2023-09-30 East Ancient Castle
Player Characters
- Hyacinth
- Auri
- Essa
- Green
- Igneous
Summary
The party began in Fallweave. They asked some folks around the Headtaker's Lodge about the old castle to the northwest. Some elves told them about a time they visited years ago: the place was empty, dusty, and looted, and a three-tentacled beast meandered about. They also mentioned that wyverns and hippogriffs have been seen in the area recently.
The PCs traveled westward along the river. They greeted some fisherfolk on the way, who were happy to report that Birchland had been especially peaceful recently: Dalinax the Deranged had not attacked any farms or livestock in the past year.
The party reached the ancient castle of Birchland. The surrounding wall had several large holes in it. As they approached one such opening, they saw a camp of other adventurers sitting inside it. The leader, a halfling, informed the party that they had just explored the place and found nothing of note, and suggested they leave. The PCs refused, and the other group escalated their warning. Finally, weapons were drawn, and it was revealed that the "adventurers" were affected by a disguise spell- they were actually cultists of the Destroyer with black marble eyes. The halfling tried to flee toward the castle to raise an alarm, but Auri teleported her back closer to the party, and the PCs were able to defeat the group without an alert being raised.
The PCs captured the archer and paladin alive. The archer admitted that Truthfinder Evandra was here, but otherwise raved about the cult's nihilistic teachings. Essa tried to get them to answer the code phrase that the cult has used in the past, but misremembered it.
Essa got the phrase right when she tried again with the paladin. "The silver river wakes my mind..." was returned with the answer, "Now I am no longer blind." The paladin then collapsed, dead.
The PCs entered the front portcullis while Essa was disguised as a cult member. They took whatever path led forward and center, and encountered a patrol in the audience hall. Using the code and some careful words, they convinced the patrol to lead them to Evandra in the war room behind the throne.
An old, worn, metal-crafted map of Archestria was built into a large table. Several markers were positioned throughout it: two in Zymora, one in Fludge Swamp, a handful in Solaki, one in Pearl Cove, and one in the northern Bazen Lowlands.
The room had a large number of cultists, as well as a horned devil. Evandra, an elven mage, leaned over the war map while discussing plans. She stopped as the PCs entered.
Essa told Evandra that their group had survived the assault on the Smokewhistle fortress (during 2023-07-15 Chasing Truthfinder Evandra) and took a long time to make their way back to the castle after detouring through Gurdabin. Truthfinder Evandra was confused and suspicious of the story, as the attack was a month ago and she believed there were no survivors, but Essa was able to sell it. Essa brought a warning about the guards outside being slain, and Evandra commanded several patrols (including the PCs) to spread out and investigate the castle.
The PCs searched one half of the castle, finding mostly broken walls and empty rooms. They opened a secret hallway, then lured another patrol to it and ambushed them.
In the next section, Auri triggered a falling chandelier trap. A patrol camping in a nearby room came out to confront them. The party were able to slay them without an alarm being raised.
They discovered a deep pit full of refuse and offal. An otyugh sat comfortably inside, its three-eyed tentacle watching them. The PCs positioned some of the cultists' bodies under the chandelier, and fed some to the hungry pit beast.
While they rested, another patrol came by and found the bodies. The PCs tricked them into searching a nearby hidden tunnel.
While that patrol was distracted, they decided to take the opportunity to head straight to Evandra, canceling the rest.
They charged in to fight. While Green and Igneous held off the horned devil, Auri and the enemy mages traded hold person spells. Hyacinth took advantage of the paralysis to destroy Evandra in one turn, putting a stop to her schemes and upgrading the corrupted avenger.
Green and the devil exchanged compliments as they fought each other. The devil introduced himself as Wintozl, and offered gifts of power. Green told the devil about the might of Garuda, encouraging the devil to change its ways. Both seemed uninterested in the other's offer. Hyacinth cut in to steal the final blow on the devil.
The party finished off the sect leaders, and were able to collect Evandra's magic scepter and papers of cultist letters and plans. One such letter mentioned the arrival of a devil named Authizyr.
Essa claimed the Enigmatic Scintillating Scepter of Awe that Evandra held.
They found several creatures trapped in cells, waiting to be sacrificed. Using tongues, they attempted to reason with a wyvern, telling it to travel west to The Ark in Kazzin Forest. When they set a group of commoners free, Green preached the glory of Garuda to them, telling them to make a pilgrimage to the temple in Salmund in return for their salvation. One cell contained a chair; the party killed the mimic. The last cell held a dryad. She was initially reticent to leave, and was terrified of Essa, apologizing repeatedly for "not knowing who she's looking for". Essa backed off and the party convinced her to run home, but she said she didn't want to return to the Feywild.
The party climbed stairs to the second floor. Many walls and floors were gone, but there were still places to explore. In a secret passage, they found an ancient note and an old swan-shaped teapot.
While they explored a hidden tunnel, they heard the sounds of fire and energy below. Looking through a downward peephole into the audience hall, they saw a mass of devils step into the castle through a portal. Ten armorlike beings surrounded a regally-dressed one holding a scepter, and forty-something large tusked fiends stood around them.
The leader was disappointed by the state of the cultists, lamenting their failure to herald his arrival. Realizing they had been killed recently, he told his army to search for those responsible. The PCs rushed to the royal quarters to find a secret passage mentioned in the ancient note, and escaped out to a back balcony. Some flew, some lept, and all were able to escape before the devils found them.
Documents found
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