GoCorral

This session was attended by Trajan, Will, and Ben on Google Hangouts. Ben left about halfway through.

Expansion Plans

The party enjoyed the great feast in Torngar’s honor and loathed the hangover on the next day. After recovering they teleported back to Bradel Fields to consider their options. The dwarves were on the Alliance side, but what other factions could be coerced to join them? The party set their sights on Dalleer, the largest city in eastern Cimmeria.

Dalleer is ruled by an insane dictator known as the Björn. The leader’s name and title are always Björn. The Björn is demented and the day-to-day business of the city is carried out by the Prime Minister Terolio. Terolio was appointed to his position with the Björn’s absolute power. Terolio is very stable and not insane in the least. He keeps the Björn under control most of the time.

Dalleer is the rival city of Bradel Fields. The two of them are often in conflict, particularly over which city rules Harbinston. The village itself is of no economic consequence. It is merely a political tool for their conflict. The village is currently not ruled by either city. Bradel Fields entered the war and Terolio has also kept Dalleer out of the war in order to weaken Bradel Fields.

The Alliance has sought to end the conflict between the two cities by organizing a political marriage between Björn and Astyanax’s daughter, Cassandra. While Bradel Fields is a republic, were it to return to a monarchy, Astyanax would be the best choice for king. Cassandra, being Astyanax’s daughter, is the best choice for a political marriage to the Björn, but her virginity was in question. Astyanax had become frustrated with her behavior and confined her to his estate when the important possibility of her marriage was suggested in July.

The Björn expressed a tacit approval of the marriage. Cassandra’s worth as a bargaining chip was reduced after Astyanax’s death at the hands of a demon. He was tortured by the demon and came back changed. He has since locked himself in his rooms at his estate and only opened the door for food and water. The party went to Astyanax’s home to restore his mental health.

A Face-to-Face Chat

Terroc, Amalius, Aldarian, Tagenadi, Torin, Preta, and Shez were admitted to the estate and told that Astyanax was not seeing any visitors (They’re let in regardless because they are his house guests when they stay in Bradel Fields). They ignored the servants and went straight to Astyanax’s door. Terroc took the lead as he had known Astyanax the longest. Terroc established a friendship with Astyanax’s father, Hector, in previous campaigns. Terroc remained a family friend and had occasionally visited Astyanax as he was growing up.
Terroc knocked on the door. A voice from inside shouted, “Go away Bercephallus! I said I want to be left alone!” Bercephallus being one of the household staff.
Terroc spoke through the door, “It’s me, Astyanax! Your old friend Terroc!”
“Go away!”
“We need to talk to you about matters with great importance to the Alliance and yourself.”
Someone getting up from a chair could be heard. Astyanax opened the door a crack to reveal his flensed face with a beard growing on the skin half of his face. Astyanax scanned the faces of the party. Recognizing most of them he let them into his suite. “Fine. If it concerns the Alliance you can meet with me.”
Astyanax collapsed into a sofa chair in the entry room. The party took their seats in the remaining chairs and couches. Astyanax drank straight from a bottle of unmixed wine with only a quarter left at the bottom.
Terroc began, “Astyanax, the Alliance needs you. A strong military man is required most of all after the fall of Phoenix. Your experience and leadership are necessary for the Alliance’s victory.”
“I can’t go back.”
“It’d really be for the best. We need someone who can command the troops and rally them in these dark times.”
“I can’t go back! Look at me! I’m a disgrace! I could have led the men, but that was before. I’m so ashamed!”
“Ashamed of what?”
“When I was with that demon… The things it did to me… I would’ve done anything it told me to.”
“No one will fault you for that.”
“You don’t understand! If it had asked me to fall I would’ve done it in a heartbeat to make the pain stop! I would’ve become…a blackguard. One of the lowly dark paladins.”
Amalius jumped in, “But you didn’t, Astyanax. You stayed strong. You’re what the Alliance needs right now, Strength.”
“I cannot return. I couldn’t stand all those people looking at me. Knowing what I could’ve done. I’m so ashamed.” Astyanax bent over to hide his crying in his hands.
Amalius said, “We all need you back Astyanax. You can’t be the Alliance’s face anymore, but you can still be its heart. You’re a good person.”
“But what would they say when they looked at me? I’m a monster!”
Amalius said, “No one will judge you. They remember you at their best and that is what they’ll see.”
Astyanax looked up from his tear-stained hands and shouted, “They will just see my twisted face!”
Terroc said, “Then what if we hid your face behind a mask? A mask that can only show your virtues?”
“I- I think that could work. Would you do that for me Terroc? Bring me a mask?”
“Of course, old friend.”
“Thank you.” Astyanax and Terroc went for a hug. The party excused themselves for more important matters.

The party put some discussion into what the mask should be. Something intimidating and magically enhanced. They went for a white and red motif with rubies encrusted in the mask. It’s magic powers would be a constant heroism effect and an amplify voice effect. Preta and Shez were sent off to Greshendale to find a mage who could construct the mask within a few days. Terroc also instructed them to buy some new protection gear for himself.

The group, assuming that the marriage would be successfully negotiated, began planning Cassandra’s processional from Bradel Fields to Dalleer. Terroc could summon some angels to lead the ten day journey. Kig managed the ritual details while Junai teleported in from Jipangu to assist with security. Preta and Shez also assisted after returning from Greshendale. Feeling that the procession was in good hands, the group rested for the night with a plan to head off to the Tomb of Kruk-Ma-Kali in the morning.

A Suspicious Disappearance

Hours after dawn, Amalius had still not emerged from his room for breakfast. The party went up his room, fearing the worst. Inside they found the wall between his room and his squire’s had been disintegrated. On the floor was the dusty outline of a person. A longsword was cast haphazardly upon the floor. On Amalius’s unmade bed lay a glass orb with the static image of a woman and three children flickering in it. The party looked onward until they heard a small noise from under the bed.

Terroc animated the bed and ordered it to move across the room into Amalius’s squire’s room. The bed scuffed the ashes and revealed nothing underneath the bed. The party feared that a monster or assassin of some kind was clutching the bottom of the bed. Terroc summoned in an avoral and told it to lift the bed up. Hanging onto the bottom of the frame was Amalius’s psicrystal. The psicrystal leaped off the bed and tried to run through the door. Terroc snatched it up.

Terroc said, “What happened here?”
Psicrystal began to cry and whimper, unable to say anything coherent. More questions received the same response.
Aldarian walked into the scene and said, “Looks like the dragovinian came again.”
Everyone turned to Aldarian and said, “What?”
“Amalius has been passing information to the dragovinians. They’re holding his family hostage to force him to do it. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want anything bad to happen to his kids.”
Terroc said, “He was what?”
“Passing information to the dragovinians. He was a spy.”
“And you knew?”
“Well, one time a dragovinian came to beat him up and threaten him when he stopped passing the information along. He’s been going pretty steady since then.”
“Why shouldn’t we kill you right now for being a spy?”
“Hey! I was under an enchantment! I couldn’t tell you I was a spy. I didn’t want to do it, but I had to!”
Torin said, “Fine. We’ll trust for you for now. What happened here?” He gestured to the room.
“I don’t know. I was asleep. Maybe the psicrystal knows?”
Torin said, “Psicrystal, can you explain what happened?”
“I can. Last night, Master commanded me to watch the windows like I always do. I was on my guard, but the dragovinian snuck through. He punched Master to wake him up. He told Master that his family was going to die because Master had helped kill two of the Rages at the Battle of Phoenix. He told Master that the orb he was holding would let him watch them die.”
Terroc interuppted, “Hang on. Did the dragovinian say its name?”
“Yes. He said his name was Devanane.”
“Okay. Continue.”
“Master sped up time. When he came back he was behind the dragovinian holding his new evil dagger to it’s neck. He used his magic to dominate the dragovinian and then he started asking it questions about his family. The dragovinian said they were being held at Petar Prison, but I’m not sure we can trust what it says. Master got ready to disintegrate the dragovinian, but it dodged at the last second and he missed. The ray disintegrated the wall and woke Master’s squire up. Master’s squire came in with his sword, but the dragovinian killed him. Then Master disintegrated the body because he didn’t want it to turn into a wight. Then the dragovinian tried to run away, but Master told it to stay. Master then thought a long time before telling the dragovinian to wait by the gate for him. The dragovinian left. Then Master picked up the orb and he disappeared.”
Terroc asked, “Disappeared where?”
“I don’t know. I felt his presence for a second afterwards, but then he was gone.”

Terroc moved to investigate the orb, being careful not to touch it. Inside he saw a a static image of a woman, two boys, and a girl all screaming in pain as fire roared around them. On the orb the words, “Amalius,” and, “Blendegad,” were etched. Terroc cast a detect magic to reveal that the orb contained an illusion spell and a strong conjuration spell. He ordered his avoral to look at the orb with true seeing. The avoral reported that the image of the woman and the children was an illusion. Terroc thought a little more and realized that the orb was a trigger object for a trap the soul spell. Terroc tried a greater scrying for Amalius, but turned up nothing.

Torin, Terroc, and Tagenadi talked it over and decided that Amalius was dead. They also decided that because he was a spy, he probably wasn’t worth rescuing from death. Furthermore, they didn’t think they could trust Aldarian. They decided to keep him with them until he proved his loyalty.

(Trajan included the stuff about a captive family and being an unwilling spy with Aldarian as a geased cohort in his backstory at the beginning of the campaign. It’s only been revealed to the other players now. He and I have been having sessions on the side for him to pass information to the Xorians with Aldarian’s help. During the last one, Amalius was soul sucked. Trajan will be playing Aldarian until Amalius can reenter the story. Also, we’re a little sad that the others didn’t want to rescue Amalius and learn what he’d discovered about the Xorians while being a spy for them.)

Mist and Mummies

The away team of Terroc, Tagenadi, Torin, and Aldarian went ahead with their plan to investigate more of the tomb. Aldarian took care of some of the more frustrating traps in the first stages of the tomb before they went deeper. They first explored more of the room with the falling floor and the rotating statue of Kruk-Ma-Kali. Aldarian used his rod of ropes to grapple the handle of the southern ebony door. The door opened to reveal a symbol of insanity. Everyone successfully resisted it.

Terroc summoned an air elemental to carry the party across to the misty archway. Upon entering the mist, Torin and Tagenadi were teleported away. The air elemental and Aldarian went insane and started attacking each other. The elemental hit Aldarian hard and Aldarian spontaneously burst into flame. Terroc dispelled the elemental and flew away from Aldarian. Psicrystal flew away as well. The elf, left with no targets, began attacking himself. Terroc was puzzled by the fire that enveloped Aldarian, but didn’t seem to harm him. Deciding to figure the puzzle out later, Terroc summoned a smaller air elemental outside of the mist and ordered it to go in full defense. Aldarian was able to attack the elemental instead until the mist’s effect wore off.

Aldarian quickly explored the room and found nothing in it. He hopped onto the air elemental back to the entrance to the room. Terroc used a scrying spell to find Torin and Tagenadi. He saw them on the plane of evil creatures. They were observing a battle between an army of hobgoblins and an army of orcs. Knowing that Torin had access to plane shift, Terroc decided that he would reunite with them at Bradel Fields the next day.

Terroc and Aldarian, not wanting to waste any time, ventured into other unexplored parts of the tomb. They returned to the door with the carvings of humanoids in pain. Aldarian found no traps on it, so he opened the door.

Beyond was a long room that continued into the darkness. The floor of the room was littered with bones, weapons, and armor of elves, dwarves, and humans. The walls of the room had carvings of hobgoblin, elf, dwarf, and human armies battling it out.

Terroc sent an ape in to “check for traps.” The ape found nothing. Aldarian went in next. At the back of the 110 foot long room he found a steel door. Aldarian checked the door for traps. Finding none, he unlocked it. Aldarian tied a mundane rope to the door and then jogged back to Terroc at the room’s entrance. As the door opened the two adventurers watched the bodies silently animate and grab their weapons.

Terroc quickly summoned a trio of celestial lions and sent them in. Aldarian took a defensive position next to Terroc. The lions tore up the various types of undead until their duration expired. Terroc and Aldarian saw skeletons, zombies, a few wights, and 2 wraiths. At the back of the undead a tall mummy silently commanded the undead. At the mummy’s side was a black longsword and a golden crown sat upon its head. With the lions defeated the undead shied to the back of the room out of the light.

Terroc and Aldarian devised a plan. Aldarian tied his rod of ropes to himself and gave the rod portion to Terroc. Aldarian ran into the room with a light spell cast on a rock. When he saw the undead he threw the rock at them and told Terroc to pull him in. The skeletons charged him and got a few swipes with their swords before Aldarian was pulled away. Terroc dropped the rod and fired a true striked disintegrate at the mummy. It hit and the mummy dissolved into dust. The undead charged forward and Terroc put up a wall of iron. The two wraiths poked their heads through, but decided not to engage without the rest of their forces.

Feeling that was all the pair could manage today, they left and teleported back to Bradel Fields to await Torin and Tagenadi’s return.

Through the Fog

Torin and Tagenadi had been teleported into the midst of a battle between hobgoblins and orcs. Tagenadi activated his flight armor and took Torin up into the air. Torin used a detect magic to scan the battlefield for a return portal. Finding none, they settled down away from the battle to watch for its end. Neither side retreated resulting in a total victory for the hobgoblins. The victorious army scavenged weapons and armor for the slain on both sides before setting up camp away from the battle.

Torin and Tagenadi approached the hobgoblin camp. The hobgoblins fired their bows at the two. Torin threw up a wind wall in response. Seeing that the arrows were having no effect, the hobgoblins grabbed their spears and charged. Torin animated the spears and told them to attack the hobgoblins. The hobgoblins ran away to grab axes and they chopped up the spears. They then charged with the axes. Torin animated the axes and the hobgoblins ran away again. No longer trusting any of their weaponry they stayed in the camp looking in anticipation at Torin and Tagenadi.

Torin cast tongues and the two strolled into the camp and talked to one of the hobgoblins who identified himself as Hoogamoog. He told Torin that the hobgoblins had always fought the orcs, but occasionally they fought kobolds, giants, trolls, or animals. They lived to fight and did little else. The hobgoblin tribes lived in the mountains to the west. Deciding that he cared little for the hobgoblins, even though they referred to him as “Great and Powerful Shaman,” Torin ordered a tent built for himself. The hobgoblins combined three soldier tents to form Torin’s command tent. Torin and Tagenadi retired to the tent after ordering the hobgoblins not to disturb them.

The next morning Torin plane shifted himself and Tagenadi back to Cimmeria. Surveying the geography they found themselves a good ways north of Bradel Fields. Torin cast a wind walk spell and within a few hours they reunited with Terroc and Aldarian.

Deadends

The group, not finished with the tomb yet, teleported back there for more. They returned to the undead room. Terroc disintegrated his iron wall and Torin used his clerical magic to eliminate the undead threat. Aldarian gave the room another search and found nothing. The steel door had opened to reveal a red stone wall. Terroc disintegrated the wall, suspecting a secret passageway. He created his own ten foot passageway, but nothing else lay beyond.

The party shrugged and explored the final two doors in the room full of spikes. The southern door was locked. Aldarian popped it open. Behind was a lightning trap and a wall. Torin healed everyone up from the lightning damage. Aldarian searched the western door for traps and then opened it as well. Beyond was a small room with a golden circle on the floor. Terroc used detect magic to find a strong transmutation and conjuration aura. Fearing the effects of the circle, no one stepped into it. Aldarian searched the room and found nothing.

Having explored all the rooms the party was stumped. They sat down and thought about the various riddles they’d uncovered during their time in the Great Valley and the Tomb of Kruk-Ma-Kali.

Deciding that the line, “Wisdom, hard won, bests any coin. Follow Us and prosper. KMK” meant something, the party returned to the room with the whispering pit where Tagenadi had gained some knowledge. Each of the party members took a turn being tied to a rope and going up to listen to the pit. Torin and Terroc gained a wider view of the universe from the experience. Aldarian gained a sudden desire to jump into the pit. Fortunately Torin and Tagenadi were strong enough to prevent a quick descent. They pulled him out of the pit and Aldarian apologized for his actions.

Wanting to know more about what lay at the bottom, Torin and Aldarian were lowered down the pit by Tagenadi. Reaching the dark bottom at 200 feet they crossed the threshold. Beyond was a ruined city full of ghostly shades walking the streets of hell! The portal appeared 100 feet in the air above the dead city. Immediately recognizing it and knowing that no treasure lay here, Torin gave a signal for Tagenadi to pull them back up.

See Past the Mean

While cataloguing the treasure of the tomb, the party had found an interesting gem that appeared to be a psicrystal. Amalius had confirmed that the gem was indeed a psicrystal before his demise. The party had tried various forms of communicating with the gem, but it had refused to say anything to them. Now, they thought it might be the key to Kruk-Ma-Kali’s secret burial chamber. They took the psicrystal, nicknamed Putty, throughout the tomb, searching for a socket to place it in. They found nothing until walking through the hallway filled with carvings of Kruk-Ma-Kali’s deeds. Upon passing by the carving of Kruk-Ma-Kali at his desk, Aldarians elven spidey-sense tingled. He detected a secret door. Pushing the seated figure of Kruk-Ma-Kali inwards caused a section of wall to slowly drop into the floor, revealing a secret hallway.

(The necessary clues were “see past the mean” and “Follow Us and prosper” from the pentagon door. The mean is that all the carvings of Kruk-Ma-Kali show him doing heroic things, except for one of him doing desk work.)

At the end of the hallway was an oak door. Aldarian disarmed a needle trap and unlocked the door. Beyond was a room filled with mirrors on the walls and ceiling.

Terroc said, “Oh fuck. Mirrors of opposition.”

The party tried to make battle plans, but were too late. The mirrors activated and their doubles walked out into the room. Terroc and Tagenadi’s doubles were hobgoblins. Torin’s double was a bugbear. Aldarian’s double was an orc. Combat ensued!

The doubles all specifically targeted their originals. Hobgoblin Terroc threw disintegrates at real Terroc. Bugbear Torin threw blade barriers and flame strikes at real Torin. Orc Aldarian used an invisibility spell and stabbed real Aldarian. Hobgoblin Tagenadi used White Raven Tactics and attempted to sunder real Tagenadi’s weapon with Ancient Mountain Hammer. Real Terroc summoned monsters to grapple hobgoblin Terroc and bugbear Torin. Real Tagenadi used White Raven Tactics and trip attacks to keep hobgoblin Tagenadi focused on him. Real Aldarian moved in to flank and stab hobgoblin Tagenadi. Real Torin got blinded by bugbear Torin’s power word blind spell, but he still managed to blind hobgoblin Tagenadi with the same spell. Real Torin used mass cure spells while blinded as he could target people without seeing them.

In the end, real Terroc’s summons decided the battle. Hobgoblin Terroc was unable to perform the complicated gestures to cast spells while the air elemental grappled him. Once hobgoblin Terroc was down, the rest of the party had action advantage and took victory that way. About a minute after their defeat each of the mirror doubles and their equipment disappeared.

Before the party was another door. This one was gold and had two crossed halberds on it. Goblin writing on the door said, “The blade kills. The hand guides the blade. The mind guides the hand. The spirit guides the mind. The spirit resides in the body. The body dies by the blade. Such is the way.”

We ended the session there. A good cliffhanger and it was getting pretty late. Next time! The final room of the Tomb of Kruk-Ma-Kali!