Date:
Basilsday, 15th of Deuterios, 2994 AE
Weather:
Cool, rainy
Player Characters:
Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)
Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)
Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Cosmo)
Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)
Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)
Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Cosmo)
Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)
Significant NPCs:
Basil, Right for Riches employee
Remagis, un-petrified ancient Thothian priest
Two tenebrous worms
Three Imperial stone guardians
Several feral cats
Vengeance Aspect
Many ghouls
Several chasm cephalopods
3 Wights
3 Ogres
Many goblins
Gribble, Chief of the Goblin Forum
Dworm, Goblin Forum guard and food merchant
Galadnor, Half-Elven merchant
Yoburra, Varmani ambassador to the Forum
Bottleneck, Goblin sergeant of the Glory of Weskenim
The Plan:
- Travel to the Rudishva Bastion using the Rudishva teleporter in the Beacon
- Travel north from the Bastion along the floor of the Great Chasm, following Temrin's map
- Recover the second Tablet of the Beacon
- Clear more rooms near the Goblin Forum
What Happened:
Vael took Remagis to Gosterwick, where he could practice his broken Archontean on various shopkeepers. Vael gave Remagis some spending money, which he spent on holy water, cleaning supplies, food, and several simple wooden holy symbols of Thoth.
The Right for Riches company gathered in the Beacon, then used the Rudishva Teleporter to the Bastion, using Salamander Amulets to walk through the fire trap unharmed, then using Teleportation Rugs to bring the people without Salamander Amulets through. The group walked to the entrance to the Beacon, where Vael used the black command card and the Rudishva command console to open the secret door and set the Rudishva Point Defense Arrays to "don't shoot anyone with a Rudishva ID" mode. Everyone went out through the secret door, and Vael used Apportation on the big red button to close the door behind them.
Vael cast Shape Earth to open a hole from the cave leading to the Bastion into the wider Great Chasm floor. He cast Bracteros Effect on a Continual Light rock to render its light invisible to those far away, and then the group hiked north. They scrambled down from a plateau to a natural floor, into the western edge of a giant mushroom grove.
There they were ambushed by two tenebrous worms. The worms failed to achieve ambush, and Vallium and Uvash hacked the worms apart, while Vael and Ioannes stayed back. The worms' poisonous spikes didn't manage to hurt anyone. Uvash was curious as to the nature of the poison, but not enough to risk taking a sample.
The group continued north and saw a raised pediment, with a couple of ballistae sticking over the edge. They warily climbed some stairs up to the pediment, and were charged by three Imperial stone guardians, like the ones that had been guarding the Beacon. Once again, Vallium and Uvash fought the enemies, while Vael and Ioannes hung back. There was a fourth stone guardian that was intact and appeared magical but was completely inert. The group decided to leave it alone.
Exploring the pediment, they found a few other sets of stairs down to the cavern floor, and an Archontean teleportation circle in the northwest corner. They also found a crack in the western wall leading to a natural passage, as Temrin's map indicated.
The passage opened into a long room with the ceiling supported by columns. There were many old, burned corpses scattered around the floor. One corpse looked newer than the others, and had some magical mail armor and a pouch. The group quickly looted that corpse, then they followed their map and went through a door to the north.
Beyond the door was a passage narrow enough to require squeezing through. It led to a room, which contained a sand table with some lead toy soldiers. Under the sand table was a chessboard and a lacquered box containing some fancy Archontean chess pieces. There was a huge fresco of Marius Trocotor and some of his comrades along one wall, and a pile of cloth in one corner. The cloth started moving. Vael used a Whirlwind spell to blow the cloth away, and a pile of cats emerged from the cloth, ran in random directions, and hid.
After taking everything that looked valuable, they searched for a secret door on the western wall where the map said to go, and found one, but it required a one-inch rod to open. Vael reached into Larel's Sack and produced a rod of the right diameter. This revealed a narrow passage, ending in another similar secret door that opened the same way.
Beyond the secret passage was a room containing a camp bed, a simple desk, and a fancy ebony box on a pedestal. The box contained a Tablet of the Beacon, identical to the one they had previously found in the Bastion. It also contained an ancient Archontean instruction manual for the Tablet, though this didn't have any information they hadn't already figured out. There was a fresco on the wall showing three obelisks and a hole opening in the ground. Once again the group saw that this helped them solve a puzzle they had already solved. Rifling through the desk found a couple of gold signet rings with the initials "MT", several historical books about various Archons, and a list of twenty Thothian teleportation addresses and the rooms they led to.
After taking everything that looked valuable and portable, the group doubled back. When they reached the room with all the corpses, they saw a ghostlike figure with short hair. It was a Vengeance Aspect, a particularly terrifying type of ghost. The ghost started pointing at corpses, which became ghouls. It then pointed at the party and blinded all of them. This began a long fight, which was made more difficult by nobody being able to see. The ghost threw some fire bolts at the party, but three of them were wearing Salamander Amulets and Vallium was wearing a lot of armor, so they weren't as effective as they could have been. It also summoned a Symbol of Death on the floor, which ended up killing a ghoul rather than a PC. Vael managed to drop a Dispel Magic on Vallium, which dispelled the blindness on him and let him fight more effectively. Vael tried several more Dispels but failed to make anyone else not blind. He did manage a lot of collateral damage, taking out his own Levitation (leading to a fortunately very short fall), Continual Light, Bracteros Effect, and Bless. Vallium killed several ghouls, and Uvash killed a couple. While blind, Ioannes managed to cast Affect Spirits on Vallium's sword, which let him injure the ghost. The ghost was still hard to hit due to its spectral quickness, but Vallium eventually managed a solid hit to slow it, then a few more hits to kill it. When the ghost was destroyed, all the ghouls collapsed to the floor and everyone could see again.
Ioannes healed Vallium, and then everyone searched all the corpses, finding nothing. The group explored west, finding a corridor that sloped up. They went back and explored to the south, finding a room with an altar of Sekhmet, with a blazing magical flame. In front of the altar was a charred corpse wearing Imperial field plate, with a longsword at its feet. There were several other charred lumps in the room, each with some ancient gold and silver coins nearby. After looting everything they could find, the group explored a few other nearby rooms, finding some minor treasure. They then searched for secret doors and failed to find any.
With the area looted to their satisfaction, the group took the ramp up to the west, which led to a small chasm. Vallium flew out using his Boots of Levitation to explore it, and was attacked by several chasm cephalopods. He quickly killed one, and the others decided that this was not an easy meal, and flew away.
The chasm had several exits, with one to the south leading to a room featuring three plain sarcophagi. Vallium flew back to the group, and they used the Teleporation Rugs to ferry the non-flying party members back to the Beacon, then brought them back out on the other side of the chasm. Everyone was suspicious of the sarcophagi. Uvash cast Sense Spirits looking for undead, and found a wight in each sarcophagus, waiting in ambush. He tried Turn Zombie to terrify the wights. The wights emerged, then started running to the south. Vallium cut two of them down, and a third one escaped.
Meanwhile, some ogres appeared from the south, having heard the combat. One ogre started ringing a cowbell. Not wanting a protracted fight, the group retreated back to the room with the sarcophagi, where Vallium slammed the door and Vael Wizard Locked it. They then looted the sarcophagi, and headed back north across the chasm, then back down to the room where they had fought the ghost.
They decided to use the teleportation circle to return to the Forum of Set. Vael flipped through the book of teleporter addresses and found one led to the Bridge of Set. They used that permutation of glass activation squares (black-red-blue-white-yellow-green) and were teleported to an area just south of the Red Bridge of Set.
The group crossed the Red Bridge. Their footsteps echoed loudly as they crossed it, but there were no Settite guards left alive to respond. On the north side of the bridge was a plaque with a riddle, and a red force field preventing passage. Vael ignored the riddle and spammed Dispel Magic spells at the force field. The first two tries failed, but the third attempt was a critical success, and the force field went away, opening the path to the Goblin Forum.
They hiked north, where the goblin guards recognized them and let them into the Forum. Dworm told them the last week's food had sold, again mostly to the Varumani. Galadnor told them that some adventurers had some through buying and selling, after looting a tomb. One of the things they had found and sold to her was a deed to a house in the faraway capital, Archontos. Vallium wasn't sure whether it was still valid, but bought it anyway.
Vael met with Yoburra and the other Varumani ambassadors again, then went through a Teleport Rug back to the Beacon, then through the other Rug to Gosterwick to buy another load of food for Dworm to sell. Remagis helped carry food, and asked if he could come through the Rug to the Temple of Thoth. Vael said it was fine as long as he promised not to reveal any of their secrets. Gribble said that the Temple was Bottleneck's territory, not his, but he was fine with Remagis going there if Bottleneck didn't mind. They took Remagis up the stairs, through the Temple of Set, then through the passages to the Temple of Thoth. After introducing him to Bottleneck, the Right for Riches Company returned to the Beacon.
After identifying all the loot, Vael cast a Repair spell on the ancient and somewhat decayed Imperial Field Plate, and somehow managed to botch the spell and completely destroy the armor. Oops.
GM's Comments:
The Vengeance Aspect was nasty, with its blindness and Symbol of Death and fire attacks and ability to raise lots of ghouls. The combination of Salamander Amulets, Dispel Magic, Affect Spirits, and Vallium and Uvash having enough armor to be mostly ghoul-proof carried the battle. Dispel Magic is a rather blunt instrument though, as it tries to dispel all the magic, not just the magic you want gone.
The book of teleporter addresses was a welcome find. The party has been discussing trying all the permutations of addresses for a long time, but having a directory should save them some time and effort.
Achievements:
Regalia: 1 XP for bringing the Tablet of the Beacon to Lady Alexia
XP:
- Exploration: 12 new locations, 1 XP
- Loot: a pretty good amount, plus the reward for the Tablet, 1-2 XP depending on what they sell
- Achievements: 1 XP
- Total: 3-4 XP
Next Week:
They're going to try to clear more rooms around the Goblin Forum, opening it up for easier and safer commerce.
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