Session date: Monday, May 13, 2019
Game date: Saturday, June 25, 211
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71978/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 21152/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9958/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 10123/16000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17037/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4669/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2250/4000
Miss Vanjie, Thief 1, hp 1, xp 0/1200
About a month had passed in game time (and real time), so Caryatid and Orin used the downtime to create four Sleep scrolls apiece. The party also purchased two more canoes, at 50 gp each, in order to continue their exploration of the caverns across the underground sea.
Struck with a whim to have a thief for a retainer again, Adrien's player rolled up a new employee, whom she dubbed "Miss Vanjie". Sadly, Miss Vanjie came to the party with a single hit point. Well, at least thieves level up quickly!
In the Rusty Lantern, they found Moonpetal's Marauders carousing at the bar. I quickly made three more saving throws for Moonpetal and found to everyone's amusement that even a month later he was still under the effect of Caryatid's Charm Person spell. Moonpetal obsequiously bought her a drink.
They carried the two canoes down into the dungeon, paying a toll of 2 gp each to have them lowered down into the ruined city. It was awkward getting them down the stairs and through doorways, but they managed it, making their way to the Temple of Hedonism and its stairway down to the second level. In the large town square, they encountered a group of five acolytes of the Temple of Hedonism, who were not aggressive but nonetheless guarded and suspicious. They conversed briefly and then continued on their way.
In the vestibule of the temple, Simon sniffed for gold and lo and behold found a sack behind one of the statues containing 700 silver and 10 gold coins. They put on their togas to pass the crystal statue guarding the stairs and descended to the second level.
As was their tradition, the party took their new employee to the Temple of Fate to give her a spin on the wheel of fortune. The noise of the wheel attracted a group of stirges, but Gulleck slammed the door shut and they when they reopened it some time later, the stirges had moved on. Vanjie didn't feel any different after her trip on the wheel and it was unclear what boon or bane had been bestowed upon her.
Down to the third level they proceeded, carrying the canoes awkwardly down the stairs. Gulleck unlocked the heavy stone door, and then they came upon a session-changing random dungeon restocking roll. As the door swung open, they saw a party of 10 bugbears crossing the room, carrying the palanquin of the Queen of Nightmares.
Seizing the opportunity, Caryatid cast Fireball directly on the palanquin. Considering the room was only 20 feet square, this was a rather reckless decision. Everything went up in flame and heat, including the front half of the party. Three of the bugbears died screaming, completely exposed in the room with nothing to take cover behind, and most of the rest seemed badly injured as well. Gulleck and Simon gritted their teeth and withstood the worst of the blast, flames flickering around their shields. Caryatid found shelter behind the edge of the doorway, but Father Chase was caught in the full blast of the explosion, and fell to the ground with a wail and a heavy thump. Adrien and Miss Vanjie dropped to the ground and hid under their canoe.
At the same time, Orin cast a Sleep spell, and three of the bugbears carrying the palanquin staggered to the floor, leaving it tilted at an uncomfortable angle. A frail shout of pain and indignity came from the litter. Then, before the adventurers could gather themselves to charge into the room and attack the survivors, the curtain of the palanquin drew open a few inches and a thin wooden stick emerged, pointing at the doorway. A wave of bone-chilling panic swept over the adventurers. Some of the bugbears who had standing between the palanquin and the party ran out of the room, hooting in panic, but Gulleck, Meat, and Orin were also overwhelmed by the unnatural fear. Their faces filled with irrational panic, and they backed away, stumbling over the canoe that Adrien and Vanjie were huddling beneath, and then ran back up the stairs shrieking in terror.
Before the remaining adventurers could respond, a bony hand extended from the palanquin, finger pointing at the adventurers, and the chilling voice of the Queen of Nightmares spoke: "Do not move!" Simon and Adrien found themselves rooted to the spot, paralyzed by some fearful force that turned their bodies traitor against their own wills.
Three of the surviving bugbears took up the poles of the palanquin from their slumbering or burned companions and hoisting the palanquin back to their shoulders, took off at a jog to the west, along with the other surviving bugbears. Caryatid and Miss Vanjie were the only adventurers left with their faculties, and had little choice but to let them flee into the darkness.
Father Chase lay on the ground in unknown condition (the fireball had reduced him to -3 hit points). I let Caryatid's player roll the usual 1d4-1 to regain hit points at the end of a combat. She rolled a 4, bringing him back to exactly 0, meaning that he was alive and breathing, but unconscious and unresponsive.
While Caryatid attempted to bandage the worst of Father Chase's burns, the voice of "the Judge" echoed out of the southern doorway.
"Oh my! I'm so glad you weren't all killed by that terrible woman!"
Caryatid thanked him for his concern but as there was little an immobile stone column could do for them right now, she wasn't in the mood to talk. Eventually, the paralysis wore off from Simon and Adrien, and around the same time, Gulleck, Meat, and Orin returned from the Temple of Hedonism where they had been hiding in terror.
With all this waiting around, there was time for a few wandering monster rolls, one of which did come up as affirmative, which could have been really bad for the fractured and weakened party, but it turned out to be the addled cleric Bor, who lived on this level. He wore the tattered heraldry of the Great Cathedral of Idalium, but nowadays he seemed to worship other, more esoteric gods. Still, he was a friend to the adventurers, and when he saw that Father Chase was badly wounded and on the brink of death, he bent over him and murmured a prayer.
"Deliver this lowly one from the darkness, O Great Ones! Let him continue to play his role in Your Great Purpose. Grant me, Your humble servant, this blessing..."
Father Chase's eyes flickered open. He was weak and in great pain. Bor sat with him and spoke to him of the "Great Ones" and their magnanimity. Bor reached into a pouch and drew forth a crudely whittled wooden idol of a bizarre humanoid with flippers for arms and legs and a horrid, lamprey-like sucker for a mouth.
"Take this, my son. Meditate upon it and you too may soon come to understand the truth of the Great Ones. They have saved you today for a greater cause."
Caryatid politely shooed Bor away from proselytizing to her retainer in his moment of extreme vulnerability, and after thanking him, the group went on their way. They stashed the two canoes in the abandoned shrine with the other two that they had "rented" from Shorty, and then high-tailed it back upstairs. In the Temple of Hedonism they encountered the same five acolytes they had met in the town square, but for once there was no actual orgy going on, but just an unexpectedly wholesome picnic of bread, cheese. fruit, and wine. The adventurers apologized for interrupting as they crossed the room, scorched, burned, and ragged. They made it back to the Rusty Lantern with no further encounters.
Later that day, Miss Vanjie received a message that a rich patron in town wanted to publish her memoirs and sent her an advance of 1000 gold coins. How lucky! (And in one fell swoop, Miss Vanjie made it almost to level 2.) Meat and Orin both failed morale checks and decided to take a week off from adventuring, and Miss Vanjie left for four weeks (to polish up her memoirs and spend her unexpected windfall).
Saturday, December 21, 2019
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Idalium Game 109: The Wine-Dark Sea
Session date: Monday, April 15, 2019
Game date: Saturday, May 28, 211
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71958/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 21127/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9932/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 10098/16000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17024/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4655/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2237/4000
Boe, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 118/2000
When the adventurers arrived in the Rusty Lantern, they entered to find a fellow adventuring party, "Shorty's Sirens", celebrating with a hearty meal and full flagons of wine. Shorty greeted Gulleck cheerily, and told her they had just come up from a rather successful delve. Gulleck tried to draw out where they had been, and Shorty said they had taken canoes across the underground sea on the third level. She also mentioned that on the far side of the underground sea, her party had found a partially flooded research laboratory of some sort, largely untouched since the day that Ancient Idalium fell. She told them that there was a door in the first room with a strange mechanical combination lock that they had been unable to figure out, so they had left it for now.
Well, this sounded like an interesting lead, so the party asked Shorty whether she would be willing to loan them her canoes. The two parties were on good terms, and Shorty was willing to rent them for 10 gold darics, plus a "security deposit" of 100 darics to cover replacement costs in case something happened to the canoes. The deal was made and Shorty went with the adventurers down into the basement of the tavern to retrieve the canoes from her party's secure vault.
The guards at the trapdoor seemed irritated to have to deal with the canoes twice in as many hours, and charged an additional toll of 2 gold darics per canoe for the hassle of lowering them down into the dungeon with the winch. Once down below, Chase and Orin hoisted one canoe onto their shoulders, and Adrien and Boe lifted the other one. It was somewhat awkward maneuvering the canoes around the corners of the underground streets and through the narrow tunnel dug by the gnomes, but with a little bit of extra time they made their way through to the Temple of Hedonism.
As soon as they opened the doors to the temple, they were surprised to see yet another adventuring party: Moonpetal's Marauders. In fact, both parties were surprised and goggled at each other foolishly for a few seconds. Then, Moonpetal the elf waved his hands and murmured arcane words, and before the adventurers could react, he had cast a Charm Person spell on Simon!
"Ah, Simon, my dear friend. Just the man I was looking for. We need those canoes! It's absolutely critical, so hurry up and hand them over."
Simon said, "Sure thing, pal!" and ordered Orin to hand over his end of the canoe to Moonpetal's companions. But Caryatid knew what was up and cast her own Charm Person spell at Moonpetal, while Father Chase put down his end of the canoe, and drew forth a "spell of bondage" scroll he had obtained long ago in the "study room" of the Temple of Hedonism. Moonpetal whipped out a wand, but the adventurers won initiative, and Moonpetal's muscles locked up, completely paralyzed, while Caryatid's spell swept over his mind. Simon protested vocally at this treatment of his dearest friend.
Gulleck stepped up to Moonpetal. "Now then, you're going to release Simon from your spell." Moonpetal would have nodded, but could do little more than blink, but he ended the charm and Simon scowled as he realized he had been magically swindled. Gulleck told Moonpetal's companions to carry him away, and then they moved further into the temple.
No sooner had they passed from the vestibule into the main temple, they encountered yet another adventuring party from the Rusty Lantern tavern. This time it was St. Dwindum's Heroes, a group of clerics and their followers raiding the dungeon in order to fund the expansion of the tiny Cult of St. Dwindum. They chatted with the pious Brother Michael and the more worldly and gregarious Brother Randy, warning them about Moonpetal's crew, and then took their leave to proceed below.
They passed through the empty basement den of the Temple of Hedonism, turned the corner and proceeded down to the third level. As they opened the great stone door at the bottom of the stairs, they were surprised by voices.
"Is that you, Master Randy? Did you forget something? We... oh."
The door swung open to reveal eight black-robed cultists, with goathead holy symbols hanging around their necks. The cultists seemed quite embarrassed and greeted the adventurers tersely and then took their own leave to the west, while the party went east. Finally the penny was beginning to drop, and Caryatid was putting two and two together as to why the leader of the cultists had such a familiar voice.
They carried the canoes to the rocky beach at the end of the eastern corridor. The underground sea was dark and silent, and the gentle lapping of water on the rocky shore seemed muffled and distant. The canoes could each seat two people, so Simon and Gulleck took one, while Caryatid and Adrien (along with Norman the horrible giant ferret) boarded the other. The retainers were left to wait on the beach with a couple of torches and a tinderbox.
The canoes were pushed out into the water and they paddled off to the left, following the cavern wall. The sounds of their retainers moving around on the gravel quickly faded, and everything seemed preternaturally quiet. Even the splash of their oars in the water sounded oddly muted, and the canoes did not seem to leave as much of a wake in the water as they expected. They followed the wall to the north and as it curved to the east and eventually they came to the waterfall from which they had rescued Caryatid, about a year ago in game time. They avoided the falling waters and continued following the cavern wall to the east, eventually coming to another rocky beach, somewhat larger than the one they had left from. There was a rowboat on the shore here, and to the north at the back of the cavern a passage led deeper into the caves.
They beached the canoes on the shore and got out to inspect the rowboat. It seemed in decent enough shape, and they noticed that on the bow of the boat a thick rope ran through a metal eyelet. One end was tightly tied to an iron spike that was staked deeply into the rocky ground next to the rowboat and after passing through the eyelet, the rope trailed away into the dark water of the sea. Gulleck pulled on the rope and a portion of it near the boat lifted clear of the lake, water dripping quietly from it.
Not wanting to take the time right now to investigate this further, with their retainers waiting for them back at the other beach, the adventurers instead chose to explore the tunnel to the north. This led them to a natural cavern where two passages led off to the left and the right. They chose to explore the right tunnel, and after about thirty or forty feet, they saw that the ground, walls, and even the roof of the tunnel were becoming overgrown with all sorts of mushrooms and fungi. There were pale white puffballs, grotesque elongated mushrooms, mosslike growths of mold of various colors, and strange filamentous hairs that wafted in the breeze as they passed by nervously. The fungus seemed to get denser as they moved through the tunnel until it covered almost all of the surfaces. They trod upon this living carpet nervously, but so far there seemed to be no ill effects as mushrooms collapsed under their boots.
Turning a corner in the tunnel, they came upon the sight of five enormous ants milling about the cavern. They were easily six feet long each, and their black carapaces reflected the gleam of Simon's glowing sword. The ants didn't seem aggressive, as they chewed at the fungus on the walls and ground, but they were blocking further progress, and the party didn't feel up to risking a fight when they were outnumbered. They retreated back the way they had come, collecting some of the fungus in an empty wineskin for further examination.
They took the canoes back to "Rocco Beach", reuniting with their retainers. (I had been rolling wandering monster checks for both groups, but fortunately for the retainers nothing had shown up while they were waiting.) Simon had the bright idea to just keep the canoes here for next time, so they wouldn't have to lug them back up through the dungeon. Shorty would surely understand! "We'll just pay her a little extra for the extra time we keep them for." There was an abandoned shrine off the hall not far from the beach and the adventurers dragged the canoes in, leaned them up against the walls, and then Caryatid cast Wizard Lock on the door.
They returned to the Rusty Lantern, where they found Shorty waiting for them. She was not amused by the fact that they had returned emptyhanded, and very much did not understand why.
"This was not the deal we had, Gulleck! I expected better treatment than this from you."
Gulleck, who had kind of expected that this wasn't going to go the way Simon described, could only gesture apologetically. Shorty scowled at them all and stomped out into the street.
Game date: Saturday, May 28, 211
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71958/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 21127/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9932/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 10098/16000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17024/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4655/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2237/4000
Boe, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 118/2000
When the adventurers arrived in the Rusty Lantern, they entered to find a fellow adventuring party, "Shorty's Sirens", celebrating with a hearty meal and full flagons of wine. Shorty greeted Gulleck cheerily, and told her they had just come up from a rather successful delve. Gulleck tried to draw out where they had been, and Shorty said they had taken canoes across the underground sea on the third level. She also mentioned that on the far side of the underground sea, her party had found a partially flooded research laboratory of some sort, largely untouched since the day that Ancient Idalium fell. She told them that there was a door in the first room with a strange mechanical combination lock that they had been unable to figure out, so they had left it for now.
Well, this sounded like an interesting lead, so the party asked Shorty whether she would be willing to loan them her canoes. The two parties were on good terms, and Shorty was willing to rent them for 10 gold darics, plus a "security deposit" of 100 darics to cover replacement costs in case something happened to the canoes. The deal was made and Shorty went with the adventurers down into the basement of the tavern to retrieve the canoes from her party's secure vault.
The guards at the trapdoor seemed irritated to have to deal with the canoes twice in as many hours, and charged an additional toll of 2 gold darics per canoe for the hassle of lowering them down into the dungeon with the winch. Once down below, Chase and Orin hoisted one canoe onto their shoulders, and Adrien and Boe lifted the other one. It was somewhat awkward maneuvering the canoes around the corners of the underground streets and through the narrow tunnel dug by the gnomes, but with a little bit of extra time they made their way through to the Temple of Hedonism.
As soon as they opened the doors to the temple, they were surprised to see yet another adventuring party: Moonpetal's Marauders. In fact, both parties were surprised and goggled at each other foolishly for a few seconds. Then, Moonpetal the elf waved his hands and murmured arcane words, and before the adventurers could react, he had cast a Charm Person spell on Simon!
"Ah, Simon, my dear friend. Just the man I was looking for. We need those canoes! It's absolutely critical, so hurry up and hand them over."
Simon said, "Sure thing, pal!" and ordered Orin to hand over his end of the canoe to Moonpetal's companions. But Caryatid knew what was up and cast her own Charm Person spell at Moonpetal, while Father Chase put down his end of the canoe, and drew forth a "spell of bondage" scroll he had obtained long ago in the "study room" of the Temple of Hedonism. Moonpetal whipped out a wand, but the adventurers won initiative, and Moonpetal's muscles locked up, completely paralyzed, while Caryatid's spell swept over his mind. Simon protested vocally at this treatment of his dearest friend.
Gulleck stepped up to Moonpetal. "Now then, you're going to release Simon from your spell." Moonpetal would have nodded, but could do little more than blink, but he ended the charm and Simon scowled as he realized he had been magically swindled. Gulleck told Moonpetal's companions to carry him away, and then they moved further into the temple.
No sooner had they passed from the vestibule into the main temple, they encountered yet another adventuring party from the Rusty Lantern tavern. This time it was St. Dwindum's Heroes, a group of clerics and their followers raiding the dungeon in order to fund the expansion of the tiny Cult of St. Dwindum. They chatted with the pious Brother Michael and the more worldly and gregarious Brother Randy, warning them about Moonpetal's crew, and then took their leave to proceed below.
They passed through the empty basement den of the Temple of Hedonism, turned the corner and proceeded down to the third level. As they opened the great stone door at the bottom of the stairs, they were surprised by voices.
"Is that you, Master Randy? Did you forget something? We... oh."
The door swung open to reveal eight black-robed cultists, with goathead holy symbols hanging around their necks. The cultists seemed quite embarrassed and greeted the adventurers tersely and then took their own leave to the west, while the party went east. Finally the penny was beginning to drop, and Caryatid was putting two and two together as to why the leader of the cultists had such a familiar voice.
They carried the canoes to the rocky beach at the end of the eastern corridor. The underground sea was dark and silent, and the gentle lapping of water on the rocky shore seemed muffled and distant. The canoes could each seat two people, so Simon and Gulleck took one, while Caryatid and Adrien (along with Norman the horrible giant ferret) boarded the other. The retainers were left to wait on the beach with a couple of torches and a tinderbox.
The canoes were pushed out into the water and they paddled off to the left, following the cavern wall. The sounds of their retainers moving around on the gravel quickly faded, and everything seemed preternaturally quiet. Even the splash of their oars in the water sounded oddly muted, and the canoes did not seem to leave as much of a wake in the water as they expected. They followed the wall to the north and as it curved to the east and eventually they came to the waterfall from which they had rescued Caryatid, about a year ago in game time. They avoided the falling waters and continued following the cavern wall to the east, eventually coming to another rocky beach, somewhat larger than the one they had left from. There was a rowboat on the shore here, and to the north at the back of the cavern a passage led deeper into the caves.
They beached the canoes on the shore and got out to inspect the rowboat. It seemed in decent enough shape, and they noticed that on the bow of the boat a thick rope ran through a metal eyelet. One end was tightly tied to an iron spike that was staked deeply into the rocky ground next to the rowboat and after passing through the eyelet, the rope trailed away into the dark water of the sea. Gulleck pulled on the rope and a portion of it near the boat lifted clear of the lake, water dripping quietly from it.
Not wanting to take the time right now to investigate this further, with their retainers waiting for them back at the other beach, the adventurers instead chose to explore the tunnel to the north. This led them to a natural cavern where two passages led off to the left and the right. They chose to explore the right tunnel, and after about thirty or forty feet, they saw that the ground, walls, and even the roof of the tunnel were becoming overgrown with all sorts of mushrooms and fungi. There were pale white puffballs, grotesque elongated mushrooms, mosslike growths of mold of various colors, and strange filamentous hairs that wafted in the breeze as they passed by nervously. The fungus seemed to get denser as they moved through the tunnel until it covered almost all of the surfaces. They trod upon this living carpet nervously, but so far there seemed to be no ill effects as mushrooms collapsed under their boots.
Turning a corner in the tunnel, they came upon the sight of five enormous ants milling about the cavern. They were easily six feet long each, and their black carapaces reflected the gleam of Simon's glowing sword. The ants didn't seem aggressive, as they chewed at the fungus on the walls and ground, but they were blocking further progress, and the party didn't feel up to risking a fight when they were outnumbered. They retreated back the way they had come, collecting some of the fungus in an empty wineskin for further examination.
They took the canoes back to "Rocco Beach", reuniting with their retainers. (I had been rolling wandering monster checks for both groups, but fortunately for the retainers nothing had shown up while they were waiting.) Simon had the bright idea to just keep the canoes here for next time, so they wouldn't have to lug them back up through the dungeon. Shorty would surely understand! "We'll just pay her a little extra for the extra time we keep them for." There was an abandoned shrine off the hall not far from the beach and the adventurers dragged the canoes in, leaned them up against the walls, and then Caryatid cast Wizard Lock on the door.
They returned to the Rusty Lantern, where they found Shorty waiting for them. She was not amused by the fact that they had returned emptyhanded, and very much did not understand why.
"This was not the deal we had, Gulleck! I expected better treatment than this from you."
Gulleck, who had kind of expected that this wasn't going to go the way Simon described, could only gesture apologetically. Shorty scowled at them all and stomped out into the street.
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Idalium Game 108: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Session date: Monday, March 25, 2019
Game date: Saturday, May 7, 211
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71930/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 21092/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9894/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 10063/16000
Frosty Beans, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 1/2000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17006/32000
Kevon, Fighter 2, hp 8, xp 2000/4000
Moonpetal, Elf 2, hp 12, xp 4676/8000
Our new player came back again the next week (always a vote of confidence), and we had all the regulars. Simon had finally made his save vs spells and shook off the Charm Person that had persisted for months of game time. Down to the third level they went.
On the way, they encountered a pair of fire beetles in the Street of Temples, light glands glowing eerily in the darkness as they approached. The beetles seemed to be minding their own business, but Adrien decided to unleash her mangy giant ferret Norman upon them. She rolled a 1 for Norman's attack, so he missed the beetles completely and slammed into the facade of a temple across the street. The beetles fell upon him in self defense, and he was bit for 5 points. Suddenly things got more serious. Gulleck and Simon scrambled for their rings of animal control, but before they could put them on, Norman was bit for another 9 points, and died gurgling horribly.
Gulleck and Simon seized control of the beetles and they were swiftly killed, but Adrien was distraught at the death of her beloved demon ferret. She cradled his lifeless corpse in her arms and vowed vengeance upon the DM. Then someone had the idea to dip him in the resurrection pool. Hmm... did the pool even work on animals? Its magic was already a bit wonky, as it had a habit of creating magical duplicates of anyone who entered it while still alive. But the decision was made (over Caryatid's objections) to give it a try.
They made it down to the chamber of the pool without incident, and dropped his limp body into the slippery liquid of the pool. Nothing happened for some time, and there was nervous chatter about just leaving his corpse in the pool since nobody wanted to risk getting duplicated by going in after it. But then there was splashing, and Norman's snout broke the surface. He swam to the edge, sputtering and sneezing, and clambered out.
There was something different about him now. He was bulkier, stockier around the shoulders. He had always been mangy and scruffy, but now his patchy fur stood in matted tufts that persisted even after he shook off the liquid of the pool, and his oily skin exuded a faint but constant sickly smell of infection and decay. One eye was continually oozing and crusty.
Nonetheless, Adrien crouched to embrace her pet happily, but Norman was in a foul mood. He snapped viciously at her face, and if not for her finely honed adventurer's instincts, he probably would have torn her throat open. (In other words, his bite did enough damage to kill an everyday human.)
"OK, OK, he's a little grouchy. You would be too if you'd just been bitten to death by giant beetles."
Nobody else in the party seemed enthused about this new "Pet Sematary" version of Norman.
In any event, having taken care of Norman, the party descended to the third level. They briefly stopped in to visit "the Judge". He was horrified by Norman and called him "an abomination", much to Caryatid's satisfaction. They fed him a gemstone and asked him about the north shore of the underground sea. The Judge said that there were natural caverns there, although he had heard reports that a portion of the caves had become overgrown with strange subterranean fungus.
After visiting the Judge, they headed west. They stopped at a nondescript door at the north end of the Queen of Nightmares' palace, and Simon used his mind-reading amulet. He sensed the presence of several bugbear guards. Not feeling up to a big fight just yet, they opted to move on, but Caryatid cast Wizard Lock on the door first, just to annoy the Queen.
They headed north, farther than they had previously mapped, and at the end of a long hallway they found a massive wooden door. It was beautifully carved with motifs of vines and leaves, flowers and tree bark. This must be the door to the gardens they had often heard about!
Frosty attempted to push the door open, but only succeeded in hurting his shoulder. The door was securely locked.
"I take out my skeleton key," said Gulleck's player.
"What skeleton key?" I said.
"My axe."
Gulleck began slamming her axe into the door, over and over again. It was thick and made of solid and sturdy hardwood, and it was slow going. The dull thuds of the axe echoed through the corridor. The beautiful engravings of the door were getting hacked away, and terrible gouges tore through them.
Suddenly, there was shouting on the other side of the door.
"STOP! STOP! What you doing?!!"
Gulleck stopped chopping at the door.
"Well, open up, then!" she yelled back.
"OK, but no funny stuff," said the gruff voice. There was the sound of a key turning in the lock, and then the door was pulled open.
The adventurers squinted as daylight streamed into the corridor. Beyond the door, lush green grass grew up to the threshold. A blue sky shimmered brightly overhead. Across the grassy lawn, they could see a building, apparently made mostly of glass. Standing near the door were a group of four very large men, at least eight feet tall. They looked brutish and stupid, with jutting brows and slack jaws. They wore nothing but crude leather loincloths and jerkins. One carried a cloth sack over its shoulder. They had seen a creature like this a long time ago, in the employ of the Goblin Prince.
The one who had opened the door goggled at the damage Gulleck had inflicted.
"Look what you done! Who's gonna fix that??"
"Well, we had to get in, the door was locked," said Gulleck.
"That's right," said Caryatid, warming to a good session of attempted baffling. "We're the Garden Inspectors. We can't allow anything to interfere with our duty."
"Garden Inspectors?" said the confused creature slowly.
"Yeah!" said Simon, "Let me just find my clipboard..."
"But... but... you need to pay for this damage!"
"Of course we will process any legitimate claim for accidental damages. How much would you assess that at?" said Caryatid soothingly.
"Urrrrrgh... you give us five hundred gold coins."
All of the adventurers laughed quite rudely at that, which made the giant men suspicious and irritated. The conversation went on and on, as everyone tried to befuddle the creatures. They did learn a few things from them. The giant men said they were the caretakers of the garden. When asked who they worked for, they said they didn't work for anyone, but they were the caretakers and they had always been the caretakers, as had their ancestors before them.
Caryatid came up with a surefire plan. "Excuse me, where's the little ladies' room?" She hopped from foot to foot to make her point.
The lead creature (who had said his name was Glurge) pointed to a small copse of trees to the east. The other party members thought he had an odd, crafty look on his face, but they continued their attempt to confuse these dimwitted brutes. Caryatid thanked him brightly and made her way into the woods, taking a moment to look around. This was truly a magical place. There was a high ivy-covered stone wall to the south where they had come in, and at the top of the wall some thirty feet up, she could see the right angle of the ceiling, but somehow the ceiling was also a blue sky pervaded with sunlight. To the north she could see glass greenhouses, and beyond that what looked like a formal flower garden.
Once Caryatid was in the trees she slipped behind a tree and then carefully peered back around, watching the four monstrous men arguing with the rest of her party. The argument seemed to be getting more heated, and it looked like the giants were losing patience with these self-professed "Garden Inspectors". And then Caryatid cast a Sleep spell at the giants.
Unfortunately, her roll was poor and only one of the men fell asleep. He swooned on his feet, said "Urgh" and then dropped to his knees before face planting into the turf. Caryatid made ready to cast another spell, but at that moment she heard a twig snap behind her. She whipped around to see another of the giant brutes reaching towards her and licking his lips.
"Mmmm mmm mmm... you sure look mighty tasty," he murmured, before lunging at her. Caryatid quickly put on her invisibility ring and vanished, but the giant grabbed at the empty space where she had been and managed to find her. He pulled her close to his acrid smelling body, pinned her arms to her sides, and began dragging her invisible form through the trees back the way he had come from.
Now, Caryatid's pet monkey Marcel had been riding on her shoulder invisibly, and in one hand he held the miniature magical spear they had found in the monastery in the mountains so long ago. He stabbed at the giant, and the spear expanded to its full 10' length. He missed, and I ruled that this attack ended the invisibility effect for both of them. Caryatid decided to play dead and went limp in the arms of the monster. Marcel hopped off of her, brandishing the tiny spear at the giant. The man squinted at the monkey, annoyed, and continued to drag Caryatid into a clearing. Caryatid opened her eyes a tiny bit to see a number of large thatched cottages surrounding a large iron cookpot. It was easily large enough to hold a human, and it was steaming from the fire that was crackling away beneath it.
The giant dragged her towards the pot, but before he could do more, Marcel's spear jabbed him. This spear's magic was that its victims were filled with an uncontrollable panic, and the enormous man failed his saving throw, dropped Caryatid roughly on the grass, and fled at full speed past the cottages into the woods to the north. Unfortunately for Marcel and Caryatid, the spear snapped in half at this point.
Caryatid retrieved Marcel and they jogged back to the group by the door. There was a vocal argument going on. The monstrous men were convinced that the adventurers had done something to their sleeping companion. Simon was babbling about how he must have fallen ill and as the "Proper Authorities" they would need to quarantine the garden so that the disease would not spread.
The giant men seemed frustrated and impatient and when they saw Caryatid returning they looked disappointed.
"Just go! You cause enough problems already. Get out!"
And the adventurers took this opportunity to retreat back through the door. Caryatid was the last one through, and as the door was closing behind them she turned and cast Fireball back at the men.
Well, since the door was already closing I made her roll an attack roll to see if she could acccurately target the glowing bead of the fireball through the rapidly narrowing crack. If the roll was too low, the fireball would erupt on the inside of the door, and that would be very bad for all the adventurers. But as it happened, she rolled quite well, and just as the door closed, there was an enormous explosion of light and heat on the other side. The wave of heat buffeted them momentarily before the door slammed shut. They could hear the giant men screaming in shock and pain.
And then they all ran down the hallway, and got the heck out of the dungeon.
Game date: Saturday, May 7, 211
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71930/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 21092/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9894/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 10063/16000
Frosty Beans, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 1/2000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17006/32000
Kevon, Fighter 2, hp 8, xp 2000/4000
Moonpetal, Elf 2, hp 12, xp 4676/8000
Our new player came back again the next week (always a vote of confidence), and we had all the regulars. Simon had finally made his save vs spells and shook off the Charm Person that had persisted for months of game time. Down to the third level they went.
On the way, they encountered a pair of fire beetles in the Street of Temples, light glands glowing eerily in the darkness as they approached. The beetles seemed to be minding their own business, but Adrien decided to unleash her mangy giant ferret Norman upon them. She rolled a 1 for Norman's attack, so he missed the beetles completely and slammed into the facade of a temple across the street. The beetles fell upon him in self defense, and he was bit for 5 points. Suddenly things got more serious. Gulleck and Simon scrambled for their rings of animal control, but before they could put them on, Norman was bit for another 9 points, and died gurgling horribly.
Gulleck and Simon seized control of the beetles and they were swiftly killed, but Adrien was distraught at the death of her beloved demon ferret. She cradled his lifeless corpse in her arms and vowed vengeance upon the DM. Then someone had the idea to dip him in the resurrection pool. Hmm... did the pool even work on animals? Its magic was already a bit wonky, as it had a habit of creating magical duplicates of anyone who entered it while still alive. But the decision was made (over Caryatid's objections) to give it a try.
They made it down to the chamber of the pool without incident, and dropped his limp body into the slippery liquid of the pool. Nothing happened for some time, and there was nervous chatter about just leaving his corpse in the pool since nobody wanted to risk getting duplicated by going in after it. But then there was splashing, and Norman's snout broke the surface. He swam to the edge, sputtering and sneezing, and clambered out.
There was something different about him now. He was bulkier, stockier around the shoulders. He had always been mangy and scruffy, but now his patchy fur stood in matted tufts that persisted even after he shook off the liquid of the pool, and his oily skin exuded a faint but constant sickly smell of infection and decay. One eye was continually oozing and crusty.
Nonetheless, Adrien crouched to embrace her pet happily, but Norman was in a foul mood. He snapped viciously at her face, and if not for her finely honed adventurer's instincts, he probably would have torn her throat open. (In other words, his bite did enough damage to kill an everyday human.)
"OK, OK, he's a little grouchy. You would be too if you'd just been bitten to death by giant beetles."
Nobody else in the party seemed enthused about this new "Pet Sematary" version of Norman.
In any event, having taken care of Norman, the party descended to the third level. They briefly stopped in to visit "the Judge". He was horrified by Norman and called him "an abomination", much to Caryatid's satisfaction. They fed him a gemstone and asked him about the north shore of the underground sea. The Judge said that there were natural caverns there, although he had heard reports that a portion of the caves had become overgrown with strange subterranean fungus.
After visiting the Judge, they headed west. They stopped at a nondescript door at the north end of the Queen of Nightmares' palace, and Simon used his mind-reading amulet. He sensed the presence of several bugbear guards. Not feeling up to a big fight just yet, they opted to move on, but Caryatid cast Wizard Lock on the door first, just to annoy the Queen.
They headed north, farther than they had previously mapped, and at the end of a long hallway they found a massive wooden door. It was beautifully carved with motifs of vines and leaves, flowers and tree bark. This must be the door to the gardens they had often heard about!
Frosty attempted to push the door open, but only succeeded in hurting his shoulder. The door was securely locked.
"I take out my skeleton key," said Gulleck's player.
"What skeleton key?" I said.
"My axe."
Gulleck began slamming her axe into the door, over and over again. It was thick and made of solid and sturdy hardwood, and it was slow going. The dull thuds of the axe echoed through the corridor. The beautiful engravings of the door were getting hacked away, and terrible gouges tore through them.
Suddenly, there was shouting on the other side of the door.
"STOP! STOP! What you doing?!!"
Gulleck stopped chopping at the door.
"Well, open up, then!" she yelled back.
"OK, but no funny stuff," said the gruff voice. There was the sound of a key turning in the lock, and then the door was pulled open.
The adventurers squinted as daylight streamed into the corridor. Beyond the door, lush green grass grew up to the threshold. A blue sky shimmered brightly overhead. Across the grassy lawn, they could see a building, apparently made mostly of glass. Standing near the door were a group of four very large men, at least eight feet tall. They looked brutish and stupid, with jutting brows and slack jaws. They wore nothing but crude leather loincloths and jerkins. One carried a cloth sack over its shoulder. They had seen a creature like this a long time ago, in the employ of the Goblin Prince.
The one who had opened the door goggled at the damage Gulleck had inflicted.
"Look what you done! Who's gonna fix that??"
"Well, we had to get in, the door was locked," said Gulleck.
"That's right," said Caryatid, warming to a good session of attempted baffling. "We're the Garden Inspectors. We can't allow anything to interfere with our duty."
"Garden Inspectors?" said the confused creature slowly.
"Yeah!" said Simon, "Let me just find my clipboard..."
"But... but... you need to pay for this damage!"
"Of course we will process any legitimate claim for accidental damages. How much would you assess that at?" said Caryatid soothingly.
"Urrrrrgh... you give us five hundred gold coins."
All of the adventurers laughed quite rudely at that, which made the giant men suspicious and irritated. The conversation went on and on, as everyone tried to befuddle the creatures. They did learn a few things from them. The giant men said they were the caretakers of the garden. When asked who they worked for, they said they didn't work for anyone, but they were the caretakers and they had always been the caretakers, as had their ancestors before them.
Caryatid came up with a surefire plan. "Excuse me, where's the little ladies' room?" She hopped from foot to foot to make her point.
The lead creature (who had said his name was Glurge) pointed to a small copse of trees to the east. The other party members thought he had an odd, crafty look on his face, but they continued their attempt to confuse these dimwitted brutes. Caryatid thanked him brightly and made her way into the woods, taking a moment to look around. This was truly a magical place. There was a high ivy-covered stone wall to the south where they had come in, and at the top of the wall some thirty feet up, she could see the right angle of the ceiling, but somehow the ceiling was also a blue sky pervaded with sunlight. To the north she could see glass greenhouses, and beyond that what looked like a formal flower garden.
Once Caryatid was in the trees she slipped behind a tree and then carefully peered back around, watching the four monstrous men arguing with the rest of her party. The argument seemed to be getting more heated, and it looked like the giants were losing patience with these self-professed "Garden Inspectors". And then Caryatid cast a Sleep spell at the giants.
Unfortunately, her roll was poor and only one of the men fell asleep. He swooned on his feet, said "Urgh" and then dropped to his knees before face planting into the turf. Caryatid made ready to cast another spell, but at that moment she heard a twig snap behind her. She whipped around to see another of the giant brutes reaching towards her and licking his lips.
"Mmmm mmm mmm... you sure look mighty tasty," he murmured, before lunging at her. Caryatid quickly put on her invisibility ring and vanished, but the giant grabbed at the empty space where she had been and managed to find her. He pulled her close to his acrid smelling body, pinned her arms to her sides, and began dragging her invisible form through the trees back the way he had come from.
Now, Caryatid's pet monkey Marcel had been riding on her shoulder invisibly, and in one hand he held the miniature magical spear they had found in the monastery in the mountains so long ago. He stabbed at the giant, and the spear expanded to its full 10' length. He missed, and I ruled that this attack ended the invisibility effect for both of them. Caryatid decided to play dead and went limp in the arms of the monster. Marcel hopped off of her, brandishing the tiny spear at the giant. The man squinted at the monkey, annoyed, and continued to drag Caryatid into a clearing. Caryatid opened her eyes a tiny bit to see a number of large thatched cottages surrounding a large iron cookpot. It was easily large enough to hold a human, and it was steaming from the fire that was crackling away beneath it.
The giant dragged her towards the pot, but before he could do more, Marcel's spear jabbed him. This spear's magic was that its victims were filled with an uncontrollable panic, and the enormous man failed his saving throw, dropped Caryatid roughly on the grass, and fled at full speed past the cottages into the woods to the north. Unfortunately for Marcel and Caryatid, the spear snapped in half at this point.
Caryatid retrieved Marcel and they jogged back to the group by the door. There was a vocal argument going on. The monstrous men were convinced that the adventurers had done something to their sleeping companion. Simon was babbling about how he must have fallen ill and as the "Proper Authorities" they would need to quarantine the garden so that the disease would not spread.
The giant men seemed frustrated and impatient and when they saw Caryatid returning they looked disappointed.
"Just go! You cause enough problems already. Get out!"
And the adventurers took this opportunity to retreat back through the door. Caryatid was the last one through, and as the door was closing behind them she turned and cast Fireball back at the men.
Well, since the door was already closing I made her roll an attack roll to see if she could acccurately target the glowing bead of the fireball through the rapidly narrowing crack. If the roll was too low, the fireball would erupt on the inside of the door, and that would be very bad for all the adventurers. But as it happened, she rolled quite well, and just as the door closed, there was an enormous explosion of light and heat on the other side. The wave of heat buffeted them momentarily before the door slammed shut. They could hear the giant men screaming in shock and pain.
And then they all ran down the hallway, and got the heck out of the dungeon.
Saturday, September 28, 2019
Idalium Game 107: Frosty the Fighter
Session date: Monday, March 18, 2019
Game date: Saturday, April 30, 211
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71929/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 21091/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9893/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 8762/16000
Frosty Beans, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 0/2000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17006/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4655/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2237/4000
Boe, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 118/2000
It was a fairly short session this time. We had a brand-new player, who had never played any type of roleplaying game before, so I spent some time laying out the basic idea of the game and of the Idalium setting. Then we spent some time rolling up her character, a fighter named "Frosty Beans" (I really have absolutely no idea). So, by the time we all ready, there wasn't much time left for extensive adventuring.
In the Rusty Lantern tavern, an alchemist was trying to interest people in a small assortment of magical potions. The party members considered the assortment but passed on making any purchases, and then they all descended in the buried city of Idalium.
They made their way down to the second level via their usual route through the Temple of Hedonism. Simon paused in the temple to smell for gold (a very useful power bestowed by the Wheel of Fortune) and found a gilded goblet abandoned under one of the pews. He tucked this away with satisfaction (it would turn out to be the only treasure they recovered this evening).
Down in the Temple of Fate, Adrien demonstrated the use of the Wheel of Fortune and stepped off feeling vaguely lucky. Frosty, however, was not so fortunate, and stepped down from the wheel sneezing uncontrollably and at the most inconvenient times.
Adrien got back on the wheel with her pet ferret Norman this time, and although she made her saving throw, Norman now had colorful smoke trickling from his ears, just like Orin and Kevon.
All of the clatter of the wheel attracted a group of urchins. The dungeon-dwelling children recognized the adventurers and told them that several of them had been kidnapped by the Queen of Nightmares.
"What were their names?" demanded Caryatid, forcing me to come up with four names on the spot.
"Jo, Polly, Ben, and Dorothy." (My urchins are all named after "Doctor Who" companions, just like the hippie berserkers are all named after 1960s rock stars.)
Gulleck declared that the urgency of dealing with the Queen of Nightmares had just increased significantly. The adventurers gave the urchins a few gold pieces and then continued on their way. They made a brief stop in the chambers of "the Judge" on the third level, and talked to him about the Queen of Nightmares, but there wasn't enough time left in the evening to mount an attack on her palace, so at this point they all returned to the surface.
Later that day, Adrien received a letter indicating that she had inherited a riverboat (worth 13,000 silver shekels) from another distant relative she didn't even know she had been related to. Such strange fortune!
Game date: Saturday, April 30, 211
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71929/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 21091/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9893/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 8762/16000
Frosty Beans, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 0/2000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17006/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4655/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2237/4000
Boe, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 118/2000
It was a fairly short session this time. We had a brand-new player, who had never played any type of roleplaying game before, so I spent some time laying out the basic idea of the game and of the Idalium setting. Then we spent some time rolling up her character, a fighter named "Frosty Beans" (I really have absolutely no idea). So, by the time we all ready, there wasn't much time left for extensive adventuring.
In the Rusty Lantern tavern, an alchemist was trying to interest people in a small assortment of magical potions. The party members considered the assortment but passed on making any purchases, and then they all descended in the buried city of Idalium.
They made their way down to the second level via their usual route through the Temple of Hedonism. Simon paused in the temple to smell for gold (a very useful power bestowed by the Wheel of Fortune) and found a gilded goblet abandoned under one of the pews. He tucked this away with satisfaction (it would turn out to be the only treasure they recovered this evening).
Down in the Temple of Fate, Adrien demonstrated the use of the Wheel of Fortune and stepped off feeling vaguely lucky. Frosty, however, was not so fortunate, and stepped down from the wheel sneezing uncontrollably and at the most inconvenient times.
Adrien got back on the wheel with her pet ferret Norman this time, and although she made her saving throw, Norman now had colorful smoke trickling from his ears, just like Orin and Kevon.
All of the clatter of the wheel attracted a group of urchins. The dungeon-dwelling children recognized the adventurers and told them that several of them had been kidnapped by the Queen of Nightmares.
"What were their names?" demanded Caryatid, forcing me to come up with four names on the spot.
"Jo, Polly, Ben, and Dorothy." (My urchins are all named after "Doctor Who" companions, just like the hippie berserkers are all named after 1960s rock stars.)
Gulleck declared that the urgency of dealing with the Queen of Nightmares had just increased significantly. The adventurers gave the urchins a few gold pieces and then continued on their way. They made a brief stop in the chambers of "the Judge" on the third level, and talked to him about the Queen of Nightmares, but there wasn't enough time left in the evening to mount an attack on her palace, so at this point they all returned to the surface.
Later that day, Adrien received a letter indicating that she had inherited a riverboat (worth 13,000 silver shekels) from another distant relative she didn't even know she had been related to. Such strange fortune!
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Idalium Game 106: Where She Stops Nobody Knows
Session date: Monday, February 11, 2019
Game date: Saturday, March 26, 211
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71740/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20855/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9645/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 8526/16000
Retainers:
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4531/6000
Kevon, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 248/2000
Boe, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 0/2000
The party members reunited two weeks later, but their retainers Meat and Orin were still unavailable. Simon brought along his backup retainer, Kevon, and Gulleck decided not to bother with a retainer for this delve. Adrien's retainer Jack had died gruesomely in the last session, and so she recruited a new retainer who curiously was the very spitting image of Jack, though a fighter instead of a thief. His name was "Boe, The Face of". (A "Doctor Who" in-joke.)
Simon was still anxious about needing to obtain a live bugbear for his "best friend" down in the dungeon, and so they descended down into the undercity with vague plans to find a bugbear without alerting the entirety of the Queen of Nightmares' guards.
While passing through the Temple of Hedonism on their way down to the second level, they encountered a party of oddly dressed men and women. They worn plate armor of a sort, but very old-fashioned compared to the style that Gulleck and Simon were wearing. They had strange amulets around their necks, and they all wore sinister half-masks with long bird-like beaks. There was an impasse where both groups sized each other up. Adrien piped up to say, "Let's just leave them alone," and the strange figures responded in a language that no one understood. Through displays of open hands and smiles, the adventurers passed by without incident and continued down to the second level.
Adrien wanted to go to the Temple of Fate so her new employee Boe could have a spin on the magical wheel of fortune (this has become the usual hazing ritual for new party members). But in the room with the wheel there was also a tribe of eight fierce baboons, which hooted and shrieked as the adventurers approached them. Simon used his ring of animal control to seize control of what looked like the largest and most senior baboon, and made him leave the room, in hopes that the tribe would follow. Sadly, the tribe merely looked confused and did not follow the baboon into the hall, but continued to shriek and posture.
Caryatid cast a Sleep spell and four of them staggered to the floor and fell unconscious. The other three stopped hooting and took on a submissive stance to Caryatid, bowing their heads and avoiding eye contact. For some reason, Caryatid told Father Chase to hit a baboon with his gnarled and twisted staff. I think she wanted to know what the staff did. Father Chase missed the baboon entirely, and it ran screaming out into the hallway. He brought the staff back around to bear on one of the other baboons, and when it impacted, the baboon's fur faded and grayed, and the flesh on its face grew tight and drawn. Whether it was the blow from the staff or the magical aging, Chase was not sure, but the baboon's eyes rolled back and it slumped to the floor, dead.
The last baboon screamed and attacked Father Chase. Gulleck ran into the room to help, and Simon sent the controlled baboon in as well, but Father Chase needed no help. He struck the baboon with the staff and as before, it withered away and expired. Gulleck drew her axe and put the controlled baboon down like an executioner.
They left the four sleeping baboons lie, and Boe was strapped onto the wheel of fortune, and Adrien spun the wheel. This made an enormous racket, which attracted four stirges in the hallway outside. It also woke the four baboons, who hastily ran out of the room only to meet the stirges. Gulleck closed the door as the angry hoots of the baboons turned into something much more panicked.
Boe stepped down from the wheel feeling much wiser than before (a permanent +1 to his wisdom score!). Adrien then wanted Norman the ferret to go on the wheel, but since the straps were not sized for a giant ferret's limbs, she had to be strapped on to the wheel while Norman rode in the "Baby Bjorn" harness she had commissioned to carry him up and down ladders, etc. The wheel was spun and when it came to rest, Adrien felt the weight of some misfortune descending upon her. She made her saving throw, however, but Norman was not so fortunate, and when he was released from the harness and set on the floor he kept tripping over his own feet and bumping into things.
Kevon took a spin on the wheel and found himself filled with confidence and prowess; he immediately leveled up!
Not wishing to press their luck further, the party left the Temple of Fate and made their way to the stairs down to the third level. They headed west and north, in the general direction of where they had been last time. They came to a large open room, and it was only after they stepped out onto the dusty hardwood floor that they realized they had been here before. Torches magically flared to life, and a ghostly waltz began playing from no apparent source. From ten large wooden cabinets emerged ten life-sized cloth dolls, dressed in elegant ballroom clothes.
"Oh no, not this again," muttered Gulleck, as she was swept up into a dance by one of the dolls. Everybody in the party (except for Norman the ferret and Marcel the monkey) was drawn into the dance. Simon grabbed the knees of the doll that was dancing with him and pulled with all his strength, tripping it and bringing it down into a heap of cloth limbs. Caryatid and Father Chase attempted to dance towards the edge of the ballroom in hopes of escaping the room, but their dolls guided them away from the edge and they were unable to escape. Gulleck managed to knock her partner to the ground as well, and Caryatid and Chase adopted this tactic as well. Simon and Caryatid ran off of the dance floor to the west, while Gulleck tore her doll open with her axe. Father Chase was struggling to pull Boe's doll away from him.
While all this was going on, the music had attracted five of the black-robed cultists (the same ones who had charmed Simon). They stood at the south entrance to the ballroom and the leader, his face mostly covered by a large hood, raised his hands above his head.
"SILENCE!" he boomed, and everything went still. The music stopped playing. The dolls stopped dancing, and, almost sheepishly, they disengaged from Adrien and Boe and returned to their cupboards, closing the doors behind them.
Gulleck turned towards the new arrivals and tried to thank them, but no sound came out of her mouth. The cultists were smiling broadly and waving for the party members to join them. Caryatid and Simon had no desire to enter the ballroom again, however, and left to the west. Gulleck gave the cultists an apologetic look and followed her friends out to the west. They made their way back down several corridors and the gaudy, ornate "Hall of Pleasure" with its large paintings and carpet. Eventually they met up with the cultists at the southern entrance to the ballroom. They thanked the cultists for their assistance, and Simon apologized profusely at his complete lack of success at obtaining a bugbear for his friend Elfstar.
"I certainly hope you do, little fellow," said the leader of the cultists in his deep, plummy voice. "I know Elfstar is putting all her faith in you, her very dearest friend."
"I know," said Simon, "I feel really bad about it."
"Well, keep trying, my boy," said the leader. "Elfstar can't complete her initiative into the mysteries of our order without one... or some other suitable creature."
Unsettled by this talk, the party made their farewells and headed back up to the Rusty Lantern tavern above the dungeon. As they moved through the halls of the upper levels, Caryatid kept wondering where she had heard the cultist leader's voice before, and why he kept his face hidden behind a hood. She was sure his voice was very familiar to her, but from where...?
Game date: Saturday, March 26, 211
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71740/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20855/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9645/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 8526/16000
Retainers:
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4531/6000
Kevon, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 248/2000
Boe, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 0/2000
The party members reunited two weeks later, but their retainers Meat and Orin were still unavailable. Simon brought along his backup retainer, Kevon, and Gulleck decided not to bother with a retainer for this delve. Adrien's retainer Jack had died gruesomely in the last session, and so she recruited a new retainer who curiously was the very spitting image of Jack, though a fighter instead of a thief. His name was "Boe, The Face of". (A "Doctor Who" in-joke.)
Simon was still anxious about needing to obtain a live bugbear for his "best friend" down in the dungeon, and so they descended down into the undercity with vague plans to find a bugbear without alerting the entirety of the Queen of Nightmares' guards.
While passing through the Temple of Hedonism on their way down to the second level, they encountered a party of oddly dressed men and women. They worn plate armor of a sort, but very old-fashioned compared to the style that Gulleck and Simon were wearing. They had strange amulets around their necks, and they all wore sinister half-masks with long bird-like beaks. There was an impasse where both groups sized each other up. Adrien piped up to say, "Let's just leave them alone," and the strange figures responded in a language that no one understood. Through displays of open hands and smiles, the adventurers passed by without incident and continued down to the second level.
Adrien wanted to go to the Temple of Fate so her new employee Boe could have a spin on the magical wheel of fortune (this has become the usual hazing ritual for new party members). But in the room with the wheel there was also a tribe of eight fierce baboons, which hooted and shrieked as the adventurers approached them. Simon used his ring of animal control to seize control of what looked like the largest and most senior baboon, and made him leave the room, in hopes that the tribe would follow. Sadly, the tribe merely looked confused and did not follow the baboon into the hall, but continued to shriek and posture.
Caryatid cast a Sleep spell and four of them staggered to the floor and fell unconscious. The other three stopped hooting and took on a submissive stance to Caryatid, bowing their heads and avoiding eye contact. For some reason, Caryatid told Father Chase to hit a baboon with his gnarled and twisted staff. I think she wanted to know what the staff did. Father Chase missed the baboon entirely, and it ran screaming out into the hallway. He brought the staff back around to bear on one of the other baboons, and when it impacted, the baboon's fur faded and grayed, and the flesh on its face grew tight and drawn. Whether it was the blow from the staff or the magical aging, Chase was not sure, but the baboon's eyes rolled back and it slumped to the floor, dead.
The last baboon screamed and attacked Father Chase. Gulleck ran into the room to help, and Simon sent the controlled baboon in as well, but Father Chase needed no help. He struck the baboon with the staff and as before, it withered away and expired. Gulleck drew her axe and put the controlled baboon down like an executioner.
They left the four sleeping baboons lie, and Boe was strapped onto the wheel of fortune, and Adrien spun the wheel. This made an enormous racket, which attracted four stirges in the hallway outside. It also woke the four baboons, who hastily ran out of the room only to meet the stirges. Gulleck closed the door as the angry hoots of the baboons turned into something much more panicked.
Boe stepped down from the wheel feeling much wiser than before (a permanent +1 to his wisdom score!). Adrien then wanted Norman the ferret to go on the wheel, but since the straps were not sized for a giant ferret's limbs, she had to be strapped on to the wheel while Norman rode in the "Baby Bjorn" harness she had commissioned to carry him up and down ladders, etc. The wheel was spun and when it came to rest, Adrien felt the weight of some misfortune descending upon her. She made her saving throw, however, but Norman was not so fortunate, and when he was released from the harness and set on the floor he kept tripping over his own feet and bumping into things.
Kevon took a spin on the wheel and found himself filled with confidence and prowess; he immediately leveled up!
Not wishing to press their luck further, the party left the Temple of Fate and made their way to the stairs down to the third level. They headed west and north, in the general direction of where they had been last time. They came to a large open room, and it was only after they stepped out onto the dusty hardwood floor that they realized they had been here before. Torches magically flared to life, and a ghostly waltz began playing from no apparent source. From ten large wooden cabinets emerged ten life-sized cloth dolls, dressed in elegant ballroom clothes.
"Oh no, not this again," muttered Gulleck, as she was swept up into a dance by one of the dolls. Everybody in the party (except for Norman the ferret and Marcel the monkey) was drawn into the dance. Simon grabbed the knees of the doll that was dancing with him and pulled with all his strength, tripping it and bringing it down into a heap of cloth limbs. Caryatid and Father Chase attempted to dance towards the edge of the ballroom in hopes of escaping the room, but their dolls guided them away from the edge and they were unable to escape. Gulleck managed to knock her partner to the ground as well, and Caryatid and Chase adopted this tactic as well. Simon and Caryatid ran off of the dance floor to the west, while Gulleck tore her doll open with her axe. Father Chase was struggling to pull Boe's doll away from him.
While all this was going on, the music had attracted five of the black-robed cultists (the same ones who had charmed Simon). They stood at the south entrance to the ballroom and the leader, his face mostly covered by a large hood, raised his hands above his head.
"SILENCE!" he boomed, and everything went still. The music stopped playing. The dolls stopped dancing, and, almost sheepishly, they disengaged from Adrien and Boe and returned to their cupboards, closing the doors behind them.
Gulleck turned towards the new arrivals and tried to thank them, but no sound came out of her mouth. The cultists were smiling broadly and waving for the party members to join them. Caryatid and Simon had no desire to enter the ballroom again, however, and left to the west. Gulleck gave the cultists an apologetic look and followed her friends out to the west. They made their way back down several corridors and the gaudy, ornate "Hall of Pleasure" with its large paintings and carpet. Eventually they met up with the cultists at the southern entrance to the ballroom. They thanked the cultists for their assistance, and Simon apologized profusely at his complete lack of success at obtaining a bugbear for his friend Elfstar.
"I certainly hope you do, little fellow," said the leader of the cultists in his deep, plummy voice. "I know Elfstar is putting all her faith in you, her very dearest friend."
"I know," said Simon, "I feel really bad about it."
"Well, keep trying, my boy," said the leader. "Elfstar can't complete her initiative into the mysteries of our order without one... or some other suitable creature."
Unsettled by this talk, the party made their farewells and headed back up to the Rusty Lantern tavern above the dungeon. As they moved through the halls of the upper levels, Caryatid kept wondering where she had heard the cultist leader's voice before, and why he kept his face hidden behind a hood. She was sure his voice was very familiar to her, but from where...?
Sunday, August 11, 2019
Idalium Game 105: No Time For Losers
Session date: Monday, January 28, 2019
Game date: Saturday, March 12, 211
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71740/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20855/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9645/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 8526/16000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17006/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4531/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2237/4000
Jack, Thief 3, hp 10, xp 2913/4800
Two weeks had passed since our last session, and Simon managed to fail both saving throws, remaining charmed by the cultist on the third level. This was really rather funny, as objectively it is an easy saving throw for a halfling. In the Rusty Lantern, the adventurers met a frail old antiquarian named Elberic who was going from table to table trying to interest adventurers and other regulars in a few magical scrolls he possessed. He had scrolls of Detect Magic, Shield, and Growth of Animals. He was asking 250 gold darics for the first two scrolls, and 750 darics for the Growth of Animals scroll. Adrien begged and pleaded with Caryatid to buy the Growth of Animals scroll so that Father Chase could cast it on her "pet" giant ferret Norman and double his size. Caryatid thought this was a horrifying idea, but somehow went along with the plan. Caryatid offered Elberic the rather offensively low amount of 100 darics for the scroll, turning on all of her charm to lowball him. She aced her reaction check, so what could I do? Elberic blushed furiously and explained that he couldn't possibly let the scroll go for such a low amount as he would be losing money on it, and that he was already heavily discounting the scroll from what it would cost to hire a priest to prepare one, but that he could possibly go down to 500 darics. Caryatid haggled further, and managed to sweet-talk him into taking 300 darics, plus she bought him a nice lunch and a bottle of wine. SOLD! Elberic sat down to his lunch, looking quite overwhelmed and unsure of who had got the better side of the deal.
They went below, and headed down towards deeper levels. When they entered the hall with the living crystal statue that guarded the stairs down to level two, they found the hall crowded with more than a dozen giant rats. Norman strained against his leash, and Adrien let him go. He pounced on the nearest rat, snapping its neck instantly and worrying its head in his jaws ferociously. Adrien drew forth the "disco sword" and sliced another rat in half as multicolored lights streamed across the walls. Norman was attacked by two other rats and bit twice, and had to retreat, tail between his legs. The party quickly killed rats left and right and soon the survivors fled the hall through a hole gnawed in the bottom of one of the doors.
Down to level three they went, and as they entered the first room on the third level, they were surprised by Elfstar and two other black-robed cultists! Elfstar murmured words and a strange feeling came over Gulleck for a moment but then passed. Elfstar smiled sheepishly and waved at Gulleck.
"Now, sugar," said Gulleck primly, "you want to be real careful who you're casting spells on. Someone might take offense."
Simon intervened to make excuses for the behavior of his "best friend". Yes, they were heading out to find a bugbear right now! Come on, everyone let's go!
And as the adventurers marched down the dungeon halls in search of a bugbear, the table broke into song, disturbingly in unison:
"Come on, vámonos! Everybody let's go!
Come let's get to it, I know that we can do it!
Where are the bugbears? *clap clap clap*
Where are the bugbears? *clap clap clap*"
Yep, it's that kind of D&D game.
The funny thing was that even though they had just told the cultists they were off to find a bugbear, that pointed avoided the Queen of Nightmare's palace and went further north, along the wide "Halls of Pleasure" with its faded carpet and large ornate painting depicting the ultra-rich of Ancient Idalium feasting, dancing, watching arena fights, etc.
They rounded a corner at the end of the hall and found themselves in a large, square room, larger than their light could illuminate. They walked carefully round, exploring in the light of Simon's sword. All around the perimeter of the room, a gallery balcony overlooked the room. Steep stairs led up to this gallery at intervals. In the center of the floor, a thirty foot square was marked off with a thick line of red paint. This square was dusted in old sawdust. The walls below the galleries were covered with racks of all sorts of weapons: swords, polearms, maces, nets, spears, bows, etc. At the eastern wall of the room they found, between two racks of weapons, three metallic sashes hanging on pegs. One was made of bronze, one was silver, and one was gold.
Jack's eyes grew wide at the sight of the apparently solid gold sash, and he took it from the wall and placed it over his shoulders. Then he decided to walk across the room.
"So, Jack is crossing the red line and walking across the square?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"Okay..."
There was a sudden rush of wind and a brief flash of light and suddenly inside the square with Jack was a hideous lumpy black blob of indeterminate composition, rippling and bubbling. It seemed to sense Jack and surged forward, engulfing his feet with the edge of its pulpy mass. He screamed in pain as the meaty blob's acidic secretions burned into his legs. The blob was slowly creeping up Jack's legs as he thrashed his arms in panic.
Caryatid made a cold and calculated decision. Jack had never been revived in the resurrection pool, so as long as they could retrieve his body, he could be restored. So she dropped a fireball on the blob. Jack saw what she was doing and with a look of sheer horror on his face attempted to cover himself with his cloak and avoid the worst of the inferno. Caryatid tried to target the spell so that it would hit the blob but not Jack, but this is a difficult thing to do in the heat of combat. I think I spitballed some odds of missing him, or perhaps had her make a dexterity check. Either way, her roll failed. Jack did make his saving throw for half damage, but even so he still died screaming as the flames erupted around him. The air was filled with the unmistakable smell of sausage frying as the black pudding sizzled and sputtered in the flame, large chunks of it melting away from the main mass. The blob was clearly significantly injured, but certainly not destroyed, and it started to creep further over Jack's burned and blistered body.
Caryatid sent a Magic Missile at the pudding, which did nothing except chip a chunk of the blob off and it wriggled away with a life of its own! Gulleck crossed over the threshold of the arena square to engage the pudding in melee, but discovered to her dismay that neither her magical axe nor a mace tossed to her by Father Chase did any damage to it. In fact, like Caryatid's, Gulleck's attacks merely split smaller hunks of the pudding off from the main blob, which oozed around Gulleck's boots and burned at her shins, causing her severe damage.
Adrien uncorked a flask of oil and splashed it over the pudding, with an aim to setting it aflame, but the party consensus quickly turned to simply retrieving Jack's body and abandoning the fight. Caryatid sent her magical animated silk rope into the arena to tie itself around Jack's body. Gulleck disengaged from the blobs and backed out of the arena, and she and Adrien heaved on the rope. Jack's body broke free of the engulfing blob with a horrible hollow sucking sound and they pulled him towards them. Alas, as his body touched the threshold of the square, it met with some invisible resistance and they could not pull him across it. Gulleck stepped back into the square and tried to push from within, but something was preventing Jack's body from leaving the square. Gulleck guessed that it must be the gold sash Jack had donned, and tried to take the sash off, but it would not lift off of Jack's shoulders no matter how hard she pulled at it. Meanwhile the lumpy black pudding was wrapping itself around Gulleck's legs, searing her with its toxic juices, to the point that she nearly passed out from pain. (Gulleck was actually down to only 2 hit points here!)
Accepting defeat, Gulleck rolled the Big Green d30 to win initiative, and abandoned Jack's body, pulling herself free of the blob and backing away. Everyone fled the room, and the pudding went back to slowly digesting Jack's corpse in the darkness.
It was a demoralizing episode, and the retainers did poorly on their morale checks, having witnessed Caryatid fireball one of their co-workers and then abandon his body. Meat left for two weeks, and Orin decided to take a full five weeks off.
Game date: Saturday, March 12, 211
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71740/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20855/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9645/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 8526/16000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17006/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4531/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2237/4000
Jack, Thief 3, hp 10, xp 2913/4800
Two weeks had passed since our last session, and Simon managed to fail both saving throws, remaining charmed by the cultist on the third level. This was really rather funny, as objectively it is an easy saving throw for a halfling. In the Rusty Lantern, the adventurers met a frail old antiquarian named Elberic who was going from table to table trying to interest adventurers and other regulars in a few magical scrolls he possessed. He had scrolls of Detect Magic, Shield, and Growth of Animals. He was asking 250 gold darics for the first two scrolls, and 750 darics for the Growth of Animals scroll. Adrien begged and pleaded with Caryatid to buy the Growth of Animals scroll so that Father Chase could cast it on her "pet" giant ferret Norman and double his size. Caryatid thought this was a horrifying idea, but somehow went along with the plan. Caryatid offered Elberic the rather offensively low amount of 100 darics for the scroll, turning on all of her charm to lowball him. She aced her reaction check, so what could I do? Elberic blushed furiously and explained that he couldn't possibly let the scroll go for such a low amount as he would be losing money on it, and that he was already heavily discounting the scroll from what it would cost to hire a priest to prepare one, but that he could possibly go down to 500 darics. Caryatid haggled further, and managed to sweet-talk him into taking 300 darics, plus she bought him a nice lunch and a bottle of wine. SOLD! Elberic sat down to his lunch, looking quite overwhelmed and unsure of who had got the better side of the deal.
They went below, and headed down towards deeper levels. When they entered the hall with the living crystal statue that guarded the stairs down to level two, they found the hall crowded with more than a dozen giant rats. Norman strained against his leash, and Adrien let him go. He pounced on the nearest rat, snapping its neck instantly and worrying its head in his jaws ferociously. Adrien drew forth the "disco sword" and sliced another rat in half as multicolored lights streamed across the walls. Norman was attacked by two other rats and bit twice, and had to retreat, tail between his legs. The party quickly killed rats left and right and soon the survivors fled the hall through a hole gnawed in the bottom of one of the doors.
Down to level three they went, and as they entered the first room on the third level, they were surprised by Elfstar and two other black-robed cultists! Elfstar murmured words and a strange feeling came over Gulleck for a moment but then passed. Elfstar smiled sheepishly and waved at Gulleck.
"Now, sugar," said Gulleck primly, "you want to be real careful who you're casting spells on. Someone might take offense."
Simon intervened to make excuses for the behavior of his "best friend". Yes, they were heading out to find a bugbear right now! Come on, everyone let's go!
And as the adventurers marched down the dungeon halls in search of a bugbear, the table broke into song, disturbingly in unison:
"Come on, vámonos! Everybody let's go!
Come let's get to it, I know that we can do it!
Where are the bugbears? *clap clap clap*
Where are the bugbears? *clap clap clap*"
Yep, it's that kind of D&D game.
The funny thing was that even though they had just told the cultists they were off to find a bugbear, that pointed avoided the Queen of Nightmare's palace and went further north, along the wide "Halls of Pleasure" with its faded carpet and large ornate painting depicting the ultra-rich of Ancient Idalium feasting, dancing, watching arena fights, etc.
They rounded a corner at the end of the hall and found themselves in a large, square room, larger than their light could illuminate. They walked carefully round, exploring in the light of Simon's sword. All around the perimeter of the room, a gallery balcony overlooked the room. Steep stairs led up to this gallery at intervals. In the center of the floor, a thirty foot square was marked off with a thick line of red paint. This square was dusted in old sawdust. The walls below the galleries were covered with racks of all sorts of weapons: swords, polearms, maces, nets, spears, bows, etc. At the eastern wall of the room they found, between two racks of weapons, three metallic sashes hanging on pegs. One was made of bronze, one was silver, and one was gold.
Jack's eyes grew wide at the sight of the apparently solid gold sash, and he took it from the wall and placed it over his shoulders. Then he decided to walk across the room.
"So, Jack is crossing the red line and walking across the square?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"Okay..."
There was a sudden rush of wind and a brief flash of light and suddenly inside the square with Jack was a hideous lumpy black blob of indeterminate composition, rippling and bubbling. It seemed to sense Jack and surged forward, engulfing his feet with the edge of its pulpy mass. He screamed in pain as the meaty blob's acidic secretions burned into his legs. The blob was slowly creeping up Jack's legs as he thrashed his arms in panic.
Caryatid made a cold and calculated decision. Jack had never been revived in the resurrection pool, so as long as they could retrieve his body, he could be restored. So she dropped a fireball on the blob. Jack saw what she was doing and with a look of sheer horror on his face attempted to cover himself with his cloak and avoid the worst of the inferno. Caryatid tried to target the spell so that it would hit the blob but not Jack, but this is a difficult thing to do in the heat of combat. I think I spitballed some odds of missing him, or perhaps had her make a dexterity check. Either way, her roll failed. Jack did make his saving throw for half damage, but even so he still died screaming as the flames erupted around him. The air was filled with the unmistakable smell of sausage frying as the black pudding sizzled and sputtered in the flame, large chunks of it melting away from the main mass. The blob was clearly significantly injured, but certainly not destroyed, and it started to creep further over Jack's burned and blistered body.
Caryatid sent a Magic Missile at the pudding, which did nothing except chip a chunk of the blob off and it wriggled away with a life of its own! Gulleck crossed over the threshold of the arena square to engage the pudding in melee, but discovered to her dismay that neither her magical axe nor a mace tossed to her by Father Chase did any damage to it. In fact, like Caryatid's, Gulleck's attacks merely split smaller hunks of the pudding off from the main blob, which oozed around Gulleck's boots and burned at her shins, causing her severe damage.
Adrien uncorked a flask of oil and splashed it over the pudding, with an aim to setting it aflame, but the party consensus quickly turned to simply retrieving Jack's body and abandoning the fight. Caryatid sent her magical animated silk rope into the arena to tie itself around Jack's body. Gulleck disengaged from the blobs and backed out of the arena, and she and Adrien heaved on the rope. Jack's body broke free of the engulfing blob with a horrible hollow sucking sound and they pulled him towards them. Alas, as his body touched the threshold of the square, it met with some invisible resistance and they could not pull him across it. Gulleck stepped back into the square and tried to push from within, but something was preventing Jack's body from leaving the square. Gulleck guessed that it must be the gold sash Jack had donned, and tried to take the sash off, but it would not lift off of Jack's shoulders no matter how hard she pulled at it. Meanwhile the lumpy black pudding was wrapping itself around Gulleck's legs, searing her with its toxic juices, to the point that she nearly passed out from pain. (Gulleck was actually down to only 2 hit points here!)
Accepting defeat, Gulleck rolled the Big Green d30 to win initiative, and abandoned Jack's body, pulling herself free of the blob and backing away. Everyone fled the room, and the pudding went back to slowly digesting Jack's corpse in the darkness.
It was a demoralizing episode, and the retainers did poorly on their morale checks, having witnessed Caryatid fireball one of their co-workers and then abandon his body. Meat left for two weeks, and Orin decided to take a full five weeks off.
Friday, July 26, 2019
Idalium Game 104: Orin(ge) Marmalade
Session date: Monday, January 14, 2019
Game date: Saturday, February 26, 211
PCs:
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20808/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9596/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 8479/16000
Retainers:
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4506/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2213/4000
Jack, Thief 3, hp 10, xp 2888/4800
Unusually, Gulleck's player had to be absent, so we had a smaller than usual party. Three weeks had passed since the last delve, and as a hobbit of average intellect, Simon got to make a weekly saving throw to see if he snapped out of the Charm Person spell that had enchanted him. Amusingly, he failed all three saves, and thus Simon was quite racked by guilt at having let three weeks go by without finding a bugbear for his best friend in all the world.
On their way down to the third level, the party encountered a group of friendly gnomes (their favorite entry on the level one wandering monsters table), and a rival adventuring party dubbed "Sallies Forth" that was composed of a deranged hobbit and three increasingly corrupted magical clones from the malfunctioning resurrection pool. The Sallies were aggressive and rude, but hostilities were narrowly avoided, and the adventurers proceeded below.
They knew that the Queen of Nightmares kept bugbears as slaves, and they knew her palace was at the west end of the third level, so they made their way in that direction, hoping to find a single bugbear that they could trap or put to sleep. They followed the long, ornate palace wall that ran north and south until they found an ornate and grand door. Simon used his mindreading amulet, and sensed the presence of over half a dozen bugbears on the other side.
Somehow they lost their courage here, and decided that this was too many bugbears to take on inside the Queen of Nightmare's palace, so they retreated south to find an alternate entrance, perhaps hoping to double back and catch the bugbears by surprise. To the south, they found another ornate door, and Simon used his amulet to "listen" there as well.
Everyone was so eagerly awaiting the results of Simon's extrasensory perception that they didn't notice something very large and bizarre creeping up to them from the north: a giant ten-foot cube of some sort of glistening, transparent jelly-like substance. In fact, they only realized it was there when it bumped up against Simon and he yelped as he leaped backwards in shock. Where it had touched his bare flesh he felt numb and tingly.
Father Chase quickly pulled the door open and they all hurled themselves into the room as fast as they could. Unfortunately, Orin was the last in line, and just wasn't nimble enough. The gelatinous cube moved inexorably towards him and engulfed him as he attempted to run to the door. The rest of the party members, inside the room, turned and watched in horror as the enormous cube slid past the door with Orin suspended inside it like a lump of orange peel in some horrible marmalade, his insensate face frozen in a look of perpetual shock.
Caryatid thought fast and pulled out her magical rope of climbing. She ordered it to burrow right into the cube and tie itself around Orin. This was a rather unorthodox use of a rope of climbing, so I had Caryatid make an attack roll to see if the rope could successfully penetrate the cube. She rolled very well, and then Father Chase and Adrien rolled well on strength checks to heave on the rope and pull Orin out. With a grotesque slurping sound, Orin's limp body emerged from the gelatinous cube and slid across the stone floor. They quickly pulled him into the room, and slammed the door shut before the cube could reverse direction and retrieve him.
Orin was covered in bits of transparent jelly and he was not breathing or showing any other signs of life. Father Chase channeled the power of his staff of healing through Orin, and miraculously, Orin's eyes fluttered and he began to draw trembling breaths. Orin had narrowly escaped death, but he could not be awakened. They debated over what to do, and decided to explore the palace a bit, since everyone else was still fine. To the west, a door led to the grand hall that they had explored last month. A passage to the north was decorated with unfamiliar heraldry, and led to a door that was barricaded with a heap of old furniture. Again they ignored this door, and explored another side room off of this hall. Simon used his amulet at a door and detected some sort of primitive animal mind whose thoughts were only of hunger. They passed on this door as well, and opened a different door to find a sort of supply closet filled with old brooms and mops and other maintenance and cleaning equipment. There was a large winch apparatus in the corner, with a chain that disappeared through a hole in the ceiling. There was also a large chest poorly hidden under a pile of rags. Jack tried to pick the lock but couldn't manage it, so Simon waved everyone back, and proceeded to smash in the lid with the pommel of his sword. There was the sound of breaking glass and a green gas hissed out of the box right in Simon's face. He felt woozy for a moment, but made his saving throw and managed to hold his breath and avoid the worst of the fumes. Inside the chest he found 300 silver coins, and these were dutifully packed away in their backpacks.
At this point they decided to head back home (although Simon was getting increasingly antsy about not having found a bugbear for his friend). Father Chase carried Orin's comatose body, and they returned to the entrance of the third level, decided to stop in to visit "the Judge" on the way. It turns out the talking stone column had company, however: five black-robed cultists, including the young lady who had "befriended" Simon three weeks ago!
"Oh, I've been looking all over for you, Simpson!" she said, somewhat tentatively.
"Uh, it's Simon actually. And uh... I'm drawing a complete blank on your name right now, it's the strangest thing..."
"Oh, it's Elfstar," she replied with a knowing smile.
"Elfstar, of course! Stupid me, how could I forget? Don't worry, we're trying really hard to find that bugbear for you."
"Good, good! You know it's very important to our... rituals that we find one."
Meanwhile, Caryatid was casting a Charm Person spell of her very own. Elfstar realized what she was doing just before the enchantment hit her. A momentarily look of confusion passed over her face, but then she smirked.
"Nice try, lady!" And Elfstar and her companions ran out of the room, snickering. The party declined to follow them but turned to the Judge.
"I hope those people weren't disturbing you," said Caryatid.
"Oh, not at all," said the Judge. "They are a bit unsavory, that's true, but they do bring me shiny stones every so often, in return for information about this place."
They offered the Judge a gem from their own funds and asked if he knew where they could find a bugbear off on its own (I guess forgetting that they had asked basically the same thing last session).
"Well," he replied, "there used to be many more bugbears, who were in the service of the Goblin King, but now it seems that only the slaves of the Queen of Nightmares remain."
They fed him another gem and asked what he knew about bugbears and their weaknesses.
"They are very nimble and quiet, and can creep up on the unaware. But they are as mortal as any other flesh creature, and can be killed like an ordinary man. And I know more about that than most."
Spurred by this somewhat cryptic comment, the conversation turned to the Judge's past. He told them how he had been worshipped as a god by the Ancient Idalians, for no one could conceal the truth in his presence. The Idalians would bring those accused of the worst crimes before him and he would judge them, and those guilty he would deliver judgment upon.
The stone column revolved to display a proud face. "Would you like me to demonstrate?"
"Um, sure!" said Caryatid.
The Judge turned to look at the lonely wooden chair in the corner of the room, the chair with the leather ankle, wrist, and head restraints and the curious scorch mark in the back of the chair. A strange glow began to build within his eyes, and a high-pitched crackling whine grew in volume. The hair on the backs of the adventurers' necks stood on end. Then there was a brilliant flash of light, and an enormous spark like a bolt of lightning cracked between the Judge's face and the chair. Their eyes swam with the afterimage, and when it faded the back of the chair was smoldering and smoking. The Judge rotated back to face them with a giddy, sated look on his face.
"Oh, it's been a long, long time since I did that. Just like old times! Tell you what, if you find any ne'er-do-wells in this city, feel free to bring them to me for... judgment. Oh, I would like that!"
"Uh... Okay, we'll definitely keep that in mind!" said Simon nervously. And they all made their polite goodbyes, and returned to the surface.
Simon failed his saving throw for next week, and remained blissfully enchanted by his "best friend" Elfstar.
Game date: Saturday, February 26, 211
PCs:
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20808/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9596/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 8479/16000
Retainers:
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4506/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2213/4000
Jack, Thief 3, hp 10, xp 2888/4800
Unusually, Gulleck's player had to be absent, so we had a smaller than usual party. Three weeks had passed since the last delve, and as a hobbit of average intellect, Simon got to make a weekly saving throw to see if he snapped out of the Charm Person spell that had enchanted him. Amusingly, he failed all three saves, and thus Simon was quite racked by guilt at having let three weeks go by without finding a bugbear for his best friend in all the world.
On their way down to the third level, the party encountered a group of friendly gnomes (their favorite entry on the level one wandering monsters table), and a rival adventuring party dubbed "Sallies Forth" that was composed of a deranged hobbit and three increasingly corrupted magical clones from the malfunctioning resurrection pool. The Sallies were aggressive and rude, but hostilities were narrowly avoided, and the adventurers proceeded below.
They knew that the Queen of Nightmares kept bugbears as slaves, and they knew her palace was at the west end of the third level, so they made their way in that direction, hoping to find a single bugbear that they could trap or put to sleep. They followed the long, ornate palace wall that ran north and south until they found an ornate and grand door. Simon used his mindreading amulet, and sensed the presence of over half a dozen bugbears on the other side.
Somehow they lost their courage here, and decided that this was too many bugbears to take on inside the Queen of Nightmare's palace, so they retreated south to find an alternate entrance, perhaps hoping to double back and catch the bugbears by surprise. To the south, they found another ornate door, and Simon used his amulet to "listen" there as well.
Everyone was so eagerly awaiting the results of Simon's extrasensory perception that they didn't notice something very large and bizarre creeping up to them from the north: a giant ten-foot cube of some sort of glistening, transparent jelly-like substance. In fact, they only realized it was there when it bumped up against Simon and he yelped as he leaped backwards in shock. Where it had touched his bare flesh he felt numb and tingly.
Father Chase quickly pulled the door open and they all hurled themselves into the room as fast as they could. Unfortunately, Orin was the last in line, and just wasn't nimble enough. The gelatinous cube moved inexorably towards him and engulfed him as he attempted to run to the door. The rest of the party members, inside the room, turned and watched in horror as the enormous cube slid past the door with Orin suspended inside it like a lump of orange peel in some horrible marmalade, his insensate face frozen in a look of perpetual shock.
Caryatid thought fast and pulled out her magical rope of climbing. She ordered it to burrow right into the cube and tie itself around Orin. This was a rather unorthodox use of a rope of climbing, so I had Caryatid make an attack roll to see if the rope could successfully penetrate the cube. She rolled very well, and then Father Chase and Adrien rolled well on strength checks to heave on the rope and pull Orin out. With a grotesque slurping sound, Orin's limp body emerged from the gelatinous cube and slid across the stone floor. They quickly pulled him into the room, and slammed the door shut before the cube could reverse direction and retrieve him.
Orin was covered in bits of transparent jelly and he was not breathing or showing any other signs of life. Father Chase channeled the power of his staff of healing through Orin, and miraculously, Orin's eyes fluttered and he began to draw trembling breaths. Orin had narrowly escaped death, but he could not be awakened. They debated over what to do, and decided to explore the palace a bit, since everyone else was still fine. To the west, a door led to the grand hall that they had explored last month. A passage to the north was decorated with unfamiliar heraldry, and led to a door that was barricaded with a heap of old furniture. Again they ignored this door, and explored another side room off of this hall. Simon used his amulet at a door and detected some sort of primitive animal mind whose thoughts were only of hunger. They passed on this door as well, and opened a different door to find a sort of supply closet filled with old brooms and mops and other maintenance and cleaning equipment. There was a large winch apparatus in the corner, with a chain that disappeared through a hole in the ceiling. There was also a large chest poorly hidden under a pile of rags. Jack tried to pick the lock but couldn't manage it, so Simon waved everyone back, and proceeded to smash in the lid with the pommel of his sword. There was the sound of breaking glass and a green gas hissed out of the box right in Simon's face. He felt woozy for a moment, but made his saving throw and managed to hold his breath and avoid the worst of the fumes. Inside the chest he found 300 silver coins, and these were dutifully packed away in their backpacks.
At this point they decided to head back home (although Simon was getting increasingly antsy about not having found a bugbear for his friend). Father Chase carried Orin's comatose body, and they returned to the entrance of the third level, decided to stop in to visit "the Judge" on the way. It turns out the talking stone column had company, however: five black-robed cultists, including the young lady who had "befriended" Simon three weeks ago!
"Oh, I've been looking all over for you, Simpson!" she said, somewhat tentatively.
"Uh, it's Simon actually. And uh... I'm drawing a complete blank on your name right now, it's the strangest thing..."
"Oh, it's Elfstar," she replied with a knowing smile.
"Elfstar, of course! Stupid me, how could I forget? Don't worry, we're trying really hard to find that bugbear for you."
"Good, good! You know it's very important to our... rituals that we find one."
Meanwhile, Caryatid was casting a Charm Person spell of her very own. Elfstar realized what she was doing just before the enchantment hit her. A momentarily look of confusion passed over her face, but then she smirked.
"Nice try, lady!" And Elfstar and her companions ran out of the room, snickering. The party declined to follow them but turned to the Judge.
"I hope those people weren't disturbing you," said Caryatid.
"Oh, not at all," said the Judge. "They are a bit unsavory, that's true, but they do bring me shiny stones every so often, in return for information about this place."
They offered the Judge a gem from their own funds and asked if he knew where they could find a bugbear off on its own (I guess forgetting that they had asked basically the same thing last session).
"Well," he replied, "there used to be many more bugbears, who were in the service of the Goblin King, but now it seems that only the slaves of the Queen of Nightmares remain."
They fed him another gem and asked what he knew about bugbears and their weaknesses.
"They are very nimble and quiet, and can creep up on the unaware. But they are as mortal as any other flesh creature, and can be killed like an ordinary man. And I know more about that than most."
Spurred by this somewhat cryptic comment, the conversation turned to the Judge's past. He told them how he had been worshipped as a god by the Ancient Idalians, for no one could conceal the truth in his presence. The Idalians would bring those accused of the worst crimes before him and he would judge them, and those guilty he would deliver judgment upon.
The stone column revolved to display a proud face. "Would you like me to demonstrate?"
"Um, sure!" said Caryatid.
The Judge turned to look at the lonely wooden chair in the corner of the room, the chair with the leather ankle, wrist, and head restraints and the curious scorch mark in the back of the chair. A strange glow began to build within his eyes, and a high-pitched crackling whine grew in volume. The hair on the backs of the adventurers' necks stood on end. Then there was a brilliant flash of light, and an enormous spark like a bolt of lightning cracked between the Judge's face and the chair. Their eyes swam with the afterimage, and when it faded the back of the chair was smoldering and smoking. The Judge rotated back to face them with a giddy, sated look on his face.
"Oh, it's been a long, long time since I did that. Just like old times! Tell you what, if you find any ne'er-do-wells in this city, feel free to bring them to me for... judgment. Oh, I would like that!"
"Uh... Okay, we'll definitely keep that in mind!" said Simon nervously. And they all made their polite goodbyes, and returned to the surface.
Simon failed his saving throw for next week, and remained blissfully enchanted by his "best friend" Elfstar.
Monday, July 8, 2019
Idalium Game 103: Like a Moth Before a Flame
Session date: Monday, December 17, 2018
Game date: Saturday, January 29, 211
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71702/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20761/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9547/16000
Orehoe Hüfflestüff, Elf 1, hp 3, xp 1177/4000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 16982/32000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2189/4000
Fritzenbürg, Cleric 1, hp 1, xp 0/1500
Moonpetal, Elf 2, hp 12, xp 4652/8000
Finally, some regained momentum; we managed to meet two weeks in a row for the first time in six months! Adrien's player was unable to attend, but Orehoe's player was able to join us, and rolled up a retainer for herself: a cleric named Fritzenbürg, to offset Father Chase's absence after the last session. Caryatid decided to temporarily replace her retainer by hiring Moonpetal, the naive and dimwitted elf, whom the adventurers had rescued from the party of the cutthroat dwarf Rugger.
Down into the dungeon they went, seeking to explore more of the third level. In the big town square near the entrance from the new city, they encountered four stirges, perched on the rubble of the statues surrounding the dry fountain. Gulleck and Simon attempted to use their rings of animal control, but were disappointed to find that stirges don't qualify as normal animals. Moonpetal, full of unexpected bravery, charged in and dealt a massive blow to a stirge with his sword. Unfortunately, he was then bit by one of the other stirges and grew pale as it sucked away his blood.
Caryatid cut the whole thing short with a Sleep spell, and after stabbing the slumbering stirges they proceeded on their way. In the Temple of Hedonism, they were surprised to find a pair of dwarves engaged in a fight at the far end of the room with several giant bees in the hallway beyond. Remembering how the dwarves had been content to watch their battle with the dancing dolls last week, only to sarcastically applaud them at the end, the party decided to stand and watch. Both dwarves were then promptly stung by bees and with terrible gurgling screams, fell to the ground dead. The bees then buzzed into the room towards the adventurers. Orin cast a Sleep spell, but before he could complete it, one of the two bees stung Moonpetal, who twitched spasmodically before collapsing in a crumpled heap, his face pale in death. Then the last bee fell asleep under the effect of Orin's spell.
The adventurers weren't sure if Moonpetal had ever been revived in the pool of resurrection, but they figured it was worth a shot. Meat hoisted his spindly body over his shoulder, and they proceeded down to the second level, gingerly stepping over the two dead dwarves without a thought of bringing them to the resurrection pool. Cold!
They quickly made their way to the resurrection pool, stripped off Moonpetal's plate armor, and dunked the elf waif into the slippery liquid of the pool. He came up a few moments later, sputtering and gasping, and thoroughly besotted with Caryatid for bringing him back from the doors of death. Once he had a moment to recover his composure and put his armor back on over his sodden undergarments, they moved on, heading down the mossy stairs to the third level.
No sooner had they opened the door at the bottom of the stairs, they were surprised by a group of black-robed men and women. One was murmuring words and tracing patterns in the air as they walked in, and before they could react, she finished her spell, and turned to Simon with a broad grin on her face.
"I'm so glad you're here! We've been looking everywhere for you! I need your help!"
"Uh, sure, what do you need? How can I help?" said Simon, who recognized this lady as one of his dearest friends in all the world (although he couldn't quite remember her name at the moment).
"We really need you to catch us a bugbear! We need one for our... rituals... but we haven't been able to catch one unaware. But you and your friends are so strong, I just know you'll be able to catch us one!"
"Absolutely, friend, I'm on it! I won't let you down!" promised Simon, while the rest of his party rolled their eyes and sighed audibly.
The black-robed cultists reminded Simon to bring the bugbear alive to the Temple of Diana, just down the hall to the west, and then left with knowing smiles. The party then paid a brief visit to "the Judge", feeding him a gemstone and asking him if he had any suggestions about catching a bugbear.
"Hmm... The Queen of Nightmares keeps an entourage of bugbears slaves, but I don't suggest making an enemy of her."
Leaving the Judge behind, the group explored a new area to the west and then south, where they found a largely empty room that was eerily full of tiny white moths fluttering about. There were silken cobwebs draped throughout the room. Another doorway led west to another room, where the moths were even thicker in the air. The doorway was partially shrouded in strange curtains of silk threads. The group cautiously approached this room, to find it choked in silk webs. Scattered among the silk, the party could see a number of silver coins, a polished bit of ornamental stone, and what looked like a scroll case. On the ground were a number of what looked like enormous silk cocoons, pulsating grotesquely. The air was thick with moths here, and as the adventurers looked around, the small white moths suddenly gathered together, coalescing into eight giant moths, each with a four foot wingspan.
The moths surged towards the adventurers, lunging at them with their rasping proboscises. Gulleck and Moonpetal were both bit by the enormous moths. Gulleck swung her axe at the nearest moth, but found to her dismay that the moth's body parted like water around the axe into hundreds of its constituent tiny moths, reforming immediately after the axe passed through.
The party backed away into the main room, and the moths followed. There was a lot of arguing at the table around what to do. Orin read from a Sleep scroll, and managed to put three of the moths to sleep. As they fell to the ground, they lost their shape and dissolved into a mass of tiny moths again. Gulleck tried to swat a moth with the flat of her axe, and while this was very clumsy it did seem to do some damage, dozens of tiny moths dropping dead from the body of the giant moth.
Then Caryatid decided to shortcut everything with a fireball. This was a tricky situation, because she was trying to carefully target the spell to erupt at an exact point where it would hit the moths but not her fellow party members, and also she needed to launch the fireball between several people who were in melee with the moths. I ruled that she would need to roll a d20, and on a 1-6 the outcome would be bad (the fireball would explode premature on Gulleck or Simon's back) and on 7-20 she would hit her intended target. Caryatid's player rolled the Big Green d30 for this, and successfully hit her target. A fiery bead glowed at the tip of her finger, like a glowing ember, and then streaked forward between Gulleck and Simon, impacting on the floor at the far end of the room. The western half of the room went up in roaring flames. Curtains and cobwebs of silk ignited instantly, and three of the five moths were instantly destroyed in the conflagration. The other two moths failed a morale check and fled back into their nest, dispersing into hundreds of small moths as they flew away.
Cautiously, the adventurers crept past smoldering silk and charred moths to peer into the room. All seemed still, with the remaining moths clustered in the southern portion of the room. The coins and scroll case were quickly gathered up, Gulleck went around stomping the pulsating cocoons into a grisly pulp (hundreds of malformed, immature white moths oozed out as the cocoons were crushed), and the party made their return to the surface, with only a few coins to show for their disturbing experience.
The scroll case later turned out to contain not a scroll, but a fragment of a map and a note. The map showed a columned room labeled "throne room hall" and several rooms off of this hall, with an X in one room. The note was from a man who had been enslaved by the Queen of Nightmares, and who had hidden a potion of invisibility in a barrel in a pantry of the Queen's Palace, and sketched out this map in hopes that someone might be able to use it to free him and his fellow slaves...
Game date: Saturday, January 29, 211
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71702/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20761/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9547/16000
Orehoe Hüfflestüff, Elf 1, hp 3, xp 1177/4000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 16982/32000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2189/4000
Fritzenbürg, Cleric 1, hp 1, xp 0/1500
Moonpetal, Elf 2, hp 12, xp 4652/8000
Finally, some regained momentum; we managed to meet two weeks in a row for the first time in six months! Adrien's player was unable to attend, but Orehoe's player was able to join us, and rolled up a retainer for herself: a cleric named Fritzenbürg, to offset Father Chase's absence after the last session. Caryatid decided to temporarily replace her retainer by hiring Moonpetal, the naive and dimwitted elf, whom the adventurers had rescued from the party of the cutthroat dwarf Rugger.
Down into the dungeon they went, seeking to explore more of the third level. In the big town square near the entrance from the new city, they encountered four stirges, perched on the rubble of the statues surrounding the dry fountain. Gulleck and Simon attempted to use their rings of animal control, but were disappointed to find that stirges don't qualify as normal animals. Moonpetal, full of unexpected bravery, charged in and dealt a massive blow to a stirge with his sword. Unfortunately, he was then bit by one of the other stirges and grew pale as it sucked away his blood.
Caryatid cut the whole thing short with a Sleep spell, and after stabbing the slumbering stirges they proceeded on their way. In the Temple of Hedonism, they were surprised to find a pair of dwarves engaged in a fight at the far end of the room with several giant bees in the hallway beyond. Remembering how the dwarves had been content to watch their battle with the dancing dolls last week, only to sarcastically applaud them at the end, the party decided to stand and watch. Both dwarves were then promptly stung by bees and with terrible gurgling screams, fell to the ground dead. The bees then buzzed into the room towards the adventurers. Orin cast a Sleep spell, but before he could complete it, one of the two bees stung Moonpetal, who twitched spasmodically before collapsing in a crumpled heap, his face pale in death. Then the last bee fell asleep under the effect of Orin's spell.
The adventurers weren't sure if Moonpetal had ever been revived in the pool of resurrection, but they figured it was worth a shot. Meat hoisted his spindly body over his shoulder, and they proceeded down to the second level, gingerly stepping over the two dead dwarves without a thought of bringing them to the resurrection pool. Cold!
They quickly made their way to the resurrection pool, stripped off Moonpetal's plate armor, and dunked the elf waif into the slippery liquid of the pool. He came up a few moments later, sputtering and gasping, and thoroughly besotted with Caryatid for bringing him back from the doors of death. Once he had a moment to recover his composure and put his armor back on over his sodden undergarments, they moved on, heading down the mossy stairs to the third level.
No sooner had they opened the door at the bottom of the stairs, they were surprised by a group of black-robed men and women. One was murmuring words and tracing patterns in the air as they walked in, and before they could react, she finished her spell, and turned to Simon with a broad grin on her face.
"I'm so glad you're here! We've been looking everywhere for you! I need your help!"
"Uh, sure, what do you need? How can I help?" said Simon, who recognized this lady as one of his dearest friends in all the world (although he couldn't quite remember her name at the moment).
"We really need you to catch us a bugbear! We need one for our... rituals... but we haven't been able to catch one unaware. But you and your friends are so strong, I just know you'll be able to catch us one!"
"Absolutely, friend, I'm on it! I won't let you down!" promised Simon, while the rest of his party rolled their eyes and sighed audibly.
The black-robed cultists reminded Simon to bring the bugbear alive to the Temple of Diana, just down the hall to the west, and then left with knowing smiles. The party then paid a brief visit to "the Judge", feeding him a gemstone and asking him if he had any suggestions about catching a bugbear.
"Hmm... The Queen of Nightmares keeps an entourage of bugbears slaves, but I don't suggest making an enemy of her."
Leaving the Judge behind, the group explored a new area to the west and then south, where they found a largely empty room that was eerily full of tiny white moths fluttering about. There were silken cobwebs draped throughout the room. Another doorway led west to another room, where the moths were even thicker in the air. The doorway was partially shrouded in strange curtains of silk threads. The group cautiously approached this room, to find it choked in silk webs. Scattered among the silk, the party could see a number of silver coins, a polished bit of ornamental stone, and what looked like a scroll case. On the ground were a number of what looked like enormous silk cocoons, pulsating grotesquely. The air was thick with moths here, and as the adventurers looked around, the small white moths suddenly gathered together, coalescing into eight giant moths, each with a four foot wingspan.
The moths surged towards the adventurers, lunging at them with their rasping proboscises. Gulleck and Moonpetal were both bit by the enormous moths. Gulleck swung her axe at the nearest moth, but found to her dismay that the moth's body parted like water around the axe into hundreds of its constituent tiny moths, reforming immediately after the axe passed through.
The party backed away into the main room, and the moths followed. There was a lot of arguing at the table around what to do. Orin read from a Sleep scroll, and managed to put three of the moths to sleep. As they fell to the ground, they lost their shape and dissolved into a mass of tiny moths again. Gulleck tried to swat a moth with the flat of her axe, and while this was very clumsy it did seem to do some damage, dozens of tiny moths dropping dead from the body of the giant moth.
Then Caryatid decided to shortcut everything with a fireball. This was a tricky situation, because she was trying to carefully target the spell to erupt at an exact point where it would hit the moths but not her fellow party members, and also she needed to launch the fireball between several people who were in melee with the moths. I ruled that she would need to roll a d20, and on a 1-6 the outcome would be bad (the fireball would explode premature on Gulleck or Simon's back) and on 7-20 she would hit her intended target. Caryatid's player rolled the Big Green d30 for this, and successfully hit her target. A fiery bead glowed at the tip of her finger, like a glowing ember, and then streaked forward between Gulleck and Simon, impacting on the floor at the far end of the room. The western half of the room went up in roaring flames. Curtains and cobwebs of silk ignited instantly, and three of the five moths were instantly destroyed in the conflagration. The other two moths failed a morale check and fled back into their nest, dispersing into hundreds of small moths as they flew away.
Cautiously, the adventurers crept past smoldering silk and charred moths to peer into the room. All seemed still, with the remaining moths clustered in the southern portion of the room. The coins and scroll case were quickly gathered up, Gulleck went around stomping the pulsating cocoons into a grisly pulp (hundreds of malformed, immature white moths oozed out as the cocoons were crushed), and the party made their return to the surface, with only a few coins to show for their disturbing experience.
The scroll case later turned out to contain not a scroll, but a fragment of a map and a note. The map showed a columned room labeled "throne room hall" and several rooms off of this hall, with an X in one room. The note was from a man who had been enslaved by the Queen of Nightmares, and who had hidden a potion of invisibility in a barrel in a pantry of the Queen's Palace, and sketched out this map in hopes that someone might be able to use it to free him and his fellow slaves...
Saturday, June 29, 2019
Idalium Game 102: Let the Bodies Hit the Floor
Session date: Monday, December 10, 2018
Game date: Saturday, January 22, 211
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71586/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20616/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9395/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 8334/16000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 16909/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4429/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2116/4000
Jack, Thief 3, hp 10, xp 2811/4800
We seemed to have lost momentum. It had been eighteen weeks since our last session. As is our custom, as much time had passed in the campaign world as in real life. But now we (and thus, the adventurers) managed to all be available on the same day, and another delve beneath Idalium was made.
In the Rusty Lantern tavern, the adventurers found that in their prolonged absence, the Brothers Fruthwood (a rival adventuring party composed of three hobbit brothers and a couple of hired hands) had leapfrogged ahead of them on the "scoreboard". Somewhat peeved to have lost their crown, the party descended and made their way through the Temple of Hedonism to the second level, where Adrien insisted they stop in the Temple of Chance and take a spin on the great wheel of fortune.
Adrien spun, and suddenly felt very ill, but instant death was averted by a saving throw. Her retainer Jack also went for a spin, but apart from a vague feeling of good fortune it was unclear what boon or bane had been bestowed upon him.
Down they went to the third level. In the Hall of Elder Gods, they were not greeted by "the Judge" as usual, but instead heard deep snores coming from the hallway leading to his chamber. Deciding not to wake him, they proceeded to explore the level and headed west.
At a door with an engraved insignia of a pentagram surrounding a goat's head, Simon used his mind-reading amulet to sense the presence of several minds in the room beyond. Reaching deeper into one of the minds, his head was filled with thoughts of studying esoteric prayers and rituals. They moved on, further to the west, coming to a long wall that ran north and south into the darkness. The wall was decorated and painted to give the impression of a single long building, like a palace wall. At the intersection was a door, fairly ornate and grand.
They listened and Simon used his amulet, and detected no one on the other side. Gulleck knocked, and received no response, so they entered, and found themselves in an empty antechamber. It had once been quite grand, with marble tiles on the floor and decorative plaster molding at the top of the walls. Now it was dusty and ragged, the tiles chipped and scratched and the plasterwork crumbling.
Two doors led out of this room and the party chose a plainer door to the south. This led to a small room that was a sort of widening of a long hall that led west into the dark. Across from them was a large cabinet. It was found to be locked, so Jack put his thieves' tools to work and successfully picked the lock. Inside they found a few burlap sacks containing several hundred gold and silver coins, as well as a large stock of arrows. They took the coins, and Simon filled his quiver with as many arrows as it would hold.
They went back into the antechamber and tried the other door. This led to a grand hall with several doors leading off it, and a wide passage leading north. This passage was decorated with old, faded banners and flags depicting some unfamiliar heraldry. It led to a door at the north end that was barricaded with numerous pieces of furniture: ornate chairs, cabinets, side tables, wardrobes, etc., all jumbled in a heap blocking the door.
The group decided to ignore this door for now, and explored further to the west, through another door. This turned out to be a plain bedroom, with several old and rickety bunk beds against the walls, most likely a former servants' quarters. But dominating their immediate attention were four statue-like creatures, with demonic faces and bat-like wings - gargoyles!
The adventurers were itching for a fight after so long, and uncharacteristically they charged into the room with weapons drawn, rather than bottlenecking the doorway as usual. Adrien drew the "disco sword" she had claimed from the Goblin King, and the room was filled with scintillating light of every color of the rainbow as she faced down one of the gargoyles.
Caryatid attempted to cast a Sleep spell, but this had no effect on the magical creatures. Before Adrien could land a blow, she was viciously rent by claws and fell to the ground in a bloody heap. Another gargoyle pounced on Gulleck and managed to roll a 20 on two of its three attacks! Gulleck stumbled and fell on her side and the gargoyle leaped on top of her and its stony teeth tore open her forehead. Blood was streaming into her eyes, obscuring her vision.
Father Chase rushed to Adrien's body and let the power of his Staff of Healing flow through her (rolling the Big Green d30 for extra hit points healed). Adrien gasped as she regained consciousness, finding all her wounds healed.
A second gargoyle crouched over Gulleck and tore at her prone body, while she was struggling to wipe the blood from her eyes and clear her vision. Meanwhile the last of the four gargoyles ripped at Simon. Father Chase hurried over to heal Simon, while Gulleck, still struggling with two gargoyles pinning her to the ground, managed to swing her magical axe right into the side of one of them. Gray mud, like wet cement, poured out of the wound, and the gargoyle fell off her.
Father Chase had healed Simon of some of his wounds, but alas, it was not enough to protect him from the onslaught of the gargoyle that was fighting him. With a scream, the hobbit fell beneath a flurry of claws and teeth. His plate armor hit the stone floor with a solid thump. And then Father Chase was facing the vicious claws of a gargoyle! He backed away, trying to defend himself, but he too was brought to his knees and then prone by the fangs and sharp claws of the cruel creature. With a gargling shriek, he fell still.
But the tide was turning. Adrien had slain her gargoyle, and Gulleck, having regained her feet, made quick work of the remaining two with her magical axe and gauntlets of ogre strength. Soon, all was still, and the party looked round to take stock of their comrades.
Simon and Father Chase lay still on the floor. Simon was feebly breathing but unconscious (at zero hit points) but Father Chase seemed worse off. I called for the customary 1d4-1 roll to regain hit points at the end of each battle, representing some portion of hit points that signify fatigue or combat luck. Simon did not roll a 1, and therefore gradually regained consciousness, feeling completely ragged and exhausted.
Caryatid's player chose to roll the Big Green d30 for this, and rolling a 20, Father Chase was found to be in pristine condition: a miracle!! Perhaps he had only been struck a series of glancing blows, or perhaps some divine intervention had averted his death, but either way, he regained consciousness to find he had narrowly escaped serious injury.
One of the gargoyles was found to have gemstones for its eyes: a round piece of carved jet and a deep blue spinel stone. They gouged out these "eyes" from the lifeless head, and pleased with this bit of treasure, the adventurers made their way back out of the dungeon and celebrated their success back in the Rusty Lantern with a round of drinks.
Father Chase, badly demoralized by his close brush with death, decided to take four weeks off from adventuring.
Game date: Saturday, January 22, 211
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71586/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20616/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9395/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 8334/16000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 16909/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4429/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2116/4000
Jack, Thief 3, hp 10, xp 2811/4800
We seemed to have lost momentum. It had been eighteen weeks since our last session. As is our custom, as much time had passed in the campaign world as in real life. But now we (and thus, the adventurers) managed to all be available on the same day, and another delve beneath Idalium was made.
In the Rusty Lantern tavern, the adventurers found that in their prolonged absence, the Brothers Fruthwood (a rival adventuring party composed of three hobbit brothers and a couple of hired hands) had leapfrogged ahead of them on the "scoreboard". Somewhat peeved to have lost their crown, the party descended and made their way through the Temple of Hedonism to the second level, where Adrien insisted they stop in the Temple of Chance and take a spin on the great wheel of fortune.
Adrien spun, and suddenly felt very ill, but instant death was averted by a saving throw. Her retainer Jack also went for a spin, but apart from a vague feeling of good fortune it was unclear what boon or bane had been bestowed upon him.
Down they went to the third level. In the Hall of Elder Gods, they were not greeted by "the Judge" as usual, but instead heard deep snores coming from the hallway leading to his chamber. Deciding not to wake him, they proceeded to explore the level and headed west.
At a door with an engraved insignia of a pentagram surrounding a goat's head, Simon used his mind-reading amulet to sense the presence of several minds in the room beyond. Reaching deeper into one of the minds, his head was filled with thoughts of studying esoteric prayers and rituals. They moved on, further to the west, coming to a long wall that ran north and south into the darkness. The wall was decorated and painted to give the impression of a single long building, like a palace wall. At the intersection was a door, fairly ornate and grand.
They listened and Simon used his amulet, and detected no one on the other side. Gulleck knocked, and received no response, so they entered, and found themselves in an empty antechamber. It had once been quite grand, with marble tiles on the floor and decorative plaster molding at the top of the walls. Now it was dusty and ragged, the tiles chipped and scratched and the plasterwork crumbling.
Two doors led out of this room and the party chose a plainer door to the south. This led to a small room that was a sort of widening of a long hall that led west into the dark. Across from them was a large cabinet. It was found to be locked, so Jack put his thieves' tools to work and successfully picked the lock. Inside they found a few burlap sacks containing several hundred gold and silver coins, as well as a large stock of arrows. They took the coins, and Simon filled his quiver with as many arrows as it would hold.
They went back into the antechamber and tried the other door. This led to a grand hall with several doors leading off it, and a wide passage leading north. This passage was decorated with old, faded banners and flags depicting some unfamiliar heraldry. It led to a door at the north end that was barricaded with numerous pieces of furniture: ornate chairs, cabinets, side tables, wardrobes, etc., all jumbled in a heap blocking the door.
The group decided to ignore this door for now, and explored further to the west, through another door. This turned out to be a plain bedroom, with several old and rickety bunk beds against the walls, most likely a former servants' quarters. But dominating their immediate attention were four statue-like creatures, with demonic faces and bat-like wings - gargoyles!
The adventurers were itching for a fight after so long, and uncharacteristically they charged into the room with weapons drawn, rather than bottlenecking the doorway as usual. Adrien drew the "disco sword" she had claimed from the Goblin King, and the room was filled with scintillating light of every color of the rainbow as she faced down one of the gargoyles.
Caryatid attempted to cast a Sleep spell, but this had no effect on the magical creatures. Before Adrien could land a blow, she was viciously rent by claws and fell to the ground in a bloody heap. Another gargoyle pounced on Gulleck and managed to roll a 20 on two of its three attacks! Gulleck stumbled and fell on her side and the gargoyle leaped on top of her and its stony teeth tore open her forehead. Blood was streaming into her eyes, obscuring her vision.
Father Chase rushed to Adrien's body and let the power of his Staff of Healing flow through her (rolling the Big Green d30 for extra hit points healed). Adrien gasped as she regained consciousness, finding all her wounds healed.
A second gargoyle crouched over Gulleck and tore at her prone body, while she was struggling to wipe the blood from her eyes and clear her vision. Meanwhile the last of the four gargoyles ripped at Simon. Father Chase hurried over to heal Simon, while Gulleck, still struggling with two gargoyles pinning her to the ground, managed to swing her magical axe right into the side of one of them. Gray mud, like wet cement, poured out of the wound, and the gargoyle fell off her.
Father Chase had healed Simon of some of his wounds, but alas, it was not enough to protect him from the onslaught of the gargoyle that was fighting him. With a scream, the hobbit fell beneath a flurry of claws and teeth. His plate armor hit the stone floor with a solid thump. And then Father Chase was facing the vicious claws of a gargoyle! He backed away, trying to defend himself, but he too was brought to his knees and then prone by the fangs and sharp claws of the cruel creature. With a gargling shriek, he fell still.
But the tide was turning. Adrien had slain her gargoyle, and Gulleck, having regained her feet, made quick work of the remaining two with her magical axe and gauntlets of ogre strength. Soon, all was still, and the party looked round to take stock of their comrades.
Simon and Father Chase lay still on the floor. Simon was feebly breathing but unconscious (at zero hit points) but Father Chase seemed worse off. I called for the customary 1d4-1 roll to regain hit points at the end of each battle, representing some portion of hit points that signify fatigue or combat luck. Simon did not roll a 1, and therefore gradually regained consciousness, feeling completely ragged and exhausted.
Caryatid's player chose to roll the Big Green d30 for this, and rolling a 20, Father Chase was found to be in pristine condition: a miracle!! Perhaps he had only been struck a series of glancing blows, or perhaps some divine intervention had averted his death, but either way, he regained consciousness to find he had narrowly escaped serious injury.
One of the gargoyles was found to have gemstones for its eyes: a round piece of carved jet and a deep blue spinel stone. They gouged out these "eyes" from the lifeless head, and pleased with this bit of treasure, the adventurers made their way back out of the dungeon and celebrated their success back in the Rusty Lantern with a round of drinks.
Father Chase, badly demoralized by his close brush with death, decided to take four weeks off from adventuring.
Monday, June 24, 2019
Idalium Game 101: Or You'll Forever Tap Your Feet
Session date: Monday, August 6, 2018
Game date: Saturday, September 18, 210
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71454/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20451/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9222/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 8169/16000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 16826/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4342/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2033/4000
Jack, Thief 3, hp 10, xp 2724/4800
It had been a LONG time since our last delve below Idalium, both in real time and in game time. Seventeen weeks had passed, in fact. We took some time to explore the consequences of the adventurers' unexpected three month disappearance from Idalium. Those with "day jobs" had some explaining to do to get their old jobs back. Everyone who lived in an apartment had been evicted and their belongings had been stored or disposed of by various friends and relations. All of the adventurers were now living in the rickety old house they had purchased over a year ago, in The Steps, the rundown and neglected hillside neighborhood to the west of the river that ran through Idalium. Collectively they paid several hundred gold darics to replace the planks and boards with a proper front door and windows. Adrien and Simon bought several hundred darics worth of gems to feed to "The Judge" down on level 3, to learn what they could about recent events in the dungeon.
Eventually, they arrived at the Rusty Lantern and descended to the streets of buried Ancient Idalium. Though it had been a long time indeed, the silent and cool air underneath the city was the same as ever. When they passed through the town square, they discovered the ominous sight of a recently deceased adventurer or bandit, lying on the cobblestones near the shattered fountain. They could not ascertain exactly what had killed him, but as they gingerly examined his body they heard jingling in his backpack, and discovered several hundred silver shekels and a few dozen gold darics. Grimly, they redistributed this wealth to themselves, and continued along the familiar streets deeper into the dungeon.
There were half a dozen hedonists hanging out in the "den" of the Temple of Hedonism. Thankfully, it must not have been a scheduled orgy day, as they were just loafing around drinking wine and playing music. They were surprised to see the adventurers after so many months, and bid them success as the adventurers passed through the temple on their way to the third level.
At the top of the stairs, the adventurers noticed something new: a small "sandwich-board" sign with writing in Common facing down the stairs. The writing said, "BEWARE: This level is protected!" The adventurers exchanged looks, wondering about these new benefactors of the second level that had arrived during their absence. Then they proceeded downstairs and entered the third level.
The "Judge", the living stone column perpetually standing in a room adjacent to the entry hall, was very surprised and pleased to see the adventurers again after so many months. Gulleck fed the Judge a gemstone and asked for general news of the dungeon events in the last few months. The Judge told them that the Queen of Nightmares had increased her entourage of bugbear slaves by a significant number (in the aftermath of the destruction of the Goblin King). But the big news was that a strange party of dwarves had taken up in residence on the second level. They seemed to be searching the dungeon for something specific and occasionally gave the Judge "shiny stones" in return for information. They had marked the second level as their territory and warned the various factions of the third level to mind their manners if they traveled above.
Caryatid gave the Judge a gem and asked about the garden that she remembered hearing about once or twice. She was still hoping to find the rumored beanstalk that was said to lead to the castle of the giant from whence her goose had come, in hopes of finding more of the special oats that would make it lay more golden eggs. Gulleck, on the other hand, felt that this rumor was too silly to possibly be true. The Judge did tell Caryatid that the door to the garden was through this level to the north. So that's where they set out for.
They proceeded along a very long hallway past many side corridors, and eventually came to a wider, more ornate hall that ran west. The floor was covered in a once-grand carpet that was now tattered and worn. The walls were hung with huge, dusty paintings of wealthy Idalians engaged in various activities of the rich and idle. The party decided to bypass this hall for the moment, however, and continued along a smaller hallway to the north.
This hallway soon opened up into a large open room with what once obviously once a very nice polished wooden floor. In the center of the room they could make out all sorts of debris and rubble, where the ceiling had collapsed, and among the rubble were the bones of enormous snakes, as well as the dessicated husks of dead giant spiders. The adventurers recognized this room as being directly below the hole in the floor of the apartment courtyard in which the orcs and later the Goblin Prince's group had resided.
They moved further into the room, but as they stepped onto the wooden floor, torches set in wall sconces suddenly flared to life all around the perimeter of the room. The adventurers could see another doorway leaving the room to the west, and also saw that the perimeter of the room was lined with ten unusual cabinets or wardrobes. Before they had much time to take this in, the air was filled with music from no visible source, playing a stately dance. The ten cabinets suddenly opened, and from each emerged a life-sized cloth doll, stepping wobbily onto the ballroom floor. Five of them wore elegant men's attire, and the other five wore fancy white gowns. Their features were crudely stitched, and their heads and limbs were floppy and limp.
The dolls gained speed as they emerged, and danced their way across the ballroom floor, dodging the rubble in the center as they approached the adventurers. Their arms were outstretched as they attempted to sweep the adventurers up into the dance. Meat, Caryatid, Father Chase, and Orin were all taken up by the embrace of a doll, and found their feet moving of their own volition to the rhythm of the music, dancing in graceful circles with the dolls. Gulleck and Simon attacked the dolls, weapons slicing into stuffed cloth. The doll that Simon hit thrashed around and released Orin. Meat, even in the midst of dancing, managed to draw his sword and carve his doll open entirely and it fell in a heap of cloth and spun flax and stopped moving. Caryatid struggled to get free of the strange magic that forced her to dance with her partner but she was unable to do so.
The one-sided battle went on. The dolls never attacked with any physical force, but kept sweeping the adventurers up into an unwanted dance. The music was loud and I was rolling every round to see if wandering monsters would turn up. Eventually, the last of the ten dolls was hacked down and the music and torchlight faded.
As the adventurers, breathing heavily, took stock of the situation, the silence was broken by a slow, ironic handclap. They turned to see a group of about half a dozen dwarves standing at the edge of the ballroom floor at the same hallway to the south that they had entered from. The lead dwarf was smirking and applauding with slow, deliberate claps. The adventurers sized them up and walked over to speak with them.
"Well, thanks for the help," said Gulleck.
"Ah, you seemed to have everything under control. Besides, we saw no reason for us to get caught up in that spell," said the lead dwarf. He spoke in a strange, unfamiliar accent. [My attempt at a cod Russian/Slavic accent. Yes, as a DM I am not at all averse to a bit of "amateur theatrics".] Their clothes as well were unusual for Idalium, and indicated an origin in a colder climate. The adventurers attempted to ask the dwarves about themselves, but the lead dwarf simply offered to take them to his leader.
"How about you come with me and meet Tobar. Perhaps he will tell you what you ask."
So they followed the dwarves back up to the second level, and were brought to the room directly above the ballroom floor: the courtyard of the apartments that used to house the orcs. Now it appeared to be the redoubt of a party of dwarves, who were busy preparing meals, moving supplies, etc. The adventurers were met by a pair of rather weathered-looking dwarves. Their clothes, like those of the others, were rugged and utilitarian. After being introduced by the dwarf who had escorted them, the senior of the pair spoke.
"Well met, cousin," he said, nodding to Gulleck. "My name is Tobar. This is Yoska, my second-in-command."
Pleasantries were exchanged. Tobar was guarded but pragmatic and seemed to be evaluating the character of the adventurers before revealing too much to them. He told them that his group had come from the north, from their ancestral homeland in the Balinok Mountains, and that they were on an expedition to search for a long lost dwarven artifact that fell into the hands of the Ancient Idalians hundreds of years ago. He was cagey about the exact nature of the artifact, but told the adventurers he would pay for any information they came across that helped them locate it. He also told them that their current obstacle was in dealing with the Queen of Nightmares on the third level. Her bugbear minions had already abducted several of their number, and they would be happy to see her eliminated. In fact, they would be willing to pay a bounty on any bugbears that the party killed, and offered to pay 10 gold darics for each left bugbear ear the adventurers brought back as evidence.
The group was happy to shake on that offer, and though Tobar and Yoska seemed a bit aloof and cool to them, any enemy of the Queen of Nightmares was a friend of theirs. They parted with an exchange of mutual well wishes for future success, and the adventurers returned to the Rusty Lantern tavern, perhaps with only a few coins to show for it, but with a decent appraisal of what was new in the dungeon.
Game date: Saturday, September 18, 210
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71454/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20451/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 9222/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 8169/16000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 16826/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4342/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2033/4000
Jack, Thief 3, hp 10, xp 2724/4800
It had been a LONG time since our last delve below Idalium, both in real time and in game time. Seventeen weeks had passed, in fact. We took some time to explore the consequences of the adventurers' unexpected three month disappearance from Idalium. Those with "day jobs" had some explaining to do to get their old jobs back. Everyone who lived in an apartment had been evicted and their belongings had been stored or disposed of by various friends and relations. All of the adventurers were now living in the rickety old house they had purchased over a year ago, in The Steps, the rundown and neglected hillside neighborhood to the west of the river that ran through Idalium. Collectively they paid several hundred gold darics to replace the planks and boards with a proper front door and windows. Adrien and Simon bought several hundred darics worth of gems to feed to "The Judge" down on level 3, to learn what they could about recent events in the dungeon.
Eventually, they arrived at the Rusty Lantern and descended to the streets of buried Ancient Idalium. Though it had been a long time indeed, the silent and cool air underneath the city was the same as ever. When they passed through the town square, they discovered the ominous sight of a recently deceased adventurer or bandit, lying on the cobblestones near the shattered fountain. They could not ascertain exactly what had killed him, but as they gingerly examined his body they heard jingling in his backpack, and discovered several hundred silver shekels and a few dozen gold darics. Grimly, they redistributed this wealth to themselves, and continued along the familiar streets deeper into the dungeon.
There were half a dozen hedonists hanging out in the "den" of the Temple of Hedonism. Thankfully, it must not have been a scheduled orgy day, as they were just loafing around drinking wine and playing music. They were surprised to see the adventurers after so many months, and bid them success as the adventurers passed through the temple on their way to the third level.
At the top of the stairs, the adventurers noticed something new: a small "sandwich-board" sign with writing in Common facing down the stairs. The writing said, "BEWARE: This level is protected!" The adventurers exchanged looks, wondering about these new benefactors of the second level that had arrived during their absence. Then they proceeded downstairs and entered the third level.
The "Judge", the living stone column perpetually standing in a room adjacent to the entry hall, was very surprised and pleased to see the adventurers again after so many months. Gulleck fed the Judge a gemstone and asked for general news of the dungeon events in the last few months. The Judge told them that the Queen of Nightmares had increased her entourage of bugbear slaves by a significant number (in the aftermath of the destruction of the Goblin King). But the big news was that a strange party of dwarves had taken up in residence on the second level. They seemed to be searching the dungeon for something specific and occasionally gave the Judge "shiny stones" in return for information. They had marked the second level as their territory and warned the various factions of the third level to mind their manners if they traveled above.
Caryatid gave the Judge a gem and asked about the garden that she remembered hearing about once or twice. She was still hoping to find the rumored beanstalk that was said to lead to the castle of the giant from whence her goose had come, in hopes of finding more of the special oats that would make it lay more golden eggs. Gulleck, on the other hand, felt that this rumor was too silly to possibly be true. The Judge did tell Caryatid that the door to the garden was through this level to the north. So that's where they set out for.
They proceeded along a very long hallway past many side corridors, and eventually came to a wider, more ornate hall that ran west. The floor was covered in a once-grand carpet that was now tattered and worn. The walls were hung with huge, dusty paintings of wealthy Idalians engaged in various activities of the rich and idle. The party decided to bypass this hall for the moment, however, and continued along a smaller hallway to the north.
This hallway soon opened up into a large open room with what once obviously once a very nice polished wooden floor. In the center of the room they could make out all sorts of debris and rubble, where the ceiling had collapsed, and among the rubble were the bones of enormous snakes, as well as the dessicated husks of dead giant spiders. The adventurers recognized this room as being directly below the hole in the floor of the apartment courtyard in which the orcs and later the Goblin Prince's group had resided.
They moved further into the room, but as they stepped onto the wooden floor, torches set in wall sconces suddenly flared to life all around the perimeter of the room. The adventurers could see another doorway leaving the room to the west, and also saw that the perimeter of the room was lined with ten unusual cabinets or wardrobes. Before they had much time to take this in, the air was filled with music from no visible source, playing a stately dance. The ten cabinets suddenly opened, and from each emerged a life-sized cloth doll, stepping wobbily onto the ballroom floor. Five of them wore elegant men's attire, and the other five wore fancy white gowns. Their features were crudely stitched, and their heads and limbs were floppy and limp.
The dolls gained speed as they emerged, and danced their way across the ballroom floor, dodging the rubble in the center as they approached the adventurers. Their arms were outstretched as they attempted to sweep the adventurers up into the dance. Meat, Caryatid, Father Chase, and Orin were all taken up by the embrace of a doll, and found their feet moving of their own volition to the rhythm of the music, dancing in graceful circles with the dolls. Gulleck and Simon attacked the dolls, weapons slicing into stuffed cloth. The doll that Simon hit thrashed around and released Orin. Meat, even in the midst of dancing, managed to draw his sword and carve his doll open entirely and it fell in a heap of cloth and spun flax and stopped moving. Caryatid struggled to get free of the strange magic that forced her to dance with her partner but she was unable to do so.
The one-sided battle went on. The dolls never attacked with any physical force, but kept sweeping the adventurers up into an unwanted dance. The music was loud and I was rolling every round to see if wandering monsters would turn up. Eventually, the last of the ten dolls was hacked down and the music and torchlight faded.
As the adventurers, breathing heavily, took stock of the situation, the silence was broken by a slow, ironic handclap. They turned to see a group of about half a dozen dwarves standing at the edge of the ballroom floor at the same hallway to the south that they had entered from. The lead dwarf was smirking and applauding with slow, deliberate claps. The adventurers sized them up and walked over to speak with them.
"Well, thanks for the help," said Gulleck.
"Ah, you seemed to have everything under control. Besides, we saw no reason for us to get caught up in that spell," said the lead dwarf. He spoke in a strange, unfamiliar accent. [My attempt at a cod Russian/Slavic accent. Yes, as a DM I am not at all averse to a bit of "amateur theatrics".] Their clothes as well were unusual for Idalium, and indicated an origin in a colder climate. The adventurers attempted to ask the dwarves about themselves, but the lead dwarf simply offered to take them to his leader.
"How about you come with me and meet Tobar. Perhaps he will tell you what you ask."
So they followed the dwarves back up to the second level, and were brought to the room directly above the ballroom floor: the courtyard of the apartments that used to house the orcs. Now it appeared to be the redoubt of a party of dwarves, who were busy preparing meals, moving supplies, etc. The adventurers were met by a pair of rather weathered-looking dwarves. Their clothes, like those of the others, were rugged and utilitarian. After being introduced by the dwarf who had escorted them, the senior of the pair spoke.
"Well met, cousin," he said, nodding to Gulleck. "My name is Tobar. This is Yoska, my second-in-command."
Pleasantries were exchanged. Tobar was guarded but pragmatic and seemed to be evaluating the character of the adventurers before revealing too much to them. He told them that his group had come from the north, from their ancestral homeland in the Balinok Mountains, and that they were on an expedition to search for a long lost dwarven artifact that fell into the hands of the Ancient Idalians hundreds of years ago. He was cagey about the exact nature of the artifact, but told the adventurers he would pay for any information they came across that helped them locate it. He also told them that their current obstacle was in dealing with the Queen of Nightmares on the third level. Her bugbear minions had already abducted several of their number, and they would be happy to see her eliminated. In fact, they would be willing to pay a bounty on any bugbears that the party killed, and offered to pay 10 gold darics for each left bugbear ear the adventurers brought back as evidence.
The group was happy to shake on that offer, and though Tobar and Yoska seemed a bit aloof and cool to them, any enemy of the Queen of Nightmares was a friend of theirs. They parted with an exchange of mutual well wishes for future success, and the adventurers returned to the Rusty Lantern tavern, perhaps with only a few coins to show for it, but with a decent appraisal of what was new in the dungeon.
Friday, May 17, 2019
Idalium Game 100: An Unexpected Party
Session date: Monday, June 25, 2018
Game date: Dreaming as the days go by
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71130/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20046/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 8797/16000
Adrien, Fighter 3, hp 9, xp 7764/8000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 16623/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4129/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 1830/4000
Jack, Thief 3, hp 10, xp 2511/4800
The party watched with some alarm as Humpty Dumpty tumbled from his perch, fell some fifty feet, and shattered at the base of the enormous brick wall. Then they scurried over to him. It was an awful sight; enormous shards of eggshell lied tangled in clothes in a pool of thick egg white and yolk. Curiously, there were a number of smaller egg-shaped objects lying in the puddle of yolk.
"How dare you?" croaked Humpty Dumpty as they approached. "Just you wait until the King's horses and his men arrive and put me back together. Then you'll be sorry, I should think!"
Ignoring his threats, Gulleck and Simon picked the strange eggs out of Humpty's remains.
"I beg your pardon!" he squawked. "Put those back at once! Oh! I am slain!" And he breathed a last, melodramatic breath.
The adventurers had little time to examine the eggs before an enormous hue and cry was raised. A hitherto unseen yet enormous gate opened in the brick wall and dozens of blue-skinned giants stomped forth. They were accompanied by two dozen giant rhinoceroses, and all were regally arrayed in red and white heraldic dress.
The adventurers were swiftly surrounded by the giants, and one stepped forward and bellowed:
"We come on the King's business to put Humpty Dumpty back together!" Then he spotted the small eggs that Simon and Gulleck were hastily trying to stow away, and shouted, "Stop! Put back those potions of the Exalted Eggcellency which you have taken! Get from this place immediately, or we shall slay you all!"
Well, as usual, the adventurers attempted some sort of awkward parlay, which again as usual turned into insults being slung in both directions, and things went south quite quickly. Several party members decided to make themselves scarce: Simon used his levitation boots to float to the top of the wall away from the fray, Caryatid slipped on her ring of invisibility, and Jack scrambled up a tree and hid in the foliage.
The giants ordered an attack, and it was over in mere seconds. The remaining adventurers were gored by the rhinos or slashed from neck to groin by the giants' enormous axes.
Jack peeped through the leaves of the tree that he was hiding in, and saw his fellow party members sprawled on the grass. But then he realized that he saw no blood and their armor seemed undamaged. Simon descended from the sky and likewise saw that his comrades seemed curiously unharmed. Caryatid faded back into visibility as well and saw that the others were merely unconscious, and were breathing steadily.
The rest of the party members were shaken awake. They were groggy at first and could hardly believe they still lived, but indeed they found themselves unharmed. After collecting themselves, they looked around for the giants and rhinos, but instead saw a gnome, who was in the midst of rolling away one of their barrels of gold coins!
"Hey!" yelled Simon, but the gnome turned and murmured strange words and then gestured at him. A blast of dazzling colors shot from his hand, bowling Simon and Jack over, stunned by the magical lights. The gnome, cackling gleefully, rolled the barrel down the grassy field, back towards the river and the rowboat. Gulleck gave chase, but alas, she lost sight of the gnome and had to return empty-handed. But now the great gate was open and unguarded, and so the adventurers passed beyond the wall and into the forest beyond.
They had not walked long along the forest path when they came to a small wooden sign pointing further along the path and bearing the initials "M.H." Following this sign led them to a clearing, in which unfolded a very odd sight.
There was a strange house, built of all sorts of different materials (brick, wood, plaster, stone, etc.) with windows of all shapes and angles. The chimneys were shaped like rabbit ears, and the roof appeared to be thatched with brownish fur. But the oddest sight lay before the house, where a large table was set on the lawn. The white tablecloth was cluttered with teapots, platters, sugar bowls, pitchers, and many sets of teacups and saucers. There were over a dozen chairs of various mismatched types along the sides of the tables, and several strange creatures were seated at the table. There was a human wearing a tall hat and suit, a rabbit-like humanoid, and a large mouse-like creature that seemed half-asleep and drowsy. But most unexpected of all was the unmistakable visage of the Goblin King, leaning back in an ornate armchair with his boot-clad feet up on the table.
The adventurers' eyes widened as they recognized the Goblin King, as did his as they approached the table.
"No room! No room!" bellowed the Mad Hatter and the March Hare as they approached.
"Nonsense, there's plenty of room," beamed the Goblin King. "These are friends of mine. Well, now, fancy meeting you here!"
"I was about the say the same about you," said Gulleck, perplexed.
"Oh, well, you know, I'm just passing through on my way to greater things. No thanks to you," he scowled. "Oh, I'm just kidding, no hard feelings. It was a bit unsporting, though, how you didn't even give me a chance to fight back. It was all rather embarrassing, frankly!"
The two hobgoblins who had been accompanying the party spoke up at this point. "Your Majesty, we've brought you those children you asked us to guard. We were watching them like you said when the palace fell apart."
"Ah well," said the Goblin King. "It's all a bit moot now. You should probably come with me when this is all over."
He smiled again at the party. "Why don't you sit down and join us? We're celebrating, you know." And he gestured at an enormous cake, covered with frosting and candles. On the frosting was written, "Happy 100th!" [A rather serendipitous bit of fourth wall breakage here.]
The Hatter and the Hare seemed a bit put out at the way the adventurers had been invited to their table but grudgingly gestured for them to sit.
"Why is a raven like a writing desk?" asked the Hatter. While the adventurers attempted to puzzle this one out, the Hatter apparently got bored of his own question and decided to insult them instead.
"What a horrible little creature," he sniffed, looking at Norman, Adrien's giant ferret. "I think a new hat would greatly improve its appearance."
And with that he took his own hat off his head, rummaged within it, and pulled out a floppy woolen cap which he tossed onto Norman's head. In the blink of an eye, Norman stood on his hind legs, grew to six feet tall, and his fur faded away and suddenly he looked identical to Father Chase! He still had the mind of a demonic ferret, however, and when he opened his mouth, nothing but hissing and screeching came out.
The Hatter grinned with mirth and tossed another hat from his own hat onto the head of the real Father Chase (who had mysteriously reappeared alive and well at the beginning of the session). "Here, try this on for size!" This hat suddenly blossomed into an enormous sack-like object that completely engulfed Father Chase, who promptly fell over, rolling on the grass struggling to free himself from the bag that entrapped him.
The March Hare laughed hysterically, the Hatter's grin grew wider, and the sleepy Dormouse merely mumbled, "Could you keep it down, pleazzzzzz..."
"How about you, my dear?" said the Mad Hatter to Caryatid, and before she could react, a black hood landed upon her head. It too suddenly grew larger and engulfed her head, cinching tightly at her neck and constricting her breathing. Caryatid scrabbled at her throat, trying to remove the black hood.
"This feels entirely too familiar," remarked Caryatid's player dryly, still sore years later about the time Caryatid went invisible but still managed to get strangled to death by a berserk hippie.
Yet another hat landed on one of the hobgoblins, and he suddenly stood up ramrod straight and started shouting orders. "Bow down before me, little people, for I am the rightful Goblin King now! And stop this silly business with the hats at once!"
Caryatid's retainer, Jack attempted to sweet-talk the Mad Hatter into removing the hood that was quickly strangling his employer.
"I get it, you like a laugh, I like a laugh, we all like a laugh. But she's much funnier if she's still alive. I'm sure you have an even funnier hat in there that would look better on her."
Well, Caryatid's player rolled really well on a reaction check to see how Jack's attempt went over, so the Hatter paused and considered.
"You do have a point," he said, and whipped the hood off of Caryatid, only to slap a jester's cap on her head. She immediately began to caper and dance, the bells on the cap jingling, and many of the people at the table found themselves doubling over with laughter that seemed to erupt uncontrollably from them.
Orin could feel the situation spiralling out of control, and attempted to cast a Sleep spell on the Hatter, but this didn't work at all. Winking at him, the Mad Hatter leaned over and slapped a hat on the head of the Goblin King, who was busy arguing with his subject over who the true Goblin King was. This turned out to be the same kind of hat of delusional authority that the hobgoblin was wearing, so the argument only redoubled in volume.
"I dare say you'll listen to me now!" exclaimed the Goblin King. "You may believe yourself to be the rightful Goblin King following my untimely death, but I am now the Immortal God Emperor of All Goblins! What do you have to say about that, eh? Ehhhhh!?"
"Quiet, please, some of us are trying to sleep..." murmured the Dormouse, who had his head in the teapot. And the March Hare was simply whooping and hollering with hysterical laughter at the rapidly degenerating scene.
In all the confusion, the adventurers slipped away into the woods to the east of the clearing. Jack pulled the jester's cap off of Caryatid's head and she stopped dancing uncontrollably. I honestly think Father Chase was just left behind again, wriggling helplessly on the ground like a giant cloth caterpillar. (Remarkably similar to his sad fate the prior session!)
The noise of the tea party faded behind them as they moved through the woods. They had not gone very far when they heard the whinny of a horse, and they saw before them an enormous figure mounted on an equally enormous horse. Both man and horse were clad in reddish gold armor. A huge helmet shaped like a horse's head covered the man's head, and from it boomed a hollow voice.
"Do you serve Whitfield or Rosewood? Speak quickly or prepare to withstand my onslaught!"
"Uhhhh... Whitwood!" chirped Caryatid. "I mean, Rosefield!"
The red knight stared down at her in puzzlement. "Speak plainly, wench! Whom do you serve!"
"Rosefield! Er, Whitwood!" protested Caryatid.
"I grow tired of your foolish larks," boomed the knight, and he moved to draw his sword.
Caryatid drew forth the jingling jester's cap and put it on her head. She immediately began to dance a jig, with Marcel the flying monkey dancing along in midair beside her. The red knight stared for a moment, and then began to shake with laughter that boomed out from deep within his armor.
Suddenly, another knight on another horse, both clad in silvery-white armor, came crashing out of the trees and an immense club came smashing down upon the red knight, knocking him off his horse and he lay still on the ground. Gulleck removed the jester's cap from Caryatid and she stopped dancing.
"My lords and ladies," boomed the white knight. "Allow me to see you safe to the end of the wood. There you shall find the manor house in the Eighth Square and you shall be crowned kings and queens of the realm." The adventurers accepted this assistance, and the knight escorted them along the forest path until they emerged to see an elegant house on a small hill. There were livery-clad servants bustling around near the grand doors and signs of much activity within.
As the group approached, they were met by two attractive, regally-adorned women, arrayed in robes of red and of white, respectively, and each wore a gold coronet.
"You have achieved a great triumph in reaching the Eighth Square," said one of the queens. "Join us in the Great Feast Hall for a party in your honor."
Entering the hall, the adventurers found an enormous table set with all sorts of foods and seated at the table were creatures of all sorts. The adventurers were bestowed with golden crowns and given the place of highest honor at the feast table.
Well, the crowns, it turns out were "crowns of delusion" causing the wearers to believe completely in the complex illusion of the feast hall. I gave them all a save vs spells (which I'm not even sure is allowed in the original module) and EVERYONE FAILED! So...
The great feast began, wine was poured, song and poems were recited. The roast joint and a large plum pudding were served. Gulleck and Adrien carved the roast joint (which turned out to be a mimic), and Caryatid and Simon cut the plum pudding (which turned out to be a black pudding), and then all hell broke loose. The adventurers were attacked by all of the "guests" at the party, but because of the delusionary crowns they believed the attacked to be merely the loving touches and kisses from the admiring crowd. They never even realized they were under threat and then they were all dead.
TOTAL PARTY KILL.
Well, not really.
The adventurers awoke on the cold stone floor of a bedroom with stone walls and ceilings. There was a heavy layer of dust everywhere, and cobwebs hung in the corners. A rather gaudy four-poster bed was now moth-eaten and dusty. Scattered on various pieces of elegant furniture were what looked like pieces of "memorabilia" from the dungeon below Idalium: a Hotel Lethia room key, a handful of fake gold from the knockers in the mines, a book of naughty drawings from the Temple of Hedonism, etc. They found a small potion vial labeled "Drink Me" and a dried up cake with "Eat Me" spelled out in nuts. On one wall, a floor to ceiling mirror reflected a weirdly different version of this room, with ivy and vines encroaching the walls, and strange twinkly lights like fireflies drifting around. They puzzled at this mirror, but found no way to pass through it (nor did they want to at this point).
They exited the bedroom and walked down a hall to find themselves in the very room in which they had slain the Goblin King. Here as well, everything was dusty and cobwebbed, and the once elegant furniture was now shabby and threadbare. It seemed that the Goblin Palace had been abandoned for years if not decades. How long had they been gone? They suddenly noticed they were all feeling extremely hungry.
They made their way back to the goblins' treasure vault and found it as they had left it, except that the five barrels of coins were back in the vault as if they had never removed them! An eerie magical twinkling still shimmered around the threshold of the door to the vault. I don't know whether they forgot that they knew the password to deactivate the magic, or if Gulleck was just feeling extra confident in her saving throws, but she just walked into the vault, resisting the magical force that threatened to transform her very being. She pushed the barrels back across the threshold and then walked right back out, successfully resisting the magic once more.
It was somewhat slow going, but they eventually found their way back to the entrance, rolling the barrels along in front of them. The palace halls were no longer lit by torches, but were now dark apart from Simon's magical sword light. Everything was cobwebbed and dusty. The arrow-studded and burnt stuffed ostrich was looking a bit worse for the wear, but they left it behind and passed out of the palace. In the guardroom, the heavy guestbook still lay open, and Caryatid took up her pen and wrote, "The Proper Authorities were here. This place is closed and condemned."
They carefully maneuvered the barrels through the caverns and eventually found their way back to the worked stone of the dungeon halls. Then they escorted the four urchin children back to the urchins' secret hideout in the center of the level. The rest of the urchins were overjoyed to see their friends back after months and months, and even more overjoyed when the adventurers offered them one of the barrels of gold.
And then the party made their way back out of the dungeon. Getting the barrels up the stairs was somewhat difficult, but they eventually made it back to the Rusty Lantern. The guards at the trap door were shocked when they heard the adventurers call up from below to have the rope ladder lowered and the barrels hoisted up. It turned out that they had been missing for almost three months and everyone assumed they had all perished in the dungeon. We joked about how the PCs had all been evicted from their apartments and had to retrieve all their stuff from their various friends (mostly we handwave the PCs' "normal lives" and treat the city as a safe home base but it is fun to joke about it).
The treasure haul from the Goblin King was significant, over 8,000 gold pieces worth of coins and various art objects. Adrien went up to level 4 and Caryatid now had enough XP for level 5, and so 3rd level magic spells are now at her disposal.
"What spell are you going to learn?"
Caryatid's player, doing her best Pitbull impression: "FIREBALL."
Game date: Dreaming as the days go by
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 71130/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 20046/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 8797/16000
Adrien, Fighter 3, hp 9, xp 7764/8000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 16623/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4129/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 1830/4000
Jack, Thief 3, hp 10, xp 2511/4800
The party watched with some alarm as Humpty Dumpty tumbled from his perch, fell some fifty feet, and shattered at the base of the enormous brick wall. Then they scurried over to him. It was an awful sight; enormous shards of eggshell lied tangled in clothes in a pool of thick egg white and yolk. Curiously, there were a number of smaller egg-shaped objects lying in the puddle of yolk.
"How dare you?" croaked Humpty Dumpty as they approached. "Just you wait until the King's horses and his men arrive and put me back together. Then you'll be sorry, I should think!"
Ignoring his threats, Gulleck and Simon picked the strange eggs out of Humpty's remains.
"I beg your pardon!" he squawked. "Put those back at once! Oh! I am slain!" And he breathed a last, melodramatic breath.
The adventurers had little time to examine the eggs before an enormous hue and cry was raised. A hitherto unseen yet enormous gate opened in the brick wall and dozens of blue-skinned giants stomped forth. They were accompanied by two dozen giant rhinoceroses, and all were regally arrayed in red and white heraldic dress.
The adventurers were swiftly surrounded by the giants, and one stepped forward and bellowed:
"We come on the King's business to put Humpty Dumpty back together!" Then he spotted the small eggs that Simon and Gulleck were hastily trying to stow away, and shouted, "Stop! Put back those potions of the Exalted Eggcellency which you have taken! Get from this place immediately, or we shall slay you all!"
Well, as usual, the adventurers attempted some sort of awkward parlay, which again as usual turned into insults being slung in both directions, and things went south quite quickly. Several party members decided to make themselves scarce: Simon used his levitation boots to float to the top of the wall away from the fray, Caryatid slipped on her ring of invisibility, and Jack scrambled up a tree and hid in the foliage.
The giants ordered an attack, and it was over in mere seconds. The remaining adventurers were gored by the rhinos or slashed from neck to groin by the giants' enormous axes.
Jack peeped through the leaves of the tree that he was hiding in, and saw his fellow party members sprawled on the grass. But then he realized that he saw no blood and their armor seemed undamaged. Simon descended from the sky and likewise saw that his comrades seemed curiously unharmed. Caryatid faded back into visibility as well and saw that the others were merely unconscious, and were breathing steadily.
The rest of the party members were shaken awake. They were groggy at first and could hardly believe they still lived, but indeed they found themselves unharmed. After collecting themselves, they looked around for the giants and rhinos, but instead saw a gnome, who was in the midst of rolling away one of their barrels of gold coins!
"Hey!" yelled Simon, but the gnome turned and murmured strange words and then gestured at him. A blast of dazzling colors shot from his hand, bowling Simon and Jack over, stunned by the magical lights. The gnome, cackling gleefully, rolled the barrel down the grassy field, back towards the river and the rowboat. Gulleck gave chase, but alas, she lost sight of the gnome and had to return empty-handed. But now the great gate was open and unguarded, and so the adventurers passed beyond the wall and into the forest beyond.
They had not walked long along the forest path when they came to a small wooden sign pointing further along the path and bearing the initials "M.H." Following this sign led them to a clearing, in which unfolded a very odd sight.
There was a strange house, built of all sorts of different materials (brick, wood, plaster, stone, etc.) with windows of all shapes and angles. The chimneys were shaped like rabbit ears, and the roof appeared to be thatched with brownish fur. But the oddest sight lay before the house, where a large table was set on the lawn. The white tablecloth was cluttered with teapots, platters, sugar bowls, pitchers, and many sets of teacups and saucers. There were over a dozen chairs of various mismatched types along the sides of the tables, and several strange creatures were seated at the table. There was a human wearing a tall hat and suit, a rabbit-like humanoid, and a large mouse-like creature that seemed half-asleep and drowsy. But most unexpected of all was the unmistakable visage of the Goblin King, leaning back in an ornate armchair with his boot-clad feet up on the table.
The adventurers' eyes widened as they recognized the Goblin King, as did his as they approached the table.
"No room! No room!" bellowed the Mad Hatter and the March Hare as they approached.
"Nonsense, there's plenty of room," beamed the Goblin King. "These are friends of mine. Well, now, fancy meeting you here!"
"I was about the say the same about you," said Gulleck, perplexed.
"Oh, well, you know, I'm just passing through on my way to greater things. No thanks to you," he scowled. "Oh, I'm just kidding, no hard feelings. It was a bit unsporting, though, how you didn't even give me a chance to fight back. It was all rather embarrassing, frankly!"
The two hobgoblins who had been accompanying the party spoke up at this point. "Your Majesty, we've brought you those children you asked us to guard. We were watching them like you said when the palace fell apart."
"Ah well," said the Goblin King. "It's all a bit moot now. You should probably come with me when this is all over."
He smiled again at the party. "Why don't you sit down and join us? We're celebrating, you know." And he gestured at an enormous cake, covered with frosting and candles. On the frosting was written, "Happy 100th!" [A rather serendipitous bit of fourth wall breakage here.]
The Hatter and the Hare seemed a bit put out at the way the adventurers had been invited to their table but grudgingly gestured for them to sit.
"Why is a raven like a writing desk?" asked the Hatter. While the adventurers attempted to puzzle this one out, the Hatter apparently got bored of his own question and decided to insult them instead.
"What a horrible little creature," he sniffed, looking at Norman, Adrien's giant ferret. "I think a new hat would greatly improve its appearance."
And with that he took his own hat off his head, rummaged within it, and pulled out a floppy woolen cap which he tossed onto Norman's head. In the blink of an eye, Norman stood on his hind legs, grew to six feet tall, and his fur faded away and suddenly he looked identical to Father Chase! He still had the mind of a demonic ferret, however, and when he opened his mouth, nothing but hissing and screeching came out.
The Hatter grinned with mirth and tossed another hat from his own hat onto the head of the real Father Chase (who had mysteriously reappeared alive and well at the beginning of the session). "Here, try this on for size!" This hat suddenly blossomed into an enormous sack-like object that completely engulfed Father Chase, who promptly fell over, rolling on the grass struggling to free himself from the bag that entrapped him.
The March Hare laughed hysterically, the Hatter's grin grew wider, and the sleepy Dormouse merely mumbled, "Could you keep it down, pleazzzzzz..."
"How about you, my dear?" said the Mad Hatter to Caryatid, and before she could react, a black hood landed upon her head. It too suddenly grew larger and engulfed her head, cinching tightly at her neck and constricting her breathing. Caryatid scrabbled at her throat, trying to remove the black hood.
"This feels entirely too familiar," remarked Caryatid's player dryly, still sore years later about the time Caryatid went invisible but still managed to get strangled to death by a berserk hippie.
Yet another hat landed on one of the hobgoblins, and he suddenly stood up ramrod straight and started shouting orders. "Bow down before me, little people, for I am the rightful Goblin King now! And stop this silly business with the hats at once!"
Caryatid's retainer, Jack attempted to sweet-talk the Mad Hatter into removing the hood that was quickly strangling his employer.
"I get it, you like a laugh, I like a laugh, we all like a laugh. But she's much funnier if she's still alive. I'm sure you have an even funnier hat in there that would look better on her."
Well, Caryatid's player rolled really well on a reaction check to see how Jack's attempt went over, so the Hatter paused and considered.
"You do have a point," he said, and whipped the hood off of Caryatid, only to slap a jester's cap on her head. She immediately began to caper and dance, the bells on the cap jingling, and many of the people at the table found themselves doubling over with laughter that seemed to erupt uncontrollably from them.
Orin could feel the situation spiralling out of control, and attempted to cast a Sleep spell on the Hatter, but this didn't work at all. Winking at him, the Mad Hatter leaned over and slapped a hat on the head of the Goblin King, who was busy arguing with his subject over who the true Goblin King was. This turned out to be the same kind of hat of delusional authority that the hobgoblin was wearing, so the argument only redoubled in volume.
"I dare say you'll listen to me now!" exclaimed the Goblin King. "You may believe yourself to be the rightful Goblin King following my untimely death, but I am now the Immortal God Emperor of All Goblins! What do you have to say about that, eh? Ehhhhh!?"
"Quiet, please, some of us are trying to sleep..." murmured the Dormouse, who had his head in the teapot. And the March Hare was simply whooping and hollering with hysterical laughter at the rapidly degenerating scene.
In all the confusion, the adventurers slipped away into the woods to the east of the clearing. Jack pulled the jester's cap off of Caryatid's head and she stopped dancing uncontrollably. I honestly think Father Chase was just left behind again, wriggling helplessly on the ground like a giant cloth caterpillar. (Remarkably similar to his sad fate the prior session!)
The noise of the tea party faded behind them as they moved through the woods. They had not gone very far when they heard the whinny of a horse, and they saw before them an enormous figure mounted on an equally enormous horse. Both man and horse were clad in reddish gold armor. A huge helmet shaped like a horse's head covered the man's head, and from it boomed a hollow voice.
"Do you serve Whitfield or Rosewood? Speak quickly or prepare to withstand my onslaught!"
"Uhhhh... Whitwood!" chirped Caryatid. "I mean, Rosefield!"
The red knight stared down at her in puzzlement. "Speak plainly, wench! Whom do you serve!"
"Rosefield! Er, Whitwood!" protested Caryatid.
"I grow tired of your foolish larks," boomed the knight, and he moved to draw his sword.
Caryatid drew forth the jingling jester's cap and put it on her head. She immediately began to dance a jig, with Marcel the flying monkey dancing along in midair beside her. The red knight stared for a moment, and then began to shake with laughter that boomed out from deep within his armor.
Suddenly, another knight on another horse, both clad in silvery-white armor, came crashing out of the trees and an immense club came smashing down upon the red knight, knocking him off his horse and he lay still on the ground. Gulleck removed the jester's cap from Caryatid and she stopped dancing.
"My lords and ladies," boomed the white knight. "Allow me to see you safe to the end of the wood. There you shall find the manor house in the Eighth Square and you shall be crowned kings and queens of the realm." The adventurers accepted this assistance, and the knight escorted them along the forest path until they emerged to see an elegant house on a small hill. There were livery-clad servants bustling around near the grand doors and signs of much activity within.
As the group approached, they were met by two attractive, regally-adorned women, arrayed in robes of red and of white, respectively, and each wore a gold coronet.
"You have achieved a great triumph in reaching the Eighth Square," said one of the queens. "Join us in the Great Feast Hall for a party in your honor."
Entering the hall, the adventurers found an enormous table set with all sorts of foods and seated at the table were creatures of all sorts. The adventurers were bestowed with golden crowns and given the place of highest honor at the feast table.
Well, the crowns, it turns out were "crowns of delusion" causing the wearers to believe completely in the complex illusion of the feast hall. I gave them all a save vs spells (which I'm not even sure is allowed in the original module) and EVERYONE FAILED! So...
The great feast began, wine was poured, song and poems were recited. The roast joint and a large plum pudding were served. Gulleck and Adrien carved the roast joint (which turned out to be a mimic), and Caryatid and Simon cut the plum pudding (which turned out to be a black pudding), and then all hell broke loose. The adventurers were attacked by all of the "guests" at the party, but because of the delusionary crowns they believed the attacked to be merely the loving touches and kisses from the admiring crowd. They never even realized they were under threat and then they were all dead.
TOTAL PARTY KILL.
Well, not really.
The adventurers awoke on the cold stone floor of a bedroom with stone walls and ceilings. There was a heavy layer of dust everywhere, and cobwebs hung in the corners. A rather gaudy four-poster bed was now moth-eaten and dusty. Scattered on various pieces of elegant furniture were what looked like pieces of "memorabilia" from the dungeon below Idalium: a Hotel Lethia room key, a handful of fake gold from the knockers in the mines, a book of naughty drawings from the Temple of Hedonism, etc. They found a small potion vial labeled "Drink Me" and a dried up cake with "Eat Me" spelled out in nuts. On one wall, a floor to ceiling mirror reflected a weirdly different version of this room, with ivy and vines encroaching the walls, and strange twinkly lights like fireflies drifting around. They puzzled at this mirror, but found no way to pass through it (nor did they want to at this point).
They exited the bedroom and walked down a hall to find themselves in the very room in which they had slain the Goblin King. Here as well, everything was dusty and cobwebbed, and the once elegant furniture was now shabby and threadbare. It seemed that the Goblin Palace had been abandoned for years if not decades. How long had they been gone? They suddenly noticed they were all feeling extremely hungry.
They made their way back to the goblins' treasure vault and found it as they had left it, except that the five barrels of coins were back in the vault as if they had never removed them! An eerie magical twinkling still shimmered around the threshold of the door to the vault. I don't know whether they forgot that they knew the password to deactivate the magic, or if Gulleck was just feeling extra confident in her saving throws, but she just walked into the vault, resisting the magical force that threatened to transform her very being. She pushed the barrels back across the threshold and then walked right back out, successfully resisting the magic once more.
It was somewhat slow going, but they eventually found their way back to the entrance, rolling the barrels along in front of them. The palace halls were no longer lit by torches, but were now dark apart from Simon's magical sword light. Everything was cobwebbed and dusty. The arrow-studded and burnt stuffed ostrich was looking a bit worse for the wear, but they left it behind and passed out of the palace. In the guardroom, the heavy guestbook still lay open, and Caryatid took up her pen and wrote, "The Proper Authorities were here. This place is closed and condemned."
They carefully maneuvered the barrels through the caverns and eventually found their way back to the worked stone of the dungeon halls. Then they escorted the four urchin children back to the urchins' secret hideout in the center of the level. The rest of the urchins were overjoyed to see their friends back after months and months, and even more overjoyed when the adventurers offered them one of the barrels of gold.
And then the party made their way back out of the dungeon. Getting the barrels up the stairs was somewhat difficult, but they eventually made it back to the Rusty Lantern. The guards at the trap door were shocked when they heard the adventurers call up from below to have the rope ladder lowered and the barrels hoisted up. It turned out that they had been missing for almost three months and everyone assumed they had all perished in the dungeon. We joked about how the PCs had all been evicted from their apartments and had to retrieve all their stuff from their various friends (mostly we handwave the PCs' "normal lives" and treat the city as a safe home base but it is fun to joke about it).
The treasure haul from the Goblin King was significant, over 8,000 gold pieces worth of coins and various art objects. Adrien went up to level 4 and Caryatid now had enough XP for level 5, and so 3rd level magic spells are now at her disposal.
"What spell are you going to learn?"
Caryatid's player, doing her best Pitbull impression: "FIREBALL."
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