Citadel of the Sun-Kings Campaign Diary
Session 11: The Citadel of the Sun-Kings
The Party
Also present:
What Happened
The Grell in the Realm Below Night
The session started with the party in the Realm Below Night, face-to-face with a Grell. The party opted to fight instead of flee from the monstrosity. As the floating tentacle-brain monster approached, Ramu and Hasoom riddled it with arrows and javelins. Then Ramu engaged the beast in melee, only to be wrapped in 10 stinging tentacles. Thankfully, his absurd HP meant that he survived the onslaught (though he was stunned) before Kheperkare dispatched the beast with the Titan Spear.
The Aegis of the Desert Wind
The group then headed to the Black Spire. Kheperkare handed the ossified heart of the Beast of Kul-Mazaak to Ibdaya the desert giant. She took the heart to the Empyrean Forge and within the day had turned the heart into an enchanted shield: the Aegis of the Desert Wind. An oversized shield +2 engraved with swirling geometric patterns surrounding a majestic griffon. Once per day, a character can climb atop the shield and fly through the air with it.
Ramu claimed the shield and declared himself the new "green goblin," with plans to fly around throwing oil flasks, holy water, or shooting arrows at foes from afar.
Return to Najad
Their new magic item claimed, the party headed back to Najad (collecting their mounts and retainers at the Dome of the Iron Behemoth first). The town was still in an uproar. The cultists of Yoth-Hul in the streets continued to rejoice and herald their lord's coming. Normal townsfolk seemed to still be on edge by this endless eclipse.
While wandering through the streets, an Okaaj (those 12' tall orichalcum giants that patrol the town) stopped and stared at Idrusa. The rest of the party, and all of the nearby townsfolk, backed away from Idrusa, who was suitably concerned, but the Okaaj eventually continued its patrol with no further incident.
Journey to the Wastes
After several days of rest, the party headed off in their magical sailing ship to look for the source of the eclipse in the eastern Wastes. Along the way, they encountered a pack of fungi-infected lions in the desert, but chose to simply sail away in their desert barge.
The Crystal Grove
They knew of two possible locations for the source of the emerald beam, and opted to check the northern location first. Arriving several days later, they found a small forest of uniform, amber-colored crystal trees standing in precise rows. Perfectly level ground with long, straight paths leading to a gleaming, white stone temple. No creatures dwell here; all is preserved in perfect, deathless stillness.
At the center stood a squat step-pyramid of shimmering marble at the exact center of the grove. The party decided to go inside the temple, but found it had no residents. Instead, they found a pillared hall with a high, coffered ceiling. Carvings along the walls depict winged beasts, radiant cities, and scenes of divine punishment. At the center of the hall is an empty dais of black basalt.
After debating what the purpose of this place could be, and if they would be smote for looting it, the party decided to take the objects within: gemstones, ritual vessels, sacred scrolls, and a regal bronze mask.
The Citadel of the Sun-Kings
Leaving the grove, they headed southeast towards the other location, more clearly the source of the eclipse. Traveling another day, they arrived at a forest of sickly 15' mushrooms, the sorcerous beam seemingly coming from somewhere within. The group brought their horses and camel, but left the hishral and their boat on the outskirts.
Traveling between large pools of black ichor dripping from the mushrooms, they arrived at its center. At the center of this mushroom forest stood a fortress of obsidian terraces and sun-glyphs thrust into a sky gone dark. The pinnacle was crowned by an immense eye, surrounded by flames of carved stone that seemed to flicker in the gloom. The Citadel was surrounded by towering, alien fungi.
The Scorpion Horror
After investigating the exterior, the party decided to ascend one of the winding stairs on the citadel's western face that rose to a sealed, ornate door of carved obsidian. An insect-shaped recess marked the door's center. Idrusa produced the scarab key the group had made after deciphering the stele in the Terraced Garden of Najad, and found that it fit the door, causing it to unlock and grind open.
Within was a hideous, 12’ tall monster with the legs, body, and stinging tail of a giant scorpion, and an insectoid upper body and head. The creature lurched forward to attack, but Kheperkare saw this as the moment to unleash the jar of sunfire that he had been carrying with him (having taken a small bit of flame from the forge after it was lit).
When unleashed, the bottled fire burst forth as a cone of fire, but the damage wasn't enough to kill the monstrosity outright. The party then fought the creature using the doorway as a bottleneck, attacking in two ranks.
Nabu-bal, Lord of the Sacred Grove
With the creature dead, the party ventured into the next room, which appeared to be some kind of ancient archive. Unable to read any of the ancient tablets within, they continued east into a circular, domed chamber. Within they found 4 strange insectoid creatures covered with fungus that grew out of the cracks in their exoskeletons. The infected husks twitched and moved like marionettes. They were guarding a strange creature impaled with multiple long spears. This was a wounded lamassu (body of a bull, wings of an eagle, head of man) that had been chained here.
The party dispatched the husks, taking some damage in the process. They then spoke to the lamassu, who called itself Nabu-bal, Lord of the Sacred Grove. The party quickly realized the temple they had looted earlier in the session was the home of this demigod.
What They Learned
- Nabu-bal had defeated and bound Yoth-Hul in ancient times, and remained in the Wastes to guard against its return. Recently one of the seals (Windswept Ruins, see session #3) had been broken, and Yoth-Hul broke free.
- The beam of light was a terrible ritual which is restoring the Chaos godling's power. Nabu-bal flew to the Citadel in order to stop it, but he did not expect an undead army of bug-men (the ancient remains of a race called the Chersid). They swarmed him and he was captured.
- Nabu-bal declared that the party must stop Yoth-Hul's return or the Wastes will be lost. He also warned that Yoth-Hul is endlessly deceitful and the party must not listen to anything it says.
- The mask the party took from the temple can open a door (knock), force one shut (hold portal), or force a door to answer a single question (yes, the door) once per day.
The Ritual of the Tainted Sun
All of this lore now in hand, the party pulled the spears from the lamassu, but it was too injured to move (though it didn't seem to feel pain). They then left, following a passage to a set of bronze double doors. A divine warding glyph had been scrawled upon the door and the room crackled with electricity.
Fearing the glyph, the party used the bronze mask to force the door to open. Beyond was a flight of stairs leading up. The party ascended and found a host of undead bug-men (more Chersid husks) aiding a Chersid mummy in a ritual. The mummy, wearing an ornate crown (some kind of ...Sun-King), was holding a crystal vessel that projected the green beam of energy into the sky, holding the sun in place for the eclipse.
Idrusa used a scroll of Protection from Undead, and the party started fighting the undead, hoping to stop the ritual. After some brutal fighting, Kheperkare attempted to use his spear as a pole and vault the undead to kill the Sun-King mummy. However, he failed, fell, and was swarmed by insectoid undead. Thus fell Kheperkare... the first dead of the campaign.
Realizing things were looking grim, Idrusa produced a scroll of lightning bolt he had been saving and used it upon the undead. This turned the tide and the party was able to dispatch the mummy and the rest of the undead, firing ranged attacks from within the safety of the circle of protection from undead.
That's where we ended the session! The party, one member down, must now decide their next steps. They stopped the ritual, but there's still an entire step pyramid to explore (should they dare).
Referee's Thoughts
We finally got to the titular Citadel of the Sun-Kings. This is a mid-sized dungeon at 33 rooms and 4 entrances. And what did my players do? Take the side entrance and walk straight up to the top to end the ritual. They literally could not have taken a more ideal path to achieve their goal. I'm still stunned by the perfect path they took to get to the summit.
We finally had our first death this session. In ideal OSR fashion, the death was probably avoidable. Kheperkare could have played it safe and retreated back into the magical bubble, but he opted to do something heroic and when it failed, it cost him. I really do ascribe to the OSR ideal that if a PC dies, the player should be able to look back at the death and realize that it was avoidable if they had chosen a different course of action. In this way, the death doesn't feel unfair, instead the natural consequence of a series of choices.
I think next session will be our final one for the campaign. Even though the Citadel has another 28 rooms in it, I think my players are going to probably deal with the last big element of the campaign (encountering the chaos demigod Yoth-Hul!) in the next session and then they'll retreat to Najad to end the playtest campaign.
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