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.