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.

Session Report 2016-03-13. By Roland Red Oak

Session Notes from 03/13/2016

From the Journal of Roland Red Oak

Members of the Group: Quasi the Wood Elf Ranger, Borg the Half-Orc Fighter, Milo the Halfling Bard, Draven the Dwarven Mage, Fayne the High Elf Warlock, and Roland Red Oak the druid.

Prior to returning to the mount, Milo, Draven, and myself spent 10 days training while the rest of the group picked up odd jobs around town and sold our spoils. Fayne used his lock picking skill until he was able to finally open up the locked chests the group had found in our earlier adventures. Milo, working his charming smile, was able to sell our spoils from our adventures for a decent sum of coin. In their downtime; Fayne, Quasi, and Borg picked up odd jobs around town. Fayne reached out to the local thieves’ guild and performed unsavory jobs around town, Quasi worked with a tumbling “coach” from the local mummer’s troupe to improve his balance and coordination, and Borg worked as bouncer at the local tavern. After about 10 days we regrouped and decided to return to the Mount.

On our way to the Mount our group recruited two fighters; Seamus and Mandor, to accompany and help protect our weaker members. We once again ran into the hobgoblins as soon as we entered the Mount, they had no news for us and allowed our passage deeper into the dungeon. We returned to the room with the stone monster and exited through the door to the east and found a large circular room with a domed roof painted with the representation of planet and in the center of the room were three archways that opened into a solid wall. The group was immediately suspicious of the archways, Quasi searched for footprints/tracks in the room and did not see any activity in the area. After a brief search of the room, we decided it was a better course of action to ignore the arches and move on. We exited the room through the hallway to the north.

We entered into a strangely shaped room and found three dwarves talking amongst themselves, they turned to face us as soon as we entered the room. They introduced themselves (Gitvar, Kelrack, and Tholad) and stated they are caretakers of the Mount and have lost their “control rod” and wanted to know if we had one. They stated that they needed the control rod to be able to return to the lower levels, the said the control rod is about a foot long and made of a black metal. The dwarves advised us that the door to the north is filled with a disgusting mold that we should avoid as they will need to clean it first. The dwarves advised us that they do not know anything about the hobgoblins. The group continued to pepper them with questions about the Mount and we found out several interesting facts about the level. We did learn that the dwarfs reside on level 6 out of an unknown total number of levels and how to operate the portals (if we came across the portals).

Quasi opened the door to the north that the dwarves told us to avoid, and found no mold but three dead dwarves who appeared to have recently died from stab wounds! We found on the dwarves, three short swords, a vial, three gems, bag of coins (60 platinum coins) and magical shield. Quasi noticed that one of the short swords comes apart and that the cross guard is a thin black rod. The group became very suspicious of the dwarves who just left the room.

We returned to the oddly shaped room and entered the door way to the west and found a barracks that had several beds and lockers, one of which was locked. Fayne failed to open footlocker, Borg grabbed Fayne’s crow bar and pried the footlocker open. The entire time mumbling under his breath about novice thieves (inside were several small treasures). Meanwhile Quasi searched the room and found a secret door that led to the west and a small room that had a straw palate in the middle of the room, a blood stain and a discarded sack full of coins. The room exited to the west into the hallway we had previously examined.

We returned to the oddly shaped room and decided to venture through the hall to the north. While returning to the room, Quasi decided to track the dwarves to ensure they went down to the lower level as they said they would. He followed the tracks and found they lead to the stairs heading to the lower level.

The group traveled up the northern hall and found it broke back to the west and ended in a door. The group entered and found a rectangle room with a door leading north, at the far end of the room is ruble and bones. There was so much debris that it blocked the door to the north. The very odd thing about the bones were that they were a black. Ember’s curiousity gets the best of her, she heads to the bones and as she approaches the bones start to move and assemble themselves into monsters. Quasi yells out that these are not undead, but some sort of construct as the battle begins.

Battle - Borg charged into the room to attack the recently arisen creatures, he swung widely at the first skeleton and missed but on the follow through caught a second skeleton with a massive blow that staggered the creature but it still remained standing. I (Roland) dropped spike growth on the skeletons. Borg quickly became surrounded by the shambling horrors and they managed to strike him a couple of times but somehow he shook off the blows to no effect. Draven charged into the room and cast scorching ray on three of the monsters, missing on two, but striking the last with the bolt. Milo swaggered his way to the front of the room and cast thunderwave, which BLASTED a group of monsters and the pressure wave pushed them across the room, doing horrible damage. Fayne ran up to the front of the room and cast shatter which disintegrated several of them. Undaunted by their losses the unthinking monsters charged forward. Two of them fell apart as they shambled through the spike growth. Borg still surrounded by the constructs, was pounded by the monsters, somehow he again deflected all the attacks against him. Quasi continued firing arrows in the group, Fayne blasted one across the room, Milo hacked away at one of the monsters, and the horde shambles on. Borg took a series of small scratches from one of the constructs. Draven ran onto the spike growth and cast Agnazzar’s Scorcher twice, throwing a long blasts of fire through a group of four, melting one of them. Quasi entered a zen like state and drilled two of them with arrows, one collapsing in a pile after the arrow blew through his eye socket. The monsters continued to break upon the rock that is Borg, attacking with all their might but unable as to even scratch him. Mandor found his courage and charged into the room, crushing one of the monster’s skulls. The onslaught continued with the monsters continuing to break upon the rock that is Borg. I (Roland) cast produced flame and threw it at one of the remaining constructs, collapsing it with a solid blow. Quasi launched more arrows into the group splitting another two skulls. Mandor once again charged into the fray with a battle cry of “death to the undead!” and smashed it into a pile of bones.

Kills - Fayne III, Roland III, Draven I, Quasi III, Mandor II

The group breathed a sigh of relief after killing the last monster, we searched the room and found nothing of value. After the disappointment of not finding anything of value we decided to dig out the door to the north. Once we completed the rest we returned to the barracks and rested for an hour. Borg took a look at the shield and found that it was a shield of excellent construction that provided a magical protection in addition to the mundane.

After our rest we returned to the room where we defeated the constructs and went through the previously blocked door. We found another large rectangular room dominated by a large steel table in the center, covered in a black stains, shelves covered the western wall and lockers the east. There is an adamantine door to the north and a hall to the west. The group searched the room and found nothing of value, except for some strange clothes with a helmet in the lockers.

Quasi stuck his head down the hallway to the west and found a hallway covered in black mushrooms, ranging from small to extremely large. Draven examined the mushrooms from a distance and determined that they appear to have spores that spread disease. Quasi put on one of the weird suits and examined the room with the mushrooms and found a smaller room with an adamtime door to the south, a door to the north, and a hall to the west. Quasi opened the door to the north and found a huge room with 3 metallic pipes on the western wall, with four large columns supporting the room. The floor was covered in some type of silver/black fluid. Floating round the room are two floating plants. Unnerved from finding floating plants Quasi shut the door and returned to the group.

After explaining what he found and being reassured by the group it was ok, he returned to the mushroom room and checked the adamantine door to the south and found that it opened into a small room with large rectangular shapes with wires leading out of them. The shapes were covered with switches and buttons. There is a small adamantine door to the south.

Quasi continued further south and found a small room with shelves and cabinets. From his limited glance he saw the shelves were empty but the cabinets have some form of paper on them. The room linked back to the room we had encountered the beetles on our last trip.

Quasi returned to the mushroom room and quickly examined the hall to the west and found a large room with several doors made of the same material as the mount of the red door. Quasi returned to the group and told us all about his discoveries. The group elected to use our rod of opening, the door opened and we found a massive natural cavern that has silvery gray liquid filling it. Quasi experimented with the fluid and we was unable to determine what it was. Ember scouted out the lake area out and found that it runs to the north and west for a considerable distance. Eventually, throwing up our arms in defeat we returned to the room with the paper in the cabinets.

When we examined the room with the paper and unfortunately the paper was ancient and crumbled when we touched it. However, Borg found another control rod buried under the paper.

We entered the room with the doors made out of the same material as the Mount’s front door and tried the northern door. We found long hallway that led to a circular room and found the floor stained in black, silver, and orange. The room was filled with pipes and handles; the fluid appears to leak from the pipes. The group searched the circular room and the orange stains on the fluid on the floor came to life and ambushed the group. Despite the initial shock, our group reacted like seasoned adventures and attacked the slimes first.

Battle – Borg swung away at the slime and landed a solid blow, causing it to split into two smaller piles of goo. Undeterred, Borg struck one of the smaller ones with his axe and once again split the goo into two smaller creatures. What started out as a single monster now was three smaller ones. Mandor and Seamus charged into the room and attacked the smaller creatures, however they were unnerved by the disgusting goo and missed badly. Milo blasted the smaller ones with magic missile, doing damage and not splitting them into smaller pieces. Milo, for some reason started screaming obscenities at the ooze and it caused them to quiver in anger. Fayne, once again fired wide and missed the slime. Roland blew a puff of poison at the slime in front of him, causing damage. Borg once again sliced a small ooze, causing it to fall apart and reform. Causing no visible damage. The group realized that magic seemed the only way to damage these disgusting slimes. The group of slimes that Borg cut apart launched themselves upon him horribly wounding the half-orc, somehow; despite the horrible wounds he was still standing. Milo, seeing the blistering wounds on Borg rushed to his side and healed his wounds as best he could. After seeing the vicious damage that Borg took the group decided to run. The group started a strategic retreat to the hallway in the hopes of creating a bottle neck to box in the creatures. Fayne succeeded in blasting one of the slimes and pushing it off of Draven, after running down the hall he cast shatter and blasted two of them into sticky stains on the floor. The group was able to more or less retreat down the hall to get away from the slimes, with the hope of bottle necking the hall. Roland cast poison spray against the slime attacking the group and killed it. Draven launched a witchbolt at the largest slime, blasting it into two monsters. Fayne continued to blast the slimes and pushed them off of Borg. I (Roland) cast moonbeam and evaporated one of the smaller slimes followed by Fayne hitting one of the slimes and turning it into a fine mist. Milo continued to yell at the slime, calling it all kinds of obscenities, causing it to quiver in rage? Can a slime quiver in range? These questions ran through my mind as we attacked these abominations unto nature. Finally, after the terrible battle the slime finally succumbed to the moonbeam and evaporated into an orange colored steam. 

Kills – Fayne III, Roland III,

After the battle we searched the room and found a secret room to the west. However, the group decided to return to the barracks and recover after the trying battle with the slimes. After our rest we returned to the circular room and went into the hidden room and searched around the small L shaped room, luckily Quasi found the hidden door to the south. Inside the new room we found a large room that is dominated by a central square “box” with 16 smaller versions branching off the main one. Each of the smaller boxes have an opaque square of glass and buttons/triggers underneath of it. The group discussed the virtues of pushing a button or moving onto another area. Common sense ruled the day as we decided to leave and return to the room with the doors similar to the entrance to the mount.

We tried the Northwest door, Fayne unlocked it, and we found another room with a complex looking “machine” that has an abundance of switches and buttons.

The group decided to move onto the southwest door and found a large room with a tall white fountain with a statue made of alabaster, the bottom of the statue is blackened in spots. At the Northeast corner was a chest and a stairwell going up, guarded by the mutated hobgoblins. After a brief conversation, we decided return to the room with the black mushrooms and using the strange garb with the helmets we cleaned the room of mushrooms and spores. While the group was doing the back breaking work, Quasi was able to forage up a small amount of food for the group.

After cleaning out the mushroom we prepared to enter the room with the floating/flying plants. We opened the door we see 5 of the flying plants moving about the room, Milo slapped Quasi across the back and asked where he learned to count! The group burst into the room; firing arrows, swords at the ready, and spells on our lips.

Battle – Quasi quickly fired arrows into the closest one, dealing some damage. The closest one to Borg launched a massive attack against the half-orc tangling him in its tentacles. Roland entered the room and cast thuderwave and blasted two of the monsters and pushed them across the room. Fayne fired an eldritch blast at the one closest to me (Roland) and pushed it across the room. Borg escaped from the tentacles of the floating plant and in a rage, he cleaved the plant monster in two, causing it to crash to the ground in a heap of leaves and bark. Milo charged forward and cast thunderwave as well, pushing the monsters off of the group even further. Draven cast scorching ray into the closest plant as he screamed, “kill it with fire!” The plant burst into flames and collapsed onto the ground in a heap of burning leaves and branches. After his success with the fire spell he continued to scorch the monsters dropping a second with his scorching ray. I am becoming afraid for Milo’s sanity as he once again launched into an obscenity laced tirade at the plant, unsurprisingly the plants ignored him. I (Roland) produced flame and hurled it at the closest monstrosity bursting it into flame and killing it. Fayne blasted the last one with his eldritch blast, showering the room into splinters.

Kills – Draven II, Borg I, Roland II, Fayne I

After the battle the group searched the room and checked the pipes in the corner. Near the pipes we found that they were cracked and dripping the silvery fluid we saw in the natural cave. The group decided to forge on through the door to the west and found a long hallway with hall branching off leading to a large cylinder that is covered with adamantine tubing and wrappings. The hall continued on down to a door in the west.

The group entered the room with the cylinder and found a table with empty flasks, Quasi took a couple for later.

We entered the final room and found that there are two large statues that are facing each other in the center of the room. Quasi moved up and found that the statues are on some sort of platform that allows them to move. Quasi and Borg came up to the statues and turned them so they faced the opposite direction. Nothing happened and the two lost interest in the statues and moved on to the door to the south.

Down the hallway we found a door to the north made of frosted glass. The group entered the room and found a medium sized room filled with ancient machinery with a table that has a one-foot depression it. The group moved on down the hall and hit a t-road and found a large silver pyramid marred by nicks and scratches.

The group decided that it was time to return to town and regroup.

Session Report 2016-02-27. By Roland Red Oak

February 27, 2016 Session Notes

From the Journal of Roland Red Oak

The group for the day’s journey was Fayne, Roland, Milo, Draven, Borg, & Quasi. We hired Mandor and Seamus (traveled with us before), two local mercenaries to accompany us. We relaxed in the town for about 10 days; Fayne, Borg, and Quasi trained while Milo, Draven, and Roland worked in town earning a small amount of money.

We returned to the Mount of the Red Door and found 4 hobgoblins guarding the entrance, they informed us that King Ruck-Ruck would like to speak with our group. We decided to accompany the hobgoblins to the king, Rook-Rook, he asked if we had gone beyond the stairs with a yellow mold on the 1st level. We informed him that we have found the stairs but did not go down the stairs. He offered to pay an additional 500 gold to explore this area. We offered to explore the area after we finished the third level. He agreed.

The first room we encountered on the third floor was odd shaped with 5 mutant hobgoblins guarding the stairs, the room had two exits (a door to the south and a hall going south east). They introduced themselves and we found out that they have been hearing noises coming from the hallway without a door. The group decided to go through the closed door.

This led into a small room with a door to the east and a hall leading south. The room was filled with smashed tables and chairs. The group checked the door (hearing nothing and finding no traps) we entered a small armory with some remaining armor and weapons. The group noticed that the two sets of chain mail were magical, we took the armor with us and stuffed it into the bag of holding until we can identify it. Borg gave Seamus the crossbow and bolts, helping arm the mercenaries. The group celebrated our findings with much rejoicing!

The group returned to the small room and sent Ember the Pseudodragon down the hall to scout ahead for the group. He found a well-furnished barracks with a human soldier. The soldier spotted Ember and immediately drew his sword and charged after him, Ember decided that discretion is the better part of valor, turned tail and ran back to Fayne. Ember made it back to the group and the soldier did not continue the chase. The group decided to come down the hall to investigate, we entered the room and found six soldiers. The group prepared for battle, however Borg and Mandor started to yell at the group that the room was empty and became very concerned about thier companion’s mental health. Fayne stepped to the front of the group confident in his new abilities, casted shatter and nothing happened to the soldiers, this wiped the smirk of his smug elven face. Milo took several horrible blows from our opponents, but retaliated with a thunderwave spell that dropped one of the guards. Quasi stepped into the opening created by Milo’s spell and slaughtered two of the soldiers.

Kills – Milo 1, Quasi 3, Seamus 1, Roland 1

After the last soldier fell, the illusion collapsed and the well-furnished barracks became a dusty empty room. The group confused about what just happened decided to camp in the room and recover from the very trying ordeal. Borg and Quasi examined the chain mail and found that it is Sulian chain mail (+1 to saves vs. magic spells). After the rest the group found a secret/hidden door at the back of the empty barracks.  We found two chests, one locked and one unlocked. We found 1,800 silver pieces!!! Fayne unlocked the locked chest and found 270 gold and a magical chime, however he discovered a needle trap that jabbed into his right hand when he picked the lock. Luckily the poison had degraded with age and did not affect him.

The group returned to the room with the hobgoblin guards and proceeded down the remaining hallway. Sending Ember down first to stealthy scout ahead of the group. Ember broadcast telepathically to the group that the hall ends in a large room with two doors north, a door south, and a hall south as well. Aimlessly wandering around the room were ten humanoid looking frog men armed with shields and spears. The group decided to ambush the frog men, the group charged in and Roland dropped a spiked growth spell in the middle the frog men. As the group charged in Roland used thorn whip to drag a frog man across the spikes shredding him into a green paste. Draven, blasted a small group of the frog men with an ice knife spell that exploded into frozen chunks of dead frog. The sole remain frog man on our side of the spike growth spell was cut in two from a devastating blow from Borg. Fayne hit one of the remaining frog men with an eldritch blast that pushed him across the spike growth ripping him into a green chunky goo. The two frogs across the hall leaped to the attack only to be impaled on the spike growth spell, killing one that Quasi had shot with an arrow previously. As the group started to celebrate our victory, the door on the north corner burst open and 6 very large frog men entered the fray. The new frog men grouped up and attempted to charge the group, they were in a perfect position where Draven cast ice knife that slammed into the group and coating them in blue frost. Fayne cast shatter in the middle of the group, doing significant damage to the group. Quasi cast a hail of thorn spell and launched a volley of arrows into the frog man group. The arrow killed the middle frog man and the thorns rained down on the rest of the group, making frog kabobs out of the entire group and killing the remaining little frog man from the original group. The shaman of the group took off running, fleeing our mighty group. Quasi fired an arrow into one of the two remaining frog men, killing him with a shot to his bulbous eye. Roland finished off the group with a thorn whip spell to drag the last frog man across the spike growth grinding him into a frog like slush.

Kills – Roland 5, Draven 3, Borg 1, Fayne 1, Quasi 3

The group searched the dead frog men and found the only things they possessed were some wooden shields (13 total shields). Borg quickly stuffed them into the bag of holding and the group was ready to move on. The group decided to go through the first door to the north and found a small room with a black basalt alter flanked by two basalt pillars. The altar has been defiled and damaged, Roland determined that the altar may be related to some deity of evil. To the east was a hall that ended in a door. The group returned to the large room and entered the second door to the north.

Inside the second room we found an ornate desk and cabinets. After searching room we found nothing of value and moved on. The group decided to enter the room to the south.

Inside the room we found a large privy, we found a small book from some sort of an erotic cult. Borg took the book and placed it in his backpack, much to the disgust of the group. We decided to go down the hall that the frogmen ran down and ran into a cross hallway to the east. A quick trip down the hall found a large room with 6 marble pillars and a stairway to the south. The group decided to go back to the door way that the original hall to the south ended in.

The group entered the room to the south and found a very large room with 4 marble pillars that supported the vaulted ceiling. The southern wall is covered by a large black silk tapestry with geometric patterns. The walls are covered in strange paint that caught the light of torches and lanterns. There was a statue carved from scorched wood in the form of a wide mouthed demonic looking frog and a door leading to the north. Once we entered the room, Fayne, Milo, Draven, Quasi, Borg and Mandor began to walk to the statue and began to worship the frog statue. Roland began searching the room looking for a way to break the spell, mid-way through the search the group stood up, shook their heads, and looked around confused. The only thing the group could remember was the name Tsath Dagon. Milo recognized the name as the demon prince of dark waters.

After the un-nerving encounter with the frog demon the group decided to proceed to the northern door. Finding a medium sized room with an exit to the north. Six giant beetles scuttle around the room and attacked with slimy dripping pincers. The beetles made a horrible shrieking noise, releasing a brown cloud of poison mist. Fayne and Borg were stunned by the blast unable to move or act, both horribly burned by the poison attacks. Roland charged to the front lines and cast thunderwave pushing three of them back. The beetles retaliated by charging in savaging him with vicious pincer bites. Quasi speared one of the beetles with his rapier killing it. Roland re-payed the two beetles with a second thunderwave blasting them into pieces, killing them both. Milo speared a beetle expertly with his rapier, sliding the blade between the bugs plates, killing it instantly. Borg smashed the beetle that had just bitten Quasi, cutting it in half. The group charged and surrounded the remaining beetle, trying to end it quickly. Borg finished the last one off.

Kills – Quasi 1, Roland 2, Milo 1, Borg 2

Borg grabbed one of the beetle corpses and smeared its blood and goo at the entrance to the northern hall, stating it would allow him to see any foot prints in the goo if something travels through the room. The group then retreated to one of the rooms we had cleared earlier and decided to rest and recover after the devastating battle with the beetles.

After the rest, the group returned to the room with the beetles, we continued through the hall to the north and found a medium sized room with a statue on the western wall of the god Midas whose head has been replaced by a stone head of Vork (the goatee beared man). The northern wall had a hall going north, a frosted glass door going north, and another hall leading south from the southwestern corner. The group decided on going to the northern hall.

We entered into a large room filled with rubble and the southwest corner has collapsed. To the east was a door leading back to the room with the basalt alter. To the north was a hall with a door leading north and on the southwestern wall was a hatch made of adamantine. Much to our dismay we found another six of the spitting beetles we had fought previously. Roland dropped the spike growth spell on top of the beetles, carving them up as they moved. The beetles retaliated by squirting their mist clouds into the group, causing horrible burns and damage to the group. Fayne and Draven were stunned by the shrieking sound. The group of beetles charged through the spike growth taking horrible damage, but the soldiered through it to attack the group. They once again doused the group in their toxic mist, causing more damage to our wounded group. Draven would have collapsed if not for the timely intervention of Milo who pushed him out of the way, rallying his spirits, and returning him to the fight. Fayne moved back and blasted the group with shatter spell that shook the hall and rained dust down on the group, two of the beetle’s carapace burst from the sound wave. Draven launched magic missile into the group of monsters dropping two of them in the process. Quasi speared one of the two remaining, killing the little bug eyed bastard. Draven finished off the final beetle with a magic missle.

Kills – Fayne 2, Roland 2, Quasi 1, Draven 1

After finishing off the final bug we returned to the room the beetles occupied and a quick search revealed 18 gold pieces and a single gold earring. The group took a short rest to recover some of the damage we had suffered in our last battle.

We returned to the room with the statue of Midas and tried the frosted glass door, Draven opened the door with a mage hand spell. Past the frosted glass door is a small room filled with shelves full of a perfectly silvery metal circular plates. The plates had small engravings on them, but they did not appear to be a language or make up pictures. Borg grabbed one of the silver plates to take back to Karlsburg to see if any of the historians in town could identify the use of the plate. Draven noticed that the room had perfectly smooth walls that were at perfectly 90 degree angled corners.

The group then traveled down the hall to the south of the silver plate room, we found a bend to the east that ended in a door. Past the door we found a large room with 8 heavy basalt pillars hold up a vaulted ceiling. The southern wall is covered by blue curtain, to the north is a basalt statue of Midas in dwarf form carrying a craftsmen’s tools. Of note was the fact that the to the east is a door opposite the one we entered the room through.

As we entered the room, the statue came to life and charged into attack the group smashing poor Draven with a heavy blow to the head staggering the dwarf. Roland prayed to the forces of nature and column of moon light landed on the statue causing it to burst into flames. Milo cast Bane upon the creature, cursing it. Borg charged in and smashed it with heavy blows from his axe. The group threw all we had at the monster, slowly chipping away at it. During the pitched battle the rock monster smashed Borg with a viscous blow to the chest, blasting him off his feet and stunning him. With Borg on his ass, the monster smashed Quasi with a devastating blow. Fayne finally hit the creature with a heavy blast using his eldritch blast, staggering the beast but not dropping it. Angered beyond all reason, the creature turned on Quasi and delivered a horrendous blow that crushed bones and bruised flesh. Quasi retreated from the front lines, dashing to the rear of the room, dropped his sword, pulled his bow off his shoulder, knocked an arrow and fired it straight through the creature’s head. Causing it to crumble into a million pieces in front of the group.

Kills – Quasi 1

The group checked the room for hidden doors and traps, finding a short hallway behind the curtain which led to a stairway leading down. Deciding that we had enough of the mount the group decided to return to Karlsburg ending our adventures for the time.

Session Report 2016-01-16. By Roland Red Oak

January 16, 2018 Session

Time off – Fayne trained and leveled up to 2nd level, Roland read/translated the books and scrolls that were found on the last adventure. Borg worked for a local stables caring for the noble’s horses. Draven was working for a local sage. Milo performed at several local taverns and bars, very successfully. Quasi and Milo started hanging out with a rough crowd, gambling and carousing (he was a big winner!). Quasi took his winnings and started training as an acrobat (18 days put into the training).

After Fayne finished training the group got back together to review our previous exploits in the Mount of Red Door. Roland explained what he had found translating the books to the group, he decided that the next down time he would transcribe a copy of the important information from the books and scrolls. The group decided to reach out to the sage to look to sell the books.

Fayne re-hired Seamus to help protect him, Garbo was hired by Quasi and Borg. Milo and Draven hired a body guard for themselves as well, named Buddy. Quasi split the miscellaneous gear amongst the hirelings. Once we are all geared up we decided to descend into the Mount of the Red Door.

As we returned to the 1st level of the Mount we encountered hobgoblin guards on the way to the second level that stated King Ruck-Ruck was interested in seeing us. We were escorted into the throne room, the king asked if we had fought the Zombie Kings force. We confirmed that we were ambushed and killed several zombies. This pleased the king and he agreed to pay us 250 gold to remove the Zombie King and his forces from this level of the Mount. We agreed. Before we left Ruck-Ruck made sure to stress that he would disavow any knowledge of our expedition in case things go south for us.

We returned to the northern hallway and continued to explore into the 2nd level. The first room we entered there were 5 zombies milling around aimlessly in the small room. Roland cast Faire Fire and lit 3 of them in bright purple light. Draven cast a new spell, he had not worked the bugs out slammed the ice spike into the wall. Borg took a small scratch and retaliated with a swipe of his sword. Quasi opened up with viscous slice to the front two zombies. Fayne cast hex on one of the lead zombies and impaled it with his throwing knife. After much abuse the first zombie fell to the battle axe of Borg. Draven cast the ice knife spell again, successfully hitting the middle zombie in the group. The cold radiating from the spike caused the weakened zombie to crack apart. Just as the battle looked up for us a group of zombies joined the battle from down the hallway. Quasi thrust through the eye socket of the lead zombie. Draven seems to have mastered the ice knife spell as he slammed the spike into the reinforcements covering them in frost. Roland ended the faire fire spell to cast spike growth in front of the reinforcements, they will pay for every step. Borg cleaved one of the second to last of the original zombies in half. Quasi killed the last of the original zombies. One of the reinforcement zombies succumbed to wounds suffered from the walk through the spike growth spell. Quasi finished the last of the zombies with quick thrusts to the eye sockets.

Kill tally - Borg 2, Draven 1, Quasi 4, Roland 1

The group searched the dead zombies and found nothing of value, we then moved into the room we found the zombies in and once again found nothing of value. While discussing the aftermath of the battle Garbo suggested we use the “cheese grater” strategy. A spike growth spell and use of thunderblast, causing a pretty hardy laugh amongst the group.

We continued into the adjacent room and found dark stains covering the wall in a shapes that suggest letters in a language we do not recognize. We quickly searched the room and found no traps so Draven in a fit of cautiousness opened the chest with a mage hand spell and used it to recover the blood covered silver pieces inside.

We moved on down the hallway and found another door leading into a small room that once appeared to be a bedroom. There was smashed furniture from what looks like bed frames and other various pieces of broken furniture. Roland stumbled across a number of giant centipedes buried underneath the debris! Once again Borg took a beating to start the battle, poisoned by the bugs! Milo jumped into the fray and quickly killed the centipede on Roland. The group splattered the rest of the bugs. Roland and Milo tended to Borg’s vicious wounds, patching some of the damage. Borg was still a little woozy from the poison, but the group decided to soldier on.

Kill tally – Milo 1, Quasi 3, Borg 1,

 The group continues down the hall and comes to a circular room with a marble statue of what would have been the god Janus, however the head has been removed and replaced with a marble head of the goateed human we have seen before. The northern and southern halls ended in doors. The group decided to try the northern hall, opened the door, and found a room with a curtain on the northern wall. In front of the curtain stood a statue of a human female missing its arms. Finding nothing the group continued to the southern hall.

The southern hall/door, we listened to the door and could hear a single raspy voice coming from the other side. Speaking a language, we did not understand. The group retreated to the circular room and Draven used his mage hand spell to open the door. Once the door opened zombies spilled out into the hall and immediately attacked the group. Borg once again saved his masters life by blocking a shot that would have connected solidly with his head. Roland cast a flaming sphere spell dropping it behind the enemy lines, catching the rear guard on fire! As soon as the fireball came into existence it was snuffed out by something in further in the room. As the fire extinguished, Milo taunted the lead zombie to become enraged and slam into the door frame dropping dead. The leader of the zombies shambled into range and summoned a group of zombies in the room amongst our weaker spell casting friends. Borg and Quasi surged and attacked the lead zombies with renewed vigor. The zombies that rose from the ground charged into our group doing damage to Fayne. As the battle looked to be going poorly, when the leader blasts Quasi and Borg with some sort of spell, stunning them both. However, Milo came to the rescue, casting crown of madness on the leader causing him to rush in and attack the rear guard. The zombies retaliated and Draven took vicious wounds from two of them. Quasi and Borg took a beating at the front line, unable to defend themselves. Finally, they shook off the stun only to find out that Milo’s spell is no longer affecting the mage. The mage blasts Borg with magic missile dealing horrible wounds to the half-orc. Borg enraged by the beating he had taken, smashes the zombies in the front. Roland and Milo desperately try to patch up the wounded Borg. Quasi fights through the stun and delivers accurate thrusts of the blade to end two of the zombies. Seeing his leading zombies dropping dead, caused him to turn and run. With the loss of their leader, the rest of the zombies fell quickly to the blades of the group. Of note, was how the hirelings handled themselves. They helped dispatch the final zombie and protected the weaker members of the group.

Kill tally – Milo 1, Quasi 3, Roland 2, Seamus 1

The group decided to let the mage zombie flee the fight. We searched the vanquished zombies and found nothing of value. Draven pointed out that the zombie are all human and covered in ancient armor. The group dragged the zombie corpses to the room where the centipedes were located. We then returned to secret room and decided to rest and recover from the day’s battles.

8 hours later the group decided to return to the southern hall and found the door had been closed. Draven once again used the mage hand to open the door and the group stares into an empty room. As we enter the room we find a zombie ambush with the undead mage, multiple zombie guards, and some type of undead monstrosity. The group prepared for war!

Draven charged into the room and cast a spell that caused the monstrosity to glow in a sickly yellow light, weakening the beast. Quasi pushed his way to the front of the group pulled his bow off his back and fired an arrow at the undead mage and the unknown undead as the arrow crossed the distance to the mage, it sprouted thorns and rained down on them both. Causing huge amounts of damage to the mage and the monster at the end of the room. Roland cast spike growth on the hall between the heroes and the monsters, causing the monsters to adjust their tactics. The zombies charged to attack the group, getting shredded through the spiked growth. Milo cast thunderwave instigating the “cheese grater” strategy blasting a zombie across the room tearing him into tiny shredded pieces of zombie jerky. The monster charged through the spike growth suffering gruesome wounds to his legs to launch a vicious attack on Garbo, knocking him to the ground dead. After killing Garbo the monster shook off the effects of Draven’s spell. Surged through our line and attacked Borg, missing. The zombies pushed against our line Borg into a full defensive posture. The undead mage, blasted Borg with magic missile nearly killing him. Milo again cast thunderwave and disintegrated the two remaining zombies (one with sound and the other being blasted through the spike growth. Borg took a second to catch his breath, drink a potion, and viscously attacked the undead monster only to miss with a wild swing. One of the zombies that the mage summoned landed a devastating blow to Fayne, ripping him open from shoulder to hip. Fayne screamed in pain, gritted his teeth and summoned his courage. The mage once again cast magic missile to blast Milo with the painful spell, luckily Milo survived and was able to cast a cure wound to patch himself up. Roland, risking his own life and limb rushed to the front and dodged an attack to heal Borg back to almost full health. Borg charged at the undead monster and crushed it’s skull with a mighty swing! Quasi thrust through the skull of the undead on top of him. After seeing his allies fall the undead mage once again showed his true colors and fled the battle like the coward he is. Seamus took a swipe to the head, dropping him to the ground. Fayne, finally freed to move, got the closest zombie in range and blasted it with a mighty eldritch blast. The zombie staggered but did not go down. The battle quickly turned once the undead mage fled the battle with Milo and Quasi finishing off the remaining undead.

Kill tally – Milo 4, Quasi 4, Borg 1 (undead monstrosity),

Roland quickly moved through the group and patched everyone up with his healer’s kit, binding wounds and applying salves to help recover from the battle.

We gathered our forces and followed hot on the heels undead mage and into the adjoining room. The room was filled with treasure chests, but we soldiered on after the villain. Leaving through the door at the back of the room we followed him to a three-way junction, Quasi read the trail signs and we followed him into a large room. Inside the room was a tapestry with a depiction of a goateed human male floating above a field of sullian warriors, the man had a gruesome neck wound. Quasi instantly deducted that the zombie mage had fled into a secret room behind the tapestry. The group charged after him and found a small room filled with the heads of the statues and the zombie mage cowering at the back of the room.

As we entered the room, the mage unleashed magic missile straight at Quasi. Unable to avoid them, Quasi took several sharp blows, further enraging the ranger/bounty hunter. Milo cast faire fire on the mage, he burst into a glowing orange outline. Draven returned the favor and blasted the undead mage with magic missile causing horrible injuries. Quasi pulled his bow out and planted an arrow deep into the undead mage’s chest. Borg followed Quasi’s attack and charged into the room cutting down the undead mage. Borg looking with disdain at his opponent, spit into his hands, gripped the axe in both hands and chopped the head of the undead mage off. Taking the head as proof/trophy.

The group returned to the treasure room, searched the room/chests for traps. Finding nothing, Draven used a mage hand spell to open the chests finding a lot of coin. While the group was going through the treasure, Quasi returned to the room with tapestry and carefully took it down and prepared it for the group to transport back to town.

The group decided to rest in the hidden room with the statue heads, we recovered and decided to finish exploring the level before reporting to the hobgoblin king, Ruck-Ruck.

We entered a large room we found a statue of a dwarf lying on its side. Draven examined the statue and found that it was a “still born” dwarf who was not brought successfully to life. Draven said a short Dwarven prayer to the dead over the statue/stone corpse. After observing a brief moment of silence the group continued down the hall and found a staircase heading down. The stairway is flanked by two statues of female warriors. The second statue is heavily damaged. The group decided that we were not ready to head to the lower level and returned to the area we had not explored.

We found a restroom in bad repair, smelling horribly, the group decided to leave the room.

The group went to the end of the last branch of the hallway and found a large door, that is warped, stuck, and shot through with silvery veins of what appears to be metal. The group did not find any traps, so Borg and Quasi grabbed the battering ram and destroyed the door. Inside we found a room that has a floor covered in a grey liquid. When the door fell into the liquid the grey metallic goo, rushed over the door and dissolved it quickly. We decided to leave the liquid alone.

We returned to Ruck-Ruck and showed him the zombie king’s head, he gave us 50 gold and said we had to demonstrate that the area is clear. We showed the group of hobgoblins the cleared area. When we got to the silver liquid, the hobgoblins claimed we had not finished our duty. So we returned to the king and he gave us 100 gold for killing the zombies and offered us an additional 100 gold to kill/remove the liquid.

The group decided that we would return to Karlsburg and discuss the silver liquid. The group gathered up several of the statue heads and attempted to replace them on the damaged statues in the 1st and 2nd level of the mount. We successfully replaced the head of the Valdros and we were blessed with a one time 24 hour period of +1 charisma.

The group returned to Karlsburg and ended this session.

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

Session – January 2, 2105

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Several weeks later….

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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