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.