Meet 23, Adv 10, 7/2/22

Had the new guy at the table roll up his first character - a wild elven fighter. He's a long time player who hasn't had a chance to play in a group for 7 years or so. As always, I made sure to have a LARP period to help him dive into his guy.

Write up follows:

We discussed what we wanted to do next and figured another larger delve or two into the Terror Dungeon was coming up – however, we were running low on dungeoning supplies and Bork Keep were expensive. Being that Canaslan, and Paxian, were not too far away, the party let the guards of Bork Keep know of our departure and we began the walk back west.

The weather was cool, not cold, and the snow had been running stead with 12 plus inches on the ground. The road was in good shape and we came down from the highlands with no issue. Within a few hours we passed through the barrier between the sovereign lands and the greater Randari Empire. As usual, the temperature in Canaslan was a good 10 to 15 degrees warmer and the scent of body odor and stale beer filled the air. We heard herds of wild 15+ lb chickens wandering the tall grains and grasslands and did our best to stay on the road west. The tiny Thorp of Border was the first place we passed through, three lean to’s and a single ramshackle wooden building greeted us. The populace within shut the doors and hid until we were long gone.

Mile markers continued along until we arrived at the town of Third between marker 3 and 2. Home to maybe 400 souls, a half-naked drunken dwarven woman came out and begged for us to take her to Jerry, prompting Captain Asher to recoil in fear and Darius to hustle us down the road. Needless to say, with her screeching in our ears behind us, we did not tarry in Third.

It was late in the day when we arrived in Paxian, capital city of Canaslan. On entering and getting our name, we were taken off line and were told that we were to be taken to the Hanging Sword in Whiteshadow District. It seems that the Streams of Mithril had put word out of our potential arrival (whenever that might be) and we were to be escorted there.

The Hanging Sword was a very upscale Inn and we met with Sotreid, the proprietor of the place. He in turn arranged for Dogsbody McGuin to come and it was he that was hoping to meet us. After we reconnected he let us know that he had a potential addition for our group; a 3rd son of an elven family named Grendel Olyrnn. He mangled the young man’s family name but we had a chance for Asher and Shim to sit down and meet with what turned out to be Duke Dergarian Olyrnn and his grace’s first born and successor, Sharil Olyrnn.

The Olyrnn were Green elves, wild elves. Quessir in their own tongue. Maybe half a dozen or so ages ago, they had a falling out with the High Elven Nation as to the way they were renegotiating various treaties and contracts, blaming the Speaker of the Sun for manipulating the written words. Since then, they have eschewed participating in any elven council moot and their governance of elven tribes and clans under their purview have been for granular and honor bound. The ducal family of Olyrnn, could trace their name back through 27 ages.

Grendel, for all his proud family lineage, was a throwback to the Olyrnn family. Suffering from some childborn accident…a few times, he was a simpler elf and his father, the Duke, wanted him to get a less etheric education. He wanted him to experience life away from the elven intrigue. Not too long, only a decade or two, just enough to file some of Grendel’s edges off.

He interviewed, along with his father and elder brother, with Asher and Shim for a bit, eventually being green lit to join the party. We even got a stipend from the Duke for taking him on. It was at the end when Sharil let an ominous threat pass that, “If anything happens to my brother, I will make it my life’s work to exact retribution from you Captain Asher and any and all of your descendants. I have literally centuries on my hand and nothing else to do.”

We had some drinks with the burly fighter and then after getting some conversation went down to the Hanging’s Sword’s private Fight Club (that we do NOT talk about!) in the basement and he and Connal sparred for a bit.

We rested up and then went shopping at the Tradepost, buying all sorts of items that we might need in the Dungeon. Finally we were finished and it was time for us to make the trip back to Bork Keep, eventually arriving later in the day on Restmonth the 25th.

Youth Group! TOEE - Meet 1

My daughter is back home after 2 plus years in FLA for college and before she came back, asked if she could have her friends over again for D&D. And she wanted me to run it for them again. So I've carved out some Wednesday nights for now and had them roll up the five count of characters. No one is playing a front line person!

Human wizard, half-elven sorcerer, gnomish wizard, half-elven druid, human cleric.

All a mix of 1st and 3.5 edition. So I took them through a modified start of Temple of Elemental Evil and they made their way to Hommlet

Follows:

Some three years earlier a poor excuse for a wizard made a serious of mistaken summoning attempts, ripping the safeguards and wards between our world and the beyond, and tried his best to wrest the attention and control of a demonic entity in order to exact his vengeance against a perceived slight from another wizard’s school.

This single cataclysmic event allowed the demon, Iuz the Foul, to enter our world. After shattering the paltry wards keeping him in space, he immediately summoned his 7 lieutenants to his side. They in turn summoned their 7 next most powerful aides, and so on until like a devouring wave, the Demon Wars were unleashed on our world.

In the intervening 29 months, it has taken an almost heroic and miraculous amount of effort, spells, swords, and loss of wizards and clerics that will shake the world for generations to come, before Iuz and his henchmen have been brought to bay one at a time. Since they are here on the Prime Material Plane, if they are slain, they will be returned to Hell where they will plunge through the Astral Plane much diminished and be denied portalling back for 100 years. Iuz is in retreat at this time but he is not defeated and is marshalling his forces for another attempt at conquest.

Verbonbac, where you and your friends have been for the last few years, is within striking distance of Iuz the Foul. The Council of Guilds wants to prevent Iuz from rebuilding his magics so has been closing and dismantling repositories in his way. Which resulted in you and your friends getting this letter a few months ago:

Congratulations on your final weeks tenure at the Verbonbac University for Higher Learning. Consider this letter as your acertation that you have completed the necessary work, study, and efforts to have achieved the status of Journeyman in your related fields.

As you are aware, the city of Verbonbac had been under the threat of the Iuz the Foul for these last 2 years. Even though his forces have been met in the field and dispersed for now, the Council of Guilds have decided for the time being to shutter the University at this time to prevent any possible issues or loss of life.

Because of this, we are reassigning your commissions to the east. Since the University is to be closed, there is no need for professorship or teaching positions to be filled at this time. What we have done though is shuffled your Journeyman cards with the Guild of Adventurers and will be sending you into the field for some practical work and potential learning! Isn’t that great? Aren’t you all lucky!

You are hereby ordered to make your way east to the end of the Duchy where you will make your home at a city called Hommlet. According to some rough reports from the King’s Men, a number of odd weather incidents have occurred there in the last number of months. This could be happenstance, or something that might be residual from Iuz the Foul and his demonic influences. Either way, you are reported to attend to the matters and resolve them. Only then and upon completion are you then allowed to return to Greyhawk, The Shining Jewel.

Once again, congratulations on your graduation and your new assignment.

Wizardlord Mordenkainen,

Archmage,

Greyhawk

It seems that the presence of a powerful demonic entity can have a direct effect on local weather patterns. With so many being investigated throughout the land, and the lack of possible investigators, your commission as teachers and professors in the College have been handed over to the Adventuring Guild. Effectively, you’ve been drafted to investigate and if need be, resolve this matter.

So, you and your friends set out from Verboncac on a single wagon with a poor horse and enough food and water for 2 weeks to the far end of the Duchy to the Town of Hommlet. Ophelia, the human Priestess of Athena; Aredhel, Half-elven Sorcerer and her fraternal twin Albert the Human Wizard; Pestle, the gnomish Wizard; and Rowan, Half-Elven Druid of Demeter. It has been a long journey and the party’s thoughts are dark and grey as the miles fade behind him. Finally on Birthmonth the 4th, 195, Courtsday, they came at long last down the long road to Hommlet.

Where they immediately felt even more betrayed. As it wasn’t a city. Barely a town. Maybe 30 buildings? Not counting barns. The first person they saw, a farmer, offered little welcome and pointed out that they should just “keep going to the Inn of the Welcome Wench, ya daft sheets got no time ta be talkin’ to road morons wandrin’ in from Zeus knows where…”

Clearly we were not going to be making friends.

The group followed the road to a decent sized 3 story structure with a carthouse and stables. A stablehand and two younger assistants came out. Named Ales, they bartered the horse and cart being stabled, even promising to fix the wonky wheel. We entered the Inn of the Welcome Wench where Ostler Gundigroot, Innkeeper, was more welcoming to us. We ate some mutton and mead, chatted a bit about the strange issues, and he directed us to go and talk to the Village Elder “down the road to the east.” He did confide that he was on the Elder’s council (numbering 7) and that Hommlet has had some “strange goings on, but doesn’t everyplace nowadays?”

We arranged a room and then after finishing our repast, went east. Near some keep and tower construction being put in place, we came upon the Elder’s Manorhouse. The gate was closed and we rang the bell until a well dressed manservant came out. He immediately took umbrage with Albert and then refused to even announce us. The group tried again, counseling Albert to “rein it in”, this time getting the manservant, Ventatia, to bring them in.

The Elder was an older man, maybe 60 plus, and he had 4 sons, two of which were very young (under 10), and two others that were in their 30’s. Named Auva, we discussed the strange going ons with the weather. Bouts of rain that were barely an hour long but dropped 2 or even more inches of water. A fire at the stonemason’s that consumed part of the wall. Even a situation at the north end of town where the waterwheel slipped off its foundation. The party can investigate, please, but DO NOT ALARM THE PEOPLE. If there is an issue? Bring it to him and the council's attention immediately. He did drop Burne and Rufus’s name, located at the tower. Burne was the town’s wizard. Also mentioned Terjon, cleric at the church of St. Cuthbert. As for the stonemason, name was Grove and he might be able to shed more light.

We opted to talk with Grove first. The Stonemason was affable and we spoke with him for a bit. There was a kiln on the east side of his yard where he made bricks and had been a hay pile on the west end of his yard. 10 or so days ago a freak fire started at the hay and consumed it all – even cracking the stone wall. But NOT the mortar. How would it start over there? The burn made no sense, neither did the destruction. Terjon had already investigated it and said that it was an accident and not a sign.

Albert and Pestle wanted to spend some time really checking it out so while they investigated the place, Ophelia, Aredhel, and Rowan went to the tower at the construction site to see if they could talk with Burne. The tower had been finished, rising 55’ over the ground, and the foundations of the keep were being put in place. Guards were watching us and eventually we met with Rufus. Rufus was in his mid 20’s, not too bright, pretty strong, and fancied himself a lady’s man. He took immediately to Aredhel and Ophelia, almost ignoring Rowan.

He and Burne arrived here 3 years ago, commissioned by the Viscount to help oversee the construction of the keep. Upon completion the Viscount was going to lord someone in town, most likely on the council, and Rufus hopes it’s him. He was chatty and led the group up the tower to Burnes’ room. Burnes was not like Rufus; a notch over 40, small pot belly, reedy, thin, wispy hair. He was also wearing a traditional wizard’s robe and hat festooned with stars, moons, and symbols. He had a habit of calling himself, “Burnes, his most Worshipful Mage of Hommlet”. They also realized that Burnes was most likely not his given name, but another name he gave himself. They talked for a bit, got the impression that he was a follower of St Cuthbert, and spoke highly of Terjon. “If he said there’s nothing to worry about, then there is nothing to worry about.”

He mentioned a few times that the group would be done in a few days with their investigation, see there was nothing to be concerned about, and be on their way soon. Rowan played coy and thanked the wizard, and Rufus led them back out of the tower, promising to “come to the Welcome Wench” and see Ophelia and Aredhel. They all left, noting the guards up top were keeping an eye on the group. “We are NOT meeting with Rufus,” both women commented, Aredhel admitting that Rufus was too creepy. “He’s like a Himbo.”

Back at Groves, they spoke with the wizards who said that there were no residual magics here but the burn and crack of the wall was too focused and intense for a simple hay fire and suspected some sort of sorcery was afoot. It was getting late but the party wanted to stop and see Terjon at the Church of St. Cuthbert.

So they all went west, past the Inn, took the road north, went through much of the town, and across the stream, on the hill came upon the Church. Pestle was weary and wanted to rest so the others went in. The main cleric was a handsome man named Calmer and he spoke with the party, talking about donations and that the church was helping to erect the keep. They eventually had the chance to talk with Terjon and Ophelia and Albert did their best to ask him questions. But he deflected answers and spoke about the investigations being inconclusive. When we tried to give some details as to what we thought, he downplayed their findings and came up with even more reasons why they were wrong. He did let drop that our concerns sounded like Jaroo, the druid that lived near the Inn, and we shouldn’t listen to “that reprobate. He smokes weed all day and is friends with a bear – not exactly someone a right thinking person would consider effective!”

We left, went to the Inn and talked. We wanted to check on with Jaroo tomorrow, and also go to the Miller and see about the millwheel. Also, it had been dropped that many of the rainstorms were on Restday – and that was only 2 days away. So we were going to keep our eye out for that. Most of us took advantage of a bath to get the road grime off (not Albert), and then we turned in and went to sleep for tonight.

Meet 22, Adv 10, 6/25/22

 Before we went through either door, Thon (And Connal) went down the hall to listen to each. He was sure that it was quiet at each door, and a short search let him know the doors were not locked and most likely not trapped. The water was still on the floor coming from under the north door. After some time though, Thon tentatively opened the south door and looked in.

It was a decent sized room and there indeed was a set of stairs going down on the west end of the chamber. It was cool here, and the steps had a low roiling fog of chilled air acting as a mist. The southeast corner had a lizard man tied up there. He had a rope around his head and tied back to his ankles, dragging his neck open. It had been slit and from the intermittent torch light, it seemed that he had another half dozen stab wounds in the side of his skull.

“Yah,” Thon grunted. “Let’s not go in here just yet.” He went to the north door and looked in there. Another sizable chamber but this one had a few buckets, the north and west walls were oozing some water, coming through as if under pressure, and there were 3 dead bugbears in here. Again, the room was cold – not frozen. He nodded and said to the monk, “Yah, pretty much as I expected. Nothing special. Let’s get the others.”

They went back and discussed what had been seen, the group deciding to head down the steps after going into the waterlogged chamber first. The thought was the Frostman (who was promised to be here but was now conspicuously absent) probably stayed here and was responsible for the water-troll (Scrag) not wandering about. With him being missing, the water has melted and the Scrag is now walking free.

As for the bugbears, no sign as to what killed them, but they had been submerged until recently. Brading checked out the water directly, standing in the streams of it but outside of it having a faint brackish or briny taste, no specific identifier where it originated from. We went back to the stairs down and checked out the lizardman…with OUT touching it. In fact, Asher eventually did a detect undead spell, getting a nascent budding but not active feeling from the lizardman. Ok – might be undead if we fuck with it – so let’s don’t!

We travelled down the steps, where they turned to the left, went some distance, and turned again. The air grew colder as we went lower and eventually, we were on the 2nd level! Um…again! Some writing on the wall here and the floor had a layer of ice on it. Passage “T”’ed here, most of the cold and ice was south. So we went north. Torch and lantern were getting low, so we relit and refilled them and travelled on.

A side passage went off to the west and there was a door down there, but we kept going north. Eventually we came to a closed door and once Thon gave us the ok, we opened it up to see another fountain room! Very nice! The center of the fountain was stylized version of Yggdrassil. We took out the Bandersnatch Horn and everyone took a shot at drinking. About half of us had no bad effect, the others got a few special boons. Some time had passed and we discussed other options on where to go, whether out the door to the north or back south – when the matter was taken from our hands.

The south door opened up and a horde of armed and armored kobolds were there! We estimated 30, but was most likely more (actually 41!) and we were not looking to get a fight. They wanted us to leave and were getting geared up to engage with us when the party retreated out the north door – to see an oversized Shrieker in the hallway! A monster of a specimen, the group was caught between a rock and a hard place when Brading cast a silence spell on the behemoth and the group stepped up to try and destroy it, closing the door to the fountain room behind.

The problem was the huge myconid was dropping lots of spores and even more were spewing out when we struck deep enough. So much so that Captain Asher and Rhygar had gotten covered in them. And it was eating their clothes as well as growing on their face. So the old axiom, Kill it With Fire, came into play and the burning torch was pressed against both men, setting the fungal bloom ablaze and hurting both of them in the process. Asher had to replace his boots and pants (luckily he had a spare of each) and after all healed up and ready, we headed north.

And through the large archway on the west side, was a curled up wingless dragon on a mass of boxes, bags, and loose coin. And he was getting bothered that we had been so noisy. Named Tyrannous he had been awakened by the party talking and was willing to let them past. Since Thon was there, he asked Thon for his pouch, had him tell him what was inside, told him to take out a gold piece – and then toss the remainder, pouch and all, into the room. And now he can go past.

Er…crap.

We wanted to head back and wanted the kobolds to finish with the fountain. So we promised to be quiet and waited for Tyrannous to fall asleep again – and then we waited. It was a bit before 10 when we heard nothing in the fountain room so we went that way again, no kobolds, and headed on south. We took a detour down the side hall where it ended a door. Locked, we picked the lock and made our way in. A large statue of a dragon snake was here but it looked like it could be rotated. So we turned it slowly and then it lifted a bit, and pivoted down – revealing a floor trap that lead down to another room.

The party took turns looking down there. Some sort of temple/shrine to a snake god. Asher counseled us on leaving it alone and going away. There was a 15’ long snakeskin in here, and the passage south went off to the darkness and gloom. A closed and locked chest, a key in an offering cup on the altar. But thon took the robes, holy symbol, and sandals. We then got out, lit another torch, closed it all up behind us and made our way with speed to the stairs.

Up again on the 1st level, we were racing against time to head back to the Entrance One. We navigated the slopes up, long hall, and then slope down. Wending our way to the west of the Bugbear area we kept going until we came to the stair up and with a handful of minutes left before we would have needed the chime, we emerged back to the surface again, and came to Bork Keep at 11:30 on Restmonth the 23rd.

Meet 21, Adv 10, 6/18/22

The group was pretty weary at this time. But we wanted the chance to go into Entrance One, and maybe hit the Vault of Lathandar. So we hit the Mess Hall, made our way to bed, and eventually fell asleep early. We eventually woke up in the wee hours of the night, ate a breakfast, prayed, studied, and by quarter after 4 in the AM on Restmonth the 23rd, made our way back to the Terror Dungeon Entrance and descended into the depths below.

The stairs took us down eventually emerging at the wreckage and mess of the main entrance hall. The floor was damp and there was a salty scent to the air. The damp areas were regularly spaced out, the party assuming they were footprints. Door on the east wall had the lock smashed and bored out and a listen there had some deep humanoid sounding voices within. We guessed Quillians.

South door was partially ajar, and the thought was the wet foot prints went through that door as well as originated from it. So we went there, pushed the door partially open, and something on the other side of the door was hit and grunted.

Fuck..Fuck.

Eventually it was revealed that some 9’ tall poorly dressed wrinkled grey skin humanoid talking a language that Shim said was faintly related to giant. We rolled some copper towards it and it allowed a few of us to pass. An attempt to give it silver had it grow irate and threaten to eat the gnome. But copper allowed us to pass. The thought was maybe…troll? Sea troll? Darius went over the map and there was a section with a very wet floor. So we assumed it was coming from there.

Once we were allowed to pass, the group continued south down the long hall, past the everburn torch, and then eventually around to the room with the sloping wall and destroyed sleeping area. We entered and the door on the east was set in an alcove, and the passage to the west turned a bit and then sloped up.

We did find a bear trap (set!) near the closed door and the sound of bugbears on the other side led us to believe that either bugbears set the bear trap to catch monsters…or some monster set it to catch wayward bugbears. During all this the sea troll (Scrag) wandered into the room, gave us a wave, and then went up the slope before moving on. We waited a bit for it to get ahead and then we climbed up the slope (thanks to Darius and Connal) where we stopped at the “T” intersection, door on the north wall.

Opening the door revealed a small room and then the Glyph Gate. The party talked about all the bits that they remembered navigating the gate before. Pig’s blood was needed . We lit a new torch and then Connal walked forward, touched the presenting gem on the lintel and it went red, absorbing the blood before the gate opened and a countdown began.

We all came in to the small 10’x10’ room, door on the east and west. Door on the east had been marked that this was the right way but we had also written on it that “this is bullshit” – remembering the banshees on the other side. So we went west.

It was a seraglio with pillows, some music from somewhere, and a column going up to the ceiling with elven faces carved in it, all of them with the eyes scratched out. Door on the north wall had 3 oversized wheel locks numbered 0 to 9. Shim and Thon remembered about finding the one set of eyes that was not scratched out and the gnome on the half-orc’s shoulders climbed up to the one set and looked through the glass lenses in the eyes there and read the numbers seen.

1.0.2.

Spinning the dials to that combination we opened the door to show a smallish room and hall, choked with skeletons with shields, helms, and spears. A thin path wove through it. We made it through to the hall beyond. We know the vault was locked and the key was behind the door here on the east wall. But there were undead in there. So Brading cast Invisibility to Undead on himself, Asher, Connal, and Thon – the monk and fighter/thief being the two who would go in and get the key.

We unbarred the room and it had what looked like 8 steamer trunks, 4 of them with a light coming from it. A dwarf was sitting on the far end of the room, chain and key around his neck, guts spilled out around him. Connal and Thon each went in around the north and south end of the room, walking slowly to the dwarf on the chair. At this time 2 zombies were disgorged from the trunks and being invisible for now – they ignored the 2 men. The approached the dwarf and using a set of pliers, lifted the key free, making the guts squirm, and then yanked it off.

And the dwarf’s guts reached out like mad, dragging the dead body with it, as they tried to get Thon. The zombies were sort of blocking the way so Connal leapt up onto one of the trunks and flipped over the dead guys and then everyone ran into the hall, slamming the door closed and barring it. Hooray.

We went down the hall to the vault, used the key, and entered – but doing so woke up the army of the dead – and all the skeletons started coming down the hall to us. We shut the door from this side, locked it, and looked around. The thought was to leave something here and get something for one of us. So we left Connal’s chainmail shirt and took a medium metal shield for Rhygar.

And then BAMPF – we were back outside the room amidst a spray of dust, wind, and grit.

And the Scrag was walking past the area frowning, holding a really large picnic (pickinick) basket and a checkerboard red and white rolled up blanket. It grunted, shook its head, and kept going south.

Realized we still had time on the clock, so to speak, we decided to go right back in. So once more we presented another vial of pig’s blood and did the gem thing and ended up back through the Glyph Gate.

But things were not quite the same. There was no music. Doors were open, and we could hear the skeletons in the hall getting back in place. Eventually when the area was once more “in place”, the doors all closed and the area was fresh again! So we did everything again, only faster and with less issue, making our way through once more to the Vault, blocked out the skeletons trying to get in, and Brading put one of his hand axes there so Connal could get his now silvered magical chainmail shirt.

And once more back in the hall. So from here we decided to explore south. There was a closed door that we knew had some sort of deadfall behind it, kept going. Big room with trees growing from the floor, unharvested for a while. Secret door led us to the area to rest in and we then went back to the hall and kept going south. There was a door that was closed and we thought might have some Grues behind it? Either way we felt unsure.

Big area down here had an Ogre tribe marking standard and a big slope down. So we sent the rope down and shim scooted down the slope to a decent sized chamber.

Where the Scrag was having a picnic with 4 Ogres. Everyone was just staring at one another as Connal pulled the gnome BACK up the slope and we all beat feet north all the way back up and around and down the other slope and to the room that had the bear trap.

We wanted to make contact with the bugbears and give up the information about the barrels, continue the idea of Captain Asher, and try to make some relation with Zandark. We knocked and a few bugbears there were swayed that the half elf was Captain Asher (it had been seen in other places that Captain Asher was and was not a bugbear). They had been watching some monsters in cages (one was a damned ghoul!), but Captain Asher indicated that he wanted to speak with Zandark and everyone with him were his slaves.

We made our way through to the large central bugbear concentration where it was split as to believing if we were  on the level but luckily the Ettin Horatio and Grunt admitted to knowing us and yes…that was Captain Asher. Which swayed every other bugbear there. We made our way to Zandark and had much conversation with him. We gave him the barrel stave marked as his, and the bugbear beer. We wanted the chance to get the rest of the barrels back.

Asher was pushing for a strike squad to come with us but Zandark went on about another group of 6 that never came back. Filthy Ogres must have killed them. Did offer us a wheelbarrow to help get them back we thought it seemed like a terrible idea. Even offered to give Captain Asher a potion of Polymorph that would turn him “back” into a bugbear permanently…which the Captain fast talked his way out of doing.

We did settle on maybe going through the other entrance near here, going through the 2nd level, back to the other side, and then up again. It was rather lame but the idea was sold with passage for us to get through. The slaves were also given names like the Fist of Asher with Connal punching people for the Captain. But the breakout one was the Sex Slave which Thon classified Darius to be…and sadly the bugbears and the rest of the group ran with it. No he was not used or abused, but it was strongly hinted that that was his purpose. Darius did not take it well, but kept silent.

We made our way through and to the south, Connal giving the last guy a punch for good measure, and from there walked to the crossroads and turned west where there were 2 doors at the end of the hall – north and south side – and the north side the floor was very wet.

Meet 20, Adv 10, 6/4/22

Found out that another long term player at my table is moving - this time to Pennsylvania. Sigh. So, I will be looking for two - one to replace Kate who replaced Kelly, and another to now replace TJ who will be leaving in July. I don't mind doing it, but it's a lot of work and effort and after the entire Kate thing, I will admit I'm a bit more bummed. But gotta be done! As it is, the group is still working the missing pieces of the Terror Dungeon at this time.

Follows:

We decided to keep exploring for a few more hours after our time in the Terror Tavern, and checking the two other halls, opted to head east. Passage went a dozen feet and turned south, with a door on the north wall. A check of the area showed that the ground around the door and part of the hall was trapped – and opening the door most likely triggered it. Thon had us back off a bit and we figured to leave it alone for now, heading south instead.

Shim offered to cast a spell to open it and we took the gnome up on it. The portal opened and sure enough, a pit opened up both in the hall and the room – all one large area. And in the bottom of the bit, 10’ down, was a 10’ gelatinous cube.

Great. The room beyond seemed to have some symbology to Tyr in it but we couldn’t be too sure. Brading tossed his almost spent torch within and Captain Asher was more confident it was some sort of shrine to the one handed god. But without an easy way to jump in, we figured to leave it for now. Also, there was no obvious way to close the pit, so we left it open behind us and hoped it would close on its own later. We went south.

The hall was real clean, evidence that at some point the cube must have gotten free. No dirt or grit. There was a single door on the opposite far end of the room. Yeah. We didn’t want to risk being here with a gelatinous cube at our back (Asher agreed!), plus it looked like the cube in the pit was shimmying back and forth in an attempt to climb up and out. It seemed to be attracted to our presence.

So let’s leave.

We went back to the Tavern and from there went north. Passage ended at a door and after Thon gave the ok, Connal opened it – revealing a room with pale grass growing DOWN from the ceiling 15’ up, waving in some gentle breeze, with only 3’ clear space on the bottom. Looking across the passage continued north across the room (along with the bleating of many sheep), and there was a door on the west side of the chamber.

There was some crawling to check it all out, plus we were concerned with the grasses – but at the end of it all, we decided it was ok to cross the room. From here we could see a passage heading north, open archways on both sides, at least 2 sets.

We wanted to check the door first and after clearing it, Thon had Connal open it – showing a short hall (20’?) that ended at another door. And through that, we could hear a LOT of monkey sounds hooting and hollering. We debated the merits of opening it and decided not to, heading back to the grass room and checking north.

The 1st opening on the right was some sort of crude cell area. Some sheep droppings, small bugs crawling about, tiny fast lizards eating the turds. Crude pallet, rug that had been eaten, small chest on a stone platform and a noose hanging from the ceiling.

From here we could look across and up the hall to the next room – and there were some 400# really angry sheep in there. Their coats were made of coarse steel wool and they sported canines and fangs as well. And it looks like they had trampled and partially eaten some sort of baboon to death. (That must be what was in the hooting room).

We whispered about the merits of gathering some steel wool, knowing that someone at the GRSAG really wanted it, but just going in and whacking the sheep seemed foolish. Attention was turned back to the box and Thon was sure that there was some contact poison on the lock – no way to pick it without a key or touching it. We cast a Delay Poison on the Half-Orc and feeling good, he picked the lock, getting the poison on his hands AND getting an aerosol puff from the chest opening. But the spell protected him for now.

The chest had a set of large shears made of some meteoric iron, and 26 over sized copper coins/disks. One side said “Loser” and the other side said “Kill yourself”. Yeah, we took none of them. We shut the chest and decided the shears were good enough for now. We didn’t want to fight the sheep yet, so instead turned and went south again. And it was past the grass room in the hall to the tavern, that 3 Gargoyles encountered us and we fell to combat.

Like above, the stony creatures were difficult to combat and we went through quite a number of hits. But not being surprised and having the narrow hall prevent them from hitting the party from multiple fronts kept us in the fight longer and with more effectiveness than before. We still had to shuffle the line a bunch and Brading and Asher did their part with a number of healing spells at the combat’s end.

We talked about options and went back to check on the gelatinous cube – the pit was closed and the cube was once again trapped within. Alright. So the group went to check out the room again..and the far door. There had been something scratched into the door but it was pretty worn smooth most likely from the cube passing in front of it. But we did read:

ARNIN

LOW TIM

We talked about what it could be and figured the 2 outer letters from each row must be missing. Warning, made the most sense for the top one, but the bottom we went over a few times and came up with either Glow Time or Slow Time.

It was time to open the door. The hall was long here, easily 50’, and light seemed to behave strangely in it, scintillating and moving like a wave. That gave us the thought of Glow Time. We threw rocks…nothing special but weird dust contrails when the rock hit. Apples did the same thing. Hmm. Thon really wanted to check it out. So we roped him up and he went down, testing the area  as he went. It was about 20’ down that we noted he was moving very slow and to him, everyone as talking really fast. Also, pulling him back was VERY hard as momentum was working against the group.

But to him, he heard around the corner deep rhythmic breathing, snoring, like something REAL big. Eventually he was coaxed out and getting a conversation with him was rough as he was moving and talking slow. It took at least 10 minutes before he “sped” back up to our speed. Nah, we didn’t want to go there now or just yet.

There was another hall outside the Carrion Crawler chamber that went west and smelled like dog. So we went back north to the Tavern, then south and around to the Stairs up…and THEN some more west and then north. Smell of rotting meat was getting more noticeable. Passage turned west and there was an opening to the north and a door some 20’ past that at the end of the hall. The opening had an odd shaped chamber with old straw and bits of dog, cat, and even the hind quarter of a horse. All ripped apart and eaten. Grues? Maybe. There was a door in here going north and Darius suggested it linked up maybe with the Baboon/Hooting room.

We opted to go west to the end of the hall and Thon checked out the door. Once sure it was ok, we opened it up…and there was a moaning sound, a gust of wind, and 5 damned horses came through! They were startled and scared and we backed up as they trotted past us and moved down the hall – making a LOT of noise and heading away. Carrion Crawlers? Grue? Sheep? We waited 5 minutes and then decided we should make for the first floor and the exit for now.

At the Crawler room, the crawlers had paralyzed one of the horses (others kept going?) and we decided to sneak past them. Looking under the stairs we could see the boxes and barrels were marked from the Bugbear clan above and said “Property of Zandark”. The famed barrels that had been missing some 5 months ago…

The barrels were filled with hundreds of onions and the boxes had huge bolts of burlap. And some bugbear alcohol! Thon wanted to take, and Brading a few as well. We hatched a plan to take some of the stuff back to the bugbears to prove we were here to help. And then we noticed the pulsing egg sack under the steps with LOTS of time carrion crawlers there.

Oil and fire. And then we ran around and up the stairs and the Crawlers came to investigate. Once on the first floor we had a few horses milling about. So we led them through the gargoyle room and Darius wanted to test out the Orc statues and get one of the horses to pass between the huge statues. And it made a bolt of hot electric plasma shoot out and score the horse in the neck, upsetting it and making it run away.

The others were not happy and we followed them up and around to the north where at the secret door we went through and left the horses behind. Most likely to either fight and face an ogre, a gargoyle, or a Grue. As we also said, not our problem.

On the other side of the secret door – was the horse that had been burned! Wow. He was skittish but stayed nearby as Shim Open/Closed the one way door and we got through, coming around to the Entrance 2. And it was at 5:30 on Restmonth the 22nd that we finally climbed up and out of the Terror Dungeon, back in Bork Keep again.