Rescue at Rivenroar - Night 4

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Adventurers:

Beena - Elf Ranger
Blake The Luminescent - Deva Cleric
Bullroarer - Threequarterling Warden
Gigantor - Goliath Barbarian
Lucas - Goliath Barbarian
Rock Shroomslayer - Dwarf Warlord

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Active Quests:

Main Quest: Rescue! Ascertain the fate of the following and escort any survivors back to Brindol.

1. Jalissa (Status: Unknown)
2. Sertanian (Status: Unknown)
3. Thurann (Status: Unknown)
4. Mirtala (Status: Unknown)
5. Zerriska (Status: Alive, Freed, Awaiting escort to Brindol)
6. Adronsius (Status: Unknown)
7. Kartenix (Status: Unknown)

Minor Quest: Treasure! Recover any and all of the following town treasures:

1. Ornate, gilded dragoncrest helm (Status: Not yet recovered)
   
2. Ceremonial platinum longsword (Status: Not yet recovered)
3. Set of 3 shields, each with Red Hand insignia, each with a charred hole near the center (Status: Not yet recovered)
4. Set of iron gauntlets with extensive filigree (Status: Not yet recovered)
5. Heraldic battle standard depicting two hands clasped in a handshake (Status: Not yet recovered)

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Cleared Rooms:

1. Chamber of Flame Unbound
2. Goblin Warren
3. Mushroom Chamber
4. Portal Room
5. Von Urstadt Crypt
   

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Ready to move on, our adventurers moved east. Besides its small size, this room's only other distinct feature was some floor etchings on north side of the room. The major etchings were a triangle set into a larger circle. Standing in the center of the etchings was an elderly woman.

As they approached the woman turned to meet their gaze. Cautiously the party hailed the woman before approaching too closely. It was Zerriska, the crone of Brindol who had been taken captive. After having threatened to use her magic on her captors, they imprisoned her in a sort of arcane cell. The arcane etchings caused an invisible wall of force to surround the circle, from the floor to the ceiling.

Not actually possessing magic powers, she was not able to determine how the trap could be disabled. Our adventurers did not notice any switches or other means to shut off the invisible field that kept her; they then turned their attention to the field of force itself and began to probe for weaknesses.

Initial attempts to deactivate the arcane cell proved ineffective; actually touching the barrier not only caused the object touching it to be strongly forced outward, contact with a body part caused significant pain. Beena was the first to notice that the barrier did occasionally flicker for less than a second, but nothing useful came of it.

So after a few weapons were forcefully repelled into the walls of the room (some with the heroes still holding them), and more than a few bruises, it was Lucas who had the bright idea to start breaking up the floor. One floor piece broken up caused an obvious effect as the frequency of it's visible flickerings increased and were longer. After 2 more of the squares were broken up, the arcane cell had been permanently deactivated.

Zerriska, instead of thanking her rescuers, was more than a little rude to them, repeatedly querying them as to when she would be taken back to Brindol. After a few minutes of unfriendly conversation, she agreed to wait in the first room of Rivenroar.

Before the party moved deeper into the castle, however, she did agree to try and gather some mushrooms from the room below which could then be brewed up into something useful for the party. She picked some slumberspores successfully without disturbing them.

Retracing steps back west through the makeshift goblin barracks and into the hallway directly above the mushroom chamber (the hallway with the pits), the adventures cut west and through another double doorway. The room was lit, but the source of the light was initially unknown. Walking just a little ways south in the room revealed the image of a grim castle set in a swamp somewhere far away.

It appeared to be a portal, but any object that passed through it would pass straight through and arrive on the other side. After a few moments of examining, something began to come through the image; the portal was still active on the other side!

The form that came through was an amorphous mass of tinged yellow goo - an ochre jelly! It immediately lashed out at the party, eager for its next meal. Fighting the ochre jelly proved less effective than expected as, despite the damage inflicted to it, it showed no signs of having been injured or weakened.

While the fight with the lone ochre jelly raged on, two specters materialized and engaged the party from behind. While a couple of party members turned onto the specters, the rest focused on the jelly. The unexpected happened when the ochre jelly split into two. To complicate their lives further, the specters disappeared when attacked and showed up just moments later in an even more advantageous position.

The party had sustained considerable damage, but the damage sustained by the attacking monsters was greater. The two separate ochre jellies, when slain, were reduced to small pools of tinged yellow muck. The specters, finally at rest, dematerialized with a spine-tingling shriek. Another touchdown for the visiting team.

Satisfied that it was safe to move on, the party headed through the west doors in the portal room; on the other side was a hairpin hallway which turned north, then east. This hallway dumped right into a new room, this one with burial alcoves set into the walls.

Immediately upon entering the room, double doors on the north side of the room opened, seemingly all by themselves. Not more than 2 seconds later, the darkness in the room was pierced by bright light. Two creatures resembling scorpions magically appeared; their bodies appeared to be volcanic rock, each segment connected by small highlights of molten magma. Things were heating up for our adventurers.

Eager to investigate the open doors, Bullroarer and Gigantor ran past the magma claws to find 2 gnomes holding the doors open. The gnomes shut the doors to defend themselves but were cut down only moments later.

The magma claws engaged the party by spewing magma to first immobilize party members, then claw at them. Impressive to behold, but ultimately not a match for a party of six adventurers, the magma claws only lasted briefly in combat. Upon death, the parts of the magma claws that were volcanic rock fell to the ground while the creamy magma center spilled onto the stone tiles. Within a half of a minute, this magma cooled and the room darkened again.

One gnome was slain outright; the other was knocked unconscious altogether and set against a wall. Considering the room now safe to explore, some began to explore the alcoves, while others examined the inscriptions on the walls and ceiling. An inscription on the east wall read "Hail Von Urstadts! Ascend with Glory!” while a dust covered fresco on the western wall depicts knights riding pegasi into the clouds. After a few minutes of admiring these features of the room, the gnome who had been knocked out came to silently, and quickly made an escape into the east hallway(rope tying fail).

After a few minutes of searching the alcoves, the party found an unusual mace, 80gp, and a small valuable gem worth about 100gp. The mace was curious, and had to be passed around the party until finally Rock successfully identified it as possessing the Holy Healer's Weapon enchant. Blake was eager to give it a spin and no one contested it.

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Where did that gnome run off to?
How many more things do you have to kill to finally get some answers?
Am I remembering all these details close to how it happened? Please let me know so I can fix it if needed.
Did you know that picking shrooms isn't all that Zerriska is good at?

Rescue at Rivenroar - Night 3

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Adventurers:

Beena - Elf Ranger
Blake The Graduate - Deva Cleric
Bullroarer - Threequarterling Warden
Gigantor - Goliath Barbarian (*On Lookout Duty*)
Lucas - Goliath Barbarian
Rock Shroomslayer - Dwarf Fighter

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Active Quests:

Main Quest: Rescue! Ascertain the fate of the following and escort any survivors back to Brindol.

1. Jalissa (Status: Unknown)
2. Sertanian (Status: Unknown)
3. Thurann (Status: Unknown)
4. Mirtala (Status: Unknown)
5. Zerriska (Status: Unknown)
6. Adronsius (Status: Unknown)
7. Kartenix (Status: Unknown)

Minor Quest: Treasure! Recover any and all of the following town treasures:

1. Ornate, gilded dragoncrest helm (Status: Not yet recovered)
   
2. Ceremonial platinum longsword (Status: Not yet recovered)
3. Set of 3 shields, each with Red Hand insignia, each with a charred hole near the center (Status: Not yet recovered)
4. Set of iron gauntlets with extensive filigree (Status: Not yet recovered)
5. Heraldic battle standard depicting two hands clasped in a handshake (Status: Not yet recovered)

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Cleared Areas:

1. Chamber of Flame Unbound
2. Goblin Warren
3. Mushroom Chamber

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The kruthiks had been taught a lesson: Never fight the player characters and expect to win. Apathetic or forgetful of the arrow that fell in the patch of holy grass, the adventurers moved on, eager to get back on the trail of the goblinoids who had attacked Brindol. But what of that lone arrow? Maybe someone, someday, will know.

Travel was uneventful; it was fortunate that the kruthik nest was close to the hobgoblin's base of operations (and even closer to their trail). Within a pair of hours, they spotted a structure upon a small hill; it was the ruined Castle Rivenroar. After a moment of indecision, the party decided it would be more prudent to begin the skull cracking than to explore the perimeter; the party entered via the large front door. Gigantor remained outside the entrance as a lookout for the party.

After descending just a few steps into the interior, our heroes were received by the goblinoid welcoming party (yaywelcomingparty?): two hobgoblin soldiers and two goblin sharpshooters. Quick to impress their guests, one of the goblins propped the northern doors open. Beena and (who else noticed it?) noticed two grooves in the stone floor, both running north/south and both near the braziers. A moment later the two braziers in the northern corners of the room immediately began to move along the previously noticed grooves in the stone.

After starting the brazier mechanism, the welcoming committee jumped into action; their flails of friendship did swing; their arrows of amistad did fly; the benevolent braziers did lovingly lob the conflagrations of camaraderie - it was a most excellent exhibition of wonderful welcoming (yaywelcomingparty!). The party members responded in kind with many polite expressions of violence. Midway though the fight, immediately after knocking a hobgoblin into a brazier, Bullroarer closed the door that had been propped open; this caused the braziers to return to their starting position and cease movement. After much bloodshed, and eager for information, the last of the welcoming committee was subdued so that he could be interrogated.

The goblin hostage was asked a slew of questions, none of which he seemed willing to answer for the party. Some of Rock's limb-removal-diplomacy proved to be most effective, however, as following that, the goblin was most forthcoming with information. Sinruth, a hobgoblin, was recreating a new Red Hand, the goblinoid force that had threatened Brindol at least a decade before. Rivenroar was their center of operations.

Content with the interrogation, but dissatisfied with the goblin's face, Rock shattered the goblin's hand. Realizing that he would never again be able to play the clarinet, and unwilling to go on that way, the goblin gave up the ghost (3 strikes, guys).

After having dispatched the last of the welcoming committee, our adventurers took a peek into each of the three doorways. To the west, a hallway heading about 20 feet, then a sharp turn to the north. To the east, 20 feet then a sharp turn to the north. The doorway to the north opened to a considerable staircase, descending into the bowels of Castle Rivenroar. The party opted to take the western path.

Turning sharply to the north, the hallway soon opened into another chamber with doors to the north and west; this room was filled with even more goblinoids than the previous. Perhaps this was another welcoming party. Lucas entertained his curiousity for internal biology (yaybisectedhobgoblin?) by cleanly slicing the larger of the hobgoblins in two from head to toe (yaybisectedhobgoblin!). The other hobgoblins fell quickly to the attacks of the other players.

Drawn by the sounds of combat, two goblins poked their heads through the northern doors. Seeing that the majority of their allies had already fallen, they retreated back into the hallway they came from. The party pursued the goblins into the hallway to the north. This hallway had no lighting except that which came through the doorway from the previous room. Hoping to avoid fighting, the goblins had retreated to the far side of a 20 foot hole in the floor. Charging after them, Bullroarer almost fell into their trap, but stopped right at the edge of the hole.

Utilizing the ropes hanging from the ceiling directly above the pit, Bullroarer crossed to find himself face to face with both goblin sharpshooters. Better said, they immediately found themselves face to face with their doom. Other party members also managed to cross the pit, which caused the goblins to run. Escape was too good for them, however, as they both met their end in the dark hallway. (Who tossed the torch?) tossed their torch down the pit to see how far down it went, which appeared to be about 20 feet.

Rock, in yet another moment of inexplicable irrationality, decided to ignore the ropes descending into the room below and just jump. As most 20 foot jumps do, this resulted in 2d10 damage, Rock falling prone, and a small patch of harmless fungi being smashed flat (Shroomslayer, baby). In the first recorded surprise round for the party, Rock stood up (unprecedented; there needs to be a holiday for this).

The room was littered with architectural debris and fungal growth covered most of the floor and some of the walls. Some of the growth was bioluminescent, offering a dim light which filled the large chamber. Normally hidden, but made curious by the sound of the chamber floor breaking Rock's fall, two rage drakes peered over some debris to investigate.

Eager that everyone should enjoy a painful 20 foot fall and meet glorious death at the hand of the rage drakes, Rock called up to his party members and beckoned them to join him. The other members of the party, like members of lesser races would, used the ropes to descend instead of just jumping down.

The party cautiously moved to engage the rage drakes, while the rage drakes only waited. Almost immediately the party realized that some of the mushrooms were of some unusual varieties. While the cloudspores, shrieker mushrooms, doomspores, and slumberspores added a level of excitement to the goings on, the heroes just couldn't be stopped by them.

Beena decided to fire a warning shot at the ground, but accidentally hit one of the rage drakes that it was intended to miss; they let out loud roars and appeared obviously agitated. With the players approaching quickly, having already sustained damage from Beena, and it being unlikely now that the party would be stopped by some silly shrooms, the rage drakes charged forward to engage.

Meeting the rage drakes first was Bullroarer, who they tried to surround. In this, they were not successful as the rest of the party also met them in the middle, with Lucas flanking from the south. It was Lucas who, with the strength of one hundred firemen, made some incredibly decisive blows on one of the rage drakes, and arguably killed it single-handedly.

In what would always be remembered, but really will most likely be forgotten, one of the rage drakes grabbed a refrigerator, which materialized out of thin air, and clocked Bullroarer across the head with it. All hail the power of the natural 20. Love it. Fear it.

The final blow on the last rage drake was dealt by Blake, which for some reason was significant enough to warrant the gods bestowing him the title 'The Graduate'. Maybe the administrators of his cleric school will hang a picture of him in one of the hallways (probably not).

With both rage drakes slain, our heroes could now safely navigate the rubble and the mushrooms. There was a door exit on the east side of the room, and another on the south side; the latter opened onto an ascending staircase which connected to the Chamber of Flame Unbound. Rock made sure to not let the rage drakes corpses goto waste; he gathered some teeth purportedly intended to be fixed to a shield. Also capitalizing from the dead, was Bullroarer, who gathered a few pounds of scales. It was time for a well deserved rest (of approximately 5 minutes).

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Where are the captives?
Where are the phat loots?
Did you know that you can use stealth to scout ahead and setup surprise rounds?
Which of these shrooms are edible?