Post by Dungeon Master on Nov 2, 2016 11:42:30 GMT -8
Session 29 - (24th October 2015).
A few coins were the target of 'Light' cantrips, which Seven tossed down the stairs. The coins descend a ways down, and if tossed hard go far enough that the light is basically muted to a point where it does little.
The boards are pried away from the grate and that is hammered away, until a section had been opened in which each party member could fit through. Conan stops hammering away, and the party enters the stairway and goes downwards... the stairs descend 400 ft., which was the level divide between each level of the other entrances to Rappan Athuuk. The party is aware that the difficulty has likely jumped up a notch. As they descend, Skeeter takes the time to pick up each of Seven's silver pieces and pocket them.
A set of double doors are at the bottom of the stairs. These open into a North-South hallway, with a slightly smaller set of doors heading East, almost directly across from the entrance point (the double doors, on the West side of the hallway). The hallway leads both North and South, fifty feet before ending at a closed door.
Spion examines the east door, across from the entrance point, while the rest of the party clumps up except that Seven moves south and Skeeter moves north. About twenty-five feet along (both Northwards and Southwards) a passage allows movement ten feet to the west, except that a grate has been placed at the halfway part of each of these short passages. The black skinned ghoul-like creatures reach through the bars and attempt to grab at Seven and Skeeter, who are both far out of their reach. The force of their blows against the grate/bars is such that it is immediately evident that the creatures will break free in the near future and that these areas are at best temporary bottlenecks/blockages.
Spion ascertains that the door is not locked nor trapped, but leaves the door closed and heads to the southern-most group of black ghoul creatures. These are some kind of a variation of ghoul, which seems to have been a popular type within Rappan Athuuk; at least the party has encountered them in two other places. They are both strong and agile, with phenomenal jumping capability and display cunning and intelligence most of the time, but risk everything to take out divine casters.
Conan hammers away at the grate, and eventually creates an opening. Skeeter explores beyond the doorway, to the south, without having checked it for traps or such. He is in luck, as it is neither locked nor trapped. Beyond the doorway is a hallway that goes south until it ends at another door. Also to the west is another grate that seemingly leads into the same room that Conan is hammering away at via the Northern of the two entrances. Skeeter backtracks to be with the group.
Conan forces his way through the grate and into the room. The ghoul-like guys mob him somewhat and then several members of the party move into the area. Unfortunately, due to the tight confines and the clogging of the area by the ghoul-like guys, not everyone can bring their attacks to bear. Worse, the angles aren't conducive to launching spells aside from three guys (out of seven) in a line leading inwards. Ctuchik, the alchemist|aegis, continues to gleefully toss his bombs towards the ghoul guys and is actually responsible for more party damage (due to splash damage) than the ghouls themselves inflict. The ghouls have Evasion, so aren't great targets for AoE spells. The battle uses a lot of resources, but is never really that close to being in doubt, aside from when Conan is bit by a ghoul and rendered Paralyzed... the ghouls had attempted to swarm him, but Fuhrer and Amon were able to force their way in, once the ghoul-like guys were on Conan rather than blockading the entrance.
There is debate on whether the party should engage the next set or rest up and then engage with full resources. They decide to massively buff up and then engage. Again due to the angles of attack, not everyone can participate initially, and since Ctuchik doesn't have an angle to lob bombs, he opts to go solo exploring (have to love CN...). With all of the buffs, this second fight doesn't last nearly as long and the outcome is even less in doubt. Ctuchik returns with news of a room which is filled with mirrors and candles, to the south.
Unlike the first set of Ghoul guys, the leader guy in the second set has a couple of magical items. Spion and Seven identify them as 'black dyed' (drow-forged) Elven Chain +1 and an Elven Curveblade, also +1. There is a bit of an argument over who should get to wear the armor. Spion wants it, as it will increase his protection (AC by +3, over Mage Armor) and he can use his entire DEX mod with it, with a 10% Arcane Spell Failure rate. Seven, who is too small to wear the armor currently, thinks that it should go to a tank type and if no one else can use it, it should be reforged to accomodate a small character (the party has two halflings who could benefit from the armor). Spion says that he's in this to be paid, and if he doesn't 'get it' then he wants his 'cut' immediately of whatever the armor is worth. In the end, it is undecided as to who will end up with it, whether it will be used or sold and the proceeds split, but Spion is wearing it until they get back to town.
The party rests before checking out Ctuchik's room with the mirrors. The passage leading that way is untrapped up to that point. The room is asymetrical, and has hundreds (seemingly) of mirrors on almost every wall and along the ceiling. Mirrors are scattered throughout the room, creating a house of mirrors like effect. Strangely, there are numerous very thick layers of paint upon the floor, as if someone were to paint a coat and then repaint the coat, until the floor itself is covered with close to an inch of crunchy paint, that breaks apart with every step within the room. (weak) Alteration magic (from one source) and (moderate-strong) Necromantic magic (from a different source) are both detected from within the room, but due to the mirrors it is impossible to say where either is coming from. Seven moves into the room and is attacked by something that looks absolutely identical to him, down to equipment and all. Whatever it is, it does not pursue outside of the room. Spion shoots an arrow into the room, at a mirror, but instead hits another mirror... much closer than he thought it would be; the angles and reflections make size and distance hard to ascertain accurately. Conan surrenders his Earth Breaker, and then enters the room with his eyes closed, and for his trouble is smacked by a gauntleted version of himself. Spion decides to Fireball the room, from the outside; his first blast detonates almost in his face as the fireball streaks towards its' desired target and detonates as soon as it hits the interposing mirror; four party members are burnt, and Ctuchik points out that he's not the only one who burns the party. A few more Fireballs and the mirrors are all destroyed, along with whatever else was creating those images.
The passage continues deeper into the dungeon, beyond the Room of Mirrors, heading West and then angling South-West. It leads into a room, with another pit trap and a Falcata on the floor. Touching the weapon delivers a moderately powerful shock, each round. Seven, not liking being shocked, drops it, but Spion picks it up via a blanket and wraps it several times before placing it within his backpack. An adjoining room contains a truely massive chest with a simple trap that is disabled with ease. However, the lid takes a massive amount of effort and can barely be opened via the three strong characters working in unison (Bull's Strength, Aid action, Aid action, roll a 17+ which eventually happens). The chest is empty, and there are no illusions hiding anything within.
Backtracking towards the entrance for the level, the unlocked and untrapped door which leads East is ignored for now.
The group heads North, beyond the second group of Ghoul-like guys they killed earlier. This passage opens into a vast room with a massive fishing tank like thing. The 'tank' is forty feet wide and sixty feet long and twenty feet tall. At the top, on each of the four corners lilies have been constructed of the stone and they sprout sewage like water, that reeks of rotten eggs and sulphur, into the pool. Levitation shows that the pool contains a sculpture of a demon lord, identified as Tsa'thogga, along with thousands of tadpoles which presumably will mature into the frog-like men fought previously (Tsathar). A Fireball and a Lightning Bolt (via scroll) are launched into the pool, but due to the sheer size only a fraction of the tadpoles are slain.
A hidden door is discovered along the eastern wall, which is essentially a walk-in coat closet. This contains eight Acolyte robes and two Priest robes adorned with the (un)holy symbol of Tsa'thogga. Fuhrer, the Paladin, says with disgust that they should be left behind. Seven, also partially Paladin, takes several of the robes and states that they'll possibly be disguises which will aid in the battle against evil, and ultimately bring glory to Kel. Seven also finds several vials of Unholy Water, which he empties out onto the floor.
A doorway is visible on the Western wall, and that is where our heroes head next. This leads to a hallway with a similar door after fifty feet. This door is locked, but the lock is of very low quality. However the door is also bared from the other side. Conan smashes through it, after a few minutes of loud work.
The chamber beyond is roughly rectangular, but a large section of the northern portion is elevated and accessed via stairs on the far side of the room. There are six pillars of green rock (5 ft. diameter) from floor to ceiling (40 ft. above), which emanate some kind of a green glow from within. In addition to the stairs, there is a door on the western wall, two doors flanking and facing South-West and South-East on slightly angled walls and a set of double-doors to the south. The stairs lead upwards to a large platform with blind albino frogs, each the size of a house cat; to the north is a river which while only two feet deep is 30-40 feet wide and flowing quickly enough that entering it almost guarantees being swept away; it stretches further than the eye can see both to the west (where it is coming from) and to the east (where it is going). One of the Paladins does a 'Detect Evil' and encounters very strong evil emanating from the double-doors to the south; the evil is not as strong as the demon within the binding circle, but is the next strongest evil thing encountered while in service to Dwerfaeter. The flanking side doors are too difficult to pick open and resist being smashed; Spion uses his racial Dispel Magic and ends the effect on one of them. The door opens easily, to a solid stone wall without illusion or secret passage beyond. The doorway to the west is a storage area with numerous staples, all in the form of barrels full of whatever... ale, water, cured meats, dried grains, live crickets (the size of rabbits).
Seven says that the party doesn't have the resources to take on something massively evil and powerful, until after they rest. Spion says that they need to rest, but that he's going to open the double doors, to ensure that there isn't something big and nasty on the other side that will kill them in their sleep. Seven leaves the room, and heads back towards the ghoul-like guys cells, to rest up. Spion opens the double doors and finds a small room, with another set of double doors; he closes the first set and gets ready to sleep. Seven arrives back at the ghoul cells (he's slightly faster than Ctuchik, and much faster than anyone other than Amon who can run circles around everyone) is quick order, and discovers that two more of the Ooze things have moved in. They achieve surprise, but through the protection of almighty Kel (via a Lay on Hands use) he acts in the surprise round and goes first in that round. Seven runs towards the party...
The party collectively drop the ooze guys, without having their weapons destroyed. Spion wants to sleep in the hallway between the two sets of heavy doors, with the column/frog platform room on one side and the tadpole/rotting egg fountain on the other side; Skeeter joins him here. The rest of the party return to the Ghoul-Cells and use several lengths of rope to create a lattice to act as a door. In the night, something big begins to pound upon the door into Spion/Skeeter's area, and it looks like it will get through in short order as the door has already been bashed in by Conan once; Spion and Skeeter unblock the far door and stand there (buffed with Invisibility) to get a glimpse of whatever is coming for them; as soon as it is spotted they slam and disable (take 10, to stick Pitons in the door as a jam) the door and run towards the party. No random encounter on their end, that night.
Spion and Skeeter arrive at the rope lattice and start untying; the party watch alerts the sleeping member that something is breaking in, but Spion and Skeeter call out and identify themselves. The trolls aren't that far behind; these are a different species than the three encountered earlier, but similar enough that the party understands the tactics necessary to win the battle. The fight takes a while, as these are larger and stronger than the previous set and they enrage which further increases their danger.
The trolls are defeated, and the party sleeps for the night here.
(Off next weekend, due to Halloween; we'll resume for Nov 7th).
A few coins were the target of 'Light' cantrips, which Seven tossed down the stairs. The coins descend a ways down, and if tossed hard go far enough that the light is basically muted to a point where it does little.
The boards are pried away from the grate and that is hammered away, until a section had been opened in which each party member could fit through. Conan stops hammering away, and the party enters the stairway and goes downwards... the stairs descend 400 ft., which was the level divide between each level of the other entrances to Rappan Athuuk. The party is aware that the difficulty has likely jumped up a notch. As they descend, Skeeter takes the time to pick up each of Seven's silver pieces and pocket them.
A set of double doors are at the bottom of the stairs. These open into a North-South hallway, with a slightly smaller set of doors heading East, almost directly across from the entrance point (the double doors, on the West side of the hallway). The hallway leads both North and South, fifty feet before ending at a closed door.
Spion examines the east door, across from the entrance point, while the rest of the party clumps up except that Seven moves south and Skeeter moves north. About twenty-five feet along (both Northwards and Southwards) a passage allows movement ten feet to the west, except that a grate has been placed at the halfway part of each of these short passages. The black skinned ghoul-like creatures reach through the bars and attempt to grab at Seven and Skeeter, who are both far out of their reach. The force of their blows against the grate/bars is such that it is immediately evident that the creatures will break free in the near future and that these areas are at best temporary bottlenecks/blockages.
Spion ascertains that the door is not locked nor trapped, but leaves the door closed and heads to the southern-most group of black ghoul creatures. These are some kind of a variation of ghoul, which seems to have been a popular type within Rappan Athuuk; at least the party has encountered them in two other places. They are both strong and agile, with phenomenal jumping capability and display cunning and intelligence most of the time, but risk everything to take out divine casters.
Conan hammers away at the grate, and eventually creates an opening. Skeeter explores beyond the doorway, to the south, without having checked it for traps or such. He is in luck, as it is neither locked nor trapped. Beyond the doorway is a hallway that goes south until it ends at another door. Also to the west is another grate that seemingly leads into the same room that Conan is hammering away at via the Northern of the two entrances. Skeeter backtracks to be with the group.
Conan forces his way through the grate and into the room. The ghoul-like guys mob him somewhat and then several members of the party move into the area. Unfortunately, due to the tight confines and the clogging of the area by the ghoul-like guys, not everyone can bring their attacks to bear. Worse, the angles aren't conducive to launching spells aside from three guys (out of seven) in a line leading inwards. Ctuchik, the alchemist|aegis, continues to gleefully toss his bombs towards the ghoul guys and is actually responsible for more party damage (due to splash damage) than the ghouls themselves inflict. The ghouls have Evasion, so aren't great targets for AoE spells. The battle uses a lot of resources, but is never really that close to being in doubt, aside from when Conan is bit by a ghoul and rendered Paralyzed... the ghouls had attempted to swarm him, but Fuhrer and Amon were able to force their way in, once the ghoul-like guys were on Conan rather than blockading the entrance.
There is debate on whether the party should engage the next set or rest up and then engage with full resources. They decide to massively buff up and then engage. Again due to the angles of attack, not everyone can participate initially, and since Ctuchik doesn't have an angle to lob bombs, he opts to go solo exploring (have to love CN...). With all of the buffs, this second fight doesn't last nearly as long and the outcome is even less in doubt. Ctuchik returns with news of a room which is filled with mirrors and candles, to the south.
Unlike the first set of Ghoul guys, the leader guy in the second set has a couple of magical items. Spion and Seven identify them as 'black dyed' (drow-forged) Elven Chain +1 and an Elven Curveblade, also +1. There is a bit of an argument over who should get to wear the armor. Spion wants it, as it will increase his protection (AC by +3, over Mage Armor) and he can use his entire DEX mod with it, with a 10% Arcane Spell Failure rate. Seven, who is too small to wear the armor currently, thinks that it should go to a tank type and if no one else can use it, it should be reforged to accomodate a small character (the party has two halflings who could benefit from the armor). Spion says that he's in this to be paid, and if he doesn't 'get it' then he wants his 'cut' immediately of whatever the armor is worth. In the end, it is undecided as to who will end up with it, whether it will be used or sold and the proceeds split, but Spion is wearing it until they get back to town.
The party rests before checking out Ctuchik's room with the mirrors. The passage leading that way is untrapped up to that point. The room is asymetrical, and has hundreds (seemingly) of mirrors on almost every wall and along the ceiling. Mirrors are scattered throughout the room, creating a house of mirrors like effect. Strangely, there are numerous very thick layers of paint upon the floor, as if someone were to paint a coat and then repaint the coat, until the floor itself is covered with close to an inch of crunchy paint, that breaks apart with every step within the room. (weak) Alteration magic (from one source) and (moderate-strong) Necromantic magic (from a different source) are both detected from within the room, but due to the mirrors it is impossible to say where either is coming from. Seven moves into the room and is attacked by something that looks absolutely identical to him, down to equipment and all. Whatever it is, it does not pursue outside of the room. Spion shoots an arrow into the room, at a mirror, but instead hits another mirror... much closer than he thought it would be; the angles and reflections make size and distance hard to ascertain accurately. Conan surrenders his Earth Breaker, and then enters the room with his eyes closed, and for his trouble is smacked by a gauntleted version of himself. Spion decides to Fireball the room, from the outside; his first blast detonates almost in his face as the fireball streaks towards its' desired target and detonates as soon as it hits the interposing mirror; four party members are burnt, and Ctuchik points out that he's not the only one who burns the party. A few more Fireballs and the mirrors are all destroyed, along with whatever else was creating those images.
The passage continues deeper into the dungeon, beyond the Room of Mirrors, heading West and then angling South-West. It leads into a room, with another pit trap and a Falcata on the floor. Touching the weapon delivers a moderately powerful shock, each round. Seven, not liking being shocked, drops it, but Spion picks it up via a blanket and wraps it several times before placing it within his backpack. An adjoining room contains a truely massive chest with a simple trap that is disabled with ease. However, the lid takes a massive amount of effort and can barely be opened via the three strong characters working in unison (Bull's Strength, Aid action, Aid action, roll a 17+ which eventually happens). The chest is empty, and there are no illusions hiding anything within.
Backtracking towards the entrance for the level, the unlocked and untrapped door which leads East is ignored for now.
The group heads North, beyond the second group of Ghoul-like guys they killed earlier. This passage opens into a vast room with a massive fishing tank like thing. The 'tank' is forty feet wide and sixty feet long and twenty feet tall. At the top, on each of the four corners lilies have been constructed of the stone and they sprout sewage like water, that reeks of rotten eggs and sulphur, into the pool. Levitation shows that the pool contains a sculpture of a demon lord, identified as Tsa'thogga, along with thousands of tadpoles which presumably will mature into the frog-like men fought previously (Tsathar). A Fireball and a Lightning Bolt (via scroll) are launched into the pool, but due to the sheer size only a fraction of the tadpoles are slain.
A hidden door is discovered along the eastern wall, which is essentially a walk-in coat closet. This contains eight Acolyte robes and two Priest robes adorned with the (un)holy symbol of Tsa'thogga. Fuhrer, the Paladin, says with disgust that they should be left behind. Seven, also partially Paladin, takes several of the robes and states that they'll possibly be disguises which will aid in the battle against evil, and ultimately bring glory to Kel. Seven also finds several vials of Unholy Water, which he empties out onto the floor.
A doorway is visible on the Western wall, and that is where our heroes head next. This leads to a hallway with a similar door after fifty feet. This door is locked, but the lock is of very low quality. However the door is also bared from the other side. Conan smashes through it, after a few minutes of loud work.
The chamber beyond is roughly rectangular, but a large section of the northern portion is elevated and accessed via stairs on the far side of the room. There are six pillars of green rock (5 ft. diameter) from floor to ceiling (40 ft. above), which emanate some kind of a green glow from within. In addition to the stairs, there is a door on the western wall, two doors flanking and facing South-West and South-East on slightly angled walls and a set of double-doors to the south. The stairs lead upwards to a large platform with blind albino frogs, each the size of a house cat; to the north is a river which while only two feet deep is 30-40 feet wide and flowing quickly enough that entering it almost guarantees being swept away; it stretches further than the eye can see both to the west (where it is coming from) and to the east (where it is going). One of the Paladins does a 'Detect Evil' and encounters very strong evil emanating from the double-doors to the south; the evil is not as strong as the demon within the binding circle, but is the next strongest evil thing encountered while in service to Dwerfaeter. The flanking side doors are too difficult to pick open and resist being smashed; Spion uses his racial Dispel Magic and ends the effect on one of them. The door opens easily, to a solid stone wall without illusion or secret passage beyond. The doorway to the west is a storage area with numerous staples, all in the form of barrels full of whatever... ale, water, cured meats, dried grains, live crickets (the size of rabbits).
Seven says that the party doesn't have the resources to take on something massively evil and powerful, until after they rest. Spion says that they need to rest, but that he's going to open the double doors, to ensure that there isn't something big and nasty on the other side that will kill them in their sleep. Seven leaves the room, and heads back towards the ghoul-like guys cells, to rest up. Spion opens the double doors and finds a small room, with another set of double doors; he closes the first set and gets ready to sleep. Seven arrives back at the ghoul cells (he's slightly faster than Ctuchik, and much faster than anyone other than Amon who can run circles around everyone) is quick order, and discovers that two more of the Ooze things have moved in. They achieve surprise, but through the protection of almighty Kel (via a Lay on Hands use) he acts in the surprise round and goes first in that round. Seven runs towards the party...
The party collectively drop the ooze guys, without having their weapons destroyed. Spion wants to sleep in the hallway between the two sets of heavy doors, with the column/frog platform room on one side and the tadpole/rotting egg fountain on the other side; Skeeter joins him here. The rest of the party return to the Ghoul-Cells and use several lengths of rope to create a lattice to act as a door. In the night, something big begins to pound upon the door into Spion/Skeeter's area, and it looks like it will get through in short order as the door has already been bashed in by Conan once; Spion and Skeeter unblock the far door and stand there (buffed with Invisibility) to get a glimpse of whatever is coming for them; as soon as it is spotted they slam and disable (take 10, to stick Pitons in the door as a jam) the door and run towards the party. No random encounter on their end, that night.
Spion and Skeeter arrive at the rope lattice and start untying; the party watch alerts the sleeping member that something is breaking in, but Spion and Skeeter call out and identify themselves. The trolls aren't that far behind; these are a different species than the three encountered earlier, but similar enough that the party understands the tactics necessary to win the battle. The fight takes a while, as these are larger and stronger than the previous set and they enrage which further increases their danger.
The trolls are defeated, and the party sleeps for the night here.
(Off next weekend, due to Halloween; we'll resume for Nov 7th).