Lady's Light Part 1
We rejoin Our Heroes in Magnimar, at the Lorrimor Townhouse (previously the Foxglove Townhouse). Plans are discussed, objectives evaluated, and outcomes looked into. The Party decides to head to Sandpoint and follow up on Nualia's claim of charming the Sheriff.
Claims which new interim Sheriff Shalelu verifies; the Sheriff attempted to kill the mayor, and was put down. Shalelu had not heard of Nualia and Tsuto's escape (and, in Tsuto's case, his recapture and commutation of sentence to exile in Ft. Rannick), but she wasn't too surprised. Seems Sandpoint might be making some Frontier Justice types of decisions for the foreseeable future, thinks the party, and they are likely not incorrect.
Shayliss stays home. She's cut all ties with Sandpoint and has no desire to interact with her parents or be reminded of her dead sister. She does approach Torvan later and ask if he heard anything about Vin - which Torvan misunderstands at first as having something to do with wine, so he replies that no, he only drank ale in his short time there.
Neither Shayliss nor Torvan were entirely happy with the conversation, but that is the life of adventurers, I suppose. Fighting, exploring, changing the destiny of a nation, looting ancient crypts - yes, with hopefully a healing potion and a warm meal at the end of that week. But small talk, in the city, with one's friends? That sometimes is not in the purview of the adventurer-on-the-street.
But I digress. Passage is obtained on a Magnimarian patrol boat, which takes The Party to the Lady's Light at the tip of Varisia, surrounded by shoals (in the water) and swamps (on the land). A quite inhospitable place! The Lady is 200 feet tall, and holds a scepter another 50 feet above that; where She stands is at the top of 40' cliffs so it is Quite the impressive feat of statuary - especially considering that the empire which constructed Her died out ~10000 years ago, and started ~5000 years before that.
Plus, at night, she glows!
Our Heroes scout around - Vig even climbs to the top! "Torvan - I can see your house from here!" he calls down. That's confusing to Torvan, who's lived in caves, shacks, apartments, townhouses, inns, tents, an old hollow log, and a decrepit bungalow - never anything one might call a 'house', though.
Antwon, meanwhile, rides up to a bridge that crosses a lagoon to a small spit of rock with a rather well-put-together cabin. The inhabitant is initially unfriendly, but the promise of whiskey and a mercifully small amount of conversation leads her to reveal some tunnels, through which she once was able to reach the inside of The Lady.
Oh - my apologies. The Lady herself does not glow. I mean, She does, in part. Only from the top of the scepter though. Not Her whole Self, if you see what I mean.
Perhaps today's missive should be titled 'a slew of digressions', now that we're part way through it, yes?
Onward! Our Party finds a cave with a tunnel leading downward and a bad rotten smell - the smell of a 5-headed snake monster, slain sometime between a week and a month ago. The hydra was some sort of god to a local population of Boggards, apparently, and it's death certainly signifies some sort of lack of faith on the part of the Bogs.
Down the tunnel and into the Lady! The party has been cautioned to paint the Rune of Lust on their persons, so the animated stone guardians at the gate do not animate and crush Our Heroes into paste. As far as they know, anyway - perhaps the statues are just statues of Sorshen, placed here to revere the Runelord who constructed this place.
At this point, I will mention that The Lady, and almost all of the statuary inside Her, are of the ancient Runelord Sorshen, she whose domain was Lust. She looks identical to the woman who called herself Sorshen who recently offered Our Party work as specialists in the World Wound. The Heroes, as they progress through the tunnels inside The Lady, are beginning to wonder exactly who is was that contacted them.
But onward they go! Beyond the statues is a rectangular opening in the floor, darkened and silent and (as Our Heroes soon discover) with a Feather Fall effect still in place. Fun! Beyond the pit is a long corridor, held up with risque statues of Sorshen, and a Sepulcher made of white marble, with an image of Sorshen lying in state painted on the top. The Party chooses not to mess with or open the sarcophagus.
Down one end of the corridor they see a door with engravings of Sorshen binding succubi to various objects and devices. Succubi are quite pretty, but Sorshen is prettier. Beyond the door is a beautiful cavern with water in the bottom, lit up indirectly and carved so that the light reflecting off the water makes asthetically pleasing ripples of light on the walls. There are two boats, propelled with poles (the water is generally between 2 and 5 feet deep).
Our Party heads to the left, upstream, and finds the source of the water, pouring out from a metal grate, high up in the cavern wall. Near there is a platform above the water, upon which stands a 12-foot tall statue of Sorshen. Looking more closely at the statue, it become apparent that it has no eyes, but instead openings into the hollow inside of the statue - and with even closer inspection The Heroes discover that the statue is full of water.
Travelling the other way past where the party came in the river opens up into a sort of lake - still very shallow - with a sandy beach area to the south, a waterfall cascading down further to the east, and a seven-sided platform sitting six inches above the waterline with a glass statue of a woman (NOT of Sorshen, this one) looking as if she is about to leap into the water. Antwon moves close to the platform to tie the boat up - and the statue attacks!
It is a fierce and vicious battle, but at the end, the Glass Golem lies shattered and broken on the floor - her head being the largest remaining piece. The Party moves to beach their boats and finds what looks to be two graves dug there, each topped with a large oval shield that has the Rune of Lust painted upon it.
There is a door at the back of the beach - the party enters into a room covered in a lascivious mural - every vertical surface of the room is covered with images of wanton acts performed by otherworldly creatures. Closer inspection shows the subtext of the work - spiritual rot and decadence - and the name of the artist: "Amivadeus Yasrin". The murals end ten feet down the corridor - and it looks to be an unfinished work, with pencil sketches and half-painted figures at the edge of the work.
In the next chamber sits a handsome, shirtless, and grey-skinned man. At first he snarls curses and asks how the bitch is torturing him now - it soon comes out that he is the cast-off plaything of 'Sorshen', a creature that charmed him three years previously, but who is now engaged in trysting with some new warrior woman. The charm recently wore off and Gnaeus Gnaru wishes nothing but escape from this place. He was originally the bodyguard of Timoteo Valliax - a sorcerer who found his way inside The Lady but was slain by 'Sorshen'. The party gives him a blanket (it's November outside) and directs him to the cabin a mile up the beach, and continues on.
The Heroes open some locked doors, avoid a pit trap, and soon come to a large chamber with tiered platforms of grey stone, a small alcove to the south, staircase to the east, and a door to the west (they entered from the north). Behind the west door is a corridor with ten more doors, five on each side, nine of which have a brass plate engraved (in Thassilonian) with the words "Thou wouldst enter? Then thou must touch!". The easternmost door on the north side is rimed with frost, and it's plate reads "Thou wouldst enter to enjoy the company of the Runelord of Lust herself? Then thou must touch!"
The party, perhaps wisely, wants nothing to do with any of that and NOPEs right out.
Down the stairs, at the end of a short hall, is a carved painting of a lascivious woman, smiling cruelly, with the words "Prostrate thyself and demonstrate proper devotion, my sweet slave, if thou wishes to enter my domain" carved into the wall (and apparently, at one time, the words were filled with gold leaf). Torvan, inspecting the painting on his hands and knees, bumps into the painting and vanishes. Antwon shows Nelson how to do the same thing - and then follows his Wolf through. Vig, Shayliss, and Kendra all hesitate - is this the teleportation to the next part of the Lady, or is it a death trap? But Our Heroes are nothing if not Bold - so each of them bumps the lady from the floor, and all end up together, on a platform overlooking yet another underground watery cavern, lit in a most pretty way with phosphorescent lichens.
It might be a little eerie, though. Such aesthetic decisions are best left up to the viewer, as one might imagine.
In the cavern a waterfall pours down - Vig soon confirms that this is where the water from the previous cave ends up. Two rowboats are tied to the platform where the party arrived - a corridor is seen across the lake, and the cavern continues to the east - the party rows to the corridor, pulls the boats up, and travels down, through another painted door (this time, Sorshen is shown enchanting and charming several powerful monsters).
Behind the door is a throne room, of sorts, and upon the throne is a... well - a creature, of some sort, who calls out "You dare enter my throne room, little mortals? If you kneel to me know, then I, Sorshen, will call off my pets and only eat one of you!"
Runelord Sorshen apparently looks thusly:
Talk of being food does not set will with Our Heroes, and so combat is joined!
And is over quite quickly - both 'Sorshen' and her lizard pets pose little threat to our hardened warriors. Six treasure chests sit in the chamber - all of which seem to be this creature's trash, for each are filled with bones, viscera, and rotting scraps of meat.
Gross.
On the back of the throne, written in Thassilonian, is the following inscription on a platinum plate:
Hmmm.
Disheartened by the lack of treasure so far Our Party presses on - rowing further down the underground lake, past several corpses propped up in alcoves. Some of the corpses are naught but skeletons, and some are desiccated corpses; the most recent is perhaps a handful of years old, and it's impossible to tell the age of the oldest. Further down the watery passageway curves around and ends again in a sandy beach, with a door at the far end. The door opens to a rough-carved chamber, with a stack of wood, a cookfire that's burned down to coals and embers, and several fishing poles stacked up - on the far wall is yet another carved door, covered in panels that this time depict Sorshen dallying with a variety of attractive humanoids.
Torvan opens the door and slips in - to be confronted with several women in heavy armor! He is told to disarm and sit down, which he does (palming a knife in his extra-dimensional mythic sheathe). The woman yells back to the party, inquiring who else is there. When Antwon answers, the woman says "Well slave - drop your weapons and come here."
Antwon follows half of those orders. Not the part about the weapons!
Once again combat is joined. Soon another three soldiers come through from another room - these nude except for shield and sword. But Our Party quickly prevails and combat is quickly ended - five of the women are dead, and another three injured horribly. Antwon commands the conscious survivors to undress (and remove the armor of their companions) and begins throwing it in the lake, while the rest of the party checks for Sihedron Tattoos. None are found, but each of the Grey Maidens (for that is the name of this company of warriors) have their bodies - and especially their faces - horrible scarred.
The Grey Maidens are there, having fled Korvosa after the previous tyrant was deposed in favor of a more benevolent ruler - the Grey Maidens having been on the losing side of that conflict. Most of the Maidens pledged loyalty to the new regime, but this group did not - instead, they came to the Lady's Light in search of aid in their quest to retake Korvosa and return it to... well, to someone, who probably will have strong ties to Cheliax. In here they found Runelord Sorshen, who is even now planning with their leader for how best to assault Korvosa.
The Maidens tell the party how to operate the teleporters that are beyond the bathing area, and say that Orianna (who is apparently their commander) will certainly deal harshly with them.
And thus the curtains close, and we must bid farewell to Our Heroes until the next time.
Claims which new interim Sheriff Shalelu verifies; the Sheriff attempted to kill the mayor, and was put down. Shalelu had not heard of Nualia and Tsuto's escape (and, in Tsuto's case, his recapture and commutation of sentence to exile in Ft. Rannick), but she wasn't too surprised. Seems Sandpoint might be making some Frontier Justice types of decisions for the foreseeable future, thinks the party, and they are likely not incorrect.
Shayliss stays home. She's cut all ties with Sandpoint and has no desire to interact with her parents or be reminded of her dead sister. She does approach Torvan later and ask if he heard anything about Vin - which Torvan misunderstands at first as having something to do with wine, so he replies that no, he only drank ale in his short time there.
Neither Shayliss nor Torvan were entirely happy with the conversation, but that is the life of adventurers, I suppose. Fighting, exploring, changing the destiny of a nation, looting ancient crypts - yes, with hopefully a healing potion and a warm meal at the end of that week. But small talk, in the city, with one's friends? That sometimes is not in the purview of the adventurer-on-the-street.
But I digress. Passage is obtained on a Magnimarian patrol boat, which takes The Party to the Lady's Light at the tip of Varisia, surrounded by shoals (in the water) and swamps (on the land). A quite inhospitable place! The Lady is 200 feet tall, and holds a scepter another 50 feet above that; where She stands is at the top of 40' cliffs so it is Quite the impressive feat of statuary - especially considering that the empire which constructed Her died out ~10000 years ago, and started ~5000 years before that.
Plus, at night, she glows!
Our Heroes scout around - Vig even climbs to the top! "Torvan - I can see your house from here!" he calls down. That's confusing to Torvan, who's lived in caves, shacks, apartments, townhouses, inns, tents, an old hollow log, and a decrepit bungalow - never anything one might call a 'house', though.
Antwon, meanwhile, rides up to a bridge that crosses a lagoon to a small spit of rock with a rather well-put-together cabin. The inhabitant is initially unfriendly, but the promise of whiskey and a mercifully small amount of conversation leads her to reveal some tunnels, through which she once was able to reach the inside of The Lady.
Oh - my apologies. The Lady herself does not glow. I mean, She does, in part. Only from the top of the scepter though. Not Her whole Self, if you see what I mean.
Perhaps today's missive should be titled 'a slew of digressions', now that we're part way through it, yes?
Onward! Our Party finds a cave with a tunnel leading downward and a bad rotten smell - the smell of a 5-headed snake monster, slain sometime between a week and a month ago. The hydra was some sort of god to a local population of Boggards, apparently, and it's death certainly signifies some sort of lack of faith on the part of the Bogs.
Down the tunnel and into the Lady! The party has been cautioned to paint the Rune of Lust on their persons, so the animated stone guardians at the gate do not animate and crush Our Heroes into paste. As far as they know, anyway - perhaps the statues are just statues of Sorshen, placed here to revere the Runelord who constructed this place.
At this point, I will mention that The Lady, and almost all of the statuary inside Her, are of the ancient Runelord Sorshen, she whose domain was Lust. She looks identical to the woman who called herself Sorshen who recently offered Our Party work as specialists in the World Wound. The Heroes, as they progress through the tunnels inside The Lady, are beginning to wonder exactly who is was that contacted them.
But onward they go! Beyond the statues is a rectangular opening in the floor, darkened and silent and (as Our Heroes soon discover) with a Feather Fall effect still in place. Fun! Beyond the pit is a long corridor, held up with risque statues of Sorshen, and a Sepulcher made of white marble, with an image of Sorshen lying in state painted on the top. The Party chooses not to mess with or open the sarcophagus.
Down one end of the corridor they see a door with engravings of Sorshen binding succubi to various objects and devices. Succubi are quite pretty, but Sorshen is prettier. Beyond the door is a beautiful cavern with water in the bottom, lit up indirectly and carved so that the light reflecting off the water makes asthetically pleasing ripples of light on the walls. There are two boats, propelled with poles (the water is generally between 2 and 5 feet deep).
Our Party heads to the left, upstream, and finds the source of the water, pouring out from a metal grate, high up in the cavern wall. Near there is a platform above the water, upon which stands a 12-foot tall statue of Sorshen. Looking more closely at the statue, it become apparent that it has no eyes, but instead openings into the hollow inside of the statue - and with even closer inspection The Heroes discover that the statue is full of water.
Travelling the other way past where the party came in the river opens up into a sort of lake - still very shallow - with a sandy beach area to the south, a waterfall cascading down further to the east, and a seven-sided platform sitting six inches above the waterline with a glass statue of a woman (NOT of Sorshen, this one) looking as if she is about to leap into the water. Antwon moves close to the platform to tie the boat up - and the statue attacks!
It is a fierce and vicious battle, but at the end, the Glass Golem lies shattered and broken on the floor - her head being the largest remaining piece. The Party moves to beach their boats and finds what looks to be two graves dug there, each topped with a large oval shield that has the Rune of Lust painted upon it.
There is a door at the back of the beach - the party enters into a room covered in a lascivious mural - every vertical surface of the room is covered with images of wanton acts performed by otherworldly creatures. Closer inspection shows the subtext of the work - spiritual rot and decadence - and the name of the artist: "Amivadeus Yasrin". The murals end ten feet down the corridor - and it looks to be an unfinished work, with pencil sketches and half-painted figures at the edge of the work.
In the next chamber sits a handsome, shirtless, and grey-skinned man. At first he snarls curses and asks how the bitch is torturing him now - it soon comes out that he is the cast-off plaything of 'Sorshen', a creature that charmed him three years previously, but who is now engaged in trysting with some new warrior woman. The charm recently wore off and Gnaeus Gnaru wishes nothing but escape from this place. He was originally the bodyguard of Timoteo Valliax - a sorcerer who found his way inside The Lady but was slain by 'Sorshen'. The party gives him a blanket (it's November outside) and directs him to the cabin a mile up the beach, and continues on.
The Heroes open some locked doors, avoid a pit trap, and soon come to a large chamber with tiered platforms of grey stone, a small alcove to the south, staircase to the east, and a door to the west (they entered from the north). Behind the west door is a corridor with ten more doors, five on each side, nine of which have a brass plate engraved (in Thassilonian) with the words "Thou wouldst enter? Then thou must touch!". The easternmost door on the north side is rimed with frost, and it's plate reads "Thou wouldst enter to enjoy the company of the Runelord of Lust herself? Then thou must touch!"
The party, perhaps wisely, wants nothing to do with any of that and NOPEs right out.
Down the stairs, at the end of a short hall, is a carved painting of a lascivious woman, smiling cruelly, with the words "Prostrate thyself and demonstrate proper devotion, my sweet slave, if thou wishes to enter my domain" carved into the wall (and apparently, at one time, the words were filled with gold leaf). Torvan, inspecting the painting on his hands and knees, bumps into the painting and vanishes. Antwon shows Nelson how to do the same thing - and then follows his Wolf through. Vig, Shayliss, and Kendra all hesitate - is this the teleportation to the next part of the Lady, or is it a death trap? But Our Heroes are nothing if not Bold - so each of them bumps the lady from the floor, and all end up together, on a platform overlooking yet another underground watery cavern, lit in a most pretty way with phosphorescent lichens.
It might be a little eerie, though. Such aesthetic decisions are best left up to the viewer, as one might imagine.
In the cavern a waterfall pours down - Vig soon confirms that this is where the water from the previous cave ends up. Two rowboats are tied to the platform where the party arrived - a corridor is seen across the lake, and the cavern continues to the east - the party rows to the corridor, pulls the boats up, and travels down, through another painted door (this time, Sorshen is shown enchanting and charming several powerful monsters).
Behind the door is a throne room, of sorts, and upon the throne is a... well - a creature, of some sort, who calls out "You dare enter my throne room, little mortals? If you kneel to me know, then I, Sorshen, will call off my pets and only eat one of you!"
Runelord Sorshen apparently looks thusly:
 |
| Runelord Sorshen? |
And is over quite quickly - both 'Sorshen' and her lizard pets pose little threat to our hardened warriors. Six treasure chests sit in the chamber - all of which seem to be this creature's trash, for each are filled with bones, viscera, and rotting scraps of meat.
Gross.
On the back of the throne, written in Thassilonian, is the following inscription on a platinum plate:
“A gift for my Mistress Sorshen from her humble servant Ayandamahla, dedicated this celebrated day, the 25th anniversary of her ascension to rulership in Eurythnia. Present—Runelord Sorshen, Ayandamahla and her daughters Ashamintallu and Erixadallax, Lord & Lady of the Burning Bright, the Sisters of Charming & Delectation, and the Baron of Calamities, along with all slaves, servants, and supplicants in this, the Lady’s Light. May she reign unchallenged forever.”
Hmmm.
Disheartened by the lack of treasure so far Our Party presses on - rowing further down the underground lake, past several corpses propped up in alcoves. Some of the corpses are naught but skeletons, and some are desiccated corpses; the most recent is perhaps a handful of years old, and it's impossible to tell the age of the oldest. Further down the watery passageway curves around and ends again in a sandy beach, with a door at the far end. The door opens to a rough-carved chamber, with a stack of wood, a cookfire that's burned down to coals and embers, and several fishing poles stacked up - on the far wall is yet another carved door, covered in panels that this time depict Sorshen dallying with a variety of attractive humanoids.
Torvan opens the door and slips in - to be confronted with several women in heavy armor! He is told to disarm and sit down, which he does (palming a knife in his extra-dimensional mythic sheathe). The woman yells back to the party, inquiring who else is there. When Antwon answers, the woman says "Well slave - drop your weapons and come here."
Antwon follows half of those orders. Not the part about the weapons!
Once again combat is joined. Soon another three soldiers come through from another room - these nude except for shield and sword. But Our Party quickly prevails and combat is quickly ended - five of the women are dead, and another three injured horribly. Antwon commands the conscious survivors to undress (and remove the armor of their companions) and begins throwing it in the lake, while the rest of the party checks for Sihedron Tattoos. None are found, but each of the Grey Maidens (for that is the name of this company of warriors) have their bodies - and especially their faces - horrible scarred.
The Grey Maidens are there, having fled Korvosa after the previous tyrant was deposed in favor of a more benevolent ruler - the Grey Maidens having been on the losing side of that conflict. Most of the Maidens pledged loyalty to the new regime, but this group did not - instead, they came to the Lady's Light in search of aid in their quest to retake Korvosa and return it to... well, to someone, who probably will have strong ties to Cheliax. In here they found Runelord Sorshen, who is even now planning with their leader for how best to assault Korvosa.
The Maidens tell the party how to operate the teleporters that are beyond the bathing area, and say that Orianna (who is apparently their commander) will certainly deal harshly with them.
And thus the curtains close, and we must bid farewell to Our Heroes until the next time.
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