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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(contact)" data-source="post: 1152" data-attributes="member: 41">30-- "It's A Small Dungeon, After All" (tm)Undermountain was built (legends say) by the Mad Mage Halaster Blackcloak.  It is widely accepted by the populace of Faerun that Undermountain is the single largest labyrinth of connected underground rooms and passages in the known world.  The entire place radiates magic, and ruins divinations of that sort.  In addition, transportative spells simply do not function within Undermountain, foiling rapid travel into or out of the dungeon.  Not that such travel does not take place-in fact, there are said to be portals to countless other places in Faerun and even other planes of existence within Halaster's domain, but they are not easily navigated.  Rooms that adventurers were resting in just minutes before have a nasty habit of disappearing, and more than one band of hardy delvers have starved to death trying to find a way out of Undermountain.  In Halaster's halls, everything must be won and nothing can be taken for granted.  The monstrous inhabitants of the place are teleported or summoned into the dungeon by the Mad Mage himself-monster collecting is said to be one of his more mundane hobbies.The first half-day of searching does not turn up any ancient artifacts, but a trio of events transpire that are interesting in their own right.In the first, the four explorers stumble upon a scene of battle.  The fight must have been fairly recent, judging by the state of the human and elven corpses around the room, but not so recent that the bodies were not looted for their coins, magic and steel.  Five adventurers died in mortal combat here, that much is obvious.  From the looks of their mutilated remains and the footprints in the blood around their bodies, they were killed by a mixed group of trolls and human-sized spell users.Taran discovers a diary on the body of a fighter-type, and with Thelbar's help is able to make some sense of the entries.  The man is Cormyrian, and he names his hometown as Arabel.  A former knight of the realm, his family fell on hard times during the recent struggles there, and he had decided (against his wife's argumentative disapproval) to try and win back his fortune raiding the halls of Halaster.  By the time of the last pitiful entry, the band had grown completely lost, their numbers dwindling through violent attrition, and food supplies were dangerously low.  The last entry reads simply, "Someone tell my wife she was right."Taran finds himself deeply moved by the late adventurer's story, and pockets the diary, thumbing through it from time to time.As the group is leaving the battle site, several wispy translucent figures float up through the floor and clutch at the hearts of the living.  Wights!  Elbis is not yet strong enough in his new-found faith to repulse these fiends, and Elita can only send a pair packing.  The rest fall upon Keltie, piercing his skin with their half-real fingertips, and greedily clutching the life out of his heart.  Taran leaps forward, Black Lisa is put to use, and soon the wights are no more.  But it is not soon enough for Keltie, who has gone to the pasoun.Elita says some words for her new companion and Taran promises to pay Keltie's treasure share to his survivors.  Elbis grapples with a strange, new feeling-grief.  After all, the death rites in the church of Bane usually revolved around dividing the deceased's loot and fighting over who got the promotion.Several more rooms are searched without event, when the band stumbles upon another group of delvers.  This new band is composed completely of elves, worshippers of Corellon Larethian, as proclaimed by their prominent holy symbols.  Unfortunately, these Corellon elves aren't interested in parleying with any band that includes drow members, and before Thelbar can explain himself, the elves attack!Poor Elita is their first target, and she is attacked from behind by a previously unseen elven rogue.  A follow-up flame strike from the elven cleric finishes her, and she dies on the spot before Taran can even free Black Lisa from her scabbard.The party counterattacks, and within seconds, the cleric is feebleminded, and Taran has cut the rouge badly.  Elbis fights well enough to make his former Zhentarim brethren proud, and things turn deadly serious.  It is a tragic mistake, to be sure, but one that the Champions of Ishlok intend to live to regret.Spells fly, and swords sing their deadly tune.  Taran is wounded, but the elven rogue is killed, the elven mage held and their cleric left a drooling idiot.  A lone elf, an arcane archer, turns invisible and flees, but cannot escape her foes, as she retreats into a room with no exits.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Rule number one: Never split the party.  Rule number two: Never flee into a part of the dungeon you have not explored.</li> </ul>The arcane archer is cornered, and convinced at sword-point to parley.  The archer expresses no regret for their murderous attack, and curses the party for being evil, refusing to accept the possibility of good-aligned drow.  It is revealed that the Corellon Larethian faithful were searching Undermountain for a sacred gem of their own faith, but their hopes for success are certainly dashed now.In the end, no real peace can be found, and the group sadly allows her to gather her dead and wounded.  She scorns all offers of help, and the four surviving Champions leave her to find her own way free of Undermountain, wounded and alone.Thelbar says a few words over the body of Elita, and commends her soul into the pasoun, ending with the Ishlokain ritual prayer for her next life.Their numbers dwindling, Taran is fitfully reminded of the fallen adventurer's diary, and the horrible litany of attrition it contained.  But he puts the morbid thought from his mind, and continues with the search.  After several twisting turns that directly contradict the map given them by the cultists of Palatin Eremath, the party stumbles into a narrow corridor that gives out into a doorway that opens on blackness.  Taran is scouting ahead when he spies a trio of female heads, seemingly floating in the inky darkness of the doorway."Greetings, human," one of the heads hisses in a sibilant whisper."Perhaps you could provide us with an answer to a pressing question," the second says."Yes," the third finishes.  "Why should we not eat you?""Because I'd f-king murder you?" Taran asks in his best innocent tones."No, brother," comes Thelbar's voice as he approaches the scene.  Elbis is carrying a torch, and as the two near the doorway, the darkness is dispelled, revealing that the women's heads are not floating, but attached to snake bodies that twine back into the room."Worthies like these fear not your steel," Thelbar says.  "But perhaps we have something they cannot retrieve from our corpses.""Yes," the top head says."News, perhaps?" the middle head says."Gossip about Halister's Home?" the third head says."We will exchange information, in equal measures if you can help us find what we seek."The exchange is surprisingly polite, with both sides wary of the other's temper.  The nagas are long-term inhabitants of Undermountain and claim that nothing happens here that doesn't reach their ears eventually.  They are not surprised to hear about the goddess Palatin Eremath having a shrine in the dungeon, but are shocked to hear that she now has a priesthood here as well.  The naga say that Palatin Eremath is a dead elven goddess, believed lost from before the time of even their grandmothers.  That she has followers, or an other-worldly existence as the goddess Ishlok is news to them.  In turn, they tell the party that the Fallen Star of Palatin Eremath is a perfect sapphire, truly one of a kind, and now currently in the possession of a blue dragon that has taken up residence in Undermountain fairly recently."No more than decade or so ago," one of the nagas says.The group shows the nagas their map, and are instructed to bear north by east.  "The dragon's lair is in the northeast corner", one says.  "You can't miss it", pipes in a second.  "Best of luck prying the Star from its clutches", the third cheerily and insincerely replies.  Taran scowls, but Thelbar remembers his manners, and bows to the naga as deeply as he might to a eligible baroness.  Elbis grapples with another foreign emotion-disgust for evil things.The trio follows the naga's directions, and comes across a large room containing a freshwater pool.  The water would be a welcome sight and rare luxury if it wasn't guarded by a handful of massive humanoids, 13 feet tall and slope-browed.  When they spot the party, the de-evolved giants leap to their size 64 feet and brandish clubs eagerly.  Battle commences, and Elbis proves that while he may be newly kind-hearted, he is still as conniving and clever as ever.  He summons monsters to distract the giants, leaving openings for Taran, while Thelbar quickly charms one of the titanic brutes.As the battle lines are drawn, Taran scores a legendary blow, cleaving through one of the giant's legs with one mighty swing of his sword.  The unfortunate giant falls to the ground screaming, and as his blood literally bathes the snarling human fighter, the remaining giants look like they are beginning to think twice about wanting this fight.But the way is not yet clear as a hooded figure appears from a secret passage and begins a series of arcane gestures.  A wave of nausea and muscle tension slips over Taran and Thelbar, but they are fortunately able to resist the effect.  Thelbar hits the wizard with a dispel magic, and Elbis silences the mage.  Taran tries to win free of the giants he is fighting in order to get close to the enemy wizard, but just as he succeeds, the wizard throws back his hood revealing an alien head filled with clutching tentacles where a mouth should be.  Taran hesitates for a second out of revulsion and is suddenly overwhelmed by the will of the creature, which seems to radiate out of it in palpable waves, confusing and stunning the fighter.Thelbar is not stunned, however, and places a lightning bolt square between the beast's tentacles.  As he does so, his charmed giant companion swings his oversized maul and crushes the face of the last of his friends, laughing all the time, and saying "Me told you no make fun of me!  See what you get!  See what you get!"As Taran slowly recovers his wits, Thelbar addresses his new giant companion.  The huge degenerate gives his name as "Skullf--ker", a charming moniker no doubt thought to be quite sophisticated amongst his kind.  Thelbar considers re-naming his new pet, but decides against it, realizing the amusement he will have every time Taran barks "Skullf--ker!  To my side!"</blockquote>

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