Session 19 recap

The party:

Hector, a 6th 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

Returning to the city the party stayed the night at their house. On the morning of the 13th of Fidios they began their day by visiting The Arcane Practitioner’s Club to have the magics on the miniature statue reversed. First the shrinking magic was dispelled. Then came the de-petrification, which only had about a one in four chance in working. Luck was with the party (and the individual) and the de-petrifcation was successful. The woman spoke only Mythric, so Kallion conversed with her and found that she was a Ranger named Scylla who had come to the city of Arden Vul with some compatriots in 1823 AEP, some 1,100 years prior. Her last memory was of arriving in the city and almost immediately encountering an ugly creature that resembled a cross between a lizard and a chicken. With other things to to that day the party dropped her off with Coco to begin acclimating her to the current era. They next made a brief stop at the Rarities Factor to inquire about Orcus, the word they had seen in the basement of the villa. The sage was able to inform them the Orcus was a demon prince of the undead, and was curious about where this word had been seen. The party told him they did not know who had once owned the villa, and he informed them that ownership records dating to the time of Archontean occupation of the city may have survived in Narsileon, a city on the coast that was a ten day journey by horseback from Gosterwick. The party thanked him for the information and continued on their way.

The party then returned to the villa outside the northeastern wall of Arden Vul, emerging from Lankios’ basement to a stormy day with wind, heavy rain, and intermittent hail. Once again bribing the giant wolverine that lived there with food, they returned to examining the fourteen magic glyphs that had been hidden behind the illusion of a wine cask. Batengis first tried manipulating the glyphs with his ten foot pole, but the magic did not seem to recognize this, so he touched the letter O with his finger, and the glyph dimmed briefly before returning to its former glow, as if acknowledging that it had been touched. He then touched the rest of the letters in order clockwise around the circle, spelling “ORCUSAIDSPAIRS”. As soon as he touched the last glyph there was a feeling in the air as if some new presence had manifested in the cellar, before the unseen presence began pummeling Batengis. The rest of the party came to his aid and the creature was defeated in short order, although multiple people suffered damage from the invisible beast’s attacks. Assuming that they had defeated the guardian of the magical runes, Batengis next pressed the O rune over and over in succession. Upon touching it a fourteenth time, another invisible creature manifested and began assaulting Batengis again. The creature was also defeated, but with no small amount of harm done to various party members, including a very scary Monet when the invisible stalker, while chasing after Batengis, took a swipe at Kallion as it rushed by, who was only saved when the shield he carried took th brunt of the blow. At this point they took a break to consider their options, and felt rather foolish when they remembered the Bone of Jaken the Proud could protect against summoned creatures. This time Batengis touched every other letter, spelling OCSISARRUADPIS. This time the invisible creature manifested just as before but was unable to attack anyone. The party took advantage of this to try another letter combination by tracing a fourteen sided star with the letters. This did not produce any visible results, and luckily did not summon yet another invisible stalker. Reluctantly accepting the fact that brute forcing the glyphs was unlikely to yield results, the party took their leave of the basement, killing the third invisible stalker as they left so as not to unduly inconvenience the giant wolverine that had shown them such hospitality.

While exploring the remainder of the northeast quadrant of the city, Callista noted signs of recent activity around a pile of rubble slightly taller than its neighbors; boot prints, a few swatches of wool and linen caught on broken masonry, and several iron buckles. Examination of the rubble revealed a trap door leading to some cellars. Dropping down into the hole to explore the party was quickly set upon by eight zombies. Julia called upon the power of her god to smite the creatures and one dissolved into ash. Batengis caused a few more to retreat to the corners of the room and the party was able to defeat the undead with little difficulty. Searching the room revealed a number of empty wooden boxes scattered throughout it, all of quite recent vintage and bearing stamps of merchants from Narsileon. The north wall contained an archway concealed behind a stack of these boxes, and the party proceeded through it.

This huge room contained a score of heavy stone pillars holding up the ceiling, from behind which another eight zombies shuffled out to attack the party. These were dispatched even quicker than the first group, and the party explored the chamber. Ancient debris was found scattered everywhere, almost all of it useless: bits of leather, rotted sacks, desiccated foodstuffs, wine turned to vinegar, broken tools, and so forth. The only useful item that was noted among the trash was a 75 foot long coil of silken rope which Melnax was able to identify as Elven Rope, able to hold a literal ton of weight, and untie itself at its owner’s command. A plaster coat of arms was found affixed to the west wall at the foot of some stairs choked with rubble. The coat of arms featured a set of fasces and an officer’s baculus tied together with a complex knot. The party recognized the knot as the symbol of the Sortians, one of the sides in the Archontean civil war, while Hector, Callista, and Julia recognized the coat of arms as belonging to the Briennios clan, one of the important mid-rank clans in Archontos. While searching the room, Melnax also detected a secret door, which was opened by inserting a pole in a hole in the ceiling. Beyond the secret door lay a narrow entrance to a staircase that led down into the Halls. Following this staircase brought them to a room on the handling level they had already visited before, with six of the kilted warrior statues lining the north and south walls. Pleased to have filled in another question mark on their maps, they returned to Lankios’ basement to use their rug to spend the night at their house in Gosterwick.

On the morning of the 14th of Fidios the party turned their attention to the last remaining portion of the surface ruins they hadn’t examined in depth, the northwest quadrant. They methodically made their way north from the edge of the swamp in east-west transects, finding little beyond some old abandoned adventuring gear and a fragment of a picture vase that had word in Mythric stating “The Old Ones travelled here by mighty sky-chariot…fire and destruction…look to the Beacon for answers”. As they approached the dual towers of the West Gate it was immediately obvious that there had been recent occupation of the structure, as the door was newly repaired and oiled. Knocking and hailing any possible occupants provoked no response, so Melnax activated his Ring of Levitation and began to float upon to the top of the tower.

This, however, did provoke a response, as a massive amount of boiling oil was poured from the top of the tower. Most of the party was only moderately wounded, with Aethel having to use her shield to protect herself from the boiling deluge. Kallion, who had not acquired a new shield after sacrificing it earlier to save himself from the invisible stalker, was burned alive by the oil. Quickly grabbing his body the party retreated about a hundred feet away and took cover behind some ruined vill walls. After taking a small pause to attend to their wounds, Hector strode forward about forty feet to parsley with the inhabitants, who asked him if they were the Thoth Patrol. His answer in the affirmative was met with a cry of “IN THE NAME OF SET!” And a volley of crossbow bolts which slightly injured him.

Callista had at this point tired of the Settite’s trifling and, taking advantage of the stormy weather, called upon the gods of nature to send a massive lightning bolt into the top of the tower, causing the taunts to turn to screams which were quickly silenced. After waiting a few minutes with no further stirring in the towers Hector approached the tower while the rest of the patty remained safely behind cover. Smashing open the door to the tower he was surprised to find nine Set cultists wearing padded armor and armed with a a variety of weapons. Seeing only Hector and feeling emboldened by their superior numbers the cultists began to rush at Hector, who seized the initiative and ran back towards the party. The cultists had almost caught up to Hector when Callista stood from her hiding spot and once again called upon the power of nature to send another massive lightning bolt to into their midst, killing all but one of the. This caused the nerve of the survivor to fail, and he began to run back towards and then past the tower. A pair of Hold Person spells from Julia arrested his retreat and he fell motionless to the ground. The party collected him and drug him inside the tower so they could keep an eye on him as they searched.

All of the cultists had a small amount of silver and gold coins on them, but nothing else of note. On the roof were the charred bodies of four guardsmen and an acolyte of Set, but everything they had of value had been destroyed by the lightning. Inside the outwore were two unlocked wooden chests containing thousands of silver and gold coins, six picture-vases, a bronze plaque showing a heavy legionary, a prayer rug showing a Set animal, a platinum goblet, and an ornate silver necklace studded with four lumps of un-shaped gold. The party also found a well hidden and swollen shut trap door, which the Settites had apparently not noticed.

After the Hold Person spell wore off they began to interrogate their prisoner, who said he was a merchant in from Newmarket who had inadvertently gotten mixed up with the cult of Set as a bit of networking gone horribly awry. No one really believed this and after a long discussion about what to do with him, it was decided a quick death would be most merciful. Hector was somewhat ill at ease with doing this, and Julia (somewhat eagerly) volunteered. This felt somehow right to Hector and the deed was done.

The party tool a quick break to take treasure back to town and Julia used a scroll of Raise Dead to revive Kallion, who they installed in the house to recuperate along with Chert and Capdoffer. Kallion was inspired by his brush with death and began examining an Illusionist spell book they party had previously recovered. [GM aside: Since, with a little help, Kallion had survived a combat encounter and acquired experience points, he gained a class level.]. The party then returned to the tower to explore beneath the trap door.

The trap door opened into a subbasement filled with debris, mostly crates and barrels that had been smashed open with their contents torn up and dispersed. Rough tunnels led to the north and south. Following the southern passage for about three hundred feet it eventually opened into another basement. A rank animal smell foreshadowed the imminent arrival of three minotaurs investigating the light and noise the party made. The minotaurs initially gave as well as they got but were overwhelmed by the party superior numbers and experience in waging battle.

Image courtesy of Kim Diaz Holm.

A search of the basement revealed a number of piece of art including two large area carpets, a gold-plated torchiere, a bronze bell hung in a tripod of carved ebony, a rosewood chest carved with domestic scenes, seven five pound bars of platinum, a two foot marble statue of a snake swallowing a cat, a four foot marble statue of a young girl as a dancer, and a five foot tall bronze statue of a javelin thrower. A ruined staircase choked with rubble lay in the southwest corner and another pick dug tunnel led east. The party paused to transfer the art items back tp their house in Gosterwick and discuss their next moves.

R.I.P.

Kallion, killed by boiling oil [Resurrected with Raise Dead scroll]

Foes defeated:

Three invisible stalkers

Sixteen zombies

Fourteen Settites

Three minotaurs