Run Date: March 14th, 2023
PCs
Rebel: Lv5 Monk
Malak: Lv3 Cultist of Saint Laurenia
10x Henches
Searching for the Final Piece
Our third continued to be out. The other two decided not to delay too much longer and hit the Oldtown Graveyard and try their luck at locating the final Shard for Lazarus. After doing a head and inventory count, the group marched straight to their destination: Blackwall.
As the party descended, they found a distinct lack of sludge. In its place was a black soot-like substance that kicked into the air with each step. The group's plan was to meet up with Lazarus to find any clues as to the whereabouts of the final Shard. I joked with them again about navigation and mapping, but their memories were sharper this week. They wandered through the Fish Room, Chapel Room, and finally found the Jello Door that lead into Lazarus's shrine.
Compared the party's last visit, the crystals of the shrine had grown more vibrant and colorful. They found Lazarus within the main hall staring at a wall that held the gem they'd returned a few weeks back. Rebel stepped in, said hello, and showed him the two shards she had been keeping safe. They spoke for a few before Rebel started asking about the final piece. Lazarus noted that the town had shifted a lot since his reign, but the final piece used to be under the city. He directed them to visit one of Blackwall's parks and enter the waterways.
A few sessions back, the players had come across some strange albino humanoids within a park. It was this place that the party decided to try and navigate to. They left the sanctum, walked through the jello door, and found their way to one of the entrances to Blackwall. Unfortunately, it was sealed by a thick black sludge door. Rebel proudly proclaimed she had "Goo-Be-Gone" in stock and tossed a Solvent to remove the obstacle. It was at this point she spotted a thin trigger line retreating back toward the center of town.
With the tripline triggered, the party promptly started their march around the outskirts of the town. They had hoped to evade whatever would check on the alarm and get underground ASAP. Luck was not on their side, as a bellow came flying their direction. From above, a large slime-dragon spotted their torchlight and dove at them, crashing through the top corner of a building. The party took a few hits from the rubble after splintering their shields deflecting the larger chunks. Then the fight was on.
The Slime-Dragon was a Boss-level creature of roiling slime, recycled stone and sinew, and a maw from an unknown beast with dripping, torn wings. Part of the party managed to react quick enough to gain a first strike, and a bottle of Solvent was tossed at the beast. Meanwhile, a couple of henches charged in to engage. Blow after blow was traded as the fight raged on. The party suffered myriad strikes and lashes from the creature's maw and tendrils. As they tore away its defenses and dissolved it with more Solvent, they revealed the creature's Boneheart. Unlike others, this one seemed to scintillate with colorful energy.
As the creature's form completely dissolved, a line of ooze tried to engulf and retrieve the heart. The party dove onto it and shattered the thing. This resulted in an explosion of elemental energy that knocked them down, but not out. Inside the heart was a valuable statue and a few gems. After gathering their spoils, the group continued their navigation.
A few minutes into the streets and the party heard another, incomplete, bellow. They knew the Black Death was trying to recreate another Slime-Dragon and picked up their pace. For them, this was a race against the clock.
Rebel's memory held true, and the party arrived at the park with plenty of time to spare. They entered through an ancient metal archway and followed an old path to the center where a grand well sat. Inside the well was a "plug" not unlike the sludge door from earlier. It was connected to smaller lines of the alarm system, as well. The group spent a few minutes coming up with their battle plan before executing and hitting the ground running.
Another Solvent was used to clear out the plug, Malak and one of his henches tied down the ropes, and the party began their descent. They landed in a small reservoir surrounded by a menagerie of mushrooms. As tempted as they were to check it out, they had other priorities. The party set their battle lines and marched down one hallway. They worked their way through the shallow water and hybrid cave/stone network until discovering a side room (which they avoided) and wall of stone teeth.
There was a hallway beyond the teeth and the group seemed to have little interest in potentially "going around," so they grabbed their hammers and broke through. They discovered another hallway and a breakpoint, that lead elsewhere, and decided to follow what they could see. At the end of the hall was an old fountain room with rusted piping and grates. Rebel popped into the old reservoir and found some old coinage.
Meanwhile, back in the hall, the party had discovered a swollen wooden door. One of the axe-wielders decided to chop into it to make sure the other side wasn't flooded. Once they knew it was safe, they broke it down and marched into another adjacent hall. All the noise had alerted something in the darkness, however, as the group hear splashing coming their way.
The angle of their entrance made the fight difficult, and severely limited their maneuverability. Worse yet, all the ruckus had disturbed something else that began trying to break through another doorway north of them. Would they get stuck in a pincer attack? (No, the answer is no...stupid weak things).
From the southern corridor charged rotted corpses wielding mining picks and shovels. They crashed into the battle lines, but the party held strong. With some rough maneuvering and a juggled torch, the PCs tore down the initial wave and started working toward the foreman. It didn't take long before he, too, was driven into the water.
There was little time to rest as the iron door to the north (finally) caved in. Out of it flooded swollen, infested rat-dog zombies; complete with centipedes in eye sockets and beetles under their lips. The party wheeled and Rebel charged in with her staff. She performed a Major Exploit to cut through several of the creatures, and quickly became the target of several bites and claws. The group hurriedly dispatched these pitiful things, resisted/avoided any lasting diseases, and pressed into the now door-less room.
The old kennel was somewhat intact; rusted cages, a few broken traps, and a table with some stone stools still decorated the room. The party took the chance to check for any leftover treasure or valuables and discovered a whopping 6 copper in an old footlocker! Once their detour was finished, they returned to the hall and headed south.
The hall ended in another, larger fountain chamber. The group noted that it would be a terrible place to engage in a fight and started working their way deeper. At the end of this chamber was a narrow tunnel leading to another room, and a doorway. The group spread out to cover their flanks while Rebel worked the door. Inside she found a web of black sludge, a cistern, and a statue of Lazarus with a Boneheart stuck in the center of its chest.
Rebel decided that the web would make for a cool heist moment. While the others were preparing to fend off any other creatures, she attempted to dance around the sticky lines to get at the heart. Needless to say, she did not make it far. She fell and became trapped almost instantly, and the statue began to animate. Meanwhile, those prepared battle lines ended up being probed by more monstrosities.
A two front battle commenced. One of Malak's stronger henchmen rushed into the sludge room to tear Rebel free while Malak himself held the line with the others outside. The battle within the room was much tougher than the one raging outside; the Statue of Lazarus charged across the room and used a terrible blade to begin slashing at every nearby target. Worse yet, the webbing had come to life and began to lash out as well.
The party pulled out every trick they could to take down the statue while warding off the tendrils, and Rebel managed to land the final strike on the heart. Within it was the final shard. Outside the cistern room the other group had fended off the wave of monsters that leaked through the small hall. With the fights done and the objective in hand, the group bailed.
Time had been on their side thus far, and the group managed to escape out of the well and toward the edge of town before the Slime-Dragon (v2) returned. This variant, however, was a bastardization of its previous self, a rush job. The beast could barely keep itself together, and lashed out with desperate ferocity. The party used their previous strategy of surround and melt, and the former boss-like entity dropped.
Seeing how simple that had been, Malak suggested stopping by the center of town to check on the Black Death itself. With how much they had weakened it, it surely would have been easy pickings. Rebel stubbornly agreed to at least take a look, and they marched toward the center of town. As it had been so many months ago, the massive teardrop of sludge hung over platform in the middle of the pond. It appeared to be shoring its defenses with trash plating; and as the torchlight brushed it tendrils began to ready to launch. As soon as the group spotted one swelling, they bounced.
There was another fight on the way back with a humanoid slime patrol, the tracks the party had spotted earlier (and I never mentioned here). To their luck, they cut off the creatures from regrouping with the main host; depriving the Black Death of even more material.
Once they returned to Lazarus, they turned over the final piece, as well as the piece they'd been using to bypass the Jello doors. Lazarus accepted and walked into another room to retrieve their reward. As the sound of a heavy trunk of gold and gems hit the table, the party rejoiced. With that, he left them with one final statement; "In a week's time, you will have the weapon to strike down the Black Death." So I finally get to reveal part 1 of the fun surprise: The Blade of Lazarus.
Rewards
10xp
478gp (PC)
239gp (Hench)
Sleep Draught
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