Session 37

* Archmage Isabet's private quarters
* The Labyrinth

### NPCs:

* Archmage Isabet Brideswell (Undead acolyte of Waiquir who had, until recently been infiltrating Greyhaven University)
* The Vulture (Notorious Assassin, former Pirate from Isham)
* The Scorpion (Notorious Assassin, former Pirate from Isham)
* The Crocodile (Notorious Assassin, former Pirate from Isham)
* Grand Archmage Rufus Ostramus (Head of Greyhaven University)
* Archmage Chester Sparkes (Gnome wizard. Slightly dotty but pleasant-natured)

**Previously....**

## And Now....

### The Fight Breaks Out

   Gar launches himself at Isabet with a massive swing, but his blow is deflected by her protective spells. Goldie and Dandy try to de-escalate things while nobody's been harmed yet, but Gar doesn't care. He launches a second series of attacks which are deflected once more, however, the pressure of the assault disrupts a spell the Archmage had at the read as she is slowly driven backward.

Goldie notices that Isabet is eyeing several wards around her room, but doesn’t fully understand their purpose. Meanwhile, Solly sees that she seems to be tracking space, and paying a lot of attention to empty areas in the room. Dandy takes the opportunity to rush through and up the stairs into Isabet's personal chamber, pausing for a brief glance around before scrambling up a ladder onto the roof of the tower. Solly uses magic to speak owl and attempts to summon the university's guardian spirits.

Goldie believes the runes are helping the archmage and destroys a central ‘lynch-pin’ one. As she does, wards around the room and through this wing of the university start to collapse. Ruffus is dismayed - the University is vulnerable! He begins using magic to try and weave the wards back together for as long as he can.

With the wards down, Isabet summons the three assassins - Vulture, Scorpion and Crocodile - into the room, where they appear in the ‘empty spaces’ she was tracking. She also attacks Gar with dark life-draining magic, but Goldie is able to dispel it before it can impact.

Down the corridor, a visitor to the University, a warrior named Nyahduke (Jonathyn's character) hears the noise and comes running. He sets himself up in a defensive position over Rufus while trying to figure out precisely what is going on. Unfortunately, in the fray, he misjudges Gar and when he plunges into the melee, striking out at him as well as at Isabet and her three associate with a wild flurry of spinning attacks.

A wounded Gar is protected as Solly throws a magical acorn, which forms a tent-like dome of vines and branches around him. As predicted by Gar's sword, Isabet’s doesn’t bleed red... Instead, her veins are full of a translucent yellow substance that smells like Formaldehyde. Forgetting why she came to the roof in the first place, Dandy ventures back down into Isabet's chamber and searches around for anything which might help. She finds a chest which contains a scrying Orb and tucks it away in her pack. At that moment, a nearby statue opens its eyes and, startled, she bolts back downstairs.

### The Labyrinth

Dandy arrives just in time to see Isabet open a portal for herself and her associates which leads to another part of the Uni (later revealed to be the Labyrinth). The PCs, as well as two nearby owl guardians, pursue, only to find themselves in an extremely dark space, closely surrounded by solid stone walls. Goldie summons a magical light, and they can see the Owls heading off confidently down the corridor. Reasoning that the Guardians should know the way out of the Labyrinth, the PCs follow.

Eventually, the maze ends at a door guarded by Ironbound Guardians. Gar and Duke (who has managed to overcome his misunderstanding) charge foward to meet them. Alas, the Guardians prove tremendously resilient, and more than capable of repelling attackers. Gar loses hold of Fluffy as he becomes wedged in a gap in the armour (Fluffy is well-and-truly over these fights with enemies who can't even extend the common courtesy of having blood!). The Guardians strike back, and Gar is nearly smashed by one when Duke leaps in to take the blow (Fortunately, his armour absorbs most of the force). Eventually, though, they manage to convince the Ironbound that they are not threats, and the Ironbound stand down.

The door is opened to reveal a well-lit chamber lined with shelves - apparently a high-security storage area for powerful artefacts. The owls pass through the doorway, setting off explosive traps. The path into the room becomes littered with debris and the room fills with thick clouds of impenetrable smoke. In the wake of the Owls, the PCs pause outside the room to debate their next move, but are interrupted as an arrow flies out of the smoke, striking deep into Goldie's torso The injury is significant and gives the group pause as they stare into the opaque wall of smoke.

Duke is undeterred, however, and plunges into the smoke, heedless of any danger. He is hit by a magical effect slowing him down slightly. Catching a glimpse of Isabet in the slowly clearing smoke, he slashes out at her (leaving himself open to the 2 assasins he can see). His blow fails to hit, but he manages to hook an amulet (one she was not wearing earlier) on the end of his spear, and flicks it out into the corridor where it lands at Solly’s feet. With his flank unprotected Duke is struck by Croc (2 picks in the back).

Solly pockets the amulet and Goldie launches a gout of flame into the room, setting one of the bookshelves alight. Vulture opens fire, but the smokein the room causes his aim to go off and ricochet around the room. The bolt eventually hits an artifact causing it to activate and making the world seem blurry and unfocused to anyone without magical eye protection. To prevent a repeat of this, Solly transforms the rest of Vulture's bolts into roses.

Isabet focuses dark energy into Duke, but he manages to resist the worst of it and it just leaves him feeling sickly. Gar, badly injured, staggers in and strikes Isabet down. He staggers forward, hoisting his sword to ensure her true death with a decapiation, but before he can strike, her body explodes with black light. The room becomes a vacuum and everyone's breath is stolen. Duke manages to take a step forward, momentarily blocking out his need for air. And again, and manages to land a finishing blow.

As her head rolls to the side, he believes he can see a dark, smoky image emerging from the body and launching itself upward through the roof.

Duke steps forward, momentarily ignoring his need for air, and lands a finishing blow. As her head comes off a dark spirit rises from her body and leaves through the roof, and then, everything fades away.

### Aftermath

 The heroes are awakened shortly afterward by Security. Croc and Vulture have apparently surrendered. Croc seems genuine, and agrees to help the injured, but Vulture seems more duplicitous, and is taken down before he can backstab anyone. An ancient-looking gnome greets the heroes, and introduces himself as 'Archmagus Chester Sparkes'. Some of them are initially suspicious of him, but he seems to be a good-natured, if slightly senile old magician. He offers to open a portal to take them back to the main University proper. Before this can happen, and as security is clearing up, Dandy takes the time to snag a couple of items, including her 'eye of the beholder'. The characters

Once back in the university proper, the characters brainstorm a little and theorise that Isabet in the process of setting up the conditions where she would be turned into a lich upon her death. If so, her spirit will need a vessel and that it has to be somewhere nearby. Dandy believes the vessel could be the sphere she found.

Returning to Isabet's quarters, they find out that Ruffus has been poisoned by the 3rd assassin, the Scorpion, who is still on the loose. Rufus is being treated by healers. The party decides their next best lead is Isabet’s familiar, the Gekko. They set out to finding it.

**Note:** **Episode 38** is a partially-connected interlude featuring characters who are not regular parts of the story, so you can either head there, or proceed to **Episode 39** for the conclusion of this story arc featuring our regular cast...

- 10xp (475)

*[GM Note: Combat notes are really hard to take and interpret after the fact. I realise some stuff may be out of sequence or possibly ‘off’. I also think I have under-represented some characters, but can’t recall any better then this. If you have any corrections just let me know, and I’ll do what I can to set it right. -Ta.]*