Session date: Monday, May 8, 2017
Game date: Saturday, September 6, 209
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 4, hp 23, xp 14394/17000
Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 16145/20000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 3, hp 11, xp 4939/8000
Adrien, Fighter 3, hp 9, xp 4269/8000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 3, hp 17, xp 5093/8000
Brother Chase Pike, Cleric 2, hp 11, xp 2225/3000
Kevon, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 167/2000
Debbi, Magic-user 1, hp 6, xp 350/2500
It was two weeks later when the adventurers reunited to mop up some loose ends at Caryatid the Green's apartment in the dungeon. As far as they knew, there was still a demon down there, bound to an arcane summoning circle. Kevon was back again, so Simon let Orin go on his way and reunited with his original retainer. Debbi was still off somewhere, so Adrien again decided to adventure without a retainer. Over the course of the two weeks, Gulleck spent some time securing their recently purchased house in The Steps. He barred shut the magical wardrobe on the top floor that was somehow linked to an identical wardrobe in the dungeon, lest something wander into the city through the wardrobe.
The party visited Professor Zinn in his rickety house at the very top of the Street of Steps. The professor was happy to see them as always (once they had paid his 500 silver shekel fee). He was shocked to hear that Caryatid the Green had summoned a demon, and confessed with some embarassment that he had been helping her with her research into arcane rituals. It was so nice to find a kindred spirit, interested in research for its own sake (or so he had believed). He wasn't able to give them specific information about the demon in question, but suspected that it was bound to the service of those who controlled it, able to bend reality and grant the most outlandish of wishes, the traditional number being three. Professor Zinn was very amused to hear of the goose. Green Caryatid had paid him for his research services with golden eggs, and it delighted him to think they had been laid by an actual goose. He could offer no suggestions on the nature of this goose however (which was now living in Caryatid's apartment).
Down in the dungeon, the adventurers headed to the apartment of the late Green Caryatid, intent on confronting and hopefully banishing the demon. On the way, they encountered two bugbears, who came sprinting towards them out of the darkness with alarming speed and silent, loping strides. The tall, gangly, and hairy goblins lunged for Gulleck as they approached, shrieking, "Die, enemies of the Goblin Prince!" in their eerily high, hooting voices. Caryatid spoke the words of the Web spell and ensnared one of the bugbears in a mess of sticky spiderwebs, while Gulleck and Adrien made swift work of the other one. Then they turned towards the one in the webs, and killed it as well, without even trying to parley. They burnt the body free of the web, and dragged the two bodies down the hall to a corner not far from the Goblin Prince's lair. Using a stick of chalk, Gulleck wrote "Beware the King of Shadows" on the wall above the two bloodied corpses, and then they continued on to Green Caryatid's apartment.
The door was still wizard locked as they had left it, and seemed undisturbed. Caryatid opened it easily, and they looked in upon a grotesque sight. Green Caryatid's remains were still on the floor, but little was left but her skeleton and some scraps of robes. It appears that over the two weeks her body had been skeletonized by the swarm of beetles and other insects that covered most of the floor of this room, their carapaces glinting in the flickering of the magical heatless fire below the mantel.
Gulleck and Simon decided to run through the scuttling swarm to the threshold of the summoning room. The insects bit at their feet and ankles as they passed, but did little damage and did not seem overly aggressive towards the PCs. Simon wanted to explore the laboratory in the back of the apartment, and used his recently acquired levitation boots to float a foot above the ground, and then pulled himself along the wall to the other doorway. In the laboratory he discovered a number of interesting books, including a thick tome detailing methods of summoning and binding beings from "elsewhere", and another old book that seemed to be a treatise on human anatomy and how a "superman" could be assembled by using the best parts of several bodies and then imbuing them with the spark of life somehow. All these books were very technical and absurdly over the head of Simon, but the gist of what Caryatid had been up to was clear enough. Simon also found an empty metal box about a foot square. When he later described this box to Gulleck and Caryatid they went pale, for it sounded exactly like the box that Gulleck had bought to lock up the dreadful Beating Heart after they had destroyed it. The box (and the Heart) had gone missing one day shortly before they left on their sea voyage, and at the time they had suspected Green Caryatid of stealing it. Now it seemed their suspicions were confirmed.
And then, with some trepidation, they entered the summoning room. It was the same as when they had last seen it: a large circle was inlaid on the floor in brass, and across the room from it was a similar triangle inlay. Cold braziers stood at the points of the triangle and the four cardinal directions on the circle. Within the triangle was a hideous monstrosity, a grotesque shrimplike creature standing upright about five feet tall. Its bulbous eyes stared at them balefully as they entered the room. It grew agitated and began a fearful clacking and gnashing of its mandibles, gesticulating wildly with its clawed arms.
"So how do we communicate with this thing and tell it to go home?", mused Caryatid. She noticed that its flailing arms seemed to be motioning towards the brass circle inlaid on the floor. Anxious that this might be a terrible trap, she cautiously stepped across the brass line defining the circle. It felt as though she was crossing a tangible threshold into another space, and immediately the demon's horrible clacking and gnashing seemed to shift in her mind and become comprehensible speech.
"Free me from this prison, and I will grant you power beyond imagining," it hissed, in an unearthly gurgling, wheezing voice.
"Ah, I don't think that's gonna happen, sweetheart," said Caryatid brightly. Outside the circle, it a one-sided conversation as far as the rest of the party was concerned. All they heard was senseless gnashing and hissing. Eventually, Simon decided to join Caryatid within the circle, and the two of them engaged the demon in conversation.
The demon was very willing to speak, but kept returning to the topic of imploring them to free it. Caryatid and Simon interrogated it about its services to Green Caryatid. It told them that she had summoned and bound it to the triangle, and by the laws that govern such things it was required to grant three wishes to those who stood in the circle; only then would it be freed. Green Caryatid's first wish had been for an endless source of wealth, and the demon had provided her with a goose that could lay golden eggs. When Caryatid asked the demon where the goose came from, it told her that it had belonged to a giant who lived in a castle in the clouds. (Groans and laughter went around the table.) Green Carytid's second wish had been for the demon to imbue the spark of life upon a body she had assembled over several months. It was to be her bodyguard and servant, and the demon gave it life.
There was one wish left, but if used the demon would be fulfilled of its obligation and free to leave the confines of the binding triangle.
"Well, what will you do then?" asked Simon nervously.
"Feed..." hissed the demon hungrily.
"Like, feed us lunch?" asked Simon, but the demon only seemed to smirk, although it was hard to be sure about a giant prawn smirking.
The demon begged Simon and Caryatid to free it, to just scrape out some of the brass inlay in the floor and break the triangle that held it prisoner. If it was freed, it swore it would serve them loyally, and grant them power and wealth beyond their mortal imaginations.
This was a pretty funny conversation, actually. The players actually kept going back and forth on what to do. Everyone was sure the demon was untrustworthy and that it would tear them all to shreds the moment it was free, and that the thing to do was to use the last wish to send it away forever, but then just when everything seemed decided, Simon said, "Wait, maybe we should go ahead and set it free; we could be passing up a big opportunity here!"
"Yes! Set me free! You will be well rewarded!" gurgled the gruesome thing with undisguised eagerness.
But alas, in the end, saner heads prevailed. A wish was very carefully worded: "Go back to the place, or plane of existence, or wherever you came from when Green Caryatid summoned you here, and never come back again! And don't kill us all before leaving, either."
"So be it," snarled the demon. There was a clap of thunder, a bizarre warping of space that was only half visual, and a sudden whiff of the rotten egg stench of brimstone and then the thing was gone. The brass triangle stood empty.
The adventures returned to the Rusty Lantern, pleased that they had banished the hideous thing from the world, although perhaps Simon still wondered if there might have been a way to safely get an actual wish or two out of it before sending it away.
Thursday, December 21, 2017
Monday, December 18, 2017
Idalium Game 73: Like Tears in Rain
Session date: Monday, April 24, 2017
Game date: Saturday, August 23, 209
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 4, hp 23, xp 14268/17000
Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 16019/20000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 3, hp 11, xp 4807/8000
Adrien, Fighter 3, hp 9, xp 4143/8000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 3, hp 17, xp 5093/8000
Brother Chase Pike, Cleric 2, hp 11, xp 2159/3000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 0/4000
Another meeting of the Infestation Managers, and they were sure of one thing: Caryatid the Green had to be exterminated once and for all. First, she had an actual demon summoned and imprisoned, apparently granting her wishes. Next, she had constructed a hulking artificial man as a bodyguard. Finally, she had magically bewitched half of the urchin children living in the secret passages of the dungeon and was planning who knows what for them. Although the adventurers had always had some degree of sympathy for her (since they were the cause of her very existence) it was evident now that she was too far gone to be allowed to live.
Kevon and Debbi had both taken their earnings from last week and taken the week off. (Possibly Debbi was still sore from being killed by killer bees.) Adrien opted to adventure on her own, but Simon wanted to recruit a replacement retainer, and found a weedy elf named Orin who was willing to join him. And so, having assembled their party, the adventurers paid their toll of one gold daric per person to the guards at the trapdoor in the cellar of the Rusty Lantern tavern and descended into the buried city of Idalium, making straight for the second level.
As they walked down the hall to the Temple of Chance (they wanted to "haze" Orin with a spin on the magic Wheel of Fortune), they heard goblin voices chattering and laughing down the hall. Creeping up to a door, they discovered half a dozen goblins hard at work in what used to be the temple of the orcs. It was now set up as their feast hall, and the goblins were busy hanging tapestries and painting an enormous impression of the Goblin Prince's pompous face on the wall behind the altar, covering up the hideous monstrosity that the orcs had worshipped. The goblins were in surprisingly good spirits, considering the last time the adventurers had met goblins they had been ordered to kill them. Maybe they hadn't identified the adventurers yet.
Gulleck ventured to ask if the goblins had heard anything about Caryatid the Green's activities in the last week. "That witch!?" snapped one of the goblins, spitting on the floor. "She burned a whole bunch of us to soot! The Goblin Prince has ordered that she be killed as soon as possible."
"That's a great idea," said Gulleck, "Why don't you guys go get her right now?"
"Well, we can't do that. We have to paint the feast hall!"
So the group took their leave of the goblins and went to spin Orin on the Wheel of Fortune. The wheel spun round, making a terrible clatter, coupled with Orin's seasick wails, and when he came to a stop they discovered that just like Simon's other retainer Kevon, Orin now puffed multicolor smoke from his ears as he used his brain.
Now, the thing about the very noisy Wheel of Fortune is that every time you spin it, it makes such a racket that it always triggers a wandering monster check. And my players are not always good about remembering to close the door behind them. So, irony of ironies, having come down here to slay Caryatid the Green, whose familiar voice should they now hear behind them?
"Well, well, well. If it isn't my old friends and adventuring companions." Caryatid the Green stood in the doorway, next to her very large companion, "Mister Beefcake", whose eyes stared dully from above the livid stitching on his pallid neck.
"Uh, hi, how've you been?" asked Gulleck cautiously.
"Oh, quite well! I've been having a little pest trouble with those ridiculous goblins, but with my bodyguard here, and my new little friends, I don't think I have much to fear from them."
"Little friends?" asked "Blue Caryatid".
"Oh yes," replied her "twin". "The children who live in the secret passages right behind my apartment. They've been ever so helpful, after we came to an... understanding. I feel like my role in life is expanding. First I felt I was here to seek knowledge and magical power for its own sake. But now I realize that I can be a force for good in this dungeon. With the children at my side, we could rid this level of all of these monsters. And you could help me, too, Gulleck. We could adventure together, like we did in the old days, before that pool created that duplicate of me..." She glared at Blue Caryatid.
"Now, wait..." said Gulleck, "You can't use those children as your army..."
But Green Caryatid was murmuring strange words and Gulleck suddenly felt a wave of doubt and uncertainty across his mind. It passed momentarily, thanks to his excellent dwarven saving throws. Blue Caryatid reacted immediately by launching a magic missile spell at Green Caryatid, and Gulleck lunged forward, giving "Mister Beefcake" a shove to try to knock him down to get to Green Caryatid. Unfortunately, the hulking man stood his ground and Gulleck didn't even budge him.
Simon threw a dagger at the creature, and Meat sank his sword into the monster with a sickening squelch, but it emerged without drawing blood and apparently without harming the creature in the slightest. Green Caryatid spoke new magical words, and then sticky strands of silk shot forth from her fingertips, tangling Gulleck and Adrien up in a huge messy spiderweb.
Blue Caryatid drew forth her whimsically painted "wand of random magic" and pointed it at Green Caryatid. There was a weird ripple of magic in the room, and then large green leaves sprouted out of Green Caryatid's hair and the back of her hands. She stared at her hands in shock and then shouted angrily at Blue Caryatid and the adventurers.
"I only wanted to talk to you! What kind of treatment is this!? Come on, Mister Beefcake, I've had enough of these ingrates!" And she stormed off, followed by the heavy plodding footsteps of her silent bodyguard.
So, after shutting the door this time, the party took about half an hour to hack Gulleck and Adrien out of the web. Then, Adrien decided to take a spin on the Wheel of Fortune. She turned out to be unlucky, quite literally, as she received a -2 penalty to all dice rolls for the rest of the day.
The adventurers decided that it was now or never, and prepared to confront Caryatid the Green at her apartment. First they stopped by the six goblins in the temple again, and tried to stir up some anger against Caryatid, but alas, the goblins seemed happy to stay there and paint. So the group made their way alone to Caryatid's apartment and knocked on the door.
Caryatid was still irritated at the leaves that now covered her skin and grew forth from her hair, but grudgingly accepted an apology from Blue Caryatid and Gulleck. Gulleck suggested an alliance against the Goblin Prince. "Maybe I was hasty in disagreeing with you. Maybe you're on to something with those urchins."
"Yes, that's right," said Caryatid the Green. "With my urchin army at my disposal, we can wipe the goblins clean from this entire dungeon and rule it all under the banner of the Green!"
"Uh, right..." said Blue Caryatid. "Well, why don't we go defeat them now? We don't even need the children, just all of us together, like the old days! What better time than the present?"
"Yes, why not, as long as you are with me! Let us cleanse this place of the foul stench of the Goblin Prince once and for all!"
"Okay, lead on..." said Gulleck, and then made furious urgent gestures with his eyebrows as Caryatid the Green and Mister Beefcake strode from her apartment and began proceeding down the hall.
And so they attacked their former adventuring companion from behind. Caryatid cast another Magic Missile at her twin, while Gulleck and Simon used their magical weapons to attack her enormous bodyguard. This time the axe and sword sang and sizzled as they cut into him, and the creature gave a gutteral snarl as he was injured. Caryatid drew forth her wand again, but this time only made herself go invisible.
Green Caryatid, her face enraged at the surprise betrayal, cast another magic spell, and suddenly the ceiling was dripping with corrosive green slime! It dripped onto armor and clothing and quickly began to eat its way through, seeking the flesh beneath! Gulleck, Meat, Caryatid, and Adrien made saving throws and quickly recognized it as an illusion, but Brother Chase, Simon, and Orin were too caught up in their panic to see it for what it was, and began stripping off their plate mail, throwing it across the hall trying to escape contact with the slime. Even in the midst of combat, Caryatid couldn't resist a quick leer at the sight of her handsome employee in his thin undergarments.
And then Gulleck slammed his axe into the giant, and with a grunt he staggered to his knees and then faceplanted onto the floor. Green Caryatid's face contorted with rage.
"Mister Beefcake!" she shrieked in anguish, and then began intoning a familiar incantation. A bead of fiery light began to gleam at her fingertip, growing in strength...
The players knew that several of them would likely die from a fireball, even if they made their saves, so it was critical that they hit her before she could complete the spell. Caryatid tried using her wand of paralyzation, but Green Caryatid was unfazed by the pulse of sparks that washed past her. Gulleck swung his axe at her but stumbled over the bulky corpse of her creature and missed. And then Orin earned his keep, and threw a dagger that hit for three points of damage, disrupting her spell! Adrien as well hit with her sword.
And now Blue Caryatid waved her wand of random magic a third time today, and what came up on the table was a delusion of a rainstorm, hardly useful at all! Most everyone made their saves, so they understood it was an illusion, but yet it was surreal to see a soundless flash of lightning, followed by a deluge of rain in the dungeon corridor, splashing on the flagstones and trickling away down the hallway. Caryatid couldn't help but notice the way Brother Chase's undershirt grew transparent in the rain and clung to his rugged pectorals, even though she knew none of it was real.
Green Caryatid gazed helplessly at her angry opponents, as the rain drenched her hair.
"Please, Gulleck, it doesn't have to be this way. You and I used to be friends! Before I made the stupid decision to jump in that resurrection pool and it created that copy, that... replicant of me! Gulleck, I remember all of it! I remember the very day we found you in that pit, while we were trying to help the friendly gnomes get their treasure back from the knockers. I remember when we first found this old wizard's apartment, and you hacked that silly talking head out of the door! I remember Tod, and Tyrriel, and even poor old Twiffle. How can you say I'm the replicant when I can remember all these things? I'm real! Please Gulleck, don't do this."
Gulleck found himself hesitating against his better judgment, and his axe lowered by a few inches. The rain beat down on his helmet and trickled into his eyes as he gazed at his old friend.
"Caryatid, I..."
"Gulleck. Please... Spare my life, and together, with my army of urchins, we shall rule over this entir-- urrrrgh!"
Her speech was cut abruptly short as Gulleck, Simon, and Adrien all plunged their weapons into Green Caryatid's body. She fell roughly to the stone floor, the light fading from her eyes as the tears streaking her cheeks were washed away by the same illusory rain that drenched her green and golden robe.
The adventurers dragged Green Caryatid's body into the sitting room of her apartment and then, allowing no chance of her being resurrected, Gulleck beheaded her corpse with his axe. They made a quick search of her apartment. In her study, they found a wooden cage containing a seemingly ordinary goose. Could it really be the one that laid the golden eggs they had found? They also found a potion that when sipped gave them a sense that it could lead them to treasure, and a scroll with two magical spells on it. There was also a tall staff, made of gnarled withered wood, and a pair of boots that could lift the wearer into the air. They also found Green Caryatid's spellbooks.
The goose was cantankerous, but they got it out of the dungeon by having Simon use his animal control ring to keep it docile so Brother Chase could carry it, and then Meat carried Simon on his shoulders back to the surface, since he couldn't break his concentration to walk. Before they left, Caryatid wizard locked the door of the apartment, to make sure no one tangled with the demon that they expected was still imprisoned in the summoning room. But that would have to wait for another time.
Game date: Saturday, August 23, 209
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 4, hp 23, xp 14268/17000
Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 16019/20000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 3, hp 11, xp 4807/8000
Adrien, Fighter 3, hp 9, xp 4143/8000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 3, hp 17, xp 5093/8000
Brother Chase Pike, Cleric 2, hp 11, xp 2159/3000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 0/4000
Another meeting of the Infestation Managers, and they were sure of one thing: Caryatid the Green had to be exterminated once and for all. First, she had an actual demon summoned and imprisoned, apparently granting her wishes. Next, she had constructed a hulking artificial man as a bodyguard. Finally, she had magically bewitched half of the urchin children living in the secret passages of the dungeon and was planning who knows what for them. Although the adventurers had always had some degree of sympathy for her (since they were the cause of her very existence) it was evident now that she was too far gone to be allowed to live.
Kevon and Debbi had both taken their earnings from last week and taken the week off. (Possibly Debbi was still sore from being killed by killer bees.) Adrien opted to adventure on her own, but Simon wanted to recruit a replacement retainer, and found a weedy elf named Orin who was willing to join him. And so, having assembled their party, the adventurers paid their toll of one gold daric per person to the guards at the trapdoor in the cellar of the Rusty Lantern tavern and descended into the buried city of Idalium, making straight for the second level.
As they walked down the hall to the Temple of Chance (they wanted to "haze" Orin with a spin on the magic Wheel of Fortune), they heard goblin voices chattering and laughing down the hall. Creeping up to a door, they discovered half a dozen goblins hard at work in what used to be the temple of the orcs. It was now set up as their feast hall, and the goblins were busy hanging tapestries and painting an enormous impression of the Goblin Prince's pompous face on the wall behind the altar, covering up the hideous monstrosity that the orcs had worshipped. The goblins were in surprisingly good spirits, considering the last time the adventurers had met goblins they had been ordered to kill them. Maybe they hadn't identified the adventurers yet.
Gulleck ventured to ask if the goblins had heard anything about Caryatid the Green's activities in the last week. "That witch!?" snapped one of the goblins, spitting on the floor. "She burned a whole bunch of us to soot! The Goblin Prince has ordered that she be killed as soon as possible."
"That's a great idea," said Gulleck, "Why don't you guys go get her right now?"
"Well, we can't do that. We have to paint the feast hall!"
So the group took their leave of the goblins and went to spin Orin on the Wheel of Fortune. The wheel spun round, making a terrible clatter, coupled with Orin's seasick wails, and when he came to a stop they discovered that just like Simon's other retainer Kevon, Orin now puffed multicolor smoke from his ears as he used his brain.
Now, the thing about the very noisy Wheel of Fortune is that every time you spin it, it makes such a racket that it always triggers a wandering monster check. And my players are not always good about remembering to close the door behind them. So, irony of ironies, having come down here to slay Caryatid the Green, whose familiar voice should they now hear behind them?
"Well, well, well. If it isn't my old friends and adventuring companions." Caryatid the Green stood in the doorway, next to her very large companion, "Mister Beefcake", whose eyes stared dully from above the livid stitching on his pallid neck.
"Uh, hi, how've you been?" asked Gulleck cautiously.
"Oh, quite well! I've been having a little pest trouble with those ridiculous goblins, but with my bodyguard here, and my new little friends, I don't think I have much to fear from them."
"Little friends?" asked "Blue Caryatid".
"Oh yes," replied her "twin". "The children who live in the secret passages right behind my apartment. They've been ever so helpful, after we came to an... understanding. I feel like my role in life is expanding. First I felt I was here to seek knowledge and magical power for its own sake. But now I realize that I can be a force for good in this dungeon. With the children at my side, we could rid this level of all of these monsters. And you could help me, too, Gulleck. We could adventure together, like we did in the old days, before that pool created that duplicate of me..." She glared at Blue Caryatid.
"Now, wait..." said Gulleck, "You can't use those children as your army..."
But Green Caryatid was murmuring strange words and Gulleck suddenly felt a wave of doubt and uncertainty across his mind. It passed momentarily, thanks to his excellent dwarven saving throws. Blue Caryatid reacted immediately by launching a magic missile spell at Green Caryatid, and Gulleck lunged forward, giving "Mister Beefcake" a shove to try to knock him down to get to Green Caryatid. Unfortunately, the hulking man stood his ground and Gulleck didn't even budge him.
Simon threw a dagger at the creature, and Meat sank his sword into the monster with a sickening squelch, but it emerged without drawing blood and apparently without harming the creature in the slightest. Green Caryatid spoke new magical words, and then sticky strands of silk shot forth from her fingertips, tangling Gulleck and Adrien up in a huge messy spiderweb.
Blue Caryatid drew forth her whimsically painted "wand of random magic" and pointed it at Green Caryatid. There was a weird ripple of magic in the room, and then large green leaves sprouted out of Green Caryatid's hair and the back of her hands. She stared at her hands in shock and then shouted angrily at Blue Caryatid and the adventurers.
"I only wanted to talk to you! What kind of treatment is this!? Come on, Mister Beefcake, I've had enough of these ingrates!" And she stormed off, followed by the heavy plodding footsteps of her silent bodyguard.
So, after shutting the door this time, the party took about half an hour to hack Gulleck and Adrien out of the web. Then, Adrien decided to take a spin on the Wheel of Fortune. She turned out to be unlucky, quite literally, as she received a -2 penalty to all dice rolls for the rest of the day.
The adventurers decided that it was now or never, and prepared to confront Caryatid the Green at her apartment. First they stopped by the six goblins in the temple again, and tried to stir up some anger against Caryatid, but alas, the goblins seemed happy to stay there and paint. So the group made their way alone to Caryatid's apartment and knocked on the door.
Caryatid was still irritated at the leaves that now covered her skin and grew forth from her hair, but grudgingly accepted an apology from Blue Caryatid and Gulleck. Gulleck suggested an alliance against the Goblin Prince. "Maybe I was hasty in disagreeing with you. Maybe you're on to something with those urchins."
"Yes, that's right," said Caryatid the Green. "With my urchin army at my disposal, we can wipe the goblins clean from this entire dungeon and rule it all under the banner of the Green!"
"Uh, right..." said Blue Caryatid. "Well, why don't we go defeat them now? We don't even need the children, just all of us together, like the old days! What better time than the present?"
"Yes, why not, as long as you are with me! Let us cleanse this place of the foul stench of the Goblin Prince once and for all!"
"Okay, lead on..." said Gulleck, and then made furious urgent gestures with his eyebrows as Caryatid the Green and Mister Beefcake strode from her apartment and began proceeding down the hall.
And so they attacked their former adventuring companion from behind. Caryatid cast another Magic Missile at her twin, while Gulleck and Simon used their magical weapons to attack her enormous bodyguard. This time the axe and sword sang and sizzled as they cut into him, and the creature gave a gutteral snarl as he was injured. Caryatid drew forth her wand again, but this time only made herself go invisible.
Green Caryatid, her face enraged at the surprise betrayal, cast another magic spell, and suddenly the ceiling was dripping with corrosive green slime! It dripped onto armor and clothing and quickly began to eat its way through, seeking the flesh beneath! Gulleck, Meat, Caryatid, and Adrien made saving throws and quickly recognized it as an illusion, but Brother Chase, Simon, and Orin were too caught up in their panic to see it for what it was, and began stripping off their plate mail, throwing it across the hall trying to escape contact with the slime. Even in the midst of combat, Caryatid couldn't resist a quick leer at the sight of her handsome employee in his thin undergarments.
And then Gulleck slammed his axe into the giant, and with a grunt he staggered to his knees and then faceplanted onto the floor. Green Caryatid's face contorted with rage.
"Mister Beefcake!" she shrieked in anguish, and then began intoning a familiar incantation. A bead of fiery light began to gleam at her fingertip, growing in strength...
The players knew that several of them would likely die from a fireball, even if they made their saves, so it was critical that they hit her before she could complete the spell. Caryatid tried using her wand of paralyzation, but Green Caryatid was unfazed by the pulse of sparks that washed past her. Gulleck swung his axe at her but stumbled over the bulky corpse of her creature and missed. And then Orin earned his keep, and threw a dagger that hit for three points of damage, disrupting her spell! Adrien as well hit with her sword.
And now Blue Caryatid waved her wand of random magic a third time today, and what came up on the table was a delusion of a rainstorm, hardly useful at all! Most everyone made their saves, so they understood it was an illusion, but yet it was surreal to see a soundless flash of lightning, followed by a deluge of rain in the dungeon corridor, splashing on the flagstones and trickling away down the hallway. Caryatid couldn't help but notice the way Brother Chase's undershirt grew transparent in the rain and clung to his rugged pectorals, even though she knew none of it was real.
Green Caryatid gazed helplessly at her angry opponents, as the rain drenched her hair.
"Please, Gulleck, it doesn't have to be this way. You and I used to be friends! Before I made the stupid decision to jump in that resurrection pool and it created that copy, that... replicant of me! Gulleck, I remember all of it! I remember the very day we found you in that pit, while we were trying to help the friendly gnomes get their treasure back from the knockers. I remember when we first found this old wizard's apartment, and you hacked that silly talking head out of the door! I remember Tod, and Tyrriel, and even poor old Twiffle. How can you say I'm the replicant when I can remember all these things? I'm real! Please Gulleck, don't do this."
Gulleck found himself hesitating against his better judgment, and his axe lowered by a few inches. The rain beat down on his helmet and trickled into his eyes as he gazed at his old friend.
"Caryatid, I..."
"Gulleck. Please... Spare my life, and together, with my army of urchins, we shall rule over this entir-- urrrrgh!"
Her speech was cut abruptly short as Gulleck, Simon, and Adrien all plunged their weapons into Green Caryatid's body. She fell roughly to the stone floor, the light fading from her eyes as the tears streaking her cheeks were washed away by the same illusory rain that drenched her green and golden robe.
The adventurers dragged Green Caryatid's body into the sitting room of her apartment and then, allowing no chance of her being resurrected, Gulleck beheaded her corpse with his axe. They made a quick search of her apartment. In her study, they found a wooden cage containing a seemingly ordinary goose. Could it really be the one that laid the golden eggs they had found? They also found a potion that when sipped gave them a sense that it could lead them to treasure, and a scroll with two magical spells on it. There was also a tall staff, made of gnarled withered wood, and a pair of boots that could lift the wearer into the air. They also found Green Caryatid's spellbooks.
The goose was cantankerous, but they got it out of the dungeon by having Simon use his animal control ring to keep it docile so Brother Chase could carry it, and then Meat carried Simon on his shoulders back to the surface, since he couldn't break his concentration to walk. Before they left, Caryatid wizard locked the door of the apartment, to make sure no one tangled with the demon that they expected was still imprisoned in the summoning room. But that would have to wait for another time.
Saturday, December 9, 2017
Idalium Game 72: The Schism
Session date: Monday, April 17, 2017
Game date: Saturday, August 16, 209
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 4, hp 23, xp 14197/17000
Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 15948/20000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 3, hp 11, xp 4732/8000
Adrien, Fighter 3, hp 9, xp 4072/8000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 3, hp 17, xp 5057/8000
Brother Chase Pike, Cleric 2, hp 11, xp 2121/3000
Kevon, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 131/2000
Debbi, Magic-user 1, hp 6, xp 312/2500
A couple of weeks had passed, in real life and in "game time". "Orc Debbiorc" and "Brother Orccake", who had been lodging with their "originals", Debbi and Brother Chase (aka Brother Beefcake), had grown so irritable and disagreeable that they both moved out and found apartments of their own. Rumors went round the Rusty Lantern tavern that they had found employment in a rival adventuring party.
Meanwhile, the adventurers decided to finally get around to purchasing that old abandoned house over in The Steps with the magical wardrobe. They called upon Vincent Patrenzi at his tastelessly gaudy mansion in the wealthy quarter of Idalium, and negotiated with him over a purchase price. Patrenzi's asking price had been 50,000 silver shekels, but Caryatid negotiated hard, insinuating that the house was unsecured, with unboarded windows, and it could present a liability. Why risk it, for a house he wasn't even using? This seemed to touch a nerve with Patrenzi, and they could tell he was willing to come down in price. Then, in a display case, they noticed the "Hand of Glory" (a withered human hand with black candles on each finger, said to point the way to wealth) that Patrenzi had won at last year's magical auction, and they remembered that he had a keen interest in interesting magical trinkets. Eventually they settled on a purchase price of 20,000 shekels but they also threw in a magical hand mirror they had found early in their adventuring career, that showed you the back of your hand when you looked in it, and a bundle of potpourri that was over two hundred years but still carried a strong aroma. Patrenzi was very amused by these magical conversation pieces, and perhaps happy to have a useless property out of his portfolio. They retrieved the money and magical items from their vault in the cellar of the Rusty Lantern and delivered it all to him the next day, and the deed was signed over to him. (Closing on a house in one day - try that these days!)
So, the team assembled at the Rusty Lantern on a Saturday in August, but this time they smuggled their armor and weapons out of the tavern in a wheelbarrow and made their way through the city and across the river into the ramshackle hillside neighborhood of The Steps, for they intended to enter the dungeon through the wardrobe. It did indeed work as before: they pushed their way through musty robes and coats and emerged from an identical wardrobe in a bedroom on the second level of the dungeon.
They emerged from the apartment into the hallway outside Green Caryatid's rooms, and at her doorway they found half a dozen hobgoblins hard at work rigging a bucket of something on the lintel above her door, with a string tied to the door handle. When the hobgoblins noticed the party watching them, one made an exaggerated ssssshhhhh gesture with a finger to his smirking lips. The adventurers shrugged and walked away, although Caryatid took a moment to cast Wizard Lock on the door into the apartment with their wardrobe, to keep those troublemakers out.
Next they went to check on the urchins who lived in the secret passages that ran between many of the halls in the northern portion of this level. Simon used his mind-reading medallion at the door of the urchins' hideout, and was disturbed to hear thoughts like, "Isn't it great that Caryatid the Green is our guardian now?"
Gulleck knocked on the door, but the urchins would not open the door to him. They seemed more reserved and distrustful than normal, and said that Caryatid the Green told them not to trust the adventurers. She was their protector and guardian now, and the urchins didn't want to upset her by letting the adventurers into their hideout. The urchins blamed the adventurers for the rift that had been caused in their number. Some of the other urchins still favored the adventurers over Caryatid the Green, and that faction had been kicked out of the hideout.
"Well, where did they go?" asked Gulleck.
"Who cares where those losers went?" sneered the urchin. "I think they're camping out in that big apartment area. Not the one the Goblin Prince took over, but the other one near it."
So the party took an uncomfortable leave from the urchins, and made their way around the corner to the door that they assumed the urchins were talking about. Once or twice before they had thought they heard buzzing behind this door, and having had alarming encounters with giant dungeon bees before, they had always avoided this door. But now they opened the door and entered the apartment complex beyond. It turned out to be very much like the apartment complex the orcs and now the goblins occupied, with a big central courtyard, surrounded by a balcony level with many doors leading off from the balcony every twenty feet or so. But unlike the other one, in the middle of this courtyard, an enormous beehive, easily 10 feet in diameter, hung suspended from the ceiling. A resonant buzzing emanated from the hive, pervading the courtyard. Four giant bees, about a foot long, could be seen crawling on the outside of the hive.
The party began to cautiously creep into the courtyard, looking around for any sign of the other faction of urchins. Unfortunately, the four bees on the hive noticed the movement of the party, and launched themselves into the air, divebombing the adventurers. Before anyone could react, Debbi was stung by two bees. She collapsed to the ground, convulsing in spasms (along with the two bees that stung her, which lay dying next to her, having ripped their stingers out of their bodies).
Gulleck and Simon quickly used their rings of animal control to make the other two bees sting each other. Alas, the damage was already done, for Debbi had passed away from the deadly venom of the bees. Fearful of drawing the attention of more bees, the adventurers dragged Debbi's body up the stairs to the balcony level and quickly entered one of the one-room apartments.
The apartment was empty apart from a battered old bed frame, an empty table against one wall, and a large mirror on the opposite wall. Caryatid went over to examine the mirror, and discovered that she could see in its reflection a large chest sitting on top of the table, while the actual table appeared quite empty. Simon studied this phenomenon and then went over to the table and carefully swept it with the blade of his sword. It was blocked in its motion by the invisible chest! Simon was able to open the chest with the assistance of the image in the mirror. Inside he felt two burlap sacks. These became visible when withdrawn from the chest, and contained hundreds of silver and gold coins! The chest also seemed useful, or at least interesting, so Meat and Brother Chase carried it along with them, as they carefully emerged back onto the balcony.
They checked a few more empty rooms before they discovered the hiding place of the urchins. About a dozen of the children were hiding in an apartment. They were pleased to see Gulleck and the other adventurers, and told them of the terrible schism that had split their group in half. After the adventurers had left them two weeks ago, later that very same day, Caryatid the Green had entered their hideout from the secret passage that led to her rooms. She was accompanied by a huge ugly man that she called "Mr. Beefcake". The children were very suspicious of her, and upset that she had discovered their secret hideout, but she spoke soothingly to them of how she only wanted to protect them and keep them safe. The urchins argued together as to whether or not to trust her, and suddenly one of the older urchins, Steven, declared that he trusted Caryatid the Green completely and absolutely and that they should all believe her and follow her guidance. Some of Steven's friends took his side, but most of the group was still suspicious of her. Caryatid smiled at them, and told them she was sure they would change their minds once they got to know her better.
After that, Caryatid the Green and Mr. Beefcake showed up every day or two, and would sometimes speak strange murmuring words while the urchins were arguing with each other, and suddenly another urchin would have a change of heart and start defending her passionately. More and more of them began to take her side and speak ill against Gulleck and Caryatid the Blue and the other adventurers. After a week, the split was about 50/50 and the arguments were continual. Eventually, the urchins who were still suspicious of Caryatid the Green were kicked out of the secret hideout and had to take refuge in these apartments. It was OK, the urchins said. The goblins wouldn't bother them here because of the bees, but if you ran fast the bees couldn't get you.
The adventurers were at a loss as to what to say. They felt somewhat responsible that Green Caryatid had discovered their hideout and evidently magically charmed half of the urchins into her allegiance. They were deeply concerned about her actions. Now she had an enslaved demon, a man she had apparently stitched together herself and given the spark of life, and a small army of ensorcelled urchins. They all knew she would have to be dealt with very soon.
Entreating the urchins to stay safe until the adventurers could return and set things right, they left, carrying Debbi's body and the invisible chest with them. They ran out of the apartment complex as fast as they could so as not to attract any more bees, and brought Debbi's body to the pool of resurrection. They were grimly pleased to see that many of the posters of the Goblin Prince that they passed in the hallway had been defaced by the urchins with the black paint Gulleck had given them.
Debbi was immersed in the pool, and came sputtering back to life, and then the entire party made their way back to the magical wardrobe and evacuated the dungeon thusly.
They did not declare their afternoon's plunder to the Adventurer’s Guild, as technically is required of all members.
Game date: Saturday, August 16, 209
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 4, hp 23, xp 14197/17000
Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 15948/20000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 3, hp 11, xp 4732/8000
Adrien, Fighter 3, hp 9, xp 4072/8000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 3, hp 17, xp 5057/8000
Brother Chase Pike, Cleric 2, hp 11, xp 2121/3000
Kevon, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 131/2000
Debbi, Magic-user 1, hp 6, xp 312/2500
A couple of weeks had passed, in real life and in "game time". "Orc Debbiorc" and "Brother Orccake", who had been lodging with their "originals", Debbi and Brother Chase (aka Brother Beefcake), had grown so irritable and disagreeable that they both moved out and found apartments of their own. Rumors went round the Rusty Lantern tavern that they had found employment in a rival adventuring party.
Meanwhile, the adventurers decided to finally get around to purchasing that old abandoned house over in The Steps with the magical wardrobe. They called upon Vincent Patrenzi at his tastelessly gaudy mansion in the wealthy quarter of Idalium, and negotiated with him over a purchase price. Patrenzi's asking price had been 50,000 silver shekels, but Caryatid negotiated hard, insinuating that the house was unsecured, with unboarded windows, and it could present a liability. Why risk it, for a house he wasn't even using? This seemed to touch a nerve with Patrenzi, and they could tell he was willing to come down in price. Then, in a display case, they noticed the "Hand of Glory" (a withered human hand with black candles on each finger, said to point the way to wealth) that Patrenzi had won at last year's magical auction, and they remembered that he had a keen interest in interesting magical trinkets. Eventually they settled on a purchase price of 20,000 shekels but they also threw in a magical hand mirror they had found early in their adventuring career, that showed you the back of your hand when you looked in it, and a bundle of potpourri that was over two hundred years but still carried a strong aroma. Patrenzi was very amused by these magical conversation pieces, and perhaps happy to have a useless property out of his portfolio. They retrieved the money and magical items from their vault in the cellar of the Rusty Lantern and delivered it all to him the next day, and the deed was signed over to him. (Closing on a house in one day - try that these days!)
So, the team assembled at the Rusty Lantern on a Saturday in August, but this time they smuggled their armor and weapons out of the tavern in a wheelbarrow and made their way through the city and across the river into the ramshackle hillside neighborhood of The Steps, for they intended to enter the dungeon through the wardrobe. It did indeed work as before: they pushed their way through musty robes and coats and emerged from an identical wardrobe in a bedroom on the second level of the dungeon.
They emerged from the apartment into the hallway outside Green Caryatid's rooms, and at her doorway they found half a dozen hobgoblins hard at work rigging a bucket of something on the lintel above her door, with a string tied to the door handle. When the hobgoblins noticed the party watching them, one made an exaggerated ssssshhhhh gesture with a finger to his smirking lips. The adventurers shrugged and walked away, although Caryatid took a moment to cast Wizard Lock on the door into the apartment with their wardrobe, to keep those troublemakers out.
Next they went to check on the urchins who lived in the secret passages that ran between many of the halls in the northern portion of this level. Simon used his mind-reading medallion at the door of the urchins' hideout, and was disturbed to hear thoughts like, "Isn't it great that Caryatid the Green is our guardian now?"
Gulleck knocked on the door, but the urchins would not open the door to him. They seemed more reserved and distrustful than normal, and said that Caryatid the Green told them not to trust the adventurers. She was their protector and guardian now, and the urchins didn't want to upset her by letting the adventurers into their hideout. The urchins blamed the adventurers for the rift that had been caused in their number. Some of the other urchins still favored the adventurers over Caryatid the Green, and that faction had been kicked out of the hideout.
"Well, where did they go?" asked Gulleck.
"Who cares where those losers went?" sneered the urchin. "I think they're camping out in that big apartment area. Not the one the Goblin Prince took over, but the other one near it."
So the party took an uncomfortable leave from the urchins, and made their way around the corner to the door that they assumed the urchins were talking about. Once or twice before they had thought they heard buzzing behind this door, and having had alarming encounters with giant dungeon bees before, they had always avoided this door. But now they opened the door and entered the apartment complex beyond. It turned out to be very much like the apartment complex the orcs and now the goblins occupied, with a big central courtyard, surrounded by a balcony level with many doors leading off from the balcony every twenty feet or so. But unlike the other one, in the middle of this courtyard, an enormous beehive, easily 10 feet in diameter, hung suspended from the ceiling. A resonant buzzing emanated from the hive, pervading the courtyard. Four giant bees, about a foot long, could be seen crawling on the outside of the hive.
The party began to cautiously creep into the courtyard, looking around for any sign of the other faction of urchins. Unfortunately, the four bees on the hive noticed the movement of the party, and launched themselves into the air, divebombing the adventurers. Before anyone could react, Debbi was stung by two bees. She collapsed to the ground, convulsing in spasms (along with the two bees that stung her, which lay dying next to her, having ripped their stingers out of their bodies).
Gulleck and Simon quickly used their rings of animal control to make the other two bees sting each other. Alas, the damage was already done, for Debbi had passed away from the deadly venom of the bees. Fearful of drawing the attention of more bees, the adventurers dragged Debbi's body up the stairs to the balcony level and quickly entered one of the one-room apartments.
The apartment was empty apart from a battered old bed frame, an empty table against one wall, and a large mirror on the opposite wall. Caryatid went over to examine the mirror, and discovered that she could see in its reflection a large chest sitting on top of the table, while the actual table appeared quite empty. Simon studied this phenomenon and then went over to the table and carefully swept it with the blade of his sword. It was blocked in its motion by the invisible chest! Simon was able to open the chest with the assistance of the image in the mirror. Inside he felt two burlap sacks. These became visible when withdrawn from the chest, and contained hundreds of silver and gold coins! The chest also seemed useful, or at least interesting, so Meat and Brother Chase carried it along with them, as they carefully emerged back onto the balcony.
They checked a few more empty rooms before they discovered the hiding place of the urchins. About a dozen of the children were hiding in an apartment. They were pleased to see Gulleck and the other adventurers, and told them of the terrible schism that had split their group in half. After the adventurers had left them two weeks ago, later that very same day, Caryatid the Green had entered their hideout from the secret passage that led to her rooms. She was accompanied by a huge ugly man that she called "Mr. Beefcake". The children were very suspicious of her, and upset that she had discovered their secret hideout, but she spoke soothingly to them of how she only wanted to protect them and keep them safe. The urchins argued together as to whether or not to trust her, and suddenly one of the older urchins, Steven, declared that he trusted Caryatid the Green completely and absolutely and that they should all believe her and follow her guidance. Some of Steven's friends took his side, but most of the group was still suspicious of her. Caryatid smiled at them, and told them she was sure they would change their minds once they got to know her better.
After that, Caryatid the Green and Mr. Beefcake showed up every day or two, and would sometimes speak strange murmuring words while the urchins were arguing with each other, and suddenly another urchin would have a change of heart and start defending her passionately. More and more of them began to take her side and speak ill against Gulleck and Caryatid the Blue and the other adventurers. After a week, the split was about 50/50 and the arguments were continual. Eventually, the urchins who were still suspicious of Caryatid the Green were kicked out of the secret hideout and had to take refuge in these apartments. It was OK, the urchins said. The goblins wouldn't bother them here because of the bees, but if you ran fast the bees couldn't get you.
The adventurers were at a loss as to what to say. They felt somewhat responsible that Green Caryatid had discovered their hideout and evidently magically charmed half of the urchins into her allegiance. They were deeply concerned about her actions. Now she had an enslaved demon, a man she had apparently stitched together herself and given the spark of life, and a small army of ensorcelled urchins. They all knew she would have to be dealt with very soon.
Entreating the urchins to stay safe until the adventurers could return and set things right, they left, carrying Debbi's body and the invisible chest with them. They ran out of the apartment complex as fast as they could so as not to attract any more bees, and brought Debbi's body to the pool of resurrection. They were grimly pleased to see that many of the posters of the Goblin Prince that they passed in the hallway had been defaced by the urchins with the black paint Gulleck had given them.
Debbi was immersed in the pool, and came sputtering back to life, and then the entire party made their way back to the magical wardrobe and evacuated the dungeon thusly.
They did not declare their afternoon's plunder to the Adventurer’s Guild, as technically is required of all members.
Monday, December 4, 2017
Idalium Game 71: Tall, Dark, and Ugly
Session date: Monday, April 3, 2017
Game date: Saturday, August 2, 209
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 4, hp 23, xp 13835/17000
Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 15549/20000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 3, hp 11, xp 4352/8000
Adrien, Fighter 2, hp 6, xp 3710/4000
Retainers:
Brother Chase Pike, Cleric 2, hp 11, xp 1931/3000
Debbi, Magic-user 1, hp 6, xp 122/2500
For the first time in a while, I remembered to roll a morale check for retainers between sessions, and it transpired that both Meat and Kevon decided to take a week off (presumably Meat was soaking in herbal burn ointments the whole time after his near-death encounter with a fireball last week). So four PCs and two retainers ventured into the dungeon this time. Gulleck had procured a big chunk of cork, and they went directly to the door with the big red X and plugged the hole that Gulleck has drilled, which had allowed the freaky stretchy creatures to slip into the rest of the dungeon. Perhaps too little too late, though.
While they were doing this, they were approached by seven men and women in the hallway. They were wearing plate armor with black cloaks and carrying war hammers and maces. Around their necks they all wore an amulet of some sort, depicting an evil-looking goat head with long twisted horns. They were the cultists led by Ms. Frost, whom the party had met before. They were cautiously friendly, and the two groups made conversation in the hall. It didn't take long before some of the players dropped hints about wanting to get rid of the goblins, and the black-robed cultists looked eager at that prospect. In fact, they offered a bounty! They would be happy to take the bodies of any dead goblins off the party's hands, and would pay 10 gold pieces each.
"What about live goblins?" asked Caryatid.
"Oh, they are even more useful to us," smiled one of the cultists. "We would be willing to pay you 50 gold coins for a live goblin."
"What about those taller goblins, do you want those?"
"Certainly, and we would pay even more for them."
A bit nervous about these cultists, the party nevertheless made a friendly farewell. The cultists invited them to bring any goblins (dead or alive) to their temple on the third level.
"Seek us out at the Temple of Diana, in the Dark Dungeons below." (You know, I'm still not sure if any of my players get these references, or if I'm just doing it for my own amusement.)
The adventurers now decided to sneak into Green Caryatid's rooms. They were pretty much set at this point on paying her back for the fireball, in a lethal way, and as a first step they wanted to scout around her apartment in advance of a future assault. They decided to use the urchins' secret passages to gain access to the back hallway of Green Caryatid's rooms. They entered the secret passages and made their way to the urchins' common room, knocking on the door and announcing themselves. The urchins were happy to invite them in, and even happier when Gulleck donated 60 gold pieces to the urchins. He asked again if they were staying away from the goblins and especially not eating any of their food. Most nodded seriously, but one, a boy named Steven, defended the goblins. "I ate a peach that they gave me and nothing bad has happened to me! You don't know the Goblin King; I'm sure he would never do anything to hurt us. Why are you trying to turn us against him?"
Gulleck pleaded with the urchins not to listen to Steven and to stay away from the goblins at all costs. And he recruited them to write graffiti on the hallway walls - "All Hail the King of Shadows!" and "Orcs Rule, Goblins Drool" - in a general attempt to sow confusion among the goblins. He had brought a can of black paint from the city above, and gave it to the urchins to paint over the posters of the Goblin Prince that now littered the hallways.
Taking leave of the young dungeon dwellers, the party decided to split up. (I was rubbing my hands together gleefully upon this news.) Caryatid and Simon went through the secret passages to the secret door in the back hallway, while Gulleck, Brother Chase, Adrian, and Debbi went back to the main hallway to knock on Green Caryatid's front door as a distraction. Again, they played "Ding Dong Ditch" and banged on the door and then ran back through the secret passages to join the others.
Simon and Caryatid heard the banging and the sounds of Green Caryatid moving around in the front of the apartment, opening the door and looking out in the hallway. Both Simon and Caryatid used their magically-enhanced noses to sniff for gold, and indeed, they could detect a faint tang of the metal coming from down the hall to the right. It was dark in the hallway, and Simon crept forward, following his nose, while Caryatid waited by the secret door. Simon entered a room and drew his magical sword which shed forth light as he murmured the Elvish word "Shine!". It was Green Caryatid's bedroom, with a large bed without legs floating incongruously in the air. To the right of the bed, a large lumpy shape was concealed underneath a burlap tarp. Simon looked nervously at the shape in the corner, and then noticed a nightstand on the other side of the bed, upon which was a metal bowl containing what looked like several golden eggs!
Simon crept cautiously across the room, watching the lumpy shape the whole time, and made it to the nightstand. The bowl was large enough that he would need both hands to carry it (being only a three-foot tall hobbit, after all). He sheathed his sword (throwing the room back into darkness) and then carefully lifted the bowl off the nightstand. At this point he heard the rustling of a burlap tarp being thrown to the floor, and the sound of a chair scraping across the stone floor as something very large lurched to his feet.
Simon bolted for the doorway, doing his best to remember the layout of the bedroom in the darkness. Caryatid could hear the commotion in the bedroom and quickly tried to get the secret door open, but working in the dark was difficult, and I asked for a wisdom check (d20 at or below her wisdom score) in order to find the torch sconce that needed to be twisted in order to open the door. She failed the roll, and fumbled around blindly in the dark.
Simon ran, pursued by something very large and powerful, and failed a dexterity check in the dark, leading to him stumbling onto the floor at the threshold of the doorway. He wrapped his arm over the top of the bowl to keep the eggs from spilling. Suddenly, a huge, cold hand grabbed him by the arm and lifted him off his feet and into the air, and then threw him against the wall, where he fell to the floor, dazed and in pain.
Just then, the secret door was opened from the other side. Gulleck stood in the doorway holding a lantern, casting light upon the scene. Simon lay crumpled in the doorway of the bedroom, and behind him loomed an enormous man. He was clothed in a long coat made of rough sack-like material. His eyes seemed cold and dead, and Caryatid was sure she could see what looked like stitching around his thick, lumpy neck. Caryatid cast a Magic Missile at the creature, which snarled as it was struck. Simon, still prostrate, sent the bowl of eggs sliding across the floor towards Caryatid (making a successful dexterity check to do so). The monstrous man lunged for the bowl, and Simon grabbed at the man's leg as it passed, tripping him to the floor with a heavy thud. He clambered over the heaving bulk, while Gulleck ran forward and sank his axe into the back of the creature. It was badly wounded, but not defeated. The blood oozed out unnaturally slowly.
Simon grabbed the bowl of eggs and ran out the secret door, while the beast hauled itself to its feet, grabbed Gulleck around the neck and lifted him into the air, squeezing the life out of the dwarf as his feet flailed in the air below him. Caryatid launched another Magic Missile at the creature, but it barely flinched and continued to strangle Gulleck.
Suddenly, Green Caryatid appeared in the hall from the sitting room, looking angry and flustered. "Stop! Don't kill him!" she shouted. "I have better uses for him." She began tracing patterns in the air and speaking an incantation.
The creature opened its meaty hand and Gulleck dropped to the floor. Gasping for air, he got to his feet and made for the secret door. Green Caryatid finished her spell and Gulleck suddenly felt his mind cloud over. Wait, why were they fighting Green Caryatid? Wasn't she the real Caryatid, and wasn't Blue Caryatid the fake copy? But then the confusion passed as quickly as it had come (thanks to a successful saving throw vs spells).
"All hail the King of Shadows!" yelled Gulleck in a giddy panic, as he ran out the secret door along with the rest of the party. They barely stopped running until they were back out of the dungeon.
The golden eggs were sold for 2,000 gold pieces, giving Adrian enough experience points to go up to level 3. The players debated whether Green Caryatid actually had a magical goose that lays golden eggs, or if that was too silly to contemplate. Although, if she did, they definitely needed to go find it! Their cheer at having escaped alive and with a significant treasure was tempered by the knowledge that Green Caryatid now knew about the secret passage that led directly to the hideout of the dungeon urchins...
Game date: Saturday, August 2, 209
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 4, hp 23, xp 13835/17000
Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 15549/20000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 3, hp 11, xp 4352/8000
Adrien, Fighter 2, hp 6, xp 3710/4000
Retainers:
Brother Chase Pike, Cleric 2, hp 11, xp 1931/3000
Debbi, Magic-user 1, hp 6, xp 122/2500
For the first time in a while, I remembered to roll a morale check for retainers between sessions, and it transpired that both Meat and Kevon decided to take a week off (presumably Meat was soaking in herbal burn ointments the whole time after his near-death encounter with a fireball last week). So four PCs and two retainers ventured into the dungeon this time. Gulleck had procured a big chunk of cork, and they went directly to the door with the big red X and plugged the hole that Gulleck has drilled, which had allowed the freaky stretchy creatures to slip into the rest of the dungeon. Perhaps too little too late, though.
While they were doing this, they were approached by seven men and women in the hallway. They were wearing plate armor with black cloaks and carrying war hammers and maces. Around their necks they all wore an amulet of some sort, depicting an evil-looking goat head with long twisted horns. They were the cultists led by Ms. Frost, whom the party had met before. They were cautiously friendly, and the two groups made conversation in the hall. It didn't take long before some of the players dropped hints about wanting to get rid of the goblins, and the black-robed cultists looked eager at that prospect. In fact, they offered a bounty! They would be happy to take the bodies of any dead goblins off the party's hands, and would pay 10 gold pieces each.
"What about live goblins?" asked Caryatid.
"Oh, they are even more useful to us," smiled one of the cultists. "We would be willing to pay you 50 gold coins for a live goblin."
"What about those taller goblins, do you want those?"
"Certainly, and we would pay even more for them."
A bit nervous about these cultists, the party nevertheless made a friendly farewell. The cultists invited them to bring any goblins (dead or alive) to their temple on the third level.
"Seek us out at the Temple of Diana, in the Dark Dungeons below." (You know, I'm still not sure if any of my players get these references, or if I'm just doing it for my own amusement.)
The adventurers now decided to sneak into Green Caryatid's rooms. They were pretty much set at this point on paying her back for the fireball, in a lethal way, and as a first step they wanted to scout around her apartment in advance of a future assault. They decided to use the urchins' secret passages to gain access to the back hallway of Green Caryatid's rooms. They entered the secret passages and made their way to the urchins' common room, knocking on the door and announcing themselves. The urchins were happy to invite them in, and even happier when Gulleck donated 60 gold pieces to the urchins. He asked again if they were staying away from the goblins and especially not eating any of their food. Most nodded seriously, but one, a boy named Steven, defended the goblins. "I ate a peach that they gave me and nothing bad has happened to me! You don't know the Goblin King; I'm sure he would never do anything to hurt us. Why are you trying to turn us against him?"
Gulleck pleaded with the urchins not to listen to Steven and to stay away from the goblins at all costs. And he recruited them to write graffiti on the hallway walls - "All Hail the King of Shadows!" and "Orcs Rule, Goblins Drool" - in a general attempt to sow confusion among the goblins. He had brought a can of black paint from the city above, and gave it to the urchins to paint over the posters of the Goblin Prince that now littered the hallways.
Taking leave of the young dungeon dwellers, the party decided to split up. (I was rubbing my hands together gleefully upon this news.) Caryatid and Simon went through the secret passages to the secret door in the back hallway, while Gulleck, Brother Chase, Adrian, and Debbi went back to the main hallway to knock on Green Caryatid's front door as a distraction. Again, they played "Ding Dong Ditch" and banged on the door and then ran back through the secret passages to join the others.
Simon and Caryatid heard the banging and the sounds of Green Caryatid moving around in the front of the apartment, opening the door and looking out in the hallway. Both Simon and Caryatid used their magically-enhanced noses to sniff for gold, and indeed, they could detect a faint tang of the metal coming from down the hall to the right. It was dark in the hallway, and Simon crept forward, following his nose, while Caryatid waited by the secret door. Simon entered a room and drew his magical sword which shed forth light as he murmured the Elvish word "Shine!". It was Green Caryatid's bedroom, with a large bed without legs floating incongruously in the air. To the right of the bed, a large lumpy shape was concealed underneath a burlap tarp. Simon looked nervously at the shape in the corner, and then noticed a nightstand on the other side of the bed, upon which was a metal bowl containing what looked like several golden eggs!
Simon crept cautiously across the room, watching the lumpy shape the whole time, and made it to the nightstand. The bowl was large enough that he would need both hands to carry it (being only a three-foot tall hobbit, after all). He sheathed his sword (throwing the room back into darkness) and then carefully lifted the bowl off the nightstand. At this point he heard the rustling of a burlap tarp being thrown to the floor, and the sound of a chair scraping across the stone floor as something very large lurched to his feet.
Simon bolted for the doorway, doing his best to remember the layout of the bedroom in the darkness. Caryatid could hear the commotion in the bedroom and quickly tried to get the secret door open, but working in the dark was difficult, and I asked for a wisdom check (d20 at or below her wisdom score) in order to find the torch sconce that needed to be twisted in order to open the door. She failed the roll, and fumbled around blindly in the dark.
Simon ran, pursued by something very large and powerful, and failed a dexterity check in the dark, leading to him stumbling onto the floor at the threshold of the doorway. He wrapped his arm over the top of the bowl to keep the eggs from spilling. Suddenly, a huge, cold hand grabbed him by the arm and lifted him off his feet and into the air, and then threw him against the wall, where he fell to the floor, dazed and in pain.
Just then, the secret door was opened from the other side. Gulleck stood in the doorway holding a lantern, casting light upon the scene. Simon lay crumpled in the doorway of the bedroom, and behind him loomed an enormous man. He was clothed in a long coat made of rough sack-like material. His eyes seemed cold and dead, and Caryatid was sure she could see what looked like stitching around his thick, lumpy neck. Caryatid cast a Magic Missile at the creature, which snarled as it was struck. Simon, still prostrate, sent the bowl of eggs sliding across the floor towards Caryatid (making a successful dexterity check to do so). The monstrous man lunged for the bowl, and Simon grabbed at the man's leg as it passed, tripping him to the floor with a heavy thud. He clambered over the heaving bulk, while Gulleck ran forward and sank his axe into the back of the creature. It was badly wounded, but not defeated. The blood oozed out unnaturally slowly.
Simon grabbed the bowl of eggs and ran out the secret door, while the beast hauled itself to its feet, grabbed Gulleck around the neck and lifted him into the air, squeezing the life out of the dwarf as his feet flailed in the air below him. Caryatid launched another Magic Missile at the creature, but it barely flinched and continued to strangle Gulleck.
Suddenly, Green Caryatid appeared in the hall from the sitting room, looking angry and flustered. "Stop! Don't kill him!" she shouted. "I have better uses for him." She began tracing patterns in the air and speaking an incantation.
The creature opened its meaty hand and Gulleck dropped to the floor. Gasping for air, he got to his feet and made for the secret door. Green Caryatid finished her spell and Gulleck suddenly felt his mind cloud over. Wait, why were they fighting Green Caryatid? Wasn't she the real Caryatid, and wasn't Blue Caryatid the fake copy? But then the confusion passed as quickly as it had come (thanks to a successful saving throw vs spells).
"All hail the King of Shadows!" yelled Gulleck in a giddy panic, as he ran out the secret door along with the rest of the party. They barely stopped running until they were back out of the dungeon.
The golden eggs were sold for 2,000 gold pieces, giving Adrian enough experience points to go up to level 3. The players debated whether Green Caryatid actually had a magical goose that lays golden eggs, or if that was too silly to contemplate. Although, if she did, they definitely needed to go find it! Their cheer at having escaped alive and with a significant treasure was tempered by the knowledge that Green Caryatid now knew about the secret passage that led directly to the hideout of the dungeon urchins...
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