Gathering forces, the party returned once more to the depths of the
dungeon, to scout out possible routes down to the halls of the mountain
trolls. Darnorth, Erijay (with Fin the
Wardog), Kern (with Bjorn and Sweet Jenny) and Riley (with Gurruk and his
wolves) headed for the depths following their usual route through the old
hobgoblin fortress. This time, however, they met trouble. As they passed through the narrow passage l
to the iron turnstile, the front ranks of the party suddenly found themselves
under attack through the loopholes in the east and west walls. Flasks of oil
rained in and torches followed into the confined space. Trapped by the
portcullis in front, they scrambled to get back out through the door. But not
before several received terrible burns, and Sweet Jenny the mule and Bjorn the
magic user succumbed to the flames. Erijay, gallantly assisting the fallen
mage, tried to force a healing berry down his throat, but the magic user just
retched. Instead, she poured a healing potion in his mouth and then dragged him
to safety. Darnorth provided covering
fire with his crossbow, while Riley and Gurruk tried to bust down the doors
leading to their assailants. The doors proved to be locked, and it took some
time before one was broken open and the other unlocked by the crafty Kern.
Behind the doors the party found empty rooms. Puzzled, Gurruk had the wolves
sniff out their attackers, with the response of ‘rats’. Putting two and two
together, the party figured their ambushers was the wererats who had
transformed to rat form and escaped though the loopholes.
After Riley tore off the doors in a fit of vengeance, the party
returned to Westmist to leave Bjorn at the house with Rikar so the mage could
recover. They then turned back to the dungeon (after Kern purchased another
mule), at first thinking about finding and dealing with the wererats. They
decided instead to head down to level four to try making friendly contact with
the gentleman ghouls, and perhaps learn more about the lower levels. Making it
back to the scorpion room, this time they headed east with Kern scouting invisibly ahead. Facing the first door,
Darnorth decided to be gentlemanly and knocked. In response came the gruff
shout “Who’s there? What do you want?” After some persuasion, the occupants of
the room opened the door, and the party saw a burly human fighter and an elf
with an arrow notched on his bow. These two said they were survivors of an
adventuring party, hiding out here after losing their comrades to the gentleman
ghouls. Unwilling the brave the dungeon alone, even to make it to an exit, the
two asked to join the party long enough to get out of Stonehell. While no one
was really sure the two (Ban and Tal by name) could be trusted, they were
allowed to join the party, firmly ensconced in the middle of the matching order
where Gurruk and Riley could keep an eye on them.
Considering their new companions might not want to deal with the ghouls
again, the party headed instead back to the weird temple to the west. A series
of old barracks, storage rooms and martial training rooms were explored at
first. While checking out one, the party was surprised by a pair of translucent
spirits, features racked in pain. These drifted towards the party who ended
their never ending pain at the end of their swords. But not before Darnorth was
touched by one, bringing the dwarf to the edge of agony, an ordeal now etched
on his previously carefree visage. In
another room, a large strongbox was found under a bed. Erijay found a key in
the mattress, but before trying it Kern discovered a lethal blade trap which he
disarmed. Now safe, they opened it up to find a massive pile of silver and gold
coin. They loaded strongbox and all (‘never know, that trap might come in
handy’ noted Kern) onto the new Sweet Jenny.
Several more rooms were explored, and another strange suit of animated moaning
plate mail was dispatched. Then in a room at the end of a corridor, the party
encountered a challenge. A small room, with a black iron alter and a wide
selection of torture devices. And two more ghostly features, these looking more
like the life draining apparition they cleared out of their house oh so many
months ago. Bravely, Darnorth and Kern charged into the small space to fight
toe to ghost with the two. Erijay tried a web
spell, and learned that it didn’t help much against the incorporeal undead.
Riley then drew on Habuu’s blessing to drive one of the fiends into a corner. The
other, meanwhile, reached out and grasped Darnorth, draining away some of his
vital life force.
At this point, there was a ruckus in the corridor, where Gurruk stood
waiting with the two newcomers. Riley spun around and saw Ban and Tal had
turned their swords on the beastmaster and the wildlife. With an orison of rage
to Habuu on his lips, the cleric drove into the two turncoats. He was soon
joined by Erijay, Kern, and the drained Darnorth, who by now had eliminated the
one unturned wraith. Fighting in tight quarters, the two newcomers were slain.
As a shocked party looked on, the bodies morphed into tall, grey humanoids with
vague rubbery features. Doppelgangers!
That taken care of, Kern, Darnorth, Erijau and Riley returned to deal
with the last wraith. While Erijay used the wand
of magic missiles to snipe at the undead threat, the other three drove in
with sword and hammer. The short but vicious combat ended with the creature
destroyed and no one else worst for wear as a result. Now looking around the
room, little new of interest was noted. Until Erijay tapped the altar with her
sword pommel, and discovered that it was hollow. A careful search revealed no
way to actually get inside the altar, so Darnorth decided to trust the magic of
his sword to hack the top open. With much clatter and clanging (and after
dealing with another agonizing figure attracted by the noise), the top was
pealed back enough to reveal treasures inside. Four jeweled icons showing the Sorcha
the Witch Bitch and Mistress of Pain, a scroll case, a mace, and an ebony rod. Gathering
up their find, the party decided to now retreat back to Westmist.
Back in town, Darnroth tired to find magical healing for his pains and
drains, but to no avail. A little detect magic and experimentation revealed
they now owned a mace +1 (claimed by
Riley), and a clerical scroll of heal and
remove curse. Riley then took the
strange ebony rod to the Temple, hoping that Liphanes of the Highest Virtue
might be able to identify it. Alas for Riley, the high cleric was not available,
and he instead had to meet with the decidedly unhelpful Lanthan the Under
Virtue. The bitter churchman offered no help, and instead directed Riley to one
of the magic users in town. With unusual grace, Riley left the temple to do
just that, leaving the rod and a bag of gold with Synthini for her to
identify.
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