Shattered Star #35: Too Weary for Riddles

In missing chapters of our tale, the party defeated more Gray Maidens and tried to rest in their barracks, only to be attacked by the “Runelord of Lust” herself. They then explored a well-hidden secret door… –GM

6th of Sarenith, 4712 AR

How long were we in these caves? Days? Weeks? It was hard to track time without any sunlight. Instead of offering the comfort of the skies, the next room was adorned with intricate columns depicting intertwined limbs. The far wall opened into a cave with the floor and walls only partially smoothed. We had little time to wonder what had stopped the architects from finishing this room, as four hideous demons covered in blood sprung from the shadows and attacked us.

They didn’t seem to be too bothered by my arrows, so I decided to focus on healing the more effective combatants. After a while one of the demons took notice and charged me with its barbed spear. I felt a sharp pain in my kidney and collapsed, overcome with agony. It took a while and a spell from Jaskier before I was able to fight again. I stood up and saw Sorcerella blast the demons with lightning before getting knocked out. I cast my most powerful healing spell, but I could tell the demons were going to outlast us regardless.

“Wait a minute,” one of the demons asked in a raspy voice, “Aren’t we supposed to be allergic to healing?” The demons looked at each other with horror, and exploded.

(The demons came out of mural depicting caverns beneath the pyramid of Korvosa, with a giant Runelord Sorshen drinking blood dripping down through the caverns. Of extremely-high interest to the Pathfinder Society… -GM)

After resting for a short time, we went to explore the next room, but there wasn’t one. This level of the dungeon had been completely explored. At long last, we ascended the stairs to what would hopefully be the Shard we were looking for.

We found ourselves in a circular room with eight alcoves. Seven of the eight alcoves held statues depicting what we recognized as the Runelords of Thassilon prior to Earthfall. An inscription was written on the floor: “She who desires to ascend the Lady’s Light must deign to embrace the Lady and the Lie.”

The Lady was obviously Sorshen. Serpiente decided to hug the statue of her, and the empty alcove glowed with a golden light. Hugging a second statue caused the light to flicker, and a third made it disappear entirely. We tried several different combinations, but none of them worked. Who was the Lie? When the statue of Alaznist, the Runelord of Wrath, was hugged, several elementals appeared out of thin air and attacked us. Maybe one of them held the shard?

-NIthral (Nate)

==============================

Cutthroat Craig Cunningham Pirate Eye, tiefling-ratfolk investigator 7
El Serpiente Silencioso, human monk 7
Jaskier, elven bard 7
Nithral, elven druid 7
Sorcerella, human sorcerer (draconic) 7

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Age of Ashes #53: A Visit to Sunset Imports

In a missing chapter, our heroes made business contacts in Cypress Point and set in motion plans to repurpose the slavers’ ship into a cruise ship/cargo ship. They pursue the evil slavers’ organization. (-GM)

19th of Pharast, 4720 AR

Sedranni Vashnarstill

The party was stuck between a rock and a hard place. When I say that I mean a stone golem and a wall. After defeating the slaver demon on the boat, they learned that there was a strange business in the capital called Sunset Imports, Kintargo, that had gone under and suddenly come back. The adventurers set off for Kintargo. 

After a bit of pushing, the shopkeeper, Sedranni Vashnarstill, was forced to tell us that she had been hosting the Scarlet Triad and that they had given her money so long as they could use her shop as a base. Without a thought, we pushed on into the back store room, down a long hallway and into a room where we found 2 Scarlet Triad members torturing a halfling. A stone golem charged in as well. The Triad members were easy. The golem was hard. We finally encircled it in a wall of ice and left it there to freeze to death.

-Deku (Keaton)

The golem.

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Death from a Lump, tengu champion 9
Deku, goblin alchemist 9
Orkan Dewbreaker, tengu ranger 9
Planty, leshy barbarian 9
Samceror, gnome sorcerer 9

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Age of Ashes #51: Blood on the Water

The party confronts the demon and the organization raiding the sleepy town of Cypress Point for slaves. (-GM)

19th of Pharast, 4720 AR

I once again try to blind the demon, and I finally manage to succeed, although only for a short time. I see one of the sailors that had been stupid enough to stand in our way begin to run as I electrocute the demon, finally killing it. The sailors begin to jump overboard after Orkan’s untactful attempt at keeping them on the ship, and I, wanting them to stay both so they could live free of the demons’ oppression, and also so we could get information from them, attempt to scare them into staying on the boat.

“If you stay, we will be merciful,” I say, “but if you jump we will hunt you down for the rest of your days!” However, even with my incredible skills of intimidation, I was only able to convince one sailor to remain on the boat.

After tying him to the mast, we go into the hold to free the prisoners. I flinch as the stench of blood wafts up at me, but I continue climbing down. 

At the bottom, we find two thugs wearing the insignia of the Scarlet Triad standing over the dead body of one of the townsfolk. This angers me so much that my ensuing battlecry is even more of a success than usual, making the fight much easier for us. Death From a Lump tries to hit a thug, but ends up hitting himself instead, causing him to start attacking us. I try to use electric arc to snap him out of it, which ends up knocking him unconscious, although it also kills one of the thugs.

As more and more of my companions are knocked out by the remaining thugs, I begin to heal them while Orkan, flying above my head, continues to ignore the party’s problems while bragging about how good his aim is. At least he is killing the thugs, though.

We finally beat the captives and begin bandaging our wounds while we search the ship. We find and free the captives, and find detailed maps of the ship, as well as a green cloak which Orkan says is a Cape of the Mountebank. We also find four chunks of mithral and five silver ingots. One of the captives says that he has some armor and an adamantine axe in his house that we can have.

“I am very successful in blinding the leader, after which I leave much of the now-easy fight to my companions.”

Although I am sickened by spending any more time than is necessary on a ship that was used to carry slaves, I suggest to the group that we keep the ship for the Guild, as I think it will be a large source of profit. We make our way to the smokehouse to free the town leaders. I send my familiar Samcerat forward to scout out the area. He returns telling us that there is a patrol of four thugs, and at the smokehouse are two drakes and an armor-wearing human. We sneak past the guards and begin fighting the drakes and what appears to be the leader. I am very successful in blinding the leader, after which I leave much of the now-easy fight to my companions. 

We enter the smokehouse and are greeted by the town’s leaders. One, named Xerelilah, says she is a priest. The town throws a large party for us, and, after the party is over, we collect the armor and axe from the old man’s house.

-Samceror (Sam)

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Death from a Lump, tengu champion 9
Deku, goblin alchemist 9
Orkan Dewbreaker, tengu ranger 9
Planty, leshy barbarian 9
Samceror, gnome sorcerer 9

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Age of Ashes #50: Raid on Cypress Point

In a missing chapter of our tale, the party defeated a hag coven that occupied the way station. After leaving through the second portal, they find themselves near Cypress Point, a small port town in the nation of Ravounel. (-GM)

18th of Pharast, 4720 AR

“The boar, lacking the intelligence to wait, dashes at the party in a blind frenzy.”

PEW, PEW-PEW PEW PEWWWWWW

*totally the sound arrows make*

The one and only Orkan Dewbreaker leads our battle today, sending shot after bow shot at the enemy! Well, no, I mean he only shoots twice to start BUT STILL none shall judge the great Orkan Deeeewbreaker! As the arrows embed themselves into our still far-off enemies, the boar in particular, they charge. The boar, lacking the intelligence to wait, dashes at the party in a blind frenzy. And then. From a distance. Out of the blue…

Our party runs crazily too!!

Like full on screaming and stumbling and whooping and shouting!

So for a few seconds, this is the battle.

Yet Orkan Dewbreaker sees his opportunity to strike.

Raising his bow, he lets another two arrows fly, finding themselves protruding from the boar, who went out in a squealing blaze of running glory.

 

Extinction Curse #3: With a Bang!

Our heroic circus troupe helps Abberton deal with the recent strange goings-on, starting with the strange smell at Goldenlaws Church. What say the goblin? (-GM)

3rd of Calistril, 4729 AR

Vorrim Ratsnatcher

Okay. So. There we was, skulkin’ through the graveyard in search o’ something wot the talking doggo told us to be findin’, when we sees ‘em. Two hoomie muckers, standin’ round a big ’ole in da ground. Dey was diggin’ up one o’ dem graves. Now, we ain’t the type to ask questions afore blowin’ shi- sorry, stuff, up. So dat lizzerd man runs straight up an’ goes to take a swing wi’ dat dogslicer o’ his. But it can’t be that easy, innit.

Da first graverobber turns toward sword lizard an’ opens ‘is mouth to yell. But it ain’t sound wot comes out, it’s a purple wormy thing. ‘E goes to chop the maggoty bastard, but ‘is sword barely makes a scratch. Righ’ then, th’ first an second magicky folk comes round the corner. Sorceror shoots a rock with ‘is sling, and cleric tries to whip out his war‘ammer smack one of ‘em.

Now, I sees my moment. I takes out my first fiyaball an’ chucks it right down the wormy mouth. It hits ‘im square, and ‘splodes in a burst o smoke an sulfur. The worm bounces back wi’ a cooked food-hole, an’ bites at lizzerd man, takin’ a fat chunk out o’ his arm. Now, I ain’t likin th’ way these things are goin’, so I whips out another one o’ me kustom bomz an’ whips it at the purple maggot. Dis one ‘splodes with acid, not fire but the effect is the same. I killed one of ‘em.

About this time, the goddy magic boy gets knocked into a hole in the ground, an’ spends about a year getting out of it. While he’s digging himself free, me, lizzerd man, and normal magic boy are turnin’ the last worm into a puddle of goo. It was delicious. When th’ goddy mage gets his butt out of the hole, he heals us up, and we go to explore the area. We go into the temple, and that’s when we see the next group of ‘em.

There are two hell boys in there, one’s a big guy and one is little and flies. We real quick start chucking bombs n’ spells n’ stuff, and the little one goes down right quick. I take up some of my kemikles, and I mix up a fiyaball and an acid trip. I throw ‘em both at the big guy, and he starts burning like someone I hate’s house. Real quick, someone jumps out and cuts his head in to a bunch a pieces.

Behind a door, there’s an old ‘uman in goddy clothes. He gives us some shiny gubbins, and I get the brooch from the dead demon. We go out back, and keep explorin’. Soon we runs in to a group of my people, but they aren’t in any mood to talk. They take out their dogslicers, and I get my crossbow. This is gonna be a BLAST.

-Raul (Vorrim)

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Neji, gnome sorcerer 2
Nepsun, dwarven cleric of Torag 2
Skaldrin, lizardfolk swashbuckler 1
Vorrim Ratsnatcher, goblin alchemist 2

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Rappan Athuk #120: The Horde

The party’s bard, Shia Labeouf, fell silent, leaving the legacy of the lightning devil-face and the first half of the party’s confrontation with the combined force of a race bred for war for others to wonder about. Alas, Shia appears a little tongue-tied.

(-GM)

12th day of Sarenith, 4722 AR

As we finished off the last of the grunts, a company of orog spellcaster elites left the safety of their temple to face us. They were very smart, conjuring a wall of wind to deflect our arrows, enhancing their eyes to see through our smoke, and covering our great banner with stone. But they weren’t smart enough, for if they were they would run away.

Deckard made quick work of their magic, dispelling their tricks faster than they could conjure them. We felled them one by one, tearing apart their flimsy charms and cantrips until they were reduced to mud and corpses just like their martial brethren. As we stood on the roof of that profane temple, we heard sounds of more soldiers, marching from every corner of that vast cavern. Let them come. We do not balk at weaklings simply because they come in numbers.

Susurrus unleashed a powerful blast of anti-magic that made the orogs unable to fly, then brought forth a sea of black tentacles that dragged them down into the mud. We flew down to that mass of desperate struggle, and killed them. We killed and killed and killed, and didn’t stop until the entire orog army was reduced to dead flesh and scrap metal.

The cavern was silent. All that remained were the pulsing lights, illuminating the temple of Orcus and the demonic carvings on its walls. We explored the tunnel that their spellcasters fled into, finding an amphitheater with a pool of pitch black liquid in the center, and three mithral golems to defend it.

I attacked one of the golems with the full force of my fury. I dealt six deadly blows to the machine, one of them removing its head, yet the thing fought on. Eventually, like all things that face us, it fell in a pool of its own molten metal. We then investigated the black pool. It appeared to be the very essence of the shadow plane. The orogs would use it to turn their elites into twisted monstrosities. We could not allow such a substance to exist, so we disintegrated the entire pool.

The hole where the liquid once rested revealed a secret tunnel under the amphitheater.

And in that tunnel we found what may be the most formidable enemy yet:

The Mages of Disjunction

Signing off,
Grom-gil-Gorm

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Death from Somewhere Irrelevantly Far Away, tiefling slayer 20 / fighter 1 / wizard 1 / alchemist 1
Deckard Cain, aasimar oracle 22
Doomfist, oread monk 20
Grom-gil-Gorm, half-orc viking fighter 20 / brawler 3
Shia Labeouf, human bard 20
Susurrus, sylph wind-listener wizard 22

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Rappan Athuk #118: Flame, Water, Wind, and Earth

The door to the Golden Toilet opened, and out floated a small flame. As the party beheld it, it grew larger and assumed fire-elemental form. Deckard Cain had been gone awhile, and he asks us to listen.

(-GM)

11th day of Sarenith, 4722 AR

My return to the party went more or less how I expected it. A large, menacing dungeon, lots of hostile and powerful enemies, and an epic fight. 

The party had gone beneath the massive statue of Orcus, the Prince of the Undead. I found the party in a rather peculiar situation. The ceiling of the vast cavern was covered with tainted bats, intent upon overwhelming the party. Already dozens, it not a hundred or more, were dead on the ground, their corpses slowly being consumed by the lava Susurrus had conjured. Others resembled pincushions from the arrows DFSIFA had skewered them with. 

Then, out of nowhere, a large demon with octopus tentacles jumped out of the nearby water and swallowed several bats flying towards us, then retreated back to its home in the depths of the lake. We debated our next best course of action, and it was decided that we should head over the lake. However, as soon as we started to fly our way across the lake, the water under us erupted to reveal two of the demons we had just seen. One of them concentrated for a mere second, and Shia Labeouf simply fell out of the air, completely losing his ability to fly; his screams were cut short by the crushing of his slim, fragile form by the monstrous tentacles of our foes. I cursed as our friend’s body was mutilated beyond most forms of healing.

Knowing that there was nothing I could do to save him, I focused and shot a bolt of death energy at the creature still constricting his corpse, greatly wounding it. Doomfist and Grom Gil Gorm engaged the now-wounded sea monster up close and crushed several of its tentacles, Finally, Susurrus shot a pure blast of cold at the enemies, freezing them, while DFSIFA lined up his shot and brought them down in a matter of seconds.

After the fight, I performed a ritual to bring our unfortunate bard back to us, and the rest of the party debated our next move. We eventually moved on, and, after a considerable amount of time spent wandering around the vast chambers of the cave complex, stumbled upon a most horrendous sight.

Towering above us was the largest, most menacing plant I had ever seen, which was identified to us by Susurrus as a mu spore. DFSIFA immediately nocked an arrow, drew, and fired at the beast, piercing its hide. The creature cried out in rage and spat a volley of spores at us. I shot a ray of pure cold at the beast, weakening it. After many an arrow shot, the beast fell to another lancing ray of cold from the hand of Susurrus.

-Deckard Cain (Aidan)

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Death from Somewhere Irrelevantly Far Away, tiefling slayer 20 / fighter 1 / wizard 1 / alchemist 1
Deckard Cain, aasimar oracle 21
Doomfist, oread monk 20
Grom-gil-Gorm, half-orc viking fighter 20 / brawler 3
Shia Labeouf, human bard 20
Susurrus, sylph wind-listener wizard 21

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Rappan Athuk #52: Stone Cold!

Deckard Cain sits us down and tells us what they found in the level containing a temple to Orcus. Stay awhile and listen! (-GM)

3rd day of Pharast, 4719 AR

Then we saw 4 Gorgon Hounds who had a strong breath that could turn flesh to stone.

Hello travelers! It is I, Deckard Cain again, in the second of my journal entries in the Rappan Athuk dungeon. This time the party had a less eventful, but exciting nonetheless adventure in the Orcus alter-temple whatever. We spent the majority of the time exploring blank hallways with nothing in them or on the walls, but DFSIFA (repeatedly saying “Blink!” to activate her ring) insisted on looking at them with her 1002 eyes (1000 on her robe/cloak and 2 on her head).

“Blink!”

After a while of exploring hallways, we heard a group of creatures around the corner. They seemed to have heard us for they cast darkness around themselves. Seeing this, I channeled the power of daylight through my body’s connection to the sun god Sarenrae, pushing the darkness out of existence. Seeing their spell countered,  the creatures fled around the corner and through a door. We saw the tail of one of the creatures and recognized them as leucrottas, the creatures that Gudmund had entertained. We spoke to them, and they asked us for mercy. We gave it and explored their rooms and found another buckled boot and some droppings (by the creatures). We left the creatures and explored more halls with nothing in them for the purpose of mapping the area out.

“Blink!”

 

Rappan Athuk #51: Demons-Be-Gone

We rejoin our party as they continue their battle with cultists and demons that was so epic that there was a cliffhanger. A paralyzed Death from Somewhere Irrelevantly Far Away tells us what happened. (-GM)

8th day of Abadius, 4719 AR

Demons filled the room, as far as the darkvision eye could see. The mummies in front of me were so pathetically weak, it terrified me. I was paralyzed with fear unable to move, attack, or do anything other than stare straight ahead (and drool a little).

During this time I connected my head to the cloud (via a magical link in my brain) and started looking at memes and cat-dragon videos. Then I remembered that I had started a journal a little while back. The last thing I had written down was about a big fiery cave.

 

Rappan Athuk #50: A Well-Prepared Enemy

The party ascends stairs leading out of the scorching salamander caverns and find a unique sort of respite… (-GM)

5th day of Kuthona, 4718 AR

After dealing with the salamanders, The Hero of No Name, our designated mapper, decided that he wanted to finish his map of this level. I remembered all the fallen souls that had contributed to our extensive maps of Rappan Athuk, as well as The Mouth of Doom. First we had the mysterious Drun Ken Sayler, then Strix, a strange bird-like creature that was quite handy with a bow. Then an amusing vanaran monk that was also quite good with a bow named Monkey, and finally The Hero of No Name, the fifth brave adventurer to hold the title of Mapper. Somehow, they have all understood the cryptic and confusing maps. Yet, they have all been able to lead us through the labyrinthine halls and pits of Rappan Athuk. They had all had one common trait though, the need to have their maps be complete, and showing all of the secret doors and traps. The Hero of No Name is no different, and so after a few long hallways, we found the door he was looking for.