MAL Ep. 8

I seem to be missing an actual recap from session 8. I'll post what I have here though.

I believe the Session 8 notes problem to be resolved, but I'll keep the above as a note that there was some confusion surrounding the notes. Therefore it would be wise to carefully compare notes on this section in the future to make sure the confusion didn't extend to any inaccuracies.

Session 8 Notes
Here is the recap from session 8:

SESSION 8

This session marked a turning part for our heroes, who have finally managed to disable one of Chavalk's nefarious curses (though they did not succeed at slaying his necromancer ally.) Details of the raid:

* Having forced their way into the necromancer's underground lair and smashed Chavalk's magic mirror, the group decided to rush through the lair, opening side doors and visually scanning the rooms for enemies but not entering them, in an attempt to find and confront the necromancer more quickly.

* They observed crypt shelves with bodies stored on them, protected by some kind of force field

* They observed a room with a large black stone circle with a skull in its center, also with some kind of cabinet/cage emitting a moaning sound and a spiky chair. The circle was large enough to have summoned/transported the bone demons your party fought, but Jon did not examine it and so your party does not know whether it was used for this.

* They observed a room with some kind of large black and gold burner in it, a table, and a wheeled stand of tools. The party used Mage Hand to swipe two scrolls from the tool stand but otherwise did not examine this room.

* The party entered the room at the end of the hall, which was larger and contained a magical pool, an ornate metal globe, and an orb of necromantic power. They examined only the globe, which radiated an extraplanar power Jon had never encountered before. The creature on Aler's shoulder became even louder and shriller and tried to steer him towards the globe.

* The necromancer, Dayant Arakin, appeared and spoke briefly with the party before Red attacked. She did not reveal much, but did acknowledge an alliance with Chavalk (who she said she supported because of his policy of tolerance for the undead) and identified the creature on Aler's shoulder as "nothing at all, don't you think?" She also clearly knew Jon and Adriel, and did not recognize Sahree (who Jon was disguised as at the time.) Jon cast Detect Thoughts on her and succeeded at sensing her reluctant choice not to try to turn the party into her undead minions out of a desire to please Chavalk somehow.

* There was a big messy combat with Dayant, who proved to be a vampire, and two bone demons similar to the ones you encountered in Tell's secret basement earlier. The combat was impeded by a magical trap that caused walls of flame to spout up from the floor, separating party members. Dayant turned to mist and retreated through the barred ceiling while the party successfully killed the demons.

* During the fracas, the globe broke open, revealing an inky blackness inside which light bent into in an unnerving way. It started seeping into the room, emitting a pull that was difficult for the PCs to resist. The creature on Aler's shoulder detached and disappeared into the void, ending his curse. Characters attempted unsuccessfully to knock the globe closed with a mage hand, a greatsword, a giant snake, etc, but none of those things were both strong enough and able to manipulate the latch. Red, who was capable of both, tried to shut it herself but failed a saving throw and found her arm sucked into the void and damaged, luckily the snake managed to pull her back out again.

* The party decided to retreat. As they backed down the hallway a giant dissevered hand came galloping past; none of the PCs obstructed it, and it charged into the room and began trying to close the globe. The party then cast some buffing spells on the hand and retreated.

* The party also encountered two zombies, who Adriel fought briefly but eventually let past her to join the hand in the room with the globe.

* The party fled from the tower, over Zadkiel's loud objections, and called Sallykin the moor fairy. Sallykin identified the blackness as negative material plane energy, and the creature on Aler's shoulder as probably having been a being from that plane (and hence indeed, to a certain approximation, "nothing at all." It explains why it had no aura whatsoever, at any rate.) She also said that fey magic was notoriously difficult to unwork, and that unless the original caster or a more powerful fey caster was convinced to remove it, it might be easier to edit the curse than to break it. Finally, after a brief internal struggle, Adriel asked Sallykin for fairy advice, and she answered "Don't look back in anger" before disappearing.

* The party slept in the moors and were not assaulted in the night, much to Jon and Aler's surprise (both were expecting the vampire to return, and she did not.)

* After much argument, the party decided to return to Hastenport rather than go back to the tower.

* On the way back to Hastenport, the party chatted with some farm boys who mentioned that the Ducal tax collector Hector had been having strange lapses in his memory. The party went up to the windmill with one of the boys, Emmett, and discovered Hector's body in a crate in the mill (Adriel also heard Chavalk's mocking laughter echoing in the mill as she entered, although she did not tell anyone about that except Bay.) The party decided to take his body swiftly back to Hastenport, sending Adriel and Red ahead to fetch Captain Black. Examining the crime scene, Zadkiel determined that Hector's neck had been broken and that he had been dead only a few hours, and Red detected no one else's scent in the windmill recently other than Hector's. Using the Speak With Dead spell, the party learned that some of Hector's possessions were missing (including his purse, his signet ring, and his tax records) and also that his version of events doesn't match Emmett's-- Emmett says that Hector spoke to him, went up to the mill, returned from the mill, spoke to Emmett again, then rode into market with a wagoner named Fletcher. Hector, on the other hand, says he only spoke to the boy once and went up to the mill, and that he never left the mill again.

* The party met Captain Black and Detective Noyar at the temple of Altaris, where they turned over the body, relayed what they had learned at the tower, and gave Sister Astilla the talking skulls to lay to rest. Black dispatched a guard named Brian to go with the party to the market square and see whether Fletcher or anyone else there had seen Hector.

And there we broke for the night. Game on!

MAL: Onward from Session 8
I discouraged the group from re-assaulting the tower after sleeping in the moors near the end of last session, for two reasons: first, only one player really wanted to, so I could already tell that it wasn't going to happen practically, and second, your characters would have known how unlikely it would be to succeed. (If you had time to rest and replenish all your spells overnight, then the vampire mage by definition also did, and you have already witnessed that she has extraplanar allies to call upon here for reinforcements. It would be a bad assumption to stake your lives on the guess that she is now unable to reach them merely because her mirror is broken.)

Honestly, it was pretty dangerous to pitch camp so close to the tower at all. If it were me, I'd have taken my chances with the dangers of wilderness night travel rather than sleep in the shadow of a vampire necromancer I'd just pissed off (especially having a druid and a ranger with darkvision at my disposal.) However, in this case Dayant clearly chose NOT to attack you, so make of that what you will.

Anyway, we're going to open next game in the Market Square investigating the mysterious case of the murdered tax collector, ask some more questions in Hastenport, and then the party is planning, as per our end of game conversation, to move to investigate the Elemental Druids (another ally of Chavalk's, and the apparent source of another of your curses.) HOWEVER, if the party wishes to return to the Arakin tower with allies--either before or after investigating the Elemental Druids--you may do so. I will keep the tower downstairs and ready to go so you can decide to go back there if you choose to. If you do not, it is still a kick-ass piece of decor. ;-)

Onward! Laura

MAL: Session 8 Combat
By the way, I'm not sure whether it was apparent during the session or not, but that boss fight with Dayant Arakin was the closest you guys have come to dying since we started playing. Zadkiel the damage sponge was down to *3* HP at one point (he started with 117!), and Jon, cut off from the rest of the party with a demon bearing down on him, would probably have been toast without the quick-thinking application of Wall Of Stone. Also, Aler will tell you later that vampires have DR 10/silver, so Red and Blue were not dishing out nearly as much damage as they thought they were. (They WERE preventing her from casting spells, which was far from useless, but she actually had more HP than she'd started with at the time she disengaged.)

That was a really tough fight I threw at you guys there, with all the flaming terrain and everything. It was very good gaming on everyone's part to survive it, so kudos to all.

(Also, good restraint on Red's part not to transform into a small snake and pursue the vampire through the grate to fight her one-on-one. That would not have ended so well for Red...)

Game on! Laura