Idalium Game 76: Down and Out

Session date: Monday, May 22, 2017
Game date: Saturday, September 20, 209

PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 4, hp 23, xp 14552/17000
Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 16303/20000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 3, hp 11, xp 5105/8000

Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 3, hp 17, xp 5172/8000
Brother Chase Pike, Cleric 2, hp 11, xp 2308/3000
Kevon, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 197/2000

This was a very short session; we must have started very late. No treasure either, and kind of a bust for the adventurers. Ah well, such is the nature of site-based campaigns: sometimes you strike it rich, sometimes you don't!

In the week of downtime between delves, Caryatid took the time to scribe a Magic Missile scroll (I use the scribing rules from Holmes: 100 gp and 1 week per spell level to make a scroll that can only be used by the magic-user that created it). Then the "Infestation Managers" (as they sometimes called themselves) headed down into the dungeon to finish their exploration of the apartment complex in which they had recently managed an infestation of giant bees.

But they were fated (by the dice, of course) never to reach the apartments. As they approached the door to the courtyard, a group of slender humanoids crept from the darkness of the hallway to the north. It was those hideous rubbery white monsters with the stretching arms, five of them! Questing hands came floating down the hall on absurdly long arms, reaching hungrily for the adventurers. Two of the hands made contact with Caryatid, who immediately dropped to her knees, eyes rolled up, shuddering and convulsing as her lifeforce pulsed away down the arms of the creatures.

Brother Chase scrambled in his belt pouch for a vial of holy water, popped the cork off, and attempted to douse the creatures with the sacred water, but in his panic he missed them completely with the splashing water. Meat slashed at one of the arms that held Caryatid by the throat, but was himself grabbed and fell to the floor next to Caryatid, twitching and spasming. Brother Chase was attacked but bravely resisted the suffocating wave of paralysis that threatened to overcome him, but with a second lunge by the hand he too fell victim to the creatures that implacably drained away the life of their prey. Gulleck as well was paralyzed and now it was just Simon and Kevon left to defend themselves and their friends! They fought boldly, slicing through the arms that clutched at their comrades and then taking the fight directly to the creatures. And then, Caryatid's pet monkey Marcel went into a berserk rage, as he did the last time Caryatid was incapacitated. He drew forth the magical miniature spear that grew from 10 inches to 10 feet when used, and lunged again and again at the monsters. He delivered the final killing blow and stood panting in exhausted triumph next to Caryatid's twitching body as the pallid white monsters dissolved into a rubbery white fluid and drained away into the cracks in the stone floor.

Simon and Kevon (and Marcel) had defeated the foul monsters, but they were still in a dilemma. None of the four unconscious adventurers could be awoken, and it seemed dangerous to wait in the hallway until the paralysis wore off. Simon was a mere hobbit, and though Kevon was reasonably strong, he couldn't carry more than one of the adventurers at once. They debated it for a few minutes, and decided to carry Caryatid to the room near the shaft that led back up to the first level. The doors were wizard locked, so in theory she could rest there safely while they returned and carried back the other three one at a time.

Of course, this would still take time, and I would have to make a wandering monster check to see if anything showed up to find the unconscious party members while Simon and Kevon were gone. An ominous hush fell on the table when the die came up as "1" - yes indeed, a random encounter did occur! The adventurers really lucked out here, because I rolled Acolytes, and then on the subtable, I rolled that they were the youthful hedonists with whom the party were friendly. And so, ten hedonists came down the corridor and discovered three bodies, unconscious but shuddering and twitching and clearly alive. The hedonists recognized Gulleck and decided to drag the adventurers back to the Temple of Hedonism and wait for them to awaken. They were in the middle of doing so when Simon and Kevon came face to face with them on their way back. Simon was relieved to see that his comrades had been found by a friendly party, and he and Kevon went back to retrieve Caryatid and Marcel and then they all went to the Temple of Hedonism and waited for the four paralyzed adventurers to wake up. About a half hour later they did, and everyone thanked the hedonists profusely and then they all beat feet back to the Rusty Lantern, having had quite enough excitement already for one evening!