Oathday, 6th of Desnus, 4721 AR
Gauntlight Keep
Level 4 - Belcorra's Retreat
Lair of the Walking Worm
1.17a
Kaliff steps to the side and casts
forbidding ward on Zor'ahn. Kalitos attempts to strike out against
Volluk but he is hampered by the darkness. Ehrn is likewise unsuccessful. Zor'ahn heals himself slightly, but he is overcome by his previous injuries.
Tristan continues his assault. Volluk's arm elongates and smashes into the fighter, which sloughs off squirming and biting insects onto him. The fighter uses his shield to block some of the attack and then slam the worm into the wall, unbalancing him. Kalitos is likewise struck. Volluk begins casting a spell, but Kalitos quickly lashes out with his dueling sword, disrupting the attempt. Kaliff darts forward and applies some scalathrax oil to Zor'ahn, making it easier to dislodge the vermin from the ranger's body. Kalitos recharges his spellstrike and uses it to explode his dueling sword against the worm. Likewise he shrugs off the vermin clinging to his body. Ehrn continues to be confounded by the darkness.
The darkness suddenly drops, and the party begins to hear a kind of resonant humming coming from the dining room. Tristan sees a man wearing a blank mask wearing a colorful robe step in to the northwest. Tristan strikes out and then raises his shield. Volluk begins to heave, drawing an attack from Kalitos and Tristan, disrupting his spell yet again. He vomits a swarm of vermin ineffectively on the ground. With Zor'ahn stable, Kaliff flings a
phase bolt at the worm. Kalitos recharges his spellstrike and disembowels Volluk, worms spilling out of his body. The worms begin reforming almost immediately. A menacing, disembodied feminine voice whispers threateningly,
“Congratulations, you’ve gained my notice. Be gone or mark my words, I shall kill you, your family and the entire town.”
Kaliff yells for the everyone to get out of the way and then uses his
tentacular limbs to cast
grim tendrils and decimate the worms. Ehrn quickly makes her way to the fallen ranger and begins tending to his wounds, and Kaliff sees to his brother.
1.27a
The party finds themselves in a study with an antique wooden desk, overstuffed chairs, a large iron tub with screens that depict a shadowy marshland, and incredibly well done paintings that depict various spectral beings dancing about ruined town, swampy land, and abandoned graveyards hanging on the walls. The party decides to bed down here for the night and begins searching the room. The tub is found to have engraved runes on every surface and has desiccated bugs within and without it, indicating a place where Volluk possibly rested. Zor'ahn finds some unusual scrolls, detailed blueprints of the Gauntlight (top three levels, including secret doors), and a lantern with a small blue flame in the desk. To him the lantern resembles the flame of a
will-o-wisp. The scrolls appear to be written in a language that Kaliff understands as Sakvroth. A cleverly built secret slot is noticed in one of the desk legs, which contains a nondescript iron key.
On the painting on the eastern wall is found to have been recently moved and covers a secret door. A short hallway leads to a curved wall with another door that leads to the circular room containing the blue energy seen previously.
The notes on the desk appear to relate to events that happened only a few days ago. Talk of the recent successful test of the
Gauntlight, complicated and esoteric mathematical equations, a useful subject used, and more tests planned in the future. Clinical description of the test subject as a young male dwarf, expounding on the race's hardiness and vitality of youth. He describes how wisps would be used to induce necromantic energies from the subject, mentioning the very specific qualities of the wisps being used to induce and sustain the terror of death that they can enact on the living, which is what is needed for the test. Kaliff hypothesizes that this necromantic energy is what is used to power the Gauntlight. Disappointedly, the notes do not provide any addition insight into
Zor'ahn's condition. The party sits down and examines their newly discovered magic items before bedding down for the night.
Identified Items
- "Will-o-Wisp" Lantern: activate in presence of a living creature to make them suggestable, but not sure of the trigger, seems reminiscent of a will-o-wisp; Dawnflower Library needed to investigate it further.
- Scrolls: comprehend languages, paralyze, worms repast
- Bracelet of Dashing: +1 Acrobatics; daily, +10-foot status bonus to Speed, 1 min.
- +1 Silver Hatchet: probably used by local lumbermen to protect against lycanthropes.
- Bottled Sunlight (Moderate): highly volatile, shaken to induce a chemical reaction that can be thrown within an hour that does vitality and fire damage.
- +1 Striking Pick: could be used for excavation, but the potent magic alludes to it being a martial weapon.
- Ventriloquist's Ring: with engraved songbirds, trickster's ring; +1 item bonus to Deception checks, throw voice daily.
- Wand of Quench: creates an area of supersaturated water vapor, immediately extinguishes natural fire and possibly even magical fire.
- Viper Arrow: covered in fine green scales with a fanged iron head; transforms into a viper when activated.
- Stone Body Mutagen (Lesser): unusual mixture of alchemical components, transforms one's body into hard stone.
- Legendary Infernal Contract: 10 ft. long scroll written in Diabolic (scroll of comprehend languages used to read), signed by Korlock Deathbringer (the demonic jailor), held by Belcorra Haruvex, witnessed by Urevian; contracts usually have two copies, one held in Hell; includes a clause of the guardian's contract that ends after 99 weeks and 99 days if not given any further orders from Belcorra (a little over 2 years time).
12.07p
Opening the curved door reveals a large, circular chamber with smooth, 15th ft. walls and a metal table where the manacled body of a dwarf lies. He is covered in blisters, his mouth contorted in pain, and obviously dead. Despite this, the party recognizes him as Lasda Venkervale, son of
Brelda Venkervale, owner of the
Rowdy Rockfish, who has been missing for a year. He most likely died within the last 24 hours. Examining further, Kaliff believes that blisters might have been caused by electricity and that most likely the man died from fear. There are no other wounds or blood, but the manacles appeared to have been on him for a long time.
12.17p
Olli follows the trash pipe for about 100 ft. and finds it empties into a large cave on the ceiling. There is trash and a huge mound of stinking fugus.
12.27p
Back in the kitchen where the masked man disappeared, the party finds a barely cracked open concealed door. It opens into a natural passage that leads north. Bones, scrapes of metal, and cloth lay about the floor of the passage. Tristan barely hears a scrapping sound against rock up ahead and warns the party.
The passage opens into a cavern with a 15 ft. ceiling where several
scalathrax lurk. It gouts out a spray of toxic oil, which splashes on Tristan. The fighter activates his Smoking sword and prepares to attack. Zor'ahn dashes forward and opens up a deep wound with his Wooden Argentis. Kaliff readies for a target to reveal itself. The enraged creature rounds on the dark ranger, ripping at him with its jaws. He feels its venom enter his veins. The second one fires quills from its leg at him followed by a gout of toxic oil, which coats him in a slippery substance. Kalitos moves to engage the second creature, but slips in some of the slick oil. Ehrn saddles next Kalitos and pierces it with her glaive.
The first scalathrax continues its assault on Zor'ahn. Tristan hacks at the monster once again, cleaving his sword through its maw and dropping it to the floor. Zor'ahn shifts his immanence to heal himself and the roars at the other creature in rage. Kaliff rushes to Zor'ahn side and gives him a dose of antidote. The scalathrax attempts to bite Tristan, but he raises his shield in time, but it is successful with its second attack. It then starts to climb the wall, and Kalitos cuts through its body with his dueling blade. A third monster appears and sprays oil at Tristan and Zor'ahn, but the ranger nimbly dodges. Kalitos fires an
ignition at the spider on the ceiling, causing it to burst into flames and slam into the ground unmoving. He steps up to the front line. Ehrn advances rakes a frosty wound on the remaining monster.
Tristan joins his wife and lays some pain. Zor'ahn moves to flank and continues the assault. Kaliff fires needles of cold iron, but misses. The scalathrax attempts to return in kind on the dark ranger, but misses as well. Kalitos attempts to hit with another
ignition, but he is off target. Ehrn levels her glaive and impales the monster once and for all.
