The furry Arcanoloth falls to the floor of the cabin and begins to dissolve into a pool of ichor. Valrick spots a pouch it was wearing and snatches that out before it gets dissolved too. Still hastened, he checks inside and sees: an iron key, a map of Barovia with the Hag’s hut marked on it. A map of the mountain area they are in with a white dragon lair to the north marked on it, and a giant’s cave to the south. Also, five glowing gems, 55 gold pieces, and an adamantine rod. Sengo casts See Invisible but the Ultroloth is nowhere to be seen in the cabin. Nagwen, Sengo and Terren exit the cabin out onto the deck of the ship and spot several insectoid mezzoloths on the foredeck. They loose some arrows at them, then Serma charges forwards, flying up to the foredeck (they are in the Astral plane). Still hasted, Serma deals increasingly shocking amounts of damage as she is also damaged in return.
Before Ix and Julius can act, the entire ship just disappears, and they are left hovering 20 feet above the flat plane of the forehead of the dead god Zantras. 60’ off, is a large gargoyle type Nycaloth with its back to them, looking down into the excavation shaft. Julius notices a flash of light far off above them that coincided with the flash as the ship disappeared. Ix grabs Julius and begins to accelerate upwards. The Nycaloth suddenly turns and surrounds itself with inky darkness, teleporting towards them. Two Bear-like Canoloths with long spiky tongues howl and chase after them too. Julius blasts them with holy fire, but they are unwavering in their chase. Although Ix is accelerating at about the same rate as the Nycaloth, it is teleporting each round and catches up to them. The Canoloths are left behind.
On the ship, Terren shoots from hiding at the mezzoloths on the foredeck but two more come out of the fore-cabin right where he is. One attacks with a halberd and the other opens its chest cavity and emits a large yellow cloud of poisonous gas, choking him. Valrick shouts “Hold your breath” which helps a little. Nagwen sees a blackness on the rear deck and guesses the Ultroloth is there at the helm. Entering the darkness, which his darkvision doesn’t help with, he summons his drake and it discharges a cone of lightning across the deck. The lightning disappears into the dark but seems to have hit something at least.
Ix is certain the ship is above them, though it is still far off. The Nycaloth claws at him, leaving stinging ichor in the wound. Julius casts Banish, though the Nycaloth shrugs it off. Ix stops accelerating for a moment to cast Hold Monster, but it also fails. The fiend claws Ix again, then Julius succeeds in Banishing it! They continue on towards the ship.
Nagwen casts a spell where he can sense what his drake senses, and the drake has blindsight! There are two creatures near him in the darkness. There is a calm voice in Nagwen’s mind “This all a misunderstanding. There is no need for bloodshed.” Nagwen replies “come out of hiding and we can talk!” “If you lower your weapons I will do so.” Nagwen does, and suddenly the darkness is gone. On the deck is a mezzoloth and the Ultroloth who is wielding both the Rod of Command and the Orb of Command. Combined, these are irresistible, and all the characters on the ship succumb to the charm as they see the Ultroloth. Serma succumbs while fighting two mezzoloths, but the Giant Berserk Axe won’t let her stop swinging! She destroys the two fiends before the Ultroloth gets annoyed and casts Dispel Magic to end the effect.
“Tell me, what is it you have come here for?” The party recounts their quest for the magical items that were stolen from King Agrilus. It replies “Ah but you see, Agrilus’ grandfather stole the Rod of Command from the Emperor a century ago and has no real claim to it. I have a divine right to it! I am willing to hand over the King’s crown and his enchanted shield. I am afraid I have not found the scrollcase and sword you mention. I am also willing to recompense you for the Rod, that you will be unable to return to the King.” At this, Terren mentions that the king had promised them 15000gp per item returned (50% extra, nice). The Ultroloth considers this reasonable, and adds: “If you are able to retrieve the Crown of Command for me (the third in the Rod/Orb set), I would be willing to offer you far more. Is it soul gems you value? Simply gold? Artefacts?”
The team is debating what to do as Ix and Julius arrive. Julius succumbs to the charm, but Ix does not, and Ix promptly casts Dispel Magic as they come in to land on the deck. Half the party are freed from one of the artefacts, but the other still charms the rest. The Ultroloth asks them to put their weapons away and parley. Ix casts Dispel Magic again, and the Ultroloth tries to counterspell, but fails! The Ultroloth does disappear once again at this. Most of the party still thinks this is a good deal. They get 2 items, and 15K gold, even if it allows the Ultroloth to retain the Rod. The Ultroloth is still telepathically asking for their decision. They agree to it, though will “wait and see” if an opportunity to retrieve the Crown of Command arises. The Ultroloth flies back around from under the ship where it had gone and orders his mezzoloth minion to fetch a chest of gold from below-decks.
The party takes the King’s (non-magical) crown, and his animated shield, and the chest, and Julius recalls the party to the Shrine in the dwarven Stronghold. Phew! Ix has misgivings about allowing the Ultroloth to collect the command items, but as Terren points out, the Emperor had all three and didn’t become crazily powerful. “Yes, but he was human” says Ix. Sengo still has See Invisible up, and cleans up a couple of astral parasites that the party picked up while in the Astral plane. The party empties the chest into a bag of holding (15000gp weighs 300 pounds!) and leave the empty chest in the Stronghold. Satrogur the dwarven wizard is slightly relieved that some items have been found, bringing some heat off the dwarves at least. He gladly teleports the party to the gate of Riventa (the human town).
The party goes straight to King Agrilus who is relieved to receive the two items, and arranges for 20000gp to be set aside for the party. He reminds Ix that he promised to act as the King’s wizard for the next few days. King Jotun of Dactris is arriving tomorrow. Agrilus wants Ix to help protect him and his retinue from the Crown of Command he knows King Jotun has. The party decides against stealing it from King Jotun before he arrives, and instead will wait and see if an opportunity to nab the crown arises. If everything is peaceful, then maybe they’ll just leave the Kingdoms now that their employ here is coming to an end.
Ix is in the ex-wizard Yosombi’s study looking for useful spells and reading the diary for anything about King Jotun’s wizard Zi-Mab. It seems Yosombi disliked her intensely, for seemingly sticking her nose into his business, for example when he was gathering the body parts needed to construct his abomitation servant (Serma, the PC). Everyone gets a good night’s sleep before the arrival of King Jotun’s retinue!
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