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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Old One" data-source="post: 282447" data-attributes="member: 83">Session 17 (Part Five)Dougal and Darklone (and Everyone Else),Since you have been s-s-s-o-o-o-o good, you get another update this morning (or afternoon or night, depending on geographical location).House of Pain His armor and agility protected him from most of the strikes, but one slapped across his arm, leaving an angry red mark and chilling him to the bone.  He gasped as he felt some of his strength fade away.  Rowan made out the faint outline of a strange face above the tentacles and stabbed at it.  His blade sunk into flesh and a high-pitched trilling sound echoed in his mind.Rosë moved up to support Rowan and was surprised when the wall to the left of the door moved and another quartet of tentacles attacked.  Two pierced the barbarian’s defenses, but he was able to fight off the chilling effect of their strikes.  His return axe blow opened a huge gash in the wall.  The trilling sound redoubled and charcoal ichor poured from the opening.  Lew added his mace to the fray and Quintus fired a Magic Missile into the face above Rowan’s head.  Meanwhile, Sextus moved toward the other door to examine it.  Rowan and Rosë attacked again while suffering additional strikes.Just as axe, blade, spell and mace finished off the two wall creatures on one side, Sextus’s cries for help rose from the other.  The bard’s curiosity was rewarded by a renewed assault.  The other four leapt to his assistance.They made quick work of the strange creatures attached to the wall, but not before most of the party succumbed to at least one strength-stealing attack.  Winded and drained, they halted for a moment to catch their breath.  “I told you this place didn’t feel right,” mumbled Rosë.He received no argument from his fellows.  “Let’s push on,” said Quintus wearily.They returned to the left-hand door and passed through.  They found what looked to be some manner of dining chamber, with a table, several stools and assorted other furniture.  No foodstuffs were evident, but a crystalline decanter and several glasses adorned the table.  Sextus picked up the decanter to examine it.His eyes widened in terror as it writhed in his hand, elongating into a wriggling snake of liquid crystal which promptly sank its teeth into his hand.  A wave of nausea and weakness hammered the bard, but he retained enough presence of mind to hurl the animated serpent away.  Rosë’s axe shattered it into a thousand fragments a grain later.Puffy purplish marks surrounded the wound.  Lew quickly tended to it, but he could do little to stop the poison already coursing through Sextus’s veins.  The plucky bard gritted his teeth and struggled to his feet.  “Don’t…touch…anything!”A quick visual search of the room revealed nothing extraordinary, so they resolved to reenter the liquid transport column.  Instead of rising, they began to descend.  Rosë began flailing wildly and broke contact with the group.  As he flung one arm above his head, his descent stopped and he began to rise.  Inspiration struck the Brigante as he moved upward and he held his arms straight out.  Again, his progress halted, but this time, he hung motionless, suspended in the liquid.  A wide grin split his face as he dropped his arms…his body followed the motion and floated down.Meanwhile, the rest of the party stumbled out of the pillar into a small room, occupying one-quarter of the level.  Two strange creatures moved to intercept them.  Thin, bipedal and well over three paces tall, they towered over the party.  Smooth stone gray skin, elongated limbs and nearly featureless faces.  Two almond-shaped eyes surmounted a thin nasal slit; no mouth was visible.  Four tentacles writhed from a spot just below the location of a human breastbone.  They moved with an uncanny fluid grace.Their first onrush pushed Quintus’s back into the liquid column, which promptly engulfed the sorcerer and send him down to the bottom level.  Sextus, Rowan and Lew met the attack and battled back.  The creatures were preternaturally quick, but seemed unused to physical combat.  Still, their tentacles struck with unnerving accuracy, leaving angry welts and leaching vitality.  Despite the pain and serious strength loss by Rowan, they finished the creatures off.After moving up and down in the pillar for a bit, Rosë popped out of the liquid into the waiting tentacles of two more creatures.  He smashed them back with his axe, but their attacks slid past his defense several times.  Quintus emerged from the transport column just in time to duck the backswing of the barbarian’s weapon and send a Magic Missile into one of his friend’s opponents.  It fell, followed several grains later by the second, dropped by Rosë’s axe.The Brigante, still marveling at his discovery, animatedly described to Quintus how the liquid pillar worked.  Quintus shook his head, amazed that his simple barbarian mind had grasped the concept.  ‘Wonders never cease.’The separated groups used good teamwork to clear their respective levels, although continued attacks by the tentacle creatures took their toll on the party’s collective strength.  Finally, after much trial and error, the party reunited on the third level.(DM’s Note: Watching them figure out the workings of the liquid transport pillar was pretty funny.  Essentially, stepping in at either the top or the bottom began travel in the opposite direction.  A DC 10 WIS check is needed to get off at a desired level while moving.  Arm position dictates movement – up, down or hovering – and swinging an arm while stationary rotates a person within the column.  John (Rosë’s player) figured it out first, but there were still many errors, with various characters zooming past the level they wanted to exit, getting off in the wrong chamber, etc.  Made for a fun (at least from the DM’s perspective) time!)Quintus looked at his battered companions and frowned, “This is doing nothing but wearing us down.  We need to find the source of the sounds soon or we won’t even be able to lift our blades!”The others nodded their agreement.The sorcerer continued.  “There was nothing on the roof or the first level.  We have cleared the second and third.  I believe I counted five levels when I descended initially…I say we skip the fourth and go straight to the fifth level.  Any argument?”They busied themselves checking gear and salving wounds.  Both Rowan and Rosë had taken numerous hits, but Lew could do nothing to restore their strength.  When all was ready, they once again grasped Rowan’s rope and entered the column, careful to keep their arms level.  Once inside, Rosë raised his arm above his head and the whole group slowly ascended.  He leveled out adjacent to the fifth level, just below the roof.They could vaguely make out a circular chamber that occupied the entire level.  Numerous shadowy shapes were visible.  With a mere grain’s hesitation, the group burst from the pillar, weapons ready.They found four of the tentacle creatures, larger than the others they had encountered, facing the transport column from five paces away, spaced equally.  Around the perimeter of the room were four squat, broad-shouldered figures facing away from the party.  Each of them stood before an enormous bell wrought from charcoal colored metal and a pulsating gem of the same color was imbedded at the base of each creature’s skull.  Each also held a huge, padded mallet.“Don’t attack the bell ringers,” Quintus called, “I think we need to hit them all at once…take the tentacle things.”The party moved forward to oblige, but stopped when an alien voice echoed through the party’s heads.To Be Continued…Next: Session 18 (Part One) – All Good Deeds Must Be Punished~ Old One</blockquote>

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