Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 47 [RPG]

[Moonday, 29 Sarenith 4708 A.R.]

In the depths of the Acropolis of the Thrallkeepers, The Reckoner and Goldcape reach an accord on how to share the treasures found in a secret vault.  When, along with Yraelzin, they return to the first floor of the complex by levitating up the shaft of emerald light, they see that Anorak has arrived!  The dwarf enthusiastically shares that he’s had an important vision—but that relating it will take time, and that he wants to wait until later.  The Reckoner recounts what he, Goldcape, and Yraelzin experienced in the Acropolis.  After telling about emerging from the globe with the Thrallkeeper’s Mark and a newfound sense of power, The Reckoner asks Anorak if he feels like taking a risk.  The dwarf is keen, so the group return below.  But when Anorak places his palm on the globe, he finds it much harder to return from the vision of soaring amongst the stars!  Although he’s able to tear himself free and emerges with the Mark, he also knows there’s something evil and terrifying inhabiting the Acropolis.  Remembering the Harrower’s prophecy that he will encounter a foe that cannot be defeated, he tells the others that it’s time to leave.

 

When the group return to the first level a second time, they notice the dark waters of the pools are sloshing and churning.  The Reckoner is curious about what happened to Krojun and his men, but with no sign of them, the group head for the exit before realising there are areas of the Acropolis they haven’t explored yet.  They backtrack and start searching, staying well clear of the pools.  Some areas of the complex are impossible to reach, as ancient rock falls have collapsed corridors, but some chambers remain intact.

 

They find the walls of one room are decorated with six life-sized bas-relief carvings that depict a diverse collection of priests, each adorned in billowing robes covered in Thassilonian runes.  An intricate scripture winds around the carvings, coiling across them and along the walls like an immensely long tangle of ribbons.  Several ancient skeletons, some clad in hide armor or clutching Shoanti weapons, lie scattered around the room.  Goldcape discerns that the runes are enchanted and some type of trap—but only for those capable of understanding them.  Thus, in this case, ignorance of history has had the ironic effect of protecting the group.  Goldcape writes a warning on a piece of parchment in case other explorers enter the room in the future.

 

Another room looks like a shrine of some type, displaying a brilliantly colored bas-relief carving of a woman with six wings and a serpentine lower body.  The coils of her lower body wind in and out and around a large seven-pointed star, and tiny shards of gemstones embedded in her tail make her scales glisten as though with moisture, but in more places, chunks of the carving have cracked or crumbled away, giving the depiction of the serpentine woman a strange but undeniable look of age and decay.  After confirming that there are no traps, The Reckoner breaks off the shards of gemstones even though they’ll only be worth a handful of gold sails in Korvosa.

 

The group then return to a previously-explored chamber that contains a similar statue holding a whip in one hand.  Having already identified it as a potent magical weapon against chaotic beings from other planes, Anorak wrenches it free.  But when he tries to hand it to The Reckoner, the dwarf realises he’s actually tucked it into his own belt!  Suspecting the item may be cursed, Anorak reluctantly places it back on the statue.

 

Having explored every nook and cranny of the Acropolis, the group decide to leave.  Anorak’s curiosity gets the better of him, and he tries to disturb whatever seems to be lurking in the pools by throwing stones and even an enchanted torch into the wall—but gets no result.  Outside, Goldcape uses her new mask of the mantis to see in the dark and discerns that Krojun and his men headed to the southeast, while the Bonekeepers’ (and the group’s two horses) headed to the west.  The Reckoner wants to try to talk to Krojun, but the prospects of a wearying march into the nighttime dangers of the Cinderlands persuades him to reluctantly start setting up camp.

With time now to talk, Anorak enthusiastically shares with them the content of the visions that led him to temporarily leave the party.  It started, he said, with a dream about a strange rock circle in the Cinderlands.  When he awoke in the middle of the night with an almost overwhelming urge to travel there, one of the Boneslayers recognised his description and said it was close by.  Anorak relates he spent hours sitting in the rock circle, scalded by the heat and utterly bored.  But when he began to nod off, he found himself in a dreamlike representation of the recent past.  He was in the markets during the group’s brief stay in Janderhoff when he noticed a curious secret door down one of the corridors.  But in the dream, instead of bringing a non-dwarf with him as he actually did, Anorak went alone.  The temple he found wasn’t a lonely, dusty, forgotten place—it was a rich, vibrant display of dwarven culture and the spiritual strength of his ancestors!  A statue of Torag’s son, Trudd, embodiment of the strength of the dwarven race, seemed to call to Anorak.  When Anorak moved closer, carvings on the wall next to the statue became vivid and seemed to move!  The carvings first represented a map of Varisia, but as Anorak watched, it was as if his eyes were zooming in to the Cinderlands.  He saw the orc city of Urglin and could even make out thousands of tiny figures representing each inhabitant.  But then other figures—larger—began to surround the city, and Anorak realised he was watching armies of giants put Urglin under siege!  In the vision, days began to pass, and soon the orcs were overwhelmed and defeated.  The giant conquerors enslaved the orcs and thus added even more numbers to their army before setting march south—and eventually, attacking Janderhoff itself!

 

With bloodthirst in his eyes, Anorak tells the others he wants to travel toward Urglin and see if there’s a way to stop the giants before it’s too late.  The others, however, are not so sure—both because the armies of the north are reputed to be quite powerful, and also because the major resistance action in Korvosa is less than two weeks away.  But no conclusive decisions are reached, and the explorers set up camp for the night, knowing the Boneslayers promised to return at dawn.

 

[Toilday, 30 Sarenith 4708 A.R.]

 

In the morning, a thick layer of reddish-black dust covers everything, spread by an intense ash storm that started overnight and is still going strong.  The fine, gritty ash stings the eyes, clogs the nostrils, and seems to get into everything—even canteens and cook-pots!  When the Boneslayers emerge from the swirling winds with the group’s horses, they are impressed that Anorak and The Reckoner have obtained the Thrallkeeper’s Mark.  But as the ash storm could last several more hours, the Shoanti recommend not travelling in such treacherous conditions.  The newcomers to the Cinderlands agree, and retreat to the shelter provided by the entrance of the Acropolis.  

 

While waiting out the storm, Goldcape asks Yraelzin to send someone a message through his sending spell.  Nearby, Anorak tells Ahalak and the other Boneslayers about his vision of giants marching through the Cinderlands and tries to enlist the Shoanti in the fight.  But Ahalak says the Shoanti know full well there are giants in the northern reaches of the Cinderlands, but that they have provoked little concern: giants are slow, clumsy, and easily evaded.  And because the Shoanti are nomadic peoples, they can outrun and outwit the giants without the concerns that “wetlanders” have about their fixed cities.  Afterwards, The Reckoner talks to Ahalak about Krojun, but the Boneslayer says the ways of the Sklar-Quah (Clan of the Sun) are as mercurial as the sun.  When The Reckoner mentions the strange globe below the ground in the Acropolis, Ahalak makes it clear that whatever lies within should not be spoken of.

 

Six long hours pass, and it is well into the afternoon before the ash storm finally subsides.  When asked, Hargev estimates the House of the Moon is about two days’ journey away.  Other possible destinations are considered, with Goldcape urging an immediate visit to Cindermaw’s hunting grounds, saying that the Harrower told her she should be swallowed by the great beast.  But for now, at least, the group sets off for the House of the Moon.  They cover barely four hours before it starts to get dark, and decide to take the risk of travelling at night, counting on the waxing moon to provide enough light to walk by.  But after just another hour’s march, Anorak and The Reckoner stop the party short: they’ve seen bodies just ahead, covered in the mounds of ash!  A cautious investigation reveals them to be female Shoanti warriors—Moon Maidens of the Lyrune-Quah (Clan of the Moon).  The Reckoner notices they’ve been killed by red-hued crossbow bolts and that the bodies are quite fresh.  Learning this, the other Boneslayers look truly frightened for perhaps the first time. “The Cinderlander!” shouts Ahalak.  “He will strike at dawn.”

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GM's Commentary

Anorak's player was gone the previous session, and I justified the character's absence through the bit about the vision.  I thought the vision worked well as it provided both some insight into what happened in Janderhoff and raised the stakes of the threat of the Runelord-directed army of giants sweeping down from the north.  I think dilemmas make good role-playing and drama, and here the PCs had to decide whether to stay on their present course or try to help out at Urglin.

Despite the trouble in getting them, I don't think The Reckoner or Anorak ever actually used the magic of the Thrallkeeper's Mark.  Sometimes there's just too much to keep track of, especially at higher levels.

I love the concept of the trap that was fortunately not triggered because nobody spoke the language.  It has an in-game component and an out-of-game component.  The in-game component is that the character is studying the trap intently.  The out-of-game component is that the GM is instructed to keep saying "it'll take just a little while longer to understand".  Once the player/PC finally loses patience and moves to leave, they realize they're stuck there and can't tear their eyes away!  It's clever.

I thought it important to foreshadow the Cinderlander some more, and the end of the session made a good cliffhangar.  I think I also wanted to make sure there was some long-range combats instead of the typical "everyone fights in a broom closet" type of encounter design.