Session 35: Pits and Clerics
This write up is from Kay's notes from our July 22, 2024 session. Since our group is scattered around the country, we used Discord for our voice communication and Roll20 for our virtual tabletop.
Continued from: Shrooms & Skeletons
Date: May 22, 3517
Level 2: The Demon’s Gullet
7 AM
Lark, Breena, and Artie had gone directly from the Mouth of
Doom to the inn
in town last night. The rest went to the castle for the evening
where we
discussed selling items that we had found inside the dungeon.
We decided we will keep the silver-headed mace in the armory, and
sell the
jewelry. We have 7 (100gp each) gems, six sapphires and one
emerald; so we handed
out one to each person. We also discussed general equipment.
Afterward, the rest of us went to Zelcor’s
Ferry to catch up
with the rest of our party.
10 AM
We bought a 10-pack of healing kits at Rasmus Pye’s. Since Blaze
and Parahelia
have their own, the other party members got two healing kits each
to carry in
their packs in case of emergency.
Beneddar got on the boat to leave for Bard’s
Gate to tell
his family he found the family histories in the castle, over 1,000
years’ worth
of histories in the vault.
Four people got off the boat into town. They looked like
adventurers, 3
fighters and a rogue. They’re a sorry-looking lot, not
well-equipped, and
ragged. Their leader was Rawson Hale, one of the fighters. He said
that they
were from Eastwych and heard there’s a dungeon in the mountains
around here.
Elron said, “Yes, we hear the first level is profitable,” as they
went into the
Bristleback Inn.
Breena sold her mushrooms to Ulman Dark for 5 gp.
11 AM
We stayed at the inn and listened for rumors. Blaze heard of a
company of
dwarves who looked for a gold mine in the dungeon proper (25 miles
away) and
never returned. Lark talked to the guards at the main gate and
heard of magical
black skeletons in the dungeon that clerics can’t turn (we haven’t
seen them
yet).
May 23
We slept at the inn and woke up before sunrise to get an early
start to the
Mouth of Doom. Odo served kippers for breakfast. We left for the
dungeon while the
4 new adventurers were still asleep.
6 AM
Light rain, 72F. With the reduced visibility, we had no encounters
on the way
to the Mouth of Doom.
On the way, Elron picked up pebbles in a stream for his sling.
10 AM
We arrived at the Mouth of Doom.
When we went down the stairs, we found that the dead zombies that
we had killed
were not there anymore. Someone or something had cleaned up the
bodies.
We had no encounters on our way to the second level. At the stairs, we once again
used a rope to
go down to the Demon’s Gullet. It took us 20 minutes to get to the
corner of
the hallway south of the gargoyles room where we had left off
before. A short
distance past the north hallway was a door in the north side and a
door on the
south side across the hallway.
Artie checked on both doors. The north one was locked, but not
trapped; he
unlocked it without opening it and went to work on the south door.
10:30 AM
Artie checked the south door, across the hallway from the north
door. It was
also locked, and not trapped. He noticed that it was not stuck
like most of the
doors. He unlocked it.
Elron opened the north door. It
was
stuck and he had to push hard to get it open. The room had a
10-foot ceiling and
was empty except for a pit on the west side of the room. It was
not covered,
and was easily visible. Elron looked into the pit. He saw some
loose rocks and
an iron button with a gargoyles face, inset about 1 inch deep into
the west
wall about 4 feet up from the bottom of the pit.
There was a door on the east wall of the room. Artie walked up to
the east door,
and disappeared when he touched it. Parahelia looked into the pit
and saw Artie
in it, 10 feet down. Elron threw him a rope. We grabbed the rope
and pulled him
up.
Lark was listening in the hallway, guarding our backs as the rest of the party went into the room.
Once out of the pit, Artie looked at the floor
for pressure
plates and tried touching the door again. Once more he found
himself in the
pit. After climbing out of the pit, he used mage hand to
poke at the
door. This time nothing happened. He then used mage hand to unlock the door; it was a
slow process as
the lock was somewhat corroded. Once unlocked, he used mage
hand to
push on the door, but was unable
to push hard enough to get it open.
Hoping to unstick it, Elron flung a stone at it with his sling,
but it remained
stuck.
Blaze suggested pushing the button in the pit to see what happens.
Artie used mage hand to push the
button. Suddenly a large
stone fell from the ceiling into the pit. It came down with enough
force to
kill anyone who had pushed the button from within the pit.
Blaze cast dispel magic on the door and then hit it with
her quarter
staff to no effect.
Elron pushed on the door, and it opened. Behind the door was a
room that was 30-ft
x 30-ft square, and empty except for a pool; the room is a mirror
image of the other
room with a pool instead of a pit.
The water in the pool was deep, about 30 feet of clear water.
Rocky and Artie
looked into the pool; it looked like good, drinkable water.
Lark looked in the pool while Breena searched for secret doors. In one corner of the pool, he spied something light-colored on the bottom in shadow. He pointed it out to the others. Artie, using mage hand, could just reach it and pulled it out. It was a skull with two large rubies in the eye sockets. It looked like a human skull. Artie appraised the rubies at 500 gp each, but said that the entire skull would sell for much more. Elron wrapped it up and stuffed the skull in his pack without touching it.
Once everyone was out, Sinis closed the door to the pit room.
We went across the hallway to the south door.
Artie had unlocked
it earlier and said that the hinges were maintained and used
recently.
Elron opened the door and it swung open without squeaking. The
room was empty
except for dust in the south end. There was another door in the
west wall, and
there was no dust between the doors. Artie checked the west door;
it’s locked,
not trapped, and it’s been opened recently. Artie unlocked it, and
Elron opened
it.
The door opened inward into the next room. Rocky entered first and
saw that the
walls were covered in pictures and symbols with crude
brushstrokes. The words
were written in common, but made no
sense. The room had a door on the south wall. Lark tried reading
the words in
different orders, but only got a headache for his efforts.
Sinis said he had a comprehend language spell, but told us
it’s a code,
not another language and the spell wouldn’t work.
Artie checked the door in the south wall; it
was locked and
the hinges were well-oiled. As he stood there checking for traps
and listening
at the door, he heard mumbling on the other side.
All these doors we’ve encountered have been locked from the
inside. Everyone got
into their positions around the door. Arties picked the lock and
stepped back. Elron opened
the door.
From Blaze’s position, she could see a guy at a desk, who stood
up, turned around,
and yelled, “Who the hell are you?” Elron said, “We’re
adventurers, hope we
aren’t disturbing you”, and ducked out of the way.
He wasn’t fast enough and got radiant damage to
his face
from a spell. Artie shot through the door with his short bow, but
the arrow bounced
off the man’s armor. Sinis cast acid splash which worked.
Parahelia
recognized the sacred flame
he had
cast as a clerical
spell and the
robes marked him as a follower of Orcus.
We could see that there was a helmet with goat horns on a
desk, much
like we had seen on the statues earlier.
Breena moved into the doorway and cast thunderwave for a
hella lot of
damage. The man, who we later discovered was named Yaza Mongro,
said, “Shit!”
and seemed shocked by that. He cast heal wounds on
himself.
Blaze cast witch bolt which missed.
Elron cast ensnaring
strike and readied his sling with a magic stone. He moved to
the door and
hit the cleric, doing bludgeoning damage. The vines from the ensnaring strike started to grow and then shriveled and
dissolved
around the feet of his target.
Artie shot him again with the bow, putting an arrow in the center
of his forehead,
and he fell to the ground, dead.
The room looked like a bed chamber with a locked wooden chest, a
table with a
helmet on it, a desk and chair, an easy chair, and a bed. Elron
looted the
body, and noticed its eyes were a strange yellow color. The
helmet’s horns were
made of curling tentacles, which looked disturbing. He had a mace
like the one
carried by the goblin priestess in Castle Calaelen, a nice suit of
chainmail,
and an unholy symbol of Orcus hanging around his neck. The table
had more
insane writings on paper, an inkwell, a quill, 3 bottles of ink,
and a stack of
12 sheets of blank paper.
Lark looked at the helmet, it’s finely crafted, and said the
chainmail was good
quality.
The trunk was locked, but not for long with Artie. He couldn’t find a trap and Elron opened it. Inside the chest were clerical robes in red and black, a potion bottle and an embroidered bag with something heavy in it. Elron carefully looked in the bag, and found 100 gp, and the bag itself was worth at least 10 gp.
The red potion was another healing potion like the one we found before.
Elron searched for the key to the chest and found it.
Breena spent that time searching for secret doors but found none.
Yaza was well-fed and healthy. He had a skull-headed mace, a horned helmet of tentacles, a footlocker-sized chest, a bed with bed bugs, a table and chairs, and an easy chair.
The Army of Light under the command of Zelcor supposedly destroyed the cult of Orcus in the Forest of Hope back in 3210. This was our first proof that the cult is still active and is somewhere in Rappan Athuk.
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