And Now Back to Our Story…
Second Ptolus Campaign Journal, #61
24th of Rain
Although the Runewardens had been through a lot in their careers, the experiences in Jabel Shammar were among the most harrowing, the most trying, and – as it turned out – the most scarring. After exploring much of the fortress, the group confronted the Malignancy, a semi-sentient force of utter corruption growing out of the Book of Inverted Darkness, as well as some sliver of a shadow of the spirit of the Dread One himself. They emerged victorious, then chose to explore the dungeons below the fortress in part to find a dwarven queen said to have been imprisoned there for untold millennia. The dungeons were at least as horrible as the rest of the fortress, but again, they proved successful in their quest, and Queen Doril the Elder of the lost Earthsinger overclan of the dwarves was returned to the outside world.
After leaving Jabel Shammar, the heroes found that the inherent evil of the place clung to them like a parasite. It took many weeks of rest and recuperation before each of them felt clean again. During that time, they did the following:
- Sister Mara and Zophas spent their time in the service of the church. At Mara’s insistence, she and Zophas worked at menial but important tasks for the orphanage of St. Dayra. The experience of doing such pure good was cleansing and ultimately invigorating. A few weeks ago, Church elders approached them both and asked them to be part of an official delegation to meet with Emperor Segaci when he visited Ptolus. The Emperor never made it to the city, however, and the meeting never happened.
- Aliya sought her cousin, Calista, at the home she had found for her years ago: the Pale Tower. To Aliya’s surprise, the tower was empty and the Malkuth were gone. With no way to track down Calista’s whereabouts, Aliya spent the next few weeks in solitary meditation and rigorous physical workouts at the headquarters of the Order of the Fist (where once again they offered her the mantle of leadership, which she once again refused).
- Canabulum retired to his subterranean sanctum to study and meditate at length. His roommate Udalaag – now a minor official in the Delver’s Guild – sensed that he needed to be alone and quietly burrowed into his treasure hoard when not at work.
- Serai and Sercian holed themselves up in “House Lorenci” to rest and relax. In recent days, Sercian has spent more time with Fesamere Balacazar, and Serai has involved himself in some interesting deals involving obscure but powerful chaositech devices. Or is it the other way around?
- Tellian worked with the clergy in the Temple of Navastrom. Quickly wearying of the unease his fellow clerics clearly felt at his performance of simple tasks rather than more fitting duties for a cleric of his power, Tellian took up an offer from Sercian to enjoy an extended stay at House Lorenci, although he also spent a fair amount of time with his one-time charge, Urlenius.
Very recently, however, upon learning that some members of the group were preparing to leave Ptolus (Sister Mara to Dreta Phantas, Aliya back to Uraq, and so on), the Lorenci brothers invited all the Runewardens to a last dinner at their house. Serai and Sercian plan on leaving the city indefinitely themselves, as Serai has apparently acquired a power source that will allow their ship to pass through a strange but extraordinarily powerful magical barrier that lies in the seas to the distant west.
The dinner will be followed by some entertainment – a musical performance starring Serai’s star pupil, Dullin Balacazar. The brothers assure their friends that Menon Balacazar will not be in attendance, so there will be no awkward situations involving crime lords, criminal families, or anything of the kind. The rest agreed to gather together as friends this one last time, before likely parting ways for good….
Editor’s Note: This account now leaves the Runewardens and shifts back to Benris’ journal. For a prelude to this evening from Benris’ point of view, see her earlier journal entry.
Session CXVII – 24th of Rain – Performance Night
Disguised as Carthain the half-elf, Diethan is hard at work backstage at the Cloud Theater before the performance begins. This performance is a special one-night-only show called “The Return of the Boy Who Could Sing” starring Dullin Balacazar. His boss has already told him to ignore anything strange that happens tonight. The first strange thing he sees is that four priests of different faiths arrive to bless the place, casting spells all over the backstage area.
Diethan’s sister Alivia is one of the musicians performing tonight. Dullin himself arrives with his mother and aunt, Fesamere and Maystra Balacazar, who both sit in the front row. With them is well-known sorcerer Tobaras Sorcen (the member of the Covenant of Blood who dwells in the safety of the Balacazars’ manor house!).
The next strange thing that Diethan sees is the arrival of all the Runewardens, the famed heroes who reportedly visited Jabel Shammar atop the Spire not long ago. With them is Urlenius the ogre-mage. Wow, these famous heroes are friends of the Balacazars?
Sitting near each other are Seanus’ buddy Jataran Tazor and the Emerald Eye owner Palkham Mash with his partner Una Sar and her horrid brother Zorin Sar (he tried to sic troll fingers on us to keep us from buying the shop).
Now arriving is a squad of Sisters of Silence and a unit of the City Watch. What an interesting mix we have in the house tonight! They stand watch out front.
I ask the ironman Ben-Coraon to keep watch in the shadows near the back door, and to alert us if anyone matching the description of Durant or Kevris Killraven tries to leave that way. Meanwhile, Sercian moves to speak privately to Barbatos, warning him that whatever he’s up to, nothing had better befall young Dullin or his mother or aunt.
We all take our places throughout the house. The Balacazar box is still empty as the show begins. Diethan keeps an eye on his sister from the wings, and actually, the music seems much better than the acting. (Dullin’s a very good singer, too.) Up in the balcony, Tharn notices a halfling with a bow take a seat behind him. “Just watch the show, buddy,” the guy says when the litorian gives him a suspicious look.
About fifteen minutes into the show, we note that the Balacazar box is now occupied – some people have just appeared there: a dark-haired older gentleman, Arkhall Vaugn the mage, and two hulking hill giants. At the same time, backstage, a flash of crimson light momentarily blinds Diethan, and two vaguely froglike creatures appear with a terrible stench. The stagehands look like they’re ready to scream, but one of the creatures puts a finger to its mouth and says “Shhhh,,,” Everyone keeps quiet.
Tellian, one of the Runewardens, notes a couple of ninjas that have just showed up in the balcony. They seem preternaturally focused on the Balacazar box. Then Canabulum notices a couple assassins up on the opposite balcony.
Some of the spellcasters suddenly feel a metaphysical wave passing through the house, as though a spell just affected the building somehow. When Tellian and Sister Mara cast magic circle against evil, the older elegant man in the front row hisses at them. Serai turns to them and mouths “vampire.” Ah.
Calista has been trying to detect Killraven ever since we sat down. Suddenly, crossbowmen up in the balcony open fire on the Balacazar box. Defying probability, two of the bolts hit the ledge of the box just right so as to ricochet off and down, striking one of the musicians below the box. The man is dead before he hits the ground. The other two bolts are swayed off in other directions. It seems Menon is protected by the powers of Lady Luck.
At the same time, stepping through the wall as though it did not exist comes a large, hideous woman in plate armor riding an enormous black horse with flaming hooves and mane. Ah, Kevris Killraven’s not even trying to disguise herself! She’s followed by a beholder and an illithid: the Pactlords have arrived in force. Riding on broomsticks come two figures in charcoal grey robes bearing the Sorn symbol.
Killraven cries out in the sudden silence: “No one leaves here alive unless they belong to me!”
Round 1
Backstage Diethan sees, stepping through the wall as though it didn’t exist, a huge worm with lots of tentacles accompanied by a large armored troll.* The frog-demons move to attack the worm-thing. Monsters on monsters!
The assassins fire off another round of bolts, none of which hit the crime lord. One ricocheted off the back of Menon’s chair and hit one of the giants instead. The oaf simply growls. (Barbatos hears one assassin say to the one who shot that guy, “No, no, we’re NOT supposed to attack the giants!” The other replies, “I had him dead in my sights!”) So these must be Killraven agents for certain, as they don’t want to harm the nonhumanoids.
Killraven takes out one of the theater’s bodyguards with a few good swipes of her sword. Sercian approaches Fesamere and tries to scoop her up to depart. “I’m not leaving without Dullin!” she cries. “Serai will watch out for him,” the other Lorenci says.
Diethan runs out onstage toward his sister, dropping his disguise. “Take my hand, it’s time to go!” he says.
“Die, humanoids, die!” cackles the beholder. It advances, eyebeams blazing. Muttering, “Gods, I hate Pactlords of the Quaan,” Tellian moves out and shoots four arrows into its bloated eye-covered body.
The vampire attacks Aliya and grapples her; now it’s up to Zophas. Arkhall Vaugn casts a wall of force spell to protect the box where he sits with his boss.
Serai moves past the grappling vampire and Aliya and crawls up onstage toward his confused protégé Dullin. He picks up the boy to take him to safety. Maystra jumps up onstage to argue with him. “We should never have allowed this performance!” But now is not the time for such hysterics. Diethan orders one of the actors to open the trap door in the stage; some of the others race up to it and look down.
Sister Mara moves into position to use her magic against the threatening monsters, urging Urlenius to help. “Yes,”cries the ogre-mage, picking up his scattered ioun stones (fallen thanks to the beholder’s antimagic field). “And I must help these people.” I take up that goal myself, urging the innocent bystanders to come toward me and out into the vestibule for safety from those terrible eyebeams. “Follow me, good people,” Urlenius cries. I’ll save you from these demons!” He also urges the folks on the right side of the house to the relative safety of the vestibule. But that turns out to not be safe at all: A monstrously huge troll out there has just killed the ticket-taker and ale huckster. “Ahhhhh!” the theater-goers cry out in terror.
Suddenly the door to the Balacazar box bursts open, and the giants push their way out. “Shut up, old man,” one of them yells. “I’ll do what I want!” That’s right, we knew that these bodyguards were not as committed to their master as he would have it. The other one mutters, “Stupid humans,” and takes a swipe at a bald theater-goer in the balcony. The man plummets to his death.
Current death toll: 9.
To be continued…
