Ptolus - Campaign Journal

It had been a couple days since House Khatru has had anything for me so I was making conversation in the Ghostly Minstrel while looking for a side project. The Black Square had recently recovered the Eye of Borat (I don’t know why everyone always snickers when they hear that name), and pawned it off on the Inverted Pyramid for a massive amount of gold so everything in the house was on them. Another group with no other name save the generic Heroes of Delver’s Square was also coming back from a slightly less lucrative and much bloodier affair, but after talking with Emerial, one of their swordsmen, it appears they are still in the midst of it and following up leads. Apparently they are new to Ptolus and could use someone who knows people about town. I joined them for drinks after their bard, Dolan, livened the inn up, a second bard joined in and told a tale of the very people I was sitting with. These are exactly the kind of people I need to fall in with if I want to further make a name for myself about town.

In the wee hours of the morning they sought me out as they had a night op they needed to run to rescue a Litorian friend of there’s named Rowlest. Apparently upon getting there another of their allies, an elf named Lilandra, had already been caught and killed sneaking about. This was very serious. Voss, the group’s tiefling duskblade, who is most decidedly not a member of the Fallen (his tongue would get him killed within 10 minutes of entering the Dark Reliquary), hatched a clever plan to pose as powerful people wishing to buy exotic goods as apparently their friend Rowlest was up on the block for auction. Unfortunately the rings Voss and Emerial wore but did not conceal well enough conveyed the wrong impression that they were Ebon Hand cultists and called for a meeting with the extremely well defended Lord Taurus and more importantly, T’lan Whispersong himself. Lord Taurus is an infamous smuggler lord who works acquiring hard to obtain items for the Balcazar crime syndicate, while this is not really a surprise as most every criminal works for the Balcazar’s in some manner or other whether they are aware of it or not, it did put us in way over our heads.

T’lan is rumored to be some mix of vampire, drow, and demon in various amounts and could single handedly slay each and every one of us without breaking a sweat. He saw right through Emerial and Voss’s lies and things threatened to get very messy as they withdrew. Together with Miss Suki, another but apparently not the last, of their party, we retreated and discussed our options.

T’lan himself, though a thoroughly evil creature and probably well seated in both the Fallen and Balcazar organizations, apparently finds dealing more expedient than simply slaying every minor annoyance in his path and was prepared to offer both Lilandra’s corpse and Rowlest’s freedom in exchange for the heavily ensorcelled items of one Stinkpuff (a pretty big name in his own right) that apparently this group had slain and looted. Stinkpuff, in addition to being the most despicable sort assassin and narcotic dealer was apparently one of T’lan’s lieutenants which explained how he probably had one of the most legendary suits of armor in Ptolus.

Unfortunately, Voss was on such a roll in insulting people that even his normal conversation while offensive, but at least somewhat cooperative was enough along with the rest of the parties utter lack of comprehension of what it was they faced was enough to push T’lan much farther than he was willing to tolerate for gnats for whom he was doing a favor. He slew Voss effortlessly in our midst and while we each attempted to stop him none of us accomplished even enough to cause T’lan to turn his ire on us. The demon then grabbed up Voss and revived him, bestowing upon him the Traitor’s Kiss which would identify him to any of demonic descent that he was a traitor to his blood. Then he took Rowlest and Lilandra off the table and gave us 24 hours to return Artwalker (the legendary suit of armor that allows transport between any two works of art) and he left us there impotent having retrieved his lieutenant’s powerful sword from Voss’s hip.

Even after being revived only Dolan showed any sign of wanting to cooperate, and Voss was immediately convinced that the only course of action to take was one of vengeance finding someone more powerful than T’lan to kill him. While I’m sure the creature has many enemies, the powerful movers and shakers in Ptolus just don’t tend to work that way as there are always too many other consequences. Thankfully these Delvers have powerful friends in the city and we arranged to have a meeting with their benefactor in the Noble’s Quarter. She donated payment for a favor from some of Menon Balcazar’s impatient and rebellious children.

We met with Maystra and her brother and Voss managed to talk himself into being killed twice more but the level of protection his benefactor provided stayed his sentence for the time being and only resulted in him being utterly humiliated. I should have died of shame if what had happened to him had happened to me, my name would be sullied forever. Voss however didn’t even slow down until we told him that that last bit of mercy he had received had exhausted the Lady’s protection of him.

Maystra wished to see another of her father’s gambits fail as well as have a group of Delver’s indebted to her that she held leverage over as she would know what they had done against her father. Apparently Rowlest is the heir apparent to a large tribe of Litorians far beyond the purview of Ptolus and his disappearance from Menon Balcazar’s clutches would be greatly satisfying to the tiefling manipulator. I swear by the Daykeeper I have never seen so many fantastically beautiful women and demons in my life as I have this one day. We discussed it but there really was no option, we were told that Lilandra was all but dead and beyond the point of saving, but that we could use her death to save Rowlest.

We fought our way through a back way Maystra arranged for us before engaging a number of powerful drow guarding the blood magic body art they had made of Lilandra’s vivisected but still living body. Dolan was all but killed by magic missiles, I was run through and barely escaped with my life, Emerial had both his eyes destroyed and gouged out, and a number of us were poisoned as well, but we held. Miss Suki’s heart was broken as the tongueless Lilandra recognized us and believed herself saved until Voss commented that he would miss her and that there was no other way.

Through Lilandra’s gruesome death and the blood magic unleashed a very confused Rowlest was summoned to the spot and without time enough for explanation I directed him to carry Suki out while I carried Dolan and Voss lead the blind Emerial.

The flowing clash of steel on steel was as beautiful and sublime as ever, despite the heavy tolls, but still, this is not the kind of tale I wish to spread. We lived, but a few more ‘victories’ like this and I fear there will be nothing left worth fighting for.

* * * *

Tired, wounded, and covered in the blood of our allies we made it back to the Ghostly Minstrel. Emerial had Voss take him up to a room within which was another member of the band I had not met yet. She was a petite little doll that couldn’t have been more than 15 or 16 years old but she grabbed up Dolan’s field medic wand and put it to good use so I assumed she was at least some kind of spellcaster.

She patched us up with in the limits of the wand before having Rowlest and I help Emerial and carry the strangely still unconscious Dolan to St. Gustave’s, a rather neglected church of the Daykeeper. Father Fabitor was able to restore the rest of us to health, though Dolan still did not awaken he seemed much better. Rowlest volunteered to look after him for the time being. Emerial’s vision however required greater power than Father Fabitor could muster though he volunteered to send word to the Arch Bishop on our behalf.

While there were other details that needed to be addressed, our six hour deadline to return Artwalker or be slain was the most pressing. Voss was still adamantly against returning the armor to it’s former owner, regardless of the consequences but Emerial was convinced there was not enough time under our deadline to locate and convince some third party powerful enough to do our fighting for us. So with fighting and acquiescing off the table I suggested that at least we could ensure the armor stay out of Windsong’s hands after our probable deaths. If nothing else the Pale Tower would likely take and hold such an item just to oppose the Fallen. Perhaps they might even offer us some aid of some sort. Agreed on this, or at least still unwilling to return Artwalker for the time being until we had the strength to right this wrong, Emerial and Voss hired a cab and blearily made their way to see Madame Valcorne and retrieve it while Emogen—the young girl with the wand—and I headed for the Pale Tower in Old Town to seek the aid of the Malkuth.

While probably impolite of me, I took the opportunity during the carriage ride to catch what sleep I could so our arrival at the Pale Tower was quite fast to me. We requested an audience with a wizard that I had heard liaised with the general public, apparently Emogen was herself of some form of celestial heritage as all who greeted her used a form of salute I later learned was reserved for such. In any case, we ended up telling our tale to Madame Silverdoor instead who seemed happy for the free information if nothing else and readily agreed to take Artwalker off our hands. But my relief over this generosity was quickly matched by my chagrin as we received a message that after repeatedly dismissing the idea of returning the armor to T’lan as stupidity, Voss and Emerial had apparently decided to do just that.

Whereas I was happy to have a much more optimistic chance of surviving the day I was somewhat angered that the course of action Dolan and I had been in favor of, as far back as when it would have returned Lilandra and Rowlest to us alive even to when it would only save our own hides, was constantly ridiculed only to be suddenly adopted without so much as a discussion or apology I have come to expect an utter lack of tact or graciousness from any of this group and as such simply let it go by and suggested to Emogen that we retire back to the Ghostly Minstrel after making our apologies to the Malkuth. Voss and Emerial had neglected to mention to us where they would be meeting T’lan and it was my feeling that they would likely return to the Minstrel after they were done in any case.

Later that morning Voss and Emerial returned. Emerial seemed no worse for wear but Voss had apparently shot his mouth off again as it appeared to have been ripped to shreds by T’lan’s fearsome clawed grip. I know I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did, but when the little Emogen found his wounds would not completely heal and dug her finger around in the claw marks on Voss’s face I couldn’t help but laugh. She gave him the fiercest look and reprimand which I expect will do nothing, but the comedy of the visual was a welcome relief for me.

* * * *

After some much needed rest some of us headed down to the City Watch guard post in Delver’s Square to see if their had been any word on Lieutenant Commander Jason. Yesterday amidst all the other turmoil we had heard from his Sergeant that he and his men had been captured and later been told by Sheva McAlister that he was to be killed if we did not meet T’lan’s deadline. We got as many details as we could from the Watch but with Emerial still blinded, Dolan out of action, and Voss still wounded there didn’t seem to be much we could do at the moment. Thankfully while were resting Emogen had heard that a person I know only as Jack was willing to see at least to Emerial’s disability and after a visit to him he returned with a copy of Rowlest’s eyes, at least, I hope they are merely duplicates, and word that the Litorian prince was to accompany this Jack out of the city on some mission as payment for services.

I should mention that we were visited by an envoy of the Dreaming Apothecary who provided us the means to place orders with their renowned service. Anyone who is anyone has one of their coins, and is the first reward of any kind I have received for being slashed, run through, and grinding my teeth through all the witticisms of the tiefling Voss. I would be more inclined to tolerate his abuse if he weren’t the cause of so many of our problems, but I will continue to endure it for now in the hopes that perhaps the rescue of the Lieutenant Commander will earn us some of the accolades that rescuing Rowlest did not.

I headed off to Longbottom to find someone who had seen the retreat of the sortie that took Jason and his men, and the others visited the Brotherhood of Redemption. Apparently Voss was healed by Urlenius himself, or at least that was the explanation given when I asked about the symbol of Navashtrom now hanging about his neck. I managed to get us pointed to a dive bar in the area but Emogen was much more successful and got the name of someone who might have just the information we need. I see now that the Daykeeper has been testing my patience with purpose these last couple days as the Ralph we were directed to question thwarted and infuriated everyone else who tried to speak with him; quite a feat for a harmless, even if lecherous and drunken, old man.

I’m sure Ralph had never met a depth he wouldn’t gleefully sink to. But on the other hand he was sharp and offered me exactly the information we were looking for once he got what he wanted. I didn’t ask how he knew what he knew, I probably don’t want to know, but the address he gave us checked out. Emogen and Voss had a look around back and at the sound of dragon gunfire Emerial and I busted down the front door of the house to come to their aid. We crossed steel with two who matched the description of Jason’s kidnappers precisely before we could reach the others and out of my sight Emerial traded blows with one of them until both were ready to topple over. Unfortunately it was Emerial who hit the floor first leaving me to face both of the present kidnappers alone. Thankfully they stepped into the perfect position for one of the Sublime Way’s most basic maneuvers and the Iron Heart’s Steel Wind strike laid them low. I opened the back door keeping an eye on the cleric who had surrendered to let in Voss and Emogen who apparently had dealt with the ratmen and seemed no worse for wear. Emogen quickly saw to Emerial while the fallen priestess smugly lied in reply to every quest put to her. After she refused to capitulate and unwilling to risk any further attack from her in my weakened state I knocked her out. Voss was as contrary as ever as one minute he was belittling me for demanding the priestess fully disarmed (while she had dropped her heavy mace, she was still in heavy plate armor with a razored shield strapped to her arm and who knew what behind it), and the next he was stepping up to kill her where she lay unconscious. And while murdering helpless foes that had yielded was apparently acceptable, our breaking and entering into this criminal lair to come to Voss and Emogen’s aid was apparently reprehensible to him. He really is impossible. We had spoken with the Watch, been given every lead they had to pursue, and were pursuing them to the best of our ability with their blessing or so we thought. Both the Lieutenant Commander’s Sergeant and the Watch at Delver’s Square had beseeched us for aid at least. I suggested that if we couldn’t get the truth out of our captives then perhaps the Watch could or at the very least would be grateful for the capture of two who so perfectly fit the description of Jason’s kidnappers.

A search of the unconscious cleric revealed a signet ring of the Whispersong’s clenched it as we had earlier been told that Jason had been taken to ensure the return of T’lan’s property. So despite Voss’s repeated protestations of taking live prisoners to question to the authorities (I wonder if any one else find it as ironic as I do that he wears the symbol of the Brotherhood of the Redeemed around his demonic throat) and utter lack of any other suggestion of what to do, we sought to bring our prisoners to the nearest City Watch guard post.

Unfortunately this would turn out to be a grave error, as apparently this portion of Midtown’s Watch is on the take. We were surrounded by the Watch and ordered to stand down and surrender our prisoners. With Voss smirking all the while we were disarmed and taken into custody and Emerial tells me he saw the grinning priestess had her signet ring returned while I sit her in lock down writing this. I tell you, when I was working the Watch in the Market we had our rivalries with other divisions and enjoyed verbal sparring frequently, but when it came to watching each others’ backs or putting down armed sorties attacking Watch within the walls everyone wore the same uniform. Never has the Spire’s shadow seemed so deep.

* * * *

The Watch demanded the return of our captive’s weapons and possessions then sent us on our way, I asked that any word of the lieutenant commander’s whereabouts be sent to Watch at Delver’s Square to effect one way or another. Jason’s attackers were our only lead as to where he could be at the moment and deprived of them we were at a loss for how to go about rescuing him.

On our way back to the square Voss decided to take up a different fighting style and sold off his very expensive shield as well as another suit of armor he’d been lugging around. We checked in at the Watch in Delver’s Square and Emerial sent word ahead to Lady Valcorne that we needed to speak with her. The corporal at the Watch post explained to us that in that neighborhood there were many people that were hands off, so to speak. I understand treading lightly around certain parties but it still rankles that the Watch of that district are so spineless that even when it comes to one of their own they would simply roll over without so much as giving the appearance of propriety.

Emogen was so frustrated she went straight up to her room to sulk I suppose as we did not see her for the rest of the day, Voss, Emerial, and I however wished to immediately move on to something else to regain some sense of accomplishment and assuage our wounded pride. As it was we had been walking for near an hour before the flies Emerial and I were attracting made it plain that we would not be admitted to the Noble’s Quarter in such attire.

On our way back we encountered an odd goblin-like beggar with a sign so strange about his neck we had to pause if only to try and decipher the puzzle. He introduced himself as Geery and offered to heal our wounds in the most broken of Common. Seeing no harm in playing along with the creature’s delusions and honestly finding him somewhat amusing Voss and Emerial did indeed provide him with some coin and though exceptionally odd, the little goblin did indeed have some minor healing ability. He also was extremely opinionated and while difficult to understand, he identified Emerial’s eyes as the result of chaositech which seemed to unnerve him somewhat.

I mentioned that the clerics of Navashtrom would likely welcome Geery and at least provide him a better place to stay than the alley he was currently hunkered down in but he explained something about ‘Big Blue’ not liking him. I found it at least a little alarming that Urlenius would hold one such as this at arm’s length but he seemed harmless enough to me. At one point Voss offered to get the pathetic little thing some food instead at which point he became quite excitable and offered to follow us around and keep us healed if we would but keep it fed. I didn’t put too much stock in the verbal agreement but upon shaking hands with the little creature I felt a tugging on my very soul. I wonder what else we will manage to bumble into this day.

Geery is an odd little thing, he swooped up his little pot and set it on his head like a helmet and marched off with us. Sometimes you forget he’s there and he is seemingly no where to be found, most people don’t see him at all. That would be a handy ability to have as our enemies find us seemingly at will. Emerial spotted T’lan stalking us and having already learned that neither fight, nor flight are options with him we resigned ourselves to finding out what he wanted this time.

T’lan was somewhat less grotesque this time but I’m sure his fangs were ready for us at a moment’s notice if need be. He proceeded to simultaneously belittle and cajole us as he is wont to do and Voss once more found himself completely unable to control his tongue in the monstrous elf’s presence. We would seem to be his favorite curiosities of the moment and he offered to buy our services outright from the House of Delight though he would not say what for. He made several insinuations about our current patron and the true goals behind her tasks for us but we wrote it off at the time as common sense. Of course the Lady Valcorne would have some use for the forgery tools other than citizenry papers for Emerial and the others, but nothing comes for free and if you wish favors from those in power one would expect them to benefit from the tasks you perform in exchange.

While working for one organization of questionable intent is largely the same as the next, the House of Delights would seem to me a patron much less likely to sully my reputation than working for someone of such dubious goals and terrifying visage as T’lan Windsong. I almost said as much but I had no desire to find out exactly what would provoke one of his frequent and casual outbursts of brutality. Regardless of our distaste for the monster, he informed us that would be dining with him this night to further discuss our future employment and as usual this seemed less a request and more of a command upon pain of death.

* * * *

Later that day we found ourselves before Lady Valcorne who seemed colder and much less willing to offer aid that in our previous encounters. She knew already of our scheduled meeting with T’lan and casually remarked that he had plenty of gold if he wished to purchase our services from her. She also seemed repulsed at the sight of Geery more so than one would expect given the little suit he had caused to appear on himself. He still wore his pot atop his head though he had turned it golden in appearance. She would give no explanation for how she recognized his kind, what he was, or anything of tactical use regarding our negotiations with T’lan that evening. She knew of no other pieces of the set she wished to assemble at the moment save the signet which conveniently enough T’lan himself had recently acquired. I, for one, found her mysteriously lacking in the charm and patience she had radiated through out our previous encounters and it further darkened my mood for tonight’s activities.

That night the Minstrel was packed once more as the Black Square had apparently found some more success delving the ruins beneath the city and anything you could think to order was on their tab again. Far be it from me to turn down free food, but I’m starting to think I latched on to the wrong group if I want to hear the bards singing my name. Of course if I knew then what I know now I would have laughed myself silly.

T’lan appeared out of no where and after the usual small talk got down to business. He offered us fame, money, protection, and direction. He offered legitimate citizenship to those in need of it and again disparaged the House of Delights for pretending to be unable to acquire such things without forgery. Honestly whether it was the food or the copious amounts of drink I was consuming that night I’m not sure but I was beginning to consider swapping sides until Lilandra, Rowlest, and all the others maimed or killed because of this monster harkened back to me. Of course he said nothing of what purpose he intended to put us to, or anything of his own goals, nor would he speak of who his enemies were. This in particular was important to me as by extension they would become our enemies were we to ally with T’lan.

T’lan reminded us that it was not he who killed Lilandra nor captured Rowlest and that indeed he had offered to give us both back initially for what he could have easily taken and offered nothing in return for. Emerial requested time to consider his offers and it was granted. In a final gesture he threw down the signet we needed and asked for nothing but our consideration before he parted company with us. It was a topsy-turvy day with our enemies treating us better than our allies and I was glad to see it end. I returned to the simpler affairs of finding what companionship I could and though I can’t remember every detail I’m pretty sure I spent the night with a comely wench before I awoke next to Geery.

* * * *

On the one hand I didn’t need to provide cab fare for my night’s entertainment; on the other hand I woke up next to a happily snoozing goblin. Refusing to contemplate the alternative explanation I woke Geery up and offered to get him some breakfast. I was still very curious about his nature and while I couldn’t get any straight answers from him it would appear that he is something like a demon or an angel, not of this world and that for whatever reason he can’t get home. At some point I identified my inquisitiveness as prompted by everyone but our comprehension of what he was, specifically Lady Valcorne. He hissed and spat at her name calling her erinyes and when that got no reaction he named her by a name I know better, demon.

Always wonderful to find out you’ve been working for Hell.
Voss was working the kitchen, I don’t know where Emogen and Suki were off to, and so when Emerial came down bleary eyed closer to noon than sunrise I was the one who got to tell him the cheery news. He actually didn’t seem all that surprised by it and instead laid one right back on me that Lady Valcorne was apparently the sister of Rotgut, Staplechest, or whatever the giant grotesque blob it was that Emerial, Voss, and the others helped slay in the middle of Delver’s Square. Makes you wonder what she really looks like.

Given this bit of news T’lan is rapidly becoming an actual viable alternative, though the Knights of the Pale or the Pale Tower itself might be much safer employers, they unfortunately do not seem to be very interested in us, and the last thing I want to end up doing is working for the Balacazars. Maybe something smaller scale like just joining the Delver’s Guild and going on a few runs would be a better idea, but that requires papers and papers require patronage. So Emerial sent word of our decision to the creature we had spent all last week trying not to get killed by.

It’s difficult to relate all that happened next, you’d have to be a sage or librarian to have gotten it all but I will do my best to retell it. Some or all of it could be untrue or simply misunderstood or remembered by me but T’lan arrived that afternoon he made himself available to answer any question he could to gain our trust and loyalty and many of the answers made my head spin. Many of our first questions were geared towards who T’lan was and what he wanted. He told us that he was not from this world and that he came here by choice but was now trapped due to the nature of our world. Apparently our world was created as some form of prison for some terrible power and most people live their lives blissfully unaware of that fact, my friends and I no longer number among those happy people.

Among those who do know are some of the chaos cultists who seek some way to break open this prison and T’lan wants to ensure this does not happen. As to what manner of creature he is, we still do not know but the fact that he looks and acts the way he does is both by choice and strategy of deception. Strangely enough the only demands he had of us in his employ is that we act with dignity and honor when we represent him and that we remain loyal. Apparently T’lan is in the market for some bright shiny figureheads to improve his reputation and such a role suits me just fine, may get some bards singing about me yet.

How T’lan is going about goal remains a mystery to but he appears to be maneuvering towards founding a House and has purchased a manse in the Noble’s Quarter to this end. In the mean time he said he would arrange more permanent lodging for us in Midtown and wanted us to accompany him to see Lady Valcorne to end our association with her. She had told us that with enough coin T’lan could buy us off so that didn’t sound so hard.

* * * *

We had a private coach take us back to the Ghostly Minstrel from the House of Delight. The erinyes that ran the place is dead, or at least I think she is, after being run through by two of T’lan’s swords that came out of no where. Apparently she was feeding on the others and didn’t actually have any desire to stop doing so. When she made this apparent and began to assume her true form T’lan resorted to the form of negotiations I’m more accustomed to him using. It was a surreal encounter that only reinforces how little idea we have of what’s going on around us.

That said a meal then heading down to the office of the Delver’s Guild with our new papers sounded like a welcome change of pace. Unfortunately when we arrived back at the Minstrel we were pointed out by a server to a pair of elves with a litorian. They seek word of Rowlest and Lilandra and we provide the sad tale as best we are able. I tried to offer what little of the remains of Lilandra we have but Geery would only bite my hand when I tried to retrieve it from him, how he got it we still don’t know. Rowlest conversely it seemed we had no idea where he was. The last we had heard he was headed out with Jack to perform some deed that would square up the return of Emerial’s vision, but the next thing we knew Jack was back in the Minstrel completely unaware of the events of the last few weeks and minus Rowlest.

Emerial told the elves that apparently Jack had more than a passing interest in chaositech and in his pursuit of it had been caught in a trap and forced to do some pretty despicable things. The Church of Lothian had rescued him both from his situation and from the weight of his misdeeds but where the litorian prince was now we had no idea. Likely the Taurus encampment or the Balacazars will have some idea though. T’lan had said if we should ever engage in war with Lord Taurus that we should do it wearing tabards of House Windsong to send a message, I don’t understand what happened there but at least we are finally moving in a direction more to my ken. I need to cross weapons with someone soon if I am going to continue to my progress along the Sublime Way.

Somewhere in all of this we had gotten around to discussing Lieutenant Commander Jason’s abduction again as well but there is simply too much that has happened for me to record it all. We did eventually get to the office of the Delver’s Guild and purchase memberships and hear tell of orcs, kobolds, and drow beneath the city but in the midst of everything it is the Taurus that we have chosen to pursue at the moment.

Emerial bought the eyes of a pick pocket I caught in his purse to have a look about the Taurus encampment and apparently they have tightened security considerably. Besides his minotaur bodyguard Lord Taurus has another champion as well as his guards and clerics. Not sure what we’re going to do about that. Emerial’s spy took a crossbow quarrel for her trouble and the last thing I can remember at the moment is tithing twenty and five of Emerial’s crowns to the Daykeeper for Father Fabitor to heal the urchin and her annoyance at being cleaned in the process.

It has been one hell of a last couple days, and I haven’t even gotten to writing about quitting the employ of House Khatru and meeting Gloria. Maybe later.

* * * *

I spent this morning honing my concentration, meditation is something more oft reserved for spellcasters but the Diamond Mind school of the Sublime Way teaches that through concentration one can alter their perception of time, have all the time in the world to analyze your opponents weaknesses, and in an instant exploit them.

Plus it makes you look mysterious and wise which after my… athletic… romps with Gloria might be a good thing. I can’t help it, what she lacks in outer beauty she makes up for in enthusiasm, flexibility, and I don’t need to worry about forgetting my own strength with her. Besides, she puts her life on the line almost as much as I do and receives little pay and no thanks for it, the least I can do is show the lonely girl a good time. There are plenty of others easier on the eyes, but they are usually expecting something in return. Gloria knows what she looks like, and the company I keep probably isn’t doing anything for her confidence but there’s only so much I’m willing or able to do for her.

Speaking of risking one’s life, apparently Voss’s tales of Gnarlfist’s demise were greatly exaggerated, he remains alive and by far the ugliest creature I’ve ever seen. Using some manner of stone the obese behemoth held open a portal through which poured out a flood of grotesquely mutilated townsfolk. They were crazed and gnawed upon and set to feeding on anything or anyone they could sink their teeth into. Even worse, in some cases it was spreading. I took up my weapon and fled to the Minstrel calling the others to arms but even as I did they were already upon me. Through the portal I could make out fires leaping from building to building almost as if Gnarlfist was herding the torrent of infected through the portal into Delver’s Square.

I tried to hold the doors but even as the townsfolk clambered over the corpses amassing at my feet more were pouring through the windows. Voss did what he could armed with only the frying pan he’d been cooking with. A young twig of a spellcaster named Rayth who had up until then been enjoying a quiet morning at the Minstrel also lent a hand felling more than half a dozen of the creatures with a well placed spell. A chaos of battle overtook the whole of the square as larger half-giant infected joined the fray and were met by all manner of Delver’s from beneath the Square. Spells flew in every direction and summoned creatures swept hapless infected townsfolk this way and that even as more innocents were alternately caught in the crossfire or subsumed by the infected. A huge scorpion rent its way through the mob until it vanished, buried beneath infected.

One of the half giants would have been the end of me were it not for Geery’s timely intervention. Worse the sounds of breaking glass and battle from upstairs answered why Emogen and Emerial had yet to join us. With the tide of battle set firmly against the defenders in the Minstrel, I attempted to use T’lan’s signet to summon any available aid within reach but received no response.

Backs to the walls we held as long as we could when two forms of unexpected help arrived, one was in the form of an entirely different visage of T’lan Windsong, his horrible bat wings were feathered and there was an almost angelic countenance to him until he landed and impaled two half giants on the bone-spiked ends of his strange leathery but yet somewhat feathered wings. Whatever he choose to look like, he is very comfortable at the center of carnage it seems. Were that not strange enough Geery’s form erupted into a hideous mass of rubbery slime, tentacles, and eyeballs all framing a number of gaping mouths that began devouring every infected—alive or otherwise—that his tentacles could bring to him. However when Voss eventually succumbed to the onslaught and turned his maddened eyes on the slight elf, Rayth, Geery’s tentacles latched onto him and flung him across the commons room into a wall.

T’lan cast down infected with his monstrous strength as well as with spells until at least the immediate area around us was safer at which point he again saved Voss which continues to anger the tiefling to no end. I relayed what had happened as best I could and answered both T’lan and Rayth’s questions before our strange patron took on a less eye-catching appearance and left us to our own devices. The fighting outside had subsided though the aftermath of what had happened was a grisly sight indeed. I went to check on the others and while Emogen and Emerial were alright I could find no trace of Suki save for a note she had left which offered little clue as to where she had gone.

Back down in the commons room Rayth plied Voss and I with questions until we told him a little of our current plans to seek the return of the Lieutenant Commander as well as find our Lithorian friend. This discussion became more interesting when the heavily armored woman we had beaten into submission only too recently showed up with her insane gnome friend and an elven battle mage, presumably the one the Watch had told us of. Jenna, that’s her name. She haughtily informed us that T’lan had instructed her to aid us then proceeded to sit down with her friends and do nothing of the sort.
Emerial and Emogen apparently must have received some word from St. Gustave’s about Dolan as they left soon thereafter and have yet to return. Jenna and her cronies held to the fact that T’lan had sent them to the Ghostly Minstrel to aid us and that such a mandate did not include leaving it to aid us against the Taurus encampment. Thus reduced in numbers to two when Rayth offered his help we took him up on it and Voss quickly asked if he knew of anyone else with the courage to join us. Actually his words were quite different but they escape me now, regardless, Rayth said he knew someone and headed back to his enclave to fetch her.

One good thing about defending an establishment like the Ghostly Minstrel, their gratitude can be very tasty. And with their own built in bard I had an eager ear for our tale of the day’s events. Unfortunately our future course was no where near as convenient. When Rayth returned with a beautiful elven wizard he named as Riley it took us quite some time to come up with a plan of action. Several options were discussed and Riley’s interrogation of Jenna was very entertaining, but in the end it was decided that the Taurus encampment was too heavily guarded for us to infiltrate with our current resources. Voss suggested seeing if T’lan had any tasks for us more within our means and I attempted to request a meeting with him on the morrow to discuss such. Bringing up T’lan embroiled us in all manner of dialogue over our employer’s nature, goals, methods, and our history with him. For the moment I left out the doomsday stories so as not to alarm and because I’m still hoping that the cultists’ rituals to bring about the Night of Dissolution are all just mumbo jumbo and that they don’t actually have the ability to sunder whatever it is that holds this realm together. Surely if they did have such ability the combined force of the Holy Palace would descend on them and the Daykeeper’s sacred armies would annihilate them to a man. With the Emperor of the Church currently staying in Ptolus with his son the Prince, I’m sure security is at an all time high and any whisper of truth to a tale like this would provoke a swift and deadly response. So for now I choose to focus on simpler things, the elves returned to Emerald Hill for the night and I decided enough time had passed that visiting Gloria again wouldn’t send the wrong message.

Our meeting with T’lan the next morning resulted in even more colorful discourse with T’lan disinterested in either limiting knowledge of this world’s true nature or coddling any would be allies of ours. Surprisingly Rayth was not put off at all by these revelations and even managed to pledge his service to House Windsong before Voss’s usual tact and charm exhausted T’lan’s patience and he left mid-sentence. What it did not result in though was a plan, regrettably T’lan had no work for us and was annoyed to be summoned at such a request at all. So after Voss and I finished T’lan’s interrupted story as best we could we are left with little else than to get Rayth and Riley guilded with the Delver’s and get to work under the city. I say we get after the ratmen. It’ll be good to get some practice with our new companions and learn to work together before we take on more deadly foes. And besides, with the riches to be found beneath Ptolus we may get lucky and return with the funds to put the Dreaming Apothecary to serious work. I need to see if T’lan would find it agreeable to allow me to requisition some resources for just that. Aside from the legacy weapons of each martial discipline of the Sublime Way I’ve heard tell of weapons being simply keyed to a discipline, with my growing skill of the Iron Heart discipline and study of the Tiger Claw I can think of no more potent tool in advancing my training.

* * * *

The next morning when I came back inside there was a heavily armored half-orc of no descent I recognized who looked as if he had just stepped off of the battlefield. He was trying to communicate in a very broken common but having studied the languages of orcs I was able to converse more easily with him, though his dialect was foreign to me. He identified himself as a follower of some power called Corean and said he and his companion, Reagan, had traveled to this plane only to be beset and separated by dark elves. He also mentioned that he was a student of the Stone Dragon, Devoted Spirit, and White Raven disciplines of the Sublime Way which impressed me some what. In any case, he wished to hire the services of locals to rescue his companion and offered what amounted to around a thousand imperials each to us. After Jenna's belittling of our plans to head into the Dungeon after ratmen, a clash against dark elves may be a better choice if I want to bring a little notoriety to my family name.

We accepted his offer and took down what information he could offer about where he had passed and what Reagan looked like.

Later Father Fabitor brought word of Dolan's progress or lack thereof and also commented on the terrible nature of the infection that had been spreading from the Warrens. Apparently portals like the one Gnarlfist had opened in Delver's Square had opened in nearly every open area around town. It seems that the infection is less a disease and more of an actual living parasite that is somehow able to find purchase in even a paladin’s sanctified biology. Worse, he knew of no cure that had been found and reported that as a result much of the resources of the city had been withdrawn to safeguard the nobility. With the Emperor of the Church and his son, the Prince, within the Noble’s Quarter this came as little surprise to me. He seemed particularly upset that T’lan had been able to purge the infestation in Voss when the Church had not at which point Voss returned from the kitchen for long enough to get himself banned from St Gustave’s and chase Fabitor out with his usual flippant non-stop commentary.

Some of the others and I required better armaments for our newest undertaking but after an envoy of the Dreaming Apothecary visited me I found I had neither the time nor the coin to arrange what I had planned. I did manage to arrange for the artisans to induct Rayth and Riley into their patronage for both party’s mutual benefits however. The following day however was interrupted by some form of ooze leaking from what Voss identified as Torm’s room. I strayed to close in my investigation of it and it proved both animate and hostile.

Voss, Rayth, and Riley all attacked it with their differing forms of magic, while I unfortunately employed more conventional means. To my shame when I struck it with the weapon passed down through my family it was consumed in a gout of acidic spray. While the others continued assaulting it at range I was left to defend myself from its repeated caustic attacks with various pieces of furniture I dashed against its mass.

When it lost it’s cohesiveness we were able to investigate the barren environs of Torm’s room in which the colloidal gel had devoured everything from the floorboards, to the furniture, to the remains of the half-orc crusader. Seeing nothing to be done for the poor bastard and still furious with myself I stormed out to Rastor’s Arms to see about rearming myself to at least rescue Reagan. Rastor offered to attempt to restore my family weapon and sold me a replacement in the meantime which was a great, if expensive, relief to me. But while I was doing this, the other’s more extensive search of the site of Torm’s demise had yielded dangerous findings.

Back at the minstrel I followed the sound of combat to the room directly above Torm’s and found Rayth emptying the contents of his stomach on the floor along with the frightful stench of burnt flesh. Within the room Riley had apparently incinerated three dark elf practitioners of dark blood sorcery and Voss was in the process of hacking the scalps off their—in one case, still breathing—bodies. In the middle of the room, vivisected and partially merged into the floor of the room was the grotesque mutilated form of some hapless elf the dark elves had been using as the channel for their summoning. Voss swiftly put that thing out of its misery but Rayth stopped him from similarly finishing off the priestess that was still breathing. He administered the bare minimum of care to the vile creature to get her talking and through a mix of offers of mercy and menace we gathered a few useful pieces of information. Apparently the dark elf practitioners we have twice encountered now are servants of the Fallen while those who captured Reagan were of some rival House. These elves had been magically questioning the remains of Torm to gather whatever information they could as apparently Reagan bore something known as the Master of Hunger that the Fallen believed would aid them in bringing about the Night of Dissolution. At this point Riley became even more interested in rescuing Reagan if only to thwart the Fallen.

I was relating to the others what little I knew of the Fallen and their Dark Reliquary when T’lan arrived in person carrying a magical bag of some kind. I had heard some whisper of the demons Lilith and Raziel leading the Fallen but the truth T’lan revealed was much darker. Raziel was apparently a celestial being born of the old gods before they had left Praemal charged with bringing order to some hell outside our realm. He had come by choice back to this world to discover why his parents would do such a thing to him and migrated along with most of the world’s extraplanar inhabitants to the city by the Spire. Apparently he is a conflicted being who rules the demons of the Fallen because he is uniquely suited to do so, but what his agenda could entail may be much more complicated given T’lan’s information.

In any case, T’lan had arrived to inform us we would be required to attend to some plot of his in 10 days on the 23rd. He also gave to us the magical bag he had brought with him that somehow contained more than thirty thousand gold imperials. I certainly had the funds now to see about acquiring a more resilient weapon, but I still didn’t have the nearly two weeks it would take for the Dreaming Apothecary to manufacture it. Regardless, T’lan’s answer of my missive was a great boon and the others immediately put it to use.

Later that day Meagan made herself known to us in her usual manner quietly relieving us of near a hundred imperials. Now calling herself Nancy she had apparently taken well to life within the walls and had information to sell us, Rayth immediately took a great dislike to her while Voss sought a more manageable arrangement of payment for services along with information for an equal share of findings provided an equal amount of contribution and risk was undertaken. Meagan, or Nancy, or whatever she prefers left us for a time and returned very well armed for us to set out. Riley and the waif verbally sparred for a time over providing a real name but the only interesting thing to come out of it was an apparent attraction between Meagan and Voss which amuses me to no end.

Meagan told us that the information she had come across and was going to have sold to us included not only clues to where Reagan—yes I know, its somewhat confusing to me as well—had been abducted but that she might even know where the dark elves are holding her. We will likely need to fight through ratmen and orcs being paid to run interference for them, but if we make it through we may be able to negotiate Reagan’s release. Not that I have anything the dark elves might value nor any desire to provide it to them. We’ll see, there is much to come before then.

****

Voss was still wandering around the Minstrel wearing the drow scalps on his belt, never mind T'lan's instructions not to do so while representing him; it's not like there is anything labeling them as drow and thus somehow exonerating him for wandering around displaying the remains of humanoids whose heads he hacked off. But in any case, Voss is Voss and no one is going to change him. I overheard him saying something to Telith about buying or renting a table just for us that he could paint, this doesn't seem like a bad idea to me and the notoriety would be nice but the proprietor looked like she was about to pop a vein.

Meagan showed up again in a particularly confrontational mood which ended up costing Voss half of his share of our impending delve as he tried to put her in her place and she reminded him that her place was dictated by being the only one who knew where we were going. It would turn out later that it was a good thing we worded things the way we did. I'm starting to sound very callous, but I'll get to that in a moment. Gloria showed up later, she had tried to doll herself up and I tried to show her a good time, but it's really not her thing. We should just get suited up and enter a melee for fun, she's much more at home encased in a full set of steel than wrapped in frippery. Sasha, the battle mage from Jenna's team, showed up as well later, but he was pretty beat up. Apparently they took some heavy blows in some place called Ra' Torchansie from two different factions of drow, and worse, Jenna wasn't able to heal the wounds they were taking. Apparently she and Glibber are both laid up at St. Gustave's with Father Fabitor looking over them.

Sasha got wasted and Voss proved pretty adept at playing along and feeding him half truths to get him talking about T'lan. One of the more interesting details to come out was that in the time Sasha had been working with T'lan there had been a girl several times that had behaved in an unusually familiar way with him. Even more telling was that he had seen this girl willingly take a crossbow bolt in the shoulder from T'lan before leaving the Taurus compound which you may remember is how Meagan came back to us after gathering reconnaissance for us. Riley and I both eagerly sought some way to use this information to our advantage or at least for our entertainment. But before the conversation could go much further Gloria and Meagan returned having gathered their things to set off.

Meagan had been ruthlessly picking on Gloria all night the way only a pretty girl can belittle an ugly one. Gloria is an interesting woman in the dichotomy of her raw power and battle prowess versus the shattered and insecure woman her over muscular and battle scarred form has made her. Unfortunately upon Meagan's return she was even more brutal and despite several warnings pushed Gloria way too far. She upended the table and easily grabbed and slammed the surprised little rogue against a wall but after she had said her piece and Riley had started to calm her down Meagan went way over the line and disemboweled the amazonian warrior. I rushed to her side and caught her even as Rayth's magic saved her life. Voss flipped into the fray in a dashing show and read Meagan's intent as lethal. He brought to bear a huge quillioned sword but over extended himself and was stabbed by Meagan's quick riposte through the hand deep into the bone. With nothing more I could do to help Gloria and Rayth aiding her as best he could, I drew steel and swung with intent to kill, though the rogue narrowly deflected my powerful blow. Voss fired off a barrage of the apparently animate manticor spikes that comprised the hilt of his weapon only to have not only his attacks dodged but another vicious wound from Meagan, this one nearly fatal.

The tide turned as Riley caught Meagan off guard and pummeled her with magically conjured stone which created an opening for me to use the Emerald Razor technique that cleft the rogue from clavicle to hip. It was at this point that the real Meagan returned to the inn and with infuriating aplomb stated that her doppelganger looked nothing like her. Our attacker melted and evaporated into a black puddle identifying it as one of the shadow clones used by chaos cults in the city. Damn. Almost went a week without an attempt on our lives.

I was furious and had no outlet for my emotion so I started drinking heavily, eventually the absurdity of the situation and maybe the alcohol ended up making the entire state of affairs hilarious to me and I ended the night in pretty high spirits. Behold the power of beer, nothing enough of it can't fix.

The next morning Gloria and I awoke like clockwork as only soldiers do and set right back to working out the kinks. Her power needs to be tempered by balance but perhaps I can teach her that. We had breakfast with Sasha and Meagan before setting out into the Undercity. T'lan arrived too having finished the magical cloaks with the symbol of his House on them that he had promised us. Apparently they're going to make traveling a luxury that campaigners would scoff at, but I certainly am not going to turn it down. Voss dug into T'lan at every opportunity again and was still wearing the scalps right in front of him, I knew exactly what was coming having seen it before, but didn't think to warn the others. In a particularly fatal mistake Voss 'agreed' to remove the scalps by simultaneously interrupting T'lan, insulting him, and I think telling him to shut his mouth. I had time to lift my plate out of the way before T'lan's hideous wing-like appendages erupted and impaled Voss leaving him to bleed out on his breakfast. Riley and Rayth took the brutal attack fairly well, I'm glad I had told them about this side of Voss and T'lan's relationship, Meagan wasn't perturbed at all, Gloria unfortunately was completely blindsided.

I tried to explain as quickly, quietly, and efficiently as I could but a wrinkle in my position was revealed when T'lan indicated he had no intention of returning Voss to life this time as he had tired of his disrespect and goading and did not see him ever changing. Fortunately the others and I were successful in negotiating T'lan's resurrection of Voss under the understanding he would not be permitted to accompany us any further or represent T'lan. Just glad to give him another chance, we accepted. Voss however did not and the spell failed. A rather gruesome speak with dead later and Voss's corpse made it very clear he wasn't interested in continuing to be treated as such. Only Voss, or Voss's corpse as the case may be, could say such things with a straight face.

T'lan again explained his motives and goals in classically blunt fashion enumerating again how we were valuable assets but not irreplaceable should we fail to live up to the rather basic requests of honor he has of us. It's always nice to know that your boss has your back, but doesn't particularly have a problem with killing you either should you be in the way of his plans. But the offer to walk away also gives us enough ability to step back and remind ourselves that we are doing important work. Even if it is with the corpse of our friend on the breakfast table.

Is it perverse of me to find the memory of Voss's corpse bad mouthing of T'lan from beyond the grave cut short by T'lan's abrupt reaction of ending the spell in disgust so greatly amusing? Good journey to you Voss. May you find thick skinned companions in the afterlife that can appreciate your caustic wit.

Having heard and had illustrated in such detail the stakes of working for House Windsong, Gloria though hard for some time and must be as crazy as I am because she pledged herself fully in service to T'lan. She followed all the forms of such a pledge to an extent none of us had and I must say I admire her courage in doing so, foolhardy as it may yet prove to be. While T'lan was in one of his brutally honest and totally forthcoming moods I decided it would be a fun time to bring up his relationship with Meagan thus revealing both that she was a plant in our midst of his and to Meagan that we had already learned of her duplicity. The look on her face was priceless though the reason for the looks that passed between Riley and Rayth were somewhat less clear to me. Apparently something happened last night while I was making merry that I am as yet still unaware of.

But never the less, we've got a damsel in distress and it's time we got to rescuing her.

****

Imriel returned from St. Gustave’s today, he said Sasha had sent him while he was checking on his own wounded comrades. It took a while to fill him in but it’s good to have him back. Apparently we must have been recounting our tale with gusto as a large lithorian priest of some diety I’ve never heard of (not uncommon given the ridiculous number of religions in Ptolus) about fell out of his chair listening in on us. He wanted the opportunity to see first hand things like we were describing and frankly we could use the help.

In the course of outlining our most recent assignment I showed Imriel the symbol of Corienne that survived our half-orc employer’s demise. Strangely enough he recognized it and told of how Father Fabitor at St. Gustave had been communing with the spirit of a half-orc bearing such a symbol on his ghostly armor. Given all that he’s done for us, we decided to stop by the church and show him the necklace and let him know we were on the job. However Fabitor was taken aback by the trinket and said he’d never seen anything like it, given the off-world origins of the late half-orc who carried it, this didn’t surprise me much, but as he continued to examine it he began babbling about how it was co-existing simultaneous on two different planes of existence. I guess it’s unique and all and this news greatly troubled both Fabitor and Imriel, but aside from another reason for people to want to kill us or a possible link that could be exploited to bring about the chaos cultists’ Night of Dissolution, it really didn’t concern me all that much.

On our way out we were side-tracked by a gigantic ogre toiling with another brute to lug some ornate chest through the back alleys of Midtown. Now while ogres are not completely unknown as bouncers or hired thugs in Ptolus, seeing two unsupervised ogres attempting to sneak about at least warranted a cursory investigation. Imriel quickly tested their intentions by yelling out for the Watch at the top of his lungs. The ogre’s reaction was pretty incriminating alone and as they tried to scurry off we gave chase ordering them to await the arrival of the Watch. The ogres did not comply and were promptly set upon by Gloria in particular, the bigger of the two brutes looked like he could take us all by himself for a while, but where as we had a healer with us, he did not and in the end, that often makes all the difference.

The ogres turned out to be members of the Crimson Coil, one of the many nasty groups around town. Last I had heard of them was when they were supposed to be connected with a brothel in Oldtown called the Pythoness House. In any case Imriel went and fetched Meagan to have a look at the chest the cultists had been lugging about. Good as she is, the only results of her work were several colorful phrases from the petite thief. Not that I did any better with more direct approaches. The Crimson Coil’s past works had a track record of being pretty destructive so we decided to run it by the house bard at the Minstrel but not being in at the moment we somewhat reluctantly decided to see if we could get any answers from Lady Valcorn at the House of Delights.

She looked good for having been pinned to her walls by T’lan’s swords. But I guess that’s a perk of being a demon. It took some convincing but in the end she told us a great deal about the Crimson Coil and their connection to the Pythoness House. Apparently something called the All Key may have been stored there and while the former owners certainly wanted it back, ever since the Knights of the Pale sacked the place it’s been warded against their return. Sounded simple enough, it had already been cleared, go find the key, find out what’s in the chest, deal with it appropriately, and the get back to work.

You know where this is going of course.

The Pythoness House looks more like a ruined fort than a house of ill repute, but then as we were told it changed hands many times, was built, rebuilt, added on to, and more. In any case not long after entering a voice began echoing through out it’s halls saying sinister things like ‘Come to me’ and ‘I must feed’ over and over again. It wasn’t responsive to queries but taunts prompted assaults by flying paintings and pottery, I’m going to skip over the part about nearly being knocked unconscious by a haunted vase when I tell this one at the Minstrel. In any case a little further in we got bombed by ratmen and ambushed by rat lords. Our new priest didn’t even see what hit him until the upper part of his torso slid off his legs and rolled around on the ground to see chaos beast that had shuffled him off this mortal coil.

Oh well, easy come, easy go.

I know I should be more compassionate, I certainly was more than Meagan who set about looting his remains the moment the ratmen were dead, but he wasn’t part of our unit for more than a few hours and the soldier in me recognizes the reality of the situation. There’s another one for the Delver’s Guild’s grisly statistics.

We slaughtered some undead remnants of former denizens of the House and actually were getting pretty beat up at one point and tried to leave when we encountered our second problem, apparently wards keeping cultists out aren’t the only ones in place. I couldn’t get out of the main gate of the House though apparently others do not have this problem as our fallen priest friend’s body was missing. Unable to do anything but press on we came across a grotesque statue of a naked obese man that upon closer inspection—why do we do these things?—we found it apparently moved in some manner, not that Meagan could figure out how. It certainly wasn’t brute force. I tried interacting with the statue in various ways but only began to feel sick. About this time a new chant was added to the House’s litany, ‘Chaos is the key’. Nice place. Imriel is talking about gutting it and trying to restore it.

Ug, more later, I think I hear the scritch scritch of more horrors to slay.

****

Reinforcements showed up in the welcome form of Rayth and Riley and another man they introduced as ‘Beth’. Apparently his full name has some sinister meaning but he could have chosen a less silly appellation in place of it. Anyways, he was full of questions about Voss and eventually worked at least some of the details of his demise out of us.

We continued our search of the Pythoness House and came across various oddities and creatures. One of which was the ghost of the cleric of Lothian who had gone by the name Taunell. Lady Valcorn had mentioned him in the chain of ownership of the House as a priest killed by brigands that sacked the place before the Crimson Coil took it over. He possessed Gloria and used her to defend the small gatehouse he was confined to but we managed to talk him down. He gave us some information about what he knew about the rest of the House and I took him aside and recited a quick prayer to Lothian with him that appeared to allow him enough peace to pass on. Who would have thought words uttered so many times thoughtlessly might have such power in them?

We eventually came to the room of one of the former mistresses of Pythoness House and after a rousing battle with rat lords astride dire rats came away with some wounds that should heal into fine scars as well as a huge dragon rifle. It was actually a very close thing but I’m in a good mood after a particularly fine dance of steel and seeing Meagan’s wand blow up in her face as she attempted to heal me. Nevermind the blood on the page, it is well worth it.

****

In Maquent’s journal—she was one of the mistresses of the House—we were able to confirm that one of the pieces of the key to move the statue of the obese man was with a creature called the Cobbled Man. The other part it would seem is up in Radanna’s chambers which are hidden above a secret trap door in the ceiling of a room we haven’t found as yet.

In another room we came across an orc tied to a bed in women’s undergarments. No, really. He was gagged and everything. Pavlechenko it would appear his name is. He was understandably motivated to get some revenge on the various creatures infesting the House for his humiliation.

He didn’t have to look far for a fight as we very quickly came across an armored contingent of dead prostitutes and an armored battle axe toting ghoul of some kind that invited us to join them in death. We beat their asses down something fierce. We had a much harder time with the goat headed demon we came across later. I imagine the fight must have looked fantastic as it raged back and forth across battlements and parapets with gouts of hellfire from devilish hounds lighting up the night until the flash of steel silenced them. I can’t wait to tell of all these engagements to the bard at the Ghostly Minstrel. We eventually caught up with Meagan who we hadn’t seen since we left Rayth and Riley to watch over the unconscious Gloria. She didn’t react well to Taunell’s possession of her and was unable to aid us for the duration of our exploration. In any case Meagan had apparently tracked down and came back with Radanna’s half of the spiral signet all by herself. She told us there was nothing else of consequence in the tower she searched which only left one tower for the Cobbled Man or his remains to be in.

We found the monster and tried to reason with him, but he was more interested in tearing our heads off, Imriel, Pavlechencko, and Beth all fell to the monster’s onslaught. Geery was able to save Imriel though it exhausted him and everyone was treated to the sight of his disgusting true form as in his fatigue he was unable to hold his disguise and exploded in a mass of tentacles and mouths that devoured the corpse of the Cobbled Man. Pavlenchenko and Beth both decided to try healing themselves with wands they weren’t trained to use and in the worst luck ever managed to each blow up their wands and kill themselves. How many corpses is that in this House now?

With the spiral signet reassembled as a disk we were able to activate and move the statue of the obese man which would hopefully finally lead us to the all key which had brought us here and perhaps some sign of what the Crimson Coil and their fellow chaos cults were up to. The sub basement of Pythoness House was a mess of water and ice and entombed creatures which came to life intent on taking ours. A pair of minotaur crowed something about how the Night of Dissolution had already arrived, but I think they were out of their minds. The repeated blunt force trauma we applied to their craniums likely did not help.

****

Eventually we came across a powerful cache of chaos weapons and the all key as well as a sealed portal with a clear warning inscribed on it that we completely ignored. After nearly being taken apart by the chaositech multi-headed monstrosity held we tried to retreat as Geery locked himself in with the beast to cover our escape. We fled with all speed from the horrible creature, the sub-basement, and the Pythoness House itself. Right into the biggest, baddest chaos cult of all complete with their leader. We ran smack into Wuntad and the Tolling Bell who demanded we turn over the chaos weapons we had just liberated. The Pythoness House was sealed against their kind and they could not enter, but neither could we leave. And make no mistake, there was no way we could have possibly taken them even at our best, much less as beaten down as we were. In the end we were forced to admit very humiliating and demoralizing defeat and hand over powerful weapons of chaos into the worst possible hands for them. I only hope that our lives we purchased with them will be long enough to right this colossal wrong.

We made it back to the Minstrel and used the all key (the Tolling Bell specifically demanded chaos weapons, they didn’t mention the key and we didn’t bring it up) to open the chest that had started all this. It had some finely crafted and enchanted weapons and other miscellany in it but it was no terrible chaos plot to endanger Ptolus that might have made the loss of life involved worth it.

The next day we tried to pull ourselves together and get back on task to rescue Reagan when very different information reached us. Reagan was in no need of saving anymore, but rather was some kind of undead monster building an army to destroy Ptolus. Guess we messed that one up.

In the Undermarket we purchased some time with a drow information broker who was able to produce a survivor of Reagan’s swath through the catacombs and ruins beneath Ptlous. He told us of Reagan’s horrible mask and the blinding light it cast forth, the terrible evil hunger she held in her fist, and how she was raising all she slew to join the unending advance of her army.

We brought this information back to St. Gustave's to tell Fabitor and found that he had been speaking with the noble ghost of an orc crusader we identified as Torm. The sad ghost could only surmise that Reagan had fallen under the influence of her evil sword. He said that her mask should still be vying to protect her, but that we needed to get Corienne’s symbol to her as it existed simultaneously in our world and her own and might allow her to make contact with her god and regain control.

Geery returned to us, he was missing an arm, and his magical little pot had a huge bite mark in it. He told us in his queer little way that he had to leave but blessed those who had known him longest before he vanished leaving his little pot to clatter to the floor. The number of preserved cast off remains of various creatures within the magical pot was gruesome to say the least, but among them we were at least able to recover Lilandra’s hand to return to her people. This turned out to be a very important gesture as apparently the stand-offish ranger was not only a wife and mother, but royalty among her people and we were made elf friends (which I’m told is a very momentous gift) because of it.

We got in touch with T’lan and told him of our plans after which he informed us that Gloria’s services were required at his side as were Meagan’s and that neither would be permitted to accompany us on our quest to rescue Reagan from the influence of her evil sword. But if there’s one thing the Ghostly Minstrel is good for, it’s finding other Delver’s looking for fame, fortune, or a damsel in distress to rescue.

Imriel met and befriended a short little half-man named Bridril (Drill) and his stout companion Morath over a game of darts and got them interested in our mission. We’ll hopefully set out tomorrow morning.

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