Belswick 14 - more weird arcana

It's been quiet here. Here's a quick session log of a ~3hr session last weekend. Next session is this Sunday, and I have two other groups in waiting as well as a friend who's not in any of those groups telling me she'd like to play D&D again some day.

TL;DR

More looting of weird, heretical arcana. Mummies on unending lab duty. And the party hits level 5!

CHARACTERS

• Guy, human diviner wizard of the Augurs and former noble son of Arrayne before his wizardly powers (and strange psychic affliction) burned down the family castle.
• Mike, human druid of the northern province of Pembroke. Clan murdered by psychic cultists looking for someone called the Messenger
• Shams, Dwarven fighter escorting a trade caravan to Duchy Belswick. There's war brewing with the Dwarves' old trading partner Arrayne
• Lomin Mor, elven rogue and former noble son of Arrayne. Poses as the Lady Olga of nearby fief Culfield (who in reality died a few years ago)

Not present this session:

• Tilbord, deal-happy human bard and priest of the Authority, warlock and ghoul friend
• Aju, shark enchanted to walk the land as a fishling for a year

REMIND ME.

Last game, the players were looting the crypt of Umtak Ktharl after murdering said worthy lich-priest in the bath of holy water that kept him a prisoner. Not that the local sentient Shroomian population much cared, exiled as they were from the Shroom court for being Not Mellow Enough.

The group decided it was looting time and dug into an extensive alchemy lab. Party cleric/bard/warlock hopped up on golden lotus vapours, they discovered the lotus potion could also uplift the average Shroomian to royalty. Messing with the local power structure, oh yeah.

NOW WHAT?

This session, it's STILL rootin' tootin' lootin' time! Who cares if the DM has surface plots planned out, there's underground magic weirdness to fuck with. Next stop in the area is the arcane lab on the other side of the fungus and spider infested cavern.

Encounters rolled en-route include the flaming undead spine-and-skull of Umtak Ktharl's gaoler Barzai the Wise, an unseen telepathic presence in the fungal growths, and a bunch of Shadows that almost kill Mike the druid.

MAIN COURSE: FUCKING WIZARDRY.

The arcane lab, like the apothecarium, was used Way Back to find ways of making Umtak Ktharl the lich-priest vulnerable again. Present day, there's a couple of weary mummies tending experiments with no hope of completion. And tons of other mummy fragments in alcoves, still partly animated but mostly scavenged to keep the last lab assistants functioning. In other words, wacky shit.

The mummies are tired to the bone and wave the group in to "just place the delivery in the back room".

I had a map stocked with monsters and weirdness, but more importantly I had a Dwarven Forge layout of the place. A kick-ass addition to the table if you know where your group is headed and have time to prep. *hollow laughter*

WHAT'D THEY FIND?

All kinds of weird shit. The players were smart enough to keep the mummy lab assistants occupied while they were scouting the place. They found moldy books on "other dimensions" and a thousand gold pieces worth of arcane components.

More interesting stuff:

• linked portals (which incredibly the group left behind!)
• a summoning candle that brings and binds a demon to service for an hour (500 gp))
• a holographic planar diagram that shows links to "other dimensions"*, 650 gp (up to x3)
• the imp Ricky, bound in a circle inside a pool of lava as a study on long-term containment

* this is wildly dangerous stuff, because the Church suppresses any and all knowledge of other planes. As far as anyone knows, heaven is a place beyond the clouds, hell is deep under the earth, air elementals live in the wide open sky, faeries inhabit faerie mounds etc.

THE SHIT, WHEN DID IT HIT THE FAN?

I think it was the one door that wouldn't open. Mike splintered the damn thing, finally alerting the mummies that there was mischief afoot. Shams meanwhile tried to get Ricky out of the binding circle - by hurling a big table into the poor imp. Rotting mummy fists, and burning eyes attack the group, but their skill with the greatsword, fiery holy blade and blazing magic make fairly short work of the four mummies.

I even manage to make the party fighter feel sorry for shoving that last mummy into the lava. Poor guys, bound by some ancient curse to keep the experiments going forever. Props and thanks to Arnold for his post on mummies as something else than shambling guardians!

THEN WHAT?

The party rest and recover. Make plans to return to the surface; the Crossroads gang wants to return home, Shams needs to bring her trade caravan to Duchy Belswick and set up diplomatic relations. She chats with the imp Ricky, who is seriously overjoyed to finally be free again. Ricky promises Shams that he'll serve her until he has answered her Six Questions To Hell (sort of like the Commune spell, but less assholey with word limits).