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Menexenus's Age of Worms Campaign Journal
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<blockquote data-quote="Menexenus" data-source="post: 3363326" data-attributes="member: 8951"><p><strong>Session 20: To the Sodden Hold</strong></p><p></p><p><em>5th of Richfest</em>. Alexander, Alees, Killick, and Katawan all returned to the Crooked House after selling two magic items (returning trident and spider hide armor) to a merchant who opened up his store just after dawn. (Tarric did not go because he was sleeping off a night of drinking and rabble rousing.) As the group entered the inn, the smell of breakfast wafted into the taproom from the kitchen. The group sat down at a table to enjoy the morning meal. Most of the bar patrons were discussing the events that had taken place in the Champions Games the previous day and speculating on how their favorite adventuring groups might fare today.</p><p></p><p>Just after the meal was served, long-lost Thorash strode through the door of the establishment in finely crafted full plate armor covered with nasty-looking metal spikes. Thorash didn't have much time to brag about his new armor, because moments after he arrived, Tarric walked downstairs wearing all of his armor, weapons, and equipment. Tarquin, the gnome proprietor of the establishment, politely asked Tarric to leave his larger weapons in his room during mealtime. He explained that he liked to keep the number of weapons in his establishment to a bare minimum to promote a comfortable, homey feeling amongst his guests. Tarric seemed to take offense at this request. He started yelling at Tarquin, saying that no one has the right to tell him what to do. And without any warning, he stepped behind the bar and stabbed Tarquin with a dagger.</p><p></p><p> The party sprang into action to restrain Tarric from doing any further damage. The bar patrons, on the other hand, seemed to be out for bloody vengeance. Katawan was the first to move up to Tarric, telling him to stand down, but Tarric slashed him with a short sword. 2 bar patrons who moved to protect Tarquin got a similar treatment. Alexander attempted to charm Tarric, but Tarric ignored the spell almost as if he were immune to its effect. Katawan used a charge from his Ring of Spell Storing to heal Tarquin and keep him from dying.</p><p></p><p> At this point, Tarric walked down the stairs in his underclothes, yawning and brandishing a bastard sword. He asked what is going on, and the party members seemed perplexed, seeing 2 Tarrics. They immediately seized on the idea that the Tarric who stabbed Tarquin was not the real Tarric, and they resumed the fight against the false Tarric with renewed vigor (and increased deadliness). Alexander shot a lightning bolt at him (destroying a shelf of imported whiskeys and leaving a large black scorch mark on the wall in the process). Killick was able to use a stunning attack to immobilize Tarric for a few seconds. This gave the bar patrons the opportunity to jump on him and drag him down to the ground. Moments later, the false Tarric was knocked unconscious by the bar patrons' ferocious pummeling.</p><p></p><p> The party investigated the body and found that it did not feel the way it looked. They took off his armor and found that it is studded leather rather than plate mail. They cast Detect Magic and found that his entire body glowed, indicating that his false appearance was a magical effect. In addition, his armor, his short sword, and 2 potions glowed with magic. The tavern patrons agreed that the party could keep the sword and potions, if the party agreed to magically heal their wounds and give them any gold that the false Tarric was carrying. After some vehement objections by Thorash and Alees, the party reluctantly agreed. </p><p></p><p>Soon after the imposter's swag was divvied up, officers of the Greyhawk City Watch arrive. They asked questions about what happened. They took the unconscious imposter into custody and impounded his studded leather armor. They told the party to direct their inquiries about the captive to Captain Auron at the local City Watch headquarters.</p><p></p><p> After the cops were gone, the party took a closer look at an odd-looking key that they had found in the imposter's belt pouch. With the help of some bar patrons, Tarquin was able to identify its insignia (a ship being pulled under the waves by a kraken) as the sign of an old abandoned warehouse near the docks called the Sodden Hold. The party decided to investigate.</p><p></p><p> They traveled to the Dock district without incident and begin investigating the run-down abandoned warehouse called the Sodden Hold. Its old wood exterior had a greenish tinge due to moss. Part of the rectangular building extended over the water of the Selintan River. Alees tried the key in the lock, and it unlocked the door. The double doors opened into a dusty storage room containing haphazardly placed crates and barrels. Killick examined the floor and told the party that, despite appearances, this room had been traversed regularly by humanoid feet. The party saw 3 doors and a ladder to a 10 foot wide, 10 foot tall loft on the far side of the room. Alees investigated the doors and found no traps. She tried the key in the lock to one of the doors and found a room that looked like it might once have been an office. It was full of ledgers and papers in no apparent order. Another door on the same wall led to an empty closet. Katawan tried climbing the rickety ladder leading up to the loft. It collapsed as soon as he got near the top, but mystically, he landed on his feet and seemed not to be hurt at all after falling 10 feet.</p><p></p><p> After eliminating the first 2 doors and after Katawan climbed up to the loft and confirmed that there was no door up there either, the party became convinced that the third door must lead towards whoever or whatever inhabited this building. Killick and Thorash stepped to either side of it and then turned the knob. Suddenly a large trap door opened beneath their feet causing both of them to plunge into a 40 foot deep pit trap. At just this moment, 3 of the boxes in the room transformed into large humanoids. Tarric attacked the one nearest to him, but he noticed too late that these creatures seemed to be very sticky, covered with a mucus with the adhesive properties of super-glue. His bastard sword stuck to the creature and would not come loose. Thorash and Killick called out for help getting out of the pit. Katawan moved to help them. Meanwhile, Alees hid behind some boxes and shot at them with her crossbow. Alexander cast magic missiles at them. They came after him, but he turned himself invisible and continued firing magic missiles at them. One of the creatures successfully struck Tarric and he was automatically stuck to it. Tarric drew weapon after weapon from his personal armory to stab at the creature, and each weapon in turn stuck to the creature. While Killick was still in the pit, he cast a spell, and a large Dire Bat attacked the enemies in his stead.</p><p></p><p> Katawan set the Rope of Climbing for Killick and Thorash to climb up. Killick did so successfully, but even with a knotted rope to help him, Thorash was unable to get to the top of the pit. Katawan tried to knock out the monster that was grappling Tarric, but he delivered a crushing blow to Tarric instead (by accident). Luckily, though, one of Alexander's Magic Missiles dropped the nasty brute before it could crush the life out of Tarric. One of the remaining monsters captured Killick in its sticky embrace. But it was dispatched before it was able to crush its prey. With the other 2 monsters gone, the 3rd one didn't last very long on its own. About a minute after the monsters were killed, their sticky glue started to break down, and the people that had been stuck to the creatures were able to remove themselves as well as their weapons.</p><p></p><p> Having found no entrance into the rest of the building, Tarric began hacking through the worn, old wooden boards that made up the wall. Once he made a hole, he heard and saw an elf women in a cage made of wooden walls and iron bars on the far side of the room. He also saw and heard two men in a similar cage on the opposite side of the room. At first the woman was strangely dubious and dismissive of the party's motivations. She seemed to think that the party was trying to trick her. But once the entire party was in the prison area, she started to be convinced that they were not her jailors in disguise. She introduced herself as Ilya Starmane and said that she was a member of a noble merchant family, controlling most of the trade from Greyhawk to the neighboring elven kingdom of Celene. The men in the opposite cell claimed to be traveling merchants who were abducted about a week ago after entering the city for the Richfest celebration.</p><p></p><p> While the party was working on getting the elf woman's cell door open, Thorash noticed the men behind him drawing longswords and shields from underneath their beds. They quickly pushed the iron door of their cell open, despite the fact that they had seemed to be locked a moment ago. Ilya screamed as these false prisoners attacked the party. Distrustful of the surly elf maiden, Alees kept a dagger at her throat while the rest of the party dealt with the attack. Although the false prisoners seemed to be well-trained fighters, they were outnumbered and unable to maneuver. They were beaten down without much difficulty. As they died, they reverted back to their original form - that of a tall bony humanoid with large eyes and grayish black skin. Alexander identified the creature as a doppelganger - an insidious shapechanger who steals others' identities.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Menexenus, post: 3363326, member: 8951"] [b]Session 20: To the Sodden Hold[/b] [I]5th of Richfest[/I]. Alexander, Alees, Killick, and Katawan all returned to the Crooked House after selling two magic items (returning trident and spider hide armor) to a merchant who opened up his store just after dawn. (Tarric did not go because he was sleeping off a night of drinking and rabble rousing.) As the group entered the inn, the smell of breakfast wafted into the taproom from the kitchen. The group sat down at a table to enjoy the morning meal. Most of the bar patrons were discussing the events that had taken place in the Champions Games the previous day and speculating on how their favorite adventuring groups might fare today. Just after the meal was served, long-lost Thorash strode through the door of the establishment in finely crafted full plate armor covered with nasty-looking metal spikes. Thorash didn't have much time to brag about his new armor, because moments after he arrived, Tarric walked downstairs wearing all of his armor, weapons, and equipment. Tarquin, the gnome proprietor of the establishment, politely asked Tarric to leave his larger weapons in his room during mealtime. He explained that he liked to keep the number of weapons in his establishment to a bare minimum to promote a comfortable, homey feeling amongst his guests. Tarric seemed to take offense at this request. He started yelling at Tarquin, saying that no one has the right to tell him what to do. And without any warning, he stepped behind the bar and stabbed Tarquin with a dagger. The party sprang into action to restrain Tarric from doing any further damage. The bar patrons, on the other hand, seemed to be out for bloody vengeance. Katawan was the first to move up to Tarric, telling him to stand down, but Tarric slashed him with a short sword. 2 bar patrons who moved to protect Tarquin got a similar treatment. Alexander attempted to charm Tarric, but Tarric ignored the spell almost as if he were immune to its effect. Katawan used a charge from his Ring of Spell Storing to heal Tarquin and keep him from dying. At this point, Tarric walked down the stairs in his underclothes, yawning and brandishing a bastard sword. He asked what is going on, and the party members seemed perplexed, seeing 2 Tarrics. They immediately seized on the idea that the Tarric who stabbed Tarquin was not the real Tarric, and they resumed the fight against the false Tarric with renewed vigor (and increased deadliness). Alexander shot a lightning bolt at him (destroying a shelf of imported whiskeys and leaving a large black scorch mark on the wall in the process). Killick was able to use a stunning attack to immobilize Tarric for a few seconds. This gave the bar patrons the opportunity to jump on him and drag him down to the ground. Moments later, the false Tarric was knocked unconscious by the bar patrons' ferocious pummeling. The party investigated the body and found that it did not feel the way it looked. They took off his armor and found that it is studded leather rather than plate mail. They cast Detect Magic and found that his entire body glowed, indicating that his false appearance was a magical effect. In addition, his armor, his short sword, and 2 potions glowed with magic. The tavern patrons agreed that the party could keep the sword and potions, if the party agreed to magically heal their wounds and give them any gold that the false Tarric was carrying. After some vehement objections by Thorash and Alees, the party reluctantly agreed. Soon after the imposter's swag was divvied up, officers of the Greyhawk City Watch arrive. They asked questions about what happened. They took the unconscious imposter into custody and impounded his studded leather armor. They told the party to direct their inquiries about the captive to Captain Auron at the local City Watch headquarters. After the cops were gone, the party took a closer look at an odd-looking key that they had found in the imposter's belt pouch. With the help of some bar patrons, Tarquin was able to identify its insignia (a ship being pulled under the waves by a kraken) as the sign of an old abandoned warehouse near the docks called the Sodden Hold. The party decided to investigate. They traveled to the Dock district without incident and begin investigating the run-down abandoned warehouse called the Sodden Hold. Its old wood exterior had a greenish tinge due to moss. Part of the rectangular building extended over the water of the Selintan River. Alees tried the key in the lock, and it unlocked the door. The double doors opened into a dusty storage room containing haphazardly placed crates and barrels. Killick examined the floor and told the party that, despite appearances, this room had been traversed regularly by humanoid feet. The party saw 3 doors and a ladder to a 10 foot wide, 10 foot tall loft on the far side of the room. Alees investigated the doors and found no traps. She tried the key in the lock to one of the doors and found a room that looked like it might once have been an office. It was full of ledgers and papers in no apparent order. Another door on the same wall led to an empty closet. Katawan tried climbing the rickety ladder leading up to the loft. It collapsed as soon as he got near the top, but mystically, he landed on his feet and seemed not to be hurt at all after falling 10 feet. After eliminating the first 2 doors and after Katawan climbed up to the loft and confirmed that there was no door up there either, the party became convinced that the third door must lead towards whoever or whatever inhabited this building. Killick and Thorash stepped to either side of it and then turned the knob. Suddenly a large trap door opened beneath their feet causing both of them to plunge into a 40 foot deep pit trap. At just this moment, 3 of the boxes in the room transformed into large humanoids. Tarric attacked the one nearest to him, but he noticed too late that these creatures seemed to be very sticky, covered with a mucus with the adhesive properties of super-glue. His bastard sword stuck to the creature and would not come loose. Thorash and Killick called out for help getting out of the pit. Katawan moved to help them. Meanwhile, Alees hid behind some boxes and shot at them with her crossbow. Alexander cast magic missiles at them. They came after him, but he turned himself invisible and continued firing magic missiles at them. One of the creatures successfully struck Tarric and he was automatically stuck to it. Tarric drew weapon after weapon from his personal armory to stab at the creature, and each weapon in turn stuck to the creature. While Killick was still in the pit, he cast a spell, and a large Dire Bat attacked the enemies in his stead. Katawan set the Rope of Climbing for Killick and Thorash to climb up. Killick did so successfully, but even with a knotted rope to help him, Thorash was unable to get to the top of the pit. Katawan tried to knock out the monster that was grappling Tarric, but he delivered a crushing blow to Tarric instead (by accident). Luckily, though, one of Alexander's Magic Missiles dropped the nasty brute before it could crush the life out of Tarric. One of the remaining monsters captured Killick in its sticky embrace. But it was dispatched before it was able to crush its prey. With the other 2 monsters gone, the 3rd one didn't last very long on its own. About a minute after the monsters were killed, their sticky glue started to break down, and the people that had been stuck to the creatures were able to remove themselves as well as their weapons. Having found no entrance into the rest of the building, Tarric began hacking through the worn, old wooden boards that made up the wall. Once he made a hole, he heard and saw an elf women in a cage made of wooden walls and iron bars on the far side of the room. He also saw and heard two men in a similar cage on the opposite side of the room. At first the woman was strangely dubious and dismissive of the party's motivations. She seemed to think that the party was trying to trick her. But once the entire party was in the prison area, she started to be convinced that they were not her jailors in disguise. She introduced herself as Ilya Starmane and said that she was a member of a noble merchant family, controlling most of the trade from Greyhawk to the neighboring elven kingdom of Celene. The men in the opposite cell claimed to be traveling merchants who were abducted about a week ago after entering the city for the Richfest celebration. While the party was working on getting the elf woman's cell door open, Thorash noticed the men behind him drawing longswords and shields from underneath their beds. They quickly pushed the iron door of their cell open, despite the fact that they had seemed to be locked a moment ago. Ilya screamed as these false prisoners attacked the party. Distrustful of the surly elf maiden, Alees kept a dagger at her throat while the rest of the party dealt with the attack. Although the false prisoners seemed to be well-trained fighters, they were outnumbered and unable to maneuver. They were beaten down without much difficulty. As they died, they reverted back to their original form - that of a tall bony humanoid with large eyes and grayish black skin. Alexander identified the creature as a doppelganger - an insidious shapechanger who steals others' identities. [/QUOTE]
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