Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 101
Adventurers
| Character | Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Hagar the Hewer | Dwarf level 4 | Imagine Conan as dwarf. |
| Ambros | Cleric level 5 | Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time. |
| Foxglove | Thief level 4 | A willowy human, long hair ties in a pony tail, looks a bit dangerous and dainty at the same time. |
| Darius | Cleric level 4 | Follower of Dacron, God of Craftsmen. |
| Rorik | Fighter level 3 | A fighter. |
| Riker | Magic-User level 2 | A magic-user seeking glory or death. |
Longrass 11th, Airday
Following a day-long deliberation on what to do that will take less than ten days in total, the party had decided to revisit a ruined tower some ten miles south-west of Hara.
The one where they recovered valuable silver orbs from.
The one where they lost on full party.
Spending a full watch scouting the surroundings for any changes, the adventurers determined nothing much changed. And so they descended down.
Hagar took the lead since he had been here before. They went through the secret passageway under the stairs, then left in the pendulum room, and then through north-west doors. From there they went forth, left, and then right.
“Locked. Can't find the mechanism!”
FoxGlove played with stone doors preventing their further progress. It had three holes, each in different shape: a five-point star, a six-point star, and an equilateral triangle.
They backtracked and moved into an unexplored corridor, then right turn, then more than hundred feet forward, left turn, and then through stone doors into a mostly empty chamber. A set of rusted bear traps were piled in one corner. Some were open, some were closed.
Finding nothing of value they proceeded through south doors, and down another long corridor. Alas, the moment they turned into the corridor a sliding stone slab prevented their return.
“I don't understand this dungeon. Is this to prevent something from coming out? Or us from retreating?” one of the adventurers wondered.
“Step aside, I'll smash it.” Hagar stepped forth with a sledgehammer.
An hour later and all he had to show was a fingernail-sized chip.
“I guess we head down the corridor then!”
Another hundred or so feet, a left turn, and stone doors, and the party entered another chamber. This one was peculiar since it had a long stone bench running along north, west, and south wall. The bench was low, and comfortable for dwarf to sit on. It had no legs and underneath was nothing but empty clearance. It felt pleasant to the bum.
South-east doors led into a large circular chamber with a swirling pattern carved into the floor. Grooves were obvious even to non-dwarves.
“Uh-huh, this is a trap.”
FoxGlove went in by himself, tied with a rope, and carefully explored everything. Alas, nothing much. Unwilling to risk finding out what the trap might be, the party backtracked into trapped corridor and spent significant time investigating every portion of wall. Alas, nothing.
Once the full party entered the round chamber the ground shook and spiral fell down, turning the floor into a downward slide. Ready for this, the party tumbled in a relatively controlled manner.
Lighting up extinguished torches, the party scanned the chamber they fell into. It was a similar circular chamber like the one they were moments ago. Stone doors were to south, and open archway to north. They chose the latter direction.
Navigating the maze-like corridors led them to portcullis with loud snoring, a direction which was immediately abandoned it. Moving opposite, down the corridor led to two dead ends.
The north one had a skeleton pinned to the wall. What they though to be javelins turned out to be long iron quills.
FoxGlove plundered the skeletons sack for some gems, and coins.
Peeking into a chamber filled with skeletons was sufficient to shut the doors and abandon that route as well. Backtracking the maze and following northern route led the party to stone doors flanked with holes, another obvious trap.
Adventurers triggered the trap with tenfoot pole, forcing five spears to launch out of the wall. Then they used the grappling hook with rope to bend each one of them.
Following that Hagar and Rorik forced the doors open. Alas, Rorik failed to synchronise with the beefy dwarf, and went straight through open doors. He stepped on the trap on the other side of the door, and triggered it.
He evaded two spears, deflected one, and got cut by two.
Illustration by kickmaniac.
The chamber had several human-sized skeletons laying on the ground, all facing down. Many had broken bones. The floor was full of small holes.
“Rorik! Rorik! We'll get to you!”
The fighter leaned back, making sure he doesn't step further into the chamber. Five iron spears just behind his back prevented his exit.
“Come on! Pull!”
Bending each spear took around ten minutes.
They could see Rorik sit down.
“Pull! Pull! We are coming for you! Hold in there!”
Rorik could feel his blood burn.
Rorik could feel his flesh ache.
Rorik could feel his heart racing.
Until Rorik could feel no more.
Darius closed the warrior's eyes.
And then two freshly recruited men-at-arms were turned into corpse porters.
Backtracking once more, the part retreated into the round chamber. There they camped and rested as long as it took six torches to burn.
Longrass 12th, Waterday
The adventurers now explored eastern set of corridors. Bunch of dead ends, one with gas trap that left Darius and Riker injured, and one hireling dead. That one was left behind.
“How about we check the south doors?”
This led them into a five hundred feet long winding corridor. They passed one dead end with robed corpse gripping a staff. Naturally they took the staff. The corridor terminated with an archway opening up in a wide chamber.
Three corpses with blast marked lied prostrated on the floor. These ones actually had some flesh on them, unlike ancient skeletons they had found so far.
“Careful there...”
Will the party manage to escape this time?
Or will they suffer the same fate as the party that went missing?
Discuss at Dragonsfoot forum.
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