Session 6 - Claws of the Lioness, The Demon Waters, Pt 2

Dramatis personae: 

• The Thief - Randar the Keen of Ina-Zhunawl, Footpad and Lockbreaker - Played by Nathaniel
• The Paladin of St. Faruin - Alsuna of Vlamesht, Bulwark and Vanguard - Played by Sophia
• The Paladin of St. Gogar - Gogar of Eda, Bulwark and Temple Guard - Played by PJ
• The Barbarian - Adelmar of Adalsted, Hunter and Sea-Rover - Played by Jonathan
• The Dwarven Craftpriest - Moriana of Beasthold, Dwarven Craft-catechist and Reliquary Guardian - Played by Andrea
• The Elven Spellsword - Braem the Burning, Arcanist-Guardian and Flametongue - Played by Ben
• The Elven Nightblade - Mellorondil, Arcanist-Avenger and Silent Slayer - Played by Scott
• The Mage - Tuvalt the Clumsy of Vlam-Kuzang, Arcanist and Warmage - Played by Chris
• The Mystic - Ali Abbas the Immaculate - Played by Paul

In the aftermath of the brief battle with the Gelatinous Cube, the heroes took a moment to gather up their new treasure and study the mosaics and bas reliefs on the walls and ceiling of the antechamber. The mosaics seemed to depict major constellations corresponding to the NE, SE, SW, and NW quadrants of the sky, each with various phases of the moon depicted corresponding to high and low tides: Full and New moons corresponding to high tides, and half moons corresponding to low tides. Beneath them were a series of mosaics depicting Sudhvi, the old Saftash god of the sea, standing at the base of an inverted ziggurat (like a cistern), his hand raised in blessing over the waters as they rose and fell around him. More than that, though, the companions were not able to determine, since none of them possessed the knowledge of lore that would have explained what was being communicated by the images.

It was at this point that the companions were interrupted by another adventuring party entering from the door to the east -- a well-armed and provisioned party known as The Order of the Dead God, led by Ali-Abbas (a mystic from lands far to the east) and his three companions, a pair of elves and an ex-imperial squad mage. After a brief moment of tension -- in which Randar offered the new party a bottle of the chaos-tainted wine which he had swiped from the cellar without anyone noticing during the previous session -- the two parties decided to work together. The bottle of chaos-tainted wine, meanwhile, was broken by Gogar -- probably a good call, all things considered. There was also an argument over a potion (which Mellorondil, who has some knowledge of Alchemy, identified as a Potion of Giant Strength [N.B. -- It wasn't, he actually got this wrong, it was a potion of Levitation]) which Randar had been holding, and which Mellorondil wanted to give to one of the paladins. Alsuna solved the problem by pouring the potion out. "If you can't stop fighting, nobody can have it."

This rather large party set off westward through the temple, moving as cautiously as they could but still managing to run into some trouble along the way -- including a boulder trap that battered the whole party pretty badly, and a small nest of giant ferrets. Fighting their way through the ferrets with ease, the companions gleaned some coins and other minor treasures before moving into the next room, only to find something else entirely.

In this chamber of the temple, apparently some kind of a dining room, a rich table of food was laid out, and the meal presided over by an ancient priestess and served by spectral beings emerging from the walls to refill cups, produce new platters of mouth-watering food, and wait upon the needs of the guests. The party, however, was deeply suspicious of this food and of their mysterious host, and refused to sit and eat (although she encouraged them to do so multiple times). The paladins determined that there was nothing evil about the priestess or her food -- in fact, it all had a faint aura of Law about it -- but even so, they were suspicious. Speaking with the priestess, they realized that she and the whole meal were displaced out of time, as she spoke as though the Alsudhvian Empire (that of the Wave-Emperors) was still at its height. 

The delicious smell finally became too much for Randar to bear. He snatched up a leg of mutton, meaning only to inspect it, before biting deeply into it. As the juices ran down his chin, he felt whole, his bruises and other wounds from the rock trap healed. Additionally, he felt something else about him was different, and has gained the following ability:

• Your shadow becomes a living being. It is a henchman fully under your control. It begins with your same stats and abilities and thereafter advances at a rate of experience equal to half of your own. It can take damage from magical attacks and normal weapons. If it ever dies, your character will cast no shadow until your shadow returns again at the next dawn.

Mellorondil, the Elven Nightblade, had taken advantage of the long conversation to move silently behind the priestess. Still convinced that something nefarious was afoot, he attempted to kill her -- only for the whole vision (including all of the food, the lamps, the furniture -- everything) to vanish. In its place, they found the room was now mostly barren, save for an odd machine in one corner -- a strange contraption of gears, pumps, and valves. Unsure of what the machine did, the Paladins came to the conclusion that they should turn it off, so they spent some time jamming it up with several of Alsuna's metal spikes while the elves noticed a secret door, concealed beneath a facade of stone in the east wall. 

Opening it, Mellorondil led the party down a narrow flight of stairs into a long corridor -- triggering a poison dart trap which his elven reflexes allowed him to barely avoid -- and finally into a small chamber with two doorways. After attempting the south door -- a heavy iron-banded door like a "blast door" -- and being unable to pick its lock, the companions spent a significant amount of time hacking it to bits with their axes and maces before being able to enter the next chamber, which appeared to be some sort of ritual space with a low stone altar about 3 feet high. To the east and the west were doors with metal grating at their base, and from this Braem concluded that this was a ritual chamber, and possibly the source of the dungeon's corruption. 

They were unable to open the west door (it was swollen shut with age and time), but the eastern door proved easier to open. Braem stepped through it -- and found himself in another ritual chamber, with another one of the heavy blast doors opposite him to the East, with faded bas reliefs on either side of the walls. As he turned to look at one of them, it transformed into a grey ooze. The Grey Ooze took both surprise and initiative, enveloping Braem and immediately eroding his clothes, armor, weapons, and treasure, and dealing 14 damage to the elf -- dropping him immediately to 0 HP. Acting quickly, the other companions managed to drag Braem out of the room before Ali-Abba shut the door on the chamber and said, "Well."

As the Ooze seemed not to be interested in pursuing (no doubt satisfied with its "meal") the companions treated Braem's wounds. They were able to stabilize him in time, and although he is naked and hideously scarred, he awoke at 1 HP. He will need 1 day's bed rest (in a safe location), as well as magical healing, before he will be able to get back on his feet.

Monsters killed:

• 5 Giant Ferrets

Treasure recovered:

• 2,000 silver coins (2 stone, 200 GP)
• 4 pouches of Saffron (3/6 stone, 60 GP)
• 1 chunk of quartz (10 GP)
• 8 silver-tipped arrows (40 GP); 4 of these were on Braem's person and were destroyed by the ooze, leaving only 4 (20 GP value) in Mellorondil's keeping.

Notes:

• The companions have now spent 3 hours in the temple. They will need to rest for the night soon or begin to face penalties to their throws.

Session 5 - Claws of the Lioness, The Demon Waters, Pt 1

This session marked the beginning of a twice-monthly Monday night game which will form the core play group for Under the Shadow of the Winter Queen, the open-world multi-group campaign set in the Exarchate of Alsudhvi. 

Our dramatis personae for the night:

• The Thief - Randar the Keen of Ina-Zhunawl, Footpad and Lockbreaker - Played by Nathaniel
• The Paladin of St. Faruin - Alsuna of Vlamesht, Bulwark and Vanguard - Played by Sophia
• The Paladin of St. Gogar - Gogar of Eda, Bulwark and Temple Guard - Played by PJ
• The Barbarian - Adelmar of Adalsted, Hunter and Sea-Rover - Played by Jonathan
• The Dwarven Craftpriest - Moriana of Beasthold, Dwarven Craft-catechist and Reliquary Guardian - Played by Andrea

This adventure begins on the Third Day of the First Month (September) of the 251st year of the Vikarian Empire.

When last we left our heroes...

Brought together from disparate corners of the Duchy of Alsudhvi, our party of Ratcatchers met literally in the common room of the Guildhouse of the Claws of the Lioness, about five minutes before their swearing-in ceremony. Low on gold and/or hungry for adventure, these five individuals have joined themselves to The Claws of the Lioness, a Free Company which is "duly licensed by the will of his grace, Duke Uvias, to operate within the Duchy of Aesta-Suvash." With a grunt, Quartermaster Bamavar directed them to a board on which were posted a number of bounties and other jobs which sworn members of the Company (which now included the five of them) could undertake for payment:

After a bit of debate, the companions decided to head just up the road to The Sign of the Eagle, a once-prosperous inn there in Aesta-Suvash, since the problem looked easy enough to solve. Once they arrived and began questioning the innkeeper, Ranset, they quickly realized that something was amiss. The inn was in shambles, plagued not so much by poisonings as by a series of strange tragedies and mishaps (of an arcane or supernatural sort) befalling the inn's various patrons. Ranset suspected that Halbrand, the barbarian owner of the inn across the street (The Blacksmith's Revenge) had been poisoning his food (and Randar, the Thief, was all for murdering Halbrand and seeing if that solved anything) but upon investigation, this theory just wasn't adding up. Finally, Moriana the Dwarf narrowed down the various strange occurrences to a single unifying strand: all of the patrons who had disappeared or died in this way had ordered The Eagle's Claw, the house wine Ranset himself produced using the same blessed waters from an underground stream which his father and his father before him had used. The prosperity of The Sign of the Eagle had always been tied to this especially delicious and potent wine. 

Just then, one of the inn's few customers (an out-of-towner who had, yes, ordered the wine) began to cough violently, keeling over as a strange creature -- a small, rotting, bipedal tree, covered in slime, with glowing red eyes -- crawled out of the dead man's mouth. The party immediately attacked the creature, Moriana knocking it across the common room with a blow from her Morning Star before Randar pinned it to the wall with a bolt from his crossbow, killing it. 

Randar wrapped the creature in a towel and put it in his pack in case they wanted to examine it later, and the party decided they'd better head down to the basement to have a look at the wine cellar, and this "blessed" stream that ran through it.

Down in the cellar, the water looked clear and clean enough, but to the vision of the Paladins (both of whom have Detect Evil as an at-will ability) it glowed with the obvious corruption of Chaos. Since the underground stream ran right under the city, the companions decided to go back upstairs (to buy torches and other equipment) and then follow the channel of the stream to see where it led. 

When they emerged from the long, dark tunnel, they found themselves in marshlands a mile or two north of the city. The corruption of Chaos seemed to be even stronger here, and the Paladins led the party forward to its source, which (after a few hours) turned out to be an ancient temple rising up out of the marshlands. Although none of the companions recognized the temple (or when it was built, or by whom), it was obviously very old. They took some time to reconnoiter around the structure and found that its exterior was about 350 x 175 or so feet. It had two entrances -- one, on the southern side (the direction from which the party had approached) was a great rotted door, some fifteen feet up, accessible by a crumbling stone stairway. The other entrance was on the north side, and at once time had matched, but the doorway had collapsed and the stairway had long side crumbled away under moss and lichen. Additionally, there were four 10' wide drainage pipes, one on each side of the rectangular temple, which alternated spewing forth polluted waters into the marsh about once an hour.

After deliberating, the party decided to try the front door. Climbing the stair, they pushed through the rotted wood into a large chamber, covered in ancient bas reliefs and mosaics. Before they could study these (and see what clues they might hold to the rest of the temple), Randar (the Thief) noticed what appeared to be a spray of coins and gems hovering in the air just a few feet in front of him. 

He stepped forward to grab them -- and was immediately attacked by a gelatinous cube! He managed to leap nimbly aside (making his Surprise roll) and the rest of the party fanned out to attack. Randar it the cube with a crossbow bolt, and Adelmar the Barbarian managed to sheer off a chunk of it with his axe before being enveloped by the strange abomination. Alsuna tried attacking it with her torch, and Moriana got her morning star stuck in it. Randar managed to hit it with another bolt from his crossbow before Alsuna, switching to her warhammer, finished it off with an upswing that sent pieces of goo splattering across the bas reliefs in the backdrop. 

As it disintegrated, Adelmar fell out, gasping for air, and the floor of the temple rang with the clatter of coins and gems. The companions scooped these up, before turning to the mosaics and bas reliefs to study them...

Monsters killed:

• Demi-dryad
• Gelatinous Cube

Treasure recovered:

• Citrine Gem (50 GP)
• Tourmaline Gem (100 GP)
• Topaz Gem (500 GP)
• 1000 Electrum Coins (500 GP, 1 Stone)
• Vial of rare perfume (150 GP)
• An unidentified Potion (now in Randar's keeping)

Notes: Evening is fast-approaching. The PC's will need to rest for the night in 2 Turns.

Session 4 - Tales of the Blade-daughters, Howe of Heroes Pt 2

This is the second session of a 1-on-1 mini-campaign within the larger Exarchate of Alsudhvi campaign, and features the adventure of the Blade-Daughter Miza, a Level 5 Bladedancer played by Sophia. This adventure also features Miza's two henchmen: her sister Tavala (Level 3 Bladedancer) and her friend and the party's guide, Rama (Level 2 Explorer).

When last we left our heroes... Surrounded and ambushed by a group of panthers just a few miles outside of Aesta-Suvash, the three adventurers closed ranks. Tavala murmured a prayer to Myimsta, casting Protection from Evil in a circle around the group while Rama readied her bow and Miza cast Charm Animal, first one the largest of the panthers, and then (the following round) on the one nearest it. Having reduced the ranks of the enemies to four, the companions were still not prepared for how vicious and tough these man-eating panthers would be.

Tavala was dropped to 0 HP, but revived almost immediately via a Cure Light Wounds cast by Miza. Rama was overwhelmed as she hastily fired arrows at the charging great cats, dropping to 0 HP as well. Miza was able to revive her, but the party was quickly running out of magic and doing very little to grind down the vicious beasts. The two charmed panthers fighting in defense of Miza (whom she named Raja and Midnight) did something to stem the tide, but Midnight was soon slain by her former den mates. 

Just as all seemed lost, a voice boomed around them, invoking an arcane formula as four ghostly warriors appeared, attacking the panthers. The party, it seemed, had been joined by a travelling mage. He summoned spectral warriors from the afterlife and even (through a bit of forbidden necromantic magic) raised the fallen Midnight to fight again alongside the companions. And even this was nearly not enough, as the vicious panthers tore through the spectral warriors easily. In the end, though, the mage's magic and the Bladedancers' grit was enough to outlast the panthers, and the final one fled before being hunted down by the two panthers under the party's magical control.

As the battle ended and wounds were seen to, the mage introduced himself as Kemog, a "humble scholar" who was travelling East along the road. Since his route seemed to be taking him in the same direction as the rest of the party, Miza invited him to travel with them since there is "safety in numbers." 

Their numbers grown to four (five if you count Raja, who is still magically charmed by Miza), the companions continued eastward, following the road towards Bal-Bawet. They made it another two-and-a-half days before Rama, more vigilant this time, called a halt to their march and crept forward. There, crossing the road in front of them, were two giant monitor lizards with pronounced dorsal fins. These creatures, dangerous predators who are often taken as mounts by Lizardfolk and other beastmen, turned in the direction of the party. They had been spotted once again.

Monsters Killed: 

• 5 Panthers

Monsters Charmed: 

• 1 Panther

Session 3 - Tales of the Blade-Daughters: Howe of Heroes, Pt 1

This adventure begins on Tuesday, 26/12 of the Current Year.

This is the first session of a 1-on-1 mini-campaign within the larger Exarchate of Alsudhvi campaign, and features the adventure of the Blade-Daughter Miza, a Level 5 Bladedancer played by Sophia. This adventure also features Miza's two henchmen: her sister Tavala (Level 3 Bladedancer) and her friend and the party's guide, Rama (Level 2 Explorer).

When last we left our heroes...

Our adventure begins in the City of Aesta-Suvash. In addition to being the ducal seat and the main hub of trade in the region, it is also home to one of the four remaining temples to Myimsta, the old Saftash god of war. Although the cult of the Eight has died out pretty much everywhere but a few rural villages, the cult of Myimsta has held on thanks primarily due to his priestesses, the Blade-Daughters of Myimsta, an order of warrior-monastic women who become his daughters and who are wedded to the sword. The Blade-Daughters have held on long after the death of their old religion thanks in large part to their usefulness, as their status as outsiders to the newer Ramosian hierarchy means that they make trustworthy guards for dukes, princes, nobles, and even emperors. But times are not what they used to be. With the situation here in the borderlands rapidly deteriorating since the last Beastman War, gone are the days when the Blade-Daughters of Aesta-Suvash guarded the chambers of the emperors. Now, they are considered trustworthy--but affordable--caravan guards, and their great temple has largely fallen into disrepair. 

But the high priestess of the temple, the Blade Mistress Ashpisha, has plans to restore her order's fallen glory -- and they involve Miza, a twenty-three year old Blade-Daughter who, along with her sister Tavala, was "married to the sword" at a young age (and for a proper bride-price) by a poor family who had too many daughters to go around. Miza is very orthodox in her outlook, well-behaved, and skilled with song and blade. Her sister, on the other hand, has an unusual interest in the healing arts -- and in men -- for one married to the blade. 

The adventure began in mid-morning, when Miza was practicing her sword forms in the temple's overgrown courtyard. She was approached by Blade Mistress Ashpisha, in the company of a younger acolyte, the Blade Sister Hetelvar. The Blade Mistress invited Miza to join her and Hetelvar in her quarters, where they had important and secret business which they must discuss. There, Miza was treated to wine and rich bread -- both unusual luxuries for an austere ascetic such as herself -- and then the Blade Mistress began to tell her tale.

She spoke of how the fortunes of the Blade-Daughters had fallen over the course of the last couple of centuries, until they were reduced to mere mercenary work in order to survive. All of this, though, could be remedied. Sister Hetelvar, she explained, had recently been assigned to escort a caravan headed east from Aesta-Suvash to Ina-Vlamun, when they were attacked by a company of orcs on the road. The orcs were driven off or slain, but not before their leader tried to bargain for his wretched life with a piece of information.

"It seems," said Sister Hetelvar, picking up the narrative, her eyes burning with fury, "that the wretch saw my headdress" -- here she motioned to the headdress which all of the Blade-Daughters wore -- "and recognized it, because he had seen one like it before. He described one to me, far grander and more valuable, and said he would tell me its location if I would let him live."

"The headdress he described," said the Blade Mistress, "can only be that of the Mistress of All Blades, Thlagra the Red-handed." Thlagra the Red-handed was the greatest hero of the order, and had died in battle with the Winter Queen in the waning days of the Alsudhvian Empire. All Blade-Daughters know her name, for her image adorns many of their temples and living quarters. "Either he is lying, in which case he has more information than any man now living, or he has really seen it." 

As Sister Hetelvar went on to describe, the orc had seen the headdress in a barrow somewhere east of the old ruined fortress of Bel-Bawet. More than that he would not say, except that it had been guarded by "terrible monsters" -- which was most likely why he had not taken it himself. Sister Hetelvar had of course, freed him, by freeing his head from his body.

"What you may not know," said the Blade Mistress, "is that there was indeed a great battle near Bel-Bawet during the War of the Winter Queen. The body of Thlagra the Red-handed was never recovered, but what if it is she who is buried in this barrow? Thlagra had six magical items, relics of great power. If we were to recover even one of them, it would bring prosperity to our order. If we were to recover all six, the glory of the Blade Daughters would be restored forever."

[The six relics of Thlagra are her Headdress, her Necklace, her Armbands, her Earrings, and her two blades, the Two Fangs of the Viper. Of these, it is said that the Necklace was the most powerful.]

Miza was asked, along with her sister, to go in search of the barrow, face whatever monsters guarded it, and return with any relics they might find. She was also authorized to hire Rama the Outrider -- a scout and guide with whom Miza had worked before -- to act as their guide in the wilderness. The Blade Mistress considers Rama "not a bad sort, for one who uses so cowardly a weapon" -- the Blade-Daughters do not use bows, or any other ranged weapons.

Miza went to find her sister, who she found "reading" a hand-illustrated, prurient novel which someone had left in the infirmary. Actually, since Tavala is illiterate, she was mostly just looking at the pictures. Miza scolded her, filled her in on their new mission, and then headed off to find Rama while Tavala prepared her healing supplies. Miza headed down the street to the Tooth and Hound, where she found Rama (coarse, low-born, and -- when she's in town -- a party animal) still sleeping off the previous night's revelry. Waking her and paying her bar tab was a bit of work, but with the party together, they finally set off down the road.

They were scarcely six miles away from Aesta-Suvash, still in cultivated wheat fields and in sight of the city's villages and suburbs, when -- as Rama entertained and embarrassed Tavala with ribald tales and jokes -- they were startled by a sudden snarl. Six huge panthers, grey as shadows, emerged from the wheat fields on either side of them, taking the trio by surprise...