Arden Est: Goblin Wars!

[Asaris]

Session Eighteen: Spectre strikes from the shadows
This session saw Darwain, Vasily, and Aderan, with their henchpeople Duggan, Wylith, and Celebrian, head northwest from Gdansk, across the Aquila River, into orc country. The two day trip to an outcropping of hills was uneventful. The map they followed was good, but incomplete as they ran into a split in the trail the map had failed to account for. They decided to go east, since that was the closest to left, and they are nothing if not creatures of habit. As they approach a cave mouth, they are surprised by a manticore erupting from its underground lair, spraying the party with spikes. The flurry of missiles failed to stop the beast, and it landed next to Darwain to get the visceral pleasure from tearing him limb from limb with its own claws. Unfortunately for the manticore, Darwain had reinforced the haft of his arbalest, and bludgeoned the creature to death with it.

The natural cave very quickly gave way to a man-made structure, and the statue inside confirmed the party’s suspicions – this was the shrine of Crom within which they expected to find the life force of the evil high priest Xanathon. The shrine is largely empty of life. The clerics in charge had received a vision from their god that the party was coming, and had prepared themselves in their room. Sadly for them, this was to no avail, and they were cut down. There was also a strangely long corridor which led to a portion of the shrine identical to the portion they had left, but with dead clerics instead of living ones. Shrugging their shoulders, the Cobalt Cavers continued to explore the areas they had not yet covered.

In the southwest corner of the shrine, they came across some barracks. The first six were easily dealt with by one of Aderan’s sleep spells, but the next six spilling out from behind them were not quite so easily taken care of. Darwain’s arbalest killed two, and very nearly killed three, and the axes and swords of the rest of the party sufficed for the remainder. Finally the sergeants spilled out of a third room, but these too fell to the Cavers.

After this, the party began to suspect there was something odd about the shrine. A long discussion led them to the conclusion that it had to be the strangely long corridor. Once they went there with some chalk, the answer became clear – there was a teleportation trap that had turned them around. Knowing this, it was easy to circumvent. Behind the trap were stairs leading to the second level, guarded by two gargoyles. Vasily was undeterred, and decapitated them with one mighty swing.

Below, the party came across a room with twelve platforms, and twelve mouldering corpses on the platforms. Once Wylith entered, the corpses animated themselves, but she quickly controlled six and departed with four of them, leaving two to block the exit. The Cobalt Cavers avoided the caves to the south of the level, and very quickly found themselves accosted by a hypnosnake. Two of the zombies died fighting the snake, and another two with supporting missile fire were able to kill the wights they found in a further room.

Finally, in a throne room, the Cavers found a pulsating gem that could only be the artifact they sought. But guarding the gem was a spectre. The party quickly put down the incorporeal fiend, but not before it faded through their lines to put it’s icy claws around Celebrian’s neck, draining her life force to nothing. After that, the party resolved to explore further, but took that decision back after an encounter with five ogres convinced them that the risk of further exploration was greater than the reward.

[Asaris]

Session Nineteen, Or, How to double your mortal enemies without really trying
We find the Cobalt Cavers in the process of heading back to Gdansk after retrieving the lifestone of Xanathon. Back in town, they meet up with the cleric Eric Forsett, who reminds the party that if Xanathon dies without revealing how to heal the duke, all of their efforts will have been in vain. The party nods, and heads off to the temple to confront Xanathon. Rather than go through the temple again, they circle to the window they crashed out of last time. As they discuss their options, a group of barbarians round the corner, yelling, “What are you doing here?” The Cavers respond with a sleep spell and throat cutting.

With their planning completed, they break through the large window into Xanathon’s chamber. They have carefully orchestrated their plan – Duggan smashes the window and Wylith’s choking grasp incapacitates the high priest. But this plan goes south when Xanathon resists the spell. A protracted conflict ensues, with the skill at arms of the Cavers preventing Xanathon from casting any spells, while Xanathon and his mace leave few marks on the team. As Xanathon begins to weary from the blows, the Cavers begin to pull their punches to ensure he is taken alive. A couple of key misses allow Xanathon to finally cast finger of death, but saves are made, and finally Xanathon is forced to surrender and reveal the antidote to them.

Xanathon is brought outside town to Glenn Danzig, who promises to keep him locked up. The party then heads to the baron’s palace to heal him. The manor is empty until they get near the baron’s chambers. Draco, along with his lieutenant and captain, is waiting for the party. A terrible fight ensues, knocking out Duggan and Celebrian. Darwain is driven to withdraw, but his Parthian shot kills Draco, and Draco’s men immediately surrender. The baron is in the next room, and the Cavers heal him. In gratitude, the baron offers 2,000 gp to both Darwain and Vasily. However, when they head back to meet up with Captain Danzig, they discover Xanathon is gone! Apparently some illusionist disguised himself as Darwain, and took Xanathon away.

While they are on the great middle road anyway, the Cavers decide to head to Lesnime to talk with Aderan’s mentor about the mirror tower. On the way, they are assaulted by a tribe of nearly fifty feral halflings who had been eating some merchants, but the Doppelstompers drive them off and appropriate their treasure.

In Lesnime, they meet with Aderan’s mentor, a mage named Kessler. He tells the Cobalt Cavers that about a hundred years ago, before Morachi was founded, a wizard named Skarda lived in that tower. Skarda was a master of mirror magic, and created a magical mirror that linked up with the demiplane of mirrors, the space behind all mirrors. His intentions were not good – he would take an army into that demiplane, use his magic to sneak into the residence of whatever ruler he wished to supplant, and the army would pour out of the mirror, overwhelming the defenders. Fortunately, a hero named Matamoros climbed the tower and defeated Skarda. But Skarda was not dead. Before Matamoros could land the finishing blow, Skarda lept into his mirror. Matamoros then took up residence in the tower. He kept the mirror as a trophy of his victory, but covered it so that Skarda could not escape the demiplane.

Aderan reasons that the most recent resident of that tower must have lifted the cover off of the mirror, allowing Skarda to escape. With more time, Skarda could take the magic mirror with him, replenish his army, and use it to attack one of the dukes, establishing himself in their place.

[Asaris]

Session Twenty: Ogre, Ogre
The Cobalt Cavers, consisting this session of Vasily and Darwain together with their henchmen, decide to leave Lesnime after learning what they could about Skarda and his mirrors. They briefly discuss Tegel Manor, where the lord is rumored to be a vampire, but decide to head back to Threshold. Shortly after leaving Lesnime, the party encounter an old man in the road, who asked them to help. He is a merchant, and goblins attacked and looted his caravan. He could lead the party to the goblin’s lair, to retrieve his merchandise, and they would be richly rewarded.

The party is a little bit suspicious, and so Vasily looks around for the goblin tracks. He sees some tracks, but can’t make out what they are. They follow the old man to the cave, and head inside. Once inside, they find that, instead of goblins, six ogres attack! After a massive fight, two of the ogres are killed, and the rest retreat. Vasily and Darwain pursue the ogres, leaving Wylith and Duggan behind.

While Vasily and Darwain chase four ogres in a dark cave, the old man approaches Wylith and Duggan. He attempts to charm Duggan, but fails. Wylith’s counter-hex also fails, but Duggan manages to get a hit in. As he does, the illusion fails, and the old man is revealed to be a lamia. Her disguise vanished, she flees, and Wylith and Duggan move deeper into the cave to where Vasily and Darwain are fighting a horde of ogres.

When Vasily and Darwain followed the ogres, they were led into a large cave. The cave has 5 entrances, and fifteen ogres pour out and attack. By the time Duggan and Wylith rejoin them, half of the ogres are dead, but six ogre champions have rejoined them. They fight a bit longer, but it’s clear that, eventually, the ogres will overwhelm them. The Cavers retreat, and the ogres do not follow.

Outside of Czerny, they encounter a strange phenomenon – a swarm of frogs. In unison, the frogs warn the party to stay clear of Koschei’s business. They eventually make it to Ishpeming, where they decide they will head to the citadel where the Order of the Golden Fleece has it’s regional headquarters

[Asaris]

Session Twenty-One: Into the vaults of Castle Dregely

The Cobalt Cavers had been worried for some time about the absence of Robi Samdos from the Citadel of the Golden Fleece. They also suspect there may be some connection to the missing women. The Order of the Golden Fleece are clerics devoted to Adreham, god of civilization and order. Robi Samdos was their head in Morachi, but no one had heard from him in some time. When the Cavers get to the Citadel, Dregely Castle, they are greeted by the gatekeeper, Aldo Stanis. He invites them in, but says they probably won’t be able to meet with Robi. When they insist, saying they have important information about an acolyte of Crom (Xanathon), Aldo goes to get Istvan Shakashvili, Robi’s valet.

Istvan is distinctly unimpressed with the news, telling the Cavers that it sounds like Xanathon is taken care of and on the run. He dismisses the party, but when they ask Aldo if they can stay the night, he welcomes them. When they go to the great hall for dinner, they notice that it is quite empty, a fact that Aldo fails to illuminate.

That night, Darwain goes sneaking around. He’s able to find Robi’s suite of offices, but all he finds there is a letter, unfinished, from before when the first girl went missing. The next day, Vasily tries to draw information out of some clerics by sparring with them, but this is a dead end. Eventually they explore further, and decide to head for the crypts.

The crypt is dark and dank, and as they enter, they see a rat scurry east. Following the rat, the party comes across a pool holding 4,000ep. Suspicious, they leave the pool be. Further down the corridor, they are jumped by six wights. Duggan is drained of one of his levels, but otherwise it is not a difficult encounter for the party as they kill or control the rest. This passageway is otherwise a dead end, so they head back to the entry chamber and go north.

North of the entry chamber, the party finds a burial chamber where three simple coffins lie in three niches to the north, east, and west. The Cavers open each coffin, and find a pile of dirt inside each. They douse each with holy water, and continue on to finally go left of the entry chamber. Along that corridor, two scythes swing out at Vasily. He totally matrixes them, and the party comes to what appears to be the end of the corridor. They head back into the citadel, and confront Istvan with the evidence of vampires in his basement. He denies everything, and the party leaves him to go back to Ishpeming.

Back in Ishpeming, the party stays at the inn and inquires about Sanbalet. No one has heard anything, so the next morning they head to Pechen. There, Vasily looks up the whereabouts of the girl recently crowned the Queen of Love and Beauty, Cecilie. He brags about all the different things he’s killed, but Cecilie is bored by this and insults Vasily, asking him whether the large mace he carries is compensating for something.

Their next destination is the tower. There, a squad of infantry has been placed by the local baron, Bruno Markov. The Cavers talk to the troop, and they are reasonably friendly, and tell them that Markov stationed them because some adventurers were claiming land belonging to him. The Cavers decide that they should meet Baron Markov, and head towards his manor. While on the way there, they see a flock of pegasi overhead.

Baron Markov is pleased to finally meet the party. He tells them he wouldn’t mind granting them some land as his vassals, but first they have to do him a favor. A bandit town formed in his lands, and he’d like the party to root them out. He’ll even lend them troops to do so. The party says they’ll take it up once the necromancer is dead.

The party then leaves for Threshold, but they make a detour to find the pegasi’s lair. The party finds it and makes a note of its location. On the way to Threshold, the Cavers encounter a gang of bandits, 28 strong. They are surprisingly brave, and the Cavers kill 25 of them before they flee.