Week 42 - Bad guys

“Parley! Parley!”

This tall creature looks skeletal and wretched, almost a husk of a humanoid form, with dried skin stretched so tight as to outline every bone. It has a fearsome, skull-like head and a tail like a scorpion’s, and a foul odour of decay hangs in the air around it.

As the party loot the Keep of the Shackled Conqueror and divvy up the takings, a call for parley comes from the gate. Standing there is a strange pair - a Horned Devil and an Effriti noble on a Nightmare. They have something that party wants - a Roc feather, and the party has something they want - the belt of Kranthos. The party turn to deal with these newcomers. As they do, Darl Querthos and his two monks sneak up the back wall. While the party is distracted, Querthos unleashes an Implosion spell, and it’s on.

Darl Querthos was observing proceedings with a Clairvoyance spell, as his minotaur minion had failed to secure the belt. He had studied the party and prepared for their main tricks. A Hero’s Feast made them immune to Flash’s Final Rebuke, and Spell Immunity (Ray of Dizziness) on the melee fighters cancelled out Flash’s main contribution to most fights. However, he neglected to take steps to counter Flash’s Power Word Stun, and that proved crucial.

Flash’s first move is to Power Word Stun Darl Querthos, causing him to lose concentration on the implosion. After Frith’s Flame Strike, he does it again - this time taking Darl out of action for several rounds. His next move is to use Solid Fog to hold back the Cornugon. As the party all have Free Action, this does not impede them. The Effrit on his steed charges with his enormous scimitar-y thing, and the party takes a while to deal with him and his mount. The monks stay with Darl Querthos. One of them calls to the Effrit “Help Him!”, but just before the Effrit can grant this wish and bring Querthos out of his stunned condition, the party monk whose name escapes me right now slays the Effrit with a Quivering Palm.

Then they turn their attention to the cornugon, who is slowly making his way out of the solid fog. They hack away at it with the help of Mend the artificer, who deals with its damage reduction. At some stage Flash also hits Querthos with a Power Word Blind, and Frith throws a Blade Barrier at Querthos (who is within yet more Solid Fog), but - unseen by the party - Querthos’ monk sidekick has been dragging him to safety and they are just out of range of the blades. Eventually the stun wears off and Querthos heals himself, getting rid of the blindness. The Cornugon heads towards Querthos for healing, but just before Querthos can do a Mass Heal and restore the Cornugon to its full strength, the party slays it.

Darl Querthos takes stock. All of his minions are dead, save one of his monk allies. He throws a Destruction spell at Frith, which fails, and then does a quickened Plane Shift the hell out of there.

The party loot. The Cornugon was carrying the Roc feather, and the Effrit had some gear. Not much … but the precious Roc feather gives them their second quest item.

This combat was complicated and took far longer than it takes to tell it. Frith scryed on the monk (using some of his blood) and determined that Querthos returned back to his stronghold, which was snoop-proof. Although the characters don’t know it, Querthos has given up on the Library of Lost Souls. But he and the Hand of Vecna may return someday to menace the party again. So now it’s two shrubberies to go: the Silence of the Mournful Song of Doomshroud, and the Death of the Nightmare of Thorn Vale.