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.

DFRPG Arden Vul Session 43b: Alpha Strike on 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:

Basil, Right for Riches employee

Many Set cultists

Many Set guards

Several Set acolytes

Several Set deacons

Dobby, Imperial Goblin thief

Jadeel the Soulless, Archontean wizard

Stephania, High Priestess of Set

Several goblins

Lella the Ripper, Thorcin mercenary

Several Thorcin mercenaries

Galadnor, Half-Elven merchant and spy

Dworm, guard

Horace Trych, merchant and spy

The Plan:

• Continue invading the Forum of Set
• Kill more Settites

What Happened:

The Right for Riches company continued pressing north into the Forum of Set.  The Settites had been alerted, and more guards kept pouring in.  Vael cast Great Haste on Lacrymosa, who kept shooting them as fast as they appeared.  Dobby and Jadeel hid behind a wall, and Jadeel cast Invisibility on Dobby.  Dobby snuck through the carnage to try to backstab Lacrymosa, but Lacrymosa used Luck and managed to survive the attack.  Dobby, no longer invisible, was then shot to pieces.  Vallium and Uvash formed a front line to try to hold the Settites back while Lacrymosa shot them.  Vallium chased Jadeel around the corner, but she Blinked away then cast a spell to Command him to face-plant, and he obediently did.  Unfortunately for Jadeel, that was her only blocking spell for the turn, and she got peppered with arrows.

As the battle started to turn against the Settites, some goblins and some Thorcin mercenaries joined in and started helping the invaders.  The goblins concentrated on the less deadly Settites like the food merchants and Forum inspectors, while the mercenaries took down a few guards.  Within a minute, the fight in the Forum was over.  Uvash had strained his shoulder and could no longer swing his pick.  Lacrymosa was exhausted.

A few Settites ran to the east or northwest.  There were three slaves chained to a statue of a Set animal in the center of the room, and several more chained to stakes in the northeast corner.  The goblins and mercenaries freed them all, then the goblins started distributing the food from the food stalls in the southeast of the forum.  Vael was mostly interested in loot, and started grabbing anything that looked magical from the bodies.

Two merchant stalls still had their merchants inside.  One was Galador, a half-elf selling magical supplies who said she was no friend of the Settites but was spying on behalf of the elven rulers.  The other was Horace, a human merchant who said he was working for Lady Alexia.  The Thorcin mercenaries were led by Lella the Ripper, who said they had followed a treasure map to the area and had stopped in the Forum to get information and supplies, but were disgusted at the treatment of the slaves and had decided to join in taking down the slavers.  The goblins were members of King Weskenim's United Goblin Tribes, and had been in the Forum to buy food, but were happy to see the Settites taken down.

While Uvash and Lacrymosa were resting, Vallium and Vael looted a moneychanger's stall.  There was a stone chest that Vael thought was trapped, so rather than opening it, Vallium just carried it through a Teleport Rug back to the Beacon, where he told Basil not to disturb it since it was trapped.  Galadnor revealed that the Settites' vault was to the southwest, but warned that it was locked and  probably trapped.  Vael took a look and saw three keyholes.  The goblins handed over one key from a Forum Inspector, but they weren't sure about the other keys, and decided to deal with the vault later.

Vael cast Seeker on High Priestess Stephania and saw that she rallying a horde of Settites.  He followed it with Trace and saw that she was about 50 yards northwest.  Once Uvash's shoulder was recovered, they left the Forum to the mercenaries and goblins, and headed north then west.  There was a locked grating and they were missing the key, but Vael Lockmastered it open.

As they went west through Settite territory, they spotted a room with many Set guards and priests, with a line of cultists in front.  At a command from Stephania, the cultists charged.

Last Stand of the Settites

Lacrymosa started with a Concussion spell then Flash and Smoke nageteppos into the crowd, then started shooting Settites.  Vallium and Uvash formed a wall in front and cut down Settite guards.  One Settite hiding in a room snuck up behind someone and got a sneak attack, but failed to do much damage.  A Settite warrior with a returning javelin started a long-range duel with Lacrymosa, but she had much greater rate of fire, and he eventually went down.  As the Settites started to lose, one of the priests decided it was Stephania's fault, and cut her down from behind, then charged to the front to take up leadership.  Some of the other Settites didn't like that, and killed him in response.  As their leadership dissolved, many of the Settites ran away, while others were shot or cut down.

Once again, Vael pointed out a few obviously magical items to grab.  After some quick looting, the Right for Riches company went back to the Forum, where the mercenaries and goblins were still standing guard.

We ended the session there.  Dozens of Settites had gone down, and their leaders had been defeated, but there was still a lot of unexplored territory in the area.

GM's Comments:

Running a fight with dozens of adversaries is a pain.  Foundry fell over at one point, but recovered.

Achievements:

None yet, will be resolved next week.

XP:

None yet, will be resolved next week.

Next Week:

The goal seems to be eradicating the rest of the defeated Settites, freeing all their slaves, and taking all their stuff.  We'll see how that goes.  The other question is what happens to the Forum of Set if there are no Settites to run it.

DFRPG Arden Vul Session 43a: Alpha Strike on 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:

Wicktrimmer, Imperial Goblin merchant and banker

Basil, Right for Riches employee

Craastonistorex, green dragon

Many Set cultists

Many Set guards

Several Set acolytes

Several zombies

Several goblins

A few unknown adventurers

The Plan:

• Invade the Forum of Set from the southern cliff face entrance
• Kill Settites

What Happened:

Vallium returned from his trip to Newmarket, catching a ride with Wicktrimmer and his Imperial Goblin guards on the Palanquin of Thoth.

Leaving Neferet for the moment, the Right for Riches company decided to hire Lacrymosa the archer and invade the Forum of Set.  This time, they would go in from the Cliff Face entrance, rather than down the Sighing Stair from the Temple of Set.

Everyone used the Green Teleport Rugs to return to the Beacon, after dark.  Vael used his new Glass Wall spell to look through the stone roof over the stairs and verify that nobody was around.  Vallum then carried the Purple Teleport Rug to the top of the stairs, where Vael Blinked him through the roof, and then Vallium set the Rug down so everyone else could Rug teleport after him.

The group walked across the bridge to the east, then south and west around the lake to the dam, where the sack containing the chess board and note for the dragon was gone.  They crossed over the Swift River at the dam then continued south to the cliff edge, roughly above the entrance to the Set level.  Ioannes, Uvash, and Lacrymosa stepped back through the Purple Rug to the Beacon.  Once there, Ioannes used the Right of Friendly Defense to turn himself blind and turn Vallium invisible.  Vael used Larel's Cloak to turn invisible.  Then Vael used his Levitation spell, and Vallium used the newly found Boots of Levitation, to fly down about 800' to the Set entrance, which was helpfully lit by a red lantern.

Vael and Vallium flew into the entrance together, silently passing over the heads of some Set cultists who were busy debating theological fine points like whether non-Settites should be killed or merely enslaved.  Vael put the Purple Rug on the floor so the others could come through.  Vallium picked an isolated cultist and stabbed him to death, which turned Vallium visible and let Ioannes see again, alerting him that it was time to come through the Rug.  Lacrymosa started drinking Agility and Strength potions, while Uvash and Ioannes stepped through the Rug, and Vallium kept stabbing cultists.  By the time Lacrymosa came through, about half of the cultists were dead.  She killed a couple more, as the last surviving cultist dived into the basket and started lowering himself down the cliff.  Vallium grabbed the rope and hoisted the basket back up, while Lacrymosa shot the last cultist.  Vael debated sabotaging the basket, but decided that since they were going to want to hand the Forum of Set over to new owners after the Settites were removed, they should avoid excessive vandalism.

The group headed north through some rough cavern passages, then reached a finished room with some Settite statutes and some stairs up.  Lacrymosa fired arrows into the statues in case they were constructs, which had little effect.  At the top of the stairs was a Thothian teleportation circle.  Continuing past it, they found a red granite bridge, flanked by more Settite statues, over a chasm.  In the far corner of the chasm was a torchlit balcony with a view of the chasm, where several cultists were sitting and drinking and enjoying the view.  Lacrymosa started shooting them.  She killed four of the six, and the other two ran away to the north.  Vallium flew across the chasm after them, but by the time he got there, they had escaped.  Rather than chasing them alone, he went back and had the others step through the Rug back to the Beacon, so he can Vael could Levitate across the chasm then Rug-teleport everyone to the balcony.

On the wall of the balcony were a couple of levers, and hanging in the chasm was a chest.  Ioannes couldn't resist pulling levers.  This resulted in a Magic Mouth appearing on the wall and saying something in Mithric about unbelievers dying, while the room filled with gas.  Vael cast Purify Air.  Vallium mentioned that they could try other combinations of lever positions.  Before Ioannes did, everyone else left the room, either flying out into the chasm or going into the exit passage to the north.  Another setting caused more poison gas, which Vael again Purified away.

Vallium flew over to the chest, which was locked.  Vael used Lockmaster to open the lock, but when the chest was opened, a wind trap went off, blowing both Vael and Vallium to the west.  Since both were Levitating, this was a minor inconvenience, and they flew back and took some platinum bars, a magic helmet, and some kind of stone wrapped in chamois out of the chest.

Everyone headed north.  They found a small Settite temple, with nobody there.  Not wanting to waste time with vandalism, they continued north past an empty lounge to a kitchen, where many Set cultists and guards had gathered to make a stand.  A fight ensured, but the cultists weren't very good fighters and weren't wearing any armor.  The guards, while reasonably competent, were few in number and not sword- or arrow-proof, so the Right for Riches company won.

Battle in the Kitchen

A cook ran away.  All the other Settites in the kitchen died.  Vallium looked through the guards' pockets and recovered one key.  Not wanting to spend too much time looting, they started carrying the armored guards through a Rug to the Beacon, and instructed Basil to search them and make piles of valuables.

The door to the north was locked, and the key didn't fit.  Vallium just bashed it open.  Inside were various dried foods.  They used to Rug to steal all those and bring them back to the Beacon for Basil to sort.  By then he was done stripping the guards, so they brought the bodies back out so they could stink up the Settite level rather than the Beacon.

After resting for a couple of minutes, they took a passage to the east, which ended at a locked door.  The guard's key unlocked it.  Beyond the door were a bunch of zombies, which started talking about brains and lurching toward the door.  Deciding today was not the day to fight zombies, Vallium slammed the door and re-locked it with the key.  Vael wrote a note about zombies and stuck it on the door.

To the northeast were three dormitory rooms full of bunk beds.  Two were unoccupied and empty.  The other contained a bunch of goblins, who said they were just there to buy food at the Forum.  Vael warned the goblins that the Forum was about to be a very dangerous place, and they should go back to Goblintown to stay out of the crossfire.  They went into one of the empty rooms and used the Rug to bring all the stolen food that Basil had just finished sorting back, and gave it to the goblins, telling them to let King Weskenim know that the Settites were being invaded.  The goblins took the food and left in a hurry.

West from the kitchen was a wide, well-lit north-south passage.  As they reached it, a bunch of Settite guards ambushed them from the south.  Lacrymosa was too alert to be surprised by the guards, and shot several of them for trying to sneak up on her.  Another battle commenced.  This group of Settites was a bit more competent than the previous group, and shored up by a couple of Acolytes, but they were not competent enough, and they all died.  Once again Vael put the Rug down and the others started carrying bodies across to the Beacon for Basil to loot.

After a few minutes of rest, the group went south and found a couple of guard rooms, now emptied of guards, but containing some tables and chairs and dice.  Vael put the Rug down and instructed the others to take all the furniture.  By the time they carried all the tables and chairs to the Beacon, Basil had stripped the bodies of the guards and acolytes, so they brought those back out to keep the Beacon corpse-free.

To the south of the guard rooms was some kind of force field, blocking the entrance from the bridge.  Vallium looked for a way to turn it off, but didn't see one.  They had bypassed it by flying across the chasm to the balcony, so it didn't seem to matter, so they went back north.  On the west wall of the wide passage was a door, spiked shut from this side, with engraved Mithric lettering saying "Set Vanquishes the Serpent" and a hastily painted note in Archontean saying "No access!  Stay out!  This means you!"  Vael used his Glass Wall spell to look through the door, but just saw the passage continuing, nothing interesting.  Deciding today was not the day for side quests, they ignored the door and pressed on north.

The passage led to some more stairs, leading into an area of magical darkness.  On the wall to the right was a plaque.  The first part said "Visitors to the Forum shall advance five paces, turn to the right, and advance another five paces before submitting to inspection. Hostile actions will be met with a swift and severe response. Death, loss, or servitude is the just fate of all who trifle with Lord Set or neglect to adhere to his most reasonable laws."  This was followed by a full list of the Laws of the Forum, which were fairly boring.  Everyone laughed at the Laws.

Vael remembered that he had purchased some magical goggles that could allegedly see through Settite darkness, but he had left them in the Beacon.  He went back through the Rug, to find Basil sitting at one of the newly acquired tables tabulating a list of all the recently taken loot.  Vael rummaged through a pile of random stuff until he found the goggles, then went back through the Rug.  Sure enough, the Goggles let him see into the darkness.  He lent the goggles to Vallium, who stuck his head around the corner and spotted several Settite guards wearing similar goggles.  Vallium went back to the others, and they formed a plan of attack.  Lacrymosa would wear the goggles and shoot all the guards.  Vallium would charge any surviving guards.  The others would follow.

It wasn't a very complicated plan, but Lacrymosa started shooting and then Vallium ran through the darkness after the survivors.  The others followed up more slowly.  Of the original group of seven goggled guards near the darkness, one ran off to the north screaming about invaders and trying to rally more guards.  Five died.  One was still alive at the end of the session.  Lacrymosa also shot some apparent mage off to the north, who made the fatal mistake of not knowing the Blink spell.  (Stay in school kids!)  More guards were gathering to the north and advancing south toward the battle.  We paused there, out of time, ready to resume the battle next week.

Battle of the Darkness of Set

GM's Comments:

This was not a good week for the Cult of Set.  They're down a dozen or so guards, a couple of acolytes, a whole bunch of cultists, a hired mage, the contents of the chest that was inexplicably floating in that chasm, and some food and furniture.  On the bright side, they have more guards and acolytes remaining.

Achievements:

Iconic Location: The Red Bridge of Set

XP:

We stopped in mid-session, so XP is postponed until next week.

Next Week:

The battle against the Settites continues.  Is the nth attempt the one the finally breaks the Settite resistance and gains the Right for Riches company possession of the Forum of Set, or will they be forced to retreat again, or even defeated?  I don't know; that's why we have dice.

DFRPG Arden Vul Session 42b: Neferet and the Wraiths

Date: 

Tothsday, 4th Mercedonian Day, 2994 AE

Weather: 

Cold, mostly sunny, snowy

Player Characters: 

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

Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)

Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Cosmo)

Thrainor "Thronebreaker" Ironvein, Dwarven mercenary fighter (Frank)

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

Significant NPCs:

Mariposa, Chyrsalis's monkey familiar

Neferet, Greater Mummy

Several beastmen

Many wraiths

Imperial stone guardian

The Plan:

• Kill Neferet
• Take the Circlet of Ghanor

What Happened:

We resumed in mid-battle.

Battle of Neferet's Tomb

Chrysalis was trapped in one sphere of force.  Uvash, Thronebreaker, and Mariposa were trapped in another.  Ioannes and Vael were free, with Ioannes invisible and Vael controlling a lot of Created Fire using the Shape Fire spell.  Neferet had been pushed back into the entrance hallway, but the only visible and free opponent was Vael, so she was focused on killing him.  Chrysalis was still blind (though this affected her less than most because of her Blind Fighting).

Neferet started growing an Explosive Fireball, planning to chuck it at Vael after it reached lethal size.  However, Vael had other ideas.  He used Blink Other to pop Chrysalis out of the force sphere.  After a second to get her bearings, she started running down the hall at Neferet, striking with her staff.  Neferet had to drop her Explosive Fireball to be able to Blink away.  This continued for several turns, with Chrysalis keeping Neferet on the run and steadily burning her mana with Blink spells, while Vael freed Thronebreaker and Uvash from the domes.  Vael also started sending the Created Fire down the hall after Neferet.

Neferet eventually used a Command spell on Chyrsalis to flee, and rolled a critical success.  Chrysalis fled.  This bought Neferet a couple of seconds, but when Chrysalis reached Ioannes, he cast Bravery on her, fixing the problem.  Meanwhile Thronebreaker and Uvash ran down the hall after Neferet.

Neferet eventually reached the end of the hall, with its Dispel Magic field.  After clearing it and entering the Great Hall, she popped another Invisibility Bead from her necklace and disappeared.  Thronebreaker, Uvash, and Chrysalis ran out after her, with their Bless spells surprisingly intact due to some good rolls by Ioannes, but some of their other spells dispelled.

The PCs used a combination of Chrysalis's Blind Fighting and Uvash's Sense Spirit to find Neferet.  She was running low on mana, and decided to retreat and recover.  Invisibly, she went south across a barricade and started pushing through a hallway clogged with spider webs.  In the Great Hall, Chyrsalis spotted the moving spider webs and gave chase, but Neferet threw a Bead of Force to stop her.  The bead failed to trap or damage Chrysalis, but it did block the hallway.  Many beastmen warriors watched the fight from behind their barricades and arrow slits, but Neferet wasn't visible for long, and none took a shot with their bows.

Chrysalis tried pushing the force bead after Neferet, but Neferet tired of slowly pushing through the web and instead set them on fire with a Flame Jet, then was able to run at full speed.  The PCs ended up waiting a minute for the Force Spheres to dissipate.  By then Vael and Ioannes had caught up, with Vael using Blink Other then Blink to get them past the Dispel area, and Mariposa appeared a few seconds later.  Vael cast Seeker on Neferet, then followed up with Trace, so he knew exactly where she was: well up some stairs to the southwest.

The Right for Riches company debated whether to go back and loot Neferet's Tomb first and chase her later, or chase her immediately and loot later.  They decided to press the chase.  They went up the spiral stairs to the level immediately above the Great Hall, west of the southern baboon caves.  The Trace spell showed her going up more stairs to the west, so they followed that way.  A wall blocked their way, but they remembered a secret door they had found and bashed open before, and bashed it open again.  (At this point it had been bashed enough that it wasn't so secret.)

Another spiral staircase up took them to the Tower of Scrutiny, to a room with spiked doors north and west.  Trace showed Neferet about ten yards northwest and not moving.  Thronebreaker forced the western door open, revealing a hallway with several wraiths and one of the Imperial stone constructs.  The wraiths and construct reacted started heading at the intruders.  Vael put up a Wall of Lightning, which killed one wraith.  He then used Shape Air to try to blow the other wraiths in the hallway toward the Wall.  This was less effective than he'd hoped, as the diffuse wraiths were hard to blow around.  One more wraith got blown into the Wall and destroyed, while the construct stupidly ran right into it and took a severe shock, while Chrysalis smashed it through the Wall with a wooden staff.

The remaining wraiths regrouped out of sight and waited for the Wall and the Shape Air spells to expire, with one wraith far away peeking around the corner to watch.  When the Wall went down, a swarm of wraiths came down the hallway.  Thronebreaker, standing in front, got attacked a lot, but the wraiths' ranged attack was resisted by Will and he was implacable.  Vael and Chyrsalis also got attacked, and didn't resist as well.  Ioannes cast Affect Spirits on Chrysalis's staff, which then became more effective against the diffuse wraiths, and she killed a couple.  By then, however, the Right for Riches Company was in trouble, with Uvash and Vael badly wounded and several PCs without Luck or Bless.  They fled down the stairs, and Vael put up another Wall of Lightning to block pursuit.

They staggered back to the Beacon, intending to come back and fight their way past the wraiths to Neferet as soon as possible.

GM's Comments:

Neferet was pretty badass, but she did have limited FP, and once it was almost gone, she had to run to recover it.

Hilariously, the players never figured out that Neferet had Resist Fire up for the entire fight, and kept trying to burn her.  She pretended to be hurt to encourage such tactics.

Wraiths are no joke.  Especially swarms of them.  Wall of Lightning was a good way to slow them down, but the wraiths were too smart to just charge into it, and had effective ranged attacks that go past it.

Vael was pretty sure Neferet was only about ten yards away and not moving, but they never actually spotted her in the Tower of Scrutiny.

Achievements:

None.  (The Circlet of Ghanor was so close, but close isn't an achievement.)

XP:

• Exploration: 6 new locations, 1 XP
• Loot: Some jade jewelry, Boots of Levitation, and a few scrolls.  Probably 0 XP because they'll almost certainly keep the Boots rather than selling them for loot XP.
• Achievements: 0 XP
• Total: 1 XP.

Next Week:

They want to heal up and go right back after Neferet and the wraiths, but they also want to wait for Vallium to return from his trip to Newmarket.

DFRPG Arden Vul Session 42a: Neferet

Date: 

Tothsday, 4th Mercedonian Day, 2994 AE

Weather: 

Cold, mostly sunny, snowy

Player Characters: 

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

Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)

Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Cosmo)

Thrainor "Thronebreaker" Ironvein, Dwarven mercenary fighter (Frank)

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

Significant NPCs:

Mariposa, Chyrsalis's monkey familiar

Onyx, cat genius

Secondary cats

Fael, Half-Elven Druid

Statuette of Bastet, Goddess of Cats

Bottleneck, Goblin sergeant

Many goblins

Yamki, 3-armed giant intelligence baboon

Many baboons

Temrin, Goblin Royal Artist

Akla-Chah, Rudishva AI psychologist

Killik, Goblin Boss of the Wet Caves

Several ogre royal guards

Several goblin royal guards

Palestrim, Goblin Majordomo

King Weskenim, King of the United Goblin Tribes

Gribble, Goblin chief

Construct of Kerbog Khan

Lukor, Thorcin mage of the Eighth Collegium

Other mages and fighters of the Eighth Collegium

Several beastmen

Mummy

2 Shadows

Neferet, Greater Mummy

The Plan:

• Hire Fael to translate, make an offering to Bastet, and ask the statuette of Bastet questions
• Drop off the fancy chess board as tribute to Craastonistorex
• Travel to the Well of Light, deliver food to the baboons, and perform the Litany of Light
• Travel to the Goblin Market, and commission a map to another Command Bracelet from Temrin
• Talk to the mysterious wizards near the Goblin Market
• Travel to the Great Hall and look for secret doors leading to Neferet
• Explore west of the Well of Light

What Happened:

Vallium announced he needed to take a trip to Newmarket on personal business.  Not wanting to venture into Arden Vul without sufficient bodyguards, the Right for Riches company went to the Grudge Brigade and managed to hire both Thronebreaker and Chysalis.  (Hiring two mercenaries for the same mission was a violation of Grudge Brigade policy, but business was slow during the winter, and Coinbase was out of town.)  Ioannes Blessed both mercenaries.

Vael, Uvash, and Ioannes hired Fael the druid to translate Cat for them.  Fael asked that they go outside the oppressive (even though only 5% finished) town walls where it was easier to commune with nature.  Onyx and a couple of other cats followed.  When they got to an area she thought was sufficiently pristine, Fael cast Beast Speech on Vael.  He made an offering of fish then asked the Statuette of Bastet three questions.  A shimmering avatar of Bastet the cat goddess appeared.  Bastet didn't know how Horus died and resented the insinuation that every dead bird was a cat's fault.  She also indicated that her way of dealing with Set was to get away from him and hide.  She had no idea who Neferet was.  The avatar of the cat goddess, and the fish, disappeared.  Vael then turned to Onyx and asked if he had any input.  Onyx said that their apartment needed better security when the big guy wasn't there, to protect the cats.

Back in Gosterwick, Vael picked up the fancy silver and ivory chess board he had commissioned from Chairduster the jeweler.  They gathered both mercenaries and a monkey, then went through the green Teleport Rug to the Beacon.  Chyrsalis grabbed a purple Teleport Rug and Vael Blinked her through the roof over the stairs, up to the surface ruins.  Not seeing any trouble, she put the Rug down, and the others came through to join her.  They all hiked south to the dam, where Vael left the chessboard and a note.  They then turned around and hiked northeast to the Pyramid of Thoth, then went down many stairs to Upper Goblintown.

Bottleneck welcomed them and said it had been a pretty quiet week, only one zombie attack, with only a couple of goblins lost.  They went southwest to the indoor pyramid, then pulled the lever on top to teleport to the other indoor pyramid near the Well of Light.  Everyone walked east through the Well of Light, whose main mirror was covered by a blanket.  When they reached the rooms north of the Howling Caves, they saw Yamki, who greeted them in booming baboon-accented Archontean.  Vael said he'd have their food in a minute, then set down the purple Rug and teleported back to the Beacon.  He came back in a minute with a levitating Living Wheelbarrow full of food.  Yamki had a few baboons unload it.  Vael said they would be doing the Litany of Light so all the mirrors would be lit up for a little while.  Yamki yelled out a warning to the other baboons.

Vael stowed the wheelbarrow back in the Beacon, then they all went west to the Well of Light and removed the blanket, lighting everything up brightly.  The group then visited all four stations of the Litany of Light.  Ioannes performed the Thothian rituals correctly, temporarily gaining an intelligence bonus, infravision, the ability to see secrets, and invisibility.  Vael copied everything Ioannes did, and also gained all four bonuses.  Uvash tried copying the heretical rituals, but failed to finish because he knew Zodarrim would not approve.  He did not gain any bonuses.

They went back through the pyramid teleporter to Upper Goblintown, then down the ramp to the Wet Caves.  Killik asked Uvash where the rest of his company was, and when invisible Vael said something, Killik told him to be careful with that, as not everyone appreciated unseen visitors.  They continued down to the Goblin Market, where some human merchants were trying to hire goblin guides.  Vael spoke to Temrin to try to commission a map, but Temrin indicated that as Royal Artist he was only allowed to take commissions approved by the King.  Everyone went upstairs to try to meet the King.  When they reached the Royal Court outside the King's room, one of the ogre guards smelled one of the invisible visitors, and yelled for the other goblin and ogre royal guards.  One ogre almost managed to grab Vael, but he blinked away.  Another did manage to grab Ioannes.  Palestrim came out to see what was happening, and told the ogres to treat Vael and Ioannes gently, but that they could not visit the King while invisible without an ogre holding onto them.  Eventually everyone was admitted to the King's chamber, where he sat on his bed petting a cat.  He said he had news for them: Sir Sorrow had departed, freeing up his Royal Guest Room, and they were invited to stay there.  He would have his brother Gribble show them their room.  Vael asked the king if he could have Temrin draw a map.  The King said it might be possible to hire the Royal Artist, but his services were highly in demand and thus expensive: $5000, payable only in silver or gold, no copper.  (The room was still full of stacks of copper coins from the Treasury of Thoth.)  Vael agreed, and said they'd have the payment soon.

Gribble grumbled about making the king's own brother do work, but led them to their guest room, and gave them a key.  Once in the room, Vael put the purple Rug on the floor, and Uvash stepped through to the Beacon, went through the green Rug to Gosterwick, walked over to Rarities Factor, withdrew a bunch of gold coins, then returned.  They went back to King Weskenim's room and, after being made to wait for a bit, the King took their coins and gave them a note for Temrin.

They went back down to the Goblin Market, where a small bipedal construct of some sort was talking to the Thorcin merchants.  The construct claimed to be Kerbog Khan, and claimed to know more about the Halls than anyone else living, but said that All Deals Must Be Sealed in Blood.  The merchant didn't want to give the construct a blood sample and asked one of his guards to deal with the construct for him.  The construct said "no, principals only, your bodyguard's blood is not enough."  Vael was curious but focused on the business at hand, and dropped both the Royal Commission and the Command Bracelet on Temrin's table, where they became visible.  Temrin said he was happy to make a map at his King's command, and asked if he could keep the bracelet.  Vael said no, he needed it back, but Temrin could make a sketch of it.  Temrin asked if the other bracelet was also red, and Vael wasn't sure, so he put the bracelet back on and remotely asked Akla-Chah.  Akla-Chah said that both the Captain's and First Officer's Command Bracelets were red, but she wasn't sure about any others as she'd only seen those two.  That was good enough for Vael, and he told Temrin to find another red bracelet just like this one.  Temrin traced the bracelet, and drew a quick sketch of it, and copied the glyphs on the back, then set it back down and said "All right, I'll try to have your map ready in a few days."

The group went west then south past a couple of ogre guards into an empty passage, then up through a hole.  Beyond was a door to a secluded room.  They knocked on the door.  When asked who was there, they identified themselves, and Vael said that two of them were invisible.  The person on the other side said to wait a minute.  A minute later, the door opened.  Inside was Lukor, the mage they had met earlier, along with five companions, who appeared to be two more mages and three warriors.  Lukor looked right at Vael as though he wasn't invisible, and asked them to come in.  They closed the door, and Lukor said that he had been waiting for their visit, as he needed their help.  Vael had a lot of questions.  Lukor said he couldn't answer too many questions yet, but he could refer to them as the Eighth Collegium.  They wanted a direct meeting with King Weskenim: they had been sitting here for weeks, occasionally meeting with Palestrim but never the King.  He would pay a thousand silver if they could arrange the meeting.  They could also provide invisibility, silence, or a distraction if the King wanted to meet secretly.  Vael asked questions about alliances with Settites and Varumani.  Lukor said they mostly avoided the Settites and would like to be friends with the Varumani.  And they would also like to be friends with the goblins, if they king would meet with them.

Leaving, the group went back up to Upper Goblintown, then south to the Beastman barricade.  Vael cast Thunderclap to get the guards' attention.  When a guard came out to investigate, Vael said they wanted passage to the Great Hall.  The guard got his sergeant, who agreed that their group could traverse their territory to the Great Hall, and warned them about gargoyles.  Once they reached the Great Hall, the whole group slowly circled the huge room, examining the walls.  Looking up, Ioannes noticed a gargoyle swooping toward Mariposa the monkey, and yelled a warning.  Mariposa dodged the attack, and Chyrsalis and Thronebreaker smashed the gargoyle.  With the threat dealt with, they continued circling the room, triggering a magic mouth, which said something about Priscus Pulcher and some eyes.  Near the magic mouth, Vael and Ioannes spotted two secret doors.  Vael managed to open the southern one.

Thronebreaker went into the narrow hallway first, and a few feet in, something dispelled his Continual Light and Bless spells.  He came back out and they had a discussion, then Chysalis and Mariposa went in.  The permanent light on her Staff of Blue Light did not go out, but her Bless went away.  She made it down the hallway, past a few charred corpses, into a room containing a large sarcophagus.  There were alcoves north and south, with three more smaller sarcophagi.  Nothing jumped out, so she returned to the others.  Vael put the purple Rug on the floor, and he and Uvash and Ioannes stepped through to the Beacon.  Chrysalis and Thronebreaker went back to the tomb and dropped the Rug, where the others joined them.  Ioannes re-Blessed both mercenaries, then everyone sat down to rest for a while.

When everyone felt rested, they started examining the room.  The central sarcophagus had some Mithric inscriptions on the sides indicating that it belonged to Neferet, Beloved of Thoth, and a picture of a woman on top.  The others were blank.  They went to the northern alcove, where Thronebreaker used Power Blow and knocked the lid off the sarcophagus.  A mummy jumped out at him.  Everyone expected something like that, and nobody was surprised.

A battle ensued with the mummy.  During the battle, a couple of spells came from an unknown direction, blinding Chrysalis and failing to blind Thronebreaker.  Chrysalis was a good enough blind fighter that this was a minor inconvenience, and they continued smashing the mummy.  Eventually it went down.  Vael cast Mage Sight and saw that the western wall of the room was magical.  Chrysalis eventually investigated and went right through it, not that she could see.  Meanwhile a couple of shadows appeared from the south end of the room and went after Mariposa.

Another mummy, this one a female one wearing Thothian robes and a magic circlet, was in the western part of the room behind the illusory wall, throwing spells.  This was clearly Neferet.  Once she realized she had been found, she pulled out a magic bead, and threw it in the middle of the four visible opponents (and her two shadows).  This exploded into a dome of force, killing one of the shadows.  Thronebreaker, Uvash, and Mariposa, trapped in the force dome with the other shadow, eventually defeated it, with a critical hit by Thronebreaker stunning the shadow and hastening its demise.  Neferet cast Darkness over the southern half of the room, effectively blinding everyone there.  Chrysalis, with Blind Fighting, kept going after Neferet, who kept Blinking away from her attacks.  Thronebreaker tried breaking the dome, and he couldn't get through it, but he could move it around the room.  Thronebreaker and Uvash then started shoving the dome toward where they thought Neferet was, trying to pin her in a corner and crush her.

Neferet pulled a bead off her necklace and swallowed it, turning invisible.  She then blinked out of danger while Chrysalis, still blind, went around the room trying to detect her with her other senses.  Uvash cast Sense Spirit, which gave him a fix on Neferet's location regardless of her invisibility.  Vael cast Create Fire where Uvash said Neferet was, losing his invisibility.  Neferet screamed something about burning in Mithric, then blinked away again.  She threw another bead, making a second dome of force, this one damaging Chrysalis.  Vael cast Shape Fire and started moving the fire around the room to try to trap Neferet, while Ioannes cast Stop Bleeding on Chrysalis.  Neferet had to Blink again to avoid the fire, and ended up in the passage to the east.

We paused there, with everyone except Ioannes and Vael trapped in the two Beads of Force, and Neferet still fighting having used two Beads of Force, two Beads of Invisibility, and presumably a ton of mana.  A lesser mummy and two shadows were also down.

Battle in Neferet's Tomb

GM's Comments:

Invisibility is definitely double-edged, if you use it in civilized areas.  It makes everyone suspicious.

Using the Teleport Rugs to let three PCs bypass the Dispel effect was clever.

It was funny watching Thronebreaker use Power Blow to try to do massive damage to shadows, which were diffuse.  (Of course he didn't have their stats, so he couldn't be sure it wouldn't help.)

Sense Spirits and Blind Fighting were both really useful partial counters to Neferet's Darkness and Invisibility.

Beads of Force are super fun if you have them.  Maybe less fun if your opponent has them.

Achievements:

None yet, stopped in mid-session

XP:

None yet, stopped in mid-session

Next Week:

The thrilling conclusion of the epic battle.  Do the PCs defeat Neferet and gain the Iron Circlet of Ghanor?  Does Neferet defeat the PCs and line her tomb with all their stuff and make Vallium recruit a new group of allies?  Or does Neferet escape?  I have no idea.