December-January

The Descent into the Depths

(aka the DM, with his laptop mostly back into service, now plays catch-up)

Since we last saw the adventurers they have learned of and gone in search of an item called the Tome of Prophecy, spending some time in an unusual tower before finding themselves in an even more unusual pocket plane where, after dealing with odd gravity, gardens that weren't, animated topiary monsters, and finally being 1/12 their normal size and trying to get through a huge study they found themselves before a withered and wasted very old but still alive man in his office behind the study. The old man made them very uncomfortable but, after deciding that maybe the time was right, he did hand over to them the Tome of Collected Prophecies. He also was amused by Merrick's acquisition of most of the blackened skull of a human-sized person, and he told Merrick some of the very uncomfortable stories behind the skull before sending the party elsewhere, like minor deities do.
Back in the real world, the adventurers gave the gigantic tome to the most powerful people they knew, who couldn't handle the power of the tome in their attempts to understand it. It was entrusted back to the party with instructions to take it to a magic-user Sylax knew named Mandrax the Magnificent. Mandrax was the most powerful and intelligent mage Sylax knew, as well as being morally upstanding, so it was determined that he could be trusted to try to decipher it. And Sylax took them there through a passageway in his tower. And in the process Merrick accidentally broke stuff, as Merrick tends to do.

Mandrax began the process of trying to comprehend the Tome, which is not easy since it is tens of thousands of “If-Then” kinds of statements creating a nightmare of spaghetti logic that defies easy description and certainly is all but incomprehensible. Merrick, with some vague insights gleaned from dealing with the old man (the minor deity known only as 'Menace' now), knew some of the basics of what might be coming.
A comet was moving towards the planet where the adventurers lived, and if the prophecies were true is was the comet of the Tarjan. It was rumored that in long ago times the Tarjan had visited on his comet, and every time twelve champions of unknown gods had risen up to face him. The Tarjan had always been victorious and when he came entire civilizations were destroyed according to the forgotten (except to minor deities) legends. The most recent time when the battle was joined the champions were cast down in defeat because one of their number did not come for the climactic battle. The twelfth instead retreated to the ruins of the 'submerged city' where they had lived and their remains were still there. It was decided that the adventurers would seek out this submerged city, find the ruins of the twelfth, and see if they could learn why the twelfth did not come to do battle, and perhaps what could be done to overcome the prophecy.

The adventurers, knowing that the entrance to the submerged (apparently by earth, not by water, even though it was said to be under a place that had once been called the Bay of Blood) city was in an area called the Monstrous Spit, named so because it was a peninsular spit of land between two bodies of water and infested with monsters. Mandrax told them that that location was nearby, and that the bay that the city of Safeport (where Mandrax lived) was on a bay that was once called the Bay of Blood confirmed that the adventurers were in the right place. Setting out by boat they found their way to a cave opening in the high bluff wall of the peninsula overlooking the bay and made their entrance.

Continuing on, the small group found their passage brought to a halt by a pair of boards placed against the tunnel. A test by Merrick showed that there were things piled up behind the boards as a barricade. As they rattled the boards a voice came from behind the barricade saying “Who goes?” in a gobliny voice. Questions and counter-questions went back and forth for a bit before the goblins summoned someone who (A) spoke common fluently, since the goblins knew very little and none of the party spoke any goblin, and (B) apparently was of a high enough pay grade to make decisions.

This personage, who spoke common fairly easily if with an odd accent that no one could place, was easier to discuss questions and counter-questions with until finally, in response to “Who sent you?” Merrick replied “Menace.” This led to a prolonged silence before the reply of, “Ah. You must be here for The Challenge then.” And the dark and hooded figure had the goblins remove the barricade and escort the adventurers to see the king.

The adventurers went through more than a mile of caves and caverns, tunnels and passages, and passed many hundreds of humanoid monsters along the way. They saw goblinoid races, orcish races, even some greater and more nasty monsters too, but so long as their escort was there the monsters did nothing more than watch them with beady little eyes. Finally the adventurers were brought into a throne room where another dark and hooded figure sat on a throne with a few dozen monsters standing around as guards and courtiers perhaps. An exchange with the king led to an invitation for the adventurers to stay the night in what was an extremely nice and well-appointed large guest chamber. They had little to complain about during their stay for the night, and the next day they were led to the room of The Challenge.

This room was an odd one. It was a worked cave, but it had stone crenelations in a circle, much like the rooftop of a tower. A trapdoor lay in the center of the circle, with many bars and locks and boards making sure the door remained shut. A variety of monsters stood along the walls of this room to watch. At a word the dark and hooded guide for the party (the same as yesterdays? There was no way to tell) handed keys to a cluster of goblins who swarmed to unlock and remove all the wards keeping the trapdoor shut. When all the bars except the last had been removed, the goblins quickly touched their noses. The one inattentive goblin didn't realized that this had started until he was the only one not touching his nose. With slumped shoulders and a fearful posture he took the final key, opened the final lock, pulled the bar out of the way, and dove for cover. Nothing happened. Then the guide said, “The Challenge begins. Good luck.” And the party descended into the top of what had been the tallest tower with some misgivings...