2005-10-02 Tarik's Journal

The winding tunnel opens into a small, cool, damp room. (18) In the southeast corner is the rotting corpse of an eight foot long worm-like thing with legs. It's a carrion crawler. There are loose armor bits on the floor. Rassi pokes the body and notices there are solid things in the crawler.

In the corpse Rassi finds two small coffers. It looks like someone tried to hide the coffers. In the junk on the floor are some salvagable gear, including ten small chain shirts and ten small bucklers. The armor looks like it was recently placed.

One coffer contains 140 copper, 225 silver, 178 and gold pieces. The other contains a small silver framed mirror, a healer's kit, a silver dragon pendant with moonstone eyes, and a corked copper scroll tube. Inside the tube are two scrolls. The scrolls are arcane, but they are complex enough that I'm unable to quickly identify them.

We collect up the armor and head back to the entry room. (1) Opening the J door, we find a well preserved room filled with cots and chests. (19)The chests contain moldy blankets, rotten food, and tabards. The tabards bear the symbol of a gear with an eight pointed star in the middle. We lock the room behind us.

(1) Back in the room with the masks, Verana notices a secret door on the north wall.

We head down the unexplored tunnel to the east. (20) It slopes downward. The passage forks. Following the passage to the left, we come to another room. (21) Small bones, perhaps rats, litter the floor. As Verana steps in, sudden a large stone creature appears in front of her. It has hammers for hands. It's a pulverizer automaton, a utility golem intended for tunnelling. The automaton looks like it's going to attack. Rassi charges. I enchant Maeglin's sword with magic weapon. Verana tumbles behind it. Kyrin blasts to the automaton with a magic missile. Rassi, Maeglin, and Verana continue to battle it in melee while Kyrin and I support with magical blasts. Finally Rassi slams her sword into the automaton, cracking it in half. It collapses to the group.

Maeglin notices a deep blue spinel in the rubble of the auomaton. It's wired in with copper wires. Also wired in is another keyrod, this time A. Now we have A, E, J, and N.

Shining the bullseye lantern down the south passage, suddenly a skulk leaps out of hiding. Before it can reach Verana, Rassi slays it.

Following the cooridor to the left we come to a large room. (22) The room looks like a forest. The outer walls are impassable brambles. The ceiling is formed by the branches and leaves above. An interesting illusion, presumably to give the gnomes a sense of home.

(23) The next room is a ruined dining hall. Two iron chandelers hang above, one fell to the floor. A once great oaken table lies in pieces along with broken chairs.

The passageway into the room is narrower than our map suggests. Kyrin examines it; he thinks it was narrowed with stone shape. Indeed, the stone looks pulled into shape.

Going through the skulk tunnel, we find a kitchen. (24)There are shelves and two hearths. It's been abandoned for a long time.

As Verana steps in, two short creatures with cloven feet leap out of the hearths to attack. Rassi charges in and slays one in a smooth motion. Kyrin blasts the other with a ray of frost, killing it.

Examining the bodies, they appear to be dark creepers. They're wearing ratty cloaks and carrying rusty daggers.

Maeglin searches the room. Opening the cabinet, it collapses. The heavy top piece conks him on the shoulder.

In the rubble is a shattered clay pot. In the pot is the Z keyrod.

Aidan heals the injured members of the group. We follow the as yet unexplored tunnel. It connects into the room behind the J door. (25) There is an oven in the corner. Tongs are against it. The floor is covered in shards of broken ceramics. There are shelves covered in pots.

Sitting in a chair is a skulk-like figure. It asks Rassi who she is. She says we're explorers. He says his name is Yuathyb. When he asks if we're the one who has been killing his servants, Rassi simply charges, but misses. Yuathyb moves forward, drawing a short sword to attack Verana. His strike cuts deep and Verana falls. I rush in and black the skulk with a magic missile. Aidan magically stabilizes Verana. Rassi slams her sword into Yuathyb with all of her force, cutting him into pieces and leading the room splattered with gore.

Aidan heals Verana.

Yuathyb has a D keyrod, two potions, four little crocks full of green fluid, a two foot malichite rod about an inch in diameter, a cloak, and a short sword.

We retreat to Ghelve's shop to regroup and recover. It's night. There is a notice tacked to the front door. "Shop closed by order of the City Guard. All citizens barred entry."

18th of Ready'reat

Healed, we head back down. We head back to the fork in the tunnel. As we travel, we notice some new footprints about, but we don't encounter anyone.

(26) We come to a small room. There is a wooden lever stuck into a metal plate on the west wall. Verana thinks it controls a trap and is connected to a trap. We pull the lever down. There is a thunk.

(27) Another room is full of unfinished tables and kegs. They've been pushed to the walls. Four cots are in the center of the room. Workbenches on the north wall are covered with rusty carpenter's tools. Verana notices a dark creeper hiding beneath a workbench. Maeglin charges it and slays it in a single blow.

Searching the room, we find four engraved copper cups, a silver cloak pin set with a bloodstone, three zircons, a gold comb set with citrines, some silver and platinum.

(28) Around the corner is a wooden barricade. It's been braced to the floor and walls with iron braces and spikes. The wood looks to have been pulled from furniture. We double back to check a room behind us.

(29)The room proves to be a smithy. There are four hearths each with an anvil in front of it. Stagnant water sits in barrels. Maeglin notices a secret passage in the west wall. Behind a barrel is an I keyrod.

We search the short deadend, but there is no hidden passage.

We follow the secret passage out of the smithy. At the end of the hallway Maeglin notices another secret door. To the side is a small room. Maeglin leads into the small room. (30) Four spears jab out of the walls, one striking Maeglin. The spears pull back into the wall before we can react. Peering down the cooridor, there are several short column pedastals.

Verana examines the traps. The holes in the wall are hidden by illusions. She disables the floor plates in the hall. The group searches the room, but doesn't find anything.

Listening at the secret door, I hear rhythmic clanking sounds, perhaps some sort of machine. (31) Beyond the door is a large loom and three spinning wheels. The wheels are covered with sheets. The wheels are spinning on their own, making the noise. There is a coatrack. Looking under the sheets, the spinning wheels look normal, other than magically spinning. The wheels are easily stopped, restarting slowly when released.

Listening at the gear door, we hear the sound of clattering gears, a guttering flame, and the occasional scrape of flesh against stone.

(32) The door opens to a tall, huge room. Two pillars hold up balconies. Wrought iron stairwells rise to the balconies. An eight foot diameter hangs from chains at the north end. The center of the gear brightly illuminates the room. The wall and ceiling is decorated with an intricate mural of gears.

Floating twenty feet in the air is a large brain with a beak and long tentacles. It lashes out at Rassi with a mass of tentacles, paralyzing her. It grabs Rassi. We lay into the beast with magical bolts, arrows, and Maeglin's sword.

The brain monster floats to the top of the room taking Rassi with it. It drops Rassi onto the hard ground. Maeglin fires an arrow into the monster. It twitches, then falls to the ground.

Kyrin examines the strange beast and announces that it's a grell. He cuts the tentacles off for research purposes.

The west end of the room has a barricade. The two barricades to the east and west have spikes on this side.

Searching the room, we find the remains of a dark creeper. There is a small masterwork dagger. There is a compartment in the dagger containing a green liquid. There is also a small pouch with some change.

Iron double doors are at the south end of the room. To the sides are two gear doors, R and N. Beyond the doors are glyphs on the floor. (33) The glyphs spell out Jzadirune. On the south wall Maeglin notices a secret door. The secret door opens to a tunnel back to the entry room.

Now that we're equipped with several more keys,we revisit the first hallway. (2)Verana notice a secret door at the north end of the hallway. It opens into a small room.

(34)The room has an acrid smell. There are two tables. One is covered with alchemical devices. The other table has been flipped over, smashing alchemical tools on the floor. A cabinet with glass doors has been smashed into. There is a wooden fan on the ceiling connected to a pulley that leads into the wall.

As Verana steps into the room, rags on the floor swirl and float into the air. It's a raggamoffyn, a type of construct. Maeglin charges in, striking at it. The ragamoffin envelops Maeglin. Blows to the raggamoffyn also injure Maeglin. As we fight, a dull glaze crosses Maeglin's eyes. Suddenly Maeglin strikes at Verana, a viscous cut that leaves Verana bleeding on the ground. Aidan casts a spell on Maeglin to grant him protection from evil. Maeglin regains control over his body. Rassi slashes up the raggamoffyn and Maeglin. Maeglin is badly damaged, but the ragamoffin is torn into shreds. Aidan heals Verana, but the healing isn't enough to revive her. We retreat to Ghelve's shop to heal.

We examine the items we've taken for magic. The potions are magical. Two are divine and bear the conjuration school. The other two are illusionary magic. The keyrods are magical. The wand with doors carved into it shows signs of the divination school. Nothing else we've found is magical.

Maegin and Rassi take Verana to the temple of St. Cuthbert for healing. Kyrin, Aidan, and I guard the shop.

(OOC: At the temple services are in session. The group spends 90 gold to heal them. Jenya is not available. The group elects to wait for the service to finish. )

(OOC: Verana summarizes what has happened. After much asking, unaided by Rassi's complaints, Jenya heals the three and gives them a potion of cure light wounds.)

(OOC: They ask that Jenya speak to Skellerang to see about putting guards on the building.)

We rest for the day and rememorize our spells.

19th of Ready'reat

I read the scrolls and spellbook. The spellbook has disguise self, color spray, detect magic, ghost sound, invisibility, Leomund's trap, mage hand, minor image, misdirection, Nystul's magic aura, read magic, and silent image. The two scrolls are mirror image and mage armor.

We head back down. (34) The alchemical lab has a tunnel leading further in. In the alchemy lab we find some vials of acid, tindertwigs, flasks of alchemist's fire, vials of antitoxin, smokesticks, sunrods, a thunderstone, and two vials labeled "universal solvent" in gnomish.

(35) The passage opens to a room full of broken metal and gears. In the room is partially constructed five foot tall contraption. Stepping in, a skulk leaps out. The skulk is covered in rags. The skulk is unusual tough, but surrounded by the group it is quicky dispatched. Aidan magically burns the rags, but it's not enough. The rags are a raggamoffyn, and they leap onto Maeglin. Maeglin strains and bursts the rags off of himself. Rassi shreds the rags into nothingness

Examining the construct, it looks like a variation on a pulverizer automaton. It doesn't yet have a gem to animate it.

(36) From the automaton assembly room another tunnel leads to a dead-end room. On the south wall is lever. There are three chests, their padlocks smashed on the ground. The chests are decorated with animals. The badger chest is empty. The fox chest has a false bottom holding a silver bracelet, a pouch holding three citrines, and a tiny glass vial full of dust. The rabbit chest has a battered grey pouch. Kyrin reaches in and feels a fuzzy ball. He believes the bag is a bag of tricks.

Searching the walls, we find two secret doors. Maeglin turns the lever from the on to the off position.

We explore the remaining rooms off the hallway. (37) Through the northern secret door, we find a searched and smashed bedroom. We find several abandoned bedrooms. (38, 39). Another room is an old nursery. (40) Another empty bedroom hides a secret door east. (41)

(42) The secret room is a dusty armory. Much of the equipment is gone, but some remains. Verana unlocks a chest in the room. The chest has a secret compartment. We find crossbow bolts, smokesticks, a thunderstone, a tanglefoot bag, gnomish hooked hammers, small light and heavy picks, small half-plate armor, and three small steel shields. The shields and armor have the eight pointed star in a gear emblem. Hidden in the compartment on the chest is a wand carved to look like two hands throwing flames.

Exploring the northwest cooridor, we find a hallway with niches. (43) The niches are ful of strange contraptions. There is a belt running from niche to niche that may once have animated the contraptions, but they are not badly broken.

(44) At the end of the hallway is a workshop. There are smashed tables. The floor is covered with gears and mechanics. A five foot tall, five foot wide, irregularly shaped thing covered in a sheet. We surround the thing. Verana yanks the sheet off. There is a grind and a whirr and the thing begins moving. It's another pulverizer automaton. The group attacks the automaton, slowly damaging it. The automaton is about to his Maeglin, but suddenly stops. As we battle, it repeats this behavior; as it's about to attack there is a grinding sound and it loses track of Maeglin. Kyrin notices that damage to the outside may have damaged the constructs ability to function. On its third strike, it manages to complete its swing and strikes Maeglin. After several more blows from our group, Aidan destroys the pulverizer.

Inside the construct is another deep blue spinel.

Following the skulk tunnels, we find a small room. (45) A mist rises from the from the floor. There are empty bookshelves. As Verana peeks in, a skulk leaps at her. Rassi again charges it and slays it in a single blow.

A secret passage to the north hides a scroll storage room. (46) The scrolls themselves are gone. As we step in, an illusion of female gnome with a ruby in her eye socket. The illusion identifies itself as Emirystul. She says the scrolls were destroyed to protect us from The Vanishing. The Vanishing began here and will end here. We're warned to be careful of what we find and the magics that were wrought here. Strange place to put a warning.

(47) The second octagon room is a magical classroom. There is a lecturn. There are several protective circles on the floor.

(OOC: The mimic has moved on, and we're considered to have defeated it.)

We sweep the remaining rooms. (48) There is an empty room. (49) There is an abandoned sleeping quarters.

To the east we find a small study. (50) There is a dust covered desk and shelves. Searching the desk, we find the R keyrod.

Heading into that room, Maeglin notices a secret door. (51) Behind the door is a small room with a mural of a forest. In the room is a full plate suit of armor sized for a gnome. There is an urn full of treasure. There is a mix of coins, three silver rings, a tiny silver locket, two plain gold rings, a platinum bracelet engraved "To Sondor my deepest love, Lorthan," masterwork thieves tools, a potion, a wooden wand that ends in a cloud carving. There are more secret doors heading south and east.

To the east is another room. Gnomish banded mail holds a masterwork gnomish hooked hammer. An iron chest sits at its feet. (52) As we move in, the armor animates and attacks. Rassi charges, but her blow glances off the armor. Aidan, Maeglin, and Rassi pound on the armor until it falls apart. Examining it, I believe it's dread guard.

Verana opens the chest. At first it appears empty, but she fights off the illusion and notices a false bottom. It contains, three small statues of shrews carved from smokey quartz, a mother of pearl chess board and pieces, and a tiny silk pouch containing 3 white pearls.

(53) A small secret room to the side contains three chests covered with glyphs. However, the chests are all already open and empty.

(55) Back near the grell's corpse, the R key opens another small barren room.

(54) Back near the large hall, we find what was once a fine furnished room. It's now mouldering and stripped. Nothing of import remains behind.

The mimic is gone. (55) Past the mimic's room, we find a short hallway ending in a D doorway. (56)beyond is an octagonal room. The floor is wooden. At each corner is a chain that loops up to a large pulley. The chains return down to holes in the floor. Waiting in the room are two surprised hobgoblins.

Aidan rushes the hobgoblin howling insults in dwarven. He slays one of the hobgoblin in a mighty swing. The other hobgoblin drops his weapons and cowers. We tie the hobgoblin up and drag him back to the mimic room to question him.

Checking the body and the prisoner, they have two pairs of studded leather armor, two light wooden shields, two short swords, and some gold and silver.

His name is Bik. He's been guarding for Kazmojen for two years. Apparently guarding the lift is a great honor. There is a key they give to the stalker who unlocks it. Guards below lower the elevator every "four bongs", or two hours. There are two guards at the bottom. To activate the key sooner, the boss skulk would use the "black stick", the malachite rod we have.

The fortress used to be a dwarven fortress. He draws us a rough map.

Kazmojen is a "twenty feet tall, with big arms, talons." He lead them here from far away through the underdark. He uses a "hitty thing" and has "tall ears". He has red skin and four tails. Sometimes he takes tails off. He can take on and off wings. He can hang his wings on the walls.

The people from above were taken for the slave trade. Kazmojen doesn't need slaves, the slaves are sold. They're sold to a variety of races, including once a tentacled thing. Kazmojen brought Bik's tribe out of squalor. Kazmojen was expecting the skulks and enlisted them when the group arrives.

Verana notices another secret passage. It leads back to the stairwell.

Quickly checking the remaining rooms, we find several empty rooms. (57, 58) In the south east corner is a latrine. (59)

CategoryTarik'sJournal

2005-10-02 Tarik's Journal (last edited 2005-11-16 06:53:55 by AlanDeSmet)