Chapter 6: Beneath the Inn of the Damned

[OGRE MAGE]

Bo

I agree that we must attempt to vanquish this evil foe! But I also agree that we cant do it in out current state.

We must find a way out of this muddy hole filled with evil beings so that we may heal ourselves and regroup.

[Fulci]

Ingrid Esthof, cleric

"We might also wait until the inn burns down and sneak out in the wreckage,"

Ingrid listens to Moogeye's proposition, but then shakes her head: "I fear that the trapdoor to this dungeon will be completely blocked by the ruins..."

What about this corridor?

dungeon map.JPG (36.56 KiB) Viewed 599 times

If nobody is exploring in that direction, Ingrid tries to glance into that corridor.

[OGRE MAGE]

Bo pulls out some writing materials and begins making a rough map of all of these horrid tunnels that he has seen so far.

That is just another tunnel of death my dear Ingrid. Let us make a quick draft of this place so we may find our escape.

The druid scribbles together a makeshift map, asking the others for their input where necessary.

[Inferno]

Day Six.
Village of Briarsgate, Beneath the Golden Grain Inn (6).
Between midnight and 1am, Friday, October 21st, 576 CY.
Full moon, partly cloudy, damp, cold, misty.





Far from the world they know, the adventurers witness something that defies explanation. A few heroes retreat, shrinking from the horrific madness and repulsive loathing of a stark malevolence that was alien, otherworldly and wrong.

Telkis borrows Ingrid's lantern to search for a way out. If there is one, only two possibilities remain: west to the altar and the pale thing beyond imagining (24), or north on an untried path (20). The gnome warrior chooses north and descends into a lower cavity (20) but the ceiling does not dip, resulting in an empty chamber that is ten feet tall. The lantern reveals more dark, winding passages in this forsaken earthen catacomb.

lantern light.jpg (92.36 KiB) Viewed 582 times

To the northwest, where the edge of his light is overtaken by darkness, Telkis sees the savaged ruins of the feral undead woman (X2) they had killed before:

• • • • Ingrid and Moogeye strike together at one lurid monster (X2) that might have been a woman in life.
        
        
        
        The heinous mistress of tombs and graveyards (X2) is slain beneath the onslaught of Ingrid's mace and Moogeye's polearm!

Telkis sees one unexplored tunnel to the north, and a fell breeze blows from it.

As Ingrid's lantern moves north, Grothnak is suddenly consumed by the same pitch shadows that had devoured the macabre, unnameable nightmare to the west. The fetid, unmoving air reeks of death as the half-orc warrior stands resolute, staring into the featureless black void before him. But his orc-blooded vision reveals nothing! There is no living thing directly ahead.

Meanwhile, Long Bo mercifully prevents Ingrid from witnessing a ghastly sight he had seen earlier:

• • • • Long Bo creeps further south, isolated from everyone else. The druid peers into an eastern shaft and is immediately assaulted by the stench and sight of grisly death. The path opens into a den, littered with bones (23). Human bones. They've been picked clean of all their meat; cracked open and the marrow sucked out. In the corner, near a rib cage, is a decapitated human head...
        
        

Bo, Ingrid and Avril quickly collaborate on a rough map of these infernal territories, in the hopes of finding a way out of them.

Actions?

Map:

Beneath the Inn of the Damned 22jpg.jpg (415.3 KiB) Viewed 582 times

• The lighter areas mark visibility. All else is from memory and the PCs' map.
  Each square is 5 feet. Movement in tunnels is halved. Red marks the dead.

Status:

• Avril Hollysword, Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric 1/1: AC 7, HP 4/9, Spells: 0/3 1st lvl
  Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 2: AC 4, HP 16/17
  Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 3: AC 3(1), HP 5/16, Spells: 0/4 1st lvl and 2/3 2nd lvl
  Long Bo, Human Druid 2: AC 6, HP 2/15, Spells: 2/4 1st lvl and 0/2 2nd lvl, Lantern
  Moogeye Comcra, Human Monk 2: AC 8, HP 2/11
  Pelias Blanchflower, Human Paladin 2: AC 2(0), HP 8/19, Laying Hands: 0/1
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 2: AC 0, HP 6/19, Lantern

Magic:

• Protection from Evil (Pelias): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Pelias.

Resources:

• Map of Briarsgate
  NPC List for Briarsgate
  The Story So Far (in words)
  The Story So Far (in pictures)

[Zhym]

"Do you have a torch or lantern?" Grothnak asks Pelias. "Darkness is not our friend in this place."

[Starbeard]

Moogeye heads into the newly explored room (20) with Telkis. "A breeze; that seems promising."

She keeps her guard just north of the room's southern entrance, facing northeast toward the other exits, waiting for others who are less wounded and better protected to probe ahead.

[AleBelly]

"Indeed" agrees Pelias. "A north breeze does seem promising. Let us explore that passage."

[OGRE MAGE]

Bo

Let us all make for the breeze and hopefully the way out of this place for now. We must still be rather close to the main building above. Does anyone remember a well or possibly a privy located just outside the inn? That must be what Telkis has found.

Bo moves with the others, hoping the gnome has found a way out of this hellish tunnel.

[dmw71]

Avril lingers in the same corridor she's in, at the T-junction just south of the breezy area, while the others excitedly move to investigate. The elven maiden refuses to allow herself to feel hope; instead, she keeps her eyes focused on the passage to the southwest, in the direction of the abomination, still not entirely convinced it won't be their next course of action.

[ChubbyPixie]

Telkis moves carefully across the room to peer into the unexplored passage to the North. "If there is an exit here, it'll be very near that hellish inn," he says, "Not the best place for a discreet exit."

[Inferno]

Day Six.
Village of Briarsgate, Beneath the Golden Grain Inn (6).
Between midnight and 1am, Friday, October 21st, 576 CY.
Full moon, partly cloudy, damp, cold, misty.





Desperately searching for a way out of the serpentine channels of the nightmarish, subterrestrial realm, Telkis, Moogeye and Long Bo move toward the fell breeze.

Telkis discovers that the chill wind, ripe with the fetid stench of death, is spewing from the northern, unexplored tunnel and then turning northwest toward the dead ghoul (X2). He believes it to be the same current the adventurers detected earlier when they were in the northern shafts. The brave gnome warrior creeps down into the tall, crooked cavern (20) to peer into the unexplored path with Ingrid's lantern.

Suddenly, a tentacle-shaped thing drops from the ceiling onto Telkis!

It's a second gigantic serpent, nesting in a dark hole in the ceiling, behind a rotting rafter!

giant constrictor.jpg (152.26 KiB) Viewed 550 times

The leviathan constrictor (GS) catches the surprised gnome unawares, bites deep (-3 hp), but fails to wrap its massive coils around Telkis in order to crush him to death!

Actions?





Meanwhile, to the southwest, Grothnak asks Pelias for light. The paladin doesn't answer, but as Bo moves toward Telkis, his lantern seemingly does. It accidentally illuminates the western shaft again.

There, as the darkness recoils, the two warriors see the atrocious, indescribable horror standing behind the unholy altar once more!

the ghastly abomination.jpg (154.28 KiB) Viewed 550 times

The chilling abomination hasn't moved since it last stood revealed to their reeling senses. Their cast shadows crawl across that profane, heinous, motionless form in a undulating eclipse of light and darkness.

Actions?





Map:

Beneath the Inn of the Damned 23.jpg (419.95 KiB) Viewed 550 times

• • The lighter areas mark visibility. All else is from memory and the PCs' map.
    Each square is 5 feet. Movement in tunnels is halved. Red marks the dead.

DM Notes:

Rolls:
Monster surprises party? (1-5): [1d6] = 1 Party is surprised.
Cold temperature halves the giant constrictor's movement, and gives -2 to hit and initiative.
GS to hit Telkis: [1d20-2] = 15-2 = 13, [1d20-2] = 2-2 = 0, damage: [1d4] = 3, [2d4] = 6 One hit, for 3 damage. No Save needed; this one isn't venomous.

Status:

• Avril Hollysword, Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric 1/1: AC 7, HP 4/9, Spells: 0/3 1st lvl
  Grothnak Uthglukh, Half-Orc Fighter 2: AC 4, HP 16/17
  Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 3: AC 3(1), HP 5/16, Spells: 0/4 1st lvl and 2/3 2nd lvl
  Long Bo, Human Druid 2: AC 6, HP 2/15, Spells: 2/4 1st lvl and 0/2 2nd lvl, Lantern
  Moogeye Comcra, Human Monk 2: AC 8, HP 2/11
  Pelias Blanchflower, Human Paladin 2: AC 2(0), HP 8/19, Laying Hands: 0/1
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 2: AC 0, HP 3/19, Lantern

Magic:

• Protection from Evil (Pelias): -2 to AC and +2 to saving throws against evil, in a 10 foot radius around Pelias.

Resources:

• Map of Briarsgate
  NPC List for Briarsgate
  The Story So Far (in words)
  The Story So Far (in pictures)

[OGRE MAGE]

Bo looks at Grothnak and Pelias as he moves past.

Has anyone tried simply attacking the thing from a distance? Perhaps the ghastly abomination is immobile?

When he hears the snake commotion, he rushes in to help Telkis.

[Zhym]

"The horror does not move," says Grothnak, once again displaying his skill at stating the obvious. "Perhaps it is dead—or sleeping."

Deciding to investigate, he starts to inch carefully into the place of evil when he hears the commotion from the north. "Come," he tells Pelias. "This evil can wait. We must help our brethren!"

"Let me through!" he cries as he rushes to battle.

On the off chance Grothnak can get an attack in this round:
Vadok (Halberd +1) (THAC0 19): [1d20+2] = 7+2 = 9, Dmg [1d10+4] = 5+4 = 9 (S/M) [2d6+4] = 7+4 = 11 (L)

[Fulci]

Ingrid Esthof, cleric

Ingrid, as quickly as possible, rushes to help her companions against yet another gigantic snake...

While making her way through the sticky mud, she remembers a day when she was at a country fair with Khorst and Henri. They stopped at a colorful tent. An old, half-naked man was sitting next to it (you could count all his ribs!), wearing a turban. A woven basket was at his feet. The man picked up a flute and started playing, a sweet, droning melody. Slowly, a cobra emerged from the basket - but instead of striking the man, it froze in the air, and started twisting its scaly body left and right. The ever knowledgeable Henri Kolde explained it to Ingrid: it wasn't the tune that mesmerized the snake, but the rhythmic movements of the yogi's flute. Afterwards, the three of them devised their own method for charming snakes.

http://zachsmithson.deviantart.com/art/ ... -350181723

When Ingrid gets close enough, she will attempt a Snake Charm spell...

[Starbeard]

Moogeye, never one to accept a sudden change of situation gracefully, strikes out at the snake with her pole arm and then stops to think about what to do.

Glaive-guisarme To-Hit (ThAC0 20): [1d20] = 14 Damage (small) [2d4+1] = 6+1 = 7, Damage (big) [2d6+1] = 7+1 = 8

[dmw71]

Avril allows Grothnak to pass as she remains fixed at her current location at the base of the T-intersection. She unslings her bow and removes a pair of arrows from her quiver. "I'll watch the hall," she starts, intermittently monitoring the southwest and northeast passages for any signs of unexpected visitors. "But do call if you need help," she adds.

[OGRE MAGE]

Bo rushes into the snake chamber, jabbing his spear wildly as he comes.

Spear Attack [1d20] = 7 Damage [1d6] = 3

Again, he realizes that he is mostly just in the way down here in this type of environment.

[ChubbyPixie]

Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter

"Aaaagh!" yells Telkis, a hint of desperation creeping into his voice. He knows intuitively that he cannot sustain another hit like that. Will this be the end of the burly Gnome? The question evaporates from his mind as fast as it had formed - his training taking over, Telkis grits his brass teeth and brings Cranach up and over his head in a tight arc. "Snaaaaaake!" he yells.

Morningstar +1 (THAC0 18): To Hit:[1d20] = 14, Damage: vs s/m [2d4+1] = 6+1 = 7, vs L [1d6+2] = 1+2 = 3

In the periphery of his vision, he notes the druid, who's taken such a beating in these accursed tunnels, flailing wildly in an attempt to help. "Keep at it, Bo! We'll take this vermin down yet!"

[Inferno]

Okay. It's been two days since I last posted. I'll move this along.
I understand that AleBelly is watching March Madness, although I'll never understand the unlikely intersection of roleplayer and sports enthusiast.

[Inferno]

PS:

Avril allows Grothnak to pass as she remains fixed at her current location at the base of the T-intersection.

Fyi, that was Long Bo (LB) on the map, but Avril (AH) will move there now.