Far Isles Session #60 - Down Among the Mudpits

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 4)

Chaff (Vivimancer 5), with familiar Pretty Bird
Awg Wahmn (Calmonari 4)
Torak (Cleric 4)

Opening the trap door uncovered a shaft leading down 30-40' into a chamber below. The floor was damp but not flooded, and shapes could be seen clustered around the edges of the room. Torak cast a light spell on one of his copper coins and dropped it down the shaft, to better light their destination before anyone crawled down. The shapes proved to be statues, carved out of a sickly green stone shot through with red. None of them seemed to be moving, so Awg volunteered to be lowered into the hole. Spike driven in and rope attached, the calmonari descended. Once below, he/she noted a closed portcullis to the north, and little else beyond the statutes. These ran the gamut from classical nudes to horrific monsters. Given the all clear, the rest of the party descended, and Chaff tried poking around the statues, nudging one with a cantrip to see if it would topple over. He found nothing, so the party decided to head on. It took all four to lift the portcullis, and after hammering in a spike to hold it up, they carefully moved down the straight hallway beyond. About a third of the way down they encountered three crudely dug holes on the right, all about 5' above the floor. Torak looked closely, and noticed signs of old water staining running down the wall below them. It seems that water had flowed through these holes sometimes in the past.

The holes were too small for anyone but Chaff to crawl through, so the party pushed on. After another 20-30', they encountered faint whips of mist. Pushing on further, they discovered the source: a 7' diameter hole in the floor, from which rose a steady stream of steam. On the other side was a closed door. The party dropped a coin in the hole and were rewarded with a splash, which indicated there was water or some other liquid about 50-60' below. Not enamored with the idea of jumping into a pit of boiling water, the party focused on the door instead. Torak listened first, then opened the swollen wooden door, revealing a north-south corridor. To the north descended a set of stairs. To the south was another lowered portcullis, beyond which was another door.  The four lifted and spiked this gate as well, then went to examine the door. This was a stone door, which opened towards them. Remembering the flood of water behind the last stone door they'd opened, the party elected to ignore it for now and descend the stairs instead.

Mud Pits

Said stairs began in a worked corridor, but soon entered a natural passage, before dumping the party on a slick mineral terrace. The air was hot and steamy with a foul sulfur-ish taint. Beyond the terrace they could see a series of mudpots bubbling and bursting, as well as the occasional gas flare and steam burst. Stalactites and stalagmites abounded, growing together into columns in some places. The party moved forward carefully to examine the edge of the terrace, poor Torak unfortunately getting splashed with a burst of hot mud in the process.  They found another narrow terrace leading along the edge of the cavern to the right, about 6-8' below the level of their own terrace.  Spikes were hammered and everyone climbed down and edged along the cavern wall. After dropping down another level, the terrace ended and the party had to continue along a mineral crust path between two bubbling mudpots. And Torak was splashed by another scalding mud burst.  Still hugging the cavern wall, they came to a series of steep terraces, at the top of which was a massive stalactite pillar. Climbing up, everyone clustered around the mineral wonder. Staring intently, Rodrigo noted what appeared to be a human-ish form inside the pillar. Chaff, meanwhile, squeezed into the space between  the pillar and the wall (there being just enough room for the diminutive spell-slinger). From that vantage point he cold see the shape more clearly; it looked to be a human skeleton sitting on a stone bench, but covered in a series of bright colored blotches. Hammers were hauled out, and everyone started chipping away at the pillar. After about a half hour, they broke through to find the colors were actually gems and jewels covering the entire skeleton. More chipping ensued until it was completely uncovered, and the party was rewarded with a couple sacks of gems and jewels as they stripped the remains of it's glittery shroud.

Mineral Crust

The party gazed across the cavern from their high vantage point; it was quite large and they could not see the far side. There was some discussion about the need to press on and find more loot (championed by Chaff) vs pressing their luck while understaffed and on the edge of the unknown (advanced by Awg). In the end they decided to push on just a little further, and the party dropped down onto the mineral crust and moved cautiously deeper into the cavern. They did not get far when Rodrigo caught a glimpse of something in the mudpit over his left shoulder. A living example of the cthulhic visage they'd seen on the cursed statue; round bulbous head, large opaque eyes and a splintered/tentacled mouth. It gazed at Rodrigo, who felt an incessant mental tug at his brain. The swashbuckler forced the mental probe away, however, and shouted a warning to the rest of the party.  Fearful of facing 'the god', everyone turned and ran, the creature paralleling their flight by swimming rapidly through the hot mud. It caught them when the party had to pause at the terrace wall. It grabbed the edge of the mudpit with with webbed hands, and hurled itself at Torak, who was at that moment in the midst of bestowing the blessing of Brall on the party. The creature latched onto the cleric's cheek with it's sphinctered mouth, sucking his blood through rupturing skin. It also tried lashing around Torak with it's three claw-tipped flukes, but the cleric dodged the blow. Meanwhile, Chaff summoned a swarm of crawling insects, vomiting the bugs onto the creature; Rodrigo lashed out and struck with with twin blades, and Awg levitated above the fray. The creature, now bleeding from the sword wounds and distracted by the nipping insects, turned and slipped back into the mud, disappearing from sight. The party took advantage of the reprieve to flee back to the mineral terrace and stairs.

The Kopru

Once more or less safe, the argument about what to do next ensued once more; push on into the caverns or head back upstairs to see what was behind the stone door. In the end, Chaff was overruled and the four headed back up the stairs. But not before the vivimancer sent Pretty Bird on a scouting flight through the cavern to get an idea of the overall layout and extent for when they did return in full strength. Back upstairs, Awg checked it for traps and everyone then tied off to the raised portcullis, expecting a massive flood of water when the door was opened. Which is what did indeed happen. Once the flood of water has finished tumbling down the stairs, the party moved into the now just damp room. Apart from the door on the opposite wall, the room was empty. However, as the party moved towards this new door, Awg hit a near invisible trip wire in the centre of the room. A stone slide aside the the ceiling over the first door, and a spray of oil came down. Where it hit damp pools of water on the floor, the oil burst into a bluish, heavy smoking flame. The open door to the north allowed the smoke to escape, so Torak took him time looking for traps before opening the south door. It led into a long corridor which showed signs of having been 5; deep in water just minutes before. It ended, after a sharp turn, in a blank wall. Halfway down there were again a series of crudely dug hole, this time on both sides of the corridor. Torak took a light and looped back around the the first corridor, and the party could see light shining through the holes in the second corridor. Now they knew the two were linked through the dug passages. As for the other all, there was no way to check it out except to have Chaff crawl in for a look. In wormed the little vivimancer, who found a series of tunnels which converged on a larger chamber. When he stuck his head in there, Chaff was greeted by the chitter of rats. About a dozen giant ones to be exact. He wiggled back a bit and, to keep the rats  bay, webbed the tunnel exit from the room. He then wiggled the rest of the way back to the rest of the party, and after a short discussion of next steps, they headed back to the surface and their canoes to head back to the native village.  

TOTAL XP

9300

GAINS

A gem and jeweled skeletal shroud collection (9300gp)

KILLS

none

LOSSES

none

Far Isles Session # 59 - Back and There Again

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 4), with henchman Corvus (Fighter 2)

Kwinsea (Aquamancer 5), with familiar Hermes and henchman Jaz (Elf 1)

Chaff (Vivimancer 5), with familiar Pretty Bird
Awg Wahmn (Calmonari 3)
Torak (Cleric 4)

The party took a few moments to mourn for the brave Abdul el Abdul. Which proved to be just enough time for Awg to strip him of his magnificent magical armor and the rest of the party to loot him of the rest of his valuables. For safe keeping and all. At about the same moment, the sound of splashing came from behind, and the party turned to see Torak wading towards them. The cleric had been wandering the dinosaur-infested wilderness for the last two weeks trying to catch up with the party. His presence was now much welcomed, as he brought forgotten healing potions and his arsenal of divine magic to help them continue their exploration of the flooded temple.

The next step in that exploration was to wade through the piranha chum and examine the door at the end of the passage. Unlike the doors encountered thus far, this one was not wood, but stone. Closer examination showed that it was sealed around the edge with some sort of a tarry or rubbery gasket. That caused then party to pause, and everyone but the two swimmers (Awg and Kwinsea) and the water walking Corvus retreated to the raised platform. The non-aquatics safe, the trio in the water forced the door open. Once the seal was broken, the door opened in a rush of water, knocking the three in the water about and smashing them up against the walls of the room beyond. Which proved to be plain and unadorned, except for some stone benches around the perimeter of the room and a stone alter sitting in the centre. All of which were now at least partly submerged below 2' of water. The rest of the party now waded in and everyone started to explore. Kwinsea dove underwater to examine the alter, which was covered in the alien patterns they'd seen on the stone box upstairs. Thinking there was a connection with the idol, Awg and Rodrigo placed the cthulhic thing on the alter, taking care to keep it covered up. With a mix of relief and disappointment, nothing happened.

Putting the idol away, Awg swam around under the water. He found, floating in the water, a long heavy cotton scarf, embroidered in crimson and purple, covered in weird symbols or language. When Chaff examined it, he discovered that interwoven within the cotton was a fine platinum mesh. Torak cast detect magic; when the cloth glowed, showing it's enchanted nature, Kwinsea cast read magic and learned that if she (or another arcane spell caster) were to wear the item, it would allow her to cast divine spells in place of arcane spells already memorized. With a slight chance of insanity.

Sizing up their map, the party could see no other way to go on this level except to face the sharks once more. The party formed up and headed back that way, with Crovus handing the ring of water walking to Chaff to allow the under-tall vivimancer to keep his head above the water, and therefore freeing up the door-raft for Abdul's body. Once at the entrance to the shark room, the party redeployed. Abdul el Abdul was shifted off the door and supported by Kwinsea in the back rank, so Corvus could use it as a mantlet to block some of the shark's attacks. Behind him stood Jaz and Rodrigo, armed with trident and spear. In position, they threw the room door open, and tossed in a few handfuls of piranha chum to attack/distract the sharks. This worked well, and Jaz and Rodrigo stabbed away the the inattentive fishes. But getting stabbed got their attention, and the two sharks started to attack Corvus over the top of his door-shield. Rodrigo managed to stab one with a paralytic-poison smeared spear, causing it to go stiff and drift away. It's place was taken by a fresh attacker however, and the two remaining sharks chomped hard on Corvus and felled the fighter. Awg reached forward to haul him out of danger, staunching his wounds and keeping him from drowning. Chaff cast a polyvorousness spell to turn one shark from it's carnivorous ways, but was unsuccessful. Torak flailed out with a spiritual hammer, while Jaz and Rodrigo now sliced away with swords since they were in the front rank. The sharks soon joined the piranhas as chum, Chaff water walking over to the paralyzed shark and ending it's existence after the two still attacking were taken down.

With the fin and fanged menace out of the way, Awg now dove into the room and looked around. It was quite large, with a 20' wide collapsed corridor leading off to the east. There was also a dais in the north-west corner, atop which  sat an oyster larger than even the calmonari had ever seen. Four feet high and six feet across, it's open shell revealed a fist sized black pearl sitting inside. Knowing that sticking his/her arm in the grab the treasure would not likely end well, Awg tried to use aquatic telepathy to speak to the oyster. Alas, it was much too dim to provide meaningful conversation, so the calmonari instead jammed the Terminaxe in the open shell to ensure it stayed open, then pocketed the pearl. The oyster strained it's muscles trying to close, but it could not due to the magical strength of the axe. After some time it relaxed enough for Awg to haul the axe out using the rope attached for just that purpose.

With two fallen comrades no other obvious way to go, the party decided to retreat back to the village to rest and recover. Retracing their steps, Rodrigo borrowed the ring of invisibility from Torak and scouted ahead into the great hall, to make sure there wasn't an ambush waiting for them. There was no sign that anyone had been back, so the rest of the party passed through, climbed ropes up through the smoke hole, and climbed into the dugout canoes to make their way back to the village. Along the way, they decided to have Torak stay invisible with the cursed statue, just in case, a) his sudden appearance or b) the appearance of the statue, caused some kind of stir among the natives. The party landed at the village with no problem, and they were greeted respectfully by Fano and Umlat. The party also noted none of the renegade tribesmen were around (they thought having removed the statue from the temple, whatever curse they were under may have been lifted). That was the chief and witch-doctor's first question; had the renegade tribe been eliminated? The party answered in the affirmative, and then started asking questions of their own. Could Umlat raise Abdul? (No). Kwinsea wanted to see any books they might have (what's a book?). Is the island still taboo? (Yes) Any response when the party described the figure depicted by the cursed statue (none).

They didn't learn much, but the party did get a good nights rest and healing before loading up the canoes and heading back to temple to explore further, leaving Abdul's remains and the recovering Corvus in the village. Back in the main hall, they noted it was still deserted and showed no sign of anyone having been here since they'd left. Now that they had the time and freedom to do so, the party fanned out to search the room for secret doors, looking for ways into the two dusty rooms they'd spied before. It took some time, but hidden entrances were found to both chambers. Torak led the way into the first room, the one which overlooked the landing. He found a dust and cobweb covered room, with three stone levers on the south wall and a small alcove to the west, where one would stand to look through the spy holes. After setting the levers to the middle position with no adverse effect, the cleric then stepped in the alcove. There he disturbed the dust, and something else growing below it, causing him to cough and hack, slowing suffocating to death. Kwinsea rushed in wearing her new stole, and cast cure disease to clear his lungs and keep him alive.

Leaving the first hidden room, the party now converged on the second.  This room was larger, with a layer of sand under the layer of dust. Sweeping the sand aside, Jaz uncovered a trap door in the floor. The party ignored this for now, focusing instead on the alcove with the spy holes. In this one there was a large wooden piston and handle. No one really wanted to step in there and mess with it, nor hang out in the great hall below when it was messed with. So they attached a rope to the piston handle, and everyone climbed up the smoke hole to the surface. From there, the rope was pulled, and a cloud of fine powder shot out of an opening in the carved face, settling over the room below. When nothing else happened, the party descended once more and made for the trap door ....

TOTAL XP

3405

GAINS
1 black, fist sized pearl (3000gp)
Stole of the Sacred

KILLS

3 Albino Mako Cave Sharks

LOSSES

Corvus (temporarily)