Duel at the Hanging Pagodas: Recap and the Take

Duel at the Hanging Pagodas: Recap and the Take

Well, this one was a doozie.

The group arrived at the pagodas of the hanging merchants in time for the scheduled duel between the two Storm Riders: Sir Tresken the Vigilant, first PC ever through Ultan’s door, and bearer of the Petal Blade, and Sir Carnes, leader of the rival adventuring party, wielder of the massive blade Inferno. When they arrived the overmerchant Malichar informed the party that a strange gift had arrived from the witch Zalvorex, a fat and torpid sparrow. All attempts at communication with the bird failed.

Baffled, the party left the sparrow at their pagoda and set about gathering intelligence on the rival party. In addition to Sir Carnes, they consisted of the following four: (1) Edwin, dyspeptic apprentice to the necromancer Spaldiv. Reports indicate that he is accompanied by a pair of skeletons in antique arms. (2) Little Mara, a murderous acrobat, one of Salinger’s fellow performers at the Temple of Ulim. And (3) Voldir and (4) Desh, two rough characters from the gangs of Rastingdrung.

The site of the duel was an abandoned pagoda in an unfrequented corner of the complex. After scoping the place out, the two parties converged for the duel. Sir Tresken was followed by Salinger One Eye, master thief and performer, Dozar the Gross, potent cleric of MANA YOOD SUSHAI, Sir Cletus, the palsied heretical priest of the spider god Nepthlys, and the jungle man, Unasi. Sir Carnes strided at the lead of the rival party, his black plate gleaming in the guttering light of the torches. Behind him Voldir, with a face tattoo of a black cresting wave, bearing a great spear, and wiry Desh smiling with blackened teeth over his long beard. At the back was Edwin, black skull cap on, bearing a heavy shoulder bag. Behind him two ancient warriors bearing polearms, their black hollows staring out from beneath antique helms stained with verdigris. Mara was nowhere to be seen, which gave Salinger a very bad feeling. Each party took up adjacent sides of the pagoda, with the central space left for the two combatants.

“I hope your technique has improved since your days as a squire Tresken,” said Carnes as he unsheathed Inferno, his massive two-handed sword. A family heirloom, the guard of the Inferno is flickering black flames, with a hellscape chased up the blade. Taut with expectation, Sir Tresken unsheathed the Petal Blade, a calm readiness surged from the blade into his spirit, cooling his nerves. As the two paladins began their ceremonial salutes, Cletus surveyed the opposing party with the second sight of Nepthlys, the spider god. He could see that although Sir Carnes’ intentions were pure, there was a willingness among the others for subterfuge, should it come to it. He watched them like a hawk, ready to give a signal if evil intentions took shape. As the duel began, Salinger heard a fluttering behind him, and saw the fat sparrow sitting on the rail at the edge of the pagoda.

After testing one another, back and forth, Sir Carnes struck first with a wide swing. But taking the wound, this gave Tresken the opening he was looking for, and the Petal Blade struck a devastating blow, slipping into the recesses of his armor. Each grimacing from the pain of their wounds, they began to circle again. For a minute, they parried back and forth in a game of cat and mouse that neither could win. Finally, Tresken found an opening, feinting one way and then cutting into Sir Carnes’ calf when he went the other. Just as his party smiled, murmuring congratulations to one another, Sir Carnes struck back in rage with a savage blow, batting aside the petal blade and striking terribly into Sir Tresken’s ribs. Ragged, the two paladins began circling again. “You have come a long way Tresken, I will grant you that. It is a shame you will not live to claim your Crow. Your sword arm would have served our Chatelaine well.” There was a note of respect in Sir Carnes’ voice now—that and grim resolve.

At this point, each paladin was within a single blow of death. Under the pressure of the strain, Cletus saw evil intentions of a more active sort begin to take shape in the necromancer Edwin. Giving a signal to his companions, Cletus readied a spear to break the necromancer’s concentration should he cast a spell.

And then, all hell broke loose.

The necromancer began blowing on a small hollow pearl, from which a blue smoke poured in prodigious quantity. With a sinking feeling the party recognized this as a method of summoning Ivar, the herald of the demon Bazekop, Prince of the West Wind. At that same moment, an arrow flew out of the darkness from the black woods beyond the pagoda, striking Salinger in the back. Salinger, ignoring the sniper in the darkness, drew forth a stench rose and lit it, tossing it in the midst of the rival party. As the choking gasses began to spread, Cletus, Dozar, and Unasi each fired a missile weapon at the necromancer who, wounded, stumbled and clutched at the pearl.

Focused on their honorable contest, the two paladins were oblivious to all of this. At this moment, when life and death hung in the balance, Sir Carnes’ greater years tilted events to his favor. When Sir Tresken momentarily slipped, losing his footing for a second in his own pooling blood, Sir Carnes moved with unholy speed, Inferno arcing up from below, severing Tresken’s breast plate and lodging deep into his jaw from below. The blood rushed forth in a great gush, and the Petal Blade let out a keening cry, a wave of pure grief that broke against the pagodas.

As the smoke from the stench rose billowed out, choking the rival party, Voldir stepped forward and threw his spear, striking Cletus in the shoulder and causing him to lose his a precious spell. But Dozar succeeded where Cletus failed, calling on the Slumbering God to hold the rival party. His divine enchantment caught Edwin, Sir Carnes, and Voldir who froze in their action poses. Taking up the Petal Blade, he slew the paladin, channeling the blades grief stricken fury. Next in the bloodletting were Voldir and Edwin. As Edwin fell, so too did his unliving servitors.

Meanwhile, the fat sparrow, unnoticed by all except wily Salinger, leapt to the ground. It rapidly transformed, growing in stature into a lumpen man of shifting appearance that the party recognized to be Vo, the herald of the Witch Zalvorex, mortal enemy of Bazekop. In answer, out of the blue smoke from the pearl shot Ivar, with a clap of thunder. His grey cracked skin and long drawn features were illuminated by a sudden flash. Floating in the air in infernal majesty, he loosed a terrible bolt of lightning that struck Vo, who lost his concentration and with it his main offensive spell, as his flesh seared. But recovering himself, the herald of Zalvorex uttered a potent incantation, sealing himself and other party members in a shimmering sphere of protective energy.

Meanwhile, as Salinger scrambled for cover behind a post, a burning sensation told him that poison was at work. He knew Little Mara was somewhere out there beyond the light in the black chasm of trees. Salinger looked desperately out into the darkness from behind his cover, as a second arrow struck the post. Finally he spotted her, fastened with ropes to a tree, forty feet away. He reached for his crystal bow, setting it to fire bolts of raw force. As he sprung up, a second arrow caught him in the shoulder. But his aim was true, and the bolt struck Mara, sending her spinning out, clinging to the end of a rope in the darkness. His sense of victory was tempered by the feeling of poison mounting in his system.

Turning he surveyed the raging battle. While Unasi fired arrows at the dangling Mara and the clerics finished their bloody work, the true contest was between the two arcane potentates. Since Ivar’s powers were blocked by the sphere, he flew right into it as Vo transformed into a faceless lion of the white jungle to meet the challenge. Ivar’s claws dug deep, raking the already injured backside of Vo. As Dozar and Cletus rushed to his aid, Salinger pulled out the ancient ring and called up the shade of the warrior Valkum from the hinterlands of life and death. With great gusto, and jaunty words, the warrior, long white hang flying over well-muscled arms, turned to do battle with the demon. As Valkum strided into battle, Salinger drew his evil dagger and circled looking for an opening.

The two heralds traded terrible blows, their claws raking each other’s flesh. The others tried in vain to harm the demon, but he moved like lightning, flashing now here and now there, and had skin as hard as iron. In his demonic hubris, Ivar believed himself invulnerable to mortal hands. So he made one last ill-fated attempt to slay his foe. He raked the white lion with terrible claws, exposing with satisfaction Vo’s muscle along one flank. But it was then that he heard the trumpet of his doom, an eerie simian laugh echoing from the darkness behind him, as Salinger leapt onto his back, driving his baneful knife to the hilt into his cracked grey flesh, dragging it like a butcher down through the flesh. In this moment of weakness, the others struck true. There was Dozar with Petal Blade, still burning with hot anger, and Valkum with a glad cry and swinging blade, and the claws of Vo who reared up and raked great gashes down his chest.

Sensing his sudden doom, terrified, Ivar shot into the darkness of the chasm. But there was Salinger with his bow drawn, and Cletus his spear. A force arrow struck the demon, sending him spinning out of control, and Cletus with the shot of a lifetime struck with the spear as he twirled through the air. Down he went from the blows, twisting wildly into one of the great boles of the trees. With a sickening crunch and sudden slackening of his struggle, he plummeted down into the darkness.

The party took stock of the scene of carnage, lingering over Tresken’s body to say some words of prayer. Salinger felt the poison take hold, his heart beating erratically, his skin suddenly grey and hands trembling. He slackened and slumped. But for his unparalleled vitality all would have been lost.

Vo approached the party, laying his hand, suddenly quite large, on Dozar’s shoulder. “You must go now. You have thwarted Bazekop’s purposes too many times. This was a terrible blow. He will come for you here raging, with the winds at his back. You may go to your world, or elsewhere in the jungle. The potency of life makes scrying in the jungle difficult, and he will have difficulty locating you. As for us, we will prepare for war. You paid a terrible price, but know that this was a tremendous victory.”

Little Mara and Desh are nowhere to be seen. When you go to the Pagoda of the rival party, Nekalimon emerges from his pagoda to bitterly shoo you away, but is clearly afraid of you. Unfortunately, on his way out, Desh grabbed the most obviously valuable items, including the endless flagon of wine. (Salinger, roll 4d6 under your charisma, if you pass the guards at the dock stopped him from boarding their vessel and turned him over to you.) Some significant loot does however remain, both here and on the bodies.

Ivar, Herald of Bazekop 2800 XP (½ goes to the party, owing to the aid of Vo)
Sir Carnes 600 XP
Little Mara 400 XP
Edwin 300 XP
Voldir 200 XP
Desh 100 XP

These three fine weapons are nonmagical but +1 to damage, and come with an upkeep cost:

Two-Handed Sword Inferno 1500 XP (300 GP cost per session used)
The Spear Jade Fang 300 XP (60 GP cost per session used)
The Knife Flicker 150 XP (60 GP cost per session used)
Storm Rider Plate 450 XP

Three Necromantic Tomes are among Edwin’s unnerving possessions. They contain sufficient information for Anthony Huso's character to become a necromancer if he is interested in doing so (this is a magic-user sub-class)

The Silent Tongue
This book is coptic bound between two plates of black glass etched with silver runes. It is a grammar containing the hidden language of the dead. It can be used to learn the following necromancer spells: 1st level: Command Undead, Skeletal Servitor, Summon Necromantic Familiar, 2nd level: Zombie Servitor, Speak with the Dead, 3rd level: Animate Dead, Skull Speech

Feast of the Poltergeists
This book is bound in green silk boards, decorated garishly with cavorting spirits. It is a bestiary of invisible entities and spectral phenomena. It can be used to learn the following necromancer spells: 1st level: Haunting, Chill Touch; 2nd level: Choke, Spectral Hand

The Recollections of Vaz Vazgull
This book is bound in black leather. It is consists of the demented ravings of a syphilitic mage. Those who puzzle over its mad labyrinths of meaning can learn the following necromancer spells: 1st level: Cause Light Wounds, Ray of Enfeeblement; 2nd Level: Ray of Pain

1 Scroll with spell Ray of Pain, Ray of Enfeeblement

XP Per player: 1,200
Joshua Blackketter your next character can start with 1/2 of you XP at death, plus the full 1200, as well as your remaining possessions (aside from the Petal Blade)

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO DO NEXT SESSION

Chris P. Aleksandr Revzin Eric Boyd Joshua Blackketter Anthony Huso