Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 73 [RPG]

 [Toilday, 4 Arodus 4708 A.R.]

Unbeknownst to the Harrowed Heroes, another outsider has fallen prey to the mysterious lure of Castle Scarwall!  Lorien Craie Foie, a half-orc battle-cleric of Cayden Cailean, was in Urglin during the recent giant siege.  After the siege was broken, he met and began drinking with a strange, bombastic spellcaster in purple robes named Yraelzin, who spoke endlessly about a tyrant in Korvosa, a growing rebellion, and the key to victory laying in an ancient castle called Scarwall in the Hold of Belkzen.  Seeing Yraelzin trade an ostensibly magic jade carving of an elephant to a wizened shaman for fast passage to Scarwall, Lorien began thinking of his own, relatively sedate life in Urglin.  A life of adventure, danger, treasure, heroism called to him.  Not believing most of the stories Yraelzin related about a “haunted” castle, Lorien decided to see for himself.  Weeks passed in preparation and travel, but finally Lorien reached the crater lake where the fortress stood.

Now, sneaking past a small tribe of orcs guarding the causeway leading to the castle, Lorien pushes through the unsettling wet blanket of fog shrouding the entrance and finds himself in a horrifying scene of a recent battle’s aftermath, with bodies and blood everywhere.  The sound of clashing weaponry and battle-cries echo from somewhere ahead, leading the warrior to draw his own rapier and approach cautiously.  But what he witnesses is far from what he could ever expect!  An imposing, fastidiously-dressed man with a Nidalese accent is berating a blue-skinned woman who wears only chains.  A thin trickle of blood slides down the aristocratic man’s high cheekbones, and it appears as if the woman just struck him and is now coming to her senses as the sounds of clashing blades dwindles. “I forgive you, Asyra,” says the man curtly. “But let there not be a recurrence.  You must steel your will against the shades and phantasms of this place.”  Realising he’s being observed, the man turns to Lorien and his lips curl in disgust when he realises it’s a half-orc.  “What are you doing here, half-breed?” the man demands.

Lorien replies that he’s a warpriest of Cayden Cailean, and his purpose here is his own business.  This reply is met with cold anger, but before the conversation can continue further, others have come to investigate the disturbance: The Reckoner, Goldcape, Anorak, and Yraelzin have arrived!  Recognising Shadowcount Sial and his bodyguard, Asyra, The Reckoner asks Sial to explain himself.  The reply is a cutting remark about the usefulness of keeping fools close at hand—with an implication that perhaps Sial is trailing the Harrowed Heroes, letting them deal with the dangers of Scarwall for him!  Sial stalks away with a dismissive sneer, motioning for Asyra to follow him.  Yraelzin is delighted to see Lorien again, and introduces him to the others.  As Yraelzin and Lorien talk, The Reckoner leads the others a short distance away for a private conversation.  He says having another ally on their side could be very useful, especially if Shadowcount Sial is waiting to snatch Serithtial out from under them.  But Eldritch, Anorak’s strange reptilian bird familiar, is instantly suspicious, and says the newcomer could be a spy sent by the queen—or even worse, an assassin out to kill Anorak!  Knowing that Eldritch has a tendency to be paranoid (and excessively violent), the group consensus is to trust Lorien for now, while keeping an eye on him just in case.

 

Returning to Lorien and Yraelzin, the others share what they know about Shadowcount Sial.  A worshipper of the Midnight Lord, Zon-Kuthon (the deity of shadows and pain), Sial ostensibly wants to find Serithtial because it is a potent weapon against followers of his faith, and he wants to ensure it is never used against them.  Interjections from Yraelzin show the former priest of Razmir clearly hasn’t forgiven The Reckoner for blowing up the agreement he had made with the Brotherood of Bone to enter Scarwall together.  Conversation is had about whether the group should attack Sial immediately, but for now they decide to wait and continue their search.

Returning to the gloomy courtyard that marked the previous extent of their exploration, the group cautiously decide to climb the staircase that’s on the other side of a door creaking in the chill wind.  They emerge in a chamber on the second floor of Castle Scarwall, but their ponderous footsteps and Yraelzin’s magical light have alerted the room’s inhabitants: a quartet of howling corpses swooping through the air with hideously-elongated legs and longbows made of bone!  The blood-curdling shrieks literally paralyse Goldcape, and Yraelzin with fear, but The Reckoner leaps high into the air to smash one of the abominations.  The swooping figures fire arrows that seem to be conjured spontaneously with each attack, and their shrieking continues.  The Reckoner finds his muscles seizing up, completely unable to dodge a flurry of arrows fired his way.  But his elaborate magical preparations pay off, as every single arrow strikes an illusory image of him!  As two of the animated corpses drop awkwardly to the ground, Lorien utters a prayer to Cayden Cailean to free Goldcape from her paralysis—and in turn, Goldcape is able to free Anorak.  The dwarf’s fireball weakens the foes as Lorien then charges into battle.  But this leads the defenders to focus their fire on him, and he’s nearly pin-cushioned by arrows!  Goldcape frees The Reckoner from paralysis and the vigilante charges in to aid their new ally with more leaping attacks.  Yraelzin, finally recovered from his own paralysis, shows his magical prowess is not all rhetoric, as his spell takes control of the last monster and forces it to fly right into range for Rocky, Lorien, and The Reckoner to finish it off.

Before the group has time to recover, it becomes apparent that the sounds of the fighting have brought yet more danger right to them.  Bursting through the room’s southern door, a grinning spectre with mad eyes and blood-red hands switch and jerk like a puppeteer’s, somehow giving a stuffed wyvern a semblance of life!  The Reckoner laughs until the grinning figure’s mere touch sends waves of pain through his body. “Who’s laughing now?” the spectral woman croaks. “Kazavon shall return, and my loyalty will be proven!”  But The Reckoner doesn’t give her time to elaborate—his enchanted battle-maul tears through her ghostly form and dissipates it.  The animated stuffed wyvern collapses to the floor.  The entire battle lasted only a handful of seconds and was over before anyone else in the room could even react!

Plate, The Reckoner’s sapient enchanted armor, whispers to its master that the easy battle shows the others aren’t needed on the current quest—that their constant need to rest to heal wounds and prepare spells is slowing things down and giving Ileosa more time to consolidate power in Korvosa.  Plate says the others in the group are brave and worthy allies, but that they’re being put in unnecessary danger when The Reckoner can handle anything Scarwall has to offer single-handedly!  However, The Reckoner refuses to consider the idea of leaving the others behind.

The group debate whether to continue exploring or rest.  Anorak and The Reckoner suggest the latter, while Yraelzin and Goldcape push for the former.  Lorien casts the deciding vote to continue on, but resting becomes a far more attractive option when the next chamber (filled with ruined beds and tattered paintings) looks like a perfectly defensible spot because there’s only one entrance to it. Using their magical iron spike to create an illusion of bodies piled in front of the door, the group settle in for a long day and night of rest. 

[Wealday, 5 Arodus 4708 A.R.]

Sleep finally comes, but it’s an uneasy one, filled with vague and disturbing nightmares.  Anorak dreams of ceaseless toiling enslaved to House Arkona, Rocky is tormented by dreams of being endlessly chased by a huge predator, and Goldcape suffers traumatic nightmares of Old Lady Cloggins dying in a fire.  The three are kept tossing and turning all night, and awake more exhausted in the morning than when they went to sleep.

But there are far worse things than bad dreams in Castle Scarwall.  As everyone readies themselves for another day, they realise Lorien is missing!  And spectral hands are emerging from the walls all around them . . .

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GM Commentary

This session is important for the introduction of Lorien, a new PC who would continue to appear throughout the rest of the campaign.  The character was played by the daughter of The Reckoner's player which I think sometimes gave him too much influence over the character.  Lorien was fairly quiet when it came to role-playing, but it was nice to have another PC at the table.

I always had fun playing Eldritch, Anorak's familiar.  I gave Eldritch a paranoid, almost psychopathic personality.  Exaggerated personalities are useful for familiars, intelligent weapons, and others NPCs that I'll probably only remember or have time to role-play occasionally.

The battle against the baykoks started off pretty dire, as paralysing arrows are nasty.  The group displayed some good teamwork to recover.  On the other hand, no teamwork was needed in the battle against the spectre, as The Reckoner destroyed it single-handedly before the others even got a turn!

I liked that Scarwall inflicted nightmares on those who sleep within its walls (at least if they fail their Will saves).  It was both thematically appropriate and kept the pressure on.