Shackled City: Chapter 4
From AJS.COM
This article details a chapter of the storyline from Aaron's Shackled City Dungeons & Dragons role playing game.
| Name: | Chapter #04 / Zenith Trajectory |
| Date: | 2006-06-17 |
| Summary: | |
| The party tries to settle in to Cauldron, but is quickly swept up into its machinations | |
- This information is intended for players in a specific campaign, and might contian spoilers for players in other instances of the Adventure Path.
Contents |
First day
Hulk smash!
Simon, Bevin, Rylek, Flay, Dana (et al.) and Q spent their first five days in the Cauldron area getting into more trouble than a fiendish dire weasel on fire!
The day opened with the bad news of their termination of employment with the caravan, followed quickly by the attack of a fiendish umber hulk on their way to the Drunken Morkoth Inn.
The umber hulk attack was quickly dealt with by the party, after which the local authorities showed up. The newly hired half-orc mercenaries were gruff, but reasonable. The gnomish members of the newly formed MTA (Magical Threats Agency) were slightly less polite after Bevin wiped his sword off on one of them.
The Drunken Morkoth
Once they arrived at the Drunken Morkoth, the party settled in quickly. Q managed to arrange for rooms for pay for the first night, and then an audition for his skills in performing that night. In the rooms, the party was approached by Fellian and Fario, members of the Striders of Fharlanghn who were investigating the Umber Hulk attack.
Later, in the inn, Celeste, a human female with a regal bearing, arrived with an invitation for the party to the Cusp of Sunrise. Apparently the Cusp is an exclusive club attended by the city's elite, and Celeste claimed to have a business proposal.
News of Celeste's invitation got back to the manager of the Drunken Morkoth, who immediately suggested a deal to Q: in exchange for a few words about the Morkoth to the patrons of the Cusp, the charge for the first night in the room would be dropped.
The Stormblades
That night, the party (less Dana, who went to socialize with a wealthy merchant by the name of Adrick Garthûn (he runs an import business near the Drunken Morkoth and is Maavu's chief competitor) went back to the site of the umber hulk attack to investigate. They found nothing before a guard chased them away.
After a brief visit to the church of St. Cuthbert, the party happened upon the Stormblades, another group of adventurers (or so they claimed) that were investigating the site of the attack. A scuffle broke out between Bevin (who leaped from a rooftop to grapple with one of them) and a small, scruffy looking man named Todd. After a stand-off, the Stormblades went their own way, and the party returned to the inn for the night.
Second day
The Cusp of Sunrise
After dressing the part, the party went to the Cusp, and introduced themselves to the Nobility of Cauldron. In particular, Q established a rapport with Vhalantru, one of the newer nobility who has been patronizing adventuring groups. His performance also attracted a good deal of attention, and the audience at the Cusp was quite receptive to his mention of the Drunken Morkoth. Vhalantru in particular agreed to come to the Morkoth the next night to discuss his patronage of the group's adventures.
When Celeste arrived, she escorted the party into the east wing, where there were a number of conference rooms. She then brought in Davked Splintershield, an old dwarf, who is particularly decrepit. He told the tale of his son, Zenith, who used to lead the Malachite Fortress (a structure built into the tunnels and caverns under Cauldron) in the defense of the city from the Underdark. Zenith lead a crusade to rid the Underdark of evil, and never returned. Now, cursed with the dying words of his wife, Davked is dying and will continue to wither unless he makes peace with all three of his sons. He has done so with two of his sons, but he must locate Zenith if he is to end the curse. His diviners tell him that Zenith is alive, and held in an Underdark kuo-toan shrine named Bhal-Hamatugn. The way to Bhal-Hamatugn is blocked, since a group of adventurers known as the Stormblades had caved in the entrances to the Underdark from Cauldron. Davken says he can pay 4,000gp for the mission to each of the party, or 4,000gp in the finest gear that his armor and weapon-smiths can forge. He will also look into Bevin's brother's fate.
Third day
The manager of the Drunken Morkoth was not pleased to hear that the party would be leaving, but when Vhalantru showed up to discuss his patronage of the party, the situation changed. Certainly tales of the Vhalantru-backed party's adventurers would draw exactly the clientèle that the inn needed to grow its business, so Q was welcomed to take the time to go and do what he needed, as long as he returned with tales to tell.
The party prepared for the trip, and were sent six potions of water breathing by Vhalantru.
Fourth and fifth days
Crazy Jared and the dragon
The party left the next morning, and took the better part of two days to arrive at the hut of Crazy Jared, the nearest landmark to the kuo-toan shrine. When they arrived, they found the hut, and presumably Crazy Jared under attack from a young red dragon. The dragon seemed to be enraged, and actually had some damage to it, apparently from a fight of some sort.
A brief battle ensued and the party killed the dragon (note that this is a change: the dragon died just before Rylek had a chance to summon the hippogriff; it was my mistake that I forgot about the damage that the dragon took before the party arrived. It is dead, however, as the fall finished it off).
Session 2
Jared told the party that the "Pit of Seven Jaws" was the best route to the Underdark from his "kingdom" of Anduria (which the players have never heard of). He gave them a map, and the party headed off after taking the dragon's eyes and some teeth.
The Pit of Seven Jaws
On the way, the party ran into and dispatched a stone giant, who was concerned about someone who had "stole the shiny."
At the Pit of Seven Jaws, the party found that there was a 7-headed cryohydra in the the base of the pit, but as it can't get up the walkway to the surface, they made camp first.
During the night, a party of hillfolk passed by. They made some threatening comments, but upon seeing the rest of the party, they left without incident.
Sixth day
The Pit of Seven Jaws: Part 2
After rising, the party took on the 7-headed hydra that was able to breath huge gouts of ice and cold from its seven jaws. After a difficult fight, they moved forward into to fissure at the bottom, following it for most of the day, making many false starts down side tunnels and eventually arriving at a wide cavern with a small lake and a fish-shaped ston structure at one end.
Seventh day
The cavern and the boatman
The party rested at the end of the fissure after the long day of travel and awoke with no incidents in the "morning". After decsending to the bottom of the fissure's craggy path down to the lake, they were approached by a kuo-toan in a large canoe. He asked, "seek ye, the smoking eye?" To which the party gave vaguely positive responses. He offered to ferry them to the main shrine.
About two-thirds of the way to the shrine, in the midst of rambling about "the dark" and "the smoking eye", the kuo-toan suddenly attempted, but failed to roll the canoe over. A fight broke out, in which it became apparent that it possessed the training of a monk, and it called to the shore, yelling, "Invaders! Invaders!" in its horse croaking voice.
After dispatching the boatman and the four kuo-toan guards that arrived shortly, the party moved to the shore, and headed into the forboding jaws of the fish-like Bhal-Hamatugn.
Bhal-Hamatugn
Entry, guards and prison
After a skirmish with four more guards and a trap that proved to be very potent (Simon suggested finding another way) the party moved into the prison area where there were two prisoners. They both claimed that the other was "evil" and working with the kuo-toa, but Q seemed to feel that both of them were lying. The party decided to leave both of them in their cages until they returned.
Back temple entrance and torture chamber
Moving on, the passage out of the prison descended and soon the party was knee-deep in murky water which opened up into what was obviously a torture chamber. After fighting a mummy there, they moved on to a dead-end which proved to have a secret door which opened into the main temple of Blibdoolpoolp.
The temple area
The door opened in the rear, at the lower level of the temple room, which extended two floors above the players, though much of the room was obscured at first by the statue of Blibdoolpoolp, which is on a platfom above the secret entrance.
After a long (mostly because of the terrain, not the difficulty) fight, the party overcame the 4 guards and 4 priests in the room. Taking on prisoner, they extracted information about Zeinith and moved up to the third level door. Just then, an Erinyes by the cleric's account, appeared in front of the statue in a puff of smoke and attacked. The party was hard-pressed to deal with this powerful opponent, and worse: in retreating, they found another kuo-toan. This time a monk who attacked with the blades of an assassin!
After managing to kill both foes, they proceded on.
The Prophet's Room
Hearing some strange murmers from a side room, the party entered and found a dwarf who may match the description of Zenith Splintershield. However, the news was not all good. In this room, which was decorated with the corpses of unknown and decapitated humanoids hung from the ceiling, a constant murmur was heard. It seemed to be coming from the slightly twitching corpses. The Dwarf sat, listless with axe in-lap and a glowing sphere in one hand, upon a throne made of stitched skin! Behind him were banners (likely of clan Splintershield), hung upside down: a terrible afront!
The dwarf turned out to be hostile, and after summoning an invisible stalker by throwing the glowing orb against the far wall, he attacked those near him with a terrible fury, requiring Rylek to heal Bevin multiple times with his most potent healing magics.
When badly wounded, the dwarf stepped into a circle in the middle of the room and vanished. The party followed, and a fight broke out in front of the statue of Blibdoolpoolp, where the circle teleported them all.
Dana stayed behind, finishing off the invisible stalker.
The party then decided that they needed to rest for the night, so the moved up to the one upstairs room that they had not explored. After dispatching some violet fungi, the group made camp.
Day 8
In the middle of the night, Simon's familiar alerted him to some noise and the party found that some kuo-toan soldiers had been moving some of the bodies and gear, but they ran quickly into the lower levels when fired on. The party decided to finish resting before persuing these straglers.
Into the lower level
In the morning, the party descended with the now docile Zenith into the depths of the shrine. There, they came across a hideous thing: the half-black-dragon, half-kuo-toan offspring of an unknown black dragon the the keepers of the shrine. These tiny "fingerlings" swam in swarms that the party dispatched at range from the safety of the shore near their spawning pool.
Further in, they encountered the sire of these abberations: a large black dragon that tried to scare off or cajole the party into leaving, but was eventually engaged and (after heavy injuries) dispatched.
This dragon claimed to be an enemy of the red dragon that the party had killed, and was likely the one that had injured the red previously.
Back out
Having explored the shrine and looted all of its treasures, the party headed back, camping several times on the way out.
Days 9 and 10
On day 9 the party travelled down the fissure toward the Pit of Seven Jaws, but had to camp on the way, being slowed by Zenith and their loot.
On day 10, the party made their way back to Jared's, but he was not there. They camped for the night at his house and left in the morning.
Return: Days 10 and 11
It was not until the middle of the 11th day that the party returned to the city of Cauldron, and found out what had been happening. Vhalantru had left them a note and invitation to the Cusp again, so they went right away, that night.
Vhalantru met them and took Zenith, telling them that Celene had said that she had evidence of corruption in Cauldron, and left for Sasserine to discover more. Meanwhile, Davked had taken ill and been transported to a family shrine to the north where Zenith must be brought. Vhalantru asks the party to stay to help in deal with the problems in Cauldron while his people get Zenith north to his fater, hopefully in time.
Celene has asked Vhalantru to pay the party in lieu of Davked's availability, and he provided 6000gp each to the party as reward along with identification of their loot for free through his tab at Skie's treasury.
