A Puzzling Adventure

Day 15: Our group was called to aid the temple of Bahamut today. Apparently, word gets around about our deeds. It seems there was more trouble in the sewers, people going in and never coming back. The temple gave us the aid of a samsaren cleric and what I can best describe as a constructed person. The samsaren looked as they all do; tall, pale, and malnourished. An eerie looking lot, but they are exceptional healers. The construct was just that- a metal being, moving on its own either through magic or alchemical fuel (it’s difficult to tell, even with my own considerable knowledge of the arcane).

These new companions led us to the sewer gate, the construct bending the door bar completely out of shape and allowing us access. I believe Bender will be an appropriate name for it at this point. We entered the sewers, surprisingly well lit with torches lining the tunnels. I attempted to detect magic in the area, but something was blocking my powers. Something pressed upon my mind, constricting my thoughts. As I struggled against it, a harsh voice seemed to cackle inside my head, making my ears ring painfully. I hid this experience from the others so as not to worry them. Whatever was down here was not to be taken lightly.

We continued down the hall, and came upon a handful of vishkanya, dressed in rags and wielding sharp kukris. We attempted to sneak by them, but we were spotted easily. Zedaythe hurried, concentrating her magic into a burst of light covering the entire room. She had entered their minds and Commanded them to come mindlessly forward. One vishkanya stood his ground, shaking but resisting the oracle’s influence. The others came like pigs to slaughter. Akai knocked out two of them at once, while Arliim shot an arrow through the heart of the next one and Bender pounded its great metal fist into another one’s skull. Nahjeel approached the last standing vishkanya and attempted to talk to him, ask him who he was and why they needed to fight strangers. The rag-clothed snak replied with a simple “You must die!” and made a wide sweep with his kukri at my friend. Nahjeel moved like a cobra, swerving to the side to avoid the blade, then quickly conjured a wickedly sharp dagger of ice. In an instant, the insane vishkanya’s gut was punctured and began to freeze, cracking and shattering out from the wound.

We tied up the two unconscious vishkanya, waking them up to be interrogated while Arliim and Sumi stood watch over the door ahead. It was pointless getting anything useful from them. They were being controlled, most likely by the same source that was blocking my sense of magical energy. No amount of pain to these bodies could ever get us the information we needed. Our party moved onward, leaving the two mind slaves tied up in a room full of their dead kin.

Sumi had the brilliant idea of sending a firebolt into the next room, in hopes of hitting whatever we might find there. If there was anything at all. That must have hit something bad, because the room erupted with fire, blasting Arliim into the opposite wall while Sumi took cover, only getting singed a little. The room ahead was now charred black and held nothing but burnt rags within. The next door was built of adamantine, standing unharmed by the explosion. It opened easily and we found quite a surprise at the back of the door. A lens of truth enchantment, stuck on a loop, played on its surface. It showed a room full of rich, bejeweled clothing filling the previous room with small piles of gunpowder scattered about. The robes alone looked to be worth millions in gold, the gunpowder could have been extremely useful (at least to me). Then, it showed Sumi’s firebolt, lighting the powder and destroying everything inside. We all gave the tree woman a serious stare at that image. She shrugged it off, saying everyone makes mistakes and the past is the past.

As we entered the next room, stone slabs shut us in and an hourglass poured away slowly. The walls came closing in, intending to crush us. There was much arguing of what to do, and in that time the hourglass emptied.  We all held our breath, waiting for the walls to crash in. But they merely lifted. It was a joke, nothing more than something to scare us. Annoying.

As the walls lifted, we saw three doors on each of them. Oh goodie. More doors. We separated to check each of the doors, Zedaythe and I took the left one. Peeking inside, we saw a single chest in the center of the room. There was no perceivable danger in the room, so I decided to open the chest. Zedaythe was cautious, standing well to the side as I opened the lid. I briefly saw a scaly head of tentacles then all I saw was gray for a moment, my other senses completely failing me. I tried to break free of whatever magic had me, but it was futile. Then I felt a warm touch, and my senses started to return. Zedaythe was using her magic to remove the stone afflicting me. As soon as I was free, I shut the chest and lifted it up, taking it with us. The stare of a gorgon was a powerful tool, we may be able to use it. I threw the tiny chest into Bender’s spacious chest compartment, sick of dealing with these ridiculous traps. If I could still sense, I would have easily found that heads aura inside. That was the mistake only children would make.

The others had some more mishaps with traps. I really wasn’t a fan, moving on now.

We unlocked a series of doors and came upon a wide, diamond shaped room. The strange thing about it was the water that filled almost all of it, starting ankle deep by the doorway and steadily going deeper into murky, swamp water. My magic detection still wasn’t working, so I sent Henry to wade into the water, my glowing mark allowing me to judge the depth. Something bubbled in the water. Something big. I whistled for Henry to return, but he was already rushing back. Whatever it was down there, it was enough to frighten him. Out of the water rose the head of a huge sea serpent, a grin of teeth like swords spreading across its draconic face. I’d never faced a sea serpent, but really how much harder could it be than a dragon of the desert?

Two more heads, identical to the first one. As all three heads rose nearly to the ceiling, I could see where the connected on a truly enormous body half submerged in the water. A hydra. Gods help us.

That was it for me. I was sick of all the twists and turns and puzzles of this place, unable to even sense magic just to find this horrible creature at the end. I was furious, could feel it welling up inside. Without even asking the others, I stepped forward into the water, waist deep, and inhaled deeply to prepare a Fire Breath spell. Something seemed different while I was doing this though. The hydra could feel it too, slinking back at the sight of me. I felt more power than I’ve ever had burning up in my chest, urging to be released. The air around me felt hot and the torchlights grew dim. I released my spell. To my surprise, black fire spewed from my mouth in a literal wave that engulfed both the hydra and that entire half of the room. Screams of pain could be heard behind the dark flames, but nothing at all could be seen. My breath grew faint and the spell began to subside. The mighty hydra, easily 10 times my size, sank into the pond, a mess of charred flesh and blood that stained the boiling water. I collapsed to my knees, exhausted. Where the hell did that come from?

“Me.”

I twisted around, shocked. It sounded like some loud deep voice had answered my thoughts, extremely close to my ears at that.

“Down here, at your side.”

The voice was still inside my head, but I felt a slight tug at my belt. I looked down to where my trusty scimitar always waited for me, only to find it replaced with a wicked looking black blade. It was still a scimitar in shape, but this one was wildly different than my old one. It had a deep ebony color to it, and an intricate design from some culture I’ve never seen before. Some of the patterns looked ifrit, while others resembled tribal orc designs, and others still were just mysterious . The handle was weird too. Longer than a usual scimitar, more like that of a falchion, built for two hands and a heavier blow. I drew this new weapon from my side, examining it. The sword had a round, deep red ruby set in its hilt. I stared into for a moment before a wide yellow eye appeared, looking back at me.

“There you are.” I heard only in my head, not with my ears like I had originally thought. “You may call me Azadon. What, pray tell, may I call you, young magi?”

My allies were not paying attention to me, they were busy taking scales from the hydra and emptying its stomach. “I am Revilo.” I thought, hoping that was all it takes to communicate with this blade.

“Revilo. As good a name as any. We are now bound, you and I. Revilo and Azadon. The magus and the blade.”

“What?” I thought, confused. “What does that mean?”

The strange black blade stayed silent. Zedaythe approached me, excited to show me a huge magic sword she had found in the water. I acted excited for her, but my own magic sword bothered me at the moment. Whatever it was, why ever it came to me, it could give me power like I’ve never seen before.

And that was a very intriguing thing indeed.

Trouble from Below

Day 13- The Green Guard needed a new hideout, now that their base had been infiltrated. We suggested the aqueduct, where we cleared out that gang the first day we came to Fastigium. Marius was greatly appreciative and set about moving their operation. We came by today to see how things were going. The new headquarters was very spacious and now well lit, looking much nicer than it ever had under gang control. Marius even told us about a hidden sewer passage that lead them to every corner of the city, nearly undetectable. The problem was, some sickness ails the men who venture too far down. Some don’t even return. Marius begged we took no offense, as this place was perfect for their needs. But he did politely insist that we help with this mystery. I reasoned with him for a little while, explaining that in my career as a mercenary, such endeavors hardly come without some beefy pay or at least assistance from a group as large as the Green Guard. He agreed to give the most they could afford to lose as payment and instructed a small squad of guards to accompany us. From the look of them, I judged they were all too silly and wet behind the ears. They would likely die, but their loot was good as any other dead body we found down there. 

We proceeded down the thin staircase, the stench of the sewers already permeating our nostrils. A great sluiceway divided the path into two narrow walkways on either side of the tunnel, with a bridge and torches lined up every 30 feet or so. I attempted to sense some kind of magical presence and discovered a faint trace coming from deeper inside. I lead the way through the twists and turns, luckily most of us could see in this lowlight and followed easily. I started to sense a twinge of poisonous magic and sure enough found the air to grow thicker and taste sour. Nahjeel paused a moment to inhale some of the poisonous air and exhaled the concentration into a vial. We both examined it, only to find that it was obviously of a dangerous nature. No hope of figuring out an antivenom unless we took it to an alchemy lab. We trudged on, more careful now that we knew of the poison and some magical origin deeper in the sewers. We came upon a wider chamber and I decided to send out my crab, Henry, to investigate. He can be very sneaky when he wants to be. Maybe he could find something or at least make a little grab at whatever this thing is. I could definitely sense the presence of two dragons further ahead. Strangely, the presence of my Arcane Mark upon Henry’s shell disappeared from my senses. That’s not good. Sneaking a peak around the corner of the tunnel, I could make them out as Tatzlwyrms: small in comparison to most dragons, but still very strong and agile creatures with poisonous breath. Their long, scaly, snake-like bodies rustled against the rough stone floor. We all snuck forward, hoping to catch them by surprise and finish this with as little hassle as possible. Arliim slipped and almost fell into the sluiceway, catching the edge and letting his feet slap against the surface of the water. The Tatzlwyrms were aware now and headed in our direction. Zedaythe reflexively conjured bone armor around herself and held her ground. Nahjeel attempted to Bungle the closest one, but the wyrm was fast. It swayed to the side and the vishkanya’s magic fizzled against the ceiling. I summoned a great Aqueous Orb, aiming it at the other wyrm. It completely missed, the Tatzlwyrm dodging out of the way easily and shattering my hopes of rolling it into a wall or even into the sludge below. Arliim crawled out of the water, and got to his feet. The wyrm turned its attention to him and pounced, wrapping itself around him as it landed. The small battalion of Green Guards attempted to attack both the wyrm around Arliim and the one further out. Both were futile, the gas the huge lizards spewed caused them to reel and pass out. Sumi charged in, forming into a treant as she went and pounding a mighty fist into the skull of the one holding Arliim. It fell dead, a few sharp fangs scattered across the floor. The other wyrm leaped towards Zedaythe, but she expertly cleared out of the way, the fangs bare inches away from her skeletal armor. She attempted a Command spell, but the quick devil dodged to the side. Arliim shot an arrow while it was distracted and hit it painfully in the neck. Nahjeel tried to persuade it to calm down in his native tongue. It seemed to understand his words, but was in too much of a frenzy to stop itself. I decided it was time to end this. Pouring my power into my scimitar, I stabbed into the beast, magical air freezing it from the inside out. Parts of it shattered, and lo and behold Henry crawled out of its stomach! I felt overjoyed to discover my little friend was still alive. The others were going about searching through the dragons’ horde of gold and magical collections. Nahjeel found an egg, presumably laid by the Tatzlwyrm couple. It spoke to him, asking what was going on and where his mother was. It wanted to hatch, wanted to see what was happening. Nahjeel tried to reason with it, tell it to stay inside the egg. It insisted and the egg began to crack, releasing puffs of poisonous gas. Its tiny head sprouted out, looking around dazedly. It cried out, and Arliim managed to soothe it down with soft mutterings, almost like a lullaby. He motioned for Nahjeel to take over from there. The vishkanya slowly extended his arm out to the baby tatzlwyrm, letting it sniff his hand. It became curious, then recoiled, then came back. It caressed its head against Nahjeel’s scaly skin and felt comforted. Nahjeel exhaled with relief and startled the wyrmling again. But it came back to the familiar feeling of scales, slithering up his arm and resting its head comfortably on his shoulder. Nahjeel made a new friend. The rest of us went about searching through the dragons’ horde. Plenty of gold pieces, even a few platinums. A pearl of power, which I snatched up in a heartbeat. Sumi found an adamantine dagger that she felt resonated with her ki. Whatever, it’s yours. Freak. Arliim and I each slung a dead wyrm onto our backs and hauled them towards the entrance of the sewers.

The Green Guard

Day 11- Our group was put under arrest today. Not as bad as it sounds, let me explain. A guard approached us and told us we were under arrest, for no conceivable reason. I felt the need to protest this injustice, but the guard winked at us and gave a half smile. I noticed he wore a green ascot rather than the red of most guards. Obviously he wasn’t a true threat, so I let him go about “arresting” me, as did the others. We were taken to a room where an elderly Samsaran awaited our arrival, very formally dressed and polite. His name was Marius and he apologized for taking us away in such a manner, but he didn’t want anyone catching on to them.  He had heard of our deeds and assumed with such a reputation, we would be interested in a more serious job for the city’s sake. The prostitution ring that we uncovered and made a dent into the other day has been a widespread problem for some time, trafficking women from all over Caelum and centering itself in Fastigium. The top men of this operation were, unfortunately, also high standing men of the community. Their own captain of the guard was heavily involved, as were two prominent nobles. Which was why this matter was so delicate. Marius couldn’t just send his Green Guards in and arrest them, there are too many political flaws in that. There was much talk of how to deal with this problem, and we decided to convince them into a duel, all of them using poisoned blades and killing each other. Marius gave us each suits of Green Guard armor to get us close to the men. Upon completing the mission, he would also pull a few strings and give us one of the fallen noble’s mansions for our own use. For the time being, we helped an innocent girl caught up in the sex trade.  The Green Guard already had her ready to escape, all we had to do was drive the carriage through the east gate. Zedaythe traded clothes with the girl to better disguise her. No one would suspect a fellow guard of possibility being a suspicious character. We were stopped, almost as planned, and our aasimar companion convinced them she was a noble on her way to Anmera. There was quite a bit of dialogue and in the end we left without even being searched. The girl was incredibly thankful and insisted she could make her way to a safe house without escorts. We pressured her to take a small amount of gold, which she hesitated in accept. We reported back to the Green Guards and were paid a fair amount for our efforts. Now to focus on the leaders of the illegal ring….

But first we spent some time reveling with the Green Guard in their headquarters (which mysteriously had tiny crabs all over the grounds outside). I’ve found that I enjoy this delightful drink they call dwarven fire ale. Not quite as spicy as one would imagine, but it warms me up far more than any other drink. Late into the night, there came a loud pounding on the front door, completely unlike the coded door knock the Green Guard typically enter with. The doorman let it a tall sergeant of the typical Red Guard. The man shouted throughout the base “Where is Marius?!” After a moment, the old samsaren came from his quarters and gave the newcomer a cautious look. The stranger smiled at the sight of the Green Guard commander and untied his red ascot, presenting it in a balled up fist for everyone to see. “My name is Antony, and I want a green one!” He yelled, dropping his old sergeants ascot to the dusty floorboards. Marius looked surprised but smiled after a moment “Welcome aboard, good sir! Get this man a green ascot!” The other guards looked pensive, but willingly handed the newcomer his green ascot as well as his new membership in the Green Guard. There was much rejoicing and drinking the rest of the night. Personally….I don’t like him. And I find it awfully convenient how well he was received into the Green Guard. I’ll be sure to keep an eye on him.

Day 12- Our group made a trip into the market area. Akai made a bargain with a dwarf blacksmith on some hammer-like gauntlets. Arliim bought a seemingly unending list of items, not sure what he plans to do with all of that. I found a good pair of sunglasses that hide the golden glow coming from my eyes. Hopefully these will help me blend in as a common human in the future. Not long into our shopping trip, a raven swooped in our direction. Arliim managed to get it to land on his arm, then looked quizzically at it for a few seconds. The raven perched on his arm, completely still during this whole ordeal, then slowly took flight back in the direction it came from. Arliim told us that it gave him a message: “There is a traitor among the Green Guard.” We rushed back to the headquarters, hoping we were not too late. Nothing seemed awry, even the crabs surrounding the building seemed unperturbed (by the way, I tamed a few of them. 5 in total. Named the big one Henry, even placed my arcane mark upon him so I can always find him). We found Marius and Antony interrogating a guard down in the basement, supposedly this was the traitor. Zedaythe cleverly sparked a Zone of Truth over the room. WE questioned the trapped man, but he proved innocent. We turned our attention to Antony, the mysterious and untrustworthy newcomer. He admitted to being a spy for one of the lords we were after. Fucking knew it! He of course tried to escape. Akai and Sumi attempted to grapple him, but he evaded both of them and weaved through us, dropping caltrops as he sped towards the door. I whiffed with both sword and spell, as he made it out the room and sliced the throats of two guards outside. It seemed like everything we threw at him failed. I nailed him pretty hard with a lightning infused scimitar slash, but even that barely phased him. He ran out into the night and over a steep wall. Arliim quickly launched a grappling arrow and Zedaythe quickly climbed along its length. Even so, it was too late. That traitorous rogue got away, ready to spill our plan to his lord.

Silk Street

Day 9- With newfound respect from the citizens and guards of Fastigium, we were told to visit the Silk Street district. Almost immediately after we approached, we saw a scaling down a tall building and proceeded to run away, closely followed by two men. We gave chase as well, if only to distract the men long enough for her to escape. The rogues dropped caltrops behind them. Most of us managed to escape the spikes, but Arliim took a nasty spike to the ankle. The girl ran into an open courtyard before a great cathedral. She made her way quickly through the crowd, the rogues following right after. We were stopped by halberdier guards and questioned as to why we were here. Zedaythe sweet talked them into letting us pass, but the dragonborn had to be stupid and ended up facedown with a halberd resting between his shoulder blades. He’s lucky he didn’t get himself or all of us killed. So we continued through the courtyard, surely well behind the rogues now. Thankfully, the dragonborn in our party stayed behind to cause a distraction as we snuck into the building. We carefully planned our steps to the rhythm of beds in use and found the lord of the house…..in action.

 We tied him down and lead the women out of the whore house. Everyone in the courtyard was still distracted by FIsty’s antics (I suppose he was having a heated boxing match with a high ranking knight). The girls were taken to a safe house and we were paid a fair sum of gold for our actions.

Zedaythe must have had one hell of a bad dream. I heard shouting and arguing coming from her room, some of it sounding like her and other times it sounded like other people. I couldn’t quite make out what was being said. Maybe it has something to do with her being an Oracle? I don’t know. I’ll be sure to watch after her, make sure she isn’t in danger.

Fastigium

Day 8 – On our way back, we managed to rouse the possessed woman out of unconsciousness and got a few answers, however vague, from her. Her name is Mira and she is a trader from Astu Fides. We try and obtain more information from her, about the haunt, the children or the kinder catches. She can’t remember anything aside from venturing near Corona. We left her a few rations and supplies before letting her go on her way back home. As we approached the village, we were met with indignation and outright surprise. No one had thought we would make it out of there alive. The tavern master rewarded us with a round of his best ale. Afterword, we headed to the local church and asked Father Marcus what could be done about the trapped souls. He gave it some thought and prepared a ceremony that we joined in. With a sensation of light and freedom filling the entire building, the sick green light left the orbs. I swear I could see the faint silhouettes of a dozen children floating past the ceiling and towards their Eternal Sleep. With that matter settled, our band moved on to the mayor’s office for a proper reward. The man congratulated our endeavors. We were rewarded with a free carriage, a few horses, and a writ of recommendation to the city of Fastigium. He apologized that what he could offer was sparse and hardly worthy of such a deed. We wasted no time packing up or things and drew our new carriage on to the road for Fastigium. Hairy took the reins and I started my work on the grenades. The components of the flash bangs are thankfully cheap and the formula easy to replicate. And my idea for adding a load of black powder turned out marvelously. The blinding radius is slightly larger now and the close burst releases a bright and powerful flame. I’ve taken to calling these new explosives “flash fires.” We reached the gates of Fastigium after a short while. The guards stopped us for toll, but our handy writ got us out of that business. We immediately notice the Legion’s presence, their dragonborn soldiers marching the streets in fully armored regalia. A part of me ached to gum up their operations in the city or at least snag a few pieces of pricey equipment. But I needed to be sure I had income first. I’m not entirely single minded. I chose a busy pub to mingle in, and a drunk yet decorated officer caught my eye. If anyone in here would know of some work that would need done, I imagine this boozed guard would know. I introduced myself and we exchanged a few friendly words (and drinks)before I spoke of my goals plainly. He jokingly asked if I could take out Dythan, then let me in on a more realistic mission. A local gang was causing trouble towards the poorer districts. This wasn’t unusual, except the rogues were dipping their toes into murder, and that’s worth intervening immediately. Unfortunately, that territory was bottom priority to the guards. However, this man wanted to see justice no matter what. I gladly accepted and enlisted the aid of my newfound travel mates. Sneaking into the lower districts, I spotted one of the gang members based on the description the old guard. Arliim (Hairy, as I had previously called him) and i pursued him towards the gang’s lair inside the aquaduct. The man felt along the wall and entered through a secret sliding doorway. Upon approaching, a voice behind the door asked for the password. There was also a thin grate by the door, which Zedaythe and Nijall (Hissy) took this opportunity to sneak in through as an alternate entrance. The rest of us were too big for the grate, so we tried tricking the doorman into letting us in. After a few unsuccessful tries, our dragonborn companion decided to punch through the stone. Idiot. Then he tried with his other fist. And both legs. And tail. And of course he had to head butt it as well. All this accomplished was creating enough noise to rouse the entire hideout to our presence. Almost immediately, a deadly barrage came from the arrow slits set into the wall. I maneuvered enough to only get knicked by one, but the others got quite a few hits. I threw a flash fire, hoping for it to slip through and explode on the other side. It hit the wall, but the flash still stunned the archers’ staring through the slits. Good enough. Sounds of movement came from the secret door, and we prepared for whatever may come through. The door opened and Fisty launched himself through first. A shuriken is launched forward, but he does manage to deflect it. I can never tell if this dragon is highly skilled or just lucky. Most likely luck. Anyway, he breathes fire onto two doormen and that’s when we start our attack. Arliim expertly fires an arrow between one man’s armor and i slice into the other one. Sumi finishes off the first one with a wicked spear through the throat. After a time, we rendezvous with Zedaythe and Nijall before heading deeper into the aquaduct hideout. In the lowest room, we find two gunslingers. One held two pistols at the ready while the other stood firm with a long musket. Zedaythe and Fisty slink off to the side of the dark room, hoping to flank them. I rush in, launching a burst of lava into both of them and struck the musketeer with my scimitar. The duelist regained himself enough to fire at me, which hurt. A lot. Nijall shot a blowgun dart into my attacker’s jugular and he dropped dead shortly after. Zedaythe charged from the dim corner of the rim and nearly chopped the usketeer in half. He managed to fire, but it merely grazed her beautiful skin. Fisty finished him off with a series of punches. The gunfire must have alerted the archers from earlier, and they were running all around the aquaducts in a panic. Arliim managed to pin and hogtie one, a good candidate for questioning later. The gang scattered. Salvaging what we could from the bodies and the gang’s storage, we set off back to the tavern and officer, expecting a reward. He gives us a nice sum of gold coins, and I was satisfied with that. There seemed to be a legal squabble over a few items that Fisty and Nijall picked up, but I left the tavern so as not to get involved with any of that. Now that I’ve got my paycheck…what should I get into now?