 |
| She seems more demented every time. |
We had given Tiadora our list of needed equipment. It was a
pitifully low amount of money. With seven of us we surely could be prepared for
anything. Stixx and Kallista prepared themselves from their books and studies. Maldrake
prayed as Urgoen prepared his eidolon. Strumm, Grimalkin, and
Stryder readied their weapons and armor. We waited for three days until we were
given further instructions. We were called to see the master once more.
Thorn simply said, “Have you enjoyed your gifts? The iron
circlets allow you to move amongst your enemies as one of them. The silver
amulets will remind you of your true loyalties. And the other items – well, you
need them now. “You have done well to escape from Branderscar and to accept my
offer. However, you are still not ready for my service. Tiadora will lead you
to the basement of this domicile. There you will find nine chambers each more
dangerous than the last. Somewhere hidden within these chambers is a pendant of
silver and sapphire. Recover the pendant and bring it to me. Let nothing and no
one stand in your way.”
And so that was it. We were led to a ten foot wide archway
that led down a ten foot wide stone stairway. The stair way descended down
roughly fifteen feet. We timidly adventured forth into the first room of this
strange dungeon.
 |
| Into the depths. |
So as I scribe here, the set of stone stairs led down,
through an archway and into an unfurnished chamber beyond. Inscribed upon the
archway in the common tongue as a strange phrase:
“Deception is a tool. Self-deception is death. Deceive
always thy enemy but never thyself.”
The room beyond was lit by a small oil lantern hanging from
the center of the chamber. It seems simple enough to go through the doorway to
our east directly opposite of the stairs we came down on. Grimalkin was ready
and willing to show off his trap finding skills and wanted to check the only
door in the room for traps and we didn't know if it was his skills that found
it or his clumsiness but as soon as he stepped in front of the door a pit
opened up. Spiked trap was below the
door. Grimalkin and Maldrake went down
and hurt themselves but not fatally.
After bringing him back up we saw carved upon the wall inside the pit near the
bottom is the phrase:
“Thou wert deceived. Pain is thy reward.”
We pulled him out and left disabled the trap and replaced
the plate so we could get through the door. We opened the door and nothing. A
false wall is all that hid behind this door. Grimalkin went searching the rest
of the room and didn't find anything unusual. Finally Maldrake, one of the
wisest in the group along with Strumm also very perceptive located two secret
doors. Paranoid as they should be, they searched for traps as well on the doors
and nothing seemed out of place. Upon opening the north wall concealed a small
niche. Inside that niche was a small pedestal that held a jewel that glowed
with pale blue light. It was cold to the touch. There was another inscription:
“Thou hast seen through deception to uncover a useful tool.”
 |
| Grimalkin trying to find traps. |
After some crude appraising, we found this was a clever
crafted bit of sealed quartz with a bit of alchemist ice trapped inside. We
handed it to Styxx for safe keeping or throwing should we need it and began to
check out the southern wall for traps. Again, we found nothing and gave it a
try. We opened it up with an eerie scraping sound we looked down twenty foot
long hallway.
7:30 P.M - Day 4, Desnus 29, 3042 AP (After Peace)
 |
| What could this be for? |
We found that the short passage from the north ended in a
wooden door with another inscription:
“Following the herd
is for fools. Fear not their icy derision. Instead, fear only thy Infernal
Lord.”
Inside the stone
chamber, we found four doors – each facing a cardinal direction. The entire
chamber was strangely cold. The ground was absolutely dirty and dusty and we
could tell at least a dozen individuals have walked towards the southern and
the eastern doors. No one seems to have approached the western door however. Same
as before this room was also lit with a small oil lantern that hung from the
ceiling. We remember this room because there was an unusual bit of frost over
the oil lantern.
So, we got to it. We searched the doors. Grimalkin started
with the eastern door and he discovered there was a javelin trap. So he decided
to disable it and set it off. A javelin went through his shoulder and he reeled
backwards. Grimalkin made a comment
about having. Grumblejack open the south door and begrudgingly that’s what he
did. Naturally, he took one to the lower leg and pulled it right out and said, “Toothpick.”
 |
| "Toothpick." |
After opening both of the doors that had the traps we saw
two inscriptions:
“Thou hast followed the herd.”
All we had remaining to explore was the western door and it
was covered in a strange pulsating violet mold. Naturally at this point, Grimalkin was
determined to find more traps. He stepped to the door and before even getting
to touch it, he was enveloped in a blue frost and was instantly knocked
unconscious and was on the verge of dying. That was all it took for us to back as far
away from the door as we could. Strumm
and Kallista carefully studied the area for a few minutes. We were very thankful that we had
dungeoneering experts among us, for we could have all died.
Kallista spoke first, “It is a mold. Stay clear of it. Keep
warmth away from it, and for Asmodeus sake keep your torches away from it.”
Strumm finished, “Cold. Kill it with cold. You magic users
have any cold spells to use?”
We didn’t but we all turned to Styxx. Maldrake spoke,
“Styxx, we could use your little arm now. How about it, can you hit that door
from here?” Styxx pulled out the small crystal and let it fly. The
crystal shattered over the door and frost from the device seem to strangle the
mold causes it to die and flake off. After it did this it revealed yet another
saying:
“Thou hast made thy own path.”
 |
| Grimalkin could not stay out of trouble. |
Before we progressed we had to take some time to revive
Grimalkin. We were on limited potions but we felt we should be able to get
by. After awakening we told Grimalkin
about the mold and helped him to his feet. The door opened to the west only a
bit and continued to the south and made a sharp turn back to the east and then
to the northeast. It was darker but we had torches to light the way.
Grumblejack refused to go in first. He said he felt like he was being used to
set off traps and wouldn’t do it anymore.
As we approached another wooden door, we read the inscription aloud:
“Know your enemy. Shatter all that blinds you and then burn
thy adversary to ashes.”
8:00 P.M - Day 4, Desnus 29, 3042 AP (After Peace)
We lined up with Grimalkin up front at the door, the party
asked Grumblejack if he would open this door first for us if we checked for
traps carefully and he agreed he would.
Maldrake and Kallista were behind Grimalkin and Styxx along with Stryder
was a few steps behind Grumble jack. Strumm was just beside Grimalkin. We checked for traps and after a few passes
could not seem to detect a thing. So Grumblejack pushed open the door and
 |
| Deadly creatures. |
There were small holes I recall about one inch in diameter
in the floor at regular intervals. It was soon apparent what these were for.
The beings went down into the holes and came back out at the back and hovered
in the air. Maldrake quickly warned, “Vampiric Mists. Tread carefully.”
And so we tried.
Grumblejack went in followed by Maldrake and Kallista the only ones who
could currently see into the room. That was all they were able to do before
being struck again by painful bites to their necks and flew out of range again.
Grumble jack lost his temper at this and shattered the podium allowed light
from the torches to enter and causing the mists to reel in pain from the light.
They did the only thing that was left to do, the mists turned to fight. The
battle was short lived after the light came in however. Stryder and Strumm made
quick work of the mists after Styxx did not want to harm us with one of his
bombs. One mist was vanquished while the other went down into the holes and we
never saw it again.
We located that there were two doors in this room – one
leading north and one leading east. After fumbling around to open them we
realized they are both barred. It was easy enough for the heavy bar to be removed
in the adequate light. Grumblejack huffed and puffed to himself. He made it
clear we were not going to use him to open trapped doors anymore and he considered
this room to be trapped. So we searched
and searched and came up with nothing special about the doors to the north and
the east. We decided to go north after healing those who had taken some minor
damage. The northern door opened at the
end of the passage to another wooden door. Unsurprisingly the door was
inscribed with yet another platitude:
“Cruelty is a tool not a pastime. Be ruthless to thy enemy
but reward those who serve thee well.”
8:30 P.M - Day 4, Desnus 29, 3042 AP (After Peace)
There was only one thing in this room – a torturer’s rack.
That cruel implement was functional and ready for use but was empty. Like the
rooms before, the chamber was lit by an oil lantern that hung from the center
of the room. It seemed like forever searching and searching. Grimalkin searched the far west wall, north
wall, east wall and he found nothing. Maldrake tried the same and nothing. We
all tried finding anyway out of this place and there was nothing, just the
torturing device. We touched it, checked it for traps and still nothing. We
jolted it a bit and nothing. We went back to the walls and tapped on them and
hit them and still nothing. No traps, no doors, absolutely nothing. Finally we just gave up on it.
 |
| We didn't want to ask. |
9:00 P.M - Day 4, Desnus 29, 3042 AP (After Peace)
We opened the western door then of the strange hole-filled
room into a hall way back to the north again to a corner. Much like the
previous hallway only our torches kept light going. We turned the corner and
there was another wooded door. Just as doors in the past this too had a small
message scribe into it:
“The chosen are revealed by their might. The weak deserve no
sympathy.”
We lined up on the twenty foot long by ten foot wide corner
passage. Grumble jack stayed in the back while Kallista, Maldrake, Grimalkin
and Strumm were in front. Stryder and Styxx stayed further back around the
corner and waited. We checked for traps
as usual and we had Kallista open the door with a flick of her wrist and
magical words. The door flung open into a couple of mithral cobras coiled at
the far back of the room. The oil lantern there had gleamed off their metallic
scales.
 |
| We made it, but barely. |
We were lucky enough to get a decent position before they
could attack. Grimalkin and Strumm went in first, following by Maldrake and
Kallista. It was apparent that these
cobras were not to be underestimated. Most of our weapons were borderline
useless. That outer skin was durable as ever and we were worried for our lives.
Grumble jack charged in to make room for Styder and Styxx to get some good
shots off. The first down was Strumm, he
was cornered by one of the cobras and it quickly dispatched him. The other very
nearly brought down Grimalkin and Kallista. Grumblejack crushed one of the
snakes hard and drew the attention of both of them. He continued to take blows
while Stryder landed hits with his arrows with absolute precision. The fight lasted only a few minutes but
Grumblejack took the brunt of the damage and it was obvious. He was in a bad
way. We left him how he was because he said he could go on. We picked up the
bodies of the snakes because they were made of pure mithral. When Strumm was revived he chastised Maldrake
for his cowardice as a cleric.
We looked at the door to the south and checked it as normal
for traps. Nothing as we started to expect. We started to assume that the first
traps were to weed out the weak. Naturally so we thought. As paths before we
opened it to a hall way into another door and of course another inscription:
“Suffer not the fool. Stupidity is our faith’s cardinal
sin.”
Grimalkin checked for traps and we didn't double check him.
He seemed to be on a decent streak of finding traps. Beyond the door was a
square chamber with a podium in its center. The chamber was lit only by a
hanging oil lantern. Upon the podium was a pendant of silver -- a dragon with
sapphire eyes. We looked at one another thinking this surely is it. Grimalkin
stepped up once more to search for traps. He searched the podium and when he
got near the stairs that led up to the east, he heard a loud metallic sound of
a pin being removed from its socket. A spiked ball trap swung down and
Grimalkin was able to move fast enough and missed taking quite a blow from the
trap. Sadly, the podium was utterly destroyed along with the pendant. We all
walk in, and go to check out the stairs.
Another quip:
“Only the foolish believe great deeds are so easy or so obvious.”
We picked up Grimalkin and he went back to searching for
secret passages and found none. Kallista tried though she is nowhere near as perceptive
as the rest of the group and found nothing amiss. Along the rest Maldrake,
Strumm, Styxx, Stryder, all found nothing. Even Grumblejack took a shot and
couldn’t find anything, though this was expected to be quite honest. Maldrake
suggested we go back to the torture room once more and look for clues. Grumblejack grumbled more at this waste of
time.
 |
| Poor Grimalkin. |
9:30 P.M - Day 4, Desnus 29, 3042 AP (After Peace)
We patched ourselves up and made our way back to the torture
room. We spent nearly an hour here. We searched, poked, prodded, and searched, poked
and prodded some more. Still we found nothing. Grimalkin spoke up and said “I’ll get in the
device!”
Foolishly he did just that, closed it on himself and damn
near paid for it with his life. We got him out of the contraption and stabilized
his bleeding though he was still under.
At this point Grumblejack snapped.
 |
| Here he comes. |
With each “SEE” he slammed his fist down on the torturer’s
rack. With each “LOOK”, he would pull it up from the ground to which it was
bolted. Kallista demanded for him to
calm himself but it was no good. The tidal wave of absolute fury over came any
sense of rationality.
 |
| They pushed him too far. |
But Maldrake and Strumm drew everyone’s attention by
pointing to the corner. “I think I heard
a gasp.” Maldrake whispered.
 |
| Maldrake |
“Why are you here and why are you hiding”, he probed.
The scared boy of a man simply replied, “I got lost down here with my
master a few days ago and it is too dangerous to go on.”
“What do you know? Tell
us or we have ways of making you talk!” Strumm ordered.
 |
| Coward of Mitra |
Without much delay he began to tell us about the cobras in
the nearby room and that there is a secret passed on the west wall in the room
with the podium. He began to recite even more secrets until Kallista got closer
to better understand what was being said. Her pendant glittered under the light
of the lantern and the torches. It was then we all realized that we still had
these symbols as she was the only on displaying it. This coward of man’s demeanor instantly
changed.
 |
| Strumm means business |
“You Heretic, I won’t aid you! You get that beast of a woman
out of here or I am not saying a thing!” The man said.
Kallista shrugged and said, “Kill him, what use is he to us.
He devoted to Mitra. He doesn’t deserve to live. Don’t worry I’ll make it
quick.” She began to draw her scimitar to strike and Strumm stopped her.
“No, how can you be so devoted to a god you were just told
of? Just leave the room, he’ll talk to us” Strumm offered.
Kallista refused and threated again. Strumm instead tied the
man up and brought him along back to the room guiding him ahead like a human
trap detector. Kallista scoffed at this treatment and followed along. We made our way through the room with podium,
we easily found the secret wall and traveled down the dark hall way. The all
way only went to the left and came to another door.
.jpg) |
| ............... |
10:00 P.M - Day 4, Desnus 29, 3042 AP (After Peace)
The door we found had yet another message for our viewing
pleasure:
“Secrecy is our greatest ally. Exposure brings death.”
With the door checked for traps we decided to enter. This
room was completely dark, or it would have been except for our torches. In the center of this stone chamber was a
patch of bare earth surrounded by a two inch tall brick circle. There was a
giant man-sized purple mushroom with a strange bulbous cap. The moment we
opened the door it emitted a wail that echoed through the entire chamber for
nearly two solid minutes. We slice it up and it stopped. However we could hear
a tremendous banging against the far west door along with loud growing. The
door was starting to give so we decided to leave this room, close the door and
trek back to the only room we thought should be free of traps. We made a mad
dash closing the entire set of doors in the process and took refuge in the
torture room. The screaming tapered off,
waited another 30 minutes for any sign of activity and went to sleep.
6:30 A.M - Day 5, Desnus 29, 3042 AP (After Peace)
Styxx, Kallista, and Maldrake woke first. They prepared
their spells and mutagens for the day. The rest awoke and donned their armor,
strung their bows and we prepared for another brutal day. We ate iron rations
and drank some water. We only had half a day remaining to find that pendant. We
marched to the room with the strange mushroom and to our surprise the door to
the west while cracked and budged out was not broken through. We carefully listened and could hear slight
scuffing, like feet dragging on a floor. Strumm pulled out a dagger, ordered the
prisoner to walk towards the door and so he did. He stopped just before the door, torch in
hand, and began to read another message aloud:
“Beware the fallen for they may rise once more to threaten you.”
The first thing Maldrake did was check the cobras and of
course they were dead. He looked to Strumm, nodded, and so Strumm whipped the
rope and the unnamed man proceeded to open the door. He opened up the door and
four dead and rotting sailor-like men charged towards the unnamed man.
“Draug” Maldrake identified.
 |
| What have we gotten ourselves into? |
 |
| Release us. |
7:00 A.M - Day 5, Desnus 29, 3042 AP (After Peace)
Two down in a room with rotted coffins and resources almost
completely expended and now with less than twelve hours left, the party is
facing certain death by what is behind the next door or the fate of coming back
to Thorn empty handed. Strumm made a point of it to search the dead as soon as
possible for treasure. What a strange man.
