The party:
Hector, a 5th level Archontean fighter
Callista, a 5th level Archontean druid
Julia, a 6th level Archontean cleric of Lucreon
Melnax, a 4th level Elf
Batengis, a 4th level Khumus acolyte of Tingri
Susarra, a 5th level Archontean fighter (retainer)
Aethel, a Thorcin hireling
Kallion, an Archontean translator
After resting overnight at the party’s house in Gosterwick, Bjorn cryptically mentioned having business to attend to and left to pursue it. As luck would have it, Batengis had recently finished the first phase of his investigation into an improved holy water and was available to take Bjorn’s place. While discussing where to explore next, Chert suggested that with their increased numbers and experience that they may be able to investigate the Long House which he suspected contained another entrance to the Halls.
Returning to the city the party made their way to the Long House. Opening the front door revealed an entryway with another pair of double doors. Opening these doors revealed the disheveled main room of the structure, and the charnel smell of death and decay wafting out. A greeting called into the room was answered by a chilling voice introducing himself as Archemeson, the master of the house, who invited the party in to “join his retinue”. A few more moments of banter ensued, until Julia grew tired of the parley, at which point Melnax cast Fireball from a scroll, decimating the ghouls and wounding Archemeson. The remainder of the undead hose rushed the party but were easily dispatched in a few moments. Entering the Long House the party searched the structure thoroughly, finding thousands of copper and silver coins, four gems, twelve well crafted arrows, a long sword with a blue linen-wrapped grip, a scroll with various Magic User spells, and both hands from the shattered colossal statue of Vul. No entrance to the lower Halls was discovered.
The party then returned to the Palace of the Archon to investigate the exit from the solarium. This led to a courtyard where the their obelisk, the Obelisk of the Moon, was located. This obelisk had been badly damaged, with the upper half completely obliterated, which explained why the party had not been able to detect it before. The inscription of the ankh still remained, however, and the party hoped to be able to find a third ankh key at some point to unlock the secret of the obelisks.
Deciding to go ahead and tie up some loose ends in the surface ruins, the party made their way to the Tower of Scrutiny. Climbing to the top of the tower they entered through the windows as before and began to descend the wooden stairs into the tower. As they descended, the rotten wood of the stairs collapsed and Susarra began to slowly fall into the middle of the tower thanks to her ring of feather falling. As Batengis used his rig of levitation to retrieve her, the party saw well over. Dozen wights rising from the depths of the tower. Beating a hasty retreat the party left the tower and discussed their next moves.
They decided to attempt to find the Well of Light, having a vague idea of where it should be based on its location on the baboon level. After locating the well they proceeded east down the boulevard into the Eastern Plaza. A collapsed fountain here contained the marble right arm and hand from the colossal statue of Arden that once stood in the city. Filing this information away for later they decided to spend some time systematically exploring the southeast quadrant of the city, as the day was cloudy and Callista had prudently prepared Call Lightning that morning. They found little of interest as they proceeded south besides a highly detailed six inch tall statue of a female warrior wearing chain mail and wielding a longsword.
Having arrived back at the Cliff Gate the party began to work their way along the wall, first east and then north, examining the same towers as they went. Most of these were found to be mostly destroyed and abandoned. As they approached a square tower almost due east of the Tower of Scrutiny they were met by. Barrage of stones and an the familiar hooting of the albino baboons. Casting Speak With Animals, Callista attempted to negotiate with the baboons, who only grew more belligerent, and then called for someone called “Rango”. A thumping, trembling sound ensued and one of the huge four armed albino baboons lumbered into view, intruding himself as Rango, the master of this tower, in halting Archontean. As it quickly became clear that this encounter was going to lead to violence, Callista called upon the forces of nature an sent akmassive lightning bolt crashing into their midst, killing some number of the smaller baboons and enraging Rango and the survivors who charged from the tower towards the party. Focusing their efforts on the huge baboon they were able to drop him in short order, which caused the nerve of the remaining smaller barons to falter, and they began running east towards an overgrown cistern. Using a combination of magic and missile weapons the party prevented the baboons from escaping and examination pf the cistern revealed a crack in the floor that led to a small tunnel winding down into the darkness. The party theorized that this led down to the baboon level and decided to leave it be. A search of the tower that the baboons had inhabited revealed only three ancient, large, and heavy tapestries, one depicting a war between dragon riders and wizards, and the other two featuring the fourth and the seventh labors of Arden.
The party continued north to examine the towers of the Eastgate, the upper two thirds of each tower having collapsed into piles of rubble. Searching through the rubble in the south tower revealed a few items of note, including the corpse of an Imperial administrator with a parchment describing “the accursed ones on their fire-breathing mounts”, a wax sealed bottle with an oddly menacing swirling mist within, and a battered but still intact set of imperial field plate. As they approached the northern tower Callista easily spotted some recent tracks from about a half dozen humanoids leading towards a three foot diameter hole leading to a cleared space about fifteen feet across but only four feet tall. It contained a fire pit and a pile of firewood covered with a tarp. Examination of the pile of firewood found that it concealed a trapdoor leading down to the cellar of the tower. The cellar was dry, and showed signs of recent habitation; bedrolls and a new, locked, wooden chest. A narrow crack, only some two feet wide, lead to a natural tunnel. Deciding not to bother what they posited to be another adventuring group’s supply, Callista left a note saying “Greetings from the Thoth Patrol” and proceeded into the natural tunnel. This descended for some 350 feet until it entered a chamber the party had discovered a few days before, containing three iron bound sarcophagi from which vaguely unsettling rattling and scratching sounds emanated. Please dto have found another entrance to the halls that bypassed the halflings, the party returned to the surface.
The party continued north and northwest along the wall, exploring towers as they went, noting a villa in relatively good condition about a hundred feet outside the northeast wall for later exploration. After reaching the Northgate they greeted Kronos’ men and proceeded to the Inn of the Broken Head for a meal, gossip, and a warm bed for the night. Arising in the morning they took a path along the river and then east through the north central part of the ruined city towards the villa outside the walls they had seen the previous day. Along the way they found a hole in the ruins of a residence leading to a lost cellar. A search of the cellar revealed three broken marble statues each about 6’ tall, as well as the marble right leg from the colossal statue of Arden. A quick inventory of the broken statues revealed their subjects as Horus in a triumphant pose, Uriel Gnaeus, the founder of the Order of Thoth, and a finely-dressed goblin. The party also found a secret door, behind which was a spiral staircase leading down to the Halls. The party postponed exploration of this staircase and continued towards the villa.
Very little of the surface structures at the villa remained intact but a set of stairs leading to a wine cellar were soon discovered. A strong musky animal smell wafted up from below, and Callista cast Speak With Animals and called ahead a greeting into the cellar. An unusually large wolverine lumbered into the ray of sunlight shining down the stairs, and after plying him with exotic foods from Larel’s Sack, he returned to his nest and kept a wary eye on the group as they explored the cellar.
Sixteen large casks still lined the walls, the wine having evaporated long ago leaving only a thick precipitate coating the casks. Several skeletons of adventurers were scattered about he floor of the cellar from which the party recovered some scrolls, potions, a lump of amber, and a few silver coins. While exploring the rest of the cellar, Julia discovered that one of the casks was illusory; a quick examination by touch revealed nothing that could be felt; a quick Dispel Magic revealed the wall behind the illusion, upon which glowed fourteen gold glyphs arranged in a circle. Melnax cast Read Magic as a ritual which revealed that the glyphs represent letters of the Archontean alphabet, the letters spelling ORCUSAIDSPAIRS if read clockwise from the top. The party discussed various theories of the possible meaning of the glyphs as the sun set on another successful day of adventure in the city of Arden Vul.
R.I.P.
None.
Foes defeated:
Eighteen ghouls
One enhanced wight
Eight large albino baboons
One huge four armed intelligent albino baboon
I am really enjoying these play reports; I am also reading through another playthrough using DFRPG as the system. It is interesting to see different groups methods of dealing with some of the same situations with different game mechanics.