Thunderspire Labyrinth: Session 7

Last week we played, christ, part 7 of our Thunderspire Labyrinth arc. We ended in mid-combat last game, and picked it up at the start of a round. I actually liked this break; mainly because we happened to reach a decent stopping point at the end of Round 2.

All indented text is property, copyright, Wizards of the Coast, from their Thunderspire Labyrinth adventure.

The PCs had just shattered the whipping minotaur trap, but not before it knocked Oddny the human paladin and Mendas the halfling rogue into the boiling blood.

From there, three evistros, or carnage demons, popped up and took claw swipes at the fallen vikings! We took up from there, although Erik the human cleric stepped aside, and Bartix the human wizard and Edgar the warforged fighter woke up from the hallway.

As we began combat, Mendas tried to shift back up to the platform and get out of the poison blood. But the platform was a step up, a bit more than a shift could allow. I let Mendas tumble up after a successful Acrobatics check... beating my totally high DC of 30. Oddny, though, had no chance, and had to stick it out.

There were three carnage demons showing, and everyone unloaded on them. Rurik, Hermiad, and Mendas were able to attack hand-to-hand, with Oddny doing the same in the blood. Bartix and Varin fired off spells from the doorway platform.

In the back of the room, another form emerged. A blood demon, holding a staff and snarling, moved up and targeted Oddny with his ranged attack. He conjured up a splash of the boiling blood and hit her. This demon was a level 9 controller, my addition to an encounter that was otherwise just brutes. He worked out pretty well, but I knew I had to keep controllers out of the firing line. This kept some of his buffs from being maximized... he would have been able to aid his comrades, but he would have been lit up by the mages.

My other card was two more carnage demons. I deployed them around the two sides of the platform, where they charged Oddny and Mendas.

Edgar's initiative came up: the fighter was starting back in the doorway because Martin missed last session. He vaulted over the blood and drove his greatsword into one of the demons.

Next, Bartix stepped up from the hallway (same deal) and created a Bigby's Icy Grasp! And I have a mini for that, thanks to my 90s X-Men figure collection. The wizard sent the icy hand over and restrained the blood demon.

The party on the platform took whacks at the carnage demons that surrounded them. Most notably, Rurik critted. He probably wasn't the only viking that rolled a critical hit for the night, but he wields a greataxe, and always seems to pair his 20s with encounter powers, so it's always very memorable.

Now Rurik and Hermiad had a plan: with his Wavestrider Boots, Hermiad could run with impunity all around the room, collecting the fabulous treasure at the far platforms. Rurik could use his Knight's Move to give the run an extra oomph. But right now, Hermiad was locked in combat, unable to run. He shifted back and fired his bow into the blood to hit the submerged demons.

The carnage demons got another round of hits in. They're pretty basic brutes until they bloody their foe, then they can snap at the players as a minor action. Sadly, no one was bloodied yet. Both Oddny and Edgar were using their combat challenges to lock things down, and despite upping my game on these demons from level 6 to level 7, I couldn't get through their AC reliably.

Hermiad was now free to get going. He ran across the boiling blood, skirted the blood
demon, and made it to the far platform. There he found the hilt of a dagger, but no blade.

The blood demon decided not to chase the ranger, as the stone minotaur trap was now creaking into motion. Instead, the demon broke free of his icy assailant, moved across the central rampart, and took up a position behind the evistros. There his
very presence could buff his fellow monsters! He also fired off a bloody splash.

But it didn't really work. At this point the carnage demons had taken too much damage to recover. The vikings laid into the demons from the platform and the doorway, quickly taking them out. Hermiad, meanwhile, dodged the mechanical flail and dashed over to the other platform. A blade, who knew! He picked it up (not assembling it, he noted) and returned back to the safe half of the room.

All the demons defeated, the vikings looked for treasure... but demons don't have pockets. Mendas put the dagger together and played with it... it appeared to be a +3 weapon. Score!

The PCs returned to the main complex and explored some more, finding just one unexplored area. They cautiously worked their way in, to find:

A hot blast of damp air washes over you as the double doors to this chamber open. The room ahead is carved from black rock. Here and there, pillars formed of piled bodies stretch from floor to ceiling. Gibbering mouths, darting eyes, and squirming arms which end in taloned hands move within the strange columns of flesh. As one, the forms within the pillars let loose a mournful howl.

The vikings were cautious around these columns, which blossomed with arms, bayed mornfully, you know, the Dante thing. But aside from the general creepiness, there didn't seem to be any hostile creatures.

I made these columns by taking a scan of the illustrations from WOTC's Thunderspire Labyrinth adventure and placing portions of it onto the sides of a column design from WorldWorksGames. They turned out pretty well, although I don't know if I'll use them again.

The PCs slowly spread out to search the room. Hermiad and Varin took up positions looking into the East portion of the room, reserving their actions should something pop out. Mendas and Edgar moved out into the portion of the room they had come into.

The new lines of sight revealed deeper chambers, more columns, but no immediate threats. From around the doorway, Bartix used Arcana to try to discern anything about the columns: he sensed that they were just biding their time, but for what he didn't know. To protect himself and the party he threw up a Wall of Fog.

Finally, the vikings were far enough into the room to be surprised! From each of the four visible columns emerged an evistro carnage demon! The demons could apparently merge themselves with the undulating columns, remaining hidden until they desired otherwise. The party was rushed by all four!

At the bottom of the round, I rolled for a random column action. From around each column blossomed grabbing arms, which tried to snare the PCs and drag them in! Bartix
was grabbed, but the others avoided the attack or were too far away.

Mendas circled about his room to get a better angle (but not quite combat advantage).
But then, from the back of the room, another demon emerged. We were up to five evistros!

And I had more demons. Two evistros were facing Oddny, Hermiad, Rurik, and Varin. After getting their attacks in, the two shifted away. This signalled a bellow from back in the room, and a great Balgura moved up to take their place!

A second balgura emerged on the other side to menace Edgar, Mendas, and Bartix. No one had any lack of targets!

At the end of another round, I rolled a d6 to see what the columns would do. It came
up with a simple acid burst. Everyone but Oddny was in range of one of the columns, and 7 damage was dealt around.

Mendas was nearly surrounded, and he generally likes to do the surrounding. Luckily, he still was able to gain combat advantage by knocking someone prone! He hit the
balgura with just such an attack. Edgar and Bartix piled on to end the demon quickly.

The party had kept up their damage dealt, and only two evistros were left at the end of the third round. My third effect was teleportation! Everyone but Oddny (again, the paladin stood between two columns but near neither was grabbed and sent deeper into the room in a flash of light!

The remaining evistros, however, could not capitalize on their advantage. The vikings charged back into the fray to mop up.

With the creatures gone, the columns went inactive. Varin searched an altar in the rear sub-room and recovered the Bell of Fury's calling! But nobody wanted to ring it, it was too spikey. Now with bell, book, blade, and mask, they proceeded to the main room, the Proving Grounds! That would be for next time.

Casualties:

10 Evistros
2 Balguras
1 Minotaur Statue trap
1 Blood Demon
Several beers

Thunderspire Labyrinth: Session 6

Last week we played the sixth chapter of our Thunderspire Labyrinth arc. We were really getting into the meat of the dungeon, the complex and supporting rooms. This and the subsequent adventures are the reason why I wanted to run this in the first place. All the indented text is the work, copyright, property of Wizards of the Coast.

This blog post is about a month old. We're slowly getting back up to present!

We opened in the Shrine to Baphomet, in which the vikings had bedded down for an Extended Rest. They quickly sauntered down the now-gnoll-free corridors to the opening of the Proving Grounds, where they had met three semi-helpful spirits. But now the spirits were gone, and they were free to explore.

Mendas cautiously padded through the East wing of the complex, trying to follow an ancient trail of blood. He found no active traps, but two minotaur statues behind an altar seemed suspicious. Their mouths were open, and might possibly emit something... the rogue stuffed some wadding up the mouths and moved on.

The room had two softely glowing magic circles, which Erik noted were key to activating the complex. The inner track of the room was indeed marred by some kind of great weight, probably the "crushing sphere of magical force" that the ghosts described.

Hermiad and Rurik investigated the western end of the blood trail. It seemed to terminate in a small cell that was probably used to hold victims, pre-sacrifice. They continued along the exterior to find a passage to the North. The party gathered and forged ahead.

Rurik and Hermiad opened the door, and found, just five feet ahead of them, a curtain! What could be behind it?

The ranger readied an arrow, and the warlord bravely drew back the red shade. In front of them, they saw three mirrors, mounted on columns throughout the room. I did two Will attacks, and both adventurers disappeared!

Varin was next in line, but he shut his eyes and seemed to be fine. The warlock reached about and found the curtain, drawing it back to protect the party. Varin, Erik, Mendas and Oddny stood in the small antechamber and tried to figure out what to do. They thought about detaching the curtain rod and slowly making their way throughout the room. In the end, however, they decided to just shut their eyes and blindly grope about the room.

Now seemed to be a good time to talk about mechanics. D&D lets you do pretty much anything blind you could do sighted... you're just -5 to do it. The vikings roleplayed their visual impairment, though, groping around the room, finding nine columns covered in mirrors. At the far edge of the room, they felt a second curtain that roped off the whole wall.

Varin drew back the curtain, with Erik right beside him. Both vikings were immediately rocked by fireballs! They dared to open their eyes, and saw two runeflame skeletons!

Meanwhile Rurik and Hermiad were not dead! No, they were teleported to the Obliette of the Empty Mind, a little room that existed, well, who knows. In front of them stood a gnoll, possibly more than half-starved, his ribs sticking out between gaps in his armor. He snarled and leapt forward, shouting, "I am extremely hungy!" He got an arror and an axe for his troubles, but the mad frezy continued!

In the real world, the four vikings were dealing with two flaming skeletons. Erik took the lead, turning undead, but he could only get the nearest one into the effect. Varin stepped back and sent an arcane bolt into the creature, keeping his vision focused on the back of the room. He also used his Phantasm to cause the creature to waste his next attack (a trick that I am starting to really hate).

Mendas and Oddny moved on the other side of the room, striking the second skeleton. He took less damage, but these creatures were now blocked, two vikings adjacent to each one, their backs to the wall. But if they could make it to the center of the room, surrounded by mirrors, they could blind the adventurers, get themselves a +5 to their defenses!

I looked through the statblock of the RuneFlame skeletons (Level 6 skirmisher from RPGA Return to the Moathouse, which I never would have found without the D&D Compendium) and found the power I needed! The creatures burned bright, turned insubstantial, and ran to the center of the room, leaving a trail of fire in their wake! This fire would cause 5 fire damage to anyone that might start their turn near it! One of the skeletons threw a fireball at Varin's phantasm, but the other was free to roast Mendas and Oddny! Not that he did much damage. Fireballs mean that fire resistances come into play, and both vikings had brought protection.

The vikings were in trouble. The fire trail had set the curtain on fire, and their visual armor was rapidly disappearing. Varin scoped out the altar, and saw a mask of black wood. He grabbed it, but there was no effect on any of the trapped mirrors. Also, he didn't put it on, despite it looking like a fiendish minotaur face! Boo.

In subspace, the gnoll was facing two viking warriors. His chances were not good, especially once he flubbed his spear attack. Hermiad and Rurik TCBd, and the creature collapsed against the back of the chamber. "The joke is on you," he wheezed, "I hope you don't mind eating your friend..." With the suggestion floated, the vikings gave some thought to gnoll sandwiches.

Mendas had to move due to the flames, but saw an opportunity. After all, the fire blocked line of fire... he entered the trail of fire and willingly ran down it, taking more damage but protecting himself from the mirrors! He ended up able to stab the wounded skeleton!

Oddny took some time to look at the altar, and discovered an indentation of a minotaur-sized hand on the altar. She triggered it, and Rurik and Hermiad returned to the world, albeit back at the mirror that captured them.

The paladin had an action left, and she turned to attack the mirror next to her! She fractured it, but felt the mirror's magic reach out to her, even though her eyes were closed. She found herself teleported out to the front of the room, coming out of another mirror.

Erik turned and charged the skeletons, but found himself facing a mirror. He failed a Will save and ended up in the pocket dimension! In front of him was a carved-up gnoll.

At this point the battle shook out as expected. The skeletons were mobbed, and even with blind attacks, were going down. Meanwhile their flame attacks were pretty weak against resistant tieflings and the like. Pretty soon they were defeated, and Erik rescued! The party experimented with shattering the mirrors, but each attack gave the mirrors one in turn, and they decided to move on.

The party moved back to the central room and moved on to the westward path. Rurik and Hermiad cautiously entered the room and saw the following:

Before you is a scene torn from the Abyss. You stand on a small stone platform overlooking two large pools of blood. A stone walkway divides the room and sits just above the surface of the pools. On opposite sides of the room, large bronze statues of snarling minotaurs face each other. Each minotaur statue holds a long barbed whip, as if about to strike. A smaller minotaur statue stands beside each of the doors leading into this place. Flanking the large statue on the far side of the room are two pedestals that rise out of the blood. On one pedestal rests a gray dagger-sized blade. On the other rests a matching hilt.

Rurik felt his fire resistance would protect him from the boiling blood, but it didn't. He tried to step in to the pool, but withdrew a smoking boot toe; this was poison, not heat. The vikings decided, though, that they could probably jump to safety. Oddny, Ruriak, Hermiad, and Mendas vaulted over the bubbling blood and made it to safety around the statue. Which then jolted to life!


Taking the initiative, the party lit the statue up. It took bolts, axe swings, swords swipes, etc. Mendas climbed up on the back of the statue to try and get combat advantage. Then it was the statue's turn. It swung its whip around, hitting everything in a burst 7! This was just about everyone, but only Mendas and Oddny were hit. This resulted in damage, but more importantly they were pushed back, into the blood!

The blood boiled arount the vikings, and three evistors (carnage demons) charged through it! They surfaced near Mendas and Oddny, attemping to carve them up but good!

The vikings at the end of the encounter attacked the statue, exhausting its hit point supply. The stone minotaur crumbled to the ground. But the threat had been revealed: the blood was swarming with demons. How to get to the blade at the far end of the room? We stopped here, in mid-combat, to pick up next session!

Casualties:
4 trapping mirrors
3 draining mirrors
2 teleporting mirrors
2 Runeflame Skeletons
1 Gnoll Marauder
1 Minotaur Bloodtaker Statue