Journal Entry of Tod P. Quasit, Jr.
In the distance I see a drop of quicksilver hovering at the end of a long fingernail belonging to an old friend who I haven't seen for years. I am on a boat, adrift on an ocean of thought, forever floating without meaning.
Monday, July 30, 2018
Idalium Game 93: Chasing Waterfalls
Session date: Monday, March 5, 2018
Game date: Sunday, May 2, 210
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 70000/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 18684/20000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 3, hp 11, xp 7594/8000
Adrien, Fighter 3, hp 9, xp 6614/8000
Orehoe Hüfflestüff, Elf 1, hp 3, xp 1173/4000
Retainers:
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 3469/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 1255/4000
Jack, Thief 2, hp 8, xp 1910/2400
When we last left our intrepid party, Gulleck's stalwart retainer Meat had been killed by a living statue that sprayed lava from its fingers. Meat had already been revived once in the resurrection pool on the second level, so that was no longer an option. The players and I discussed the various options: Gulleck could hire a new retainer (who would start at first level but quickly advance, assuming their survival); they could pay 1,250 gold darics to have Meat raised from the dead at the Great Cathedral of the All-Pervading Light. (Gulleck had been raised in such a way, and then sent on a quest for the next few months, so Gulleck's player was a bit leery of going back there for help.) Finally, there was the Elixir of Life produced by the Eternal Flame in the caves on the second level. This elixir had reincarnated Gulleck into her current body, and it was decided to try the same with Meat. And if Meat came back as a monster, all the more fun!
And so the group descended into the undercity, and were immediately derailed trying to figure out exactly where the Eternal Flame was and how best to get there. They struggled with their maps, turning pages around and over and trying to fit them together. Fortunately no wandering monsters showed up while they were puzzling over the scraps of paper, in the light of Simon's magical sword, as they stood in the empty, echoing town square.
Eventually they determined their course, and headed down through the Temple of Hedonism to the second level. In the vestibule of the temple, they encountered a dozen knockers on their way out. Gulleck used to hate the tiny, wizened imps with a murderous rage, but her new personality was a bit more easy going and she didn't immediately put her axe into them.
"Trade gold for information?" the lead knocker hissed.
"Why, what kind of information do you need?" asked Caryatid mischievously.
"No," growled the knocker, annoyed. "You pay gold, we give information about this place."
"How much?"
"One gold piece. Each."
Well, everyone expected to be extorted for much more than that, so they were quite jolly about handing over a dozen gold coins. I don't even remember what question the group asked, but what I do remember is that the knocker gave them a real sarcastic smart aleck answer that wasn't helpful in the least. Adrien lost her patience and let go of Norman's leash. The demon ferret, which had been growling and straining at his leash, pounced forward, nipping one of the knockers. It drew its rusty knife and stabbed Norman, while the rest of them fled back into the temple. Norman tackled the knocker and ripped it to pieces, and once that furious activity subsided, the group followed the path of the fleeing knockers and found that they had excavated a crude tunnel into one of the changing rooms off of the hallway that led to the stairs down. It was too small for any of them to fit through (except perhaps Simon) so they abandoned the pursuit and went down to the second level.
They passed quickly through empty rooms and halls, and made their way to the rope bridge across a chasm. Down in the darkness, rushing water echoed and a cool mist floated up. There was discussion among the party regarding how to carefully harness themselves to the ropes of the bridge. Then Caryatid's player got bored.
"I'm just going to run right across."
"You're going to run across?"
"I'm going to hold the two ropes on the side with my hands, and just... scamper right across."
"So you're not tying yourself to the rope, or taking any special precautions, or going slowly and carefully..."
"Nope."
"OK. Roll a d6."
"A five! That's good, right?"
So while Gulleck and Simon were debating the best knot to use to secure a safety line to the bridge posts, Caryatid just scampered across, lost her balance, and plummeted through the inky darkness into the river below. Some forty feet down, she hit the cold water hard, knocking the wind out of her, and struggled to swim back to the surface and keep her head above the water as the current carried her away. A short while later, she came to an abrupt halt, washed up onto a shallow ledge where the river turned into a waterfall, pouring down into some unseen sea. Various bits of flotsam had become wedged on this shelf, and as Caryatid groped in the dark for a more secure position, her hands fell on what could only be the orcs' two sheet metal gongs that they had dumped into this chasm many months ago!
Meanwhile, back at the rope bridge, the party scrambled to find a way down to Caryatid. Adrien tied a rope to one of the bridge posts, and Simon descended with his sword, while Orehoe lit a lantern back at the top. Simon could see that the river passed through a tunnel on either side of the bridge and that the roof of the tunnel was a good ten feet above the surface of the water. He considered dropping down into the river, but the idea of swimming in cold water wearing plate armor seemed like a bad idea, so he remained hanging from the rope fretting about how to go after Caryatid.
Then Adrien called down, "Wait, don't you have flying boots?"
Well, levitation boots! Simon used the power of the boots to suspend himself in the air and then Caryatid's pet flying capuchin monkey, Marcel, was enticed to push Simon downstream into the tunnel. Finally, spending all that money researching a single use spell to give Marcel wings paid off!
Simon found Caryatid clinging to the waterfall ledge as cold water rushed over her. They hollered back up the tunnel as best they could, hoping the rest of the party would be able to hear them over the roar of the water. Gulleck had climbed down the rope to be nearer the mouth of the tunnel, and faintly heard Simon (made a Hear Noises check successfully). She called back that they were going down to the third level to find them, and then climbed back up the rope to rejoin the group. They returned to the worked stone area of the dungeon and took the mossy stairs down to the third level.
They first went to see "the judge", the talking stone pillar in the room near the stairs, though they had not brought any gems for him to eat. When they entered his room, they were surprised to see a man sitting casually in the wooden chair against the side wall, chatting idly with the pillar.
"Oh, my friends from above!" said the judge. "Today is a rare day indeed, so many visitors. Have you met my friend Bor? He comes to visit once in a while. Bor has made this place his home for some time now."
Bor was thin and lanky, with straggly unkempt hair. He had an odd, unfocused look about him. He wore a suit of plate armor, draped with a dirty and tattered tunic bearing the heraldry of the Great Cathedral of Idalium. A tarnished holy symbol hung around his neck, and they recognized the stylized sun of the All-Pervading Light. Father Jibber had worn a similar symbol.
The judge asked the adventurers what they were up to, and Gulleck explained that they needed to explore the underground sea to the east of here, and what they really needed was a raft.
"Hmm. I don't know of anything like that around here..."
"A raft, you say?" mused Bor. "Actually, I think I might have something like that stowed away. It was a long time ago, to be sure... I wonder if I still have it. Would you like to come and take a look? If I do still have it, I'd be happy to loan it to you for, shall we say a hundred gold darics?"
"Well, that's mighty kind of you," said Gulleck.
"Oh, I'm sure if you are friends of my stone friend here, you're trustworthy enough. Come on and let's see if we can find it."
The judge bid them good luck, and Bor led them back out of the room and down a hall to the west. On the way, Gulleck tentatively inquired about Bor's holy symbol and tabard.
"Oh, do you know, I'm not sure, really. I think I might have been a member of some kind of order, once upon a time. It was a long, long time ago, whenever it was." Bor's speech was rambling and distracted, and he seemed to have difficulty following a train of thought. "Yes, I think there were several of us traveling together, much like you all are now. But that was before..." He trailed off into confused silence.
"And now you live down here, by yourself?" Adrien prompted.
"Oh yes! It's not too bad, as long as you know how to stay out of trouble. Most of the trouble leaves me alone anyway. Not worth bothering with, I suppose." Bor gave them a weak grin.
Bor led them to a place where a long corridor stretched north into the darkness. The wall that ran along the west side was ornately decorated like the walls of a palace, and they recognized this as part of the same wall they had seen farther north. Bor opened a plain wooden door above which was written "Servants' Entrance" in Ancient Idalian. They entered a small anteroom and then went through a door to a somewhat larger room. Bor drew forth a large set of keys on a ring and unlocked a sturdy door on the opposite side of the room. Next to the door was a large sandwich board sign, upon which had been written in Common, in bold black paint:
MONSTERS STAY OUT!
(This means you, Queen of Nightmares!
(I have enough nightmares of my own, thank you very much.))
"This guy's all right!" declared Gulleck. Bor pulled the door open and escorted the party into a small room packed full of crates and barrels of various supplies, seemingly scavenged from different parts of the dungeon. Bor gazed distractedly over the clutter and then mused, "Hmm, there's no raft here, maybe it's in the other closet. Come along, come along..."
He led them through a door on the other side of the room into a large L-shaped room set up as a bedroom. A dingy bedroll lay in one corner next to a barrel with a tarnished old lantern on it. In another corner was a strange little shrine of sorts. Gulleck ventured over to get a closer look, and saw that it contained a few stubbly candles and some crudely whittled wooden idols that depicted strange figures with clawed, webbed hands, and grotesque lamprey-like sucker mouths. Gulleck nudged the other party members and nodded at the shrine, trying to be discreet but Bor noticed her interest.
"Paying your respects? That's wise of you. They are the source of all, be it good or ill. They brought us together today," he murmured, seeming to get lost in his thoughts.
"I, uh, thought you were one of those All-Pervading Light people?" asked Gulleck nervously.
"All-Pervading...? Yes, yes, that seems familiar. But that was before my mind was opened." ("Oh no," muttered Gulleck.) "That was before they showed me the truth beyond the veil."
"Who are they?" asked Adrien.
"They are beyond names. They are ancient, older even than these stones. I call them the Great Ones..." ("Oh no," muttered Gulleck.)
"What about that raft?" chirped Orehoe.
"Oh, yes, the raft. Just wait a moment..." Bor opened a door at the north end of the room and rummaged around. A few minutes later he emerged, dragging a dusty old raft of logs and rope. "It must be years since I used this last. It's so hard to keep track of time down here. It must have been back when the others were still..." And he trailed off again. "Well now, bring it back when you're done with it, won't you?"
The adventurers paid Bor 100 gold pieces and then awkwardly dragged the raft back the way they had came, passing the Judge's doorway and heading east to the shore of the Underground Sea (the infamous "Rocco Beach"). They shouted out for Caryatid and Simon, and Orin's sharp Elvish ears picked up faint return cries off to the left. The adventurers debated briefly, and then Orin and Jack were sent out on the raft to rescue Caryatid and Simon. (This required morale checks for the retainers, but they passed and so both nervously did as they were told.) The water was almost unnaturally still and silent, and once Jack and Orin were far enough away from the rest of the party, it was as though they were moving in a bubble of lantern light through a dark void, featureless apart from the rocky cave walls that they kept within sight on their left. Even the paddles slipping into the water seemed oddly muted. At times, water splashed up from the paddles onto Jack and Orin and they found that it seemed to sap their strength, leaving them feeling unnaturally fatigued and listless. But soon enough, they rounded a bend in the cave wall and spotted the light from Simon's sword. The water from the river plunged down some 15 feet in a waterfall, but even that seemed to lose all its energy and potency as it struck the quiet sea. The roar of the waterfall seemed muted at the bottom, and Orin and Jack had surprisingly little trouble bringing the raft quite close to the base of the waterfall without being disturbed by its wake. As they drew near, they saw a live fish wriggling as it went over the waterfall and slip into the dark sea, and they were alarmed to see it float motionless back to the surface a moment later.
"Don't touch the water!" shouted Orin up to Caryatid and Simon. Caryatid was carefully lowered down to the raft by Marcel the flying monkey and Simon's levitating boots. Once they were safely on board, Jack and Orin paddled quickly back along the cavern wall until they returned to the rocky beach where the rest of the party was waiting. They carried the raft back to Bor's room and returned it to him with thanks. Then they called it a day, and headed back to the surface.
And so a day went by, and Meat's body got a little riper where it was lying back in his apartment. We would pick up next time with another attempt the next day to find the Elixir of Life that could revive him.
Game date: Sunday, May 2, 210
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 70000/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 18684/20000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 3, hp 11, xp 7594/8000
Adrien, Fighter 3, hp 9, xp 6614/8000
Orehoe Hüfflestüff, Elf 1, hp 3, xp 1173/4000
Retainers:
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 3469/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 1255/4000
Jack, Thief 2, hp 8, xp 1910/2400
When we last left our intrepid party, Gulleck's stalwart retainer Meat had been killed by a living statue that sprayed lava from its fingers. Meat had already been revived once in the resurrection pool on the second level, so that was no longer an option. The players and I discussed the various options: Gulleck could hire a new retainer (who would start at first level but quickly advance, assuming their survival); they could pay 1,250 gold darics to have Meat raised from the dead at the Great Cathedral of the All-Pervading Light. (Gulleck had been raised in such a way, and then sent on a quest for the next few months, so Gulleck's player was a bit leery of going back there for help.) Finally, there was the Elixir of Life produced by the Eternal Flame in the caves on the second level. This elixir had reincarnated Gulleck into her current body, and it was decided to try the same with Meat. And if Meat came back as a monster, all the more fun!
And so the group descended into the undercity, and were immediately derailed trying to figure out exactly where the Eternal Flame was and how best to get there. They struggled with their maps, turning pages around and over and trying to fit them together. Fortunately no wandering monsters showed up while they were puzzling over the scraps of paper, in the light of Simon's magical sword, as they stood in the empty, echoing town square.
Eventually they determined their course, and headed down through the Temple of Hedonism to the second level. In the vestibule of the temple, they encountered a dozen knockers on their way out. Gulleck used to hate the tiny, wizened imps with a murderous rage, but her new personality was a bit more easy going and she didn't immediately put her axe into them.
"Trade gold for information?" the lead knocker hissed.
"Why, what kind of information do you need?" asked Caryatid mischievously.
"No," growled the knocker, annoyed. "You pay gold, we give information about this place."
"How much?"
"One gold piece. Each."
Well, everyone expected to be extorted for much more than that, so they were quite jolly about handing over a dozen gold coins. I don't even remember what question the group asked, but what I do remember is that the knocker gave them a real sarcastic smart aleck answer that wasn't helpful in the least. Adrien lost her patience and let go of Norman's leash. The demon ferret, which had been growling and straining at his leash, pounced forward, nipping one of the knockers. It drew its rusty knife and stabbed Norman, while the rest of them fled back into the temple. Norman tackled the knocker and ripped it to pieces, and once that furious activity subsided, the group followed the path of the fleeing knockers and found that they had excavated a crude tunnel into one of the changing rooms off of the hallway that led to the stairs down. It was too small for any of them to fit through (except perhaps Simon) so they abandoned the pursuit and went down to the second level.
They passed quickly through empty rooms and halls, and made their way to the rope bridge across a chasm. Down in the darkness, rushing water echoed and a cool mist floated up. There was discussion among the party regarding how to carefully harness themselves to the ropes of the bridge. Then Caryatid's player got bored.
"I'm just going to run right across."
"You're going to run across?"
"I'm going to hold the two ropes on the side with my hands, and just... scamper right across."
"So you're not tying yourself to the rope, or taking any special precautions, or going slowly and carefully..."
"Nope."
"OK. Roll a d6."
"A five! That's good, right?"
So while Gulleck and Simon were debating the best knot to use to secure a safety line to the bridge posts, Caryatid just scampered across, lost her balance, and plummeted through the inky darkness into the river below. Some forty feet down, she hit the cold water hard, knocking the wind out of her, and struggled to swim back to the surface and keep her head above the water as the current carried her away. A short while later, she came to an abrupt halt, washed up onto a shallow ledge where the river turned into a waterfall, pouring down into some unseen sea. Various bits of flotsam had become wedged on this shelf, and as Caryatid groped in the dark for a more secure position, her hands fell on what could only be the orcs' two sheet metal gongs that they had dumped into this chasm many months ago!
Meanwhile, back at the rope bridge, the party scrambled to find a way down to Caryatid. Adrien tied a rope to one of the bridge posts, and Simon descended with his sword, while Orehoe lit a lantern back at the top. Simon could see that the river passed through a tunnel on either side of the bridge and that the roof of the tunnel was a good ten feet above the surface of the water. He considered dropping down into the river, but the idea of swimming in cold water wearing plate armor seemed like a bad idea, so he remained hanging from the rope fretting about how to go after Caryatid.
Then Adrien called down, "Wait, don't you have flying boots?"
Well, levitation boots! Simon used the power of the boots to suspend himself in the air and then Caryatid's pet flying capuchin monkey, Marcel, was enticed to push Simon downstream into the tunnel. Finally, spending all that money researching a single use spell to give Marcel wings paid off!
Simon found Caryatid clinging to the waterfall ledge as cold water rushed over her. They hollered back up the tunnel as best they could, hoping the rest of the party would be able to hear them over the roar of the water. Gulleck had climbed down the rope to be nearer the mouth of the tunnel, and faintly heard Simon (made a Hear Noises check successfully). She called back that they were going down to the third level to find them, and then climbed back up the rope to rejoin the group. They returned to the worked stone area of the dungeon and took the mossy stairs down to the third level.
They first went to see "the judge", the talking stone pillar in the room near the stairs, though they had not brought any gems for him to eat. When they entered his room, they were surprised to see a man sitting casually in the wooden chair against the side wall, chatting idly with the pillar.
"Oh, my friends from above!" said the judge. "Today is a rare day indeed, so many visitors. Have you met my friend Bor? He comes to visit once in a while. Bor has made this place his home for some time now."
Bor was thin and lanky, with straggly unkempt hair. He had an odd, unfocused look about him. He wore a suit of plate armor, draped with a dirty and tattered tunic bearing the heraldry of the Great Cathedral of Idalium. A tarnished holy symbol hung around his neck, and they recognized the stylized sun of the All-Pervading Light. Father Jibber had worn a similar symbol.
The judge asked the adventurers what they were up to, and Gulleck explained that they needed to explore the underground sea to the east of here, and what they really needed was a raft.
"Hmm. I don't know of anything like that around here..."
"A raft, you say?" mused Bor. "Actually, I think I might have something like that stowed away. It was a long time ago, to be sure... I wonder if I still have it. Would you like to come and take a look? If I do still have it, I'd be happy to loan it to you for, shall we say a hundred gold darics?"
"Well, that's mighty kind of you," said Gulleck.
"Oh, I'm sure if you are friends of my stone friend here, you're trustworthy enough. Come on and let's see if we can find it."
The judge bid them good luck, and Bor led them back out of the room and down a hall to the west. On the way, Gulleck tentatively inquired about Bor's holy symbol and tabard.
"Oh, do you know, I'm not sure, really. I think I might have been a member of some kind of order, once upon a time. It was a long, long time ago, whenever it was." Bor's speech was rambling and distracted, and he seemed to have difficulty following a train of thought. "Yes, I think there were several of us traveling together, much like you all are now. But that was before..." He trailed off into confused silence.
"And now you live down here, by yourself?" Adrien prompted.
"Oh yes! It's not too bad, as long as you know how to stay out of trouble. Most of the trouble leaves me alone anyway. Not worth bothering with, I suppose." Bor gave them a weak grin.
Bor led them to a place where a long corridor stretched north into the darkness. The wall that ran along the west side was ornately decorated like the walls of a palace, and they recognized this as part of the same wall they had seen farther north. Bor opened a plain wooden door above which was written "Servants' Entrance" in Ancient Idalian. They entered a small anteroom and then went through a door to a somewhat larger room. Bor drew forth a large set of keys on a ring and unlocked a sturdy door on the opposite side of the room. Next to the door was a large sandwich board sign, upon which had been written in Common, in bold black paint:
MONSTERS STAY OUT!
(This means you, Queen of Nightmares!
(I have enough nightmares of my own, thank you very much.))
"This guy's all right!" declared Gulleck. Bor pulled the door open and escorted the party into a small room packed full of crates and barrels of various supplies, seemingly scavenged from different parts of the dungeon. Bor gazed distractedly over the clutter and then mused, "Hmm, there's no raft here, maybe it's in the other closet. Come along, come along..."
He led them through a door on the other side of the room into a large L-shaped room set up as a bedroom. A dingy bedroll lay in one corner next to a barrel with a tarnished old lantern on it. In another corner was a strange little shrine of sorts. Gulleck ventured over to get a closer look, and saw that it contained a few stubbly candles and some crudely whittled wooden idols that depicted strange figures with clawed, webbed hands, and grotesque lamprey-like sucker mouths. Gulleck nudged the other party members and nodded at the shrine, trying to be discreet but Bor noticed her interest.
"Paying your respects? That's wise of you. They are the source of all, be it good or ill. They brought us together today," he murmured, seeming to get lost in his thoughts.
"I, uh, thought you were one of those All-Pervading Light people?" asked Gulleck nervously.
"All-Pervading...? Yes, yes, that seems familiar. But that was before my mind was opened." ("Oh no," muttered Gulleck.) "That was before they showed me the truth beyond the veil."
"Who are they?" asked Adrien.
"They are beyond names. They are ancient, older even than these stones. I call them the Great Ones..." ("Oh no," muttered Gulleck.)
"What about that raft?" chirped Orehoe.
"Oh, yes, the raft. Just wait a moment..." Bor opened a door at the north end of the room and rummaged around. A few minutes later he emerged, dragging a dusty old raft of logs and rope. "It must be years since I used this last. It's so hard to keep track of time down here. It must have been back when the others were still..." And he trailed off again. "Well now, bring it back when you're done with it, won't you?"
The adventurers paid Bor 100 gold pieces and then awkwardly dragged the raft back the way they had came, passing the Judge's doorway and heading east to the shore of the Underground Sea (the infamous "Rocco Beach"). They shouted out for Caryatid and Simon, and Orin's sharp Elvish ears picked up faint return cries off to the left. The adventurers debated briefly, and then Orin and Jack were sent out on the raft to rescue Caryatid and Simon. (This required morale checks for the retainers, but they passed and so both nervously did as they were told.) The water was almost unnaturally still and silent, and once Jack and Orin were far enough away from the rest of the party, it was as though they were moving in a bubble of lantern light through a dark void, featureless apart from the rocky cave walls that they kept within sight on their left. Even the paddles slipping into the water seemed oddly muted. At times, water splashed up from the paddles onto Jack and Orin and they found that it seemed to sap their strength, leaving them feeling unnaturally fatigued and listless. But soon enough, they rounded a bend in the cave wall and spotted the light from Simon's sword. The water from the river plunged down some 15 feet in a waterfall, but even that seemed to lose all its energy and potency as it struck the quiet sea. The roar of the waterfall seemed muted at the bottom, and Orin and Jack had surprisingly little trouble bringing the raft quite close to the base of the waterfall without being disturbed by its wake. As they drew near, they saw a live fish wriggling as it went over the waterfall and slip into the dark sea, and they were alarmed to see it float motionless back to the surface a moment later.
"Don't touch the water!" shouted Orin up to Caryatid and Simon. Caryatid was carefully lowered down to the raft by Marcel the flying monkey and Simon's levitating boots. Once they were safely on board, Jack and Orin paddled quickly back along the cavern wall until they returned to the rocky beach where the rest of the party was waiting. They carried the raft back to Bor's room and returned it to him with thanks. Then they called it a day, and headed back to the surface.
And so a day went by, and Meat's body got a little riper where it was lying back in his apartment. We would pick up next time with another attempt the next day to find the Elixir of Life that could revive him.
Monday, July 23, 2018
Idalium Game 92: The Statue Got Me High
Session date: Monday, February 26, 2018
Game date: Saturday, May 1, 210
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 6, hp 37, xp 36486/70000
Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 18432/20000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 3, hp 11, xp 7329/8000
Orehoe Hüfflestüff, Elf 1, hp 3, xp 908/4000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 3, hp 17, xp 6416/8000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 3337/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 1129/4000
In the downtime between delves, Orehoe spent some of her newly acquired wealth to research the Read Magic spell. After two weeks of furious study and the expenditure of 1,000 gold pieces worth of esoteric books and other research materials, she emerged triumphant with a new spell to go along with her Ventriloquism spell. Meanwhile, Simon paid for his retainer Orin to scribe two more Sleep scrolls for his personal use.
The adventurers had only just descended into the buried city below the Rusty Lantern tavern, when they encountered a now-familiar figure, the veiled witch who sold potions and elixirs at the Goblin Market. She was accompanied by a pair of large, dog-like creatures, who growled quietly at the party while she conversed with them in her slightly sibilant voice, offering them a variety of potions. The adventurers balked at the high prices, however.
"Very well," the woman spoke from behind her opaque black veil. "Seek me out on my island in the underground sea, should you change your minds."
The group continued on their way, and in the upper sanctuary of the Temple of Hedonism, they encountered a trio of sketchy looking men; bandits, by the look of them. The two groups traded insults, but it was clear that the ruffians were outnumbered, so they backed down and rudely pushed their way past the adventurers on their way out of the temple. Some time later, Caryatid would discover that one of her magical wands was missing! (I made a pick pockets roll for a 1st level thief, fully expecting the attempt to be detected with hilarious consequences, but I rolled something like 4%!)
The party continued down to the third level, picking up their explorations where they had left off, at a door next to the room where the wererats had made their last stand. They opened the door, revealing a sitting room full of mildewed and tattered old furniture. Three odd statues squatted on stone pillars, bat-like wings folded behind their backs. Examining the statues cautiously, the adventurers noted that one was wearing a pair of jeweled bracelets, and another wore a golden torc around its neck. Meat stepped gingerly forward and reached for the torc, when suddenly the gargoyle sprang to life and swiped at him!
The group jumped into combat with the three bizarre creatures, which lifted themselves into the air on slowly flapping stone-like wings. Orin tried a Sleep spell with no affect, and Meat landed a devastating blow (a natural 20!) with his sword that unfortunately just rebounded off the chest of the gargoyle with an echoing CLANNNNNNG! Meat dropped his useless sword to the ground and borrowed Gulleck's magical "second best axe".
Gulleck, meanwhile, had ripped a vicious wound in the side of one of the gargoyles, and a dark gray sludge, like wet cement, came pouring out. Caryatid shot another one with a Magic Missile spell, and then Gulleck finished her opponent off with another axe strike. Father Chase was slashed badly across his handsome face by one of the gargoyles and retreated into the corner to pray for miraculous healing. Caryatid blasted another gargoyle with a second Magic Missile spell, and Simon used the Big Green d30 to one-shot one of them, and then finished off the third on the next round.
After collecting their breath and the treasure, the adventurers left the room, crossed the large, ornate hall and opened a door on the other side. They entered a dusty, cobwebbed feast hall. A long banquet table stood in the center of the room, still set with tarnished and web-strewn silver plates and goblets. But what drew their attention first and foremost was yet another statue. A tall (maybe eight feet tall) abstract granite sculpture of a man stood next to a chair at one end of the table. The chair was oddly scorched looking, as if burnt in a fire many years ago. The statue held one hand extended towards the chair as if in welcome.
I think most of the players were intimidated by this setup, but Gulleck's player knew a good set piece when he saw one, and Gulleck gamely sat in the chair and took the statue's hand. A brilliant white beam of light shot from its eyes into hers, and then she was engulfed in flame. All the other party members could see was her plate armor, and within that a raging furnace. Then the statue yanked its arm upward, and seemed to fling the column of fire upward into the ceiling, and Gulleck was gone. All that was left was a charred and smoking chair. And then the statue turned slowly towards the rest of the party, arms outstretched, smoke rising from its hands.
Orin started to panic (with his four hit points) and Simon quickly gave him his invisibility ring to stay out of trouble. Orin and Orehoe both scrambled beneath the table to hide. While Simon was distracted, though, he was blasted with a gout of glowing red lava that sprayed from the statue's fingers. He barely dodged out of the way to avoid being hit full on.
Meat ran up and landed a solid blow on the statue, and Caryatid used a Magic Missile scroll to chip away at the granite foe. Simon recovered his bearings and raked his sword across the statue while avoiding another blast of lava.
Caryatid tried to command her magical silk rope to entangle the statue's arm, but this didn't seem too effective, and Father Chase took a blast in the face ("Not the face!") while everyone tried ineffectively to land a solid blow on the statue.
Meat was sprayed again, taking serious damage. Caryatid, somewhat desperate now, cast Sleep but to no effect. Meat was hit again with a full blast of lava to the chest and fell to the ground with a gurgling dying scream.
The next couple of rounds were tense. Simon and Chase had very few hit points left. Caryatid didn't seem to have any useful spells left, and Meat was gone. Simon's player rolled the Big Green d30 to win initiative but both Simon and Chase were unable to do any more damage to the statue. In desperation, Orin and Orehoe used their backs to lift the heavy banquet table a few inches off the ground, and rammed it into the statue, doing a few points of damage. Father Chase then brought his mace smashing down into the neck of the statue, and the internal lava glow faded and it slumped into immobility.
Meanwhile, Gulleck found herself sitting in a chair in a familiar yet different room. It was the same banquet hall, but there were no cobwebs or dust. Torches burned brightly in wall sconces, and the table was set with fragrant meats and vegetables and goblets of wine. Gulleck felt full of new knowledge and wisdom, as if the statue had shown her things that she could only vaguely consciously remember now. (In game terms, she had gone up to level 7!)
As Gulleck looked around, she saw the granite statue standing at the other end of the table, hands outstretched towards her, fingers smoking and spurting orange lava. Flush with new power, Gulleck jumped onto the table, knocking goblets and platters down clattering to the floor, and charged screaming towards the statue, axe raised over her head. Fiery lava sprayed all around her as her ran, spattering on the stone floor and hissing where it fell on the wooden table. She slammed her axe into the statue again and again, while it sprayed her with glowing molten rock. No other party member would have likely survived such a frontal assault, but Gulleck's hit points outlasted the statue's, and within four rounds she finished it off.
Back in the real world, the rest of the adventurers were catching their breath and mourning Meat, when they saw the inert statue suddenly shudder and rock. Then a gauntleted dwarven fist punched its way out through the chest of the statue, and began to pull the burnt-out husk of the statue apart. The other adventurers ran forward to help, and quickly freed a soot-smudged and singed Gulleck from the steaming rubble of the statue.
They gathered up their fallen comrade and hurried back out of the dungeon and up to the surface. Would they bury Meat's body and hire a new retainer for Gulleck? (Although honestly, does Gulleck even need a retainer now?) Would they pay to have Meat raised from the dead at the Great Cathedral? Would they venture into the caves to find the Elixir of Life that could bring a person back to life in a new body? Time would tell!
[A note about this encounter, which was loosely adapted from a song by the band They Might Be Giants (that also gave its title to the title of this session report): This is one of those set pieces you dream up and then wait for months or years for the players to find and you just hope they take the bait. The way it worked is that I kept track of how many rounds it took the party to destroy the statue (a rock living statue, by the way). Then, when we switched to the alternate world with the character that sat in the chair, they would have to survive that many rounds in solo combat against the statue. The exit from the room would turn out to be bricked up if they tried to escape via the door. If they perished in the alternate world, the character would be dead forever with no chance of resurrection. I think it was very lucky for the players that Gulleck was the one to sit in the chair!]
Game date: Saturday, May 1, 210
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 6, hp 37, xp 36486/70000
Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 18432/20000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 3, hp 11, xp 7329/8000
Orehoe Hüfflestüff, Elf 1, hp 3, xp 908/4000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 3, hp 17, xp 6416/8000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 3337/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 1129/4000
In the downtime between delves, Orehoe spent some of her newly acquired wealth to research the Read Magic spell. After two weeks of furious study and the expenditure of 1,000 gold pieces worth of esoteric books and other research materials, she emerged triumphant with a new spell to go along with her Ventriloquism spell. Meanwhile, Simon paid for his retainer Orin to scribe two more Sleep scrolls for his personal use.
The adventurers had only just descended into the buried city below the Rusty Lantern tavern, when they encountered a now-familiar figure, the veiled witch who sold potions and elixirs at the Goblin Market. She was accompanied by a pair of large, dog-like creatures, who growled quietly at the party while she conversed with them in her slightly sibilant voice, offering them a variety of potions. The adventurers balked at the high prices, however.
"Very well," the woman spoke from behind her opaque black veil. "Seek me out on my island in the underground sea, should you change your minds."
The group continued on their way, and in the upper sanctuary of the Temple of Hedonism, they encountered a trio of sketchy looking men; bandits, by the look of them. The two groups traded insults, but it was clear that the ruffians were outnumbered, so they backed down and rudely pushed their way past the adventurers on their way out of the temple. Some time later, Caryatid would discover that one of her magical wands was missing! (I made a pick pockets roll for a 1st level thief, fully expecting the attempt to be detected with hilarious consequences, but I rolled something like 4%!)
The party continued down to the third level, picking up their explorations where they had left off, at a door next to the room where the wererats had made their last stand. They opened the door, revealing a sitting room full of mildewed and tattered old furniture. Three odd statues squatted on stone pillars, bat-like wings folded behind their backs. Examining the statues cautiously, the adventurers noted that one was wearing a pair of jeweled bracelets, and another wore a golden torc around its neck. Meat stepped gingerly forward and reached for the torc, when suddenly the gargoyle sprang to life and swiped at him!
The group jumped into combat with the three bizarre creatures, which lifted themselves into the air on slowly flapping stone-like wings. Orin tried a Sleep spell with no affect, and Meat landed a devastating blow (a natural 20!) with his sword that unfortunately just rebounded off the chest of the gargoyle with an echoing CLANNNNNNG! Meat dropped his useless sword to the ground and borrowed Gulleck's magical "second best axe".
Gulleck, meanwhile, had ripped a vicious wound in the side of one of the gargoyles, and a dark gray sludge, like wet cement, came pouring out. Caryatid shot another one with a Magic Missile spell, and then Gulleck finished her opponent off with another axe strike. Father Chase was slashed badly across his handsome face by one of the gargoyles and retreated into the corner to pray for miraculous healing. Caryatid blasted another gargoyle with a second Magic Missile spell, and Simon used the Big Green d30 to one-shot one of them, and then finished off the third on the next round.
I think most of the players were intimidated by this setup, but Gulleck's player knew a good set piece when he saw one, and Gulleck gamely sat in the chair and took the statue's hand. A brilliant white beam of light shot from its eyes into hers, and then she was engulfed in flame. All the other party members could see was her plate armor, and within that a raging furnace. Then the statue yanked its arm upward, and seemed to fling the column of fire upward into the ceiling, and Gulleck was gone. All that was left was a charred and smoking chair. And then the statue turned slowly towards the rest of the party, arms outstretched, smoke rising from its hands.
Orin started to panic (with his four hit points) and Simon quickly gave him his invisibility ring to stay out of trouble. Orin and Orehoe both scrambled beneath the table to hide. While Simon was distracted, though, he was blasted with a gout of glowing red lava that sprayed from the statue's fingers. He barely dodged out of the way to avoid being hit full on.
Meat ran up and landed a solid blow on the statue, and Caryatid used a Magic Missile scroll to chip away at the granite foe. Simon recovered his bearings and raked his sword across the statue while avoiding another blast of lava.
Caryatid tried to command her magical silk rope to entangle the statue's arm, but this didn't seem too effective, and Father Chase took a blast in the face ("Not the face!") while everyone tried ineffectively to land a solid blow on the statue.
Meat was sprayed again, taking serious damage. Caryatid, somewhat desperate now, cast Sleep but to no effect. Meat was hit again with a full blast of lava to the chest and fell to the ground with a gurgling dying scream.
The next couple of rounds were tense. Simon and Chase had very few hit points left. Caryatid didn't seem to have any useful spells left, and Meat was gone. Simon's player rolled the Big Green d30 to win initiative but both Simon and Chase were unable to do any more damage to the statue. In desperation, Orin and Orehoe used their backs to lift the heavy banquet table a few inches off the ground, and rammed it into the statue, doing a few points of damage. Father Chase then brought his mace smashing down into the neck of the statue, and the internal lava glow faded and it slumped into immobility.
Meanwhile, Gulleck found herself sitting in a chair in a familiar yet different room. It was the same banquet hall, but there were no cobwebs or dust. Torches burned brightly in wall sconces, and the table was set with fragrant meats and vegetables and goblets of wine. Gulleck felt full of new knowledge and wisdom, as if the statue had shown her things that she could only vaguely consciously remember now. (In game terms, she had gone up to level 7!)
As Gulleck looked around, she saw the granite statue standing at the other end of the table, hands outstretched towards her, fingers smoking and spurting orange lava. Flush with new power, Gulleck jumped onto the table, knocking goblets and platters down clattering to the floor, and charged screaming towards the statue, axe raised over her head. Fiery lava sprayed all around her as her ran, spattering on the stone floor and hissing where it fell on the wooden table. She slammed her axe into the statue again and again, while it sprayed her with glowing molten rock. No other party member would have likely survived such a frontal assault, but Gulleck's hit points outlasted the statue's, and within four rounds she finished it off.
Back in the real world, the rest of the adventurers were catching their breath and mourning Meat, when they saw the inert statue suddenly shudder and rock. Then a gauntleted dwarven fist punched its way out through the chest of the statue, and began to pull the burnt-out husk of the statue apart. The other adventurers ran forward to help, and quickly freed a soot-smudged and singed Gulleck from the steaming rubble of the statue.
They gathered up their fallen comrade and hurried back out of the dungeon and up to the surface. Would they bury Meat's body and hire a new retainer for Gulleck? (Although honestly, does Gulleck even need a retainer now?) Would they pay to have Meat raised from the dead at the Great Cathedral? Would they venture into the caves to find the Elixir of Life that could bring a person back to life in a new body? Time would tell!
[A note about this encounter, which was loosely adapted from a song by the band They Might Be Giants (that also gave its title to the title of this session report): This is one of those set pieces you dream up and then wait for months or years for the players to find and you just hope they take the bait. The way it worked is that I kept track of how many rounds it took the party to destroy the statue (a rock living statue, by the way). Then, when we switched to the alternate world with the character that sat in the chair, they would have to survive that many rounds in solo combat against the statue. The exit from the room would turn out to be bricked up if they tried to escape via the door. If they perished in the alternate world, the character would be dead forever with no chance of resurrection. I think it was very lucky for the players that Gulleck was the one to sit in the chair!]
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