#81 - Tying up a loose end

 The party opted to stay at the castle and track down the escaped Shield Guardian   The goal was to destroy the Lich's Phylactery, rather than allowing him to re-spawn and secret revenge in the future.

They battled there way through crypt layer beneath the castle, encountering numerous undead, including "Boneclaws" and a Mummy Lord.  They found that the Shield Guardian had stashed the strange living orb that he had taken from the Lich's tower within one of the vaults within the crypt.  It was guarded by Stone Golems.  

The party triumphed and destroyed the living orb.  The tortured face of Uzidolf could be seen screaming in the orb as it perished.  It was indeed the Phylactery.  

That problem averted.  Where to now?......

#78,79,80 The Root of the Evil

 {Sorry I have procrastinated on my blog posts.  This one catches up for 3 sessions}

#78

• The party arrived outside the castle and were denied entry by a group of Bullywug guards
• North of the castle site is a small village, occupied mostly by Bullywugs.  There is one building there that houses a group of captive humanoids, who spend their time as servants to Egilina in the castle.
• They speak to one of the servants, who works as a maid for the queen.  They also speak to an elder Bullywug, who is a bit of a historian.  From them they learn....
• The castle is occupied by "The Lord" and "The Lady",  The Lord being a 1000 year old wizard, and the Lady being the vampire queen Eglina.  The Wizard is Uzidalf, once court Wizard to Eglina in the ancient past.
• One the castle grounds there is a large reptile monster that the Bullywugs revere as a god.  Uzidalf has lured it here as a way to attract the army of Bullywug servants that keep the castle running.
• Egilina and Uzidalf are not really allies.  They merely tolerate each other.  They occupy different parts of the castle and have different goals.  The Lady likes to pretend that she is a "normal" queen, denying her Vampire tendencies.  She is conspiring with The Pal Moon thieves guild to gain political interest in Fort Aralan.  The Lord is totally consumed with the study of arcana, and cares little for what is going on around him.
• While exploring the area around the castle, the party are ambushed by an angry beholder, who has tracked them down to try to recover the Eye.
• The Party sends the maid they had talked to with a message, requesting an audience with Eglina.

#79

• Party is granted an audience with Eglina
• Inside the castle, they encounter a number of humanoids enduring a long slow transformation into inanimate objects, such as a giant clock, candelabra, and plates.
• They negotiate with the Queen, who expects them to pledge loyalty to her and Pale Moon in exchange for any help.  They refuse, and are only able to get a small bit of information from her.  She tells them that Uzidalf has an extensive library of arcane knowledge locked away in his tower, and that the secrets of the Eye can probably be found there.
• The party ascends to the top of the tower above Eglina's section of the tower, and finds a high narrow catwalk that crosses over to Uzidalf's tower.  They are confronted by a horde of summoned creatures that Uzidalf keeps are guards (alien creatures statted like Glabrezu, Chasme (x2), Barlgura (x2}, and Vrock{x2})

#80

• The party enters the tower and are greeted by servants of Uzidalf.  (2 Nothics, a Flesh Golem, a Red Slaad in disguise as a gnome, a number of suits of animated armor, 2 shield gaurdian)
• Uzidalf is a lich, as the party suspected.  He has an obsession with Constructs, and so is fascinated with the 2 construct members of the party.
• The party attempts to negotiate with the Lich for the lore that they seek.  He refuses and insists that they turn the Eye over to him.
• A large red living bulbous item floats in the open space in the middle of the towers spiral stairs.  The party assumes that this thing is the Lich's Phylactery.  
• A fight breaks out.  Perra banishes the Slaad.  Samm grapples the Lich, enabling Perra to grab the tome of lore that they are seeking from him.  
• The lich is killed by En-Gee's "Booming Blade"

The party recovers the following lore about the Eye... 

My brother Uletrix brought the artifact home with him.  His study of advanced arcane arts had led him to the ability to travel across the planes.  He returned from there with the Eye in his possession.

 

Egilina and I soon realized that the artifact was in fact in control of him.  He became destructive to us and to the kingdom.  So we endeavored to break its hold upon him.  When we began to do this, it spoke to me in my mind.  It warned me that efforts opposed to its will would cause retaliation in the form of curses. 

 

Each effort to dispel or destroy its magic brought some misfortune upon us.  A curse upon many staff members in the palace was the first.  Later a curse from the Eye caused the affliction that came to dominate my existence.  I cannot be sure, but I believe the spread of the swampland to the south onto the site of the old city is in fact a manifestation of a curse from the eye.

 

In order to rid my brother of the curse, the queen and I joined forces to kill him, obviously causing great pain to us both.  We succeeded and we locked it away, but its charm soon lured the queen herself to attune to it. 

 

To free her from the curse, I resorted to the most powerful dispel ritual that my studies could reveal.  She was free of it, but soon people in the castle began to fall ill.  And the illness was not confined to them, but quickly spread through their families and neighbors.  Some 2 years later, the kingdom was in shambles.  Our reptiloid rivals, who were less susceptible to the illness overran us.  A priest in the cult of Tiamat took the dormant Eye for his own.  He passed it to his red dragon patron, known as Skakoan.  After that point in time I lost track of the Eye.

 

To understand the power of the Eye, you must understand that it is pan-dimensional.  It consists of 3 parts, existing at the same time in different planes of existence.  The Lantern and its contents may be in one place, moving about the planes as fate would take it.  But connected to is a mystical cord not unlike the silver cord that connects some astral travelers to their homes. At the other end of this cord lies the true essence of the item.  What form it takes, I do not know.  The curses that protect the item emerge from that distant source.  I surmise that to destroy the item without suffering the wrath of these curses, one must go to that source.  The Eye is like the trunk of a mighty tree.  It cannot survive without its root. 

 

The tome also provides this information about the Eye (not revealed in-game, but the party can know this)

• This artifact is the preserved center eye of a long deceased Beholder named Igurse, floating within a modified bullseye lantern.   
• It emits a very powerful and long-ranged anti-magic field.  The cone emitted by the lantern has a range of a quarter-mile.  This anti-magic does not however, effect magic of a psionic nature.  

 Minor Properties

• Anyone attuned to the Eye has the ability to cast “Ray of Sickness” once.  This ability can be re-charged with a roll of 6 on d6.  If the role fails, the ability does not return until a full day has passed.
• Anyone attuned to the Eye has resistance to Necrotic damage
• Anyone attuned to the Eye has disadvantage on saves vs Poison
• While attuned to the Eye you emit a sour stench, noticeable from 10 feet away

Major Properties

• Anti-Magic field as described above
• Anyone attuned to the Eye has the ability to cast “Eye Bite” once.  This ability can be re-charged with a roll of 6 on d6.  If the role fails, the ability does not return until a full day has passed.
• You take 4d10 psychic damage when you become attuned to the item
• Potions within 10 feet of the Eye lose their potency, becoming worthless  (This occurs only when the Eye is NOT dormant.)

Connected by a silver thread

-          The item cannot be easily destroyed.  Any attempt to do so risks releasing a powerful curse.  In fact, the plague that created Terra Malatia centuries ago was the result of Egilina and Uzidalf attempting to destroy it, after the death of Uletrix.

-          The source of this protection for the item lies at its point of origin.  There is an unbreakable silver thread that connects the item to this point across the astral sea

#77 - Hit List

 From the prior session.  (Perra had rolled a successful knowledge check on a clue in the history that Merl has revealed from the Eye if Igurse.   The result of that roll was revealed at the beginning of this session.

Lore:  From the prior session on the history of the eye – “The 4^th owner only held the item very briefly.  It was a kobold.  A cleric.  Likely a Tiamat worshipped.  This owner died violently.

AND

The 5^th owner was a red dragon.  It held the item for a long time.  Maybe 300 years.”

 Perra draws a connection between this information and some history that he has learned.  Studying dragon-ology.  He knows that as demi-human civilization declined during the rise of the plaque, the Cult of Tiamat began to thrive in this part of the world.  It’s reign was brief, before it also succumbed to the plague.  There was a red dragon named “Skakoan” in this area who was the object of their worship.  The Dragon appears to have disappeared from history at that point.  No record of its death has been found.

    For this session
    The party set out for "The Kraken's Back", a tavern in the Ostwick neighborhood.  They knew from their scrying of Egilina in the prior session that a messenger was to deliver something to a man called Kairon at this location.   This is a high crime slum area.  They staked out the tavern for a long period of time.  Nothing interesting happened for several hours.

Nesnan Starkbit arrived, with a hobgoblin bodyguard.  Starkbit is a wealthy gnome.  Known to be the owner of a lot of property in Ostwick and a member of the city's guild council.  

The notice that the bartender give Starkbit instructions to go upstairs, and soon enough he returned carrying a parchment with an inscribed message.

The message was delivered on the roof top by the winged messenger the party had seen in their scry earlier.  

Two simultaneous events occurred.  

1) Mahlkeir confronted Starkbit, demanding to see the message.  Starkbit tried to run away.  Mahlkeir, John's character, and Chases character defeated the bodyguard and recovered the message.  Starkbit escaped.  (Note that John  and Chase were playing alternative character's in the session.)

2) Perra, Sam, and Tik caught up to departing messenger and captured him.

The message they recovered was a hit list, sent by Egilina to Starkbit.  "Kairon", they later learned, was Starkbit's code name in Pale Moon.

The message:

Dear Kairon,

I hope that this message finds you well. 

The time has come for us to make our presence known.  The best thing for us would be to have the head removed from the snake.  Actually 5 heads from 5 snakes to start.  I know that you will do the right thing.

I am not worried about Mr. S.  He is concerned with matters outside of the city these days, and he is rarely even here.  We should observe his shop, and make every attempt to lay low when he is present.  He has a gang of quite powerful followers.  But they are often just a distracted as him.  We need to be careful of them.  If need be, I will deal with them myself.

Let me know what you plan to do, and how I might provide more help..  It will be key that these events occur in quick succession, within a matter of days or weeks.  The creature that delivered this message is called Moroi.  He has a particular set of skills.  He is at your disposal, but I expect you will have to recruit others to aid in this mission.  Having visited my court, you know that I have allies that we can engage in this, at your discretion.  Don’t ask for Uzidalf though.  He is quite powerful of course, but bringing him into this could blow up in our faces. 

The list

Mr. Z in the Hall

Ms. R at the Tower

Mr. D at the Garrison

Any of the lords in Calumet

B from W.S.  If we can lure him out of his hole

And don’t leave out the wrinkly blue reptile 

 The messenger was a stirgoi named Moroi.  They returned the Si's shop with him.  As of the end of this session, he is imprisoned in the basement there.

They learned from Moroi the location of a portal that would take them to Egilina's castle.  They journeyed to this portal.  They had to fight Shambling Mounds and a Hydra to reach the teleport sigil.  They succeeded in doing so.  

The next session will begin at the gates to Egilina's castle.

#76 - History Revealed

 During his time in the Thinker's prison, Sihirbaz made contact with two allies who have joined the party.

"En-Gee" is an autognome.  A mechanical construct that resembles a gnome.  En-Gee is himself an artificer.  He was greatly weakened by living in the anti-magic zone of the prison, but he has recovered.  (This is Chase's new character.)

"T'k" is a Thri-Kreen Ranger.  (Brian's new character)

The Party re-assembles in the city of Fort Aralan.  From there the are summoned by Merl to an island laboratory he has built.  There is is studying the properties of the Eye of Igurze.  

He presents to them this history that he has determined from reading the aura of all the souls that have been attuned to the Eye in the past.  Each aura appears as a blotch of colored burn marks on the floor of the laboratory, in a large circle around an arcane sigil.  What he has learned.....

• The item is old.  1200 to 1500 years.  Despite its longevity, it has had relatively few owners.
• The first blotch on the canvas is very large.  This indicates someone who owned the item for a long time maybe 200 years.  It was a human wizard.  Very intelligent.  Perhaps someone who was a scholar of arcana.  The transition for the first blotch to the second indicates that the item chose a new owner, abandoning the first. 
• The second owner was a also a human wizard.  The blotches indicate that this person died violently while attuned to the item.
• The 3^rd owner is an aura that Merl has seen before.  The vampire Egilina.  This attuned was broken by a remove curse spell.
• The 4^th owner only held the item very briefly.  It was a kobold.  A cleric.  Likely a Tiamat worshipper.  This owner died violently.
• The 5^th owner was a red dragon.  It held the item for a long time.  Maybe 300 years.
• The 6^th owner was a Githyanki.  The period between the 6th and 9th owner is difficult for Merl to read.  The 7th and 8th owners are a mystery, as is the means by which ownership changed.
• The 9th owner was the elder brain.   For a long period of time.  300 years.   Attunement ends by the choice of the item.
• The 10th owner was the Thinker of Thoughts.   

Upon leaving the laboratory, the party was ambushed by a raiding party led by two Mind Flayers.  Their dominions were two trolls and 6 Quaggoths.

The party defeated the ambush, but Samm was nearly killed.  One of the Mind Flayers had grabbed him and stunned him with a tentacle attack.  En-Gee delivered a killing blow just in time to save him.

The other Mind Flayer teleported away.  One Quaggoth survivor was captured by the party.

The party returned to the city, and began research on Egilina, in an effort to find where she might be.  The thought is that she might be able to provide more lore about the creation of the Eye.  

Si and Merl are very concerned about the Eye.  For some reason, it is very resistant to effects that might destroy it.  It is capable of releasing catastrophic reactions to any such attempt.

The party finds a way to scry Egilina, using ancient perfume atomizers that were known to have been her possessions.  They spy her in a palace throne room, conversing with an odd looking creature.  She commands him to deliver a message to someone named Kairon, who can be found at The Kraken's Back in Fort Aralan.