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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Aftermath II - Free Agents
- Thread starter Rybaer
- Start date
After the fight with the mind flayer, taking Zalmans body bach down to the burial chamber was one of the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I was not yet powerful enough to bring him back my self. I knew I needed to find help. My only option was to beg the specters ("beg" being a loose term...I am a dwarf, after all) for help or guidance. When they presented me with the scroll of resurection, I was honored to be the one to actually bring him back...or try.I was willing to forgo any other gifts for this one.
When the minotaur kings offered us all an artifact anyways, well, there was no hesitation at all for me. That beautiful axe was literaly calling my name. As I hefted it, and it revealed itsself to me, I felt like I had found a piece of me that had been missing my entire life. I couldn't wait to try it out.
Soon after, I got to.
The barbarian, rouge, and cleric ogres where a knew one to all of us. I had never heard of ogres being this specialized. All other ogres or orcs or goblins or whatever we had fought had been fairly generic. I made me have to think a little more and take into consideration the potential of all monsters.
The baby ogres also posed a different situation. I didn't have a problen with it at all, I just said it was different. They were ogres...big, little, old, young, male, female...its all the same, they must die.
When the minotaur kings offered us all an artifact anyways, well, there was no hesitation at all for me. That beautiful axe was literaly calling my name. As I hefted it, and it revealed itsself to me, I felt like I had found a piece of me that had been missing my entire life. I couldn't wait to try it out.
Soon after, I got to.
The barbarian, rouge, and cleric ogres where a knew one to all of us. I had never heard of ogres being this specialized. All other ogres or orcs or goblins or whatever we had fought had been fairly generic. I made me have to think a little more and take into consideration the potential of all monsters.
The baby ogres also posed a different situation. I didn't have a problen with it at all, I just said it was different. They were ogres...big, little, old, young, male, female...its all the same, they must die.
Rybaer
First Post
Session #12.8 - Yet another stairwell
Everyone was relieved that no more ogres had returned to the complex to harass them while they rested. Or, if any had returned, they might have made a hasty retreat upon discovering the slaughtered bodies of the other ogres that littered the hallways. With everyone fully rested and healed, they were ready to resume exploring the ruins of Kladish.
Getting through the heavy stone door bearing Moradin's symbol was their next goal. It was also their next problem. Four iron beams, 6"x6"x10', barred the door shut. Supporting these beams on either side were stacks of flat stone slabs, each about 4' square and 8" thick. Both the stone slabs and the iron bars were too large and heavy for them to move. The group discussed various options and got into some heated discussions over physics, engineering, stonework, and so on. (Zalman had studied architecture and engineering, while Rurik was well versed in stonework.) Literally, over an hour went by before a majority vote favored one approach to getting through the barricade:
Zalman would place his staff vertically against the four iron bars and render it immobile, thereby holding them roughly in place. Rurik would then cast Stone Shape to fashion the bottom-most stone slab on either side of the door into a wedge facing away. Standing well out of the way, Zalman would give the command word to release his staff, which would then be quickly jerked away with the rope tied to it. In theory, the stacks would come tumbling down away from the door and hopefully land far enough away to allow them to open it.
Theory, in this case, worked out passably. The stack collapsed with a horrible crash as Zalman's staff was pulled free. When the dust settled, they found that there was a little over a foot of clear space in front of the door. It would be a tough squeeze for Rurik, but otherwise all could fit. (Two hours of game time later, they got through this one obstacle.)
Bommer checked the door for traps (finding none) and then Rurik confirmed that there were enchantments upon it. As the cleric opened the door, Zalman started chuckling. Everyone faced the wizard, wondering what was so humorous.
"You know," Zalman said. "I could have just summoned a thoqua above the top iron bar. It would have melted clean through all four bars in no time and left little mess in the way." The stunned expressions on everyone's faces ranged from fury to frustration to humor.
"Yeah, thanks for coming up with that clever idea NOW," Nigel said. Everyone else took their perfunctory jabs at Zalman and then prepared for what was beyond the door that had been such an ordeal to get to.
Beyond the heavy stone door was a wide stairwell leading down into darkness. Amblin took the lead with Bommer while the others followed a short distance back. The stairwell was well worked stone, but a number of cracks revealed the age of the place. Some cracks were wide enough to force them to step carefully over them. The stairwell continued downward, winding back and forth at a series of landings. At each landing, the scout team would wait for the others to come back into sight before pressing on.
About a hundred and fifty feet down, Amblin and Bommer found a rather wide crack in the middle of a flight of stairs. It was nearly three feet across and extended through the walls and ceilings. While they waited at the landing for the others, Bommer thought he could faintly hear something up ahead. It sounded sort of squishy.
"What's the hold up?" Nigel asked when they reached Amblin and Bommer.
"Big crack," Bommer said. "You'll have to be careful."
"Is it structurally sound?" Nigel asked.
Rurik gave the surrounding walls a quick examination. "Good dwarven construction," he said. "Of course it’s sound. It's so old that some seismic activity is understandable. Just watch around the edge of the crack for loose rock."
Amblin led the way down the stairs. He was the first to discover the huge black pudding that was waiting for them in the crack when a long, black gelatinous tentacle reached out for him. The monk's reflexes were good, though, and he deftly dodged the swipe. Not one to hesitate, Amblin leapt down the stairs and over the crack. He easily cleared the full thirty feet to the next landing and avoided yet another swipe by the pudding while he was airborne.
"Is it clear down there?" Nigel called to Amblin. The monk looked down the next flight of stairs and replied that it was empty as best he could tell. With Bommer wrapped around his shoulders, Nigel also leapt over the pudding before it could completely bubble up out of the crack. Rurik and Zalman, along with Amblin's dog Moltar, were stuck on the higher platform and fully separated from the others.
Not knowing any better, Rurik stepped down the stairs and took a whack with Sleet at the gooey black mass that was filling the staircase. The axe sliced cleanly through the pudding, cleaving it in two. Much to his dismay, however, the two halves were still very much alive. Zalman, who was dredging up what lore he had read on such creatures from the back of his mind, was amazed that Rurik's axe hadn't dissolved in the powerful acid these creatures were known to excrete. The young wizard started shouting out factoids - such as its ability to split, its resistance to most forms of physical attack, and its highly acidic nature. The party was now fully split so they couldn't just retreat.
Rurik retreated back up the stairs, narrowly avoiding a couple swipes from the pudding. Zalman summoned a patch of Glue on the creature to try to hold it in place (with mixed results). He then urged Nigel to hit one of the two puddings with a couple arrows.
"Won't that just make more of em?" Nigel called back as he strung his bow.
"Yeah, that's the idea!" Zalman called back. Nigel shrugged and fired a pair of arrows into one of the oozes. Where each arrow sliced through it, the pudding parted and split into new smaller oozes. Zalman positioned himself at a bit of an angle and then unleashed a wide lightning bolt from his wand at the smaller three oozes. Two were burnt to cinders and the other was looking a bit crunchy even if it could still move.
Nigel and Zalman repeated the process with the largest remaining ooze and two more lightning bolts later all the black puddings were destroyed. With the threat eliminated, the group rejoined at the bottom of the stairs. Zalman gave a more detailed explanation of black puddings and other oozes. Rurik was a bit weak in the knees when he realized just how close he’d come to losing his brand new axe Sleet by directly attacking the creature. Zalman complimented Nigel on how their combination of tactics had quickly and efficiently slain a dangerous monster.
Back in the lead, Amblin and Bommer led the group down another couple flights of stairs until they reached a heavy stone door. It was untrapped, unlocked, and had no detectable magical aura. Bommer could faintly hear something beyond, but it was a pretty steady noise – likely something ambient.
The door opened into a large chamber littered with the debris of ages of neglect. Stone slabs from the high ceiling had crashed into the stone floor. Dust lay thick everywhere. The sound Bommer had heard was more distinct now, that of a waterfall somewhere in the distance. Trying to maintain some semblance of stealth, they slowly walked across the room and around an L-shaped bend.
At the far end of the room was an open doorway some ten feet high and fifteen wide. The sound of water crashing was louder here, and the way it echoed hinted at a chamber of enormous size. Even those with good darkvision could scarcely make out the sides of the room on either side and the ceiling was lost in the shadowy heights.
They slowly entered the room, careful to stick close together. To either side were a number of doors set in regular intervals. Many were open or broken. A ramp led to a walkway above the doors on the “ground” floor and revealed another set of doors running the length of the room.
“I think this would be the living quarters,” Rurik said.
“Maybe it’s just me,” said Bommer. “But I don’t think there’s been anyone living here for quite some time.”
Next session: Exploring the ruins and the temple of Moraein.
Everyone was relieved that no more ogres had returned to the complex to harass them while they rested. Or, if any had returned, they might have made a hasty retreat upon discovering the slaughtered bodies of the other ogres that littered the hallways. With everyone fully rested and healed, they were ready to resume exploring the ruins of Kladish.
Getting through the heavy stone door bearing Moradin's symbol was their next goal. It was also their next problem. Four iron beams, 6"x6"x10', barred the door shut. Supporting these beams on either side were stacks of flat stone slabs, each about 4' square and 8" thick. Both the stone slabs and the iron bars were too large and heavy for them to move. The group discussed various options and got into some heated discussions over physics, engineering, stonework, and so on. (Zalman had studied architecture and engineering, while Rurik was well versed in stonework.) Literally, over an hour went by before a majority vote favored one approach to getting through the barricade:
Zalman would place his staff vertically against the four iron bars and render it immobile, thereby holding them roughly in place. Rurik would then cast Stone Shape to fashion the bottom-most stone slab on either side of the door into a wedge facing away. Standing well out of the way, Zalman would give the command word to release his staff, which would then be quickly jerked away with the rope tied to it. In theory, the stacks would come tumbling down away from the door and hopefully land far enough away to allow them to open it.
Theory, in this case, worked out passably. The stack collapsed with a horrible crash as Zalman's staff was pulled free. When the dust settled, they found that there was a little over a foot of clear space in front of the door. It would be a tough squeeze for Rurik, but otherwise all could fit. (Two hours of game time later, they got through this one obstacle.)
Bommer checked the door for traps (finding none) and then Rurik confirmed that there were enchantments upon it. As the cleric opened the door, Zalman started chuckling. Everyone faced the wizard, wondering what was so humorous.
"You know," Zalman said. "I could have just summoned a thoqua above the top iron bar. It would have melted clean through all four bars in no time and left little mess in the way." The stunned expressions on everyone's faces ranged from fury to frustration to humor.
"Yeah, thanks for coming up with that clever idea NOW," Nigel said. Everyone else took their perfunctory jabs at Zalman and then prepared for what was beyond the door that had been such an ordeal to get to.
Beyond the heavy stone door was a wide stairwell leading down into darkness. Amblin took the lead with Bommer while the others followed a short distance back. The stairwell was well worked stone, but a number of cracks revealed the age of the place. Some cracks were wide enough to force them to step carefully over them. The stairwell continued downward, winding back and forth at a series of landings. At each landing, the scout team would wait for the others to come back into sight before pressing on.
About a hundred and fifty feet down, Amblin and Bommer found a rather wide crack in the middle of a flight of stairs. It was nearly three feet across and extended through the walls and ceilings. While they waited at the landing for the others, Bommer thought he could faintly hear something up ahead. It sounded sort of squishy.
"What's the hold up?" Nigel asked when they reached Amblin and Bommer.
"Big crack," Bommer said. "You'll have to be careful."
"Is it structurally sound?" Nigel asked.
Rurik gave the surrounding walls a quick examination. "Good dwarven construction," he said. "Of course it’s sound. It's so old that some seismic activity is understandable. Just watch around the edge of the crack for loose rock."
Amblin led the way down the stairs. He was the first to discover the huge black pudding that was waiting for them in the crack when a long, black gelatinous tentacle reached out for him. The monk's reflexes were good, though, and he deftly dodged the swipe. Not one to hesitate, Amblin leapt down the stairs and over the crack. He easily cleared the full thirty feet to the next landing and avoided yet another swipe by the pudding while he was airborne.
"Is it clear down there?" Nigel called to Amblin. The monk looked down the next flight of stairs and replied that it was empty as best he could tell. With Bommer wrapped around his shoulders, Nigel also leapt over the pudding before it could completely bubble up out of the crack. Rurik and Zalman, along with Amblin's dog Moltar, were stuck on the higher platform and fully separated from the others.
Not knowing any better, Rurik stepped down the stairs and took a whack with Sleet at the gooey black mass that was filling the staircase. The axe sliced cleanly through the pudding, cleaving it in two. Much to his dismay, however, the two halves were still very much alive. Zalman, who was dredging up what lore he had read on such creatures from the back of his mind, was amazed that Rurik's axe hadn't dissolved in the powerful acid these creatures were known to excrete. The young wizard started shouting out factoids - such as its ability to split, its resistance to most forms of physical attack, and its highly acidic nature. The party was now fully split so they couldn't just retreat.
Rurik retreated back up the stairs, narrowly avoiding a couple swipes from the pudding. Zalman summoned a patch of Glue on the creature to try to hold it in place (with mixed results). He then urged Nigel to hit one of the two puddings with a couple arrows.
"Won't that just make more of em?" Nigel called back as he strung his bow.
"Yeah, that's the idea!" Zalman called back. Nigel shrugged and fired a pair of arrows into one of the oozes. Where each arrow sliced through it, the pudding parted and split into new smaller oozes. Zalman positioned himself at a bit of an angle and then unleashed a wide lightning bolt from his wand at the smaller three oozes. Two were burnt to cinders and the other was looking a bit crunchy even if it could still move.
Nigel and Zalman repeated the process with the largest remaining ooze and two more lightning bolts later all the black puddings were destroyed. With the threat eliminated, the group rejoined at the bottom of the stairs. Zalman gave a more detailed explanation of black puddings and other oozes. Rurik was a bit weak in the knees when he realized just how close he’d come to losing his brand new axe Sleet by directly attacking the creature. Zalman complimented Nigel on how their combination of tactics had quickly and efficiently slain a dangerous monster.
Back in the lead, Amblin and Bommer led the group down another couple flights of stairs until they reached a heavy stone door. It was untrapped, unlocked, and had no detectable magical aura. Bommer could faintly hear something beyond, but it was a pretty steady noise – likely something ambient.
The door opened into a large chamber littered with the debris of ages of neglect. Stone slabs from the high ceiling had crashed into the stone floor. Dust lay thick everywhere. The sound Bommer had heard was more distinct now, that of a waterfall somewhere in the distance. Trying to maintain some semblance of stealth, they slowly walked across the room and around an L-shaped bend.
At the far end of the room was an open doorway some ten feet high and fifteen wide. The sound of water crashing was louder here, and the way it echoed hinted at a chamber of enormous size. Even those with good darkvision could scarcely make out the sides of the room on either side and the ceiling was lost in the shadowy heights.
They slowly entered the room, careful to stick close together. To either side were a number of doors set in regular intervals. Many were open or broken. A ramp led to a walkway above the doors on the “ground” floor and revealed another set of doors running the length of the room.
“I think this would be the living quarters,” Rurik said.
“Maybe it’s just me,” said Bommer. “But I don’t think there’s been anyone living here for quite some time.”
Next session: Exploring the ruins and the temple of Moraein.
I had one of those occurrences where the person PLAYING Zalman was thinking of how to get through the doors instead of letting Zalman figure out how. I resorted to engineering, physics, blah, blah, blah while Zalman would have just melted the metal away. Oh well, we got through. I was exceptionally happy with our efforts to get past the pudding. I had visions of Rurik losing his armor and axe and Amblin getting terribly wounded trying to punch it. The cavern downstairs is just immense. We couldn’t see the walls or the ceiling. There were rows and rows of doors lining the walls on multiple levels. Yeah, definitely a huge apartment complex.
Lazybones
Adventurer
Hey guys...
For a while your new thread was on my "meaning to read list," but I never seemed to have the time to get to it. Finally today I had a long, boring, all-day commission meeting to attend, so I printed out the entire thread in small font, slipped it into my action binder, and brought it with me.
Thanks for keeping the oppressive hand of boredom at bay for another workday. I really enjoyed the new directions the story is taking in the new thread. I thought that the undead mind flayer and the magical gifts from the ghost minotaurs were nice touches. And Rybaer's storytelling skills keep getting better all the time. Looks like you guys have a really great gaming group--here's hoping your adventures continue here on the board for a long while in the future.
Cheers,
LB
For a while your new thread was on my "meaning to read list," but I never seemed to have the time to get to it. Finally today I had a long, boring, all-day commission meeting to attend, so I printed out the entire thread in small font, slipped it into my action binder, and brought it with me.
Thanks for keeping the oppressive hand of boredom at bay for another workday. I really enjoyed the new directions the story is taking in the new thread. I thought that the undead mind flayer and the magical gifts from the ghost minotaurs were nice touches. And Rybaer's storytelling skills keep getting better all the time. Looks like you guys have a really great gaming group--here's hoping your adventures continue here on the board for a long while in the future.
Cheers,
LB
Thanks, Lazybones. We do have a lot of fun. Rurik and I have been friends for 15 years, add two more friends that have been around about 9 years (Nigel and Amblin) and the other three are buddies with me at work from the last 2-3 years (Rybaer, Bommer, Amil). Rybaer puts a lot of time in preparing for the games and you have obviously read how well it goes.
We are currently planning on a little side adventure. Kind of a break after a new turning point in this story. We are all going to be Evil 14th level Halflings or Gnomes. I hope Rybaer plans on posting this one too. It should be very funny.
We are currently planning on a little side adventure. Kind of a break after a new turning point in this story. We are all going to be Evil 14th level Halflings or Gnomes. I hope Rybaer plans on posting this one too. It should be very funny.
Rybaer
First Post
Lazybones said:
Why thank you. I'm glad I could contribute in some small way to helping you through a dull meeting. It makes it all worthwhile! Just wish I could read posts through my meetings...
As for how long this story hour will last...well, let's just say that things don't go particularly well for the group from here on out. They have their good moments, along with some truly ugly ones. At the very least, the players went out of their way to make sure there's some good posting material. I've got probably another dozen posts to write to catch up with where the game is currently at.
As Zalman mentioned, I'm going to try running a one-shot episode (over several nights, I'm sure) with the guys playing evil halflings or gnomes. I've never run an evil party, so it should be an adventure. The ground rules I layed out were pretty simple:
1. Must be under 3' tall (gnome or halfling).
2. Must be eeeevil (not just evil).
3. Must speak with an outrageous accent.
4. Must be stylishly evil - no ho-hum evil allowed.
I've already named their group the Kneebiters. I only wish I was playing a character for one simple reason - to be able to scream out the battlecry "Eat Ass Do-Gooders!"
As to whether the Kneebiters ever get posted or not, well, that all depends on what rating of eeeevil they stoop to. Gotta keep this a clean, family show. In the meantime, it'll give me a couple more weeks in which to try to get caught up with the regular Aftermath crew's postings.
Rybaer
First Post
Session #12.9 - The Lower Residence Hall
The group continued to explore what appeared to be a massive complex of living quarters. The dwellings, carved into the stone walls, showed every indication of having been abandoned ages ago.
Signs of seismic damage were pervasive. Several of the "side" halls were blocked off by cave-ins. Wide crevasses cut across the broad square in the center of the complex with several small waterfalls spilling over into their inky depths. They crossed one of the crevasses to continue exploring the far side.
Zalman volunteered to help speed up the searching process. He cast Fly upon himself and slipped on the pair of Darkvision goggles that Amblin had been borrowing. As he flew across the chamber, staying within sight of one of the walls at all times, Zalman found that much of the central "town square" was under water. A huge waterfall fed into the pools from a high dark corner. The pools, in turn, fed into the smaller waterfalls that spilled into the crevasses. In the center of the pool was a massive statue of a dwarven warrior - likely a depiction of some hero or Moradin, Zalman supposed.
On one side of the town square was a pair of enormous and elaborate double doors. Moradin's symbol was broadly emblazoned across them. The ramp leading up to them had long since been reduced to a slope of rubble, but the doors themselves seemed intact. Before continuing to explore further, Zalman decided to bring the good news to Rurik that he'd found an apparent temple to Moradin.
On the way back, he caught a glimpse of movement in the water near the statue. Several vaguely humanoid creatures were moving slowly and carefully through the pool toward the others. Flying in a wide arc around the newcomers, Zalman quickly reached the others and warned them to get ready for company. They briefly considered fleeing back across the chasm but decided that time was not in their favor if the others chose to charge them. The chasm was wide enough that only Amblin with his supernatural jumping ability could clear it without Zalman's help. So they held their ground with weapons drawn.
As soon as the leading trio of these creatures came into view, it became everyone's opinion that they were not going to be friendly. They were approximately the size and build of dwarves, but had the gaunt pallor of undead about them. Perplexingly, two of the three appeared to be partly constructed of mechanical components - metal jaws and arms, bits of wire and exposed gears, all quite unnatural.
When the leading undead closed a bit closer, the two with mechanical bits both opened their jaws and unleashed wide gouts of flame. Several were unprepared for that surprise and got singed. Moltar, Amblin's pet dog, lost most of its fur and was badly burned. Overwhelming even the smell of burning dog hair was the nauseating stench of decaying flesh. Yup, the group thought, definitely undead.
Amblin spring attacked one, landing a solid hit into its metal-plated chest that it seemed to largely shrug off. Nigel pumped a couple electrically charged arrows into another. Zalman saw a couple more ghouls coming up behind the first trio, so he held back just a moment before launching a fireball into their midst. The non-mechanized ones dropped and their half-machine counterparts were badly scorched. Rurik then stepped forward and tried something he hadn't done in a long while - he boldly presented the symbol of Moradin that was emblazoned upon his shield and channeled pure holy energy through it. He was shocked when two of the ghasts were vaporized and another started to shy away from his presence. Bommer tumbled in to slash the remaining one with his twin short swords and Nigel finished it off with another pair of arrows.
The fight had been almost too quick, and the group was worried that there might be more of these things wandering about the ruins. When Zalman told them about the temple, Rurik insisted that they all go check that out next. Amblin managed to convince him to pause just long enough to heal Moltar first. At Rurik's touch, the dog popped back up and started wagging its tail enthusiastically. Unfortunately, the dog still looked pretty pathetic with only a few clumps of charred fur left on its body.
They quietly entered the temple and found it to be in poor condition. Part of the left wall of the worship hall had collapsed and the rest of the chamber was littered with debris and dust. Several side passages led off the main chamber. One of these led to a series of small rooms that had only a few worthless trinkets. Judging by the smell, the ghouls and ghasts had likely made this their lair.
Through the doors in the back of the temple, they found another series of rooms that included a library and several other rooms for study and private meditation. After five thousand years of abandonment, however, there was little left of any use or interest. The library shelves held little more than the dust of long-gone tomes. On the back corner of one shelf, however, was a loose stack of paper-thin metal pages. Gently, Rurik poked through these and found that they were some manner of religious texts, a narrative history, written in the same ancient dwarven as the book the Shadow had stolen. Not wanting to risk damage to the loose pages, Rurik decided to leave them here for future recovery.
Bommer and Nigel gave all of the rooms in this wing a thorough examination and found that there was a concealed door in the back of the library. It revealed only a tiny study with desk and chair. On the top of the desk, sitting amidst the dust of long lost books, was a small silver flask. Rurik noted that it was of simple yet elegant craftsmanship. The cap had a fantastic seal and, to everyone's amazement, there was still liquid within. Rurik unscrewed the cap and took a whiff of fine dwarven spirits. He took one swallow and approved of the contents. The rest was stored carefully away in his pack for later use.
The rest of the temple appeared to be empty so they continued their exploration of the living quarters. Zalman started to make a circuit of the room when he found a mound of debris in the water of a dead end and just above it was hanging rope that disappeared in the darkness far above. He brought the others over to look at it and they found it a bit out of place. The pile in the water was comprised mostly of cleanly gnawed bones of a wide variety of creatures. The group discussed it for a bit and then decided to finish inspecting this chamber first before checking on where the rope led.
The rest of the living quarters was mostly uninteresting - several dead ends along with many more of the same apartment style residences. Down one wing, closer to the end where they'd entered, they found that a cave in had buried what appeared to be a smaller hallway leading out of the living quarters. Zalman suggested that he could summon a thoqqua to melt through the rubble so they could find out what was on the other side. They discussed the matter and decided to let Zalman check on the rope first.
Back at the pile of bones, Zalman flew up alongside the rope. The ceiling to the residence quarters was easily a hundred and fifty feet up. The rope led up through a crack that was about ten feet long and three feet wide in the middle. Zalman could hear nothing, so he silently floated up through the hole. He found himself inside a largish circular room with stone pillars around its circumference supporting a domed ceiling. A set of double doors was the only exit. The rope from below was looped over a small wood structure and tied to a large bronze bell. Zalman made a mental note to tell the others that pulling on or climbing the rope would probably be a bad thing.
Zalman made a quick circuit of the room and found little else of interest. At the double doors, he lowered himself to the floor and peered underneath. A very faint reddish-orange light flickered through the crack. Remembering the large red dragon scale he'd found in one of the nearby caves, Zalman started to get a bit nervous. He summoned a small air elemental and instructed it to fly through the crack under the door, go as far as it could in a ten-count, then return and report what it saw. The elemental obeyed and Zalman listened intently at the door. Only a few seconds after the elemental departed, the wizard heard shouts raised from somewhere in the vicinity. They were too muffled to understand, but he was fairly sure that someone had spotted the elemental. Mere moments later a loud, sustained ripping concussion drowned out the shouting voices. If Zalman had tried his hardest to imagine what a red dragon's flame breath would have sounded like, he could not have conceived of something so disturbing and terrifying. Before the sound even ceased, Zalman had dove headfirst back down through the crack in the floor.
The others became alarmed when they saw how fast Zalman was coming back to them and from the expression on his face. "I highly recommend we leave," Zalman said. "Now."
They pressed Zalman for details as he urged them away from the rope. "I didn't see anything," he said. "There's a room up there. The rope connects to a bell. I sent an air elemental under a door to explore and then I heard voices yelling. After that...well, I heard something that I can only guess was our neighborhood dragon vaporizing it."
"Can the dragon even get down here?" Bommer asked.
"Well, the crack in the ceiling wasn't very big, but some dragons can polymorph and such," Zalman said. "I'd rather not wait around to find out if this one can."
"Where to then?" Nigel asked. "We can go back upstairs, check the pile of rubble, or hide down here."
They talked it over quickly and decided to let Zalman summon a thoqqua to melt through the rubble near the buried hallway. If it looked promising, they'd try exploring that way next. If not, they'd retreat and come up with something else.
At the pile, Zalman summoned the thoqua and sent it through the pile and down the buried hallway. They watched the dull glow of its red-hot body receding as it melted a narrow tube through the rock. When it finally disappeared, turned around, and started back, they estimated that the tunnel was nearly a hundred feet long. The thoqqua disappeared shortly after that.
"Well, it's too narrow for any of us aside from possibly Bommer to climb through," Rurik said. "Not to mention that it's probably a bit toasty."
"Can you summon any more of those things, Zalman?" Nigel asked.
"Not without some more time to study," he said. "I could produce one more, but we'd probably need at least two to make it wide enough."
They discussed their options and, at Rurik's insistence, they agreed to get some rest in the temple of Moradin. They settled down in the study quarters and took turns standing guard in the chapel itself. During a couple of the watches, they heard a rhythmic sound from outside the temple doors. It would rise and fade a few times and then depart completely. No one dared to go investigate it. Other than that, they were able to rest without interruption. Rurik offered his thanks to Moradin and promised to return to the temple and consecrate the grounds once his quest was resolved.
Next session: The refinery, the vault, and the CCC's.
The group continued to explore what appeared to be a massive complex of living quarters. The dwellings, carved into the stone walls, showed every indication of having been abandoned ages ago.
Signs of seismic damage were pervasive. Several of the "side" halls were blocked off by cave-ins. Wide crevasses cut across the broad square in the center of the complex with several small waterfalls spilling over into their inky depths. They crossed one of the crevasses to continue exploring the far side.
Zalman volunteered to help speed up the searching process. He cast Fly upon himself and slipped on the pair of Darkvision goggles that Amblin had been borrowing. As he flew across the chamber, staying within sight of one of the walls at all times, Zalman found that much of the central "town square" was under water. A huge waterfall fed into the pools from a high dark corner. The pools, in turn, fed into the smaller waterfalls that spilled into the crevasses. In the center of the pool was a massive statue of a dwarven warrior - likely a depiction of some hero or Moradin, Zalman supposed.
On one side of the town square was a pair of enormous and elaborate double doors. Moradin's symbol was broadly emblazoned across them. The ramp leading up to them had long since been reduced to a slope of rubble, but the doors themselves seemed intact. Before continuing to explore further, Zalman decided to bring the good news to Rurik that he'd found an apparent temple to Moradin.
On the way back, he caught a glimpse of movement in the water near the statue. Several vaguely humanoid creatures were moving slowly and carefully through the pool toward the others. Flying in a wide arc around the newcomers, Zalman quickly reached the others and warned them to get ready for company. They briefly considered fleeing back across the chasm but decided that time was not in their favor if the others chose to charge them. The chasm was wide enough that only Amblin with his supernatural jumping ability could clear it without Zalman's help. So they held their ground with weapons drawn.
As soon as the leading trio of these creatures came into view, it became everyone's opinion that they were not going to be friendly. They were approximately the size and build of dwarves, but had the gaunt pallor of undead about them. Perplexingly, two of the three appeared to be partly constructed of mechanical components - metal jaws and arms, bits of wire and exposed gears, all quite unnatural.
When the leading undead closed a bit closer, the two with mechanical bits both opened their jaws and unleashed wide gouts of flame. Several were unprepared for that surprise and got singed. Moltar, Amblin's pet dog, lost most of its fur and was badly burned. Overwhelming even the smell of burning dog hair was the nauseating stench of decaying flesh. Yup, the group thought, definitely undead.
Amblin spring attacked one, landing a solid hit into its metal-plated chest that it seemed to largely shrug off. Nigel pumped a couple electrically charged arrows into another. Zalman saw a couple more ghouls coming up behind the first trio, so he held back just a moment before launching a fireball into their midst. The non-mechanized ones dropped and their half-machine counterparts were badly scorched. Rurik then stepped forward and tried something he hadn't done in a long while - he boldly presented the symbol of Moradin that was emblazoned upon his shield and channeled pure holy energy through it. He was shocked when two of the ghasts were vaporized and another started to shy away from his presence. Bommer tumbled in to slash the remaining one with his twin short swords and Nigel finished it off with another pair of arrows.
The fight had been almost too quick, and the group was worried that there might be more of these things wandering about the ruins. When Zalman told them about the temple, Rurik insisted that they all go check that out next. Amblin managed to convince him to pause just long enough to heal Moltar first. At Rurik's touch, the dog popped back up and started wagging its tail enthusiastically. Unfortunately, the dog still looked pretty pathetic with only a few clumps of charred fur left on its body.
They quietly entered the temple and found it to be in poor condition. Part of the left wall of the worship hall had collapsed and the rest of the chamber was littered with debris and dust. Several side passages led off the main chamber. One of these led to a series of small rooms that had only a few worthless trinkets. Judging by the smell, the ghouls and ghasts had likely made this their lair.
Through the doors in the back of the temple, they found another series of rooms that included a library and several other rooms for study and private meditation. After five thousand years of abandonment, however, there was little left of any use or interest. The library shelves held little more than the dust of long-gone tomes. On the back corner of one shelf, however, was a loose stack of paper-thin metal pages. Gently, Rurik poked through these and found that they were some manner of religious texts, a narrative history, written in the same ancient dwarven as the book the Shadow had stolen. Not wanting to risk damage to the loose pages, Rurik decided to leave them here for future recovery.
Bommer and Nigel gave all of the rooms in this wing a thorough examination and found that there was a concealed door in the back of the library. It revealed only a tiny study with desk and chair. On the top of the desk, sitting amidst the dust of long lost books, was a small silver flask. Rurik noted that it was of simple yet elegant craftsmanship. The cap had a fantastic seal and, to everyone's amazement, there was still liquid within. Rurik unscrewed the cap and took a whiff of fine dwarven spirits. He took one swallow and approved of the contents. The rest was stored carefully away in his pack for later use.
The rest of the temple appeared to be empty so they continued their exploration of the living quarters. Zalman started to make a circuit of the room when he found a mound of debris in the water of a dead end and just above it was hanging rope that disappeared in the darkness far above. He brought the others over to look at it and they found it a bit out of place. The pile in the water was comprised mostly of cleanly gnawed bones of a wide variety of creatures. The group discussed it for a bit and then decided to finish inspecting this chamber first before checking on where the rope led.
The rest of the living quarters was mostly uninteresting - several dead ends along with many more of the same apartment style residences. Down one wing, closer to the end where they'd entered, they found that a cave in had buried what appeared to be a smaller hallway leading out of the living quarters. Zalman suggested that he could summon a thoqqua to melt through the rubble so they could find out what was on the other side. They discussed the matter and decided to let Zalman check on the rope first.
Back at the pile of bones, Zalman flew up alongside the rope. The ceiling to the residence quarters was easily a hundred and fifty feet up. The rope led up through a crack that was about ten feet long and three feet wide in the middle. Zalman could hear nothing, so he silently floated up through the hole. He found himself inside a largish circular room with stone pillars around its circumference supporting a domed ceiling. A set of double doors was the only exit. The rope from below was looped over a small wood structure and tied to a large bronze bell. Zalman made a mental note to tell the others that pulling on or climbing the rope would probably be a bad thing.
Zalman made a quick circuit of the room and found little else of interest. At the double doors, he lowered himself to the floor and peered underneath. A very faint reddish-orange light flickered through the crack. Remembering the large red dragon scale he'd found in one of the nearby caves, Zalman started to get a bit nervous. He summoned a small air elemental and instructed it to fly through the crack under the door, go as far as it could in a ten-count, then return and report what it saw. The elemental obeyed and Zalman listened intently at the door. Only a few seconds after the elemental departed, the wizard heard shouts raised from somewhere in the vicinity. They were too muffled to understand, but he was fairly sure that someone had spotted the elemental. Mere moments later a loud, sustained ripping concussion drowned out the shouting voices. If Zalman had tried his hardest to imagine what a red dragon's flame breath would have sounded like, he could not have conceived of something so disturbing and terrifying. Before the sound even ceased, Zalman had dove headfirst back down through the crack in the floor.
The others became alarmed when they saw how fast Zalman was coming back to them and from the expression on his face. "I highly recommend we leave," Zalman said. "Now."
They pressed Zalman for details as he urged them away from the rope. "I didn't see anything," he said. "There's a room up there. The rope connects to a bell. I sent an air elemental under a door to explore and then I heard voices yelling. After that...well, I heard something that I can only guess was our neighborhood dragon vaporizing it."
"Can the dragon even get down here?" Bommer asked.
"Well, the crack in the ceiling wasn't very big, but some dragons can polymorph and such," Zalman said. "I'd rather not wait around to find out if this one can."
"Where to then?" Nigel asked. "We can go back upstairs, check the pile of rubble, or hide down here."
They talked it over quickly and decided to let Zalman summon a thoqqua to melt through the rubble near the buried hallway. If it looked promising, they'd try exploring that way next. If not, they'd retreat and come up with something else.
At the pile, Zalman summoned the thoqua and sent it through the pile and down the buried hallway. They watched the dull glow of its red-hot body receding as it melted a narrow tube through the rock. When it finally disappeared, turned around, and started back, they estimated that the tunnel was nearly a hundred feet long. The thoqqua disappeared shortly after that.
"Well, it's too narrow for any of us aside from possibly Bommer to climb through," Rurik said. "Not to mention that it's probably a bit toasty."
"Can you summon any more of those things, Zalman?" Nigel asked.
"Not without some more time to study," he said. "I could produce one more, but we'd probably need at least two to make it wide enough."
They discussed their options and, at Rurik's insistence, they agreed to get some rest in the temple of Moradin. They settled down in the study quarters and took turns standing guard in the chapel itself. During a couple of the watches, they heard a rhythmic sound from outside the temple doors. It would rise and fade a few times and then depart completely. No one dared to go investigate it. Other than that, they were able to rest without interruption. Rurik offered his thanks to Moradin and promised to return to the temple and consecrate the grounds once his quest was resolved.
Next session: The refinery, the vault, and the CCC's.
Awfully ballsy for someone who was just raised from the dead, if you ask me. Flying around by myself SCOUTING?!?!! I did it in the name of hurrying-things-up-a-bit. As Rybaer said, the rope was attached to a bell. One thing he left out was I disconnected the clapper from the bell so that if one of my buddies below decided to climb up the bell wouldn't :::BONG::: on me.
The tempo of the game was really increasing at this point. We had all taken on a "go-go-go" mentality. I think we all wanted to get Rurik's mission over with and get the heck out of here.
The tempo of the game was really increasing at this point. We had all taken on a "go-go-go" mentality. I think we all wanted to get Rurik's mission over with and get the heck out of here.
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