Charles Plemons' Blog

Game summary for May 29, 2014, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Wake of the Watcher adventure; PCs included Varus Archlight (elf magus/arcane archer), accompanied by NPC companions Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric) and Pavlos Zervas (human fighter/rogue).

The party moved further into the tunnels beneath the Tern Rocks and found a series of branching corridors. Entering a chamber, they discovered seaweed beds and cradles along with a hand-knit baby blanket with fish scales stuck in the fibers. A half dozen ulat-kini skum came charging forward with their tridents! The six fishmen were frightening in appearance due to their absence of an upper cranium! Each had its skull removed, and its fishy, squishy brain was exposed to the world! Pavlos moved in sneak stabbing while Nyssa cast haste, good hope, and bless. Varus unleashed a hail of deadly arrows, and the team quickly mowed down the skum.

Varus led the group further into the tunnels and opted to pass up a corridor to explore a larger chamber up ahead. They discovered a large cavern with a defiled statue of Dagon and a pedestal with a bizarre raven-headed mace sitting upon it. All around the room were symbols of Dagon that had been defaced and overlaid with new carvings of Shub-Niggurath! A pair of skum sentries with exposed brains charged forward as a plump ugly ulat-kini dressed in priest robes began chanting, “Iä! Iä! Shub-Niggurath!”

The priest unleashed a flame strike into the middle of the party, but Varus countered with a fireball! Enraged, the skum assaulted Pavlos and Nyssa while Varus fell back to use his bow. The priest summoned a large water elemental into the room, and it closed in with Pavlos immediately! Arrows flew while fishman tridents scored nasty wounds. The priest then summoned a giant scorpion to attack Pavlos as well! Varus used magic to dismiss the elemental and then used his magic wand to blast the scorpion and priest with a lightning bolt! As the skum fell, the team was able to focus upon the priest. The creature cast chaos hammer to almost no effect and went down under Pavlos’ deadly daggers. Moments later, the scorpion was dissolving back into the misty ether from which it spawned.

They investigated the strange mace, which Nyssa recognized as a minor artifact of the priesthood of Pharasma! Known as the Raven’s Head, weapon is particularly potent against undead. Varus took the mace, and they looted the corpses of the dead ulat-kini.

Varus then led them further south and then took a side corridor toward a bright glow. They emerged into a worked stone chamber of horrors! Around the room sat 23 pedestals occupied by strange metal cylinders with globes of bluish liquid adorned with numerous knobs and switches. Fourteen of the containers were filled with pulsing brains! Varus picked one up and began playing with the knobs which caused a filament to glow with a pale light, and a modulated voice emerged… the voice of Mayor Early Greedle!

The team questioned the crazed mayor and learned some “worm bugs” had removed his brain and placed it in the jar! He was excited because they would soon take him to their home deep in the Dark Tapestry far, far from the world of Golarion. He cackled and rambled a bit before revealing the creatures intend to bring Shub-Niggurath into the world and had already awakened a dark young of Shub-Niggurath! Varus then decided to put the mayor out of his misery and smashed the brain jar. The team then left the chamber to explore further.

Game summary for May 22, 2014, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Wake of the Watcher adventure; PCs included Dario Malavasi (human oracle), Emilian Sandulescu (human paladin/ranger), Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk), and Varus Archlight (elf magus/arcane archer), accompanied by NPC companions Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric) and Pavlos Zervas (human fighter/rogue).

After dealing with the lake octopus, the group set sail to the edge of the Tern Rocks. The party piled into Horace Croon’s subaqueous exploration and research vessel and began to descend toward the lake bed. At about 200 feet down, they were attacked by a gutaki sorcerer who summoned a pack of fiendish sharks. The gutaki sprayed an unholy blood cloud into the submersible making Varus and Nyssa nauseated. It then grappled Dario but seemed unable to pull him into the water. After activating some water breathing magic, Gnok, Emelian, and Pavlos dove into the water to bring the fight to the devilfish. It was Varus who struck a killing blow by opening a major artery in a tentacle, causing the creature to bleed to death. The summoned sharks soon disappeared into the Abyss, much to Gnok’s disappointment as he had just grappled one with the intention of riding it around the battlefield.

Continuing the descent, the team saw a strange metal dome with blue luminescence on the lake bed. Nearby a blast of air bubbles erupted from a fissure in the rocks. The team made it to the lake bed and went to the source of the bubbles. They found a strange force field holding the water back from some air-filled caverns. The group entered and were soon ambushed by a pair of dimensional shamblers! The strange monsters clawed at the party but soon proved no match to the group’s combined might.

Game summary for May 15, 2014, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Wake of the Watcher adventure; PCs included Dario Malavasi (human oracle), Emilian Sandulescu (human paladin/ranger), and Varus Archlight (elf magus/arcane archer), accompanied by NPC companions Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric) and Pavlos Zervas (human fighter/rogue).

As the group looked around the Mayor’s house, Sheriff Anders arrived and started ask lots of questions. They showed him the badges given them by the Mayor, and he went off to investigate rumors of missing priests at the temple. The party then located the house of Horace Croon and explained the whole situation with the Neighbors and fostering. He was appalled and horrified and told them he once had a sister who was fostered! He agreed to help them go to the ulat-kini caves in his subaqueous exploration and research vessel the next day. Knowing that the fostered girl with them was quite distraught over the lack of a fresh sacrifice at the temple, the team decided to sleep in shifts and keep an eye on her and Nyssa, who was behaving erratically. They put the women in two separate rooms, and around 3:00 a.m., Dario realized the girl had slipped out of a window!

Dario woke the team, and they rushed out into the night. They found tracks leading to the temple. They arrived and used light spells to illuminate the way. It was obvious the authorities had been investigating and roping off the crime scenes. The team moved to the inner most sanctum of Dagon and discovered a terrible sight—the girl had sacrificed herself on the demon’s altar! As they left, Emilian believed he saw the great eye of Dagon move! He used detect evil and was overwhelmed by the dark presence. For a few moments, Dagon himself had manifested due to the extreme act of faith! As soon as he had appeared within the eye, however, he was gone.

The group convinced Croon to start preparations of the Isinglass for a dawn departure to the Tern Rocks. As the group stood on the docks helping prep the ship, an enormous lake octopus rose up from the dark waters! It quickly dragged Nyssa and Emilian under! It began to chomp on Nyssa while Varus unleashed a lightning bolt from his wand. Pavlos dove in and began stabbing the creature. Dario hurled himself through the air and viciously chopped the beast as he plunged into the water. The team chopped away quickly and killed the beast in a few moments. Relief, and oxygen, flooded through Nyssa and Emilian as they bobbed to the surface!

Game summary for May 8, 2014, Carrion Crown Adventure Path campaign, Wake of the Watcher adventure; PCs included Dario Malavasi (human oracle), Emilian Sandulescu (human paladin/ranger), and Gnok Thatek (dwarf monk), accompanied by NPC companions Nyssa Pagonis (human cleric) and Pavlos Zervas (human fighter/rogue).

The team returned to the chamber and spoke with the colour-blighted woman. They learned more of her “culture” and agreed to take her with them to meet “the Neighbors” which is what she calls the townsfolk of Illmarsh. Dario succeeded in curing her blight along the way. They determined through their conversations while walking the tunnels that the ulat-kini (what the skum call themselves) are all male. They seem to require human females for breeding. This girl had spent her entire life in the tunnels and believes herself to be ulat-kini as well. She told them they had been recently ushered out of their home by ulat-kini who had “lost their lids” which exposed their “meat.” The debated for a long time and decided that may mean their brains are exposed. They also discovered the ulat-kini worship Father Dagon and know no other deity. The group also decided Mayor Greedle may be more heavily involved in the affairs of the town than originally thought and want to pay him a visit.

The party finally arrived at a submerged tunnel leading into the temple of Dagon in Illmarsh. The girl seemed excited to be in a Dagon temple but was very concerned that the blood from the latest sacrifice was nearly dried. She went running about hollering for a priest and a sacrifice. The group emerged from the temple and went to the Mayor’s office to find it empty. They asked around and found the Mayor’s house. Within, they discovered signs of a struggle with ulat-kini. The Mayor was nowhere to be found.