Session 39

## Session 39 - The Lich, Witch, Bitch!

30/01/2020

*[due to some confusion with what was seen and learned at the very end of last session, we did a minor rewind to the point where the party returned to the Uni with the old Gnome Wizard]*

### Locations:

Greyhaven University

* Tower of the Archmagi
* Apothecary Tower

### NPCs:

* Scorpion (Notorious Assassin, former Pirate from Isham)
* Crocodile (Notorious Assassin, former Pirate from Isham)
* Grand Archmagus Rufus Ostramus (Head of Greyhaven University)
* Archmage Chester Sparkes (Gnome wizard. Slightly dotty but pleasant-natured)
* Archmage Isbet Brideswell (Disembodied possessing spirit, Agent of Waiquir, Until recently, had been infiltrating the University)
* Archmage Freyja (Female Dwarf, Head of the School of Alchemy. Former member of the Dwarven Alchemists' Guild. There exists some bad blood between her family and Goldie's)

**The Previous Episode was a mostly unrelated interlude involving two tangentially-involved characters, this story continued directly on from Here...**

## And Now...

The party returns to ‘Archmagi Tower’, where they had previously battled Isbet. The university is in Chaos. Magi are running about casting spells and trying to fix broken wards all over.

Goldie's instincts began telling her, ‘Getting the Scorpion is very important’ *[Foretelling Heroic].* They ask the Crocodile about how he and his assassins operated. He co-operates, giving info about how they worked and how they’d usually meet up. He points out Scorpion likely has no way out of the magical lockdown by himself.

The heroes notice a lot of commotion and panic in a nearby room. Investigating they find Grand Archmage Ruffus has been stabbed and poisoned (most likely by Scorpion). Goldie examines him and and finds the poison is ‘Lizafolis Fang’, a quick-acting and deadly poison. The antidote takes a long time to brew and requires several exotic materials. Ruffus would likely die before such an antidote could be brewed.

Archmage Sparkes casts a message spell and warns all the other council members that they may be under threat of attack. After finishing that, he suggests that he could use his sorcery to heal Grand Archmage Ruffus. He can't cure him, but he can keep the poison at bay, giving everyone more time to come up with a solution. As he mentions time, Gar remembers the Time Device Isbet used. Sully hands it over. and Sparkes takes a look at it. By using the artefact to slow time around him and Ruffus, it could allow even more time, but he's not sure how long his energy can hold out.

Reasoning that the Alchemy Faculty may have the ingredients they're looking for, they enquire who the Alchemy Archmage is and are told is a female Dwarf named ‘Freyja’. Goldie's heart sinks; she knows her, there is bad blood between their families and Freyja is a former member of the Dwarvern Alchemist Guild.

The group splits up, with Nyahduke, Gar and the Crocodile trying to re-capture the Gekko in Isbet's Tower, and Dandy and Goldie heading to the Alchemists' tower. Sully stays to assist Archmage Sparkes with Ruffus’s care.

### Nyahduke, Gar and Croc:

At first, this mission looks like a slam-dunk, as Nyahduke and Gar find the gekko straight away, but it has turned to stone. Duke bathes it in healing elixir and it revives. It is placed inside a coin-purse. Job Done! Or so they think...

Suddenly, two rips in reality appear and monsters come through. Strange non-Euclidian creatures with gangly limbs, claws, and gnashing teeth. Gar takes one out with a mighty swipe of his blade, but it’s immediately devoured back up by the rift. Duke manages to push the second one one away from the rift and knock it out. He carries it with him to investigate later.

Having what they came for, they decide to join the others at the Alchemy Tower. The door is bolted shut but Duke shoulders it open (nearly destroying the creature he’s carrying in the process).

### Goldie and Dandy go to the Alchemy tower:

As they near the Alchemy tower, guided by an apprentice, our heroes note that it is distinct and easy to locate. Like the others, Goldie and Dandy begin to suspect that this mission may be easier than they anticipated, but on reaching the tower, it warns them to keep out and clearly has low foot-traffic.

Goldie attempts to set fire to the locked and barred wooden door, but it has magical wards and shows no signs of even the smallest damage. She manages to keep the fire in her hand for later use. Hearing a noise from above, they look up to see an apprentice staring down at them from a window on a higher level. She tells them to go away. While Goldie and the apprentice argue, Dandy finds a small side door. Eventually, the surly apprentice comes down and lets them in.

Inside, the ground floor is dusty and disused, They head upstairs to the next level and two portals open with creatures- just like the other group. One ahead of them, one behind.

Goldie releases the fire spell and burns one of the creatures into oblivion. The other runs towards the archmage but Dandy knocks it down with a well- placed sling stone. The Apprentice casts a barrier at the top of the stairs and blocks the creature on the ground level. It scratched and claws futilely at the mystical barrier, but is unable to breach it. The apprentice tells them to fetch the master, and the spell-code to bypass the doors wards.

Moving up the levels, they reach a final, magically warded, door. They speak the codeword to deactivate the ward just as Dandy spots Scorpion watching from the chandelier on their level. Scorpion drops down to the floor, producing two ichor-dripping Daggers. His eyes give off a pale, eerie glow. Dandy tries to distract the assassin by keeping its attention on her, as Goldie sneaks up alongside him in an attempt to disarm him. Unfortunately, he spots Goldie and side-steps their attack, slashing Dandy as he flips over her and heads up the stairs.

### The Lich Witch Bitch.

Gar and Duke are now ‘trapped’ on the bottom level of the Alchemy Tower with one of the creatures trying to break through the apprentice's magical shield. Gar charges up the stairs, stumbling and failing to land a good blow, but getting it’s attention. Duke manages to knock it of the stairs and the apprentice lets them through. The arrive at the next level to find the Scorpion in combat with Dandy and Goldie. Duke strikes Scorpion, piercing him through the heart and killing the assassin instantly, forcing the spirit of Isbet to find a new host. Her spirit floats up and through the ceiling. Everyone except Duke runs up the stairs and sees the spirit approaching Freyja who is at her desk focused on writing, oblivious to the chaos around her. Gar throws himself in between the spirit of Isbet and Freyja. The spirit says, “you will do,” and possesses him.

The Lich (in Gar’s body) can’t get through a magical invisible barrier around Freyja so she places her hands on the floor board, using a spell to shatter the floor underneath the dwarf, sending Freyja falling down onto the lower floor, desk and all. Goldie tries to banish the spirit, but only manages to force it out of Gar. The spirit goes through the floor back down to the first floor.

Meanwhile on the lower floor, Duke goes through The Scorpion's pouch hoping to find an antitoxin. Unfortunately, all his vials are unlabeled and Duke doesn't know how to identify the one he needs. His naked finger scratches a catch inside the pack and poisons him, he is suddenly immobilized and unable to breathe. Dandy notices and rushes over to help Duke, hurriedly sifting through the floor debris until she finds the antidote and gives it to him.

After telling Freyja why they are here and what they need, the dwarf explains she has a vial of the antitoxin in a box on the next level down. Freyja goes to her office accompanied by Duke and retrieves a well hidden Star of Timmoran ('The Star of Alchemy'), to make sure it’s secure. She says she can use the Star to stop Isbet, and grips it tightly (continuing to for the whole session). Duke picks her up and runs down the stairs with the dwarf.

The apprentice comes back from the stairs while Goldie and Gar are looking for the box. They ask if he knows where the box is, and he confidently says yes, but seems unsure as he searches. He then finds it and says he will need to counter the wards on the box. As he's casting, Goldie recognizes his incantations as an offensive spell, and Gar notes that Freyja never mentioned the box being warded. They both attempt to disrupt the apprentice's casting, but he manages to complete his spell, and the box vanishes.

The apprentice then looks up at them both, and gives a malicious grin before collapsing unconscious on the floor. The spirit of Isbet then escapes through the floor to a lower level. Recalling the words and gestures Isbet used while she was possessing his body, Gar uses the same spell to break open the floor beneath them to chase after the spirit. A small child is on the lower floor in his bed looking terrified, he tells Gar that the “thing” went out the front door of the room. Gar thinks Isbet is heading for the poisoned archmagus Rufus so she can finish the job her assassins started, and runs out of the room. Dandy comes through next but is more suspicious of the child. However, seeing the child so afraid she lowers her guard, and Isbet uses that chance to escape from the child into Dandy.

The lich, now in Dandy, tries to convince the others as they follow down that the apprentice still has the spirit. “I fought off her possession and she went back into the child!” Duke is unconvinced, shouting at Gar that the Lich is in Dandy and trying to hit Dandy over the head with the shaft of his spear. While Isbet (still in Dandy) is distracted, Goldie attempts to banish the lich but only manages to throw it out of Dandy’s body and binding it to a small area of the room.

They decide to put the lich in a ‘body’ of their choosing and use a cockroach, but it explodes immediately. They then place her inside her old familiar, Ghost Gekko. Now with a body again they start to question and demand co-operation. She is not very forthcoming, bragging that she ‘lost the battle, but her master will win the war’. They do learn some information, by playing to her arrogance and her frustration:

* She/her master wants Ruffus dead. Even while trapped, she won’t bargain to help the Grand Archmage.
* She was looking to take some powerful artifacts and/or Stars of Timmoran with her once her other goals in the uni were completed.
* She is confident that after the next Barons' Conclave, the Kingdom will fall apart from Baronial in-fighting.

During the interrogation, it becomes a roasting of Isbet, but her own remarks offend Duke and make Gar storm out of the room in frustration. Dandy is the only one that seems to be unaffected, despite Isbet taunting her about the location of Chance and how Waiquir will soon harm or kill him.

Goldie Helps Freyja make a new antidote. They use the Star of Alchemy to produce and purify several important and delicate ingredients but still need an hour for the potion to finish brewing. In the course of conversation, it is discovered that the Star the group possesses is a Star that amplifies magic, whereas the Star Freyja has is more suited to tasks of alchemy.

The gecko is looking weak, and seems to be dying quickly under the strain of holding such a powerful essence in such a frail form. Freyja suggests binding Isbet's spirit into an inanimate object, suggesting a nearby vase. They do so, finally neutralising her as a threat.

### Continued in Session 40....

-15xp (490)

*[GM Note: Thanks to Jonathan, for his help updating the last half of the recap.]*