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[Starday, 8 Arodus 4708 continued]
With a second spirit
anchor destroyed, the intrepid explorers of Castle Scarwall are just on the
stairs to the second floor of the donjon when the prophetic words of the
demilich Zev Ravenka come to pass: a curse falls on the group! Anorak finds his feet stuck to the stone
steps, and as he watches in horror, his very skin turns to stone, starting from
his toes all the way up to the hair on his head! In a flash of instants, he’s no longer flesh
and blood but an immobile stone statue! As
Eldritch squawks about betrayal, Yraelzin and Lorien work to reverse the
effects but are forced to admit the problem is beyond their ability to solve at
the moment. The others reluctantly leave
Anorak and Eldritch behind, with a promise to return.
The survivors decide to
follow a clue from the Sun Shaman’s song:
A
second foe, infernal soul
Waits high in tower cold.
Speculating that the foe
must be a devil and could be at the top of the castle’s War Tower, the group
return to the northeast part of the castle where they encountered hellhounds in
what was only days ago but seems like months.
The Reckoner and Lorien lead the way up the stairs, only to hear
Yraelzin shouting at someone behind them to go away. The unearthly floating apparition of an
ancient Azlanti aristocrat has returned!
Encouraged by the others to interact with it, Yraelzin has a brief
conversation. He sighs as he explains to
his allies that the apparition continues to berate him for “failing his
destiny” and “rejecting his birthright”.
He adds that the apparition has proclaimed the group’s doom, for a
dragon has its lair on the first floor and has already slain one intruder,
while the devil at the top of the stairs is cunning and spiteful. The apparition soon melts into wet snow,
leaving Yraelzin again angry and frustrated about his perception that everyone
sees him as a failure.
With seeming confirmation
that one of the spirit anchors is at the top of the War Tower, the Harrowed
Heroes gird themselves for battle and advance.
Their progress is halted by an assault of spectres which, though quickly
destroyed, manage to sap some of Lorien’s strength. With The Reckoner still vulnerable from the
battle against the demilich, the trio decide they need to rest and regain their
strength. They decide to sleep on the
roof of the guest wing. Lorien
consecrates their sleeping area, and it seems to do the trick: the group is
neither attacked nor the victim of the nightmares that plagued them on previous
nights in Scarwall. Yraelzin magically
contacts Goldcape and hears about the progress of the summit, while Bishop
d'Bear contacts The Reckoner with news of progress: “Cleared opposition from
city streets, advancing toward Castle Korvosa.
Scores of civilians dying every day from blood magic. Is your mission still viable?” The Reckoner responds that their task is
almost complete, but he asks for magical aid to be waiting for him to address
his ongoing weakness after the battle with the demilich.
[Sunday, 9 Arodus 4708
A.R.]
Well-rested and primed
for battle, The Reckoner, Lorien, and Yraelzin ascend the steps of the War
Tower ready to do battle with a spirit anchor.
After making short work of a lone spectre, they reach the top of the tower
and are treated to a stunning view of the crater lake below. But there’s clearly no devil present. “We’ve been tricked!” laments Yraelzin,
speculating that his spectral ancestor lured them up here because it would be
tempting to give up on the quest and depart the castle. But there’s not much time for recriminations,
as another pack of brutish four-armed gargoyles launch themselves into the air
from distant minarets to attack! With
Yraelzin’s magic slowing the creatures down and The Reckoner’s myriad magical
protections, the foes are defeated with little difficulty.
In the distance, a tall
tower in the center of the keep is visible—could that be the one spoken of in
the Sun Shaman’s song? But if so, the
challenge lies in getting there across hundreds of feet of open air or
difficult backtracking through the heart of the castle below. But Lorien has the answer! Pulling out the strand of prayer beads found
in the shrine to Zon-Kuthon, he says: “With these, we could fly like the wind!”
-----------------------------------
GM Commentary
I always try to come up with a unique and interesting explanation of what happens to a PC to effectively remove them from player when a player can't make a session, so that's why Anorak suffered a "curse" and turned slowly to stone. I normally of course would not do such a thing by pure GM fiat, and sometimes I have to gently steer players away from having their characters expend precious resources trying to "solve" a problem that can only be "fixed" when the player returns the following session.
We some more development of Yraelzin this session, following the theme I've talked about in past commentaries of him always feeling a bit out of place and unappreciated.
Having the PCs reach the roof of a tower then created the challenging situation I've mentioned before of me as the GM, without a 3D model, trying to figure out and describe what they can and can't see from their new vantage point.
