Session 25 - Part 1

Members

Lórien - Elf Wizard
Theavaera - Elf Druid
Cad - Human Monk
Vincent - Human Paladin

The Adventure

Our adventuring day picks up where we left off in Keraptis the Necromancer's tomb.  Rotating the central statue in the Chamber of Alcoves, the party opened the door to the southern room to find a dirt plot.  Cad chose to dig up the loose dirt.  After what seemed like ages, he hit something wooden, the coffin of a mummified corpse.  It held a sealed metal scroll tube and some jewelry (detailed in the Loot section).  The piece of vellum had the following passage written on it:

Next the party rotated the statue to the west and opened the door there.  Inside was a man in rags chained to the wall.  This was the first meeting between Vincent, the Zombie Killer, and the party.  Vincent was a member of the Seeker group who tried looting the tomb a few days prior, and had been tortured by Cenixil, a Naga who lived in the tomb.

After meeting the party, he joined up with them to search for his gear.  Cad managed to teleport through the nostril of enormous stone face carving on the wall, and search the passage.  He noticed a naga in the room at the end of the passage, and turned back.

Turning the statue to the northern, and final door, the trap was made ineffective by a quick mage hand from Lórien.  Theavara lumbered down the hallway after Cad.  Cad was the first to enter the crypt they encountered.  Thea began knocking the covers off, and when the first mummy was disturbed, two giant mummies attacked.  The fight was long, but no one suffered from the rotting touch of the mummies.

On the inner side of one of the mummies wrappings, the following passage was found:

Heading further down the hallway, the party came upon another huge carved face.  This one with its lips pursed as if whistling.  They also felt a soft breeze coming from the mouth.  Someone reached into the left ear, triggering a trap that shut a knife studded gate and sent a gust of wind down the hallway.  Thea and Cad easily resisted the wind.  The right ear contained a green key.

To the south was a huge pillar that remains to be inspected in depth ...

The party followed the northern hallway, and came upon a long pillared hallway.  Midway down the hall was a dark suit of plate armor with curved blades in place of gauntlets.  Closet inspection showed a key hole in the base of the neck and gears at the joints.  The door next to it was magically locked.

Temporarily ignoring the door, the party went forth to confront the naga.  It was an easy fight, the naga surrendered after it was clear she would die if she didn't.  She gave the party details of the surrounding rooms and they let her go, on condition that she did not leave the tomb before the party did.  Why they took the word of a chaotic evil creature is still a bit of a mystery.  Cenixil is probably laying in wait to ambush the party at the opportune time.

Following the stairs to the north, the party found and opened a secret door.  They backtracked to the second secret door the naga told them about, and got it open.  Inside, they were sure to avoid gazing into the cursed fish pool.  Morgoth managed to find some coin and a key at the bottom of the first pool.

Cad ventured down the hallway to the north, and as soon as his foot touched the mosaic symbol on the floor, he was teleported away.  To most of his comrades, it looked like hi was cut to shreds by dozens of swirling blades, but it was in fact an illusion.

Thea took charge and quickly searched the surrounding rooms before heading to the secret door the party had encountered earlier.

In the ceremonial chamber, Morgoth failed to open a small box, and was paralyzed.  Lórien felt a strong magic aura emanating from the box and had had Morgoth pick it up and try to open it.  On a whim, Lórien tossed the paralyzed Morgoth onto the animated rug that adorned the floor.  Instantly, the familiar vanished.  Lórien felt Morgoth screaming over his telepathic link, his familiar was in the rug.  Morgoth drowned, and is now a permanent fixture in the tapestry.

(to be continued)

Keys
Green Key
Black Key
Small Copper Key

Loot
18 pp
26 gp
105 sp
161 cp
Gold ring with a topaz (250 gp)
Ancient silver piece (5 gp to a collector or 1 gp to anyone else)
4 bejeweled gold phylacteries (1,200 gp each)
4 pair of gold earrings set with tiny sapphires (200 gp each)
4 simple gold rings etched with necromancer symbols (100 gp each)
4 gemstones inscribed with 4 necromancer symbols (a bloodstone, a carnelian, a citrine, and an onyx; 25 gp each)

Session 24

Members:

Lórien - Elf Wizard
Theavaera - Elf Druid
Grimthain - Dwarf Cletic
Cad - Human Monk
Milo - Halfling Ranger

The Adventure

We began were we left off in the Dracolich's Lair.  The party dragged an unconscious Qesnef along with them to the entrance.  A long discussion was held with the androsphinx, and the party learned that he rather enjoyed his position as guardian of the cave.  While the main group was talking, Cad ventured down the hallway to recover his rope.  
The conversation turned to Keraptis, the Necromancer.  After learning a bit of information, the party headed out for the night and set up camp.  The following morning, they decided what to do with Qesnef.  Theavara remembered an item they had picked up long ago.  A purple candle of truth.
Before the questioning of the ogre mage began, the party beat him sensless.  Not that he was already senseless from being feebleminded the previous day ...
His intelligence restored, Lórien began to question the ogre.  During the questioning, the ogre broke free of his bonds, but was restrained by Theavara and Cad.  With the candle's last flicker, the party had all the information they could glean, and headed off toward town.
In Galaq, Theavara was hit on by a pair of dwarves.  Midway through the evening, a disheveled traveler came into the tavern.  He was a seeker, a member of an ancient and secret group of treasure hunters.  Grimthain bought him dinner and a mug of ale.  The seeker offered to give the location of Keraptis's tomb in exchange for helping retrieve the remains of his comrades.  The party talked with the seeker well into the night, and set off for the tomb in the morning.

Arriving at the tomb, the party saw a dark-gray block of granite with three Dwarven words, the Three Sins of Ruin (treachery, sloth, and foolishness).  They quickly realized that it was an attempt to throw them off when they pressed the letters of one of the words to spell out 'welcome' in common.  The door slid into the earth and the party's ears were accosted with a multitude of wailing voices.  The door closed one minute later, and there was no visible way to get it open again.
The entry chamber had a row of four columns and three pools.  Cad teleported to the bottom of the far pool and noticed a black key.  He also hit a suspended bell.  The bell only served to drain the pool he had already searched.
The four columns at the entrance had the following symbols etched into them:

Lórien sent Morgoth ahead down the hallway to investigate the source of the wailing, and Morgoth came across a room covered in crying eyes.  The wailing was nearly overwhelming in the room as well.  The party quickly learned that the tears were acidic when one of them touched the wall.  Lórien managed to put the eyes to sleep long enough to find a secret door in the western wall.

Following through the door, the party found a room of alcoves.  A central statue and three smaller statues decorated the alcoves.  Searching the far corner, they found a small key hole in the column there.

The walls of the room were painted with fading geometric designs of red, gold, and green.  Cad tried to discern if they had any meaning, but found none.  The party decided to try the key, and upon turning it, three of the statues came alive.  They were actually stone golems.  Theavara went reptilian and did some massive damage to the golems, but could not strike a killing blow.  She lamented over her stolen kills after the fight.

The compartment in the pillar contained some interesting items including a sealed bone scroll tube containing the following passage written on a piece of vellum:

This concludes our adventuring day.

Loot:

Bone scroll case containing a message written on a sheet of vellum (above)

An ordinary sword and dagger enchanted to appear magical
(Everyone had True Seeing, and quickly saw through the illusion)
Seven amber pieces, five tourmalines, three coral pieces (each gem worth 100 gp)
Two yellow topazes (worth 500 gp each)
Platinum statue resembling the cat-headed statue in the room (750 gp)
Potion of Healing
Potion of Flying
Scroll of Stoneskin

XP Breakdown:

Current level: 14
Total XP: 160,000
XP til level: 30,000
*It might take two more sessions to hit level 15.

Session 22 & 23

We were down a cleric and a wizard the first session and the party decided that they would be best served to wait a day and have the wizard on their side for the final battle against the Dracolich.

The Adventure

Setting off from the great apes and their trainer, the party headed south, further into the cave.  The first thing they encountered was a succession of thick metal doors.  With great trepidation, they opened the first door, the second, and the third.  Thea was ready for a trap.  Her senses proved her wrong though, and the final door opened up to a sunken stone ledge that projected out into a boiling lake.  The ceiling was a rubbery magical forcefield that kept out the waters by forming what they could only describe as a sort of elastic skin of super surface-tension.  The shape of the room was not square, but rather semi-circular, as if a series of hoops were supporting the ceiling.

Thirty feet in,  the corridor widened into a low, dome shaped area with a huge crab in the center.  Easily the biggest crab anyone in the party had ever seen.  On its right "forearm" was a rune-covered copper band.

The party strove valiantly to kill the crab, while at the same time not tear a hole in the field holding back the boiling lake water.  After a long fight, the crab was finally killed.  Its chitin turned to stone.  Finding some loot in a chest, Theavara noticed a sparkling scimitar behind the forcefield.  She felt a strange compulsion to have the sword.

Cad offered to teleport into the water and grab it for her.  he was slightly boiled in the process, but managed to retrieve Greenswathe, the magic scimitar of the druids.

The battle attracted the attention of the Dracolich, who send one of her minions down the cave to check it out.  The Green Dragon, being no match for the party, was quickly dispatched.  From off in the distance was heard a great roar.  This startled Lorien into action and he ran down the cave to join his compatriots.

Moving further down the cave, Thea had her Faerie Fire going ahead of the party, until Lorien cast light and illuminated the room.  The dragons moved in.  Morgoth's invisibility was no match for the poison breath of the green dragons.  He quickly succumbed.  Cad jumped into the center of combat and held his ground valiantly while the rest of the party ran in fear.

Down the hallway, as people gradually shrugged off their fear effects, they returned to the melee.  Dragons began to fall.  First the two greens, then Thea struck the final blow on the dracolich.  Cad was disappointed he didn't get the kill.  Another lost trophy.

Further searching brought the party to a locked door on the western side of the cave.  It led down a hallway and ended at another door.  Opening the door, the party found a doughty halfling warrior.  Milo instantly took a liking to Qesnef, but quickly realized something was not right with the halfling.  The rest of the party was taken by his jovial nature.  Slowly, things became apparent that Qesnef was not what he seemed to be.  The huge two handed sword on the wall, the giant bed (easily big enough for four halflings), and other items around the room tipped off the party that something was amiss.  Lorien tried to dominate Qesnef, but didn't notice he failed.  Qesnef noticed the spell though, and led the party on.

The party had had enough, and engaged combat.  Qesnef proved to be a tough foe.  Casting gaseous form and mirror image, he almost evaded the party.  Lorien fell back to his trusty thunderwave, and quickly turned the tide of the fight.  Thea tried in vain to feeblemind the Qesnef, who was in fact an ogre fighter/mage.  Finally, Thea managed to get a feeblemind to stick, and the ogre lost all of its tactical finesse.  

Try as he might Lorien could not stop the party from dropping the ogre.  Lorien's ring was screaming for knowledge of Keraptis, the necromancer who won the bet with Qesnef, forcing the ogre to be bound for 1001 years in this cave.

Cad and Thea decided to create a short cut though the rock to the cave exit.  They smashed at the rock for a full 4 minutes, and managed to get through.  

This ends our adventuring day.

A wee bit of Metagaming

Lorien held back as the party exited the cave and ventured to the guardian androsphynx.  His ring, demanding that he find the phylactery, the soul of the dracolich, would not let up.  Cast upon cast of Detect Magic were done, but to no avail.  Search as he may, there was no phylactery to be found.  Somewhat downcast, he joined the party at the cave entrance.

Loot

Potion of healing

scroll of protection from evil (divine)

Greenswathe

Luckstone

Wand of Frost (17 charges)

Belt of the Lions

Helping hand

Gloves of Holding

Ring of Blinking

Ring of Cirulon

+2 Plate armor

+2 huge two handed sword

+2 ring of protection

Ring of mirror image (4 charges)

50 pp

100 gp

100 ep

4 earrings (worth 1100 gp) 

17 assorted gems worth 1,935

2 large emeralds (100gp each)

*If you could make a comment about who picked up what loot, that would be great.

XP Breakdown

Current Level: 14
Total XP:  150,000
XP til Level:  40,000
*Congratulations on gaining a new level

Dracolich loot

The Helping Hand

The helping hand appears to be an iron glove with unusually long fingers, and an iron ring (to tie it to a rope) at the wrist. When given the command word, it grabs whatever next comes into contact with its palm and holds on until told to release it. If attached to a rope, it can be used as a grappling hook that lands silently 85% of the time.
If thrown at an opponent and a successful attack (dex) roll is made, the helping hand grabs its victim's throat, causing 1 hit point of damage in the first round, two points in the second, four points in the third, and so on. A strangulating helping hand can only be removed with a successful DC 16 Strength save.

GP Value: 500
Source:  IMAGINE Magazine 24

Gloves of Holding

The wearer of these gloves may hold onto any other item or creature without letting go. When used in hand-to-hand combat, a normal attack roll must first be successful, but the wearer may hold onto the victim after that, squeezing if desired for 2d6 points of damage per round (plus Strength bonus).  The held victim can try to break free as an action by making a Str save (value = 12 + wearer's Str bonus)

GP Value: 1,000

Source:  The Book of Marvelous Magic

Belt of the Lions

This broad belt appears to be like any other magical belt when first encountered. When it is put on, the wearer gains several special abilities. Wearing a belt of the lions enables one to speak with felines (as per the spell speak with monsters). The felines, from house cats to saber-tooth tigers, view the wearer as a being with a Charisma of 18 (for purposes of reaction checks). Often, the cats give advice or aid to the wearer and may obey reasonable commands.

The wearer also gains the ability to land after a fall in such a way as to minimize physical damage—subtract 3 points from every die of damage incurred from falling, to a minimum of 1 point of damage per die. The belt enables the wearer to move silently as per a thief's ability, with a +1 bonus.

Finally, the belt confers a sort of night vision similar to that possessed by cats. If any light source is within view of the wearer, he can see in the dark as clearly as if he were in broad daylight. Note that this power is not related to infravision; the belt does not allow someone to see in pitch darkness.

Source: DRAGON Magazine 91

GP Value: 1,400

Ring of Blinking

When the wearer of this ring issues the proper verbal command, it activates, and affects the user as if a blink spell were operating upon him or herself. The effect lasts for six rounds. The ring then ceases to function for one hour while it replenishes itself. The command word is usually engraved somewhere on the ring. The ring activates whenever this word is spoken, even though the command might be given by someone other than the wearer, provided that the word is spoken within 10 feet of the ring.

GP Value: 500

Source: DUNGEON MASTER Guide (AD&D)

Ring of Cirulon

This is a clear, crystal ring that contains flecks of the same color as the dragon that presented it. The ring must be worn on the right hand. It cures light wounds (less than 6 points of damage) completely and heals a mortal wound sufficiently to prevent death (bringing the character up to 1 hit point). The ring is activated by touch. It can be used only once.

GP Value: 1000

Source: Dragon Keep

Luckstone

This rough polished agate is the size of a human fist and is lighter than most agates.
Property (Attuned):  The possessor of this stone gains a +1 on all Dex saves.  This bonus does not apply to any attack or damage rolls.
Value: 2500

Wand of Frost

A frost wand can perform three functions that duplicate wizard spells. The wand can function once per round and may be recharged.
Anyone other than a cleric, druid, or wizard using this wand does so with disadvantage.


Property:  As an action, you can expend the specified number of charges to cast one of the following spells from the wand.

• Ice Storm (one charge)
• Wall of Ice (one charge)
• Cone of Cold (two charges)

*Recharge:  To recharge this wand, it takes 50 residium and access to any of the spells listed above, and takes one full day per charge.

Wall of Ice
Level 4 Evocation


Explanation/Description: When this spell is cast, a sheet of strong, flexible ice is created. The wall is primarily defensive, stopping pursuers and the like. The wall is three inches thick. It covers a 12" square area, i.e. a wall of ice up to 12" long and 1" high, or 6" long and 2" high, and so forth. Any creature breaking through the ice will suffer 6 hit points of damage, fire-using creatures will suffer 9 hit points, cold-using creatures only 3 hit point when breaking through. If this spell is cast to form a horizontal sheet to fall upon opponents, it has the same effect as an ice storm's hail stones in the area over which it falls. Magical fires such as fireballs and fiery dragon breath will melt a wall of ice in 1 round, though they will cause a great cloud of steamy fog which will last 1 turn, but normal fires or lesser magical ones will not hasten its melting.

Greenswathe

Greenswthe is a strange-looking weapon, arcane and almost alien. It appears to be made of gold, but it is as hard as adamantite. Peculiar arabesques and signs are etched into the blade and decorate the handle. It has a single emerald set into the pommel.

Greenswathe is a neutrally aligned weapon designed for a druid. In the hands of anyone else, it is simply a scimitar +1. In the hands of a druid, it is a +3 weapon that also confers bonuses of +1 to the character's AC and +1 to all saving throws. A druid who possesses Greenswalhe is allowed to cast one additional spell per day in each level he is capable of casting, with the proviso that the extra spell comes from the plant or animal sphere.

Greenswathe has no special purpose, but it does have a special attack form usable once a day: the armor-piercing strike. On command, Greenswathe simply sweeps in an arc through armor as if it did not exist. A target is treated as having no armor, though any magical bonuses are still counted. For example, striking at a target in plate mail +3 that would normally have an AC of 21, Greenswathe attacks as if striking at a target with AC 13 (AC 10, +3 for the magical bonus). In addition, if the strike is successful, Greenswathe inflicts double the usual damage to a small or human size target. A druid picking up Greenswathe instantly has the feeling that this weapon has further latent powers that are currently unknown.

GP Value: 2,000

Source:  Howl From the North