Second Ptolus Campaign Journal, #63
24th of Rain – Performance Night (concludes)
Round 5
Up in the Balacazar box, Aliya attacks the mage Arkhall Vaugn another six times, dealing him a fatal blow even as he was attempting to ensorcel her with a suggestion. Menon looks over at this and tut-tuts, shaking his head. Zophas seizes the opportunity to slice at the cord holding the pearl and little Destor around Balacazar’s neck. But halfway through the attack, Zophas feels his sword begin to fade away, and he quickly snatches it back. The godling cackles with glee. “You might be a powerful representative of a god,” the small voice says, “but I AM a god.” The enraged Zophas attacks again, to no avail.
While the demonic creature that Barbatos summoned from inside his mind strikes at Kevris Killraven, the immense skeleton staggers Sister Mara with three devastating attacks. She turns around and heals allies with a mass cure critical wounds spell, which also fells the terrible skeleton. The creature collapses into an enormous dust pile. Sadly, though, the blessed child she tried to call up does not appear – it seems this place is proof against summoned creatures.
Tellian turns his attention to Killraven and dispels some of the magic that was souping her up. Using his mote of time stop, Sir Feruch charges in to flank Kevris with the demon. Though he suffers some harm from her hungry flaming sword, the brave cleric of Navashtrom manages to smite the hag
Tharn charges the remaining purple worm and slices into it while I keep trying to punch out more of its teeth in the hopes of freeing myself. And on the other side of the room, Barbatos casts a lightning bolt into the fray.
Meanwhile, down in the sewers, Diethan shoots at a draconic creature before him, while Sercian magically pops across the stagnant water to it and attacks the thing from astride its own back. The creature tries to shake the unlucky elf from his back, but fails. Serai separates his party from the draconic creature (and, incidentally, his brother) with a wall of force and tells the group that teleportation spells should work down here.
Hero points used this round: 1
Current death toll: 35
Round 6
The remaining Sorn sorcerer launches a fireball that wounds several of us. Tharn attacks the purple worm again, with serious results for the worm. (I merely knock out more of its teeth.) Urlenius wades into battle with the hill giants, and Tellian backs up his fellow cleric of Navashtrom with his wicked bow. They both go down.
When Canabulum goes up against a couple of the assassins, the minotaur suffers a drain of his life force and steps back, newly cautious now that he’s tasted their poison.
When Aliya hears that the pendant around Menon’s neck holds a god who protects the crimelord, she concentrates mightily, and her fist begins to glow. Zophas tries another attack against Menon, but only manages to drop his sword. Then, acting for the first time himself, Menon pulls out a chaositech void bomb! Zophas disarms him of it; the bomb now lies on the ground. The crimelord scowls. “Kevris is clearly scraping the bottom of the barrel when she goes out to hire assassins lately,” he sneers at the paladin.
Meanwhile, the demon from Barbatos’ head takes some heavy damage from Kevris Killraven. “Barbatos, for all I have done for you, help me at least!” the demon cries. When the wizard hesitates, it adds, “Know that, when this appears to be over, it will not be over…”
Diethan bids goodbye to the group in the sewer. “I have to go back up there,” he tells his sister Alivia. “I can’t leave my friends.” As the urban ranger dashes back up, Sercian inflicts some serious damage to the draconic creature. And Serai uses his teleportation magic to take them all back to House Lorenci. “This is why you’re not staying with him any longer,” Fesamere proclaims to her son, the star of the night’s ill-fated performance. “No, mother, I’m staying right here,” Dullin says; apparently, this is a fight that has happened many times before.
Sister Mara dispels more of the magic active on Killraven, and Sir Feruch lays into her with his smiting sword. Barbatos sends ebony bolts toward both Kevris and the demon he called out of his head. “Curse you, Barbatos!” it snarls. The bolts go wide of their mark.
What? From my vantage (still) in the purple worm’s mouth, I spot a familiar half-orc down below. What’s Linech doing down there in the middle of the fight? I don’t believe my eyes. He appears to be sizing up the battle – trying to decide whose side to come down upon, I imagine.
Current death toll: 37
Round 7
The Sorn lobs a fireball into the Balacazar box. It doesn’t do the job, so Aliya aims a godstrike at the chain holding the pearl (and Destor) around the crimelord’s neck. Her skillful blow sunders the chain and she gracefully lobs the pearl onto the stage below. Once this bane-pearl is stricken from the world, we hope Gaen will return her favor to her faithful. Meanwhile, tiny Destor continues to cling to Balacazar.
Canabulum maintains his battle against his assassin foes and turns one to stone. Meanwhile, Killraven evades her enemies and rides over to the Balacazar box, where the now-unprotected Menon awaits his doom. “Balacazar, this day’s been a long time coming,” she announces. “Your reign over this city is over.” As she readies her attack, Menon looks at the two Runewardens and makes one last ploy. “If she slays me, she shall become more powerful than ever I was.”
Nonplussed, Aliya and Zophas watch as the annis hag slices Menon Balacazar into about a hundred tiny pieces. “FINALLY!” she exults. “I win!!”
Tharn races to the stage and grabs up the discarded black pearl bane. Close behind, Tellian shoots his arrows at Killraven and hits her five times, following up his blows with a holy smite. Zophas adds his own smite evil attack – which separates the dreaded hag’s head from her body.
“…and the horse you rode in on!” the aasimar paladin cries as he finishes off his suite of attacks against her fiery mount.
The little Destor crawls out of Menon’s clothing and murmurs to Zophas and Aliya, “You mortals are very annoying.” He raises both his hands, and clouds begin to roil above the two Runewardens. Lightning bolts start shooting down at them inside the Balacazar box. Zophas and Aliya barely manage to evade the strikes from the vengeful godling. The storm builds with more and more power….
But there’s still a demon in the house, and Sister Mara can’t let that stand. To the sounds of Barbatos’ panicky shrieks, the demon dissipates in a hail of holy fire. “Barbatos, I’ll be back for you…..” are its final words.
“Thanks, lady,” sighs the relieved wizard.
From backstage, a war troll emerges. He sees Killraven’s severed head lying on the stage and demands of Tharn, “Did you do that?” The litorian mutely points to the elven archer.
Frustrated at all the battle I’m missing, I continue to punch out the purple worm’s teeth. “Benris, join the fight!” Barbatos calls, shooting the wretched creature with a wand and bringing it to a pulpy end. (He couldn’t have done that three rounds ago?) Urlenius helps me up; embarrassed, I look around for a foe. I hope I didn’t miss it all.
Linech seems stunned to find that both crime lords are gone. His eyes get really wide, and a big smile crosses his face as he realizes he may well be the greatest criminal force left in the city now. He makes a break for the door.
The last remaining Sorn exits as he came in: right through the wall (behind a mountain of giant flesh).
Hero points used this round: 1
Current death toll: 41
Round 8
The tiny god of ill luck causes all of Aliya’s attacks against him to miss, but across the room Canabulum turns another assassin to stone. Killraven’s nightmare attacks Zophas, but Calista slays it with a gout of water in a sorcerous blast. At that moment, Diethan emerges from the trap door onstage to survey the carnage.
Down in the sewers, the rest of the actors arrive at a door to the surface and try to make their way out. Sercian at last puts an end to his draconic mount.
Back inside the theater, Tellian heals the bleeding Urlenius. “Why, thank you,” the ogre-mage says. “Every little bit helps. It’s good of you to contribute.” The mighty elf rolls his eyes.
Meanwhile, Zophas lays into the tiny god. “If just one person in the sound of my voice will worship me,” Destor cries, “I will grant you wishes beyond your dreams. You will rule this city!” But under the onslaught of the aasimar paladin’s blows, the godling falls at last. His immortal voice fades to nothing.
Feruch flies above my head to challenge the last couple assassins. I can’t see them at the moment, but I’m ready to get back into whatever fight is left, so I levitate myself over to them on the balcony. Urlenius follows. “You’ll go no farther,” the ogre-mage demands of the wrongdoers. “But if you surrender we will leave you with your lives. Right?” Feruch and I look skeptical.
Current death toll: 44
Round 9
Aliya races in and joins our attack on the remaining assassins, as does Canabulum, who turns one of them to stone. Using her trademark spell, Calista makes the last one explode from an attack of elemental energy from within.
Final death toll: 46
The storm outside has faded now. Backstage, the mind worm is dead, as is a hezrou. One stagehand survives to relate that the other hezrou and troll somehow just disappeared.
Many theatergoers made it out through the vestibule, and are talking to the Sisters of Silence out in front of the theater. (The City Watch seems to have gone.) The doors are unsealed again.
Ben-Coraon the ironborn didn’t see the Killraven folks we described come out, but he relates how a Sorn assassin came up there and cast a spell on the door to seal it, and how other creatures like the mind worm passed through the wall. So we suppose the theater wasn’t plane shifted after all – we’re not sure exactly what did happen to it to prevent both teleportation and the summoning from inside.
Calista introduces all of us to her famous cousin. It turns out that Sir Feruch knows many of the Runewardens – apparently he used to travel with them years ago. Zophas admires Feruch’s fighting acumen and invites him to join some sort of cult he has started.
In the Days that Follow…
It turns out that the Sorn used some scrolls of miracle to make sure that no one could teleport out of or into the theater, and to ensure that the building itself could not be harmed during the melee.
With both Kevris and Menon dead, the Commissar begins to believe that a new world order is imminent: that perhaps the city doesn’t have to have a criminal organization, that perhaps he can truly wipe out the element in the city. The Balacazar sisters feud among themselves but neither one will take solid control, so their organization crumbles a bit from within. Linech tries to take over Killraven’s organization but learns the hard way that it’s based around the Pactlords, who hate humanoids. But we’ve done the Pactlords such serious blows that this group is not going to be the same again either.
Barbatos seeks to write the “true story” of what happened that night in the Midtown Partisan. He signs his byline to the story, no longer anonymous. He also finally gets around to looking behind that door below Pythoness House. There he discovers a big multiheaded chaosomaton construct built by an ancient elf named Vaiod the Slayer. He hopes Serai will one day help him get into the Inverted Pyramid.
Speaking of Serai, the Lorencis load up their ship, Fesamere, and set sail for the distant east (taking with them the chaositech spike, which somehow Serai acquired instead of Shilukar or the temple of Gaen). Serai leaves his runebearer children each a present to guide their future. With the spike of chaos energy, the ship is able to spear the curtain that separates the Empire from the land of my people, the Hu-Charad. Maybe one day they’ll return with news* of them!
Tellian does not go with the other elves but instead heads off to Ren Tehoth to find the birthplace of Navashtrom. Aliya returns to Uraq seeking to slay the Demon of the Sands. Zophas will stick around and finally build his church for his own Lothian sect. He will help the Commissar in his quest to rid the city of the criminal element. (The Commissar calls it crime. Zophas calls it Evil.) Calista joins up with his group as well, although she’s markedly anti-deity for someone as zealous as the paladin. Sister Mara stays in the city for the time being; I hear that she plans to teach the art of dreamspeaking (covertly, of course, as the Church frowns on such stuff), but maybe it’s really just to keep an eye on Zophas.
For our part, my friends and I relate to Melior, high priest of Gaen, our success in finding the black pearl and promise to find a way to destroy this artifact; with the help of the Lothianite cleric and paladins it’s no trouble, and the temple regains its status. The pearl’s affiliation with Destor had been causing the temple much bad luck, but that’s all in the past now.
Tharn decides to stay in Ptolus – he loves the city. He and Seanus keep their apartment and he lives there in semi-retirement. Archinemus continues to run the shop, which does very well. Diethan enjoys the fame of playing a role in the showdown between the two crimelords in which the adventurers won. (He tries to get that half-elf his old job back at the theater, too – when the scared fellow finally returns to town, that is.) Oh, and Zavere comes back at last to Castle Shard, having killed the guy who killed him in the future.
Meanwhile, I continue the fight against slavery in the city, ensuring that Linech’s efforts don’t include that evil trade. Ben-Coraon and I head down to the Slave City and even do some delving to acquaint him with the adventuring life. I introduce him to a bunch of coworkers of mine down at the Delver’s Guild.
Someday in the future, we know the Clarion Call will come and Lanasal will come to find me. Then our little band will reunite and visit again the fortress of Ar-Nampur, where I will finally wield the super-dense axe of my ancestors. Until that call comes on some faraway day, I’ll continue to reflect on the friendships I’ve made and fine battles I’ve fought alongside brave heroes. Although we might not have started out knowing much about the crazy and sometimes evil plans of gods and men, we acquitted ourselves well. I think we helped make this home of ours a better place.
I remain your humble narrator, shopowner, fighter for freedom, and – always – delver,
Benris Ia-Regalas Hu-Charad
* It seems that, when my people came to these Whitewind shores long ago, the power of the Galchutt began to corrupt them. They knew they had to leave and never come back, so they sailed away and sealed themselves behind a magical curtain far to the east. But Nicodemus, a sibeccai they had brought with them, transformed himself to a lich and slipped away from them. The elder titans foresaw the great and terrible things he would do, so they left me behind in magical stasis as the Hu-Charad’s last chance to stop Nicodemus from getting the Nemesis Stone (the “shard” of Castle Shard). What a shock to learn I’m actually centuries old, not just twenty! (I remained in stasis as an infant for hundreds of years.) And what a shock, as well, to learn that Nicodemus is, in fact, an ancestor of our own Archinemus! But somehow it’s no surprise to learn that the tomb of Nicodemus was once penetrated by a certain dark elf looking for treasure. All along, Shilukar has been a compelled thrall of the lich, working in secret to bring his master ever closer to Castle Shard and the Nemesis Stone.
