RC Jalpiar - Look out Below

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The room through the door on the west wall, proved to be a store room. Verna did find a locked crate which she opened to find 5 flasks labeled “Burning Goo” written in goblin. Climbing down the well, the party found themselves in a large room. Vines hung from the ceiling and seemingly rooted themselves into the walls. To the north, a passage lead out, and there were two doors, one on the east wall one on the south wall. Verna found no traps on either door, but the group decided to investigate the passage to the north first. A short distance to the north, the passage opened up into a chamber. A refuse pile was located in the center of the chamber, and there was blood all over the chamber. As the group was checking out this area, they began to hear some singing coming from beyond the north wall, A large rock was blocking another passage. The singing was in goblin, and grew louder by the minute, Knorr believed it to be a Goblin Hunting Song. The party readied themselves to attack anything that came through the passage.

They did not have to wait for long as a Bugbear emerged with two Dire Rat pets. During their surprise attack, Karak and Verna were the only ones that managed to hit, with Verna scoring a critical. Olanth was the next to hit, killing a Dire Rat with one massive blow. Naffin began to strike the large goblinoids with flurries of blows, damaging the bugbear some. Knorr broke the string on his bow next, followed by the Dire Rat and Bugbear scoring hits on their targets, Karak and Olanth respectively. Olanth landed a blow but did not manage to kill the Bugbear and even though Verna and Naffin managed to hit the goblinoids too, the bugbear remained alive. Karak finished off the one remaining Dire Rat, while Nyora used her heal skill to stem off the effects of the Rat Fever that Karak could have contracted from the bite. The Bugbear was finished off by a blow from Olanth. A search of the Bugbear yielded a Morning Star, two Javelins, and a large blood stained sack. Verna looked into the sack and was sickened by the smell and sight of the human head it contained. Knorr kicked the sack away, and felt the coins hidden in the bottom of the sack. He proceeded to dump the sack on the ground which made Olanth sick too, but found 60sp and 40gp.

A quick search of the passage leading out to the north revealed a cache of weapons used by the Bugbear in his hunting forays; 2 spears, 4 javelins, 2 longbows, 4 quivers of 15 arrows each, 1 long sword, and 1 bastard sword. Verna moved through the passage into the darkness, and found that the passage lead into the Underdark. She returned after about 5 minutes. Nyora discovered that one of the Bows was at least a Masterwork Item, but could not tell if it was enchanted. Knorr was likewise unable to discern if any of the items were magical.

Believing that the Humans they are searching for to be in the other direction from the Underdark, the party set off through the southern door. It lead them down a long hallway that was split halfway by a rift. Knorr traveled down the western branch of the rift into a stone antechamber created by the rift. This chamber was riddled by 1 foot diameter holes, two of which were lit by a bright fiery light and emanated heat. He decided to leave the chamber undisturbed. Continuing to the south, the hallway ended in a door, after a series of turns. Verna and Naffin were unable to find any traps and were also unable to unlock the door. Olanth crashed into the door, splintering the weakened door with brute strength. The chamber beyond the door was decorated by mosaic dragons and there was a single pedestal in the center carved into the shape of a dragon. A tray held in the dragon’s mouth held a single book. Again, Verna and Naffin could see no traps on either the pedestal or the book. After moving the book with a spear, Knorr took the book. The pedestal began to sink into the floor, and the three were able to jump through the door as the room collapsed.

Moving back up the hallway, the group was attacked by a strange worm-like creature that emanated intense heat. Lucky for the party, the Thoqqua was particularly inept at scoring hits on the party, and they were able to finally pierce the tough hide of the worm and kill it (One noteworthy event happened during this encounter, Nyora finally scored a hit ). Not wanting to discover if there were any more of these creatures, the party quickly headed up the eastern branch of the rift. The rift passage ended in a small bedroom-like chamber where the party decided to rest for a while. In the chamber are 2 sets of Bunk Beds. Each party member received 400 experience points.


[This message has been edited by Baldak Oakfist (edited March 04, 2002).]

 

Not feeling very comfortable resting in the room, the way it is currently set up, Naffin grabs the base of one of the bunk beds while Knorr, having the same idea, picks up the other side. Together they move the unit so that it rests lengthwise firmly agains the inward swinging door.

Naffin then removes two quarrels from his quiver, and goes a few feet into the passage that led to the room. There he pushes a quarrel into the ground on each side of the passage.

Going back to the room to collect the broken bow strings from Nyora and Knorr (which the group seems to have an abundance of), he ties them together and puts one end through the handle of his bell. Then he returns to the two stakes in the passage, and ties the ends of the strings taughtly between the bolts, so that the bell hangs in the air just a couple of inches off the ground.

Not sure of the effectiveness of his makeshift alarm, he mutters, "It will have to do." and returns the the room.

To the group: "I don't think we can't stop the worms from coming in through the walls, but hopefully, this will keep any maggotty-decomposing-head-wielding-goblinoids from getting to us undetected. Oh, Olanth, I suggest that you and perhaps Karak take the bunk that's barricading the door, it will make it very difficult to push through the door with all of the added weight there."




[This message has been edited by ArtEChoke (edited February 27, 2002).]

 

Knorr whispers urgently to Karak, "Don't let him get below you."

Knorr then tosses two ever-burning torches to Nyora and one to Olanth. He keeps the fourth for himself and stuffs it in his pack, encouraging the elf and the barbarian to do the same.

Knorr also realizes he has most of the treasure except for the amulet he gave Olanth, so he takes out the two dragon bracelets and gives them to Karak and Nyora for safekeeping.

As he settles down to sleep in the non-door-blocking bed, he starts to compose in his mind the Ballad of Verna.

 

Karak's sleep ended with some rough dreams, the last one almost causing himself to roll out of his bunk. At this, he had decided he had enough rest and would wait quietly for the others to wake up and gather their wits before pressing on. The past few days' adventures gave him much to think about anyway. He didn't much care for being this far underground though, and couldn't wait to see some real sunlight again.

 

Being a light sleeper, Verna wakes up hearing Karak stirring on the bunk. She gets up and stretches her legs. She wanders around for a while and decides to check on Naffin’s trap. As she looks down she shakes her head, even Hennet, the blind beggar that frequents the Purple Worm, could find that trap. This could use some concealing. With that Verna loosens up her fingers and proceeds with her work. After about 10 minutes of concealing, even the most alert drow would be hard pressed to find it. Re-entering the room, Verna returned to her corner and again lay down to rest.

 

The rest period passed by almost completely, when Olanth was alerted to the sound of Naffin’s bell trap. He ran into the rift passage, waking up the others as he went. Once there, he found three hobgoblins trying to free themselves of the annoying bell. Bastard sword in hand, Olanth attacked the first goblinoids he came to, cutting it down with deadly accuracy. The hobgoblins slashed out at their assailant with no effect, and Olanth quickly cut down another one. Verna and Knorr fired one arrow each into the last hobgoblin, and the three were silent. Knorr performed a quick search of the bodies and grabbed 4 javelins.

Traveling through the door on the north wall, the party entered another long column filled hall adorned with carved dragons. Knorr moved to the northern wall, and noticing three doors, decided to open the eastern most door. The room beyond contained 5 weapons racks holding a total of 5 short swords and 30 javelins. There was another door in the north east corner, and Verna moved over to it to search for traps. She discovered a trap mechanism and was able to disable it. Opening the door revealed a 5 by 5 closet. Verna decided to search this closet, and found a secret door on the back wall. Through this secret door they found a large chamber. There were three other doors in it. The tracks Karak found in the room lead to all three doors, so, Verna checked them for traps, finding none. Knorr opened the door, and bowed gracefully allowing Verna to pass through the doorway first. She was greeted by the sound of a javelin whizzing past her ear and lodging into the door frame. On the far end of this ling hall, a Bugbear stood, another javelin at the ready. Olanth and Karak entered the room while Nyora, Verna, and Knorr shot arrows. Naffin was the last to act, but fired a crossbow bolt through the Bugbear’s eye, killing it instantly . Knorr found a morning star and a belt pouch on the Bugbear. The pouch contained 20 gp and 2 gems.

Looking around this large chamber, the group discovered two more doors that they could check out. Keeping with the northerly direction, the party discovered the northern most door to be locked. Verna had tried twice to open the lock, with Naffin also trying once, but the lock seemed to be jammed. Just as Verna was going to move away from the door, it opened from the inside, and a large morning star came smashing down at Verna, wounding her. Knorr was the first to strike the bugbear, hitting it with an arrow. Nyora quickly used a Cure Light Wounds scroll to heal Verna and Olanth sliced into the Bugbear with his Bastard Sword. The bugbear managed to hit the barbarian with a blow from his morning star just as Naffin tripped it. Karak finished it off striking it with a sling bullet. The pouch this goblinoid carried contained 25 sp and 8 gp. The only other door in this room was trapped, and Verna was unable to disable it this time. Not knowing what the trap was, and not wanting to risk it, the party decided to check out the door in the previous chamber on the east wall.

Upon opening this door, the party discovered three Skeletons distributing fertilizer on the plants growing inside. The skeletons dropped what they were doing and attacked. Alvernus was smiling upon Nyora at this moment, and she was able to destroy all three skeletons with her turning attempt. Karak was unable to determine what the plants were, so the party continued back toward the south to the far southern door in the large empty chamber. The door was unlocked, and since Verna already checked for traps and didn’t find any, Naffin opened up the door to find an ogre tending a dozen rather large mushrooms. The Ogre was not in the mood for any company, and attacked. Karak, Olanth, and Naffin rushed to attack the ogre and were met at the door. Nyora and Verna managed to hit the ogre with arrows before the large brute struck Naffin with a savage blow from his Great Club, nearly knocking out the monk . Another fortuitous critical hit, this time by Karak, and the Ogre was dead. Nyora went to work healing Naffin from the savage blow of the Ogre. Aside from the very large mushrooms, Naffin found a large sack in the room containing 100 sp, 75 gp, three flasks (one Cure Medium Wounds), and a helmet (medium humanoid sized).

Having just one other door to check before returning to the trapped door, the party moved to the eastern door in the large empty chamber. Verna was unable to pick this lock, but Naffin, having observed Verna’s technique for some time now, was able to do so. Upon opening this door, they found more plants, but several were actually smoldering. Knorr decided to investigate, and was immediately struck by a heat attack from a very young Thoqqua, Knorr went down unconscious . Olanth, seeing his favorite cook fall to this measly little worm, went into a rage , and cut the worm in two, killing it. Nyora quickly healed the falen bard, svaing his life. Each party member received 625 experience points.

[This message has been edited by Baldak Oakfist (edited March 04, 2002).]

 

Following the attack of the flaming worm, Naffin does a quick search of the room to see if the worm had disposed of any "gardeners" thay may have been tending to the plants. His search, however, turns up nothing.

By extension, Naffin decides that this dead flaming worm is the worst gardener ever.

Returning to the group, he says, "It seems that we have exhausted our choice of doors. We could return to the room on the other side of the secret door, and try to find an alternate path to the other side of the trapped door, logic, however, would suggest that a room hidden by a secret passage and guarded by a trap would not have a more straightforward route."

Naffin takes a glance back at the smouldering garden behind him.

"Then again, logic would not suggest growing a garden in an underground ruin either."

 

The lack of gardeners in the room doesn't worry Knorr so much as the existence of the plants themselves. In his experience, thoqqua prefer eating chefs to eating plants.

"This must be part of the mystery of Belak and Gulthias. We may have to beat some secrets out of them. Unless, of course, one of them is a tree."

[Actually Thoqqua eat mineral deposits - Bladak]


[This message has been edited by Baldak Oakfist (edited March 08, 2002).]

 

Taking the hint from Naffin, Verna decides to return to the room to the extreme North. “Come, I think I know where I went wrong with that trap.” She makes her way to the room hoping the others join her. She caresses her masterwork tools and mutters, “I hope this works.”

 

"Well, then. Let's check it out."

Knorr plays Verna a happy competence inspiring song as they walk back to the aforementioned trapped door.

[This message has been edited by Shralp (edited March 08, 2002).]

 

Nyora nodded toward Verna to complete her task.

"Hopefully Knorr's song will bring us better results than before" Nyora said with a smirk.

 

Naffin, looks back at the large dead worm and the burning vegetable matter behind him, then glances off to the south at the messy sundered ogre, and then thinks of another door opening...

"Well if we do happen to set off the trap, I hope it kills whatever might be waiting behind the door..."

Naffin cracks his knuckles and follows Verna to the northern room.

 

Verna shows off her skills as she masterfully disables the trap on the door. “Piece of cake, this time around.”

 

After successfully disarming the trap, Verna unlocked the door and allowed Knorr to open it. A short hall lead into a large chamber adorned with dragon mosaic and set with a large statue on the west end in a circular alcove. Verna didn’t find any traps attached to the door on the north wall, and while Naffin was listening for any sounds, she decided to inspect a circular red tile set in the floor directly in front of the statue. She did not notice the shadowy figures approaching her until it was too late. She felt the cold chill of the shadows touch as it drained some of her strength. She reacted by stabbing out with the magical dagger. The shadow retreated a little from the shock of actually being hit. This allowed Nyora the opportunity to use her turning ability. The shadows retreated to the far corner of the room. The party quickly opened the north door and exited the chamber.

Not knowing if the shadows would follow, they quickly moved through the room to the next door, the room was a library, and opened it too, and hurried along. Knorr grabbed the one book left on the shelves before he exited. The door opened into a hall that turned to the east then descended by stairs to another short hallway. Verna set off a trap in the rush, but managed to avoid the bolt that it fired at her. She quickly disabled the trap and the party rushed onward. Another set of stairs brought the party back up and into another hallway. It turned south after a short distance, and they ran south. After moving south for almost 100 feet, they came upon two doors on the east wall, right before the hall ended. Verna found a trap on the first door, but was unable to bypass it so the party opened the other door.

The area beyond the door contained four goblins who gladly stopped their twig piling to attack the party. This was not fortunate for then as they did not even last through a single round. As the party was attacking the goblins, the shadows used the distraction to move up and attack. Nyora noticed them at the last second and managed to destroy them with her turning attempt.

Moving through the door they saw on the north wall, they found a study of sorts with a straw bed and a desk. Knorr found a book and scroll case hidden in the bed. He could not read any of the scrolls or the book, so he gave them to Nyora to look at. She could tell that the scrolls were Entangle and Lesser Restoration, but was not able to read the book either. Returning to the previous area, the party was met by the horrid sight of four Twig Blights sucking the fluids out of the goblin bodies. The fight lasted less than a minute as Olanth and Karak chopped the Twig Blights into kindling as Nyora and Knorr pelted the blights with arrows.

Turning their attention to the missing southern wall of this room, the party could see a large cavern lit by luminescent fungi. Way off to the south, they could see a courtyard with a large tree growing out of the center. The cavern is filled with pale sickly plant growths of briars and saplings mostly with a few large mushrooms scattered around.

Each party member received 400 experience points

 

"Well... since we can't read what this book is.. perhaps you would like to take a look at the book you found on the dragon, Knorr"


[This message has been edited by Xenecor (edited March 13, 2002).]

 

"Ah, yes." Knorr takes the book from the dragon pedestal and the new book from the library out of his saddlebags. As he starts to open them, he suddenly has visions of being engulfed in flame. "Verna, could you check these for traps, please?"

After Verna checks and assures Knorr that the books are safe, Knorr starts reading -- first the one in from the library. He discovers that it's a book on dragon lore. He puts it back into his pack for later reading and turns to the second book, the one from the dragon pedestal. It's written in dwarven, but the pages are in such bad shape that he can't make much out but might be able to with some work. He puts that back in his pack for further study too.

Knorr reports his findings to the group and suggest they move as stealthily as possible (without torches) towards the tree to the south.

[This message has been edited by Shralp (edited March 13, 2002).]

 

Nyora prepared the Lesser Restoration scroll for Verna... and casted it on her when she was finished checking the books.

"We're going to need you up to par for this" (nodding towards the tree)

 

Taking advantage in the welcome lull of combat, Naffin moves to the caverns west wall and begins to quietly navigate the thicket of brambles and thorns.

As he heads southward toward the gigantic black tree, he makes a concerted effort to look for any signs of movement from within the thicket.

In the midst of the briars he makes a wrong steps and feels the sting of a thorn bite into his skin. As he reflexively pulls away, he watches the vine absorb the droplet of blood drawn from him.

Naffin hesitates for a second before continuing on, pondering the potential of the whole thicket coming to life.

He also briefly wonders why the gardeners weren't working in here, as it seems to need more attention than the other gardens did.

As Naffin moves persists forward, he again gets pricked by one of the vampiric vines, and at last makes his way into an alcove off to the west side of the tree.

Here, he stops to survey the area from a better perspective.




[This message has been edited by ArtEChoke (edited March 14, 2002).]

 

As Naffin peers around the edge of the wall, he is struck by the sight before him. The courtyard wall of heavy stones creates a clearing amid the brambles and briars. Several varieties of plants grow around the perimeter including the vicious thorns and several suspicious looking saplings, but the importance of those plants pales in comparison to the thing growing out of the center of the courtyard. Beneath the violet light of the luminescent fungus grows a tree that would seem to embody the essence of evil. Its blackened, twisted limbs reach upward, like a skeletal hand clawing its way out from a grave. Standing next to the tree are three human figures, two men and a woman. Squatting next to one of the humans is a 3 foot long tree frog. One of the men is clad in armor and carries a long sword, the other one is robed as is the woman. The armored man and the woman stand motionless while the other man is cultivating the ground at the base of the tree.

 

[Had I been there.]

Knorr leaps forward and plants a kiss on the frog, which promptly turns into a princess. Knorr and the frog princess elope. Michael Bolton plays at their wedding.