My character sheet is at the Gold Shop so tomorrow when I get to work I'll look up my Diplomacy bonus, use a point of Inspiration for an added 1d6, and roll that spicy automated d20!
Spending time with both the Druids and farmer/ranchers, Orsino listens to their tales of family members, googley-eyed, wandering off. It doesn't necessarily sound of Unseelie Fey mischief, rather more Derro at first. But Orsino feels that if he just gets his words right he can coax a little more information, some forgotten details or disturbing revelation, if he is more diplomatic. He tries.
Spending time with both the Druids and farmer/ranchers, Orsino listens to their tales of family members, googley-eyed, wandering off. It doesn't necessarily sound of Unseelie Fey mischief, rather more Derro at first. But Orsino feels that if he just gets his words right he can coax a little more information, some forgotten details or disturbing revelation, if he is more diplomatic. He tries.
** spoiler omitted **
One of the elder druids of the Grandwood Forest, a venerable and weathered old man with a long and tangled white mane and beard named Dunwellyn Briarstaff, confides in Orsino that he suspects the insidious influence of something unnatural compelling rural folk to wander in a trance into the forest and down into the Darkenrift. He strongly doubts that the recent incursion of unseelie fey from Phlegethon is at all related to the folk who've gone missing.
The family members and neighbors of those who've vanished into the Darkenrift speak of odd behavior leading up to their disappearance. Sleepwalking, strange nightmares that eluded description upon waking, odd mutterings and ravings about a "hidden master" calling them in their dreams....
Additional information comes from further investigation of village chronicles and interrogation of elderly rural folk of northern Medegia. Orsino's inquiries unearth evidence that the disappearance of rural and woodland folk into Darkenrift has been going on since long before the Horned King's reign. Some venerable homesteaders claim that tales of folk seeming to fall under a sinister spell and walking off into the forest and down into the caverns of Darkenrift have been told in these parts since the crowning of the first overking in 1 CY.... This suggests that whatever is happening has been going on for six centuries....
Orsino looks sideways at one of the Grandwood Druids-- "The Druids have known about this for six centuries and never investigated?"
Then looks to his allies, let's go."
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Orsino looks sideways at one of the Grandwood Druids-- "The Druids have known about this for six centuries and never investigated?"
Then looks to his allies, let's go."
Old Dunwellyn chuckles at Orsino and says, "It isn't that we haven't investigated these disappearances over the centuries.... The problem, young man, is that those who go investigating in person have never returned, until it became a problem we thought best to leave alone. You see, in nature, there are apex predators who cull the populations of other species. This is just the way it has been from the very beginning."
Old Dunwellyn thinks a moment, and begins to soberly list the names of druids and rangers that have gone missing over the years looking into the tales and ghost stories told about the Darkenrift:
"Handelser Waystrider two summers past.... Kendelynn Treesister four winters ago.... Jayvin and Jarred Wheeler were lost ten years back in Patchwall.... The Mentrey Lumberjacks League sent an expedition that never returned in 571 CY.... Old Jack Slater went to Darkenrift for the last time and never been seen again back in Reaping of 546 CY.... Aye, it goes back a long ways, but the lords of the land hereabouts always seemed to have bigger fish to fry, if ye ken my meaning...."
"Handelser Waystrider: Level 10 Druid/Ranger
Kendelynn Treesister: Level 14 Dryad Druid
Jayvin and Jarred Wheeler: 8th Level Ranger and 8th Level Rogue
The Mentrey Lumberjacks League expedition: 14 PCs all Level 4-8
Old Jack Slater: 15th Level Barbarian
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Guys, I think we're screwed!
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In all seriousness, in his studies of the history of society in Aerdy, from Rauxes to Chathold to Rel Astra to Pontylver, etc., has Orsino run across any of these names and a reference to how powerful one of them may have been?
In all seriousness, in his studies of the history of society in Aerdy, from Rauxes to Chathold to Rel Astra to Pontylver, etc., has Orsino run across any of these names and a reference to how powerful one of them may have been?
** spoiler omitted **
Most of the names mentioned by the venerable druid do not ring any bells. Old Jack Slater was briefly referred to in some provincial folk lore anecdotes from over 50 years ago, known for being a tough and fearless woodsman who lived in the southern Grandwood between circa 490 CY and his disappearance in 546 CY, and credited with slaying orcs, goblinoids, and even an ogre or two ....
Handelser Waystrider was a young ranger of the Grandwood ; Kendelynn Treesister was a young druid of Beory ; Jayvin and Jarred Wheeler were wainwrights of Mentrey who had no business going on dangerous adventures in the Grandwood, according to their neighbors; and the expedition sent by the Mentrey Lumberjacks consisted of 9 lumberjacks who were also members of the Mentrey militia . No one particularly formidable has ever gone into Darkenrift, at least not to public knowledge....
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Dunwellyn also mentions that a friendly treant named Knobbyboughs has recently taken to watching over the Darkenrift, occasionally driving chaotic raiders that emerge from the caverns of the chasm walls back into their subterranean lairs, or at least chasing them away from the Grandwood's southern borders and deeper into the forest, rather than allowing them to raid the farms and hunters' lodges of northern Medegia. "It would behoove ye to make friends with Knobbyboughs," suggests Dunwellyn. "Approach him with respect and diplomacy, and tell him that I recommended him to ye .... He makes a good friend, but a terrible and dangerous enemy."
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"One more thing you definitely should know about Darkenrift," adds the venerable druid Dunwellyn, "is that in one of its many caves lairs the rift drake Glaumrog, a foul-tempered and bloodthirsty apex predator, with a hunting territory that extends some ten leagues out from Darkenrift in every direction, reaching from almost the southern border of the Grandwood to just short of Garborren's Rift to the north, and from the easternmost ford of the Mikar River to almost as far west as the dens of Burrmuzzle and his kin. Glaumrog might be the most dangerous monster inhabiting the caves of Darkenrift, to be sure, but as for causing rural folk to fall under a weird spell and wander off into the forest and down into Darkenrift, never to be seen again .... that's no craft of old Glaumrog's -- of that, I am certain. Glaumrog may be cunning in his own brutish way, but he's no beguiler or worker of subtle plots. No, his way is to snatch up those unfortunate enough to catch his eye and gobble them on the spot before flying back to his lair in the rift to sleep off his meal. And what's more, the earliest sightings of the rift drake only date back to perhaps two decades ago, give or take a year or two, whereas queer tales of spellbound rural folk disappearing into the Darkenrift go back several hundred years, as I've said. No, I'm quite sure Glaumrog has nothing to do with the strange behaviors and vanishings of folk hereabouts. That must be the work of some other, more insidious and far more subtle force .... Something that more likely than not has no place in the natural order -- an abomination .... an aberration .... Something ancient, wicked, and ineffable to the minds of mortal folk ...." Having said all of this, the old druid says no more, but casts an apprehensive gaze northward toward the Grandwood Forest and Darkenrift, as if contemplating the unknown perils that must lurk therein.
You guys are all in trouble when I show up in disguise!
Ignore that last guy. He's just showing off for the DM.
The Horned King slouches in the "Devil Skull Throne" of worked basalt inlaid with bone and ivory, and shaped to resemble a great horned skull, raised 5 feet above the rest of the flagstone-paved floor at the center of a circular, 3-tiered dais of worked basalt. Cradled in his arms is the legendary Sword of Kas, as if it were a newborn babe suckling at the breast of a mother, rather than the ancient soul-devouring sword resting in the arms of a formidable warlord.
He cannot quite recall how long he had sat there alone with the black blade held almost lovingly to his breastplate, listening to its insidious whispering in his head, communing with it telepathically. Was it only ten minutes ago that he dismissed every one of his courtiers, including even his most trusted advisor, Selephotsiphem the Seer? Had it been longer? An hour? ... Two hours?
Watching the Horned King discreetly from a shadowed doorway, Orsino feels confident that Malvolio is oblivious to his presence. The king is clearly deep under the spell of communing with the unholy Sword of Kas, and though he slumps in his throne, the tension and agitation he exudes is almost palpable. His face is ever veiled in the supernatural darkness of the Warduke's Helm, but the slits of burning red fire flickering within the visor twitch like the eyes of one having a nightmare. He is engaged in a psychic struggle with the ancient and bloodthirsty Sword of Kas, a contest of egos that he might not be winning.
Orsino realizes that this is not the first time he became aware that the Horned King was starting to be seized by temporary spells of oblivion, seeming not to notice others in his company for up to several minutes at a time, transfixed by the reflection of his burning red-fire eyes in the jet-black blade of the Sword of Kas. He has noticed this behavior occurring for the third time now over the past two weeks.
As he ponders the implications of Malvolio's increasing derangement, Orsino's eye is drawn to the horned and bearded demonic face decorating the basket hilt guard of the infamous Sword of Kas by a brief sparkle of red from the rubies inset in the eye sockets ... Could the Sword have noticed Orsino in the doorway?
After sailing up the Thelly and Mikar Rivers for more than a fortnight, the party makes their initial foray into the Darkenrift (after a skirmish with a trio of hordlings that had come through the portal from Phlegethon before Selephotsiphem closed it, in which they were assisted by the timely intervention of the old druid Dunwellyn).
The first foray: 12 nilbogs (divided between two caverns) slain with magic and cunning; 15 grimlocks in another cave, 13 slain and 2 taken captive; a mated pair of dusk kamadans slain, their 3 cubs taken to be raised and trained by the party with help from Dunwellyn.
This occurs on Godsday, 18th of Planting (Low Summer), 600 CY.
BATTLE OF THE SHIMMERING WALL
On Godsday morning, the 11th of Planting in 600 CY, Grenell I of North Kingdom leads an army of 1,000 footmen and 300 cavalry in marching to the Shimmering Wall that conceals whatever might be left of Rauxes. At the Shimmering Wall, the North Kingdom invaders are met by Xavener I of Ahlissa, commanding an army of 500 archers, 500 cavalry, and 500 footmen. A fierce battle ensues, with both sides suffering losses and expending resources. While the common rank-and-file troops clash in general melee on the battlefield before the Shimmering Wall, the leaders and their most powerful allies wage a higher-level battle at the center of the great fray.
Xavener and the other House Darmen princes fight against Grenell and the House Naelax princes, and many powerful spells are cast amid the clash of arms. The powerful leaders engaged in battle on each side are:
United Kingdom of Ahlissa:
Overking of United Kingdom of Ahlissa, Xavener I of House Darmen (NE male human unchained rogue 20)
Princess of Marchland of the Grandwood Forest, Bersheba of House Darmen (CE female human unchained rogue 12)
Prince of Torrich, Dilweg of House Darmen (LE male human wizard 19)
Prince of Jalpa, Farland of House Darmen (LE male human fighter 15)
Prince of Marchland of Medegia, Gartrel of House Darmen (LE male human fighter 13)
North Kingdom of Aerdy:
Overking of North Kingdom of Aerdy, Grenell I of House Naelax (LE male human cleric 20 of Hextor)
Patriarch of Bellport, Halldrem of House Naelax (LE male human cleric 18 of Hextor)
Prince of Delaric, Montand of House Naelax (LE male human fighter 17)
Prince of Stringen, Rishern of House Naelax (LE male human unchained rogue 15)
Prince of Edgefield, Hastern of House Naelax (NE male human fighter 8/unchained rogue 8)
The Battle of the Shimmering Wall weakens both sides without yielding anything of value, but Xavener claims victory for preventing Grenell from penetrating the Shimmering Wall to seek out Rauxes and its lost riches when Grenell finally calls for retreat and withdraws the battered remnants of his army back to North Kingdom.
"RETREAT!! DAMN YOU ALL TO ACHERON, RETREAT!!!"
Humiliated and enraged, the Overking of North Kingdom of Aerdy leads the surviving remainder of his "Rauxes Expeditionary Army" in limping back to North Kingdom.
"HEEHEEHEEHEEEE!!! YES!! FLEE LIKE DOGS WITH YOUR FILTHY TAILS BETWIXT YOUR SCRAWNY LEGS, GRENELL!!! VICTORY IS MIIIIIINE!!!!"
Cackling and shrieking with gales of unhinged, maniacal laughter, the leaping, capering, prancing Overking of United Kingdom of Ahlissa celebrates a hollow victory that achieved little more than reducing the strength of both contestants.
When we return to Nulbish from our first foray into Darkenrift and learn of this news, Orsino will have two questions for Countess Olivia and Malvolio:
Where does Gartrel of House Darmen hold his barony/keep -- and what is his relationship with Malvolio?
What is the current state of Torrich (population, military strength, natural resources -- and what is Dilweg's relaionship with Malvolio?
When we return to Nulbish from our first foray into Darkenrift and learn of this news, Orsino will have two questions for Countess Olivia and Malvolio:
Where does Gartrel of House Darmen hold his barony/keep -- and what is his relationship with Malvolio?
What is the current state of Torrich (population, military strength, natural resources -- and what is Dilweg's relaionship with Malvolio?
When we return to Nulbish from our first foray into Darkenrift and learn of this news, Orsino will have two questions for Countess Olivia and Malvolio:
Where does Gartrel of House Darmen hold his barony/keep -- and what is his relationship with Malvolio?
"Gartrel of Darmen claimed the title Prince of Medegia before I struck him down in the high hall and took this realm for my own. I ransomed his corpse to Xavener and his Darmen kin, nigh doubling my treasury, and have given him no more thought until now. Obviously, he was resurrected, and most likely lives as a prince-in-exile within the court of one of the other Darmen princes."
What is the current state of Torrich (population, military strength, natural resources -- and what is Dilweg's relaionship with Malvolio?
"Torrich is a large city in Ahlissa, west of Jalpa, Rel Deven, and Kalstrand. For now, it is still ruled by Prince Dilweg, a powerful Darmen mage. Our relationship? Enemies, of course. When the time is right, I will crush Dilweg and annex Torrich."
The city was originally built as a castle stronghold atop a hill, around which the town was formed. With the castle never having fallen, Torrich gained a reputation as a haven. Along with its relative distance to the west, this led to a flood of refugees from the western part of the Great Kingdom during and just after the Greyhawk Wars, raising the population from 19,000 prewar to 27,000.
Drax The Invulnerable, animus tyrant of Rel Astra and current host of the legendary Eye of Vecna, mechanically paces clockwise around his chief advisor, the powerful greater demon known as the Fiend-Sage, which towers over Drax at more than twice the undead archmage's standing height. The Fiend-Sage stands motionless at the center of its great library within the Grand Palace, silently observing the lurching gait of the obsessive monarch as Drax completed another circuit around the great molydeus demon.
"The Eye grows ever more insistent," observes Drax, muttering more to himself than to the Fiend-Sage. "It will not wait much longer .... It compels me, entreating me with ever greater urgency, whispering in a fell voice that I alone can hear .... It desperately longs to be reunited with the Hand, but also with the lesser relics -- the so-called Fragments .... It pleads with and cajoles me one minute, and threatens me with dire warnings the next .... We can delay no longer! Drax halts in front of the Fiend-Sage, glaring up at the monstrous wolf-headed greater demon.
Drax's own right eye, no more than a tiny tongue of ghastly greenish flame flickering in the black hollow of its socket, was sharply contrasted by the dreadful Eye of Vecna implanted in his left eye socket, which was dull, black, and seemingly lifeless, like a tiny and shriveled orb of necrotic flesh or coagulated blood. The Fiend-Sage met the undead tyrant's unholy gaze with its own blazing amber demon's eyes, and the black lips of its muzzle peeled back in a silent snarl, revealing pearly canine teeth like curved daggers. "What does Your Immortal Majesty propose?" inquired the molydeus in its deep, demonic, snarling voice.
"I will assemble an elite company for a most perilous expedition into the Vast Swamp, to seek the fabled Tomb of Horrors, wherein the mighty Hand awaits, lying among other priceless treasures in the crypt of the demilich Acererak!" answers Drax, his gaunt and pallid features twisted into a monstrous expression of insatiable avarice and terrible ambition. "I will assemble and lead the expedition myself, with your unrivaled guidance, of course ...."
The Fiend-Sage snorted incredulously, rolling its fiery yellow eyes, and then growled in reply, "That accursed Eye has surely driven you to madness, my liege! Who on the face of the Oerth would be so foolhardy, so eager to face a fate worse than death, that they would agree to join you in so perilous a quest!?"
Drax leered maniacally at the huge demon and answered, "YOU, of course, my most excellent Fiend-Sage! YOU will join me in this bold quest .... and together, aided by the most capable companions we can recruit, we shall overcome every peril, and win the most precious of prizes -- the Hand of Vecna!" Drax ignored the Fiend-Sage's rumbling snarl of agitation and wolfish expression of doubtful bewilderment, and before any further objection could be raised by his demonic advisor, he began to consider various potential candidates to join them in a quest for the Hand of Vecna ....
Drax The Invulnerable, animus tyrant of Rel Astra and current host of the legendary Eye of Vecna, mechanically paces clockwise around his chief advisor, the powerful greater demon known as the Fiend-Sage, which towers over Drax at more than twice the undead archmage's standing height. The Fiend-Sage stands motionless at the center of its great library within the Grand Palace, silently observing the lurching gait of the obsessive monarch as Drax completed another circuit around the great molydeus demon.
"The Eye grows ever more insistent," observes Drax, muttering more to himself than to the Fiend-Sage. "It will not wait much longer .... It compels me, entreating me with ever greater urgency, whispering in a fell voice that I alone can hear .... It desperately longs to be reunited with the Hand, but also with the lesser relics -- the so-called Fragments .... It pleads with and cajoles me one minute, and threatens me with dire warnings the next .... We can delay no longer! Drax halts in front of the Fiend-Sage, glaring up at the monstrous wolf-headed greater demon.
Drax's own right eye, no more than a tiny tongue of ghastly greenish flame flickering in the black hollow of its socket, was sharply contrasted by the dreadful Eye of Vecna implanted in his left eye socket, which was dull, black, and seemingly lifeless, like a tiny and shriveled orb of necrotic flesh or coagulated blood. The Fiend-Sage met the undead tyrant's unholy gaze with its own blazing amber demon's eyes, and the black lips of its muzzle peeled back in a silent snarl, revealing pearly canine teeth like curved daggers. "What does Your Immortal Majesty propose?" inquired the molydeus in its deep, demonic, snarling voice.
"I will assemble an elite company for a most perilous expedition into the Vast Swamp, to seek the fabled Tomb of Horrors, wherein the...
Noooooo....my Daddy's peeps are dead!
Upon our return to Nulbish... Hearing the news of Almor, Dame Caladwen and Sir Gavalain of House Rax-Nyrond unfortunate demise Grimauldi is glad to have never made contact with the Nyrondy agents. His signet ring weighs heavy in his pocket and he decides to try again to contact his mother thru the Hags' eye. Knowing that the signet ring can be used to scry on him he drops it in a flask leftover from one of his healing potions, fills it with water, wraps it in his cloak and secures it in the chest we took form the Thieves' guild. Maybe that'll do?! Then he pushes the chest into a closet.
In the late of night Grimauldi tears the head off of a doll that he stole from one of the scullery maid's sweet children and replaces it with the gruesome eyeball. He sets it upon the mantel as an audience of one and proceeds to perform a series of short pantomimes hoping to convey all he has learned to the coven...
He makes a model of The Malvolio out of pillows and sheets, crowned by a pot with painted on horns. He dances around it pretending to yell in it's ear and bashing it over the head with a large wooden spoon. Finally he pulls a paper sword out of it's hand scowls at it and drops it back in the dummies lap.
Next, Grimauldi mimes being kidnapped by throwing a sack over himself and kicking around on the floor, he thinks this rather funny and laughs aloud wishing his friends could see him. He emerges from the sack with a blindfold on and ties himself to a chair. Struggles against the faux knots for a moment then relaxes. He holds up a parchment with the word Intermission written on it and places it in front of the hag doll's seat so that he can't be seen changing into costume as his father; the King of Nyrond. He rearranges the pillows and pot into a doll of himself turning it around to show the painted jesters hat on the opposite from the horns. Intermission ends and the show begins again. First he paces gesturing sternly in a mock interrogation at the jester dummy. Then he becomes more and more affectionate with the doll. Embracing it as his son, then kissing it on it's pot, and eventually burying his head it it's lap and performing fellatio on a rather large carrot and humping it till the chair falls over.
Turning toward the audience and bowing, Grimauldi doffs the paper crown spins it around his finger and licks his lips. Approaching the mantel where the Hags' eye watches, he pulls out another hand made sign and places it in front for the doll. This time it reads "I miss you cooking Ma! Send word to 18 Grimauldi Way, Warehouse District, Nulbish c/o Kinky the Clown"
Exhausted and unsure of the message's receipt Grimauldi collapses into bed. He dreams of being executed by Malvlio in front of the walls of Rel Astra and watches thru his own eyes as his severed head is catapulted over the walls. Then another dream of being placed on it's thrown as the city burns, but behind the thrown hidden in shadow The Horned King's creepy sage Selephotsiphem cackles drowning out the Clown Prince's own laughter.
Performance check:
Waking the next morning he returns the Hags' eye to it's place around his neck, burns the incriminating props, cleans off the pot's hilarious paint job, and decides he doesn't know if Mom got the message of if she will be of any help at all.
He retrieves the signet ring from the flask in the chest. Knocks on it three times, holds it to his ear, the says into it. "Your agents have been executed Dad. So sorry. I had never made contact. The Horned King is Mad.....I'm going to visit my cousin in her comfy prison"
He stops by the kitchen to drop off the pot and picks up breakfast for himself and the imprisoned lady and himself and heads upstairs.
We're at the brink, presumably, of getting a minor Relic of Vecna (Left Ear), followed shortly thereafter by a gambit to get The Sword of Kas. We shall be getting all the Relics and Artifacts of Vecna over the course of the campaign.
Including The Eye!
Meaning,.... Sooner or later we're going to have to employ a gambit in which we are against Lord Drax of Rel Astra.
....I just thought-- *after* succeeding getting the Sword of Kas from Malvolio, perhaps we can enlist him in a long term effort to get the Eye from Drax: 'Hey, remember how the Sword was f$@+ing with you -- imagine what the Eye is doing to Drax!' If we destroy The Eye () then maybe Malvolio & Lord Drax can come to an alliance of sorts -- both having been driven/manipulated by Vecna-Artifacts -- and together conquer Ahlissa, North Province (to Spinecastle), Almor, and eventually the eastern third of Nyrond to Rel Mord & the Duntide River.
Afterall, Malvolio, an alliance with Lord Drax will help you defeat Ahlissa, North Province, Almor & East Nyrond. And the two of you have a shared enemy in Vecna.
We're at the brink, presumably, of getting a minor Relic of Vecna (Left Ear), followed shortly thereafter by a gambit to get The Sword of Kas. We shall be getting all the Relics and Artifacts of Vecna over the course of the campaign.
Including The Eye!
Meaning,.... Sooner or later we're going to have to employ a gambit in which we are against Lord Drax of Rel Astra.
....I just thought-- *after* succeeding getting the Sword of Kas from Malvolio, perhaps we can enlist him in a long term effort to get the Eye from Drax: 'Hey, remember how the Sword was f*~#ing with you -- imagine what the Eye is doing to Drax!' If we destroy The Eye () then maybe Malvolio & Lord Drax can come to an alliance of sorts -- both having been driven/manipulated by Vecna-Artifacts -- and together conquer Ahlissa, North Province (to Spinecastle), Almor, and eventually the eastern third of Nyrond to Rel Mord & the Duntide River.
Afterall, Malvolio, an alliance with Lord Drax will help you defeat Ahlissa, North Province, Almor & East Nyrond. And the two of you have a shared enemy in Vecna.
An interesting plan for the future, indeed, but it hinges on the acquisition of Blackrazor from White Plume Mountain as a suitable replacement for the Sword of Kas, and Malvolio agreeing to such a trade-out.
Time will tell whether or not this plan will work, for it depends on conditions which are yet to be met and dangerous to bring about.
Ready yourselves, noble antiheroes, for an expedition to White Plume Mountain, where the undoubtable divinations of no less than the archdevil Mephistopheles himself, playing the part of the mysterious seer Selephotsiphem, predict you will find not only the Left Ear of Vecna, but also several legendary magic weapons: the bastard sword Blackrazor, the greatsword Frostrazor, the warhammer Whelm, and the trident Wave!
The Horned King's Deputies, Grimaldi of House Rax-Nyrond, Orsino (secretly Ivid VI of House Naelax), and Erlick of House Lassiter in Saltmarsh, return to Nulbish from their foray into the Darkenrift within the Grandwood Forest on Moonday, 3rd of Flocktime (low summer) of 600 CY, having sailed back down the Mikar and Thelly Rivers aboard the carrack Triton.
Back at Castle Skullgard, they report to the Horned King that the cause of the disappearing rural folk of North Medegia is an aboleth that dwells in one of the deeper water-filled caverns of Darkenrift, and recommend that the mighty archmage Countess Olivia of Pontylver lead a force to eliminate this powerful threat to the Horned King's subjects inhabiting the northern borderland.
The strange seer Selephotsiphem's true identity is revealed to the three antiheroes by Countess Olivia, who informs them during a private conversation that the seer is a guise and a role played by the archdevil Mephistopheles, who has taken Malvolio under his wing. This revelation only heightens the trio's sense of dread and awe at the machinations they have become entangled in.
Compelled by an ever-growing sense of urgency to divest their Horned King of the insidious Sword of Kas before it completely usurps his will, the antiheroes hatch a plan to acquire the legendary bastard sword Blackrazor from White Plume Mountain and convince the Horned King to accept it as a replacement for the treacherous Sword of Kas. With assistance from Countess Olivia, they research the lore of Keraptis and the fabled weapons he had acquired and sequestered in the old lava tubes of White Plume Mountain, which the ancient archmage had modified by magic and the labor of his deranged gnome henchmen to serve as a subterranean dungeon and lair.
Mephistopheles, playing the part of enigmatic seer Selephotsiphem, had cast divinations with greater accuracy than any mortal seer could achieve, learning that the Left Ear of Vecna had been relocated to what had once been the lair of Keraptis in White Plume Mountain, and had revealed this information (along with the locations of the other Fragments) to Horned King Malvolio and Countess of Pontylver Olivia after the feast of New Year's Night, Fireseek 1st.
When the three antiheroes return to Castle Skullgard after their foray into Darkenrift, Countess Olivia reveals the information above to them, informing them of secret things they had not known until now.
THE FRAGMENTS OF VECNA
Lesser Known Vecnan Relics
The notoriety of the Hand and Eye of Vecna extends across many lands and worlds. Other relics of Vecna survive, but because Vecna's rise as a demigod occurred long after his Hand and Eye gained major artifact status, other castoffs of his first physical body initially garnered no great distinction. Although mummified, most were lost, or destroyed outright when Kas brought Vecna low. Vecna returned as a demigod, manifesting an avatar from semi-divine energy. At this time, surviving fragments of his original body (not required or part of Vecna's newest incarnation) gained minor artifact status. Note that Vecna's physical avatar has no left hand or eye, but does possess all other portions of his body (the lesser relics are only minor artifacts, and thus do not resonate with the demigod to the degree of the Hand and Eye).
The relics of Vecna are activated like the Hand and Eye. If placed in a position of corresponding anatomy on an animate body, the relic grafts itself into position, and takes on the "normal" functions of the missing body part, despite appearing mummified
and dead.
Those who slice off or remove a portion of their own bodies to apply a Vecnan relic take damage normally; a finger, ear, eye, or tooth is worth 2d6 hit points, while a whole limb or organ is worth 10d10 hit points. A vital organ, such as the heart or head, kills the hopeful recipient before the relic can be applied (and so compatriots must complete the grisly task). If the relic is authentic, the graft occurs, and the power of the relic returns life to the dead. Successful recipients who wish to remove a relic take damage from the removal as if severing their own flesh; however, their original flesh does not return, and the hit point loss is permanent until a suitable replacement can be found or a regeneration spell is used.
Aside from any innate abilities and/or curses transferred from the relic to the recipient, each relic also grants the recipient special abilities and protection should they ever come upon an avatar of Vecna. Those with relic grafts are immune to Vecna’s direct power (such as spells and spell-like abilities) and are invisible to any attempts by Vecna's avatar to scry them in any manner. However, Vecna can still indirectly affect recipients with physical weapons, followers, and indirect consequences of spells.
Recipients (including recipients of the Hand or Eye) are more capable of affecting Vecna, possessing as they do remnants of his original body. The avatar cannot heal any damage inflicted by relic recipients, and furthermore, should any recipient successfully grapple and pin Vecna, while the grip lasts the avatar cannot magically depart. Should recipients actually kill the avatar of Vecna, the god's essence is ejected from the Outer Planes, finally returning to the world that spawned it: Oerth.
Left Ear of Vecna (Minor Artifact)
Slot -- (replaces recipient's left ear); CL 15th; Weight --; Aura strong divination, evocation, and necromancy
DESCRIPTION
The Left Ear of Vecna appears as a mummified left ear. Once attached, it functions as a normal left ear on the recipient's head, albeit withered and gray.
Constant Powers: The Left Ear grants the recipient a +5 enhancement bonus on Perception checks made to listen, and a +4 resistance bonus on saving throws against sonic spells and spell-like abilities. The recipient can understand all spoken languages (as per the spell tongues).
Invoked Powers: The recipient can use blindness/deafness (deafness only) and clairaudience/clairvoyance (clairaudience only) three times per day each. Once per day, the recipient can use greater shout. Saving throws against these effects are at DC 20.
Curse: After every month of attachment, the recipient must attempt a Will saving throw to resist the insidious influence of the Left Ear of Vecna. The DC after the first month of attachment is 15, increasing by 2 after each subsequent month of attachment (DC 17 after the 2nd month, DC 19 after the 3rd month, DC 21 after the 4th month, DC 23 after the 5th month, etc.), up to a maximum of DC 37 after a full year of attachment. If the recipient fails this Will saving throw, they become dominated as if they were affected by a dominate person spell cast on them by Vecna, for a duration of 4d4+4 hours. A dominated recipient acts according to Vecna’s will to the best of their ability, if applicable, subject to the GM’s discretion.
DESTRUCTION
Any force, natural or magical, that can inflict 33 points of damage from a single blow, spell, or other effect is sufficient to destroy the Left Ear. In addition, someone using the Molars of Vecna can destroy the relic.
Scalp of Vecna (Minor Artifact)
Slot head; CL 15th; Weight —; Aura strong transmutation
DESCRIPTION
The Scalp of Vecna appears as a mummified flap of scalp and hair. The hair is white but sparse, attaining a length of 3 inches. Once in place, it appears as a white streak in the recipient’s normal hair (if it has any hair).
Constant Powers: The Scalp grants the recipient spell resistance equal to 11 plus total hit dice (for example, a recipient with 10 total hit dice gains SR 21) if the recipient does not already possess superior spell resistance. If the recipient already possesses SR superior to 11 plus total hit dice, the Scalp instead increases the recipient’s normal SR by +1 (for example, if the recipient normally has SR 21, attaching the Scalp increases the recipient’s existing SR to 22).
Invoked Powers: Twice per day as a standard action, the recipient can animate the hair, causing it to grow up to 30 feet in length, for a duration of 15 rounds per use. The animated tendril can wield any melee weapon as if proficient with it (even if the recipient is not normally proficient with the weapon), using the recipient’s base attack bonus, modified by a +5 bonus to attack and damage, as if the tendril had a Strength score of 20; if the recipient has the Weapon Finesse feat, and the weapon is a finesse weapon with which the recipient can normally apply their Dexterity modifier to attacks (and damage, if the recipient is an unchained rogue or other character possessing the finesse training class feature) instead of their Strength modifier, the bonus to attacks (and damage, if applicable) is +5, as if the tendril had a Dexterity score of 20.
The animated tendril can make grapple attempts against size Large and smaller foes, using a CMB modifier equal to the recipient’s normal base attack bonus plus 5 (as if the tendril had a Strength score of 20).
The animated tendril can otherwise manipulate objects within its reach (up to 30 feet) at the recipient’s usual level of skill or proficiency, including actions that require fine motor skills (such as manipulating a tool, turning a key in a lock, writing, disabling a trap or other mechanism, etc.).
Each round during which the tendril is animated, the recipient can use it to attack with a melee weapon, make a single grapple attempt against a Large or smaller foe, or otherwise manipulate an object as described above, in addition to the recipient taking normal actions during the same round.
Curse: After every month of attachment, the recipient must attempt a Will saving throw to resist the insidious influence of the Scalp of Vecna. The DC after the first month of attachment is 15, increasing by 2 after each subsequent month of attachment (DC 17 after the 2nd month, DC 19 after the 3rd month, DC 21 after the 4th month, DC 23 after the 5th month, etc.), up to a maximum of DC 37 after a full year of attachment. If the recipient fails this Will saving throw, they become dominated as if they were affected by a dominate person spell cast on them by Vecna, for a duration of 4d4+4 hours. A dominated recipient acts according to Vecna’s will to the best of their ability, if applicable, subject to the GM’s discretion.
DESTRUCTION
Any force, natural or magical, that can inflict 33 points of damage from a single blow, spell, or other effect is sufficient to destroy the Scalp. In addition, someone using the Molars of Vecna can destroy the relic.
First Digit of Vecna (Minor Artifact)
Slot — (replaces first digit of recipient’s right hand); CL 15th; Weight —; Aura strong enchantment (compulsion) [mind-affecting] and strong necromancy [curse]
DESCRIPTION
The First Digit of Vecna is a mummified thumb from Vecna’s original right hand, complete with a blackened claw-like nail. Once attached, it functions as a normal thumb on the recipient’s right hand, if a bit overlarge and ugly.
Constant Powers: The First Digit grants the recipient spell resistance equal to 11 plus total hit dice (for example, a recipient with 10 total hit dice gains SR 21) if the recipient does not already possess superior spell resistance. If the recipient already possesses SR superior to 11 plus total hit dice, the First Digit instead increases the recipient’s normal SR by +1 (for example, if the recipient normally has SR 21, attaching the First Digit increases the recipient’s existing SR to 22).
Invoked Powers: With a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down, the recipient can bless (thumbs-up) or curse (thumbs-down) a creature as a standard action up to 4 times per day, as if the creature were affected by a bless or a bestow curse spell, respectively. A creature targeted by the thumbs-down curse effect can attempt a DC 20 Will saving throw to negate the effect. The caster level for either spell-like effect is CL 15th. Whatever combination of thumbs-up or thumbs-down, the power cannot be used more than 4 times in any 24-hour period.
Curse: After every month of attachment, the recipient must attempt a Will saving throw to resist the insidious influence of the First Digit of Vecna. The DC after the first month of attachment is 15, increasing by 2 after each subsequent month of attachment (DC 17 after the 2nd month, DC 19 after the 3rd month, DC 21 after the 4th month, DC 23 after the 5th month, etc.), up to a maximum of DC 37 after a full year of attachment. If the recipient fails this Will saving throw, they become dominated as if they were affected by a dominate person spell cast on them by Vecna, for a duration of 4d4+4 hours. A dominated recipient acts according to Vecna’s will to the best of their ability, if applicable, subject to the GM’s discretion.
DESTRUCTION
Any force, natural or magical, that can inflict 33 points of damage from a single blow, spell, or other effect is sufficient to destroy the First Digit. In addition, someone using the Molars of Vecna can destroy the relic.
Second Digit of Vecna (Minor Artifact)
Slot — (replaces second digit of recipient’s right hand); CL 15th; Weight —; Aura strong enchantment (compulsion) [mind-affecting]
DESCRIPTION
The Second Digit of Vecna is a mummified index finger from Vecna’s original right hand, complete with a blackened claw-like nail. Once attached, it functions as a normal forefinger on the recipient’s right hand, if a bit overlarge and ugly.
Constant Powers: The Second Digit grants the recipient spell resistance equal to 11 plus total hit dice (for example, a recipient with 10 total hit dice gains SR 21) if the recipient does not already possess superior spell resistance. If the recipient already possesses SR superior to 11 plus total hit dice, the Second Digit instead increases the recipient’s normal SR by +1 (for example, if the recipient normally has SR 21, attaching the Second Digit increases the recipient’s existing SR to 22).
Invoked Powers: Once per day as a standard action, the recipient can target a single creature within line of sight and effect, and within a maximum range of 60 feet, by pointing at the target with the Second Digit palm up, then crooking the finger upward in a beckoning gesture. The target must succeed on a DC 20 Will saving throw or be affected as if by the spell charm monster for a duration of 15 days.
Curse: After every month of attachment, the recipient must attempt a Will saving throw to resist the insidious influence of the Second Digit of Vecna. The DC after the first month of attachment is 15, increasing by 2 after each subsequent month of attachment (DC 17 after the 2nd month, DC 19 after the 3rd month, DC 21 after the 4th month, DC 23 after the 5th month, etc.), up to a maximum of DC 37 after a full year of attachment. If the recipient fails this Will saving throw, they become dominated as if they were affected by a dominate person spell cast on them by Vecna, for a duration of 4d4+4 hours. A dominated recipient acts according to Vecna’s will to the best of their ability, if applicable, subject to the GM’s discretion.
DESTRUCTION
Any force, natural or magical, that can inflict 33 points of damage from a single blow, spell, or other effect is sufficient to destroy the Second Digit. In addition, someone using the Molars of Vecna can destroy the relic.
Third Digit of Vecna (Minor Artifact)
Slot — (replaces third digit of recipient’s right hand); CL 15th; Weight —; Aura strong necromancy [poison]
DESCRIPTION
The Third Digit of Vecna is a mummified medial finger from Vecna’s original right hand. The nail is especially long, and resembles the blade of a small dagger. Once in place, it functions as a normal middle finger on the recipient’s right hand, if a bit clumsy due to the long nail.
Constant Powers: The Third Digit grants the recipient spell resistance equal to 11 plus total hit dice (for example, a recipient with 10 total hit dice gains SR 21) if the recipient does not already possess superior spell resistance. If the recipient already possesses SR superior to 11 plus total hit dice, the Third Digit instead increases the recipient’s normal SR by +1 (for example, if the recipient normally has SR 21, attaching the Third Digit increases the recipient’s existing SR to 22).
The recipient can make melee attacks with the elongated sharpened nail as if it was a +4 dagger with which the recipient is proficient. A victim struck and damaged by the finger blade is also poisoned by a magical necrotic venom:
Necrotic Venom
DETAILS
Type poison (injury); Save Fortitude DC 20; Frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; Cure 2 consecutive saves
EFFECT
1d3 Con damage
Invoked Powers: Once per day, the recipient can project the nail as a ranged attack as if firing a +4 hand crossbow with which the recipient is proficient. A victim struck and damaged by the projected nail is also poisoned by the necrotic venom as described above. After the nail is shot in this manner, it cannot be used to make further melee or ranged attacks until 24 hours have elapsed, during which time the nail regenerates. The nail shot from the finger rots into uselessness seconds after impact.
Curse: After every month of attachment, the recipient must attempt a Will saving throw to resist the insidious influence of the Third Digit of Vecna. The DC after the first month of attachment is 15, increasing by 2 after each subsequent month of attachment (DC 17 after the 2nd month, DC 19 after the 3rd month, DC 21 after the 4th month, DC 23 after the 5th month, etc.), up to a maximum of DC 37 after a full year of attachment. If the recipient fails this Will saving throw, they become dominated as if they were affected by a dominate person spell cast on them by Vecna, for a duration of 4d4+4 hours. A dominated recipient acts according to Vecna’s will to the best of their ability, if applicable, subject to the GM’s discretion.
DESTRUCTION
Any force, natural or magical, that can inflict 33 points of damage from a single blow, spell, or other effect is sufficient to destroy the Third Digit. In addition, someone using the Molars of Vecna can destroy the relic.
Right Eye of Vecna (Minor Artifact)
Slot — (replaces recipient’s right eye); CL 15th; Weight —; Aura strong evocation [darkness] and strong necromancy [curse]
DESCRIPTION
The Right Eye of Vecna is a mummified eyeball from Vecna’s original right eye socket. The eye resembles nothing so much as an albino prune, wrinkled and leathery. Once in place, it functions as a normal eye in the recipient’s right eye socket, though it appears hazed and milky as if blind.
Constant Powers: The Right Eye grants the recipient spell resistance equal to 13 plus total hit dice (for example, a recipient with 10 total hit dice gains SR 23) if the recipient does not already possess superior spell resistance. If the recipient already possesses SR superior to 13 plus total hit dice, the Right Eye instead increases the recipient’s normal SR by +3 (for example, if the recipient normally has SR 23, attaching the Right Eye increases the recipient’s existing SR to 26). If the recipient does not already possess darkvision, the Right Eye grants the recipient darkvison out to 120 feet; if the recipient already has darkvision, the Right Eye increases its range by 120 feet instead. The recipient gains the supernatural ability to see perfectly in darkness of any kind, including that created by a deeper darkness spell, as per the see in darkness supernatural ability.
Invoked Powers: Up to 3 times per day as a standard action, the recipient can fix their attention on a single target (within line of sight and line of effect, to a maximum range of 250 feet) and activate the Right Eye, forcing the victim to attempt a DC 23 Will saving throw; if the save is failed, a magical haze of darkness clouds the victim’s eyes, blinding them for the next 24 hours, but if the save succeeds, the victim is not affected.
Curse: After every month of attachment, the recipient must attempt a Will saving throw to resist the insidious influence of the Right Eye of Vecna. The DC after the first month of attachment is 15, increasing by 2 after each subsequent month of attachment (DC 17 after the 2nd month, DC 19 after the 3rd month, DC 21 after the 4th month, DC 23 after the 5th month, etc.), up to a maximum of DC 37 after a full year of attachment. If the recipient fails this Will saving throw, they become dominated as if they were affected by a dominate person spell cast on them by Vecna, for a duration of 4d4+4 hours. A dominated recipient acts according to Vecna’s will to the best of their ability, if applicable, subject to the GM’s discretion.
DESTRUCTION
Any force, natural or magical, that can inflict 33 points of damage from a single blow, spell, or other effect is sufficient to destroy the Right Eye. In addition, someone using the Molar of Vecna can destroy the relic.
Molar of Vecna (Minor Artifact)
Slot — (replaces recipient’s tooth); CL 15th; Weight —; Aura strong transmutation
DESCRIPTION
The Molar of Vecna is a petrified tooth from Vecna’s original body. Hard and blackened, the tooth appears flat and unexceptional. Once in place, it functions as a normal tooth.
Constant Powers: The Molar grants the recipient spell resistance equal to 14 plus total hit dice (for example, a recipient with 10 total hit dice gains SR 24) if the recipient does not already possess superior spell resistance. If the recipient already possesses SR superior to 14 plus total hit dice, the Molar instead increases the recipient’s normal SR by +4 (for example, if the recipient normally has SR 24, attaching the Molar increases the recipient’s existing SR to 28). The recipient gains a +4 resistance bonus to saving throws against poison.
Invoked Powers: Up to 3 times per day as a standard action, the recipient can activate this relic’s power, gaining the magical ability to eat and digest any nonmagical material in bite-sized but otherwise unlimited quantities, for a duration of 15 rounds per use. For the duration this power is active, the recipient gains a bite attack that acts as a natural weapon enhanced by a greater magic fang spell granting a +4 enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls, and allowing the bite to overcome damage reduction as a magic weapon. While this power is active, the base weapon damage inflicted by a successful bite attack (including only the +4 enhancement bonus) is 2d6+4; this base weapon damage is further modified by the recipient’s full Strength modifier (if any) when the bite is made as a primary attack, or one-half the recipient’s Strength modifier (rounded down) if made as a secondary attack. The recipient could conceivably eat through any solid nonmagical material while activated (including earth, stone, or metal) at a rate of 1 square foot per 5 rounds (subject to the GM’s discretion). In addition, the Molar of Vecna can destroy all of the various relics of Vecna (excluding the major artifacts, the Eye and Hand of Vecna, which are far more difficult to destroy than the minor artifacts or relics).
Curse: After every month of attachment, the recipient must attempt a Will saving throw to resist the insidious influence of the Molar of Vecna. The DC after the first month of attachment is 15, increasing by 2 after each subsequent month of attachment (DC 17 after the 2nd month, DC 19 after the 3rd month, DC 21 after the 4th month, DC 23 after the 5th month, etc.), up to a maximum of DC 37 after a full year of attachment. If the recipient fails this Will saving throw, they become dominated as if they were affected by a dominate person spell cast on them by Vecna, for a duration of 4d4+4 hours. A dominated recipient acts according to Vecna’s will to the best of their ability, if applicable, subject to the GM’s discretion.
DESTRUCTION
Any force, natural or magical, that can inflict 33 points of damage from a single blow, spell, or other effect is sufficient to destroy the Molar.
Incisors of Vecna (Minor Artifact)
Slot — (replaces recipient’s incisors); CL 15th; Weight —; Aura strong transmutation (polymorph)
DESCRIPTION
The Incisors of Vecna are from Vecna’s original body. Hard and blackened, the teeth have exceptionally long roots, and they come to natural razor-sharp points. Once in place, they function as normal teeth, although a recipient who doesn’t want to reveal their presence must always make a constant effort not to reveal the vampire-like fangs (which bestow a -4 racial penalty on Disguise skill checks made to conceal them).
Constant Powers: Both of the Incisors grant spell resistance to a recipient who doesn’t already have SR, or else they augment a recipient’s existing SR if they have any. A single Incisor grants SR equal to 11 plus total hit dice to a recipient who doesn’t already have SR, or increases the recipient’s existing SR by +1 (for example, a single Incisor grants SR 21 to a recipient without existing SR who has 10 total hit dice, or increases a recipient’s existing SR 21 to SR 22). If both Incisors are implanted by a recipient who doesn’t normally have SR, the first Incisor implanted will grant the recipient SR as described above (11 plus total hit dice), and the second one implanted will increase the SR granted by the first by +1 (for example, a recipient with 10 total hit dice but no existing SR will gain SR 21 upon implanting the first Incisor, and upon implanting the other, the SR 21 will increase to SR 22).
Invoked Powers: Both teeth must be in place to invoke this relic’s power. Only usable twice per month during any 8-hour period, the relic transforms the recipient into a vampire as if they were affected by the spell undead anatomy II, except that the duration is 8 hours (instead of the spell’s usual duration of 1 minute per caster level). The recipient’s size is not changed by the transformation (a Medium recipient is transformed into a Medium vampire, a Small recipient is transformed into a Small vampire, etc.), but the transformation acts as per the spell undead anatomy II in all other respects. Once the transformation is triggered, the full 8 hours must elapse before the recipient returns to their normal form.
Curse: After every month of attachment, the recipient must attempt a Will saving throw to resist the insidious influence of the Incisors of Vecna. The DC after the first month of attachment is 15, increasing by 2 after each subsequent month of attachment (DC 17 after the 2nd month, DC 19 after the 3rd month, DC 21 after the 4th month, DC 23 after the 5th month, etc.), up to a maximum of DC 37 after a full year of attachment. If the recipient fails this Will saving throw, they become dominated as if they were affected by a dominate person spell cast on them by Vecna, for a duration of 4d4+4 hours. A dominated recipient acts according to Vecna’s will to the best of their ability, if applicable, subject to the GM’s discretion. In addition, recipients of good alignment who kill another neutral or good creature by blood drain while in vampire form are wracked with guilt (suffering a -5 morale penalty on all attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks) for the following week, or until they willingly seek out and receive an atonement spell or similar magic. If this occurs three times, the recipient is permanently transformed into a true vampire of chaotic evil alignment (apply the vampire template), and may become an NPC at the GM’s discretion.
DESTRUCTION
Any force, natural or magical, that can inflict 33 points of damage from a single blow, spell, or other effect is sufficient to destroy the Incisors.
Foot of Vecna (Minor Artifact)
Slot — (replaces recipient’s left foot); CL 15th; Weight —; Aura strong transmutation (polymorph)
DESCRIPTION
The Foot of Vecna is from Vecna’s original body. Hard and blackened, the left foot is also attached to an attenuated ankle and lower calf — jagged, blackened bones protrude from the end. Once in place, it functions as a normal foot, although a recipient walks with a strange hitch to their stride.
Constant Powers: The Foot grants the recipient spell resistance equal to 11 plus total hit dice (for example, a recipient with 10 total hit dice gains SR 21) if the recipient does not already possess superior spell resistance. If the recipient already possesses SR superior to 11 plus total hit dice, the Foot instead increases the recipient’s normal SR by +1 (for example, if the recipient normally has SR 21, attaching the Foot increases the recipient’s existing SR to 22). The recipient gains a kick attack that acts as a natural weapon instead of an unarmed strike (unless the recipient has levels in the brawler or monk class, or has a feat or other feature that allows them to make improved unarmed strikes without provoking attacks of opportunity), and this kick attack is augmented with a magical +3 enhancement bonus as if affected by a greater magic fang spell. The base weapon damage dealt by this kick (including the +3 enhancement bonus) is 1d6+3 bludgeoning, unless the recipient normally deals superior damage (such as the improved unarmed damage rates granted by levels in the brawler or monk class, for example), in which case they deal their usual superior damage with the kick attack.
Invoked Powers: The recipient of the Foot gains access to several spell-like abilities, each of which can be activated as a standard action. The spell-like abilities can be activated up to 4 times per day in any combination, and all are as the spells cast by a 15th-level caster. These spell-like abilities are: feather fall, freedom of movement, jump, levitate, spider climb, and water walk.
Curse: After every month of attachment, the recipient must attempt a Will saving throw to resist the insidious influence of the Foot of Vecna. The DC after the first month of attachment is 15, increasing by 2 after each subsequent month of attachment (DC 17 after the 2nd month, DC 19 after the 3rd month, DC 21 after the 4th month, DC 23 after the 5th month, etc.), up to a maximum of DC 37 after a full year of attachment. If the recipient fails this Will saving throw, they become dominated as if they were affected by a dominate person spell cast on them by Vecna, for a duration of 4d4+4 hours. A dominated recipient acts according to Vecna’s will to the best of their ability, if applicable, subject to the GM’s discretion.
DESTRUCTION
Any force, natural or magical, that can inflict 33 points of damage from a single blow, spell, or other effect is sufficient to destroy the Foot.
Heart of Vecna (Minor Artifact)
Slot — (replaces recipient’s heart); CL 15th; Weight —; Aura strong conjuration (healing) and strong necromancy [death]
DESCRIPTION
The Heart of Vecna is from Vecna’s original body. Tough and leathery, it resembles a large heart-shaped hunk of jerky. More so than the other relics of Vecna, removal of a potential recipient’s heart is a deadly operation, almost certain to kill the recipient. If compatriots complete the operation by placing the Heart of Vecna in the recipient’s chest cavity, it resurrects the recipient as if by the casting of a true resurrection spell, and from that time forward functions as a normal heart, although a recipient’s chest bears horrible scar tissue that never heals.
Constant Powers: The Heart grants the recipient spell resistance equal to 11 plus total hit dice (for example, a recipient with 10 total hit dice gains SR 21) if the recipient does not already possess superior spell resistance. If the recipient already possesses SR superior to 11 plus total hit dice, the Heart instead increases the recipient’s normal SR by +1 (for example, if the recipient normally has SR 21, implanting the Heart increases the recipient’s existing SR to 22). The Heart grants the recipient the power to continually heal 1 point of damage per round and an equal amount of nonlethal damage. In addition, the recipient is immune to bleed damage while the Heart is implanted. If the recipient loses a limb, an organ, or any other body part, the Heart regenerates it as per the spell regenerate (unless the lost limb, organ, or body part is replaced with an appropriate relic). In either case, only damage taken while the Heart is implanted is regenerated.
Invoked Powers: The recipient of the Heart can invoke a supernatural necromantic power that acts as the quivering palm supernatural ability gained by monks of 15th and higher level, setting up vibrations within the body of another creature that can thereafter be fatal if the recipient so desires. The recipient can use this quivering palm attack once per day, and must announce their intent before making the attack roll. Creatures immune to critical hits cannot be affected. Otherwise, if the recipient strikes successfully and the target takes damage from the blow, the quivering palm attack succeeds. Thereafter, the recipient can try to slay the victim at any later time, as long as the attempt is made within a maximum of 15 days. To make such an attempt, the recipient merely wills the target to die (a free action), and unless the target succeeds on a DC 23 Fortitude saving throw, it dies. If the saving throw is successful, the target is no longer in danger from that particular quivering palm attack, but it may still be affected by another one at a later time. The recipient can have no more than 1 quivering palm in effect at one time. If the recipient uses quivering palm while another is still in effect, the previous effect is negated.
Curse: After every month of attachment, the recipient must attempt a Will saving throw to resist the insidious influence of the Heart of Vecna. The DC after the first month of attachment is 15, increasing by 2 after each subsequent month of attachment (DC 17 after the 2nd month, DC 19 after the 3rd month, DC 21 after the 4th month, DC 23 after the 5th month, etc.), up to a maximum of DC 37 after a full year of attachment. If the recipient fails this Will saving throw, they become dominated as if they were affected by a dominate person spell cast on them by Vecna, for a duration of 4d4+4 hours. A dominated recipient acts according to Vecna’s will to the best of their ability, if applicable, subject to the GM’s discretion.
DESTRUCTION
To destroy the Heart of Vecna, it must be eaten by someone using the Molar of Vecna. Alternatively, the Heart can be destroyed by impaling it with a holy and epic slashing or piercing weapon.
Skin of Vecna (Minor Artifact)[b]
[b]Slot — (partially replaces recipient’s skin); CL 15th; Weight —; Aura strong abjuration (healing), strong illusion (figment), and strong transmutation (polymorph)
DESCRIPTION
The Skin of Vecna is from Vecna’s original body, and it once covered the left half of his face, neck, and upper chest. Tough and leathery, it is still flexible enough to be unrolled. Once in place, it functions like a normal skin; however, the left side of the recipient’s face, neck, and upper torso obviously doesn’t match the skin on right side, what with its darkly scabrous color and texture.
Constant Powers: The Skin grants the recipient spell resistance equal to 14 plus total hit dice (for example, a recipient with 10 total hit dice gains SR 24) if the recipient does not already possess superior spell resistance. If the recipient already possesses SR superior to 14 plus total hit dice, the Skin instead increases the recipient’s normal SR by +4 (for example, if the recipient normally has SR 24, attaching the Skin increases the recipient’s existing SR to 28). The Skin grants the recipient supernatural resistance to cold and fire as if permanently affected by resist energy spells for both kinds of energy by a 15th-level caster (gaining resist cold 30 and resist fire 30).
Invoked Powers: The Skin grants the recipient access to several spell-like abilities, each of which can be activated as a standard action. These spell-like abilities can be activated up to 4 times per day in any combination, each with a caster level of 15th. The spell-like abilities are: mirror image, polymorph (self only), protection from energy (electricity only, self only), and stoneskin (self only). All forms assumed with polymorph retain the telltale skin mismatch, as appropriate.
Curse: After every month of attachment, the recipient must attempt a Will saving throw to resist the insidious influence of the Skin of Vecna. The DC after the first month of attachment is 15, increasing by 2 after each subsequent month of attachment (DC 17 after the 2nd month, DC 19 after the 3rd month, DC 21 after the 4th month, DC 23 after the 5th month, etc.), up to a maximum of DC 37 after a full year of attachment. If the recipient fails this Will saving throw, they become dominated as if they were affected by a dominate person spell cast on them by Vecna, for a duration of 4d4+4 hours. A dominated recipient acts according to Vecna’s will to the best of their ability, if applicable, subject to the GM’s discretion. Additionally, the Skin of Vecna permanently reduces the recipient’s Charisma score by 5 points, which cannot thereafter be restored by any means except by removal of the Skin followed by the casting of 5 consecutive wish or miracle spells on the afflicted character (1 wish or miracle restores 1 lost point of Charisma each), or else by the intervention of a lesser or greater deity.
DESTRUCTION
Any force, natural or magical, that can inflict 33 points of damage from a single blow, spell, or other effect is sufficient to destroy the Skin. In addition, someone using the Molar of Vecna can destroy the Skin by eating it.
Last Digit of Vecna (Minor Artifact)
Slot — (replaces recipient’s last digit on right hand); CL 15th; Weight —; Aura strong abjuration and strong transmutation
DESCRIPTION
The Last Digit of Vecna is from Vecna’s original right hand. The thin and bony pinkie retains a jagged, fungus-eaten nail. Once in place, it functions as a normal finger.
Constant Powers: The Last Digit grants the recipient spell resistance equal to 14 plus total hit dice (for example, a recipient with 10 total hit dice gains SR 24) if the recipient does not already possess superior spell resistance. If the recipient already possesses SR superior to 14 plus total hit dice, the Last Digit instead increases the recipient’s normal SR by +4 (for example, if the recipient normally has SR 24, attaching the Last Digit increases the recipient’s existing SR to 28). While the Last Digit is attached, the recipient gains Eschew Materials as a bonus feat.
Invoked Powers: Once per day, the recipient can invoke the power of the Last Digit, which allows the recipient to activate a spell-like ability that functions in every way as the wizard spell mnemonic enhancer, except that no material components or focuses are required (verbal and somatic components only). Like the wizard spell mnemonic enhancer, this spell-like ability has a 10 minute casting time, and only wizards (and other arcane casters who prepare their spells in advance) can benefit from the effects.
Curse: After every month of attachment, the recipient must attempt a Will saving throw to resist the insidious influence of the Last Digit of Vecna. The DC after the first month of attachment is 15, increasing by 2 after each subsequent month of attachment (DC 17 after the 2nd month, DC 19 after the 3rd month, DC 21 after the 4th month, DC 23 after the 5th month, etc.), up to a maximum of DC 37 after a full year of attachment. If the recipient fails this Will saving throw, they become dominated as if they were affected by a dominate person spell cast on them by Vecna, for a duration of 4d4+4 hours. A dominated recipient acts according to Vecna’s will to the best of their ability, if applicable, subject to the GM’s discretion.
DESTRUCTION
Any force, natural or magical, that can inflict 33 points of damage from a single blow, spell, or other effect is sufficient to destroy the Last Digit. In addition, someone using the Molar of Vecna can destroy the Last Digit by eating it.
Before Malvolio conquered Medegia, it was a theocratic See ruled by the church of Hextor. During their reign over the See of Medegia, the Hextorians mercilessly persecuted the church of Stern Alia, almost to the point of extinction within the realm, and what remained of the Shield Mother's clergy were scattered pockets of fugitive survivors, meeting covertly to worship at clandestine shrines in private homes.
In the aftermath of Malvolio's conquest of Medegia, the church of Hextor has been toppled from their seats of power within the former See, and there are recent rumors going around Nulbish that the Horned King's deputies (the party) plan to quash the church of Hextor in that city. This has come as welcomed news to the formerly downtrodden clergy of Stern Alia remaining in the Horned King's capital.
When Countess Olivia of Pontylver meets with the small sect of Stern Alia that still inhabits Nulbish and informs them that the Horned King's deputies are preparing to make an expedition into White Plume Mountain in search of Blackrazor (so the sentient bastard sword can be offered to the Horned King as a replacement for the troublesome Sword of Kas) and the Left Ear of Vecna (so it doesn't fall into enemy hands), one Sister Belit volunteers to join the expedition to provide healing magic and other clerical aid.
"I would be honored to accompany the brave deputies of the Horned King to White Plume Mountain, and minister to them during their travails!"
Sister Belit of Stern Alia
LN female human [Oeridian-Flan] hidden priest cleric 5 of Stern Alia
Str 10, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 19, Cha 16
AC 20, touch 12, flat-footed 18 (+6 armor, +1 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 shield)
hp 50 (5d8+10) Fort +8 Ref +4 Will +10
Melee mwk morningstar +4 (1d8) Ranged mwk light crossbow +5 (1d8/19-20)
Channel Positive Energy 8/day, 5d6, DC 15
Feats Combat Casting, Dodge, Extra Channel, Selective Channeling
Skills Heal +12, Spellcraft +8
Combat Gear wand of cure serious wounds (15 charges), wand of bear’s endurance (10 charges), holy water vials (4); Other Gear chainmail, heavy steel shield, masterwork morningstar, masterwork light crossbow and 20 bolts, phylactery of positive channeling, silver holy symbol of Stern Alia
Domains Law, Protection
Domain Granted Powers touch of law 7/day (willing recipient treats d20 rolls as result of 11 for 1 round), +2 resistance bonus to saving throws, resistant touch 7/day (transfer +2 resistance bonus to an ally for 1 minute)
Cleric Spells Prepared (CL 5th; concentration +9)
3rd—protection from energyD, remove curse, remove disease
2nd—lesser restoration, shield otherD, silence, weapon of awe
1st—bless, protection from chaos/evil/good/law, remove fear, sanctuaryD, shield of faith
0th (at will)—create water, detect magic, light, resistance
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** spoiler omitted **
Waterday, 26th of Planting in 600 CY, dusk (~7:00 PM):
As the party is sailing the carrack Triton back down the Mikar River (toward its junction with the Thelly River), on their way back to Nulbish from their recent foray into the Darkenrift within the Grandwood Forest, they are blissfully unaware of dire events unfolding elsewhere in the lands of the Flanaess ....
Many leagues to the south, where the southern border of the Kingdom of Sunndi abuts the northern border of the dank and fetid Vast Swamp, a line of unfinished watchtowers and border keeps are under construction. The mighty Pawluck River seems to slither down from the northwest out of the Hollow Highlands along a bending and twisting channel, like some immense and primal water-serpent, before slipping down into the stinking morass of the Vast Swamp. The river basin echoes with the continuous, sibilant song of the Pawluck's meandering waters, swollen with recent low summer showers almost to the point of overflowing their ancient serpentine course, threatening to flood the low-lying dells amid the gently rolling green hills.
On the east bank of a curving bend in the Pawluck, only about a bowshot north of where it slithers into the Vast Swamp, the skeletal wooden framework of a watchtower has been partially raised over the last several days by a crew of carpenters and their apprentices, directed in their labors by a foreman and an engineer. During the previous month of Coldeven, a different crew, consisting of some dozen stonemasons and their young apprentices, and guided by a different foreman and engineer (familiar with stonework construction), had laid a firm and level foundation of mortared fieldstone, forming the 20-foot-square floor of what would eventually be a 60-foot-high square watchtower. Those stonecutters and masons had moved on to another site further to the east, to lay another stone foundation for yet another watchtower, and the crew of carpenters that now toiled in a race against time to erect the wooden walls of the watchtower had arrived here and set up their temporary camp, pitching smaller tents around the larger pavilion of the foreman and engineer.
The red sun was now sinking below the distant mounds of the Hollow Highlands far to the west, between the sprawling Rieuwood Forest to the north and the somewhat smaller Menowood Forest to the south, and the eternal whispering sigh of the river was now accompanied by the evening song of cicadas, the rhythmic chirping of crickets and frogs, and a random cacophony of croaks, hoots, howls, shrieks, and hisses echoed over the rank and seemingly endless expanse of the Vast Swamp to the south. The carpenters and their young apprentices responded as one to the shrill whistle of their foreman, climbing down from scaffolds and laying down their hammers, saws, and lathes. Frequently casting wary glances southward at the deepening gloom that seemed to creep across the Vast Swamp, the crew of some twenty craftsmen and laborers hastened to find their individual tents and makeshift lean-tos as the foreman and engineer quickly retreated into the meager shelter of their pavilion.
As the crew of weary builders settled into their beds of straw and coarse blankets inside their flimsy tents and hastily-cobbled sheds, something stirred in the fetid bogs and thickets of cattails and marsh reeds to the south ....
The last reddish glow of the sun vanished into darkness below the western horizon, and the stygian gloom of night spread over the Kingdom of Sunndi and the Vast Swamp. Although the carpenters and apprentices were always exhausted after the long days of toiling to raise the line of fortifications along the southern border of Sunndi, in obedience to the royal command of Elvenking Hazendel I nearly a decade ago, the growing dread that always seized them during the night as they camped so near to the unwholesome and perilous Vast Swamp caused restful sleep to be elusive, if not simply unattainable ....
What was THAT noise?? .... Was something creeping around outside my tent?? .... Who's out there?? ....
These were the thoughts that kept sleep at bay as the crew of carpenters and apprentices laid as still as corpses in their humble beds of straw and coarse blankets within their flimsy tents and hastily-cobbled lean-tos ....
Suddenly, the dark night was filled with a terrible cacophony of shrill howls, shrieks, and terrible batrachian croaks that unmistakably came from the Vast Swamp! Ghastly greenish torch-flames danced over the reeking expanse of bogs and quagmires as a horde of raiders emerged from the darkness to the south! The foremost ranks of this horde were flapping, hopping, croaking humanoid shapes with frog-like heads, their slimy, mottled green-and-brown hides completely devoid of hair, their mouths wide and large, their frog-like tongues lolling and dripping with slimy saliva as they surged out of the swamp to fall upon the tents and sheds of the carpenters and apprentices!
These loose and disorganized ranks of frog-like humanoids were driven before a smaller but more organized formation of what appeared to be more human-looking raiders clad in gray-and-amber robes and pointed hoods that completely concealed their faces, some sloshing clumsily through knee-deep bogs and mud to clamber onto firmer ground and join their frog-like minions in the unfolding massacre of the terrified workers in their tents and huts, others mounted upon monstrous giant frogs the size of riding horses!
Most horrific of all the gibbering, croaking, howling, hooting horde was the one who came bounding out of the Vast Swamp from the rear of the horde, a grotesquely flabby, batrachian-featured humanoid, hunchbacked and bandy-legged, and yet somehow possessing a larger and more terrible presence than all the rest of the horde, brandishing with monstrous strength and swiftness a great pole-arm with a wicked, three-tined fork akin to a frog-gigging spear, clad in what seemed like grayish and pale-yellow clerical vestments, a bishop's mitre crowning its head ....
DEATH TO THE TRAITOROUS MONGRELS OF SUNNDI!! DEATH TO THE ELF-LOVERS!!! DEATH TO THOSE WHO SULLY THEMSELVES BY MINGLING WITH THE ABOMINABLE DEMI-HUMAN SCUM!!!
Orsino casts Mordenkainen's Super Extended Time Stop, allowing us to visit White Plume Mountain, take out some 'False-Keraptis'es, and get Blackrazor back to Nulbish in time to do other stuff, too!
Orsino casts Mordenkainen's Super Extended Time Stop, allowing us to visit White Plume Mountain, take out some 'False-Keraptis'es, and get Blackrazor back to Nulbish in time to do other stuff, too!
~9:00 PM on the night of Starday, 1st of Flocktime, 600 CY .... Two days before the party arrives back in Nulbish following their foray into the Darkenrift in Grandwood Forest, while they are still sailing west down the Thelly River aboard the carrack Triton ....
The City of Admundfort, circa 600 CY
The walled city of Admundfort sprawls along the south shore of Walworth Isle, an island in the north central waters of the Nyr Dyv (a.k.a. "The Lake of Unknown Depths"), its pair of imposing twin keeps overlooking the seemingly endless expanse of deep blue freshwater that stretches as far as the eye can see in every direction except north. Formerly the de facto capital of the Shield Lands, and the chief stronghold of the religious military order known as the Knights of the Holy Shielding, Admundfort was once governed by a Commonwealth of lords ruled by the highest ranking noble of Walworth Isle, which is currently Countess Katarina of Walworth, Knight Commander of the Shield Lands.
Everything changed for the Shield Lands during the Greyhawk Wars, specifically 17 years ago, in Flocktime of 583 CY, when the cambion demigod Iuz invaded the Shield Lands with his army of evil humanoids, led by the mages and priests of the "Old One's" Greater and Lesser Boneheart, and by the assassins, thieves, and mercenaries of his Boneshadow, augmented by various greater and lesser demons bound in service to the "Lord of Pain." The Shield Lands quickly fell under the brutal onslaught of Iuz and his wicked horde, in part because they refused help from the Kingdom of Furyondy for fear of reabsorption. (The Shield Lands were once part of Ferrond, which broke off from The Great Kingdom in 254 CY. The Shield Lands later broke off from Furyondy sometime in the fourth century.) Part of the Sheild Lands was reclaimed during The Great Northern Crusade, but much of it remains occupied by the forces of Iuz.
Tattered shreds of clouds are blown swiftly across the night sky by the strong winds whipping over the fathomless waters of the Nyr Dyv, like an army of ghosts charging the northward lakeshore. The greater moon Luna ("The Mistress") is waxing full, and the swift-flying ghost clouds passing in front of her cause her silvery moonlight to flicker like a guttering torch flame. The lesser moon Celene ("The Handmaidsn") is a thin aquamarine crescent, barely visible to all but perhaps elven eyes. The lake winds howl and shriek through the crenelations and murder holes of the twin keeps of Admundfort like tormented souls of the damned, and whistle or moan as they sweep through the lakeside city's narrow streets and alleys. In spite of the continuous chorus of winds from the Nyr Dyv, a random cacophony composed of a wide variety of other more or less subtle noises sounding here and there throughout Admundfort is gradually increasing in frequency and volume .... It is the sound of the city's populace donning armor, arming itself with weapons, and beginning to mobilize ....
Up until tonight, it appeared that Iuz had displayed either an ignorance of or a flagrant disregard for the obvious tactical strengths of Admundfort as a walled port city on an island in a vast and deep lake. Admundfort has a naval barracks and a handful of surviving caravels, but these are not used much by Iuz's forces.
On the northern lakeshore of the Nyr Dyv, a shriveled and hunched figure shrouded in a wrinkled black robe emerges from the darkness, like a ghost materializing out of thin air, shuffling with the arthritic gait of an ancient geezer and leaning heavily on a staff that is taller than the bent figure by several inches, and appears to be crafted from humanoid vertebral columns and capped with a human skull with flickering red flames dancing in the hollow eye sockets .... A black cowl is pulled over the pale, wrinkled, balding pate and conceals the upper half of the ancient codger's face, shrouding the eyes in dark shadow .... and yet, two pale points of reflected moonlight mark the somehow inherently malevolent gleam of the ancient one's gaze as he fixes it upon the black silhouette of Admundfort's crenelated wall, gambrel rooftops, and twin keeps, his pale and wrinkled jowls quivering as his cracked and withered lips curl back in a predatory grin that exposes blackened ruins of vaguely bestial teeth protruding from receding, grayish-yellow gums .... A raspy wheezing cackle, as soft and silent as a death rattle, escapes from the gaping, rotten hole of a mouth, and the ancient coot shudders momentarily as if chilled by the blasting lake winds that tug at his wrinkled black robe and cowl .... A gust blows the cowl back, exposing the pallid, wrinkled visage, with unnaturally sunken eyes like the dead, black eyes of a shark, beneath a bald pate crowned with sparse and straggly snow-white wisps of hair that whip about in the wind ....
The bent and ancient watcher on the lakeshore lifted his wrinkled, almost skull-like face to the silver glow of the nearly-full greater moon, Luna, and the rotten mouth gaped open suddenly with a disturbingly inhuman wideness, as if the jawbone were suddenly dislocated beyond repair, and a demonic howl like the howling of a pack of lunatics pierced through the shrill shrieking chorus of the night winds, echoing across the inky black waters of the Nyr Dyv for what must have been several leagues in every direction .... Several seconds passed before the reverberating echoes of that demonic howl became lost in the shrieking winds .... The skull-like visage lifted again to glower with unholy malice at the waxing silver moon behind the racing ghost-clouds, and again, the jawbone seemed to gape open with a wideness incompatible with human anatomy as the bald-pated geezer gave voice to a second demonic howl ....
After the echoes of this second ghastly call had been carried off into the black night on shrieking lake winds, an amber beam of light like that of a hooded lantern swept across the black surface of the Lake of Unknown Depth from the south and west .... As the amber beam fell upon the bent and decrepit figure leaning on the skeletal skull-topped staff on the northern lakeshore, a second such beam swept out of the gloom from south and east, and then a third from around the western end of Walworth Isle, followed by a fourth from the far east end of the isle .... Within minutes, several more lantern beams appeared out on the lake, as a small fleet of barges, rafts, and flat-bottomed riverboats piloted with long poles emerged from around both ends of Walworth Isle, converging in the narrow channel between the north lakeshore and the north shore of the isle, gathering and maneuvering with practiced ease, until some two dozen barges, rafts, and flat-bottomed boats had formed a broad flotilla that linked island with lakeshore like a great undulating bridge!
These were Rhennish vessels, piloted by an extended clan of corrupted Rhennee families that were fanatically loyal to Iuz the Old. In a matter of minutes, they had secured their flotilla by tethering the two dozen barges, rafts, and flat-bottomed riverboats firmly together with expertly-knotted ropes and grappling hooks. Having done this, the patriarch of the extended Rhennee clan sounded a shrill whistling signal on a bone whistle that hung on a leather cord about his neck. This was the signal to let the "Old One" know that the flotilla would now serve as a sturdy bridge for the garrison of Admundfort to cross over to the north lakeshore .... Iuz had been leaning heavily on the skull-topped vertebral staff, gripping it with both of his pale, almost skeletal, claw-like hands, and leaning almost half-bent, but he released one claw-like grip on the vertebral haft of the staff to procure seemingly from thin air a curving spiral ram's horn, the narrow end of which he pressed to his withered and scabrous lips, and sounded a long, low note that rose in a bestial cadence at the end, reminiscent of the primal cry of some prehistoric behemoth from long-forgotten eons ....
The Lesser Boneheart mage Vayne rules Admundfort from a great townhouse in the city district once known as The Guilders for the members of the powerful artisans' guilds who used to live there. Vayne had the central citadel of the Knights of the Holy Shielding looted and the many shrines to Heironeous defaced and befouled. Fiends prowl there now, tormenting the handful of Shield Land minor nobility captured in the city.
Within the walls of Admundfort, the garrison of occupying minions of Iuz the Old had been awaiting the arrival and command of their Dark Lord Iuz ever since their commander, Vayne of the Lesser Boneheart, had been forewarned earlier that day (by a quasit demon messenger named Regurgipox) that the "Old One" would "provide a bridge over the water, and sound the Horn of War at the Lake of Unknown Depths at three hours before midnight!"
To most of the garrison occupying Admundfort, this came as welcome news, for the walled city on the south shore of Walworth Isle had begun to feel more like a great donjon cell they were trapped in than a stronghold. With no capable sailors among them (except for some of the human slaves, who would likely use the caravels and fishing boats docked around Admundfort to flee, if given half a chance), the garrison were essentially captives of the island city, as much as they were its occupiers. Therefore, upon hearing that they would finally be turned loose to slaughter and pillage again after feeling trapped in Admundfort for more than a decade, nearly all of the occupying orcs, goblin-kind, gnolls, ogres, and other evil humanoids of the garrison reveled in the news.
But to their commander Vayne, the quasit Regurgipox's warning struck him like an ogre's club to the gut. Vayne is a bitter man; he has been demoted from the Greater Boneheart for a lack of distinction in the wars, and the Archmage Null was promoted in his stead. This was an especially cruel blow, since the Greater Boneheart is one short of its maximum number, and Vayne is now isolated from his master and fellows.
Also, Vayne has to deal with the Rhennee who ply their trade from this city across the Nyr Dyv. They tell Vayne much of what happens in Greyhawk, Urnst, Nyrond and Furyondy. Vayne passes on some of what he learns to Iuz, but not all, and he is beginning to consider the possibility of defecting and telling all he knows of Iuz's plans to a country which would reward his treachery, such as Veluna. However, he is too terrified of Iuz to put this plan into action yet.
Vayne had been dreading this moment for half the day, and now it had arrived. There was nothing for it but to feign total loyalty to Iuz, and lead the garrison across whatever "bridge over the water" the cambion demigod had provided with as much false enthusiasm as he could muster. Emerging from his townhouse in the Guilders district, he made a show of fierce determination and unflinching decisiveness as he shouted to be heard above the general din of the mob gathered in the streets and market squares of Admundfort: "THE HOUR HAS FALLEN, THRALLS OF IUZ!! MAKE READY TO MARCH, FOR OUR MIGHTY LORD OF PAIN CALLS US TO HIS SIDE!! LET US NOT TARRY HERE ANOTHER WASTED HEARTBEAT!!" Vayne then casted a fly spell on himself and rose up into the air some 30 feet above the street so that he was clearly visible to all of the assembled minions, and turning toward the gatehouse in the central north city wall, he flew toward it, shouting: FOLLOW ME TO OUR MASTER, AND TO THE MASSACRE OF OUR VICTIMS!!"
A loud and monstrous roar went up from the throng of evil humanoids, lesser fiends, and monstrous minions that made up the garrison of Admundfort as they surged northward after the flying mage, who led them out through the north gate in the city wall and across the north half of Walworth Isle, where just as the little quasit demon messenger had predicted, the north lake channel had been completely spanned by a great flotilla of Rhennish rafts, barges, and flat-bottomed boats lashed firmly together by ropes.
As the garrison crossed over the flotilla to rally around their evil demigod-emperor on the northern lakeshore, the extended familial clan of evil Rhennee thralls of Iuz who'd constructed the flotilla-bridge joined them, and the combined host, led by the "Lord of Evil" himself (and by Vayne, who was "going through the motions" as convincingly as he could), marched west along the north lakeshore toward Critwall ....
In Rel Astra ("City of the Heavens"), from Planting 18th up to Starday the 1st of Flocktime, 600 CY (during the party's return voyage down the Mikar and Thelly Rivers aboard the Triton to Nulbish) ....
Drax the Invulnerable proceeded with his plan to assemble a company of highly-capable adventurers and lead them on an expedition into the infamous Tomb of Horrors, where divinations (cast by Drax’s royal seer, the Fiend-Sage of Rel Astra) had revealed that the Hand of Vecna had resurfaced in the legendary trove of the ancient cambion demilich Acererak. Over the latter half of Planting, with the magical and mundane assistance of the Fiend-Sage of Rel Astra, Drax had made contact with several promising candidates, and had even managed to secure the services of some few of these:
By the first day of Flocktime, Drax had already recruited the Archmage Vernnend (former guild master of Rel Astra’s disbanded Guild of Mages), two “Dweomermasters” from the Sorcerer’s Nexus (Rel Astra’s recently reformed mages’ guild), the formidable swordsman Ranxxen Strangender (captain of the Bannermen mercenary company), and the cunning master thief Vornekern (one of the Five of Roland).
Archmage Vernnend already resided in a tower within Rel Astra, and was a long-time associate and advisor to Drax; and the two Dweomermasters were likewise residents of Rel Astra, abiding within the Sorcerer's Nexus (Rel Astra's reformed Guild of Mages). Ranxxen Strangender put his chief lieutenant (Chungo Yaaj) in temporary command of the Bannermen and rode down from their secret cave-hideout in the Gull Cliffs, arriving at Drax's palace in Rel Astra on the 27th of Planting. Vornekern informed the other Five of Roland's ruling council that he would be away on "private business" for an indefinite term and bought passage aboard a merchant coaster down the Solnor coast, arriving at Rel Astra on the morning of Starday the 1st.
Godsday, 4th of Flocktime, 600 CY (one day after the party's return to Nulbish from their foray into the Darkenrift in Grandwood Forest) ....
Having returned to Castle Skullgard in Nulbish the day before, where:
1.) The Horned King's Men reported to the Horned King regarding their foray into the Darkenrift in Grandwood Forest, including their strong suspicion that an ancient and powerful aberration from the depths of UnderOerth (known as an aboleth) was responsible for the occasional disappearances of rural folk from farms and ranches in north Medegia over the last six centuries;
2.) The party held private council with Countess Olivia and "Selephotsiphem" (finally revealed to be a guise of the archdevil Mephistopheles himself), conspiring to divest the Horned King of the terrible Sword of Kas and free him from its ever-tightening grip before his increasing enthrallment became absolute and irrevocable, by acquiring a suitable replacement to offer him in exchange -- the sentient, soul-devouring greatsword Blackrazor (revealed by divinations to have returned to the ancient dungeon of the archmage Keraptis under White Plume Mountain); and ....
3.) Countess Olivia introduced the party to a young (and comely) but capable cleric of Stern Alia named Sister Belit, who offered to accompany them on an expedition to White Plume Mountain (and provide better, more reliable healing than their wands of cure light wounds and infernal healing could provide) ....
Countess Olivia provided the party with two scrolls of greater teleport (one to bring them to the foothills just south of White Plume Mountain, and the other for their return to Castle Skullgard), and they began their initial harrowing foray into the bizarre and deadly dungeon of the ancient archmage Keraptis ....
The Horned King's Men (with Sister Belit) infiltrated the dungeon inside White Plume Mountain, encountering two of the four "False Kerapti" (individuals deluded by the magic of Keraptis' K: imprint scrolls, each believing that they are the TRUE, original Keraptis) -- "Nightfear" (a gnome wizard, who had apparently claimed but then lost the magic trident Wave), and "Killjoy" (an efreet who wielded Blackrazor) -- and were forced to abort their mission (using the second scroll of greater teleport to narrowly escape death or a worse fate) after they were attacked by the latter -- but had no luck in discovering the location of the Left Ear of Vecna, also revealed by divinations to be somewhere within White Plume Mountain ....
Back at Castle Skullgard, the humbled-but-wiser antiheroes (and Sister Belit) healed their wounds and made plans for a second foray into White Plume Mountain ....