Session 69 Report

General Summary

On the morning of January 13, 499 AV, Haymin’s Heroes returned to the Ten Crown Caravan and looked for Meritas. As soon as they noticed him alongside his assistant, Sistina, the party paused at a safe distance so that Kyrie Eleison Thatcher-Stone could cast True Seeing. She told them that Meritas was a devil of some sort in disguise, as was Sistina. Meritas had horns and hoofed feet. Sistina had black feathered wings. Kyrie belived she might be a succubus, but Selia Roselyn Maxwell corrected her, stating that succubi were demons, not devils. Sistina would be an erinyes. The party greeted Sistina and Meritas and informed them they were no longer interested in the guard position as they had found a potentially lucrative adventure, the Petrified Cave. Meritas wished them well. After a brief conversation, they parted ways and Haymin’s Heroes learned that the Ten Crown Caravan would be leaving Thunder Falls in a few days. Meritas said he hoped to see them in Rowadin. After they were a safe distance away, Kyrie informed the group that the caravan guard were all devils as well, horned with hooved feet, with one normal arm and one bloated forearm wrapped in an iron studded leather wrap. The bloated arms ended in withered looking hands. Haymin’s Heroes gathered their horses and left town, heading northwest towards the Giant Mountains. They hoped to catch up to Cleon Denderton before he and his traveling companions reached the Petrified Cave. Ladigo Farthon cast Easy Trail and Wind at Back to increase their pace. Cleon and company had a four day head start. Travel through the Kainish countryside was easy. After a couple days they had passed the local villages and surrounding farmland and reached the trackless terrain nearing the Giant Mountains. There, Titta Morco found recent tracks that she believed belonged to Cleon’s group. On the third night, Ladigo saw a camp fire in the distance when taking a nightly patrol as an owl. He investigated and confirmed it was Cleon’s group. The party then planned to awake early the next morning and catch up to them before they got a chance to break camp. On the morning of January 16, 499 AV, Haymin’s Heroes approached this group just as planned. Cleon’s companions were on their guard, but the interaction began reasonably cordial. Titta spoke mainly to Cleon, tryin to assure him that they were here to help him. A man wearing a holy symbol of Asmodeus, God of Sin, claimed Cleon had a debt to repay. After some banter, it was learned that Cleon had sold his soul to Asmodeus in order to get revenge on the man who had killed his mother and sister. They were going to the Petrified Cave to slay basilisks, and perform a good deed in the name of Asmodeus. Cleon claimed that the faith of Asmodeus was wrongfully misunderstood. Titta told him he was being lied to by Meritas and his companions. He even told him that Meritas himself was a devil in disguise. Cleon seemed very confused. Titta offered to help Cleon atone for his sins. The cleric of Asmodeus grew rather impatient at this and stated that all that mattered was that Cleon’s soul go to the Nine Hells after he died. At that moment, the wizard behind him stepped forward and began casting a spell. Kyrie immediately cast Shield Other on Cleon, saving his life as she took half of the damage from the Lightning Bolt. Selia blinded all of the followers of Asmodeus, except the wizard with a Glitterdust spell. He in turn followed up by casting Web upon Haymin’s Heroes. Due to their honed reflexes, most of the party were only partially entangled by the web, and not entirely immobilized. Pyzar Zim, who was completely stuck, used his Anklets of Translocation to Teleport out. He then killed the wizard, one of the swordsmen next to him, and injured the cleric with a flurry from his greatsword. Within seconds the rest of the party finished off the others and Kyrie healed Cleon. Cleon was scared and confused. Titta tried to comfort him and the young man broke down in tears, confessing the horrible thing he had done to Tedro Alvar, the man who killed his mother and sister. In a jumbled mix of sobs and words, he described the sacrificial rite he had performed with his now dead companions, and how he carved the pentagram on Tedro’s chest himself. Haymin’s Heroes promised to take him to Trinity Hall in Rowadin to seek atonement for his misdeeds. The party then questioned why Meritas was really sending Cleon to the Petrified Cave. It seemed like a great length to go just to have him killed by basilisks. They speculated that the Petrified Cave might really be a temple to Asmodeus and that they were taking him there for some sort of ritual. Then a map they found on of of the fallen followers of Asmodeus depicted the location of the Petrified Cave, but it was labeled as Zulde’s Shrine and marked by a pentagram. They decided to go there and deal with it, since they were so close. Cleon could wait outside with the horses. Aided by Ladigo’s magic, Haymin’s Heroes reached the Petrified Cave a few hours later. They found the large petrified tree outside and left Cleon there with the horses before venturing to the entrance about a hundred yards away. Stone littered the floor all around, making it difficult to traverse. At closer inspection, some of the stones were shaped like broken body parts. When they reached the entrance, they noted that torches were set along the cave walls to illuminate the interior. Then from around the corner, two basilisks came into view. Those who entered the cave first met the creatures’ gazes and felt a tingle wash over their skin, but they resisted the petrification effect. Pyzar warned the rest of the party and closed his eyes as he rushed forward to engage the creatures. Some of the party remained at the cave entrance and cast spells, while Auren Sylynn maneuvered forward to attack flank one of the basilisks with Pyzar. He managed to wound the creature, then Pyzar having trained recently to fight blind, finished both of the basilisks off. After the battle, the party spent a few minutes collecting basilisk blood, teeth, and claws. Then they descended down a corridor leading from the cave. Torches intermittently illuminated the passage. Then they reached a large cavern dotted with stalagmites and rock formations. Inside this room awaited eight armed devils. The two in the lead had spiny beards and wielded saw-toothed glaives. The other six were the same type of devils as the caravan guards she noted in Thunder Falls. Selia rushed in and cast Evard’s Black Tentacles catching the entire group of devils. All but one of them were held fast while the last struggled to keep free of the tentacles. Then Ladigo cast Wall of Sand catching all except the bearded devils. Pyzar rushed forward and attacked one of them. Titta aided him in this effort. Then Auren moved towards the other one. Suddenly two more of the bloated armed devils appeared out of thin air and attacked Pennig who had moved into he cavern. And the bearded devil in front of Pyzar suddenly teleported away, moving right next to Kyrie, Selia, and Ladigo. Kyrie stepped away and cast a spell at it, but the spell’s magic fizzled when it neared the devil. Mogi Delvin followed up by casting Rebuke on the devil and his spell overcame its defenses and dazed it. Then Selia cast Glitterdust shaped into four separate blocks, catching the four visible devils. All but one of them was blinded. Pyzar then stepped back to the new devils that had appeared and focused his efforts on one of them. His swords strikes struck true but the devil did not fall. Instead, it appeared as if it and the one right next to it were sharing the blows. Despite Pyzar striking only one of them, they each showed similar wounds, all considerably less than what his greatsword should have caused. Titta then moved in and attacked the same one. This time, its wounds were too much and it fell. And simultaneously, its companions fell as well. As both these devils fell, though, they suddenly disappeared. Auren then gutted the bearded devil still held by the black tentacles and the dazed one was finished off in turn as well. They waited for the Wall of Sand to disappear as it blocked their path and they could not continue. Once it did, they noticed that the fallen devils with the bloated arms all had the same wounds, and they were all consistent with the damage that Pyzar and Titta had inflicted on the one they had targeted. Mogi then cast Detect Magic and noted that the torches in the cavern were all magical. Once they were ready to move on, they proceeded down another corridor that descended even farther down. This led to another cavern that contained seven stone figures of men and women arranged about it. There were two dwarves, an elf, a gnome, and three humans. These stone figures were extremely lifelike and likely petrified victims. There were also four pedestals in the room, each containing a gargoyle perched atop. Titta entered the room and moved to the closest one and suddenly attacked it. She struck and wounded it, revealing it to be a living gargoyle. The other three began moving as well to face the intruders.

Campaign

The Heart of Embril

Protagonists