Session 10 Recap & Experience Points Awards

There was nowhere left for the company to go but through the devil’s head passage.  And so they rested and gathered their strength, and then cautiously made their move.  They came soon to a door, one which opened easily upon the insertion of the skull key the group retrieved from the mummies in Konykos’ workshop.  There was then a second door, not much further along, which required a similar key.  The gnome Schlemeel pulled the same from his cloak without a moment’s hesitation, matter-of-factly admitting he’d hoped it belonged to a treasure chest or otherwise presented some opportunity for personal enrichment, but alas.  In the key slid, and the second door was likewise defeated.

That second door opened to a long, descending hallway, with a series of staircases taking the company several stories down into the deeps.  But the dim, magical light of Konykos’ workshop never faded completely, and finally the corridor widened into a long, teardrop-shaped chamber with a steep domed ceiling.  At its center stood an otherworldly evil—a bi-pedal creature bearing spikes and thorns across the whole of its body, over seven feet tall with a heavy, barbed tail.  “Three hundred years,” it muttered, in some language of the underdark that Schlemeel was (at great difficulty) able to loosely translate, “and now you’ve come.” 

Many in the group had long suspected that Ipplie Amie would eventually betray them—and now that time had come.  Stepping forward to call the demon by name, “Xtomchyzkatl,” Amie first commanded the beast reveal “the treasure of Konykos.”  This the creature did, uttering a single elven word, “Arcanband,” to reveal a thin stone door, glowing in an eerie blue along the southern rim of the dome. 

Having performed this favor, the demon insisted Amie release him—and so Amie complied, but with a treacherous final stipulation. “Xtomchyzkatl,” he’d said once more.  “On the deaths of my companions you are released.”

The directive brought a howl of fury to the spiked demon, but it would not be denied its freedom.  Xtomchyzkatl hurled a bolt of magical fire to the ground before him, and out of it formed a quartet of fire imps, vaguely humanoid-shaped beings of modest size, wielding swords of pure flame.

As the company readied for combat, Amie produced from his garments a vial of midnight blue liquid and promptly drank it down, literally vanishing as the bottle shattered on the cold stone floor.  Xtomchyzkatl trudged forward, and his fire imps charged fearlessly at the adventuring group. 

 The mage Greyndalf quickly turned the dome-shaped battle chamber to his advantage, using a spider climb spell to clamber onto the high ceiling—an advantageous perch from which to deploy his magical arsenal.  Meanwhile the dwarf Jowdain engaged the fire imps in hand-to-hand combat, just as the cleric Gambol invoked the name of Cygnival to enhance several of his comrades’ martial abilities with a bless spell, and the druid Yalla employed her spike growth incantation to lay down a field of blades before the group’s enemies. 

Within moments, the company’s attacks had destroyed two of the fire imps and inflicted superficial wounds upon Xtomchyzkatl himself.  The demon shrieked again in absolute anger, calling more fire imps while lashing out at party members with terrible claws and his powerful spiked tail.

The mage Greyndalf soon called a powerful gust of wind, which relentlessly blew against the company’s foes—several times tossing fire imps across the chamber and threatening to drag Xtomchyzkatl through the field of Yalla’s spikes.  And these fearsome terrain effects grew worse even yet, when Greyndalf called a layer of grease to coat the floor.   Soon the ranger Unagi would likewise acquire the spider climb enchantment and join Greyndalf on the ceiling, where the mage would enchant arrows that the ranger would rain down on their foes.

On observing the greased floor, the ever-impulsive gnome Schlemeel readied his dagger and launched into a graceful slide across the battlefield—his blade slashing heavily across Xtomychykatl’s barbed tail in a determined effort to sever it.  And Schlemeel’s attack might well have succeeded in doing exactly that—had he only been using an enchanted blade.  But, alas, Schlemeel’s own invocation of true strike had revealed the demon’s immunity to all but silvered or magical weapons (as well as to poison and fire).  The daring attack had merely amused the ferocious beast—and left Schlemeel wounded from spikes and isolated behind the enemy.

Schlemeel was not the devil’s priority however.  His fire imps were not holding up, and he’d sustained withering damage from Greyndalf’s magic and now a disconcerting blow from Jowdain’s axe.  So Xtomchyzkatl whirled to face the domed ceiling, and launched another of his fearsome flame blasts directly at the mage.  Moments later, Unagi would stumble in his movements and see most of his gear plunge to the magical no man’s land below.  But the impact on the wizard was only glancing, and the ranger’s arrows kept coming.  As the wind continued to howl and the footing remained treacherous, the tide of the battle seemed slowly to be tilting against the demon.

Again Xtomchyzkatl called forth still more minions of fire to join in his defense.  But the company was now destroying the fire imps faster than the demon could call them, and sparing many of their vicious attacks for the demon itself.  Yet there was no retreat for this demon.  Trapped here 300 years, its freedom had now been conditioned upon the company’s destruction—and it would succeed, or be destroyed in the attempt.

That destruction came at last with a thunderous slam of Gambol’s war club.  And with that final blow, the demon dropped to the chamber floor and instantly began melting into a pool of caustic ichor.  His few remaining fire imps fought on, but had been no match for the party in their master’s service and faced even more hopeless prospects now.  They were soon dispatched, and as a triumphant silence fell upon the chamber there remained hardly a sign of the terrifying enemies the company had faced just moments earlier.

At last the party members turned their attention to the glowing blue door.  There had suddenly come an impossibly loud, anguished scream from behind it during their fight with Xtomchyzkatl.  Now, with the demon gone and the way unhindered, could the company finally investigate.

But this would have to wait.  The battle with Xtomchyzkatl had taken everything the party members had—and they sorely needed a rest to regather their strength and replenish their magical powers.  But it was not to be.  Moments later they felt it, and heard the deep groan from within the earth.  The world itself began to shake.

Adventure Notes:

·       Xtomchyzkatyl.  The company faced and defeated the being Xtomchyzkatl, a true devil of the netherworld.  The devil’s infernal language resembled the Underdark tongue known to Schlemeel, enough that he could interpret—even if the words seemed impossible for your human and demi-human mouths to pronounce.  You are not sure why, but observed that Ipplie Amie seemed to exercise a degree of strained control over the being.  In battle, the devil proved immune to fire and poison, resistant to cold-based attacks, and impervious to unenchanted weaponry.  Its spiked flesh served as an effective natural armor (AC 15), and the being displayed impressive stamina (118 hit points).  It attacked not only with powerful claws and its spiked whip of a tail, but also with fire blasts—some which inflicted fire damage on its foes, others which called fire imps to serve the being.  When defeated, the creature’s remains melted into a watery ichor, and soon disappeared.

·      Ipplie Amie. Your last glimpse of Ipplie Amie was taken in the teardrop dome, as he stood before the devil Xtomchyzkatl and quaffed a potion of invisibility.  You’d long anticipated his betrayal—even counted on it, perhaps.  And now it has happened.  He probably does not expect to see you again.

·       Fire Imps.  The small beings of fire that the demon Xtomchyzktal called to serve him in battle were about the size of hobbits or gnomes.  They were not especially tough (about 10 hit points) or difficult to hit (AC 11), and luckily their flaming swords did only modest damage (2-5 slashing damage, +1 fire damage).  When defeated, the fire imps dissipated into nothing.

Experience Points & Inspiration 

DM’s experience award moderation note: In this campaign, experience points are awarded for overcoming obstacles, solving problems, and achieving goals.  Although experience points are typically awarded for defeating adversaries, note that an adversary need not necessarily be killed to earn those points if the adversary can be defeated in another way.  Experience points are earned collectively and then divided among the player-characters.  In addition to experience points, players can earn inspiration for creativity, superior tactics, and especially strong role-playing.

The party defeated Xtomchyzkatl in this session, along with 13 of his fire imps—good for 4,450 XP.  These experience points are divided between Jowdain, Greyndalf, Gambol, Schlemeel, Yalla, and Unagi, for an even 741.67 each, rounded up to 745 XP per character.

In addition, the party earned experience points for the following accomplishments:

·      Passing the skull doors, 40 XP;

·      Defeating the true devil Xtomchyzktl, 500 XP;

·      Superior tactics in the battle with Xtomchyzkatl, 80 XP;

The total (620 XP) is divided evenly among the six current player characters, for (103.3, rounded up to) 105 XP apiece.

The Weather Channel claims the thunder we all heard last week was from a storm working its way across the mid-Atlantic states.  In fact, it was the uproarious laughter of the adventure gods, as they observed Schlemeel the rogue attempt to sever Xtomchyzkatl’s spiked tail through a difficult Slip & Slide/ninja maneuver that he actually managed the execute—but which didn’t work on account of the devil’s immunity to non-magical weapons, an immunity Schlemeel had himself detected only moments earlier.  “You do it to yourself,” the great Thom Yorke once said.  “Just you.  And that’s what really hurts.”  

Final Session 10 totals:

·      Jowdain acquitted himself well in battle, garnering 850 XP.

·      Gambol pleased his deity and is rewarded with 850 XP.

·       Greyndalf remained a cunning and resourceful (and naked) adversary, earning 850 XP.

·      Schlemeel still don’t give a f*k, but he picked up 583 XP and one point of inspiration.

·      Yalla was one with nature, and nature was one with her.  Or something.  She gets 850 XP.

·      Unagi looked fresh again and gained 850 XP.