Campaign Timeline
They Delved Too Deep
Wealday 26th of Lamashan
After a day of recovering from the most recent exploits and some time to sort and sell gear, the Heroes of Sandpoint were ready to venture once more to the Irespan piling known as the Crow in search for the next shard of Thassilion. Before heading back though, they had to sort out the riddle of the runes that were found on the un-openable door that lead to the rest of the structure because each time the actual runes were touched, an eldritch blast of fire burned whoever was touching them. With some help from Sheila Heidmarch, it was determined that the runes said something like “Listen” on the left and “The Eyes” on the right.
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| Listen - The Eyes |
After some time, it was decided that the runes should be rearranged to say “Silent” and “They See.” Confident that this would open the doors, the group headed back to the docks to make arrangements for passage. Word of their recent exploits had spread through the docks quickly, driving the price of good help up a bit, but that was of no consequence to the group who happily shelled out the required price to rent a boat.
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| Silent - They See |
The Crow was reached with no incident and the boat master was told he would be contacted when passage back to the mainland was required. It looked as if no one had been here since they last left the other day so the group prepared for the long hike up the many stairs to the top of the structure. From there, they got to use their newly procured climbing harnesses to climb up through the trap door at the top of the 100+ foot tall entry shaft. Everyone made it with no trouble, except for Kallin, who just could not get the hang of the harness. He fell several times but was saved a gruesome death by the safety ropes that had been tied. After several tries, the sore Half Orc finally made it through. The group then trekked down through several more floors of the complex to the magical rune blocked doors.
It was decided that each attempt at switching the runes would be done by a different person to minimize the damage taken by the magical nature of the doors. After just a moment, the runes were placed in the correct order and the doors popped open, releasing a dusty waft of stale, ancient air. The heavy stone doors were then pulled open and blocked with some large pieces of stonework that Samad and Ehlyna carried over.
The group headed down the hallway whose only visitor in the last several thousand years had been Daellin just the other day. The Elf showed the group to the balcony overlooking the fetid pool of scum covered water where he had encountered the two giant amoeba creatues. As the companions stood at the top of the 20 foot balcony discussing how to deal with these dangerous creatures, Ehlyna stomped off down the stairs to take matters into her own hands, like she normally did. Trying to get the jump on the creatures, Calina started firing arrows down into the pool, which drove the two transparent blobs of goo into action. Ehlyna started
hacking with her axes as everyone else from above began firing down on them. During the fight, one of the blobs managed to totally engulf Ehlyna, its corrosive jelly-like insides burned her skin and threatened to eat away at her gear. Not to be destructively shown up by a giant one celled organism, Ehlyna opened an escape route with her axes, right through the creatures outer layer! After a few more moments, the beasts were nothing more than quivering piles of stinging goo on the ground. The surrounding areas were explored, revealing the presence of a huge swarm of bats and all their excrement. Not wanting to deal with that, the group went the other way and discovered dust covered stairs leading down. A small area at the top of the stairs and a narrow trail down the stairs had its dust disturbed. Something small had recently been here and retreated below. Undaunted, the group followed the trail down.
After going down several flights of stairs a good distance, Ehlyna states that they are no below the surface of the water in the bay outside. Calina shivered at the thought, a bit of claustrophobia kicking in. The corridor eventually opened up to a large room that looked to have at one time been some sort of catacombs, with burial niches lining the walls. The niches all appeared to be empty, though the center of the stone floored room was covered with six 10’ tall hills that resembled ant hills. While crossing the room to a passage leading out on the opposite side, their conclusions were proven correct as several giant ants (4 feet long each) emerged from the ant hills and scurried down in an attack! The ants were crunchy and dealt with fairly quickly. Wasting no time, the group moved on before more ants could venture forth from the ant hills.
They followed the worked stone corridor around a corner and stopped to search an odd shaped alcove in the middle of the hall. The search revealed a crudely constructed secret door that led to a narrow and short passage carved out of the stone. The passage was barely big enough for Leela to squeeze into and some of the larger members of the party were sure they would not fit at all so the passage was left unexplored for now.
The group continued down the hall until it opened into a large trash and rubble filled chamber that was covered in sheets and sheets of spider webs. It seemed that some of the rubble and trash had been stacked and organized into tiny chairs, tables, benches and other furniture. Before a search of the room could be mounted, its inhabitants revealed themselves. Tiny insect like humanoids with bulbous black heads, two of which were riding giant, furry legged spiders, leaped out and charged, filling the air with a strange, high pitched chittering and squeaking noise.
As they approached, Samad was suddenly overcome with an overwhelming fear. For some
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| Samad overcomes his fear and attacks with Ehlyna |
reason, he was scared of these round headed little creatures. This feeling of fright did not stop him from joining in the fray with his companions though. After a brief clash left several of the insectoids dead or dying, as well as one of their spiders, the rest of them shrieked loudly and began fleeing for a passage on the far side of the room. The party pursued, though the rubble and junk in the room made pursuit difficult and the creatures got away. Calina did manage to take down the other giant spider with a well placed shot from Whisper.
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| Bug-man mounted on giant spider |
Giving up the chase, the room was quickly searched but turned up nothing of interest or value. Ehlyna, ready for more fighting, urged the group to take up the chase once again. They followed the corridor around another corner that led to yet another set of stairs going down. With only a moments pause, the group descended further into the piling, realizing they were moving further and further below the surface of the water surrounding them.
The stairs let out at a corner of two hallways, one running to the south, the other running to the west. The southernmost passage was blanketed in spider webs and Calina was sure that she could see the tracks of the little bug-men in that direction. Deciding that they were done dealing with bugs for a moment, the group chose the other direction, which led to what appeared to be a prison block, with 3 hallways filled with iron doors. Before it could be searched, 4 large crab like spiders scuttled out of some open cells and attacked. These spiders proved to be more difficult to slay due to their hard and thick coverings. In time though, they too were defeated.
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| Calina moves HERE! |
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| Kalling and Calina fighting the spiders |
The far end of one of the cell blocks led to another passage. Following that led to some sort of torture chamber. Two cells lined the eastern wall. Curious what might have been in these ancient cells, Calina forces the rusty window in the iron door open to reveal a very much alive and raging prisoner. The growling face of one of the split jawwed creatures they had battled under Sandpoint was locked in the cell. It began screeching and banging on the door, though the rusty cage would not break. Calina closed the viewing window and stepped back. Ehlyna offered to open the door and slay the creature, but it was decided to leave it alone since it could not harm anyone from inside its locked dungeon. The group followed a passage south out of the torture chamber and discovered more stairs leading down.
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| Encountering a demonic worm |
Not wanting to break tradition, the group descends the stairs, exploring deeper and deeper into the depths of this Thassilonian ruin. After descending several more flights of stairs, the passageway ends in a stone door marked with the 7-pointed Sihedron Rune they had come so accustomed to seeing. The door opens with a little force and they enter a large, 8 sided room with four doors leading out: one to the north (that they had just entered from) and others to the south, east and west.
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| Demonic larva and Runelord statue |
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| overhead |
In the center of this room stands a large red statue of Alaznist, the Runelord of Wrath who once ruled over the kingdom of Bakrakhan, the portion of ancient Thassilon that was centered over this part of Varisia. The floor around the statue was covered in crusty slime trails that were soon shown to be the tracks of a huge, 10’ long demonic larva that attacked the party by spewing mouthfuls of maggots and biting with acidic teeth. The heroes moved about the room and did battle with the slimy behemoth, trading sword, axe and arrow strikes with maggot sprays! Ehlyna was reduced to a vomiting mess after being hit in the face with demon maggots and Samad leaped to her rescue by flinging a vial of Alchemist Fire onto the creatures back. Eventually, the beast was laid open and the vile creature disintegrated into a stinky black mass of bubbling tar-like goo.
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| Maneuvering into position |
Session Notes
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| Kabam! |
This session was fun. We were short several players (1 expected and 2 unexpected) but we managed to get a lot done. The session started with a problem solving puzzle that they were able to unravel fairly quickly. I think the handouts were fun and helpful. The group explored a LOT of the dungeon, moving quickly through rooms, heading downward, downward, downward. They were TOO driven to move downward, in fact,and managed to get past where I thought they would go, leaving me in the 'seat of my pants' territory. Fortunately, that is some comfortable territory for me and it all worked out fine. The session ended with a squeal of tires, screeching brakes, several loud impacts and a horn stuck on just outside the window. Looking outside we see some truck in a neighbors back yard, somehow having crashed into the inside edge of an electrical pole, mowing down a line of bushes and then backing into the wooden fence. We called the cops and went outside to see if anyone was hurt. I had to pry the door of the truck open cause the driver couldn't get out. Were still not sure exactly how the accident happened. He said he hit a slick spot, though the entire stretch of road was clear and dry. The best part for me was when the cop rolled a Crit Fail on his Mechanics skill while trying to disengage the continually blaring horn and somehow made another horn start going off! Anyway.
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| This guy defied the laws of physics. |
Characters Present:
Kallin Hawkril, Half-Orc shaman and budding Priest of Pharasma - played by +Daniel Ernst
Calina - Varisian Human archer and scout - played by +Carol Coburn
Leela Cardnool, Gnome scout, cartographer and Illusionist - played by +Lisa Smith
Daellin Silvanthalas, Elven Farstrider Ranger - played by +Ben Lipe
Vexeron, Human wizard - played by +Greg Grady
Ehlyna Fuzziface - Dwarven Warrior - played by +Jodi H
Samad Aldhul, Human ex-mercenary - played by +JeCorey Holder
Ellie - Halfling Finder of Things - played by +Megan McCarron
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