September 4th, 2016
Continuing Explorations of the Hidden Citadel
The party for tonight, from my left to my right:
Christopher playing Valandil the elven spellsword
Nick playing Merrick the standard human fighter
Nilo playing Arden the halfling cleric
Matthew playing the human spellsword
Catherine-Nick's-Sister playing Ydee the half-elf thief
Scout/Sarai/Sabre playing Mordecai etc. etc. etc. the human gelding cleric
Zackery playing Ahri the elven magic-user
Tonight our party inexplicably expanded and contracted all at once, but since it is still technically the first adventure, there's still the "They've been here all along. No one noticed them." defense.
The party, having resupplied and returned to the dungeon last session, were in a reasonable situation after waking up from the industrial strength migraine aftereffects of the spell trap that had been set off at the end of the previous session affecting everyone except for the spellsword who had been safely in the trench. However, the decision was made to continue the exploration while the enthusiasm was high and while the energy was good. Hit point totals be damned.
The desire to fill in the corrected map was strong, and so the party explored back to the northwest of the map again, finding new rooms and new monsters. In one new area they faced an ogre, but it was green and looked somewhat like undead or just really, really ill and green. When the party killed it, it all but exploded, spraying disgusting chunks and fluids everywhere. Saving throws were made, but the DM stayed quiet about the potential effects. . .
After this battle, the party decided that, considering their seriously depleted condition, a rest was in order. Retreating to the barracks room they had discovered earlier, the party barricaded the only known door out and rested for the night. In the morning healing spells were distributed to those most in need, and then the party went forward, determined to keep exploring.
Determined to continue exploring further past where they had exploded the gross monster, they went back to the site of the battle to find that there was nothing left of the creature. Curious, they continued onward and in the next room they were surprised by an even larger gross creature erupting from underneath a table to attack the party. Some quick high rolls later, this creature also exploded into a shower of gore. Saving throws were rolled and a variety of scores resulted, but still the DM said nothing. This time the party decided to burn the disgusting remains. Using some furniture that was broken in the melee as firewood, they built a smoky fire and slowly burned the nastiness away. Then, after exploring the rest of the room, they departed.
Further explorations revealed rooms that appeared to have been the offices of accountants full of uninterestingly coded books. In the nicer office the party forced a couple of desk drawers, one containing more books, except for one which had a cut out section in the center which held a pouch of coins. Tucking them into the party fund to be counted later, the party focused on opening the second drawer and were successful, setting off the fire trap that scorched the fighter's face and dropped him to 0 hit points. One quick healing spell later, he was back up and functional, and a small locked coffer was retrieved from the drawer and stored with party loot.
Another room was revealed to be the bedroom of Roghan the fighter, and while it seemed to have held several things of interest at some point, most of them seemed to have been taken away, much to the party's dismay. The elven spellsword decided to dress the empty armor stand in some of the spare clothes from the chest of drawers, and left it standing in the room.
In the process of continuing to explore, the party located two more switches (a lever and a keyhole), one which filled the room with a reddish light, and another that suffused the room with an orange glow like a sunset. After hurrying back to the "fish bowl" room where the original six glass circles were, they found that all six were lit with their respective glows, and that all six lights around the lock plate on the double doors were lit. Merrick, the bold fighter, moved up and muscled the door open, revealing a huge trophy room behind them. In the center of the room, where the ceiling arched up to 25' high, was a skeleton that the human spellsword identified as a drake! Luckily it was wired together instead of animated. There were many interesting trophies to be found in this room, including the head of a bullette mounted on one wall and the head of another drake looming over the far door! The right hand rule took over, and the party headed south out of the trophy room to see what they could find.
A short hallway led them to a locked door. The middle key from the keyring opened this door, and the party entered into a very nicely furnished sitting room, stylized with repeated Z emblems worked into every piece of furniture. Following the right hand rule, the party tried the western door and found it was apparently locked. Since there was no lockplate even the fighter who knows only of the poo-flinging monkey school of magic decided it was wizard locked. Orc axes from a previous encounter were brought to bear, and after a while of working the door was 'opened'. Beyond this door was a much nicer bedroom, again with the ornate headboard with the Z monogram. Another door led out of this room, and though it was locked the medium key from the keyring opened it. This opened into a lab space that looked to have been mostly packed up and moved out long before. Some things of interest were found and stored away such as a box of pepper. After this the party unlocked the door in the northeast corner of the lab and found themselves in a library. The library also seemed to have been picked clean, but the half-elf thief found a nice book with a lockstrap underneath some worthless workbooks. The thief couldn't pick the lock, and none of the keys fit, so the fighter carefully cut the strap, which was very difficult as it had been specially reinforced. One dull silver dagger blade later, the strap parted and the book could be read.
The fighter opened the book and glanced inside and failed his discipline save. Shouting that no one could have the book he began to run, but he was tacked by the thief hard enough to make him drop the book. Once the book was gone, he was himself again and the party began to think that no one should open the book. With time and some convincing, the magic-user was allowed to open the book while the elven spellsword held him in a headlock and the human spellsword hugged the mage's knees. One failed save later the magic-user's strength check was higher and she fought her way free only to be tackled by the halfling cleric. Once the book fell from her grasp all was well again, and the party considered burning the damn book. But Lucius the holy warrior of chaos, er, Valandil the elven spellsword had a plan. "Tie me up," he said, "and then open the book for me so I can see it." Reluctantly the party did so, and the spellsword made his saving throw. Once that was made, he used some tar from a torch to try to stick the page that drove others mad to the front of the book with so no one could see it, then he began to flip through the book.
The book appeared to be in some kind of code, so he paged through it until he found a color plate which showed six circles of color with lines connecting some of them to others. The party puzzled over this for a bit, then decided that it was beyond them. It did remind them that there was another room with six unlit glass circles in it, and after some discussion they decided to go downstairs to see if the solution to this puzzle was perhaps down there.
At the bottom of the stairs they found themselves in a cave complex, which the mapmaker HATED, HATED, HATED. Nevertheless, they continued. A quick exploration later they made their way to an L shaped cave where they found 11 orcs who were looking for a fight. Battle was joined and went poorly from the start, with the already injured party getting injured worse in the melee. Ahri the elven magic-user did manage to charm two of the orcs which helped to even the odds, and soon the battle was over. Unfortunately, over half the party had three or fewer hit points, so with their new buddies coming along they returned to the barracks to sleep.
After eight or so hours the party awoke semi refreshed except for the elven spellsword. A couple of healing spells were cast so no one was at 1 hit point anymore, and the party prepared to return to the caverns. There we stopped for the night.
Christopher playing Valandil the elven spellsword
Nick playing Merrick the standard human fighter
Nilo playing Arden the halfling cleric
Matthew playing the human spellsword
Catherine-Nick's-Sister playing Ydee the half-elf thief
Scout/Sarai/Sabre playing Mordecai etc. etc. etc. the human gelding cleric
Zackery playing Ahri the elven magic-user
Tonight our party inexplicably expanded and contracted all at once, but since it is still technically the first adventure, there's still the "They've been here all along. No one noticed them." defense.
The party, having resupplied and returned to the dungeon last session, were in a reasonable situation after waking up from the industrial strength migraine aftereffects of the spell trap that had been set off at the end of the previous session affecting everyone except for the spellsword who had been safely in the trench. However, the decision was made to continue the exploration while the enthusiasm was high and while the energy was good. Hit point totals be damned.
The desire to fill in the corrected map was strong, and so the party explored back to the northwest of the map again, finding new rooms and new monsters. In one new area they faced an ogre, but it was green and looked somewhat like undead or just really, really ill and green. When the party killed it, it all but exploded, spraying disgusting chunks and fluids everywhere. Saving throws were made, but the DM stayed quiet about the potential effects. . .
After this battle, the party decided that, considering their seriously depleted condition, a rest was in order. Retreating to the barracks room they had discovered earlier, the party barricaded the only known door out and rested for the night. In the morning healing spells were distributed to those most in need, and then the party went forward, determined to keep exploring.
Determined to continue exploring further past where they had exploded the gross monster, they went back to the site of the battle to find that there was nothing left of the creature. Curious, they continued onward and in the next room they were surprised by an even larger gross creature erupting from underneath a table to attack the party. Some quick high rolls later, this creature also exploded into a shower of gore. Saving throws were rolled and a variety of scores resulted, but still the DM said nothing. This time the party decided to burn the disgusting remains. Using some furniture that was broken in the melee as firewood, they built a smoky fire and slowly burned the nastiness away. Then, after exploring the rest of the room, they departed.
Further explorations revealed rooms that appeared to have been the offices of accountants full of uninterestingly coded books. In the nicer office the party forced a couple of desk drawers, one containing more books, except for one which had a cut out section in the center which held a pouch of coins. Tucking them into the party fund to be counted later, the party focused on opening the second drawer and were successful, setting off the fire trap that scorched the fighter's face and dropped him to 0 hit points. One quick healing spell later, he was back up and functional, and a small locked coffer was retrieved from the drawer and stored with party loot.
Another room was revealed to be the bedroom of Roghan the fighter, and while it seemed to have held several things of interest at some point, most of them seemed to have been taken away, much to the party's dismay. The elven spellsword decided to dress the empty armor stand in some of the spare clothes from the chest of drawers, and left it standing in the room.
In the process of continuing to explore, the party located two more switches (a lever and a keyhole), one which filled the room with a reddish light, and another that suffused the room with an orange glow like a sunset. After hurrying back to the "fish bowl" room where the original six glass circles were, they found that all six were lit with their respective glows, and that all six lights around the lock plate on the double doors were lit. Merrick, the bold fighter, moved up and muscled the door open, revealing a huge trophy room behind them. In the center of the room, where the ceiling arched up to 25' high, was a skeleton that the human spellsword identified as a drake! Luckily it was wired together instead of animated. There were many interesting trophies to be found in this room, including the head of a bullette mounted on one wall and the head of another drake looming over the far door! The right hand rule took over, and the party headed south out of the trophy room to see what they could find.
A short hallway led them to a locked door. The middle key from the keyring opened this door, and the party entered into a very nicely furnished sitting room, stylized with repeated Z emblems worked into every piece of furniture. Following the right hand rule, the party tried the western door and found it was apparently locked. Since there was no lockplate even the fighter who knows only of the poo-flinging monkey school of magic decided it was wizard locked. Orc axes from a previous encounter were brought to bear, and after a while of working the door was 'opened'. Beyond this door was a much nicer bedroom, again with the ornate headboard with the Z monogram. Another door led out of this room, and though it was locked the medium key from the keyring opened it. This opened into a lab space that looked to have been mostly packed up and moved out long before. Some things of interest were found and stored away such as a box of pepper. After this the party unlocked the door in the northeast corner of the lab and found themselves in a library. The library also seemed to have been picked clean, but the half-elf thief found a nice book with a lockstrap underneath some worthless workbooks. The thief couldn't pick the lock, and none of the keys fit, so the fighter carefully cut the strap, which was very difficult as it had been specially reinforced. One dull silver dagger blade later, the strap parted and the book could be read.
The fighter opened the book and glanced inside and failed his discipline save. Shouting that no one could have the book he began to run, but he was tacked by the thief hard enough to make him drop the book. Once the book was gone, he was himself again and the party began to think that no one should open the book. With time and some convincing, the magic-user was allowed to open the book while the elven spellsword held him in a headlock and the human spellsword hugged the mage's knees. One failed save later the magic-user's strength check was higher and she fought her way free only to be tackled by the halfling cleric. Once the book fell from her grasp all was well again, and the party considered burning the damn book. But Lucius the holy warrior of chaos, er, Valandil the elven spellsword had a plan. "Tie me up," he said, "and then open the book for me so I can see it." Reluctantly the party did so, and the spellsword made his saving throw. Once that was made, he used some tar from a torch to try to stick the page that drove others mad to the front of the book with so no one could see it, then he began to flip through the book.
The book appeared to be in some kind of code, so he paged through it until he found a color plate which showed six circles of color with lines connecting some of them to others. The party puzzled over this for a bit, then decided that it was beyond them. It did remind them that there was another room with six unlit glass circles in it, and after some discussion they decided to go downstairs to see if the solution to this puzzle was perhaps down there.
At the bottom of the stairs they found themselves in a cave complex, which the mapmaker HATED, HATED, HATED. Nevertheless, they continued. A quick exploration later they made their way to an L shaped cave where they found 11 orcs who were looking for a fight. Battle was joined and went poorly from the start, with the already injured party getting injured worse in the melee. Ahri the elven magic-user did manage to charm two of the orcs which helped to even the odds, and soon the battle was over. Unfortunately, over half the party had three or fewer hit points, so with their new buddies coming along they returned to the barracks to sleep.
After eight or so hours the party awoke semi refreshed except for the elven spellsword. A couple of healing spells were cast so no one was at 1 hit point anymore, and the party prepared to return to the caverns. There we stopped for the night.
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