Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 77 [RPG]

 [Oathday, 6 Arodus 4708 A.R.]

 

The quest to break the curse of Castle Scarwall—and thus the source of Queen Ileosa’s invincibility through her mysterious crown—continues.  As their exploration of the myriad hallways and chambers of the second floor of the castle continue, the Harrowed Heroes decide to try a stealthy approach.  Anorak, taking the lead due to The Reckoner’s perceived vulnerability, turns himself invisible to scout ahead.  The dwarf soon finds himself on a balcony overlooking the courtyard the group trudged through previously.  He also discovers a lone skeletal minotaur, obviously a sentinel, in a watch station on the balcony.  Anorak quietly backtracks to the group and shares what he’s seen.  The decision is made for everyone to approach stealthily and try to subdue the guard.  Anorak, The Reckoner, and Goldcape move on tiptoe through the hallway, while Yraelzin stays around the corner with Eldritch.  Everything seems to be going well until Lorien’s armor begins squeaking, instantly drawing the sentinel’s attention!  It begins ringing a brass bell, surely alerting everyone and everything in the vicinity, before Anorak blasts it to fragments with an electricity spell.

 

In seconds, skeletons and zombies begin pouring forth into the hallway from multiple entry points.  Yraelzin and Eldritch are in dire straits, but Goldcape rushes over to protect them.  Rocky smashes three skeletons with as many strikes, while The Reckoner uses a magical wand to take control of a zombie left unscathed by the black tentacles Anorak conjures out of thin air.  The group decide to retreat out of concern that other defenders could be on their way.

 

In the chamber the group has used for multiple days as a makeshift campsite, The Reckoner asks Anorak to check his sapient armor, Plate, for curses.  The dwarf reports nothing awry with his creation.  For its part, Plate says it feels great and just wishes they could break the curse quickly to keep Ileosa from wreaking further havoc in Korvosa.  As the group converse, they realise drops of what looks like blood have started trickling down the wall, one by one.  The Reckoner calls out in alarm, readying the group to run, until the blood drops begin to form an image of perhaps the last person the Harrowed Heroes would expect to see: Glorio Arkona, patriarch of House Arkona, a wealthy aristocratic family that has become the de facto ruler of Old Korvosa, the Black Tower, and Trail’s End.

Glorio looks to be in high spirits as he addresses the explorers each by name, awaiting an introduction to Lorien that comes with little information.  When asked about how his image has manifested, Glorio says only that “the old magicks are the best magicks!”—though it’s clear from the bloody knife and the open wound in his palm that once his bleeding stops, so will the spell.  After some attempts at genial chit-chat that the Harrowed Heroes don’t reciprocate, Glorio sighs and gets to the point.  He says that although one prong of the invasion by the giant armies of the north was repulsed at Urglin (something that makes Yraelzin puff out his chest with pride), it’s clear the enemy has regrouped with a new plan: a knockout blow to take Magnimar (the region’s largest city), split the defenders of Varisia in half, and then easily mop up the rest.  Glorio says the alliance of Varisian city-states, their holdings, and the independent cities in the region are meeting in Ilsurian for a defence summit to plan a strategy to repel the expected invasion.  But Queen Ileosa has refused Korvosa’s participation in the alliance or even to send a representative to the summit, a choice that puts the whole region at risk of being conquered.  However, Glorio is excited to announce, the city’s three rebel factions (his own, Grau Soldado’s, and Cressida Kroft’s) have agreed to jointly send a representative to the summit, promising Korvosa’s aid as soon as Ileosa is overthrown.

The problem, Glorio explains, is that the rebel factions can’t agree on who to send.  None of the leaders are willing to risk leaving the city, and they don’t trust one another.  But then they hit upon a possible solution: send someone from a group they’ve all worked with in the past: the Harrowed Heroes!  Glorio says he championed his “Royal Craftsdwarf” Anorak (something that leads the dwarf to roll his eyes), while Kroft suggested sending The Reckoner.  Grau, it seems, didn’t have a preference.  Glorio concludes that that leaves only two possibilities that the rebel factions could agree on: Yraelzin and Goldcape.  Yraelzin reluctantly volunteers to go, but says he has no way of getting there quickly—he had to bribe a shaman in Urglin to provide him magical passage to Scarwall. Anorak suggests teleporting someone to Ilsurian, but without having been there before and the risk of whatever magical defenses Castle Scarwall may have, it doesn’t seem likely such an attempt would succeed.  Goldcape bravely offers herself as the rebels’ emissary: she can fly at great speeds on Rocky’s back, has a contact in Ilsurian already, and can stay in touch with the group through Yraelzin’s magical sending spells.  Goldcape gives Yraelzin a dagger marked with a stylized B as a symbol that she won’t let the group—or Korvosa—down.

After Goldcape and Rocky’s departure, the group’s spirits are subdued.  Nonetheless, they decide to press on.  Anorak and The Reckoner have come up with a new plan to permanently destroy the spectral skulls that seem to keep the strange, chain-covered ghost in Scarwall’s throne room from being permanently banished.  For a third time, the group burst into the throne room, but their plan has overlooked a key element—light!  The dais on which the chained spirit and the anchoring skulls sit is too far from the door to be seen, even with a dwarf’s darkvision.  But the spirit has no such limitation, as it’s able to sense the living from hundreds of feet away.  It springs forth to attack as Anorak and The Reckoner fumble with enchanting a coin to glow and then hurling it toward the dais.  Aided by the added light, Anorak casts a spell designed negate the magic of objects.  But it has no effect on the spectral skulls!  Everyone retreats, but the spirit’s ability to burst through walls without restraint means the group doesn’t make it out unscathed.

 

Back at their campsite, the group debrief.  Anorak confirms he cast the spell correctly, and that another attempt along the same lines isn’t likely to succeed either.  Lorien speculates that she could magically hide the group from the senses of undead, while Yraelzin argues that there’s no point in the group hitting its head against the wall since there’s no reason to think the throne room ghost is important.  Changing the subject entirely, Eldritch adds his speculation that the whole visit by Glorio was just a trick to weaken the party.

 

The magical camping spike is used to once again camouflage the group’s location as Anorak uses his newly-crafted wand to allow everyone to rest while still awake.  But several hours into the night, zombies and skeletons literally burst out of the ground at their feet!  Eldritch is wounded before flying high for safety, and the battle is prolonged by The Reckoner’s and Anorak’s insistence on trying to gain magical control of the creatures.  Just as the battle seems to be over, more undead arise!  It seems Castle Scarwall has been awakened, and it is not happy.

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GM Commentary

At the beginning of the session, the group briefly try out scouting, and gain information about what lies ahead.  Smart!  They follow up with a group attempt at Stealth.  Dumb!  There are ways to deal with the "noisy group" problem (silence spells, special feats, etc.), but they take some planning.  Most groups just revert to the "we all move together and kick in every door" approach.

Several commentaries ago I referred to Goldcape's player leaving so he could become Assistant GM.  That shows my shoddy memory, as it actually happened this session.  We get to see some scenes at the summit in later sessions though.

A lot of zombies and skeletons appeared in this session--simply the result of random encounters.  At the PCs' level, such foes (even in large numbers) aren't really dangerous, but they do interrupt activities and drain resources.