Session Report: 2016-12-04 by Quassii

Vroc and I met Nevus and Cathar in the town of Karlsburg. Within the Mount, the members of the party have discovered over 20 statues that at one time represented one of the various gods of the Great Church that have had their heads replaced by Vork. In order to repent to his god and restore his sacred oath, Nevus was commanded by his god to restore the proper heads to those statues. To do so, we went to the town sculpture, Vidi where Nevus to paid close to 500 gold, to have him and his apprentices to create statue heads of various sizes and material.

The new members to our coalition of adventurers really hit it off with myself. They seemed to bond instantly. Vroc was somewhat leery, just because he misses his brother that died horribly in the godforsaken Mount. After paying the gold, I showed them our Mountain Fortress of solitude. Letting them choose their own room as the other new members will be given. As a place of safety and kinship. We journeyed to the Mountain of Death renamed by Vroc and many of the families of fallen hirelings. During the trip I hunted and killed a 8 point buck and two rabbits. Ample food for a week.

We entered the Mountain tomb, and made our way throgh the maze of levels to begin the fourth level. The stairs opened to a single large room that smelt like rotten eggs. We had just eaten deer meat. So our day was not starting as we had planned. Upon entering the room we see one door and a old tapestry running across the entire back or the room. Standing around the room were six, very smelly creatures we could not identify. So we labeled them Frogmen. Nevus being the natural diplomat, and trying to regain favor with his God, tried desperately in the common tongue for a peaceful resolution. They did not seem to understand.

At that same moment, Xon a hireling of some renown, pulled out his crossbow. He held it in the air with a larger than life smile on his face. It was on. The Frogboys charged us like we were flies. With the leader casting a spear spell that never hit anyone, but was a hindrance to our movement. Nevus and I were in the front row. I knocked the crap out of a couple of them. Nevus cleaned up, killing 3 in total with his newfound magic Battle Axe. Cathar flipped and hoped around like a ninja full of zeal, killing one. Opening the way for me to kill two including the spell castor. After joking about eating some frog legs we searched the room finding nothing. So we went to the only door listening in battle formation.

Opening the door we found a series of hallways and doors. We listened at every door before passing to search the hallway. Cathar stated it was not a phobia but did not like open hallways to be attacked from. So honoring his concern we searched around them passing a few doors. We came to a odd shaped room with strange makings on the walls. Upon entering it, I and Xon felt confused standing there helpless. Vroc did not waste a second. He immediately grabbed us both dragged us down the hallway. Vroc standing almost 7 feet and weighing three hundred pounds, it was not a problem. After a few minutes we regained composure, and decided not to go back there till we had our spell castor's present.

Making a long story short, we searched several room finding secret rooms, and compartments in a few places. We found a couple treasure hiding places. There were several chest some full of silver others with gold and trinkets of various sorts. Including a coat of arms banner and gold medal of valor and other objects of the Sulian Empire. We kept them to barter with at a later date.

One of the secret treasure room we found were guarded by two rust monsters that came from behind two pillars in the large marble room. Luckily we had initiative. You have never seen the mighty Nevus and myself seem so timed to confront a ugly little beast. I pulled out my trusty bow, cast  Hunter's Mark spell and keeping my distance, I peled them with arrows galore. Nevus resorted to throwing hand axes. Xon seemed to be more brave then most. He charged and held the nasty rust devil at bay. Cathar, a monk, with few metal possessions flew past the rearguard heroes. They normally commanded the front lines with ferocity. Now Xon the henchman, and Cathar the monk held the position. They preformed flawlessly. Cathar killed his, and Xon killed the other. In the end Xon's scale armor and shield were damaged. I put Xon at ease though vowing to buy him new equipment. After the battle Xon seemed to shine with pride. Then we plundered the secret treasure room.

After a few nice loot spots we entered a large hallway. There were large double doors at each end.

We decided to go to the right side double doors. Upon me entering the threshold of the room first I teleported to another room. I was later informed that everyone except Nevus began to panic. Like a natural leader he issued commands out like a general. Physically restraining Vroc from entering the room. They gathered wood splinters from a room explored earlier. He worked on a system of throwing in the wood to see the results. After some time thinking he thought he had found a pattern. Unfortunately, he realized something was not right. He sent in everyone. We were scattered all over the map. Nevus started using chalk to mark rooms. Then I started using his chalk. We discovered five other rooms that teleported people to random rooms. Nevus found some people, handed out chalk to them. Then Nevus devised a plan for everyone to cycle through the teleportation rooms until eveyone was in the same room. Once that was done, they could as a group leave the room and explore the hallways. Then we began to map the maze in good order united.

We found a room with a jail cell. There was slimy bones in the cell. Upon seeing this Nevus looked up to see a Green Blob on the ceiling. We all drew our missile weapons and quickly killed it before it could even move. Vroc ended up throwing the last blow via a sacred flame spell. Then as we continued to find empty rooms, some with alters and statues.

We entered a room with two were-rats. Nevus and I killed them quickly unfortunately Nevus hit his with such force that its head bounced off the door. Alerting others in an adjacent hallway. Five more entered the room. We cut them down like Rats. Nevus cut down two more. Cathar killed one as did I. The last one actually pissed itself. Then ran like a bitch for help. We chased it into another room of five. Nevus came in killing two more with haste. Cathar taking another down. The other three ran again for help. Vroc had just Blessed the party moments earlier. So we chased again. One of them barely got to the next room before I did a jump spell. He ran and jumped so far he cut two off. I killed another and so did Cathar. There stood seven brave were-rats that were done running. It was to the death now. Then came Xon running into the room first. Having flashbacks of the rust monster glory from earlier. Vroc threw a buffed up level three guided bolt and took one out. Nevus entered the room like a mad man downing three more. Cathar attacking with four strikes at a time took two more down. With me taking the last ratman down. During the conflict everyone except Xon and Vrac had been bitten. Most of us were infected with Lycanthropy. Vroc the warrior cleric rested then cast lesser restoration healing us all.

After a long adventure we decided to try one more room. Going around the corner we noticed a very large room with a minotaur sitting in an iron throne surrounded by four others. Not noticing us we backed away. Low on spells i cast an acid glyph of warding at the corner of the hallway that entered into the room. Then we went to rest for our final battle before going back to town. We came back in battle formation buffed and ready. To draw them out Nevus thought to lead with a peace offering. To our surprise the King introduced himself as King Bik. Seeming rather gracious Nevus, and Cathar entered the center of the room to parlay. They exchanged pleasantries with things going very well. King Bik offered to pay us 8 gold a head for the were-rats. Sending a minion the get a chest of gold for us. The day was ending good. The minion and another minotaur returned with a chest. Then betrayal they sneak attacked Nevus wounding him. Then as they gained the upper hand, Nevus and Cathaer were about to be slaughtered. I interrupted and used a special card to let our new found allies retreat. We reformed in good order healing Nevus. Then came the hounds of war. Vicious unrelenting minotaur a fierce foe indeed. The first one had one hell of a surprise.  With the acid, and everyone wounding it, I took the first mino down. That pissed the King off. He left the room swearing. We just new he was bringing pets of some sort. Another entered the narrow hallway in front of us. We planned a perfect defense bottle necking so we only faced one at a time. We wore the second one down with Cathar taking it out with his longbow. The King came back with another minotaur carrying two huge rocks. King Bik had a barrel. All of the other mino's moved aside. Then Cathar fired and hit the barrel with his arrow. It began to spew oil. Then I fired my bow using a flame arrow. -KABOOM- the entire chamber rattled. The King caught on fire along with Rockboy receiving splash damage. The King put himself out as we laughed our asses off. We stoped laughing after the King grabbed a rock and hit me with it for large amount of damage. Then we all aimed missile weapons at the King and I ended him with a shot in the right nostril. The mino's went berserk. The first one charged with reckless intent, knocking Nevus unconscious in one blow. Vroc healed him with haste. After returning to his feet Nevus killed the mino. The last remaining two mino's were killed by myself after everyone slowly chipped away at them in a methodical fashion.

After a great victory we searched the room. Under the thrown was a minor wand of magic missiles, a scroll of knock, and charm person, thousands of silver coins with some gold.There was a Key ring with stange ruins on one and symbols on another. I paid and got King Bik's Silver Crown. The King's Skull decorates my jail war wagon along with the orc sharman whe killed Vroc's brother. We got back to town. Vroc and Xon are leveling giving everyone time to train or whatever they wish. In the end a friendship of brotherhood had emerged. The clan has grown. Nevus has showed cunning and leadership aided by his loyal bodyguard Cathar. It was an honor fighting by their side.

Session Report 2016-11-27 by Karn Brightscale

November 27, 2016 – The Journal of Karn Brightscale

I (Karn) was joined by Thagmar the Half-Orc barbarian and my good friend, Quasi the Elf ranger, Xon the ranger’s hired sword, and Vroc the dragonborn cleric of Ezaos as we journeyed to the Mount of the Red Door. On our trip to the Mount, Vroc could barely contain his excitement about his recent gambling exploits. I guess that Ezaos loves a gambler as the dragonborn had won a small fortune. The rest of the trip was uneventful, we were able to return to the level with the Red Elves, the talking ghouls, and other assorted oddities (3A).

We made it to landing of the level and decided to use the door to the south that was made from Red Brass door with 4 engraved circles on them, this door stood apart from the others. We took an abundance of caution and had Thagmar open the door while the rest of the group stood back.

Once the door was open we found a large room with exits to the Southwest and East (bronze doors), inside we found 7 short pillars about 4 feet in height, levitating above each pillar sat a globe. Each globe appears to be made of glass and each looks different from the others but we had no idea what they were or what they represented, Vroc was under the impression that these globes represented planets and our sun but I am unsure of this.

We decided to move the door leading to the Southwest, once again the bold and brave barbarian opened the door while we took up defensive positions. When the door opened, we saw what appeared to be a tree made of dragon glass (obsidian), hanging from the branches were four pear shaped and sized fruit. There was a hallway leading to the south and a wooden door heading to the west. I became curious about the tree and approached to take a closer look to see. The tree appeared to be made of dragon glass as I poked the tree with a finger, being cautious I knocked a pear off with my quarterstaff and found that they were fleshy like a fruit. I decided to collect one for future study.

Gear – Black obsidian pear in Karn Brightscale’s pack

The group prepared and opened the door to the west, we found what once appeared to be an art gallery. However, all the paintings except one had been taken. The remaining painting was of the green/blue globe from the pillar room. A door lead to the North and on the South wall was the tattered remains of a rotted curtain. Behind the curtain was a horrible painting of an eyeball with stalk like legs crawling across the landscape. We had no idea what this beast was or the symbolism behind it. Both paintings were much too large to remove from the gallery, so we decided to leave them for now or at least until we could somehow assess their value. We believed that there was secret door behind the painting, however the painting was massive and it took the entire group to move it aside and found a secret door.

The hidden room was rather small, but sitting in the center of the room was 500 gp, 20 pp, silver choker, gold scepter, and a wooden chest (room 32), and great axe sitting in a display case. I used Mage Hand to open the small chest, inside were 6 small vials of a grey dust (not magical), a potion (magical), and a scroll (magic – arcane spell). We decided to take a short rest and identify the treasure.

Treasure (room 32): (coins form the Sullian Empire) 500 gp, 20 pp, silver choker, gold scepter, and a wooden chest – 6 vials of a grey dust, a magic potion of hill giant strength (str goes to 21 for 1 hour) – Thagmar kept, and an arcane scroll of Longstrider (Karn held the scroll until he could give it Draven). The Great Axe + 1 (held for the paladin). We also found the head of a Sigmar statue.

After our rest, we looked around the hidden treasure room and found two secret doors! One to the West lead back to a hallway that was previously explored and the second one lead South. The Southern door opened into an odd shaped room, the walls of the room were covered in abstract art. With metal pieces appearing to curve off the surface of the wall and bend back into it, making complex designs and patterns. There is a door to the Southeast leaving the room. As we entered the room and started exploring a green viscous fluid dropped from ceiling attacking myself, Thagmar, and Quasi.

Battle – I took a heavy blow as the blob smashed me with all its weight, engulfing me in its fluid, entrapping me, and burning my skin with acid. Vroc sprang into action and cast Guiding Bolt at the liquid, blasting the slime across the room and freeing Thagmar and Quasi. I however was dragged across the room with the slime, still entangled. With a monumental amount of effort I was able to extricate myself from the slime and fled across the room. The beast attempted to reach out for me as I fled but missed. Thagmar took the opportunity to slash the slime twice with his great sword, injuring it, I believe. Xon fled the room, his mind broken from the horrors of the green slime. Quasi danced around the outside of the slime and flanked it from behind (can a slime have a behind?), he thrust his blade into the blade once and missed on a second attack. Deprived of attacking me, it thrust itself at Thagmar and missed the nimble barbarian. Thagmar and the beast traded blows, each landing solidly on the other, however the beast was able to grapple him. I stepped forward and cast scorching ray with confidence, targeting each ray with precision and dealing what should have been horrific damage. However, the beast appeared to heal after being hit with the scorching rays! [GM Comment: Poor Karn had rolled criticals with two of the three rays.] Quasi continued to struggle to hit the slime, finally landing a solid slash to the flank of the monster. Xon, found his manhood and returned to the battle screaming in terror as he plunged his pike into the slime. Vroc once again cast Guiding Bolt, calling to Ezaos for aid, blasting the beast with holy might. Thagmar bust free from slime, screaming in fury and fully enraged. As Quasi thrust his blade through the slime, it lost cohesion, and dissolved into a giant puddle.

Kills – Quasi I

After the battle, Vroc called upon his god to aid myself and Thagmar, and healed our wounds. Once our wounds were healed we searched the room and found nothing of value. Vroc then cast several spells to aid our group in upcoming battles. We left the art/slime room and headed through the door to the Southwest. The door opened into a hallway that has North/South hallway crossing the hall, an adamantine door leading North and a regular wooden door heading East.

We decided to head up the North hallway to an adamantine door and opened it into a large room with adamantine doors exiting to the east and south. Several adamantine steel tables lined the room, what appeared to be the dissolved remains of several wooden objects littered the room, and pulsating/sloshing around in the middle of the room was another slime. This one was orange however.

Battle – Quasi rushed into the room, firing arrows as he ran, hitting with one of the arrows dealing some minor damage to the beast. Of note was the fact that the slime dissolved the wooden shaft of the arrow. Xon must have found his spine as he entered the room and thrust his pike at the orange slime, thrusting it deep into the monster’s body. Thagmar rushed forward and delivered two punishing blows with his two-handed blade. Vroc and I followed him into the room and cast Firebolt and the monster, delivering a glancing blow to the beast. Vroc cast Sacred Flame at the orange slime, killing it.

Kills – Vroc I

After the death of the Orange Slime we searched the room and found nothing of value. We decided to exit the room through the adamantine door to the East. Inside we found a medium sized room with iron cabinets lining the walls and a wooden table in the middle of the room. We searched the cabinets and tables and found the following:

Treasure (room 14) – 5 vials with white powder, 1 dried mushrooms, 1 black dust, 1 contained azoth (silver mercury type liquid), 1 contained sulfur, 3 contained petrified wood, 1 contained florescent fluid, 1 contained quartz crystals, 5 contained glue, and 1 contained a clear liquid. None of these vials were magical, we placed the vials into the bag of holding and took them with us.

There were no other exits out of the room so we decided to backtrack a bit, returning to parts of the level that per our map we had not fully explored yet. We entered a star shaped room, in each of the points of the star contains a marble column, which supports the 20-foot-high vaulted ceilings. A severely damaged fresco covered the ceiling, however it was damaged beyond recognition. At the back of the room were stairs leading down to a crescent shaped room with a simple white stone altar with a single word in Ancient Sullian scribed upon it. We took an etching of the word and left the room.

We traveled back to a hallway we had previously examined, to check out a room we had missed. Inside we found a large room with a red brass table with a depression in the middle with a large crystal sitting in the middle. Around the table were several high-backed chairs, in front of each chair was a series of buttons. We left the room and the buttons alone.

We then traveled further North until we came to the hallway we had abandoned earlier and went through the door. We found a medium sized room with a ragged curtain on the western wall. Hidden behind the curtain was an altar to the Sullian god Sigmar, thrusting forward with a magical spear. The statue’s head had been replaced again, much to Thagmar’s anger. In a fit of anger at the desecration of the god of war, Thagmar reached up and ripped the defiler’s head off the statue and smashed it upon the ground. Thagmar then replaced the head of Sigmar, once the statue was complete it dropped the spear it was holding. The group decided to take a long rest to recover from our travels and Thagmar identified the spear as +1, he held onto it to give it to Roland.

Treasure (room 15) - +1 spear Thagmar to give to Roland

After our long rest, we moved onto the room near the entrance to this level that contained a door we had not opened. We entered the room and found the walls covered in frescoes depicting the exploration of other worlds. The frescos appear to match the worlds we saw in the room with the floating gloves, supporting Vroc’s theory. Along the South wall, we found a thin layer of red dust. Quasi used two empty vials to collect the red dust. There was a wooden door leading South.

Treasure (room 10) – Red dust, Quasi

We headed through the room to the South, a large room with an exit to the East. The walls were covered with metal shelves, resting upon the shelves were many metallic boxes. Quasi searched the boxes and found three sets of belts, boots, and gloves. The belts were giving off magical radiation.

Treasure (room 11) – magical belt, bag of holding.

We headed through the room to the East, which led to a hallway that ends in a T, heading North/South. The hallway dead ends at doors. We decided to head to the Northern door. The door opened into a medium sized room with many lockers, benches, and pegs. After a thorough search we came across two glimmer silk garments (these offer the protection of leather, but the weight of cloth). Quasi quickly stored them in the bag of holding.

We then headed down to the hallway that headed south and went to a door midway through the hallway. As we approached the door we began to hear a language that none of us recognized. Vroc cast several spells to aid our group and we entered the room. Thagmar instantly recognized the beasts in the room as Bugbears, there were four of them in the room. We surprised the beasts and sprang into action.

Battle – Thagmar let out a blood curling battle cry and charged into the room, quickly followed by Quasi. Vroc called upon the might of Ezaos, casting Guiding Bolt on one of the Bugbears, missing. I cast Magic Missile, wounding three of the beasts. Our surprise was complete as I was able to cast Witchbolt before the Bugbears could react, blasting one and missing the second. Thagmar positioned himself to guard me and still attack. He landed a single solid blow on one of the heavily armed and armored monsters. Quasi became a wheeling dealer of death as he dealt several quick slashes and thrusts to the Bugbear I was shocking with Witchbolt, killing it. Vroc shouted a battle cry to Ezaos and charged into battle, attacking with his flail, connecting solidly. Suddenly, out from behind the table a hidden bugbear jumped out and threw several punches at me. However, I was able to raise a Shield spell at the last possible second and his blows fell harmlessly against the spell. Thagmar, took a brutal blow from a morning star of one of the bugbears, but seemed to only get stronger in his anger. Quasi, struggled to land blows on the two Bugbears missing twice. Thagmar in a bloody rage, killing one of the Bugbears with the Great Sword Blood Drinker, running the blade deep into the humanoids chest. Xon landed a viscous thrust with his pike to Bugbear attacking me from the table. Vroc cast Sacred Flame on the Bugbear in front of him, killing the beast and filling the room with the stench of roast Bugbear. Quasi, thrust his blade through the heart of the bugbear attacking from his back, killing it instantly. The final remaining Bugbear attacked Vroc and landed a week punch that slightly bruised the dragonborn. Thagmar rushed forward and cleaved the last Bugbear into two, killing the last of the humanoid monsters.

Kills – Quasi I, Thagmar II, Vroc I

Treasure (room 7) – 4 morning stars, 4 sets of studded leather, and a sack with several gems, bronze locket, and a jade statuette of a demon.

After cleaning out the room we headed down the hall to finish off the last room on this level. We breached the door and found a large circular room, with an active magic portal. Standing inside the room were 5 red elves and 6 Bugbears, we knew we were in serious trouble.

Battle – Thagmar rushed into the room before anyone could react and landed two heavy blows to the first red elf he could see, wounding the warrior. The elves responded by getting into strategic positions behind or around their Bugbear body guards and cast magic missile at Thagmar, the mighty barbarian took 9 missiles and somehow remained upon his feet. He was staggered but did not drop. Quasi cast Hail of Thorns and fired an arrow into a packed group of our enemies, raining death down upon our their heads. The Bugbears rushed to the front and fell upon Thagmar and Quasi, Thagmar once again took a beating but somehow stayed upon his feet. I cast Web upon the group attacking from our right flank, catching one of the red elves and two of the Bugbears. Vroc cast Spiritual Guardian, calling forth the host of spirits to protect our group, they swirled around us attacking the Bugbears that were immediately attacking us. Several of the brutes howled in agony as the spirits assaulted them. I cast Scorching Ray and blasted one of the Bugbears attacking Thagmar, but missed on two other attacks. Quasi, cast Hunter’s Mark on the nearest Bugbear and stabbed the nearest Bugbear with his rapier, killing it instantly. The elves retaliated by casting darkness upon our group, blinding Xon, Vroc, Quasi, and myself with magical darkness. Thagmar once again took a brutal beating from the magic missiles from the red elves. Thagmar attempted to hit one of the Bugbears that had been attacking him, landing a glancing blow but missing on a second thrust of the blade. The Bugbears turned their gaze upon Thagmar, missing with several blows but landing a glancing blow to the weekend barbarian. I rushed out of the darkness spell and unleashed my breath weapon upon two of the Bugbears, burning one of them alive and roasting a second, the air filled with the smell of charred flesh. As I finished breathing fire, one of the elves hit me with a firebolt spell that wounded me slightly. Thagmar again took a magic missile attack staggering the barbarian to the point he looked as if he would drop. One last magic missile spell dropped the mighty barbarian, he slumped to the ground unconscious and bleeding out. Vroc rushed out of the darkness and cast cure wounds upon Thagmar, healing the barbarian and bringing him back into the fight. As he moved forward the spirits followed in all their howling fury, tore one of the Bugbears apart, killing the monster. The Bugbears attacked Vroc, missing on their attacks. Once again, the howling spirits ripped into the Bugbears, causing them to scream in agony. Xon stepped forward and attacked the red elf that was webbed, dealing significant damage. Thagmar, coming to, following his brush with death immediately got up off the ground and cleaved one of the Bugbears. Another red elf victim fell to the raging spirits as the others again cast spells at Thagmar, bombarding the wounded half-orc with magic missile and knocking him to the ground unconscious. Vroc again rushed to Thagmar’s aid, casting cure wounds upon him and bringing him back into the fight. Quasi rushed to the front and attacked an elf and a bugbear, dropping hunter’s mark on the elf. Quasi was able to run the bugbear through, killing it. I cast Magic Missile into one of the three elves, killing it instantly. The two remaining two elves were assaulted by the howling spirits, dealing horrible damage, the two fled through the open portal. The remaining captured elf, was interrogated and revealed the word to close the gate and let us know that if we had the soil of his home planet we could open the portal. We bound the elf and headed back to Karlsburg.

Kills – Quasi II, Karn II, Vroc III, Thagmar I

Treasure (room 8) – 6 morning stars, 6 sets of studded leather, 3 long swords, 3 sets of chain mail.