Date:
Basilsday 4th Lucrios, 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
3 Imp clowns
Invisible stalker
Many varumani
2 Baindara
2 Ogre cooks
Varboka, Thegn of the Varumani
Ashoka, Varumani Court Sorceror
Coelrith, Goblin Alchemist
Jordan, Jeweler
Cinna Minux, vampire
Lesser vampires
Human, ogre, and varumani thralls of vampires
The Plan:
- Take the petrified head of Kerbog Khan to Thegn Varboka for the reward
- Go northwest and kill the vampires
What Happened:
The Right for Riches company took a Rudishva teleporter from the Beacon, worked their way east to the Great Chasm, and then took the Varumani Lifts down to the Arena then the stairs down to the area east of varumani territory. They encountered some varumani, who asked to see their passports, then let them pass. They spent some time investigating two large stone chairs, one with a Rudishva glyph on the seat, the other with the glyph apparently scraped away. Vael sat on one and found that it dispelled one of his spells. He then cast Analyze Magic to find that the chair had Dispel Magic, Healing, and Apportation magic.
After they finished playing with the chairs, the group went north and down to another level, and entered a large cave with a 40' sheer cliff drop in front of them. To their right was a crook holding a large bell, and at the base of the cliff was a similar bell. There was a Mithric poem near the bell:
"Five for the furious
Four for some fun
Three for trouble
Two to be spun
And One? One is for the lonely"
After some discussion, Vael rang the bell twice, and was teleported to the other bell at the base of the cliff. He then rang that one twice, and appeared back at the top. Next he tried four rings, which caused three imps in clown costumes to appear. They did some entertaining dances and card tricks for a few minutes, then held out a hat, looking for a tip. Everyone except Uvash gave them some gold, but Uvash did not, so the imps attacked him. At that point Vallium and Uvash killed two of the imps, and the third disappeared. Ioannes and Uvash spent some time yelling at each other about this result.
The other options looked less appealing. But Vael eventually rang the bell three times, and then an invisible stalker appeared and tried to push him off the cliff. Fortunately for Vael, he had a See Invisible spell running, so he saw it coming. And he also had a Levitation spell on, so pushing him off the cliff would have only been a minor annoyance. Finally, he had a Blink spell, so when the stalker approached he just blinked away. Vael then cast See Invisible on Vallium, so that Vallium could more effectively hit it. Vallium then stabbed the invisible stalker a lot, while Uvash tried to help, but without being able to see it, wasn't fully effective. Ioannes cast Affect Spirits on Vallium's sword, but it didn't seem to help him hurt the diffuse invisible stalker more effectively. He eventually killed or dispelled it.
Deciding that was enough playing with the bells, the group went back up the sloping passage to the varumani level, then went northwest, to a guardpost manned by four varumani and their two baindara pets. The baindara looked like monkeys, except with small horns and wings like flying squirrels. They showed their passports to the guards, who let them pass.
Not sure exactly where to go, the group headed west, then opened a few doors at random. One was a kitchen, with two ogre cooks cooking, and a Rudishva Nutri-Vore food dispensing machine that was turned off. One was a storeroom full of food, but they didn't take anything. One appeared to be the quarters of some varumani hunters, who did not appreciate the intrusion.
Continuing west, they found a north-south passage with crude statues of several varumani, with glyphs probably indicating their names. Some of the statues were decorated with clothing or paint, and one had a human-sized head with a gilded helmet by its feet.
To the south was a large round room with three stone chairs, with Thegn Varboka sitting in the central one, and many varumani standing around waiting to get his attention. When they entered the room the varumani indicated that they needed to move to the end of the line, but then Varboka saw them and dismissed most of the varumani from the room to give them a private audience, with only Varboka and his court wizard and a few guards remaining. Varboka asked if the job was done. Vael said yes. Varboka asked to see proof, and Vallium pulled out Kerbog Khan's petrified head. Varboka and the wizard examined the head, then Varboka asked to hear the story of how it happened. Vael launched into a long and overly complicated tale. Varboka seemed to believe it, and asked how many power supplies Kerbog Khan had. Vallium said there were twenty-nine, which was an odd number, and thus difficult to divide evenly. The party said they'd give Varboka fifteen. They also said they could charge power supplies, so Varboka would give them an empty one to verify this. Vael showed Varboka and the wizard the list of Kerbog Khan's blood samples and asked which ones were the Thegn's subjects, so they could return those ones. The wizard marked the Varumani names on the list.
Varboka asked which reward they would like, and they asked for a repeat of the choices, so the Thegn repeated from memory the items in his hoard that they could choose from. A long discussion ensured. Vael asked if they could see just how magical a shield was before picking it, and the Thegn agreed and left the room to the west with a couple of his guards, returning a few minutes later with a guard holding a shield. Vael spent some time casting Analyze Magic, concluding that the shield was useful but not amazing. The party failed to choose a reward, asking for the Thegn's permission to choose later. They also said they would return with the Thegn's share of the power supplies.
With the discussion concluded, the Thegn left, and the party went wandering looking for the exit. They went north and west and found a porch overlooking the Varumani Market, but a guard yelled at them to get off the Thegn's porch, so they retreated. They wandered into some apprentice's quarters and had a minor disagreement, ending with a Thunderclap spell. Ashoka the Court Sorceror came to see what all the noise was about, and told one of the apprentices to escort them to the market. He took them back to the Thegn's Porch, so they could Levitate across to the market. The guard started yelling again, but the apprentice said they had Ashoka's permission, which shut the guard up. Vael cast Walk on Air on the people without Levitation activate so that everyone could cross to the Market.
In the Varumani market, they visited the alchemist and failed to buy or sell any potions. They then visited the jeweler and failed to buy or sell any jewelry. They decided not to waste any more time failing to buy or sell anything in any of the other stalls, and continued west to a known area, then west through a cavern, then north to the outskirts of the vampire area. A bestial varumani warned them not to go that way, but they ignored him.
They found a room that appeared to be a temple to Ptah, the old god of agriculture. It contained a statue of Ptah and a small field of corn and wheat, growing well despite the lack of sunlight. Ioannes poked around a bit, then they left.
The spiral staircase formerly guarded by ogres with a cowbell was now guarded by five bestial varumani with a gong. One ran away to the west, yelling about "intrusers!" in broken Archontean. The other four stood to fight. Vallium and Uvash cut three of them down, while another decided to run away and help warn about the "intrusers." The party followed the fleeing varumani to the west, where they had previously encountered the suspected vampires.
In the same room as before, there were several pale people and a few ogres and varumani. The leader spoke charmingly about how disappointed he was that these intruders had rudely declined his dinner invitation and killed his guards and his other guards and his other guards and now these new guards, and robbed his friends. He regretted that they had to die now. He then told Vallium that he really needed to switch to the winning team and stab his former friends. Vallium resisted the Charm attempt.
The party moved forward into position, as the varumani and ogres and the vampires' human thralls moved up to meet them. Meanwhile, all three vampires repeatedly tried Charm. Vallium was their main target. He resisted several times, thanks in part to the Protection from Evil that Uvash had cast on him. He almost failed to resist once, but his Bless saved him. The vampires also tried Charming Uvash and Ioannes, but they were not affected. Vael was invisible, thanks to Larel's Cloak, so was not targeted.
As the fight began, Vael Great Hasted Vallium then Uvash, and Uvash used his Heroic Might and Heroic Grace. They quickly carved through the ogres and most of the bestial varumani. The human warriors more skilled and better equipped, but Vallium killed one of them. Vallium and Uvash gravely wounded the lead vampire, Cinna Minux, and one of the lesser vampires, both of whom assumed gaseous form and fled. Vallium was badly wounded in turn, but Ioannes healed him.
When we ran out of time, the combat was still ongoing. Team Vampire had a lesser vampire wizard Levitating in the air blasting Vallium with a Wand of Magical Bolt. They also had a female human warrior with a morningstar and a bestial varumani still standing. The Right for Riches company was still in pretty good shape, with Vallium somewhat wounded and no longer Blessed.
GM's Comments:
I predicted that the players would take forever to pick a reward from the Thegn. I thought they would actually pick one though. "No, we're good, maybe later" was not on my bingo card.
The fight against the vampires was a big one, so I was not surprised that it wasn't finished by the end of the session. But there were only three opponents left standing when we ran out of time, so maybe it would have been possible to finish with slightly better time management earlier in the session.
Achievements:
None
XP:
We stopped in the dungeon, so none yet. So far, they have done well on exploration but have found no loot.
Next Week:
Next session should start with the thrilling conclusion of the fight against Cinna Minux's remaining minions. Cinna Minux and a lesser vampire turned to gas and fled. Vael has already announced that he intends to use Trace to follow Cinna Minux. We'll see if that works.
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