DivineDetritusTheRiseOfTheCOBRAS
Contents
Next: Magmere's out of town
Prev: The Krimson Within
Summary
April 16, 1236 AD
The party returned to Harvest Wharf in the afternoon. The party delivered the news about Jubiliation to Captain Dakan, who was surprised by this news. He gave the party a pass to meet a mage named Micel Verdantflame who did research in the Arcane Library in Traderstrip. As they left, Vegeta bumped into Eldrick, back from a mission with his fellow Dragon Warriors against the Dragonlord. They defeated him with help from Eldrick, who stunned the Dragonlord’s pet dragon with an energy blast. He mentions joining a strike team to fight some burrowing fire flea called “La vos” by a village chief in an island tribe in the Norrish Sea.
The party returns to the East Ferren Trading Company and delight in their new office. Torras Lendolay congratulates them. With the workday coming to a close, the party quickly finds Marjorie Mel and Abraxinal in the office. Delivering the news of Krimson Forest pleased her, as the East Ferren Trading Company has some real opportunities. Abraxinal helps Marjorie with her specific diet.
Fi and Hawk delivers the letter from Krimson Forest to Jovias Dewleaf. Jovias has hid this for some time, and is glad someone else knows about Krimson Forest. He also thanks Fi for helping him get credit.
April 17, 1236 AD
The next day, Norvi comes to a decision: he will join the town guard to keep an eye on Harvest Wharf. He wishes the team good luck and heads off. The party thanks Norvi for his hard work and effort.
The Arcane Library in Traderstrip is open. They hand a pass to the receptionist, who reveals a staircase that goes down (or...up) into a hemispherical room with a pitch black ceiling, dotted with small white stars. Starting at the ceiling was a rather aloof elf by the name of Micel Verdantflame. According to him, outsiders like angels and demons are still here, and many have not left since they arrived over a thousand years ago. They all tend to have some kind of iconic, wearable or wieldable item like Jubilation’s Robe or Perseverance’s Headband. In addition, they can feed off of a material called Black Sendrine, named after a famous mage who developed this material, then drowned near a remote island. Micel gladly offers a reward if they can retrieve some of this material from underneath the city.
At the barracks, Norvi is already training to become a member of the guard. In Captain Dakan’s office, Fi explains the situation, telling the Captain that Magmere may have used the bombing as a cover story to enter the underground shelter constructed during the Fifty Years War. Fi hypothesizes that Magmere is also searching for the Black Sendrine. Captain Dakan gives them permission (and a map) to explore and investigate the cavernous fallout shelter.
In the shelter the party begins to explore the caves. The entrances were shaped to be more convenient for people to take refuge. Hawk notes these were built during the Fifty Years War by the Mel family so people could take refuge if needed. As Fi heads towards the bombing site, he stops the party before a sinkhole collapses.
Moving ahead the party finds several corpses bearing Team Magmere’s insignia. Fi notes there is fighting ahead, and Vegeta hears hissing noises. Sneaking ahead they notice two injured Magmere members and their pets worn down by masked men. They were soon knocked out, and the masked creatures assaulted the party. After a great struggle the party managed to defeat the strike force and bring the captured prisoners back.
The party visited the barracks to talk to Captain Dakan about their discoveries. Captain Dakan waited for them to thank them for their efforts. He was surprised about the new invaders and wasn’t sure who they were. He called upon the resident expert, a gnome named Zeela Moonish to research. She did and called them the Vishkanya, a race of humanoids who infused themselves with the blood of a snake god named Stheno. They gained poisonous venom, scaly skin and eternal servitude. Supposedly they were wiped out and Stheno was banished to another plane, but it’s clear a sect survived the purge.
Checking their office, they were surprised to see a party invite from Melanie Mel herself. Her parties tend to be a bit raunchy but attract some real star material. It’s set to happen during the evening of April 18.
April 18, 1236 AD
Recovering from their wounds overnight, the party was summoned to the barracks. Dakan still had trouble interrogating the surviving Magmere members. He introduced one of his “troubleshooters”, a halfing named Hannelore. She was glad to help the party solve the mystery and drive out the invaders.
Fi reached a split path and noticed the left fork was very unstable and prone to cave ins. Faw fewer people had travelled through the left path, so Fi marked it.
Down the right path, everyone heard the sounds of hissing, moaning and wailing. Fi scouted and saw a slave pit, with the Vishkanya talking in their native language about how their Commander would soon be free. Fi was caught and barely avoided a trap. With the help of the rest of the party they were able to defeat the slave drivers.
One man, a linguist named Peldin Majors had a lot to say about the Cult of COBRA. They built statues designed to worship their master. They think this is a portal to their realm and will summon more cultists. Realizing they didn’t have much more time, the party drops off the slaves and give a handwritten message to Captain Dakan warning him of the imminent threat.
Dropping off the victims at the entrance, the party doubles back through the cave, avoiding a particular slippery floor. Finally they reach their destination: next to an underground river, three statues, and a unit of Vishkanyan guards driving slaves to add the finishing touches. The COBRA Commander, projected over the statues declared victory and ordered his minions to invade the Material Plane, using the statues as a focus. Through a difficult battle, the parties destroyed the statues, forcing the commander to call a retreat!
After destroying the other statues, Fi found a black and gold rod jammed into a shiny black stone. As Fi picked it up, an Axiomatic named Latrop took over his body to investigate the remains of the portal. It also found a scroll that could open a portal to the realm of Stheno from this specific point. Someone supplied the rod, the scroll and the slaves to build these statues.
With the Vishkanya dead or banished, their statues destroyed and the slaves freed, the party returned to the surface to let the guards handle the rest. Work was over and it was time to party.
Notes
Chat Log(Text Only)
Abstract Maps
Oh man, I'm loving it (insert McD's logo here.) I will be abusing Google Image Search a whole lot. There are a few "rooms" you didn't explore - you may bump into those later.
Fi, Survival Man
Well Fi was built to survive in the wilderness, so he anticipated almost every trap and pitfall in the cavern. Made it kinda boring, but the party didn't have to waste resources for the difficult battles up ahead. So Fi did the Right Thing.
Hannelore
Welcome the newest character to the run. She fulfills a needed niche - this team needs another frontliner. Vegeta’s a good dodge tank, but he can’t stop others from simply running around him. The first battle showed that, where the party was quickly surrounded. So, it’s great to see Hannelore get her Rage on and clobber foes while Fleir and Vegeta make sure she isn’t overwhelmed.
The final battle
The final battle was designed to poke at the party’s weaknesses but give them tactical knowledge to solve the puzzle. The wooden fence was designed to punish the backline and cut them off from the frontliners. That worked, but the backliners didn’t really know what to do, and the frontline was focused more on killing enemies rather than disabling the fence.
The 3 statues were a shell game - destroy the correct statue and the encounter ends, banishing the Cult of COBRA back to its home dimension. Either a relatively difficult skill check could be made (no one ever made it) or detect magic could be used. Nidri used detect magic but dropped it to rescue Vegeta before she could determine the source.
Oh well, I figured playing COBRA Commander as the large ham he always is would work out- inbetween his gloating he would give tips and hints, and make a lousy bluff check when the correct statue is hit and he realizes the jig is up. You haven’t seen the last of COBRA Commander yet! (Also George, I WILL fulfill my Conan the Adventurer obligation. But not yet.)
