Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 29 [RPG]

 [Oathday, 28 Desnus, 4708 A.R. continued]

Having completed their exploration of a vault dating to the age of the Thassilonian Empire, the Harrowed Heroes return to the main sewer line.  The Reckoner asks Mifeg, the scavenger who first directed them to the vault, if she can take them through the sewers to get under Arkona Palace.  But Mifeg says she doesn’t go there, and that she needs to find food for her family.  She does lead the group out of the sewer before leaving.  The slums of Old Korvosa seem oddly quiet, as if the inhabitants are waiting with bated breath to see what new calamity is about to befall them. 

The Reckoner takes the group back to his newly-established safehouse in Old Korvosa, where he drops off the heavy cogs and gears made of precious metals that they salvaged from the clockwork automatons below.  The group discuss the need to find fencing instructor (and Field Marshal Kroft’s informant) Vencarlo Orisini as well as Castle Korvosa’s missing seneschal, Neolandus Kalepopolis.  As witnesses report seeing them enter Arkona Palace and never returning, it seems a visit there (whether friendly or aggressive) is inevitable.  Goldcape proposes taking a small rowboat along the coast of Endrin’s Isle and making a sort of amphibious assault on the palace.  The Reckoner suggests the sewers could keep the group completely unseen, and Goldcape adds that she’s heard the Arkonas have a dungeon called the Vivified Labyrinth under their palace where they keep prisoners and test out their field agents.  Katash suggests infiltration through disguise, with him as a knight and the others as his servants.  Yraelzin responds with a modified proposal that sees the others as *his* servants and a bold approach where they simply approach House Arkona’s elders and demand the production of Vencarlo and Neolandus.

After some further discussion, a consensus emerges to try the sewers idea.  Katash and the Reckoner (in his civilian identity as Ralph Blackfeather) hit the streets to see if they can dig up information about the layout of the sewers of Old Korvosa.  Working together, they get the name of a long-time sewer maintenance worker named Mordecai who drinks frequently at the Sticky Mermaid—perhaps Korvosa’s most disreputable tavern, and the site of frequent violence.  Ralph is interested in heading there that very evening, but Katash persuades him to wait, as he needs to rest from the day’s exertions.

The rest of the day in the safe-house passes quickly, and soon everyone has found a comfortable spot to unfurl bedrolls and try to get some rest.

[Fireday, 29 Desnus, 4708 A.R.]

In the middle of the night, just a few hours before dawn, the slumbering group is awakened by shouts from the streets outside.  Looking out a window, they see an orange glow and smoke rising from somewhere in Garrison Hill—the part of Old Korvosa more-or-less controlled by House Arkona since the quarantine.  Although fires were common in the slums during the rest of the anarchy after the King’s death, most of the nicer homes in Garrison Hill were untouched.  Two other points of fire are visible on the mainland.  The members of the group don’t know the city well enough to tell what’s burning, but for three fires to break out simultaneously like this, something must be afoot!

Katash and Ralph disguise themselves as locals and head toward the Garrison Hill fire—when they arrive, they see the granary is ablaze!  A bucket line has been formed to try to contain it.  Katash says the fires could be the perfect distraction to slip into Arkona Palace undetected, but Ralph is concerned that going in while tired and without a good plan could result in failure.  After returning to the safehouse, the two share what they’ve seen with the others.  The decision is made to go now.  Several minutes are spent working on disguises for Goldcape (as a liveried House Arkona guard) and Ralph (as a servant) combined with a plan to gain access to the palace by pretending that more guards are needed to fight the granary fire.

There’s some confusion and delay in getting everyone to the palace at the same time, but the group has no difficulty in making their way onto the manicured grounds.  The grounds are mostly open, decorated here and there with tiny copses of trees, exotic topiary animals (elephants, cobras, and tigers being the most common), beautiful flower gardens, and exquisite fountains.  The palace itself is a breathtaking structure built in the Vudrani style, with golden pillars, high windows that rise to tapered points, minarets, and domes decorated with slender spires.  Instead of approaching the main entrance, the group choose a mahogany side door carved with the image of a six-armed, four-faced woman who rides a tiger with human hands for feet.  Once they get within arm’s reach, however, a semi-transparent elephant appears above the door and trumpets loudly!  Yraelzin says it’s a type of alarm called a magic mouth.

Ralph decides the time for deception is over, and rushes over into a nearby copse of trees to begin donning his Reckoner garb.  Goldcape climbs a tree and has Rocky try to hide.  Footsteps can be heard rapidly approaching from around the corner of the building, and with seconds a pair of palace guards, halberds at the ready, have come to investigate the trumpeting.  Katash quickly spins the planned yarn about needing help with the fire, but these guards weren’t born yesterday and don’t believe it for a minute!  A fracas ensues, but both guardsmen are quickly subdued before Ralph is even finished changing his clothes.  The two unconscious forms are hidden in some bushes nearby.

With stealth and disguise having failed, the group decide on a direct assault, planning to scour the palace until they discover the entrance to the supposed dungeons below.  Goldcape is concerned that Rocky will find it too difficult to maneuver inside the building and has the roc perch safely outside. 

The mahogany door is (surprisingly) unlocked, and leads into a banquet hall.  A magnificent table, also mahogany, dominates the room, its surface decorated with carvings of various snakes.  The Reckoner decides more chaos is to the group’s advantage, and lays a trail of oil under the table which he then ignites with a tindertwig—adding arson to the group’s crimes of assault and breaking & entering!  Meanwhile, Katash and Goldcape investigate an adjoining room that offers a commanding view of the western palace grounds and contains three statues depicting Vudrani warriors holding aloft glittering blue-green javelins with heads carved from bloodstone.  Goldcape moves closer to investigate, but suddenly a magic mouth on each statue begins to shout loudly in Vudrani.  No one in the group understands what they’re shouting, but it seems likely to be another type of alarm.

The group decide to move east to get away from the shouting, and find themselves in a wondrous garden. The chamber hardly seems to be part of a palace, but looks more like a clearing at the heart of a vast jungle, teeming with life.  The sky above is a deep, cloudless blue, while in the distance, hazy towers rise above the verdant canopy.  Exotic bird calls fill the air, the scent of dozens of unfamiliar flowers and plants assault the nose, and everywhere a riot of color demands the eye, whether it’s the wing of a tropical bird, the petals of a brightly hued flower, or the glittering multicolored tiles that make up a round fountain to the north.  The fountain’s central plume is a stone pillar around which entwine two cobra statues that clutch green gems in their fanged maws.  South of the fountain stands an immense, life-sized jade statue of an elephant, a howdah perched on its back, its tusks and trunk raised high in greeting to the southeast doors.  Obviously, the chamber is a masterful combination of real plant-life and statuary with subtle illusion magic.

Goldcape soon realises that a balcony, cleverly painted into the wall, circles the southern part of the room about 25 feet above.  She sees figures running along the balcony, and seconds later, they burst through the lower doors and into the garden—each of the two nondescript men wears colourful, flowing robes and appears unarmed.  But unarmed doesn’t mean innocuous!  One shouts syllables in Vudrani, and suddenly the life-sized statue of the elephant magically transforms into a real one and gores The Reckoner!  Simultaneously, a water elemental rises out of the fountain and launches a surprise attack on Goldcape. 

The two robed figures are clearly spellcasters, but The Reckoner and Katash close the distance quickly to make it hard for them to cast spells.  Katash knocks one to the ground and The Reckoner attacks furiously with his hammer, but the spellcasters must have some kind of mystical defense because they’re able to absorb a tremendous amount of punishment.  They’re finally slain, with great difficulty.  When Katash lands a finishing blow on the elephant, it transforms into a hand-sized marble elephant—but The Reckoner picks it up first.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the garden, Yraelzin and Goldcape try to contain the raging water elemental.  As it brings watery fists down on Goldcape, a strange magical resonance hampers the creature’s ability to fight.  Goldcape users her growing mastery of nature magic to call bolts of lightning on it, while Yraelzin follows up with sonic attacks.  Soon the elemental is dispersed entirely.

Water and electricity don't mix!

But although the group has triumphed in battle, triumphing over human nature is much harder: The Reckoner and Katash begin to argue vociferously over who should be allowed to keep the marble elephant.  Goldcape takes Katash’ side, while Yraelzin offers no opinion.  The verbal strife continues until Katash angrily storms off further into the palace, with the others hurrying to catch up.  Several rooms are traversed in quick succession—storage rooms, pantries, a hallway with a fourteen-foot-tall statue similar to the carved figure on the door, and more.  As the group circle around to the southern edge of the building—still looking for a way down—they pass by the front door. 

Footsteps can be heard approaching from nearby, and tendrils of smoke from the burning banquet hall are beginning to spread.  Can the Harrowed Heroes find what they’re looking for before the flames, more palace guardians, or internal dissension overtake them?

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GM's Commentary

The PCs never really followed up on the granary fires.  I added them to reflect that bugbear saboteurs (camped in the woods south of the city after the Shoanti vacated the area) had been sent into the city at night to weaken the city and cause further chaos, all in service to Karzoug's giant army to the north.  I've talked about the "Army of the North" subplot for a while now, and it's slowly building; in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, we see some more direct engagement with it.

I think the rest of the table was shocked by The Reckoner setting fire to the palace *while* they were investigating it.  As GM, it made things far more dramatic, as I tracked the fire's spread and described the billowing smoke pouring through the building.

In the garden fight, the reason it took the PCs so long to kill the "unarmed robed humans" is, of course, because they were rakhasa with something like DR 15.  Over on the water elemental, Goldcape and Yraelzin might have died had not the creature rolled a natural 1 and had to draw from our Critical Fumble Deck with a result that made it dazed or unable to attack with natural weapons (I don't remember exactly which) for multiple rounds.  I roll all my dice and draw all cards openly, so that was genuinely luck breaking in the PCs way.

The Reckoner and Katash arguing over who should get the elephant reflects a real argument that took place partially in- and partially out- of character between the two players (one a father, one his college-aged son).  Having family in RPGs makes things interesting!  Things got sorted before next session, if I recall correctly.