Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for July 7, 2015, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Shadows of Gallowspire adventure; PCs included Dario Malavasi (human afflicted dire werewolf oracle), Gnok Thatek (dwarf vampire monk), Radimir Dragomirov (human cleric), Thrain (graveknight dwarf slayer) and Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander (human brine lich abjurer/cleric/mystic theurge), accompanied by NPC companion Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric) and cohorts Bartemus Grimm (dwarf gunslinger) and Lucretia Ivankov (human vampire spawn sorcerer).

The team went through the northern doors and discovered a chamber filled with stone pews, a dais, a blazing fire pit, and an enormous iron fly statue straddling the pit! Three Renchurch cenobites moved to engage as burning skeletons scurried out of the flaming pit. Agonized screams echoed from inside the iron fly.

Radimir dropped a flame strike on the cenobites with limited effect, and they countered with one of their own. Thrain put pressure on the casters early, and Gnok and Dario moved closer to engage. Lucretia made excellent use of acidic spray to hit several foes at once. Zedd discovered the cenobites were unaffected by magic missile while Thrain learned the same about cold. Bartemus opened fire with his blunderbuss while Dario flailed about with his enormous Lucerne hammer. The heat of the burning skeletons became uncomfortable for Gnok due to his linnorm curse making him susceptible to flames.

Burning skeletons were slaughtered left and right, and slowly the cenobites were worn down. Suddenly, the fly statue lurched to life and brutally slammed Dario! The werewolf was rocked by the hammering blows and severely injured. Radimir attempted a destruction spell but found himself battered by the fly as well, losing his spell. Zedd unleashed an ice storm which battered the cenobites further. Dario whipped out his gauntlet of rust and touched the fly but did not notice the tiny patch on its underside which began to rapidly spread. Bartemus hurled a pellet grenade into the flaming pit causing an impressive explosion that destroyed the remaining burning skeletons and mostly put out the fire.

Radimir took several injuries and collapsed from his wounds. One of the cenobites channeled negative energy and struck him dead! The team fell back to try and get the fly to advance, and they hammered upon it as much as they could. Finally, it collapsed into a cloud of orange rusty dust! The gauntlet of rust had dealt a fatal blow and ultimately destroyed it! The team dropped the last cenobite and looted the bodies. They discovered a magic ring hidden under one of the old pews.

Game summary for June 23, 2015, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Shadows of Gallowspire adventure; PCs included Brutus Bonesmasher (human fighter), Dario Malavasi (human afflicted dire werewolf oracle), Gnok Thatek (dwarf vampire monk), Malthus Brightray (half-elf cleric), and Thrain (graveknight dwarf slayer), accompanied by NPC companion Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric) and cohorts Lucretia Ivankov (human vampire spawn sorcerer) and Tagre (dread gnome fighter/rogue/assassin).

Dario, Brutus, and Malthus arrived on the scene and quickly turned the tide! Malthus channeled positive energy several times, devastating the undead. With the foes weakened, it took only a few moments for the team to finish the rest off. The group spent a moment nursing wounds, raising dead, and then proceeded down another hallway.

The group found a room filled with broken funerary urns. They began to hear whispers, and several the team began injuring themselves! Their freshly raised companions died again at their own hands. Nyssa silenced the room, and the team rushed through, leaving their cohorts’ bodies behind.

A scene of horror greeted them moments later when they found a vast chamber stacked with mutilated corpses, their rotting fluids dripping down through holes in the floor. Gnok assumed gaseous form and explored, finding a chamber below filled with a pool of millions of teeming maggots! The group entered the corpse room and disturbed millions of black flies! Nearly gagging, the team tried to make it across the room to a set of double doors. However, a horrific beast from the primordial Abyss erupted from just beneath the corpses! The augnagar qlippoth lashed out and dealt deep bleeding injuries to numerous party members. It bit Dario in the chest, and he succumbed to a dread curse causing his flesh to begin rotting on the bone! Thrain moved in to engage, Malthus assumed the form of righteous might, and Gnok hurled himself through the air onto the creature’s back! Blood flowed freely as the outsider ripped into the team. They hammered back with tiny but compounding blows. Eventually, Gnok realized his lawful monk talents should allow him to overcome the qlippoth’s damage reduction. He battered the creature and eventually killed it!

With the qlippoth dead, the team stands in the midst of a million buzzing flies wondering what other horrors await.

Game summary for June 9, 2015, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Shadows of Gallowspire adventure; PCs included Gnok Thatek (dwarf vampire monk), Radimir Dragomirov (human cleric), Thrain (graveknight dwarf slayer), and Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander (human brine lich abjurer/cleric/mystic theurge), accompanied by NPC companion Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric) and cohorts Lucretia Ivankov (human vampire spawn sorcerer), Polyphemus (tiefling fighter/rogue), and Tagre (dread gnome fighter/rogue/assassin).

The group found a room full of gurneys with several beaten refugees. In talking to them, they recognized one as none other than Count Lucinean Galdana! They learned from him they had been beaten and tortured, and he would soon be forced to consume some fluid to awaken a tyrant. He told them there was a secret entrance and led them to the south.

Gnok scouted ahead in gaseous form and discovered an odd scene! Kneeling around a table were eight cultists who had slit their own throats and died. Oddly, none seemed to cast a shadow… Gnok reported back, and Zedd cast true sight and advanced. He saw the room full of greater shadows. When he turned to tell the team, he saw through disguises and realized the team had 8 shapeshifted totenmaskes among them! The fake refugees (and Count) transformed into undead before their eyes and attacked. The team hurt several and even killed a couple of the undead. However, both Tagre and Polyphemus were slain and in the process of turning into shadows! Radimir was also dreadfully injured. Will the party survive?

Game summary for June 2, 2015, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Shadows of Gallowspire adventure; PCs included Brutus Bonesmasher (human fighter), Dario Malavasi (human afflicted dire werewolf oracle), Malthus Brightray (half-elf cleric), Thrain (graveknight dwarf slayer), and Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander (human brine lich abjurer/cleric/mystic theurge), accompanied by NPC companion Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric) and cohorts Polyphemus (tiefling fighter/rogue) and Tagre (dread gnome fighter/rogue/assassin).

The team moved down a hallway and found a red velvet tapestry at an intersection. Malthus looked behind it and discovered a mirror. Zedd came up and looked as well and realized it was a mirror of life trapping! Suddenly, a force ripped the tapestry free and several of the party were sucked into the trap! Thrain quickly shattered the mirror freeing the party but also releasing three kalavakus demons! A nasty fight ensued, but the team brought them down.

The team went further and found a room of statues. When Thrain entered, three (statues of Urgathoa) animated as stone golems and attacked! Thrain surprised everyone by scoring a single hit and destroying one! The team swarmed in, taking several hard hits, but they quickly destroyed the other two as well.

Game summary for May 26, 2015, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Shadows of Gallowspire adventure; PCs included Brutus Bonesmasher (human fighter), Gnok Thatek (dwarf vampire monk), Malthus Brightray (half-elf cleric), and Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander (human brine lich abjurer/cleric/mystic theurge), accompanied by NPC companion Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric) and cohorts Lucretia Ivankov (human vampire spawn sorcerer) and Polyphemus (tiefling fighter/rogue).

The team pushed further into the catacombs beneath Renchurch and discovered a room filled with corpses… of enemies the party had slain! Six of the twelve sprang up from stone slabs, revenants re-animated by the Whispering Way to avenge themselves against the party! Obviously, the cult had been preparing to defend against the team for weeks. The party fought a tough battle but finally dropped all the revenants. They left the six other corpses hanging from spikes behind.

Next, the team found a room with more stone slabs with a dead naked woman bathed in purple light from a glowing box. Four female undead with steel armor and long scythes moved to attack. Several cast flame strike on the bunched up party! After several such spells landed, the team scattered sufficiently. Lucretia, Zedd, and Malthus unleashed a barrage of spells of their own while Brutus, Gnok, and Polyphemus engaged in deadly toe-to-toe combat. Brutus was nearly slain, and Polyphemus suffered horrible wounds, but the team was able to pull through. As the battle began to turn, the dead woman rose up from the slab and began casting spells! The rejuvenating lich posed a momentary problem, but the team quickly cut her down as well.

The party ransacked the room and learned they had acquired three lich phylacteries!

Game summary for May 19, 2015, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Shadows of Gallowspire adventure; PCs included Dario Malavasi (human afflicted dire werewolf oracle), Radimir Dragomirov (human cleric), and Thrain (graveknight dwarf slayer), accompanied by NPC companion Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric).

Old and frail, Zedd had no ability to resist his murder.  That he volunteered himself was no consolation as his spirit was ripped from his corpse.  Zedd was a priest of Irori, a god standing for self-perfection and achieving the highest mortal potential.  Zedd had opted for the fast track to power, anathema to everything he had known and preached all these years.  He wasn’t sure what he expected when he died.  He suspected Irori would desert and forsake him, but why was it so dark?  And quiet?  Zedd began to wonder where he was or even how long he had been there.  He seemed to lack utterly any physical form.  He had no sensation of movement or touch, he just hung in a field of black.  Had it been minutes?  Hours?  Days? 

The pitiful crumpled body of Zedd sprawled out on the floor in the pulsing light of the Lazurite Focus.  He looked little better than a sack of bones.  His murderous friends gathered round, a bit of their own souls dying as their companions had just done.

Was it the quiet?  Perhaps the empty void.  Zedd screamed in frustration as time dragged on.  At least he felt like he should be screaming.  He could not hear himself, nor could he even locate a mouth or even face for such a sound to emanate from.  He screamed some more, he assumed.  Panicked yelling with no body is not really tiring, but it takes its toll on the mind.  Zedd’s mind told him he should experience something, but instead nothing.  And so it continued.  Zedd began to question if he were dead.  Perhaps he was trapped?  He set his mind to escape.  He pondered spells, he pondered solutions.  His mind went in circles and nothing did he learn or come up with. 

The party had spread out the portable hole to retrieve the Lazurite Focus and allow the vampires access to and from their coffins.  It started as a flickering, a greenish light from deep within the hole.

Whispers!  Thank the gods, he heard whispers!  There was SOMETHING after all!  It didn’t matter any longer if they belonged to something dangerous, Zedd called out.  Or at least he tried.  No sound escaped his seemingly spiritual form.  He listened, trying to make sense of the whispers.  What were they saying?  He focused and concentrated desperate to make sense of the words!  Try as he might, they were too soft, too distorted.  After a time, he thought, perhaps, they are not whispers.  Perhaps instead he heard… waves? 

Salt?  Was that what Dario smelled?  No, brine.  Brackish, salty water.  From where?  The flickering light became a glow, and a figure emerged from the portable hole limned in unholy green.

Definitely waves.  Many waves.  An infinite amount of waves, crashing in the darkness.  Fresh horror wracked Zedd’s unsettled mind; he had been here before.  At least, he had sensed this before!  His mind whimpered and tried to flee as a single word seared itself in his thoughts:  DAGON! 

The Seasage Effigy, the very Face of Dagon, hovered on its own bathed in green light and emitting the reek of rotted depths and salty decay.  It pulsed.  The Lazurite Focus pulsed.  Zedd’s body flinched hard enough to break bones.

Faint light as a colossal form crashed through the ocean surface to tower into the air, its face only feet from Zedd.  Before, Zedd was afraid but knew his experiences were in his mind.  Now, now was he facing one of the greatest demonic horrors in history on its terms in its home plane?  Something cracked.  Zedd jabbered.  At least, he thought about it and would have had he had lips to jibber. 

“You have returned.  A gift.  A sacrifice of your own making, without your god to protect you.  You have no concept of what you have done.  But you shall learn.  I accept your offering, my son.”

Gurgling.  Blood and seawater trickled from Zedd’s throat, and then it erupted like a geyser!  Black mist flowed from his orifices as mingled brine and gore spewed out.  The mist circled the Face of Dagon and pulsed in staccato rhythm with the Face and the Lazurite Focus.  Green flames erupted in Zedd’s face, burning his eye sockets empty from deep within.

Once the warmth of Irori’s love and honor filled Zedd’s soul.  It drove him, spurned him on.  Shocking cold, like a fish from unreachable depths, lanced through him in agony and Dagon let himself in.  Some part of Zedd resisted.  Had he still been alive, maybe.  Had he still been loved by Irori, maybe.  Had his mind not already fractured in his ordeal, perhaps.  Zedd was weak and the demon lord oh so strong.  He was damned.  His soul was claimed by Dagon, and he knew unspeakable horrors awaited him in eternity.  He sought to flee and felt himself rising, then hurtling through the air, speeding back toward his body.  He knew if he were to meet true death, Dagon’s torments would begin.  He knew if he disobeyed his master, his soul would be called home.  Zedd knew one thing for certain, he would not die again and would not fail his master.  He would do ANYTHING to avoid his fate, the fate his lust had led him to choose for himself.  He laughed, mostly at himself, at what he had now unleashed upon the world.

Green flames shot across Zedd’s thrashing body, and crazed laughter like a man who had long ago said goodbye to his wits, expelled itself from his throat.  Tiny pinpricks of green flame blazed in hollow black eye sockets as tears of seawater flowed down his sallow dead cheeks.  Dagon’s spawn took its first tentative steps bathed in the unholy lights of the Lazurite Focus and the Seasage Effigy.

Having slain a lich and its golems, the team went through a northern door to find a partially collapsed room filled with crumbling floors, funerary urns, and pools of acid. Thrain made his way around the edge trying to reach one of two other obvious doors. He opened it and found a room filled with vapor and numerous drug-addled Renchurch novices. Suddenly, the urns began hurtling through the air to crash into one another! From within, misty red tentacled mihstu poured forth and attacked Thrain and Dario! Likewise, the high Renchurch novices noticed Thrain and charged.

Dario, Radimir, and Nyssa were stuck in the alchemy room, unable to push past the misty mihstu. Suddenly, a bank of acidic fog filled the room, searing their flesh. Thrain began slaying mihstu while Dario pushed into the room, slid on the slime and fell into the acid! Radimir used air walk to avoid slipping and tied a rope to the door hinges for Dario. The rope hit the acid and disintegrated.

Thrain underwent a barrage of attacks, surrounded on all sides. Meanwhile, an omox demon emerged and tried to kill Dario! Radimir hit it with the Raven’s Head while Nyssa began an inspiring oratory. Thrain finally dropped the mihstu and was able to focus on the novices that were landing a few shots in here and there. Dario extracted himself from the acid and cast a toppling wall of iron which splatted the omox into the acid and provided a solid, non-slick, surface for the werewolf. Radimir cast align weapon and greater magic weapon on Dario’s lucerne hammer, and the holy power burned his hands! He held tight as the demon emerged.

The tide turned as Thrain landed several critical hits and slaughtered novices left and right. The demon was beaten to death by the hammer and mace of Dario and Radimir, and soon the battle was won. The team searched the area and found a few magical trinkets and a preserved gnome in an urn full of honey!

Game summary for May 12, 2015, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Shadows of Gallowspire adventure; PCs included Dario Malavasi (human afflicted dire werewolf oracle), Gnok Thatek (dwarf vampire monk), and Thrain (graveknight dwarf slayer), accompanied by NPC companions Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric), and Bhagesh (pavbagha) and cohort Lucretia Ivankov (human vampire spawn sorcerer).

Fear.  Thrain’s life drained away, choked from him at the hands of Gnok.  The chill of death closed in on all sides, and the dwarf’s vision faded to black.  The dwarf’s soul should have traveled to the Boneyard to await Pharasma’s judgment.  Something, however, prevented his journey. 

The team fell back with the bodies of the slain and set them by the unholy radiant energy of the Lazurite Focus.  Nervously, eagerly, they watched the bodies of their friends they had so callously murdered in the pursuit of power.

Pain.  Frigid agony tore through Thrain, but no amount of screaming offered release.  Eventually he realized he only desired to scream and lacked any ability to do so!  The cold he used so often as a weapon settled into his mind tracing stabbing pathways of fresh agony, and after what seemed a lifetime of torture settled into his essence, his very being. 

Ice was the first sign.  A frosty sheen began to form over Thrain’s pale skin.  As time passed, it thickened into a hoary rime.

Rage.  Unbridled fury at his helpless torment wracked Thrain’s soul.  He longed to thrash and lash out at those around him.  He longed for release.  He longed for warmth.  Anger at his choice to walk this path ripped through his mind over and over.  He could see Gnok’s fists closed over his throat.  He could feel the heat of life leaving his body, leaving him cold, so very, very cold.  Fury.  Thrain willed himself warm, with no effect.  In death he failed, he was weak, powerless.  Around him he could sense, but not feel, the heat of life.  Those he once called friends and companions.  They huddled about him, and he could feel their essence.

Faint at first, then glowing softly, lines of blue etched themselves along Thrain’s armored breastplate.  Periodic bursts of black energy from the Lazurite Focus caused the lines to flare and trace unholy signs.

Hatred.  How dare they just sit there, watching, living.  So warm.  So pain-free.  So much left to do; life cut short through folly and stupidity.  Self-loathing and frustration as Thrain screamed in his brain, helpless, unmoving.  He held onto something, something hard and unyielding, not weak like his flesh.  A twitch.  More screaming.  A spasm.  Crying out to consume life!  THRASHING!  MOVING!  EXISTING!

Lights of blue seething with cold erupt in empty sockets as Thrain’s eyes flutter open!  A dry whisper rises from his dead throat as his body shudders.  It begins to spasm and a rasping gasp tears itself from his mouth.  The dead dwarf sits up spastically, nearly uncontrolled as a scream of pain and frustration bursts forth from lungs destroyed by rigor!  Grasping his steel pick, Thrain rises up to his feet as cold radiates across his weapon.  The chill of the grave freezes the moisture in the air around his pick into faint flakes of ice and snow that drift down to melt on the stone.

Thrain violently returned to “life” as a graveknight and rose up to stand alongside the vampires Gnok and Lucretia! The team returned to the catacombs where Dario created several metal bludgeoning weapons with his magic, and the team enhanced themselves with numerous buffing spells. They then charged into the formulary to engage a lich alchemist and two embalming golems!

The golems nearly killed Bhagesh almost immediately. They tried to harm Lucretia, but their negative energy infusions instead healed her wounds! For his part, the lich consumed an extract of greater invisibility and moved around the room. Thrain, Dario, and Lucretia began taking out the golems while Gnok used gaseous form to try and get past and find the lich. He instead found himself pelted with bombs! Thrain was able to figure out the general vicinity of the lich and engaged! With the golems destroyed, Dario was able to bring his large Lucerne hammer to bear as well. Gnok ended up behind the invisible lich and tore into it with his ki-enhanced hands. The lich got pinned in and unable to defend properly, and the group quickly destroyed his physical form! The team searched the room and looted several magical items of value.

Game summary for April 28, 2015, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Shadows of Gallowspire 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 Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric), and Bhagesh (pavbagha) and cohorts Leora Chontos (aasimar fighter) and Lucretia Ivankov (human vampire spawn sorcerer).

Gnok grappled one of the mohrg’s and used its tongue to paralyze two Renchurch novices! Zedd unleashed a fireball that hit several mohrgs, a novice, and Thrain! One of the novices then kicked Thrain’s legs out from under him and gave him some ground-and-pound. Dario unleashed fury with his disrupting weapon and slaughtered some of the mohrgs. Thrain got back to his feet and landed a critical hit with his pick! Leora and Zedd unleashed magic missile and arrows while Dario took out another novice. Lucretia was able to destroy the zombie of Tiberius, and finally Gnok and Lucretia feed on the paralyzed novices.

Gnok and Lucretia assumed gaseous form to spy ahead and discovered an alchemical lab with multiple golems and a lich within! The team debated how to proceed. They decided they needed additional strength and would need the Lazurite Focus. Gnok and Dario killed Thrain and Zedd and pulled the Lazurite Focus from the portable hole to expose them!

Game summary for April 21, 2015, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Shadows of Gallowspire adventure; PCs included Dario Malavasi (human afflicted dire werewolf oracle), Gnok Thatek (dwarf vampire monk), Radimir Dragomirov (human cleric), and Thrain (dwarf slayer), accompanied by NPC companions Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric), and Bhagesh (pavbagha) and cohorts Lucretia Ivankov (human vampire spawn sorcerer) and Tiberius Shortshanks (dwarf fighter).

The team tore into the mummies as they emerged, and a flame strike took out several! Radimir cast true seeing upon Gnok who realized the room also held invisible stalkers! Knowing how the mummies were released, they focused on this unseen foe and took them down. They then discovered a small fortune in ancient Osirian gold among the wrappings!

The group then headed down a flight of dark stairs into an old dormitory. Within, they are attacked by four mohrgs! The tongue-lashing undead were soon joined by half a dozen Renchurch novices! The fearsome group was hit by more flame strike magic and a barrage of Gnok’s attacks; however, one of the mohrg’s paralyzed Tiberius and then killed him! He quickly reanimated as an undead monster himself!

Pressed by the horde of monsters, the team fights to hold their position on the stairs!

Game summary for March 31, 2015, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Shadows of Gallowspire 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 Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric), and Bhagesh (pavbagha) and cohorts Leora Chontos (aasimar fighter), Lucretia Ivankov (human vampire spawn sorcerer), and Tiberius Shortshanks (dwarf fighter).

Zed used detect thoughts on Cleves, the man in the chair. They learned he is a cannibal trying to get turned into a ghast! The team discovered he had seen the missing Count recently! Then, Gnok and Lucretia fed on Cleves. They took the lazurite focus and placed it into their portable hole.

The group then proceeded into a reliquary where they found numerous ornate ceremonial headpieces, stoles, and old wands. After some examination, they realized they had seen these in old painting and statues… of Tar-Baphon himself! Dario destroyed all of it using a flame strike.

Next, the group entered a room wherein a low table was set for tea, but a desiccated cloth-wrapped arm lay next to it. Eight sarcophagi stood around the room. Dario opened one to find a mummy! It emerged and burst into blue flames! The group heard a couple clicks as other sarcophagi mysteriously opened while the others rocked back and forth. The team began hitting the mummies and learned the blue fire burned frigid cold.

The team killed three mummies pretty readily as a forth burst forth and hit Tiberius! The team regrouped and prepared for additional mummy attacks as the coffins continued to rock.