Last night’s session had us continuing our adventures in the dungeon I-keep-forgetting-the-name-of with characters I-don’t-recall-their-names-unless-it’s-written-on-my-character-sheet.
Backstory
“I can’t read my writing so I may be slightly off on a couple of names, but the ‘legend’ the party is chasing is the Eye of Horum. It was an artifact of great power stolen from the original mage tower. You never got a straight answer as to what it exactly does, but it was used to help a powerful mage become a lich (even though his goal was to become a god). This item has been coveted by a variety of evil baddies over the years, conveniently just as you guys came to town a group of apprentices were subverted an stole the Eye ostensibly for wealth, power, etc. You found their slaughtered corpses at the town of the ravine and have continued on to figure out where the Eye is. At this point, the mission has somewhat changed from let’s be good and retrieve this item to let’s get this because it’s really powerful and we can probably make tons of cash while doing something nice for the community.” — GM
The Party
This evenings party consists of a dwarven cleric of Moradin, human fighter, human monk, half-orc barbarian, half-elf sorcerer, and a human mage (me) – all of us level 5.
The Adventure
We enter the dungeon through a portal in a forest near a small village we found in a previous adventure. Using an Unseen Servant as scout and impromptu rogue we enter a large underground cavern with small sandy islands.
On one of the islands we see a wreckage of a boat. Investigation of the wreckage brings up nothing interesting except an idea to build a make-shift raft to move the party between the islands. We spend the a couple of hours building a raft and begin our Mark Twain-esk adventures to the other islands.
Our first stop has us noticing a stone pillar jutting out of the deepest waters with a 10×10 foot platform. On it we notice four shackles that are big enough for a medium-sized creature. In the center is a trap door. At first glance we pretty much all came to the conclusion that this is some kind of ritual or sacrificial offering place to some monster of the deep. We wanted to explore the rest of the area before trying this so we moved on to the next island to the north east that we saw.
As we approached this island we noticed small rat dens all over and a rope bridge from this island to cliff 30-feet above us on the edge of the cavern. We landed and noticed several rats scurrying into and out of the dens. Even though we had a monk immune to disease we decided it wasn’t worth stirring up the nest. We crossed the rope bridge up to the cliff.
As we stepped off the rope bridge and noticed against the cavern wall was an archway shimmering with silver light. We’ve encountered something like this before and know if we step though these types of archways we become physically weaker. We decide to continue our exploration of the cavern before continuing further so we go back to the raft.
The next island to the north east brings us to a remarkably pristine island with a perfect beach. I send the Unseen Servant on the beach to explore and it winks out of existence – hmm…that’s different. We take a rock, attach it to a 50-foot of rope and throw the rock onto the island. As the rope and the rock pass the edge of the beach the rope is infinitesimally cut as it passes this barrier. We pull back the our new 30-foot rope and examine the edges – its a clean cut, finer than any knife could cut. After some lackluster Spellcraft checks and debate we decide its best that we don’t try to go on this island.
The cavern continues to the south east but we decide to go back to the stone platform before going deeper into the cavern.
We climb on top of the platform and examine the trapdoor. Seems the door with an ornate lock was opened so we peered in and noticed some writing on the wall saying, ‘Dante’. The trapdoor had a ladder with a tunnel going straight down further than we could see with our torches. The dwarven cleric came to edge and said that there’s a room about 40 feet down.
We climb down and enter a tomb. At the far side of the room appears to be a dead humanoid in wrapping in ornate garb and carrying a scepter on a stone throne. Before we have a chance to fully explore the room the dead humanoid comes to life and starts speaking to us.
“Who dares defile my tomb!!!” Roll Initiative.
The monk bum-rushes the mummy and starts grappling him followed by the barbarian who joins him in the grapple. The sorcerer and the mage cast Magic Missle at the mummy king. While in the grapple he activates his scepter and we all need to make a Will save. Everyone fails except the sorcerer.
He then says, “Disrobe and leave my tomb undisturbed.”
And so everyone starts to disrobe, placing all their items on the ground before them. The sorcerer casts Scorching Ray and nails the mummy king. He then gets off this throne and kills the sorcerer (with a constitution of 8 he was killed in short order).
The rest of the party comes too at the top of the platform, naked but alive. We start to formulate a plan of action when all of a suddenly we hear a female voice snickering from behind us. We turn a notice a ghostly female elf in flowing robes floating on the water.
She says, “Seems <some guys name, we assume to be the mummy king> had another victum.”
I say, “Who are you fair lady?”
“I am <another name>. I was the concubine to <the name we think is the mummy king> before I died.”
After some other pleasantries and backstory she asks us to help rest her soul. Having nothing else better to do we agree and follow her directions to where her body is entombed. We do something to her body, probably the cleric casting Concentrate or something like that.
Before she fades away she says to take her weapon, it will aid you against the mummy king. We give the club to the barbarian and then go back to the platform, still naked.
Our new plan is for the cleric to cast Dispel Magic on the scepter. This will make it non-magical for 1d4 rounds. We then will attempt to disarm the mummy king while the barbarian uses the club.
So we rush down to the tomb and encircle the mummy king. As expected he animates and the cleric casts Dispel Magic on the scepter…and rolls a 1. The mage rushes the king and attempts to disarm the mummy king after the monk announced that he was going to use his Horn of Blasting on the king. The mage fails the disarm attempt and the monk then uses his Horn of Blasting he picked up from his pile of gear and hits the mage and mummy king.
The barbarian swings, and rolls a natural one. The fighter takes the club from the barbarian and swings, natural 2 and misses. <Gee wiz guys>
The mummy acts and tries to use the scepter again, but now its non-magical rod so he uses it as a club and squarely hits the naked fighter.
The dwarven cleric of Moradin having the Earth Domain uses Stoneshape on his throne to immobilize his arm with the scepter and cover his face with a thin film of stone.
The mage steps back and casts Grease on the scepter but the mummy king doesn’t drop it. The barbarian takes back the club and hits the mummy king squarely. The monk successfully disarms the now immobilized mummy king and the scepter falls to the ground.
With the scepter out of his hand we make short work on the mummy king thanks to quick thinking from our cleric.
None worst for ware we re-gear ourselves and prepare to bury the now dead sorcerer. We open the tomb only to find another adventurer in it (our new sorcerer, viola!). Meet and greet, blah blah blah, and we’re back to business no worst for wear.
We search the tomb and find some kind of passageway behind the throne and notice the word, “Dante” inscribed on the wall.
The passageway opens up into a long hallway. The rough walls turn into smoothing glowing red stone walls – the party gets antsy. At the end of the hallway is a large iron gate.
The monk sneaks up and looks around. Behind the gate is a large three-headed hellhound. We prepare for battle.
The mage casts Protection from Energy (Fire) on himself and then nears the gate. The hellhound moves to the gate and then breathes fire on the mage. The mage then returns fire with a Cone of Cold from a Wand. The rest of the party prepare readied actions to run if the gate opens.
From around the corner a large troll-like humanoid comes to the gate and asks his pet what’s the matter.
The mage casts Cone of Cold again from his Wand hitting both the hellhound and the troll-like humanoid. The troll-like humanoid opens the gate. The rest of the party flees as the troll-like humanoid enters melee with the mage. The hellhound squeezes past and bites at the mage, miss miss miss with each of the heads.
The mage withdraws and takes an attack of opportunity from the hellhound, miss miss miss again from each of the heads. They don’t pursue as we escape back into the tomb though the small passageway. That must had been ‘Dante’.
So now we are back on the make-shift raft and making our way to the southeast further down the cavern. Here the cavern closes in and now we come upon four coves in close proximity to each other.
We explore the cove to the north which is covered with bones and debris. We explore further and a swarm of scorpions rush us from their hidden nests. After a well-placed Fireball from the sorcerer’s wand and some clean-up from the rest of the party we dispatch them quite easily. The fighter though didn’t make is Fortitude save against the poison and takes 3 points of Constitution damage though.
We search the nest and find four bodies in various states of decay and disembowelment. We Detect Magic and remove the gear that is still intact and store it in a Bags of Holding for later identification.
The cove to the north east had more debris but nothing noteworthy except some furniture.
The cove to the south east’s beach turned into rock half way. Further in we notice a stairway going down in the far wall. Everyone goes down tight stairway except the mage.
The monk sneaking around notices a stone statue of what looks like a dire rat facing to the south in a 40×20 foot room. The party immediately thinks we’ve meet another basilisk because we encountered them before in the different part of the dungeon.
The monk sneaks along the wall to the far end of the room and notices an archway to the east. The barbarian and the monk move forward.
The monk throws a torch into the room and is about to peer into the room when all of a sudden we are surprised by a 5-foot ball of floating aberration with stalks coming from its head with eyes at the end of them.
Ray ray ray ray ray ray from the beholder. The barbarian is slowed, the sorcerer is almost hit but because he was standing behind the statue the beholder missed him barely. The monk gets his hard and goes unconscious. Roll Initiative.
The cleric yelling for the mage goes first and hits the barbarians weapon with some kind of buff spell, enhancing its damage. The slowed barbarian steps up and takes a single swing hitting the beholder hard. The sorcerer casts Scorching Ray and hits the beholder well, while the fighter shoots his bow. The mage comes down and Magic Missiles the beholder.
Ray ray ray at the barbarian and ray ray ray at the mage. The barbarian tries to dodge nimbly but gets hit pretty hard, but is still standing. The mage on the other hand gets hit with two rays, 1) a flesh to stone ray that he saves against; and a 2) charm ray but fails his will save – he now believes the beholder is his friend.
The barbarian takes a swing, now raged, and finishes off the beholder with a solid hit. His Belt of Storm Giant Strength with his +2 Great club does wonders.
Cleric heals the party. The monk is alright, just a little shaken after a near death experience.
We enter what is the lair of the beholder and explore. Behind a stone we see a cache of items the beholder seems to have stowed away, most notably a pair of wings.
We go back upstairs and go to the southern cove. This one goes in deeper until it narrows into a 10-foot wide passageway. We enter what appears to be a maze and corridors with no rime or reason to be designed in such a way.
The monk, scouting ahead hears heaving breathing from around the corner and signals the party to stop. He comes back to the party and tells us what he hears. As we’re formulating our plans a large humanoid bull-like creature charges the fighter in the rear of the party goring him. Roll initiative.
Surprised the Minotaur attacks the fighter again and another Minotaur comes to the front of the party. We are now sandwiched between the two.
The cleric goes first and uses an item on the barbarian’s weapon again. The barbarian and the monk at the front of the party commit. The sorcerer steps back to cast a spell and is hit as he casts – the Minotaurs apparently have a longer reach than he was expecting. The Minotaur in the back of the party though gets a well placed Scorching Ray into his midsection from the sorcerer. The mage pulls out his scroll case and prepares to cast a scroll.
The cleric uses his short spear and jabs at the Minotaur in the back of the party. The barbarian and the monk finish off the Minotaur in the front of the party. The sorcerer again casts his Scorching Ray into the remaining Minotaur. The mage casts Grease from his prepared scroll on the Minotaur’s weapon, but the Minotaur makes his Reflex save and doesn’t drop his weapon.
The monk tumbles into melee range and finishes off the Minotaur. We find some gold on their bodies and continue though the maze of corridors.
We come out of the maze into a very large room. On the far side is an 80-foot cliff. At the base of the cliff is a cave, the lair of the dead Minotaurs.
The cleric casts Fly on himself and finds another of the shimmering silver archways on the landing.
We break camp for two days to identify and rest up.
We call it an evening. Great session