Previously in Barovia...
Relic opened a shadow passage to a ruined convent deep in the Lysaga Hills, once dedicated to Nor and the Saint of Witches, and built upon an even older complex. The group uncovered halls and chambers painted with the likeness of a three-headed titan, what Ivan named Triglav.
Chiela's scent and obvious tracks lead into a circular room with three animal head passages (a wolf, a snake and a bear), as well as a slab of heavy stone carved with three dormant sigils. In order to reach the cult and the girls below, the group would need to explore the three halls and activate the arcane symbols.
As the group moved toward Wolfhead Hall, they were startled by the disembodied voice of Lysaga herself, warning them to leave lest they forfeit their souls. Undeterred, they pressed on, springing a deadly trap of fire, acid and poison. Thamior, Fog-eye and Portia were able to clear a way into the corridor, and from there a small, crumbling throne room, where some very nasty things dwelt...
Wolfhead Hall
Wasting little time, the group stormed the first sigil...
Barks of alarm and guttural beast-shouts echo down the torch-lit hall as you rush to meet their makers, weapons ready, resolves steely. A great buzzing joins the cacophony as you reach a threshold.Guardians Triumphant
Bursting into a small, two-tiered chamber, half its walls cracked or entirely crumbled into rubble, the stink of rotten meat hits you like a club. Across a sunken den littered with animal carcases and a few unfortunate travelers looms a hulking monstrosity of green, corded muscles heaped upon yet more grotesque muscle, bulging in silver wolf pelts and black, studded leathers. Despite the obscuring cloud of flies, you see his over-sized head, warty and draped in greasy black strands, is dominated by a shark-like mouth of rowed teeth, dozens of them, sprung from bleeding, pus-dribbling gums and quivering, black lips. His tiny, white eyes glow in the fire lights as he growls, tightening his clawed grip on his spiked greatclub. A troll!
Beside him, two loyal worgs gnash their teeth and tense their legs, preparing to sprint. Both look like immense wolves with an evil bent, stormy gray, overlong fangs, and burning red eyes. The one to the right of the troll is a little bigger, with a pink muzzle stained permanently from bloody kills, most definitely the alpha. Similarly, two more worgs in the den turn from their feeding and snarl your direction.
Disturbing though it all may be, the worst abomination cranes over a weak campfire near the most shattered part of the room, a troll hag even larger than the worgmaster. Her claws are massive, fingers like the sharpened prongs of pitchforks, large enough to wrap around a man's waist and lift him into a mouth big enough to bite him in half. Fangs tangle and sprout like a terrible thicket bloomed from black, dripping gums. Venomous saliva stains the front of her raggedy frock, nothing much more than crudely-stitched pelts and stretched man flesh, and it barely covers her at that. Dangling, pea-colored breasts swing nearly in the flame amidst matted, black hair, one escaped its covering and capped in a wide, black, worm-wrapped nipple. She hisses, spittle and the drip from her beak-like nose making the flames crackle.
Suddenly the hag jerks three feet into the air, gasping and gagging as a crimson mist descends upon her and fills her lungs. She violently jerks and spasms, even as her eyes fill the same crimson. The troll snaps her head the group's direction, a grimace forming, one that unleashes a torrent of mouth juices. Extending one, warty arm and sickle-like finger, she rasps in Lysaga's own voice, “Now your souls belong to me.”
Lysaga's Wrath
The Impossible Tragedy
Everything exploded in consuming fire and broken stone. Portia, Kaylan, Diana and Fog-eye were thrust from the room, skidding on their backs half-way down the hall. A deafening series of crashes boomed, followed by an enveloping cloud of smoke and dust. Thamior and Relic were no where to be found, crushed inside the throne room when it blew. Nothing could have survived that.
Fog-eye, crippled with guilt, dug furiously against the great mountain of rubble. Kaylan balled her fist, an emotional wreck, and even Diana was at a loss for words. Portia didn't quite offer comfort so much as an off-chance they survived, but things were looking dire. Besides the loss of two friends, the throne with the mountain sigil was destroyed, leaving them no way to activate it. They would never reach the lower level, never save Chiela or stop the cult.
Then blue brilliance, and coughing, as Relic blasted a way clear, Thamior around his shoulder. Kaylan, beside herself, rushed to embrace her love, while Diana swooped in and hugged her metallic friend. As it turned out, Fog-eye's accidental raining troll provided cover enough to shield both men from the brunt of the fire. Teleportation and cannon fire did the rest. Relic also managed to activate the mountain sigil before everything melted down, and in the chram the corresponding glyph glowed an unearthly blue upon the floor.
Bearhead Hall
Collecting themselves, they plunged into the adjacent hall...
You follow a narrow, crooked series of cracks through the collapsed remains of a much wider avenue, looking to have fallen only recently. The way is precarious, tons of rock balanced on questionable foundations, chance rock heaps and uneven boulders. Gravel and mud make uncertain footing, slicked further by gray-green fungi, and slipping is common.Follow the Path
The openings shrink the further you go on this decidedly downward slope, backs pressed against unyielding stone, shoulders cramped, breaths shallow. Relic is forced on his stomach to clear the final threshold with a little worming.
You empty into a sprawling chamber consumed by shadows, the furthest reaches of the ceiling indiscernible (higher than 40 feet), though a chorus of squeaks and ruffles, and the flash of several hundred eyes, clues you in to a sizable bat warren. The stench of guano hangs in the warm, humid air, taking root in your nose hairs and accosting you with every breath. It cakes the floor nearly ankle deep, filthy and nauseating.
Beyond a broken wall with Triglavi murals you see two archways. The nearest opens into a darkened, pillar-lined ruins, while the furthest holds a recess lit green by phosphorescent fungi. The fungi grows only in the grooves of a large pine tree carving, the glowing Forest Sigil.
There are two unfinished staircases flanking the wide chamber, climbing thirty feet into the air before ending abruptly. Debris piled beneath these drop offs suggest the stairs may once have led somewhere out of sight.
Diana's darkvision served her well, spotting a painted mural in the shadows of the ceiling: A chain of bears traveling a particular path through the woods. Suspecting another trap, she made careful note of where the bears walked in accordance with the flooring, safely guiding Relic through a great span of guano-caked pressure plates.
Traps, bats, potential monsters, Fog-eye warned airborne fungi growing on the droppings was highly toxic. Everyone save Relic quickly succumbed to them, contracting Histoplasmosis, a condition that could cause severe weakness and debilitation if not properly treated.
Fruga and Bli
Lysaga's Second Coming
Snakehead Hall
Determined to reach the lower levels, the party entered the snake's mouth...
Walking down the serpent's throat, you pass through a set of tall malachite doors carved in the likeness of writhing snakes. Down a short, roughly-hewed stairwell whose walls glisten with moisture, you come upon an ancient chamber fractured by some long-ago seismic event. A small ravine cuts the muck-covered marble flooring in half, with a brackish stream slithering at its bottom amidst the mud and the mushrooms.Lady Gorgon
A sturdy rope bridge spans the gap now. Across the way, a staircase leads to the river bank. Mist lifts from the ravine, obscuring the far side of the room so than you can just barely make out the architecture, much less any details or occupants, especially near the bottom of the steps. There is an incessant whisper as water passes over stone and steamy haze hisses upward.
Performances
End of the Game
The Exarch, Triglav
Well, Hello
The final sigil activated, the group returned to the Chram of Mystery. A massive stone slab was in the process of grinding open, revealing wide steps slick with moisture and a warm, rising mist. The faintest drum-paced chanting could be heard down below, often marked by ecstatic screams.
The group was no longer alone, either, as a scaled stranger waited for them at the opening...
Experience: 1333 xp each (25, 963 total )
Wolfhead Battle, 2800
TRAP: Follow the Path (Diana), 700
RP: Friends, Not Foes (Relic), 500
SKILL CHALLENGE: Jaws of Death, 1500
RP: Performances (Relic, Fog-eye, Diana), 500
Snakehead Battle, 2000
Magic: Jade Sea Snake (Fog-eye)
Money: 1000 suns off of the gorgon (166 gp each)
Loot: 4 giant snake fangs (Portia), ornate juniper bow (worth 500 gp)
New NPCs
Fruga, a hill giant witch encountered in the Bearhead Hall, imposing, putrid, but gentle as well; lured to the chram by a "big power" and kept there against her will for some sort of "big evil" ritual; has a pet dire bear; befriended Relic
Bli, a dire bear companion of the hill giant Fruga; menacing, but a gentle soul at heart; trapped in the Bearhead Hall with his mistress; befriended Diana
Lady Gorgon, a medusa witch come to bare witness to Triglav's rebirth and the subsequent Awakening of Hecate; a gorgeous monster from Azerbad, with steadfast faith; enjoyed song and stories; dead
New Monsters
Hill Giant, Dire Bear, Medusa, Ancient Constrictors
New Traps
Follow the Path (Level 8 Obstacle)
Active Quests
- Isabella's Ashes (1/3 complete; group): Attune Izzy's remains to the three Barovian fanes in order to resurrect her.
- Seeking a Sister (Fog-eye, group): Discover the remaining fanes and save Fog-eye's sister Chiela before she's sacrificed.
- Triglav Lives! (group): Prevent the devil cult from completing their fane rituals and resurrecting something more ancient and powerful than even the dreaded Count.
- Rising of the Sunsword (group): Uncover what you can about the missing Sunsword and help return day to the lightless realm.
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