Idalium Game 118: The Great Wizard Quiquaequod

Session date: Monday, November 4, 2019
Game date: Monday, November 14, 211 to Sunday, November 27, 211

PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 74051/140000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 12678/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 12713/16000

Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 18334/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 4, hp 18, xp 6032/12000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2701/4000
Boe, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 926/2000

Unusually, we picked up the game just a couple days later in "game time", so that the adventurers could seek a cure for Caryatid, who had gazed upon the face of Atropos the medusa witch and been turned into a granite statue. But because we employed retainers in our game, Caryatid's player did not have to sit the session out, but instead she played the role of Caryatid's retainer, Father Chase Pike.

Father Chase informed the group that no one in his church hierarchy had the power to restore a statue to living flesh, and none of the adventurers knew of a wizard powerful enough to do so. They decided to contact the highest level wizard they were aware of: Caryatid's former teacher and mentor, a Granny Weatherwax who lived near the town of Lancre, roughly 15 miles to the east of Idalium. (Yes, we have at least one Terry Pratchett fan in the group.) They sent a letter describing Caryatid's plight and asked for any advice or leads she could offer. On Saturday, November 19th, they received a reply from Granny Weatherwax. She wrote that such magic was beyond even her grasp, but she did know of a wizard in Idalium that possessed such power: the Great Quiquaequod. Years ago he had been an adventurer himself, but now, as a Wizard of the Twelfth Circle, he was a recluse secluded in his tower in a wealthy neighborhood of Idalium. She wrote that his tower was protected by strange magics that kept it hidden from view from neighboring streets, and that one would most likely need to be led there by one of the wizard's apprentices.

The adventurers garbed themselves in their nicest clothes and combed their hair for a change, in hopes of receiving a good reception in the well-heeled craftsmen's quarter, and set out in search of the reclusive wizard. They made their way through the rougher quarters of the city, through the grand plaza that bordered the Great Cathedral of Idalium, and into a neighborhood they had very rarely visited before. It was a neighborhood of well-kept shops and businesses catering to the well-to-do with time and money to spare. The neatly swept streets were narrow and crooked, making navigation confusing enough even without an illusion-cloaked wizard's tower as their destination.

They stopped into a few shops and cafes, asking discreetly about the wizard's tower without much success, until they found an antique shop whose proprietor said she occasionally sold various knickknacks to apprentices of the Great Quiquaequod. "Well, I don't think his tower can be that far away, although I've never seen it myself. Some kind of enchantment on it, I believe." Father Chase bought a little statuette of a winged monkey for 10 gold darics, to thank the owner for the information.

Outside the shop, the group decided to take a different approach. Perhaps you could only find the tower if you weren't actively looking for it. They blindfolded Gulleck and she blundered around the streets aimlessly, but after a few collisions with irate passersby they abandoned this tactic. Then they decided to walk around abstractly while pointedly not thinking about the tower, but this proved impossible. They stood in the street debating the nature of the magic. Should they map the neighborhood? Is the tower hidden inside a block they can't get to? There was some metagame analysis about what kind of puzzle this was likely to be. In the end, they resumed asking around at nearby shops. They found a bookshop where the bookseller said, "Oh yes, I've only seen the wizard himself once or twice, but one of his apprentices was just in the other day to buy some very expensive paper and inks. The adventurers left a message with the bookseller for the apprentice, saying they were seeking help that only the most powerful wizard could provide. Then, having done all they could think of to find the tower, they returned to the humbler and grimier streets they were familiar with.

Two days later, a messenger came to the Rusty Lantern tavern with a note instructing them to meet next Saturday at the bookshop where they had left their message. And so, on Saturday, November 26th, they returned to the bookshop to be greeted by two young men wearing green robes with the interrobang sigil embroidered on the front in white thread. The two apprentice wizards heard the party's case, and said that they would escort the group to the tower of the Shining One, Quiquaequod, where one of them would be granted an audience with the Shining One himself. The wizards led them through the streets of the craftsmen's quarter, taking them down back alleys that no one could remember noticing before, and suddenly emerging onto a street containing a tall and narrow tower that rose high above all the adjacent buildings.

They were brought into the tower and into a simple sitting room, where another apprentice greeted them. They noticed that the whites of his eyes were "bloodshot" with bright green veins. He explained to them that the Shining One was deeply immersed in communion with the Essence of the Shining Chrysanthemum, and that one of the group would have to partake of the Essence and join the Shining One in the Communion, to prove his seriousness of purpose. Father Chase bravely stepped forward, his loyalty for his employer Caryatid triumphing over any anxiety he might have felt. The apprentice brought forth a small glass flask of bright green liquid and offered it to Father Chase. He drank it down, flinching at the overwhelming taste of licorice. His stomach twisted and shuddered at the unfamiliar and potent elixir, but Father Chase held it down, even as he felt an unusual light-headedness percolate through him. The apprentice told him that he needed to enter the Shining One's chamber empty-handed, and as Father Chase handed over his few belongings, the other adventurers noticed that the pupils of his eyes were completely dilated to the point where no iris was visible, and the whites were already shot through with veins of vivid green.

Father Chase was escorted deeper into the tower by the apprentice. He grew more and more woozy as he was led through long halls and up and down flights of stairs. He became vaguely aware that none of these hallways seemed like they should fit into the tower as they had seen it from the outside, but then he got distracted by what seemed like great mystical significance of the interrobang sigil on the back of the wizard's robe. Finally, a door was opened and he was ushered into a darkened room. An elderly man with a long white beard reclined in a padded chair on the far side of the room, clad in simple white robes. A single prismatic skylight at the top of the arched ceiling scattered scintillating rainbows across the dark room. A brazier burned incense and herbs in the center of the room, in front of the man, and opposite the brazier was another, less ornate chair. The man gestured to the chair with a nod, and Father Chase took his seat. Things were getting very strange for Father Chase now, and he looked around as colorful flowers seemed to bloom and dissolve in the dark corners of the room.

"We... I... need your help. I... this is... I don't understand what's happening," Father Chase stuttered, but the old man raised a finger. His lips did not move, but a voice filled Father Chase's head. "Don't speak. Let go of your fear. Find the center point in the chaos." Father Chase took a deep breath and managed to master his near-panic. The urgent whorls of coruscating color surrounding the Shining One subsided into a more subtle twinkling as Father Chase gazed into the black pools of his pupils.

"Very good," echoed the voice of the wizard. "What brings you to seek audience with the Great Quiquaequod?" In the smoke rising from the brazier, Father Chase saw small interrobang glyphs form and rise lazily through the air before losing shape and dissolving back into the smoke.

Having to focus to "speak" without speaking, Father Chase was surprised to hear his own voice echoing in the shared mental space between the two men. "My friends and I are adventurers. One of my friends was turned to stone by a monstrous witch deep below the city. Only the most powerful of wizards, such as yourself, can help her." Wisps of smoke drifted together to form the face of Caryatid, eyes staring blindly.

"I was an adventurer once myself," the Shining One replied, his eyes narrowing. "I lost several friends in the course of that career. These things happen. Why should they concern me? The physical world is largely irrelevant to me today. All that is of interest is here, in the Communion. Here I commune with the servitors of the true consciousness that underlies all reality. Why should I distract myself to deal with your trivial setback?" Rainbowed chrysanthemums bloomed in the smoke, and in the darkness behind the wizard's chair.

"Oh, Great Quiquaequod," flattered Father Chase, "Truly you operate on a different level from the rest of us mere mortals. But even you must need material wealth to pursue your research. We are prepared to pay well for your services."

The wizard's mouth curved into a tiny smile. "Indeed, there is a need for coin to fund my researches and to procure my stock of the Shining Chrysanthemum. I will deign to help you, for 2,000 gold darics and your assistence in retrieving a small item for me from the home of a colleague who has left this plane of existence and has no further use for it."

Father Chase agreed to the terms, and the Shining One reached down to a small table next to his chair and picked up a small glass flask of milky white liquid.

"Drink this," his voice echoed.

"What does it do?" asked Father Chase.

"Nothing, so long as you are making progress on your work for me. It is merely insurance on my investment."

Quiquaequod extended the potion and Father Chase reached out his hand to take it, and found himself holding the cold glass vial, even though he was dimly aware that there were at least 10 feet, plus a burning brazier, between them. He drank down the liquid and winced as he felt it squirming down his esophagus as though alive. Again his stomach twisted uncomfortably, as he felt the strange liquid settle in.

The wizard told Father Chase to return to the tower tomorrow morning with the statue of Caryatid. Father Chase rose from the chair and stumbled out of the dark room, blinking in the bright light outside. He was escorted back to the rest of the adventurers. They left the tower and Father Chase had the strangest trip through the city of his life, making their way back to the Rusty Lantern.

The next day, Sunday November 27th, the group reunited. Father Chase felt mostly back to normal now (the sky had stopped undulating, at least) but as they returned to the craftsmen's quarter he somehow knew how to retrace his steps to the tower of the Shining One. They wheeled Caryatid's statue along with them in a wheelbarrow, drawing stares from the passing crowds. In the tower, two apprentices took the wheelbarrow through a door while another apprentice escorted the party through many hallways and staircases. They eventually arrived in a simple dining room. Sunshine streamed through large windows on one wall (they could see the rooftops of the surrounding neighborhood below them) and the Great Quiquaequod sat at a long table, eating from a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon. Father Chase marveled at the change in the wizard, who seemed like a perfectly ordinary man now, elderly yet oddly spritely. Only the green veins in the whites of his eyes belied the mundanity of the scene. That, and the statue of Caryatid, which had already been delivered to the room and was standing next to the now empty wheelbarrow.

"Ah, there you are. And there's the unfortunate young lady!" smiled the wizard. "Let me just finish my breakfast and we'll have her sorted right out. You can just leave the coins on the table there, thank you."

He stood up and placed a hand on the granite arm of Caryatid and murmured words of power. Underneath his hand, the stone gained color, the green of Caryatid's robes. The green spread from his hand across the statue, and then her hands returned to flesh, her backpack changed back to leather, and her head returned to flesh and hair. She gasped and averted her eyes, covering her face with her sleeve. Then, realizing that she was somewhere else, she looked around in wonder and confusion.

Explanations were made, and then Quiquaequod spoke to them about the other part of his payment. "Not too far from here, just a few day's travel, is the tower of an old colleague of mine. A wizard named Castanamir. He has fled this realm of existence. I would like you to go to his tower and retrieve a certain manuscript of Castanamir's. He had been researching certain elemental spirits from another plane of reality, called gingwatzim. I would very much like to acquire this book. Castanamir will not be coming back to this world, so anything you wish to take from his tower for yourself is of no concern to me."

He drew forth a large brass key and a strange wooden rod. "This is the key to Castanamir's tower. It is no ordinary lock, but it amused him to make it appear so. The tower has powerful charms that will prohibit the removal of any of Castanamir's possessions from it, but this rod will nullify those protections on any five items. One of them must be the book, but as to the other four, choose wisely."

Quiquaequod took another bite of scrambled eggs. "Well, if you have no other questions, you'd best be on your way. Time is of the urgency, as I hope you in particular understand, Father Chase."

The sinister undertones of that last comment were left hanging in the air as the party took their leave from the Shining One and left the tower with their empty wheelbarrow. The wizard has told them the tower was near the village of Oakhaven, several days travel to the east of Idalium. He said that Father Chase would know if they were heading in the right direction or not. And so, the adventurers began to make plans for an unexpected excursion away from Idalium, into the nearby wilderness...

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.

Idalium Game 116: Field Mycology

Session date: Monday, September 23, 2019
Game date: Saturday, October 15, 211

PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 73511/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 23067/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 11969/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 12038/16000

Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17996/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 5677/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2363/4000
Ms. Vanjie, Thief 1, hp 1, xp 96/1200

With a mind to reduce the "mold problem" in the caverns below Idalium, the adventurers went shopping in the city for gardening tools. They bought a rake, and at "Crazy Harry" the alchemist's shop they bought two pints of Greek fire, which they carefully wrapped in cloth for cushioning. Descending into the dungeons, they had a number of minor encounters on the way to the caverns on the third level, but were able to quickly avoid or overcome the threats without much effort. When they arrived at the shore of the underground lake, they were alarmed to note that the "front line" of the mushroom growth had advanced somewhat since the last time they were here.

The adventurers carefully took samples of the mushrooms and other varieties of fungal forms, placing them carefully in three glass jars they had brought with them. Then, Orin poured out a flask of oil on the ground and lit it with a torch, burning the mushrooms and fungus in a roughly four foot circle. It seemed to writhe and twist as it burned. The air filled with the aroma of sauteed mushrooms. They followed this up with one of the pints of Greek fire, which seemed to spread more effectively and burned a larger area of mushrooms. Caryatid got tired of this piecemeal approach, however, and just cast Fireball into the cave passage, incinerating the fungus coating the walls, floor, and ceiling. The mushrooms seemed to scream as they burned away, but perhaps it was just the sound of the rapidly escaping steam.

On a whim, Simon tried to use his amulet of mindreading on the mushrooms, and his head was suddenly filled with an alarming voice, deep and monotone: "Join us... Come to us... There is nothing to fear... Join with us and be one..." At that moment, four bugbears staggered out of the cave passage, draped in fungal filaments like the seemingly mindless humans they had fought here before. The bugbears lurched stiffly forward. One gaped open its mouth in a croaking, hissing gasp, and they could see the mushrooms growing from its tongue and cheeks, clogging its mouth and spilling out onto its fur.

Caryatid cast Fireball directly on the fungus-enshrouded bugbears. Orin cast Sleep and several of them collapsed, while the others charged forward to attack the remaining one. Chase's mace thumped solidly into the side of the last bugbear standing and it collapsed, but not before a dense cloud of spores erupted from the wound, leaving Chase choking and gasping for fresh air. The group knew that this was bad news, so they returned to the surface, helping the wheezing Father Chase along.

Back in the city of Idalium, they returned to the shopfront chapel that Father Chase had been hired from. They waited anxiously in the drab waiting room while a Brother Todd examined Chase. He returned with the news that the fungal infection could be cured with the right prayers, but that the chapel would require a donation of 1,000 gold darics for the necessary oils and incense, etc. Caryatid paid the fee, and then arranged for her and Father Chase to stay at the chapel overnight (for an additional 5 gp donation apiece), in the event the infection worsened before it could be cured in the morning.

Leaving Father Chase behind, the group made the trek to the Steps to pay a visit to Professor Zinn, the eccentric sage. Professor Zinn was fascinated by the mushroom samples they had brought with them, and offered them 500 silver shekels for each jar. Adrien scoffed at this offer quite rudely, and then Caryatid attempted to smooth the Professor's ruffled feathers with honeyed words and flattery. Simon hinted vaguely about the mysterious voice he had heard in his mind when trying to probe the "thoughts" of the fungus. Professor Zinn eventually offered them 3000 gp for everything, including all the information they knew about the stuff. Caryatid continued to drive a hard bargain, with Adrien chipping in about what a cheapskate the Professor was, and finally Zinn said, "Enough! I'll give you 3500 gold, on the condition that *she* [pointing at Adrien] stay outside from now on! And that she keeps that horrible mangy beast with her!" [referring to Norman, Adrien's pet demonic giant ferret]

The deal being made, the group left their samples with the Professor and returned across the river to the city proper.

Idalium Game 115: Like a Bad Penny

Session date: Monday, August 12, 2019
Game date: Saturday, September 9, 211

PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 73421/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 22955/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 11851/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 11926/16000

Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17940/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 5618/6000
Kevon, Fighter 2, hp 8, xp 2808/4000
Ms. Vanjie, Thief 1, hp 1, xp 37/1200

Heading down to the 3rd level again, the party had to deal with several restocked encounters on the way. In the Street of Temples, an swarm of bats had roosted on the ceiling, but the group was able to quietly sneak past. In the Temple of Hedonism, they stumbled upon a nest of four giant gecko lizards. Gulleck and Simon used their rings of animal control to immobilize them, but as they were giant animals they could only control one each. The other two lizards attacked angrily. One bit Simon savagely, breaking him out of his trance. Now there were three angry lizards attacking them, but Caryatid put a quick end to the combat with a sleep spell.

They made their way through the caves on the 2nd level to the sloping passage that led down to the beach of the underground lake on the 3rd level. They were alarmed to discover that they had company on the beach: nine skeletons wielding swords and shields, led by a horrid, stitched-together creature wearing the tattered remains of a sack-like coat. They recognized this monstrosity. It was "Mister Beefcake", the cobbled-together horror that Caryatid's clone had created as a bodyguard. Last they had seen him, they thought they had killed him, but apparently he had not been as dead as he seemed. A red glow pulsed beneath the bared flesh of his barrel-like chest, accompanied by a deep throbbing heartbeat. The Beating Heart! They had always suspected that Caryatid the Green had stolen this foul relic, but now they understood that she had used it as part of the dread rituals that had given this creature its parody of life. And now it granted the monster the ability to command the undead!

"Fireball," intoned Caryatid, and the air around the monster and his skeletons exploded with flame. The skeletons were instantly annihilated, scorched bones clattering to the ground. And then the battle was joined. The adventurers swarmed around the monstrous man, slashing and jabbing with their blades. Caryatid sent a magic missile into the fray. And then with a roar of frustration the hulking brute pushed Adrien to the ground and walked away from the battle, striding right into the underground lake. The black water submerged him and closed over his massive, lumpy head.

The adventurers stood on the shore, breathing hard. Father Chase used his staff of healing to treat Adrien's wounds. Once they had caught their breath, they entered the caves of fungus to the north. Taking a mushroom-choked passage on the right, they came to a place where the way was blocked by a pair of giant mushrooms, livid violet in color, with dangerous looking tendrils growing from beneath their caps. They decided to retreat back to the first chamber, for fear of being poisoned or worse.

Taking the left branch, they entered another passage where mushrooms and other fungi were growing densely. At the entrance to the passage, an enormous pale white puffball grew, quivering alarmingly. Gulleck jabbed it with her axe, and it exploded into a cloud of spores, sending Gulleck and several others into a deep sleep from which they could not be awakened. The others waited nervously, guarding against any wandering dangers, and after 20 minutes or so, the sleepers groggily awoke, speaking confusedly about bizarre fever dreams, in which tendrils of mycelium spread underground and alien fruiting bodies sprouted and proliferated.

Once the others had recovered their wits, the group explored the next chamber, in which there was an odd area in the west corner of the cave where no mushrooms grew. The rock was a different color here and the mushrooms stopped growing where the color changed, forming a well-defined perimeter. Gulleck grabbed a chunk of a mushroom and chucked it into the "dead zone", but nothing too dramatic happened.

Caryatid's magically enhanced nose got a sudden whiff of gold from a passage to the northeast, so they moved on from this chamber into a similar one where fungus covered all of the surfaces around them. In the eastern corner, they could see a skeleton, partially covered by a bright yellow fungus, next to a rotting backpack that spilled decayed adventuring gear along with hundreds of gold and silver coins. After their experience with the puffball spores, no one was too keen on disturbing the yellow mold, but Gulleck dared to grab a handful of coins that were farthest from the mold-covered skeleton. This was a tiny portion of the large pile of coins, but sufficed as a souvenir and to have obtained at least some treasure on this delve into the dungeon.

Unwilling to press on further this day, the adventurers returned to the surface.

Monsters of Idalium: Stretchers

One of the more memorable new monsters that I created for the Idalium campaign was the stretcher. (I originally named them stretch ghouls, and then realized years later that this sounded too close to Kickstarter's stretch goals to take seriously.) My players were utterly horrified by these undead creatures, in vast disproportion to their actual statistics. They encountered them two or maybe three times, but the most memorable occasion was the first one, in the sealed Hotel Lethia.

This encounter and monster arose directly from a nightmare I had a year or two before the party actually encountered them in the game. Mechanically, I considered them just a variety of ghoul, and based the stat block off of the ghoul, with just some specifics added to cover their unique attack and the way their stretching arms work. This stat block was designed for B/X D&D, but should work in any version of D&D or its retroclones derived from the original D&D lineage.

Stretcher

Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 2**
Move: 90’ (30’)
Attacks: 1 touch
Damage: paralysis / 1d4 life drain
No. Appearing: 1-6 (2-16)
Save As: Fighter:2
Morale: 9
Treasure Type: B
Alignment: Chaotic
XP: 30

Stretchers are undead creatures that live in a perpetual dream state, dimly going through the motions of a parody of their former life. They have pallid white (fish belly) flesh, and a vaguely female form, though their bodily and facial features are rudimentary and vague, as if they are only an imitation of a human being. They do not wear clothes. They do not talk, nor do they exhibit any type of human-like intelligence, having a bestial cunning only.

They prefer to live in enclosed rooms underground, and will spend much of their time sleeping (if the undead can sleep) completely covered by a sheet or blanket. They tend to try to avoid being uncovered.

Stretchers have an insatiable hunger for the human life force, and when they encounter the living, they will reach out with a questing arm, which unnaturally stretches up to 30’ feet, moving at a rate of 10’ per round unerringly towards its target. The arm (and the rest of the stretcher) can squeeze through the tiniest cracks, such as through keyholes, under doors, etc. The touch of a stretcher will paralyze any creature of ogre size or smaller (except elves) unless the victim saves vs. Paralysis. Starting on the round after the victim is paralyzed, the stretcher will begin to drain life force from the victim. This causes the victim to lose consciousness (eyes fluttering, gasping for breath), and does 1d4 points of damage per round. The paralysis and unconsciousness induced by a stretcher lasts 2d4 turns, but can be reversed by a cure light wounds spell.

If an amount of damage equal to half the stretcher’s total hit points is done to an arm, it will retract very quickly, though the stretcher may try again with its other arm. If the other arm is “killed”, it will also retract and the stretcher will flee. The stretcher can only be killed by doing its total amount of hit points in damage to its actual body. When killed, stretchers dissolve into a white, rubbery liquid and drain away through cracks and crevices in the ground.

Any creature whose life force is completely drained by a stretcher will dissolve into the same liquid and drain away (raise dead is impossible) and will reform as a new stretcher in 1d4 days.

As undead, stretchers are immune to poison and mind-affecting spells such as sleep and charm person. They can be turned as ghouls.

 

 

Idalium Game 114: Strange Brew

Session date: Monday, August 5, 2019
Game date: Saturday August 27, 211

PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 73405/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 22935/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 11830/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 11906/16000
Orehoe Hüfflestüff, Elf 1, hp 3, xp 1377/4000

Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17930/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 5608/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2353/4000
Ms. Vanjie, Thief 1, hp 1, xp 27/1200
Fritzenbürg, Cleric 1, hp 1, xp 96/1500

We had a large party this time of five players and their retainers, so Gulleck bought another canoe and paid to have it awkwardly lowered down into the ruins of Idalium. On their way through the Temple of Hedonism, a random encounter had them running into a group of five hedonists on their way to an orgy. Another random encounter put 10 skeletons in the temple itself. The hedonists (who are in fact acolytes) turned the skeletons using their "holy symbols", of which the less said the better!

The party paid a visit to the Judge, who was sad that they didn't bring him any tasty gemstones to eat. Then they retrieved their other canoe and rowed across the underground lake to the beach. They had previously noted that an iron rod was driven into the ground near the shore, and a rope tied to it led out into the lake. Pulling the rope taunt they could feel that it was secured on the other end. So they followed the rope in their canoes into the center of the lake, where they found an island. A rowboat was pulled up onto the shore near a similar iron pole where the other end of the rope was tied. A small house or cottage stood in the center of the island, and oddly colored smoke curled from the chimney. Strange stone rubble was strewn across the beach that looked oddly like fragments of granite statues, a forearm here, a booted foot there. Gulleck looked at the rubble with some misgivings.

Simon used his amulet of ESP and sensed the presence of an intelligent mind within the house. Caryatid took off her invisibility and approached the house. Next to the front door a sign on a low post read, "Potions, elixirs, and concoctions sold and traded. Those who are serious about doing business, enter. Those of ill will and time wasters will not be tolerated." Caryatid knocked on the door, and Gulleck joined her.

The door was opened by a strange figure that they realized they had met before. She wore a frayed black dress and a nearly opaque black veil hanging from a wide brimmed hat, such that her face was completely obscured. She greeted them in a businesslike fashion, and after ascertaining that they were here to possibly buy some potions, she invited them in to the cottage.

The room inside was quite spartan. The veiled woman introduced herself as Atropos, and invited them to sit at a small circular table. A cauldron at the other end of the room bubbled away, and a "fume hood" above it whisked the strange vapors away up the chimney. Two very strange creatures were curled up near her feet. They looked like large dogs, but seemed to be made of living stone. Each was gnawing on a piece of granite, presumably from the shattered statues outside.

Atropos showed them many different potions that could be theirs: potions of invisibility, healing, diminution and growth, and even deadly poison. While they were dithering on what to buy, and remembering the sign's admonition against time wasters, Atropos was making small talk and casually mentioned that her sister was the Queen of Nightmares. Caryatid and Gulleck replied neutrally to this, not mentioning that they had only just recently killed the Queen of Nightmares. In the end, they bought two potions of healing so as not to annoy Atropos.

After paddling back across the lake, they took a side passage that sloped upwards and worked their way through natural caverns until they found themselves at the entrance to the Goblin King's palace. The guard room was empty, and the last entry in the guest book was for "Rugger's Raiders". Caryatid wrote "Appointment Canceled!" next to this entry. Then they retraced their steps and returned to the beach. They briefly explored the fungus-engulfed caves again. They found four giant striped beetles in one cavern, but Caryatid and Simon dealt with them quickly with a web spell and Simon's animal control ring. They started to proceed deeper into the caves, but Caryatid got a strong whiff of large animals and they decided it was too late in the evening to deal with that right now. Noting it for later, they paddled back across the lake and returned home.

Idalium Game 113: Change and Decay in All Around I See

Session date: Monday, July 1, 2019
Game date: Saturday July 23, 211 to Sunday, July 24, 211

PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 73397/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 22926/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 11821/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 11897/16000

Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17925/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 5602/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2348/4000
Boe, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 921/2000

There was a notice on the bulletin board of the Rusty Lantern tavern that said that Professor Zinn would pay for evidence of giant ants mining nuggets of gold deep underground.

The group took their usual path down below. On the way they met a quartet of gnomes, who told them that some of the gnomes from their clan had been recruited away to work on some kind of mining project three dungeon levels below here. (Planting plot hook seeds that were never to sprout, alas!)

They visited the Judge, and Simon fed him a gemstone to ask about the "giants" in the garden area. The Judge told him that once their ancestors were the caretakers of the gardens, but left isolated and alone over the generations they reverted to brutish savagery.

They headed east to the shore of the underground lake, getting their canoes out of their wizard-locked storeroom on the way, and paddled across to the north shore of the lake. A natural cave passage led into the rock to the north. A short ways in, it widened and split left and right. To the right, strange mushrooms and other types of fungus grew on the ground and the walls. Cautious and wary of that, the group chose to go left instead. They hadn't gone far before they came upon three people standing oddly in a widened area of the cave. They slouched awkwardly as if uncomfortable in their own bodies.

"Er... howdy!" said Gulleck. One of the figures turned around, revealing a human face, but covered in mushrooms and fungus that grew in its hair and entwined its neck. It wheezed and coughed, and Gulleck could see that its mouth was choked full of small pale mushrooms. It falteringly extended a hand at Gulleck.

The group turned and ran back to the big Y-intersection. Then they composed themselves and decided to charge them. I mean, it was 8 against 3, right? Caryatid started to cast the Web spell, and was confused to see the creature in the front imitating her, waving its hands as if casting a spell. Then the strands of sticky spider silk shot from her hands and entangled all three of the creatures. A cloud of spores erupted all around them. Caryatid coughed as the spores filled her lungs. Gulleck ran up to one of the creatures and hacked its arm off. It let out a horrible wheezing cry, as more spores filled the air (but Gulleck's dwarven constitution was up to the threat). They put the arm in a sack as a sample, and hightailed it back to their canoes.

On the way out they visited the Judge again and fed him a piece of amber to ask about the fungus. "Bor was here to visit the other day, and he mentioned he saw a spreading fungus on the other side of the lake." But he had no useful advice, so they went home to seek a cure for Caryatid, who was looking green around the gills and wheezing.

Back above ground, they made their way through the bustling streets and alleys of Idalium to Father Chase's "temporary clerical staffing" chapel and waited to be seen by High Elder Flimwitz. Caryatid balked at the "requested donation" of 1,000 gold darics for a Cure Disease spell, but after a restless night full of strange and alien dreams of mushrooms and mycelium and the unearthly beauty of decay, Caryatid scurried back to the chapel the next morning to cough up the cash and get healed of whatever the spores were that had lodged in her lungs.

Idalium Game 112: Lullaby to Nightmares

Session date: Monday, June 10, 2019
Game date: Sunday, July 3, 211

PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 73282/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 22782/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 11670/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 11753/16000
Orehoe Hüfflestüff, Elf 1, hp 3, xp 1226/4000
Frosty Beans, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 1696/2000

Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17853/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 5526/6000
Orin, Elf 1, hp 4, xp 2276/4000
Fritzenbürg, Cleric 1, hp 1, xp 24/1500

The COVID-19 lockdowns caused the Idalium campaign to fizzle out, sadly. We tried playing online via Discord and Roll20 for a few sessions, but it just wasn't the same. (And don't tell anyone, but I was reaching the end of the levels of the dungeon that I had mapped and keyed, and not feeling motivated to design the next level or two.) In an attempt to catch up on the campaign journals and, after writing 111 journal entries, get some proper closure on the campaign journal at least, I'm going to try to write these in a more abbreviated form. Hopefully, the lack of vivid description doesn't disappoint too much. (Also, it's been almost three years since these sessions and my memories are vague!)

Unusually, we picked up the story one day after we had left off, for the Queen of Nightmares' curse had left the vast majority of the party unable to sleep! They tossed and turned all night, and felt a strange compulsion drawing them back to the palace of the Queen of Nightmares. Only Caryatid, Simon, Meat, and Frosty were unaffected. Even Marcel the monkey and Norman the giant demon ferret spent a miserable night awake!

Caryatid experimented with the crystal ball they had taken from the Queen of Nightmares' treasure room. First she was able to remotely view her goose (that in theory lays golden eggs when provided with the right feed). Then she turned its gaze to the Queen of Nightmares' throne room. To her grim horror, she saw the Queen of Nightmares, reconstituted in human form, stalking her rooms in a rage.

They descended below to finish the job and hopefully restore their ability to sleep. First they stopped in to see "The Judge". The talking stone face told them that a large group of tall lanky goblins (bugbears) had come this way yesterday, heading upstairs, but returned in the middle of the night talking about how they were unable to sleep. They made their way towards the palace of the Queen, stopping to speak with the bewildered and delirious hermit Bor through the door of his chambers. Bor was of little help to them and eventually told them to go away. They pulled out the crystal ball again and viewed the Queen of Nightmares' bedroom. Through the open door they could see her speaking to a group of her bugbear slaves.

Making their way into the grand hall of the Queen's palace, they cleared away the piles of broken furniture that made a barricade in front of the door to the throne room. This snagged a tripwire that caused a portcullis to drop at either end of the hall, but other party members on the "good" side of the portcullis had previously found the crank to raise it, and quickly went round to do so.

The group entered the throne room of the Queen of Nightmares, which seemed empty until six bugbears stepped out from behind the stone columns that supported the ceiling and attacked! A bugbear snared Fritzenbürg with a garrotte and strangled him into unconsciousness. Gulleck and Adrien managed to kill a bugbear, and Orin cast a spell to put one to sleep. Boe fell to another bugbear's vicious strangulation. Caryatid cast sleep and another three bugbears dropped, and Gulleck put an axe in the chest of the last one.

Fritzenbürg and Boe turned out to be still alive and able to continue, barely. The adventurers collected a few gold coins and two ears from each bugbear (the latter to sell as bounties to the dwarves upstairs). Then they carefully made their way beyond the throne room to confront the Queen of Nightmares herself.

"How dare you intrude again in my domain!" The Queen of Nightmares stepped out of her room, dressed again in her tattered black robes. She began casting a spell. Caryatid slipped on her invisibility ring, and Frosty (who had borrowed Simon's) did the same. Stepping out from behind the Queen of Nightmares was the horrifying visage of a medusa. This turned out to be an illusion cast by the Queen, but Adrien and Meat failed their saving throws, and went rigid and still, believing themselves to have been turned to stone! Caryatid cast Magic Missile on the Queen of Nightmares, rolling the big green d30 for 17 points. Next round both I and Orehoe's player rolled the d30 for initiative, as it was important for both sides to get an attack off first. I won initiative, for once. The Queen cast Sleep at the party, and Orehoe, Orin, and Chase all fell to the ground in awkward heaps. That left only Gulleck, Caryatid, Simon, and Frosty to finish the fight. The Queen of Nightmares attempted to charm Caryatid, who made her saving throw, but only barely! Caryatid used her wand of fear and the Queen of Nightmares recoiled in panic and began to run away.

At this point there was a long discussion of what to do. They assumed she would just get away again and they'd have to do this all over again, if they didn't decisively end things now. Caryatid seriously considered just fireballing the entire room. That would probably kill several of the party members with low hit points, but at least it would solve the problem. But then Frosty Beans (our newest player) ran up invisibly, and stabbed the Queen of Nightmares in the back with her own magical dagger!

Almost shocked at their own victory, the adventurers cut the head off the Queen, burned her body with oil, and headed back to the surface for a well-deserved and long-deferred sleep!

Idalium Game 111: Welcome to My Nightmare

Session date: Monday, May 20, 2019
Game date: Saturday, July 2, 211

PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 7, hp 41, xp 72019/140000
Caryatid, Magic-user 5, hp 24, xp 21203/40000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 4, hp 15, xp 10012/16000
Adrien, Fighter 4, hp 16, xp 10174/16000
Frosty Beans, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 38/2000

Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 5, hp 17, xp 17063/32000
Father Chase Pike, Cleric 3, hp 13, xp 4696/6000
Kevon, Fighter 2, hp 8, xp 2018/4000
Boe, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 131/2000

In our last episode, the Infestation Managers had a skirmish with the Queen of Nightmares and her bugbear litter-bearers. Now, as the party descended into the undercity, they were confronted by a group of ten bugbears in the town square, next to the ruins of the fountain.

"We mean you no harm. We have been waiting for you," hooted the bugbear at the front, as the adventurers reached for their weapons. As they cautiously returned to ease, the bugbear continued. "We have been enslaved by the Queen of Nightmares. We are forced to do her bidding, for she has stolen from us the ability to sleep. Only in her palace can we get relief, and only at her forbearance. We are not strong enough to defeat her ourselves, but you are very powerful. Please help free us, and we will leave this dungeon and not return."

Gulleck reminded them that they were the adventurers who had slain the Goblin King, and no funny business! And so the adventurers took pity on these bugbears, and allowed the bugbears to escort them into the palace of the Queen of Nightmares.

(Oh, it hardly seems sporting when they just walk into the trap!)

On the way, in the Temple of Hedonism, they ran into Shorty "the Mouse" and her party of adventurers. Shorty was shocked to see her friend Gulleck consorting with monsters such as bugbears.

"How can you trust them, Gulleck! They're leading you into a trap!"
"Well, that's as may be, but it does seem the quickest way to the Queen of Nightmares, and we have unfinished business with her."

Shorty wished the adventurers good luck and watched nervously as they descended to the next level of the dungeon, led by the party of bugbears. They were led down to the third level, and then across to the west, where the bugbears unlocked a servant's entrance to the the walled palace. They brought them in through antechamber and then into a large audience hall lined with stone columns, and flanked by a railed balcony, in the center of which was a dark wooden throne. And sitting on the throne was the Queen of Nightmares in her frayed and ragged black robes.

"Excellent work, my servants," she said to the bugbears. Addressing the adventurers, she said, "Allow me to explain your situation. By stepping into my domain, all of you have given over your lives to me. Your lives are forfeit, except in my service. You are free to leave if you wish, but you will find no rest, no succor except in my service. There are bunks prepared for you here, when you are ready to accept your servitude and return to me."

"How about 'No'?" snapped Gulleck as she reached for her throwing axe.

"Cease your resistance!" boomed the Queen, pointing a finger at Gulleck, who felt a wave of magic wash through her, attempting to lock her body rigid, but she made her saving throw easily.

"Defend me, my slaves!" cried the Queen to the bugbears, and all of them attempted to grapple the adventurers into full nelson holds, but failed miserably except on Adrien.

Caryatid cast Magic Missile at the Queen, and a golden arrow shot forth, but the Queen raised a hand and light flashed from a ring she wore. The arrow vanished and then reappeared, shooting back at Caryatid who twisted out of the way and was merely seared by its energy. Then Gulleck threw her hand axe and rolled the Big Green d30 for damage, hitting the Queen for a whopping 24 points. Adrien wriggled out of the bugbear's grasp, while Father Chase took the creative choice of using his sling to fling an ineffectual vial of holy water at the Queen.

The Queen of Nightmare stumbled off her throne, one hand grasping the vicious wound in her side while the other hand reached into a pocket. She drew forth a twisted wand and pointed it at the adventurers. A wave of fearful magic swept over them, but it turned out to work mostly in their favor. Only Kevon, Frosty, and Marcel the monkey were affected by the magical fear, but ALL of the bugbears were. They all fled screaming out of the hall, while the Queen stumbled and limped her way through a door at the back of the balcony behind the throne.

The adventurers had passed stairs in the antechamber that led up to the balcony, and Adrien quickly ran to them to pursue the Queen. Adrien sent Norman the giant ferret charging up the stairs but they turned out to be coated with grease, and he slipped roughly back down. Back in the throne room, Simon used his levitating boots to float up to the balcony, and Caryatid ordered her magical rope to slither up to the balcony and tie itself to the railing. Adrien slipped on the stairs as well, but eventually everyone made it up to the balcony.

Beyond the balcony, stairs led back down into a large courtyard decorated with the heraldry of the Queen of Nightmares. Several slaves, some dwarves and some young children, were cowering the corners away from their work tables that contained partially sewn banners, clothing, etc. Across the courtyard was an open door. As Caryatid and Gulleck approached it, a strange, vaguely humanoid cloud of mist floated out of the door, over their heads, and out of the courtyard back towards the audience hall.

Through the door was the Queen of Nightmare's bedroom. An austere four poster bed was draped in tattered shrouds of funeral black. On a nightstand lay a pair of white leather gloves. In an untidy heap on the ground in front of the bed were what appeared to be the Queen's black robes and other possessions. Two rings and a sheathed dagger lay on the floor near the robes, along with the twisted wand she had been holding. An empty glass vial lay on the floor, a cork stopper next to it.

They gathered up these treasures, and then Caryatid picked up the gloves from the nightstand. Unfortunately, these were coated in poison and her strength vanished from her body and would not return for the next half hour. She used a burlap sack to carefully pick up the gloves the second time.

There was a door on the west wall, and Gulleck opened it, discovered that the doorknob must have been coated with the same poison as the gloves. Luckily for Gulleck, dwarves are very resistent to poison and she (barely) made her saving throw. She decided to smash the door down with her axe instead.

Past the splintered remains of the door was a small room. A door was on the opposite side, but between them and it was an enormous skeletal figure with four arms, each wielding a large curved sword. Frosty stepped towards it and it took a swipe at him that nearly took off his head. Caryatid cast Web, which fouled the creature's arms. While it struggled to free itself from the web, Gulleck and Simon rushed in and dispatched it. The room it was guarding turned out to be the treasure trove of the Queen of Nightmares. Chests of gleaming coins (1,400 electrum pieces in all) sat amidst many pieces of jewelry and artwork, as well a crystal ball wrapped in a black velvet cloth.

The group bundled all of this treasure up, and retreated back to the surface, in fear that the Queen of Nightmares would return and nervous of the strange curse she had placed upon them all.

Idalium Game 110: Portage and Pyromania

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).

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.

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.

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!

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...?