runelord - after all, he had already ruled for 466 years to great success.
- The final sticking point really came down to the fact that Thassilon didn't seem to have any concept of individual rights, and when pressed on how badly Shalast needed to change, Lucretia snapped about how, if contemporary peoples knew how to do things so well, how had they managed to stay so primitive for the past 10,000 years?
When she realized the conversation was lost, Lucretia told them 'You don't have to give me an answer now. Just soon,' and they let her go to return to Jorgenfist.
Certain now that they would turn on her and Mokmurian, she took Pallen with her to Jorgenfist and warned Mokmurian they'd likely soon be assassinated.
Frustrated after the conversation with Lucretia and feeling a bit like no matter what they did, it would be the wrong thing, the party returned to Sandpoint and hit up the Rusty Dragon.
The first of these adventurers revealed himself from invisibility, slinging an arm over Haast's shoulder and welcoming Haast back. The elven man, Kierstan, was none other than Haast's 'uncle' growing up, a friend of his mother's! Haast was quick to put two-and-two together, and realized that Kierstan must be a member of the Black Eyes, meaning his mother knew them and never told him!
While some members of the party were suspicious of Kierstan for showing up out of the blue, others were just excited to meet other high-profile adventurers, and Kierstan ordered drinks for everyone so they could talk a bit about the party's adventures. Kierstan heaped praise on them, admitting that he'd come along with Haast's mother Nessa and a few others hoping to run into the Heroes of Sandpoint.
Some PCs talked with Ameiko, Haast caught up with Kierstan, and the rest were afraid that Nessa might be snooping about Thistletop and teleported to go check things out. The latter found out that Nessa had been there, but left as soon as she found out the party wasn't there.
After a few minutes, another woman came down the stairs of the Rusty Dragon - Amiri, a famous Kellid mercenary - and strapped to her back was Garvok, the legendary Sword of Wrath. Intrigued by her and the sword, Ithil and Yllemsa chatted her up, and rather quickly found out that the Black Eyes (as well as a few mercenaries) had come into possession of the Seven Swords of Sin a number of years ago after an enchantress stole them all. She knew that had something to do with why they were here, but Nessa hadn't explained exactly what they were here for yet - and wouldn't until the party returned to Sandpoint.
Agreeing to meet back up again that night, most of the rest of the party split off to go see Brodert while Haast hung back to talk to Amiri and Kierstan
After that, Brodert expresses some disappointment to see the party back so soon, sad that they were unable to find Runeforge.
Yllemsa: "Oh, no, Brodert. We found it - we even used it to forge new weapons. We're back."
He was surprised, but the party had pulled off some tremendous things in the past - he was pleased to see them back! He asked if he could see their notebooks; even if they hadn't spent much time taking notes on his trip, he'd at least like to get a glimpse of the place, as it were.
Cordelia: "Hey, Brodert, before that . . . what do you think of Runelord Karzoug?"
What followed was a very messy conversation in which the party revealed everything they'd been hiding from Brodert since Book 2 - Karzoug's agents were out in the world working to return not only him, but the entire city of Xin-Shalast back through time. These agents were everywhere, and even included Cordelia's adoptive mother. Brodert could do little but react with shock and disbelief, believing for a good chunk of the conversation that they must be playing a prank on him.
When they got around to asking for his advice, he admitted he was far unprepared to deal with a question of that scope. Whether returning Xin-Shalast to the world was even a good idea or not is something he'd take months or years to prepare a strong answer to, he couldn't be expected to make a snap decision on something of such unprecedented scope!
Recognizing that they'd dumped a lot on him, they handed over their research materials, including all of the spellbooks and journals they'd found in Runeforge, and basically said they'd handle the tough decisions, they just needed him to look over these and tell them his thoughts. He agreed to that much.
Iago split off after that to meet with Calypso, but she proved an easy sell, offering her help to see Karzoug taken down. She recommended the party dominate Mokmurian as soon as possible, figure out where Karzoug's agents in the world were, and eliminate them so the Runewell of Greed wouldn't keep filling, and Iago agreed to bring that proposal to the party's attention once they all met up.
Over a large dinner, the party asked why the Black Eyes had taken an interest in them, and Nessa admitted that she'd found out that the party was searching for Runeforge, and might have a lead about its location. The party admitted they did, but asked to know what her interest in Runeforge was before they revealed it. And thus, Nessa provided her story.
10 years ago, the Black Eyes took a job along with some other mercenaries to retrieve the Alara'hai, or the Seven Swords of Sin, from an enchantress hiding in Kaer Maga. Seven of them survived the grueling job, and thus they decided to split the swords among them for safekeeping, though some of them instead opted to return the swords to their previous owners.
Then, 6 years ago, one of these mercenaries by the name of Viorian Dekanti went missing, along with her personal fortune. While they assumed at the time it had been a robbery, Monica had a vision about a year ago about the return of the Runelords, and Nessa had come to a much darker conclusion - the sword Chellan's power had possessed Viorian, and she'd slaughtered her own staff to follow its whims. In the worst case scenario, this might herald Karzoug's return to Golarion.
She and the other Black Eyes, she explained, were seeking out Runeforge where many of the Alara'hai were forged in hopes of severing their connection to the Runelords, or perhaps simply destroying them if that wasn't possible. If there was any possibility of the Runelords returning, the best they could do was simply deprive them of a champion.
Convinced by this story, the party shared with them everything they knew of Runeforge - its entry method, its layout, and its inhabitants. They also warned them that the Forge was all but completely spent, but if the last of its power could be used to destroy the Swords, so be it.
After the meal, Nessa took Haast aside and gave him a gift - her Hand of Hoarded Deaths - saying that it sounded like he was in the midst of an even greater project than her own, and she trusted him to do what it takes to see it through.
Although I haven't covered the topic in this forum, Haast died at the end of Book 1, and while he was dead, discovered that his soul had been sold to multiple different devils. Suspecting his mother of the dead, he's been seeking out a method of freeing his soul from this fate ever since, harboring a deep grudge against his mother, who he suspected must have sold his soul as a child in exchange for power.
Haast confronted Nessa about just that, and she admitted it. She had offered up not only Haast's soul, but her whole lineage's souls, many years ago now, when her children were still young. He asked why, and she explained that, quite some time ago, a Great Old One had attempted to erase Monica from existence, and in order to bind her to reality, she'd sought a wish of incredible power from a contract devil. Afraid that her children would be damned to hell, she tricked a second contract devil (a rival to the first) into a deal for her lineage's souls, leaving their souls caught in litigation until they could be resurrected.
Haast: "So . . . you didn't trade my soul so that I could be a tiefling? So I could be powerful?"
Nessa: "No. I already paid the price for that with my own soul long ago. I always wanted children, but I wanted them to be powerful enough to hold their own in this brutal world. I was fine trading my soul for that."
Although still very resentful that his mother would trade his soul at all, the fact that Haast hadn't lost the thing she'd purchased by being reincarnated, that she had sacrificed herself for her children rather than vice versa, provided Haast with an immense amount of relief.
Nessa said she would support Haast with whatever he chose to do with the power he'd earned, and they hugged for the first time in years.
At the end of the session, I sent everyone a private message about something their character experienced.
The voice in Yllemsa's head (Alaznist) urged them to guide Highlady Athroxis and to ally with her as soon as possible, and to be ready for betrayal from among their friends. The voice also suggested that using the power of the runewells of wrath might have been a winning strategy for combating Karzoug from the start. Yllemsa also kept this quiet, but has shown an interest in returning to Athroxis's side as soon as reasonably possible. They also gained the ability to see the sin of wrath by spending bloodrage.
Cordelia received a dream from an unfamiliar psychopomp (though not to their knowledge, this is the Usher Saloc), who was mending their bonded item. The creature gave them a short lecture about their future and the nature of judgement and responsibility, then handed their bonded item back. They learned the spell soul transfer following this dream.
Iago had a prophetic vision sent from Baphomet showing him as a ruler of Xin-Shalast following his return, and urging him to support whoever could ensure Xin-Shalast's return to the world. The dream left extremely vague who this was, which Iago took to mean it did not matter, as long as they served this agenda. Iago awoke to found a necklace he'd been paid by Mokmurian with transformed into a whispering amulet.
Ithil had a dream as well - a highly figurative one in the form of a song, which he suspects was sent from Desna, Shelyn, or Sarenrae (it was sent by all of them). The song discussed cutting down a great tree so that light could enter a forest and allow new life to flourish. It also bade him to dismiss cruelty and unnecessary violence.
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Session 56 was about coming up with a short-term plan of action and executing it, as well as visiting stray NPCs the party hadn't talked to last session.
Cordelia started things off by bringing up their dream, afraid that it had been sent by some antagonistic force. No one else said they had any reason to believe they'd been contacted by an enemy, and they agreed to drop it, conceding that no harm seemed to have come from their dream.
After a bit of discussion, the party agreed that they would wait for Lucretia to return to Jorgenfist, then ambush her and Mokmurian. They planned to take them both alive, with Lucretia becoming a prisoner and Mokmurian becoming a dominated puppet, to get as much information as possible. They sent Lucretia a sending saying they'd like to discuss terms of working with them for Karzoug in 9 days' time, and she sent back a confirmation.
- Haast copied Vraxeris and Ordikon's spellbooks, the only ones the party captured from Runeforge. He spent a lot of time with Brodert in the process, learning from Vraxeris's journal that Karzoug must be hiding in Xin-Shalast in some location called the Pinnacle of Avarice. Haast also learned that the city was lost, but figured Mokmurian and Lucretia could be questioned in a few days.
- Cordelia spent time with their school friends (and girlfriend) Lily Viskanta and Hope Summer. They elected not to share the dire situation, instead playing card games and cringing every time they tried being affectionate with their girlfriend Lily.
- Yllemsa and Nualia prepared the Scribbler's Study as an eventual jail cell for Lucretia, given its permanent warding against teleportation effects
The party also discovered that Aneka Avertin, Haast's cohort, was off in Magnimar with the Pathfinders for some reason. Ithil agreed to go and retrieve her from Magnimar once he finished making celestial armor.
- At the end of the downtime, Ithil's celestial armor turned out especially powerful, and he realized he'd crafted celestial armor of determination somehow. He thanked his patrons for the inspiration and set out.
- While in Magnimar, Ithil met with Ayamyra, the Mistress of the Dome of the Savored Sting, and asked her if she'd heard anything about Karzoug. She said she hadn't, but that she had heard disturbing rumors of sihedron-tattoo'd merchants going missing in Janderhoff. She suggested a multi-celled cult might be at work, and Ithil agreed, promising to share with her the full scope of what was going on once he returned from his current project.
Before teleporting to the location, the party dropped all of their hourly and minute buffs, and teleported directly into the room. Their attack was swift and bloody, and Mokmurian wasn't even able to cast thanks to Yllemsa's Spellbreaker. All the while, Lucretia laughed, telling Mokmurian that she was 'always right!', crawling under the table, and leaving him and Lokansir to their fates.
After three rounds, Lokansir was dead, and Mokmurian was defeated. A wave of force blasted everyone off their feet for a moment as Karzoug took control of Mokmurian's body, offering a challenge to the party to come and face him in Xin-Shalast so he could 'keep their gold-gilt corpses as decorations.' Then, Mokmurian was reduced to ash.
Lucretia, regaining her composure, asked if she was allowed to surrender, and the party accepted it, helping her out from underneath the table. She congratulated them on defeating Mokmurian, although she noted that Karzoug would accept no contrition moving forward. She said she'd warned Mokmurian of this assassination attempt, but Mokmurian, in defiance of the thing he'd promised her before, wasn't willing to accept that there was no winning option but to flee.
Lucretia asked what the party's plan was from here, and they agreed to tell her if she removed the sihedron medallion. She did so, and they explained their plans to dominate Mokmurian and get information on Karzoug's other agents to stop them from filling the runewell until the party was able to make it to Xin-Shalast, at which point either his servants there would have to kill each other or wait for them to show up and kill them.
The party asked if Lucretia would be able to guide them to Xin-Shalast, and she said she could. In exchange, they agreed to let her roam relatively freely, keeping her at the Foxglove Manor (where Ithil and Haast live) rather than the Scribbler's office. They also looted Mokmurian's corpse, which was rather wealthier than it is in the book, grabbing:
- The anathema archive
- fogcutter lenses
- A portable hole containing the runeslave cauldron
- A wand, some diamond dust, a contingency statuette, and a lens of detection
- A robe of runes
- A blessed book containing CRB wizard spells of 7th level or lower [My Mok was 14th level].
They had a brief discussion about returning Mokmurian to life, reasoning that the way Karzoug treated him in his dying moments might turn him against him, and collected his ashes, figuring either the runeslave cauldron or reincarnate could return him to life. As they'll likely find out next session, Mokmurian isn't willing to be returned to life after this humiliation, though his soul can still be contacted with spells like speak with soul or call spirit.
Between sessions, Lucretia invited Brodert Quink to report on everything he could find about Xin-Shalast with his magical and scholarly resources. Following his lecture on the subject, she gave a bit of a primer on the misconceptions people had developed about the city, as well as her understanding of the constraints to enter.
The party was given the following constraints:
- Karzoug will rise no later than the end of summer (Rova 22), but probably much earlier thanks to the party killing his servants.
- They can only enter during the full moon, and there are 3 full moons before then (Erastus 16, Arodus 14, and Rova 12).
- The Fen of the Icemists is a 'marker' of sorts for the edge of Leng's influence on the region, and the closest thing that can likely be found with find the path or similar magic.
Because of her cooperative behavior, the party is talking completely openly about their plans. She's used dream on them many times throughout the adventure, but they don't seem to have considered that she's sending dreams to the Most High informing the Pinnacle of the party's plans.
Lucretia is in a bit of a tough spot here. She's really stuck her neck out for the PCs throughout this AP, and they ultimately support her goal of returning Xin-Shalast back. However, she doesn't think trying to kill Karzoug will lead to anything but chaos in Xin-Shalast (present-day or the one ripped through time). Her hope is that the Most High will simply capture the party and place them in an anti-magical prison until Xin-Shalast's return, but she hasn't quite gauged how angry Karzoug is at her for her repeated failures as well as cooperation. By the time the party makes it to Xin-Shalast, the lamia of Divine Consumption will have orders to capture Lucretia so she may be transmogified into a Hungerer, while the PCs are to be killed on sight.
Wow. This is truly epic and I am very much wanting to see how it turns out!
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Thanks Tonyz! We're hustling towards the campaign's conclusion at this point, and I'm also very excited (and nervous) to see how things turn out.
Session 57 started with downtime and turned into overland travel, ending after the party arrived in the Fen of the Icemists.
- The party spent about 150,000gp for crafting and purchases. A notable item they picked up is the karyukai tea set, and item which which makes me afraid, given Iago's +27 Diplomacy.
- Haast copied every spell he could from Vraxeris and Ordikon's spellbooks, and helped crafting along by contributing spells the others didn't know.
- Haast also had a conversation with Aneka about preparing Varisia for Xin-Shalast's return, and they agreed a priority in traveling to Xin-Shalast would be to find proof of its existence and return in order to mobilize the city-states ASAP.
- Iago and Calypso went on a date to a bull fight in Magnimar. People there thought Iago was a minotaur cosplayer of sorts - and they met other people dressed like minotaurs too. Iago wanted to end the date by setting fire to Magnimar's Rag & Garter, but Calypso talked him into just going there for a second date and giggling at the wealthy patrons.
- Lucretia, feeling rather depressed, asked to teach Nualia and Cordelia (the two in charge of keeping her prisoner) the Sihedron Ritual, and they accepted. They got an Occult Ritual for it and agreed to fill the Runewell even if everything else fell apart and everyone died.
- Cordelia and Lucretia started a game of pretending they were trying to poison and kill one another. They have since unironically started calling each other 'Mother' and 'My child.'
- Iago and Haast transported the runeslave cauldron to the caves beneath the Misgivings, sealing it away in Vorel Foxglove's old office.
- Nualia came to Ithil (whose friends are all women) for advice in talking to women. Not specifically in a romantic way, just at all. His advice was 'be yourself and relax,' and when she said that absolutely wouldn't help, he agreed to start inviting her to activities so she could spend time with other women.
- Ithil put together a Sunwrought Festival celebration specifically for a local dryad named Daisy and invited a lot of his friends (including Nualia).
- Ithil and Cordelia checked in on the Therassic Library to see if they could find Thassilon-era maps of the Kodar Mountains. They were greeted by the now-loose forgefiend, which they quickly destroyed. After that, they put their query to the Clockwork Librarian, who reported that every tome, scroll, or map fitting that description had already been checked out by someone else: Mokmurian. Frustrated, but glad they hadn't wasted too much time, they asked the Clockwork Librarian how much leftover space was in the library and promised to find new texts to fill what Mokmurian had taken (and thereby destroyed).
- Yllemsa spent the entire downtime with the Warriors of Wrath, who were currently camped outside of Riddleport. They gave them some lessons about trade, being polite, and not setting people's farms on fire (which they had already done multiple times). They and Athroxis also met with the cyphermages after Athroxis tried to interact with the Cyphergate, but essentially discovered the cyphermages didn't know or wouldn't share anything more than vague hypotheses. By the end of the month, they had reached Magnimar, and Yllemsa led them to the Pathfinder Society as living proof of Thassilon's continued existence. After spending a few days with them there, Yllemsa returned to Sandpoint to prepare for the trip to the Fen of the Icemists.
Once everyone was together, Brodert and Nualia triple-cast telepathic bond and wind walk on the party, as well as all of their cohorts (Calypso the witch, Aneka the rogue, Brodert the wizard, Nualia the oracle) and Lucretia, and they all took off from Urglin. The party made Knowledge checks for things like the Kazaron River and the Roof of the World, and they were off.
A few hours into the travel, a 41 Perception check was enough to note the Vekker's split-log cabin, so the party slowed down to check it out. Ithil and Cerberus returned to physical form and checked out the Horror Tree, which did not immediately become active. After identifying it as a treant and soon realizing it had been poisoned by the nearby arsenic dust, Ithil cast a number of spells to try and get more information - and realized there were many dead bodies buried shallowly beneath his feet.
He and the others heard a distant howl, and almost everyone started to warn him to leave. After a few other creepy things happened, he finally agreed, though the party decided it was the right time to cast find the path to the Fen of the Icemists.
The party moved swiftly from that point on, but an incoming windstorm stopped them short of their objective. They paused, put up a tiny hut for shelter, and had Aneka use her Fey Trick: Weather Control power to undo the fierce winds (and re-cast extended life bubble just in case). They once again took to the skies, reaching the Fen a few hours after noon.
Finding it very strange for an otter to be here, Ithil cast speak with animals and flew down to coax the otter closer. Although it appeared to be rather shy, it ended up coming out on a frozen rock to talk. Ithil said that he and his friends were treasure hunters here seeking the lost city of Xin-Shalast, and the otter warned them against that, saying that there were 'mean two-legs' in there. The otter kept being kind of ominous and clearly intelligent, so Cordelia and Yllemsa (via telepathic bond updates) warned Ithil that the otter might be the lure of some kind of powerful creature.
Eventually, the conversation came around to what the otter managed to eat here, and it cast a spell that created fish. At that point, Cordelia decided to come check out the otter themself - and the otter immediately dived into the water once it saw Cordelia. Suspicious, Ithil tried watching the otter via echolocation, and discovered that, deep inside the water, it was changing shape.
Then, he saw a pale blue face in the water and backed away from it. Meanwhile, Cordelia stepped closer, curious.
And out came a nymph like a shot, yelling, "It's you!" and tackling Cordelia with a hug. After a bit of confusion, the nymph backed up a bit and introduced herself as Svevenka, and acknowledged the party for having put her dear cousin Myrianna to rest.
They talked for a little bit, but a storm was suddenly coming in again, so they agreed to withdraw to a fairy ring retreat to talk more.
Within the retreat, the party explained what they were here to do and introduced their companions (they introduced Lucretia as 'Tanya' in the event that Svevenka would recognize the name). Although she repeatedly warned them against trying to enter Xin-Shalast, she eventually relented and offered up most of what she knew about the city: its dangers and rough makeup, as well as her inability to climb Mhar Massif.
Lucretia tried to chat up Svevenka about 'first-world magic' briefly, but started asking questions that were taboo so fast that the party shushed her and told her to behave.
At the end of the session, everyone decided what method they'd be using to try and enter the city. Most agreed to simply starve themselves, but Cordelia decided to deprive themself of sleep for 5 days instead, simply preparing as many instances of fairy ring retreat as they could before beginning.
Our next session is tomorrow, and will cover following the Path of Avah, the Giant Sentinels combat, and reaching Xin-Shalast. If that doesn't cover everything, I've also prepped Krak Naratha (now with more political machinations, and a CR 16 Lamia Matriarch in charge) and the Giant Encampment (with more named giants, including Rahstalshan, the Wanderer in Stone).
The party has already decided their first objective upon entering the city is to locate and either recruit or slay Ghlorofaex.
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Well, this session was pretty low energy, but I think my players were just a little overwhelmed by Xin-Shalast and thought it was more threatening than it is (to start). Session 58
Ithil split off to investigate, managing to climb all the way up to the cave mouth undetected, where his echolocation detected two giants in waiting. After a telepathic conversation with the party, they all agreed to hide themselves in an invisibility sphere and zone of silence and just keep moving.
They got their first look at Xin-Shalast, moved slightly off of the Golden Road, and entered their fairy ring retreat to recover for a full day.
Not wanting to be useless, Iago set out as well to check out the nearest few buildings. He quickly caught the attention of the soldiers of Krak Naratha, but turned invisible before they could actually approach him. Given that he could effortlessly pass as a new recruit, I was a little baffled, but he didn't want to risk a fight, so he just returned to the rest of the party.
When Ithil spotted the causeway of the Golden Road from the bottom, the rest of the party set out, armed up, to simply go and climb it urban explorer style instead of messing with Krak Naratha. As they were following, Ithil noticed glowing red eyes watching him from a nearby (former) storefront, and decided to investigate. He found no one but the smell of sulfur, and decided to track it by scent.
He found himself in an ambush in an alleyway between two buildings, but resisted their telekinesis and dominate attempts, at which point he threatened his foes. This time he actually identified the creatures - skulks, albeit strangely gaunt and creepy-looking ones. Not trusting a simple 2 v 1 with this new stranger, the skulks backed off.
Ithil and the party regrouped and climbed the causeway (avoiding flight to avoid attracting Ghlorofaex's attention). From there, they simply walked north, using seeming to appear more like recruits to Karzoug's cause (with more sihedrons and cold-weather clothes basically), and continued to provide updates to their cohorts (and Lucreita) who they left behind in the tiny hut.
From the Golden Road, they identified the Architect's Gallery (Abominable Dome), Little Eurynthia (the Tangle), and the Greenhouse, Observatorium, and Palace of Fine Art (the three big towers in Jotunburg). A bit excited by the huge buildings (and the enormous giants they could see in this district), some of them decided to enter the towers, while Iago initially stayed out on the road to ask for directions.
Iago soon encountered a lamia procession - 3 lamia Priestesses of Lamashtu and 1 Hungerer - and decided that he could ask for directions from the local giants rather than whoever happened to be on the road. He did contact Lucretia to learn more about whatever that creature was, and she told him a bit about how the Lamashthan lamia in Xin-Shalast practiced fleshwarping, and how they were putting it to use as a form of punishment.
Cordelia, Yllemsa, and Haast (later Iago) entered the Palace of Fine Art, hoping to find it operational. The entry hall they found was wide open with multiple paths out of it, and had a huge glass art installation 50' above them that had somehow survived Earthfall.
They called out to see if anyone was there, and soon encountered a cloud giant woman who introduced herself as Iris. They first asked if the 'museum' was open, and Iris said that it no longer functioned as a Museum, but rather a storage and auction house for giants in Jotunburg. They then explained they were new recruits from Varisia looking for a place to stay before their scheduled meeting with a lamia contact, and Iris informed them that she didn't know of anywhere specific for little folk to stay. She recommended they stay away from the House of Divine Consumption who, it was said, would hunt and eat little folk who caught their interest.
Meanwhile, Ithil went and checked out the entry floor of the Greenhouse, which was in much worse condition. The entry hall led into a huge 'bowl-shaped' floor artificially lit with daylight spells over what once may have been a garden, but had clearly been flooded and turned into a swamp. Several large drakes lay in the swamp, paying him no mind as he looked out, until he called something out to get their attention.
Instead, he got the attention of their caretaker, a one-eyed stone giant named Graat Lockjaw. Ithil asked a bit about the Greenhouse and Graat's operation here with the drakes, complimenting their scale coloration and health. That put Graat in a good mood, and he told Ithil what he knew about the Greenhouse - about its artificial climates and portals to the plane of water - though most remained untended past the first and second floor. He mentioned he could always use help getting the drakes exercise (as paying folks to excite and run away from them could get messy fast), and Ithil said he'd keep that in mind and probably visit again.
They stopped at the first operational storefront they'd seen since entering Xin-Shalast, which was unlabeled, but had a single hill giant sitting behind the counter. Ithil tried to get information from the giant (in Thassilonian), but quickly discovered the giant neither knew the language nor was familiar with tieflings, so talking about his weird horns took up most of the conversation. Once Ithil realized the giant was, on top of everything else, high off his gourd, Ithil traded him for literal pounds of pipe weed, even when he was warned 'it'll kill ya.'
As they explored into the most active parts of the Artisan District, someone lobbed a chimney at them from over a wall - a stone giant's face peeked over the wall a second later to threaten them, telling them 'Scram. You make trouble.'
Rather than reacting nervously, the party immediately offered this giant several pounds of pipe weed if he would tell them about whoever was organizing reconstruction efforts in this district. That was enough to lure him (and two other stone giants) around, at least curious. Still, they were stubborn about talking with them, up until a stone giant woman told them to leave the little ones to her and to 'run along.' The party quickly identified this woman from her tattoos and club - Rahstalshan, the Wanderer in Stone - and greeted her.
Rahstalshan: "Are you the little wasps I've been hearing about?"
Yllemsa: "... yes, we're the wasps."
Rahstalshan: "Well, I should let you know little wasps, those of us here owe no allegiance to the returned Lord. If you start stinging around here, you're not the only ones who will end up squashed flat."
Iago: "We're not afraid of any squashing."
Yllemsa (telepathically): "She's not going to squash us, Iago, she's saying the people here will get squashed if we pick any fights."
Rahstalshan: "Be that as it may, it's best you not be seen here."
Ithil: "Isn't there anything we can do to help y'all around here?"
Rahstalshan: "The best thing you can do is be far away from here when the gardener finds you."
At this point, the party noticed another stone giant watching their conversation from a distance.
Ithil: "Your man there doesn't need to be so shy. We're not here to start trouble."
Rahstalshan (without looking): "He's not one of mine. That would be one of Gyukak's, probably already looking for a chance to ferment revolution. You'd best run along, too."
Iago: "Revolution? What do you mean by that?"
Rahstalshan: "Forget I said anything."
Iago: "Why? We're being forthright with you, why won't you-"
Rahstalshan: "Be on your way, little ones."
Yllemsa talked Iago into backing down, and the party high-tailed it out of the Artisan District back to their fairy ring retreat and cohorts.
At the end of the session the party leveled up to 16 and decided that, tomorrow, they would scout out Shahlaria and the Hepatic Locus. For the first, they're interested in meeting a rune giant and seeing the old military academy, and for the second, they kind of just want to see the inside.
We're taking next week off, so I'm planning to flesh out both locations a bit. The first one I mostly want to be exploration with one combat map (the Gatehouse or Courtyard) for if the party gets caught, and the second is essentially one big combat map (the stadium field) with a dozen Scarlet Walkers. They may decide to check out the elevated seats of the stadium, in which case I plan to just let them scout it out and maybe encounter some skulks or Denizens of Leng rather than the huge combat with the spiders.
My party is also interested in checking out the former Temple of Desna, which I'm thinking has probably long-since been desecrated by Lamashthans. I don't have much else in mind for it just yet.
Side note: For those unfamiliar, I included material from Giants Revisted and Lost Cities of Golarion in Xin-Shalast in order to really flesh out the city and give it the impression that it has become the epicenter of a lot of activity in the region.
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It's been a little bit, but we've had a few sessions since then. We got kind of lost in the weeds for a little while, but after some OOC talk we're back on track to finish the campaign.
Session 59 started with the party traveling to Shahlaria. Not a whole lot happened, but they got a look at the buildings, saw 30+ cloud and storm giants training, watched (war) bard troupe get yelled at for making their songs too peppy, and decided to bail when a rune giant showed up.
For the last item on their itinerary, they traveled to the old Temple of Desna - two semicircle stone buildings surrounding a barren field. In a gazebo in the center of the field they met a tiefling monk and asked him a bit about himself and the grounds. He explained that it was once a sacred grove for dreaming pilgrims, but that it was long ago desecrated and blighted by followers of Lamashtu. As for himself, he claimed to be a groundskeeper, a pilgrim, and a philosopher.
In reality, he was a transformed asura. While he wasn't up front with this detail, he was quick to explain what drew him to the location. He asked them what they knew of the Temple of the First Dream, said to have once stood in Xin-Edasseril before it was saved by Desna (before Earthfall) and placed in the Dimension of Dreams. The question he was there to ask was: why was the Temple of the First Dream saved, but the Temple of the Wandering Star forsaken?
He went into quite a lot of detail and posed a number of hypothetical questions, but most of the party quite quickly became sick of him when they realized he was some sort of 'edgy atheist guy who thinks he's deep.' The only person who took him particularly seriously was Ithil (who worships Desna), which led the rest of the party to decide they'd better get Ithil away from heresy before he loses his faith or something.
There was a creature watching this whole affair, but after Gamigin was incapacitated, they stood up and left at a brisk (but walking) pace. When Ithil went to check who they were after the fight, he found that their trail went cold almost immediately further inside the stadium, as if they'd used pass without trace or some sort of teleportation
I did make a bit of an error in this session - I hadn't realized Gamigin's gear ought to have merged with him when he was baleful polymorph'd. As a result, the party claimed his ring and sword (a frostbrand) without having to dispose of their new pet.
This . . . led them to realize how fun it was to polymorph their opponents. And they decided not to stop with the devil (whose name they didn't even hear, and who they failed to realize was even important).
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Session 60 did not run very smoothly, as the party had some arguments and ended up missing an opportunity to do an ambush they'd prepared for.
After the party finished up in the Heptaric Locus, they took a leisurely pace getting back to their fairy ring retreat. As they were approaching Krak Naratha, strange colors appeared in the air and coalesced into a colossal image of Karzoug standing over Temple Row. The image began to speak, and even across the city, they could hear him clearly.
Karzoug explained that the PCs had come to sully Xin-Shalast's return to glory, that they were dangerous anarchists who had already captured two of his agents. For this, he named and described each of them, and proclaimed bounty on them for 20,000gp apiece, as well as a reward for any information that led to their capture.
Fearful of being seen, the party hid under the Golden Road in the Hypogeum, casting communal phantom steed to retreat over the collapsed Slave District as quickly as possible. Luckily, they were not attacked, but they were definitely seen, and they realized they could no longer stay hidden at the edge of the city. They gathered their companions and cast teleport, moving the whole team to the Heptaric Locus, where they climbed one of the towers to hide, figuring the location was simply too big to be found quickly, even if Karzoug's minions figured out where they were.
With that in mind, they politely asked Lucretia where 'the old tax building' was so they could talk to him, to which she told them to sod off - the more effectively they did their jobs at this point, the bigger cleanup she'd have to deal with when Karzoug eventually captures them. They figured that was fair.
Here's where I think they ended up creating some problems for themself - the following morning, they talked again and agreed that a dragon would pick a location at a high elevation, so Ghlorofaex would naturally be in the Rising District. As such, they decided not to bother with divinations that might help them and to simply begin checking out the Rising District.
I forget exactly what method of travel they were all relying on, but I know the slowest character (Nualia) ended up setting the pace for the party by air walking with them at speed 30 northeast of the Heptaric Locus, right over the city. Of course, this didn't escape the denizens' notice, and a beacon revealing their location exploded above them only a few minutes after they left the stadium. Ithil's excellent senses were enough to catch a glimpse of a cloaked figure with a spyglass watching them from a nearby balcony, but rather than risk attacking them, they simply began to flee at full speed up the mountain.
Of course, moving as slowly as they did, it wasn't long before they were beset by kuchrima, soldiers from Krak Naratha who had been roped into their search. As the kuchrima began to fire upon them, Iago turned and cast mass suggestion, recommending that they look for the real anarchists in Temple Row - obviously, they were just a diversion! Enough of them failed their saves (like 75%?) that I ruled the rest were convinced via groupthink, and their fastest pursuers turned away and began to signal others to look in the other direction.
Before they could be found out by someone less suseptible to enchantments, they descended to the 'streets' (or what remains of them) of the Rising District, pausing to cast seeming to look like a band of orcs sworn to Karzoug before continuing on much lower to the ground.
Figuring the quickest way to locate a dragon's lair would be from the highest point they could reach, the party used air walk and dimension door to move as quickly and directly up the Rising District as they could before ascending one of the tallest towers in the district for a vantage point. They found the district entirely empty despite the active hunt for them, and simply figured only the best-adapted creatures could manage to live at such a height anyway.
After about an hour, they stood on one of the many balconies of a tall tower, and Ithil began to inspect the Lower City and the Rising District for clues. And it was there that he unexpectedly spotted almost exactly what he was looking for - upon the ruins of an enormous Ziggurat stood a gargantuan blue dragon, who certainly must be Ghlorofaex! He continued to watch until he realized Ghlorofaex was searching the Lower City, likely hunting for them just as they were hunting for him.
With that in mind, they figured his lair must be empty, and decided to cut their search short by casting find the path, using the empty streets of the Rising District to make their way to the west of the city without being spotted. Just before their 10 minute/level spells (like telepathic bond and air walk) ended, they flew over the walls of the compound and began to inspect the building.
Of course, with these divinations up, they also located the secret door in Ghlorofaex's main lair, and identified the various enchantments in the room - the permanent wall of force protecting what they assumed was the vault, the miniature gate to the plane of water in the fountain, and so forth.
They started with the secret door, and found what must be Ghlorofaex's hoard - meticulously organized and identified coins from throughout the Inner Sea Region, as well as thousands of Thassilonian electrum coins in mint condition. A display board inside the room provided all sorts of information about the coins and their origins, and the PCs were quick to realize that Ghlorofaex's interest in wealth was just as academic as it was greedy.
They quickly decided to leave the hoard alone to avoid upsetting Ghlorofaex unnecessarily - at least until Iago noticed an ivory scroll case stamped with a pentagram, which he just had to open. His hope was quickly confirmed, as he recognized the scrolls inside as having been created by disciples of Baphomet - scrolls of foresight and maze of suffering and madness. By studying the scrolls, he realized that the maze of suffering and madness spell particular to this scroll apparently allowed one to view Xin-Shalast during Earthfall, if they were able to withstand the maze with their mind and body intact.
Interested in seeing what the rest of the building had to offer, Haast and Iago decided to break through the wall of force and the iron bars, using the last charges of Haast's chime of opening to get through the lock (and another door beyond it). They eventually came to multiple rooms filled with filing cabinets as well as a sorting room for paperwork, which actually managed to maintain old tax information for local businesses for more than 10,000 years thanks to the enchantments maintaining perfect conditions within them. Iago found it inscrutible rubbish and became thoroughly frustrated at all of the effort he and Haast had put into breaking in there.
To cheer himself up, Iago decided to take Ghlorofaex's vault, figuring that if Ghlorofaex sided with them, he could simply give it all back. This led to an extended argument about the pride of a dragon and extortion being rude, during which Haast explored the rest of the building and realized there was an alarm over the front entrance, too.
Around this time, the party was notified by Calypso that she believed the dragon was now in the Heptaric Locus, and that she and everyone else would be hiding in the fairy ring retreat to avoid being found.
During the argument, Iago suggested they bring the hoard to Ghlorofaex directly, to claim that someone else had stolen it and that they were returning it. Nualia and Cordelia found this idea absolutely asinine, and Nualia joked about how that lie would actually be true if the party sold Iago out and returned Ghlorofaex's things over his dead body. Not liking the look in her eye, Iago decided to step outside for the time being before he could get into another argument - a walked right through the alarm at the front entrance.
Now certain that they'd given their location away, the party decided it was time to simplify things and simply teleport to Ghlorofaex while they knew his location, ambush him, and maybe offer him a chance to surrender. They grouped up again, cast their buffs, and teleported.
. . . and Ghlorofaex wasn't there.
They checked the fairy ring treat to make sure everyone was okay, while Ithil cast fey form to fly to the top of the Locus and get a view of the city. He first heard, then saw Ghlorofaex taking flight from the exterior of the locus, flying across town to the old tax building - where they'd just left.
Determined not to waste everyone's buffs, Ithil flew outside the Locus to start screaming after Ghlorofaex to get him to come back. However, his companions were quick enough to yell at him to tell him to absolutely not do that, though this quickly deteriorated into an angry argument about some people acting recklessly (Iago, Ithil) and other people acting too timidly (Yllemsa, Cordelia), as well as a few other things. Fearful OOC about this fight slipping OOC to being a real fight, I called the session there and asked if we could talk over everyone's concerns and frustrations between sessions.
. . . I personally found the whole 'trip the alarm then teleport away' bit with Ghlorofaex to be rather funny, but it took my players a few days to be anything but frustrated at having spent a whole session looking for a dragon that they ended up accidentally running away from for the whole day. They agreed to use their divination abilities to make absolutely sure they wouldn't waste their time the next day when we picked up next week.
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Session 61 started with an OOC discussion on what the players wanted to accomplish in Xin-Shalast, as well as voting to make a list of priorities. They came up with the following three major goals, in descending order of importance:
1. Eliminate Karzoug's most notable lieutenants, Gamigin and Ghlorofaex
2. Gather information about Xin-Shalast
a. Contemporary, in preparation for Karzoug's return
b. Ancient, so they can know what to expect when the Leng Device activates
3. Scout the Pinnacle of Avarice to figure out who, exactly, are Karzoug's closest allies
For this session, they agreed to just focus on Ghlorofaex, so they used Calypso's Prophecy hex to see how attacking him would go. After a Weal result, the party decided to rest and simply try again tomorrow.
After a tea session to make everyone immune to fear (GM NOTE: VERY BAD IDEA TO LET THEM MAKE THE karyukai tea set, THIS THING HAS RENDERED ALMOST EVERY COMBAT SINCE ITS INCEPTION IRRELEVANT), the party buffed up and teleported back to the building. They ended up split up inside the building (thanks to using two different teleport spells, but still won initiative. Nualia, as always, won initiative and just slapped a dimensional anchor to make sure they'd be able to finish the job.
Iago started the fight off with a real tone-setter - he ran underneath Ghlorofaex and cast grease, which made him lose purchase on the ceiling and fall to the ground, cracking the stone fountain and falling prone. This proved to be his undoing as Yllemsa and Cerberus immediately pounced, tearing through half of his HP (inflated to 410) before his turn even came up. Haast slapped on a piercing pyrotechnic eruption once Cerberus's natural attacks were done, and I realized Ghlorofaex wasn't going to leave much of a lasting impression.
Once Ghlorofaex's turn finally came around, he stood up (taking another 40 damage from Yllemsa), used a breath attack (which hurt, but was softened plenty by resist energy), and essentially accepted his fate.
Iago, Ithil, Nualia, and Cerberus all piled on the damage the following turn. Cordelia offered him a chance to surrender (when he was still ~180hp), and he refused. However, when he was dropped to 6hp, Iago offered again, rolling 54! on his diplomacy check.
And Ghlorofaex surrendered.
The party asked Ghlorofaex why he'd come to Xin-Shalast and why he'd aligned himself with Karzoug. He explained things they mostly already knew, such as the fact that he was a scholar of architecture and economic history, and he'd stayed in Xin-Shalast out of curiosity for Thassilon's return. When he referred to Thassilon's return, the party assumed he meant "via the Leng Device," and figured they could speak openly.
Cordelia: "Do you know why we're here?"
Ghlorofaex: "I was told you seek to disrupt Shalast's return to glory. I suspect that really means you seek to assassinate Karzoug, and care little about what stands between you and him."
Cordelia: "That's . . . essentially true. But we don't intend to kill him until Xin-Shalast is pulled through time with the Leng Device. We want Xin-Shalast to return."
Now, Ghlorofaex didn't know about the Leng Device, but he's studied enough about Shalast's history to know that Karzoug was a, if not THE, renowned chronomancer before Earthfall. Furthermore, he knew there was some connection between Karzoug and the realm of Leng, and he was quick to realize that Karzoug bringing a city through time might be unprecedented, but not impossible.
Of course, he has a lot of respect for Karzoug, so he started acting a little condescending.
Ghlorofaex: "So you'd save the kingdom but deprive it of its ruler?"
Yllemsa: "Essentially."
Cordelia: "We want to know more about Xin-Shalast before the Cataclysm so we can figure out how to integrate Xin-Shalast with Varisia when it returns. I want to develop a curriculum of sorts, both for people living here and in Varisia, so they'll better understand each other when the time comes."
Ghlorofaex asked some probing questions about what, exactly, the party meant to accomplish with that, but ultimately scoffed at the idea that anything but a Karzoug-led Thassilon would make for the best possible outcome. If Karzoug really could save a city filled with hundreds of thousands of his people from an apocalypse, then he would be the most benevolent and just ruler in the world by default. Furthermore, Shalast without Karzoug would be less than a shadow of its former self.
This led to a bit of a squabble within the party about 'what makes Karzoug such a good ruler,' but eventually Yllemsa chimed in:
Yllemsa: "I think it's disingenuous at this point for us to keep questioning people about what makes Karzoug a good or worthy ruler. He is, evidently, very good at the thing that he does, and we're not going to do better. The point is that the thing he's very good at is evil and we can do without it. Ghlorofaex, Lucretia, and probably most of the other people who serve Karzoug just believe in something we don't - we don't have to keep trying to convince people."
Pretty thoroughly convinced by this, the party turned their attention back to Ghlorofaex and offered him a choice: join them, flee the city, or die. He scoffed, saying he wasn't even capable of leaving the city, and either joining them or attempting to flee would both result in an outcome worse than death. They urged him to reconsider that decision, saying that even if their victory was unlikely, it was his only chance to stay alive at this point.
He asked for a minute to think, and the party agreed. Haast kept counting down the time.
And when only seconds remained, he saw Ghlorofaex's smile.
However, Ghlorofaex's attempt to dimension door was cut pathetically short as Yllemsa's Caster's Bane allowed them to knock him unconscious before he could even finish the spell. He survived at 1 above dead, and Cordelia immediately stabilized him.
He wasn't going to be any help, the party decided. They asked if they could combine teleports to move a Gargantuan creature, and I said they could IF two people could successfully teleport to the same location at the same time. They pulled it off and returned to the Heptaric Locus[/i].
Back at camp, the party stripped Ghlorofaex of his rings (a sihedron ring and a ring of invisibility that had done him no good against a party with true seeing, Evil Eyed him, Cursed him, and then baleful polymorphed him into an Arabian Sand Boa.
As a final step for the day, the party discussed a plan to enter the House of Divine Consumption, then used a Prophecy hex to figure out whether it'd work. They got a Weal and Woe response, as well as a cryptic note about 'golden claws' and 'those with eyes to see.'
However next session begins, I expect it to devolve into a big fight, so I'm working on a battle map for House of Divine Consumption cathedral.
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Hi again! We've been back for a few weeks now (after taking 6 or so off), but I've been so busy homebrewing I haven't had time to update here.
Session 62 began with Brodert informing the party that a lone skulk had entered the Heptaric Locus. Ithil went down to investigate, and, after concluding the skulk was no real threat, revealed himself.
The skulk introduced himself as Morgiv, and said he was here looking for the lowland heroes that had defeated Gamigin and Ghlorofaex. Ithil said they were, and, inspecting him a bit, Morgiv said he was seeking the heroes of an ancient prophecy, but he wasn't sure if they were them. Ithil admitted he didn't think there were any prophecies about them, but he'd like to hear the prophecy.
Once the party heard the prophecy (via telepathy), they revealed themselves as well. Although the prophecy didn't seem to be about them (most of them didn't match the descriptions of the heroes, though Haast and Yllemsa did), they didn't like the sound of the conditions the skulks were living under, and agreed to destroy the Beast that had enslaved them and transformed them into monsters. Or, as Haast put it, 'We didn't really have anything else on the agenda today, why not?'
Ithil decided to scout out the situation again, but this time got caught immediately - flaming piles of corpses called Corpse Orgies found him, but didn't immediately attack. The necromancer controlling them, Eerymis the Lamia Matriarch, looked around but couldn't find what they were upset about (Ithil rolled a 49 on Stealth). She paused her work and called out, but rather than getting a response from Ithil, she got one from Cordelia outside.
Cordelia: "Hey, sorry, are you evil?"
Eerymis: "Evil? No? Are you one of those skulks?"
Cordelia: "Uh, no."
Eerymis: "... friends of the skulks?"
Cordelia: "No..."
Eerymis: "Are you adventurers?"
Haast: "No, yeah, we're friends of the skulks.
Cordelia: "We were hoping to get through this room for.. for the secret passage?"
Eerymis: "I see. Can it wait? I'm kind of in the middle of something, and I'd prefer not to be interrupted further."
Cordelia (whispering to Morgiv): "Can it wait? Like, how important is this?"
Morgiv: "It's... well, it's the liberation of my people, who have borne the yoke of slavery for two and forty years? But I guess... it can wait."
Cordelia (aloud now): "It's the liberation of an entire people? So like a 7/10, maybe an 8?"
Eerymis: "I see... I'm just doing an alchemical project so... I guess it's fine. Come on in."
The party entered the room and said hello, but made a beeline for the secret passage with Morgiv in the lead.
Eerymis: "Oh, no, you're the ones here to kill Karzoug, aren't you?"
Ithil (whispering): "Why does everyone know who we are?"
Haast: "Karzoug literally appeared to the whole city and offered everyone money if they got us."
Haast (turning to Eerymis): "Would you believe that these are disguises?"
Eerymis: "They're... pretty s@!!ty disguises."
Haast: "That's fair."
As the party neared the exit, Eerymis spoke up, "Just to be clear, I'm only letting you go because I know I can't defeat you, so defying you would be suicide. And I'm very intimidated, right?" As she said this, she drew a sihedron medallion from beneath her work clothes.
Realizing what she was hinting at, Haast replied, "Yep. Say anything and we'll kill you. In fact, we may just kill you anyway because we're... you know..."
Eerymis and Cordelia, in unison: "Violent anarchists, yeah."
Yllemsa waved bye as the party took a secret passage further down into the Hypogeum.
Morgiv led them through an old mine filled with skulk vampires as well, but the party managed to pass through it undetected with zone of silence and invisibility sphere.
Despite some impressive moves by the skulks, crits from Haast and Yllemsa brought a quick end to the Beast, and the skulks quickly were overwhelmed in a straight-out slugmatch.
The party used the remainder of Cordelia's disintegrates, Iago's Siege Drums, as well as their adamantine weapons to break the walls and the giant slab protecting the Beast's coffin, staking them all before they could regenerate.
Haast ran back to Morgiv, letting him know they'd eliminated the Beast in a matter of seconds - and, if they needed any more help, they knew how to kill the skulks who were twisted into monsters and would be willing to hunt them down. Morgiv refused, saying the party's task seemed more important, but said he might seek them out again once their business was done. For the meantime, he offered them the Lair as a place to rest.
Brodert teleported the crew to this new, more secure location, and the session ended there. It was short, but a lot of fun - a good way to get back into things after many weeks off.
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Session 63 skipped ahead to the following day - the party spent the rest of that day (after realizing they now had 4 sihedron rings and 3 sihedron medallions) deciding who would be in the initial scouting/infiltration team to enter the Occlusion Field. They, unsurprisingly, settled on the typical crew (the 5 PCs, Cerberus, and Nualia, and agreed to set out the following morning after Aneka weather control'd a cloud cover.
Before they set out the following morning though, Morgiv arrived, clearly having not slept the night before, with a bag of items he'd found in an old shrine (built over an old prophet's tomb). Among them was as letter with a variant sihedron seal. It read:
If this letter has made it to your hands, then I am confident that my prophecy has come to pass. The yoke of the Hidden Beast has been lifted, and the scourge of vampirism may yet be purged from Xin-Shalast. For that, I must thank and congratulate you.
However, I must confess that my prophecy was something of a fabrication. I needed to reach you at all costs, for it was not a return to slavery that I most feared for my descendants, and it was not as liberators that I saw you in my dreams, but as assassins. Bearing violet weapons of the Runeforge, you came to strike down Runelord Karzoug, and to claim the power of the Runelord for a new age.
But in the moment of your triumph, you and Karzoug alike were slain. The great Mhar Massif was laid low, and Xin-Shalast was engulfed in fire and lava once again. I saw the world consumed by a second darkness, and creatures from my blackest nightmares ravaging the land. I know not why this came to pass, but I know it came on the day of Karzoug’s return, on the day of your fateful battle. I cannot believe this is a coincidence.
On behalf of my descendents, as well as all those in the lands below, I beg of you: find the source of this calamity before Karzoug’s return. Five of my disciples have agreed to aid you in this endeavor through the scrolls you should find alongside this letter, and I entrust to you my staff, to seek Lissala’s wisdom. I pray that it will be enough.
May the path of runes guide your way.
Mesmerina (I said her name wrong once and now her name is canonically Mesmerina, RIP).
When Haast cast commune, he mentally entered a deep, black void. He began asking the questions he had prepared, but each time he asked a question, he felt only a horrible emptiness, like his heart had been removed from his chest. After two attempts, he cut the spell short.
"Pro tip: don't contact a dead god. And this staff is useless."
Deciding to entreat another Thassilonian deity, they asked the Peacock Spirit, "Does Karzoug's return necessarily result in the destruction of Xin-Shalast?", to which they received the answer, "Unclear.
Yllemsa, looking through the party's book of legends, recalled that Baphomet had warned them about a 'calamity' should they try and ally with, then kill Karzoug. Figuring he must know something more, and surely Lamashtu would know even more than him, they asked Calypso to perform a divination.
Q: "Will leaving the Leng Device be result in the destruction of Xin-Shalast?
They got their shortest divination response ever.
A: "Yes" (Woe).
While they shared this information with most of their companions, they kept it from Brodert and Lucretia for the time being. Nevertheless, they realized it was important to locate the Leng Device and figure out why it is malfunctioning - or who is sabotaging it.
Once they crossed over into the Death Zone, the party encountered four unusual spider-like beings, the Spiders of Leng. They halted for a moment, and were beckoned to come closer, 'For a service is required of you.'
After a rather verbose explanation of how the Half-Men of Leng were here and how they super needed to die but that the spiders couldn't do it themselves, the party basically just said, "Huh, yeah, okay. We'll kill them for you, no problem." No negotiating, no questions at all, just agreement, and the spiders bid them continue.
At the very edge of the Occlusion Field, the party found a cabin sitting on a natural mountain shelf, a small mailbox outside. A sign hanging from the mailbox read, 'We sell potions,' beneath which a second sign read, 'and hats.' A third sign hanging all the way to the ground read, "We sell almost anything*"
Curious, the party approached and inspected the cabin. Smelling warm food inside, Ithil and Iago decided to enter, and found a potions shop along with a rather comfy lounge. A bell sat on the counter, so after a moment of looking around, they rang it.
A door appeared on the wall behind the counter, through which an old woman stepped. She introduced herself as 'Dear grandmother' and encouraged them to take as much time as they needed to make a purchase - she'd put on some tea while they thought about it.
The potions they found were incredibly expensive, but they soon realized why - the potions contained 9th level spells, wishes - some were even artifacts! They called the whole party in and, after being served tea and cookies, sold ~ 170,000gp worth of gear and valuables to finance some big purchases.
They ended up walking away with:
- A witch's hat of Xin-Shalast (a belt of stoneskin that turns the wearer's skin gold and grants them the Freeze property.
- A magician's hat, but for witches which is just a regular magician's hat but cute.
- A potion of new form, which allowed Haast to return to his original body from the start of the campaign.
- A bunch of potions of heal, greater restoration, legendary proportions, and spell resistance.
After a brief debate on whether to sell their artifacts as well, the party agreed to cut their purchases there, and thanked Dear Grandmother profusely (realizing, around this time, that she was definitely Baba Yaga, Queen of Witches, but politely nudging anyone who tried to bring it up).
After finishing their purchases, Dear Grandmother said she had to go now, and the party stepped back out into the deathly cold. Her hut stood up and walked down the mountain as they waved goodbye.
After pausing to inspect the stone circle at the bottom of the tower, Ithil used some information-gathering magic and figured out that while small groups of giants had made their way up to the Pinnacle, no one had left it on foot recently. Unsure what to make of that, the party decided to air walk to the top and see what was going on.
Thanks to some spectacular Perception rolls, the party realized that the landing at the top of the ramp was occupied, and paused. They backed down to have a conversation, and agreed that, given how few resources they'd spent getting here, they might as well inflict some damage before returning to the Lower City.
It was getting rather late by the time they decided to fight, so we called the session there.
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Session 64 was primarily just a fight testing the Pinnacle's defenses.
The party dropped most of their 10 minute/level and some 1 minute/level spells and walked up the ramp until they could see who they were up against. Iago, prudently, suggested everyone have resist energy (electricity) put up. However, it became clear on sight that the giants they encountered weren't interested in talking, so they jumped to a fight immediately.
Unfortunately, the whole party was pretty clumped up at this point, everyone got hit by a sirocco spell and became fatigued (minus Iago). This interrupted their usual tactic of chain-pouncing their way through fights, so they were forced to begin a slower melee. Haast, meanwhile, figured it would become a protracted fight, and cast rime furious icy barrage (a custom spell) and just started unloading on the giants, as he proceeded to do for the remainder of the combat.
It quickly became clear they weren't up against ordinary giants - the 2 storm giants were unusually well-equipped and sturdy, while the 2 cloud giants were spellcasters (a bard and a druid), which meant the enemies got stronger after the first turn.
After the enemy bard opened the enormous northern door and called out, 'Lord Karzoug, they're here!,' reinforcements began moving in on them, so the party tried to end the battle quickly. They intentionally placed themselves in positions to prompt their opponents into a clustered-up line, and then blasted them with back-to-back blistering invective, rime furious icy barrage, wall of fire, and dirge of the victorious knights, which dropped 3 of them. The last one fell to Cerberus right after the first reinforcement arrived - a lone storm giant, who promptly wasted a chain lightning on members of the party who had Evasion.
Hearing more reinforcements coming, the party ganked the hell out of the remaining storm giant and cast wall of thorns to block the doorway. This was enough to command the Rune Giant they saw briefly through the door to command everyone to stay back and wait the party out while he burned through the wall.
The party used this brief reprieve to strip 4 of the giants of their sihedron rings. The last one (the only one who wasn't outright killed), Iago cast blot on (removing his sihedron brand), then dispel magic (targeting the illusion, which turned out to only be making his armor look cool), then open book and charm monster.
After about 2 minutes, things started getting dicey again. A portal opened behind Cordelia, through which emerged two claw-like gauntlets that tore into them, inflicting minor damage, but also Wisdom drain. Iago, Ithil, and Cerberus began to flee, but Yllemsa tried full-attacking through the portal, while Haast grabbed the hands and cast arcana theft. Unfortunately, they failed terribly against this unknown opponent, who escaped unscathed.
When a new portal opened behind Iago and dealt MUCH WORSE wisdom drain this time, the party decided to cut their losses and flee at full speed from the Pinnacle.
After a quick debrief about how the fight went (Fort-based spells universally failed, but almost all Reflex-based ones succeeded; they all appeared to be under a dominate person spell; they had some method of rapid communication across the Pinnacle), the party decided to use the remaining duration of wind walk to flee the Occlusion Field and return to their hideout in the Lair of the Hidden Beast.
When they entered the fairy ring retreat, they found Aneka, Calypso, and Brodert resting... and no Lucretia.
Haast: "What happened?"
Calypso: "I mean, not much really. She paralyzed Aneka, walked out, and teleported away. We weren't harmed or anything, but this strikes me as less than ideal."
While the rest of the party took a moment to be frustrated with her, Cordelia tried casting scrying on Lucretia, but the spell was resisted. Cordelia started asking the companions if they had anything to help locate Lucretia.
Brodert: "Well, I could try scrying myself? I have a knack for it."
Calypso: "If we really need it, I can cast discern location so she can't resist it."
Cordelia: "Yeah, do it."
Calypso cast her spell, and got the following result: southwestern tower of the House of Divine Consumption, Xin-Shalast, northern Varisia, Golarion, material plane.
Not wanting to give Lucretia any more time to either get into trouble or stab them in the back, Cordelia immediately said they were planning to greater teleport there, and asked anyone who was coming to cast buffs. They dropped a few random ones (communal protection from fire, haste, ward shield), not really knowing what to expect, and teleported out (Cordelia, Haast, Yllemsa, Ithil, and Cerberus - no room for Nualia on this adventure).
They arrived in a hallway very reminiscent of the Vault of Wealth from Runeforge, although two things were clearly wrong with it. Firstly, a wall of stone had clearly been conjured, then broken through within it. Second, there was blood spattered on the floor and ceiling in a rather unnatural pattern, as if it had been flicked off a blade over and over.
Within the room were three people - a small Azlanti woman with predatory, slit-pupil violet eyes, a tall Azlanti man carrying a staff, and what appeared to be an animate suit of armor possessed with an unnatural flexibility wearing a mask.
The three people turned towards them as they appeared, and the woman smiled.
Unknown Woman: "My my, you're here early." Saying this, she began unsheathing the blades at her waist.
And we called the session there (though Cordelia was quick to say, 'Anyway, I start blasting' after getting that hook. I think next session is going to begin with one last wail of the banshee if they're quick on the draw).
Out of game, Cordelia's player was quick to explain what they thought happened: Lucretia probably tried to return to her side while the party was in the Occlusion Field, but the lamia here had turned hostile to her in the months she's been gone. Someone (probably the woman) attacked and captured her, and is probably intending to have her transformed into a Hungerer.
... that happens to be exactly correct on every count. The only detail they didn't include is what they couldn't have known: the Most High ordered Lucretia be captured to be turned into a Hungerer the day she returned to Xin-Shalast. Ceoptra has grown tired of Lucretia endlessly providing hints and information to the party, when they have so persistently defied Karzoug.
The other man is Khalib (who pursued the party from the Pinnacle), as well as his Called companion Asuriel the Heretic (an Apostate Devil). We'll see how this goes next time... I sure don't have it planned out enough to say just yet.
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Session 65 got off to a quick start as Ithil won initiative and immediately full-attacked the Azlanti woman, correctly guessing that she was a lamia matriarch. Thanks to his special bow (which deals +4d6 damage to monstrous humanoids), this tore through like 2/5 of her health. By the time the enemies got their turns, she was below 100 hit points.
A Dazzling Display (with Skill Unlock) and Blasphemy quickly disabled the turn for a round though, giving the three an opportunity to dimension door out after extending an invitation to the House of Divine Consumption proper, saying, 'You might want to hurry up though - who knows how much longer Lucretia will be in her right mind?'
Annoyed but not really hurt, the party cast a few extra buffs before following suit with a pair of dimension doors of their own.
After Ithil rushed forward, he used all of his Perception-boosting abilities and found the first set of tricks. The Apostate Devil was also on the balcony to the right, and Khalib was also on the balcony directly above the party. He shouted out a warning just a moment before the Apostate Devil's claws ripped into him, inflicting a lot of Wisdom drain.
Now with a good idea of where Khalib was, the party used bard's escape to surround him, hitting him pretty hard. He really only survived as a result of a combination of Time Stutter and Time Stop, which he used to heal, reposition to the other side of the map, and cast form of the dragon ix (green).
Realizing that, if the apostate devil and wizard the whole party could see was a fake, that the other enemies might also be a fake, Cerberus rushed towards the lamia and bit them, confirming that they were the result of a major image. The various enemies revealed themselves to be Shining Children of Thassilon, who all began to blast Cerberus with fire.
The last trick revealed itself in the appearance of the lamia matriarch, who appeared from invisibility to stab Ithil in the back, nearly killing him. Luckily, Cerberus was able to damage her in response, and Nualia charged up beside Ithil and murdered her with extreme prejudice.
The rest of the fight was relatively simple - the party split evenly to take out the Shining Children, Wizard, and Devil. The Children and Devil didn't pose too much problem with their weak offenses, but the wizard ended up fully investing in killing the party and cast fluid form, heart of the mammoth, and transformation within another Time Stutter/time stop combo. Fully knowing they were about to get eviscerated when his turn came around, Yllemsa and Iago went all-out trying to weaken him as much as possible before that happened. Even with all of their attacks, they barely managed to bloody him.
Then Cordelia flew over, rolled a raw '19' on greater dispel magic, and stripped all of Khalib's most powerful buffs, including transformation. Now with only a tiny pool of hit points and no more limited wish spells, Khalib took the L and teleported away.
Asuriel, the Devil, followed suit the turn afterwards, although not before imparting a Ohrwurm (a fundamental and terrifying truth about the universe that infects the mind) to Haast.
The Shining Children were mopped up with little fanfare with the party no longer distracted.
The party dragged Lucretia from the bloody pool and found her barely clinging to life. They dumped a few healing spells on her to get her conscious again, but she'd barely spoken before Cordelia got really, really mad at her and stormed off.
Cordelia quickly prepared to fire off a disintegrate, but as the lead lamia raised their hand to tell their fellows to stay back, Cordelia hesitated.
Fiendish Lamia: "What is the meaning of this?"
When they spoke, it was as if two people, a man and a woman, were speaking at the same time.
Cordelia: "There was a fight. Who are you?"
Fiendish Lamia: "I am Diosenia, and I father the children of Lamashtu in Xin-Shalast. I take it you're the anarchists we were all warned about?"
Cordelia: "We're not anarchists, we're just here for Karzoug, okay?"
Diosenia: "I see."
Cordelia one again turned to leave as the rest of the party approached Diosenia (Iago now carrying Lucretia over his shoulder, despite her being conscious).
Diosenia: "Hold a moment! If you oppose Karzoug, then I think we can be of use to one another."
Cordelia hesitated for a moment, but after checking in with the rest of the party, said, "Fine then. Let's talk."
We ended the session there, planning to deal with Lucretia and Diosenia next session before deciding next moves.
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Session 66 began as a conversation between Cordelia, Haast, and Diosenia. In essence, Diosenia claimed that the inhabitants of Xin Shalast had been getting along just fine prior to the return of the rune giants, but now huge swaths of the giant population had been indoctrinated and dominated to serve Karzoug and, more directly, Ceoptra. While Diosenia and the other Lamashtans would like to fight back, they both lacked the ability to climb Mhar Massif, and could not realistically face against the rune giants.
After bidding Diosenia goodbye and returning to the Lair of the Hidden Beast, Lucretia sheepishly approached Cordelia to give them a piece of information: while the Pinnacle might be incredibly difficult to infiltrate from the center, Mokmurian had introduced created a second entrance when he found them 6 years ago. Entering that way should help keep them from being surrounded.
Cordelia suggested Lucretia should come with them to confront Ceoptra, but the rest of the party agreed that was a bad idea, and at this point Lucretia had few options but to stay put and hope no one else hunted her down. She agreed.
Finally, the party decided they didn't want to give Karzoug any more chances to hunt them down, so they planned to kill or un-dominate everyone there in one go. Then they'd have the opportunity to figure out what exactly was going to cause the foretold calamity before confronting Karzoug (as long as they didn't kill so many people that it filled the runewell.)
There the party found a green-skinned humanoid, clearly caught in a fit of crying, who shook their head as the party approached the hole. As they started trying to communicate with them, the party realized they were unable to speak - after a few rolls, the party realized that this creature was a Planetar angel, one of the host of heaven. While among the most powerful of heaven's forces, they realized it was technically possible to bind one, and assumed that someone in the Pinnacle had done so.
Iago: "If I contact you telepathically?"
The angel nodded.
Iago: "Alright. Well. I'm going to start looking an awful lot like a demon, but don't worry, we're on the same side here."
Iago entered his spiritual form - that of an emaciated, three-eyed, winged minotaur bearing the mark of Baphomet, and used his telepathy to reach out to the angel.
Angel: "My name is Ayruzi, and I have been held captive here by the mortal wizard, Khalib. Please, do not enter this room."
Iago: "Alright, we won't. What exactly did Khalib bind you to do?"
Ayruzi: "I am to silently guard this room, allowing no one to enter nor exit, until my death. If you or your companions enter here, I'll have no choice but to fight you."
Iago: "Got it. If you are bound, how can we free you? Is it dispellable?"
Ayruzi: "I'm afraid not. With time, I may be able to free myself, but for now I worry killing me is your only way into this place. You have come to defeat Karzoug, the ancient tyrant, have you not?"
Iago: "We have. I'd prefer not to kill you though. Not that I'm particularly inclined to help . . . people like you, or anything, it just seems a little cruel."
Haast: "Can't we just banish 'em?"
Ayruzi: "Yes! If you have the power to banish me, do so. That will end the spell that binds me, and I may yet be able to return and aid you in your quest."
Iago: "Oh, you'd help us?"
Ayruzi: "Khalib and the others of his kind here are abominations that should not have returned to this world. For myself, and for Golarion, they ought to be cut down."
Iago: "Well . . . I can't say I like the idea of working with an agent of heaven, but we'll take any help that we can get."
Yllemsa & Haast (in unison): "It - it's not like I want to work with you or anything, b-baka!"
Ayruzi: "Then please, banish me. I will make arrangements to return as soon as I can."
Iago used a Spell Kenning to cast dismissal, and the party moved in to the old storage room.
Karzoug: "Oh, Lucretia, one final betrayal, is it? No matter, for I'm glad you've come. You are not the mere worms I'd thought you to be - no, you are more like maggots in your endless squirming to meet the fate that awaits you. I am that fate."
Karzoug won initiative and blasted the party with horrid wilting, which weakened everyone but Yllemsa substantially. The Warden's river of wind made the party hesitate as well... until I realized I hadn't clarified that the spell was only 5' wide, and then everyone promptly flew around it to get at the Warden and Karzoug.
Feeling immense enmity for the image, Iago flew up to it while the rest of the party fought. Seconds before he brought his club down on the image, Karzoug said, "Lamia of the Pinnacle, come to my aid!" and by the time the image was destroyed, the party could hear horrible squelching and panting coming from around the corner.
Haast was on it though, and prepared an action to cast wall of force to separate the first creature to come down the hall from the others. This worked pretty spectacularly, as the Hungerer ended up in solo combat against the entire party. While the party wasn't having much trouble with it, the Hungerer did manage to make it to Haast and perform a single bite. As its massive jaws engulfed Haast's entire body (and I saw I rolled a natural 20, but before I announced it), Haast cast ether step, narrowly avoiding being bitten right in half (8d8+88 is quite scary, after all!).
The Hungerer was quickly dealt with this Haast remained in the ethereal plane, and the party realized that the Hungerer trapped behind the Wall of Force was accompanied by several lamia priestesses. Uninterested in giving them any extra information about the party, Cordelia and Nualia covered the entire battlefield in fog effects, and Yllemsa used their star of vision to grant their mistsight to the entire party.
Using the fog as cover, Iago used his Invoke Tempter ability to call a glabrezu to his side, and the party prepared to drop the wall of force early. As soon as the wall was dropped, Cordelia filled the area between the party and the lamia with more fog while the glabrezu reversed gravity to render the lamia basically harmless. Ithil and Yllemsa used their turns removing the mirror images of the various lamia, while Haast moved to the backline to support the party with furious icy barrage.
The righthand door then opened, revealing more lamia, another image of Karzoug, and a familiar face: Pallen, the transmuter from Runeforge.
Karzoug: "Don't think that breaking my first line means you'll win today, maggots. You will never leave the Pinnacle alive."
The session ended there.
Unfortunately, a week after this session, Iago's player left the campaign for personal reasons, so I'm adjusting everything in the Pinnacle back down to 4 PCs (but still more challenging than the book).
Apologies if this update is a little scrambled, I got my second dose of vaccine and my brain is not at its best.
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Session 67 was very short due to something coming up for a player mid-session.
Nervous about the prepared action, Cordelia cast curse of magic negation on Karzoug's image. Then, realizing that spells didn't go through the rift in space, they simply cast quickened silence to fill the room. Nualia immediately followed up with an Immediate Charge, placing herself adjacent to Karzoug (just tanking a hit from a lamia in the process).
Yllemsa finished off all of the lamia in the hallway while Haast conjured up another ice ball for furious icy barrage. On Nualia's turn, she destroyed Karzoug's image. Pallen fled the room.
It was just a mop-up after that room, as every lamia was finished off, and Pallen was cornered in the Lamia Cells. After Nualia crit her and left her in pretty critical condition, Cordelia and Pallen exchanged a slumber and a disintegrate. Pallen passed the save, then missed Cordelia entirely. Very anticlimactic.
Pallen surrendered, and sat down, clutching her bleeding stomach (the fanged falchion is a rude weapon!
Not wanting to waste any time on buffs, Yllemsa rushed from the lamia quarters to the prison, encountering two astradaemons. They activated their true seeing power at the end of their turn.
The session ended there.
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Session 68 began with the party scattered throughout the lamia quarters, while Yllemsa alone faced off against two astradaemons.
Haast arrived on the scene first, casting invisibility on Yllemsa (and given the astradaemon relied on true seeing, that worked, as the whole party is protected by mind blank). The rest of the party moved as quickly as they could, but the only one who actually managed to get in front of and protect Yllemsa was Cerberus.
Rather than flee, Yllemsa used Combat Patrol on their turn, extending their reach to 25', in hopes of nailing the astradaemon on the approach. This immediately paid off, as they got 3 AoOs off, but did end up taking another level of energy drain from an astradaemon attack.
Luckily, Cerberus, Ithil, and Yllemsa's combined efforts were enough to drop one of the Astradaemon on the following turn, though Haast lost his furious icy barrage to spell resistance.
Yllemsa full-attacked, nearly killing the surviving astradaemon. When it tried to back up and use energy drain, Yllemsa's Mage Slayer ability let them finish it off before the spell could be cast.
The party left initiative, taking some time to heal (including casting greater restoration on Yllemsa, which consumed most of their remaining material components). Then, they decided to look around a little, as they didn't hear anyone immediately coming to get them (perhaps forgetting the silence in the hallway out, lol).
Haast asked Pallen if she knew anything about the prison, and she said she didn't, as she has essentially been confined to a room since she got here, told to wait until Karzoug returned. The rest of the party continued to explore, finding themself in Ceoptra's chambers. They didn't think anything of it, quickly moving to the next room, until Ithil entered. His goggles immediately picked up the secret door on the other side of the room, so they decided to check that first.
Inside they found the rune-carved altar, and determined that it was extremely old, and looked like it hadn't been protected by Thassilonian enchantments until it was already very old. Thus, it might pre-date Thassilon. Besides that, though, they decided to leave the room alone, and went to check out the bedrooms.
Checking Lucretia's (south) first, they found it spotlessly clean, filled with human-sized furniture, and concluded that it was where Pallen had been staying, and thus decided not to look inside. Lucretia's actually just like that.
Then they headed north, and found Pallen coming up behind. They asked her what she was doing, and she said she was returning to her room (north). They went with her just to take a look at it, and found it much more eclectically arranged, filled with rugs and tapestries, with only a writing desk for typical furniture. They once again concluded that was how Pallen decorated it. Those were, in fact, just left-over from Xanesha.
Figuring they'd messed around long enough (5 minutes, in-game), they returned to the exterior hallway and headed northwest, entering the throne room. I had to fudge things a little so they wouldn't simply flee and return another day, so they entered to find Viorian, two storm giants, and a cloud giant bard. However, a sleeping rune giant in the Rune Giant Quarters had managed to don his armor in this time, and was 2 rounds away from entering. Furthermore, Khalib managed to enter the Chamber of the Anima Focus and summon his bound apostate devil, Asuriel the Heretic, and it would take him 4 turns to make it to the throne room. A bit of a contrivance, but I thought it would make the most engaging fight.
As the party entered the throne room, they found Viorian leaning against a pillar, flanked by her guards, fly already active.
Viorian: "This one welcomes you! Barbarians though you may be, not every barbarian can crawl their way up Mhar Massif and face me. My name is Chellan. It is time for you to die.
The party ID'd her primary weapon as Chellan, the sword of Greed, and Ithil identified the woman as Viorian Dekanti, a famous pirate from Riddleport and former ally of Haast's mother. Yllemsa warned the party that Viorian might be under the sword's control, and then we rolled initiative.
The storm giants went next, blasting their chain lightnings and doing very little. Ithil evolved Cerberus and full-attacked Viorian, but she effortlessly blocked all of his attacks. Cerberus attacked one of the storm giants, and even managed to trip it. Viorian tumbled close to Yllemsa and took one swing with Chellan, which threatened critical! ... but Nualia used Divine Interferance to reduce that simply to a hit, and the slow was absorbed by the runeforged weapon. Still, a one-handed attack inflicted 43 damage, and that did not go unnoticed.
The bard started their performance and cast haste on themself, the tripped storm giant, and Viorian. Unwilling to let Viorian full-attack while hasted, Haast cast slow on the exact same group, beating SR and countering all of the slow effects, then moved up close to Viorian.
Cordelia surrounded the tripped storm giant with barrow haze, isolating it from its companions with Cerberus, then Ghost Walked to avoid retaliation. Yllemsa stepped back to attack Viorian, but Viorian step-upped, leaving them unable to attack, so Yllemsa started a Combat Patrol, extending their reach to the storm giants on either side. Nualia set up a fog cloud around the giant on the left to force them to move, then moved 10' from Viorian.
As the giant in the fog cloud moved, Yllemsa ate an AoO from Viorian, but it missed, and Yllemsa hit the giant from where they couldn't see. Rather than continue to get AoO'd, the giant stopped moving and entered Total Defense. The other stood, and Cerberus dealt a little more damage to them. It dealt a whopping 63 damage in response, with just a single blow. Cerberus was luckily under particulate form, or it would have been twice as much!
Ithil full-attacked the bard, and Cerberus used the cloud cover to move away from the storm giant, attacking the cloud giant as well.
Viorian, unable to 5' step this turn, full-attacked Cerberus, dropping her to 11hp, then destroyed one of Haast's mirror images. Then the cloud giant bard tried to flee from Cerberus, but Yllemsa's threat range was just too large, and they killed them as they tried to flee.
Concluding that Viorian was too big of a threat to tolerate, Haast used Spell Combat [corrosive consumption] + Accurate Strike to hit Viorian 5 times. The last hit threatened critical, and he cast decapitate to push the damage higher. Now, I made a mistake here and forgot that decapitate allowed a Fort save, so I didn't ask for one. Haast's shocking burst, icy burst saber crit for 11d6+42 physical and 2d6+4d10 energy damage, severing Viorian's head from her body as it was consumed by acid.
The party cheered, as this was the first time in the campaign Haast had gotten to really nova a major enemy, and it felt awesome.
As turn 3 began, the party heard a loud sound approaching from the north.
Surprisingly little happened over the next two rounds - one of the storm giants got dropped, and the Rune Giant got stuck for a turn inside a wall of thorns, then got its weapon greased as soon as it started escaping. Cerberus got killed, inspiring recovery'd, knocked out, and healed back up to full before the storm giant she was fighting was finally defeated.
Near the top of round 5, the northeast door opened, and in swooped a green dragon and an apostate devil. True Seeing immediately revealed the dragon to be Khalib, not that he did much to hide it. He cast Cordelia into a maze and told Yllemsa it was time for their re-match. Asuriel, meanwhile, couldn't see literally any members of the party due to fog, cover, and greater invisibility + mind blank, so he just entered and took cover.
Yllemsa took the offer and charged Khalib, dealing a solid blow but getting one in return, dropping them relatively low on HP. Nualia healed them back up to full. Cordelia beat the maze immediately, and it looked like the party was going to crush Khalib no problem (even if he had 14 active buffs).
Then Khalib Time Stuttered, moved, time stopped, cast even more defensive spells, and then cast transformation. He positioned himself within 40' of almost every party member, so his echolocation allowed him to spot them all, and thanks to fluid form he could reach most of them as well. Given the incredible number of buffs he's stacked on himself, the party fully expects that, if he full-attacks, party members will die.
And session ended there.
What they plan to do?: Beat Khalib the same way as last time, greater dispel magic.
What they don't know?: He cast contingency that morning. 'If dispel magic or greater dispel magic is cast upon me, dispel magic is cast to counter it. That's literally how they beat him yesterday after all!
The other Warden of Runes and their companion Warden of Song and Warden of Thunder arrive late (init. 0) into turn 7, and it's early turn 6 right now, so we'll see if the party manages to defeat Khalib and the rune giant before then. If they do, they'll have secured themselves a very solid victory and be able to cut all the way to Ceoptra next time with little effort. If they even stay to kill the other rune giant, they may even face Ceoptra at (nearly) full strength!
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Well, it turned out his contingency didn't matter.
Session 69 picked up in the fight again on Cordelia's turn.
Khalib full-attacked Yllemsa, dropping them to about 20 hp, and this was the most momentum the enemies would get. Asuriel, the Heretic, unable to find Haast, used blasphemy, draining Haast's strength and paralyzing Cerberus.
Then it was Ithil's go. His accuracy wasn't great, but Khalib was a transmuter, so he decided to at least get bane, and maybe try out his bow's special "cancel a polymorph effect" ability. Only his final shot landed, and he triggered the power on it.
... and Khalib lost form of the dragon iii while keeping on transformation.
The rest of the fight isn't too much to write home about. Cordelia cast maze again, putting the Rune Giant away, and as another Rune Giant entered the battle, Haast separated him from his team with wall of force. Khalib was promptly ripped apart by Cerberus and Yllemsa (Nualia managed to keep status effects off of everyone as quickly as they came up). The fight spread all the way out into the hallway, wrapping Karzoug's Image up in it as well, but the party put up a wall of fire to block off his vision until they managed to destroy him.
By the end of the fight, Khalib was in pieces, Viorian was a skeleton clutching a sword, both rune giants lay dead, and 4 Wardens of Song and Wardens of Thunder lay disabled or unconscious.
They asked her just about all they could about the Pinnacle, and while she knew about half the layout, she was remarkably un-informed about the important figures of the Pinnacle or the artifacts within, as she'd simply been dominated into compliance and kept away from anything important. She did manage to tell the party that two great storm giant heroes, brother dragon slayers, were brought to the Pinnacle a few days ago to protect Karzoug, as was the Polemarch of Shahlaria, Graithog.
The party promised to get her out of the Pinnacle and back to the city below, but said they'd be continuing through the Pinnacle to make sure there weren't any more surprised lurking about. She agreed with that tactic, and decided to follow them from a distance, rather than potentially get ambushed alone.
Then, once most of the loot had been picked up and identified, Cordelia picked up Chellan.
Chellan: "Hello, Cordelia."
Cordelia: "Hello creepy talking sword."
Chellan: "That's a rude way to greet someone."
Cordelia: "Okay, then, hello totally-not-creepy sword-person."
Chellan: "You're as uncouth as they said, always mocking and degrading. I won't stand for it."
They argued back and forth for a little while, but everyone else was hesitant to even touch Chellan, so Cordelia decided to carry her ("like a baby", specifically) around for the time being until they decided what to do with her. Nualia took the staff of size alteration and Haast took the robes of the archmagi and +5 keen scimitar. Ithil nabbed the boots of speed and cloak of lesser displacement, and everything else... remained unsorted and got dumped in a portable hole ("we can try resurrecting them after Karzoug's dead, maybe.")
The party healed up as much as they realistically could without using valuable consumables (putting everyone just a little over 50% health) and entered the Stasis Chamber Hall. They encountered another Karzoug image; he managed to kill Nualia with prismatic spray; and they finished him off. At this point, he suffered his first negative level.
The party paused for a moment to ask Aritossa about the room, and she informed them the southern portal went to Shahlaria, and the north ended in an area called the Reliquary that she wasn't allowed to approach. Figuring that second one sounded promising, the party headed there.
As soon as they saw the golden Karzoug statue, the party said, 'Well, that's a trap or golem,' so Ithil approached it. The Shemhazian demon attacked, but we were running awfully low on time, so the session ended with rolling initiative.
3 Sessions Remain...
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Session 70 started as a 'fight' against the Shemhazian demon, but it only got a single turn before being eliminated.
Now very low on resources, the party decided to only explore the safest remaining areas - the Rune Giant Quarters and the Lamia Quarters. They encountered an Image of Karzoug in the former (Nualia died again), then found Pallen missing in the latter. However, they found a secret compartment had been opened in Ceoptra's Altar, and inside found a platinum key.
They used the key to open up the jail cells. In the northern one, they found a pedestal holding a pale gem set in a gold crest. Fearing that it might contain the soul of a demi-lich (like Anizorah), they locked the door again and opened the southern room.
Inside they found Yomi, the fox spirit adventurer they journeyed with in Turtleback Ferry. They questioned her some, and discovered that her allies had all been defeated or killed at Jorgenfist (back before they'd even first journeyed there), after trying to take on the fortress themselves. Those who were taken prisoner (by Lokansir) had been sacrificed by Seleval and Zalesar, with Yomi having eventually been transported to Xin-Shalast to be one of the final sacrifices to return Karzoug (due to her exceptional greed).
The party decided to check the opposite side of the complex from the wall of force, and found the Aklo Doors. As they started to inspect the runes (with Detect Magic and Aklo proficency, Cordelia managed to read, Behold the Aklo Doors, the Gate to Time), they all vanished into a maze of madness and suffering.
Cordelia went first in initiative, and witnessed Xin-Shalast under a blood-red sky as dozens of meteors rained down upon the land. They quickly realized they were in a maze however, and cast find the path to escape. (I failed to realize the casting time on this spell, so it resolved immediately, and everyone made it out).
Realizing they now had two people who needed to escape, a trapped door that wanted to hurt them, and generally low hit points all around, the party cast communal air walk and escorted Yomi and Aritossa down Mhar Massif. Aritossa took her leave when the party hit the Rising District, but Yomi retreated all the way to the Lair of the Hidden Beast with the party.
During the night, Cordelia received a dream from an unfamiliar source, which only had two short things to say.
1. "I'm waiting for you beside the Anima Focus."
2. "Disturb not the Leng Device."
They decided to head up late today, using the Revelation Quill and Brodert's Commune with Texts to try and learn everything they could about whatever the 'Anima Focus' was, and what Karzoug's connection to Leng was.
They got the following pieces of information:
- The Anima Focus is the 'gateway to the Eye of Avarice through which only souls may pass undisturbed.'
- The Anima Focus is upon Mhar Massif.
- The Denizens of Leng unsettle Khalib, and he wishes Karzoug did not affiliate with them.
- There is some connection to Leng at a site called 'Guiltspur.'
While at this point it probably would have been fair for something to interrupt the party on their return to the Pinnacle... none of us were really interested in anything but finding the Anima Focus and defeating Karzoug, so the party burned all of the spells necessary to make it back to the Pinnacle, and we picked up from there.
Yllemsa figured that, while they were gone, the trap may be de-activated, and decided to physically push the doors open. This was successful, but also resulted in Yllemsa being pulled into the maze.
Now with the doors open, the rest of the party rushed through them, careful to avoid touching them.
On Cordelia's turn, they once again cast find the path, but this time intentionally set the destination to 'On the other side of the Aklo Doors.'
And thus the party appeared together in front of the Leng Device.
Once the party was noticed by the occupants, one of the engineers stepped forward, and informed the party that they had 'violated the agreement,' and would pay with their lives. A fight broke out, but it could hardly be called a fight - the Denizens got swamped in cloud and entangling effects, and managed to land only a single hit before being slaughtered by Yllemsa, Cerberus, and Haast. It's not even really worth describing.
With the death of the last one, the image of Xin-Shalast twisted into a swirl of color, and the party decided it was time to get OUT. They intentionally set off the Aklo Doors and got to the other side, but in their haste, they left Aneka behind. She tried to get back on her own, but couldn't get out of the maze. Once 5 turns had gone by, Cordelia entered the maze intentionally, then got out immediately with Aneka in tow.
The next round, the party heard a horrible howl coming from inside the room with the Leng Device.
The session ended after the howl. The break between raids actually took quite some time due to discussions and spell preparation, but with how much remains, I suspect next session will handle the Thing from Beyond Time as well as Ceoptra. The Ceoptra encounter is CR 21, so unless something goes wrong, the party should rest afterwards before their final encounter with Karzoug.