Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 117
Adventurers
| Character | Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Gomm | Thief level 5 | Swarthy, good looking, dark-skinned thief. Sweet opium-like aroma is his fragrance of choice. |
| Ambros | Cleric level 5 | Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time. |
| Hedwig Hogwarts | Elf level 3 | An always alert owl masquerading as an elf. |
Harvestime 18th, Earthday
Another week with Ah'sas the Terrible Witch.
All adventurers were put to hard work—no loiters allowed! Six were ordered to construct two new tree-houses so they have a covered place to sleep. Her little hut was too small to house them all. Hedwig, being a female elf, was delegated to bushes and hardest of duties.
Beorg and Balarus fell to the witch's charm, and were trying their best to fulfil all her wishes. Others went along, if for no other reason than for having food and safe place to rest whilst lost in the Eyestone jungle.
Gomm and Ambros had a plan of their own though. Whilst others toiled, they set out for a scouting expedition, aiming to investigate as much of sunken fort as possible. Hedwig joined them. After all, anything is better than abuse from Ah'sas the Envious!
Ambros and elf took off their heavy armours, and only carried backpacks adventuring gear. Gomm also took off his clothes, and had nothing but loincloth, backpack, and few vials of oil. Bakaru joined them to guard the dugout. And so they left for the dungeon.
The trio moved with haste, doing their best to remain as quiet as possible. They traversed the pillared antechamber, opting for north-west doors this time. That led them into a corridor with two doors and a junction. First doors were steel and without any visible hinges. Second were plain wooden doors, like those they've encountered before. Junction splintered left, and forward. Path forward was blocked by thick glass barrier within which an angry incorporeal form banged, mouthing curses in silence.
Gomm picked the steel doors open, leading into a corridor with two junctions. Then him and Ambros nailed the doors shut while beefy Hedwig held it open.
Scouting just a bit ahead, the party had found the following:
- Stairs leading down, past their torchlight. Teeth covered some of stairs.
- A dead end with stone wheel behind a plate. Hedwig was strong enough to turn it, but the wheel would rotate back in the starting position as soon as she let go of it.
- A corridor with iron caltrops large enough to stop an ogre from passing further.
- A dark chamber with fountain in the center. Small, squat, hairy, naked creature slurped liquid from it every minute or so.
Judging that all three paths into the unknown sounded very risky, they returned to the corridor with glass barrier. Listening at the wooden doors revealed nothing but silence. Except glass banging to the side, that is.
“Hey, I hear something.”
Hedwig informed her allies.
Indeed, sound of metal scrapping against the floor could be heard. Sound was getting louder by the second, approaching wooden doors they came through. Thinking on their feet, they opted to run towards the glass barrier, then turn left into the unknown.
That led them down a turning corridor and to another wooden doors. Adventurers promptly doused their light sources, and waited in silence.
Loud bashing sound could be heard, as doors swung open and slammed against the stone wall. Metal scrapping was now very loud, as was the thick smell of oil. Another sound of slamming doors, and scrapping became quieter and quieter.
Estimating that the danger is over, adventurers re-lit their torches and lanterns, and proceeded to open the newly found doors. A small chamber, some twenty by thirty feet, with nothing much but two dozen of clay pots. Each had a lid with primitive symbols. Three had abstract flames, one round triskellions, and the remainder had abstract stick-snakes on them.
Following brief investigation, they backtracked to previous wooden doors, and forced them open. A weird thirty by thirty feet chamber with two lines of shelves. A dozen figures on gnomes with various mining equipment rested on each shelf.
Ambros returned to the pot chamber, cast Find Traps and surveyed the room. All lids with snake symbols lit gently. He informed Gomm, and moved to the gnome chamber. Nothing lit up. Then he went to the glass barrier.
Angry ghost cowered in fear in the presence of Curate of Aniu! Ambros could see only portion of the chamber beyond the glass barrier. It was a hole with stone bridge standing on a pillar. The bridge was perpendicular to Ambros, or in other words, was going from left to right.
Gomm delightfully opened fire and triskellion pots, finding flammable oil in the former, and five hundred silvery coins in the latter. How delightful!
But there was little time to celebrate. Ambros's torch begun to flicker. Angry shadow in the glass barrier threw itself towards the cleric and crumpled in a terrified ball. Ambros noticed shadowy figures stepping on the bridge. He quickly retreated and doused his torch.
The party waited for a moment. Gomm took the pot with triskellion coins, and the party retreated all the way to the dugout Bakaru was waiting them in. They left the coins with him and then they returned to the antechamber, intent on exploring the eastern portion of the fortress. Ambros commanded the water elemental—the one that Sor'Ves the Magnificent vomited for him—to follow him.
Upon emerging into the long corridor leading east, they ran into two plated guards.
The guards slammed doors wide open, right in front of Hedwig. They ignored her, turned left and marched down the corridor.
“How weird, they have surely spotted us...”
“Remember how some of them just stood and did nothing?”
“Maybe they only respond to metal? We are currently unarmoured.”
“Maybe they react to something else?”
“Let's follow them!” Gomm suggested.
Trailing them at the edge of their torch, the party followed the armoured duo. They went straight and then turned right into the large chamber with dark pool. They marched straight to the edge of the pool and stood still.
Water splashed as a towering mass of black sludge rose, shaking and shivering in front of the guards. The guards turned towards each other, holding a shield between them, like a plate. Black mass loomed over it, and then a chunk of sludge dropped on the shield. The guards' lower portion turned towards the party and marched straight towards them.
Adventurers fell back. The guards walked out of the chamber and down the corridor they came through. Black mass made a loud splashing sound as it threw itself back in the pool.
Gomm, of course, wanted to explore that chamber. This abomination must be guarding some awesome treasure, right?!
Forcing the north doors open revealed a square chamber with copper disc inset into the stone floor. A three inch groove was around it, with flame symbols etched into the disc's ring. Black scorch marks on the stone floor circled the ring. Crumpled suit of armour lain discarded in the south east corner.
Next course of action for Gomm was to scale the wall and go all the way up to the ceiling. This was a vaulted chamber, and the highest point was some forty feet off the floor. Then he swung like a monkey and traversed towards the platform on the south side of the chamber.
Naturally, this provoked the mass of black sludge that rested in the pool. It emerged with rage, swinging for the top. Ambros ordered the water elemental to charge the black mass. It obeyed without delay. As sludge and elemental duked it out in the pool, Hedwig and Ambros shot at the aberration from safe distance.
Gomm dropped on the platform. The doors were stuck. With battle raging behind him, he jumped up, grabbed the head jamb, swung and kicked the doors with both legs. Ahead of him was a humbly sized chamber dominated with a stone table. On it a number of alchemical implements like alembics, vials, pestle and mortars, so on and so forth, rested. Everything was caked with mold and dust.
The thief took off his loincloth and wrapped it around his face. Then he entered the laboratory and begun methodically ransacking it. Water roared as battle went on; elemental and sludge in a vortex of body slams, beating chunks of each other out. Hediwg landed arrow after arrow. And so did Ambros land stone after stone.
By the time Gomm had finished investigating the chamber, he recovered three intact vials that still had liquid in them: one with light blue hue, one clear as alcohol, and one with reddish hue. He stepped on the platform just in the right time to witness the black sludge completely demolishing the water elemental.
The thief threw his dagger, missed, and then fled up the wall. The mass approached him ominously. At this moment the sludge was not what it was moments ago. It was nearly transparent in places, with many holes. In fact, it was more like a mess of thick black strings, than a bulbous giant it was. Nonetheless, it threw itself towards fleeing Gomm. Hedwig aimed at the thickest string, and unleashed an arrow.
Steel tip went straight through it, severing the oily string. The pool horror completely felt apart. Curdled oil slicks floated to on top of the water. Poking them elicited no response. Ambros collected a sample.
“I think this expedition was a great success and that we should leave immediately!” Gomm announced, delighted to be alive.
“Hey, I hear something.”
Hedwig informed her allies.
Familiar sound of scrapping metal could be heard from the north. Without much time to think the party moved north and then decided to continue north, towards the oil chamber and then circle back through chambers they fought plated guards in.
Alas, they ran straight into the source of all the noise. A large lizard-like creature, some eight feet weed and most likely at least fifteen feet long, made of scrap metal, rushed towards the adventurers.
They pivoted around, and sprinted as quickly as they could.
“It's made of metal! We are surely faster!”
Gomm yelled as iron lizard nearly bit his naked ass.
Adventurers made it out alive, jumped into the dugout and paddled hard back to Ah'sas. At least her teeth aren't that sharp.
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