Session 14: Battle for the Petal Blade

Session 14: Battle for the Petal Blade

The party began the session paused at a dramatic moment. The shade of Laloria, the handmaiden of Lady Shirishanu, had just challenged the champion of the party to single combat. Should the champion prevail, her service would be at an end, and she would finally pass through the gates of Ushanpoor, the brass city of the dead, leaving the party free to take the Petal Blade. Should she prevail, the party would have to leave the room of Petal Blade, and never return. To provide the party’s champion, Salinger employed his necromantic ring, summoning up the shade of Valkum the Slayer to do battle on their behalf.

Valkum was tall and strong, with muscular white skin and the white hair characteristic of the Zyanese, piled up in a bun on his head. He wore the armor of a reaver, and had at his back an immense sword. He stretched, praising the gods for the feel of real flesh on his bones, and asked the party where “that slack-jawed moron Ulaptaloom” was. After informing him about the horrible demise of his previous owner, Salinger introduced himself as the new owner of the ring, and informed Valkum that he was to serve as their champion in single combat.

“What great champion do you wish me to slay,” he asked jovially, apparently relishing the prospect of combat. Just as the party prepared to inform him that he would be facing the slight, unarmed woman standing behind him, Laluria walked right up and slapped him, almost breaking him jaw.
“You frigid BITCH!” He bellowed, “What are you doing here?”
Laluria replied in a pique, “Serving my Lady. I bested you once before, when you tried to put your meaty paws on me uninvited.”
“By the gods woman,” he sputtered, “I was drunk on the lifeless mead of the hinterlands when you got the better of me!”
“Drunk or sober,” she said, “I will destroy you.”
The party's hearts sunk, hearing that Laluria had bested Valkum in the land of the dead. They settled in to watch the battle unfold.

The two shades began circling each other, testing for openings. Laluria’s body went suddenly slack as though she was about to fall, and then snapped into a strange fighting stance. Springing with lightning speed, in one fluid motion, she disarmed the barbarian, and stunned him with a staggering blow. Things did not look good for their champion. As he reeled, she rained more blows upon him, the blood freely flowing down his chest. Finally, recovering himself, he sprang for his sword, just evading her attack. She caught him with a savage kick to the stomach, but he responded in kind, cleaving viciously into her midriff with a swing of his huge sword.

Both wounded, they circled each other cautiously, until Laluria saw an opening and pounced, stunning him again with a kick to the groin. Once again, she savagely pummeled him as he tried to recover, leaving him within close to death. But recover he did, and swung the sword in a brutal arc that caught her under the chin, breaking her jaw. Woozy she tried to come at him once again, but he kicked her aside and nearly cleaved her in half with his next blow, her blood spilling across the floor. She gave a strangled cry and vanished. Valkum grinned triumphantly as he followed quickly behind her.

[It was quite a battle, a 6th level fighter vs. a 6th level monk, with Alex playing Valkum. For both stuns she rolled 1 on a 1d6 for the number of rounds he was stunned. Had she rolled anything higher, he would likely have died. It is also worth noting that had Sir Tresken been present, things likely would have gone very badly for the party, since he would have been duty bound to accept the challenge, and is only a 2nd level paladin. Had the party intervened on his behalf, things would have gotten interesting in other ways…]

Having recovered the Petal Blade, the party proceeded back up and to the east from the mural where they discovered the secret passageway. They entered a domed room with a starry night’s sky on the ceiling. The light of a small moon illuminated on the cases on a raised dais, containing a book. The party liberated the contents of the cases, obscuring the beam of moonlight with a shirt on a spear. They recovered a long braid of hair resting on an illuminated parchment, a sinuous, white musical instrument with silver strings, and a book bound between pearly boards. After searching copiously for secret passages, the party headed back through the white jungle to the hanging merchants. They did so without incident, amazingly.

Silver Stringed Instrument 600 GP
Faceless Lion Skin and head, 200 GP
Silver embroidered pillow 50 GP
Opal studded, golden collar 350 GP
The Following Books:
The Song of Ilagesh (poetry) 100 GP
Meanderings in the Jade
Garden (Poetry) 100 GP
Impossible Verses (Poetry) 160 GP
In the Light of Other Moons 3000 GP (should you choose to sell it to Malichar)
Eggs of the Darkness Insect Malichar not interested
Lock of hair and parchment Malichar not Interested

GP per player without selling the book 260GP
GP per player if you sell the book 760GP
XP per player 1,220 (!!)
[Includes XP for besting Laluria and winning the Petal Blade. Note, some of the XP for treasure was tallied in the last session. I will discuss the book and Malichar's response to the whole thing soon.]

Eric Boyd Travis Miller Chris P. Joshua Blackketter Aleksandr Revzin