Session 37: Vanesse: Without a Shadow of Doubt

''Because of what went down at the Gala and the fact that the party is now operating under the protection of the Dark Lanterns (the Brelish secret service), the Reef has been temporarily shut down and everyone has been asked to split up and get out of Sharn for a few weeks until they can calm things down in the city. Since Vanesse doesn't really have anywhere else to go, she returned to Lady Edna's mansion and asked if she could stay there. Not unreasonably, Lady Edna declined to host Vanesse; however, her two half-orc servants Grelle (female seneschal, usually worried about something) and Kaer (male, gardener, has crush on Vanesse) took pity on her. The three of them snuck down to the Temple of the Dark Six in the bowels of Sharn, where Ash - the female cleric who initially trained Vanesse - eventually agreed to let Vanesse sleep there. The lodgings were stark - bare stone floor, stale bread and watered-down wine - but Vanesse managed and Ash slowly warmed up to her, despite Vanesse constantly asking Ash to teach her about The Shadow.''

''Recently, things have been a bit tense in the Temple - especially since it's adjacent to Daask's main base, who have NOT forgiven the Ghost Sharks for taking their drugs. Thus, when Ash mentioned something about needing to take a trip out of town, Vanesse immediately jumped at the chance to come along. After some convincing, Ash relented and agreed to bring Vanesse and the two of them snuck out of Sharn on horseback. They had been riding for days before Ash finally revealed that their destination was a small town called Kingsholm near the border of Breland and Thrane.''

''Although she wouldn't tell Vanesse what she wanted to do in Kingsholm, Ash did inform Vanessse that she should consider the entire trip as a trial of her devotion to The Shadow. After five days of travel, Vanesse and Ash arrived in Kingsholm, which appeared much like every other town in the land, with one exception — its large graveyard. Built on and in the nearby hills, the Kingsholm graveyard has existed for centuries. The most notable feature of the graveyard actually lies a little over a mile away - a statue of an ancient Galifarian king standing high up in the hills and overlooking the entire town. ''


 * After journeying to the small town of Kingsholm on the border of Breland and Thrane, Ash & Vanesse tie up their horses and step inside the Coronet and Cabbage - the only inn in town.
 * Ash pays for a room and heads upstairs to drop off their stuff. She tells Vanesse to get some dinner. She asks for good ale ("none of that human stuff"), getting an approving nod from a dwarf nearby, and some turkey.
 * Vanesse overhears 2 halflings arguing about who's going to do something. Ash comes back and she tells her they're up to something.
 * Ash asks Vanesse if she wonders why they're going where they're going. "The Shadow told you to?" Ash points out that the Shadow doesn't directly talk to people; Vanesse says she's heard it twice so is she closer to it?? Ash is frustrated and tells her the Shadow is not direct and she's gotten visions of this place getting disturbed.
 * She says "either you're the newest reincarnation of the Shadow or someone was messing with you." Vanesse is pretty sure it's the first one.
 * Ash goes back and the bartender steps into the kitchen. One of the halflings trips her on the way back, and she spills the drink all over him. They get mad, she tries to go past, but they stop her. Everyone else in the bar is staring.
 * They say they're going to teach the uppity human a lesson. Vanesse walks up behind the one closer to her. He tries to elbow her and Vanesse picks her up. The other one (Roscoe) jumps up on the table, but it's covered in Vanesse's turkey grease, and he falls off. The one she's holding keeps struggling and she pets him on the head, asking him to calm down.
 * Vanesse rolls a 1 on her spot check and Roscoe smashes a wine bottle on her head, and she throws the 2 halflings across the wall. Vanesse decides to rob Roscoe, rolls a 1 and he grabs her and smacks her head into the table. The halflings flank her.
 * She notices the bartender and woman in guard outfit are talking but doesn't know about what. The armored woman (Mia) bangs the table and yells to stop. She tells them to get out. Roscoe goes up to her, says he did what she said, and asks for payment. She grudgingly gives it over.
 * She says she has those kids pick fights with adventurers to tell if they're actually robbers.
 * Vanesse introduces herself as "Vanesse, Shadow Incarnate." Mia says she passed the test, bartender (Ian) says they need someone capable to help them.
 * Side note: Sarah is on a church call and they can probably hear Georgiy swearing.
 * Ian describes the graveyard, says the king who there's a statue of there was buried there, family went to go visit grave and didn't come back. They sent 2 sentinels to look for them and they also didn't come back.
 * Vanesse asks for more turkey, he says she can have the whole thing. They say she could wait to go the next day. "Vanesse is a little buzzed, and a little tired, and a little lazy... but she does love adventure."
 * Vanesse tries to negotiate for higher payment when they offer 50 gold, and asks for 500. They're bewildered, so she says, "how about 51?" They agree to that. Ash is approving but Vanesse quickly squanders this by saying the Shadow only half-loves her.
 * They decide to sleep and get up before dawn.
 * Vanesse & Ash head out to the graveyard. [[file:VanesseBeholderDoor.png|thumb|The mysterious door]]
 * They go up toward the mausoleum Ash has been seeing in her visions. There are 2 humanoid figures lying on the steps of the mausoleum, dark liquid seeping out from underneath them -- it's the 2 sentinels, with huge slash marks across their bodies.
 * They don't have any gold missing - busted shortswords, mutilated hide armor.
 * Suddenly, WOLVES ATTACK! They decide to get inside the mausoleum; Ash is fine but Vanesse gets bit. They go in deeper and apparently some of the corpses here are zombies. Vanesse destroys them and some archer skeletons come from around the corner; she uses one of the extra-dead zombies as a shield and kills the archers.
 * They make their way down and there's an appealing-looking magic water fountain. There's a staircase going down to a stone door with a beholder and a message carved in it… with matching tiles that are in various places.
 * Vanesse accidentally touches one of the tiles and a ray shoots out of it, barely missing her. She notices that one of the tiles is moveable, Ash calls out that she found another moveable one. They look around and try to figure out the puzzle…
 * Ash accidentally hits one tile, and she starts turning into stone. She makes it to the eye on the floor… she falls onto it, a bright light flashes and Vanesse feels magical energy; then Ash is fine.
 * After they move some of the tiles around, the one that nearly hit Vanesse slides out, revealing a passage.
 * They go down, finding a rope bridge extending over a natural crevice.
 * Ash describes vision: man dressed as a king, but he's a fraud -- they're supposed to "deal with him".
 * Vanesse heads across the bridge first. Halfway through, the bridge starts moving around. She manages to keep her balance as a watery ooze moves onto the bridge. It shoots some goo at her that smells like soap or lye. She moves past it onto the other landing. They flank it and slice it apart such that it drips through the slats.
 * They find a small chamber with 2 doors - shattered stone, fresh dirt. They go through a door and find etchings of scenes of carousing, knights jousting, etc. - not typical king's tomb stuff. They hear scraping to the north.
 * They see bedrolls, campsite, barrel of water… maybe graverobbers. They go north and hear a wooden door closing to the right; they find a balcony over a canal.
 * A snake-like tendril of water rises from the water: a water weird. It says "More intruders?" and tells her to leave, this is a place of rest and has been disturbed. Vanesse says they're here to help get rid of intruders; it summons a 2nd tendril and tells her they went to the east after attacking it. It asks if they're employed by the wizard that bound it here, she asks if they want to "take care of it", it says yes--some "goblin mongrels"? It urges them to go.
 * Ash & Vanesse find a small passage--they hear someone swearing in Common on the other side of the door.
 * Ash imbues Vanesse with 2 charges of Cure Light Wounds, 1 charge of Bull's Strength.
 * They hide behind a ledge, see a half-human, half-rat looking person peek up with a knife. They get the jump on him and grab him, Ash with the scimitar at his neck.
 * He says there are a dozen of them. Vanesse convinces him to lead them to his group. They go into the next room, where there are statues. He says the rest of them are below them.
 * There are 4 humanoid skeletons on the floor and a hobgoblin in a breastplate manipulating the skull of one. The wererat yells "I found the intruders!" and tries to run. He is barely cut when Vanesse slashes at him. The hobgoblin turns around and begins casting. Ash casts Shield of Faith on her.
 * Vanesse casts Obscuring Mist and runs up to the hobgoblin. One of the skeletons stands up. Ash runs and attacks the wererat. Vanesse lands a solid hit on the hobgoblin, who tries to cast; she hits him again and he slumps to the floor, nearly dead. His skeleton tries to attack Vanesse poorly; the hobgoblin tries to crawl into the fog, and Vanesse brings the axe down on him and coup-de-graces him. The skeleton rattles to the ground.
 * The wererat is on the ground and she steps on his hand. He pleads with her and she says they'll let him live but not let him go. He describes where the rest of them are--islands connected by ropes? She then coup-de-graces him while he says he made a bad decision staying back to see what was in the vault.
 * They go to the next area, where there are indeed islands connected by ropes, except for the last 2.
 * Ash makes it across the first one, but Vanesse starts slipping. She is about to fall when Ash grabs her and pulls her up.
 * They don't notice a choker sneaking up on them and grabbing Vanesse. She rips the suckers off her and she falls back down onto the platform. Ash shoots it and it retracts back up to the ceiling. Vanesse slashes it and it falls into the water. Ash heals her ("You take 12 points of healing damage.")
 * They make it across the next island, throw a grappling hook to the last one. But it's not tied properly, so Vanesse falls, hanging onto the non-grappling hook end. She tries to climb up but falls. She takes a small amount of damage… and is swept along by the current. She's pulled underneath but manages to right herself.
 * Vanesse ends up in a cavern, washed onto the shore. There's a ledge with a ladder, and Ash appears there and whacks Vanesse's chest so she spits out water.
 * They keep going and find a pit. There's a woman -- elf? Human? -- lying there barely breathing.
 * They help her out. She says her name is Leera; she thought there would be standard adventure. They broke through a door and a bunch of clockwork creatures poured out, she doesn't know what happened next.
 * She says she's scared of the guy leading this group. She doesn't know what she's looking for but he's obsessed with it. She doesn't know what "Xeron" is, Tirell, a couple hobgoblin fighters, magic halfling, wererat left to guard the entrance. She says she didn't help them kill anyone.
 * Vanesse tells her to remember that she was saved by The Shadow. They let her go; she says in the other room is where they set up camp; if anyone's left they would be in there.
 * Ash & Vanesse go through; Vanesse steps on some caltrops, and they find 3 hobgoblins. Vanesse slices through 2 of them. The third hobbo runs and Vanesse goes after him and hits him. He slumps and starts crawling away. Vanesse puts him out of his misery.
 * They continue down the stairs. They find a door that has been polished and is surprisingly shiny. It's broken at the corner so they can get through.
 * At the center of the room is a statue of a man sitting on a throne covered in cobwebs. There are obvious tracks of humanoids in the room leading down. Vanesse searches the room; when she moves next to the statue, she sees the skin ripple and a swarm of red spiders spit out of the mummy and attack her. Ash tries to light them with her torch to get them off her.
 * The spiders are leaving behind web as they crawl all over her. She gets away from them and they keep going.
 * Next area: On the wall they see an image of a tall, raven-haired man dressed in shining plate armor being crowned, then it fades with light remaining. Ash says it's the betrayer, there's also a priest there…
 * The next room, they smell rotting flesh. There are images of a massive battle. As they descend, things look well-maintained.
 * They find a hallway with purple curtains. There's a painting of a man frowning wearing a golden crown. Vanesse takes the painting down. "…Is this what you do? Is this how you get money adventuring?"
 * "The treasure is within you, it's the power the Shadow gives you." Vanesse finally kind of gets it!
 * There's a statue of a warrior on horseback. They continue down the hallway, and see a man: handsome, black hair, blades on either side of his throne.
 * He turns toward them, has fully black eyes: "Who would disturb the rest of a king?!" Vanesse calls him a betrayer, he gets very angry and says he has betrayed no one. Ash tries to de-escalate.
 * He says they're his subjects and demands to know what has happened since he's been down here (for thousands of years). There's something odd about his speech. For a second, his skin looks putrefied, his eyes look almost more like gems, and one is missing, then it goes back to normal.
 * Vanesse asks if he's seen anyone else, he is super mad and says they're the only ones who have disturbed him in a long time. Vanesse moves up against the wall nearby and notices that there are 2 slots the size of his eye socket gems there. Vanesse distracts him by bullshitting about history.
 * Ash casts something and a column of fire envelops him. She calls Vanesse over. The man on the throne gets up… the throne he was sitting on looks like a plain stone seat instead of bejeweled; his hair turns grey and withers, his skin liquefies, his armor sags… his golden crown is dug into his skull. The eye socket without a diamond is burning red.
 * He attacks Vanesse but she dodges. She tries to attack him but doesn't appear to do any damage. Ash casts Bear's Endurance on her. The betrayer hits her once, and she hits back. Ash casts Shield of Faith on Vanesse, who gets hit with both of the betrayer's attacks. She slices his arm off, Ash says she has an idea and starts casting. They exchange blows again.
 * Ash has put some kind of glyph or ward onto the ground and yells for Vanesse to move him over it. Vanesse fails a will save and runs over to Ash, compelled to attack her. Ash slaps her out of it, and the betrayer lumbers over toward them, then runs over.
 * As it crosses the glyph, it traps him and explodes, throwing him back. By the time the smoke dissipates, they see a pool of goo on the ground and his bits flown everywhere.
 * Vanesse pulls the nice shiny gem out of its eye socket, and puts it into one of the slots on the wall. The stone door disappears into the ground and reveals a very narrow staircase leading below, where they can hear the sound of metal on stone and someone yelling orders in a language she can't understand.
 * They go through.
 * There are oddly shaped statues in this room that Vanesse doesn't recognize (they are symbols of the Shadow) and sarcophagi that have been opened. Ash asks if she recognizes the statues, she pretends to. They hear in Common, "You absolute idiot, harder!"
 * Vanesse peeks around the corner: male hobgoblin in half-plate, humanoid in violet robes leaning on an ornate spear yelling at the hobgoblin. She summons a giant (infernal) fire beetle next to the humanoid in purple robes that she tells to attack him (it misses). He spins around and gets attacked by Vanesse, and tries to crawl away.
 * The humanoid throws something small against the back wall. The hobgoblin fails at attacking her, she tells him to go because they're only after the wizard; the purple-robed man tells him not to listen and says something about being in the service of the Shadow. Suddenly a huge two-headed appears at the back wall; Ash attacks it. The robed man destroys her beetle with magic missiles.
 * Vanesse attacks the hobgoblin and splits his armor open. He stumbles back into the sarcophagus. Robe Guy says, "Shadow, I didn't mean to fail you like this!" and blasts Vanesse with magic missiles. The snake bites Ash on the arm. Vanesse tells the hobgoblin to just stay there and he nods; she rages and attacks the wizard and she brings the axe down on him. She notices that his skin melts into grey as he dies--he's a doppelganger. She goes to attack the snake and rolls a 1--the snake knocks the axe out of her hands around the corner.
 * Ash gets the axe closer to her and she kills the snake. Vanesse helps the hobgoblin up and asks what they were doing down here. He says he was working for the robed guy but says "…But that's not Xeron." He says he was trying to help them get out, they already sent the gnomes through.
 * Apparently the diamond from the betrayer's eye was "the key to everything". He says he worshiped the Dark Six and says something that could be construed as an insult to the Shadow, so Vanesse is sad as she kills him.
 * Ash says she's confused - another worshiper of the Shadow? She says the Shadow has effectively competitions - about sacrifice. "I can't believe I'm saying this but… maybe there's something to this 'chosen' thing."
 * She asks if Vanesse understands what she means by sacrifice. Vanesse says "Yes? Am I supposed to kill you?" "What? NO!" She explains that maybe centuries ago it was about sacrificing living beings, but now it's more about making valuable items not valuable.
 * Ash goes upstairs. Vanesse puts the diamonds on the ground and thwacks them--they break apart easily, "Almost as if someone rolled a 3 on their spot check and couldn't tell they were fake diamonds."
 * There is a purple glow and a huge jet black sword appears, floating on purple tendrils. She hears a mysterious voice different from her previous "Shadow" encounters and it says this gift is nothing compared to the power within her. Vanesse cries tears of joy.
 * She finds 200 gold, ring of protection +1, and a hand mirror of suggestion on the doppleganger.
 * She goes upstairs to Ash, who is flabbergasted. She falls to her knees and says she's sorry for doubting her, says this is an artifact that has been lost for ages.
 * She tests Vanesse - stands back and says to swing at her. Vanesse fails the UMD roll to shadowstrike (+10 ft range) so doesn't actually hit but the magic blade still appears.
 * Ash says they'll have to do a ceremony back at the temple. She says this means she's more than a priest. She says if she's wielding that sword, everyone at the temple--and if they do the ritual, all worshipers--should be at her disposal.
 * She asks Vanesse to promise to remember the darkness within her.