Week 58/59 - That’d be about it, then.

Yeah, I’m slipping. This week’s write-up will include weeks 58 and 59.

The party elect to sleep in the treasure room. There was a Wall of Stone blocking the exit, so it’s bound to be perfectly safe.

Of course, it isn’t. Before they have gotten a proper night’s rest, the party are rudely awoken by a Disintegrate hitting the wall. A troupe of vampires enter the room, and OMG! It’s Loris Raknian! When last they met, he was fleeing Sharn in disgrace. He’s … changed a bit, since then - the fangs, the glowing eyes, the undead aura. Yup, he’s a vampire, and a hopeless thrall of Lashonna. The party do him a favour, and kill him quickly. And his mates.

After that, well ... I kind of forget. I think the party went topside to rest. A couple of colossal übervorms threaten some townsfolk, and they rescue some more civilians from one of the terrible boodfiends, but it’s not quite enough: the city is still gripped with fear.

They return to Lashonna’s dungeon and clean it out. There’s nothing much more. It connects to Lashonna’s estate, and in her cellars are the various coffins of her thrall vampires, which they destroy. But the lady herself is nowhere to be found.

And so they decide to meet Prince Zeech and see what he has to say for himself. Their fame and authority get them an interview, but Zeech is disappointingly unhelpful. He blames the whole mess on Lashonna. According to him, the tower is her idea, and he seems sincere. He is accompanied by a troupe of invisible Blessed Angels. The party try to insinuate that maybe they don’t really work for him at all, but the Prince doesn’t bite. After all - if it’s true (which indeed it may be), what’s he to do about it? It all comes back to Lashonna, who - as the Prince is now beginning to see - has been the true ruler of this city for centuries.

I didn’t bring this out very well on the night, but the Prince I think realises that he’s been played for a fool by Lashonna for the past twenty years of his “rule”. He’s evil, of course, but that does not necessarily mean that he’s absent a sense of responsibility. Perhaps without Lashonna whispering in his ear he’d have been an effective ruler, but it’s a moot question now.

Finally, the party demand point-blank that the Prince surrender his city. But so what? They may all be doomed anyway. If the city survives the next few days, then maybe there’ll be something to talk about.

But there is one interesting event in an otherwise fruitless encounter. Zeech doesn’t recognise the vial that they found. But the Blessed Angels do, and they are very interested. According to them, the vial was stolen and should be returned to them immediately. The party decline, and learn nothing more.

So, it’s time to head for the final stop on this railroad. The new Spire of Long Shadows. As they approach, there is a crushing sense of the presence of Kyuss. Without a shadow of a doubt, here is the focal point, the very essence of a being who may soon become a God, or something very much like one.

The base of the spire has four entrances, and it’s much of a muchness which one to pick. They can see in the gloom a pair of those statues that were being constructed in the underground workshop, but really, there’s not much to do but go full speed ahead. As they approach, the statue begins spewing out worms, and a pair of Kyuss knights - bolstered by a pair of shadowdancer vampires - emerge to do battle. The party evokes Walls of Flame - particularly effective against undead. After a moment, the other six knights (two on each entrance, natch) emerge. There’s a fight, and the party defeat the knights - not without taking a bit of intelligence drain, though.

They rest for a second outside the door, but Flash’s Moment of Prescience warns him: a Broodfiend is barrelling vertically down from the sky above! They dive for cover from its acid breath. Flash uses a Bigby’s Crushing Hand to bring it to earth, where the fighters dispatch it.

And that’s it. The spire is open. There are stairs leading up.