Session 23 recap
The party:
Chert, a 6th level dwarf
Coco, a 6th level Archontean magic user
Thalia, a 6th level Archontean thief
Melnax, a 5th level Elf
Batengis, a 6th level Khumus acolyte of Tingri
Susarra, a 6th level Archontean fighter (retainer)
Scylla, a 4th level Archontean ranger
Aethel, a Thorcin hireling
Knut the Lucky, a 5th level Wiskin fighter
Edric ‘who drinks water’, a 6th level Thorcin cleric of Laraveen
The party decided to continue investigating the room with large alabaster cat’s head. Chert attempted to manipulate the five foot circle of rose quartz to no avail. Extending the Rod of Lordly Might to pike length, he used it to push aside the curtain of black velvet at the back of the cat’s mouth, revealing a dimly lit passageway beyond with doors on either side. Chert then walked up the tongue of the cat and looked through the curtain into the hallway beyond, whereupon the loud noise of a cat yowling commenced, stopping when he withdrew his head back into the chamber. Four more cats came into the chamber to investigate the noise but were not immediately hostile. To test a theory that Chert had, Coco produced some sardines from Laurel’s Sack and lured some of the cats onto the rose quartz circle while he looks through the curtain again, but the yowling cat alarm went off again, with three more cats coming to investigate. The party activated the alarm a third time while holding the curtain open to see where the cats came from but no more appeared. Chert then fully went through the entry and the alarm stopped when he went through fully. The rest of the party followed and the alarm went off for Batengis, Susanna, Scylla, and Edrick, but not for the rest of the party.
After listening at the first door and hearing nothing, Chert opened it. In the center of the twenty foot square room was a ten foot by ten foot pool of clear water, and a ten inch diameter disk of pure silver was attached to the center of the ceiling, flooding the chamber with pure moonlight. Twelve piles of soft linen and wool lay scattered about the room on the ledge above the pool. On the west wall was a huge fresco of a black cat’s head. Studding the north, south and east walls were some twenty wooden posts set horizontally into the stone, upon a few of which lounged more cats.
Cautiously entering the room Chert discovered a ledge above the door was empty, but labeled by a plaque with something written upon it in Mithric. Coco entered the room and was able to translate the plaque as reading “Rex, faithful guardian and friend to cats”. While Coco cat Detect Magic as a ritual the rest of the party searched for secret doors and found nothing. The only item that detected as magical to Coco was the silver disk emitting moonlight.
Leaving the room and proceeding north down the corridor, they stopped at a door on their right, while the corridor turned and proceeded west. The chamber beyond the door had an identical silver disk to the last room, bathing the room in pure moonlight. Two bunkbeds occupied the east wall, with black silk sheets. Six goats hung drying from hooks along the north wall. A wooden table with five chairs was in the center of the chamber, while a large wine rack sat against the south wall. A wardrobe was by the door and a chest sat between the bunkbeds. Thalia determined that the chest was not trapped but was locked, and she easily opened it, revealing many coins and jewels. After Coco cast Detect Magic as a ritual again and determined that only the silver was magical the party closed and relocked the chest without taking anything and left the room.
Proceeding west down the corridor the party discovered a storeroom, full of barrels, boxes, and sacks. In addition, the corpses of several animals were curing on hooks set into the ceiling, including a dozen rats threaded onto strings, a small boar, two dogs, a wolverine, and a goat. To the party’s horror he corpse of a halfling hung curing as well, raising fresh concerns about the denizens of this place. A hole in the ceiling was investigated by Melnax with his ring of levitation, and he determined that it went up far enough that it likely led to another level.
Leaving this chamber and heading north the party came to a door on their right, with the passageway continuing left to the west. Another door lay on the north wall of the continuing passageway. Opening the eastern door revealed a room redolent of cinnamon and juniper. Two large stone tables stood in the center of the room, one with a human female body and the other with two ordinary cat corpses, all of which appeared to be in the early stages of mummification. Frescoes in bright paint depicting the process of mummification, from corpse to beautifully arranged mummy, lined the walls. Some of the subjects were human women, while others were cats. The east wall was lined with alabaster jars while a large box was attached to the north wall. Scattered around the tables were copper knives, hooks, and other implements.
As the hour was growing late the party decided to call a halt to exploration for the day, retracing their steps back to Peabo’s cave and asking they could bed down for the night with him. He was very happy to have the company and when asked about the area they had been exploring he said that it was the province of the priestesses of Bastet, who generally left him alone and whom he afforded the same privilege.
Returning to the precincts of Bastet on the morning of Fidios 22nd, the party again set off the alarm as they passed through the curtain. This time they caught a glimpse of some women in black ropes retreating down the hallway to the north. Chert and Coco called after them but there was no response. Following the route the women took, the party soon found themselves in a large room they had not been in before. This enormous(one hundred feet by fifty feet) twenty five foot high chamber was lit by four of the moonlight emitting silver disks hanging from the ceiling. A landing ran across the east end. Where the party stood, with stairs leading down into a pool of placid water, from which half columns rose in two rows to a height ten feet above the water. At the west end stood the enormous alabaster inner temple fronted by another landing and steps into the pool. A narrow, six inch wide ledge runs along the north and south walls at a level fifteen feet above the floor. Also on the north and south walls, above the water line, were four fifteen foot tall niches, each containing a twelve foot tall basalt statue of Bastet in cat-headed human form. The eastern wall of the inner temple rose to the ceiling and was made of alabaster; eighteen niches, each three feet tall and two feet wide, were carved into the facade. All but one of the niches contained a statuette of a cat in various poses. Most of the statuettes were painted alabaster, with the niche on the right side of the entrance to the inner temple containing a statue made of gold. The counterpart niche on the left side stood empty. Eight women in black robes stood on the half pillar, while another woman stood languidly petting four very large caracal-like cats on the landing at the inner temple. This woman introduced herself as Oubaste, the high priestess of Bastet, and demanded to know why the party had violated their precincts not once but twice. Some testy negotiations followed, with the party apologizing for their intrusion. When asked about the history of the temple of Bastet, Oubaste said that millennia ago during the Archontean Civil War, the temple of Bastet had refused to fight with the Theosophs against the Sortians as requested by the Archon of Arden Vul at the time, and had instead chose to retreat to the Nether Reaches, as this level of the Halls was called. Inquiring about the empty niche that flanked the entrance to the inner temple, the party was told that it once held an identical golden statue of Bastet to the other side but that it had been stolen some time back. The party then described the Statue of Feline Friendship that Callista had and Oubaste said that this was not the missing statue but that she was very interested in examining it. The party then parted on better terms than they had met.
The party then left the precincts of Bastet and returned to the east, traveling back up the tunnel that led from the illusory wall and turning to the southeast. This tunnel eventually led around to an intersection with a north-south tunnel. Traveling north they found themselves in a partially collapsed room. The eastern side exhibited typical Archontean stonework, with frescoes that had run into smears of unrecognizable color. The western side had collapsed, leaving piles of broken masonry and rough rock. A ten foot diameter mosaic depicting pastoral subterranean scenes, including lizards, mushrooms, sarcophagi, bats, altars, and the like, surrounded the statue. Examine the statue showed it to be in bad shape, with the head knocked off and nowhere to be found. It appeared that the badly corroded statue had depicted a cloaked figure holding a staff in one hand and a lantern in the other. The base of the statue read, in Mithric, “Chibalba, lord of the Deeps, watches over these halls. Summon him if thy need is great”.
Mistrustful of this room, the party went south down the corridor, arriving at a door, much newer and in better repair than most of the construction they had seen on this level thus far. Thalia found no traps and unlocked the door, but it was barred on the other side and resisted Chert’s attempt to open it. After listening and hearing nothing the party knocked on the door and called out to anyone who may be on the other side but no answer was forthcoming. Chert then activated the battering ram function of his Rod of Lordly Might and burst through the door, revealing eight people at the ready on the other side: a man in robes, a man and woman in armor and wielding war hammers, a man in studded leather armor wielding a mace, and four fighters, two men and two women, in chain mail and wielding long swords. The man in robes and the man wielding a mace both immediately began casting; it was clear negotiations would be to no avail, and the battle was joined.
The enemies seize the initiative and their fighters held back as the magic user first unleashed a Fireball, injuring the entire party and killing Aethel and Edrick as Melnax fell as well, bleeding. The cleric cast Hold Person on Thalia. Coco filled the area with Pummeling Fists as Chert was able to use his to cause fear in some of the fighters. Batengis was able to cast Silence on the magic user and then used the Sortian Baculus to hold the cleric and the mage as the latter fled. As their numbers dwindled and with their leaders Held, the fighters eventually capitulated after losing two of their number and the party emerged victorious, if somewhat Pyrrhicly. They tied up the surviving enemies and Batengis determined their alignment as they interrogated them. Their leader was the magic user, Nicetes the Aesthete. The fighter hirelings had been hire din Gosterwick to help the band, who watched for adventurers newly arrived on the Varumani Lift approaching from the south to ambush, rob, and murder. The party eventually determined that the female fighter and the two remaining hirelings were perhaps not totally irredeemable, so they let them go with only basic clothes and enough money to ride the Varumani Lifts to the upper levels and possibly freedom, an act that Thalia strenuously objected to. The others were deemed too evil to trust and these Thalia executed, and the party dumped their bodies into the chasm. They then deposited some of the bulkier items they had found at their house before beginning the long walk back to the minotaur level although this didn’t take as long as the descent since it was previously travelled territory.
Arriving back at the surface to falling temperatures and driving rain, their spirits as well as their gear were dampened as they reached Lankios’ basement and returned to their house. They went to the Rarities Factor to have their magic items identified, which included various magic weapons and armor from the robbers as well as some more interesting items such as a Wand of Enemy Detection, a Sortian Eye, and a Useful Palm of Correction, as well as assorted potions and a scroll. While resting that evening Callista informed them that she was looking at retiring, as extensive time spent underground and away from the green nature that she beloved was taking its toll on her. This prompted a discussion about upgrading their living situation to a larger villa in the countryside, and Knut indicated that he had grown up learning the farmer’s trade and would be happy to help run such a place along with Callista. The decision was made to have their compatriots start arranging for the purchase of a suitable place, and discussions turned to what would be their next target of exploration in the Halls.
R.I.P.
Aethel and Edric, incinerated by a Fireball
Foes defeated:
Two fighter hirelings, killed during combat
A fighter, a cleric, and a magic user, executed by Thalia