- Phoebe Lacrosse. Human Barbarian from Pugtown – Andrew
- Griza Muso. Human Thief from Lakeside – Jeff
- Balder Dash. Gnome Wizard from Toluene - Jamie
- Bush Tucker. Human Rogue from Spite Anti - Darryl
- Red Feuersturm. Human Temple Fighter of Hob from Toluene - Chris
- MARMALADING: Malcom Gandhi. Gnome Thief from Brian – Kevin
- Napolean Twig. Elf Priest of Caribou Gorn from Pugtown - Ian
- Joe Manco. Human Fighter from Toluene – Shane
- Galena Alfdis. Elf Priestess of Vingt et Un from Palantir - Steven
by Jeff
"Let's rest up first" Galena had suggested.
The party was standing around the entrance to the Spite Battle graveyard, in the dead of night, contemplating whether to track Simeon Massimo, now confirmed as an actual vampire, into the heart of the graveyard. All the fighters had been injured in their recent battle with the skeletal wolves, and all the magic users were extremely depleted in terms of magic points. Napolean did have a small reserve, on account of his marmalading state through the recent excitement below the Massimo Island in Kilgith Cove, but this was unlikely to even partially support a battle with undead creatures in a graveyard at night!
It was agreed that rest would be the better part of valour.
"Off to the Jolly Jester then?" suggested Phoebe.
"Maybe not" countered Bush, "I think we should try a new inn"
Bush had recalled that the Assassin's Guild had sent a few "visitors" to find him at the Jolly Jester in order to recover the magic ring that Bush had bullied from the dwarf Harlequin.
But the Jolly Jester with its friendly innkeeper Lyra Silvermoon won the day, so we made our way there. After pounding on the door for some minutes (it was the early hours after all) the sleepy night manager informed us that they had no rooms available. So, we continued on to the Cheeky Chalice, which was just around the corner and offered equivalent comfort, and more anonymity. And they had rooms for us. Phoebe handed over a small bag of coins, which didn't hurt the quest for accommodation!
Napolean used his magic points by curing Joe and Phoebe of their Major Wounds, inflicted by the nasty skeletal wolves earlier in the night, in addition to another Cure for Phoebe. Then the magic users took their recharge grapes/wafers and retired for twelve hours of recovery. Griza also used the twelve hours to get a decent rest and allow his body some natural healing, while Bush and Tabitha shared the watch duties. Since it was the early hours of the morning already, the twelve-hour resting period would end in the afternoon tomorrow, at which point we would make decisions regarding the next steps in chasing down Simeon the vampire.
After waking from their recharge slumber, the magic users plied the party with Cures, depleting their magic points yet again. But everyone was feeling much healthier! It was concluded that a search of the graveyard during the remainder of the afternoon, followed by another rest/recovery period would allow appropriate preparation for a graveyard assault the following morning. Taking the "locate object compass" we returned to the graveyard for a proper reconnoitre. Tabitha the elf said she would join us later after running a few errands and collecting some equipment from her family home.
 |
| The black stone Massimo mausoleum |
The compass led us to the centre of the graveyard and a raised stone mausoleum. Constructed of black obsidian, fours steps led up the mausoleum floor where a black stone throne sat.
Four stone columns and the back wall supported a stone roof, and each of the capitals of the columns were shaped like bats with oversized curled wings and a central face.
The Massimo name was spelled out in black obsidian across the front lintel, and strange figures and symbols were carved into the throne.
The locate compass needle spun slowly around and around, pointing nowhere, and everywhere!
"Definitely the place then" confirmed Balder.
Balder couldn't see any glows of magic from anywhere on the mausoleum, but decided to cast a Detect magic spell, just in case.
"Nothing" Balder declared, "Oh wait, I hear something"
"JOIN ME" a voice boomed into Balder's head.
"COME TO ME. JOIN ME" he heard.
"ACCEPT THE POWER. JOIN ME"
"Do you hear that?" Balder exclaimed, looking about nervously and backing away from the mausoleum.
"It must be Simeon speaking to me directly" Balder declared, "Only ... it's a female voice. It can't be Simeon"
"Let's get out of here" Balder suddenly instructed, already walking away towards the city.
"YOU HAVE FOUND ME. DON'T GO. JOIN ME"
"I'm not joining nothing" Balder muttered, starting to jog.
Having not heard anything at all apart from Balder's muttering, the rest of the party looked at each other in confusion and followed Balder out of the graveyard.
"I'm off to grab some nice sharp stake thingies" Bush said and wandered off in another direction. As the rest of the party followed Balder back towards the Cheeky Chalice, Bush noticed a cloaked figure slip out from an ally and follow him down the street. Muttering to himself, Bush took some countersurveillance measures and soon found himself alone. He proceeded with his wooden stake procurement activities and was safely back at the Chalice before night.
More rest with hit point and spell point recovery overnight.
But, during the night, both Joe and Bush had vivid dreams of bats swooping and swirling through the dark outside their windows. Joe rolled over and stayed asleep, but Bush, putting more weight to dreams and portents, jumped up from the bed and carefully peeked out through the curtains.
A small black bat was sitting on the windowsill, peering straight back at him!
"CRIKEY" Bush yelled, leaping back into the centre of the room and letting the curtain swing closed.
Quickly waking Griza and Joe, Bush explained that they were under attack.
"Look" he said, pulling back the curtain.
The solitary bat, only about 15cm high, blinked its small beady eyes, and stared back at Bush.
"Maybe they are common around here?" suggested Griza.
"No way mate", replied Bush, "That there is an undead spy"
"It is a bit suspicious" noted Joe, "I was just dreaming about a colony of bats hanging around here"
"Crikey" responded Bush, "I was dreaming the very same thing. Definitely spies I tell ya"
The three tough party members cautiously watched the bat for about five minutes, and then it fluttered up and away into the night.
"Yikes!" squealed Bush, drawing his sword, "Oh wait, it's going"
Bush peered out through the window, looking all around, then carefully closed the curtain ensuring that there were no openings that anything could look through. Then they all went back into bed and eventually went back to sleep.
Sometime later during the night, Joe again had a similar vivid dream of bats swooping and swirling through the dark outside their window. He slipped out of bed and padded silently across to the window. Pulling back the curtain with a sudden jerk, Joe found three very large bats sitting outside on the sill, looking straight at him. These ones were many times the size of the previous little guy, and they were ugly.
When I say ugly, I don't mean rough looking, I mean hideous!
[Bonus points if you get the side reference there]
Stepping back with a yell, Joe peered back at the bats curiously.
Bush woke and quickly gathered up his bow and magic arrows.
"Get them" Bush yelled, "Open the window"
"Don't open the freaking window!" Joe yelled back.
Joe strode forward and violently closed the curtains.
"Crikey" yelled Bush, "Let's get them."
"NO" commanded Joe, "They can't get in. I'm sure they will be gone by morning"
They were gone by morning; although Bush wondered where exactly they had gone.
The tracking compass hadn't indicated any movement in the location of Simeon, so after a hasty breakfast, they party, with Bush's bag of wooden stakes, made their way to the graveyard and gathered around the Massimo mausoleum, ready for adventure.
They poked and prodded and searched all through the inside of the mausoleum, all round the outside of the mausoleum, and all around the adjacent graves and tombs. Nothing.
"This isn't helping" noted Phoebe, "Let's check for the Evil"
Balder cast his Detect Evil spell and suddenly lit up like REAL herself. The solid white glow radiating from Balder's body didn't cast its light as expected though, it looked to be sucked up by the black obsidian stone of the mausoleum itself.
[Jamie fumbled his spell casting roll, rolling a 20, and triggering a random magical effect. Spending 1 Luck point and rolling 1 dice, the random effect was to glow life a light for 10 minutes. Spending more luck would allow for more rolls, selecting the preferred one. Not spending any Luck would require 2 rolls, with the DM selecting the worst effect for the fumble. Always better to spend some Luck in these situations]
"Search again" Phoebe instructed.'
This time a small hidden lever was located within the decorations at the back of the stone throne on the raised mausoleum floor. Griza conducted a thorough check for traps and declared it safe. A small 1m square panel swung open to reveal a narrow shaft dropping down into darkness. A very unnatural darkness in fact. The thick inky black Darkness that is the opposite of Light.
"Oh" squealed Galena, "I'm sensing undead from down there"
"What a surprise" mumbled Bush.
"Seems OK to me" stated Balder, "In fact, it seems quite pleasant"
"JOIN ME" whispered a woman's voice directly into Balder's head.
"Let's head down then" suggested Balder.
"It's a bit Dark" said Griza, seeing nothing at all through his magical spectacles.
Balder cast a Continual Light spell, which seemed to cancel the Darkness in the shaft, and suddenly Griza could make out a stone chute that dropped away steeply. A faint reflective glimmer from a floor some meters below could be made out at the bottom of the chute.
"After you" Griza offered, gesturing Galena forward.
With Galena leading, (the best against undead in the party, except maybe Balder who everyone else was starting to be a little cautious of) the party slid down the chute and onto the black obsidian stone landing below. A black obsidian stairwell curved down in a tight spiral from the landing.
"They sure do love their black," noted Bush.
"No traps on the stairs" reported Griza.
The stairs spiralled down for some meters and arrived at a second black obsidian landing, about five meters long, before spiralling down again.
"I'm sensing undead more strongly here" noted Galena from the front, "In fact, from the wall here."
After a brief search, a secret door was discovered on the right wall of the landing. Griza checked it for traps and carefully opened it after finding nothing. Galena had her Turn Undead ability on standby, and the spell casters and fighters crowded around the opening, ready for anything.
There was nothing. A short passage opened into a larger room containing two raised stone daises, black obsidian of course. Symbols of CANKER adorned the walls and floor of the room, candles burnt with flickering red flames on shelves around the walls, and incense sticks smoldered in garish holders at the four corners of each dais. A smallish coffin also rested on each dais.
 |
| The Massimo twin vampires |
"Crikey" Bush yelled, leaping back, "Eet's just a kid"
But the kid didn't move, so Bush took a breath and stepped forward again.
He staked it through the heart. The body twitched once and stilled. The eyes slowly closed.
After a few minutes, the body seemed to deflate, the robes collapsing to the bottom of the coffin.
A glowing red broach was left amongst a pile of dust within the crumpled robes.
"Easy" gloated Bush and repeated the process with the other coffin.
A young girl this time, otherwise exactly the same.
"I recognise them from those painting in the Tower" noted Phoebe.
"Crikey Balder, are you crying mate? asked Bush.
Balder's eyes were red, and possibly puffy. Definitely red though.
"No" stated Balder firmly, "What do you mean?"
Phoebe pulled out her facial mirror and held it up to Balder's face.
"See" Phoebe responded, "Red, like you're upset"
"What's this" queried Balder, "I can't see anything in this mirror"
Sure enough, Balder wasn't visible in the mirror. He had no reflection at all.
"Crikey" whispered Bush, "Even I know what that means!"
"It doesn't mean anything" grumped Balder, "This is a magical place, that's all."
"Let's continue down" suggested Joe.
"YOU ARE HERE. JOIN ME" the voice whispered into Balder's head.
Balder didn't pass on this tidbit of information!
Arriving at another straight landing in the spiral stair, a search was carried out for secret doors. Sure enough, one was located in the right-hand wall of the landing. Very similar in configuration to the location up on the previous landing.
"No undead sense here though" Galena reported.
Opening up the secret door revealed another short passageway to a room beyond.
Similar to the previous room there were many symbols of Canker, candles, and incense.
But only one raised dais with one coffin. And two finely carved statues of female warriors!
"Magic here" confirmed Balder after casting his Detect magic spell, "Those statues, the room in general, and something in the coffin there".
Balder stepped boldly into the room.
"JOIN ME" whispered the voice in his mind.
The statues didn't animate, the coffin didn't open, and nothing leapt out from the darkness.
But Balder couldn't open the coffin, it was too heavy for his little gnome muscles!
Phoebe stepped boldly into the room.
The statues didn't animate, the coffin didn't open, and nothing leapt out from the darkness.
 |
| A knife and a red broach sat in the coffin |
No bodies but inside rested a small box containing a red broach and a long, sharp looking, knife.
Gathering these few items up, using a thick leather cloth to avoid actual touch, Phoebe brought them out of the room and back to the stair landing.
Galena cast a Detect Evil and reported that only the Canker symbols in the room, and Balder, were evil.
"Give us a look at the knife then" suggests Bush, "I ain't got me a magic weapon yet"
Unwrapping the items, Phoebe held them out to Bush.
Bush grabbed the knife and gives it a few swings through the air.
A pulse of power surged up from the handle of the knife and into Bush.
The blade twitched in Bush's hand, almost of its own accord, and Bush feels a strong desire to swing the blade towards Balder, cutting through the skin of his face, and paring it off. With an effort of will, Bush resists that desire.
"Crikey" states Bush, "That's a lovely knife"
"Joe" continued Bush, "You may as well take my bow and the magic arrows, I'll use this"
A quick search of the room reveals no additional secrets or items of interest, and we continue to the end of the landing and down the stairs.
A description of the subsequent encounters with skeletal warries, shadows, and Simeon Massimo himself will follow in part 2 of this post.
.... to be continued ....
The spells of cooking drifted down the stairs from the room above. But nice smells this time.
"Another undead creature cooking?" wondered Phoebe.
"Smells too good" noted Bush, "Definitely a Sheila up there"
Assuming that our element of surprise had been lost by the previous battle and noise, if we ever had the element of surprise, we rushed up the stairs into the kitchen. A well-appointed kitchen, in a nice setting. Sunlight poured in through the large windows, which looked out over a garden with some part of the city on the far side of a tall stone wall. An older woman was standing at the stove stirring something in a large pot. She turned towards us. Holy symbols of Canker clattered from around her neck
"Welcome Balder" she stated, "I am Gabriella Massimo, the wife of Simeon"
"Ah, hello" replied Balder, "So not a vampire I take it"
"Definitely not" she responded.
[At this point Richard had everyone make a saving through against arcane magic.
Surprisingly, and probably fortunately, everyone succeeded]
"I see you are carrying my knife" she noted, gesturing at Bush.
"It will not work against me, but maybe you should try it on one of your friends" she commanded.
[At this point Richard made Darryl make a saving throw against arcane magic.
Surprisingly, and probably fortunately, everyone succeeded]
Balder steps forward. He feels a familiarity towards this woman and wants to protect her from any harm that might be directed towards her. But he is also conflicted. Is this not a follower, even a priestess, of Canker, one of the evilest of evil gods, the purveyor of pain and suffering?
"Fuck it" he thinks to himself and .....
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