After the party has had a rough night in the dungeon, they decide it is time to take some rest. The closest location they can think off is the cathedral of Pharasma, which is on the graveyard itself. They go there and ask for healing for both Jenny and Patrick (Lauren’s new rat). In the cathedral they find the help they need and everyone gets a good rest. Victor even manages to get some healing potions and holy water at a bargain price. The next morning it is time to head back to the dungeon, let’s hope that the rest of the body of the shoanti will still be there…
The party enters the dungeon and can get as far as the hall with the necrophilea without any trouble. They have been thinking about ways to prevent the necropilea from attacking and the decide it is best if Ulfgard just storms in, turns left and breaks the door. No sooner said then done they execute their plan and Ulfgard charges in. The charge is so succesful that the door literally splits in two under the brutal force of Ulfgard’s axe. What he finds on the other side however can best be described as an ambush.
Two Derro are waiting and attack Ulfgard as soon as the door splits in two. Ulfgard however is still in full momentum and attempts to bullrush one of the Derro while it is hiding behind a table. The ground is slippery and instead of slamming the Derro and the table into what’s behind it, Ulgard just slams himself into the table. At this moment the rest of the party also enters the room and they start making quick work of the Derro. One manages to escape by placing a darkness on the table he was hiding behind. It seems that there are even more secret passages in this hellish dungeon then the party already found.
The party takes a short rest and examines the room for traces of the shoanti corpse or possibly useful items. What they find is several cooking pots filled with (probably) human fat. In the meantime, Jenny searches the wall for the secret passageway that the Derro used.
From the room they are currently in there are two ways to go. One is a corridor with a door at the end, the other is a corridor hewn out of the rock. They decide to listen at the door and at the other side they here some grunting. At closer inspection of the door they find that it has been nailed shut from the outside. Whatever is in there must be very dangerous.
Their next decision is partly strange, partly not so strange. They decide that facing whatever is behind that door can better be fought while they still have their strength and resources, then when they no longer have these available. They make for a trap and Victor and Lauren stand ready with holy water so they can harm whatever undead is locked in there. Ulfgard opens the door at their signal and the fight begins.
What was on the other side of the door was the reason the necromancer was thrown out of the acadamy for. It is a golem made from the flesh of serveral humans. Even worse, in it’s arm it holds another arm filled with tattoos. Victor throws his holy water on the unholy creature and we are in for a surprise. It seems it is not an undead and it reeks as if there is no tomorrow. The golem seems to be one big disease and with every blow, Ulfgard gets infected with another disease. Then all of a sudden the escaped Derro shows up. Jenny quickly moves towards him and starts mushing him to bits. After a few rounds the party manages to defeat both the Derro and the Golem, but they are now completely out of spells.
They decide that it is best if someone gets some scrolls of cure light wounds while they search the room for other remains of the shoanti. Lauren volunteers for this and she quickly returns. The party now has to decide where they shall head. The decision is made to enter the secret corridor which the Derro used to flee from them. It is a short passage that leads to a room filled with surgical equipment and body parts. Even worse, on a table in the middle of the room there is the body of a large golem in the making. It is a gruesome sight, but the easiest explanation of how it looks is the body of a bear with the head of a human attached to it. And as can be expected the head on the golem is that of the shoanti we are looking for. With the use of the surgeon’s tools that are lying around, the party removes the head from the body.
From here on they can head two ways. The way they decide to go leads them to a library filled with books about necromancy and the making of golems. Piousa and Lauren take some of the books for further study of their enemy and the party heads for the other passage. The passage leads them to a bed room which is completely devoid of any personal belongings and from here on into a cave. In this cave we are confronted by kreeg, a Derro necromancer. He is flying in the air and the battle with him is fierce. Ulfgard can hardly do a thing and tries to get Kreeg to the ground with the use of his rope. Kreeg in the meantime throws a patch from his cloak to the party and a zombie comes to life. They all fight their best and with a lot of luck they manage to defeat Kreeg. After this they search the rest of the catacombs and find that there is only one more corridor remaining. Given the fact they are completely out of spells, they decide it best to leave this corridor for now and get some new spells before they meet something which is way beyond they capabilities. When they return the next day, they find that there was only one room left and that there where 3 pits in it. In two of the pits they find the bodies of a man and a woman. By the looks of it they were killed last night..
The remainder of the day they spend at their house identifying the objects that they have found. After they are finished with this, they spend the night quietly contemplating all that has happened. At a rap on the door, Piousa goes to see who it is. What she finds outside is a chest with a letter pinned on it. Upon reading the letter she quickly opens the chest but finds it to be trapped. A large ball of fire almost blows her head off, but she manages to dodge the worst of the damage. Inside the chest is a pseudodragon that is pinned to the floor by a dagger. The pseudodragon is healed by Piousa and when asked who put it in the chest it can only remember being caught by a man whose hand was terribly burned. It seems that the party has made itself an enemy..
The next day the party receives a note from Kressida that she would like to talk to them ASAP. It concerns the trial of Trinia, the so-called assasin of the king. The party rushes over and what they hear is quite disturbing. Trinia was found not guilty by both “the hanging judge” and the guards. Under martial law she was however taken to the palace and further interrogated. The palace guards concluded that she was in fact guilty of murdering the king and sentenced her to death. Kressida shows her discomfort over the situation and requests that the party be present at the execution.
Just like Kressida, the party is not happy with what has happened. It seems that Trinia is just the queens’ scapegoat for the death of the king. What they then decide to do is try and get help for Trinia. Piousa heads over to the temple of Abadar and pleads the high priest to help her save Trinia. Since this is such a breaking of justice and law, Abadar must intervene. The answer she gets from the high priest is however not too rewarding. He explains how the justice works under martial law and that he will not do too much while it in effect. Although he hates the situation, his hands are tied. Piousa then decides she can do no other thing then pray to Abadar to prevent this evil.
Victor, in the meantime, heads over to Vencarlo Orisini and pleads to him to help Victor save Trinia. Vencarlo however does not wish to speak to him and he is put out of the house. After this Victor attempts to speak to Trinia so that he may save her before the execution starts. He is however stopped by the guards and before the situation escalates, Ulfgard manages to get Victor home. What they should do is not known to them and they have a restless night.
The next day they all head over to the execution. Lots of people have shown up and the general mood seems to be that the upper class is happy that the have found someone to blame for the murder. The guards seems to be keeping a special eye on Victor and the rest of the party decide it is best to not be too close to him. The queen enters the stage and she no longer looks as a woman in mourning. She gives of a speech about the terrible wrong that has happened and how lucky she is that they found the killer of the king. She ends the speech saying: “but without further ado, off with her head!”.
At this moment the executioner raises his head and Victor can no longer take it. He casts daze on the executioner. What happens however is not what he expected, as the executioner falls over with a knife sticking out of his back. Everyone looks to where that knife came from and what they see is unbelievable. It is black jack! the hero of the city. Black jack takes Trinia and with a little help from the party he manages to escape with Trinia from the castle. The party manages to escape the situation without being seen as possible helpers and they return home. Who knows what this shall mean? What further adventure shall our adventurers await…….
Tags: black jack, shoanti, trinia, vreeg