Session 51 - "To Me, My Devil!"
13th July 2022 - 19:45 - 11:30
In-game timeline: Start of session: 1489DR Nightal 3. End of session: 1489DR Nightal 3
Our "Heroes" are surrounded by dead lizardfolk. "Lesser beings" according to Jaxii, perhaps in justification for her mindless slaughter.
Knowing that other lizardfolk are lurking somewhere in the ruins, the party decide no to rest, though Karoshi does heal up Derrick a little. Iwee meanwhile, quickly loots the bodies, finding some intriguing, if not particularly valuable, items and a little gold, which she wants to put aside, saving for someone to help her rid her of her curse, which she admits to the others is starting to bother her a little - though *not* enough to warrant Derrick killing her - "just in case".
While the others are distracted, Jaxii spots some large lizards running out from behind the big tower, heading towards them.
Iwee quickly fires off a Hypnotic Pattern spell, managing to charm one of the lizards and stopping it in its tracks. Derrick and Jaxii throw javelins, Karoshi fires off a crossbow bolt and then the lizards are upon them!
Jaxii quickly beheads one of the lizards, then destroys another with her breath weapon. The others join in the slaughter, and get a little complacent at how easy it seems to kill them. This complacency proves distracting, however, when, once a number of the lizards have been killed, the group are surprised at an attack from behind from some battle-hardened, armoured and armed lizardfolk!
These lizardfolk initially focus their attacks on Iwee and disrupt her concentration, bringing the charmed giant lizard back into the fight, as well as whittling down the bard's limited health.
The group refocus their attention towards the more damaging lizardfolk, though the giant lizards that remain still prove dangerous. After a few more attacks, and the loss of a lizard warrior, the remaining giant lizard suddenly disappears into thin air, along with the dead lizard bodies, and instead Derrick's armour starts to get warm. Very warm.
With Derrick's resistance to fire damage, the armour is luckily not causing him too many problems, though the fact that he is taking some damage every 6 seconds is a little concerning. Derrick continues to fight on and between them, the party quickly dispose of the remaining lizardfolk warriors.
This left only the lizardfolk spellcaster, who was causing Derrick's armour to heat up, and he decides to run. He bolts for the room in the centre of the ruins, with Jaxii in hot pursuit. In a surprising move, Jaxii decides to try to knock him out, rather than kill him, and she just about manages to do this before he reached the descending staircase in the centre of the room. As the others arrive, Jaxii is busy stopping her captive from dying, and tying his hands.
They decide to interrogate the spellcaster, who is quite forthcoming with information, especially with Iwee intimidating him, though how much to believe? He explains that Lispeth is the leader, that the lizardfolk are recruited mercenary guards, there are at least 10 guards in the level below, where the children are being kept. He also explains that Lispeth can appear through the picture that is displayed in his room, and looks a lot like the one the party rubbed off of the wall back in Moonfall village. He does not know how she does this - it's just "majik".
Pacino is sent around the raised plateau to search for more entrances - he doesn't find any. Karoshi pays his respect to the dead, that he helped slaughter. The party manage to get a short rest in whilst waiting for Pacino to return.
There is much discussion about the best route to take - either head for the mysterious cave that frightened Pacino, or head down the stairs. The discussion, as with many from this group, ended unresolved.
Worried about what may be below, Iwee uses another valuable spell slot to turn invisible and scout down the staircase. She sees some impressive bas relief carvings at the base of the staircase, and a torch-lit corridor leading only to a closed, heavy stone door. She listens at the door, and does hear something beyond, possibly voices, but it is too muffled to make out what is being said, or even what language is being spoken. She gives up her scouting at that point and returns to the rest of the party above. As she passes the picture on the wall above, she is sure she spotted some movement of a possibly humanoid creature just moving out of the picture - too brief to be certain, and not enough to see what it may have been, but enough to imply that the picture really was a "window" on another location.
Our "Heroes" regroup to plan their next moves…