Session 38: The Keep of Lord Xerthas Shadowbane Report

General Summary

The Night of the Blood Moon Eclipse has opened the red mists that guard the Keep of Lord Xerthas. Lady Seraphena Syren comes to the Bayani-Sun Casino as a member of the Blood Moon Covenant, not House Molndal. She asks them go to the Keep to find out what they can about Lord Xerthas Dragonsbane's involvement in the disappearance of Valentine, King of Vampires.

Xerthas is a member of another clan who allied with the Covenant during the War Against the Far Realm. He was at the Battle of Lokorn where Valentine went missing. Immediately after the Battle, Xerthas retreated to his Keep in the Iron Spike Mountains which were covered by impenetrable mists of black and red.

Xerthas was known for slaying dragons and his deals with devils. He was the last person to speak to Valentine before he disappeared. Seraphena offers the Patrol a powerful magic weapon or shield as their price for bringing back information. The Patrol agrees and she teleports them to the Keep. D'Wat, Thirteen, T-R01D, Fez, and Oyxuysi make the trip.

When they arrive at the Keep they are greeted at the entrance by a tiny hag, Putrid Agnes, who is inside the skull of a dead half-elf. As they approach she climbs out and grows to normal size. She is excited that adventurers have arrived. She would like the Keep as a dwelling for herself and loves chaos in general. She offers aid to the Patrol if they go in and cause a ruckus. They agree and she scrys the castle for them, showing them the layout and where the dragons are.

They enter through a mausoleum and hear the voice of Lord Xerthas in their minds. He taunts them with their true names and their deaths.

They defeat the wraiths guarding the crypt and Fez destoys a suspicious statue, revealing a secret door. They follow the tunnel which leads up into the Keep.

It exits into a completely black narrow passage with acid slime on the ground and white marble stepping stones. D'Wat tries to fly over it and a black acid hand reaches out of the slime and pulls him under.

As D'Wat burns in the acid, T-R01d puts his hand in, suffering burns himself, to pull the fairy rogue out. They determine that flyers in the passage will be pulled into the acid and that some of the stepping stones are trapped.

They pick their way to a vault door around the curve of the passage. D'Wat picks the lock and they find themselves in Xerthas' vault! As they go through the treasure, the vampire Lord Xethas himself appears. He carries a sword made from the blood of his kills and four blood spears hover around him. Here in the heart of his power, Xerthas almost overwhelms the Patrol. He transforms into a dragon of fire for a moment and burns everyone with draconic power. He pins T-R01d to the ground with a spear and almost kills Oyx with his vampiric sword.

The Patrol is in really bad shape and near death until Thirteen summons a sphere of pure daylight. Xerthas scrambles to get out of it, but T-R01d grapples the vampire lord and puts him into the daylight.

The rest of the Patrol rallies and they manage to injure Xerthas enough that he turns into mist and retreats to his hiding place to regenerate.

The Patrol knows that they must reach Xerthas before he can regenerate enough to attack them again. They survey the quickest path and determine that they must enter a ritual chamber where the secret door to the master vampire's hiding place is. They load the treasure into their bags of holding and move on.

They teleport directly to the chamber and engage the lesser vampire and his wight minions there. There's an organ with the crying face of an angel attached to it. The devil summoning succeeds, but they are able to overwhelm all the enemies in the room. Fez and T-R01d especially have prepared themselves for mental attacks and manage to resist mind control.

They arrive at Xerthas' place of rest and burn the vampire lord to ashes with more of Thirteen's sunlight. They find Xerthas' private journal where it says that he betrayed Valentine, Lord of Vampires to Thirion, King of the Elves.

Thirion and Valentine were supposedly allies in the Shattered Moon Coalition. Valentine was admired by the common elves for coming to their aid after the tragedy of The First Armada. Apparently, Thirion could not stand that the Vampire King was more adored by the populace than he was.

Valentine's final fate is still unknown and Thirion died at the end of the Far War. His son, Cabron, King of Elves, now rules in Eladriel.