Session 22

A TRADE IS MADE, AND FURTHER GARDENING

Warmshade 18-20, 4433
About a day and a half passed during the session.

Characters:

Gorr, ranger 4
Robert the Swift, fighter 4
Suba-Jin the Three-Handed, cleric of Hextor 4
Young Joe Spruce, druid 2
Xénos, spy 1
Lord Fesgate, fighter 3 (NPC)

The Hand Off

Eric Withakay was resting up after his brush with death. In the meantime, the group met up with a Viridian named Xénos, a distant contact of their old companion Two-Faced Humphrey.

After getting a letter from Lothos at the Dragon's Eye Inn [last session], the group debated their next move. Should they inform the Inquisition, or lead them astray? Finally they left a message scheduling a meet with Lothos the next day at a nearby dive bar amusingly called Cold Beer. At 9 bells the group sat down in the taproom smelling of coffee & local brews. The proprietor Dirman Green-Hand bustled between tables, telling stories & laughing with his customers as he delivered their drinks.

A cloaked figure sat down near them, garbed & masked as a priest of Nephtlys. He introduced himself as Daetris and seemed to be elven. After confirming that the group had recovered the treasures from the sacred mountain [a few sessions ago] he passed along an envelope and left as quickly as he arrived.

In the letter, Lothos asked them to meet at sunset in the center of the Bridge district, in a beer hall called Metod's where the exchange would take place. Meanwhile, Xénos tailed Daetris back to the Street of the Gods and into Nephtlys' temple, a great black stone sphere. Inside were many priests all dressed & masked alike, making it impossible to tell who was who.

Suba-Jin & Gorr went to Seven Visions and asked Zvezdana to identify his strange metal weapon [obtained last session] and get a history lesson. 

They gleaned a few clues:

- Demonology in the Empire has a long history. It has come in & out of favour over the years with the ruling classes and the sorcerors of the Gloaming Tower. Currently it is suppressed by the Inquisition who attempt to block magic-users' political power at every turn. Still, it is never clear what the nobility are up to, especially since every Viridian Emperor is usually a powerful sorceror - Emperor Hautulin Seheitt being no exception!

- The monster with two ape-like heads and tentacles for arms is the demon lord Ahmon-Ibor. The last time it appeared in the mortal realm was a battle called The Demon Siege, a millennium ago: Tharbrian raiders and hosts from the City-State of the Invincible Overlord were stopped by the Imperial Legion assisted by Gloaming Tower wizards. They summoned a horde of demons led by Ahmon-Ibor, who so devastated the enemy that the City-State resumed paying its tribute and the Tharbrian hordes never again rose to challenge Imperial dominion.

Ahmon-Ibor

That evening, the group walked through the poverty-stricken slums on the Bridge. They almost collided with an ugly old crone pushing an evil-smelling cart of ancient jars, but let her pass on by without incident.

The centre of the Bridge was a wide-open square with no buildings across its entire 200' width. Hustlers, gang members, drug addicts, panhandlers, mutants & other lowlifes clustered around the area under the uneasy peace enforced by the vicious Bridge Gangs.

Metod's was a loud, dim beer hall frequented by poor Tharbrians. Long trestle tables ran the length of two floors. Songs & clanging cups rang out from the already-drunk patrons. The group posted up in a back corner and ordered a few strong brews - the local favourite "Centaur Melter" was particularly potent!

After half an hour, the party was joined by a group of four armed elves. The leader wore chainmail and a holy symbol of Nephtlys. After some curt greetings and a few questions (which Robert declined to answer) they got down to business, paying the agreed sum and a bonus. Suba-Jin also sold off the two glass globes filled with liquid time essence.

Before departing, the elves' leader relayed a rumour heard from Targnol port: a distant contact named Komang who put the group onto the robbery of Philotheos Sten's mansion [way back in session 2!] had been found dead in the gulf, his body horribly beaten & scarred. Whoever did it had clearly tortured him beforehand. Who knows what this means?

The sound of a brawl beginning downstairs could be heard and both groups decided to make their exit.

Back To The Mansion

The next morning, the group met Sesto and shuffled into Cliffside with his crew. They resumed exploring the gardens surrounding Issachar Dimorites' mansion.

They battled a large pack of mandragoras in the garden passages. After striking down many and entangling the rest they interrogated the survivors, demanding treasure in exchange for their lives. The mandragoras pointed to their statue: a broken & defaced noblewoman holding a child, garlanded with flowers. Gorr searched it and found a silver necklace with a peridot gem under the garlands. One prisoner led the group to a root-choked sinkhole in the ground, indicating more treasure was down below before Robert shooed it away.

The group climbed down and began exploring the tunnels beneath the gardens. They investigated an unfinished tunnel with a bricked-up doorway, and met a group of 12 plant-women searching through the rubble of a storage room. They claimed that Issachar was their master and demanded to know the group's purpose here. The party's excuses fell on deaf ears. After protesting their good intentions, the plant-women gave them something else to do: their mistress Eilitheya (one of Issachar's wives) was a prisoner of Dushan's Dervishes. If the group could free her from captivity, the strange women would be grateful.

In a tunnel smelling of decay & rotting meat, they were set upon by surprise. A blur of white limbs & flesh struck down Lord Fesgate before anybody could react! It was a mountain of corpses raised into foul unlife, striking with its poorly-assembled limbs in all directions. Suba-Jin attempted to banish it with Hextor's power but the creature was too strong. A tense pitched battle was waged with Gorr and Robert swinging their axes and Joe Spruce throwing holy water while Xénos dragged Lord Fesgate to safety. With a deafening crash and a blast of smoke, Suba-Jin drew his Dragoon and blasted the abomination (only four shots left...). With a ringing in their ears the party saw it collapse under their assault into its component parts.

The group shook off the sense of doom that the undead monstrosity had induced (+1 fear point). Searching its disgusting lair revealed a heavy golden disk stamped with the word "DIMORITES". With one of their number badly hurt they decided to withdraw. On their way out they encountered another pack of mandragoras in the shadowed statue-garden, between them and the exit... 

A gentle word of caution from your DM:

I obviously use some well-known monsters, magic items, etc. in this campaign. Still, few things are as they seem. Don't assume that well-mined gaming tropes and old familiar D&D standbys will be the same in this campaign world. If you don't focus your attention on the clues you get at the table you may go astray and reach the wrong conclusions! Players to PM me the phrase "Fifth Head of Cerberus" will receive 300 bonus xp for reading this. [expired] Carry on!

 

Monsters Defeated:

9 mandragoras (351 xp)
1 mass of corpses (1060 xp)

Treasure Obtained:

silver peridot necklace
golden disk

Treasure Sold Off:

strange magic painting & golden cup (300 gold)
2 crystal spheres of time essence (80 gold)

Robert: 63 gold, 3 silver
Suba-Jin: 63 gold, 3 silver
Gorr: 63 gold, 3 silver
Regetus: 42 gold, 2 silver
Meep: 21 gold, 1 silver
Eric Withakay: 63 gold, 3 silver

Eric Withakay has reached 5th level!
Lord Fesgate has reached 4th level!

Session 21

DEATH IN THE GARDENS
Warmshade 16-18, 4433

Characters:

Gorr, Ranger 4
Robert the Swift, Fighter 4
Suba-Jin the Three-Handed, cleric of Hextor 4
Eric Withakay, Cleric of Solaris 4
Lord Fesgate, Fighter 3 (NPC)

The Mansion

The group entered Dimorites Mansion though huge granite doors. Inside they found a huge chapel to 137 Undivided - the entire Imperial pantheon. Lamps and censers remained perpetually lit, filling the room with faint light and spicy smells. A huge painting of the 11 gods graced the ceiling. A great stone hand stood at the back, in front of another painting of a terrible battle: Viridian armies with wizards & demons fought against armies of Tharbrians and the Invincible Overlord's troops. A two-headed, tentacled demon towered over the scene.

There were ten pillars in the room, each carved with a hand making a peculiar sign:
a closed fist, palm foreward
middle finger
the horns

full hand palm-out

bottom 2 fingers folded, facing down

index finger pointing up
thumb & index in a circle, backhanded
V for victory
thumb across palm, outwards

thumb tucked in, backhand

Suba-Jin tried to touch them in an order that might correspond to the gods on the ceiling mural. After the first four (V, fist, bottom 2 fingers folded, horns) the censers emitted a purple gas which sapped the group's strength! He tried again, touching another four (thumb & index circle, pointing, thumb across palm out, thumb tucked in backhand), but it drew the same mists and he fled the room. 

The group moved on. The other chapel door was locked so they walked along the porch, looking for other entrances.

In a small garden clearing beside the porch, they spotted several makeshift graves but decided not to investigate. The next clearing held a few dead bodies that looked like Dushan's Dervishes. Their armour & weapons lay scattered around. Robert & Eric went down to search the bodies when Eric began acting strangely, yelling that he was "sinking" and frantically pulling off his chainmail. While Robert puzzled over this, a shambling plant creature emerged from the undergrowth!

Its initial attack caught Eric unprepared. The plant slapped him with a tendril, enveloping his face in a cloud of pollen. He began to choke as he fled. Lord Fesgate and Robert fought it up-close while a barrage of missile attacks from Gorr and Suba-Jin ended it. After a slow poison spell, Eric's breathing wasn't getting any worse, but it wasn't getting better either. He could barely stand.

The group retreated to the pavilion with the magical fountain (from last session). There they found a pair of giant butterflies who guarded their favourite hangout jealously. The butterflies were destroyed by a wave of missile attacks and a burning hands spell (Suba-Jin's gift from his patron god Hextor) but not before a cloud of glittering pollen had poisoned everyone seriously. The group was in rough shape!

Drinking from the magic fountain didn't cure Eric, but it did slow two of the other party members. There was nothing for it, and the group tried to get out so they could have Eric's condition cured. They hustled out of the gardens, barely pausing to speak with a giant talking worm with a fucked-up voice that called itself Germander.

They dragged Eric through the tunnels under the streets and back to Sesto's work crew. Seeing the dire state the group was in, Sesto lent them a few of his wheelbarrows and agreed to meet them later at the Dragon's Eye. They ran through the streets of Cliffside, hoping against hope... but it wasn't to be. Eric was dead before they reached the district gates.

(In all the confusion, the group forgot about ME! the piglet. Where did he end up?)

Back In The City

Eric Withakay was dead. They decided to visit the battle-dome of Hextor, to see if Suba-Jin could arrange to have him raised to life again. They were granted an audience with Maral Saqqaf, one of the higher-ranked priests in the temple. He said this thing was possible, but only Patriarch Dumitrescu could accomplish it. To command the Patriarch's time, a sizeable sacrifice was required: 7,500 silver pieces' worth!

The group asked for a few days to get the money together. Robert, Suba-Jin and Lord Fesgate headed to the Night Wolf Inn to retrieve some treasure.

While that was happening, Gorr took care of Eric's body - mainly by having several big tattoos commissioned in the rest of the group's likenesses! He also spoke to Sesto who came to stay at the Dragon's Eye Inn that night. The stonemason wanted 10% of the party's take going forward as a finder's fee & for helping them past the guards. Gorr gave him 50 silver and he seemed happy with it. 

[Chris, remind me how much Gorr wants to spend on the tattoos. It's going to cost 70-120 coins depending on the tattoo's workmanship. You pick how good they should be: dockside sailor quality will be brass coins, okay bazaar-grade is copper, good quality costs silver, top-tier gold]

At the Night Wolf Inn, the group spoke with the affable concierge James Everbleed. He was sad to hear about Eric's passing but hoped they could bring him back. Suba-Jin asked about the strange demon they had seen in the painting earlier, but he didn't know anything about it. Lord Fesgate joined the guild, got the black wolf tattoo and felt pretty good about it. 

The trio stayed in Room IV: Restful Seas. A small wooden cabana rested on a wooden raft, beached on a grey sandbar amidst an endless turquoise ocean. Copper & blue clouds drifted in a burning pink sky. Hammocks were strung between the palm trees. On the bedside table, Suba-Jin found a strange item. After some fiddling, it produced a deafening BANG! and a hole in a nearby palm tree. After this display, he took it for his own:

With this odd item and thousands of coins in hand, the trio prepared to leave. On their way out, James told them to make a point of returning on Midsummer's Day, almost two months from now. The Inn was going to have a garden party and all guild members, as well as interested non-members, were invited.

Back in Viridistan, the group spent 7,500 silver on holy oils, incense, candles, fatted calves & other sacrificial items for the church of Hextor. With everything prepared, the steely-eyed Patriarch Dumitrescu made his appearance, a hale man in his '50s. After much pomp, he cast the fearsome magick and Eric rose to life.

The group helped Eric walk back to the Dragon's Eye and ran into an aristocrat, lost in side-streets. Suba-Jin and Robert offered to escort him back to Hightown. After a run-in with some injured city guards that Suba-Jin helped with some cure magic, they delivered the man (Theodosio by name) to his family's estate. By way of thanks, he gave them his gold-capped walking stick, and the pair resolved to split the money from it two ways.

Back at the Dragon's Eye, the proprietor "Patchey" had a letter for the group written in a careful elven hand:

"Friends,

I hope your recent adventures haven't been too taxing. My sources have reported a great disaster in the Starrcrag Mountains and I can't help but fear for you. Surely you succeeded in retrieving the items asked for? If so please leave a message with the barkeep. I will send further instructions.

-Lothos"

Roughly 2 days passed during this session.

Monsters Defeated:

2 giant butterflies
1 ambulatory spore-plant

Treasure Gained:

gold-tipped walking stick

**LAST 3 SESSIONS SUMMARY**

Treasure Traded In:

5 gems: 4 small assorted & 1 larger spinel (530 sp total)
1 electrum crescent (250 sp)
gold-tipped walking stick (320 sp - Robert & Suba-Jin split it)
Suba-Jin couldn't find anyone who wanted to buy his monster trophies

Loot & Cost of Living:

Gorr:  -29 sp
Eric:  -5 sp
Suba-Jin:  178 sp
Robert:  170 sp
Meep:  -31 sp
Young Joe Spruce:  10 sp

Experience:

Session 16

TO THE SACRED MOUNTAIN

1-14 Warmshade, 4433

Characters:

Gorr, Ranger 4
Robert the Swift, Fighter 3
Suba-Jin, Cleric of Hextor 4
Eric Withakay, Cleric of Solaris 4
Regetus Rex, Illusionist 2
Lord Fesgate, Fighter 3 (NPC)

A Mysterious Missive

At the Veterans' Association, Robert the Swift received a strange letter. The one-armed barman and inveterate gossip Primoz said that "some knife-ear" had brought it the night before. The rest of the group, staying at The Dragon's Eye Inn (a local hot-spot) were handed a similar letter by the tough-looking proprietor, Patchey. 

It read thusly:

*****

Comrades,

I hope this missive finds you well, and the adventuring life hasn’t left you worse for wear. My thanks for your show of support during my testing. I hope you understand that I had no time for socializing. Indeed, my admission to the Gloaming Tower has opened up such paths of arcane knowledge that I am unable to pursue an opportunity that came my way recently.

A new colleague at the Tower is obsessed with some ancient once-lost treasure. She just heard a rumour from the Starrcrag Mountains, and is hiring mercenaries to search for some ancient relic or other. Knowing my adventuring past, she offered me a place in the expedition. Instead I pass this information on to you.

What I know is this:

The village of Mishell is between the Starrcrag Mountains and the Missing Memory Marshes. It can be reached in about two weeks if you take a boat upriver. The rumour comes from a man named Tjaard, a mountaineer of some kind. Find him, learn what he knows and claim the items.

The treasure itself is two pieces: The first is a large oil painting. The second is an item depicted in the painting itself. She didn’t elaborate on this point.

She is planning to send at least one group of mercenaries to claim this prize. I would advise swiftness if you intend to win it for yourself.

My colleague is completely obsessed. I get the distinct impression that recovering just one item or the other would be insufficient for her purposes. I will pay your group four thousand silver for the recovery of the painting and the other item, whatever it turns out to be. I will contact you six weeks from now in the same manner as today, and I hope to hear happy news.

Ever Yours,
Lothos

*****

After some debate the group decided a trip to the mountains was more agreeable than venturing into the undercity to breathe in more poison gas. Before leaving town, Regetus Rex borrowed some money from his friends to pay off his debts to a street vendor. While way too drunk he had spent 200 silver pieces on exotic stuffed birds, which now adorned his room at the Dragon's Eye.

They paid for passage up the River Leander through the Elsenwood on a grain barge staffed by sullen Ghinoran workers. The river was crowded with boats to & from the capital carrying all manner of trade goods. The Imperial Navy kept the major shipping routes safe, and the river trip was mostly boring. They stopped in Caer Cadwen, the ancient fortress turned provincial capital, but didn't get into any trouble.

Finally disembarking in the village of Smale, they took horses through the hills and avoided the marshes. They were rumoured to be prowled by an enormous electric eel which destroyed boats and fried the passengers with its lightning.

The hills had an agreeable, summery climate after the relentless heat of Viridistan. Gradually the weather got cooler as they approached the Starrcrag Mountains until they found Mishell in the foothills. The peaks above were covered in snow, but in the valleys were vineyards tended by dwarves, the source of the wine which was the village's only export.

Mishell was small, built by & for the dwarves. The party posted up in the cramped, smoky, low-ceilinged tavern. They met the publican Rollo and spoke to him for a while, bought a round for the locals and waited. Tjaard showed up at the end of the day. He turned out to be a dwarf who did odd jobs, working for the loggers or miners up in the mountains or, rarely, as a guide for travellers who came to the region.

Tjaard said that a few months ago, he had been separated from his friends in a storm on the mountain and wandered into a ruined fort. Inside he found a painting on the wall that showed him holding a golden cup. Filled with superstitious dread, he had run all the way down the mountain, barely making it back alive. Nobody believed his story, but some weeks later an elf had come to town and seemed very interested in the tale. He hadn't thought about it much since then.

He was willing to lead the party to the fort, but a storm was brewing on the mountaintop. The group decided to leave first thing in the morning, hoping to get up & down before the storm got really bad. They paid Tjaard to guide them up the mountain and set out. The sky was overcast and it got painfully cold quickly. Most of the party had never seen snow in their lives, and they were all thankful for the winter gear they brought with them. 

Halfway up the group came upon a gruesome scene in the deep snow. A small camp of loggers had been attacked. Each man was slain by animal bites or gored by horns, and their hearts ripped from their chests! There were plenty of signs of battle and bloodstains, but no tracks leading away. Tjaard was distraught - these dwarves & men were all known to him. The group helped themselves to a few bits of gear and progressed up the mountain. 

The snow began to fall faster & heavier.

The Fort

At the mountain's summit, on a plateau of jagged rocks & snow lay the old fortress. Once three floors or higher, it was barely more than one story now, its ceiling all fallen in. It looked like a round pillbox with snowdrifts piled up around it. Tjaard left them there, heading back down the mountain to seek shelter from the worsening storm and await their return. He was too afraid to enter a second time.

Inside the fort, the group found a great deal of strangeness. The walls were covered in archaic runic script that no-one had ever seen before. Soft harp music emanated from somewhere.

A vast pit covered in a rusted metal grate yawned in the center of the hall. The bottom was too far down to see.

The preserved head of a deer was mounted on one wall. Rex took the eyes, which were glass spheres filled with cold blue liquid. 

An old grandfather clock was still ticking, although its time was inaccurate. Suba-Jin tried messing with the hands by turning them forward an hour and vanished from everyone's sight! One hour later he reappeared, not realizing what had happened - as if he had been sent forward through time.

An old mirror rested against one wall, it seemed to function normally to Suba-Jin and nobody else messed with it.

Rex opened an enormous book on a lectern. It was inscribed in varying inks, varying handwriting. It was a list of names & dates. The latest entries were from a few hundred years ago, and the names were recognizable. The last name written down was Kayin Davtyan - 6 Blackmoon 4265 BCCC. Other names logged in the book around that time are familiar-sounding, from all over the Empire.

Towards the end of the book, it uses the common calendar beginning around the year 4000. Before that were groups of years named after people: Vincachius 1-30, Carpathia 1-49, Arnolliac 1-3, Carnithrax 1-80, etc. Turning to the beginning of the book, Rex found a strange calendar system which began at 0 and counted up to 5000 at least! What could it mean? The book obviously held many more secrets, but it was too heavy to carry so the group left it where it was for now.

[DM's note -- Year 0 BCCC is the official creation date of the world by most religions (ie. 4400 years ago). I added more detail here than I described during the session, because I didn't want to look it up in the middle of the game. Good researching, Nick!]

They found a harp, the source of the strange music. Nobody was playing it, the music simply emanated from it.

In the same room was the painting they sought. It showed the whole party standing in a small room before a crude stone altar adorned with skulls. Suba-Jin and Eric were holding fist-sized spheres of glowing glass, while Robert was in the center drinking from an ornate golden cup. A grey skeletal statue loomed over them, and light shone down from above. Two doorways could be seen in the background, leading into darkness. 

They removed the 6'x4' painting from its frame and rolled it up.

In three glass display cases they found an old book, a golden mask and a rusty bronze axe. They all showed as magical, so the cases were smashed & looted. In the same room was a heavy stone trapdoor in the floor. They left it alone for the moment.

On the upper floors they found a room of strange torture devices and some dormitories. These were investigated and a crude wooden mask was found, filled with real human teeth. The thing was ugly and smelled bad, but they kept it.

One room on the upper floor was inaccessible except by rope. Gorr snuck up to take a look, and found a flock of sleeping creatures. Hideous hybrids with the heads of stags and the bodies of huge birds - Perytons! One creature was larger than the other and looked different. Where a stag's rack of antlers would be, this demon had a strange organic candelabra with seven black candles, each burning with a supernatural green flame.

A plan of attack was devised, and the group assaulted the perytons from both sides. Rex's colour spray spells were used to devastating effect. The party sustained a few injuries but killed all four of the perytons. The candelabra-headed one was a tougher opponent, and seemed almost impossible to injure. When a few of its candles were knocked off its head it decided to cut and run, flying out of a hole in the ceiling and into the blizzard. During the battle, Robert found the rusty axe quite useful - it seemed to be especially powerful against the blinded creatures.

The lumberjacks' missing hearts were found here - sizzling on a fire in the center of the room! Rex threw snow onto it to bank down the heat, and the hearts were tossed outside into the snow. Underneath the group found a few gems, which they pocketed.

With the beasts slain, the party considered their next move. The snow outside fell heavier and heavier, and there seemed no way to go except - down!

*****

Monsters:

4 Perytons (980 xp)

Treasure:

old book
serene golden mask
ugly wooden mask
rusted magical axe
3 greenish-black candles
1 smoky quartz
1 emerald
mysterious painting

Session 15

THE PLOTS THICKEN

Longrass 17-20, 4433

Characters:

Gorr, ranger 4

Suba-Jin, cleric of Hextor 4

Robert the Swift, fighter 3

Eric Withakay, cleric of Solaris 4

Meep, dwarf fighter 3

Lord Fesgate, fighter 3

Seven Visions

Carousing at the high-class Dockside establishment went quite well, all things considered.

- Eric Withakay went on a drunken spending spree, buying 100 sp worth of useless trinkets from a street vendor. 

- Robert the Swift spoke too freely in his cups and let slip some vital piece of information to another reveller, but he can't remember what.

- Regetus Rex also went on a spending spree, and bought 200 sp worth of things he didn't need or want. He didn't have the money on him, and now owes the merchant. 

[Both of you who bought things, feel free to make up what they are or I'll roll for it later]


A few rumours were gleaned in the night: 

- The boat-people fished the body some smuggler out of the Firth last night with a bloody spider carved into his chest! 

- The Gloaming Tower is having a special event in two days. A new sanctioned apprentice is undergoing the test to be raised up to full rank, and everyone is going down to the river to watch.


In the morning, Robert the Swift was woken by his mechanical bird singing him awake in a lovely woman's voice. The sounds of argument drew him downstairs, where the madame Zvezdana Ozi and her bouncer Hakan were arguing with someone at the front door. 

"We're paid up this month! What's the problem?"
"Sorry Lady, new orders. We're doing a spot-check!"
"What is this bullshit?"

"Filthy cop," pfffffffff "'Eyy em trying to run ey beez-ness!"

Realizing the guards were probably coming in, Robert woke up the group. They were preparing to jump out the window but a few of Zvezdana's girls took pity on them (Suba-Jin's coins didn't hurt) and hid the group in their rooms. After the guards left, the gang had Zvezdana identify a few magic items - some bracers of defense AC 13, a potion of longevity and a scroll of Invisiblity, 10' radius.

She bought the potion for a princely sum (she's getting on in years), and asked them for a favour. One of her girls (named Etelvina) joined a theatre troupe at The Theatre of Sutrali Khibari in the Old City. In the past week, nobody had heard from her and Zvezdana was starting to worry. Was she OK? Had she started working somewhere else? What happened? The group agreed to check it out.

Around Town

The group split up and did a few things throughout the city, bought gear, went to the Night Wolf Inn to pick up some of their savings, etc.

Robert & Gorr investigated the theatre, a dingy place beneath Uugen's Market in the Old City. A staircase beside a statue of the pangolin-armadillo goddess of luck Kettkí led down below, infested with beggars and strewn with garbage. The ticket-taker told them that a skeletal apparition with glowing eyes had kidnapped Etelvina right off the stage at the climax of a performance! The play was a lurid romance called "The Bleeding Skeleton." Since then business has boomed as folks hope to see a repeat of this thrilling & macabre event. That play wasn't on that night, so they moved on.

Uugen's Market, Old City

Suba-Jin gave his tithe at the church of Hextor and was urged to deal with this "Inquisition Problem" by Votgauum, his immediate superior. He went to Fort Penitence and managed to get a bit more information on why Eric's name was on wanted posters around the city [Session 1 - No Salvation For Witches].

That night the group went down to the docks and watched the wizard's initiation. It turned out that the apprentice was none other than Lothos the Undesirable himself! He walked and acted differently since the group last saw him. Gorr called out his name, but he didn't appear to notice. As the sun set, Lothos demonstrated his newfound magical power - stepping off the docks onto a sparkling bridge of lights, walking up & over the water and into the Gloaming Tower itself before the whole scene faded from view.

The group returned to the theatre the next day while it was closed. Banging on the door brought the attention of Barzhánu, a mean & imperious-looking woman. She introduced herself as the impresario and allowed the group to come in and explore the "alleged ghost problem" if they didn't disturb rehearsals. The actors were an ill-favoured lot, clearly drawn from the city's unfortunates.

Behind the stage was a carving on the wall of a madly dancing skeleton clad in wild rags. This seemed somehow related to the haunting but they didn't get around to investigating it, instead exploring a backstage storage room with a spiral staircase. Downstairs was a deep basement area that showed no signs of travel. 

A great stone face of a scowling, helmeted warrior blocked passage forward. After a few tries opening it, Suba-Jin wondered if the content of the play might be relevant. Barzhánu said "The Bleeding Skeleton" was about a cursed warrior named Kadurghán - when the name was uttered, the stone face opened with a great grinding sound! A pastel rose-coloured mist issued forth, smelling of flowers and causing a light-headed dizziness.

The Realm of Kadurghán

This soporific mist was also poisonous - a few of the group tied wet rags around their mouths and this helped a little bit, but they still felt their strength slowly ebbing as they progressed through the tunnels. 

They passed a few old storage rooms filled with couches, rotting clothes & a lady's makeup table, but didn't look inside. Next was a large hall with the words "THE NARCOTIC THRONE: THE COURT OF KADURGHÁN" carved above the doorway. Within the richly decorated & marbled hall, an imposing figure in blue-black ceremonial armour sat on a brass throne, lost in thought or asleep. The party's spellcasting caught his attention and he demanded to know their purpose here.

They explained their search for the missing girl. He told them the monster they sought was called Uromén, the Chortling Death. Its domain was deeper into the undercity, but more than that he didn't know. Kadurghán (for it could only be him) said he did not harm women, and sought only the heart of a powerful warrior strong enough to beat in his own chest - indicating a small hinged panel on his armour. After some more chatter he made it clear the party would pay dearly for disturbing his repose, while a pack of sinister horned ghosts coalesced out of the red mists.

The battle was short and furious. Kadurghán didn't even join, only exhorted his ghostly minions from his throne. The poisonous mists began taking their toll and the group decided to flee. Meep the Dwarf was knocked out by a ghost's parting strike but Gorr carried him, and everyone made it up the stairs.

Back in the Theater 

Upstairs, a tense stand-off occurred with Barzhánu's guards while Robert the Swift dragged her downstairs to prove how dangerous the Undercity was. When Suba-Jin went down to see how it was going, he found her shoving Robert's lifeless body down into the mists! A Light spell and the sudden appearance of a pack of horned ghosts kept her busy, while Suba-Jin dragged his friend back upstairs. It seemed that she had stabbed him with a poisoned dagger, but the lucky use of a Neutralize Poison spell stabilized Robert for the moment. 

The group explored the rest of the theatre shooing out the scared players and sullen thugs, none of whom had much reason to stay with their employer gone. They found the bloody clothes of some former lover in Barzhánu's room, along with her stash and some treasure.

Two bricked-up archways in backstage rooms led to parts unknown and Gorr used his mining tools to smash a few bricks out. On the other side of one was a ratty-smelling room with some veiled figures wearing soiled black and purple robes. They were priests, and this the Temple of Sürü Miklári. Entry was forbidden but they were willing to offer oracles about matters in the city from "the little brothers" for one talent of silver (500 coins). They insisted the door not be knocked down further, but reluctantly allowed for a small hole through which communication could be made.

After exploring the theatre, they took Robert to the church of Hextor for more healing and the poison was finally over with. Votgauum again urged Suba-Jin to deal with Eric's legal troubles. They decided to turn Eric in to the Inquisition, claim the reward and hope that the priests' magical abilities discerned the truth of events.

Fort Penitence

"We got him!" Gorr cried when they walked into the Inquisition's headquarters. Once he was identified, Eric was quickly ushered away. The rest of the party were given their reward and ushered by a large group of guards through twisting tunnels underneath the Fort. They quickly got lost and were finally ushered into a large interview room -- where Eric himself was sitting! After a few minutes of uncomfortable waiting an imposing Viridian with piercing eyes entered the room. The guards seemed afraid of him and made themselves scarce. 

A long conversation ensued with the man, Phaidros Imad, covering many topics:

- He had enough dirt on the group to have them all condemned. For the Drydale Massacre [back in Session 1], possession of contraband, their trips to the Undercity and possibly more he wasn't saying.

- The Inquisition knew about Bishop Gray all along, and wanted his magic book. The party told him about Lothos carrying it and the attribute-trading statues [Session 9]. He was frustrated by the book moving out of his reach, for now.

- His main concern at the moment was the Night Wolf Inn. All his attempts to place agents in the Adventurers' Guild had failed. Now that he had the group in his power and most of them were already members, he wanted to learn more about the place. He didn't believe for a second it was a "simple adventuring guild."

His questions included:

Who runs the Inn? 
What are his or her capabilities, resources, goals, agendas?
How long will the Inn be operating outside Viridistan? Is it intended to be permanent?
What else is inside the inn?
Who else is a member of the Guild?
What kind of agenda is driving the Guild's activities?
Any other information on the Inn itself, the Guild and those involved with it.

Phaidros spoke with narrowed eyes, in an ominous whisper: "I don't have to tell men in your position that there is a war going on... behind things." He would be watching the group carefully but they'd only meet him again if they did extremely well or extremely poorly. Their next contact would be known by a password: "The Pelagic Argosy Sights Land." 

He cautioned that they were not official Inquisition troops and he was neither willing nor able to help them out in future. After this stern dismissal they were escorted out of a side-exit from the Fort. Back in the city and free of the manhunt, the party contemplated their next move, and the renewal of hostilities with that mysterious bastard Kadurghán...

*****

Monsters Defeated:

3 horned ghosts (240 xp)

Treasure:

silver & gold coins (divided amongst the group)

a gilded theatre-mask

some bloody clothes

Experience Totals:

Session 9 Downtime - Viridistan

Suba-Jin

Reports to the great Battle-Dome of Hextor on the Street of the Gods to make his devotions. The dark edifice looms over nearby buildings. It is surrounded by statues of warriors and adorned with stained-glass windows, friezes and murals featuring scenes of historic battles against goblins, elves, monsters and just about everyone else. The clanging of weapons, shouts of battle and cracking of whips ring out at all hours. He passes by Hextor's red-robed priests & soldiers, naked slaves, and the familiar if unnerving skeletal temple guardians to the sanctum of his superior Votgauum, a severe & scarred Viridian.

The clergy finds the mournful, ethereal scent from the Forest of Dreams a bit sensitive, but are pleased at Suba-Jin's diligence & piety for bringing treasure wrested from his enemies. Votgauum also suggests Suba-Jin consider choosing one of the "arms of Hextor" to become proficient with, and he selects the falchion. Votgauum presents him with one as a gift to the promising acolyte.

[Offerings of roughly this value are expected from crusading clerics such as yourself regularly. As you donate more, Hextor will favour you with other benefits: special one-use abilities, magical buffs, guidance, followers or even magic items.]

Votgauum also passes along a request: a seedy-looking pawnbroker in the Old City named Morthevole has asked the church for help, saying his shop was taken from him unlawfully. Suba-Jin found him staying at a bar in the Old City (a lower-class district against the northern city wall. Filled with crumbling tenements, narrow alleys and outlandish structures left by the city's original builders, whoever they were). "The White Egg" is a lousy dive bar on the Avenue of Power, in the shadow of the great aqueduct. It's only made tolerable by a few tough-looking serving girls who work the crowd for tips. The pawnbroker probably picked it because it isn't very busy.

Morthevole is a wienery-looking Antillian in once rich, but now shabby clothes. He looks scared shitless. He is evasive about questions. He says he didn't have dealings with "the things," but that they are so dangerous he fears returning to his shop. They came up from a hole in his basement, and there are at least six or seven he's seen - but he has heard the sounds of more. He wants this whole thing kept secret, and says if nobody finds out, you can keep any treasure you find. His shop is in a part of town called The Nest. It's a district of adobe & brick structures built on top of each other in layers upon layers, until it forms a 3-dimensional maze. Most of the neighbourhood never sees the sky at all. As you would expect it is populated with criminal gangs, scum, mutants & drug fiends. Morthevole can give you directions & the key to his store which is not too far inside, but doesn't know the district well other than that. 

["A hole in his basement" is significant. It is commonly believed that dungeons exist underneath the city. But everyone knows it is illegal to explore below, on pain of death.]

Lothos

Studies magical tomes. From The Starless Stars, Lothos is able to decipher several spells easily: charm person, allure, shocking grasp, jump, scare & arcane lock are added to his spellbook.

To decipher the encoded text of Obliteration Without Glory, Lothos locks himself in his tiny rented room in Otherside, poring over the ancient & forbidding tome for three days straight! At the end of the third day, his efforts bear mixed success. He has decoded one of the spells, but its magic is unusable to him - it requires a spellcaster devoted to the forces death! 

There are several more spells to be deciphered, and each attempt will take three days. There is no guarantee which ones will be usable by elves and magic-users, and which require a dedicated necromancer.

Vanished!!

When you are done resting and get ready for your next adventure, Lothos the Undesirable is nowhere to be found! The rooming-house where he stayed does not remember when he left. With him go the two aforementioned spellbooks, as well as the mysterious engraved staff lifted from Eralion's tomb, and the 'talking book' Pheldrazash.

His whereabouts are unknown. Amongst the indifferent masses of the Emerald City, a determined elf could hide for a long time. Perhaps you will see Lothos again, perhaps not. I am sure you can all guess what might have happened. Mike will need a new character for the time being.

Spotted Around Town

On the third day, you spot some parchment handbills posted around the city:

Unlocking New Character Classes

When player-characters die, this is my gift to you. Each unique death will unlock a new playable character class or sub-class. Lothos didn't exactly 'die' but was taken out of play, so it's close enough for this purpose. For being 'killed' by a magical effect, this class is now available to everyone:

"The Incantrix"

A dimensional guardian specializing in divinations, wards and metamagic. Viewed with suspicion by established magic-users for their dangerous spell-stealing ability.

Requirements: INT 9, WIS 12

Casts a mixture of Magic-User and Illusionist spells up to 7th level

17 INT to cast 6th level spells, 18 INT to cast 7th level spells

Special Abilities:

1st level - charge healing - Drain charges from magical devices to heal (2d4 hp per charge). This takes a full round and does not work on artifacts or items without charges. This can raise hp above max, but these phantom hp last for only 10 rounds.

2nd level - spell steal - The incantrix can steal a memorized spell from another spell caster. The spell to be stolen is determined at random and the incantrix knows nothing about the stolen spell. This special ability by-passes magic resistance and there is no saving throw. The stolen spell may be cast by the incantrix immediately or held for later use, and can be cast without any material components. When cast, the spell functions as if cast by the being it was stolen from (with regards to level). Any spell already in the process of being cast cannot be stolen. 

The incantrix can erase the spell from her mind and inscribe it on a scroll or in a book with the Write spell, though this does not allow her to use it if it is forbidden by her class. Only by such scribing can the stolen spell be identified. The incantrix may use this special ability 1/day at levels 2-4, 2/day at levels 5-6, 3/day at levels 7-8 and so on at a range of 10'/level. There is a small chance of spell-steal victims being mentally damaged in the process, especially after successive strikes.

3rd level and up - other abilities which help fight ethereal & undead creatures, etc.