Further Investigation 1 (Blighted City 13)
| Further Investigation 1 (Blighted City 13) | |
|---|---|
| Date | 9/19/23 |
| Storyteller | Dag |
| Tier | Expert+/Master- |
| Player Characters | Zeal, Kali, Damian Brooks, Clam, Grist Vanafeld, Tuli Mrysky |
| Rewards | 225 xp, 1000 gp, dragonscale staff (acid), gambler's staff, all uncommon monk weapon formulas |
| Result | Success |
| Author | Zeal |
| Downtime | 3 |
Log
Heading back into Lancaster, this time our goal was to investigate an area denoted by the Paravicar's notes. This was where they hoped the lair of a powerful spellcaster was, and we're hoping the same. If still alive I'm certain they wouldn't be pleased to see a hellknight like myself, but at the same time I strongly doubt anyone could still be living here. Regardless, we headed into town and off the warded path, in a direction we'd at-the-time never explored. This was likely a good thing, as along the way we noticed less and less undead, with increasingly fresh bloodstains. Heading down the street we witness some sort of tidal wave of corpse meat wash over an undead hulk, consuming it in an instant and moving on. It seemed to pay us no mind, which is good given we were woefully unprepared to fight such a force.
Moving past that horrid sight, we found a few different locations we would need to explore in this area to look for the wizard. Kali greatly wished to explore the library, but it was locked down tight. We could have broken in, but the warehouse was unlocked, so I saw no reason for us to take such an extreme path when another of our targets was more easily accessible.
The warehouse upper floor was mostly uneventful, aside from there being four large animal skulls placed suspiciously out in the open floor. Grist confirmed necromantic energy came off of it, but despite the best efforts of our ranged associates nobody could trigger the trap. Given my resilience, it thus meant I was the one that had to walk forward and see what the haunt would try.
Bison, not buffalo. Grist made sure we knew that. The animal skulls summoned forth bison spirits, but they posed little danger. I destroyed most of them myself, though that is to be expected given my religious connection to the Godclaw. After that Kali and I explored an office and found a safe containing some gold. Useful, but not exactly what we were hoping to find in the lair of a powerful wizard. As such, all we had left to explore was an underground passage previously hidden underneath someone's bed.
Depictions of illustrious fights adorned the walls, leading into what looked to be a fighting ring. A festering hulk, some sort of crushed up creature with shadows spewing from the holes in its face, and a Totenmaske were the first things I could see. Totenmaskes, slimy-looking undead that carry a personal obsession alongside a taste for flesh, seemed to be betting on who would win a fight between the two other undead. After speaking with the bet-collector Totenmaske for a moment, we confirm it was once the owner of this establishment and just as foul as expected. Despite Clam's hopes to let the two undead fight and weaken themselves first, some of our other associates were lacking in subtlety. Two more of the smoke-laiden creatures emerged as we fought all seven undead. Aside from the mangled creatures having a mind-addling effect to some of their strikes, the group had relatively few issues clearing them out. In a backroom we found another safe, containing documents pertaining to the creation of a number of weapons. There were two sticks that turned out to be somewhat magical, and a key to the library.
I have all due respect for Kali and her many talents, but that woman is extremely aggressive in her pursuit of knowledge. If I had held onto that key much longer she might've gnawed my arm off, so the only way we're getting into that library in the future is with Kali present.