August 28th, 2016
Inside the Hidden Citadel
Tonight
the effervescent and everchanging party of adventurers grew a new
limb while another limb fell by the wayside in momentary disuse. It
happens. Such is life.
The
adventurers for this week were:
Merrick,
human fighter, played by Nick, (in zombie mode when the player was
not there)
Arden,
halfling cleric, played by Nilo, (zombie mode at times as above)
Mordecai
Ali Van Allen O'Shea, human cleric, played by Sarai
Ahri, elven magic-user, played by Zackery,
Valandil, elven spellsword,
played by Chris, and
Dorni, gnome thief,
played by Hunter
This
week the adventure started with the party of adventurers staring down
the huge serpent that had come up from the lower floor. The party was
aided by the appearance of the gnome thief that had been with them
all along but had only been recognized when the battle started. The
conflict with the serpent was odd since the serpent itself looked
fairly odd. The (zombie) fighter and the spellsword tore into it,
while the rest of the party attempted to assist. The serpent
swallowed the human cleric who failed a saving throw. With quick and
powerful attacks the spellsword and fighter finished off the serpent
which hit the floor and, for lack of a better phrase, started to very
slowly melt or perhaps decongeal is a better term. The halfling
(zombie) cleric ran over and reached into the serpent's gelatinous
mouth to try to extract the human cleric but became paralyzed. The
human fighter came over, pulled the halfling free and then pulled the
human cleric free. The human cleric was paralyzed and at zero hit
points while the halfling cleric was merely paralyzed.
The magic-user and spellsword were curious about the nature of this odd creature and watched it continue to decongeal, in time more and more of it sliding back down through the hole in the floor to the lower level. The two elves carefully rappelled down after it to see what was below. They discovered a rough oval cave around 30' wide and 40' long. Searching around they discovered a pile of castings from the serpent that looked like old and half-dried agar from petri dishes in science class. Spending a lot of time fumbling through the mess, they discovered some coins and a simple silver chain necklace.
Returning to join the rest of the party in the room above, they discovered that the halfling cleric had recovered and had healed the human cleric back to functionality. A decision was made to explore the hole that went from the middle chamber to one on a higher level. The spellsword made a good throw with his grappling hook and the party ascended. An exploration to the south of the room they found at the top of the well led them to a passageway that, when they reached the midpoint of the hallway, collapsed into a slide, sending them into a room on a lower floor where two gnolls were. The gnolls attacked the party and were killed fairly easily. The spellsword was searching their bodies and belongings when four more gnolls burst in and attacked. Three were killed and the fourth was charmed by the magic-user to be her friend. The gnome thief was dropped to zero hit points in the battle and needed healing from her short bro to get back in action again. Some more exploring led to the party managing to find their way back to the room they originally entered the dungeon through, and they decided (at the zombie fighter's insistence) to climb back up and return to town for more rations, more torches and oil, and then to return to explore properly.
The gnoll took third watch during the night and made its saving throw versus the charm spell. Since it had been treated relatively well by the party, and the party had helped it escape from the dungeon since it and its fellows had been trapped in the dungeon for several days by the shifting floor trap, it decided to sneak off and leave peaceably instead of trying to kill the adventurers.
Upon the return to town, the new edition short bros (Nilo and Hunter's characters) decided to stay in town (in zombie mode) while the finally non-zombie human fighter returned to the adventure with them (i.e. Nick showed up).
The magic-user and spellsword were curious about the nature of this odd creature and watched it continue to decongeal, in time more and more of it sliding back down through the hole in the floor to the lower level. The two elves carefully rappelled down after it to see what was below. They discovered a rough oval cave around 30' wide and 40' long. Searching around they discovered a pile of castings from the serpent that looked like old and half-dried agar from petri dishes in science class. Spending a lot of time fumbling through the mess, they discovered some coins and a simple silver chain necklace.
Returning to join the rest of the party in the room above, they discovered that the halfling cleric had recovered and had healed the human cleric back to functionality. A decision was made to explore the hole that went from the middle chamber to one on a higher level. The spellsword made a good throw with his grappling hook and the party ascended. An exploration to the south of the room they found at the top of the well led them to a passageway that, when they reached the midpoint of the hallway, collapsed into a slide, sending them into a room on a lower floor where two gnolls were. The gnolls attacked the party and were killed fairly easily. The spellsword was searching their bodies and belongings when four more gnolls burst in and attacked. Three were killed and the fourth was charmed by the magic-user to be her friend. The gnome thief was dropped to zero hit points in the battle and needed healing from her short bro to get back in action again. Some more exploring led to the party managing to find their way back to the room they originally entered the dungeon through, and they decided (at the zombie fighter's insistence) to climb back up and return to town for more rations, more torches and oil, and then to return to explore properly.
The gnoll took third watch during the night and made its saving throw versus the charm spell. Since it had been treated relatively well by the party, and the party had helped it escape from the dungeon since it and its fellows had been trapped in the dungeon for several days by the shifting floor trap, it decided to sneak off and leave peaceably instead of trying to kill the adventurers.
Upon the return to town, the new edition short bros (Nilo and Hunter's characters) decided to stay in town (in zombie mode) while the finally non-zombie human fighter returned to the adventure with them (i.e. Nick showed up).
More
explorations ensued with the party attempting to fill in more of the
map by exploring hallways and doors they hadn't finished with yet.
Some traps were found in the old fashioned painful ways, and some
were at least partly avoided. At one point the party entered a large
50' by 50' room where the slope curved down from the doors to a
pedestal at the bottom of the bowl. Much of the party descended to
explore while the spellsword stayed at the eastern door that the
party entered through. The slope was discovered to be very slick,
with the party having few, if any, chances to scramble back up it.
The fighter stepped on the pedestal which caused a portal in the
ceiling to open that allowed a fine dust to begin pouring into the
room, much like the dust found in a grain elevator. With this insight
the cleric ordered the fighter to extinguish the torch quickly before
there was a fireburst and the spellsword, thinking clearly as always,
simply closed the door and waited in the hall for sounds of
detonation. Plunged into darkness and with the sounds of dust flowing
into the room around them, the party decided to scramble for the north
door because eff the guy who closed the east door and left us in
here! At some point the cleric realized that they could cast a light
spell and did so at the ceiling, providing enough dim light for the
party to see by. At some point the spellsword opened the door and
threw a rope to the magic-user, who was choking on the dust, and
pulled her to safety. This was repeated to rescue the rest of the
group, and the party left, slamming the door and leaving the room
behind.
Further investigations revealed some other oddities, such as a series of small rooms that seemed to control the dust bowl trap room, allowing them to return and explore its other exits. The north door led to a small room with odd mosaics that after some observation were decoded to show the status of the dust bowl trap room. From there the party went to investigate the west door, with the spellsword looking into the NW corner. There he discovered a red button set into the floor which he, of course, pushed. This caused a pair of loud KA-THUNK noises which alarmed the party. After some exploration it was decide that these buttons actually were emergency reset buttons for the dust bowl trap. Searching further, the party learned that opening the west door activated a fire trap which would have potentially ignited the dust into a firestorm. Since the dust had been emptied out, only the fighter got somewhat singed.
Quite a few minutes later, the party found another interesting area just south of the way they entered the complex. The south door led to a square of hallways that surrounded a central room. Once the central room was opened, the 50' by 50' room was discovered to be a 10' wide walkway around the outer edge of the room, a 10' deep and 10' wide trench circling inside the walkway, and a 10' by 10' by 15' tall central pillar with a magic user standing on the top. When the party entered the room, the door they had used to enter vanished and no other exits were visible. The wizard on the pillar turned to face them, its hand outstretched, and a voice boomed at them "May the wrath of Zelligar fall upon you!" Then the mage's hand began to glow faintly with magical energy. Minor (?) panic ensued, and characters began trying to run around the edge of the walkway trying to find a way to reach the statue or to avoid the magical burst. Some attempted to attack it with weapons and spells first before trying to help the others search. The spellsword managed to lasso the statue's arm with his grappling hook and rope in an attempt to try to topple the statue before the growing energy surrounding the mage's hand reached its apex. This was unsuccessful, but the spellsword attempted to climb out the rope to the statue while the fighter and magic-user held it before they released it leaving the spellsword to swing down into the trench as the others tried to find other ways of dealing with the threat. A burst of magical energy arced from the statue's hand around the ledge, dropping the cleric, magic-user, and fighter where they stood but not damaging the spellsword in the trench. Carefully climbing the still attached rope, the spellsword reached the pinnacle and the statue and began to search. Three levers were found there, and all three were pulled one at a time to see what happened. The green lever made the statue turn green. The blue caused a narrow electric blue walkway to flicker into place from the pinnacle to the side of the walkway opposite the way they had entered, and the red began the recharging process for the magical trap. The spellsword returned the red level to the off position but carefully traversed the blue bridge to check on his friends. He discovered that they were not dead, but instead were in a near coma state. He efficiently (i.e. not carefully) returned them to wakefulness and they and their 250 proof migraine/hangover headaches made them want time to rest. And there the adventure ended for the night.
Further investigations revealed some other oddities, such as a series of small rooms that seemed to control the dust bowl trap room, allowing them to return and explore its other exits. The north door led to a small room with odd mosaics that after some observation were decoded to show the status of the dust bowl trap room. From there the party went to investigate the west door, with the spellsword looking into the NW corner. There he discovered a red button set into the floor which he, of course, pushed. This caused a pair of loud KA-THUNK noises which alarmed the party. After some exploration it was decide that these buttons actually were emergency reset buttons for the dust bowl trap. Searching further, the party learned that opening the west door activated a fire trap which would have potentially ignited the dust into a firestorm. Since the dust had been emptied out, only the fighter got somewhat singed.
Quite a few minutes later, the party found another interesting area just south of the way they entered the complex. The south door led to a square of hallways that surrounded a central room. Once the central room was opened, the 50' by 50' room was discovered to be a 10' wide walkway around the outer edge of the room, a 10' deep and 10' wide trench circling inside the walkway, and a 10' by 10' by 15' tall central pillar with a magic user standing on the top. When the party entered the room, the door they had used to enter vanished and no other exits were visible. The wizard on the pillar turned to face them, its hand outstretched, and a voice boomed at them "May the wrath of Zelligar fall upon you!" Then the mage's hand began to glow faintly with magical energy. Minor (?) panic ensued, and characters began trying to run around the edge of the walkway trying to find a way to reach the statue or to avoid the magical burst. Some attempted to attack it with weapons and spells first before trying to help the others search. The spellsword managed to lasso the statue's arm with his grappling hook and rope in an attempt to try to topple the statue before the growing energy surrounding the mage's hand reached its apex. This was unsuccessful, but the spellsword attempted to climb out the rope to the statue while the fighter and magic-user held it before they released it leaving the spellsword to swing down into the trench as the others tried to find other ways of dealing with the threat. A burst of magical energy arced from the statue's hand around the ledge, dropping the cleric, magic-user, and fighter where they stood but not damaging the spellsword in the trench. Carefully climbing the still attached rope, the spellsword reached the pinnacle and the statue and began to search. Three levers were found there, and all three were pulled one at a time to see what happened. The green lever made the statue turn green. The blue caused a narrow electric blue walkway to flicker into place from the pinnacle to the side of the walkway opposite the way they had entered, and the red began the recharging process for the magical trap. The spellsword returned the red level to the off position but carefully traversed the blue bridge to check on his friends. He discovered that they were not dead, but instead were in a near coma state. He efficiently (i.e. not carefully) returned them to wakefulness and they and their 250 proof migraine/hangover headaches made them want time to rest. And there the adventure ended for the night.
Comments
Post a Comment