Second Ptolus Campaign Journal, #47
Still the 4th of Birth (or whatever day it actually is here 123 years in the future)
We decide to pick up some back issues of the Imperial Gazette and we capture some images of the city (and the Killraven wanted poster) in our image crystals to show people upon our return what a horror the city has become at the hands of the Shuul. All this wonderful technology… it just goes to show, you can have too much of a good thing.
We take our carriage through Oldtown toward Rivergate and the Castle of the Chosen Dusk, where Rill suggested that Lanasal might be able to help us. We notice some woman on the street who seems to be paying Calista an undue amount of attention. We’re surprised to note that she’s an elf! We’d heard that all the elves left Ptolus some years ago. It looks as though she’s trying to blend in, though. Calista manages to observe her surreptitiously: It’s Navae Tamelli, a powerful Knight of the Chord and an experienced bard (in our own time).
Calista approaches Navae and manages to convince her that she is not in fact dead but here in the flesh. Navae is shocked to see her, and us. “There will be war here soon,” she tells us.
“What sort of war?” asks Diethan. “It seems that the Shuul have things well in hand around here.”
“Well, we hope to do something about that,” Nivae says. She explains that the Empire has become untenable, and those who oppose the Shuul are almost ready to act.
She agrees that we would be wise to return to our time and stop Savane before he becomes the Vested of the Elder Brain. She thinks we could oppose the Covenant of Blood in our own time (she says that “my” joining up with the Shuul to slay the Covenant was the defining start of my new “career”). She tells us that Malkeen Balacazar (in our time) secretly survived an assassination attempt by his sister during the Days of Chaos (which we knew) and he knows a lot about vampires. If Malkeen could succeed his father as head of the Balacazar organization, that would put an end to the Covenant of Blood. Yet, that would merely exchange one evil for another. Nivae said we could get at Menon Balacazar if we wanted, too — four or five months from “now” (for us), around the end of Rain or beginning of Bloom, Menon made (will make — this is confusing) a terrible mistake, and Killraven with some of the Shuul were able to trap him in the Cloud Theater and wound him badly. He was there for some big performance, but no one was supposed to know he was there until Killraven found out. He narrowly escaped, and his organization began to fall apart after that. What did they do to him that night? Anyway, she says, perhaps we can use the information to help us in our efforts to stop this future from happening.
“It is difficult to imagine a worse evil than what Savane becomes,” Nivae says, “what he has done to the world.” She says that Aoska of the Malkuth is helping her plan a strike here in Ptolus, the Empire’s manufacturing center. (All the elves no live, as she does, in Dreta Phantas.) She also tells us how to find the Tomb of Nicodemus in our own time north of the city. It’s a well-guarded and -warded crypt, but in our time the fortress around it has not been built yet.
As she departs, she changes my and Archinemus’ appearance with a spell to match our papers, and we wish her farewell and good luck.
We stop at shop where Diethan buys a couple history books to take back with us and Barbatos purchases some daguerreotype erotic art for his castle at home. While they’re in there, I note that someone has built a scaffolding that goes up the Spire and into the clouds. Why would anyone tempt fate that way? I’m very agitated — I can’t wait to get out of here.
Finally we make it to Rivergate and see, to some relief, that it’s one of the least changed areas around the city. Most of the buildings look pretty much the same. When we arrive at the Citadel of the Chosen Dusk, it looks exactly the way it did some weeks ago when I went to take a look at it in my own time. The doors open to admit us, and we find ourselves in a foyer filled with archways that have different colored lights shooting through them. A large envelope rests on an oak table here in the foyer. It’s addressed to us! I pick it up, and it feels very old, like aging paper. It’s instructions for us from Lanasal, urging us to get to the top of the tower in seven minutes if we want to beat our Iron Angel pursuers (!!!)
As we head for the stairs, a figure appears: It’s a washed-out-looking translucent figure with batlike wings and a draconic face. This fellow, ghost, half-dragon… whatever he is, he seems to hate us for what we did to him (but of course, we don’t recognize him). His name’s Sartaris, and apparently he is not allowed to tell us what we supposedly did to him.
As we climb the stairs we see more archways coated in colorful light, beyond which we can make out strange scenes of unknown creatures. Could these all be portals to alien places? Or containment chambers for unusual creatures?
But before we can figure anything out or ask our surly ghost-host, we find a room at the top of the stairs that’s supposed to hold a code we need to “deactivate the fields,” whatever that means. We find the code carved on a large stone slab for us to find. The message is in Dwarvish runes. We try to decode the gibberish on the slab, to no avail. And time is ticking away — according to the message from Lanasal, we have only a couple minutes left before the Iron Angels come. Diethan and Barbatos find an illusion-covered cube with even more Dwarvish runes, but these are numbers. While Calista, Diethan, and Barbatos try to puzzle it out, we hear pursuers coming up the stairs. I try to barricade the door and Barbatos arcane locks it.
Our pursuers nevertheless make it through the stout iron door before we can figure out the code. Our foes are horrid spiky and armored bladelings. I manage to take out a couple of the invaders before they actually enter the room, and Archinemus shoots one as well. Then they’re in, and we’re still madly trying combinations of the code to take down the prismatic wall covering our escape route. Calista takes out more bladelings with a well-placed blast, but the Iron Angels behind them seem unaffected as they open fire at me. Their iron eyes and teeth show through their leathery masks, and they are draped in long grey coats. Just as I have taken about as much damage as I can handle, Diethan solves the puzzle of the code (seems it was a Mindforge puzzle from out of Dwarvenhearth!), and the prismatic wall disappears. We dash through the archway.
Beyond it is a chamber where we meet Sartaris again. He tells us that one portal before us is a “waiting room” of sorts. In the distance we hear the sounds of the Iron Angels firing their giant guns into the renewed prismatic wall, to no avail. Sartaris says we must enter the waiting area and picture the time we’re seeking. Before he leaves, we ask him if we can’t do something in our own time to alleviate his hatred of us. “Tell me that Runihan is going to betray me. When that turns out to be true, perhaps we can end more amicably.” Then he fades away.
We enter the waiting room and find that there are couches sized just right for all of us. As we seat ourselves on the couches, we all fall asleep. When we awaken in the room, we think a good deal of time must have passed, because our male friends all have beards now. We stand up and look at the doorway where we came in, and it’s clear now. No prismatic wall either. Things are quiet. “Helloooo??!” we shout out, but no one answers us. No half-dragon ghost, no mysterious Lanasal.
We make our way downstairs, hoping we have somehow made it to our own time. None of the colored energy doorways that we saw on the way up have color any more — all are black. Another letter is waiting for us, seemingly much more hastily written than the last. “It would be wise for you to leave here and not return until Benris hears the clarion call. Good luck,” it says. It doesn’t seem old, like the last one. Aha, that’s why the name Lanasal sounded familiar! He’s the one the old hermit at Ar-Nampur told me to wait for. Wish we could’ve met him now.
We exit into the Rivergate District, and it’s all wonderfully familiar. A newsboy sells us a copy of the Courier, and it’s dated today– TODAY, the fourth of Birth, the day we left.
As Diethan calls up our magic carriage, Barbatos tries to convince me to help him build some crazy daguerreotype machine to make his own broadsheet, the Midtown Partisan, the best in town, but I flatly refuse. No more experimenting with machines for me — that just leads down the road to my becoming a horrible tyrant and the opposite of everything I believe in.
Gladly we make our way to Castle Shard to deliver to Zavere the black pearl from the future Lady Rill. He seems about to go out (he has on armor and is carrying a shield), but when he takes the pearl and looks at it, he vanishes! Ten minutes later he reappears.
“Thank you,” he says. “I see you have weathered your strange ordeal in good health.” He looks at the pearl again. “I have many things to attend to now. Many things must change.”
We leave him to handle his laundry list (Rill-of-the-future did say she would provide him with the proof he needed to show that Shilukar was in league with Nicodemus to steal the Shard). “One of the Covenant of the Blood currently resides within the Dark Reliquary,” he notes to us as we depart. “It’s a place to start.”
Then, as we’re walking out the door, we hear Lord Zavere speak to Kadmus. “My plans have changed. Please pack a bag for me, I will have to go abroad for quite some time. But first, get me Shilukar…!”
Relieved, we head back to the shop. There’s Taeval, helping a customer, and Seanus — young and healthy — playing with a dagger. We’re so delighted to see him! We tell him what we saw in the future. Seanus is a little weirded out to see the image crystal of himself as an old man, but he’s pleased to eat some of Barbatos’ candy from the future.
We settle down to make some plans. Our heads are whirling so that it’s difficult to decide what our priorities are. Thinking about the timing of everything sort of puts it in perspective, though:
725 — Covenant of Blood attacks us
725 (late Rain) — Menon Balacazar almost dies at the Cloud Theater
726 — Savane becomes Vested of the Elder Brain
We also have to head north to Nicodemus’ crypt. And then there’s Tharn, whom we tried to rescue from the soul riders, only to learn that he is in Dwarvenhearth. But we don’t know how to get there, and now Charnoth has left the city with his resurrected tribemate Salam….
So, it would seem that we’d want to start with a visit to the Necropolis to get at one of the Covenant members. Before we head over to the Keepers of the Veil to talk more about vampires, we decide to have dinner at the Ghostly Minstrel. Ah, now it really feels like home.
After dinner, we visit the Siege Tower and speak to Phadian Gess. She was not aware of a Covenant vampire dwelling in the Dark Reliquary — they keep a pretty close watch on the place. She didn’t think that the Covenant would have replaced Ka-Ree as yet, as they are quite exclusive and wouldn’t let just any old vampire join. The Covenant, Phadian explains, centers around the horn of blood, an artifact that creates a magical pact between the vampires and the sahuagin. (Yeah, we met some of them back at the Balacazar fortress when we went after Linele.) If we were to destroy the horn, the pact would be dissolved. It might not necessarily weaken the vampires, though.
Phadian says that her order patrols the Dark Reliquary regularly and would be happy to lead us there in a couple days. (Before we go, we need to get supplies.)
Session XC – Still the 4th of Birth
So, Phadian tells us the names of all the Covenant vampires, including their leader, Medre Allaconda. Phadian asks how we know there’s a vampire in the Dark Reliquary. When we tell her Lord Zavere told us, she says, “Ah, well. He should know. After all, he is still married to her.” (!!!) She goes on to say that Menon Balacazar has made it clear to the Keepers of the Veil that if they were ever to go after Medre Allaconda (a close associate of his), he’d destroy everyone involved. Nevertheless, she says she’s coming with us.
5th of Birth
We spend the day getting supplies for our trip. Calista lines up some help from the Pale Tower in the form of Falstef, an angel who was rescued from the Dark Reliquary at the same time as she was. Wow! Meanwhile, Diethan sends a package to Kevris Killraven’s people that includes a wanted poster for Killraven from one hundred twenty-three years in the future, as well as a history book he got. His message says, “I have seen the future. If you want to know what it holds in store for you, find me at the Black Swan.”
6th of Birth
We arrive at the Siege Tower on a cold, blustery morning. Phadian awaits us with a dozen other knights, including Sir Othun (back from the dead, it seems!), Sir Mirach (a balding human with black hair who has been in charge of keeping the Dark Reliquary safe and free of undead), and Turnen Fassor (a human who wields a hammer).
Phadian announces that, in light of all we have done to bring down Ka-Ree and the remnants of the Forsaken cult, she is happy to make us all official Keepers of the Veil. I was a little worried that perhaps I wouldn’t be able to hold up my obligations for them with my job at the Delver’s Guild and our shop, but Sir Othun assures me that I won’t disappoint them. “With this amulet, keep the Veil,” intones Phadian as she gives each of us a golden necklace bearing the group’s symbol. It thrums silently with magical energy.
When we arrive at the forbidding Dark Reliquary, we see that symbols of Good gods have been painted and carved all over the front. “Why don’t you tear this place down?” asks Diethan. Sadly, Phadian replies, “It’s not within our power.”
As we step inside, it feels cold. Phadian suggests the younger knights stay back and that we start in the dungeons. We walk past foul throne rooms and chambers full of debris to a stairway down. We emerge in a wide hallway with rows of columns bearing horrible graven reliefs of devils and more. The aura of evil is palpable here. The place is oppressive!
Archinemus casts a spell that will lead us to Medre’s current lair. He takes the lead as we pass huge piles of stones on the floor and disgusting displays of demonic violence on the walls. Here and there we see sealed-off areas, doorways bricked up with rune-marked bricks. We end up in an old vrock lair. Archinemus’ spell leads us to a secret door here. Calista casts a spell to show us the presence of the nearest vampire, too. We’re getting close!
Suddenly two clouds of greenish mist appear near us down the hallway, and solidify into a male and female vampire (it seems they don’t have to sleep during the day). A blast of earth magic from Calista turns them back to mist and sends them to their coffins. As we are about to continue on the path toward Medre’s lair, an unseen foe nails half the group with a terrible fireball that drops Barbatos and outright kills Turnen (one of the Keepers). Meanwhile, Falstef enters combat with what appears to be a gigantic mutated troll. His fists glow with holy energy. Calista rushes in to hit foes with acid attacks while Phadian heals whom she can. Meanwhile, on my way to clash with the fireball slinger, I fall down a pit. How embarrassing! Not to mention painful.
Our vampire enemy is very adept with the fireballs, to the woe of our party. Phadian rushes up and blasts the monster to mist with a couple truly effective searing light spells. But this battle could go either way….
