Session 46: Serpents Abound Report

General Summary

The Serpents Rise

As Hallaster threw the body of Noon out in front of the assembled tieflings, battle was joined.   Tarvy was able to stun all of the Tieflings bar Karaxos as the rest of the party assailed the tiefling leader.   As they did this, Karaxos placed his hands on the ground and it moved, the whole earth began to shake beneath them as crashing out from beneath was a huge serpent, as well as numerous other, heavily muscled, snake like creatures.   Karaxos then began to make his way out of the tent.   The Mezzoloth guards began making short work of the other tieflings and managed to begin swiftly executing the armed, muscled serpents which had emerged from beneath the earth. One of these creatures was almost instantly slain (3 natural 20's) and the other two were safely kept away from the party.   As Karaxos was attempting to escape, Hal, Gortan and Blaize attempted to stop him, leaving Tarvy and Rukk to finish off the giant snake. Karaxos gave them a look and, as they watched, vainished in a cloud of grey-black smoke.

Escape the Burning Halls

Once the tieflings were largely finished off (two being brought with the party as prisoners), the party, along with the slaves and prisoners, began to hurry out of the area.   All around them the halls had erupted in combat, a combat which largely seemed to be going the way of the Yugoloths. From what they could gather it didn't seem like this force was an attempt to defeat the Yugoloths, rather, perhaps, as more of a distraction.   The party hurried through the caves, dodging through combatants and making their way back to the Devil's Den where Ros was just finishing off a few snakes from her bar.   They then interviewed their new companions, the two tieflings they interviewed to ask where Karaxos would have gone. After some brutal torture methods it was established that they genuinely didn't know. On the plus side, one of the tieflings now had just 1.5 legs.   While the party rested, the prisoners explained where they each had come from. They had all been kidnapped by humans in a caravan who had gradually picked up more and more people as they made their way across the continent. Pebble explained that most had been kidnapped apart from Rhorog and Reed who had tried to ambush and take one of the carts. They were, in their turn taken hostage. They had come into Noon's possession when he and his Mezzoloths had fallen on part of the column and managed to take a couple of carts with them. They didn't know where everyone else had gone.   While this was being explained, Hal and Blaize returned to the Burning Halls to find the fighting was dying down slightly. They snuck back to the tent and found the bodies of the more senior Tieflings who were dead. Taking one of their heads, they made their way back up to the bar where the party took an hour to catch their breath.

Return to the High Curator's Manse

At the conclusion of the hour, the party set off again to try and find Jekaa and whatever Karaxos was apparently searching for.   Gortan first used his Doss Lute to fly to the city's gate and contact the Slowpass Boys, who seemed on edge but not attacked. They were instructed to see what they could do to assist.   Returning to the rest of the group, they snuck through the city towards the curator's Manse, seeing quite a few serpents and snake people moving through the streets as they went. The whole city seems to have been under attack, though the bulk of the forces seem to have been attracted to the Burning Halls below.   As they approached the Manse they saw it surrounded by the serpentine creatures, most of whom seemed to be patrolling and a few on watch outside the building.   Spotting a way around, they were able to sneak into the building , squeezing past one of these abominations at the top of the marble stairway leading to the door.   As they got inside the building they saw a gruesome sight, the lights has been dimmed and Tosra, the Tiefling who had welcomed them the previous morning, was pinned to the balcony above the entryway, a huge shard of black, dripping glass protruding from her chest. Very much dead.   They heard movement above and, once they approached, realised it was the guard, the one they had previously met who had been in the room when they had spoken to Jekaa. He was badly bloodied, but seemed to have taken care of two of these abominable creatures. He explained what had gone on and that he hadn't been able to stop the mage, saying he had been able to enter the collection. He agreed to open the door for them, saying that he hoped they could help Jekaa as, powerful as he was, he was certainly not immortal.   He opened the door to the collection, reaching up in the archway seemingly leading to the rest of the building and pulling down a symbol of a 5 pointed star. As it descended, it opened into a glimmering purplish field through which they could see a huge room. Nearest to them were intricate models and structures, some still being built, further in there were all manner of other items, each displayed ornamentally to show them to their most advantageous. Stepping through, they heard what sounded like fighting, and then a fox-like yelp as a figure clad in purple was cast across the far side of the room.   As they approached, they saw the figure of Karaxos, flanked by two of these large humanoid snakes, climb the steps on the far side of the room, reach out and seize what looked like a black orb. Turning, he spotted the party approaching.     Next Session Start: The party are standing just past the entryway to The Curator's Collection. Across the way, Karaxos is holding an orb of seemingly impenetrable darkness. Karaxos watches you approach. ROLL INITIATIVE.