Crypts and Things: Minotaurs in the Street! An Invading Army! A New Quest!

Zardoz was in the thick of the fight when he stuck by arrow and fell the ground unconscious for the arrow had been laced with a strong sleep poison.  When he came to, he found himself in the caverns beneath the city surrounded by serpent men and Aetius.

Aetius informed Zardoz that he had nothing to fear from them…for now.  The Serpent men did not want the city of Zul-Bazzir destroyed any more than he did.   He warned Zardoz that Ragnor, the living god, would now strike against the city, now that it had been devastated by the Red Zombie Plague.  Zardoz noticed that Aetius still worn the crown that he had seen in the drawings in the temple of the serpent god.  Aetius explained to him that the crown had transformed him from a human to a serpent man over a period of years.  He also told him that he and his serpent brethren would be waiting in the shadows.  Suddenly a gas cloud appeared around Zardoz and he once again found himself in darkness.  He awoke to find himself back in the streets of the city.  He quickly went forth to find his companions.

Zardoz told the other party members of his meeting with the now serpent man Aetius.  He also contacted the now awake Yazd and consulted with him conducting the ceremony for summoning the Angel of Oblivion if the forces of Ragnor the living god should breach the wall.  Yazd also began to create walls of thorns around the city to make it harder for Ragnor’s land forces to reach the city.  Everyone else began organizing the defense of the city with Thayne Blackblade and them men still under his command.  Zardoz then decided that it was time to unlock the mysteries of the Horn of Bull God to find out if it would be of any use in the coming conflict.

Zardoz, Motard, Torvir, Fenngar, the vile and evil female sorcerer Nivhaca, along with Zardoz’s henchmen, found an abandoned section of the city and got on a roof top and blew the horn.  There as a brief flash and the street below was filled with Minotaurs.  The Minotaurs attacked immediately.

The battle was relatively brief and the Minotaurs were dispatched (one was actually polymorphed into a horse by Nivhaca) but there was one thing that Zardoz noticed: The Minotaurs would not attack Torvir, who wore a Bull God ring and was a member of the Cult of the Bull God….

Through experimentation in the catacombs beneath the city, Zardoz determined that wearing the ring was not enough:  The Minotaurs that were summoned by the Horn would not attack someone if they wore one of the rings of the Bull God and if they had gone through the initiation ceremony to become full members of the Cult of the Bull God.  The experiments resulted in the deaths of a number of slaves and also introduced a large number of Minotaurs to the environment of the city’s catacombs.  Dealing with them would have to wait for now for a small army was spotted heading towards the city.

The new leaders of the city of Zul-Bazzir approached the oncoming army, surrounded by as many heavily armed warriors as they could find.  As it turned out, this was a group of mercenaries that had fled the city of blank in disgust, no longer willing to work for Ragnor, the self-proclaimed living god for any price.  A price was quickly negotiated and terms were reached and the mercenary army joined in the defense of the city.  It was at this time that Zardoz noticed that a number of the mercenaries, including their commander, wore the same ring as Torvir did.  If anything were to happen to Torvir, there would be others that also blow the Horn of the Bull God.

After the negotiations with the mercenaries were complete, Yazd informed Zardoz the in order to complete the ritual to summon the Angel of Oblivion, they would need two artifacts:  The Angel’s Wings and the Sword of the Angel.  In his research with an ancient book, Yazd had found a map that marked the location of an abandoned temple in the mountains know as Valley of the Forgotten Gods.  If the map and the ancient manuscript were to believed, both the Wings and the Sword would be found there.

Despite the addition of the mercenaries, the city was still lacking numbers for an effective defense of the city.  Motard agreed to travel north to attempt to recruit some of the rugged tribes of his homeland.  Fenngar went with him as well.  They left the city on the fastest horses that they could find.  After attempting to recruit more allies, they would join up with Zardoz and his expedition at the abandoned temple.  With Motard and Fenngar on their own quest, Zardoz, Torvir, and Nivhaca sent out to find the artifacts that were necessary to summon the Angel of Oblivion.

Crypts and Things: Red Plague

Outside the city, Zardoz quickly organized a group of the city guards and a number of the city’s more capable refuges, joining them to his two members of the Eagle Claw clan of nomads and went back into the city with the purpose of re-claiming it from the hordes of undead, cultists, necromancers and wizard priests in the service of Ragnor, the demi-god ruler of the other city that had invaded his home.  Motard, Torvir, Fenngar, a warrior that fought with two short swords and a witch joined them.  The first place that Zardoz targeted was the home of the Slave master Aetius who had apparently betrayed the party by vouching for Belcore who turned out to be a disguised serpent man and who attempted to offer of the “heroes” as sacrifices to the ancient Serpent god Yigthrahotep.

Zombies!

Fighting zombie in the street

Taking the streets back

After fighting their way through the streets, Zardoz’s small army came upon the mansion of Aetius.  The mansion had been turned into a fortress by Aetius’s right hand man, a warrior known as Thayne Blackblade, a man armed with a magical sword made of black steel who had a reputation as the most deadly swordsman in the city. The mansion was one of the few areas of the city to hold out against the undead onslaught.  After a brief discussion, Zardoz and the characters, along with a number of their henchmen and nomad allies, entered the mansion.

Thayne informed the party that Aetius had been missing for over two weeks.  He also admitted that his long time employer and friend had been acting strangely for even longer.   With Aetius out of the picture, Thayne opened Aetius’ vault of magical items and handed over the sword of the green dragon to the party which Torvir wielded.  His intent was to use all means necessary to cleanse the city of its undead infestation.  Thayne warned Torvir character that the magical blade, much like the black steel blade that he wielded, almost certainly carried a heavy price.  Torvir would find out later…

The small army, now re-enforced by guards from Aetius’s mansion, now set out back in the city. Their first target was Zardoz’s whorehouse in the foreign district.  Zardoz wanted to make sure that his investment was intact and they would clear out any undead that found along the way.

By nightfall, the combined adventurer\nomad\guard army reached the brothel, killing and burning any zombie that they came across.  Zardoz’s brothel had weathered the undead plague rather well.  Many of the clientele were hardy adventurer types that had quickly barricaded the brothel, turning it into a heavily armed fortress that also acted as a place of safety in a city overrun by zombies.  A large defensive parameter was setup for the night and the many of the party took advantage of the “gifts” offered by the brothel’s grateful employees.   In the morning, a number of the patrons joined the small army and joined the effort to reclaim the city.
The party then made their way to home of Yazd, the white mage and healer.  There were rumors that his home had held out against the hordes of zombies that were wandering around the city.  Upon approaching the home of Yazd., the group observed that the undead did not even appear to approach the house, as if an invisible barrier had been set up.  After destroying all of the zombies in immediate vicinity, the party knocked on the door.

The man that opened the door looked like a younger version of Yazd, as well as a number of children and refugees that had sought shelter in the home of the white mage.  The young man introduced himself as Yazd’s son.  Most of the children where the Yazd’s grandchildren.  He told them that his father had cast a protection spell around the home but the task had been a tasking one and it had left Yazd in coma that for once, was no induced by his opium habit.   Realizing that Yazd would be of no help at this point, they party moved on to their home, the House of the Dragon.

As the party approached the House of the Dragon, the party was attacked by three deadly insect swarms.  These insect swarms were demonic in nature and three henchmen died horribly as they were torn to pieces. Despite the loss, the swarms were defeated and the group of adventurers entered the once grand mansion.
All of the guards that had been left behind to guard the mansion had been slain but not by zombies.  They had been killed by someone wielding a sword.  Whoever had killed the guards that he had left behind had also opened his basement laboratory.  Apparently, something large had used the zombie corpse of the captured necromancer that Zardoz had experimented as an anchor to gate in the basement.  From the basement of the House of the Dragon, the plague Red Plague of undeath was unleashed upon the city.
According to reports, the zombies had taken over ruling palace at the center of the city.  There were also reports of other things, things far worse than zombies that had taken the palace.  With most of the city retaken, and believing that Ragnor himself was currently at the central palace, Zardoz commanded his small army to attack the palace.  Zardoz would command the Eagle Claw nomads while Motard, Torvir and Fenngar would attack on the opposite of the wall.

Upon climbing the wall, Motard and company, including fifteen henchmen, encountered zombies, necromancers, priests of Ragnor and a large demon.

Taking the wall

The Plague Demon and his Zombies

Demon with Wizard Priest of Ragnor!

Motard fighting to get to the Demon

The Demon Falls

Fireball!

Swords flashed, arrows were fired, and fireballs cast.  In the end, all fifteen of the henchmen were killed as the fireballs cast by the priests of Ragnor inflicted heavy losses upon the player character’s forces.  Motard, due to the mark of the dark elder gods that was placed upon him all though years ago when the attempt to sacrifice him as a infant was stopped by his father and other members of his tribe, was able to harm the demon.   Torvir was also able to harm the demon with the blade of the Green Dragon but when he used it, he found the side effect of using the blade: Every blow he struck would release a cloud of poisonous gas in twenty foot radius.  While the demon was immune to the poison, neither he nor Motard were and both men were lucky to survive the encounter. Despite the poisonous cloud, the demon was slain but the remaining characters were exhausted and wounded.  Suddenly, a winged being appeared above the party and everyone was healed.  Apparently Yazd had woken from his comma.


The characters then spotted a covered litter being carried by zombies.  Over twenty Eagle nomads charged it but a blast of greenish energy slew them all. Despite the danger, Motard, Torvir and Fenngar all attacked. What they found in the litter was a Crypt Fiend a deadly and powerful undead monstrosity.

What is hiding in the Litter

Crypt Fiend raises the fallen henchmen as zombies!

The Crypt Fiend Falls!

The three warriors managed to slay it and with that, the rest of the resistance fell apart.  That battle was won but at a heavy cost.  Most of the rulers of the city were dead, among them Grey Eyes whose zombized corpse had been put down.  Of the two hundred Eagle Claw nomads, only around fifty remained.  The city would be ripe for invasion.  Also, Zardoz was missing…..

God, I want to run another Beasts and Barbarians game

Last Saturday, I was at my monthly Pathfinder game where we playing the Carrion Crown Adventure Path. Not that it is remotely relevant to this blog but I play a Paladin named Vors.  Anyway, two of the players in the group, Chris and Amy, are a married couple that were in my Beasts and Barbarians game.  I was talking to Amy and we both agreed that we both missed her character Hawk, the Amazon warrior that slew the only man that she felt was worthy of sharing her bed.  It got me reading the Beasts and Barbarians supplement Beasts of the Dominions.  Good stuff.  Hopefully, in the not to distant future, I can return the land of the Dread Domains and I write of the adventures of Hawk and Sylyph once again.

Crypts and Things: The Temple of the Serpent

With Ludaius no longer possessed by the shade of Ikhtanabu Xu, things return to “normal” in the city of Zul-Bazzir.  Motard the northern barbarian and the warrior Ludaius turned to drinking and whoring while Zardoz continued his experiments on the necromancer that had been captured by party on their return trip from the Temple of the Bull God. Zardoz had seen the necromancer slay one of his trusted henchmen Chellick with just a touch.  Removing the necromancer’s hand, Zardoz was determined to use it to create a magical rod or wand that was capable of duplicating the “death touch”.

One day, Zardoz went to down to experiment further on the necromancer only to find that he had died in the night.  Not considering that death would prevent him from learning more from the necromancer, he kept the body.  By the end of the day, the body had re-animated as a zombie with red boils and red patches on his skin.  Still not deterred by this (rather, he was intrigued) Zardoz keep the zombie tied down to slab in his lab for further experiments.

Soon, the party was contacted by the merchant Belcore, a man known to the party as an associate of the group’s occasional patron and ally Aetius, the master Slaver of Zul-Bazzir.  Belcore offered the party a very large sum of gold if they would accompany him on an expedition to the southern deserts in search of a forgotten temple to a god known as Yigthrahotep.  The offer being far too much gold to turn down, the party readily agreed, despite the fact that they had been unable to speak with Aetius regarding Belcore.  According to Thayne Darkblade, Aetius’ captain of the guard and right hand man, Aetius was unavailable and he was uncertain as to when that may change. Motard, Ludaius, Zardoz and his henchmen assembled horses, wagons and supplies and headed south, with a new hire, the “scout” Torvir, who had been recruited by Motard.

Realizing how dangerous the zombie necromancer would be if he were to escape, before leaving, Zardoz placed wards over his laboratory and left a number of heavily armed guards back in the House of the Dragon with strict instructions not to enter the laboratory under any circumstances.  Nor were they to allow anyone to enter the laboratory either.

After traveling south for some time, the group arrived at a water well and oasis.  While there, they party also broke bread with nomads from the Eagle Claw clan.  While they were eating with the nomads, the group was attacked by a number of giant scorpions.  The party and nomads fought off the scorpions but not before Zardoz’s henchmen Seth was struck down by the poisonous sting of one of the scorpions.  Only the intervention of the nomads saved Seth from dying from the toxins.  Having fought together and shared salt and bread, the party forged a blood alliance with the Eagle Claw clan. The enemies of the party were the enemies of the Eagle Claw and vice versa.  With Seth still disabled by the scorpion poison, the party left him with their new allies and continued south.

Scorpions Attack!

Following Belcore’s map, the party arrived at a cave opening in the side of a cliff.  Motard scouted around and discovered that there were fresh prints leading in and out of the cave entrance.  Judging from the prints, the creatures living in the cave were some kind of large ape.  The party took positions and watched the cave from the bushes.  They waited all night but in the early morning, they watched as a group of large apes left the cave, obviously to hunt.  The characters then setup an ambush in anticipation of the apes return.
The apes returned carrying the corpses of deer and antelope and party sprang their ambush.  Motard charged in with his axe while everyone else unleashed a barrage of arrows and crossbow bolts.  (Ranged attacks are not Motard’s style.)  The Apes were dispatched with relative ease and the party entered the cave.

On the first level, the party discovered that the cave was indeed an ancient temple.  The walls of the temple had pictures that depicted hordes of apes and primitive humans bowing down to images of serpents and humanoid serpent beings.  There were stairs leading down on the far end of the temple and in the center of the main room, there were vines hanging down that lead into a chamber above.  A group of apes jumped out from the vines and attacked.  After a brief fight, the apes were dispatched.

Motard and Talos climbed up the vines and could hear that there were indeed more apes in the chamber above and quietly climbed back down.  Deciding not to climb the vines, party took the stairs, descending further into the temple.

Deeper in to the temple, the motif of serpent worship continued.  Zardoz noticed that many of the pictures of the humanoid serpents showed the serpent men as wearing crowns.  He remembered that he had seen a crown like that before….on the head of Aetius, slave master of Zul-Bazzir….

Using hammers, the character broke through a wall into a burial chamber that was guarded by a number of animated human skeletons. These were also easily defeated and the party found itself in a altar room filled with gold artifacts.  As the party ran down to gather the massive amount of treasure, Belcore went to the altar, turned to party with his hands held up high and spoke.   “Oh, great Yigthrahotep, I have come to awaken you from your slumber and release you from centuries of imprisonment! I now offer you these humans as a celebration of your freedom!” From the altar rose giant serpent with dazzling eyes and humanoid arms with a scimitar in each hand.

Yigthrahotep Rises!

Never truly trusting Belcore, Zardoz had his men immediately open fire on the Belcore while Motard and Ludaius attacked Belcore’s flank.  Before Belcore could unleash his fowl magic upon the party he was slain and his true form reveled.  Belcore was a serpent man!  The party then turned its attention to the newly risen Yigthrahotep.  Yigthrahotep was nearly defeated when he unleashed his hypnotic gaze at the party.  Although Zardoz, Motard and Ludaius resisted the gaze, Torvir and all of the henchmen did not and they immediately turned on the characters.

Belcore assumes his true form in death

His spells exhausted and after being stuck by a number of arrows, Zardoz fled the temple, leaving Motard and Ludaius to their fates.   Yigthrahotep slew Ludaius but the badly wounded Motard managed to kill Yigthrahotep, breaking the hypnotic spell that had taken over Torvir and the henchmen.  The survivors gathered up their much deserved gold and left the temple.

Zardoz did not wait around to see what happened to his companions and fled with all the horses that he could.  Eventually, he allowed the rest of the group to catch up.  They had the treasure after all.  Fully believing that they had been betrayed by Aetius, Zardoz vowed vengeance.

Upon arriving at the Eagle Claw camp, Zardoz immediately began recruiting as many of the nomads to return to the city of Zul-Bazzir to raid the home of the slaver Aetius.  One hundred and fifty of them eventually agreed.  Now with a small army on their side, the party headed back to Zul-Bazzir with vengeance on their minds.

However, upon arriving back at Zul-Bazzir, all was not well with the city.  From a distance, smoke and even fire could be seen coming from the city and a number of refugees had fled the city.  The characters approached what appeared to be a makeshift fort occupied by all manner of city dwellers.  The fort was guarded by a mix of city guards, merchants, artisans, beggars, prostitutes and even slaves.  Zardoz demanded to know what had happened.  One of the guardsmen told them of the Red Plague.  A disease that turned all it killed into the walking dead.  The Red Plague spread by both claw and bite.  The Shrine of the Keepers had been infected and the zombie horde spread from there but there were demons and hordes of flesh eating insects infecting the city as well.  He also told them that the epicenter of all of this was not the Shrine of the Keepers.  The true outbreak started from the House of the Dragon, the mansion that the characters called home...

Next time, Red Plague Part One.

Crypts and Things: The Knife of the Necromancer

It has been around two or three months since I ran this so the details have faded with time but I will do my best to relay the story of the Knife of the Necromancer

Zardoz the magician, Motard, a barbarian from the north, Ludaius the warrior and Seth, one of Zardoz’s henchmen were returning home one night after a night of carousing when they came across of group of thugs that just killed and robbed someone.  Not wanting to leave any witnesses, the thugs attacked and all but one were quickly dispatched by the group of adventurers.  The leader of the thugs ran off into the night.  The group looted all of the bodies, including the robbery victim.   They found a few coins and, on the robbery victim, they found a very nice silver dagger.   Zardoz left the dagger in his basement lab and everyone retired for the evening.

Street fight!

In the morning, everyone filed in for breakfast…except for Ludaius.  Upon further investigation, Motard discovered that Ludaius was not in his quarters and Zardoz discovered that the silver dagger was missing.  Enraged that someone, even a trusted companion had breached his lab’s defenses, Zardoz immediately contacted the members of the watch that he had in his pocket and began the search for Ludaius and the missing dagger.  The watch quickly referred Zardoz to a street operator known only as “Grey Eyes” to find Ludaius and his location.

During the course of the search, a would-be assassin attempted to murder Motard.  Striking from behind, the assailant failed to surprise Motard and Motard slaughtered him in the street.   Motard quickly realized that his attack was none other than the leader of the thugs that they had gotten the silver dagger from.

Zardoz, along with his henchmen, the recently recruited Talos and Seth, meet with Grey Eyes.  A fee was determined and Grey Eyes men began to search for Ludaius.  Later, Zardoz was able to determine that the silver dagger had belonged to Ikhtanabu Xul, a powerful sorcerer that had died some ten years ago.

The following the day Zardoz received a message from a very angry Grey Eyes.  Apparently his men had found Ludaius in the catacombs beneath the Shrine of the Keepers in the Square of the Green Peacock.   The reason that he was angry was because Zardoz had told me that Ludaius was a warrior that fought with a scythe.   However, when Grey Eyes’ men attempted to apprehend him, he unleashed a devastating fireball and commanded a group of ghouls to attack.   Only one of his men escaped to the surface.   Zardoz agreed to investigate himself and Grey Eyes assigned the survivor (Adrick) from the first expedition to guide them to location in the catacombs were Ludaius had been encountered.

Zardoz rounded up Motard and his henchmen and, using the Grey Eyes’ man Adrick as a guide, they entered the catacombs through the basement of an abandoned building.  They party quickly fought a group of ghouls. They ghouls were quickly dispatched but Adrick proved to be useless in a fight as he fled from the ghouls.  He did not make to the surface and once again, he found himself a reluctant guide.

Adrick lead the party to tomb in the catacombs that had recently been opened.  The party moved in and immediately encountered more ghouls.  The next room had a light source.  Instead of charging, Zardoz called out for Ludaius, and then called out for Ikhtanabu Xul.  Ikhtanabu Xul, with the voice and body of Ludaius, answered.  He told them to get out of his way as he was about ready to leave the city. Zardoz stated that he Ludaius was a valuable asset but if he needed a body, they could provide one.  Adrick tried to run but Talos and Seth grabbed him and held him.  Ikhtanabu walked into the room, took a look at Adrick, shrugged and a black mist left Ludaius’s mouth and entered Adrick’s.  After a few moments of resistance, Adrick/Ikhtanabu gathered up his things, tossed Adrick a few scrolls and was on his way. Zardoz told him to avoid Belthaar to the east since it had been taken over by a mad demigod.

No alligators in catacombs, just ghouls 

Fighting ghouls in the tomb of  Ikhtanabu Xu

Everyone returned to the surface and Zardoz told Gray Eyes that Adrick was killed by ghouls and all was back to normal.  Thus concludes the  tale of the Knife of the Necromancer.  Next up, Scorpions in the Desert and the Temple of the Serpent.

Sessions 14 and 15: The Monastery of Shadows and the Keepers of the Black Flame.

Having marched for several hours, our heroes find that the air is cold and bitter, but not as cold as they expected at this altitude. “We climbed a long way.” Jimpah says. “Now we are quite high. These mountains remind me of Lhoban. I should have realized the Keepers would choose such a place for their hideout.” After a while, the path joins another one, a little larger, and by proceeding along the latter the party reaches their destination in less than an hour. The fortified village of the Mountaineers is built on a large terrace on the far side of the deep valley you are in now. A steep road is the only way in and, to make things worse, it is flanked by a stone wall and protected by a gate, guarded by sentinels. “A few good soldiers could hold that gate against a large army for weeks,” Jimpah frowns. There is a second terrace several hundred yards above the village. A strange building stands on it, its features completely different from the architecture of the village. There are pagoda-like towers and crammed buildings huddled together to form a structure unique in its kind. “That’s the Monastery,” Jimpah says. “If we want to rescue Karmella, we must find a way in, and it won’t be easy.”

There is something spooky about Monastery that no one can quite define, but after a while everyone understands that the mountain above it keeps it in constant shadow, so that it is never exposed to direct sunlight. It is a place of perpetual darkness, no light comes from its narrow windows, and it seems lifeless.

While our group of heroes is surveying the Monastery, a loud gong from deep within the mournful building echoes through the whole valley. Then, a black cloud rises from it and swoops down the entire valley, like a huge, malevolent hand. “Bats!” Jimpah orders. “Quick, let’s hide behind these rocks! These beasts could be something other than they appear!” The beasts pass over your head, apparently without noticing the party, and then return to the dark domes of their cursed home. A single, twisting passage leads from the village to the Monastery.

The party quickly deduces that there are two ways in.  They can climb the cliff and try to enter the Monastery that way, or they can dress as mountain folk and try to sneak in. Originally, they decided to climb but with nearly disastrous results.  After that, the party donned mountain folk gear that they had taken from their fallen foes and entered the village.  Following the crowd, the party enters a large Common Hall.

The Common Hall is a big wooden hut, smelling of sweat, smoke and sheep’s droppings, but at least it is warm. Long low tables are arranged all around with sheep’s skins to be used as cushions, and many Mountaineers are sitting in silent groups.

After they sit down, some shy Mountaineer women, wrapped in heavy clothes, serve them a hot soup of mutton and mountain garlic. It isn't very tasty but at least it warms their bones. You notice that alcohol is banned from the table.  With a little careful listening, they hear in whispered tones that the Korras will be formerly be named Lord over all of the Mountain tribes.  An hour before midnight, the gong in the Monastery sounds again and the people in the Hall start murmuring. Then, some monk guards, Mountaineers wearing the same armor as Ruman Gask’s soldiers, come in. Their leader, a stocky fellow with a fanatical light in his eyes, speaks to the gathered crowd. “Tonight you’ll witness the power of the Black Flame and of Korras, Lord of all the Mountains. Put on your cloaks and be ready to follow.” All the Mountaineers bow their heads. Then, lifting their hoods against the cold temperature, they make their way to the Monastery of Shadows. Our group quietly joins the procession.

The interior of the Monastery is huge and it is an easy task for the party to separate off from the rest of the procession and being to search for Princess Karmella.  After wondering through the labrityh of the Monastery, the party hears a conversation between an old servant and a young one.

Old servant: “Jinzu, you lazy moron, you are late once again!” Young Servant: “I am sorry, Pelai; I was busy feeding the bats…” Old Servant: “A lame excuse, as usual! Now, take these towels to the Princess, before I have you whipped!” Young Servant: “As you command!” The party hears the young servant walking their way.  The rest of the party attempts to hide while Sylph steeps out of the shadows and asks the young servant Jinzu if he can help her.  Jinzu, a novice of the Black Flame, KNOWS that the woman should not be in this part of the Monastery but at the moment as he stares at her cleavage, the really doesn’t care.  Jinzu tells her that he must take the towels to the Princess.  Sylph assures him that she would be more than happy to follow him to the Princess’s cell and then he can help her find her way back to the main hall. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, Jinzu realizes that he should call the guards and have the woman arrested but he is not thinking with his brain.  Another party of his anatomy is calling the shots by this point.  He readily agrees.  (Sylph can be VERY persuasive.)  With the party following, Jinzu leads the party to the Princess.

After dropping of the towels, Sylph suggests that perhaps they investigate one of the empty rooms down the hall.  With a song in his heart, Jinzu agrees.  Sylph only planned to distract him a few minutes, but, with some very lucky dice rolls, Jinzu turned out to be an exceptional lover and she ended up being distracted herself, multiple times as it turns out.

While Sylph “distracted” the young monk, the rest of the party entered the cell where the Princess was kept after Sul’khaz picks the lock.  They open the elegant door in front of them and stop on the threshold of a large room in semi-darkness. For a moment they contemplate the woman that has cost you so much pain and effort. She sleeps in an enormous four-poster bed. She must be having a nightmare, because she tosses and turns, a pained expression on her delicate face. A thin silver chain secured to the wall and locked around her slender wrist keeps her captive. As the party moves in, out the shadows spring two bat hounds.

At last, the Princess!

Bad dog!

Dead bad dog....

The fight is over rather quickly as the hounds are quickly dispatched.  As Shangor frees his would be bride, the Princess awakes.  “Oh, my Lord,” she murmurs, “you shouldn't have come here. It is a trap!”  After waiting for several minutes, Sylph finally returns with a very giddy look on her face.  Now, they can try to make their escape.

The party had just left Karmella’s prison when the gong is sounded three times. “Something’s happened,” Jimpah says, with urgency in his voice. “We must move on.”  While the party is cautiously crossing a room that they hadn’t seen before, they spot a group of guards coming right their way. There are too many of them. “Come on!” The fat monk says, leading them into the dark corridor. Going on, the passage ends in one of the strangest rooms they have ever seen.

It is a wide, round hall, with tall walls and a sort of gallery, like the ones seen in theatres or Imperial arenas, running along the whole perimeter. But the strangest thing is in the middle of the room: a massive flame, at least five yards tall and made of pure darkness, rises from a fissure in the ground! The flame is erratic and flickering, as if it were about to go out, but it continues to burn without anything visible fueling it. Despite its absolute blackness, you can see people approaching.  They party quickly realizes that they are seeing a reflection of themselves.  As they turn to leave, they are cut off by a large number of monks and warriors.
Their leader is a tall, bald man, with a large scar on his face. He is accompanied by a group of monk guards and Mountaineer Warriors. Despite his rough appearance, Korras, the evil mind behind this whole mess, bears an unmistakable resemblance to Prince Ulesir.

“My hated brother,” he says, “I never imagined you’d be able to wield an axe one day but, when I watched you kill Ruman Gask, you surprised me, I must confess.” He points his finger toward the Flame. You understand you have been spied through the Flame for quite some time. “I thought about sending someone to capture you but, well… you foolishly came all the way here by yourself. So, why bother?” he adds with an evil smile. “Well, brother. Now you are here, and we have a little matter to settle. You see the Black Flame? It is faltering after centuries of perpetual burning. The Keepers, masters of this place, know the reason: once every century it needs a soul, a very specific one, the soul of a Divided Man to keep burning. And you, my brother, are the Divided Man of this century!” Just then the group notices tall, gaunt figures on the balcony, monks hundreds of years old come back for the rite. They are the oldest members of the order and are here for the Rekindling of the Black Flame. They raise their skeletal hands holding stone amulets, like the ones possessed by the assassin on the Blue Arrow and by Ruman Gask, and they point the evil objects at Shangor.  “And now, it is time to die!” Korras says, with an evil smile on his face, while the monks direct the power of their wicked weapons against the Shangor.  The final begins!

Crashing Evil Con.

Evil Con from a different angle

Evil Con from the Player's point of view.

Shangor and Jimpah step up to fight Korras while Hawk charges the monks and warriors.  Sul’khaz summons wolves to attack the old men in the balcony while Katrina begins firing arrows into at the old monks in the balcony as well.  Most of the mountain warriors fire their bows and Sylph is wounded.  As Shangor and Korras exchange blows, sudden both men cry out in pain.  Korras has a surprised look on his face.

“Fool!” Jimpah spits. “The soul of a Divided Man means that two people shares part of the same spirit: in this case you and your brother! The Keepers will sacrifice both of you to the Flame!”“No! It cannot be!” Korras shouts, full of anger. Suddenly, the monks attack the mountain warriors as well, ending their barrage of arrows.

Shangor feels intense pain, as if his very soul was being torn from him, and this is actually what is happening: his spirit is draining away from your body to feed the Black Flame. The strange fire blazes and roars, satisfied for a moment, then it sputters and start to fade again. The Keepers, the guards and everyone else stop, amazed and terrified at the same time. “You live in darkness, and darkness has blinded you!” Jimpah thunders. “You haven’t seen that this man isn’t Prince Ulesir? He is only a double and his soul cannot rekindle your flame! You have polluted it, and now it is going to die!” Terror appears on the Keepers’ ghastly faces! Then, as one, they raise their amulets and point them at themselves. “They want to feed the Flame with their own souls!” Jimpah shout. “We must kill them before they do!”

Leaving the monks on the lower level to fight the mountain warriors, Hawk charges up stairs and dispatches one of the Keepers with a mighty blow from her Medusa blade.   Katrina finishes off another with her bow.   The remaining keepers do not go down as easily.  Sylph moves up to fight the Keepers but is nearly dispatched.  Korras, though weakened, is getting the best of Shangor.  Shangor is bleeding from two wounds while he has yet to score a single one on Korras.  However, before Korras can kill Shangor, the finally Keeper is finally killed.

The fight starts

The monks turn on the mountain warriors

Shangor and Jimpah battle Korras while Katrina fires into the balcony

When the last Keeper is dispatched, the Black Flame shrinks becoming, if possible, even blacker. “Let’s go!” Jimpah shouts, and the party to do so. The Black Flame explodes. You sense a sort of black wave passing through walls and solid objects as if through air. Strangely, you feel nothing. Suddenly all your enemies start moaning and crying desperately: “Help me! Help me! I am blind! I am blind!” This is the call you hear from everyone you meet. In the meantime, the bats fly around wildly. “Let’s leave this cursed place!” Jimpah urges you.  Shangor stares down at his hated foe and leaves him to his fate and the party leaves the Monastery of Shadows for good.

They party travels for a few days to get back to Rusty Lake.  It has become apparent that Princess Karmella is grown very fond of Shangor know that she realizes that he is not Prince Ulesir.  When they reach the Rusty Lake, they see a cloud of dust in the distance. It is a small army coming from Shan’Ammar. Prince Ulesir leads it… well, he is actually in a little well protected van surrounded by his most trusted guards. When the vanguard of the small army meets you, you are hastily sent to the Prince. Many soldiers watch in amazement as the exact double of their lord stands, dirty and battered, in front of them.

Prince Ulesir, seated in his heavily protected litter, shows in his sophisticated way the concern he feels for his wife’s safety: “My dear, when Marduk sent a message bird to say you were in the hands of that evil brute, I had to do something! I gathered my soldiers and rushed to save you!” He adds in an affected tone, before continuing. “I am happy these brave men and women saved your life and they will be greatly rewarded. Now, my wife, take your seat by my side.” Ulesir points at a decorated litter next to his.” Karmella sighs and then, ragged and dirty as she is, she climbs into her rightful place with a sad, longing glance back at Shangor. “My dear, you might want to take a bath before joining me for the dinner!” adds her husband, with a slightly disgusted face.  Shangor just shakes his head….

The party takes their money and heads off for further adventures, all except for Katrina, whose skill both horse and bow has won the admiration of the Valk warriors and their ruler.  She will stay. Thus ends my first Beasts and Barbarians campaign. This group rotates systems and GMs so it is someone else’s turn.  It was a blast and I hope to run it again in the future with this group or maybe another if need be.  I hope you have enjoyed reading the log.  Now, I am four sessions behind with my Crypts and Things game and need to write up sessions for that.

Sessions 13 and 14 of my Savage Worlds: Beasts and Barbarians game. A battle avoided and double cross

With Shah Tokarim in a RAGE, the group of adventurers offers to ride off with the Shah to punish his banished nephew Jirro, who obviously took his banishment as a chance to run off with his beloved cousin, the daughter of the Shah Karmella.  The Shah has roughly one hundred men, about the same number of men that his nephew has.  With the edition of the adventurers and their twenty or so Amazons, the Shah believes that this will give him the edge that needs to crush his nephew and drag his daughter kicking and screaming, back to the alter.

The mounted group rides out immediately.  As they get closer and closer to the fort, Jimpah, along with all of the player characters except for Shangor, pickup on the fact that Jirro has not left behind any kind of rear guard or scouts.  Hawk and Sylph both suspect that Jirro has come under the influence of foul sorcery, having seen Shangor under attack by the mysterious assassin on the boat.  The Jimpah points out to the Shah that it is most unusual behavior for someone who had just stolen the daughter of the Shah and who was now in full rebellion.  The Shah ignores this information, chalking it up to Jirro’s stupidly and remains fully intent on slaying his nephew.  After a few days ride, the Shah and his small army arrive at Tenebar Fort. Tokarim immediately plans to take advantage of the heavy fog and launch an assault.

The Shah’s scouts, under cover of the fog, discover that Jirro’s men are mainly camped out in front of the ruined fort with a few sentries on the walls of the fort itself.  The Shah and his general Solembar determine that the princess must be inside the fort.  After a quick discussion, the Shah comes up with a plan:  He will have Shangor and his Amazons sneak to the east wall, climb over the wall, take out the sentries and then open the gate while the Shah and his mounted warrior attack the main camp in front of the fortress.  Once again, Jimpah points out that there are no look outs and that this behavior is displays an unusual lack of tactical planning on the part of Jirro, who is skilled warrior and the veteran of many campaigns.  Slyph and Hawk think that it must a trap of some sort.  Sylph, using her supernatural abilities, persuades the Shah to let her go talk to Jirro.  Although she was angry at Jirro for being an ass at the bachelor party, she still sympathized with him as she is a sucker for “true love.”  (In this point of the adventure, there was supposed to be a battle but Sylph’s character really wanted to try to talk to Jirro so I decided to let her try to persuade the Shah to relent.   She rolled, very, very, well plus she did some EXCELLENT role-playing too so the Shah allowed her to go talk to Jirro although he did send a warrior with her.)

Sylph and the Shah’s warrior made their way through the fog.  They found Jirro’s men working on repairing the fort rather than guarding anything.  She asks to speak to Jirro.  The testosterone thing quickly kicks in and the Shah’s warrior with her immediately insults Jirro and his men.   Jirro’s men retort.  Hands go to swords and once again, Sylph has to calm everyone down.    Jirro arrives and she tells him of the Shah’s small army and that the princess is missing and believed to with him.  Jirro denies everything.  She believes him.  Sylph gets Jirro to agree to meet with his uncle and Slyph returns to the Shah’s camp.

Upon returning, through good dice rolls and good role-playing, Sylph, with some help from Jimpah, manage to talk the Shah into meeting with Jirro, against the protests of Solembar.  Through the fog, marches the Shah, Solembar, Jimpah, the Shah’s bodyguards and the player characters.  The Shah and his estranged nephew meet face to face.

Almost immediately, the Shah and Jirro are ready to slay each other.  Accusations and insults are traded and once again, the hands of the warriors of both men go to the handles of the swords.  Sylph loses it and unloads on both men.  She reminds them that the princess is missing and all that they care about is their honor and their pride.  Both men are shamed.  (Rianna, Sylph’s player, really did some of the best role-playing that I have ever seen.)  Jirro offers to take the Shah on a tour of the fort to prove that the princess is not there and the Shah states that if he were a younger man, he would ride off with Sylph and make her a queen.  Sylph states that age doesn’t matter as long as the Shah can still swing his sword.  A jealous grown is heard from a number of the men on both sides.   Before Jirro can begin his tour, a ride appears with a note that he hands to Shah.

“Tokarim,
Your daughter is safe in my hands and she will remain unharmed if you do what I command. You have something I want: my hated half-brother, Ulesir. Bring him to the Anvil of the Rusty Lake on the last night of this moon. When I am done with him, I will be the legitimate Lord of Shan’Ammar and ruler of all the tribes of the Mountaineers. And I’m sure you’ll consider me a worthy husband for your daughter. Do as I order and you’ll see her again soon. Disobey, and her soul will be given to the Black Flame. 
Korras, Lord of Shan’Ammar.”

The Shah collapses into tears.  His daughter has been kidnapped and he was almost manipulated into killing his nephew.   He is overcome.  Solembar tells Shangor, who they still believe to be Ulesir, to stay in his tent as an honored “guest.”  While in the tent, the party receives a unexpected visitor:  Jimpah.  Jimpah informs that that the Shah’s generals, with the support of Jirro and his men, plan on handing Shangor over to Korras and the Keepers of the Black Flame.  He does refer to Shangor as Shangor, letting the party know that he seen through their ruse.  He does not want that as it would lead to the deaths of many innocent people, including Shangor and the Amazons that were sworn to protect him. Jimpah offers to help them escape if they will help him save the princes and destroy the Keepers of the Black Flame.  The party quickly agrees.  He tells them to sit tight until he returns.

As night falls, Jimpah arrives and ushers the group out of the tent.  The party quickly notices the sleeping guards.  Jimpah makes the comment about how effective Lotus is in someone wine.  They are stopped by a guard but Jimpah tells him that he is taking them to the general and the guard leaves them alone.  Jimpah takes the party out of the camp and off they go to rescue Karmella.

Following the instructions from Korras’ letter, the party makes their way Rusty Lake and the Anvil.  The party plans on using Shangor as bait.  Expecting a boat, a plan is made:  as soon as Shangor is on the boat the princess is safely to shore, Jimpah will throw Shangor his axe and they will attack the boat.

Shangor and Jimpah stay in plain sight while the rest of the party hides along the shore line.  Out of the fog comes a war canoe of the mountain people.  There are several burly mountain warriors.  Leading them is the one eyed Ruman Gask, the traitorous best friend of Jirro.  The canoe stops and a gangplank is put down. Ruman Gask, the traitorous dog, seems to be the man in charge. “Hand Ulesir over and I’ll let the girl go,” he says.  Shangor makes his way across and the women they believe is the princess is sent over.  However, Jimpah and most of the party realize that the girl is not the princess.  That’s not Karmella!  She is an imposter!” shouts Jimpah as he throws Shangor his iron battle axe.  The party fires a volley of arrows and the fight is on.

The Exchange

The Exchange from another angle 

The Fight begins

Karmella's Double dies

Jimpah jumps high into the air and lands in the middle of the war canoe.  He strikes down one of the mountain warriors.  Shangor attacks Ruman Gask as Sul’khaz summons two wolves, one of which appears on the boat.  Katrina starts shooting, immediately killing one of the mountain tribesmen.  Sylph moves up but is hit by a number of arrows.  Ruman Gask wounds Shangor but on his next attack breaks his bronze sword on the iron head of Shangor’s axe.  The girl tries to run away but Katrina, psycho bitch that she is, puts an arrow between the girl’s eyes, ignoring the mountain warriors that were actually trying to kill her.  Ruman retreats to pick up a new sword as Shangor begins to mow down the mountain warriors.  Sul’khaz and Hawk run onto the boat and join the melee.   Eventually Gask is brought down by Shangor and Sul’khaz.  As he dies he says “It is pointless. In the end, the Black Flame will be fed.”

One of the mountain warriors has survived the fight.  Sylph charms him into relieving the path to the Hidden path to the Monastery of Shadows, the home of the Keepers of the Black Flame.  Jimpah is excited as he and his order have long sought this knowledge in the hopes of destroying the Keepers of the Black Flame for centuries.    The mountain tribesman is dispatched and the party takes the canoe to a waterfall that hides the path to the Monastery.  They climb up the path and surprise the four guards that Ruman Gask had left behind.  Now the path is clear to the Fortified Village and the Monastery of Shadows….

Next time, the heroes and Katrina will attempt to infiltrate the Monastery of Shadows.