The Mouth of Doom: Session 35

General Summary

The Façade of Decadence

The chamber looked to have all the trappings of decadence and opulence but lacked the actual wealth. Time could have taken the wraith’s riches or it could have been other adventurers. The Wrenjers stood just outside the chamber. After recovering from the magic the mage had sent, they ready themselves for battle. Vadim, the dragonborn bard, hadn’t stopped his music but for mere moments and as the shadowy smoke billowed out of the obsidian rod at his waist, the low deep bass beat started to pick up with the smoke. As Ansible emerged from the vapor, Vadim’s music reached a crescendo announcing to everyone that the aasimar warlock had joined the battle. Meanwhile, in a much less dramatic process, Leofric was informed by Inako that his companions had engaged the Master’s forces and that he should join them promptly. The temporal shift caused by the Brume had delayed the cleric’s arrival with the group. They had all teleported together, however, the pink haired cleric was delayed through time. With the group complete they turned their attention back to the servants of the Master.
In front of them, they could see two specters, a handful of skeletons and the wraith mage whose tomb they were now attacking. However, two more specters emerged from the walls in the antechamber. The specters looked to be paladins with one cleric. None of them were wielding holy symbols of the master but instead had the Inaethri of which they had served or worshiped in life. Easily getting her barings about her, Ansible flicked her wrist and sent a small bead of flame past her companions. The fireball erupted on the skeletons and the cleric and paladin of Ory. Taking out one of his magical arrows, Artem placed it in his bow and fired it at the mage before finding cover down the hall. Te’Leyuura had planned on following Ansible and dropping her own fireball upon the group; however, she also wanted to get closer to the mage as to be able to counter any magic they would throw at them. After sending a psychic whip into the paladin specter closest to her, the wizard moved right behind Jarvis and Zetwuzadi.
Reaching the landing, Leofric’s panther swiftly brought the Mender into the thick of it. He released his Spiritual Guardians, adding his power to the fight. Noticing the holy symbols on one of the paladins, Zetwuzadi started speaking a prayer to Iswa. While trying to reach the paladin near her, she moved up to the nearest skeleton and focused her skills on slaying the undead. Zetwuzadi then moved, partially closed one of the doors and remained near the front but partially protected by the ornate door. The skeletons split their focus on the two nearest Wrenjers, unfortunately for the wizard she now had no one in front of her for the arrows to hit. Jarvis dodged the arrows but Te’Leyuura took one arrow to the side before she sent magic out to protect herself from dying. Across the room, the wraith mage smiled when the wizard shielded and approached the group distorting the gravity at the center of the group. Somehow all but Artem withstood the sinking pull but all of them were heavily damaged, with the druid and wizard barley standing.
It was obvious that the Wrenjers were far too clustered. Before moving farther away, the bard, Vadim, tried to make the wraith laugh with a well timed joke but the creature was far too focused. Following Vadim’s action, Enya moved and healed herself. Jarvis was still holding the front line, using the ring he released the final stored spell and created a Moonbeam to help thin the undead horde. Still surrounding the group, the specters moved to attack but not before taking damage from the beam and guardians. Two approach Jarvis and miss the artificer while bringing their weapon through Enya trying to tear her soul but all she felt was the cold and the undead paladin trying to drain her inner fire. Ansible was targeted by the remaining specter, she got hit twice and part of her inner light was taken. Following the attack, the warlock focused on her weapon regaining some of her magic then moved out of the fray.
Loading another magically empowered arrow, the rogue steadied his breath and aimed for the wraith, unfortunately the mage wrapped themselves in magic and the arrow bounced right off. Te’Leyuura quickly realized her terrible decision on trying to be close enough to counter any of the magic the mage would throw at them and fell back, trying to place some distance between her and the undead but not before mind whipping the cleric of Ory. The Mender ducked out of sight of the hallway, brought out his pink flamed spiritual weapon and channeled the twilight to bolster his companions. As Leofric moved up to help the back group with the two specters, Zetwuzadi moved up, dragged Jarvis out of the front and shut the doors as they passed through. Simply stating that this should give them some respite from the skeletons before she turned her attention to one of the specters. Ignoring the damage as they marched through the moonbeam, the skeletons approached the shut doors and opened them. They then targeted the first wrenjer they spotted. The wizard landed on the stone floor as the wraith mage dropped another fireball upon the group. Ansible attempted to counter but the mage was prepared with their own magical reaction.
As the flames died around them, Vadim sent his own fiery explosion upon the undead, instantly slaying three of the skeletons and injuring more. Being inspired by the flames that had been burning mere moments ago, the fire druid brought down a flaming sphere on the two back specters. The artificer moved his sphere of radiant moonlight over the front two specters, the cleric of Ory discorporated in the magic while the other one moved up and laid into Jarvis, taking some of his lifeforce. Vadim was targeted by the other specters. The bard joined the wizard on the stone floor, luckily not drained enough to render them truly dead. From her position all Ansible could do was move cautiously away. The rogue understood that they needed to heal the wizard before Te’Leyuura succumbed to her wounds. He rushed up to Jarvis, grabbed the greater healing potion and fed it to the unconscious wizard. Artem then moved back, ducking into one of the side hallways. Standing up, Te’Leyuura glared down the hall before bringing a fireball upon the northern group of undead making sure to sculpt the fire around Jarvis, Zetwuzadi and herself. Leofric brought Vadim back into the fight before nailing one of the specters with his spiritual weapon. The paladin, Zetwuzadi, moved up and crushed the specter threatening the wizard and swung around and moved, smiting the last specter. With only the wraith and a handful of skeletons left, the paladin moved and set her attention on the wraith who tried to bring up magic around themselves to to block the blade but the wizard flicked her wrist and flipped off the mage when she countered the spell.
The skeletons turned their attention to the cleric who had been rather troublesome. Two arrows sunk deep into Leofric who lost their concentration of their aura. With the writing on the wall, the wraith mage dropped darkness upon the group and the group lost sight of the wraith. Well, all of them except Ansible who was blessed by their patron to peer through the darkness. The mage’s feeble attempt at cover was quickly dealt with as Vadim dispelled the magic. However, the creature now stood right next to the bard who had been marked for sacrifice. Jarvis missed his attack but gave the bard protection. Notching another magical arrow, Artem aimed and his perfectly placed arrow nearly killed the mage. From behind her, Zetwuzadi could see the approaching skeletons; however, the mage had been revealed with the dispelled darkness. Turning her attention to the mage, the paladin leapt over Leofric and brought her glaive across the wraith. With her final blow, the wraith’s essence was syphoned past them down the hallway and into the ornate sarcophagus. Zetwuzadi then moved up to the doors and shut them once again forcing the skeletons to move through the Moonbeam to open the doors. One of them succumbs to the radiant damage while the other boldly moved through, opened the door and stabbed the paladin. Vadim quickly responds by sending an arrow into it’s spine, launching it back to sizzle in the radiant energy.
As the sounds of battle died in the tomb the bard surveyed the room, shook his big reptilian head and bellowed his joy, startling some of the others. The scouts move about the bodies investigating them as well as the rooms. Meanwhile, Enya followed and started to burn the undead. Vadim, Te’Leyuura and Enya remained near the bottom of the stairs while the others focused on the magical traps on the main sarcophagus. Even as cautious as Artem and Jarvis were working one of the glyphs got triggered and those around the coffin only had a few moments to cover their ears as thunder exploded out of the sarcophagus. Artem’s ears fall back from both the sounds and his shame from slipping on the trap. Each coffin is looted. All of the specters had unique items.
With their task complete they all climb the stairs with the undead and their loot. Inako looked to be rather distracted as they approached the cavern but as they made their presence known, the Prime Thrall turned to them. Inako explained that their actions here helped save the other group from joining the ranks of the Master. It was clear that the other group did not fare well in the endeavor while they were able to clear the mage’s tomb. The Prime Thrall teleported them back outside the skull and left them there as she casted dimension door away. Those who could recognize the spell might have thought it rather odd but it seemed that the wizard had used up her resources and would have to teleport differently and did not want prying eyes on the runes.
They stowed the bodies on Erukoesk and moved slowly through the forest back to Castle Calaelen. The rain was still driving, the Vrokíva tropical storm fully landlocked. On their way back they talked about what they went through and how they believed they might be called on again to help deal with the Master’s minions. By the time they trudged through the mud and rain, Arddan was waiting for them. Enya stepped away to prepare some lasagna for the group as the party made their way up to their war room. Before they got too far into discussing what they were asked to help with, Arddan informed them that they had gotten instructions from Kobeck to share their mission with those stationed at the castle. The Ready Wrenjers have been informed and instructed to protect the castle. Now they can now seek wisdom, guidance and share with their mentors if they wished.
Zetwuzadi looked to Ansible, the senior Wrenjer amongst the group, but as she turned she remembered that the warlock had been recalled into the obsidian rod and had only emerged while they were fighting the wraith. Her realization was clear on her face when she turned back to Arddan and started explaining rather bluntly what had occurred. Arddan used magic to recreate what the paladin was explaining to him and changing parts when situations were described. Meanwhile Te’Leyuura was sitting comfortably on the couch with a variety of objects around her. Her spellbook opened to the ritual of identify and she was clutching a pearl when Zetwuzadi brought up the Wrenjer warhammer they had found in one of the sarcophagus. It was laying next to the wizard as she was going to focus on the weapon next. Arddan approached and examined the weapon. The maker’s mark has been smeared and the style was obviously half millenia old. There weren’t any songs or stories about anyone who had wielded this weapon but they do learn that during times of rest the Wrenjers often spent time making weapons and bolstering their resources. Arddan explained that the cleric who had it must have found it. Zetwuzadi described that all of the undead were stronger and further explained what they had experienced in the dungeon before Inako’s call for help. She brings up the black skeleton and the altar. Arddan described that it was always worth a try to bring down those dark magic. Rhoxyl was summoned to examine Vadim’s wound. Vadim informed the cleric that they felt like the specter had taken something from him during the battle. Rhoxyl moved around the group and informed them that they would feel better in the morning.
Enya brought her feet up and curled in her chair listening to everyone speak. Her eyes slowly closed before she jerked awake and refocused. Circling the conversation back to the person who had asked for their help. Inako was known to Arddan. In Kaido they believed that everything had a spirit and that their ancestors’ spirits were precious and it was an honor to study necromancy to preserve the dead and safeguard their afterlife. The rumor that Arddan had heard was that Inako had been given this responsibility over her family and that the Shrike grabbed their entire family, every dead and interred soul that belonged to their lineage. The Shrike used deplorable ways to make people serve them. He warns them that the people under his employ might backstab them but that they should take solace with what they had accomplished today.
They once again focus their conversation on what their task was and they talk about the other group’s task. The other group was attacking the Upper Temple of the Master. If it was similar to the Mausoleum of Graves the power of the Master was split into different locations. In Tsar there were three the Upper, Middle, and Lower temples and as the deeper the temple resided the more power the Master invested. In some of the stories they described the Master making a physical appearance. The Army of Light had to fight an incarnation. As the evening closes and the Wrenjers wrap up their conversations, Arddan mentions that it was always great to see them.

Report Date

12 Jun 2021