The Next Chapter:
Hadler’s Gap, again.
Sir Krius, initiate member of the Knights of the Lance sent by his order to the borderlands of Crieste to investigate emanations of an unholy nature meets with Father Donavan a local priest. He learns of a band of adventurers already sent to investigate the unnatural presence in the caves to the west. He sets out on his own to the mountain.
Back in the caves.
Sickness. Grug and Trogdar feel the taint of evil, sores on their skin appear, their demeanor turns dark. They run for the light leaving the rest behind.
Sir Krius meets the fleeing mercenaries. A brief conversation, he learns of the caves ahead. The sickly ruffians run off, carrying a heavy bag of coins. Evil is sensed, a lantern is lit, and a heart of purity enters the corruption of the caves.
Two halflings and a human see the bobbing light of a lantern approach. Weapons are drawn, names are exchanged, weapons and put away, an agreement is made, and a new group of heroes is formed.
The cavern is quickly examined. Two tunnels lead off to the east and high in the ceiling barely in torchlight a small entrance into the unknown is found.
The Paladin, eager to test himself leads. Narrow craggy caverns, damp and wet, echo’s of footsteps resonate in the tunnels. A cliff. Ahead and below Prophit sees a pair of orange glowing skulls; he hears the sounds of clicking shells on stone. Mannon steps forth, secures a rope and Krius descends onto the floor below. Out of the darkness rush insectile forms, malign twisted carapace, they rush forward and attack. Profit and Mannon descend, Alton fires bolts from above, carapaces are sundered, the foe dispatched.
The cave, a dead end, is searched, only more dead giant insects are found. Mannon collects the glowing glands of the beetles. Back to the main cavern where the second path is taken into the darkness.
Narrow, twisting tight passageways, sun rod and lantern light the way, then unnatural darkness descends. Something terrible from above drops. Tendrils choke, panic in the dark. Alton, Krius, and Mannon stumble in the gloom to assist the gasping cleric. Profit struggles against the suffocating pulsating mass clinging to his face. Before darkness overwhelms him his dagger stabs, Mannon grapples, and with luck Alton’s mace connects with a vital area of the creatures, it falls to the cave floor and the magical darkness is lifted.
The creature, a disgusting mass of tentacles and eyeballs, shaped somewhat like an executioner’s hood. Profit consumes a potion of health to help him overcome exhaustion. The heroes leave the disgusting heap to rot where it lay.
Deeper into the claustrophobic caves the ceiling shrinks, the walls grow tight; the group hunched over makes slower progress. At last a chamber is found, the ceiling is but two maybe three feet above the floor, and deep within it a chest sits awaiting investigation.
The halflings, better able to maneuver, move in on the chest. The lid opens and out bursts four wooden dolls, cold dead nails or pieces of broken glass for eyes, they swarm towards Alton. Weapons are drawn, but ineffective in such tight quarters against the hard lifeless wooden forms.
Alton dodges out of the way of the marching wooden dolls and they descend upon Mannon. Wooden pistons for arms pummel and bruise the swordsage, Prophit drops to his knees and crawls in to assist. More pummeling, Prophit grapples and dashes one of the dolls against the wall, Krius shouts a warning. A vial of oil shatters, covers the golems, fire is summoned from Mannon's sword, the violent little men burn.
The chest is carried to the main cavern, its contents examined. Coins, gems, scrolls, rope, and grappling hooks.
Eyes turn to the hole in the ceiling above...
The characters present:
* Alton (Aaron), halfling shadowcaster
* Mannon (Dave, absent, ran by DM), halfling swordsage
* Prophit (Jeff), human cleric
* Sir Krius (Matt), human paladin
Rumors gathered (to date):
* An ancient kingdom used to exist across the land
* Rumors of Tsathzar Rho; an ancient wizard who tried to contact the "outer gods" fortress destroyed eons ago
* The ogre's skin turned black with oozing pustules and glowing green eyes. Quoted as saying "Logbrag strong, not weak, not listen to voices".
* Malformed fire beetles with glowing glands in the shape of a human skull.
Treasure found (to date):
* 50lb bag of coins (lost, stolen by Grug and Trogdar)
* Large ornate shield (used by Prophit, seems to offer enhanced magical protection)
* 40lb chest of coins (carried by Krius)
* 6 black gem stones (in the chest)
* 2 50ft lengths of knotted rope (in the chest)
* 2 grappling hooks (in the chest)
* 3 scrolls with magical writing (in the chest, ID’ed unsuccessfully by Alton)
Foes/traps/tricks overcome (this session):
* a group of 3 deformed fire beetles
* a group of 3 deformed fire beetles
* 1 dark horror from above
* 4 animated wooden dolls
Experience gained (this session):
380 each player
No comments:
Post a Comment