Session 68 - Crypto Hereticum
- Korrigan’s defender longsword delivered some bad news: Leon’s back was broken. Ottavia said that she had some healing skill, but such a serious injury was beyond her.
- They could hear nothing except the sound of rainwater splashing down from the ceiling, so Uru weaved a web and scuttled down it to the floor of the chamber, where Leon was arched over some broken masonry. Surrounding the tiefling were scorch-marks, and a charred corpse lay on the ground beside him.
- Matunaaga was just about to clamber down a rusting chain to join Uru when Malthusius shouted a warning. At that moment a trio of wights came kiltering over the rubble that lay before a set of huge doors to the south. They set upon Uru right away, draining his energy, before attacks from above felled one of them and saw the others scamper back where they came from.
- During the melee, Matunaaga somewhat ill-advisedly, used his mental powers to raise Leon from where he lay and bring him to the balcony where the others stood. This action, while gentle, reopened Leon’s wounds and he required immediate attention from Malthusius and Ottavia.
- Xambria kept pestering Malthusius to examine the wards in the entrance hall, admonishing him for ignoring such important archaeological evidence. Malthusius promised he would in time and begged her to be silent for now. (He had taken to wearing Ottavia’s telepathic headband which allowed Xambria to communicate with others. To keep Ottavia in the loop, he continually relayed to her what the other unit members were saying.)
- Uru crept closer to the southern doors to keep an eye on them.
- Ottavia succeeded in staunching Leon’s wounds, but said the only clergy healers able to fix breaks used a ritual similar to remove affliction, but infused with the energy of Urim. As she spoke, she eyed the glowing filigree patterns on Korrigan’s skin and asked him to explain them.
- Korrigan told them that he had borne them since the schism that altered his body, but that they had recently begun to glow more brightly: The hurtloam he used to heal Leon’s scars seemed to have soaked into his own flesh somehow, and the effect was even more pronounced since his exposure to the mana fields of Nalaam and the icon of Urim he now wore.
- Ottavia came up with a radical plan: if she and Malthusius could teach Korrigan the remove affliction ritual – if he could cast it himself with their help – it might be that his own Urim-infused healing powers would help to mend Leon’s broken bones. They would need to make Leon more comfortable first, and the attempt could some time. It might even kill the tiefling, but what other choice did they have, since he could not be moved?
- Discussions on the subject were cut short, when more wights came through the crack in the south doors. There were six of them, and three bearing spiked chains. Some went straight for Uru, while others scrambled up the rusty chains and pillars to attack the rest of the group.
- A well-armoured battlewight stepped through too and issued commands in Old Crisillyiri. The way they were all armed and armoured, Xambria and Malthusius guessed they might be adventurers who had come here to tomb raid and died in the attempt.
- During the fight, in an attempt to hide, Uru slipped through the doors into the chamber beyond.
- There he saw an enormous hall, filled with debris, dominated by a huge iron golem. Beneath its feet stood even more wights (and right next to Uru now, a spellcasting deathlock wight). The battlewight stepped back and filled the doorway to prevent Uru’s escape, but the deep fey assassin was faster than him, and scuttled up the side of the huge doors, over his head and back into the main chamber, where the unit and their oracular ally were making short work of the undead adventurers.
- Matunaaga jumped down to help Uru close the doors. Together they dropped the battlewight and tried to brace the enormous stone portals against the second wave of undead who now fell against it. Above, on the balcony, Malthusius realised their situation: the unit was already exhausted – an extended fight now could mean the end of them. He put every effort into blasting the wights that beset Korrigan, giving the Marshal chance to fly down (using his Canary pendant) and lend his solid weight to Uru and Matunaaga’s.
- With that, they dropped the rest of the wights in the entrance chamber, and having jammed the doors, resumed discussion of their options.
- They now had doorways on either side braced against hordes of undead. They could not go back until dawn, some twelve hours away. Pressing on in their current condition would be suicidal. But could they hope to keep the undead out long enough to rest? There was also the pressing matter of Leon’s broken back. If he could not be healed, they could not move him; but their only chance to do so was a jury-rigged ritual that might do more harm than good. The Voice of the Island had promised them help. No one trusted the voice, and both Ottavia and Malthusius believed that they should wait until dawn before returning to the surface: They still had a prearranged teleportation left that could get them from Sid Minos to Vendricce ahead of the train.
- Undecided, they opted to begin the ritual on Leon and see how that turned out. Then they would rest, if they could, and make a final decision as to which way to go after that. (There would still be five hours left until dawn.)
- They conducted the ritual and, by the narrowest of margins, avoided killing their friend. Korrigan had proved an able conduit, and Leon could now be left to rest and regain his full strength. With Matunaaga watching the exterior door, and Uru in a light trance close to the huge southern doors, the party then settled down to wait out at least part of the night.
- A few hours into their rest they received a messenger windcommunication from Rumdoom: He had arrived in Sid Minos, having used the party’s prearranged teleportation to do so. Although the group were glad to hear from the dwarf, this news now meant that, short of getting off the island before dawn, there was no way they could complete their mission.
- Korrigan responded to Rumdoom with a terse message that told him where they were (trapped by undead on the island of Odiem) and instructed him to use his initiative (since he had proved so fond of doing so in recent days).
- There then followed a much more intense discussion of the prospect of following the Voice of the Island deeper into the Vault. Again, Malthusius was dead-set against it. Korrigan, however, was determined to examine any option that might allow them to complete their mission successfully. Ottavia did not contribute to the discussion, merely observing that this Vault was built to house demons. Matunaaga and Uru were both up for further exploration.
- Leon awoke. As if recounting a half-remembered dream, he then told the others of a voice that had spoken to him as he lay dying in the darkness: this voice referred to itself as Ashima-Shimtu, and had offered him protection if he agreed to serve her. Desperate, he had acquiesced and…
- His account was interrupted as the tiefling burst into excoriating flames. He writhed around in agony for a moment as abyssal words filled the air around him. The others recoiled in horror and were surprised and relieved to find Leon still alive and breathing when the flames subsided. In his haste to recount his ‘dream’ he had forgotten the final, intuitive injunction not to reveal the nature of his bargain, and he had been punished.
- The unit exchanged glances while tending to Leon’s burns.
- Malthusius asked if Ashima-Shimtu had spoken to anyone else. No one responded.
- In the end, despite Malthusius’ best efforts to dissuade them, the group still resolved to press ahead.
Uru's player, in a moment of panic, having dashed out of the entrance chamber into the enormous hall beyond - and seeing half a dozen more wights and an iron golem in front of him - quickly played a Plot Twist card, to the effect that 'All is Not What it Seems'. But then he ran back into the entrance chamber anyway, which gave me plenty of time to replace the iron golem (which in my original design of the room, is rusted and defunct, and only there to frighten the bejeezus out of the players) with something else:
It is a 'statue' of Mor Granatha, a stone titan who long ago pledged himself to the service of the clergy and became one of their most steadfast godhands. He helped construct this tomb in his last days and, sworn a vow to defend it eternally, has stood here ever since. But the insidious influence of Ashima-Shimtu has caused the power of his oath to dwindle, and he died. So the 'iron golem' is a 'statue' which is actually the 'corpse' of a stone titan who was really a Godhand and may yet be undead (or possess a glimmer of life) depending on what the players do here now or in late paragon. The card did say 'All is Not What it Seems'!
Also worth noting is that Leon's player forgot about his geas! He was using his iphone to jog his memory of what had happened (as we discussed it via email) and only when he got to the end did he se the part about staying shtum. Then he burst into flames, taking 40+ damage, losing the damage bonus to his racial power, and providing a timely reminder to the others not to say a word.
I later had Ashima-Shimtu say that, although he had betrayed her confidence, he was still bound to her service. Leon decided to bluff!
Again, this was conducted via email. I assumed he would fail, as the target DC for bluffing a level 25 demoness was set at 38. My plan was to have Ashima-Shimtu accept and then, when everyone dives into the water to be teleported to Vendricce, Leon would arrive screaming in agony with the word LIAR carved into his face.
Unfortunately, he rolled a 39!!!
So unless I decide that Ashima-Shimtu simply cannot be lied to, he's safe for now, having falsely vowed to serve her quite convincingly.