Session 12 - Requiem for a Cannon

Saturday, May 5, 2007 from 5:00 PM to 10:15 PM.

As usual, we meet and have dinner together. This is the first time our friends get to be with our dog, Buster, in our home. We adopted it just a few days prior to this session. The food is varied and great, as one might expect from the excellent cooks that happen to be playing in campaign. I mostly remember the tortillas filled with Nutella and Strawberry slices we had for dessert.


Session 12 - Requiem for a Cannon

Still the 25th of Rain

Our heroes defeated Armenius Shiver and his alchemists. They know he was in league in Zalathar and some Shuul who performed experiments on them for some unknown reason. They also so know that somewhere beyond the galleries spreading from the Lodge they will find some sort of cannon Armenius wanted to protect at all costs. What is the purpose of this cannon? That's what they have to find out.

The girls loot the bodies and search the surrounding area before taking some well deserved rest. They do not know when their next stop would take place, and know that whoever is guarding the cannon ahead is already aware of their presence. With no element of surprise left to them, they might just as well prepare for the worst.

26th of Rain

The next day, the girls progress through the galleries below Old Town towards an unknown destination. They soon reach some sort of old catacombs and decide to explore them.

They walk through vault after vault giving shelter to ancient crypts and sarcophagi predating the modern city of Ptolus. There is no light source but for the sunrods they brought with them. The air is thick with the smell of dirt and rot. As they progress through the surrounding darkness, they can hear the faint sounds of air moving high above. There is no ceiling to be seen.

That's when the first attack comes. As it turns out, some sort of insect creatures, half-human, half-flies, use one of the vaults as a nest and breeding chamber. The combat itself lasts a split second. The dimwitted beasts are no match for our magic and bow-wielding team. They are routed, but the warning is clear enough: these crypts hold more secret dangers than the alchemists' alone, if they ever were to be found in such foul place.

This session's set-up using Dungeon Tiles and various props.

It just takes a few minutes to confirm the warning. As soon as they penetrate the main vault of the complex, one of the sarcophagi slides. A juicy, rotten corpse emerges from the tomb below. Its movements are erratic. It stands up awkwardly and stretches a hand towards them. Its mouth opens. Bloody bile flows onto its chest, and it whispers: "You... are... doomed..."

Simone knows when things are about to get worse, and things are definitely going to get worse in this instance. She sprints at the other side of the vault just as Oscar the Otyugh takes a hold of the animated corpse with its tongue. She reaches a gate opening on a dark corridor. The others run through the vault. Some trap is triggered. In the corridor beyond Simone, a wall section slides mechanically. The undead corpse escapes Oscar's grasp and rushes towards the corridor, soon followed by the Otyugh. It welcomes what it calls "the Master" with a high-pitched voice: "You are coming Master! You are free Master! Yes! Yes! Welcome the Master!"

A hulking form walks heavily through the opening revealed by the side panel. It is half organic, half mechanical. It is a collection of corpses stiched together and covered with a spiked, rusted, wet plating of some sort. The monster growls as it marches on. Its spikes impale the undead wretch at it cries its undying love for the Master. The creature then gets rid of Oscar, pushing the Otyugh aside as if it was lighter than a feather. Blood flows through the rusted orifices covering its plating. It wants flesh. It wants blood. It wants them.

Beket goes in contact with the creature but fumbles and crashes on its spikes. Simone becomes temporarily corporeal and stabs the thing in the back to no avail. Hennie concentrates and extends hear fingers towards their enemy. She shakes them as if they were boneless tentacles. There is a sudden tension in the air. Pseudopods of ethereal darkness from the ground up to the creature. They search for openings and flaws in its armor, insinuate themselves through it, search through the dead flesh and eat the rot from within. The plating cracks loudly. Pieces of the creature's armor crash down and send metallic echoes throughout the crypts. That's just the occasion Beket needed. She sends her fist through the creatures misshapen head with all the strength she can gather. She sends pieces of flesh and rotten pulp flying in all the directions. Some skull within explodes, and bits of brain matter cover Beket's face as the creature tries to keep its footing. She squeezes whatever her fingers can find. She takes a deep breath. She pulls... and pulls... to rip off some sort of enormous, twisted spine from the creature. She throws the thing across the room.

The creature stops dead in its tracks. Its unnatural life stolen from it along with the spine now shaking and wiggling on the cold floor of the vault, its amalgam of a body collapses in a sickening fleshy sound. It is followed by the silence of death.

And then more silence.

Until the girls manage to draw breath again.

Oscar the Otyugh and his friend, Beket.

Flakes of dust float in the air. A few drops fall irregularly from the ceiling of the vault. The girls look at each other. This one was close. Very close. But far from breaking their determination, it only strengthens it. The rest of the exploration is a succession of traps and hostile encounters with wizards and duergars working for the alchemists. The girls know that they are close from the cannon. They push forward relentlessly, triggering, disarming traps, defeating foe after foe... until they finally reach their goal.

There, in a large room that is nothing short of a gigantic shaft reaching up for the surface of Ptolus, a curious structure of basalt looking vaguely like a monstrous hand reaching for the heavens has been assembled by the alchemists. It is surrounded by building platforms, but seems to be operational since strange gems embedded here and there along its surface pulse with a threatening, impious red glow that seems to give life and energy to the machine. Wires connect the structure to the walls of the chamber. Somewhere high on the platforms, a group of Shuul alchemists is waiting for our heroes.

Bullets, arrows and magic missiles are exchanged. Beket climbs up the black structure to reach the Shuul. As more projectiles fly all around, Beket looses her footing. She falls.

Puppy Buster is waiting for the game to be over.

And that's when all hell breaks loose. Just as Beket falls, the markings covering her body suddenly hurt. Hurt very much. The runes are alive. The runes want to save her. They shine like the sun. Wings spread from her back. White feathers meet air. Beket finds a new life within.

The runes are alive. All of them. Hennie's body is now cloaked with flames that do not hurt her. Simone runes make her hear the slow pavan of the dead buried here, perceive their lost hopes, their wishes unfulfilled, their cries for help and revenge. Iliana's runes uncover new layers in her psyche, a sea of deep thoughts she can use and shape as blades to assault her opponents.

The tide turns in favor of the runebearers. The alchemists die, one after the other, paying the price of the treachery and price they put in all these experiments they performed on them. The whole necropolis is shaken by the awakening of the runes. None within can ignore the obvious threat the girls now represent. Blocks of masonry crash here and there. The whole place is about to collapse.

Some of the servants of Armenius Shiver rush to the room. They want to flee from the area. Their leader, Ozhûl, bargains for their lives and reveal what the girls want to know. "The alchemists? They are the Ogden Suhl, the servants of the flame, some of the Shuul who followed the harrow elf and his wretched master once they sucked all the technological secrets they could from the organization."

They ask about the wretched master Ozhûl mentioned. "He too is a harrow elf like Zalathar, but he is the Master. Zalathar was just the Apprentice. Nobody knows his name. Everyone knows he is the one who proposed the construction of the cannons."

The girls are stunned. "Cannons? You mean there are several of them?"

Ozhûl shakes his head. "Seven of them. They're all aimed at the sky. They are all using some Chaositech and some of the secrets of the Shuul. They can shoot straight up, straight to..."

"... the Vallis moon." Hennie understands suddenly. "They want to destroy the Vallis moon."

Ozhûl confirms. "Definitely. Everyone got in for the power that represents. Just a chunk of the moon crashing down on Ptolus... the magical potential is enormous! That's what the Ogden Suhl are after, but not the Master. The Master has another agenda in destroying the moon. He unearthed rituals and means to make the moon come back. Nobody knows what he really wants. He betrayed the Fallen and Forsaken, then the Shuul, all for some goal that has to do with the destruction of the moon and Goth Gulgamel."

Goth Gulgamel. The fortress built by the Skull King on the side of the Spire. One of the deadliest places of Praemal.

Simone and Yorick the familiar.

The girls let the information sink. Simone then asks "How can we get to Goth Gulgamel?"

Ozhûl looks at her like she suddenly became insane: "You sure?"

"Sure."

"Alright... it's your life." A block of stone crashes to the ground and breaks apart not far away. "Just beyond this chamber, you will find a Maw."

"A Maw?"

"A portal. It's alive. Looks like a maw, with teeth and everything. You should step through the Maw. You'll be on your way there."

The whole necropolis is falling apart. Ozhûl asks if he can leave. The girls reluctantly agree: time is running out.

They rush to the next chamber, and exactly like Ozhûl explained, there stands a sort of gate that strangely looks like a maw. They do not waste any time: one after the other, they jump through the gate. Beket, Hennie, Simone, Iliana, Hamrick, Oscar... they all get through. The sound of crashing rock fades behind them.

Nothing is left but silence.

XP Breakdown

Beket and Simone are Level 5. Hennie and Iliana are level 4.
- Combat vs. Insect people - CR 4
- Combat vs. ghoul and "master" - CR5
- Electric trap - CR 4
- Combat vs. Duergar and Wizard - CR5
- Combat vs. ex-Shuul agents - CR4
- Deal with Ozhûl - CR4
XP per PC for Session 12: 1,166 for level 5 PCs, 1,333 for Hennie, 666 for Iliana (player left early).
Total XP earned (Beket and Simone): 12,051 XP.
Total XP earned (Hennie): 11,243 XP.
Total XP earned (Iliana): 9,276 XP.
Hennie levels up.

DM's notes

Another good session. The fight with the ex-Shuul agents waiting for the PCs at the cannon took forever. The awakening of the runes was foreshadowed earlier in the campaign. I wanted it to take place gradually and this is the first of two big awakenings leading to the great confrontation with the bad guys in Goth Gulgamel and beyond.

This is at this point in time that I learned that two (and soon a third) of the players would not come back for the next school year (all the players are teachers in our community). I now realize I haven't much time to finish the campaign, or bring it to some satisfactory closure. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I realize I did not want to end the Praemal Tales, at least not definitely.

This is how this awakening of the runes, the Maw and the deal with Ozhûl came into play. These were ways to speed up the resolution of the game without really bringing in a deus ex machina. It was another opportunity in disguise, really.

It's important to precise that the pieces of the puzzle (the purpose of the cannons, the link with the Vallis moon and so on) were really put together by the players alone. Ozhûl provided some big chunks of information, but the deduction was really theirs. I think that was particularly important in this case. Having such a release of information happen any other way would have robbed the players of any sense of achievement. There was definitely one at the end of this session.

Session 11 - Answers at Last

Saturday, April 21, 2007 from 5:30 to 10:00 PM.

We gather around 5:30 PM and have our early dinner together. As you might guess, the meals are as varied and short lived as one might expect with a group of hungry role-players like ours. When we are done, we take some time to just relax and digest, as the picture below can testify. We resume the game around 6:30 PM.

I wasn't sure we were going to play!

Session 11 - Answers at Last

25th of Rain

The girls wake up at the Ghostly Minstrel and head back to the Lodge. All has already been done to protect Simone's body after her untimely demise when facing an ogre there, and they can now resume their exploration of the network of underground rooms and galleries beyond the customers' area.

Once there, the girls discover that the bodies of the ogres and yuan-ti they fought they day before weren't moved. They know the monsters employed by the Lodge have taken over the area after they discovered some members of the staff had been replaced by dopplegangers in league with the Alchemists they are trying to find, so they proceed with caution when searching them.

Indeed, they discover the bodies were booby-trapped sometime during the night. This means that either the monsters, the alchemists or both are now more than aware of the adventurers' presence and thought they might come back really soon.

After salvaging what they could of the monsters equipment, the girls go back to the cavern where Iliana originally spied on the ogre cook. Despite their caution, they trigger a trap carefully concealed on the cave's floor while walking in. Not far from them, they spot what looks like a metal bottle topped with a crystal sphere. When the trap is triggered, the crystal sphere falls from the bottle and rolls to the center of the sphere where it starts to spin and levitate.

The girls retreat just before the sphere explodes. Large amounts of chaotic protoplasm erupt from the grenade and quickly take on volume. It shapes itself into some massive... something with two necks, a large belly... scales, horns and claws... an hydra!

Our heroes spring into action. The two-headed creature spits flames at them, hovers around, tries to catch them, but the girls have learned their lesson: they coordinate their efforts to confuse the beast, divide, and finally conquer.

The Two-headed Polyhydra spraying fire on the PCs

When they are done with the creature, the girls explore the cave further. Beyond a stream of water flowing nearby, they find an otyugh chained to a wall. The poor beast calls the girls to its help. It is terrified of the rats swarming all around. It calls itself "Garbage", since that's what the employees called it. The girls will have have none of that: they decide to help the otyugh and baptize him "Oscar".

Oscar knows its way around, and knows that the monstrous employees of the Lodge were the ones who trapped the place while the girls were gone, with the help of the alchemists! The summoning grenade the girls just faced was one of the alchemists' gifts to their new allies, it seems. Certainly, Oscar doesn't explain all this in these terms, since it is not all that bright, but it has witnessed a lot due to the fact that both monstrous employees and alchemists were dismissing his presence as the one of mere item, nothing more than a walking garbage bin really.

Oscar wants to follow the girls and help them find the alchemists. It doesn't have vengeance in mind, however, but rather a particular affection for these adventurers, these two-legged people who were the first to acknowledge its presence as a sentient being worth talking to.

With Oscar's help, Simone's newfound ghost abilities and some rather disturbing ingenuity (tossing a corpse as some sort of test weight around the corners of corridors would have been very disturbing to watch by the faithful of the Church...), the girls easily disable the traps they meet along the way.

Oscar the Otyugh happily munching on a corpse...

Soon, the group reaches a locked door. Simone becomes incorporeal and looks through it: beyond, there is a forge, and a large pool of molten metal. There, two Azers, who look like dwarves with burning beards and hair, are talking together and are obviously bored, as if waiting for something to occur. A fire mephit pierces the pool's surface and taunts them, but they simply ignore the remarks of the smart outsider.

Simone reports to the group. When doing so, the girls hear some movement beyond the door: they have been heard! The door opens wide, and the mephit stands alone in the room, right on the pool of molten ore: "Welcome, my friends! Please come in! I'm afraid my masters weren't as brave as they thought, and they left me with the fortunate task of dealing with your disturbances."

Our heroes, including the girls, Oscar the Otyugh and Hamrick the Bold step forward. The mephit smiles. "Now, you have a choice before you: we either play for a while with charades and see where it leads us, or you die. Now." The girls can't believe their own ears: play charades, in a moment like this?!

"Yes, play charades with me. All you have to do is to sign... here" the imp precises as he produces a burning piece of parchment that is not consumes by the flames all around. The girls try to talk it over with the mephit, but the elemental imp is obviously short-tempered. He gives up his idea of a game of charades and attacks instead!

The mephit attacks after changing into a magma hurler!

The mephit changes into a creature made of magma. It attacks by throwing blocks of molten metal towards its opponents. Simone runs forward in a room the girls did not explore before while Hennie Nagel reads a scrolls to summon a fire elemental she found some time before. To her surprise, Hennie's incantation works perfectly, and instead of a minor elemental, this is a Aarsaklaash, Lord of the Everburning Citadel and Archon of the Molted Skies of Al'Rashan who answers the call! The monumental fire being reaches from beyond and talks to Hennie: "What is it that you want, mortal?"

"Command that imp to leave us alone!"
"This will be done, Sorceress."

The huge elemental turns to the mephit. "FEAR MY WRATH, MEPHIT! Leave the Scion of Nagel to her quest! Begone with you!"

The mephit opens its fiery mouth to protest, but doesn't dare. It sinks into the pool of molten metal once again.

Ahead, Simone reaches a room with stairs climbing up to another level of the Lodge. There, a duergar stands with a chain in his hands. Two bugbears slaves are each tied to one of the chain's extremities. When the duergar slaver sees Simone, he doesn't think twice and flees before she can say anything.

The girls and their companions, including Aarsaklaash, soon join her. They hear the sound of conversations upstairs. They climb up and rush into the room...

The group climbs up the stairs...

When the girls enter the room, they find an aged human scolding the duergar: "So, you choose to leave your post, is that it? You choose your death, my friend." With this, the aged, gaunt man dressed in a military fashion thrusts his blade into the dwarf.

There are many people around the old man. Two alchemists, a young woman armed with a rapier and a dagger, what looks like a wizard of Kemite descent, a Shuul renegade, an Ogre mage armed with twin becs de corbin made of the whitest of horns and a clockwork machine of humanoid shape.

The old man sends the wizard, the ogre mage and the clockwork away to guard "the cannon", as he puts it. He then welcomes the girls: "So, you made it this far? You should certainly be proud of yourselves. You survived the cryotubes, the cloning, the implementation of these runes you bear... you are my own personal miracles, since I, Armenius Shiver, is the one who provided the knowledge necessary to your survival."

The girls are stunned. Armenius Shiver... of House Shiver? Cloning? Are they clones themselves, or the ones of have been cloned?

"We can solve this with honor and dignity... or not!" He fires a dragon pistol on Beket! A tremendous fight ensues, during which Armenius is literally disintegrated to ash by the Elemental Lord who came to Hennie's help earlier, his daughter, the young woman armed with rapier and dagger, succumbs to the combined efforts of Simone and Iliana, all of this while the Shuul fires at the adventurers. The latter finally understand the tide has turned in favor of the runebearers: he leaves the scene before dying like all the others did seconds before.

Fight against the alchemists of Armenius Shiver

At the end of this combat, our heroes now have a lot more answers: Zalathar was in league with this Armenius Shiver and his alchemists. They not only experimented on them, but cloned them (if they are not the clones themselves, that is). There is some sort of "Cannon" ahead which has to be protected at all costs. A cannon for what? That's what our heroes will soon find out...

XP Breakdown
All characters are Level 4.
- Fight against the Pyrohydra - CR 3 (5 characters involved)
- Second trap disabled with Oscar's help - CR4
- Third trap (poison arrows triggered by Beket by tossing a corpse) - CR2
- Duergar Slaver and Bugbears - CR5
- Armenius Shiver and company - CR7
XP per PC for Session 11: 1,410.
Total XP earned (Beket and Simone): 10,885 XP.
Total XP earned (Hennie): 9,910 XP.
Total XP earned (Iliana): 8,610 XP.
Beket and Simone level up.

DM's notes

Good game session where I had the occasion to test a few of my own designs, like the Summoning Grenade, and where the players had a variety of threats and NPC interactions.

Oscar was definitely a highlight of the game session. I played him like a muppet, with a deep voice, repeating his voice, a bit naive and very (overly) friendly: it was a complete success. The encounter with the mephit could have been much better, but I didn't have the time nor the inspiration to get on with it. I was desperate to get to the finale.

All around, a good session really. I adjusted my prep work on the spot to feel the need of the moment, and nothing went really bad. Prep time is important, but it shouldn't stop a DM from improvising on the spot if it makes more sense at the moment!

Session 8 - Saved by the Shard

Sunday, March 04, 2007 from 2:00 PM to 5:30 PM

When this session occurs, we all know we haven't been playing for a while and will certainly need to get back on track, so to speak. Professional and personal agendas have been getting in the way lately.

When we gather, we first start by enjoying a few snacks together, as always. This is part of our ritual and allows me, at least, to remember the real reason we are here : not to level-up characters, not to role-play, but primarily to enjoy the presence of each other while enjoying a good game. It's all to easy to forget the real purpose of a role-playing game and believe it's worth resides solely in its "artistic value", its coolness, or whatever else which could make us forget this is a social event first and foremost.

After such a long break in our gaming, the blog write-ups I printed out from the Praemal Tales prove useful : one of the players checked out this site before coming over while the others review the events of the last sessions during our meal. We discuss a moment and then get down to the business, as they say.

Session 8 - Saved by the Shard

Still the 9th of Rain

After leaving the Dark Market and getting back to the surface on Delver's Square, Beket, Hennie and Simone walk directly to the Onyx Spider in Midtown. They know from the slavers doing business under the streets of Ptolus that the alchemists in league with Zalathar, the harrow elf who performed foul experiments on the girls, have something to do with a location known as "The Lodge".

The Lodge, according to their contact, is some kind of "tourist resort" deep underground for the rich and noble who would like to know the excitement of Delving without the risks naturally coming with it. Any rich bourgeois of Ptolus can then become an adventurer for a week-end or more, depending on the depths of his purse, of course.

When the girls asked where they could find more information about the Lodge, they were told to go to Malkeen Balacazar at the Onyx Spider, no less ! Even our new delvers know the reputation of the Balacazars, the most influential criminal family in town.

The Onyx Spider proves to be the gloomy place the girls expected to see when they first heard the name : it is a shady but vast tavern with levitating candles making for a dim light inside. Amidst the candles floating around, a gigantic spider moves slowly within a crystal sphere flying right in the middle of the main room.

Our heroes walk to the bar and ask for Malkeen Balacazar. They are then walked to one of the booths available for the customers in need of some privacy. The man lifts the curtains cutting the people within the booth from the rest of the tavern. There, a man sits at a large table. He is young, with dark air, a tatoo of a black sun covering his right eye. Behind him, a tall and stern figure with such a stance and such a void in his eyes they do not leave any doubt as to the darkness creeping within his soul, if he has one.

The young man was just talking to a dward who also sat at the table. When the girls come in, he leaves in a hurry, always facing the young man, repeating he will have the money... soon. Very soon.

The young man presents himself as Malkeen Balacazar himself. He asks the adventurers what kind of business they'd like to discuss. He doesn't know them and seems extremely suspicious. They explain how they came to know about the Lodge and how there seems to be a connection between its staff and the alchemists who performed experiments on them. Malkeen seems very interested by what they are telling him. He pauses a moment before answering.

This is when Beket starts to act really strangely. First, these were just remarks that seemed "off", somehow. Answers that didn't make much sense, changes in her behavior that didn't seem motivated by anything happening to them. But now, Beket is actually acting up in front of Malkeen Balacazar. She seems to be completely off the hook, going as far as to insult their host directly !

Malkeen asks her if she's doing drugs. Beket avoids the question and gets on a rant that makes no sense to anyone in the room. She leaves the table.

Hennie and Simone make a mental note to find out what's up with Beket as soon as possible, but they have to get answers from Malkeen. He explains the Lodge is a new venture for the Balacazar. They own the Lodge. After all, that not because you're known as a member of a crime family that all your activities have to necessarily be illegal, he adds.

He knows something has been going wrong with the Lodge lately. The Balacazars suspect its staff may be forgetting where its loyalties lie. He proposes something to the adventurers : the staff of the Lodge knows Malkeen and his men, but he would like to know what exactly is going on down there. Maybe the girls could go there and investigate for him too ? He explains that barging in wouldn't do them any good, as for presenting themselves as agents of the Balacazar. Going there as customers, however, could allow them to spot some interesting things and learn more about the connection between the Lodge and the alchemists, since not all customers are expected to make it out alive...

Malkeen Balacazar also explains there are two main areas to the Lodge. The first is the Lodge itself, with its resort, room and tavern for the customers. The second isn't supposed to be known from the customers : it is were the "creatures" of the phony "dungeons" the customers visit during they stay live. Malkeen would pay for their services, and even though he does not indicate any particular amount for rewards, his offer is very tempting.

The girls accept his offer. Malkeen explains how to get in touch with the staff of the Lodge : they can go to the Black Ladder in Old Town. It is a fine restaurant for exotic foods and beverages that also serves as the entrance to the Lodge. There, they could reserve a place as customers of the Lodge. It would cost them 100 Imperials for the reservation, with further expenses for their stay and "adventures" down there.

Everything has been said. The girls leave Malkeen Balacazar.

Beket still doesn't seem to be quite herself, so Hennie and Simone decide to take her back to the Temple of the Watcher of the Sky. There, they meet Helmut Itlestein who was lecturing Ayla, Beket's aunt. As soon as they reach the Observatory room, Helmut tries to persuade them to leave Beket at the Temple so he can watch over her. Ayla gets close to the girls and whispers to them : "This is not a good idea... please... take Beket with you. Don't leave her here..."

The girls then make their way out with Beket while Helmut Itlestein protests as much as he possibly can. There is something wrong with him : he seems way too concerned about the girls and the marks they have on their bodies. Could he have something to do with the alchemists themselves ? That doesn't seem possible, and yet, many impossible things have been popping up in the girls lives of late.

The adventurers go to Hennie's appartment. Whatever's going on with Beket, she must not be left alone. That much is obvious.

Sometime during the night, someone knocks at the door. When Hennie opens, the gaunt man with grey eyes wearing a black cloak, leather pants and a fine rapier presents himself as Wolfran Arkûn. He says he is one of the Imperial Eyes and is sent by the Commissar himself to watch over them and understand what is exactly going on with the Runebearers in town.

He explains his men have been hearing about the girls, what happened to them and the kinds of questions they were asking around, but before they can discuss any further Wolfran spots Beket. He realizes immediately something not right is going on with her. He shows the order signed by the Commissar and insists that he will stay during the night to watch over Beket himself, but the girls will have none of that. They start to argue with the Imperial Eye who visibly doesn't take it very well. He leaves then, saying he will come back with an order for their arrest, since they will not cooperate !

Hennie and Simone then try to talk to Beket to make her understand the gravity of the situation. They might are in trouble, and she has to pull herself back together.

When Wolfran comes back, he indeed has an order for their arrests and the company of several mages of the Goldshield to prove it. The girls try to protest, and as they try to resist, they are subjected to a whole flurry of spells ! In a matter of seconds, the scene fades for them in darkness...


10th of Rain

When they reopen their eyes, they are in a dark room with complete silence but for the sound of water drops falling from the ceiling. Hennie creates a magical light, but it seems spells cannot be cast here, as her attempt fails miserably. She has a mechanical torch with her and uses it : they are in some sort of cave. There is a single door here. It is made of strong iron with a small trap door at eye level to allow people to see from one side to the other. The trap door itself is covered with iron bars. No doubt : they have been magically teleported in the Prison of Ptolus !

Despite some attempts to escape from this cell, the adventurers quickly realize they are definitely trapped. Hennie makes a connection with a wandering rat and makes a familiar out of him. He is renamed "Yorick" and explores the surrounding areas for them. All around, more and more cells. Somewhere nearby, a great pit opening on a multitude of corridors such as the one the door of their cell is leading to. All these corridors are accessible through mechanical elevators moving between the levels of the pit.

After waiting there for several hours, someone comes to visit them. When the door opens, they could not have guessed who was about to save the day : their "friend" of several adventures, Hamrick, the halfling they first met when they escaped from Zalathar's lair !

Hamrick explains he's been coming here on behalf of the Lord and Lady of Castle Shard who have agreed to pay for their release. Beket, Hennie and Simone never met them but are sure glad they can get out before Wolfran Arkûn comes back to taunt them.

They visit the underground Prison of Ptolus as they walk with Hamrick and the guards : most corridors share an uncanny resemblance to the upper level of Zalathar's lair indeed, which would mean the upper section of the Prison at least would date back to the time of Ghul, the Skull King who terrified the region and surrounding lands centuries before them.

The upper level of the Prison opens on the bay of Ptolus. There, a small skiff is waiting for them. After paddling away from the cliff and reaching the docks, Hamrick orders a carriage to take them directly to Castle Shard in the Nobles' Quarter. Far away to the East, the sun rises in a sky of mingled crimson and gold.

Castle Shard, as wonderfully illustrated by The Forge.

Castle Shard truly is a sight to behold. Everything about it seems eerie, mysterious and magical. As the adventurers walk on the bridge that leads to its entrance with Hamrick before them, they cannot but wonder what exactly Lord Zavere and Lady Rill may have to do with the business at hand. They are well known and respected by the citizens of Ptolus, and Castle Shard certainly is one of the attention-magnets of the city, which seems to indicate the Runebearers' disappearances and what happened to the adventurers themselves really is the tip of a much larger and sinister iceberg waiting for them to be revealed to the world.

They meet at the door with the majordomo, Kadmus, who strangely seems to know the girls by their names. He keeps referring to Hennie as "Miss Nagel", and her two friends are thus made aware of her origins. She has to explain to them why she did not reveal her true identity, how she was determined to make it on her own, without the help of her family which had fallen on hard times and thus had much better things to do than solve Hennie's problem and support her financially.

Beket is still acting up strange. This too would have to be explained sooner or later. Hennie and Simone suspect this has to do with the tattoos all three bear on their skins but if so, why would these strange compartmental effects just affect Beket and not her companions ? More questions, still more questions needing answers.

The girls then meet for the first time Lady Rill and Lord Zavere. They are very gracious to them but soon enough they notice something wrong is going on with Beket. It is Lady Rill who comes to her and simply asks her : "Since when ?"

Beket does not answer. She looks at the floor sheepishly.

Lady Rill adds : "You know this is not for me to tell them. If you want help, you need to tell them."

Beket runs away in shame. What is going on ?

Shortly after, as Hennie talks to Zavere, Beket shows up in the room again. Simone walks to her and asks her what her problem is. To her amazement, instead of answering her question, Beket proposes some pollen to her, a drug she's been using for some time. Here is the answer to her strange behavior !

As soon as the Lord and Lady of Castle Shard realize what Beket is doing, it is Rill who intervenes. Zavere runs to her and knocks her out. Rill explains to Hennie and Simone that she cannot tell them what Beket has been doing with herself : this is not her responsability. She and Zavere have a duty to help those in distress within the Castle's boundaries, however. She then tells them the Shard will offer them asylum while Beket recuperates. During the next few days, Zavere will try to gather more information for them. When they are ready, they will be able to face the threat of the alchemists by then.

A long discussion between Rill, Zavere and the girls follows during which the Lord and Lady of the Castle explain how the alchemists tried to get magical knowledge and various advantages by associating themselves with the Chaos Cults and the Shuul, and how they thus tried to play both sides against each other to cover their own tracks, gather more Runebearers they use in their experiments, and how this may have to do with the fabled "Night of Dissolution" and the Vallis Moon. But why would a bunch of alchemists want to trigger the Dissolution after clearly backstabbing the Chaos Cults ? What is there to gain for them, in the end ? This is still a mystery.

When Beket feels better, the girls will certainly try to find out while visiting the Black Ladder and the Lodge.

XP Breakdown
All characters are Level 3.
- Dealing with Malkeen Balacazar and getting out of the Onyx Spider alive – CR3
- XP Bonus for good role-playing – 150 XP/PC
XP per PC for Session 8: 450 (3 PCs).
Total XP earned (Beket and Simone): 5,875 XP.
Total XP earned (Hennie): 4,900 XP.

DM's notes

This was a game session that did not go in the direction I expected, and it was great ! That's the kind of thing I love as a DM : I hate it when the players just follow the line. I feel like the charactes and decors are not really alive when this happens for too long or with too much regularity.

For this session, I expected the PCs to go from the Dark Market to the Onyx Spider, then from the Spider to the Black Ladder, then from the Ladder to the Lodge. Simple enough. One main thing happened to change this : Nerissa, Beket's player, came up with the idea that Beket was doing drugs and role-played her character as such. The fact then that the Imperial Eyes showed up at the wrong moment and that Hennie Nagel started to argue with them triggered their bried incarceration in the Prison of Ptolus and the reappearance of Hamrick leading to the meeting with the Lord and Lady of Castle Shard.

I'm glad the PCs got to meet such iconic characters of the city. This just came up in the game, without being prepared whatsoever. This made the succession of events feel quite real not only to the players but to myself as well. I love it when I can feel a situation as spontaneous and thus more genuine.