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.
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