Monday 30 October 2017

Postscript - Alicia Scarnetti

The planet Ghenrek-IV, a long way away from Golarion.

The village green of Thusia, around midnight, 16/5/4447 BCCC.

Alicia Scarnetti, younger sister of Titus Scarnetti:
"Excuse me... Lord Thuruar? Lady Meda? If you would... Can you find out about my world? Are the Rune Lords victorious?"

Archpriest Thuruar looks puzzled at Alicia's words. Meda smiles, shakes her head.

"No, Alicia. Only yesterday the forces of Light won a great victory. The one called Mokmurian is dead, the threat of the Rune Lords ended, for now. That campaign is over..."

Simon OOC literally - http://smonscurseofthecrimsonthrone.blogspot.co.uk/ :)
Chris OOC: It seems that many campaigns are drawing to a close?

Alicia:
"In that case Lord Thuruar, please Banish me home, like you did those other girls."

Hakeem Godslayer:
"Good bye, Alicia. This world is a little colder without Rey."

Alicia looks around Thusia one last time as Thuruar grips his Athena-owl focus and intones the ritual of banishment.

Hakeem:
"Rey, Bjornolf, Ursa..."

Alicia Scarnetti:
"Much colder, Hakeem..." her voice on the breeze, and she is gone.

Malenn:
"The cost has been heavy, Hakeem. Let it be enough. Let the days of peace begin now."

Meda:
"The night grows cold. Come, all of you, into my Hall."

Sunday 29 October 2017

ep 64 22-30/6/4713 AR & on, Mokmurian defeated, Runelords Unrisen (for now).



Clank slays Mokmurian with the Sword of Greed, turning him to red quartz. Runelord Karzoug possesses the corpse and monologues, mocking the group and promising that the souls of the slain will feed his power. Group find the Therassic Library, Clank falls for the Librarian (repaired by Quillax). Wind Walk to Riddleport, Conna the Wise persuades the stone giant army to go home. Riddleport celebrates, gives heroes freedom of the city (with 1000gp medallions).

It seems that without the deaths of thousands intended by Runelord Karzoug, the Runewells will not soon provide him enough soul energy to escape whatever prison binds him.

Back in Magnimar there is much rejoicing; Mayor Grobaras makes the PCs Lords of Magnimar.

Quillax Druid 18 - Lady of Wolf's Ear & Warden of Jorgenfist, including the Therassic Library.
Claw Goliath Barbarian 18 - Warden of the Storval Stairs & Lord of Ravenmoor (Hellknights recalled).
Yukiko Cleric 16 of Irori - given Kaijitsu estate in Magnimar, and made Abbess of Windsong Abbey.
Sephiria Kaddren is also formally made Lady of Hook Mountain, including Turtleback Ferry & Fort Rannick.

Sheila Heidmarch takes reports from the Pathfinders; the Guiltspur is likely too heavily defended to make retrieving the sixth Shard of Sin practical, at least for now.

And now the years of peace begin...

The End (for now)

Quillax Final Account

Summary:
- Defeats some Hounds of Tindalos
- Fight and Defeat Mokmurian and his minions
- Bring Conna to Riddleport and she convinces fighting to stop
- All members of the party are honoured with Lordship/Ladyship and lands

Journal:

We stepped away from the Library doors and their spell of calming and headed East to check out a door by a collapsed wall. The collapsed area had opened a hole which we were able to climb through and bypass the locked door. 

The walls of the room were completely smooth except a small crack, putting me in mind of the Hounds of Tindalos which we had encountered before and before I could comment this to my companions, three Hounds slipped out of the crack. Two of Hounds headed for me and one for Yukiko. We engaged the Hounds. While we were fighting the Hounds, I heard a Giant chanting somewhere nearby and the doors opened after we had killed two of the Hounds. Some monsters stepped out from what appeared to be an old lecture room. Beyond the doors, we could see Mokmurian, a Stone Giant, sitting upon a giant chair. He was very small for a Stone Giant. The threw a fireball and hit Clank, Claw, myself, and the remaining Hound.

The Owlbears from the lecture room attacked us and Clank killed the Hound while Claw worked on the Owlbears. We fought the beasts and had to deal with Mokmurian throwing fireballs at us. We could see he had some sort of reddish fire shield around. 

Once the owlbears were dealt with, Claw drank a potion of Enlarge and charged down the room towards Mokmurian. We all moved carefully through the room towards him, dodging Mokmurian's scorching ray as best we could. Claw landed a very solid first blow on Mokmurian and they traded blows while Mokmurian still threw spells at us, while we either attacked with steel or magic. It was Clank who landed the fatal blow with his Sword, turning Mokmurian to Red Quartz.

While the stone spell was spreading, Mokmurian's eyes turned emerald and a strange voice spoke through him, which we understood to be Karzoug, Runelord of Greed. He mentioned armies of Xin-Shalast, a legendary city. And he gloated that the Stone Giants that were fighting and dying in Riddleport were feeding his power and bringing him closer to revival.

We knew that anyone that died while wearing the Sihedron would power a RuneLord, but we did not think of it on this scale. 

Conna urged us to bring her to Riddleport so she could stop the fighting. 

We agreed but wanted to check the Library for any further information. She warned us that opening the Library doors without the key would cause the Shining Child to appear and try to kill you, but luckily for us, we collected the key from Mokmurian's body. 

The Great Library was unusual in that it was primarily made up of a large shaft in the floor. Numerous glowing crystal lanterns lined the walls and there were runes carved into the wall. It was run by a Librarian Clank who was 10,246 years overdue for his maintenance check and was moving badly. I did a quick repair so it could move more easily and we were informed that there were 24,491 scrolls, books and manuscripts available to us. We asked for anything on Karzoug, Atasnis, Lord of Wrath. There was only one crude looking book on Wrath, but there were some on Karzoug. 

Clank asked to stay with the Librarian and as he had been my loyal companion for some time, I was pleased to grant his request, and promised to send some GolemWorks repairmen to help sort his companion. 

We hurried to Riddleport through WindWalk and once we had found a safe place to return to solid form, we found ourselves faced with two leaders of the Giants. 

The first was Teratinus, Commander of the Giants, who had retrieved the Kreeg Mauls (and who's pet dragon we had killed). Upon recognizing us, he moved to attack us but was held by back the second leader. Conna convinced them that Mokmurian was dead and that their deaths would only power another. 

Her words were so powerfully spoken, that the Giants agreed to stop immediately and leave. We could see that all the Stone Giants had the Sihedron on the back of their necks as they walked away from us. Conna bid us farewell and left with them.

We stopped in at Riddleport to explain that they were now safe and were each given a necklace that marked us as friends of Riddleport and that anyone we spoke to there should help us. 

After that, we returned to Magnimar and festivities were thrown in our honour. We were made Lords and Ladies of Magnimar. 

I was given Ladyship of my home, Wolf's Ear, as well as the Library of Thassilon where Clank and his companion construct resided. 

Yukiko was given the Sandpoint Glassworks and made Abbotess of Windsong Abbey. She was also given Kijitsu Estate in Magnimar.

Claw was given Lordship of the Storval Stairs and Ravenmoor.

Sepheria was given Ladyship of Hook Mountain.

Researchers from the Pathfinders reported back that the by shopping the Army at Riddleport, we stopped Karzoug temporarily. 

As the next shard is in a heavily guarded area, Sheila has indicated that she is hesitant to launch a mission for now and the Pathfinders are waiting while more research is done.


I have decided to retire from the Pathfinders for now, having been involved in many adventures. I will guard some of the treasures that have been given to my care and will protect both my home and the Library of Thassilon, where my companions and those known to them will be welcome but intruders will face my wrath. I will clean up the building, destroy any remaining monsters, and restore the Librarian.

Sunday 22 October 2017

ep 63 22/6/13 Fortress of the Stone Giants #2

Joined by Shieldbiter the Dragonborn, the group fight down to the next level, reaching the door to the Therassic Library.
__________________

22-Oct Journal]
Summary:
- An ally Dragonborn "Shieldbiter" gets sent by his Dragon Gods to assist us in freeing the two dragons
- Free Econtredor and Sulaminga
- Kill 2 Lamia
- Kill 2 Trolls Hurek and Durek
- Defeat Giant (it runs away on very low health)
- Fight 4 stone giants. Kill 1 and the other eventually flee.
- Kill Fat Giant in the psychic attack room
- Slip past Stone Golem guard because all of group is as tall as Giants (Clank hidden behind Q).
- Kill the 4 Iron zombies and the Headless Lord.
- Kill ForgeFiend.
- Affected by Calm Emotion spell by Great Library doors. Go take a short rest.
Journal
---------
I was somewhat surprised by the sudden appearance of a Dragonborn, who appeared to be surprised by his own appearance (still holding a mug of ale).
We challenge him and he identifies himself as a friend, nicknamed Shieldbiter, send by his Dragon Gods to assist and free the mentally enslaved dragons. I decide to watch him carefully but as we are outnumbered, any assistance, however unexpected, is currently welcome.
Koriah, Yukiko, and Conna are able to hold off the Stone Giants in a narrow pass, allowing the rest of us to concentrate on the mind controlled dragons and the Lamia.
Before being engaged by the Stone Giants, Yukiko managed to cast Dispel Magic on one of the Dragons, Econtredor, and he is mentally freed. Shieldbiter shouts to the Dragon and he decides to assist us while he gets revenge and goes to attack the Lamia that enslaved it.
I cast Dispel Magic on the other Dragon, Sulamina, and she also listens to the Dragonborn, moving to attack the Lamia.
Claw killed one of the Lamia and the other called for Hurek and Durek, two trolls, who appeared from the next room, before she cast Charm Monster on Sulaminga again. The Lamia then tried to run.
Econtredor gave chase, taking a hit from his enslaved sister but continues his attack on the Lamia.
I decide that destroying the Lamia is better than another dispel and cast Wall of Fire on her and the Trolls. Unfortunately, it doesn't do enough damage and so Sulaminga attacks her brother and the Trolls roar an alert. I can hear some very enormous Giant approaching.
Shieldbiter flies up and kills the Lamia with his crossbow, which frees Sulaminga from the Charm. Claw attacks one of the Trolls and I send Clank flying on his wings towards the approaching Giant.
Econtredor decides he is done and retreats while the Trolls continue to attack Claw. The Trolls tries to run and Claw pins one. I mount the broom and take to the air for a clear shot with a flames cantrip at a Troll then follow Clank towards the approaching Giant to hold it off. Sulaminga decides to run and follows her brother, leaving Claw and Shieldbiter to the Trolls.
An enormous Giant covered in glowing Thesselonian runes steps around the corner. He does an Earthquake Roar, which knocks over Yukiko, Koriah, and Conna as well as all the Giants they were fighting. Luckily Clank and I were in the air and the others were too far to be affected.
Shieldbiter kills a Troll with his family sword while Clank dives in against the Giant. The Econtredor and Sulaminga escape past the Giant while the Troll continued to attack Claw. The Giant struck Clank and I doing a great deal of damage. I shape changed into an Adult Red Dragon for additional health, strength, and to prevent the Giant getting past me to our allies. The Giant struck Clank and I again, damaging Clank severely.
Shieldbiter and Claw continue their fight against the Troll with Claw landing the fatal blow. Clank disengages from the Giant at my command and I attack in fury. The Giant runs.
Shieldbiter and Claw slip past me to head out to the other fight with the Stone Giants. I hesitated but then followed them instead of giving chase to the other Giant.
I roared a frightening roar and two were caught in the fear of it. Shieldbiter killed a Stone Giant before one of the Stone Giants decided to run. Conna takes advantage of the situation and shouts at them in Giantish to try to convince them to give up. She is very convincing and they disengage and flee at her words.
We spend a brief moment looting the corpses before we follow Conna through a tunnel towards the South East that descends deep. We guess we are about 800 feet underground and are possibly below the Black Tower.
The workmanship looks very familiar suddenly - no corners or cracks, which puts me in mind of the Hounds of Tanderus - the demon dogs which can enter the realm through a sharp edge. Luckily, there are no cracks in these walls. I also notice an abstract pattern, which reminds me of the Thorassic Spire, where Sepheria was entranced at the Library. This area had obviously used to be inhabited by Librarians. I encourage the group to move quickly past this area.
There is talk that deep somewhere there is a clockwork servant Librarian, of a similar look to Clank.
The halls became too small for my Dragon form, so I shifted to a Goristo. We stepped into a room and were attacked psychically. We all avoided the mental attacks and the odd shinking spell. We looked over to see a fat Giant, looking surprised that we were unaffected.
I charged him and knocked him prone and Claw landed the killing blow. We looted his breastplate and continued forward. Since Clank was still badly damaged, I carried him on my back.
In the next room was a RuneSlave Cauldron, which would be used to enslave Giants. It released a noxious gas which poisoned anyone that identified as Good Alignment. I managed to avoid being poisoned and as we started forward, a large Stone Golem stepped into the room and stated "Destroy all non-Giants". It scans us and allows us to pass since we were all extremely tall and Clank was hidden behind me. We sneak Clank past it.
The next room was very cold and a Headless Lord stood covered in blood but unmoving in front of a line of Ogres and Hill Giant iron statues, encased in plate-mail. We considered the Headless Lord could possibly be a statue, but when Shieldbiter started to discuss about attacking them, the statues came to life and instead attacked us.
Shieldbiter and Claw engaged the Headless Lord. I put Clank in a safe spot and charged one of the Iron Zombies, destroying it.
While the zombies attack, the room seems to be getting darker. Shieldbiter lands the destroying blow on the Headless Lord and the darkness fades away. We continue to attack the zombies, with Shieldbiter landing another kill and I took out the last two.
I could sense the Headless Lord's empty neck was some sort of scrying screen and that we were being watched. There was nothing to be done about that but move on to the next room.
The next room contained a Forge Fiend, a mechanical monster that spewed fire. Again, I left Clank outside to continue his repairs. The room was hugely tall - at least 100' high. Claw attacked the Forgefiend and I switched to a Baby Red Dragon form to be fireproof. The Forgefiend tried Flesh-to-Stone on me, but I was able to avoid it. Claw killed the Forgefiend, which spewed out lava, burning Claw and Shieldbiter a little.
We moved onto the next area, which was marked as the Great Library (in Thesselonian). Written on the door are meditative prayer to the Peacock spirit, which we had come across once before I was affected by a Calm Emotions spell.
We decided to take a short rest before we tackled the door again.
While we rested, Shieldbiter was suddenly swept away by the same magic that had deposited him earlier. We assumed that the Dragons must have made it somewhere safe and his task was complete so his Gods had called him back.
We had no time to puzzle over his disappearance as we had to focus. We turned our attention back to the double doors of the Great Library and were able to open the doors. We could see that there were doors to the North and South and a single door on the far end of the room.
We waited for the others to catch up.

Sunday 15 October 2017

ep 62 To 22/6/13 House - Magnimar - Jorgenfist; Fortress of the Stone Giants #1

After gathering components from the Varisians near Sandpoint 14-20/6/13, Yukiko conducts a Hallow ritual on Foxglove Manor. The House fights back with fear and phantasms, but eventually as dawn breaks 21/6/13 gives up and slides into the sea, its evil vanquished at last.

21/6/13 Dinner with Haldmeer Grobaras, he gifts Yukio a 10,000 gp diamond necklace. Giants have reached Riddleport and will soon be besieging the city, which expects to hold out for a week or two. Group agree to go to Jorgenfist and eliminate Mokmurian, the giant leader.

22/6/13 At dawn Quillax casts Wind Walk, for 300 miles the group travel all day, reaching Jorgenfist towards evening, and descend into darkness. Yukiko & Claw meet Conna the Wise, widow of the previous giant chief, who offers to aid them against Mokmurian.

Sunday 1 October 2017

ep 61 13/6/13 Doomsday Door #8 - closed

While Yukiko's ritual weakens the Groetan crypt defences, the rest of the group press on, destroy 12 Groetan mummies, then ally with the undead Groetan high priest to defeat Ardathanatus and close the portal on demon lord Yamasoth.
_____________________________

[1-Oct]
Summary:
- Yukiko does Ritual of Sanctification
- Destroy 4 x Will-o-wisp type creatures
- Burn 12 mummies
- Convince Mummy Lord Kandamereus to assist us against Ardathanatus
- Destroy 2 x Stone Golems, 2 x Gongorian Crab demons, and 4 x Sinspawn
- Kill Ardathnatus, prevent Yamasoth from entering via the Doomsday Door, retrieve Shard of Envy (secured in Ioun Stone)
-------
Journal :
Yukiko decided to try a Ritual of Sanctification to suppress the magic runes in the trapped hallway. She could run the ritual for an hour. The runes in the hall turned silver as they were suppressed.
Beyond the trapped hall, we find a column with runes inscribed upon it. It tells us to present the Key to the End Times and State the Grotin Prayer to be recognised as an Acolyte.
We don't know the prayer and shortly after we entered the room, the runes began glowing brighter and swirled into four wispy figures, which we assumed were Grotin Guardians but looked like will-o-wisps. They attack us and we fought back, destroying them. The runic words dissipated upon their defeat. We could see globes of blue light shaped like skulls within the walls, but they were held back by Yukiko's magic. Upon a brief, closer inspection, we could see the skulls were surrounded by runes of light.
We hurried into the next room where there were four sarcophagi around the four corners with a fifth in the middle, with the lid partly opened. Claw peered inside and saw a skeleton with skull damage. It appeared that the corpse had gotten up and been struck down again. Claw closes the lid, just in case, and he decides to run ahead and see if he can see anything. The rest of the party started back to the previous room where there were further doors, when Claw came running back with a small horde of mummies behind him. Other mummies rise up out of the sarcophagi around us. Claw killed one but due to the sheer numbers, I decided to lay down a Wall of Fire, catching 7 mummies in the initial wall, destroying them. The rest of the mummies mindlessly strode into the fire and burned away.
We proceed along the burial chambers and find a sarcophagus with 2 doomsday locks. A Mummy Lord steps out and introduces himself as Kandamereus. We convince him, using Ardathanatus' Diary (Secrets of the Black Fire) in which he had admitted his crimes, that we were not the threat and we were only there to stop Ardathanatus. He asked us a series of questions about the state of the world, which we answered, and Claw invited him to come fight Ardathanatus with us, which he agreed to do. I was able to pick the second doomsday lock, which we turned the key in the first, and we were able to proceed towards the Door.
The next door was guarded by two stone golems carved with Ardathanatus' face. We fought them and after some struggle, I struck down the first and Claw struck down the second. Before proceeding through the next door, Kandamereus informed us that Zolerim had another Doomsday Key on his person, so Koriah quickly ran off to fetch it so we could proceed. When she returned, we moved into the next room. 4 Sinspawn, 2 demon crabs, and Ardathanatus stood in front of a pulsing 'breathing' door. When the door exhaled, anyone of Good or Lawful mind, were injured. When the door inhaled, anyone of Evil or Chaotic mind were healed.
Claw charged in and started to attack. As we were again outnumbered, I cast Fire Storm, striking every enemy in the room. Ardathanatus cast Blade Barrier, which caught all of us but Claw. Most the enemies headed towards Claw and the Crabs grabbed hold of him. We headed towards him to try to rescue him. Koriah killed a Sinspawn. Clank killed a crab demon and a sinspawn. Another Fire Storm took out two more sinspawn. Claw was able to avoid getting beheaded and Kandamereus killed the final crab.
As we fought against Ardathanatus, we could see the door slowly widen. Knowing we did not want that door to open, I shapechanged into an Adult Red Dragon and planted myself in front of the Door, preventing it from opening further. Koriah killed Ardathanatus and, as feared, his death opened a portal briefly behind the Door. Yamasoth tried to push through by I held it shut against his first shove. Claw held it shut against the second shove. He did not have a third attempt as the portal closed, preventing the Demon Lord from entering our realm.
Taking human form, I plucked the Shard from Ardathanatus' body and trapped it within the Ioun Stone. I got a vision of a Towering Green Spire in Varisia, most likely the Gilt Spire on the Storval Plateau, which we knew to be part embassy, part laboratory, and part portal.
Kandamereus excused himself back to his crypt and we looted the bodies.
We would need to make our way back to Magnimar, but perhaps we would sanctify the upper church and the Foxglove Manor first.