So they had the chance to wend their way through the hangman vices, tumtum tree, and the jubjub bird before heading off to do battle with the Bandersnatch.
In reality, they did a decent job!
Write up follows:
Icemonth 4:45 PM and the group was in the anteroom in front of the door that would lead to the Corridor of Dee(a)ds. Based upon the stanza we assumed there would be flying toads in the room and after discussing the situation and what was at our fingertips we figured we needed to open the door to see what was going on.
Once the door was opened scintillating light filled the hall from the high ceilings room, dazzling about half the group and making them squint and try to see. The room was shaped like an extended octagon with a door on the opposite end of the room. A stone outcropping with a set of steps spiraling around it went up to the ceiling about 15’ overhead. The room had a serious amount of flowers and ferns and other swamp style plants in here up to about calf height. The light was coming from the ceiling and the walls to about 7’ in height.
And yes, there were flying toads. A bit larger than a basketball, we guessed at least 20 lbs or so, they were warty green with fanged mouths flying around on stubby bat-like wings that made them look ridiculous but still capable of flight. And to make it worse, they would occasionally go invisible, shimmering out of view and then reappearing some time later in a different spot.
We knew we were supposed to get a key and the most likely place was the column of stone. But even though the toads were not bothering us now, we knew that entering the room would be different. And with maybe a half dozen of the toads flying around, we didn’t want to risk getting into a fight with them if we didn’t have to.
So the party spent some time putting a plan together and when it was done, Asher was given our Nornian Skein, given EXPLICIT instructions to open it AWAY from him (Very important!), Vulwulf filled the monk with some eldritch strength, and Connal took a few steps back ready to make a run.
The half-elf pulled the Skein open and the hurricane for winds that we had gotten so long ago in Morata from atop the mountain during the storm came rushing out and into the room. And the toads were sent scattering all about, slamming into walls, the column, and each other. The plants were ripped from the ground and a wave of wind born flotsam spun crazily about the chamber. While all this was going on, Connal ran and JUMPED, clearing the 6’ plus to the center part of the steps and then proceeded to pull himself up the steps to the top while the wind was beginning to die down.
There was a depression up here where the steps came within 2’ of the ceiling, and a metal key glowing with an internal light, sat in the bowl. He grabbed it and as the last of the wind ended, we heard a voice say, “You have claimed the Key of Light. Please proceed carefully to the next Chamber.”
Go, go, go.
The group rand through the room, dodging torn up stems and stalks and a few toads lying dizzily on the ground. We hit the door and moved quickly into the next room as Connal jumped down and rugby kicked the nearest toad as hard as he could into the wall. Shim was begging that he bring the toad so he can get some of its blood for Shandrala and once we were all in the next room, we shut the door and took stock of where we were.
The ceiling was the same 15’ in height but the place was filled with a wild growth of palms, ferns, creepers, vines, and thin boled trees. Some of the trees had a profusion of long vine like appendages on the top of them and Vulwulf identified them as Hangman Trees – and they were what they professed to be – a dwarf version of them, but capable of plucking someone from the side of the road and hanging them until dead.
There was a singular path of crushed white stones going through the trees and we could tell it was narrow and the canopy above was so crisscrossed with a variety of wild growth, that anyone a bit over 5’ in height would have to crouch. And anyone broad of chest or wearing any sort of thick armor was also going to have to sidle sideways. This meant at least half the group was going to be walking slow..very slow if they wanted to avoid being in the midst of the foliage.
As for the stanza, it was on the side of the wall here and it read: “All mimsy were the borogroves and the mome rathes outgrabe.” Shim offered to Read Magic again for us and the passage translated to: All whimsical were the dense groves, and the lone limbs grab out.”
Ok, made sense for us.
The next key wasn’t visible but we figured we’d have to walk through a bit to find it. Vulwulf was going to Detect Snares and Pits which he could do while concentrating, but he’d have to crouch and walk sideways to do it. So Sybil was going to walk in front of him, and Hjalgrim was going to be right behind with spear out to help force any reaching vines away. The rest of us would be strung out and with enough support back and forth, we should make it just fine.
It was slow going and Vulwulf was constantly alerting the group to the Hangsmen vines that drew too close to us. We walked through the dense brush for a bit until we arrived at a wooden sign just off the path. Sybil used the end of her pole to clear it free and it read “Key of Life” with an arrow pointing straight up.
So we looked, 15’ up in the air on a metal hook set in the ceiling, was a wooden key hanging there. 10’ or so of foliage between us and the key.
We discussed ways to drop it including slinging but hitting a wooden key with a stone or bullet seemed like a foolish way to knock it down and most likely break the key. What we settled on was Sybil climbing on Vulwulf’s shoulders, Vulwulf stand up, and Sybil reach up with her pole and knock the key off. Sure…ok.
So while we got our efforts together and in place, Hjalgrim and Percy proceeded to push and shove as many fronts and palms and vines as they could aside to clear off an area for Vulwulf to stand in. And then once Sybil was safely on his shoulders, the half orc stood up. She reached up through the foliage and with a single swinging whack, smacked the key off its hook.
It fell down and she lunged to get it, missing as Vulwulf did the same, and the two of them fell forward – the key spinning down where a vine snagged it.
IN BET GRAV POR
And Shim blew the vine apart with a pair of magic missiles. The key safe in hand (and the overhead voice letting us know we have the Key of Life, please proceed to the next chamber) we tried to help extract Sybil and Vulwulf who also were mixed up in more hangmen vines, requiring more movement with the sticks and a well-placed pair of magic missiles once more. Finally the party was straightened out and we continued on our way to the end of the room where the path ended at another alcove clear area where a sign above the door read “Corridor of Dee(a)ds – this way to room 3 of 5”.
On the wall was the stanza: So rested they by the Tumtum tree and stood a while in thought, as in uffish thought they stood. At this point Shim let the group know that he had been working through his spells quite a bit and wasn’t confident that he had many left and we still had this room and two others and whatever the Bandersnatch was. So do we Read Magic now or not? The party decided to save the Read’s in case we needed it later.
A look through the door once Sybil cleared it as safe showed a room pretty sizable, lit dimly like twilight, a fat boled tree in the middle going up 15’ to the ceiling with scraggly branches, some wooden box at the base of the tree. The place had a thick carpet of inviting grass and on the south wall was a door that led onward.
We do know that the dimness also applied to where we were standing as our existing lantern dimmed to about 60% of its normal radiance. We mulled over the stanza and Asher made the command decision that he should just go over to the tree…and rest!
So he entered and we watched…nothing ate him, nothing bad happened, and Sybil followed. The box was closed and had a sign on it that read, “Key of Silence within”. We tried to be quiet and looked around and Sybil came back to the group and there on the wall inside the room were 5 levers all in the upright position and the each had a label on them that read: Brillig Intensity, Rathe Grabage, Uffish Required, Tulgey Wood, and Burbling Stream.
Ok…We didn’t want to touch the levers now but we did go back to the tree to join Asher..Sybil and Connal. And they stood there quiet and just looking around as if thinking, until after 4 minutes the lights in the room raised and little sounds were heard. Feeling a bit unsure, they reached down for the box and opened it! Inside was a copper key with a leather wrap around it and on taking it we heard “Key of Silence acquired, please proceed to the next chamber.”
We all came in and looked at the levers for a bit. We wanted to see what they did and the thought was to watch the 2nd room and pull the 2nd lever down (Rathe Grabbage). Upon doing so, all the hangman vines sort of slithered BACK into the hangman trees. Nice. And turning the lever back on, the vines slowly sieved out of the trunks and moved around the room a bit until lost in the camouflage of the foliage.
From here we looked at the door heading south (again with Corridor and 4 of 5), And after listening we could hear something heavy moving inside, a quick few steps, and then stop. We opened the door and the room was again, 15’ tall and just beyond the entrance was covered to about shin height with thorny hardwood bushes all over the place, making passage through difficult and slow. A pedestal was in the room about 3’ tall with something on top a small sign, and another door on the far end of the room.
Just inside was a stanza: Beware the JubJub bird, come whiffling through the tulgey wood. Ok – the big thing might be a Jubjub bird? Walking in the room was going to be a bitch, but we couldn’t see what was in there and moving around. So while watching it, we shouted back to pull the lever down. So we did and the amount of hardwood thorny bushed in the room disappeared almost 3 in 4!
Ah…shit.
Connal met it head on while we flipped the switch back to the on position. Its beak snapped forward on its whip like neck and then its massive body shuddered sideways, slamming its wings to everyone near it. But the party proceeded to hit the Jubjub bird hard. Swords, spears, sling bullets and spells – they all hit the bird who squawked and snarled and hissed while its head whizzed around and the axebeak cracked out with painful slashes. However, it was a single foe and amongst the 11 party members it was shortly overwhelmed and killed. We took the key covered in spikes off the pedestal, getting the you have the key of life, proceed to next chamber announcement, and felt pretty good about ourselves. 4 of 5!
We then rested and ate while we figured out how to get as many of its pinion feathers off to be used as magical grade quills – in addition to its 3’ long tail feathers and as Sybil said – its “beak teeth” which ended up being busted off in large pieces. Shim got some more juices for his presentation pouch and after getting 9 magical quills, Vulwulf handed out goodberries and healed what painful wounds he could. It was about 8 or so when we went to the last door (identified as 5 of 5) and saw a small 20’ long corridor that ended at another door, the smell of water on the air, and another stanza here:
Long time the manxome foe he sought, and burbled as he came.
We looked in and saw a chamber with a large pool in the southeast corner, set 6” below the floor of the room, bubbling and frothing, splashing water everywhere. As sign was there by a chain attached to a C bolt to the ground, running into the water, and the sign read: Key of Water with an arrow pointing down into the pool following the chain.
Ok – was something in the water? Do we touch it? No one felt safe so we had the idea to grab the Jubjub bird and drag it across the area and toss it into the pool here and see what happened. So we did, and it was HEAVY, but 4 of us humped it across the field of thorns to the hall and then by the chain we let it fall in.
And that was it – it sunk out of sight. Ok…Chain? The idea was now to pull the chain and we thought the key was either at the end of it or something like that. And although the chain was pulled up maybe 1 link – it didn’t budge beyond that. So we linked a rope to the chain and again the four strongest party members went to the corner of the room and PULLED…
And the rope snapped.
Ok –the chain wasn’t coming up. So Shim did his Read Magic and the stanza changed for him to: Long time the hidden foe he sought, and bubbled and frothed as he came.
We eventually decided to pull the lever in the 3rd room about the Burbling..and the bubbles stopped.
The pool was clear and about 15’ deep, and at the bottom of the pool was some phosphorous stones glowing a bit, and maybe a chest at the bottom of the pool.
Under the Jubjub bird.
Hahah. Ok, so we picked the three best swimmers with a good dexterity: Shim, Sybil, and Connal – hooked up some rope, and they attempted to swim down to the bird and box. Shim had the easiest time at first but the others eventually got the hang of the deep dive and the breath holding. 15’ down was hard and pulling themselves down by the chain was the best they could do.
So they tied the rope to the bird’s neck, then under one wing, and then a third place under the opposite wing. It took multiple attempts to dive and do it but eventually it was attached.
Then once again the party PULLED the rope, and the jubjub bird slowly rose to the surface where we pulled, yanked, and worked it out of the pool. From there we didn’t want to open the box until the level was thrown back to the Burbling On position so we set up a timing and then dove, tossed the lever, and found the box at the bottom of the pool – inside was a key and on getting it, everyone outside the pool heard for the last time about getting the Key of Water, Proceed to the Bandersnatch Pen.
Our three divers then changed clothes to something dry and we went to the last door which read “This way to the Bandersnatch Pen, Key of Light, Life, Silence, Thorns, Water needed.”
We opened the door and found ourselves back at the start of the area with the damaged wall and the chains on the south door with all the chains and weird locks on it. And we had the keys. And there was a Bandersnatch, whatever that is, waiting for us on the other side.
Oh yeah…
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