August 21st, 2016

New Beginnings

Today, our low level neophyte characters began their journey to the world of adventure, and they have so far survived the experience, though just barely. They started in Southvale in the Trade Confederation, likely because that is where the ancient Southvale Cathedral is, since they have not one but two clerics in the party. So with two clerics, one fighter, one magic-user, a spellsword and zero thieves the party began their adventure.

Our adventurers are:
Merrick, human fighter

Arden, halfling cleric

Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea, human cleric

Ahri, elven magic-user, and

Valandil, elven spellsword

The rumor box made it reappearance for the first time in a long time (because, let's face it, adventure came looking for the high level party so often they didn't have time to chase rumors!). Of the rumors grabbed on this first night, several alluded to bandits and other dangers on the trail north to Treefold, including one ludicrous claim of a dragon flying around. The rumor that they decided to follow (especially after being reminded of the earlier party's adventure with bandits, humanoids, and a sky drake) involved going nowhere near Treefold. Instead, they started by following a vague rumor about how the treasures of Roghan and Zelligar were waiting to be discovered. After some research, the party learned that this rumor could be traced back to the innkeeper of the Red Serpent Inn in Twinlakes Vale.

A two day journey on short coin and dwindling rations brought the party to Twinlakes and a talk with the innkeep led them to the story of the two adventurers of several generations ago, known for their good reputations for defeating an invading force of monsters, and for their somewhat questionable morals, as the rumors said that they had monstrous servants and soldiers in their employ. Whatever the truth, they had supposedly built a stronghold in the wilderness to the east and north of Twinlakes and had vanished into it until another invading force was said to be gathering in the deeper wilderness. Roghan and Zelligar left their hidden stronghold and went to face it, and nothing was ever heard from them again. Though they had always been reclusive to the extreme, it was said that they had died battling a horde of monsters.

With the vague directions toward where the stronghold was rumored to be (somewhat along the lines of a vague hand wave in a general direction and a "thataway, somewhere") the party bought some bare necessities, barely enough for the trek out, and went in search of the unknown. Their first day's trek was relatively uneventful, though they were attacked during the last watch of the night by four orcs. The party was victorious, but the interrupted sleep meant few spell points were recovered. The party continued on since their limited food supplies didn't leave them many options. On their second day out, the sharp-eyed Merrick (who does not roll percentiles like Wil Wheaton) realized that there had been several places along the trek where there were long open glades with scrub growth and few trees. He realized that these had, years ago, likely been roads for taking building supplies and other things out to the hidden stronghold. A little later after deciding to follow these old roadways Merrick noticed that what appeared to be a rock outcropping was actually a collapsed tower. The party climbed the bluff to examine it and to use its height as a vantage point to get the lay of the land. Though no obvious stronghold was seen, Merrick did notice that there was a relatively bald cliff face a mile or two away that might be worth investigating, so they carefully climbed down and headed in that direction.

In the process of that journey, there was a sudden cry and the party noticed that one of their number was missing! Mordecai the cleric had vanished without a trace, but a quick investigation revealed the hole that he had fallen into. A rope was dropped but before climbing out, Mordy took a moment to look around and notice that he was in rather a large space instead of a simple sinkhole. One lit torch later Mordecai realized that he was in a room with finished stone walls and, more importantly, a door exiting to both the north and the south from the room. Merrick tied a granny knot bigger than his head around the nearest tree and with this supremely secured line in place, they descended into the subterranean area.

Some exploration led the party to some danger, such as three giant wolf spiders and a grell, and to some discoveries, such as a room with statues that animated to attack (only illusionary), some rooms that resembled a kind of school, perhaps for wizards, and finally a long ornately columned hall which ended in locked double doors. Three inset glass circles about 6" in diameter were on each side in between the first three sets of pillars nearest to the single door; all of these were gray and dark. But later in another room the party found a statue with a hinged jaw that hid a pull ring. After pulling the ring, the irises of the stone statue's eyes turned blue. Some unsuccessful tinkering with the statue revealed nothing, until the spellsword ran back to the ornate hall and discovered that the middle inset on the left side was now glowing blue.

The party rested in the former bedroom of Zelligar to regain spellpoints in the midst of these explorations, and ate the rest of the raw rutabagas and turnips for their meals. Once restored, they explored further.

These explorations revealed a lever in a linen storage closet that lit a white inset, and another lever behind a secret panel that shocked poor Mordecai and lit a yellow inset. The party also found and fought animated suits of armor with pole axes. That battle was very dangerous for the party, but after they were victorious, they managed to use the now-inanimate armor to upgrade their defenses. Continuing on, the party found a room with a large hole, 10' diameter, in the center of the floor and a matching hole over it in the ceiling. A test to determine the depth of the pit was noisy, but let them know it was roughly 20' deep. Unfortunately, the noise seemed to attract something else, and a serpentine head on a long sinuous neck came up out of the pit!

And there, on that cliffhanger, we ended.