October 15, 2017

The Next Visit to the Castle in the Sky

From my left:

Nicholas playing Merrick the 7^th level human fighter

CATHERINE (yes, really!) playing Ydee the 6^th level half-elf thief

Hunter playing Flever Graveltoes the 2^nd level gnome ranger

Mikey playing Ivan Lok'tar the 5^th level dwarven fighter and party spokesdwarf

Zack playing LaVeya the 6^th/3^rd level human druid/magic-user

and New Connor playing Iloxiron the 3^rd level half-elven spellsword

Returning to the city of Ruinheath, the party spent a day waiting for the full moon and the teleporter to become active. Luckily Merrick hadn't lost the note and had the activation phrase. The words were said and the party found themselves on top of the tower in the clouds.

Descending through blah blah blah, the adventurers found the amulets, though Merrick was the one who failed his save and couldn't enter the room at all, and began descending stairs. A half dozen bugbears menaced them ineffectually at the lecture hall, were quickly defeated, and the descent continued.

On reaching the door to the Proving Grounds, Merrick muscled it open and the party continued on. Following the available map, the adventurers quickly made their way to the chimes room and realized they didn't remember all the level codes other than 'EGG' for the 5^th level, where Merrick was determined to take them. Some discussion and hints from the DM led to certain of the others being remembered. Hunter quickly remembered that 'DAD' was one of the codes (for the first level), Zack and Nick remembered 'CDC' for the plaguey third level, but no one could remember 'BAG' for the second level, so the DM kindly told them. The notes were played and off they went to see Ivy.

Ivy was apparently happy to see them and she and Merrick chatted for a while. Some information was given and Merrick learned that Ivy had sensed three groups total in the Proving Grounds since the group had first arrived months ago. One was Merrick's group, one was a group of elves who Ivy had given shelter to when they arrived with a party member who had suffered a nearly deadly wound from one of a group of evil adventurers who attacked without warning (that would be Desorna the Inattentive and these player-character 'heroes'), and another group that she hadn't encountered. After this information was considered the party went to the chimes room on this level to go to level five. EGG was played on the chimes, and off they went!

They appeared on level five and began exploring with vague notions of caution. Exiting the only door from the room in the north wall, the party found themselves in an east-west hallway that went twenty feet in each direction before ending in a door. The right hand rule remained in effect and the party wandered that way. The first room they entered into was twenty feet on a side and had a diamond shaped pillar around 4' tall in the center of the room with a black hand print on the top of it. There was a door on the opposite wall that could not be opened, and to the party's attention returned to the pillar. Some experimentation, willing and unwilling, occurred, showing that a jet of flame leapt from the pillar when anything was placed on it, be it a hand, a stack of coins, or a party member's face through force. Merrick, under the effects of a resist elements spell, put his hand on it after deciding that the far door could only be opened while the flame was up. His hand was scorched but the door would not open. Exasperated he quit torching his hand and went to try the door himself. It opened easily for him and the party continued on.

The door led into another larger room, thirty feet on each side and with a door in the center of each wall. A tile mosaic was set into the floor in each corner of the room. Starting from the northwest corner and going clockwise there was a yellow-white star, a white-yellow crescent moon, a blue-white orb with an aura-tail (comet), and a larger blue-green circle (planet). The center of the floor itself was of darker stone, but that could have just been coincidence. Perhaps Some experimentation was done with these mosaics but for no result, and following the right hand rule the party went through the south door.

Beyond the door was a hallway that stretched thirty feet before ending at a four way intersection. Right hand rule continued and the party went thirty feet down a hallway before taking the first branch to the right. The branching hallway went for thirty feet before ending in a door, but there were doors to the right and left at the start of the hallway, so the adventurers entered the right hand door.

Beyond was a twenty foot by twenty foot room with little of interest. A search of the room revealed two secret doors in the far corner; one in the east wall and one in the north. Right hand rule said the east door would be opened first. It led to a small ten by twenty room with a mosaic of the blue-white orb with an aura-tail (the comet) against the far south wall. Other than noting that it seemed unnaturally cool to the touch, nothing much happened. Even when Merrick ran back to the original mosaic room to examine the mosaic there. Giving up the party moved onward.

The other secret door was opened next, and due to DM error the adventurers found something that actually is not on this map at all instead of what they were supposed to find, which was three letters carved into the wall, spelling 'HAD'. Keeping all this stuff in your mind is difficult, dammit. But you found the word 'had', so make of that what you will. Or won't.
Anyway, leaving the secret room and then the next room the adventurers returned to the hallway. Going north down the hall they opened the door to find a ten foot by ten foot room beyond with a dark maroon curtain hanging from ceiling to floor and wall to wall on the north wall. Examination of the blank wall behind the curtain revealed a secret panel and behind that was a recessed area with a level in the back of it. When Merrick reached in to grab the lever he felt a tightness around his wrist and pulling his hand back out again he discovered that he had a wide seamless iron bracelet around that wrist. Nothing could be learned about it through an identify spell, so they continued on.

Going back down the hall to the door across from the one they first entered, the party opened the door and found a twenty foot wide by thirty foot long room. In the rough center of the room was a partially dismembered skeleton. As Iloxiron went to investigate it he felt something in the way, something that stabbed him in the abdomen. The invisible whatsit stood and Iloxiron staggered back. Flever, thinking quickly, cast faerie fire illuminating the invisible thing and Iloxiron. The invisible thing looked to be bipedal and humanoid, but very gaunt and around eight feet tall. The fighters made a couple of attacks, damaging it, and then it seemed to vanish after another attack. Whether this was a dissolution or a teleporting was unknown. The bones looked to be ancient and cracked, drained of all marrow. With this vaguely unnerving experience done, the party moved on through the door in the far wall.

This led to a hallway that quickly ended in an intersection. Turning right the party followed the hallway up and around a corner and into another chamber. This thirty foot by thirty foot chamber had five exits: one hallway left going north in the center of the right hand wall, a door in the west wall in the northwest corner, another door in the center of the south wall, a door in the east wall in the southeast corner, and the hallway they entered the room through. Right hand rule said the north hallway was the way to go, and after ten feet the hallway ended in a door. Opening the door led to the largest room yet on this level, a thirty foot wide by fifty foot long room. A door was in each side wall in the near corners and an altar was at the far end of the room. The room's walls, floor, and ceiling started turning darker down the length of the room until the last ten feet which were pitch black, including the altar. Careful investigation of the altar revealed that it was seamless black stone. As he felt that the church had turned its back on him, Iloxiron decided to pray to whatever god this altar was meant for. As he did so he felt something react to his prayer, telepathically probing his mind before giving him a feeling of displeasure and leaving. There were some minor concerns around this at the table.

Leaving the uncomfortable altar behind the party decided to follow the right hand rule from where they had entered the room. The door in the east wall opened to a hallway that went twenty feet before ending in a door. This door, when opened, led to the original hallway the party had entered on this level. Loop completed the party went back to the altar room.

The other door out of this room led to a twenty foot long hallway that ended in another door. This opened into a very long north-south hallway that stretched into darkness, but there was a door directly across from the one they had entered through. Forgoing the right hand rule just this once they went straight through the door.

Beyond was a ten foot by ten foot room with a floor to ceiling, wall to wall dark gray curtain hanging on the west wall. Behind it was another secret panel and behind that panel was another recessed area, roughly twelve inches deep and eight inches on a side like the previous one. At the back of this recess was a small stand protruding from the back wall, and on it was a large red gemstone. Some debate about this situation entailed, and finally Iloxiron just decided to reach in and grab the gemstone. The bear trap jaws closed on his wrist, but he managed to yank his hand free, mangling it somewhat in the process. Ydee was prevailed on to find a way to disarm the trap, which reset, and by making Merrick's ten foot pole into a nine foot pole and using some of her skills she was able to grab the gemstone, which turned out to be fake. But Flever thought it was pretty so he kept it anyway.

Leaving the trap room behind the adventurers came back out and turned south down the long hallway. After thirty feet there was a door in each side wall and the passage continued. Opening the left hand door revealed a twenty by twenty room with scorch marks in the center of the floor. Some poking and prodding of the scorch marks revealed no answers or clues, so it was ignored and the room was searched. A small catch was found on the center of the far wall, so Iloxiron pulled it. This caused a ball of flame to drop from the ceiling and explode about four feet off of the floor doing some damage to party members and reducing one of them to less than zero hit points.

With one party member needing healing to recover from his near-death experience, the party realized that they didn't know where the chimes were on this level to get them back to a safe place. Returning to the room with many exits south of the altar room, they examined the door in the west wall which the map of the areas around it showed would likely be a twenty by thirty room, same as the other chimes rooms. Luckily for the party it was the chimes room and they went back to the second level to rest and recuperate with Ivy.
While with Ivy more questions and answers were asked and given. Ivy was fairly certain that what Iloxiron had done was contacting Werdna through one of the areas set up for proctors to report to the headmasters when this was a school, and where the injured students could ask for assistance if they were in dire straits and seriously outmatched. What Werdna now used them for was unknown, but Ivy was sure that Iloxiron's actions likely had made Werdna aware that there were adventurers roaming the halls of the Proving Grounds again!

Three days later they were ready to go forth. They returned to the long north-south hallway on the fifth level. They explored a bit more and had an encounter with a group of oddly ghoulish looking creatures who seemed to move by shifting to where they wanted to be, moving in a blur and appearing beside their chosen targets. They attacked with the intent of sinking their long claws into the flesh of their victims and embedding them there. The battle started out going well with some of the monsters quickly killed, but the adventurers quickly discovered that once one of these shifty creatures got both claws into a victim they would try to shift away, attempting to take their victim with them! Luckily no one was shifted and the last of these creatures was destroyed.

After some painful experimentation it was determined that the room through the door across from the fire globe trap room was a mirror image, except with an acid globe trap. More damage was taken, but LaVeya had an idea. Unwinding some of her now-bedraggled rope, she tied a length of twine to both catches and pulled both at once from relative safety. In the hall Ydee heard a 'click' from further down the hallway, so the adventurers went to investigate.

After twenty more feet of blank hallway there were another pair of doors, one on each side, at the dead end of the hallway. But there was a slightly open crack at the dead end showing where a secret door had been opened by pulling both catches. Carefully the party opened it further and found another ten foot by ten foot room with a pair of ornate double doors in the south wall. They were carefully opened and another room revealed.

This room was thirty feet by thirty feet with three eight foot tall stone statues standing against the south wall, two of fighters flanking a magic-user. LaVeya walked forward to hug the magic-user statue but managed to leap back just in time as the pit in the center of the room dropped open. The statues began to animate and battle began!

The battle was difficult, but LaVeya made it easier by use of her stone shape spell to damage the statues. Unfortunately twice the statues' minimal magical resistance allowed them to negate LaVeya's spell. But finally the three were destroyed after the party had been heavily damaged, and the battle was over.

Nothing of interest was found in the rubble of the shattered statues, though it was vaguely alarming to see the rubble begin to seem to melt back into the floor. LaVeya threw a piece of rubble onto the trap's cover again, causing it to drop open and revealing a ten foot deep pit with what looked like a hundred or more sharp spikes, each about two feet tall, in the bottom of the pit. The lid quickly closed again and the badly battered party decided to return to Ivy for a bit of rest.

And there the adventure ended for the night.

Experience points for the adventure

Merrick – 4195

Ydee – 3900

Flever – 4195

Ivan – 3900

LaVeya – 4290

Iloxiron – 4000