Session 86: Kortar Rising Part 3 Report

General Summary

Session 86 – Wednesday July 3, 2024: Kortar Rising Part 3

4-hour battle session 5:30 PM to 10:00 PM.

The Stone Bearers. Party of 5:

It is the 3rd day of the month of Alturiak (The Claw of winter) in the 51st year of the Age of Enialis (Early Feb.)

• Ajani– High Elf, L14 Wizard – Nathan Gioconda (Absent)
• Cassidy – Human, L14Blood hunter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
• Gazlowe – Goblin, L15 Artificer – Josh Pozsonyi
• Isabella – Forest Gnome, L14 Barbarian – Jackie Armstrong
• Juan Peyote – Gnome L14 Paladin – Will Johnson
• Seften Mitcaver – Human, L14 Cleric – Jacob Munson

Into the Shadow

Gazlowe pulled his head out of the shadow and told the party “I found Ashyra.” The party debated a rest before they attacked or attack and then rest, and eventually decided to take a short rest first. After an hour, Seften noticed that the darkness of the shadows is spreading slowly from west to east. He surmised that they are spreading out in all directions from a point in the west. After the rest, Gazlowe lead the party into the shadow as Isabella downed a potion of Zombie Giant Strength.

Ashyra

Ashyra recognized the Stone Bearers and warned them to not enter the keep. She told them that she and the Sorcerers of Kortar had eaten the heart of the Empyrean stag, and they are now raising Kortar so she can again be queen. She told them that Tunakan and the High Mage Hissup are off preparing the way. Gazlowe convincingly told her that Tunakan had given them permission to pass on through, confusing Ashyra and catching her off guard. With the surprise, Isabella attacked.   Isabella landed a critical blow right to start the combat. Gazlowe hasted himself. Ashyra was surprised but was still able to obscure the area with a blinding sandstorm. Seften prayed to Snuffelsnort and was granted spirit guardians. The others were not able to see her. Ashyra cursed Isabella to weaken her attacks and then smacked Isabella twice. The sandstorm dissipated and everyone rushed and attacked. Gazlowe punched and Ashyra restrained him with the Weight of the Ages. Seften commanded Ashyra to kneel but Ashrya resisted with her legendary resistance but as a result Isabella was no longer cursed.   Ashyra turned into a cloud of dust and tried to attack everyone however Cassidy cursed Ashyra causing her to miss everyone except Cassidy. Juan hit Ashyra and smote her with his sword. Cassidy struck her with her chain whip and finished her off, which turned Ashyra into dust leaving behind only her cloth shroud. Cassidy collected some mummy dust. Juan tried a taste and suddenly became exceedingly parched.

Ashyra’s organs

Cassidy opened the door to the keep and everyone went in to the large open foyer. The room was empty except for one urn. Cassidy looked in the urn and found Ashyra’s remaining organs moist and pulsating. Gazlowe said, “I’ve got this.” Everyone else pulled back as Gazlowe filled the urn with grease and then hit the bolt with a lightning bolt igniting the grease. They heard an ethereal scream as Ashyra was being killed forever. After a moment, an alarm went off and a water elemental appeared and tried to put out the grease fire. The party said, “Noooo” and attacked the water elemental.   Gazlowe punched. Juan, trying to quench his thirst, pulled out a straw and took a long slurp of water elemental. Seften cast Toll the Dead and the water elemental focused on the grease fire. Isabella finished off the water elemental with her flame tongue sword. The grease continued to burn destroying Ashyra’s organs. Cassidy knew she was gone forever, but recalled that her heart was still in the Empyrean Stag. He figured the worst that could happen would be that her heart would corrupt the Stag.

A collapsed passage

The party looked around the large room and saw the door to throne room which they had been in before. The saw another door in the south and a door in the north. Seften went to the door in the north and found it locked. Cassidy tried to ethereally walk through it but for some reason, couldn’t. Gazlowe picked the lock and opened the door. Behind the door they saw a collapsed hallway of stone. Seften pulled out his mason tools and determined that the hall is clearable, but it is unstable. They opted to try another door first. Cassidy tried to walk through a wall and found it also somehow protected, preventing her from walking through.

The Throne Room

They opened the door in the south to the throne room. They saw three suits of armor on the walls and two stone statues beside the door. The five gold gilded thrones sat empty. Gazlowe spotted another golden incense bowl on a dais and grabbed it. As soon as he grabbed the bowl, the armor and statues came to life. The first animated armor attacked Gazlowe. Cassidy attacked one. Seften recast spirit guardians and moved into the space where two of the animated armors stood. One of them shot a bolt of lightning at Seften. One of the 4-armed golems attacked Seften, but Cassidy cursed it saving Seften.   Bird and Juan charged in and attacked. Isabella swung her great sword and attacked the armor that was attacking Gazlowe. Gazlowe hit the armor, and with Isabella’s help, he killed it. Seften commanded one of the animated armors to kneel. Juan landed a critical blow on one of the gargoyles. Isabella pulled out her maul and found that the gargoyles were vulnerable to bludgeoning damage and destroyed one. Cassidy cursed the kneeling armor preventing it from standing. Seften pulled out the dragon tooth short sword and hit armor. The other armor hit Seften. Juan hit the gargoyle and the gargoyle clawed Juan. Isabella focused on the remaining gargoyle with her maul and landed to big blows. Gazlowe finished it off with a thunderous punch and then killed the prone animated armor. Seften took damage from the last armor and then Bird finished it off.   Not willing to leave any gold behind, Gazlowe opened the portable hole and pushed the five thrones in saying, “We’ll smelt them later.” Cassidy spotted a door on the east wall. Gazlowe opened it and the party went into an alchemy storage room.

Alchemy storage room.

They saw a variety of lab equipment and potions stored very haphazardly on the shelves. Seften reached in to pull some items out and several alchemist fire vials fell to the floor. Seften failed to catch them, and they burst into flames. Knowing that a fire alarm is about to summon a water elemental, Cassidy screamed and backed up. Seften turned into a cloud leaving the bookshelf on fire. Juan hopped off bird and blew on the fire making the flames glow brighter. Thinking hard about another idea, he stood up and unzipped his fly. Isabella finally found her bedroll, stepped in front of Juan, and started smothering the fire. Gazlowe joined in and together they snuffed out the fire. They looked around for the water elemental that didn’t show up.   With the fire out and the party started to carefully loot the shelves. Seften cast guidance but the spell failed. Curious, Seften cast Light and it worked. Seften wondered aloud that his divination spells seem to be spotty. Cassidy remembered the time when harvested Weavite affected certain schools of magic. Trying to decipher this puzzle, Seften sat down and attempted to commune with Snuffelsnort. The spell worked but it was very spotty and through the static and broken communication, Snuffelsnort confirmed Cassidy’s finding. Though Snuffelsnort does empower Seften, the Weavite is needed to pass the magic to Seften. Snuffelsnort also told Seften that he’s now vulnerable to beast attacks. The party collected various items from the shelves (See treasure below.)   They found a crystal ball. Gazlowe cast identify (against Cassidy’s wishes.) The spell worked and he identified the Crystal ball as one of “limited Telepathy” but as a result Gazlowe’s intelligence was reduced by 2 for 24 hours.

The library.

The party proceeded to the next door to the east. They found a massive room filled with bookshelves. They walked through the room looking for traps and examining the books. They found a large series of books detailing a host of Necromantic spells. Cassidy grabbed them for Ajani. Each volume went into great detail on one spell (See Treasure below.) Gazlowe found a book on how to create animated armor and found that the Sorcerers of Kortar were kidnapping vampires (specifically from the Von Glauer clan) and extracting their souls to create the animated armor.   They found a massive tomb written in many languages. It took just about everyone to translate the various languages and after an hour they deciphered the following bits of information:

• 9 magical links are needed to bind the Shadowfell to the Material plane.
• Each link is the essence of a powerful archmage whose life is transformed into a powerful magical force that transcends the planes and merges the Shadowfell with the Material plane.
• The heart of the Empyrean Stag was the last item needed to complete the ritual.
• 9 sorcerers must complete the ritual by sacrificing themselves, becoming a type of demilich and then they must take a single bite from the Stag’s heart to permanently gain the ability to become the powerful magical force.
• The 9 magical forces are hidden in plain sight. They will emanate from cauldrons as a green glowing mist or enchanting tables as a glowing rune or as arcs of lightning between two poles.
• Once the link is established and the shadows spread to the material plane, only one link is needed to complete the process, but all 9 will make it happen faster.
• Must protect the magical forces as a simple Dispel magic will destroy them. All final ritual spells must be cast as a minimum level 7 but anything higher if available should be used. Heggagon and Armaganonnonon will most certainly use a 9th level spell to open the final portals and assume their magical force forms.
• Ashyra will guard the entrance to Kortar. Magical wards will prevent anyone from getting in or around the keep by any other means.
• Fail safe: If anyone attempts to dispel the magical forces and fails, they will release a wave of necrotic and psychic energy that transcends both planes for as large as the spread of the shadow (up to the final 30-mile radius.) The Magical Force will then revert into a weakened demilich that should still be powerful enough to deal with the intruder and then he can recast “Assume magical form.”
• Even if someone does successfully dispel all 9, the demiliches will reform in our secret room where we keep the phylacteries.
• The last room will be protected by the powerful Demilich Donie.
• The High Mage Hyssup and the Necromancer Tunakan will be making other arrangements for protection in the material plane.
• With the help of the one named Niptu, some Weavite has been removed from the region that will inhibit some spells, especially Divination and Transmutations Spells.
• Nothing can stop us now!

The search begins

The party discussed their next steps. They need to find the secret room with the phylacteries and the “9 glowing magical forces.” They weren’t sure they could destroy the phylacteries, but Cassidy knew they may be able to, depending on the phylactery. They knew that they had 24 hours for a lich to reform at its phylactery. They also gleaned from the books that they had about 2 days before the Shadowfell takes over the forest from the grandfather tree to the Citadel of the mists, effectively destroying that area of the forest.   They debated taking a long rest but decided to trudge on. They went to a locked door on the north wall and Gazlowe unlocked it. Opening it they saw a pasty white spider the size of a small horse. The eyes fixed on Cassidy and the spider turned invisible. Cassidy walked in and the spider hit Cassidy with invisible webs causing Cassidy to become invisible and restrained. The spider bit Cassidy. Isabella drank a potion of Get Lucky. Gazlowe walked in the hall and punched the invisible spider. Seften cast spirt guardians. The Spider bit Gazlowe. Cassidy struck the spider with her whip bloodying it. Bird and Juan couldn’t fit into the hall so they stayed in the library and ate some evil books. Isabella hit it with her sword and Gazlowe punched it. The spider succumbed to Seften’s guardian spirits and it exploded coating everyone with invisible spider guts. Someone sneezed, and Gazlowe disappeared.

A trapped hall.

Seften found Cassidy and he and Isabella freed Cassidy from the webbing. They walked through around the corner and found a locked door. Isabella broke it open with a loud thunderous noise. They found themselves in a hall that extended north. Seften found a secret door to the west that led back to the entry hall.   Cassidy led the way north slowly. She went about 30’ and heard a click under her foot. Everyone stopped. Cassidy looked for holes in the wall but found none. Seften looked for a depression under Cassidy’s foot but didn’t find one. They determined that the trap is magical. Everyone backed up and Cassidy then moved to her right towards a door on the eastern wall. A fireball exploded where Cassidy stood and she heard another click when she moved to her right.   This time Cassidy jumped backwards, and another fireball went off. Cassidy looked at the floor and saw the remnants of a glyph. She knew that a detect magic would probably have been the best way to detect this.   From behind the iron door to her right she heard a weak, and sarcastic female voice say, “Watch out for those fireballs.”

Rewards Granted

Treasure

Ashyra

• 1 vial of mummy dust.
• ancient cloth shroud

Throne Room

• 5 gilded thrones (100gp worth of gold each)

Storage Room

• 2 Sets of Alchemists supplies
• Lots of Common Spell components
• Crystal Ball of Limited Telepathy
• 1 potion of superior healing
• 5 potions of long rest (full benefit of long rest except adds 1 exhaustion.)
• 1 potion of sufficient restoration

Books of Necromancy spells including:

• Cantrip - Chill touch
• Cantrip – Toll the dead
• 1st level – Cause Fear
• 1st level - False Life
• 1st level - Ray of Sickness
• 2nd level - Blindness/Deafness
• 2nd level - Gentle Repose
• 2nd level - Ray of Enfeeblement
• 3rd level - Animate Dead
• 3rd level - Bestow Curse
• 3rd level - Feign Death
• 3rd level – Life Transference
• 3rd level - Vampiric Touch
• 4th level – Blight
• 5th level – Danse Macabre
• 5th level – Enervation
• 5th level -Negative Energy Flood
• 6th level - Circle of Death
• 6th level - Create Undead
• 6th level - Eye Bite
• 6th level - Magic Jar
• 6th level - Soul Cage
• 7th level -Finger of Death
• 8th level - Abi-Dalzim’s Horrid Wilting
• 8th level - Clone
• 9th level - Astral Projection