In today's instalment of Eberron Mystery Theatre, our heroes - Picadilly, Jacquesaurs, Diaspo, Sister Mary, and Chris the Warlock (Stab was conveniently absent) continued exploring the dank catacombs in Sharn's undercity, hot on the trail of the Cogswatch Slasher.
After destroying the Phantom Fungi colony, our adventurers continued deeper into the tunnels, caverns and byways, before arriving at a confluence of tunnels. Sister Mary invoked her magic again, and traced the fabric to a large, rocky outcropping just north of her current position, and confident that she had found the killer, goaded everyone on. True enough, the cloak was indeed on the ledge, but so were several pieces of debris, and a host of wormy creatures with lichen mottled hide and thin, writhing tentacles.
These creatures, though, were easily dispatched. Jacquesaurus used his bardic music to inflame the weapons of his allies, and even scored a direct hit with his crossbow on the lead worm, killing it before it could devour Diaspo. Rummaging through the rubbish, our inquisitives discovered a magical blade stamped with the House Cannith symbol - a gorgon, and observed the buildings of Khyber's Gate some 100-ft above them. They rightly inferred that this was likely where the Cogswatch Slasher had landed after his jump off the edge of the roof when making his escape.
Retracing their steps, our inquisitives continued deeper into the undercity, passing through a series of narrow gates and tunnels that seemed to branch endlessly. They eventually came to a tunnel network that led to a grille and giant fan in the ground, likely a remnant of the Cannith facilities rumored to have been sequestered here, and three additional tunnels, one of which was sealed behind a locked grate.
Picadilly smashed the locked grate open, and the inquisitives proceeded to investigate. There was a patch of magical darkness within, which Chris's hireling dispelled, revealing a massive, ornate gate of solid gold. The gate was carved with multiple esoteric symbols and religious diagrams devoted to the Dark Six, and seemed ancient enough that it was probably created years ago, likely in the earliest years of the new Sharn.
Jacquesaurus tried the door, and was rewarded with a jolt of electricity. It was then that Sister Mary recalled the teachings of her faith. Aureon blessed her with the insight to cast a spell of erasing, removing the magical glyph trap on the door. Trying the door again, Jacquesaurus triggered a second trap, releasing a javelin of lightning from behind the door towards the group. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Much.
Beyond the foot thick gate of solid gold, our inquisitives discovered an ornate crypt, fitted with expensive tapestries devoted to the Dark Six, as well as a massive sarcophagus set and sealed with gold knobs atop a raised dais. Black light burned in braziers positioned on the four corners of the dais, and a massive portrait in a frame of gold that portrayed a stern man with a hook nose and wicked countenance oversaw the chamber.
Evil lingered here, warned Picadilly, but that did not stop Sister Mary from tampering with the painting. Her tampering seemed innocent enough, until she attracted the tomb's inhabitant - the shade of the man in the painting - a cleric of the Dark Six named Lord Valkar.
Picadilly jumped at the shade immediately, and smote it mightily with her hammer, giving Sister Mary a chance to retreat. However, Lord Valkar was not about to give up the ghost (hurhurhur) quite that easily, and summoned undead shadows to help. Jacquesaurus started singing again, while Chris's wizard hireling began firing magic missiles willy nilly. Sister Mary made liberal use of her spells and wands too, and even Diaspo got in on the act. Eventually, the group managed to drive Lord Valkar back into the painting, and even burned it down. The ghost attempted one last vain attack on Sister Mary, and succeeded in draining her unconscious, but it too was struck by magic missiles, and dissipated at last.
Now that the evil influence was gone, our inquisitives quickly rested, recovering their energy and resources. They also stripped the chamber bare, defacing what was obviously a wicked shrine. Thus empowered, they followed the other tunnels south, and round several corners, before coming to a metal platform suspended over the gaping chasms leading into the true bowels of under-Sharn; a lightless place people had yet to explore.
This metal platform led north towards a pair of ancient, beaten doors inscribed with the House Cannith seal, and south, towards a poorly concealed secret door. Testing the secret door, our inquisitives discovered that it was a cunningly rigged alarm - a false door designed to distract potential visitors, and turned their attention to the double doors after wasting several precious moments.
The double doors were trapped, however, and as Sister Mary listened at it, she barely avoided being singed by a curtain of fire that shot down towards her. Finally, the adventurers shoved the door open, and came face to face with their quarry - the Cogswatch Slasher, in what appeared to be a ramshackle laboratory.
Garish red light streamed from a magically powered forge - likely a Cannith Creation Forge, in the far end of the chamber, illuminating various vats, alchemical devices, captives still in cages, and a binding circle. Lying on a table in the center of the room was a large, humanoid figure, stitched together from body parts of all sorts, riveted and welded together with metal bits and bobs.
Sister Mary didn't give the Cogswatch Slasher a chance to act. She fired off a quartet of magic missiles immediately, only to watch them ping off a magical shield. Picadilly rushed to attack next, charging in with hammer and goring with horns. Her attack drove the Slasher back, towards the Creation Forge, where it began to tap the energies within to repair itself.
The creature strapped to the table broke free of its restraints, and began flailing about the room as well, assaulting first Picadilly, before moving towards the center of the chamber to threaten the others.
Diaspo ducked into the room to help the captives, and realizing that they couldn't be easily freed, proceeded to prepare himself to help his friends, while Jacquesaurus struck up a rousing song, and Chris and his hireling helped take up the rear.
Our inquisitives renewed their attacks, and the Cogswatch Slasher did the same, firing several bolts of lightning from his wand into the party. Picadilly attacked again, striking at the forge instead of the Slasher this time. She put a big dent into its chassis, and the Slasher howled as his source of healing was diminished. Sister Mary, Jacquesaurus and Diaspo also attacked the large, fleshy creature, identified as a Flesh Golem, with their weapons, keeping it occupied and slowed.
The Cogswatch Slasher continued to pelt the party with lightning bolts, and things looked like they were quickly going downhill, until Jacquesaurs, the gnome of the moment, sang a paralyzing song, which the Slasher was strangely vulnerable to, unlike ordinary warforged.
Picadilly then hammered the Cogswatch Slasher into a pulp. As the Slasher fell, the golem went berserk, and started swinging left and right. It threw a powerful blow at Sister Mary, who was sent flying into the wall. She splattered against it, quite dead. Diaspo reacted quickly after that, and breathed on the golem. The force of the sonic blast knocked it backwards, and it landed on Sister Mary. Then it stopped twitching.
Both the Cogswatch Slasher and the abomination it had attempted to create had been destroyed. And that was the end of the Slasher's murder spree. Hopefully.
Later, while investigating the chamber after scraping up Sister Mary's remains into a water bottle, our inquisitives discovered the Slasher's journal. It had been following directives it had been programmed with before the end of the Last War - to look after its master, who was clearly long dead, and to create a perfect new body for its master. A task which it had failed to accomplish - or had it?
Still, there was a regular monty haul to be had, and a sizeable reward for the solving of this mystery. Gold enough, it seemed, to pay for Sister Mary's reincarnation as a Halfling lass.
With the Cogswatch Slasher defeated, there was still the mystery of the exploding lamps in Firelight and Lady Alanis ir'Morrisette's flight from Sharn. Which of these would our inquisitives take up next?
All this and more next week, in Eberron Mystery Theatre.
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Treasure and Experience
1. All adventurers gain 2,500 xp. Jacquesaurus reaches 21,000 xp - enough to put him at Level 7.
2. You acquired the following treasure:
a. A Cannith Switchblade - Converts freely from a Dagger to a Longsword. The weapon has a +1 enchantment. Retrieved by Picadilly.
b. Ancient Plate Armor - A suit of Ghost Touch Plate Armor +1. Retrieved by Picadilly.
c. Armband of the Shield - An armband that continually grants its wearer the benefit of an Entropic Shield spell. Retrieved by Sister Mary.
d. Ornate Slippers - Slippers of Spider Climbing. Allows the user to walk on walls and climb like a spider does for up to 10 minutes per day.
e. Sigil of the Dark Six - An ancient amulet of the Dark Six, fell and powerful gods of evil bent. Retrieved by Jacquesaurus.
f. Ritual trappings and chamber implements totalling 850 gold. Party Loot.
g. Wand of Lightning Bolt - 6th level caster, 11 charges.
h. Brooch of Shielding (65 missiles) - Protects the wearer from Magic Missiles.
i. Ring of Feather Falling - Allows the wearer to gracefully fall from any height with no chance of injury.
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