The Crystal Dominion - Session 07 Summary

[avisarr]

The Crystal Dominion - Session 7 Summary

Having dispatched the giant spider and its young and searched the bodies of its victims that had fallen from the nest, the party continued with their methodical search pattern through the underground network of corridors.

Eventually they found the door they were looking for. It was more grand and ornate that most they had seen. It bore the name of Mazuris and also the family crest of Rulandar.

The door was locked, but was quickly undone by a potent spell from N'sahd. Behind the door were stairs leading in and down into darkness. N'sahd raised and uncovered his lantern with the continual flame spell. With the light held high in front of them, the party cautiously descended the ancient stone steps to the bottom where the corridor opened up into a chamber.

The chamber was shaped as a dome or half sphere. It was about 7 meters in diameter. In the center of the room was a fountain spraying water in various patterns. On the far side of the room was a barred gate. The gentle sounds of a stringed instrument floated in the air playing a melancholy tune.

The party entered the chamber and took a closer look around.

The walls were covered in tiles bearing letters in a language they did not recognize. Alan, who was feeling somewhat queasy from the bite of one of the young spiders, was strong enough to study the runes. The language was Traxxian. Although he could not decipher the words, he surmised that, since this was a tomb, the ancient Traxxian runes recorded the life stories and great deeds of Mazuris.

The fountain was magical and in the watery forms, the party could discern images clearly. The images seemed to depict the life of a wizard, from boyhood to old age. Obviously, these were important events from the life of Mazuris. One scene showed Mazuris working in a lab studying a crystal. Another scene showed an older Mazuris addressing an assembled committee of peers, and so on. The party studied the images for a short while before moving on.

Beyond the barred gate, a short corridor could be seen between the bars. In front of the barred gate was a humanoid corpse lying on a ground. The body was old and decayed, having lain there for several months at least. It was difficult to determine what race or gender the body may have once been. It was dressed in leather armor and had all the weapons and tools of a thief. A sprung poison needle trap was evident in the lock of the gate and the thief had apparently collapsed here after springing the needle.

RedEye searched the body and found a lockpick set. All of them were rusted except for one which seemed new and polished. N'sahd could detect a strong magical aura emanating from that particular tool. RedEye kept it.

N'sahd again worked his spells and foiled the locks of the gate. In a moment, the gate swung open. Further in, the corridor opened up into a second semi-spherical chamber, larger than the last. A ledge ran all the way around the room. Filling this chamber were dozens of historical artifacts. A bewildering array of weaponry, various pieces of armor, helmets, shields, staves, books, scrolls, tapestries, statuettes and more were tastefully arranged. Some lay on the ledge, others were mounted on the wall. It was a gallery of historical items from Mazuris life.

On the far side of the chamber was a large stone door. Carved into the door was a stone face, eyes closed and in repose. As the party stared into the room, the face opened its eyes and spoke in a deep voice.

"Be warned... You enter the final resting place of the Arch Mage Mazuris. Be gone from this sacred place, thieves. There is nothing here for you but a quick death."

Ignoring this warning, the party clutched their weapons and stepped into the room. As soon as the party entered the room, several dozen of the weapons and armor flew up from their resting places and joined together, forming a vaguely humanoid entity. This shambling structure of armor and weapons formed a crude golem of sorts. It immediately attacked, lashing out with several appendages.

A fierce, but brief, battle erupted. The party threw spells, arrows and more at the golem. The knight was badly wounded, but they eventually beat the golem into pieces (literally). With the final stroke, the golem collapsed into a pile of weapons and armor.

N'sahd cast a spell and found that many of these items were indeed magical. The party quickly sorted through all the treasures of this room and found the following magic items....

Four arrows
A large iron shield
A helmet
A heavy single edge sword.
Six scrolls written in Traxxian


Having thoroughly searched the gallery, the party then pushed through the stone door and entered the final chamber. This was the tomb itself... the final resting place of the great archmage Mazuris. Again it was a circular, semi-spherical room. At the center of this room was a sarcophagus whose stone lid was carved in the likeness of a robed wizard in repose.

Decorating the chamber were several magnificent treasures... N'sahd checked them all for magical energy.

A large ornate metal chest which was filled with Traxxian gold coins.

A magnificent set of silver plates and cutlery arranged around a central goblet. The goblet detected as magical.

A staff fashioned from a strange red metal, carved in the likeness of a dragon's head and snake like scales along the shaft. It was warm to the touch and also magical.

A small tapestry of beautiful colors and design. This was also magical.

A beautiful gold ring. It has settings for 7 small gems, but four were empty. Three contained small rubies. N'sahd detected a powerful magical aura from this ring.

And mounted on the wall above the sarcophagus were the purpose for their mission... the three stain glass pieces. These were not magical, but beautiful nonetheless, in an abstract, chaotic way. They are arranged tastefully above the sarcophagus with glow stones set to illuminate them from behind.

The party took these magical treasures and the stained glass pieces. They then turned their attention to the sarcophagus itself. They debated whether or not to open it. Alan and N'sahd were interested in opening it while the others were hesitant.

In the end, the spellcasters won out. With great effort, the party pushed and grunted and shifted the heavy stone lid enough to gaze upon Mazuris. Only bones remained, and the funeral robes he was buried with. Upon the skull was a headband which N'sahd could sense as magical. A torc around his neck was likewise enchanted. These they took.

But what most interested them were the bones themselves. Embedded in several of the bones – skull, arms, legs, etc – were red crystals. N'sahd and Alan immediately guessed that these were arkulyte crystals that Mazuris had somehow fused with his own body. They decided to take the bones with themselves. Not just the gem studded ones, but the entire skeleton and the robes. The rest of the party was dismayed at not only robbing a tomb but desecrating the bones themselves. However the wizards could not be swayed. They were adamant that the bones were coming back with them.

Having obtained the stained glass windows, their mission was complete (and quick lucrative considering all of the treasures they would take out of this crypt). The party quickly exited the crypt and the dungeon. They snuck out of the church and headed back to the Swordtongue guild with their loot.

At the Sword Tongue guild, they met with Guildmaster Moldauer and discussed the previous and next missions. The gold and several art objects taken from the crypt would be split between the guild and the party equally. The guild would have to fence the items, including the ancient Traxxian coins, and that would take a week or more.

The guild gave the party an advance on the payments they would be receiving. The party took the money and N'sahd used the funds to purchase spell components at the Wizard's Guild. Specifically, they wanted to cast spells necessary to identify the magical items they had obtained. After the necessary spell components were procured, the party met in their room at the guild and N'sahd and Alan cast the appropriate divination spells.

After analyzing each item with magic, the following was discovered...

The sour smelling milk liquid elixir from the corpse in the spider nest
An organize poison from the clabbergill flower.

The strange leather armor from the corpse in the spider nest
A suit of armor fashioned from the cured petals of the clabbergill flower.

The Gold Ring with 7 rubies inset from the crypt
This is the "Ring of Heart's Desire". Eleven gem settings, but four are empty. Seven have rubies. Each ruby represents a limited wish spell. There are 7 limited wishes left in it. Once used, they are gone forever.

The tapestry from the crypt
This is the "Veil of Arthos". This is actually a carpet or blanket of sorts. It is enchanted such that if you stand or lay on the blanket, you are protected by a wide spectrum of defense spells and bonuses.

The Red Metal Staff from the crypt
This is Keijim's Infernal Staff of Fire. It is heavily enchanted and grants the user a number of fire based spells and attacks. The user is also immune to cold while holding this staff.

The magical goblet from the set of silverware in the crypt
This goblet purifies any liquid. Neutralizes poisons, toxins, drugs, etc.

The headband worn by Mazuris
Protects from all mind affecting magic.

Torc Necklace worn by Mazuris
Once per day, allows voice alteration which acts like a powerful charm person spell.

The Helmet from the Armor Golem
The wearer of this helmet can heal himself magically up to a total of 20 points per day. The healing can be done in any amount and often as desired, but cannot exceed 20 total points for the day.

The sword from the Armor Golem
This is Horgash the Orc Cleaver. A magnificent blade. While minimally enchanted against any foe, it becomes a truly devastating weapon, able to absorb health from the orc and bestow it upon its master.

Large Iron Shield from the Armor Golem
A fantastic shield which reflects beams and other highly directional spells. Once per day it can also create an immobile spherical force field.

The Arrows from the Armor Golem
Only two were identified. The first is a Jhelquinn arrow. A powerful single shot arrow which divides into twelve arrows in flight.

The second arrow identified was a serpent slayer. Very effective against any kind of reptilian animal.

The other two arrows are, as yet, unidentified.


After successfully identifying their loot, the party met with Guildmaster Pendarus and Captain of the Guards Moldower to discuss the next mission. The party had successfully retrieved all four parts of the stained glass art. However, one part to the puzzle was still missing. The party needed to obtain the oil on canvas painting... known as "The Way". Only by combining the painting and the stained glass pieces could Mazuris' map be reconstructed.

The painting was owned by a local crime lord, a cruel and wealthy business man known locally as Boss Vorgan. Moldower and Baldorin doubted very much that Vorgan knew the hidden secret of this painting. The painting was most likely on display in Vorgan's home as a permanent piece of his art collection. The good news is that this particular painting would likely have no more security than any other painting in the house.

The bad news is that they didn't know where in the house the painting might be. And it was doubtful that Vorgan would be willing to sell it. Moldower believed the best approach was a simple robbery – the party would infiltrate Vorgan's estate by stealth, find the painting and steal it.

Moldower was able to provide the party with floorplans for the Vorgan's estate, but specific details of the estate were lacking. It was known that Vorgan had a small full time group of guards that lived at the estate numbering between 12 and 20. He also had at least a dozen servants and slaves, possibly more.

The guildmaster was able to tell the party that Boss Vorgan was planning on hosting a dinner party in three nights time. The idea of taking advantage of that party was discussed and discarded. They decided to conduct the robbery before the party and an immediate recon mission was in order to check things out. Tristan, RedEye, N'sahd and Eiran ventured out. Alan, who was still not feeling well from the spiders' poison, stayed back at the guildhouse.

Vorgan's estate was located a short distance outside of Drakkel. It was only a 15 min walk. The four party members approached stealthily under cover of darkness. The estate grounds were a little over an acre. It was encompassed by a high wall. Within the grounds were several buildings including servants guards, a smithy, a barn, several gardens and orchards and a few other buildings that the party could only guess at. At the center of the estate grounds was the estate itself... a large, two story stone house.

According to the floorplans that they had, there was a subterranean cavern beneath the estate that connected to an underground river nearby. The party had to search the fields and farmlands for awhile along the riverbanks before they found where the river plunged into a cave at the base of a hill. They followed the river for awhile until they found a tunnel branch off.

It was decided that RedEye and N'sahd would venture in and explore while Tristan and Eiran would head back to the cave entrance and wait, hidden, by a copse of trees.

RedEye and N'sahd, following the tunnel, came across an gate of iron bars. RedEye used a bit of acid to weaken the bars and they were soon past the gate. The tunnel soon opened up into a larger cavern and they guessed that they were directly beneath the mansion. A foul stench arose from a side cavern and they could hear something large growling and the rattle of chains. They guessed that this side cavern might be a "garbage pit" where refuse was thrown from the mansion above. They could only guess at what type of creature might be in there, but they did not want to find out. They quickly scuttled past the "garbage cave" and entered the larger cavern.

They found a large iron and oak door and beyond this door were stairs leading up... most likely to the mansion above. They continued to look around the cavern. Before the had a chance to investigate several other tunnels, the two were attacked by a pair of strange undead creatures. These things looked like skeletons, but had clumps of flesh still hanging on their bones. Their eye sockets glowed green and a vaporous green mist seemed to surround them. They wore pieces of heavy plate armor that seemed bolted to their bodies. They carried iron shields and swords that were dented and rusted with age. However, these two creatures proved to be formidable foes. N'sahd tried fire and lightning, neither of which spell was very effective. The battle turned quickly against them. N'sahd, fearing the worst, used the Ring of Heart's Desire and expended one of the limited wishes. He wished that the two of them were safe back at the Swordtongue Guildhouse (the first place of safety that popped into his mind). The ring activated, the wish was expended and in a flash of energy, the two found themselves standing in their room at the guildhouse.

Alan, still ill, looked up from his bed, very surprised at the sudden appearance of two of his comrades in the bedroom.

N'sahd and RedEye realized that they had left their other two companions waiting outside the cave entrance miles away. They ran downstairs, grabbed a pair of horses from the stables and rode out into the night. They met up with their two friends who were still waiting by the trees and all four proceeded back to the guildhouse.

The recon mission was, more or less, a success. They had, at least partially, explored the caverns beneath Vorgan's estate. They had found a way in and found the stairs leading up to the main mansion. Although they had encountered undead sentries, they had not alerted anyone to their presence or set off any alarms. Their visit to the cavern was, they hoped, completely unknown.

The party decided to rest back at the guildhouse and discuss the mission ahead of them. We ended Session 7 here.