Castle Xyntillan Session 34: 'Twixt a Rock and a Hard Place

In the last session, the party confronted the ferryman of Hades, delved into the resting place of the Holy Grayl, and nearly claimed the treasure for themselves before being attacked by its guardian. All because, and I refuse to let this go, the party was looking for a boat. Now, they must get themselves out from between the Charybdis and Scylla of their inadvisable life choices. How will they deal with two of the most powerful creatures in the castle? Will they actually be able to claim the Grayl? And what lies ahead for the party? 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 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.

Jorg, Promoted to Relic-Bearer

Yessica, Arbalist

Stanislas, light footman

Hilda, heavy footman

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

Corby and Hilda, polymorphed into snails. They got better

Loot

None

The Game

• The party stood inches from the Holy Grayl. Its guardian, a lion-sized snail with an iridescent shell and ivory teeth, bore down on them. The party rushed in to do battle with the monster. 
• In the very first round, it aimed a ray of energy at their hireling Hilda. She collapsed, disappeared, her armor and equipment falling to the floor. And from that pile crawled... a snail.
• The same thing happened the very next round to Corby. All his equipment fell, including his horn, and he was reduced to the form of a snail.
• Even with thee setbacks, the party was demolishing the guardian. multiple critical hits, plenty of high rolls, and the snail had some bad luck on its attacks. With the shambling mount getting multiple hits of its own, the snail was destroyed in the third round, with no casualties besides the victims of polymorph. 
• The party then settled down. Idred memorized dispel magic, but failed to undo the polymorph on Corby. Boroth harvested the snail's shell to make into armor. The party elected to stay put and rest in the dungeon. It was clear that Charon could not enter, and likely didn't know where they were. 

• For a few hours, this plan worked... until the chamber's guardians interrupted them. A squadron of undead knights filed in and evicted the party. None would cheapen the search for the Grayl by resting there. 
• Thus, the party left, and was immediately found by Charon, who had been exploring the chamber just outside. The party engaged a fighting retreat, avoiding Charon's attacks and running once his specters arrived. They ran through the dungeon, up the stairs to the main floor, and magically sealed the door behind them. The ferryman of Hades cursed them as they ran from the castle, and the party hopped on their wagon and hoofed it back to Wolkmarstal. 
• Back in safety, the party got to business. They had dinner with Claude and the count of Wolkmarstal, debriefed, but kept the business of the Holy Grayl to themselves. They turned in Maltricia's bone, and confirmed that Claude was now the legitimate ruler of Xyntillan and environs, though they did not hand over the Malevol relics.
• The party also pretended not to have seen the Book of Valorous Deeds when talking to Brother Michel and Boroth contracted Wolkmarstal's master blacksmith to craft a suit of armor from the snail's shell. They also got some news: Claude was engaged. As part of his politicking, he had arranged a marriage with Lady Annabella des Tructore, a Milanese princess. The party attended his wedding, and were assured that the two would have a perfectly functional arranged marriage, in accordance with the Cherry Crow's precepts. The party even got their own rings from Claude, carved from the bone of Maltricia, signifying Claude's deep and everlasting debt to the party. 
• When the party had concluded their business, we went into a little time skip.
• With Claude's rule legitimated, the forces of Wolkmarstal invaded Tours-en-Savoy. The people had prepared for the army's arrival, and the occupying orcs were swiftly driven out of town into the wilderness. They were hunted down and slaughtered. Rel's lieutenants were captured, but Rel himself vanished without a trace. 
• Claude gathered the local soldiers to his army, strengthening his position and riding a wave of popular support. They reached the gates of Chamrousse, the seat of county power, but the old count had fled to fantasy Bavaria several days before. The local hierarchy was left in chaos. Claude executed a few remaining loyalists and the Bishop of Chamrousse announced that his rulership was in accordance with the laws of man and God. Claude Malevol took the throne, and after a well-deserved vacation, the party began to plan their next expedition to Castle Xyntillan.
• Change is coming to the campaign. The party is now under the direct patronage of a powerful noble. That means they're going to be taxed out the ass, even with Claude's blessing. The castle is under new management, with Serpentina taking Maltricia's role as top schemer. And the ultimate treasure is ready to be plucked from the dungeon, just as soon as the party acquires one of two Malevol heirlooms. 
• Change is coming. This campaign is not yet over.

Takeaways

I was worried about a TPK when I wrote the last session report. Oh, ye of little faith. The party dished out almost thirty points of damage in the first round. Granted, that was with some luckily to-hit rolls, Boroth's new swanky scythe and the shambling mound, but none of that's going away anytime soon. I have to recalibrate my expectations for what the party can and can't take on.

This session was dramatically shorter than most. Beating the snail and escaping from Charon didn't take too long, and the denouement was just explaining all the stuff in the timeskip.

I was worried about how to continue the campaign from here without a complete anticlimax. Once the party gets the Grayl, everything else seems like mopping up side quests by comparison. But I have a plan. A dastardly plan. Melan already knows. I'm not sure I can pull it off, but it will certainly be interesting.  

Next Chapter: The End