SESSION 4 (30/05/21)
My note-taking was a bit different. I didn't keep days as distinct as usual, it is more of a continuous narrative.
Downtime Day 55-64
Merlon - Investigated a rumour he heard a while ago about a meteorite landing in the ocean near a town to the far north, bizarre metal ore within. Found an old unnamed, untitled, and neglected journal in the library that mentioned a "strange metal from the sky" shortly before "a tidal wave abruptly swept away the townsfolk, little remains but empty biomes and a queer glow on the sea on the anniversary of the wave."
Sixtus Sunwalker - Due to insufficient funds for even the most humble and noble hero, Sixtus was reduced to hiring the gangly and awkward youth Betanochin Wormington to be his henchman. His chin is indistinct from his neck. He's a level 0 squire with 1HP, but will be promoted to Fighter 1 if he survives a major adventure! He's lawful good and worships Tiw at least. Oh and he has a mother complex and lack of father figure, as the party discovered through experience.
Maethedir & Milton Elvish lessons continue. Milton can do the typical useful stuff in beginner language books e.g. The round dog eats bread
Day 65
The party heard some rumours of protests in the city, some swamp men claiming a lizard king has taken over an old keep in the Rotfen Mire to the north, and that Lord Ardenward has sent troops to aid the dwarves of Khun Kaldur in their growing plight (they are no longer mining or trading). However, true to their agreement, they decided to continue on Barbanikos' quest and ventured into The Weald.
They travelled for a few days without hiccup, aside from scaring off a pack of wild dogs with fire (courtesy of Merlon's 'Affect Normal Fires'). Came across the same cobwebbed copse as last time, and decided to check it out by entering in a staggered fashion. It got too dense and creepy, with spiders crawling all over them, so decided to hit leg. As they reconvened, Sixtus got charged by a man-sized huntsman out of the shadows, but he grabbed it by the fangs and threw it down. After a round of it dodging the parties strikes, it tried to flee, but it was swiftly nuked by Guisarme, Sword, and Mace. +6 to hit fleeing targets hurts!
This same day they arrived at a silent and lifeless clearing with a strange blue terracotta ziggurat in the middle. They spent the night at the edge, and while eating and feeling good about how much easier the journey had been compared to last time, a cold shudder came through, and the fire dwindled. A strange black silhouette was at the edge of the camp; it did not move or speak. Lantern light went around it, but did not clarify the image - then it was gone.
The morning was overcast when they climbed the staircase to the top room. Each plateau wall had artwork formed by different coloured bricks, almost telling a story - the ground layer showed people with spears huddled around fires, with man-headed lion monsters attacking them. Then, a black figure is depicted smiting one of the beasts with lightning, before pointing to the sky. The next layer shows the people constructing what resembles the very structure the party is climbing. The final layer, before the room at the top, shows the people entering the very room they are approaching, and all that is shown after is the cosmos.
In the room, they find a concealed passage down, and notice sleek and metallic walls that are lit by an unknown source which fluctuates rhythmically. The air is cold, still, and smells acrid and metallic, like blood. There is a grotesque shiny black stone statue of a 4 armed and 8 legged beast with scales and legs ending in snakey-masses. It's head is that of a beautiful man. It emanates evil, and Sixtus wanted to smash it, but was persuaded to withhold for the time being.
They strike forward and come to a hall with low tables and cushions, it is decorated with tapestries of fantastical scenes - a glorious golden-maned warrior in loin-cloth, people prostrating before a black figure with a similar truncated structure in the background, a homely cabin by river and mountains, the cosmos, and heroes fighting monsters. They continue forwards, past a cave-in, notice some cracks on the floor, before circulating back near the entrance, in a lobby with bones on the floor of a grotesque multi-headed and limbed creature. A guisarme jab sends it to dust. They enter a pressure-plating sliding door into a dark room with a rug, gong, and engraved tablet in a script they are beginning to see around the place. They pocket the tablet and gong, find a secret door at the back, and enter a massive hallway. To their left are a set of huge (20' wide, 20' high) onyx black double doors with thin vessels snaking up and around them in ornate patterns. At the center, waist high for a man, is a basin with teeth around it's top. There is no pipe for fluid to escape. The characters immediately donate some blood, and a small opening in the bottom expands, with a slimy tongue snaking out and licking up the blood. A small amount of the vessels fill. The party decides to come back to this later.
They head the opposite way, and the corridor changes to a catacomb-like stacking of skeletons of all sorts of creatures, man, animal, monster. The floor, ceiling, and walls are all like this. Unnerved, but stalwart, they continue, coming to an T-intersection. They head left and come to a gaping chasm falling deep into the earth, about 20' wide. They throw a torch down and it falls for a while, before suddenly being snuffed out and strange noises emanating from below. Nobody wants anything to do with this and goes back the other way. They come to a small room with a chest, it's empty, but Merlon doesn't believe that and checks if there is a false bottom. Jackpot! He finds 100 platinum pieces! They head to another room with a sliding door and find 12 huge vases of a thick, pungent, chunky, mealy white fluid. It stinks. Sixtus eagerly fills a spare waterskin up with it. They trek back to black doors and try to stick some of it in there. The sink chokes and gags, and the fluid just sits there. They despair as they realise they need to get it out - nobody wants to put their hand in. Sixtus calls Betanochin 'Nochin', and endearing term his mother used, and asks kindly if they can use part of his shirt and Merlon's collapsible 10' pole to clear it out. Betanochin was so moved he just removed his whole shirt, and now wears raw leather armour. Sixtus did promise to get him a nice velvet shirt. They rig up a mop and expunge the material. Sixtus then slices his arm and donates a crazy amount of blood - but he lays on hands himself after. The vessels fill up and start throbbing in sync with the light from the walls. The tongue shoots up out of the basin, and slices the doors down the middle - and they crack open.
The room beyond is black and shaped like a stretched out hexagon. There is a floating purple crystal with a cloudy and milky swirl within. It is bassily throbbing in time with the ambient light. Sixtus detects evil and tries to smash it with his hammer - but it shatters his weapon instantly and sends a shock down his arm. Maethedir looses an arrow at it, but it rebounds straight back at him and skewers his ribs! Sixtus, in anger at the destruction of his weapon, GRABS the crystal. I do some rolling. What follows is a battle of wills, as Sixtus' protection from evil aura and divine spirit wrestle mentally with this alien force. His gauntleted fingers crack into the crystal like a bowling ball, and he pulls it back, there is great resistance, and then... It releases. The lights immediately go out, the crystal is flat, and everyone hears a bloodcurdling screech from somewhere. They fled the strange place, lighting a lantern and hurrying out. When they get back to the first entry hall, the grotesque statue has changed. The face is no longer a beautiful man but a horrific and hostile visage, with snarling teeth and big black eyes like an owl, that are living. They are glaring at the party. Sixtus smashes the crystal against the statue, and it turns to a liquid, spreading over the onyx stone and causing the malice-filled eyes to be glazed over. Betanochin gets sent up the ladder and screams. Everyone hustles up, to see a horrific, writhing, worm-like humanoid mass with several eyes, vertical mouth, multiple disfigured appendages, a variety of flesh, scales, or hide. It is whimpering in agony and crawling down the stairs. Sixtus charges and leaps upon it, stabbing it with his dagger in the hopes of a mercy kill. Maethedir and Milton loose missiles, and the poor thing dies, disintegrating into nothing in moments.
Everyone decides to do one last delve before going, leaving Betanochin with the horses tethered outside. They explore the other side of the complex, at first going down a slimy passage and coming to a bizarre room. The floor and part of the walls were covered in a fleshy growth. 13 pedestals stood, with thick skeleton-like cocoons opened and spread over the pedestals. One of them, away from the main 12, looked to be recently opened - it was softer, with a slimy mucus inside and trailing out. The party checks the rest of the room out but finds nothing, going back down another passage and finding a tragedy - a room of cages filled to the brim with bones. A room of misery.
It is time to go - they go to the tapestry room and roll up one of the massive things - the one depicting people prostrating before a black figure with the ziggurat in the background - and head home. They trekked back to Underland over the next few days totally unscathed (lucky!) returning on Day 73.
They returned to Barbanikos' manse, and learned from the Magic-User that he theorises the inhabitants of the structure came from somewhere else in the cosmos. Also suspects Sixtus inadvertently prevented some major catastrophe with his actions.
Otherwise, I somehow gave the party a 9000 gold magic item without realising, and Sixtus immediately sold it back to Barbanikos (the only one capable of or interested in it) for 4500 (so 4500XP divided four ways), since it wasn't any good for anyone!
Betanochin Wormington was promoted to level 1 fighter, rolled 6HP! Sixtus isn't buying him any gear for some reason. His chin slightly separated from his adams apple upon return from the journey.
XP - 351 + 1125 + 100 each to Maethedir, Milton, Merlon, and Sixtus
Treasure - 100 platinum, 100 gold (Barbanikos' reward), Bracers of Protection (AC 7) which was sold right back to Barbanikos for half its value (4500GP)
Class Role & Alignment Performance Rating
Merlon - (E)xcellent use of magics and investigation into workings of dungeon. Very apt curiosity for a magic-user!
Maethedir - (E)xcellent use of fighting ability, insufficient opportunity to deploy prepared magics. Exceptionally kind and good to the young Wormington.
Sixtus - (S)uperior - very selfless and generous, no hesitation in battle, heroic, but showed strange alacrity in fulfilling a detected evil ritual (despite intentions to protect party, and trying other options, the eagerness was questionable), anger almost seemed a rage, not paladin-like
Milton - (E)xcellent, quick to act on situations and make decisions, showing much greater heroism than in the past
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