Above to the Warrens and Return of Tristan (Session 83)

Summary

After their confrontation with Roland, the party recovered the sword and medallion he had left behind and searched an ancient desk in the chamber. A faded military ledger described food shortages during a siege, missing patrols near a crypt, rising heat and volcanic activity in the lower levels, and the spread of a strange mist. An opened letter signed by Captain Roland Ashcombe reported that soldiers had heard voices calling from the upper passages and that three men had vanished. In the desk's locked drawers, the party found old coins, an iron key, a healing potion, a raven-marked ring, a notebook whose writer had become increasingly paranoid, and a finely made ivory chess knight carrying a faint aura of transmutation magic.

While exploring a ruined storeroom overlooking a broad channel of lava, the party heard a voice that seemed to come from Elenor. The voice asked about Commander Armand's medallion and demanded to be taken to Roland. Its true source was the ivory chess knight, who identified himself as Edmund. He was horrified to learn that he had been transformed into a chess piece and that roughly a century had passed since the mist arrived. Edmund remembered Captain Ashcombe's desk and expected Roland to be in the audience hall. After the party explained what had happened to the spectral figure on the throne, Edmund agreed to accompany them, and they promised to help him if they could.

Edmund directed them toward the vaults below, where lava from the Flamenbult had consumed the lower chambers. A glowing sword protruded from the molten rock, but when Kipp approached it, a towering creature of flame and blackened stone rose from the magma and attacked. The party fought it at the top of the stairs while it battered them with burning arms and tried to knock them into the lava. Audra barely braced herself against one such blow, and Brandy was burned again. Kipp finally broke the creature apart, sending it flowing back into the molten rock. Audra, protected from the heat by her ring, pulled the sword free. Once it cooled, Edmund recognized its black blade and glowing red veins as the flame tongue of Captain Vargos. He also confirmed that the lava had not been present in his time.

Edmund, once a warrior's squire, asked to pledge himself to Audra or Kipp now that his former charge was gone. Audra accepted, taking the chess piece and planning to carry it where Edmund could see the world. He then told the party about old burial warrens above the fortress and guided them across the lava bridge to a stairway concealed by thick mist. At the top, the heat gave way to cold, damp air, the smell of mildew and rot, and a floor scattered with human bones. In the first burial vault, the party found eight ghouls tearing at the remains. Pyreece drove two back with her holy power and joined the rest of the party in fighting the remaining ghouls until every one of them had been destroyed.

The adjoining passages led through desecrated crypts. One chamber held coffins that had been ripped open and bodies that had been shredded, but no remaining threat or treasure. In another, ancient skeletons rose from the cold mist. Pyreece turned several away while the party shattered the others. Two undisturbed stone coffins remained closed. Wishing to ensure that no undead were trapped inside, the party opened them and found the peacefully resting remains of Edric Mallor and Willem Durn in formal funerary dress. They did not loot the dead and closed the coffins again.

Farther on, the party met a more dangerous undead creature whose presence carried an overwhelming sense of despair and death. Brandy resisted its deadly gaze and attacked with Audra while Kipp fired from the passage. Pyreece was not so fortunate: when she looked upon it, the strength and color drained from her body, and she collapsed as though dead. Oglesby and Elenor rushed to her, and Elenor discovered that she was still breathing and gave her a healing potion. Brandy and Audra kept the creature trapped until Brandy destroyed it. Pyreece awoke with an unnatural cold lingering inside her but otherwise recovered. Afterward, Kipp discovered a concealed compartment containing extra healing, a scroll of protection from undead, coins, and a valuable garnet.

At the next intersection, fresh canine tracks led the party toward a pale silver glow. From the darkness emerged Tristan, the great silver-white moon dog they had once rescued from Lissa's hellhounds. His wounds had healed, and he had returned to repay the compassion the party had shown him when there had been no promise of reward. Tristan warned that the darkness around the fortress grew stronger each night. Lissa was trying to open a gateway to her realm and bring servants through from the Dread Realms. Many arrived burned by the mist, twisted, and mindless, but every failed crossing taught her more and brought her closer to success. Tristan believed her focus on the gateway had blinded her to threats she considered beneath her notice, and he intended to help the party exploit that mistake.

Tristan healed Brandy, then sensed that Kipp carried the taint of an illithid and promised to cure him if he remained close. He also identified the party's recovered relics: Roland's Sword of the Warden was especially dangerous to undead, the sun-scorched medallion granted true sight and protection against illusions and shadow magic, the raven signet ring once carried authority over the fortress's defenders, and Vargos's black-bladed sword was a magma-forged flame tongue. With their wounds treated, their weapons understood, Edmund pledged to Audra, and Tristan beside them, the party prepared to continue toward Lissa. Her failures were teaching her how to succeed, but the party had gained a powerful ally who had returned to honor an old debt.

This is where the session ended!

Start the recorder!

Exp: 2213 + 221 = 2434

Gold 80, SP 5

Detail

The party had just finished their confrontation with Roland. His armor had vanished with him, but he had left behind a sword and a medallion. Brandy had taken a beating in the fight and had used her healing potions, though she was still in fair condition. The party redistributed what healing remained and then turned their attention to the old desk in the chamber.

The desk was swollen with age and stained by centuries of damp. Its iron fittings had rusted. On top lay a faded military supply ledger. The entries spoke of food shortages during a siege, patrols disappearing near a crypt, and rising temperatures and volcanic activity in the lower crypts. One of those reports had been made by Captain Vargos. The ledger also referred to visible mist and ended with a rough, ominous entry: the dead were gathering, they were not merely deserters, and someone was lying.

Beside the ledger lay an opened, wax-sealed envelope and a silver quill marked with a stylized letter R. The message in the envelope reported that men were refusing to patrol the upper passages because voices called to them from the darkness. Three men had vanished, and the writer requested immediate reinforcements. It was signed by Captain Roland Ashcombe.

The desk had three locked drawers. Oglesby opened the first and found a small notebook and a finely made ivory chess knight. Elenor examined the figurine and sensed a faint aura of transmutation magic, though she could not determine its purpose. The notebook contained ordinary entries at first, but its writer had grown increasingly paranoid near the end.

In the second drawer, the party found a pouch of old coins. The minting came from a forgotten kingdom or realm, making the coins worth more to collectors than their metal alone. The final drawer held an iron key, a potion, and a ring decorated with a raven. The ring appeared valuable and carried a faint trace of abjuration magic.

The party next explored an adjoining storeroom. A musty odor of mildew and rotting wood filled the air. Beyond an opening in the wall lay a ledge overlooking a broad channel of magma and lava, with another ledge visible on the far side through the mist. There was no apparent route across. Inside the storeroom stood ancient crates containing only ruined food, spoiled drink, rotten linens, and decayed clothing. A leaning table held rusted lanterns, broken pottery, faded playing cards, and an old mug. Nothing there appeared useful, and nothing seemed to have been disturbed for a very long time.

As the party prepared to leave, Elenor heard a voice say that it was only an old storeroom. To the others, the voice seemed to come from Elenor herself, although she had not spoken. When they moved away, the voice asked whether they had Commander Armand's medallion and demanded to be taken to Roland. The party explained that Roland was gone and that they possessed the sword and medallion he had left behind.

The source of the voice proved to be the ivory chess knight. When Elenor took it out and set it down, the voice complained that it could see but could not move. It identified itself as Edmund and reacted with horror when the party held up a mirror and showed him what he had become. His memories stopped around the arrival of the mist, an event that seemed recent to him, although roughly a century had passed. He remembered Captain Ashcombe's desk as it had once been and directed the party toward the audience hall, where he expected Roland to be.

The party told Edmund about the spectral man who had appeared on the throne and then vanished. Although shaken by what had happened to him and by the passage of time, Edmund agreed to accompany them. They promised to do what they could to help him.

Beyond another locked door, the party found a damaged and empty room. Cracks in the floor suggested that the fortress had shifted under seismic strain. A large double door in the north wall led, according to Edmund, to the vaults and tunnels below. When the party opened it, a wave of heat and a red glow came through.

Stairs descended toward an active mass of lava that had consumed whatever chambers had once existed below. Near the edge, the hilt and part of a glowing sword protruded from the molten rock. Its blade was red hot but had neither melted nor warped, making its magical nature apparent.

As Kipp approached the first stair to retrieve it, a towering humanoid shape rose from the magma. It was formed from living flame and molten stone, with glowing cracks opening and closing across its blackened body. It surged forward and attacked.

The party surrounded the creature at the top of the stairs. Elenor tried to slow it with magic, but the spell failed to take hold. Brandy and Kipp took the brunt of the first part of the assault. Audra and Pyreece had Rings of Fire Protection, which prevented any damage from the fire or heat. They joined the attack with the others and struck it. It battered them with burning arms and tried to knock them down the stairs into the lava. Audra managed to brace herself when one blow nearly sent her over the edge. Brandy was burned again, and her already-damaged hair suffered further. After a sustained exchange of blows and magic, Kipp landed the attack that broke the creature apart. Its body collapsed and flowed back into the lava. Looking into the molten rock, the party could see signs that other such beings might be moving beneath the surface.

Protected by a ring that guarded her from fire, Audra reached down and pulled the sword free. After it cooled, they saw that it had a black blade crossed by glowing red veins. Edmund recognized it as the blade of Captain Vargos and called it a superior weapon, a flame tongue. He also observed that the lava had not been there in his time. The lower vaults had been filled by lava from the Flamenbult, the nearby volcano.

Edmund then asked Elenor to present him to either Audra or Kipp. He had been a warrior's squire and, with his former charge gone, wished to pledge himself anew. Audra accepted his pledge. She took the chess piece and planned to secure it where Edmund could see the world rather than leaving him shut away in a pocket.

There was nowhere else to go in the lower vaults. When the party described the areas they had explored, Edmund told them of older burial warrens above the fortress. Before the mist, those warrens had been kept in good order. He directed them across the bridge over the lava, then south and east to a stairway hidden in the thickening mist.

The party crossed the bridge and followed his directions. The mist grew dense enough to conceal movement, so they advanced slowly. At the top of the stairs, the heat gave way to cold damp air and the smell of mildew and rot. Bones lay across the ground, many of them human.

Around the first bend, they heard bones being disturbed. The passage opened into a burial vault where glowing green fungus cast light over bones and tattered shrouds. Hunched ghouls crouched over the remains, tearing at them with blackened teeth and claws. More yellow eyes opened in the shadows as the party entered.

Pyreece invoked her holy power and drove two of the ghouls back. The rest rushed the party but failed to overwhelm them. Brandy and Kipp cut into the creatures at close range, Audra circled them to strike from the side, and Eleanor and Oglesby attacked from behind with their slings. The battle spread through the burial chamber as more ghouls emerged. One after another, the creatures fell until the party destroyed all eight.

The chamber connected to several passages. One led to an ancient crypt where coffins had been ripped open and the remains inside shredded. Bones and tatters of burial cloth covered the floor, but nothing of value remained. The party searched the chamber, found no hidden threat or treasure, and returned to the junction.

Another route led into a large, mist-filled chamber. Cold fog curled around their ankles, and the air carried the scent of grave dust. Ancient skeletons lay scattered across the floor, some still wearing rusted armor and remnants of clothing. As the party entered, the bones began to twitch and rise.

Pyreece turned several of the skeletons away while the others fought those that remained. Brandy, Kipp, Audra, Elenor, and Oglesby broke them apart before they could cause serious harm. Two stone coffins in the chamber had remained closed and undisturbed. The party did not want to loot the dead, but they opened the coffins to ensure that nothing undead was trapped inside. One held a knight named Edric Mallor; the other was marked with the name Willem Durn. The bodies lay in formal funerary dress and did not move. After confirming that the occupants were at rest, the party closed the coffins again.

Farther along, they encountered a far more dangerous undead creature. Its presence carried an overwhelming sense of despair and death. Brandy resisted the effect of its gaze and attacked, and Audra joined her. Kipp fired into the passage with his bow. When Pyreece looked upon the creature, however, its gaze drained the strength and color from her body. She collapsed and appeared dead.

Oglesby and Elenor rushed to Pyreece side. Elenor found that she was still breathing and poured a healing potion into her mouth. Meanwhile, Brandy and Audra kept the creature trapped in the passage. Brandy finally destroyed it. Pyreece regained consciousness with a lingering unnatural cold in her body but was otherwise herself again.

After the fight, Kipp noticed a stone in the wall that did not sit correctly. He and Oglesby examined it and found a hidden compartment. With Audra's help, they pulled the heavy stone free. Inside were a pouch, a scroll case, and a potion. The potion was one of extra healing, which they gave to Pyreece. The scroll offered protection from undead. The pouch contained seventy-five gold pieces, two hundred and ten silver pieces, and a garnet worth about one hundred and fifty gold pieces.

The party returned to the main intersection and chose the passage where light appeared ahead. Kipp found fresh, large canine tracks crossing the dust. Then a pale silver glow formed at the far end of the corridor and moved toward them. At first it resembled a ghost made from moonlight and mist. As it approached, they recognized Tristan, the great silver-white moon dog they had rescued months earlier from Lissa's hellhounds.

The moon dog bore old scars across its shoulders and flanks, but its wounds had healed. It greeted the party within their minds and told them it had hoped to see them again. When they had last met, Lissa's hunters had broken its strength and nearly killed it. The party had helped when there was no promise of reward, and such a debt was not forgotten among its kind.

It had waited because the darkness surrounding the fortress grew stronger with every night. It had promised to help if the party ever chose to confront Lissa, and now it had come to fulfill that promise.

The moon dog told them that Lissa was attempting to open a gateway to her realm and bring her servants through from the Dread Realms. The passage was violent. Many of those who crossed arrived burned by the mist, twisted, mindless, and physically deformed. Each failure taught Lissa more, however, and she was moving closer to success. She believed time favored her. The moon dog believed her concentration on the gateway had blinded her to dangers she considered beneath her notice, and it intended to help the party make her pay for that mistake.

Its arrival changed the feeling of the ancient halls. For the first time since the party had entered the fortress, they no longer seemed entirely abandoned.

The moon dog healed Brandy by licking her hand, though it could do nothing for her burned hair. It then looked closely at Kipp and sensed a curse upon him: the taint of an illithid. Kipp admitted that strange things had been entering his mind. The moon dog told him to stay close and promised that he would be cured.

It also helped the party understand the magical objects they had recovered. Roland's sword was the Sword of the Warden, a greatsword especially dangerous to undead and able to reveal the presence of evil undead with pale blue light. The sun-scorched medallion could grant true sight and protect its wearer against illusions and shadow magic. The raven signet ring had once carried command authority over the fortress's defenders; even in undeath, the old knights might have hesitated before someone wearing it. Captain Vargos's black-bladed weapon was a magma-forged flame tongue, capable of bursting into flame.

With their recovered weapons identified, their wounds treated, Edmund pledged to Audra, and the moon dog beside them, the party prepared to continue toward Lissa. They now understood that her failed crossings were not stopping her. They were teaching her. The threat was growing, but the party had also gained the powerful ally who had returned to honor an old debt.

This is where the session ended!

Start the recorder!

Exp: 2213 + 221 = 2434

Gold 80, SP 5