Session 15 - The Ebon Aspect and Treasure Split

The door from the maze was smashed to flinders as a hulking figure menaced the shrine to Vecna. The temperature dropped, and goose bumps formed as the creature padded forward.
Feldnar cast a web spell through the main entrance and into the hallway to slow the unseen creature.
The Ebon Aspect ripped free of the webs and moved down a side passageway and thereby entered the shrine to Vecna via the side door. The adventurers felt an arctic blast as the creature squeezed through the door, and save the rasping breath whatever it was was completely invisible!
The fighters ran to meet the unseen beast. The creature broke its invisibility as it summoned a large spectral morning star, a spiritual weapon of dark power which immediately attacked Aarth. THe creature itself was 11 ft. tall, dark blue, 6 armed, though only 3 of which had claws, the other 3 ended in stumps. It's hairless fanged mouth and black dead eyes stared hatefully at the group. The creatures appearance startled and shook the heroes.
A savage fight ensued, Lath having been cornered fought to near death. Feldnar cast a scorching ray from a scroll to little effect. Stigand's acid aura also seemed to do little to the creature.
Worse yet, the Aspect did cold damage to those that injured it, and non-magical weapons had little effect on the beast. When it was finally destroyed it left a strange mark on the slayers, Aarths, hand. It also left behind a fist sized reflective black faceted stone.
The Ebon Aspect had destroyed the lift, though Melinde and Constance were at the top of the shaft with ropes to help haul the group out. After the group got out of the mine there was a scene with the head of the Militia, the head of the Heironean temple, the Mayor, Sheriff and Fellow Mine Operator Balabar Smenk. The group was lauded as heroes, and given the contents of the cult’s lair to cart off over the next few weeks. The mine owner Ragnolin Dourstone had disappeared days ago along with his bodyguard. Aarth tries to accuse Smenk of colluding with the Cult of the Ebon Triad. Smenk admits as much, explaining that is why he had Sheriff Cubbin talk the party of adventurers into destroying the cult. Smenk told how the cultists killed his head of operations to coerce him into supplying them and Dourstone. He cast Dourstone as a criminal.
The group buried Mouse and Mendax and had a small ceremony. The Mine Shack starts to be referred to as 'Mouse's House'.
The druid Terra hears of your groups accomplishments. Feldnar and her make some time together. She starts working on a small garden at Mouse's House.
The entire group talks at length with Allustan, who has been busy with rubbings taken from the Whispering Cairn. Allustan spoke at length about the origins of Vecna, and the distict possibility the cultists temple under Dourstone's Mine may have been a base used by Vecna or his followers while he was a mortal centuries ago. He also took a look at the black gem stone which was left behind after the death of the Ebon Aspect. He says it is a stone created by great extra-planar magics but not magical by itself. Stones like this are known as ‘Touchstones’ and can be used as a replacement for pearls in the spell identify and a replacement for other gemstones used in casting spells. It will diminished by successive castings until it is a lump of black rock. Allustan also spoke to Feldnar about his ‘Magical Thesis’ It is an arcane accomplishment which demonstrates the pupils budding mastery of magic.
Dulok Blitzhame, the leader of the triad of Drawven traders from Greysmere Covenant has a long drinking and tale telling session with Bornir and Moregrim. He tells them of his concerns about Ragnolin Dourstone's dissapearance. He is very interested in Dourstone's mine, since the drarves of Greysmere prize the mines iron ore which produces iron of a singular reddish hue.
Ellival Moonshadow treat Lath and Aarth to a lavish meal as they regale him with tales of the groups deeds against the Ebon Triad.
Ardgaal seeks the guidance of Amariss and Isolde at the Shrine of the Green Lady. He brings with him the dozen bottled green worms to show them.
Stigand chats with Terra the druidess and she invites him to seek out the company of other nature worshippers and woodsmen outside Diamond Lake at the Bronzewood lodge.
Azrael busily sets to using his merchant background to sell the treasure the group has recovered. Having the fewest friends in Diamond Lake he insures the group is not robbed by the criminals and low life thugs of Diamond Lake.

Session 14: Face of Evil - The Faceless One

After resting in a room deep in the maze of Vecna, the group healed it's wounds and studied spells to prepare for the inevitable confrontation with the Faceless One. The newly formed band of 6 survivors and 2 new comers opened the secret door to the area beyond the maze and found a hallway. The hallway was strange, having bone white tile and walls formed of green stones, shot through with moving pulsing purple veins of light. The stones also had strange hemispherical projections in a pattern along the length of the wall. The adventurers traveling down the hall until they came to an opening to a larger room, they then went inside. This was a sacrificial chamber. Along the sides of the hall strange black columns moved as if hands were stretching to get out. At the very back a flat altar of red rock was flanked by two purple robed acolytes. While closer to the adventurers 2 black cloaked and cowled figures paced. Ardgaal was frst into the room and the cowled figures turned on him. They floated toward him and he found their feet didn’t touch the ground, indeed on closer look they were not men at all, but something evil and insane. A type of undead he had read about at the temple - Allips. They are born from suicide and madness, and they steal sanity away. He backed away from them and into a column, which suddenly attacked him. Black stony arms reached out from the column and grappled him. The Allips spiked him with their ghostly arms and he felt his sanity flee. One of the Allips set up a cacophonous babble and half of the adventurers were caught in the insidious spell. Bornir enlarged Ardgaal, giving him enough strength and weight to break free from the stony arms. Lath tried to turn the undead, but he was blocked by the diabolical evil of the shrine, and his repeated attempts failed. In this dark place no god of good could hear his plea. Bornir cast a silence spell and temporarily stopped the hypnotic effect over half the group. Meanwhile the two acolytes had cast defensive spells one had fled and the second cast a web spell from a scroll. Feldnar burned much of the group out of the webs with a burning hands spell. Ardgaal approached the remaining acolyte but was stunned as the man in ragged purple robes cast a color spray in his face. The second robed figure then fled. Ardgaal was saved from ruin by Bornir’s Invisibility to Undead spell. The Allips were eventually cut down. The adventurers followed in the direction the men had fled. They encountered sleeping quarters and eventually an alchemical laboratory. At the back of this room were 5 figures, 4 in ragged purple robes, the 5th in green robes with mystical runes, he bore a strange 3’ ft. long carved rod, and his face was covered by a leather mask also indented with mystical symbols. In front of the 5 was a large ogre. Not just any ogre, but the dwarves recognized an elite ogre of the Ogre Mound, decked out in plate mail, and wielding a large shield and flail. Bornir remembered his grand dad, Thurgrid, telling him how he got his many scars. “See this gash right here? A mean foul ogre did that, nearly tore my arm off. I cut his foot off then when he fell went for the kill.” His aged grand dad’s eyes shore with the memory of the kill. “Ogre’s are the smallest of giants, but don’t underestimate ‘em. They’re mean and even the smallest can still kill ya. We dwarves know size isn’t everything.” The mage in the leather mask spoke in a strange voice "Fate conspires to kill us all. I arranged for an Ogre from the 'Ogre Mound' to act as my bodyguard should any on Dourstone's kin become suspicious and investigate." The Faceless One started casting a vile summoning spell, while the ogre bodyguard blocked the groups advance. An apprentice cast a color spray hitting several of the adventurers, blinding and stunning them. Bornir cast a silence spell. Moregrim moved cautiously forward to engage the ogre. The other 3 apprentices moved to a rear door and the Faceless One followed them out. The 4th apprentice closed the door behind them. The group was alone with the monstrous armored ogre. It’s flail was a huge metal banded club with chain and spiked ball attached. The Flail head was a ten inch ball of solid iron with wicked spikes. It smashed heavily into Bornir almost knocking the wind out of the solid dwarf. Bornir whipped his trusty axe out and hacked into the ogres shin with a satisfying spray of blood. Meanwhile the rest of the adventuring party filed into the room to try and surround the ogre. The ogre went down in less than a minute, but it gave the Faceless One enough time to cast warding spells and move into a fighting position outside of the silenced laboratory.
Lath and Feldnar were in the rear. Feldnar had moved from the hallway when a fierce creature sprang on Lath, crowding him into a corner and he pressed against his shield to keep the fiendish gorilla at bay. A second creature was barely visible behind it.
Bornir went to Lath's aid but the tight quarters meant only he was able to fight the beast. The rest of the group tried following the cultists. Stigand, Azrael and Ardgaal entered back into the sacrificial hall and ran straight into the second summoned fiendish gorilla. The fight started anew.
Azreal ran afoul of one of the grasping collumns and was caught in its rocky grip, and the Faceless One unleashed a lightning bolt into the trio. Ardgaal amazed his fellows by dodging the bolt. The second lightning bolt, this one cast from a scroll he wasn't so lucky. Magic missiles lanced into Stigand, and the group attacked the apprentices and the Faceless One after the second Fiendish Gorilla was slain.
Finally all the other foes had been killed and only the Faceless One survived, since magical wards kept many of the blows from connecting. He was firing off his remaining spells and controlling a flaming sphere to ward off the adventurers when a shot from Aarth downed the enigmatic enemy.
"My doom is to be your doom..." Were his last slurred words, as blood trickled from his leather mask and he slumped to the ground with a thud.

The group set about scouring the rooms for valuables. They found a trapped chest, in a room clearly used by the Faceless One as a bed room. His lab proved to be a fully stocked alchemical laboratory with almost a dozen vials, placed prominently on a shelf with small green worms of a vicious appearance. Their mouths were rings of serrated teeth, and their flesh was leathery and had noticeable ridges running the length of the 6" long abominations. All of them lay dead in formaldehyde, but this was clearly the origin of the worm found in an identical vial at Filge the necromancer's lair.
The group healed up as best they could, then Feldnar swept the rooms with his detect magic spell. He had trouble making out which items were magical since the entire complex was suffused with magic. Feldnar was able to discern a magical trap on the chest. With help Ardgaal located the trap, and actually disarmed it, by carefully excising mystical runes which had fire trapped the chest. Meanwhile Feldnar and Aarth were studying two captured spell book and a written letter. The first spell book was shard by the apprentices, and the second book belonged to the Faceless One! Aarth then looked at the letter and then read with concern as it described something which had already come to pass. It seems that when the heads of the three branches of the Ebon Triad cult are killed, it will summon a mystical being, called an Ebon Aspect from the cold black pool in the cathedral. As he read the letter aloud, the lighting provided by the writhing mystical bands suspended within the walls dimmed noticeably, then after a pregnant pause brightened. The group of adventurers quieted down, then slowly went back to what they had been doing.
Inside the chest was a smattering of treasure, a cloak that detected as magical, some coin, a few gems, and a long sword. Along the length of the blade was written in Elvish the word ‘Nenharna’ or ‘Light’s gift’ in elvish. The sword glowed with an alternating violet and blue radiance. When Lath handled the blade he felt a sense of wellness. After some testing he found the blade could dim in response to queries put to it.
While Aarth alternated between talk of magical spells with Feldnar, and appraising the long sword with Lath, the 2 dwarves were sharpening their blades. Ardgaal was re-reading the Faceless One’s letter. Azrael and Ardgaal were quietly discussing whether to join this larger group on a more permanent basis. Stigand was cleaning his weapons, while trying to listen in on Azrael and Ardgaal’s conversation.
Suddenly a great crash followed by and a mighty roar echoed down the hallways. The temperature in the room immediately dropped 10 degrees. The Ebon Aspect had arisen. The triads doom had come.

Session 13: The Face of Evil - Vecna

The party of adventurers left the caves of Erythnul behind. Their friends, Mendax and Mouse, were sewn into their blankets. They entered the main foyer of the temple and heard voices in the cathedral. A battle had just concluded and 5 figures were in heated discussion. The adventurers recognized Constance Grace, the ex-prostitute from the Midnight Salute whore house. After she recognized the adventuers, introductions went around: Melinde a female warrior of Heironeous; Ardgaal, an Inquisitor of Wee Jas; Azreal, a priest of some unknown deity; lastly, Purple Prose, the elf madam of ‘the Midnight Salute’ and prisoner.
It seemed Prose had sold out the whereabouts of Grace to the Vecnans…again. The trio had heard theat a woman named Grace was in search of reliable bodyguards, and Melinde had heard of the Halfling Paladin Imm’s pledge to protect her. She had determined to help the lady and try to sway her to a more righteous course. Upon arriving at the whorehouse they found Grace missing from her room, and a quartet of figures fleeing into the night. They persued and eventually tracked them here where they were set upon sacrificing Grace into the black pool.
The two bird-men and a human wizard were slain, and Prose surrendered.
Aarth eventually brokered a deal wherein Prose would reveal everything she knew about the cult, and in return she would accept exile to Celene. Aarth would arrange for her to travel as a prisoner with the next silver shipment sent by Ellival Moonmeadow.
Prose told how she had long paid homage to the god Vecna. In return she gained certain unsavory but useful allies. Eventually she was contacted by agents of a group known as ‘the Ebon Triad’ A heretical group who believed that the gods Erythnul/Hextor/Vecna would be transformed into an Overgod, an Ebon Aspect representing all evil.
Their agent Theldrick, a cleric of Hextor, told her of a secret laboratory buried somewhere beneath Diamond Lake. They were determined to find it, and with her help they were able to meet with and magically control Ragnolin Dourstone. Dourstone then turned his efforts to finding the lost laboratory somewhere beneath his mine. Last year he found it, and Theldrick and other member of the Triad moved into the complex.
Recently the worshippers in the complex had increased in numbers and zeal as they neared some ritual. The Faceless One was afraid the existence of the Triad would become known so set his agents against anyone who had recent contact with Dourstone. Dulok Blitzhame of the Greysmere Trading Concern was distracted and often sent to other towns to keep him away from his friend Ragnolin. Likewise Grace was abducted, to be pumped for information, and killed. Etc.
She even believed that Balabar Smenk, a rival mine owner, had been somehow convinced to help Dourstone get supplies to the burgeoning cult. Prose had heard rumors that his business manager had disappeared recently and may have something to do with current events. Smenk’s story is that he is ‘Away on business.’
When pressed for more Prose offered up a description of the Faceless One. She described him as a green robed figure who would never let anyone see his face or skin. A tall man, wearing an ornate leather mask with arcane symbols impressed into the leather. The only thing you can see are his black eyes, eyes that have no whites. She shudders at the memory.
With her telling complete Melinde escorted Grace and Prose outside. She would go and get the Militia.
Meanwhile the 6 adventurers plus Ardgaal and Azreal would continue to explore the complex. They next went into the lair of the Vecna worshippers. They found a dark maze, and as Lath and Aarth passed by the walls they sensed several secret doors. Finally they threaded their way to a door, and before they could open it, several bird-men attacked them from different directions. Crossbow bolts and flasks of alchemical fire were hurled before the bird-men fled into the dark. Often they would circle around and strike from another direction.
A running skirmish ensued. Then they attack would lessen, the adventurers would try to pull together again, and again they would be harried from several directions. Eventually 16 bird-men and 2 dire weasels would be killed, though at a tough price. The best tactic seemed to be 2-3 adventurers with ranged weapons sweeping through an area to clear it out. Their leaders proved difficult as one cast a Grease spell repeatedly, and the other was a tough rogue with a necklace from which it could hurl fireballs. After an eternity of sniping they were killed.
The group rested.