ADVENTURE 54 - VENGEANCE OVERDUE
PC Roster:
NPC roster:
For this adventure, I decided I should reveal a little bit more about Delphyne's past. Vicki and I had jointly determined that she had been raised by her maternal grandmother, Esmerelda Blinx, since she was eight years old, but we had never determined how her parents had died. Before running this adventure, I asked Vicki to come up with the names of her two parents. As I wrote the adventure, I decided I'd start it with Delphyne having come face-to-face with a figure from her past, and - after checking with Vicki to make sure she was okay with it - I'd write the course of action that Delphyne took upon seeing this individual. (Some people absolutely hate it when the DM decides what a player character does, and I generally agree with them. However, this would only be used to set up the adventure, and Vicki didn't have any qualms about it.)
So, I'll start this post by providing you with a copy of the two handouts I gave Vicki at the start of the session, detailing what had happened to Delphyne immediately before the group game session actually started.
- - -
Akari and Rale were having a spirited debate about the basic tenets of equitable treasure splitting in the Wing Three Guild Hall living quarters when they heard a clatter in the hallway and the sound of someone racing up the stairs. As they looked over in the direction of the commotion, they saw Delphyne in as distressed a condition as they'd ever seen her: she stared ahead as if she wasn't focused on her surroundings, her hair was disheveled, she was out of breath, and she was missing one shoe. As they watched in astonishment, she tripped into the living room, fell to the floor, and curled up into the fetal position, moaning softly to herself.
"Delphyne!" called out Rale in shock. Akari picked her up and placed her on the sofa, while Galrick and Aerik peeked in from the kitchen to see what all the commotion was about. Aerik grabbed the greataxe from his back, ready to face any threat that might present itself. Galrich raced over to the top of the stairs, peering down to see if anyone had been chasing the young witch.
Akari saw that Delphyne had no apparent wounds, and crouched at the side of the sofa, stroking the side of her head and making soothing noises, as he would if trying to calm down a frightened horse. Rale raced to the kitchen and returned with a glass of wine. "Here, drink this," he ordered, helping her to sit up. Delphyne sipped at the wine, and eventually came out of her nearly catatonic state, shaking her head as if just now aware of her surroundings.
"I'm--I'll be okay," she stammered. "Give me a moment to sort out my thoughts." It hurt to think back at the flood of memories that seeing the Bad Man at the market had opened up, but Delphyne managed to give a brief account of what had happened, and what she recalled of her parents' death.
"You're sure it's the same guy?" asked Akari.
"Yes, it was him, without a doubt."
"Then let's go find him!" snarled Rale, eager to dish out some punishment to anyone who would put Delphyne through such mental anguish. The five of them geared up, then raced back to the marketplace where Delphyne had had her encounter. They looked around, but the "Bad Man" had long since disappeared. However, they interviewed the stall owners in the area and some customers who had been around, and determined that a dwarf matching the description of the "Bad Man" had bought some herbs at a vegetable seller's stall and enquired about the location of the local Temple of Moradin. He was said to have walked with a limp.
The heroes figured he probably had about a half hour's lead, and they raced over to the Temple of Moradin, hoping to still catch him there.
"And just what are we plannin' on doin', stormin' into Moradin's Church like a maraudin' band?" asked Aerik.
"We'll ask them very nicely if they wouldn't mind sending out their murderer," Rale responded.
As it happened they needn't have worried, for as they approached the Temple of Moradin they could see the brown-cloaked dwarf limping down the street, apparently just having left the dwarven church.
"There he is!" yelled Rale. "Get him!"
The dwarf turned at Rale's outburst, seeing a group of five adventurers racing his way with weapons drawn. He pulled an axe from his belt and stood in a readied stance. The commotion also caught the attention of a few dwarven clerics from the Temple, who saw one of their race about to be overtaken by a small mob. They gathered up their weapons and raced over to the imminent fray.
As the group got closer and the "Bad Man" saw who he was up against, a puzzled look of disbelief crossed his face. "It cannot be!" he cried out, looking directly at Delphyne. "I killed you years ago!"
By this time, Galrich was nearly upon the dwarf, his barbarian muscles allowing him to cross the distance quicker than the others in his group. He raised his greatsword for a killing blow, but then his opponent, looking quickly between him, Akari, and Aerik, stepped back, threw his axe to the ground, and dropped to one knee. "I yield!" he cried, head turned down to look at the cobbled street.
It was all Galrich could do not to strike the dwarf dead where he stood, but he mastered his rage.
By this time, the others - the adventurers from Wing Three and the dwarven clerics from the Temple - had caught up to them, and they circled the two, each group looking warily at the other for signs of imminent violence. Then the clerics got a good look at Akari, Galrich, and Aerik as well, and were visibly astonished. "The Mark of Moradin!" they exclaimed. Sure enough, the very fact that they could see the Mark of Moradin spoke to both their adherence to the law and their goodness of spirit. The fact that the "Bad Man" could apparently see the marks as well didn't fit his alleged role as the murderer of Delphyne's parents.
"What's going on here?" Rale wanted to know.
"Who are ye, and why were ye threatenin' this good dwarf?" asked the leader of the trio of dwarven clerics.
"He killed my parents!" accused Delphyne.
"Yer...? Of course! Ye're a human! I've forgotten how quickly ye age!" exclaimed the "Bad Man." He quickly introduced himself as Thorvik Bleakwinter, admitted to having killed Delphyne's mother (he had mistaken Delphyne for her mother at first glance, so strong was the resemblance), and offered to give a full explanation at the Temple of Moradin, under the effects of a zone of truth spell, if necessary. Rale, still not trusting the dwarf any farther than he could throw him, took him up on the offer - after confirming with Akari that the paladin was aware of how the zone of truth spell worked, and got an assurance from him that he'd be able to tell if the spell was actually being cast correctly.
"Aye, it was me who killed yer mother these years ago, miss," Thorvik began, once the spell had been cast on him in the temple. "Not yer father, though; he was already dead. Let me explain.
"For many decades now, I have served the Church of Moradin as a hunter and destroyer of undead. My nemesis, if you will, has been a human vampire by the name of Ludovigo Montresori, a sorcerer of some power as well as an undead monstrosity. Ludovigo has eluded me for scores of years. He has a thing for beautiful women, and every time he finds a new hunting ground he selects the most desirable woman in the area and turns her into a vampire slave. Yer mother, lass, was one of these vampire slaves, I’m afraid.
"I'd tracked Ludovigo to his newest lair, but not before he'd abducted and killed yer mother; she rose as one of his foul breed three days after her death. And, as is the way of such things, her vampiric master immediately sent her to slay her previous family, wanting to sever all ties to her former life so that she could devote herself to him eternally. It was the fact that she went missing that led me to believe that Ludovigo might have taken up residence in the area, and I staked out yer house during her absence. Sure enough, the very first night I watched yer house she returned, coalescin' from the mist and knockin' on the door for her husband – yer father – to let her in, which he foolishly did, his relief at her apparent safe return overwhelmin' any caution he might otherwise have had. I rushed to the door, but not before she had slaked her thirst at his neck. I stabbed her through the heart from the back with a wooden stake, then cut off her head. Once I had determined that your father was already dead, I did the same to him as a precaution, not wanting him to return as a vampire, and burned their bodies for additional insurance. I swear to ye, miss, I did not know there was a child in the house! I was foolish, I know, and careless, but this was early in my career as a hunter of the undead, and I was not then as skilled or experienced as I am now. Forgive me."
"By the goddess!" exclaimed Delphyne. "You saved my life all those years ago! My...what was my mother would have killed me!"
"Without knowin' it, yes, I did," admitted Thorvik. "However, as you might have guessed, the only reason I am in your fair city now is that I have tracked Ludovigo Montresori to these parts, and I believe I know where he is holing up. Would you like to know how to find the monster responsible for your parents' deaths?"
Delphyne's eyes grew cold. "I would," she replied.
Thorvik outlined what he knew. He had come to the Temple of Moradin to have a divination spell confirm Ludovigo's current whereabouts, and had traced him to an underground cavern network several miles south of Greyhawk City, near enough for easy access but far enough away that he wouldn't normally be tracked back there. Of the vampire, Thorvik warned he was an accomplished sorcerer with a focus on spells involving clouds and mist; one of his self-appointed titles was "Lord of the Mists." He almost never drank the blood of males, seeking only beautiful women for his sustenance. The most beautiful of women he "rewarded" with the gift of immortality so that they would never age, nor would their beauty ever diminish. However, he invariably tired of them after awhile, and they were inevitably relegated to his small retinue of vampire spawn that he used as guards. While not a necromancer himself, Ludovigo had been willing in the past to work with other intelligent undead, and he relied heavily upon guard beasts and traps in his lairs, so it was often difficult to get to him in time to destroy him for good. In addition, he habitually had a wide variety of coffins spread out over a great distance, so it had been impossible thus far for Thorvik to deprive him of all of his lairs.
"But this time, I'll get him fer good!" remarked Thorvik, showing a necklace he wore about his neck. "I had this crafted a few weeks back, keyed to my own name. He tries turning into mist again, I'll just absorb him into this necklace and he'll won't be gettin' out 'til I release him!"
As it was late afternoon by this time, Thorvik suggested they rest up for the night and make an early start of it in the morning; he'd meet them at their Headquarters a half hour before dawn, so they'd have the whole of the day to make it through the vampire's underground lair. The group agreed, and they went their separate ways for the night.
The next morning, the five adventurers stood outside their Guild Headquarters, watching the sun rise above the buildings. "He's late," grumbled Rale. "We oughtta leave without him."
"We should probably wait for him," argued Delphyne. "He's got years of experience fighting vampires, and this one in particular."
"Well, we're burning daylight," replied Rale. "We want to be in his lair and have it all cleaned out before the sun sets again."
As a compromise, Rale set off with Galrich and Aerik to see if he was at the Temple of Moradin for whatever reason, while Akari and Delphyne waited where they were in case Thorvik showed up. The Temple clerics told Rale that Thorvik had rented a room at a nearby lodge, and gave him directions to it, but once there they found his bed hadn't been slept in, nor had anyone seen the dwarf since the previous afternoon.
"This sucks!" complained Rale. "Let's go!"
They returned to Guild Headquarters, and, lacking any better plan, the five decided to head off to the vampire's suspected lair without Thorvik. Fortunately, the dwarf had showed them on a map its suspected location. They took Old Clem and the horses with them to hopefully make up lost time.
Once at the suspected area, they looked around and found a hole in the ground, just big enough for a person to wriggle into. Then they found another one nearby, and another a bit further on. Scouting the area, they found a total of thirteen holes, each about the same size and shape. "Great," remarked Rale, already disgusted by how this event was playing out. Then something caught his eye, glinting in the dirt by one of the holes. He bent over and picked up a silver holy symbol of Moradin, on a broken silver chain. That didn't bode well - had Thorvik already been here, and run into trouble?
Akari volunteered to check out the holes. He took out Hoardmaster and a sun rod and scurried into the hole nearest where Rale found the holy symbol, headfirst. It was a tight fit, but he found he could maneuver without too much difficulty. The narrow tunnel he was in branched off several times, and he could see by the sunlight streaming in ahead that some of the branches led to some of the other holes. That at least made it easier for Akari to yell up to the others and report his progress, and they were able to more or less track where he was.
Soon, though, he became aware of a familiar carrion stench just ahead. Breathing shallowly, he inched forward and found a rotting deer lying in a slightly wider cavern, its festering body covered in dozens of sticky, whitish-grey lumps. Next to the deer carcass was the body of a stocky humanoid in a dark cloak. "Aw, crap!" muttered Akari, then yelled up to the others, "I found Thorvik! He's dead!"
Right about that same time, something found Akari as well. The paladin heard the scrabbling of many legs scrambling up the tight-packed dirt tunnel behind him, and then the touch of numerous slimy tentacles. He gave a startled cry, then tried kicking back at his foe. His sword, pointed in front of his supine body, was of no assistance, and the tunnel was too narrow for him to turn around and face his enemy.
"What's the matter?" called down Delphyne.
"Carrion crawler!" yelled back Akari, with just a little touch of panic in his voice, as he scrambled towards Thorvik's body and the slain deer, where he might just have room enough to turn around.
Galrich figured out which of the holes was likely nearest Akari's current location and dived in headfirst. His wider shoulders made it a tighter fit, and his progress wasn't as rapid as the elf's had been, but he finally caught up to the carrion crawler, which at this point had paralyzed Akari, and stabbed at it from behind with his sword. "Heh, how do you like it?" he asked the carrion crawler. It gave no response, and was quickly slain by the half-orc, given that its way ahead was blocked by the unmoving paladin.
However, there were two carrion crawlers down here in this tunnel network, and they both knew the best way to maneuver around their tunnels. Unfortunately, sometimes that meant popping up out of one hole and scurrying down into another; when the second one did so, it illicited a squeak of surprise from Delphyne and a massive axe-chop from Aerik, which nearly cut it in two. Eventually, the second carrion crawler was slain, and Galrich managed to tug Akari's paralyzed form back out of the tunnel. Then Rale - much thinner - went in and pulled Thorvik's corpse out. His throat had been slit, apparently from behind, and whoever had done it had taken a bit of his beard with it. Aerik composed his fellow dwarf's body as if at rest, and Delphyne took the necklace from around his neck. "We might need it," she explained.
While they waited for mobility to return to the elf, Rale volunteered to scout out the rest of the tunnels. He found that most of them reconnected back into the same snarl of a network, but one of them stood alone, descending deeper into the ground at a relatively safe angle. About halfway down its length it switched from hard-packed earth to stone, and then opened into the ceiling of a larger cavern. Rale took a look around as best he could with his sun rod, then scooted himself backwards back up the slope and reported back to the others. By this time, Akari had recovered from his paralysis.
"So what did you see?" asked Akari.
"Big cavern, several exits, floor covered in yellow mold," replied Rale. "Ceiling entrance, about 30 feet up."
They knew how to deal with that: piton in the rock near the ceiling entrance, rope tied to it, rogue goes down first, and he burns the mold with a torch. It took Rale another half an hour or so to do so, and even then he just cleared paths through the mold to each of the exits - time was wasting, and he wanted out of here by sundown!
Several of the exits led to "decoy" coffins: one was a mimic in the shape of a coffin on a raised plinth; another was an actual coffin but was empty, and on the other side of a pool of water guarded by shambling mounds. Both threats were dealt with handily, as was the allip in the third exit from the large cavern. There were signs that some poor soul had been shackled to the back of the cave and tortured at some length for the express purpose of creating an allip; the group put the gibbering thing out of its misery.
A larger cavern beyond showed signs of more such gruesome dealings: the decapitated bodies of two young women lay propped up against the walls, amongst crates and barrels that look to have been looted by some passing caravan. The women might even have been the thieves, judging by the leather armor they wore and the short swords belted at their sides. Curious as to what might be in the crates, Rale pried the lid off of one and found it full of gold and silver coins. Hoping to repeat his success, he took the top off a smaller chest and was disappointed to find only women's hair accessories: combs, mirrors, ribbons, and the like. "Hmmph!" he snorted, then noticed there was a draft coming from behind the crates. As he started to move the pile to see what they might be concealing, Akari opened the nearest of the barrels and found it to be half full of vinegar, by the smell of it. "Odd," he commented to himself, and opened the next of the three barrels.
He was not expecting to see the undead head of a young woman leaping up from the barrel, trailing a dripping mass of viscera behind her. "Intruders!" cried out the floating head. "Rise and fight, Djandali!"
The lid flew off of the last barrel and Djandali joined her penanggalan sister, Gzadia, in attacking the surprised group of adventurers. Akari hurriedly tried turning the nearest with his holy symbol of Hieroneous, and when that didn't work he opted not to bother again, but rather to put Hoardmaster to good use. Aerik and Galrich likewise swung their weapons at the wildly-flying things, who soared all over the room and dived at the heroes with fang-filled mouths. Delphyne blasted one at almost point-blank range with a barrage of magic missiles, while Rale opted to leave the undead fighting to those better equipped to deal with them, and continued moving the crates, uncovering a hidden entrance by doing so.
Sadly, this did little to help matters, for the third penanggalan, Svetlana, was in the necromantic laboratory just beyond, working on crafting yet another guard beast. While it wasn't completely finished, it was ready enough for a first field test, and the young-looking woman - this penanggalan was perched on her headless body, and thus appeared to be a living woman - spoke the phrase that caused a large pile of rune-covered bones spread out about the floor to assemble into the shape of a massive canine. The charnel hound staggered over to Rale at its mistress's orders.
Akari heard Rale's cries for assistance and scrambled over to the hidden opening, secure in the knowledge that the others could handle the sole remaining penanggalan in the chamber behind him. He chose to attack the charnel hound first, due to its obvious undead appearance, with Deathstriker, given its undead bane properties and the fact that it was a bludgeoning weapon against a creature made of bones. Rale, in the meantime, went after Svetlana, and wasn't all that surprised to find she wasn't particularly inconvenienced when he slid his blade into her kidney in what would likely have been an impressive kill shot had he been fighting a living foe. Stupid undead! he cursed to himself.
Meanwhile, the other three dispatched Djandali and clambered over to help Akari and Rale. Their presence was well appreciated by that point, and tipped the scales in the heroes' favor. Before long, both Svetlana and her bone-hound had been destroyed. The group took a well-earned break, unpacking and drinking their various healing potions. "We should've brought Cal with us," Delphyne said, much to Rale's consternation, for he was Cal's "bink-partner," and longing for Cal meant that she was wishing Rale wasn't there. He was about to argue that he'd been extremely helpful in getting past the yellow mold that allowed them to even enter this lair in the first place, but for once held his tongue, realizing he'd sound petty and bitter.
"I imagine we should be getting close," Akari commented. "Everybody ready to go?" They entered a set of natural stairs rising up from the penanggalan lair, which split into two short passages. One apparently led all the way to the surface, but was blocked by a large boulder - but not to such an extent it was air-tight, Akari noticed, so a vampire could easily pass through in gaseous form. The other led to the largest cavern they'd seen thus far down here. And it was chock-full of coffins. Besides the coffins and the entry passage they had just used, the only other feature in the cavern was a pile of rocks that indicated another passageway must have collapsed some time in the past.
"I count...twenty-six," Rale said, making an effort to make himself useful. "What's the point of 26 false coffins, all in the same area? Or, say, one real coffin and 25 fakes?"
"Let's find out," grunted Galrich, pulling open the nearest coffin lid with one hand while holding his greatsword in the other, ready to strike down at any vampire he should find within. Instead, the fire trap blew up in his face, singeing his eyebrows.
"Better let me handle the coffin-opening," Rale smirked, approaching the next coffin. He made a point of investigating it thoroughly, checking it for hidden runes or glyphs that might indicate a magical trap. As he examined the coffin, a thin mist started seeping from it. Startled, Rale jumped back, worried about poison gas, but the mist coalesced into a beautiful young woman with long, flowing, blonde locks. "You are trespassing," she announced with a smile that showed off her long, ivory fangs. "Ludovigo does not appreciate trespassers." And with that, she lunged at Rale, who stepped back and grabbed up his swords from his belt. Galrich and Aerik leapt forward into combat with the female vampire, while Delphyne looked around and called out, "More mist coming this way!"
Indeed, several more clouds of mist were coalescing into feminine forms at various points throughout the cavern; by exiting their coffins without opening their lids, the vampiresses had prevented the heroes from seeing which ones were trapped and which were safe. The group soon found itself in combat with six lovely vampiresses. Rale smiled appreciatively at Ludovigo's selectivity; he might be an unholy, undead abomination, but he had good taste in women!
Unseen by any of the group was the lone bat, perched silently on the cavern's ceiling. This was Turinov, Ludovigo Montresori's bat familiar, studiously monitoring events and casting a silent, running commentary to his undead master in the hidden room on the other side of the cave-in. Ludovigo smiled as he cast his preparatory spells on himself, before assuming mist form and sliding silently through the cracks in the fallen rocks.
By this time, the group had discovered that these vampiresses were merely vampire spawn - still deadly, but not as powerful as a true vampire. They had already slain half of their number when mists started rising from the majority of the cavern's floor. This wasn't due to the appearance of more vampires, though; Delphyne quickly recognized it as an obscuring mist spell, called out such to her group, and hurriedly cast mirror image on herself as a protective measure, for it seemed as if Ludovigo himself - the self-styled "Lord of the Mists" - was about to put in an appearance.
She was partially correct - Ludovigo was now present in the cavern, but he didn't quite put in an appearance, preferring to hide his presence behind a greater invisibility spell. The three vampiresses had backed off, knowing what was likely to come, and he threw a fireball at the heroes, engulfing the five of them in flames. Worse yet, the obscuring mist made it impossible to see the origin of the spell. Akari took his best guess and let loose with Deathstriker, hurling it the length of the cavern. The magical warhammer struck Ludovigo's surprised form, then flew back to Akari's outstretched hand. The vampire snarled, and focused his immediate attention on the elven paladin.
Akari suspected such to be the case, and tactically retreated out of the cavern, slowly traversing the narrow passage back toward the penanggalan lair. Scorching rays blasted him from behind; apparently the vampire had gotten behind him somehow! Still, that meant he had to be standing right in the passageway to fire his spell; Akari, staggering from the fiery spell, hurled Deathstriker down the narrow passageway and smiled as he heard it crash into an invisible body and heard Ludovigo's grunt of pain and frustration. Ludovigo limped back around the corner and, still invisible, repeated the words to the dimension door spell he had used to get behind the paladin, this time returning to the larger cavern.
Unseen by the others, Ludovigo took time to examine his foes. His gaze lingered on Delphyne, or rather on the half dozen or so of her that shifted around constantly. She bore a remarkable resemblance to one of his former vampire slaves, but he had tired of her and had no desire to gain the services of a lookalike. Still, she could serve him in the way of all women, by offering up her life's blood to quench his unending thirst. He cast another spell, and more fog rose up from the ground and into the vicinity of the heroes; this fog, however, burned with an acidic fire, and the cries of pain from the living were music to Ludovigo's ears.
Akari, meanwhile, had realized the vampire had abandoned him and raced back toward the larger cavern to join the others. Delphyne, by this time, was seriously hurt, and pulled another flask containing a healing potion from her belt. She realized she was about to pass out, knew that doing so could mean the end of her life, and also that taking the time to guzzle down a healing potion in the midst of a heated combat with four undead creatures was risky, so she did what she thought was a smart move: she popped open the coffin that the first vampiress had misted out of (figuring, quite correctly, that it wouldn't be protected by a fire trap spell; Rale had, after all, examined it thoroughly), hopped inside, and closed the lid. There! she thought, unstoppering the flask and bringing it up to her lips, Safe and sound!
The young witch had forgotten one thing: her mirror images were still in effect. Ludovigo smiled as he saw half a dozen reclining Delphynes, laying on her side and drinking down a potion, each one flitting around and shifting places with the others. He couldn't resist the opportunity, and shifted into mist form, then slid through the slim opening between coffin and lid. Delphyne felt a cool, damp presence in the coffin with her, and looked up to see two glowing, red eyes staring down at her from within the mist, and felt his presence in her mind, trying to charm her into offering her neck without resistance. She screamed, and the others looked up from their combat with the vampiresses - who had resumed their attacks - to see half a dozen mirror images of Delphyne thrashing around on her back.
"She's in a coffin!" reasoned Rale. "Get her out of there!" Galrich complied by opening up what he thought was the correct coffin, but another fire trap blew up in his face.
Delphyne wanted nothing more to do with being trapped in a coffin with the vampire who had killed her parents. She pushed open the lid, scampered out, and slammed the lid back on the undead beast, still in his mist form and trying to use his charming gaze upon her. Now that they could see her again, Aerik broke off from combat with the vampiress he'd been fighting and leaped onto the coffin lid, holding it down with his armored weight. If he was trying to imprison the vampire within it was of no use, for Ludovigo's gaseous form started flowing out of the coffin, undeterred by the dwarf's attempts.
But by that time, Delphyne had regained her composure, and she held Thorvik's necklace in one outstretched hand. "Thorvik Bleakwinter!" she cried out, and the astonished vampire felt himself being pulled into the magical amulet with a tug of gravity he could not resist. And with that, Ludovigo Montresori, Lord of the Mists, had been successfully imprisoned. "Gotcha!" Delphyne cried in triumph.
Without their master to provide spellcasting, the remaining three vampire spawn were dispatched easily. While Rale set himself to opening up all of the other 25 coffins (using his "nine-and-a-half-foot pole," the other half-foot having been severed by a blade trap years ago in the White Queen's lair), the others, at Akari's insistence, started pulling the stones away from the rockfall that had sealed off the last passageway from the larger cavern. "He can travel as a mist," he reasoned. "This would be the safest place for him to have his coffin."
Both plans met with success. Rale eventually found that six coffins had been used as the vampiress's resting places, another 19 had been fire trapped to aggravate the attempts of any would-be vampire slayers, and the 26th was used as a communal treasure storage location, containing scads of coins of various denominations. Rale eagerly appointed himself the task of sorting them into piles, with a few of the platinum ones accidentally falling into his own pockets now and again.
Akari and the others, in the meantime, cleared a passage just wide enough to allow them to crawl through single file into another small room. It held two coffins; one had been Ludovigo's resting place, while the other was empty but fire trapped. (For once, it was the elven paladin and not Galrich who discovered this the hard way.) However, doubting that the vampire would have no treasure of his own, Akari examined the empty coffin closer, and discovered that it had a false bottom which, once removed, exposed a rich assortment of gemstones and a small pile of rings. Delphyne could tell at once that these were wedding bands, no doubt collected as trophies from the married women Ludovigo had transformed into his vampiric slaves over the years. She sorted through them, and tears sprang unbidden to her eyes as she read her mother's name engraved on the inside of one. Nobody argued when she slipped the ring onto her own finger - without even the formality of the "Dibs!" clause.
Gathering up the various treasures they had amassed in the lair, the group made its way back out the way they had come, climbing one by one up the rope in the cavern with the yellow mold. There was just one thing left to do.
Delphyne walked a good quarter mile from the thirteen holes leading to the carrion crawler den and Ludovigo's latest lair. She was in a wide clearing, with no trees or other sources of shade anywhere nearby. Pulling the necklace from her neck, she held it out at arm's length and called out, "Thorvik Bleakwinter!" As expected, the mist form of Ludovigo Montresori was expelled from the extradimensional space inside the necklace, and the vampire found himself free once more - in an open field, in broad daylight. His glowing, red eyes opened wide in horror as he looked around for safety and found none. Then the blazing sun burned off the mists composing his undead body, and Ludovigo Montresori, Lord of the Mists, was no more.
PC Roster:
Akari, elven paladin of Hieroneous
Delphyne Babelberi, human witch (wizard)
Galrich Slayer, half-orc barbarian
Rale Bodkin, human rogue
NPC roster:
Aerik Battershield, dwarven fighter
For this adventure, I decided I should reveal a little bit more about Delphyne's past. Vicki and I had jointly determined that she had been raised by her maternal grandmother, Esmerelda Blinx, since she was eight years old, but we had never determined how her parents had died. Before running this adventure, I asked Vicki to come up with the names of her two parents. As I wrote the adventure, I decided I'd start it with Delphyne having come face-to-face with a figure from her past, and - after checking with Vicki to make sure she was okay with it - I'd write the course of action that Delphyne took upon seeing this individual. (Some people absolutely hate it when the DM decides what a player character does, and I generally agree with them. However, this would only be used to set up the adventure, and Vicki didn't have any qualms about it.)
So, I'll start this post by providing you with a copy of the two handouts I gave Vicki at the start of the session, detailing what had happened to Delphyne immediately before the group game session actually started.
DELPHYNE HANDOUT #1 said:Delphyne has just had an overwhelming encounter, and her mind is currently whirling around in a frenzy. Here's a playback of her recent thoughts:
Delphyne in a marketplace, examining vegetables: Hmm, that’s a pretty good price on tomatoes. Are they fresh? (Sniffs sample tomato.) Nice. I can fry these up with supper tonight. How many should I get...? (Bumps shoulders with another customer at the market, turns to look at him and apologizes politely.) "Excuse me, sir."
Wait a minute, he looks familiar — do I know him from somewhere?(A memory from long ago: the fireplace embers are just about to go out. You're still supposed to be asleep in your bed, but you woke up, thirsty for a glass of water....)
Mom! He’s stabbing Mom!(A sudden cascade of flashing images: The spear sliding into her back, her sudden cry of pain. Dad falling to the floor in a dead faint. The glint of an axe at the Bad Man’s belt....)
The Bad Man!(Gripping the upstairs railing in your eight-year-old hand, afraid to make a sound....)
It’s him!(A memory of sadness: Where's Mom? It’s been days....)
He’s here!(Waking up thirsty in bed, getting out of the blankets, finding Babbitt, going to the top of the stairs and seeing Mom and Dad hugging – she’s back! When did she get back...?)
He looks the same after all these years! How is that possible?(About to cry out in joy, but then there’s the scary sound of the front door being kicked in, and the Bad Man appears in the doorway, spear in hand. You swallow the sound you were going to make....)
Why is he here?(The look of malevolent joy as he stabs Mom in the back with his spear. The drops of blood shining in the firelight from the dying embers in the fireplace as they arc across the room....)
He killed my parents!(Dad falling to the floor in a dead faint. Mom falling to the floor, just dead....)
He killed them!(The glint of an axe on the Bad Man’s belt as he grabs it up in his beefy hand....)
What does he want?(The glint of the metal axe-head in the firelight as he lifts it up, the timeless moment when it hangs suspended at the top of its arc, and then the solid thunk it makes as it separates Mom's head from her body....)
He’s here to kill me!(Dad’s severed head flopping around on the floor next to Mom’s....)
I’m next!(Hugging Babbitt to me, staring with unblinking eyes at my dead family in the room downstairs, staring without breathing while the Bad Man wipes his axe blade on Mom's dress. Unable to breathe, why can’t I breathe...?)
How did he find me?(Gramma tucking me into her bed and telling me that all of the bad scariness is over and nobody's going to hurt me....)
Why can’t I breathe?(The look of the Bad Man’s face as he bursts through the kicked-in door: eager for bloodshed, anticipating the violent deaths of my parents....)
Got to get away! Run! Run, Delphyne, run!(The Bad Man pouring oil on Mom and Dad's bodies and their severed heads, and scooping the remaining embers from the fireplace with his axe. The sizzling and crackling sounds they made as they burned....)
RUN!
DELPHYNE HANDOUT #2 said:Now that you've had a moment to pull yourself together, you realize your chance encounter at the market has triggered buried memories that have been hidden deep in your mind for many years, since you were an eight-year-old girl and still living with your parents.
Here's what you remember: You were asleep in your bed, but woke up, thirsty. You half-remember hearing voices talking downstairs, which was unusual — maybe that's what woke you up? Mom had gone missing several days ago, and you and Dad hadn't been getting much sleep since. But when you went to the hallway and looked down at the living room by the light from the few burning embers left in the fireplace, you could distinctly see Mom and Dad standing there hugging each other in the shadows. You were about to call out to your mother, but then the front door was kicked in, and a bearded man (the Bad Man, it was the Bad Man!) entered, wielding a shortspear. He crossed the room before any of you could react, and plunged the spear into your mother's back. Your father fell to the floor, head lolling back as in a faint, and once the Bad Man pulled the spear from your mother's back, she collapsed to the floor as well. The Bad Man reached for a steel axe at his belt, and with several quick thrusts with it from over his head, severed each of your parents' heads, wiping their blood from his weapon afterwards on your mother's dress. Then, as if he hadn't killed them enough already, he opened vials of oil from his belt and poured their contents onto your parents' bodies and their severed heads. Using his axe, he scooped up some embers from the fireplace and dropped them onto their bodies. Once they were burning to his satisfaction, he returned the axe to his belt and without a word walked out the front door he had kicked open.
You knelt there at the upstairs railing, unmoving, looking down at the burning corpses of your slain parents with unblinking eyes, a death grip on Babbitt, your stuffed bunny. Eventually the living room caught fire but still you couldn't move; a small part of your mind realized that if you didn't get out you'd be burned alive with your parents, but the larger part of your mind just couldn't be bothered to actually get you moving — you felt numb all over, like this wasn't really happening to you at all but to somebody else in a story. The blaze apparently alerted the neighbors across the street from you, though, because they rushed in and fought the fire with blankets and buckets of water. Mrs. Densham (was that her name? — yes, I think so) grabbed you up and took you to her house while her husband and some others battled the flames.
Eventually, the town mayor sent a runner to fetch your maternal grandmother, Esmeralda Blinx, from the other side of the forest and you went to go live with her. She was very nice, but you kept waking up screaming in the middle of the night. She was a witch and a wise-woman; it's possible she did something to help bury the memories of your parents' deaths in the deep recesses of your mind, or perhaps your memories just buried themselves in an act of mental self-preservation.
In any case, it all came rushing back once you bumped into the Bad Man at the market this afternoon. At first, it seemed incredible that he hadn't aged a day since you saw him slaughter your family all those years ago, but now that you think back on it, the answer is obvious — he's a dwarf! With their expanded lifespans, it's not difficult to believe that he could look much the same as he did over a span of such years. And as an eight-year-old child you had never seen a dwarf before, so you had nothing to compare him to — he looked like any other adult to you. But he's definitely a dwarf, with a full, brown beard, hair the same color, and steely gray eyes. He was wearing a dark, hooded cloak of the same type that he wore while slaughtering your parents, and a pair of heavy leather boots. And you're not sure, but you somewhat remember something hanging on his belt, possibly the same axe that he used that night so long ago....
- - -
Akari and Rale were having a spirited debate about the basic tenets of equitable treasure splitting in the Wing Three Guild Hall living quarters when they heard a clatter in the hallway and the sound of someone racing up the stairs. As they looked over in the direction of the commotion, they saw Delphyne in as distressed a condition as they'd ever seen her: she stared ahead as if she wasn't focused on her surroundings, her hair was disheveled, she was out of breath, and she was missing one shoe. As they watched in astonishment, she tripped into the living room, fell to the floor, and curled up into the fetal position, moaning softly to herself.
"Delphyne!" called out Rale in shock. Akari picked her up and placed her on the sofa, while Galrick and Aerik peeked in from the kitchen to see what all the commotion was about. Aerik grabbed the greataxe from his back, ready to face any threat that might present itself. Galrich raced over to the top of the stairs, peering down to see if anyone had been chasing the young witch.
Akari saw that Delphyne had no apparent wounds, and crouched at the side of the sofa, stroking the side of her head and making soothing noises, as he would if trying to calm down a frightened horse. Rale raced to the kitchen and returned with a glass of wine. "Here, drink this," he ordered, helping her to sit up. Delphyne sipped at the wine, and eventually came out of her nearly catatonic state, shaking her head as if just now aware of her surroundings.
"I'm--I'll be okay," she stammered. "Give me a moment to sort out my thoughts." It hurt to think back at the flood of memories that seeing the Bad Man at the market had opened up, but Delphyne managed to give a brief account of what had happened, and what she recalled of her parents' death.
"You're sure it's the same guy?" asked Akari.
"Yes, it was him, without a doubt."
"Then let's go find him!" snarled Rale, eager to dish out some punishment to anyone who would put Delphyne through such mental anguish. The five of them geared up, then raced back to the marketplace where Delphyne had had her encounter. They looked around, but the "Bad Man" had long since disappeared. However, they interviewed the stall owners in the area and some customers who had been around, and determined that a dwarf matching the description of the "Bad Man" had bought some herbs at a vegetable seller's stall and enquired about the location of the local Temple of Moradin. He was said to have walked with a limp.
The heroes figured he probably had about a half hour's lead, and they raced over to the Temple of Moradin, hoping to still catch him there.
"And just what are we plannin' on doin', stormin' into Moradin's Church like a maraudin' band?" asked Aerik.
"We'll ask them very nicely if they wouldn't mind sending out their murderer," Rale responded.
As it happened they needn't have worried, for as they approached the Temple of Moradin they could see the brown-cloaked dwarf limping down the street, apparently just having left the dwarven church.
"There he is!" yelled Rale. "Get him!"
The dwarf turned at Rale's outburst, seeing a group of five adventurers racing his way with weapons drawn. He pulled an axe from his belt and stood in a readied stance. The commotion also caught the attention of a few dwarven clerics from the Temple, who saw one of their race about to be overtaken by a small mob. They gathered up their weapons and raced over to the imminent fray.
As the group got closer and the "Bad Man" saw who he was up against, a puzzled look of disbelief crossed his face. "It cannot be!" he cried out, looking directly at Delphyne. "I killed you years ago!"
By this time, Galrich was nearly upon the dwarf, his barbarian muscles allowing him to cross the distance quicker than the others in his group. He raised his greatsword for a killing blow, but then his opponent, looking quickly between him, Akari, and Aerik, stepped back, threw his axe to the ground, and dropped to one knee. "I yield!" he cried, head turned down to look at the cobbled street.
It was all Galrich could do not to strike the dwarf dead where he stood, but he mastered his rage.
By this time, the others - the adventurers from Wing Three and the dwarven clerics from the Temple - had caught up to them, and they circled the two, each group looking warily at the other for signs of imminent violence. Then the clerics got a good look at Akari, Galrich, and Aerik as well, and were visibly astonished. "The Mark of Moradin!" they exclaimed. Sure enough, the very fact that they could see the Mark of Moradin spoke to both their adherence to the law and their goodness of spirit. The fact that the "Bad Man" could apparently see the marks as well didn't fit his alleged role as the murderer of Delphyne's parents.
"What's going on here?" Rale wanted to know.
"Who are ye, and why were ye threatenin' this good dwarf?" asked the leader of the trio of dwarven clerics.
"He killed my parents!" accused Delphyne.
"Yer...? Of course! Ye're a human! I've forgotten how quickly ye age!" exclaimed the "Bad Man." He quickly introduced himself as Thorvik Bleakwinter, admitted to having killed Delphyne's mother (he had mistaken Delphyne for her mother at first glance, so strong was the resemblance), and offered to give a full explanation at the Temple of Moradin, under the effects of a zone of truth spell, if necessary. Rale, still not trusting the dwarf any farther than he could throw him, took him up on the offer - after confirming with Akari that the paladin was aware of how the zone of truth spell worked, and got an assurance from him that he'd be able to tell if the spell was actually being cast correctly.
"Aye, it was me who killed yer mother these years ago, miss," Thorvik began, once the spell had been cast on him in the temple. "Not yer father, though; he was already dead. Let me explain.
"For many decades now, I have served the Church of Moradin as a hunter and destroyer of undead. My nemesis, if you will, has been a human vampire by the name of Ludovigo Montresori, a sorcerer of some power as well as an undead monstrosity. Ludovigo has eluded me for scores of years. He has a thing for beautiful women, and every time he finds a new hunting ground he selects the most desirable woman in the area and turns her into a vampire slave. Yer mother, lass, was one of these vampire slaves, I’m afraid.
"I'd tracked Ludovigo to his newest lair, but not before he'd abducted and killed yer mother; she rose as one of his foul breed three days after her death. And, as is the way of such things, her vampiric master immediately sent her to slay her previous family, wanting to sever all ties to her former life so that she could devote herself to him eternally. It was the fact that she went missing that led me to believe that Ludovigo might have taken up residence in the area, and I staked out yer house during her absence. Sure enough, the very first night I watched yer house she returned, coalescin' from the mist and knockin' on the door for her husband – yer father – to let her in, which he foolishly did, his relief at her apparent safe return overwhelmin' any caution he might otherwise have had. I rushed to the door, but not before she had slaked her thirst at his neck. I stabbed her through the heart from the back with a wooden stake, then cut off her head. Once I had determined that your father was already dead, I did the same to him as a precaution, not wanting him to return as a vampire, and burned their bodies for additional insurance. I swear to ye, miss, I did not know there was a child in the house! I was foolish, I know, and careless, but this was early in my career as a hunter of the undead, and I was not then as skilled or experienced as I am now. Forgive me."
"By the goddess!" exclaimed Delphyne. "You saved my life all those years ago! My...what was my mother would have killed me!"
"Without knowin' it, yes, I did," admitted Thorvik. "However, as you might have guessed, the only reason I am in your fair city now is that I have tracked Ludovigo Montresori to these parts, and I believe I know where he is holing up. Would you like to know how to find the monster responsible for your parents' deaths?"
Delphyne's eyes grew cold. "I would," she replied.
Thorvik outlined what he knew. He had come to the Temple of Moradin to have a divination spell confirm Ludovigo's current whereabouts, and had traced him to an underground cavern network several miles south of Greyhawk City, near enough for easy access but far enough away that he wouldn't normally be tracked back there. Of the vampire, Thorvik warned he was an accomplished sorcerer with a focus on spells involving clouds and mist; one of his self-appointed titles was "Lord of the Mists." He almost never drank the blood of males, seeking only beautiful women for his sustenance. The most beautiful of women he "rewarded" with the gift of immortality so that they would never age, nor would their beauty ever diminish. However, he invariably tired of them after awhile, and they were inevitably relegated to his small retinue of vampire spawn that he used as guards. While not a necromancer himself, Ludovigo had been willing in the past to work with other intelligent undead, and he relied heavily upon guard beasts and traps in his lairs, so it was often difficult to get to him in time to destroy him for good. In addition, he habitually had a wide variety of coffins spread out over a great distance, so it had been impossible thus far for Thorvik to deprive him of all of his lairs.
"But this time, I'll get him fer good!" remarked Thorvik, showing a necklace he wore about his neck. "I had this crafted a few weeks back, keyed to my own name. He tries turning into mist again, I'll just absorb him into this necklace and he'll won't be gettin' out 'til I release him!"
As it was late afternoon by this time, Thorvik suggested they rest up for the night and make an early start of it in the morning; he'd meet them at their Headquarters a half hour before dawn, so they'd have the whole of the day to make it through the vampire's underground lair. The group agreed, and they went their separate ways for the night.
The next morning, the five adventurers stood outside their Guild Headquarters, watching the sun rise above the buildings. "He's late," grumbled Rale. "We oughtta leave without him."
"We should probably wait for him," argued Delphyne. "He's got years of experience fighting vampires, and this one in particular."
"Well, we're burning daylight," replied Rale. "We want to be in his lair and have it all cleaned out before the sun sets again."
As a compromise, Rale set off with Galrich and Aerik to see if he was at the Temple of Moradin for whatever reason, while Akari and Delphyne waited where they were in case Thorvik showed up. The Temple clerics told Rale that Thorvik had rented a room at a nearby lodge, and gave him directions to it, but once there they found his bed hadn't been slept in, nor had anyone seen the dwarf since the previous afternoon.
"This sucks!" complained Rale. "Let's go!"
They returned to Guild Headquarters, and, lacking any better plan, the five decided to head off to the vampire's suspected lair without Thorvik. Fortunately, the dwarf had showed them on a map its suspected location. They took Old Clem and the horses with them to hopefully make up lost time.
Once at the suspected area, they looked around and found a hole in the ground, just big enough for a person to wriggle into. Then they found another one nearby, and another a bit further on. Scouting the area, they found a total of thirteen holes, each about the same size and shape. "Great," remarked Rale, already disgusted by how this event was playing out. Then something caught his eye, glinting in the dirt by one of the holes. He bent over and picked up a silver holy symbol of Moradin, on a broken silver chain. That didn't bode well - had Thorvik already been here, and run into trouble?
Akari volunteered to check out the holes. He took out Hoardmaster and a sun rod and scurried into the hole nearest where Rale found the holy symbol, headfirst. It was a tight fit, but he found he could maneuver without too much difficulty. The narrow tunnel he was in branched off several times, and he could see by the sunlight streaming in ahead that some of the branches led to some of the other holes. That at least made it easier for Akari to yell up to the others and report his progress, and they were able to more or less track where he was.
Soon, though, he became aware of a familiar carrion stench just ahead. Breathing shallowly, he inched forward and found a rotting deer lying in a slightly wider cavern, its festering body covered in dozens of sticky, whitish-grey lumps. Next to the deer carcass was the body of a stocky humanoid in a dark cloak. "Aw, crap!" muttered Akari, then yelled up to the others, "I found Thorvik! He's dead!"
Right about that same time, something found Akari as well. The paladin heard the scrabbling of many legs scrambling up the tight-packed dirt tunnel behind him, and then the touch of numerous slimy tentacles. He gave a startled cry, then tried kicking back at his foe. His sword, pointed in front of his supine body, was of no assistance, and the tunnel was too narrow for him to turn around and face his enemy.
"What's the matter?" called down Delphyne.
"Carrion crawler!" yelled back Akari, with just a little touch of panic in his voice, as he scrambled towards Thorvik's body and the slain deer, where he might just have room enough to turn around.
Galrich figured out which of the holes was likely nearest Akari's current location and dived in headfirst. His wider shoulders made it a tighter fit, and his progress wasn't as rapid as the elf's had been, but he finally caught up to the carrion crawler, which at this point had paralyzed Akari, and stabbed at it from behind with his sword. "Heh, how do you like it?" he asked the carrion crawler. It gave no response, and was quickly slain by the half-orc, given that its way ahead was blocked by the unmoving paladin.
However, there were two carrion crawlers down here in this tunnel network, and they both knew the best way to maneuver around their tunnels. Unfortunately, sometimes that meant popping up out of one hole and scurrying down into another; when the second one did so, it illicited a squeak of surprise from Delphyne and a massive axe-chop from Aerik, which nearly cut it in two. Eventually, the second carrion crawler was slain, and Galrich managed to tug Akari's paralyzed form back out of the tunnel. Then Rale - much thinner - went in and pulled Thorvik's corpse out. His throat had been slit, apparently from behind, and whoever had done it had taken a bit of his beard with it. Aerik composed his fellow dwarf's body as if at rest, and Delphyne took the necklace from around his neck. "We might need it," she explained.
While they waited for mobility to return to the elf, Rale volunteered to scout out the rest of the tunnels. He found that most of them reconnected back into the same snarl of a network, but one of them stood alone, descending deeper into the ground at a relatively safe angle. About halfway down its length it switched from hard-packed earth to stone, and then opened into the ceiling of a larger cavern. Rale took a look around as best he could with his sun rod, then scooted himself backwards back up the slope and reported back to the others. By this time, Akari had recovered from his paralysis.
"So what did you see?" asked Akari.
"Big cavern, several exits, floor covered in yellow mold," replied Rale. "Ceiling entrance, about 30 feet up."
They knew how to deal with that: piton in the rock near the ceiling entrance, rope tied to it, rogue goes down first, and he burns the mold with a torch. It took Rale another half an hour or so to do so, and even then he just cleared paths through the mold to each of the exits - time was wasting, and he wanted out of here by sundown!
Several of the exits led to "decoy" coffins: one was a mimic in the shape of a coffin on a raised plinth; another was an actual coffin but was empty, and on the other side of a pool of water guarded by shambling mounds. Both threats were dealt with handily, as was the allip in the third exit from the large cavern. There were signs that some poor soul had been shackled to the back of the cave and tortured at some length for the express purpose of creating an allip; the group put the gibbering thing out of its misery.
A larger cavern beyond showed signs of more such gruesome dealings: the decapitated bodies of two young women lay propped up against the walls, amongst crates and barrels that look to have been looted by some passing caravan. The women might even have been the thieves, judging by the leather armor they wore and the short swords belted at their sides. Curious as to what might be in the crates, Rale pried the lid off of one and found it full of gold and silver coins. Hoping to repeat his success, he took the top off a smaller chest and was disappointed to find only women's hair accessories: combs, mirrors, ribbons, and the like. "Hmmph!" he snorted, then noticed there was a draft coming from behind the crates. As he started to move the pile to see what they might be concealing, Akari opened the nearest of the barrels and found it to be half full of vinegar, by the smell of it. "Odd," he commented to himself, and opened the next of the three barrels.
He was not expecting to see the undead head of a young woman leaping up from the barrel, trailing a dripping mass of viscera behind her. "Intruders!" cried out the floating head. "Rise and fight, Djandali!"
The lid flew off of the last barrel and Djandali joined her penanggalan sister, Gzadia, in attacking the surprised group of adventurers. Akari hurriedly tried turning the nearest with his holy symbol of Hieroneous, and when that didn't work he opted not to bother again, but rather to put Hoardmaster to good use. Aerik and Galrich likewise swung their weapons at the wildly-flying things, who soared all over the room and dived at the heroes with fang-filled mouths. Delphyne blasted one at almost point-blank range with a barrage of magic missiles, while Rale opted to leave the undead fighting to those better equipped to deal with them, and continued moving the crates, uncovering a hidden entrance by doing so.
Sadly, this did little to help matters, for the third penanggalan, Svetlana, was in the necromantic laboratory just beyond, working on crafting yet another guard beast. While it wasn't completely finished, it was ready enough for a first field test, and the young-looking woman - this penanggalan was perched on her headless body, and thus appeared to be a living woman - spoke the phrase that caused a large pile of rune-covered bones spread out about the floor to assemble into the shape of a massive canine. The charnel hound staggered over to Rale at its mistress's orders.
Akari heard Rale's cries for assistance and scrambled over to the hidden opening, secure in the knowledge that the others could handle the sole remaining penanggalan in the chamber behind him. He chose to attack the charnel hound first, due to its obvious undead appearance, with Deathstriker, given its undead bane properties and the fact that it was a bludgeoning weapon against a creature made of bones. Rale, in the meantime, went after Svetlana, and wasn't all that surprised to find she wasn't particularly inconvenienced when he slid his blade into her kidney in what would likely have been an impressive kill shot had he been fighting a living foe. Stupid undead! he cursed to himself.
Meanwhile, the other three dispatched Djandali and clambered over to help Akari and Rale. Their presence was well appreciated by that point, and tipped the scales in the heroes' favor. Before long, both Svetlana and her bone-hound had been destroyed. The group took a well-earned break, unpacking and drinking their various healing potions. "We should've brought Cal with us," Delphyne said, much to Rale's consternation, for he was Cal's "bink-partner," and longing for Cal meant that she was wishing Rale wasn't there. He was about to argue that he'd been extremely helpful in getting past the yellow mold that allowed them to even enter this lair in the first place, but for once held his tongue, realizing he'd sound petty and bitter.
"I imagine we should be getting close," Akari commented. "Everybody ready to go?" They entered a set of natural stairs rising up from the penanggalan lair, which split into two short passages. One apparently led all the way to the surface, but was blocked by a large boulder - but not to such an extent it was air-tight, Akari noticed, so a vampire could easily pass through in gaseous form. The other led to the largest cavern they'd seen thus far down here. And it was chock-full of coffins. Besides the coffins and the entry passage they had just used, the only other feature in the cavern was a pile of rocks that indicated another passageway must have collapsed some time in the past.
"I count...twenty-six," Rale said, making an effort to make himself useful. "What's the point of 26 false coffins, all in the same area? Or, say, one real coffin and 25 fakes?"
"Let's find out," grunted Galrich, pulling open the nearest coffin lid with one hand while holding his greatsword in the other, ready to strike down at any vampire he should find within. Instead, the fire trap blew up in his face, singeing his eyebrows.
"Better let me handle the coffin-opening," Rale smirked, approaching the next coffin. He made a point of investigating it thoroughly, checking it for hidden runes or glyphs that might indicate a magical trap. As he examined the coffin, a thin mist started seeping from it. Startled, Rale jumped back, worried about poison gas, but the mist coalesced into a beautiful young woman with long, flowing, blonde locks. "You are trespassing," she announced with a smile that showed off her long, ivory fangs. "Ludovigo does not appreciate trespassers." And with that, she lunged at Rale, who stepped back and grabbed up his swords from his belt. Galrich and Aerik leapt forward into combat with the female vampire, while Delphyne looked around and called out, "More mist coming this way!"
Indeed, several more clouds of mist were coalescing into feminine forms at various points throughout the cavern; by exiting their coffins without opening their lids, the vampiresses had prevented the heroes from seeing which ones were trapped and which were safe. The group soon found itself in combat with six lovely vampiresses. Rale smiled appreciatively at Ludovigo's selectivity; he might be an unholy, undead abomination, but he had good taste in women!
Unseen by any of the group was the lone bat, perched silently on the cavern's ceiling. This was Turinov, Ludovigo Montresori's bat familiar, studiously monitoring events and casting a silent, running commentary to his undead master in the hidden room on the other side of the cave-in. Ludovigo smiled as he cast his preparatory spells on himself, before assuming mist form and sliding silently through the cracks in the fallen rocks.
By this time, the group had discovered that these vampiresses were merely vampire spawn - still deadly, but not as powerful as a true vampire. They had already slain half of their number when mists started rising from the majority of the cavern's floor. This wasn't due to the appearance of more vampires, though; Delphyne quickly recognized it as an obscuring mist spell, called out such to her group, and hurriedly cast mirror image on herself as a protective measure, for it seemed as if Ludovigo himself - the self-styled "Lord of the Mists" - was about to put in an appearance.
She was partially correct - Ludovigo was now present in the cavern, but he didn't quite put in an appearance, preferring to hide his presence behind a greater invisibility spell. The three vampiresses had backed off, knowing what was likely to come, and he threw a fireball at the heroes, engulfing the five of them in flames. Worse yet, the obscuring mist made it impossible to see the origin of the spell. Akari took his best guess and let loose with Deathstriker, hurling it the length of the cavern. The magical warhammer struck Ludovigo's surprised form, then flew back to Akari's outstretched hand. The vampire snarled, and focused his immediate attention on the elven paladin.
Akari suspected such to be the case, and tactically retreated out of the cavern, slowly traversing the narrow passage back toward the penanggalan lair. Scorching rays blasted him from behind; apparently the vampire had gotten behind him somehow! Still, that meant he had to be standing right in the passageway to fire his spell; Akari, staggering from the fiery spell, hurled Deathstriker down the narrow passageway and smiled as he heard it crash into an invisible body and heard Ludovigo's grunt of pain and frustration. Ludovigo limped back around the corner and, still invisible, repeated the words to the dimension door spell he had used to get behind the paladin, this time returning to the larger cavern.
Unseen by the others, Ludovigo took time to examine his foes. His gaze lingered on Delphyne, or rather on the half dozen or so of her that shifted around constantly. She bore a remarkable resemblance to one of his former vampire slaves, but he had tired of her and had no desire to gain the services of a lookalike. Still, she could serve him in the way of all women, by offering up her life's blood to quench his unending thirst. He cast another spell, and more fog rose up from the ground and into the vicinity of the heroes; this fog, however, burned with an acidic fire, and the cries of pain from the living were music to Ludovigo's ears.
Akari, meanwhile, had realized the vampire had abandoned him and raced back toward the larger cavern to join the others. Delphyne, by this time, was seriously hurt, and pulled another flask containing a healing potion from her belt. She realized she was about to pass out, knew that doing so could mean the end of her life, and also that taking the time to guzzle down a healing potion in the midst of a heated combat with four undead creatures was risky, so she did what she thought was a smart move: she popped open the coffin that the first vampiress had misted out of (figuring, quite correctly, that it wouldn't be protected by a fire trap spell; Rale had, after all, examined it thoroughly), hopped inside, and closed the lid. There! she thought, unstoppering the flask and bringing it up to her lips, Safe and sound!
The young witch had forgotten one thing: her mirror images were still in effect. Ludovigo smiled as he saw half a dozen reclining Delphynes, laying on her side and drinking down a potion, each one flitting around and shifting places with the others. He couldn't resist the opportunity, and shifted into mist form, then slid through the slim opening between coffin and lid. Delphyne felt a cool, damp presence in the coffin with her, and looked up to see two glowing, red eyes staring down at her from within the mist, and felt his presence in her mind, trying to charm her into offering her neck without resistance. She screamed, and the others looked up from their combat with the vampiresses - who had resumed their attacks - to see half a dozen mirror images of Delphyne thrashing around on her back.
"She's in a coffin!" reasoned Rale. "Get her out of there!" Galrich complied by opening up what he thought was the correct coffin, but another fire trap blew up in his face.
Delphyne wanted nothing more to do with being trapped in a coffin with the vampire who had killed her parents. She pushed open the lid, scampered out, and slammed the lid back on the undead beast, still in his mist form and trying to use his charming gaze upon her. Now that they could see her again, Aerik broke off from combat with the vampiress he'd been fighting and leaped onto the coffin lid, holding it down with his armored weight. If he was trying to imprison the vampire within it was of no use, for Ludovigo's gaseous form started flowing out of the coffin, undeterred by the dwarf's attempts.
But by that time, Delphyne had regained her composure, and she held Thorvik's necklace in one outstretched hand. "Thorvik Bleakwinter!" she cried out, and the astonished vampire felt himself being pulled into the magical amulet with a tug of gravity he could not resist. And with that, Ludovigo Montresori, Lord of the Mists, had been successfully imprisoned. "Gotcha!" Delphyne cried in triumph.
Without their master to provide spellcasting, the remaining three vampire spawn were dispatched easily. While Rale set himself to opening up all of the other 25 coffins (using his "nine-and-a-half-foot pole," the other half-foot having been severed by a blade trap years ago in the White Queen's lair), the others, at Akari's insistence, started pulling the stones away from the rockfall that had sealed off the last passageway from the larger cavern. "He can travel as a mist," he reasoned. "This would be the safest place for him to have his coffin."
Both plans met with success. Rale eventually found that six coffins had been used as the vampiress's resting places, another 19 had been fire trapped to aggravate the attempts of any would-be vampire slayers, and the 26th was used as a communal treasure storage location, containing scads of coins of various denominations. Rale eagerly appointed himself the task of sorting them into piles, with a few of the platinum ones accidentally falling into his own pockets now and again.
Akari and the others, in the meantime, cleared a passage just wide enough to allow them to crawl through single file into another small room. It held two coffins; one had been Ludovigo's resting place, while the other was empty but fire trapped. (For once, it was the elven paladin and not Galrich who discovered this the hard way.) However, doubting that the vampire would have no treasure of his own, Akari examined the empty coffin closer, and discovered that it had a false bottom which, once removed, exposed a rich assortment of gemstones and a small pile of rings. Delphyne could tell at once that these were wedding bands, no doubt collected as trophies from the married women Ludovigo had transformed into his vampiric slaves over the years. She sorted through them, and tears sprang unbidden to her eyes as she read her mother's name engraved on the inside of one. Nobody argued when she slipped the ring onto her own finger - without even the formality of the "Dibs!" clause.
Gathering up the various treasures they had amassed in the lair, the group made its way back out the way they had come, climbing one by one up the rope in the cavern with the yellow mold. There was just one thing left to do.
Delphyne walked a good quarter mile from the thirteen holes leading to the carrion crawler den and Ludovigo's latest lair. She was in a wide clearing, with no trees or other sources of shade anywhere nearby. Pulling the necklace from her neck, she held it out at arm's length and called out, "Thorvik Bleakwinter!" As expected, the mist form of Ludovigo Montresori was expelled from the extradimensional space inside the necklace, and the vampire found himself free once more - in an open field, in broad daylight. His glowing, red eyes opened wide in horror as he looked around for safety and found none. Then the blazing sun burned off the mists composing his undead body, and Ludovigo Montresori, Lord of the Mists, was no more.
Last edited: