Session 22 recap
Chert, a 6th level dwarf
Coco, a 6th level Archontean magic user
Thalia, a 6th level Archontean thief
Melnax, a 5th level Elf
Batengis, a 6th level Khumus acolyte of Tingri
Susarra, a 6th level Archontean fighter (retainer)
Scylla, a 4th level Archontean ranger
Aethel, a Thorcin hireling
After deliberating about the pros and cons of the various courses of action available to them vis a vis the maid and the spirit in the tree, the party eventually decided to leave well enough alone and not take sides in a battle between two immensely powerful beings. Informing the creatures of their decision, the party left them to their bickering and exited the huge cavern to the east.
After taking a left at one intersection and right at another, the party found itself at the entrance to a slight widening in the tunnel system, with its ceiling obscured in spider webs. A red “S” was painted on the wall next to the entrance to the tunnel that the party was standing in. Chert took a cautious step into the cavern and extended the Rod of Lordly Might to investigate the woes, whereupon a horde of over a dozen large spiders came boiling forth. As the party prepared to exterminate the vermin, Melnax boldly strode forth, proclaiming “Worry not, I’ll take care of these foul creatures” and cast Fireball from a scroll he had been saving for such an occasion.
The party wasn’t sure whether it was because of the age of the scroll or Melnax’s unfamiliarity with Archontean magic, but the ball of fire that filled the chamber was no hotter than a lantern’s flame [DM’s note: Melnax’s player rolled a total of 5 damage on 5d6; yes, he rolled five ones. We were all impressed in a perverse way, to say the least]. This wounded all of the spiders but only killed a couple, and the party was forced to dispatch of the remainder the old fashioned way. With this accomplished the party examined the chamber, and discovered that in addition to the “S” next to to the western tunnel, there was also “EW” next to the southeastern tunnel) and “N” by the northern tunnel. Feeling as confused as ever, the party collected a small bag of gold and silver coins that fallen from the spiderwebs after the Fireball burned them away and proceeded down the southeastern tunnel which they found connected to the original room with painted letters.
Retracing their steps they took a long tunnel that sloped gently up for hundreds of feet to the southeast before ending in a flowstone formation that overlooked a rather large cavern. To their right they saw another flowstone ledge at the base of which were two statues, one of marble and one of bronze. After spending some time making noise to rouse any possible residents of the chamber and having no luck, the party cautiously descended into the room using Melnax’s Elven rope. The marble statue was found to be a four foot tall likeness of a whippet while the bronze was a statue of the ancient Archontean god Ptah. After a brief trip back to their house via magic carpet to deposit the statuary, the party ascended the second flowstone formation and explored this new passage to the west, finding that it ended in a bare wall that Chert’s map indicated should be adjacent to the basement of the Ghost Tower in the donjon in the surface ruins of Arden Vul. Three charred corpses which had been stripped of valuables lay infant of the wall, in which Melnax soon detected a secret door. The rest of the party retreated to a safe distance as Chert attempted to open the secret door. As soon as he touched the door, three magical runes briefly glowed and then erupted in a fiery explosion, knocking him unconscious. Batengis, Melnax, and Thalia were able to bring him back to consciousness and the party decided to Retreat back to Lankios’ basement and thence back to their house in Gosterwick to rest of the night.
Awaking on the cool overcast morning of the 20th of Fidios the party returned to the flowstone room and took the last remaining exit, a tunnel to the southeast that led down and ended at a hole overlooking a stone room worked in the ancient Archontean style from which the unmistakable smell of baboon excrement wafted. Listening for a few moments revealed the sound of baboon hooting and the party returned to the minotaur tunnels.
Returning to the flowstone cavern the party took the original tunnel they had entered from, and turned right at the next two intersections, eventually discovering a tunnel that sloped down at a moderate rate, and appeared to continue for a while. Their curiosity piqued, the party decided to see exactly how far the tunnel went. Five hours later and with no end in site, the party discussed what to do and it was decided to continue the descent. After another two hours and with the tunnel continuing Coco and Thalia began to grow impatient, but Chert’s curiosity was even more aroused, and he convinced the party to continue down. Another six hours of travel saw no end to their descent and the party was forced to rest for the night. Breakfast was eaten in a sullen silence and the party continued their descent. Another hour of travel finally saw them reach the end of the tunnel, which led into a natural cave, the floor covered in sand. One exit sloped down to the northeast while a second sloped up and to the south. With no small amount of awe in his voice, Chert informed the astonished party that they were some sixteen hundred feet underground, which placed them lower than the base of the falls, and by far the deepest that they had delved Arden Vul.
Suspicious of what might be lurking in the sand, Batengis began to probe it with his ten foot pole. His caution was quickly rewarded when a worm as thick as Chert’s bicep with a serrated mouth like a lamprey snapped the last two feet off of the pole. The party spent an hour ‘fishing’ for these worms and killed a total of eight before they felt safe to enter the room. No treasure was found and the party proceeded down the eastern passage.
After about ninety feet the party discovered another natural cavern, this one covered in an odd bluish purple moss that the party was not familiar with. Batengis extended his Alexia’s Useful Pole to investigate, and when the pole made contact with the moss it triggered a strong electrical discharge, knocking him to the ground, dazed but conscious. Scylla noticed that the moss was quite dry and Batengis took a torch and burned the moss off. This revealed a series of glyphs on the wall in a language that no one in the party was familiar with, along with an arrow that pointed down a passage in the northeast corner of the room.
With no way to translate the message and afraid that it may be an important warning about what lay beyond, the party returned to the sand worm room and took the other exit. This soon led to what what had once been a wide east-west running passage, the southern portion of of which had collapsed and was now dotted with a number of tunnels. The intact northern portion was clad in black granite octagonal sheathing, curved at the floor and ceiling so that no angles were present. A message in Archontean was scrawled in chalk on the granite, “Seek the Khan to the west, near the prison. His contracts must be sealed with blood”, an obvious reference to Kerbog Khan. The party found nothing else of note in the room and took the southeast exit, which sloped down for some eighty feet before ending at a room slightly obscured by a haze in the air. The party tied a rope to Chert who walked into the room, and very quickly began wandering around in a daze. The party was able to guide him out with the rope and Batengis managed to help him recover from the effects of whatever it was that he had breathed, which had caused him to hallucinate a room full of large gems and rich ore veins.
The party returned to the previous room and took the next exit, which led south into a cave where a glowing lantern hung from an iron shepherd’s crook stuck into the floor in the center of the room. Investigation showed that the hooded lantern was lit by a Continual Light spell and the party decided to leave it alone and take the eastern exit from the room. The only obvious feature of this room was a clear path leading from one passage to the next. As Melnax searched for secret doors, a dazed looking man walked into the room behind them. Introductions were shared all around and the man said he was Knut the Lucky, a Wiskin fighting man who had gotten separated from his cleric companion Edrick. They had also encountered the spores and Knut had hallucinated himself in an upscale brothel, only coming to his senses some few moments before encountering the party. The party invited him to accompany them as they (eventually) made their way back to the surface and Knut gladly accepted the offer.
Finding nothing of interest in this room the party proceeded to the west, entering a chamber with the burned corpses of three huge spiders. Continuing on to the northwest the party found another of the rooms covered in octagonal black granite sheathing; this one was marked with a grand staircase some twenty feet wide, rising to the north. The party continued through a tunnel leading west which led to a small chamber with a pool of clear water, a bedroll, and racks of drying meat. A large troll-like creature sad near the pool and at the entry of the party he reached into the water grabbed a potion, thumbing the cork out and preparing to drink it. The party quickly signaled their peaceful attentions began to parley with the being.
In heavily accented Archintean he told them that his name was Peabo. When asked if he was a troll he puffed himself up and stated that he was no mere troll, but a member of the Varumani, the most powerful faction in the Halls. After plying him with chicken (both cooked and live) from Larel’s sack he told them that the stairway in the previous room led to the domain of the Sun-Scarred Knights, a faction dedicated to maintaining the status quo in the Halls. He also informed them of the Varumani Lifts, a manner of traversing part of the Great Chasm operated by the Varumani, and said that he had heard from other adventurers that the Goblin king had taken over the entrance level after the removal of the halflings. He also told them that the haze which had affected Chert and Knut was known as Bliss Pollen. When shown the glyphs that the characters had seen and written down in the electric moss room he was rather excited as this was the language of his people and he was able to translate (with some difficulty) them as reading “This way to the citadel of the knights”.
Returning to the lantern room the party proceeded through the southern exit, which led to another of the passageways clad in black octagonal granite sheathing, this one running north-south with the eastern portion having collapsed. An extension running to the west showed signs of a recent battle, with scorch marks marring the remaining sheathing and a few pieces of broken metal on the floor. A large, spider-like metal contraption with a four foot diameter spherical body was in this area examining the scorch marks and metal fragments. The gemmed eyes of the creature was reminiscent of some of Kerbog Khan’s automatons, so the party gave it a wide berth and took a tunnel running east to their immediate left.
As Chert stepped into the room at the end of this tunnel, he was almost immediately attacked by an invisible assailant. The rest of the party came to his aid and the Invisible creature which had been Stalking him was quickly dispatched. Finding nothing of interest in the room the continued to the south, finding a room where a human sized form crouched in the center of the room facing the southeastern wall, away from the party. A light source in front of the corpse cast eerie shadows throughout the chamber. Batengis carefully prodded the figure with Alexia’s Useful Pole and it fell over and onto the light source without a sound. As the party was weighing their options, they were approached by a figure from behind; this turned out to be Knut’s lost companion Edrick, in a daze and still a little foggy headed from the lingering effects of the Bliss Pollen.
Determining that the figure posed no immediate threat the party approached closer to examine it. Flipping the body over they found that the light source was a rock on which Continual Light had been cast, and the the body had been propped up by a spear piercing its chest. Examination of the body showed that it was completely drained of blood and had a pair of bite marks on its neck. At this point the party decided to pool their knowledge and collate everything they knew about vampires. Batengis was able to confirm the following facts: They are repelled by garlic, holy symbols will keep them at bay, a stake (either wood or cold iron) through the heart will kill them, and destroying their coffin after defeating them will destroy them. Coco produced a bunch of garlic from Larel’s sack, and everyone present ate a clove to prove they were not a vampire.
Exiting this chamber back to the west brought them to the southern end of the north-south corridor, where they were able to more closely investigate a door they had seen from the northern end earlier. This was a large round metal portal, with curved lines that met in the middle, with the overall effect being that of tightly bunched iris petals. Listening at it revealed no sounds beyond, and Melnax cast Knock as a ritual but to no effect. Returning back down the passage the party took a turn and traveled southeast, where Batengis discovered a section of illusory wall on the right hand side which led to a dead end containing a secret door that Melnax found.
Opening this door (via insetting a pole in a one inch diameter hole in the ceiling) led to a chamber varied in construction. The eastern, western and southern walls were of typical Archontean neatly trimmed granite. The northern third ofthe floor and the north wall were of octagonal plaques of solid white marble closely fit together, with rounded joints between floor and walls. In the center of the northern wall was another metal iris door, exactly seventy feet south of the previous one according to Chert’s careful mapping. Finding no way through this door and hearing nothing beyond it, the party continued south, finding a twenty foot square Archontean chamber whose south wall opened onto a chasm which narrowed to a point to the east but widened to the west and appeared to be a spur of the Great Chasm. Looking down into this chasm showed a number of dead chasm cephalopods as well as the smashed and inoperable remains of one of Kerbog Khan’s exploration automatons.
Leaving this for later the party proceeded down a passge to the west which after a short time led into a chamber with a rather amazing sight. An enormous alabaster carving in the form of a cat with alert ears, open eyes, bared fangs, and a slightly extended tongue dominated the northern wall. The face was coated with vibrant paint, with black fur, yellow eyes, white teeth, and pink tongue. The tongue seemed to serve as a ramp, leading into and through the mouth, the back of which was concealed by a black velvet curtain. A five foot diameter circle of rose quartz lay in an alcove to the west. Two cats lounged in the room, a fat orange tabby and a lithe black one.
Coco cast Detect Magic as a ritual and determined that the rose quartz circle and the tabby cat were magical. Cautiously entering the room with ‘pspspsps’ noises, the cats languidly rubbed against her legs and proffered their chins for scratching. The rest of the party entered the room and they began to discuss their next move.
R.I.P.
None
Foes defeated:
15 large spiders
8 sand worms
1 invisible stalker