During the
night, the trio of Erijay, Kern and
Darnorth were surprised to see Riley and Gurruk (and one wolf) ride into
camp. Riley had finally been relived
from duty at the temple, leading orisons of victory for the March Baron’s
campaign. Striking out to look for his companions,
he also picked up some company along the way, a big burly fighting man by the
name of Morg. Morg had recently arrived in Westmist to seek his fortune, on the
run from some physical altercation with the circus owner he’d been sold to at a
young age. And even someone with much more brawn than brain knew getting out of
town would be a good choice to avoid pursuit. Riley had also picked up a pile
of healing potions, gratefully received by the battered Kern and Erijay.
When morning
came, the expanded group prepared to climb the hill once more. Kern warned the
newcomers of the chilling sound at the top, but the three just sniggered behind
their hands at the merchants’ fears. Reaching the top, all were able to shrug
off the sound. Except Kern who kept the wax in his ears, and Gurruk’s lone wolf
who ran off, never to be seen again. Down the tunnel went the six, passing
along the cleared path through the fungus to explore deeper into the tunnels.
In one side room they found signs of recent digging in the walls. While
puzzling at first, the explanation was found in the last chamber, where giant
ants were found digging for trinkets and treasure. The ants largely ignored the
party, but moved to block access to (presumably) their lair when Morg headed in
that direction. Riley decided to call on Habuu to grant him power of speech
with the ants, and proceeded to questions the critters. He learned they were
gathering ‘shiny treasures’ for their queen. He received somewhat ambiguous
answers when he asked about any rings the queen may have. Further questioning
confirmed the only part of this tunnel system missed thus far was the ants
nest, and that if they backtracked along the tunnel they would soon come to a
running stream.
Doing just
that, they party found themselves up against the red and white fungus once more.
Looking at their dwindling supply of crossbow bolts, they considered other ways
they might get through the patch. Riley again called on Habuu to give him the
power of plant speech, and the cleric entered negotiation with the fungus. He
found what it craved was moisture, so in return for free passage, Riley agreed
to bring water from the stream. Deal made, the fungus closed up its spore caps,
allowing the party to pass. A short
distance down the tunnel, they came to a low bank, below which lay a stream and
pool. Ready to fulfill the bargain with the fungus, the party started fillings
helmets and water skins. But they soon noted something didn’t look right. The
water in the pool seemed to coalesce into a collection of wavelets, and
suddenly rose up into a 4’ wave that slammed into Erijay. Grabbing weapons, the
party moved to defend the elf. Morg
found his sword had no effect on the elemental being, so he borrowed a magic
sword from Kern to help with the fray. And absorb most of the blows once Erijay
backed away from the melee, casting a
triple magic missile on the way. With
great effect, the elemental was beaten back, and the pool was still once more.
While some of the party licked their wounds, a few carried water back to the
fungus, and Kern examined the pool. Scattered along the pebbled bottom he found
a number of gems, which he quickly scooped up. He also found that there was no
easy way to go upstream, but that the downstream end flowed into a low tunnel
through which the party could pass. With no other obvious options, this is
exactly what they did.
The stream
emerged from the tunnel into another, larger pool. The stream branched here,
one part going north and the other to the east. In both cases, the stream
disappeared into the hill with no obvious way to pass. At the intersection lay
an open patch of dry land, from which a small tunnel lead deeper into the hill.
Heading that way, the party found themselves in another cavern. The floor was a
mass of human corpses, all covered in a web of tendrils and vines. Morg probed
one with his spear, and found the body did not seem to be flesh. But that
action seemed to alert something, as the corpses were dragged to a standing position
by the tendrils. The massive number advanced on the party, raking those in the
front with their claws. Riley tried to
use the power of Habuu to turn the
things, but to no avail. Given the overwhelming odds, the party decided to toss
some flaming oil and then retreat back down the tunnel to make a plan of
attack. A plan was hatched to give Darnorth the ring of invisibility so he could levitate over the corpses and see if there was some weakness they
could exploit. The floating dwarf did indeed see an option; all the tendrils
seemed to emerge from one point in the east wall. Attack there and they might
take out the whole room of tendril corpses. While the party drew the attacks of
most of the corpses, Darnorth hacked at the wall tendrils. It took quite a few
blows, but when the final cord was cut, the tendril corpses fell back to the
floor and did not rise again.
Battle over,
the dwarf now noted the first obvious man made construction in this labyrinth.
A small 10’x10’ alcove of red sandstone lay in the south end of the
cavern. Curious, he stepped in and
promptly disappeared from sight. He found himself in another alcove like the
first, which lead into a room with black a marble floor inscribed in white with
a magic or summoning circle. In addition to another alcove with a white floor,
two corridors exited the room. Not willing to explore further without support,
the dwarf stepped back into the alcove and found himself back with his
companions. The party wondered if perhaps they should all go through the teleporter, but Darnorth reported that
something just didn’t ‘feel right’ about it and he wasn’t comfortable taking
another chance. Trusting the dwarf’s
instructs, they headed instead further into the caverns. In separate rooms,
they found a floor covered in red acidic ooze (neutralized when Darnorth dug a
trench to flood it with water from the stream) and another room filled with
thousands of small albino lizards. These crawled all over the party, licking
their skin and generally freaking them out. Except Gurruk, who used his mastery
of animal tongues to talk to the little critters. He didn’t learn much though;
it seems the only thing on their minds was feeding on their sweat. But Gurruk
did adopt one of them and brought him along once everyone was able to divest
themselves of the rest of the lizards.
Backtracking,
the party crossed over the stream to a new set of caverns. And here was yet
another odd room. Partly built of finished sandstone, the floor was covered in
a blue mossy substance covered with small bubbles or air bladders. After some
investigation with a 10’ pole, they crossed the floor towarda a door on the far
wall, making a squeeking/popping sound as they went. This attracted the
attention of something in the far corner, as a protoplasmic mass of eyes and
mouths rose up and started to quietly chatter at them. It didn’t seem a threat
however, but the party passed through the door without delay anyway. Here they found themselves in a room built of
the same red sandstone and black marble floor that Darnorth had seen earlier.
In one corner, however, was a square of white marble, while facing the door
were two black marble thrones. Closer
examination of the thrones revealed they were covered in carvings of eyes and
mouths. Darnorth bravely sat in the left hand throne. He felt some force trying
to pull him away, but the sturdy dwarf fought it off and stood up no worse for
wear. No one else was willing to try either throne though, so after some
cajoling, all six stepped on the white square and found themselves teleported to the second alcove seen by
Darnorth after his previous magical trip.
Taking the
northern exit, a short stroll brought them into a room with doors to the east
and west and a large pool to the north. The water in the pool seemed to well up
from below, but from exactly where no one could tell. Checking the west door,
they found a parallel corridor. Checking the double doors to the east, they
found the head of a massive blue dragon starting back at them! Thankfully it
proved to be stuffed and mounted on the wall, along with a number of other
creatures in similar condition (goblinoids, mermen, an 8-legged lizard with bag
over it’s’ head, a half man/half snake thing, giant snake). Spying another set of doors on the opposite
wall, the party entered the taxidermic museum. Halfway across, someone noted
movement above. The ceiling seemed to be settling down on them
like some kind of giant manta ray! Those at the rear and front bolted
for the doors, but Morg, Erijay and Darnorth were trapped beneath the thing. In
a flurry of blades, they cut their way out, but not before the unfortunate Morg
was smothered to death. Hauling his body behind them, the party continued
through the second set of doors into a large chamber. The room was filled with
a weird whale song humming, and in the centre was a circle of silvery metal strips
handing from the ceiling. Inside the strips was a white alter. On top of it sat
a ring on a red velvet cushion, all covered by a geodesic crystal dome. Kern very carefully examined the whole area
for fiendish traps, before boldly stepping inside the circle. He knocked the
dome off of the altar and grabbed the ring, breathing a sigh of relief when
nothing untoward happened. Except the noise stopped.
Exiting the
room with their find, no one was sure what to do next. But someone came up with
the brilliant idea of placing Morg’s body on the throne to see what would
happen. Somehow no one could think of a reason to not do this, so back through
the teleporter they travelled and
dumped the bulky corpse on the black throne. His body instantly vanished, only to
be replaced by another protoplasmic mass of eyes and mouths. This one seemed
upset with its summoning, and began to gibber in a thousand angry voices …
To be
continued …
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