Date:
Basilsday 27th of Toternios, 2994 AE
Weather:
Warm, stormy
Player Characters:
Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)
Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Cosmo)
Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)
Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)
Significant NPCs:
Basil, Right for Riches employee
Akla-Chah, Rudishva AI psychologist
Many goblins
Ptoh-Ristus, formerly Ichthelon, Mummy High Priest of Thoth
Remagis, Assistant to the High Priest of Thoth
Stamelis, Head Librarian of Thoth
Basil Chaumnos, statue, formerly Castellan of Pol
Several Dragonfly Automata of Kerbog Khan
Kerbog Khan, archmage
The Plan:
- Use Stone to Flesh on the statue of Basil Chaumnos
- Interrogate Basil Chaumnos about Kerbog Khan and the Tower of Pol
- Kill Kerbog Khan
What Happened:
Vael read the recently found Powered Scroll of Limited Wish on his signet ring, giving the party a total of two Limited Wish items. He also bought some garlic at the Gosterwick Demmasday Market.
Ioannes cast Bless on Uvash. He also used Gift of Letters on the scroll that the others found last week, which revealed some clues about finding the Treasury of Thoth, which were timely because the Five Fingers of Destiny already found it.
The Right for Riches Company teleported through the Rug of Instant Access to the Beacon, then took one of the Rudishva teleporters there to the Cloister, then got a bit lost and doubled back through some other teleporters but eventually found their way to the Temple of Thoth. There they found that Ichthelon the Mummy was wearing the Death Mask of Ptoh-Ristus and was now calling himself Ptoh-Ristus. He asked if the group had encountered any heqeti, and said that Lord Thoth had demanded the extinction of all heqeti. Vael said they had not, but wondered if the Chuch of Thoth could help with Kerbog Khan. Ptoh-Ristus said that he would ask Lord Thoth if that was a good idea.
The group went down the stairs to the Drowned Canyon. Vael used Lockmaster to unlock the grating, and they walked over to the statue of the dueling wizards Basil Choumnos and Gemma of Arcturos. Ioannes placed the Collar of Servitude around the neck of the statue of Choumnos. Vael read the scroll of Stone to Flesh. The statue turned into Basil Choumnos. He started asking questions, but Ioannes commanded him to not talk, or move, or cast spells, or do anything else. Choumnos froze and everyone asked him a ridiculous number of questions. Choumnos pointed to his mouth and Ioannes indicated that he was allowed to talk now, just to answer questions. Choumnos explained that he had been the Castellan of the Tower of Pol for about 37 years, ever since he defeated the former Castellan, Gemma. But then Kerbog Khan had challenged him to a magical duel for the Tower, and had cast some kind of death spell that had ripped Choumnos's guts out, so now Kerbog Khan was the Castellan and Choumnos was a statue. They asked a lot of questions about the Tower and the challenge ritual. After getting all the answers, they decided they didn't want the Tower, and Choumnos could have it back, after they looted it.
The plan they formulated was to have Choumnos wait here near the pentagram teleporter while they snuck up near the tower through the back entrance. They would then sent Choumnos a Message spell, and he would use the pentagram to teleport to the Tower and alert Kerbog Khan to his presence, then challenge him. And then while Kerbog Khan was making his way to the dueling pit, the group would ambush him and kill him, and then have Choumnos give them a tour of the Tower of Pol while they looted anything not nailed down, and then they would take the collar off Choumnos and let him have the Tower back.
After another long trip around the Halls of Arden Vul through some teleporters, they found their way outside the Tower of Pol. Vael wandered ahead of the group, and got attacked by one of Kerbog Khan's dragonfly automata. The dragonfly was no great threat, but Kerbog Khan was inhabiting it, and cast a death spell. Vael managed to resist it, using his Luck. Vallium ran up and threw the Returning Javelin at the dragonfly and eventually destroyed it, but not until Kerbog Khan got a couple more spells off, using Uvash's Luck and a charge from Vallium's Scarab of Protection. At that point Vael cast Message and told Choumnos to come over.
Choumnos appeared in the pentagram, and then Kerbog Khan appeared near the dueling pit, asking if Choumnos really wanted to challenge him. Choumnos said yes, and both headed for the pit. Vallium also headed toward the pit, while fast-drawing a Dagger of Venom. He threw the Dagger of Venom at Kerbog Khan's face, while using the Ring of One Wish Left to declare a critical hit. The Dagger penetrated Kerbog Khan's face armor, injecting some poison. Vallium then used the Ring of Limited Wish that Vael had just made from the scroll to declare that Kerbog Khan would be critically failing his resistance roll against the poison. Kerbog Khan monologued for a few seconds about cheaters using magic they couldn't actually cast, then dropped dead, then disappeared. A key (which Choumnos identified as a focus item for the Pol's Recall spell) appeared in the dueling pit. Choumnos started Levitating over to pick it up, but Vallium and Ioannes both yelled at him not to touch it.
Everyone who could fly flew up to the roof of the Tower. They dropped a rope so that Ioannes and Uvash could climb up. Choumnos spotted another dragonfly automaton and blasted it with several Magical Bolts until it crashed. Vael tried opening the trap door on the roof, but it was locked. He tried Lockmaster, but it was still locked. He tried a couple more times, then said that Kerbog Khan's Magelock was too strong, but it would probably expire in a few hours. They rested for a few minutes, then Vael cast Shape Earth to cover up the key, then they ordered Choumnos to stand guard, while they went through the pentagram teleporter to check on the statues.
The statues of dueling wizards had changed. The eastern statue was still Gemma, but the western statue was now Kerbog Khan. Vallium chopped the statue in half, which took several blows with his magic sword. The top half was inconveniently heavy to carry, so Vael used Shape Earth to separate the head from the upper torso. They took the head, and went back through the pentagram teleporter to the Tower of Pol.
After a few hours of waiting for Kerbog Khan's Magelock to expire, and Choumnos shooting down a couple more dragonfly automata, Vael finally managed to open the trap door. Choumnos led the group down into his former tower. The top floor had four teleporters, which Choumnos indicated led to the Astral Plane, the City of Brass, the capital city of Archontos, and the roof of the Tower of Scrutiny in the Ruins of Arden Vul. It also had an interesting high-tech chamber which Choumnos said was his bed, attached to a large Rudishva power supply. There was an alchemy lab, and a chest containing a few magical items that Choumnos said were dangerous. The party took a couple of the items.
The next level down had a regular double bed, a bunch of bookshelves containing three spellbooks (Choumnos's, Gemma's, and Pol's), many other books, and a magical chest. Choumnos said that the books would disappear if taken out of the Tower, so should only be read here. He also said that the chest could create more coins, but if it were completely emptied it would become non-magical. Vael made a list of all the books in the library, but didn't take any, except for Gemma's spellbook. They took most of the coins out of the chest, telling Choumnos that this was the fee for Stone to Flesh.
The bottom level had a bunch of containers of preserved food and some racks full of weapons and armor, some of it magical. The visitors took all the weapons and armor. When they were done, they went back up to the roof of the Tower, then flew over to the dueling pit, then told Choumnos he could take the collar off. He used Lockmaster to unlock it, then removed it, then was a bit angry he had been charmed. He said that he wanted to keep the collar so they could not use it on him again. Vallium declined, saying to give it back, but that he could have the key to the Tower and regain his role as Castellan. Choumnos reluctantly dropped the collar, then picked up the key, and disappeared. Vael sent him a Message spell, saying they needed to talk more. Choumnos sent a Message back, then eventually appeared on the roof of the Tower so they could yell back and forth.
The group eventually left, teleporting through the pentagram. They went back to the broken statue of Kerbog Khan. Vael cast Repair on the statue, which restored it, and caused the severed stone head they were carrying to disappear. He then removed the head (again) using Shape Earth, and then Uvash cast Stone to Flesh on the rest of the statue. Kerbog Khan's body died again, but this time it was a bit more intact, so they looted his equipment.
Leaving Kerbog Khan's thrice-killed body behind, they explored to the east. They found a ledge about 20' high. Flying and climbing up, they found a mosaic of a knot on the floor. While Vael was examining it, a huge gray ooze dropped from the ceiling and tried to eat him. Fortunately, Vael sensed it coming and Blinked away. Vallium and Uvash attacked the ooze, with Vallium using a disposable knife instead of his good sword to avoid damaging it with acid, and Uvash forgetting about the acid and risking his magical mace. Vael used Wall of Lightning to shock the wounded ooze. The ooze escaped the Wall and chased Vael, but he threw another Wall of Lightning at it, and this one knocked it unconscious, and then continued shocking it until it was surely dead.
Vael searched the area for secret doors, and didn't find any, but did find three corpses in matching blue surcoats, with a couple of scrolls and a potion. Leaving the ledge, the group headed north and found some large stone double doors. They were locked, and after Vael used Lockmaster, they still would not open. Vael used Glass Wall to look through the doors, and saw a small room containing a corpse. They discussed whether to Blink through, but decided not to, and headed back home.
GM's Comments:
Kerbog Khan is dead. Two Limited Wishes was an expensive way to kill him, but it worked. Basil Choumnos is the Castellan of Pol again; time will tell how much of a grudge he holds for being temporarily enslaved with the Collar of Servitude.
Achievements:
None
XP:
- Exploration: 5 new locations, 1 XP
- Loot: There was a lot, both in the Tower of Pol and on Kerbog Khan. 1-2 XP depending on what they sell
- Achievements: 0 XP
Next Week:
The Right for Riches company plans to visit Thegn Varboka of the Varumani to collect the reward for killing Kerbog Khan. If possible, they would like to keep his stone head, to try to get more rewards from others. They then plan to deal with the vampires to the northwest of the Varumani territory.
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