Planescape - Blood War XXI. The Wells of Darkness

Shami-Amourae, succubus queen

OK. I finally finished the Tomb of Annihilation Companion and I have a million blog things to catch up on. I've run 5 sessions of Planescape that need to be written up, so I'm gonna do that right now. Keep your hands inside the recap at all times. Do not make eye contact with any unsavory NPCs as they may get the wrong impression.

We had left off with major changes. Bidam died and the multiverse contracted. Three alternate universes combined into one. This happened because Bidam is the embodiment of Rule of Three.

This was a way for me to "write out" some old continuity things to clear the path for my online games. The main thing was to place Umbra a the goddess of good in my campaign setting. Umbra is the main NPC in the classic Chris Perkins adventure of the same name. In my campaign, she's all grown up and is now one of the most powerful and influential deities in my campaign setting.

Fall From Grace had changed during the merge. She was now a paladin of Umbra, and the bad things that happened last session had been altered. She was more or less back to normal.

The Party

(Jessie) Bidam - Platinum-Scaled Dragonborn Fighter
(George) Theran - Elf Wizard

The heroes have a laundry list of things they need to get done. Tonight, they decided to fulfill a promise they made to Nocticula, demon queen of succubi, assassins and shadows. In my campaign, Nocticula is one of the twelve demon lords under the control of Iggwilv. The group promised her they would find a way to alter Nocticula's truename, so that Iggwilv had no power over her.

There was one person who knew Nocticula's truename - Shami-Amourae, a succubus queen who was trapped in a realm called the Wells of Darkness. The wells are described in Dungeon Magazine #246. It's an abyssal realm that is difficult to escape. All of these major entities are trapped in the wells.

The heroes went there and had a tough choice to make. They could try to free Shami, or they could try to free Cabiri - the obyrith linked to Burningwater, the abyssal realm now ruled by the group's friend, Bazuuma.

I was delighted to see the group stuck with the plan to help Shami.

The wells are guarded by 20 foot tall bodaks (!). The heroes wisely avoided them. They dropped into Shami's well. She's trapped in an inky pool. She can stand in it, but she's covered in black film. In the adventure it is actually said that she makes sweet sweet love to monkey demons here to pass the time, so we did some goofy stuff with that.

The heroes cut a deal with her. Now they had to figure out how exactly they could free her.

They eventually went to the ruined keep of Ahazu here. Basically, they need to find this bat-demon named Ahazu the Seizer and cut a deal with him.

To get to him, the heroes had to solve a mosaic puzzle. They fought some vargouille protectors. Then they made their deal with Ahazu. He would free Shami, but the group would need to bring him a more powerful prisoner within 66 days or else the heroes themselves would be trapped in the wells forever. The heroes agreed.

They have an iron flask, which you can use to trap people in. I asked them who they wanted to trap. The Answer: Iggwilv! Yikes.

The dynamic duo went back to Shami and freed her. This triggered a trap.

Shami was Demogorgon's girlfriend for a long time. She's locked up in here because she knows things that Demogorgon doesn't want getting out. So he has this magical trap. When she's freed, a portal opens up and drops a waterfall of water from the river sick into her well. The water wipes all of your memories clean!

Shami escaped. The heroes did not. Their memories were wiped and they blacked out...