Session 102: Getting Out of Blackened Hand

General Summary

11th Brussendar 836PD   With the Abishai devils cleared, the party inspect the rest of the room and find a living prisoner, Tomor. They were recently captured, and had been so far able to resist the cultists attempts to brainwash him.   Raphael and Raven find another locked door, they open it to reveal a secret cell which is occupied with the familiar face of Palmer Cooke! But why was the Lock-Breaker himself imprisoned by his cult?   In conversation with the Prisoner Palmer, they had been held captive by this cult for 5 years, just before ‘Palmer Cooke’ became the Master of Information on the Tal’Dorei Council 4 years ago. The Palmer Cooke the Unbroken have know and faced as the Lock-Breaker has been an imposter. Raising more questions of who exactly is the Lock-Breaker?   But it seems they may soon find an answer, as they move out of the cell rooms back to the main corridor, Raven hears the distinct clatter and pour of ‘tea being served’, followed by the familiar voice inviting them into the nearby study. There waiting for them, was the smug face of ‘Palmer Cooke/Lock-Breaker’.   At the risk of it getting it out of hand that there are now two Palmers, the Unbroken play along with the invitation to sit. Raphael raises that last time they met was in Jinarth’s dreams, but suspiciously Lock-Breaker doesn’t recall. In no further mood for any distractions whilst they still have Jinarth to find, Simeon releases a spell of dominate person on Palmer, but it doesn’t hold.   Before the Lock-Breaker could even retaliate, Raven’s radiant bolts from his Arcus Lunae pierce right through ‘Palmer’, striking them down. They fall to the ground, and their form is revealed as a humanoid tiger with backward hands, a fiend known as Rakshasa. In their final moments, it taunts the Unbroken of them thinking that there "ever was just one Lock-Breaker…"   But there is no time for further distraction, the Unbroken park the revelation that the Lock-Breaker isn’t an individual but a group, they move on to the other side of the complex.   Approaching a door, Raphael hears snarls the other side and he braces as he opens it revealing the frighteningly familiar face of a Black Abishai! Its jaws bite deep into Raph shoulder, but Arthur moves the hands of time on his watch to chronal shift a few seconds, warning Raph in enough time to dodge the worst of the oncoming Abishai bite!   Orlando and Raven peppers the Black Abishai at the doorway to give enough space for Raven to move in and see further threats of a Blue Abishai, and heavily armoured flying fiend, an Erinyes.   The Erinyes moves to strike Raphael with her hellish longsword, he calls on his shield of winter to protect him but the blows break through the arcane barrier. Simeon dodges through the room, summoning his spiritual khopesh to slice into the fiends. With more targets in the room, the Blue Abishai unleashes a chain of lightning striking Arthur, Simeon and Raphael, then teleports to other side of the room.   The Black Abishai calls on magic to cover the doorway in magical darkness, capturing Raphael inside the dark to blind his strikes against the Abishai. However, Arthur’s sight can pierce through this dark veil of magic to grasp a ghostly, skeletal hand around the Black Abishai embracing it with its chilling touch. The necrotic grasp knocks the devil’s concentration, and the darkness vanishes.   Orlando finds a weak spot in the Erinyes’ armour, and lands a deadshot as the black tar of ichor bursts out of its side. The Erinyes replies in kind and slices down into the Gnome’s shoulder, then she and the Blue Abishai move to another room and close the door on the Unbroken.   Raven moves onto higher ground of the central crypt in the room, and strikes down the Black Abishai. Rhetoric summons the swirling Bigby Hand to smash down the closed door, and inspires Raphael with a song of paying for those that hunt monsters.   The Blue Abishai fires a streaking bolt of lightning towards the Bigby Hand, Orlando, Rhetoric and Raphael. Orlando dodges the lightning, but the others including the magical hand blacken with the burn of lightning.   Arthur surroundings the Erinyes and Blue Abishai in the sapping green glow of sickening radiance, which begins to drain the Abishai. Orlando goes to fire Prayers, but they are unanswered as the pain in his shoulder from the Erinyes’ sword causes him drop his gun, breaking it on the ground.   Fortunately for Raven, his bow cannot misfire, and his radiant bolts pierce through the Erinyes’ armour, finally felling the fiend. Rhetoric moves his large magical hand to crush the Abishai, as it’s form crunches in the burnt arcane fingers, the Abishai teleports out of the hand and rushes to another room where it casts a spell.   The Unbroken rush in, finding several runic symbols on the floor which would correspond with demon summoning and realise the Abishai had teleported beyond their reach. As Arthur and Simeon, start to damage the symbols to prevent any reinforcements, Raphael finds the cell where Jinarth was being kept under a dream spell.   The Unbroken gather Jinarth, ‘real’ Palmer, the other prisoners and conscripted cultists out of complex. Arthur and Orlando find several records that they can salvage to get some insights on the cult’s operations. With everyone out, and as the magic clouding the cultist’s eyes starting to clear with the death of the Rakshasa, the Unbroken burn the Temple of the Dark Grasp down.   They find Loushia’s charge, Travis, amongst the conscripted cultists and reunite him with his adopted family. Raphael persuades Loushia and her charges to come with them back to Emon for a better life.   As Jinarth is broken out of her ‘nightmare/dream’, she is shocked to see Raven, who was her previous lover that she betrayed under orders from the now revealed ‘imposter’ Palmer. They have an awkward conversation at first, but decide that duty is first and they decide to talk things through once things are ‘calmer’.   The Unbroken update Jinarth on the latest since they were kidnapped, and will decide on their next move when back in Emon. Rhetoric knows a teleportation circle in a ‘fun’ wizard’s bar in Emon, and he opens up the circle for them all to jump back through.