Session 11; June10, 2008 

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Session 11:  "Across the Sea”

10^th-11th of Ches; 1308 CE

Cast of Characters:

Celceor The Wise; Elf Mage (Dave M.)

Nick; human rogue (Dave P.)

Wryan O’Malley; Human fighter (Kevin)

Bent Bullswaggit; Dwarf Mage/Bard (Brook)

Fafnir; Human Barbarian (Jon C.)

Werkle of Dinnsmere; Dwarf Fighter (Al)

Eggo of the Holy Brotherhood; Human Cleric (NPC)

Skwortch; Goblin (NPC)

Keygan Ghelve; Gnome Expert/Illusionist (NPC)

10 other various former slaves

The power was out and the basement flooded; we played in our rather stuffy dining room by candlelight. The heat, thankfully, was offset by cold Mexican beer and hard lemonade, but reading the dice was a bit hard.

A brief summary of previous events is here.

What has come before: When last we convened, the brave adventurers had just rescued a dozen slaves from ‘Darktown,’ a goblin trading town on a vast underground sea. Darktown was overrun by ghouls from the stygian City of Ghouls; the party had escaped, after having liberated the slaves and killed the villainous Rowgli, trader of slaves and misery profiteer. The exit tunnels from Darktown were overrun by rank upon rank of noisome ghouls. Battles between the ghouls and the goblins (which the goblins seemed to be losing) were breaking out all over the town. The adventures fought a gang of hobgoblins over a boat and prevailed. Kletus, a former companion killed by the ghouls rose from the dead and attacked his former companions. aThe stout companions fought their way to the docks, and, along with many other vessels, they rowed away from Darktown, hearing the echoing shrieks of those left behind and the gleeful cries of the ghouls.

Some bills of lading and other clues they picked up in Darktown indicated that someone named Captain Jack Mortimer had arrived at Rowgli’s before them and picked up the boy, Terrem Katrys, who had previously been a somewhat ill behaved but unremarkable child at the Lantern Street Orphanage. As they rowed, the party began to take stock of the situation. Most of the other ships either rowed east or west of drifted aimlessly, apparently battling ghouls who had somehow gotten aboard. Skwortch, their sniveling goblin guide, said that pirates came and went to the west, so that was not a good way to go, and the goblin city was to the east, which was also not a good way to go, but he had heard tell of an exit to the north, across the lake.

Bane, their companion, was still paralyzed from the ghoul’s touch. Apparently suspecting him of withholding, they tossed his body as he muttered curses through clenched teeth (sorry, Mike). They found a fairly heavy small bag with a drawstring that none remembered seeing before and opened it to find the bag filled with coins and some jewelry. A quick accounting noted that there were 1300 gps, 500 pps, 4000 sps, 2 rings (one of which was magical and Wryan put on), 3 gaudy gold necklaces, 2 bracelets and 4 small gems. The bag was also magical and seemed to be able to hold more than a bag of that size really should have.

Two of the former slaves seemed fairly capable and hadn’t been in the care of the hobgoblins long enough to have their health impaired or their spirits broken. One was a mighty Valonian Barbarian who introduced himself as Fafnir. The other was a dwarven bard and part-time wizard named Bent Bullswaggit. After two hours rowing, they arrived at the north end of the sea cavern. An upward sloping shore that led to a funnel shaped opening festooned with stalactites and stalagmites could be seen ahead. Celceor’s owl familiar was sent out to scout and they discovered another smaller tunnel exit, thirty feet above the floor. The remains of a sunken boat were partially pulled up on shore.

Seeing no obvious threats, the party rowed to shore and pulled up the boat, fastening the painter to a handy stalagmite. Scouting ahead, they could feel a cold breeze that smelled different than the underground air blowing from the cave exit and could see cobwebs flapping in the breeze. The slaves shivered in their thin and ragged garments. Bent fashioned himself a club from an oar handle.

Celceor, Nick, Werkle, Fafnir and Bent went forward to investigate, instructing the others to guard the slaves at the shore. Climbing up the slope to the exit cave, they discovered that it narrowed to a thin point and then widened out again, to a wider cavern, like the waist of an hourglass. This wide cavern had many stalactites and rock formations festooned with cobwebs and stank of rot. They could see various carcasses and bones, as well as the glint of several metal items hanging in the webs. Bent found a sack tangled in the webs but when he pulled it free, the rotted seams of the bag split and 500 sps spilled onto the floor. Fafnir found a skeleton wearing still serviceable but rusty chainmail, a sword and dagger. This long dead warrior still grasped a broken spear that impaled the carcass of a dead giant spider. Nick began to apply the business end of the torch to the webs and they began to burn brightly, flames running up the strands and illuminating a much larger cavern. The fire was suddenly reflected in many eyes of creatures crouched on the ceiling; two spiders, the size of Shetland ponies, sprang towards the party!

Both spiders had apparently misjudged the speed of their victims; their leaping attacks were ineffective. Werkle fired his crossbow and scored a solid hit as the bolt buried itself into the spider’s abdomen. There was a momentary confusion and Fafnir was bitten, poison coursing through his veins and weakening him, but the group prevailed and soon the spiders lay dead on the ground. Celceor gathered a small amount of spider venom for future use.

Searching the cavern, they found a quiver of masterwork arrows, a magic helmet with a dolphin crest, a scroll tube with clerical scrolls of Cure Moderate Wounds and Remove Curse (L6), a ring with a gemstone and a masterwork light crossbow without bolts and a silver dagger. As Celceor picked up the helmet, a spider hiding inside it tried to bite him on the hand. The elf shook the spider out onto the floor and crushed it under his boot.

There were some bits and pieces of equipment that the poorer party members scrounged and the husks and bones of many previous spider victims hanging in the webs. The party destroyed several egg sacks as well. Fafnir put on the rusted chainmail and Bent scrounged up a backpack with rope and blanket.

Once the group was relatively certain the threat had been dealt with, they returned to shore to speak with the others. It was decided that they would rest, building a fire from what dry wood they could scavenge from the ruined boat to provide light and keep the slaves warm. Other members of the party took turns guarding the exit where they had fought the spiders. Celceor returned Keygan’s spellbook so the gnome could memorize some spells.

After hours had passed and the party was beginning to feel refreshed, a sudden flapping noise was heard at the exit of the cavern. Wryan, Nick and Werkle were suddenly attacked by flapping creatures that looked like part anteater, part bat and part insect. Their long, probing proboscis plunged into the group’s flesh like giant hypodermic needles as the unwholesome creatures began to suck out the blood. Two of them fastened onto Wryan, one onto Nick and two more onto Werkle and there were several more flapping around, seeking to find a spot to feed. “Gangway!” shouted Werkle, as he ran towards the shore, two of the creatures on him while a third flew in hot pursuit. As he passed, Fafnir swung his sword skillfully and splattered one of the creatures to bits. Nick wrenched one off of his neck and threw it on the floor and attempted to step on it, but stumbled. Wryan attacked one in the air while two more sucked her blood.

With help from the rest of the group, the stirges were finally killed. No one was dead, but several characters had been drained of blood and were suffering the effects. Skwortch had once again soiled his pants while hiding in the boat. However, it was generally agreed that this was not a healthy camping spot due to the high volume of traffic. The group formed up into a procession, with their tougher fighters in the front, slaves protected in the middle and a rear guard and marched forward.

The passage led on for about two miles of tunnel that appeared to have been an ancient dry riverbed, suddenly ending abruptly at a cliff. The party found themselves standing at the base of a gigantic underground chimney, at least 100 feet in diameter, that went up as far as the eye could see in the relative darkness. A cold wind blew down from above. The north face of the chimney looked like a cliff, crisscrossed with small ledges and natural crystal formations that might provide handholds for climbing.

The group wondered if this chimney led to the surface and the darkness above was just the night time sky. Celceor sent his owl up to scout around. Up he went and they waited, waited, waited and waited. Suddenly the owl reappeared, hurtling down from above in fright. Through their psychic connection, Celceor realized the owl was attempting to warn him that danger was fast approaching…

And we ended here…

Character / Player:	Race / Class & Level:	XP at start:	XP for session:	XP total:	Notes:
Eryn Bane; Mike D.	(half-elf / Thief 2)	2222	145	2367
Celceor The Wise; Dave M.	(Elf / Mage 3)	5571	291	5862
Nick; Dave P.	(Human / Rogue 3)	4327	291	4618
Wryan O’Malley; Kevin S.	(Human / Ftr 2)	2579	291	2870
Werkle of Dinnsmere; Al G.	(Dwarf / Fighter 2)	2515	291	2806
Eggo of the Holy Brotherhood / NPC	(Human / Cleric 2)	2427	145	2572
Skwortch / NPC	(Goblin )	100	50	150
Fafnir; Human Barbarian / Jon C.	(Human Barbarian 2)	1000	291	1291
Bent Bullswaggit / Brooke	(Dwarf Bard 1/Mage 1)	1000	291	1291

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