Sellswords of Punjar, Session 4: Scions of Niramuth

The the darkened passage-way ended in a small natural cavern honeycombed with tiny holes apparently dug out by tiny persistent paws. At the far end of the chamber squatted a loathsome statue of an enormous rat flanked by a trio of iron braziers giving forth a dull flickering light. Piled between the rat's paws was a king's ransom of gold, silver, and jewels. The statue's eyes were a pair of scintillating crimson rubies. An arched doorway revealed another set of stairs spiraling up and out of sight. The distinctive smell of smoke and soot drifted down from the stairs.

Mina moved into the room and approached the stairs assuming the mysterious assailant had headed that way. She did not notice Drazen the drow thief hiding behind the statue, but he noticed her. Drazen got off another pair of crossbow shots at Mina, wounding her. The party quickly closed in on the thief and overpowered him.

The party then turned their attention to the statue. They pooled their knowledge and identified it as Niramuth, an ancient godling associated with rats and thieves. The godling and his followers were long ago cursed by a more powerful god who Niramuth had angered. Niramuth became an enormous rat and his followers were changed into normal rats, although still retaining their sly intelligence. Today the rat god is the patron of rat-catchers, were-rats, pick-pockets, cut-purses, cat-burglars, and assassins. Offerings to the rat god are often guarded by horrible curses to anyone who would dare to steal from him.

Undeterred by the legends and myths surrounding Niramuth, the party decided to investigate the pile of treasure. Aletha prodded a single coin away from the pile with a long pole. When nothing appeared to happen Vismund laughed at Aletha's caution and bent to pick up the coin. As soon as he took it in his hand he was struck with an overwhelming dread of anything small and furry. Just then the sound of thousands tiny scrabbling claws and chittering voices was heard as a wave of rats came pouring out of every hole in the cavern, quickly surrounding and engulfing the party. The group was forced to use their limited supply of area of effect powers to try to disperse the swarm as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, being surrounded meant they could not efficiently target the whole swarm. The fight drug on and on and threatened to bring down the group who had already taxed themselves to the limit and was low healing surges and out of daily powers. Vismund struggled with his new phobia of vermin, alternately running away from them, recoiling from their touch, and then charging back into the fight with almost a berserker like frenzy to destroy the hated beasts. Eventually the swarm was worn down and the remaining rats seeing the tide of battle turn against them melted away into their tunnels.

The party licked their wounds and gathered up the treasure, including another magical dagger +1 which was buried under the pile of coins and gems. They decided to rest and regain their strength before continuing on.

Sellswords of Punjar, Session 4: An Occurance at Beggar Creek Bridge

In the next room the party found a dirty barracks lit by a large firepit that had something cooking over it that smelled vaguely of meat. Obvious signs of hurried packing and looting were visible. A few coins were scattered on the floor near a loose pair of flagstones that covered a pit large enough for two large coffers. A passage led around the corner to the east and the sounds of rushing water could be heard from that direction. The party split up at this point. Jym, Regnor, and Aletha continued after the fleeing slavers down the passage while Vismund and Mina stayed behind to thoroughly search the room for anything they may have left behind.

Mina discovered a loose brick in the wall, which was weakly plastered in place by what appeared to be dung. Choking back bile, she removed the stone and discovered an amulet of protection +1 in the secret niche behind the brick. Vismund found a suspicious section of wall in one of the corners, and a set of what looked like finger holes along the floor. Vismund used the finger holds to easily lift a false section of the wall. Behind was a small secret chamber with a large chest at the back of the room. Suspecting a trap he brought forth a light and found suspicious marks on the floor and the ceiling. A set of hollow spears were poised to skewer anyone walking underneath them and then deliver a fatal dose of acid through their tubular innards. Vismund cautiously skirted the room to get to the chest and then brought it out into the larger area to examine. Inside were a handful of coins. Apparently it had been mostly empty sometime beforehand. Mina discovered a false bottom on the chest but was unable to unlock it. Vismund crushed it with his hammer and he heard the muffled sound of glass breaking beneath his blow. When they removed the splinters of wood they found a folded damp tapestry of black and gold thread and shards of broken glass tightly wrapped inside it. Whatever potions the vials once held were ruined. They took the damp tapestry, the coins, and the amulet and then quickly chased after the rest of their party.

At the end of the passage Regnor, Jym, and Aletha saw it open up over another part of the underground river which rushed rapidly below them. A narrow wooden bridge extended out over it and to the other side where another dark passage was carved into the cavern wall. Below it on the other side of the river was short sandy beach. Currently a small raft was moored there and a group of figures was hurriedly loading it with ill-gotten goods. Standing on the raft giving orders was Vermouth an eladrin wizard. A pair of burly gnoll overseers, Raiko and Wrix, worked side-by-side with four remaining goblins to haul chests and coffers onto the raft. Riako was easily carrying the largest chest under one arm while liberally apply a whip to the backs of the four goblins who were struggling together to lift a smaller chest onto the raft. Wrix was holding a maul with both hands and scanning the bridge for anyone coming up behind them.

Not wasting any time, Regnor charged across the bridge and dove off of it into Wrix before he got a chance to bring the bridge down under him. Aletha sent forth her scorching burst to engulf the goblins, three of whom died and dropped the chest on the foot of the remaining goblin. Riako tossed his chest onto the raft and then turned to heave the last one on board. Vermouth struck Aletha with a burst of force. Vismund and Mina joined the fight and began to cross the bridge. A pair of crossbow bolts came shooting out of the darkened passage across the river from an unseen assailant which struck Mina. Angered, Mina went in search of her attacker in the darkness. Aletha used her curse of the dark dream to throw Vermouth off of the raft and into the rushing river. The river carried him downstream for a bit before he was able to fey step back onto the safety of the sandy shore. Meanwhile Regnor, Jym, and Vismund were able to defeat Wrix and the remaining goblin before engaging Raiko who stepped off the raft and lashed them with his whip, dragging Regnor's feet out from under him. Vermouth struck Vismund with another force blast, so Vismund charged him and crushed his skull with his warhammer. Raiko was blasted to death by Aletha. Mina was unable to locate the secretive attacker so she came back to join the party.

On the raft were three large chests and two coffers. After disabling the traps and unlocking the locks they found the slavers loot consisting of coins, uncut gems, silver ingots, and a set of stolen equipment bearing the mark of Vadicion Cainnae, an assassin of no small renown. Mina claimed these as hers.

Sellswords of Punjar, Session 4: The Slave Masters of Punjar

The party only had enough time for a short rest after the battle with the giant ape guarding the slave pens before they proceeded with caution further into the underground network of caverns. During the short rest Mina and Jym leveled up. Jym picked up the "Shake it off" power and trained in the usage of the bastard sword so he could wield the magic bastard sword he looted off Irocar the Warcaptain. Mina chose the "Fleeting Ghost" power and "Backstabber" feat.

They picked up and moved on beyond the underground lake and slave pens area. The next area was a small empty stone chamber presenting them with a choice of two exits. A short and wide flight of stairs with an obvious set of well worn tracks led to the north. To the east was an irregular opening in the stone wall revealing a narrow flight of stairs leading into darkness. Rubble lay on the ground in front of the opening, giving the impression that the stairs had been concealed and then the wall had been torn down sometime in the past. Many of the rubble stones had been piled into a make-shift altar complete with numerous humanoid skulls and melted candles.

Aletha and Vismund discussed their knowledge of the area and decided that these caves were once part an ancient coven of warlocks who performed dark rituals and who then mysteriously disappeared. In recent history, slavers and smugglers moved into the subterranean passages in order to move their illegal cargo more easily and they most likely made changes and additions to the network of tunnels and caves. Aletha and Vismund reasoned that the dark narrow stairway must lead to a much older part of the caves and that the current batch of slavers must be to camped the north.

The party decided to come back here after dealing with the slavers first. To the north the short flight of stairs terminated in a small antechamber. Across from them was a rough brick and mortar wall including numerous humanoid skulls mortared into the wall in place of bricks at regular intervals. A large pair of bronze bound wooden doors were set in the center of the wall and apparently locked with a fancy mechanism cast in the shape of a demons snarling head reminiscent of the one Mina was poisoned by at the entrance to the alley above them. Muffled voices could be heard coming from beyond the doorway.

The party's perceptive eyes found a portcullis set in the ceiling that when lowered would cut off the stairs from the antechamber. Since Aletha knew she could easily fey step back to the other side of the barrier if it came down to separate the party, she volunteered to enter the chamber and have a look around. As predicted, not long after Aletha entered the antechamber the trap was sprung and the portcullis came crashing down cutting her off from the rest of the party. She also hear the sounds of the door unlocking and angry voices rising beyond the threshold. She quickly fey stepped back behind the rest of her party and waited. Everyone prepared for battle. The doors came open and the first wave of slavers came pouring into the antechamber. Hobgoblin slavers with swords and shields were supported by goblin archers with short bows. They came to a confused halt when they found that no one was in the antechamber with and then the party let fly with a volley of arrows, bolts, daggers, hammers, and eldritch blasts. Several slavers fell to the first exchange of missiles and the remaining goblins returned fire on the party. The angry voice of Orlis the Goat, the slavers' battle commander, was heard shouting "Raise the gate, you fools, and then rally to me!".

As the gate began ponderously to rise, Regnor rolled under it to engage the slavers toe-to-toe. Orlis the Goat, a dragonborn with distinctive ram-like curling horns wielding a magical greatsword, strode into the chamber surrounded by more hobgoblin soldiers and goblin reinforcements. The slavers outnumbered the party 2-to-1 at this point. The slavers formed up in a rough line extending to either side of their leader and attempted to block the party's progress.

The rest of the battle was short and bloody. Mina was able to sneak in behind many of her opponents gaining combat advantage and dealing extra damage with her new backstabbing ability. Regnor, Vismund, Aletha, and Mina took advantage of their opponents' tightly packed ranks and used their area of effect powers, blasting them with acid breath, scorching blasts, spike wires, and blinding barrages. Orlis retaliated with his own fire breath but was soon overwhelmed by the groups concentrated attacks. The few remaining goblins in the back of the room fled as soon as their leader was killed. Regnor took the magical greatsword from Orlis' corpse before following the rest of the group in pursuit of the goblins.