Castle Xyntillan Session 29: Curse of the Horned Helm

In the last session, the party won a court case, legitimized the Will, and explored the Lake Tower. Where will the party go from here? Will they try to seek out the Beast to gain his support? Will some unbelievable series of events threaten the game's status quo? All this and more in this week's session of Castle Xyntillan!

The Party

Longo Lightfoot, Halfling Thief, wears a sky-blue headscarf. Played by CaptainSabatini.

Corby the Joyful, Human Cleric of Sucellus, wears a short, conical hat. Played by diregrizzlybear.
Idred the Most Omniscient, Human MU, wears a full-visored greathelm. Played by David Perry.
Boroth Swinney the Joyous, Human Fighter, wears a masked helm depicting a happy human face. Played by Justin Hamilton.
Francois, Light Footman, noticeably dogless. 

Clovis, Heavy Footman.

Jorg, Lightbearer

Yessica, Arbalist

Kaleb, Arbalist with a nose for booze and a magic pipe

Eric, Light Footman and cart driver.

Oscar, Arbalist of unusual strength

LaBeouf, Camp Cook.
Raymond, Mule.

Casualties

None

Loot

Garrotte

Black silk gloves

Magical horned helm, unidentified

The Game

• The court was adjourned, and the skeleton in the pews all filed out. Along with them, three undead women the party had noticed earlier: two young, translucent women, one smiling and one grimacing at them, and a wrinkle-faced old lady who dragged the others along.
• The party conducted some final business with the judge, and hung around outside the court planning their next move while Idred studied spells. 
  
• They were interrupted by a group of headless manservants which approached them cautiously, bearing a sealed letter. The contents were simple and to the point.

My room. Now.

-Serpentina Malevol

• The party knew her room was on the fourth story of the tower, just above them, and the manservants confirmed this. The party debated amongst themselves, and in the end decided to comply. They still had most of their resources, and felt they could take on a succubus if it came down to it.
• They climbed the stairs, finding just a single door. Peeking inside showed them a living room, with a half-nude woman, not Serpentina, sleeping on a couch, a half-completed drawing of her head and shoulders nearby. 
• Longo snuck in to examine the drawing, and determining it was mundane, added thick eyebrows and mustache to it. The woman woke gently, stretching languidly and inquiring who Longo was. He said he was an assistant. She invited him to help her get up, and he insisted he wasn't that kind of assistant. 
• Relations devolved from there, and she rose from under the sheet, revealing herself to be a skinless horror from the chest down. Longo fled the room, back to the party, which made the mature decision to just show her the letter. This stopped her in her tracks, and she reluctantly told the party to go through an adjoining door to Serpentina's chambers, while staring daggers at Longo.
• They entered Serpentina's room, luxuriously and provocatively decorated, with Serpentina herself behind a dressing screen. She invited them to sit as she came out in a comically short nightgown, with her pet python Meandering around her shoulders.
• The party learned a few things from the ensuing conversation. Angela, the other succubus in the castle, which Brother Michel had routed back to Hell, was Serpentina's roommate from Avernus U. Maltricia had orchestrated the perversion of the Will, which Serpentina knew nothing about, stop asking.
• Finally, they learned that if Maltricia were out of the picture, Serpentina would become one of the new top dogs of the Castle, no longer playing second fiddle or considered the lesser schemer. She cut them a deal; kill Maltricia and don't interfere with her and hers, and she would let them be, even accept the rule of dear little Claude as Count.
• Idred tried to push the deal, and Serpentina asked if he needed more... incentive to hunt Maltricia down. He answered yes. So Serpentina hit him with a Suggestion spell, which he barely failed the save against.

Kill Maltricia Malevol!

• Idred led the party out, now very insistent on hunting Maltricia as soon as possible, contrary to the party's earlier plan to seek the Beast's quarters. They saw Serpentina's assistant pretending to sleep on the couch, with the rotting remains of the artist who drew her hidden beneath.
• They beelined on the way down, not allowing themselves to get distracted by other rooms in the tower. They felt a presence behind them as they headed down the corridor, and Idred turned around to see a ninja, hands already around his neck!
• Longo turned around as well, and was confronted by the same. He warned the rest of the party not to turn around, lest they also be attacked. Longo held his own, but Idred panicked, and used a magic item: the solar medallion. 3d8 of concentrated, burning sunlight, one of their hidden aces against Maltricia, was used up and reduced to slag to kill the ninja. 
• They continued on their way, exploring a few rooms in the Summer Wing, and convincing Idred to not immediately seek out Maltricia with the prospect of getting the Beast's help. They passed the rolling boulder, and sought to break into some rooms that had previously been barred to them. They made their way into a room beyond which they heard raucous partying and saw a green glow.
• Inside, they saw a parade of partying phantoms, which invited the party to join them. The phantoms celebrated life, death and the possibility to have fun on either end. The party just made their way past. 
• Nearby, they found another painting gallery. Longo took it upon himself to investigate every single painting and see if there were any hidden niches behind them. He found the portrait of the old undead woman they saw in the courtroom, the harridan Odile Malevol, they were offered candy by the creepy Uncle Montfort they met last session, and talked with the portrait of James the butler.
• But of special interest, Longo found the portrait of Runcius Malevol, the druid of the Indoornesse, who wore the Crown of Thorns, one of the relics thye sought. As soon as he came near, the painting reached out of its frame, making an attack to touch Longo.
• It rolled a twenty.
• The portrait touched Longo on the forehead and retreated, cackling, "You're one of mine now!" The characters had no idea what just happened.
• The players, on the other hand, knew full well.

GM: I have just written on my GM notes, 'Longo has lycanthropy.'

Party: Do halflings turn into were-corgis?

• They party finally broke into a new section of the castle, the Northwest quarter they had been warned about since the first session. They headed north, and saw a gelatinous cube sitting pretty in it's own room, calmly digesting a few skeletons.
• The party would have left it alone, if they hadn't spotted a gleaming helm inside the cube. For it to still be intact and shiny, it must be magical.

Corby: I could do with a new helmet.

GM: (to audience) This is be the moment he looks back on and regrets.

•  They slay the cube with little trouble, and the skeletons it was digesting were so far gone to not be a threat. Corby walked over and picked up the helm, wiping the last of the cube's acidic juices off. It was a shining metal helm with curling ram's horns. 

Party:...

GM:...

Corby: I fear no helm! *puts it on*

GM: *sends a private message*

• Corby's player laughed out loud, and the party immediately began to speculate on what sort of fuckery had just occurred.

Longo: You didn't get a Helm of Opposite Alignment did you?

• The session ended there, with the party past the threshold of the northwest quarter, seeking out the Beast in his unimpregnable court, with a one of the party members an unsuspecting lycanthrope, another under a Suggestion, and a third under... some... effect.
  
• What the hell just happened? Will they continue to seek the Beast? Can they really take on Maltricia? All this and more in the next session of castle Xyntillan!

Takeaways

The Castle Xyntillan game has kept to something of a status quo for most of its runtime. The same player characters have stuck around, and even a couple of hirelings have remained since session 1. There have been a few changes to the status quo: the wedding of Giacomo and Adelaide, the Libram of Heinous Damnation, the learning about the presence of the Grayl, and of course, the Will and the ensuing parade of chaos. But the characters have stuck around, mostly the same.

Until now. Oh dear. A successful Suggestion towards a very dangerous mission is the least of the party's worries. The rogue is a lycanthrope now. I don't even know how to rule this. And then there's the helm. Ahahahahahaha. If Boroth had been in the session, I'm sure the dice would have contrived to do something to him as well!

Unfortunately, the next session won't be this week. It's Christmas! So I'm just going to let the players stew over these events until we convene again.

Next Chapter: In the Beast's Court

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