May 16th, 1084 Korlai Reckoning.
Recap written by Torgo.
Characters:
Terragen as "Bea" [75]
Torgo as "The Archwizard Blileninane" [77]
R.I.P. Bromil Grumblebottom
When a dungeon delve is going poorly, never let it be said that things can only get better from there. For what else is the purpose of a dungeon, but to find rock bottom and dig another floor deeper?
After the trials and tribulations of Bob, Bea, Bromil, and Blileninane’s first foray into the dungeon, the surviving trio found themselves taking much needed downtime in Nickstown. Perhaps due to Bromil’s brush with the goggles of blindness, or perhaps because of the resentment that came from being used as a human shield and trap detector, neither Bea nor the Archwizard Blileninane were able to find Bromil for the next adventure. Having departed with his share of the wealth, only the cloak of dexterity was left behind to remember the stalwart Dwarf by.
Bea and Blileninane, down a man and unable to find any new suckers to bring into the party, were forced to risk another venture into the dungeon alone. Thus, it was decided amongst them that the safest course of action would be to re-explore the northernmost passage with a more careful eye for treasure and traps. In preparation, Bea enchanted a huge number of small stones (thirty dirty pebbles) with continual light, for use as a sort of torchlight that could be held, stored, or thrown as needed.
The pair returned as cautious as ever, and found no more traps than had been already discovered, until returning to the chamber containing the demonic statue. Bea, with as sharp a nose for evil as ever, determined that one of the sarcophagi in the room was clearly malefic, but the other was merely mundane. Cracking the mundane sarcophagus open, $5,000 in the form of over a hundred pounds of pennies was found, forming a metallic bed for a terribly deformed skeleton. With some difficulty, Bea began loading up the vast number of coins into backpacks, delver’s webbing, even going so far as to fold the Archwizard’s robes into a pouch to steal away with every last penny.
During the lengthy process of counting and packing five thousand individual coins, the Archwizard Blileninane took the opportunity to send forth his wizard eye into the depths of the dungeon, scouting out a number of yet unexplored rooms ahead. Heavily laden with the hundred pounds of treasure, Bea and Blileninane made the wise choice to return swiftly to town, stash their treasure, and return to the dungeon with room in their packs.
Within Nickstown, there is only one place truly safe to store large volumes of treasure, a branch of the Bank of the Condelii. Staffed by tall, androgynous, and blue skinned humanoids, the bank was most accommodating for the pair of wealthy adventurers, and were swift to open a joint account for the two and their 5,000 copper coins (for a modest weekly fee).
With the freshly earned wealth, Bea and Blileninane were quick to contact the mercantile caravan running between Nickstown and the trading city of Coral. Bea was able to successfully order a more powerful holy symbol (+1), while Blileninane tried and failed to seek out any large quantities of flammable oil, with which he had intended to set fiery traps. Bea, being a junior cleric of Sif, was ever keenly attuned to how the poor and desperate of Nickstown might be manipulated into serving our mission. Already having recruited Bromil, she was swift to find a new selection of hired muscle, and from them selected a strong armed laborer by the name of John, for the meager price of one percent of any realized treasure profits.
Making best use of the extra body which would be accompanying them, Bea was stubborn in ensuring that John accepted a silver coin with a continual light enchantment as a “tip”, knowing it would glow brightly through his roughspun garb and make him a convenient distraction for any monsters, should ever the need arise. Bea, Blileninane, and John all entered through the eastern entrance of the dungeon later that same day. With the Archwizard Blileninane having already used his wizard eye to scout well ahead, there were already a number of rooms primed for exploration.
First was a chamber containing a dwarf adventurer, recently slain and still pinned beneath a rockfall. At first it was speculated that the rockfall filling the room may have concealed a collapsed passageway, but John the laborer quickly dispelled that notion by stripping away enough of the stones to uncover both the dwarf and the previously obfuscated chamber wall. Though Bea and Blileninane were hungry for treasure and eager to strip the dwarf of his worldly belongings, respect for the dead won out and only his dwarven axe was taken. On their way deeper into the dungeon, the pair stopped to loot $1,000 in various denominations from a previously spotted chest tucked away in the corner of a maze chamber.
Having already explored two of the three entrances to said maze, Bea and Blileninane were left with but one more passageway. They were confronted by a long hallway with a pipe sticking out of the ceiling, pointed away from the adventurers and deeper into the dungeon. Throwing a stone down the hallway revealed that any motion would cause the pipe to release a powerful gust of wind, hurling the stones deeper into the corridor at perilous speeds. Even the wizard eye of the Archwizard Blileninane could not withstand the trap, and upon being used to scout, was hurled forward by the wind trap and destroyed upon striking a nearby wall, only briefly revealing the presence of yet another chamber at the end of the hallway.
Unable to find any mechanisms connected to the wind trap, the pair of adventurers decided to focus their attention elsewhere. Of the unexplored paths available, only the southernmost entrance with its goblins, and the southern passage of the eastern entrance with its spiders remained. Bea and Blileninane attempted to order John to take some of the large stones he had previously carried off where the dead dwarf had been found, and take them to the hallway where the spiders were to be found in order to form a makeshift barricade. John, however, found such an idea to be extremely foolish, and refused outright.
Having already made heavy use of his wizard eye, the Archwizard Blileninane was sorely in need of some rest before casting any other spells. Outside the easternmost entrance of the dungeon, a small outcropping of ruined stone walls was found, where Blileninane was able to take a nap while Bea stood lookout. In a stroke of great fortune, Bea spotted Rhydi’s Raiders passing through the forest and entering the eastern dungeon entrance without the pustulent thugs spotting her in return. Though the Raiders added two new recruits to their retinue, bringing their numbers to six, such an opportunity for revenge couldn’t be abandoned. The Archwizard Blileninane cast invisibility on himself and stalked after his foes, armed with his wand of explosive lightning.
Waiting patiently for the best time to strike, Blileninane quietly observed Rhydi enter into the demonic ritual room and open up a secret passageway. Just as the six man adventuring party began to clump together and filter through the one yard wide secret passage, Blileninane struck Rhydi with a bolt of explosive lightning for 9d damage, instantly reducing the elf and her closest companions into chunks of smoking meat, while leaving only two survivors grievously wounded and unconscious on the dungeon floor. Right away, the Archwizard Blileninane set to hopping and skipping his way out of the dungeon, back towards Bea, riding high on the annihilation of his foes. Together, they returned to look on at the fruits of their combined revenge, finding great mirth but no treasure from the six corpses.
Bea finished off one of the survivors, who had previously been with the Raiders when they threatened her, but refused to kill their surviving recruit. Blileninane crushed the latter's head using one of his stone missiles, chastising Bea for leaving behind any foes who might seek revenge, and the duo entered into the hidden chamber now revealed. Within was found a series of books on theology, demonology, the history of the dungeon, a stash of coin, and most importantly, an enchanted ring imparting +1 charisma.
Once more full up on treasure, Bea and Blileninane returned to town, depositing their coin with the Condelii and the books at the Nickstown inn. Resting only a spell before returning, Blileninane once more used his wizard eye to scout out any available rooms ahead, at last descending down to scout the second floor remotely. Below was found an iron portcullis, with a skeleton behind, standing guard. In some nearby rooms could be found a completely wrecked chamber strewn with ruined furniture, and a hall with a strange monkey statue having gems for eyes.
Wishing only to scout without putting themselves into undue peril, Bea and Blileninane descended only long enough to scare off the skeleton and observe their surroundings directly, without laying their hands on anything potentially dangerous. The most significant discovery was that one of the chambers featured a series of slots set into one of the walls, each with a color coded symbol corresponding to one of the deities, with a bag of similarly colored rods nearby. Satisfied with their search and determined to return with more research, the pair returned back to the gusting air trap on the first floor.
Having exhausted any other options for dealing with the thing, the Archwizard Blileninane chose to deal with it in the most direct way possible, a charged stone missile. Managing to crush and mangle the tube from where it emerged, the trap at last expelled a gust lasting minutes on end before tapering off to a weak breeze. Confirming its full destruction by tossing a stone in front of the tube remains and eliciting only a faint gust, Bea and Blileninane strode forth with confidence into the chamber ahead. Within was a set of partially destroyed wooden bridges spanning a pit filled with noxious green slime. Bea was swift to confirm this by sticking one of the trap detecting sticks into the slime, and returning it with a scorched and smoking end. Blileninane used his wizard’s eye in order to probe ahead, discovering that across the slime filled room and beyond a broken section of the wooden bridge was an inaccessible doorway leading deeper into the dungeon, beyond which was a shadowy figure rummaging among the ruins who turned quickly to strike down the magical scouting eye.
Bea and Blileninane, not having any easy way to get over the broken walkway, opted instead to proceed down an alternate direction through the slime filled chamber. Beyond that hallway was discovered a chamber with four intact skeletons bearing fine broadswords, laying each within their own niches. Knowing that to approach the skeleton filled chamber surely meant combat, Bea and Blileninane prepared each in their own way. Blileninane cast flight, while Bea cast shield, both ensuring that the junior cleric could sweep into the chamber like a tempest while still being well defended. As they made their way towards the skeletons, they were greeted as expected, by a storm of clattering bones and swung blades.
Bea and Blileninane were able to put up a strong defense, striking down one of the skeletons and injuring another, but were driven off by some strange invisible threat. At first, only Bea felt the grasp of a cold and invisible hand upon them, until they were struck grievously by seemingly no source at all. Making distance from the room, Blileninane soon felt that same cold hand upon his own shoulder, and the pair were determined to flee the fight altogether. Thankfully, neither the skeleton nor the unseen apparition assailing them pursued much further than their chamber’s doorway. Sensing the challenge to come, the fateful pair of adventurers were swift to return and regroup in Nickstown.
While they spent time regrouping, first and foremost, the Archwizard immediately went looking for new adventurers. Using John as an aid, they found four new men to accompany them: Baker, a holy warrior, Fleck, a half-orc warrior, Lyons, a half-elf swordsman, and Anathenna, an expert bowelf. They notably lacked a thief, but having muscle has prevailed over all else so far, and the Archwizard Blileninane decided that muscle is what they needed as of now. Blileninane then researched many things, starting with reading up on Thēdiūs the Swan. He read a book that contained lots of information on him, including information about a possible religion that Thēdiūs, Jean-Philippe, and Ulfang followed. He also researched more on who Jean-Philippe was, who was apparently contracted to design the King's castle when it was first built.
Bea read (and re-read) "Faith for Dummies", trying to learn about the puzzle with the rods. She found out some basic information about Odin, Frigga, Thor, Loki, and Baldr, but nothing of note. Somehow, the book was still surpassing her current expertise in her own faith, however. Finally, Blileninane visited the Mages' Guild in Nickstown to learn more about their organization and to see if he could buy some spellbooks, however, he was told that knowing what spells are available is privileged information for guild members only. He was offered some scrolls instead, which he denied.
Author's Notes
This was written using Archwizard Blileninane's in-world notes.
GM's Notes
This was a fun session. Granted, I always have fun playing TTRPGs with my friends, but this was especially fun. Next week the party talked about trying to figure out the puzzle with the colored rods, and were planning to read "Faith for Dummies", one of the books they found, to learn more about it. They used up their "get out of jail free" wand as well, but it was apparently being saved for this anyway. Next session we are finally in for a full seven-person party!
Character Advancement
+2pts from Loot
+1pts from Roleplay
+2pts from Exploration
+0pts from Freeing Prisoners
+0 Bonus Points
No Characters Died
Total: +5 (+7 to Archwizard Blileninane for mapping and writing the recap)
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