Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for December 12, 2013, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Broken Moon adventure; PCs included Caerwen (elf monk), Dario Malavasi (human oracle), Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk), and Tigris Inebriavi (elf magus), accompanied by NPC companion Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric).

As Mathus and Cybrisa died, the werewolf archers shifted into wolf form and fled into the woods pursued by the Primals.  The team spent the next 24 hours cleansing the temple of Desna.  Once completed, the enacted the communion ritual and were shown a vision of a potential future directly from the goddess herself:

The PCs see themselves facing a black-robed necromancer wearing a bone breastplate as he stands before a ruined tower; fighting a terrifying, tentacled monster deep beneath the sea; confronting a beautiful female vampire spellcaster in an underground chamber; and battling a decaying lich, blazing with arcane power, atop a high spire beneath dark, churning clouds.

Following the vision, the party members’ eyes turned silver, and they found themselves inherently enhanced by the experience, either by greater Wisdom or Charisma.

The team then decided to return with Delgros’ body to Ascanor Lodge with the heart of Mathus Mordrinacht.  Along the way, they discovered the slaughtered horse of Duristan but no sign of their friend.  After the grisly discovery, they ran into Rhakis Szadro, pack leader of the Prince’s Wolves!  He and four others approached in human form and offered to make a deal with the team.  According to Rhakis, the Demon Wolves led by antipaladin Adimarus Ionacu, were in hot pursuit of the Whispering Way to gain the remnants of Kvalca Sain’s heart.  If the Demon Wolves become the dominant pack, Rhakis claimed a new era of bloodshed and demonic sacrifice would spill out of the Shudderwood into the rest of Ustalav.  He proposed the party allow him to consume the heart of Mathus and claim title of packlord.  He would try to enforce some stability among the werewolves from Highthrone if the party would chase after the Whispering Way and Demon Wolves and make sure Adimarus does not claim Sain’s heart.  He would tell them where the Whispering Way is going and provide them tokens denoting their friendship with the Prince’s Wolves.  The party decided the enemy of their enemy was, if not a friend, not an enemy.  They agreed, and Rhakis wolfed down Mathus’ heart and proclaimed himself the new packlord of the Shudderwood!  He provided the tokens and directed the party toward an old ghost town called Feldgrau deep in the Ardeal.  He also agreed to return the body of Delgros to the lodge as well as seek out the body of Echtmoor Dravin for Margrave Cilas Graydon.

The party rode out toward Feldgrau and discovered an old farmhouse with a strange tree with four dead werewolves hanging from the branches.  They all realized it was an illusion or hallucination and the bodies were actually dead humans.  Spooked, the team skirted wide and left the tree behind.

Two days into their four day journey, they made camp.  Before they could rest, a pair of monstrous undead charged into their midst!  The festrogs were the size of ogres and tore into Caerwen!  He fought back, but the pestilent creatures ripped flesh from his bones to repair their own!  A nasty battle ensued with pus spraying around, but the party dropped the creatures fairly quickly.

Game summary for December 5, 2013, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Broken Moon adventure; PCs included Caerwen (elf monk), Dario Malavasi (human oracle), and Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk), accompanied by NPC companion Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric).

The team decided to make an attempt for the roof and darted out the temple and around to the stairs.  The Primals saw them and sprinted in pursuit as the Mordrinacht opened fire on the Primals with silvered crossbow bolts.  With the werewolves engaged with one another, the team was able to make the stairs on the roof leading up the tower toward the observatory.  The team sprinted up the stairs.  For a while.  Although armored Dario was soldiering on up the steps, but the two monks tuckered out and nearly had to drag themselves up.  The werewolves below occasionally fired volleys their way but kept most of their attention on keeping the Primals at bay.

The party reached the top of the stairs and fought a trio of Silverhide rangers in hybrid form.  The werewolves fought a vicious battle, but the team prevailed.  After having watched the team struggled against the three guards, Nyssa cast bless and good hope on everyone.  The team ascended to the next level and found Mathus Mordrinacht seated on the Highthrone!  He leapt to his feet as they emerged, and Cybrisa Dorzhanev launched into spellcasting beside him.  Caerwen brought the fight to the werewolf, hitting him once with his ki-enhanced fists.  Mathus, however, focused on Dario.  Apparently the werewolf had a seething hatred for humans!  With his bastard sword and dagger, the werewolf pack leader tore into the oracle.  He cut him savagely with sword and dagger, and then he bit his shoulder and hurled him crashing to the floor.  Meanwhile, Cybrisa attempted a heat metal spell on Dario with no effect.  Nyssa used magic to heal the injured while Gnok and Caerwen tried to cut Mathus off from the critically injured Dario.

With Caerwen in the way, the team learned if Mathus can’t kill a human, he’d just assume kill an elf.  Thus, the mighty werewolf assaulted Caerwen and dealt grievous injury!  Cybrisa moved to the end of the tower and began casting call lightning.  Gnok decided he could not let that spell go off, so he bull rushed the druidic werewolf.  The hefty dwarf slammed into her slim frame and catapulted her twenty feet into empty space from which she plummeted 150 feet to slam into the earth below.  Somehow the tenacious druid retained concentration upon her spell!  Unfortunately for her, the Primals surged in and ripped her to pieces.  Mathus’ hatred grew, and launched a furious assault all about and brought several of the team nearly to their knees.  Blood flowed freely from heroes and foes until finally, Dario stepped forward and cut down the mighty werewolf with an overhand chop from his nine-ring broadsword!

Game summary for November 26, 2013, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Broken Moon adventure; PCs included Caerwen (elf monk), Dario Malavasi (human oracle), Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk), and Tigris Inebriavi (elf magus), accompanied by NPC companion Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric).

Dario healed one of the werewolves after binding it in hopes of speaking with it.  It awoke and immediately transformed into hybrid form and burst its restraints.  The party quickly put it down and continued toward the Stairs of the Moon.

At the Stairs, the team saw four werewolves atop a colonnade launching crossbow bolts at a pair of dire wolves.  The dire wolves fled back toward the forest edge after getting hit with some of the silvered bolts.  The team hoped to speak with the dire wolves and moved toward them.  The wolves shifted into massive hybrid forms standing around thirteen feet tall.  When the party approached, the werewolves pivoted and charged.  Caerwen and Tigris took several blows, and the magus decided to unleash a fireball on the werewolves!  The monks, with their ki-enhanced fists, tore into the lycanthropes.  Dario attempted to speak with them and was ignored.  Tigris then cast scorching ray and the monks finished off the werewolves.

With werewolf howls closing in from all sides, the team sprinted toward the Stairs of the Moon.  The werewolves atop took aim at them but then instead fired at the Vollensag werewolves charging on their heels.  The Vollensag quickly turned back as the party made it into the ground floor of the temple.  Within, they discovered a mysterious vilkacis who possessed Gnok!  Fortunately, the team had some silver items and was able to drive the spirit out.  Using silver, the team was able to discorporate the spirit.

The group then followed a trail of blood and found the corpse of a slain cultist of the Whispering Way.  On her person they discovered a map marking several locations around Ustalav, including a spot they did not recognize out in Ardeal.  They continued looking around and found a secret room with a pit and several scrolls, one of which contained a communion ritual that must be conducted in this very temple and would allow communication with the deity Desna!

Game summary for November 21, 2013, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Broken Moon adventure; PCs included Caerwen (elf monk), Dario Malavasi (human oracle), and Tigris Inebriavi (elf magus), accompanied by NPC companion Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric).

The party sought Estovion and found him in one of the main areas of the lodge with the guests.  The group moved upstairs, and Dario picked the lock to the lodge wing Estovion claimed as his own.  They searched some books and found an entry about an item called the Dust Moth and learned the Stairs of the Moon was once a temple to Desna.  They also went up into Estovion’s private study and found his journal.  Within they learned Estovion had grudgingly arranged the meeting between Auren Vrood of the Whispering Way and Mathus Mordrinacht of the Shudderwood werewolves.  They also learned Kvalca Sain had been killed and her heart stolen!

The group decided they needed to get to the Stairs of the Moon.  Early in the morning, they went and found Delgros who agreed to lead them to the stairs.  About half a mile away, the team settled down for a short rest and a meal.  While there, a pair of raging werewolves burst from the pines and attacked!  Massive brutes, they stood nearly 13 feet tall!  Dario attempted to talk them down, but the fury and bloodlust coursing through their veins seemed to win out.  The two tore into the party with blade and tooth, and Delgros was slain.  Caerwen’s monk ki allowed him to land powerful, deadly blows.  Tigris switched to a silver dagger after landing a brow gasher which hampered his enemy.  Caerwen took quite a beating, but Nyssa helped him ride out the punishment and deal out retribution.  Soon, the werewolves were all defeated on the ground!

Game summary for November 14, 2013, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Broken Moon adventure; PCs included Caerwen (elf monk), Dario Malavasi (human oracle), Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk), and Tigris Inebriavi (elf magus), accompanied by NPC companion Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric).

The party mingled at dinner and met a number of nobles and other guests.  They had a discussion with Cilas Graydon, Margrave of Sturnidae, and learned he was friends with Echtmoor Dravin, the young man they found dead in the weaverworm’s lair.  They agreed to help him recover the body.  They spoke briefly with Markiza Welgory and her huntsman, Ostovach.

They later followed Madame Ivanja outside and learned she resides in a tower outside the main house and sells information and entertainment.  When asked out on the lawn about the Whispering Way, she excused herself and went into her tower.  The team then noticed Quiene Steymor in the stable and spoke with her.  She indicated she stabled horses for a strange group of visitors who sounds suspiciously like Whispering Way cultists.  She indicated they had met in Madame Ivanja’s tower.

The team then questioned Belik who, after a bit of intimidation, admitted he had let some visitors in to see Madame Ivanja some days earlier.  The group asked Estovion about the visitors, and he clearly knew nothing about it.  They then knocked on Ivanja’s door and was allowed entrance by one of her Qadiran guards.  Ivanja seemed much more affable within her tower, and they purchased an hour of time with her “employee,” Niama.  Niama was smoking some kind of herb when they met her, and she described the men she had danced for before a strange meeting between the men and a silver-haired woodsman.  She mentioned they had said something about the “Stairs of the Moon” and a packlord’s heart as she was going out the door.

The team left Ivanja’s and pondered their next move.  Estovion had mentioned doing some writing when they last saw him, and Ivanja had stated he writes a lot of things down.  Perhaps they would find a way to investigate his private study?

Game summary for November 7, 2013, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Broken Moon adventure; PCs included Caerwen (elf monk), Dario Malavasi (human oracle), Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk), and Tigris Inebriavi (elf magus), accompanied by NPC companion Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric).

The party traveled on toward Ascanor Lodge and came across a dead man tied to a tree with a large silver knife stabbed through his heart.  As the group approached, Tigris triggered a tripwire that unleashed a volley silvered crossbow bolts into the party!  After nursing their wounds, they investigated the body and found its mouth filled with wolfsbane.  They cut the body down and laid it beside a tree.  Then covered it in some branches.  And then left.

The team made camp and spent a relatively uneventful evening in the Shudderwood.  They pressed on through the next day and arrived at Ascanor Lodge shortly before dawn.  They were denied entry based on the letter from Count Caromarc and the bloody invitation and turned away.  However, around the same time, a nobleman emerged eager for a werewolf hunt.  He invited the party to join in, and they all set out into the evening.

The team came upon a slain deer carcass Delgros the huntsman had discovered, which is what led Duristan (the nobleman) to want to investigate.  It was currently being consumed by a trio of dire boars!  The great pigs jealously guarded their meal by charging the party!  A quick battle ensued, and the boars were slain with only a few gores.  The group discovered great claw marks on the stag corpse.  Duristan decided to set werewolf traps and spend the night, but Delgros returned to the Lodge.

Later in the evening, while Duristan served brandy and talked about daring hunts and acts of bravery, the team heard some of the hired guards scream in the darkness.  They found two men slain by a towering, slavering werewolf standing over twelve feet tall!  The massive beast roared a challenge and demanded the party leave its territory.  It gave them a message to deliver to “whomever sent them” as a second enormous werewolf appeared from the darkness.  Howls erupted all around, and Duristan bolted.

The party fled after Duristan and found all the guards murdered.  They got on their horses and returned to Ascanor Lodge and followed Duristan in.  Within, they were introduced to Estovion Lozarov, warden of Ascanor.  He offered the use of the library and had Belik the porter show them to their rooms.  The team did some research in the library to discover several clues about the Shudderwood werewolves and then cleaned up for dinner.

Game summary for October 24, 2013, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Broken Moon adventure; PCs included Brutus Bonesmasher (human fighter), Caerwen (elf monk), Dario Malavasi (human oracle), Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk), and Tigris Inebriavi (elf magus), accompanied by NPC companion Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric).

The party opened the iron maiden and released Count Caromarc!  They discovered the Whispering Way had captured him and taken control of the Bondslave Thrall in order to use the Beast to steal the Seasage Effigy!  The Count told them he heard the cultists planned to head into the Shudderwood, and he pointed them to an old path through the pine forest.  The team set out in pursuit.

As the team moved through the woods, they were ambushed by a pack of ettercaps!  The spider creatures used webs, claws, and poisonous fangs to assault the team.  First, Brutus was bitten and poisoned.  The others closed in, and Dario was hit by a web but shook free.  Brutus ignited his hammer and smashed one into the ground while Caerwen and Gnok tore into two others.  Dario went on the move and laid waste with his nine-ring broadsword, and Tigris brought down the last one with a well-placed magic missile.

The group then followed the ettercap’s trail to an old crumbling stone tower with the sound of harping coming from within.  Carefully the team went inside and were attacked by an enormous, grotesque weaverworm!  The maggot-like creature ensnared Gnok with a web and then began poisoning the team with her envenomed fingernails.  As she hit, the nails broke off in the wounds, and the lingering poison caused bouts of paralysis.  Tigris unleashed a powerful fireball as the team closed in.  The fighting was intense, and Nyssa used several healing spells to bolster Gnok.  Caerwen hit the monstrosity with a flurry of blows, and Brutus’ flaming hammer landing the final killing blow!

The team searched the chambers and found several coins, some magical items, and a sealed envelope on a freshly killed corpse.  Inside the envelope, they found an invitation into Ascanor Lodge.  Dario used mending to re-seal the envelope, and they tucked it away for a later day.

Game summary for October 17, 2013, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Trial of the Beast adventure; PCs included Caerwen (elf monk), Dario Malavasi (human oracle), Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk), Kelemen Ambrus (human cleric/conjurer/mystic theurge), and Tigris Inebriavi (elf magus), accompanied by NPC companion Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric).

The party moved up the stairwell into the second level of the tower and found it filled with webs and smeared chalk notations on the walls.  The party saw the webs moving, and Tigris hurled a vial of alchemist’s fire at the movement which ignited the webs and burned the whole party.  It also injured a homunculus, but the party gently picked him up and discovered he wanted to communicate with them.  He got them to examine the chalk markings, and they discovered there was some device called the Bondslave Thrall on the roof.  The homunculus also indicated there was something large and dangerous in the next level.  Tigris went outside and flew to the roof where he activated the Storm Caller and the Bondslave Thrall and was able to meld with the Beast of Lepidstadt.  He could see the Beast was charging toward Schloss Caromarc at that very moment!

He flew down and helped the rest of the party up the tower where they discovered lightning striking all about.  Then, the floor heaved as something massive railed against it from below.  Within moments, the floor heaved upward to reveal a hideous amalgamation of man, giant, and arachnid!  At the same time, the Beast surged over the side of the tower and roared in challenge.

A titanic battle ensued.  Gnok was drawn into the construct’s tentacles and paralyzed while Kelemen and Nyssa frantically healed him.  The flashing lightning struck individuals one at a time as the battle waged.  The electricity harmed the party but healed the two golems.  Up in the Bondslave Thrall, Tigris discovered he could not only control the Beast but could also channel a protective shield around him.  Caerwen and Dario entered the fray, and both got severely injured by the construct, even to the point of knocking Dario unconscious.  Nyssa ran low on magical tricks and began edging toward the ladder up to Tigris’ location.  The Beast took numerous hard blows and looked pretty beat up.  Fate conspired against the enemy though as the Beast’s ogre hook caught under its chin, and he ripped its head from its neck and hurled it into the river.  The decapitated construct toppled off the tower and plunged 200 feet into the roaring waterfall below!  Fortunately, Gnok fell out of its grip and through the hole the creature made in the tower.  As Gnok stood, he observed a strange sight:  a woman preserved in an enormous jar, and an iron idol or maiden with eye slits.  Within, two terrifying eyes peered out!

Game summary for October 8, 2013, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Trial of the Beast adventure; PCs included Caerwen (elf monk), Dario Malavasi (human oracle), Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk), and Tigris Inebriavi (elf magus), accompanied by NPC companion Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric).

With a new party assembled, Gnok returned to Schloss Caromarc and the flooded towers.  Within they discovered the ruined remains of the previous party’s statues.  The team went left instead of toward the basilisk chamber and encountered swarms of writhing leeches!  The group was engulfed and fled while Tigris flew to the ceiling and consumed the swarms with a fireball.

Moving forward, the party discovered a round chamber with three cages filled with headless girallons.  Suddenly, three girallon-headed vargouilles swooped down and attacked!  The fighting was intense but brief, with Tigris and Gnok landing the killing blows on the monsters.  Tigris again used fly to go toward the ceiling and went through one of the second level doorways.  He dropped a rope and hauled the rest of the team up.  They peeked into a few more rooms but avoiding going in, choosing instead to go across a large stone bridge to the next tower.  They found the doors arcane locked, and Dario attempted to disable the ward.  Unsuccessful, he deferred to Nyssa’s attempt using dispel magic.  She was able to dismiss the effect and allow the team inside.

Within the circular tower was a shattered cage and girallon flesh golem!  The fearsome creature rushed to the attack.  Nyssa called down a blessing from Razmir, enhancing all of the party while Dario enhanced his magical nine-ring broadsword with lead blades.  The monks Caerwen and Gnok moved in and flanked the creature but took several deadly blows in the process.  With astounding grace, Dario performed a blade dance and ended up behind the construct.  Finally, after warding himself with shield, Tigris charged in, completing a total flank of the monster.  Nyssa slipped in and attempted to defensively cast a curative spell on Gnok but failed and suffered a gash and lost the spell.  The girallon golem then tore into her, leaving her barely able to stand.  Dario stepped over and healed Gnok’s injuries while the monks and Tigris continued their onslaught.  Although their attacks were landing, the golem’s impressive resistances mitigated much of the damage.  Nyssa fell back and was able to heal herself while Tigris channeled frigid touch through his blade, slowing the construct.  From there, the tides turned, and the party, surrounding the creature, picked it apart until finally, with a loud “kia!” Caerwen landed the killing blow.