Session 18: Iceholme, Part 1

Scene 1: Bedrooms and Beatsticks

The party have reached the dead city of Iceholme and holed up in one of its many ruins. Undead, demons and a horde of mercenaries swarm through the city which is dominated by the Curtain, a sprawl of darkness covering the Temple to the Stormlords.

The party decide to do some scouting and Azhanti makes his way into the public areas to do some carousing amongst the lower caste demons while Chiniko charms some guardsmen in the mess hall. A few things become quickly obvious. The army is anything but organised or whole. Zirithian is its overall master but he has been locked away in the Temple for weeks trying to do gods know what. In his absence his three Captains have taken to sniping at each, plotting, scheming and trying to assassinate each other. Three powers are present in the City, Gylda the Hag, a diviner of significant skill and technical ruler, Baaldaran, a demon on loan from Dagon and Arath Nightcaller, Priest of Amaan and necromancer. What is more Zirithian himself serves another, Amaan, one time Emperor of the Giants and entombed for tens of thousands of years by his own people for his crimes.

Unearthing a rumour that Gylda likes to take demon lovers and then suck them dry of their infernal power the party hatches a plan. They will disguise Chiniko as an incubus and drag him to Gylda for her to drain. They fashion sigils marking them as her minions and successfully infiltrate her lair, a place filled with hundreds of rotting corpses in massive pens. While they evade her guards the party fail to account for Gylda’s divinatory skills and she quickly pierces their subterfuge but not before they are into her sanctum.

There is a tense stand off, Gylda it seems does not want to engage them in battle. A bargain is struck. Gylda gives them information on the other two captains hoping they will eliminate her rivals and tells them how to enter the Temple and find the Heart. In return the group agree to surrender Zirithian’s sword, Nightbringer, to her if or when they kill him. Bearing her token the party head out into the city to take on the Necromancer.

Arath has taken up his place in the shrine of an ancient Hero of the Valberg people. He has been busy animating monstrous skeletons and conducting blasphemous rituals but Gyldas token gets them into the door. They don’t get much further as he quickly strikes to destroy them, believing them to be assassins. His powers are significant and he rises over the bone pit from which his minions rise. Three flameskulls also rise up, limned in blue flame they bring hellfire and destruction onto a group clumped in the entryway. For a moment things look very dodgy, with one of the group down and two others near collapse but Azhanti and Morn between them manage to stabilise things. Morn manages to negate the Necromancer by flying into him and smashing him against the floor and after that it’s all down to clean up. From him the party takes a few rituals, including one to allow them to enter the Temple without alerting Amaan to their presence. They also take a ring which will allow them to teleport to a preset location although wisely choose not to use it.

Full of confidence they head to Baaldaran who has set up his headquarters in the ancient city hall where stand many smashed statues of various heroes. He is not alone and several abyssal ghouls and a vicious looking harpy like demon serve him. The group present themselves as potential assassins who might help him rid himself of Gylda and present Arath’s head as a gift, the two being bitter rivals. Hoping to distract him they strike but are unprepared for the speed of his counterattack. Blinded by Chiniko’s power he still manages to unleash a furious bellow stunning Azhanti and leaving him wide open for the fast moving and dangerous ghouls. Unfortunately he doesn’t get to do much else for the encounter spending most of it stunned. The ghouls run amok but the harpy is dead barely before it can move. Before he falls Baaldaran opens up on Morn with a storm of blows, axe blow after axe blow strike, including two criticals and yet he remains standing. Tearing him apart Morn seizes his spelleating shield and Assamber takes his Obsidian Steed.