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September 26
The party found themselves bleeding, 1/3 unconscious, and in a region without magic. They decided to climb back out of the dungeon and rest before proceeding further into the series of traps. After healing, the next challenge facing them underground was a rather clever room. The party entered in a region without magic, and they saw a pit with spikes and a narrow bridge crossing over it to a landing a door on the far side. The monk boldly raced across the pit on the bridge until he was halfway across. There he discovered the second half of the bridge was an illusion, and he fell. Understanding that this must mean that the magic dead region must end where the illusion begins, the wizard crossed with Fly and the rest of the party followed.
Then they came to a room with a huge stone door. Engraved in Gnomish was the simple question "What is my favorite color?" It turns out, after a few zaps of lightning for wrong answers, that Sankroparlazoty's favorite color was violet. One more locked a trapped door and the party found his living quarters. Then with a bit more searching they found his lab.
There was some sort of golem. It was made from iron, but it was also made from flesh. Further, it was un-golemlike in its intelligence and its ability to drain the energy out of Sankroparlazoty's body. Sankro was somehow kept alive by dark magic, but impaled on spikes on this thing's body. The huge lab was destroyed, everything shattered or ripped. It was also all covered in blood. How Sankro was kept alive they do not know, but the last 70-80 years must have been horrid for him. He begged for death the moment the party entered. The party, having difficulty hitting the thing, obliged. This was good for them because the evil thing could no longer regenerate. After a lengthy battle, the party prevailed and found the black iron heart. Then they found a hidden stash of items. (Description of item I forgot: Shaundakul's Boots - These boots increase the wearer's base speed by 10ft/rd. Once per day the wearer may double his base speed {not counting the extra 10} for 5 minutes. Once per tenday the wearer may cast find the path{recall this spell is weakened in my games})
Returning to the surface, the party borrowed some shovels from Maurice at The Wizard's Respite and buried Sankroparlazoty.
The party then set off for Calimport. Their priests doing all their information gathering for them have learned that the black stiletto may be in use in Jafara, the Ruby City. This place was once merely a convenient resting place on the road from Calimport to Memnon. The Akar bred camels here as well. Roughly 15 years ago someone found rubies in the mountains nearby. The rapid growth of the city has caused some problems. The city watch doesn't care about much so long as it isn't blatant. Life isn't worth much there. Some people have found rubies and are rich, but the rest are generally poor.
The weapon was supposedly used by Bertok Orban, an assassin who specialized in killing wizards. The party headed out that way and worked on a plan on the road. They also passed the spring equinox, which brought them strength through their emerald hearts. The party decided to a set a trap for Bertok by hiring him to kill Eron. They then ensured that Eron was never alone. The price was 1800gp, and the party paid it. The deals were made with a blindish beggar named Jimmy who sits outside the temple of Waukeen (wealth, merchants, trade, etc). A few days passed before Bertok made his move. What the party didn't know is that he had a lot of help in setting the trap. What they did not know about was the completely magic-nullifying effect of the dagger. The wizard was nearly successfully killed (I really shouldn't have been merciful, that was dumb of me), and the rest of the party chased off Bertok, who had no professional interest in killing anyone else. However, this fight became very public in the middle of the day. The guard stopped by and asked what happened. Upon hearing it, they mentioned they'd keep an eye for for Bertok. They were obviously joking.
When the city learns that a party has been seen fighting their famous assassin, it becomes obvious they must be good guys. A woman in need sought them out. Her name was Walida, and her daughter had been kidnapped or run off with a boy named Yazid. The party asked why they thought her daughter, Karima, would not be just fine on her own with Yazid. She said that her daughter is beautiful, sweet, loving, gentle, and not very bright. The two ran off into the mountains past the mines instead of going to Calimport or Memnon. The party, sensing that there might be an angry assassin out to kill them in Jafara, set out to help.
There was a road up through the mines, but then it was gone and replaced by a slight trail. The journeyed on keeping their eyes open, and eventually they spotted a bigger trail. They followed that and found a village of tents. It was occupied by people in orange. They identified themselves as the Loving Brotherhood, and they were here to worship the Exceptionally Wonderful Flaming Rainbow Ruler of All, otherwise known as the goat. The goat was definitely smarter than the average goat, but it didn't seem to be imposing its will on anyone. Their leader, Greshdarin, was convinced the goat was saving their souls for something special. Eron dispelled the polymorph that had been done on the goat and it turned into a guy. The guy was fairly confident he was a son of a pasha in Calimport and he had been dared to pick a wizard's pocket. He's a little hazy on that, because it's been many years. As it turns out, these fanatics in orange had managed to help Karima and Yazid get away from some scorpionmen. The brotherhood expected these two to join them, but they were willing to let them go if the party would pay them 500gp or kill the dragon that had been eying the goat (not all of the brotherhood were aware of the miraculous transformation of the goat). The party instead opted for just leaving with the couple.
The girl was returned to her parents, where they discovered that her father, Rimnon, was a priest of Waukeen. He explained that priests of Mask secretly rented out some space in the basement of the huge temple of Waukeen for their own shrine. Jimmy the beggar would drop coins down a hole that went to these men. These priests then had a tunnel that went underground to Bertok's residence. He was willing to help the party up to a point. He got them into the basement, where the monk was turned into a rat and found the area where the tunnel went. The next day the party went to that part of town and searched around. They poked around the butcher and the guy selling baskets. When the monk was alone in the tent of the basket maker, he discovered some facts. First, he discovered that an assassin named Bertok can pretend to be a guy selling baskets named Ali Haddad and be loved by his neighbors. He also discovered that if you're looking for secret doors with your back to said assassin, then a dagger in the back can hurt.
The monk ran, which was definitely a good call. He got out to the street and the party came running from their sneaky locations in the area. They ran into the tent but all hoped someone else would walk into the now-open secret door in the back first. The monk broke first, and he got stabbed again, but he took it like a champ.
Then he punched a few times, and luck was not on the assassin's side. He was stunned, and dropped his weapons. The party got them away from him and then beat up on the poor guy. The assassin just tried to get away from these mean people. Then there was some disagreement in the general world of gaming. It might be worth mentioning at this point that when I say "it's done," then it's done, and further disagreements on the issue can be taken to another DM.
Due to the absurdity of a certain priest carrying "invisibility purge," the man who did nothing wrong but sell baskets and do his best to complete a contract, was ripped apart by a wizard turned into a Umber Hulk in front of all the people out on the street on a busy day. Many children will have nightmares for all of their lives, and will likely turn to drugs to escape the memory, and then a life of crime to pay for the drugs. I'm not convinced that the world will see a net benefit from the actions of the party, but it's tough to say.
The party fled the city in a rush with the dagger in the possession of the rogue. They are headed to Calimport hoping that no one is following them and that their priests have worked out where to find the temple. It is the first day of Tarsakh, the fourth month. It's getting rather hot.
I hope everyone had a good time. Thanks for letting us play at your house, Jay.
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Do the asparagus look threatening?
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