The adventure continues! Last time, our heroes battled their way across a small creek, discovered an abandoned mining camp infested with angry man-bats, and burgled some potions from an alchemist and her huge manservant in a lonely tower, before escaping into an old mine…
Play time: 4 hours
Heroes:
- Asmund the Divine Soul Sorcerer (7)
- Drew the Eldritch Knight (7)
- Hugo the Time Wizard (6), Cleric (1)
- Lobelia the Vampire
- Rainen the Beast Master Ranger (5), Druid (2)
- Ward the Gloom Stalker Ranger (6), Rogue (1)
Strangers in the dark
As they proceeded into the mine, they noticed the glittering red dust on the walls and floor. As they approached the first branch in the old tunnel, they saw a person walking ahead of them. The woman was clearly a vampire. She said she was Lobelia, and her family had died at Rukesti. Now she had come south seeking revenge against the vampires. The party welcomed her aboard.
They turned right at the fork, and then left at the next fork, and found a narrow crack in the wall that led to a dazzling underground city made entirely of huge rubies. Hugo cast his dome to protect them while they slept in the mine, and in the morning Drew used his magic shovel to clear a wider path into the city. There were only miner (wordplay!) injuries from the flying rocks and debris.
Urva Ruvena, the Ruby City
Bathed in red light, the Ruby City glowed in a vast cavern. Thousands of vampires teemed through the streets. Lobelia recognized some as friends and neighbors from Rukesti. She was shocked that so many were “alive”. Hugo also noted that some of the vampires wore black smocks and seemed to be hard at work, building the city. Ward managed to keep his wyvern-spirit under control, so he did not transform and attack the vampires.
Asmund looked around for landmarks or a way up to the castle. He spotted a massive forge, a black pyramid, and a stone arch. After a quick debate, the team decided to try the stone arch. As they came closer, they could hear a man screaming and a beast howling from the arch.
Lobelia transformed into a bat and flew down the steps beyond the arch to scout around. She saw several barred prison cells and a single guard, a woman with a snake tail and snakes for hair.
Into the Silverhold Oubliette
Drew marched down the stairs with great confidence and told the snake-woman that her shift was over and she was to go see the queen. The Medusa was surprised and suspicious, but also a bit excited. She wanted confirmation. “Who sent you?” Drew said he was sent by one of the black-smocked workers in the city. She called his bluff, and attacked.
Hugo realized the danger of being petrified and told everyone to avert their gaze. Drew rushed in to hack and slash. Asmund strode up to her, reached out with his holy gauntlet, and tried to befriend her by demanding her name, but this was too strange and hostile for her.
Rainen rushed into the prison and in one cell she found a werewolf howling on a stone block, lashed down with silver wire. Lobelia sauntered in and watched from the corner, and then sauntered up the wall and watched from the ceiling.
Hugo froze the Medusa for a moment and Drew went to another cell to see a young man lashed to a table with silver wire, screaming in pain. Drew then began battering the Medusa and tried to put her to Sleep, but instead he dropped his ally Asmund unconscious. After a few more attacks, Drew tried again and the Medusa fell asleep! And Hugo kicked Asmund to wake him up.
There was a short debate about what to do with the Medusa. Asmund decided to touch her with his holy hand. In a few seconds, the Medusa transformed back into a human woman! They woke her, and she slowly recovered from her shock of being healed.
Her name was Aurelia, and she explained that the vampire queen Dragoslava had killed her family and turned her into a monster to guard her prisoners. Aurelia begged them to escape. The queen is too powerful to fight!
The Howling Beast
Rainen and Drew entered the cell with the howling werewolf and freed him from the silver wires. Rainen healed him and he quickly recovered. The giant white Apex Werewolf named Kveldulf growled out his thanks and demanded that they start killing vampires together.
Rainen tried to refocus him on just hunting down the queen Dragoslava. Outside his cell, this huge werewolf saw the vampire Lobelia. The team quickly convinced him that some vampires were victims and should not be harmed.
To help convince Kveldulf, they called Ward (their own resident shapeshifter) to come down into the prison and talk to him. Kveldulf recognized the scent of a fellow shifter. Ward explained that it was definitely hard to ignore the foul scent of the undead in the air, but it was possible to control their urges and focus on the mission. “I know it’s hard,” he said, “But if I can keep a cool head with a whole city of vampires right up those steps behind me, then I’m sure you can…”
Kveldulf went blind with rage and ran up the steps.
Moments later, the vampires began screaming.
Lobelia went after him, worried for her friends. Kveldulf tore many vampires to pieces, but as panic set in, they started turning into bats and fleeing up into the shadows of the cavern’s roof. The werewolf rampaged through the city, hunting the vampires.
The Screaming Prisoner
Aurelia, the former Medusa, explained that the screaming man in the last cell was Dragodai Torescu, the queen’s son. She imprisoned him many years ago. Hugo rigged the cell so he could free the handsome young vampire from the torture table while standing outside the door. As soon as the silver wires were gone, the vampire began to heal.
Rainen called out that they had come to kill the queen.
The beautiful vampire prince Dragodai immediately misted through the bars of his cell and appeared beside them. “Then let’s not waste time.” He held out his hand and his magic longsword came crashing through the Ruby City and flew into his hand. He gestured to the stairs. “Shall I lead, or would you like to?”
And that’s where we ended.
DM Notes
This was a super session. Meeting Lobelia the vampire (played by our newest player) went great. It was good to inject some fresh tragedy and darkness into the team. They’ve been too happy lately!
They navigated through the mines easily (there was a 50% chance of Something Bad happening, so they got lucky) and found the Ruby City quickly. Lobelia provided some emotional complexity as she agonized over the discovery of her undead friends, but was also excited by her newfound vampire powers.
The battle with the Medusa was pretty one-sided for a party of Level 7 heroes, but since they wanted to befriend her it turned into a weird dance of freezing people and Sleeping people that was pretty fun. And for the second game in a row, they didn’t kill the baddie! Healing the Medusa was an exciting revelation for Asmund.
For a moment, it looked like Kveldulf would be their big ally against the vampires, but they lost control of his attention and he ran off. Will he prove a good distraction for them? So then they turned to the vampire prince, and it seems like he will be a great ally instead. Or at least a sexy one!
