In which we
discover that the session will continue unending until Frelik falls in a pit of
danger
Once they’d assured themselves that the goblin-snake threat
was averted, the party took a few minutes to investigate the runes on the walls,
discovering that the room had been dedicated to the goddess Lamashtuu and the unholy
transformation from one creature into another.
The twin pools in the room appeared to have been used to assist in the
transformation, though they seemed pretty inactive at the moment.
Yuri, in keeping with his superstitious upbringing, took a
moment to pee in each of the two pools as Frelik sighed, “Really? Why is that every time we find drinkable
water you have to go and pee in it?”
Yuri merely shrugged and grinned.
Meanwhile Valeria, allowing her scientific curiosity to get
the better of her, bullrushed the barbarian, trying to push him backwards over
the halfling’s crouching form and into the lower of the two pools but Frelik
seemed to be anticipating her shove and was able to hold his ground.
Davros, peering at the edges of the pool discovered a set of
ancient Thasellonian runes cut into the stone there, but they appeared to be
scuffed beyond recognition. He
hypothesized that, perhaps, that was the reason the pools weren’t working.
Confidence bolstered by the half-orc’s prognosis that the
pools were safe the barbarian took a sip of the water. Much to no one’s surprise, nothing happened.
Vaguely disappointed, the group pressed on along the
corridor in the direction of the entrance.
The wall here appeared to have been breached, and while Cyrano found
some interesting scents to pee on in the pile of rubble, there was nothing of
value in the heap.
They followed Valeria through a mystery door across the
corridor from the hole in the wall, where they discovered an incongruous
Timmie’s. After stopping for a quick
Double-Double they moved on, coming upon a raised wooden platform which
overlooked a room whose walls are lined with barred doors, each of which led
into a tiny cell.
On the floor a Sinspawn was tormenting something in one of
the cells. On the platform stood a
second Sinspawn, who spun to face them with a shriek as the door banged open. Valeria, standing in the doorway, drew her
pistol with a shriek of her own and cracked off a quick shot before darting
back behind the rest of the group.
Akura, emboldened by some mysterious idea Yuri couldn’t
begin to guess at, darted forward into the room, slamming a solid fist into the
closer Sinspawn, though he still seemed disappointed by the blow. The Sinspawn from the lower level darted up in
response, scoring two solid hits on the monk.
Frelik took a solid chunk off of the initial one with his
two-handed blade, causing an angry shriek.
As the creature spun to retaliate, Reytard charged forward on his wolf,
piercing the thing and running his lance straight through its testicles,
killing it.
Davros moved forward into combat, cranked back and fired his
crossbow, nicking the remaining creature’s ear.
Confused, the creature gingerly felt the side of its head
and growled, “What the fuck?!? I don’t
even have ears!”
Enraged by the paradox, it attacked the monk in a fit of
fury, beating the tar out of him.
Frelik produced a javelin from some mysterious place on his
person, hurled it and missed.
Reytard, demonstrating how fine his form was today, charged
forth and sliced the creature across the torso and thighs, clearly trying – and
failing – to spear its testicles, but killing it nonetheless.
Once it was safe they began investigating the various
cages. All were filled with the decaying
humanoid and goblin remains of former prisoners... Except for the cage the Sinspawn had been
tormenting. Inside this one was a
humanoid figure – a young Shoanti man – huddling in a corner, looking severely
dehydrated, harried and terrified.
After fumbling with the lock, they managed to get the cage
open and offer the young man some water. Once he’d taken a few sips, Magpie offered to
take him back to Yuri’s caravan to help heal his wounds and get him settled in
for a much needed rest.
Frelik, meanwhile, moved down along the wooden walkway to
open the mystery door at the far end. Beyond
was a short corridor leading into a small room whose walls were lined with
various implements of torture, the purposes of some of which the group couldn’t
even begin to guess at.
“Hey Valeria, it looks like your house.” The barbarian chuckled, elbowing the woman.
She looked offended, “No, this is way more like my favourite
date spot.”
Mercifully the room was peaceful and devoid of foes. Two other doors led off of this room, Reytard
immediately opened the right-hand one, discovering only some old ancient
Thasellonian scrolls behind it. Frelik
opened the other door, which was directly across from where they’d entered, and
found a staircase which led... down.
The party groaned.
Frelik didn’t waste any time descending the stairs –
instantly stirring some strange creature in the darkness. The barbarian’s voice drifted back up to the
rest of the party, who were busy rummaging for treasures, “Ah, guys... a little
help? It’s not safe down here! There’s a weird thing!”
Unfortunately no one in the upper room seemed inclined to
respond fast enough and the four-limbed creature stepped forward, swinging at
the barbarian. Enraged by the attack,
Frelik drew an axe in his off-hand and attacked back, doing much more damage to
the creature than it had done to him.
As the group struggled down the narrow staircase, the
barbarian and the creature continued exchanging blows, Frelik appearing to do
far more damage than his foe. Akura made
the ill-advised decision to stop in the middle of the staircase to quaff a
potion, forcing Reytard to scrabble past him and bungle his charge
spectacularly.
With one last effort, Frelik managed to take care of
business by piercing the creature through the heart with his scimitar as he
lopped the thing’s head off with his axe.
Foe defeated, Frelik doubled over into a sweaty, panting, bleeding
mountain of man. He was so battered that
both Davors and Akura felt moved to loan the man a healing potion.
While the rest of the group decided to move on, Cyrano
paused, nosing the creature’s weapons until someone bothered to pick them up,
discovering that they were all worthwhile items: a masterwork hand-axe, a silvered dagger, and
a plus one magical longsword.
Treasure acquired, they headed down the passage the creature
had been guarding. At the far end they found
a spherical room in which a myriad mix of objects floated innocently: a ragged
book, a scroll, a bottle of wine, a dead raven being orbited by a cloud of
maggots, and a wand with a bent, forked tip.
The walls are covered by red metal sheets coated in seething black
electricity which moved and shifted, forming and re-forming runes which bore a
strong resemblance to the ones they’d seen elsewhere in this little maze.
Reytard and Cyrano charged into the sphere without
hesitation and began to float. Cyrano
immediately doggie paddled them over to the bottle of wine which Reytard
grabbed and drank while directing his mount back to the corridor with his knees.
Once they were sure it was safe, the group launched into the
room with a chorus of delighted cheers and collected the rest of the items.
“Well, that was a ridiculous room.” Frelik muttered as they turned their backs on
it and walked away.
Returning to the main floor, they did their due diligence,
investigating the stairs they’d discovered which travelled up, only to discover
that they were blocked by a cave-in just around the first bend.
Satisfied at last that the cave was safe, the group bedded
down in the main cavern with the wagon and horses to rest and wait out the rest
of the cinderstorm.
Reytard greeted the following morning with a hearty round of
vomiting, which promptly woke the rest of the party. The Shoanti youth was much improved and happy
to chat with them over a modest breakfast.
“My name Shadfrar of the Sklar-Qua clan.” He explained, “I
was out hunting with a group of friends when we were forced to retreat from a
massive scorpion. We fled straight into
the ambush of a group of goblins and their monstrous minions. All of my friends were killed but they kept
me alive, tormenting me for no other reason than their enjoyment.”
“Where’s home?”
Davros asked, “We’d be happy to escort you back to your people.”
“Assuming they won’t kill us on sight, that is?” Frelik asked.
“No, there should be no risk of that.” Shadfrar replied, “My
tribe is semi-nomadic, but I can track them I’m sure, they were headed that
way.”
Conveniently, he pointed in the direction the group needed
to travel.
The next day and a half passed uneventfully, with Shadfrar teaching
the party many tricks and quirks of the cinderlands, showing them how to stay
fed, watered and safe from the various plant-related dangers of the desert.
On the second evening, they caught sight of a group of hide
tents and firelight in the distance.
“That is my tribe.”
Shadfrar exclaimed, “I am sure you will be welcomed there, come spend
the night with us!”
After a very brief hesitation the party agreed and they
headed for the distant camp.
