Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for May 29, 2014, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Wake of the Watcher adventure; PCs included Varus Archlight (elf magus/arcane archer), accompanied by NPC companions Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric) and Pavlos Zervas (human fighter/rogue).

The party moved further into the tunnels beneath the Tern Rocks and found a series of branching corridors. Entering a chamber, they discovered seaweed beds and cradles along with a hand-knit baby blanket with fish scales stuck in the fibers. A half dozen ulat-kini skum came charging forward with their tridents! The six fishmen were frightening in appearance due to their absence of an upper cranium! Each had its skull removed, and its fishy, squishy brain was exposed to the world! Pavlos moved in sneak stabbing while Nyssa cast haste, good hope, and bless. Varus unleashed a hail of deadly arrows, and the team quickly mowed down the skum.

Varus led the group further into the tunnels and opted to pass up a corridor to explore a larger chamber up ahead. They discovered a large cavern with a defiled statue of Dagon and a pedestal with a bizarre raven-headed mace sitting upon it. All around the room were symbols of Dagon that had been defaced and overlaid with new carvings of Shub-Niggurath! A pair of skum sentries with exposed brains charged forward as a plump ugly ulat-kini dressed in priest robes began chanting, “Iä! Iä! Shub-Niggurath!”

The priest unleashed a flame strike into the middle of the party, but Varus countered with a fireball! Enraged, the skum assaulted Pavlos and Nyssa while Varus fell back to use his bow. The priest summoned a large water elemental into the room, and it closed in with Pavlos immediately! Arrows flew while fishman tridents scored nasty wounds. The priest then summoned a giant scorpion to attack Pavlos as well! Varus used magic to dismiss the elemental and then used his magic wand to blast the scorpion and priest with a lightning bolt! As the skum fell, the team was able to focus upon the priest. The creature cast chaos hammer to almost no effect and went down under Pavlos’ deadly daggers. Moments later, the scorpion was dissolving back into the misty ether from which it spawned.

They investigated the strange mace, which Nyssa recognized as a minor artifact of the priesthood of Pharasma! Known as the Raven’s Head, weapon is particularly potent against undead. Varus took the mace, and they looted the corpses of the dead ulat-kini.

Varus then led them further south and then took a side corridor toward a bright glow. They emerged into a worked stone chamber of horrors! Around the room sat 23 pedestals occupied by strange metal cylinders with globes of bluish liquid adorned with numerous knobs and switches. Fourteen of the containers were filled with pulsing brains! Varus picked one up and began playing with the knobs which caused a filament to glow with a pale light, and a modulated voice emerged… the voice of Mayor Early Greedle!

The team questioned the crazed mayor and learned some “worm bugs” had removed his brain and placed it in the jar! He was excited because they would soon take him to their home deep in the Dark Tapestry far, far from the world of Golarion. He cackled and rambled a bit before revealing the creatures intend to bring Shub-Niggurath into the world and had already awakened a dark young of Shub-Niggurath! Varus then decided to put the mayor out of his misery and smashed the brain jar. The team then left the chamber to explore further.

Game summary for May 22, 2014, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Wake of the Watcher adventure; PCs included Dario Malavasi (human oracle), Emilian Sandulescu (human paladin/ranger), Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk), and Varus Archlight (elf magus/arcane archer), accompanied by NPC companions Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric) and Pavlos Zervas (human fighter/rogue).

After dealing with the lake octopus, the group set sail to the edge of the Tern Rocks. The party piled into Horace Croon’s subaqueous exploration and research vessel and began to descend toward the lake bed. At about 200 feet down, they were attacked by a gutaki sorcerer who summoned a pack of fiendish sharks. The gutaki sprayed an unholy blood cloud into the submersible making Varus and Nyssa nauseated. It then grappled Dario but seemed unable to pull him into the water. After activating some water breathing magic, Gnok, Emelian, and Pavlos dove into the water to bring the fight to the devilfish. It was Varus who struck a killing blow by opening a major artery in a tentacle, causing the creature to bleed to death. The summoned sharks soon disappeared into the Abyss, much to Gnok’s disappointment as he had just grappled one with the intention of riding it around the battlefield.

Continuing the descent, the team saw a strange metal dome with blue luminescence on the lake bed. Nearby a blast of air bubbles erupted from a fissure in the rocks. The team made it to the lake bed and went to the source of the bubbles. They found a strange force field holding the water back from some air-filled caverns. The group entered and were soon ambushed by a pair of dimensional shamblers! The strange monsters clawed at the party but soon proved no match to the group’s combined might.

Game summary for May 15, 2014, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Wake of the Watcher adventure; PCs included Dario Malavasi (human oracle), Emilian Sandulescu (human paladin/ranger), and Varus Archlight (elf magus/arcane archer), accompanied by NPC companions Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric) and Pavlos Zervas (human fighter/rogue).

As the group looked around the Mayor’s house, Sheriff Anders arrived and started ask lots of questions. They showed him the badges given them by the Mayor, and he went off to investigate rumors of missing priests at the temple. The party then located the house of Horace Croon and explained the whole situation with the Neighbors and fostering. He was appalled and horrified and told them he once had a sister who was fostered! He agreed to help them go to the ulat-kini caves in his subaqueous exploration and research vessel the next day. Knowing that the fostered girl with them was quite distraught over the lack of a fresh sacrifice at the temple, the team decided to sleep in shifts and keep an eye on her and Nyssa, who was behaving erratically. They put the women in two separate rooms, and around 3:00 a.m., Dario realized the girl had slipped out of a window!

Dario woke the team, and they rushed out into the night. They found tracks leading to the temple. They arrived and used light spells to illuminate the way. It was obvious the authorities had been investigating and roping off the crime scenes. The team moved to the inner most sanctum of Dagon and discovered a terrible sight—the girl had sacrificed herself on the demon’s altar! As they left, Emilian believed he saw the great eye of Dagon move! He used detect evil and was overwhelmed by the dark presence. For a few moments, Dagon himself had manifested due to the extreme act of faith! As soon as he had appeared within the eye, however, he was gone.

The group convinced Croon to start preparations of the Isinglass for a dawn departure to the Tern Rocks. As the group stood on the docks helping prep the ship, an enormous lake octopus rose up from the dark waters! It quickly dragged Nyssa and Emilian under! It began to chomp on Nyssa while Varus unleashed a lightning bolt from his wand. Pavlos dove in and began stabbing the creature. Dario hurled himself through the air and viciously chopped the beast as he plunged into the water. The team chopped away quickly and killed the beast in a few moments. Relief, and oxygen, flooded through Nyssa and Emilian as they bobbed to the surface!

Game summary for May 8, 2014, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Wake of the Watcher adventure; PCs included Dario Malavasi (human oracle), Emilian Sandulescu (human paladin/ranger), and Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk), accompanied by NPC companions Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric) and Pavlos Zervas (human fighter/rogue).

The team returned to the chamber and spoke with the colour-blighted woman. They learned more of her “culture” and agreed to take her with them to meet “the Neighbors” which is what she calls the townsfolk of Illmarsh. Dario succeeded in curing her blight along the way. They determined through their conversations while walking the tunnels that the ulat-kini (what the skum call themselves) are all male. They seem to require human females for breeding. This girl had spent her entire life in the tunnels and believes herself to be ulat-kini as well. She told them they had been recently ushered out of their home by ulat-kini who had “lost their lids” which exposed their “meat.” The debated for a long time and decided that may mean their brains are exposed. They also discovered the ulat-kini worship Father Dagon and know no other deity. The group also decided Mayor Greedle may be more heavily involved in the affairs of the town than originally thought and want to pay him a visit.

The party finally arrived at a submerged tunnel leading into the temple of Dagon in Illmarsh. The girl seemed excited to be in a Dagon temple but was very concerned that the blood from the latest sacrifice was nearly dried. She went running about hollering for a priest and a sacrifice. The group emerged from the temple and went to the Mayor’s office to find it empty. They asked around and found the Mayor’s house. Within, they discovered signs of a struggle with ulat-kini. The Mayor was nowhere to be found.

Game summary for April 24, 2014, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Wake of the Watcher adventure; PCs included Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk) and Varus Archlight (elf magus/arcane archer), accompanied by NPC companions Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric) and Pavlos Zervas (human fighter/rogue).

The slavering, crazed giant skum attacked viciously, whipping its axe and claws into Varus’ hide.  Pavlos dropped into the shadows as Varus fell back only to spring forth and sneak attack the creature.  Nyssa hastened the team while Varus used his arcane pool to cause his arrows to erupt in freezing, flaming, shock as they ripped through the air and punched into the beast’s hide.  A final arrow pierced right through the eye, striking it dead.  Varus then took the creature’s magical amulet of armor.

Heading deeper into the caverns, the team found a large chamber dotted with faint purple glowing fungus and echoing with the sound of a woman singing nonsense lyrics.  The group went up a ladder to a ledge and found a cooking pot and table.  Upon another ledge they found a number of old cradles and numerous bizarre corpses!  The desiccated bodies all belonged to women, ranging from baby to adult.  All were completely devoid of color and flaked apart like dried parchment.

The group went to the edge of a pit with a ladder leading down within.  A white-haired woman in white robes rocked back and forth with her back to the party singing a nonsensical tune.  Varus spoke with her, causing her to turn about with the bundle swaddled in her frail white arms.  She smiled broadly and asked several odd questions.  She asked for help getting out of the pit, claiming to be unable to climb the ladder with her baby.  Varus cautiously descended and took the babe from her.  To his horror, he found she held a dried, bleached corpse as if it were still alive!  He helped the woman out of the hole and gave her back her “child.”  The woman babbled on about the colors going away and her friends going with them.  She then asked Varus why he was so ugly.  After questioning her a while getting seemingly disjointed answers, he realized she had lived in these couple of chambers since infancy for she had been fostered to the Neighbors!  She apparently believed all males looked like fishman skum, hence her disgust at Varus’ features!

The group left the babbling woman and headed down a corridor filled with the dried white remains of dead skum.  Part of the way within, an ennui and boredom set in the group found difficult to shake.  They emerged in a large chamber wherein lay a strange metal box with an enormous ball or cloud of “colour” hanging above it.  The jarring, horrific light was a sickly mix of colors none had ever seen before.  The group found it distinctly abnormal and aberrant.  Suddenly the colour surged forward and lashed its form across Gnok!  The dwarf shuddered as he paled and some of his color drained into the air.  After such a taste, the colour began feasting on Gnok’s life force and color!  The team swarmed around the colour and found their weapons only partial effective.  Varus unleashed numerous lightning bolts while Nyssa used magic to enhance the team and Pavlos and Gnok used their magical weaponry against the oddity.  The thing continued to fade the party, and Nyssa began giggling and acting strangely.  Eventually, Varus’ lightning destroyed the awkward light.

The group discovered a barnacle-encrusted trunk, bleached completely white, filled with gold coins and magical cold iron rapiers.  They also played around with the metal box and found it unleashed some kind of strange leash made of invisible force.  Perplexed, the team headed back toward the white-haired woman.

Game summary for April 10, 2014, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Wake of the Watcher adventure; PCs included Brutus Bonesmasher (human fighter), Dario Malavasi (human oracle), Emilian Sandulescu (human paladin/ranger), and Malthus Brightray (half-elf cleric), accompanied by NPC companions Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric) and Pavlos Zervas (human fighter/rogue).

The team returned to the center of the house and inspected the menhirs once again.  They discovered an indention in one that matched the amulet taken from Vizier Voltiaro, and they inserted it like a key.  It activated a phase door, and the team found themselves in dark natural caverns!  A large cylindrical glass tank stood to the side, and floating within was the preserved corpse of Cassius Undiomede!  The team found his journal on a lectern beside it and confiscated it while a magical bell began to ring.

The group quickly moved down a passage and found a pool of fetid water and gunk.  A shiny metal glint attracted the party near the pool, and a fetid spore mound surged forth!  Emilian rushed forward and fell into the stinky murk.  The plant monster grappled Emilian and began bashing him around.  The team moved in to attack, with Malthus using fire magic while Pavlos and Brutus hurled daggers.  Dario used a number of searing light spells.  The group discovered weapons causes the plant to spew forth yellow mold spores.  After a short battle, the team defeated the monster.

The team then moved further into the caverns and found half a dozen trident-wielding skum and a larger fishy monstrosity!  The fishmen attacked by hurling their tridents.  Emilian was knocked down a small chasm while the fish beast went berserk in the back.  It did not come to the aid of the skum while the party slaughtered them.  With the skum dead, the party found themselves facing the bizarre creature.

Game summary for April 3, 2014, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Wake of the Watcher adventure; PCs included Brutus Bonesmasher (human fighter), Dario Malavasi (human oracle), Emilian Sandulescu (human paladin/ranger), Malthus Brightray (half-elf cleric), Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk), and Varus Archlight (elf magus/arcane archer), accompanied by NPC companions Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric) and Pavlos Zervas (human fighter/rogue).

The party ran into Horace Croon on the streets of Illmarsh, and he suggested they take Baby Tulby to Thrushmoor.  The team traveled there and left her with an orphanage before returning to Undiomede House.  They traveled upstairs and found the master bedroom where they encountered a pair of hounds of Tindalos!  The horrific creatures attempted to rip the party but were soon put down by the team’s combined might.  Varus used enlarge person to enhance Gnok while Nyssa and Malthus cast bless and prayer on the group.  Emilian used smite evil on the hounds while Brutus charged in alongside Pavlos.

After dropping the hounds, the group went up to the attic and found a copy of The Book of Abstruse Geometries.  Unable to decipher the tome, the group packed it away and went to the roof where they found a smashed body.  Moments later they were attacked by a massive shantak and fled into the safety of the house.

Game summary for March 27, 2014, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Wake of the Watcher adventure; PCs included Dario Malavasi (human oracle), Emilian Sandulescu (human paladin/ranger), and Varus Archlight (elf magus/arcane archer), accompanied by NPC companions Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric) and Pavlos Zervas (human fighter/rogue).

The group decided to use raise dead on Baby Tulby.  They then discovered the library and were attacked by a pair of spectres.  The creatures fed on Varus’ life force, but they were put down quickly.

The team then entered a drawing room, and Dario opened a desk drawer filled with yellow mold!  The spores filled the air and nearly killed him, and it did kill Baby Tulby!  The group then fled and used raise dead again.  They then used a series of restoration spells to recover Varus and Baby Tulby back to full health.

The group then returned to town to speak with Mayor Greedle.  He was not unhappy to hear of the demise of all the Dagon priests; however, he insisted the Neighbors exist and there is more information to discover at Undiomede House.

Game summary for March 20, 2014, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Wake of the Watcher adventure; PCs included Dario Malavasi (human oracle), Emilian Sandulescu (human paladin/ranger), and Varus Archlight (elf magus/arcane archer), accompanied by NPC companions Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric) and Pavlos Zervas (human fighter/rogue).

The team returned to the house and discovered, in a back room, two more cultists and a baby girl!  The cultists attacked, driving the team back down the hallway.  Varus used arrows to cover their retreat, and Pavlos hid in the shadows and slaughtered one cultist from surprise.  The other put up more of a fight but still went down quickly.  Dario then wrapped the baby in a cloth and sling and carried her next to his body.

The team explored upstairs and found another cultist!  This one cast an obscuring mist spell.  Emilian advanced into the fog to discover the cleric had also cast a blade barrier within!  Emilian was badly injured.  Varus used gust of wind and later dispel magic to get rid of the fog.  Emilian was stuck on the far side of the whirling blades with the cleric while the others hurled arrows and spells through.  The cultist cast slay living and then channeled negative energy!  The burst dropped Emilian unconscious and killed the tiny baby!

Outraged, the party fought harder, and Dario’s searing light would have killed the cleric; however, his convulsing body erupted from the neck with dozens of tentacles.  He was host to a spawning canker!  The tentacle-laden monster began to feed on Emilian’s life force.  Dario and Varus hurled lightning bolt and searing light spells as Pavlos and Nyssa stumbled off in stunned amazement.  They had found proof the dark god Shub-Niggurath actually exists!

Soon, the team killed the spawning canker, as this stage in the life cycle of a moit of Shub-Niggurath is known.  They then began to search the body when the blade barrier ended.