ep 55 4-5/6/4713 Windsong Abbey - Beyond the Doomsday Door #1

4/6/47
PCs Quillax, Claw, new arrival Yukiko and the elf Ranger Leblond are sent by Sheila Heidmarch to Windsong Abbey, where Pathfinder Koriah Azmeren vanished a little over 3 weeks ago, shortly before the heroes battled Tirana for the Seven Swords of Sin. Plant-door to Sandpoint, meet the Scarnettis, Lucia blesses Quillax for her aid.
Leblond consults with an old Varisian fortune teller who tells of Redcaps and hill giants in the Windsong ruins. North on Quillax-elk to Windsong Abbey, wipe out a 5-giant hunting patrol (3 hill 2 ettin) on the road then rest in a copse.

5/6/47
At dawn, attack the drunken Windsong giant garrison, wiping out 6 hill giants and 4 ettins in a brutal slaughter, the Swords of Greed (Clank) and Gluttony (Claw) slaying many.

Journal [30-July]
Summary:
- Leblond and Yukiko join the group
- Travel towards Windsong Abbey with detour by Scarnetti Manor
- Defeat Giant scouting party (2xEttin, 3xHill Giant)
- Defeat (mostly sleeping) Giants in Windsong Abbey town square. (6xHill, 4xEttin)
--
In early summer [June equivalent], we were summoned to the Pathfinder's Lodge by Sheila. She introduced us to Leblond, an Elven Ranger (cousin of my friend, the betrayed ranger Shallulu), who Sepheria and I had met before when dealing with the Foxglove issue [August 2016], and a newcomer Yukiko, a priestess of Inari.
We were bid to take them with us on our journey to Windsong Abbey, where high-level Pathfinder Koriah Azmeren had gone missing three weeks previous. Before disappearing, she had reported back concerns over the large number of giants in the area.
After checking we still had the Dusky Rose Ioun stone, I Tree Walked us to the Hansley Farm, the nearest area I knew with large enough trees, then we walked to Scarnetti Manor as I wished to check on the the Lady Scarnetti and her child and see what news could be gathered.
The farms once overrun with undead were untended but as we approached Scarnetti Manor, we saw his servants tending to the fields.
After conversing with Titus and Lucia, we were directed to Wisher's Well, where a Varisian caravan traded; it had come from the North by Windsong Abbey and would have more up-to-date news. Many of the caravaners recognised Leblond as he was known in the area and we spoke to Pilla, a gypsy fortune-teller, who said she had found something interesting before being chased off by a Giant before she could secure it.
As Pilla knew Leblond for the past 40 years, she gave us more information, handing over a small pointed cap of crimson felt soaked with blood. The hat belonged to a Red Cap a murderous fey which soaked up blood with said cap. She told us that smoke was seen rising from the Abbey but the Lighthouse still stood. Additionally the area around the Abbey was badly damaged, as if an earthquake had destroyed it and the south-east tower was nearly felled. She had seen someone in the Lighthouse in a window, possibly a monk looking for help but she was not able to be sure. She did tell us that the Giants were wielding the Krieg weapons which we had failed to prevent the Stone Giants from taking. As an additional boon, she drew us a map of the area so we would not go in blind.
To speed our journey, I took Elk form and carried us all towards Windsong Abbey. We arrived to the surrounding area around midnight to see by the moon's light that the land had been scorched and half-eaten livestock carcasses spotted the area, while ash from the purposeful destruction still floated in the air.
We could see the Lighthouse still stood as we had been told and that the Gates set into the wall had been destroyed. The Gatehouse and the Chapter house still mostly stood as did the curtain wall, although all were damaged in some way. Windsong Tower connected to the Abbey by the elevated walkway still stood above the water of the ocean.
We could hear heavy footsteps approach and quickly ducked into a nearby building. It was damaged but it provided us cover.
A group of giants (3 Hill and 2 Ettin) approached, carrying slaughtered oxen. We decided to attack and catch them by surprise.
Our combined efforts stuck down the giants, including those that tried to run. After Claw had eaten his fill of the (partly roasted) oxen, and Yukiko had raised one of the Giants as undead, we retreated back to the trees about half a mile away to rest. Claw stood guard with Clank. While they heard footsteps in the distance, we were not bothered.
The next morning, the hovel we had launched our attack from had been destroyed. Claw made use of his new ability to Fly to peer over the curtain wall. He reported back that there were four sleeping giants and one very drunk one relieving himself in the graveyard.
We decided to get closer to decide whether or not to attack. Claw flew Leblond up to the top of one of the Wall's Towers and then opened the door for the rest of us.
As the Giants were sleeping, we decided to attack. Yukiko cast Silence around the sleeping Giants and sent her undead one to attack the last (the one in the graveyard). While we were attacking the ones in the Silenced area, an Ettin stepped out of a building.
Clank was wielding the Scimitar of Greed and Claw the Falchion of Gluttony and with magic and bow, we struck at the Giants.
Mid-Fight, we could hear something large in another Tower and shortly after a Giant had appeared from the trap door and started throwing stones at Yukiko and Leblond on the other Tower. The Zombie fell in our defense and slowly we defeated them.
More Ettin appeared and prolonged the fight but we were successful in the end, even when the last few giants decided to run.
[6750xp]

ep 54 18/5 to 3/6/4713: Seven Swords of Sin #6, Victory Over Tirana, Rest & Train.

*Week Long Rest Rule Now in Effect*

PCs defeat Tirana at the cost of their fire giant friend (blasted by Disintegrate then drowned in the stream) and gain the Alar'ahai, the Seven Swords of Sin. Asheia Sword of Lust returned to Wen Histani in Ilsurian for 10,000gp as agreed. Party returns to Magnimar for well-deserved rest.

Two weeks later Sheila Heidmarch asks them to investigate disturbing reports from Windsong Abbey...

Continuing PCs
Quillax - Druid 15
Irizati - Warlock 13
Sephiria - Rogue-1/Wizard 13
Claw Barbarian-14

Swords of Sin - require Attunement

Wielder Level Sword Bonus
1-4                    +0
5-10                  +1
11-16                +2
17-20                +3

Falchion of Gluttony - This Falchion Ungarato is an improved Sword of Life Stealing and does +2d6 Necrotic damage on any hit if target is not Construct or Undead, with the wielder gaining the same amount in Temporary hit points, up to the victim's hp maximum (thp do not stack, use the best roll). On a Critical Hit, the victim, if not a construct or undead and not slain outright, must make a DC 15 CON save or perish as their life force is sucked into the blade.

Scimitar of Greed - A blade of magically hardened gold tempered to incredible durability, Chellan is a keen scimitar (critical hit on 19-20) that functions as an adamantine weapon for purposes of overcoming damage reduction and bypassing hardness. The ornate sword is incredibly dense, causing it to deal a base 2d6 points of damage, but it can only be properly wielded (one handed, finesse) by characters with a Strength of 18 or higher—all other characters must either wield it as a two-handed weapon or have disadvantage on attack rolls with the weapon. If the sword scores a critical hit, the target must make a DC15 CON save or be turned into a crystalline statue, as if by flesh to stone. Characters turned to crystal by Chellan appear to be made of ruby, diamond, or some other valuable gem, but are in fact merely colored quartz of little value.

Rapier of Pride - Although known as the Sword of Pride, when empowered Baraket appears to be nothing more than an elegant basket hilt seemingly made of glass or highly polished crystal with no blade, as the deadly length of this spell storing (as ring) Rapier is invisible. The sword may be used as a ranged or melee touch spell attack focus at +2 to hit (as per wand of accuracy). Baraket grants its wielder one extra attack per attack action; with advantage on the attack so long as the opponent cannot see through invisibility. Additionally, on a critical hit, the sword casts Weird upon the target and all of that creature's allies within 30 feet (use the Wielder's INT +Prof for spell save DC).

Garvok, Sword of Wrath Weight 10 lbs. Garvok was merely the first wielder to be cremated by the blade that took his name and consciousness. A particularly brutal member of the Shoanti caste, he was granted the weapon crafted by the evokers of Runeforge and, to display its might to the Runelord of Wrath, entered the arena of Xin-Bakrakhan. Facing wave after wave of soldiers, Garvok was finally brought down not by the spears of his foes, but by the explosions of his own sword and the resulting collapse of the royal arena. When the sword was dragged from the rubble, drops of Garvok's blood still boiled upon the blade's shattered edge—a fitting christening for the sword of wrath. This scarred piece of crimson stained metal functions similarly to a returning throwing greatsword. Garvok can be thrown 25' short/75' long at full bonus as an attack, returning immediately. Additionally, whenever Garvok strikes a foe, the target must succeed at a DC 15 DEX save or take an additional 5d6 points of fire damage, half damage on a save. If the sword scores a critical hit, it explodes in a fireball centered on the wielder's opponent. All creatures within the fireball's 20-foot-radius spread—including Garvok's wielder and allies, if within range—take 14d6 points of fire damage (DC 19 DEX for half). The wielder has no control over the sword's eruption and cannot prevent it from exploding. The sword returns to its wielder's hand, fully reformed, just before the beginning of his next turn.

QUILLAX ACCOUNT

Journal [16-July]

Summary:

- Grunar died
- Tyrannah is defeated
- 7 Swords of Sin are collected and 4 are charged/empowered
- Neril retires from Pathfinders

Having determined we couldn't get through without shutting down the generator, we ran back up and I quickly turned the generator off and we hurried back down. Re-entering the room, we could see the force barrier was down. As we hurried towards Tyrannah, she started to throw fireballs at us; Grunar was immune to these and simply pushed forward. The first hit all of us but Sepheria. I took earth elemental form and burrowed under the ground. The next fireball hit Irizati, Claw, and Neril.

Claw was able to get into javelin range and he threw one at Tyrannah, but it burned up before it reached her. Irizati misty stepped a bit out of the way as he was not faring well from the fireballs. Another fireball struck Claw and Sepheria. Neril ducked in and tried to grab the sword from Tyrannah's hand but he was slapped back and electrocuted by some sort of red tendril. Changing tacts, he struck her and was immediately burned by her fire shield. Irizati hid with his Greater Invisibility while he evaluated the fight.

Tyrannah cast banishment on Sepheria, Claw, and Neril, causing them to disappear. Grunar struck Tyrannah twice and I moved (underground) towards her position. Tyrannah cast Disintegrate on Grunar. The Fire Giant survived the spell but Tyrannah struck him down a few moments later.

I popped up from underground and tried to swipe at her but I failed to strike her and she failed to strike me. I ducked back underground and after some consideration, I reached up out of the ground with only my hands, was able to grab her ankles, and dragged her towards the small river where Grunar had fallen. Irizati took the opportunity to shook Tyrannah twice. She lashed out at him with Scorching Ray and Irizati fell to the ground, visible and unmoving.

I dragged her further into the water, attempting to drown her and unable to use her spells, Tyrannah tried to use the Sword of Lust against me, but I was able to resist. After some struggle, I was able to wretch the sword from her hands and held it aloft, out of her reach and attempted to keep her under the water. She managed to slip out from my grasp and she clambered from the water just as the others returned from their banishment.

Sepheria cast Disintegrate on Tyrannah and killed her. Neril dashed across the room and was quick to save Irizati from his fatal wounds with some healing ointment.

With Tyrannah's death, the ritual is interrupted and all the swords fall. As we examine them, we realise that they are all Swords of Sin - somehow she had managed to get all 7 of them together, so this was a far more dangerous ritual than we had even realised.

[3000 xp each]

Neril decides to retire from the Pathfinders to train more Monks, but promises that we will see him at some point in the future and we were instructed to investigate the troubles at Windsong Abbey after our well-deserved rest.

Not for the Journal -
- We give the Greed Shard and the swords of Sloth and Envy into Neril's safekeeping
- We were able to empower or charge some of the Swords of Sin using our Shards. The Scimitar of Greed, the Rapier of Pride, the Falchion of Gluttony, and the Longsword of Lust are all active and cannot be held with opposing swords or shards.
- With a quick application of magic, we plant walk and return the Sword of Lust to Wen Histani as promised and she gives us 10000gp, which is placed into our account [2000 xp each]

Follow up:
- Quillax learns how to make Keoghan's ointment and makes several doses
- Quillax learns to make tuning forks for Planar spell ; makes 3 - one for home plane, one for elemental air plane, and one for elemental fire plane.

Sin Compatible Dangerous

Greed Sloth Lust
Gluttony Pride

Sloth Greed Pride
Envy Wrath

Envy Sloth Wrath
Lust Gluttony

Lust Envy Gluttony
Pride Greed

Pride Lust Greed
Wrath Sloth

Wrath Pride Sloth
Gluttony Envy

Gluttony Wrath Envy
Greed Lust

ep 53 18/5/4713 Seven Swords of Sin #5

Party progress through level 3 of the Council of Truth dungeon, defeating monsters and gaining a powerful fire giant ally.

Quillax Account

Journal [9-July]
Summary:
- Sepheria did some post-revival shopping
- Neril disappears for a while; Sepheria gets a magical boost to clear death related issues
- Defeat Ochre Jellies, disable some traps
- Defeat some cultists and close planar vortex
- Befriend Fire Giant (via Irizati's suggestion spell) and free him. He leads us towards Tyrannah
- Defeat 2 cockatrice.
- Defeat a Dragon, an Efreet, a kobold and 3 earth elementals in a magic-draining room.
- Ritual still in progress but nearly done. Need to turn off generator to get through to next room.
Whilst waiting for the others, Neril wandered off, leaving Irizati and I to wait for Sepheria and Claw. After encountering the same spectral ram's head on the stairway that had attacked me, the pair made it down the staircase without too much damage. I cast Greater Restoration on Sepheria to clear away the post-revival health issues and she revealed the quick shopping she had done in case we had another sudden emergency.
We proceeded through the fire elemental trap room into the next room, which Neril had pointed out the 2 inch gap above the door and had spiked open. I found an electrical trap on the floor and managed to avoid getting shocked but couldn't disable it. Claw clomped into the room and set off another trap; this one bringing four ochre jellies up on an old elevator/lift. Sepheria cast fireball, catching the jellies in the burst but the four jellies became five when Claw hit one with his long sword and it split in two. He decided to stomp on it instead. I dropped a flaming sphere on the jellies and Irizati shot and managed to kill two of the jellies. Sepheria killed another with scorching ray and Claw killed the last two with his Earth-Breaker.
Sepheria spent a little time disabling the floor traps in the room in case we had to hurry back at any point. We opened the next door and spiked it open because it also had the gap above the door. Having done that, we looked up at a group of cultists chanting around a planar vortex summoning a shadowy demon, which became a Vrock demon that was being powered by the cultists. Sepheria cast fireball and killed five of the six cultists, which also broke the links to the demon from those cultists. Irizati cast banish and sent both the demon and cultist from our plane. The demon stayed away permanently but when the cultist returned, Claw and I killed him. We took a short time to help Irizati cast the ritual Banishment to close the vortex. I grabbed the spikes from the last door and we moved on to the next room.
There was a Fire Giant - Grunar - chained in between two pillars. Claw messed up his attempt at persuasion and the Giant started to struggle and pull down the pillars on himself and us. Sepheria cast Tasha's Hideous Laughter and only Claw and I took any damage from the falling ceiling before Irizati cast mass suggestion and calmed the Giant, getting him to agree to help us against Tyrannah. We freed him from the chains and helped him get out of the room. Grunar told us of the dangers ahead as he smashed through a wall, revealing a room that must have belonged to Tyrannah. We collected the most useful items from her room and hurried after the Giant who was striding through the room where the ochre jellies had been. He set off a trap we missed but Sepheria was able to disable it and we headed into the next room where a swirling vortex glowed in the centre of the room and four statues of Zil stood in each corner.
Note: Zil are the scourge of the ethereal plane. They look vaguely like enormous ants/beetles creatures
I dropped a Wall of Stone around the vortex and we hurried towards the next room. Claw paused to grab some loot laying on the floor. Beyond the next door was a hallway. To our right were two cockatrice and their resulting statues as well as two angelic whirlwinds, who tried to warn us off. To our left, red glowing light and warmth. Irizati banished one of the whirlwinds and Sepheria banished the other. Grunar attached and killed one of the cockatrices while we attacked the other and I killed it.
Additional note: cockatrices are good for alchemy ingredients if you can harvest them carefully and not accidentally turn yourself to stone.
In the next room, there were two dragons and a lot of lava/heat. I cast Wall of Stone and we tried to hurry past them while they attacked the wall. A kobold stepped into sight in the next room and summoned 3 earth elementals. Sepheria tried to banish them but the glowing stones in the room absorbed her spell. Behind us, the dragons were still working on breathing through the wall. Trapped between two sets of enemies, we decided to try to take out the elementals as quickly as possible to reduce the number of enemies surrounding us, killing one. Without magic, it was hard work and the dragons broke through the wall and it turned out it was not two dragons but a dragon and an Efreet.
We struggled against the number of enemies but Irizati was able to misty step back down the hall and banished the dragon, giving us one fewer enemy to fight at the same time. With a combined effort, Grunar killed the Efreet, then the other two earth elementals. I killed the kobold, then we retreated down the hall to where Irizati was holding the dragon banishment and when the dragon returned, we surged forward and eventually killed it.
Looking at the next room, we could see Tyrannah working on her ritual but we could not get through to her without turning off the generator. I cast some healing spells on the party and we took a moment to plan.
[9037xp each]

ep 52 18/5/4713 Seven Swords of Sin #4

Journal [2-July]

Summary:

- Neril rejoins group
- decide not to take on a guy in a room which is raining swords
- Fight a dragon and water elemental + find dragon's hoard
- Fight 3 chuuls.
- Sepheria has a short-lived case of death and is resurrected in exchange for money and magical items
- Neril scouts ahead + find traps
- Partial group fights 3 fire-elementals then waits for others.

----

Neril caught up to us while we were resting in the scrying pool room. As we were all together and going to approach a room full of water, I cast water breathing and water walk on the group. Neril cast pass without a trace and scouted slightly ahead of us as we walked towards the water and he spotted an obscured side room. He heard something dip below the water and upon further investigation, realised it was a large black dragon which was trying to swim and sneak beneath the surface. He also spotted a rising water vortex that he recognised as a water elemental. Upon his reporting back, we decided to check out the side room before working out how to get around the dragon.

Moving towards the reddish glow, we peered into the room. There were hundreds of swords falling from slots in the ceiling into slots in the floor creating a never-ending loop of raining swords. In the middle of the room, a man knelt with a sword grasped in his hands. We decided to quietly back away as we were running out of time.

As we moved back to the cavern, the dragon rises out of the water with the water elemental. Sepheria banished the latter and the former breathed acid on the group then ducked under the water. I cancelled the water walk and took water elemental form and we headed after the dragon. it was a fierce battle with all of us engaging with the beast under the water but eventually we wore it down and Claw landed the killing blow. Sepheria was able to maintain the banish and the water elemental was also vanquished.

We were able to find the dragon's treasure hoard and amongst the coins, we also found a runecarved +1 keen longsword. Most of the group took a short rest to regain their strength.

[xp 2660 each]

After crossing the lake, we crossed into a room which was split by a waterfall poisoned by alchemical run off from the generator room. Neril teleported to the opposite side and started to investigate the doors there. Sepheria drifted across the room on her broom to join him but as she crossed over the water, three chuuls popped out and lashed at her. She misty stepped over towards Neril but the Chuuls followed, striking her with a poison that caused paralysis. We started to charge across the room towards her but it was a great distance. Neril attacked the Chuuls to try to defend Sepheria but was unable to stun them. Irizati cast banish on two but the third struck Sepheria hard and Neril shouted to us that she was dead.

Enraged, Claw grappled the Chuul and it responded by trying to drown him, unsuccessfully due to the water breathing spell. Claw struck it down and after checking with us, Irizati allowed the other two to return from the banishment. Neril killed one and I landed the fatal blow on the other.

[1320 xp]

We knelt around Sepheria and had a quick discussion. There were temples in the city and they would likely be able to bring her back from the dead if we moved quickly. Claw and Neril took her body and the bag of holding with all the items and cash and ran back to the city. They were able to trade money and magical items for her to be brought back.

Claw stayed with her while Neril returned to Irizati and I as we were running out of time before the ritual completed. Neril started to scout ahead, leaving Irizati and I behind but, worried about him facing danger alone, I followed him down the floating spiral staircase, getting blasted off the stairs, and found him investigating a room with three buttons. He pressed a button and the doors slammed shut, trapping him inside. I could hear him moving around and after a short while, the doors unlocked. I opened it and looked into the face of a fire elemental. Seeing Neril duck through the opposite door and close it behind him, I also closed my doors and called for Irizati.

He joined me and we opened the doors. He banished two of the fire elementals and we were able to take out the third with Neril ducking back in. Once all three were defeated, the fire wall traps ceased to flame and Neril and Irizati spiked the doors open on either side so our companions could follow and (hopefully) the trap would not reset while the doors stayed open.

Neril explained he had found some traps in the next room and we decided to wait for the others to catch up.

[ xp 2400 each - for Q,N,I + part xp for S+C for resurrection]