Session 34 - "Such Sights, Ruins of Gauntlight - Part 20

General Summary

Oathday, 6th of Desnus, 4721 AR

Gauntlight Keep

Level 4 - Belcorra's Retreat

Hall of Sarcophagi

12.27p

Kalitos recharges his spellstrike and then mightily slashes at his wispy foe, followed by bashing it with a telekinetically propelled rock that dissipates the creature. Ehrn lashes out at the wight and then moves to aid Zor'ahn. The hand grappling the ranger fails to maintain its grip, causing it to be unable to land an attack. The second hand manages to scratch him. Kaliff levels a worm's repast at the remaining wight, causing crawling worms to suddenly manifest and begin consuming it. Zor'ahn heals himself and Ehrn, and then stands and retrieve his Wooden Argentis. The wright continues its assault on Ehrn, but is completely ineffectual. With an iron grip, Tristan rips the hand restraining him off his body. He follows up with a scathing attack on the remaining flickerwisp, causing it to pop out of existence. Continuing his attack, he slashes the hand that he just threw off. The hand claws the fighter again and attempts to grab him, but Tristan instead flips it over on the ground.
Kalitos advances on the wight and attempts a double slice, but only Finley's Sparkblade lands. Ehrn skewers the wight next, ending it. However, as it falls, the undead creature strikes out and lands a palpable hit on the barbarian. Ehrn quickly renders aid to herself. The hands continue to assault Zor'ahn, but the first one is slapped down. As it attempts to right itself, Tristan's Smoking Sword cleaves it in half, cauterizing the wounds as it goes. The second is able to scratch at the ranger and grab him. It goes for a pin, but it is slapped down for its efforts. Kaliff fires an electric arc between the hands, smoking Tristan's attacker into ashes. Zor'ahn's shadow skewers the remaining appendage to the ground.

Scalathrax Lair

12.28p

As the last enemy falls, a heaviness descends on the party. It feels as if a deep hunger has awakened deep in their stomachs, like fight took more than they had out of them. Zor'ahn by contrast, rolls his shoulders and appears to be in fine spirits. A fatigue begins creeping up on everyone else. The energy emitting from the sphere to the north appears similar to the Gauntlight's energy. Kalitos suggests withdrawing back to the scalathrax cave to recoup. Zor'ahn appears to be paying only token attention to the party. Ehrn grips him by shoulder and is able to lead him away, however he continues to be transfixed by the large glowing rock. As they walk by the caved in wall, they hear the faint echo of water splashing. A tunnel leads steeply down.

Altar of Nhimbaloth

12:48p

After attending to the party's injuries, the Exterminators journey back into the hallway. Almost immediately the feeling of being watched returns. The slab of rock continues to emit blue light between the large slashes on its face. The wall around the chamber is painted with a swampy graveyard with shrieking ghosts that appear to be ascending to a large open eye on the ceiling. All too familiar details suggest that this is another shrine to Nhimbaloth. The only other exits are doors in the east and west walls. Tristan pulls open a sarcophagus to reveal that it once held someone, but is now empty. Zor'ahn passively stares at the altar before suddenly going rigid and swings his gaze upward towards the eye. Tristan senses the feeling of being watched intensify. "I think the eye sees us," he states. Zor'ahn relaxes slightly, only to appear more confused. The ranger asks the fighter, "Do you see the altar in the darkness? Do you see the sword in the altar? Am I standing here or somewhere else?"
Becoming more agitated, Tristan says that they need to get out of the area. Kalitos opens the west door and everyone makes their way there. Zor'ahn murmurs, "This darkness. It's mine." Tristan opens the next door into a room with three iron cages hanging from chains in the ceiling. Bloody manacles are bolted to the wall. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a bundle of chains move and a blue humanoid wrapped in chains materializes. A woman's voice says,

"Please come in. I invite you to come in, you and your friends."

With few options, they enter.

Temple of Torture

12.58p

Zor'ahn recognizes the being as common to the Shadow Plane. Tristan asks who she is. She responds in a tired voice, "My name is Vaulgrist, I am the chief torturer. And welcome, what is your names?" Zor'ahn mentions the word "Velstrac". A smile appears on the being's tattooed face. "Chain devil," he concludes. The smile appears violent and does not reach her eyes. Tristan gives a false name and says that they won't be here long. She invites them to stay and talk, and Zor'ahn asks if her last plaything is gone. During the parlay, Kalitos suddenly yells out, "She's doing something." A chain lashes out and slams the door shut. Kaliff racks his own mental librarium mysterium for information. He is able to recall that they are fiends and flesh sculptors, and are often used as advisers to other powerful beings by showing secret paths to power within mortal flesh. The beings are known to be on a constant path to inspiration through self-mutilation, and are usually quite stoic, but come alive when inflicting pain and torture on other creatures. Velstracs also consider themselves to be enlightened beings, but to their victims they are known to be unemotional, sadists seeking perfection through mutilation. With a slight smile, Kaliff also recalls that they are weak against holy items... and silver.

Kalitos immediately charges and slashes her with his Aldori dueling sword laced with lightning. Despite the wound, she appears to be enjoying the pain. Tristan moves in and contributes with his smoking sword. Suddenly, Kalitos sees Kaliff's head ripped off by a chain, but swiveling to look, finds that it appears to be some sort of illusion. The fiend's wounds begin to heal before their eyes. She leans slightly towards Tristan and whispers intimately, "Oh, the fun we could have." A chain whips away from the wall and slashes the fighter a bloody gash. He raises his shield and slams it against her, knocking the velstrac off-guard. A finger flicks at Kalitos, but the next chain slashes past him. She then stares down Tristan, shaking him slightly. Kaliff fires a volley of silver darts at fiend, finally eliciting a reaction. She smiles and says to the sorcerer,

"I have such sights to show you."

Kaliff directs Thud to move in front of him in response. Zor'ahn dives under one of the hanging cages and grabs the priestess of pain's ankle. "Let's bring a smile to that face, sister," he says, but nothing seems to happen. Ehrn charges, but a chain animates off the wall, gouges deeply, and entangles her. She attempts to free herself, but to no avail.
Kalitos powers up his arcane stance and slices twin electrified blades across her body. Dark, almost black, blood oozes from her wounds. Tristan connects with a viscous swing. A chain lashes at Kaliff as Vaulgrist states, "Pain and pleasure are indivisible. Let me show you." Kaliff fires more darts at her, but they miss. He instructs Thud to assist Ehrn with her bonds. Zor'ahn goes to stand but is immediately struck and wrapped up by more chains. He shrugs them off and then shouts out a rally cry. Ehrn charges behind Tristan and skewers the fiend, however the familiar frost does not manifest on her. She swings back around, the glaive rupturing through the chains, impaling her. She smiles and cradles it like a baby and says,

"This will only be the beginning of decades of pain."

Wounds dealt with, the party turns their attention to the room itself. Zor'ahn senses magic coming from a desk in the corner. Laying on it is a wicked looking whip. A door in the corner leads back into the scalathrax lair.

Altar of Nhimbaloth

1.08p

Going past the altar, the party opens the east door to see the junction of a hallway. Zor'ahn sudden veers towards the altar and Kaliff instructs Thud to restrain him. The clockwork golem's action appears to bring the ranger back to his senses. "There's something there, I just need to grab it." His shadow's suddenly dances out and alights upon the altar before returning seemingly empty-handed. The ranger curses under his breath as he is led out, straining to look back as they leave, "I almost had it. I was going for the sword, but only got the broach. She kept it from me, but not for long," he murmurs alound.
The long hallway leads to ascending stairs. To the south is another hallway with stairs and a door in the south. It reveals a short hallway and another door with the sounds of water and a crackling fire. Beyond is Jaul Mezmin and his wolf where they met him earlier.

Sitting Room

1.18p

Continuing down the hall, the stairs lead up to the north and continue to wide their way upwards. Tristan appears to take interest in the southern wall and reaches towards something. Ehrn tells him there's nothing there. Kaliff reaches out and feels high-level magic. A section of the wall suddenly swings open at Tristan's touch. Beyond is a short, dead-ended passage, but Tristan sees a sort of warping to the area. He passes his sword through it and it clanks against another door. It opens into a small, but comfortable sitting room with two chairs and a table between them. There, he sees a woman that looks like Belcorra and Volluk sitting and talking, however there is no detectable sound. Belcorra appears to be doing most of the talking, gesticulating as she does. Volluck seems to be listening intently. The scene lasts for only about 10 seconds before it repeats itself. Tristan asks and is able to confirm that everyone can actually see the interaction.

Report Date

09 Mar 2025

Primary Location

Gauntlight Keep

Related Characters

• Ehrn Ricard
• Kaliff Raiboren
• Kalitos Raiboren
• Tristan Ricard
• Zor'ahn the Dark Ranger

Constellations