Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 158
Adventurers
| Character | Race | Class | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thorm | Dwarf | Fighter level 4 / thief level 5 | Ashen hair, beard, and eyes. Left his own clan due to financial trouble. |
| Ambros | Human | Cleric level 6 | Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time. |
| Ignaeus | Elf | Fighter level 4 / magic-user level 5 | A slightly weathered looking elf with dull blonde hair and chiseled features. Seeks wealth and knowledge. |
| Foxglove | Human | Thief level 6 | A willowy human, long hair ties in a pony tail, looks a bit dangerous and dainty at the same time. |
| Tikatu | Human | Druid level 3 | A dirty little ma with dark and dirty skin, wearing loincloth with no back. “What will be, will be” is his favourite aphorism. |
| Amari | Human | Ranger level 1 | Black hair that shines blue. Scarred like a gladiator. |
| Kho Rimbo | Human | Magic-user level 3 | A knife throwing wizard extraordinaire. Covered in ritual knife scars. Cuts himself whilst casting. Prone to being sarcastic. |
Sunstrong 13th, Earthday
“What do you mean?”
Rall Kyle, a minor noble in charge of Ironburg, squirmed in his chair. Just minutes ago he was yelling at one of his servants for not letting in Kho Rimbo sooner. But now he was growing suspicious.
“I was waiting for you to hear about latest news. How could I inform you? Is this... is this another test?”
Rall squinted at Kho Rimbo quizzically. Foxglove and Thorm sat in silence. They were in Rall's house, a two-story building with six rooms, situated some twenty minutes east of the village.
Kho Rimbo acted before Rall had time to think.
“That's about right! You are always being tested! RAKOBA HAS HIS EYES EVERYWHERE! I AM HIS EYES! HE KNOWS ALL! NOW, SPILL YOUR GUTS!”
Rall Kyle began sweating profusely. Adventurers' intimidating ruse worked.
He stammered and stuttered, trying to explain how he did his part of the bargain, but mining is getting harder and harder. Miners are lazy and incompetent and always ask for rest and wages. He was hoping that orc miners Racoba had promised would arrive any day now.
“D-D-Darvin. He is the foreman. He is guilty for the delay!”
“Fix this! I will be watching! Wizard-King Racoba will be watching!”
Satisfied with what they have learned, the adventurers left Rall to marinate in fear and anxiety while they headed back to Ironburg. There they decided that it would be most opportune to work on Kho Rimbo's geas—which the conjurer accept in exchange for tutelage by Old Crus, and experienced wizard. All he had to was bring some monster parts from Woelands.
Ignaeus and Ambros knew the closest entrance into the Wilderlands' underbelly—the stone circle atop the Midnight Goddess Hills. A party of seven adventurers and one porter—young Hazard—set out for the hills.
Sunstrong 15th, Spiritday
Sun was brutal. Heat was immense. Adventurers did not care, for they marched on. They reached their destination around noon. Descending down long, spiral stairs, worn by time, chilled everyone down.
This dungeon was familiar to Ignaeus, Foxglove, and Ambros, whom had been here several seasons ago. This was the place where Tagoler of the Castle of the Wode lost a patrol of rangers. A place where abominable spider-men walk about. A place where abyssal monstrosities weave pale green webs that paralyse men, and melt flesh.
Entry chamber was filled with azure blue haze, preventing anyone from seeing further than their own palm. The elf remembered all the traps and thus warned others accordingly. It took adventurers two hours to navigate this humble chamber and figure out how to open doors with a pit trap in front of them. But they succeeded.
Once they were in the long, dark corridor, they opted to head east for some hundred feet. The corridor bent south and then west. They stopped to inspect broken doors through which pale green light emanated. Empty.
Moving on, the party followed the bending corridor, until they reached a sixty feet long stretch with three doors on the west side. Behind first doors was an empty room. Behind second doors was a room with tattered greenish webs. Third doors revealed a chamber filled with intact webs pulsating with sickly green hue.
Thorm took a peek, pushing in the arm he was holding the torch with. A disgusting spider-like monstrosity surprised him from above, but failed to bite him. The dwarf slammed the doors shut. Adventurers spent some time planning how to overcome this threat. Military oil was the solution everyone agreed upon.
One of the adventurers pulled the doors wide open. Thorm chucked in a flask of burning military oil. It splashed on strings of web. Amari, followed by few others, charged in from the adjoining room, the one that was behind second doors, only to be assaulted from above by the same monstrosity that tried to impregnate Thorm.
She got bit, and felt getting weaker by the round. Tikatu soon suffered the same fate. Adventurers were unable to strike the abomination for every time their weapon was about to connect the monster would simply become immaterial.
“Begone!” Ambros thundered, holding up his Golden Gavel of Justice. Abyssal spider-like creature hissed and fled through the webs. Carefully following, adventurers moved slowly through the webs, making sure they do not accidentally touch them.
There was an opening on the south side, an alcove, leading into three feet tall crawlspace. Ground was covered by damp soil. Foxglove and Ambros got down on all four and went it. The former spotted something glowing in the soil, some fifteen feet westwards.
Coming closer, the thief could see this was a hand harp of sorts. He tried to gently pull on it. As his reward two rotten arms burst from the loose soil and grabbed him around the neck, choking him. Luckily, Ambros was right next to him. The arms disintegrated into dust as soon as the cleric began chanting the holy words.
Foxglove played with the harp a bit, but produced nothing but disturbing and discordant tunes. He tucked it into his backpack and continue crawling forward, into an octagonal chamber.
This eight-sided chamber was tilled with alternating obsidian and redstone slabs. Slanted ceiling rose from north to south, from eight feet around the walls to reaching twenty feet high on the south side. Beneath the highest point an altar carved of black marble sat, with subtle runes carved upon its smooth surface.
Adventurers spread out to investigate the chamber and altar.
What will they learn? And will Kho Rimbo find something to bring back to Old Crus? Or will he disappoint him once more?
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