Session Report 2017-06-11 by Karn

I met Quasi, Vroc, Thagmar, and myself got together after a night of drinking, deciding as a group, it was time to return to the Mount and continue our exploration. We made it down to level 6 where our companions had last been and found the level pretty much as they had described it. There were several areas that looked as if combat had occurred recently, blood splatter, bits of flesh, and several dreugar corpses piled up on the floor.

We decided to track down the foreman, Erdack, making sure they did not need our help and ensure that they had not been overrun by the dreugar. As we progressed through the level we noticed how square the walls were, smooth and glossy the floors, and the strange panels that ran across the ceiling. This is a building that would appeal to any dwarf’s design aesthetic.

As we traveled along through the level, we marveled at the construction until we went past the empty barracks and came upon a makeshift guard outpost and found the corpses of 5 dead dwarves. It appeared they had died in combat, there were no corpses of what they had fought.

We traveled through a very long and winding hall until it broke gently to the west and saw two dreugar guards. Combat began in earnest. Quasi and Thagmar made exceedingly quick work of the guards, slaughtering them quickly and with minimal noise. After a quick search of the corpses that turned up nothing we waited at the intersection to see if other guards had heard the combat, much to our relief we heard no response.

Kills – Quasi I, Thagmar I

We headed to the south, in search of the foundry and answer to what had happened to the dwarves. As we opened the door we found a massive room at least 20 feet in height, some type of machine dominated the center of the room and a destroyed furnace along the eastern wall. The room had been converted to makeshift barracks (10 bunks), scattered throughout the room. A thorough search of the room revealed that two of the bunks had recently been used, the others not for awhile.

We continued on our route to the foundry, exiting the room through the door to the south. Inside we found a large room dominated by a large oak table and various carpentry tools. However, the room was occupied by six dreugar who appeared to be guarding the room. Battle began quickly as Thagmar cleaved one of the dreugar in twain with his massive two-handed sword. Quasi bounced around the room, sliding across the table, slashing and stabbing in a chaotic flurry of blood and death. The battle ended as quickly as it started, with our small group the victor.

Kills – Thagmar II, Quasi IIII

After patching up our wounds, the group did a quick search of the dead and the room, coming across nothing of value or interest on the dwarves. We decided to head to the west following the path our companions took earlier in the hope that we would come across the missing dwarves. As we exited the carpentry room we followed a short corridor into a room filled with massive pillars made of what appears to be crystal. As we approached the entryway into the foundry, Thagmar brought to our attention that a single druegar sentinel was guarding the entrance. The group quickly attacked in the hope that we silence the sentry before he raised the alarm.

Kills – Quasi I

Swift as the wind, Quasi sprinted behind the guard and ran him through with his rapier, killing it silently and quickly. I advised the group in as quiet a tone as I could, that we should scout out the room. Quasi, quietly approached the end of the hallway and found three enlarged dreugar and standing upon the dais on the far western wall were two humans. The dreugar began moving towards the hallway where we were hiding. Thagmar gave the command to charge and the group rushed in to meet the villains in combat. As the Vroc entered the room, there was the sound of a trumpet blast and a bright light filled the cavernous room. His god favored his champion, stunning all enemies in the room. Our group rushed the enemies and battle began.

Kills – Quasi II (Female & Male mage), Thagmar III

A search of the wizards and the dreugar revealed 80 gold pieces and a thin metal rod that is similar to two others that we have that allowed the user to open a few magical portal doorways that we encountered on a higher level. We returned to the entrance to the level and decided to rest and recover from our last battle.

After a long rest we decided to search the level more thoroughly in the hope we could find the foreman and the rest of the dwarves still alive. We left the entrance through a door heading to the east, we found a large room that is filled floor to ceiling with rusted metal implements, armor, cooking pots, plans, etc. As we started searching we noticed two rust monsters that were happily devouring the metal in the room. We decided to leave the monsters alone and head through a stairwell leading to the west. Inside was a room with four pillars with a center niche (size of vial/potion) and inside the niche a circular metal plate at the top and bottom of the niche. Quasi pointed out that we have four vials that might fit the niche in the columns but they were left at the fort. A search of the room revealed nothing else of interest.

We left the room and headed into a stairwell leading to the east that ended at a door, after a quick listen we did not hear anything so we entered. Inside the room we found a large table bolted to the floor, the shattered corpse of a dwarf, and empty damaged built-in shelves. A door leading out of the room was a lead hatch with a diamond like glyph in High Sulian, Vrok took out a piece of paper and sketched the glyph to show Roland when we return to town.

We decided to leave the room since we did not understand the glyph. We returned to the entrance and headed to the south and tried the door to the south. We opened the door and found a long hallway to the south that connected with a passage we had previously encountered. So we decided to continue to the east, we opened the first door we came across and found a closet. On the shelves we found 23 sheets of adamantine 1 foot x 1 foot x ½ inch, they were too heavy to carry so we left them for later.

We decided to carry on and come to a hallway leading to the north and the room with the rest monsters. There were two doors in the hallway before reaching the rust monsters, so we opened them and to the west we found a closet that contained more of the adamantine sheets and to the east a small room with a statue of a dwarf and a large metallic cylinder. As we searched the room, the dwarven statue came to life and attacked Thagmar, scratching the barbarian. With a shout the team attacked the statue. Thagmar swung away with his great sword (Blood Drainer), landing a massive blow on the statue. However, as the blade made contact it shattered sword into thousands of pieces. The barbarian howled in rage and attempted to attack the statue with his bare hands. Vroc shattered the statue with a guiding bolt and a still raging barbarian stomped the crumbled remains into a powder in anger.

Kills – Vroc I

We picked the cylinder and took it with us as it appears like it would fit in the niche in the room with the four pillars. The group decided to go back to were the dreugar had been and recovered a shield and war pick for Thagmar to wield as a weapon. After recovering a weapon and shield for Thagmar we headed to a large room that was just to the south of rust room. Inside we found a large amount of smashed furniture, broken machinery, and a relatively undamaged mahogany table. Finding nothing of interest we decided to move on.

As we are exited the room, Vroc noticed a room to the south had light filtering out from the hallway. Hoping to find the dwarves, we headed toward it. We found a massive and empty room, except for humanoid made of dirt, two duergar, and a single human. The enemies stood on the opposite side of the room ready for our attack. After a prolonged battle against the Earth Elemental, mage, and the two dreugar we were finally able to defeat them in a true team effort.

Kills – Karn II (druegar and mage), Quasi I (dreugar), Vroc I (Earth Elemental)

Catching our breath after the very difficult battle, we searched our foes and found another rod. We decided it was best to head back to town and recover from our adventures.

Session Report 2017-04-02 by Milo

Pre-Session Notes:

1.    The previous adventure into the Mount claimed 3 spell scrolls (Clairvoyance, Haste, and Flight), Dravin gladly took these into his possession to later copy into his spellbook.

Session Notes:

1.    The party ventured down to the deepest, mostly-explored, level of the Mount and entered a room with a statue of a minotaur with wings. Nevus, feeling overcome with the urge to defile the statue, carved “My dad can beat up your dad” into the base of the statue and also removed the head from the statue - no effect.

2.    The next room had been previously discovered on the last delve, and contained 10 bodies lying on the floor with grey, leathery skin and wearing peasant clothes, and a large statue on the north wall of a creature with a rooster-looking head, a human torso, and a snake-like lower portion. The party decided to begin removing the heads from the dead bodies, in case they come back to life as zombies, but as they touch the first body all 10 bodies spring to life and begin rising and attacking the party. Alkanos summoned a Ray of Frost and hits his target, but to no effect. The group was quickly surrounded, and Milo became severely wounded (less than 5 HP). Seeing the struggle, Nevus acted quickly and called upon the powers of his deity to help him deal massive radiant damage to the undead, and in time, all 10 zombies are slain. Just as the last zombie is struck down, the statue on the north wall activated, and took on its demonic form and called out “I say, I say… What’s goin’ on hear?” (Probably not cannon, but Mike played an audio clip of Foghorn Leghorn saying that phrase, so we went with it) – the demon began attacking the party.  Milo got the jump on the demon, and charmed it using Hypnotic Pattern, to buy the party time to get in position for an onslaught – which, sort of, worked. The demon survived the assault (which amounted to a laughably low amount of damage dealt by the party), and began casting Confusion on party members to debilitate them in combat. It also summoned tentacles at Milo’s feet to lash out and immobilize him. Nevus rushed in for an attack, but his body stopped – without attacking, and against his will. The demon counterattacked Nevus with a flurry of pecks from its beak and attacks from its hands dealing incredible damage (53 points) to him, dropping him to the ground. Halitrax, in a fit of rage, charged the demon, but also stopped in his tracks. Alkanos, Cathar and Dravin weakened, and eventually defeated, the demon. With the demon dead, the party searched the room for traps or secret passages – nothing found.

3.    After resting, the group decided to see if they can figure out the purpose of the caduceus symbols. They remembered there were 3 pillars at the entrance to this level of the Mount, and decide to investigate. The pillars each had a cut-out in them which fit the overall shape and size of the symbols. Once all 3 caduceus symbols were inserted, there was a flash of blue light and small vibrations felt in the floor and walls for the next minute – the party determined this light would invigorate them for about 1 minute (This actually heals any who stand within the pillars for 4d10 HP, for 1 minute). After 1 minute, the light dissipated, and the caduceus symbols disappeared.

4.    The party decided to venture down the southern-most staircase to a new level of the dungeon. As they descended, the first door they encountered was made of frosted glass. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all perfectly smooth, and the floor was coated in a glossy resin. The first room the group entered contained a dead Dwarven caretaker lying in the corner. They left the body alone and ventured on, going up a small set of stairs (this is a multi-level floor, which has rooms higher and lower than the room they entered), they entered a room which contained an adamantine table, a machine, and another dead Dwarven caretaker. The machine had 2 levers and a cylinder-shaped intake tube about 3 inches in diameter and 1 foot deep. They left the room and crept down the hallways and faintly heard clanking of swords and armor – a battle. They party rushed down the hallway and into a room with 9 dwarves – 3 Dwarven caretakers and 6 dark skinned (Duergar) Dwarven soldiers wearing heavy armor and brandishing shields. The party quickly sided with the caretakers, and surround the soldiers. Battle commenced, but was quickly over – not before one of the caretakers was slain. The party talked with the 2 remaining caretakers, Trax and Forzak, to glean information, they find out the Tarbaxians (the cult worshipping Vork) have created the Duergar for their cause. The party asked to speak with the leader of the caretakers, Erdak, to see if they can offer any assistance to them.

5.    The caretakers lead the party through a series of shortcuts and secret doors to meet Erdak, the group also found out this level of the Mount is the called the “manufacturing level”. They eventually end in a large room with a pool of Azoth (silvery liquid), machines, and light panels on the ceiling, the room also has a set of black blast doors. The group was ushered through the blast doors, where 12 Dwarves were gathered, one of them being Erdak. The group talked with Erdak, and learned he is the leader of maintenance on this floor only, and recently (within the past 2 months) there have been disturbances due to a rare event (once every 58 years) of planets/moons (not sure which) aligning. He names off the planets/moons as Ion, Uerin, and Corethian. During this rare event, secret passages within the Mount open, and the Tarbaxians have taken advantage of the situation and have seized control of the Foundry and the “Great Machine”. The party talked over the situation and agreed to help by first taking back the Foundry, and halting the further production of Duergar. Once captured, they would then push forward to take back control of the “Great Machine”. Erdak agreed to take the help, and in return, allowed the party to loot anything from the Duergar soldiers and Tarbaxians.

6.    The party prepared for battle, then were lead to the Foundry by the 2 caretakers they rescued earlier. On the way to the Foundry, they found a triangular-shaped lock on one of the doors, when asked, the caretakers said it required a “master Tarbaxian key”. The party cautiously entered the Foundry, inside were 5 Duergar soldiers and 2 pale-skinned Humans (1 Tarbaxian wizard, 1 Tarbaxian warrior), and in the middle of the room was a large machine which could be used to produce more Duergar. Battle commenced, and the party split into attack groups. Nevus and Halitrax struggled to keep the Duergar at bay due to them being able to Enlarge themselves. The Tarbaxian wizard unleashed a spell dealing an incredible amount of damage to Dravin (leaving him at 1 HP). Milo casted Crown of Madness on the Tarbaxian warrior, who became confused and then attacked the Duergar. The Tarbaxian wizard attempted to escape by becoming invisible, but Cathar cleverly reached into his Bag of Holding, pulled out a bottle of fine wine, shook it up, and uncorked the bottle – spraying wine in an area where he believed the wizard was hiding. To his surprise (and everyone else’s) he managed to pinpoint the wizard, who was then captured and brought back to Erdak for questioning. After resting and planning the next phase of strategy with Erdak, it was decided to move the makeshift barracks to the Foundry to help hold its position. The caretakers had mapped a significant portion of this level of the Mount, and was able to lead the group south and west to locate the “Great Machine”. The party arrived at a massive room containing the “Great Machine” on a raised dais. The room itself was supported by 4 large columns with etchings carved into the column faces. It was also housing 10 Duergar soldiers, 2 Tarbaxian spellcasters, and 2 earth elementals. The party snuck in and Dravin and Alkanos delivered a simultaneous Fireball and Frostball into the room, while Milo casted Sleep on one of the Tarbaxian spellcasters near the “Great Machine” and out of harm’s way. Another volley of Fire and Frostballs were launched into the room, clearing out most of the enemies, but the group still had to face the Elementals, and a handful of the Duergar soldiers not in the blast radius. The enemy was overthrown, and the “Great Machine” was recaptured. The Tarbaxian wizard Milo put to sleep, awoke at the end of the fight to see the battle over, and he was also captured and brought back to Erdak for further questioning.

7.    The party regrouped, and went back to Karlsburg for some training, supplies, and much needed rest.

Session Report 2017-03-19 by Nevus

Alkanos, Cathar, Halitrax, and Nevus

Found third metal column with square indentation

Later killed 6 zombies wearing uniforms (much harder to hit than typical zombies)

Entered room with boiling vats of silvery-gray liquid. Room had cat walk 10’ above. Fumes caused:
Alkanos to become comatose
Halitrax had vision of a room with treasure but no exit.
Nevus thought Cathar was an enemy and attacked him.
Cathar unsuccessfully tried to jump up to the cat walk. Eventually Halitrax gained his senses. He and Nevus and a few rounds of grappling before eventually Nevus was no longer delusional.

Discovered sorcerer’s quarter’s with large bloodstain on floor. Found key which unlocked door to the south. Behind door was coins, gems, armor and shield. Both Nevus and Cathar felt a spiritual attack. Halitrax was going to leave but was convinced to stay for a platinum piece. He was then attacked and possessed by a spirit that wanted to know if they had encountered Euthalius. The rest of the party said no and ask who he was. “My murderer” replied Halitrax.

Halitrax proceeded to walk towards the exit, commanding the party to bring the gems. The party did and followed him. They passed two rooms both with four green statues who initially moved to attack but were halted by Halitrax’s command. One of those rooms also had a glass case with a large egg inside. Entered a room with a slick goo causing a couple members to slip and fall. Halitrax cast a spell destroying the goo.

Continuing, Halitrax went through a secret door a series of hallways to an office like room where a pale old man sat a desk. Halitrax through a fireball at the man. Nevus moved up and decapitated the man. The spirit then left Halitrax, who had no idea what had happened. Only thing of value remaining after the fireball was a wand.

During a long rest, the party identified a Wand of Ice-balls, chain mail +1, and a shield +1

Party returned to room with 4 green statues and the egg in the case. After dispatching the statues, the case caused necrotic damage, Halitrax broke it with his hammer. They scooped up the egg into their bag of holding. Each of the statues also had jet black gems for eyes which the party took. Next they cleared out the other 4 green statues and took their gem eyes.

In another room they found a flask laying on the floor. Thinking it might be alcohol, Cathar decided to take a drink and took internal damage.

Next they entered a room that was empty except for 4 bones arranged in a square. To ensure it wasn’t a trap, Cathar shot an arrow into the center of the square, but nothing happened.

From the next room they heard the frustrated roars of a minotaur. Opening the door, they discovered a minotaur that was stuck to the floor covered in black tar. Cathar easily slew it from a distance with arrows.

Next room had 8 uniformed zombies. Alkanos killed 7 with his Wand of Ice-balls. Halitrax killed the surviving one.

Next room they found a large pile of ash with a partially melted god ring on top. They took the ring.

Next room had damaged mosaics depicting alien worlds on which can be seen demonic figures dancing. On one of the walls were hooks (like coat hooks). From above they heard a droning sound which caused Halitrax(?) to become unconscious. Looking up the noise was coming from huge bug like creature which might have killed Nevus but his dramatic dodge. After being maimed the bug tried to escape but Alkanos killed with another ice-ball.

Next room also had mosaics depicting alien worlds on which can be seen demonic figures but they were marching for war. Room also had hooks but on these were 3 goggles two which had red lenses. When Nevus looked at the mosaics while wearing a pair of goggles the mosaics became animated. This granted Nevus a +1 to attack and damage in the next combat vs demons.

Next room, found on the northern wall a chalk message written in Low Sulian (Common),
which read “Run if you see it!” accompanied by a very crude sketch of a rooster-headed, snake-legged
demon aka ‘foghorn-snakehorn’.

Near the message they found a secret door, behind which was coins and a suit of adamantine chain mail.

Next room, had a alchemical distillery of a sinister design in the middle. In a red curtained alcove was a bronze statue of a demonic winged bull. Below the statue were words in a language did not understand. The party wanted to destroy the statue but Nevus wanted to find out what the text said before hand. He made a copy of the text. After returning to town they discovered the text was High Sulian for “Blood is the Key.”

Found large room with ten bodies laying in a row on the floor. In a half-circle alcove was a large statue of rooster-headed, snake-legged demon. The party wanted nothing to do with this room.

Found a room with a black silver leak, took sample.

Found a magical door that had a triangle indentation. Placing one of the caduceuses in the indentation, it glowed but nothing seemed to happen. Nevus afraid they had unleashed a demon - ‘foghorn-snakehorn’ maybe they ran back to the ‘foghorn-snakehorn’ statue room and saw no change.

Next they found room with pile of coins, while searching the room Cathar noticed the pile was moving towards Nevus. After furious battle which almost killed Nevus, the group was eventually victorious.

After long rest, in the next room they found 1600 lbs of grain and 600 gallons of beer.

Next discovered a pimpin reading room. The candles in the candelabra suddenly lit, the lilting sounds of a harp resonated softly, and the smell of roses wafted into the room once one of the party entered the room.

Finally the group went back to the door where behind it they heard howling wind. Opening the door they found a crevasse. When one of the group moved towards it, wind from above tried to push the person closer to the edge. The group left.

Session Report 2017-02-05 by Quassii

Upon returning from the town of Karlsburg after weeks of training and gambling Quassii, Vrok, Cathar, and Nevus returned to further explore the Mount of the Red Door. We carefully made our way down the levels to the place we fought the minotaur king. There were two hallways leading to what we assumed were the living quarters of the king’s underlings. Cathar noticed a pit trap on the northern most hallway. Both ways led to a large room with three doors exiting it. We noticed a strong odor from the southern door so we entered it in normal battle formation. To our dismay we found the latrine. All the urinals were smashed leaving stinky holes in the ground. We drew straws. Cathar lost. He wisely put on one of the Bio suit's we had found a long time ago from our previous adventures. Nothing was to be found so he geared back up and we continued back.

We heard voices from the throne room. We formed in formation. Vrok bestowed a few of his wonderful buffs, Blessing the party, enhancing Nevus's constitution to that of a bear, then finally uniting Quassii and himself with a powerful magic bond to soften the blows on Quassii to divert half the damage to the caster. After buffing we saw one minotaur, Cathar stealthily advanced into the room to slay the beast. As he entered unnoticed, he saw that there were several minotaurs and a new king in the throne room we previously had cleared. He immediately backed back to us and we devised a plan of action. We decided to charge the room running right by the outer most minotaur back to the hallway we used previously as a choke point to defeat the last king and company. From there we went into a defense stance firing missile weapons into the new kings entourage. In true ranger fashion Quassii fired an enhanced Hail of Thorn's at the king and his bodyguard peppering them with a ton of arrows. The outer most minotaur charged Quassii only to made to look foolish as Quassii dodged it. Nevus with his mighty great axe cut the large beast down in a massive blow to the face. Cathar from the rear used his bow with great accuracy with repeated hits. The new minotaur king wisely gave orders for the others to do repeated reckless charges at Quassii and Nevus who formed our front line of defense. The flurry of one charge after another with the previous attacker backing up - taking a free defensive hit - to let the others charge did significant damage to Nevus nearly overwhelming him. Luckily Vrok healed most of the damage with his advanced healing spells. Upon being healed Nevus charged out at the enemy group in a ferocious fit of rage. With a couple mighty swing of his axe he slew another minotaur. Quassii drew his rapier and shield following Nevus seriously wounding another one. Cather hopped and flipped in true monk fashion delivering a flurry of blows on another minotaur knocking it to the ground only for Nevus to hit with another killing blow making us to start calling him Nevus the Minotaur Slayer. Quassii wounded the king some more only to have Nevus critically strike it, beheading the vicious beast in heroic fashion. After the epic battle, we searched the other doors in the back rooms. Cathar found a secret room. Inside we found eight barrels full of sixteen hundred pounds of grain. After some empty rooms we found a room with stairs going down guarded by four more minotaurs. They immediately charged us at the doorway. Me and Nevus wounded the first one. Vrok fired a guided magic bolt critically missing nearly hitting Cathar who had to dodge the awful miss. After the group wore down the first minotaur, Nevus again killed the first minotaur. Cather killed the next wounded minotaur with his bow. Quassii ran out to wound the other two creatures. Followed by Nevus who wounded them some more. Cathar delivered a flurry of lightning fast blows killing one and knocking the other to the floor. Quassii killed the prone beast ending the conflict.

There were several teleport rooms from our last adventure leading to some hallways and rooms we had not yet explored. Mastering the teleport rooms the last time we were here, we leaned when you entered any of these rooms they would teleport you to another area, and as another party member entered it would send them to an entirely different room. We learned that to simply step back into the room again and again you would finally teleport to your friend’s location. Doing this method we all made it to the unexplored areas.

Our first room we entered had a defiled statue of Vrok's patron god Ezaos. The head had been replaced with Vork’s head. Nevus replaced the head with a marble head from the bag of holding already sculpted for another statue we have not yet fixed. Upon doing so, Ezaos bestowed upon Nevus a one time ability to cast cure wounds as a forth level spell. We continued down the long corridor to the next room.

In the room was a bed with a canopy. On the bed were ten buttons. The monk elf Cathar decided he would lay on the bed and let us try a button. Nevus pressed number 5 button. The canopy lowered and a gas filled the bed interior canopy. Then the canopy raised only for Cather to realize he had lost his night vision. We decided to rest and give it time to regain only to find out it was permanent. Cathar was rather upset and refused to get back on the bed at first. Hoping it could fix it he reluctantly laid on the bed again. Then we tried another button. The canopy lowered again with the gas. This time all of his non metal and non magic items melted into a gooey substance. Unbelievably he let us try another button. Nevus could not bare the responsibility so Quassii hit button number nine. Luckily it did restore his night vision. When the bed opened Cathar jumped out of the bed refusing to get back on it. Quassii and Nevus wanted to know what the other buttons did, but no one wanted to volunteer. Finally after debating it for several minutes Quassii offered Xon our faithful henchman 10 gold to do it. He thought about it, and said for one hundred gold he would. After paying him he stripped naked and got into the bed with a scared look upon his face. Vrok reassured him if he died he would resurrect him with his newly found spell he just got from his training. Cathar whispered into Vrok's ear ya unless it turns him into goo then maybe not. We all watched in an inquisitive horror as the canopy lowered. The next button put him to sleep. We tried to wake him but he would not. So we continued with the experiment. The next button electrically damaged him. Vrok healed poor sleeping Xon then we continued. The next button one woke him. He asked what happened. We said we were going to continue, not wanting to worry the faithful hireling. The next button seemed to do nothing. He said he felt an inner energy we assumed it would heal him maybe? The next button gave him a dark tan – his normal complexion returned the next day. He was surprised and smiled until we hit the next button which wiped that smile right off his face. It made all the hair on his body fall off. Only later finding out it was permanent never to grow again. The next button turned him into a female. At this point he was freaking out. Luckily pressing the button again, it transformed him back to a male. We wanted to take the bed back to our fort but it would not fit through the door.

The next room we open was almost entirely full of webs. Quassii pulled out a flame arrow from his quiver shot his bow igniting the webs. Then we shut the door laughing. Then from nowhere 2 large spiders phased threw the wall. Nevus the Slayer quickly killed the first spider. Then Xon delivered a critical strike with his pike piercing the spider to the wall. Cathar ran up and killed the beast with a powerful kick. After the fire extinguished, we searched the room only for Cather to find a pit by falling into it. After brushing the dirt off with some of his pride we found a few hundred silver pieces.

The next room we found had a statue of Vork in it. Nevus charged into the room to smash the evil statue only to find out it was alive and it wounded him. Quassii hit it twice with his silver rapier only to realize only magic weapons would hurt it. Vrok healed Nevus. Cathar did not hurt it but could knock it prone again and again until Nevus was able to kill it with his mighty magic axe. The next room we entered had four demons on pedestals. Nevus the Paladin like a dog chasing a bone when it came to evil charged and killed the first demon. Then the demons put a major hurting on Nevus with a flurry of bites and claws. Vrok once again healed Nevus. The battle ensued. Quassii taking damage only to be healed by Vrok. Quassii killed the next two demons. Vrok then went on the offense firing a guided bolt lighting the demon up like a Christmas tree. Allowing Nevus to deliver a killing blow with his axe. Cathar found a secret door but could not open it. After some thought Cathar figured out by putting the dead demons back on the pedestals we could open the secret door. What a treasure it was. Thousands of silver and electrum pieces some magic spell scrolls and a magic ring of protection. There were also a non-magic scroll in an unknown language.

The next room down the long corridor had six frog men guarding a tapestry. Quassii joked immediately how this was an easy fight. But it was one of our hardest fights in actuality. They were elite frog soldiers that had haste embossed upon then allowing them to attack a lot. They attacked first running up damaging Quassii and Nevus. Vrok healed us on his turn. Then their leader, a frog mage came running out from behind the tapestry with a spirit guardian spell he came close enough that it damaged everyone except Xon who was way back in the rear guarding. After we all took damage, Vrok tried to heal us all the best he could. Knowing we could not withstand this constant magical assault we broke threw charging into the room trying get to the caster. Cathar killed the first Frogman in his path. Making an opening for Nevus to kill the next Frogman. Quassii killed the next one making an opening to the mage. After Vrok did some more healing, Cathar got to the Mage knocking him on his ass causing all his haste and guardian spells to end. Nevus and Quassii each killed another frogman . Then the mage got up cast another spirit guardian spell, wounding everyone. In response Cathar knocked the mage back on his ass negating the spells and possibly saving some lives. Nevus took a massive critical strike nearly putting him down. Vrok used the last of his healing on him. Then Cathar threw a flurry of blows on the mage killing him. Quassii killed the last of the frogmen. We searched the room for secrets then rested for the night to lick our wounds and regain our spells. Probably the last time Quassii makes fun of weak frogmen.

The next room had four more minotaurs that we surprised having heard them talking from outside the door. Quassii poured a Hail of Thorns into them. Then they charged and began to hurt Quassii with there relentless reckless attacks. Vrok healed Quassii just in time for him to deal a death blow to the first minotaur. Then we weakened them down with a flurry of missiles from Cathar and Nevus’s axe attacks. Allowing Quassii to kill two more minotaurs. Cathar fired a critical hit threw the last minotaur's eye.

The next room had four blue globes in it, immediately putting Nevus to sleep. We drug him to safety fleeing the globes. We decided to go another way finding a room filled with a mysterious darkness. Vrok tried to cast a daylight spell with no effect on the darkness. With weapons drawn we searched the darkness for creatures or loot or secret doors, nothing just a constant darkness that permeates from the evil room.

The next room we found and another room inside of it with two blast doors. On the doors was the symbols on the two button device with the circle and plus on it that we found weeks ago in our adventures here. We tried several ways but could not open it. Finally we searched for secret doors and found another room to the south. In this room was a machine with more buttons. Nevus pressed some button on the device we could here noise come from within the interior room. We decided to hit some random buttons on the machine in the secret room. Clicking both buttons on the device caused the blast doors to open. After opening the door's Nevus pressed each button separately. One made the floor of the interior room go up. The other button made it go down. On the walls of the raising and lowering elevator platform there was vegetation and green fungus. We decided not to travel on it until we get more party members to join us.

We then tried to go around to the room with strange wall carvings that Quassii got paralyzed weeks ago. This time Nevus and Cathar got paralyzed. Vrok and Xon dragged them to safety. Quassii decided to go and peek in the door to the south. Inside it was a large pit with a green slimy surface on the narrow platform around the pit. Thinking it looked dangerous Quassii went back to the party. After some time the paralyzation wore off and I told the party what i saw. We decided probably to never go to that room.

We traveled back around to the blue orb room. Vrok cast a spell to aid all of us on wisdom and death saves. Then we ran past the blue orbs to the next room. We made it. The next room was a treasure room. Inside was gold statue, chests full of silver, gold, and gems.

After running back by the blue orbs with our enhanced saves we made it by them without incident, we decided to return to the northern most double door we could not get open. After trying to pick it open we decided to get Quassii's portable battle ram out of the bag of holding. We rammed the door for fifteen minutes before we could get into it. Inside was a female looking demon trapped in a pentagram asking us to free her. She said her name was Melissa and had been there for centuries. We decided not to free her telling here we needed to talk to the town sage before we would aid her. We went back to town to talk to sage. He said she was a succubus and not to release the evil creature.

We then went to all the town vendors to sell our goods acquired from the mount. Nevus had the sculptor and his apprentices make and replace the statue heads we fixed. Nevus and Cathar have leveled and needed training as does Quassii. In the end we meet up at the tavern to plan our next adventure to the Mount. There we met up with the entire clan of party members to tell them of our exploits and plan who wants to return to it next time. While we did this Xon the Bald told the group he was retiring from adventuring and will always be a friend to each and everyone of us. He will be in Town on his farm. He has gained much fame and will be missed... Thank you for your service Xon the Bald

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.

Session Report 2016-09-23 by Roland Red Oak

September 23, 2016 – The Journal of Roland Red Oak

About a month after the Dragonborn Karn brought me the documents the group had found in the Mount of the Red Door, I was approached by Draven with a new group, who had decided to enter the Mount to explore and treasure hunt. Draven explained that he and his new friends had entered the Mount recently and had some curious adventures; including running into a pair of talking ghouls. They were looking to continue their exploration and needed a healer, I joined without hesitation.

The new group consisted of; my good friend Dravin Stormblood the hammer wielding dwarven mage, Cathar Lavemion a lightning quick wood elf monk, Nevus Jorandel a half-elf paladin, Halitrax Ungart a stout dwarven fighter, Zanyk a rather angry gnome barbarian, and myself Roland.

Early in the morning our group convened at a local tavern for breakfast and then we headed to the Mount. We returned to the third level that they had left behind earlier and made our way to a Temple of Midas in search of forces from resurgent Sullian
Empire! I was most excited to meet these fellows as I have only ever read about them, however we found no traces of them and that temple had not changed from their previous encounter (much to my disappointment). We then moved onto the room where the group had found a portal that allowed the Sullian’s to travel to the Mount, finding the portal closed.

The group decided to move onto room where they had encountered a bugbear and a red elf army (oh my, so exciting!) Finding nothing of value we moved onto the next room, once again finding dust. Sitting in the middle of the Eastern wall of the room, sat a door with a glass circle, ½ black and ½ white. After a quick inspection from Draven found not arcane significance in the sigil, we decided to enter the room. Inside we found a series of stone steps leading to a dais, and sitting on top was a large archway. The steps, the dais, and the archway were all constructed from some beautiful blue stone that was covered in some indecipherable flowing silver ruins. All in all, the room was quite striking. As I admired the beauty of this strange room, my attention was quickly brought to the two red elves sitting across the room under the arch, surrounded by multiple large abominations that could only have arisen from the pits of some hell. The beasts had four spindly legs that ended in three sharp claws, scrawny bodies covered in molted fur, and oblong heads whose jaws opened up like some flower from the fever dreams of a madman. Nevus attempted to parlay with red elves, too little or no affect, battle was joined.

Combat – The elves immediately cast magic missile at Zanyk blasting the poor gnome with an entire host of missiles, staggering the poor gnome. The creatures rushed at the dwarf covering the space between them in quick, awkward strides. Luckily Halitrax was ready and their attacks banged off his shield harmlessly. Zanyk erupted into a rage and struck one the beasts attacking Halitrax in the face, sinking his battle axe deep into the monster’s muzzle. Halitrax responded to the beast’s attacks and crushed the beast in front of him with two heavy blows to the body with his mighty war hammer, wounding and angering the creature.  Dravin cast flaming sphere behind the front line of creatures attacking our fighters and slammed it into the beast, causing howls of pain. I called upon Desonia and cast healing word upon Zanyk, closing some of his several wounds.

With a mighty bellow full of dwarven curses, Halitrax brought his hammer down upon the of the wounded beast in front of him splattering floor with brain and blood, killing the monster. Again the Red Elves blasted the poor barbarian with Magic Missile, doing horrible wounds to the brave warrior. (At this point I am not sure why, but the elves seemed to hate the gnome).  Zanyk, unable to reach his tormentors, took his frustrations out upon the beast blocking his way by wounding the creature deeply. Again the beasts charged the dwarven warrior, finally breaking through his defenses and scratching wounds deep into his side. Cathar took careful aim with his bow and fired arrows into the frontline beasts, landing solid hits on one of them. I called upon the might of Desonia and cast Hold Person upon the elves, freezing them in place and hopefully buying Zanyk a reprieve from their spells. Nevus unable to make it into combat cast bless upon our frontline warriors, bringing the favor of Desonia into the battle. Dravin cast Magic Missile at the elves, blasting the villains with force damage, wounding them.

The front line beasts turned on Zanyk and he was clawed horribly, opening three long deep red lines upon his chest. Nevus laid hands upon the wounded barbarian, stopping his bleeding and mending some of his wounds. Dravin rammed one of the beasts with the flame sphere, causing it to howl in pain as it burst into flames. The beast slowly collapsed into a heap of stinking burning flesh, dying a painful death. I have never seen anything move as gracefully as Cathar, he danced his way to the front of the group and attacked one of the lead monsters. He unleashed a series of devastating blows with his quarterstaff, breaking the monster’s arm so bad that the limb was torn from its body, killing the creature and dropping it in a puddle of blood. After Cathar cleared a path to the elves, Halitrax took advantage of the opening, and rushed to the back of the room. He began screaming a litany of dwarven curses as he smashed his hammer into the paralyzed elf with brutal force, causing horrible internal injuries. Zanyk, seeing a path to the elves, ignored all obstacles in his path a raced to the rear of the room. He roared in rage as he delivered two devastating blows to the paralyzed elves.

Somehow, after this last attack the elves were able to shake off my spell, they cast a spell and vanished from view, denying Zanyk his bloody retribution. Nevus, finally with a clear path to the action, rushed to his allies’ defense and attacked the beasts from behind, driving his great axe deep into the creature’s spine, causing it to howl in rage and pain. Cathar carefully positioned himself between two of the beasts and utilizing a combination of his staff, feet, hands, and head delivered a whirlwind of blows to the nearest beast. Pummeling the creature to death, finishing it off with backhand that knocked the spittle from the dead monster’s mouth.

Suddenly the elves appeared at the back of the room and cast magic missile at Dravin, deeply wounding the mage. Dravin howling in rage and pain, spun around and cast magic missile at one of the elves, connecting, and causing the elf to flinch. Halitrax, seeing his fellow dwarf getting attacked from behind rushed to his aid and smote one of the wounded elves with a viscous swing of his hammer. I aided the wounded dwarven mage with a cure light wounds, healing some of his damage. The creatures meanwhile attacked Cathar, drawing long scratches on the monk’s arm. Nevus drove his great axe into the skull of a creature he had been battling, killing the beast. He turned and rushed to join Halitrax in attacking the elves, wounding one of them with his axe. I turned on one of the beasts and cast Poison Spray, causing the monster to die in a choking agony. After trading blows with Halitrax and Nevus, the elves once again disappeared. After several tense minutes of waiting, the elves did not return.

Kills – Halitrax I, Dravin I, Cathar II, Nevus I, Roland I

After the battle I tended to the wounds of our brave band, using my healing kit. We decided to head into the adjacent room and took an hour or so to catch our breath and prepare for additional exploration. After a brief discussion the paladin, Nevus, convinced the group that we had unfinished business with the ghouls. We decided to head to the north and eliminate the them, the group informed me that there were anywhere between 7 or 8 non-intelligent, normal ghouls and two intelligent ghoul leaders. As we entered the room with the two intelligent ghouls we saw that they were having tea, we asked about the elf and we were informed that he was mostly intact in the other room. Halitrax asked to see the elf, one of the ghouls went and grabbed the elf who was missing his left arm. The ghoul’s ushered us to the table for tea and as the group took our seats, Nevus yelled, “In the name of Desornia!” and swung his axe into the ghoul, smiting the undead monster with the holy wrath of his god. Battle broke out in the middle of a tea party.

Combat – Nevus’s plan worked to perfection, catching the ghouls completely by surprise and delivering two crushing blows to the ghoul closest to him. Halitrax, casually took a sip of the tea, set the cup on the saucer and proceeded to deliver a series of heavy blows to the ghoul closest to him. Zanyk, still gun shy from the previous battle with the elves began muttering curses under his breath about smelly, no good elves and missed both attacks on the ghoul closest to him. After getting over their initial shock the ghouls immediately began attacking the paladin. The paladin caught a diseased claw, causing Nevus to immediately become ill. Halitrax battle lust came upon him as he delivered a multitude of blows to the ghoul, splattering a caustic gore all over himself and Zanyk, burning their flesh and causing both to yelp in pain.  Halitrax then jumped on the table and smashed the china set into a million pieces. Nevus, continued to wretch and cough, unable to move. However, he was able to call upon his god for aid and blessed the fighters of the group, in between retching. As the battle continued the elf began to run directly at me, seeing a possible attacker, I ran him through with my spear. Putting the elf out of the fight. Cathar with amazing grace and power, delivered a multitude of powerful blows to the ghoul.

The remaining ghoul turned on Cathar, who expertly danced out of the way of the claw attacks. Zanyk, seeing the elf run out of the corner of his eye, turned to rush after and left himself open to attack and took a horrible double claw attack to the back. Instantly causing the gnome to wretch and stop in place. Dravin cast Witchbolt upon the remaining ghoul, blasting the beast with lightning. Nevus, still coughing and hacking attempted to throw a chair at the monster and missed. The chair exploded on the wall behind him. Zanyk once again striking with force, delivered multiple blows to the creature. Halitrax, laughing hysterically about finally looking someone in the eye as he swings away at the ghoul from the table, landed several blows. The ghoul, retaliated with a viscous swipe of the claws, causing the him to wretch and vomit. Once again, Nevus chucked another chair wide of the ghoul, smashing it into pieces. Dravin continued his electrical attack on the ghoul, shocking the monster. I cast poison spray on the monster, which shrugged off the spell to no effect. Zanyk landed two solid blows that splattered the ghoul across the room, covering the monk, barbarian, and fighter in gore.

Kills – Halitrax I, Roland I, Zanyk I

After the conclusion of the battle the group decided we need to recover from the brutal battle. We found that somehow the elf had survived a spear to the gut and was still alive. Zanyk bound the him but not before giving him a savage kick to the ribs. During our recovery, the ghouls outside began pounding upon the door to the West attempting to enter the room. While resting Dravin came across a wooden chest that contained a king’s ransom in gold and jewelry. I searched through the library in the room, they contained works of fiction written in High Sullian. We found no books of value.

The group discussed what to do with the elf prisoner, after much debate we decided to turn the elf over to the Karlsburg officials for interrogation. The group is concerned that a war between the Sullians and the Red Elves is brewing in the mount. We moved the elf into the room adjacent to the tea room, bound in a chair, and gagged. Despite the vigorous objections from the barbarian who desired the death of the elf.

The group decided that we needed to take out the ghouls who have been beating on the door to the west after we finally reached our decision on the prisoner.

Combat – Zanyk threw the door open and looked into the face of a decaying ghoul and slashed the ghoul twice with his battle axe. Halitrax delivered a couple of crushing blows with his war hammer, splattering the ghoul’s brains across the floor, killing it. Cathar fired his bow into the undead monster in the right eye and out the monster’s skull, killing it instantly. Nevus, rushed to the front of the battle, hopping the gnome and delivering a skull splitting blow the lead ghoul’s head. The ghoul died without knowing what hit it. Cathar once again danced to the front of the group and delivered a series of quick, crushing blows to the final ghoul. The ghoul died horribly and a rain of blows from his staff. The group tracked down the remaining ghouls and ended them as well.

Kills – Halitrax II, Cathar II, Nevus I, Zanyk II

After killing the remaining ghoul’s, the group collected our prisoner and headed to Karlsburg. Before we left, the wizard collected the tongues from the ghouls as a trophy for Quasi. After reaching town, I had to leave the group as an immediate issue with my congregation was brought to my attention. I wished the group well and went to help the family.