Session Eight: The Cassalanters.
General Summary
The session started with the party at the Trollskull Manor planning their morning activities around Guildhall Day. Each party member was looking at upgrading their gear and asked Nyx if she would be able to help them bargain hunt for the items. The party leaves the Trollskull Manor and stop at various magic shops to shop. On the way to the shops, Friac sees several children exciting talking about receiving invitations to the Cassalanter’s Guildhall Day celebration. Friac approaches the children and asks them if he could play with them. Scared at seeing a goblin with wings, the children run off screaming. Noticing the city watch eyeing him, Friac picks up one of the invitations dropped by the children and returns to the party.
After a successful morning of purchasing new magical items thanks to Nyx incredible negotiation skills the party returned back to the Trollskull Manor for a few drinks and lunch. During lunch, Barnibus Blastwind arrived at the manor and makes his way over to the party. Valna, not to thrilled to see him, extended a half sincere greeting to him. Barnibus tells Valna he heard she did a good deed the day prior, but wanted to check in with her to make sure she was staying out of trouble. Valna acknowledge the party was able to recover the stolen gold and she was trying to stay out of trouble. Nyx offers for Barnibus to join them for lunch, but Barnibus declines saying he was just checking in on Valna and he had other matters to attend to.
As Barnibus leaves the manor, Valna decided to change the subject and tells the party the Book of Aethos finally reveals itself to her. She tells the party the book has told her about her family sword Twilight, Dark Blade of Justice. The sword was buried with the last wielder, Aedwar, in the Halls of Heroes. Nyx tells Valna she can try to consult the Stone of Golorr to determine if it has any knowledge about the sword or the Halls of Heroes. Sneachta suggests Valna inquire about the Halls of Heroes or Twilight at the Temple of Tempus or Temple of Torm. Valna agrees to go to the temples with Sneachta and Nyx after lunch.
After Valna finishes, Cora tells the party Iris, her animal companion, told her about the time before Cora rescued her from the circus. Cora explains to the party Iris was captured by a group of rangers called Darkstriders and they turned her over to a transporter name Zardoz. She was transported by wagon and then by ship which contained other exotic and magical creatures. When she was delivered to Floyd’s Side Show she was turned over to another dark elf named Fel’rekt. Iris was afraid of Fel’rekt because he had red eyes and the ability to drain creatures. Fel’rekt was the real operator of the Side Show using Floyd as a puppet. Floyd did everything Fel’rekt asked. Fel’rekt was using the captured creatures to lure people into the show. He would capture a few of them. When Fel’rekt was done with the people he would drain them. The Serpent’s Eye was a cargo ship which Zardoz was using to ship several animal. According to the Captain’s log the ship was to sail to Saltmarsh and drop of the animals. The party theorizes the animals are connected to Fredrick’s Marvelous Carnival of Wonders which going to be there in a few days. Cora tells the party she is planning to attend to see if she can find more information on Zardoz or Fel’rekt in order to stop them.
After lunch, Nyx, Sneachta and Valna travel to the Temple of Tempus. At the temple, they meet Prior Maxtilar Rhebbos. After giving a donation to the temple, Valna asks about the Halls of Heroes. Prior Rhebbos tells Valna it was a sacred burial grounds were heroes of the differently good aligned gods were laid to rest. A few years ago the Halls of Heroes was tainted by an unknown source which caused the shadow plane to pour into the burial grounds. The energy from the shadow plane allowed creatures of the dark origin take root in the Halls and some of the heroes were reported to have risen in an undead state. The temples decided to close the burial site because of the evil influence for the safety of all. Only those who are granted special permission will be allowed through the gates of the burial grounds and access to the Halls. Prior Rhebbos tells Valna he will consult with High Sword Turik Bloodhelm to see if he will give his blessing to grant Valna access to the site. Valna, Nyx and Sneachta thanks Prior Rhebbos and make their way over to the Halls of Justice, the temple for Torm.
At the Halls of Justice, Valna talked to one of the priest of Torm about Eyria. The priest was concerned about the line of questioning and retrieved Hammer Lord Hykros Allumen, the temple’s elder, to talk to Valna. Hammer Lord Allumen refuses to answer any questions or acknowledge anything about Eyria. Nyx tried a different approach but was met with the same stonewalling from Hammer Lord Allumen. The three decided to leave after seeing they were not going to obtain any information from the temple and return back to the Trollskull Manor.
At the manor, the party decided they need to investigate the party the Cassalanters are throwing in honor of Guildhall Day. Nyx tells the party she is going to consult with a source which may help with some insider knowledge about the cult. Nyx leaves and visits Vaelle Lurval. Vaelle tells Nyx she is happy those who killed her boyfriend received justice and she is no longer part of the cult. Nyx asks Vaella about the Cassalanters and the cult. Vaella informs Nyx the Cassalanters had a special ritual planned for Guildhall Day but she did not know what it was as she was a low level member. Vaella instructs Nyx how to enter the temple, the general layout and gives Nyx her cult items. She wishes Nyx luck as the Cassalanters are dangerous people. Nyx returns back to the Trollskull Manor to inform the party what she found out.
The party decided it was best Nyx enters as Vaella and the rest of the party enter using fraudulent copies of the party invitation Friac found. The party gives Nyx their armor and weapons to smuggle in so they do not raise any suspicion. The party gears up and leaves the manor to investigate the Cassalanters.
Sneachta, Cannella, Friac, Valna and Cora all arrive at the Cassalanter’s Villa and presents the guards with their invitation. The party notices the guards doesn’t give the invitations a second notices before they are escorted to the courtyard of the villa where several tents are setup and hundreds of families are partaking in eating, drinking, dancing and games. Checking the surrounding area they noticed the guards keeps the families confined to the courtyard as the wealthier people are escorted into the manor house. Sneachta and Valna decide to sample some of the food and drinks with Cora. Cora, before eating her food, casts purify food and drink.
Nyx, disguised as Vaelle, enters the side gate and is escorted into the manor house by the guards. Inside Nyx sees a large group of wealth people indulging in the finest foods and wines. They remark jokingly how noble the Cassalanters are to entertain the lesser folks. Nyx moves around the manor and locates the cellar and goes down to find entrance to the temple. She encounters a guard protecting the door to the temple. Nyx tries to gain access to the temple but the guard tells her it is not time yet and to return later and he will allow her to enter. Nyx returns back upstairs and mingles with the guest.
Back outside in the courtyard, Friac sees the children he saw earlier playing and approaches them. As he approaches he tells the children he wants to play with them. Scared at seeing the goblin again, the children run off screaming in terror which draws the scrutiny of the guards. They approach Friac and ask to see his invitation. After scanning the invitation for a few minutes, the guards tell Friac he needs to follow them as they have a secondary arrangement for him. Cora and Sneachta see Friac being escorted into the manor by the guards and alert Nyx.
Inside the manor, Nyx sees Friac enter the manor with the guards and he is quickly escorted down to the cellar by the guards. Friac is escorted to the entrance of temple where the guards open the door and on the other side is a bone devil. The guards tell the bone devil he is a prisoner and to escort him to the cell with the other one. Friac is escort through the temple and placed into a cell. After being locked in, Friac noticed he was not alone and notices a human male with long blond hair which looked like he was tortured. Friac doesn’t recognize the human until the human male recognizes Friac and cries out that he is Renaer. He tells Friac the Cassalanters kidnapped him and are demanding the stolen gold. They somehow found out the stolen gold was retrieved. Friac inspects the room trying to decide how to escape.
Back outside, Cora concern as to where the guards took Friac, approached the guards at the manor and asked where her friend was taken. After getting into a confrontation with the guards, the guards summon for Lady Ammalia Cassalanter. Ammalia arrives and tries to convince Cora Friac went home because he was not feeling well. Cora detected Ammalia tried to do some type of magical compulsion on her. Cora, getting extremely vocal with Ammalia and the guards, starts to attract the attention of the party goers. Ammalia appeared to get frustrated with Cora before Lord Victoro Cassalanter appears behind her. He asks Ammalia what is wrong and Ammalia tells Victoro Cora is concerned about her friend who went home but she is not taking her word. Victoro looks at Cora and asks her if she was sure she came with a friend. Cora stops for a minute and cannot remember why she was arguing with Ammalia. Somehow her memory of Friac was wiped from her memory and she does not even know who Friac is. Confused, Cora leaves and makes her way back to the tents where Sneachta and Valna asked her what happened. They share a concern at Cora having no knowledge of Friac.
Back inside, after finding out what happened via message outside, Nyx makes a move to find Friac. Nyx makes her way back downstairs to the entrance to the temple. She encounters the guard again and the guard halts her. Nyx is able to bluff the guard by telling him she is to interrogate the prisoners to see if they were alone. The guard opens the door and tells the bone devil to escort her down to the cells. Nyx is escorted to the cell where Friac is located. As Nyx enters the cell, she notices Friac trying to break Renaer from his shackles. Nyx steps in front of the guard so he does not see it as he closes the door. Nyx talks to Friac and he points out he still had his bombs and was going to blast the door open. Nyx tells Friac to wait as she opens Renaer’s shackles. Figuring a safer way to get Friac and Renaer out of the cell, Nyx has both of them go into her belt of many pockets. Once Friac and Renaer are secured, Nyx noticing there is no lock on the door and casts knock on the door forcing it open. The guard quickly calls out for a chain devil lurking nearby as he did not expect the door to be forced open. Nyx tells the guard he failed to open the door and she needed to report the information she had. As the guard looks into the door, Nyx casts an illusion to make it appear Friac and Renaer are still in the cell. The guard angrily slams the door and tells Nyx to be on her way. Nyx returns back upstairs.
Back outside in the courtyard, several servants exit the manor with an elaborate dinner for the poor families. As they are setting up the food, Lady Ammalia addresses the families from the balcony. She tells the families she is happy they were able to come and she wants them to enjoy the dinner she had made for them. At the end of the night Lady Ammalia tells the families she has something special for them. Cora, sensing something maybe off with the food, cast detect poison and finds out the food in the tent she is in was poisoned. Sneachta decided to act and grabbed a man standing next to the buffet table and accused him of insulting his wife. The man startled by Sneachta failed to react as Sneachta picks him up and drags him down the buffet table knocking food and drink off the table. The guards quickly act closing in on Sneachta pulling him off the man. The guards tell Sneachta he will need to follow them. As the guards push Sneachta forward, Sneachta kicks the man on the ground breaking both of his legs. The guards angrily push Sneachta out of the tent and towards the manor. Valna seeing the man’s son crying over the injuries inflicted by Sneachta makes her way over and performs lay on hands healing the man’s legs.
Cora, in the other tent, sees the guards are momentarily distracted and lights her staff. She moves over to the buffet table and catches the table on fire. Panic begins to build as the people in the tent sees the fire and run out of the tent. Cora steps out of the tent and prepares to cast a wind spell to shift the fire to the other tent when she is stopped by a guard. He asks her what she is doing and Cora convinces him she is trying to put out the flames. He allows her to complete her spell cause the fire to jump to the other tent. When the guard realizes what happen Cora shrugs her shoulders and said she made a mistake. The guard’s attention is drawn away as the head of the guards begins to shout out orders.
The guards begin to round up the families and move them to the opposite side of the courtyard where the guards begin to detain them. Valna watches as Sneatcha is escorted into the manor house. She notices she is one of the few remaining people in the center courtyard. The head of the guard addresses the families telling them Lady Ammalia has discovered the Zhentarim has sent agents to disrupt the party, but they have discovered them and working to detain them. Valna, hearing the head of the guard, approaches the guard and address the families. Valna tells the families they are in danger and the Cassalanders are lying to them. Surprised by Valna’s boldness, the head of the guard tries to counter Valna by accusing her as being a Zhentarim agent. He fails to make his point and the families start to question why they are being detained and why Lady Ammalia is not out there. Panic ensues as from the guest house what appears to be Friac comes rushing out from it and approaches the families. The guards yell as Friac grabs a boy and runs off with him back towards the guest house. Several guards run after Friac but are unable to grab him as he gets back to the guest house and locks the door. In horror, the families watch as Friac appears on the upper balcony with the boy. Friac yells the Zhentarim is here to eat your children and destroy the rich. Friac then takes a bite out of the boy’s throat and throws him off the balcony where the boy hits the ground with a sickly thud. There are cries from the families to seize Valna as the head of the guards echoes she is the head Zhentarim agent responsible for the boy’s death. Cora seeing things are starting to get out of hand wild shapes into a bird and flies to Barnibus’s office to see if he can aid in saving the families.
Inside the manor, Nyx was upstairs looking for a possible way to get the others in the manor when she hears the commotion outside and finds out Sneachta has been captured by the guards. She tells the other to continue causing problems as she casts a spell unleashing monkeys to cause a distraction. As Nyx makes her way down to the main floor, she sees the manor empty. From below she can hear a low chant echoing from the cellar. Nyx stops and releases Friac from the belt and then continue down to the cellar.
While being escorted down the stairs, Sneachta decided to make a move and threw a punch towards the two guards in front of him. Sneachta connects with a flurry of blows kill the guards and knocking them down the stairs. Seeing Sneachta destroying the guards in front of them, the rest of the guards lurched forward causing the whole group to tumble down the stairs. Sneachta tries to untangle himself when Friac, from the stairs above, throws a bomb down at the guards below blowing them to pieces. Friac and Nyx go down the stairs and help Sneachta up. They all hear the low chanting coming from the temple. Nyx gives Sneachta the weapons and armor she was holding. Nyx and Friac decided to head down to the temple while Sneachta goes upstairs and gets the other.
Outside, Valna sees several of the families begin to cry out in pain as they collapse to the ground. A blue foam can be seen coming out of mouths of some of the people. Other are vomiting and convulsing. Valna feels sick and realizes the food from earlier was poisoned. Feeling exposed without her armor and weapons and seeing the guards closing in on her, Valna makes a break for the manor house. One of the guards was quick enough and gets a hard hit on Valna slicing her belly exposing her intestines. Valna stumbles to the door and met by Sneachta. Sneachta holds the door closed while Valna heals and dons her armor.
While flying to Barnibus’s office, Cora notices Barnibus with a squad of city guard were making their way to the villa. Cora decides to turn around and head back to the villa to see if she can help as Barnibus is on his way. Cora gets to the villa in time to spot Valna enter the manor door. Cora flies down and changes back to her true form while knocking on the door. Sneachta lets Cora and Cannella into the manor. They notice none of the guards are pursing them but they decided to bar the door. After gearing up they make their way to the temple below.
Nyx and Friac sneak their way back into the temple. They manage to sneak past the chain devil near the cells and travel down a second set of stairways towards the sound of the chanting. They are spotted by a bone devil as they try to sneak up the corridor. A fight breaks out between Nyx, Friac and the bone devil. Several hard blows connect on both sides as both sides try to gain the upper hand. Nyx and Friac ultimately strike down the bone devil. They push forward into the main ceremonial hall. Here they see Lord Victoro and Lady Ammalia leading a ritual in front of a statue of a demon. Below it is a large copper bowl with flames coming out of it. Above the bowl there is a portal open to the shadow plane. Cultist lines both sides of the chamber joining together in a rhythmical chant. They arrive to see Lord Victoro slit the throat of a human male as he is thrown into the bowl.
Nyx and Friac attempt to sneak up into the chamber but are discovered by a guard. A fight breaks out as Nyx fights the guard and Friac starts throwing bombs at cultist. Nyx was able to kill the guard and begin to move forward towards the Cassalanters as Cannella, Valna, Cora and Sneachta enter the chamber. The party turns their attention towards Lady Ammalia as the race to try to stop the ritual. Lord Victoro spots Cannella, Valna, Cora and Sneachta enter the chamber and unleash a fire ball on them. Fighting through the explosion of the fireball, the party attacks Lady Ammalia killing her. Lord Victoro angered at the death of his wife, unleashes a prismatic ray at the group with devastating results. A blue ray hits Sneachta causing him to turn to stone. A yellow ray hits Nyx, Cora and Valna causing them to be blind and almost killing Valna and Nyx. Cora unable to see, tries to heal herself as Nyx’s familiar try to heal from afar. Cannella moves up and offers healing as Friac is hit by a compulsion spell. Friac is commanded by Lord Victoro to finish the ritual. Friac complies and crawls into the bowl while taking damage from the fire. Cora and Cannella hear cries of panic from above as flames overwhelm Friac knocking him down. Cora, Cannella, Valna and Nyx watch as the portal pours into the chamber before closing. Lord Victoro smiles as the ritual was completed and teleports away. The party collect their thoughts as they see all the cultists were drain of life include the wealthy members in the chamber above. Nyx transports Sneachta above to see if they can reverse the spell and talk to Barnibus. The rest of the party decided to explore the temple to see if they can retrieve anything which may explain what happen and will help them later.
Session ended.
After a successful morning of purchasing new magical items thanks to Nyx incredible negotiation skills the party returned back to the Trollskull Manor for a few drinks and lunch. During lunch, Barnibus Blastwind arrived at the manor and makes his way over to the party. Valna, not to thrilled to see him, extended a half sincere greeting to him. Barnibus tells Valna he heard she did a good deed the day prior, but wanted to check in with her to make sure she was staying out of trouble. Valna acknowledge the party was able to recover the stolen gold and she was trying to stay out of trouble. Nyx offers for Barnibus to join them for lunch, but Barnibus declines saying he was just checking in on Valna and he had other matters to attend to.
As Barnibus leaves the manor, Valna decided to change the subject and tells the party the Book of Aethos finally reveals itself to her. She tells the party the book has told her about her family sword Twilight, Dark Blade of Justice. The sword was buried with the last wielder, Aedwar, in the Halls of Heroes. Nyx tells Valna she can try to consult the Stone of Golorr to determine if it has any knowledge about the sword or the Halls of Heroes. Sneachta suggests Valna inquire about the Halls of Heroes or Twilight at the Temple of Tempus or Temple of Torm. Valna agrees to go to the temples with Sneachta and Nyx after lunch.
After Valna finishes, Cora tells the party Iris, her animal companion, told her about the time before Cora rescued her from the circus. Cora explains to the party Iris was captured by a group of rangers called Darkstriders and they turned her over to a transporter name Zardoz. She was transported by wagon and then by ship which contained other exotic and magical creatures. When she was delivered to Floyd’s Side Show she was turned over to another dark elf named Fel’rekt. Iris was afraid of Fel’rekt because he had red eyes and the ability to drain creatures. Fel’rekt was the real operator of the Side Show using Floyd as a puppet. Floyd did everything Fel’rekt asked. Fel’rekt was using the captured creatures to lure people into the show. He would capture a few of them. When Fel’rekt was done with the people he would drain them. The Serpent’s Eye was a cargo ship which Zardoz was using to ship several animal. According to the Captain’s log the ship was to sail to Saltmarsh and drop of the animals. The party theorizes the animals are connected to Fredrick’s Marvelous Carnival of Wonders which going to be there in a few days. Cora tells the party she is planning to attend to see if she can find more information on Zardoz or Fel’rekt in order to stop them.
After lunch, Nyx, Sneachta and Valna travel to the Temple of Tempus. At the temple, they meet Prior Maxtilar Rhebbos. After giving a donation to the temple, Valna asks about the Halls of Heroes. Prior Rhebbos tells Valna it was a sacred burial grounds were heroes of the differently good aligned gods were laid to rest. A few years ago the Halls of Heroes was tainted by an unknown source which caused the shadow plane to pour into the burial grounds. The energy from the shadow plane allowed creatures of the dark origin take root in the Halls and some of the heroes were reported to have risen in an undead state. The temples decided to close the burial site because of the evil influence for the safety of all. Only those who are granted special permission will be allowed through the gates of the burial grounds and access to the Halls. Prior Rhebbos tells Valna he will consult with High Sword Turik Bloodhelm to see if he will give his blessing to grant Valna access to the site. Valna, Nyx and Sneachta thanks Prior Rhebbos and make their way over to the Halls of Justice, the temple for Torm.
At the Halls of Justice, Valna talked to one of the priest of Torm about Eyria. The priest was concerned about the line of questioning and retrieved Hammer Lord Hykros Allumen, the temple’s elder, to talk to Valna. Hammer Lord Allumen refuses to answer any questions or acknowledge anything about Eyria. Nyx tried a different approach but was met with the same stonewalling from Hammer Lord Allumen. The three decided to leave after seeing they were not going to obtain any information from the temple and return back to the Trollskull Manor.
At the manor, the party decided they need to investigate the party the Cassalanters are throwing in honor of Guildhall Day. Nyx tells the party she is going to consult with a source which may help with some insider knowledge about the cult. Nyx leaves and visits Vaelle Lurval. Vaelle tells Nyx she is happy those who killed her boyfriend received justice and she is no longer part of the cult. Nyx asks Vaella about the Cassalanters and the cult. Vaella informs Nyx the Cassalanters had a special ritual planned for Guildhall Day but she did not know what it was as she was a low level member. Vaella instructs Nyx how to enter the temple, the general layout and gives Nyx her cult items. She wishes Nyx luck as the Cassalanters are dangerous people. Nyx returns back to the Trollskull Manor to inform the party what she found out.
The party decided it was best Nyx enters as Vaella and the rest of the party enter using fraudulent copies of the party invitation Friac found. The party gives Nyx their armor and weapons to smuggle in so they do not raise any suspicion. The party gears up and leaves the manor to investigate the Cassalanters.
Sneachta, Cannella, Friac, Valna and Cora all arrive at the Cassalanter’s Villa and presents the guards with their invitation. The party notices the guards doesn’t give the invitations a second notices before they are escorted to the courtyard of the villa where several tents are setup and hundreds of families are partaking in eating, drinking, dancing and games. Checking the surrounding area they noticed the guards keeps the families confined to the courtyard as the wealthier people are escorted into the manor house. Sneachta and Valna decide to sample some of the food and drinks with Cora. Cora, before eating her food, casts purify food and drink.
Nyx, disguised as Vaelle, enters the side gate and is escorted into the manor house by the guards. Inside Nyx sees a large group of wealth people indulging in the finest foods and wines. They remark jokingly how noble the Cassalanters are to entertain the lesser folks. Nyx moves around the manor and locates the cellar and goes down to find entrance to the temple. She encounters a guard protecting the door to the temple. Nyx tries to gain access to the temple but the guard tells her it is not time yet and to return later and he will allow her to enter. Nyx returns back upstairs and mingles with the guest.
Back outside in the courtyard, Friac sees the children he saw earlier playing and approaches them. As he approaches he tells the children he wants to play with them. Scared at seeing the goblin again, the children run off screaming in terror which draws the scrutiny of the guards. They approach Friac and ask to see his invitation. After scanning the invitation for a few minutes, the guards tell Friac he needs to follow them as they have a secondary arrangement for him. Cora and Sneachta see Friac being escorted into the manor by the guards and alert Nyx.
Inside the manor, Nyx sees Friac enter the manor with the guards and he is quickly escorted down to the cellar by the guards. Friac is escorted to the entrance of temple where the guards open the door and on the other side is a bone devil. The guards tell the bone devil he is a prisoner and to escort him to the cell with the other one. Friac is escort through the temple and placed into a cell. After being locked in, Friac noticed he was not alone and notices a human male with long blond hair which looked like he was tortured. Friac doesn’t recognize the human until the human male recognizes Friac and cries out that he is Renaer. He tells Friac the Cassalanters kidnapped him and are demanding the stolen gold. They somehow found out the stolen gold was retrieved. Friac inspects the room trying to decide how to escape.
Back outside, Cora concern as to where the guards took Friac, approached the guards at the manor and asked where her friend was taken. After getting into a confrontation with the guards, the guards summon for Lady Ammalia Cassalanter. Ammalia arrives and tries to convince Cora Friac went home because he was not feeling well. Cora detected Ammalia tried to do some type of magical compulsion on her. Cora, getting extremely vocal with Ammalia and the guards, starts to attract the attention of the party goers. Ammalia appeared to get frustrated with Cora before Lord Victoro Cassalanter appears behind her. He asks Ammalia what is wrong and Ammalia tells Victoro Cora is concerned about her friend who went home but she is not taking her word. Victoro looks at Cora and asks her if she was sure she came with a friend. Cora stops for a minute and cannot remember why she was arguing with Ammalia. Somehow her memory of Friac was wiped from her memory and she does not even know who Friac is. Confused, Cora leaves and makes her way back to the tents where Sneachta and Valna asked her what happened. They share a concern at Cora having no knowledge of Friac.
Back inside, after finding out what happened via message outside, Nyx makes a move to find Friac. Nyx makes her way back downstairs to the entrance to the temple. She encounters the guard again and the guard halts her. Nyx is able to bluff the guard by telling him she is to interrogate the prisoners to see if they were alone. The guard opens the door and tells the bone devil to escort her down to the cells. Nyx is escorted to the cell where Friac is located. As Nyx enters the cell, she notices Friac trying to break Renaer from his shackles. Nyx steps in front of the guard so he does not see it as he closes the door. Nyx talks to Friac and he points out he still had his bombs and was going to blast the door open. Nyx tells Friac to wait as she opens Renaer’s shackles. Figuring a safer way to get Friac and Renaer out of the cell, Nyx has both of them go into her belt of many pockets. Once Friac and Renaer are secured, Nyx noticing there is no lock on the door and casts knock on the door forcing it open. The guard quickly calls out for a chain devil lurking nearby as he did not expect the door to be forced open. Nyx tells the guard he failed to open the door and she needed to report the information she had. As the guard looks into the door, Nyx casts an illusion to make it appear Friac and Renaer are still in the cell. The guard angrily slams the door and tells Nyx to be on her way. Nyx returns back upstairs.
Back outside in the courtyard, several servants exit the manor with an elaborate dinner for the poor families. As they are setting up the food, Lady Ammalia addresses the families from the balcony. She tells the families she is happy they were able to come and she wants them to enjoy the dinner she had made for them. At the end of the night Lady Ammalia tells the families she has something special for them. Cora, sensing something maybe off with the food, cast detect poison and finds out the food in the tent she is in was poisoned. Sneachta decided to act and grabbed a man standing next to the buffet table and accused him of insulting his wife. The man startled by Sneachta failed to react as Sneachta picks him up and drags him down the buffet table knocking food and drink off the table. The guards quickly act closing in on Sneachta pulling him off the man. The guards tell Sneachta he will need to follow them. As the guards push Sneachta forward, Sneachta kicks the man on the ground breaking both of his legs. The guards angrily push Sneachta out of the tent and towards the manor. Valna seeing the man’s son crying over the injuries inflicted by Sneachta makes her way over and performs lay on hands healing the man’s legs.
Cora, in the other tent, sees the guards are momentarily distracted and lights her staff. She moves over to the buffet table and catches the table on fire. Panic begins to build as the people in the tent sees the fire and run out of the tent. Cora steps out of the tent and prepares to cast a wind spell to shift the fire to the other tent when she is stopped by a guard. He asks her what she is doing and Cora convinces him she is trying to put out the flames. He allows her to complete her spell cause the fire to jump to the other tent. When the guard realizes what happen Cora shrugs her shoulders and said she made a mistake. The guard’s attention is drawn away as the head of the guards begins to shout out orders.
The guards begin to round up the families and move them to the opposite side of the courtyard where the guards begin to detain them. Valna watches as Sneatcha is escorted into the manor house. She notices she is one of the few remaining people in the center courtyard. The head of the guard addresses the families telling them Lady Ammalia has discovered the Zhentarim has sent agents to disrupt the party, but they have discovered them and working to detain them. Valna, hearing the head of the guard, approaches the guard and address the families. Valna tells the families they are in danger and the Cassalanders are lying to them. Surprised by Valna’s boldness, the head of the guard tries to counter Valna by accusing her as being a Zhentarim agent. He fails to make his point and the families start to question why they are being detained and why Lady Ammalia is not out there. Panic ensues as from the guest house what appears to be Friac comes rushing out from it and approaches the families. The guards yell as Friac grabs a boy and runs off with him back towards the guest house. Several guards run after Friac but are unable to grab him as he gets back to the guest house and locks the door. In horror, the families watch as Friac appears on the upper balcony with the boy. Friac yells the Zhentarim is here to eat your children and destroy the rich. Friac then takes a bite out of the boy’s throat and throws him off the balcony where the boy hits the ground with a sickly thud. There are cries from the families to seize Valna as the head of the guards echoes she is the head Zhentarim agent responsible for the boy’s death. Cora seeing things are starting to get out of hand wild shapes into a bird and flies to Barnibus’s office to see if he can aid in saving the families.
Inside the manor, Nyx was upstairs looking for a possible way to get the others in the manor when she hears the commotion outside and finds out Sneachta has been captured by the guards. She tells the other to continue causing problems as she casts a spell unleashing monkeys to cause a distraction. As Nyx makes her way down to the main floor, she sees the manor empty. From below she can hear a low chant echoing from the cellar. Nyx stops and releases Friac from the belt and then continue down to the cellar.
While being escorted down the stairs, Sneachta decided to make a move and threw a punch towards the two guards in front of him. Sneachta connects with a flurry of blows kill the guards and knocking them down the stairs. Seeing Sneachta destroying the guards in front of them, the rest of the guards lurched forward causing the whole group to tumble down the stairs. Sneachta tries to untangle himself when Friac, from the stairs above, throws a bomb down at the guards below blowing them to pieces. Friac and Nyx go down the stairs and help Sneachta up. They all hear the low chanting coming from the temple. Nyx gives Sneachta the weapons and armor she was holding. Nyx and Friac decided to head down to the temple while Sneachta goes upstairs and gets the other.
Outside, Valna sees several of the families begin to cry out in pain as they collapse to the ground. A blue foam can be seen coming out of mouths of some of the people. Other are vomiting and convulsing. Valna feels sick and realizes the food from earlier was poisoned. Feeling exposed without her armor and weapons and seeing the guards closing in on her, Valna makes a break for the manor house. One of the guards was quick enough and gets a hard hit on Valna slicing her belly exposing her intestines. Valna stumbles to the door and met by Sneachta. Sneachta holds the door closed while Valna heals and dons her armor.
While flying to Barnibus’s office, Cora notices Barnibus with a squad of city guard were making their way to the villa. Cora decides to turn around and head back to the villa to see if she can help as Barnibus is on his way. Cora gets to the villa in time to spot Valna enter the manor door. Cora flies down and changes back to her true form while knocking on the door. Sneachta lets Cora and Cannella into the manor. They notice none of the guards are pursing them but they decided to bar the door. After gearing up they make their way to the temple below.
Nyx and Friac sneak their way back into the temple. They manage to sneak past the chain devil near the cells and travel down a second set of stairways towards the sound of the chanting. They are spotted by a bone devil as they try to sneak up the corridor. A fight breaks out between Nyx, Friac and the bone devil. Several hard blows connect on both sides as both sides try to gain the upper hand. Nyx and Friac ultimately strike down the bone devil. They push forward into the main ceremonial hall. Here they see Lord Victoro and Lady Ammalia leading a ritual in front of a statue of a demon. Below it is a large copper bowl with flames coming out of it. Above the bowl there is a portal open to the shadow plane. Cultist lines both sides of the chamber joining together in a rhythmical chant. They arrive to see Lord Victoro slit the throat of a human male as he is thrown into the bowl.
Nyx and Friac attempt to sneak up into the chamber but are discovered by a guard. A fight breaks out as Nyx fights the guard and Friac starts throwing bombs at cultist. Nyx was able to kill the guard and begin to move forward towards the Cassalanters as Cannella, Valna, Cora and Sneachta enter the chamber. The party turns their attention towards Lady Ammalia as the race to try to stop the ritual. Lord Victoro spots Cannella, Valna, Cora and Sneachta enter the chamber and unleash a fire ball on them. Fighting through the explosion of the fireball, the party attacks Lady Ammalia killing her. Lord Victoro angered at the death of his wife, unleashes a prismatic ray at the group with devastating results. A blue ray hits Sneachta causing him to turn to stone. A yellow ray hits Nyx, Cora and Valna causing them to be blind and almost killing Valna and Nyx. Cora unable to see, tries to heal herself as Nyx’s familiar try to heal from afar. Cannella moves up and offers healing as Friac is hit by a compulsion spell. Friac is commanded by Lord Victoro to finish the ritual. Friac complies and crawls into the bowl while taking damage from the fire. Cora and Cannella hear cries of panic from above as flames overwhelm Friac knocking him down. Cora, Cannella, Valna and Nyx watch as the portal pours into the chamber before closing. Lord Victoro smiles as the ritual was completed and teleports away. The party collect their thoughts as they see all the cultists were drain of life include the wealthy members in the chamber above. Nyx transports Sneachta above to see if they can reverse the spell and talk to Barnibus. The rest of the party decided to explore the temple to see if they can retrieve anything which may explain what happen and will help them later.
Session ended.
Rewards Granted
Experience for the session: 3933xp. Party's total experience to date: 13,529xp.
Party share of the treasure found in the Temple of Asmodeus follows: (total value: 800gp)
Party share of the treasure found in the Temple of Asmodeus follows: (total value: 800gp)
- A sack of gold coins (total of 1800gp/each player gets 300gp)
- Cult of Asmodeus ritual items (no value)
- Total amount of gold pulled from the bodies (3,000gp/each player gets 500gp)
Related Reports
Notes
Key Findings:
- The Halls of Heroes was a sacred burial grounds were heroes the differently good aligned gods were laid to rest. A few years ago the Halls of Heroes was tainted by an unknown source which caused the shadow plane to pour into the burial grounds causing creatures of the dark origin take root in the Halls and some of the Heroes were reported risen in an undead state. It called the Shadowed Catacombs by the locals.
- Hammer Lord Hykros Allumen, the high priest of Torm, refused to talk or acknowledge anything about Eyria.
- A group of rangers called Darkstriders are capturing exotic animals and magical beasts for Zardoz. The Darkstriders is head by a female elf named Petrine and she has an unusual sway over the rest of the rangers in the group which are all males of mix races. They have an uncanny ability to hunt in almost pack like manner
- Zardoz arranges the transportation of the creatures and animals from the Darkstriders to different circuses and side shows.
- One side show, Floyd's Side Show, was run by a dark elf named Fel’rekt. Fel’rekt used the animals to lure people into the side show which he captured and later drained them.
- The Serpent's Eye is being used to transport animals and magical animals for Zardoz.
- Zardoz and Fel’rekt are part of an unknown group which uses the symbol of a domino mask.
- The Cassalanter had a Temple of Asmodeus underneath their villa.
- The Cassalanter poisoned the food which was served to the poor families as part of a ritual sacrifice.
- The Cassalanter performed a ritual which called something through a portal from the shadow weave.
- The ritual appeared to consumed more power as all the cultist in attendance were drained.
- Once the ritual was completed Victoro Cassalanter teleported out of the temple to an unknown location.
- The Casslanters kidnapped Renaer stating the know the gold was recovered and they were attempting to find where it was stored.
Report Date
17 Jan 2022
Primary Location
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