Session 45: Blood in The Dark Report
General Summary
The session began with the party unloading water off the ship as the Spire of The Gods rose out of the water. They used a rowboat stored on the ship to row out to the entrance of the spire where they had to use Geraldt's rope of climbing to use the handles on the huge door to get it open. Once inside, the party came upon a battlefield within the large entrance hallway to the spire. There they found piled up bodies of soldiers of the Tenebresian Empire and Lizardmen, an ancient race wrote about in myth and legends. The party looked around and found a survivor named Vopiscus Matius Gallus, shortened to Gallus, who told the party that they were there to siege the spire, and that it was a city. Gallus thanked Zeal for tending to his wounds and said he would take the party to the Centurion, the leader of their army. Shortly after, a figure formed from the darkness, a being with a large rack of horns and huge wings adorned with chains and skulls whose eyes darted to Zeal. It was the being who had been speaking to Zeal, and offered him something that Zeal denied. His name was Be'lakor. He appeared to merely be there to taunt and mock Zeal at the time, and was merely brushed off by the party. The party then ventured forth with Gallus leading them and Orion helping him to walk due to his injuries. They opened a huge door that led into the city proper, which was lit up by a huge sphere on the roof which mimicked moonlight. A few ballistae were set up by the entrance into the city, manned by artillerymen of the Tenebresian army who spotted the party as they entered. With the help of the party, Gallus talked down the soldiers who proceeded to take them to the Centurion, Octavius, who understood what the party had to say, and bregrundingly tasked the party with finding an enigmatic figure only known as "The Maiden in Black" who had preivously helped the legion in the past. He wished to know the location of the Blood Lord, and apparently this person knew. The party made their way towards the city centre, but on the way there they encountered the leader of the Lizardmen, a White Lizard riding upon a viscious dinosaur-like creature which tore a line across the city, leaving naught but rubble in its wake as it saw the party but continued forward. They used Geraldt's rope of climbing to cross the flaming rubble and landed in an abandoned house where they jumped out of a window at the other side. On the bottom floor they saw an armoured creature eating a corpse with smaller, amphibian like creatures handling it. As the party finally reached the city centre, a hooded figure was sat upon a broken fountain in the middle, who told a cryptic story while playing a lute, knowing more than he should about the party and their mission. After he finished a mysterious woman with no eyes, black hair and wrappings on her body came from the street to their right, introducing herself as the mentioned Maiden in Black. She told the party that she will help them if they can retrieve an onyx and silver amulet to her, that a merchant known as Velitha Moonshadow has come into possession of. The party followed a light that the Maiden In Black summoned to guide their way to where Velitha is located. On the way there they were ambushed by a small group of Lizardmen, including a much bigger, crocodile-like lizardman who wielded a giant polearm. Combat ensued between the two sides with the party firstly dispatching the tough foot soldiers while trying to avoid the bigger one. Aes was hit hard with a strike from the beast, but Zeal was able to disarm it and land it's weapon in some burning rubble. In it's anger, it rushed past Aes and dived towards Zeal, biting him and catching him in its crushing jaws. It was unable to do anything after though, as it was killed by Aes swiftly after. The rest were quickly dealt with, with only one of the amphibian-like lizardmen escaping. They then continued following the light to a back alley where they met Velitha Moonshadow, who confirmed she had the amulet but wanted something else in return. A book named the "Lexicon of the Infused Celestia" which she lost in the layer beneath the Echelon Bazaar named the Gloomforge Depths. She told the party to hurry, as she may not still be there due to the siege of the city, reaching her location.
