%% date:: [[2025-07-27]] %% # [[092_20250727 Avenging Ash]] ![[092_20250727.svg]] ## Session Summary > [!tldr] [[092_20250727 Avenging Ash]] > After taking a short rest, the party investigates magical items found earlier—Bond claims a Ring of the Ram, while Grumble scouts ahead. Soon, movement from the arena reveals two grotesque creatures: a spider-drow hybrid and a Fleshwarp dragging corpses. The team recognizes the spider-being from Augrael's warning. Bond blasts open the door, revealing a collapsed passageway reeking of gunpowder. While scouting ahead, Bond identifies the Fleshwarp as a Mulventok, a war-bred aberration that serves the spider creature. The party moves through a portcullis with the help of Ash and Mage Hand, discovering the skeletal remains of guards killed by Red Mantis Assassins—infamous killers devoted to the god Achaekek. > > Beyond the northern door lies the corpse of one such assassin, from which a shadowy female drow emerges—Siora Fallowglade, Ash’s killer and a cult assassin of Belcorra. Unlike typical shadows, she’s part-elven and part-shadow, weakened by hunger but still dangerous. She speaks cryptically of Belcorra’s death and the necrotic wave that followed, mentioning that Jafaki resides below, shielded by machines. Tensions rise as Vayle and Siora acknowledge their undead nature. Zuhri ends the conversation with a bold declaration of vengeance, demoralizing Siora and striking, prompting Grumble to charge into the fray. ^summary %% ## Video [Video]() %% --- ## Recap ![[091_20250720 The poltergeists fight#^summary]] --- ## Log We take another 10-minute short rest. - [[Grumblebum|Grumble]] is listening at the north door. - [[Jaspen Bond Callistair|Bond]] identifies the sunlight lantern. It's like an Everburning Torch, but in the shape of a globe. - [[Vayle]] identifies the ring: Ring of the Ram. (L6 item) Once per minute, a ram of force hits an opponent with 2d6 damage. Bond takes it. Invested item. There's movement outside the door, coming from the arena. Something is approaching. There are two creatures there that see us at the same time as we see them. One is the size of a car. A spider with a drow's body. The other is obviously a Fleshwarp with bulging arms. The spider creature is holding two bodies, one in each hand. The humanoid creature is also dragging another body behind it. We remember that this is the [[Drider|part spider part person]] thing that [[Augrael]] told us about. Bond just shoots the door and blasts it open. Immediately, both he and Grumble (who is from [[Dongan Hold]]) smell the scent of gunpowder. There's a passageway that seems to be collapsed using gunpowder. The two creatures have finished putting the bodies in the arena. Bond and Vayle successfully stealth closer to the two creatures but fail to identify them. The Part Spider Part Person has both the legs of a spider and of a drow. It looks formidable. Bond identifies the other creature as a Mulventok. They are L7 creatures that used to be an Urdofan. Its weakness is vitality 20. It's an aberration, not undead. It has clear skin. It was created to be a creature of war. It's a bodyguard for the spider thing, a soldier. We go back to the portcullis. We're facing a wall with arrow slots. The portullis bars are not wide enough for medium-sized creatures to pass through. On both sides (north and south) are the arrow slits. Ash (materialized onto the other side of the portcullis) and Bond (squeezed through) go and look into the rooms on either side. Bond uses Mage Hand to pull the lever, raising the portcullis for the rest of the group to join them. There are skeletons of the guards that are lying there. They look like they were killed a long time ago by sawtooth sabers. They're all wearing the same garb of guards. Grumble knows from his Warfare Lore that sawtooth sabers are usually used by The Red Mantis Assassins, a secretive and widely feared group that has weird rules for accepting contracts. They are deadly but they don't do things like kill kings. They have their own code. The guards were killed by the Red Mantis Assassins. It seems like they were killed one at a time, then dragged here. They were all surprised, and killed by one or two hits. The western double door is made of iron, pitted with rust. The Assassins are sworn to a god named Achaekek. He defends gods from mortals that are about to ascend to godhood. The Red Mantis Assassins are his only cult. They refuse to kill monarchs because they think monarchs are divinely protected to rule. When they kill, the death must be face to face-- not through poison or range-- and the final blow must be dealt by a sawtooth saber. They are not deceptive. They always follow through. We follow the northern door and find the assassin also dead. It's carrying a sawtooth saber. A shadow starts to rise above the assassin's skeleton. It's a silhouette of a female drow elf with one yellow eye shining. She doesn't have legs like Ash. She tells us, "Finally. I haven't had a visitor here for some time. [[Siora Fallowglade]] at your service." She is a shadow that has a hunger for shadows. She wants other creature's shadow. When she gets it, it becomes another shadow. You only get your shadow back if she dies. Siora is L6, a bit stronger than a normal shadow. She has assassin abilities. She's not full shadow. She hasn't eaten/fed in a while. It makes her more vulnerable to hunger but it also makes her weaker. She doesn't have the usual shadow abilities. She is the cult elven assassin of Belcorra. Ash recognizes her and says that she is the one that killed him. She recognises that Vayle is also undead. She says they are the same in that they are both there for Belcorra, but for different reasons. When Belcorra died, the dungeon died with her. She was killed by a wave of necrotic energy-- that's how it felt like. She thinks Belcorra released that wave as she died. He says that [[Jafaki]] is in the level just below this one, but he's protected by his machines. She asks me how I know Ash. I say that's not my concern, and that what is her concern is that while I wasn't here in time to save my friend the first time, I'm here now. She asked us what we're here for. I'm here to kill her. And I *Demoralize* her and attack her. Hearing what I said, Grumble does a *Sudden Charge*! %% # Excalidraw Data ## Text Elements ## Drawing ```json {"type":"excalidraw","version":2,"source":"https://github.com/zsviczian/obsidian-excalidraw-plugin/releases/tag/2.0.25","elements":[],"appState":{"theme":"dark","gridSize":null,"viewBackgroundColor":"#ffffff"}} ``` %%