Day Ten. Nightfall. Tuesday, October 25th, 576 CY
Cloudy, damp, cold, foggy
GONG! GONG! GONG! GONG! The relentless alarm echoes thoughout the midnight realm of the subterranean hellscape as ghastly unseen creatures labor fiendishly against the heroic invaders.
Brevos, Hoom, Ingrid, Mouser and Urdur wretch again from their dire afflictions. (Each loses a fourth point of Strength!)
Long Bo the druid urgently advises everyone to climb the rope to escape this cavern. No one takes his counsel. Not even himself.
Urdur retrieves his thrown daggers. Telkis recovers one of his magical arrows. Pelias rages at them before consuming an enchanted potion that miraculously heals some of his grievous wounds. (+12hp)
Hoom's trembling hands cannot pick the lock on the lowered iron cage. The elf asks the imprisoned boy for his name.
"...Jeremiah," he replies in fear and confusion. (P1)
Long Bo squeezes past the thick crowd on the side of the hungry pool to drag two blood-soaked reptilian corpses into the mouth of the western channel. Then he returns and asks the caged boy, "Do you know where these passages lead?"
The boy stares at the tall hooded figure for a moment before answering, "Yes, sir... some of them...
"To It."
His strength waning, Mouser lowers another iron cage. A girl is held within. (P2)
"Jeremiah!" she screams. "What is happening?!!"
"Sarah!!!" the boy cries.
"Children!" calls a woman from the high, westernmost cage. "Who's there?!"
Grothnak, Pelias and Telkis are nearby. They recognize the voice. It's Felicity Gade.
Ingrid Esthof starts to lower a third cage, her legs quavering beneath her. Then she harkens to Bo's urging and moves to the rope, waiting for others to climb first. She braces herself against a rocky wall, looks up the wide central shaft and sees torchlight in the distance, up by the mouth of the sinkhole, at the surface!
Pip, still imprisoned by the rapacious living flora of the fetid pool, begins to wonder if he will be left behind here. Fearing that if he entered the pool he would be held beneath its surface, the young monk lights an incense stick.
Brevos sees his friend's need and cuts Pip free of the writhing vines and weeds. The monk moves beyond the reach of the pool's grasping tendrils.
No prisoners are freed from cages nor is anyone up the rope, as shadows and footfalls blossom within the eastern tunnel. (East of "?")
And suddenly two horrific unliving terrors appear from out of the western shaft (C1, C3).
They are the unholy horrors that Ingrid's piety had driven off, but not before one of them had devoured a part of Telkis' soul. A charnel house stench and bone-chilling cold herald their frightful return.
Actions?!
Map:
The towering waterfall is a 5' diameter column in the center of the pool.
Grey squares are hanging cages. Black squares are lowered cages.
Cutaway View:
West is left. East is right. Lighter areas are visible. All else is from memory.
PC Status:
- Brevos, Half-Elf Ranger 2: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 19/27
Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 2/3: Move: 9", AC 5, HP 5/15, Spells: 0/2 1st lvl
Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 3: Move: 9", AC: 3, HP: 12/28
Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 4: Move: 6", AC: 3(1), HP: 13/22, Spells: 1/5 1st lvl and 1/4 2nd lvl
Hoom Feethos, Elven Magic-User/Thief 2/3: Move: 9", AC 3, HP 11/12, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl
Long Bo, Human Druid 4: Move: 9", AC: 6, HP: 23/30, Spells: 0/6 1st lvl, 1/3 2nd lvl and 1/2 3rd lvl
Pelias Blanchflower, Human Paladin 3: Move: 6", AC: 2(0), HP: 15/30, Laying Hands: 0/1
Pip, Human Monk 2: Move: 16", AC: 9, HP: 5/12
Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 2: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 9/26
Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 3: Move: 12", AC 6, HP 9/9, Spells: 0/2 1st lvl and 0/1 2nd lvl
- Protection from Evil (Pelias): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Pelias.
Entangle (Bo): Duration: 5 rounds
Sheesh.
