Campaign Log of Autec the Landbound, Day 7
Annevia is dead. Her home was a trap.
Things started out well on the journey across town to her place. Well, in that no one died when we were ambushed by a cat-like howler demon near our destination. While the beast was clever in its maneuvering amongst the rooftops, it posed no real danger once we had a clear line of attack. Kesh continues to prove his worth with an increasing number of well-placed arrows and Katsa seems to be taking pride in showing off her newly enhanced magic missile spell to our foes. My own mastery over Pax's form continues to grow as well, just recently I learned how to augment her physical strength. I'm thinking about adding a horn...
Annevia's home seemed undamaged from outside and she quickly headed in, shouting Irabeth's name. We followed, less loudly. The home was modest, but tastefully furnished. Unsurprisingly, Irabeth wasn't just waiting around for us. She (this note couldn't be fake!) had, however, left Annevia a message to come join her at the Defender's Heart, a rallying point for the survivors across town. I'm guessing reading the message was some sort of trigger, as, with a soft "pop" of displaced air, we were assaulted by two lesser devils, ugly little blobs of flesh known as lemures.
This was startling for two reasons: 1. Similarly to demons, devils are capable of summoning more devils. 2. These two were clearly summoned, which likely means we're under attack by something we can't see.
We shred the two lemures in a flash of cold iron and tentacles just in time to meet the next wave of summoned creatures, three abyssal beetles about the size of my head. Pax isn't necessary to clean these up and I send her flailing through the room, hoping to bump into our mysterious summoner. This maneuver causes our assailant to cease summoning speed bumps and start summoning fireballs, a much more threatening strategy. I catch a glimpse of him as his aggressive spell breaks his invisibility; a medium sized orc in red scaled armor.
The orc's first blast is a tactical disaster and catches all of us except Kesh. Annevia goes down immediately, dead or dying, the rest of us not far off. Ralan manages to knock him down, but our flailing doesn't manage to disrupt his casting. The last I remember is Pax's screech and waves of light bearing me into darkness.
I survived, as did the rest of the party, though it was a very close call. Calling upon his holy healing powers, Ralan managed to weather the blasts while the rest of us were knocked out. Weakened and floorbound, the sorcerer was no match for his righteous fury. Kesh may have done something as well, but this is the story I got from Ralan.
A quick round of healing potions later, we're all back on our appendages and, after a few moments of discussion, decide to take both bodies to Irabeth if she still lives. Eadro smiles on our path and we don't run into anything on our short trip to the Heart.
The large structure was once a tavern, but has been converted into the impromptu headquarters of the remaining crusaders. We flag down a guard who brings Irabeth to us, an armored half-orc female. She catches sight of the bodies we carry and stumbled, but quickly regains control of herself before asking us what has happened and who we are.
Ralan fills her in on where we've been, our information on the cultists, and the death of Annevia. She is clearly saddened by the news, but stoic nonetheless, and excited to hear of our knowledge of the cultists movements. She tells us she will send a contingent to speak to the "First Descendants" under the city, and thanks us for providing a useful ally to the cause.
She also tells us that she had arrested the orc we killed, Vagor, years ago. Apparently he had slipped out of jail during the confusion and was waiting in ambush at her home. Some people can really hold a grudge.
Irabeth wastes no time in accepting us into the cause and enlists our aid to investigate the three cultist safeholds we had identified in Staunton Vale's letter to Hosila. A crusader cleric heals our burns from the fight with Vagor and we decide to head out immediately to the Topaz Solution, the first hideout.
Approaching the building, an apothecaries store, Sitzva casts a spell that allows him to scan the surface thoughts of those around him and sweeps the first floor. The only people inside turn out to be a trio of scavenging mercenaries with a small sack of magical goodies they'd dug out of the ruins. Sensing that our need would be the greater, I trick them into handing the mix of potions, bolts, and scrolls over or risk becoming demonically tainted. My ruse succeeds, but the kitty gets caught with his paw in the cookie jar when he tries to lift some of their coinage as well. Fortunately, it doesn't come to blows and they scoot.
After some searching, we locate a hidden basement filled with magically altered plants and a work area. I summon up a water elemental and instruct him to physically sweep the area for traps before we descend. This works out very well, as the cultists had, in fact, left two nasty surprises for us, somehow knowing that we would be coming. The first is some sort of magical fog that fills the area and causes all sorts of unpleasantness for the few of us that catch a whiff. The second is that one of the plants animates into a blood-thirsty and inhumanly strong mandragora. Ralan and Sitzva don't seem to mind the fog and engage the plant-baby-thing in close range. They suffer considerably from its blood-draining bite, but manage to bring it down.
We find a snarkily insulting message from the cultists after clearing the area. Glad they've got a sense of humor about their impending demise. Ralan scoops up the numerous Iomedaean holy symbols they seemingly left for us to find. With darkness falling, we decide to head back to the Heart and rest before investigating the next hideout.
Campaign Log of Autec the Landbound, Day 8
Our next stop is a tower nearby, once used as a guard post by the crusaders. Sensing the structure is inhabited by cultists this time, we manage to bluff our way inside to speak to the leader using Terendelev's scales. Ralan demonstrates surprising self control by continuing our charade and convincing the cultist leader that we were member of another group reporting our patrol of the city. He tells us of the current plans of the demon lord Minago to finish the destruction of Kenabres through the use of a piece of the sundered ward stone. Ralan thanks him by taking firm hold of his robes as the rest of us ram home our weapons. He goes down without a whimper and we secure the large pile of loot the cultists have been collecting. Katsa also makes sure we take a large, magical, brass bull's head mounted on the wall, as it is quite valuable to the right types.
We slay the remaining cultists on our way out and rush to tell Irabeth of the impending threat to Kenabres. As I write this, Irabeth is meeting with her scouts and advisers to determine our course of action. I suspect we will all be involved, but, for now, we can rest.
