Expedition: Ablesforth: The Demon Hole: Part 2 - 30 Aug 2021

[Marullus]

Last time, you were contending with unwarded folks. It is likely easier in your current situation. They get individual saves to avoid falling in, but the pit is worth a shot.

Going all the way below and trying to spike a door is more reliable (as it is all-or-nothing to keep them out, rather than individual saves) but then you're trapped below and now without your Prayer of Sanctuary.

Waiting to be rescued by guards or returning to town will have social costs. You do know that the spawn CAN find the town, and also that the town is protected by the Sigil of Baudh which was brought back from the white tower, which prevents them from passing the walls/gates.

[Zhym]

How about a combination? We try to get as many as we can in the pit. Then, depending on how many make it past that, we lead the rest in a loop of the rooms with the idea of sealing them in as we exit. That does have a risk of further encounters, though.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Able agrees to try luring them into the pit trap.And Brother Pendleton says, well draw the rest back down and leave'm behind a spiked door. He addresses the half heads again in their own language, If'n ya won't let us rest here, we might as well just go back down an' take care of yer boss demon. You'ns ready t'go? He shoulders his pack, wincing in pain from recent, unresolved injuries, then leads the way back into the Demon Hole.

[Marullus]

You work your way -- arduously, with the sniffers unrelenting desire to be in your way -- into the cave and to where you know the pit trap to be. As you're all warded and relatively safe, you can maximize your ability to coordinate and corral the demonspawn into the correct place as the pit trap is triggered. Eight of them fall; two of them hiss angrily on the pit-ledge, still pestering you.


Date: 31 August 2021, 3:30pm
Light: Sunlight
Effects: Protection from Evil (Pendleton/Idriss); Invisibility (Pendleton)
Injuries: Ablesforth (severely injured); Dolph (severely injured); Jacques (moderately injured); Pendleton (mildly injured), Molay (mildly injured)

Saves (14) [1d20] = 12[1d20] = 10[1d20] = 9[1d20] = 5[1d20] = 19
Saves [1d20] = 12[1d20] = 9[1d20] = 9[1d20] = 4[1d20] = 18

[Zhym]

Nice!

Rusty, do you think Able and the Templars could take the other two down?

Might want to down some healing potions first, though.

[Rusty Tincanne]

I certainly like the odds. What happened to the rest of the Sniffers in the pit? Are the totally trapped? Injured?

[Marullus]

Before the floor snaps closed, you can see by the dim torchlight that they're in a closed room about 20' down, matching the rest of the labyrinth below. All of them are still moving, but some appear to have broken limbs or other injuries. Besides physical impediment, they don't appear to be hindering them as they hiss with hatred back up at you.

[Rusty Tincanne]

Able looks meaningfully at the Templars. I'll leave it to you this time, Brothers. Do we escort this pair back below, or...

[Marullus]

Ablesforth looks to the Templar soldiers, the demonspawn still slathering up in their faces, hissing with hate and gnashing their fetid teeth. Dolph is sorely wounded, holding his own bloody side. Jacques and Molay are likewise dirty and exhausted, but respond with grim determination.

The pair pull out their swords, dodging the claws of the beasts and with each of them executing a powerful downward blow and then a back-slice, they splatter blood and drop the demonspawn to the floor. Shoving the collapsed remains onto the pit trap, it springs open, dropping their broken forms into the pit below and snapping shut once more.

"By the grace of Eruanna, we must rest, Brother."

Date: 31 August 2021, 3:35pm
Light: Sunlight
Effects: Protection from Evil (Pendleton/Idriss); Invisibility (Pendleton)
Injuries: Ablesforth (severely injured); Dolph (severely injured); Jacques (moderately injured); Pendleton (mildly injured), Molay (mildly injured)

initiative: us [1d6] = 4 them [1d6] = 5
spawn [1d20] = 13[1d4] = 2 [1d20] = 10[1d4] = 1
Molay longsword (Thac0 15) [1d20] = 13 [1d8+3] = 6+3 = 9 Jacques longsword longsword (Thac0 16) [1d20] = 10 [1d8+2] = 5+2 = 7

initiative: us [1d6] = 6 them [1d6] = 1
Molay longsword (Thac0 15) [1d20] = 15 [1d8+3] = 8+3 = 11 Jacques longsword longsword (Thac0 16) [1d20] = 12 [1d8+2] = 7+2 = 9

[Rusty Tincanne]

Able nods. One thing first. He has Dolph use his great sword to prop the trap open, Able lights two flasks of oil and drops them down. Then a third unlit flask, if it is needed to finish the job. If anyone had fallen in... It wouldn't've done.

He leads the party back out to find a likely camping place.Somewhere t'light a fire, but not draw in the Sniffers with the smoke.

[Zhym]

"By the grace of Eruanna, we must rest, Brother."

With great effort, Pendleton manages to avoid pointing out that he's been saying the same thing since the room full of traps. Fortunately, he is invisible, so no one can see him roll his eyes.

"Yes. Let's rest," he says.

[Marullus]

It is mid-afternoon when you emerge, worn and bedraggled... only about 5-6 hours after you entered. You set a camp nearby in the sheep pastures and find you are comfortingly alone, the sheep and shepherds having moved on further away from the demon hole's menace some weeks ago after your last expedition. You rest for until evening comes and then get a good night's sleep.

The Archduke's guardsmen pass by twice, checking on you and confirming that you do intend to camp near the forsaken hole, then they move on with their duties. They seem grateful that you are intentionally trying to solve the problem of this place.

Dawn comes, the first day of September. You wake, meditate and pray, and prepare yourselves for the day. Sister Collette from the infirmary stops by, having received word from the guards on your campsite. She prays for each of the wounded Templars as you eat your breakfast, bolstering you for your renewed endeavor. (Ablesforth +6, Dolph +7, Jacques +3, Molay +4) She bids you Eruanna's grace as you pursue the Templars' duty.

Date: 01 September 2021, 7:00am
Light: Sunlight
Effects: Protection from Evil (All); Invisibility (Pendleton)
Injuries: Ablesforth (severely injured); Dolph (moderately injured); Jacques (moderately injured); Pendleton (mildly injured)

CLW [1d6+1] = 5+1 = 6[1d6+1] = 6+1 = 7[1d6+1] = 2+1 = 3[1d6+1] = 3+1 = 4

[Zhym]

No one can see it, but Pendleton opens a healing potion and sips from it until he is back at full health (+3 HP). "Well, here we are. A brand new day. But with the same conundrums we faced yesterday. I still do not have a good plan for geting past those traps. And if we get to the source of the demons, do we have any idea how to close it? And I would sure like to find some way to open the way through the mandala room again, but I suppose that ranks least among our problems at the moment."

[Rusty Tincanne]

Oh crud. Marullus, is there any way to retcon Able having cast Dispel Magic at the Mandala Room prior to leaving? I had intended to, but then... well Able got angry and all that.

[Marullus]

Nope.

Idriss chimes in. "Well, we do have the incense to lead is to the gate, then we have the scroll the Templars gave us that will dispell it." He offers Pendleton the scroll. "It seems that it is the getting there which remains difficult."

[Zhym]

"Of course!" says Pendleton, accepting the scroll, which disappears when he takes it. "I had entirely forgotten about the scroll in all the commotion."

"Another thought occurs to me. All those demonspawn probably are coming from the gate, right? But they probably aren't coming through the trapped doors. It's possible, of course, that the demonspawn possess the remarkable ability monsters usually seem to have to be completely immune to the pitfalls of their own dungeon, but the halfheads are, well, mindless. It's hard to imagine them disabling traps or knowing the special way to pass through traps without triggering them.

"So there must be another way to the gate. Perhaps we should explore further before attempting to move past one of the trapped doors?"

[Marullus]

"You want to trust the open doors are safer? Don't the goblins open and close them?" asks Molay.

[Zhym]

"Are you suggesting that the demonspawn are getting loose because the goblins let them through the trapped doors?" asks Pendleton, intrigued. "If that is so, then dealing with the goblins should also reduce the sniffer threat."

"I suppose we could try capturing some goblins, then question them about how to bypass the traps."

[Rusty Tincanne]

Able snorts. Liars and thiefs, the lot of 'em. Gotta admit though, I don't see a problem bypasssing that nasty statue. Seems some of them Sniffers mighta come up that way. They've come in from the back of that room a couple'a times now. He uses his own prayers to heal the others and himself, offering yet more confessions as he does so. He also suggests camping one more night where they are so they can enter fully healed, with a full complement of spells.

I'll too the healing and include the confessions tomorrow. I'll also deduct rations then.

[Marullus]

Ablesforth: Please roll and apportion your healing spells, which happened during the day.

It is the middle of the night when you're woken by hissing and scrabbling. Eight half-headed demonspawn barge into your campsite and disrupt your night's rest. They can't touch you, but they are doing a good job of upheaving your things and ruining any chance to sleep.


Date: 02 September 2021, 1:00am
Light: Sunlight
Effects: Protection from Evil (All); Invisibility (Pendleton)
Injuries: Ablesforth (severely injured); Dolph (moderately injured); Jacques (moderately injured); Pendleton (mildly injured)