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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Morrow" data-source="post: 3306263" data-attributes="member: 301">Session 25B and 26A – Porphyry House HorrorAs Sully’s falchion went flying from her hand she wondered how things had gone so wrong.  It was supposed to be an easy job.  After killing the gnome enchanter Mentirre Aboir and thwarting his plan to take over Freeport’s criminal gangs, Tavaari had taken over the production of white smoke, the drug that had been central to Aboir’s plan.  In order to distribute the drug Tavaari had allied with Kedward Bone, a local drug lord.  When Bone had come to Tavaari with reports of a dangerous new drug being produced in a local brothel it was an easy sell.  Porphery House was importing components from the Abyss.  Whatever they were up to had to be very, very bad.  So Nate and Sully agreed to help Tavaari kill them and take their stuff.  It would also mean a sizable pay-off from Kedward Bone, who was willing to pay handsomely to remove potential competition.  Bronson was busy with his own interests.  Apparently the cracked clay jar that the party had retrieved from the Red Lady was actually the remains of the phylactery of a destroyed lich.  The egomaniac had carved his life's story on the outside of the phylactery.  It might keep Bronson distracted for weeks.Things first started to go wrong after Nate used his lyre of building to dig a tunnel into Porphyry House in the middle of the day.  A daring, daylight raid- they wouldn’t expect it.  The party entered a large, lavishly decorated hall containing several heated baths and scattered with comfortable cushions and rugs.  Tavaari quickly discovered that the doors out of the room were fitted with truly amazing locks, beyond his ability to bypass.  As the partied argued how to proceed.  The heard the sound of approaching guards.  Soon they were involved in a heated battle with human and elven guards.  Tavaari had used a grease spell to delay some guards and an approaching stone golem and had locked the door against them, but more guards had entered through another door.The lightly armored guards proved little challenge.  However, they were accompanied by skilled warriors wearing elaborate ceremonial full plate that revealed as much skin as it covered and alabaster masks with the faces of beautiful men and women.  They wielded their gleaming halberds with considerable skill.  They swarmed over Sully and one even succeeded in knocking her sword from her hand.  Perhaps worse still, they were supported by a female spellcaster whose undulating serpentine dancing inspired the warriors to greater feats of prowess, and who harried the party with spells.  Her enchantments held Jack paralyzed and had deafened Tavaari.As Sully attempted to avoid a rain of blows and retrieve her weapon, Bronson arrived.  He and Queg climbed up through Nate’s tunnel and joined the battle.  Queg unleashed a rain of arrows.  Bronson cast a spell, causing the water in all of the pools to raise into the air, and then rush across the floor.  Many people, both friend and foe were knocked to the ground by the rush of water.  Jack, still paralyzed and unable to stop himself, was knocked face first to the floor.  Sully stepped on her blade before it could be washed away and held her footing even as several of her opponents fell."I started to feel guilty for leaving you to do this without me," explained the cleric.  "I'll help you get rid of this new drug and shut down the brothel, but Kedward Bone is a really bad guy.  I'm not comfortable helping him."  In the midst of battle, the party was in no position to argue Bronson's point.Bronson raised his holy symbol and called forth divine power against any undead in the area.  To his surprise there was a shriek from the balcony overlooking the hall.  His eyes caught a scantily clad figure hiding watching the battle.  She must have been an inhuman beauty once, but now her flawless skin and batlike wings were rotted an decayed.  Her once lustrous hair was dull and brittle and her eye sockets swarmed with beetles and maggots.  She stood frozen, fully under Bronson’s control.The tide seemed to turn.  Jack shook off the enchantment pining his limbs and regained his feet.  Sully retrieved her blade.  Nate struck down a warrior and Tavaari called forth a fireball.More opponents joined the fray.  Four lightly armored archers entered the balcony followed by a creature that looked like a large serpent with two burly, humanoid arms.  Its eyes betrayed fiendish intelligence and it wore spiked armor and bore a large, wicked looking falchion.  The archers fired a volley of arrows.  Tavaari responded by conjuring a pool of grease at their feet, sending several stumbling to the floor.  Sully struck down a pair of her opponents as her companions moved to aid her.  Queg fired another volley of arrows.  The normally taciturn ranger cried, “Beware, they’re Yuan-ti!”Most of the party knew little of the Yuan-ti, an unholy amalgamation of human and serpent, but Nate had heard of them.  Some said that they were the result of interbreeding between humans and serpent folk, the Valossans, in the ages past.  In any event they were vile creatures, many of whom looked enough like humans and elves to disguise themselves and move about undetected.  As Nate mused an immense viper joined the Yuan-ti on the balcony.  It possessed a dragon-like head with a narrow snout and great wings tipped with small clawed hands.  Its long fangs dripped with poison.Bronson called down a column of holy flame on the balcony, killing several of the archers and severely burning their leader and the great viper.  The others continued to battle the heavily armored warriors, killing several of them.The great viper glided from balcony to floor and breathed, unleashing a great acidic cloud which filled a large portion of the room, burning friend and foe alike.  The Yuan-ti abomination cast a spell and climbed from the balcony to floor, drawing his massive blade.  Miranda responded by calling down an ice storm.  The cold and crushing hail struck down several Yuan-ti warriors and the great viper.  The party let out a cheer.  In short order they struck down the female spellcaster and the last of the warriors.  They turned their full attention to the snakelike Yuan-ti abomination.  It succeeded in doing considerable damage to Sully with its falchion.  She gave as good as she got, ably assisted by Tavaari, who reappeared from invisibility at an opportune moment to fire a trio of scorching rays, catching the unprepared Yuan-ti in a vulnerable spot.  The abomination soon fell.The companions stopped to catch their breath, standing in ankle deep water clouded with their own blood and the black blood of their foes.  They listed to the stone golem outside the room as it pounded rhythmically on the stone door that separated them.  Wordlessly they collected the equipment of their fallen foes and exited through the tunnel.Supporting CastMentirre Aboir - Gnome enchanter (dead)Kedward Bone - Wizard, diabolist, and drug lordWilarue - Undead succubus</blockquote>

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