13 Eleint 2993

Černoboš Vosk

Černoboš Vosk arrives back at Gosterwick on the 6th of The Fading, saddened by the death of Grexes but energized to channel his growing power and knowledge. Attending the raising of Grexes on the 7th of the Fading, Čer thereafter wanders out to the north of Gosterwick. Hitting the south side of Totey Lake, Čer sits for a time and ponders the wonders of the world, its savagery, beauty, callousness, and perceived order. A fisherman beaches his craft some hours after Čer’s vigil, and they talk for a time about life, nature, the lake, and Arden Vul. Through the fisherman, Čer learns that while the lake is Totey Lake now, few now know that in the time of the city of Arden Vul and at the height of Archontean hegemony, it was called Thoth’s Eye and held a now forgotten interest by the priesthood of Thoth.

By the afternoon, Čer wanders northwest up the lake shore to the south bank of the Long Run coming down from Deepton and the mountains to the West. As night falls, he realizes he is several miles to the west of the lake and decides to make camp in a thicket by the riverbank. Once full dark descends, he is surprised to see that about 20 feet up on the cliff face of Arden Vul is a large fire with the sound of primitive drums barely reaching him by the side of the murmuring water. When day dawns, Čer looks to the cliff but is unsure that he can see any opening where the fire would have been. Marking the location on the Long Run in his mind, he returns to Gosterwick to start his training at the Bailiff’s Truncheon, now becoming THE place R3C barbarians go to hone their craft. Čer spends the next several nights exploring the fight pits and competing, honing his craft and gaining skill.

While not training, Čer spends several days at the Dancing Horse Inn & Meadery listening to rumors about Arden Vul and resting after nights at the fighting pits. He learns the following rumors:

• The Cult of Thoth developed at least three major temples beneath the city of Arden Vul. One of these was located at the foot of an enormous underground chasm and was accessible only by teleportation or flight.
• The ancient Cult of Set was centered around three rituals, or mysteries. The second mystery demonstrated Set’s control over a magically-created sandstorm. Within the anonymity of the sandstorm, participants attacked each other with impunity; indeed, such chaos was celebrated!
• “We were drinking some of that mushroom ale in the Forum of Set when we overheard some of the red guardsmen whispering about some escaped slaves causing problems to the north. When we offered help, they turned officious and claimed there was no such thing. ‘Nobody escaped the Guild of Service,’ they said.”

The rest of his time he spends finding out the Dungeon of Darkness will not be completed for “months,” that Torunn’s smithy makes all simple and martial weapons and all armor, and after watching her craft for a few hours, Čer is certain that with the right enchantments, Torunn could craft magical wears.

Čer wakes on the 13th of The Fading, a second-level barbarian.

Back in Gosterwick after returning from the Old Forest with Vogelvina, Fenpenny joins Wooshhh, Uffda, and Černoboš on their way up to the plateau of Arden Vul. Entering the Halls of Arden Vul via the hidden stairway leading down from the basement of the Plaza of the Priests of Thoth, this party of the R3C first checks the abandoned guard post at 3-30 to ensure that the halflings of Phlebotomos Plumbthorn’s gang have not learned that the group uses an alternate entrance to territory so close to their stronghold. The party initially heads east to 3-34, noting halfling footprints in the dust, and locates a room that was likely used as a checkpoint guarding more important rooms to the north as there are elaborately engraved bronze double doors to the north and multiple sets of peepholes drilled in the frescoes on the north wall to allow anyone to the north to view those in this room. The party tries to open the double doors but cannot. Looking through the peepholes in the opposite way as intended, the party sees a dusty room with no footprints, a corpse slumped against a wall, and a halberd propped nearby.

Following halfling footprints to the south, the party finds in 3-32 a guard post exactly the same as in 3-31 on the west side going south into the debouchment room. This room, however, has an elf skeleton pinned to the wall with a spear. Realizing that the halflings must go north from the debouchment room in a circuit through 3-32, 3-34, 3-30, and down to 3-31, the party opens the door to the south and has a brief exchange of words with the halflings, which leads them to surmise that the group must have a nearby alternate entrance to the debouchment level.

Quickly backtracking to the guard post at 3-30, the party decides to go west to 3-18, where they find a large room supported by four pillars carved as statues to the gods Osiris, Maat, Wadjet, and Thoth. Heading north through an archway, the party enters a room bathed in bright light. All three walls of 3-19 are painted with brightly colored frescoes. On each wall the main image depicts Maat with an ostrich feather in her hair handing a feather to a small human worshipper. Other humans bear the feathers before them as they walk into a crypt. In the background of each of these images is Thoth the Recorder (depicted as a seated baboon with an open book on his lap). The upper register of each wall shows worshipers beseeching Maat with outstretched hands, while the lower registers show demons, monsters, and crocodiles. In the center of the chamber is a dais with a solid 10-foot-by-5-foot onyx table on top of it. Suspended in the air above the center of the table is a white ostrich feather. The party members each take a feather, placing them in their hair or holding them in their hand.

Heading back through 3-18 to a small door to the south, the party explores a room shown on their map scrap from a dead adventurer and find a wasteland of broken crypt plugs in an almost fully looted catacomb. Heading west on the northern arm of 3-16, which slopes down, they encounter a niche that has not been broken open with the crest of House Kracteros emblazoned on it. The party decides to not break this crypt open and continues south on the western limb of 3-16 until they see a giant rats’ nest and kill off a number of these creatures. Searching the nest, the party finds coins, gems, jewelry, and a gold torch. Picking up the torch, Fenpenny finds that he cannot put it down and he sees his Maat feather shrivel and burn away; he is cursed! Cursed!

Continuing to the southern limb of 3-16, the party notices a lot of traffic in front of a particular set of niches. Searching, the party finds a secret sliding panel that opens into a 20-foot-by-20-foot room containing two sarcophagi with intact frescoes. Trying to squeeze through to the crypt, Fenpenny is surprised by four ghouls that are able to gravely wound him and pull him into the crypt. Černoboš bravely reaches into the crypt, grabs Fenpenny’s legs, and pulls him through the small opening. The party is then able to destroy the four ghouls as they come out of the crypt one by one. Reviving Fenpenny, the party enters the crypt and finds a pair of matching rings inscribed Ruritanus and Aethelgifu, a fancy spear, and coins, jewelry, grave goods, and the following frescoes:

1. Orange-robed priests with cylindrical headdresses worship an ibis-headed Thoth.
2. Humans and baboons beat crocodiles with clubs while a serene ibis watches the scene.
3. A baboon crouches in the “scribe” position (knees pulled to chest) with a book open on its knees. Its left paw is raised in greeting.
4. A stream of humans brings goods to the feet of an orange-robed pair of Thoth priests, over whom looms an enormous ibis.
5. Ibis-headed Thoth walks beside a woman bearing a white feather in her hand. To either side are sarcophagi.
6. Ibis-headed Thoth holds the reins of a chariot in his outstretched left hand. At Thoth’s side is a rayed orb. The chariot travels through the sky, above adoring orange-clad priests.

With some of this treasure secured and licking their wounds, the party heads out of the Halls of Arden Vul and spends the night at the Sign of the Broken Head.