September 17th, 2017

A Flash of Light and then a New Danger

From my left:

Nicholas playing Merrick the 7^th level human fighter

Evan playing ?????????? the 2^nd level human mystic

Zack playing LaVeya the 6^th/1^st level human druid/magic-user

New Connor playing Iloxiron the 1^st level half-elven spellsword

Chris playing Deckard the 3^rd/7^th level human ex-fighter/thief

and the DM playing Ydee the 6^th level half-elf thief for the absent Catherine

The adventure started with a flash of light and the adventurers standing on top of a stone platform overlooking a vast and lush jungle. There were seven humans standing there waiting for them. One, apparently the leader, tore something off of a thong around his neck and swallowed it before speaking in familiar common, “Come with us. Koru-Thama wishes to speak with you.” Then the leader and the six spearmen with him descended down the stairs of the step pyramid towards the mesa below. With little better for them to do, and the opportunity to perhaps learn what had happened to the Silver Griffins, the adventurers followed.

As they descended they could look around a bit more, though carefully on the narrow stairs. Around a dozen low stone buildings were scattered around the edge of the clearing where the step pyramid stood, and LaVeya could see that steps had been taken to try to prevent the rampant jungle from closing in further and overgrowing the site. Once the descent was complete, the leader turned toward the steps that they had just descended and raised his arms chanting something in an unknown language. As he did so the bottom fifteen feet of stairs hinged upward revealing a passage underneath. The leader led the way down it with the party following cautiously.

A large set of double doors was at the end of the hallway and at the leader's command two of the warriors, each of whom looked almost as strong as Merrick, pulled on each door, opening them. The leader said, “Koru-Thama waits for you within. Enter.” before walking in ahead of the party. Cautiously they continued on.

The room beyond was thick with scented smoke that must have been coming from smudge pots elsewhere in the room. The leader and the adventurers continued forward until they came to a point where they saw the smoke clearing ahead of them. They entered the space to find a step pyramid dais with five steps up, each a foot high. On top of the dais was a stone throne carved to look like a mass of serpents. The back corners of the throne were carved to look like snake heads rearing over the person sitting on the throne itself. Sitting on this throne was a heavily robed and hooded figure, garbed so that none of his features nor his hands or feet could be seen. The leader bowed to the figure on the throne as did some of the heroes while others tried to catch a glimpse of the figure's face. The leader straightened and walked back into the smoke, leaving the adventurers to Koru-Thama.

“Can you understand us?” was the first question the adventurers asked.

“Yes...” came the whispered reply. “I do understand you.”
“Even me?” LaVeya asked in druidic.

“Even you.” the voice hissed back. LaVeya began to feel a bit more nervous about this.

While this continuing exchange of non-information continued, Ydee had stepped back and vanished into the smoke. Stealthily she checked around and found that the doors that the party had entered through were shut. Exploring more she discovered a discarded suit of dwarven plate armor in a corner near a hole in the wall that was big enough for her to scramble through, though not by too much. Carefully she explored it and after about a hundred and thirty feet of scrambling and wiggling she discovered that it exited on the side of the step pyramid. With a possible avenue of escape discovered, she wiggled back to where the party was and tried to get Merrick's attention, encouraging him to follow her through the smoke. Showing him the exit and the armor, which they agreed looked very similar to the Silver Griffins' dwarven cleric's armor, the two agreed that the Silver Griffins had obviously been here and had been forced to leave Barron's armor here when they made their escape. The concern was that they would have to abandon Merrick's magical armor here as well, though Merrick refused to consider that option. Then they made their way back to their companions at the throne.

The conversation with Koru-Thama had taken an ominous turn. Iloxiron, deciding to explore behind the throne to see if it had some of the same runes on it that the one in the tomb had moved casually around and behind the throne. As he took a step up to get closer the large stone serpents swiveled their heads and necks to face him. Risking another step, the snakes spat at him with one hitting him on the left side of his face and down his neck to his shoulder. The venom they spat was caustic and began to burn his skin painfully causing him to scream as he stumbled back away from the snakes before he collapsed and passed out from the agony.

While the spellsword was rescued and brought back around to the front again by LaVeya, who offered him as a sacrifice as a joke but was alarmed when Koru-Thama accepted and told her to disembowel him on the spot. Instead in an attempt to placate Koru-Thama she laid five gems and a double handful of gold on the lowest step before him. He seemed mollified by this and didn't mention the human sacrifice again, but the party was ready to flee by this time, especially since Ydee and Merrick had noticed that the ceiling of the room seemed to be made up of a writhing mass of snakes. In the end Iloxiron came to on his own from the pain and Merrick decided that he could remove the chest plate of his armor and it could hopefully be dragged through the tunnel behind him. Ydee ended up going through first and pushing it ahead of her using her dexterity and occasionally her brute strength to get the plate through. Merrick slid through like an oiled eel (two natural 20s will do that), and the rest of the party followed as quickly as they could with Deckard staying til last and talking with the still motionless Koru-Thama until the last to cover their escape. Before he made a break for it he tried to use his pick pockets ability to lift the gems and gold, but as he did he was shocked by lightning and Koru-Thama cursed his attempt at theft. Deckard ran like a mad monkey but was hit by two lightning bolts before he could dive through the tunnel, the second of which dropped him to one hit point and would have killed him outright except for the amulet of life saving that Strix had tossed away and Deckard had acquired. The amulet was now dust, but Deckard was alive to scramble to safety as a third lightning bolt crashed into the wall behind him.

Once the adventurers were outside they found themselves along the base of the step pyramid that faced roughly south. With sounds of shouting coming from the front of the pyramid the decision was quickly made to run down the slope into the jungle and vanish among the lush overgrowth. Once there they would run as quickly as they could until they felt they were safely away from the pyramid. With the druid in the lead to hopefully avoid most of the potential for disasters, they blundered through the thick growth toward freedom and safety.

As they continued through the jungle the sounds of the men at the step pyramid faded into the distance and the sounds of jungle life took their place, but in their desire to get away the adventurers ignored them and charged along, stopping only when something heavy fell on the druid. She leaped away from it, giving the giant constrictor snake the opportunity to latch onto another victim, the spellsword, and begin wrapping itself around him. The quick actions of the rest of the party reduced it to several violently twitching sections of snake and the party continued on.

The druid began to tire rapidly between the heat and humidity of the jungle, but Merrick was unwilling to slow the pace so he more or less scooped her up and continued running. Once darkness began to fall the group made camp and rested as best as they could in the cooler temperatures of the evening. Watches were posted and a small fire was built for light and security.

During the night on the second watch, Deckard noticed something moving behind Merrick. Looking closer and seeing a snake of some sort, Deckard drew his bow and killed it, pinning it to the ground in the process. Merrick, feeling its flailing motions behind him and remembering a previous encounter with a bitey snake, grabbed his dagger and hacked the snake to pieces before throwing the remains into the fire to burn. Returning to sleep in the sweaty haven of serpents was not easy for the fighter, but he was eventually able to get more sleep.

Upon waking the party tried their best to acclimate to their new and seriously more damp environment. As they prepared for their day LaVeya shapeshifted into her raven form and managed to find a path through the foliage so she could see the lay of the land. Once she was above the treetops she winged around in a circle to scout the area. A few points east of true north and maybe a dozen miles away she could see the plateau where the step pyramid stood, looming over the jungle. Half a dozen points to the west of true north and maybe eight miles away she saw a cleared area with several plumes of smoke rising from it, probably representing a larger village. To the west and slightly south she could see another clearing about five miles away. Returning to the rest of the group she informed them of their options. With no way of knowing for certain which way the Silver Griffins had come, they chose to head to the smaller clearing to the south on the assumption that the Griffins would have tried to get as far away from the step pyramid as possible. Thus they loaded up and headed towards the small clearing.

Trying to find their way through the thick jungle to a certain location was much more difficult than just trying to get as far away for a certain location as fast as possible. With some backtracking and some detours they spent the day slogging through in increasing discomfort before finally reaching the clearing and the small native village within it. A couple dozen small and rough huts clustered on a high hill, and so LaVeya used her shapechange into snake form to wiggle in and try to explore as inconspicuously as possible. In the twelfth hut she looked into she found some individuals who did not look at all like the darker skinned, broader- and somewhat flatter-faced natives but instead resembled people from lands she was more familiar with. The Griffins had been located! The rest of the adventurers were brought up to crowd into the Griffins' hut and they all spoke of what they had learned.

The gathered adventurers sat and spoke of their experiences so far. The Griffins explained that they had appeared much like the party had and had been taken into the “Antechamber of the Tomb” as the leader had called it to meet Koru-Thama. They had been lucky to find the escape route that the party had also found, although Barron had had to leave his “WE WILL NOT TALK ABOUT IT.” Barron thundered grumpily putting an end to that story.
The Griffins had made their way to this village with Sirenia the druid and Gregor the ranger helping steer them around dangers. Once here Glenalen's tongues spell helped them communicate with the suspicious villagers, and gifts and assistance had made them willing to allow the Griffins to stay temporarily. A commune-type spell off of a scroll that Barron had allowed them to get some hints of the safest and easiest way to return to the key. They were told that another step pyramid with feathered serpents on it would be the one they should seek. The problem, as they had learned from the native scouts, was that there were dozens of step pyramids in the area as they had not only been used as temple antechambers for mighty kings of the land, but had also been built on a smaller scale by the wealthy in ages past as burial chambers, before the angry spirit of the wild had been awoken and the god-kings civilization had fallen.

Sirenia had a primitive map of the area and she had been using a brightly colored feather from one of the native birds of the area and her shapeshifting ability to fly to a site and then her mouse form to explore within where possible. By this method she could cover two locations a day before her shifting powers were exhausted. With LaVeya's shapeshifting abilities they could double the speed of their searching and hopefully discover a way out more quickly.

Deckard told them all of one of the last things Koru-Thama had said. When Koru-Thama asked how the interlopers had entered his tomb, Deckard had described the cube that was used. Koru-Thama's response to this was “You have the Key of Anjo-Talein? It will be retrieved.” This made the Griffins nervous and they began to discuss what could be done, but Glenalen soon decided that since the key was more or less immune to scrying magic, the best way that it could be retrieved was by sifting the memories of those who had been possessed by the spirit in the tomb and trying to discover where the key had come to rest. Since the natural surroundings of the Aerie were alien to the natives of this area as there were no temperate forests in a tropical zone, and it was seriously unlikely that anyone from this area had ever been to the Lloringhold Bay area, and even if they had it must have been many thousands of years ago when the area around Treefold looked very different, the chances of the agents of Koru-Thama being able to teleport straight to the area were tiny. But still the adventurers were uneasy.

Two more days of exploration by the druids led to the breakthrough that they had all been hoping for. Sirenia had found a step pyramid whose steps were engraved with winged and feathered serpents. Using her mouse form she had been able to get through the gaps in between the blocks where moisture and vine rootlets had dissolved and reduced the mortar and discovered another antechamber within. She believed that the gathered strength of the two parties would be enough to wedge the blocks away and create an opening. After spending the evening preparing for their departure, the adventurers rested for the night. All were more than ready to escape the situation they found themselves in and return to familiar areas.

The next day the adventurers left the village, hopefully forever, and made their way through the jungle to the step pyramid that Sirenia had found the day before. Several hours were spent removing blocks to make a crawlway and then less time was spent forcing the giant stone doors to the antechamber open. As the doors were opened the adventurers could see a large room with the step pyramid throne on the far side and a dozen smudge pot braziers arranged around the floor. The floor had scattered bones across it, but the ceiling was pleasantly free of writhing serpents. As the party entered the room the doors shut behind them and smoke began to rise from the braziers. A faint voice whispered “Who comes?” and the party began to worry. Then the various bones began to roll across the floor and assemble themselves into hostile skeletons who leapt to the attack, clawing at the heroes. While no damaging combat spells could be cast by the party, Glenalen was able to cast a protection from evil 10' radius spell. It did not prevent the basically unaligned skeletons from attacking, but it did give them penalties to hit and would give the party a bonus on saves if anything else happened.

The skeletons did a bit of damage before the last of them was destroyed. Then the bones began to rattle and roll together again, this time fusing together to form a bone colossus which attacked them violently. This battle was much more difficult, but finally the colossus was destroyed as all four front line combat types smashed into it on the same round doing nearly sixty points of damage altogether. Then the adventurers advanced to the throne and one brave soul sat upon it, and they found themselves...

Waiting for the next session for the answer to where they were...*

Experience points for the adventure

Merrick - 1664

?mystic? - 1664

LaVeya - 2164

Iloxiron – 2164

Deckard – 2164

Ydee - 1082+

Footnote:

* Yes, the DM has seen too many cliffhanger serials in his time. i.e. One cliffhanger serial. But it was brilliant: The Crimson Ghost. Go watch it sometime for ridiculous spy-story goodness. Plus, you get to see TV's Lone Ranger Clayton Moore play a villain.