Having more or less successfully crossed the bridge we arrived at the door into Pippen’s chamber to find it blocked somehow. Cathal smashed his way through and we re-entered Pippen’s room. Inside we found Ilierann - dead and drained, with his throat ripped out. His floating bag had disappeared or been taken.

Pippen was passed out on the floor again with his throat partially torn out, but still hanging on. We noted at this time that Pippen is true neutral. Coming to, Pippen begged us to help him:

“Please save my son! His name is Grastic Renfield. She is fleeing! She would only have kept me alive if she planned to come back…”

He pointed to the closet in his apartment, saying “underneath some clothes there is a potion.” Flint grabbed the potion and handed it to Pippin who drank it and it seemed to revive him, somewhat. A healing potion of some sort.

Pippen had no idea where the Huntress had gone, only that she’d drained Ilierann and then killed him, then did the same to Pippen. He was surprised to be alive. Her attempt to kill him implied she wasn’t coming back any time soon. She had taken everything of value with her.

Kyril grabbed Pippen’s walking stick to take away access to the painting and the horrors beyond ^{[The secret word for tonight is "underpantry".]} .

Pippen’s son Grastic is a giant of some sort. The Huntress keeps him in a hut near the riverside just north (and down) of the main room on this floor with many entrances (map ref). Grastic is the only creature strong enough to open and close the gate via the winch on the shore. The gate allowed water to pass through, so it was easy to open, but very difficult to close.

There are 2 days until the next moonrise. At that time Grastic will open the gate, allowing the fishy, horrifying creatures to enter underground and mate with the “breeding stock” being collected from the surface (see Pickman’s note, below\footnote{The moral right of the editor has been asserted.} and on pg. 106). Abagail had “captured” Pippen long ago.

(Pippen thinks the Huntress may kill his son, but I can’t imagine why she would wish to do so?)

It has been suggested that Grastic is … simple. We asked Pippen how best to reason with his son. He said it was “easy” and not to worry. Pippen suggested in the strongest possible terms that we NOT rest in his apartment, that visitors are … common. Fair enough.

Pippen had heard of Duneen but did not know him. Ephraim is the go-between the Innsport folk and Abagail. If we are able to free Grastic and return him to Pippen, the halfling will return to the surface with his large son.

Pippen asked Kyril to hand back his walking stick, though Kyril did not comply. Gonchar consumed some of Pippen’s strong ale, made a constitution check and felt great! Flint drank some as well and made his constitution check and felt great. Or something.

Ephraim#

The party decided to apply some healing magic and head back to Linnaeus’ cell, to the north. It seemed the safest place to rest for a bit and regenerate.

• Menka cured Gonchar’s more serious wounds for 16 points, bringing him up to 83/88 points
• Menka then cured his own lighter wounds for 7 points, bringing him to 38/47.
• Kyril cured Lycovyne’s lighter wounds twice for 16 points, bring him to 42/45.
• Flint whipped out his periapt for 7 points, bringing him to 46/55.

We left Pippen’s quarters traveling west (see map pg. 186). As we walked we noticed that our omni- present continual light effects were rather dim. The portcullis was bent and deformed, but “up” ( where?).

A large group approached from around the corner to the north. The 9 creatures up front were humanoid fish-men with a horrid and cold appearance - paunchy humanoids, covered with scales and topped with a fish’s head. Huge, fish-like eyes swiveled toward us unsettlingly. The creatures had webbed, three-fingered hands and feet and were pale gray with a slimy green sheen throughout. The largest carried harpoons, while the others carried a combination of nets, spears and shields.

The 3 creatures behind them were more humanoid and seemed to be men-becoming-fish. One carried a bow while the other 2 wielded oddly shaped battle axes. These were clearly guards for the wizard in the back.

The human in the back was nearly 7’ tall and elderly, though obviously possessed of a malevolent energy. He wore a large, wide-brimmed hat with a high, pointed top that made him look taller. He wore a loose black tunic, gloves and was cavernously thin with a wolfish, pointed face.

They won initiative.

• initiative loss
• nonetheless, Tim got off a Burning Hands spell (1 segment casting time), enveloping most of the enemy
• someone took 6 points of damage from an arrow (?)
• Menka cast Silence 15’ down the hallway, targeting the tall gent with the pointy hat
• The wizard began gesticulating wildy at the archer ^{[*Archer's Wind*, 3rd level magic-user spell. Probably.]} . At the same time Ulland “got three off”, nailing the same archer for 17, 19, 24 -> 60 points, and the dead archer slid down the wall spewing blood in all directions
• Gonchar hit one of the big guys in the second rank for 29 points of damage
• Cathal hit the same beastie for 13 points
• Flint climbed walls, and then failed and didn’t climb walls
• initiative win
• Kyril passed
• Menka said a Prayer
• Ulland fired 3 shots at one of the big guys in the second row, sneaking one by his armor and drilling him for 22 points
• Tim cast Evard’s Black Tentacles on one of the big guards in the back, getting 7 tentacles
  • all 3 fish guys up front were en-tentacled, with one killed outright
  • the 2 big guards were caught as well, but were able to hack themselves free after taking some damage
• Gonchar hit the same guard again for 16 points, killing him
• Cathal hit the other in the second row for 10 points
• Kyril did 9 points of damage to one of the trapped fishy fighters up front with his staff
• Flint successfully climbed the walls
• we notice that the big guard in the back who was not trapped, as well as the silenced guy in the pointy hat began to back around the corner to the east at (A)
• all the creatures missed Gonchar and Cathal
• one of the creatures threw a net but both fighter types made their dex checks
• Kyril got nailed by a large harpoon for 6 points, failed his save and got pulled off his feet (ouch)
• Kyril switched the +3 bonus on his staff to his Armor Class (previously added to hit)
• initiative loss
• all the creatures missed all of us
• Menka missed
• Lycovyne nailed the guy standing over Kyril for 7 points, killing him
• Ulland hit the large guard in the back 3x for 78 points of damage, taking him down
• Gonchar hit twice for 30 points, killing the last of the second row
• Cathal jumped over the battle (Boots of Jumping) and landed at the corner turning east, while Flint followed along the ceiling above him - they saw the big guard in front of the skinny guy with the pointed hat, who was casting a spell
• Kyril got back up on his feet
• initiative win
• Menka attacked the remaining fish guy up front, hitting him for 7 points, praise Thoth!
• Lycovyne hit the same guy for 8 points, killing him
  • that one counts as mine!
• Ulland ran to the end of the hallway and managed to get one shot off - the wizard caught the arrow and that action did not seem to ruin his spell
• Tim, melee attacked the large guard, hitting for 4 points
• Gonchar ran around the corner and hit the last guard for 17 points
• Cathal bulldozed down the hall, hoping to knock out the wizard and ruin his spell-casting but hit a brick wall in the shape of the wizard’s guard, before making it to his destination, doing 4 points of damage to the guard (overbearing)
• Flint scuttled along on the ceiling, got to the wizard and dropped down behind him
• Cathal failed an intelligence check and hit the deck, laughing his ass off
• Flint attacked twice, hit once, for 6 points (why isn’t this a backstab???)
• The hasted (quickened?) wizard faced Flint, fending him off, and then was able to spin around and cast spells again at the party. Flint was unable to backstab him. Too bad.
• Kyril missed, not sure who
• the remaining guard missed Gonchar
• Tim rolled again, hitting the wizard for 4 points
• Kyril got hit for 5 points by the wizard
• Gonchar hit the big guard for 30 points, killing it
• initiative win
• Cathal continued to laugh hysterically (Tasha’s Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter)
• Menka hit something with the Flail, killing the last attacker
• Ulland hit the wizard for 26 points
• the wizard cast a spell, ignoring Flint, who missed him twice
• Gonchar attacked over Cathal’s prone, laughing body and rolled a natural 1, doing 17 points of damage to the enemy wizard while also do 11 points of damage to Cathal
  • note that 17 hit points of damage did not cause the wizard to lose his spell
• the wizard let a Cone of Cold rip while he had us in enfilade, with nearly disastrous results
  • Menka failed his save and got hit for 33 points of damage, bringing him down to 5 points
  • Lycovyne, Ulland and Tim saved and took 16 points of damage each
  • Cathal, Flint and Gonchar saved as well, taking 16 points
• Kyril was still around the corner and took no damage
• initiative loss
• the wizard cast a spell and his sword lit up
• Menka used one charge of the Staff of Curing for 19 points, bringing himself up to 24 points
• Flint attacked twice, missing twice
• Ulland let loose a volley of 3 arrows, two of which hit for 22 and 26 points of damage - the wizard caught the 3rd arrow
• Gonchar hit twice, due to a prepare, for 29 points causing the wizard’s Fire Shield to explode, doing 58 points to Gonchar, knocking him down to 4 points - he did finally take out the wizard, at least.

Menka used another charge of the Staff, bringing Gonchar up to 24 points. Kyril used a scroll of cure serious wounds (on himself?) restoring 16 points. Tim handed Cathal a potion of extra healing which the paladin quaffed immediately, bringing him up to 40 points.

Kyril cast Detect Magic and examined the scene of battle. None of the fish folk or their guards radiated magic. The group did have a magic torch, which was not dimmed by the local darkness effect. It was not a continual light effect, and it was not dimmed ^{[Almost certainly an effect of having the twilight spell cast upon it (see Ephraim's Spell Book).]} . He also found among the wizard’s gear:

• the wizard’s gloves radiated magic
• an Egyptian Khopesh sickle-type sword, radiating magic
• a small pouch radiated magic
• a backpack that radiated magic
• magic/unusual torch - we discovered that the torch caused all other light sources nearby to dim - once this torch was placed in the Bag of Holding all the nearby light sources returned to full strength.

We also found a rolled-up piece of parchment among the wizard’s belongings. It turned out to be an interesting letter from Pickman to the Huntress.

As we regrouped, we once again heard the cry of a byah-kee. Shrieking and inhuman, we hoped it was far off. We assumed marching order with the thieves way out front checking for traps. Flint found a secret door. Ulland found a floor trap on the other side of the door, somehow. Cathal, levitating, opened the secret door. He saw a curtain of darkness on the other side of the room. He also heard a bone-chilling shriek and hastily closed the door.

We left the secret room for later exploration and headed north to Linnaeus’ cell. The portcullis at (A) was back down, but Cathal was able to open it again. We decided to check out the portal room again and see if the keystones had been returned. The door was locked, however, and we were in no shape for another battle, so we headed north.

The portcullis near Linnaeus’ cell was still chained up as we had left it. The cell was empty, thankfully. The party came up with a resting order spanning 16 hours that allowed us to regain all of our hit points, as well as all of our spells. Menka cast Negative Plane Protection on Cathal before we rested, just in case we were attacked in the next 70 minutes.

While we rested and churned through spells, we examined the gear we found on the wizard’s corpse. Kyril examined the pouch but wasn’t quite sure what it held. Menka was also unable to identify the contents.

The backpack contained:

• Something wrapped in an oiled cloth
• A small pouch of coins
• A book that could be felt and handled but not seen or read

Tim cast Dispel Magic on the book without effect. Lycovyne tried as well and this time it became visible. We had found Ephraim’s spell book! So we killed Ephraim after all. Pickman would be pissed. As it turned out, the soft pouch contained the spell component’s for Evard’s Black Tentacles.

Refreshed, we made our way south and west, back to the large central chamber. To the north was the familiar portal with stairs down and the sound of running water beyond, which was now our destination. Kyril tried his communicator but received only static in reply. We proceeded down the stairs.

The Littlest Giant#

There were statues along the stairs as we descended. Most were crumbled and destroyed, though one had been re-carved into an unfamiliar entity - tentacled, and rather disturbing to look at.

We entered a very large chamber with a fast-moving river flowing through it. A stone bridge crossed the river to our immediate north. Stone huts of varying sizes were visible on the other side of the river. The ground was nothing but sand, and Cathal, levitating, floated out off the steps.

One of the deep-folk, alarmed by our sudden appearance, left cover and started running toward the riverside. Ulland drilled him with a few arrows and his corpse fell into the river and floated away.

Across the bridge and to the northeast we saw a creature that could only be Pippen’s son. He was painting an area of the wall on the far side of the river, by a very large, submerged gate. Lycovyne, Menka and Flint fired up the flying carpet and headed for the far bank. On the way, Lycovyne donned his Eyes of Charming.

Lycovyne approached Grastic, struck up a conversation with him and tried to charm him. His attempt seemed successful. Grastic was friendly, and talkative. We attempted to compel Grastic to “come with us” back to his father, and away from his duties. We failed, and he stayed.

He would say “M-O-O-N, that spells —-”, denoting the subject word of most sentences, and the word was rarely “moon”. But once it was. Things were said, as a great philosopher once noted. Some of them might’ve mattered. We need to talk to Grastic again.

Of a sudden, Grastic “went away”, to be replaced by the voice of the Interstellar Satyr, congratulating us for a job well done. He also told us (through Grastic’s lips) that Abigail Dhusurra, the Huntress, had apparently fled and was no longer “in the area.”

Grastic returned to himself, but the charm had been broken. What rotten luck. He seemed noticeably tired, almost as if the experience had drained him.

Kyril walked across the bridge, the rest of the party trailing behind him. The druid attempted to charm Grastic, but without luck. Grastic emitted a giant yawn and went into his tiny stone hut to lay down on a pallet and go to sleep.

Lacking a better plan, we examined the gate as well as we could. The water was moving too swiftly to chance any sort of underwater excursion. The gates were massive, the current strong, and we could see no immediate way to disable the winch to keep them (the gates) closed.

We searched the area and along the wall for any sort of secret doors or mechanisms. Flint and Kyril failed to find anything of use, but Lycovyne did find a secret door precisely where Grastic was painting the wall when we found him.

The thieves were able to open the door safely. Stepping through, we found ourselves in a long tunnel with 15’ ceilings and a floor made of inlaid pearl. Dim, green light shone from the eyes of skulls embedded in the marble walls 5’ from the floor.

It was a long hallway. 50’ in we realized we still had 50’ to go. As we reached the end we could see into a large, dark room. The ceilings looked high, 40’ up, and we could barely make out a 10' x15’ pedestal at the far end of the room, due to the gloom.

We brashly stepped in and instantly, the lights came on. Bright, blinding light shone down upon the pedestal, illuminating the rest of the room. The walls were covered in frescoes depicting unknown heroes and battles.

Otessa, The Sphinx#

“You all look delicious” said the Sphinx sitting on the pedestal. Cathal detected no evil at all. A gyno-sphinx, apparently. She told us she would answer questions if we give her gold and riches but that the best answers would require payment in the form of a riddle.

Cathal leapt at the chance and offered 100 gp for the answer to his question. He placed the gold on the pedestal and asked:

Q: Where is my uncle’s sword?
A: It lies where part of the Sign lies, guarded by the great, grasping arms.

We ponied up another 100 gp (actually 25 pp), placed it on the pedestal and asked another question. She refused to answer, pricing that question at 200 gp plus a riddle. We placed 100 more gp on the pedestal and asked again:

Sphinx: “The More you take, the more you leave behind.”
Answer: “Footsteps”, provided by Cathal. She returned (bid us take back) the 200 gold.
Party Q: What is the Elder Sign?
Answer: \emph{It is a small greenish or grayish stone in the shape of a 5-pointed star. It lies, when complete, in a silver setting which can be worn like a necklace.}

The next question she priced at 300 gp and a riddle. We place the gold on the pedestal and asked away:

Sphinx: “What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?”
Answer: “The letter M.” She returned the 300 gp.
Party Q: What does the Elder Sign do?
Answer: It drives off the minions of the Old Ones and also protects against the Old Ones themselves.

For the next question we placed 400 pieces of gold on the pedestal and asked away:

Riddle: “They have not flesh, nor feathers, nor scales, nor bone. Yet they have fingers and thumbs of their own. What are they?”
Answer: “Gloves.” Smell the gloves, actually. She returned the 400 gp.
Q: How many pieces is the Elder Sign currently in?
A: There are many Elder Signs and some are in many pieces, while others are whole.

At this point we decided to bail while we still had some money left and come back to visit the sphinx when and if we have some far more specific questions. We went back to the riverside and found Grastic still snoring away.

In closing we did write down some plans:

• Tim could use Polymorph Self and Audible Glamer to look and sound like the Huntress and command Grastic to return to Pippen’s apartments.
• Menka could cast Hold Person on the sleeping giant hobbit and we could drag him back to Pippen on the carpet.
• We should absolutely go back to the portal room (that leads to the Hall of Seven Pillars) and see if the keystones have been returned.

Around this time Menka realized that Father Amon had charged him to find the book Unspeakable Cults, reported to be near the Sphinx Otessa somewhere deep under the Monastery of Diancecht. It was strange to find a sphinx underground in the first place and finding another one in the area was unlikely.

Session 24 - Remote Session#

The whole party returned to the relative safety of the tunnel behind the secret door to the north. Menka, Kyril and Cathal headed back up the tunnel to speak with Otessa again and try to find or get information about the book Unspeakable Cults.

We walked back up the inlaid marble floors to the room with the dais upon which the sphinx was perched. Menka began to search along the walls and floors for any type of secret hatch behind which a book could be hidden, but Cathal and Kyril convinced him not to do so as it would be like " looking around in someone’s living room". The sphinx lived here, after all. The blinding column of light emanating from the 40’ ceiling still shown down upon her.

So Menka approached the dais and asked the sphinx, directly: “Is your name Otessa?”

The sphinx, twice the size of a huge lion, 7’ tall at the front shoulders when seated, smiled and smirked. She did not answer, though she did smile. Menka got the distinct impression that the answer was “yes”, and that her name is Otessa.

Emboldened, Menka decided to ask her if she knew the location of the unholy tome Unspeakable Cults. The gyno-sphinx winced, visibly, and was taken aback. She regained her composure quickly and told us the answer would cost us 500 pieces of gold, flat, and that we would still have to answer a riddle correctly. This was different from prior questions: she would not be returning 400 gold if we answered the riddle correctly. Clearly, she did not want Unspeakable Cults to be found.

Cathal remonstrated with the sphinx, telling her that he wanted to “right the wrongs” committed below the Monastery. She replied that she respects the balance. Menka replied that he respects and upholds the balance as well, but what was happening down here was sure to upset the balance, by design.

She humored us, but the price did not change. Those of us present then agreed to the deal. We withdrew 500 gp from the Bag of Holding and dropped them in her tip jar, and she gave us her riddle.

Otessa: It is as light as a feather, yet no man can hold it for long. Answer: Breath, answered Menka. He was correct.

Otessa told us that Unspeakable Cults “lies behind the diamond eyes of the pink satyr.” Interesting.

Menka considered asking her for a description of Unspeakable Cults (to help with the casting of a Locate Object spell). He also considered asking her just what the hell a sphinx was doing down here in the first place. Cathal and Kyril talked him out of the questions, as the price would be high. 600 gp.

We thanked her for the info and took our leave, telling her that we may yet meet again.