Arendel’s Serpent's Skull Journal. (Complete! 06/25/13, With Pictures!)

[Peteinmaine]

Long neglected

Perhaps Max has had trouble shaking the Paranoia effect...

I think we're done in the upper part of this old city. The past few days we've fought a lot of Red Mantis, and then found out the Ass pic concerts are trying to take over the city...they moved around a bit, but we found them and killed them, they weren't really that tough...
Now we are leaving the city part and going into some kind of under the city storage area. There were more monkeys...and some bat thingies...and a huge slug, and a statue guy. It's almost like a circus, but without a mime. The past few days haven't had any really big tests....although I think Taraz took the brunt of the rock guys' punches...We couldn't let Teraz get hurt he fixes all the scrapes...It was cool to have Tuirass in there fighting with us though, he must get bored healing us, and then there's that spell thing that he does...I don't know, I hope we get to fight something really huge soon....I didn't bother taking a piece of the statue...rock collections are heavy.

-Max

 

[Abciximab]

Session 35.​

Neth the 2nd (Cont).

Within the next room were the remains of an ancient, ruined, humanoid shaped column with its feet on the floor and hands on the ceiling. Everything in between had crumbled to the floor in ruin. The west wall was painted with a mural representing what the valley of Saventh-Yhi must have looked like before the city was built. The mural on the south wall showed a detailed overhead map of Saventh-Yhi, while the mural on the east wall was painted with a representation of the very room we were standing in, before its fall to ruin.

While Max was inspecting the “Room” wall I chose to inspect the “Map” wall. Most of what I saw was known to us, but my careful examination revealed a few points we were unaware of. Just as I was about to point them out to my companions, the room was filled with flames. We all survived, though some of us were more scorched than others.

Max indicated he had found a door of sorts surrounded by runes and that the fire was the result of a trap laid upon the portal. I noted the runes represented the Seven Virtues of the ancient Azlanti. Beside each was a small indentation. Within the indentation and scattered about the floor near the portal were the shattered remains of a number of crystals. These clues indicate this must be the portal Juliver had escaped through. The crystals shall have to be replaced if we hope to reactivate the magical portal.

Returning to the map, I pointed out seven locations, one of which coincided with the vault we were currently exploring. I suggested that each of these probably represents a hidden vault. Max pointed out that, not only was each vault near one of the cities seven spears, but each vault was about the same distance from their respective spears. I suspect each vault probably represents one of the seven virtues, as did the spears.

Finding nothing else within the room, we returned to exploring the rest of the vault. The most interesting find was a room where the ceiling had collapsed, leaving the room open to the jungle above. There was little else of note.

As we made our way back to the Pathfinder camp, we discussed our plans. First, we would take a couple days off so that I could re-enchant my wand (Max still chuckles at this, I remain oblivious to the joke). Second, we shall explore the vaults starting with the southernmost vault that sits within the swamp of the Boggards, where Kermit, their Great Green God, lives.

----------​

Neth the 3rd.

Amivor agrees with our assessment of the map and our plan to explore the vaults. My companions are purchasing and ordering equipment. The enchantment of my wand is going well.

----------​

Neth the 4th.

My wand is fully enchanted to cast forth five Magic Missiles. We are ready to start exploring once again.

----------​

Neth the 5th.

Sure enough, on our approach to the vault we encountered the Mighty Kermit, the Great Green God. Most within the group were thrilled to finally confront the beast (oddly enough, I think Ace was more excited than Max, though I suspect it was for all the wrong reasons). I have a few lingering reservations, as I wonder what the ramifications will be for our tenuous truce with the Boggards. I think Ace hopes to take the place of the Great Green God and have the Boggards worship him. I suspect he’s in for a bit of a disappointment.

After a few hours mucking about (quite literally), we finally found a sinkhole about where we believed the vault to be. Unsurprisingly, the chambers below had all flooded and were infested with swarms of Megapiranha and Grey Nisps. We explored the surface of the flooded caves using flight and Max’s ring of Water Walking.

Something within the chamber caused Max and Ka’Azbu to become Paranoid. This led to a few problems, especially when some of Ace’s summoned creatures inadvertently harmed Max and Ka’Azbu while we were fighting off a large swarm of Megapiranha. In retaliation, Max hurled a javelin at Ace and I feared the party hostilities would get out of hand. Luckily, Ace’s next summoning was a creature that could heal some of the damage. Once hostilities had ended, a few prayers from Taraz restored the minds of Max and Ka’Azbu.

The caverns ended at the central lake. Since we had found little, Taraz cast Water Breathing on us all and we reversed our path, exploring beneath the water this time. Within a large central chamber where we had faced the bulk of the Gray Nisps, we found three blue crystal stones, each bearing the rune of Abundance. I think these may be spare crystals for the magical portal in the first vault. If the other vaults hold similar findings we may be able to reopen the portal.

----------​

Neth the 6th.

We decided to explore the vault on the central isle as it was the closest. Passing through a ruined gate, we entered chambers filled with black mud. Max was once more showing the telltale signs of Paranoia. This is getting quite frustrating. We shall have to stock up on more silver dust. Most of us were able to walk upon, or fly over the mud so as not to be hindered by it. This proved quite advantageous, as it was quickly discovered that certain areas within the vault were actually quicksand.

In the first room we were attacked by another Huge Flytrap. With all of us present to confront it, it was quickly defeated. Continuing on, we ran into a few Mud Mephits and then, in a larger chamber, we encountered more Mud Mephits led by a large mud creature calling himself Khalid Shah. He seemed enraged by the fact that most of us were not mired in the muck that fills this place. I would guess he had the ability to manipulate the mud in some way to attack or hinder his foes. He did not live long enough for us to substantiate this theory.

 

[Abciximab]

End of Session 35.​

Insanity is driving us crazy!

No, really… If a few of us go crazy every time we set foot in one of these places… well, we definitely need to stock up on more silver dust. Remembering how the insanity rules work makes you crazy by themselves.

Healer: “So you want to fail the first save so we can help you, but if you succeed on the first save, then we want you to fail the second so as to gain the full benefit of the spell.”

Crazy Person: “Um… What?”

Yeah, the labels on those two quotes may seem misleading.

We seem to be moving through the vaults pretty quickly. Three out of seven, but we have found only 1 set of stones out of seven. We aren’t quite finished with the third, but it still seems we’re one stone short of where we should be. We do need to return to that first vault to activate the portal, so we can explore it again if an extra stone doesn’t turn up.

Short post today as I have to turn my attention to prepping for Free RPG Day at my FLGS! Hope to see you there! (At least in spirit since your FLGS is probably not the same as mine)

 

[Abciximab]

Session 36.​

Neth the 6th (Cont).

Max posed an interesting question when he wondered aloud what this place was before it filled with mud and quicksand. To answer that question Ace summoned an earth elemental to explore the region below. It returned with a Handy Haversack filled with treasure, three crystal stones etched with Azlanti runes, a book and a skull. We were quite pleased to find yet another set of the crystals needed to activate the portal. Ace quickly dismissed the Earth Elemental once it started to use the skull as a hand puppet. Quite odd.

The book was the laboratory journal of one Urschlar Vohkavi, the (former) High Priest of the Azlant City of Saventh-Yhi. I suspect the book must be at least 10,000 years old, but it is remarkably well preserved. It is bound in black leather (Black Dragon Hide it would seem) and written in an ancient form of Azlant which makes reading it rather cumbersome, even for one as fluent in Azlant as I am.

His writings give a little insight into the man. He seems a little eccentric. He obviously considered himself a genius (perhaps) and a prophet (see below). He was haunted by a feeling of impending disaster and in his final days was working to “save Saventh-Yhi from certain doom”. Though it would appear he is dead on in the prophecy department, it is quite apparent that his efforts to save his beloved city were unsuccessful.

His final entries speak of an attempt to meet the goddess Pharasma in her Boneyard to address his fears. The Lady of the Graves did not meet with him though. He wrote of wandering aimlessly among the Sepulchers of the Graveyard of Souls and finding a black flower growing from an exposed rib cage revealed by the light of the death moon Groteus.

He expounds upon the effects of the spores of the flower, stating that they grant heightened visions, clearer prophecies and the need for powerful magic to remove their effects. Personally, I suspect they cause a heightened sense of paranoia. At least now we know the origins of these black spores we keep encountering, even if there is little we can do to keep them from affecting us. He also writes of the Argental Font, a gift from the gods with miraculous waters that would be a “beneficial remedy much sought after in the coming months”.

As there was too much information within the thick tome to decipher at that moment, we chose to move on. Lo and behold, there in the next room was a fountain flowing with silvery water, surely the Argental Font. As Max stepped in, a huge Mud Elemental arose before us. Max took quite a pummeling from the creatures fists, but he did give back at least as good as he got. It took me two tries, but I finally was able to disintegrate the creature to fine ash.

Stepping up to the fountain I was able to determine it was indeed magical and ascertain its properties. When Max drank from the waters it confirmed my findings, he was healed in body and mind. Unfortunately, it appears the waters cannot be removed from the fountain without losing their properties and a subject can only benefit from the fountains healing waters once a month. We will now return to camp to rest.

----------​

Neth the 7th.

Our objective today was to find the vault within the Temple District. After a few hours of exploring, we found a stone door in a hillside with a stone bench next to it. As Max approached to examine the door, we were set upon by a number of Degenerate Serpentfolk. Though I succumbed to a magical Suggestion early on, we did eventually defeat them.

We entered what appeared to be an ancient tomb. Two sarcophagi sat on either side of the entry chamber, one missing its lid. It was when we moved to examine them that a half a dozen specters emerged from every surface of the chamber. Their energy draining touch was quite intimidating, as was sharing the cramped space with one of Aces summoned Triceratops. After defeating them, we found little of interest.

Exiting through a door through the back of the chamber we found ourselves in a short hall. On one side was what appeared to be a secret door, though it was ajar, making it a secret no more. A hall led off in the opposite direction of the door and straight ahead of us was a chamber with a number of marked graves on its dirt floor. The floor was also scored, as if by a blade swinging about the room. Sure enough, Max spotted a pressure plate. There was another narrow hall exiting the far wall.

Opening the secret door wider, we saw a hall beyond which led to another chamber similar to the first. There was an altar and three fast moving Zombie Tigers at the far end. The Zombie Tigers were quickly dispatched. The altar was dedicated to Orcus.

Returning to the main hall we proceeded down the hall opposite the secret door. There we found yet another chamber similar to the first, this one filled with the dreaded black spores. Max and I refused to set foot inside the room. As they seem to be immune to the effects of the spores, Ace, Kay Es and Taraz entered the chamber.

Once Kay’Es was about halfway through, two undead horrors emerged looking like humanoids whose skin had been completely flayed away. A running combat ensued. In a small sepulcher beyond this chamber, these two creatures were joined by a third, a fast moving Vampiric creature.

Max and I moved back to the first large chamber, suspecting that the combatants, Taraz, Ace and Ace’s summoned creatures, would eventually emerge from the hall at the far end. When they did, we immediately attacked the Vampire. He moved with supernatural speed and proved very hard to hit. While the others dealt with the skinned creatures, Max and I took care of the vampire.

It was a tough battle, but the creatures were finally defeated. Within the Vampire’s sarcophagus, we found yet another set of the Azlanti crystals.

 

[Abciximab]

End of Session 36.​

I Lost My Notes! But then I found them… Unfortunately I didn’t find them until after I wrote the Journal. That led to a slight change. An altar that was actually dedicated to Orcus was originally stated as belonging to an Azlanti Moon Deity. Meh… how much difference could there be between those two.

I was excited we had found a simple cure for Paranoia in the fountain, then quickly disappointed at the words “effective once a month.” I suppose with all the other benefits (healing, cure poison & disease), every day would be a little excessive. Hopefully we’re done with Paranoia once we’re through with the vaults and the Portal takes us wherever we go next.

Max wasn’t quite himself since Peteinmaine was absent. He was nice enough to forward his character sheet along though. I did manage to do 132 hp of damage in one round while two weapon fighting against a Specter (Max is not yet optimized for two weapon fighting).

Arendel finally Disintegrated something! Amazingly, the Elder Mud Elemental failed its Fort save vs my second Disintegrate spell. It always feels good to roll that many dice.

So let’s see… I’ve lost track. How many vaults was that? Four I think? Only three left, then it’s off to… wait, where are we going? Upon re-reading the journal, it appears we are headed to a city of Serpentfolk under Saventh-Yhi (Good thing I write this thing). Do we really WANT to go there? Oh, right, we have to rescue that lost ex-Pathfinder dude. All right, on to the next vault!

 

[Abciximab]

Session 37.​

Neth the 8th.

Having distributed much of our newfound wealth among our party members, it was decided we should return to civilization for a short time. Gathering our gold and goods, we Teleported to Kalabuto.

I was able to get much of my shopping done the first day, but both Max and Ka’Azbu have weapons that need enchanting and that will take a number of days.

----------​

Neth the 9th.

I have been studying Urschlar Vohkavi’s journal in my spare time. It has become obvious to me that he is quite insane, though I’m sure he believed otherwise. After his discovery of the Black Spores, his “genius” idea was to infect Saventh-Yhi’s water supply with them. I can only imagine the chaos this caused. He did observe the spores only seem to affect Humanoids (which explains why Ace and Taraz have never been affected). What an utter fool. I must say, my complete contempt for him is exacerbated by the complications we face in our explorations because of Vohkavi’s Spores.

----------​

Neth the 10th-14th.

Shopping and other mundane tasks.

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Neth the 15th.

While it was nice to be back in civilization, we are eager to return to our explorations of Saventh-Yhi. Having completed what we needed to do, we Teleported back to camp.

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Neth the 16th.

The Pathfinder's research has gone quite well, even in our absence. I’m confident our knowledge of the ruins has far outpaced that of our competitors.

We decided to explore the Vault in the Residential District. We found a narrow cave with stone steps going down into the earth. At the bottom we entered a small chamber where we were attacked by creatures that were part plant, part lion. There were also chests with Dwarven writing that contained a number of common items, all too rotted and decrepit to be useful.

Further on we encountered more of the dreadful Basidironds. Their hallucinogenic spores affected Max for a brief period, making him think his hammer had turned into a serpent.

In the next chamber we were attacked by a hoard of creatures that resembled extraplanar crickets, quite strange.

To complete this vault of oddities was a massive chamber with a large, shallow pool. In the center was a creature that resembled a huge sea anemone. Once it was defeated, we found a Dwarven skeleton in the pool. Judging from the markings on the armor, it appears to be Eggra, a famous Dwarven explorer of the Cragorak Clan. We also found another of the Blue Crystals.

----------​

Neth the 17th.

We chose to explore the Vault in the Military District today. There we found a large cave and were almost immediately attacked by a Gargantuan Crocodile covered with a web-like shroud. Whenever the monstrosity was struck, spiders poured from the wound. It was quite bothersome, especially when Max was nauseated by the swarm as it covered him head to toe. He was so disgusted by them that he actually requested that I target him with a Fireball to remove the pesky creatures.

Once the Crocodile was defeated, more shroud covered creatures attacked us. This time it was a group of Corpse-Spun Boggards. The results were pretty much the same, with yet another Fireball for Max.

Once they were defeated, the source of this infestation arrived, a Huge, Corpse-Spinning Spider. In its web-filled lair we found more of the Blue Crystals.

On our way back to camp we saw a number of flying gorillas flocking about the western portion of the city. I believe they are called Derhii, known servants of the Gorilla King. Sure enough, upon entering the Mercantile District (the site of the last unexplored vault, oddly enough) we encountered a large number of Derhii, Charau-Ka and Girallons. In guttural common, one of the Derhii told us the Gorilla King has requested our presence in his camp, located within the district.

As a side note, I fear we may be becoming overly confident in our abilities. Though thoroughly surrounded and outnumbered, I don’t think any of us actually felt intimidated by their numbers. Max and Ace actually gave me the “we can totally take them” look. I didn’t disagree, but felt we should at least attempt Diplomacy. I hope our confidence doesn’t get us in too deep.

Once we arrived, the Gorilla King greeted us and explained that he ruled all within the Mwangi Expanse. As the most powerful warriors exploring Saventh-Yhi, we would have to prove our worth to uphold our claim to the ruined city. He explained we would have to pass three tests (sounds a bit like what we went through with N’Ketchi), but first we would have a feast. At this point he summoned forth a number of Human Slaves and had them get down on all fours as our seating for the feast. The Gorilla King was not exactly starting off on the right foot with me. I quickly suppressed an almost overwhelming urge to give my allies “the look”.

 

[Abciximab]

End of Session 37.​

The PCs are:
Arendel Whisperson – Human Fire Elemental Wizard 12 (Abciximab)
Max “Little” Hammer – Human Fighter/Rogue 8/4 (Peteinmaine)
Acemodius and Kay’Es – Tiefling Summoner 12 and his Eidolon (Mundinironhand)
Taraz – Aasimar Oracle of Life 11(Adam B., Currently run as an NPC)
Ka’Azbu – Human Ranger 10 (?) (David)

So Arendel is thoroughly convinced that Urschlar Vohkavi was bat-guano insane and from the additional info GM Soanso forwarded to me since the game, it appears he’s hit that nail right on the head.

Soanso also mentioned we’re almost through with book 4, which is a little surprising (in a pleasant way). Hopefully we’ll wrap it up next game.

I hope we don’t get in too much trouble with the Gorilla King and his Minions. We may need to update the Gorilla King’s entry in the Inner Sea Guide. It will be interesting to see what the “challenges” are. Strength, Story Telling and one other that eludes me at the moment. Here’s hoping all goes well.

 

[Abciximab]

Session 38.​

Neth the 17th (Cont).

The evening went about as well as can be expected, considering we were gathered for a feast with an evil tyrant. Ruthazek the Gorilla King sat at the head of the table. Max, Taraz and I all refused to sit upon the slaves. To be completely honest, the only reason I didn’t start trying to reduce the Gorilla King, and his lackeys to ash was because I feared dragging my friends into a fight that we might not win. The “meal” was horrific. Monkey brains, blood sauce, raw hippo steak… Taraz and I refused to eat, as for the others, I lost track of the number of times Taraz had to break out his herbal tincture for nausea.

Once this meal-from-my-worst-nightmare was finally over, Ruthazek announced we had one hour to prepare ourselves for the challenges and would begin with the Feat of Strength.

Considering there were two contests that might fall to Max (Strength and Combat), we felt it unfair to place the burden of success almost entirely upon his shoulders. We decided Ace’s Eidolon, Kay’Es, would attempt the first feat. Before the contest, Ace gave him every advantage he could muster by both Enlarging him and magically increasing his strength.

When we entered the makeshift ring, Ruthazek produced two bundles of bones and declared that, in order to win this contest, one of us must snap the bundle in two in a single attempt. He then proceeded to show us that it was possible by grabbing the first and snapping it with little effort.

Kay’Es stepped up and failed miserably. I think he may have been misled by the ease of the Gorilla King’s success. I’m confident that had he been allowed more than one attempt, he would have managed it.

The second challenge was one of storytelling. Using my Journal as a reference and with the help of my companions (including quite a bit of exaggeration about some of our foes by Ace) I told the story of our adventures on the Shiv.

Once finished, I looked at the rapt expressions on the faces of Ruthazek and his retinue and knew we had succeeded. After a moment, Ruthazek smiled, threw his arms wide and declared our story of heroism was truly one for the ages. We had won the second challenge.

Up until now I had feared the challenges would be rigged in favor of the Gorilla King, but his declaring us the winner of what was easily the most subjective challenge, eased my concerns a little.

The third challenge was one of combat, which Max was quite looking forward to. At first, Ruthazek declared it was going to be bare fist fighting and would end when the other combatant was unconscious or surrendered. Once Ruthazek had stepped into the ring and got a close look at Max and, more specifically, his tribal tattoos, he claimed some existing enmity between himself and Max’s tribe and called for his falchion. Max quickly drew forth his ancestral hammer, but not before Ruthazek advanced and slashed him with his blade. Were it not for the Stoneskin I had cast upon Max before the fight, he might have been grievously wounded.

The combatants quickly exchanged a number of blows. Ruthazek was obviously a skilled warrior, but in less than twenty seconds, Max won out. With two solid strikes, the Gorilla King was driven to a knee and bloodied. Max’s third strike was surely going to be a death blow, but at the last possible second, Max “pulled the punch”, as they say. The ball of his meteor hammer stopped so close to Ruthazek’s face, that you could not tell if it touched him or not. As Max glared at him, the Gorilla King dropped his falchion in defeat.

With that, Ruthazek declared us winners in his challenge for the rights to Saventh-Yhi. Then, after issuing a number of vague threats about the harshness of the jungle that seemed rather hollow after his defeat, he gathered his retinue and left.

----------​

Neth the 18th.

After our somewhat surreal experience with the Gorilla King, we decided it was best to get right back into it and explore the last vault. Having rested at our base camp, we set out first thing and returned to the Mercantile District.

After a short search, we found a set of double doors atop a small cliff with vines growing all around. As Max started to climb the cliff face, a number of Charau-Ka attacked from above. All the Charau-Ka bore copper armbands that marked them as members of a vicious group led by none other than the monstrous Bush Devil himself, Maka-Yika.

They proved to be a little tougher than any others we had faced up to this point and one of them had a squinty eye. I didn’t put it together until after the creature was killed and green slime emerged from the creature’s brittle skull, but Ivo Haigan, the former leader of the Aspis Consortium, had the same odd squint and green goo combination. Something odd was obviously going on here and we thought perhaps some answers might be found within the vault.

Once we opened the large stone doors and entered, we were almost immediately struck by two Cones of Cold cast by two Ogre Magi. One we quickly dispatched, the other escaped us by turning to mist and disappearing into cracks in the wall.

Working our way into the massive cavern we encountered a number of Boggards led by a spell slinging Charau-Ka Shaman. All wore the same armbands and, once defeated, we noted the Shaman had the same features (squinty eye and green goo) as Haigan and the Charau-Ka at the entryway, very strange.

I must note that during the fight, Ace was struck down with what was surely a fatal blow. Luckily Taraz was on hand to bring him back from the brink. It was a not so gentle reminder of our mortality.

Further in, we reached a fork in the cavern. Down one dark leg we encountered a large Roper with a single, squinty eye. The Roper lashed out at Max, weakening him considerably. Ace quickly Dimension Doored Max out of danger as Taraz and I reduced the Roper to ash from a safe distance. Green slime leaked from the corpse as it burned. Whatever is causing this weird malady must lie within these caverns.

Down the other leg, which was well lit, we ran into the Ogre Mage that had escaped us and the leader of the band, Maka-Yika. He was obviously once Charau-Ka, but was now a strange combination of grafts and body parts. He resembled a Flesh Golem, but was obviously intelligent. He also had one squinty eye. It was an epic battle, with the Ogre Mage being the first to fall. After chasing Maka-Yika around a bit (he had a trove of potions, at least one of which allowed him to fly out of one of Ace’s Acidic Pits), we were finally able to corner him. With that, his defeat was assured and we soon saw that his skull, as predicted, was filled with green slime.

We have found no answers as to the cause of this strange malady, so we are taking a short rest and gathering what valuables we can from this place. Taraz and I have decided we will have to watch each other and our companions closely, in case it is a disease that can be contracted within these chambers.

As I sit here writing this, I can’t help but notice there appears to be a Secret Door in the wall of this chamber. Perhaps Max can figure out a way to open it.

 

[Abciximab]

End of Session 38.​

Pictures:
1 - Max vs Gorilla King.
2 – Entering the last vault (Before being attacked).
3 – Entering the last vault (Being attacked)
4 – Maka Yika falling into Ace’s pit.
5 – Maka Yika flying out of Ace’s Pit after drinking a potion.

I hate the gorilla king. I wasn’t a big fan of the encounter in general, just because I felt it put us in one of those ~moral quandary~ spots. “You run into an evil slaver and you’re a big hero type, what do you do?”

Why, I sit down and have dinner with him, of course.

I have to admit to using a little metagaming there. I felt that the “meet and greet” was the way the module had it planned out and was probably the quickest way to resolve the issue. If we had turned it into a fight, I suspect it would have taken longer, which, with limited gaming time, can be a bit of a pain. At least Max kicked his ass.

I don’t know what is up with all this green goo. It’s not every creature in the area, just certain ones and it doesn’t seem to be affecting them in any noticeable way, other than the squint. Perhaps whatever lay beyond the secret door will answer our questions. Say, did anyone write down what buffs we still have active?

Next session should wrap book 4!

As an aside, when I told my daughter about the Ogre Mage and knowing that it was a type of Oni, she quickly asked if we ever encountered the Pepper Oni. This is the same girl who quickly spotted and identified a Shining Child mini among a mass of minis in a blurry picture (Those of you who read the Paizo blog know which one I’m talking about.)

 

[Abciximab]

Session 39.​

Neth the 18th (Cont).

Well, opening the secret door was easy enough, what lay beyond proved quite challenging though. After Max opened the door, he indicated to me that he wanted me to look at what he saw within the chamber.

The first thing I noticed was that the room was obviously someone’s laboratory and it was being used for some extremely bizarre experiments. On a stone table in the room sat seven large clear crystals, copper leads ran from the crystals to a bubbling vat. Within six of those crystals, were brains. Five of the brains were desiccated, obviously ruined. One still looked pink and healthy (considering it was a brain, outside of a body and entombed in crystal) and the last crystal was empty. Some quick mental math led me to note that we had only encountered five individuals with green goo where their brains should be.

The second thing I noticed was an invisible Derhii with one squinty eye. Luckily I had cast See Invisible when we fought the Ogre Magi and it was still active. As I turned to Max to warn him, he got a glazed look that I had seen far too many times for my liking. Someone was trying to wrest control of his mind! Amazingly, even as I thought for sure he was lost to us, his gaze refocused and his usual “I don’t know what just happened, but I’m going to kill whoever is responsible” look returned.

The combat that followed was quite frustrating. It soon became obvious the creature had a Globe of Invulnerability up, which I quickly Dispelled. Once the Derhii was killed, what we expected to happen completely failed to happen. Instead of green goo, we got an Intellect Devourer. It sprang from the body of the Derhii, almost immediately Feebleminded Ace and then proceeded to play a long game of cat and mouse with us. We were also more than a little concerned with Kay’Es muttering and giggling to himself. It seemed to be something about the possibility of becoming an Unfettered Eidolon.

Being small and extremely quick, the Intellect Devourer proved almost impossible for any of us to hit, even with spells. It was so difficult in fact, that its size and speed could not possibly be the only factors, it had to have magical defenses in place as well. To make it even more challenging, the creature had the annoying habit of going invisible, getting us grouped together, running out of the room and then casting Fireball or Black Tentacles upon us. I’m embarrassed to say we fell for this ploy not just once, but three times.

Once Taraz was able to dispel some of its magical protections, the battle finally started to turn and, in the end, we were victorious. The hard fought battle was worth it, as the creature had a nice amount of loot. Max found a Portable Hole with a complete Alchemists Laboratory set up inside it, as well as the focusing crystals we need to operate the portal.

We smashed the crystals holding the brains, noting that the last brain still looked pink (there must be one more creature out there somewhere, lacking a brain). I also noticed an odd symbol on some of the equipment and copied it down for future reference.

----------​

Neth the 19th.

Today was a day of rest and recuperation. Now that I can finally use Greater Teleport, I can get us back and forth between the jungle and civilization without fear of missing my target. I quickly Teleported back to Eleder to pick up a large quantity of Silver Dust in order to permanently confer upon myself the ability to see invisible things.

Taraz cast Heal upon Ace, thereby restoring his faculties, such as they are. His bond with Kay’Es remains unbroken. I can’t tell how Kay’Es feels about this.

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Neth the 20th.

Using the spell Comprehend Languages, I was able to read the rune etched on much of the lab equipment. It reads “M’Ddegog” and though I am not absolutely sure, I believe it is written in Undercommon. It would seem to be a name (a ridiculous one, at that), most likely the name of the Intellect Devourer. It was probably an outcast. I suspect M’Ddegog either left his tribe or was exiled. In either event, isolation would have allowed him to perform his crazed experiments without interference from others. Having now met one, I think Intellect Devourers are one of the most disgusting creatures in all of creation.

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Neth the 21st.

Today, after eating a Heroes Feast created by Taraz, we reentered the vault containing the magical portal and placed the focusing crystals into the appropriate niches. Once activated, it glowed brightly and we stepped through. We arrived at a location (still on Golarion, I’m pretty sure) below ground. It looks to be a massive chamber that is illuminated in many areas by bioluminescent fungi.

While working our way through a maze of oddly twisted rock, we were set upon by two Colossal Spiders. At this point, I couldn’t help but note how grateful we would all be for the added resistance to poison that Taraz’s Feast granted us. During the fight, I noticed a bit of a change in Max. He fell into a Rage, much like Chumba used to. After the fight, he noted he was growing more in tune with his ancestral roots, specifically his grandfather who was a mighty Barbarian among his people.

Caught within the webs of the spiders were a number of Morlock bodies. Strangely, these creatures bore a rough depiction of the Pathfinder Symbol, the Mark of the Open Road. We realized that one of them still lived, though he was critically injured. Taraz prayed to Sarenrae and healed us all, including the Morlock.

Once the creature regained consciousness, we discovered a bit of a language barrier. Ace summoned a Hound Archon to act as an interpreter. First, the Morlock thanked us and told us his name is Shekola. He then asked us if we were allies of Kline. When we told him we were, he grew excited, making it challenging for our translator to keep up with his rapid fire speech.

Here’s what I believe he told us…

* We are in the underground City of Ilmurea.
* He tells us Kline is trying to save his people from the Snake Walkers (Serpent-Folk, we suspect) and hopes we are here to help as well.
* Kline felt they needed the help of the “Vampires” that live nearby and had gone to speak with them to secure their assistance and has not returned. Shekola believes Kline has run into trouble and is in need of rescue (As Juliver has told us, though I thought she had indicated he needed rescuing from the Serpent-Folk?). When Kline did not return and they saw Juliver flee, they waited here, hoping for someone to return to help. They were obviously attacked by the spiders sometime between then and now.
* Shekola tells us we should speak to his High Priestess, Udara. However, she has run into problems with a Morlock named Ixsulan, a warlord that leads a different faction that obviously disagrees with the direction Udara has planned for the Morlock tribe.

Once we had agreed to help, we started our journey to his village to assist Udara and find out what she knows about Kline’s goals and perhaps his whereabouts. Though most of the area was a maze of twisted stalactites and columns, we eventually came to a large gate of worked stone. As we passed between the gates, two large stone statues animated and attacked. Shekola attempted to assist us, but was quickly knocked out once again. I feel it was only luck that he was not killed outright.

Once the Golems were defeated and Shekola was healed back to consciousness, we all felt that he had some explaining to do. He insisted that he had passed this way before and the statues had never moved or otherwise indicated that they might be animate. He seems believable. I wonder if they attack any that are not of Azlanti decent, as some scholars theorize that the Morlocks are actually the degenerate ancestors of the original Azlanti race. Shekola also said he did not think Kline passed this way.

Very strange, to say the least. We shall have to keep up our guard, just in case someone has knowingly set these creatures upon us to stop our interference in the region.