Second Ptolus Campaign Journal, #58
The 25th of Wind
It’s been five days since we teleported out of the Vault of the Elder Brain, which now serves as its sepulcher. It took us three days to recover from the ordeal, and we spent the last two seeking information and tidying up loose ends.
Research provided no clue as to how we might deal with the divine essence now pulsing within the chaositech spike Shilukar gave us. Strangely, Feruch confirmed that the power itself was not inherently evil. In the end, the Legacy provided the help we needed by coming up with a process to release the energy harmlessly back into the world. Eventually, it said, the energy likely would be gathered subconsciously by some being worthy to ascend to godhood (as many have over the millennia).
After long, protracted arguments, we finally managed to convince Barbatos that we should release the energy rather than use it ourselves before giving it to Shilukar (not that Barbatos actually knew how to use the energy).
Shilukar came to Pythoness House to collect on his end of the bargain. When we gave him the depowered spike, he seemed a bit confused but said nothing other than “thank you.” As a sign of his goodwill, he handed us a map of some caverns deep under the city where he said we could find Tharn. He wouldn’t reveal where he got the information, only that he wanted to help us reunite with our friend. Then, we activated the dresden door for him, as part of our deal. He looked a bit hesitant – like this wasn’t really what he was expecting – then stepped through. The door returned to ring form. Now we have to decide what to do with it!
Rumors are already circling about the Shuul. Some say they suffered a great catastrophe with one of their machines. Others say the group has fractured internally, due to internecine conflicts. A few speculate that the Shuul’s leader, Savane, is dead. All agree that the group has suffered a setback from which it may not recover – and, if it does, it likely will be as a very different organization.
Lastly, word has just reached Ptolus that Emperor Segaci never arrived in Ptolus (we know different!) because he was killed en route in an airship accident along with his extensive retinue of guards, attendants, and advisors. His body was recovered, and the priests of Lothian in Tarsis immediately brought him back from the dead. He has apparently decided to stay in Tarsis for the time being, to recover. Good riddance.
The map from Shilukar shows Tharn’s location as near the Eternity Cave and the dwarven settlement of Kaled Del. It’s also close to a door into Dwarvenhearth. We wonder why Shilukar was being so “kind” to us as to give us this map. When last we looked into the matter ourselves, Calista learned he was in Dwarvenhearth. But is our litorian friend still soul-ridden?
We spend some time this afternoon gearing up for the trip. We leave in the morning.
The 26th of Wind
Our journey following the map takes us from the sewers beneath Oldtown down into a huge rift that emerges into a series of natural passages. I can tell that creatures move through here often – the passages are quite worn.
We spy a flickering light up ahead but we don’t hear anything. We do detect magic some 50 feet ahead of us. We proceed cautiously, searching for tripwires or other traps. But nevertheless we’re surprised by a couple of shadowy, floaty figures. Their moans unnerve us, and their attacks feel cool, clammy, and rubbery. They look like shadowy cloaks with many sharklike teeth. One of them manages to engulf Feruch, but he soon breaks free. It somehow renders the Cobbled Man stupefied and unmoving, but Feruch gets his revenge and tears it to flimsy strands.
The other creature flees, but before we can follow, we have to get across a deep pit. We throw our magical expanding ladder across the gap and move on. Up ahead we note a stone in the ground that is not stone at all, but a disguised piece of wood. There doesn’t seem to be a trap. We’re about to move on when Feruch discovers a detached human eyeball with six limbs floating around in a shallow pool here. He skewers it. To me, it looks as though it’s been altered by magic – or chaositech.
Motes of light welcome us as we enter the next cavern. We hear a creature’s voice warning us to leave or be imprisoned “like the others.” Before us we see a spiderlike creature with a long neck and multiple-madibled head. A horrid demon, for sure! (I later learn it is called a slassan. And, strangely, it is not evil.) It seems new to the world. And waiting in ambush for Diethan is our old cloak-shaped nemesis.
The new foe casts an energy web spell on us, catching us all except Diethan. “Wrapped nicely for the master,” it gloats. Shaking free of the webs, we pounce on it, but it lobs a burst of acid at us. Sir Feruch manages to wound it with his magical sword, but in return it bites him with its poisoned beak. He slices it in half.
We search around for the “prison” the creature spoke of. No luck on that, but in the rear of this cavern we find a bag stashed behind a pair of stalagmites. It holds a bunch of scrolls and other items. The effects of chaos seem to surround us here. It reminds us of the last time we were in the Halls of Cordaris, amid its transmuted effects (there was a chaos well down there). Barbatos thinks it’s from one of the Pits of Insanity (residual chaos pools in Ghul’s Labyrinth). Perhaps they’re the same thing.
We continue on. Amid the effects of chaos that we note upon entry into the next room, we encounter a woman. She is an elf, but she has golden hair – an elf of old? She warns us away from this place. “We are looking for a friend,” Diethan says. “We cannot leave without him.” She says her name is Laethes. In case she’s a soul rider, we activate our protection from evil spells.
“Wait!” comes a familiar voice. Dashing around the corner toward us we see him: It’s THARN!
Session CXII – Still the 26th of Wind
Tharn, we later learn, was abandoned by his soul rider some time ago. He and the other adventurers left with him (other “ridden” people) were abandoned in the vicinity of some slaadi and their slassan masters, and so the poor confused victims were immediately captured.
These demons fashioned a prison of powerful magical walls in the vicinity of a chaos well (or Pit of Insanity) and held our friend and his companions there, hoping to see what would happen to them – would they become horribly chaos infused? Well, yes, in fact, some of the other adventurers had been mutated from this time near the chaos well.
Fortunately, though, they managed to escape the magical prison. Their slaadi and slassan captors were in hot pursuit of them as we encountered them. Lucky for them we were showed up when we did…
During the ensuing fight with these demons around the Pit of Insanity, we discovered that spellcasting near a Pit of Insanity produces weird side effects. For instance, proximity to such magic turns Tharn’s fur a bright lime green. Similar magic withers Barbatos’ left arm and turns his own magic against the Cobbled Man, who just barely manages to pull through. But nevertheless, with the help of Tharn and his companions, we triumph, and at last, the final foes fall.
After the battle we sort everything out. Tharn introduces us properly to the elf named Laethes Stormwing (who has had an encounter with Shilukar, we discover – perhaps that’s how the dark elf came into the map) and the other adventurers.
We search the bodies of fallen foes (and friends) and find some loot, as well as an ancient bronze idol near the Pit of Insanity. It looks vaguely toadlike, but it clearly has been here much longer than the slaadi and the slassans. The idol slides back to reveal a passage right next to the chaos well. Inside the idol we find three scrolls of telekinesis, three marlite tongs (marlite is a magic-dead material), and three marlite canisters with screw-on lids.
Tharn doesn’t really remember much about his possessed period, but he does know that the soul riders really were after an artifact called the Platinum Cestus down here in the Dwarvenhearth area. They managed to find it and kept control of the one person who carried it. That’s when they released the rest of their thralls, abandoning them here at the chaos well. Interestingly, Tharn does realize that, although the soul rider knew everything he knew while he was possessed, all information about the Legacy was somehow kept hidden from it, as though it were knowledge the litorian did not possess.
There’s always something new to discover about the Legacy, it seems. What next?
