Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 56 [RPG]

[Toilday, 14 Erastus 4708 A.R. continued]

Deep under the Longacre Building, the Harrowed Heroes continue their assault on Deathhead Vault.  While The Reckoner renews various enchantments to improve his fighting prowess, Goldcape flies over the deep pit in the chamber on Rocky’s back.  She then cleverly uses her magical cloak to help Anorak cross by turning a small patch into a full ladder that spans the pit once laid down.  Once everyone is back together again, they move cautiously down the tunnel and hear voices coming from somewhere far around the corner.  A woman is speaking to a goblin she calls Mogmora, as it seems the latter has sounded the alarm that there are intruders in the vault.  Anorak tries to lure them into an ambush by singing loudly in Dwarven, but the cautious defenders don’t fall for it, and maintain their positions.

The Reckoner decides to strike!  Racing around the corner, he finds himself in what surely must be a newly-built temple to Achaekek, the monstrous mantis deity of the Red Mantis assassin cult.  The vast, crescent-shaped cavern features stone benches facing a pulpit.  Behind it, stairs lead up to a worked stone façade that bears a looming carving of an immense mantis, its arms arrayed downward like an archway over a set of double doors.  The goblin that escaped from the intruders just minutes ago is standing in the room along with a beautiful woman with strawberry-coloured hair and a severe expression.  She pulls on a mantis mask as the Reckoner comes into view, and orders forward the cultists’ version of a guard dog: a massive ten-foot-long centipede-like monster!  But The Reckoner is undeterred, and slays the beast in seconds.

As Anorak and Goldcape arrive for back-up, they see the assassins have reinforcements as well.  The doors at the far end of the cavern open to reveal an aasimar wielding sawtooth sabres, walking on the air.  The goblin Mogmora, a seemingly innocuous foe compared to the others, suddenly laughs and begins to transform, flesh rippling as it grows into a snarling, wolf-like canine beast—a barghest!  The barghest lopes around the side of the cavern to try to reach the attackers’ back ranks, but Goldcape sends Rocky to intercept it.  The resulting fight is a savage death match of talon against claw and beak against fang, but (with a little help from Goldcape’s ice magic) Rocky prevails!

The angel-like newcomer must be a powerful spellcaster, for she conjures magical spinning blades in a bid to cut The Reckoner off from his allies.  But Anorak is no mere adept, for he uses a spell of his own and becomes fast enough to race around to stay close to his ally.  Giant praying mantises conjured by the strawberry-haired Red Mantis can’t pierce The Reckoner’s magical duplicates, and fall quickly to his battle-maul and Anorak’s fireballs.  Yet when the angelic Red Mantis prays to Achaekek and evokes wave after wave of nauseating energy, the dwarf falters.  The Reckoner’s mental fortitude is too strong for the spell to affect him, and he dashes forward, shrugging off more hidden assassins to dispatch the strawberry-haired Red Mantis with astonishing ease.

The angel-like Red Mantis evaluates the situation and realises she’s no match for The Reckoner.  With an arcane utterance, she disappears with a flash of light.  The remaining defenders in the room fall quickly, though Anorak is forced to temporarily restrain Goldcape from harming herself while under the effect of a hostile spell cast during the fight.  Fortunately, the effect soon wears off and the group is able to advance.

 

After ensuring it’s not trapped, the Harrowed Heroes push through the ornate doors at the top of the stairs.  They find themselves in some kind of inner sanctum with the walls magically-enhanced to show an eternal scene of slaughter as immense, mantis-like monsters destroy towns with various forms of architecture. Although a set of double doors lead to the north, The Reckoner remembers from the mission briefing that a secret door can be found on the southern wall.  Once again, Boule’s information proves to be correct, as a hidden door does indeed exists.  It leads to a steep stairwell that terminates at what must be another hidden door, though its outline is obvious from this side.  At last, the Harrowed Heroes emerge into the basement level of the Longacre Building in a wide hallway set with glowing, polished ivory tiles.

The Reckoner chooses a door around the corner of the hallway and opens it to reveal what is obviously an execution chamber.  No victims are present, but the executioner surely is!  A tall, emaciated woman with thorny vines growing from her eyes and fingers is in the room, and merely gazing at her fills The Reckoner’s and Anorak’s knees with water.  Both drop their weapons and flee in supernatural terror!  Goldcape sends Rocky in to fight as the terrifying creature begins blinking rapidly in and out view.  Vines with tiny red flowers and incredibly sharp thorns cut Rocky with jagged wounds that refuse to close.  Just as The Reckoner gathers his courage and returns, Goldcape shouts for Rocky to retreat. But before The Reckoner even has time to pick up his battle-maul and attack, he finds himself falling under the hypnotic sway of the emaciated woman, compelled to stand next to her with a single message resounding in his mind: “Defend me.”

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GM Commentary

I liked Goldcape's robe of useful items--it's a fun magic item compared to the standard ones that just give fixed bonuses.

The various Red Mantis leaders all have beautiful artwork and elaborate backstories.  Although I always appreciate fully-fleshed out NPCs, I don wonder if it's wise to spend the word count on enemies that will likely be defeated in a single encounter.  I'd rather have more colourful shopkeepers, neighborhood descriptions, or interesting optional encounters to slot in--things that are likely to see more value in actual play.

The Reckoner is really overpowered by this point, especially with the myriad buffs.  He wrecked several of these encounters one after the other.  On the other hand, the cliffhanger's pretty good!  (and I don't remember what happens next)