The Faith of a Few - The Crimson Throne Journal of Chazon h'Besorah

We descended the spiral stairs from the garden into the infamous Arkona dungeon. At the bottom of the stairs were a trio of rope bridges connecting ledges, all of which hung over a 100 foot pit. The ledges were decorated by colorful fungal gardens. We skirted the ledges, but despite having our senses on alert were ambushed by four guardians- skeletal fungal creatures with wicked looking scimitars. As they moved to engage, clouds of choking poisonous spores erupted all around us.

Thinking that these were merely the guardians placed here in the labrinyth to ward off dilettantes, I held on to my more powerful offensive spells to deal with the actual wardens of this place. This proved to be an unwise decision as these initial guardians were far more deadly then they seemed at first. Merithel was almost immediately cut in half, and Glannin had all he could handle in a one on one with another skeleton, leaving two for Calcedon and I. Although his new crossbow was quite effective, these creatures were rapidly slicing us up with terribly effective scimitar swings, all the while we were choking on spore clouds. One of them took me down, so I failed to see how we prevailed- but I know it was close.

After spending a fair amount of time and resources healing the massive damage we endured, we continued on. We had been told about the location of the secret door and thus were able to find it despite it being very well hidden. Beyond it were a series of bridges down to an immense sea cave. A tunnel led out of the cave to a set of large bronze doors decorated with tigers. We unlocked it to open to a hallway lined with 2-headed tiger statues…Rahkshaskas. This immediately brought to mind the fox headed rakshasha who had been monitoring our movements through the deceptive dagger that maliciously leads individuals to embarrassing and hopefully forgotten conclusions.

We continued moving briskly through the hallway before memories of the past could be brought up. The next room had two levers protruding from the wall. There was a small gap in the floor in front of them. Wary of traps, Merithel and Glannin went to examine the levers, while Calcedon and I kept our distance. We decided to pull one of the levers, which prompted an unpleasant familial anecdote from Glannin.

The floor immediately shifted with the portion of the room Glannin and Merithel were standing on spun around depositing them in another room, separating the party. The walls were so thick we could barely communicate, only able to faintly hear each other by pounding on the stone walls. While Merithel and Glannin were on their own, we saw that the portion of the room that had rotated to face us now contained a pool of murky green water. Calcedon investigated it and triggered a Symbol of Fear, which he was entirely unfazed by, but now split the party into three groups as I rapidly ascertained an immediate tactical retreat was in order. I made it almost all the back to the labrinyth entrance before deciding that strength in numbers was a superior approach and rejoined Calcedon.

In the meantime, Merithel and Glannin pulled the lever and their chamber shifted again. The resulted in Calcedon now facing a pool of crystal clear water, which he also avoided. A couple more lever pulls resulted in our group reuniting, and then as a united group, we entered the rotating room. The first room beyond it contained a Symbol of Pain, filling Merithel with shooting agony for an indeterminate amount of time. It’s unfortunate he possesses quite stringent opinions on the use of natural pain relievers, though I’m not sure they would suffice in blunting constant magical torture. Thankfully, he was able to focus through the pain though he was clearly not at full skill.

Glannin led the way into the next room, another one overly adorned with tigers. The room contained 3 large chests with Vudrani inscriptions, which Merithel was eventually able to translate. He missed a trap present in the first one he attempted to open ( likely distracted by wracking pain) but was able to dodge an aerosol dose of insanity mist. The second one contained a poisonous snake in a foul mood, but Calcedon’s fauchard struck like a serpent himself and lopped off its head. This chest contained six potions. The final chest was also trapped with poison, but he noted it before opening. It proved empty.

Merithel headed into a mural room while we stood outside. He saw himself being picked apart by birds. We moved down as a group down the mural hallway into a room trapped with yet another Symbol (this one was stunning). This room ended in a wall, with nothing apparently there. With nowhere else to go, we returned to the room with the spinning levers, to see where the next spin of the room will take us.

Merithel pulled the lever and the room spun into a new configuration, which we set out to explore.  We passed through the room depicting an assortment of fauna attacking us in various ways, into a room where the walls depicted a immense swarm of murder wasps.  The room was indeed trapped as Merithel quickly discovered when thousands of 6 inch long needles extruded in undulating waves across every surface of the room, hitting Calcedon who was standing to close as well.  Merithel went through the room and escaped into a side room that held a humming black marble column.  
Meanwhile, Calcedon found a safe spot in the hall from which he could use his fauchard to open a second door off the needle-room.  Leaping over to it, he found a hallway with a series of of iron maidens down its length, set in back in small alcoves such that the main hallway stayed clear.  Chazon and Glannin followed him, and quickly spotted Vencarlo at the end of the hallway, curled up in pain.  Rushing up to him, he said that he had been injured by a springing blade trap that lay in the room behind him.

Chazon tried to move past him, but Vencarlo blocked his way, warning of the traps that lay behind him.  Suddenly, the floor tilted up at various points in the hallway, spilling those with slower reflexes in front of an iron maiden.  The maidens began emitting a shrieking and wailing sound, a unique magical effect that did not directly tie to any spells I was familiar with.  

Chazon, detecting some subtle hints of deception that elude the rest of us, begins to challenge Vencarlo's story. His questioning was so skeptical that it led me to believe we perhaps were not dealing with Vencarlo. I challenged him to name the woman we had rescued and escorted out of the the city- and he could not do anything more than describe her appearance. Glannin attempted to get past him, and despite Venarlo being prone, could not get past. A javelin then appeared in Vencarlo's hand.

Chains then lanced out from the Maidens impaling several of us, including myself. At this point, the being impersonating Vencarlo decided the time for the ruse was past, and he threw his Javelin of Lightning down the hallway. She then changed a different form (probably not her real form) that of Melia Arkona. From the abilities she demonstrated and the resistance to injury she displayed, I identified that she was a Rakshasha. I called our her weaknesses, which drew her attention with a snarl, and I quickly became the target of her scorching rays. My allies continually tried to get past her, so that we could leverage our superior numbers and flank her. She was extremely good at stifling our efforts but we finally did force her back and give us a lane to get behind her. My allies engaged her in the room beyond, and found that she had not been lying about the trap, as it activated from the center and sent blades sweeping out at all the legs in the room.

After that, she quickly filleted Merithel and Glannin had to hurry to heal him before the trap triggered again. She opened a secret door behind her and moved to withdraw, and Chazon leapt behind her to cut off her escape. With her finally surrounded, Glannin was able to knock her out. As we rested and healed in the aftermath of the combat, relieved her of her possessions, and secured her in mutliple ways, Merithel wandered down the hall to investigate something.

After a couple of minutes, we noticed he had not returned, and tried to trace him down the hallway he went down. It led to a room with four alcoves, each containing a sphere of mist, all different colors. With no where else he could have gone, we surmised he went here- yet the room was empty. Cursory examination of the spheres gave us our answer- they exuded teleportation effects, specifically a Greater Teleport. I informed my remaining allies that Merithel had been teleported away, and that I had recently acquired a spell that would let me see where he had gone. A quick casting revealed that the mist sphere he had touched had teleported him to a small cell of some kind, closed and locked, but also currently, quite empty. Had he already escaped it? Had he been..removed?? The other spheres also led to similar cells as well.

We faced a quandary- did we deliberately send ourselves to be caged in locked cells? Would we be able to break down the doors or otherwise escape if we did? With few other options that did not involve leaving Merithel to his presumed captors, we all touched the orb and found ourselves teleported to the cells. Curiously, even though we all touched the same orb, we all ended up in different cells.

We quickly found out the identity of our captor- a four armed, 3 headed Upsandra Asura. She had the Seneschal stretched out on a rack and he appeared to been severely worked over. She was in the process of escorting someone dressed like BlackJack- the actual Blackjack? When she became aware of us new occupants our her cells. My allies commenced to taunting her to redirect her focus and perhaps entice her to free them. I sent Manjenko out to look for the keys to the cell, however they were in a very hazardous position as she kept the keys on her person.

The Asura was not taken in by our taunts, so my allies began freeing themselves by destroying the cell doors. She cast a spell to try to stop us, some sort of hynoptic fascination, that failed on all of us. Calcedon and Glannin broke out, and engaged her along with BlackJack doing his best to grapple her. Once Chazon broke out we were able to surround her and bring her down, despite her ability to attack with three weapons at the same time. Calcedon roused the Seneshcal, and we spoke to him and our new ally BlackJack.

Neolandis asked how we knew he was here, and we told him GLorio told us. He told us he wished to leave the city immediately. He told us Vencarlo was down here as well, and we knew we had to find both him and Merithel before we could get out of the Arkona's dungeon. Neolandis said he had information that would be very useful to use against the Queen, but he would not tell us until we found Vencarlo and got them out of the city. We were far more free with information, and caught him up on everything that had transpired since the night of the King's death.

We went back into the labrinyth to recover our two missing comrades. We found a tunnel we recognized, that led to an illusionary stone wall we had missed the first time through. We had a revelation about how the dungeon shifting worked and it helped us navigate the maze more effectively.

We found Vencarlo in a room chained to a pillar, guarded by a Dark Sphinx. Upon seeing us, he exclaimed "You're in for it now, Sivits!" She led off by casting a negative energy spell, leading me to ready Counterspells for whatever she had left. However my comrades were able to destroy her and free Vencarlo, leaving only Merithel's current location a mystery.

Chazon verified that this time Vencarlo was who he said he was. Vencarlo looked very bad, starving and sleep-deprived, apparently the victim of the Sphinx's attention. Neolandis again stated he would reveal what he knew when he was outside the city. Anxious to get them out of the Arkona dungeon, we began to do a careful sweep of the dungeon looking for Merithel. Blackjack noted that there were marks on the wall that perhaps Merithel followed to escape.

We came upon an unexplored area with a pool of crystal clear water. It was deceptive of course- it had been enchanted to look non magical, but the water was actually the product of a poison spell. We found a secret door leading to another level. We found an area (orb?) with magical effects occurring that defied explanation. We opted not to touch it.

We made it to a vast cavern. A maze of thick timbers supported the roof in a wheel shape. Dozen of chains hung down from the roof, each with dozens of bells. Attached to each pillar is what appears to be an undead elephant- whose labor made possible the dynamic nature of the dungeon, resulting in the spinning chambers we had come to loathe. Blackjack left the room to pull a lever so we could see the operation in action- and he never came back.

Vencarlo pointed out a barge in the chamber outside, and suggested we take the barge out to the river. Merithel reappeared and while we chastised him for splitting off from the group, we had more urgent matters on mind. We debated awhile on what to do with our captive, weighing our pledge to leave her alive, with the danger she represented, with the imperative to tell Glorio that a Rakshasha was impersonating his sister. As we debated ways to return her to Glorio while assuring the safety of Neolandis, Glannon realized that she had been faking unconsciousnesss, adding another wrinkle to our plans. Ultimately, we left her shackled, tossed her out the door into the garden while never leaving the dungeon. We immediately headed for the barge.

As we approached the underground dock, the water started roiling rapidly. The largest reefclaw any of had ever seen erupted from the water and grabbed Chazon, and threatened to snip him in half. Chazon's situation looked very dire until Calcedon used his music to magically charm. Calcedon persuaded it to push us out to the river and out of Korvosa, and for some distance beyond that as we made for Palin's Cove. After we arrived, we walked through the streets looking for an inn. I abruptly realized that someone was attempting to scry us. I quickly conjured my Sanctum and urged everyone to follow me into it immediately. Once we were all inside, I revealed what prompted my actions. Moments later, I recieved a Sending. It was a communication from our own Zon Kuthonite art-lover Layori, who was curious about what we were up to. I told her sharply that next time she should ASK, and she apologized. Still, it was a relief that it was not the Queen or her agents or the Red Mantis that were on to us.

After that it was a full 4 days to Harsk. On the long days on the river Chazon told us his long term plans, eventually culminating in going to Absalom to preach the wisdom of Aroden. On the river, on the 14th, we had a visit from Madame Zalara, making her presence known through th cards. We were given prophecies that relied on the strength of our group. I was given the Fiend, most appropriate as I have spent much of training learning how to fight them. We arrived on the 16th.

Harsk consisted of only a few dozen buildings. From there, Vencarlo led us 1/2 mile north to a horse ranch, BlackBird Ranch. Trinia was here along with a friend of Vencarlos. We headed to a backroom of the manor, and went through a secret door into a room warded by what was presumably a permanent magic sanctum. Finally, his privacy assured, Neolandis finally unveiled his story. "After Eodred's death, I confronted the Queen. She denied everything, but then sent the Red Mantis after me. I don't believe they directly killed the King, as they have a prohibition against regicide. I do think they may have given the Queen some kind of slow actin poison, as she had recently started serving him tea, something very out of character for her. It was probably designed to mimic leprosy. I escaped the Castle and fled the Red Mantis and went to Salvatores. He handed me over to the Arkonas. Glorio told them not to hurt me." After telling us how he arrived in the situation we found him in, he continued:' I had conducted my own investigation into Ileosa's change. She had been looking through Korvosa's treasury. There have long been rumors that some chambers under the Castle may have been harboring items of great power and evil, such as the "Midnight's Teeth.""

He told us the legend of a powerful Blue Dragon named Kavazon, a servant of Zon Kution, who united the orcs against Lastwall. He caused great suffering in the region before being destroyed. Neolandis believes that the actual teeth of Kavazon are the relic known as the Midnight's Teeth, which he thingks are under the possession of Ileosa, incorporated into her new crown. This was likely proven when she took the arrow in the head in her public ceremony, pulled it out and used it to kill her assailant. It appears as though she is nearly invincible, but our knowledge of this artifact is next to nothing. Korvosa has no records about it. For information about the Fangs, we will need to consult the Shoanti, a culture with strong oral traditions. The Shoanti of course are no fans of Korvosa, but A Thousand Faces may be able to help us. The Tribe of the Skull has been the one most open to peace. He resides in the Callow Mounds.

Neolandis then made plans to separate from us. He told us that once we found out all we could, to meet him at the (top of?) Citadel. He advised us to use teleportation magic to speed our return. I would need to pick up that magic in Janderhoff or Kaer Maga, both potentials considering where we are going.
We carefully looked through the entire dungeon and could find no trace of Merithel.