Return to the Tomb of Horrors finally gets a Story Hour!

[James McMurray]

After resting a few short moments, the group decides to press on. They know that this opportunity (fully prepared and healed) will not come again soon, and begin to explore the tower in earnest. Lo’ser moves ahead and begins to scout. Past the room of the Winter Wight is a staircase, which leads down a level. As the group waits atop the stairs for Lo’ser’s report, they hear a familiar voice from down below, “Our deal is complete now. Come with me.”

When they hear Lo’ser reply “ok,” William cries out for his circlet while the party runs to see what is happening. Across the hall from the bottom of the stairs, the group finds yet another rubble-filled room. This one is different in that there is a white line painted down the center of it. In the far right corner the group sees Conrad Adar, devilish attorney, and their friend Lo’ser about to step through a Gate. On the other side of the Gate is a hallway, which no one recognizes.

The group springs into action, with several people asking what is happening. Conrad tells them “Do not interfere, my deal is with Lo’ser,” and Lo’ser steps through the gate, moments before William had planned to block it with a Wall of Stone. Conrad opens his book, and, seemingly impossibly, a massive dragon easily 50 times the size of the tome leaps out. Hanging from its tail is another robed figure, dressed like Conrad. The party recognizes Shasalah, the green great wyrm they have dealt with previously, and prudently decides not to attack. Kargur asks Shasalah what she is doing here, and the wyrm replies, “You are lucky my quarrel is with him for now. I will return for you later, especially you, who escaped me previously.” This last is directed at Billy, and his paranoid mind wonders if this dragon is truly Arthax in disguise.

The second devilish figure reaches into his robe and pulls out a tome of his own. He opens it and an elf is flung out. He commands the elf to kill Conrad. The elf rushes through the gate moments before Shasalah sits her massive frame in front of it, blocking access.

Billy speeds himself up such that everyone appears to be standing still, and repeatedly tries to squeeze his way past the dragon, but cannot get his stout frame through the small opening. As he slows back down though, Shasalah shouts out, “I am free.” and disappears. The group rushes through the gate, which closes behind them.

In the halls of the Baatorian Legal Association, the party prepares to do battle with Conrad, who begins to raise an alarm and sucks Lo’ser into his book. They hurt him, and more devil-lawyers appear, calling forth servants from their tomes.

Mist, freed from the book, tries to fight Conrad, but the devil’s gaze holds him fast. Moments later he breaks free of the tome’s hold upon him, but still cannot move. When Conrad turns to run though, he is freed. He scurries up a wall and shouts, “I’m not with them!” while sheathing his sword. Both devils and party members wonder which “them” it is he isn’t with.

William raises two walls of stone after a couple of the lawyers and their servants are destroyed. Billy’s magic forces Conrad to dance, and the party pounds upon him and a seemingly unkillable snake called forth by one of the attorneys. As Kargur fights the snake, Mist moves around to stab it, but stumbles and falls, injuring Kargur. Lanis sees this and begins to divide his fire between the snake and Mist, until the elf yet again sheathes his blade.

The snake finally dies, just as massive bangs are heard on the walls of stone. Something wants in. Kargur turns to mist and opens his paladin senses wide to try to ascertain if Mist is evil or not. Unfortunately, he does not realize that he is deep in the Nine Hells, and the malevolent nature of the plane itself slams into him, numbing his mind and leaving him stunned and breathless.

The battle rages on, with Oskar and Billy trying to kill a dancing Conrad. As Oskar impales Conrad on his blade, the attorney screams. His robes crumble to dust and his body breaks into a thousand worms, which squirm and burrow into the stark black floor of the hallway. Moments later they are gone, with no sign of their passing. The tome still lies on the ground though, and William scoops it into his haversack. As he grabs it, the figures on the cover also grab him, but he manages to shake them loose. The group starts to circle up to plane shift home.

Before they can reach William’s side of the hallway, several massive devils teleport in, at least one of which is recognizable as a Pit Fiend. Fire erupts in the hallway from a Meteor Swarm and two fireballs, and everyone is scorched, but no one is killed. Galrond teleports away from the beast in front of him, and grabs Oskar and Kargur, teleporting them and himself to the far side of the hall where William waits to Plane shift out.

Oskar hits the Pit Fiend and angers it, but the group then manages to circle up and plane shift back to the outskirts of Lopolla, where they teleport back to the city and shuffle rapidly into Heironious’ guest house.

 

[Malik Doom]

Absolutely wonderful stuff.

Do you have the stuff you converted to 3e???

I would love the file, send it to me please.

Thanks

bblaney001@yahoo.com

 

[James McMurray]

Sorry. It has mostly been done on post its for DCs and on the fly. Quite a few of the creatures made it into the ELH though (blackball, winter wight, and demi-lich).

 

[James McMurray]

Back in the guest house, the group begins to discuss what to do. William is highly concerned about getting his circlet out of the book, and finding out what happened with Lo’ser. The party decides to rest that night and then head far from the city and experiment with the book. That evening, they page through the tome. They find that it is filled with contracts in hundreds of different languages. Twelve are written in celestial, several in draconic, hundreds in common, at least 50 in different dialects of fiendish, and many others in languages no one recognizes.

The next morning, William Communes with Heironious:

• Is Mist Lawful?
  No
  
• Is Mist Chaotic?
  Yes
  
• Is Mist Evil?
  No
  
• Is Mist good?
  Yes
  
• Does Heironious approve of Mist?
  Maybe
  
• Does Heironious Mind Mist traveling with us?
  No
  
• Should we free the creatures from the book?
  Yes and No
  
• Should we destroy the book?
  Yes and No
  
• Can we recharge the wand found in the city in the same tower it was found in?
  Yes
  
• Does Heironious approve of our progress?
  Yes and No
  
• Should we send all of our followers to fight the undead in the Gran March.
  No
  
• Has Heironious forsaken Kargur?
  No.
  

In the wild fifty miles outside of Lopolla, the group begins to experiment with the book. They try holding it up and commanding creatures out of it, they also try to tear it. However, once Billy sees that the figures on it still move when placed in an anti-magic field, he realizes it must be of artifact power. He tells everyone to stand back, and casts Mordenkainen’s Disjunction. Gritting his teeth in fear of the backlash he knows will come if this works, he is momentarily relieved when nothing happens. The group puts the book back in William’s haversack and gates back to the city of Moil, intent on completing their quest, and knowing that Billy can try again twice tomorrow.

In the tower, the group searches around. This time Mist does the scouting, with a Lesser Telepathic Bond to keep him in communication with William. His original searches turn up very little, although he does find 141 Moilian platinum pieces in a rubble filled room. They are stamped with the visage of Orcus on one side and the city of Spires on the other.

In another room, he finds a huge roulette wheel. He tells the party about it, and then moves on. He finds a stark white robe sitting pristine in an ancient cloak room, pristine amongst the aged and decayed cloaks and robes. He keeps it for future study and returns to the group. It is indeed magical. The group decides to see about the roulette wheel, and everyone moves into the room.

There is a plaque beside it and Mist deciphers the ancient Moilian script, reading aloud, “In games of Chance there are risks to be taken, the winner is blessed, the loser forsaken.” As he says the word “to” the roulette wheel springs to life. The black ball spins and the wheel turns. As the wheel slows, the ball skitters to a halt, and Mist feels himself speeding up slightly. He feels more dexterous (+2 inherent bonus to dex). The party is a bit confused at this, but they believe that saying a number is what activated it. When Mist deciphers the glyphs in the slots and sees they are the numbers one through six, and that the ball landed in two, they are positive that their assessment was correct.

Mist grabs the black ball and the group discusses what to do. As they talk, Kargur unwittingly uses the word “one” in a sentence. The ball leaps from Mist’s hand and the wheel spins again, this time landing on one! Kargur glows briefly, and feels a bit of his old confidence returning (+2 charisma). The discussion continues, and Galrond has a slip of the tongue, but miraculously he too wins the game (+2 charisma)! (Out of game: those lucky rolls were really annoying the evil GM in me ).

As the discussion continues, people begin to carefully choose their words, but even so, Billy manages to slip up. Unfortunately he does not win, and the party gasps as his eyes, ears, and nose are simply erased, leaving his head blank except for a mouth. He starts to ask what is going on, but when he cannot hear himself, thinks he must have been sent to a dark and empty prison plane of some sort. His fears are confirmed when a massive claw reaches to hold him. Of course, the claw is only Oskar in his polymorphed Troll form, but Billy doesn’t know and he dimension doors away to a random corner of the room.

William creates a telepathic bond with Billy as well, explains to him what happened. Galrond leaves the room, as does everyone else, so that they may speak freely. William leads Billy to the hallway, and a Limited Wish, Greater Dispelling, Remove Curse, and Heal all fail to fix Billy. As a last effort, William calls upon Heironious to grant a miracle, and it works. Billy’s face is restored.

 

[Immort]

Every time I git inta the flow of this story, ya suddenly goes on a writin' break. Then, I finally pick up and start readin' agin, and whammo, another break. So yesterday, I finally git caught up agin, and now, a whole day, and no update. Yer killin' me here.

-Immort

 

[James McMurray]

Here ya go.

The group continues their exploration, and finds a massive vault door. As Mist begins to search it for traps, a glowing symbol appears upon it, and its power strikes him dead. The party cautiously investigates, and Galrond detects necromantic and enchantment magic upon the door. Both auras get dispelled, and the party debates what to do with Mist. Oskar offers up his resurrection gem, telling William to use it if Oskar does not need it, and the group decides they will resurrect him tomorrow.

They continue examining the door, and Galrond Gates Cristoph in to pick the lock. A confused Cristoph is pulled through the gate and after he picks the lock returned to his home. The party does manage a brief explanation of what happened to him, but there is little time for father and son to catch up.

As the door swings open, Oskar sees a humanoid figure stand up from a chair and sheathe itself in metal. The party feels the familiar drain of the Moilian undead, and battle is joined.

Lanis fires several arrows into the creature, and it reels back, but then it slams its fists together and a shimmering column of blue force assails those in the doorway, knocking Lanis down and injuring Oskar and Billy. The party charges in and rapidly knocks it down. Billy steps up and an antimagic field stops its drain while they decide how to remove its gear while it is sheathed in metal. They finally decide that William’s mace would be best, and the field is dropped with everyone but Alzaran (Galrond’s lantern archon familiar), Oskar, and William near the thing. Oskar pounds on it to ensure it stays down, while Alzaran touches the metal wrap and teleports it away. Moments later the creature turns to dust, and the group collects its gear.

---------

The party decides to return to Lopolla to revive Mist and identify the items. The next day, they again head out of the city and Billy casts Disjunction at the Tome. The second time he does it, he feels a gut wrenching tear at his insides, and fear fills him as all of his knowledge of the workings of magic is stripped from his mind. He also feels a sibilant and ancient anger deep in the back of his mind, but it fades seconds later. However, there is little time to deal with that, as all hell breaks loose. The creatures trapped in the tome begin to pour forth, crushing Billy and each other in a tidal wave of scales and flesh.

The rest of the party, standing back a hundred feet or so is soon swept up in the wave as well. Tossed and turned as voices cry freedom and vengeance. A foot manages to find its way into Lanis’s belly, while Galrond is crushed to the floor under the weight of a 12’ tall demonic looking figure with six stalks on either side in place of its arms. Oskar instinctively takes his stance and it is that alone which allows him to hold his ground as humans, elves, dwarves, and indescribable beasts hurtle through his field of vision. Everyone is swept back and separated by the crush of beings being freed.

And then the big things start to come out.

 

[Krellic]

Ouch! Suddenly the Negative Material Plane got crowded!

 

[James McMurray]

They went back to the prime before doing that. Sorry about the confusion. Obviously everyone in my game knows tha Lopolla is a city on the Prime, and it didn't even cross my mind to explain that here. DOH!

Oh well, on to the next update, which is basically a catalog of the big nasties, and who is fighting who. My wife and I did one of the fights today, and the rest of the gaming group meet tomorrow. We'll be taking different combatants and running the seven or so other battles.

 

[James McMurray]

Several of the hapless people still near the tome are crushed as a massive wall of golden scales burst forth and shoot skyward. The dragon shouts a cry of freedom in draconic and continues upwards, where it watches the unfolding scene below. Even its many years have not seen a sight such as this.

People run screaming still, and those who look back release gut wrenching cries of terror and stare as a mummified corpse steps calmly from the book. It is slammed into by a demonic figure rushing to escape, and its fist slams out. The demon screams in terror and pain, and rapidly crumbles to dust. The mummy then begins to lay about itself with abandon, working out from the book, but slamming into every creature foolish or unlucky enough to get near it. The lucky ones crumble to dust moments after it strikes, while the unlucky drop to the ground, only to rise again moments later, desiccated corpses following the will of their new master.

Almost simultaneously, a slithering, many-armed snake-woman wielding 6 different swords and another massive dragon (this one white) burst forth from the book. The Marilith is knocked off balance by the dragon’s bulk, giving it time to flee upwards. Then it sees the golden dragon. The smaller white turns to flee and the gold gives chase.

Like pages turning in the wind, the slow progression of things coming from the book speeds up until people and other things are flying forth at breakneck speed.

Several devils escape the tome, and they join together into a formation, where they defend themselves and begin a steady march away from the Tome. The humanoids they encounter quickly flee or die, but then they are slammed into by a trio of demons, intent on bringing the Blood Wars to the Prime.

The Gold dragon barely dodges the assault of two other dragons who have escaped the tome, a black and a red. Seeing that it is not alone, the white also turns, and a massive battle begins to rage in the skies above.

On the ground, creatures still pour forth. A tall froglike being covered entirely in white scales bursts forth and heads towards the party. With every few steps it unleashes a loud croak. Every time it does so, people near it die violently. Eyes leaps from their sockets, chest turn into writhing masses of tentacles, and blood vessels hemorrhage and burst. As it reaches the area near the group and sees that it has survived its croak, it shakes its arms and its hands fall off. The stumps rapidly grow new hands, while those on the ground turn cold and gray before rising up into smaller versions of itself, which also move towards the party.

In another corner of the plain, a second group of devils has formed up. High above them, a large group of celestials, 12 total, begins to converge. The Planetar leading them shouts out orders and two of the celestials, an Avoral and a Trumpet Archon fade away, plane shifting for reinforcements. The rest divide into two strike teams and assault the second devil formation and a small group of demons that had been randomly slaughtering the humanoids around it.

The flow of creatures begins to slow finally, and amidst the group of humans and demi-humans four overpowering voices can be heard calling out in a harsh and indecipherable language. These four figures see each other and hurtle into battle, their ancient Gith enmity overwhelming all thought of escape.

As the flow slows to a trickle, a massive Balor demon flies out of the tome and into the sky, where it begins to scout the scene below it, intent on finding someone that can return it to its home.

The last creature to come out sends the Balor demon flying to a far corner of the chaotic battlefield. A humanoid figure, well over 25’ tall stands above the tome, arms crossed, a massive war hammer at its side. Its full plate armor gleams in the morning sun and its voice cries out. “Artopak! I know you are here. Come meet your final death! The time of your divinity has passed, and there will be no escape!”

At the sound of the voice, the mummified creature ceases its assault upon those creatures around it whose fear prevents them from fleeing and turns to the voice. It cries out in a voice older than the gods themselves. “I will have my soul back from you!” Unbelievably, the thing that had moved faster than any human could believe possible speeds up even more and orders the walking dead around it to attack. As it does, the entire group flings themselves towards the Titan.

The Titan moves to meet them, and the last of the creatures in the tome breaks free. Another angelic figure flies skyward and hurtles towards a group of demons, followed quickly be an eight-headed hydra with the wings of a hawk and pure silver scales.

Everywhere the sounds of terror and battle ring out, and the ground shakes from the force of the combatants’ magic.

The furor stops moments later though, when the tome itself explodes into a thousand flaming shards. The last things to exit it are 7 man-sized balls of flame. The fireballs skitter and bounce through the ranks of people and fiends. Everyone and everything they touch bursts into flames, even the earth itself.

A formation of devils, creatures normally immune to even the fires of Hell, is the target of one of these balls. It scatters as even these fiends catch fire and scream at their touch. Those few creatures who are not immediately destroyed by the flames collapse to the ground and writhe in agony for a while before they too fall still and burn to ash.

The 7 orbs of fire shoot skyward, and hover hundreds of feet over the plain for a moment. In unison they fly even higher, until they are almost out of sight. A new constellation appears in the sky above Oerth, visible even during the bright morning sun.

 

[Immort]

Now THAT is entertainment!

-Immort