Session date: Monday, December 11, 2017
Game date: Saturday, February 14, 210 to Sunday, February 15, 210
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 6, hp 37, xp 35519/70000
Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 17223/20000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 3, hp 11, xp 6060/8000
Adrien, Fighter 3, hp 9, xp 5405/8000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 3, hp 17, xp 5810/8000
Brother Chase Pike, Cleric 2, hp 11, xp 2726/3000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 523/4000
Jack, Thief 2, hp 8, xp 1272/2400
It was the holiday of a minor but seasonally popular cult of some obscure saint devoted to the pursuit of romantic love, and the adventurers took refuge in the Rusty Lantern tavern from the enthusiastic parade crowds outside. The place was fairly empty today, as most of the regulars were outside enjoying the festivities. The party geared up and descended into the cool silence of the underground ruins of Ancient Idalium, intending to continue their explorations of the third level. On the street of temples on the first level, they encountered a nest of giant rats in some crumbling rubble. They could see coins glinting in the rubble, so they used their animal control rings to make the rats fight amongst themselves. That worked so well that when they encountered a handful of giant centipedes further up the hall, they used the same trick again. Adrien's giant ferret snapped one in half with a single bite, and quickly ate the two halves. Unfortunately, one of the centipedes nipped Brother Chase on his ankle, and he was soon overcome with nausea, retching and heaving. It was no use continuing on with him in this state, so they turned around and went back to the surface and called it a day.
The next morning, Brother Chase was feeling no better, having spent most of the night throwing up water, so they went to the Great Cathedral of Idalium and asked if anything could be done for him. Well, they balked at the "suggested donation" of 7,500 silver shekels for the working of a miracle that would cure him of this illness, and when asked "Don't you have any cheaper options?" they were offered a cot in the convalescence hall for a mere 100 shekels per day. Simon paid 70 gold darics in advance for the week, and they left Brother Chase in the capable hands of the acolytes of the Great Cathedral and then returned to the Rusty Lantern.
They had barely got into the dungeon when they encountered a band of 10 skeletons, in the big town square. The skeletons lunged towards the adventurers with surprising speed.
"We could really use a cleric right about now," grumbled Gulleck.
Caryatid drew forth her wand of paralysis and flicked it at the skeletons. There was a flash of blue light, and four of them collapsed into piles of twitching bones. The wand turned chalky and ashen and crumbled into smudgy charcoal in her hand. Gulleck, Simon, and Adrien fought well, and dispatched the remaining skeletons. There was some hilarity when one of the skeletons rolled a 1 and tangled up its sword between the radius and ulna of its buddy next to it, spoiling its attack. Soon the skeletons were dealt with, and the adventurers continued on.
They encountered more giant animals on their way to the temple of hedonism, first giant bats in the street of temples and then more rats in the temple. Both groups were dealt with using the animal control rings.
"It's busy down here today!" commented Simon.
In the basement of the temple of hedonism, Simon and Caryatid sniffed around for gold with their magically enhanced noses, and discovered a burlap sack underneath one of the divans. Inside it they found hundreds of silver and gold coins, plus a scroll of two magical spells, and a letter written in Common in a cramped, scratchy hand.
"As agreed, here is payment for the weapons and supplies you are providing to us. Use this money to purchase the following items in the city, and bring them to us at our temple downstairs." Then there was a list of mundane supplies and various weapons and ammunition. The letter was signed, "The Brotherhood of St. Rathmus, Idalium Chapter".
"Oh no, you don't!" said Gulleck. They took the treasure and then decided to wait around to see if anyone showed up to pick up the money. The exits from the room were barred from within apart from the stairs leading back up, so it seemed secure enough. The party hid themselves in one of the curtained-off boudoirs off of the main room and waited. Several hours passed, and then the door scraped as it opened. A familiar face peered into the room: the dwarf Rugger. Seeing no one in the room, he cautiously moved inside and beckoned the rest of his party, "Rugger's Raiders" to follow. He walked over to the divan and peered underneath it. Caryatid and Orin leaped into action, both casting Sleep spells and putting everyone to sleep before they could react. Everyone was trussed up with rope except for the elf Moonpetal, who had always seemed to be a decent if spineless fellow who had fallen in with bad company. They woke Moonpetal up and talked to him.
Moonpetal was understandably distressed to see his party asleep and bound. He tried to scream to wake them up but Gulleck silenced him with a shake of her head and a meaningful wiggle of her axe.
"We found this letter," she said, showing him the note. "Do you understand you're trading with ratmen?"
"Ratmen? No, no, no," wheedled Moonpetal. "They're just these nice old men who live down in the dungeon, and we were going to help them get some supplies to defend themselves with."
Gulleck tried to explain about the monastery in the mountains, where they had met the Brotherhood of St. Rathmus and discovered them to be horrible wererats who were scheming to invade Idalium.
"No, I can't believe that," whined Moonpetal. "Miss Silvana said they were just nice men that we were helping out, and Miss Silvana would never ever lie to me. She's my very best friend in the entire world, and she would never have us take part in something bad." Silvana was the party's magic user, currently lying asleep nearby.
"Moonpetal, I don't mean to be unkind, but has it ever occurred to you that maybe Miss Silvana is, well, taking advantage of you?" asked Gulleck.
"Oh no, I love Miss Silvana and she loves me! Every week she even casts a very special spell to make sure that nothing ever comes between us..."
"Oh, that does it," muttered Gulleck, and swung her axe directly into Silvana's neck.
Moonpetal screamed in horror and cast his only offensive spell at Gulleck. Unfortunately that spell was Light, and since Gulleck made her saving throw, the spell landed a foot above her head, just providing a bit of additional brightness in the room.
Moonpetal collapsed into a sobbing wreck. His mind had cleared with Silvana's death and he now fully realized that he had been magically enchanted by her all this time. Caryatid had some sympathy for the pathetic wretch and offered to hire him as her retainer, since Brother Chase was feeling under the weather. That made him feel a little better, though he quickly revealed the depth of his disturbance:
"And will you cast a very special spell on me, too?"
"Oh no! No, no, no, no!" Caryatid said hurriedly.
So, in the end, they looted the surviving members of Rugger's party, collecting a very nice throwing axe from Rugger, a few dozen silver and gold coins, and a vial of some kind of sparkling potion. Caryatid left a note on top of Rugger's face, that read as follows:
"You have been abandoned by your elf Moonpetal. You have been tried and found guilty of aiding and abetting wererats. You will find that you have been relieved of all harmful items. Please stop doing bad things. Love, The Infestation Managers."
Then they untied Rugger and his associates and left. They took Moonpetal to the Temple of Fate to spin him on the Wheel of Fortune, as was their custom with new retainers. Unfortunately, Moonpetal came back off the wheel feeling queasy and ill. His heart was skipping and jumping. So they took him to the small room containing the pool that revives the dead and heals the wounded. At Caryatid's urging, Moonpetal lowered himself into the pool, and smiled as the healing magic of the water smoothed out his unstable heartbeat and filled him with a deep sense of well being. He emerged happy and grateful to his new friends. They walked back, past the sleeping Rugger's Raiders and back upstairs to the Rusty Lantern.
Simon ended up paying for another three days of convalescence for Brother Chase. (I'm not quite sure why Caryatid let him pay for her retainer, but she didn't speak up when he offered!) Eventually, Brother Chase's fever broke and he felt well enough to leave the Cathedral and get on with life as usual.
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