Let Down

Last week's session started with the Big Boss Fight against the Lich Zallin. The previous session had ended just as the players entered the Lich's chambers. They were greeted by the Lich and we stopped there because it was late and I expected the battle would go long.

This gave me a week to prepare for the fight against the big bad. I took the time to plan out the Lich's moves based on my expectations of how it would go. I also decided on the motives of the Lich and whether it would be willing to negotiate. Often when having an encounter against powerful baddies with multiple attack options I miss something. So planning it out was a good idea.

To recap the Lich is working for a Demon Lord and has created a Sphere of Annihilation fueled by the Negative Material Plane that causes it to grow in size. This will be a weapon for his patron against other Demon armies. The Lich deploys the Black Sphere as it is called against a nearby town. This is just a test so I decided the Lich would be willing to move it to somewhere else if threatened. Reasoning that any players who confronted him in his own chambers would be considered a threat. This led to a scene where the leader of the players negotiated with the Lich and for a moment I thought there was not going to be a fight. An intriguing turn of events. But then they fought.

The problem began once the fight started. I had the Lich cast Anti-magic shield once he had the initiative figuring the players would open with their biggest attack spells (which they did). Once these spells were exhausted the Lich could drop the sphere and go on the attack with his Staff of Power. This all worked as expected. But then the Lich was confronted with melee attacks. For which he had very little defense. It was immediately apparent that he was going to drop in a matter of a few rounds. I always had a threshold in mind at which point he would teleport away and gather reinforcements to confront the players as they left. This happened but now he went down quickly to the first powerful attack spell.

The combat lasted an hour which is a good time for a Boss Fight. But it never felt dangerous enough for the players. For a boss fight, you want to see a few players on the edge of dying. That did not happen. I was nervous that the Lich was too powerful for the players to match against (being challenge 12) but he turned out to be a little on the weak side.

Session 85: Zallin

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Domago (human cleric), Aashdoshan (human necromancer NPC), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Lantosh (human fighter NPC).

Lakima, Eathwund, Alrix, and Domago slowly spread out at one end of the chamber they have entered. At the other end of the chamber, the lich himself is seated on an iron throne that seems to be connected to complex machines. Four Deep Gnomes scurry about checking the machines.

In a tired voice, Zallin asks what the intruders want. Lakima demands that the Lich remove the Sphere of Annihilation threatening Caster’s Ford. At the same time Alrix asks why Caster’s Ford was chosen – was it personal. Zallin responds that he could remove the sphere, Caster’s Ford he explains was only chosen to test the sphere. Any town would have worked. But he needed a location that he knew. Lakima tells Zallin that Caster’s Ford is under their protection.

“Fine, I will remove the threat from Caster’s Ford and chose another location”, the Lich says. He seems to cast a spell and the portal behind him vanishes revealing a blank iron ring. Zallin tells them that he has removed the sphere from Caster’s Ford. Alrix is incredulous and asks what the purpose is of the sphere. Zallin explains that it is a weapon that he has developed for his patron. He can test it just as well on another location.

“Not Edgerton either!” Lakima shouts.

Zallin nods and suggests he could test it on Dolmvay, the capital of Valnwall and a city with a large population of innocent people. Lakima shrugs, “They have their own wizard’s guild to protect them”. With that statement, he sees Domago move closer to the Lich a determined expression on his face. Alrix asks Zallin who the device will be used against and the Lich responds that it needs more testing before it can be used against his patron’s enemies. It is still too slow and too draining to use (as in the source published adventure I weakened the Lich giving him fewer hitpoints). When asked about the potential targets Zallin says it would be used against other demon strongholds in the abyss and on the material plane.

“I have done as you have asked, I wish you to leave now, as I grow weary of your presence”, the Lich tells them. Aashdoshan who is still outside in the throne room moves toward the entrance of the chamber but is waved back by Lakima. Lakima pauses to consider what the Lich has said and then yells, “Attack him now, Aashdoshan summon a demon!”

The negotiation actually lasted longer, I just do not recall all of the details. I really thought that Lakima's player was going to leave and let the Lich use the Sphere on Dolmvay. Then he suddenly told everyone to attack. I was planning to have the NPC Cleric Domago attack regardless. There is no way a Good aligned cleric would let the Lich continue threatening innocent lives.

Alrix begins to form a fireball and Domago and Eathwund charge toward the Lich. Lantosh also runs into the chamber. Before Alrix can cast the fireball he sees that the Lich has completed a spell. There is a huge blast of flame as the fireball detonates. Eathwund continues to run straight toward the blast (which does not reach him) while Domago ducks behind a table. As the fire and smoke clear, they see that the Lich is still seated on his iron chair seemingly unaffected by the spell. All around him the mechanical devices are blacked but still functioning. Four blackened corpses of Deep Gnomes lie smoldering on the floor and the bookcase nearest the Lich is engulfed in flames.

Domago casts Silence at the Lich from the safety provided by the still smoldering desk he is hiding behind. But he sees that it fails. Domago calls out that the Lich is somehow protected from magic. Alrix uses his Detect Magic ability and sees the shimmering outline of an Anti-magic shield around the Lich.

The Lich turns its eyes toward Eathwund who has reached the steps up to the platform. He casts Charm Person on Eathwund bringing him under his control. Meanwhile, Lantosh moves to stand between Lakima and the Lich. Aashdoshan casts Summon Monster and a Frog Demon appears, under his control. He instructs the demon to attack the Lich and it charges toward the Lich. The Lich hisses at Eathwund to protect him and Eathwund turns to block the approaching demon. At that moment Lakima successfully removes the Charm with Dispel Magic, and Eathwund steps aside. The Frog demon attacks the seated Lich striking it with powerful claws. The skeletal form of the Lich is buffeted from side to side and the Lich yells out in anger. The Lich then casts Lightning Bolt at the Demon and it strikes the demon, Eathwund, and Lantosh. It would also have struck Lakima and Alrix but Lakima is wielding the Rod of Absorption which absorbs the spell.

Eathwund now steps on the platform and strikes at the Lich but he plunges his sword through his cloak and into the iron chair. The Frog demon smashes the Lich with a claw and tears at an arm with its mouth. The Lich desperately tries to pull away. Alrix transforms into his true form of a feathered serpent and flies to the chair trying to bite the lich but he misses.

Seeing how well the summon monster is doing, Lakima casts Summon Monster from his Book of Monster Summoning and a Vrock bird demon appears. He orders it to attack the Lich. The demon teleports to stand behind the Lich. As it swings a claw to attack, the Lich vanishes.

Eathwund immediately checks the iron chair to see if the Lich is still there but finds nothing. Lakima casts Detect Invisible and does not see any invisible creatures in the chamber. Aashdoshan and his zombie guards enter the room. Lakima tells Aashdoshan to instruct the demon to destroy the machines. He does the same with the Vrock. Eathwund hastily retreats from the platform as the two demons begin smashing machines. A short time later both summoned demons vanish as the spell ends.

“I accomplished what we planned, let’s get out of here!” Lakima yells to everyone. He yells to Fenris who is in the throne room if there is any sign of the Lich and receives a negative response. As they are leaving, Eathwund notices that one, black leather book on the burning bookshelf is not on fire. He grabs it and hands it to Lakima. Lakima sees the title “The Book of Vile Death” and he hands it to Aashdoshan who eagerly takes it. As they head out of the chamber, Domago asks Lakima if he really considered accepting the Lich’s offer to target Dolmvay instead of Caster’s Ford. Lakima assures him that this was not the case. He just wanted to be sure that the Sphere had been removed from Caster’s Ford before he attacked.

“There was no way to avoid a fight, the Lich had to be destroyed,” Lakima says. Domago seems to accept that answer.

They enter the throne room and Lakima tells them that he wants to check behind the curtains behind the throne. He steps up onto the dais the throne sits upon and gas billows out of the mouths of the carved faces on the pillars around the dais. Lakima coughs and collapses to the group. Fenris grabs his heels and pulls Lakima out of the cloud of pinkish gas. He checks Lakima not expecting to find a pulse but is surprised to note that Lakima is only sleeping. But he finds he cannot wake him up. Domago uses a page from the Book of Poison protection to remove the sleep poison from Lakima and the mage wakes up. The gas still billows in the space so Aashdoshan sends a zombie minion to cross the dais and pull aside the curtain. Behind the curtain, they see an iron door, a 1-foot square embedded in the wall. Lakima orders Knock to use the helm to open the door which he does, as the iron door swings open a blast of flame bursts forth immolating the zombie standing before the door. Another zombie is sent to the open door to retrieve the contents. It returns holding a thick, red leather-bound book. Lakima snatches it from the zombie and puts it in the bag of holding.

The group now heads through the rooms leading to the exit portal. With Lantosh and Fenris racing ahead of them they enter the large chamber with the three demon statues and the exit platform. Fenris and Lantosh make it to the platform first and wait for the rest of the group to arrive. As everyone enters the chamber, a door opens and two large, green-skinned demons walk into the chamber led by a striking woman with small horns poking out of her forehead. She yells for them to stop.

Aashdoshan’s remaining three zombie minions are between the demons and the adventurers. They are immediately attacked by the demons and two of them are destroyed. Aashdoshan then casts Lightning bolt striking the three demons and passes out the door into the next chamber striking Zallin. Alrix, who is still in Coatl form and can look over everyone, sees the Lich collapse to the ground in a heap of bones.

The floor of the chamber shakes and slides like they are experiencing an earthquake. Cracks appear on the floor and walls. The three statues of demons in the chamber suddenly transform into 15-foot-tall demons. The demons roar in anger and eye the tiny adventurers.

“Quick, to the platform,” Lakima shouts and everyone runs for the platform. The command word is shouted and they experience the sudden shock of gating between planes. A few moments later they arrive in a disorganized pile back in Zallin’s Tower in the portal chamber.

There is a moment of quiet and relief. Then they again have to take the time to work out how to get past the trapped entrance to the chamber. Everyone entering the Tower in a Book and a zombie carrying it across the threshold. The Deep Gnome, Garlin appears having heard the commotion. He is surprised that they have returned and is told of the death of the Lich and his family in the Lich’s chamber. Garlin seems resigned to the loss of his family. Lakima asks Garlin what he will do now and the Deep gnome tells him that this is not his world. But he will find a deep, dark tunnel somewhere and look to see if he can find more of his kind. The adventurers say goodbye to Garlin and leave the tower behind.

The adventurers walk to Caster’s Ford. It is early morning on a clear, sunny, summer day. They do not encounter anyone until they get closer to the town. From the outside, all appears to be in order. Rather than head to the Mage’s Tower right away Lakima insists on checking in on the Hippogriff. They head across town to the stables and find the hippogriff is healthy and getting along well. Lakima asks the stable man about the Mage’s Tower but the man does not seem to know about it. Concerned they rush to Palderus’ tower but find it whole and apparently undamaged from the outside. They are greeted by Palderus’ familiar and soon the door is opened by Palderus the Mage of Caster’s Ford. He greets them and tells them he knew they had succeeded when the sphere vanished a few days ago. He points to the gaping, round hole in the floor of the room. The adventurers spend only a few minutes with Palderus. They question the days they have lost while in the Void and Lakima extracts a promise from Palderus that he will join the Mages’ Guild of Edgerton.

As it is still early in the day the adventurers decide to head for Edgerton immediately. Everyone except Lakima goes into the Tower in a Book. Lakima takes the book and flies back to Edgerton on the back of the Hippogriff. He arrives without incident just as the sun is setting. Greetings are made with the residents left behind in the Manor House of the Black Dragons. Most of the adventurers head to rooms to rest. Aashdoshan heads down into the cellars.

The next day Lakima finds his apprentice Brice and spends time going through the spells in Zallin’s spellbook. He also identifies the magic items they found on the adventure. Then he casts Dispel magic on Knock and allows the thief to leave with a stern warning about messing in the affairs of the Company. Eathwund and Lantosh head over to the Sign of the Purple Bugbear and find it packed with patrons. The manager Yana tells Eathwund that business has been great, especially with so many merchants stuck in Edgerton now that Icefang pass is closed. Eathwund gets some details and learns that the pass between Valnwall (near Larm) and Gundamark (the dwarven kingdom) has been blocked by a glacier and possibly Frost Giants. He notes to Lantosh that this might be an opportunity for a reward. Later that day he tells Lakima and Alrix. The next day Lakima, Alrix, and Eathwund do pay a visit to the Merchant Adventurer’s Guild and learn from the Guildmaster that the pass is blocked by Frost Giants and a glacier. The merchants already hired another group of adventurers a week ago to investigate. It is worrying that they have not heard from them. They tell them that they will look into it. While in the area, they check in on Rune Frost who is Chancellor of the Mages Guild that the Company is sponsoring. Rune Frost shows them the work that has been done on the guildhall and advises them of apprentices who have started studies.

A week passes. Lakima does spy on Aashdoshan a few times using his Crystal Ball with Clairaudience. He sees and hears Aashdoshan studying the Book of Vile Death and muttering and talking to himself. An ominous, large shape lies under a blood-stained sheet on a table behind him. Lakima does see Aashdoshan once during the week when the latter asks to borrow the Arrow of Direction. Aashdoshan uses it in Lakima’s presence and asks where the left femur bone of the Ghoul King resides. The Arrow points to the north and slightly downward.

Near the end of the week, later a message arrives from the Merchant Adventurer’s Guild. They inform the group that the Adventurers hired to clear the pass (the Trollkillers) have gone missing and have not been seen in two weeks. The guild asks the Company of the Black Dragon to open the pass through the mountains. Lakima calls together all of the members of the Company to talk over whether to take the job. Aashdoshan instead asks that they help him retrieve something from crypts beneath the town. Aashdoshan explains that as a worshipper of the Dark Lady he should be able to get access to the crypts beneath the closed Temple of the Dark Lady. The crypts for which the wizard Malyn is the guardian.

Several members of the company are vocally reluctant to go poking around in a crypt for necromancers. Aashdoshan argues that they should help him since he allows them to make use of the Tower in a Book. Eventually, they agree to at least speak with Malyn. The full company heads across town to speak with Malyn. They find the young mage in his shop still protected by dwarven mercenaries and accompanied by his apprentice. Lakima tells Malyn about the Sphere of Annihilation they found in Caster’s Ford, their trip to Zallin’s cube in the void, and their encounter with the Lich. Malyn is somewhat incredulous at first. Aashdoshan becomes impatient and demands entrance to the Crypt beneath the temple. Malyn refuses but relents when Aashdoshan shows him his holy symbol.

A new argument breaks out amongst the members of the company and Aashdoshan is unable to get any of the members to agree to accompany him. He does let slip that he expects to find what he is looking for in the sarcophagus of the Necromancer known as the Corpsemaker. This causes Malyn to again tell them that it would be madness to disturb Corpsemaker who has become some sort of intelligent undead and is held in a special sarcophagus. Aashdoshan leaves stating that if he is given a few days, he will locate what he needs on his own. Lakima, Alrix, Domago, and Eathwund remain to speak with Malyn. Lakima tells them that Aashdoshan is looking for another body part of the Ghoul King. Once he says that Malyn nods that it makes sense that Corpsemaker would have such an item. The body parts of the ghoul king are said to allow users to control the undead. Malyn reveals that he knew the Corpsemaker when he was “alive” and that the creature is far too powerful to be controlled. He also indicates that it was unwise to let anyone know that a body part of the Ghoul King was beneath the Temple. He nods at the bodyguards and his apprentice saying “I will take care of them”. The adventurers leave and head back to the Manor House.