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
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