The City of Seven Spears

From Lexicanum

Arrival

After several weeks heading up some unnamed tributary of the Ocota River, the party arrived at the supposed location of the lost city of Saventh-Yhi. The main body of the Pathfinder expedition was a day behind and they had been sent ahead to scout for a suitable campsite . The river they had been following had led them to a waterfall which fell 60  feet down a jungle cliff. Through a combination of magic and climbing they made their way up the waterfall at the top of which – they found a strangely preserved road leading into the jungle. Following the paved way  across a series of ridges, it lead them to a  narrow cleft , which forced the river into a swiftly flowing rapid through the gorge. The road split here, offering two methods onward—below, a slippery-looking path of wooden bridges connected small islands, while above a rickety rope bridge swung in the air.
 
Kylar decided on the upper path while the others prefers to stay closer to the ground. As he stepped out onto the rope-bridge, bow in hand, he scanned the other bank and the water below anxiously – completely missing the large pteradon that swooped down down above and attacked him! So surprised was he that the normally sure-footed thief tumbled from the bridge into the torrent below, past a surprised looking Malwen who had just negotiated the first of the slippery wooden bridges. Dingle, quick thinking, drew out his wand of Web and cast the spell around the thief stopping him getting swept away and into the maws of several hungry-looking crocodiles that heaved themselves to the surface of the water in anticipation of lunch.
 
Kylar safely rescued they carefully made their way across the slippery bridges another Web spell from Dingle helping stop anyone else falling in. Moving on they came to some sparse stone ruins, their roofs open to the sky and their walls thick with vines, perch next to three crystal blue pools in a circular, bowl-shaped valley. As they passed a ghostly figure, swarmed in equally ghostly ants manifested and approached threating shrieking  “It’s mine! I found it! The city is mine!"

Without their cleric, who was back with the main group, Kylar tried reasoning with the ghost, but this approach seemed not to be working so Handra cast a Fireball, which barely seemed to bother the ghostly figure. Malwen then cast a Moon Bolt spell that incapacitated the ghostly figure long enough for them to get past, and they reached the city proper.
 
They spent some time in as the late afternoon sun began to set seeking out a suitable campsite, and as they settled down, Handra decided to return back to where they had seen the ghost and attempt to lay the restless spirit to rest. With the others in tow (at some distance) and having cast a spell of Glibness she spoke to the tortured spirit and after assuring him that they would make sure  he received proper credit in the Pathfinder Journals for the discovery of the city, laid the spirit to rest. They recovered some treasure from his sad remains and then headed back to the campsite in the twilight. As they settled in for the night, they could see tell-tale signs of firelight in several parts of the city. The city, though lost, was by no means uninhabited!
 
Next morning they began their explorations to secure the are in anticipation of the main party arriving later that day. Heading up a nearby stairway that led up to a bluff they could see this area of the city was dominated by a fortress on one side and a spire-topped ziggurat on the other. They could also see this are was inhabited by the familiar shapes of  Charau-ka.  Heading down into the buildings, they briefly discussed whether to head for the citadel ,but decided to go for the plaza and the ziggurat. The Charau-ka that noticed them were swiftly Fascinated by Dingle’s comedy gold and for a while they proceeded unobstructed through the streets.
 
Suddenly, what was clearly an armed  a Charau-ka patrol, complete with a dire-Ape in tow, came at them out of a side street. Kylar quickly knocked an arrow, which overrode Dingle’s  attempts to defuse the situation. In the battle that followed Kyar was badly injured, but eventually the party prevailed.
 

The Plaza and the Ziggurat

As the party arrived at the garbage strewn plaza, they were attacked by two girallons who were  lurking there. After a brief, though brutal, battle, the party were triumphant, Dingle’s Crossbow of Doom once more proving a decisive factor! They moved into the plaza and after a brief debate about whether to head south for the lake or north the ziggurat, decided on the latter and Enelia led the way.
 
As they neared their objective, another Charau-ka patrol launched an attack from a nearby alleyway but proved little more than an inconvenience to our heroes, and they marched on towards the one-hundred-foot-high ziggurat which was capped by a hundredfoot-tall spire of stone.

The sides of the ziggurat’s tiers were carved with images of battle, warfare, and military supremacy, depicting countless clashes between strangely armoured humans and serpentfolk. A twenty-foot-tall statue of a horned and winged gorilla stood on the ziggurat’s roof at the base of the spire, its massive arms raised up in anger. As they approached they could see a line of Charau-ka guards protecting the stairway and near the top, a wizened female Charau-ka cleric stood, about twenty feet below the statue.
 
As they neared the line of guards, the cleric fired a warning shot across their path - an Unholy Blight  spell which fortunately it caused minimal damage. However much to Enelia and Malwen’s distress, as they had still been hoping to open negotiations, Kylar reacted by launching a fusillade of arrows in the cleric's direction.

Accepting that battle was now inevitable Dingle cast Web, catching the cleric and most of the guards in it’s sticky entanglement. The cleric  broke through the web and taking a vial from her pouch smeared it's contents on the statue. Restored to life by the stone salve, the winged ape-demon roared and thrashed in delight, casually swatting the old Charau-ka aside. It then took to the air, preparing to cast Blasphemy on the puny mortals below.

Seeing this fearsome demon flying towards them, the Party decided discretion was the better part of valour hand headed for the cover of the houses at the edge of the plaza, to the accompaniment of the sounds of the Charau-ka guards being ripped to bits.
 
Peering back into the plaza, Enelia saw the demon dispose of the last of the guards and take to the air – heading eastwards. Deciding it was probably safe now, they headed into the plaza and up the ziggurat, stepping gingerly over the scattered remains. From atop the ziggurat they could see the city laid out before them – and also the fact that several Charau-ka patrols were converging on their location. They descended the back of the ziggurat and made their way through the jungle back to the campsite - to discover the main part of the Pathfinder group had arrived and were setting up.

The Bridge

After reporting in and giving a brief overview of their explorations to date to Amivor Glaur, the party rested for the night, while around them the rest of the Pathfinder Expedition continued to set up their base camp. After an uneventful night and a breakfast of porridge and honeyed oatcakes, they set out to explore once more, this time deciding to head southwards.

About twenty minutes of exploring the ruins later, they ran into the advance group form the Aspis Consortium setting up their camp. The leader of the group who introduced himself as Dargan Etters, seemed a sociable chap and chatted pleasantly  for a while - warning them that the Red Mantis had set up camp to the north.

Taking their leave of the Etters, they headed towards the lake, moving past what looked like some extensive dock works on the shore. Ahead of them they could see several islands still partially connected to the mainland by collapsed stone bridges. From where they stood they could also see the larger central island but with no apparent way to get to it other than across the  water. In the water they could see several shoals of fish, one of which Enelia identified as piranha. Even though he assured everyone piranha were not as dangerous as their fearsome reputation no one seemed particularly keen on swimming.

Eventually, while the others waited on the shore, Malwen began clambering her way cautiously across the remains of the bridge, slowly making her way to the island - where she was promptly attacked by zombies.

Enelia, Handra and Drusi began negotiating the collapsed bridge to go to her aid, while Kylar unlimbered his bow and fired at the undead. Between firing off crossbow bolts, Dingle began inspiring confidence with a whirlwind bout of improvisational comedy, enhanced no end by working- in some pithy comments as first Drusi and then Enelia stumbled and went tumbling into the water.

Back on the island, Malwen was being swarmed by zombies and attacked by their master - a boggard cleric. The cleric cast Spiritual Weapon, and then began using a blow-pipe - firing poison darts at the druid - before eventually joining the battle with his morningstar. Handra cast a Fireball, which disposed of half of the zombies and Malwen wildshaped into a bear - to no avail as she eventually succumbed to the combined onslaught.

As the druid fell, Enelia Handra and Drusi finally reached the combat, attacking the zombies while Kylar and Dingle continued to pepper the cleric with arrows and bolts. Enelia disposed of the last of the zombies and Handra used a position of Cure Moderate Wounds  on the dying Malwen. The boggard tried to flee by diving into the lake, but a further fusillade of arrows from Kylar put paid to his escape attempt and his body sank beneath the surface.

Free to explore the island they discovered, a row pillars, full of ancient Azlanti script which Drusi after casting Comprehend Languages informed them appeared to be a list of the city's bye- laws.

Islands in the Sun

After exploring the rest of the ruins on the island, Dingle used Detect Magic to  pinpoint the location of the boggard cleric’s body. Malwen wildshaped  into an octopus and retrieved the body and the party duly relieved it of its magic items.While Enalia called dibs on the cleric’s cloak of feather and furs interwoven with fish bones, Kylar decided to push on and leaped across the narrow channel to a small island dominated by a crumbling building. He looked around but could see no obvious threat, but as he turned to throw a rope back to his colleagues a bandage-swathed figure emerged from the ruins and attacked. Kylar unfortunately fell afoul of the mummy’s aura of Despair, and stood paralysed by fear as the mummy launched attack after attack. Fortunately his friend were able to despatch the undead before to was too late.

After a brief search of what was now apparent was a mausoleum and finding nothing,  Enelia decided to push on further leaping across the channel to the next island – only to find a pair of crocodiles basking in the sun. The unfortunate elf soon found himself clasped in one of the creature’s jaws and  urgently called for aid from his friends who were still stooging about near the mausoleum, where Drusi was healing Kylar. Hearing his shout, they quickly ran to his aid. Dingle and Handra cast spells while Malwen leaped in to combat. Kylar, still wounded, held back using his bow and was somewhat mortified when one of his arrows hit Enelia.  Eventually the beast was slain, but still clenched in its fearsome jaws Enelia was dragged into the water by its weight. Fortunately the elf had had the presence of mind to take a deep breath and as he sunk towards the lake bed, struggled to get free. The second crocodile, tired of being peppered by arrows and blasted by spells decided to follow it’s mate into the water. As the others peered into the murky depths the clear waters messed by disturbed silt and blood, Enelia finally managed to work loose from the jaws and made for the surface.

This island was dominated by the ruins of a temple, although to which long-forgotten Azlanti god it had been dedicated to was not clear. There was little of interest on this island so they decided to make their way to the main island via a series of smaller islets to where they could see a domed building glinting in the sun.

As they approached the entrance to the domed building a lightning bolt arced out of the archway into them. Prepared for trouble, they deployed into the darkness. Iside they could see a crocodile-headed humanoid standing at the far end of the building masked by darkness and wreathed in smoke. As they entered they were enveloped why the sweet scent of opium smoke and Malwen could feel her senses swimming. Beneath the cloying sweetness, Enelia’s elven senses could discern the faint reek of the charnel house. While Kylar readied his bow, Drusi cast Spiritual Weapon  at the figure in the shadows  just as Enelia, somewhat belatedly, attempted to open negotiations.  Fortunately the shadowy figure seemed more insulted than harmed by Drusis’s action and uttering a mild rebuke, requested the cleric leave the building. Handra, a faithful follower of Sarenrae, incensed at this perceived insult to the servant of her goddess, followed Drusi out.

The shadowy figure then wavered and vanished, revealing itself to be an illusion -  and an identical one stepped out of the shadows. Introducing himself in a languid fashion as Akarundo, he took up a lotus position on the pile of cushions and idly waved the remaining members of the party forward, gesturing them to sit on the cushions in front of him.

The Serpent Island

 As they moved forward to the massive pile of cushions, Enelia noticed  something even odder about their host, his fingers seemed to bend backwards, as Dingle joined them he too spotted this, and recalled an ancient tale of an evil spirit who could be identified by just such a sign. Their host however seemed pleasant enough, chatting amiably as he puffed on his hookah. Suddenly he clapped his hands whereupon two female serpentfolk brought refreshments, sweetmeats and sherbet drinks. Akarundo particularly recommended the candied cherries dipped in black lotus dust to Enelia. He seemed fascinated by their presence asking all kinds of questions about them, where they had come from and what they were doing in his city. As they conversation went on Enelia found himself unable to get a handle on their host abut realised there was something inherently unstable about him – particularly when he started referring to his “divine status”.
 
Eventually, they took their leave in pleasant enough fashion, though feeling vaguely uncomfortable, they re-joined Handra and Drusi waiting impatiently outside. They began to explore the island seeing the occasional serpentfolk moving about in the buildings. They were unable to get too near the ziggurat however, as the guards there telepathically warned them off. Eventually decided to head across the bridge to the north, passing the guards there without incident.
 
The far side of the bridge was guarded by a Charau-ka patrol, but a Flame Strike from Malwen and a Fireball from Handra soon put paid to any interference from them. At the far side of the bride they decided to head east rather than into the Charau-ka controlled areas where they were likely to be unwelcome, Enelia heading towards the large circular building he had seen from atop the ziggurat. On their way through the ruins approaching it, they had the misfortune to run into a chimera hunting for prey and before they managed to drive it off it very nearly had Enelia for lunch!
 
Eventually they neared the large circular building to discover that its entrance was  decorated by several impaled Charau-ka. They cautiously began to explore the huge building. Their caution notwithstanding, Enelia almost immediately ran into the huge demon they had fled from the other day. 

Battle was joined!

Battle of the Battlemarket

The demon proved a formidable foe, but was considerably hampered by squeezing through (what was for it) a narrow passageway. Buffed by inspirational whistling from Dingle, for each fearsome blow the demon dealt, the party replied with a flurry of spells and arrows which hurt it badly As the Great Ape Demon lumbered forwards, it’s huge jaws and mighty claws dealt fearsome damage to Malwen and Handra, and one by one they fled to cover - to gain breath and prepare for renewed assault. As Enelia still awaited in ambush, this left Dingle alone confronting the Loathsome One. Despite his understandable trepidation, being tens of  feet shorter and several hundreds of pounds less in weight, for second after second the plucky gnome gamely held the breach launching assaults with his magically enhanced dagger. Finally as the beast neared ever closer, Enelia launched his ambush in a flurry of blades. This was the final straw, the demon was hurt badly enough that it attempted to flee into the interior of the Battlemarket, shrouding itself in darkness as it went.  Determinedly the party pursued and a final flurry of arrows from  Kylar put paid to its flight.    

Searching the corpse they recovered some bracers of armour, however a couple of hours search of the rest of the Battlemarket found little of interest, save the demon’s loathsome charnel house of a lair. Eventually they decided to rest for the night in one of the shops on the gallery. The night passed peacefully until dawn, when Handra thought she heard something shuffling about below. Peering over the gallery she was paralysed by fear at the sight of a bandage-shrouded figure moving below. As the figure’s red glowing eyes fixed on her, Dingle’s voice behind her asked what was wrong, but she found herself unable to reply.

Sensing something was badly wrong, Dingle pulled Handra back into the room and called a warning to the others. They quickly leaped into action to confront the mummy as it lurched up the stairs towards them. The mummy was quickly despatched but Enelia, defending the others, took the brunt of the undead’s attacks. Drusi realising the danger inherent in a mummy’s attacks cast cure disease but Enelia didn’t feel much better. Dingle’s suggestion of his sure-fire cure for mummy rot of a liberal application of a compound of tar and feathers did little to help the Ranger  feel any better.

Eventually, deciding to ignore the weakness he felt, Enelia led the party southwards. After several hours exploring the ruins there, they found little of interest, save a bruising encounter with a troupe of girallons.

As Malwen, Drusi and Kylar were badly injured and the area ahead of them looked considerably overgrown, as if the jungle had somehow breached the protective wards that shrouded the rest of the city, rather than brave the tangled undergrowth they decided to rest

The Nightmare Dancer

Heading into the area where the jungle had encroached into the city, proved hard going – at least for those without woodland stride! Malwen and Enelia led the way while the others laboriously hacked their way through the undergrowth. The buildings in this are were little more than piles of rubble, but as the going was marginally easier, they followed what had once been a street heading towards the ziggurat. About a hour into their exploration of this area a dire tiger leaped out a Drusi from the cover of the trees, but although the cleric was injured her friends managed to drive the beast off forcing it to abandon it’s lunch plans!
 
Eventually after a couple of hours of hard hacking, and dodging a patch of yellow mould Handra inadvertently disturbed,  they arrived at the plaza, do discover the entire area covered in iridescent webs. Somewhat cautiously Enelia touched one of the strands, only to feel strangely woozy as he did so. Kylar seized the imitative and lighting a torch burned an area of webs away – only for everyone to fall back coughing a wheezing as they inhaled the sweet tasting smoke. All of them were feeling strangely light-headed when suddenly  and enormous dream spider appeared from beneath the mass of vegetation.  Handra reacted first launching a Fireball at it  and also inadvertently releasing another cloud of sweet-smelling smoke as the fire burned the webs.
 
The spider charged towards them and attacked. Handra cast a couple of more spells but they seemed to have little effect, Drusi meanwhile, overcome by the effects of the smoke, struggled desperately to remember  how to cast any spells at all! Malwen, Enelia and Kylar attacked supported by Dingle’s bardic skills. The dream spider bit Handra, poisoning her into paralysis. The others rallied to fight, but were hampered by the strange light-headedness, that not even Dingle's supportive whistling could negate. After a fearsome battle, the dream spider was ultimately slain, but not before Enelia too was left poisoned an paralysed. Realising they were too badly mauled to go on, they decided to retreat back to the mansion they had spent the night in before, only to be ambushed by a group of vegepygmies!
 
Fortunately some quick thinking from Dingle and expert use of his wand of web severely blunted the vegepygmy attack, and they proved little more than an inconvenience.
 
It took them a couple of days to recover from the bruising encounter and when they eventually returned to the plaza Handra cleared the way thoroughly with a series of Fireball spells. Exploring the spider’s den Enelia managed to disturb a swarm of miniature dream spiders in a cocoon, before a Flame Strike  from Malwen scorched the area clean. As he was leaving he found, partially covered in mould, a magic mace.

The Mansion of Botanical Death

Moving across the plaza the party approached the ziggurat. Handra and Kylar noticed several vegepygmies observing them from the top. The ziggurat had a reddish hue and as they neared it they realised it was covered in russet mould. They spent some time edging round the massive structure and, although they noted that on the sides exposed to direct sunlight the growth seemed lessened, they decided not to brave and ascent. Kylar did try a fire-arrow to see if they could burn a way through, but it seemed to have little effect.

Eventually, led by Enelia, they wandered off, heading southwards through the ruin. Towards late afternoon, they found themselves following an overgrown path which led up to a mansion housesitting  on a hill overlooking the city. The approach was overgrown with lush jungle vegetation, as were what were obviously once formal gardens. As they approached, Enelia spotted some movement within and went up and knocked on the door. He was greeted by a lovely young woman, who i ntroduce herself as Egzimora, and invited them into tea!

Enelia accepted the invitation and also a subsequent invitation to rest for the night. Egzimora was delighted, seeming starved for company and rushed off to get food and drink for them. As they sat chatting over a selection of fruit and freshly pressed  juice, Egzimora was fascinated by their stories of their adventures, commenting it  had been some considerable time since she had left the mansion and spent time with others. The pleasant dalliance came to somewhat abrupt end  when Handra, asked Egzimora what she was.

Egzimora seemed somewhat set aback by having the query, but ever the gracious hostess, rose and led them upstairs to their accommodations. The rooms were  pleasant enough, decorated with many tropical plants which filled the room with a heady aroma. Taking her leave, Egzimora wished them a good night and the party settled down to rest.

Some hors later Enelia woke suddenly -  from an unusually deep rest. With a shock he realised he was in utter darkness, no moonlight came from the windows, and was restrained and strapped to a metal table! As he lay there, testing his bonds, the door opened and a dim light filled the room. A figure approached him, a gleaming sickle in her hand, knots of dark, mouldering hair spilled over her features, that of a sickly, thin, green-skinned crone. As Enelia struggled, the crone shushed him and methodically began cutting away his clothing!  Once he was naked, the crone began using the sickle to make a series of small incisions across his torso into eachof which she carefully placed something. Enelia struggled furiously, shouting at her to stop!

Far above, Malwen struggled into wakefulness, convinced she had heard someone shout for help. Rousing the others she discovered that  Enelia was missing, and that Drusi could not be awakened from her slumbers. Leaving Laiwok to guard the cleric, they began a search of the house. Kylar eventually discovered a hidden door in the pantry, which led to a stairway leading down. Heading down the stairs, they discovered the crone’s laboratory, and saw in horror what was happening to Enelia.

While Handra moved to free her comrade from his restraints the others began a magical duel with the hag, during which Kylar was incapacitated by two Touch of Idiocy spells (though there was some debate as to whether anyone noticed the difference)! Eventually the party prevailed, but it was obvious that Enelia was in a bad way and likely to suffer the same fate as the many other corpses they discovered strewn about the lab. Dingle pointed out that it looked like he had been infected with russet mould spores, and Malwen rushed back upstairs to get Drusi.

She finally managed to awaken the cleric, but unfortunately Drusi did not have Cure Disease prepared, and by the time morning came, it would be too late. Fortunately Kylar remembered that he had a potion to hand, and the Ranger  was saved. Despite Enelia then conducting a search for Egzimora she was nowhere to be found, and Enelia eventually concluded the crone had done away with her!

Next morning ,they headed across the city to where a series of towers stood atop a massive 100ft rock. Unfortunately some kind of Forbiddance  stopped them getting close and the magic users in the party settled down to examine this and try to work out if there was a way past it.

Trouble with Troglodytes

They made no progress with the Forbiddance,  despite Dingle’s valiant effort to push his way through it and Handra’s attempts to deduce the trigger the spell was operating on – suggesting it might be to do with the persons values and world-view. They decided to move on to the next part of the city heading vaguely towards the ziggurat that dominated it. They searched various promising looking ruins as they went, mostly without incident - save when Kylar stumbled into a nest of deinonychuses.

After they crossed over the bridge to the next part of the city, they were ambushed by  a troglodyte patrol, but after a short but brutal fight, the party emerged victorious. They pushed on, deeper into the area heading towards this part of the city’s ziggurat. As they went deeper into this area, they met no further patrols and in short found themselves in the Plaza in front of the ziggurat. The plaza was largely deserted save for three huge jungle mantises who instantly attacked. It was another brutal fight and Kylar, Enelia, Handra and Drusi found themselves badly injured (and nearly carried off to be eaten) before they finally prevailed.

As the mantises were slain there were huge roars and beating of drums from the buildings that lined the plaza as they disgorged large numbers of troglodytes.  Handra cast invisibility sphere as a rain of javelins headed towards them and sound burst spells detonated round them. Fortunately they managed to sneak away to safety without too  much further injury.     

The Sacred Serpent

After resting and healing-up in a ruined building, Kylar did a swift recce to the bridge leading back into the Troglodyte are and discovered that they had re-manned the guard post and were maintaining a close watch on the approaches to their area. Deciding that the Troglodytes were a bit tasty, the party decided to skirt round the district they controlled and made their way down to the lakeside and along to the next area.

This part of the city was controlled by Boggards as they found when hiding from a passing patrol – probably wisely as Dingle was still wearing the stuff looted from the Boggard shaman they had killed a few weeks ago! Cautiously they headed deeper into this district toward the ziggurat, there did not seem to be any boggard civilians living in the abandoned buildings, but they had to dodge several patrols before reaching their destination.

This ziggurat was covered in carvings depicting farming scenes, and somewhat incongruously someone appeared to have built a hut of muds and reeds on the topmost tier. While Handra and the others began the ascent, Malwen wildshaped into a bird for an aerial view, discovering a vast swampland behind the ziggurat with a boggard settlement on the banks. She decided to overfly the area spotting another, smaller, partially submerged ziggurat in the swampy waters.

Back at the main ziggurat, Kylar was first to reach the top and approached the  mud hut to listen at the reed-curtain that hung in the doorway. He was met by the ferocious swing of a falchion through the curtain, which wounded him. An angry-looking boggard in armour charged out and immediately attacked them and battle was joined. Things were looking dicey for the party as the boggard chieftain shook off most of Handra’s spells and had almost killed Kylar when Malwen’s sudden return and the resultant Flame Strike, finished him off!

They took refuge in the hut, dragging the body after them to relieve it of its gear, and Handra used an illusion spell to hide all signs of the battle from the area. After Kylar was restored to health by spells from Malwen and Dingle’s wands they decided that exploring the marshland was not an attractive proposition and they   moved on to the next area.

This area of the city was well maintained and they followed a broad avenue which lead to a massive flight of stairs which passed immaculately maintained terraces covered in crops. The avenue was lined by very realistic statues of old men and women. When Kylar paused to examine one of the statues, they found themselves surrounded by armed tribesmen. Fortunately both Kylar and Dingle spoke Polyglot and were able to negotiate with the patrol and convince them they were not hostile. The patrol escorted them up into the plaza in front of the city and brought them to their headman Osond.

Osond seemed a pleasant enough chap and seemed keen to make friends, inviting them to eat and drink. Over a pleasant lunch, they hatched out the broad outline of an alliance between the Sacred Serpent Tribe and the Pathfinders, which led Kylar to suggest relocating the Pathfinder base-camp here. Osond agreed readily, but advised their outline agreement was subject to ratification by The Radiant Muse, who was apparently their goddess.

Osond led them to the central ziggurat, which was adorned by carvings of people and others who loked like a winged elven woman from the waist up and that of a snake from the waist down, engaged in all forms of artistic expression. A suite of rooms had been carved into the uppermost tier of the ziggurat , and they were brought into the presence of The Radiant Muse, who was indeed a lillend.

The Radiant Muse greeted them pleasantly and after hearing their story, invited each of them to perform for her. Dinge leapt at the chance and launched into an absolutely barnstorming performance of his best routines. The Radiant Muse  was so entertained by Dingle, she forgot about asking the other to perform and agreed the outline of the alliance set out with Osond. She did however request a favour of them – that they rid the Serpent Tribe of an undead monstrosity that was preying upon them, that the party readily agreed to.

That night they set out, following directions supplied to them by the Radiant Muse, to an old barracks  watchtower, and after a brief battle managed to defeat  the vrykolakas lairing within.

The Mercantile District

 
It took about a week or so to relocate the Pathfinder basecamp to the part of the city controlled by the Sacred Serpent Tribe, during which Drusi was busy dealing with an outbreak of plague caused by exposure to the vyrkolakas, and Dingle was busy establishing his new “Cultural Centre and Comedy Workshop”.
 
Eventually they felt ready to resume their explorations of the city and set out along the lakeside to where it looked like either the water levels had risen or the ground subsided and a part of the city  was partially submerged under the water. Though they could seethe buildings clearly in the crystal clear water they decided to forgo further exploration and headed along to where a small fortress sat on a low island.
 
Dingle, Drusi and Enelia, unsure of their prowess in the water decided to leave the exploration of the fort to the others. This proved a tragic decision as the island was home to a group of three chimera  who quickly moved to defend their nest-site and battle was joined. Back on the shore the others, seeing their friends attacked, moved to help, Drusi and Eneli divedinto the lake and began swimming while Dingle used Summon Instrument to manifest a double-bass to row across on!

Despite their best efforts to get there in time  the chimeras proved  fearsome foes and Handra fell, hit by multiple breath-weapons. Unfortunately, none of her companions with healing magic was able to get to the young Beguiler in time to save her life.   Once the threat of the chimeras was dealt with Drusi attempted to restore Handra to life with one of the scrolls of Raise Dead – to no avail. Saddened, they stripped the body of anything valuable and commended her soul to the care of Sarenrae. They spent the rest of that day resting in the fort in quiet contempation.
 
Next morning, the set out again arriving in  a part of the city that seemed unpopulated. As they moved through the quiet streets however, they were attacked by a pack of wights. Though the battle proved initially difficult, due to the wight’s energy drains, a combination of Flame Strike  spells from Malwen and Drusi’s turnings soon put paid to them!

Assault of the Dead

While surveying the aftermath of the battle with the wights, Malwen and Enelia worked out that they seemed to have been tacking had been tracking someone. Following the trail, they found a female elf cowering in a nearby building. She was hysterical with fear though seemed somewhat calmed by Enelia’s presence when she spotted his wayfinder. Even a cursory examination by Drusi revealed she was suffering from malnutrition, dehydration and showed signs of having been severely maltreated. Her body was covered in open sores and old wounds and there were signs that she had recently been manacled judging by the abrasions around her wrists. She was also completely incoherent and seemed only minimally aware of what was going on around her, acting on an instinctual animal level. Malwen also spotted beneath the grime that she had a tattoo of the pathfinder symbol on her shoulder- which was odd because she certainly wasn’t a member of their expedition! Eventually they decided to take her back to base for treatment.

That night their rest was interrupted by a major disturbance outside – the Artisan District was under attack! As they grabbed weapons and  dashed out  they could hear sounds of battle all around them. The street outside their bivouac was crowded with undead - wights, ghouls and even a couple of mummies tearing their way through their neighbours. Enelia led the way, charging the nearest wights,twin- blades flashing. .  As Dingle began inspiring courage in his comrades with a rousing rendition of Colonel Bogey, they were joined in combat by one of the native warriors, Untomo. Malwen cast her last Flame Strike at a cluster of ghouls and Drusi began Turning the undead nearest her. 

The battle was fearsome for a while, both Untomo and Enelia falling afoul of the Mummy’s Despair  power and standing helplessly paralysed as the other undead ripped into them. Fortunately the tide of battle turned as a combination of Drusi’s Turn Undead and  Dingle’s Whirling Blade  spell proved particularly effective against their undead foes. After the undead were eventually destroyed or driven off reports came in from across the district of similar struggles. Osond arrived and said that the undead had seemingly been looking for something and the party speculated it was the elf they had rescued yesterday.

Next morning Untomo was asked  by Osond to track the undead and see if he could find where they had come from. Given there were so many tracks, it wasn’t a particularly difficult job for the experienced tracker and he followed them back to a ruined building outside the city boundaries in the jungle. He headed back to the city where the others were engaged in healing where they could and repairing the damage from the attack.

Untomo asked the others to help, but it was late afternoon  by the time they arrived back at the ruins. As ever, Enelia led the way into the ruins and was almost immediately attacked by shadows. Malwen, right behind him, managed to  tumble out of their way! Fortunately for the elf, Drusi stepped forward with her trusty Turn Undead  and destroyed them. Towards the rear of the building they found an area where the floor had collapsed revealing a set of stairs leading down to the darkness below.

The area below felt much older than the ruined building above and looked and felt more like a crypt than the building's cellar. They passed through an ornate archway into a room dominated by a fountain etched with screaming human faces which was  guarded by burning skeletons. Unsure of the power of these fiery opponents, but guessing they would be vulnerable to cold,  Malwen unleashed a Hypothermia spell, utterly obliterating one of the skeletons.

Enelia and Untomo closed to comba,t heedless of the flames licking around them and the skeletons were swiftly destroyed freeing them to move deeper into the crypt.

Enelia again led the way. Ahead of him he could see a room with six sarcophagi arrayed in a line, there was a door to the north and further up the wall from where he stood in the the entrance he could see an iron portcullis.

As he moved forward to investigate the sarcophagi,  the others deployed into the room. Unfortunately, as Drusi stepped in front of the portcullis, she tripped a Wail of the Banshee trap. As an horrific howl echoed through the chamber shockingy Enelia suddenly crumpled to the floor - dead! His comrades reacted swiftly, dashing forward Malwen cast Last Breath and Drusi then cast a Cure Moderate Wounds, leaving a somewhat confused Enelia standing naked next to his own dead body!

Sozothal's Lair 

Once Enelia had re-equipped himself and laid his former body to rest in one of the sarcophagi, he moved deeper into the crypt, dealing with three mohrg, who proved formidable foes, Kylar was paralysed and Enelia paralysed and almost  killed before their comrades sent the mohrg  to their final rest. Drusi and Dingle’s healing services were then much in demand!
 
Next they discovered an ornate tomb, obviously the resting place of some important serpentfolk dignitary – judging by the elaborate murals on the wall. There were six burning skeletons standing silent guard over the grave in the room, but they did not attack, just stood there as Kylar destroyed them one by one. Like the other chambers in the crypt the grave had been opened, and Enelia spotted a niche at the back of the grave which contained some grave-goods which were duly liberated.

Proceeding further in the discovered that parts of the crypt seemed to have collapsed, and after dealing swiftly with a Greater Shadow, they arrived at what looked like a chapel dedicated to Ydersius at the centre of the crypt. 
 
The chapel was occupied by an undead serpentfolk necromancer accompanied by a Mummy Lord (presumably the occupant of the ornate tomb) and two vrykolakas. It proved a fearsome battle, particularly as Drusi and Malwen were running short of spells. However a Sprit Jaws  spell from Malwen, managed to prevent the necromancer from casting any of his spells while Kylar launched vollies of arrows at him. . The others dealt with his undead guards, Enelia headed for the Mummy Lord while Untomo dealt with the Vrykolakas. Drusi, in-between keeping people alive, used Spiritual Weapon while Dingle stood in the doorway launching the occasional spell and providing the usual musical accompaniment to the battle, before stpping in and finishing the necromancer off with a LIghning Bolt.. Though Untomo was very nearly slain, and most of the others were bruised and battered (not to mention suffering various afflictions)  the party ultimately triumphed.