Way of the Wicket 15

So in this play session the PCs fully explored the Cathedral. They poked at the wall of fire and decided it was best to leave it alone for now as they could not find a way past it. They search the rooms on the main floor but really only found a couple things of interest. The first was in the Ghaele's room they fount last time. It was a letter from Brigit of the Bijidine warning that there were Asdomeans at work.

The second item was the Grand-Abbot's journal. It basically said that Ara Mathra had called up a wall of divine flame that was impassable to all but a saint. He just had to wait out the bad guys until help arrives and then he can relight the two other flames that the PCs have extinguished. Meanwhile the Grand-Abbot was going to pray to Mitra for an army of ghosts to cleanse the Vale of evil (kinda like LotR).

Our villains wandered into the lower level of the Cathedral to find that most of the rooms were filled with old bones - former priests of the order. Disturbing them drew the attention of three ghost paladins. The cleric came up with a clever way of rendering the ghosts impotent while the rest of the party killed them.

Aside from the ghost fights most of the basement was solving puzzles and exploring. The could hear chanting going on but could not determine the source. They slaughtered a few acolytes that were waiting in a room and soon discovered a series of trials. The PCs managed to blunder through most of them and not get killed and eventually tracked down the Grand-Abbot who it turns out was responsible for the chanting.

He was knocked out and was then forced to drink a Philter of Love. The PCs managed to figure out most of the riddle and were able to access the Mitrans super vault, recovering part of an evil artifact sword, a Vampire Chalice, and a Mirror holding two bone devils plus lots of loot. They also discovered the remains of Saint Maccarius.

It was a good session for loot uncovering not one, but two well stocked vaults. With the cathedral almost fully pacified, the only tasks remaining are to lower the wall of divine fire and then defeat Ara Mathra.

Barring really poor rolling on my part, the second task is not going to be easy.

Way of the Wicked 14

With two flames remaining, the PCs sailed down the river towards the cathedral and the gardens. A long dock jutted out from a feast hall guarded by a number of heavily armoured Archons. The PCs dimension doored in behind them and made short work of them.

The feast hall was abandoned. It looked like it had been emptied quickly so the villains spread and searched for any valuables. Unfortunately for them it still held one resident who had not let for the battle but was waiting here to extract revenge. Lea the Huntress clung to the ceiling and opened the battle with her mighty roar. This had the effect of doing a bit of sonic damage as well as blinding and deafening Gorbatch the Bloodrager and Sergeant the Halfling.

She then dropped down on top of the wizard, claws flying and much blood being spilt. The elven cleric rescued his wizard companion by teleporting him out of her grapple before she could finish him off. She continued to wreak havoc but she was severely out numbered and the odds eventually caught up with her. She tried to Heal herself  but was prevented form doing so by the halfling and she rejoined her kind in the Happy Hunting grounds.

Next up was the maze. The PCs quickly deduced that they were in some sort of pocket plane or dimension as the ambient temperature changed and the sky overhead was different. The PCs knew they were going to have to answer some riddles to escape the maze and were rather concerned but then they complained that they were too easy. Some people! Anyway, a fight was had against some Blink Dogs and then it came down to putting the riddle answers together and getting through the maze.

Flush with success, they kept their eyes closed a little too long and got pummelled by the guardians at the centre of the maze. The guardians of the second flame was the head ascetic and an oracle of Mitra. The Monk beat on the party while the Oracle, protected by a heightened Sanctuary, buffed and healed the monk.  Cleverly realizing that Oracles tend to have crap reflex saves, the wizard created a pit beneath her and she fell in. The monk went down shortly after. The bloodrager and anti-paladin jumped into the pit after the oracle and they beat on each other for a bit until she was prevented from healing herself and she died as well.

The second flame was extinguished and the 9th Knot exited the maze towards the cathedral. Climbing the steps to the cathedral they were set upon by 3 angels that looked like floating flaming swords. The party got nuked  by three Holy Smites, blinding people yet again. The wizard teleported almost everyone to the top of the stairs where the angels were dealt with without too many further problems.

The party entered the cathedral and did battle with more armoured archons guarding the entrance. The battle was eventually joined by a Ghaele in energy form that zipped around blasting people and trying to stay out of reach. I made a few strategic errors here and the villains managed to take her down.

Out of Cure Blindness potions and cure sticks, the party has decided to retreat and pick up more supplies before venturing further into the cathedral. They know that the far end of the cathedral is blocked by a wall of divine flame that no being, mortal or otherwise, may cross. Everyone is leveling up to 12 before they return and press onwards into the cathedral in 2 weeks time.

Lots of fighting this session with lots of good outsiders. I expect much of the same for next session where we should be able to wrap up Book 3 - tears of the Blessed.

Way of the Wicked 10

The party wasted little time in deciding to go after the White Raven for their betrayal in the last session. The party broke the seal which normally summons Tiadora but instead it was Cardinal Thorn himself who showed up. He was not pleased with the White Ravens betrayal. He always had doubts about Elise Zadaria as she is not an Asmodean but instead worships a deity of winter. Thorn released the seventh knot from his protection and tasked the PCs to destroy them. He even offered to provide assistance which they declined. Thorn gave them a decent reward for turning down the aid.

The plan was to split the White Ravens into two groups and defeat them separately. They did an excellent job playing on Zadaria's vanity and managed to get her to send Trik and Trak out to the Horn to take care of Sylvan monsters. The PCs caught her in a tight corner and finished her quickly before she could escape. Her bodyguard raged but failed to avenge her.

Trik and Trak upon arriving a tthe Horn and finding it nearly undefended went about scouting it hoping to find out what was happening at the horn to provide more intel to Zedaria. They bypassed the Boggards easily and managed to bypass most of the illusions and traps. Where they did run into trouble was against the two Daemons and the alchemical golem. They managed to slay one of the daemons but were themselves defeated. The White Ravens were no more.

The next few weeks were fairly quiet. One of the boggards asked for better weapons and food. The Abbess of Saint Cynthia-Celeste managed to send out of town asking for aid against the growing evil. A fair came to town and the villains managed to pick up a few more small magic items. A powerful merchant approached the Anti-paladin's organization and asked them to perform a few assassinations for her. Three succeeded and three failed but a handsome fee was still paid.

During week 23 the silver dragon came out of hiding and attacked the Baron Vandemir's manor. Unfortunately no one had any advanced warning of the attack nor was anyone on hand to witness what happened, only that the Baron and much of his house guard were slain.

The next week the party heard that a bunch of Knights of Alerian (Mitra's holy order) had come to Farholde. The villains went to investigate and ran smack into the knights now led by Sir Valin Darian, Farholde's current keep commander. The knights put up a fight but were no match for the villains. The knights were dragged back to the Horn and their bodies were given to the boggards as food. (I silently cringed.)

Returning to town they decided to ask around and find out if the their were any candidates suitable suitable for the final sacrifice handy (has to be a descendant of the Victor - Darian the first). It didn't take long to find out that the only suitable candidate was the current commander of the keep  - Sir Valin Darian, who the party had just fed to bogards only minutes before. With only 6 weeks to go they didn't have the time nor the resources to go strolling around Talingarde looking for another suitable sacrifice. The boggards had been pretty thorough eating the knights so aside from a few bits and pieces there wasn't enough left for a Raise Dead. As the PCs were trying to come up with a solution I was scrambling to come up with one as well.

Someone had the good idea of asking if the Knight had a love child. The Anti-paladin's Bard cohort made a sky high Gather Information check so I let them find one. Derailment averted.

A few more weeks passed with only a Gorgimera showing up to cause trouble. The PCs avoided it and eventually it left on its own.

With only 5 days to go a few complications arose. Upon completing the dawn ritual, Vetra Kali Eats-The-Eyes partially manifested, and managed to damage the artifact keeping him from this plane. The effort caused a massive Earthquake damaging the horn and weakening many of the Horns defenses.

Shortly after the midnight ritual as people were beginning to settle in (the villains has retreated to the Upper Sanctum and are going to make their final stand there), the green protective barrier dropped and an angelic being flew into the sanctum. The Bloodrager moved to protect the Alter since there was little else he could do. The angel hovered near the ceiling raining down lightning bolts and empowered Magic Missiles on the party. It wasn't until the Anti-paladin quaffed a potion of Fly that the angelic threat was removed. Having few ranged options is bad, Mmmkay.

On the afternoon of the next day a massive mud elemental scaled the side of the Horn and entered via the balcony. Not knowing what it was several party numbers were reluctant to engage (Brave Sir Robin the Anti-Paladin - although in his defense he is the eldest PC). The bloodrager rushed in and started smacking it. The Mud monster had good reach and decent DR but was quickly dispatched by the heavy hitters.

Three and half days remain until the ritual is complete...

Can the PCs hold on?

Stay tuned as we play the final part of Call Forth the Darkness this coming weekend.