Realizing they were having no luck against the tentacle wall, the party decided to move on. Little did they know that their shenanigans had attracted the attention of some drow, who were sneaking up on them from both sides of the hallway. More on that in a bit. . .
Having an old-school 1st edition barbarian in the party has its merits. In this case, Pontus was able to detect an illusion on the north wall, and convince the party to walk through it "Platform 9 and 3/4" style. They found themselves walking down a wide flight of stairs, through a room illuminated with a purple, swirling haze. Distances were distorted and shifting, making it hard to judge where the steps were. Even the blind druid's senses were affected. Luapan ended up tumbling down the stairs, right into Dalron. When everyone got up, they decided to look around.
They were in an area that appeared to be segregated from a much larger room by a series of pillars that were a few feet apart. Along the wall to the east was a large mural depicting humans, elves and other species worshiping a large creature with tentacles for a mouth which appeared to be feasting on the very creatures worshiping it. Pontus tried to walk between two of the pillars and purple tendrils of energy reached out and gave him a shock and so he backed off. The Dalron tried to do the same thing and received a shock, then ran screaming out of the room. The party chased after him, stumbling on the stairs a few times.
Remember those drow I talked about? Dalron ran right into them. Four drow with small crossbows and a drow male cleric behind them. The drow cleric cast Hold Person, fixing Dalron in place.
I may have mentioned this before, but in this game, we treat "Hold Person" as a root in place spell. The victim can make no forward, backward, sideways, up or down movements using any physical or magical means that they control. But they are not defenseless and can still move their arms. For Dalron, were he not focused on trying to run out of complete fear, that would mean he can still throw daggers at enemies to the front and side of him. But alas, he could do nothing but scream and try to run, and now was unable to. What a nightmare.
Sarril and Luapan were on the scene first, and immediately started casting spells at the drow (whose magic resistances were limiting the effects, but at least they were no longer focused on Dalron). Next up the stairs were Pontus, Sebastian and Cadwin. Cadwin's superior hearing noticed that more drow were coming up the hallway to east, which effectively trapped the party. Pontus decided to confront these new drow directly, and rushed down the hall. It was the same situation. Four shooters, one cleric.
For the first couple of rounds, the drow shot at the party and missed horribly. Even with the drow using Faerie Fire and having bonuses to hit, they just could compete with everyone having such low ACs. A few bolts would have hit Sarril, had he not cast Protection from Normal Missiles on himself. He remembered from his time with Bukro that the drow liked to use sleeping poison on their bolts. A few bolts hit Cadwin, who saved against the sleeping poison. Pontus, unfortunately, was not so lucky, and down he went. The party now had both of their melee fighters taken out of the fight, and the spell casters were not very effective against such magic resistance. They thought for certain it would be a TPK.
But then Cadwin started bouncing lightning bolts around. Some bad resistance rolls on the part of the drow took out a large number of them, and suddenly the fight turned around just like that. At this point, both of the clerics had done all they could do, and it was down to the fighters, who dropped their crossbows and engaged in melee with great effectiveness. These dual-wielding drow were quite deadly opponents. Cadwin cast Neutralize Poison on Pontus to wake him up and soon he was back in the fight, ready to finish off the last of the drow along the eastern hall.
Along the southern hall, Luapan engaged in melee and started to show what his +5 spear can do. But unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse when two trolls emerged from an opening to the west. One of the trolls hit Luapan with enough damage to knock him unconscious, but luckily not kill him. Sarril cast Wall of Fire hoping to kill the trolls. They made their saves and were able to jump away, but one was on one side of the wall and the other on the other side. It made a difference, especially since Dalron had finally shaken the fear that took hold of him. He was still held in place, but he could throw his daggers and soon finished off all of the drow near him as well as the troll he could see. Sarril, suddenly remembering that everyone was protected from fire, gave instructions to toss the troll into the fire, which Dalron did as soon as the Hold Person wore off.
And it wore off just in time, as the Fire Giant blacksmith emerged from the same place the trolls just came from. This would have been the end of the party if Dalron was not mobile, but he was not only mobile, he was angry. After rolling two natural 20s, Dalron dropped the fire giant in a single round, leaving only one troll for Pontus and crew to deal with. They dealt with it quickly and then threw it into the wall of fire as well. Everyone took an inventory of their status and checked up on Luapan. It seems everyone survived, and now they had drow armor and weapons. How nice. But of course they needed to recuperate, and so they headed upstairs.
Strangely enough, nothing came looking for them upstairs. They were able to rest for the evening and recover hit points and spells. It was at this point that Cadwin told the group he needed to leave. His original mission that brought him in touch with the party was to find the source of the Red Death, in the hopes that might lead to a cure. Information Sebastian had provided needed to be followed up on. He asked Sebastian to stay with the party and help them on their quest while he goes to see the druid circle in the Dim Forest and follow-up on the clues Sebastian had found. He said his goodbyes and left.
The remaining party headed back downstairs. Using a Knock spell, Sarril opened the remaining cell doors that Sebastian was unable to pick earlier. They ended up rescuing a group of elves, one of whom claimed to be a sylvan princess of the Hornwood. They claimed that several of their number had been taken as sacrifice into the temple down the hall. They assume sacrifice because they could hear the screams, and no one taken ever came back. The party fed the elves and gave them water and equipped them as best they could so they could return home, then they went on their way to explore the rest of the level.
From the room where the trolls and fire giant emerged, they found the blackmith's area where a large pool of lava acts as a forge for weapons and armor. The giant was in the middle of repairing a large mace, but nothing of value was found here. Heading further up northeast the party came to a hallway where a filthy stench overwhelmed them. A troll's den. Pontus stepped forward to investigate and was immediately overrun by trolls. There were 18 trolls total, which could have quickly overwhelmed the party, but they were smart and the trolls were not. Pontus, Luapan and Dalron stood side-by-side to form a wall, preventing the trolls from getting past them. Then, after doing some quick math in his head, Sarril dropped a fireball a ways behind the line, engulfing all of the trolls. Many were consumed, but some were still standing, so he tossed another one. And thus ended the lives of 18 trolls.
The trolls were keeping about 60 gnoll slaves captive in some nearby rooms. The party decided to free the gnolls as they were clearly no threat and then search the rest of the area. Some empty guest chambers, one of which was clearly setup for Frost Giants, but nothing else interesting. Anything valuable had already been taken when the rest of the inhabitants of this level fled.
So that leaves the party with three unexplored options.
1. Whatever is behind the Tentacle Wall
2. The temple that sent Dalron screaming and
3. The double-doors that they know lead down into the underdark (and past a large red dragon)
But none of that will be explored today. The drow fight consumed most of the entire session and so we had to call it quits for the day. It is the morning of the 12th Day of Patchwall, CY 580 and the party is still alive. That's something.
Apr 7, 2019
9th Day of Patchwall, CY 580 - Chasing Down King Snurr Ironbelly - Part 2
Upon the advice of the wise Cadwin, the party decided the best place to rest would be underneath King Snurr's bed. There was room enough, even if it was a bit tight, and the giants would likely never suspect it. Unfortunately, things didn't quite go as planned.
Within the first hour, two fire giants came into the room - possibly on patrol. They did not notice the party members under the bed, and were just about to turn around and leave, when Dalron rolled out from under the bed, stood up and started throwing daggers at the nearest one. Before Dalron could even get to his feet, the second giant was already shouting back down the hall in giant-tongue "They're here! They are in the king's chambers!" This forced the rest of the party to take decisive action.
Luapan only had 3 hit points and was almost completely out of spells, so he stayed under the bed. Sarril and Cadwin used invisibility rings to turn invisible. Pontus rolled out from under the bed to help take down the giants more quickly. The fight was typical of one against giants in which Dalron, the Giant-Slayer is involved. In two rounds, he can do close about 100 hit points of damage to a giant due to his ranger skills, so long as he can keep enough distance to throw daggers. The fight looked like it would be short, until an invisible dwarf appeared behind Dalron performing a vicious backstab (well, not as vicious as it should have been as he rolled low damage, but the multipliers still hurt a lot). Dalron suddenly found himself having to deal with this extra threat, and was not able to keep his attention on the giants. To make matters worse, two more giants responded to the alert, creating a dire situation for the team.
The dwarf proved to be a serious problem. He was a multi-class 9th level fighter and 11th level thief, with specialization and 18/00 strength. He attacked twice per round with a +3 hammer for a lot of damage. The only thing that saved Dalron from death was that fact that the DM rolled several 1s to hit, saving Dalron from one of the two attacks each round. Sarril then cast a Slow spell in the area, which affected the dwarf and one of the giants. This reduced the dwarf to one attack per round and effectively took one of the giants out of the fight. Sarril managed to position himself into the corner used his Wand of Frost to cast Cone of Cold, doing a lot of damage to the fire giants, bringing them near death. Dalron turned his attention back to the giants, trying to finish them off, while Pontus focused on the dwarf.
Only a few rounds into combat, the party realized they needed to retreat through the secret door in the king's bedroom. That meant Luapan needed to get out from under the bed and make his way to them. He almost made it, too, but as he passed by one of the giants, he took a hard blow - one which should have killed him outright were it not for the house-rule mechanic we have allowing a single "death save" (an idea inspired by 5th edition). Luapan was now unconscious at zero hit points, about to be finished off by the giant. That's when an invisible Cadwin grabbed Luapan's unconscious body and dragged him back to safety. Unfortunately, that "safety" placed them away from the escape route, with giants between them and freedom. If they were to live through this, the party would need to kill the remaining giants.
Dalron continued to focus on the giants, but he was pressed against the wall in melee combat, reduced the number of attacks per round and slowing down the combat. As Pontus continued to wear down the dwarf, Sarril added to the damage by casting Magic Missile, and then releasing another Magic Missile spell from his ring. The dwarf had a lot of hit points, but Pontus and Sarril were finally able to bring him down. Then Sarril turned his attention back to the giants and released another Cone of Cold, killing all but the one slowed giant, which turned to run (albeit slowly).
Within the first hour, two fire giants came into the room - possibly on patrol. They did not notice the party members under the bed, and were just about to turn around and leave, when Dalron rolled out from under the bed, stood up and started throwing daggers at the nearest one. Before Dalron could even get to his feet, the second giant was already shouting back down the hall in giant-tongue "They're here! They are in the king's chambers!" This forced the rest of the party to take decisive action.
Luapan only had 3 hit points and was almost completely out of spells, so he stayed under the bed. Sarril and Cadwin used invisibility rings to turn invisible. Pontus rolled out from under the bed to help take down the giants more quickly. The fight was typical of one against giants in which Dalron, the Giant-Slayer is involved. In two rounds, he can do close about 100 hit points of damage to a giant due to his ranger skills, so long as he can keep enough distance to throw daggers. The fight looked like it would be short, until an invisible dwarf appeared behind Dalron performing a vicious backstab (well, not as vicious as it should have been as he rolled low damage, but the multipliers still hurt a lot). Dalron suddenly found himself having to deal with this extra threat, and was not able to keep his attention on the giants. To make matters worse, two more giants responded to the alert, creating a dire situation for the team.
The dwarf proved to be a serious problem. He was a multi-class 9th level fighter and 11th level thief, with specialization and 18/00 strength. He attacked twice per round with a +3 hammer for a lot of damage. The only thing that saved Dalron from death was that fact that the DM rolled several 1s to hit, saving Dalron from one of the two attacks each round. Sarril then cast a Slow spell in the area, which affected the dwarf and one of the giants. This reduced the dwarf to one attack per round and effectively took one of the giants out of the fight. Sarril managed to position himself into the corner used his Wand of Frost to cast Cone of Cold, doing a lot of damage to the fire giants, bringing them near death. Dalron turned his attention back to the giants, trying to finish them off, while Pontus focused on the dwarf.
Only a few rounds into combat, the party realized they needed to retreat through the secret door in the king's bedroom. That meant Luapan needed to get out from under the bed and make his way to them. He almost made it, too, but as he passed by one of the giants, he took a hard blow - one which should have killed him outright were it not for the house-rule mechanic we have allowing a single "death save" (an idea inspired by 5th edition). Luapan was now unconscious at zero hit points, about to be finished off by the giant. That's when an invisible Cadwin grabbed Luapan's unconscious body and dragged him back to safety. Unfortunately, that "safety" placed them away from the escape route, with giants between them and freedom. If they were to live through this, the party would need to kill the remaining giants.
Dalron continued to focus on the giants, but he was pressed against the wall in melee combat, reduced the number of attacks per round and slowing down the combat. As Pontus continued to wear down the dwarf, Sarril added to the damage by casting Magic Missile, and then releasing another Magic Missile spell from his ring. The dwarf had a lot of hit points, but Pontus and Sarril were finally able to bring him down. Then Sarril turned his attention back to the giants and released another Cone of Cold, killing all but the one slowed giant, which turned to run (albeit slowly).
Pontus started dragging the dwarf into the hallway behind the secret door and Dalron followed, putting a dagger into the dwarf's eye, just to make sure he was dead. That's when Sarril called for Dalron to finish off the retreating giant, but unfortunately it was too far away, so Sarril cast one more Magic Missile, which dropped the giant in its tracks. Sarril then cast Detect Magic to see what the dwarf had on him and the party spent some time removing his full plate, shield, axe, ring, hammer and gauntlets. After taking the dwarf's things, the party left the Fire Giant Hall and retreated back to their cave a couple of miles down the mountain to finish resting for the night. Unfortunately, with Luapan unconscious and near-death, they would have to restore him to full hit points before he could be fully functional again (another house-rule we use). It was likely going to be a couple of days.
The next day, many healing spells were expended by Sarril and Cadwin, making Luapan functional again. Sarril also started identifying items, and found that the cloak that hellhound keeper had allows the wearer to assume the form of a hellhound. This came in handy that evening, when, during Dalron's watch, he noticed a couple of hellhounds sniffing around outside. It was unclear if they were onto the party's scent, but out of concern, he woke the party. Pontus decided this would be a great time to test the new cloak and he proceeded to put it on, get on all fours, and try to mimic the behavior of the hellhounds. He engaged them and, while they didn't take to him at first, and tried to assert their dominance, Pontus quickly adapted, and asserted his own alpha-male dominance the way that he knows canines to do - by mounting one of the hellhounds (both were female). Though this act did not result in full mating, it served it purpose to show to other two that he was the alpha and he was in charge of the pack. He then made it clear that this was his territory, and the other two needed to go away, and they did. Pontus then slept, in hellhound form, outside the cave for the rest of the evening.
The next day, many healing spells were expended by Sarril and Cadwin, making Luapan functional again. Sarril also started identifying items, and found that the cloak that hellhound keeper had allows the wearer to assume the form of a hellhound. This came in handy that evening, when, during Dalron's watch, he noticed a couple of hellhounds sniffing around outside. It was unclear if they were onto the party's scent, but out of concern, he woke the party. Pontus decided this would be a great time to test the new cloak and he proceeded to put it on, get on all fours, and try to mimic the behavior of the hellhounds. He engaged them and, while they didn't take to him at first, and tried to assert their dominance, Pontus quickly adapted, and asserted his own alpha-male dominance the way that he knows canines to do - by mounting one of the hellhounds (both were female). Though this act did not result in full mating, it served it purpose to show to other two that he was the alpha and he was in charge of the pack. He then made it clear that this was his territory, and the other two needed to go away, and they did. Pontus then slept, in hellhound form, outside the cave for the rest of the evening.
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The next day, on the 11th Day of Patchwall, the party set back out into the Fire Giant Hall, using the usual method of Invisibility 10' Radius and multiple Fly spells to be both stealthy and safe. They explored the rest of the first level - everything except the one door that was barred from the outside. The place seemed abandoned, so down to level 2 they went.
The second level of the Fire Giant Hall looked much like the first. Carved stone handiwork that was most likely of dwarven craftsmanship. These halls were not lit by natural gas flames, however. Burned out torches lined these walls. The party used Continual Light coins to see where they were going. The first branch of hallways and room they explored were empty. It looked like these areas housed fire giants and their guests, but were abandoned, with any items of value taken. The party lost the element of surprise days ago.
They decided to explore another corridor to the north, which looked like a series of humanoid sized cell doors. Sarril had a single knock spell, and opened the first cell door with it. Inside was a beautiful naked half-elf, who seemed to instantly recognize Cadwin. The man introduced himself as Sebastian
the bard, and said he has known Cadwin for quite some time. Cadwin was able to confirm this and tell the party they could trust him. Sebastian explained that he was captured by the giants and brought here with other captives to be questioned by some dark elves (aka "drow"). The drow were sacrificing some of the prisoners to their evil demon-god in a nearby temple, but Sebastian managed to stay alive by convincing one of the leaders that he was useful to them. They had planned to take him to their city of Erelhei-Cinlu to be sold into slavery, and would be departing any day now, so it seems he was rescued just in time.
Sebastian was able to provide some limited information to the party regarding the plans of the giants. He was able to confirm that they were working for the drow, who were offering payment and other rewards in exchange for waging war on the human lands. One female drow of importance reassured King Snurr that House Despana will compensate him for recent losses at the hands of some adventurers (the Bad-ass Motherfuckers). Sebastian was not sure if that was legitimate information, or something said knowing that he was listening in. Many references were made to the black bubble over Istivin and the mysterious drow spider goddess they call Lolth, as the drow stated that Lolth's armies would soon be marching across the surface world. Whether or not the drow are actually responsible for the bubble, it is clear that they are taking advantage of its existence.
The party decided to equip Sebastian and let him join the group for the time being as they could use the help. Though they had no keys to open the remaining cell doors, Sebastian was confident that if he could get hold of some lockpicks, even crude lockpicks, he could open the doors. So off they went.
The prison area was not abandoned, the party soon discovered, as they came across the fire giant torturer and headsman in a nearby torture room, playing knuckle bones. The party tried to get a surprise attack, but it didn't work, and they were forced to engage in a regular fight. With Dalron the Giant Slayer, backed up by the spellcasters and Pontus, who was back in possession of Gauntlets of Ogre Power and finally able to wield the Hammer of Kord, this fight would be easy, they thought. But they were wrong. These two giants were tougher than the others, having about 50% more hit points. Dalron started out by doing 50 hit points of damage to the torturer, who, in turn, grabbed Dalron and threw him into an iron maiden and slammed it shut, doing a massive amount of damage and making it impossible to open without killing him. The rest of the party would have to deal with these giants without the help of their giant-slayer. The other giant, the headsman, picked up his massive headsman's axe, designed for severing heads and limbs. Even without severing limbs, the amount of damage he was capable of doing with it was ridiculous. He nearly killed Pontus with only a couple of blows. It took the concentrated effort of all five remaining party members, including Sebastian, to finish off these two. If it weren't for the fact that the DM kept rolling 1s on the dice, some PCs would have surely died.
Luapan decided the best course of action to help Dalron was to reach through the eye slots on the iron maiden and touch him to deliver some healing. He then spent some time studying the machine to figure out the best way to open it while dealing the least amount of damage. He was able to then free Dalron while keeping him alive, and had to expend a lot more of his healing to bring him back up to full hit points. The party was ready to rest again, but felt that time may be a factor now that the giants have been clearing out. They decided to push forward. Sebastian was able to find some wire in the torture chamber that he fashioned into crude lockpicks. There would be a penalty to his attempts, but they could function. With these in hand, they began opening the remaining cells.
A couple of cells contained gnolls, who immediately fled. One cell contained an enraged troll that the party promptly killed. One cell was empty, the inhabitant having just recently been removed to face whatever horrific fate was in store. Another, giant-sized cell contained a chained fire-giant named Boldo. Boldo claimed to have once been King Snurr's advisor. He said the about two-years ago, a drow woman by the name of Eclavdra came to the king and started making offers of gold and filling the king's ears with promises of glory and dominance over humans, if he could rally the other giant tribes under his banner and attack the humans in the Sheldomar Valley. Boldo said that he tried to advise the king against taking these actions and warn him against allying with these dark elves, and he was imprisoned as a result. He also explained that the drow had pretty much taken over this level of the dungeon, going so far as to build a temple to their dark god in the northwest. The party pressed Boldo for as much information as he could give, which wasn't much, but he was able to let them know that there was a large red dragon in the caverns below - something they would likely have to deal with if they were to try to follow the drow into the underdark. The party decided to let Boldo go free, and he ran off down the hall.
The next cell was another giant-sized cell which contained a Titan, who appeared to be chained and drugged. Cadwin cast Neutralize Poison, which removed the affects of the drug, and the titan was able to stand up and easily rip free of his massive chains. The titan introduced himself as Kendar, from Mount Olympus in the outer plains. He was sent to give a warning to King Snurr to turn away from this dark path, but with the help of the drow, the king was able to subdue him. Kendar told the party that he needed to return home immediately and report on what is going on, but that this would not be the last they see of him. Perhaps a powerful ally in the future?
Sebastian could not open all of the locks, and those that were not locked were empty, so the party decided if they were going to open the remaining cells, they would need to find a key. And so off they went in search of the drow. The first thing they came across was a wall of 20 tentacles blocking a passageway south. The tentacles had the appearance of stone, but seemed flexible as they swayed ever so slightly. Detect Magic revealed a magical dweomer of some sort, so Sarril decided to cast Dispel Magic on the wall. Immediately the Continual Light went out and the party was surrounded by magical darkness, and a loud hissing sound began emanating from the tentacle wall. Four of the tentacles lashed out in the dark at Sarril like whips, causing severe damage. Sebastian and Pontus tried to attack the tentacles, and they, in turn, were whipped by four tentacles each and severely hurt. After cancelling the darkness with another Continual Light, Luapan cast Dispel Magic on the tentacle wall and immediately everything went dark again. The tentacles then attacked Luapan. Cadwin tried to get in on the action, casting a Lightning Bolt at the wall, again triggering the darkness and an attack response. Finally, Sarril cast Dispel Magic one more time and Pontus and Dalron made some physical attacks. Two of the twenty tentacles crumbled to the floor, but the party was attacked again, and it seemed that the tentacles were capable of a lot of damage. The party decided to back away from the wall and reconsider their approach.
And this is where we were forced to end the session. It is the afternoon of the 11th Day of Patchwall, CY 580 and the party is currently being frustrated by a very strange wall of tentacles.
The second level of the Fire Giant Hall looked much like the first. Carved stone handiwork that was most likely of dwarven craftsmanship. These halls were not lit by natural gas flames, however. Burned out torches lined these walls. The party used Continual Light coins to see where they were going. The first branch of hallways and room they explored were empty. It looked like these areas housed fire giants and their guests, but were abandoned, with any items of value taken. The party lost the element of surprise days ago.
They decided to explore another corridor to the north, which looked like a series of humanoid sized cell doors. Sarril had a single knock spell, and opened the first cell door with it. Inside was a beautiful naked half-elf, who seemed to instantly recognize Cadwin. The man introduced himself as Sebastian
 |
| Sebastian Silvertongue |
Sebastian was able to provide some limited information to the party regarding the plans of the giants. He was able to confirm that they were working for the drow, who were offering payment and other rewards in exchange for waging war on the human lands. One female drow of importance reassured King Snurr that House Despana will compensate him for recent losses at the hands of some adventurers (the Bad-ass Motherfuckers). Sebastian was not sure if that was legitimate information, or something said knowing that he was listening in. Many references were made to the black bubble over Istivin and the mysterious drow spider goddess they call Lolth, as the drow stated that Lolth's armies would soon be marching across the surface world. Whether or not the drow are actually responsible for the bubble, it is clear that they are taking advantage of its existence.
The party decided to equip Sebastian and let him join the group for the time being as they could use the help. Though they had no keys to open the remaining cell doors, Sebastian was confident that if he could get hold of some lockpicks, even crude lockpicks, he could open the doors. So off they went.
The prison area was not abandoned, the party soon discovered, as they came across the fire giant torturer and headsman in a nearby torture room, playing knuckle bones. The party tried to get a surprise attack, but it didn't work, and they were forced to engage in a regular fight. With Dalron the Giant Slayer, backed up by the spellcasters and Pontus, who was back in possession of Gauntlets of Ogre Power and finally able to wield the Hammer of Kord, this fight would be easy, they thought. But they were wrong. These two giants were tougher than the others, having about 50% more hit points. Dalron started out by doing 50 hit points of damage to the torturer, who, in turn, grabbed Dalron and threw him into an iron maiden and slammed it shut, doing a massive amount of damage and making it impossible to open without killing him. The rest of the party would have to deal with these giants without the help of their giant-slayer. The other giant, the headsman, picked up his massive headsman's axe, designed for severing heads and limbs. Even without severing limbs, the amount of damage he was capable of doing with it was ridiculous. He nearly killed Pontus with only a couple of blows. It took the concentrated effort of all five remaining party members, including Sebastian, to finish off these two. If it weren't for the fact that the DM kept rolling 1s on the dice, some PCs would have surely died.
Luapan decided the best course of action to help Dalron was to reach through the eye slots on the iron maiden and touch him to deliver some healing. He then spent some time studying the machine to figure out the best way to open it while dealing the least amount of damage. He was able to then free Dalron while keeping him alive, and had to expend a lot more of his healing to bring him back up to full hit points. The party was ready to rest again, but felt that time may be a factor now that the giants have been clearing out. They decided to push forward. Sebastian was able to find some wire in the torture chamber that he fashioned into crude lockpicks. There would be a penalty to his attempts, but they could function. With these in hand, they began opening the remaining cells.
A couple of cells contained gnolls, who immediately fled. One cell contained an enraged troll that the party promptly killed. One cell was empty, the inhabitant having just recently been removed to face whatever horrific fate was in store. Another, giant-sized cell contained a chained fire-giant named Boldo. Boldo claimed to have once been King Snurr's advisor. He said the about two-years ago, a drow woman by the name of Eclavdra came to the king and started making offers of gold and filling the king's ears with promises of glory and dominance over humans, if he could rally the other giant tribes under his banner and attack the humans in the Sheldomar Valley. Boldo said that he tried to advise the king against taking these actions and warn him against allying with these dark elves, and he was imprisoned as a result. He also explained that the drow had pretty much taken over this level of the dungeon, going so far as to build a temple to their dark god in the northwest. The party pressed Boldo for as much information as he could give, which wasn't much, but he was able to let them know that there was a large red dragon in the caverns below - something they would likely have to deal with if they were to try to follow the drow into the underdark. The party decided to let Boldo go free, and he ran off down the hall.
The next cell was another giant-sized cell which contained a Titan, who appeared to be chained and drugged. Cadwin cast Neutralize Poison, which removed the affects of the drug, and the titan was able to stand up and easily rip free of his massive chains. The titan introduced himself as Kendar, from Mount Olympus in the outer plains. He was sent to give a warning to King Snurr to turn away from this dark path, but with the help of the drow, the king was able to subdue him. Kendar told the party that he needed to return home immediately and report on what is going on, but that this would not be the last they see of him. Perhaps a powerful ally in the future?
Sebastian could not open all of the locks, and those that were not locked were empty, so the party decided if they were going to open the remaining cells, they would need to find a key. And so off they went in search of the drow. The first thing they came across was a wall of 20 tentacles blocking a passageway south. The tentacles had the appearance of stone, but seemed flexible as they swayed ever so slightly. Detect Magic revealed a magical dweomer of some sort, so Sarril decided to cast Dispel Magic on the wall. Immediately the Continual Light went out and the party was surrounded by magical darkness, and a loud hissing sound began emanating from the tentacle wall. Four of the tentacles lashed out in the dark at Sarril like whips, causing severe damage. Sebastian and Pontus tried to attack the tentacles, and they, in turn, were whipped by four tentacles each and severely hurt. After cancelling the darkness with another Continual Light, Luapan cast Dispel Magic on the tentacle wall and immediately everything went dark again. The tentacles then attacked Luapan. Cadwin tried to get in on the action, casting a Lightning Bolt at the wall, again triggering the darkness and an attack response. Finally, Sarril cast Dispel Magic one more time and Pontus and Dalron made some physical attacks. Two of the twenty tentacles crumbled to the floor, but the party was attacked again, and it seemed that the tentacles were capable of a lot of damage. The party decided to back away from the wall and reconsider their approach.
And this is where we were forced to end the session. It is the afternoon of the 11th Day of Patchwall, CY 580 and the party is currently being frustrated by a very strange wall of tentacles.
Mar 24, 2019
9th Day of Patchwall, CY 580 - Chasing Down King Snurr Ironbelly
When we left off, King Snurr was casually walking away through a secret door behind the throne while the party was facing off against 14 giant spiders. It turns out that giant spiders are pretty ineffective against a party whose average armor class is well into the negatives. But it was obvious the intent wasn't to kill the party, as it took several rounds to deal with the spiders, leaving plenty of time for the fire giant king and the drow woman to disappear.
Before the fight was over, eight fire giants appeared in the hallway behind, cutting off any escape to the outside. But the party didn't intend to escape. They were about to chase down King Snurr. Sarril started by casting Evard's Black Tentacles to slow down the giants and try to keep them in place. It was mildly effective, holding one of them in place and damaging the others. As the rest of the party ran down the hallway behind the secret door, Sarril cast Boccob's Rolling Thunder on the advancing giants, significantly damaging all but two who seemed to be staying behind. This resulted in five of the eight giants fanning out in front of Sarril at the door. Sarril still had mirror images active, so he had a couple of rounds of actions before he was truly in trouble. He decided to use his wand to cast Cone of Cold on the giants, who were especially susceptible to the cold damage. This move finished them off and he was able to rejoin the party who had found that the tunnel came to a dead end, where Cadwin was certain there was another secret door, but no one could find a way to open it.
It took a full turn before someone finally found a hidden lever, which opened the door into a lavish bedroom, which looked likely to be the private quarters of the king. Searching the room revealed nothing of value, so the group moved westward, encountering six hellhouds lounging in their beds. The king was clearly fond of these dogs. The hellhounds attacked, but the fire protection cast on the party rendered their breath attacks useless, and the party made short work of them.
After searching the rest of the room, they moved to a heavy iron door that opened inward. The door was far too large and heavy to be opened by a non-giant, so Sarril used a Passwall spell to create a tunnel in the stone to the right of the door. Two fire giant elite guards with throwing hammers were outside, waiting for the party to emerge. Pontus was first into the fray and began taking the brunt of the damage, engaging in melee with the first giant. Sarril stepped out next and used his Wand of Frost to make a devastating attack on the second. Dalron came in behind and finished them off easily, clearing the hallway ahead of them. This hallway connected back to the throne room, where there were still three fire giants waiting. That party, feeling pretty good about taking down giants in small numbers, went after them and finished them off pretty quickly. They were now left with an empty throne room and king's quarters - but no sign of King Snurr.
The party decided at this point to spend some time searching, looting bodies, and removing gems from the throne. This all took a few hours, during which time nothing bothered them. They were pretty certain this floor was clear, but it left a mystery as to where the king had gone. That's when someone cleverly remembered that Dalron is a ranger and can track. Dalron, who had been too distracted actually killing giants to remember that he could track them, decided that's a good idea and agreed to give that a try. It took a while, but Dalron was eventually able to determine that the tracks led through a secret passage behind the throne, but stopped halfway and didn't continue to the king's quarters. After searching and being unable to find a secret door, Sarril decided to cast Meld Into Stone to look into the wall where the tracks stopped and see if there was anything on the other side. There was. A passage, with stairs going up. Clearly this is where the king and drow woman went, but how to get there still wasn't clear. If there was a secret door here, it is very well hidden and the way to open it couldn't be found. The party decided they should finish searching this level and come back later.
Further searching of the dungeon revealed some rooms with fire giant women and children, whom they decided to leave alone (for now). They then found a kennel with hellhound puppies. The puppies got scared and ran away, but Pontus chased one down and picked it up, hoping to raise it as a pet. The puppy bit his finger and Pontus snapped its neck in response. The rest of the puppies ran north, into a room with six adult hellhounds, which attacked when the party entered the area. Again, with the magical fire protection everyone had on them, the hellhound attacks were useless. While they were fighting, however, a hellhound, larger than the others, came up from behind and attacked Sarril. After unleashing its (useless) breath weapon, it transformed into a fire giant and began an attack. Dalron responded and took the giant down quickly and the party was able to search him, finding a magic cloak and a few other magic items in a nearby room.
The next interesting room contained a table and chairs that were humanoid sized, with 8 gnolls. The party quickly dispatched the gnolls and searched the room, finding several chests full of gold (one for each gnoll). They also found an attached bedroom with a small bed (smaller than humanoid) and treasure chest, and a locked door they couldn't open. Another door from here led to what looked like a war room, with large table, maps and some alcoves. A trapped chest was collected and placed in the portable hole, along with a *lot* of paperwork (to be reviewed later).
The final fight of the session came as the party investigated another room down the hall, which contained two fire giants and chimera. The chimera's breath weapon was useless, but the six attacks per round it got with its three heads were enough to quickly destroy Sarril's mirror images. Sarril fought the chimera while the rest of the party took out the two giants. Fortunately, the chimera's
attacks don't do a lot of damage, so the party was able to prevail relatively easily. Nonetheless, they were exhausted, wounded, and again, out of spells. It was time to find a place to rest. And so we ended the session here, on the evening of the 9th Day of Patchwall, CY 580. The first level of the Hall of the Fire Giant King was clear (or mostly clear), and the party has to decide where to go to rest for the evening.
Before the fight was over, eight fire giants appeared in the hallway behind, cutting off any escape to the outside. But the party didn't intend to escape. They were about to chase down King Snurr. Sarril started by casting Evard's Black Tentacles to slow down the giants and try to keep them in place. It was mildly effective, holding one of them in place and damaging the others. As the rest of the party ran down the hallway behind the secret door, Sarril cast Boccob's Rolling Thunder on the advancing giants, significantly damaging all but two who seemed to be staying behind. This resulted in five of the eight giants fanning out in front of Sarril at the door. Sarril still had mirror images active, so he had a couple of rounds of actions before he was truly in trouble. He decided to use his wand to cast Cone of Cold on the giants, who were especially susceptible to the cold damage. This move finished them off and he was able to rejoin the party who had found that the tunnel came to a dead end, where Cadwin was certain there was another secret door, but no one could find a way to open it.
It took a full turn before someone finally found a hidden lever, which opened the door into a lavish bedroom, which looked likely to be the private quarters of the king. Searching the room revealed nothing of value, so the group moved westward, encountering six hellhouds lounging in their beds. The king was clearly fond of these dogs. The hellhounds attacked, but the fire protection cast on the party rendered their breath attacks useless, and the party made short work of them.
After searching the rest of the room, they moved to a heavy iron door that opened inward. The door was far too large and heavy to be opened by a non-giant, so Sarril used a Passwall spell to create a tunnel in the stone to the right of the door. Two fire giant elite guards with throwing hammers were outside, waiting for the party to emerge. Pontus was first into the fray and began taking the brunt of the damage, engaging in melee with the first giant. Sarril stepped out next and used his Wand of Frost to make a devastating attack on the second. Dalron came in behind and finished them off easily, clearing the hallway ahead of them. This hallway connected back to the throne room, where there were still three fire giants waiting. That party, feeling pretty good about taking down giants in small numbers, went after them and finished them off pretty quickly. They were now left with an empty throne room and king's quarters - but no sign of King Snurr.
The party decided at this point to spend some time searching, looting bodies, and removing gems from the throne. This all took a few hours, during which time nothing bothered them. They were pretty certain this floor was clear, but it left a mystery as to where the king had gone. That's when someone cleverly remembered that Dalron is a ranger and can track. Dalron, who had been too distracted actually killing giants to remember that he could track them, decided that's a good idea and agreed to give that a try. It took a while, but Dalron was eventually able to determine that the tracks led through a secret passage behind the throne, but stopped halfway and didn't continue to the king's quarters. After searching and being unable to find a secret door, Sarril decided to cast Meld Into Stone to look into the wall where the tracks stopped and see if there was anything on the other side. There was. A passage, with stairs going up. Clearly this is where the king and drow woman went, but how to get there still wasn't clear. If there was a secret door here, it is very well hidden and the way to open it couldn't be found. The party decided they should finish searching this level and come back later.
Further searching of the dungeon revealed some rooms with fire giant women and children, whom they decided to leave alone (for now). They then found a kennel with hellhound puppies. The puppies got scared and ran away, but Pontus chased one down and picked it up, hoping to raise it as a pet. The puppy bit his finger and Pontus snapped its neck in response. The rest of the puppies ran north, into a room with six adult hellhounds, which attacked when the party entered the area. Again, with the magical fire protection everyone had on them, the hellhound attacks were useless. While they were fighting, however, a hellhound, larger than the others, came up from behind and attacked Sarril. After unleashing its (useless) breath weapon, it transformed into a fire giant and began an attack. Dalron responded and took the giant down quickly and the party was able to search him, finding a magic cloak and a few other magic items in a nearby room.
The next interesting room contained a table and chairs that were humanoid sized, with 8 gnolls. The party quickly dispatched the gnolls and searched the room, finding several chests full of gold (one for each gnoll). They also found an attached bedroom with a small bed (smaller than humanoid) and treasure chest, and a locked door they couldn't open. Another door from here led to what looked like a war room, with large table, maps and some alcoves. A trapped chest was collected and placed in the portable hole, along with a *lot* of paperwork (to be reviewed later).
The final fight of the session came as the party investigated another room down the hall, which contained two fire giants and chimera. The chimera's breath weapon was useless, but the six attacks per round it got with its three heads were enough to quickly destroy Sarril's mirror images. Sarril fought the chimera while the rest of the party took out the two giants. Fortunately, the chimera's
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