Tag: dungeon

Madness Incarnate

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, NetherdeepLeave a comment

We feel them. They are coming. A few are tricked, talking to friends who are not there, family they don’t even really like. Talking. Then Questioning. The Balhannoth’s don’t like questions and they don’t like the Balhannoths. Gone. All gone. The Catonoctrix come, come flying in taking minds, but too late. Too slow. Powerful these new minds. They will come to us next. They will listen. They all listen to Them. Hear Them.

Into the hive. They come to us. Slowly. Confused. Pliant. They come.

“Come, come. Time is nigh. Hurry. Come, come.” And they come. We will protect them. Protect them from the worms below. The burrowing ever deeper worms. Eat right through you if you’re not protected. They resist our protect, but they come with us. The others are waiting, but The Holy One is almost done. Almost done.

They still come, the Neothelids and our beloved Core Spawn Worms. Good pets. They listen. Won’t attack us. Not when we bring minds to The Many. Brilliant minds, careful minds, tasty minds.

Down and down and down we go. They hide below. Far below. Minds scattered, but body below. Bring the body first, the minds will follow. Down into the temple. Temple to Ceratos, The Many, destruction and rebirth shall come.

Join the Circle!

They are hesitant.

Join the Circle!

They go, slowly around the circle. Stopping finally and joining the circle. Kneeling to The Many as he feasts and Rises!

Retreat, but not far. Don’t disturb the ceremony. See through the others. Watch.

The new minds attack! Upset by Their rise! Attack The Holy One and her Acolyte! The Many will take them, will eat them, take them, eat them! They shall be reunited with the Many. Their minds to bring together. Reunification for Rebirth! The Holy One falls, the Reunification incomplete! The Many eats, but They wane. Retreat!

Must retreat, They fall, but will rise again. They will lead us Home one day. Falling is not the end, still scattered. Scattered still.

~Core Spawn Seer Hive Minds

Down and Around

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, NetherdeepLeave a comment

Almost. Got. One. More. Slaadi. More. Less. No. More. Why. All. Gone. Gone. Gone.

KILL THEM! I’LL KILL THEM. EAT THEM!

The Eyes. The Eyes Will Get Them. All The Eyes. So Loud. Stepping In Them. Get Them!

BiGGeR eYeS! THeY WiLL TaKe THeM! All thE bIg EyEs! Zap tHem! tAke tHem! nO!

gonE agaiN? whY? wherE? hoW? resTing iN anoTher plAce! coMe bAck!

there they are here they come one more level. my precious reality warpers. trick them. take them. you will see.

~Ceratos, the Many

Ghosts and Ghoulies

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, NetherdeepLeave a comment

First there were ghosts and huge bat things who brought darkness with them, all screaming and shrieking. Then we went inside and there was even Louder screaming. Master said it was just coming from the wall. The walls are screaming? No time to think about that though, a bunch of really disgusting creatures are answering the scream. The little metal man turns them to dust though, good man.

Off to the right, always right, Master tells me. But what if the designer knows that, maybe we should go left this time? Right we go. The dark one says there’s traps, so Master makes them not traps anymore. And we find a door with a bunch of slightly more put-together gross creatures. These have weapons and armor, but the metal man takes care of a bunch of them, too. We make quick work of the ones that don’t fall apart. They take the thing’s big mace, and find a bit mirror and cloak in a closet. Seems like the mirror’s real bad, but we bring it along anyway.

Up a tower that doesn’t have stairs all the way up. Some of the folk just want to leave, but the others convince them to stay. And some tiny flaming skulls bomb us about halfway up. They’re real bad, but they break pretty easy. Don’t know how I survived that, but Master takes care of me. Up top there’s a very sad looking ghost lady, but they all kill her before she screams at us. They seem real scared of her. Maybe she looks familiar to one of them and they know what they did to make her sad. Master’s cousin finds a pretty bottle and opens it and a big angry airy lady comes out. She wants to leave this place. Me too, lady, me too. There’s a weird argument before they give her the bottle and let her go. She just flies out the arrow slit or something, and we head back down.

The other side of this floor has a room full of mummies. Do not like! They’re rotting and gross and almost kill the big human. He does not look good when it’s all done. They take a cloak made of rats and insects from the big one’s body. It might be magic, but it’s real disgusting. They don’t even put it in the bag with the rest of their stuff.

There’s another tower, and more people think it’s time to leave, but metal man and dark man once again convince them to stay. I guess it’s magic and not what they actually feel. I don’t need magic to want to leave, though. This one has ghosts that come out of the walls to try and possess folk, but nobody wants to talk to them. Up top, a big chest attacks Master, so they break it good. A skull and onyx dog are all they find inside. It’s a little girl apparently, and her pet Cerby. The holy ones do a whole big funeral ritual for her, to set her spirit to rest, and Master’s cousin promises to take good care of her dog. Then everyone rests and they figure out what all the things they stole were. They get even more nervous about the mirror, though some want to open it up and let the demons out. So glad they don’t.

They find a set of stairs going down next, but when they go in the first room, I get pushed back home. I hope they’re alright.

~Juxua

The Danger of Rushing

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, NetherdeepLeave a comment

Oh My! Why did I agree to do this? I don’t want to do this! I just came here to watch her and report back. I’m not an adventurer! Oh dear!

I wonder what’s down in this chasm, no one else seems to be worried. What if something flies up and carries me off? Oh, the door is glowing and we are going in. Good! The faster we get through this the better. I do wonder what we’ll find.

Oh! Oh no! Ochre Jellies! No! NO! Stay away from my books. Leave me alone! Protect Me! The big guy kept cutting them in half, but at least the smaller ones seemed to go down quickly. Oh dear, Those were nasty things. Good thing no one expected me to fight them. Gross, but at least they left behind some money. Must be the only thing they can keep hold of back and forth through those tiny holes.

Oh this is nicer. A wide open vestibule with no one trying to kill us. I wonder what was in these little alcoves. Long ago looted, I suspect. I wonder if we have any of the artifacts back home. Oh, read something for them. Okay, in Abyssal? Oh, well, I guess. Better move quickly though, it only lasts an hour. Accept death, relinquish hope? Oh dear, no that sounds terrible. They think so too. Table with a creepy vase now, read the table? Okay, cast something of value into Oblivion? Well, that’s better than death, I suppose.

The big guy, Jonas, I think he said, tries a handful of silver, but this must be a greedy god because it doesn’t work. The weird little gnome carves a pebble, but whatever horror is behind this doesn’t like that either. The autognome takes out some tools, and the pretty one is a bit aghast. This seems to be of enough value, and the skull’s eyes glow red, and the stone behind it opens up.

Now this looks like more of a sanctuary, maybe even a basilica would be more apt a term. Pillars all down the length and beautiful stained glass at the end. Oh! The braziers are alive! Well, the flames are anyway! They seem to be dancing to the soft music in the room. They’re so pretty, why is everyone afraid of them. The bard is beating his drum in a very unsettling manner. It’s so pretty in here, oh… oh those aren’t nice symbols on the stained glass. Not that I expected them to be in a place like this, but Every Betrayer? Even that old lich Vecna?? Maybe they’re right, and we should leave it alone.

Spiders! Why did it have to be Spiders! Oh, and Driders, too. But these look even more twisted than I’d heard. Must be this place does something to you if you stay too long. We have to hurry! Oh! Webs! Nonono! Fire, yes, fire will do it. Careful, not too much! Oh look, that’s why the Taskhand won’t send more soldiers. Several dead in here already. Oh, we’re gathering their things? A magic sword? Oh, to give back to their families. Well, I suppose that’s proper, if they even have families.

What’s this? A secret room full of books. Lots of Abyssal – demon pacts with betrayer gods. All falling apart. Oh, no! They would be so interesting to read! What’s this? Looks like that stained glass. Oh, and it talks about the gods. I wonder if this is how we get through. Kai’Osh thinks we have to go through the trials of these gods to get through. I hope not, I don’t know how many more trials I can survive!

So, we avoid the window again, and head back to the death wall. I do not like this. I don’t want to die! The others study it for a while. Shak’nul gives it a try, but he comes away just looking tired. There’s some more discussion, and then Kai’Osh disappears right into the wall!! No! Nope! Not interested! The little autognome, Shagwic, he said, comments that Kai’Osh got through alive and on the other side. The others start going through one by one, until only Shagwic, Shak’nul, and I are left. I think they’ve forgotten about me. They’re discussing the wall, and they decide to try holding hands to get through. Shagwic suddenly remembers me, and I grab hold, too. Thank whatever gods are listening, we made it through.

It’s utterly quiet here. Someone at the corner is firing at enemies ahead, so I stick close to the wall. No way back and no way forward. Fire lights up the corridor ahead! Oh no! I press harder back on the wall. I don’t wanna die, I don’t wanna die. Then things calm down and they retrieve me. Small skulls are lying shattered on the ground. There’s talk of taking a proper short rest in here, and there’s talk of pushing on through a hallway full of blades! Rest wins out, fortunately.

Oh, but not for long. The clues here are in Undercommon, fortunately, I can’t read Abyssal anymore. They through around words like sadism and masochism. The burly one goes on about how he likes fighting, and heads on into the hallway. Which immediately begins tilting back and forth. He slams into the blades, but makes it to the end. The little crystal container above the far door starts filling with blood. One by one, they head on in, until the canister is full and the far door opens, stopping the tilting floor. Oh, thank Ord! I did Not want to do that!

Stairs. Just stairs. Though there’s a wailing from below. Louder, louder, louder. Oh my gods! What is that!?!

~Prolix Yusaf
Allegiance of Allsight

Wyrms and Worms

On By ravonlockeIn Journal, QuillLeave a comment

Red blasts light out from his flaming sword, and it makes the shadows made. A bunch of shadows, four shadowy dogs, and even a shadowing dragon all come out of the dark to attack us. Well, mostly Red. The dragon is really mad, and it kills all the dogs to try and get Red. But it got the Big Guy instead. We killed it, though, the awful thing.

Nevi and Mary Mouse start cutting it up and Sam starts to pray, or meditate, or something. She mutters to herself, and I swear she’s talking to her Daddy. When she gets back up again, she confirms that. Says her Daddy can fix the Big Guy, for a price. We have to dedicate the Mummy Lord’s death to her Daddy and give him some of its treasure. Her Daddy is some sort of worm that will destroy everything, which seems bad, but Red says that’s a long time from now. I don’t understand if we have to kill the Mummy first, or after he fixes him, but everybody agrees we will. Sam starts praying again, and snakes show up all over the Big Guy’s body and it’s all weird, but eventually, he gets up again. He seems alright, so we move on. Maybe we should have asked for Orange back, too.

There are lots more doors and traps and hallways. One room has a treasure in the middle that makes Red try to kill Nevi, but Sam fixes him before I have to knock him out. Eventually, we run out of places to go and it takes a little bit to find the hidden door.

This room smells awful and is full of corpses. We slip in, and try to find a door, but seven of the corpses stand up and attack us. They spit worms at us! Zombie worms! They are so gross, we spend as much time smashing the worms as we do the zombies, but we get rid of both. Of course we then run into a Pink Toad that turns into a deathly dog when we shoot it, so we have to put that down, too. More rooms and locked doors. Will we ever get out of here?