The mission was simple: get into the palace to rescue the away party of the One who had been out of contact. The only thing they knew about the Palace for sure was that it was a main point of contention among the various gangs in the area, but other than that they were unsure, so they approached cautiously.
They came to the front of the building to see there was some hubbub about, as small pockets of people seemed to be entering the building. Trying to blend in with the crowd, they walked up the front steps, only to suddenly be set up by a small troupe of angels; one large Angel of Battle, his bodyguards, and a few lower-level soldiers.
The party was divided by a steep set of stairs, and while the ranged warriors tried to manage the soldiers around them, the swordmage was struggling to hold her own around the Angel of Battle. After a long and drawn-out battle, they managed to cut down the majority of the soldiers and severely wounded the Angel of Battle, and were able to stop an escaping angel, but it attracted the attention of some of the roving fighters in the area. The party quickly ducked into the Palace and into a nearby hallway.
The building noticeably shakes as they walk down the hallway, looking for a passageway into the basement. They easily find a stairway going down into a poorly-lit room, where they eventually discover a room with a guy playing with a knife. The rogue decided to try to get the jump on him, and throws a shuriken at him and steps into the room. Unfortunately, she failed to notice two vicious drakes in the room as well, who immediately surround her. The rest of the party streams into the room to see that there’s a huge glass dome against the wall, which seemed to contain some psychic feedback.
The man with the knife drops it and instead hits the party with a few stunning fists, while the drakes use their teleport ability to put any weak-willed party members into the dome. Anyone in the dome took some mild brain damage whenever they started there, and couldn’t interact with the world outside of it. When another monk and a psychic showed up, the party knew it had a fight on its hands, and struggled to take down the guards. They screwed at one point when they realized that all teleports with diverted into the dome, and accidently put two of their own party members into harm’s way. However, clever use of an Orb of Farseeing and general hard hits eventually killed all the guards, including a classic trick of setting a table on fire and closing the door.
The party finds among the remains a glass orb, which they break to cause the dome to melt away. Behind they find a short passageway with an occasional hole through the side. The party rightly guessed that they are slits leading to a trap, so they place an illusionary wall to cover one side of the hallway. This act managed to completely break the encounter, as half the enemies needed those slits to join the encounter. They eventually courageously march forward to attract the attention of the slaad, who is quickly brought below half health in under a round. They also discover a hidden room behind the wall, in which a firebelcher roams, and the swordmage teleports in to skewer the beast. With the other pair of enemies unable to get past the illusionary wall, the party easily sneaks through to the next room, where they find the missing cell of the One.
They ask the devils if they are alright, and if they happen to have a blacksmith among them. The devil hesitate, and say that their leader and the only one with the knowledge they seek has been taken captive. So, they have one more stop before they leave the palace.
The party heads back upstairs to see that it’s a bit more chaotic upstairs than before. They see groups of clergy in funny hats running around, and even manage to attract the attention of some of the invaders and defenders, soundly defeating the hammersmiths and Clerics of Bane that confront them in the hallway. After some more muddled wandering around, they manage to get upstairs to the ruined second story and come across a room where they hear muffled cries.
They pick in to find some clergy muscle sitting around playing cards, after the rogue lets loose another sneak attack, they all wandering into the room, only to find that the muscle is exceptionally strong and they have a wizard friend, who shows up to launch elemental bolts and stunbeams at them.
The party still holds, however, and shortly after a pale, mildly vampiric man wearing only boxer shorts steps out of a nearby room, he uses his kukris to rip apart the party, and with the ability of the muscle to knock them flat, they have a hard time maneuvering. Eventually the wizard gets into the room the dhampyr came out of, to find a succubus tied to a bed. They try to untie her and provide her with some minor healing, but the dhampyr quickly returns after his allies fall, and kicks over a pot to cause part of the floor to burst into flames. After a few failed attempts on the villain’s part to kill the succubus, he uses his fading ability to escape through the walls.
The succubus is revived and released, and as the building continues to shake, they run out, passing many panicked enemies who are running from something they only call “The Crusher.” They easily make it through the streets back to the docks.
Lessons Learned: This adventure actually spanned three sessions, and we only made it through one session every two weeks, with various distractions and a second game interfering. The first session took over long, because for some reason the first encounter ate up over three hours of time, which made me realized I needed to make sure things were moving at a decent pace. The second session was ran better, but the encounter killing event should have been more avoidable. The third session also ran quickly and fine, although at this point I had already forgotten just what I was thinking with each encounter that even I was a bit incredulous with each new development. There wasn't a extended rest at all, which gives me a good sign of how long the party can survive without taking a nap. However, now that the party is finally out of the Palace and with the necessary plot coupons, I have a few weeks to come up with the next grand arc of the campaign.
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