With the party still working out the enigma of the bronze buttons emblazoned with sigils of the four seasons, Cane suggests correlating the mist colors to the seasons (red = Summer; blue = Winter; yellow = Fall; green = Spring). Vic presses this combination of buttons, but it only summons a pair of cockatrices to the south platform. After a brief fight, the party kills the horrid creatures.
Someone suggests pushing just one button, and someone else suggests that maybe the blue mist means this room is the “Winter” path, so Vic pushes the snowflake button four times. Doing this triggers a magical glyph of warding which causes a powerful explosion to rock the platform. Vic, Cane, and Saynard are caught in the arcane blast, dropping both Cane and Saynard unconscious. Despite being at the center of the blast, Vic’s nimble reflexes enable him to avoid the brunt of it.
Steeljaw stabilizes both downed party members, and is able to bandage Saynard back to consciousness. Cane remains unconscious, however, so the party takes a one-hour rest. Fortunately, at the end of that hour, Cane regains consciousness and is able to walk. He remains badly wounded, though. Flummoxed, the party decides to return to the octagonal room and try a different misty archway.
They enter the green mist together, moving carefully forward. They emerge into a large chamber with a barrel-vaulted ceiling. In the center of this room stands a 4-ft. high stone plinth with an angled top. Set into the top face are three numbered dials, each with a clear rectangle of smoky quartz inlaid above it. The dials are currently set to ‘1-1-1.’
Vic experiments with the dials and discovers that each can be turned. He flips the first one and it displays the number ‘2.’ As the dial is turned, the quartz rectangle above it begins flashing slowly, then flashing faster for a few seconds before turning solid. He sets all three dials to ‘2-2-2.’
Suddenly, a spectral image appears of a wizened-looking figure in robes--the same figure as the statue in the tower’s cellar. In a slightly-hollow voice, the image speaks:
“Welcome adventurers... I, Bergummo the wizard, am long departed from this mortal coil, but I have left behind four powerful relics for the heroes of your age. Are you worthy to recover my treasures, or doomed to die in my arcane vaults? We shall see...”
Not wanting to try more combinations at random, the party returns to the octagonal entry chamber. They enter the yellow mist together, moving carefully forward. They emerge into a small chamber beyond, just 10-ft. square. A simple stone sarcophagus rests against the south wall, leaving only the space immediately before it in which to stand, plus just enough space to squeeze between the sarcophagus and the chamber walls. A battleaxe and round shield hang on the south wall behind the sarcophagus.
After Vic searches for traps and finds none, he examines the lid of the sarcophagus. On it, he discovers an inscription that reads: “Here Lies Chilton—Loyal Bodyguard and Trusted Friend.” Steeljaw moves to take the shield and battleaxe from their wall mounts. As he touches the shield, however, both weapons fly off the wall of their own accord, dancing above the party’s heads as though wielded by a spectral warrior. The animated battleaxe slashes at them as the party members go on offense.
Vic stabs at the shield with his rapier, then tumbles between Saynard’s legs in order to retreat into the yellow mist. As he comes into contact with the thick fog, however, he discovers that it is solid as stone (although it still swirls within the archway.) The party is trapped in this chamber, so they must defeat the animated armaments.
After a few punishing blows from the party, the shield clatters to the floor—though the battleaxe remains hovering overhead. Steeljaw misses it with his swing, and the weapon counterattacks him with a quick strike. Fortunately, the party members entered this chamber together, and their combined might makes the battle a short one. Soon, both shield and weapon lie broken and “lifeless” on the floor.
Steeljaw and Cane remove the heavy lid of the sarcophagus and find a simple wooden coffin inside. Steeljaw pries open the coffin to reveal the skeletal remains of a man dressed in a mundane chain shirt and hauberk. Clutched with a bony hand to his chest is a beautifully-crafted and bejeweled scabbard for a longsword—but empty of blade.
The figure also wears an odd article on his left arm: A single-piece arm-guard (a glove and “full sleeve”) made of thick leather and studded with hundreds of copper pennies in a tight pattern. The armguard weighs 15 lbs. and is hinged at the elbow. Fighting while wearing the bulky sleeve would be difficult, meaning it is not practical armor. It’s purpose is a mystery.
The party loots the skeleton’s chain shirt, scabbard, and leather sleeve, and then returns to the octagonal room. Injured and depleted, they decide to take a much-needed long rest, so they ascend to the cellar. Using the key in the statue, they seal up the spiral stairs into the vault, and then head down the forest trail to their base camp. By the time they get back, it is approximately 4:30 in the afternoon. They spend the evening recuperating and have no overnight encounters.
_____
Foray 3
The party decides to leave the chain shirt, the scabbard, and several items of gear behind to lighten their load. Setting off just after dawn, they arrive back at the tower site without incident around 9:00 AM. When they reach the edge of the forest clearing and lay eyes on the tower, however, they see a gang of green kobolds waiting for them.
The humanoids are armed with daggers and slings, and they have readied attacks. Their “leader”--a loudmouthed pipsqueak--speaks up, demanding that the party “hand over the statue...or else.” The party (truthfully) denies possessing a statue, which seems to confuse the kobolds' leader. Unsure whether or not the party is lying, the kobold hesitates.
Irritated by the humanoids’ threats, Cane runs up to engage the closest kobold. A kobold clocks him with a sling stone, but Cane drops one of his buddies with a flying kick. Steeljaw runs up and chops a second kobold in half. The leader orders his fellows to “Run away!” and the humanoids all dash off into the woods rather than confront the heroes.
The party returns to the vaults, descending to the octagonal room. Spiking a piton into the floor, Steeljaw ties a rope around himself and moves into the red mist to trigger the pressure plate. Once he does, they spike the pit open with more pitons, and then everyone descends into the pit via the rope.
At the bottom of the pit, they make their way down the secret conduit to the iron grate that looks into an empty room with a wall niche. Vic takes the clay jar containing green slime and pours the contents of it over the top of the iron grate. As the acidic slime oozes down the bars, it eats the iron almost instantly.
Before Vic’s eyes, the slime melts the grate away, leaving a puddle of the caustic, bright-green substance blocking the exit to the pipe. The party does their best to avoid touching it as they pass by, but Steeljaw gets some on him. It burns like fire, so Vic quickly uses a crossbow bolt to scrape the slime off (the bolt also melting away in his hand).
Once they have all entered the 15-ft. square room, the party looks around. The chamber appears empty, save for an arched niche on the west wall, 3-ft. wide and deep by 4-ft. high at the apex of the arch. Resting on a bronze stand within it is a simple but well-made steel pot-helm.
Vic moves to inspect the interior of the niche, but as he attempts to reach into it, an invisible force physically repels his hand backward, and sends a numbing electrical shock up his arm. On a hunch, Saynard dons the leather sleeve lined with copper coins and tries to reach into the niche. Sparks fly from the sleeve as his hand contacts the invisible force field, but he finds he can push his hand through. Grasping the helmet, he removes it from its stand and withdraws it from the niche in a shower of sparks.
They exit the room to the south, heading about 40 ft. down a narrow corridor that then turns west. Steeljaw’s dwarf-senses notice a subtle slope to the floor, which rises a foot or so every 10 ft. The corridor runs 50 ft. to the west, then turns to the north and continues 80 ft. north where it comes to a landing (Steeljaw estimates that the barely-noticeable slope has elevated the party about 15 ft. above the room where they found the helm).
As they approach the landing at the top of the sloping passage, they see that the corridor turns east. In the center of the west wall, an iron lever protrudes from an iron housing. It is set in the “down” position. Where the corridor turns east, Vic sees that it only goes about 5 ft. then ends in a blank wall. By the beam of light from Saynard’s bullseye lantern, he inspects the lever and housing for traps.
Finding no traps, Vic yanks the lever up. The party immediately hears distant mechanical sounds (e.g., chains clanking, metal scraping, etc.) coming from back down the sloping corridor. The sounds last for a few seconds then fall silent again. Behind him, Vic sees a stone panel slide aside, revealing a room beyond the corridor’s apparent “dead-end.” Entering the room, the party discovers that they have returned to the room with the plinth dials beyond the green misty archway.
The party searches the room again, and after about a minute, the secret door they entered through in the north corner of the west wall slides shut with the sound of grinding stone. They decide to try some more dial sequences to see if they can garner more information, so Steeljaw sets the dials to “3-3-3.” Once again, a spectral image of Bergummo appears. This time, his phantom form speaks a strange riddle:
“My secrets lie past a hidden door.
But no force or spell will avail you.
It’s only the beasts who keep the score.
And only the wise who see the clue.”
The image then fades away. Saynard next turns the dials to “1-2-3,” and when the crystals all glow solid, another secret door slides open in the eastern corner of the north wall. It leads into a short corridor and then a cramped alcove with curved walls. On the east wall of the alcove is a bronze plate with a pair of buttons in a vertical row: The top button is engraved with an arrow pointing up; the bottom button is engraved with an arrow pointing down.
There is only room enough for one person to comfortably stand in the alcove, so Vic pushes the “down” button. A curved wall panel slides shut over the entrance, separating Vic from the rest of the party. The whole room then begins to gently shake as if moving--perhaps descending. Thirty seconds or so later, the room stops shaking and the curved wall to the north slides open, revealing a chamber beyond.
Using his bar of soap, Vic scrawls a message on the floor letting his comrades know he is safe and to follow him down. From outside the elevator, he then pushes the “up” button, which causes the curved wall to slide shut. While he waits for his comrades, Vic takes a look around the adjacent room.
Though it is roughly 15 ft. square, only the north and west walls are flat. The east/south wall, on the other hand, is curved like a quarter-circle in circumference. Unlike the other passages and chambers in these vaults, the ceiling in this chamber is flat, rising to 15 ft. high. Additionally, the northwest corner is angled and made of a green-colored stone the same shade as the green mist. A passageway exits in the north corner of the east wall.
After a couple of minutes, the other party members begin to make their way down the elevator to this room. Once the group is together, they begin exploring the chamber. Steeljaw notices right away that the north and west walls are not joined to the floor, ceiling, or outer (curved) wall at all. They appear to be anchored only to the angled wall of the northwest corner, where the section of colored stone stands.
Steeljaw examines the green stone and finds that it is streaked with veins the same color as the red mist. When he touches the angled stone wall, arcane runes flash across its surface and he feels a vibration move through the stonework. With a groan, the north and west walls begin moving in a counter-clockwise direction. The party quickly realizes that they can either escape down the east passage, or allow the rotating walls to shunt them into another, unknown space.
Cane begins to move down the east passage, but when he realizes the rest of the party are going to move with the rotating walls, he steps back in and allows himself to be carried along with their turning. When the walls align again at right angles, they stop moving. The party finds themselves in a similarly-shaped chamber, but there is no exit in here. In addition, the angled stone wall has changed colors: now red streaked with blue veins.
The party searches the room and finds nothing unusual, so Steeljaw again touches the colored stone wall. Once more, arcane runes flash across the hued stone and the walls begin slowly rotating. The party allows itself to be carried forward into a third space, and again the walls stop when they align at right angles. The colored wall section shimmers and changes to blue streaked with yellow.
The party members realize now that they are in a large circular chamber which is divided into four “quadrants” by the flat walls. The flat walls rotate around a central axis like the spokes of a wheel, carrying the party from area to area one at a time. They started in the southeast quadrant, and have now rotated the room into the northwest quadrant.
The party again carefully searches the room. Steeljaw discovers the chiseled seams of a secret door in the middle of the curved outer wall, but they find no means or method of opening the concealed stone panel. To advance the chamber into the next quadrant, Steeljaw again touches the angled stone, causing the arcane runes to flash.
This time, however, the walls do not rotate; instead, a glowing ball of light appears near the ceiling, high above them. Its glow illuminates the whole room as it shifts back and forth, almost nervously. Suddenly, it swoops down and strikes Vic with a bolt of electrical energy, and the halfling slumps to the floor, unconscious.
The creature--a will-o’-wisp--appears to be drawing Vic’s spirit essence from his body, so the party relentlessly attacks the glowing orb. As his party members go on offense, Cane makes sure Vic is stable, then he joins the fight as well. With each solid blow the party lands, the creature’s glow flickers and dims. Finally, with one last strike, the evil light winks out and the threat appears to subside.
When the will-o’-wisp is killed, the secret door on the curved outer wall slides open, revealing a small chamber beyond. The 10-ft. square chamber is empty, but a corridor leads off to the east. The party moves down the corridor, meticulously searching for hidden dangers and secret doors.
The narrow corridor turns south, then east again, then back north where it ends in a heavy iron door. As Vic leads the way toward the door, Steeljaw notices a secret door on the east wall, just as the corridor turns north. It appears to be a simple spring-loaded stone panel, but when Steeljaw pushes with all his might, he can only budge it a few inches before it pushes him back.
Vic checks it out and realizes there is a small trick to pushing it open: You have to push from the bottom (closer to halfling height) than toward the top of the panel where the spring exerts its greatest force. Once the trick is known, pushing and holding the panel open becomes a simple task. They also notice a handle on the back of the secret door, enabling it to be easily pulled open from this side.
Beyond the secret door, another corridor leads north then turns east for 75 ft. where it turns south again. When they turn this corner, they can see that the passage opens into a familiar-looking chamber. Through the opening ahead is a room bathed in pale blue light. A thin, 6-ft. tall iron pole, stands upright in a notch in the center of the floor. Slowly orbiting the tip of the pole is a glowing sapphire lozenge. On the other side of the pole, the far walls of the chamber are hung with moldering red velvet curtains.
This appears to be the room which the party viewed through the peephole they found previously, in the hallway near the pit with bubbling mud.
The session ends here…
(It is now 1:15 PM)
No comments:
Post a Comment