Skylar was apparently away on woodsie business. He sent his keystone to the Green Forest Inn for our use to gain access to the Stargate. Everyone was a little leery about going into the Accursed Halls without our scout.
Shakes said he seen a side job on the Blue Basilisk message board requesting aid at at one of the out lying farms. Some farmers wife watched a giant ant cut one of her cows in half and carried away its corpse. It paid 50 gold.
50 gold split 6 ways was only 8 gold, 3 silver and some copper. Not worth our time we decided. We still had a problem with our wayward scout and point man though. Aramel and Mordin both agreed they could handle Skylar's duties, so it was off to the Accursed Halls we went.
As we were making our way to the junk room door that was locked and who's key we found on the half faced one, Mordin, who was at point, stopped, yelled, and began to thrash about.
Not expecting trouble, as we had previously cleared out this area of the dungeon, we were caught unawares. When Draco raised his lantern we seen our Half orc caught in a huge web that spanned the width of the passage before us.
"Uh oh." said Aramel, who was next in line, pointing at a dark mass that moved along the floor before us. Draco raised his lantern higher, giving us a full view of the swarm of spiders travelling swiftly towards us.
And behind them, something huge and dark, filling most the corridor. It had eight glowing eyes each the size of a gold piece. It wasn't hard to imagine what that was, and it was bearing down on our entrapped barbarian with a chittering sound.
Mordin went berserk and screamed. " I HATE SPIDERS!" and tore himself free of the webs. He started stomping and swinging his axe at the swarm around him to little effect. Aramel also started swinging and stomping as spiders swarmed up his legs.
Shakes climbed up the wall, looking much like a spider himself, to escape the swarm. Only a few of the tiny arachnids chased him as the rest bore down on the cleric, Draco and I. We back pedaled frantically.
Seeing their weapons were only having a minuscule effect on the swarm Mordin and Aramel turned their attention to the arachnids big brother that was charging like an eight legged warwagon down on them.
Mordin raised his shield and braced himself. The giant spider crashed into him and stopped dead in it's tracks. It's mandibles penetrated the barbarians shield but missed his arm. And a good thing they did as venom started to squirt out of the ends of them and all over Mordin's chain mail.
The berserker swung his battle axe and connected soundly. Aramel chopped at one of it's legs and Shakes somersaulted off the wall and onto the things back and started pounding the thing in its head.
In the meantime Abrandon, Draco and I continued to back up down the hall away from the oncoming swarm. The sorcerer fired a bolt of fire into the heart of the mass of tiny spiders, burning a six inch diameter hole in the center that was quickly filled in by the thousands of arachnids left.
Seeing the fires effect, a plan came to my mind.
On our first trip into the Accursed Halls a goblin spell caster had blasted us with a Burning Hands spell. Almost killing poor Skylar.
I knew that spell well.
Stepping forward past Abrandon and Draco, I touched my thumbs together and spread my fingers as wide as I could get them. Quickly speaking the incantation, flames poured forth from my fingers in a fan shaped area, engulfing the whole of the swarm.
No more swarm.
I looked up from my handy work to see Shakes riding the back of the Giant Spider like some farm hand riding a bull. He Continued to punch it in the back. In what appeared to be desperation the spider reared back on its four hind legs, throwing Shakes backward.
Mordin seized this chance to charge up under the thing and heaved upward with all his might. catapulting it up and onto its back, narrowly missing Shakes who tumbled sideways.
Down came Mordin's Axe.
The bulbous abdomen actually popped and exploded with black ichor all over the barbarian. Slowly Mordin turned to us and said in a whisper, " I really hate spiders."
" I get that." Shakes replied as he kicked the curled up form of the giant Arachnid.
Abrandon tended to to the various spider bites the party endured and pronounced everyone fit to travel on. I swear that man could cure anything.
We proceeded to the locked door in the junk room and opened it with the key. There were steps going down. The group seemed a bit more nervous descending these steps. Probably because Skylar wasn't our point man. They spiraled downward a ways and ended in a hall some 10 feet wide and 30 feet long. A barred window was on the left wall and beyond that at the end another passage going left also.
Creeping up to the window we peeked in to see an octagonal room. The floor looked like the night sky.
I mean we are talking stars, constellations, planets, the works.
Our route circled this room three quarters of the way and a door lead into it. It was kind of weird walking across the night sky. It somehow made me feel... superior...
I only dabble at astrology but I swear this floor looked just like the night sky above Thornkeep. The large double doors leading out of this room had words written above them in Ancient Azlantian. I could only decipher two of the words however.
" There " and " Enigma's. "
I wrote the rest down for decryption later.
Not ones to be daunted by unreadable words, we kicked the doors in.
A round room with no floor was before us. A stone bridge spanned this room leading to another door.
" Maybe it's bottomless." said Aramel, doing wonders for our courage.
We definitely couldn't see the bottom with Draco's lantern. I lit one of my torches and debated tossing it over the side. I quickly changed my mind as I read about one trap that was a room such as this and the floor was covered with oil. When the party tossed it's torch over the explosion did wonders thinning their ranks.
No thank you.
Carefully, we started across.
About halfway a creature materialized out of nowhere and blocked our way.
No it was not a Troll.
The only way to describe it is that it looked just like the statue of Abraxus two levels above. Only it was incorporeal. We could see right through it like a ghost.
It spoke, and none of us could understand what it said.
Mordin looked at it and shrugged.
It said something again, and this time I understood it, because it was speaking in the Elven tongue.
Which I am fluent at. Did I mention I speak five languages?
I informed the party. "It said, "In whose name do you seek the Enigma Vaults?"" While we pondered this the ghost demon once again asked something in a third language.
Mordin grabbed me and pushed me forward, saying, "Answer the man!"
Now, I wouldn't actually call this thing a man. And I was a little concerned that if I answered wrong I would get tossed to my death into this bottomless pit. But I just knew that if I backed out Mordin would probably toss me to my death into this pit.
Probably in pieces.
I had retrieved a lot of notes and books so far. We found a lot of stuff in that half faced wizards room. Long ago this whole place belonged some powerful evil wizard. I stepped forward and said his name.
" Mer Anthamon."
Ghost Abraxus slithered aside on his serpent legs and said. " You may pass. But touch nothing lest you be purged."
Now that had an ominous sound to it.
We were ready to go forward but at this point we got into an argument on who should take point.
Apparently giant spiders and ghost demons were enough to fry everyones nerves and no one wanted to be point man. After a lot of finger pointing and name calling it was 'decided' I should go first.
I did not like this because it is strategically unsound to have your snipers be point man. But to save time and hard feelings I reluctantly agreed. Moving across the bridge to another set of double doors I checked for traps and listened. I didn't find anything or hear anything untoward so I stepped back and kicked them open.
It was a large cavernous chamber with another chasm, 15 feet wide, descending into darkness. To our right about 30 feet was a rickety swinging bridge crossing this chasm. Across this expanse was a narrow ledge and on this ledge was two of what only can be described as Two Headed Humanoid Skeletal Veloci Raptors.
Ya. That's what I said.
Well them two headed skeletal thingies seen us at about the same time as we seen them, and then Aramel came charging past me yelling, " I CAN MAKE THAT JUMP!"
Yes. That kid tried to leap that chasm.
I don't know if Aramel can normally make a 15 foot leap, but this time he didn't even get close.
As soon as he was airborne we heard an " OH SHIT!" and then, as he fell away into darkness, an " Ohhh....Shhhittt....."
There was a load crash from below and then we heard Aramel holler. " I'm alright." seconds later, " I think I might have broke something though." and then, " And it's dark down here."
Now the Undead Two Headed Veloci Raptors were not standing around with their mouths agape watching Aramel's antics like we were. They were charging us. And those things were quick.
They were halfway across the swinging bridge before we reacted. I clipped one with a beam of positive energy and Draco hit one with a firebolt. Mordin and Shakes stepped in front of me and then they were on us.
Shakes ducked a couple of bites that looked like they would have taken his head off, kicked one in the kneecap and while it was off balance , threw a punch that I swear looked like it was on fire, shattering its spine.
It crumbled into a pile of Two Headed Humanoid Skeletal Veloci Raptor bones.
Mordin wasn't faring as well. The thing tore into him and tore him up pretty bad. His axe wasn't as effective as Shakes Fists of Fire.
Luckily he had Draco and I to back him up. We both blasted it until it joined it's friend on the ground.
Everything got quite as we all caught our breaths. Then we heard from the bottom of the crevice, "guys... Is everything okay up there?"
We tossed Aramel a torch and a rope and hauled him up.
Abrandon exhausted all his curative magic fixing Mordin and Aramel. With our cleric out of magic we decided not to press our luck down here and called it a day.
It was a disgruntled group that left the dungeon. One, we argued a lot more than normal. Two, we didn't find any treasure. And three, we were not carrying out Skylar's critically injured body. It seemed without our scout nothing could go right.
I retire for the night hoping Skylar is not gone long.
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Monday, December 23, 2013
Day Twenty Three, Evening
We sold most the stuff we found yesterday. A magic wand we found on Halfface was a wand of Acid Arrows. Yep, you guessed it, it shoots acid arrows. I rolled Draco for it and he won.
Damn.
Well I did net a nice bunch of gold though. And a hoard of books dealing with alchemy and Magical Constructs. By studying the latter books I discerned the recovered power crystal had a hairline fracture in it. Which would cause it to short out if we attempted to use it. I had one of my Colleagues at the Golden Tower cast a spell on it to mend it. It looks whole enough now but whether it will work for anything I do not know yet.
I gave a report to Iilara on what we found down below. Leaving out only things I thought she didn't need to know. Like how much loot we hauled out. When I brought up how beautiful the full moon was last night she just shrugged and asked me more about the Half faced wizard.
I thought elves liked talking about the beauty's of nature and stuff like that. Oh well, if Wizardly stuff is what turns her on, that is what I will bring up when we talk.
Tomorrow morning we make another trip down. Hopefully it is as profitable as last time.
Damn.
Well I did net a nice bunch of gold though. And a hoard of books dealing with alchemy and Magical Constructs. By studying the latter books I discerned the recovered power crystal had a hairline fracture in it. Which would cause it to short out if we attempted to use it. I had one of my Colleagues at the Golden Tower cast a spell on it to mend it. It looks whole enough now but whether it will work for anything I do not know yet.
I gave a report to Iilara on what we found down below. Leaving out only things I thought she didn't need to know. Like how much loot we hauled out. When I brought up how beautiful the full moon was last night she just shrugged and asked me more about the Half faced wizard.
I thought elves liked talking about the beauty's of nature and stuff like that. Oh well, if Wizardly stuff is what turns her on, that is what I will bring up when we talk.
Tomorrow morning we make another trip down. Hopefully it is as profitable as last time.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Day Twenty Two, Evening
I killed my first man today.
I knew, because of the life I choose as a soldier, that sooner or latter it would happen. It is not the same as killing a monster or humanoid. It seemed somehow more acute. More personal.
The group of us had traveled back down to the 'operating' room and went down a side passage slanting off into a room full of junk. A large door was on the far wall and another passage off to our left. As we entered a large automaton rose from the junk and attacked us. We defeated the construct easy enough and I recovered the shattered crystal that I determined to be the things power source. There was a lot of loot in this junk room but we left it to recover on our way out. The door on the far wall was locked and we needed a key to open.
We took the other side passage south and came to a temple like room. There was a sort of altar and behind it stood two more automatons like the one we just fought. They were flanking a sort of mural on the wall that was indiscernible. They did not immediately attack us however. Upon further inspection we discovered there power crystals were missing. We found nothing more of interest and left the the room.
To the south of the Temple room we found another door. Shakes examined it carefully and then placed some sort of listening cone against it. After a few moments he raised his hand and said. " I here someone talking in there. "
I whispered. " Mordin. You and Aramel watch the door. Everyone else back up a few yards and let's devise a strategy."
Skylar, Shakes, Draco, the Cleric and I quickly huddled up to make a plan on how to best enter the room, neutralize any threats and how to do it with minimal risk to us.
I glanced up from the huddle just in time to see Aramel lean over to Mordin and say, " Hey. I think that's a wizard in there."
Uh Oh.
We didn't even have time to unhuddle before Mordin knocked the door off its hinges and screamed, " DIE WIZARD SCUM! "
Everyone made a mad dash for the door. Aramel charged in before us, and then Mordin did the strangest thing. He dropped his battle axe and hollered, " Oh no you don't!" and leaped out of sight.
I charged in and dove into the opposite direction, looking for cover. I spun with my heavy crossbow ready. Expecting to see anything.
Well, I didn't expect to see this.
Mordin was up in the air. Dangling from some ugly guys ankles, hanging on for dear life. Aramel was fencing with some sort of mechanical snake below them.
The man Mordin fought, I say was ugly , because half his face was melted. he was bald and wore a long black trench coat. Across his chest was a bandoleer and it was loaded with vials and flasks. Even as I noticed this, the ugly half faced man pulled a vial from this and dropped it on Aramel.
The kid burst into flames.
He wasn't a fool when it came to fire though and Aramel immediately tucked and rolled. Abrandon threw a cloak over him to try and help extinguish the fire.
I raised my crossbow and fired at the wizard, or whatever he was, and missed. Even in the middle of combat Skylar managed to look back at me and say, " You hit the ceiling! Again!"
Well.... they were up in the air...
Shakes was squaring off with the mechanized snake in a martial arts stance. The snake thing reared back and spread its head.
Oh crap! it was an Iron Cobra!
I had read about these things back at school. They were some sort of mix between technology and magic. Not alive but able to follow simple commands. Not easy to kill being made out of metal. Their fangs could be loaded with different types of poisons and other various nasty liquids. It spat something at Shakes, and if my friend would have been slower it would have been devastating. He angled his body just right though and it only nicked him.
It was acid.
Parts of Shakes dark clothing were eaten away and started to smoulder. He just grimaced and continued to fight.
Draco hit the flying bald guy with a Power Word Pain. Skylar caused sparks to fly as he tore a hole into the Iron Cobra with the Sword of Zog. Aramel thrashed on the ground as Abrandon cast a cure spell upon him. I stood there, mouth agape, and watched all this chaos.
I looked up to watch Mordin bite the flying wizard in the ankle.
He tried to shake the barbarian lose then by kicking him in the face. This only made the Half Orc angrier though, and roaring, Mordin reached up and grabbed that half faced man by the crotch.
I knew right then he was a dead man. That flying wizard let out the most horrendous, pain filled scream I had ever heard.
I couldn't take it.
I shot that half faced wizard in the head with a Magic Missile to put him out of his misery.
Almost as an after thought I blasted the Iron Cobra.
The rest of the group looked over at me and asked why I was stealing all the kills.
I nonchalantly replied, " Because I am thinking of changing my name to 'Deathblow'."
Without missing a beat, Draco said, " That should be popular with the male vampire population."
Smartass.
" Maybe I'll stick with Nitro."
We looted and pillaged. Found a key that fit the junk room door. Found a bunch of books that needed deciphering. Had a few more encounters that were not noteworthy except that we found a whole power crystal in some sort of goblin digging machine.
We left the dungeon and are retiring for the night.
So yes I killed a man today. But it was sort of a mercy killing.
And if you do not believe me go out and let a crazed, 400 pound half orc barbarian hang from your nards in mid air and lets see if you don't wish I was there with a Magic Missile....
I expect his screams to haunt my sleep tonight....
I knew, because of the life I choose as a soldier, that sooner or latter it would happen. It is not the same as killing a monster or humanoid. It seemed somehow more acute. More personal.
The group of us had traveled back down to the 'operating' room and went down a side passage slanting off into a room full of junk. A large door was on the far wall and another passage off to our left. As we entered a large automaton rose from the junk and attacked us. We defeated the construct easy enough and I recovered the shattered crystal that I determined to be the things power source. There was a lot of loot in this junk room but we left it to recover on our way out. The door on the far wall was locked and we needed a key to open.
We took the other side passage south and came to a temple like room. There was a sort of altar and behind it stood two more automatons like the one we just fought. They were flanking a sort of mural on the wall that was indiscernible. They did not immediately attack us however. Upon further inspection we discovered there power crystals were missing. We found nothing more of interest and left the the room.
To the south of the Temple room we found another door. Shakes examined it carefully and then placed some sort of listening cone against it. After a few moments he raised his hand and said. " I here someone talking in there. "
I whispered. " Mordin. You and Aramel watch the door. Everyone else back up a few yards and let's devise a strategy."
Skylar, Shakes, Draco, the Cleric and I quickly huddled up to make a plan on how to best enter the room, neutralize any threats and how to do it with minimal risk to us.
I glanced up from the huddle just in time to see Aramel lean over to Mordin and say, " Hey. I think that's a wizard in there."
Uh Oh.
We didn't even have time to unhuddle before Mordin knocked the door off its hinges and screamed, " DIE WIZARD SCUM! "
Everyone made a mad dash for the door. Aramel charged in before us, and then Mordin did the strangest thing. He dropped his battle axe and hollered, " Oh no you don't!" and leaped out of sight.
I charged in and dove into the opposite direction, looking for cover. I spun with my heavy crossbow ready. Expecting to see anything.
Well, I didn't expect to see this.
Mordin was up in the air. Dangling from some ugly guys ankles, hanging on for dear life. Aramel was fencing with some sort of mechanical snake below them.
The man Mordin fought, I say was ugly , because half his face was melted. he was bald and wore a long black trench coat. Across his chest was a bandoleer and it was loaded with vials and flasks. Even as I noticed this, the ugly half faced man pulled a vial from this and dropped it on Aramel.
The kid burst into flames.
He wasn't a fool when it came to fire though and Aramel immediately tucked and rolled. Abrandon threw a cloak over him to try and help extinguish the fire.
I raised my crossbow and fired at the wizard, or whatever he was, and missed. Even in the middle of combat Skylar managed to look back at me and say, " You hit the ceiling! Again!"
Well.... they were up in the air...
Shakes was squaring off with the mechanized snake in a martial arts stance. The snake thing reared back and spread its head.
Oh crap! it was an Iron Cobra!
I had read about these things back at school. They were some sort of mix between technology and magic. Not alive but able to follow simple commands. Not easy to kill being made out of metal. Their fangs could be loaded with different types of poisons and other various nasty liquids. It spat something at Shakes, and if my friend would have been slower it would have been devastating. He angled his body just right though and it only nicked him.
It was acid.
Parts of Shakes dark clothing were eaten away and started to smoulder. He just grimaced and continued to fight.
Draco hit the flying bald guy with a Power Word Pain. Skylar caused sparks to fly as he tore a hole into the Iron Cobra with the Sword of Zog. Aramel thrashed on the ground as Abrandon cast a cure spell upon him. I stood there, mouth agape, and watched all this chaos.
I looked up to watch Mordin bite the flying wizard in the ankle.
He tried to shake the barbarian lose then by kicking him in the face. This only made the Half Orc angrier though, and roaring, Mordin reached up and grabbed that half faced man by the crotch.
I knew right then he was a dead man. That flying wizard let out the most horrendous, pain filled scream I had ever heard.
I couldn't take it.
I shot that half faced wizard in the head with a Magic Missile to put him out of his misery.
Almost as an after thought I blasted the Iron Cobra.
The rest of the group looked over at me and asked why I was stealing all the kills.
I nonchalantly replied, " Because I am thinking of changing my name to 'Deathblow'."
Without missing a beat, Draco said, " That should be popular with the male vampire population."
Smartass.
" Maybe I'll stick with Nitro."
We looted and pillaged. Found a key that fit the junk room door. Found a bunch of books that needed deciphering. Had a few more encounters that were not noteworthy except that we found a whole power crystal in some sort of goblin digging machine.
We left the dungeon and are retiring for the night.
So yes I killed a man today. But it was sort of a mercy killing.
And if you do not believe me go out and let a crazed, 400 pound half orc barbarian hang from your nards in mid air and lets see if you don't wish I was there with a Magic Missile....
I expect his screams to haunt my sleep tonight....
Day Twenty One, Evening
After three weeks in Thornkeep I have amassed a tiny fortune in gold and silver. I have also become more adept with my spells and weapons. My dreaded Magic Missile spell is almost twice as deadly when I cast it now. As a whole our group seems to be more proficient in combat and more confident also. At this rate I may be able to retire within a year or two and live a life like a king.
If that is what I will choose to do.
I spent the day relaxing and and preparing for tomorrow, for we make another foray to the depths below the Accursed Halls.
Good Night for now.
If that is what I will choose to do.
I spent the day relaxing and and preparing for tomorrow, for we make another foray to the depths below the Accursed Halls.
Good Night for now.
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Day Twenty, Evening
We made our way down to the Stargate easy enough. We each inserted our Keystones ( It was good to see Mordin hadn't traded his in for a cheap prostitute ) and the Magic doors slid silently open. We tried a couple of things with the scrying pool to no avail. We assumed it needed a command word or something to operate. Giving up we headed down to the Brackish pool where the Grey Ooze almost killed Skylar.
We skirted the pool warily and went to the door on the other side.
Shakes listened at the door and said he thought he heard voices.
Mordin kicked the door down, and we charged in, weapons drawn.
It was some sort of weird torture chamber. To the left of us, lining the wall, was a row of four cages, and in each cage their was an abomination.
Goblins.
Only these goblins were uglier than normal. Some mad scientist had experimented on the little buggers and turned them into miniature little nightmares. They had tentacles and pincher's and other ghastly appendages. They were quite insane.
Luckily for us, they were caged.
Then out of nowhere flew this little winged creature. It was about two feet tall, had batlike wings and a big nose. I recognized it from my studies at the academy. It was called a Homunculus: a little servant created by wizards.
The winged critter flew over to a lever next to the cages, and said " Yoo hoo." waving at us.
In a panic, we made a mad dash for the little bastard. He stuck his thumb to his nose, and wiggled his fingers at us, as he pulled the lever down with his other hand.
The cage doors opened.
Mordin leaped! I tell you, that barbarian can jump like a giant toad, and he cut the Homunculus in half.
It died with a goofy smile on it's face.
The rest of the party fanned out to do battle with the mutant Goblins.
I rushed forward, and pushed the lever back up, closing the cage doors before the little abominations could get out.
Everyone looked at me like I was the stupid one.
Mordin said, " Oh man. What did you do that for? That was going to be a good fight!"
Whatever....
It seemed kind of brutal, but we cooked those mutant goblin's gooses while they were safely behind bars.
Now torture chambers give me the heeby jeebys, so I was glad when we quickly searched and got out of there. We went out another passage and up a small flight of steps. It exited on a type of balcony with two rows of benches over looking a large room below us with an operating table in the middle of it.
Draco, Abrandon and I decided to cover the rest of the group from this observation area as they searched the operating room below.
Aramel, Mordin, Shakes and Skylar hopped down and were set upon by a pack of giant rats out of a side tunnel. I fired my crossbow and missed. Much to Draco's and Abrandon's amusement. Our assault group was almost casually killing the rats. Mordin grabbed one by the tail and splatted it against the wall. Skylar skewered one on his short sword. And Shakes, well Shakes was doing something weird.
He wasn't using any weapons, he skipped to the side as a giant rat leaped at him and brought his open hand down in a chopping motion, breaking the spine of the huge rodent.
Holy Crap! Shakes knew martial arts!
There was no time to dwell on this startling fact as right when it seemed the fight was going to be an easy one another enemy entered the field.
Another mutant goblin.
If anything, it was even more unusual than the caged ones we encountered in the torture chamber. There were tubes and flasks screwed into and attached to his head. It wielded an axe bigger than it easily in one hand.
The little bugger was quick as it charged in and body checked Mordin, Who was twice it's height and five times it's weight across the room into a wall. It swung it's axe at Skylar. And if Skylar was slower it would have cut him down for sure, but he ducked most the blow and just took a nasty slash across his arm.
There is one thing I can say for our party, when we see a primary threat, we don't hold nothing back.
Mordin shook his head, spit blood and charged. Swinging his greataxe and connected soundly. Skylar slashed it across the face with the Sword of Zog. Aramel stabbed it in the side. Shakes did a somersault over the creature and kicked it square in the back of the neck. Draco used his Word of Pain. And, as it staggered from this combined assault, I blasted it with my Magic Missile.
It dropped.
The giant rats were easy enough to finish off at this point.
We looted and healed as many of our wounds as we could. We found several magic potions and determined that the axe the little fiend utilized was enchanted also. The party awarded this to Mordin, as he has a fondness for axes and best knew how to use one.
At this point we decided to call it a night and headed back up to town and daylight.
We skirted the pool warily and went to the door on the other side.
Shakes listened at the door and said he thought he heard voices.
Mordin kicked the door down, and we charged in, weapons drawn.
It was some sort of weird torture chamber. To the left of us, lining the wall, was a row of four cages, and in each cage their was an abomination.
Goblins.
Only these goblins were uglier than normal. Some mad scientist had experimented on the little buggers and turned them into miniature little nightmares. They had tentacles and pincher's and other ghastly appendages. They were quite insane.
Luckily for us, they were caged.
Then out of nowhere flew this little winged creature. It was about two feet tall, had batlike wings and a big nose. I recognized it from my studies at the academy. It was called a Homunculus: a little servant created by wizards.
The winged critter flew over to a lever next to the cages, and said " Yoo hoo." waving at us.
In a panic, we made a mad dash for the little bastard. He stuck his thumb to his nose, and wiggled his fingers at us, as he pulled the lever down with his other hand.
The cage doors opened.
Mordin leaped! I tell you, that barbarian can jump like a giant toad, and he cut the Homunculus in half.
It died with a goofy smile on it's face.
The rest of the party fanned out to do battle with the mutant Goblins.
I rushed forward, and pushed the lever back up, closing the cage doors before the little abominations could get out.
Everyone looked at me like I was the stupid one.
Mordin said, " Oh man. What did you do that for? That was going to be a good fight!"
Whatever....
It seemed kind of brutal, but we cooked those mutant goblin's gooses while they were safely behind bars.
Now torture chambers give me the heeby jeebys, so I was glad when we quickly searched and got out of there. We went out another passage and up a small flight of steps. It exited on a type of balcony with two rows of benches over looking a large room below us with an operating table in the middle of it.
Draco, Abrandon and I decided to cover the rest of the group from this observation area as they searched the operating room below.
Aramel, Mordin, Shakes and Skylar hopped down and were set upon by a pack of giant rats out of a side tunnel. I fired my crossbow and missed. Much to Draco's and Abrandon's amusement. Our assault group was almost casually killing the rats. Mordin grabbed one by the tail and splatted it against the wall. Skylar skewered one on his short sword. And Shakes, well Shakes was doing something weird.
He wasn't using any weapons, he skipped to the side as a giant rat leaped at him and brought his open hand down in a chopping motion, breaking the spine of the huge rodent.
Holy Crap! Shakes knew martial arts!
There was no time to dwell on this startling fact as right when it seemed the fight was going to be an easy one another enemy entered the field.
Another mutant goblin.
If anything, it was even more unusual than the caged ones we encountered in the torture chamber. There were tubes and flasks screwed into and attached to his head. It wielded an axe bigger than it easily in one hand.
The little bugger was quick as it charged in and body checked Mordin, Who was twice it's height and five times it's weight across the room into a wall. It swung it's axe at Skylar. And if Skylar was slower it would have cut him down for sure, but he ducked most the blow and just took a nasty slash across his arm.
There is one thing I can say for our party, when we see a primary threat, we don't hold nothing back.
Mordin shook his head, spit blood and charged. Swinging his greataxe and connected soundly. Skylar slashed it across the face with the Sword of Zog. Aramel stabbed it in the side. Shakes did a somersault over the creature and kicked it square in the back of the neck. Draco used his Word of Pain. And, as it staggered from this combined assault, I blasted it with my Magic Missile.
It dropped.
The giant rats were easy enough to finish off at this point.
We looted and healed as many of our wounds as we could. We found several magic potions and determined that the axe the little fiend utilized was enchanted also. The party awarded this to Mordin, as he has a fondness for axes and best knew how to use one.
At this point we decided to call it a night and headed back up to town and daylight.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Day Nineteen, Evening
Tomorrow we make another foray into the dungeon known as the Accursed Halls. I laid out my adventuring gear and took inventory. Here is a list of what I have.
Masterwork Chainshirt
Small Wooden Shield
1 Morningstar ( I don't think I have used this yet. Going to have to get into some hand to hand)
Heavy Crossbow ( The Sights may be messed up on this. Need to get to a firing range to test )
14 Crossbow Bolts
1 Masterwork Dagger ( I keep this in my boot )
Backpack
2 Torches
Flint and Steel ( To Light said Torches )
50 Feet of Rope
Small Shovel ( The kind they give you in the Military to carry around to dig quick foxholes with )
2 Pouches ( One holds my spell components. The other is for collecting things I find important )
I also took stock of my spells. Here is a list of my current powers.
6 times a day I could do one of the following
Acid Splash ( just a small splash of acid with a range of 25 Feet )
Disrupt Undead ( A beam of Positive energy that has a range of 25 feet )
Light ( I could Conjure a light that lasts for about 30 minutes )
Ray of Frost ( Exactly what it sounds like. It has a range of 25 feet )
My second set of magical ability's I can also do six times a day.
Accuracy ( This effectively doubles the range of my heavy Crossbow )
Burning Hands ( This sends forth a fan shaped blast of flame from my fingers 15 feet )
Chill Touch ( Don't let someone grab you by the nards when they have cast this! )
Fist of Stone ( See the description of Chill Touch above )
Hail of Stone ( I have never really cast this on live targets before but sounds painful )
Magic Missile ( My personal favorite. Conjures a missile of pure force that always strikes my target.
Well I actually conjure two missiles that can hit two targets within 5 feet of each other. Because I am uber that way. Range 110 feet )
Lesser Orb of Acid ( Blah )
Lesser Orb of Cold ( More Blah )
Lesser Orb of Electricity ( Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah )
Lesser orb of Fire ( You know I think I just don't like spells with the word lesser in them )
Lesser Orb of Sound ( You know the drill )
Shocking Grasp ( Yep. This lets me grab things and Shock them )
True Strike ( This grants me increased accuracy with ranged weapons. Maybe I should use this more)
Tenser's Floating Disk ( This lets me conjure a plane of force to carry things on. Should make things easier carrying Skylar out of the dungeon )
Well Got a big day tommorow so good night world.
Masterwork Chainshirt
Small Wooden Shield
1 Morningstar ( I don't think I have used this yet. Going to have to get into some hand to hand)
Heavy Crossbow ( The Sights may be messed up on this. Need to get to a firing range to test )
14 Crossbow Bolts
1 Masterwork Dagger ( I keep this in my boot )
Backpack
2 Torches
Flint and Steel ( To Light said Torches )
50 Feet of Rope
Small Shovel ( The kind they give you in the Military to carry around to dig quick foxholes with )
2 Pouches ( One holds my spell components. The other is for collecting things I find important )
I also took stock of my spells. Here is a list of my current powers.
6 times a day I could do one of the following
Acid Splash ( just a small splash of acid with a range of 25 Feet )
Disrupt Undead ( A beam of Positive energy that has a range of 25 feet )
Light ( I could Conjure a light that lasts for about 30 minutes )
Ray of Frost ( Exactly what it sounds like. It has a range of 25 feet )
My second set of magical ability's I can also do six times a day.
Accuracy ( This effectively doubles the range of my heavy Crossbow )
Burning Hands ( This sends forth a fan shaped blast of flame from my fingers 15 feet )
Chill Touch ( Don't let someone grab you by the nards when they have cast this! )
Fist of Stone ( See the description of Chill Touch above )
Hail of Stone ( I have never really cast this on live targets before but sounds painful )
Magic Missile ( My personal favorite. Conjures a missile of pure force that always strikes my target.
Well I actually conjure two missiles that can hit two targets within 5 feet of each other. Because I am uber that way. Range 110 feet )
Lesser Orb of Acid ( Blah )
Lesser Orb of Cold ( More Blah )
Lesser Orb of Electricity ( Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah )
Lesser orb of Fire ( You know I think I just don't like spells with the word lesser in them )
Lesser Orb of Sound ( You know the drill )
Shocking Grasp ( Yep. This lets me grab things and Shock them )
True Strike ( This grants me increased accuracy with ranged weapons. Maybe I should use this more)
Tenser's Floating Disk ( This lets me conjure a plane of force to carry things on. Should make things easier carrying Skylar out of the dungeon )
Well Got a big day tommorow so good night world.
Day Eighteen, Evening
We set up a group safehouse today. A room in a warehouse owned by the guy Shakes works for. I didn't think to ask his name and Shakes failed to introduce him. He is the guy who owns Thornkeep Mercantile. I'll get his name later and let you know who he is. Anyways, we stored a bunch of our loot and stuff we got out of the Accursed Halls and didn't look like it had an immediate sell value there. Shakes and the owner has the only key but I really don't need one with my lock picking abilities. We asked Shakes if our stuff would be safe there and he assured us that no one touches his boss's stuff.
Skylar continues to recover. Day after tomorrow we should be able to make another foray into the Accursed Halls. Hopefully we find a treasure horde of a Dragon on our next trip because my money is starting to dwindle.
Skylar continues to recover. Day after tomorrow we should be able to make another foray into the Accursed Halls. Hopefully we find a treasure horde of a Dragon on our next trip because my money is starting to dwindle.
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