All That Glitters Is Not Gold (And Can Be Worth More In A Fight)

The adventure continues at the campground where Ang has disappeared.  The group has determined that he was most likely taken by the priests of Choranus, and tracking efforts show that whoever took him went in the direction of the Choranus settlement.  Although their initial plans were to update Assint, they decide they should get Ang back before going to him with the bad news about coming up empty-handed at the Ossirian temple.  At this point, a monster hunter named Theon joins up with the group.

As the group will learn, Theon has a thing for decapitation

He informs the Inquisitor that he is needed back at his order.  The Inquisitor joyfully leaves and is never heard from again.

They head to the Choranus settlement, which is oddly empty, and follow the tracks into the main temple where they had previously met the head priest.  In his office is a note that Ang is down in the basement, waiting to be rescued, but it will not be easy and they will need strong hearts and minds.  Much of the group is of the opinion that the priests are probably evil.

Ang is probably not even getting coffee

They enter the basement and follow a long tunnel, in which they meet up with a group of 10 Lemure demons.  

Lemure Demon - lowest on the Abyssal totem pole

Remy is able to drive 5 of them off through intimidation in the Abyssal language, and the other 5 are disposed of reasonably easily.  Many in the group feel that cavorting with demons is a sure sign the priests are evil.

The group then continues until they reach a large hexagonal room, with 5 doors (one on each wall; they’ve entered through door #3).

Map for planning - high art indeed

The 6^th wall contains a realistic painting of a beautiful woman (identified as the deity Choranus), who is horizontally chained to 4 posts by long chains, and has a massive look of anguish and despair on her face.  (No picture of her; for some reason all of my searches for women chained to poles didn't quite pan out the way I planned...)

In the background is some sort of magic soundtrack of her weeping and/or screaming in agony.  Most of the group is now under the impression that the priests of Choranus are actually torturing her and are super-evil.

The group enters the first door to their left and follows this pathway to a large cavernous room that contains a Xill.  

Xill - 3 swords and a poisonous claw

They defeat the Xill after a reasonably long and difficult battle, and discover a chain on its neck holding some sort of metal object.  The monster hunter is happy to remove the necklace by removing the entire head (for his collection).

Unsure of what this object is, they head back to the room with the painting, only to find it has changed, now with the Xill in the picture, slicing into her legs with his short swords and draining her blood.  The screaming soundtrack seems to reflect this new agony.  Now, not only is the majority of the group sure that the priests are super-duper evil, but they are concerned that their actions may possibly be causing the torture.  Florence is the one member who vocally questions this conclusion and believes it may be the task of the group to rescue this damsel in distress (in addition to Ang).

They decide to traverse the next doorway to their left, which takes them to a similar cavernous room, this time containing a Manticore (which promptly buries a tail spike in Theon from across the room).

At least it's a happy Manticore

Zambo casts glitter on the Manticore,

Suck it, Mariah Carey

blinding it, which allows many in the group to safely approach the beast.  Although the Manticore eventually gains it sight back, the group finishes him off pretty handily.  They find another necklace with a metal piece on the Manticore’s tail, and Theon once again takes the head.

Back at the hexagon room, the painting is updated to show the Manticore burying several spikes in Choranus’ side, causing profuse bleeding.  Remy is filled with despair and doesn’t function so well for next hour or so.  

Remy fails his Will save

They head to the next door to their left, on the other side of the painting, and head down the hallway.  This time, Emrys disovers a trap at the end of the hallway that opens a trap door in the floor onto some spikes.  

Score one for high Perception

They avoid this trap and enter the room, where they find 2 Minotaurs who promptly charge them.  

Ferdinand he ain't

Using a well thought-out strategy for once, Florence casts her grease spell in the middle of the room,

It's the word

Zambo casts glitter on them, and Emrys casts an obscuring fog spell.  The net result is 2 Minotaurs in the grease, one that has fallen and another that is blind.  They die reasonably quickly after this.  There is a third metal object on a necklace and another head removal.

They head back to the hex room to find the painting has magically morphed once again to a Minotaur burying its great axe into Choranus’ back.  They take the last door and follow the pathway to a smaller room that contains 6 Quasits,

Quasits are small, but mean!

who immediately turn invisible.  Thanks to some lucky bow shooting and another glitter spell, the group quickly knocks off the demons, including one that polymorphed into a caterpillar and was subsequently eaten by a summoned eagle.

Sorry, Heimlich

Thankfully, the metal object was not on the eaten Quasit, and after a requisite decapitation the 4 metal pieces are able to be pieced together into an oddly shaped key.

I want this complicated of a key for Miriam's new car

Back at the hex room, they find the painting has morphed into one where a Quasit is hovering in front of Choranus, with one talon embedded into her eye.  After a moment, the paining melts away as if rain were pouring on it, and a new painting appears as if painted by a million small brushes.  The new painting is the original one of Choranus when they first entered the room.  There is a clicking noise and a magically concealed door opens under the deity.

The group enters this new room, which contains a jail cell cage and a stairway in the back.  Ang is inside the cage, which can be opened with the strange key.  The group can’t wait to get their hands on (and weapons buried into) the head priest, but Ang indicates that the Choranus priests are ok (at which point Desna seems ready to declare him traitor and off him).  The head priest comes down the stairs and explains to the group that kidnapping Ang was the only way they could think of to get the group to the temple to see the suffering that Choranus has been going through for hundreds of years.

Mayans - too cool for calendars with cute cats

She had been captured by Yarafad and imprisoned as a never-ending blood supply as she heals back to new each day, and Yarafad uses this blood supply to help in the creation of things like Yarafad’s box (and presumably other evil machinations).  The priest asks the group to rescue Choranus from Yarafad, and after some discussion they accept. (Although the priests have nothing worthwhile, the line “You’ll be rescuing a goddess that has been tortured for hundreds of years.  She’ll probably do something nice for you” seems to sway them heavily.)

It turns out the priests do have some worthwhile items for the group, as cold iron bypasses the damage reduction of many demons (and Yarafad will probably have a few of those) – a cold iron longsword, some cold-iron tipped arrows, and even some cold iron ingots that can be used to coat a couple of other items (namely Theon’s great sword and Ang’s giant flail).

It helps that Theon is also a blacksmith

The group returns first to Dexin to fill in Assint on the desert adventure as well as to regroup before heading to Yarafad’s lair.  There is also a Pathfinder there waiting for an update, and between Assint and the Pathfinder, the group is able to sell their items and historical gatherings for a large sum of money that will be essential in helping them prepare for their next adventure.  Assint is not so forth-coming about paying for Ang’s rescue, however.  (“You’re the ones that lost him”).

Once prepared, the group plans to pick up the head priest of Choranus, who will lead them to Yarafad’s lair in the mountains to the Northeast.

I'm sure Yarafad's mountain will have more flowers

To be continued…