Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for November 25, 2014, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Ashes at Dawn adventure; PCs included Dario Malavasi (human afflicted dire werewolf oracle), Gnok Thatek (dwarf vampire monk), Thrain (dwarf slayer), and Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander (human abjurer/cleric/mystic theurge) accompanied by NPC companion Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric).

The group scrambled up to the second floor to investigate the coffin and try and kill Aisa but found the coffin empty. They went back downstairs and met a blood knight that believed Gnok was Hetna. He gave the knight an order, and it seemed to realize he was not the witch. It yelled and charged the party! It spewed forth gouts of caustic poisonous blood all over the party, and Nyssa began retching and screaming. Several of the party fell in the slippery blood or dropped weapons due to the slickness. It took several strong hits but the team took it down.

The group then ran into Halloran Idriss again, and surrendered his weapons and told them the location of Aisa’s coffin. He then went to the surface to greet the sun. The team followed his directions and triggered a symbol of fear that drove Nyssa screaming down the hall. After calming her down, the group continued on. They found a stone sarcophagus containing Aisa! The party staked her, cut off her head, and then dumped her body parts in the flowing river outside.

The team returned to Caliphas and the inn. The next evening they received a letter from Ramoska Arkminos giving them more information about the Whispering Way’s plans and telling them to head to the fearsome fortress of Renchurch!

Game summary for November 18, 2014, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Ashes at Dawn adventure; PCs included Dario Malavasi (human afflicted dire werewolf oracle), Thrain (dwarf slayer), and Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander (human abjurer/cleric/mystic theurge) accompanied by NPC companions Alleric Swiftblade (half-elf rogue) and Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric).

The witchfires cackled in delight and darted through the walls in search of Oothi’s spider swarms. The team decided to explore the lower level of the abbey and went back inside. They went down a flight of stairs and entered an ossuary where they encountered an armored vampire. With the seeming disguise and Dario’s bluff check, he left to speak with someone else. The team looked around and found several secret doors. One led into the well, which was a surprise. The found another passage leading into a wine cellar. The group then opened a door and found a huge room with burning candles and a bloody pentagram. Sitting on a throne was Aisa Dublesse!

The witch demanded the team (whom she perceived as a group of her own guards and two prisoners) approach. She ordered the guards to fetch her sister and was angry when they did not immediately respond. Then, she seemed to get a distracted look and started talking to herself or maybe through some kind of magic to Oothi. She raged and revealed her vampiric nature when learning her sister was dead and suddenly realized the guards were no longer charmed and under her control. She cast solid fog and flew to the ceiling.

The group slowly advanced through the fog while Nyssa used spells like good hope and bear’s endurance. Dario had used a wand of death ward after meeting the armored vampire moments earlier, so they were further protected. Dario also cast spells like searing light and spear of purity while Zedd used scorching ray. He then cast disrupting weapon on Thrain’s pick and launched the dwarf using telekinetic charge. Aisa successfully dominated Dario and forced him to attack his party with blade and flame strike. Then, he was forced to transform into hybrid werewolf form!

The vampire unleashed a cone of cold and traded lightning bolts with Zedd. Zedd flew up in the air using her broom of flying while Dario trapped Thrain behind a wall of iron. Nyssa then dispelled the witch’s flight and then used break enchantment to free Dario from the domination! The tides were suddenly turned on the witch, and she was quickly reduced to gaseous form and fled into the solid fog!

Game summary for November 11, 2014, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Ashes at Dawn adventure; PCs included Dario Malavasi (human afflicted dire werewolf oracle), Gnok Thatek (dwarf vampire monk), and Thrain (dwarf slayer), accompanied by NPC companions Alleric Swiftblade (half-elf rogue) and Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric).

The team was perplexed by the hag skeleton and decided their only recourse was to use the Face of Dagon to commune with the demon lord. Gnok asked him 13 questions. The team then went room to room and cleared the upper floor.

The team dropped back down to the first floor and found a workroom with a map. The map depicted the abbey and had several locations marked off in red. The team realized this map was a search for something, perhaps the skull of the hag. They looked at the map and decided to check out the well out back.

Vampiric Gnok spider climbed down fifteen feet to find water. He tied himself off to a rope and sunk down fifteen more feet to the submerged floor. Feeling around in the mud, he discovered the blackened skull of a hag! The team pulled Gnok up, and they pondered their find.

One of the team saw flickering green light from the winery, and the team investigated. They discovered a trio of cackling witchfires that went berserk when the party entered with the skull. They chattered and cackled and demanded the team give them the skull of Oothi! They claimed Oothi and her coven had murdered their coven, and they would have their revenge. They wanted to murder Aisa and Hetna and destroy the skull. Apparently, Oothi had escaped execution by using magic to collapse into spider swarms leaving her bones behind. She needs the bones to reform from the apparent dead! The party agreed they would like to take down Oothi’s coven and gave the witchfires the skull! The flaming undead quickly burned the skull into nothingness, cackling all the while!

Game summary for November 4, 2014, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Ashes at Dawn adventure; PCs included Dario Malavasi (human afflicted dire werewolf oracle), Gnok Thatek (dwarf vampire monk), Thrain (dwarf slayer), and Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander (human abjurer/cleric/mystic theurge), accompanied by NPC companions Alleric Swiftblade (half-elf rogue) and Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric).

The mind fog filled several of the team with a haze and apathy making them more susceptible to mental influence. A broom-riding witch materialized in the air as she uttered a mass suggestion of “Drop any weapons you are holding and touch no weapons until instructed otherwise by me.” All of the party warriors hurled their weapons to the ground, much to the witch’s delight! This didn’t bother Gnok, the vampire dwarf monk! He jumped straight up, landed on the broom, and dumped the witch onto the ground.

Several of the party closed in toward the witch intending to punch and kick the wicked caster. She unleashed a baleful polymorph and turned Zedd into a fluffy bunny! Zedd quickly hid under a table. Nyssa was able to use break enchantment spells to nullify the mass suggestion and baleful polymorph while Gnok swan dived off the broom and pinned the witch. His vampiric nature asserted control, and he ripped her throat out and gorged on the blood. She could not withstand the physical attacks of Gnok and Thrain, and she died in a spray of blood.

The group quickly ransacked the room. They found a cauldron with a half-completed batch of bloodbrew elixir. They also found a couple drops of sun orchid elixir! Another box was labeled “Youth Tonic.” The group put that in a bag and did not open it. Notes in the lab revealed an unnamed noble had commissioned the witches to create a means of artificially extending life. Other notes from another author (signed R.A.) discussed experiments in transforming an unwilling creature into undead through a potion or elixir. The work seemed incomplete but was picked up by the witches. Part of the notes regarding the bloodbrew elixir indicated it was made from vampire blood as well as the “blood of the knight.”

Zedd then cast seeming to make the party appear as the witch and several guards from the first floor. The group then began walking around exploring as if they owned the place. They found a library with a libram penned by Kaer Maga, a bloodbloat mage. Zedd took this for later study. They also discovered the headless blackened skeleton of an annis hag held together by string and held upright by a pole. The team pondered what in the world the witches wanted with such a thing.