DF Whiterock Session 57: Escape from the Stalactite

Date:

2019-07-19

Weather:

Hot, sunny

Player Characters:

Elias (Wiggles), Wood Elf Cleric, 324 points
Garreth (Zuljita), Half-Orc Fighter, 397 points
Ibizaber (Demented Avenger), Human Thief, 392 points
Polly (Kalzazz), Wood Elf Archer, 380 points

Seépravir (Archon Shiva), High-Elf Wizard, 410 points

Significant NPCs:

5 Humongous Spiders

5 Drow Fighters

2 Phase Spiders

We resumed in the bottom level of the drow stalactite fortress, right after the PCs had defeated the drow priestess.  They immediately started looting.  Garreth touched the drow priestess's spider armor, and immediately took curse damage.  They decided not to touch that armor again, and instead Seépravir used Apportation to remove it and later to carry it.

There was a large black rock statue of a drow-spider hybrid in the corner, with blood dripping onto it from above.  They decided that was important, and spent a long time playing with it.  Garreth used Power Blow to boost his ST, then slammed the statue sideways into the corner.  Seépravir made Polly Invisible, then Polly flew back to the entrance they had tunneled to get the pickaxe.  Garreth used it to smash the hole in the ceiling where the blood was coming from, and made the hole a bit bigger, but this didn't find anything.

Polly asked Zaber to search the floor, and he found a secret compartment, containing a folded-up palinquin.  Zaber unfolded it, and found a hard bump in the pillow.  After some discussion, Garreth handed Seépravir (who has Surgery skill) a knife, and she slit along the seam of the pillow.  Inside the pillow were a bunch of huge feathers and a small box.  Seépravir used Apportation to remove the box.  Zaber checked for traps, then opened the box, which contained several gems.  Seépravir then cast Repair on the palinquin.

Polly and Zaber went upstairs to the torture chamber.  Zaber dumped some water into the channels in the floor.  They went back down, and saw that the dripping blood appeared diluted.  That seemed conclusive enough to make everyone stop playing with the plumbing.

Seépravir cast Seek Magic, and found that the nearest unknown magic was far down and west, which everyone assumed meant outside of the stalactite.  So the group started talking about leaving.  First Elias cast Stop Bleeding on Garreth to try to heal the curse damage.  Then the group headed upstairs a few levels to the entrance they had made, and left some of the heavy stuff (pickaxe, palinquin, cursed spider armor) there.  Not wanting to leave yet, they resumed exploring, and opened a door that Zaber was pretty sure they'd been through before.  It revealed a hallway with another door, which Zaber spotted a trap on.  He disabled the trap, which required Luck since his first IQ-based Traps roll was awful.  Behind the door were stairs up to the portcullis room.

Zaber and Polly flew up the stairs.  Polly was visible, and when her head passed the top of the stairs, a drow sentry yelled out.  The room contained several drow fighters and several humongous spiders, all alertly guarding the main entrance.   Nobody was surprised.

Zaber, wearing the Ring of Invisibility, flew around to the side of the enemies.  Polly fired a couple of arrows at a drow standing on a ledge holding a hand crossbow, but he dodged both of them.  Garreth flew up the stairs and threw the pearly spear at another drow on a closer ledge.  He put the spear right through the drow's evil heart, resulting in instant death and a loud splat! as the corpse fell off the ledge and hit the stone floor.  

Four humongous spiders all charged the visible PCs.  The three remaining drow all aimed their hand crossbows, knowing they would probably only get one shot.  Elias flew up the stairs and tried to shield rush a spider, but it critically dodged and he fell down.  (This is less of a problem with Flight.)  Seépravir Great Hasted herself, then tried Rapier Wit on a spider, but it was too dumb for that.  Zaber flew into position next to a drow, preparing to backstab.

Polly shot a spider in the skull, knocking it out.  Then she shot the drow on the ledge that had previously dodged two arrows.  This time she got a critical hit, so no dodge was possible, and killed the drow, who fell off the ledge and landed on a big box of dead rats.  Garreth fast-drew his katana and chopped up a spider, wounding it.

The wounded spider all-out attacked Garreth, trying to bite his face twice.  He dodged the first and critically dodged the second, causing the spider to fall down.  Another spider ran up to Polly and tried biting her, but missed.  The remaining spiders moved closer.  The drow next to Zaber, not seeing the Invisible threat, fired his crossbow at Polly and missed.  Another drow also tried to shoot Polly, but Garreth used Parry Missile Weapons to deflect the bolt.  The final drow fired at Elias, who failed to dodge (he was prone and his shield was facing the other way), but the quarrel didn't penetrate his heavy armor.

Elias flew back to his usual vertical orientation and smashed a spider with his flail, doing minor damage.  Seépravir cast Great Haste on both Garreth and Polly.  Zaber stabbed the nearby drow in the eye, crippling the eye and knocking him unconscious, then became visible.  Polly flew a bit to line up her attack on multiple enemies, then shot a spider.  It dodged, but then the drow right behind it was accidentally-on-purpose critically hit in the neck for a bit of damage.  He shot at the spider again, and it dodged again, and this time the arrow also missed the drow.  Polly tried again, shot the spider in the skull, and knocked it out.  Then she shot another spider and stunned it.

The spear flew back to Garreth, but he ignored it and used his katana on a nearby spider.  He hit it three times and killed it, then hit another spider and slowed it.  The slowed spider tried to bite Polly, but she dodged straight up.  Another spider tried to bite Elias, but he blocked with his shield.

At that point, the two phase spiders that had been stalking their victims from the ethereal plane finally decided to attack.  One bit Polly in the back, but didn't do enough damage to pierce her armor.  The other chomped on Zaber's back, and penetrated his armor.  He took a bit of damage, but resisted the poison followup.

A stunned drow managed to become unstunned.  Elias smacked a spider twice with his flail, stunning it.  Seépravir hid, first trying to make herself Invisible and failing (due to a high number of spells on), then flying up trying to get out of spider reach.  Zaber slammed the same drow, knocking him prone and re-stunning him as his head hit the ground.  Polly shot at a spider, which dodged.  She then shot the drow, who didn't dodge while stunned and prone and slowed, and knocked him out.

Garreth chopped up a spider.  Another survived to bite him, but he dodged.  The final surviving drow all-out attacked Polly, but she acrobatically dodged.  Elias whomped on a spider next to him with his flail, and killed it.  Polly shot the last drow in the eye, achieving a critical hit and knocking him out.  Then she shot the last remaining spider, knocking it out too.

The phase spider poison got a followup attempt to damage Zaber, but he resisted that too.  Garreth flew around the room making sure all the spiders and drow were dead.  Polly helped, using bodkins.  Garreth then started stripping drow bodies of valuable mail armor, hand crossbows, and rapiers.

Garreth hit the lever to open the portcullis ... and it was trapped!  A bright light temporarily blinded everyone in the room, and forced everyone to resist with Will.  Everyone made their resistance check, so they never found out what the effect was.  A few minutes later, they could see again.  Elias cast Stop Bleeding on Zaber, Seépravir cast Apportation on the cursed spider armor again, and everyone prepared to head home.  But then Garreth remembered they hadn't looted the behir lair.

Zaber and Polly flew out the portcullis to check out the stalactite where they had found the behir.  On a ledge there, Zaber found a dead humanoid body wearing leather armor, a pouch, and a necklace.  The necklace featured a picture of a hen bowing to a jester.  The pouch contained some green gems.  There was also a halberd nearby.  

The group headed back to Cillamar.  When they got there, Elias made an attempt to remove the curse on the spider armor.  He first stopped maintaining all four Bless spells on his companions.  Then he tried Remove Curse, but the curse was very powerful, beyond his ability to remove.  Giving up, he re-Blessed his allies, a slow process involving multiple recharges of his power item.

GM's Comments:

This session was just tidying up after the previous raids on the stalactite.  The PCs spent a long time looting the drow temple and playing with the statue and the blood plumbing, then killed all the drow guards who they had bypassed by making their own back entrance into the stalactite.  I was impressed that they remembered to loot the lair of the behir, who they killed weeks ago.