Sellswords of Punjar, Session 5: Into the Beggar-King's Kitchen

A few minutes later found the party back outside of the warm and wailing door. Feeling they had nothing to lose at this point they knocked politely at the door and waited for any response. When none came they prepared to break the door down. Regnor and Vismund gave the door a few good swift kicks which broke the security bar that was holding it closed.

When the broken door swung inward a wave of stiflingly dry heat washed over the party. Beyond the opening they could see a low circular chamber made of mortared stone. In the middle of the room stood an obese man, who could only be the Beggar-King himself, apparently caught in the throes of some dark sorcery. His head was thrown back in triumph or agony, it was unclear, with a gout of black swirling shadow continually erupting from his open mouth. The column shot upward and through a hole in the ruined floor of the level above and out of sight. The Beggar-King's skin had a dry and desiccated look to it, but his eyes flicking towards the door betrayed the fact that he was aware of his surroundings. Behind him set into the far wall of the room was the large metal door of a cremation oven, glowing red from the heat of a raging fire contained inside. What was fueling this infernal fire? The floor was littered with bits of wood, stone, skulls and broken bones all stained with soot. A crumbling set of stone stairs curved along one wall and up into darkness.

The party took a moment to work out a plan of attack. Someone suggested they try to get the door of the oven open and then push the Beggar-King into it. Jym offered to throw open the door since he would be resistant to the heat with his teifling blood. Aletha felt that with some help she could force him in with the Curse of the Dark dream. Mina objected to this idea since she would need the Beggar-King's head to complete her mission, but before she could raise an objection the party moved into action. As they entered the room a bit of the shadow gushing from the Beggar-King drifted down to surround him. They watched as the swirling shadows took on the shape of a cloud of swarming black bats bristling with claws and teeth. Obviously anyone who got close enough to reach him would be savagely slashed and bitten.

Jym began to race around the edge of the room in order to reach the oven doors. As he got halfway there the sudden motion of the Beggar-King's arms coming up caught his eye. In response to the man's gesture a blackened pile of bones assembled itself into a human skeleton between Jym and the oven, and then was engulfed in flames. The flames didn't seem to bother it though, in fact it took an orb of flame in it's hand and hurled it at Jym, who deftly ducked the missile. A second cinderbone skeleton, for that's what they were, formed itself near the stairs at the Beggar-King's command and hurled a fiery orb at Regnor which struck and set him aflame. Enraged, Regnor surged forward and attacked the Beggar-King. As expected the cloud of shadow bats bit and slashed him mercilessly causing him to back off after having delivered a minor blow to the man in the middle of the cloud. Seemingly at the fat man's command the door of the oven flew open and a gout of flame shot forth to engulf the already burned and battered fighter. The Beggar-King furthermore attacked Regnor's mind with a psychic blast of cold necromantic energy. Vismund was forced to use some of his restorative formula on Regnor to soothe his many wounds, and then he charged the cinderbone skeleton near the stairs. Mina threw a dagger at the Beggar-King before attempting to sneak into a better flanking position. Aletha laid down suppressive fire from a safe distance near the doorway.

Jym moved in on his cinderbone skelly, deflected a flaming claw with his shield and struck it with a critical blow, ending it's brief existence. Before he could move closer to the oven door a new flaming skeleton was raised in it's place. Jym decided to abandon the fat-man-in-the-oven plan and directed his companions to focus all of their attacks on the Beggar-King directly. Mina tossed another dagger before drawing her short sword and sneaking into a flanking position behind the Beggar-King. Before stepping into the cloud of bats she activated the protective magic of her wolf fur cloak which seemed to ward off their bothersome attacks. This reminded Regnor of his own magical mantle, and taking a cue from Mina he called on its power and stumbled back into the cloud, granting combat advantage to himself and Mina against the Beggar-King. Vismund heard Jym's command and broke off from the cinder skeleton and moved closer to the Beggar-King. The cinder skeleton took an ineffectual swipe at the dwarf as he moved away, but the Beggar-King summoned it to his side to guard his exposed flank. This annoyed the dwarf who began beating it with his warhammer. Aletha reached out to the Beggar-King's mind with the Curse of the Dark Dream but was unable to hit him with its full effect. Still, he was tossed a few feet into the air by the fey magic and landed roughly on the ground. Jym moved up and lead the attack on their enemy, scoring an impressive hit and shouting inspiring words to his companions.

Surrounded and flanked the Beggar-King did not last long under the blades of Jym, Regnor and Mina. As he died and collapsed to the floor so did his skeleton minions. The flames of the oven immediately died out plunging the room in shadow. A chill wind blew through the dim basement freezing the sweat on their brows. The cloud of shadow bats surged upward through the holes in the ceiling and out of sight. Almost at once, the ground began to shake and dirt and debris began to fall down around them. From the distance came a muffled "whump" and a rush of air as the caverns below them began to collapse. It became apparent that the only escape from premature burial was to climb up the stairs to the surface and quickly. As they hurried out of the room Mina lingered long enough to separate the Beggar-King's head from his body and took it with her.