DFRPG Arden Vul Session 48: Thothian Teleportation Rings

Date:

Horasday, 29th of Molivios, 2994 AE

Weather:

Warm, sunny

Player Characters:

Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)

Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)

Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Cosmo)

Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)

Lasselanta "Chrysalis" Ashcroft, Half-Elven mercenary martial artist (ArchonShiva)

Significant NPCs:

Basil, Right for Riches employee

Akla-Chah, Rudishva AI

Remagis, recently un-petrified ancient priest of Thoth

2 imps

Giant centipede

Many beastmen

Count Skleros, beastman commander

Fear elemental

Wight

Several ghouls

Several zombies

Several Set guards

Set acolyte

Many goblins

Larakim, goblin witch doctor

Harab, goblin sub-chief

Sir Simonet, sun-scarred knight

The Plan:

• Finish exploring and searching the No Mana Zone west of the Well of Light
• Get a map from Temrin in the Goblin Market
• Clear more rooms near the Goblin Forum

What Happened:

Not wanting to give anyone else a chance to loot the no mana zone, the Right for Riches company rested, healed, identified some loot, and then headed right back to the Halls of Arden Vul the next day.  This time they recruited Chrysalis, to provide more protection in areas without spells.  Once again they took the Rudishva teleporter to the Cloister, then went down the secret tunnel to the slime pit room.  Most of the party went through the Teleport Rug back to the Beacon, while Vael and Vallium Levitated up the shaft to the cavern north of the ruined Temple of Set.  They didn't run into any trouble, and set the Rug down so everyone else could rejoin them.

The group headed east through the ruined Temple of Thoth, then south to the indoor pyramid, and used the lever on top to teleport to the other indoor pyramid on the Well of Light level.  They went west, back to the No Mana Zone.  Before going in, Vallium showed Vael the areas they had explored, and suggested that he try analyzing the magical baboon statue.  Vael did so, and found that it was some kind of magical potion making machine, where one put the ingredients in the eye sockets and then the potion dripped out the nostrils.

They looted some jewelry and a key from a ghoul corpse, then Vallium and Chrysalis went west through the broken portcullis into the No Mana Zone.  (The lack of mana was obvious because Vallium's armor got heavier and Chyrsalis's glowing staff stopped glowing.)  Not liking the darkness, Vallium went back and pulled a mundane torch out of Larel's Sack, then they went back in.  They explored several rooms to the north and south, finding a bunch of wrecked furniture and a few more items.  Listening to a locked stone door to the west, Chysalis thought she heard a horse.  Vallium tried the ghoul's key, which fit.  Opening the door revealed a magically lit room with a giant pentagram on the floor, a goat standing in the pentagram making noise, an ivory coffer on the floor, and a Thothian teleportation circle in the corner with a full set of colored glass tiles lined up next to it.

Vallium and Chyrsalis spent some time examining the goat, which appeared hungry but not hostile.  Suspicious, they doubled back to talk to the others, then had everyone else step through the Rug back to the Beacon.  They went back to the pentagram room and put the Rug down so everyone else could join them, without walking through the No Mana Zone and losing their Bless and Continual Light spells.

Vael cast Mage Sight and saw that the goat was magical, probably not a real goat.  It tried stealing his food.  He also noticed a rat they hadn't spotted before, also magical.  After a lot of poking around, the goat tried biting Vael and he Blinked away, then Vallium stabbed it, and the dead goat transformed into a dead imp.  They also killed the rat, which was also an imp.  With both imps dead, they turned their attention to the coffer.  It was magical, and Vael avoided touching it and instead used Apportation to stick it in a bag.

The Thothian teleporation circle with the glass squares lined up next to it had a shimmering field, unlike the other similar teleporters they had seen.  Vallium experimented by removing one of the colored glass squares, and the field went away a few seconds later.  He put the square back and the field came back.  Using a combination of Scry Gate spells and a Returning Pebble with Continual Light and Trace on it, they tried every combination of colored glass squares they had found, and noted where each combination went.  They recognized one location as the Thothian shrine with the pneuma, which they thought was a safe place to try, so Vael and Vallium set the squares to that location then picked them up and went through the teleporter.  This worked, and they found themselves in the shrine.  There they put the squares in the order that went with the pentagram room, waited for the teleport field to appear, picked up the squares, and teleported back.  Now that they had figured out how to use the teleporters, they decided to visit one where Vael had spotted unguarded treasure.

Unfortunately, after everyone teleported through, they didn't see any treasure.  Vael's Scry Gate spell had misled him.  They just saw a room with ugly yellow paint on the walls.  A few seconds later an elderly beastman guard ran in and started yelling about intruders.  Vael said that they were friends, not invaders, and accidentally hit a teleport trap.  The beastman got his sergeant, who got Count Skleros, who asked some questions about the teleport trap, assigned a couple of guards to watch the room with the teleport circle in case anyone else came through, then escorted the group out of Deino's territory.

Vael said that, since they were in the neighborhood, they should check on Neferet's tomb.  After some discussion, they all headed west to the Great Hall, then re-opened the secret door leading to the tomb.  Knowing there was another No Mana Zone there, everyone went through the Rug, then Chyrsalis carried the Rug down the tunnel until her staff started glowing again, they put the Rug down so everyone could rejoin her.  Neferet wasn't in her tomb.  The group set to looting all the sarcophagi, but they were all empty, and a couple had been smashed open.  Vael said he thought other looters had beat them there.

Returning to the Great Hall, Vallium went south and west to map the path to the stairway that Neferet had fled up.  They didn't go up the stairs, but instead went through another unexplored door to the west.  There were some glyphs on the floor, which Vael thought were designed to provoke fear, but everyone resisted the urge to run.  Some kind of spectral elemental appeared and tried to scare everyone, but thanks to their rings of protection and Uvash's amulet of bravery, nobody was affected, and Vallium and Chrysalis and Uvash dispatched the elemental.

An open door to the west led to a room with three sarcophagi.  Two of them were open.  The third was magical and closed.  Ioannes poked around one of the open sarcophagi and a giant centipede popped out and tried to bite him, but he saw it and jumped back, then Vallium killed it.  Everyone set up around the closed sarcophagus expecting undead, then Vallium took the lid off, and a wight popped out.  Ioannes tried scaring it with the Feather of Maat, which had no effect.  Vallium and Chrysalis beat it to death instead.

Vael searched the room for secret doors, and found one to the west.  It opened easily.  Behind it was a room containing several ghouls and zombies.  Vallium and Chyrsalis killed them.  North was a closed door.  Vael used Glass Wall on it, and saw it was barricaded shut from the other side, and there were several people in red Settite armor inside.  Vael said something about rescuing them, and the Settites started dismantling the barricade.  Vallium pushed the door open, and Vallium and Chrysalis killed them.  Uvash wasn't feeling well, and went back through the Teleport Rug to the Beacon to lie down.

Turning back to the south, they found another closed door, and Vael used Glass Wall to look through it and saw several scared-looking goblins.  They opened the door and told the goblins that they came in peace and had killed all the undead and Settites.  The goblins rejoiced and asked for food.  After eating all the party's rations, they let the group lead them north past the Beastmen to the Glory of Weskenim and the other goblins.

Returning to the newly explored area, they found another room with a magic sink.  With Uvash not around, Vael drank some of the liquid, but it appeared to just be fresh water.  Continuing south, they found a room containing a wounded Sun-Scarred Knight, Sir Simonet.  Simonet was conscious but not yet ready to walk.  Ioannes offered to heal him, but Simonet was distrustful and said to stay back.  Vael explained that they had cleared out the Forum of Set and given it to the goblins, which Sir Simonet seemed to find hilarious.  After some more conversation, Sir Simonet said that he had reconsidered and would let Ioannes heal him, as he had to go back to his Order and report the news to his commander.  Ioannes healed him, and the knight left.

After Sir Simonet left, Vael noted the stone chest against one wall, and decided to search it for traps.  Unfortunately, he missed one, and he, Vallium, and Chyrsalis were engulfed in a flaming explosion.  Vallium was fine because of his heavy armor, but the others were badly burned.  Ioannes healed both of them until they were no longer in danger.  Vael grabbed the unburned contents of the chest, and everyone headed back to the Beacon.

GM's Comments:

It took almost 50 delves, but the Right of Riches company finally figured out the Thothian Teleportation Circles.  They also rescued some goblins, killed some more undead and Settites, and mapped more of the Well of Light and Glory of Thoth levels.

Achievements:

The Rescuers: 1 XP for rescuing the cut-off and starving goblins

XP:

• Exploration: 14 new locations, 1 XP
• Loot: Quite a few minor treasures and a nice magic cloak, probably 1-2 XP depending on what they sell
• Achievements: 1 XP
• Total: 3-4 XP

Next Week:

They're planning on securing more of the unexplored areas around the Goblin Forum.  After that, they'll decide between going after Neferet and the Iron Circlet of Ghanor, or trying to kill the green dragon Craastonistorex.

RPG Party Disaster Recovery Planning

In the last session of DFRPG Arden Vul, the Right for Riches company came pretty close to a total party kill.  (It would not have been the whole company, as Vael wasn't there.  But both Vallium and Uvash were out of the fight and at the mercy of undead, in a no-mana zone.)

Since then, the players have been reviewing the tactics that almost led to their defeat.  But they're also making plans for party continuity if they do get wiped out.

The Right for Riches company has three assets that many less experienced adventuring parties do not: money, allies, and communications.  So these ideas won't work for every group, but some of them might.

Money is great because it pays for things like Resurrection spells and bounties to recover your body.  If you have enough money, someone will probably be motivated by it.  Crucially, the money has to actually be available; if it's all on your body, and nobody knows where your body is, then it's not so useful.  Gosterwick has pretty solid banking services from three different merchant Factors, and each member of the Right for Riches company has substantial deposits at them, so they have this covered.

Money isn't enough though, as someone needs to coordinate paying it out.  That's where non-adventuring allies come in.  Right for Riches have three key allies to help with disaster recovery.  The first is Akla-Chah, the Rudishva AI in the Beacon, with whom they can communicate with their Rudishva Command Bracelet.  As long as they remember to call her often enough, she knows where a search should begin.  The second is Barnaby Goodbarrel, their lawyer in Gosterwick, who can write binding legal documents such as wills and contracts.  The third is Basil, their employee, who can travel between the Beacon and Gosterwick and coordinate rescue or recovery efforts.

Not every group has the ability to frequently communicate back to base, but next best is just telling someone your planned route before you leave, and then sticking to the plan as closely as possible.  Right for Riches designs a plan for every delve, and sharing it with Akla-Chah and Basil gives them a starting point for a search, even if they forget to call with updates.

While rescue is ideal and resurrection is second best, sometimes really bad things happen and nobody can ever find the bodies.  At that point you need a succession plan.  Right for Riches has a couple of levels of that.  First, the company is legally incorporated in Gosterwick and can own assets, so much of the group's property belongs to the company rather than its members, so if the party is wiped out, at least the property they own back at the Beacon still belongs to the company.  Second, they have a plan to allow Basil and Barnaby to hire new adventurers to reform the company if the current members are missing long enough.

Finally, for personal property, there are wills.  Does your personally owned stuff pass out of the game, or to your close friend or relative who just happens to be your next PC?  So far Uvash is the only PC with a designated successor, his son.

Ultimately this is all a meta play.  The GM has to decide what's too cheesy to allow.  But Right for Riches are at least making an attempt to spin things so that, if they get wiped out, their replacement PCs get to keep some of their stuff.  We'll see how it plays out, if things ever reach that point.

DFRPG Arden Vul Session 47: The No Mana Zone

Date:

Tahsday, 28st of Molivios, 2994 AE

Weather: 

Warm, cloudy, rainy

Player Characters: 

Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)

Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)

Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Cosmo)

Coinbase, Elven Mercenary Bro (Archon Shiva)

Significant NPCs:

Wicktrimmer, Imperial Goblin merchant

Roger the Rapier, Leader of the Five Fingers of Destiny adventuring company

Bottleneck, sergeant in charge of Upper Goblintown

Many goblins

Yamki, 3-armed giant intelligent baboon

Many baboons

Construct spearman

Remagis un-petrified ancient priest of Thoth

Stamelis, Head of Thoth librarian

Basil, Right for Riches employee

Many ghouls

Many skeletons

Many zombies

The Plan:

• Warn the Five Fingers of Destiny away from the Beacon
• Deliver food to the baboons
• Explore the western part of the Well of Light level
• Explore the Howling Caves
• Pick up Temrin's map to the second Tablet of the Beacon

What Happened:

Wicktrimmer returned from Narsileon with some items.  Vallium and Ioannes met with the Five Fingers of Destiny, explained about the ankh-key puzzle and (just a bit about) the Beacon, and said their base was very dangerous and the Five Fingers should stay away.  Vallium then bought food for the baboons and took it through a Teleport Rug to the Beacon.

Everyone teleported through the Rug to the Beacon, then used a Rudishva Teleporter to go down to the Cloister level.  They propped the one-way door open.  They went through the Cloister then down a secret passage to the slime room, where Vallium and Coinbase Levitated up to the cave near the old Temple of Set, then the others came back through the Rug to join them.  From there they went east through the old Temple of Thoth to the Glory of Weskenim, briefly talked to Bottleneck, then went through the indoor pyramid teleporter to the Well of Light.

Everyone headed east to Yamki's room near the Howling Caves, and Vallium talked to Yamki.  They went into an empty room to set up a Rug to teleport all the baboon food out from the Beacon.  After giving the food to Yamki, they warned him that they would be exploring to the west.

The first newly discovered room contained a bunch of broken furniture and general trash, plus a fancy model of a raven on a perch.  When Coinbase approached it, it said something in Mithric.  That was interesting enough that they grabbed the bird and took it back to the Beacon.

Further south, they found a room containing many small wooden dormitory cubicles, plus a very detailed sculpture of a Thothian priest.  Coinbase suggested it might actually be a petrified priest.  Uvash tried Stone to Flesh, and it turned into an ancient Thothian priest named Remagis, who only spoke Mithric and was pretty confused about what was happening.  After some conversation in broken Mithric, Ioannes cast Gift of Tongues on Vallium so he could explain things more thoroughly.  Once Remagis calmed down a bit, they showed him how to use the Teleport Rug then took him back to the Beacon, where Stamelis could talk to him and Basil could take care of him.

Continuing north, they found a locked door.  Vallium and Uvash used Vallium's new portable battering ram to smash it.  Inside was an entire wizard's lab full of junk, plus a construct spearman with a huge black iron spear.  The construct attacked.  Vallium destroyed it.  They looted the lab of everything that looked valuable and portable.

They continued west to a closed portcullis.  There was a throbbling light from the west.  There was a lever on the wall that appeared designed to open it, but the lever was rusted.  They tried forcing the lever, which broke.  Not wanting to break the portcullis in case they needed to close it, they tried passing the Teleport Rug through it, then Ioannes could open it up with Apportation and Uvash could step through the Rug from the Beacon.  The rolled-up Rug fit between the bars, but the Apportation spell failed as soon as the Rug went through.  And then Uvash didn't come through the Rug.  Vallium managed to reach through the bars and grab the Rug back, and then it worked and Uvash came through.  Coinbase cast Silence, and Vallium and Uvash used the ram to break the portcullis.  They stepped into the room, their Continual Light rocks went dark, Vallium's Levitation boots stopped Levitating, and their magically lightened armor got heavier.  They stepped back out and had a long conversation about what to do next.

The conclusion was to send Vallium and Uvash in, while Coinbase and Ioannes stayed back with the mana.  Vallium found a torch, and they went forward into the room.  There was an ivory coffer in the center of the floor, with creepy tongues engraved on it.  Moving the box around did not seem to affect the mana level.  They took the box and brought it back to the Beacon, putting it in a Bag of Holding inside a chest for safekeeping.  There were doors north, west, and south.  A map they had found indicated only a single room north, so they went that way.  The door was locked, so they smashed it with the ram, without benefit of Silence this time.  As they started looking into the room to the north, the door to the south opened, and many skeletons, zombies, and ghouls started streaming out.

Vallium and Uvash headed back east toward the mana, but both were slower than usual without their Lighten spells.  The ghouls and skeletons mobbed them.  Vallium killed several of each, but then one ghoul hit Vallium's face, which was no longer protected by his magical Torc of Protection.  Neither was he Blessed.  Vallium was paralyzed!  Uvash activated his Heroic Might and Heroic Grace and tried to fight off all the undead.  Meanwhile, Ioannes started taunting the ghouls with religious rituals, trying to draw them out into the mana.  Some of them charged him.  (The skeletons and zombies didn't care.)

Three somewhat separate battles happened.  One was Ioannes versus some ghouls, with Coinbase contributing multiple buff spells.  One was Uvash versus ghouls and skeletons and zombies.  And one was skeletons and zombies that couldn't reach anyone else bashing on Vallium while he was paralyzed and (except for the heavy armor over most of his body) defenseless.

Uvash took down a lot of undead, almost winning the battle and saving Vallium, until one of the zombies landed a lucky critical hit and knocked him unconscious.  Meanwhile, Ioannes, not really strong enough to efficiently kill ghouls, focused on aiming at their feet and crippling them.  Coinbase cast Great Haste (twice), Haste, and Flight on Ioannes, and otherwise Levitated horizontally near the ceiling so the ghouls had to jump to try to lay a claw on him.

When Uvash went down, the last few skeletons and zombies ran out to get Ioannes, and he managed to cripple all of their feet.  Once no undead were left standing, they went into the No Mana zone and dragged the unconscious Uvash and paralyzed Vallium out, then Ioannes cast multiple healing spells on both of them.  Uvash woke up a few minutes later, and Vallium was able to move again.  Everyone staggered back to the east, then reversed their path to the Beacon.  They didn't run into anything hostile on the way, so they made it.  It had been very close though; with both Vallium and Uvash knocked out, a pack of undead in a no-mana zone had almost ended the Right for Riches company.

   

GM's Comments:

When Vallium went down I thought there was a decent chance of a total party kill.  Uvash, Ioannes, and Coinbase managed to win the fight, but it was close.  No mana zones are not a joke.

Achievements:

The Rescuers: 1 XP for un-petrifying and rescuing Remagis

XP:

• Exploration: 4 new locations: 0 XP
• Loot: a few magic items from the Wizard's Lab, plus the magic coffer: 1 XP
• Achievements: 1 XP
• Total: 2 XP

Next Week:

They're planning on heading right back to the western Well of Light area to finish exploring there.  They will then go down to the Goblin Market to get their Temrin map to the second Tablet of the Beacon.  They may then return to the Goblin Forum and try to clear more rooms on that level.

DFRPG Arden Vul Session 46: The Arena Lord and the Inn of the Lost

Date:

Tahsday, 21st of Molivios, 2994 AE

Weather: 

Warm, rainy

Player Characters: 

Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)

Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)

The GOAT, Imperial Goblin Mercenary Druid (Archon Shiva)

Significant NPCs:

Tresti Iredell, Half-Elven wizard of the Rarities Factor

Temrin, Goblin Royal Artist

Gribble, Lord of the Goblin Forum

Many goblins

Dworm, human guard/merchant

Yoburra, Varumani ambassador

Several ogre guards

Many arena guards

Hal, Varumani bartender

Yerk, human gladiator

Basil, human gladiator

Nisdis, elven gladiator

6 giant beetles

The Arena Lord, Rudishva

Ida and Odile, twin gamblers

Razor Face, gambler

Varumani Lift operators

Virgoolian, goblin chemist

Swiddy, baker

Aebbe Long-Nose, cleric

Philippous, weapons dealer

Thegan White-Mane, Innkeeper, Inn of the Lost

Boots, Barkeeper, Inn of the Lost

Aethgrim, Entertainer, Inn of the Lost

Akla-Chah, hologram psychologist

Basil of Narsileon, Right for Riches company employee

Various summoned goats, bats, bears, and an elephant

The Plan:

• Sell food in the Goblin Forum
• Visit the Arena and learn things

What Happened:

After finding the Five Fingers of Destiny poking around above the Beacon, Vael got worried and started looking for a way to prevent them from scrying or teleporting in.  He asked Ioannes to help with the research, and Ioannes found a text suggesting lead-lined walls as a solution for both problems.  The party split up, with Vael, Vallium, Uvash, and Basil looking for large quantities of lead roofing tiles, while Ioannes would make the weekly food delivery to the Goblin Forum, then head down to the Arena to gather information on the Rudishva Command Bracelet that Temrin's map indicated was there.

Ioannes hired the goblin mercenary GOAT for help, then went down to the Grain Hall and bought a wheelbarrow load of assorted foods.  Without a Blink spell to easily get from the Beacon to the surface, they decided to just hike from Gosterwick to the Cliff Face, then walk up the Long Stair to the ruins.  GOAT summoned a goat to pull the wheelbarrow, a bat swarm for scouting, and a couple of cave bears for protection.

After trudging though the rain for ten miles then climbing the Long Stair, the duo walked north to the Pyramid of Thoth then went down through the Pyramid to Upper Goblintown.  There, Bottleneck greeted Ioannes and said the goats were fine but bears were not allowed in goblin territory.

They went west through the not-so-secret-anymore door to the ruined Temple of Thoth, then through the also ruined Temple of Set, then down the Sighing Stair to the Goblin Forum.  There Gribble greeted them, thanked them for bringing more food, and directed them to Dworm the Food Merchant.  Dworm repeated that he was a guard, not a merchant, but wrote down the food they brought and gave them a receipt, and paid them for their previously sold food.

Gribble mentioned that the Set animal statue in the center of the Forum was still  emitting some kind of weird gas that caused one of his guards to face plant after standing in the wrong place.  Ioannes and GOAT offered to take a look.  First GOAT cast Shape Earth to seal up the statue's nostrils and make the gas stop coming out.  Then he decided to go for a more complete solution, Levitated up to the ceiling, and summoned an Irthuin elephant.  The huge animal materialized in mid-air then crashed down onto the statue, causing extensive damage to both the statue and the elephant.  GOAT dismissed the wounded elephant as he and Ioannes looked at the wrecked statue.  The head had been knocked off the body, and gas was again coming out of a couple of small holes in the neck.  Not wanting to spend too much more time here, GOAT sealed off the holes.  A Varumani ambassador came out to check on the noise, saw it was just adventurers wrecking more Settite stuff, had a brief conversation with Ioannes, and went back to his room.

They went back up to Upper Goblintown, then down through the Wet Caves to the Goblin Market.  Ioannes went over to the Temrin, the Royal Artist, and asked if he knew the way to the Arena.  Temrin said it was down the stairs to the west, but he never went to the Arena himself because he didn't like violence.  He also noted that Vael's new map was ready.  Ioannes thanked Temrin, and he and the GOAT went east.  Ioannes asked an ogre guard a few questions about rooms nearby, then they went down the stairs to the arena level.

Ioannes talked to Hal, the bartender at the Arena Corner Bar.  Hal said that today was a Spectacle Day and they should get their drinks, place their bets, and take their seats for the show.  Ioannes tried to order milk, but Hal didn't have any.  Ioannes settled for water and a mushroom cake.  Meanwhile, GOAT cast Rider Within on a bat and had it explore the level with its dark vision and echolocation.  The bat found some large skeletons and goblin corpses across a small chasm to the west, then found a wall of fire with some kind of flaming nataraja dancer, which eventually threw a fireball at the bat, killing it.  He sent out another bat, which explored a chasm until it was surprised and eaten by a giant spider.

After finishing his mushroom cake, Ioannes led GOAT north and west to the arena bleachers.  The bleachers were mostly full of goblins.  The Arena Lord appeared in his box on the far side of the Arena and announced a Spectacle, three heroic gladiators against six ferocious giant beetles.  The Arena Lord was larger and thinner than a human, with two small horns on his head, and was wearing a purple jumpsuit, a white scarf, and a red bracelet.  After a while, three gladiators entered the arena sands from the south.  They strutted during their introductions, then the door on the north end opened and some arena wranglers pushed 6 giant beetles out onto the sand.  The beetles walked around sniffing and looking confused, while the gladiators slowly approached, showing off with spins and kicks and twirled weapons.  Then as they got to melee range, one of the gladiators stopped showing off and just brutally killed four of the beetles as fast as possible.  Each of the others killed one.

Ioannes talked to one of the goblins in the crowd, who said the gladiator who killed four beetles was Yerk, who was currently the #3 ranked gladiator in the arena, and a crowd favorite because he was "a total psycho."  The goblin also said he had bet on Yerk to get the most kills.

Ioannes and GOAT left the bleachers and west north east to where the gamblers were settling their bets.  Two of the gamblers were female and looked like twins, so Ioannes tried talking to them.  After a few minutes they got tired of answering his questions about the Lord of the Arena, so he talked to another gambler, a man with a scarred face with no nose or ears who compensated with a large beard.  Ioannes didn't get much good information from him either.

They headed north and west, then opened an unlocked door.  GOAT sent another summoned bat in to scout, and found rows of cages full of various monsters: more giant beetles, hell hounds, mephits, undead, a manticore, a chimera, and some owlbears.  They went west farther and found some old statues and a booming voice welcoming them to the Arena and telling them violence was not allowed outside the sands, then repeating (presumably) the same message in two languages they didn't know.

They reached the Varumani Lifts.  Ioannes asked the operators about the area nearby.  The varumani said the Inn was that way, the Arena was back the way they came, and that the Lifts could take them to the Floating Gardens or all the way across the Chasm.  Ioannes chose the Inn.  He saw a large door with a sign in Mithric saying "House of Isocorax" and another sign in Archontean saying it was the "Inn of the Lost."  There was a passage to the northeast.  Going that way, they found a Rudishva-architecture room with four merchant stalls set up: a chemist, a baker, a cleric, and a weapons dealer.  There was a passage leading north and a door to the east.  Ioannes asked what was to the north, and the chemist answered "death, don't go that way."  Ioannes asked what potions he had to sell.  He had the usual healing potions and such, plus Virgoolian's Special Brew, which he said would mess you up.  Ioannes declined to drink any, but bought one for GOAT.  GOAT drank it and was indeed messed up, as he started hallucinating.  GOAT decided to take a nap in the wheelbarrow, while Ioannes checked out the Inn.

The Inn door was unlocked.  Ioannes was greeted by the proprietor, an old white-haired man named Thegan.  Thegan said he had private rooms available, or a bed in a bunkroom, as well as good food and drink.  Ioannes went into the dining room, tipped the bard to play a song, and had another small mushroom-based snack.  There weren't any other guests in the common room; the barkeeper said it was a Spectacle day so they were probably at the Arena.

Vael finished looking for lead and went through the Teleport Rug to the Beacon looking for Ioannes.  Ioannes wasn't there and Basil said he hadn't been there, so Vael teleported back to Gosterwick and went to the Rarities Factor.  There he paid Tresti to cast a Message spell to Ioannes, asking him to meet at their room.  Ioannes left the Inn, went back to get the GOAT, and they went down some passages until they had some privacy to use a Teleport Rug.  GOAT stayed to watch the Rug while Ioannes went back to the Beacon and met Vael.  After bringing Vael up to date on the Arena Lord, they went to talk to Akla-Chah.  She confirmed that not all Beacon crew members were accounted for, and it was possible some were still alive, though the Beacon crashed a long time ago.  Ioannes went through the crew roster until he thought he recognized the Arena Lord as Entertainment Officer Crellik-Var.  Ioannes and Vael then went back through the Rug to rejoin GOAT in the Halls.

They followed a passage to the northeast, where they saw some corpses (six human, two varumani) stacked up near a chasm.  Suspecting a trap, GOAT sent a summoned bat to explore.  It flew over the chasm, down a passage, up another passage, and then was killed by a sword-swinging statue.  Still suspecting a trap, Vael asked GOAT to summon an animal to drag the bodies back for looting.  GOAT summoned two goats, who started dragging the bodies back.  One of the goats spotted a giant worm in the chasm, but dodged its attack and loyally kept dragging bodies back.  Vael and Ioannes looted the bodies of their armor (the only thing they had).  They decided not to venture toward the chasm today.

Instead, Ioannes led Vael back to the Inn so he could see it for himself and meet Thegan, then they went over to the merchants and Vael talked to all four.  They then went through the door to the east, which the merchants said led to a cave-in.  They found the cave-in, but Vael thought he heard some whispering in Rudishva there.  He tried a Glass Wall spell on the cave-in, but it was too thick to see through.  He dug a bit with Shape Earth and tried again, spying the passage continuing to the north, then a Rudishva-architecture room with a statue in it.

Vael asked the others to step through the Rug back to the Beacon, turned invisible with Larel's Cloak, then Blinked past the cave-in.  On the other side, he dropped the Rug so the others could join him.  They found a room with a statue that turned out to be a kaliyani, with four eyes that were amber gems.  The statue wasn't magical, so they took the eyes.  There were iris doors north and west, but Vael and Ioannes agreed that they'd pressed their luck enough for today, so they turned around and went back home.

GM's Comments:

We only had two out of five players due to the Easter holiday, so they decided to go on a low-danger information-gathering mission to the Arena.  They got a look at the Arena Lord and found the Inn of the Lost, and didn't engage in any fights (unless you include summoned bats getting killed).

Achievements:

• Arden Vul Iconic Location: Inn of the Lost (Ioannes only)

XP:

• Exploration: 19 new locations (for Ioannes and GOAT, fewer for Vael), 1 XP (for all)
• Loot: four suits of armor (one magical) and four gems, 1 XP
• Achievements: 1 XP (Ioannes only)
• Total: 3 XP for Ioannes, 2 XP for Vael

Next Week:

There should be more players next time, so they can explore more boldly.  The plan is to bring food to the baboons, then investigate the Ruby Throne and explore more of the Well of Light level.  If time permits they will also pick up their Temrin map to the second Tablet of the Beacon, and clear more rooms near the Goblin Forum.

DFRPG Arden Vul Session 45: Purple Mist and the Drowned Canyon

Date:

Tahsday, 14th of Molivios, 2994 AE

Weather: 

Cool, rainy

Player Characters: 

Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)

Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)

Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)

Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Cosmo)

Significant NPCs:

Tresti Iredell, Half-Elven wizard of the Rarities Factor

Wicktrimmer, Imperial Goblin head of the Rarities Factor

Roger the Rapier, wizard and leader of the Five Fingers of Destiny adventuring party

Weskenim, King of the United Goblin Tribes

Temrin, Goblin Royal Artist

Gribble, Lord of the Goblin Forum

Many goblins

Galadnor, Half-Elven merchant

Dworm, Galadnor's guard

Claudine of Narsileon, merchant

Yoburra, Varumani ambassador

Rending demon

Wight

Several zombies

Several zhouls

Several fishmen

The Plan:

• Commission Temrin to make a map to the second Tablet of the Beacon
• Sell food in the Goblin Forum
• Collect another Potion of Chaotic Sweat
• Explore the area southeast of the Temple of Thoth
• Explore the area south of the Goblin Forum

What Happened:

In Gosterwick, Vael got around to returning Tresti's spellbook, which they found long ago.  Tresti noted that Wicktrimmer had sent a Message spell from Narsileon about their shopping list.  They also bought more food at the Grain Hall for sale at the Goblin Forum.

After taking a Teleport Rug to the Beacon, Vael cast Blink Other on Valium as usual to pop him through the roof with a Rug.  This time, Vallium spotted the Five Fingers of Destiny exploring the area.  They didn't see him appear, so he walked up as if he had come over the bridge, and asked what they were doing.  Roger the Rapier was evasive, and indicated that they were heading to the northern end of the island to explore the ruined palace.  Vael got worried that Vallium hadn't put the Teleport Rug down, and Blinked himself through, and they waited until the Five Fingers left the area before dropping the Rug so Uvash and Ioannes could join them.  They had a conversation about what they should do if the Five Fingers found the Beacon.  For now, Vael left a note inside the staircase room, indicating that this was Right for Riches territory and trespassing was a bad idea.

They crossed the bridge then walked to the Pyramid of Thoth, then took the stairs down to Upper Goblintown, then the sloping passages down to the Wet Caves and then Goblintown.   Reaching the Goblin Market, they found Temrin, and presented the voucher signed by King Weskenim entitling them to a map.  They asked Temrin to accompany them to their room for some privacy.  Once there, they showed him the Tablet of the Beacon and asked him to draw a map to a second one.  After many questions, Temrin said he would start soon, after he finished his current map for another customer.

The group went back up to Upper Goblintown then west and down the Sighing Stair to the Goblin Forum.  Claudine of Narsileon had moved from the Goblin Market and set up a stall to sell weapons, armor, and dungeoneering equipment.  She didn't have anything very interesting to sell, and Vael said that he would loan her money if needed for her business.  Dworm said all their food had sold, some to the goblins and most to the Varumani ambassadors, and paid them their share of the proceeds.  The company went south to one of the unoccupied guest rooms and used the Rug to bring in more food for Dworm to sell.  Vael had a brief conversation with Yoburra, the Varumani ambassador.  He indicated that the Varumani were supporting the new Goblin Forum by buying the food from the surface, and would probably be interested in buying more.

Next they went back up the Sighing Stair to the former Temple of Set, then east to the former Temple of Thoth, then north to a cave.  Levitating up to a secret door high on the wall, they proceeded to the room with the basin of Chaotic Sweat, and Vael collected a flask of it, using Apportation to avoid touching it.  There was a hole in the floor, with handholds.  They Levitated down a long way, ending up in a cavern containing some bodies and a pit full of roiling multi-colored slimes.  Vael took a Rug back to the Beacon, then another Rug back to Gosterwick, to buy a chicken.  When he returned, he threw the chicken into the pit.  It tried to fly, didn't fly well enough, landed in the slimes, and dissolved.

Heading north along an underground stream, they found a beach with a broken egg-shaped boat, containing another fish-shaped rod.  They extracted the rod.  North of there was a pool of rough water with a waterspout coming from above, looking very dangerous to enter.  Heading east through rough cavern passages, they found a passage south, filled with purple mist.  It blocked vision, but smelled fruity or flowery and didn't appear poisonous.  Vael tried a Purify Air spell, which cleared a bit of the mist, but then more appeared.  The Rudishva Useful Palm of Cleansing Wind had a similar temporary effect.  Using a few spells and Palm charges to clear some mist out of the way, then found the mist was coming out of a magic jug.  Vallium reached into Larel's Sack and pulled out a stopper that would fit the jug, which stopped the flow of mist.  Unfortunately for Vallium, the 6-armed rending demon on the ceiling didn't like that, and pounced.  Fortunately for Vallium, the demon made a chittering noise before it pounced, ruining its chance for surprise, and both Uvash and Ioannes shouted a warning.  Vallium got his sword and shield up to block the demon's attacks in time, and then chopped it to pieces.  Besides the jug, there were several corpses of the demon's previous victims, which the party looted.

Continuing south, the passage entered into a finished room with Rudishva architecture, which led into a wide Rudishva passage.  To the northeast were several bodies.  As most of the group headed forth to loot them, hidden turrets in walls on both sides of the passage fired at them.  Vallium was missed because of his Amulet of Missile Shield, Vael Blinked back, and Ioannes jumped back as the rapid fire bounced off his shield.  Vallium charged one of the turrets and started smashing it with his sword, while Vael used the Rudishva Command Bracelet and told both turrets to cease firing.  The turrets obeyed.  Vallium had pretty seriously dented one of them by that point, but Vael used a Repair spell, and managed to fix it, despite the penalty for unfamiliar high-tech equipment.  The bodies had a magic ring, some fine mail armor that was unfortunately a bit scorched, a piece of Rudishva plasteel with an image of a varumani on one side, and another piece of plasteel with some Mithric writing.

To the north was a wall of fire, and to the south was an imposing pair of huge obsidian doors.  As they approached the fire, a dancing flaming nataraja appeared in the center of it.  Vael pulled out his yellow Rudishva ID, and the nataraja vanished, leaving a gap in the flaming wall.  Everyone else pulled out their Rudishva IDs too, as they moved through the gap into the room beyond.  It was a huge and well-lit Rudishva chamber, with two daises, a pool of green liquid, four Rudishva teleporters, and two niches with stone nataraja dancer statues.  Everyone waved their IDs at the statues, and they stayed in their niches.

The southern dais appeared inert.  However, when the northern one was approached, a hologram of a Rudishva appeared on it and started reciting instructions to the crew of the Beacon.  Vael was able to understand the instructions, thanks to both his own study of Rudishva and the Command Bracelet, and he translated for the others.  “Fellow crewmembers of the Shining Beacon!  The alien slime-mongers have infiltrated our defenses.  The varuda nests are corrupted and have been quarantined  by order of Captain Leil-Jor.  The loyal varumani gather to repel the hopping hordes. Report to your  designated crisis station in the weapons pod or crew chamber.  Await further orders.  Remain calm, for the Beacon shall light the way!”

The pool of green liquid had two dozen buttons next to it, with Rudishva glyphs.  Vael only knew a couple of them, so he called Akla-Chah on the Command Bracelet and described the glyphs for her to translate.  He then pushed each button.  Only ten of them worked, and each of them caused the pool to show an image from a different area.  They recognized a few of them: the Rudishva cloister nearby to the west, the Arena, the Sundered Span, the garden island floating in the Great Chasm, and some kind of Rudishva room with vertical coffins that they had seen on a camera feed from the Beacon.  The others were unfamilar: a pyramid, an underground cavern, an underwater area, and some kind of octagonal shaft.

Vael used a Returning Pebble, a Scry Gate spell, a Trace spell, and (once he remembered) a Continual Light spell to see where the four teleporters went.  One went to the cloister nearby.  Another went to an unknown Rudishva room south on this level, and the other two went down several hundred feet to other unknown rooms.  Seeing an opportunity to create a path from the Beacon to the Halls without going outside, the group took the teleporter to the cloister, then went over to the treasury, which had a yellow-ID-only teleporter to the Beacon, behind a one-way door.  Vael was able to bypass the one-way door using a Blink spell or by using a Teleport Rug to go back to the Beacon then coming through in the other direction.  Happy with this discovery, they went back to the slime pit room, and then Levitated back up the shaft to the cave north of the Temple of Thoth.

They went southeast to a secret door they'd found but never opened, and figured out how to open it.  Behind it was a cave containing a large arcanum pocket.  Vael felt around the walls until he found a small chunk that he could easily take.  There was a hole in the floor, which led to a storeroom.  When looking through all the stuff there, a voice rang out saying to leave Thoth's stuff alone.  The group obeyed and stopped looting the room.

Nearby was a room with a zombie strapped to a table with a magical white stone in its mouth.  Vael Apportated the stone away, and the zombie died.  A few nearby rooms contained a wight, some zombies, some zhouls, and some minor treasure.  Vallium and Uvash killed all the undead and took their stuff, while Ioannes and Vael stood back and observed.  Ioannes made a disparaging comment about how week the monsters were in this area.  They also found another secret door that connected this area to the rest of the level without going through the Arcanum pocket, but they left it closed to discourage others from finding too much.

There was a stairway down to the south.  They took it down several hundred feet.  It ended at a locked iron grating.  Vael unlocked it with a Lockmaster spell.  Beyond was a huge underground cave, with a rushing river to the south, and a floor finished with cobblestones.

To the west of the rock formation containing the stairs was a five-foot tall statue of a head, with an open grinning toothless mouth.  The statue was magical but they had no idea what it did.  They took some stairs down to the west, and found a platform with high-quality statues of two dueling wizards.  At the foot of each wizard was a name and a number of years.  Not knowing what was going on, they took notes.  There was a pentagram in the middle of the platform, and several columns.  

The group went north into a cavern and spotted a huge natural looking rock column.  Several previously-unseen fishmen threw bone-tipped javelins at Vallium from surprise.  Unfortunately for them, his Amulet of Missile Shield caused all of them to miss.  He pulled out his Returning Javelin and hurled it at the lead fishman, badly wounding it.  The other fishmen readied a second volley of javelins and hurled them all at Vallium.  When they all missed again, the fishmen seemed to decide that some Bad Juju was happening, and all but the wounded one retreated out of sight.  Meanwhile, the wounded one passed out and fell off the column with a loud crash.  It was a bit late to pursue and possibly begin a larger fight, so Vallium took all twelve of the javelins, then the company retreated back up the stairs, then back to the Beacon.

Once they reached the Beacon, Vael spent some time figuring out a couple of pieces of Rudishva technology.  The Repli-Cube was an audio-visual recording and playback device, interesting but not obviously useful.  The Rudishva Point Defense Array was a stationary ranged weapon, which the group immediately decided could be useful for killing the dragon.

 

GM's Comments:

This session was mostly exploration, finding some new parts of previously explored levels, and one new level.  There were two major threats, the rending demon and the Rudishva point defense turrets.  The demon blew its surprise roll, and Vael quickly disabled the point defense array with the Command Bracelet, so neither threat ended up causing serious problems.  Two major discoveries included a Varumani Passport (which the group has been looking for forever) and a Rudishva teleporter route from the Beacon to the known parts of the Halls, avoiding the need to travel outside.

Achievements:

• Arden Vul Iconic Location: The Drowned Canyon

XP:

• Exploration: 22 new locations, 2 XP
• Loot: Fine mail, Jug of Purple Mist, many potions and scrolls, 2 XP
• Achievements: 1 XP
• Total: 5 XP

Next Week:

Several players can't make it because of the Easter holiday, so we might take the week off, or we might do a small-party session with just Ioannes and some Grudge Brigade mercenaries.

DFRPG Arden Vul Session 44: Clearing the Goblin Forum

 

Date: 

Tahsday, 7th of Molivios, 2994 AE

Weather: 

Warm, rainy

Player Characters: 

Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)

Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)

Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)

Significant NPCs:

Arcane Vengeance, Elven adventurers

Alexandros, Set librarian

Weskenim, King of the United Goblin Tribes

Palestrim, Weskenim's majordomo

Gribble, Lord of the Goblin Forum

Many goblins

Galadnor, Half-Elven merchant and spy

Dworm, Galadnor's guard

Horace Trych, Archontean merchant and spy

Yoburra, Varumani ambassador

Basil, Right for Riches employee

King Weskenim of the United Goblin Tribes

Gribble, Weskenim's brother

3 Giant Scorpions

2 Wild Boars

Wraith

The Plan:

• Bring food to the Goblin Forum to try to get commerce restarted
• Get Temrin's map to a second Command Bracelet
• Buy whatever interesting items Horace and Galadnor have to sell
• Search the Library of Set
• Explore more of the area around the Forum, looking for treasure
• Figure out where the Guild of Service went

What Happened:

Uvash was helping resettle some formerly enslaved refugees at the at the Temple of the Gods, and Lacrymosa was spending some of her newly acquired loot on a vacation trip.  The rest of the Right for Riches company bought a lot of food in Gosterwick, then went back through a Teleport Rug to the Beacon.  Whey they surfaced they heard a loud grinding noise to the southeast, near the top of the Long Stair.  Investigating, they found Arcane Vengeance in the area, along with a platform next to the Stair that hadn't been there before.  Arcane Vengeance said they would answer questions about the platform in return for large quantities of arcanum, but Right for Riches declined to trade.  They considered staying to spy on Arcane Vengeance, but decided to go with their current plans.

They went north through the rain to the Pyramid of Thoth, then down through the Pyramid to Upper Goblintown, then down through the Wet Caves to Goblintown.  King Weskenim was holding court in the goblin market, telling all his subjects about the newly conquered Goblin Forum.  Temrin was at his easel, working on a map.  Vael interrupted him to ask if the previously purchased map to the Command Bracelet was done.  Temrin said it was, and got Master Leifcrim to open the vault to get it.  The map appeared to lead to the Arena.  Vallium tried to commission another map, but Temrin said that he was still not allowed to sell maps; only the King could do that.  Vael asked Palestrim, who said he was authorized to take the money and write a royal order for Temrin to make another map.  Vallium told Leifcrim that he could like to purchase his Magic Ring of One Wish Left.  Leifcrim was a bit surprised that anyone had that kind of cash, but carried Vallium's platinum to the vault and brought back a magic ring.  Vael got King Weskenim's attention and indicated that the secretive wizards to the south really wanted a meeting and he would appreciate it if the King would meet with them.  The King said he would consider it.  Some of the merchants were discussing whether they would move upstairs to the Forum, or stay in the established Goblin Market, or split their time between the two.

The group headed back upstairs to the Forum.  Gribble was supervising a few dozen goblin guards.  He said things had been pretty quiet since all the former slaves had left.  The goblins were concentrating on making the route from Upper Goblintown to the Forum through the temples of Thoth and Set safe, rather than exploring or clearing more of the level.  Vallium said they would be exploring more of the level, and marking safe areas with a circle and dangerous areas with an X.

They ducked into one of the unoccupied guest quarters for privacy and used a Teleport Rug to bring out the food they'd purchased, then brought it up to the Forum for sale.  Gribble asked Dworm, Galadnor's guard, to run the food stall until another merchant moved in.  He said that he was a fighter, not a merchant, but he could keep an eye on the stall.

Vael, having seen Horace's and Galadnor's items in the vault, bought most of their interesting stock.  This was several Sortian eyes, several Thothian teleportation squares, some magic black sand, and a Rudishva power disc.  

When they were done in the Forum, Vallium led the group north to an unexplored area, which turned out to be a pantry.  They pulled the food out and gave it to the goblins.  When done there, they went northwest to the Library of Set.  Alexandros was still there, sorting books.  After an extended conversation, he gave them a list of all the books available, and Vael used the Copy spell to make a second copy of Alexandros' own book On the Location of Priscus Pulcher.  Vallium went back to the Beacon and returned with a couple of books in a language none of them could read, which Alexandros confirmed was the secret language of Set, which he could read.  He indicated that both books were very interesting and they should leave them with him for research purposes, but they said maybe later.

They thoroughly searched the Settite bedrooms, and decided to take a bed back to the Beacon for Basil.  While searching, Vallium found an invisible book under a bed, which they took back to the Beacon and put on the conference table, with a chalk square around it so they didn't lose it.

They then went south to the area with sand on the floor, where Vallium suggested magically searching for treasure.  Vael cast Seek Earth for platinum, gold, silver, and arcanum, as well as Seek Magic, while Ioannes restored his mana.  There was gold, silver, and magic under the sand, platinum a bit to the southwest, and arcanum to the northeast.  Vael cast a Whirlwind spell to try to dig up the sand and reveal the treasure.  This caused three giant scorpions who had been hiding under the sand to run up to the whirlwind and investigate.

Vallium eventually went down to the sandy area, and the scorpions attacked him.  They failed to penetrate his armor with their claws and stingers, and he eventually killed all three, while Vael and Ioannes watched from the bridge above.  Once the scorpions were eliminated, Vael continued stirring up sand with the whirlwind, and eventually revealed a strongbox, containing some gold solidi, a couple of keys, and a scroll case.

Returning to the room with the statue of a boar and a couple of caged actual boars, they decided to kill the boars and give the meet to the goblins, and search the statue.  Vallium used the Returning Javelin from a dead Settite to kill the boars without getting within melee range.  The boar statue didn't contain anything interesting but its ivory tusks, which they didn't take.  But they found a secret door to the west.  The secret door led to some narrow spy tunnels, with peepholes into several rooms.  There were also there doors.  The first door led to a room with several maps, and a few small gems.  

Behind the second door was a corpse, which arose as a wraith and attacked.  Vallium tried cutting it with his sword, but it dodged.  The wraith blasted Vallium with a ranged attack and wounded him.  Vael surrounded the wraith with a Wall of Lightning then tried using Shape Air to blow it into the wall, but the wind passed through the wraith.  He then tried Create Fire under the trapped wraith, then they slammed the door.  When they opened the door again, the area where the fire had been was burned, but the wraith had somehow escaped.  Vallium charged in again, this time brandishing a Feather of Maat.  The wraith backed away to suck him in, then blasted him with more evil ranged attacks.  Vallium poked the wraith with the feather, and it responded by punching him.  Badly wounded, Vallium fled the room, Vael slammed the door behind him, and Ioannes healed him.  They decided to leave the wraith alone for now.

The third door contained a skeleton holding a platinum goblet.  Vallium didn't trust the skeleton and poked it with his sword, causing it to drop and spill the goblet.  Vael picked up the goblet, which turned out to be covered in something nasty, but survived.  He also got the rest of the matching platinum serving set.  The skeleton appeared to have written something in a language they didn't understand, as well as information about many ancient nobles in Mithric.  They took everything and went back to the library, where Alexandros was able to read the writing.

With the immediate area searched, they went southeast toward the long stairs down from the Guild of Service area.  There were several locked doors off the stairs.  Behind one was a large cave full of bodies, with a ledge containing a creepy amphibian statue of a sort they had seen before.  Behind the statue was a secret door leading to a gate.  There was a note in a language they didn't read next to the gate; Ioannes used Gift of Letters to read it, and indicated that it was nobody who went through the gate had returned.  Vael used Scry Gate to reveal that it led to a place full of demons.  They decided not to go through.

Another exit led to a chasm, across which was a room full of arcanum geodes.  Vael and Ioannes managed to not investigate the arcanum for too long, though Vael took off an easily extracted hunk of arcanum as a souvenir.  South was another chasm, and crossing that one revealed an ancient statue.  Not wanting to investigate it too deeply, they kept going.  Exploring further south connected their maps.  Some stairs down led to the Arena.  The varumani barkeeper there said that he hadn't seen any Settites lately.

Done exploring for the day, everyone went back to the Beacon.  Vael disabled a trap on a box they'd found earlier in Stephania's vault, revealing two different magical decks of ivory cards.  At that point they decided to take a week off.

GM's Comments:

This was a fairly calm week of mostly exploration and negotiation, after the protracted fights against the Cult of Set.  The wraith was a tough fight they ended up fleeing from, but otherwise they didn't run into any serious difficulties.

Achievements:

None

XP:

• Exploration: 12 new locations, 1 XP
• Treasure: Gold necklaces and solidi, dinnerware, lots of books, probably 1 XP
• Achievements: 0 XP
• Total: probably 2 XP

Next Week:

They have a lot of options.  I have no idea where they are going yet.

DFRPG Arden Vul Session 43c: Looting the Cult of Set

 

Date: 

Tothsday, 5th of Molivios, 2994 AE

Weather: 

Warm, partly cloudy

Player Characters: 

Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)

Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Cosmo)

Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)

Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)

Lacrymosa, Elven mercenary archer (Archon Shiva)

Significant NPCs:

Set cultist

Set acolyte

Alexandros, Set librarian

Gresta, cook

Many formerly enslaved humans, goblins, and beastmen

Many goblins

Lella and the Rippers, Thorcin mercenaries

Galadnor, Half-Elven merchant and spy

Dworm, guard

Horace Trych, Archontean merchant and spy

Varumani ambassadors

Frost giant ambassadors

Basil, Right for Riches employee

Tresti, Rarities Factor wizard

Barnaby Goodbarrel, Halfling lawyer

Wicktrimmer, Imperial Goblin merchant

Lady Alexia, Ruler of Gosterwick

Freydis, Alexia's Steward

King Weskenim of the United Goblin Tribes

Gribble, Weskenim's brother

Helena, Set accountant

Two Knights of the Azure Shield

The Plan:

• Explore more of the Forum of Set
• Kill more Settites
• Take their stuff
• Find someone to run the Forum

What Happened:

After routing most of the Set cultists, the Right for Riches company continued exploring their northwestern territory, looking for stragglers.  They found one acolyte and one cultist hiding, and took them prisoner.  They also found a library, with an aged librarian named Alexandros, who seemed to have mostly missed the commotion.  They decided to take him back to the Forum.  They found one door with a note not to open it.  A Glass Wall spell revealed a Set deacon inside staring at the wall, which was suspicious enough that they obeyed the note and turned around.  On the way, they cut through the kitchen and found Gresta the cook, who they tasked with feeding the former slaves in the Forum.  They also explored many rooms, mostly residential, and took some minor treasure.

They returned to the Forum, where the freed former slaves were eating, the goblins and Lella and the Rippers were supervising, and the surviving merchants were standing near their stalls.  They explored east through the Gulld of Service rooms.  The Guild all appeared to be gone, but there were four pits full of slaves remaining.  Two of the pits were full of higher-value slaves, who had blankets and appeared to have been decently fed.  One group of slaves was actually in the process of trying to escape using blankets tied together as ropes, but hadn't gotten out yet.  One pit was full of low-value slaves, who lacked any equipment and didn't seem to have been fed much.  The final pit was full of mostly dead bodies, along with a few sick and dying slaves.  That one didn't even have a hoist to lift people back out.  The party rescued all the survivors they could find, and directed everyone back to the Forum for food.

They explored a few more rooms south of the Forum and found that two were occupied by ambassadors from the Varumani and the Frost Giants.  The Varumani asked some questions about what had happened, then indicated that they would be returning to the Varumani level to confer with their leaders.  The Frost Giants asked if anyone had seen a human female wizard with long black hair.  They had not.

There were a couple of empty guest rooms nearby, suitable for teleporting in private.  Vael and Uvash went through the Teleport Rugs back to the Beacon, where they asked Basil to close doors and hide things in case someone not fully trusted had to be brought in.  They then teleported again through the other Rugs to Gosterwick to try to meet with Wicktrimmer and Lady Alexia.  Wicktrimmer was not present at the Rarities Factor, and Tresti said he had left for Newmarket a couple of hours earlier, so Vael asked Tresti to send him a Message spell, saying it was urgent.

Vael and Uvash then met with Barnaby Goodbarrel, their lawyer, to ask about the legality of freeing slaves.  Barnaby said that Lady Alexia had recently banned slavery in Gosterwick, so anyone brought there was free.  Barnaby accompanied Vael and Uvash to the Azure Keep, where they met with Lady Alexia's steward Freydis.  After telling her that the Set Cult had been defeated, she went to get Lady Alexia.  Alexia agreed that killing the vile Settites was good, and that any former slaves were welcome to come to Gosterwick, and that the Thesmothete would produce Writs of Freedom for anyone who wanted one.  She would ask a couple of Knights of the Azure Shield to take a wagon to the bottom of the cliff, under the basket, to help bring the wounded back.  She asked about her Regalia, and Vael said that they had a lead on the Iron Circlet of Ghanor but had not gotten it yet.

Returning to the Rarities Factor, Vael and Uvash saw Wicktrimmer coming down the street upon the hovering Palanquin of Thoth, surrounded by several tough goblins with crossbows.  After parking the Palanquin in its secure stable, Wicktrimmer met with them inside.  Vael proposed that Wicktrimmer take over running the Forum of Set.  Wicktrimmer said he'd have to see it first, and that he'd need a safe way to get there and back, such as a pair of Teleport Rugs.  Vael and Uvash took Wicktrimmer through a Rug to the Beacon, then immediately through the other Rug to the Forum before he saw too much.  Wicktrimmer took a look around, and spoke to some of the goblins and merchants, then repeated his earlier offer: he'd require a pair of Teleport Rugs as his price for taking over the Forum.  After some discussion, the Right for Riches Company declined this offer, and took Wicktrimmer back through the Rugs to Gosterwick.

Next they decided to ask King Weskenim.  They went up the stairs to the Temple of Set, which was quiet with its doors locked.  Using Stephania's keys, they opened it and went through to Upper Goblintown, then down through the Wet Caves to Goblintown.  Several goblins had preceded them, so King Weskenim was ready for their arrival.  After some negotiation, he agreed to take over the Forum, and said his brother Gribble was the new Lord of the Goblin Forum, and should collect a dozen goblin guards and get to securing the territory.

Returning to the Forum, the group found that the Rippers were gone, and someone had stabbed the Set cultist and acolyte.  Vael made a speech about how any former slaves were welcome as free people in Gosterwick, and they would be making a trip there tomorrow, and some wagons should be available to transport the wounded.

Next they decided to try to open the Settites' vault.  There were three locks.  Vallium went through his large collection of Settite keys and found that he could open two of them.  Vael tried a Glass Wall spell to look through the vault door, but something prevented scrying.  Vael then tried Lockmaster on the third lock, which failed several times.  Horace and Galadnor each approached to say they had stuff in the vault and they'd appreciate it not being taken; Vael made them write a list of exactly what was theirs.  Vallium and Ioannes each had a lock-melting Alkahest potion; using both potions succeeded in destroying the lock.  Vallium opened the heavy vault door.  Inside, a bipedal boar construct charged toward him.  He blocked its punch then stabbed it several times.  Uvash ran up and missed it with his pick.  Lacrymosa put three arrows into its center of mass, and the construct went down.

With the guard out of the way, they started investigating the contents.  Lacrymosa was assigned to guard the entry hallway and keep everyone else out.  The floor of the vault was full of crates of food and kegs of drink.  The north wall was covered with built-in lockboxes.  There were three huge stone chests along the east wall.  None of Vallium's keys fit the lockboxes, so Vael tediously cast Lockmaster a bunch of times, until he managed a critical success and popped open the last three locks at once.  Inside the boxes were many treasures: coins, gems, small magic items, a few magic weapons.  The chests were locked and trapped.  Vael disarmed the traps.  Vallium had keys that fit two chests; Vael used magic on the other one.  The chests contained a lot of coins and gems, along with a few odd treasures like a purple bolt of silk with pictures of elephants, and several large cones of sugar.  The chests were too big to lift, so Vael went back to the Beacon through a Teleport Rug and got a shovel, for convenient scooping of coins.  They then took all the treasure back to the Beacon through the Rug (except for Galadnor's and Horace's stuff, which they left in the vault), and the food out to the Forum.

Next they explored to the southwest.  There were several more apartments there.  One had a slave chained to the wall; she was freed and sent back to the Forum with the others.  Another had Helena, the Set accountant, working behind her desk.  After some sword-waving, she gave up her keys and her ledger books and joined the others in the Forum.

Exploring to the north revealed some guard barracks, a room containing some maps (which they took), and a door leading to some rough caverns to the north.  They decided not to explore the caverns yet.  One of the guard rooms had pictures of Enemies of the Cult of Set on the walls, including all of the Right for Riches company, several of the Grudge Brigade, and their murdered friend Susarra (with an "X" through her).

Returning to the Forum, they found a couple of Azure Knights, talking to Gribble.  They said that there was a full conroi of Knights at the base of the cliff, under the basket, and they had a wagon to take anyone who couldn't walk back to Gosterwick.

GM's Comments:

Writing up the loot sheet was exhausting.  This is why I'm not an accountant.

Achievements:

• Iconic Location: The Red Bridge of Set (1 XP)
• The Rescuers: Rescued Many Slaves (1 XP)

XP:

• Achievements: 2 XP
• Exploration: 66 new locations (a new record, though it was across 3 sessions): 2 XP
• Loot: lots, 2 XP
• Total: 6 XP

Next Week:

The PCs plan to bring a lot of food from Gosterwick to the Forum, then go to Goblintown and see if Temrin's map to the second Command Bracelet is ready, then buy any of Horace and Galadnor's items for sale that look interesting, then search the Library of Set, then explore more of the area around the Forum.