The Curse of Artaith (a 3.5 Campaign Journal)

[curious-puzzle]

I do have a bookmark on the Emerald Legion...which I have sworn not to use frivolously.

But maybe just one...

[curious-puzzle]

Session 34...hurr hurr immature internet sex joke hurr hurr


Back to a life at sea!

Spoiler: Second leg of the trip

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Sona is starting to feel a little run down, but without anyone else in the party possessing spontaneous arcane magic (or ranks in sailing), she can't think of a way to keep the ship going while she sleeps. After a few minutes of awkward silence, she attempts to compel answers from the bound fire elemental (who she apparently dubbed Sparky). No luck on that end. Finally she thinks to ask the air elemental that's propelling the ship forward...but her absolute lack of any nautical-related knowledge rears its head again. It takes a lot of awkward phrasing and verbal tripping before she finally gets, "stay the course" out. The sails stretch a little more, and the wind spirit takes over.

The day and night of sailing goes smoothly. There's no more Forged-trawling, but no more horrific monsters burst forth from the ocean's hidden depths.

Coincidence? You tell me.

It's the next morning, and a quite large island is in view, tropical and lush. I call for Listen and Spot checks, and while no-one makes the spot side of it, several of the party hears the sound of...another ship?

That's when the much larger and more menacing version of their ship appears out of nowhere, slicing through the waters alongside them. After a bunch of jokes involving cannons and broadsides, the party sees several flags being waved from the deck of the other ship. Sona uses Ventriloquism to explain her lack of understanding, and after a startled jump, a magically enhanced voice booms out, "PREPARE TO BE BOARDED!"

A moment later, 6 armed and armored figures snap into existence on the deck of the ship. 4 are lightly armored with long greatswords slung over their shoulders, a fifth is in white toga-esque robes, and the 6th, the obvious leader, wears a battered breastplate and an air of authority. With hard eyes he demands the heroes explain their presence in these waters, and their possession of a Helios vessel.

Maybe no-one was in the mindset (and I know Puck's and Talvosh's players always are spoiling for a fight), maybe no-one expected it, or maybe I've just been running too much combat....but the initial attempts at diplomacy and explanation are so so very bad!

Angelena and Sona talk over and around and under each other, both kind of explaining but more not and contradicting each other. Puck and Talvosh mutter to each other and mutter belligerent things that would probably start a fight if I held them to it in-character. Spotter just stares at the soldiers, unhappy that every single one of them looks like they have spellcasting ability. Finally the captain seems to be about to dismiss them entirely, muttering about how they're all Ungifted. It's Sona's time to prove him wrong, and maybe show a shared attribute!

So she summons a Major image of a giant sea serpent bursting out of the waters to coil about the ship menacingly.

Shockingly, the soldiers draw steel and are about to attack when the Captain orders them to halt. As Sona halts and reverses the illusion, he favors her with a withering glare and demands to know (in Draconic) exactly why she thought that was a good way to display her magic. But combat averted!

The debate still isn't going particularly well, the captain still unconvinced why he should allow the party to travel to Helios. Their usual opening schtick (We're Pilgrims, trying to fulfill the Prophecy!) is flatly shut down. "We have suffered enough from the Curse. We have no need of more Cursed."

Finally Puck mentions that Ambassador Noctis had encouraged them to travel to Helios. That, plus Angelena's holy symbol coming into sight, finally pushes the captain to grudgingly accept. He growls for the PCs to remain on their ship while they dock, and to wait until the Minister of Entry allows for an appointment. With another blink, the soldiers are gone, returned to their ship. The party's vessel follows the larger one faithfully, sailing around the edge of the island and into the large cove.

Spoiler: The Island of Helios

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It is a massive port, with huge frigates and galleys dotting the water's surface. The ships sail in under two titanic marble statues, both of a proud-looking man with outstretched hands wreathed in flame. The statues are very clearly depicting Adremmelach, the god of the Sun, Magic, and Strength.

The sight is quite impressive, but sharp-eyed Spotter notes that while there are dozens of the gigantic warships, only two are actually moving. The rest are conspicuously empty and anchored, and as the ships approach the numerous docks, most of them are empty. The two ships sail in smoothly, and as the party's vessel docks, there is a brief shudder as something locks into place. Now that they're close enough, everyone can see that there is quite a bit of hustle and bustle on the docks, boxes and various goods being moved back and forth.

Only catch is that all the dock workers are skeletons. This...disturbs Angelena just a wee bit, what with the horde of undead doing mundane labor and all. There's a contingent of soldiers just outside the ship though, and very stern instructions to not leave said ship until an escort arrives. The second in command is there as well, though, and after a bit he offers refreshments to everyone.

The second attempt at diplomacy goes more smoothly, as Secundus Gaius (as he introduces himself) is certainly fascinated by Angelena's holy symbol. The lack of anyone attacking him is also a plus. With a bit of chatting, turns out that the best way for the party to make it further into Helios will be to successfully bribe the Minister of Entry. Said Minister's name? Citizen Priscus! After around half an hour or so, the captain returns with another contingent of soldiers, and he tersely offers welcome to the group. Gaius wishes them luck, and the gang shuffles off the ship, flanked on both sides by soldiers at attention.

The city around the party is quite impressive, even what is obviously barracks and warehouses being made of primarily gleaming white stone. There aren't a lot of people, though. The few that are passed by are all dressed in light robes and sandals sort of wear (the atmosphere I describe is pretty much tropical fantasy roman empire). There's quite a bit of surprised murmuring and subtle pointing as the escort leads the party past numerous buildings and fortifications, until finally they arrive outside a large hall. Passing between the carved pillars, the group finds themselves in an echoingly large chamber. A single chair and table is set in the center, looking horribly undersized and inadequate for the grandeur of the surrounding room. There's a notably fat and balding man sitting in said chair, and he waves everyone forward absently. Citizen Priscus Ovidius is bored, not overly interested in the outsiders, and possibly drunk. Buut after a couple minutes he starts to be a little more interested. There's some chatting back and forth, and Priscus asks what the party has to offer to enrich the great nation of Helios.

Now I had figured they had forgotten about them, and I was going to have to call for Wisdom or Intelligence checks for a hint, but Sona tugs out the first of the seven tapestries that they found in the Wastes. The ones that were near the sun-themed tomb...Priscus chokes and spews his wine all over himself, and even the captain off to the side twitches so hard he nearly stumbles. With shaking hands and a trembling voice, Priscus asks exactly where the party found those. Sona casually mentions the Wastes, but carefully neglects the fact that the party also raided said sun-themed tomb and destroyed its guardians. Innocently she asks if the tapestries would be an appropriate offering in order for the party to visit the Grand Bonfire of Helios. Instantly Priscus appoints all of the party honorary Citizenship and promises to personally escort them to the Floating Palace (which is presumably where the Grand fire is). The captain almost swallows his tongue about all of the party gaining Citizenship, but any objections are waved away on the spot by the still shaken Priscus. When asked, he explains that the tapestries were created at the time of the very first Mage-Emperor of Helios.

So the party has been wandering around with some minor artifacts that happen to be some of the most sacred relics of what was once a Worlds-spanning empire. There’s a lot of groaning about how Sona’s player should have bargained for shiny treasure.

Somewhat distractedly, Priscus agrees that they can travel to the capital shortly, but then offers for the party to first visit the nearest Bonfire. They agree, and unseen servants (as in the spell, not ninja butlers) float the tapestries alongside Priscus. He promises to meet them at the Bonfire shortly, and the gang is escorted away from the depressingly large assembly hall. A winding road and several tunnels leads to a walled-in courtyard, with a merry Bonfire crackling in the center of it.

BONFIRE ATTUNED - HELIOS PORT

The more tactically minded members of the group are a little unnerved by the number of well-disguised arrowslits surrounding the fire, and the extremely sturdy looking gates that could seal off the courtyard (which thankfully are open). Even trying to keep a close watch of time is difficult around the fire, but Citizen Priscus returns relatively quickly with a fresh set of robes. Leading the group back through the (easily defended but surprisingly quiet) streets, eventually they come to a tunnel that seemingly leads out of the buildings and streets. Instead of an exit though, it leads to a slate-grey portal hanging in the air. There’s a lot of alarmed questions and exclamations to make sure it isn’t a fog gate, and then everyone steps through.

They emerge into an ash-coated wasteland. The air is shockingly cold compared to the tropical warmth of a moment ago, little puffs of breath floating up. The sun hangs low on the horizon, its light weak and seeming to sink towards the earth. It in fact looks eerily similar to the landscape around the temple of Revelation.

There is a broad path cleared of ash, almost a road of smooth stone that the portly Priscus steps down briskly. He explains that this path will take everyone to the capitol of Helios, and the Floating Palace. Despite his casual speech, he seems very eager to get going.

The walk is disturbingly silent, the echoes of their footfalls swallowed up by the ash. The only other inhabitants seen are several skeleton servitors with shovels and brooms, cleaning the road. There are the vague suggestions of hills, but everything is completely covered with the ash that is in fact raining down on the party as well. Priscus starts to ask some questions of Angelena, but trails off as Spotter catches a flash of movement up ahead. There’s a thunderous BOOM, and a huge cloud of ash is flung into the air!

Figures appear in the falling ash; two Huge silhouettes and two large, horribly gaunt winged figures. Initiative!

I roll really high for one of the two Death Giants, and both of the Angels of Decay. The first death giant opens up with a Flame Strike in the middle of the group, blasting everyone and severely injuring Priscus. Both Angels flap their horrible ash and rotting flesh wings and land in front of the party, hurting Angelena, Talvosh, and Priscus even further with their rotting auras. Angelena counters with a Mass Cure Serious Wounds (maximized from her armband), taking Priscus out of danger levels. Talvosh spends most of his turn puking from the horrible aura, while Puck expands and shuffles. Spotter is finally up, and it’s his time to shine. Since Undead is one of his highest favored enemy bonuses, and he activates his Bowstring to Bane (Undead), he lets loose and deals a scary amount of damage with a storm of arrows.

Then it’s the second death giant’s turn (in this case looking like huge armored Black Knights a la Dark souls 1), and he activates his Frightful keening ability. The supernatural howl washes over the party, and Angelena, Talvosh, Spotter, and Priscus all fall.

Uh oh.

Sona’s up next though, and she wisely blocks off part of the opposition with a Wall of Force, splitting at an angle so there’s only one angel in front of the party, and the other enemies are on the other side. The wall is also high enough and broad enough that I rule it successfully blocks the line of effect of the wail, so everyone is shaken instead of panicking. Citizen Priscus’ turn!

“Imperious Rex!” He bellows as he launches a Scorching Ray into the undead abomination’s face...and utterly fails to beat spell resistance. Wisely he backs away. The next turn sees the Angel rip into Puck and Talvosh, Puck smash the angel into the wall of force with a Brutal Surge, Spotter blast it with arrows, and then Talvosh cleave into it with his asinine damage. Angelena puts out a buff, while Sona attempts to Disintegrate an angel without success. The giants move about / flub their memory and try to dispel the wall (which can’t be dispelled), and the second angel ascends part-way above the wall of force.

The first Angel dies after dealing some more damage to everyone (Priscus blasts it with a Lesser orb of fire, just in time for the second one to flap over the wall and land on Talvosh. It gets the same treatment its sibling did, getting bounced around and gang beat. Angelena has to bust another healing spell out to combat the damage just being near the Angel causes. One of the giants makes it around the corner, sprinting to threaten Priscus. The Angel gets cut down, and a Dimension Step lets everyone reposition to face off against the first Death Giant. Puck takes a full attack to the teeth, and deals some damage in return while Spotter lets arrows fly that deal far less damage to the giant. The second giant makes it around the other side of the wall, so Talvosh charges in. He’s been in frenzy for most of the fight, but he goes and misses his charge attack. A full attack later forces him to save against having his soul stolen, and he Barely makes the save. Sona swaps with Talvosh to give him the opportunity to be healed, and anklet-teleports to the other side of the wall

The other giant gets a Cometfall dropped on its skull by Angelena, though I have a brief giggle moment of allowing the giant’s rock catching ability to let it throw the spell right back at Angelena. Puck and Spotter keep hammering away, and Talvosh jumps right back into the fray and the one giant eventually drops. The other giant blasts Sona with a Flame strike for being annoying, but a wings of cover helps make the save. Said death giant also ends up being intercepted by Puck while Angelena pumps a Heal into Talvosh to take him out of “fall apart as soon as frenzy ends” territory. Puck is looking pretty beat up when Sona busts out a Arcane-Fusion of Dimension step and Benign transposition to shuffle the whole board around. Spotter and Talvosh lay into the remaining giant, and them + Puck finishes it off finally.

Meanwhile, Priscus has noticed a squad of legionnaires sprinting towards the combat. Reinforcements, backup is here!!

He juuuuust barely makes the roll to notice something is amiss, and screams out a warning and gets out of the way. The legionnaires eyes are completely pitch-black, and their movement is unusual. Spotter wheels about, and machine-gun/arrows one of the soldiers dead on the spot (favored enemy arcanist is his primary). Sona and Angelena are in no mood to play around, and the poor Duskblade soldiers get hammered with a Radiant Assault, then a Cacophonic Burst. That plus a spell from Priscus is pretty much all she wrote.

Spoiler: DEATH COUNT

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35
Close, but no cigar!

[Picanet]

When you grow up in a desert, you don't learn anything about ships.

IRL when you grow up in a landlocked part of the country, you don't learn anything about ships!!!!

I'm a horrible captain ... *flail*

[curious-puzzle]

Session the 35th! We cut back to our intrepid "heroes" as they had just defeated both a fearsome foursome of Death Giants and Angels of Decay, as well as an ambush of magically compromised Heliosan Legionnaires!

But can even they tell us why kids love the taste of cinnamon toast crunch?

Spoiler: On one side of the gate

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The abrupt return of the creepy ash-coated silence is just as jarring as the sudden appearance of the party's foes. Everyone catches their breath, especially Priscus. He did act with more competence than the group was expecting, but he's still horribly freaked out. Sona takes a peek at the remains of the legionnaires, and is only able to tell that magic that turned eyes black like that would most likely be some bad-mojo (read: vile but she didn't roll quite high enough in-game) compulsion. There's little more than that figured out, and everyone agrees that it would be best to make it to the exit portal post-haste. Between Sona and Priscus, everyone gets Fly slapped on them, and off they zoom!

Before they reach the gate, Spotter decides to go as high as he can, just to see if he can maybe spot the temple of Revelation, or any familiar landscapes/what have you. There's a bunch of Iron Man jokes about the "icing problem," but I don't make Spotter fall to his horrible demise. He goes up, and up, and up (timing himself so he has enough flight left to make it back to the ground). All he sees is ash-cloaked wasteland, and no discernible structures. After a bit, he zooms back down as everyone is just reaching the other portal.

Priscus is surprisingly grim-faced as he asks the party to let him do the talking, in order for everyone to reach his estate (and safety) as quickly as possible. There's a bit of skepticism, but the rotund sorcerer has been good to his word so far. With weapons sheathed, the party walks through the flat grey portal.

The portal leads to an enclosed room, blocked by a heavy gate and studded with an alarming number of arrow slits (and a murderhole above). The bored guard is suddenly not so bored at the sight of the party. Because let's face it, a muscle-bound orc, an aasimar in holy war plate, a sniper-bot, a giant robo-spider-taur, and a sorcerer with blue hair tends to stick out. After some hostile staring, Priscus smooths things over with a bunch of fast talking (and a sneaky bribe passed with decent Sleight of Hand). The guard still inspects the heroes, eyes widening a bit at the badges of Citizenship. After a stern warning to not cause any trouble, the guard unlocks the gate and pulls it aside.

"Looking forward to hearing you explain this to the Assembly, Citizen." Priscus rolls his eyes and palms him another bribe, presumably to not go gossiping. With that, the party enters the capital city of Helios.

It is lush and tropical. The sun beams down on green ferns and palm trees, and all the buildings are gleaming white stone, all open and curving arches and pillars. There’s actually a good amount of people moving to and fro, the standard wear seeming to be loose robes and/or togas, with a lot of tanned skin visible (Angelena’s armor immediately feels far heavier and hotter). Further in the distance is a lake with shockingly blue water, only disturbed by the large waterfall pounding down...from the giant palace floating in the sky above the lake.

“Welcome to Helios!” Priscus gives a moment for everyone to stare, then hustles the group along. It seems to be a market, with numerous stores selling a whole bunch of impressive looking goods. The party gets a lot of sidelong glances, but they have a bunch of staring to do in retaliation. A spread of spot checks notices that there are a lot of individuals in collars, with downturned eyes and arms full of goods (but all are still dressed well, and no obvious signs of violence). A lot of the collared are also Marked, as are some of the more finely dressed individuals (wearing their badges of Citizenship prominently), but it’s hard to tell for sure as gloves and hand wrappings of varying intricacy seem quite popular. No-one is looking dangerously close to Hollow, however. Spotter is creeped out by the fact that everyone he sees seems to have magical talent of some sort.

Priscus leads a winding path through the market, and onto a road going by estates ranging from impressive to palatial. The more tactically minded notice that while Priscus isn’t taking the most direct route, he is taking one that stays very noticable and public (with no spots that could serve as an ambush). Eventually Priscus stops outside a solid gate, and places his palm against it, the gate unlocking with a clunk. On the other side of the gate is the most ludicrously overmuscled ogre anyone has seen, standing at perfect attention and dressed in an immaculate white toga.

“Good day, Master Priscus.” The speech and voice I had in mind for him is the hotel concierge from John Wick, Charon.

“Ah, Gorgrun. Please prepare the veranda with wine and food for my guests.” The ogre rakes an evaluating eye over the party, then simply nods and walks off with eerily silent steps. An assortment of servants appear, carrying chairs, washbasins, and clothes, and for the members willing (and who actually have feet), they remove shoes and wash their feet. Puck’s player pretends to be offended, but I remind him that he wouldn’t be able to feel anything.

When everyone has gathered on the comfortable veranda, a much more intense and intelligent-seeming Priscus lays out the situation for the party. What he has done (awarded honorary Citizenship to non-sorcerers) is unprecedented. It wasn’t illegal, but it will certainly cause problems. So until Priscus can have everything approved by the Most Glorious Solar Assembly on High (the official title for essentially a senate), things might get complicated. Or if exactly what the party brought back to Helios is discovered before Priscus reveals it. When asked for a bit more detail on how important the tapestries are, Priscus bluntly replies that they are relics from the time of the very first Mage-Emperor of the Helios Empire, from many milennia ago, and are probably the most important relics discovered in centuries. He also admits that if everything goes smoothly, he’ll be able to retire and be ridiculously wealthy and live the rest of his life in absolute decadence.

Puck and Talvosh’s players immediately start making grabbing gestures and howling about treasure, so Priscus takes note of the character’s suddenly greedy expressions. He smiles and agrees that some spending money is certainly in order, but first some suggestions to avoid trouble.

Wearing the badge of citizenship is very important - without one, you only have as many rights as a Citizen deems fit. That being said, Priscus cautions to try not and draw too much attention to the fact that most of the party can’t cast arcane magic, especially from some of the younger Citizens. Being taunted into a Juris Macto would be a very bad thing, especially if magic was chosen as the weapon (which is most common). When asked, Priscus elaborates that a Juris Macto is a honor duel, often to the death.

So in quick summary, don’t lose your badge, don’t cause trouble, hopefully will only take a couple days to gather a full Assembly and gain access to the Floating Palace (which is where the Grand Fire is). And try and avoid citizens wearing a red armband, they’re part of a movement to completely cut off any outside access to Helios.

Priscus is going to remain safely in his home, but he suggests that the party is welcome to stroll the Market, there are several shops that carry various magical goods, including arms and armaments. Gorgrun reappears with butler-ninja silence, holding 5 letters of credit (several encounters worth of gold for each party member). He also has several small sheets of crystal that are imbued with a minor illusory map of the city. With that, it’s SHOPPING TIME!

Spoiler: The Markets of Helios

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The party gets lots of sidelong looks and murmurs as they wander back to the market area, but they’re kind of used to that already. As they wander about, one shop in particular catches their eye...it’s off to the side, and is a closed building rather than a lot of the other open-air style buildings. A stylized mirror hangs above the thick curtains covering the entrance...and the architecture seems eerily familiar. As they enter, it is not Grabislov’s Emporium of wonders. It is very similar, with just an insane assortment of strange and interesting objects on shelves and walls (and the building seeming larger on the inside). Instead of being short, the mysterious hooded and cloaked shopkeeper is quite tall.

“Ah, welcome.” The shopkeeper calmly names everyone on the spot, except for Puck whom he pauses briefly on. “Welcome to the Illuminated Mirror. You may refer to me as the Shopkeeper. How may I assist?”

There’s a bit of ruffled feathers over the suspected mind-reading, but nothing more than that. There’s a dry rustling noise akin to a chuckle from under the hood, and the Shopkeeper elaborates that he also knew the party from their dealings with Grabislov, a business associate of the Shopkeeper’s. Turns out he has a very similar store, with the possibility of finding almost anything on the shelves. He also offers a very special service; the Shopkeeper is able to help clients find new perspectives of themself (read - retraining).

Puck’s player hadn’t been happy with the Psychic Warrior levels he had taken, and that combined with him losing a couple levels with the Mythweavers crash meant I just inserted an opportunity for retraining right then and there (I had offered all the players one mostly-free retraining chance if they became unhappy with their build).

The Shopkeeper makes that dry rustling noise again, and Spotter aalllmmooost makes a high enough spot check to see fully inside the hood (he does notice there are too many fingers on the hands, and they’re very pale), and then Puck is lead to a side room festooned with mirrors. Each mirror offers a slightly different view of the arachnid-robot, but the room is dominated by a massive central mirror set in heavy black wood. The shopkeep centers the large mirror, then gives it a push to make it spin end over end slowly. With each rotation, a different Puck is reflected. One covered with glowing runes and crystals, one lithe and slender, one missing an arm, one spattered with gore and wearing a horrifying cloak of skin and flesh. Puck’s vision begins to spin as well, and with a final rotation, everything goes black. Puck seems to simply shut down, slumping over. A moment later, just before the other characters get a little nervous, Puck reawakens with an audible hum, his psychic warrior levels traded away for a splash of barbarian and Frenzied Berserker.

That’s right.

There’s two of them now. :P

With that completed, pretty much everyone burns the majority of their treasure here, and I’ve already forgotten what all everyone snagged, other than there was a sacred scabbard and a choker of the blood gift in there. Once everyone’s finished, it’s late afternoon. Spotter, Angelena, and Sona all decide to return to Priscus’ estate to rest, while Puck and Talvosh are going to check out the Arena that was mentioned.

Oh, look. The party split up. I’m sure nothing will happen.

Spoiler: Puck and Talvosh go to the Arena

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The pair get stopped by some suspicious Legionnaires, but Talvosh produces his badge of Citizenship when confronted, and the axe-brothers are actually quite reasonable and polite, so the guards go on their way shortly.

To Talvosh and Puck’s disappointment, the large Coliseum is indeed quiet and closed up. A massive programmed illusion flows back and forth on the plaza, an armored gladiator holding a blazing sword facing a scaled monstrosity, and there is a sign promising that the arena will return shortly. The two were expecting it to be closed, but they decide to continue around the lake to return to Priscus, rather than back the way they came. Wandering past the Arena, they can see what must be Arcane towers of some sort set further away from the lake, what with them floating 50-60 feet in the air. Curving around the lake winds between more walled estates. The pair still gets some looks, but this part of the city is quieter, especially with it getting closer to twilight. Up ahead of them though, there’s a group of individuals just walking down a side passage between estates.

Janath looks back at Talvosh and smirks wickedly before sauntering around the corner. Talvosh acts reasonably in this unexpected situation.

By that I mean he howls, “JJAAANNNNAAATTHHH!!!” And sprints towards the corner. Puck very explicitly saw nothing, so the players are a little suspicious. Since Puck is so much faster than Talvosh, he makes it right to the passageway (while Talvosh is a little behind) and demands the group halt and identify themselves. There are four people;two obvious guards, one who must be a servant, and a young man dressed in far richer jewelry and clothing than the others. They all turn in surprise and alarm, the guards tensing up.

“Who the F*** are you, and what do you want?” The young man is quite indignant, every inch the young noble scion. As Talvosh skids around the corner, something happens. Puck is unaffected, and the young man seems to shake his head clear, but all Talvosh can see is Janath standing there, still grinning. As the young man starts to speak again in confusion, the guards draw their blades, shouting for the young lord to get away from the assassins here to kill him! Initiative!

The guards both go faster than Puck and Talvosh, and each rushes forward with an arcane-strike-channeled-shocking grasp big cut, and one connects on both Puck and Talvosh for 60-some pts of dmg...which means both are going into a frenzy whether they like it or not. Puck does just that, his internal workings whining and his eyes glowing red as he begins to overclock himself. His first attack is a critical, slicing the hapless guard in twain. His cleave attack is just barely deflected by the remaining guard, but his next connects and brutally surges (heh) the guard to splat against the wall (I describe it as still being blocked, by the sheer force of the blow smashes the guard against the wall, and then drives the guard’s own sword into him).

The noble makes a warding gesture with a hand, then snaps at his servant to run (who does so). Talvosh is completely unintelligible by this point, and charges with a spit-flecked roar - directly into a Wall of Force with a resounding clang. Sparks fly as he slashes at the invisible barrier in fury. Puck is able to snap out of his frenzy, and sheathes his weapon.

“We did not intend for this - something is amiss. We are not here to harm you, but your men attacked first.” The youth bites back his angry response, eyes narrowing. He saw the strange reaction too. Talvosh manages to snap out of his frenzy as he sees Puck sheathing his axe, and makes another Will save. His eyes stinging, he wipes and rubs at them. As his vision clears, he finally sees the youth instead of Janath. His fingers also have some sort of...soot? Tar? Black staining them.

“Who the hell are you? You aren’t Janath.” Talvosh’s statement provokes the youth into declaring that he is Julian Ventius - but whatever else is cut off as he turns suddenly. A flash and a briefly seen-translucent shield blocks something with an audible chime. Julian turns back to Talvosh and Puck, anger, fear, and confusion all swirling together. With that, the youth vanishes.

It takes a moment for the wall of force to dissipate, but when it does Talvosh and Puck drag the bodies a little further into the alleyway, and check the corpses. The only unusual thing is a bit of black gunk in the corners of their eyes, similar to what Talvosh wiped off his fingers. Well, that, and the blowdart with its tip coated in something black and unhealthy looking. Wisely they tuck that away for further inspection. The pair wipe themselves down as much as they can, and decide it’s time to get back to Priscus’ house right away.

They’re going to be in so much trouble when Angelena finds out.

Spoiler: The rest of the Gang

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The other party member’s afternoon/evening is much more relaxed. They briefly pass by a temple of Adremmelach, but don’t enter the open-roofed structure, just checking that the next major prayers are at dawn. It’s getting into the evening of relaxing and resting that they realize Puck and Talvosh aren’t back yet. Gorgrun politely offers to send servants, but Spotter decides that he can find them more quickly and quietly. Off he goes, and Angelena and Sona have a brief feeling of impending doom.

Spotter takes the path back down through the Market, so he’s taking the long way around the lake while the trouble twins loop back to Priscus on the other side. They’re just about arriving back at the estate when Spotter comes across a group of individuals investigating an alley where violence obviously occurred. He slips into the shadows to observe…

There are several guards on watch, while two differently dressed men are standing at the corner, debating quite hotly. One is a very large man, a wild mane of hair tied back by gleaming bands, while the other is smaller and dressed in much more subdued clothing rather than the rich robes and jewelry of the large man. They’re arguing quite loudly, the large man dismissing the strangeness of the situation in light of the fact that “his Blood!” was attacked. Spotter is really good at hiding, but I roll a nat 19 and the quieter man’s head suddenly snaps over to stare right at Spotter. A wand snaps into his hand, and he demands that whoever is there reveal themself. The larger man’s hands ignite into green flame, and his robes start rustling in an unseen wind.

Spotter doesn’t start firing arrows, and steps out slowly and calmly. He’s quite calm and measured in explaining himself, and makes sure his badge of Citizenship is noticeable. The larger man is quite belligerent, and seems almost ready to attack anyways, but the smaller man quietly asks if he can handle things from here. The flames sputter out, and the richly dressed man growls before agreeing. He glares impressively at Spotter before vanishing with a snap of his fingers. The remaining man signals the guards to stand down, then introduces himself as Cylan Nos Ventius. The man who had disappeared was Krennos Ventius, one of the Ventius family heads. They were investigating an attack upon the family heir, Krennos’ nephew. The table groans a bit as I drop that line.

At this point, the still slightly-bloody Puck and Talvosh arrive back at the estate. Gorgrun looks them over, and suggests that everyone meet in the study with a magnificently arched eyebrow. Sona and Angelena are woken, and everyone convenes to discuss what the hell happened.

Meanwhile, Cylan has sussed out that Spotter’s companions were the two that Julian described, but he has also acknowledged that something is extremely suspicious about the whole situation. They agree to travel together back towards Priscus’ estate to see if they can figure things out quietly, rather than Krennos’ initial suggestion involving copious amounts of lightning and fire. The two impress each other with their professional behavior and actions, and they make quick time tracking through the streets.

It’s about half an hour after Puck and Talvosh arrive that Cylan and Spotter reach the estate. Gorgrun’s manner is extremely different when he sees Cylan - the well-manicured ogre practically radiates chilly menace. As they instructed to wait outside, Spotter eyes Cylan, looking for an explanation. Cylan just shrugs casually, but it’s a very ambiguous shrug.

Priscus is more than a little stressed at the day’s events, and just groans when Gorgrun announces that Spotter has returned...with Cylan Nos Ventius as an escort. Everyone meets in the study, and there’s a lot of tense posturing. Priscus reverts back to the bleary-eyed bored fop the party originally met rather than the sharp-minded sorcerer he actually is, while Cylan is remarkably observant for someone acting so casually. No weapons are drawn, and while Cylan never agrees or comments on whether there will be consequences for the evening’s actions, he at least leaves promising to talk to Krennos and try to calm him down. There’s some veiled comments about making sure Priscus gets to the Senate quickly in the morning, though. Cylan leaves with nods to everyone except Angelena, who gets a bow when her holy symbol is noticed. During the conversation, the blowdart is examined (turns out it’s tipped with Black Lotus Extract, a local and lethal poison), and the residue Talvosh wiped from his eyes actually radiates faint evil.

The party goes back to get some sleep before what will most likely be an eventful day. I roll randomly, and Angelena is our lucky winner!

Spoiler: Angelena’s dream

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Angelena finds herself back on Priscus’ veranda, but it’s not the same. Everything is dead, leached of color, ashes floating through the air. The lake is empty, and the once-awe inspiring palace is a crumbled mountain of rubble. She’s not alone. There’s a man sitting on the bench in front of her, facing away. She can see heavy scars across the back of his head, then he speaks in a gravelly rasp.

“You really shouldn’t be here, girl.” It’s Janath. Rougher than before, but it’s him. Angelena is displeased with this, and demands to know why she shouldn’t be.

“Because I truly don’t want to kill you all, you especially. Trust me, you don’t want to be here.”

Angelena scoffs, and goes to move away, but because this is a horror-movie dream, instead she’s sitting closer to Janath, who’s still facing away from her. As she is compelled to reach towards Janath’s shoulder, a hand bursts from the back of Janath’s head with a horrific tearing noise!

”LEAVE!” I bellowed this last word very suddenly, and got a jump scare out of pretty much everyone because I had been talking more quietly early.

Angelena made her save vs the Nightmare, so she avoids the grasping hand and awakens with a scream of fury just before dawn. We end the night there!

Sorry for the late post, been lazy and not feeling like writing. Was a fun session though!

Spoiler: DEATH COUNT

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35...no deaths this time

[wobner]

Sorry for the late post, been lazy and not feeling like writing. Was a fun session though!

as long as you continue to write eventually, I'll forgive you.
Seriously, I am enjoying the story, hope you keep it going. Quite entertaining and thank you for sharing it.

[curious-puzzle]

Thank you! And no, the story will certainly continue. Just had to beat some games in order to prepare for the deluge coming out in the next several months

[PrismCat21]

35 sessions
35 player deaths
I fear you may dip below 1 death per session.
I couldn't bear it if that happened. I'd even accept a mercy killing on my account.

Perhaps some Half-Dragon Aquatic Trolls with Sorcerer levels is just what Helios ordered. :D

Thank you Murderously Fabulous DM and sacrificial players. Your suffering is our amusement. Here's to much, much more!!

[red_kangaroo]

I really wonder what happened with Janath. He has too good a backstory to simply turn evil. Because in the end, he has to meet with Kin again (I mean, rule of drama - you can't leave a storyline like that one unresolved ) and so far it seems it's going to be a major downer.

[Picanet]

That story kind of got half resolved in another (shorter) game where Kin actually got to be a PC... lol. We just finished that a couple weeks ago. Mr. Wink ran it :)

[YossarianLives]

Aghh, I'm loving this journal, but I gotta ask, how are the character's vitae levels going? I'm kind of surprised it hasn't come up yet.

[red_kangaroo]

That story kind of got half resolved in another (shorter) game where Kin actually got to be a PC... lol. We just finished that a couple weeks ago. Mr. Wink ran it :)

Hm, would you be kind enough to share details? Or am I to wait until it comes up here?

[Picanet]

Hm, would you be kind enough to share details? Or am I to wait until it comes up here?

Long version or short? Lol

Short: Kin finds himself and adventuring companions in Artaith: Worst Ending Option Ever! (Fractured timelines and all). Runs into bad-guy Janath, manages to turn Janath back into a good guy for the boss fight with the power of UNREQUITED LOVE and likely-ill-placed-faith. Day won. Victory achieved.... Forced to leave formerly evil Janath in WEO-Artaith. Much Angst. Still hopeful that the Janath of the original Timeline can come back too.

Long Version: Not written yet lol.

Honestly, there really isn't a happy ending headed their way. Maybe one day Puzzle will elaborate.

[curious-puzzle]

35 sessions
35 player deaths
I fear you may dip below 1 death per session.
I couldn't bear it if that happened. I'd even accept a mercy killing on my account.

I know, I know, I'll throw some arbitrarily large rocks soon I promise. Glad you're still enjoying the read!

I really wonder what happened with Janath. He has too good a backstory to simply turn evil. Because in the end, he has to meet with Kin again (I mean, rule of drama - you can't leave a storyline like that one unresolved ) and so far it seems it's going to be a major downer.

Yeah...this version, at least, does not have anything good coming his way. Hopefully I'll be able to adequately display some of his motivations in the next couple sessions. The little bit I will say that won't be a spoiler though, is (at least NPC Janath that's become a villain) was never looking for redemption; not so much a turn to evil as no longer trying to moderate his behaviour in any way. And when

Spoiler: Sort of spoiler - read at own risk

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his dealings with Daemons and overindulgence of Vitae has caused him to become consumed by his Sin of Greed

, it's just more grease on an already slippery slope.

And Chekov is on an extended vacation! That loaded gun might just stay set off to the side for a loooonnngg time.

Aghh, I'm loving this journal, but I gotta ask, how are the character's vitae levels going? I'm kind of surprised it hasn't come up yet.

*sigh* As much as the players call me cheap and harass me for not having every monster corpse spit up Vitae, they really aren't that threatened at the moment. I believe everyone is around 7 or 8 currently, the lowest I got someone was Talvosh was down to 3 briefly (partially of his own doing). Thankfully though, the spastic scribbles of my plot-notebook means things may be changing soon...also, thank you!

[curious-puzzle]

36 sessions strong!

Spoiler: Early morning start

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Angelena’s...passionate response to Janath haunting her dreams (as in her scream of fury and rage) has everyone hopping and running to see what the matter is. Since she locked her door like a rational paranoid adventurer, Puck utterly blows the hinges apart and flattens the door in his rush to “protect” her. Soon the whole gang minus Spotter (who is keeping watch over the main hall of the house for ambushes/intruders) is crowded around the flattened door/inside her room. After Angelena explains her oneiric visitor, Sona’s ready to send Puck on a seek/destroy mission...except they have no idea where to send him to.

A polite cough scares the pants off of everyone again, as Gorgrun does his butler-ninja trick again (Spotter really hopes that he took some other route to arrive, and wasn’t able to just ghost past him). The party explains exactly what is happening, and how dangerous Janath is (after Logos, they’re not cutting him any slack or taking any chances). Gorgrun tactfully suggests sharing this info with the master, as he is simply a servant. They give him the info anyways, and wander off to make Priscus’ day even worse before it starts.

Priscus is already awake, blinking blearily but in his study with sheafs of paper set out already. He groans at the explanation of Janath, and what his possible presence could mean. He mutters unhappily that he expected to be in some danger from intrigues and scheming, but the party seems to attract far more serious danger just from their presence. He plans on spending the day entrenched in his home, but using his agents to scour for information and planning for the Grand Solar Assembly tomorrow. He also agrees to search for any sign of Janath (or Jezelle) with his spies as well. With a sigh, Priscus asks the party to stay together, whatever they do (and he sounds slightly hopeful that it won’t be around him). The gang decides to check out the temple of Adremmelach, and then it’s time to hit the fighting arena!

The temple is quite an open design, appropriate as it’s dedicated to a god of sunlight and fire. There’s a decent amount of people sitting, kneeling, or praying, and Angelena and Sona head in while the brute squad waits outside. There is a middle aged man that seems to be leading the service (which seems to be a lot of concentration and internal praying) with prayers and chants in Celestial (which catches Angelena’s interest). He also has platinum-blond hair, tanned golden skin, and eerily metallic yellow/gold eyes. Seeing as he’s the only other Aasimar that Angelena has seen on Artaith, this also catches her attention.

Said priest is also surprised by Angelena’s war-priest plate (her shield and chest-plate both have very obvious sunburst designs), throwing curious glances about as he keeps chanting. Eventually the service ends, and a subtle gesture has the other priests/attendants make themselves scarce. Once the temple is empty, the head priest offers a cautious greeting in Celestial. When Angelena replies fluently, he’s thrilled. He introduces himself as Coronis, priest of Adremmelach. Once Angelena and Coronis figure out that they worship veeerry similar deities (if not different aspects of the same), and Angelena explains that the party is here trying to follow the Pilgrim’s Prophecy to gather the Great Fires (so many capitalized words!), Coronis is immediately helpful and interested. He invites the other 3 party members in, and after a bit of chitchat, opens a disguised door. Urging the party to follow him, Coronis leads the group down a narrow hallway...to a hidden Bonfire. There are some heavy wards around the sealed-in chamber; the party can’t sense the pull of the Bonfire until they step into the room.

When asked why it’s hidden, Coronis explains that is hidden specifically for people attempting to follow the prophecy. He has little actual power in Helios, as most simply pay lip service to Adremmelach, and do not show the proper reverence. As Angelena is a kindred spirit, though, Coronis is willing to aid them in any way he can (and the rest of the party as Angelena’s companions). He is also intensely interested in the fact that the party (specifically Sona who flubs a Bluff check) knows about the Castigation that befell Helios in the past, and specifically the name Tephras. With a bit more discussion, there’s finally a direct description of the Castigation.

There was once a sister island-nation to Helios, just as grand and large. But it was swept away by fire, shattered and sunk partially beneath the waves by a massive volcanic eruption. This eruption was caused by a dragon known as Tephras. This Tephras was unlike any other dragon; the stories said its wings stretched the horizon, its breath burnt steel to nothing, and most terrifyingly of all, it was intelligent. The destruction of the island of Midpoint shook the world, blotting out the sun with a cloud of ash for years. The Emperor of Helios demanded that Adremmelach answer for the wanton destruction, that he punish the one responsible. Instead, a mighty servant of Adremmelach cursed the Emperor to be forever frozen as crystal, and chastised the Helios empire as a whole, denouncing them for squandering their magical gifts.

Sometime later, the Curse emerged, and with the Solar Empire already reeling, it crumbled and turned inwards like every other nation. Such a shameful piece of history was quite happily forgotten by most of the survivors of Helios, and it faded into obscurity. However, Coronis explains himself as a searcher of ancient lore, especially in his years before being Cursed and choosing to serve this church in particular.

Since Coronis seems to be one of the more knowledgeable folks the party has met, they ask him if he knows anything about the mysterious 7th deity that seems to be causing all sorts of confusion and seemingly missing info. Coronis looks confused as they explain what they’ve discovered and suspect. He starts to reply no, but I roll a natural 20 for his Will save! Coronis winces and clutches at his temple briefly, before slowly agreeing that he has read some ancient and disturbing texts.

Sona and Spotter (the characters and the players both) are HORRIBLY suspicious of the sudden and “coincidental” migraine. They share what little they know (the party speaking of the broken pedestal in the room with all the other deities’ statues, and all the weird missing blocks of info and “glitches” Pathos had). Coronis speaks of an ancient crumbling book that he once read, that spoke of a Presence within the Moon, a primeval and malicious force. It wasn’t named as a god, but it was referred to in the same fashion that one would write about deities. This dark presence was trapped, or imprisoned, and stood in opposition to the living. Unfortunately, that was all Coronis could glean from the book before it flaked away into nothingness, and Coronis first died. He shows the mark of the Curse on his left hand, explaining that he found the text on the haunted ruins of what was the island of Midpoint.

After some more in-character discussion, the party warns Coronis of the danger of Janath and what they think might be his scheme. They agree to share any info found, and then go along their way to the Arena!

Spoiler: To the Arena

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The party heads through the market on their way to the Arena, and notice what seems to be a small crowd listening to a speech of some sort. As they walk by, they notice a lot of well-dressed young men and women all wearing red armbands of some sort...they seem to remember that wasn’t good.

The speaker is yelling about how Helios needs to return to their days of glory, about how the Ungifted and foreigners are weakening the prestigious bloodlines of the Heliosan people. And if on cue, he turns to see a group of two Forged, a green-skinned beast, and two other strangers. He makes a sneering comment about the current family heads allowing any sort of freak onto Helios’ pristine soil. Talvosh and Puck bristle, hands drifting towards axes. Angelena and Sona wince, dreading the upcoming bloodbath. But it’s Spotter who actually steps up, managing to defuse the situation, calm the crowd from going ugly, and out-talking the inflammatory speaker with some calm direct statements (and some good diplomacy rolls with hefty circumstance bonuses for good roleplaying). As the crowd loses interest, the group of Isolationists exit stage left now that they can’t incite mob mentality.

The party notices an old man watching from a nearby restaurant of sorts. He’s dressed in simple but rich robes, is bald, and has a wicked scar to go along with an obvious soldier’s bearing. It’s the same old man that Priscus had greeted and spoken to yesterday (and spoken to with respect). After a cautious nod, the path to the Arena is now clear!

The plaza around the Arena is much busier today, and if anything the large illusions in front of the coliseum’s entrance is even larger and more bombastic. Before they reach the entrance, Puck and Talvosh come up with a cunning plan. They’ll pretend to be absolute idiots that Sona is trying to get rid of for a quick (and profitable) death, then make a ton of money betting on themselves as they slaughter their opposition.

And then they both roll absurdly well on their Bluff check! A dumb and dumber moment unfolds itself, with the two of them making obnoxious noises and acting like general village fools. The slightly alarmed announcer points the party with their pair of axe-wielding “morons” off to the side to sign in as a contestant.

Once there, the manager on duty is also alarmed, but is mollified by another high Bluff check from Sona. Things seem to be going swimmingly until Puck slaps down his sack of gold and gems worth over 1000 gp. Apparently too much for average bets, only the arena organizer can authorize such things.

Said organizer turns out to be Antonius Noctis...the uncle of the arrogant ambassador that pointed them here in the first place. Antonius is slightly flabbergasted to see the party in his arena, but quickly sees through the ruse (“Brandt told me you were strange, not that any of you were halfwits”). With that avenue exhausted, another opens. Since they’re complete newcomers, and Antonius is aware of how skilled the party is (due to Brandt writing about them), he’s willing to let them bet up to 1000gp each and get quite good odds back (since Antonius will make quite a bit of money when everyone bets against them).

I break into videogame terms here (shocking I know :P ) - there’s an easy, medium, and difficult option for opponents Antonius can put together within an hour or so. To be able to bet more means going against the more difficult opponents. Spotter, Puck, and Talvosh decide to go pedal to the metal and challenge HARD MODE.

An hour later, a former champion Beastmaster is waiting in the Arena.

The party enters the sands of the massive high-walled arena to a thundering chorus of cheers, jeers, and general noises. Seems that the coliseum is extremely popular, and Antonius’ criers are very good at gathering attention. An announcer bellows to the crowd in an obviously magic-enhanced voice, catching everyone’s attention as he speaks of the savage and brutish foreigners come to challenge Helios’ brave champions, how they have cut through a continent of monsters to reach these blessed shores. Their journey has been a glorious one, fraught with death and peril! But they face one of the former champions of the Arena, the master of the Thunder tyrants!

As he speaks, three tyrannosaurs rush out of the opening on the other side of the Arena, straining and snapping against the heavy chains and collars holding them. They are painted with red and yellow war paints, making them look even more fierce. Behind them, though, is an even heavier looking beast, a tyrannosaur seemingly wearing heavy plate barding. On top of this massive battle titan is an armored warrior wielding lances

The competitors are allowed 3 rounds of buffing from themselves and assistants, then the battle begins. Our three heroes get Freedom of movement (Big deal!) and blur (good but not as big a deal for this one). Weapons are drawn, and the battle begins!

The rider has two levels of sorcerer, and a few in fighter (he’s a couple levels behind the PCs, but still a threat). The biggest things I gave him was Spirited Charge along with the feat Tremendous Charge, a Dragonlance feat that lets you use your mount’s strength for your charge attack with a lance (at the risk of breaking your lance). That plus him putting True strike on himself, and Haste and Nerveskitter for his assistant buffs, means the fight starts with the Battle Titan thundering across the entire arena in a flash, and the Beastmaster skewering Puck with a lance strike for over 150 points of damage in one hit. As an afterthought, the Battle Titan seizes Talvosh with its mighty jaws and swallows him whole.

Wait, Puck’s tough enough to survive that sort of hit (but he is in critically low levels, and I scared the crap out of everyone when I announced the damage numbers), and Talvosh has Freedom of movement, so he can’t be grappled. The rider and mount alike are a little surprised that two of their opponents aren’t dead on the spot.

Spotter surprises him even more by rolling crit, crit, normal hit, crit, and killing him in a barrage of deadly arrows.

What did I do to you, dice gods?!?

Either way, the crowd is still trying to react to the first strike when the next crazy moment happens, so as Puck reels and the rider slumps, there’s a moment of silence before Puck and Talvosh hack into the Battle Titan. They’re quite alarmed as the combination of the dino’s armor, natural toughness, and magical protections equals one of the highest ACs they’ve run into. The battle titan’s eyes narrow as it no longer feels the pull of its master. Then the eyes widen and it freaks out.

The other 3 normal t-rexes aren’t an overt threat - they hit hard, but their AC and health isn’t enough to stand against two frenzied berserkers and the artillery platform that is Spotter. The Battle Titan though...he has a terrifying amount of hp, REALLY high AC, and hits far harder. Freedom of Movement is the winner here, preventing the party members from being swallowed like weapon wielding pizza pops.

There’s nothing too amazing about the remainder of the fight, all three get bit by various T-rex monsters, hit back for giant chunks of damage, Spotter rolls more crits and shoots out eyes, and once the Battle titan finally falls (nearly 500 hp later), the fight is won. Puck will die as soon as his rage expires, but he burns a Vitae at the last moment to not just fall apart

Sona and Angelena had taken seats up in the coliseum to watch the carnage, and part-way through the fight, a dry voice remarks that the three warriors are quite talented. Sona replies absently that they in fact are, thinking that it’s Antonius.

It’s not. Instead, it’s that old man they had seen in the market, the one who looked like a retired soldier with rich robes. He chuckles at Sona’s surprise, then thanks her and asks her to thank her companions, as they’ve made him a tidy profit. He shuffles off quietly (a surprising amount of deliberately non-descript “assistants” following him. Once the fight is over, the two of them fly/warp their way to their allies.

As the gang exits the Arena to absolutely deafening cheers and applause, Antonius is waiting just out of sight of the crowd, and he is quite unhappy. He testily remarks that he doesn’t appreciate being conned, even if it was smoothly done. The party is confused; their playacting didn’t work on Antonius. Antonius continues that the party didn’t mention they were having a High Lord bet on them to nearly clean Antonius out. He rants a bit more about that “Invido bastard” before the confused expressions on the party’s faces (and a high Sense motive) makes him realize they’re mostly innocent.

Turns out that Invido Fulvius (the High Lord of his family) is a regular arena-goer, and a big better. Most of Antonius’ profits from people betting against the party went right into Invidio’s pocket, who is an older bald man, very rigid bearing, large scar on the side of his head...the guy who thanked Sona for making him a bunch of money.

Antonus asks the party to come again...but not for a few days at last. It’s a very clear “I know it wasn’t your fault but please go away,” so off the party goes. On their way out, there is a very pretty and very scantily clad woman waiting, who cheerfully announces that she bears thanks and gifts from Lord Invido! She produces a tray with 5 golden vials - infusions of Hero’s Feast (not normally within the rules, but I makes the rules). She uses the empty professional smile as a shield against any other questions regarding her lord, and quietly steps away as soon as the vials are taken.

Spoiler: After the Arena

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The walk back through the market is relatively uneventful, except a lot of the curious stares and whispers are replaced with excited stares and whispers about the amazing fight that just happened at the Arena, did you see it? About the only unusual thing that occurs is an old temple attendant (the party assumes at the color of their robes) bumps into Angelena, apologizing profusely with an old and cracked voice. Angelena reassures them that no harm was done, then realizes she was palmed something.

A large silver key, surprisingly heavy.

Once they make it back to the estate, they come across a Priscus fretting over a desk covered with parchment and message strips. He hasn’t found anything that’s a clear sign of Janath, but there are some strange going-ons. He also has been laying groundwork to ensure that there is as little trouble as possible during the High Assembly in regards to the party’s Citizenship. It’s about as convoluted as he expected. At the party’s expectant look, he does a brief summary:

There are 6 Great Families, each with a High Lord or Lady at their head. They shape how the citizens of the High Assembly vote through willpower and influence.

Krennos Ventius is temperamental, and while Priscus did receive a letter from Cylan Nos’Ventius assuring him that the Ventius family would not do anything untoward until Priscus and his guests had an opportunity to discuss the “unfortunate happenings” in person, that does not guarantee that Krennos won’t stir up trouble in revenge. Interesting sidenote, Cylan is rumored to be an assassin for his family. Cheerful!

Caelina Ovidius is an ally, obviously, as Priscus is of the Ovidius family, and he’s discussed the situation with her.

Florianna Noctis will most likely vote in favor of upholding the Citizenship, nothing’s occurred to upset her.

Regulus Demnius will most likely cause an uproar, as he is fiercely traditional, and many members of that family are Isolationists.

Invidio Fulvius is a wild card; the man enjoys keeping everyone off balance. When the party describes what happened at the Arena, Priscus just rolls his eyes and sounds vaguely impressed and envious at the same time.

Tacita Curiatus will also most likely oppose the Citizenship, as she despises change, and also despises a large portion of the Ovidius family.

While the party is discussing things they can possibly do to make sure their access to the Great Fire isn’t delayed (bribing one or more of the family heads with either magical items, knowledge, or both seems to be a solid bet), one of the party finally makes their Intelligence check (no-one had been making their will saves) and Angelena feels that horribly awkward sensation of being watched. As she mentions it, Priscus and Sona search the room magically, and find a scrying sensor! Sona tries to channel Darth Vader and dispel it with a throat-crushing gesture...buuuutt rolls a 2 on a dispel check. Priscus tries his luck and gets hot dice, dismissing the scry with a swipe.

Everyone is more than certain that was Janath spying on them, and Priscus nervously asks how close they used to be. While they weren’t blood-sworn brethren or something like that, when he asks if they were close enough for Janath to have stolen any small personal items from them (out of character, there’s several pointed questions if Talvosh’s player knows where ALL HIS BLOOD HIS), there’s a lot of reluctant nodding. As the conversation shifts towards figuring out how the *#$%*# to deal with Janath and what he might be doing, Priscus brings up the rumors he’s heard. Regulus, the head of the Demnius family, has not been seen in public for the past several weeks. Demnius family members are acting as belligerent as they normally do, but the fact that he hasn’t been seen in public at all is certainly strange. Unfortunately, that’s the most suspicious piece of info Priscus’ agents could find. It’s just past dinner, so Sona decides that a return trip to the Illuminated Mirror is in order.
Time to do some divinations of their own.

The dry and polite shopkeeper is exactly the same as before, greeting the party affably. He nods thoughtfully (while most of the party continues their assertions that it’s a bloody mind flayer - I don’t help with this by making tentacle gestures when they aren’t looking) at Sona’s requests, then wanders to the back. He comes back with scrolls of Sending, Commune, and another I can’t recall (but it wasn’t Contact other plane to my disappointment).

Back at the estate, they decide to use the Commune scroll tonight, and then if they need more info in the morning, Angelena can prepare it. She goes out on the veranda and stares at the last few rays of sunlight stretching across the sky as the sun sets. As the spell takes hold and she closes her eyes, the afterimage of the light across her eyelids forms words in response to her spells.

Is Janath on Helios?

Yes

Is he inside one of the Great Houses?

No

Is Janath allied with one of the Great Houses?

Yes

Is it one of the houses that may oppose us tomorrow?

Yes

Is he allied with House Regulus?

Yes - the guess pays off

Is Janath coercing them?

No

Is Janath plotting something to do with the High Assembly?

Yes

Is Janath alone?

Unclear

Is Jezelle on Helios?

No - there’s a bit of a relieved sigh at that. Bad enough to deal with Janath, let alone him AND their least favorite psychotic pyromaniac mage

Will Janath make an appearance at the Assembly tomorrow?

Yes

As the final question is answered, the light afterimages fade, leaving only darkness. Angelena opens her eyes...but still sees only darkness. Something seizes the remnants of the spell, and an answer that was not asked for slithers through her mind.

The Beast prowls the Labyrinth, pressing against the walls. It hunts.

It hunts for you

With that lovely bit of knowledge, we end the session!

Spoiler: DEATH COUNT

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Still 35, but I’m happy with nearly killing the toughest PC in the group in one hit, and forcing him to burn a Vitae to avoid said death

[PrismCat21]

Still 35, but I’m happy with nearly killing the toughest PC in the group in one hit, and forcing him to burn a Vitae to avoid said death

Hmmfp
Good enough I suppose. Its effectively a death. :D

That line at the end gave me a chill while imagining their reactions. :p

[Jeargroth]

I really wonder what happened with Janath. He has too good a backstory to simply turn evil. Because in the end, he has to meet with Kin again (I mean, rule of drama - you can't leave a storyline like that one unresolved ) and so far it seems it's going to be a major downer.

Janath is a character I worked long and hard on. Pica, Curious and myself did some excellent work on the character and story development. Curious has taken the character to places I never even thought of.

As for what happens to Janath in my vision? He never comes home... Janath was always fated to be the lost one. He would see the light at the end of the tunnel and never ever reach it. His best hope and only one is to die well and end up someplace other than the 9 hells he is bound for. However, that is coming from me and what Curious and the gang do with him is up in the air. As i am still a couple pages from catching up I guess I too will find out.

Edit: caught up now...
However, if I could hold out a hope; It is he is redeemed and brought back, a tiny hope with a candles chance in strong winds. But that was always his character. A single spark on the field of Ice that is Cania. In darkness born, lived and given the world he finds himself ... die. Kin gave him a view on a different life one of what if ... circumstances had been slightly different? But such is the stuff of all Drama... What if he turned left instead of right at the corner? Or said the "yes" instead of "no" or vice versa. What if the kiss was real instead of a play on Kin's feelings a true out pouring of emotion instead of a calculated manipulation? Ah I love the stories that go "What if"

Dammit... now i am writing again.... I have work tomorrow people. I can't stay up putting life to words. What the hell I am in sales... not like they are going to notice if I am zombie like in my phone calls.

Jeargroth.
Jeargroth

[Jeargroth]

Well, that was quite the evening of reading. I had forgotten a great deal of what we did and had to start at the beginning. Soooooo worth it. BG EE be-damned there is Artaith to read. Look forward to next installment.

Jeargroth

[curious-puzzle]

Spoiler: Ahem

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And why worry about redemption if you find something better instead?

[Jeargroth]

Thats rather unfortunate. :(

[curious-puzzle]

But villains get the BEST musical numbers!

[curious-puzzle]

Session the 37th!

Spoiler: To the Assembly

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It’s decided that there’s really not much that can be done before the Assembly the next morning, so the party decides to stay close together and rest up for whatever treachery Janath has planned.

Once she’s in her room alone though, Sona decides to use her scroll of Sending...

Spoiler: Sona’s Sending

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Pardons Tephras. I am Sona: Conscripted Pilgrim, Thurae, dragon-blooded by birth. I seek knowledge concerning the crime committed against our kin. Will you help me? *side-note: Thurae means dragon-trained according to one of the D&D fluff sections*

Now that she had the name confirmed, and a solid guess where he might be (plus the strange little nudge she got way back when she completed her dragon pacts), Sona decided it was time to see if she can contact this seemingly mythical doom dragon. What could go wrong?

After several moments there is a response, roughly akin to a natural disaster speaking directly into her mind (we found a super cool and menacing font, but I have no idea if there’s a way to get it in here).

You are no kin of mine, insect. But you intrigue me. If you have the strength to stand before me, I may educate you.

Once Sona has picked herself off the ground and made certain that she isn’t bleeding from her eyes, ears, or nose, she uses her second scroll of Sending.

Of course Venerable One. I look forward to it. Do you reside still in the ashes and ruin of Midpoint? What might I bring as tribute?

Find me there, and then we may speak of such things.

Sona has a lead! And possibly a concussion

...Yay?!

The party wakes up early having not been attacked by midnight demon ninja, and I allow those who wish it a charisma check to “dress to impress” - Talvosh and Puck don’t bother (and they get a prestidigitation for their troubles), Spotter does a decent job even though he’s naturally non-shiny, Sona cranks her roll, and Angelena does just as well since her armor has been polished to a mirror shine. Priscus is decked out in a lovely orange robe (orange apparently being the Ovidius family color), and after a visual inspection, declares everyone as ready as they’re going to be.
As they step outside, it’s quite the sight. Numerous figures are ascending towards the massive palace floating several hundred feet above the lake. Some fly, some are on translucent steeds, there’s at least one flying carpet, and also a floating howdah. Priscus glances over and asks if the party has the means to reach the palace. Seeing as how they want to save their items and spells for whatever fights are coming up (I express shock at how they’re expecting anything other than vigorous political debate. They stare blankly at me), they just kind of shuffle their feet and say nothing. Priscus has prepared for this however! He snaps out a scroll and casts Mass fly, and the party travels in style up to the Floating Palace.

The palace is as or more opulent than anything else the party has seen on Helios, which is saying something. Everything is gleaming white stone or polished darkwood, and they land around a sprawling pool/grotto that the giant waterfall pounds down from. It’s a lush tropical garden all about them, with a bunch of well-dressed mage-y sorts milling about, drinking, eating, and talking.

There’s also a lot of servants with downturned eyes and collars, but that seems to be a trend in Helios as well.

Unfortunately for the party, Janath is not standing in plain view, stroking his evil facial hair and cackling maniacally. There’s quite a bit of palace, and the actual assembly doesn’t start for around an hour or so. The party decides to split up (NOOOO) into 3 groups (okay, not as bad) - Angelena and Puck, Sona and Talvosh, and Spotter with Priscus. The palace roughly consists of the Grotto/entrance, four quarters of the Garden encircling the palace, the Grand Assembly hall, and the Old Palace (which is sealed off). Mission start!

Spoiler: The Floating Palace

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Sona and Talvosh decide to patrol the gardens as best as they can. Sona turns on her radar ears with her ridiculous listen check, and Talvosh makes sure no-one pushes her over the side. There’s the occasional unfriendly look (normally from a Citizen wearing a red armband), but Talvosh gets more than a few impressed nods. There’s one or two secluded trysts that get interrupted by the pair of adventurers, but no nefarious villains. About the only unusual thing is Sona manages to catch a snatch from two armband-wearing citizens muttering about a family meeting last night, and a lot of drinking and cup-raising. The tone of the discussion, plus how they clam up as soon as they notice Talvosh and Sona, is a little unusual…

Spotter discovers that he is remarkably good at the secret service bodyguard position, silently following Priscus slightly behind and off to the side. Priscus schmoozes and chats with a whole assortment, Spotter stealthily listening in. There’s nothing too scandalous, but the biggest news is that Regulus (the head of the Demnius family, who hadn’t been seen in public recently) isn’t even present on the palace grounds yet. There’s a great deal of head shaking and tongue clucking at such scandal (Spotter would roll his eyes if he had to blink). The only other truly interesting bit of knowledge is when Priscus sidles up to a servant who turns out to be a spy of his. There was a large Isolationist rally last night at the Demnius estate, and there was a lot of wine passed around, and a lot of angry rumblings. Nothing concrete, but enough that Priscus is unnerved by that plus Regulus being seemingly MIA.

Angelena had prepared Invisibility Purge, and after making sure there wasn’t some law about spellcasting on the palace grounds (there isn’t, offensive magic is assault/attempted murder, but other sorts are fine), extends it and patrols the large circular hall (full of benches and a large podium in the center). The pair get some weird looks from the few citizens in the hall already, but nothing more. Partway through they’re interrupted by a polite cough - it’s Cylan Nos’Ventius, the practical man that had come back with Spotter a couple nights ago.

And who unofficially is an assassin and “problem-solver” for the Ventius family. You know, that family that Talvosh and Puck were almost framed for trying to murder the heir of. Ruh-roh, Rhaggy. He’s the perfect gentleman though, and gently inquires what Angelena happens to be looking for.

Angelena calmly replies that she had received a divine premonition warning of danger towards everyone at the Assembly (true), and searching for someone whom she believes is the source of said danger (also true). Her up-front bluntness plus the divine mystic side of it seems to convince Cylan, who goes very serious. After asking some more questions, he nods briskly, thanks the two of them, and mentions that he will see what he can find out.

He however fails his spot check, and doesn’t get the chance to warn them about what’s heading their way…

“YOU!!” Booms suddenly behind Puck, and he turns to confront a giant lumberjack.

Not a lumberjack, technically, but it’s a mountain of a man, prodigiously muscled and straining out of his robes, almost 7 feet tall and a massive mane of wild hair. It is in fact Krennos Ventius, the family head that Spotter had met briefly...but he’s not there to tell them. Instead the giant sorcerer stomps up to the more-giant robot, and they glare at each other. There’s some rumbling threats back and forth, and Angelena pointedly interjects herself to remind Puck to not cause trouble...just about the same time a young man does the same thing to Krennos. It’s the young man that Puck and Talvosh met!

Both Puck and Krennos relax a bit, Krennos going slightly embarrassed and tongue-tied as he notices Angelena’s holy symbols. He grudgingly apologizes and promises that the party has nothing to fear from the Ventius family (Puck is scolded by Angelena when he acts like an ass). After some more verbal clashing, Julius (the young heir) drags Krennos off in one direction while Angelena does the same to Puck. They meet again with Priscus and the rest of the gang as a chime echoes through the air.

The Assembly is about to begin.

Spoiler: The Glorious Solar Assembly on High

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The room fills relatively quickly, and the divisions are quite obvious, with each family seemingly controlling a section of the assembly, similar colored robes sitting next to one another. There are red armbands amongst all the sections, but the heaviest concentration is definitely with the Demnius family section.

As everyone is shuffling about to take their seats, Angelena and Puck sidle over to the Noctis section (while the rest of the party is with Priscus in the Ovidius section), catching sight of Antonius and sitting down next to him before he notices and escapes. He’s not overly happy to see Puck, but Angelena uses the “divine premonitions” line again and gets his attention. After Antonius is convinced, they actually get to speak briefly to the head of the Noctis family, who at least listens to their warnings. By then the talking has started in earnest, a man holding a ceremonial staff rapping it against the speaking podium to echo throughout the whole chamber. It’s surprisingly loud, Priscus explaining that the podium magically enhances and spreads any noise on it throughout the whole assembly.

I start to actually do some of the speaking, but decide that I don’t feel like arguing with myself in different voices while everyone listens :P, so we go with descriptions and summaries instead. The assembly starts off with a lot of snide comments and sharp remarks pointed towards the Demnius family, whose head (Regulus) is apparently too busy or important to attend the assembly. A young man (who Priscus points out as Regulus’ son) attempts to yell back, but his responses are generally jeered at. Swiftly enough Priscus and the party are called up to speak, the circumstances of their Citizenship apparently being the big item to discuss.

The Curiatus corner is immediately aggressive, mocking Priscus for drunkenly granting such an honor to bizarre strangers, mostly Ungifted ones especially. There’s a lot of yelling and arguing back and forth, Priscus trying to counter that claims that the party is unworthy of such a boon. Before Priscus can speak much more in their defense, though, the crafty old Invidio pipes up, “innocently” suggesting that the strangers speak for themselves. There are a couple audible groans, but when I remind them that any noise the party makes is spread to everyone in the assembly, it quiets down until they’ve figured out their defense.

The question of what the party did to earn such unprecedented Citizenship is actually answered quite smoothly, the party explaining that they found some ancient relics during their travels in the Wastes. Any mockery or objection dies away the instant that Priscus pulls one of the Tapestries out of his pouch and displays it to the Assembly. After the Demnius corner attempts to paint the party as mercenaries hawking priceless relics, and is countered by some smooth talking and more heroic implications.

Finally it comes down to the vote of whether to uphold the party’s Citizenship. It’s simply a show of hands, and the family blocks vote mostly together.

Demnius? No

Ventius? Yes

Curiatus? No

Noctis? Yes

Ovidius? Yes

Fulvius? Invidio drags his vote out just to be a jerk...but votes yes. And with that, the party are fully Citizens of Helios. They shuffle back to their seats, and the Citizens move on to arguing and yelling at each other about other matters. Priscus lets out a long sigh of relief once he’s sitting back down, happy everything went relatively smoothly.

The next little bit drones on for a while, arguing over rights to a rare sailing vessel with even rarer furs from the far north, matters of honor, squabbling over various day-to-day shenanigans. The party keeps an eye out for anything suspicious, but nothing pops out. Eventually a young man from the Demnius block steps up to the podium with a pre-written speech. No-one makes a high enough Sense Motive to notice how ill at ease he is...and as the angry youth speaks of how the current leaders of Helios are weak-willed, how the lines of their great country must be cleansed in order to retake the great heights of the olden days, the party notices that it isn’t a speech crumpled in his fist.

It’s a scroll. Unfortunately, he beats them all on initiative, passes his UMD check, and the Blasphemy shudders through the air.

Everyone except Puck is dazed and weakened, and a LOT of people die on the spot, blood spurting from eyes and ears. Only some of the family heads seem unaffected, though they are gobsmacked and caught unprepared.

Spoiler: DM note

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After I said the word Blasphemy, I shuffled into the next room to grab the minis I needed, and overheard everyone examining the map and exclaiming how happy they were out of the the range of blasphemy. Well, until I swaggered back into the room and sweetly reminded them that he was standing on the podium...that magically enhanced one’s voices...and that Priscus mentioned enhanced spoken magic as well.

Heheheeheheheehehehehe

As everyone reels, the guilty party looks around in shocked disbelief at his handiwork, and laughs. His laughter quickly turns into choking coughs, however, and he is bent over with the force of his hacks. When he straightens up, his jaw is stretching and straining to the limit, a virulently yellow eye bulging out of his mouth. The Golothoma demon

Spoiler: Pic

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tears its way free with a horrific spray of blood,skin, and shattered bone, limbs clacking and thrashing together. That breaks the shocked silence left after the blasphemy, and the screaming starts. More red-armbanded mages start flailing and thrashing on the ground next to their dead, dying, or stunned bretheren, and mezzoloths burst free of their fleshy cages. Two mages start clawing frantically at their faces instead, and as they rip chunks away, only a faceless visage with glowing eyes is left as two Ultroloths emerge. Finally another Golothoma erupts from a hapless mage.

Puck activates his cloak of swift flying and charges headlong at the closest Golothoma, overclocking his systems to maximum (rage and frenzy). The Golothoma slaps him with its tail on the way in, dealing an alarming amount of acid damage. But then of course Puck crits for a resounding blow! I half-threaten to eat the player’s dice throughout the night.

The carnage continues as the Mezzoloths drop Cloudkills around themselves, and the Ultroloths brandish Symbols of Death on the other side of the assembly. More mages die, but the family heads begin to react, Krennos in particular launching a sonic Meteor Swarm directly into the one surprised Ultroloth’s face. Everyone on the ground is hindered by the panic of bodies strewn everywhere, along with panicked shoving and fleeing. The one Golothoma tears into Puck, but it’s the acid tail that deals the serious damage (Puck is lucky enough to be immune to the Ravenous Shadow ability). Talvosh chops a nearby mezzoloth in half, while Spotter fires a salvo at the second Golothoma and Sona casts Celestial brilliance on Talvosh’s axe for delicious damage over time. Angelena sees the black viscous goo melting away Puck’s armor plates, and casts energy resistance on the big robo-lug. The second Golothoma steamrolls its way across benches and bodies, catching Talvosh, Sona, and Spotter in the Ravenous Shadow. It eats an attack of opportunity to do so from Talvosh though.

And he crits too!

So while the Golothoma is horribly horribly wounded, all three of them fail their reflex save, and take 9 points of Constitution drain on the spot. Poor Priscus and the Ovidius family head get hit as well, but both manage to survive (poor Priscus is down to a max hp of 10),

The Golothomas don’t last too much longer after the frenzied berserker criticals, but still manage to deal some more damage. The mezzoloths pop like horrific bug bubbles as the 4 remaining family heads open fire with magic, and Krennos blasts the impertinent Ultroloth’s head off that attempted to spell-duel him. The final Ultroloth tries to go invisible, but gets hit with a Giltterdust and cut down rapidly.

With that, the room is eerily silent.

Spoiler: DEATH COUNT

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Still 35. Don’t worry dear viewers...this isn’t over by a longshot

[PrismCat21]

Not even a pseudo-death this time, you're falling behind oh great malicious and vicious one.

The podium enhanced blasphemy had me giggling :D

[treecko]

This game is amazing. Thanks for sharing :)

[curious-puzzle]

Thank you, glad you're enjoying it!

And don't worry PrismCat...

[red_kangaroo]

I love how you described the people transforming into daemons. But now I'm waiting for a climatic fight where Jezelle, after being beaten, suddenly explodes into something like a red-headed infernal.

BTW, in your cosmology, when Cursed/Marked gets transformed into a daemon, do they retain their ability to resurrect after death? I would assume they return to Labyrinth after death, just like normally demons return to their home plane.

[curious-puzzle]

Shameless plug!

There's another campaign journal of our other bi-weekly game- and it's Pathfinder!

Picanet is running this one - so far we have a witch, an alchemist, a ninja, and a fighter. Our identities shall remain obscured at least for a little bit, what with the whole amnesia and everything.

If you enjoy our shenanigans in this game, go check it out!

[curious-puzzle]

I love how you described the people transforming into daemons. But now I'm waiting for a climatic fight where Jezelle, after being beaten, suddenly explodes into something like a red-headed infernal. :small tongue:

That would be unfair, I'm not throwing an Epic abomination at them.

Yet...

BTW, in your cosmology, when Cursed/Marked gets transformed into a daemon, do they retain their ability to resurrect after death? I would assume they return to Labyrinth after death, just like normally demons return to their home plane.

Something like that...the other part of that would be how much of the original mortal is left intact/not horrifically warped to its new purpose.

[curious-puzzle]

38 sessions!

Spoiler: Aftermath

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There are bodies everywhere in the Assembly hall. The Blasphemy killed dozens, and then the fiendish assault killed even more. Beyond the 4 family heads and the party, there are less than a dozen individuals standing...everyone carefully (or not so carefully) huddle together and try and figure out what exactly just happened. The family heads aren't bickering anymore, at least. As they debate what could have caused this, the party practically howls the name Janath. Spotter also dryly remarks that the Isolationist movement has decided to act somewhat more aggressively as well, noting that everyone who transformed (and the one who used the scroll) had a red armband. Krennos scoffs, stating that there's no-one who's both powerful enough and stupid enough to try something like this. Spotter's counter is that the Isolationists have both with the aid of a sorcerer like Janath.

"Warlock, if you want to be technical." I pipe up, and it takes a second for everyone to realize I spoke in character. The party whips about, weapons and hackles bristling, to face a corpse sitting itself up. The head starts to flop back due to the gaping cut across the neck, but it clamps a hand closed around the throat, and Janath's signature raspy growl echoes from the dead man's mouth.

"Couldn't just take my warning and leave, could you? I truly didn't want any of you involved in this." Despite Janath sounding truly regretful, Sona and Angelena in particular are exceptionally angry to hear him again.

"I don't see why you're acting all righteous. It's not like any of these people are real, like we are." Sona accuses corpse-speaker Janath of being a servant of the Seventh god, but Janath doesn't react or or do anything other than seem confused. Janath tries to convince the party that they're just defending husks, shells of what was once people. They're having none of that, though.

Any attempts by Janath to coax the party to walk away is met with threats of violence, derisive comments about how he's just trying to save his own skin, or the pop of knuckles tightening on axe handles...except for Puck. At Janath's exasperated query of what it would take to get the party to just turn around and leave, Puck lowers himself in front of the corpse and tells it to make an offer.

"Two dozen lives worth of Vitae." Puck counters that all he wants is Janath's life, and when the corpse scoffs, he squelches the head like an overripe melon. Angelena and Sona are a tad upset, as they were trying to examine the corpse to find out how Janath was speaking through it, and skull-squishing tends to ruin said examination.

Suddenly a group of red-armbanded sorcerers bursts into the assembly hall! Seeing as how there are four high-level sorcerers with the party (one of whom I let slip is close to 20th level), the minions die in an arcane conflagration, and then the plan of what to do next begins. It's quickly agreed on that whatever Janath is doing, it must have to do with the Old Royal Tower. But it is warded against teleportation, along with being locked and sealed. It is possible to enter, but not easy. Seeing as how the Great Fire is at the top of the tower, in the Throne room, though, the party is certain Janath is heading for that. The family heads also mention that Janath will have to deal with the guardian of the flame, who hasn't let anyone use the fire in centuries.

Sona shoots a pretty heated glare Priscus' way for not mentioning any of this, but Priscus is distracted with a constitution of 2 and a max hp total of 10. As they're debating, one of the family heads goes pale, and after listening to what is presumably a Sending, disappears. That leaves 3 family heads still with the party! After a bit more discussion, it's agreed that the family heads will attempt to breach the main doors of the Old Tower (and deal with whatever opposition is there), while the party will head to the servant entrance hidden in the gardens.

Then it's go time, as I'm keeping a close watch on how much time is spent...because of "reasons."

Spoiler: The Gardens

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There is signs of combat in the once-pristine gardens (and the bodies of numerous unlucky servants). The party is moving at a good clip but staying observant, so everyone rolls initiative equally as they round a corner and come across a gaggle of fiends! Spotter cuts to a flank and dives into some bushes (finally remembering to activate the invisibility from his Boots of Tracklessness. From his vantage point he can see several red-armbanded sorcerers, along with an Ultroloth and a couple Nycaloths. There's also some creatures on top of the pillars and winding sculptures situated around this area (the combination of these plus trellis making some walls with a broad enough top to be walked on easily if you can get up the 10 ft or so to get there), but he can't see them at this angle. The Ultroloth fails to spot Spotter (heh) and goes invisible itself in preparation. Puck was at the front of the party, and where he placed his mini at the start of the encounter means he's the only hero in view...

...and in clear range of the two Arrow demon marksmen standing up on the platforms. What happens next is a lot like the beginning of this scene (NSFW, violence and some swearing). They both fill him full of very large arrows, chewing through a massive chunk of his health. Talvosh freaks out and casually leaps high enough to make it onto the platform and scramble towards the Arrow demons, while one of the sorcerers blocks off the rest of the party with a wall of fire. One Nycaloth conjures up some mirror images, while the other swoops up and down to land behind Talvosh and cleave into him. Puck responds by skittering up the side of the pillars and golf-club smashing the Nycaloth clear off the platform with a Brutal Surge attack, sending him crashing down. Angelena and Sona can't clearly see the battle due to the giant wall of flames, but Sona lobs a Cacophonic burst and Angelena drops a Radiant Assault as close as they can, damaging the Arrow demons and dazing and dropping several of the sorcerers to under 5 hp.

Spotter sees a good opportunity and opens fire on the downed Nycaloth in front of him, and with a crit plus several other hits, finishes it with extreme prejudice. Unfortunately this provokes the Ultroloth (who can see invisible creatures due to spell-likes) to open up on him with a normal AND a quickened Scorching ray. He's looking reaaalllyy rough. The Arrow demon closest to Talvosh vanishes in a puff of smoke, while the second one unloads into the berserker orc, landing two crits and every single one of his 8 shots. But now it's time for the heroes! Sona uses Dimension step to shuffle everyone about, allowing Puck to rush the remaining Nycaloth...and Talvosh to be in melee with the 2nd Arrow Demon. Puck shreds all of the Nycaloth's images (but doesn't land a blow on the beast itself), while Talvosh uses his reciprocal bracers to cleave the Arrow demon in twain. The Nyclaoth responds by tearing into Puck and putting him to nearly single digit health, prompting the player to ask for some aid (he had forgotten that the Nycaloths were melee brutes rather than casters). Angelena steps up and lets loose a Bolt of Glory, nearly killing the Nycaloth with a single hit!

After that it's clean up, Spotter finishing off the Ultroloth with another crit, the Nycaloth falling, and the poor dazed sorcerers with 3 hp remaining just getting brutalized. The party is looking pretty beat up, so they take a couple moments to catch their breath, plowing through their excess of healing potions, as well as burning a couple summon scrolls to call up Clockwork swarms for Puck.

This is the area that the servant entrance is supposed to be located, so Spotter hunts about...and succeeds in finding an illusory section of wall. Behind it is several mid-sized brass portals, as well as a man-sized one, that seem to lead to wooden platforms. Sona takes a look, and is surprised that they are teleport circles. The smaller ones seem to go to dumbwaiters of some sort, while the man-sized one to an elevator. Her blindsense also picks up on...something...protruding from the wall between the portals. She can't tell what it is, other than strange. Spotter pokes cautiously and touches something squishy before yanking his hand back abruptly, passing his save and avoiding the blast of black energy that emanates from nothing! Displeased, Spotter has Sona point where she's pretty certain the centre of the invisible thing is sitting, and he takes a mighty swing with his pick!

And fails his save and gets zorched by evil greasy feeling lightning. Sona dispels the invisibility to reveal...something that she nearly loses her lunch over.

It is-rather, was- a person. They've been warped, twisted, mangled, and mutilated into a horrific and unholy sigil of some sort. Once Sona's got her fortitude back, looking closely doesn't make it any better. The sigil is somehow bypassing the tower's warding, allowing the fiends to teleport in and out at will (and she realizes, summon more of themselves). With a curse, she hurls an orb of fire! Which blackens the exposed flesh, but does nothing else. Once the others are done healing themselves up, Angelena slaps the blasphemous flesh-rune with Dispel Evil. The black energy burns her hand in the process, but with a flash of light, the sigil burns away into nothing.

After some fiddling around with the teleport circles, the gang enters the tower, and find themselves in a massive kitchen. They also get the feeling they're being watched...

Spoiler: DEATH COUNT

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Still 35. Maybe I jinxed myself.

[PrismCat21]

Still 35. Maybe I jinxed myself.

Blasphemous flesh rune seemed like a decent offering for an unjinxing.


Seems like things are quickly 'heating up'

[curious-puzzle]

Session # 39!

Spoiler: A brief interlude regarding the Ringed City DLC

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Darkeater Midir, you are a giant jerk. Just the worst.

Spoiler: Inside the Tower

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The party is in a massive kitchen from the looks of it, one that hasn't been used in a LOOOOONNGG time. There's a fine layer of dust over everything...but strangely enough, there's some fruit on a counter that still looks good. Before there's much time for investigation,
though, Sona squelches the scrying sensor that Spotter pointed out with a dispel. So much for an unseen approach. The two sonar sensors of the party listen carefully at the closed doors of the kitchen, and with some truly absurd checks hear the faint creak of bowstrings being drawn. After a little bit of healing (Angelena used her one Restoration to remove Talvosh's con drain, but her, Sona, and Spotter are still kind of beat up looking),
they burst the door SWAT-style!

The three Arrow demons had a barricade and firing lane all set up, but with the party expecting battle, they roll absolute garbage for initiative,
and barely react before Talvosh is soaring through the air OVER their barricade, Puck is ramming into said barricade to send them sprawling, Spotter is blasting arrows at them, and Angelena and Sona are blasting away at them. One manages to teleport into the kitchen behind everyone, but a judicious use of benign transposition puts an unhappy orc in range. I don't think the demons manage to get more than a single shot off before they are torn to pieces.

I think the party might have a slight grudge against Arrow Demons...

After the brief and brutal violence, the party looks around. There is a massive (30 ft wide) spiral staircase dominating the center of this tower,
with everything built around it. On their current floor is the kitchen and what seems to be huge dining halls - this is the second floor, with two more floors between them and the top floor of the tower (which is where the fire is). There's a brief search of the floor, and while Sona is puzzling out that there is a subtle stasis effect on any food or drink on the floor, Janath's slightly exasperated voice reaches Puck's ears.

"Seriously, what about 3 dozen lives worth of Vitae? I'd really rather not deal with any of you." Puck placidly replies that he just wants Janath's Vitae.

"Afraid I can't die just this moment. But seriously, why are you going this far for husks? Everyone on this rotten world is dead already, they're just remnants going through the motions. Why concern yourself at all with them?" Spotter is looking around for the source of the voice, but can't pinpoint it. After a bit more more back and forth, Sona gets over and flatly comments that Janath is just stalling them, they need to keep moving. Janath's silence speaks volumes. Further up the party goes!

The next floor seems to be something resembling a harem, what with numerous beds, lounging chairs, silken veils, and secluded alcoves noticeable from the stairs. There's also a very minor enchantment that tries to encourage the party to go inside and relax, but it's easily shrugged off.
That does possibly distract the party from noticing the Marilith lurking (and hiding) inside the entrance until its tail snaps out and wraps Sona in crushing coils. Spotter manages a shot, but then it puts a blade barrier up between the Marilith and the party. Waving the unconscious Sona back and forth tauntingly, the party has a dilemma. Whatever Janath is doing, it must be time sensitive (and going off his track record, bad for everyone who's not Janath). Do they stay and fight, or leave Sona to die? There's a good bit of out-of-game debating, which finally ends with the decision to keep moving (despite Talvosh's player arguing that the Marilith is just going to chase them). Puck and Talvosh pause briefly before rushing further up the stairs. Angelena and Spotter are prevented from following as a ring of spectral blades blocks them off.

The party has been split!! Mwahahahahahaha!!!

The Marilith coup de graces Sona with ease, the cruel blades going snicker-snack and Sona's head going thumpity-thump. Spotter zips some arrows the snake-fiend's way, but cover from the blade barrier and unholy aura makes for a hard target. Angelena manages to dispel the blades trapping her, and starts booking it up the stairs right as the Marilith teleports in between them. Spotter tumbles away and starts trying to shoot, but there's a thunderous BOOM as the doors at the base of the tower are smashed open. With a flash of lightning, Krennos Ventius punches the Marilith in the face and sends it reeling (Really a Forceful Hand spell but I liked the flavor. As the Marilith tumbles backwards, Spotter looks Krennos up and down. He looks bad, clothes soaked with blood and numerous cuts and punctures marring his flesh. Krennos tersely explains that the guardians of the Tower had been possessed by fiends, and managed to kill the other two family heads before being destroyed. Before much more planning can occur (and before Puck and Talvosh open the doors to the next floor they've reached), Angelena feels a horrible wave of nausea.

Everyone rocks slightly as the air goes flat, and there's the anime style Chunky updraft. Then the world erupts in blackish-green flame as the Apocalypse from the Sky is completed. Some of the party saves, but only Spotter manages to fully avoid the effects (go evasion). The tower shakes and creaks, but manages to stay upright. The Marilith hisses in displeasure and falls back, and Angelena/Spotter/and now Krennos hurry up the stairs after Talvosh and Puck.

Said Talvosh and Puck smash the doors to the Library floor open, to reveal the entire room aflame. Janath is standing there, broad hat tipped to partially disguise the heavy scarring across his face. Floating before him is an eye-stinging rent in the air...a portal.

"Good effort boys. But just a little..." A massive clawed hand grips one side of the portal.

"...Too..." Another clawed hand.

"...Late." The Balor steps forth and roars.

Spoiler: Apocalypse

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Without a Gandalf or a bridge nearby, Talvosh and Puck decide that a liberal application of axe to flesh will do instead.
However, the Balor opens with a Blasphemy that dazes, weakens, and parlyzes Talvosh. Wisely, he uses Mad Foam Rager to delay it.
Janath waves his hand in some magical gesture though, and when Talvosh rushes forward, he smacks facefirst into an Antilife shell.
Puck is up next as Talvosh falls over, and extending his axe allows him to just be able to reach his foes. And of course he lands a crit right off the bat. The Balor roars in displeasure as he is gashed for nasty damage, and attempts to Implode Puck, who manages to make his save.
Puck cuts at Janath, and the blade sinks into his neck...only for the man to explode in a cloud of ash. The rest of the party makes it up the stairs as the Balor sears Puck with its personal flames and their blades clash.

A combination of not great damage rolls, Puck being tough, me forgetting the Balor had power attack, and the remainder of the party throwing out some big damage keeps Puck standing against the Balor! Krennos (currently under Sona's player's control) throws his last 9th level slot, and zorches it with an energy drain for 7!! negative levels. That plus a crit from Spotter and I believe another crit from Puck means after a few brutal rounds,
the Balor falls with Puck having pathetically few hit points remaining.

The detonation of the Balor's sacrifice, however, kills Puck and Angelena, and severely wounds Talvosh and Krennos. Krennos and Spotter fall back one floor, dragging the unmoving Talvosh with them. The sounds of combat begins far above, and there are flashes of light coming from the stairs leading to the top of the tower...

Back at the the Temple of Coronis, Angelena, Puck, and Sona reawaken. The walls around them are cracked through and smoking...the scourging flames struck even here. Sona was a clever monkey though, and grasps her two companion's hands and teleports them back to the palace gardens she had studied. Hustling, they make it back to Talvosh, Spotter, and Krennos as Talvosh's paralysis is fading. Together they pound up the stairs into the throne room.

The throne room is quite a sight. While it looked solid from the outside, fully half of the room's walls are transparent, granting a bird's eye view of the entire city from hundreds of feet in the air. The current view is one of devastation and ruin, though. Nothing in the city was spared. There is a broad platform in one corner, upon which is a grandiose crystalline throne. In front of the throne is a crystal statue of a man with outstretched arms,
and in front of him is a small Fire, crackling away.

There is a winged angelic figure locked in combat with a Marilith as the party enters the room, a second Marilith standing over a shattered pile of coloured shards, and Janath by the fire. He finishes strangling a second angelic warrior with a final CRACK as he catches sight of the party,
dropping the corpse callously.

"Fine. Die for this hollow gourd of a world if you so choose."

The remaining Planetar is desperate. "Mortals! This abomination wouldst doom this whole land! I beg thee, stop them!" Initiative!

The following combat is chaotic and all over the place. While two Mariliths and Janath are a terrifying foe, the party are no slouches, and they have two strong allies. Krennos still has some spells left, and the Planetar happily locks blades with one of the Mariliths. Spotter goes immediately for Janath, harrying him with repeated arrow fire and forcing him to focus on warping back and forth, leaving ashen images of himself behind and only able to throw out the occasional spell or spell-like. Puck and Talvosh triple team the one Marilith with the Planetar, while Angelena and Sona hurl magic at the second Marilith.

The two warriors and the Planetar weather the Marilith's blades long enough for the Planeter to successfully Banish the fiend, stabbing it through the heart with a sword of blazing holy light. As it exults and begins to speak to the party, though, the second Marilith lashes out with a Blade barrier and the Planetar rolls a natural 1. With the wounds the angel had already sustained, it gets exploded gratuitous Mortal-Kombat style.

As the fight continues, Spotter hears a strange noise from one corner and launches an arrow out - and strikes the invisible cultist standing there!
He lets out a shriek of shock and pain, and tries to hurl a spell in retaliation. There are more than what can be seen here, apparently. Krennos lashes out with a Glass strike and the remaining Marilith rolls a 2, turning to an impressive if gruesome glass sculpture. Talvosh smashes it as he sprints towards Janath.

There are lines of Blade barriers (both friendly and enemy), black tentacle fields (flavoured as eerie grasping arms of darkness and ash), and other effects littering the field as the tide begins to turn against Janath. He looks increasingly desperate as his safe points to teleport two narrow down as Puck and Talvosh close in, and finally a flurry of arrows from Spotter crumples him to one knee.

"No no no no can't die here I can't die in this place no no no." Janath bares blood stained teeth. "I need more time." Sona and Puck advance inexorably, planning on a quick execution. "Have to call in all my debts!" Janath makes a twisting gesture with a hand, and the room is suddenly filled with gurgling shouts. More cultists appear out of invisibility, toppling over dead. Streams of glittering black Vitae flow from them to Janath's hands, and before the heroes can stop him (cutscene power, I know), Janath shoves the mass of seething Vitae down his throat!

Spoiler: Avarice

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They pause as Janath shudders, and black fingers try to wriggle their way out of his mouth before he swallows them down. The imprint of a hand stretches and bulges out from his neck, then from a shoulder. He clutches at his face as darkness boils around his feet.

"I still...want...more." Janath collapses, and the party is hurled backwards by a burst of blackened power! As the darkness clears, they are treated to a hideous sight. Where Janath once stood, there is a hulking mass of darkness. Looking more closely, it's made of arms. Dozens upon dozens of spindly, clawed, grasping arms and hands. They reach and twist and twine impossibly, snapping out from some unseen central source. Darkness pools around the shape, with more hands and claws reaching up from the bubbling liquid. Horrible glowing eyes peer out from the palms of the hundreds of hands, and an even more distorted voice bellows.

"I NEED MORE! I NEED IT ALL!!!"

Initiative

Spoiler: DM note

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The base chassis of this is an Elder Odopi (MMIII) combined with a constant aura of Grasping Tentacles increasing its reach.
I just figured I could make it seem scarier than a ball made out of arms

The creature that was once Janath thunders forward, smashing and rending everything in its path. Puck is able to use his cloak and his weapon to fly just above the creature, mostly steering clear of the grasping claws as he hacks and slashes. Talvosh has a harder time, as the constantly spawning and dying arms grab and pull as soon as he approaches, making it horribly difficult to move. Spotter and Sona blast away as best they can (Spotter landing several crits throughout the fight as usual), but all the magic effects are actually causing line of sight to be an issue. Angelena thinks she's a safe distance away, when the mass of arms and darkness disappears...

...and reappears above her, smashing her to the ground. The Greed-Janath tramples about with abandon, scooping up and killing Krennos with its grasping claws hurling to and fro. Talvosh manages a massive hit by straight up jumping over the mass of arms sprouting from the ground,
but is swiftly grappled and trampled as the beast tramples about afterwards. Sona gets scooped up too and ragdolled about. The creature is heedless of attacks against it as it surges back and forth, and it even smashes through the remaining blade barriers, seemingly devouring them.
As the party either gets smashed back and forth, attacks with abandon, or just tries to find a way to not get grappled, Sona finally uses her last Still-silent ability to hit the creature point blank with a Wings of Flurry. With a ripping and squelching noise, the arms are blasted apart, and Janath's broken body is sent flying to smash up against the throne.

As the party circles him, Janath looks up with an attempt at a bitter smile.

"...Well, ****." His eyes go lifeless, and his body desiccates and withers away before their eyes.

There was more, but it fits a lot better to go into the next writeup!

Spoiler: DEATH COUNT

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Three-fer night