Phlegm
Number of posts : 802
Registration date : 2007-04-26
 | | Subject: Dwarfless Advance Tue 1 Jul - 11:00:10 | |
| Dwarfless Advance
We rested up after sickening orgy of violence that was our encounter with the ogre magi. Barakor had found some interesting spherical objects* and decided to remain there for a bit, but the rest of us headed south from the room and the passageway took us west into a chamber riddled with tunnels, there was however also a chest. Eldras and Grom, enlightened as ever headed north towards the chest whilst the rest of us scattered across the room, warily watching the southern exit and the rough tunnel entrances.
* Yes he was playing with his balls
Now Eldras is highly trained in the dark mysteries of the locksmith: the intricate tumbler design; the eldritch qualities of the intercourse between key and cylinder; the sophistication of the art of keeping those without… well, without and those in possession… well, in possession. Grom on the other hand, is highly trained in very little, but has a very sharp sword.
Even as the Allerzoi clicked open the chest’s mighty padlock, the afore mentioned sword sliced clean through the lid, narrowly missing the half elf’s right ear, sending gold and silver flying. The rest of party were distracted from this spectacular example of double teaming by a rumbling sound from the south west: In a shower of dust and rubble, a huge umber hulk burst into the room, shaking clods of earth from its razor sharp mandibles.
Zionestes moved to engage but Ripven was looking highly confused and was staring at me very oddly:* I was moved to cast levitate on myself and rose into the air, the cleric was casting too though and in a few moments his spiritual hammer was attacking me. Holly meanwhile had thrown her spear, piercing the hulk’s armour and having done her duty in human form was beginning her transformation to tiger.
*Well obviously more oddly than usual and it wasn’t just the beard.
Zionestes and Roscoe were unsuccessful in their attacks and Zionestes took a mighty hit from the creature in response. Having opened the chest, Eldras joined the attack and with a mighty blow of his own* he slew the hulk with his gutrip sword. This caused Ripven to recover and cease his attack on me and we took a few moments to count the loot whilst Zionestes healed himself extensively and Grom cut trophies from the corpse.
*From behind as usual
We headed out again southward, loaded with more gold and silver, and more importantly the second key part, found amongst the coins. We reached a door and confidently broke into another room; this one contained two rust monsters. Ripven, who had already had one unfortunate encounter with beasts of this ilk was unfortunately in the lead. He held up his shield to ward of the blow of the creature’s antennae only to see it disintegrate.
Other party members engaged, Zionestes hanging back to protect his armour cast spiritual hammer. The more impetuous* Grom surged boldly forward, only to see his plate armour** disintegrate just as quickly as Ripven’s shield. The monsters fell to the blades of Grom and Eldras and in the aftermath Holly’s sharp eyes spotted a pouch of garnets on the floor.
* Some might say reckless
** Purchased at very reasonable cost.
We continued on and the passageway took us back towards the centre of the keep again. We emerged in another ante chamber identical to the first we had seen, compete with the mirrored wall with the slot for the as yet incomplete key. We trailed back through the complex, still a dwarf short as he had disappeared from the ogre chamber when we returned.
Figuring he would catch up, we next took the south west tower. From here the exit corridor took us north then east. We passed a couple of empty rooms before entering a room where the ceiling had suffered collapses at some time in the past. We spread out into the room, Ripven in the van on the left, Eldras leading on the right. Tall piles of rubble concealed much of the northern side of the room.
Then on the left a manticore bounded to the top of the rubble mound and playfully unleashed a volley of tail spikes at the elf, four of which hit him. We attacked whilst Eldras checked the right hand side to make sure that no surprises lurked there. I hung back with Zionestes leaving the fighting to weretigers and heroes. The manticore was finished off when Eldras worked his way round behind (as usual.)
Amongst skeletal remains in the manticore’s nest we found a new suit of magic chainmail for Ripven, two potion bottles and a scroll of Rope trick. There was also a third key segment and we decided not to press on having got what we had come for. We were also low on spells and we returned to one of the empty rooms to rest. Whilst we recovered our magic, Eldras and Holly stood guard. When we woke, they told us something big had passed the door during their watch but they had decided not to investigate.
We had just one tower left, the one where we had initially investigated and fought off a giant ant attack: We hurried down, noticing that the insect husks had disappeared, no doubt tidied away by workers. We passed through another empty room, emerging into a small antechamber with an exit to the north. The western wall though was some kind of magical bead barrier whose purpose could only be guessed at.*
*Certain party members came up with some entertaining guesses, not printable here.
There was some give in the bead barrier but Grom’s sword would not cut it. It appeared to us that running hard at the wall might be the only way to penetrate it and we began to make the attempt, Ripven first, injuring himself when he failed. We took turns making repeated attempts and picking up a number of injuries in the process. Eldras was the first to make it through.
He found himself in a long wide corridor containing six goblins which he fought triumphing eventually, the corpses vanishing as they were despatched. Without pause however, Holly arrived, together with six orcs.
Having done some post match analysis, I have since surmised that some pretty sophisticated magic was at play: However many attempts were made unsuccessfully to penetrate the barrier and however long the battle on the other side took, another round of summoned creatures appeared simultaneously only after the battle was completed. Each time the enemy was stronger and more formidable, each time our task harder though of course we grew more numerous each time too (as long as we survived of course).
As a weretiger, Holly could not be harmed by the orcs, so the engagement went better this time. I was next through, this time the enemy was gnolls armed with formidable halberds. Ripven finally made it through together with a load of bugbears, then Barakor reappeared from somewhere together with ogres, opponents for the first time strong enough to harm Holly without the aid of magic or silver weapons.
Grom brought gargoyles, Roscoe three minotaurs and finally Zionestes was rewarded with a hill giant. It was a hard fight: Ripven managed to get some healing off during the engagement fortunately as the number of opponents was reducing as they got tougher, but nearly all of us ended up wounded to varying degrees. Zionestes took a nasty blow from the giant, Grom some nasty slashes from the gargoyles and we all need a good bandaging session. Meanwhile no fourth key part yet and the corridor stretches west…
Kravaine
Characterisation & Roleplay 20
Avoiding Ripven’s attack 50
Treasure room 10 1057
Rust monster garnets 571
Rust Monsters 70
Treasure room 7 240
Deciding to turn back after room 7 20
Gnolls 80
Bugbears 65
Ogres 150
Gargoyles 50
Minotaurs 90
Hill Giant 220
Total 2683
Eldras
Characterisation & Roleplay 20
Opening the chest room 10 50
Treasure room 10 1057
Umber Hulk 1170
Rust monster garnets 571
Rust Monsters 70
Manticore 175
Treasure room 7 240
Deciding to turn back after room 7 20
Not tackling monster in the corridor 250
Goblins 80
Orcs 40
Gnolls 80
Bugbears 65
Ogres 150
Gargoyles 50
Minotaurs 90
Hill Giant 220
Total 4398
Barakor
Characterisation & Roleplay 10
Ogres 150
Gargoyles 50
Minotaurs 90
Hill Giant 220
Total 520
Holly
Characterisation & Roleplay 20
Treasure room 10 1057
Umber Hulk 500
Finding Rust monster garnets 675
Rust Monsters 70
Manticore 175
Treasure room 7 240
Deciding to turn back after room 7 20
Not tackling monster in the corridor 250
Orcs 40
Gnolls 80
Bugbears 65
Ogres 150
Gargoyles 50
Minotaurs 90
Hill Giant 220
Total 3702
Saladin/ Grom
Characterisation and roleplay 20
Destroying chest room 10 50
Treasure room 10 1057
Rust monster garnets 571
Rust Monsters 70
Manticore 175
Treasure room 7 240
Deciding to turn back after room 7 20
Gargoyles 50
Minotaurs 90
Hill Giant 220
Total 2563
Ripven
Characterisation and roleplay 20
Healing 100
Treasure room 10 1057
Rust monster garnets 571
Rust Monsters 70
Manticore 175
Treasure room 7 240
Deciding to turn back after room 7 20
Bugbears 65
Ogres 150
Gargoyles 50
Minotaurs 90
Hill Giant 220
Total 2828
Roscoe
Treasure room 10 1057
Umber Hulk 150
Treasure room 7 240
Rust monster garnets 571
Rust Monsters 70
Manticore 175
Minotaurs 90
Hill Giant 220
Total 2573
Zionestes
Healing 100
Treasure room 10 1057
Umber Hulk 200
Rust monster garnets 571
Rust Monsters 70
Treasure room 7 240
Hill Giant 220
Total 2458
Name Class 2nd Class B/F Cumulative Target Current Level
Kravaine MU*
2,951 52,836 55,787 60,001
(7) 6
Eldras T*
4,837 45,336 50,173 70,000
( 6 (7)
Barakor F*
286 C*
286 26,713
26,713 26,999
26,999 35,001/
27,501
(6/6) 5/5
Holly M
3,702 40,840 44,542 47,501
(6) 5
Grom/ Saladin F*
2,819 43,112 45,931 70,001
(7) 6
Roscoe T*
2,830 31,748 34,578 42,501
(7) 6
Zionestes C*
2,703 44,385 47,088 55,001
(7) 6
Ripven C*
3,110 35,487 38,597 55,001
(7) 6
*EP Bonus applied
28.6.14 | |
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