Sunday, July 29, 2018

[Pathfinder] Mummy's Mask, part 33: Deeper Into the Sphinx

Ahead the Ruby Scarabs saw a doorway that led into the Sightless Sphinx's undamaged right leg section. Kaa examined the door, finding it unlocked and trap-free, then opened it. The open doorway revealed a massive chamber occupied by a mastaba standing twenty feet high. Steep steps rose up the side of the structure facing the Scarabs, leading up to its flat roof. At each of the corners they could see a green light floating at about Uto's height above the floor. They spied a cultist of the Forgotten Pharaoh on the top, and two girtablilu warriors at the base. As soon as the Scarabs appeared in the door opening, one of the girtablilu rushed forward to attack Kaa.

Azzaria immediately stepped up beside Kaa and began to deal fearsome injuries to the scorpion-man. It took only a moment for her to slay him. The second girtablilu remaned near the rear corner of the mastaba and began to cast a spell, which Hutt warned his comrades meant the girtablilu was probably calling a giant scorpion to aid him. Sula began to call for an ally of her own. Hutt blasted the girtablilu with fire, interrupting his spell. Kaa moved further into the chamber and fired a burst of acid at the girtablilu. Azzaria ran up the side of the mastaba, eschewing the steps, and attacked the cultist there, announcing, "I am ready for you. Put your bow away. It will be useless." A second cultist had also appeared, so Tetisurah flew up to the platform and joined Azzaria in attacking the two cultists.

The girtablilu moved toward Kaa and tried to grab him. Sula's spell completed and an ankylosaurus appeared by the girtablilu, swinging its club-like tail at the scorpion-man, but it missed. The two cultists drew their scimitars to fight with Azzaria and Tetisurah. At the same moment, Kaa pummeled the girtablilu past the boundary of life, and Azzaria sent one of the cultists stumbling backward so hard that he slid partway down the angled side of the mastaba. Sula's ankylosaurus slammed its tail into the cultist, stunning him.

Though she was still fighting the second cultist, Azzaria shouted down to the others, "There's a big opening on the other side!" Hutt ran to the far corner of the mastaba so he could see the opening Azzaria spoke of. He noticed the green light was still there, undamaged by his fiery spell, and he realized that it was the result of a minor spell made permanent. Through the opening he saw a red glow that did not resemble the light from flames.

Kaa punched the cultist who had slipped down the side of the mastaba. Azzaria's opponent called out to the Forgotten Pharaoh and exploded in flames. While the second cultist faced off with Kaa, Hutt moved up to peer through the opening into another room. He saw two statues, one of a golden lioness and the other a lion-headed woman wearing a bloody dress. Strangely the two statues appeared to be metamorphosing into each other, and Hutt realized they were illusory images of statues rather than physical objects. He also saw that shards of stone had been embedded into the walls by some violent force. Something about the images seemed wrong, aside from the way they were merging into each other and exchanging places.

Having finished off the second cultist, Azzaria ran down the side of the mastaba to attack the cultist who was battling with Kaa. The ankylosaurus struck him with its tail again and the cultist called out to the Pharaoh and burst into flames, leaving behind only his mask, armor, and weapons as his comrade had done. The Scarabs quickly gathered up everything the two cultists and the two girtablilu had possessed. In the process of doing this, a secret door was found in the side of the mastaba. When Kaa opened it he revealed a dusty disused room. Inside a basket lay a clasp in the form of a scarab which Uto sensed was magical, two pearls, and a pouch containing a small quantity of gold pieces of recent vintage. Hutt examined the clasp, which could protect the wearer from attacks by golems.

The whole party then moved to the opposite side of the mastaba to look at the statue images Hutt had seen. They realized that the images both represented the goddess Sekhmet in different aspects. Why there was an apparent shrine to Sekhmet within the temple of Areshkagal they couldn't determine. Somehow they felt that the goddess herself had caused the destruction that embedded the stone fragments into the walls, though there was nothing to tell them why. Kaa spoke a greeting to Sekhmet and braved the disturbing aura in the chamber to enter it. When he did this he felt a sensation as if he was being mauled by a lion, but he suffered no injury.

While Azzaria was looking at the images from the entrance, she recalled a prayer to Sekhmet that had been inscribed in the shrine they had found at the oasis fort. She was able to recall it well enough to recite it haltingly. As soon as she finished the sense of wrongness dissipated and they heard a might roar. Everyone joined in, the images disappeared, and all of the Scarabs felt that Sekhmet had granted them her blessing.

Beyond the former shrine to Sekhmet was another hallway, this one shorter but wider than the last one they had traversed. On one side was another unlocked doorway. Kaa opened it and they looked into a simple smaller room that had clearly not been opened or used in many years. Everything in it was coated in dust. Three empty easels faced each other in the center, and along one wall was a table covered in pots and jars. Uto detected that one of the jars was magical or contained a magical substance. But because he was still traveling inside the bronze sentinel it wouldn't be easy for him to go through the door. Though the room was dirty and had no openings to the outside, there was a sound as though a wind was faintly wailing inside it. Uto sensed no indication of a haunt.

At this point the GM declared a save point because he recognized that the next section of the adventure path could have dire results for the party. All of the text in italics occurred after the save point.

Suddenly a figure of a beautiful, ethereal elven woman burst through one of the walls, emitting a deafening screech. The result of the terrible screaming was that Sula's heart stopped and she collapsed. Hutt also fell. Uto, who had been using the Pharoah's mask to monitor the life signs of his companions, realized that both of them were dead and couldn't be revived by any magic he had at his disposal. Kaa rushed into the room to attack the elf for harming his friends. The screaming elf reached out to Kaa and touched him, leaving him cowering in terror and sorely wounded. He could only crouch where he was, muttering, "Don't let her touch you. Don't let her touch you." 

Nyema somehow withstood the deadly screech, but she was sickened. She ran to Sula's side, confused by her companion's sudden fall, and began to lick Sula's lifeless face. Hutt's homonculus, Little Anubis, suddenly became very aggressive and drew his tiny spear, menacing anyone who approached Hutt's fallen body. Uto warned Tetisurah what kind of effect the ghostly elf's scream was and warded himself as best he could against her. Tetisurah went to examine Sula, hoping she had some magic that could help her fellow druid. 

The elf touched Kaa again, and Uto immediately healed some of the damage before it could threaten his life. When Azzaria approached the doorway, Little Anubis stabbed at her. Azzaria entered the room to try to pull Kaa out as he was still paralyzed with fear. The elf attacked her, badly wounding her. Uto realized that the woman was a kind of undead creature and sent some of his positive healing energy at her as he knew it would harm her. But it did her less harm than he had hoped. Kaa began to feel the terror loosening its grip on him, but at that moment the undead elf touched him again, causing him more injury. Uto reached out with the bronze sentinel's arm to grasp Kaa and pull him out of the room. Kaa began to recover himself and struggled to pull free of the sentinel's hold.

The elf touched Azzaria again and she toppled to the floor, not dead but in critical condition as Uto could observe through the mask's eyes. He called out for Tetisurah to open the hatch so he could exit the sentinel. Kaa was quicker and moved to open the hatch instead, while Tetisurah batted Little Anubis away from the door with her paw to allow Uto to pass without being attacked. Uto healed Azzaria enough that she was no longer on the verge of death and moved to face the ghostly woman. Kaa straddled Hutt's body and fired three rays of fire at the woman, but all of them failed to connect with her insubstantial body. Uto assumed his living monolith form, grabbed Azzaria, and slid her toward the door. 

Now conscious, Azzaria called out to Tetisurah to ask her for healing. The elf woman went for Azzaria again, rendering her even closer to death than before. Tetisurah grabbed her and pulled her into the hall. Uto summoned an ancestor spirit to block the doorway and squeezed out of the room. Little Anubis attacked the elf now, but his spear seemed to do her no harm. The ghostly woman then passed through the wall. Uto attacked her as she passed him to assault Kaa, then shoved the now immobile sentinel back to get it out of the way. As he channeled more positive energy to hurt the elf, Little Anubis slammed the door shut, leaving only himself in the artists' workroom. The woman attacked Kaa again, and Tetisurah flew awkwardly to his side to slap the insubstantial elf with her paw. But this was enough, and the ghostly elf was destroyed.

At this point we had two dead characters, one character near death, and a fourth character severely wounded. The homonculus had gone insane, and the party had no access to resurrection magic or Hutt's teleportation spell to get them to Sothis for aid. With the GM's agreement, it was decided that next session the party members would bypass the artists' workroom as an unnecessary interruption of their mission. 

Next: part 34, The Forgotten Pharaoh


Sunday, July 8, 2018

[Pathfinder] Wrath of the Righteous, part 37: A New-Found Ally

After Aravashnial consulted with the other mages and the priests in camp, it was determined that there were two options to deal with the curse afflicting Asami. The first options was for Sosiel to cast a spell on her to remove the curse. But this held the risk that it would free Eldrazi from within her and enable him to go out into the world and continue his acquisition of power. The second option would be to perform a lengthy ritual that would expel Eldrazi and send his spirit on to its intended afterlife, and might also do so for the remnant of Conshru's spirit that existed along with him. Asami was given the choice of which method to use. She decided that she preferred the ritual, even though she knew it would be uncomfortable or even painful for her, because she felt grateful to Conshru for helping to shield her somewhat from Eldrazi's efforts to take control of her body and she wished for him to be able to move on to the next form of his existence.

While she was still able to function freely, Asami recharged a curative wand that Jiro carried. Then she submitted to being prevented from spellcasting and having access to her spellbooks removed so she would be unable to threaten her friends and allies during the night. That evening Jiro researched and concluded that the impostor Iomedae they had met in the chapel had probably been a succubus, perhaps the same one Asami had seen, since the false goddess's powers had resembled those succubi could manifest. The Knights received news that Aegon and Darra had decided to return to Kenabres and try to either stop their old friend Abel from serving the demon-worshippers, or if he wouldn't turn his back on them Aegon was determined to slay him.

Aravashnial and the other wizards prepared to perform the ritual on the following day. He asked Jiro to look through some of the things Horgus Gwerm's men had found in Drezen for some necessary herbs. Asami remained bound and gagged during this time so Eldrazi would have no opportunity to escape. Aravashnial teleported back to Kenabres to collect some additional supplies and had to spend much of the rest of the day recuperating after he returned. Runa prepared a sermon for the next morning.

When morning arrived, Runa gave an impassioned sermon advising the paladins to be wary of false gods. Aravashnial then prepared a ritual circle that was meant to be large enough to contain any spells that Eldrazi might cast in an effort to get free. Asami could feel him struggling to overcome her so he could flee, but Conshru held him back so he was unable to master her. She was placed in the center of the circle and restrained there. Runa came and sat beside her so she could use her divine ability to lend Iomedae's aid to her comrade. Zosta, Jiro, and Shim also stood by as well, and Bohgong kept an eye on Kirara in case Eldrazi was somehow able to use her link with Asami to his advantage. Aravashnial warned everyone that they might find the ritual disturbing, and that it would probably be painful for Asami.

As the ritual progressed, Asami sensed Eldrazi trying to break free and Conshru trying to suppress him. Conshru's aid meant that for much of the time she was able to resist Eldrazi's efforts to control her, but at one point Conshru's aid wasn't enough. Eldrazi summoned a ball of fire centered on himself and hence on Asami, blasting the entire area inside the ritual circle with an inferno. Yet somehow despite the impressive intensity of the flames it did far less harm that it should have and none at all to Asami. Eldrazi had protected himself from the fire, which also protected Asami, and Conshru had somehow absorbed some of the heat so that Asami's friends were not badly burned. Jiro had linked himself to everyone and absorbed some of what injury they did suffer, though he couldn't extend that protection to the forty paladins who stood in a protective ring around the boundaries of the circle where Asami writhed in pain.

As the flames engulfed them, Shim witnessed two faces in the flames. One, who appeared to a be a human with a small goatee and hair forming a widow's peak on his forehead, looked very angry. The other was a smaller face accompanied by some sort of reptilian creature. The halfling was smiling and seemed to be drawing the flames into himself. When the flames had receded, Asami called on her special divinely-granted power to resist Eldrazi's influence another time and he was unable to do anything else.

Three hours later the ritual was completed. Jiro saw two spirits rise from Asami's prone form. As both separated and began to fade from sight, the halfling bowed slightly toward the young man. Then the halfling ascended toward the heavens, while the human disappeared into the earth in the direction of the Abyss.

Asami and those who had performed the ritual were all exhausted afterward, as was Kirara. Asami was taken to her tent to rest. But she could feel that the two entities were gone from her mind, and her link to the element of wood that had been partly suppressed since Eldrazi possessed her was now as strong as it had been before she touched his burnt spellbook. He had also left knowledge in her mind of several spells that she could now prepare just as though they were written in her own spellbook.

The following day with Asami and Kirara recovered, the Knights prepared to return to the chapel. They planned their spells and infusions carefully to withstand the succubus, assuming that they would meet her again once they reentered the Citadel. Jiro's research had given them a good idea of what she could potentially do. To better protect themselves from any reinforcements she might have, they took along a squadron of twenty-five paladins and five of the Crusaders who had been freed from the demons.

When they reached the doorway at the end of the long corridor where they had fought the gargoyles, the Knights found that some of the defenders had crudely restored the doors there. Shim checked them for traps and found none. As he did this, Asami suddenly had a strange sensation that something was wrong in the forest, but she couldn't articulate this to her friends except by saying that something felt wrong. Shim and Zosta kicked one side of the double doors open. To their surprise, a large wagon lay on its side in the passage beyond. Zosta immediately began to wonder aloud how it had got there, since there was a closed portcullis behind it that had been damaged so it couldn't be opened.

As the Knights wondered where the wagon had come from, it transformed before their eyes into a large creature that seemed to be made of wood. Jiro realized that it was a kind of elemental, but of wood. It had a distinctly female appearance. Its branch-like arms ended in wooden blades like swords and its facial expression was one of anger. Jiro recognized that the elemental was also unusual in that it was a denizen of both an elemental plane and of the Material Plane.

Jiro had begun to fly just before they reached the doors, and had told the soldiers with them to form a line behind them. He called out to them to hold their fire. Zosta, who had been determined to attack anything she encountered to avoid being dominated again, fretted when she heard Jiro give that order, but she reluctantly refrained from leaping at the wood elemental. Jiro moved closer to the elemental and spoke to it, telling it that the Knights had no quarrel with it. Asami also moved closer to tell it that they had no wish to harm it. Jiro had seen that something in the Worldwound must have corrupted her. The elemental seemed to be struggling with something within herself. She spoke angrily, proclaiming that mortals had corrupted everything and destroyed half her grove. Asami and Jiro both assured her that the Knights had come to remove the corruption, but first they needed to go farther into the Citadel. Runa moved behind Asami and laid her hand on the elven wizard's shoulder, extending one of Iomedae's blessing to make her words more convincing. The elemental didn't perceive this as a threatening move.

Asami stepped even closer so the elemental could see the faint wood graining in her complexion. In response, the elemental's blade-arms transformed into hands with long twig-like fingers. She extended one hand toward Asami, the fingers growing even longer and thinner as they reached out to touch her heart, her head, and the hand that held her wooden spellcasting sword. Asami's mind filled with the elemental's memories: of the demons' arrival at the Worldwound, of the destruction of the elemental's grove on the Material Plane, of being captured and tortured. At the same time the elemental could see into Asami's mind and perceive her affinity for wood and for green growing things. As Asami's friends looked on they saw her sword transforming into different types of weapons, shifting rapidly from one shape to another.

The elemental withdrew her fingers. Asami put her hand on the elemental's arm and cast a spell that would encourage the growth of plants. The elemental grew even larger, and where before she had appeared somewhat faded she now looked healthier. Jiro congratulated her on overcoming the corruption the demons had afflicted on her. She said, "I will help you," and reaching behind her she destroyed the portcullis that barred their way. Asami told her, "I will find your grove and do whatever I can to restore it, this I swear." She knew she could find it; the elemental had shared the memory of its location with her. Jiro told her that she could rest in peace and safety outside the Citadel. Zosta ran back to let the soldiers know that the elemental would be coming out. One soldier ran ahead to let Irabeth and the rest of the army know.

Several people had appeared at the other end of the passage. Asami couldn't see them clearly, but some of her companions recognized them as the fallen Crusaders who had fought on behalf of the impostor Iomedae two days earlier. Runa stepped past the elemental to address them, calling upon them to abandon their false goddess and turn to the side of good. Jiro followed her, telling the elemental that she didn't have to fight if she didn't choose to. Then he addressed the men behind her, saying that they didn't have to be the Knights' enemies. Shim also moved toward the men, noting that where there had been four of them previously there were now five.

The elemental took hold of one of the double doors she had been blocking and pushed it into the broken wall so it covered the spiked pit, making a crude ramp that someone could climb over. Then she turned toward the five men and sprayed them with sharp splinters of wood, wounding almost all of them. Shim commented, "So you're disguised as one of them!" Zosta lunged forward, glad to have a target to attack. She missed her attempt to trip one man but dealt him several blows. Four of the soldiers rushed up to surround her and and returned her blows. The fifth soldier ran away toward the chapel.

Runa granted Jiro, Zosta, and Shim the ability to move suddenly and Shim ran out into the pillared  large chamber looking for the fleeing soldier, which he had identified as the disguised succubus. But she had vanished. Jiro stepped into weapon reach of the four fallen Crusaders. Zosta tripped one man and stomped on him, leaving him unconscious. She had already knocked out another man. Asami drew her wand and sent three missiles of force into one of the two who were still on their feet. As she did this the elemental extended her roots deep into the stones of the floor and told Asami, "The one that ran is in the chapel, and another is with her that was not there before." When Asami had thanked her, she said, "If that is all I will take my leave." Asami nodded gratefully and the huge elemental withdrew from the area and passed through the long corridor.

One of the men on the ground called out, "In the name of Iomedae!" and swung at Runa, but the effort was too much for him and he fainted. Zosta took down the third man. There was no opponent left standing. The Knights looked at each other. Asami shared with them what the elemental had told her. They suspected that the "other who was not there before" was likely another summoned babau, as the ability to summon such demons was one known to be possessed by succubi. Should they wait until the duration of the summoning expired so the succubus would be alone? But they worried that she would teleport away if they waited too long.

Shim made sure the fallen Crusaders wouldn't die, and some of the soldiers outside were called in to carry them out in the hope that eventually they could be freed from their mistaken devotion to the succubus. Asami cast a spell on everyone to allow them all to communicate silently with one another. Jiro channeled healing power to Zosta and Runa, who had both been injured in the fighting, then drew a wand. Shim began to move toward the chapel. As he did so, a babau suddenly appeared behind him, dropped its long spear, and attacked him.

Everyone moved among the pillars, prepared to fight the demon. Asami cast a spell to protect them from evil, extending it to herself and Kirara, Runa, and Zosta. Shim had moved toward the demon and was too far away for her to cast it on him, and Jiro already had such magic protecting him. The babau had appeared at the opposite side of the chamber from the entrance to the chapel, near another doorway the Knights had yet to explore. When Shim approached it, a woman's voice spoke from beyond it. Her words couldn't be made out, but Shim responded, "That sounds like a good idea." Those who were closer to him realized that the succubus must be beyond the small doorway and she had cast a spell on him, probably to dominate his will as she had done to Zosta before.

Runa moved toward Shim and cast the same protective spell on him that Asami had cast on her, preventing the succubus from giving him any new commands. Jiro also moved into the same area, bringing with him a circle of protection from evil creatures that further inhibited the succubus' power. Then Zosta bounded over her friends to get into the area where the succubus was and grappled with her despite the fact the succubus was hovering above the floor. Jiro ran into the area behind Zosta, calling out mentally to the others, "Keep her controlled and keep the babau out!"

The babau moved into a corner outside of the area the succubus was in and began to cast a spell toward Shim, but nothing visible happened. Runa's protective spell still surrounded him. Asami cast a protective circle on herself and moved closer. The succubus attempted to teleport away, but Jiro was prepared for that. He countered her spell, keeping her trapped in Zosta's unfriendly embrace. Zosta pinned her in place. The succubus said, "You could help me!" in a voice filled with frustration, clearly speaking to Shim, who said nothing. Asami cast a spell at the babau and it disappeared, sent back to the Abyss. While she did that, Zosta and Runa finished off the succubus.


Next: Interlude

Sunday, July 1, 2018

[Pathfinder] Wrath of the Righteous, part 36: In the Name of Iomedae

With the half-orc mercenaries and the demon reduced to burnt and melted remains, the Crusader Knights paused to examine them for any useful items. The vrock carried a valuable necklace, and the mercenaries each had a fine quality bow and a strong healing potion in their possession. When these items had been removed, the Knights took a moment to decide whether they should continue further into the Citadel or retreat to the courtyard. Jiro's healing abilities were significantly depleted by their battles with the gargoyles and the vrock, but they chose to forge ahead into the chapel.

The chapel had two entrances, one a set of heavy double doors and the other a smaller doorway that according to Aron's map led into the rear of the small chapel. Beyond the chapel lay a larger chamber with columns, littered with scattered piles of rubble. It was currently empty of any visible enemies and Asami detected nothing magical within it. To protect their group from enemies coming through that chamber to attack them from behind, Asami drew a circle of protection against evil creatures in the doorway that led from the large chamber to the chapel entrance. With Runa standing guard over him, Shim disabled the lock on the main doors to prevent anyone from entering or leaving through them. Asami then cast a spell on the entire group to allow them to communicate silently with each other, mind-to-mind. Shim knew the language of earth creatures, and he asked the elemental summoned by the gem to tell him how many creatures were inside the chapel. The elemental told him there were seven creatures within.

The rear door of the chapel opened to reveal a room lined with two rows of stone pews. Along the opposite wall stood three statues of armored knights holding their swords point down, set into alcoves in the wall. At the far end stood a statue of Iomedae. Four men garbed as crusaders sat on the pews, deep in prayer. In front of the statue stood a woman, who took them all by surprise because she appeared to be the very image of the woman depicted in the statue behind her.

The woman greeted them, calling them "My children" and asking how they had managed to get to the chapel as she and the four crusaders with her had been unable to escape. Runa responded by demanding, "How did I break my arm?" The woman seemed taken aback by this and didn't reply to it, instead claiming that she was Iomedae. Runa clearly did not accept this. She asked, "What was the last thing you said to my father and I before you sent me to the Worldwound?", to which the woman responded that those words were only between her and Runa. This still did not convince Runa, who strode toward the front of the chapel and began to cast a spell, which her companions recognized would summon Iomedae's radiance to harm and blind evil creatures.

Suddenly from behind the statue a longspear stabbed Runa as a babau appeared in the corner. Rather than react to the demon with anger as the Knights would have expected from Iomedae, the woman paid no attention to it. Runa managed to resist the pain of her wound and her spell harmed both the woman and the demon, revealing that as she had thought this woman was no manifestation of the goddess but a creature of evil.

The impostor responded by casting a spell of her own, not at Runa but at Zosta, who had run toward her when Runa did. Jiro realized that the spell would dominate Zosta's will and force her to obey the woman, but there was nothing he could do to prevent it. The babau attacked Runa again as this was happening, and Runa drew her sword to attack the woman. Asami, who was hovering at the back of the chapel, attempted to dispel the spell on Zosta but was unable to overcome the impostor's magic. Under the woman's direction Zosta moved toward Runa with her fists raised. Jiro hurried forward and cast a circle of protection around himself, hoping to give Zosta an opportunity to fight off the compulsion, but the magic failed to have the desired effect.

Asami flew up to the ceiling to get out of reach of the four crusaders, who had all come to their feet and were moving to attack the Knights. The woman attempted to overcome her will and force her to flee but was unsuccessful. Asami flew above Zosta and cast a spell that would form a sphere of force around her, preventing her from striking Runa. But Zosta glimpsed the sphere forming around her and dodged out of the way, causing the magic to be wasted. Zosta knocked Runa down and began to punch her. Runa pulled her shield over herself and began to pray loudly to Iomedae for aid. Asami threw a spear at the woman, but it splintered when it met her flesh and did her no harm.

Jiro moved toward the woman. Two of the crusaders attacked Shim. Another man launched himself off a pew in an attempt to strike Asami flying above, but his armor weighed him down and his leap fell short. The babau tried to dispel Jiro's protective circle and failed. Then the woman cast another spell at Asami and this time succeeded in overcoming her, ordering her to fly back to the army. Asami immediately complied with the suggestion and flew out of the chapel. Kirara followed her, confusedly asking why they were leaving. Asami told her they needed to go.

After Asami left, Shim enhanced his strength and grabbed the prone Runa, sliding her under the pews toward the doorway though which they had entered to get her temporarily out of Zosta's reach. Jiro used Asami's spell to call for a retreat and headed for the door. The woman swung her sword at him as he moved away, and he observed that unlike Iomedae she seemed to be unfamiliar with swordplay. When he reached the exit where Runa lay he pushed her out into the corridor toward the magic circle Asami had left behind. Zosta ran after him to the doorway and the crusaders also swarmed toward that area. The protective circle surrounding Jiro was dispelled by the babau. The woman attempted to control Shim but he was able to resist.

Desperately seeking a way to stop Zosta from attacking her, Runa reached in her haversack and drew out Telendrev's scale, calling on its magic to transform herself into the likeness of Horgus Gwerm. She hoped the change of appearance would deter Zosta. Zosta meanwhile had been protected from new commands by the woman because she had earlier been the recipient of a spell to protect her from evil creatures. But the power of the spell wasn't enough to end the compulsion to kill Runa. She stepped toward where Horgus Gwerm had suddenly appeared, suspecting an illusion. As she tried to determine if Lord Gwerm was real or not, Jiro and Shim tried to shut the door and trap the crusaders inside the chapel. At the same time the babau dispelled the protective effect on Zosta, and the woman vanished from sight.

Runa attempted to cast the protection spell on Zosta again, but Zosta doubted that Horgus knew any magic and attacked her, preventing the spell from taking effect. Then Bohgong appeared in the form of a giant white ape with four arms and grappled Zosta, throwing her over his shoulder. Angered by being handled that way, Zosta broke free. The babau had come after the group, teleporting itself outside the chapel, and it now tried to dispel Runa's disguise but it was unable to overcome the power of the dragon's magic. The party struggled to continue their retreat with the babau and the four crusaders on their heels. It occurred to Jiro that the four men had probably originally been dominated magically by the woman but had eventually accepted her domination and were now acting of their own volition.

The group backed up to the room with the ledge that they had entered just before encountering the vrock. Bohgong managed to grab Zosta again and restrain her. The babau teleported beind them and attacked the ape as the Knights moved toward the passage with the portcullis. During this time Asami was still flying as quickly as her magic would allow toward the courtyard outside. But as she did so she caught a glimpse of what she realized was a succubus, probably the same one that had been in the chapel though it no longer wore the guise of Iomedae. An instant later the succubus disappeared.

Jiro barred the door into the ledge room, locking the crusaders out and leaving them no way to reach the Knights since the portcullis was locked in the closed position. Freed of those four enemies the Knights only had to deal with the babau and with Zosta's compulsion to attack Runa. Zosta struggled free of Bohgong's grip again and knocked the babau off its feet. Runa backed away while her foe was preoccupied with the demon. Shim gave himself the ability to climb like a spider and scrambled over the spiked pit Zosta had fallen into earlier.

Asami reached the army camp and was greeted there by Irabeth, who asked her how the exploration of the Citadel was going. Asami was confused by why she had come outside. She scowled, and without responding to Irabeth's question flew back inside to rejoin her friends.

Zosta went after Runa again and knocked her down, which allowed the babau to get up . Shim slashed it severely with his sword. Jiro had created another magic circle and the demon tried to get rid of it but had no success. He held a potion out to Runa and told her, "Drink this." Runa got to her feet, grabbed the potion, and retreated again, using her enchanted shirt to grant her the ability to move farther than would normally have been possible. Jiro cast a healing spell on himself and began speaking to Zosta, attempting to persuade her to desist. Bohgong tried to grab her again but she slipped out of his grasp. The babau attacked Shim one last time and then disappeared, for it had been summoned from the Abyss and the duration of the magic had run out.

Asami arrived at the end of the long corridor her comrades were in, to find that Horgus Gwerm had somehow appeared and Runa was missing. Zosta was now trying to strike Horgus. She was about to try to dispel the compulsion on Zosta again when suddenly a voice in her head told her to attack Jiro and Bohgong. It was not the voice of Eldrazi. Against her will Asami summoned a ball of fire, not her normal sphere of burning wood nor Eldrazi's ball of acid, but ordinary fire. This she lobbed at where Jiro and his spirit animal stood together. Both of them were engulfed in flames, but when the fire cleared they were still on their feet. A third presence in her mind had somehow prevented the spell from being as harmful as it would have been under normal circumstances.

Runa gulped down the potion Jiro had given her without knowing what it was, and was surprised when she realized she had become invisible. That didn't stop Zosta trying to hit her. She was knocked down again and Zosta begun punching the area where Runa had been. When her blows connected Runa grunted in pain and felt her ribs crack under the violent blows.

The presence in Asmai's mind that had modified the fireball spell began to argue with the essence of Eldrazi, and this contention seemed to make it difficult for the other mind trying to control hers to have any effect on her. For the moment she was free of their influence. She called on her magic to dispel the compulsion affecting Zosta, and this time she was successful. Zosta stopped pursuing Runa and looked angry and confused as she realized what she had been doing. Freed from Eldrazi's control as well as the other mind, Asami called out, "Help me! There is someone in my mind!" When the others questioned her, she was able to tell them about the cursed spellbook, as well as the unknown entity that had forced her to attack Jiro and Bohgong. Jiro suggested that she cast a protection spell on herself while she was able, and she did so. They realized that the second compulsion had probably come from the same succubus that had controlled Zosta, and Asami mentioned glimpsing a succubus during her flight through the Citadel.

The Knights now withdrew from the Citadel and returned to the army camp, where they told Irabeth and Aravashnial about the cursed spellbook. To prevent Asami from harming anyone when her protective spell wore off, she submitted to being bound and gagged. The paladins were ordered to do everything in trios of people who were familiar with each other, to prevent the succubus from mimicking or compelling anyone else. The mages realized that to expel Eldrazi would probably require a ritual of some sort, and it was possible that expulsion might actually allow him to exist outside the spellbook. Asami also realized that the other entity that had helped to protect her friends must be a remnant of another evoker named Conshru*, who had according to legend sacrificed himself to prevent one of Eldrazi's spells from doing untold harm while the two evokers were engaged in a duel of spellcraft. She didn't think that Conshru was as whole a personality as Eldrazi, but she welcomed his aid. While she assured her friends that Eldrazi thus far hadn't tried to make her harm them, they were none too pleased that she was under his influence while they were trying to overcome the demonic defenders of Citadel Drezen.

*Conshru is the name of a character previously played by the GM in another campaign.

Note: Aegon's player has withdrawn from the campaign indefinitely.

Next: part 37, A New-Found Ally