Sessions 8-9: Wrath!

General Summary

SUNDAY, 28TH OF ROVA, 4707AR 6th DAY OF THE RISE OF THE RUNELORDS CAMPAIGN
Following Kikelback's dream and a trail of blood left by something that attacked the guard posted at the entrance to the Glassworks' secret smuggler's tunnel, the party finds a secret passage from the tunnels into an underground ancient structure beneath the houses of Sandpoint. It appears the passage, like some of the corridors at the Glassworks basement, was blocked by a brick wall that was recently breached and dismantled.

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The Catacombs of Wrath

Exploring the underground complex the Heroes of Sandpoint discover a sort of ancient prison where prisoners were tortured and possibly subjected to horrible experiments. The complex belonged to the Thassilonian Empire of Wrath under the rule of Runelord Alaznist who's impressive statue stands at one of the rooms at the complex.
The most astonishing find in the complex was no doubt the Cathedral of Wrath where stands one of Alaznist's secret runewells. Outside the Cathedral stands a shrine to Lamashtu, Goddess of Monsters who was one of the favorite goddesses among Thassilonians. Living in the Cathedral was a delusional Quasit by the name Eryllium. The Quasit was mentioned in Tsuto's journal as "the quasit and her freaks".
Other interesting features of the complex were prison cells, a torture/horror lab room, a room with pits containing zombies, a sphere room with no gravity and a fountain that magically clean itself. Stairwells that lead up and down collapsed in far antiquity and were impossible to pass though.

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The History of the Catacombs of Wrath

After reading the crumbling journals and ledgers you found in the Catacombs of Wrath, the sage Bordert Quink can tell you thus:

The Catacombs of Wrath:

This site you have found below the ground of our fair town was originally a laboratory and prison run by a cruel man named Xaliasa, who had given his soul to the demon queen Lamashtu in return for eldritch and dark powers. He was a cleric of Lamashtu in the service of Runelord Alaznist of Bakrakhan.
Something eventually drove Xaliasa mad, and he came to be known to his minions as the Scribbler. He seems to have perished in the catacombs themselves when Thassilon fell and Bakrakhan sank under the sea. Yet not all of his allies perished—his Quasit minion Erylium survived, as you well know, and she must be the one who left so many notes and scribbles in her Abyssal tongue on these old journals. You see, the little demon was trapped underground since Earthfall 10,000 years ago. No wonder she is mentally deranged as you described her. However, she had 10,000 years to study her old master's books and scrolls... so deranged yet dangerous I would say...

The Life of the Quasit Erylium

This is were things become more interesting. It took me hours to make sense of all of Erylium scribbles. There is no order in her thought process or in her writings... Its all a pile of, well, scribbles. Anyway, after spending centuries alone and trapped in the dark catacombs, our poor Erylium went somewhat insane as well. You can see it in her scribbling, that become less and less coherent as the centuries pass. At first she was obsessed with escaping, but she eventually came to
see the catacombs as her own private little empire. She writes about having subjects that moan in their little homes... I am not sure what she means by that. She also mentions the vargouille which you told me you encountered. First she feared it, but as time passed she discovered it does not wish to harm her. She begun to see this hideous creature as a guardian of her kingdom.
As years passed on the quasit pored over the crumbling texts and notes left behind by her master, and eventually became a sort of cleric herself, of Lamashtu of course, just as her master was so long ago.
Well, for thousands of years more, Erylium ruled her tiny realm with petty cruelty and glee. But then something happened that drove her over the edge as we say. I can't tell when that happened exactly, because she has completely lost track of time; for her it was all a single long darkness, she couldn't count days or nights. But anyway, someone broke into her kingdom - intruders caught the queen off guard! Somehow she managed to drive them away, but instead of chasing them and finding a way out, she celebrated her triumph. When she finally realized this could have been her escape route, it was already too late - the passage the intruders came through was blocked by a newly constructed wall.
Yet, that event had done the trick and broken the quasit out of her complacence. She begun planing for the next intruders to arrive. She discovered that if she sits quietly in a place she calls "the big stairs", she could hear the voices of "the enemy above". Obviously, she was listening to us, the good folk of Sandpoint, so these scribbles are from, well not longer than 60 years ago, more or less...
She also employed some magical or other means to spy on us. She mentions a flying creature that could come in and out of the catacombs. A small bird I presume... Once she even transformed into a tiny insect and got out by climbing through fallen rocks. She ended outside, in one of our streets! Who would have thought a demon was spying on us! Anyway she got terrified and rushed back down into her domain, thank Desna for that! She was pretty clever the little rusk...
Apparently she received messages from Lamashtu as well. These messages led Erylium to believe that something was coming, something that would provide her with a real army, and that her general was even now being groomed by Lamashtu for her glory.
And then something else happened. The runewell in the Cathedral of Wrath mysteriously reactivated itself. Erylium saw this as a sign, and as she had seen her master do 10,000 years ago, she used the runewell to call forth several monsters to aid her in the times to come. Soon thereafter, a woman with silver hair and violet eyes entered the catacombs and Erylium believed this was her general sent by Lamashtu. Erylium took to the role of mentor for that woman with pride.
Another interesting visitor in the catacombs that Erylium mentions in her notes is a goblin who was blessed by Lamashtu after drinking water from her shrine. Erylium found him quite amusing until she grew tired of him and sent him to live off the rats that sometimes wonder down there.

Report Date

07 Jul 2020

Primary Location

Sandpoint