Shadow World TE 6052-02-16 to 6052-02-20 - “Crawling in the Lankor Tombs” - Session #6

The first item of interest is the Blaster Rifle in the trapped case. Niko disarms the trap in his second attempt.  They, especially Jymsan, examine the strange technological device. Not wanting to break it or lug it around, they leave it as is for now.

They also study the seeing orb, but leave that on it’s stand within the original vault.  It is heavy and a burden even for Tyrus.

They discover a concealed door behind broken plaster in the second antechamber.  Initially they are careful preserving what history they can, but they soon abandon this as it is time-consuming being they are not ancient historians. Knowing they have no realistic alternative, they use the cleric’s mace like a sledgehammer smashing plaster on all the walls indiscriminately. They find hidden doors to the southeast, southwest, and northwest.  

The southeastern secret door leads through a pair of smooth metal panels that slide open with a hiss as they approach. The area beyond has heavy pilasters covered with bas-reliefs of the life of Muris Lankôr Faeris II.  They find three secret panels but find no apparent means of opening.  Due south the hallway continues through another steel sliding door. Morden intuites there is a false door up ahead behind a pit trap.  They avoid the trap but after searching a few hours, discover nothing more in the hallway.  Later when they perform a two day comprehensive search of all areas including this hallway, they find a door leading to the hidden tomb of Muris Lankor Faeris II.  Within on a raised dais opposite the entrance is the King’s preserved corpse beneath glass.  On the steps leading up to Muris’ crypt is, what appears to be a, skeleton supplicant sprawled.  Morden quickly pockets a bracelet and a key (later going to Niko) found on the body.  He soon learns the bracelet is magical.  Much later after hours of careful searching, they find a secret compartment in the front base of Muris’ crypt.  After opening three minor wights attack the party from the secret areas in the pilastered antechamber.  The party makes excellent tactical use a narrow hallway when slaughtering them.  The end comes when Morden unleashes a blast of holy plasma from the bracelet he just found.  It takes off the head of one wight blasting into the one behind.  

The southwestern doors leads to the tomb of Irusor Drœmen III.  The first antechamber has two columns that help support the 20-foot high ceiling of this elegant chamber. The extruded parts of the wall are bas-reliefs and glow with a dim red radiance.  A shallow reflecting pool casts rippling reflections through the room.  There are four very finely carved statues of lordly men, each 12' high.  On the southern wall are large rectangular doors of stone, bound with strong alloy and hinged to open easily.  Beyond that are locked doors of steel Niko picks easily.  On the other side is the crypt of Muris Drœmen III.  Also preserved so as to appear sleeping in his glass covered coffin, there are four glowing white columns that flank the platform where Irusor lies.  He also has no visible treasures.  When searching the area later, they identify a secret compartment in one of the antechamber columns. Inside they find what they all believe to be an ancient artifact: a silver bracelet with aquamarines.  None are able to discern anything about it save it’s an item of great defensive power.

Behind the northwestern plaster concealment is a steel door marked with a large blood red painted Old Rhakhaan symbol for evil.  They open this unlocked door and find a dark and breathless hallway elbowing east before massive and locked steel doors.  The party moves back, avoiding the area.  Afterall, what evil king could possibly possess the phoenix sword?

In the end, they leave all the “peaceful” corpses beneath glass alone. In summary, those found at rest were:

Eastern Tomb Door - Nœrkhaan Lankor I [3610 ‒ 3665]

Eastern Tomb Crypt - Væris Faslurin I [3752 ‒ 3781]

Southeastern Tomb - Drœmen Muris Lankor Færis II [3781 ‒ 3830]

Southwestern Tomb - Irusor Lankôr Drœmen III [3830 ‒ 3910]

Underground for over 100 hours with rations and water running low, what is their next move?  Explore the evil Lankor tombs?  The Zaon or Kitaan areas? Or do they surface, restock, and burn another rare Scroll of Passing upon reentry?

Shadow World - TE 6052-02-14 to 6052-02-16 - "Into Ur and Lankor" - Session #5

They make their way back to their resting area just to the south after determining the doors will not open easily.  Their resting area has become a makeshift shelter with its two easily guarded doors.  They rest, heal, listen, and plan for about eight hours before examining the doors of Ur more closely.

Once before the massive double doors, they notice the names and dates of three distinct dynasties: Lankor, Zaon, and Kitaan.  They try various sayings, but nothing opens these doors. Morden touches the doors as he did in an anticipatory vision and words appear from nowhere.  It is in glowing blue High Rakhaan script and states: “Here lie the Kings and Queens of Rakhaan. Tread not the Paths of the Dead without their leave”.   They then scour the hallways and doors for a secret entrance, traps, or any other kind of underground oddity.  While they do this, Tyrus carefully jots down the names of his ancestors.

Niko determines that the surface of the doors is a rare and expensive black metal called eog.  In addition to being incredibly hard, eog inhibits essence magic making such spells ineffective near this door.  Jymsan swears aloud.  After hours searching, the party finds only one other secret of interest and it is within the side passages near the entrance to Ur.  They notice eastern way is pretty much dry and dark.  It descends branching into three passages.  There is a crevice between the three ways leading to depths unknown.  The former river of sewer water used to cascade down this chute, but is now dry thanks to the stone wall Jymsan erected up on the sewer level. The antechamber on the west side is full of stagnant sewer water.  All sewer flow ran off to these two side passages, thus keeping the doors to the catacombs dry.  

Niko spots gleaming in the water from the west passage.  With his uncannily sharp violet eyes, Morden sees an outline of a corpse under the murky water.  He also sees some spilled gold about twenty feet away some ten feet beneath the surface.  He uses his telekinetic powers to draw out a bit a gold out and then he sees other items.  He pulls up several ampules probably of dried up potions.  They later guess they will be able to rehydrate.  He brings up a magical ring of green laen.  Later, Cad finds is of channeling magic, but is unable to attune to it.  Cad has a vision the item possesses healing powers.  Morden pulls up a silver holy symbol of Eissa (Goddess of Orhan) and 34 Second Era gold coins emblazoned with a large phoenix.  The last noteworthy item recovered is a mysterious black eog scroll case. Inside this obviously rare find, they discover a set of instructions along with four scrolls of Passing.  The instructions provide guidance on how to “pass” the doors thus leading one to the Catacombs of Ur.

Cad follows the instructions casting powerful magic and then passes through the doors.  Moments later, resounding noises of gears in the walls and slowly the doors open. Cad stands inside, waving the party inward.  They notice the other side of the door is white and subtly glowing.  They determine this to be white eog (which inhibits good essence as opposed the black eog, which only blocks the negative kind.  

They enter cautiously.  When they sense the hallway beyond is safe, they pull the lever next to the doors closing the massive doors once again.  Some fifty along a minor sloped hallway, they see it turn 90 degrees to the east.  They discover a gently descending twenty-foot wide granite stairwell leading deep below Haalkitaine.  

With Niko leading the way detecting traps on every stair, it takes them over three hours to descend. Niko counts 901 stairs.  He finds a pressure plant on the last step so everyone carefully steps over it.

At the base of the stairs is a square room 40 feet long and about 70 feet across at the widest point, two columns of beautiful purple marble support the foyer roof. In the north and south corners are cut out to form niches, each holding a column of misty blue glass that provides dim radiance illuminating the chamber. In the center of the room, standing between the columns is the Sentinel, a beautifully constructed Bronze Golem. Note that the steps go back up from the entrance, so that the back of the room is slightly higher than the front.  Behind the sentinel is the only apparent passageway on.  They carefully bypass the construct.  Thirty-feet later, they come to a set of reinforced steel doors. They find the doors locked but not trapped.  Niko picks and the group witnesses an incredible room beyond.

This octagonal room is 80 feet across and 60 feet high at the apex of its ribbed dome. It has four doorways, one leading to the exit and the other three leading to the tomb complexes of the three major ruling families of Second Age Rhakaan. Dominating the vaulted chamber is a fabulous red and orange metallic sculpture of a Phoenix, thrice life size (about 20 feet tall). The party surmises that the Phoenix rotates and links to a flame trap to all three Tomb entrances.

The oldest tombs are of Lankor.  Those doors are fashioned of hammered bronze, octagonal like the room, with a pair of large bronze handles shaped like ram-horns. Four long panels depict the first four kings and Queens entombed here, in bas-relief. The first and second rulers (Queen Isara and King Nœrkhaan Faslurin Hælik) are in the central panels facing each other, the mother reaching towards her son. Each is holding a small orb in the other hand; these orbs are the key to the doors.

The next oldest tombs, Zaon, is the most unusual of the three, as it is 8' in diameter, circular, and made up of four parts which spiral out from the center.  The lock mechanism is set in a circular panel in the wall to the left of the door.

The most recent dynasty, Kitaan, has a trapezoidal doorway with sides slanting inwards towards the top; the actual door is a single slab of dull black metal containing at least some Eog. The doorway is a quite imposing 12' in height.  Inlaid on the door surface in red and orange laen is a beautiful depiction of the Phoenix, rampant. The inlays constantly give off a faint radiance. This door has two locks, one on either side of the door.  Niko believes both must be picked simultaneously or the trap is triggered.

Even though the Mentalist guesses the Kitaan tombs most likely hide the Phoenix Sword, the group starts with the Lankor doors bearing the Faslurin name.  Anticipating, flames from the phoenix statue, Jymsan erects a stone wall guessing where the phoenix would rotate and “breath” fire at them. It all turns out unnecessary.  Niko picks the lock and avoids the trap with ease.  

Beyond is a 200’ dark hallway leading to a door made of panels of reinforced steel that show no sign of corrosion. Engraved in High Rhakaan are the runes: “House of Lankôr, Lords of the Earth. Enter with Reverence.” The doors are locked and Niko does not detect a trap.  Niko picks it; however, there is one extra click. In a split second, a giant scythe slices across the hallway from the sidewall. Everyone steps back as Niko tumbles away with only a scratch. At the same time, Morden quickly telekinetically stays the blade slightly.  Apparently enough.  Niko might have been chopped in two.  Before a second attempt, Jymsan puts up a stone wall in front of where the blade would emerge, but turns out unneeded as Niko picks the lock and they open the door.

The room beyond is lined with eight rectangular pillars, each of a frosted blue glass etched with runes. The runes appear to tell the story of the Lankôr family, the gift of the Phoenix Crown, and the consolidation of the realm. The floor is of smooth blocks of green marble with veins of silver.  The passage continues to the east to a square room with four columns that support a vaulted roof. The walls are covered with beautiful mosaics. Further east, another room with walls and two long supports covered with fabulous mosaics depicting the major events in the king’s life — featuring his coronation with the Phoenix Crown and taming of a Phoenix. One shows him being handed an unusual weapon-like object (blaster rifle anyone?) and a large and curious key by a tall man with short black hair and six fingers. Surrounding the two on this scene are huge floating planets and a starfield.  The others see Morden stare at the mosaic of the six-fingered man.

Three vault doors appear on the Eastern wall of the starfield mosaic room.  The middle door says it is for “Nœrkhaan Lankor I” in High Rhaakhan.  This door is 10' high, 8' wide door are is covered with gold and embossed with a large representation of a coin minted during Nœrkhaan Lankôr’s reign. No opening mechanism is apparent.

The northern vault door is a sheet of laen framed by steel and is locked; Niko picks and opens, not detecting a trap.  They find the walls of the chamber are of a black, glassy substance like slag. Resting on a pedestal under a glass cover is, let’s just come right out a say it, a Blaster Rifle.  Niko detects that the box is not locked but is trapped.  He surmises that lifting the lid triggers a set of blades that whirl out of the pedestal to deliver a hand-severing (or worse) blade attack.  The party leaves this vault for later.

The southern vault door is a locked metal door.  The lock mechanism is extremely hard to open, but Niko manages to crack it.  Inside, set on a small pedestal, is what Morden, in an incredible effort, attunes to and identifies as an orb of seeing.  This is a legendary item of great power.  They find it rather difficult to transport, however, being about a foot in diameter and weighing ≈ 100 lbs.  Nevertheless, Morden asks Tyrus to lug it about here and there, but getting it out of the tombs unblemished will require strength and ingenuity.

Turning their attention back to the middle vault door, they discover that if Jaral Lankôr’s left eye is pressed the door opens. Behind, they find a 10’ wide hallway potentially with a trapped ceiling.  In the hallway in front of them, they see an outline in the ceiling where a granite slab might fall and almost completely block access to the tomb within.  Bypassing where the slab might fall, the party finds a sunken tomb beyond.  Inside they see what seems to be a sleeping woman or her well-preserved corpse beneath a rounded glass cover on a slab of granite.  She wears fine clothing but no obvious jewelry.  It is interesting being the vault door had a King’s name, not a Queens.

This is where session #5 ends. They have been underground for almost 36 hours and have rested twice.

Shadow World - TE 6052-02-11 to 6052-02-14 - "Finding Niko and the Catacombs of Ur" - Session #4

Jymsan uses cleansing water bolts to remove most of their sewer sick after emerging from the catacombs.  Over the next few days they rest, shop, and research about the catacombs and those glowing red skeletons.  Tyrus meets up with his childhood neerdowell companion Niko Verkano.

Niko is a male Punkari (half-elven) thief.  His xenophobic Punkari mother locked him in her "nice" villa most of his youthful life so his eyes wouldn’t witness the ugly grey world that is Haalkitaine.  He mastered his thieving skills overcoming her many devious ways of imprisonment.  Niko and Tyrus hung together as youths while avoiding their home situations.

After drinks and sharing of tales.  Niko tells of having explored the catacombs two years prior and that today he is a master lock pick.  The group hearing this invite Niko to join and he accepts.  Niko and the others construct a 50’ silk rope ladder they will use for the stink chute Tyrus lost footing three times before. After three nights in the city, the party return to Haalkitaine library for another spelunk.

Librarians Geryn and Tyno recognize them and quickly escort all to the Rare Books room below.  From there the librarians open the locked sewer access room and tell the party they will wait from their return.

The party finds Jymsan’s stone wall still in place.  It kept the the chasm more or less dry.  But since it is still a mess, Jymsan cleanses the chute with a well-place water bolt.  Next the party hammers in their silk rope ladder and safely navigates the chute down to the “Jadeback beetle” room.

They don’t see Jadebacks, but sense they are probably not far away.  With Niko along, they take another look at “Thunder Door” to their upper left (east).  This is the one that exploded with lightning after Morden telekinetically manipulated the silvered door handle.  Another noteworthy aspect of the door is the Taranian dotted script prominently etched into the door’s center. Niko finds the door locked and trapped and assesses the odds to disable them.  Jymsan realizes he may have a chance to cancel the lightning magic at least temporarily.  So he cancels the door’s magic but just then the beetles are back.  Turning to the beetles approaching from the south, he spreads a two-foot tall firewall across the tilted cavern sending the huge insects in retreat.  

Knowing the firewall lasts for only about a minute, they leave Thunder Door for now and head east down toward where they last fought the red skeletons.  While descending they hear the sound of metal on stone in the direction they are going. On the way, Niko reviews the other mysterious Taranian door, but he too cannot find a lock or any other means of opening.  He suggests perhaps there is a command word?  Can anyone read and speak Taranian?  They move on.

As they approach the subtle metal on stone scraping, they find themselves in a 10’ x 20’ antechamber and before the door they last closed on the red skeletons. Jymsan snorts some Zapic powder permitting safer casting of more powerful spells.  Morden then exerts enough telekinetic force to push the doors open into the grand sloped hallway beyond.  Beyond the door are not the red skeletons, but a stone golem-like construct with built-in blade hands with alarm-like lighted gems encircling its head.  Instantly, the stone construct smashes its hands and feet into the floor causing what seems like a miniature earthquake in their immediate area.  A large rock falls from the wall breaking rib cartilage in Jymsan’s back.  Then the construct’s lights begin flashing while encircling its head.

Jymsan lets loose a Lightning Bolt, Cad a Shock Bolt, and Niko an arrow before the construct retreats to their left (south).  They enter the grand hallway in pursuit and see the thing stop and pace back and forth some one hundred to the south.  Niko loses another magic arrow into it, but it is Jymsan that takes it out with massively explosive Lightning Bolt.   This is about when they see the return of the two glowing red skeletons from the opposite direction.  The reds move toward them fast.  The group retreats back into the 10’x20’ hallway antechamber from which they came.  Jymsan snorts some more Zapic and casts a firewall between themselves and the red skeleton hallway.  The red undead are standing before them an instant later.  Being just a firewall, the party attacks through it, losing arrows, stones, and magic.  The skeletons answer by igniting themselves then explode themselves into massive fireballs.  Morden and Tyrus detected their imminent explosion and were able to warn everyone so they all were able to get out of range.  Because of the fireball retreat, now only Jymsan and Cad have a clear line of site.  Jymsan lobs a cold ball into the hallway delivering significant concussion damage to the fiery undead.  Then, Cad repels one with the power of holy Phaon, and Niko nails the other with a magic arrow to the face causing it to fall and shake on the ground in obvious death throws.

Cad calmly walks up to the writhing one and collapses its skill with his holy mace.  Instead of pursuing the repelled red skeleton, they decide to rest in the 10x20 room adjacent to the hallway.  Jymsan has exhausted almost all of his magic power and is wounded.  He needs to rest.

Tyrus and Niko take turns at guard duty.  The others sleep or meditate uninterrupted for about eight hours.  After rest time, they head north down the 20’ wide domed hallway toward where the red skeleton retreated.  They find the hallway ends about 200’ feet to the north in a diamond shaped room with 50’ ceiling and a pair of massive double doors.  Each is ten-feet wide and twenty-feet tall.  Massive!  Each is covered in what appears to be an ancient Rhakaan script, but none of them are knowledgeable enough to be sure.  Standing in from of these doors appears to be the perfectly regenerated red skeleton.

The party wastes no time unleashing a volley of missiles, but it is a well-place ice bolt from Jymsan that destroys the skeleton guardian.  Now they stand before these huge vault doors ready to explore.  The Prince thinks some of the script reads: “Catacombs of Ur” and that the other writings list King's and Queen’s names of the Second Era.  Looks important...

Shadow World - TE 6052-02-10 to 6052-02-11 - "Into the Catacombs..." - Session #3

We begin outside the capital of Rhakaan.  It is a typical cold, dark, and rainy Haalkitaine evening.  Nearby the Sunset Bridge a cryer tells of Frelik’s defeat while thirty feet away the usurper’s dead body is skewered and strung up.  Not only Frelik but hundreds of his men, spiked to poles outside the city walls. All pale and bloodless in the relentless cold rain. The cryer also reports that the Crown has been retaken and is in the possession of King Kenek Janus Faslurin.  King Kenek is Tyrus’ eldest brother: a war disciple like his father. Seeing Prince Adkar in among the group, the Ice Gate guards allow them duty-free entry into the city.  

Their magician friend they met in Lethys, Jymsan Ixata-Centarus, appears to be waiting for them while enjoying a drink under the front porch of the Phoenix Arms Inn.  In greeting the party he explains that he and Nukiti Melenka (the thief) arrived just last night via a Eidolon Trading Company skyship.  Nukiti is not around at the moment.  He is undercover mixing in with the locals looking for information about the Sceptre of Khom (also thought to be lost in the catacombs).  The party quickly adopts Jymsan.  They share their tales over a late meal.  Meanwhile, the mentalist, Mordon Noek, visits a nearby bordello and miraculously emerges disease-free.  They all stay the night at the Phoenix Arms.

In the morning, an emissary of Kenek greets Tyrus in the inn’s common room.  Tyrus learns that his brother (the King) wants Tyrus to stay low-profile with respect to the Imperial Court.  Tyrus wants nothing to do with politics or royal life so he does not complain.  The emissary hands over the keys to the Phoenix Villa, a large midtown mansion just down the street.  During the tour of the villa, Tyrus learns that the King dedicated two full-time servants and a squad of experienced imperial guards to watch over the place.

They move on to locating the catacombs and the Phoenix Sword.  The mentalist intuites that the Haalkitaine Library is the place to go.  They arrive in an ancient structure that dates back to the Second Age, over 6000 years old.  They ask librarians what they know about the legendary catacombs below the sewers.  Somewhat to their surprise, the library officials tell them that the basement of library has been haunted of late.  Staff no longer go down to the Rare Books section without dread, especially at night.  There are many reports of spirits, jangling, moaning, haunted wails all emanating from a locked room adjacent to the lower level Rare Books room. It all started after a scary looking priest of Klysus spent the better part of a day in the Rare Books room though they state he was supervised at all times. Anyway, the librarians ask for help and the party says they are able to assist at once.

Taking the party through the subterranean Rare Books room, the librarians then unlock the door to the haunted room.  They find it odorous but empty except for a iron grate obviously leading to the sewers. The librarians stand near the sewer entrance while the party descends a twenty-five foot vertical chute.  They emerge in an eight-foot wide trapezoidal blue granite sewer tunnel directly beneath the library.  Tyrus leads the way his sword flaming like a torch.  The smell of the sewer water is awful.  It is about one foot deep and flows south and westward.

They discover some sort of fissure or excavation about forty feet south of where the library ladder left them. The sewer flowage spills down that narrow tunnel to the southwest creating a “muddy” slide into the unknown.  Jymsan encants a three foot high stone wall blocking water from filling the tunnel from now on.  On the climb down, Tyrus accidently slips and slides all the way fifty feet down in offal spraining his ankle in the process.  The others manage to follow without sliding.  They find themselves in a large calcified cavern that has a steeply sloped floor pitched west.

They hear insectoid clicking from the opposite side of the cavern.  Next thing, giant Jadeback beetles swarm them from the south.  Seconds later, Jymsan positions a wall of flame causing the human-sized dung insects to retreat.

They find a rough stairway carved into the steep sloping floor.  The stairs to the higher elevation east lead to a vault door with a wrought metal lock mechanism and door handle.  Leading downward to the west, the stairwell changes from rough hewn dug in the cavern floor to a man made stairwell leading even deeper. Sewer stains it all, but it appears the water must drain somewhere while the Jadebacks apparently skim off the fecal matter.

Turning their attention to the eastern vault door first, the mentalist attempts to lift the door handle with his telekinetic powers.  The next instant a lighting ball trap explodes directly in front of the door. Luckily, the party were all out of range.  Not wanting to deal with this, they head west down the stairs.

They descend to find another stone vault door to right of the man made stairwell.  They determine the dotted script on the door is Taranian, an ancient race with unimagingined technology.  The door does not have a handle or any other obvious means of opening, so they bypass this door for now as well.  Continuing down the western stairs there is a right-turn to the north.  As they take the turn, four armored skeletal warriors burst through a set of double doors intent on killing.  In less than a minute Cad slays three himself: two with repulsions and the third with his undead slaying mace.  The rest take out the fourth even though Tyrus trips over an imaginary dead turtle.

From the antechamber where the skeletons emerged, there is pair of closed doors on the far west wall.  This is when Tyrus’ flaming sword begins glowing just a bit brighter.  With quiet confidence, he tells the others more undead are on their way.

The mentalist uses his telekinesis to open those doors.  They open into the side of a twenty foot wide hallway that is domed fifteen feet up.  The north and south ways both lead far into the darkness.  To their right (the north) about fifty away and moving quickly toward them are two eight foot tall armored skeletons with red glowing bones.  They wield wicked-looking bastard swords.

The party holds their position.  Cad and Tyrus brace themselves in the open double doors.  The skeletons move in surprisingly quick and attack.  As a first blow, one lunges its sword crushing Cad’s side, breaking bones and grievously destroying organs. Cad collapses and is only seconds away from death. Tyrus quickly slams the double doors leaving the skeletons in the hallway. It seems they do not pursue.

 

Jymsan quickly slips a Schlorp mushroom from his pouch and places it in Cad’s mouth.  This is a lifekeeping herb that keeps one’s soul within even a “dead” body.  Now they have to find someone able to heal this terrible wound.  Only a High Priest of Orhan would have the power to heal this.

In full retreat, Tyrus shows his incredible strength and carries Cad up the stairs on his back.  With no sign of the Jadebacks, they look to scale the “muddy” chute.  Jymsan casts an enchanted rope they use to team the dead body up the chute.  The mentalist uses telekinesis to exert an extra hand pushing the climb upwards. Tyrus slips embarrassingly several times spraining his ankle yet again.  Eventually, covered in sewer ick, they climb over the short stone wall and back into the sewers, exhausted.

Next they climb twenty-five feet back up the ladder. Again, they use the rope to stabilize the body, another telekinetic push from the mentalist, and the rest relying on the strength of a limping soiled prince.

Tyrus plops Cad’s corpse up into the library basement.  Two of the three librarians still remain vigilant some two hours later from when the party first descended.  Tyrus asks the librarians to summon a healer from the Church urgently.  One of them runs off to do so.  The rest of the party climbs up and begins cleaning off sewer poop and as well as tending to their tragically mangled cleric.

One of the High Priests of Kuor arrives thirty minutes later.  Over many minutes and many prayers, the cleric heals and then awakens Cad.

Of course, Cad feels run down.  They all retire to the Phoenix Villa, but tell the librarians they intend to rest, re-equip, and return.

Shadow World - TE 6052-02-03 to 6052-02-10 - "Nulgier to Haalkitaine" - Session #2

Keety the thief and Raelen the warrior monk thought it best to collect Jymsan the mage back in Lethys before taking on the catacombs.  They gambled that with Jymsan’s wealth, he might spring for Keety and Raelen’s airship fair to Haalkitaine.  They might even arrive before the horse bound group.  The group staying on course is, Tyrus the prince, Cadonium the cleric, and Morden the mentalist.  They push north continuing on the Steppe Highway.

Two leagues north of Nulgiers, Tyrus spies a gothic ruined spire almost a half mile to the east.  Interested, they investigate.  Upon arriving they see a graveyard surrounding a ruined stone church.  In the back of the ruins is a stairwell leading underground.  The whole place is apparently dedicated to one “Agravond”.  They descend after the spell users anticipate there is nothing threatening in the entrance hall below.  Not far down the curved stairway, Ty’s bastard sword begins to glow.  Using the light from his undead seeking sword they explore the the crypts.  They open unmarked grave after grave, but find nothing of interest. 

They find the sword glowing brightest to the west.  During their searching, they hear a scraping of stone sound from the west.  Soon afterwards a Barrow Wight emerges from the western darkness frightening the spell users into retreat.  Before any are able to run though, the crypt-thing unleashes a cold ball blasting up the party with iron-hard ice and arctic cold snow.  Cad goes down with a frozen hip, Ty is dazed, and the mentalist is running scared already up the stairs with frozen legs.  The Barrow Wight takes its time and sharpens his two-handed sword against his armor while marching for them.  Tyrus stands first and moves in front of Cad protecting him from the powerful wight and encourages the others.   In a feat of incredible swordsmanship, Ty proceeds to hack the barrow wight to pieces while the mentalist telekinetically distracts it with flung tomb rocks and the cleric uses his holy powers to repel it. In the end, the creature falls and they loot “Lord Agravon’s” tomb.  They take his magic sword and armor and loot a magic ring in a litter of gems and jewels from his vault.  Happy to be alive and richer for it, they head back to the highway.

Back on the road, the next town is Minon, but there is nothing much there.  They stay the night and barter with the trader in the morning.  They sell the Lord Agravon’s (possibly evil) magic armor and sword for one thousand gold in gems.

The next evening they reach Calthos, but during the day they deal with a gargantuan giant snake that was constructing a wild horse.  The mentalist slept it followed by the trio promptly cutting it to ribbons.  Surprisingly the wild horse didn’t flee, instead it took a liking to Tyrus and kept pace with the group for the rest of the journey.

In Calthos, they stay the night in the Silver Horse Inn, keep their noses clean, and then leave at dawn.

The journey to Vyrrs is quiet arriving around 10 PM.  After a peaceful night’s rest at the Monk’s Cup, they leave at dawn.  On their way north out of town they notice the marshaling of city forces seemingly preparing to march north.  Could Vyrrs be allied with the Usurper Frelik?  They would be sure to report this event.

The group doubles their pace offering the horses frequent rests and plenty of water from nearby streams. Tryus realizes that the rescued horse moves with far greater agility than any of their horses.   Late morning they avoid an infestation of giant webs very close to the east side of highway. In the afternoon a giant oak tree falls and crashes off the west side in a wooded area.  Then the party thinks they hear at least one giant stomping through the woods.  Instead of investigating, they avoid it and continue their march all the way to the Orgos crossroads.

They arrive at the crossroads around noon.  They continue along the Steppe Highway north instead of visiting Orgos, which, the sign says, is about a mile west down a pine forest road.  They did not want to take a chance that the Vyrrs army might catch up.  The terrain changes from medium forests and fields to an expansive moor with bizarre rock outcroppings that look like daggers in the fog. Early afternoon they hear a loud scream of some humanoid falling to their doom into some sort of immense pit to the east.  They continue another thousand feet down the highway and see bouncing wisp-like lights not far from where they thought the scream came from.  Ignoring all this, they press on.  

By midnight, they make it to the Orgosian camp, a casual broadening of the Steppe Highway that lasts for a quarter of a mile or so.  They find several travelers and merchant caravans encamped.  They party rests with Tyrus doing most of the guard duty.  In the morning they move on toward the Blue River and Gryphonburgh.  Normally foggy, today the moors are clear.  Later that day they arrive at the famous Gryphon Bridge that provides entrance into Gryphonburgh.

As they approach the Gryphon Bridge, it becomes clear that this is an impressive engineering achievement dating back far into the past of Rhakhaan, if not earlier. A massive structure, it stretches nearly one hundred feet from end to end. It is imposing, yet graceful as it spans the river in one low sweeping arch. The bridge is constructed of blocks of a dark green-gray stone like granite, fitted together with great precision; and there is no sign of mortar to bind them together. There are six lanterns on green metal posts lighting the bridge, and flanking the entrance at both ends are two carved crouching gryphons. These stone effigies are about half the size of a real gryphon, but they still can be intimidating. They imagine terrible undead and demons might have difficulty passing this bridge; they envision it is like a ward against evil that protects the town from the inhabitants of the moors.

They spend the evening at the Green Gryphon Inn then leave for Haalkitaine on the beautiful Greenway highway without a word to any of the locals.

Halfway to Haalkitaine, they happen upon a sacked caravan.  It's guards and merchants dead and looted, killed by an impressive number of arrows.  The bags and the rest of the caravan loads is completely sacked and looted.  They estimate the armed robbery occurred about an hour ago.  With no one to save and nothing to take, they journey on.

Late in the evening they arrive at the venerable city of Haalkitaine, Capital of Rhakhaan.  They find the city has erupted in mass celebration.  Outside mounted on spears, they plainly see the severed heads of Frelik and hundreds of his men.  Tyrus' brother, the Emperor, must have finally located and took out Frelik. Tyrus’ immediate questions: has his brother reclaimed the Phoenix Crown from Frelik?, If so, what has he done with it?, and what of Vyrrs, does he know that duchy’s military appeared bound north?

From outside the city walls they see that Rhakhaan’s capital has an eclectic mixture of architectural styles, but most older buildings (as well as the city walls and towers) are constructed of locally quarried blue granite. It is obvious the city's greatest natural defensive feature is no doubt the Blue River, which forks to provide a wedge of land against the knees of the Grey Mountains.  Now at the end of the Greenway, the party stands before one of the great gates into Haalkitaine: the Sunset Bridge and the gleaming Ice Gate beyond.  The session ends with the group gazing into the gigantic faceted jewel of white læn that is embedded into the arch above the city entrance.  It shines like an iceberg in the sun.

Shadow World - TE 6052-02-01 to 6052-02-03 - "Left Lethys for Haalkitaine" - Session #1

Over the course of a Kulthean week (10 days), the five of them met often. During the day at the Lethys Library, and then during the evenings, at the Flask & Mug. They found clues about the legendary artifacts of the six realms of Jaiman including the Phoenix Sword thought to be hidden in the catacombs beneath Haalkitaine.  They read about how the trail of the stolen Sceptre of Khôm ended in Haalkitaine. With these findings, Haalkitaine became their obvious next destination.

The Warrior Monk: Raelen Thirok is a Ky’taari Changramai from the Mur Fostisyr.  He actually is not an official Changramai, abandoning the order instead in order to seek vengeance for his homeland.  It is the evil priests of Arnak who are the strongest agents for the Iron Wind and the ones he seeks to destroy.  Today, he is on the run searching for clues about the Iron Wind all the while avoiding the Changramai who he owes five years of service.  Lethys has hardly ever sees a Changramai presence, which is another reason Raelon seeks to leave as he is easily identifiable.

The Thief: Nukiti Melenka “Keety” is a son of a wealthy landowner in Nuyan Khôm. His family's business is cotton.  Keety did not see this for himself so set off to on his own and his family promptly disowned him.  Always troubled by how quickly his family ostracized him, he determined to find the stolen Sceptre of Khôm and return it to his homeland.  The Sceptre was stolen from the King’s palace some 30 years ago and, some say, Nuyan Khôm is lost without it.  His research (and a Nuyan Khôm Astrologer's prediction) led him to Jaiman.  The Astrologer’s vision told him that a prince would lead him to the scepter.  Which takes us to...

The Fighter: Adkar Tyrus Faslurin is the 3rd Prince of Rhakhaan.  Being the third, provides Ty freedom to explore his interests, unlike his older brother, the Emperor, who is mired in politics and intrigue. The Usurper to the north, cousin Frelik, recently stole the Phoenix crown and set claim to the throne of Rhakhaan.  Frelik's core rationale being since the Emperor has not yet donned the crown himself, he must not be the true emperor.  Frelik is infamous in Haalkitaine; many believe him to be responsible for the great Emperor Jerrin Arej Malvion Faslurin’s death in 6050.  Frelik now possesses the stolen crown and dares not wear it..  But this is all out of Ty’s mind, instead, he is determined to find and explore the catacombs beneath Haalkitaine. It is time to reveal its treasures while destroying unlife wherever it is found. Ty seeks the famed Phoenix sword, still thought to be lost in the deep catacombs.  In addition, he shared with Keety the story about the Sceptre of Khôm.  He heard that a member of the Cult of Stars (infamous elite assassins) came to Haalkitaine via skyship some years before he was born and was promptly sighted by authorities as a known killer.  It is said the female cult person had an ornate scepter matching the description of the stolen one from Khôm on her person.  Chase led to the sewers and to the catacombs where she escaped.  For months Nuyan Khôm investigators worked with Haalkitaine police, but never found a trace of the mysterious thief or scepter.  Speculation ran rampant.  One story is that she met afoul with the undead and perished down there.  Another is that she escaped through the catacombs to the underearth where passages beneath the Grey Mountains are said to lead all the way to the Realm of Tanara.

The Mentalist: Shunned by his people, Morden Noek is a man with no father.  Morden is a Mentalist who proved to have such potential as a youth that he was given training and a focus crystal.  He never felt in harmony with the other warlock trainees; perhaps it was his unusual violet eyes.  Morden is quiet and reserved, almost painfully shy. This comes in part from the ostracizing as a child. Rather than suffer longer, he decided to set out and discover who his real father is.

The Cleric: Cadmonium Taerok is a cleric with the Lethys Church of Orhan.  Phaon, God of the Sun, is his patron.  “Cad" is somewhat renowned in the area for once single-handedly turning and destroying a vampire near the docks.  Cad is also subject to strange and unwanted random teleportation when he comes into contact with Essence Storms.  Cad is the resident Lethys expert, but has never been to Haalkitaine.  He functions as the party healer and also wields a holy fire mace.

Before beginning their hundred league journey to Haalkitaine (about 300 miles), the five of them purchased horses and bridles and made other last minute preparations.  Then, they set off down the ancient highway due north.  This highway is thirty feet wide, full of weeds with cracks between the many brick and rocks.  Toward the end of the first day, as darkness crept in, they all detected movement on either side of the encroaching woods.  It had been raining all day so whoever waited, waited wet and cold... and impatiently.

Bandit arrows arced in from both sides.  The five dismounted, each prepared for battle.  Ty engaged the closest.  Keety became disoriented loading his bow causing him to become prone early in the skirmish. Morden, the Mentalist, overpowered bandit minds, seemingly at will, causing them to stagger stunned and blinded across the battlefield.  The Warrior Monk, meanwhile, engaged foes on the opposite side of the road.  He fought cautiously at first, finishing the first with a crescent kick the head.  Cad too, bellowing holy shouts that stun and zapping others with holy shock bolts.  The battle ended after Ty disemboweled one of the stronger bandits and the rest of the rabble promptly surrendered. It is noteworthy that the team’s horses were not injured and stood their ground. The party suffered only minor injuries; Ty took an arrow to the side and Cadmonium, one to the leg.  Beyond that, mostly rattled teeth.

Instead of slaying the bandits, they questioned them.  They learned their base is some three miles southwest, but not much else.  During questioning, it became apparent the men were not truly evil, just selfish and stupid.  They found a good amount of silver and gold and a large pink diamond on the leader, a rather well-dressed Jameri fellow named Gabriel.  They also relieved Gabrial of his fifteen magic flaming arrows. Once they had what they wanted the team broke the bandit’s weapons and cut up their leather armor, they let them go.  Ultimately, only the poor disemboweled chap perished.  

They kept on through the night maintaining a steady pace through the dark, cold forest.  Right before dawn, an owl hooted nearby, startling Ty.  Laughing about the Prince's reaction, they traveled another league and happened upon the small farming village of Nulgier. They found suitable lodging and a herbalist shop currently closed. They have traveled about fourteen leagues in total.