Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 106
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. |
| Tiberias | Normal human | Regretting his employment. |
Longrass 12th, Waterday
Engulfed by noxious yellow gas, Hagar and Amborus could barely see. Led by Darius's voice, they retreated from the chamber where they just faced four demonic creatures.
“Shut the doors! Let 'em come to us!”
But nothing came.
Peeking into the chamber revealed it was empty. It was stained yellow from top to bottom. There was one door to the left and one to the right. Opening the former reveal a spacious chamber with two dwarven corpses. One was lying on its right side, with its back to the adventurers. The other one was torn in half.
Adventurers shut the door and went for the other door.
They moved forward, down the corridor, until they reached a hard turn. Hagar peeked around the corner, only to be dazzled by a festival of colourful lights. Unsure what to do, other adventurers passed Rorik's corpse—a third of it they still had—to Hagar. Then the dwarf chucked it around the corner.
In a split second the party had been flashed and surrounded by glimmering light. Horned dog sized bunnies were all around them! They rammed and gored few of the members before vanishing in thin air.
The party moved on, following the twisting corridor. They found a dead end with thousands of silver and gold coins arranged in small nests. Another dead end was an unfinished room with stairs leading down into nothing. Third dead end were stone doors with skull on it and two large keyholes.
The adventurers were too experienced to be lured by two matching keys laying on the stone table right next to the doors. Thus they backtracked all the way to the chamber with dwarven corpses.
It was a large fifty by fifty feet chamber. There were three corpses in total, all in horrific shape. The corpses were decomposing, but were still much fresher then other dead people they encountered so far. Doors in the south-west corner were covered with blood and gore from bottom to the ceiling.
More interesting was the curious mechanism in the center of north wall. Some five feet above the floor, a tilted horizontal disc jutted out of the wall. From it three rods—as spokes of a wheel—stood straight. On the upper face of the half-disc was an etched mask with frowning face.
Abandoning the contraption, the party backtracked to the chamber with large stone face. It had matching facial expression to the face on the disc—a frowning expression.
Illustration by kicmaniac.
The face was almost twenty feet tall and ten feet wide. Dark hole in the mouth was in fact an opening into a tight crawlspace. Tiberias volunteered to investigate it. He had to strip into nothing but loincloth and rope around his waist. Then he improvised a weapon with burning torch tied to it, and went into it.
The space was very tight, forcing him to crawl on his belly with little space for looking forward. After ten or so minutes he heard a voice speak in unfamiliar language. Ignoring it, he proceeded forward. His eyes were red and teary from the smoke coming into his eyes. At one moment he decided to pause to rest a bit. But he couldn't! In fact, he was now sliding forward, scrapping his forearms and knees.
Even worse, moments later he was in a head on free fall.
Hagar felt the rope suddenly move much faster. He dropped his body weight and held onto the rope.
Tiberias felt the rope around his waist tightening. He drop was stopped with a powerful jerk. The shock nearly made him black out. The man vomited down the chute. Then he decided to drop down his torch so he could see what lies ahead.
His torch disappeared in thick darkness.
Hagar was joined by other adventurers in pulling the rope. It was tough until it wasn't. They pulled out empty rope. The loop and knot were still there. Tiberias wasn't.
There was no time to grieve.
Party headed back to the room with weird contraption. There they investigated it for hours until one of the clerics suggested at least three characters try to push on the rods. Lo and behold! The disc rotated. Moments later frowning face was replaced with smiling face.
Running back to the room with stone face confirmed it too had changed its facial expression. This time Hagar volunteered. They tied several hundred feet worth of rope around him. They also agreed on various rope signals.
Getting on all fours, Hagar entered the mysterious crawlspace. Moving on he too reached a moment when he could hear someone or something speaking in an unfamiliar language. He too ignored it and moved on.
As dwarf he could feel several inclines. He turned right, twice. After long time he reached a dead end. But he could feel a cold wheel touching his exposed belly. Since there was so little space, he had trouble getting a good grip. But once he did, he was able to twist it with great ease. Floor underneath him gave in and he fell face first on a hard stone floor beneath.
Dazed but alive, he pulled on the rope, signalling others to follow. Everyone stripped, and made sure to carry only the most valuable items that can fit through crawlspace. They also dragged Rorik's corpse through, as well as stiff FoxGlove.
Reunited, the party lit up a torch. Unarmoured and barely armed, they rapidly moved, following a long corridor forward. They passed a chamber, ignoring whatever might be inside, moved into another chamber, and then left through archway. Here Hagar recognised the chamber with framed gold sheet.
“I know the way out! Be careful for there is a dart trap activated by pressure plate!”
Adventurers exited the ruined tower just as night was about to fall. They camped in its ruins, enjoying the smell of fresh air once again.
Survivors returned to Hara on Longrass 13th. Just in time for Hagar to recuperate and prepare for dinner with Aseti Namelin, one of the most influential people in the region.
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