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Return to the Pillar of Flame

15 Saturday May 2021

Posted by fictivite in Uncategorized

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elf, humans, play report

  • Adil Nadhi. Knight sailor, captain of a small ship.
  • Cedvik Nightingale. Wizard criminal. Sight magic.
  • Elden. Wizard scholar. Travel magic.
  • James Thorne. Scoundrel criminal.
  • Robin. Elven Scout, Woodscraft.

Kan Vazaz. Scoundrel criminal. Remained on the boat for this one.

IRL 5.8.21

The Way In

As the scoundrels were gathering wood to build their miniature crane, they encountered Robin. The elf had his own boat and had made landfall on the island to refresh his water supply. He agreed to join them on their expedition, defeating the undead was a worthy goal. He waved off the idea of a share of treasure. Vazaz elected to remain with the ship and make sure their exit plan was secure in case they riled up something and had to leave in a hurry.

Hefting the big pulley repurposed from the ship rigging, and the support posts and parts, the scoundrels hiked back to the stone temple over the Pillar of Flame. They entered cautiously through the secret door.

Riled Up

The emberdead milled around in the entry chamber. The raiders cleared them out quickly, knocking a pile down before the energies destabilized and the rest fell apart. Cedvik once again focused his magical energies through his amulet; since his had been destroyed, he had borrowed Thorn’s amulet the day before. (Vazaz also loaned out his Simmerbrew to the active adventurers.) Once again, Cedvik miscalculated the energies, and detonated the overtaxed charm.

Moving on to the doorway, they saw another big batch in the hallway. Cedvik threw up an illusion to deflect their attention, and the raiders considered how best to proceed. Another battle, or wait for them to lose interest and discorporate or wander off? They withdrew to the jungle outside and rested for a while, recovering from incidental injuries from the fight.

When they returned, the hallway was fairly clear. They hustled to the balcony without further incident, building the crane while posting guard to get warning if another wave of emberdead closed in.

Staff Meeting

Thorn was the lucky raider who got to ride the slowly swaying tarred rope down into the heat mirage to retrieve the Emberstaff suspended in its magic, about a hundred feet below. Adil and Robin handled the windlass, and Elden used his travel magic to steady the swinging rope, while Cedvik posted lookout.

Shrugging off the rippling waves of heat that dried out the soaked and tarred rope, Thorn endured the long trip down. He managed to get the rope swinging enough for him to snatch the staff without being thoroughly cooked himself. As the tar began to melt on the rope, causing sticky problems, he struggled to climb while also holding the staff. His training as an acrobat thief were invaluable as he hauled himself up the rope, keeping the momentum going even as the windlass crew dealt with jams and delays as the makeshift equipment got gummed up by wet and tarry rope exposed to heat.

Thorn reached the balcony with the prize, only lightly toasted. Lady Urli, the scholar who funded the expedition, was eager to claim the Emberstaff on the spot. Adil hesitated, considering they were still in danger (and he was unclear on the difference between a scholar and wizard, so the stakes of her getting the staff were certainly unknown.) The rest of the raiders shrugged, and Urli insisted, so she got the staff and demanded they escort her out.

Tactical Withdrawal

The Pillar of Flame was sluggishly rousing defenses, but the raiders got clear. They carried the Emberstaff, the pulley, and enough of the steaming rope to have some insurance in case rough weather or disaster complicated their voyage home. (They abandoned the rest of the equipment used to make the crane.)

Reaching the ship, they planned their next move. Urli was done going into the Pillar of Flame, she got the Emberstaff and was keen to get to work studying it. Cedvik asked the other scoundrels to give him one of the enchanted amulets to repel the undead, but no one else was willing to give theirs up. Urli offered Cedvik her fancier, sturdier amulet in exchange for a chunk of deathbrittle the size of her head. He took the offer under consideration, accepting a bag of the proper size (but a bag made of leather only, with no protective properties; just to give him a sense of the size.)

The raiders remained interested in recovering the Ashlord’s amulets and solving the mystery of the resting place of the Lovely Three.

Scouting the Pillar of Flame

In the morning, the raiders returned through the secret passage. This time, Cedvik had a different plan. Rather than chopping their way down through the Pillar of Flame’s many dangers, he would use a ritual to project his point of consciousness. The ritual rendered him insensible to the waking world, requiring all his concentration, but he could skim through solid matter. He would not be able to see magical energies, but he could see in the dark, and pick up visual information for about ten minutes moving at high speeds. Once the raiders entered the Pillar of Flame, he arranged himself and sent his magical vision through the stone corridors.

He reported his findings with a sing-song tune; he could sing, but not hear the other raiders’ responses.

Second Level

  • He found a sacrificial table and shrine with expensive knives and jewelry, guarded by creepy statues.
  • Also, a strange table with spikes on it. A kneeling shrine for priests to prepare themselves.
  • A long hall, supported by bone pillars, where cultists could ritually complete the journey from life to death. At the end, a reflective black plate of Deathbrittle, the end of the road.
  • The blocky corridor in the center wound down around the central shaft, leading to the third level.

Third Level

  • A statue of the Ashlord overlooked a large chamber deep with crematorium dust where emberdead uneasily slumbered, forming and crumbling. To one side, a crystal chamber deeply crusted with deathbrittle.
  • Off to the other side, there was an audience hall of sorts, where someone could stand at a podium and address the gathered followers. Behind curtains, a long chamber with more reflective deathbrittle plates mounted on the wall.
  • Through an ornate door connected to that chamber, Cedvik found what appeared to be a tomb kennel for the tarry hounds, and through a connected door, the burial chamber for the Master of the Hunt. Quiescent, the undead monster was buried with a blade matching the depiction of the Sundering Blade on the first level.
  • On the far side of the level, a wide and crooked hall housed thousands of corpses stacked in standing position, waiting for the necromancers to wake them and summon an army. Another of the black wall-mounted plates was in this chamber, flanked by braziers.

Fourth Level

The duration of the spell was running out, so Cedvik withdrew hastily to his body and awoke.

Sobered by the dangers and treasures below, the raiders withdrew to form a plan of attack for their next expedition.

3 experience for the humans, 0 for the elf.

The Ember Staff

08 Saturday May 2021

Posted by fictivite in Uncategorized

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Tags

humans, play report

  • Adil Nadhi. Knight sailor, captain of a small ship.
  • Cedvik Nightingale. Wizard criminal. Sight magic.
  • Elden. Wizard scholar. Travel magic.
  • James Thorne. Scoundrel criminal.
  • Kan Vazaz. Scoundrel criminal.

The volcanic island of Pallspreader is studded with deathbrittle, impossible to settle because of the restless dead. The Pillar of Flame is an underground fortress from which the Ashlord, an undead warlord, ruled a modest seafaring territory with emberdead aboard blackened ships.

Urli, a scholar from Tecnica, believes she has found the location of the Pillar of Flame. The fortress was buried in stone and warded by a Tecnican warlord to assure none of the slain Ashlord’s lore or artifacts would escape the site to cause further trouble. Urli offered the scoundrels 200 gp, talismans called Amulets of the Six Sages that would help protect them from the emberdead, and a Simmerbrew healing potion each to come along. Also, she knows of the way in, and has studied. All she wants is the Emberstaff, and the scoundrels can keep anything else they find.

Enter the Pillar of Flame

The ship dropped anchor off the coast, and the scoundrels (along with Urli) sloshed ashore and headed through the jungle to the stone temple built to cap and restrain the Pillar of Flame. Urli conducted a ritual to disarm the entry, and they pushed their way through the big stone door. They sensed their intrusion reverberating through the place, and the emberdead began to pull together to assault them.

They passed a big portrait frieze of the Emberlord by the entrance. Further in, they found a balcony overlooking a massive 120 foot drop, a vertical shaft that appeared to only be accessible from the balcony at the top and entry at the bottom. In the center, a dome of embers radiated a heat mirage up the center of the shaft, and at the center of the mirage at the bottom hung what appeared to be the Emberstaff.

Depictions of Treasure

The heat was daunting, so they decided to look for another way down. Continuing on, they passed three works of art on the wall depicting the Emberstaff, the Master of the Pack’s Sundering Blade, and the Amulets of the Lovely Three. Urli gave them a little background on each, delighted to show off her research.

She told them the Lovely Three were undead consorts to the Ashlord who were slain beyond recall by the Witherfeather Archers, then entombed somewhere in the Pillar of Flame along with the Emberheart amulets the Ashlord crafted for them. Apparently one of the craftsmen forced to work on the Pillar of Flame escaped, and before he died of madness and injury, he whispered something about the access to the tomb of the Lovely Three being guarded by the burning blood of the slain monarchs.

Emberdead managed to shamble towards them. The slow-moving and suffering manifestations were easily dispatched.

Behind the Door

The raiders reached an intersection with two doors and stairs leading further down. The door appeared to have a chunk of polished deathbrittle in the center. They hauled it open and cautiously went inside, discovering two pillars made of bones as well as two artistic frames. The frames contained crowns on skulls embedded in the artwork; perhaps these were the slain monarchs.

As the raiders puzzled over these elements, more emberdead arrived. The raiders closed the stone door, but the emberdead were able to transport through the deathbrittle at the center of the door, entering the room and taking them by surprise. Cedvik concentrated his magic through the amulet, boosting its effect on the emberdead to damage several at once with a single burst rather than repelling them. In the fierce fighting, Adill struck one of the bone pillars, attempting to shatter it and possibly disrupt the undead.

The Tarry Hound

A horrible tarry hound slid out of the pillar’s center and assaulted the raiders, putting them in desperate peril. The wavering energies of the emberdead gave out, and they collapsed into heaps of ash as the raiders finished off the tarry hound–but before the battle was over, Cedvik lashed out at the other pillar–and another tarry hound emerged.

The horrific monsters occasionally concentrated their energies and regenerated their vitality, and also in the heat of combat they burst into flame, causing further damage. The raiders struck them with weapons, only to have those weapons tugged out of their grip by the tarry substance of the bodies. (They recovered most of their weapons.)

Battered and keenly feeling their mortality, the raiders struggled with whether to retreat or double down. As they pulled back to the hallway, Thorne tried to open another stone door, but the rest of the raiders pulled him along as they retreated down the stairs, deeper into the Pillar of Flame rather than heading for the exit.

The surviving tarry hound gave harrowing chase. They threw canteens of water at it, but the flame was only dimmed and not extinguished. Cedvik attempted to concentrate power through his amulet again and it burst, overloaded.

Despairing of outrunning the beast, they turned on it and managed to slay the foul thing. Breathless and harried, they had a rapid conference on next moves, and decided to head back towards the surface.

Consolation Prize

Returning to the skulls and crowns, Thorne and Vazaz broke the skulls and pulled the crowns free; a nice payday. Reluctant to retreat, they pushed open the other stone door and discovered a chamber with another portrait of the Ashlord–and stairs up. They discovered the interior side of a secret door built on the exterior, a way to enter and exit without disrupting the seal that was supposed to hold the Pillar of Flame inert below.

The scuffed-up raiders retreated to Adill’s ship to rest, refill their sheaths for weapons lost, and then put together a block and tackle. Using that and the tarred rope, and maybe some quenching magic to keep the rope and frame from setting fire, perhaps they could get down to the Emberstaff first thing on the next expedition…

Book Keeping

  • Thorne gave his amulet to Cedvik, so he could tune to it overnight and use it on the next expedition.
  • They got 2 crowns worth 500 gp each.
  • They build a block and tackle, and pull together about 150 feet of tarred rope.
  • 3 experience each.

Housewarming Party

12 Monday Apr 2021

Posted by fictivite in Uncategorized

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Tags

humans, play report

Played 4.10.21 IRL. Humans!

Adill Nadhi. Knight sailor, captain of a small ship.

Cedvik Nightingale. Wizard criminal. Sight magic.

Elden. Wizard scholar. Travel magic.

Evict the Lord of Gums from Spike Isle

Magistrate Jaron, ruler of Tecnica Isle, hired these scoundrels to go to Spike Isle and wipe out the Lord of Gums and his necromatic cult before they established a foothold. Fr. Inmon went along to confirm the Lord of Gums was actually killed; the adventurers left him with the first mate of the boat and the crew, to assure they had an exit even if things went terribly wrong inside.

An interrogated prisoner explained that there were two entrances to the underground lair; one that suckbats used to come and go, and one the cultists used (and guarded.)

Entry

The adventurers chose to enter through the suckbat vent, with Adhill leading the way after Cedvik enchanted his allies so they could all see in the dark. He spotted a resting suckbat, and took a swipe at it with his hammer–the whole swarm rose up and attacked. Elden blinked out to safety as the others managed a “fighting withdrawal” with Cecvik popping a startling flash as they retreated. They crushed most of the suckbats, and the rest withdrew.

After resting for about an hour, they made another attempt, this time pushing past the few remaining suckbats and entering the lair, following the winding unfinished stone corridors.

Home Defense

While the others lagged behind, Cedvik scouted ahead, using his magic to see in the darkness while the others relied on torchlight. As Cedvic crossed a chamber, a droprock almost impaled him. His screams of terror attracted slavering servitors, undead with massive claws and lamp-like eyes. Two of them raced out of the darkness. As Adill and Elden battled one, Cedvik hurled the droprock at the other and ran for his life.

The servitors were driven back, and the adventurers followed Cedvik, catching up. They saw lights and heard chanting, so they followed the corridor. Cedvik scouted again, but he got too close, and the robed cultists spotted him. They attacked.

Again Cedvik flashed the incoming cultists, disorienting them so the adventurers quickly won. As they knocked the last cultist down, they realized there was only a door between them and the Lord of Gums (and his slavering servitors.)

The Lord of Gums

The necromancer was tending a ritual braizer full of deathbrittle and other components, seeding the chamber to make a geode of death in this lair. He would be able to reanimate and empower a much larger force, should he succeed.

One of the slavering servitors that had been following them attacked, and some of the adventurers fought it off while Adill struggled with the servitor guarding the necromancer. Elden tried to magically hurl the brazier into the necromancer, but dark forces countered and rebuffed him. One of the cultists spasmed and became a slavering servitor on the spot, and a rush of power flowed through the necromancer and struck down Adill; reeling, the warrior tried to fight on, but the pain of his wounds overcame him.

Retreat

As the Lord of Gums channeled more dark power into his servitors to increase their unholy armor, the two wizards snatched up their fallen warrior and managed to stagger out of the lair, collapsing once to catch their breath before finishing the mad rush to the ship. Once they had some water between the haunted shore and the ship, they took stock of the situation. With Adill badly hurt, it seemed best to retreat and reconsider their tactics.

Experience: 3 each.

Chambers of the Clanhome

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