Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 102
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. |
| Riker | Magic-User level 2 | A magic-user seeking glory or death. |
| Araggouk | Dwarf level 1 | A skinny dwarf with patches of hair lost from stress. |
Longrass 12th, Waterday
“They look like they've been murdered by Magic Missile or similar...”
Three rotting corpses with blast-marks lied prostrate in the chamber ahead of the party. The one to the right laid on its back, arms as if to protect the face. Said face was missing as well as its palms. The one straight ahead was lying on its left side, facing the party. Left side of the head was blasted, and right side was torn open, exposing festering flesh and broken ribcage. The one to the left was on its belly, and had a gaping hole instead of an abdomen.
The adventurers did not fall for the obvious trap. Whatever they threw into the chamber was immediately blasted to pieces by rapidly flying glowing orbs. They would flash on impact, destroying whatever they hit. Ingenious combination of torch on a tenfoot pole and judicious use of Find Traps spell, the party had identified four floating silver spheres, one in each corner of the room.
Illustration by kickmaniac.
Shooting them yielded no result. The party reasoned there must be some sort of pattern one has to follow in order to cross the chamber safely. So they picked up Rorik's corpse—carried by the sole surviving hireling—and chucked it on a square in front of them. Rorik was blasted and reduce to half of what he used to be. Spheres rotated and retracted into the ceiling.
“I think they are recharging! We should just run!”
“No, let's take it slow, maybe this is another trick.”
With that they picked Rorik's remains and threw him forward once more. Nothing. The fighter serves in death as much as he did in life.
“Run!”
Darting through north-east doors led the party into another corridor maze. There they found foul and soiled dwarf named Araggouk. Unfortunate soul got lost in the dungeon more than a week ago. He holed up in one of the dead ends and was biding his time until the rescue party arrived.
Reinforced by the smelly dwarf, adventurers explored the winding corridors. One route took them to suspicious elevated platforms. Roughly forming the shape of three broad stairs, a stone chest was resting atop the final one. It was flanked by two stone heads some ten feet above the ground. Both were roughly reptilian shaped, with fanged mouth stretched agape.
Thorough investigation revealed no visible traps, or rather triggers. After all, it was obvious even to the least experienced in the party that this chest must be trapped. Some horrors will surely come out of the gargoyle heads!
Araggouk successfully convinced others to help him open the stone chest, for he was too weak to lift the stone lid all by himself. FoxGlove stepped forth selflessly.
Oh, how wonderful its contents was! Thousands of shiny gold and silver coins! And two fist sized jewels resting on top of the pile!
Alas, their wonder was cut short by two snakes the fell down their necks from above. By the time Riker had finished casting Sleep, FoxGlove was bitten twice. Araggouk's skin had proven too thick, or too nasty even for a snake.
Ambros ran to the thief, looking for ways to help. He knew damn well what needs to be done. He was woefully aware of his inability to cast miracles like Bishops of his order. FoxGlove went pale, and then collapsed into cleric's arms.
“The pulse is still there, but weak...”
Tiberias was upgraded from corpse-porter to almost-dead-porter. He approved of that and was happy to offload Rorik's mutilated corpse to Riker. Adventurers snatched the gems and continued seeking exit.
Avoiding traps, they reached a large rectangular chamber. In fact, it was so large it took them good time just to walk it. Dwarves marvelled at its geometrically perfect lines. Moving on, the adventurers correctly identified and avoided two more traps, lifted a portcullis and reached stairs leading up.
“I don't believe it...” Darius mouthed, dejected.
Indeed, the party spirit was so low that they even debated if they'd take the stairs leading up or continue looking elsewhere.
Courage prevailed and they went up. And up. And up. Finally they ran into a t-shaped junction. To their right were closed stone doors and portcullis to the left. Behind the doors was an empty chamber with nothing but large mask carved in the east wall. Its smiling mouth was wide open, presenting an inviting darkness.
The invitation was not accepted by any of the adventurers.
Raising portcullis led them into a square chamber with doors in the south-west corner. That in turn led into a wide chamber with new doors to interact with. Opening north doors led into a hexagonal chamber with low stone column in the center. On it stood a stone vessel with an opening on top.
Ambros, desperate to save the thief, took the vessel and brought it to FoxGlove's lips.
“No, stop!”
Hagar prevented a possible tragedy, for the liquid seemed like mercury and not some antidote or similar helpful concoction.
Darius and Ambros studied the vessel, liquid, and pillar. It is possible that this is a divine mercury used in barbarian rituals to summon a god. The diviner would be granted a single simple question, that deity would answer with a word or phrase if they felt generous, or simple yes or no if they felt neutral. And better run for your life it hey were in ill mood.
Feeling tiredness setting in their muscles and bones, the party retreated into an adjoining chamber. Three strong men were needed to lift the portcullis; Riker placed a glass vial so it shatters in case someone or something lifts it while the party rests.
Longrass 13th, Earthday
Relatively well rested, the party returned to the hexagonal chamber. The room had three egresses: stone doors to the south, portcullis to the west, and framed stone slab to the north. The last one was interesting because it looked like regular stone doors from afar, but once up close it was nothing but a stone slab framed as doors.
With thorough investigation, the dwarves surmised the slab ought to be pushed. Doing so revealed two rectangular openings on the sides; one to the left and one to the right. Hagar remembered similar mechanism elsewhere in this dungeon. Last time they opened it by placing a palm in each of the openings. So they did the same this time. And it worked!
The chamber was stained yellow; filthy yellow. Sticky gas rolled around it; driving the adventurers to tears. Four disgusting abominations stood in the center of the chamber. They had fat, rotund bodies, and comically long, spindly arms and legs. Their head were nothing but folds of fat with slobbering jaws.
Whatever these creatures were, the party had surprised them. Tired and suffering sofuckitis, the adventurers charged the monsters head on. Yellow demons responded by beating on their fat bellies, causing an unpleasant cacophony and releasing yellow gas.
Hagar, Ambros, and Araggouk cut into two of them, slashing and smashing. Monsters oozed yellow pus. They cried and banged their bellies, and created so much fog that one couldn't see further than their own nose.
And then the noise stopped.
Blinded and nauseous, the party braced themselves for whatever is about to come next.
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