Tag: DnD

Cultists and Death

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, PandoraLeave a comment

Heading down the stairs we follow some footsteps to a pair of cultists playing strip chess. They don’t mind us ransacking the room, seeming very focused on their game and each other. How strange, but they seem busy for the moment, so become a later problem.

The next room, I am encouraged to sneak into alone. It is a dormitory, full of bunks and chests. I rifle through each chest, avoiding the bed with the lone sleeper, relieving these cultists of their money seems the least I can do. Plenty of robes here, too, should the group decide to disguise up while we explore. The sleeper jumps up when I get to her bed, and a short scuffle ensues as she runs out straight into the rest of the party. Amazingly, Ard doesn’t kill her, but knocks her out and Gideon ties her up before waking and questioning her. Ashara tells us that she is well taken care of here. That Shamet promised her a better life. They knock her back out and bind her securely on her bed before we move on.

We continue on, finding a room with two people conversing quietly. I unlock the door and the group rushes in, to find what Tasha calls an Oathbreaker in black armor and a woman in leathers. I stay in the hallway while the group takes care of them. Once down and dead, they are relieved of all of their earthly possessions, many of which are magical, including a portable hole, currently empty, but quickly filled with everything, including these bodies. It takes some convincing to get Tasha to try on the platemail because it is blackened, a symbol, she says of oath breaking, but she’ll be safer in it.

Onward, we find a crypt with 5 bodies laid out in death. We decide to leave them be for the time, instead heading down nearby stairs to a single door. Inside, a woman in black robes reads from a book. I, once again, stay in the hallway while they fight her. Unfortunately, a man in red robes comes from up the stairs and tosses a spell at me. A quick shriek brings help out into the hall to deal with him, while I run into the room, tossing some rocks at the woman. She responds by summoning over a dozen zombies. It is very unpleasant in there until we get some turning power going. Afterwards, we have to head back to the entrance to get a quick rest and some medical care before we can continue.

Having still not found the prisoners, we have to head back in. Back in and to the right this time, we find some doors, an open sacrificial room, and a temple full of unmoving undead. There is a bell in the back of this latter room that seems like it might activate the undead – 30 skeletons and 30 zombies. They don’t seem to care if we’re in the back of the room by the hall, however. So, I open a nearby door to find just 6 undead, three of each type, guarding a couple women, Aseneth and Arpad, and merchants. We unlock them all and draw up a map back to the entrance to get them out.

We all head back down the hallway together, finding a collapse behind one door, and a double bedroom behind the other. This one has a couple more cultists who immediately attack and must be put down by the group. Laramond finds some historical tablets here and a book translating them – the story of the evil goddess this place is dedicated to.

Moving on, we check out the sacrificial altar room. The altar hold bloodstained containers, and the walls are frescos showing a man fighting past monsters that guard seven tombs to reach a woman in black. There is a single cultist here, a man hiding behind deep red pillars. We talk him out without a fight, tie him up and take him back to where Ashara is still bound.

Not ready to fight 60 undead, we head back to the crypt with five. And their shadows rise. Laramond is able to take control of some and between those and the recently found magic weapons, the group is able to put them down. They look around, but don’t find much else here.

We head back to the temple, checking out the small rooms around the edges, without bothering the silent undead. Finding a bedroom with a secret door hiding a treasure room. Using the new portable hole, we steal all the treasure. Tala comes back in from guarding the back entrance and takes a look for secret doors – many of which lead to the disorienting tunnels. Back in the sacrificial room, Ard tries to pick up the vessels on the altar, and is nearly possessed by one, so he uses a skeleton to move them all into the portable hole for later destruction. We’ll have to talk to Rafe about borrowing the forge for a few hours one evening.

Then we really do have to deal with the sanctuary. Do we collapse the tunnels? We don’t have the right gear for that, even if I could figure out how. Instead, we prepare a bottleneck. Gideon and I set up a tripwire in the hallway. The fighters line up to fight them, with the new Mace of Disruption in the middle. Then the clerics and Laramond line up behind them. I go hide in a little room with a locked door with the rescued prisoners, and eat the final remnants of Mendel’s food. The group wins out, but poor Tasha is unconscious for the effort.

We head back to the room where they fought the Blackguard, to see if his stone horse will wake up with the magic bridle they had found. It does, and Ard rides it back to the keep, with Tasha draped across its haunches. It looks stable enough, so we head out to go back to the keep.

Unfortunately, the bandits from a few days ago find us in the woods, and they’re unhappy at having been robbed. They demand half of what we took from the cultists, instead of just what we took from them. Laramond tries to negotiate with them. Several folks want to just fight them, but with Tasha down, and the others not feeling well, we should not chance it. Laramond pulls some money bags and art pieces off of his donkey and sets it down for them – around 2000 gold worth. They accept this offering and head off toward the caves. Gideon, Terak, and I trail them a little ways to be sure of their direction and number, about 20. Then we all get back to the keep for some rest and healing.

Gnolls, Zombies, and Skeletons

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, PandoraLeave a comment

Back at the Keep, Laramond figures out what the Goblinoid sign said: Comrades, join the cause, repel the loathsome invaders who profane our ancestral caves with their sacrificial alters. All humanoids welcome. Well, that is very well written for goblins, and it gets everyone curious. The discussion at the table over what to do next is rather lively bouncing between gnolls to goblins to a lady necromancer who has gone missing.

The lure of gold and reputation wins out, and in the morning we head south the investigate the gnolls in the forest. Who, for my money, are doing good work of attacking bandits instead of caravans. It’s a long hot walk in the forest and we have to backtrack a couple times. Just so we can get attacked by big furry spiders. Yuck! They party kills some and chases the rest off before we can continue on.

I’m still hidden from the spider fight when the gnolls arrive, surround the group, and take them prisoner. Gideon is quite polite though, so they are escorted to their camp instead of killed outright. There are several dozen gnolls and hyenas there. The three largest come out to meet the party, one of which can speak the common tongue. They are killing the bandits because they are among the invaders who took their caves from them. Others came in robes – the cultists, likely – as they say those kidnap and kill people. Laramond asks if they’ll help us get rid of them, but they want proof we mean to help. They do share a map of the area with a few things marked that we did not have – one with a letter Laramond says is a Q. I lost track of the conversation at that point because a hyena got too curious and I had to feed it my jerky rations.

The party is walking away when I’m done with that, so I join back up. We check out the flooded road area, but it seems fine. Then head up for the Q place, which is just south of all the caves, up on the higher land around the valley. Turns out it is a big stone door in the back side of the hill. Terak finds skeletal footprints heading inside. Ard lifts the door open to find an antechamber with a couple dozen skeletons standing in rows. Gideon and I set a tripline in front of the door, but the party ends up going inside to fight them, and also scaring them further into the cave instead of pulling them out. They make such a racket that a bunch of zombies come out to join the fray, but the holy folk and Laramond turn and take control of enough to handle everything.

Once everything is under control, we discover barrels being stored here with false bottoms, with A.K. burned into the bottoms. The cooper is Asham, maybe this is what he’s grumpy about. Putting Laramond’s new pet skeletons in front, we head down a very long tunnel. The first room we find holds skeletons kneeling in worship to the most beautiful woman in the whole world. Terak and I go and join them, but Tala pulls me away and then things get fuzzy for a few minutes. When I come back to my senses, the group is talking about putting a tent in front of the lady, but decide not to waste the time and tent.

The next room is some sort of mausoleum with robed bodies in open graves. They begin stirring, but the holy folk go in and shut them up again so the swordsy folk can cut their heads off. There isn’t much to find in there. So, we head back and try a different path, which leads us to one of the entrances into the valley. Further along this path there are a few more doors. The first one leads to stairs, but the group wants to finish up here before going down.

The next door leads to a lavishly decorated room, where the toady merchant Mendel is sitting, with his two guards and the latest of women serving him sweet treats. He tries to get us to go away and leave things be, but the group is having none of that. I enjoy a few snacks while Gideon asks him his business. Gideon doesn’t like his answers and throws a couple darts into his chest, which signals Ard to promptly cut off his head. This convinces his guards to immediately surrender, and also causes the two women to come out from under a charm spell.

They admit he was supplying people, mostly off caravans, to the cultists. This included the cooper’s daughter to keep him quiet, and the necromancer lady who had disappeared, and the last two women he’d had with him in town. They offer to take the women back to the keep, but Tasha doesn’t trust them. She pays them a handful of gold to officially ‘hire’ them for this task. They take off and we take a look around, and I take as many sweetmeats as my pockets can hold.

Tasha finds a secret door in the back of the fireplace. It leads to a very strange twisting tunnel. We decide to investigate, and I try to lead the way, but I keep running into the walls and it feels terrible. A loud thumping begins further down the tunnel and we decide that leaving might be a better choice at this point, and head back to Mendel’s sitting room for a quick breather.

Of Bandits and Death

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, PandoraLeave a comment

The bandit cave entrance is surrounded by rotting, severed heads, with one empty spot. Gideon can hear people idly chatting inside, so we head inside. Three men are playing guards in the front-most room, probably they should have been watching the entrance. Embarrassed by their failure, I guess, they immediately attack when we say hello. The swordsmen put two of them down, one rather permanently, and the third surrenders. He was smart enough for that, but is not terribly helpful. This isn’t an established bandit group, it sounds like, just transients that come and go as they will. He doesn’t even know who is in charge today, or how many people are here. The heads outside, he says, came from when the orcs lived here. He does have one interesting piece of information, Hesselwhite is here with a gang. He also says the hall aren’t trapped, so I get to hang back, if we’re trusting him. We leave him and the other live one tied up, and weaponless and head deeper into the cave.

The next room is full of crates and rugs, and two bandits in a rather intimate position. They scurry out of view, as I do the same. Someone shouts out that they are under arrest, but this doesn’t seem to accomplish anything. Eventually, Gideon just walks in and ties them up behind the crates. The things in here aren’t very interesting, except the rugs, but those are too big to carry away without a wagon. We do take the arrows away from the bandits, so they can’t get free and shoot us.

Down another couple hallways, we find a feast hall with six more folks. One welcomes us and invites us in. I guess we could look like bandits, such a strange group as we are. He, Cemund, offers us food and drink. Gideon and Ard accept his hospitality, while Tasha and I stay at the door, confused. When asked about the caves, he says they also avoid the undead. Hesselwhite, he says, brought along 8 other halflings with him, and plans to attack a wealthy caravan. Ours, most likely. They don’t hurt people here, they just don’t have anything, so they steal what they want. He says the gnolls got run out of their caves in another part of the valley, but he’s not sure by what.

We go to talk to Hesselwhite, to ask him politely not to attack our caravan, I guess. I unlock the door to their room, but I missed the needle trap and get jabbed by poison. Slim slows it down so it won’t hurt me anymore. Tasha opens the door, the halflings inside are already barricaded behind their beds, so I head back to a nook to hide until the fighting is done. Hesselwhite manages to run out past everyone and escape the cave, but we tie up the survivors. There’s a stone box in here, that also stabs me, I need to get some glasses or something, I should have seen that. There’s money, gems, and a warm-feeling hunk of jade inside. Gathering up the treasure, bodies, and prisoners, we head out. The other bandits don’t stop us. Slim and some of the other holy folk bury those they killed before we go back to town.

They give the prisoners to Sabine. We let the Chaka know about Hesselwhite and the danger he still poses, and then ask if he’ll take on Terak and Tasha to help us guard. He speaks with them and agrees for the return journey. Mouse buys the stone box from me, and gives me some pointers on spotting traps. We buy some paints to give to the kobolds, and argue about whether to investigate the undead or goblins next. Then we rest up for the night, leaving the question unresolved.

Heading back to the caves in the morning, Cemund and his friends almost rob us, but stop when they recognize us, then bail when stirges show up in force. I hide and get far away from that, but the swords folk put them all down. We get the talkative kobold to come out and accept the paints we brought him. He tells us that the undead cave is mostly orc skeletons, but that there are sometimes humans in weird robes, too. Those weird robed humans are who they stole the dragon egg from, about a month ago. Most of the time those humans go into the caves at the far end of the valley. Laramond wants them to paint rocks to start an art trade with the keep. Sweet child, the people would rather kill than trade with kobolds.

Terak really wants to go after the cultists, rather than the undead, but we’re not sure which of the end caves that is, so he gets overruled. The undead cave smells awful – rotting flesh is an aroma all its own. The left room is full of dead orcs, old dead humans, skeletons, and rats. Laramond says there are undead in the other direction, as everything here is full dead, except the rats.

The other direction holds a common area full of dead orcs as well, women, children, and men, all stacked up. The ceiling ripples with bats. Gideon, throws a dart at a corpse, he must have gotten bored. Skeletons rise up from the piles of bodies and lurch forward to attack. I get right out of there until the noise dies down.

Laramond says there are more undead behind a wall, and we find a secret door. It isn’t locked, so Tasha opens it. There is a small table and chairs, a large chest, and a chalk map on the wall. Slim steps inside and shadows rise up, but he scares it away. I come in to check out the box and get sprayed with blue powered ink – great! Now I can’t see Mouse until this all wears off. So embarrassing! The group takes all the money, and once lifted, I find a key beneath it. Well, that’s mine now. The map is of the area around, with all the dangerous groups we’ve heard about marked on it. Plus, what Laramond says is a Q in the northern forest, and a tower to the west, or is that east? It’s not really on the map.

The next room we find has large rats eating face-down orc bodies, so we close the door again. They want to go in and kill the rats, so I go back and hide under the little table while they do that. My hand is still a bit black with poison. There’s nothing but dead bodies in that room, and they insist on wading through the bodies in the other rooms, too. I get bit by some rats, and all we have to show for it is a jewel-encrusted sword-hilt. Then they decide to set the whole cave on fire to burn up all the dead bodies.

Before heading back to the keep to get my hand properly cared for, we make a tour of the other cave entrances. We find a wooden sign in the goblin language at one, smooth-worked blood red stone at another. A door with skulls nailed to it that invite us inside. And the foul odor of some great beast emanating from another. Right, so a couple options for the cult, and one Terak says we should Really stay away from. Back to the keep to rest. Is it time to take the Chaka to the southern border, yet?

Finding the Caves of Chaos

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, PandoraLeave a comment

One more day of exploring the town, and suddenly there are two more armed people in our group – a tan woman and a dark man, both armed and armored – Tasha and Terak. They have been dismissed from their caravan as not needed now that they are back down from the north. That evening, Tala shares that she met another necromancer who says there is a cult in the caves around an old hidden temple. Slim has found out that in a forest south of the swamp there is a small forest full of giant spiders. And that it is stirges that are by the river. It is all too much, the caves are pulling everyone in.

So, in the morning, we head down the road to find out what all the fuss is about. It is only a couple hours down the road. It is rather a small valley with a variety of caves all around it, rather than a single entrance with labyrinthine tunnels and caves. This might not be as bad as I thought, we should be able to get in and out much easier than delving deep down below the earth unless the all connect and go downward. But it’s a forest, not a mountain. Please, Tymora, just this once.

The first cave to the north looks pretty sturdy from the entrance. But there’s a small helmet peaking out from behind a rock. I call out, but there is no response, so I toss a rock in that direction, but still nothing. I go take a look, and it’s a very shiny, unmoving kobold. What is that? I touch its arm and it explodes worms all over me. I am not embarrassed to say that I screamed, you would too if a dead kobold exploded worms all over you. Tasha burns the worms off me, that hurts! But I have a feeling keeping them would have been worse.

Everyone has come running at my screams, glad to know they still intend to protect me. The Chaka is still paying us, after all. The floor collapses at the first intersection. Was no one looking? Oh, none of them understand about traps and security. I push my way to the front, I hate it here. We find a room full of webs next, coated in lamp oil. Backing carefully out, while Slim uses a big stick to clear the room, just in case there is anything in there, I guess. There isn’t.

The other direction is a greased incline, so we secure a rope to keep the bigger folk from barreling down uncontrolled. There is also a tripwire that would drop a boulder. That could be useful later, so I just secure it to one side. Down the path and around some turns, behind a secret door, there is a room full of treasure! No, not really, just incredibly well-painted rocks, but they are surrounding a real-live copper dragon egg! But they are still incredibly pretty, so I trade out my sling rocks for ones painted like gems and gold. The group is confused about this egg sitting all alone, so we move on. The door had a really nice lock, and I don’t want to put it back just yet.

The next room has really beautiful red, orange, and black paintings covering the walls, showing kobolds worshipping a big dragon who is killing a person – perhaps the mother of the egg. There are a set of double doors here, but Tala finds another secret door, so we try that one first. It leads to a short passage, another door, into a living space with a collection of young kobolds cowering in a corner. Tasha offers them raisins, and the adults up on a ledge do not immediately shoot us. The little ones immediately begin to steal all the food we are carrying with us, as the adults come down to join. They begin dividing it up among the group, as we try to talk to them.

None understands us, but Gideon convinces them to take us to their leader. They take us back to and through the double door, where another couple dozen kobolds wait. One steps forward who can speak Draconic, so Laramond speaks with him, while I listen. Other folk of these caves attack them. They want paints in trade for information, but they already took our food. So they tells us which cave has goblins and hobgoblins, another has dead things, and the nearest cave has humans. We promise them paint and ink when we return, and head back out, resetting the tripwire, and leaving the egg alone.

The Road to the Keep

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, PandoraLeave a comment

Chaka Joamar Synd had a call out for caravan guards, and I needed to keep moving. My reputation had not yet filtered into the city, but it couldn’t be far behind me. It was quite a crew who gathered to take on the job. I am very grateful he chose me over the clearly more skillful, but also obviously dangerous Hesselwhite. Some folks like the more dangerous folk to guard them, but it almost always ends badly. That bald wizard looked even more dangerous. Maybe he chose the best people, but what am I doing here?

There’s a man in odd clothing and two swords named Ard. A huge man with a big sword, who says he’s a priest, named Slim. A soft-spoken, silver-haired drow healer woman named Tala. A loud, gorilla of an orange-furred man in bright colors named Gideon. A pale fancy young wizard boy named Laramond, I wonder what he’s really doing so far from home. He says he’s looking for artifacts and knowledge, I think he might be trouble for me. Those kinds of people always want me to go places I shouldn’t. And a quiet man named Terak, who also carries a blade. At least I’ll be well protected on this journey.

Once all agree to the price and the journey, out to the keep on the border and back again. We settle in to eat and drink on the Chaka’s coin. Laramond admits that he dabbles in the darker arts, ethically, he says, and warns us that he has a large dead bat outside that will come with us. It is just as horrible as I expect the next morning. Tala promises to keep me safe though.

The journey is fairly quiet, through the intervening cities. Wolves attack one evening, but the swordsmen and bat chase them off, only killing one. One day out from the keep, we come across a bloodbath in the road. A full band of bandits have been torn asunder by who knows what creature with brown fur. Anyone who gets rid of bandits is good in my book. Better them than me.

We are met at the gate of Kendel Keep by Sabine, who warns us to keep our weapons sheathed while we are guests here. There are traders there from Ulgarth, and a toad of a man, perhaps from the north, but that’s the Chaka’s business. Sabine tells us about the Castellan, Devero, and the Magistrate, Jadaele. Laramond asks what work we might find in the Keep, and Sabine mentions that if we are the adventurous sort, there are caves further down the road. Teal, a young stablehand, gathers up our horses, as we head to the tavern, The One-Eyed Cat, for a quick meal. Wilf, Calista, and Jess are very kind, and Third looks like quite the capable bouncer.

The group splits up after that, to explore the town and see what there is to hear, and listen to what is being said. I have all I need, and do not want to call attention to myself just yet, but this feels like a nice place, maybe I could start a business here. Unfortunately, there’s already a locksmith – a nice young halfling named Mouse. He has taken over the town bank after some embezzling and other nefarious trouble with the banker who used to own it. He is very excited that we’ve already heard of the caves, The Caves of Chaos, he says, used to house a powerful lich, and there is much treasure, and many monsters in them. Offers to open any boxes we find for just a tithe of the contents – 10% of whatever is inside.

That evening the group of us gather for dinner and share stories. There is a girl missing from town, and maybe others. Lizardmen in the southern swamp. Bat-sized mosquitos by the river. The next day even more rumors abound. A Bee-Man in the forest. Bandits in the northern forest, being attacked by Gnolls. The missing girl’s father doesn’t want to talk about her with anyone, even his own brother. I wonder if she ran off with a boy, or perhaps the father was complicit in her disappearance.

There is much to investigate here, perhaps we can stay away from the caves and safe for a little while longer.