All indented text is from Wizards of the Coast, the Thunderspire Labyrinth adventure.
We left off in the Chamber of the Well, the first room in the complex. Group scout Mendas investigated the westward passage, a short hallway leading to a door. The rough smell of animals emanated from the door, and the halfling heard muffled yips and the padding of feet. Deciding to be cautious, the party investigated the other passage. They wound north and came to a huge complex!
Blood stains the floor here. Crimson trails run from a set of double doors in the east down the corridor and into a door to the west. A sudden chill washes over you. The cold seems to penetrate your body, causing an involuntary shiver. Three spectral figures appear faintly before you, rising out of the bloodstains. The ghostly figures raise their hands in greeting.
The ghosts sent Mendas running, but Erik the Green strode forward brandishing his hammer and brooking no ghost hooh-hah. As the cleric entered the room, the spectral lights formed into three ghosts:
Valdrog the Brute: Valdrog appears as a male goliath who has a thick, black beard and is clad in chainmail. His spectral armor is ripped apart because the Guardian killed him by tearing him in half. Valdrog was a cleric of Kord, and he speaks with a
booming voice.
Sir Terris: This lizardfolk was a paladin of Pelor and served as the group’s valiant defender. Terris wears plate armor and keeps his helm’s faceplate closed. He was slain when the Guardian crushed his skull with a single bite.
Mendara the Mystic: The group’s wizard, Mendara is a dragonborn who died by the dragon’s breath. She wears green robes and carries a staff.
Mendara introduced herself and started a spiel, but she quickly interrupted herself. She looked at the strange-looking party and determined they were allied with the gnolls... after all, they were of unknown species and lacked good honest scales. The party prodded her into revealing that the ghosts had died here in the complex, and were tasked with aiding other adventurers where they had failed. But she was not sure that the vikings were a positive force in the dungeon; or if the ghosts' aid would lure them to their deaths if they were insufficiently mighty. The party buckled down for a skill challenge!
And it happened... I tried to introduce drama into this, but it didn't work too well. The players very quickly racked up four failures out of the six allowed. And these were failures on sure things, like Bartix the wizard rolling Arcana. The party couldn't really buckle down and try to correct, as they had already been trying their A-game. But luck improved, and the party slowly got back on course and completed the challenge.
Satisfied, Melora told them the following:
This place is the Proving Grounds, a testing place for worshipers of the demon lord Baphomet. You must find four items: a knife, a mask, a bell, and a book. You must place each of these items on one of four circles of runes found in this complex. The items must be placed on the runes at the exact same time.
Three of the items are held within chambers built to test Baphomet’s worshipers. You can find these chambers to the north, west, and south of where we now stand, through these eastern double doors and then through another set of double doors that leads to the west.
The fourth item, the book, is on an altar in a small shrine to the east.
To the east of the Proving Grounds is the inner sanctum. Its door opens only when the proper ceremony is completed. The items used for the ceremony disappear if you try to remove them from the Well of Demons, and upon completion of the ceremony, they return to their former locations.
Completing this ceremony summons the terrible Guardian and activates several traps in the area. The Guardian is a green dragon imprisoned here. It can swoop past its prey and attack. It emerges from a great pit in the center of the complex.
Each of the chambers in this complex has a magical trap designed to harass intruders. The central corridor is the fastest way to move around, but it also has its own trap: a crushing sphere of magical force that rolls along its length.
Oh, and by the way, there is a treasure hidden in the complex. It is hidden beneath the altar in the chamber south of here.
The ghosts faded from view, but had warned the vikings of the gnolls, their worship of Yeenoghu (SP?), and their general evilness. This spurned the party to return to the opening of the Well and putting some effort into killing gnolls!
They went back to the smelly door. Mendas oiled the hinges and cautiously krept in. He found a hallway leading to several other rooms. In one, three gnolls lounged around, unaware of his presence. In another, he found, well, we never got to that, because an arrow came out of the darkness in front of him. We rolled initiative!
The vikings rushed in, but the gnolls were going first. Mendas took another arrow, but then dropped back from the passage and took on a defensive position next to the doorway.
Next, four hyenas! They are fast and could cross the whole hallway. They tried to bite and scratch, and I think one of them connected! I ran hyenas out of the Monster Manual, which are Level 2 monsters, and I was surprised when they did anything but die.
The party kicked into high and killed the hyenas in short succession. But another gnoll had come out of the darkness to set up a firing position, and were peppering the party with arrows.
Oddny wondered what the soldier gnolls in the middle room were up to: they didn't seem to be moving! She charged into the hallway, and realized that the gnolls had moved, had been hiding in the hallway, and were holding action to attack! Oddny hit one with her sword, and two more stabbed at her with their spears. No one got through the plate armor, though.
Varin got to the midway point in the hallway and began laying down curses on the gnolls, supported by Bartix. Zach had left for the night, so Marc was rolling for the wizard. And he couldn't get above a four. This led to a lot of stray magic missiles.
Erik, Mendas, and Rurik rolled in to the hallway to help Oddny with the newly discovered soldier gnolls. This was a 10-foot corridor, and there wasn't a lot of room for combatants, but Mendas helped this by switching places with one of the gnolls and moving him out into the hallway. Then it was the ol' mace'n'axe to take care of him.
As the melee fighters were freed to advance down the hallway, the gnoll archers retreated under some cover. They ran forward and then behind the pen walls. They took some fire from Varin, and the fence's additional defense kept them safe! Meanwhile one of their arrows hit. My dice were pretty cold all night, so I was happy to do some minimal damage to the party. Still, I think I bloodied someone. Speaking of cold dice, Bartix tried to attack! It didn't work!
Erik, Mendas, Oddny, and Rurik crashed into the pens to finish the archers off. And it worked. Done!
One of the gnoll archers had a special magical longbow, which would be handed to Hermiad the ranger whenever he was able to show. There was also 500 gold hidden in one of the beds. Hmm, five beds for 4 gnolls, I guess one of them slept at the feet of someone else, like a dog. That's my no-prize attempt to maintain dungeon ecology.
The search complete, the vikings moved down the corridor. They encountered a door to their left, and Mendas's fine halfing ears revealed a soft base moaning. He cautiously opened the door, and saw a macetail behemoth, imprisoned behind a short fence, arrows protruding from the gaps in its armor plates. Around the fence stalked four hyenas. One of them rolled a 20 as its perception, so they barked and lept at the intruders!
And that's where we left off. Next game begins in situ!
Casualties:
4 Hyenas
2 Gnoll Huntmasters
3 Gnoll Marauders
15 beers
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