Date
The 25th of Reaping through the 27th of Reaping
Players
Karen - Fighter - Level 3
Melark - Magic User - Level 2
Harley - Halfling - Level 3
[Lucinda] - Cleric - Level 1
Hirelings
Werdik, last survivor of a massacre in his monastery
Ratik, the Bowman
Flitglass the eager
Buny
Jiip
Suphong
Diyesa
Piciji
Frywe
Og the torchbearer
Adventure Log
Resting a day to recover from their wounds in the Barrowfields, the party awoke to find the next day it was thunder storming with 45mph winds, so they took an additional day off to rest and heal. Karen busied herself vising houses with Andel the agent. The first house was just a few blocks up from the Singing Swan, and had a stone lower floor and an wooden upper, along with a basement, to which the door the barred and padlocked shut with a thick chair. "Can't find the key" said Andel the agent, "but it does sit right on top of the cities sewer system, so, you know, great for hygiene!" The party, being experienced in such things, had the usual reaction to the citie sewers. The second house was more expensive, but all stone, while the third was a essentially a fortified compound behind a gated bridge in the noble part of town ... for three times the price. Karen selected the first, for 3500gp, including the agents fee, and paid 100gp for a title and liens search as well. Finally, Andel is locating a barrister for her to draw up a corporate contract so the corporation can own the house instead of Karen proper ... given the seemingly high mortality rates this seemed prudent. While this was going on Harley visited his mom and siblings in town, dropping off a bag of 100gp for her, more than shes ever seen before in her life. He shot the shit with the neighbors, who were interested in the commotion from inside the house, and then returned to the group.
The 27th of Reaping came about and the party set off for the Heifer. Werdic has shivering at the table he had obtained, looking cold and shaken. A slew of hirelings were obtained. In fact, ALL of the remaining hirelings in the Heifer were hired ... except for the torchbearers. It's gonna be nine more days, nine more LONG days, before more hirelings show up. They bought backpacks and spears and headed out ... this time for The Black Maw, having had enough of the Barrowfields.
Up, in to the hills they went, west out of town. In to the mountains, up a cart path partially overgrown by weeds ... but which had seen some traffic. They arrived a small alpine lake. On the other side stood a sheer cliff face with a cave mouth, rocks jutting out of the water before it. Two old rowboats stood on shore, so they loaded up and rowed over to the cave, passing in to the darkness to find a sandy shore and water littered by old boat parts. They pulled up the boats on to shore and found a tunnel in the back of the cave, with a long stair leading down. And down they went.
The came to a great room with their torches throwing shadows off the high vaulted ceilings. Black pillars held up the roof, with shallow basins of liquid on the floor by them ... powerful acid. A huge patch of burned fungus was in the middle of the room, at least three feet high. The doors on one wall and a double door on another. They went through the double door to find a round room with an iron maiden on the back wall, flanked by manacles. The iron maiden was carved with snake motifs. Opening it, they found a four foot high humanoid in it, it's face and skin all gooey and melty, almost dripping off. They closed the iron maiden and, then, heard a pounding coming from inside! And a throaty "ellp eee!" They got the fuck out of the room.
The took the next door out, coming to a long winding hallway. As they neared a door at the end Harley, taking up the rear, looked behind him, as he does while guarding the rear. And saw a HUGE spider with a red hourglass on its stomach! It bit Harley, pumping poison in to him! He fell over and it started spinning its webs over him! The group pivoted their formation in the hallway, attacking it, ineffectively, as it started dragging Harley's body away! To eat! Melark then ordered it to "Sleep!" and it fell to the floor, to be killed. Alas, Harleys internal organs were already liquefied and leaking out of his ass, he was Harley no more.
Going in to the next room they found a bunch of sticks wedged in to the floor his severed hands on them, all facing them, as if you say "STOP!" ... and some pale scabrous ab-humans amongst them, once wearing a crown with rubies! As they postured and grunted and threw shit at the party, Melark again ordered them to "Sleep!" and down they went. They were killed and the crown taken. Werdik was a broken man throughout this, not able to do anything but wimper and hide behind Melark, the person he was supposed to be guarding. Diyesa, also, seemed to be having a hard time with Harley's death. Lucinda the Cleric, a friend from town, showed up.
There was a pile of rubble in the room and it was quickly figured out that it was some kind of collapsed stair to a secret door, 10' on the wall! As they were investigating, the door to the room opened and three more ab-humans came in, one dragging Harleys bodies and two dragging the spiders! Diyesa creamed "NOT AGAIN!" and ran off in to the darkness of the eastern side of the room ... screaming as he fell in to something. The rest of the group made quick work of the creatures. The secret door revealed a room with no floor, stretching 80' down below, and a narrow ramp walkway leading a quarter tun around the room .. ending in a door, with impossibly fragile pink crystals growing overhead. Ratik was tied off with a rope and sent to investigate the door. As we opened it a short melty face humanoid leaped on him, knocking him off the ledge! The creature fell, but Ratik was tied off, and pulled back up. They learned that the other side of the door led to the iron maiden in the second room they entered.
The other side of the STOP room was explored, to find a huge chasm cutting the room off ... and a MASSIVE pendulum blade swinging long wise across it! Diyesa's body could be been far below, covered in creatures scurrying over it. They threw a torch in to the darkness to see the other side and cought a quick glimpse of a VERY ornate room ... with the floor covered in bones. They headed back to the first room, thinking of no way across.
The next door in the first room led to a short hallway ... with a dry fountain at the end ... covered in two dozen living faces, silently pleading with the party. Melark gave water and food to one, which seemed to quiet that one. And then they heard a voice behind them. A small green humanoid with a round face, in a tophat and tattered waistcoat. A certain Mr Lucas. He was looking for some short fellows, with beards, wearing white robes. Had they seen them? No? He was just around the corner, first door on their left, of they did. He seemed to be avoiding the fungus patch in the room and had a long wicked knife on his belt. He excused himself.
The party waited a bit and followed, finding a long hallway. Avoiding "the first door on the left" they made their way to a room that had a couple of dozen squat skulls on the floor ... and hundreds of skin masks of ab-humans on the walls! They left.
After falling in to a pit, they found a room with two pot-bellied looping humanoids in it, once of which had a glowing right hand! Again, the party swarmed them and killed them quickly, finding the glowing came from a huge diamond ring one was wearing. They went through a door in the room, massive double bronze ones with a demonic mouth motif, to find a room with a fountain, four dragon heads with gemstone eyes pouring out golden sparkling water. The gems were looted, but then the water stopped being golden and sparkling. Melark had sadz. :(
Through a small collapsed wall in the room they saw reptillians, but retreated ... and the reptillians did not follow. Leaving up a processional stair on the other side of the room they found a statue of a ghoulish human eating entrials, it's eyes following them around the room. Tapestries showed gory feasts of ghoulish humans feasting on bodies ... and there was small door ... with a stairway behind it leading down. They did NOT want to go to level two, so left, finding another circular room with thin standstone standing stones in it, enough room for one person to stand in the middle. They did not stand in it. Another room had an iron chandelier near the floor with bloody clothing hanging from it. Again, they did not fuck with it.
They came to a room with murals on the walls, grimy ones, showing a dwarf creation myth, mostly heretical they surmised, since it showed the elves were the ones who created the dwarves. A door on the other wall held a dark skinned elf-like woman sleeping on a sleeping pad while wearing an elegant art deco dress, with two statues of giant spiders with ruby eyes overlooking her. She awoke, and lady Denuda demanded they leave. As they were slow to do so, her hands started crackling in Palpatine force lightning. They slammed the door shut and pondered how to kill her and loot the statues eyes. They decided against it, since the hour was getting late and they wanted to make it back to town. Opening a door to leave the Dwarf/Mural room, the floor of the room dropped out, sliding the party down, to level 2 ... and ending in a spiked wall! Lucinda was spiked, as well as several hirelings, impaled to their deaths, while most were injured or gravely injured.
And thus they ended. Alone on level 2, low on hit points.
Deaths & Loot
Harley - Death by Spider
Lucinda - Spiked slide
Buny - Death by spiked slide
Suphong - Death by spiked slide
Piciji - Death by spiked slide
Diyesa - Threw self over a cliff
A giant black widow spider
10 scabrous ab-humans
2 pot-bellied looping pallid yellow humanoids
Mithral and Ruby Crown - 700gp
Diang ring that glows faintly - 200gp
8 dragon eye sapphires - 800gp total.
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