Idalium Game 117: I Turn to Stone When You Are Gone

Session date: Monday, October 21, 2019
Game date: Saturday, November 12, 211

PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 73588/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 23163/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 12070/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 12134/16000

Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 18044/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 5727/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2411/4000
Ms. Vanjie, Thief 1, hp 1, xp 1146/1200

About a month had passed in both real time and within the game world, so the first order of business was to check in on Professor Zinn, and see if he had any information for the adventurers about the strange mushrooms they had brought back from the underground caverns. Professor Zinn was very excited to see them, and showed them three jars of the samples. The first jar was his "control group", just the mushrooms in a glass jar. They were dead and desiccated. The second jar held mushrooms that he had planted in soil and compost to see if they would draw nutrients from the soil and grow. These mushrooms were also dead and withered. He said they lasted a few days longer than the control batch but quickly died away. The third jar contained mushrooms he had planted in soil, but he was replenishing the soil with fresh compost daily. These mushrooms seemed barely alive, pale and sickly, struggling to hold on to life. Clearly, the Professor said, ordinary compost and soil itself was not sufficient to provide them with what they needed to thrive.

Since they were already in The Steps, they went to the vacant house they had purchased, to use the wardrobe which was a magical portal to the second level of the dungeon. Pushing through the old fur coats and cloaks, they emerged into the dungeons below the city. They made their way back to the mushroom caverns at the shore of the underground lake, passing by a group of giant locusts in a hallway, fighting a pair of giant lizards in a cave, and placating another pair of lizards with a block of cheese that Simon had been carrying.

When they arrived at the beach they decided to drink a potion they had been carrying around for ages that promised to indicate the direction of the largest nearby treasure. So sooner was it drunk but it gave the overwhelming impulse to head towards the cottage of Atropos, the potion-making witch on the island in the center of the underground lake. They left their retainers on the shore, and the other four climbed into the rowboat that lay on the beach and began to row towards the sensation of treasure. Their plan was to attack the witch from a distance, hopefully out of range from any spells she might be capable of. When they were about 20' from the shore, Simon loaded his crossbow and took a shot at the cottage door to get the witch's attention. THUD!

"Who goes there?" came a stern voice. Simon shot another bolt at the door, but this went wide and snapped against the wall of the house. Then Gulleck and Caryatid noticed the shutters of the window to the left of the door open a crack. Caryatid began chanting the words of Fireball, and pointed a finger directly at the crack between the shutters. But Atropos the witch had drunk a potion of human control before opening the shutters, and Caryatid suddenly felt her arm jerk upwards. The glowing ember of the fireball shot high overhead, above the cottage, and blossomed into an aerial firework that illuminated the island and the black lake surrounding it.

The shutters then opened all the way. Atropos was not wearing her veil, and the party recoiled at the sight of a woman with writhing snakes for hair and features indescribably hideous. Adrien, Gulleck, and Simon made their saving throws and shivered as the sight chilled their bodies to the bone, but Caryatid failed her save and within an instant was transformed into a granite statue.

Gulleck and Adrien quickly ran to the window and attacked the medusa witch. (Gulleck's player rolled the Big Green d30 for 22 points of damage.) Atropos attempted to charm Adrien, but Adrien saved vs this spell as well. The door of the cottage burst open, and the witch's two strange stone-like dogs ran out barking and snapping at Gulleck and Adrien. Simon used his levitation boots to get out of melee range, and shot at the dogs from above with his crossbow. Atropos again failed to charm Adrien, but her snakes bit her. Adrien retaliated, swinging blindly at the medusa so as not to look at her, and struck a lucky blow that killed the witch! But then a dog bit Adrien as well, bringing her to -1 hit points and potentially dead! Her demonic giant ferret, Norman, went berserk at the apparent death of his mistress and attacked the dog, snarling and snapping. Gulleck managed to put down the two stone dogs.

In this campaign, PCs could regain 1d4-1 hit points after catching their breath after a combat, and Adrien's player rolled a 1, bringing her back to exactly 0 hit points. Adrien was comatose, and Caryatid was a statue. Gulleck barged into the witch's cabin, prying open a large chest and filling three large sacks with hundreds of gold coins. Simon ferried Adrien back to the shore with the gold, where Father Chase laid his hands upon her wounds, restoring some measure of vitality to her. Back on the island, Gulleck also plundered the cottage of four vials of potions, a suit of finely made leather armor, and a polished bronze shield. Finally, Gulleck decapitated the witch (with some difficulty since she was averting her eyes), and put her head in a sack and brought it with her, just in case it retained its potency. She and Simon made the crossing again, having awkwardly maneuvered the statue of Caryatid into the rowboat.

The party made the long and arduous journey carrying Caryatid through the caverns and ruins of Ancient Idalium, stopping for many rests but finally making it safely out via the cellar of the Rusty Lantern tavern.