G168: The Montforte Library

Date: 6 March 2013
PCs: Cut Coutelain, Audrey Carcassone, Roland Zanzibar, Pritchard Hood, Pigshit Pat
DM: Quendalon

Summary

  • A festival thrown by the Marais
  • Fighting wraiths: The spirits of Javier de Montforte and Frederick who was killed
  • Fighting termites
  • Fighting phase spiders several times

After much planning and preparation, Blanchfleur's fete of the Company of Crossed Swords finally came to pass. There were guests from the many noble families the Company has served and representatives both from the Temple of Trianoma and the Hexarchy. Convinced that it was all either an elaborate ruse or the perfect opportunity for an assassination, Cut passed much of the festival sending local men off to follow suspicious-looking characters and prowling the grounds upon which the feast would be held. Pritchard and Roland had family obligations; Audrey had stern conferences with the officiants and officers from the Temple. Pat was generally consigned to a closet. After much toasting and roasting of the various captains of the Company in attendance, Blanchfleur and Camellia unveiled the grandest gesture of the day: To further their efforts in routing the evils beneath the Chateau (and claiming their wealth for the Marais), the Company was being given custodianship of a Trianoman artifact for 6 years: Sunblaze, the blessed armor of Roquer de Specularum. After much polite dithering, Roland Zanzibar accepted the charge of its care (much to the delight of Thonerite).

Of course, nothing helps that post-feast bloated feeling like a brisk walk to a dungeon. The Company was relatively focused in this outing: A previous expedition reported a library on the 4th level of the dungeon, guarded by a vengeful spirit. They would destroy it, and recover the most valuable texts.

The way to the library was relatively straightforward, not being too far away from the Gallows Tower in the southern region of the Chateau. As the Company retraced their steps, they passed through a kitchen and recovered some jars of preserved exotic spices. In the antechamber to the library, there were a number of giant termites that scuttled away at the party's approach. The door to the library had clearly been eaten away by them, but only in the lower portion. The Company entered the library and discovered three corpses: a termite withered on the ground, a withered man in wizardly robes pinned to the wall by a blood-rusted sword, and another man in cheap, gaudy clothes slumped over a backpack.

As they moved in to investigate, an angry spirit rose up from the third corpse. It was furious at being abandoned, and blamed the party. Why? The party could not know. The spirit was clearly insane with guilt over its sins in life. Fortunately, the terrible might of Seff and the blazing fury of Sunblaze made quick work of the poor soul. Audrey quickly blessed the area, and Cut anointed the corpse with holy water. But was it the librarian? No- clearly it was an anonymous adventurer that had been dispatched by the library's true guardian, which began hissing for quiet over the clangor of battle. The Company tried to stake out positions from which to flush the spirit, but had to fend off an assault from the termites. Dispatching them quickly (but being afraid of their willingness), the captains moved quickly to find the spirit of Javier de Montforte and- rallied behind Sunblaze- defeat it.

But now they were faced with a more complex problem: There were hundreds of books in the library. The Company thought of the Torchbearers patronizing presence at the feast; they saw the giant termites massed in the next room. How would they deal with the ravenous vermin eying the room, eager to eat into the profits? And what about the termites? They spent some time dismantling bookshelves for lumber and nails, fending off the occasional termite attack, and then crudely patched the door up. Pat then cast wizard lock on it. The party loaded books up into the bag of holding, and went out to dispatch the remaining bugs. Upon reaching the surface, they used the silver raven to send for Munda and Thymlin to bring Cut's cart and ponies, and began the arduous process of retrieving the rest of the books.

During one of those trips, a scuttle of phase spiders attacked the party in the halls. After a heroic stand that left one spider dead, Cut was distracted by the potential for a bit more money, and insisted on hauling the carcass up onto a floating disc. Of course, the surviving spiders attacked again- only to lose more of their number! After the last was routed, the party was able to safely remove the remaining books.

Losses and Loot

  • 775 books from the library
    • 100 given to Tertullian in exchange for services
    • Some number of interesting volumes given to Blanchfleur in exchange for a cache of magic items and a waiver of the tax
    • Some number sold in Glantri City
  • some gaudy jewelry recovered from Frederick's corpse sold in Glantri City
  • some preserved herbs from an Ambreville kitchen sold in Glantri City
  • 1 phase spider corpse sold to Panthalion

Each PC received 5,195gp after sale of all valuables. For enemies defeated and treasures expended, each PC received 2,901xp.

The cache of magic items included:

  • An ebony fly figurine (held by Cut Coutelain, because people thought that was just hilarious)
  • 20 arrows +1 (10 each to Cut and Pigshit)
  • 5 magefire arrows (Roland)
  • Scroll of darkness, detect invisible (Pritchard)
  • Scroll of levitation, ray of enfeeblement (Pritchard)
  • potion of healing (Pritchard)
  • potion of heroism (Cut)
  • potion of giant strength (Audrey)
  • potion of growth (Roland)
  • potion of levitation (Audrey)

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