Write up follows:
Looking into the chamber not one person in the group wanted to actually step in. Created from a dozen or so bipedal creatures all melted together, the figure was a piteous mess of moans and sobs. The smell was rank and it was sitting in a slurry mess of its own waste product. The cancerous wooden lump upon its combined backs and skulls was the zebrawood we would need to “harvest” and hack away – and it would require stepping in and getting close and personal with the beast.
The biggest relief was that the size of the beast made it impossible to step out of the room since the door, sizeable at 8’ by 4’, was still too small for it to navigate through. We tossed bits of food, some of it soaked in blood, and the figure at the offerings disgustingly and with obvious relish. Threats with a spear had it cover away, the beast moving in a wave of barely conflicting flesh. At one point we even managed to see it devour part of its own anatomy, sucking the flesh off its fingers in an orgiastic display of contentment.
We went through our options and the best bet was to have Dizzy and Negan alternate the summoning of creatures and hope we could get one that was capable of wielding one of Brading’s axes to do the job. We ended up with a kobold first, clad in leathers and seeming to be an engineer of so sort. With the axe in his hand he went in and began to hack at the beast.
The chimera sobbed and wailed and cried piteously. Each axe blow cause fresh blood to run down the carbuncle and even though the kobold was making good progress, as it was finishing up the second part of its cuts, it began to cry and sob, moan and wail. It staggered out of the room and curled up into a fetal position, begging not to go back in. We sent it in and it failed to finish the job, dropping its axe and lying on the ground in misery. Gryg stepped in to get the axe and the psychic miasma was almost too much for the dwarf who started to weep as well.
Connal then stepped in and dragged Gryg out before he was affected, the axe coming with them and the kobold was dismissed. Taking stock of the situation the cutting need to be finished and we would need another creature, hopefully one that wouldn’t be as mentally affected by the chimera’s cries. Another summoning occurred and this time – a clad skeleton appeared! Practically perfect!!
Giving the skeleton the axe, we sent it into the room and it had zero compunction in hacking the rest of the zebrawood out of the chimera’s back. Coming out it handed it to us and then, we sent it BACK in to get another chunk! It succeeded a second time and then the chimera finally reared up and tried to smother/absorb the skeleton. We had it toss the wood and axe to us, gathered them up, and then dismissed the creature, letting the door close.
Following the gnomes advice, we loaded the zebrawood into the machine, clamping it place. There was another clunk and the stones on the far wall fell off. The newest stone showed an “R” to go along with the C, A, V, and E we already had. The gnomes were pointing to the north wall and saying, “Per…Fec…Sea…”
A quick look of the letters gave us Carve, so after getting the hint “Cut”, we placed the letters and the last secret door opened. The smell of flowers and fresh earth came out. There was a hall area covered with increasing dirt and loam and wines until it opened to a larger room 30’x 20’ where lots of plants filled the floor and walls. There were firefly looking creatures flitting about slowly – at least a dozen, definitely more. And it seemed like a few pedestals barely a foot and a half tall were on the floor.
Bit by bit we looked around with light stones and tossing food. The fireflies ignored the light but did take what food we tossed in, dragging them slowly through the air and out of sight. Getting closer down the hall but NOT into the room (none of the fireflies ever made it into the hall even once) we could tell they were inch and a half tall naked male and female fairies, each of them illuminating light from their skin. All we heard were strange tinkling when they would get close and they did not seemingly reply to anything we said.
On the pedestals, five we could see, were bells – each of them of differing sizes, composed of brass and with zebrawood handles. We wanted to get a better look at the bells and Connal and Peris both entered with shields at the ready. But the fairies drew closer and eventually got close enough to sit on their ear – and this close, the two adventurers could actually understand them! One was Rose, the other Chrysanthemum, and they wanted the group to pick up the bells and ring the perfect “C”.
We looked under the two closest bells and one had a “3” on the underside, the other had a “4”. A look around the room at this point showed 2 other pedestals buried in the foliage also with bells. So we had 7 of them, which was the right one?
According to the fairies, the right one would have them all be fantastically happy and cause the birth of NEW fairies – the wrong one would drive them all deranged and they would whip around the room in a frenzy of flying burning bodies and some would die. Which is the right one? They don’t know – but they know it when they hear it.
We were leaning towards the 3rd bell since there were 7 musical notes, but we wanted the perfect C and what if they were octaves instead of notes? The only hint we had was the bells were VERY dissimilar in size so the party thought it was octaves instead. Which meant the 4th bell would be the Perfect C – the one in the middle. The gnomes weren’t looking for C, but Perfect C.
So with great care Connal lifted the 4th one and rang it. And it was correct. The room grew with new life and more flowers, the fairies all whipped around in graceful loops and song, and from some of the pods, 4 more fairies were born and were greeted to the room! We left the chamber with the right bell, the fairies remaining behind, and the door closed.
From there we added the bell to the tray and there was more clunks and the stones fell from the wall. The gnomes were now saying “Ack..Tih..Vate.” again and again, pointing at the north wall. Looking at the base of the machine, two more letter stones appeared and “A” and an “I”. We had C, A, R, V, and E already and we were stuck on the word until we touched the machine and the gnomes added the hint “Want” to their repetitions.
AVARICE.
With the letters placed on the wall, the room vented and cooled off a bit and the machine trundled and twisted and ground until there was a series of chiming noises and we had a wire wrapped wound set of chimes on a zebrawood handle that upon taking, had a faint flash of reddish light and we were back in the hall right outside the room of the Glyph Gate. Awesome!
We had Brading give us a guess of 2:30 as to the time (almost 3 hours so far down here) and we decided we were going to go back to the steps and out of the dungeon. Sybil and Dizzy were on point and as we came close enough to the south passage, our two scouts stopped the party and backed us up quick. At the extreme limit of their infravision range, they saw two almost 9’ tall heat sources down the hall. They think they moved back fast enough to avoid being seen but we have a problem – if the party tries to get to the south passage, they WILL be within infravision range of the assumed ogres.
We needed a distraction.
So once again, we summoned a monster and this time a giant rat appeared. Negan gave it explicit instructions to RUN at the Ogres and then if possible, KEEP running. The rat took off and within a few moments we heard excited calls in Ogrish as they tried to hit the rat, missed, and then ran after it giving chase.
Our chance and now.
We booked around the corner and kept going. Sybil thought at the side passage leading to the trashed furnishing room before the portcullis she saw the heat signature outline of a Grue but our approach and torches scared it off. We kept going, getting closer, and closer – close enough to see the portcullis was down.
And 4 goblins armed with light crossbows were on the other side, lying prone, and unloaded on a surprise round on the party. Sybil was missed, Dizzy fell, Peris fell, and the rest of the group was struggling to get out of the way. While they were shooting, the goblins were crying and shouting in their language, “Here! Here! They are here!!”
Crap.
As they launched more bolts at the party, withering more hit points and knocking hit points south, Gryg and Sybil tried to return fire with their own missile weapons, mostly ineffective as the goblins were lying prone and the bars were providing cover. We crept forward trying to close but with the gate down, whoever was going to work the chain was sitting duck.
And then we heard the Ogrish voices from behind us echoing back in our direction as the diversion we did earlier had apparently played out.
And then whipping around the corner came two goblin warriors clad in heavy armor and spinning battle axes into the group. Sybil, Connal, and Dizzy were at the front line as this combat was spiraling out of control. And then the Halfling let us know that MORE goblins and the FUCKING GRUE, with a bag tied to it head, were coming towards us from the furnishing room.
Peris used his scroll of Summon Monsters and got a hobgoblin…clad in platemail and shield, sporting a wickedly sharp long sword. Directing the militant warrior INTO the furnishing room it assaulted the two goblins their leading the Grue and cut the ropes dragging the blinded creature forward. No longer being guided the Grue sat down and tilted its head.
We needed the damned gate open NOW so Negan charged forward and hit the gates full force. The squealed under his impact and he bent low and LIFTED the 420 lb metal gate straight up WITHOUT the use of the chains, just about 6’ off the ground, arms quivering as he dared to stand in place.
The way clear we all tried coming down the hall, battle axes flailing, sling bolts flying, voices raised and screaming. Negan felt a pop and let us know we had only two giant rats left holding the ogres back. The prone goblins were unable to rise up in time and were dispatched quickly while the hobgoblin spun wildly about and slashed the bag OFF the Grue’s face.
Who went wild from the light and SMASHED one goblin, killing it, and then turning SMASHED another goblin, killing it…before running off into the gloom. Negan lifted the gate HIGHER, and pulled himself under it while he felt another distant pop, we were down to one giant rat slowing the ogre’s down. Peris called for the hobgoblin to RUN and it whistled around the corner and joined the rest of the group just in time for Negan to let the portcullis fall behind him and crash to the ground in a shrill clanking boom.
No longer delaying, we ran for our lives as the goblins and Ogres (last rat popped away!) were giving chase. We hit the stairs and climbed up swiftly, Peris letting the hobgoblin return, and emerged at 2:55 PM back out of the Terror Dungeon and safely once again up top and out of danger.
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