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5/27/12

The four doughty PCs were deep in the dungeon.  Having rested up, they returned to the region they have dubbed "the Crimson Wizard's Den" and examined pictures on the wall. Three pictures, grouped together, were simply pastoral paintings of poor quality. The fourth was painted on the wall of the dungeon itself, and showed a crimson-robed wizard holding a vial in one raised hand. Gunter searched it and thought it was clear of traps, but when he removed the vial, he received a nasty jolt of electricity. However, Elrohir's detect magic told him it was worth keeping, so they were pleased overall. They also found the message scrawled under the table, but have no idea what it refers to. Val noted it down in her journal for future reference. Moving down the stairs, they were spooked by the yellow mold and retreated. They went back down to the main crimson room, and advanced north through a small antechamber. Gunter walked right over a pit trap, fell, and landed on several spikes. He was critically wounded. Wilhelm healed him, and they went back, trying the second set of stairs. Coming into the chamber beyond, Gunter once again failed to spot the pit trap, and fell in. This time, he missed the spikes, but the fungus there caused him considerable trouble. They used a dose of keoghtum's ointment to cure him, and struggled on. In the open area beyond, they were amused by the candles, thought the second painting of the Crimson Robed Mage was over the top, and managed to find the trap on the stairs and disarm it.

Moving through the landing area without having to deal with acid rain, they soon found Darthos' bedchamber; this caused them great excitement, and Gunter began searching for traps on everything. However, before they could find much, Drathos was alerted by his dog that something was wrong, and barged into the room. He attacked them at once, as they were looting his wardrobe; they took this as a sign that he was "fair  game" and lit into him. At first, Gunter (who tumbled behind him and slammed the door) tried to sap him, but after failing twice, he reverted to real weapons. Everyone else attacked, though Wilhelm did ask him to surrender once. Drathos managed to drink his haste potion, and then full-attacked Wilhelm. A double-critical later, the cleric lay bleeding out on the floor, reduced to -8 HP. But at that point Drathos was already at 11 HP, and a round later was dead - Val delivered the final killing blow. Wilhelm was rescued at the last moment with a cure potion, and then they bandaged up Drathos (he was at -5 hp) and questioned him. His surliness and general uncooperativeness led them to decide he was useless and they eventually coup-de-graced him. Then they finished looting his room and his body. Their bag of holding came in quite handy...

Going north from there, they used Drathos' key to look in the trap-setting room, and then heard dog growls from around the corner. Investigating, they met Illistra and Logros the dog (who obeys her as well as Drathos, and belonged to them both). Illistra is an elven cleric of Mikar, and when Wilhelm detected evil, she did not register. She was not exactly friendly, but did not attack them, and they entered into negotiations. She was only slightly offended when they finally admitted killing Drathos, as she had said that they "only met recently" and that while he was her protector, she didn't really like him. She took them to the Holy Sword Chamber, where they were stunned to realize Maximus' soul, embedded in his sword, was defending the stairs from what he (and Illistra) described as "demons" who dwell on the level below.  Illistra seemed ignorant of the other stairs (up and down) that the party had already found elsewhere. They did not ask her how she acquired Maximus, nor did he explain how he came here. Val spoke to Max, briefly, and he assured her he was content, in fact determined, to remain where he was, and prevent the demons from ascending again, as they had done in the past.Illistra gave the PCs some other random advice - that Khorant is filled with evil pirates and slavers, and that mimics on this level are diseased and deadly.

Illistra allowed the party to lower the forcefield around the table in the dungeon, and took the crystal ball, which she assured them had "no significant powers". She let them have the skull and the spellbook, but kept the scrolls. The party, flush with loot from Drathos, which she showed no sign of wanting, left the dungeon at this point. They went out via the teleportal back to Burr-buggle's island. They set a major fire in the cellar, came bursting out, and screaming at the guards (who were not the ones they had bribed to get in) about fire elementals! The guards, stunned, fell back and let them flee without identifying them.

Once back in town, they proceeded to do some research on the name Khorant (which they got from Illistra), the name Vraedix, and the Crimson Robed wizards. They found out that the wizards were a bunch whom Felstor considered "a joke"; they came through Brindenford about a decade ago, around the same time as Serrestique, but were far less powerful and less polite. They entered the dungeon, came out a couple of times, claimed that they had "taken" a level "for their own", and were then never seen again, and presumed dead. Shortly after that, Serrestique also dropped out of sight, and was presumed dead. Felstor is not sure they had anything to do with each other, however. Khorant, Felstor told them, is the name of a mysterious island, which was reputedly the home of a civilization of elves who fell into evil ways, and then was "sealed off" from the rest of the world, to prevent their  evil from spreading. He knows no more about it. Lastly, he was able to tell them that "The Vraedix" is a device, some sort of computational and informational machine, created by or perhaps discovered by, the Mages Four, a long time ago, brought to the Dragon's Delve, and hidden there somewhere quite deep. He assured them that anyone who could find it would be the recipient of great stores of knowledge.

This ended today's session.

6/3

The PCs decided that now is the time to end Burr-Buggle's ability to enter and raid "their dungeon". They therefore went through the dungeon via the first level, visiting the dopplegangers on the way, and assuring them that they were still friends.  They did NOT go to the third level and visit the Vesh or the old lady...

After passing through the Prison level, for the first time they descended the stairs into the 5th level. Once there, they were almost immediately forced to fight a mimic, which was disguised as a "tattoo circle" on the floor. Afterwards, they moved east, passing but not examining the two candle-sconces. They investigated both the water-lab and the fire lab. The six "lettered" jugs went into the bag of holding. No one drank from the basin. In the fire lab, they were careful enough in their experimentation with the fire-thrower that only Val received a minor burn. They extinguished the cold flame on the cauldron without ever discovering exactly what it could do. Gunter shot at the cabinet on one wall of the fire-lab to prove it was not a mimic before he would enter the room.

Moving east again, they found the locked and pass-coded door into the alchemy lab (they've already been in it from the other direction). In the end, unable to solve the code, Elrohir openedd it with a knock spell. But first, they went south-east, and ran into a room containing a mutant giant. Gunter sneaked in, but awakened it, and retreated when he saw how huge it was. It failed to realize what had awoken it, and began beating on the bluesteel doors on the south side of the  room. The PCs decided to ambush him, and Gunter ran in, shot an arrow and critted it, not only doing triple damage, but rolling absolute maximum! About 1/4 HP wiped out in one shot! Elrohir then used a fire spell, also critting, and doing another healthy sum to it. Val hit, but for minor damage, with her bow; Wilhelm did not fire on it. The poor monstrous thing then ended up kneeling on the floor in front of the hall passage (which it cannot really fit through) using two of its three arms to rain flail-attacks down on anyone within the short hallway...

Val took two blows and was severely injured; Gunter stepped up and took her place in the third round. Val and Elrohir continued to do goodly amounts of damage, and Wilhelm healed Val to keep her on her feet. Eventually Gunter hit again, and the creature, now down to fewer than thirty HP, decided to retreat. But both Val and El hit with attacks as it retreated, and it finally collapsed. They looted it of its gemmed bracers, and discovered that one ring was magical; they stored them away to examine later. At this point, all out of healing and running low on other spells, they decided that they needed to rest up. They retreated north, to one of the small bedchambers off the snake room... and spent 10 hours there, resting. Fortunately for them, whatever creature wandered by and rifled the  lab did not attempt to enter their resting chamber. Afterwards, they went north and hauled enough furniture (tables and book-cases) over the bridge, to cover over the teleporter that Burr-buggle and Co had been using to enter the dungeon. They hope that this will prevent their rivals from entering the dungeon by causing the teleporter to malfunction rather than just "divert" around the piles of furnishings.

After this, they went back south again and continued to explore. They found a strange long hall with many murals (plus a boot and a backpack, which Gunter once again shot to prove it was not a mimic). Ignoring the murals, they backtracked to a door, wherein they found a room containing a carpet. The carpet is apparently not magical, but was able to cause both Gunter and Elrohir to become enthralled while examining it. Eventually they folded it up and stuck it in the bag of holding, to, as they say repeatedly "examine later".

We stopped here for the night.

6/16

After examining the carpet, the party returned to the muraled room. Gunter investigated the backpack and found within it a dirty paintbrush, stained with green paint, and a rag stained with several colors of paint. The boot and pack, they determined,  seemed sized for a hobbyt. They left the boot behind, but kept the brush and pack. From here, they searched for secret doors, and eventually found the one in the Carpet Room. It led them into the room with the dangerous door. Intrigued by the strange face (which was painted green!), they investigated. Now, they had been to the Elixir lab, where normally they might have found the keys to this door, but the room had already been looted by Burr-buggle and his buddies, so they didn't have the key they needed. Gunter tried to pick the first lock, and was very nearly pulled into the door. Dismayed, he decided he was not touching it again. Instead, Elrohir used a knock spell on it,  and they moved down the hall. Reaching the T, they debated which way to go for several minutes, and eventually continued west. They found the keys quickly, but never searched the niche to find the secret message. Investigating the transformative platform, they tried throwing the Athach body on it, but nothing happened. Eventually Wilhelm summoned a celestial bombadier beetle onto it; the poor thing made its save, but still took 6d6 of chaos damage, and was blown to bits. They decided discretion was the better part of valor and did not touch it again. Instead, using their newfound keys, they opened the door to the south, and Val nearly stumbled over the two corpses. Gunter quickly determined that the trap which had killed them was now no danger, and they searched the room. They ignored the giant barrel, but did find the acid and three alchemical vials on the top shelf. Moving to the door in the east wall, Gunter discovered that it was nearly blocked by the stone trap. With help from a Grease spell from Elrohir, he weaseled by the block, and soon found the treasures beyond. He used the keys on the chests, and recovered the gold bars, the urn, and the orange stone loop. As they had not studied the murals closely, it took them some time to figure out what it was good for. Eventually, they would use the frozen body from the Ice Tomb room to test that the lightning wall could be neutralized for the holder.

The PCs debated trying to move the stone block to see if anyone was crushed beneath it, but in the end they decided they lacked the resources, and left it alone. Instead, they returned to the platform room, and opened the northern iron door. Here they found the severe cold, and recovered the body buried in the frost. Gunter was the only one who went in, and he resisted the cold. Dragging the body out, they searched it and then used it to test the orange stone ring.

After this, they retreated to the T intersection, and went north. They investigated the pits, and found the second clue to the Athach's bluesteel doors on one ladder. They properly realized that the bones were from creatures disposed of by the laboratory wizards, and soon moved further north. They found the wizard's body, and with use of the ubiquitous "detect magic", took his robes, staff and scrolls for later identification. They also found his journal page and read it. They carefully noted Rivenyk's name for investigation, and are determined to return and question Ilisthra more  closely. They're now certain she must be evil. I reminded them that she had seemed pleased that Max's soul-sword was blocking the stairs down at her end of the dungeon, but they discounted this. However, they decided not to go speak with her just yet.

Instead, they moved west into the ice tomb room (I managed to completely skip room 121 by accident!), and they spent some time with Gunter dashing into and out of the room, one round at a time, looking for any way to get into the tomb. They were very frustrated and did not want to give up. They dug out the flamethrowing backpack from the fire lab, and tried to use it to burn off the ice. Unfortunately, they managed only to burn Gunter rather badly, and then exploded it when they pulled too many levers. And the ice, barely damaged, reformed at once, unmarred by their activities. At last, they retreated.

Moving east from the dead wizard's room, they came into the glass tube room; instantly they knew what it meant, and were glad that the beholder was not present, although Val did leave lip prints on the glass, in honor of Jasper's previous efforts. The minotaur attacked moments later, and they tried to retreat from the room, but it was able to follow with ease, walking through the wall after them. A short battle ensued; the minotaur was unfortunately never able to land a blow...

After collecting the minotaur's treasure, the group evaluated their knowledge of the dungeon. They decided not to approach Ilisthra again until they had rested, and they also decided that the bluesteel doors were not going to open to them, because they only ever found two of the five number-shape clues they would need to operate the locking clock mechanism. Instead, they decided to go UP the stairs from the burnt room, and see if that region was any safer than the abberant laboratory.

Climbing the stairs, they entered a badly fire-damaged room; giving it a cursory glance, they moved north, down the passage. They glanced east at the T, but continued north to a room where the floor had collapsed during or shortly after the fire. Skeletons attacked, hitting Wilhelm with flaming javelins, but he was able to turn them easily, disintegrating all twelve in only two rounds.

Here, we paused for the week.

6/24

Having turned the skeletons, the party decided they were not interested in climbing down into the collapsed room to explore; instead, they backtracked to the T intersesction they had seen earlier, and proceeded east. They found a small room with 2 other hallway exits, but hovering in the room were two wights who looked quite intimidating and badly burned. They decided to have Wilhelm turn them, which he did with a superb roll; they went south, and found a door they could not open. They used some of the acid they had found earlier, on level 5, to weaken the iron door, and then Val and Gunter forced the door open with their superior strength. Soon they found themselves in a largish, well-preserved room with frescoes of warlike scenes on the walls, a cabinet with incense and an incense burner, and a nice piece of carpet. There were also two everburning hanging lamps. They stayed in the room for about an hour, burning incense and trying to discover what sort of magic might be there... however they didn't stay long enough to discover it, and they took the lamps, thus wrecking the restful atmosphere.  They went back to the wight room, turned the wights again, and continued east. Soon they came to the firepit room, and Gunter, creeping up to the edge, was ambushed by two hellhounds. Slightly injured, he tumbled out  of the way, and circled the pit. Two more hellhounds emerged; Val and Wilhelm were soon engaged in hand-to-hand. Gunter managed to flee from the wounded beast that pursued him, and shot it to death, while Wilhelm, after being breathed upon twice, and bitten once, collapsed. Val and Elrohir finally slew the second and third hounds, but the fourth, only slightly wounded, dragged Wilhelm's body back to the fiery pit, and vanished with it. Poor Wilhelm, burnt alive and dragged to hell!

The PCs were in bad shape at that point, barely having any healing left,  and almost out of offensive spells. They decided to camp for just long enough for the wizard to get his rest (4 hours) and rememorize some spells. They were fortunate that their only wandering encounter was giant rats, who decided that dead hellhound was a better meal than live adventurer. Judicious use of mage armor, blur and persistent blade allowed them to flee past the  wights and back to level five in safety, and from there a rapid retreat was made.

Once returned to their tower, they rested for a couple of days, then went to town. Once there, they debated trying to hire Meinhard away from Burr-buggle's group, but eventually decided that despite being a fairly decent person, he was too aggressive and non-healer-oriented for their style.  Instead, they put their "usual" cleric-wanted notice up at the Inns and hoped for "new blood" to wander into town. In the meantime, they sold off  a whole lot of loot, and leveled up. Elrohir and Val are now 5th level, and Gunter is 4th. The new cleric will also be 4th level... Elrohir bought several spells from Felstor and a couple more from Piven,  and now feels much better equipped for deeper dungeoneering.

They met with Renitass again, and this time Val gave him 300 silvers for a copy of his map of the Isle of Khorant and a good description of everything they've seen there.

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