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Showing posts with label Pits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pits. Show all posts

Wednesday 15 November 2017

Out of the Pits (Pt B)

Starring
Atropa Belladonna, Elven Ranger
Bahlgrimm, a Dwarf warrior
Solauder, Drow Sorceror
Fuantos, Dwarf Soldier (NPC)
Vierna, Human Cleric of Darras (NPC)

The team starts where they left off, at the plant ensconced room. They consider going further in but the trees are so packed tightly in, they hesitate. They can tell it's a fairly small room, but are unsure of anything else within the room because of the heavy leafy presence.

They move ahead in the passageway, and see another locked padded door and leave it alone as it appears to be a locked funerary room. As they go forward, they see a side passageway, with plenty of tracks coming and going, since this is the only place with lots of movement they want to check it out.

As they head into the side passage, a heavy iron portcullis comes down and and they hear the screeching laughs, then see the small yellow eyes of goblins. Bahlgrimm pulls the gate up, just enough for the second dwarf warrior to roll underneath. He rushes forward to take on the pitiful, as Atropa pings away with her bow. Quick enough, they take down some of the goblins as the other ones dart away. Fuantos finds the lever to open the and the rest of the party goes through.

They slowly make their way ahead, being careful not to set off any similar traps. They find a deep pit that covers most of the cave passageway. At the bottom of the sixty foot pit, are sharp spikes and a multitude of snakes crawling around. The team takes quite a bit of time to attack the snakes with missile weapons. After much debate, they decide against going down. They tie ropes to each other to get past the narrow ledges on the side.

They don't have much time before the hear the clanging of boots onto the floor, a small contingent of skeletal soldiers, clad in breast-plate with shields and spears, all marching in formation. The Drow casts a spell of energy, as the two dwarves run in formation up to their foes, bashing them down. All the while the Elven ranger pierces the undead with her arrows. The cleric raises her holy symbol but cries out in pain, she is losing her connection to the divine here. Even with their perfect formation, the skeletons are quickly overpowered and brought down in a flash.

Going further ahead, they see several heavy wooden doors, all well established and enamoured door on the right, no obvious trap or lock., no sign any of them have been entered unlawfully. After the fourth door in a row, they see a heavy wooden bulwark, it covers the full passage width. As they investigate it, the see the tiny flickers of blood everywhere, Atropa believes this is where the skeletons came from, and even worse, where lots of people died trying to get through. But how...where. She goes into a deep trance, she sees in her mind the solution, she sees visions of her walking peacefully through the bushes. If she remains true to the path...she believes she can pass through them. But she hesitates, can it be so easy?

The cleric rips a shred from her bodice and covers her eyes, then simply walks calmly ahead, through the thorny bulwark. When she reaches the end, she hands back blindfold and she reminds them to stay calm, stay true; then, one by one each of her teammates does the same. But Bahlgrimm hesitates, he starts thinking about drowning in the thorns. As he does, the bulwark closes around him, piercing him a dozen times...he struggles to get out. His hesitancy (and rolling number one on the dice.) caused the bulwark to close in on him. Vierna immediately helps the injured dwarf out.

They see a vile pit of blackish bubbling putrescence just pass the bulwark. When they investigate
they see the small bits from previous sacrifices, plus small chairs all around the pit. They almost immediately pass the scene but they eventually look up, they see a three prong rack, used to drop the prisoners into the the black bile, and one body hanging above. Soulauder casts an energy spell, destroying the body. But just a few moments later the see three new, bodies in the rack, while weak they are obviously still alive. The group debates about on whether they should rescue, and come to the conclusion that they could not keep any of the freed prisoners safe, better to rescue them another way.

Moving forward and reach a side door to a much smaller room. This door is open, with a set for three holy symbols. The top, showing the symbol for Lord of Laws (LN - Casna), and the bottom one showing , Lord of Destruction. (CN - Faval) The middle one has a symbol for the Earth Mother (N Holon) has all been torn out. The Ranger looks in and is confused...something about the room is disorienting. She walks out unsure of her next steps. Bahlgrimm steps in to find out on his own and is fascinated, he looks up, and sees a swirling mass of light, and energy and...power! His eyes open wider, as he scans around the small balcony he is on, is there anything that can get him up there. He sees the roots are hanging upside down, hanging up. He starts to climb, but he feels pressure, more pressure with each foot upward, so much so it slams him down to the balcony. He looks up again, thinking about how to get up there, but the calls from his colleagues catches him once again, and he goes back to his group as much as be is tempted to find out what the magical swirl is.

Going further in, they come to an elegant set of wide stairs, culminating in an impressive and very elaborately decorated door. The group approaches, with the ranger taking lead. With some scanning, Atropa notices there is a trap, a false floor. She sets it off, and the see the floor drops...meaning anyone that attempted to open the lock from the stair-top would be dropped into the deep pit. The cleric advises that she has no mana or spell energy left, something near-by is draining her, stopping her ability to cast spells. They carefully search the pit, and find a small control box, which opens the door.

As they go inside, they are surprised at the brightness of the large temple room. Five prisoners, chained to the left and right side. Four huge columns reaching sixty feet up. A large panoramic curtain with a symbol of Keran at the centre fore of the alter 100 feet ahead. Three large, well armed skeletal figures approaching with impressive spears. As the team spreads out, Vierna is walking slowly, painfully. She is in tremendous pain. Atropa spends some time to carefully scan the room, and she determines the curtain, with the evil unholy symbol is causing problems for their cleric. At the same time, in the centre of the room, there is something else, a large presence, an evil otherworldly, figure, stuck in a black pool of goo. It is struggling to get out, to get into this realm. Atropa yells out that she believes it is the curtain that is the source of danger.

The dwarves clash with the skeletal figures, bashing them back. The skeletons have the advantage with reach, but the two dwarves stay strong as rocks – cutting the undead down. Atropa starts to climb, wanting a better shot at getting the curtain. Soulader concentrates on the skeletons he launches some of his energy spells.

At the same time the Drow sees Vierna in a daze, she has dropped her holy symbol and weapon, and has started walking listlessly towards the evil, invisible presence. Wanting to protect their ally, Soulader casts sleep on her which brings the cleric down to the ground. (Player Gaining advantage for quick thinking, to be used at a later time.)

Atropa having reached the near top, fires an arrow at the curtain's binder. It connects, bringing two binding rings down. As it does, a bright light emerges from behind the curtain. The light hits the invisible figure which roars in pain, at the same moment a flash of energy emerges from the creature which rebinds one of the binders.

At almost the same moment, Fuantos drops from a massive blow inflected by the skeletons. Bahlgrimm stays planted, defending his team by making sure none of the skeletons came too close to the spell-casters. Atropa releases another arrow, which cuts down the last few bindings, causing the curtain to drop. (Player Advantage) As it does, everyone sees a huge mirror emanating a heavenly light that for a moment covers the room, blinding everything. It then quickly starts to fade. The light, sign of the Heavenly Queen, purifies everything, banishing the evil presence in the room, both the otherworldly figure and the skeletons.

The team awakens the cleric and they release the prisoners. They determine the cult was using the mirror's magic plus the blood of the prisoners to attempt to release the demonic creature... They needed the mirror to weaken his goo prison, but not the direct light. Once the cleric has her spells, she casts bless on the large curtain, enabling them to destroy it.

Returning to their employers they are rewarded with 250 crowns (gp) a piece for their efforts. The dwarven contingent are saddened at their comrade's loss but they will be welcomed as rock-brothers into their camp for mourning and nourishment.

Exp Points:
portcullis opening – 150 ex points
four goblins - 200 exp points
snake pit – 250 exp points
4 skeletons - 400 exp points
bulwark - 250 exp points
Stairs Trap – 250 exp points
skeletons - 300 exp points
Curtain & Unholy Symbol - 300 ex points
Mission Completion - 400 exp points
                                  =2500 ex points
                                   600 exp points per player       
                                         
+2 bump on dwarven etiquette rolls or tunnel / cave rolls