Quick Summary
Party enter the darkness of the abandoned hold, Gaerfinas and Rania take the lead with their darkvision.
Skittering noises in the darkness ahead
Rio investigates a statue with Dwarvish runes: ‘Felzenheim’
Advancing down the stairs, Kelnor sneaks forward, but is seen by something in the darkness, and he can hear it skittering straight towards them!
A small insectile creature appears out of the darkness, the attacks the party. Artus hits it with his broadsword, which corrodes on impact.
Two further insects emerge from an open drain in the corner of the room and attack the party, with more following.
Gaerfinas cuts loose a stack of barrels by the wall and uses his spear to lever them free and across the mouth of the open drain, blocking further insects from emerging.
Rio shifts a wooden barricade to the top of the stairs, the others to retreat to safety behind it.
Party takes a short rest and heals up.
Investigation of a large glowing statue in the corner reveals it can be animated at the push of a button.
A small barracks to the south is searched and provides 44gold and a glass orb which Kellan identifies as a ‘drift orb’
The party follow a winding corridor down, reaching a barricade manned by two goblins. Kelnor dispatches both silently.
Through further rooms, the party find a throne room with a raised balcony, Kelnor gets boosted up to find it full of giant arachnid eggs.
A doorway behind the throne reveals a small chamber filled with smaller eggs
Flamerule 8
Leaving their horses to the care of Lord Morn’s Ostler, the party pass from bright sunlight into the gloom of the abandoned hold. Rania and Gaerfinas take the lead, their elvish blood allowing them to see through the darkness. Kelnor hands his lit lantern to Kellan, and Rio lights a torch and holds it high, a circle of light fading out to the distant shadows. Padding silently around the edges of the illuminated area, Kelnor’s attention is caught by a pair of baskets in the lee of two large pillars. One is empty while the other contains a single potion. A notice is posted inside each basket inviting weary travellers to take what they need, but leave something in return. With a shrug Kelnor helps himself to the potion, from the looks of the place anyone who might once have been upset by this will be long gone!
As the party descend further into the darkness, they hear skittering noises in the darkness around them. As they descend two flights of stairs, Kelnor attempts to move silently ahead of the party. Whether alerted by the lights in the darkness, or by Kelnor’s footsteps, the skittering noises move closer, and a scuttling insect the size of a badger emerges from the murk and attacks! As the party ready themselves for combat, more emerge from an open sewer grate in the corner of the room.
Artus and Gaerfinas charge down the stairs, intending to crush the creatures like the bugs they are, while Kelnor retreats to join the rest of the party on the upper level to provide covering fire. Artus’ sword cuts deep into the side of one of the insects, but as he withdraws it the blade is coated with a patch of rust which spreads before his eyes, coating his proud blade with a layer of corrosion and blunting it’s keen edge. Realising further creatures continue to emerge from the open drain, Gaerfinas casts his eyes about the room until his gaze rests on a stack of barrels against the wall. Unsheathing his dagger, he cuts the bindings holding them in place, and prepares his spear to lever the stack over and towards the open grate.
Further insects pour out of the sewer and surround Artus, grasping at his weapons and armour with their feathery antennae, slowly eating away at the feast of metals. Another turns to attack Gaerfinas, to avoid competing with its friends for the spoils. Gaerfinas ignores it and attempts to lever the barrels again, but they are too heavy to move easily.
Stowing his crossbow, Kelnor leaps down from the top level in an attempt to help Gaerfinas and block the influx of further insects. Unfortunately in the gloom Kelnor misjudges the distance and lands poorly, turning his ankle and ending up within reach of the beasts surrounding Artus.
Realising a defensible position is required if the party are to survive this encounter, Rio casts his torch and bow aside and uses brute force to manhandle a wooden barricade across the upper level and to block the top of the stairs. Calling to those on the lower level to retreat behind the barricade, he secures a rope to a statue and throws it down to the lower level.
Once again disregarding the blows of the creature attacking him and with a mighty heave, Gaerfinas throws all his weight against his makeshift lever and slowly, ponderously but with a certain inevitability, the barrels begin to roll along the wall towards the sewer grate. The Cleric then summons a phantasmal sword to take the attention of the creatures, and retreats towards the rope dropped by Rio. Kelnor disentangles himself from the melee and races up the staircase, hurling himself across the barricade with a singular lack of grace. Artus and Gaerfinas climb the rope provided by Rio with ease, and the party kill off the remaining creatures at leisure from a distance.
After a short respite to heal and recuperate, the party once again climb over the barricade and continue to explore the lower level, now mercifully free of monsters. A large statue glitters strangely in the dim light, and Kelnor finds a button in the wall behind it labelled in Dwarvish. Rio’s knowledge of Dwarvish comes to the fore once again (the runes say "Protection"), as he identifies that the statue is some sort of guardian construct. Pressing the button, the shimmering field of magic drops and the statue stands to attention. A number of commands are given to the construct, to no perceptible response. With a shrug, Rio presses the button once again and the shimmering returns, returning the statue to immobility.
Exploring the rest of the entrance hall, a grand doorway is found leading to a corridor winding down, down into the depths. The party advance cautiously, stopping when they see in the gloom ahead of another wooden barricade, which blocks the whole passageway. Gesturing to the rest of the group to stay back, Kelnor moves silently forwards and vanishes into the darkness.
Picking his way one step at a time towards the barricade, Kelnor peers through the gloom. Through the many gaps in the rough wooden construction, the forms of two goblins are apparent. Pushing his abilities to their limit, searching for each hand and foothold with the utmost care, Kelnor scales the barricade in silence, less than a yard from the sentries on the other side. Reaching the top without raising the alarm, Kelnor readies his crossbow, takes aim and fires a single bolt, straight down through the collarbone of the first sentry, who drops to the ground with a gurgle. Moving quickly, Kelnor reloads his weapon as the remaining sentry looks to his colleague and realises they have been attacked from above. As the goblin looks up and sees Kelnor raising his crossbow at the top of the barricade, its eyes widen as Kelnor fires a bolt straight into its throat, and it drops without a sound.
The party continue down the corridor until it ends at a stone doorway. Carefully, they make their way through a number of rooms with doors blocked or open seemingly at random. Reaching a more ornate door, Kelnor investigates and, deeming it safe, passes through into some sort of audience chamber, with a throne set on a raised balcony above the floor level, a design intended to hammer home the inferior status of those supplicants who made it this far.
Calling Gaerfinas into the room, Kelnor requests a boots up to the top level. Pulling himself up Kelnor immediately realises that there are large leather eggs of some sort scattered around the room. Carefully moving closer, he realises that they are likely from some sort of arachnid, though on a larger scale than anything he’s seen before. Being careful not to disturb the eggs, Kelnor picks his way towards the throne itself. A cursory investigation reveals a small doorway, partially concealed behind the throne. Returning to the edge of the balcony, Kelnor describes what he has seen to Gaerfinas and asks him to fetch the others. Securing a rope to the balustrade, Kelnor passes it down to allow the party to climb up. As they spread out to cover the doorways, Kelnor returns to the dais and opens the hidden door to reveal a small antechamber. Stepping inside, The rogue sees clusters of eggs, smaller than those outside but far more numerous. Peering past them, he can make out the outline of a large circular hole of some kind in the ceiling, but is unable to make out any details without getting closer, and is unwilling to get closer and risk disturbing the eggs. Returning to the throneroom, he updates the party and they pause to agree on their next move...
Experience:
Artus (125)
Gaerfinas (125) + 50 XP for barrel gambit
Kelnor (125) + 100 XP for creative session log
Rania (125)
Rio (125) + 50 XP for barricade gambit
Commentaires