Batok (M:1), Zrax(F:1), Brother Burkey (C:2), Vern Dosh(D:1), Braggle(H:1), Xero (T:2),
The Summary
Over breakfast at the Mournful Phoenix, and after settling up their room tabs with Burzom, the party learned that some smoke had been seen in the direction of the dungeon.They made visual confirmation and proceeded to the ruins where they could hear, from the woods to the north, laughter.
Xero snuck through the woods and spied upon what an encampment - several tents, a wagon, horses, and 4 men drinking at a table. He returned to the party to relay the information, which in turn led to a tactical discussion.
Zrax, of the Chaotic Slacks and man of action, walked into the woods and called out to the camp, and although they responded, they were not interested in coming out to his position. Instead, they told him they were merchants and he should come to join them - they had beer. No one believed the men were merchants.
Brother Burkey, drinker extraordinaire, put on his best drunken appearance and stumbled into the camp, while Braggle, Xero and Vern Dosh spread out through the woods to cover him.
After their initial surprise, the campers were quite taken with Brother Burkey, to the point that they tapped a keg for him. Although the men themselves were observed discretely disposing of the beer from their cups, they made no move to do him in. It wasn't until four more of their number arrived from a hunting excursion that they even tried to make him leave.
As they struggled to move the mountain of a man, in full plate, Vern Dosh observed a tall, well built man in black robe over plate, with skin as red as a Templar's Cross, and glowing violet eyes headed toward the camp attended by two others, who dressed similarly to the merchants. He was not happy to see the visitor, or that the keg had been tapped. Despite being ordered to bring Brother Burkey back, the men let him go before returning to their obvious leader.
While sneaking back to meetup with the party, Vern Dosh snapped a twig loud enough to alert the camp. After a half hearted effort to pursue the party, they dropped back, leaving the party unharmed.
Once inside dungeon, the party retrieved their tank and then finished exploring the first level to their satisfaction - killing some giant centipedes and shriekers (in the ubiquitous fungal garden) in the process, and making a haul of a variety of items, including many which Batok confirmed were spell components. Among the items, dozens of stoppered glass vials.
The second level started with an encounter with an obsidian living statue of a dwarvish warrior. It was brought down with relative ease.
A few rooms later, they interrupted a twisted mass led by a ghoul, preaching to a congregation of zombies:
The ghoul definitely raised some eyebrows, but it, and its followers, was dispatched rather handily, by the party, fronted by the duel blades of Braggle and Zrax.
The remainder of the exploration turned up a good bit of silver coin, as well as religious supplies - holy water, candles- and a 25 gallon cask of oil. Some of the oil was transferred to stoppered glass vials for use as half-flask missile weapons.
In the last room they would explore, they came across a 30' tall statue of a winged boar.
Cautious after their encounter with the living statue earlier, they made their way around the perimeter of the room searching for secret doors and the like. One of the great black stone pillars was found to make a hollow sound when tapped.
A quick search by Xero and Vern revealed a secret panel, which, when pushed, sent much of the party hurtling upwards. Brother Burkey alone was spared the effect.
For most of the party, they found themselves stopped just short of the ceiling, but for the two closest to the pillar, spikes awaited them. Xero was lucky, and suffered only a minor injury, but Vern Dosh was run through his vital organs, and died instantaneously.
Such is life in the dungeon.
Inside the pillar, Brother Burkey found a gold statuette of the winged boar, and a sack of silver.
The party secured themselves to the pillar and when the man of the cloth and beer stein closed the panel, the strange effects disappeared.
After looting Vern's body, they exited the dungeon without further incident, in large part due to their insistence on wedging every door they encounter. Contrary to their suspicions, the red-man and his "merchants" were not there waiting for them outside the ruined tower.
Over breakfast at the Mournful Phoenix, and after settling up their room tabs with Burzom, the party learned that some smoke had been seen in the direction of the dungeon.They made visual confirmation and proceeded to the ruins where they could hear, from the woods to the north, laughter.
Xero snuck through the woods and spied upon what an encampment - several tents, a wagon, horses, and 4 men drinking at a table. He returned to the party to relay the information, which in turn led to a tactical discussion.
Zrax, of the Chaotic Slacks and man of action, walked into the woods and called out to the camp, and although they responded, they were not interested in coming out to his position. Instead, they told him they were merchants and he should come to join them - they had beer. No one believed the men were merchants.
Brother Burkey, drinker extraordinaire, put on his best drunken appearance and stumbled into the camp, while Braggle, Xero and Vern Dosh spread out through the woods to cover him.
After their initial surprise, the campers were quite taken with Brother Burkey, to the point that they tapped a keg for him. Although the men themselves were observed discretely disposing of the beer from their cups, they made no move to do him in. It wasn't until four more of their number arrived from a hunting excursion that they even tried to make him leave.
As they struggled to move the mountain of a man, in full plate, Vern Dosh observed a tall, well built man in black robe over plate, with skin as red as a Templar's Cross, and glowing violet eyes headed toward the camp attended by two others, who dressed similarly to the merchants. He was not happy to see the visitor, or that the keg had been tapped. Despite being ordered to bring Brother Burkey back, the men let him go before returning to their obvious leader.
While sneaking back to meetup with the party, Vern Dosh snapped a twig loud enough to alert the camp. After a half hearted effort to pursue the party, they dropped back, leaving the party unharmed.
Once inside dungeon, the party retrieved their tank and then finished exploring the first level to their satisfaction - killing some giant centipedes and shriekers (in the ubiquitous fungal garden) in the process, and making a haul of a variety of items, including many which Batok confirmed were spell components. Among the items, dozens of stoppered glass vials.
 |
| http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/D%26DShrieker.JPG/200px-D%26DShrieker.JPG |
The second level started with an encounter with an obsidian living statue of a dwarvish warrior. It was brought down with relative ease.
A few rooms later, they interrupted a twisted mass led by a ghoul, preaching to a congregation of zombies:
 |
| http://vigilantcitizen.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/610x2.jpg this is not how i imagined it, but i like the picture too much not to use it. |
The ghoul definitely raised some eyebrows, but it, and its followers, was dispatched rather handily, by the party, fronted by the duel blades of Braggle and Zrax.
The remainder of the exploration turned up a good bit of silver coin, as well as religious supplies - holy water, candles- and a 25 gallon cask of oil. Some of the oil was transferred to stoppered glass vials for use as half-flask missile weapons.
In the last room they would explore, they came across a 30' tall statue of a winged boar.
 |
| http://subeta.wikia.com/wiki/Stone_Winged_Boar |
Cautious after their encounter with the living statue earlier, they made their way around the perimeter of the room searching for secret doors and the like. One of the great black stone pillars was found to make a hollow sound when tapped.
A quick search by Xero and Vern revealed a secret panel, which, when pushed, sent much of the party hurtling upwards. Brother Burkey alone was spared the effect.
For most of the party, they found themselves stopped just short of the ceiling, but for the two closest to the pillar, spikes awaited them. Xero was lucky, and suffered only a minor injury, but Vern Dosh was run through his vital organs, and died instantaneously.
Such is life in the dungeon.
Inside the pillar, Brother Burkey found a gold statuette of the winged boar, and a sack of silver.
The party secured themselves to the pillar and when the man of the cloth and beer stein closed the panel, the strange effects disappeared.
After looting Vern's body, they exited the dungeon without further incident, in large part due to their insistence on wedging every door they encounter. Contrary to their suspicions, the red-man and his "merchants" were not there waiting for them outside the ruined tower.
Interesting . . . hmmmm, I wonder about those "merchants" and what the story is there. Perhaps we will learn more in a future session . . . or perhaps it will simply remain a mystery.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to the next session.
-- Jeff