Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Descent into the Depths of the Earth (Eighth Session: November 22nd, 2009)




Lady Glimmergaunt and Drandis grow weary of Whosis Kid's gambling, drinking, and sparring with the ogres in Kodrus Vale (formerly Glimmergaunt Vale). They pronounce him recovered from any debilitation he experienced from being frozen and magically transport him to join the party, who is camped atop a hill near the Eastern Ruins.

Whosis meets up with Ilmak, who is first to rise that morning, and they are told by Yllallae Serpenthelm the ranger that Veszafein has decide to leave early and scout ahead into the underdark. They rouse the rest of the group and head off towards the cave they fought the troglodytes, bulette, and drakes in the previous day. Yllallae consults with the party, then heads off to Barovia to find the dwelling of Orcus. She agrees to meet the rest of them there later.

Heading into the passage the landshark emerged from Whosis scouts ahead and finds an area where the earth looks burrowed and a long wide passage has collapsed. He steps into the large side passage to investigate then motions for the rest of the party to move along carefully. While passing through they create enough motion to awaken two large landsharks which they retreat from back outside the cavern. The bulette's do not pursue them, choosing instead to return to sleep. Whosis lets them know when the coast is clear and they sneak past the corridor again.

Up ahead they find the roof of deeprift chasm, a large gap that passes many days journey all the way to the abandoned city at the floor of the chasm. They encounter some Dark Dwarves on the other side of the chasm who inform them that the ledge they are on travels to the left to the Kingdom of Skalamad the troll and to the right it heads to the ruins of gladomain where the bear clan khan rules. The duergar offer them safe passage to the other side of the chasm if they pay them handsomely but the party declines and heads towards the bear clan.

Whosis Kid sneaks into the bear khans trhone room, which used to be the underground throne room and tomb of the undead king gladomain from session two. He disguises himself as Lady Xyrlynn with the Cloak of Storath and tells the bear khan, who is a werebear, that the drow have betrayed them and that they must send troops with her to get revenge. The khan appears skeptical and so determines to speak with the goblin king in the western ruins before proceeding. He sends a half dozen bugbears off with Whosis to speak with the goblin king.

Whosis leads the goblins away while the rest of the party strikes the throne room. They devastate the bear clan with blasts of magical fire and ice from various spells and powers and quickly slay all who dwell there. Brock Mez'gar the undead gnoll assassin appears during the fight. He was following the party in the form of a bat with a magical cloak he has and drops in to help them at the beginning of the battle.

The duergar appear at the last minute and finish off the last bugbear with their crossbows, asking that they receive a share of the loot. The party grants them the dungeon as a dwelling and drafts a treaty on behalf of mistmeadow that they may work for the city in its defense and clear out the tunnels that are presently blocking passage of most creatures to the surface from the underdark through the ruins of gladomain keep. The duergar agree and send word to bring their kin from below Ironview, which is expected to fall soon to Orcus' undead army which arrives in 12 days.

They spend a day heading south to the Mithril Mines. There they encounter five hook horrors who stalk them in the passages. Garrick the mad lures the horrors down a side passage intent on sneaking around them, but several party members decide to engage the creatures in melee. a battle ensues and veszafein emerges from a side passage where he was studying some maps in a mining office chamber.

The party learns that the creatures are very strong and decide that withdrawing may be the best option. During their withdrawl they knock out one of the creatures, kill one, and severely injure another. Two of the horrors catch Veszafein and disembowl him, feasting on his entrails. Garret tries to save the drow but is forced to run away before he too is consumed by the ravenous creatures.

Whosis stays behind and waits several hours for the creatures to stop feasting. When they do he retrieves some remains and returns them to Garrett so he can resurrect the warlock. The party finds a trapped corridor and heads down it. The hook horrors see them enter, but decide not to follow.

Along the passage they find a trap that drops Brock and a few others into a pit that fills with acid, injuring several of them severely. Whosis has the hair burned off his body and feet. They proceed further and find some double golden doors that when opened spill necrotic energy all over the passageway draining the life from them until they press them closed again. More traps are found and disabled along the passage and they safely emerge after many hours journey in the mushroom caverns.

They see up ahead that the mushroom caverns are full of undead creatures covered in some sort of slime mold along with two kruthik hive lords and a dozen smaller kruthik. Garrick the mad casts wide blasts of fire and ice throughout the cavern knocking out the weakest of the creatures while Ilmak and Whosis charge under the cover of the other party members. They destroy the kruthik quickly but are exhausted from the battle and take a long rest. With just 10 more days to save Ironview they press on to the abandoned city, which according to the map given them by their duergar allies, lies somewhere ahead about a days travel down a large dry lava tunnel.

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