Season One: Week Four- Night of Lost Children

This week the party was thrust directly into the action as the demon Azholo erupted from the harbor, leaving a trail of chaos and destruction in his wake.

Initial Scene: The Harbor

While the party recovered from the shock of Hendrick's suicide and the appearance of Azholo, a deep and insidious current began to tug their ship out toward the deeper water of the harbor. The party deciphered Hendrick's suicide note, discovering Hendrick was possessed by a demon and that his son was the last piece of the puzzle that would allow the demon to fully enter the world. The party looked on, horrified, as a whirlpool formed far under the surface of the water, threatening to drag the ship down into the depths. Otto and Rodei managed to steer and row the boat against the current, but Rodei's adrenaline fueled efforts left him drained and winded for the remainder of the session.

Making It Ashore

The party successfully made it ashore through the driving rain and incessant lightning strikes which drove most common folk indoors to shelter against the demon spawned storm. Unfortunately a group of drunken dock workers who witnessed the demon's appearance accosted the party until the appearance of Jinxsie, Rex's halfling friend from the swamp. Jinxsie and Otto attempted to dissuade the dock workers from taking them into custody and a scuffle broke out, ended by the edge of Rodei's axe as he decapitated the leader of the drunken mob. Terrified at the demon possessed figures, the mob dispersed to seek more assistance in capturing the party.

The Night of Lost Children

After escaping from the angry mob the party traveled deeper into the city on their way to the House of Suffering, the home of Hendrick's only surviving son. Along the way they found groups of children being herded along by town guardsmen to take shelter from the storm. The young, male, human children were separated from the mass of youths and taken in a separate direction. Jinxsie overheard the guards mentioning taking them into "the deep tunnels for the Baroness."

House of Suffering

The party burst into the Temple of Ilmater (known as the House of Suffering) to find the head priestess bleeding from a bad stomach wound while red garbed cultists with white porcelain masks ransacked the upstairs. The party charged up to do battle while a detachment of cultists fought as a rearguard, buying time for three abductors to abscond with three of the temple's acolytes. Jinxsie gave chase while the rest of the party battled for their lives amidst the smoke and flame, eventually killing five cultists and chasing away the sixth. The party hardly had time to catch their breath before they took off after the cultists, chasing them deeper into the maze-like alleys of Old Town.

The Low Road

The party eventually found their way once again into the Low Road, the mostly unused drainage tunnels beneath the city. While there they found two dead cultists along with their old friend Coyle, his face a mask of blood as he tore chunks of raw flesh from the bodies and stuffed them into his grinning mouth. Coyle agreed to lead the party deeper into the tunnels and into the dark paths even further beneath the city, allowing them to bypass several traps and natural hazards. Once they reached the abandoned cathedral hewn from raw stone far beneath the surface they witnessed Coyle's son being sacrificed by a horned woman. Coyle went berserk and chaged her, revealing his true nature as a wererat while the woman retreated into the inner sanctum, leaving a pair of animated guardians to protect her retreat. Coyle was slain by the automatons as the party fought their way past and rushed up the stairs into Azholo's domain.

Lair of Azholo

Inside the obsidian and basalt sanctum of Azholo the party found Hendrick's son Corbel laying supine in a pentagram of dried blood, five black candles glowing at the points of the star. Azholo himself reclined upon a throne of basalt and called the party to speak rather than be annihilated immediately by his overwhelming power. He offered them the chance to avert the child's fate as well as the doom of the city above by offering themselves to him, fulfilling Hendrick's bargain. Alternately, they could allow him to take the child without a fight and he would depart to distant realms, never to be seen by the party again. While the party debated on their course of action Rodei agreed to the demon's bargain and willingly accepted the possession. Now a dark power seethes inside Rodei, threatening to overwhelm him and subsume his personality as he attempts to control the power of the mighty tanar'ri. The demon disappeared under cover of magical darkness, leaving the party with the child (fast recovering from his wounds and torture) and more questions than answers.