Quartz 4

43b: Alpha Strike on the Cult of Set

6 min read

43b: Alpha Strike on the Cult of Set

Date: Tothsday, 5th of Molivios, 2994 AE

Weather: Warm, partly cloudy

Player Characters:

  • Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)
  • Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Cosmo)
  • Vael Sunshadow, Half-Elven mage (Kyle)
  • Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)
  • Lacrymosa, Elven mercenary archer (Archon Shiva)

Significant NPCs:

The Plan:

What Happened: The Right for Riches company continued pressing north into the Forum of Set. The Settites had been alerted, and more guards kept pouring in. Vael cast Great Haste on Lacrymosa, who kept shooting them as fast as they appeared. Dobby and Jadeel hid behind a wall, and Jadeel cast Invisibility on Dobby. Dobby snuck through the carnage to try to backstab Lacrymosa, but Lacrymosa used Luck and managed to survive the attack. Dobby, no longer invisible, was then shot to pieces. Vallium and Uvash formed a front line to try to hold the Settites back while Lacrymosa shot them. Vallium chased Jadeel around the corner, but she Blinked away then cast a spell to Command him to face-plant, and he obediently did. Unfortunately for Jadeel, that was her only blocking spell for the turn, and she got peppered with arrows.

As the battle started to turn against the Settites, some goblins and some Thorcin mercenaries joined in and started helping the invaders. The goblins concentrated on the less deadly Settites like the food merchants and Forum inspectors, while the mercenaries took down a few guards. Within a minute, the fight in the Forum was over. Uvash had strained his shoulder and could no longer swing his pick. Lacrymosa was exhausted.

A few Settites ran to the east or northwest. There were three slaves chained to a statue of a Set animal in the center of the room, and several more chained to stakes in the northeast corner. The goblins and mercenaries freed them all, then the goblins started distributing the food from the food stalls in the southeast of the forum. Vael was mostly interested in loot, and started grabbing anything that looked magical from the bodies.

Two merchant stalls still had their merchants inside. One was Galadnor, a half-elf selling magical supplies who said she was no friend of the Settites but was spying on behalf of the elven rulers. The other was Horace, a human merchant who said he was working for Lady Alexia. The Thorcin mercenaries were led by Lella the Ripper, who said they had followed a treasure map to the area and had stopped in the Forum to get information and supplies, but were disgusted at the treatment of the slaves and had decided to join in taking down the slavers. The goblins were members of King Weskenim’s United Goblin Tribes, and had been in the Forum to buy food, but were happy to see the Settites taken down.

While Uvash and Lacrymosa were resting, Vallium and Vael looted a moneychanger’s stall. There was a stone chest that Vael thought was trapped, so rather than opening it, Vallium just carried it through a Teleport Rug back to the Beacon, where he told Basil of Narsileon not to disturb it since it was trapped. Galadnor revealed that the Settites’ vault was to the southwest, but warned that it was locked and probably trapped. Vael took a look and saw three keyholes. The goblins handed over one key from a Forum Inspector, but they weren’t sure about the other keys, and decided to deal with the vault later.

Vael cast Seeker on High Priestess Stephania and saw that she rallying a horde of Settites. He followed it with Trace and saw that she was about 50 yards northwest. Once Uvash’s shoulder was recovered, they left the Forum to the mercenaries and goblins, and headed north then west. There was a locked grating and they were missing the key, but Vael Lockmastered it open.

As they went west through Settite territory, they spotted a room with many Set guards and priests, with a line of cultists in front. At a command from Stephania, the cultists charged.

Last Stand of the Settites

Lacrymosa started with a Concussion spell then Flash and Smoke nageteppos into the crowd, then started shooting Settites. Vallium and Uvash formed a wall in front and cut down Settite guards. One Settite hiding in a room snuck up behind someone and got a sneak attack, but failed to do much damage. A Settite warrior with a returning javelin started a long-range duel with Lacrymosa, but she had much greater rate of fire, and he eventually went down. As the Settites started to lose, one of the priests decided it was Stephania’s fault, and cut her down from behind, then charged to the front to take up leadership. Some of the other Settites didn’t like that, and killed him in response. As their leadership dissolved, many of the Settites ran away, while others were shot or cut down.

Once again, Vael pointed out a few obviously magical items to grab. After some quick looting, the Right for Riches company went back to the Forum, where the mercenaries and goblins were still standing guard.

We ended the session there. Dozens of Settites had gone down, and their leaders had been defeated, but there was still a lot of unexplored territory in the area.

GM’s Comments: Running a fight with dozens of adversaries is a pain. Foundry fell over at one point, but recovered.

Achievements:

  • None yet, will be resolved next week.

XP:

  • None yet, will be resolved next week.

Next Week: The goal seems to be eradicating the rest of the defeated Settites, freeing all their slaves, and taking all their stuff. We’ll see how that goes. The other question is what happens to the Forum of Set if there are no Settites to run it.

Session Navigation

Graph View

Backlinks