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Callistus and the Quann

Players/Characters Present:
John Sikking - Basil Amantes (Ftr3)
Bruce Barnett - Bonzimir Amantes (Rog1/Hlf2)
Barbara Muth - Nereida Amantes (Clr3)
Chris Wood - Felix Amantes (Psi3)

The Starborn determined to travel to Echoriath, the capital of the Conorrian Empire, in order to research the scanty information they had available on the lost dwarven citadel. Demetrios managed to find a river barge that would be willing to give them passage downriver to the city of Callistus (about one-third of the thousand-mile journey to Echoriath) in exchange for guard duty. 

The night before they left for Callistus, Quintus Amantes gathered his children together, blessed them in the name of the Opener of Ways and gave them each a healing potion. He also gave Nereida a letter of introduction to the Secundus of Callistus (a powerful figure in the Borlamnian church) and a second letter of introduction to a woman named Flavia Brassus in Echoriath. Flavia is a sage and wizard, and a member of a secretive group known as the Inverted Pyramid. Quintus said that he had been corresponding with her for many years. Felix seemed to think that Quintus was anxious that his children leave, but none of the others seemed to detect any such emotion in their father.

The next day, the five set off downriver on board the keel boat crewed by Gavrus, a small, talkative man, and Rufus, his older, quieter brother. Gavrus was a lifelong riverman, while Rufus was a former adventurer, scarred in both body and soul by his experiences. He refused to speak of his past. At one point on the river, the boat passed a ruined city on a high bluff, overrun with strange vegetation. Gavrus identified this as the ancient city of Hyurgae, cursed by the gods for some now-forgotten offense. Gavrus also said Rufus had been there, but Rufus said that he was the only member of his company to survive the experience and refused to speak more about it. He threatened Felix when Felix pressed him on the issue.

The journey downriver was almost anticlimactic. No dangers arose and the Starborn never needed to defend the boat. Eleven days after they left Vendarius, the ancient city of Callistus appeared on the horizon. Callistus sits on an island at the confluence of the Phaedon and Saxosus rivers. Built in the ancient heyday of Conorrian wizardry, the city consists of hundreds of impossibly tall towers, connected by bridges. Each tower is village in itself, with the poorest living at or below ground level and the richest living in gilded splendor among the clouds. Rumors say that the city is founded atop an ancient, pre-Conorrian city thousands of years old.

Gavrus took the Starborn ashore, telling them they could find him at the sign of the Dollop and Scallop, an inn on the waterfront. He gave them general directions to the Temple of Borlamnos in the Tower of the Dawn, but they were nonetheless quickly lost among the dim streets at the base of the immense towers. Having entered a dangerous bar for directions and having spread around some considerable cash (five traders!), they were soon followed and attacked by local thugs. Having defeated the thugs (killing one and wounding others), the ascended the nearby Tower of the Pig, the lower levels of which housed large pig sties and a slaughterhouse. Arriving at the merchant's level (consisting largely of butcher shops), they located some city guards and told their tale.

The guards took them to a guard station where they met the irascible but fair Captain Valens, a dwarf. He held them for questioning until their story proved true. He also made them register for Callistus identification papers (which identify the person and are signed with an arcane mark, making them difficult to forge), then released them with directions to the Tower of the Dawn.

The rain had begun to fall heavily, soaking the Starborn by the time they came to a bridge between the Tarleian Spire and the Citadel of Lann. In a flash of lightning, they saw a body laying on the bridge amidst a spreading pool of blood. Out of the corner of his eye, Bonzimir was sure he'd seen a shadowy figure slip over the bridge's railing and disappear down the side. Investigating, they saw that the body was dead and that it was clutching a white leather satchel. Inside the satchel, Felix discovered a blank journal, the cover of which had an arcane sign stitched in mithril. His identification papers showed him to be one Epizalus, provost of the Azneri college in Echoriath, a specialist in pre-Conorrian history.

Just then, the shadowy figure reappeared, leaping into the party's midst and trying to seize the journal. It was a strange, bestial humanoid who hissed that they were "mere starchildren" and attacked furiously. The party was able to defeat him before he could seize the journal. As the rain poured down on the bridge, cries of "call the watch!" were heard from within the Citadel of Lann. The Amantes decided to await the arrival of the law. It was Captain Valens again, with back-up, and he ordered them to drop their weapons. They complied and some of the local shopkeepers came out in the rain to verify their story. Satisfied of their innocence, Valens was nonetheless in a poor humor, muttering about the "damned provincials, always starting trouble". He let them go with a warning to stay out of trouble. Meanwhile, Nereida noticed that the dead assailant had something resembling a ring -under- his skin. With Valens' persmission, she removed it. It turned out to be a ring of bone, enchanted with an aura of divination. Demetrios theorized that such a thing could be used to communicate with others or could even be used as the target of a scrying spell. Valens confiscated the ring.

Later, as they approached the Tower of the Dawn, a cloaked man came up to them out of the rain and said "If you want to know the truth about Epizalus of Echoriath, come to the Broken Anvil at dusk." He then immediately left them, wondering what they'd stumbled into. The Amantes family finally arrived, soaking wet, at the Temple of Borlamnos. After they talked their way past the Knights of the Sacred Keys guarding the door, an acolyte took their letter, promising to contact them at the inn known as the Aerie whenever the Secundus had time for an audience.

After checking into the Aerie, the group decided that they wanted to know more about Epizalus and his journal, so they went to the Broken Anvil tavern, where they met with an obviously aristocratic woman named Julia Metellus, of the noble House Metellus. They immediately noticed that the sigil on her signet ring was the same as that on the cover of Epizalus' journal. Julia told them that she had been searching for an ancient family heirloom, a 'schema', or pattern which the wizards of her house used to create certain important magic items. It was useless in and of itself, but together with other house heirlooms, was quite important. She had hired Epizalus to find it, and his search had led him to Callistus. But House Metellus was not the only group seeking this heirloom. A strange and secretive group known as the Pactlords of the Quann were also seeking it, and had been responsible for Epizalus' death. They killed him to get the journal.

Julia revealed that the journal was magically blank, and that it's contents could be read by one possessing the correct key, such as her signet ring. She showed them that it was filled with clues to the location of the schema, and that Epizalus had finally pinpointed its location, in a vault far below the Callistador tower, hidden behind a sealed vault door. Julia offered the Amantes 1,000 traders and the gratitude of her house if they would agree to immediately go and recover the schema before the Pactlords found a way to recover it. After some discussion, and a 100 trader advance, they agreed. Julia gave them Epizalus' map, which led to a point dozens of levels below the foundations of the city.

Deep in the bowels of the Callistador Tower, the Amantes came across a "Rat's Market", a sad little collection of unwanted citizens gathered around the shoddy goods of one Krekket, a goblin. The Amantes knew that they wanted to find a door just beyond a place labelled the "E-213 Valve Cluster", but had no idea where that was. Krekket agreed to lead them to the place for a fee of 25 traders, 10 in advance. He did lead them faithfully, but on the stairs near the Valve Cluster, they were ambushed by a strange, wolf-headed creature and his two pale companions. Bonzimir's sharp eyes kept the party from being completely caught between the two forces in the dangerous valve cluster. The wolf-creature screamed that he would exact vengeance upon them in the name of the Quann. When they had killed him, the others fled. This attacker, too, had a bone ring under its skin. Felix wanted to take the ring, but was outvoted by the others.

They found the sealed vault and opened it by touching the journal's cover to the run on the door. Inside, they descended through an airshaft into a long-abandoned region of the tower filled with crumbling buildings and ravenous, fist-sized beetles. Having driven off the beetles, they found an intact building with a sealed door of some strange, impenetrable metal. Basil discovered that there was a hole in the building's roof, and the whole group descended into the sealed forge (for that is what it was). Inside, a mechanical dog had long ago been crushed by the falling roof, but there were two others, who seemed to shrug off most blows aimed at them. The Amantes' best chance, Felix's crystal whistle, seemed to do little to the dogs (really bad rolls!). A vicious battle ensued, in which nearly everyone was badly wounded, and Demetrios had to leap down from his firing platform and use his Starborn power to help stabilize Nereida. 

When the mechanical dogs ("Iron Defenders") were destroyed, a small port on the forehead of each disgorged a metallic rod. One had the cross section of a circle and one of a pentagon. Noticing depressions on the forge in the shapes of a circle, triangle and pentagon, the team lifted the debris around the crushed dog and found the final rod with a triangular cross-section. Placing these in on the forge in the wrong order turned out to be very dangerous, and both Bonzimir and Basil received powerful electric shocks. Through the use of Augury and trial-and-error, they arrived at the correct combination and opened the vault under the forge. All in all, they recovered 1 suit of scale mail, 1 small masterwork chain shirt, 3 small steel shields, 1 heavy mace, 1 longsword, 1 masterwork rapier, 1 masterwork heavy mace, 2 mysterious non-magical rods, 100 Traders and 10 nobles, 4 gold ingots, 4 potions, an old map and the schema. The map showed mysterious markings on what appeared to be a map of the Conorrian Empire just prior to the Mage War.

Leaving the forge, they were accosted by the last (?) of the agents of the Pactlords of the Quann, a fearsome ogre in heavy armor, firing flaming crossbow bolts. Basil was critically wounded by two of these before the party found cover behind some rubble. Bonzimir crept very close to the ogre (one Gorthakk, who claimed to be the "greatest of the devoted followers of the Pactlords of the Quann"), forcing him to abandon his archery and attack the little halfling with his greataxe. He was countercharged by both Demetrios and Basil, and eventually killed. This time, the party took his bone ring, hoping that someone in the Temple could identify it for them. 

Back at the Broken Anvil, they met with Julia Metellus and her bodyguard of several armed warriors (prepared, now, for a last-ditch attempt by the Quann). After they turned over the schema and the journal, Julia paid them the remaining 900 traders, thanked them for their brave efforts, and told them that she might seek out their aid again in the future. In the meantime, they could look for her at her manor in Echoriath.

And here ended the day! 

1) Who are the Pactlords of the Quann? 
2) What is the bone ring? 
3) What did Epizalus' attacker mean by "mere starchildren"?

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