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.

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.