Session 49: More Rats, More Experience

The adventurers explore the final hand on the 3rd level, fight another horde of giant rats and revisit the statue that grants "Experience or a Reawakening".

This write up is based on Kay’s notes from our February 5, 2025 session. Since our group is scattered around the country, we used Discord for our voice communication and Roll20 for our virtual tabletop. Thanks to JoJo for the screen shot and Kay for the proofreading.

Continued from: Shutting Off the Fountain of Pestilence


May 29, 3517  3:50 PM
At the end of the hallway was another left-hand image carved into the wall. After discussing it, we agreed that Elron should go through alone (highest armor) with his longsword, then turn around and come back immediately, on the chance that he may encounter something like the ball lightning. We waited for him to come back, and waited, and waited, for about 20 minutes. We then figured we shouldn’t have sent the guy who’s going to search the rooms and loot the bodies before coming back.

4:20 PM
Finally, Blaze and Artie went through; they found themselves back in the central room with the left-hand bas reliefs on all four walls, and they recognized Blaze’s writing on the floor. The rest of the group followed us, except for Sinis and Parahelia. They went back to the scribes’ room and went through the north wall teleport, into the ball lightning room, and then arrived on the west wall of the central room.

Apparently when Elron came through into this room, he tried the hand print to return to us and ended up in the north bedroom with the skeleton and scratch marks on the wall; none of these hand prints got him back to the hallway. And yes, he searched the rooms. 

Since we had determined that none of these handprints would take us back to the hallway directly, we decided to go back to the scribes’ room through the ball lightning room. Once we were there, Elron looked closely at the toxic pool liquid; it seemed to be slowly draining.

Elron then went to the door on the south wall and opened it, onto a pack of giant rats. He yelled out a warning and attempted to close and lock the door. Breena cast mage armor on herself. Sinis cast acid splash on two rats he could see through the opened door, but missed both of them.

 
One rat got through before Elron could stop it, but the locked door kept out the rest. Elron hit the rat with two sling stones, killing it. Breena took up a position at the east tunnel on lookout, since we figured that the rats would come around from the south hallway, through the toxic pool connected to the Fountain room, and then down the hallway to the west, into our room.

The rest took up positions where they could shoot down the east hallway. The Fountain was no longer active and hence quieter now. Breena heard distant splashing to the east. Blaze cast flaming sphere in the eastern hallway to partially block the entrance. Everyone got into position and waited. Breena moved closer to look down the hallway, said, “they’re coming” and moved back to her position.

Artie hit and killed the first giant rat coming into the room with fire bolt.

Elron had two serious equipment failures; first, his sling broke and he had to pull out another one, then when he tried to shoot again, his stones bag broke, forcing him to pick them up before they rolled into the toxic pool.

Sinis cast acid splash on a different rat, killing it. Elron moved to the wall beside Blaze so she could have line of sight to the oncoming horde.

Two giant rats ran by the flaming sphere to Breena. One bit Breena through her armor, but she didn’t get the plague. Parahelia ran up to Breena to heal her. Artie hit another rat with a fire bolt, killing it. Breena cast magic missile on the rat that bit her, killing it.

Another rat ran by the flaming sphere to Breena and Sinis cast acid splash on it, but missed. Two more rats come into the room, one running toward the south door, the other towards Breena. Elron shot the one near the door, killing it, and his second stone hit the rat in front of Breena, killing it. Artie aimed a fire bolt to hit the second rat near Breena, but missed. Parahelia, standing next to Breena, drew her longsword and hit the rat, piercing it.

Another giant rat in the east hallway ran up to Breena, who cast frost bite for damage. It was joined by another rat, and Sinis moved into position to aim at both rats, hitting them with acid splash.

The giant rat that Parahelia hit, attacked her, but missed. Artie moved to a better position for an attack on one rat with fire bolt, and killed it. Blaze moved her flaming sphere into the rat next to Breena, killing it. Parahelia moved around Breena and killed the remaining rat with her longsword.

All rats were dead now; final body count – 10.

Blaze suggested that before we headed down the stairs to a fourth level, we should visit the luck room to try to get something useful, and visit the second level room with the giant face, “what do you wish for, experience or reawakening?” Sinis was against the luck room, but we all agreed on trying for more experience. We headed to it, following Blazes’ maps. On the way there, Elron gave Breena a goodberry to help her healing. 

At the shrinking-gas pillar room, Blaze entered first; the face on the pillar burped; nothing else happened. We all congregated in the room with the giant face. There is a 5-ft-diameter raised round flagstone in front of it. Elron went first, standing on it, and asked for experience. It seemed to work for him. Artie and Breena got more experience. Blaze and Parahelia asked for, but apparently didn’t get any. Sinis stayed behind and didn’t ask.

4:30 PM
We discussed our next moves.

 

Continued in Session 50: Tavern Level 4