Session XVIII

The following are notes from November’s game, to the best of my recolletion. None of the players took notes, or if they did I don’t have them, so what follows may be not entirely accurate. Then again, the party seems to be in another world altogether – and one of them is apparently now a skeleton – so who’s to say what’s accurate and what isn’t?

Nutshell: the party found their way to Chelmsfordhire, a depressed town whose economy appeared to be based on dirt farming. They learned from a wretched dirt-farming old woman that they are in the Land of 1,000 Towers, where wizards rule the countryside. The dober-men they faced were followers/creations of the wizard Canis.

As they killed time at the Muddy Cup (the only joint in town), two armored guys called Terry & Phil came in, breathless. Seems they had been guarding a caravan belonging to the merchant Harvinius, when suddenly the caravan had fallen victim to a raiding party of “motkars” – fierce creatures with the bodies of men and the heads of lions. Apart from the merchant himself, who had been kidnapped, the entire caravan – including family members – had been slaughtered. Terry & Phil recruited the party to help them track the moktars & rescue Harvinius.

Trekking through the forest, the players followed Terry & Phil to the scene of the slaughter, and from there followed a trampled path through the underbrush to the side of a hill. The earth had been hacked brutally away, revealing a perfectly square tunnel entrance with the faded impressions of hinges around the edges. The footprints and drag marks led right up to the entrance, and stopped.

In the interests of getting this entry written, I will not dwell on all that was found or happened within the moktars’ lair. Rather, here are some highlights:

* a pit trap

* an attack wolf that suffered a very quick death

* a bunch of moktars, most of whom seemed pretty unhealthy, with patchy fur and open sores, all of which the party dispatched more or less effortlessly

* the merchant Harvinius, gravely wounded. He urged players to leave him, for his time was up, and to leave the room because it was not safe – “It is poison!” He also gave them an ancient map showing the route to the entrance of a small cave. A note on the map said “Sick rock is the key.” Harvinius died with an outstretched arm pointing to… what?

* Terry & Phil running off at some point

* a magnetic corridor featuring a metal plate in the floor which hid a secret stairway

* a couple crab spiders with poisonous bites

* a really heavy lead-lined chest containing about 800 gold. How to carry so much loot?

So, if memory serves, the party remains somewhere in the moktar lair (which is now devoid of moktar), contemplating a massive chest of gold, a map to a cave in a mountain, a cryptic reference to some kind of rock, or key, or both. In addition, nobody they’ve met seems to find it strange that one of the party members is a living skeleton. Koringa, for his part, has been trying out his best spooky voice and claiming to be Death.

What is this strange land? Where does the map lead? What is sick rock, and where can they find some? Tune in after this coming Wednesday, when all may or may not be revealed!

Session XVII: [insert excellent psychedelic title here]

These things happened next:

1. They went through the portal and it was not dissimilar to this:

with the exception that instead of words and Time Lords they each saw memories – of things past and/or things never real – and it felt like either their bodies were staying in place and their minds were moving or vice versa.

2. Eventually everything went black.

3. Then they realized they were standing in a black field spangled with lights brilliant as diamond, sapphire, ruby, emerald, stretching  infinitely in all directions. Gaseous clouds in unimaginable colors floated around them. Spheres fanciful as marbles, of incalculable size and proximity. And Looking at each other, they appeared to be mere outlines of themselves – like diagrams of constellations, shapes suggested by points and lines. The PCs’ minds were blown by this, to different effects: some experienced a sense of cosmic unity, and some were fairly devastated at the realization that they were insignificant blips in a cold, uncaring universe.

4. After awhile in which they experimented with the potential for floating around in space, they noticed six doors which would not be out of place in a dungeon but which looked completely anomalous here: six-foot circular doors apparently made of wood and banded with iron. They opened each unlocked door, with these results:

First: It is like looking into a broken prism. You see yourselves, reflected & refracted.

Second: You’re not sure but you think you see a giant eye blink – and then the portal is clear.

Third: It feels electrical and smells of ozone.

Fourth: Picture the warmest, most soothing blue you can. But it feels somehow wrong.

Fifth: Cool and dark; almost sacred.

Sixth: Very windy and also fragrant, alternately smelling of soot, filth, salt, nature, cold.

After much hemming and hawing by both PCs and DM, the party chose the first door.

5. It was kind of like this:

6. They landed with a thud (five thuds, actually) and found themselves on a cold stone floor about 15′ in diameter, which they quickly realized was at the top of a tower that must have stood about 100′ high. The floor was covered in broken glass, the remnants of the windows that had once encircled the entire room. The rest of the surfaces (stone floor, wooden rafters) were covered in untranslatable – even by magic – glyphs.

7. The party was alternately horrified and fascinated to see that somehow the interdimensional journey had turned Koringa into a skeleton! His armor and possessions were untouched but all of his flesh had disappeared. His eyes were now a burning red, and Koringa himself felt decidedly ambivalent about this new turn of events.

8. Also there was a sixth body present: a female body wearing a long, flowing robe that was once white but had been dyed completely red by what seemed like all the blood in her body. She was thus very pale, and had no teeth, but otherwise looked to have died peacefully. A small silver compass fell out of her robes. She lay atop a trap door in the floor, the opening of which revealed a ladder that led 10′ down to a landing atop a stone stair.

9. There was a commotion from below that included a lot of barking. It turned out to be a gang of 8 creatures with the bodies of men, the heads of dogs, and the scimitars of killers. There was a combat that involved some kind of round explosive device and a bunch of yipping; eventually the Dober-men retreated.

10. The stone walls of the stairwell leading down were covered in dried blood and more unintelligible scribbles.

11. The stairs led down to a room about 50′ in diameter. It seemed to be an all-purpose living space: mattress, basin, fireplace, table, bookcase. It had also been the scene of a slaughter: the corpses of three fighter-types in leather armor with long swords and and shields had been freshly wasted. An inspection of the bookcase found three volumes containing words like “benzene ring,” “molecule,” and “waveform gamma.” Gibberish!

12. Somewhere along the line the rest of the Dober-men got wasted (as in “slain”) and Koringa discovered that his new skeletal form resisted roughly half the damage of the Dober-men’s blades.

What strange land is this? Is Koringa’s condition permanent? What the hell is a “waveform gamma”? Tune in next time to find out!

Session XVI, part 2: Negotiation

… where they find two lizardmen, claws bared, in a standoff with three sword-wielding Red Temple soliders. There are also the corpses of three men and two lizard men. They realize that the room provides its own luminescence by way of the bright pool of water beyond the standoff in the northern end of the room. However, between the standoff and the pool stand Dinos – along with Lucinda and Aline!

Everyone turns to look at our diplomatic delvers as Dinos says “Well, here we are.” A lengthy discussion ensues during which the following positions are established:

1. Dinos wants to just waste the lizardfolk. They are no longer of any use to the Red Temple.

2. The lizardfolk want to just waste the Red Temple. They are sick and tired of their resources being exploited.

3. Stark and, more or less, the rest of the party, want to prevent either of these things from happening. The Red Temple are cruel bastards, and the lizardfolk are dying anyway, so why throw their lives away?

Eventually Dinos gets tired of “diplomacy” and is about to order the RT soldiers to kill the LF, but Chief Diplomatic Officer Stark convinces him to let the party stand in for the lizardfolk, who then return to their tribe. Stark yells “Tell King Kags that we’re still working on this!” He attempts to convince Dinos that that shows the honor of the LF, but Dinos tells him they’re just going to go get reinforcements.

Dinos goes on to explain that the Gate is the key to knowledge of other worlds beyond their own. Eiluned is particularly vocal about the idea that this knowledge may best be left unknown, but Dinos isn’t having any of it. The party learns from him that several people have entered the portal but none have returned; however, Dinos cites “strange artifacts” that resemble no known craftmanship (such as the axe Bunny recently found in the spider’s nest) as evidence that “others” have come through the Gate. For her part, Lucinda seems to support Dinos’ explorations of the gate, though she comes across less as a slightly-manic dick and more as a devout believer. (They also learn that Dinos and the RT access the cavern by teleportation and not by tunnel).

The Gate itself sits in the middle of a brightly lit pool of water. There is a five-foot round raised platform in the middle of the pool, and a rushing stream streaming in through the northern wall. Atop – or, rather, above – the platform hovers a blue doorlike shape that fluctuates in opacity. Occasionally it can be seen through but nothing can be seen beyond it.

As Dinos waxes slightly manically about the mysterious potential of the Gate, the party learns that on occasions when men have gone in tied to ropes, the ropes have returned fully intact, but without the men they were attached to. As they attempt to learn more, the entire conversation is disrupted by the loud, angry arrival of 10 raging lizardmen! They engage the 3 guards and, though they fight fiercely, they seem surprisingly ineffective.

The party bravely decide to stay out of the battle at first. They notice a lizardman standing away from the fracas. He chants a somber chant before taking a dagger and slitting his throat. Seconds after he crumples to the ground, a huge claw reaches out of the clear water. Everyone backs away as what seems to be a huge salamander starts to crawl out of the pool. Dinos, observing, says “This must be the Guardian! This is amazing!”

The Amazing guardian then begins to attack those nearest: the party, and Dinos, Lucinda, and Aline. Spiderssen takes a hit from a claw, and Koringa stops short his axe swing when Stark yells “It’s sacred!” Most of the rest of the party flees to the other side of the ongoing fracas.

As the various combats ensue, the party chips away at the Guardian while Dinos and Lucinda argue heatedly – Dinos somehow manages to avoid serious blows from the Guardian, while Aline guards Lucinda. Eventually somebody notices Lucinda plunging into the pool and start swimming toward the Gate. She dodges the Guardian’s whiplike tail and climbs onto the small raised platform. When she does this, the room starts to shake and the Guardian starts to roar. In quick succession:

1. The remaining lizardmen start to argue;

2. Stark loses his sword;

3. Lucinda waves at a distraught Aline and steps through the Gate.

Everybody gets angry and the room is starting to collapse. Some lizardmen die by falling rock. Dinos produces a scroll and mutters some words, causing him to disappear along with Aline and the remaining RT guards. In the shaking and collapsing chamber, the last two remaining lizard guys quickly explains that the Guardian needs blood and that no, the recently felled corpses won’t do. He urgently describes an arcane ritual to the party, directing them as to where to stand and what to say. They all chant some mysterious lizardy words, at the peak of which one of the lizardman slits his own throat. Stark and the last remaining lizard guy carry him to the water’s edge and throw him to the Guardian, who sinks back beneath the surface, sated. The room stops collapsing and the Gate is a beautiful blue.

Session XVI, part 1: Exploration

The party surmises that the Gate they sought lies down the eastern stair, and so decided to explore the rest of the caverns before venturing downward. Highlights of their delving include a stagnant, shallow pool containing two male corpses in Red Temple garb, from whom Spiderssen lifts two gold & garnet rings.

Also, the party encounters four Rock Spiders. Spiderssen puts them to sleep & the PCs decimate them. Spiderssen attempts to rip off a spider leg and gets splashed with poison. He falls unconscious for around half an hour, while the party just sort of hangs out.

At the end of a cul-de-sac they discover a dead-end passage covered in yellow mold. Bunny suggests lighting it on fire, which results in the passage swiftly going up in flames and producing a vile yellow cloud of smoke that the party attempts to flee. Everyone but Bunny manages to do so – as she flees, she is seized with convulsions! Without stopping, Koringa scoops up her seizure-wracked body. It is apparent that Bunny is going to die if nothing can be done… fortunately Koringa has one remaining potion of Cure Poison, which he manages to force down her convulsing throat. Bunny lives but is greatly weakened, until she quaffs a potion of Cure Light Wounds.

Spiderssen ventures back into the dead-end, his face wrapped in an oil-covered scarf to prevent fume-inhalation. The smoke has cleared, and there is a heavily decayed corpse at the end of the tunnel, along with a nice-looking silver dagger.

After passing through a bunch of empty caverns & corridors, the party, convinced it’s seen everything, decides to head down toward the gate. As they approach the stair, in addition to the sweet and clean air they detect the frenzied sounds of combat. They stealthily sneak down the stair. At first not seeing anything, after a minute or two a soldier in Red Temple garb stumbles into view – beaten back by an unarmed lizard guy. The party watches while they fight; eventually the soldier runs his sword through the lizardman’s throat, takes a few deep breaths, then runs back to the fray.

Eventually the fighting dies down and is replaced by angry-sounding discussions, at which point our diplomatically-inclined ragtag band of malcontents saunters into the room…

Session XV

Stark, Bunny, Koringa, Eiluned, and Spiderssen awoke feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world – or at least their employers at the Red Temple. They made their way back to town, and after selling a bunch of loot and stocking up on potions, headed to the RT to make their report.

Dinos was unavailable, and thus the party met with Nika, who had been the one who hired them in the first place. She was uninterested in any of the “treasure” they showed her (the amulet of St. Cyrus, the book of St. Cyrus’ writings), except for the Red Temple circlet. She seemed puzzled by this and asked where they found it. Stark did most of the talking and told her about their meeting with the Scalehide Clan, and asked what she (and the temple) wanted “down there.” Nika admitted that the Red Temple had been trading with the Scalehides, and explained that the resources – water and minerals – in the Scalehide caverns possessed magical powers which they had been harvesting to help create the Red Temple’s special unguents, etc. The party accused the Temple of making the Scalehides sick, but Nika denied this, saying – as the Scalehides had – that they had been sick for some time when they started trading. When asked what the Temple had given them in exchange for their resources, she said “something harmless that provided hope.”

The party was pretty disgusted that the Red Temple had essentially hired them to commit genocide – though they did glaze over the fact that they had accepted the offer – and stated that they would not kill the Scalehides. (Koringa idly asked how much she would pay them to do so; she said about 1000 gp). They would, however, see to it that the RT got what they wanted without having to wipe out the last of the dying race. Because of their intransigence, Nika released them from their contract and said they were free to pursue whatever they wished to pursue. However, she pointed out that the Red Temple was the most popular church in Southlake, and was far more well-connected than the PCs. They said they would return within three days with a solution, and she said that if that was the case, then perhaps they might renegotiate a deal, but dismissed them anyway. Stark attempted to charm the lovely priestess into meeting him individually to discuss the matter, but she ignored his smooth insinuations.

After lunch, the party brought the twisted amulet of St. Cyrus to a curiosity shoppe. The owner said he could give them 10 gp for it, but that it wasn’t really his kind of thing, and provided the name and address of a dealer in more arcane items. However, the party chose to return to the caverns. Upon their entry into the Scalehide camp they were once again met at spearpoint, but King Kags and the rest of the clan were more friendly to them than before. Stark told the king that the Red Temple was determined to eradicate them, which raised a belligerent, though not surprised, watermelon-cantalouping throughout the room. Kags said that the Temple wanted the waters of the caverns, and access to “the Gate.” The Gate, apparently, is a means of “being elsewhere” which the Scalehides guarded, but had never used successfully.

Stark tried – at some length – to convince the King that the tribe should move, but the idea was repugnant to them. As the last of their race they would make their stand on their own terms. The party asked if they could see the Gate, and King Kags konsented. Stark asked if he would accompany them, but the King could spare no men, nor himself, as they had much contemplation to do regarding their fate. After some questioning, which revealed that the water in the “lake room” on the floor above was the same water that was so mystically charged – though it itself was not charged – the Lizardfolk showed them the way down.

Descending a great stone staircase, the party found themselves in a similar cavern to the ones above. Exits lay to the northwest and east, and one of the holes in the rock was large enough for a small person to get into. Bunny tied a rope around her waist and made her way in, and started down a short path toward a steady red glow. She stumbled onto a nest of 5 fire beetles with glowing eye-stalks! They attacked her, wounding her severely, before the party was able to pull her out. The fire beetles followed, and after a round of combat Spiderssen put the fire beetles to sleep, which was followed by the party squashing them and removing their eyestalks for later use. Bunny healed up and went back in the hole to explore.

In the beetles’ nest she found an axe and helmet of unfamiliar style. The short tunnel terminated in a slightly smaller room whose northern wall was dominated by an exquisitely carved mural of an elegant, humanoid lizard figure doing battle. However, the mural was apparently unfinished, since the other combatant was unrepresented.

Returning to the rest of the party, they chose the eastern passage, and shortly came to another intersection, with passages to the north and south, and a faint dripping sound coming from somewhere. Stark led the party south, but as the rest of the party passed under the low archway, they screamed to find themselves covered in green slime, which was dripping from the archway. Acting fast, Eiluned demanded that Stark burn it off of them, and so he did (Spiderssen, however, drank a Cure Disease potion and neutralized the slime). Spiderssen then used his torch to burn off the rest of the slime from the archway.

As the party moved southward, the passage sloped gently downward and the air became crisp and sweet. A poorly-hewn staircase lead down and to the east, but before they could continue the party heard a skittering sound which heralded the arrival of four giant rock spiders! A brutal combat ensued. Spiderssen was about to cast another Sleep spell, but Stark dissuaded him, telling him to save it for later. This was unfortunate, because Stark soon found himself bitten by one of the spiders, upon which he fell into a poisonous coma! Over the course of combat, the spiders put serious bites on both Spiderssen (the irony!) and Eiluned, both of whom avoided poisoning – but sustained so much damage that they fell to the floor and began bleeding out. Fortunately, the party had recently restocked its supply of Cure Light Wounds potions, and everyone barely escaped death while still dealing crushing blows to the spiders.

Session XIV, part 2

Applying a crowbar to the manhole, the brave invaders discovered a long and narrow stone tube that went at least 50′ down. After a dark descent by way of more crude rungs, the party found itself in a nondescript dirty, stony room about 40’x60′. Heading to the east, it became clear to all that the smell was not nearly as bad on this level, though the party’s relief at this was tempered by the increasing sense that they were being watched, and the observation of Spiderssen and Eiluned that the shadows of their flickering torchlight seemed somehow… off.

The party came to a larger chamber which featured a number of shallow pits against one wall, as well as numerous piles of metal bits, chopping implements, and other debris. Stark became very certain he saw something move in one corner, and when he moved toward it with outstretched torch, found himself on the business end of two spears wielded by two 7′ tall humanoid creatures, whose skin was thick, scaly, and greenish-brown, and whose eyes were yellow.

Long story short, the scaly guys with the spears were none too pleased to find that our heroes were working for the Red Temple, and they (the heroes) were escorted at spear’s end into the next large chamber, where they met King Kags, Last Emperor of the Scalehide Clan. They learned that the Scalehides had lived in these caverns for “time unending,” but that their race was dying. The clan had been trading with Dinos and the Red Temple, providing materials used in religious rites in exchange for medicine that the Temple claimed would cure the mysterious disease that had rendered the lizardfolk infertile. However, the medicine had not had any effect, and the tribe was beginning to suspect that the Red Temple had designs on “the bounty of the caverns” and were trying to gain access to “the gate.” What’s more, some members of the clan were contemplating addressing these issues directly – and violently – with the Red Temple, though the ultimate outcome of such a pursuit was questionable.

The party suggested that they might return to the surface in order to figure out WTF the Red Temple was up to, in order that they might aid the Scalehides. Before King Kags would allow this, he demanded the party prove their worth… via hand-to-hand combat. Stark volunteered to represent the party and as he and a rather large lizardguy squared off, a weird smell that could only be described as “psycho musk” filled the room. The two warriors fought and exchanged blows, and ultimately Stark must have met some unspoken standard, for Kags stopped the combat, declaring that “we trust your valor” and thus the party did not need to leave any members behind as insurance. “If you would act on our behalf, act on your best behalf.” The party promised to honor its promise, and King Kags granted his leave.

Returning through the smelly caverns, as the party passed through the chamber where they had recently slain some jelly, a cacophonous jibber-jabber filled the room as a previously unnoticed pile of debris suddenly revealed itself to be an amorphous blob with many eyes and mouths. Eiluned was baffled by the gibberings of this mouther and stood gaping as it applied its horrible mouths to her person. Meanwhile Stark and Spiderssen were confused by the wretched shriekings and began attacking each other! Bunny and Koringa fought it valiantly, though they were unable to prevent it from surging over Eiluned, covering her and pinning her to the ground with even more mouths!

Eventually Stark and Spiderssen snapped out of it, and they joined the rest of the party in killing it – Koringa dealt the final blow, though he was not using his new Butterstick – while sustaining surprisingly minor damage. In its gullet they found 46 copper, 30 silver, and 5 gold.

The party extricated itself from the ruins without further incident and pitched camp near the entrance. Casting “Detect Magic” on all the items they had recently acquired, Eiluned was able to tell that the former holy symbol of St. Cyrus had a faint magical aura, but everything else seemed mundane.

Then everybody went to bed!

Session XIV, part 1

Heading west into the chamber beyond the locked door, the party saw a flickering in the distance, as though their torchlight was being reflected. As they stood and waited for something to happen, they saw a suit of full plate armor and a great sword floating down the corridor toward them. Spiderssen tossed out a greeting, which was not returned; his call echoed slightly, but less than one would expect in this stony chamber. As the armor and sword approached, the party realized that the space around the objects was not in fact transparent but translucent; almost immediately after, Stark suffered a mighty slam from what turned out to be a gelatinous cube!

The valiant warrior found his torch arm stuck in the cube, though his sword arm remained free. The party attacked in their various fashions: Bunny let fly a crossbow bolt, which somehow managed to miss the great blob; Spiderssen Magic Missiled it, Koringa dealt it a wicked blow, and Eiluned used her Ring of Heat Metal on the suit of armor.

Over the next couple of rounds, more blows were aim. Some hit, some missed, and as the suit of armor began to heat up, the cube seemed to weaken. Indeed, it weakened such that Bunny dealt it a decisive blow, causing it to burst in a gelatinous explosion. The remnants of the cube fizzled away, and in addition to the ordinance the party found some gems and an iron circlet of red and gold stones that looked very similar to those worn by high-ranking members of the Red Temple. Determined to have the biggest weapon in the party, Koringa took possession of the great sword.

Venturing further west, the party explored a dead end and then doubled back to explore a southern passage, from which a horrible charnel stench floated across a 20′ wide pit. Looking into the pit revealed no bottom, but crude rungs were carved out of the wall. Lighting a peat brick, Spiderssen dropped it into the pit, which seemed to be about 50′ deep. After much effort a grappling hook was tossed across the pit and secured on some rocks; Stark bravely descended into the pit, with a lit lantern being lowered alongside him.

At the bottom of the pit, stony debris was found to obscure a stone manhole cover. Rather than explore further downward, the party decided to venture further south, into the smellier regions of the caverns.

Across the pit, the party found a room to the east and a twisty passage leading off to the south. The smell was worse from the east, which is the direction the party headed. They found themselves in a large room strewn with corpses, several of which were being eaten by four ghoulish creatures. A fissure in the ceiling suggested that this chamber lay below the room above where the party had recently disposed of the head of Melchett.

Combat ensued, with the usual storm of hits and misses. Koringa was very excited for his new great sword; so much so that as he swung it in a mighty blow, he lost his grip and the blade went spiraling out of his hands – twice in a row. After that, Koringa decided to go back to his broad sword for the time being, and the party eventually put paid to the ghouls.

Searching through the corpses revealed that most of them seemed to be the remnants of the Order of St. Cyrus. Apparently in the sacking of the temple, many adherents hid their valuables in the safest place they could think of, for many gems were found in the stomach cavities of the ghoul fodder. In addition, Stark found a small disk with twisted bits of metal on it that once was a holy symbol of the Order.

Proceeding down another hallway, the party became aware of an increasingly loud buzzing sound. Passing a few empty rooms, they turned a corner and found themselves face to face with three giant flies the size of dogs! The flies were quite zealous in guarding the large pile of filth in the center of the room, and a vicious, buzzing melee occurred. Many fly guts were spilled, and the party managed to survive with a minimum of damage. Much time was spent pondering the purpose, origin, potential usefulness, and fate of the pile of filth; in the end, however, the party left it as they found it and headed back for the manhole at the bottom of the pit.

Session XIII

[details of this session are extremely hazy due to the passage of time. This recap assembled from very sketchy notes]

The party frog-marched the cultist – Sniffles – back to the slime-covered room they had discovered early in their explorations. The cultists were convinced that the “treasure” had something to do with the room known as the Moon Pool. Upon entering the room, Sniffles – as he was wont to do – sneezed again. This seemed to be a signal, as four of the brigands the party had previously tangled with showed up. Combat ensued, and in the midst of combat more cultists showed up from another passage, splitting the party. Spiderssen, Stark, and Koringa faced the first gang, and Eiluned and Bunny fended off the second.

Eventually all the cultists were eliminated – a search of their bodies revealed only a few pieces of chalk, and some soap – and a very nervous Sniffles was made to burn the slime off the pool surface. After this was accomplished, an exploration of the pool revealed a very heavy metal sphere, hinged and clasped and very ornate. The sphere was unlocked, and opening revealed a small silk cushion (completely waterlogged), upon which sat a small, hardened bit of matter not unreminiscent of a human finger. The party deduced that it was a relic of St. Cyrus, but could not determine either its purpose or its reason for being found in the bottom of a pool covered in green slime.

The party commenced to burning the slime from the walls, but this revealed nothing. Bunny, however, got slimed in the process, and then suffered some damage when Stark (?) cured her from certain doom by burning the slime off of her. The party decided to rest and return to the Red Temple – Sniffles in tow – to make their report.

Upon their return to the Red Temple, the party presented Nika with the relic, their prisoner, and “the whole story” they had uncovered involving the presence of the cult of Narthex in the ruins. She was cheered by the lack of lizard people, but was also concerned about the rest of the filth the party had encountered, as well as curious as to what the other levels of the ruins would contain. She offered to increase the party’s reward if they would return and investigate. The party agreed, if she would fortify them, and she agreed, and so the next day, they did.

Returning to Melchett’s study, a crowbar loosened the perhaps-not-so-impenetrable door enough for Koringa and Stark to open it by striking it soundly several times with their combined weight. As it burst open, they each fell about 10′ down, landing somewhat uncomfortably on a large well-hewn spiral staircase. As they and their companions descended, they noticed that the cavern walls had been smoothed, and 50′ later they were surprised to find a tiled floor (though most of the tiles had been chipped or smashed). Apart from a broken font in one corner of the room there was nothing other than a passage to the south.

This passage led to an intersection, and here the cavern began to look much more like one would expect, with rough floors and walls. The party surmised that whoever was responsible for the polished quality of the entrance chamber gave up the task. A wide chamber lay to the west, and a sturdy-looking double-banded wooden door lay to the south. The party chose to leave the door for the time being, and proceeded west into a huge chamber that was empty except for stalagmites and stalactites, and a banded wooden door in the northern wall. The door proved to be unlocked; beyond it was a cramped room that could be barred from the inside. A decrepit copy of The Teachings of St. Cyrus lay in one corner, but it all contained was a series of boring homilies.

Following the cavern to the west, the party encountered more shadows and stone. At the western edge of this room the ground began to feel sludgy, and as it opened into the next room the corridor became downright wet. Along the northern edge of this room ran a rickety wooden “boardwalk” and a natural path curved along the southern wall. Stark followed the wooden way to its end, at a 7×7′ platform with a big hole in the middle of it. The hole seemed to lead down, down, down, and smelled bad.

As Stark and Eiluned proceeded along the natural path along the southern wall, they found themselves skirting a wide, dark expanse of water that reached beyond the range of their torches. The air smelled more than faintly of sparks, and the water’s surface came to within several inches of the path they walked. The water itself sloshed unexpectedly – and flashed with a sinister light. The path led to a ledge, upon which lay a charred corpse. It turned out to have been a female adventurer wearing the remains of leather armor. Next to her lay a hand axe and a pack. The pack contained 30 sp, a bracelet featuring blue and green semi-precious stones, and a scroll case containing a very old map. The location detailed by the map, however, remained a mystery.

The party returned to the wooden door at the first intersection, and after picking the tough lock entered yet another rough chamber.

 

Session XII

So much time has elapsed since the last session, and my notes are so sparse, that I am forced to proceed with a minimum of narrative accuracy and detail. Sorry, everybody! (If any players want to chime in with some missing highlights, I would very much appreciate it).

As they continued to investigate the ruined temple, the party came to a dark and dank room. The only indicators that this had been a chapel were the shattered altar and broken choir. The remnants of statuary mixed with rubble, and a large crevasse dominated the floor in the center of the room. From it issued a stench so foul that several members of the party found themselves crippled by it, which was unfortunate because as they stood there gagging they were set upon by two shambling creatures that could only be described as “ghoulish.” The party managed to dispatch them – Eiluned slew one, and the other was knocked unconscious by a harsh blow that sent it reeling into the crevasse.

From the chapel the party moved down the shadowy halls around a corner, where they found themselves staring into a ruined room featuring a large metal-banded wooden door, a crumbled wall, and a young man wearing chain mail and carrying a shield. He revealed himself to be Melchett, the Master of the Temple, Servitor of the Undying. He demanded the party leave, and when they refused, he got very nasty indeed. Uttering an incomprehensible word, from the shadows arose four skeletons wielding scimitars. Koringa and Stark were the only PCs in the room – Koringa having inserted himself between Melchett and the large door, and Stark standing in the doorway – and they began to fight. For lack of anything better to do, Spiderssen cast Featherfall on the cleric, which caused him to bounce in confusion briefly. From the back rank, Eiluned used her new Ring of Heat Metal on Melchett’s armor, but there was no immediate effect. After a minute Melchett began to look uncomfortable, but cast a spell and suddenly seemed to be feeling fine. After this spell, nobody could bring themselves to attack him; and shortly thereafter he cast yet another spell that caused the entire party except for Stark to run, shrieking, into the now-dark halls.

Stark was able to overcome his issues and attack the skeletons, heroically dispatching three of them, and even wounding the Master fairly heavily. Melchett ran out of the room and into the hall, where he managed to slip past the regrouping rest of the party. They tracked him to the larder (which the PCs had already visited), where he was rummaging through the closet, no doubt in search of the potions of Cure Light Wounds that the party had already found. Stark grabbed him from behind and put him in a full nelson, as the party began questioning him. Sample dialogue (see if you can spot Koringa’s line!):

“How many of you are there?” “One.”

“Who is the Undying?” “The Undying is Narthex.”

“I’m gonna ask you one more time, Mayor McFuckpants — Lizard People.” “That’s not a question.”

“What’s on the other side of that door?” “The Depths.”

After getting nowhere, Stark snapped the cleric’s neck. They beheaded him and threw his head into the crevasse in the chapel before continuing with their explorations.

A scriptorium featured a collapsed roof and a large, shallow pool of blackish water that flowed from the next room. A pile of books in the corner caught the party’s eye, as did the foul yellow mold that covered it. Taking some precautions, Stark picked up a book, disturbing the mold and releasing its spores into the air, causing Spiderssen and Bunny to pass out. Eiluned poured a potion of Cure Disease into Bunny’s mouth and she revived; Koringa did the same for Spiderssen. Nobody disturbed the mold again.

In another chamber, which had apparently been used as a study, the party came upon four cultists intent on destroying the few books and scrolls remaining. A short battle ensued, but after one of the cultists fell the others surrendered, claiming that in exchange for mercy they would take the party to where the treasure is. When the party wanted to know what that entailed, the cultists said “knowledge and power.” The party hogtied two of the cultists and took the weakest one, who appeared to be suffering from a cold, with them. Further questioning revealed that the cultists – this one, anyway – did not actually know what the treasure was, just where it was. They queried him about Narthex the Undying – who he was (“the Undying”), where he was (“we do not know”), what benefits they gained from following him (“to become Undying”) and whether those benefits would extend to the cultist they had just slain (“yes”), etc. Koringa expressed at length his frustration with “riddles.”

Session XI, part 2

Upon arriving at the temple ruins, the party found an entrance carved out of the hillside. Warily remembering other times they had descended into the ground, they were relieved that nothing horrible happened to them as they descended a long staircase and came out into a long hall. The walls and floors were smoothly-hewn and tastefully nondescript.

Beginning to explore, the brave adventurers first found a large room featuring four large pillars, one of which had begun to crumble, opening a fissure in the ceiling through which a thin sliver of sunlight shone into the otherwise dark chamber. Before anyone had a chance to look around, though, they were set upon by six giant (small dog sized) centipedes, whose bites proved to be capable of paralyzing the victim – as Stark, Koringa, and Bunny all quickly discovered! Spiderssen fought valiantly, but ultimately it was Eiluned who skillfully destroyed all six of the unnatural arthropods. A combination of potions and time thawed out the rest of the party, though each found that the location of their bites – the fighters’ ankles, and Bunny’s left arm – were practically useless. The quick quaffing of potions restored the fighters to fighting shape, though Bunny forsook a cure for the time being, wanting to conserve their resources.

As the party recovered its wits and range of motion and began exploring the room, they were disturbed and disgusted to find yet another giant centipede lurking in wait for them behind one of the pillars. This one was truly giant – that is, man-sized – and its mandibles clicked menacingly. However, it proved singularly ineffective against the fully-restored party, and it joined its smaller cousins in an ichorous death ere too much time passed.

Continuing their explorations, the party found that the pillars were carved with images which must have once represented the life of St. Cyrus. Like the defaced mosaics adorning the walls, however, it was impossible to discern their content. Additionally, the fault in the ceiling had let in a significant amount of rainwater, which formed a nasty pool, and which no doubt contributed to the growth of the many discolored fungi across the floor and walls.

All the party found of any interest was a small votive candleholder and an exquisitely carved wooden statue of St. Cyrus. Both seemed fairly valuable but the statue, at four feet tall, was too tall to be carried, so the party left it behind for the time and headed south, into a small circular room that consisted entirely of a pool beneath an aperture in the ceiling. At one point light from the aperture must have reflected in the pool, but at present – and for Cyrus knows how long – the entire room was covered in dangerous-looking green slime. The party chose not to even bother investigating, and withdrew.

Coming around a corner, the party were surprised to find three brigands laying in wait for them, along with a freakish creature with a body as long as a horse and a wolfish head larger than a lion’s. After some blows were exchanged, Spiderssen cast his favorite spell and the bloodied brigands fled while vomiting profusely as the wizard stood there twirling his face on his index finger. After the rest of the party killed the creature, they realized that they were at the end of a collapsed tunnel, and that the brigands and the creature must have been attempting to dig into the ruins of the tunnel, though to what end they could not discern.

The party decided to see if Flea could track the brigands by following the scent of the vomit she had been looking up. She seemed to understand, and they followed her to a room that looked as though it had been a dormitory: smashed-up wooden pallets, shreds of bedding and clothing, etc. There were no brigands, but Flea immediately found a crack in the tiled floor through which rose a stench that could only be described as charnel. The crack was too small to fit through, and peering through revealed only darkness.

Frustrated, the party re-investigated a room adjacent to the collapsed tunnel, which, judging by the broken glass and dark stains on the floors, seemed to have been the temple’s wine cellar. There were a few unbroken bottles, and upon opening one it smelled decidedly vinegary.

Working their way through the dark, narrow halls, the party also found a disused workshop, the contents of which seemed to have been smashed in the sacking of the temple, though a few functional tools remained.

As the party entered a circular room full of smashed barrels and crates, they were certainly surprised when two big spiders dropped from the ceiling! Combat was fierce and frightening until the spiders were soundly crunched, and in the flickering of torchlight the party saw a shadowy shape in the webbing at the top of the room. Poking it with his staff, Spiderssen was able to dislodge it, though in doing so he caused it to fall on Bunny, though she sustained no damage. It proved to be the desiccated husk of a man. Searching the corpse revealed a small coin purse containing 10 gp, as well as a scroll case. The scroll it contained was written in an obscure eldritch dialect, and all Spiderssen could determine casually was that the spell was called “Mask Alignment.”