DM's Log of Session Forty Four
Secure for the moment in their new camp, the group spent most of the morning of Nightal 20th discussing what to do next, as well as briefing Ash and Zamtap with what they had seen during their scouting trip into the city. A lengthy debate then took place, with Chard reminding the others of their objectives in needing to kill Esau and his lover Domino, as well as destroy the cloning tubes and all copies of Esau's research so that his research cannot be used again.
For once it was Jebodiah who was daunted by the scope of their mission, the barbarian actually questioining whether a less blunt approach might be possible. It was quickly argued by everyone else though, that no, that was their mission and nothing less than completing those objectives would serve to stem the threat the snakemen posed. Various ideas were bandied about, with Zamtap suggesting that Masembe (in snake form) infiltrate Esau's laboratories and bite him, and Chand coming up with the idea of splitting up to hit several targets at once. Jebodiah and Ash though both reminded the others that although they were both keen to strike at the targets, they needed to know where they were first.
Leaving the others to plan a direct offensive, Masembe (in snake form) and Ash (using his Hat of Disguise) headed into the city centre to scout further. When they got there, the pair parted ways, Masembe slithering into the vast stepped pyramid temple and heading down through the layers of cellars below it, looking for a way out of the city. Ash meanwhile, headed into the smaller stepped pyramid that housed Esau's laboratory. There he got into a conversation with a pureblood scientist whilst watching the distressing sight of a Stegosaurus being converted into a T-Khana creature, the vast reptile strapped down to a stone dias and being injected with various serums via intravenous drips.
Wandering about the complex he was present when Esau, Domino and Chan made an appearance on the ground level (normally spending their time sequestered on the upper floors), even getting a few moments to talk with the scientist himself on the pretense of delivering a warning, he making mention of an adventuring group's presence in the city. What he saw in Esau's eyes then shocked him and he barely managed to hide it. He saw hope in the slitted eyes of the genius they had pursued to Chult. Esau tells him to learn what he can of this group and report back to him the next day.
Returning to the others Ash reports that he has an audience with Esau Enoch the following day, though it does take him a while to calm them down when he reveals just what information he had to let slip in order to get it! Many hours later Masembe returns to the group, having spent a while observing the lowest chamber in the temple, 5 levels below the surface, a room with a central platform amidst a pit of writhing snakes. He reports that it is a two way portal to the city of Hlondeth and it should serve as their escape from the city, if they can get to it in time after destroying Esau's laboratory.
Nightal 21st dawns and the groups debate turns to how best to communicate with Esau, the talking going on so long and so passionately that no-one notices Ash slipping out and heading away to meet with the renegade scientist by himself. Arriving at the laboratory, he is shown upstairs and in a well appointed lounge as Chan and Domino watch on quietly, he listens to Esau rant!
"I am a prisoner... do you know what that is human?"
"I've never been one myself"
"Then you are, in that sense at least, more fortunate than I. This mind" Esau tapped his forehead "is the greatest thing my race has ever produced. The sarrukh are on another level entirely, but they ignore me. Have you seen them?"
Ash nodded slowly "Yes I saw one on my way here today, looks like aYuan-ti but more so. Has a pack of followers with it?"
"Sycophants more like. Yes that is them. The Sarrukh, creators of my race and various others. But they ignore me. I'm the one who can get them back the empire that they chastise my brethren for having lost. But they ignore me because I bettered them. I created a race that is easy to produce, fanatically loyal, strong, tough, immune to poison and that can be created swiftly, in vast numbers. I did better than them and for that I am shunned by them."
"The Yuan-ti... the Vrael Olo I should say, for that is how we refer to ourselves are wonderful creations of theirs. But we are too ambitious for their liking and in time, as our creators gre lazy, we usurped their place and came to rule ourselves. They grew less and less and eventually most went into hibernation... but no longer"
"Now they wake as Sseth is angry. All of us can feel it, an energy that compels us to do more, to succeed where we have failed time and time before. It is no accident that it is now that I was able to create the Megalomen, I was inspired you might say. With them we might yet retake our lands. Yes OUR lands, make no mistake about that human. Your people have a history of civilisation going back what... 3000 years? Netheril was the greatest thing you primitives ever created and it fell out of the sky because of your own hubris. My people have dwelt in these jungles, ruled these lands for more than 30,000 years. What right do you have to this land. None!" Esau spat.
"I didn't say I had any right to this land" the paladin retorted
"But you come here nonetheless to try and stop us from reclaiming it! Your people have no claim here, humans are worthless. You breed like crazy and spread like a plague. Make no mistake human, I'm evil. I hold your entire race in contempt! But still... I want to destroy my work. all of it. They don't deserve to have it"
"Can't you just create more elsewhere?" asked Ash.
"Yes I could, but not here. There is no point here" the scientist sighed.
At the paladins questioning look, Esau continued "I live. Domino lives, Chan lives. But I need your help to get out of here. Agree to that and I'll tell you the rest"
Ash paused for a moment before nodding slowly "There is a portal in the bottom of the temple, that's next door. We have a skilled wizard with us and you have your lady's magics also. Helping you escape is possible, even probable. What else is there that we need to know?"
Esau smiled, not at Ash but at his lady sat nearby and then continued "When I leave here I'll go to Kara-Tur, that is where I was living until I was summoned back to Faerun by my benefactor, who I know only by the initial D. Still you likely know all of this from reading my journal. I assume you found it in Wolfhill House?"
"The group found your journal yes, but they had lost it by the time I joined them in Calimport"
"Then the others have likely taken it"
"The Others?"
"We are pawns you see? My people out there in the city around us believe that the Megalomen armies will reconquer the Chultan peninsula, will reclaim Serpentes of old. Ohh they might very well do so, but we won't get to keep it. We are being used as.... agents of chaos. Our amries will spread death and terror in the jungles, weaken the human states around us like Thindol, Samarach, Lapaliiya, Tashalar, perhaps even mighty Halruaa itself. But we won't get to keep any of those lands, because our armies will be weakened from the fighting also and so we will fall to what is coming"
"And what is that?" queried Ash.
"There is a Rage coming, you might have seen some effects of it already. Dragons roaring and grouping together to fly and attack"
"Yes we saw that in the jungles on our way here"
The scientist got up and paced a little before continuing "This Rage is different, it won't be like the others before it. This one won't end. I know this because I'm a genius and I've met the lunatic responsible for unleashing this... force of nature on the world. His followers refer to him as Speaker, or First Speaker. They wear purple, they are named for it. Wearers of Purple. His name though is Sammaster, called by some Sammaster the Mad."
"Sammaster is dead, he was destroyed over a 100 years ago by a circle of 12 paladins. Every paladin learns that tale"
"Every paladin then learns a lie. They destroyed his body, but that is not enough to destroy a lich. Sammaster lives... after a fashion. His hand is guiding this Rage. He won't admit it, he came here to immunise the Ssvaklors against the Rage, a token gesture of his gratitude for our aid in destabilising the region. He wants the world plunged into chaos, all the better to weaken everyone for when his dracoliches are numerous enough to take over everything!"
"If he won't admit it, then how are you sure that this is true?"
"Because I'm a genius. Think about it, the Cult of the Dragon has been around for centuries, but dragons like life as much as any other creature does. Sammasters followers have always had trouble convincing dragons to trade their flesh and blood and the pleasures of the flesh for immortality. But what if there is a simpler choice, or no choice at all? The Rage drives dragons mad, makes them into berserk beasts. While evil dragons revel in this even they only enjoy it for a short time. Dracoliches though are unaffected by the Rage. Become undead, gain in power and stay sane, or spend your life as a raving monster. The Cult will be swamped with dragons wanting to undergo the ceremony to become a dracolich!"
At the look on Ash's face, Esau chuckled lightly. "I'll help you to stop this city from making any more Megalomen if you and your group get me and mine out of here. Go and tell your friends all that I've told you. We're done now"
Standing and nodding, Ash made his way out of the laboratory (having resumed his snakeman disguise) and headed back towards the rest of the group,
DM's Notes:
I'm glad that I took a tape recorder along to this session, else I would never have remembered all of that dialogue. It is a bit paraphrased in parts. I enjoyed this session a lot, no battles this time, but some good debate amongst the party (and some not so clever ideas) and some good roleplay from all of them. Still this was Dan/Ash's moment more than the others and he put up with me striding about the room in full mad genius exposition mode very well indeed. Was fun seeing Gareth/Zamtap and Phil/Aeron grin and all but highfive each other as they figured out the main villain before his name was mentioned.
