Session06

10th April 216B Red Kate sent the party on a journey to determine the fate of the Dwarves in their mountain settlement to the north. After some discussion on how best to complete the journey, the party decided to avoid the wilds and stick to the safe, beaten path. 17th April 216B After an uneventful journey, the party arrived at the Dwarven fortress of Glimmerhaum. The fortress itself was set in a mountain range which, in spite of its relatively young age, showed signs of advanced weathering. Furthermore, the main entrance to the fortress was overrun by a plague of Halfmen. Negotiation with the Halfmen inspired the party to scour the mountainside for signs of other ways in. While scouting, Mel, in cougar form, detected the scent of Orcs and something else, possibly reptilian. Exploration of one of the deeper caves revealed a fissure which ran some eighty feet deep into the earth. At the bottom of the fissure stood two creatures that looked like some manner of demon-Orc hybrid. They were accompanied by a foul imp-like creature who they were conversing with in Fell tongue. The party decided to lure the creatures out of the fissure and dispatch them. Toward this end, Essandri employed a ghost sound to mimic the mating calls of two amorous Halfmen. Attracted by what must have seemed a promising meal, the two Orcs and the devilish creature began their ascent. The impish creature, which upon closer examination, was found to resemble a horned, bat-winged infant was the first to exit the fissure. It let forth a dreadful wail that sapped the strength of those who heard it. Fortunately, Essandri stood ready to blind the terrible toddler with a color spray. Its magical levitation cushioned its fall but Aleksander far-handed the creature back into sword range. Moge and Mel injured it despite its resistance to non-magical armaments and another of Essandri's color sprays sent a climbing Orc plunging to its death. Aleksander delayed the second Orc with grease as others concentrated on killing the demon-baby. Unfortunately, the creature shook off the stunning effect of Essandri's spell and fled downward. A second grease from Aleksander, however, managed to dislodge the remaining Orc whose falling body quite thoroughly crushed the demon baby. After fishing with some rope and hooks, the party was able to determine that none of the creatures were carrying anything of value. Tired from their ordeal, they retired to the Halfmen's fort to rest for a night. 18th April 216B After an uneventful day's rest, the party decided to seek their fortunes behind one of the doors sealed by the Halfman's' clerics. Opening the door revealed a longish room with a deep chasm in the center spanned by a precarious rope bridge. Across the chasm lay a pile of bodies arranged before a great iron door. Much discussion was made of how best to cross the chasm without using the almost certainly trapped rope bridge and it was decided that Mel should employ his druidic powers to carve a path through the wall at some later date. In the mean time, the bodies were to be set aflame to prevent their reanimation. Aleksander hastened to the task with matter agitation, which had just the opposite effect, causing the bodies to rise up and charge across the bridge. Katie was able to repel them by invoking Athena while Moge and Korvath cut the ropes, flinging several of them down into the chasm. Aleksander proceeded to burn the survivors one by one from a safe distance. Deciding to venture no further with low magic, the party retired to continue their explorations another day. The next day revealed a flaw in the chasm-crossing plan- namely that Mel's magic didn't affect the Dwarven worked stone. With some other magic and a rope, a new bridge was constructed allowing the party to proceed to the other side. Here, they were able to pick through the bodies and discovered the remains of several Dwarven Defenders (note the capitalization of defenders is purely speculative) who had been hewn apart in a horribly violent manner. The door which they had been guarding had been welded shut by some unknown magic as if to prevent the egress of something from within. More importantly, however, was the fact that one of the Dwarves was still dressed in a suit of masterwork full plate. Having found the room sufficiently uninteresting, the party decided to try a second warded Halfman door. Moge, who decided that it might be fun to be blasted for some 24 odd points of damage, triggered a glyph of warding and caused the party to rest for yet another day or two while he moaned about the damage to his "beautiful face". 23rd April 216B This time the party safely bypassed the wards, and proceeded into a rectangular room with the ruins of a spiral staircase in the center and door, near a pile of charred corpses. Deciding that the charred-corpse door would be a poor path to pursue, the party was making plans to descend the staircase when they were set upon by plague-ravens, the ghoulish remains of stirges slain by low-level adventurers in so many First Edition runs. Several points of temporary constitution damage later, the party headed back for some much needed rest. 24th April 216B This time, the party managed to make significant headway down the stairs before being assailed by plague ravens. The battle went much better this time, however, and no day of recovery was taken following battle. Following a tunnel, the party found the remains of the two demon-Orcs and their infant companions. Now with a secondary escape route the party continued to find a room filled with mold, fungus, and the corpses of several diminutive (well, size category Small) humanoids. On advice from Mel, the party steered clear of the deadly fungi and into a cavern whose walls were lined with a myriad of tiny crystals. Several stairways and passages branched off from this room, the first of which led to a warded, elevated platform lined with immense Dwarven sarcophagi. Katie and Aleksander investigated and found signs of recent disturbance, although no signs of desecration, in some of the tombs. Mel, in cougar form, reported through pantomime a sacrifice performed by the Orcs to some sort of monster. Since the purpose of monsters in dungeons is to be slain by adventurers, the party hastened to find the creature. Cursory examination of the monster area revealed nothing so the party decided to make a "sacrifice" of one of the deceased Orcs. Throwing the body against the cliff face cause two Gricks to emerge from crevices in the rock. One of them snatched the body and pulled it back into its crack. Seeing this, the party devised a clever trap for the second Grick in which they tied a rope around another body and greased the Grick's burrow as it tugged on the bait. The Grick popped loose of its hole, and despite its resistance to non-magical weapons, was greased, color sprayed, and cut to pieces. Moge and Mel played tug o' war with the second Grick and another application of grease dislodged that one as well. It met with a fate similar to that of its companion. With the Gricks dead, the party searched their lair and recovered a significant amount of gold. Moge then focused his attention on a stout steel door close to the Gricks' burrows. What must have been several weeks of fine Dwarven craftsmanship was ruined in a mere ten minutes of Half-orcish pounding. Mel scouted ahead and reported signs of Dwarven activity up the staircase that lay behind the door. Ascending the stairs, the party came to a room with three large bronze statues of stately looking Dwarves. One was revealed to be somehow blocking a secret passage, but rather than pursue and cause unnecessary alarm to the Dwarves, Katie left them a note in Lothian and Celestial letting them know that the party would return the next day to talk. Returning to the plague raven nest, the party waded through a tunnel that contained a small stream into what must have been a nest for the demon-Orcs. Two demon-Orcs were found at home but quickly dispatched. After rummaging about in the debris of the Orc lair, the party turned its attention on an adobe door blocking yet another passage. Mel scouted the passage and reported almost twenty demon-Orcs in the room beyond. The party took up ambush positions as Moge called in Orcish something about how he had found food. Moments later, two invisible demon-Orcs and an invisible Sorcer-orc appeared in the midst of the party and began their attack. The Sorcer-Orc threw a sleep spell, but only succeeded in sleeping one of Mel's cats. Battle was quickly joined by a giant lizard, apparently the sorcer-orc's familiar, but the sorcer-orc himself was dispatched by the combined efforts of Moge and Mel. With their leader dead and the passage plugged by the corpse of a giant lizard, the rest of the demon Orcs decided to beat a hasty retreat. The party, wounded from the battles of the day, likewise returned to regain their strength. The Halfmen, having heard about the Halfmen corpses spotted in the fungus room, decided to send clerical aid to retrieve whatever items remained beneath the deadly mold. A looting party descended and returned with two items of particular interest, both recovered from the remains of a Dwarf: his diary, and a bastard sword + 1. The speedy application of a comprehend languages spell allowed the priests to determine that the Dwarf who had perished at the hyphae of the malevolent fungus had been, himself, on a quest to determine the fate of the Dwarves in the mountain almost a dozen years ago. He told of how his journey had taken him along the uncivilized side of the wall where he had been mocked by an Elven sun-cultist only to arrive in the subterranean labyrinth of a Dwarf clan reduced to a state of insanity and cannibalism by an evil presence. His journal told of a hideous shade which rose insubstantially through the floor of the mines and dragged the soul of one of his companions screaming from his still-warm body. Essandri and Aleksander both recognized the description of a "Caller in the Darkness", a dreadfully powerful and vindictive undead psychic entity. They wasted no time in packing their belongings and urged the rest of the party to likewise. At their behest, several of the reasonable Halfmen residents of the fort also evacuated. So it was that the party returned to Wall to live happily ever after for a while, while the foolish and arrogant Halfmen who chose to remain and in their newfound home were likely most gruesomely and horribly killed. The End ENDED (30th April 216B) NEXT TIME : A few weeks in the city. REWARDS ------- Treasure for each party member (including Korvath) - 1216 gp 9 sp 3 cp Notable Loot included Boots of striding and springing (given to Katie by old harridan?) Bastard sword of Dwarven hero. (sold) Scalemail of Dwarven hero. (sold) Diary of Dwarven hero. Masterwork Dwarven full plate (on paladin). (sold) Broken sword of Dwarven paladin. (magical/special alloy?) (sold) items commissioned: (at slightly discounted rates?) magical bastard sword (Moge) 1850 magical breastplate (Moge) 1050 magical short sword (Katie) 1850 ring of prot+1 resizes (Mel) 1750 XP Summary ---------- XP for PCs involved - 1750 XP for Korvath - 875 Experience Rewards ------------------ +175 Charles (for Summary) +100 Aleksander (creative use of grease) +100 Katie (finding corpse of lady's son) +1 Korvath (not making a single muffin joke during his captivity with the halfmen)