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[18 Desnus, 4708 A.R. continued]
The rescued captives and the surviving Korvosan Guards continue evacuating up the lift shaft, bearing the bodies of Grau and others who fell in battle. Goldcape is intent on leaving as well, but The Reckoner is keen to see what lays beyond the double-doors on the eastern wall of room containing the large vats of raw blood veil. The threat of being cut off from a share of any treasure found in the remainder of the complex is enough to persuade Goldcape to relent. Yraelzin is concerned given how badly wounded and depleted everyone’s resources are, but he decides it’s better to stay with the group.
The Harrowed Heroes burst through into a new, unexplored chamber to see some sort of alchemical laboratory in which the prime source of experimentation seems to be four large, cylindrical glass vats, each filled with a bubbling emerald fluid that tints the chamber’s light a noxious green. Within each suspension floats a malformed abomination—something part human, part angel, and part horse—things of half-formed muscle with dead, fleshless equine skulls. Three of the forms are motionless, but the fourth twitches now and then. A small number of devoted cultists in the room vow to fight to the death, which is something that they quickly get! Afterwards, Goldcape and Yraelzin examine the twitching creature in the vat but have never seen the like before. With The Reckoner’s permission, Goldcape smashes open the glass cylinder to free the creature. Instantly, it stretches and stands tall, reaching a full height of 14’ while spreading the rotting wings of a carrion bird. It exhales a cloud of corpse-bloated black flies on Goldcape which bite her relentlessly until she collapses to the floor, near death!
Yraelzin does perhaps the bravest thing in his life by daring to pull Goldcape to safety as the massive daemonic monster attacks everyone in the room. The Reckoner realises his cold iron greataxe is having little effect, but when he switches to his mithral battle-maul, the hammer’s head sizzles against the monster’s skin. Yraelzin drinks a potion to turn invisible and tries to magically heal The Reckoner’s wounds, but even the Priest of Razmir can’t keep up with how quickly they appear. The battle rages back and forth, teetering on a knife’s blade, and perhaps not since the battle against the derro sorcerer in the vaults under the Grey District has the entire group come so close to perishing. But again, The Reckoner’s strength is enough to carry the group to victory.
Yraelzin no longer pretends to rely on his own inner reserves of magical power as he expends all the charges of a wand of magical healing in bringing Goldcape back to consciousness and then to fighting shape. Tempting fate again, the group continues exploring until they reach a circular chamber rising into a high dome. Seven basins jut from the walls, each filled with a unique liquid—blood, bile, milk, and other, unidentifiable, fluids. On the floor around each basin lie several small metal boxes carved with images of skulls, while at the room’s center, rising from a wide pool of crystalline water, is a golden statue that is both erotic and horrifying: the statue depicts a beautiful nude woman who is human above the waist but nothing more than a skeleton below. Obviously the inner sanctum that the nosferatu spoke of, Yraelzin quickly discerns that one of the metal boxes still contains potent magic that would infect anything placed inside with a deadly disease. The Reckoner—after having been told the statue is radiating dark necromantic magic—decides to smash it. And in so doing, uncovers a cache of treasures hidden in its base—including a magical scroll that can bring the dead back to life!
The intrepid warriors, battered and bruised, finally make their way back up to the ground level of the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden. But as they’re making their way outside, they’re surprised to see Field Marshal Kroft hurrying towards them, her hands covered in blood. She breathlessly relates a disturbing tale.
Just an hour ago, word spread that Queen Ileosa was going to make an immediate public announcement. A large crowd quickly gathered, and Kroft herself was summoned to appear alongside Marcus Endrin, Commandant of the Sable Company. When the queen stepped forth into the palace courtyard, she was accompanied by her Gray Maiden bodyguard and a newcomer named Togomor who has apparently taken up the duties of castle seneschal since the former seneschal, Neolandus Kalepopolis, disappeared at around the same time that King Eodred II died.
The queen, wearing a new fang-adorned crown, announced triumphantly that the plague had been defeated, although unfortunately her own advisor, Dr Davaulus, had to be executed for his role in the crime. She thanked her personal special agents she assigned to the case—“The Golden Monkey, the Man in the Iron Mask, and the Reckoner”—for their courage in exposing Davaulus’ crimes. Kroft says she was shocked to realise that Queen Ileosa had somehow turned an execrable crime into a resounding success by publicly taking credit for the defeat of her own scheme!
Kroft says Queen Ileosa then went on to say that both the Korvosan Guard and the Sable Company suffered terrible losses over the past weeks and were unable to fulfil their traditional role, so she was naming the Gray Maidens as the official new protectors of Korvosa, with Sabina Merrin as the city’s new general. Queen Ileosa then went on to announce that feeding and caring for the Sable Company’s hippogriffs was putting too much of a strain on the city’s coffers, and given its poor performance in handling the city’s unrest, she had decided to disband the organization: she asked Commandant Endrin to step forth to surrender his badge of office.
Kroft seems to hardly believe herself what she recounts next. As Endrin reached for his badge, trembling, he threw it at Queen Ileosa’s cheek, drawing blood and leaving everyone in stunned silence before bellowing “Your shameful reign ends now! Korvosa will be free again!” And a half-second later, his bow was in his hands and an arrow was flying toward the queen. Endrin’s aim was true--the arrow struck Queen Ileosa in the right temple, sinking deep into her skull. But . . . she didn’t fall! Instead, Kroft says, Ileosa calmly pulled it free and then, with incredible speed, had grabbed Endrin by the jaw and stabbed him with the arrow spraying blood everywhere! As Endrin fell to the ground, a furious Ileosa shouted “This shall be the fate of all enemies of Korvosa! Mark well his punishment! It is only the first!” Togomor then teleported Ileosa away and Kroft rushed to Endrin’s side, she says, but the man was carried away by Grey Maidens—probably dead.
Kroft says she’s just come from the palace, and has no idea what will happen next. She may be suspected as a co-conspirator, and, even if not, now has even less authority in the city than before. She says Goldcape, Yraelzin, and The Reckoner should lay low until she can figure out how Ileosa gained such incredible supernatural resistance to harm. They reluctantly agree, and decide on a plan to hide out in Skaldwood since the Shoanti moved on when the rioting turned deadly, agreeing on a signal so they know how to communicate with one another.
The Harrowed Heroes have achieved an incredible victory in stopping a conspiracy to spread blood veil and even worse diseases throughout Korvosa. But Kroft’s story holds ominous implications for the future: if Queen Ileosa is further consolidating her power in the city and has become personally immune to harm, how can she ever be stopped?
GM's Commentary
The battle against the Daughter of Urgathoa was a close-run thing, but literally the closest the group has gotten to a TPK was against the leukodaemon. They were already battered and low on spells when I described the vats the creatures were in. Goldcape's player is a kid, so I added an explanation that the vats were glass cylinders kind of like a big jar. He interpreted the reference to a "jar" to mean they were about hand size, so when Goldcape shattered it, what happened was not at all what the player anticipated! I'm genuinely surprised they made it out of that battle alive. It was the right time for such an exciting session, as it was also the end of Chapter 2 of the AP.
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