Arcanis: Gonnes, Sons, and Treasure Runs (COMPLETED)

[talien]

Vengeance: Part 3 – Conservatory

What was once a garden was now nothing more than a collection of dead plants, old pots, and dust. A fountain depicting a face twisted in pain spilled brown fluid out of its mouth to dribble into the large basin beneath. Strangely, not all the plants in the room were dead, for a great heap of organic plant matter sat in the room’s center.

“Who is this Stefan person you mentioned anyway?” asked Beldin inspected the fountain.

“I don’t know,” said Kham. “It was a vision. And I was inside Sebastian’s head, which is a pretty scary place.”

“I bet,” said Vlad.

“And what name did the Countess use?”

“D’Amberville. Or, as she put it, D’Ambrose in ‘Hasturic,’ the Carcosan tongue.”

“Carcosan, probably,” said Vlad.

“That’s right! Stefan Ambrose…Ilmarė, Calactyte and I caught up with this strange character. He was looking for an invitation to a party in Carcosa.”

Beldin peered at the plant. “Guess he finally made it.”

“Don’t go near the plant,” said Kham. “It’s a trap.”

Beldin paused. “There’s a fine-looking mace buried beneath it. Let me just take a look…”

“Damn it Beldin!” shouted Kham. But it was too late.

Beldin got a hold of the mace just as a rotten branch slapped outwards to encircle the dwarf’s wrist.

A brief tug of war ensued as the dwarf, determined the retrieve his find, refused to release the mace. The pile of vegetation lurched and suddenly Beldin disappeared.

“Great.” Kham had his blades out. “Now what?”

Vlad blocked another whipping tendril with his shield. “Just don’t use any lightning on the thing…they love lightning.”

Kham hacked steadily at the vines and creepers that shot out from the rotting pile of vegetation, but for every tendril he cut down, two more took its place.

There was a terrific ripping noise, and then Beldin hacked his way free, axe in one hand, mace in the other.

“I hope that mace was worth it,” muttered Vlad.

“It’s cold iron. That’s pretty rare,” Beldin said appreciatively. He was soaked in the green and brown digestive juices of the bizarre plant.

“Yeah,” said Kham. “Real useful against a pile of weeds. Let’s go.”

 

[talien]

Shadows: Part 4 – Pantry

A dozen white dust-covered children faced them. They had wicked curved knives in hand. Beyond them was a stairwell.

“Now we know the source of the laughter,” said Vlad.

“That’s our exit,” said Kham. “But we’re going to have to fight through them.”

The translucent children advanced.

Vlad switched to Vrosh’s spear. The tip crackled with electrical energy. “Here’s hoping I remembered the old snake’s tactics.” He spun the spear experimentally in one hand.

“Yeah, great.” Beldin sliced through one of the children with no effect at all. It laughed at him. “Just make sure it connects.”

Another child jumped into the air, lunging towards Vlad’s throat. He leaned backwards and it skewered itself on the spear. With an ear-piercing shriek, it disappeared in a flash of lightning.

“It works,” said Vlad grimly.

Kham was busy fending off cuts from all directions. His jacket showed several gashes where the ghostly children had hit home.

Vlad spun again, skewering one of the ghost children behind him. He brought the spear about and whipped it through one of the little beasts, passing the haft of Vrosh’s spear through the translucent child’s torso only to obliterate its companion behind it.

Finally, they were gone.

“Whatever happened in this house since Yolanda was here, it’s bad news,” said Kham. “Very bad news.”

“The Unspeakable One isn’t bad enough?” asked Vlad. But Kham was already down the steps.

 

[talien]

Shadows: Part 5 – Storeroom

The steps descended into a small cellar. Racks, shelves, old crates, boxes, and barrels filled the room. A puddle of water glistened briefly with blue light and then faded. Emerging from the shadows was a naked young man, fear painting his features.

“Emric?” Kham asked in disbelief.

Emric began sobbing. “You’ve got to take me with you!”

“Careful,” said Beldin impassively. “It could be a trap.”

“I’ll take him outside to the Sea Lord’s Guard,” said Vlad. “He’ll be safer there.”

“No!” shouted Emric. He was shivering. “I’m safer here with you!”

Kham took off his jacket and put it around the boy’s shoulders. “What happened?”

“Quelch. Elijah Quelch.”

“We killed him,” Vlad said resolutely. “We saw him fall into the canal.”

Emric just stared at Vlad. “It wasn’t enough.”

“What did he want with you?” asked Beldin.

“He’s kidnapping children…creating a portal to the Unspeakable One’s world. He plans to gate in hundreds of k’n-yan and plunge Freeport into Carcosa, as Lucius Roby did.”

Kham looked sideways at Emric. “How did you know that?”

Emric lifted his chin, defiant. “I’m supposed to be Sea Lord one day myself, remember? Uncle Thralen keeps both ears to the ground.”

“Arrogant, confident, and not wearing a lick of clothing…” Kham shrugged. “You must be Emric.”

“I don’t like this.” Beldin tightened his grip on his axe. “It’s too convenient.”

Emric pushed on one wall and a secret door spun on a central axis. “I can lead you to Quelch! We’ve got to stop him!”

Kham and Vlad followed after Emric.

Beldin bit his lip. After a moment, he followed.

 

[talien]

Shadows: Part 6 – Summoning Room

Four braziers that flickered with blue flames lit the profane room. On each wall was a large tapestry. The most startling thing in the room was a huge yellow sign chiseled into the stone itself. The channel was stained brown from old blood.

“Great,” said Beldin. “A summoning room.”

One tapestry depicted a foul infant clawing its way out of the belly of some grotesque being. Another showed naked but masked cultists tearing out the throats of their bound male prisoners. The last tapestry depicted a flaming ring surrounded by strange glyphs and sigils.

“Through here!” Emric ran through the tapestry on the far wall, crossing the symbol on the floor.

“No, wait…” was all Kham got out.

A titanic beast appeared in a flash. It was encased in a skeletal structure, perhaps dead, perhaps merely too foreign for normal minds to understand. Its had dragon-like proportions, with two clawed hind limbs, a spiked tail, skeletal wings for arms, and a hollow ribcage topped by a horned head. Atop its back was a k’n-yan.

“You take out the mount,” said Kham. “I’ve got the rider.”

The beast hissed and its head darted forward, only to be slapped down by Vlad’s sword. Beldin struck its hind leg, and it reared backwards, flapping its wings.

Kham drew his two pistols and fired. The k’n-yan’s head snapped backwards, but it was encased in a strange exoskeleton that protected it from harm.

Vlad kept the mount’s head busy, blocking its strikes with his shield and returning the favor each time it came close. Beldin circled around…

Suddenly the tail whipped downwards, the spike at the end embedding deeply into Beldin’s shoulder. He roared and hacked downwards, snapping the end of the tail off.

“Poison a dwarf, will you?” snarled Beldin.

Vlad pressed the advantage as the serpent-like thing howled. Whatever it was, it could feel pain. He cut one of its legs out from under it and the creature stumbled.

The k’n-yan pointed at Vlad and lightning arced between its fingertip and the Milandisian. He was thrown backwards from the blast.

Then the Beldin fell upon the mount in fury. Kham dispatched the rider with a double strike from Talon and Coomb’s dagger.

Emric peeked his head back into the room. “What’s taking you guys so long?”

 

[talien]

Shadows: Part 7 – Puzzle Portal

They reached a pentagonal room. The walls, ceiling, and floor were uniform black stone. In the center of each wall was a red door, although they had no handles, keyholes, or any obvious means of opening them. In the middle of the room stood a pedestal, capped with a metal plate bearing five studs.

“This is the device Yolanda created to enter the portal,” said Kham. “See each of these studs? They’re dials. There are twenty-six letters in the Hasturic alphabet. She used them to spell out key words. The right combination of key words opens the portal. You have to turn each of the dials, and the last dial you turn, if it’s in the correct sequence, opens the portal.”

“Great,” said Vlad. “I’m ready.”

Kham shook his head. “Not so simple. You have to do it one at a time. It won’t let more than one person teleport in; a safeguard of Yolanda’s.”

“Fat lot of good it did,” muttered Beldin. The dwarf had recovered from the poison with just a few minutes of rest. His companions were continually amazed by his constitution. “If Quelch is corrupting it now, it wasn’t too hard to guess.”

“No, it’s not,” Kham said grimly. “We just have to spell: enter."

“What if we turn the dial to the wrong numbers?” asked Vlad.

“You don’t want to know.”

Beldin stepped up to the pedestal. “I’ll go first. What do we have to turn the numbers to?”

“Five, fourteen, twenty, five, and eighteen,” said Kham.

Beldin clicked each dial over. When he finished the last one, Beldin disappeared.

“Quickly now.” Kham hurried Vlad, who carefully turned the dials. He flashed and disappeared.

“Okay, Emric, you go next.” Kham turned all the dials but one. “I don’t want to leave you here.”

Emric smiled a wicked smile. Suddenly, Kham realized what an idiotic idea it was to bring him along in the first place, as if a veil had been lifted from his mind. Emric’s form shimmered, replaced by the exoskeleton form of a k’n-yan.

The k’n-yan reached out to turn the last dial to the wrong number. “That’s very thoughtful of you,” it said.

 

[talien]

Shadows: Part 8 – The Vile Gate

Vlad appeared within a hermetic circle inside a large cave, polluted by the stench of death. Ahead was a dark figure clad in whipping yellow robes, outlined by the light of a white disk of pulsing energy projected by a small metal box on the floor. Inside the field was a k’n-yan army, all fighting to break through. Dozens of bodies lay all around, blood still pumping form their slashed throats. They were grievously wounded, but a few groans suggested they were not all dead.

Beldin was already advancing. Two byakhee barred his path.

“Quelch!” snarled Vlad. “It’s over!”

Elijah Quelch was a big, fat man with long black hair and a full beard. His age was difficult to guess.

“I don’t think so,” snarled Quelch. He pointed at Vlad, muttering something in Hasturic. Vlad’s legs went rigid. It was the same spell that had paralyzed him last time.

“Try that on me!” bellowed Beldin. He batted aside one of the byakhee, accustomed to fighting them. The creature leap frogged over him so that the dwarf was besieged by the creatures from both sides.

“As for you…” Quelch pointed at Beldin and a sizzling ray of black energy sliced into him. The dwarf writhed in pain.

One of the byakhee landed on top of Beldin, pinning him to the ground.

“No!” Vlad struggled against the magic that held him. “I won’t…let you!” He drew his crossbow and fired.

The bolt bounced off of Quelch’s chest. He grinned. “There’s no canal to save you this time.”

One of the byakhee screeched in agony as Beldin hacked off its wing. It rolled off of the dwarf warrior, who struggled to his feet.

Through sheer force of will alone, Vlad willed his feet to move. He took one slow, shuddering step towards Quelch.

Beldin brought his axe down on the second byakhee’s neck, beheading it. He turned to face Quelch…

Only to be hoisted into the area by a forest of writhing yellow tentacles.

Vlad cursed. It was happening again, just like last time. Where was Kham?

He took another step. Quelch was ignoring him.

The cultist chanted something blasphemous and Beldin, helpless in the tentacles, went rigid. As he started the spell, the air seemed to come alive. The chant was a shrill, inhuman scream and came from all around.

Vlad had seen the spell before. It would drain the energy right out of the dwarf, turning him into a withered husk that would crumble into powder. Quelch used the spell to feast on vagrants in Freeport. It was only due to Beldin’s incredible durability that he survived at all.

Quelch seemed to grow stronger and stronger as each second passed. And as each second passed, Vlad took one more step.

“Why won’t you die?” shouted Quelch in frustration at Beldin. The dwarf’s eyes and mouth trailed smoke, but still he writhed in pain in the tentacles.

“You first!” shouted Vlad. He thrust Grungronazharr through Quelch’s ribcage.

The spell ended with a choked gurgle. The tentacles receded. Beldin fell to the ground.

Quelch turned to face his assailant. His mouth opened and closed wordlessly. Then he collapsed, dead.

 

[talien]

Shadows: Conclusion

A second later, Kham appeared. His hair was mussed and his armor scorched.

“What happened to you?” asked Vlad.

“Emric wasn’t Emric. Let’s just leave it at that. You?”

“Quelch is dead.” Vlad checked Beldin’s wounds. He would live. “Beldin is barely alive.” He nodded at the other sacrifices. “And they’re all dead.”

The portal continued to pulse behind them.

“So do we just jump in it?”

Kham shook his head. “I’m the key, remember? I’m the only one who can reverse it.”

Vlad helped Beldin to his feet. Kham walked past them to the portal.

Kham took out Coomb’s knife and, palm up, slashed his open hand. He dripped the blood in a rough pattern of the Yellow Sign.

The gate was activated. A high keening came through the portal, loud and constant, and as it sounded the white light became blue.

“Now we can enter Carcosa.” He turned back to look at his companions. “If you don’t want to do this, I understand. I don’t know if Sebastian’s even alive. Or what Carcosa looks like once we’re through.”

Beldin winced. The healing potions could only do so much. “I haven’t come this far only to stop now,” he said.

“Me neither,” said Vlad. “Sebastian sacrificed himself to save us. We owe him one.”

Kham nodded. “This time, I’m going through FIRST.” And with that he jumped through the portal.

 

[talien]

Chapter 56: Castle Ambrose - Introduction

This scenario is adapted from Dungeon Module X2, “Castle Amber” by Tom Moldavy. It was adapted for 3.0 rules by Ronald G. Hopkins. I in turn updated it to 3.5 (and tweaked it considerably) for the Arcanis setting. You can read more about Arcanis at Onara Online. Please note: This adventure contains spoilers!

Our cast of characters includes:

• Dungeon Master: Michael Tresca (http://michael.tresca.net)
• Beldin Soulforge (dwarf fighter/dwarven defender) played by Joe Lalumia
• Kham Val’Abebi (val rogue/psychic warrior) played by Jeremy Ortiz (http://www.ninjarobotstudios.com)
• Vlad Martell (human fighter) played by Matt Hammer

When I realized that one of the PCs would have to sacrifice himself at the end of Tatters of the King, I knew there had to be a way to get him back. The problem is that Carcosa is such a screwy place, few adventures could do it justice. So I searched and searched, and I kept coming back to an adventure that had a direct connection to the Cthulhu Mythos: Castle Amber.

Castle Amber has it all. A horrible tragedy happens in the throne room, trapping everyone in the castle and making them insane? Check. An opportunity to set things right through heroic quests in a strange land? Check. Lots of bizarre monsters, ridiculous traps, and magic items that you’d only find in an old school adventure? Check.

Because Moldavy got permission to add in snippets of Clark Ashton Smith’s stories, there are Cthulhu-esque elements throughout the adventure, scenes I completely missed when I DMed this adventure over twenty years ago. With Sebastian wearing the Pallid Mask and by switching Averogine to Carcosa, I now had my Stranger in a Strange Land.

This adventure is mostly a long slog of relentless battles. I got to play with miniatures and monsters I never normally would use because they simply don’t make sense in most adventures. But here, in Carcosa, everything makes sense and nothing does.

Much to my dismay, I discovered that the original author, Tom Moldavy, passed away the same month we played this adventure. So this story can be seen as our tribute to his work. Tom drew on many sources for this adventure, and I return to those roots in this story hour. You will see references to the fairy tale of the Billy Goat’s Gruff, the poem of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the works of Clark Ashton Smith: The Colossus of Ylourgne, The Enchantress of Sylaire, The Beast of Averoigne, and the Holiness of Azedarac. The flashbacks of the play combine Thom Ryng’s King in Yellow with James Blish’s version.

In the end, everything that was done is undone, and a major chapter of the dreaded play comes to a close.

 

[talien]

Castle Ambrose: Prologue

Sebastian was in a crowded ballroom, with a balcony at its back. All the Hasturites were present; they all wore white masks with the visage of the Stranger, to which individual taste added grotesque variations. The result was that each mask looked like a famous person. The costumes were also various and fantastic. Sebastian still wore the silken robe with the Yellow Sign, and Cassilda, though masked, still wore the diadem, as did the child prince. Many were dancing to a formal measure, something like a sarabande, something like stalking.

Cassilda watched the masque from the balcony, Carcosa and the Hyades behind her. The moon had vanished.

“There, Princess,” said Sebastian. “You see that there has been no sending, and there will be none. The Pallid Mask is the perfect disguise.”

“How would we know a sending if it came?” asked Camilla in her singsong voice.

Cassilda descended from the balcony and joined them.

“The messenger of the King drives a hearse,” replied Sebastian.

“Oho,” interrupted Cassilda. “Half the population of Hastur does that. It is the city’s most popular occupation, since the siege began. All that is talk.”

“I have heard what the Talkers were talking—the talk of the beginning and the end,” said Sebastian. “But I do not talk of the beginning or the end.”

“But—the sending?” asked Camilla. “Let us hear.”

“Also, the messenger of the King is a soft man,” said Sebastian. “Should you greet him by the hand, one of his fingers would come off to join yours.”

Camilla recoiled in delicate disgust. Noatalba, who had been circling closer and closer to the group, finally joined it.

“A pretty story,” said Naotalba. “You seem to know everything. I think perhaps you could even tell us, given gold, the mystery of the Hyades.”

“He is King there,” replied Sebastian.

“As everywhere,” said Naotalba curtly. “Everyone knows that.”

“He is not King in Arcanis,” said Sebastian. “That is why Carcosa was built. It is a city in exile. These two mighty stars are deep in war, like Hastur and Alar.”

“Oh, indeed. Who then lives in Carcosa?”

“Nothing human,” said Sebastian. “More than that, I cannot tell you.”

“Your springs of invention run dry with suspicious quickness,” said Naotalba.

“Be silent!” snapped Cassilda. “Stranger, how did you come by all this?”

“My sigil is Aldebaran,” said Sebastian. “I hate the King.”

“And his is the Yellow Sign,” said Naotalba, “which you mock him by flaunting before the world. I tell you this: he will not be mocked. He is a King whom Emperors have served; and that is why he scorns a crown. All this is in the runes.”

“There are great truths in the runes,” replied Sebastian. “Nevertheless, my priest, Aldebaran is his evil star. Thence comes the Pallid Mask.”

“Belike, belike. But I would rather be deep in the cloudy depths of the Dehme than to wear what you wear on your bosom. When the King opens his mantle—“
Somewhere in the palace, a deep-toned gong began to strike.

“Now is the time I never thought to see,” said Cassilda to herself. “I must go, and announce the Succession of Aldones once more to the throne. Perhaps … perhaps the world itself is indeed about to begin again. How strange!”

As the gong continued to strike, everyone began to unmask. There were murmurs and gestures of surprise, real or polite, as identities were recognized and revealed. Then there was a wave of laughter. The music became louder and increased in tempo.

“You, sir, should unmask,” said Camilla.

“Indeed?” asked Sebastian.

“Indeed, it’s time,” said Camilla. “We have all laid aside disguise but you.”

“I wear no mask,” said Sebastian.

“No mask?” asked Camilla. Panic was in her voice. She turned to Cassilda. “No mask!”

“I am the Pallid Mask itself. I, I, I am the Phantom of Truth. I came from Arcanis. My star is Aldebaran. Truth is our invention; it is our weapon of war. And see—by this sign we have conquered, and the siege of good and evil is ended…”

On the horizon, the towers of Carcosa began to glow.

Noatalba pointed. “Look, look! Carcosa—Carcosa is on fire!”

Sebastian laughed and seized Camilla by the wrists.

“His hands!” shrieked Camilla in agony. “His HANDS!”

At her cry the music died discordantly. Then a tremendous, inhuman voice rolled from Carcosa across the Lake of Hali.

“Yhtill!” said the King in Yellow. “Yhtill! Yhtill!”

Sebastian released Camilla, who screamed wordlessly and fell.

The King in Yellow appeared, although only faintly. He stood in state upon the balcony. He had no face, and was twice as tall as a man. He wore pointed shoes under his tattered, fantastically colored robes, and a stream of silk appeared to fall from the pointed tip of his hood. Behind his back he held inverted a torch with a turned and jeweled shaft, which emitted smoke, but not light. At times he appeared to be winged; at others, haloed.

“Have you found the Yellow Sign?” asked the King in Yellow. “Have you found the Yellow Sign? Have you found the Yellow Sign?”

“I am the Phantom of Truth!” shouted Sebastian. “Tremble, O King in tatters!”

“The Phantom of Truth shall be laid,” said the King in Yellow. “The scalloped tatters of the King must hide Yhtill forever. As for thee, Hastur—“

“No!” shouted the crowd. “No, no!”

“And as for thee, we tell thee this,” said the King. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living god.”

Sebastian fell, and everyone else sank slowly to the ground after him.

 

[talien]

Castle Ambrose: Part 1 – Foyer

They appeared in the foyer of an ornate mansion. A freshly swept carpet graced the floor. The walls were decorated with bright, colorful tapestries. Brass candelabras lined the entranceway. They showed signs of having been recently polished and were filled with candles.

“Carcosa Castle,” said Kham. “We’re here.”

Beldin pointed outside. “Is that in the play?”

More frightening than the sudden change from the cave to the castle was the smoky gray mist that surrounded the castle at a distance of thirty feet, blocking all sight beyond. No sound penetrated the mist.

Kham had read the play over and over. “There’s mention of mists. But I didn’t think they were literally mists. More of an allegory for confusion or something.”

The mist advanced on the mansion even as Vlad watched. “Let’s not find out if it’s just an allegory.”

The double doors to the interior swung open into the main hallway by themselves.

They entered a wide, long hallway running east to west. In the center of the hall was a ten-foot wide red carpet stretching from the west door to the east door. The ceiling arched twenty feet high overhead. Near the east end of the hall, a raised catwalk stretched across the hallway ten feet above their heads. At either end of the overpass were double doors.

Thousands of tiny square mirrors were set into the ceiling and walls. The resulting reflection of their torches resembled a swarm of fireflies as myriad pinpoints of light were reflected back. The floor of the hall, where it wasn’t covered with the red carpet, was polished white marble. The marble was so shiny they could see their reflections on its surface. Polished brass candelabra lined both walls and crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling. All the candleholders on the candelabra and chandeliers were filled with unlit candles.

“Stay alert,” said Kham. “This is Carcosa, and it can change at any time. I brought black paint along just in case we need to mark our trail.” Kham had a bottle of the inky stuff that he trailed along behind him.

“Did it ever occur to you that you’re giving anything hostile a trail to follow us?” asked Vlad.

Kham shrugged. “Anything that wants to find us in this place will, trust me.”

All the hallway doors suddenly swung open and then slammed shut. The resulting draft extinguished the lights.

“Not a problem.” Kham rapped Daemonscar, the breastplate he wore underneath his overcoat. “I can see just fine.”

“Me too,” said Beldin. “A little bit like home, actually.”

Vlad cleared his throat. “While I’m perfectly capable of fighting blind, I can’t see in the dark like you two.” There was the sound of Vlad fumbling in his pack.

“Vlad!” shouted Kham. “Don’t—“

Vlad’s tindertwig flared to life.

All the candles in the hall magically lit at the same time with a brilliant flash. The light was reflected off the walls, ceiling and floor and off the highly polished chandeliers and candelabra.

“Damn it Vlad!” shouted Beldin.

The flash blinded them all. All they could see was white.

“Well,” Vlad said after a moment, “this is pretty much the same situation we were in before.”

“Skiz!” Kham yanked the talking rat, who had been sleeping, out of his haversack. “You’re on watch.”

“Huh? Whatcha mean boss?”

“I mean we’re all blind. Haven’t you been listening in there?”

“Uh, no?”

“What do you do in there all day, anyway?”

“Do you really want to know, boss?”

“Never mind.” Kham sighed. “I’m going to keep walking forward until you say otherwise, okay?”

“Uh, you may not want to do that boss.”

“Why not?”

“Because there’s some dead bodies in the way.”

“Dead bodies?” asked Kham.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t remember seeing dead bodies,” said Beldin.

“Can we step over them?”

“If they lay down, probably,” reported Skiz.

“You mean they’re standing up?” Kham’s voice cracked.

“All around us now, yeah.”

“Run for it!”

Vlad and Beldin swung outwards with their weapons. Kham just ran, jostling aside something hard to one side that rattled as it moved. There was no gasping or breathing or even moaning. Whatever Skiz saw, it was utterly silent.

Kham turned his head to listen behind him. “I’m just going to keep running until you tell me to—“

“STOP!”

Then Kham slammed into double doors at the far end of the hallway.