Session 34 recap
Session 34
The party:
Hector, a 12th level Archontean fighter
Coco, an 12th level Archontean magic-user
Julia, a 13th level Archontean cleric of Lucreon
Melnax, a 6th level elf
Bjorn, a 7th level Wiskin assassin
Susarra, a 9th level Archontean fighter (retainer)
Scylla, a 9th level Archontean ranger (retainer)
Before the party set out into the Great Cavern they asked the beastman members of the Long Range Cavern Patrol what the bucket of foul smelling paste was sitting next to the entrance and were informed that the LRCP coated a torch with it and used it to repel the giant centipedes when they descended and ascended the cliff in the Great Cavern. The party took this advice and made their way out of the observation cage and into the Great Cavern.
Following the cage to their right, they made their way to the northern wall of the Great Cavern and began to follow it to the west. It soon curved south and then southeast and the party discovered a small passageway leading southwest concealed behind a cluster of giant mushrooms. The party took note of this and continued following the wall of the main cavern. Soon after the small passageway, they encountered the cliff that the beastmen had told them of, some fifty feet all and running beyond their light’s reach to the east. Following the cliff to the east, they found a pathway leading north that their mapping indicated likely led back to the fenced enclosure they had entered the Great Cavern from. Continuing to follow the cliff edge they found that it ran some 200 feet before terminating at the eastern edge of the Great Cavern. In the northeastern part of the cavern they found an ancient Archontean observation platform with a walkway that led north to a locked door. Theorizing that this door led to the beastmen’s area the party let it be and made their way back to the small passageway leading out of the Great Cavern that they had found earlier.
Entering a smaller natural cavern they encountered a giant lizard on a nest of sticks, dirt, and dung. The party made short work of the creature but two more entered the cave and while fighting the another pair arrived. Dispatching all of the creatures and finding only a solid gold egg in the nest, the party exited the chamber to the northwest where they found the partially eaten remains of what appeared to be fungal humanoids. Continuing to the east they found four still living companions of the dead fungus folk. Coco ritually casted a spell that allowed her to converse with the creatures. Calling themselves fungal foresters, they said that they had been exploring the small caverns west of the Great Cavern when they had been ambushed by the giant lizards. When asked what the biggest dangers of the caverns were, the fungal foresters replied that giant lizards, goblins, and beastmen were what they most often had trouble with. They did not have any knowledge of the statuette of Bastet and the two groups parted on good terms.
Exploring rooms to the south of the lizard cave, the party found a room filled with stalagmites, one of which contained a gold ring that had been encased in the stone. The party procured a rock hammer from Larel’s Sack and freed it from the surrounding rock. In another cavern they came across pack of rats consuming the decaying remains of a gelatinous cube. Scylla cast Speak with Animals and the party negotiated with the rats to be able to gather the treasure left in the gelatinous cubes’s remains in exchange for a wheel of cheese from Larel’s Sack. The treasure consisted only of a number of copper coins which the party didn’t bother collecting and a single bracer.
Following the passage that led to these chambers the party discovered that it ended at a swiftly flowing stream which likely originated in a large lake in the Great Cavern that the fungal fosters had mentioned. Going north, west, and south again led to the stream but this time the passageway was seen to coniinue on the other side. Leaving this for later, the party returned north.
Going up some rough carved stone stairs the party entered another natural cavern. This chamber was notably cooler than the rest of the cavern and a six foot iron rod had been thrust into the middle of the cave floor, the body of an ogre impaled upon it. Melnax used the Wand of Enemy detection but none were within range. Casting Detect Magic as a ritual Coco discovered that the single bracer they had discovered earlier was magic but nothing in this room was. Examine the ogre’s body showed it to be fairly decomposed but it was obvious that the creature had been badly malnourished before death.
Continuing west the party found another larger natural chamber, the floor filled with bones of various sentient beings and animals to a depth of two feet. There was a feeling of palpable unease in this room. Hector walked around the room while Bjorn climbed the north wall with his Slippers of Spider Climbing where he found a heavy gold chain with a large ruby pendant hanging on the wall. Coco again cast Detect Magic as a ritual and found that the ruby was magical but the necklace was not, nor anything else in the room.
Moving south from the room of bones, the party found a fairway intersection. To the west a pair of legs wearing fine maroon leather boots protruded from a pile of rocks. As Hector bent over and trie to remove the boots more rocks fell from the ceiling, damaging him. At this, six emaciated ogres began to approach from the east.
Bjorn threw a spear at the first ogre as Coco cast confusion and Julia cast bless. Hector and Scylla dropped the first two ogres as Coco’s Confusion spell wreaked havoc on the rest, with one standing dumbly by as another attacked it. Two more ran past their confused brethren and attacked Julia and Melnax, but neither of their attacks landed. Coco and Bjorn threw daggers at one of the ogres, dropping it. The party soon found themselves fighting on two fronts as a group of beastmen approached from the north accompanied by a towering and powerful looking greengage. Coco cast Pummeling Fist and Melnax cast Fireball, destroying the beastmen and appearing to make the hag flee. This was just a ruse however, as her invisibility wore off when she attacked Susarra, pummeling her to death. Scylla soon suffered the same fate and the rest of party, having dispatched her charmed minions, concentrated all their efforts on the hag, finally bringing the foul beast down.
After discussing their various options the party decided to use the Wish from the ring they had found in Isadora’s tomb to return Susarra and Scylla to life. Moving into the chamber to the east that ogres had come from, they found the remains of a halfling curing over a fire, with the ogre’s treasure consisting of some coins and gems in a bag in the corner. Also of note was a stone head, slightly larger than life sized, from a broken statue of a human female wearing a tall cylindrical hat, her eyes almond but hollow.
Returning to the bone roman proceeding west and then southwest the party entered a large cave with a black sand beach stretcheing along the north bank of a dark pool. The previously encountered stream entered in the eastern part of the pool and flowed out of the cavern to the west.vern. Some ways up the beach was a five foot square plinth for a statue; all that remained of the statue is a three foot section representing the feet and lower legs of a bipedal figure. An iron rod, somewhat bent, extended another seven feet from the center of the plinth. Examination of the statue legs indicated it was of the same material and scale as the head they had seen in the ogres’ lair. On a hunch the party shined their lights into the cold dark water and saw what looked like the torso to the statue. Bjorn guarded the tunnel leading in while Hector ventured underwater to retrieve the statue fragment with his Gauntlets of Ogre Power. As he did so he noticed a tunnel under the water leading to the south.
Exiting the pool chamber to the north they found a room with a blue mold growing on the walls that something had evidently been eating, along with eight smallish bedrolls. The reverse side of an obvious secret door was in the north wall.
Passing through the secret door they found a thirty foot by forty foot worked room of Archontean manufacture, with four other doors leading from it. The room was currently occupied by twelve obviously hungry and fearful goblins who were happy to see a group of friendly faces after some intel trepidation. The goblins described having been frightened by powerful magic into running from a room and fighting some Settites before barricading themselves in this room. They were happy to fill in the party’s map with what they knew and in exchange the party took them back to the villa through their magic carpets, leaving them under Capdoffer’s care until they could return and move the rug to a safer place.
Returning to the pool chamber the party went northwest, into a natural cavern with a femur thrust into a hole in the uneven floor on top of which had been placed a beastman skull. Continuing to the west brought them to a natural cavern that had been partially worked and finished in the ancient Archontean style. A worked passageway led west to the stream and the remains of two adventurers lay against the southwestern wall. Searching the corpses revealed a nice short sword, a sapphire Sortian eye, some coins, a map of the area os the Halls contains Larel and Jaken’s tombs, and a parchment with the words “red-black-yellow-blue-green-white” which the party recognized as a likely teleportation circle address.
Returning through the beastmen area the party went to the pyramid room and brought the rescued goblins back from the villa to be reunited with their kin. After spending the night in their quarters in Goblintown,
Arising on the morning of the 25th of Molivios the party retraced their steps to the beach with the statue plinth, which they had now reconstructed save for the eyes. Coco returned to the villa via the rug and began ritually casting Water Breathing, with the other party members taking turns on the beach and in the villa. After three and a half hours everyone had the spell cast in them and the party proceeded through the underwater tunnel.
They arrived after a short while into a cave containing a large pile of rags, a huge cauldron containing a foul brew, and a large stone chest. A taut sheet of blood soaked canvas was stretched between four iron stakes on which was tied, spread-eagle, a beastman who had been tortured to death. The stone chest contained a variety of ancient coins, a few potions, and a scarab. The cauldron was found to contain a couple of gems, and searching the chamber thoroughly turned up a pair of almond shaped blue glass eyes mounted in a crude face on the wall, which detected faintly of magic. A secret door was discovered in the southeast wall that led to an east west natural passage. The west passage led past the limits of their light while to the east was a chamber contains a grove of giant mushrooms and some fungal foresters.
Returning to the statue, the party placed the eyes in the head, which caused all the cracks in the statue to men, and the face came alive and began to address the party in Mythric. Introducing herself as Nertet-Indra, high priestess of Thoth, she immediately demanded to know who the characters were, who they worshipped, and who controlled the precincts of Thoth. Although she had never heard of most of the gods that the party mentioned, the rest of the party was shocked, shocked I say, to hear Julia profess her devotion now, before, and always to Thoth. This pleased Nertet-Indra, who indicated that she would be happy to provide the party with any information that she possessed that would help them stamp out the Settites in the Halls.
R.I.P.:
Susarra and Scylla, punched to death by a greenhag [resurrected with a Wish]
Foes defeated:
5 subterranean lizards
6 emaciated ogres
8 emaciated beastmen
1 greenhag