July 30th, 2017

Finishing the Final Side of the Cube

From my left:

Connor playing -nameless- the 2^nd level human cleric

Zack playing LaVeya the 6^th level human druid

Matt playing Mirin the 4^th level human spellsword

Catherine playing Ydee the 6^th level half-elf thief

Hunter playing Flever Graveltoes the 1^st level gnome ranger

Paige playing Keeva the 3^rd level halfling infiltrator

Sarai playing Desorna the 6^th level elven axe-maiden

Nick playing Merrick the 6^th level human fighter

and Chris playing Deckard the 3^rd/6^th level human ex-fighter/thief

The party began in the rapidly flooding room where the adventure had last left off. After quite a bit of panicked exploration as the water rose higher and higher a secret panel was discovered in the ceiling. It took some work to get it open, but once it was opened a handle could be seen in the space above. Pulling the handle was easy but didn't seem to do much, and twisting it didn't seem to do much either, but some combination of pulling the handle down, twisting it, and then shoving it back up into its original place caused a series of small holes to open in the floor, and these slowly allowed the room to drain.

Once the draining was complete the party considered what to do next. Another attempt to turn the valve wheel led to the room flooding again, but quick action on the handle behind the secret panel started the draining process yet again. Deciding that this was fruitless, the party returned through the hallway and garden room to the other door at the hall at the base of the stairs. Opening it they proceeded through.

A short hallway led to another thirty by forty room with the party entering in the center of one of the short walls. There was a ledge roughly five feet across on the near side of the room and another similar ledge on the far side with a door on it directly across from the one they had entered through. Other than these two ledges the remainder of the floor was gone, vanished into the depths of a deep chasm into the darkness below. A dropped torch showed that the depth of the chasm was around a hundred and fifty feet, much too deep to climb down into. The distance across was too far for anyone too jump, so in the end ingenuity was used.

LaVeya shapechanged into her crow form and flew across to open the door on the far side and to see if the chasm was worth crossing. The door when opened revealed a ten by ten foot room with a smaller valve wheel mounted on the wall across from the door. Deckard tied a rope to an arrow and fired it across the gap where LaVeya retrieved it before it slid off of the ledge. Weaving the rope around the spokes of the valve wheel, the druid made it secure so that Deckard could cross. Deckard tied both the other end of the rope that LaVeya had secured and the end of a second rope which he handed to Merrick around his waist. With the double security system in place he made his way across in spite of the fact that LaVeya's knot slipped free when he was midway. After reaching the far side he checked the valve for traps, found one, and disabled it to the best of his ability. Then, fairly certain of his successes, he turned the valve as far as he could to the right. As it turned there came a loud creaking and grumbling sound that seemed to come from everywhere. The party expected that it would do something to the pit but this was not the case. Stymied and not understanding they encouraged Deckard to continue trying the valve. He turned it a quarter turn back to the left, which was the furthest range of its movement, before turning it back again. No more sounds came and no effects were spotted. Frustrated the party turned back to explore the other set of stairs up that were opposite the ones they had descended.

These stairs were a mirror image of the previous set and led back to the previously unopened door in the upstairs room. There was no place left to go but down the trapped hallway and to risk having the pit trap open under their feet. However when they reached the end and opened the secret door there, nothing happened and they could proceed further unmolested. *

They found themselves in a thirty by thirty foot room with a humanoid statue in each corner, arms folded over its chest and its head tilted slightly downward so that all four statues seemed to be staring at the same point in the middle of the room. An inspection showed that the center flagstone of the room was discolored. Searches around the remainder of the room showed nothing much of interest other than that the statues' jaws were hinged. Though they couldn't be opened it wasn't from a lack of trying on Deckard's part. The decision was made to take the risk of standing in the central square and seeing what happened when they did. What happened was that beams of bright light shot out from the eyes of all four statues and illuminated the person on the center block. When the beams faded the person had vanished. Mirin believed that the effect was an alteration or transportation effect, and so they all passed through one at a time.

The party found themselves inside a spherical room twenty feet in diameter with a valve wheel set into the ceiling far overhead. One of the party decided to try to run up the side of the sphere to see what would happen. What happened was that the sphere rotated around the party severely disorienting them but bringing the valve wheel down to be on the bottom of the floor. Preparing for the usual experiences, whatever they might be, the wheel was turned rapidly to the right which spun the sphere like a centrifuge sliding everyone against the walls and spattering them with unpleasantness as the halfling's stomach was horribly upset by this causing Keeva to vomit explosively all over her friends. Once the spinning had stopped the decision was made to spin the wheel in the opposite diecrtion which unfortunately repeated the centrifugal process. Luckily Keeva's stomach was empty but unluckily two more of the party vomited out the contents of their stomachs instead spattering the party again. Finally the discovery was made that if the valve wheel was pushed down to the floor first it would sink a couple of inches. Then turning it caused a round portal to open underneath it allowing the bile to drip out and the party to jump out into the water underneath if they so desired. Ah, cleanliness!

It was a short drop from the opening to the water. Merrick clambered down with his ring of water walking and crawled around on the water. The room that they had gained access too was filled to twenty feet deep of water and was a thirty by thirty foot room. The walls were thirty feet high in total and the sphere bulged down into the center of the room. On one wall Merrick could see a door set a few inches above the water level and he made for that telling the rest of the party what he was doing. He opened the door to reveal a hallway beyond and a rope was strung from the valve wheel to an iron spike the party imbedded in the hallway to make a safety rope. Once the party was in the hallway they proceeded down to the door at the far end and opened it with some worries since they were low on spell points.

The room beyond was fifty by fifty with a ten foot diameter octagonal pillar ten feet before them and two more flanking the first and ten feet behind it making a triangle of octagonal pillars in the room. The pillars were carved with markings that were similar to markings they had seen before in other tombs, but that still made no sense to them. As they moved around the first pillar, the desiccated human form wrapped in ancient bandages that had been lurking behind the pillar moved to attack.

This battle was very difficult. The attacks from the greater mummy damaged the adventurers greatly and the greater mummy rot began to ravage their bodies. ** As they fought the first one two more came around from behind the next two pillars and attacked as well. Several of the party were critically wounded and Desorna was knocked down to -1 hit point before the monsters were defeated and burned. Once the monsters were destroyed another door was seen on the far wall opposite where the party had entered, but the party was so badly hurt that the decision was made to try to rest and regain spell points, especially for the healer druid. Even more so since several of those who had been damaged by the mummy rot had taken penalties to their physical ability scores.

One semi-restful night later the party was in slightly better condition and ready to press forward. The fully rested druid got everyone into somewhat better shape, and the four characters in the best shape; Mirin, Ydee, Merrick, and Deckard, continued forward through the door, down the thirty foot long hallway on the far side, and then opened the door at the far end of the hall. The room beyond was circular and thirty feet in diameter with yet another valve wheel set into the center of the bowl-shaped floor. Sliding down to it they turned the valve, first to the right, then to the left, but it spun freely as if it were not connected. After these attempts the adventurers pulled up on it, then down and felt it seem to settle onto its cogs. Then they turned it.

Back in the room the still-wounded waited. Half an hour passed, then half an hour more. Finally growing nervous the remaining adventurers set out in search of their friends and allies. They found their way quickly to the circular room with the basin floor and the valve in the center of it. After experimenting with the valve as their fellow adventurers did, they managed to get the cogs to interlink and turned the wheel. A dizzying sensation gave them a sense of vertigo and they found themselves back in the main room of the Aerie where the other four adventurers were waiting.

An examination of the cubic key showed that a fifth side had now changed color from the normal gray to white, but the last side remained gray. This concerned the group as they knew that the Silver Eagles had entered the key before they had, though they did not know how much of a head start they had. Discussion began over whether they should go looking for the Silver Eagles or if they should continue to wait. With several of their party members needed rest and recovery, and many still being afflicted by the mummy's touch, they decided to rest for a while before making a decision.

A short rest stretched out to the better part of a month. Several party members had taken trips to Treefold in this time, and the nameless cleric prevailed on the Bishop Markham to cast a curing spell on him to remove the last vestiges of the rotting touch. The bishop, also being a servant of the god of light like the nameless cleric, gave the cleric a severely discounted rate for the service, only charging him 10% of the usual cost. The cleric made a very successful charisma test and the bishop agreed to provide a deal to the cleric's allies who needed the same treatment, charging them a mere 20% of the normal cost, or 100 g.p. each. Most paid happily except for Flever who didn't see much point in it. As a result all of Flever's physical ability scores took a one point penalty permanently. The gnome just shrugged and said 'oh well'. The rest of the party began to wonder exactly how insane the gnome was, including his chicken-momma, Keeva.

Speaking of Elvira the chicken, she was still alive and well even after the madness her fuzzy little chicken brain had been forced to absorb over the last adventure. Luckily, her brain stem was still about the only functional part of her brain, so she quickly forgot the experiences and returned to eating the corn Flever gave her.

Speaking of vegetables, there was a bit of trouble in Treefold as Flever was caught stealing carrots out of the mayor's garden. He was arrested and taken to prison where he had to pay a fine of 20 g.p. for his crime and 50 g.p. to retrieve his possessions, including Elvira. He was summarily banned from the town, but intercession with the mayor from Deckard, who is friendly with the mayor's son, and the nameless cleric, who is very well regarded within the church, had the banishment changed to the gnome not being allowed in town without trustworthy supervision at all times.

Several trips were made to other places in and around town. Mirin and LaVeya both had silver added to their weapons after all the difficulties dealing with undead. A few trips were made to Glykras' home for exchanges of information. The mage was able to discover that the Silver Eagles were pretty much alive and well, but far away and not in a tomb. He could not discern more however. This also raised the question once more over whether the Opaline Chicken-Fried Random Potluck Dinner Adventuring Crew *** should enter the final side of the cubic key in the Silver Eagles wake or if they should continue to wait in hopes that the Eagles return to the Aerie sooner rather than later.

And on that note we ended for the night.

Experience points for the party:

-nameless-: 2056

LaVeya: 2056

Mirin: 2056

Ydee: 2056

Flever: 1542 (late arrival)

Keeva: 1542 (late arrival)

Desorna: 1850 (not as late arrival)

Merrick: 2056

Deckard: 2056

Footnotes:

*- Turning the valve beyond the chasm locked the pit trap shut, making the passage safe to traverse.

**- Luckily(?) the DM forgot to have them make the other save they should have made and didn't realize that he was using the wrong (less severe) information about greater mummy's touch until he got home and looked at his notes again. Oops? You're welcome I guess.

***- This is not the adventuring party's name. The DM is tired and feeling goofy after a week or so of insufficient sleep. But there may be a canon name made up for the nameless cleric at some point soon just for ease of reference. And based on the overly wordy and ludicrous adventuring party name, there might be a serious benefit to the player naming their cleric.