Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 31 [RPG]

 

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

The Harrowed Heroes have destroyed a band of fungus-covered skeletons under Arkona Palace.  But the victory comes at a cost: Katash, severely weakened by the creatures’ poison, recalls a strange dream he had weeks ago and had forgotten.  In the dream, a Varisian fortune-teller performed a reading for him and turned over the cards of Death and The Lost.  She interpreted it to foretell that if Katash entered a maze, he would surely die!  Shaken from the memory, Katash announces he can’t go any further.  He’s going back to the streets of Old Korvosa and help to restore peace to those living in the aftermath of the rioting and plague.

After his departure, the remaining members of the group spread out and look around, confirming they’re on an upper ledge overlooking the sloshing waters of a sea cave far below.  A series of rope bridges lead to consecutively lower bridges.  As there seems to be nothing of interest (and no secret doors) on the upper ledge, Goldcape carefully tests one of the rope bridges and finds it sturdy enough to lead the group to another ledge that’s about fifty feet above the water.  A wooden door has been built into the back wall of the ledge, and a set of large brass doors can be seen inset into a wall near the base of the sea cave.  The Reckoner examines the area carefully from above, noticing a wooden pier jutting out into the water.  Suddenly, he shouts that there’s a creature submerged in the water!  Eager to show off the virtues of his special underwater crossbow, Yraelzin fires a bolt.  Although he misses, he comes close enough that the submerged creature surfaces and reveals itself as the largest reefclaw that anyone in the group has ever seen! At the Reckoner’s behest, Goldcape and Yraelzin begin shooting at it from above, but do only minor damage to it before it sinks below the surging waters and vanishes.

The nearby wooden door is opened to reveal a small chamber with nothing more than a simple bed, shelves carved into the walls, and several small animal figurines.  Some of the figurines are crude, but others are exquisite and made from valuable materials like coral, redwood, and gold.  Unlike the representations of fauna native to Vudra in the palace above, these figurines look to be from creatures common in the wilds of Varisia—geckos, firepelt cougars, and flame drakes.

With nothing else to explore on this ledge, and intent on destroying the reefclaw, The Reckoner ties off his rope so he can descend to the lowest ledge that is only a foot or two above the water.  He’s not surprised when the reefclaw clambers out of the water like a predator that has just found prey, but he isn’t prepared for how quickly it moves!  It catches him in a powerful claw and starts trying to crush the life out of him!  Goldcape sends Rocky to fly down and help, providing just enough of a distraction for The Reckoner to slip free of the enormous reefclaw’s grip.  With arrows and spells raining down from above and The Reckoner and Rocky smashing and tearing at it, the creature is badly wounded and tries to swim away.  Rocky swims out over the water and delivers a killing blow, but in its death throes, the reefclaw tears into the roc, leaving it badly hurt.

After some magical healing from rapidly-diminishing wands, the group decide to press onwards.  The Reckoner puts an ear to the seam in the brass double-doors and hears hissing and a muted voice on the other side.  Suspecting they may have found the lair of the darksphinx, he douses his battle-maul with blessed oil and throws open the doors.  Four lit braziers illuminate the vast chamber on the other side, a cathedral-like space made all the more immense by its lack of benches or other concessions to comfort.  The floor is polished tan marble, with the walls rising up to form a domed ceiling sixty feet above.  Alcoves line the walls of the chamber, six in all, inside of which stand human-sized statues of a tiger-headed man.  At the far end, a few steps lead up to a pulpit-like area with three more statues of the same figure—the central one being twice as tall and holding out before him two lances from which hang flags of Korvosa and the Arkona coat of arms.  But this shrine to House Arkona has not been left unguarded!  Two, truly enormous 18’ long immense snakes are here, one of them having recently shed its skin.  And feeding on the shed skin is a powerful-looking, tiger headed beast-man!

The giant snakes surge forward after a mere nod from their trainer, and prove to be fearsome not just in size, but also from their deadly venom!  Goldcape finds herself weakening with every second and almost at the point of collapsing before she remembers her mystical nature magic can neutralise the poison.  She saves herself just in time, and uses the same magic to help The Reckoner, who also finds himself on the wrong end of a cobra’s fangs.  The snakes are dispatched relatively quickly, but the beast-man is another matter entirely.  Spells of lightning and slowness have absolutely no effect, and the nimble foe darts quickly from target to target leaving everyone—even Yraelzin—wounded.  Finally, Yraelzin manages to break one of the beast-man’s defensive enchantments, Goldcape magically manifests spears of ice to wound him, and The Reckoner gets him cornered and starts wailing away with his battle-maul.  Although somehow incredibly resistant to harm, he’s eventually defeated.  Yraelzin is left bleeding from a jagged kukri slash, Goldcape is limping from a severed tendon, and even The Reckoner shows multiple wounds. 

The group patch up their injuries as best they can, search the shrine thoroughly, and then decide to take the risk of resting in the small chamber off the middle ledge.  The wooden door is barricaded and, not trusting Yraelzin to keep watch, Goldcape and The Reckoner decide to take turns standing guard.

Although much blood has been shed, there’s as yet no labyrinth and no sign of Vencarlo Orisini or Neolandus Kalepopolis.  Have the Harrowed Heroes fallen for a ruse, or have they missed the only path forward?

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GM's Commentary

Katash's player, who was only dropping in for a few sessions, went back to college, so I had to come up with an excuse for the character to depart.

I found the ledges and rope-bridges a bit confusing to map here.  I'm not sure if I got them 100% correct, but we muddled through.

There wasn't really any need to kill the reefclaw.  Sometimes The Reckoner just gets bloodthirsty!

The tiger-headed creature was a rakshasa.  Interestingly, I don't think the group has ever really made the connection between House Arkona, Vudra, and rakshasas!