Escape From The Death Master Keep
The party was on level five of the Death Master Keep in the master's bedroom. Kramtha and Callister quickly took stock of what they had at hand and then the party began quickly exploring the fifth floor, looking for a tactical advantage. Even as they explored, they could see the windows frosting up. Kramtha tore open the wooden shutters and found the entire window sealed with thick ice. They watched in horror as every window was suddenly sealed with a thick layer of ice. Frost appeared on the walls. They heard chanting outside. A wizard? Sealing them on level five? No doubt to prevent their escape.
The party had little time to ponder this as a shadowy form, composed of smoke, walked up the stairs. Rothgar fired an arrow at the thing, but the arrows passed through it harmlessly. Kramtha took a swing at it, but his blade passed through the thing as well. It had the appearance and consistency of smoke. The wraithform mage calmly walked to a corner of the great bed chamber and then began firing spells at the party. First a web bound them and they struggled to free themselves. Then thick, green acidic fumes flooded the chambers. Callister, Kramtha and Rothgar found their eyes streaming with tears and they choked on the foul gas. Unable to breath or move, the party began burning the webs and themselves in desperation.
Kramtha lifted the magic shield he found weeks ago in the banishing chamber and uttered the command phrase inscribed on it, as he did earlier in the battle in the graveyard. The magical barrier erected itself, and for the moment, he and Rothgar were saved by a transparent globe of magical force. Callister, Stryfal, Shr'lee and Willum retreated from the wraithform mage and into another large chamber. They found themselves in a shrine devoted to Tharros. It was fashioned from black stone. A single human skull, ensconced on the altar, vomited forth a continous stream of blood which pooled in a large golden chalice. Willum doubled over with pain from the presence of such evil and began retching on the floor. They heard a deep growling sound from the shadows and retreated from this unholy lair, dragging Willum by the collar and slamming the door behind them.
Before they had a chance to explore further, great black oily tentacles erupted from the floor and entangled the characters, trying to crush them. No doubt another spell from the wraith mage. The tentacles crushed the party half to death before they were able to hack them apart.
Shr'lee attempted to fight the wraith mage with the strange wand they had plucked from the witches' body in the graveyard. In Daven's Port, a guild wizard had explained that it was empowered with Chaos Magic, and that using the wand could have any or no effect, good or bad, depending on whatever the random fates had in store. Shr'lee figured to use the the power of the wand and take his chances. As he took aim, a command word appeared along its length. "Cherokzul!". Shr'lee yelled it aloud and fired. The effect: the wraithform mage began to glow (which made him much easier to see) but otherwise did not affect him. Better luck next time, Shr'lee thought.
The wraith mage fired a lightning bolt at the group. Callister just barely leapt out of its path. The bolt striked the doors of the Tharros chapel and blew them completely off of their hinges. What can only be described as a demon burst forth from the damaged doorway of the shrine. Shr'lee fired another charge from the wand at the new adversary. And promptly vanished. That is, he appeared to from the group's vantage point. In actuality, he teleported in a random direction and ended up at the altar of the Tharros shrine, a mere thirty feet away.
While Callister and Kramtha battled their new foe, Shr'lee decided to defile the altar, hoping to distract the demon. In a moment of uncharacteristic recklessness, he not only smashed the skull, but urinated on it as well. And distract the demon it certainly did. Sensing this horrible insult, the demon broke off from its battle with the party and flew into a rage. The beast ran back into the shrine and charged Shr'lee dead on. The mage, needing a miracle, raised the Cherokzul wand and uttered its name a third time. The effect of the wand was horribly inconvenient. It forced Shr'lee into a catatonic trance in which he was given a vision, a vision of the future. At almost any other time this result would have proved insightful and to the party's benefit. Just not right now. Perhaps the mariner's luck had rubbed off on him... At any rate, it doesn't matter what Shr'lee's vision of the future was, because it died with him. While he stared off into space blankly, the demon ripped into him all his strength. It dropped down on all fours and feasted on his heart.
After the demon had rushed back into the temple, the wraith mage retreated down the stairs, having apparently exhausted his energy. Taking advantage of this, Kramtha again used his diamond ring and this time envisioned cracks in the wall, throwing a punching gesture and yelling "wham!". The ring reacted to his thoughts and a gaping hole was blown through the wall, shattering both stone and ice. The party, certain that Shr'lee was lost, had no time to mourn. They quickly escaped through the new window and leapt down to the roof of level three, where they could see that more animated golems and skeletons were waiting. They tried to aim their jumps so that the undead opponents could break their fall. It partially worked, as the adventurers tumbled down to the next level while tackling a few enemies with them, sustaining only minor injuries. The whole keep was now mobilized against them, and they had only seconds to dispatch of the skeletons before more were sure to arrive. They briefly contemplated making a jump from the roof to the sea below, but quickly realized that the fall would be too great at this level, the waters too rocky. They needed to get down to the boats in a big hurry. Stryfal was suffering from multiple injuries at this point. She knew that her enchanted glove could save her. From earlier experimentation, she knew that it absorbed the wounds of the flesh, causing it to grow and turn into armor. The party had decided it was best for her, the weakest member of the party, to keep hold of it for her own safety. She also knew that after absorbing damage, the glove then visited that damage back tenfold upon any being that she touched, as if the armor grown from the glove flowed back into her enemy as an offensive strike. The trick was in the timing. She had used the glove minutes earlier to heal herself from small wounds sustained in the keep. The glove had extended into armor all along her forearm. However, since the glove was already in armor mode, she would have to expend it, to attack someone with it before she could heal herself again. And the jump from level five had taken a lot out of her. She crawled along, leaving a trail of her own blood, and eventually found an access door to the level below the bedchamber. It was there she used the magic glove on a distracted guard, expending stored enegy in a flash. The man collapsed with multiple wounds. She then healed herself with the glove again and ran out to rejoin the party. Because of the severity of her injury, the glove armor covered almost her entire upper body.
As the party finished off the last skeleton, the demon suddenly burst through the hole in the wall high above, fresh from its feast, and clutching the Cherokzul wand in its clawed hand. It pointed the wand at the group and attempted to utter its name, but butchered the pronunciation badly. The wand didn't respond. Disgusted with the useless tool, he threw it down. The wand clattered to the feet of Callister, who scooped it up and stuck it in his belt.
As the warriors kept the demon busy in melee, Stryfal snuck up behind and smacked it with the glove. The servant of Tharros died in spectacular fashion, as Stryfal's armor discharged itself into the demon's body. The party heard more guards coming. Quickly unpacking rope and grappling hook, they ran to the edge of the wall and peered down. The drop was still much too far into the crashing waves and rocks below, even with equipment. Instead, they used their ropes to swing into a window on level three. Kramtha, going first, flew through the window, just as a guard was opening it. Kramtha smashed into him, knocking him out cold.
The rest followed through the window. The party gathered itself in the feasting hall. Then Stryfal pointed the way (following Callister's hastily copied map of level three) to the garbage chute, where she had explored before. They slid down the chute and landed in the muck and garbage at the bottom, and in so doing managed to completely bypass the guards sweeping the upper levels. From here they went down to sub-level two, stumbling upon a group of prison cells. Not wanting to waste crucial seconds, they nevertheless quickly crushed the locks with their weapons and freed the prisoners. The group, now numbering fifteen, raced down the stairs to the sea cave. Callister leapt onto the larger of the boats, asking the prisoners if there were any experienced sailors among them. One, a man named Jonathan Taylor, sprung forward. Together, they cleared the moorings and got the boat ready to hit the waters. The rest piled on.
Within three minutes, the party and the freed prisoners were pushing their way out of the sea cave, just as a group of guards appeared on the dock behind them. Once in open air, the sails unfurled and caught the wind and the ship leapt forward. Success.
Though saddened by the loss of Shr'lee, as they all were, Callister immediately insisted that they head straight back to Freeport. He was, after all, a patriot of sorts, and here was evidence of the Coalition setting up shop in what was undisputably Mercian waters. His waters. Before thay could continue on, he would have to warn his government. Besides, with the information they had gathered, including the journal of Coalition supply runs, they were certain to be rewarded. This could help them greatly on their quest. Plus, they could make contact with Jerrod of the wizard's guild, and even send a message to Demetrious about their findings. They had found what they were looking for in the form of old bones, their first step towards the answers they sought. Truly victorious as a team for the first time, the party congratulated each other and set course for Freeport. Callister's home.
Next session: The City of Freeport. Good feelings can't last forever...