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.
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