Date:
Basilsday 20th of Toternios, 2994 AE
Weather:
Hot, sunny
Player Characters:
Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)
Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)
Sister Valya "Basilisk" Hushbreaker, halfling monk (Mercenary) (Archon Shiva)
Significant NPCs:
Sanguinette, bat familiar
Basil, Right for Riches employee
Akla-Chah, Rudishva AI psychologist
Many goblins
Ichthelon, Mummy High Priest of Thoth
Remagis, Assistant to the High Priest of Thoth
Stamelis, Head Librarian of Thoth
Yamki, 3-armed intelligent giant baboon
Many baboons
Ptirisa, friendly ghost
Many stirges
Giant spider
Many huge spiders
Archontean shabti spearman construct
Many chasm cephalopods
Many deranged zombie monks
Many creepy purple-black zombies
Battle Automaton of Kerbog Khan
The Plan:
- Wait for a sunny day
- Go to the bottom of the Well of Light and perform the Litany of Light, to gain See Secrets
- Levitate around the Well of Light, Great Chasm, Cliff Face, etc. looking for secret doors
What Happened:
Ioannes took some time off to supervise Theopilos the locksmith replacing all the cat-hostile doorknobs in the Arcane Practitioners' Club with cat-operable levers, at his cat Onyx's request. Uvash took the day to celebrate Dwarven Unity Day with his family and the other dwarves of Gosterwick.
Vallium and Vael recruited Valya from the Grudge Brigade to form an all-Levitating party. They took the purple Teleport Rug from Gosterwick to the Beacon, then the Rudishva teleporter to the Cloister, then went down the secret passage and Levitated up the shaft to the hidden tomb near the Temple of Set. They went over to the Temple of Thoth, where they said hello to Remagis and Ichthelon and Stemelis and the goblin guards wearing Thothian holy symbols. After a brief discussion, Vallium went back to the Beacon through a green Teleport Rug and found the Mask of Ptoh-Ristus in one of their treasure chests on the bridge. He came back through the Rug and presented the Mask to Remagis and Ichthelon. Ichthelon took it and immediately put it on, then thanked the "Friends of Lord Thoth" for retrieving it and asked where they had found it.
The group went south from the Temple to the indoor pyramid, noticing that the gray-green mist that had formerly filled the area was gone. The magic mouth talking about Thoth was still there. They went past the Mouth to the indoor pyramid, then flicked the lever to teleport to the other indoor pyramid near the Well of Light. They walked over to the Howling Caves to warn Yamki that they would be lighting up the Well of Light area to do the Litany of Light. Yamki sent a baboon to warn Trefko. The group went back to the Well of Light and removed the blanket over the mirror on the floor, which bounced light from the Well off all the mirrors in the area. All three of them then went to the appropriate rooms and performed the appropriate rituals of the Litany of Light, following the book Vallium had brought. Basilisk and Vael got infravision from the first room. Vael got a temporary intelligence bonus in the second room. The third room gave See Secrets to Basilisk and Vael, the real point of the exercise. Finally, all three did the ritual correctly in the fourth room and were turned Invisible.
With the Litany complete, they walked back over to the Well of Light, which was blindingly bright. Vallium Levitated the blanket from the ground all the way to the top and covered the opening to reduce the brightness, then Vael and Basilisk slowly flew down the Well looking for secret doors. Vael spotted a suspicious tile about halfway up. Fiddling with some nearby tiles revealed one that could be rotated to open a secret door and a rough narrow passage. After a few feet it opened up into a wider passage lined with hexagonal reflective tiles of an unknown high-tech substance. This looked like it might be Rudishva in origin, so Vael called Akla-Chah on the Command Bracelet and asked if she knew anything about it. Akla-Chah replied that Captain Leil-Jor had made that area off-limits due to danger. That was enough to make the group turn back for today. They flew back down to the bottom of the well, replaced the blanket covering the mirror, then went back to Yamki's area and yelled that they were done with the light.
Next they went north to the Ruby Chair, then east through a secret door and south through another secret door and west through a secret passage, until they reached the cave with the ghost of Ptirisa. They were invisible, but their light was not, and Ptirisa asked who was there as they walked past. They did not reply, but Vael cast The Bracteros Effect on his Continual Light stone to render its light invisible from a distance. They went west over the bridge over the Great Chasm, then Levitated out over the chasm, looking for any secret doors or holes in the roof. They found a couple of previously unexplored exits from the Chasm. One led to a cave full of arcanum. Vael resisted sticking around to investigate the cave, but couldn't resist going back through the Teleport Rug to the Beacon for a pickaxe, then chopping off a lump of arcanum. The other exit led to some natural passages near the Howling Caves, some inhabited by baboons. They decided not to spend more time exploring there, and went back to the Chasm, then down.
Lower in the Chasm, they found a few exits they already knew about, including a couple of large stone thrones. Concealed behind some creeping vines, they spotted a circular stone door, with the Rudishva glyph for protection and a sign in Archontean saying "Artax-Ris does not wish to be disturbed." Vael called Akla-Chah on the bracelet and asked her if she knew who Artax-Ris was. Akla-Chah replied that he had been a scientist on the Beacon, but she had not seen him in many years. Vael cast Glass Wall to look through the door and spotted several bodies and a sarcophagus. They decided not to try to open the door.
As they moved away from the door, they were ambushed by a group of stirges. Vallium stabbed several, Basilisk stunned a couple, and Vael used Shape Air to blow a bunch into the chasm wall. At that point the remaining stirges decided to fly away and find squishier prey. The group continued northwest, past some goblin (formerly halfling) rooms, until they reached some spider webs near the northwest end of the cavern. Basilisk noticed a huge spider hiding in the webs and used kiai to stun it. Vallium charged into the webs, trusting his Ring of Free Action to avoid getting stuck, and stabbed several spiders, while Basilisk stunned them. Once they ran out of spiders, Vallium passed the Ring of Free Action to Vael, so he could slide past the webs and look for secret doors. Vael found both a concealed door and some loot in the webs. Vallium took his ring back, then used his flaming sword to burn a path through the webs for the others.
The concealed door led to a small passage, then to a shaft in the floor, which went down to a small triangular room. The room featured a single door with a sign that said “Hithra the Paleologos Rests Within. Visitors are Unwanted.” On the walls were inscribed 18 Archontean chess boards, with various pieces in various locations. Finally there were two glowing rows of five glyphs, one row purple and one orange. The glyphs in both rows were identical: a rod, a winged serpent, a robed priest, a robed wizard, and a shortsword. Nobody knew much about chess, so Vael spent a few minutes making notes of everything on the walls to research later. Vallium noted they should learn to use one of the Rudishva gadgets that took pictures, to save time.
They went back up the shaft and back over to the Great Chasm, then down. Moving southeast along the chasm wall, Vael found a plaster plug obscured by creepers. There was a 6' diameter hole in the plaster. Looking inside, he saw a body, smashed by a stone block. Searching carefully for traps, they investigated the corpse and the block and saw there was a gap in the ceiling where the block had fallen. He suspected that the block had been a trap rather than just shoddy construction. Continuing down the passage, they spotted an open sarcophagus ahead and a secret door to the right. Vael figured out that poking the eyes of a painting on the wall opened the secret door. Going down the secret passage revealed a small room containing gilded ancient furniture, several shabti statues, and a chest with some copper coins. Vallium set up a Teleport Rug and started carefully carrying the furniture and statues back to the Beacon. Meanwhile Vael found another secret door and the button to open it. This one led to a room with some canopic jars with gold and lapis lids, and more shabti statues. Vallium carried the lids (but not the ceramic jars) and the additional statues through the Rug as well. Around the corner was a room with a fancy sarcophagus and writing on the wall "Sethu Lives in the Breath of Thoth." The word Breath had Vallium going back through the Rug to the Beacon to get a Rudishva breather. As they stepped into the room, a trap was triggered and gas started coming out of the far wall, but Vael used a Purify Air spell to clear it.
Once the gas was gone, Vael thought the plaster walls to the left and right might be concealing something. He used Glass Wall to look through one and saw a statue sitting on a chair. Looking through the other revealed a stone wall with a stone door behind the plaster wall, and a room with treasure behind the stone wall. Vallium smashed through the plaster wall to the treasure room with a pickaxe, then Vael used Lockmaster to unlock the door, and they went into the treasure room and took everything out.
Crossing the room to the other plaster wall, Vallium started smashing that one too, but then heard "Oh Yeah!" in Mithric as the statue that had been sitting in the chair ran through the wall to his right. The construct attacked Vallium with its spear. Vallium parried the attack then destroyed the construct. The room that the construct had come from contained nothing except the chair.
Vallium then took the lid off the sarcophagus. Inside was an inert mummy and some treasure. Vael searched the mummy and retrieved an amulet and a couple of platinum rings. With the secret tomb looted, they went back out to the entrance tomb, and found it mostly empty, with only a few copper coins and a junky old sword. They decided this was a decoy tomb, but took the copper and sword anyway.
Crossing the Great Chasm, they spotted a couple of previously unexplored caves on the west side. One was full of chasm cephalopods. Basilisk stunned them and Vallium stabbed them. They cave also contained a backpack, with a magic jade cup and a note in Thorcin. Nobody read Thorcin, so they decided to have it translated in town.
Continuing south down the Great Chasm, they passed the Varumani Lifts, then found some side passages that led to a secondary chasm to the east. There were a couple of landings off that one. As they landed on one, some crazy looking guys who might have been thousand-year-old monks or might have been zombies charged them. They decided that they didn't want this fight today, and flew back out across the chasm to another landing on the northwest of the side chasm. A worked passage led to a low barricade, then Vael found a secret door on the right wall. He couldn't figure out how to open it, so he used Glass Wall to look through, which revealed a stairway up. He cast Blink Other to send Vallium through it. Vallium smashed into the door from the other side, which opened it. They went up the stairs and found they led to some previously-found stairs a level up, which they'd never taken. They went back down.
Continuing north, they spotted a suspiciously high quality statue of a varumani wearing mail and carrying a mattock. Vallium suspected petrification, but nobody had Stone to Flesh, so they left the statue alone. Going east from there led to a landing overlooking a large room, lit with torches, containing a 20' tall statue of a nataraja, with a pool at the bottom full of red liquid. The room looked suspicious enough that nobody wanted to go in, but Vael Apportated a flask down to the pool and took a sample of the liquid. They continued north to another door. Glass Wall revealed a featureless passage, so they went in. This ended in another door. Vael cast Glass Wall on that one too. Beyond were a bunch of purple-black zombie-looking creatures, standing around like they were waiting to ambush someone. Not wanting to fight, the group turned back.
The passage to the north ended at another door. Vael used Glass Wall yet again, to reveal and octagonal room with two statues, of a man and a woman. The door was locked and none of Vallium's keys fit, so Vael used Lockmaster to open the door. Upon closer examination, the statue of a man was clearly Larel One-Eye. But he had two magical yellow crystal eyes, one under a cloth patch. Nobody was quite sure who the woman was, though Vallium thought she might be Jacinth the Rose. She had two magical red crystal eyes. There was an oval marble plaque in the middle of the floor, saying "To proceed one must sometimes adopt a new perspective." Vael switched the eyes between the two statues, and the floor opened up, revealing some stairs down.
They went down the stairs, leading to a Rudishva-architecture room with iris doors north and south. Vallium guessed north, and Vael used the yellow Rudishva identity plaque to open the door. A formerly worked, now partially caved in passage led north, to a room with some blast marks on the floor, and a Kerbog Khan battle automaton investigating the scene.
The automaton spotted them rounding the corner and immediately attacked with its flamethrower and lasers. Vael Blinked away from the flames, which left Basilisk (who had been riding on his shoulders) and Sanguinette (who had been sitting on Basilisk) hanging in space. Each flew a different way to dodge the flames. The bot followed up with several blasts of laser fire at Vallium, which he avoided. Kerbog Khan was clearly inhabiting the construct, as he unleashed some threats in his distinctive voice, followed by a spell cast at Vallium. Vallium initially failed to resist the spell, then his Bless saved him, indicating that it had been deadly.
Vallium immediately fled back toward the iris door. Vael Levitated after him, facing north toward the bot. Basilisk, missing the message to flee, stayed near the construct and stunned it using kiai. This stopped the bot for a second, but Kerbog Khan was not stunned, and unleashed his death spell on Basilisk. She failed to resist, and was not Blessed, and died a grisly death, with some of her organs being magically removed. Vallium and Vael continued fleeing toward the closed iris door. The bot recovered and sprayed some laser fire into Vallium's back, but his armor absorbed it. Vael used Blink Other to put Vallium through the door, then Blink to follow, hoping Kerbog Khan's construct lacked a way through.
After a brief discussion, they decided to go back and destroy the bot and recover Basilisk's body. Vallium replaced his Amulet of Missile Shield with a Scarab of Protection, which was supposed to stop death magic. He also drank a Potion of Resist Fire. Vael cast Great Haste on Vallium, then used the yellow Rudishva identity plaque to open the iris door. The bot was waiting on the other side, and opened up on Vallium with flamethrower and lasers, but his Resist Fire stopped both. Kerbog Khan got off two death spells before Vallium could destroy the bot, but the Scarab of Protection stopped both. Vallium then kept smashing the construct for several more seconds to be very sure that Kerbog Khan couldn't use it.
Once the construct was destroyed, Vallium recovered Basilisk's body and took it back through a Rug to the Beacon, where they instructed Basil to take her to the temple and get her resurrected. He went back through the Rug and picked up the destroyed bot. They retraced their path back to the Beacon. When they passed the pit full of multi-colored slimes, Vallium through the wreckage of the bot in, to make extra sure that Kerbog Khan could not fix it.
GM's Comments:
That's the second PC death of the campaign. Also the second Resurrection. Death is fixable if you have the cash and friends who can take your body to the Temple of Mitra.
The plan to get See Secrets from the Litany of Light then fly around looking for secret doors was pretty effective, until it was interrupted. It's hard to explore in peace in Arden Vul. Especially if you're at war with Kerbog Khan.
Achievements:
None
XP:
- Exploration: 19 new locations, 1 XP
- Loot: Depends on what they keep, but there was quite a bit in that tomb. 1-2 XP
- Achievements: 0 XP
- Total: 2-3 XP
Next Week:
They plan to go to the Drowned Canyon, put the Collar of Servitude on the statue of Basil Choumnos, cast Stone to Flesh on the statue to hopefully get a non-petrified and helpful Basil Choumnos, then interrogate him about the Tower of Pol and Kerbog Khan. Then use that information to figure out how to kill Kerbog Khan.
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