Post by Dungeon Master on Nov 2, 2016 11:43:11 GMT -8
Session 30 (Nov 7th, 2015)
Unfortunately, both Seven and Skeeter cannot make this session; Seven is played (basic information, but no character sheet present) by Fuhrer and Skeeter (again no sheet) is played by Spion.
The party returns to the chamber where the evil aura was coming from. The room has six pillars which glow with light from within, the previously discovered store room, the double doors at the southern end of the room (from which the evil aura was/is detected) and a pair of doors set at an angle near the southern door. One of these doors had been successfully dispelled and then forced open to reveal a solid stone wall beyond. The other was impossible to open via lockpicking or brute force.
Upon returning, more people choose to venture up the stairs, in the North West corner of the room. There is a raised platform with numerous albino frogs upon it. Beyond the platform is a rushing river, which although only a few deep has a massively powerful current. It flows from the West to the East. The party decides to investigate the frogs further, and despite invisibility they have no problems tracking Spion. The hungry frogs view the party as a meal (the barrels of live crickets, within the discovered store room have been ignored) and a battle soon ensues. The frogs prove to be little more than a distraction.
The river is investigated by Conan and Ctuchik, via their Aegis Suit's flight powers. Conan flies to the West (source of the river) whilst Ctuchik flies East (to where it is heading). Each travels about a mile before coming to a dead end. The source of the river (to the West) is a massive hole in the ceiling with water crashing downwards with terrifying force, and then flowing to the East as there is nowhere else for it to go. The river continues past the landing, also for about a mile before it flows underground somewhere... The force of the flowing water easily brings the party to the conclusion that swimming against the current will be impossible, and at best a strong swimmer may partially control what they collide with or avoid. No one wants to see where the river goes...
The party opts to have Spion cast his racial Dispel Magic at the second door, also on an angle. Once the magic is gone, the door can be opened and it too faces a solid stone wall... a successful decoy, which has wasted a portion of the parties resources.
Beyond the double doors is a series of staggered traps; it seems one is physical and two are magical in nature with the trigger being simple proximity which prevents the magical traps from being disarmed/removed without a Dispel Magic type effect. Sadly, neither Spion nor Skeeter thought that Dispel Magic was worth learning. Conan moves into the area and it hit and hurt by some of the traps (an Acid Arrow misses him, but he is hit by both a Fire Blast and a Cold Effect); he survives both of these.
The party kills another 24 hours, and Spion gets his racial dispel back. He dispels one of the magical effects, which is good enough because the second effect did not reset itself automatically. The party smashes their way into the room, with Conan in the front using his Earth Breaker to bash in the door.
As the door breaks, right in his face is a large creature which the party identifies a short time later as a Clay Golem. In addition to the Golem there are numerous humanoid figures of mixed races (humans, elves, dwarves, half-elves, and half-orcs) all wearing robes similar to those recovered previously in the room with the giant pool and the tadpoles swimming within the rotting waters. Just within the room, chained upon an altar is the forms of three humanoids one of which has already been sacrificed by a woman at the altar.
The party recalls some basic information on the Golem, and it essentially boils down to its' being immune to almost all magical effects; this one will have to be slain via melee/ranged attacks. Unfortunately, without Adamantine weaponry, it takes reduced damage from physical attacks.
The lesser accolytes engage for a short time, while the higher priests move up. Amon runs into the conflict, but the Clay Golem hits him with impressive reach and hits him rather hard. The lesser accolytes channel negative energies and that knocks Amon out, but does not finish him off. The party lands some healing on Amon and he regains consciousness, but is at the feet of the massive creature... which for the moment is ignoring his prone form as it wails away trading blows with Conan. Spion is clearly frustrated, as he wants to drop a Fireball or two upon the cultists, but his allies would be within the blast; he chooses to fire Scorching Rays towards the High Priestess, hoping that she is the main threat.
The High Priestess is dropped, and the regular priests advance; the Golem is still standing strong. The Priests begin to channel negative energy, using it offensively against the party. They manage to exclude themselves from the bursts but the Acolytes are not as lucky. The Acolytes quickly back away from their Priests and disappear around a corner and out of sight. There is an ominious sense; a wondering of what they might be doing or getting.
The party chooses to focus on the Priests, as the channelling of negative energy is quite nasty. Conan and Amon are unconscious at the same time, and Seven runs in to join in the fray. The Clay Golem knocks him out just before Ctuchik's healing bomb restores the party to consciousness. The ranged guys focus fire on the Priests, one at a time and gradually their channel power depletes. Although it was far too close to be enjoyable, the party drops the priests and then focuses on the Clay Golem which has been smashing at whatever was within its' reach. The Golem, as the only threat, does not last all that long. Amon gets to his feet, more than a little upset that he spent the entire battle either unconscious or pretending to be dead as the Golem stood right over him.
The party identifies the Mace of the High Priestess as an Unholy item. Spion wants to sell it, as it will be quite valuable, but Fuhrer doesn't want an evil item to be sold to someone who will then be able to use it against a good person. Skeeter (played by Spion) supports Spion's view that the party should get something for their trouble, while Seven (also a Paladin like Fuhrer, and played by Fuhrer) says that an evil item cannot be allowed to continue existing. Conan (NG) chimes in, saying that it is an evil act on the part of the two Paladins to force their world views onto others and prevent them from profiting by selling evil items. The group spends a little over two hours (real time) discussing the issue and eventually Spion throws the mace to the ground and says that it can be destroyed, but also vows to not share full information on future identified items that the holy guys will insist on wasting.
There are two mirrors within the chamber beyond, both covered by thick green curtains. The acolytes are nowhere to be found. One of the mirrors contains a horrid image of whoever looks upon it. The image charges at the viewer (even if the mirror is viewed from a non-direct angle) but in each case the viewer manages to shrug off the mental effect. The party decides to cover this mirror back up. The other mirror has no reflection at all, and as soon as Conan touches it, he disappears completely (and is removed from Fuhrer's collective).
A day passes and there is no replacement character arriving from the Mage's Challenge, so the party decides to backtrack towards Zelkor's Ferry and sell everything they have. Some are in favor of a long trek across most of the country to the one known larger city for selling/buying items and to potentially acquire (Leadership) followers, as seven characters is not viewed as enough.
Meanwhile Conan finds himself in a swamp and as he looks about he realizes he is near the Cloister of the Frog God. He's not too keen on running into the Vampire again, so heads back towards Zelkor's Ferry hoping that the party will eventually return there. Conan sells all of the party loot which he was carrying, and purchases several small sacks, and puts one share in each of those... then heads to the tavern to drink some of his share away.
Conan meets an individual who identifies himself as a collector of stories; he has heard of the great deeds of Conan and those who accompany him. Many of the deeds attributed to the party have not actually been accomplished by the party, but it is part of their legend. Conan introduces himself and the stranger says he is known as Drifter, because he moves about the world freely -- in search of his stories. Drifter asks permission to accompany Conan on his journey and to record his great deeds (which are written in a book called 'Gods of the Known World'. Conan fills Drifter in on many of the tactics the party has used to defeat various enemies along the way.
The party catches up with Conan, and both Paladins are suspicious of Drifter, but he does not detect as evil. He states that his fee for 'holding horses calmly amidst a battle' or 'burning bacon for breakfast' is a gold piece per hundred days, plus his room & board and to be allowed to record history as it unfolds about him. Fuhrer is skeptical about his ability to survive the harsh environments, but Drifter says that he's tougher than he looks and proves it by lifting Conan (and gear... approximately 400 pounds together) over his head.
The group returns to the Tunnels of Terror, and instead of taking the passageway North (to the Altar where there mirrors are; Conan informs the party that one of them is a shortcut to the Cloister) or to the South, which eventually dead-ends just beyond the room where the mirrored images attack those who enter the room... the party decides to investigate the doors directly across from the stairs (East) which Spion has previously disarmed and unlocked, but had never opened.
The chamber beyond is seemingly empty at first. Spion discovers six secret doors and a secret trap door, within the room. The trapdoor contains a couple of potions and some instructions, which the party surmises is the most direct route to exit the dungeon, taking advantage of the potions (invisibility and fly). A secret door to the East leads to another door, after a hundred feet or so. Spion marks that direction with a pair of Arcane Marks to signify it as safe. He detects two doors, each in an alcove to the North, but is unable to open either of those. He detects three passages to the south, each also in an alcove and all three are rather easy to pick open. Each of these leads to a room, with a lever set into the wall.
He has the party remain in the main room and enters the furthest SouthEast room and pulls the lever. This results in his door closing and remaining closed no matter what he does with the lever. The wall/secret door is too thick for him to communicate with the party. They party observes his door close and the middle (of the three South doors) open on its own. Conan finds a lever within this room too, and decides to hammer a Piton into the wall below the Lever and then to use rope to pull the Lever downwards towards the Piton via the rope from the main area. This results in the closing of the middle door, without any other doors opening.
We left off for the night there.
Unfortunately, both Seven and Skeeter cannot make this session; Seven is played (basic information, but no character sheet present) by Fuhrer and Skeeter (again no sheet) is played by Spion.
The party returns to the chamber where the evil aura was coming from. The room has six pillars which glow with light from within, the previously discovered store room, the double doors at the southern end of the room (from which the evil aura was/is detected) and a pair of doors set at an angle near the southern door. One of these doors had been successfully dispelled and then forced open to reveal a solid stone wall beyond. The other was impossible to open via lockpicking or brute force.
Upon returning, more people choose to venture up the stairs, in the North West corner of the room. There is a raised platform with numerous albino frogs upon it. Beyond the platform is a rushing river, which although only a few deep has a massively powerful current. It flows from the West to the East. The party decides to investigate the frogs further, and despite invisibility they have no problems tracking Spion. The hungry frogs view the party as a meal (the barrels of live crickets, within the discovered store room have been ignored) and a battle soon ensues. The frogs prove to be little more than a distraction.
The river is investigated by Conan and Ctuchik, via their Aegis Suit's flight powers. Conan flies to the West (source of the river) whilst Ctuchik flies East (to where it is heading). Each travels about a mile before coming to a dead end. The source of the river (to the West) is a massive hole in the ceiling with water crashing downwards with terrifying force, and then flowing to the East as there is nowhere else for it to go. The river continues past the landing, also for about a mile before it flows underground somewhere... The force of the flowing water easily brings the party to the conclusion that swimming against the current will be impossible, and at best a strong swimmer may partially control what they collide with or avoid. No one wants to see where the river goes...
The party opts to have Spion cast his racial Dispel Magic at the second door, also on an angle. Once the magic is gone, the door can be opened and it too faces a solid stone wall... a successful decoy, which has wasted a portion of the parties resources.
Beyond the double doors is a series of staggered traps; it seems one is physical and two are magical in nature with the trigger being simple proximity which prevents the magical traps from being disarmed/removed without a Dispel Magic type effect. Sadly, neither Spion nor Skeeter thought that Dispel Magic was worth learning. Conan moves into the area and it hit and hurt by some of the traps (an Acid Arrow misses him, but he is hit by both a Fire Blast and a Cold Effect); he survives both of these.
The party kills another 24 hours, and Spion gets his racial dispel back. He dispels one of the magical effects, which is good enough because the second effect did not reset itself automatically. The party smashes their way into the room, with Conan in the front using his Earth Breaker to bash in the door.
As the door breaks, right in his face is a large creature which the party identifies a short time later as a Clay Golem. In addition to the Golem there are numerous humanoid figures of mixed races (humans, elves, dwarves, half-elves, and half-orcs) all wearing robes similar to those recovered previously in the room with the giant pool and the tadpoles swimming within the rotting waters. Just within the room, chained upon an altar is the forms of three humanoids one of which has already been sacrificed by a woman at the altar.
The party recalls some basic information on the Golem, and it essentially boils down to its' being immune to almost all magical effects; this one will have to be slain via melee/ranged attacks. Unfortunately, without Adamantine weaponry, it takes reduced damage from physical attacks.
The lesser accolytes engage for a short time, while the higher priests move up. Amon runs into the conflict, but the Clay Golem hits him with impressive reach and hits him rather hard. The lesser accolytes channel negative energies and that knocks Amon out, but does not finish him off. The party lands some healing on Amon and he regains consciousness, but is at the feet of the massive creature... which for the moment is ignoring his prone form as it wails away trading blows with Conan. Spion is clearly frustrated, as he wants to drop a Fireball or two upon the cultists, but his allies would be within the blast; he chooses to fire Scorching Rays towards the High Priestess, hoping that she is the main threat.
The High Priestess is dropped, and the regular priests advance; the Golem is still standing strong. The Priests begin to channel negative energy, using it offensively against the party. They manage to exclude themselves from the bursts but the Acolytes are not as lucky. The Acolytes quickly back away from their Priests and disappear around a corner and out of sight. There is an ominious sense; a wondering of what they might be doing or getting.
The party chooses to focus on the Priests, as the channelling of negative energy is quite nasty. Conan and Amon are unconscious at the same time, and Seven runs in to join in the fray. The Clay Golem knocks him out just before Ctuchik's healing bomb restores the party to consciousness. The ranged guys focus fire on the Priests, one at a time and gradually their channel power depletes. Although it was far too close to be enjoyable, the party drops the priests and then focuses on the Clay Golem which has been smashing at whatever was within its' reach. The Golem, as the only threat, does not last all that long. Amon gets to his feet, more than a little upset that he spent the entire battle either unconscious or pretending to be dead as the Golem stood right over him.
The party identifies the Mace of the High Priestess as an Unholy item. Spion wants to sell it, as it will be quite valuable, but Fuhrer doesn't want an evil item to be sold to someone who will then be able to use it against a good person. Skeeter (played by Spion) supports Spion's view that the party should get something for their trouble, while Seven (also a Paladin like Fuhrer, and played by Fuhrer) says that an evil item cannot be allowed to continue existing. Conan (NG) chimes in, saying that it is an evil act on the part of the two Paladins to force their world views onto others and prevent them from profiting by selling evil items. The group spends a little over two hours (real time) discussing the issue and eventually Spion throws the mace to the ground and says that it can be destroyed, but also vows to not share full information on future identified items that the holy guys will insist on wasting.
There are two mirrors within the chamber beyond, both covered by thick green curtains. The acolytes are nowhere to be found. One of the mirrors contains a horrid image of whoever looks upon it. The image charges at the viewer (even if the mirror is viewed from a non-direct angle) but in each case the viewer manages to shrug off the mental effect. The party decides to cover this mirror back up. The other mirror has no reflection at all, and as soon as Conan touches it, he disappears completely (and is removed from Fuhrer's collective).
A day passes and there is no replacement character arriving from the Mage's Challenge, so the party decides to backtrack towards Zelkor's Ferry and sell everything they have. Some are in favor of a long trek across most of the country to the one known larger city for selling/buying items and to potentially acquire (Leadership) followers, as seven characters is not viewed as enough.
Meanwhile Conan finds himself in a swamp and as he looks about he realizes he is near the Cloister of the Frog God. He's not too keen on running into the Vampire again, so heads back towards Zelkor's Ferry hoping that the party will eventually return there. Conan sells all of the party loot which he was carrying, and purchases several small sacks, and puts one share in each of those... then heads to the tavern to drink some of his share away.
Conan meets an individual who identifies himself as a collector of stories; he has heard of the great deeds of Conan and those who accompany him. Many of the deeds attributed to the party have not actually been accomplished by the party, but it is part of their legend. Conan introduces himself and the stranger says he is known as Drifter, because he moves about the world freely -- in search of his stories. Drifter asks permission to accompany Conan on his journey and to record his great deeds (which are written in a book called 'Gods of the Known World'. Conan fills Drifter in on many of the tactics the party has used to defeat various enemies along the way.
The party catches up with Conan, and both Paladins are suspicious of Drifter, but he does not detect as evil. He states that his fee for 'holding horses calmly amidst a battle' or 'burning bacon for breakfast' is a gold piece per hundred days, plus his room & board and to be allowed to record history as it unfolds about him. Fuhrer is skeptical about his ability to survive the harsh environments, but Drifter says that he's tougher than he looks and proves it by lifting Conan (and gear... approximately 400 pounds together) over his head.
The group returns to the Tunnels of Terror, and instead of taking the passageway North (to the Altar where there mirrors are; Conan informs the party that one of them is a shortcut to the Cloister) or to the South, which eventually dead-ends just beyond the room where the mirrored images attack those who enter the room... the party decides to investigate the doors directly across from the stairs (East) which Spion has previously disarmed and unlocked, but had never opened.
The chamber beyond is seemingly empty at first. Spion discovers six secret doors and a secret trap door, within the room. The trapdoor contains a couple of potions and some instructions, which the party surmises is the most direct route to exit the dungeon, taking advantage of the potions (invisibility and fly). A secret door to the East leads to another door, after a hundred feet or so. Spion marks that direction with a pair of Arcane Marks to signify it as safe. He detects two doors, each in an alcove to the North, but is unable to open either of those. He detects three passages to the south, each also in an alcove and all three are rather easy to pick open. Each of these leads to a room, with a lever set into the wall.
He has the party remain in the main room and enters the furthest SouthEast room and pulls the lever. This results in his door closing and remaining closed no matter what he does with the lever. The wall/secret door is too thick for him to communicate with the party. They party observes his door close and the middle (of the three South doors) open on its own. Conan finds a lever within this room too, and decides to hammer a Piton into the wall below the Lever and then to use rope to pull the Lever downwards towards the Piton via the rope from the main area. This results in the closing of the middle door, without any other doors opening.
We left off for the night there.