May 22, 2016 – The Journal of Roland Red Oak
After a full night’s rest to recover from our ordeal with the savage orc warriors, the group of Quasi, Vroc, Milo, Draven, Thagmar, myself, and our two hirelings (Xon and his forgettable friend) readied our weapons, spells, and prayers as we prepared to kill their vile shaman.
We descended the stairs into the circular chamber and found the slaughtered corpses of our foes lying where we left them, the smell was overwhelming. We decided to head to the right and checked a door shortly down the hall and we found shelves lining the wall with ceramic jars on them. Thagmar opened one of the jars and found red, blue, yellow, and green liquids inside of the four jars. The room had a door at the back, Thagmar opened the door and found a long hallway leading west and a door directly across from the storage room.
We continued through the door to the north, it appeared to be a barracks, filled with old moldy workbenches. Milo found a bag stashed under one of the benches, opened it, and found a small fortune in copper and gems. At the rear of the room was a hallway that lead into a larger featureless room with two stone dwarves bound in iron shackles, they appear to have been beaten to death. Draven was incensed by the violence perpetrated upon his kin, he solemnly laid them to rest, and swore bloody vengeance upon the orc spawn. I said a silent prayer for the departed as we laid the dwarves to rest.
The group continued through a door to the north that led to a medium sized room containing a long forgotten forge. The group decided to press on and continue north through a wooden door. The door leads to a hallway that breaks to the west at the end. Quasi, carefully snuck to the corner and looked down the hallway that leads west for several hundred feet and t-bones in intersection heading north/south. Quasi snuck to the intersection and spied down both hallways.
The south hall led to a large; half-circle of a room with a metal fence cutting it in half. Quasi fearlessly snuck down the hall and found that the room we were in overlooked a large room with a table that had switches, restraints, and blood splatters on and around the table. In the room, some type of creature was in a fight to the death versus several large hungry rats. Quasi returned and we traveled to the ledge to observe what is going on. Milo yelled down to the creature asking if it needed help. The creature and the rats not currently attacking the creature turn to look at our group! The creature yells back, “Sure help yourself” in the orc tongue. The rats look up and nodded to the group too, some type of weird sorcery is going on here. During our indecision, the creature smashed another rat, killing his 6th rat. Milo yelled for everyone to stop and the rats took off to the south, the creature took after them, killing a 7th rat. Milo having enough of this monster’s murdering of the rats attempted to cast hold person on the creature but its will was too strong. The continued murdering of the rats caused the group to burst into action, Vroc pulled out his ladder, and the group prepared for battle. The fighting began with Draven casting a spell that shrunk the attacking creature to ½ its size, evening the playing field with the rats. Suddenly faced with fighting angry heroes and rats of unusual size, things looked dire for the monster. Roland tried unsuccessfully to tell the creature to throw down its arms and surrender. Thagmar pinned the creature in an attempt to stop the fight, but Draven still incensed over the murder of his kin, cast a spell that caused the creature to reek of cheese. Finally, the creature surrendered.
After the battle the rats approached the group, and bow before us, and head to the hall leading to the west. Thagmar slammed the creature onto the table and the group strapped him down and began interrogating the monster. We found out he worked for the orcs, he hates the rats, and the orcs are in the northeast. The group left the monster on the table, bound and gagged, and left to follow the rats.
As we followed the rats we found out that they have always been rats and they understood common. As we reached the end of the hall it appeared the door has been blasted to pieces and inside the room we see a pock marked room with various debris in it. Sitting in the center of the room is a badly damaged skull in a ceramic helmet. The group entered the room, still following the rats, we were lead to a door heading west.
We entered a room with many shelves covered in shattered glass and two large cabinets. Inside the we found a locked metal chest, Draven used rod of opening, and we found a potion, scroll, and spherical glass container with what looks like a dead cat inside of it. After an exhaustive search we found nothing else of value and decided to follow the rats on.
After following them through several twists and turns in a long hallway we reach a door, the rats stop, and frantically indicate that we open the door. Draven then began asking question and we find out that the room has something(s) that are threats to the rats. The group prepared and entered the room.
Inside the room we found a large room with five large creatures and one smaller one. Battle was joined as soon as the door opened with the monsters firing their bows at our group. Milo strode forward and cast Faire Fire upon them, causing the monsters to glow in a purple light. Quasi pulled out the silver arrows (formal arrows) and fired them into the group with a blast of thorns, turning them into pincushions. Vroc cast spiritual weapon and conjured a floating blue flail that swung wildly at the monsters. After several volleys of arrows, Roland cast fog cloud, obscuring the group and keeping the monsters from firing arrows at the group. Thagmar roared in rage and sliced one of the monsters in half, killing it instantly. Draven cast magic missile at the remaining close monsters, causing it to roar in pain. Roland blasted the closest monster with produce flame, putting it out of its misery. Vroc charged into the room and attacked the largest of the monsters, the big monster unleashed a flurry of heavy blows upon him, causing horrible slashing wounds. A second monster joined the attack and speared Vroc in the back, nearly dropping the stalwart dragonborn. Thagmar charged into the room and challenged the large monster, hoping to draw its ire away from Vroc. The group traded blows with the monsters for several minutes, no one gaining a clear advantage until our rat allies swarmed into the room and began attacking our foes. Just as things looked most dire for Vroc his spiritual hammer, smashed the monster archer in the skull, killing it instantly. The battle continued to rage as Milo snuck in and delivered a brutal stab to one of the monster’s back, killing it. With only two of the monsters left the group focused on the large monster, trying to bring the behemoth down. Vroc’s magic flail smashed the large one from behind while he cast Guiding Bolt, killing it with his holy power. The final monster faced the full wrath of our group as we turned our attention to it. The final monster was dropped by our hireling, Pokey with his first kill.
Kills: Thagmar I, Roland I, Vroc II, Milo I, Pokey I
After killing the last of the monsters the group searched their bodies and found some useful equipment, gathering arrows to replenish what he lost. While the group was searching the dead the rats became frantic and started scratching against the wall to the south. Draven found a hidden door that led to a small room full of treasure, including weapons, potions, etc. After the door was opened the rats bowed before us and left the group to return where they came from.
After our battle the group decided to take a long rest to lick our wounds and identify our treasures. Milo found that the dagger was a very valuable weapon to add to his arsenal. The rest of the potions turned out to be of various types.
After the rest the group explored the hallway to the west, Quasi snuck down the hallway and found a door leading west and hallway leading south. The door was adamantine steel hatch, Thagmar opened the door and we found two machines. Both made of red bronze and one smashed to pieces, nothing else of value in the room. A door to the west exists the room. Quasi, always curious, opened the hatch in the side of the machine and found that a large cylinder shaped hole.
The group checked the door to the west and entered the room, we found a medium sized room filled with glass containers, all but four are shattered. There are doors leading out to the north and south. Quasi grabbed the empty bottles and tossed the glass bottles into the machine in the previous room. Nothing happened.
We headed through the northern door, we entered into a large room with several exists. The ceiling had mosaic tiles that depicted arcane symbols. In one corner of the room was a skeleton that had three creatures gnawing on it. The creatures immediately became violent and attacked our group. Quasi shouts out that they were a undead creatures called ghouls as they charged to the attack.
Vroc cast bless on the group brining the aid of his god to bare in the battle, Milo attempted to cast faire fire on the ghouls only catching one of them, and Quasi fired a hail of thorns at the monsters. Quasi’s first shot was dead on target, sticking several arrows into the creatures. Draven charged to the front of our party and cast ice knife spell into the group dealing significant ice damage to the group, killing one of them. Thagmar charged forward and cleaved one of the monsters in twain, ending its foul life. Just as the ghoul dropped to the ground, three new shambling ghouls joined the battle, flanking Thagmar and slashing him with their diseased claws. Flying into a rage, Thagmar slashed the wounded ghoul across chest and face, killing it instantly. Draven stepped into the room and confidently cast scorching ray, blasting two of the creatures with the spell. Vroc enters the battle, conjuring his spiritual weapon and using the flail to smash the closest ghoul. Thagmar took a wicked slash, barely noticing the new wounds. Roland moved into position and cast thorn whip, dragging one of the ghouls away from Thagmar and into the path of a charging Milo who drove his rapier through the creature’s chest, killing it instantly. Quasi charged into the room and ran one of the ghouls through with his rapier, dealing horrible damage. Turning to face one of the two remaining ghouls, Thagmar ramed his blade clean through it, splattering the ground with the dead creature’s guts. Again Thagmar barely noticed the new wounds the ghoul scratched into his flesh. Quasi stepped up to the remaining ghoul and ran it through with his blade, ending their threat to our group.
Kills: Draven I, Thagmar II, Milo I, Quasi I
The group searched the room and found the skeleton on the floor that the ghouls were gnawing on had a sword, the group took the blade to sell in town. I composed the skeleton and performed a brief ceremony for the dead. Draven examined the runes on the ceiling and was stymied by the symbols. I then patched up Thagmar’s wounds to prevent infection and heal the warrior. While I patched up the barbarian, Quasi cut the tongues out of the ghouls as either a trophy or to sell in town, I have no idea which.
Quasi began exploring and the group headed north and found a large room. The west wall of the room is covered by multiple clocks, all of which are not working, and all on different times. Quasi advocated for taking one of the clocks back to Karlsburg to sell, this man is one hell of a merchant as he knows his markets. Quasi attempted to yank a clock off the wall and shattered it into several hundred pieces, a second attempt resulted in successfully pulling one down. He quickly stowed it into the bag of holding and the group headed off to the exit in the eastern wall. It was a stairwell heading up.
The group decided to return to the room we fought the ghouls in and headed into the western door. We found a room with doors that are covered in art, inside the room there is a desk, chairs, wooden shelves, and book shelves. A quick search of the room found a stack of bound paper written in a strange script. The group took the bound pages and left the room.
The group returned to a door we had passed early and ignored. Inside was a room filled with a large number of bones from several different sources (mainly rodent/vermin size). We split up and began to search through the bones, we found some treasure in the room, a magic ring and some sort of a magic rod or symbol. Draven began acting strangely and picked out humanoid bones and storing them in his sack.
The group left and explored a hallway we had passed by earlier and continued exploring this level of Mount and found a huge room with a pool filled with a clear/white thick liquid, on the south wall is a control panel with a human standing next to it, and several gnolls in the room. The gnoll closest to the human appears to be guarding him for some reason.
Milo attempted to reason with the gnoll’s and their human friend. The human responds and asks the group to leave the area as he has work to do. Apparently, Milo said something upsetting and the human mage cast a fireball spell at the group. A split second before he unleashed the spell, Vroc shouted scatter and the group ran to the four corners of the room, dodging the deadly spell. Milo cast faire fire upon the gnolls on the northern side of the room, causing them to glow in purple making them much easier to hit. I cast poison spray on gnoll attacking Thagmar, coating it in a green cloud of gas, causing it to hack and wretch from the effects of the poison. Vroc cast a guiding bolt at the mage, missing wide. The gnolls responded to our attack by charging into Thagmar and Quasi, missing on all attacks. Draven cast magic missile upon the mage, dealing stinging damage to the mage. Thagmar flew into a rage and ran through the closest gnoll to him, killing it. I cast thorn whip at one of the gnolls, wrapping the whip around his throat and dealing horrible damage and dragging it into the pool of clear liquid. Draven blasted the wizard again with magic missile dealing horrific damage to him. The gnoll that I drug into pool, pulled himself out of the muck cursing, swearing and coated in white slime, to attack Thagmar and miss. Quasi took a vicious spear wound to the side from the remaining gnolls. The mage turned to the group in melee on him and cast burning hands, inflicting horrible burns upon them. The room was filled with the agonizing screams of Pokey being incinerated into a pile of ash. Xon ran through the gnoll that was pulled into pool. The group horrified by the death of our hireling, charged into the fray ready to end the mage and his gnolls. Draven cast magic missile on the mage. I cast moonbeam on the mage, bathing him in the light of the moon and burning his unrighteous hide with the wrath of nature. The mage cast wall of fire in retaliation for all the damage he has taken, causing burns to Vroc, Quasi, Thagmar, and one of the gnolls. After the spell, the mage attempted to get out of the moonbeam which allowed Vroc to smash him with his flail, crushing his skull and ending the mages life and spells. A horribly burned Quasi, pulled a healing potion from his pack and drank it in the hopes of soothing some of the burns he had taken. Quasi then slashed the gnoll closest to him and ended its life. Milo, running up to the group heaved his dagger at the gnoll and missed horribly. The group ganged up on the remaining gnoll, with Draven finishing him off with a chill touch spell.
Kills: Thagmar I, Xon I, Vroc I (Mage), Quasi I, Draven I
After our hard fought victory, the group searched the corpses of our fallen foes and found mundane armor, weapons, and a duplicate magic rod or symbol that we found earlier in the room of skeletons. I led the group in mourning the loss of our hireling, Pokey. Quasi and Vroc rounded up the dead and tossed their corpses into the pool, for vengeance or expermentation?
The group then set up camp in the hidden room we had found earlier in our exploration and rested to recover from our battle with the evil mage. The group was able to identify the ring as a ring of fire protection (reduces fire damage 1 point per die), which was awarded to Thagmar. Draven copied the comprehend languages scroll into his spell book, cast it, and read the bound pages. Draven found an instruction manual for the pool of life and the essence machine.
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Session Report 2016-04-09. By Roland Red Oak
April 9, 2016 – The Journal of Roland Red Oak
Several nights ago, a dragonborn named Vroc, came to the tavern that our group was relaxing in and rushed to Milo and Draven. He was in bad shape, dripping blood from several jagged deep wounds, covered in bruises, and barely able to stand. He croaked in a harsh whisper, “Froc is dead” and then collapsed onto the floor. Our group rushed to his aid, I immediately started tending to his wounds while the group helped move him to the table so I could better treat him. After several hours of prayers, poultices, and luck Vroc finally stabilized and regained consciousness. We got him a room at the inn across the street and let him rest for the evening and recover his strength.
The next day Vroc shared his tale of woe and death. Earlier that week he, his brother, and two mercenaries Warren a fighter and Varis the thief had entered into the Mount of the Red Door in search of fortune and glory. However, they found that the first levels had been cleared by our group previously and they continued down until they encountered a group of Orcs. He told tales of intense battle, of loss, of sacrifice, and ultimately the groups defeat and how he had narrowly escaped with his life. Distraught from the tale our group swore a blood oath at that moment to avenge the deaths of his brother and the rest of the group.
As Vroc recovered from his wounds over the next month the group heard that Thagmar had returned to town. I went to greet my old friend and found a much changed man, he was grim and determined, no longer the boisterous half-orc I had known. We sat down over an ale and a good meal and he told me the tale of the loss of his tribe to an undead monster. He told how he had searched for almost a month and not come across a single survivor, he built a cairn on the site of his village and had left his great axe as a memorial to his people. I told him of the loss of Froc and how we were preparing to return to the Mount to avenge his death. He eagerly agreed to join the group.
Our group now set; Vroc, Quasi, Milo, Draven, Thagmar, myself, and two hirelings. We entered the Mount looking for vengeance.
We returned to level 3 to finish examining the level for king Ruck-Ruck. We returned to the northeastern corner of the mount. We entered the room with the two statues and as we attempted to pass between them, Thagmar and Quasi bounced off of some sort of barrier. When we turned the statues so that they no longer faced each other (facing north), Draven disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the barrier. A very confused dwarf blinked back from the opposite side of the barrier. After several stops and starts we figured out how to disable the barrier and rejoined the group. We went to the door in the northeast corner of the room.
Thagmar opened the door and we found a room filled with over 2 dozen steel drums at the end of the long hallway. The group examined the room and found that one of the barrels appeared to have some sort of liquid. Draven used a crowbar to pop the top off of the barrel and we found about 40 gallons of the gray ooze we found in the pool on the western corner of the floor. Draven put the lid back on and the group examined the rest of the room and found nothing of value or interest. We returned to the statue room and found that the barrier had returned. Draven figured out how the barrier worked and allowed us to pass and reset the barrier.
We went to the northern room first and found at the cross corridor; a room to the west filled with shelves and cabinets along the walls, stairs leading up, and a door to the south. Inside the cabinets and shelves we found several gray thing robes (12). Draven examined the robes and found that they were all radiating magic and that inside the sleeve of one of the robes is a scroll tube with an arcane scroll with read languages, levitate, & haste. The group then turned our attention to the door to the south.
The group entered the room and we found a long hallway/room that was covered in white polished and very reflective white stone. The eastern wall was covered with a gray curtain and at the southern end of the room is a scarab altar. As Thagmar and Quasi entered the room, Quasi was struck blind and began to hear a scrapping, clawing sound, followed by a deep menacing voice saying, “What do you seek of me?” The voice responds with a name that Draven recognizes as the Demon Prince of Beatles. After asking how long he will be blind, his blindness passed and the voices stopped.
Roland approaches the group about destroying the altar as it is an affront to the natural order. Thagmar, Roland, and Milo entered the room and Thagmar & Milo were struck blind. After curing their blindness, Thagmar pushed the scarab off the altar, and Roland performed a bless/consecration on the area removing the foul taint from the area. Satisfied the group moves on to the crossroad and entered the room to the north through the door.
Inside we found a large U shaped room with a statue of Vork pointing to the east and west. Along the walls to the east and west were switches and levers. The group decided to leave them alone for now and return to the crossroads and head west down the hall.
At the end of the hall is a small room with 6 humaniod looking rats, Vroc cast guiding bolt spell that blasted one of the heathen rat-man. Draven hurled an ice-knife spell at the wounded rat-man which exploded all over the lead rat-men. Thagmar charged into the room and slashed the wounded rat man with Blood Drainer. The rat-men retaliated by surrounding Thagmar and slashing at him with shortswords. He took several viscous looking wounds which only enraged Thagmar further. Quasi took several hand crossbow bolts from the remaining rat-men. He knocked his bow and fired arrows into the group and cast a hail of thorn spell that dropped one of the rat-men. Vroc charged in and unleashed his breath weapon down the line rat-men, splashing them with acid. Roland cast moonbeam, burning the rat-man and causing him to revert to his human form. Milo entered the room and cast crown of madness on one of the rat-men, converting him to our side. Thagmar swung away at the closest rat-man and missed horribly. Draven burst into the room and unleashed a scorching ray that burned the targets, causing the room to reek of burned fur and rat. Quasi jumped into action, switched to silver arrows, cast hail of thorns, and fired into the group. The rat-men retaliated by rushing Quasi and he took a series of viscous wounds. Quasi angered by the wounds he had suffered, drew his rapier and lunged at the rat-men attacking him, skewering the first one through the heart and killing it. Thagmar cleaved the closest rat-man, inflicting a horrible wound but he remained standing. Draven unleashed a blast of poison killing the rat-man attacking Quasi. Vroc charged into the room and cut down one of the rat-men with a thrust of his sword. Roland moved the moonbeam spell over one of the remaining rat-men, converting him to his human form and burning it’s flesh. Thagmar and Roland combined to damage the remaining rat-men. Draven tried the poison spray again only to miss this time. Milo cast bane on the remaining rat-men to no effect. Vroc called upon his deity to heal the wounded and Quasi’s wounds closed. The remaining rat-men wounded Vroc & Thagmar. Quasi rushed into the fray, quickly stabbing a rat-man through the heart from behind, dropping him to the floor. Draven cast chill touch on the remaining rat-man. Milo finished off the final rat-man with a quick thrust of his rapier.
Kill Count – Quasi III, Draven I, Vroc I, Milo I
We rested a moment while I patched Thagmar’s wounds, we resolved to enter the room that the rat-men were guarding. We found a small old storage room whose floor has crumbled away into a tunnel leading down. The group was faced with a decision to continue down the tunnel, seek vengeance on the orcs, or take a long rest. We decided to rest and plan our next steps. Quasi foraged the area for food and we struck out, not finding anything of value.
We decided to explore the steps leading up into the second level. We decided to return to king Ruck-Ruck, show him the map of the third level, and recover our reward. We asked him if he knew of the Orcs our friend had met or the Rat-men we had fought; he was ignorant of both groups. We confirmed that our arrangement still stands and we asked for 1,000 gold to clear out level four. We decided to go after the Orcs.
We marched down to the level with the Orcs (2A), we descended the mold covered stairs into the depths of the Orc lair, weapons ready and grim determination written across our faces. Quasi, utilizing his considerable stealth skills, crept down the stairs and found 5 guards protecting the Orc kingdom. Quasi snuck down the stairs took up his bow and waited for our group to charge in and take up position and the battle began in earnest. Quasi fired the first shots into the guards to the east entrance and fired a second volley into them as well, killing them both with head shots. The orcs directly across from our group split, with one attempting to flee and getting severely injured on the spike growth and the second charging our group to only die on the spikes. The final guard on the western corridor took off running down the hall fleeing in terror. Draven blasted the guard fleeing to the east with magic missile, dropping him in his tracks.
We waited for the return of the guards with nervous anticipation, we didn’t have to wait long for a second group of orcs to charge into the room from the eastern hall. Quasi fired an arrow into the group hitting it in the chest. The orcs retreated from the room and waited on us to act, we had a standoff occur, neither group willing to commit to full combat. Another group charged from the west (9 + the leaders, Vroc points out the leader and his shaman have entered the room), stumbling blindly into the spike growth. Several of the orcs died screaming on the spike growth, the first one that limped his way to Thagmar was run through by Blood Drainer, killing it instantly. Vroc blasted one of the charging Orcs with guiding bolt, illuminating the ugly creature in divine light. Draven hurled his ice knife into the group charging from the east, frost erupted from the blast freezing two of the orcs to death, shattering them to pieces. Two more orcs joined behind the group, one was particularly nasty looking. The leader gave a loud roar, inspiring the orcs to attack with renewed vigor. Vroc and Thagmar suffered horrible wounds at the hands of three of the orcs. The priest summoned a weapon to attack Thagmar, crushing him across the shoulder. The leader charged into the room and leaped across the spike growth, hurling a spear at the Thagmar (an amazing feat of athletics to be sure, if it was not coming from the ugly creature).
Milo, a smirk on his face, cast thunderwave on the orcs around him tossing them away from our group. Three of them succumbed to the blast. I reached out to the forces of nature to revive and mend Thagmar’s wounds. Vroc cast silence on the shaman, silencing the monster. Draven witchbolt on the shaman, shooting a massive bolt of lightning into him. Vroc called upon his divine patron and healed Thagmar, closing the majority of his wounds. Milo cast crown of madness on the orc leader, turning him against his allies. The remaining orcs charged across the room, taking damage from the spike growth. Quasi and Thagmar took damage once again from the orcs. The large orc charged into the group and slashed Thagmar with his great axe, opening a horrible wound on him. The shaman attempted to flee the room, but the enslaved leader struck him from behind. The shaman lost all hope and fled the battle.
Draven cast poison spray on one of the remaining orcs, causing him wretch. Thagmar, after taking such horrible damage, flew into an uncontrollable rage and started swinging blindly at the large orc, missing. Quasi thrust his rapier through the heart of the orc near him, killing it instantly. The two hirelings started poking the orcs over our group with their pikes. Roland once again entreated the spirits of nature to help heal the wounds of his friend Thagmar, closing wounds and mending his flesh. Draven cast magic missile on the leader, wounding him. Quasi with lethal precision once again killed another orc with a stab through the chest. Thagmar’s rage once again caused him to miss. The hirelings again missed the orcs, while Roland cast poison spray, killing another orc. Vroc cast guiding bolt at the large orc and missed the brute. The orcs retaliated, the chief charged back into the battle and attacked Thagmar with the help of his large ally, dealing horrible wounds to him. Two more orcs joined the fray, charging in from the west.
Milo cast thunderwave again, shaking the king but blasting the large ugly orc across the room. Quasi drew his bow and repositioned himself across the room and began firing arrows into the orc leader, striking him between the shoulders. Draven blasted the leader with magic missile, killing him outright. The large orc leaped back into position and scratched Thagmar and the two orcs charged in and struck Roland and Thagmar. The hireling Xon ran through one of the orcs, killing it and earning his pay. Draven cast chill touch, grabbing him by the throat and choking the life out of the large orc. Quasi fired an arrow into one of the two remaining orcs through the eye. Thagmar charged the remaining orc and cut him from shoulder to crotch with a mighty swing of his sword, killing him. After the last orc fell, I patched up as many of our wounded companions as I could.
Kill Count – Quasi III, Roland V (spike growth), Draven V (orc leader and large orc), Thagmar II, Milo III, Xon I
The group began the grizzly task of searching the dead, we came across some poorly constructed weapons. Vroc recovered his brother’s magic flail and splint mail, and the large orc was wearing plate mail. Vroc put on the plate mail and armed himself with his flail.
The group decided to limp back upstairs to an empty room and rest to recover from the battle with the orcs. With the goal of returning and hunting down the shaman.
Several nights ago, a dragonborn named Vroc, came to the tavern that our group was relaxing in and rushed to Milo and Draven. He was in bad shape, dripping blood from several jagged deep wounds, covered in bruises, and barely able to stand. He croaked in a harsh whisper, “Froc is dead” and then collapsed onto the floor. Our group rushed to his aid, I immediately started tending to his wounds while the group helped move him to the table so I could better treat him. After several hours of prayers, poultices, and luck Vroc finally stabilized and regained consciousness. We got him a room at the inn across the street and let him rest for the evening and recover his strength.
The next day Vroc shared his tale of woe and death. Earlier that week he, his brother, and two mercenaries Warren a fighter and Varis the thief had entered into the Mount of the Red Door in search of fortune and glory. However, they found that the first levels had been cleared by our group previously and they continued down until they encountered a group of Orcs. He told tales of intense battle, of loss, of sacrifice, and ultimately the groups defeat and how he had narrowly escaped with his life. Distraught from the tale our group swore a blood oath at that moment to avenge the deaths of his brother and the rest of the group.
As Vroc recovered from his wounds over the next month the group heard that Thagmar had returned to town. I went to greet my old friend and found a much changed man, he was grim and determined, no longer the boisterous half-orc I had known. We sat down over an ale and a good meal and he told me the tale of the loss of his tribe to an undead monster. He told how he had searched for almost a month and not come across a single survivor, he built a cairn on the site of his village and had left his great axe as a memorial to his people. I told him of the loss of Froc and how we were preparing to return to the Mount to avenge his death. He eagerly agreed to join the group.
Our group now set; Vroc, Quasi, Milo, Draven, Thagmar, myself, and two hirelings. We entered the Mount looking for vengeance.
We returned to level 3 to finish examining the level for king Ruck-Ruck. We returned to the northeastern corner of the mount. We entered the room with the two statues and as we attempted to pass between them, Thagmar and Quasi bounced off of some sort of barrier. When we turned the statues so that they no longer faced each other (facing north), Draven disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the barrier. A very confused dwarf blinked back from the opposite side of the barrier. After several stops and starts we figured out how to disable the barrier and rejoined the group. We went to the door in the northeast corner of the room.
Thagmar opened the door and we found a room filled with over 2 dozen steel drums at the end of the long hallway. The group examined the room and found that one of the barrels appeared to have some sort of liquid. Draven used a crowbar to pop the top off of the barrel and we found about 40 gallons of the gray ooze we found in the pool on the western corner of the floor. Draven put the lid back on and the group examined the rest of the room and found nothing of value or interest. We returned to the statue room and found that the barrier had returned. Draven figured out how the barrier worked and allowed us to pass and reset the barrier.
We went to the northern room first and found at the cross corridor; a room to the west filled with shelves and cabinets along the walls, stairs leading up, and a door to the south. Inside the cabinets and shelves we found several gray thing robes (12). Draven examined the robes and found that they were all radiating magic and that inside the sleeve of one of the robes is a scroll tube with an arcane scroll with read languages, levitate, & haste. The group then turned our attention to the door to the south.
The group entered the room and we found a long hallway/room that was covered in white polished and very reflective white stone. The eastern wall was covered with a gray curtain and at the southern end of the room is a scarab altar. As Thagmar and Quasi entered the room, Quasi was struck blind and began to hear a scrapping, clawing sound, followed by a deep menacing voice saying, “What do you seek of me?” The voice responds with a name that Draven recognizes as the Demon Prince of Beatles. After asking how long he will be blind, his blindness passed and the voices stopped.
Roland approaches the group about destroying the altar as it is an affront to the natural order. Thagmar, Roland, and Milo entered the room and Thagmar & Milo were struck blind. After curing their blindness, Thagmar pushed the scarab off the altar, and Roland performed a bless/consecration on the area removing the foul taint from the area. Satisfied the group moves on to the crossroad and entered the room to the north through the door.
Inside we found a large U shaped room with a statue of Vork pointing to the east and west. Along the walls to the east and west were switches and levers. The group decided to leave them alone for now and return to the crossroads and head west down the hall.
At the end of the hall is a small room with 6 humaniod looking rats, Vroc cast guiding bolt spell that blasted one of the heathen rat-man. Draven hurled an ice-knife spell at the wounded rat-man which exploded all over the lead rat-men. Thagmar charged into the room and slashed the wounded rat man with Blood Drainer. The rat-men retaliated by surrounding Thagmar and slashing at him with shortswords. He took several viscous looking wounds which only enraged Thagmar further. Quasi took several hand crossbow bolts from the remaining rat-men. He knocked his bow and fired arrows into the group and cast a hail of thorn spell that dropped one of the rat-men. Vroc charged in and unleashed his breath weapon down the line rat-men, splashing them with acid. Roland cast moonbeam, burning the rat-man and causing him to revert to his human form. Milo entered the room and cast crown of madness on one of the rat-men, converting him to our side. Thagmar swung away at the closest rat-man and missed horribly. Draven burst into the room and unleashed a scorching ray that burned the targets, causing the room to reek of burned fur and rat. Quasi jumped into action, switched to silver arrows, cast hail of thorns, and fired into the group. The rat-men retaliated by rushing Quasi and he took a series of viscous wounds. Quasi angered by the wounds he had suffered, drew his rapier and lunged at the rat-men attacking him, skewering the first one through the heart and killing it. Thagmar cleaved the closest rat-man, inflicting a horrible wound but he remained standing. Draven unleashed a blast of poison killing the rat-man attacking Quasi. Vroc charged into the room and cut down one of the rat-men with a thrust of his sword. Roland moved the moonbeam spell over one of the remaining rat-men, converting him to his human form and burning it’s flesh. Thagmar and Roland combined to damage the remaining rat-men. Draven tried the poison spray again only to miss this time. Milo cast bane on the remaining rat-men to no effect. Vroc called upon his deity to heal the wounded and Quasi’s wounds closed. The remaining rat-men wounded Vroc & Thagmar. Quasi rushed into the fray, quickly stabbing a rat-man through the heart from behind, dropping him to the floor. Draven cast chill touch on the remaining rat-man. Milo finished off the final rat-man with a quick thrust of his rapier.
Kill Count – Quasi III, Draven I, Vroc I, Milo I
We rested a moment while I patched Thagmar’s wounds, we resolved to enter the room that the rat-men were guarding. We found a small old storage room whose floor has crumbled away into a tunnel leading down. The group was faced with a decision to continue down the tunnel, seek vengeance on the orcs, or take a long rest. We decided to rest and plan our next steps. Quasi foraged the area for food and we struck out, not finding anything of value.
We decided to explore the steps leading up into the second level. We decided to return to king Ruck-Ruck, show him the map of the third level, and recover our reward. We asked him if he knew of the Orcs our friend had met or the Rat-men we had fought; he was ignorant of both groups. We confirmed that our arrangement still stands and we asked for 1,000 gold to clear out level four. We decided to go after the Orcs.
We marched down to the level with the Orcs (2A), we descended the mold covered stairs into the depths of the Orc lair, weapons ready and grim determination written across our faces. Quasi, utilizing his considerable stealth skills, crept down the stairs and found 5 guards protecting the Orc kingdom. Quasi snuck down the stairs took up his bow and waited for our group to charge in and take up position and the battle began in earnest. Quasi fired the first shots into the guards to the east entrance and fired a second volley into them as well, killing them both with head shots. The orcs directly across from our group split, with one attempting to flee and getting severely injured on the spike growth and the second charging our group to only die on the spikes. The final guard on the western corridor took off running down the hall fleeing in terror. Draven blasted the guard fleeing to the east with magic missile, dropping him in his tracks.
We waited for the return of the guards with nervous anticipation, we didn’t have to wait long for a second group of orcs to charge into the room from the eastern hall. Quasi fired an arrow into the group hitting it in the chest. The orcs retreated from the room and waited on us to act, we had a standoff occur, neither group willing to commit to full combat. Another group charged from the west (9 + the leaders, Vroc points out the leader and his shaman have entered the room), stumbling blindly into the spike growth. Several of the orcs died screaming on the spike growth, the first one that limped his way to Thagmar was run through by Blood Drainer, killing it instantly. Vroc blasted one of the charging Orcs with guiding bolt, illuminating the ugly creature in divine light. Draven hurled his ice knife into the group charging from the east, frost erupted from the blast freezing two of the orcs to death, shattering them to pieces. Two more orcs joined behind the group, one was particularly nasty looking. The leader gave a loud roar, inspiring the orcs to attack with renewed vigor. Vroc and Thagmar suffered horrible wounds at the hands of three of the orcs. The priest summoned a weapon to attack Thagmar, crushing him across the shoulder. The leader charged into the room and leaped across the spike growth, hurling a spear at the Thagmar (an amazing feat of athletics to be sure, if it was not coming from the ugly creature).
Milo, a smirk on his face, cast thunderwave on the orcs around him tossing them away from our group. Three of them succumbed to the blast. I reached out to the forces of nature to revive and mend Thagmar’s wounds. Vroc cast silence on the shaman, silencing the monster. Draven witchbolt on the shaman, shooting a massive bolt of lightning into him. Vroc called upon his divine patron and healed Thagmar, closing the majority of his wounds. Milo cast crown of madness on the orc leader, turning him against his allies. The remaining orcs charged across the room, taking damage from the spike growth. Quasi and Thagmar took damage once again from the orcs. The large orc charged into the group and slashed Thagmar with his great axe, opening a horrible wound on him. The shaman attempted to flee the room, but the enslaved leader struck him from behind. The shaman lost all hope and fled the battle.
Draven cast poison spray on one of the remaining orcs, causing him wretch. Thagmar, after taking such horrible damage, flew into an uncontrollable rage and started swinging blindly at the large orc, missing. Quasi thrust his rapier through the heart of the orc near him, killing it instantly. The two hirelings started poking the orcs over our group with their pikes. Roland once again entreated the spirits of nature to help heal the wounds of his friend Thagmar, closing wounds and mending his flesh. Draven cast magic missile on the leader, wounding him. Quasi with lethal precision once again killed another orc with a stab through the chest. Thagmar’s rage once again caused him to miss. The hirelings again missed the orcs, while Roland cast poison spray, killing another orc. Vroc cast guiding bolt at the large orc and missed the brute. The orcs retaliated, the chief charged back into the battle and attacked Thagmar with the help of his large ally, dealing horrible wounds to him. Two more orcs joined the fray, charging in from the west.
Milo cast thunderwave again, shaking the king but blasting the large ugly orc across the room. Quasi drew his bow and repositioned himself across the room and began firing arrows into the orc leader, striking him between the shoulders. Draven blasted the leader with magic missile, killing him outright. The large orc leaped back into position and scratched Thagmar and the two orcs charged in and struck Roland and Thagmar. The hireling Xon ran through one of the orcs, killing it and earning his pay. Draven cast chill touch, grabbing him by the throat and choking the life out of the large orc. Quasi fired an arrow into one of the two remaining orcs through the eye. Thagmar charged the remaining orc and cut him from shoulder to crotch with a mighty swing of his sword, killing him. After the last orc fell, I patched up as many of our wounded companions as I could.
Kill Count – Quasi III, Roland V (spike growth), Draven V (orc leader and large orc), Thagmar II, Milo III, Xon I
The group began the grizzly task of searching the dead, we came across some poorly constructed weapons. Vroc recovered his brother’s magic flail and splint mail, and the large orc was wearing plate mail. Vroc put on the plate mail and armed himself with his flail.
The group decided to limp back upstairs to an empty room and rest to recover from the battle with the orcs. With the goal of returning and hunting down the shaman.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)