After finishing off the followers of Iuz the party took a rest and then searched the bodies. They found a small amount of gold and no magic items. After moving the bodies out of the courtyard the party moved on in the direction of the Palace of Vecna. In the distance they spied a structure reaching toward the darkened ceiling. Rounding a corner they saw a massive bone white structure stretching toward the inner skull in all its glory. If bore a distant resemblance to a hand, as five towers jutted from its top. Four of the towers were identical, slender and bone white, seemingly carved from the same substance as the rest of the citadel.
The fifth, however, was a deep black spire soaring higher than any tower the heroes had ever seen. Its top so distant that it was difficult to see. In front of the palace was one of the few open areas the group had seen in Citadel Cavitius, and its presence made the already large, austere palace seem even more so. Five gallows stood on the plaza, each with five nooses. Five pikes stood in a star pattern around each gallows. Each pike was adorned with a human head in and advanced state of decay. As the group moved closer they realized these gallows were different in construction from those they were familiar with. Instead of dropping down to have their necks snapped by the noose, those executed here instead plunge onto a spike, to be impaled and suffer a slow agonizing death. The noose was there merely to hold them in place.
Four skeletons, one Memory of Vecna, and a bodyguard surround each gallows. The skeletons obey any command given them by the Memory and each Memory is preaching to any citizens who enter or walk past the plaza. The party moves forward to massive doors in the middle of the facade of the palace. The doors easily open and the group moved inside.
The grand hall was a circular room, with a ceiling that soared five stories overhead. Four chandeliers hung suspended from the ceiling, each of them glowed greenish-yellow, casting a jaundiced light over everything in the chamber. The floor was made up of polished black flagstones, each roughly the width and length as a coffin.
Standing on either side of the door at the bottom of staircases that curved up along the walls to the fourth floor, was a gigantic skeleton. The two monstrous skeletons seemed to also guard hallways that led into the palace's interior on the ground floor. Each guard was four times the height of a human and held a bastard sword appropriate for its immense size, its bony hands locked around the hilt with the point of the blade on the floor. Each skeleton was dressed in black robes, the hood of which hid its bony features from view. Large gold chains hung from its neck and waist.
On the far north(?) side of the hall, four circular steps rose to a great black throne that appeared to jut forward from a gigantic spider web that stretched across the entire back wall. Along the other walls are carvings of undead armies sweeping aside mounted cavalry whose tabards display sun like symbols
Alhellara chose the eastern(?) direction and the group slowly moved past the skeleton into the bowels of the palace. The party came upon an open doorway to the south which revealed an austere room lined with bare wooden benches. At the center of the room stood a small table with a large clay jug. On the far wall was a large mural symbolizing Vecna; a severed open hand with a staring eye resting on its palm. The hand's stump was on the floor and the tip of the middle finger reached the ceiling, twelve feet above. The first such room contained several ordinary looking citizens sitting on the benches or standing around. The second and third such rooms were empty.
The group also came upon two or three rooms that resembled watch rooms or guard stations. Inside were several guard(?) looking humans, sometimes several skeletons and a guard officer? They also encountered guards patrolling the hallways. Further into the palace they encountered larger conference rooms? These rooms also had the mural of Vecna, a dais with chairs and a large table, a smaller table and chairs facing the dais and several rows of benches. The first such chamber was empty, the next had several Memories of Vecna with bodyguards meeting with a large group of Fingers. The discussion centered on dealing with public unrest in Citadel Cavitius. The next room seemed hold a trial of some type. A large knight on the dais was presiding over three mages held by six skeletons. When the proclaimed to be guilty the crowd in the room cheered as the prisoners were led to the gallows.
In the midst of the hallway the group found a closed door with a circular stairway heading up. Alhellara recalling that Haroln had indicated his office was on the second floor suggested that the party head up. Led by Pretis and Mara the group climbed to the next floor where the stairs ended. Exiting the stairwell the party heard muffled explosions and metallic weapons clashing echoing through the hallways. There was also the ever-present screams of agony.
To the right of the stairwell was an open chamber containing wooden dummies covered with nicks and cuts, racks containing clubs, staffs and wooden swords. The floor was darkened in several places with what looked like dried blood. In the room was a wight and several guards seemingly in training. Again they found a guard post, a room with shelves piled with texts and a human who seemed annoyed at the party's presence. Screams of pain and terror were echoing from an open chamber where the party spied terrible instruments of torture ranging from hot irons to bizarre contraptions that looked like they could inflict significant pain. The back of the room held cages in which various humans were calling for help while vile inquisitors inflicted terrible tortures on subjects in the room.
Rooms of various sizes were discovered, some were empty but most had victims of terrible experiments, severely battered zombies and humans, with skeletons smashed to bits, humans all chained to walls wailing in insanity in a room who's floor was covered with blood and debris. A spotless room with human prisoners some devoted to a Vecna wizard others hateful against all Vecnians. A room in which all the walls, floor and ceiling were scorched with severely burned creatures laying around, a room full of zombies, a room with its floor covered with earth and boulders of various sizes. A room with charred floors, walls and ceiling and the charred bodies of several creatures, a room with blood spattered walls containing broken creatures chained to the walls, with several mages conducting experiments on them. Another chamber held humans in various large containers of liquid.
A vast chamber was packed with shelves containing books, tables and chairs stand between the shelves several of which were occupied by undead of some sort copying manuscripts. A lich occupied one larger table but he paid no mind to the party as they passed through the chamber. Outside a few smaller rooms the smell of chemicals was strong, inside was one of the finest alchemical stills the party had ever seen, an elaborate tangle of golden tubes, vials and spigots. There were racks of vials containing liquids and a researcher who shooed the group away.
In a comfortably appointed chamber, featuring richly upholstered chairs and sofas strewn with soft pillows the group found a army general drinking from a wine bottle. He asked in Mara was there to give him his massage. Mara called for Pretis and they entered the room as the general undressed. He was grateful to be away from the horrors of fighting in the Burning Peaks. Whilst giving him his massage Mara broke his neck. Meanwhile Demin had dressed in the robes he carried from the previous incursion into the Temple of Vecna.
The group found another stairway up and climbed to the third floor. On this floor they found what seemed to be private rooms for wizards or soldiers. Also they found private dining rooms with groups of creatures having fine meals attended by servants. Other rooms seemed more like barracks with zombies, skeletons, guards or such. As they moved north in the hallway the heroes heard a strange tune being played on a flute. Around a corner came a beautiful teenage girl skipping and twirling down the hall with a pair of skeletal figures following silently behind. Dressed in a diaphanous gown, she wore an elaborate red caul made from silk, and a necklace with a large teardrop-shaped ruby. She played an eerie tune on a flute carved from a human thighbone. The skeletons wore long, black, hooded cloaks and carried large scythes. As the group approached she looked shocked and stopped playing the flute.
Several party members agreed that this looked like the Innova whose father had asked them to look for. She shrieked and rushed toward the party who were retreating to a distance away from some guards they had seen. She approached Melisana and begged for protection. She explained that an evil crone had forced her to visit every floor of the palace while playing the flute as part of a weird spell she was weaving. She broke into tears begging the party to return her to her parents and safety. Melisana was skeptical of this story but listened while the skeletal warriors attacked.
The battle started slowly as the two skeletal figures damaged the party, soon "Innova" entered the fray attacking Melisana and Gofin. Demin headed to a dining room where he donned the dead generals outfit emerging to order the battle to end. No one listened. Presently other doors opened and an Invoker, Necromacer and palace guard officer emerged. Magic spells flew through the hallway, blasts and bursts were thrown but the party was holding their own. Demin removed the necklace from "Innova" hoping that this might remove whatever conjuration held her enthralled. When "Innova" was defeated the party made sure that she was merely knocked unconscious and Gofin took the flute from her while binding her legs and arms.
Meanwhile the group was under duress from the various creatures attacking them but no one else seemed to mind the battle and the heroes finally prevailed. Searching the bodies after some healing they found an orb of sanguinary repercussion +3 and a firestaff +3. Questioning "Innova" determined that she now couldn't remember anything after passing an old crone in the market. The group decided to take her to her parents home.
Leaving the palace was just as easy as entering and the group escorted Innova home and then returned to the palace after a short meal.
Scorecard: The group earned 3929 XP for their activities and now have 118,398 XP needing 602 more to reach 19th level.
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