DFRPG Arden Vul Session 23b: Disrupting Services in the Temple of Set

Date: 

Basilsday, 16th of Gerakios, 2993 AE 

Weather: 

Hot, dry

Player Characters: 

Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)

Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)

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

Michael J. Dundee, Thorcin barbarian (Adam)

Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Cosmo)

Significant NPCs:

Lillian, captured Canon of Mitra

Susarra, Archontean fighter

Many Set guards

Many Set cultists

Several Set acolytes

Several Set deacons

Continuing from the previous session, Vallium came through the gas-trapped doorway, with Vael, Ioannes, and Susarra close behind him.  Uvash and Michael were well behind.  There was one Set guard in red scale armor peering around a corner ahead, shouting back reports to his allies.  Vallium charged, while yelling for nobody to stand right behind him.  The guard waited until Vallium was two yards away to fire his crossbow -- and somehow missed.  Whether this was due to Vallium's Amulet of Missile Shield, or the guard just panicking, was hard to tell.

The guard backed around the corner.  There was a short staircase up, with a 4' tall barricade at the top, and several more guards behind the barricade, holding crossbows.  A couple more took shots at Vallium as he and the first guard ran up the stairs, then dropped their crossbows and pulled out maces or potions.  Meanwhile Michael and Uvash caught up to Vael, who cast Great Haste on Michael.

Vallium neared the barricade as a couple of the guards threw down Alchemist's Fire potions, but missed him.  By then Michael was double-timing up the stairs behind him, and Vael was near the bottom of the steps casting a Grease spell.  The Set deacon at the top of the stairs concentrated on a spell for a couple of seconds, so Vallium let go of his sword (letting it hang from a lanyard), reached into his potion belt, and smashed a Magebane potion.  This emitted a sickly smoke that kept everyone within a few yards of Vallium from casting wizard spells for a while -- but the caster was a cleric and was not affected.  He finished his Dispel Magic spell, catching Vallium and Michael and Susarra in it.  He was trying to dismiss Vallium's Missile Shield (which failed because it was a permanent magic item, not a spell) and Michael's Great Haste.  The attempt was successful, and also dismissed a couple of Continual Light rocks as well as Vallium's Bless.

It didn't get the Grease though, which was cast behind the barricade outside the area of effect of the Dispel, and the guards started slipping and sliding.  Michael stabbed the one on the stairs.  Vallium recovered his sword and hit a couple behind the barricade.  Susarra got to the barricade and got a couple of axe swings in.  As the battle turned against his side, the deacon commanded one of the unwounded guards to run north and set reinforcements.  A badly wounded guard broke ranks and followed him.  After taking a hit, the deacon retreated west.  Uvash reached the top and opened the gate in the barricade, and the party poured through.  They eventually took down all but one of the guards, but the one survivor ran north into an area with a red tiled floor, pulled open a black curtain, and ran into the large room beyond while yelling for help.

Vallium used his Ring of Illusion Disguise to look like the cleric they had just defeated, whose guards had called Deacon Hurub.  He followed the guard into the big temple room to the north while yelling "The Azure Knights are attacking, there are too many, retreat."  A couple of set clerics were leading many cultists in a service nearby.  Many of the cultists broke and ran in various directions.  Vallium waited at the curtain for a few seconds, while Vael cast Great Haste on both Vallium and Michael, and Ioannes followed up with Flaming Weapon.  Once they were fully buffed, everyone ran into the temple.  Michael chased the retreating guard to the west, trailed by Vael, and eventually caught and killed him, but by then about eight more guards were streaming out of two rooms north and south.  Uvash and Ioannes and Susarra went east toward a huge statue of Set in Set animal form, and killed a few cultists.  Vallium chased some clerics to the northeast into a room with a portcullis, and killed them both before they got it open.  There was a brief difference of opinion about who was the real cleric of Set and who was the traitor or imposter, but Vallium won the argument using his sword, and the nearby cultists helped him finish off the acolyte.

Michael was beset by a lot of guards, but he had Great Haste, and Vael cast two Grease spells and a Smoke spell among the guards to help him.  Michael eventually downed all of them.  Meanwhile Susarra ran between two long rectangular pools to come help Michael, when a huge crocodile unexpectedly emerged from one of the pools and tried to eat her.  She avoided being surprised and eventually killed it with a couple of solid axe blows.  A second crocodile came out later, and she wounded it badly enough that it went back under the water to hide and wait for easier prey.

Uvash and Ioannes, after running out of nearby cultists, decided to try to desecrate the evil temple.  Ioannes first tried to knock over the huge statue, but it was just too heavy.  They then decided to take its ruby eyes.  The statue was 25' tall, so its eyes were well out of reach.  Uvash climbed up the statue with his Ring of Climbing, then dropped a rope to help Ioannes up, since Ioannes had the Apportation spell and could take the rubies without actually touching them.  This plan worked, and Ioannes magically grabbed two huge rubies and dropped them in Uvash's pouch, before climbing back down.  Ioannes then stole everything he could find on the Settites' evil sacrificial altar.  He and Uvash then knocked it over.

Vallium chased down and killed two more deacons who were trying to escape down a wide staircase to the west, then dragged them back into the temple and took their portable valuables.  He and Vael shut the huge bronze doors, and Vael Magelocked them.  Vael ran around the room looking for magic items, and Susarra explored the temple looking for other valuables.  Everyone then retreated to the room to the south, outside the temple's Set-aligned sanctity, to rest and heal.  Both Michael and Susarra were fairly wounded, so Ioannes used Stop Bleeding and Major Healing to patch them up.

After the long battle, and with the Set Cult fully alerted to their presence, it was time to decide whether to head back to Gosterwick or press on looking for Lillian.  The group unanimously decided to keep looking for Lillian rather than retreating, so they ended the session, very close to where they started it, but surrounded by a lot of dead Settites (and one dead crocodile).

GM's Comments:

This was by far the biggest battle we've fought in this campaign, 5 PCs and an NPC against over 20 Settites and a couple of crocodiles.  It took almost the whole session.  I should have taken some screenshots.

Achievements:

None

XP:

None until they get back to town, but they explored even more new territory and found some more loot.

Next Week:

They're pretty sure they're close to Lillian now, so they're going to try to rescue her and get out before whatever portion of the Set cult is left gets their revenge.