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Keys from the Golden Vault Session 44
Starring
Chéri Powder, level 9 human Illusionist Wizard
Elowen Fernwhisper, level 9 wood elf Circle of the Moon Druid
Stayzie Diamondz, level 9 orc Champion Fighter
Taveen, level 9 aasimar Warrior of Mercy Monk
Varrow, level 9 gnome Thief Rogue/Gloomstalker Ranger
In one of the open crypts of the lower chamber (C2), the party discovers a stash of inconspicuous clothing — perfect for blending in with the city as one exits the creepy crypt.
Stayzie also recognizes a cloak of many fashions, which she immediately bedazzles. Chéri swipes a potion of invisibility.
A broken wall leads to a larger chamber, featuring a trio of doors to the north, stairs up to a raised platform and door to the west, and an another open chamber to the south (C3).
Varrow, being a master thief, immediately gravitates to the sole locked door to the north, which bears a fresh padlock. He nimbly picks it, and opens the door, revealing a single coffin strewn with blankets, covering a mop of black hair (C5).
The rogue quickly backs off and lets Taveen handle whatever’s inside.
The monk rolls a nat 20 on his careful investigation, so he’s not terribly surprised when a figure lurches out of the coffin. It’s Sarcelle Malinosh, one of the figures they were sent here to rescue!
Sarcelle is in bad shape, and not just from the kidnapping from several days ago.
She was sorcerer who could travel the planes. During one excursion, she witnessed a horrible sight:
“I saw a figure, skeletal figure, lying in state, but wreathed in great arcane power. Shadowy supplicants arrived, bearing gifts, treasures. Appendages. A withered hand. A dark eye.
The figure arose, channeling great power still. He heard whispers from across the land, from across the plane, from across the multiverse. And his power grew more and more. Until the land and its people bent to his will. The gods themselves banished, destroyed, or enslaved, until only he remained as the sole arbiter of the Weave itself.”
“He turned his gaze toward me, and I awoke, back in my home. But my magic had been stripped away. My connection to the weave gone. Now, I have only the nightmare, the vision!”
While Taveen responds with his usual even-keeled attitude, Varrow wonders just what the hell they’ve stumbled into.
Without her magic, the party doesn’t find Sarcelle of much use. Thankfully they’re still very close to the entrance, and the woman is strong enough to make her way out.
She warns that they’re all dead anyway — there’s no stopping the ruin that’s coming.
Chéri makes sure to collect a lock of her hair as proof of them saving her. He also stashes zombie Gregir’s head in the back of holding.
(This mission is taken from Chapter 1 of Vecna: Eve of Ruin. The alternate dungeon map is from Tessa Presents 56 Maps for Vecna: Eve of Ruin.)
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During the exchange, Stayzie’s darkvision notices a filled basin in the southern room (C7). Pipes along the ceiling sprinkle water down like rain, which appearntly makes the resident water elemental quite content. The creature appears to dance and frolic in the rain, and Stayzie, from a distances, dances with her new fashionable cloak.
The creature notices, but doesn’t make any hostile actions.
However, she also notices a dead body floating in the water. Varrow uses his superior stealth skills to quietly sneak in and pull the body back out to the central chamber.
Despite its decay and bloat from the water, they notice another of Arlo’s team, Sabrina “Kill More” Kilgore. Taveen examines the body using his medicine skills. He determines that she ultimately drowned, and suffered from blunt force trauma, as well as cold damage.
Another of Arlo’s gang had met an untimely end in this dungeon!
Varrow and Stayzie also take point on opening the other northern doors. Stayzie discovers a storage room with some healing potions (C6), while Varrow’s small room contians a grate in the ground, covering a shallow pit with some papers, and a rod (C4).
The rogue steps on the grate and tries to lift it off, triggering poisoned blades that slice his hands!
While the trap retracts, he carefully reaches through the bars and blades to snatch at the rod. It’s completely stuck, and appears to be hovering in place.
A quick investigation reveals a hidden button. After pressing it, the rod magically releases, and he pulls back just as the trap resets.
With Chéri’s help, they set the trap off again, this time using a cut zombie arm, and Varrow carefully grabs the papers as well.
The rod is an immovable rod, and the papers depict schedules and house blueprints of one of the captives, Indrina, and the cryptic note that “Her secrets will make a worthy sacrifice to The Whispered One.”
Feeling curious, Elowen climbs the short stairs to the western room. The door has a painted symbol of a dark eye in the palm of a frightening hand. She opens the door, revealing a 10-ft wide hallway strewn with hanging bells from the ceiling (C13).
Chéri guesses it’s a rudimentary alarm system.
Elowen wild shapes into a bat and easily flutters to the other side, where a lantern lights up a door. She listens, hearing several muffled voices on the other side.
The party discusses their trepidation at crossing the alarm room. Elowen decides to test the alarms and see if she can draw their attention, while the others close the door and wait back on the stairs.
Elo-bat rings a bell, waits a few moments, then rings another. She hides in the ceiling just as the western door opens, revealing two black-robed figures. One has a wicked curved blade, while the other has their hands out in a casting position.
However, they don’t see the hidden bat.
“Oxtu, there’s no one,” they call back to another figure. Elowen can see beyond that the room they came from is well-lit, with tables and chairs, and at least one other figure.
A voice barks out, “there must be someone. There’s no wind down here!”
As the figures being searching, Elo-bat activates her sending stone earring to communicate with the party. “They’re coming, right now!”
With time running out, the party readies their weapons and opens the door, just as one of the cultists is reaching for the handle!
Live post-session discussion:
Next session: The Cult of the Whispered One!
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