Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 30 [RPG]

 [Fireday, 29 Desnus, 4708 continued]

Tendrils of smoke begin to appear in the front entryway of Arkona Palace just as the Harrowed Heroes hear footsteps approaching.  When a door opens to reveal a staircase but no one on the other side, the intruders have only the briefest instant to realise magic is at play.  The spellcasters responsible suddenly appear, hurling rays of fire at Katash!  Goldcape tries to call down lighting on them, but it has absolutely no effect.  When The Reckoner launches his assault, he realises that these palace defenders have prepared by conjuring barely-visible magical armor around themselves.  Yraelzin invokes the glories of Razmir as he dispels each spellcaster’s defences one after the other, making them vulnerable in normal combat.  The Reckoner takes advantage of a momentary opening and in almost parkour-like fashion leaps up the staircase to cut the defenders off from any planned retreat.  Although Goldcape’s rapier seems to have no effect on them at all, the same can’t be said for The Reckoner’s war-maul.

After the guards are dispatched, a friendly, welcoming voice is heard from the top of the stairs.  “You fellows sure are causing quite a commotion down there!  Why don’t you come on up so we can talk?”  The Reckoner wants to attack right away, but Katash persuades him to wait and see what the man has to say.  The group climb the stairs to find themselves on the second floor of the building where a balcony overlooks the burning gardens below.  Standing in front of his bedroom, clad in a silk evening robe and slippers, stands the patron of the house:  Glorio Arkona!  He smiles and waves for the group to follow him in, seemingly amused by their “hijinks” below.  They follow, primed for danger, but Glorio waves them into seats.  He recognises three of them by the names Queen Ileosa gave them when she proclaimed them her “secret agents”—the Golden Monkey, the Reckoner, and the Man in the Iron Mask—and asks if they’ve come to kill him.  He thanks Katash for doing him a favour in disposing of “that tiresome gadfly” the Emperor of Old Korvosa.

Glorio Arkona

Katash and Goldcape are willing to have a normal conversation, but The Reckoner takes a harder line, implying he knows of Glorio’s alleged connection with the Cerulean Society (Korvosa’s thieves’ guild) and threatening violence if Vencarlo and Neolandus aren’t delivered immediately.  Glorio gives a rueful smile and says that simply handing over the “two guests” may be a “trifle complicated.”  The problem, Glorio explains, is that both men have been sent into the Vivified Labyrinth below the palace by his sister, Meliya.  He can’t openly defy his sister, but can do the next best thing and tell the group how to access the labyrinth themselves.  Glorio explains that there’s a secret staircase under the pedestal of the elephant statue in the gardens and a secret phrase in Vudrani that must be uttered to get in safely.  He adds that there’s a secret door near the rope bridges that leads down to the labyrinth entrance, which itself is hidden by an illusory wall.

After some questioning by the suspicious intruders, Glorio admits he wouldn’t be “overly pained” to discover his sister hasn’t emerged from the labyrinth alive.  He also subtly hints that he thinks Queen Ileosa is botching the running of Korvosa and should be removed from power.  But it’s a passing reference to the peculiarity of Ileosa authorising “one of the Man in the Iron Mask’s associates” across the only bridge into Old Korvosa yesterday that really gets everyone’s attention.  Upon questioning, Glorio explains that one of his agents saw a figure dressed almost exactly like Yraelzin—but with a red robe and a golden mask—stride boldly across the bridge, unhindered by the Gray Maidens.  Yraelzin sounds stricken and mutters something about his having turned up the inquisition card during the Harrower’s last reading.  He explains that only a “Priest of the Fifteenth Step” or higher can wear a gold mask—and Yraelzin himself is only a Priest of the Third Step!

Katash gets the conversation returning to more immediate business by asking Glorio what’s in the labyrinth.  Glorio is coy, but is persuaded to drop a few hints about magical symbol traps on the walls and something called a “darksphinx.”  The Reckoner recalls an idle conversation once with a traveller from Osirion who went on and on about the rare creatures, and he remembers that they’re difficult to hurt without blessed weapons.  Upon Glorio’s invitation that they could return in the morning, the group decide that resting first and tackling the labyrinth after some more sleep would be a good idea.  As they leave the palace, a bucket line of servants from the palace’s outbuildings is forming to try to contain the blaze.  Goldcape’s growing mastery of nature magic is demonstrated again, as a heavy rain begins to fall and extinguishes the fire!

The return walk to the safe-house is without incident.  Late in the morning, once everyone’s rested, Yraelzin has a private conversation with The Reckoner.  Yraelzin implicitly asks him to downplay any use of wands he might have seen the priest use if he were questioned by another Razmiran.  The Reckoner agrees.  Still, Yraelzin continues pacing and sounds extremely worried about what it could mean for a higher-ranking priest to be appear in the city.

Katash and The Reckoner (in his civilian identity as Ralph Blackfeather) then hit the streets to prepare for the Vivified Labyrinth.  Worried most of all about the “darksphinx” that Glorio Arkona mentioned, they visit Ledbetter’s Apothecary on Hook Street in the Bridgefront neighbourhood.  Old Man Ledbetter sells the pair several vials of bless weapon once Ralph vouches for Katash despite the latter’s status as a non-human.  Once the pair return to the safe-house, they distribute the oils.

Ralph dons his masked garb before the group once again set out for the palace.  Everyone on the streets is talking about the cause of the previous night’s fires, with speculation ranging from coincidental lightning strikes to bugbear arsonists to agents of Ileosa attacking Arkona interests.  The palace itself is crawling with repair crews, guards, and liveried servants.  Goldcape receives several cheers for having saved the palace from destruction, and no one hinders the group as they make their way into the scorched garden.  After uttering the secret Vudrani phrase, the pedestal is turned and reveals an iron-framed spiral staircase exactly like Glorio said it would. After mulling it over, The Reckoner relents and lets Katash have the jade green marble elephant they found atop it.

The staircase descends into a vast, cool grotto lit by flickering torches.  A series of ledges wind along the cavern’s inner wall to a series of rope bridges that descend even lower from ledge to ledge.  Nearby, every surface is covered in a strangely beautiful tableau of all manner of odd-colored fungi, lichens, and molds.  But ever alert for danger, The Reckoner sees depressions appearing in the lichen on the ground and realises creatures are moving invisibly toward the group!  He calls out a warning and then activates the magic of the mask taken from the Red Mantis to see what it is.  Before the group stands skeletal humanoid creatures covered head to toe with a strange fungus.  Yraelzin quickly casts a spell so he can see them too, but Katash and Goldcape have to fight blind when the creatures advance with scimitars at the ready!  The Reckoner uses a wand to cast a protective spell against undead, but appearances are deceiving, and Yraelzin explains that these creatures are simply bones given animation by the fungus that covers them. The Reckoner starts smashing the fungal guardians, but Katash inhales poisonous spores and begins to falter, while Goldcape suffers multiple serious sword wounds.  Precious resources like antitoxins and Yraelzin’s divine healing spells keep the pair in fighting shape, and soon the strange sentinels are destroyed.

If Glorio Arkona can be believed, the group’s search for Vencarlo Orisini and Neolandus Kalepopolis is on the right track.  But if their first taste of battle against the guardians of the Vivified Labyrinth are any measure, how can the Harrowed Heroes hope to survive?

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GM's Commentary

Glorio Arkona is one of my favourite NPCs from the campaign, as I have a blast role-playing him as a suspiciously friendly would-be patron of the heroes.  I found the artwork for him inspiring, and he's become a major figure as the leader of one of the three rebel factions working to dethrone Ileosa.

The idea with the Razmiran inquisitor was to further Yraelzin's subplot as a Priest of Razmiran that had been gradually straying from the tenets of the faith.  I think, ironically, I may have been able to do a better job with a GM-PC's subplots than I did those for the actual PCs!

I try to make sure non-combat things, like Goldcape using her magic to put out the fire, receive accolades too.  As we'll see later, a couple of the members of the group start to judge everything by combat efficiency, which can then make more role-playing focussed members of the group feel self-conscious, which is unfortunate.