IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

SESSION 34D: THE BATTLE TURNS AGAIN

January 5th, 2009
The 18th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

… AND AGAIN … AND AGAIN

Things looked bleak. But then Agnarr, who had been feigning death while secretly being replenished by Dominic’s touch, surged up – stabbing the ratbrute in the back from his prone position. The ratbrute with a snarl of rage backhanded him, sending the barbarian back into unconsciousness, and then moved towards Seeaeti.

But Dominic, with another burst of divine energy, had managed to close up Tor’s grievous wounds. With the vicious serrated edges of raw flesh still glowing from holy power, Tor stood up.

The ratbrute whirled to face him… and then was forced to retreat before his bloody-minded assault. It cried out to the dwarf over its shoulder. “Woreron! Help me! Help me, please!”

But to no avail. Tor cut him down.

The dwarf, having apparently exhausted his supply of spells summoning a veritable swarm of hawks to plague Tee in the air, charged back into melee. Tor, who had been anticipating doing the same to him, blocked the sudden and unexpected attack in frustration.

Ibulli swooped out of the door and up to a level equal with Tee… who promptly released the magic of her boots and dropped back to the ground as the summoned hawks began winking out of existence.

Tor headed towards the spider-thing, letting Agnarr (newly rejuvenated once more by the constant ministrations of Dominic) take his place in the skirmish with the dwarf. Ibulli and the dwarf both fought towards each other, trying to encircle the battered heroes. And then the quasit reappeared as well – darting in and out of invisibility as it harried them time and time again.

But then Dominic dumped a potion of see invisibility down Tor’s throat, and he could finally see the invisible quasit. The quasit, on the other hand — getting ready to leap onto Agnarr’s back — never saw it coming: Tor thrust his sword straight through its tiny chest.

The quasit screamed in pain and tried to pull itself off Tor’s sword… but it was too late. Tor smashed the blade to the ground, cleaving the demonling in twain.

THE FINAL BLOWS

With the quasit’s death, Ibulli gave a wail of pain and re-doubled its efforts.

The combatants circled each other in a furious flurry of blows, but then Elestra emerged from the tower and Woreron the dwarf found himself caught between her and Tor.

With Woreron’s defenses harried, Tor was able to land a blow hard enough to dent the dwarf’s armor. Electricity arced up from the impact and the dwarf grimaced in pain.

But then the grimace turned to a grisly smile and the dwarf took a casual swing at Elestra with his battleaxe, easily sweeping aside her rapier and cutting deep into her thigh.

“A fine hit, youngling,” he grinned manically at Tor. “But what are you going to do once your friend is dead?”

“What did he say?” Agnarr shouted over the din of battle.

“He’s taunting me!” Tor laughed. “He’s actually taunting me.”

Tor swept the dwarf’s axe to one side and killed him. “That. That’s what I’m going to do.”

He pulled his blade free from the dwarf’s corpse with a crackle of lightning.

Agnarr, seeing the dwarf fall, threw his own blade aside and grappled Ibulli – thinking it imperative that the creature not be allowed to flee lest it fetch yet more reinforcements to the fray.

Ibulli struggled to escape. And perhaps, if Agnarr’s massive thews had been unsapped he might have held. But eventually the thrashings of the creature freed it. It began to fly up and away…

… and Seeaeti leapt up onto its back, grabbed the spidery head in its teeth, and tore. The bloated body of the spider-thing collapsed at Agnarr’s feet while Seeaeti landed nimbly a few feet away with the head clenched between his teeth. He padded over and dropped it at Agnarr’s feet.

The barbarian laughed. “Good boy!”

WITHDRAWING IN VICTORY

The invisible Dominic did a quick sweep through the partially excavated building from which the ratmen had emerged, but found little of interest.

Of much more interest, however, was the room from which Woreron the dwarf had come. It turned out to be his personal bedchamber, with a wooden bed, a chest of drawers, and (most interesting of all) a large iron coffer.

The chest of drawers contained nothing but clothing and personal items of little note, but the iron coffer was locked. In fact, a careful inspection revealed that it was double locked – with a second, concealed keyhole on the base of the coffer which disabled a trap on the primary lock. Tee quickly picked both locks and opened the coffer to find several potions, a collection of fancy snuff bottles, a silk purse filled with coins, and a thick sheath of papers.

From there they worked their way back through the complex – searching the bodies as they went. On one of Ibulli’s claws they found a bone ring matching in all ways those they had recovered from the creatures which had breached the Banewarrens and they fell into a brief discussion concerning its meaning. (Was there a connection between the cultists and the activities at the Banewarrens?)

On Woreron’s corpse they found two keys (causing Tee to groan at the thought of the wasted time she had just spent picking the locks on the iron coffer).

On Gavele, they found a note:

LETTER FROM REGGALOCH TO RHINNIS

Rhinnis,

I think we are being foolish. The Brothers of Venom are almost certain to betray us. They seek nothing less than complete control over the venom-shaped thralls. I am leaving to warn Malleck in the Ebon Hand Temple. He must know about the violent treachery they plot. Watch your back until I can return.

Reggaloch

Tee suspected that this was the note she had seen Gavele remove from Reggaloch’s corpse in the apartment complex.

Heading cautiously up the stairs in the tower, they found the second level choked full with Ibulli’s webs. Hidden within the webs they found a small cache of gems and other treasures, including a finely-crafted wooden puzzle locket. Once Tee realized what she was looking at, she was able to quickly undo the puzzle, revealing the locket’s hidden compartment. Within it, they found another letter – this one only half completed — written to the Brothers of the Quaan.

UNFINISHED NOTE TO THE BROTHERS OF THE QUAAN

Brothers of the Quaan—

The cultists’ research into askara has proven successful. I have obtained a sample which I will send with this missive. Its effects are even more potent than we had been led to believe. They have, if anything, improved upon the arts of Jessuk. I think it truly possible that we may have gained the key for both subjugating and using the scum of the natural races.

Although my mission has been accomplished, I shall not return yet. There is another project here – one the cultists believe to be even larger than their venom-shaped thralls. They talk of a huge machine in the caves beyond, and something called the Final Ritual which will be performed […]

Then, in the lower level of the tower they found a hidden compartment beneath the stairs, containing a small bed. Hidden under the mattress of the bed, there was another letter, this one written by Gavele and addressed to Wuntad.

LETTER FROM WUNTAD TO GAVELE

Gavele—

I applaud your sentiments. As long as none of the Tolling Bell are challenged and the work is not threatened, allow those squabbling fools to do whatever they want and spill blood wherever they will. The strongest shall prevail. Chaos shall reign. The Night of Dissolution nears and all acts are as homage to those who will be freed!

Wuntad

Satisfied that they had found all that there was to find, they quickly hurried back up the stairs and out of the Old City.

Their bodies were wracked with poison. The Brotherhood of Venom had lived up to its name and taken their toll. But, in the end, they had little difficulty escaping through the sewers and emerging onto the streets of Ptolus about a quarter mile from the apartment complex.

---

DWARVENHEARTH RESEARCH

This is a thick bundle of parchment tied together with black ribbon. These papers appear to be a disparate collection of research pertaining to Dwarvenhearth – a legendary dwarven city referenced obliquely in many ancient texts and believed to lay somewhere beneath Ptolus.

SEALED DOORS: Several dozen pages appeared to have been excerpted from the reports and journals of many different delvers. These describe massive doors found in various locations deep in the caverns beneath Ptolus. These doors are all virtually identical and clearly fashioned with dwarven skills, but have apparently proven impenetrable.

Included in these papers are several sketches of the doors, including an arcano-map of one of the doors (etching the patterns of arcane force present in the doors) and attempts to decipher (unsuccessfully) the various wards and seals protecting the doors.

ESTIMATED SIZE: Another large section of the research appears to be an attempt to estimate the size of the complex locked behind the doors that had already been discovered. It appeared that some of the doors were more than a mile apart, suggesting a city larger than some of the Kingdoms of the East. More than ten thousand dwarves might have once lived there.

THUNDERSONG: There are many myths collected from the Three Kingdoms regarding a mythical axe known as Thundersong. This is one of the great dwarven axes. There are several notes connecting various pieces of research which make it clear that the writer believes Thundersong lies within the city of Dwarvenhearth. There are references to the tale of the Woman Thane of Utarien, a legendary swordswoman of the Three Kingdoms, who the writer connects to the “Line of Queens” associated with Dwarvenhearth in several ancient texts.

CATHEDRAL CAVERN: In the middle of the papers, carefully wrapped in silk cloth, is what appears to be the original copy of a small, ancient painting depicting a subterranean cavern of mammoth proportions. Built on the floor of the cavern are five massive ziggurats. There is a short inscription of dwarven runes on the front of the painting. On the back, written in faded common, are the words “The Cathedral Cavern”.

CONCLAVE OF THE QUEEN: There is one enigmatic note buried in the various pieces of research which reads, “I believe that the Conclave of the Queen is responsible for the loss of the third testaments.”

---

STUDIES OF AKNAR RATALLA

The pages of this small notebook with a cover of black leather are covered with meticulous notes regarding Aknar Ratalla.

AKNAR RATALLA: Aknar Ratalla was apparently a minor, but powerful, warlord in the annals of prehistory a few decades before the founding of Arathia. References to him in historical records are apparently scant, because the notebook’s writer has clearly had to go far afield to collect much of the lightly detailed material.

SIEGE OF THE DALENGUARD: Aknar Ratalla cut a wide swath through the lands of what would become western Arathia. At the height of his power he laid siege to the Dalenguard at the foot of the Spire. In one of the texts collected here, this siege reportedly lasted for “101 days and nights through the hard winter of the wolf”.

THE END OF AKNAR RATALLA: Aknar Ratalla possessed the “power of the Vested” and he wielded the Blade of Chaos. With these “twin mights” he was “unvanquished”. Nonetheless the Siege of the Dalenguard ended when Aknar Ratalla disappeared and his warriors scattered.

THE TOMB OF AKNAR RATALLA: In the back of the notebook are three scraps of badly tattered parchment covered with various illustrations and dwarven runes. Several pages near the end of the notebook provide a translation of this text along with an extensive and evolving analysis of it.

The writer believed that Aknar Ratalla and the Blade of Chaos were interred in a dwarven-built tomb somewhere in the caverns beneath Ptolus. After what appears to be years of research, it appears that – from the scraps of parchment and other sources – he has reconstructed the secret path that would lead to the tomb.

Unfortunately, the path originates at a place named Kaled Del – a small dwarven settlement beneath the city. Recently rediscovered by the Delver’s Guild, the location of Kaled Del nevertheless remains a secret: The Delver’s Guild has kept that secret in order to monopolize trade with the dwarves.

There are several pages of frustrated ruminations as the author attempts to re-discover the location of Kaled Del himself… but meets with failure.

“I shall speak to Gavele about going to the Guild directly. The Tolling Bell must surely realize the importance of recovering an artifact such as the Blade of  Chaos.”

---

Running the Campaign: Combat Verticality – Campaign Journal: Session 35A
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index

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DISCUSSING
In the Shadow of the Spire – Session 34C: Back in the Tower Again

Tee slapped Elestra out of her hypnotic trance and then headed for the door.

“Tee! Wait!” Elestra called. “Help me finish off the whatsit!”

The quasit popped out of thin air and raked at Elestra’s throat, sending blood pouring down her chest. It hissed with a sneer. “Don’t call me a whatsit!”

Tor retreated back into the tower. Dominic, having finally freed himself from Ibulli’s web, infused him with a wash of divine energy that closed his wounds and soothed his battered limbs and then sent him back into the fight outside.

Ibulli flew down from above.

“She’s flying now!” Elestra cried. “That’s not fair!”

We’ve previously discussed the value of developing a toolkit of basic tactical techniques as a GM — e.g., in Half Across the River and Hear the Reinforcements. The technique that I’m referring to as an ornate checkpoint is actually one that I first discovered while running this specific adventure designed by Monte Cook.

The basic idea can be seen in Area 3 on the dungeon map:

This tower creates a chokepoint between Area 1 and Area 5. A similar effect, of course, could be created by just having a single door leading directly from Area 1 to Area 5 (as we discussed at greater length in Battles at the Door during the previous session), but in practice, the fact that Area 3 is a distinct liminal space had a profound impact on the complexity of the tactics that both the PCs and NPCs were able to employ.

Meanwhile, below, Tor threw himself against the tower door and burst it open. The inside of the tower was bereft of interior walls with a floor of sandy, hard-packed dirt. A broken staircase wound its way around the inner wall of the tower, up to a trapdoor in the ceiling above.

By the time Tor burst in, Gavele had already crossed the entire tower (with seemingly preternatural speed). Tor and Agnarr raced to catch her, but she managed to wrench open the far door, slip through it, and slam it shut behind her.

The effect was further enhanced by the vertical design of Area 3. This included windows looking out into the other areas, which created unusual multiple access points. The staircase and webs also made Area 3 an interesting tactical arena in its own right, and the presence of Area 4 above actually made it a multi-directional chokepoint.

Take all of these elements together, and you can easily see both the opportunities and challenges that are created for the PCs.

Of course, this works best when you’re running the dungeon as a theater of operations, and you can see that during this fight, with the PCs engaging foes across Areas 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7, with additional reinforcements also coming up from the south. (And Area 7 is a multi-level area in its own right.)

Here are a few random tips I’ve learned while designing and running ornate chokepoints:

• They don’t have to be ultra-complicated. In fact, they don’t need to be complicated at all.
• Personally, I find the imagery of an “airlock” useful. The ornate chokepoint is the transition between two much larger and more complicated regions of the dungeon.
• You might find the idea of the ornate chokepoint being a “pivot” more evocative. Sometimes I think of it as a “gravity well,” with the focus of the dungeon being drawn into the chokepoint.
• For the ornate chokepoint to truly come alive, you’ll want to make sure to challenge the PCs from multiple directions. If you don’t, the ornate chokepoint will usually just collapse back into a simple doorway. (For example, imagine if the PCs in this session weren’t being harried by aranea and quasits from Area 4. The dynamics of the fight would have collapsed into the doorway between Areas 3 and 5. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, of course, particularly if the PCs have earned their victory on one of the fronts.)
• This, of course, can also be very dangerous, since it can easily result in the PCs being cut off from retreat. (That’s one the tactical challenges of the ornate chokepoint, but doesn’t make it any less catastrophic if the fight turns against them.) This is where designing the ornate chokepoint as a multi-directional chokepoint can be very useful: You can pressure them from two directions, while still giving them the opportunity for escape along a third.
• Often you’ll discover – or the players will force you to discover! – an ornate chokepoint during play. This will happen more often if you make sure random encounters can approach the PCs from any direction (most notably, the rear), particularly if those encounters are being triggered due to the noise from combat.

Of course, not every ornate chokepoint you include in a dungeon will automatically become an Epic Fight Scene™. But scatter a few of them around the place, run dynamic fights across a theater of operations, and see where the game takes you!

Campaign Journal: Session 34D – Running the Campaign: Combat Verticality
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index

IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

SESSION 34C: BACK IN THE TOWER AGAIN

January 5th, 2009
The 18th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

THE DWARF AND THE RATS

An unnoticed door down the northwestern passage swung open. Agnarr and Ranthir were the only ones who could see a bald dwarf with a bushy black beard and eyebrows emerge. He was muttering under his breath as he circled around the melee raging in the middle of the chamber and ran towards the partially excavated building.

The others were distracted by the quasit, who had reappeared once again and attacked Tee, poisoning her just as it had Elestra. Agnarr did his best to cut the dwarf off, but the thralls were blocking him.

The dwarf wrenched open the door of the building. “Rouse yourselves! Get out here and fight!”

“We only take orders from Gavele, dwarf!”

“Gavele is dead you fools!”

Agnarr wasn’t sure what to do. He was still facing two of the thralls and now there were unknown reinforcements coming. He tried to cheer himself with the thought that Gavele’s men – whoever they might be – would be frightened off by the news of her death.

It was a thin hope, but a better one was coming: Tor returned, charging into the flank of the thralls.

The charge came close to routing them, but then a ratling and a ratbrute emerged from the building. The ratbrute was unslinging a greatsword of leviathan proportions while the ratling lowered another of the dilapidated dragon rifles and—

“Two hundred gold pieces for each of you if you attack the dwarf instead!” Dominic was still struggling in the goopy web, but he shouted out the offer in a voice laced with sincerity.

The ratling hesitated. Then he turned to his companion with a sly grin. “I never liked that dwarf anyway.”

The ratling started to lower his rifle and turned back towards the building.

“TRAITOR!” the ratbrute cried in a thick, lumbering voice. It brought its greatsword crashing down towards the smaller ratling, who barely managed to turn the skull-crushing blow into a merely laming shoulder wound.

The ratling stumbled back, shooting at the ratbrute with his rifle. The shot went wild, but a second shot – coming from the interior of the building – struck the ratbrute in the chest. The stench of burning rat fur filled the air.

MEANWHILE, IN THE TOWER…

Elestra had freed herself from the webs and moved to help cut Tee from hers. But the quasit reappeared again, its vicious claws slashing at her legs.

Ranthir drew his crossbow and fired at it, but it was too small and too quick. Elestra, however, managed to stab it with her rapier. It clutched at its chest, hissed at her, and disappeared.

“It won’t be gone long!” Ranthir cried. “It’s a quasit and the wound was already healing.”

“A whatsit?” Elestra asked.

“A quasit,” Ranthir said. “A minor demonling.”

Tee, meanwhile, had finished cutting herself free. She and Elestra turned their attention to the ceiling and started firing at the spider-thing.

But Ibulli was weaving her spells again. A twisting pattern of subtle, shifting colors erupted from the air in a hypnotic dance of multi-colored light. Tee wrenched her eyes away from it, but Elestra’s gaze became arrested by the display – she stood helpless, swaying gently from side to side.

Ibulli seized the distraction to scuttle back into the safety of the upper level of the tower.

RATBRUTE MELEE

While the ratmen had fought amongst themselves, Tor and Agnarr had managed to finish off the venom-shaped thralls. Now, however, another of the ratbrutes had pushed its way out of the partially excavated building.

Meanwhile, the dwarf had reappeared on the roof of the building. He summoned another of the flame-eyed rats and used it to harry Tor while the ratbrutes moved in from the other direction.

Agnarr turned and raced towards the building, trying to leap up to where the dwarf stood. He came up short, jumped again, and this time managed to grab onto the edge of the roof.

The dwarf, seeing him coming, ran down the length of the building and jumped off, landing behind the ratbrutes. Yanking out a scroll he used its magicks to heal the wounds that Tor had been inflicting on the ratbrutes.

Agnarr shrugged and dropped back down to the floor of the cavern. He ran down along the length of the building, trying to circle the ratbrutes and reach the dwarf.

Unfortunately, at that very moment, one of the brutes cut through Tor’s defenses and ripped open a gaping wound in his chest. In a spray of blood it carried its swing around and struck Agnarr in the back, opening a huge gash across the barbarian’s already abused shoulders and sending him stumbling forward. As a result, Agnarr’s own swing went wild and the dwarf was able to retreat back down the wide hallway running to the south.

BACK IN THE TOWER AGAIN

Tee slapped Elestra out of her hypnotic trance and then headed for the door.

“Tee! Wait!” Elestra called. “Help me finish off the whatsit!”

The quasit popped out of thin air and raked at Elestra’s throat, sending blood pouring down her chest. It hissed with a sneer. “Don’t call me a whatsit!”

Tor retreated back into the tower. Dominic, having finally freed himself from Ibulli’s web, infused him with a wash of divine energy that closed his wounds and soothed his battered limbs and then sent him back into the fight outside.

Ibulli flew down from above.

“She’s flying now!” Elestra cried. “That’s not fair!”

THE BATTLE TURNS AGAINST THEM

Tee, now outside the tower, levitated into the air and tried taking potshots at the ratbrutes… but the dwarf, having safely retreated down the hall from the melee but still with a clear line of sight, started summoning fiery-eyed hawks with metallic, razor-sharp feathers to harry her. Their cruel beaks and claws took bloody gouges of flesh out of her.

Ranthir, seeing that Tor and Agnarr were both badly wounded and struggling against the ratbrutes outside, poured an invisibility potion down Dominic’s throat. “Now go heal some people!”

Agnarr was knocked from his feet. Feeling Dominic’s invisible, healing touch, he tried to get back on his feet… and was knocked right back down again.

A few moments later, Tor managed to take down one of the ratbrutes, but the other – with a howl of rage – smashed his blade into Tor’s armor with enough force that he felt blood in his mouth. Tor managed to barely turn the next blow so that the flat of the ratbrute’s sword hit him instead of the edge (which would have decapitated him), but the blow still had enough force to knock him to the ground.

And then the ratbrute’s sword plunged down, pinning him to the blood-soaked dust.

Dominic, still invisible, left Agnarr’s side and hurried quickly to heal Tor before it was too late.

Meanwhile, back in the tower, Ranthir had been preparing himself to counter Ibulli’s magic. But instead of casting another spell, Ibulli swooped down at him. He stumbled backwards… but not fast enough. The creature’s venomous fangs closed on Ranthir’s shoulder. He collapsed, frothing at the mouth.

As Ranthir fell, Elestra managed to injure the quasit again… and, once again, it disappeared.

Running the Campaign: Ornate Chokepoints – Campaign Journal: Session 34D
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index