21 Eleint 2993
Wooshhh
Wooshhh starts his week of leveling up and downtime by going in search of a master luthier, giving them 150 gp to fix up the broken lute he had taken; which he would pick back up in a few days. From the luthier, Wooshhh learns that the Bard in Residence at the Azure Keep is none other than Cassius Aelius Gavrus, a famously accomplished bard of the College of Swords from Arcontos. Getting some odd looks from passersby, Wooshhh walked around Gosterwick and talked to Jellicose about a plan to gain entry to Keep Hill, arrange a meeting with the Green Lady, Alexia Basileon, and then, maybe more important at the nonce, get to see Bard Gavrus in the Azure Keep. Wooshhh and Jellicose decide that the first step would be to interest the Green Lady with the ring and parlay that into a meeting with the Bard in Residence. While formulating this plan the two speak about Uriel Basileon, what it means to be an archon and if one could ever exist again. Jellicose tells Wooshhh that the easiest way to be seen as Archon of Arden Vul would be to find and collect the Regalia of the Archon, namely Iron Circlet of Ghanor, the Bone Ring of Jagri-Naz, the Ebon Spear, and the Tablet of the Beacon. Jellicose suggested that getting those items for the Green Lady would likely elevate her position to primacy over her half-brother Lord Burdock and put the R3C in the permanent good graces of the then most powerful person in Burdock’s Valley. Wooshhh tells Jellicose how he thinks they make a good team (especially after all those critical attacks they made on the ghouls) and the sword agrees.
After they agree on these plans, Wooshhh heads up to the Residence, has some trouble getting through the gate but finally prevails upon the City Watch and ultimately on the two Azure Knights to be allowed to show the ring to the Green Lady. After making the provenance of the ring known to a minor functionary of the Residence, Whoosh waits for an hour in a withdrawing room when suddenly a tall, robust, and imperious looking women enters the room accompanied by Astableon the bookseller and Lyssandra Astorion, one of the two owners of the Arcane Practitioners’ Club following. Wooshhh stands and makes a deep bow to the women and begins, “My Lady Alexia Basileon, it is my honor and pleasure to…” when he is interrupted by the women’s snort of derision. Looking up confused, Wooshhh is informed that this women is not the Lady Alexia Basileon, but one Freydis the Stern, female Wiskin aristocrat and no-nonsense steward of the Residence. In clipped tones, she demands the ring and passes it to Astableon and Lyssandra who bend over it and talk in hushed tones for five minutes, culminating in the latter taking out a block of expensive incidence and four ivory strips. Lighting the incense and casting the strips of ivory, Lyssandra, to Wooshhh’s amazement, casts legend lore, regards the strips and mumbles under her breath before turning to Freydis and stating, “this IS the ring of Uriel Basileon, last Archon of Arden Vul.”
A woman in grey-green armor that must have been in the room with Wooshhh for the last hour but remained unseen, detached herself from the wall by curtains and a window and passed through tall double doors leading further into the Residence. The room say in silence and when the armored women returned five minutes later, she simply nodded at Freydis from the door. The Steward of the Residence then turned to Wooshhh and said, “The Lady Alexia Basileon will give you 3,000 gp for the ring and thanks you for your service to House Basileon”, at which point another door opens and chest is brought forth while the ring is handed to the women in grey-green armor and taken through the double doors and away. As Freydis leaves herself through the double doors after the armor clad women, she turns and says, “The Lady will let you keep the sword and forgives the selling of the circlet which she was able to reacquire, but should any other items of her relative and forebearer be found, she expects that you will come here first. If you choose to further serve House Basileon and search for the Regalia, terms can be discussed.” Nodding to one of her staff she sweeps out of the room and the doors are closed. The staff approaches Wooshhh and hands him three tickets to the up-coming ball and directs him to the Azure Keep for a meeting with the Bard in Residence. On the walk over Wooshhh is unable to recall telling anyone about his desire to meet Bard Gavrus…
After meeting Bard Gavrus, and getting his autograph, Wooshhh discusses training and convinces the Aarakocra bard to train him. Spending several days in the Azure Keep and contributing 100 gp to the Castelleon for his stay Wooshhh trained for hours and hours and finished his days with late entertaining of the knights and squires with his viol, flute, and singing as a thank you for their time.
In the last days of the week, Wooshh headed back into the city to do some buying and selling of items; as well as deposit money into the bank received for the ring. Selling his viol for 24 gp, six ancient silver pennies for 5 gp, the fixed Lute 350gp, leather armor for 8 gp and buying a breastplate for 400 gp for a total gained after removing the 150 gp to fix the lute and 100 gp to the Azure Knights, of 2,737 gp.
Meeting up again at the end of the week, Nubbins taught Wooshhh about survival and perception in the world of a Druid, helping him to gain expertise in those two skills. Wooshhh also helps Nubbins with his melee skills by teaching him the benefits of finesse weapons. He goes shopping with him for a rapier and runs a few practice duels with him for fun.
Wooshhh wakes on the 21st day of The Fading, a 3rd level College of Swords Bard.
The R3C party of Wooshhh, Nubbins, Uffda, Tippletoe, and Fenpenny, left Gosterwick after the the former four ascended to 3rd level, and headed back to the Pyramid of Thoth, newly armed with the knock spell, to breach the bronze double doors at 3-34 to access 3-35. Paying the exploration fee to the halflings of the Plumthorn Gang, these adventurers wasted no time reaching the doors and opening them with magic.
The party notices that there is a thick, undisturbed layer of dust on the floor but not the body of the recently slain adventurer that looks as if she was suffocated. Crossing to her they find a brazen halberd, a potion with green gas inside, and a signet ring with the name Gregor surrounding a smiling face. Almost immediately the party notices dust beginning to swirl in the room and know that something is wrong just before a whirlwind of dust and air slams into them. Fighting off the air elemental but sustaining some damage the party gathers up the loot and heads into 3-29, where investigation of the gilded desk and chair lead to their collapse. The party spends and hour collecting the gold leaf as treasure and confirms the one-way door to the north that leads to a room next to the stairs to the basement of the Plaza of the Priests of Thoth.
Doubling back, the party crosses 3-35, and goes southeast to find 3-40, and the thin bridge from the southwest corner of 3-40 to the main bulk of the room to the northeast. The party notices the relatively newly constructed brick wall immediately to their right past the door and moves to towards the bridge. There they are confronted with the knowledge that there are giant spiders using this portion of the chasm as their home. Nubbins steps forward and speaks with the spiders, who he learns are named Owain, Oswald, and Osric. Much conversation is had, with the spiders happy to let the party cross the bridge unmolested if they just give them “the little one” (Tippletoe), with the party understandably thinking about it but demurring under the indignant gaze of Ms. Tarkelby. Fenpenny, always thinking outside the box, achieves a crossing of the bridge by continuously asking the spiders if the party should place a gifted, fresh body in places further and further across the bridge. Across the bridge, Fenpenny notices that the statue of Thoth has articulable arms but also notices that there is a body behind the statue with a crushed head. Scholar Copperleaf rashly raises both of the statues arms vertically and immediately a panel of frescoed wall opens and a creature dressed in ancient Archontean clothes but appears as a spindly humanoid with a white ibis head and arms that end in claw-like hands moves to attack. Fenpenny notes that this creature seems alien to this plane of existence and runs for the bridge, dodges several spider web attacks and notes that the Thothian creature does not follow. The party quickly decides to flee back to 3-35, and from there determines to head south to 3-12, to investigate the Yuck, Yuck, Yuck, note on they found on a map pilfered from a dead adventurer.
At 3-12, they see a large frescoes of a face on baboon head of enormous proportions. Correctly surmising the meaning of the map notation, the party puts a finger in each eye of the frescoes and the panel moves aside to reveal a stairway down into darkness. Taking the stairs, the party winds down 250’ to 5th level of the Halls of Arden Vul. The party end at a blank wall and find that it is a secret door that opens into a massive cavern. The atmosphere is oppressively damp and humid. The cavern is utterly dark, although the sense of tomb-like stillness is occasionally broken by the passage of bats and by the sounds of cave-crickets and moving water. A subterranean river runs through the cave that seems to form a lake before the party although the party cannot see the far side, nor how far above the ceiling stretches. Finding a grand opening twenty feet above them in the cavern wall to the right of the secret door into this level, the party walks up steps to see a pillared hall stretch out before them. The ceiling of this hall is arched roundly some 30’ above the floor. Stone pillars 6’ in diameter stretch into the distance. The walls and pillar are formed of pebbled stone, which seems worn and even a little greasy. The pillars radiate strongly of magic and dread. The party notice that there are twin 5’ passages about 30’ into the hall and take the right hand one, which leads into a room with four sarcophagi, all open. Looking into the first they find nothing, but their light and noise awaken five undead forms which move to attack in the flickering torchlight.
A number of hungry ghouls and ghasts reveal themselves, both in the room and the hall, charging toward the group for their next meal. While Uffda and Tippletoe are in the room with four sarcophagi, Nubbins, Susarra, and Wooshhh remain in the hall. Through some unexplained magic, Fennpenny disappears into the shadows, and the Tabaxi barbarian Grexes (“The Creature”) appears to aid in the attack. Uffda “fucking rages” and calls upon her ancestors to help in her attacks. Wooshh pierces and slashes his way through monstrosities with Jellicose, to the short sword’s displeasure. Nubbins casts Moonbeam in hopes of barbecuing some undead, then goes badger mode and chomps on a ghoul. Susarra uses her pike and short sword to assist the group. Grexes grapples a ghoul, double-dipping it in the moonbeam’s sizzle. Tippletoe, knowing the beam blocks her opposing exit, spooks the undead towards a radiant roast.
Moments later, Nubbins is paralyzed while a hangry ghoul devours his neck. His fur promptly morphs into scrawny flesh as he’s dragged into the shadows, but Uffdah tails quickly behind on a rescue mission. Susarra and Wooshhh fail to tag-team a group of undead, leaving the bard unconscious and the fighter badly bloodied. Seeing this, Grexes tries to drag Wooshhh out of harm’s way but is paralyzed mid-attempt. Tippletoe casts spare the dying on Whoosh to keep him stable as she makes her way over to heal him.
Near the end of the fight, the group bunched together to take on the last of the ghasts and ghouls. Tippletoe also uses her circle of mortality to restore Whoosh to near full health, and Wooshhh in turn uses healing word, restoring vigor to both Grexes and Nubbins. The Druid uses his entangling vines to hold the monstrosities in place, helping the party dodge impending attacks and finish them off. With some more bloodied than others, the five all enter the sarcophagi room and continue their search.
Nubbins, with the help of Wooshhh, finds a secret door that leads to another crypt with a coffin. Grexes and Uffda are the first to walk inside, finding an inscription on the lid of “Gregor, Priest” Uffda opens the coffin, seeing a piece of parchment wrapped around a femur bone. The parchment states, ““Gregor, optimistic priest of life, fell near the Troll Lift. We left him here, but will be back to give him a proper burial. Touch his remains at your peril!”” and scrawled in blood on the bottom, it reads, “Still waiting, aye?” Nubbins is shocked to see this, having found a signet ring with the same name earlier that day. In the crypt, the team also found two large pieces of ivory (4” by 6”), carved into the shape of a pre-molar and incisor of a human. On the crown of both teeth was an Arcane glyph and the letters “POL” carved into them.
Grexes discovers another secret door on the other side of the room, leading to another tomb with two sarcophagi. Placed between them is a lectern holding a stone tablet and five two-headed coins. On the first coffin lid they inspect, the party sees, “Kaitor, betrayer of a friend,” written in Mithric. Below, an armored man is depicted holding a trident and sword. The second coffin lid reads, “Guivrel, most beloved friend,” in Archontean. On the tablet is written in Archontean, “I am unable to judge the truth of this matter. Guivrel is dead at the hand of Kaitor. I slew the traitor Kaitor even as he shouted his reasons. I know not what to think, for I feel only treachery and pain. Let a new judge decide the truth of the matter by placing a token in the hand of the guilty. [signed] Lankios the polemarch.” Grexes recognizes the author as the crazed man on the first level, whose lost love is none other than Guivrel. He took the tablet and a couple of the coins for safekeeping before the five continued on.
The next door leads to a room with lots of debris on one side and a long abandoned encampment on the other. The group finds a set of ancient Archontean field plate lying on the floor. With his historical knowledge, Grexes explains to the others why this field plate is so special. The armor is formulated with light steel, an arcane recipe lost to time. The Emperor’s personal guard wears the armor; however, most would avoid doing so for the attention it brings. It’s also heavy armor that has no disadvantage in stealth and is worth 5,000 gold pieces. Though it was empty, the armor was positioned as if someone had fallen forward. Tippletoe holds onto the armor, and Nubbins finds yet another secret door leading to a crypt.
This room holds a single sarcophagi, the lid opened and leaning against the northeast wall. On the lid is a picture of Basil Junienos, whom they recognize to be part of one of the five major families. Etched into the lid is, “Basil, Archon after Adrienic… lasted only a few days.” With Grexes historic knowledge, he tells the group that Basil was sent on an expedition to find Adrienic, who was lost and likely died in the previous expedition. Whoosh investigates the sarcophagus, seeing a skeleton, and flicks open a hidden compartment storing a greasy leather bag. Inside are 250 platinum pieces, three light-blue potions with bubbling air, a set of bracers, and a pair of gauntlets. As the group debates moving forward, Uffda peers into the hallway past the encampment to the northeast but the hall is very dark and hard to see down.
The team decides to take a short rest in the room with two secret doors before moving on. During the rest, Wooshhh plays a calm and relaxing flute solo. Tippletoe identifies the following items they found:
The magical brazen halberd, named “Set’s Bane,” gives a +1 if used by someone of lawful good alignment, who also gets a +2 if used on an evil cleric and +3 if used on a cleric of Set (given to Susarra).
Three potions of water breathing, allowing someone to breathe underwater for an hour. (given to Tippletoe, Grexes, and Uffda)
Bracers of Defense give a +2 to AC and work for druids in wildshape form (given to Nubbins)—attunement required
Gantlets of Ogre Power boost strength to nineteen (given to Grexes)—attunement required
The five then divvy out the newfound spoils before checking out the room Uffda spotted. Inside, the party finds three more sets of field plate armor, all lying face forward like the first one found, and a sarcophagus pushed up against a corner. Seeing no inscription on the lid, the group opens the coffin and finds inside: a stone-tipped spear, a short sword, and a silver box worth 200 gp, filled with 150 ancient pennies depicting the trident symbol of Heschius Ban and worth 1 gp each. However, each penny weighs 10 times more than one piece of silver, so the party had to do some rearranging to avoid encumbrance. This limited the total number of silver pennies they could take to eighty.
The group decides to give the Plumthorn gang the 250 platinum they found as their payment for ten percent of their findings. The halflings seem shocked and happy, stating Rosskelly will be very pleased. The party tries to debate the gang into lowering their rate, but they tell the five it can be discussed later. Tired and wearing full packs, the team makes it back into Gosterwick by nine p.m., spending the night at a hotel. On the morning of the 22nd of Fading, the group plans to go to the bank and liquidate some of the coins and items they found, then head to the Residence to petition the Green Lady in hopes of selling to her two of the sets of Archontean field plate.