Episode 8 (part 5): Zeech’s Feast

The Ominous Fabler leads them out to a wide balcony, set on a cliff side above the river.  The Ominous Fabler perches himself on the balcony and announces the next event, a slaughter of curious avians.  Servants wheel out large racks of masterwork light repeating crossbows and cages each filled with 10 birds.  Zeech strides up, grabbing a crossbow and challenges anyone to bring down more birds them himself – the prize 1,000 GP.  All fo the guests, playing along, grab a crossbow.  The servants release the birds, who fly quickly out of sight in a wonderful burst of colour.  Zeech shoots six, a remarkable feet as the crossbows all seem to only have 5 rounds in them.  Yldar, Talis and Zeek pick up two crossbows, and with impressive speed Zeek manages to best Zeech.  With diplomatic grace Zeek bows and offers that he has no doubt trudged through killing more wildfowl than the good Prince, who laughs off his loss and moves to the next event.

The guests are next led to the basement, where kid of cockfighting pit has been arranged.  The Fabler offers two rings to be worn by combatants who will control their proxies in the pit.  The prize – a large 1,000GP golden egg – goes to the winner who creates the most ornament.  A dozen ferrel cats are released and frantically dart around the little arena.  Two cockatrices are presented to Zeech and Zeek, who stand up as champions for the fight.  The rings go on and their concentration now channels through the cockatrices.  Cat after cat, the two birds strike and battle to turn them to stone.  The Prince’s cockatrice is simply not as adept, nearly every one he attacks he either misses or fails to turn to stone.  Zeek’s cockatrice, quick to take advantage of the confused cats, moves into flank and charges, and makes an impressive collection of stone cat ornaments.  The crowd, including Zeek’s own party, gets a bit concerned and agitated at the Prince being bested twice, but Zeek and Zeech are oblivious, locked in battle.  After a long battle the two birds turn against each other with Zeek finally turning the Price’s bird to stone.  The Prince rips his ring off as the battlers receive polite but not overly enthused applause from the audience.  Prince Zeech looks distinctly displeased now, and the party looks on anxiously, remembering the Professor's comment that the Prince is nothing if not capricious.  But the irrepressible Zeek, with a self-deprecating laugh, says by way of explanation, "Well, you know, I've no doubt had a lot more practice than you...at playing with a small cock!" Somewhat molified, Zeech leaves the room without ordering Zeek's immediate dismemberment. The Omimous Fabler buys Zeech some cooling off time by recalling a ridiculous tale while walking the group to a twilight garden on the north side of the palace.

Here a rack of differently coloured skulls is waiting for the party, and a black one in the hands of Prince Zeech.  In a kind of bocce game where the Prince’s black skull serves as the pallino, the guests each throw their skulls.  While the party does their best, Captain Vularis is easily makes the finest shot, winning Zeech’s offered price of a necklace with a small silver skill with ruby eyes worth 2,500GP.  Talis chats with Maris Quemp, the handsome half-orc barbarian, who becomes charmingly enamoured with her.  Vasco looks to get a sense of Lord Kilraven is, but feels closed to his seriousness.  Zeek and Vulras strike a rapport on the way to the banquet.  Toris, the little gnome they had met a few days earlier, chatters annoyingly and proudly about the achievements of his brethren kind.

The banquet hall is set in a magnificent room, with guests each having seats already set out.  No one from the party is sitting beside the Prince or beside each other, though Talis’s seat is near the end of the table where Lashonna’s name-card rests.  Angels fly overhead of the banquet hall, but these angels are clearly from the city’s aerie of law enforcement.  Mounted 20 feet above the table are a ring of severed heads, mounted on iron spikes.  They sing and echo the Prince as he speaks during the night.  Finally, Lashonna’s arrival is announced, just before the first course is served.  She sits gracefully in her chair and strikes polite conversation with Talis.

The feast is then brought out over four courses; a feast of worms; a four and twenty blackbird pie; a roast of tojbasarrirge; and finally a purple worm aspic.  Vasco bumbles through the grace of eating a formal meal but no true social gaffs are made, with each course being eyed and endured.  The goblets of green worms are merely tasty scrubgrus, the blackbird pie is enhanced by a wonderful illusion of flying birds, the Tojbasarrirge – a meaty but rotten invention of the price – is attempted and dismissed; and the purple worm aspec – potentially instantly fatal, is first attempted by the night’s champion Zeek, who announces it is fine.  Talis and the Fabler spar to entertain the group with story and music.  Talis is a far better musician than story teller.  Nadroc, hoping to impress with a tale from the age of the Wind Dukes, digresses into detail that finally gets cut off by Zeech’s jester (before the rest of the table falls asleep)!  As the final desert is brought out, the likeness of Zeech topples, and the Fabler, Talis and Zeek all make good humoured jokes to lighten what has become Prince Zeech’s foul mood.

Zeech retires alone to his throne in the hall after the banquet is cleared, and the guests are left to mingle amongst themselves.  Talis and Maris Quemp continue to rapportée, through the evening, with no serious intent, and Maris (who Vasco reveals already has two wives) is clearly popular amongst the other nobles.  Vasco and Kilraven end up in the corner having a serious chat about honour and duty to the kingdom.  Here Kilraven reveals that he hopes to see Alhaster freed from Zeech’s rule and believes that the majority of the citizens are honest folk.  He doesn’t ask for help staging a coup, but asks to stay in contact as things advance.  Zeek and Captain Vulras, the commander of a band of rangers in the northern watch continue their good rapport.  They also get to a quiet discussion where he hints that if Zeek and his friends ever move against Zeech, they would certainly get the support of the Captain and his men.

Talis takes the opportunity of a moment where Lashonna is free to be in touch with her.  Lashonna appears genuinely interested in a meeting, piqued by the antics of the group and the feast and the sense of compelling need for seriouis talk expressed by Talis.  She agrees to meet them in her mansion in a weeks time, for a private meeting.

Vasco tries approaches the half-fiend Hemriss – rumoured to be Zeech’s illegitimate daughter – and asks after the heritage of her fiendish looks.  Completely offended by being a woman spoken to simply about her looks, she storms off to the Prince’s thrones to exchange familiar whispers and hostile gestures back to Vasco.  The Prince seems unimpressed (as usual) with his daughter.

The dour Shag Solomon, the affiable Professor Montague Marat and the annoyingly gregarious gnome Toris make a trio of hobnobbers that evening, trying to shmooze better positions in the high society of Alhaster.  They seem at neither well respected nor unliked by anyone, and make efforts throughout the night to keep it that way.  Toris continues to celebrate his common gnomish heritage with Zeek, to the point of searching for some fictive kin connection.  Zeek is highly sceptical of any of those claims but does not deny them so not to make offense.

Both Mahuudril and Mischen Michwillow – female sorcerers are approached by Vasco and Talis.  While Mahuudril bails on any conversation, saying that she too is feeling ill, Mischen engages a rapport on the ins-and-outs of the economics of the magic trade, having retired from adventuring to partake in the profits of that market.

Yldar tries to speak with B’Kruss and V’juss, but they are both rather non-responsive for this kind of engagement, both saying they are feeling some ill effects of their indulgence at the meal.  A sly health check by Yldar leads him to believe that they may have been poisoned at some point, but he quietly takes his leave of his formal rivals.

Zeek steels an opportunity to speak with Prince Zeech himself.  He is in a completely foul mood, feeling like the grand feast in his honour was something of a string of failures.  He is momentarily interested in making the briefest of small talk when Zeek gets to the point by discussing the architecture of Zeech’s Great Project.  Clearly this is a monument of pride for the Prince who says it is to become the cultural centre for Alhaster, Redhand, and perhaps one day the lands beyond.  Following that Zeek is summarily dismissed and the Prince shortly after takes his retire.

As they trays are begin swept away, the hard-drinking and eating dwarf Hoff is literally following the food out the door.  Talis strikes up conversation, and Hoff plays up a challenge of his own – to an arm wrestle with Hoff, who appears to be the strongest of the group.  Best two out of three.  Talis looses all three bouts, though not without trying, and Hoff is humoured and impressed by her serious effort and invites her and the others to join his mercenary band – anytime they like, they have a place with Hoff!  With that, Hoff leaves with a tray of food.

The great feast honouring 20 years of rule by Prince Zeech comes to a close.  The skeletons who have clattery danced through out the evening help the servants whisk away the remanets of the party, and the grand carriages take all the guests back to their lodgings.  With a final trumpet bast offered by the Ominous Fabler, the celebrations are closed.  The party observes that the revelling in the streets – the common party that corresponded to the banquet, broke early and festive city has retired to their beds.  The party leaves the feast feeling successful and more ensconced in Alhaster society.  They are now known in the streets and amongst the aristocracy as skilful but not perfect, heros with humility, powerful but (for the most part) dignified.  It is little wonder that talented folk like Kaydence have sought to become followers of this party.  They truly are something.

Indeed, with their presence in Alhaster brightly sung, the party receives +12 Authority Points, to be used soon enough...

* * *

The next morning the party wakes to ill effect little other than what one would expect from having dined and drank at a feast for the Prince.  But more pressing matters are at hand.  They decide to take what they have learned back to Magepoint and discuss matters further with Manzorian, taking advantage of the access to his library and the wisdom of his counsel.  Manzorian suggests that indeed the time is ripe to have swift effect of the remnants of the Ebon Triad that come from the itinerary secretly hidden in the pages from the Triptych Well.  There is a week before their meeting with Lashonna, and this time can be used to better effect than musing around Alhaster.

So, each pair supported with followers of Manzorian, Zeek and Talis, and Vasco and Yldar split off and infiltrate these final cult members.  In stories the bards will sing another day, the remainder of Ebon cultists are hunted down and destroyed.  In the act, there are encounters with a few other Wormspawn that the cultists have been conspiring to bring the Age of Worms into the world.  Zeek and Talis disrupted a group of ninja heretics infiltrating Garalenn in the County of Urnst with several infectious Spawn of Kyuss.  Yldar and Vasco went to Ixworth on the edge of the forest in the Horned Society kingdom to take down cultists who managed to  liberate Wormspawn almost as powerful as those found below the Spire in Kuluth-maar.  On the way back, they also had another encounter with a  pair of bone devils who teleported in to try and seize information that would lead them to the party’s fragment of the Rod of Many Parts.  In the end, the party broke these critical cells of the Ebon Triad, and captured their assets.  The Ebon Triad had 50,000 in gems, platinum, gold, and vial art, and the following magic items:  

• +4 shocking shuriken
• +4 ring of protection
• +3 amulet of mighty fists
• +4 bracers of armour (x2)
• +2 gloves of dexterity
• wand of charm person (22 charges)
• scroll of plane shift
• wand of dispel magic (14 charges)
• +1 merciful quarterstaff (1d6+1 plus 1d6 non-lethal)
• potion of cure moderate wounds (x3)
• potion of cat's grace
• potion of mirror image
• potion of invisibility
• wand of stoneskin (19 charges)

Following this, the party has a short time in Magepoint, where all sorts of magic is to be had to help level up for the next encounters, and there is wide access to Manzorian's library for study.  

They return before the week’s end, feeling more mature and experienced from the whole effort, and find themselves back at Alhaster on the morning of their meeting with Lashonna.

Episode 8 (part 4): Battle in the Well

Nadroc emerges urgently from the well below to report his startling findings to the group – a massive outsider, three headed and six armed, has awoken below with a violent fury. Hushed conversation ensues when they realize that they are being watched. The man -- Kaydence – reveals himself to the group as a cleric of Heronious who has been living quietly sheltered since the early days of Zeech’s rule. The clerics who are sheltering the group in secret trust this man and revealed them to him, seeing that there may be an important alignment of interests in their working together. After some intense discussion of motives and risks, the group agrees that Kaydence is sincere in his convictions, and accepts his pledge as co-hort to the party, taking a personal liking to the ever-charming Zeek.

Back to their plotting of how to return the party to the well of the triptych of heretics, they resolve on fooling old Furpotia, the keeper of the sickhouse that covers the well. With half the party invisible, Talis wrapped up and disguised as sickly, Furpotia is approached to take a sick woman on for her final days. Furpotia obliges, shooing the ‘family’ away, and quickly succumb to a sleep spell. With the ‘sick’ rising from her cot, Talis cracks the door open and admits her friends.

The party gets to work to reveal the trap door that offers egress into the well, and they fly, feather-fall and scamper down iron rungs of the first stage of the well. As they emerge into a domed room with mat covered floors, a tangle of ropes animates into a large golem, ready to be the hangman of all who try to pass into the hallway beyond. Blasted with spell after spell, the rope golem imperviously smashes and grabs at the party dealing awesome blows. A whirlwind of ropes lash against nearly everyone, with seemingly only the adamantine weapon of Zeek seeming to do any real damage. A desperate spell of animate rope by Talis only hastens the entire creature’s attacks and reflexes. Finally, with shouts across the room, Vasco and Talis discharge enough natural flame and conjured grease to lite the rope golem on fire, weaking it though not before Zeek takes a massive hit. Finally, the rope is a smouldering ruin, and Kaydense finds himself an invaluable healing servant of the party.

Now more alert, the party moves slowly down the hall little niches and alcoves stand empty, but Yldar sees a desiccated familiar green worm dried up in the corner. If this wasn't proof enough, they enter into a brick-lined passage, encrusted in harmless mould that covers what is an entire fresco of runes and pictographs. The seekers recognize the language as avolakia, an ancient, nightmarish race of intelligent, humanoid worms they thought was only legend. Using comprehend languages, Vasco and the others study the area for over an hour, filling in details hinted at during their time in the Spire of Kuluth-Mar.

A recurring theme in the prayers is the mention of a ceremony known as The Ravenous Awakening. This ritual involves the animation of huge numbers of undead who are then led like cattle into vast banquet halls, where they present themselves to the feasters for consumption. Further study reveals that while the avolakias worship Kyuss above all things, they also believe that his power is waxing. The passages suggest that Kyuss himself is trapped in some form of large stone monolith. He managed to partially escape this prison once, 1,500 years ago, but he was unable to maintain his freedom for longer than a few short months before the defeat of his armies by a force the avolakia refer to only as the Enemy forced him back into his monolithic prison. More obscure mentions include reference to a location (phonetically translated as M’theskuss) called the Writhing Tabernacle, the place the avolakias seem to hold as the most holy site of Kyuss. Mention is also made of their great ally and the Voice of Kyuss, the Consort of the Five-Faced One, the eternal dragon Dragotha.

These runes are ominous indeed, and the party decides to stay on, rest and recover, hearing no further sounds from the well beyond.

Knowing that at the end of the next descent awaits the aspect of a god, the party braces with their most powerful spells, buffing against what is to come. They descend further down the well, emptying into an immense chamber with a dome filled roof built a full 50 feet above the floor. Alcoves hold statues of worm-like monsters coiled around pillars of skulls and bones. The party knows that the huge statue in the middle of the room is no inanimate object, and descend on it with full force working to devastate it will spells and blows. The battle rages in what seems like slow motion. Yldar’s magic-holy arrows and Nadroc’s magic-holy spiked chain seem to knock the huge statue back, while all other hits seem trivial. It’s claws, bites savage those around it with Kaydense being taken almost completely out of the battle. Finally too, this massive aspect of the Ebon Triad is utterly destroyed. Zeek sets to work to stuff one of its heads in a bag while the others explore the room, discovering a hollow wall.

Breaking through, an important cache of treasure if found. Four chests with thousands of gold and platinum pieces, potions and elixirs, a cache of wands, rods, rings, and other magic items, and finally a large, leather-bound ledger. The book bore no title, and appears to be a mere outdated list of the contents of the room. Vasco, suspicious that it may carry more that it reveals, holds on to the book for later study.

Taking time to recover and pack the chests, the party return to the surface, and to their confidants who are keeping them in the church of Kord.

The next day Vasco and Yldar get to work on the ledger. They draw on their resources to evoke a secret page spell. This reveals that the ledger is an exhaustive list of the members of the Ebon Triad, including its numerous allies and the locations in which these individuals live. Vasco recognizes some of the names that have had lines drawn through them: “Theldrick,” and “Faceless One” he and the party had defeated in the mines below Diamond Lake. “Loris Raknian” had kept the Kyuss shine in the free city before it was exposed by them during the Champion Games. The ledger gives only one entry for Alhaster: “Ilthane— Traitor’s Graves.” Indeed, the list confirms the late black dragon’s place in the Ebon Triad.

Now more flush with coin than they have ever been, the next day and a half the party spends in the black market and in the couture shops, bartering for magic and getting ready for Zeech’s feast. Having been put off by the prices and continual limits at Iomandi's Wonders,  the supposedly 'best' magic shop in Alhaster, they fare much better in the black market, bartering with apparently well connected magic purveyors who are impressed by the amount of coin the group is bringing around.  For a mere 1000GP an item, the party manages to bring such things as celestial armour and a ring of force shield into their position within hours.  Outside the unappealing shops of the aristocrats and nobility, Alhaster's true markets indeed live up to their reputation.

Indulging themselves at the Deluxury, they make their final preparations for the Great Feast, with Vasco studying enough to cast permanent comprehend languages and resistance on himself and resistance on Talis.  Their finery include

 Yldar -> 600 GP suit, no weapons or armour Talis -> 800 GP dress and concealing her dagger Vasco -> 100 GP suit, glitterdust, no weapons or rods Zeek -> 200 Gp hat -> with a newly purchased cane and a very fine codpiecel;  Nadroc -> himself as artifact, cleaned up to a shine, no weapons

They wrap in spidersilk a gift for Prince Zeech of the Harp of Charming they had found in the treasure chests of the Ebon Triad.

Finally, the night arrives. The elaborate gold chariot – just as garish as had been described – picks them up, complete with crystal decanters and silver serving trays.

At least a dozen other aristocratic guests arrive, a few of which the party already knows. Lashonna is notable by her absence. A funny little man, clutching a mummified raven and a small horn acts as the emcee for the event, announcing the arrival of the guests and the gifts each brings for the Prince. While every individual gives the prince a gift of rare wine, jewels, exotic caged animals, and in one case an outstanding fiendish horse outfitted with the horseshoes of a zeypher, the party’s sole gift of a harp seems humble at first. Talis, however, presents it with a flourish of diplomacy and the Prince appears genuinely pleased. Prince Zeech thanks everyone and mentions that Lashonna is coming too, but will be a bit late. The crowd buzzes with a bit of excitement, and the night’s first event ensues.

The little announcer, who calls himself The Ominous Fabler, calls for the staging of a series of short plays to open the evenings’ entertainment. He has named them The Harlequinade Mortificatio and they are performed by a troupe of animated skeletons, acting out their own unfortunate (but seemingly not quite accidental) deaths. The macabre humour strikes a tone with the group which is furthered by the announcement of the first refreshment of the evening, a great cake in honour of Prince.

While unusual and deformed servants circulate with drinks and canapes, a huge 8 foot tall cake is carried out on the back of a manticore. The cake – a remarkable resemblance to the Ziggarut of Zeech’s project – is topped by a marzipan figure of the Prince himself. Seemingly very pleased with this sweet smelling cake – and surrounded by the enthusiastic applause of everyone assembled, the Prince cuts himself the first piece, and invites his servents to them dish out to the other assembled guests. Beaming at the early success of the event, the Prince awaits the Fabler to announce the second event.