Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy (Grokk)
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)
Rain fooled the locking mechanisms on two more doors. One led to an empty spherical room. Another led to a second vertical passage and a larger spherical room with a pool of water in the bottom. Roland splashed through the water to make sure it was clear, and the party moved on. Rain struggled with the next door, so Horkina used her "master key" to create another entrance. The room beyond was cubical, with semispherical depressions in each of the six walls. The door blocked off one of the depressions, and the other five had levitation fields that held a single book aloft in the center of the room. Roland flew to grab the book and stopped to read it. Garlen noticed it was in Abyssal, so he quickly scanned it and explained its contents: the book described the Zar'ilkoth Tarteros, a ritual for binding a demodand soul to a material creature. Roland suspected this ritual had been performed on the Gauths upstairs.
The party spider-climbed up the second shaft, which had a door at the same height as in the first shaft. It was assumed that a beholder lurked behind the pair of doors. Amber used a prayer to increase the party's effectiveness, and then Rain attempted to pick the lock. It took a couple of attempts before the door opened, revealing a room occupied only by statues and paintings. Rain and Garlen rushed quickly to a door on the north end of the room, and easily sprung the lock.
The floor of the fifty foot semispherical room had a golden triangle inscribed in a golden circle on the floor. In the back of the room was a desk, with what looked like Lord Vhalantru's deflated skin draped over a chair. A beholder, missing one of its eyestalks, floated in the middle of the room. Three figures -- an orc, a human, and a gnome -- were wearing straightjackets and chained to the floor. Just as the door opened, black lightning arced between the three of them and the beholder, burning each of them to ash and making the visage of a demodand flash in the beholder's central eye.
As the beholder floated forward and stared at the party, Garlen slipped into the room and fired an arrow into its central eye. Rain stepped forward and did the same, causing a significant wound. Amber let loose a Lucent Lance, which blinded the beholder and ripped his flesh. He responded by spitting a paralyzing slime at Rain and firing his eye rays. He missed Garlen and Horkina, but landed a clean shot on Amber and turned her to stone. Grokk, aided by the prayer, fired off three arrows that struck true and knocked the beholder unconscious. Roland attempted to force it into a magical sleep while Garlen healed it slightly, with the hope that its thoughts could be probed. The healing magic brought the beholder back to consciousness, so Horkina clobbered it with the side of her axe. Roland tried to read its thoughts, but it was able to resist, so he lit it on fire.
Garlen kept kicking and punching the charred beholder remains while Grokk picked up Amber's statue. Rain and Roland searched a desk in the back of the room. Atop the desk was a diary detailing all of Cauldron's adventuring groups over the last ten years. The final two pages read thusly:
The Stormblades
8/17 Adventuring for money and reputation, no higher goals in mind. Not worried about dying since their daddies can afford to raise any one of them. Have spent most of their time exploring the catacombs below Cauldron. Petty bickering and infighting will probably do them in.
10/9 Wiped out a large tribe of kobolds. Didn’t think they had it in them.
1/3 Their last 3 “adventures” have involved nothing more dangerous than rats. They’re getting restless. Annah tried to direct their rage at the Rubble Rousers. That would’ve been a fight to see.
3/10 Managed to cave in several dozen of my favorite tunnels. I’ll wait a few days before carving a new path to the underdark.
4/13 Newfound rage over taxes has them delving deeper. They’ve mostly been bragging about the drow they’ve faced, but they bear the scars of a fight with a minotaur.
6/21 Recent excursions have me concerned. The deeper they delve, the more likely they’ll uncover some of our plans. Fetor should prove capable of dealing with this threat.
6/22 Fetor took out the Vanderboren kid. They’ve taken him to Ike to be raised, and seem ready to give up adventuring altogether. I’ll have him delay for a while, until I’m sure they’ve given up.
The Rubble Rousers
9/2 Hired by miss Urikas to find the missing orphans. Nearly got killed in their first dive into the stronghold. This ought to be a short entry.
9/5 Took down Kazmojen’s entire operation. Developed teamwork quickly. Scared them pretty bad when I showed up to claim Terrem.
10/12 That fool Drakthar decided to grab at power, and they discovered the smuggling operation. Zarn is already working to find an alternate way to bring in mercenaries.
1/14 Arrived in town with Triel and Skaven bound and gagged. The cultists assured me they didn’t reveal anything. A public execution will ensure they won’t reveal more in the future. Still, these Rubble Rousers are a cause for concern.
3/12 handled my Umber Hulk with skill. If Gortio can play a convincing dwarf, I may be able to use them to recover Splintershield. Or they might fail. Either way works.
4/19 Thrifane is not happy. She was sure Maavu would be dead by now, but these chumps keep interfering.
4/28 Haven’t seen them since they headed for the Demonskar. Hope Nabthatoron got them.
5/2 Tercival just showed up wearing Skellerang’s sash. Says the Rubble Rousers saved him, and he won the duel according to the Law of Peers. I’ll have to step carefully around the paladin.
6/24 They’ve returned from the abyss, and Roland looks like he’s picked up significant power. Ike will send his best assassins in the morning.
6/25 that didn’t go well. I must complete the Zar’ilkoth Tarteros before I face them.
It was clear -- Vhalantru was a beholder, disguised with his simulacrum suit, and he had been using and discarding local adventurers for years. Roland noticed a painting in the previous room had a strong magical aura, and it pictured a woman the party had met before -- Celeste, who helped send the party after Zenith Splintershield. He identified the painting as a form of planar binding, so Grokk smashed it to pieces, releasing the woman. Garlen healed her to get her back on her feat, and Rain immediately asked her for a reward, which she promised to bring soon. She warned the party that Vhalantru was a beholder and that he shouldn't be underestimated, so they pointed out his charred corpse in the next room. She left to return to her master, and the party headed for the Quiet Grove to see if Amber could be turned back from stone. James' spells fizzled twice, and Roland made two attempts the next morning before Amber was finally restored, at which point she began to cast a spell of Holy Word before she realized where she was.
James, Roland, and Amber headed back to Vhalantru's to rescue all of the others who'd been turned to stone, and after several days were able to recover everyone, including Deakon Stormshield's parents. The party sold Vhalantru's house to Lord Vanderboren, who was tremendously interested in the beholder's lair. Over the next few days, the group rested and upgraded equipment.
Jenya called together a meeting with several of the most prominent people in the town. This included the nobles Lord Taskerhill, Lord and Lady Vanderboren, Lord Aslaxin, Lady Knowlern, and Alek Tercival. Jenya and James were joined by Omar Tiskinsen from the church of Kord and Kristof Jurgenson from the tiny shrine of Pelor. Keygan, Skie, Tygot, and Maavu represented the local merchants. The Striders (Meerthan, Fario, Fellian, and Shensen) observed. The Rubble Rousers started off the meeting by explaining the situation with Vhalantru, and Jenya followed up by pointing out this left Cauldron without a leader, since Vhalantru had eaten the previous Lord Mayor before he appointed a successor. Roland suggested the town should have a ruling council with a representative from each of the major groups. As discussion continued, Roland forged a telepathic bond with the rest of the party so they could share their insights. Rain was able to read the nobled like a book, and noted that Lord Taskerhill was obviously grasping at power while Lord Aslaxin seemed interested in interfering with Taskerhill. Eventually those gathered settled on Lord Vanderboren as the obvious choice.
A few moments later, a strange dwarf-like creature with pale blue skin teleported into the room just behind Lord Taskerhill. The insane derro cried out "neither you, nor you, nor you will be mayor! Chaos will reign! HAHAHAHAH!" He followed up his insane laugh by pointing at Horkina and yelling "everyone get her!" Rain jumped up and smacked the creature in the back of the head with his sap, and telepathically communicated that he'd spotted footprints in the carpet. Roland's familiar used silver dragon breath to paralyze most of the invisible creatures, as well as Rain, the derro, and three nobles. James dispelled the invisibility to reveal four derro wielding axes. Only one of them was still moving, but he couldn't penetrate Horkina's armor. Amber commanded the group to fall on the floor and Horkina killed the one that had attacked her. Roland's shield guardian pushed the paralyzed nobles over the table, and Meerthan grabbed the nobles and merchants and teleported to safety. The shield guardian grabbed hold of the derro sorcerer, James unparalyzed Rain, and Roland used chain lightning to fry the remaining enemies. Amber's Sending informed Meerthan the area was safe again.
The party reached level 15.
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