Fireday, 1 Arodus

As I predicted, after a brief respite, we decided to look for goodies. The mummies themselves had some magical (+1) chainmail [1185], which is useless to me. They also apparently had on their person (!) 8 gem-encrusted torques [1186] worth about 600 gp each, but otherwise unmagical.

The walls here are covered with skulls, which themselves still have bits of flesh hanging from them. Upon inspection, Rigel announced there was a secret level associated with each and every one of them.

Everyone stepped to the back of the room (well, in a circular room I suppose “towards the door” is more accurate) as Rigel opened one. There were no explosions, no sharp spikes, no lightning bolts .. no visible effect at all. There was an area behind the skull that held funeral linens, and a sickly sweet smell, but nothing else of value. As we pondered this, Rigel happily announced “Another!” She and Takkad opened all that we could find, certain that the mummies had been guarding something of value, but apparently they’d only been guarding “the room”.

The only exit from this room (other than the door through which we’d entered) was a staircase off to the northeast. It eventually wound up at an iron door, which was unlocked. We entered.

This circular room had six statues in front of six alcoves (a seventh alcove held the door through which we’d entered).

One statue held some grapes.

One held some bread.

One held some cheese.

One held some meat.

One held some candies.

And one simply stood there with his arms crossed. But he looked to have really sharp teeth.

Sedgwick said these represented the key families in the realm of Gluttony. I asked about the last one, and he just grimly said, “Cannibalism.”

Well gosh, cannibalism seems like a problem and a solution all in itself. Eventually, you run out of food, right? Gives finger food a whole new meaning. Still, I’d rather not meet the rep from the cannibal family.

We went to the first, with the grapes: Inibs. We opened the door and entered the corridor, which shortly led to another room. Rigel’s eyes got very big, as here there was a golden sarcophagus. But first, there was a loud noise from the west, and a reddish looking womanish looking armored looking figure approached menacingly. She appeared to have a clay body with iron plating and some runes all over.

Well crap. Fire won’t help here. So I hasted everyone. Sedgwick inspired us and Takkad prayed for us. Sabin and Nolin got some blows in, but swords probably weren’t our best choice against a foe made of clay. Next I tried magic missile, but they just bounced off. Magic resistance. Great.

But then Avia cranked up the religion and suddenly she was laying some heavy smiting on Ms Golem. In an incredible burst of speed, the golem smacked Nolin, Avia, and Rigel (who’d crept in for a possible sneak attack) but Nolin responded by taking three swings and connecting three times — the last one making it drop. Takkad healed the wounded and all was right with the world. Rigel rushed to the golden sarcophagus.

The lid came off with Avia, Nolin, and Sabin carefully lifting it. Avia had detected no evil inside, and in fact, there was nothing at all inside. Rigel disappointedly remarked that the gold was gold plating. However, there were 2 star sapphire eyes and 12 amethyst grapes adorning the lid, which offered some consolation, at least.

There was plenty of storage for wine (finally!) in this room, but it was ancient, and thus not wine anymore.

Nearby another small room held valueless and disappointing empty bottles.

Another room held bodies and putricity.

Another room was simply empty.

Yet another room was – you know, I suppose I should be in awe of these relics of an ancient civilization but even though I’ve made a point of picking up the language, and even though we are seeing things that have gone unseen for hundreds and thousands of years, I’m bored. I’d rather be using my magic. I have learned SO much and gotten SO much better at this!

I wonder if I’ve yet surpassed my father. How does one measure such things? Is it by money earned? Creatures killed? Spells known? Friends made? Influence gained?

Certainly nobody my age is this adept, right? I mean, I don’t remember seeing anybody down at the market flicking lightning bolts off their fingers.

With a start, I realized I’d stopped to think in the great hall, but the rest of the group had moved on. I got a hurried look at some murals – I suppose that’s what turns a hall from ordinary into great — before rushing to catch up.

At the other end of the hall, we found a necromantic lab. Nothing showed with detect magic, but clearly there were components here for necromantic spells. Maybe those corpses in the other room were also “components.” There was a book about creating undead [1190] there.

While in the lab, Avia sensed some evil, and before we could do much else, two shadows became apparent and immediately attacked Takkad, who looked shakened and weaker. Then I think I heard him mutter under his breath “so that’s how it’s going to be, huh?” and conjured up a flame strike which illuminated both of the shadows as if the sun had reached out and caressed them. Kane channeled a whole lot of positive energy at the shadows and Avia stopped in midstep. The shadows were gone. Between them, Kane and Takkad took out the two shadows before anybody else could do anything – a somber reminder that religion kills! 🙂

Another lab next door seemed far less sinister and more alchemical in nature ([1189] alchemical supplies).

We returned to the great hall to inspect more room connected there. One reeked of decaying flesh and prepared to fight zombies or ghasts … but no, it really was just dead bodies. Maybe a few weeks old, which was a little alarming because it meant there were still people alive here AND there was still something killing them.

Another room proved largely empty and thoroughly disinteresting.

A door to the north was locked, but Kane broke the lock .. and inside we found another sarcophagus.

Oh, and another eight mummies. Now we know from recent experience that this simply screams for a fireball, so with nothing more than a gesture and a nod from the group, I obliged. Six of the eight took serious damage; one was killed outright and one was outside the blast range. Takkad channeled energy, and Kane channeled energy, and more dropped, leaving only the one who’d been largely unaffected by most of the spells. Avia willingly stepped forward and finished that one off. I got to use my cantrip “disrupt dead” to some small effect.

This left us free to inspect the sarcophagus they’d been guarding. This, now, must be something valuable to have these creatures guarding it.

Nope. Oh I’m sure it has value as an artifact, but it’s not solid gold or anything. Sigh.

We went to another room near the pile-of-bodies room and discovered a long narrow room with what appeared to be a spectre hovering in it. Well that’s a no brainer! Fireball!

And apparently it took affront at that, because it immediately teleported next to me and …struck me or something. The pain was brief but intense, and I felt weaker. Nolin stepped up and finished it off on my behalf. Thanks, big N. Takkad did some special healing – he called it a restoration – and I immediately felt better. I don’t think I’ve ever been on the receiving end of that kind of magic before.

There was a room to the south, and from the debris and damage it appeared to be the scene of a battle. But there were no creatures there, and nothing of value left.

Wandering through these connected rooms, I began to wonder at the design. It was almost as if they were built at random, simply because there was room yet. Some were connected to others in weird ways. They clearly interconnected the doors that represented each family; no family area was separate from another. Perhaps this is the result you get from a gluttonous architect.

We returned to the statue room, and checked out the “meat” door. It led to some places we’d already been, and proved uninteresting. We returned, and this time chose the “candy” door. Before we could go through, though, we heard the sound of a door closing behind us (the “grapes” door) and a creature stood before us. “Master, I found them!” he claimed, to nobody we could detect. But it made us very nervous.

Takkad tried talking to him in a brusque manner, but he seemed more interested in eating us. He was a zombie, it seems, and he kept up his running commentary to “Master”. Avia grew tired of his talk and was the first to smack him. I hit him with not one, not two, but three scorching rays, which judging from his sounds he did not like. Nolin and Takkad each got some blows in before he succumbed, and he only succeeded in injuring Avia.

He’d been carrying a +2 humanbane dagger [1191], 8 masterwork daggers [1192], and a +3 chain shirt [1193]. The distraction having been dealt with, we returned to the candy door, but perhaps a bit more alert and aware, looking for “Master”. We found a few more rooms, but none of them held anything interesting.

We returned to the statue room and considered. We knew from our travels that this area had a lot of secret doors; we’d found some of them from the non-secret side so we knew we’d missed some. We felt we should go back and search the rooms more carefully, because we believed there was still more here.

We did indeed find a few more secret doors, but none of them led anywhere interesting … until we finally found one off of one of the sarcophagus rooms. This led to another necromantic lab, complete with disembodied organs and a human body, partly dissected.

Avia announced there were three evil presences in the next room, one more powerful than the other two. We looked at each other and buffed up. I added Mage Armor and also gave it to Nolin, Avia, and Sabin (it adds protection against incorporeal creatures.) I gave myself Spell Resistance and mirror image. I cast Greater Invisibility upon Rigel, and hasted everyone. I believe other magic was employed by our other magic users, but I didn’t take note of it. Then before the magic such as haste could wear off …

We went in.

I led with a fireball, and Sabin then dimension doored the usual suspects next to what appeared to be the most dangerous being in the room — and that’s saying something when one considers the other two beings were demons. It too was prepared, it would seem, as Avia quickly took out three of it’s mirror images. One demon moved to attack Takkad, but found himself pushed back. Another came after me … but nothing happened that I could tell. A finger of death was pointed at Sabin, but it damaged him without killing him. Sedgwick started singing. Takkad tried to dismiss one of the demons, but was not successful. Nolin took out two more images – the haste was proving useful – before actually connecting and doing some damage. Kane tried a dismissal, with equal results. I gave my chain lightning a try, but discovered that, no surprise, these creatures had spell resistance and I’d failed to crack it. Sabin finally connected and dealt some heavy blows, while Avia took out the last of its images. One demon struck Sedgwick, and he cried out in pain. The other shot a ray of enfeeblement at Takkad, but Takkad dodged.

Then K dimension doored out, leaving us the demons to deal with.

== Fireday, Arodus 1, 4708; Runeforge; mid day ==

Kane was first to arrive at the gates of greed, which were disappointingly a rather mundane set of double doors. Past them was a large circular domed room, and set into the walls were grinning skulls with flesh gripped between the teeth.

But of more immediate concern were the eight mummies positioned around the room. They were clad in chain mail, and their skin was black and shiny. Each was coated in a small swarm of climbing beetles.

The mummies struck first, lashing out at Nolin and Sabin, but they quickly countered along with Avia, killing one. Trask let loose a fireball in the center of the room, which burned all of the mummies and killed most. I followed this up with an energy channel, and this finished of the remainder.

The mummies were surprisingly well equipped:

[1185] 8 +1 chain mail
[1186] 8 gem encrusted amulets

With the mummies defeated, we entered the room and looked closely at the skull- lined encircling wall. Each skull was set in a panel, and Rigel discovered that they were all secret doors, and used an Open spell to unseal one. The panel dropped down and revealed a space large enough to intern a body. We spent some time going through each and every one of these crypts, but found they really were just as they appeared.

A set of stairs lead up from the northeast to a corridor that zig-zagged its way to an iron door set with an intricate rope motif. Beyond the unlocked door was another circular chamber.

Seven shallow alcoves lined the circular wall of this room, each with its own door (including the one through which we entered). In the center stood six life sized human statues facing the other doors. We wandered in and cautiously approached the statues, which had names engraved at their feet.

The first, facing the door on our left, was Inibs holding a sprig of grapes.

The next was Chvivic holding five loaves of bread.

Then came Gorian holding a great wedge of cheese.

And Hawfrey with a large haunch of meat.

Hanstrin presented a tray of candies.

And finally Zarioch, who was baring his teeth, which had been filed to sharp points.

Sedgewick volunteered that these were the names of six noble houses in Zutha’s kingdom of gluttony. They represented the five major consumable industries, except for Zarioch, who represented cannibalism.

Sabin and I opened the door Inibs was facing and warily entered a large, irregular shaped hall. Following Kane and Rigel, we moved through a narrow passage to the southwest to an even larger hall with a golden sarcophagus at the far end.

As Rigel scampered toward the large shiny gold thing, the sound of heavy foot falls echoed from a chamber to the west. A large, stern looking woman thudded towards us. She was made of red clay and wore heavy iron armor, and ancient runes, which read “Blessed Lasala, great goddess of Thassilon,” covered her body. The golem attacked.

Kane tumbled past her, but although she turned her head to follow his motion, she did nothing. Sabin, Nolin, and Avia took this opportunity to hack at her; and Rigel attempted to repeat Kane’s trick, but was clobbered as she rolled by.

The golem then began to move faster, pummeling the fighters, who pummeled right back at her. Nolin struck the final blows as the construct stopped moving and crumbled to the floor.

We were now able to turn our attention to the gold coffin before us. Carved on the lid was the figure of a noble dressed in fine garments, holding a bunch of grapes. His eyes were emeralds, and each of the grapes was an amethyst, all of which we harvested.

2 star sapphires
12 amethyst grapes

Writing on the sarcophagus revealed it belonged to Lord Ankarios Inib, who had been killed by an assassin. But it was empty. And it was only burnished in gold leaf, and not solid gold, as we had hoped.

The walls of this room were filled with hundreds of slots containing bottles of wine. All of the bottles we tried had turned to vinegar, which is was not a surprise considered the thousands of years they had been here, but we were hoping some sort of magical effect was put in place to preserve them.

Through a door to the northwest was a small room filled with empty bottles, and steps in the corridor to the southeast lead down and right. We decided to save the stairs for another time.

Back in the irregular room the northwest door entered onto a lab reeking with the rotting remains of people.

A corridor to the northeast ran to a large empty room, through which to the east a door opened onto an immense hall. Nearby the north end of the hall ended in double doors, while the far end narrowed to a single door that opened into the circular door chamber.

The walls of the great hall were painted with large murals depicting people partaking in lavish, sumptuous feasts in idyllic settings. There was one disturbing mural of people feasting on other people. Gluttony is one thing, but I cannot abide cannibalism.

Through the double doors were a pair of labs: the one on the left dedicated to necromatic arts (which was disused, although some glass containers still held body parts preserved in acrid smelling liquids) and the one on the right for general alchemy.

While in the labs we felt the presence of some other creature. Avia paused for a moment and said there were two evil beings in the room just as a pair of shadows drifted over and assailed me. I retaliated with a Flame Strike, and Kane finished them off with a burst of channeled energy. Kane then restored my lost strength using a wand.

Having secured the labs, we catalogued the useful items, leaving the lab equipment in place for later retrieval.

[1189] alchemical lab equipment (left in lab)
[1190] a book on creating undead

Back in the great hall we found the two southern most doors on the east wall to be for meeting rooms. The northern door, however, lead to a large nose-some room. The source of the aromatic unpleasantness was a pile of bodies: six humans wearing blue robes (now soaked with blood), with a seemingly random choice of limbs and organs removed. We estimated that the bodies were only a week old.

A locked door to the north proved difficult for Kane to manage, and his pick broke off. No matter, Sabin quickly fixed the problem with a wand of Knock.

A large sarcophagus was in the center of a pentagonal room, surrounded by eight more mummies. Trask greeted them with a cheery fire(ball) while Kane and I channeled energy, Rigel fired arrows, and our big hitters began to hit big. Soon Avia had slain the last of them, and we entered the room. The sarcophagus rim was carved with running bulls, although bits of the ornamentation had been broken off. Runes on the lid identified it as belonging to Lord Hawfrey.

I realized Sedgewick was back in the other room, and returned to find him staring intently at the pile of bodies. “This means something. It was done as part of some necromatic ritual.” But he could not say for what purpose.

A door to the east of the pile of flesh opened onto a long, bizarre shaped room, in the middle of which hovered a spectre. Trask swiftly Fire-balled it, while I feebly tried to hit it with a Searing Light (missing it entirely). The specter winked out and appeared next to Trask, touching him and causing our young fire wielding friend to cry out in pain. Fortunately Nolin was on hand to kill it. I restored Trask’s precious lost life-force.

Despite the unusual shape of the room, it had little to offer. It looked as if it had served as a temple some time in the past.

To the south of the bodies was a large, empty coffin shaped room.

A hallway southeast of the bodies went back to the chamber of doors. We found we had already been through the interconnected areas behind the first three doors, and quickly entered the forth. A short corridor passed to another round room (mostly empty), with a passageway leading back to the dead body room (we had missed a secret door).

We returned to the door chamber and were making for the fifth door when we heard the first door (grapes) open and slam shut.

A humanoid creature with a hunched back shuffled towards us, calling out with delight, “Master, I have found them!”

Uh oh, something powerful was down here looking for us.

I tried to intimidate the figure, but he really just wanted to eat our brains, having too few of his own to engage in any meaningful conversation.

“Oh master, they have humanses! Nice big juicy fighters, oh and that one has a bow, and another one is pointing at me.”

The “another one” was Trask, who hit it with several scorching rays while our nice big juicy fighters sliced into it. It eventually fell, but it took more effort than expected because its wounds kept healing themselves. We relieved it of its burdens:

[1191] +2 human bane dagger
[1192] 8 masterwork daggers
[1193] +3 chain mail shirt

The fifth door was next, which lead down a long hall to a large disused communal dining room. Beyond the dining area was an empty hall, and searching revealed secret doors on either side. To the right a corridor rounded a bend and dead ended, while on the left the corridor took us to an alchemical lab, but it had been ransacked long ago.

From the dining room a door opened to a natural cavern that ended in a large square room — empty. We discovered north and south passages behind secret doors just outside this room, but they too took us to empty rooms.

The northwest door took us from the dining area to the coffin shaped room. Damn, another secret door we had missed!

Passing through the door on the right in the dining hallway we found a rubble choked room, but it did provide access through another door to (you can see it coming) another oddly shaped, but empty room. A doorway from this room took us back to the chamber of doors.

We returned to the stairs from the golden sarcophagus and followed them down and around to… an empty room.

We were frustrated by the lack of any relevant discoveries, but knew we had missed other secret doors and passageways, as we discovered by finding the “back way” to two such missed doors already.

Starting over we searched areas where we could not remember searching before.

In the back of the bottle room was a hidden door to a small round room, which took us to another large room. “Aha,” I though, “Now we’re getting somewhere.” Indeed we were: two more empty rooms, and then a tunnel that forked to two plundered alchemical labs.

These halls for gluttony just appear to go on forever without real design or purpose, almost as if the creators were obsessed with over-indulging in their… oh, right. Never mind.

We finally found what we were looking for in the room with Lord Hawfrey’s sarcophagus. There, a secret passageway with rough hewn walls looped around to a recently used lab.

The walls were lined with book shelves filled with books and other less pleasant things. Jars with human organs suspended in a clear fluid took up much of the space.

Three stone tables were stained with blood, and on one was stretched a man in the same blue robes as those in the pile of bodies to the south. His chest was split open and it looked as if we had interrupted his dissection. But by whom?

Rigel found a secret door in the north east corner, and Avia cautioned that she detected three strong evil beings beyond: one more powerful than the other two.

We have prepared for combat and are about to open the door.