Here There Be
Monsters
A
Terror Of
Terror-birds
As the black, boat
battering sea engulfed them, our heroes thought the end was nigh. Fortunately
for them, even I won't go that far for a TPK and they awoke in the early dawn
light, washed up like flotsam on the beach. As they took stock of their
surroundings, they soon realised that, apart from themselves, only five other
members of the ships company still lived - Amella, the ships captain, Avner, the
charmless noble, Urol, the naturalist, Lirith, the tomboy and Tavey, the cabin
boy. At this point, the morning air was rent by the howl (or whatever noise it
is dinosaurs make) and turned to see a T-Rex emerge on to the beach from the
forest. Much gnashing of teeth took place, as they engaged with melee, magic
and, in the case of Jack and Ronica, bare steel and the mighty fist. As the
battle raged, Ronica had the unpleasant chance to examine the belly of the beast
as it swallowed her whole. Fortunately for her, Jack struck two mighty blows (on
a bit mightier than the first) and almost clove the dinosaur in twain. Moments
later, it fell, dropped by (insert name here, I can't remember).
The party spent the rest of the day
foraging along the beach, finding food, animal feed and a few useful items. They
bedded down for the night at the end of the beach furthest from the body of the
T-Rex and hoped for a quiet night - dream on!
About an hour before dawn, the watch (Jack and Tavey, to be
precise, who spent much of their watch practising sword skills) noticed
something sneaking up on the camp - three Terror Birds, a lethal and intelligent
flightless bird, a predator of deadly intent and abilities. The camp was swiftly
roused and, apart from the slumbering Sancho, easily dealt with the
threat.
In the morning, after a
hearty breakfast (tastes a bit like chicken, apparently) they set off to head
for Farshore, on the southern tip of the island. By Amellas best guess, they had
been wrecked about a third of the way down the eastern shore. As they crossed
deeper into the jungle, even Avner became less obnoxious, as he realised his
life was in the parties hands. Suddenly they were beset by more Terror Birds,
moving in at the front and rear of the group and attempting to snatch the
smaller members. Poor Urol was grabbed by one of the birds which promptly ran
off with him. Jack and Ronica gave chase as the rest of the party fought off the
other birds, which faded into the jungle after one of them had been felled.
Sancho suddenly found himself in cahrge of the NPCs, as everyone else tried to
get the bird that was running off with Urol and a chase through the jungle
ensued. At this point, one of the birds attacked Sanchos group, hoping for a
further tasty morsel but qwas quickly defeated. Finally, after a truly epic
chase the rest of the group managed to bring down the remaining bird and rescue
Urol - who was delighted to have seen a Terror Bird in its natural environment
and didn't seem to comprehend how close it had been for him.
The Houses Of The
Holy
Team "Let's stand behind each other,
because there's no facing in this game" healed up after the great chase and
continued on their way to Dark Mountain Pass. As they approached the valley
where the Aranea had indicated the entrance to be, they became aware that there
was movement ahead. Moving cautiosly forward, the espied yet more Terror Birds -
their ecstatic joy unbounded, they moved forward to engage. As the three Terror
Birds charged into combat, to be met by Jack, Ronica, Analesia and Laureli, with
Sancho singing his heart out, Arumil decided to try out a new spell that had
popped into his head that morning on the larger Terror Bird which had moved
behind a copse. Summoning the mighty power of the sorcerous energies, he cast
Jungle Razor, best known as Druids Doom, destroying most of the copse and badly
hurting the Terror Bird. As the three smaller birds fell, the larger one moved
to the fray, only to be Jungle Razored again and then spanked into next week by
the rest of the party.
The group moved on, following the
nice new path created by Arunil, right up to the entrancve to the pass
(destroying the Terror Birds eggs on the way, despite, or possibly because of,
Urols protestations). With great trepidation (and some discussion
regarding the wisdom of climbing Caradhras or swimming the coastal route),
our intrepid heroes moved under the mountain, and walked many miles along a
gloomy, dusty and utterly tedious tunnel, apart from some vague feeling at the
back of the group that they were being watched.
Finally, they came out into a large
chamber, with a throne at one end and a pool of water to one side. Sancho ran
around excitedly, as he could not decide whether to look in the pool or sit on
the throne. Eventually, he decided the throne was of more interest, especially
when detect magic showed that the spear stuck in it wass magical. Collecting the
spear and the gold necklace off the throne, he rejoined the main party at the
pool, where they were getting a red stone rod from the pool.
The team moved deeper into the worked
stone complex, to a broad stone ledge from where two stone walkways bridged a
chasm that dropped away to swirling watery depths. At this point, twio
gargantuan centipedes had a right old go at them, to nigh on lethal effect (as
far as I can remember) before the combined might of sword, arrow and sorcery did
for the centipedes. The group selected the left hand bridge and moved across it,
discovering a pair of jammed doors. Combining their collective might (and some
gratuitous violence) they opened the doors, revealing a corridor, with niches on
each side containing the remains of numerous humanoids. The group moved
cautiously along the corridor, carefully not touching (or even, as a general
rule, looking) at the gruesome sides of the corridor. After some exploration,
they discovered another set of double doors, which they
opened.
Entering the chamber, they found two
pillars, one blue and one red, with the red one made of a similar stone to the
rod they had found. Sancho surmised, from the notch cut into the red pillar,
that these were some form of opening mechanism for the great iron doors to the
south. On the other side of the room were a set of double doors, which they
opened, to find a large room, with a pool in one corner. As they approached the
pool, it became clear that it was no innocuous pond, but the home of a Black
Pudding, which attacked with its pseudopods as soon as they came in range. In
yet another brutal combat, a lengthy learning curve regarding the nature of
Black Puddings was undertaken, as the group managed to split the pudding into
three, rather weaker, puddings - this actually worked to their advantage in the
long run, as they were able to deal with the lesser threats more easily than
they would have the single larger one.
Into The Light
Feeling rather unwell after their
travails against the Lancastrian ecky-thump monster, our intrepid heroes took a
well-deserved break to regather their strength. The next day, Analesia opened
the secret door, revealing an ancient tomb, with a sarcophagus inside. This set
off the mummy guards, three of whom were placed around the area. As they
lumbered in to view, first Aramil, then Sancho, Ronica and finally Analesia
succumbed to their gaze of despair and stood around all a dither (although
Ronica did whack one of them first). In the midst of this, Laureli used the
power of her god and drove the vile monstrosities back into their niches, while
Jack rendered them unto bandages with his sword. Much to the universes surprise,
the combat was very short and generally uneventful (although Sancho may reached
the depth of his despair as Laureli hugged him and carried him around until he
felt a bit better).
Looking at the sarcophagus, the group
noticed a design upon the top of a humanoid figure holding a blue rod (similar
to the red one they already had) and a ceremonial dagger. All of the team, with
the exception of Sancho, gathered in the room and heaved the lid off -
unfortunately setting off the trap throughout the room, filling it with spears
covered in a health sapping poison. All were badly wounded (except Sancho) and
Arumil came close to joining the mummies in the unending night. As they healed
and recovered, Sancho collected the rod from the grave and returned victorious
to the group from the ship. The rest rejoined him a little later.
After our heroes discussed going back
to bed (ten minutes after getting up), they continued, opening the doors to
daylight and the sight of the sea. They had made it under the
peninsula!
Sancho and Analesia set off to swim
to a nearby beach from where a cliffside path lead on round the coast. As they
reached the halfway point, two large monstrous crabs reared out of the water and
attacked them, doing vicious damage with their claws. As they turned to confront
this enemy, Arumil unleashed druids doom (or Jungle Razor) upon the crabs,
seriously wounding them. The rest of the party joined in with bow and arrow,
and, despite the appearance of one more crab, the threat was swiftly
neutralized. All of the group swiftly crossed the bay and began the long walk
round the coastal path.
The first day passed peacefully and
they camped for the night. Jack, on guard with Avner on the second watch, was
surprised when his torch suddenly stopped shedding light, as did the campfire.
Swiftly rousing the camp, he commenced a search through the unnatural darkness,
but discovered nothing apart from the still sleeping Sanchos head. The rest of
the night was uneventful.
The next day, they made good progress
apart from a rockfall, which slightly injured Laureli who noticed that in
amongst the rocks were a number of human skulls. That night passed peacefully,
apart from clicking sounds in the darkness, which were ignored until morning,
when the party rose to find the camp surrounded by a dozen wooden frames with
seabirds crucified upside-down upon them. Deciding that this was normal for the
time of year, they continued - only to be ambushed by gargoyles! A very quick
and brutal (for the gargoyles) combat ensued, with everyone getting in on the
act.
The following day, finding that the
path ended abruptly and continued sixty or so feet above them, they endeavoured
to work out how an apparent lift mechanism worked. With some effort, they
brought a platform down to their level and Sancho, Laureli and (I think) Jack
stepped aboard, at which point the vines holding the platform partially gave
way, plummeting Jack and Laureli eighty feet to the rocky beach below,
together with the remains of the lift. Both survived the fall and, after
healing, climbed a rope lowered by the rest of the group back to the
path.
Unleash The F(r)ogs Of War
At this point, Ronica asked if a pair
of slippers of spider climb might come in handy. The rest of the team, narrowly
avoiding throwing her off the cliff, opined in dulcet tones that, yes, they
might just help. Jack scampered up the cliff and held a rope, which the others
climbed to join him.
The following day, as the party continued along the coastal route (a
designated area of natural beauty compared to the rest of the island), they came
across an opening in the cliff face. Analesia moved cautiously to investigate
and was rather discombobulated to discover a gargoyle laying in wait. As it
attacked her, three more flew down from above and joined in the merriment. A
major barney ensued, with Laureli using spiritual weapon to bypass the monsters
damage reduction, Ronica moving to the aid of the rogue (or wass it the other
way round), Jack power attacking the proverbil out of the nearest gargoyle and
Aramil nearly getting killed (twice). Also, to the universes surprise, Sanchos
heroic streak came once again to the fore as he moved to attack the biggest,
meanest gargoyle of them all - which impressed the ladies no end! After a few
dicey moments (and one miss that left Jack momentarily shaken) the tide of the
battle swung in the heroes favour and the gargoyles were finally vanquished.
Pausing only to heal their wounds, the party moved on
Another day of sea
views stretched ahead of them when, to their consternation, the cliffside path
came to an abrupt halt. Backtracking a little, they found a mountain pass
leading into the interior of the island. After initially scouting it (and
getting bored) they collected the NPCs and set off up the stoney path. After a
ten mile trek, they came to the top of the canyon and could look down over a fog
mired forest, stretching out in front of them.
Making their way down into the
forest, in the mist and heat, they soon lost all sense of direction and spent
several days marching aimlessly around. On the third day, after Sancho had
discovered that even being gaseous gave no way of exitting the forest, came upon
a man tied to a wooden X frame. As they drew closer, it became obvious that he
was a zomdie. He spoke, welcoming them to his home, forever!
During the
nights, they were plagued by attacks from demonic (they surmised) forces, who
managed to abduct Urol before the party managed to formulate a defence against
the incursions. Finally, after realising that there was no way to escape the
labyrinth of the jungle, they discussed a solution to their dilemma and Laureli
cast detect evil. She discovered currents of evil swirling in the air all around
them, but woth a current leading in just one direction. Having little other
choice, the party followed the path of evil to a low hill carved with the image
of two huge baboon heads, their mouths offering ingress to the black spire of
rock looming from the hills crest. Choosing the left hand path, they discovered
a trap - since noone had been in a dungeon for so long, their knowledge
dungeoneering was perhaps a tad rusty. The roof of the tunnel collapsed in on
them, blocking any chance of continuing down the tunnel.
Through The Looking Glass
Backtracking, the heroes valiantly tried the other
entrance, leaving the NPCs in a secure location (honest) in the jungle. With
their memories of fog shrouded ruined temples now restored, the team moved with
a much more life friendly level of paranoia, with Analesia checking every inch
for traps as they moved in. A little way down the tunnel, they discovered a
bloody gnomish hand print on the floor. Unable to find any tracks, they took the
left hand path to a large set of doors, flanked by statues dripping ghostly
ichor. At the base of the left statue was written (in Abyssal) 'give of your
left', while to the right the inscription read 'give of your right'. Analesia
and Ronica gave their all (and quite a lot of blood) in the investigation of
this conundrum, and eventually found that, by sacrificing blood from each hand
and then grasping the door handles and turning them, the doors opened easily.
Whether the blood sacrifice was needed is still unknown, as this was also the
first time anyone had tried opening the doors by turning the
handles.
Moving into the room beyond, they found another puzzle,
much to Sancho delight. The room was stained with blood, with two great stone
thrones to either side. On the far wall was a blood-caked altar, with two black
tallow candles atop it. Either side of the altar were mirrors, their surfaces
warped and indistinct. After a lot of experimentation (including the unfortunate
Sancho discovering that the throne seats pooled blood when the candles were lit,
by the expedient of being seated when this happened), they discovered that, when
one candle was lit, blood pooled on the opposite throne and the lighter of the
candle could see a bestial image of themselves in the opposite mirror. At this
point, they gave up and decided to check a fork back down the passageway, until
Laureli could put a Divination in mind the following day.
The other fork quickly came to an abrupt end, with a
chained skeleton of indeterminate age. Scrawled on the wall near it were some
words, a prayed of sorts to an ancient hawk god to take the poor fellow from
this place as a matter of some urgency.
The following day, after yet more experimentation and a
lot of discussion, Laureli cast her divination, asking how the group could
progress onwards (sorry, can't remember the exact question). The answer was
'Light a candle, take an uncomfortable seat and touch the mirror. repeat'. (Much
more succinct than the average divination result, but even Ehlonna was bored by
now!). As Analesia attempted to follow the instructions, as she touched the
northern mirror, her will was subsumed by the bestiality that lurks within every
adventurer at heart and she attacked Ronica, causing a fearsome wound. The rest
of the party moved to try to restrain/hit/subdue the possessed rogue, with Jack
grappling her to the floor and Aramil finally knocking her cold with his staff.
Mere moments later, as she was trussed like a chicken (never say sage and onion
to this rogue), the feral nature that had overwhelmed her departed. Once the
party were sure of this, they released her and Ronica tried to perform the
ritual, this time successfully. As she did so, the mirrors became swirling
vortices and the monk was pulled through to parts unknown.
As the rest of the team followed, they found Ronica beset
by three Bar lguras, and in sore need of aid. Two of the Bar lguras joined
combat, the third turning invisible and awaiting developments. Analesia moved
round the demons, using spring attack and then continued her movement to exactly
one square past the third, without realising it was there, which caused her a
few moments of discomfort (and quite a lot of damage). Sancho stepped through
the portal, only to find the entrance blocked by Laureli. On his second attempt,
though, he was in the room and wishing he was not. The battle was short, bloody
and came close to death at times for the heroes, but they won through at the
end.
When Primates
Attack
Searching the large and now empty room revealed four
possible exits - two on the lower level and two on the upper. Investigating
first the eastern door, Analesia checked it for traps and then unlocked it.
Inside was a small chamber filled with bones and similar detritus. A large grill
was apparent in the ceiling, through which could be heard sounds of primates.
Ronica donned her slippers of spider climb and took a closer look -
there appeared to be a large number of monkeys in the room above.
Choosing to go through the southern door instead, Analesia
again checked thoroughly for traps and then passed into the room beyond. The
others heard her call out hello, as the spirit naga within charmed her. thinking
that it might be Urol, Sancho rushed forward and was surprised to see a zombie
naga instead. As Ronica and Jack closed to melee and Laureli used her bow, with
backup from Arumil with magic missiles, it swiftly became clear that this was a
much more difficult combat than many previous ones, as the nage used lightning
bolts and scorching rays against the party. After several rounds of combat,
however (and just in time) the naga was finally defeated.
Sancho scanned the room for magic items and collected a
potion and a rod (lesser metamagic silent) from pools in the room.
The party moved on into the next room, to find magically
sealed doors and two ape statues - one missing its left hand, the other its
right. Correctly surmising that the missing hands were the key to opening the
doors, the party began searching for them,. Sancho, thinking that a proper
search of the pools in the previous room might turn up something, got Jack to
lift him up to turn off the taps that filled the fountains, so as to drain the
pools. Unfortunately one of the taps was trapped and the two of them were ice
stormed. On the plus side, they did find a monkey paw.
Deciding to use a divination to get a clue as to the
location of the next [paw, they waited till morning, when Laureli cast the
spell. The response implied that it lay behind a throne, past the primates in
the room above the grille. Moving back, they opened the door, to see a seething
mass of babboons. Sancho promptly shut the door again while they planned (sort
of) and then Jack set off to engage the mob. A lengthy and dangerous combat
ensued, as the mob poured out of the room and grappled the party (apart from
Sancho, who wisely got out of the way). Fortunately for the party, they were
able to cut down several of the baboons and so weakened the mob enough to
eventually defeat
it.
Rumble
in the jungle
Searching behind the throne, our intrepid heroes found a
secret chamber containing two chests. Opening the left chest they accidentally
unleashed a fireball trap - not a good thing, but no-one deaded so no harm done!
In the chest on the right, they discovered the missing left paw of darkness, as
well as a magical shield and a wand.
They returned to the chamber with the two ape statues and
quickly opened the great iron doors covered with carvings of demonic apes (as
you do). Moving cautiously, Analesia checked the floor, ceiling, air... for
traps and moved forward. Unfortunately, this set off the howling trap on the
statue of an ape to her right in a niche in the wall. Realising that this would
warn anyone that they were coming, the party moved with a relative degree of
alacrity down the corridor to a set of double doors to the right.
As they opened the doors, the team saw a large chamber,
dominated by a massive statue of a two headed monkey with four tentacles for
arms. In the centre of the room, above as fire pit hung Urol by his feet, from a
rope attached to a winch to their right. As they took in the new sights and
sounds, the safety on the winch was released by an unseen force and Urol began
to descend. As they began to move to save their friend, Ronica (who had moved to
put the winch safety back on) was assaulted by an invisible Bar-Lgura and badly
wounded. The Bar-Lgura sprang back from where it had attacked, becoming visible.
Jack moved to engage as Analesia commenced a very complex and lengthy rescue of
the gnomish prisoner.As the battle moved back and forth, with Laureli and Arumil
using magic to aid the combatants and Sancho sang (while showing suitable
discretion), it swiftly became clear that the team were not greatly harming the
demon. Laureli used the power of Ehlonna to align Jacks weapon with good and the
tide of battle swiftly swung in the heroes favour - only just in time for Jack
and Ronica, the demon dropped. As the party took stock of their surroundings and
thought about healing, Sancho, fearful that the large statue may animate, urged
them to damage it. Jack tried hitting it to no avail, and then they used all
their strength to topple it, hoping it would shatter - being made of adamantine,
it withstood the damage from the fall., and then animated, standing up under a
hail of blows.
It soon became apparent that the golem stood no chance, as
the alignment of Jacks weapon meant that he was easily bypassing its defences
and the magical people unleashed more or less every spell the had on it. Pausing
only to pick up the Bar-Lguras equipment, the party left the temple and met up
with their friends in the jungle.
With the fall of the golem (the focus for all of the
effects in the Fogmire), the fog lifted and it was relatively easy to make their
way south to the village of Tanaroa, where they found a fifty foot high wall.
Sanchos glib tongue quickly gained access to the village and then to the
chieftains trust and they were supplied with a guide to take them to a smaller village further south, where they embarked for
Farshore by
canoe.