Arendel’s Serpent's Skull Journal. (Complete! 06/25/13, With Pictures!)
Session 56
Kuthona the 5th.
Today was a day of celebration, at least that’s how it started out. Our gathered forces pledged their allegiance to General Aveshai in a brief ceremony. He gave an inspiring speech about our coming victory over the Serpent-Folk that I think translated well to most of the varied races that make up our army.
Soon after, wood and food was gathered for a great bonfire and feast. Most of the groups preferred to remain separate, still anxious about mixing with some who, up until very recently, were considered enemies. As the day went on, some of these hard boundaries were softened and, in some cases, completely eliminated.
Later that evening, a familiar face approached me. It was Athyra, the young woman with the Deinonychus that we had encountered at the salt mine some time ago. I have to admit, I have found myself thinking of her from time to time. She had pretty much disappeared after guiding us through much of the jungle with her markers warning of us of danger. I had often wondered if I would have the opportunity to meet her once again.
She told me she had approached the civilized lands and found the city very confusing. It started almost immediately at the city gate. The guards had been hesitant to allow her pet Raptor in until finally a local druid was able to confirm it was more of an Animal Companion then a pet. It was all downhill from there. She had difficulty even figuring out where to go within the city, and once there, didn’t understand the filing process well enough to trust that what was transpiring was in her best interest. Fearing she would be swindled out of ownership of the land left to her by her parents, she decided to seek out the ones that had helped her in the past. I was quite pleases to hear her say that she meant me, specifically.
We retired to somewhere quieter to discuss the deed and when we might have the opportunity to return to Sargava to resolve the issue. Ace looked more than a little shocked and perhaps a little envious as I lead Athyra away from the group, but he was quickly distracted as Sasha (of the Red Mantis) walked up to speak with him. Little did I know that everyone in the group was encountering similar circumstances.
As I watched Athyra gathering the paperwork I sensed movement behind me and shifted just in time to prevent what would surely have been a fatal blow. Where her Raptor had been standing was now a human woman trying to skewer me with a dagger. A poisoned dagger.
Luckily, I was not debilitated by the poison as I felt it try to drain my strength and paralyze me. After the fact, it was easy to see that Athyra had been magically Dominated. All the sign were there, but I had been too distracted to notice them. Shame on me and my foolishness.
The assassin then made the mistake of stepping away. I debated going on the offensive, but I didn’t want to have to deal with a possibly hostile Athyra and thought it would be better to take the fight somewhere else. I Teleported to the bonfire hoping to raise the alarm.
There was no sign of my companions, so I attempted to warn the camp of the assassins in our midst, but was unable to communicate the importance of my message to a hoard of intoxicated revelers. Without Max around I knew I would need some muscle to back me up, so I summoned the next best thing, a Huge Elder Fire Elemental. I was somewhat put out when a few of the more intoxicated individuals immediately tried to roast meat on the flames of my Elemental, apparently thinking that bringing forth a huge, mobile bonfire was some type of party trick. Fools. It’s times like these that reinforce my decision to abstain from alcohol.
I later discovered all of my companions had been drawn away from the main party as well. Ace was drawn off by Sasha’s wiles, Max by a group of warriors wanting to test their mettle against him, Ka’Azbu was led away to prove his archery skills and Taraz led away to care for a sick girl, though that one was almost foiled by Taraz’s Life Sense as the little girl was just an illusion. The distraction was enough that they were able to launch their surprise attack against him.
All of us managed to survive the initial assault, though Ace was paralyzed. Luckily Kay’Es was there to defend him. Knowing our strength lay in our unity we all attempted to make our way back to where the others could find us, especially when the assassins started turning invisible. My permanent ability to See Invisible things continues to prove its worth. Flying above the crowd I soon saw my allies, each being pursued by an invisible assassin.
Once we were all together, I was confident we would win the day. As a few of our more destructive spells flew over and around the party goers, they slowly began to realize something was wrong and began to gravitate away from the areas we were focusing on. The only one missing from our group was Ace. Come to find out he had fused with the body of Kay’Es to make good his escape. I will never understand Summoners.
Suffering under the full brunt of our combined might, the assassins quickly fell before us. Upon examining their equipment, I realized we had faced the Coils of Ydersius, an elite group of Serpent-Folk assassins that are actually killed and then brought back to life with a directed form of reincarnation. They are raised as a specific race to meet the requirement of the mission. They had then dominated our allies or used illusions to draw us out and separate us. We agreed to make a greater effort to stay close and watch each other’s backs from here on out.
I returned to find Athyra free of the Domination effect and she was horrified at the part she was forced to play in this event. I assured her I understood and had even seen some of my closest allies fall to such magic. We had a long talk and I think she truly felt better by the end of it.
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Kuthona the 6th.
Today we met with the leaders of our army and Amivor informed us that the Pathfinder’s research had revealed the details of the rituals to activate the Spears of Saventh-Yhi. We had already discovered the spears were meant used as a weapon to help defend the region from the Serpent-Folk, but up until this point we had not been sure what that meant. Now we knew the ritual at least so, perhaps we would see for ourselves. They had also determined that the spears must be activated in a specific order. Amivor told us the details and we set out for the first spear immediately.
First was the Spear of Honest Pride. The ritual involved at least fifty of our soldiers swearing their allegiance to General Aveshai and our cause (much like yesterday morning) at the base of the spear and tracing certain symbols with an Ioun Stone. Luckily Taraz happened to have one.
Second was the Spear of Wealth. Ace and I appraised and polished a set worth of gemstones and other treasure before the Spear as Taraz traced the appropriate symbols.
Third was the Spear of Well deserved Rest. Max sat motionless in absolute silence before the Spear as Taraz traced the runes.
Forth was the Spear of Fertility. Dedicated to Achaekek as the god of Fertility, we needed present day worshipers to activate the spear. Luckily we have a branch of our army that meets that requirement. Sasha and the other members of the Red Mantis worshipped their god as Taraz traced the symbols.
Fifth was the Spear of Abundance. Ka’Azbu performed a ceremony involving survival in the Jungle as Taraz traced the Runes.
Sixth was the Spear of Eager Striving. Gellik (finally proving his usefulness) put forth a pretty amazing performance with stories and dance as Taraz traced the runes.
Finally, at the end of a long day filled with rituals, was the Spear of Righteous Anger. We smeared the spear with the blood of Olujimi that we had saved for just such an occasion. It hadn’t worked the last time we tried it, but this time, with Taraz tracing the appropriate symbols at the base of the spear, things went a little differently.
For a moment, there was nothing and I quickly began to review the various ceremonies in my head to see if I could think of something we had missed. Then there was a deep rumbling and the earth shook beneath our feet. We looked to the spears and each one we could see from our high vantage point was slowly rotating and sinking. Over a period of minutes we watched as the earth shook while the rotating spears slowly sank into the earth, leaving behind a corkscrew slope, down to Ilmurea.
Each spear lowered itself to the underground city, coming to rest in the domed buildings that we had already determined lay below each of the spears. We believe the spears have acted as a “cork”, blocking the exits the soon-to-be-awakened Serpent-Folk armies would use to access the region. As the spears finally reached their final position and the earth stopped shaking, there was another thunderous roar as the army we had gathered cheered our first success against the enemy.
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Wow, nice pics Arendel! #1 is an Inkanyamba (CR 13), a gargantuan magical beast whose virulent poison changes which Ability score it damages- if it lives longer than 3 rounds lol! Found in the bestiary of Thousand Fangs Below, Pathfinder AP # 41.
The famished mohrg was actually an urdefhan enforcer from the hunter's maze. With Valglaunt dead and the Portal tuned to public access cable, they decided to wreak havoc on the living... poor things. A nice variant mohrg I couldn't pass up. Too bad my dice didn't agree.
Great exposition of a difficult encounter. The Coils of Ydersius are indeed a formidable foe in this AP. While I could have had the Coils ambush the party, I thought it would be more interesting to challenge each of you singly. Stepping away from Arendel was my biggest mistake- well played by you. Still wondering if I should've coup-de-graced Ace... guess I'll have to work on my "cold, calculating" side...
- DM Soanso
The famished mohrg was actually an urdefhan enforcer from the hunter's maze. With Valglaunt dead and the Portal tuned to public access cable, they decided to wreak havoc on the living... poor things. A nice variant mohrg I couldn't pass up. Too bad my dice didn't agree.
Great exposition of a difficult encounter. The Coils of Ydersius are indeed a formidable foe in this AP. While I could have had the Coils ambush the party, I thought it would be more interesting to challenge each of you singly. Stepping away from Arendel was my biggest mistake- well played by you. Still wondering if I should've coup-de-graced Ace... guess I'll have to work on my "cold, calculating" side...
- DM Soanso
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Peteinmaine
First Post
I just accidentally deleted the two paragraphs I wrote...so the second attempt will likely be shorter....(max rages)
Pretty soon we are going to go down the huge holes we made in the city we found. I can't believe it took this long to find a city full of 200 foot towers...I also can't believe there was another city exactly under it!!!! When we get down there we are going to kill MORE snake people...it's getting old, but supposedly there's a really big bad guy down there somewhere to kill....I can't wait.
The big one eyed guy loaned me his sword. The sword talks...it sounds a little like Arendel with some of the big words it uses, I told it all about my hammer, hoping to let it know that I totally understand how cool an important weapon is. I also spent 20 minutes talking to my hammer...I don't know if it heard me, but I feel like maybe if I talked to it more, it wouldn't feel less special, I'm trying to figure out how to use both at once, but the sword wouldn't let me tie it to the hammer even if I used silk rope...I guess I understand.
The sword can do some pretty cool stuff that not even my hammer can do, and I bet it's gonna really like it when I drink a make everyone smaller potion and it gets to be big again....I do that a lot...Anyway I stocked up on potions and grabbed a few javelins, now once everyone is done talking and we can kill a bunch of snake people, and then have legends written about us...
Pretty soon we are going to go down the huge holes we made in the city we found. I can't believe it took this long to find a city full of 200 foot towers...I also can't believe there was another city exactly under it!!!! When we get down there we are going to kill MORE snake people...it's getting old, but supposedly there's a really big bad guy down there somewhere to kill....I can't wait.
The big one eyed guy loaned me his sword. The sword talks...it sounds a little like Arendel with some of the big words it uses, I told it all about my hammer, hoping to let it know that I totally understand how cool an important weapon is. I also spent 20 minutes talking to my hammer...I don't know if it heard me, but I feel like maybe if I talked to it more, it wouldn't feel less special, I'm trying to figure out how to use both at once, but the sword wouldn't let me tie it to the hammer even if I used silk rope...I guess I understand.
The sword can do some pretty cool stuff that not even my hammer can do, and I bet it's gonna really like it when I drink a make everyone smaller potion and it gets to be big again....I do that a lot...Anyway I stocked up on potions and grabbed a few javelins, now once everyone is done talking and we can kill a bunch of snake people, and then have legends written about us...
End of Session 56.
More Assassins!
It seems like every time we begin a new book, someone’s trying to assassinate us. At least it wasn’t the Aspis Consortium or the Red Mantis this time (‘Cause they’re on our side now!).
The combat took most of the session with the rest of it taken up with discussion and skill checks to meet the requirements for each spear. There were three possibilities for each spear so we just figured out which one we were most likely to succeed at and went for it. Luckily we had a few outside resources to call upon for the challenges that lay outside our areas of expertise (just two, the Performance by Gellick and the Worship by the Red Mantis).
Then there was the dramatic activation sequence. I’m not sure of what to make of these “ramps” left behind by the spears. It seems to me the slopes would go down into the earth and then open up to the ceiling of the chamber below… which was pretty high. How’s our army supposed to get to the floor of Ilmurea? Well, questions for next time I guess.
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Session 57.
Kuthona the 7th.
After resting for the night we inspected the tunnels left behind by the burrowing Spears. They left behind smooth ramps sloping down to Ilmurea. At the ceiling level, stone-shaping magics took over as each spear now had a ramp spiraling around it leading down to the streets of the city. As our army marched down various slopes determined to be the best by the leaders of our army, we chose the one closest to our destination, the caves leading to the Temple of Ydersius.
We noticed that each of the spears had hit the circular buildings found throughout Ilmuea, blocking the access to the Darklands. One of them even smashed down upon Thousand Fangs itself. We quickly made our way north as the first sounds of combat broke out in the city we were leaving behind.
Making our way through narrow caves, we reached an open cavern that pulsed with magical energy. As we stepped in, I felt a strong mental assault from these energies. Though I was left with only a minor lingering headache, Ace took the full brunt of the assault and looked horrible. Before we could exit the other side, Taraz also had fallen victim to the strange energies. Once we entered the passage beyond, Taraz was able to Heal both himself and Ace.
Needless to say, we found ourselves more than a little hesitant to enter the next chamber we came across. In this one, sharpened bones had been scattered about to act as caltrops and we were ambushed by crazed Morlocks.
Once they had been dealt with, Ace sent out a few mephitis to reconnoiter the region. Most reported various uninteresting findings, but one reported finding a stronghold with serpentine battlements and massive silver metal doors. There was also a large lizard-like creature with many heads guarding the entry chamber. We set out at once.
Guarding the chamber was a Huge Thessalhydra. As we moved in to confront it, I was peppered with arrows from the battlements. I quickly turned myself invisible and disintegrated one of the Adamantine doors to get us inside as quickly as possible. Max quickly killed the Thessalhydra, allowing the rest of our party to reach the entryway.
Once inside we were confronted with a Huge metal Construct and more archers firing through arrow slits in the wall. As Max and Taraz dealt with the Construct, I cast a Wall of Force across the arrow slits, blocking the archers line of attack.
Once all the immediate threats were dealt with, we moved to inspect the two sets of double doors within the room. Both Max and one of Ace’s Summoned Creatures were hit by traps on the interior doors, probably a Harm spell.
Peteinmaine
First Post
If you're going to stand more than two rounds against me, you'd better have at least 300 hit points.
-Max in a dreamlike state seemingly channeling some other world entity....
-Max in a dreamlike state seemingly channeling some other world entity....
End of Session 57.
Pictures –
1. The weird chamber that causes nonlethal damage and drains Int, Wis and Cha. Thank goodness for Heal.
2. Morlocks and bone caltrops.
3. Thesselhydra guarding the entrance.
4. The entry chamber of the temple.
It looks like this is the beginning of the end and we’ll have to fight our way through. Everyone seems to be in a position where they can attack us, but we can’t attack them. Hopefully as we work our way in, we’ll be able to eliminate some of these pesky foes.
Session 58 tonight!
