Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 35 [RPG]

[Sunday, 31 Desnus 4708 A.R.]

Deep below Arkona Palace, the Harrowed Heroes converse with their captor, Meliya Arkona, about how to best kill her brother, Glorio.  The Reckoner persuades her to let him go out into the city for an hour in search of magical potions to aid the upcoming confrontation, on the condition that the others are left behind as hostages.  The masked vigilante finds a new rowboat tied up on the pier that juts into the sea caves under the palace, and rows it (with some difficulty) through an illusory wall and out into the waters lapping the coast of Endrin’s Isle.  Hurrying through the streets of Old Korvosa, he realises that rioting has begun afresh.  He spots what looks like a group of priests being chased by a mob, but decides not to intervene.  When he reaches Ledbetter’s in Bridgefront, the cranky old man refuses to even open the door at first.  The Reckoner cajoles him into selling a few vials of magical elixirs, and hears that the rioting was caused by a massacre on the only bridge that still connects Old Korvosa to the mainland.

When The Reckoner returns, Meliya says the plan is a simple one: she’ll disguise herself as a bruised and battered Vencarlo Orisini, lead the others through the palace until they find Glorio, and launch a surprise attack.  Neolandus and the body of the real Vencarlo will have to stay behind.  The Reckoner interjects that they should be entitled to any of Glorio’s possessions after he’s killed, and she rolls her eyes and agrees that they can have anything on his corpse besides keys or documents.
 
The plan faces its first hiccup when everyone emerges from the secret passageway and into the gardens.  The tools of the all the labourers hired to help repair the damage from the fire have been scattered about as if their owners fled quickly.  Then, shapes can be seen dimly outside the enchanted windows before they burst open in a spray of glass to reveal the walking dead!  "He . . . knows . . ." the zombies moan with rotting tongues and torn vocal cords.  Goldcape wants to stay and fight them, but The Reckoner persuades her there’s no time—they need to find and fight Glorio quickly, before their temporary magical augmentations fade away.  As they move through the palace, Meliya whispers that Glorio wouldn’t have summoned undead, and may be just as confused as they are by the cause.

 
The search ends on the second floor.  Glorio is there standing in front of the entrance to his rooms, obviously having surmised that something is afoot.  He is warm and welcoming at first, but as the group move closer and closer to him, he realises from the way Anorak grips his waraxe that they’ve come to kill him!  In an instant, the co-ruler of House Arkona has lifted off the ground and begins to hover in mid-air over the opening to the gardens below, out of reach of anyone on the balconies.  But the otherwise-clever tactic doesn’t account for an assailant who’s a roc!  Rocky smashes into Glorio as a mass of talons, beak, and feathers.  Glorio intones mystic words to conjure a bolt of pure lightning at the bird.  In moments, the scene is awash in projectiles, explosions, and blasts of crackling magic.  Yraelzin quickly changes the tide by stripping Glorio of his magical levitation, forcing the man to (slowly) descend to the gardens below.
 
Meliya, in her guise as Vencarlo, remains on the balcony and contributes little to the fighting in a bid to retain her disguise.  But The Reckoner rails against her for not contributing to the battle and their argument reveals the truth to Glorio—“Vencarlo” is really his sister!  Glorio laughs at the trick and tells the Harrowed Heroes he has much more to offer them than she does and then he turns invisible to buy time.  Meanwhile, zombies begin crashing through the burnt foliage and attacking every living creature they see.  Meliya flies down into the battle to bring her full might against Glorio, but Glorio’s silver tongue (and her own sharp one) has led to another betrayal!  Everyone turns their weapons against Meliya—and Goldcape even magically conjures a rhinoceros to pin her in!  The battle is a crazed melee, with Meliya surrounded by Rocky on one side, The Reckoner on another, a rhinoceros on the third, and zombies on the other.  Even her mysterious defences can’t hold out for long, and Rocky’s bite (enhanced by the magical oils obtained by The Reckoner) prove devastatingly effective.  Terribly wounded, Meliya’s rage at the sudden reversal is obvious: “You’ll pay, Ralph Blackfeather!” she snarls before drawing a wand and disappearing through a conjured doorway!

Although his new allies are frustrated by Meliya’s escape, Glorio takes it all in stride.  He watches as Anorak destroys most of the remaining zombies with fire (one of which turns out to be the body of the “Emperor of Old Korvosa”), and then thanks the group for their timely assistance.  He offers the group his patronage, though The Reckoner is more interested in hard currency or magic items than any intangible support.  Still, Glorio insinuates the problems in the city will only grow worse with Ileosa at the helm, and that, perhaps, they’ll need each again in the future.
 
With Neolandus rescued and his story about Queen Ileosa’s crown told, a difficult choice stands before the Harrowed Heroes: stay in Korvosa and try to continue undermining her cruel reign from within, or leave for the Cinderlands in the hopes of discovering the dark secret of her newfound power.
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GM Commentary

This was a big session, and was the capstone to Chapter 3.  The battle between the PCs, Meliya, and Glorio was exciting, cinematic, and suspenseful, and I for one was not expecting the sudden switching of sides!  The result certainly had major implications for the rest of the campaign, as Glorio became a prominent leader and potential claimant to the throne, while Meliya was forced to flee and go into hiding (and the PCs never tracked her down--I probably should have done more with her knowledge of Ralph Blackfeather's secret identity).  I had a blast with this one, and it certainly set things up well for the next chapter.

At the moment, I can't recall the in-story reason I had the zombie waves attack.  It might have been a revenge plan by Rolth Lamm against Goldcape, et al., or some other story thread I was setting up.

Bluff is one of those skills you might think aren't important, until you try to "casually" approach someone (like Glorio) you intend to assassinate.  Anorak's low roll and Glorio's high Sense Motive meant he had time to avoid getting stuck in melee.

We see another early glimpse here of The Reckoner's preoccupation with short-term buffs (potions and wands), which forced a round-by-round running clock even outside of encounters.

The grumpy, racist Bridgefront alchemist, Silas Ledbetter became one of the most memorable NPCs to the players even though he actually only appeared in a few sessions.