Session 70 Report

General Summary

Haymin’s Heroes made short work of the gargoyles. They then wasted little time before continuing down the next corridor. This corridor ended at a double-door marked with a red pentagram. Beyond the door, Mogi Delvin could sense an evil presence. The door opened into a large sanctuary chamber dedicated to Asmodeus, God of Sin. They saw the dead body of a female atop a black altar in the center of the room. Fresh blood dripped off the altar onto a red pentagram decorating the floor. At one end of the chamber stood Meritas and Sistina behind a pair of bearded devils. At another end of the chamber were a pair of gargoyles and a strange looking humanoid with some serpentine features on his face. Meritas greeted Haymin’s Heroes before introducing them to Zulde. At that point the dead body upon the altar faded away, revealing it to be an illusion. In its place was now a medusa who stood and faced the party. Mogi turned to stone, but the rest managed to fight off the petrification effect. Kyrie Eleison Thatcher-Stone cast Blindness on Zulde and the medusa could no longer see. However, the creature’s evil gaze was still potent. Then Ladigo Farthon cast Wall of Sand covering Meritas, Sistina, the devils, and Zulde. Pyzar Zim then ran past the Wall of Sand to attack the gargoyles and the strange humanoid. He killed both gargoyles with a wide stroke of his greatsword and heavily wounded the humanoid. Selia Roselyn Maxwell then used a Break Enchantment scroll to remove the petrification from Mogi. A moment later, Sistina suddenly appeared in corner of the room. She shed her illusory disguise and revealed her true erinyes form with black wings and horns. She was wielding a fiery longbow and aimed it at the party. Auren Sylynn rushed her before she could fire and engaged her in combat. Then Meritas appeared in a different corner of the room and revealed his true form. He looked like a more devilish version of a tiefling, with horns, a tail, and hoofed feet. Being on the other side of the Wall of Sand, Titta Morco could only see Sistina and moved in to attack her alongside Auren. On the other side of the wall, a bearded devil pushed its way out. Kyrie caught this devil and Meritas in a Holy Smite. The bearded devil was left singed and temporarily blinded. Meritas faired somewhat better. Zulde then pushed her way through the Wall of Sand to blindly face the party. Ladigo moved to one side of the room and summoned a pair of dire wolves. One of them attacked the bearded devil, while the other attacked the medusa from behind. The medusa was knocked to the floor where she flailed blindly. Ladigo then sent Pennig after the humanoid, finishing him off with a deadly bite. Recovered from his petrification, Mogi summoned an earth elemental to attack the medusa. Sistina then teleported to the other side of the wall, closer to Meritas. Pyzar moved in to attack Meritas, but when he tried to lift his sword against him, he found that he was compelled not to. Instead, he turned to the bearded devil and Sistina. Zulde was killed, one bearded devil remained trapped in the sand, and only Sistina, Meritas, and the other bearded devil remained. With the battle turning against them, Sistina and Meritas teleported away. Haymin’s Heroes then finished off the bearded devil and waited for the other one to make its way out of the sand. When it did so, it was also killed. There was one other exit to this room. It led to Zulde’s bedchamber. They searched it and found a secret door that opened to a small closet. Inside they found her treasures. When they returned to the sanctuary, they searched the altar and found a ruby encrusted mace hidden in a secret compartment. Content that there was nothing else to be found, they gathered Cleon Denderton and returned to the gallery room with the seven petrified victims. Using Break Enchantment they returned two of them to life. These two, Gresha Aglarand and John Dalcar, had been trapped in stone since August 14, 495 AV. They recognized only one other member of their party, an elf named Pel Nistanya. The other four victims they did not know. For the rest of the day they got to know Gresha and John. They were in the Company of the Raven, and adventuring party out of Rowadin and members of the League of Extraordinary Treasure Seekers. They had been hired to take on a group of bandits that was harassing caravans on the road to Thunder Falls. They had defeated the bandits and found on them a map marked with an X that led them to this cave. The last thing they remembered seeing was the medusa’s gaze. The next morning, on January 17, 499 AV, Kyrie and Selia used Break Enchantment to free the rest of the petrified victims. After freeing them all, they filled them in on what had happened. In addition to Pel who was part of the Company of the Raven, there were the dwarves, Telcoren Brax and Melie Krandar, of the Fearless Delvers. They had been petrified on May 18, 497 AV. They had come here seeking a man named Marton Yinick, who was the older brother of one of their companions, Hansen Yinick. Marton had become a follower of Asmodeus after meeting with Meritas. The Fearless Delvers wanted to rescue him from Meritas and the devil worshipers and exact some measure of revenge against them. Cleon told them all that Marton Yinick was one of the men he had been traveling with. He had been killed yesterday by Haymin’s Heroes. The final two were a gnome named Gadri Nesben Farbis Wobblefen and a human named Vee Vicks. Gadri was part of the Steel Hearts. They came to the Petrified Cave from Thunder Falls after rumors of hidden treasure. Vee Vicks was a freelance adventurer who they had hired for help with possible locks and traps. They were petrified on March 25, 498 AV. It was agreed that they would all head for Rowadin. From there, Haymin’s Heroes would use Teleport to take those who wished it to Thunder Falls. They could all make their way from there. Before they left the Petrified Cave, though, Ladigo used Stone Shape to erase the pentagram in the sanctuary and to mold an image of a shield with two crossed scimitars, the holy symbol of Viribus, God of Valor, on to the altar.

Campaign

The Heart of Embril

Protagonists