Return to the Hanging Palace: Recap and the Take

Return to the Hanging Palace: Recap and the Take

The last three sessions saw the party crawl through a shimmering priaduct to return to their old base of operations at the pagodas of the hanging merchants. There they caught up with their old comrade Bulras, who filled them in on the recent goings on. They ducked some kind of malfeasance from Nekalimon, the merchant on the payroll of Bazekop, Prince of the West Wind. Salinger’s contact informed him that Umpalior the Great was in the process of reclaiming the sewers and undercity, and that goods were often searched by armed guards on the Great Sewer River.

The party returned quickly to the jungle, fearing Bazekop’s unwanted attentions, and longing to put the hound Hector to rest in the Burial House of the hanging palace’s gardens. Along the way they were bushwacked by Transit Ivy, murderous vines with a deadly teleportation power. (This is one of my favorite entry on my big Level 2 encounter table for the White Jungle, so I was pleased to see it come up.) Although the houri Satareh was almost consumed by the plant, and Bashan the warrior from Tekumel took the first of his ill-fated falls in connection with the plant, the party escaped without fatality. After camping for the night, they descended to the hanging palace. They discovered quickly that the Plumed Reavers—violent bird men—had overrun the place after the party cleared the way for them by destroying the hanging palace’s aerial defenses and dispatching many of the origami soldiers. The bird men attacked them while they were descending the stairs. Owing to a string of unfortunate rolls, Bashan fell to his death in the gardens below, but the party overcame the bird men, reaching the gardens below.

In the next session, the party explored the gardens at their leisure, in search of the burial house. After discoursing with the shade of Lathanon, last of the Incandescent Kings, who was distracted as always, the party poked into a number of further areas where they witnessed a number of wonders including an orchestral glade of musical plants, before heading out of the garden towards the north wing. Once in view of the ruined north wing for the first time, the party was spotted by Plumed Reavers, on the upper floors. They fled back into the garden, taking a position on higher ground near some lunar grapes in order to fend them off. They prevailed in the ensuing assault, although the Bryan Mullen’s muscle wizard was slain in brutal fashion. During the course of the conflict, Satareh bedazzled the lone surviving plumed reaver, who is now Bryan Mullen’s PC kee-aw. He was able to point the party towards the burial house.

In the third session, the party made its way to the burial house, first conversing with an insectile unicorn—the sole remaining insectile unicorn of the hanging palace after the recent depravities of the Plumed Reavers. When the party offered, it expressed an eagerness to escape the gardens, and accompany the party into the White Jungle. The noble creature was clearly terrified. The burial house turned out to be infested with flying barricuda, that the party slew in fine fashion. Within, they gave proper funeral services for Hector, accompanied by the shade of Lathanon who said his farewells, reminiscing about their past exploits, and sang a haunting funeral dirge. They sent Bashan to his final resting place in the heaven’s below as well, a true warrior’s send off—the last person before Bashan (and Hector) to receive such treatment was none other than Lathanon himself. On their way out the party looted the place, prying out a large topaz and seizing various ornaments. In a final mad dash, the party escaped to the South Wing (luckily evading encounter with the plumed reavers) and holed up in Queen’s chambers in the bathes on the first floor. This is where the next session begins.

Creatures bested
1 Transit Ivy 200 XP
10 Plumed Reavers 600 XP
1 Reaver Captain 200 XP
12 Flying Barricudas 480 XP
Topaz of the Orchid Throne 1000 XP
Breastplate with Grotesque 300 XP
Various reaver armaments 150 XP
Crystal bow (10 charges 500 XP
Each setting)
Performing an epic 500 XP
funeral for two
beloved party
members in the
dreamlands

XP per PC:

Eric Boyd 491
Bryan Mullins 246
Evlyn M 737
Aleksandr Revzin 737
Maxime Golubchik 492
Chris P. 737
Pete Segreti 246
Unasi 368 (10,168 to date)
Lori 368 (368 to date)