Castle Xyntillan Session 32: Relics of the King

In the last session, the party escaped from the Maze via the Indoornesse, tricked a troll, met a hermit, got possessed by a thespian, and finally destroyed the vampiress Maltricia Malevol, possibly angering the Beast, but helping both Claude and Serpentina. hat will come of Maltricia's slaying? Why does Claude want a Malevol bone? And what was that silver coin? Read on 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 horned helm. 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.

Jorg, Promoted to Relic-Bearer

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

Maltricia's Signet Ring, 600gp

Emerald-studded bracelet, 4500gp

Book of Valorous Deeds (disappeared)

Assorted Kriegsspiel modules

The Reliquary of Bygone Kings (priceless)

The Game

• The party had just slain Countess Maltricia Malevol, their longtime foe. They ensured her body was staked, decapitated and disintegrated by artificial sunlight, and that there was no remaining trace of her in her cell. All that remained were the witnesses to their killing.
• Three other prisoners, humans from Tours-en-Savoy, had seen the party come in, and heard the fight that followed. The party debated what to do with them. After deciding that more murder was not the solution, they went for breaking and entering. They broke the prisoners out of their cells and charmed Melvin, the one which seemed the most likely to snitch. 
• The prisoners told them that the hunchback Samuel came to feed the prisoners around the eighth bell; plenty of time to escape. The party scouted further west, elected against trying their luck in the dungeon, and extracted their new charges.
• Outside, they rested briefly, assured Eric and LaBeouf that they were alive and well despite spending the night in the castle, and left the escaped prisoners in their care. The party still had some business to attend to.
• They reentered the castle, heading for the stairs to the Maze. Along the way, they hid from an approaching creature, which wheezed and dragged itself through the hallways, leaving a trail of lime and plaster. They deduced it was the same creature inside the dragon statue in another area, and let it pass.
• Back in the menagerie, they battled and turned the animated taxidermies, then rushed up the steps. When they realized they needed a body to pay the cyclops, they doubled back and grabbed the bloated body in the waterlogged coffin nearby.
• They offered this to the cyclops, which was glad for a 'marinated' treat and let the party pass into the library. They reunited with Corby's phantom allies within, which warned them that the library's keeper had returned in their absence: Justin De Loup, werewolf librarian. Given that exorcisms are not quiet affairs, they decided to get in front of their problem and go to him directly. 

• Justin was uneasy with visitors in his library, but was swayed by their consideration in using sunstones instead of flames for light, and their offer to rid the library of the phantoms. He gave the party leave to perform the exorcism.
• One exorcism later, the phantoms faded from view and went to their allotted rest. Before disappearing, one of them handed Corby a book, bound in blue velvet with gold lettering. Its long Latin title was summarized by Idred as 'The Book of Valorous Deeds.' This was one of the holy relics Brother Michel was searching for, an ancient text which could impart great prowess on its reader, but would disappear once read.

Corby: What is Brother Michel offering for this?

GM: The grace and gratitude of the church.

Corby: How many attacks per round is that worth?

• The party decided to give Boroth the extra fighting ability. He read through the tome at immense speed (there were plenty of pictures) and was so inspired by the tales of heroes past that he … got an extra attack every other round. I'm really not sure how to explain that in the game fiction.
• The book faded in his hands, but not before Boroth stuck a note inside the cover reading, "Please return if found." They legged it before Justin figured out they disappeared one of his books, though Boroth nabbed some Kriegsspiel modules from the shelves.
• On the way back down, they sent the shambling mound to dead with the remaining taxidermies. It destroyed them in good time, and the party followed it down. There was just one door in the vicinity they hadn't checked out yet. There was light spilling out from within, and a mirror under the door showed a burning bonfire and a glass dome.
• Longo and Corby stepped inside. They found a varicolored fire burning in a brazier, and a silver reliquary under the dome. Creeped out by the fire, Longo covered it with a shield. He was very nearly hypnotized by the flames, but resisted, and covered the brazier, although it was clear the flames still burned without air. 
• They made haste to undo the latch on the glass dome, and succeeded. They even made their saves against the choking dust that filled the room as they opened it, and came face-to-face with a ghostly shape manifesting from the dust. This was the shade of Merlerik Malevol, Founder of the Malevol dynasty, whose visage was graven into the reliquary. He took one look at Corby, horned helm and all, and bestowed the reliquary 'upon those worthy to claim it,' then disappeared. 

• The party tapped their lightbearer, Jorg to carry the Reliquary, as they had long since lost much use for him with their sunstones. He was more than happy for the promotion.
• With that done, they set about finishing their map of the local area. They came upon the nightmare hallway from their first expedition, as well as the entrance to the Beast's rose garden.

Corby: I take out a pint of oil.

Party: Nooooo!

• They discovered an old matron working in a linen closet, which Longo carefully backed out of, and they returned to the sire of their battle with the shambling mound. A portal there led into a closed-off section of the Indoornesse, a beautiful pastoral scene in mid-autumn, and the party relaxed there for a time amid the lake and gazebos. On exiting the pocket dimension, they felt the appeal of that place dim and dry up. That was where the session ended. 
• Will the party seek out yet more treasure in the halls of Xyntillan? Will they return to Claude and receive their reward? What mysterious illness* afflicts Longo? The party has nearly all they need to seek the Grayl, and the campaign marches towards a conclusion. All will soon be revealed, so be sure to read next week's session of Castle Xyntillan!

Takeaways

The party got very lucky with reaction rolls this session, lots of neutral encounters.

I rolled through the combat between the shambling mound and the taxidermies (just a boar and some killer bambis). It didn't take too long, though I don't think I'll be rolling through combats like those in the future, since the shambling mound is such an overbearing opponent.

The party was quite disappointed that none of the gazebos came to life and tried to eat them. Step up your game Gabor!

Next Chapter: Fear the Reaper