Date:
Tahsday, 28st of Molivios, 2994 AE
Weather:
Warm, cloudy, rainy
Player Characters:
Ioannes Grammatikos Byzantios, Archontean cleric of Demma (Demented Avenger)
Vallium Halcyon, Archontean fighter (Greybrown)
Uvash Edzuson, Dwarven cleric of Zodarrim (Cosmo)
Coinbase, Elven Mercenary Bro (Archon Shiva)
Significant NPCs:
Wicktrimmer, Imperial Goblin merchant
Roger the Rapier, Leader of the Five Fingers of Destiny adventuring company
Bottleneck, sergeant in charge of Upper Goblintown
Many goblins
Yamki, 3-armed giant intelligent baboon
Many baboons
Construct spearman
Remagis un-petrified ancient priest of Thoth
Stamelis, Head of Thoth librarian
Basil, Right for Riches employee
Many ghouls
Many skeletons
Many zombies
The Plan:
- Warn the Five Fingers of Destiny away from the Beacon
- Deliver food to the baboons
- Explore the western part of the Well of Light level
- Explore the Howling Caves
- Pick up Temrin's map to the second Tablet of the Beacon
What Happened:
Wicktrimmer returned from Narsileon with some items. Vallium and Ioannes met with the Five Fingers of Destiny, explained about the ankh-key puzzle and (just a bit about) the Beacon, and said their base was very dangerous and the Five Fingers should stay away. Vallium then bought food for the baboons and took it through a Teleport Rug to the Beacon.
Everyone teleported through the Rug to the Beacon, then used a Rudishva Teleporter to go down to the Cloister level. They propped the one-way door open. They went through the Cloister then down a secret passage to the slime room, where Vallium and Coinbase Levitated up to the cave near the old Temple of Set, then the others came back through the Rug to join them. From there they went east through the old Temple of Thoth to the Glory of Weskenim, briefly talked to Bottleneck, then went through the indoor pyramid teleporter to the Well of Light.
Everyone headed east to Yamki's room near the Howling Caves, and Vallium talked to Yamki. They went into an empty room to set up a Rug to teleport all the baboon food out from the Beacon. After giving the food to Yamki, they warned him that they would be exploring to the west.
The first newly discovered room contained a bunch of broken furniture and general trash, plus a fancy model of a raven on a perch. When Coinbase approached it, it said something in Mithric. That was interesting enough that they grabbed the bird and took it back to the Beacon.
Further south, they found a room containing many small wooden dormitory cubicles, plus a very detailed sculpture of a Thothian priest. Coinbase suggested it might actually be a petrified priest. Uvash tried Stone to Flesh, and it turned into an ancient Thothian priest named Remagis, who only spoke Mithric and was pretty confused about what was happening. After some conversation in broken Mithric, Ioannes cast Gift of Tongues on Vallium so he could explain things more thoroughly. Once Remagis calmed down a bit, they showed him how to use the Teleport Rug then took him back to the Beacon, where Stamelis could talk to him and Basil could take care of him.
Continuing north, they found a locked door. Vallium and Uvash used Vallium's new portable battering ram to smash it. Inside was an entire wizard's lab full of junk, plus a construct spearman with a huge black iron spear. The construct attacked. Vallium destroyed it. They looted the lab of everything that looked valuable and portable.
They continued west to a closed portcullis. There was a throbbling light from the west. There was a lever on the wall that appeared designed to open it, but the lever was rusted. They tried forcing the lever, which broke. Not wanting to break the portcullis in case they needed to close it, they tried passing the Teleport Rug through it, then Ioannes could open it up with Apportation and Uvash could step through the Rug from the Beacon. The rolled-up Rug fit between the bars, but the Apportation spell failed as soon as the Rug went through. And then Uvash didn't come through the Rug. Vallium managed to reach through the bars and grab the Rug back, and then it worked and Uvash came through. Coinbase cast Silence, and Vallium and Uvash used the ram to break the portcullis. They stepped into the room, their Continual Light rocks went dark, Vallium's Levitation boots stopped Levitating, and their magically lightened armor got heavier. They stepped back out and had a long converation.
The conclusion was to send Vallium and Uvash in, while Coinbase and Ioannes stayed back with the mana. Vallium found a torch, and they went forward into the room. There was an ivory coffer in the center of the floor, with creepy tongues engraved on it. Moving the box around did not seem to affect the mana level. They took the box and brought it back to the Beacon, putting it in a a Bag of Holding inside a chest for safekeeping. There were doors north, west, and south. A map they had found indicated only a single room north, so they went that way. The door was locked, so they smashed it with the ram, without benefit of Silence this time. As they started looking into the room to the north, the door to the south opened, and many skeletons, zombies, and ghouls started streaming out.
Vallium and Uvash headed back east toward the mana, but both were slower than usual without their lighten spells. The ghouls and skeletons mobbed them. Vallium killed several of each, but they one ghoul hit Vallium's face, which was no longer protected by his magical Torc of Protection. Neither was he Blessed. Vallium was paralyzed! Uvash activated his Heroic Might and Heroic Grace and tried to fight off all the undead. Meanwhile, Ioannes started taunting the ghouls with religious rituals, trying to draw them out into the mana. Some of them charged him. (The skeletons and zombies didn't care.)
Three somewhat separate battles happened. One was Ioannes versus some ghouls, with Coinbase contributing multiple buff spells. One was Uvash versus ghouls and skeletons and zombies. And one was skeletons and zombies that couldn't reach anyone else bashing on Vallium while he was paralyzed and (except for the heavy armor over most of his body) defenseless.
Uvash took down a lot of undead, almost winning the battle and saving Vallium, until one of the zombies landed a lucky critical hit and knocked him unconscious. Meanwhile, Ioannes, not really strong enough to efficiently kill ghouls, focused on aiming at their feet and crippling them. Coinbase cast Great Haste (twice), Haste, and Flight on Ioannes, and otherwise Levitated horizontally near the ceiling so the ghouls had to jump to try to lay a claw on him.
When Uvash went down, the last few skeletons and zombies ran out to get Ioannes, and he managed to cripple all of their feet. Once no undead were left standing, they went into the No Mana zone and dragged the unconscious Uvash and paralyzed Vallium out, then Ioannes cast multiple healing spells on both of them. Uvash woke up a few minutes later, and Vallium was able to move again. Everyone staggered back to the east, then reversed their path to the Beacon. They didn't run into anything hostile on the way, so they made it. It had been very close though; with both Vallium and Uvash knocked out, a pack of undead in a no-mana zone had almost ended the Right for Riches company.
GM's Comments:
When Vallium went down I thought there was a decent chance of a total party kill. Uvash, Ioannes, and Coinbase managed to win the fight, but it was close. No mana zones are not a joke.
Achievements:
The Rescuers: 1 XP for un-petrifying and rescuing Remagis
XP:
- Exploration: 4 new locations: 0 XP
- Loot: a few magic items from the Wizard's Lab, plus the magic coffer: 1 XP
- Achievements: 1 XP
- Total: 2 XP
Next Week:
They're planning on heading right back to the western Well of Light area to finish exploring there. They will then go down to the Goblin Market to get their Temrin map to the second Tablet of the Beacon. They may then return to the Goblin Forum and try to clear more rooms on that level.
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