S11E23 - The Vampire In The Sewers

The adventure opens with Brand and Paquito working at the blacksmith’s forge. Through the day’s gossip, they learn that Hjalmus has declared an inquisition against Lord Boq for blasphemous acts against Bane—effectively a declaration of war. People fear violence will soon engulf the city. They also hear that Krys and his knights are hunting a purple worm. For reasons no one explains, they are doing so without any white elf guides, the only people known to survive encounters with the creatures, and even they barely manage it. Finally, they learn that Tacitus has placed the three inns and the docks under heavy surveillance following the heroes’ capture of Sister Bianca. He intends to arrest the party and bring them to justice. A guard visits that morning, keeping a close eye on Brand and Paquito. After he leaves, the blacksmith recommends that Brand work in the back of the forge.

Then the action moves to the rest of the party, who are in the sewers, in front of the door to Lord Yaggira’s lair. Beside the door stands a holy water basin inscribed with “I, who am cursed.” Soto realizes it requires blood. He fetches a dead guard from the previous room and pours the guard’s blood into the basin. The door opens to a dark cylindrical room with one level above and one below where the heroes stand. On a blood-stained altar lies the wrapped body the party saw six cultists carrying through the sewers last episode. A door stands across the room, a corridor runs along the upper level, and water flows through channels below.

Using his darkvision, Nemo quietly explores the room. Bats cover the ceiling, and voices chatter from behind the far door. He approaches and hears people casually discussing whether Yaggira would eat the latest body or feed it to the monster in the water.

Unable to see in the darkness, Ike suggests sacrificing the person on the altar, just to be safe. The others quietly object: the captive does not appear to be a vampire and needs rescuing. Ike then grabs the dead guard’s body and, again dangerously walking in the dark, pulls the body to the altar, provoking the swarms of bats to attack. Soto grabs the sleeping citizen’s body on the altar and he, Nemo, and Ike rush out of the room and back into the entrance corridor. They hear shouting as the bats and cultists clash, and then one of the cultists opens the front door and sees Soto carrying the body. He questions him and Soto questions him back. Combat erupts in the narrow sewer corridors. Ike casts fireball, killing every cultist outright and turning cultists and bats alike into flying torches.

The next turn, Lord Yaggira peeks from the top level and effortlessly climbs down from his level and onto the players’ level. He then casts Charm onto Soto and convinces him to approach him and be bitten. Unluckily, Soto remains under the vampire’s influence. The rest of the party attacks Yaggira while Lyra casts Dispel Magic on Soto, breaking the vampire’s hold. After a chaotic struggle, Soto pushes Yaggira off the walkway into the running water below, where an otyugh attacks him. In searing pain, he escapes and charms Lyra, but then Soto stuns him and Nemo uses a broken arrow to pierce his heart, paralyzing him. The heroes drag the paralyzed vampire outside the lair’s entrance and hold him under running water, preventing him from regenerating. Combined with the radiant damage from Lyra’s Moonbeam, it finally kills him.

Ike then finds Klik and Klak and several vampire thralls and prisoners in the cell block where the cultists were resting. Sadly, Klik and Klak have already been turned into vampire thralls. Their father, Soto, says goodbye through tears, then kills them as quickly and painlessly as he can. The heroes then kill the rest of the jailed vampire thralls. Through their still-active mental link, they ask Brand to consult the blacksmith about Lord Boq’s sigil and anything else that might help them frame him for the attack. They plant the false evidence, then release the four innocent prisoners. Unwilling to kill them but afraid of being identified, the heroes announce their freedom and hurry away before the prisoners can recognize them. Lyra guides Soto out, while Nemo guides Ike; neither Soto nor Ike can see in the pitch darkness.

Ike suggests going to Sister Bianca to apologize, but the party dismisses the idea. A caravan bound for the desert leaves in eight days, giving the party time to enter tomorrow’s martial arts tournament. Soto hopes to fulfill his burning desire to win, and the party hopes to learn more from Master Shen, the tournament favorite.

After a restful night in the blacksmith’s back room, the heroes prepare for the tournament, piling magical enhancements onto Soto before he enters the ring where magic is forbidden.