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Thursday, January 7, 2016

Session Report 2016-01-02. By Roland Red Oak



Session – January 2, 2105

The group of Quasi, Borg, Roland, and newcomer Fayne decided to head to the Mount of the Red Door.

As we came down the stairs we were approached by the innkeeper and he told us that a man named Sephius was looking for us. He told the man we may or may not be in the inn. Roland paid the man for his discretion. We traveled to the tavern where he was located and found a skinny, well-dressed man at the back of the inn.

Sephius informed the group that he worked for the new mayor of Orlane and they wanted to reward the group for saving the town. We decided that we would wait until Milo and Draven could accompany the group.

Before we left town, Roland hired a shield bearer named Seamus. Quasi hired a shield bearer as well named Garbo. Garbo also was hired to carry all of Borg’s gear. Garbo seemed less than thrilled about it.

We entered the mount of the red door and proceeded to the second level unmolested. We dropped down to the 2nd level through the stairs we had previously used. We entered into a room that was once a library of some sort, it had been destroyed with the majority of the books destroyed. The group set up and Roland found a secret door that led to a small intact library that contained several books and scrolls written in ancient sullian. Roland decided to keep the books to read at a later time.

This route being an exciting find it ultimately is a dead end, we decided to continue down the hall in the opposite direction. We traveled down the empty hallway. Midway down the hall a door is located on the left of the hall and the hall appears to turn to the north.

We checked the door and hearing nothing, we decided to examine the room. We opened the door and found a medium sized room with an exit on the opposite wall. Inside were 4 of the humanoids we ran into on a previous excursion to the teams. Quasi started parlay with the group and they offered to take us to the Ruck-Ruck the king of hobgoblins. We decided to accompany two of the guards to meet Ruck-Ruck, the hobgoblin king. The guards asked if we had run into the zombie lord’s forces, stating that the two groups are “allied”.

We finally arrived at throne room where 3 hobgoblins and one very large mutated hobgoblin. A guard gets the king and when he returns with 7 hobgoblins, 1 very large hobgoblin, and 2 mutants. Quasi asked for permission to continue exploring the area, Ruck-Ruck offered to make an arrangement with the group. We were allowed to pass to the level below, claim anything we find, in return for a map of the lower level.

He states that an unknown amount of time ago he and his fellow guardians were created by the Sullian empire to protect the Mount of the Red Door from Tarbaxians (invaders). Stated that recently they came out of the stasis tubes and want to expand their reach into the lower levels. No other groups have made it this far. Since Ruck-Ruck and his fellow hobgoblins appeared to be peaceful we decided as a group to advance to the next level of the mount. Our guide took us the long way around the level, basically retracing our steps, to a staircase leading down. We passed several rooms full of damaged tubes, dials, etc. on our path to the stairs. Our guide gave us the hobgoblin word for friend as a password when we return from the lower levels. We explained to the guards we would continue to explore the level before going lower.

We returned to the hallway that we met the guards at and decided to continue exploring. Went down a side tunnel to the east and found an unlocked door, we entered the room and found a small room with an exit to the southeast. There is various furniture in the room in decent conditions for as old as it is. Inside the room are six armed black metallic skeletons. Quasi quickly and violently dispatched the lead two skeletons, metallic bones bouncing all across the floor. Borg took several heavy blows from the skeletons causing several severe wounds, while Fayne missed several times before finally blasting one to pieces. Roland lit one of the skeletons on fire and it melted into a puddle of goo. Quasi cleaned up the remaining skeletons with viscous cuts and slices.

After our victory we searched the room and found a small vial of liquid hidden under the broken plates, glass wear, and ceramic debris.

We entered the room that connected to the room we were in and found several chests and a tapestry. One of the chests was trapped. There was a secret door behind a large curtain. Fayne removed the trap from the chest and was able to unlock one of the two chests. We found 100 sp and 2 gp. The henchman took the second locked chest. We entered the small chamber and found the corpse of a male humanoid in clerical garb. Fayne took the corpse’s silver dagger. Lining the wall of the room are 10 large resin sealed barrels. Inside the barrels is 20 days worth of food, we split the food amongst the group.

Continued down the hall and found a door in a hallway with an overpowering stench. Borg and Quasi opened the door and we found a latrine, that is covered in a brownish/black mold. We decided that nothing could be valuable enough for us to search that room.

We continued down the hall and found a room with 24 wooden statues; 22 of them were carved into various forms of demons while the remaining two were dwarven in nature. As soon as we entered the room the two wooden dwarves came to life and charged the group. Borg started chuckling as he rushed in to do battle with the wooden statues. Borg chopped the wooden statue in front of him like he is chopping firewood and his target returned the favor with brutal chop to the ribs. After many successful attacks by Borg and Fayne, they finally dropped the creature ending its threat. The remaining statue was just about to land a viscous blow on Quasi when at the last second he parried the blow. Garbo seeing an opening charged into the room, swung widely at the statue, and missed so bad that he spun around in a circle. Borg finally dropped the remaining statue. After the battle we found nothing of value in the room except for toothpicks.

We continued up the hall and entered a small room with nothing but broken barrels.

After exiting the room full of broken barrels we continued north up the hall coming to another room with a door. Inside the room we found nothing but dust and rough cloth.

We continued up the hall and found a circlular room with a 10 foot tall human statue in plate male and armed with a mace, the statue was made of bronze but was missing his head. We decided there is nothing we could do about the statue so we continued to the north after a short distance we approached a door that led west and decided to try it.

We entered a room with a massive crevis that was about 6 feet wide filled with a roiling pinkish/purple mist. On the other side were two marble statues of robed humans carrying staves with snake heads with a door in the middle. Quasi tossed a small rock into the mist and we heard it the bottom in what sounds to be water/liquid. We used Quasi’s ladder to cross the chasm, we examined the statues and found they are both covered in a thick layer of dust and on one of them is the words “MC was here” written in common. Quasi decided to leave his mark as well and wrote “QC was here” on the other statue.

After finding nothing of interest we tried the door and headed down the hall, which emptied into a large oval room. The room is some form of a temple with mosaics of battle scenes of humans battling demons. At the southern end is two statues (one male and female, armored with shields) made of bronze. There is an altar made of alabaster with gems and gold embedded in it. Quasi and Borg immediately feel ashamed and like they shouldn’t be in the room. So Roland and Fayne decided to search the room while being as polite and respectful as possible. We found nothing and decided to leave the room.

We crossed the chasm again and headed up to a room further north on the east wall. We entered a large room filled with broken furniture and human bones. On the east wall was an ancient tapestry in good repair depicting the gods of the sullian great church. Of note is the fact that none of the god’s heads have been defaced as the previous statues we encountered had been. We decided to come back for the tapestry when we leave the mount of the red door.

We left the room and found the hallway ran east/west with two doors on the north wall. We entered the first door and found a large room with a pile of treasure (coins) near frescos that had been severely burned/damaged. There was a hall to west that was completely dark/pitch black. The black appears to be magical as our light sources did not penetrate the dark. We decided to examine the room just down the hall hoping that there was connection to the treasure room.

We entered into the room next door and found broken bed frames and other various debris. We found nothing of value. There was a door to the north.

We tried the door and found a medium sized room that had an archway also filled with darkness. We expected it connected to the treasure room. Inside the room we saw a flaming creature of some sort. The group charged into the room and attacked. During the battle the beast blasted Borg and Roland with flame, dropping Roland in a heap of smoking blisters. Brog responded with a viscous chop with his axe, gutting the flaming dog and killing it. With the creature dead, Seamus ran into the room and gave Roland the remaining good berry. Slowly bringing him back to his feet.

The group decided to rest in the room to allow Roland to recover from his horrible burns. About two hours into the rest, when three zombies opened the door and attacked the group. Borg successfully blocked a viscous attack on Seamus, preventing damage. After pummeling the first zombie mercilessly, Seamus dropped him with a stab through the head (he yanks the blade out of the skull, twirls it in a circle, and squares off against the last zombie). Quasi dropped the second zombie with an arrow to the eye. The group ganged up on the remaining zombie, with Quasi delivering the killing blow.

After the battle we were still exhausted and decided to finish our rest. Once we rested up, the group returned to the room with the loot and took our shares of 1,000 sp, 10 gp, potion (?), and 5 gems of various value. The group decided to return to Karlsburg and recover from the travel.

When we returned to Karlsburg, we decided to hold onto the tapestry for now. Roland went to work on deciphering the books we found.

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Session 2015-09 Part II: As told by Roland Red Oak

Several weeks later….

We came together as a group after reflecting upon adventures in Orlane we decided to go to the Mount of the Red Door to tackle a demon that the group had run into earlier and fled. Milo, Draven, Quasi, Borg, Thagmar and myself headed into the mount. We returned to the room where the demon was found. The group burst in prepared for the worst, Draven blasted the demon with a powerful spell and the demon disappeared in a puff of smoke. Much to the groups relief the demon turned out to be an illusion. The illusion was guarding a small treasure that we recovered.

The group decided to head to the lower level after the confronting the demon illusion. After descending a stair case we came across a large number of metallic skeletons that immediately charged our group. Quasi jumped into action and quickly fired his bow and he absolutely destroyed two of the skeletons at the start of combat. The group waded into the battle and took down the remainder of the skeletons.

The group continued down a hallway until we found a large room that had six columns, all made of different metals, and labeled with different high sullian words. The ceiling contained a mural of the stars in the sky. While beautiful we were unable to determine the use of the room.

We left the room and entered a smaller room filled with broken furniture and a long table. During the search of the room Quasi found a small nook that contained a small magic scroll of mirror image.

Just down the hall from the broken furniture room we came across a small room that contained multiple shattered statues, there were at least six smashed statues crumbled upon the floor. There was one statue still intact, a rather squat and ugly thing. Draven walked up to it and poked it in curiosity, which was a bad idea as the statue sprang to life and clawed him across the face. Leaving bloody tracks across his face. The group sprang into action with everyone chipping in to bring down the gargoyle with Milo delivering the killing blow.

After recovering from the shock of being attacked by a statue, the group focused and continued our search of the area. We went through several non-descript rooms and hallways, all of which are filled with broken furniture and various debris. The group finally entered a room covered in some type of crude graffiti and contains five large sacks with some type of creature inside as we heard moaning and saw movement in the bags. One of the creatures escaped the bag and some type of humanoid monster emerged and it immediately attacked Quasi. Luckily he avoided the blow and the group fell upon the creature. After taking a massive amount of damage, Milo finally dropped the creature. Shaken after the encounter the group decided to leave the remaining bags alone.

We left the room and entered a small room with four columns that contained four glass pillars that contains each of the four primal forces of nature (fire, water, air, and earth). The floor was covered by a tile mosaic of a planet. Once again we were unable to determine the function of the room so we moved on.

The next room we moved into was oblong in shape and contained 6 large pillars each constructed of a different metal. We move on and found a third room with over a dozen glass tubes with dials and other metal attachments. All of which were broken or smashed. Standing guard at the only exit of the room was four large and burly humanoid creatures, while not overly friendly they were not openly hostile. Unable to convince the creatures to let us pass, the group decided to leave the room.

We explored a little further and decided that we would need to return to town to resupply and plan our next steps.

Session 2015-09 Part I: As told by Roland Red Oak


From the journal of Roland Red Oak, acolyte of the Karlsburg druid circle.

We met with Remme who along with Eben; discussed the surrounding area, recent events in the area, and agreed to support the quest to recover our friends and remove the evil from the land. He gifted to Draven a Globe of Invulnerability wand and lent us his familiar Whiskers the Weasel. At this point, Eben went into detail about the cave where he was tortured and tempted by the snake god and recounted his nightmares of his time spent in her presence. After hearing this destressing news the cousins, Nengan and Tsiakune told the group that they felt this evil was beyond them and decided to continue on their journey. We wished them well. The group now consisted to myself, Thagmar, Quasi, Borg, Milo, Draven, and two torch bearers hired from the town. Eben decided to stay with Remme to recover from his ordeal.

After the cousins left, the group headed into the swamp. During the two-day trek Quasi took down the largest (fattest) dear I have ever seen in my life! We ate like kings for the rest of the trip.

On the second day of the trip we came across an earthen/mud dyke that had been built to hold water out of small cave. The group decided to stake out the entrance and camp for the night, watching for any indication that the cave is inhabited. During our camping, Quasi decided to scout the area out and came across a second entrance with stairs. The group decided to enter through the secondary entrance. The stairs were covered with a slimy coat of muck and slime which caused the lead footed barbarian to slip and bounce noisily down the rest of the stairs. He came to rest in the center of four very angry guards who viciously stabbed him multiple times with spears while he attempted to recover from the fall. Borg charged to the defense of his fellow warrior and splattered two of the guards in a most stomach churning manner. Roland and Thagmar cleared out the remaining guards.

I have to note that everything here is covered in a very smelly slime/mud combination that is pretty awful. The room at the bottom of the stairs had a stuck door that took several attempts from a clearly embarrassed Thagmar and Borg to open. When the door finally opened it revealed a very large room with about 3 feet of muddy water covering it. Quasi quickly gapped one of the guard’s bodies and tossed it into the room, it was quickly devoured by a giant frog. The group decided that discretion is the better part of valor and left the frog alone.

The group went down another hall, branching off the main entrance and found room with a mud pit in the middle. The group edged our way around the pit and headed into a room with a locked door (Thagmar & Borg used their “key” again). We found a nicely decorated room, during our search two guards burst through a door to the north and attacked immediately. Quasi connected with a viscous blow on the female guard who pretty much laughed it off. Just as the group was settling into the fight a new warrior joined his fellow guards in attacking us. Quasi and I took down the first two guards (me with a spell and him with his sword). Borg killed the final guard but not before taking a horrible wound.

The group explored the surrounding area and found a large locked chest. Borg (maybe light headed from blood loss) tried to pry open the lid and hit a chest. He took a massive blast of lightning from a trap, it through him across the room leaving him in a twitching, smoking heap on the floor. The group decided to rest and let Borg recover from his shock.

One of the guards survived the beating the group gave him, we decided to interrogate him in an attempt to find our missing friends. Milo took the lead but his voice cracked in the middle of acting tough and lost all chance of intimidating the bound guard named Benn Griff. The group left him shackled to a bed in the barracks.

Once Borg recovered, the group decided to continue searching the cave complex. We found multiple tunnels and rooms that were filled with mud. The group decided to avoid the mud filled passageways that caused a lot of back tracking. During our exploration we entered a room to be attacked by a group of cultists. As the battle hit a fever pitch, Vroc burst into the room and joined the cultists. Borg and Quasi were slaughtering the cultists left and right, taking out 6 of them in total, when Vroc vomited acid at the group. Luckily Thagmar and Borg were able to avoid the majority of the acid vomit. Milo killed the last cultist and Quasi knocked Vroc unconscious.

The group bound Vroc and took him into the swamp. We set up camp a good distance from the cave entrance and recovered from the day’s trails. We awoke the next morning and left the torch bearers with Vroc bound and in their care.

We returned to the tunnel system and retraced our steps to the where we had left off and found a large wooden door with a large “X” branded into the center of the door. Thagmar moved everyone away from the entrance and opened the door, immediately music began to play, Milo shouted “It’s a TRAP!” and the group fled from the area.

We explored the rest of the first level, crossing several halls filled with mud. The mud was so deep that Thagmar was forced to carry Milo while Borg carried Draven (much to the dwarf’s embarrassment). We eventually found a large room filled with stagnate water and crocodiles. A horrible life and death struggle ensued with the group emerging victorious, searching the area revealed a shallow draft row boat that we could use to traverse the flooded cave. We used the boat until we found a landing several hundred yards later, the muck contained deep foot prints made by what Qausi guessed where lizardmen. Eventually we came upon another locked door that Thagmar and Borg opened with their “universal key”. Inside we found a large group of lizardmen who immediately attacked, delivering viscous blows to both Borg and Thagmar. Each member of the group held their own, taking down multiple lizardmen with Draven finishing off the last one by crushing his opponent’s skull with his war hammer.

After the gruesome battle, the group decided that a short rest had been earned to catch our breath and plan our next move. We decided to head to the lower levels and see if we can find our last missing group member, the squire, and put an end to this evil once and for all.

When we got to the second level we found a massive cave filled with very deep mud and what seemed to be stepping stones leading to three exits. Quasi stealthily scouted the halls as the group slowly and carefully crossed the stones. Qausi came back to the group and explained that two of the tunnels ended in mud or water with the third ending at a door. The group approached the door and heard the mumbling of what we assumed where captives from the town. What we found was horrible, perversions of the natural order called casket corpses who were immune to mundane weapons (Quasi had the knowledge of these creatures). We changed our tactics to deal with these horrors; Thagmar guarded Quasi who used his silver arrows to pepper the advancing hoard, Milo pulled his silver rapier, while Draven and myself slung spells. Draven used a very effective Ghoul Touch spell that dropped one of the advancing hoard. Borg used a magical weapon to cleave one of the monsters in half. Milo and myself killed the remaining monsters.

After finishing off the last of the monsters we heard muffled cries for help coming from a room behind the door at the back of the room. After breaking down the door the group found several hostages from Orlane, including the merchant’s wife and two teens. Unfortunately, without the aid of thief we were unable to open the locks. We assured them that we would return once we recovered the key to the cells.

The group reluctantly left the prisoners and continued down the hallway with a new task, find the key to release the prisoners. We came upon a door at the end of the hallway that was not latched. Inside we found a wight, 2 cultists, and a female (wizard or cleric) waiting to ambush us. However, they were so unprepared that we surprised them! Draven shouted a dwarven battle cry and charged the wight, smashing it with his Warhammer. Thagmar took down the female mage/cleric with mighty blow after she had cast a very damaging spell upon him. Then something I have never seen before in my entire life. Milo started hurling insults at the cultists and apparently hit the mark on one of them as he turned a deep purple color, his face contorted in rage, and then he grabbed his chest and collapsed on the ground dead! Borg killed the wight and the group finished off the rest of the group.

After the battle; Milo, Quasi, and myself went to rescue the villagers with the keys we found on the cultists. We freed the villagers and armed them with the few extra weapons we had and sent them to our hidden camp in the swamp, they left reluctantly. Once we let them out, the group got together and we rested to recover from the taxing battle.

During our rest Quasi started searching the room and paid particular attention to a giant snake statue at the back of the room and found a secret passage. The passage led to a large cave with several glowing rock columns supporting the ceiling. Sitting in the middle of the cave was the terrifying snake god that has been terrorizing the surrounding countryside. Worshipping the snake god was a young human male. Milo immediately identified him as Squire Robin, aid to Froc.

Borg let out a rumbling battle cry, charged headfirst into the room, and took a massive swing at the snake god. The creature moved like lightning and dodged the attack. Quasi on the heels of Borg caught the snake god off guard and landed a brutal blow. Draven used the Globe of Invulnerability wand but was not able to protect the entire group and Borg was left vulnerable. The snake god worked her charms and bewitched Borg, turning him into her puppet. While the snake god was distracted with Borg, Thagmar delivered a devastating blow that visibly weakened the “god”. Quasi and Milo attempted to restrain our friends who had become the snake god’s puppets.

Despite doing significant damage to the snake god the group appeared to be in dire straits when a surprising ally joined our side, Vroc! He had shaken off the snake god’s control and had rushed to join his allies. He cast a Protection from Evil spell in an attempt to free Borg and Squire Robin. His attempt was unsuccessful.

Quasi and Milo continued to hold off our former companions as the snake god returned her attention to the group. As she lunged at Thagmar he landed a devastating blow to her neck, she reared back in horrible pain, and Draven blasted her with a magic missile spell killing her. With the snake god’s death her hold on our companions and the town of Orlane faded and our friends awoke from their nightmares.

The group took a deep breath and searched the rest of the complex for any stragglers but everyone had either fled or returned to normal. We found a large stash of coins and lost gear. Unfortunately, this included the gear of Anders confirming our fears that he had died here.

The group returned to the camp in the swamp and headed back to town, we filled Remme in on our adventures and the death of the snake god. He told us she was a Naga and thanked us for saving the town. Our friends returned we decided to return to Karlsburg and reflect on our adventures.