Second Ptolus Campaign Journal, #35
Still the 24th of Harvest
As we search the bodies of the fallen, we are horrified at the demonic flesh etchings of the red-cloaked wizard. He was a follower of Demogorgon, just as the letter we found mentioned. We are going to have to figure out how to divide up the loot between us and our harr “allies.”
We take a break to await our meeting with Lord Zavere. While some of us stand guard, the rest of us chat with the Legacy, still camouflaged in his book. He explains that he was not brought to this world but he is of this world, created by Oread the blue angel. He recalls the Order of the Legacy members finding him near Mrathrach’s Pit. He said he didn’t understand much of what was going on back then but that there was much fighting with the orcs and a tower that was destroyed. Then he came here. He seems sorry to leave, sorry that the Order is all gone.
While he was with the Order, he says, some velators were nicer than others, but only the velators were allowed to speak to him. Apparently there was a lot more activity involving him earlier on; of late, the last few dozen velators seemed more interested in keeping him safe than in interacting with him. Once one of the velators convinced him to bring back some of the velators that had passed, “but he didn’t seem to like the results too much.” (I guess not! Those undead creatures spawned by the blood pool here were awful!)
He tells us that many velators seemed to think he could help them accomplish great deeds, such as taming the Chaos Well. He never knew how to do those things to begin with, but in time he learned to. He was always happy to help the velators that he liked. When one of the harr tries to question him as to the extent of his power, he doesn’t seem to know many specifics.
When we explain that we hope to take him to a safe place called Castle Shard, he excuses himself to “think about this place.” We pass the rest of the time chatting about gods (is this Legacy-man a god?) and religious beliefs until it is time to leave. We keep a sharp eye out for ambushes as we make our way out of the sewers and head over to Castle Shard.
When we arrive, Lord Zavere is waiting for us across the moat from the castle. Unlike every other time we’ve seen him, he is in full armor and carrying a silver-shod staff. He speaks to the harr in a strange language. I guess he can’t let them get too near the castle, or they might eat up all its magic. Then Lady Rill appears, wearing a long blue gown with a train. She casts a spell on the harr and on us, and we all feel a bit strange — then we’re all standing somewhere else.
We’re in a room without windows but with three doors. A table here holds food. Rill does not follow us here. Zavere explains that this is neutral ground, since none of us knows where it is. This chamber and its side rooms are at our disposal, he says. When someone wishes to leave, we should pull on a silken cord near an iron door.
We ask him to stay as we pull out the book where the Legacy is residing, but the Legacy doesn’t seem to want to come out. When Calista invites him out in Celestial, he makes a word form on the page in that same language: “Liar.” We can’t get him to come out, so eventually Zavere departs through the iron door.
Why does the Legacy-man think we’re lying to him? Is this truly not neutral ground, not a safe place after all? We don’t know exactly where we are, truth be told. Does the Legacy-man not like it here? The harr magically determine that the Legacy is no longer within his book, and this infuriates them. Claiming they’ve been tricked, they declare that the Legacy-man was not the true Legacy at all. They want to return to Cordaris to find the real Legacy, but we all agree we should rest and wait a little while longer.
25th of Harvest
We magically determine that the harr don’t have the Legacy, and they do the same with us. However, Calista mentally alerts me that the Legacy-man is still around here somewhere. I try hard to think only about dungeon beasts, so in case the harr try to read my mind, they won’t find out.
We bid farewell to the harr and we all leave the room via another teleportation spell from Rill. We promise to return this evening to thank Zavere properly and we head off.
As soon as we’re alone in our carriage, Calista opens the book again and out pops the male face we’ve come to know as the Legacy. He is fine but he says he wouldn’t come out before because he was afraid. He says he felt great power there, and he could tell there was someone bad at Castle Shard who had gone to great lengths to get him there. (Shilukar? Someone else?) After a lengthy discussion, he says he prefers to stay with us in his book, and if we try to take him somewhere other than our home, he will just hide again.
So we take him back to Myraeth’s Oddities, along with the bodies of our fallen hirelings. Our dwarf store guard Jora can help us find Keld’s kin. I can find Jenna’s relations through her membership in the Delver’s Guild. We show the Legacy our vault, where he’ll be staying while he’s with us. “It’s a little small,” he says, “but I don’t really care.”
We try to understand what he wants, but he really doesn’t seem to have many preferences, beyond not being given over to anyone else. He says he doesn’t want to have too many feelings, because they make him want things; sometimes he can’t have those things, and that makes him feel other things he doesn’t like. After a brief philosophical discussion, we depart to bathe, then visit the Sisterhood to make our report.
At the imposing Priory of Introspection, we relate the whole story of our trip into the Halls of Cordaris. At first the sisters want us to bring the Legacy to them, but when we explain that moving him anywhere else causes him to hide in his book and not come out, that stops them. “That is tantamount to incarceration, and we do not incarcerate,” the Mother Superior’s Speaker tells us. “You will keep this Legacy on a trial basis. In two weeks’ time, the Mother Superior will come to Myraeth’s Oddities to look upon this Legacy herself. And there may be future visits. That is all. Well done. Good-bye.”
Hardly believing our luck, we make our way to do some shopping and trading. We get the information on Keld’s and Jenna’s next of kin as well. We decide to call the Legacy “Linus” as a code name in public. [Note: The DM is not too keen on this name.-Ed.]
That evening, we visit Castle Shard again. Mand Scheben of the Church of Asche is there too. We praise Gregoran’s bravery and performance on the recent adventure. Mand has news for us of Spyncer Coil, who claimed to have received a prophecy from Asche. His mental ailments make it hard to get to the truth of things. Mand had been getting nowhere but recently he learned that the source of Spyncer’s madness was neither natural nor magical, but brought about due to chaositech. Spyncer was driven mad by a chaositech device, Mand says (Shilukar again?). While still quite afflicted, Spyncer is now more coherent than he once was. In his bursts of lucidity he has spoken of a woman named Dula Machin, a high-ranking member of the Mason’s Guild. She once had some connection to Spyncer, Diethan knows. Mand thinks she may know more about the Swords of Ptolus than we realize — perhaps she knows their purpose?
Lord Zavere arrives then. When we explain that the Legacy was afraid of something in Castle Shard, he agrees. “I think the harr were working with Shilukar,” he says. Just a hunch, he adds, but it all makes sense — Spyncer had a harr’s help in forging the swords, Shilukar worked with chaositech, which afflicted Spyncer… It’s all very suspicious.
Lady Rill has been looking into facts about Nicodemus, the sibeccai in charge of the Perfect Ones who may be a threat to Castle Shard — but his threat will happen in the future, not now. Much like Lanasal, the fellow unbound in time who is supposed to contact me when the time is right. Perhaps the Hu-Charad, who often seem to have knowledge of the future, get their information from Lanasal, who presumably can see the future while outside of time.
A few weeks ago, Zavere says, a small castle appeared in the Rivergate District, fully formed in what had been a vacant lot. The rumor is that this castle comes from the future, but he doesn’t know why it’s here. Hmm… could this be tied to Lanasal? Or Nicodemus?
We have a little house gift for Zavere in thanks for his help and offer to do a favor for him in return for his recent kindness. He suggests that he might have an appropriate favor to tell us about at a party at Castle Shard next week.
Session LXVIII – 26th to 31st of Harvest
We do some training in our skills and I attempt to drum up more interest in our series of dungeoneering workshops at the store. I find a couple Guild members willing to speak, in exchange for store credit. I also promise to conduct a monster workshop. Meanwhile, we pay our respects to the relatives of Jenna and Keld, our fallen mercenary companions, and give them the balance of their pay.
We hear that Barbatos is doing as well as can be expected learning the game of Gold Dragonscales. Of course he has yet to win a game, but he is taking to it quickly. He tries to discuss the game with the Legacy, but he has to explain the concept of “game” to our friend in the book. The Legacy seems intrigued by the concept of “fun” as well and says he’ll ponder it.
Then on the 31st, we get all dressed up for the harvest festival party at Castle Shard. Birds made of light appear to circle the castle as we approach. Kadmus the butler announces us as we arrive and ushers us up to the second floor (where we’ve never been). This chamber has plates of appetizers just floating here and there, as though held by invisible servants. The birds of light illuminate the room, and when they open their mouths we can hear music. The place is full of colorful and famous people, including Aoska (one of the Twelve Commanders, who has a unicorn horn), a blue-skinned ogre-mage named Urlenius (who seems quite the storyteller), the head of House Dallimothan, the adventuress Sheva Callister, and some glowing priests.
Barbatos strikes up a conversation with the golden Lord Abbercombe, who has been delving in the Dungeon of late. He says he’s interested in studying the past: the days three centuries ago, before he was sort of turned to gold. Ironically, our materialistic wizard friend has found the one person at the party who scorns self-aggrandizement to speak with.
Calista introduces me to Aoska, which is very exciting. (My friend knows her from the commander’s frequent visits to the Pale Tower, where Calista lives.) Sadly, we are quickly interrupted by Hadrien Runihan, the vampire who has Linech’s demon-possessed watch. Hadrien belongs to the Covenant of Blood, the vampiric organization that works for the Balacazars and against whom I am protected by a magical vest. We leave with a few short words to get a glass of wine, only to run into Celdore Silverwood, the elf who directed us to Ar-Nampur some time ago.
Meanwhile, Diethan rubs shoulders with Doraedian Mythlord, the overseer of Iridithil’s Home — Mand Scheben introduces them. The elf seems quite taken by Lunes, Diethan’s wolf. He said he spent some time with the Circle of Green a few hundred years ago. Barbatos is eager to play him in Gold Dragonscales once he learns that Mythlord once played against Naelyn Blueflight. He is welcome to visit Iridithil’s Home for a game sometime.
Later in the evening, Zavere introduces us to a human woman with a mechanical eye named Niccala Golnath and a slight male elf named Buelan Silvertooth. These were the Shuul assassins who followed us north some weeks ago. After exchanging some nasty remarks they reveal that they have put their contract on us to rest. We are not worth it, apparently. We try to convey to them that we only fought and killed the Shuul sect that was directed by mind-reading tentacled creatures whom Doctor Feegus served. They are utterly disbelieving. Before they leave, they let slip that they are soon to move against the Inverted Pyramid.
Then Kadmus leads us down to a meeting with Moynath Autumnsong, an ultrathin elf smoking a long pipe. Zavere is there as well and explains that he wanted to make sure that we got a look at those two Shuul, so that they would have no further advantage over us. So that was nice of him, no matter how unpleasant they were.
Zavere then explains that a powerful arcanist elf in the city who calls himself the Shadow Eyes is no friend to Castle Shard. Divinations show that the Shadow Eyes is somehow connected with a printing house in the South Market. Blackstock Printing is run by an elf named Aelian Fardream. Zavere asks us to investigate this print shop. He thinks there must be more to it than meets the eye, if it is associated with the Shadow Eyes. Moynath thinks Aelian may be acquainted with Shadow Eyes in another guise. (Later Tharn remembers that the Shadow Eyes dwells in Ravenstroke below the city and may currently carry a litorian artifact called Father’s Warclub.)
We’re all surprised to see a gigantic spider made of light enter the room. Before we can react, all the birds made of light dive bomb it and tear it to bits. Floating in a globe of light where the spider was is Lady Rill. Not long afterard, Shilukar approaches to chat with us. He seems polite on the surface but really his words are full of innuendo. He insinuates that, despite the fact that we have dealt him a setback by getting the better of his harr associates in the Cordaris matter, he always has a backup plan. I hate all this doubletalk. Thank goodness Diethan is here to dance with.
Always seeking more info about Pythoness House, Barbatos strikes up a conversation with Aprata Nachov, the elf former chaos cultist who led us to the cache of weapons there. They discuss Vaiod the Slayer, an elf assassin from thousands of years ago who could travel anywhere to find a foe. Neither of them knows quite what lies beyond the door marked with Vaiod’s name in the vaults beneath Pythoness House. Aprata does know that Shilukar is behind breaking up some of the smaller chaos cults. She adds that these days, the mind flayers have the largest cache of chaositech. This is weird, as these creatures are allied with the Shuul, who are vulnerable to chaos weapons.
As we depart the party, we are left wondering what Shilukar really wants. Will we ever know?
