Session 81: The Arch Lich Acererak Report

General Summary

Session 81 – Wednesday September 8, 2021 – Acererak!

4 Hour Dungeon crawl session. 6:00 PM to 10:00P

Party of 6 (The order of Heroes, Inc.):

It is the 12th day of the month of Uktar (The Rotting) in the 3rd year of the Age of Enialis

• Annalisa (Anna) – Human L8 Monk – L5 Wizard /L3Fighter – Ryan Armstrong (remote)
• Jaquette Mara – L16 Human Druid – Jackie Armstrong
• Lucky Lightfoot – Leprechaun – L15 Bard/L1 Sorcerer – Jacob Munson
• Luigi Risotto – Wood Elf L14 Monk/L2 Wizard – Dan King
• Rolen – Human L16 Warlock – Josh Pozsonyi
• Tyrena Rechs – Human L13 Ranger/L3 Fighter – Nathan Gioconda
• Jeter Kaiser – L16 Human Sorcerer – Spencer Armstrong (Back at school)

Goals:

• Get Ring of Winter from Artus Cimber who is in Chult
• Gather the other parts of the god Destroyer (Blade, Hilt and guard)
• Locate the Amber Sarcophagi and destroy them with the god Destroyer
• Take the sword to the Summer Queen and have her destroy it.
• White Dragon at Purple Rocks

Acererak

A skeletal figure wrapped in moldering robes and clutching a skull-tipped staff appeared on the south balcony. Hateful pinpricks of white light burned in its eye sockets, and a two-foot-diameter sphere of utter darkness floated in the air beside it. He looked down into the lava and saw the broken soul monger and the Atropal, oozing black slime from its head, floating on the lava. He looked most disturbed. He gasped! His eyes glowed red. “Fools! (Cough) you made me swallow my gum! That's going to be in my digestive track for 7 years!” He continued: “Do you have any idea how long it took me to find this creature! Do you! Like 2 hours! 2 HOURS! My hours are of course longer than your hours and much more valuable. I accept your souls as a proper recompense for your trespasses upon me. Stand still and we can make this quick, I was in the middle of an important conversation with a certain Drow woman who amuses me.”

Lucky cast Blink and then hid. Acererak cast chain lighting on Anna, Rolen and Jaquette. Anna cast magic Missile. Acererak used his legendary action to cast fireball at Lucky and Luigi. Rolen/Obo’laka fired his crossbow at Acererak. Acererak used his legendary action to cast another fireball at Rolen and Anna. The various trickster gods empowered the party with temporary hit points and additional psychic damage when hitting Acererak. Tyrena took a couple shots and Acererak cast a fireball at Tyrena and Jaquette. Luigi swung with his staff and then used a flurry of blows.

Lucky cast lightning bolt at Acererak but it did little damage. Acererak dispelled Luigi’s flying spell and then tried to curse Luigi but Luigi resisted and Acererak looked frustrated. Anna cast another magic missile. Frustrated, Acererak moved the sphere of annihilation to Luigi and glanced him, permanently removing all the hair from one arm. Rolen fired a few more bolts and Tyrena fired a few more shots. Acererak cast fireball at them but the agile party did a great job of avoiding them. Luigi, tried to attack but failed. Jaquette tried to communicate her plan to the party mentally but didn’t realize that the telepathic bond was broken. She gave Tyrena protection from Evil and good.

Lucky cast polymorph on Anna and turned her into a Quetzalcoatlus. Acererak cast timestop and then placed a delayed fireball under the Giant Constrictor Snake. Anna the Flying Dinosaur attacked Acererak and broke his concentration and the delayed fireball exploded on the Snake, Jaquette and Tyrena. Acererak followed up with another fireball, wounding Jaquette and Tyrena and killing the Giant Snake. Rollen hit Acererak with all 3 bolts and Acererak began to look bloodied. Acererak responded with another fireball at Rollen. Tyrena hit Acererak directly in the head with a critical hit. Acererak cast another fireball at Tyrena, and she began to look bad. Luigi grappled Acererak and jumped with him into the lava. Jaquette summoned a couple Azers to attack Acererak in the lava pit.

Lucky broke his concentration on Anna’s polymorph and cast a levitate on Acererak but Acererak chose to resist. Acererak gazed at Luigi to frighten him but Luigi Resisted. Acererak looked scared. He said, “I have underestimated you, but we shall meet again.” He began to cast plane shift, but Anna attempted to counterspell, then Acererak counterspelled Anna and Rolen counterspelled Acererak preventing him from leaving. Acererak looked scared and tethered himself to Luigi so any damage he takes might be transferred to Luigi. Jaquette’s Azer’s attacked Acererak dealing a bit of fire damage and Luigi resisted the tether. Acererak, very badly bloodied cast misty step and left the lava and appeared on top of the platform next to Anna. Anna punched Acererak directly through his abdomen, grabbed his spine and ripped it out. Acereraks bones turned to dust and his staff fell to the ground.

Grabbing some stuff.

Anna used an action surge, dove down to the Lava, and cast rope trick just above the lava. Luigi reached up and grabbed Anna’s hand. Luigi cast fly on himself, Tyrena and Jaquette so they could all fly over to the southern platform. Rolen grabbed a few scraps of Acererak’s robe. Luigi wanted to throw the phylacteries on the balconies into the Lava, but they realized the Spere of Annihilation would be more effective. All but 2 of the phylacteries disappeared into the Sphere. 2 bounced back. Rolen took the last 2 and put them into his bag of holding. Anna grabbed the staff and an amulet from the pile of dust that was once Acererak. The party walked into the light at the southern end of the platform.

Chapel of Hate.

The party stepped out of the mist into an underground chapel with black basalt pillars and a polished obsidian altar. Resting on the altar was a leather bag the size and shape of a human body, and which appeared to have been sewn shut. Beyond the altar, a heavy black drape hung from an archway. Eight emaciated, green-skinned creatures were shackled to the walls of the chapel, each one gazing toward the party with a single baleful eye. The monsters began to gibber and drool as they shook their manacles, eager to be set free. They were Nothics that spoke in undercommon saying “Free us!” Tyrena recognized these aberrations as creatures corrupted by dark magic.

Anna and Rolen went to the bag on the alter, opened it, and found Artus Cimber hurt and unconcious. Rolen removed the ring from his finger and put it into his bag. Searching his body, they found a magical dagger and took it. Seeing that Artus was breathing but unconscious, they decided to take him. Not wanting to talk to or free the Nothics, Luigi methodically executed each one of them. Then Luigi swung Artus over his shoulder.

The Hall of Finality

Lucky pulled back the curtain at the north end of the room. Behind the curtain was a ten-foot-wide, forty-five-foot-long hallway set with four decorative archways that have blank walls within them. Three paths marked out in red, gold, and purple tile snaked along the floor, each leading to one of three archways. A charred skeleton on the floor pointed to the fourth archway, which had no path leading to it. A single torch burned in a wall sconce at the far end of the hall. Mounted below the torc h was a bronze plaque that bore a warning in Common: “Behold the fate of those who defy me!”

Rolen reminded them, “Red leads to death and the charred bones lead to the way out.” Anna followed the Golden yellow trail to the end of the hall. Because she was still wearing the eye shape pendant, she found she was able to see a secret door and opened it without triggering a trap.

The Red Library

Soft dulcimer music filled the room, the walls of which are painted the color of dried blood. Bookcases draped in cobwebs and dust lined the walls and stood four deep in the middle of the room. Hundreds of leather-bound tomes weighed down their sagging shelves. At one end of the room, a small study contained a padded leather chair, a footstool, and a small table — as well as three corpses dangling upside down from shackles and chains bolted to the ceiling near the north wall. A lantern-shaped device resting atop the table appeared to be the source of the music. An old man laid asleep in the chair, his horn-rimmed spectacles slipping down to the end of his nose. Rollen saw through the old man’s disguise and saw that he was an Arcanaloth.

The party examined the books and recognized the tombs had some value. There were about 200 historical texts worth 50gp each and 60 tomes of arcane lore worth about 100gp each. Anna spotted 3 spell scrolls and began to put them in her bag when the Arcanaloth said “No you don’t.” The Arcanaloth told the party they could read the books but not take anything from the Library. The Arcanaloth told the party his name is Mr. Fox and explained that he is responsible for the library. Rolen asked Mr. Fox if he would be upset if Acererak were dead. Mr. Fox asked if they know where Acererak’s secret demiplane was. Rolen’s eyes gleamed realizing that he may be able to find Acererak’s Demiplane knowing that Acererak’s Phylactery would be on that demiplane and he may be able to get the party there and destroy Acererak forever. They realized that they could possibly get some more information from Candlekeep and they only have a matter of days before Acererak’s body reforms.

Library heist

They party distracted Mr. Fox while Lucky tossed a book outside the door to see if it would disappear. It didn’t so the party agreed to take everything. Rolen went to Mr. Fox and told him, “please stay there Ygga Raxyg. The Arcanaloth was stunned. They realized they have about 1 minute. They stole his clothes and his gold spectacles. Then Rolen put shackles on him and Tyrena broke his hands. Rolen cast his demiplane spell and for the next 30 minutes they put every book from the library into Rolen’s demiplane. Anna and Lucky took the spell books and the scrolls and Rolen took the music box (See Treasure Found.) Anna pointed out that one of these ancient books would be what is needed to gain entrance to Candlekeep.

Luigi… We’re leaving!

The party looked at the other doors ways in the hall but couldn’t find any way into them. They went into the room to which the burned skeleton was pointing. They found a pool of jet-black ooze glistening inside the silent chamber. The walls were decorated with relief carvings depicting black stars. Luigi and Tyrena went back into the hall and looked at the archway at the end of the red trail. The rest of the party told them. “We’re leaving.” Luigi searched and looked but found no way in. They decided to join the party. Rolen took the black marble he was given and tossed it into the pool. The black marble sank into the ooze, which rose up suddenly to form a four-foot-tall black obelisk — a miniature version of the obelisk that stood outside the tomb entrance. Anna, lucky and Rolen touched it and disappeared. Followed by Jaquette, then Tyrena and finally, just before the enchantment ended, Luigi.

They arrived by the Obelisk outside the Tomb. They party realized that the spirits of the trickster gods didn’t transport with them when they left the tomb. All the special abilities granted were gone. Luigi could no longer hold both the Arcanaloth and the unconscious Artus Cimber on his shoulders, but he did remain in the form of a Goat. In addition, all the trickster good items including Obo’laka’s ring of protection, Moa’s staff of the python, Wongo’s mace of terror, Papazotl’s amulet of health, Nangnang’s egg-shaped pearl of power, I’jin’s horn-shaped wand of wonder, Kubazan’s bracers of archery, Shagambi’s instrument of the bards, and Unkh’s robe of scintillating colors all turned into Dust.

They spotted the Baron Samedi sitting under a nearby tree. The Barron mimed a greeting and cast transport via Plants. The entire party walked through the portal bringing with them the bound Arcanaloth and an unconscious Artus. They arrived back at port Nyanzaru.

Port Nyanzaru

They were greeted by Fred Wheezy. The party told Fred that they destroyed the Soul Monger, the Atropal and have defeated Acererak. Fred, astonished at this claim, promised to spread the word of the Order of Hero’s far and wide. Anna cast identify on the Staff and learned it was an evil Artifact. Lucky went and found about 5 lbs worth of coffee. Anna explained what the staff is, and the party discussed various options. Lucky wanted to keep and use the staff, Anna wanted to destroy it. Lucky suggested giving it to someone like Enailis to study. Tyrena and Jaquette both did not want the evil item kept within the party. Rolen supported the idea of giving it to someone to study and the others agreed.

What to do next?

Some wanted to see if they could find Acererak’s Phylactery before he could reform his body, eliminating him forever. They surmised that the best place to go would be Candlekeep and having an Artifact would grant them entrance. Anna told them that simply having a rare book that Candlekeep doesn’t have would grant them access. Anna expressed her fervent desire to go to Amn and burry what’s left of her sister. Some in the party didn’t understand this. Lucky expressed that he didn’t understand this burial and mourning thing and said, “we’ve got a mission to complete.” Jaquette quickly scolded Lucky for his callousness while Tim stood on Jaquette’s shoulder and wagged his finger at Lucky in a disapproving manner.

Tyrena said, “We have a saying in the Rangers: ‘The best first aid is to return fire.’ I’d like to complete our objective and return fire as soon as possible. We need to get rid of this staff and we can’t be selling it to a random person. It belongs in a museum. I’m for burying our comrades but, we should not delay.” Rolen proposed that they party go to Amn tonight and then tomorrow burry Anna’s sister and then proceed to Candlkeeep. Anna suggested that she go tonight and prepare the way so that the party is not heavily taxed when they arrive. Anna left the staff with the party. Tyrena took it. Rolen said, “We will see you at sunrise.” Anna gave the ghost lantern to Rolen and went to the Teleportation portal. Fred Wheezy told the party, “because of the deeds by the Order of Heroes, you have free use of the teleportation circle for the next 24 hours!” Lucky cast his magnificent mansion and the party took a long rest and leveled up to Level 17!

Rewards Granted

Treasure Found

• Staff of the Forgotten One (Artifact)
• Talisman of the Sphere (Legendary)
• The Ring of winter (Artifact)
• A Magical Dagger (Still with Artus Cimber)
• The arcanaloth’s horn-rimmed spectacles aren’t magical, but they are worth 250 gp.
• A music box made of dark wood with gold filigree. Each of its five sides is sculpted with the image of a horned woman playing a different musical instrument: a dulcimer, a flute, a harp, a lyre, and a viol. While touching the box, a creature can use an action to make it play music featuring one of the instruments shown, which can be heard up to 60 feet away. The character can also use an action to stop the music. The music box is worth 750 gp.
• Two hundred historical texts (50 gp each), sixty tomes of arcane lore (100 gp each), three dusty spell scrolls (create undead, fabricate, and resurrection), and six spellbooks.
• Spellbook 1) Sleep, False Life, Misty Step, Darkvision, Protection from Energy, Erupting Earth
• Spellbook 2) Identify, Protection from Evil and Good, Blindness/Deafness, Earthbind, Magic Circle, Sending
• Spellbook 3) Chromatic Orb, Snare, Phantasmal Force, Magic Mouth, Fear, Tongues
• Spellbook 4) Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, Control Water, Danse Macabre, Guards and Wards
• Spellbook 5), Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum, Passwall, Seeming, True Seeing
• Spellbook 6) Power Word Pain, Feeblemind, Invulnerability

Missions/Quests Completed

• Killed the Atropal, destroyed the Soul Monger and defeated Acererak, ending the Death Curse!
• Found the Ring of Winter