shilsen
Adventurer
Written by shilsen - 11/13/05
Session 14 - Mazes and Minotaurs
After having healed their wounds, the adventurers continue on with Menna. They soon enter a section of UnderSharn where the architecture is in better shape than much that they have seen. About five minutes after leaving the cavern with the swarms, Menna brings the group to the top of a set of partly destroyed stairs that end twenty feet down in rubble. Midway up the stairs is an opening in the wall, which she climbs into. The others see that it leads into a tunnel fifteen feet long, with light rubble on the ground and ending in a blank wall. Menna scrabbles at the floor to reveal a tarpaulin, which has rocks holding it down. She says, "This way down to Khyber's Gate. Menna's people try live here long time and find roads in dark, but hungry ones chase us away. But Menna still remember. You go down here and go thataway (she points in one direction). Menna close hole and wait. You go left, left and right at next turns and come to fort where Daask people lives. You fight and come back. When you come, call Menna. You no say Menna, Menna not let you up." She tells Gareth, "You pay Menna now. If you stupid and get killed, Menna get no pay." Gareth demurs for a bit, arguing that they had an agreement and that if they pay now she may abandon them. Finally, Nameless pays her and says that he will give her a bonus of 15 galifars when they return to Sharn. She seems quite pleased and says she will be waiting for them.
The tarp covers a hole wide enough for 1 person at a time to drop down to a ten foot high tunnel that leads in two directions. At Gareth's suggestion Valin reluctantly goes down and checks ahead. He returns after a couple of minutes to say that the tunnel opens up into a network of wider tunnels ahead and that he has seen nobody there. The others descend to join him and Menna covers up the hole behind them. Then the group moves ahead, with Valin scouting ahead. He returns quickly to say that he has found the cavern Menna indicated and that it has a building in it where he can see light from the windows. The others hide their torches and creep up to look into a large cavern, about 20 ft high and some 120 ft wide and deep. Set into the far wall of the cavern is a stone building. The walls of the 80 ft wide building are 12 ft high and it seems to have only one floor. It is set into the side of the cavern, with 30 ft of the walls sticking out of the cavern side. A flickering light is seen from a window in the front and a narrow light near it indicates the presence of a door.
Six and Valin sneak up to the building and discover that the window is barred and there is a set of double doors within 10 feet of it. A plume of smoke appears through the roof of the building from just behind the main doors. The barred window looks into a small square room with a half-open door on the far side, which opens onto a wide hallway, from one side of which the firelight emanates. Valin and Six hear at least two voices, seemingly gnoll, coming from the direction of the fire. They also note that the small room contains a couple of weapons, some junk and a ladder.
Returning to the group, they repeat what they have found. After some discussion, they decide to follow Lalia's suggestion that the bulk of the group (other than the heavily-armored Gareth, Narik and Lothas) move up near the door and try to break through in a surprise attack. The six adventurers move up to the door. Six checks it and finds that it is both closed and has no lock, but even as he is doing so, something starts howling from the other side of the door, followed by a second howl. These are immediately followed by shouts of surprise. Six tries to bash the door open but finds it too strong. Nameless quickly summons a lemure in the hallway that he can see, commanding it to open the door. Even as the shapeless creature oozes forward, a hairy form enters Nameless' limited area of vision. It is a wolf, which bites into the lemure and knocks it to the ground.
Meanwhile, Luna joins Six and their combined efforts break the door open, revealing a twenty foot wide hallway, which contains a small fire off to the side and a pair of armed gnolls (one with a battleaxe and one a bow) standing behind it. A second snarling wolf stands near the door. The hallway runs left and right before turning corners. Another set of double doors stand opposite the one the group just broke open.
The archer immediately shoots at Luna, gashing her shoulder. In response, an arrow flies over the group, shot by Gareth from the rear, hitting the archer and knocking him back. From the same direction, the group can hear Gareth and the other two hurrying closer, with Narik yelling, "Save one for me!" The axe-wielding gnoll engages Lalia, who is quickly into the room, but she deflects his blows and a swing of Six's chain drops it to the ground. The wolf is more effective, snapping at Luna's leg (which reveals the acidic nature of its bite) and bringing her to the ground. Before it can leap on her, Valin tumbles in to engage it. With the door now open, Nameless casts another spell, summoning a tentacled mass that vaguely resembles a bison right next to the archer. As the startled gnoll shouts, the pseudonatural creature surges forward and slams into his side, sending him stumbling backwards.
Corven, meanwhile, has used one of his infusions to make his healing wand twice as effective, and he uses it to partially close Luna's wounds. Six and Valin keep the wolf attacking Luna busy, allowing her to regain her feet, while Lalia quickly dispatches the prone gnoll. The archer takes a couple of shots at the Sentinel Marshal but she quickly dodges aside and drives him back towards the wall.
At this moment, the double doors open, to reveal a hallway with doors to the sides and on the opposite wall, currently occupied by two more axe-wielding gnolls and another two archers. These four wear no armor, presumably having been "off-duty" when the battle began. The gnoll that opens the door is immediately knocked to the ground by Six, and the one next to him has an even bigger surprise. Luna, irritated at the wolves, casts a spell to dominate animals, affecting the unwounded wolf that has been worrying the lemure (which is both unable to damage it and hard to damage due to its fiendish resistances). The wolf immediately accedes to her commands, turns around and attacks the aforementioned gnoll.
The archers have more luck, one putting a pair of arrows into Valin and dropping him, while the other shoots Gareth in the arm. But their luck is temporary, since Nameless quickly casts another spell to enmesh the hallway and them with webs from floor to ceiling, as well as the other two gnolls. The archer in the outer hallway is quickly dispatched by Lalia and the wolf that attacked Lalia goes down to Gareth and the pseudonatural bison.
At this moment, the door on the far wall flies open, revealing a big minotaur. The creature snarls in anger, takes one look into the chamber full of webs and with half a dozen adventurers (as well as the bison and the dominated wolf) visible on the far side, and slams the door shut again. Nameless dismisses his web spell, making it easy for the others to reach the gnolls. The creatures are quickly cut down by Six, Lalia and the irritated Narik, the latter seeming quite frustrated that the others "killed almost everyone" before he got there. Corven and Lothas, meanwhile, heal the wounded and revive Valin.
Moving carefully into the area, the adventurers find that the door to the right leads to what was probably the gnolls' sleeping quarters since some of their equipment is here. There are pallets on the ground, backpacks and knapsacks lying around, a battered dartboard on the wall, a large closet and a door on the far wall. The door to the left is a stable, holding two mules that look at the intruders with mulish boredom and contempt. This feeling is presumably soon replaced by alarm, since Luna makes the dominated wolf enter the stable and closes the door, knowing that the spell will wear off soon.
After preparing themselves, the group open the door the minotaur had opened, revealing another hallway. This one contains four more wolves. Before they can respond, Luna uses a spell to hold one, while Gareth, Lalia, Narik and Six charge into the room. Though the wolves cause a couple of wounds and one even manages to knock Six off his feet, they are quickly cut down.
After some minor healing, the adventurers check the doors emerging from this hallway too. One to the left leads into an uninhabited kitchen, while the half-open one on the right reveals the wolves' lair, an old cellblock, as evidenced by the unoccupied cells in the room. The third door leads to a more interesting discovery. It opens into a huge semi-circular hall, at one end of the curved side, with the flat section to the door's left. There is a door in the flat section and three in the curved section to the right, the furthest of them being ajar. The next is locked and barred. Between the two doors, apparently crucified to the wall, hangs a gnoll. Its legs have been hacked off and bleeding or matted wounds cover its entire body, with a small pool of mostly-dried blood on the ground below it. The remnants of an extinguished fire is on the ground nearby. Amazingly, the gnoll seems to be alive, a dull muttering coming from its battered lips.
Luna gives an involuntary yelp at the sight and some of the others gasp or groan. As the group enters the room, the gnoll gives no sign of having noticed them. Gareth walks up and examines it, noting that no healing they can provide will save it. Walking by with eyes averted to check one of the doors, Luna mutters, "Just put it out of its misery." Instead, Gareth asks the gnoll, "Where is the minotaur?", drawing a couple of comments from the others along the lines of "You're questioning this ...?" Gareth argues, "It is an evil creature - I have no sympathy for it," and goes back to trying to get its attention.
The gnoll doesn't respond to his question, but when he raises his voice and repeats it, the bleary eyes focus for a moment. The gnoll screams, but the scream breaks off into a bubbling cough. A mixture of blood and tears drip from its muzzle as it whines pitifully and its eyes unfocus from Gareth's. It continues to mutter to itself, intermixing speech in gnoll with the common tongue, saying, "Bhorak ... maze ... made me go in maze ... freedom … no freedom … couldn't hide ... couldn't fight ... ripped me ... ripped me ....."
Corven, who has been looking at the fire, turns to the group with a queasy expression and says, "Look!" They see that he is indicating a number of small objects near the fire, and quickly recognize them to be strips of flesh. Some of them look as if they have been chewed on. "I'd prefer it if I wasn't right," says Corven, his voice matching his expression, "But I think whoever's been torturing this gnoll was actually cutting pieces of it, cooking them and making it ... um, eat them."
Luna turns around from looking in the half-open door and yells, "Damn it, Gareth! Just kill the poor thing," and it is accompanied by Narik, who says a little more calmly, "Do what she says." Gareth sighs, says "All right," and stabs the creature. It dies without a sound, leaving only the slowly dripping blood.
The adventurers then check the various exits. The half-open door and the locked and barred door both lead into a set of tunnels which resemble those outside in the Cogs. Six finds signs that something with sharp edges was dragged through the upper door, going by the scrapes on the wooden lintel and the flakes of wood on the ground. The door below the locked one leads into what seems to be an unused barracks. The door on the opposite wall to the three leads into a large bedroom. It contains a large double bed with a bare mattress, which has evidently seen much use by a large creature (and a hairy one, from the coarse hair that litters it). Near the bed on the ground is a large pallet, which also looks like it was recently used. The room also contains a table, chairs and stools, all sized for creatures of at least ogre size. On the far wall is a well-made door with bands of iron, which is ajar, revealing a room (5 ft x 5 ft) that has stone shelves along the walls. In checking it, Six finds more scrapes on the lintel and a couple of gold coins on the floor. A smaller door is in the western wall, and another door in the southern wall. The latter opens into another bedroom. This one seems unused, with a double bed, two chairs and a table, a closet, an open (and empty) chest and a curtained-off area. The last leads to a small alchemist's workshop. The workshop hasn't seen use for a while, but Six finds a few usable vials and flasks.
Nameless helps check the area with the aid of a detect magic spell, and then returns to the earlier chambers with some of the others. After checking all of the area, they return to the entrance hall, where they find that one of the turns leads to a lavatory that opens into the gnolls' room, and the other has two small wagons stored outside a room full of provisions and basic equipment. Nameless finds some minor potions on the dead gnolls, but nothing else that seems to be magical, and they return to the semi-circular hall. With no other route to follow, the group heads into the maze.
They follow the left wall, hoping that this will make the maze easier to pass through. After about ten minutes of travel, some of it taken up by retracing their steps from cul-de-sacs and dead ends, they emerge into a large cavern. This chamber is about 50 ft long and wide and 40 ft high. It has three tunnels opening into it, the most northerly one being the one they emerge from. In the far wall is a large wooden door with the word “Freedom” crudely painted on it in some dark paint that looks like blood. A couple of the adventurers venture the opinion that this is some sort of trap that the tortured gnoll fell afoul of. After carefully looking in the other tunnels to make sure there is nobody there, the group moves up to the door and Six and Luna prepare to try and open it.
As they are about to try it, the door flies open, slamming into Six and knocking Luna off her feet. Revealed beyond it is a chamber about 20 ft by 20 ft, with four large chests stacked against the far wall. A more immediate concern for the group is the large grayish-green creature that stands next to the door. It is at least nine feet tall, with long muscular arms that end in dagger-sized claws. Yells of "Troll!" ring out, even as it roars in fury and beats its chest in challenge.
The adventurers react quickly, Nameless sending a volley of magic missiles slamming into its face, while Narik and Lalia place themselves next to the door and strike at it, landing shallow blows. Behind them, Lothas casts a spell to bless the group, while Valin moves forward, pulling out a flask of alchemist's fire, and Corven hurries to infuse his wand, knowing that significant healing is likely to be necessary quickly. That is especially the case for Six, who the troll focuses on, wounding him with claw and bite. Six quickly backs out of the fight, allowing Gareth to take his position. Even as Corven heals Six of some of his wounds, the warforged tries to send his chain past Narik's shoulder and trip the troll. The creature's brute strength and bulk is too great, however, and Six has to drop the chain to avoid being pulled off his feet.
For the next few seconds, the first line of Narik, Gareth and Lalia engage the creature, preventing it from leaving the room and taking advantage of the fact that it is fighting across the doorway, while those behind try to provide support. An acid arrow from Nameless misses and spatters against the wall, but Valin's flask shatters on the troll's hide and draws a growl of pain. Luna, back on her feet, casts produce flame and hurls it successfully too. Though the troll's natural regeneration closes some of its wounds and render others less effective, the fiery wounds remain unaffected.
The troll is significantly wounded, even though it does not seem about to go down, and the numbers of the group seem likely to prevail handily, when a momentarily forgotten enemy reappears. Nameless, left alone in the back while the others all move in on the enemy, hears a low growl and the rush of air. Spinning around, he barely has time to see the minotaur come charging out of the most southerly of the tunnels, actually flying above the ground. Even as he shouts warning to his companions, the minotaur's horns slam into his chest, sending him to the ground, bloodied and unconscious*. "Fools!" shouts the minotaur, now clearly seen to be armored in a strange harness of bands of iron across its upper body and wielding a falchion taller than any member of the group. "You have entered the maze of Bhorak and now you will never leave!"
The arrival of the minotaur draws a shout of glee from the troll. Even as Lalia lands a series of quick slashes to its chest, it reaches out and sinks its claws into her shoulders. And then it simply pulls in opposite directions**, causing her to scream as blood bursts from the wounds and her mouth, and then to go limp. Gareth shouts in anger and calls on the Silver Flame to smite it (as he already has once), doing significant damage, and Narik lands another blow on it. Luna completes a spell she has been casting for a few seconds, causing three eagles to appear right behind the troll. They swoop down on it, clawing and biting at it, and though their attacks have difficulty penetrating its thick hide and armor, they do affect it somewhat***. Luna quickly begins to cast another spell.
Corven quickly uses his specially infused wand to heal Nameless back to consciousness. Rather than rising to his feet, the groggy wizard simply casts a spell from where he lies. Another pseudonatural bison appears beside the minotaur, slamming its horns into his side and drawing an angered groan. The enraged minotaur turns and slashes at the bison, literally cutting it into three pieces with two swipes of his falchion. Turning its red eyes on Nameless, it grins in triumph and says, "Your puny creations cannot stop me - or save you," and then drives its horns at him. Nameless barely manages to roll aside, but cannot avoid the creature's fanged mouth, which snaps down on his skull and leaves him comatose****.
Corven is about to try to revive him again, but unfortunately the minotaur, which has been having a hard time hitting Narik due to his dwarven skill versus such giants and his large shield, decides to take another tack. It reaches out and simply grabs him by the shield, lifting him off the ground. With one swing, it slams Narik into Corven, knocking the latter off his feet. Luckily for Nameless, Lothas is right next to Nameless, and he reaches down to heal the mage, bringing him back to consciousness for the second time in the battle.
Also luckily for the embattled adventurers, the troll's tactic leaves its defenses down and they take full advantage. Valin drives his shortsword into its side, while Luna's eagles tear into it. Calling desperately on the Silver Flame another time, Gareth smites it again, burying his sword in its spine. The creature screams and drops Narik, before gradually collapsing backwards. As it hits the ground, Luna brings down a bolt of lightning on it, trying to ensure that it will not regenerate soon enough to bother them.
While this focus on the troll ensures that it goes down, this leaves Six, who had tumbled across to join the now-dissipated pseudonatural bison in its attack on the minotaur, alone facing his opponent. Bhorak smiles with glee and strikes out at him. Though the warforged warrior tries to dodge aside, its falchion strikes him, crushing in the entire front of his chest*****. Seeing that the troll has gone down and it is alone facing multiple foes, Bhorak doesn't wait to make more attacks, but flies upwards till it is close to the ceiling.
As the various adventurers quickly heal themselves or others and try to prepare ranged weapons and spells to hurl at it, the minotaur levels its sword downwards at them. Streaks of flame run down the blade and explode outwards, hurtling down at the group. Most of them manage to dodge the worst of the blast, with Valin actually managing to leap completely aside, but all of the group are somewhat burned. Luckily for them, other than the recumbent Nameless (who has meanwhile cast a spell to haste everyone) and unconscious Six and Lalia, that is, their positions putting them just beyond reach of the flames.
Having unleashed the flames, the laughing minotaur looks at the enemies and picks a target. It ignores the three eagles, which charge it at Luna's command, other than to casually backhand one out of the air. Gareth, just as he manages to pour a potion down Lalia's throat to revive her, catches its attention. Bhorak streaks downward, horns forward, and slams into him, driving him into the wall. Gareth collapses immediately. Then it begins to gain altitude, giving Lalia a chance to return the favor and revive Gareth.
As Bhorak tries to fly higher, Nameless (still not bothering to regain his feet) casts a Web spell, entangling it within its strands and holding it in place. The creature roars angrily and then even more so, as Luna's call lightning slams down on it. With no other target in reach, it strikes out at the pair near it. Lalia manages to dodge away but its falchion hits home to almost disembowel the recumbent Gareth ******. It then tries to get further away but succeeds in moving only a few feet due to the spell.
Trying to make sure that it has no further opportunity to target another ally, Nameless casts a stinking cloud in the area, drawing cursing and threats from the now concealed Bhorak. Which quickly turns to more cursing as Luna summons a swarm of bats in the same area. With a few moments to recover, the group quickly does some healing, Lothas tending to the wobbly but now upright Lalia, while Corven hurries across to Six. As soon as he is conscious, Six uses a magical oil to heal himself. As he does so, he says, "I just wish we had a way to make that thing weaker," causing Corven to slap his head and say, "Damn! I should have thought of this!" Six doesn't bother asking what he is referring to, getting to his feet and retreating to the cover of a tunnel, this time with bow in hand. Corven ignores him and begins to infuse a spell into a wand.
While Narik and Valin abortively fire arrows into the cloud, Nameless suggests someone take his potion of fly and prepare to attack the minotaur as it emerges. Lalia takes up the offer and moves up to drink it. As she is doing so, there is the sound of ripping webs and then a frenzied coughing. Bhorak flies out of the cloud, doubled over and coughing. "Son of a cow!" yells Nameless, "The cloud got him!" Even as he speaks, Luna's call lightning slams down on Bhorak. A split second later, Six releases an arrow. Nauseated and disoriented, Bhorak does not even see it coming, and it buries itself fletching deep in his throat*******. Bhorak screams and gurgles up blood, just as Corven levels the wand he has been infusing. A black ray shoots out and hits its chest. Those watching see the minotaur's bulging muscles go slack and limp********
Bhorak staggers in mid-air and lurches downwards towards one of the tunnels. Even as he reaches it, Nameless shouts, "Not this time!" and casts his last spell, sending a volley of magic missiles slamming into him. Bhorak collapses on the ground, seconds before one more blast of lightning from Luna leaves him a smoking heap. Lalia, who seems to have been waiting for something, flies down to the troll and slits its throat. Her sword leaves an acidic trail as she does so, and the wound kills the troll instantly.
Luna revives Gareth and the adventurers take stock of their many wounds and almost completely depleted resources. Limping to the chests, Gareth bashes open their locks and opens them one by one. To his dismay, none of them contains his sword. What they do each contain is a set of ten small but heavy bags. Opening one of them, he pours out a stream of golden coins. Everyone stops dead from what he or she is doing to simultaneously calculate what the chests contain if each of the forty bags is the same. "DAAAAAMN!"
* Took Nameless from 30 pts to -3.
** Two claw hits and a rend, for 60 pts of damage
*** Over the course of the fight, I rolled approx. seven 20s for the eagles, including one 20 confirmed with another.
**** Took him to exactly -10. First 'death' of the fight.
***** Really bad luck. Six's AC was up to 30 and I got a 34 (roll of 18) to threaten and a 32 to confirm, doing 63 pts dmg.
****** 3rd 'death'
******* Critical (albeit needing 2 actions pts for confirmation reroll, since a 20 to hit was followed by 1 to confirm) for 37 pts
******** Natural 20 with a Ray of Enfeeblement infused with Corven's last infusion. 11 pt penalty to Str.
Session 14 - Mazes and Minotaurs
After having healed their wounds, the adventurers continue on with Menna. They soon enter a section of UnderSharn where the architecture is in better shape than much that they have seen. About five minutes after leaving the cavern with the swarms, Menna brings the group to the top of a set of partly destroyed stairs that end twenty feet down in rubble. Midway up the stairs is an opening in the wall, which she climbs into. The others see that it leads into a tunnel fifteen feet long, with light rubble on the ground and ending in a blank wall. Menna scrabbles at the floor to reveal a tarpaulin, which has rocks holding it down. She says, "This way down to Khyber's Gate. Menna's people try live here long time and find roads in dark, but hungry ones chase us away. But Menna still remember. You go down here and go thataway (she points in one direction). Menna close hole and wait. You go left, left and right at next turns and come to fort where Daask people lives. You fight and come back. When you come, call Menna. You no say Menna, Menna not let you up." She tells Gareth, "You pay Menna now. If you stupid and get killed, Menna get no pay." Gareth demurs for a bit, arguing that they had an agreement and that if they pay now she may abandon them. Finally, Nameless pays her and says that he will give her a bonus of 15 galifars when they return to Sharn. She seems quite pleased and says she will be waiting for them.
The tarp covers a hole wide enough for 1 person at a time to drop down to a ten foot high tunnel that leads in two directions. At Gareth's suggestion Valin reluctantly goes down and checks ahead. He returns after a couple of minutes to say that the tunnel opens up into a network of wider tunnels ahead and that he has seen nobody there. The others descend to join him and Menna covers up the hole behind them. Then the group moves ahead, with Valin scouting ahead. He returns quickly to say that he has found the cavern Menna indicated and that it has a building in it where he can see light from the windows. The others hide their torches and creep up to look into a large cavern, about 20 ft high and some 120 ft wide and deep. Set into the far wall of the cavern is a stone building. The walls of the 80 ft wide building are 12 ft high and it seems to have only one floor. It is set into the side of the cavern, with 30 ft of the walls sticking out of the cavern side. A flickering light is seen from a window in the front and a narrow light near it indicates the presence of a door.
Six and Valin sneak up to the building and discover that the window is barred and there is a set of double doors within 10 feet of it. A plume of smoke appears through the roof of the building from just behind the main doors. The barred window looks into a small square room with a half-open door on the far side, which opens onto a wide hallway, from one side of which the firelight emanates. Valin and Six hear at least two voices, seemingly gnoll, coming from the direction of the fire. They also note that the small room contains a couple of weapons, some junk and a ladder.
Returning to the group, they repeat what they have found. After some discussion, they decide to follow Lalia's suggestion that the bulk of the group (other than the heavily-armored Gareth, Narik and Lothas) move up near the door and try to break through in a surprise attack. The six adventurers move up to the door. Six checks it and finds that it is both closed and has no lock, but even as he is doing so, something starts howling from the other side of the door, followed by a second howl. These are immediately followed by shouts of surprise. Six tries to bash the door open but finds it too strong. Nameless quickly summons a lemure in the hallway that he can see, commanding it to open the door. Even as the shapeless creature oozes forward, a hairy form enters Nameless' limited area of vision. It is a wolf, which bites into the lemure and knocks it to the ground.
Meanwhile, Luna joins Six and their combined efforts break the door open, revealing a twenty foot wide hallway, which contains a small fire off to the side and a pair of armed gnolls (one with a battleaxe and one a bow) standing behind it. A second snarling wolf stands near the door. The hallway runs left and right before turning corners. Another set of double doors stand opposite the one the group just broke open.
The archer immediately shoots at Luna, gashing her shoulder. In response, an arrow flies over the group, shot by Gareth from the rear, hitting the archer and knocking him back. From the same direction, the group can hear Gareth and the other two hurrying closer, with Narik yelling, "Save one for me!" The axe-wielding gnoll engages Lalia, who is quickly into the room, but she deflects his blows and a swing of Six's chain drops it to the ground. The wolf is more effective, snapping at Luna's leg (which reveals the acidic nature of its bite) and bringing her to the ground. Before it can leap on her, Valin tumbles in to engage it. With the door now open, Nameless casts another spell, summoning a tentacled mass that vaguely resembles a bison right next to the archer. As the startled gnoll shouts, the pseudonatural creature surges forward and slams into his side, sending him stumbling backwards.
Corven, meanwhile, has used one of his infusions to make his healing wand twice as effective, and he uses it to partially close Luna's wounds. Six and Valin keep the wolf attacking Luna busy, allowing her to regain her feet, while Lalia quickly dispatches the prone gnoll. The archer takes a couple of shots at the Sentinel Marshal but she quickly dodges aside and drives him back towards the wall.
At this moment, the double doors open, to reveal a hallway with doors to the sides and on the opposite wall, currently occupied by two more axe-wielding gnolls and another two archers. These four wear no armor, presumably having been "off-duty" when the battle began. The gnoll that opens the door is immediately knocked to the ground by Six, and the one next to him has an even bigger surprise. Luna, irritated at the wolves, casts a spell to dominate animals, affecting the unwounded wolf that has been worrying the lemure (which is both unable to damage it and hard to damage due to its fiendish resistances). The wolf immediately accedes to her commands, turns around and attacks the aforementioned gnoll.
The archers have more luck, one putting a pair of arrows into Valin and dropping him, while the other shoots Gareth in the arm. But their luck is temporary, since Nameless quickly casts another spell to enmesh the hallway and them with webs from floor to ceiling, as well as the other two gnolls. The archer in the outer hallway is quickly dispatched by Lalia and the wolf that attacked Lalia goes down to Gareth and the pseudonatural bison.
At this moment, the door on the far wall flies open, revealing a big minotaur. The creature snarls in anger, takes one look into the chamber full of webs and with half a dozen adventurers (as well as the bison and the dominated wolf) visible on the far side, and slams the door shut again. Nameless dismisses his web spell, making it easy for the others to reach the gnolls. The creatures are quickly cut down by Six, Lalia and the irritated Narik, the latter seeming quite frustrated that the others "killed almost everyone" before he got there. Corven and Lothas, meanwhile, heal the wounded and revive Valin.
Moving carefully into the area, the adventurers find that the door to the right leads to what was probably the gnolls' sleeping quarters since some of their equipment is here. There are pallets on the ground, backpacks and knapsacks lying around, a battered dartboard on the wall, a large closet and a door on the far wall. The door to the left is a stable, holding two mules that look at the intruders with mulish boredom and contempt. This feeling is presumably soon replaced by alarm, since Luna makes the dominated wolf enter the stable and closes the door, knowing that the spell will wear off soon.
After preparing themselves, the group open the door the minotaur had opened, revealing another hallway. This one contains four more wolves. Before they can respond, Luna uses a spell to hold one, while Gareth, Lalia, Narik and Six charge into the room. Though the wolves cause a couple of wounds and one even manages to knock Six off his feet, they are quickly cut down.
After some minor healing, the adventurers check the doors emerging from this hallway too. One to the left leads into an uninhabited kitchen, while the half-open one on the right reveals the wolves' lair, an old cellblock, as evidenced by the unoccupied cells in the room. The third door leads to a more interesting discovery. It opens into a huge semi-circular hall, at one end of the curved side, with the flat section to the door's left. There is a door in the flat section and three in the curved section to the right, the furthest of them being ajar. The next is locked and barred. Between the two doors, apparently crucified to the wall, hangs a gnoll. Its legs have been hacked off and bleeding or matted wounds cover its entire body, with a small pool of mostly-dried blood on the ground below it. The remnants of an extinguished fire is on the ground nearby. Amazingly, the gnoll seems to be alive, a dull muttering coming from its battered lips.
Luna gives an involuntary yelp at the sight and some of the others gasp or groan. As the group enters the room, the gnoll gives no sign of having noticed them. Gareth walks up and examines it, noting that no healing they can provide will save it. Walking by with eyes averted to check one of the doors, Luna mutters, "Just put it out of its misery." Instead, Gareth asks the gnoll, "Where is the minotaur?", drawing a couple of comments from the others along the lines of "You're questioning this ...?" Gareth argues, "It is an evil creature - I have no sympathy for it," and goes back to trying to get its attention.
The gnoll doesn't respond to his question, but when he raises his voice and repeats it, the bleary eyes focus for a moment. The gnoll screams, but the scream breaks off into a bubbling cough. A mixture of blood and tears drip from its muzzle as it whines pitifully and its eyes unfocus from Gareth's. It continues to mutter to itself, intermixing speech in gnoll with the common tongue, saying, "Bhorak ... maze ... made me go in maze ... freedom … no freedom … couldn't hide ... couldn't fight ... ripped me ... ripped me ....."
Corven, who has been looking at the fire, turns to the group with a queasy expression and says, "Look!" They see that he is indicating a number of small objects near the fire, and quickly recognize them to be strips of flesh. Some of them look as if they have been chewed on. "I'd prefer it if I wasn't right," says Corven, his voice matching his expression, "But I think whoever's been torturing this gnoll was actually cutting pieces of it, cooking them and making it ... um, eat them."
Luna turns around from looking in the half-open door and yells, "Damn it, Gareth! Just kill the poor thing," and it is accompanied by Narik, who says a little more calmly, "Do what she says." Gareth sighs, says "All right," and stabs the creature. It dies without a sound, leaving only the slowly dripping blood.
The adventurers then check the various exits. The half-open door and the locked and barred door both lead into a set of tunnels which resemble those outside in the Cogs. Six finds signs that something with sharp edges was dragged through the upper door, going by the scrapes on the wooden lintel and the flakes of wood on the ground. The door below the locked one leads into what seems to be an unused barracks. The door on the opposite wall to the three leads into a large bedroom. It contains a large double bed with a bare mattress, which has evidently seen much use by a large creature (and a hairy one, from the coarse hair that litters it). Near the bed on the ground is a large pallet, which also looks like it was recently used. The room also contains a table, chairs and stools, all sized for creatures of at least ogre size. On the far wall is a well-made door with bands of iron, which is ajar, revealing a room (5 ft x 5 ft) that has stone shelves along the walls. In checking it, Six finds more scrapes on the lintel and a couple of gold coins on the floor. A smaller door is in the western wall, and another door in the southern wall. The latter opens into another bedroom. This one seems unused, with a double bed, two chairs and a table, a closet, an open (and empty) chest and a curtained-off area. The last leads to a small alchemist's workshop. The workshop hasn't seen use for a while, but Six finds a few usable vials and flasks.
Nameless helps check the area with the aid of a detect magic spell, and then returns to the earlier chambers with some of the others. After checking all of the area, they return to the entrance hall, where they find that one of the turns leads to a lavatory that opens into the gnolls' room, and the other has two small wagons stored outside a room full of provisions and basic equipment. Nameless finds some minor potions on the dead gnolls, but nothing else that seems to be magical, and they return to the semi-circular hall. With no other route to follow, the group heads into the maze.
They follow the left wall, hoping that this will make the maze easier to pass through. After about ten minutes of travel, some of it taken up by retracing their steps from cul-de-sacs and dead ends, they emerge into a large cavern. This chamber is about 50 ft long and wide and 40 ft high. It has three tunnels opening into it, the most northerly one being the one they emerge from. In the far wall is a large wooden door with the word “Freedom” crudely painted on it in some dark paint that looks like blood. A couple of the adventurers venture the opinion that this is some sort of trap that the tortured gnoll fell afoul of. After carefully looking in the other tunnels to make sure there is nobody there, the group moves up to the door and Six and Luna prepare to try and open it.
As they are about to try it, the door flies open, slamming into Six and knocking Luna off her feet. Revealed beyond it is a chamber about 20 ft by 20 ft, with four large chests stacked against the far wall. A more immediate concern for the group is the large grayish-green creature that stands next to the door. It is at least nine feet tall, with long muscular arms that end in dagger-sized claws. Yells of "Troll!" ring out, even as it roars in fury and beats its chest in challenge.
The adventurers react quickly, Nameless sending a volley of magic missiles slamming into its face, while Narik and Lalia place themselves next to the door and strike at it, landing shallow blows. Behind them, Lothas casts a spell to bless the group, while Valin moves forward, pulling out a flask of alchemist's fire, and Corven hurries to infuse his wand, knowing that significant healing is likely to be necessary quickly. That is especially the case for Six, who the troll focuses on, wounding him with claw and bite. Six quickly backs out of the fight, allowing Gareth to take his position. Even as Corven heals Six of some of his wounds, the warforged tries to send his chain past Narik's shoulder and trip the troll. The creature's brute strength and bulk is too great, however, and Six has to drop the chain to avoid being pulled off his feet.
For the next few seconds, the first line of Narik, Gareth and Lalia engage the creature, preventing it from leaving the room and taking advantage of the fact that it is fighting across the doorway, while those behind try to provide support. An acid arrow from Nameless misses and spatters against the wall, but Valin's flask shatters on the troll's hide and draws a growl of pain. Luna, back on her feet, casts produce flame and hurls it successfully too. Though the troll's natural regeneration closes some of its wounds and render others less effective, the fiery wounds remain unaffected.
The troll is significantly wounded, even though it does not seem about to go down, and the numbers of the group seem likely to prevail handily, when a momentarily forgotten enemy reappears. Nameless, left alone in the back while the others all move in on the enemy, hears a low growl and the rush of air. Spinning around, he barely has time to see the minotaur come charging out of the most southerly of the tunnels, actually flying above the ground. Even as he shouts warning to his companions, the minotaur's horns slam into his chest, sending him to the ground, bloodied and unconscious*. "Fools!" shouts the minotaur, now clearly seen to be armored in a strange harness of bands of iron across its upper body and wielding a falchion taller than any member of the group. "You have entered the maze of Bhorak and now you will never leave!"
The arrival of the minotaur draws a shout of glee from the troll. Even as Lalia lands a series of quick slashes to its chest, it reaches out and sinks its claws into her shoulders. And then it simply pulls in opposite directions**, causing her to scream as blood bursts from the wounds and her mouth, and then to go limp. Gareth shouts in anger and calls on the Silver Flame to smite it (as he already has once), doing significant damage, and Narik lands another blow on it. Luna completes a spell she has been casting for a few seconds, causing three eagles to appear right behind the troll. They swoop down on it, clawing and biting at it, and though their attacks have difficulty penetrating its thick hide and armor, they do affect it somewhat***. Luna quickly begins to cast another spell.
Corven quickly uses his specially infused wand to heal Nameless back to consciousness. Rather than rising to his feet, the groggy wizard simply casts a spell from where he lies. Another pseudonatural bison appears beside the minotaur, slamming its horns into his side and drawing an angered groan. The enraged minotaur turns and slashes at the bison, literally cutting it into three pieces with two swipes of his falchion. Turning its red eyes on Nameless, it grins in triumph and says, "Your puny creations cannot stop me - or save you," and then drives its horns at him. Nameless barely manages to roll aside, but cannot avoid the creature's fanged mouth, which snaps down on his skull and leaves him comatose****.
Corven is about to try to revive him again, but unfortunately the minotaur, which has been having a hard time hitting Narik due to his dwarven skill versus such giants and his large shield, decides to take another tack. It reaches out and simply grabs him by the shield, lifting him off the ground. With one swing, it slams Narik into Corven, knocking the latter off his feet. Luckily for Nameless, Lothas is right next to Nameless, and he reaches down to heal the mage, bringing him back to consciousness for the second time in the battle.
Also luckily for the embattled adventurers, the troll's tactic leaves its defenses down and they take full advantage. Valin drives his shortsword into its side, while Luna's eagles tear into it. Calling desperately on the Silver Flame another time, Gareth smites it again, burying his sword in its spine. The creature screams and drops Narik, before gradually collapsing backwards. As it hits the ground, Luna brings down a bolt of lightning on it, trying to ensure that it will not regenerate soon enough to bother them.
While this focus on the troll ensures that it goes down, this leaves Six, who had tumbled across to join the now-dissipated pseudonatural bison in its attack on the minotaur, alone facing his opponent. Bhorak smiles with glee and strikes out at him. Though the warforged warrior tries to dodge aside, its falchion strikes him, crushing in the entire front of his chest*****. Seeing that the troll has gone down and it is alone facing multiple foes, Bhorak doesn't wait to make more attacks, but flies upwards till it is close to the ceiling.
As the various adventurers quickly heal themselves or others and try to prepare ranged weapons and spells to hurl at it, the minotaur levels its sword downwards at them. Streaks of flame run down the blade and explode outwards, hurtling down at the group. Most of them manage to dodge the worst of the blast, with Valin actually managing to leap completely aside, but all of the group are somewhat burned. Luckily for them, other than the recumbent Nameless (who has meanwhile cast a spell to haste everyone) and unconscious Six and Lalia, that is, their positions putting them just beyond reach of the flames.
Having unleashed the flames, the laughing minotaur looks at the enemies and picks a target. It ignores the three eagles, which charge it at Luna's command, other than to casually backhand one out of the air. Gareth, just as he manages to pour a potion down Lalia's throat to revive her, catches its attention. Bhorak streaks downward, horns forward, and slams into him, driving him into the wall. Gareth collapses immediately. Then it begins to gain altitude, giving Lalia a chance to return the favor and revive Gareth.
As Bhorak tries to fly higher, Nameless (still not bothering to regain his feet) casts a Web spell, entangling it within its strands and holding it in place. The creature roars angrily and then even more so, as Luna's call lightning slams down on it. With no other target in reach, it strikes out at the pair near it. Lalia manages to dodge away but its falchion hits home to almost disembowel the recumbent Gareth ******. It then tries to get further away but succeeds in moving only a few feet due to the spell.
Trying to make sure that it has no further opportunity to target another ally, Nameless casts a stinking cloud in the area, drawing cursing and threats from the now concealed Bhorak. Which quickly turns to more cursing as Luna summons a swarm of bats in the same area. With a few moments to recover, the group quickly does some healing, Lothas tending to the wobbly but now upright Lalia, while Corven hurries across to Six. As soon as he is conscious, Six uses a magical oil to heal himself. As he does so, he says, "I just wish we had a way to make that thing weaker," causing Corven to slap his head and say, "Damn! I should have thought of this!" Six doesn't bother asking what he is referring to, getting to his feet and retreating to the cover of a tunnel, this time with bow in hand. Corven ignores him and begins to infuse a spell into a wand.
While Narik and Valin abortively fire arrows into the cloud, Nameless suggests someone take his potion of fly and prepare to attack the minotaur as it emerges. Lalia takes up the offer and moves up to drink it. As she is doing so, there is the sound of ripping webs and then a frenzied coughing. Bhorak flies out of the cloud, doubled over and coughing. "Son of a cow!" yells Nameless, "The cloud got him!" Even as he speaks, Luna's call lightning slams down on Bhorak. A split second later, Six releases an arrow. Nauseated and disoriented, Bhorak does not even see it coming, and it buries itself fletching deep in his throat*******. Bhorak screams and gurgles up blood, just as Corven levels the wand he has been infusing. A black ray shoots out and hits its chest. Those watching see the minotaur's bulging muscles go slack and limp********
Bhorak staggers in mid-air and lurches downwards towards one of the tunnels. Even as he reaches it, Nameless shouts, "Not this time!" and casts his last spell, sending a volley of magic missiles slamming into him. Bhorak collapses on the ground, seconds before one more blast of lightning from Luna leaves him a smoking heap. Lalia, who seems to have been waiting for something, flies down to the troll and slits its throat. Her sword leaves an acidic trail as she does so, and the wound kills the troll instantly.
Luna revives Gareth and the adventurers take stock of their many wounds and almost completely depleted resources. Limping to the chests, Gareth bashes open their locks and opens them one by one. To his dismay, none of them contains his sword. What they do each contain is a set of ten small but heavy bags. Opening one of them, he pours out a stream of golden coins. Everyone stops dead from what he or she is doing to simultaneously calculate what the chests contain if each of the forty bags is the same. "DAAAAAMN!"
* Took Nameless from 30 pts to -3.
** Two claw hits and a rend, for 60 pts of damage
*** Over the course of the fight, I rolled approx. seven 20s for the eagles, including one 20 confirmed with another.
**** Took him to exactly -10. First 'death' of the fight.
***** Really bad luck. Six's AC was up to 30 and I got a 34 (roll of 18) to threaten and a 32 to confirm, doing 63 pts dmg.
****** 3rd 'death'
******* Critical (albeit needing 2 actions pts for confirmation reroll, since a 20 to hit was followed by 1 to confirm) for 37 pts
******** Natural 20 with a Ray of Enfeeblement infused with Corven's last infusion. 11 pt penalty to Str.