Date:
Weather:
Player Characters:
Garreth (Zuljita), Half-Orc Fighter, 452 points
Ibizaber (Demented Avenger), Human Thief, 450 points
Polly (Kalzazz), Wood Elf Archer, 441 points
Seépravir (Archon Shiva), High Elf Wizard, 455 points
Significant NPCs:
6 Grimlock Warriors
Grimlock Adept
Hobgoblin Vampire
We continued in the dungeon, on the duergar level, right after the PCs had figured out how to spin a large wheel to lower an elevator. Zaber invisibly rode the lift down a few feet until he saw it opened into a large room, about 80' square and 35' tall. At floor level, there were several double portcullises, leading to large alcoves. At higher levels, there were viewing stands around three sides of the room, with some kind of hard-to-see barrier separating the stands from the arena floor. And there were some large crystals in the ceiling.
Zaber looked around and saw some sawdust on the floor and some blood on one of the walls, flew up to check out the crystals, but some kind of barrier prevented him from reaching them. He then flew back up to the level above to tell the others what he'd seen. Garreth was worried that if they all went down there, they might be trapped. While they were discussing what to do next, Zaber heard some yelling down below, probably a duergar. Seépravir cast Soul Rider on Zaber so she could watch through his eyes as he explored.
Zaber stuck his head back down, and saw one of the portcullises crashes down, then go back up, as some yelling continued. Seépravir, with Gift of Tongues active, was able to decipher that the yelling was in Giant, and was about which lever controlled which gate. She was also able to see that the crystals on the ceiling were magic, as were the invisible barriers surrounding the arena. He flew around a bit, but didn't find anything else interesting, then came back up and suggested they try another lift.
The group ran around upstairs for a while, until Polly found another room with a lift and a pair of wheels to lower it. Garreth used Power Blow to turn the wheel, and accidentally ripped it off its axle. He then walked over to the other wheel and slightly more gently spun it, lowering the lift enough for Zaber to fly through. He found it was another entrance to the same large arena. That didn't find anything interesting, so he went back upstairs and the group ran around some more until they found the third lift. The third lift also led to the same arena, so they appeared out of good ideas, until Polly reminded everyone that there were also stairs, near the guardroom at the entrance to the level.
After finding the guard room, Polly tried opening the door, but it was locked. Zaber picked the lock, and then everyone went down the long stairway. It was quite dark, so Seépravir cast Dark Vision on those that didn't have it. At the bottom of the stairs was a long hallway, with a double doors at the end, a couple of sets of stairs up to the east, and two signs. The closer sign, in Undercommon, talked about the things going on in the Bleak Theater: Auction of Chattel (Human and Hill Dwarf), Razor Boar Exhibition (with unsold chattel), Penal Court of Thane Vejik (executions to follow), and Open Tryouts for Tower Tournament.
Before they made it to the far end of the hallway, Zaber heard the sound of conversation to the south, in a language he didn't speak. He snuck a peek at the second sign: it read "Forbidden" in several languages. Garreth tried opening the door, but it was locked. Zaber picked the lock, then opened the door. As he did so, he heard the south of someone bashing down another door, a bit to the southwest. He flew forward to see what was happening, and spotted several humanoids with axes, shields, and no eyes.
His invisibility didn't seem to help much against creatures with no eyes. One sensed him and asked, in Common, if he could kill the surfacer weakling. The probable leader gave some kind of answer in another language, and then the whole group of grimlocks charged. Zaber flew back, not wanting to get swarmed, and drew his knife. Polly shot a group of arrows, and managed to hit one of the grimlocks in the skull for a knockout. Garreth flew forward and drew his katana.
One of the grimlocks got within axe range of Polly, but she rolled a critical success on her acrobatic dodge, forcing the axe to turn in his hand. Elias closed. Seépravir flew into range and then tried Rapier Wit in undercommon. Apparently the grimlock she picked spoke it well enough, as he was stunned. Zaber flew around some more, and Polly launched some more arrows into a dense crowd, but somehow none of the grimlocks got hurt this time.
Garreth used Rapid Strike to double attack the lead grimlock, badly wounding him but not managing a stun. The injured grimlock tried cutting Polly's head off twice, but Garreth parried both blows for her. Another grimlock swung his axe up at Zaber overhead, but Zaber barrel rolled away. The final grimlock cast Dispel Magic on Zaber, trying to take out Flight and cause a crash. Seépravir tried a Ward to protect against this, but it failed. The dispel took away Zaber's Dark Vision, though fortunately he could still see using the light from Elias's flaming flail (and his Night Vision meant that a little bit of light was enough). All the rest of the spells on Zaber (Flight, Bless, See Secrets, See Invisible, Keen Vision) resisted dispelling.
Elias stepped up and tried a rapid strike against the grimlock that Garreth had already injured, landing one solid hit but not knocking him out. Seépravir dropped a Smoke spell over the grimlocks in the back, then used Rapier Wit to stun another one. Zaber tried stabbing a grimlock in the hand, but was parried. Polly decided to switch from bow to rapier for deceptive attacks, and knocked two grimlocks out with skull hits.
Garreth tried rapid striking another grimlock, but his first blow was parried and his second missed. One of them tried to chop Polly's head off, but missed. The one under Zaber went for two heavily deceptive attacks at his torso, and missed both. The spellcaster started casting some spell. Elias went for two flail hits on a grimlock again, and rolled a critical hit, but failed to knock him out.
Seépravir used Rapier Wit again, in Common this time, and it worked again, stunning another grimlock. She then used Death Vision on another grimlock, stunning him as well. Zaber dove down and grabbed the spellcaster by the foot. He chose not to defend, not wanting to lose his spell in progress, but had to make a Will-3 check for being grappled, and failed it, losing his spell anyway.
Polly smashed two more grimlocks in the skull, both fatally. The remaining grimlocks near Zaber tried chopping him, but he dodged. Seépravir dismissed her Smoke to make it easier to find the survivors. Zaber tackled the grimlock caster, then Polly smashed him in the skull while he was down, but failed to knock him out. Garreth followed up with a couple of katana slashes and killed him.
The last surviving grimlock was brave enough to All-Out Attack Zaber, rather than running away. Zaber managed to dodge both attacks, and then Elias stepped up and killed the grimlock with his flail. Garreth started looting bodies, and found the spellcaster had a holy symbol featuring a skull with a dagger through its eye, very metal. Also some gems. And his axe head was bone, not standard duergar-issue metal like the others.
Zaber noticed a door to the west had been bashed. Behind it was a hallway, which bend then led to a very strong, locked metal door with a plaque next to it. The plaque read "Tomb of human warrior Koborth, discovered and annexed by Thane Feigr Venik, 2887" in two languages. Zaber picked the lock (which was difficult) but didn't open the door. Instead, he doubled back and started opening other doors in the hallway. There were three duergar bunkrooms, full of beds and unlocked footlockers containing nothing of value.
The next door was locked, and Zaber couldn't pick it. Garreth used Power Blow and Forced Entry and one of the grimlocks' axes, and managed to remove a hinge from the door, before the axe broke. He got another axe and removed another hinge, breaking a second axe in the process. Seépravir cast Repair to fix both axes, while Garreth ripped the de-hinged door off. Inside was a room with a table and a nicer bed. The table had a book (in Dwarven), a jeweled letter opener, and writing implements. Under the bed was a large box full of dwarf clothing, and a small locked chest. Zaber picked the lock, and found the chest contained a bunch of coins, a paper labeled "Razor Boar pool" with two columns "tastes great" and "tastes bad" and a bunch of names under them, and ten crossbow bolts, which were greenish and very heavy. Seépravir guessed they might be meteoric iron, and tried Apportation on them, which failed.
Zaber went back to the door to Koborth's tomb, and managed to open it. It led to a 5' wide, 6' tall cramped passage. There was much graffiti on the walls, mostly in Dwarvish, most of it insulting to Koborth. As Zaber came around a corner into a large passage, his Danger Sense went off, and he noticed an undead hobgoblin with a greatsword, up near the ceiling, preparing to ambush him.
We didn't have enough time left in the session for another fight, so we stopped there.
GM's Comments:
Lots of cautious exploration this session. The group didn't want to go into the arena, for fear they might be trapped there, so after Zaber scouted it out, they went another way. The grimlocks were fairly hardy, but failed to dent the PCs.The hobgoblin vampire failed to surprise Zaber. We'll find out what else he manages to do, next week.
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