Grand Duchy 16

Grand Duchy of Adventure

Session 16
May 7 - May 21, 2014

Returning the Statue

Tserdain 20th of Thaumont, 1001AC

Removing the Shards

Everyone was still for a few moments. The only sound that could be heard was the heavy breathing of the Company. The Gargoyles were  destroyed; disintegrated when Remar and Ree broke the Black Mirror at the far end of the room. Everyone carried wounds from the most recent battle and Griffin was nearly unconscious. The light from Draven’s holy symbol is partially blocked as the young Acolyte rests heavily against a wall. Ree’s magical light slowly fades, making the room just a little bit darker.

Griffin sits propped against a wall.  He coughs, and struggles for a weak smile. “Well, gotta say I didn’t see that coming.” He looks around the room. “Ree, you <cough> okay?  Remar?”

“Anybody?”

Marcel picks the shards embedded around his neck, his hands, and wipe some fluids accumulating on his hands. It looks like blood, but he is unsure: everything seems to be spinning. He feels like he is in a tiny cell, or a cooking pot. He looks around and hones in on the weak voice of Griffin across the room.

“I’m right here buddy.”, he whispers as he crawls to him. There is enough light to keep his bearings, but not that much more. Others are coughing, moaning. The damages are too extensive, Marcel makes a mess of bandaging, or rather can’t figure out how to do it without causing more harm.

“I always make a mess of thing, Griffin. I always do.”, he starts crying. Griffin is drifting in and out of consciousness.

“Draven!”, he yelps. “Come here if you can… I’m afraid that we’re going to lose Griffin.”

Griffin opens his eyes and wheezes, “Oh, hey, Marcel.  Wow, you look terrible.” He rattles. “But we won. *cough*  Yea.” He waves his hands feebly in front of him.

Breaking the mirror was a spur-of-the-moment decision. He really just wanted the images he saw in them to go away. Ree yelling into his ear did not really help matters either. But this sort of pain was totally unexpected. Trying to get through the nausea and disorientation he was experiencing, the mage reaches out to his magic in an attempt to try and stem the damage he had suffered. The vertigo appears to be overwhelming. Hearing his name, he replies, “I am okay, I think. It just hurts.”  

After catching his breath, Draven stands up straight and holds his glowing holy symbol up high, looking over his friends. He smiles a weak smile and shrugs, “Guess I have a job to do here. I have asked the Immortals for much help this day, let’s see what my hands are good for. Does anyone have any medical supplies?” he asks, then, getting no response, “well, how about any bandages? No? Hmm, I guess I’ll have to get a new shirt when we get back home.” He starts ripping strips of fabric from the cleanest parts of his clothing and starts bandaging up his friends. He makes a quick round among his friends then steps back to look at his handiwork. “Could have done a better job if I had some real bandages I think. I’ll have to call upon the Immortals to stop the bleeding for a few of us.” He lowers his head and speaks some quiet words of prayer over Ree, Remar and himself.

Draven does his best tending to the wounded.

The Acolyte then spends the next several hours performing first aid on his comrades then himself. All the while, the young man winces and frowns at his skill. “The Immortals are truly divine,” he comments often, usually when wiping someone elses blood from his hands.

Griffin winces as Draven bandages his many wounds. His hand scrabbles in his bag and he pulls out a stoppered vial. “Here, brother, I was saving this for you. Can’t have the healer knocked out, can we? If you or one of the others needs it, it’s yours.”

Draven tries to protest about taking the potion but Griffin convinces him. He unstoppers and drinks the contents of the vial and immediately feels better.

Remar embraces Griffin and thanks him. “That was close. I didn’t know that was going to happen. Sorry.” Looking around, the mage wonders what is left to do now. They got rid of this mirror and whatever hold it had on the island, but does that mean the pixies will now relinquish the hold over what they supposedly stole?

“Ow! Ow! Gently, Remar, gently! I think that Draven’s shirt is the only thing holding me together right now.”

“But hey, you did good, made the right call. You and Ree probably saved us. I know I wasn’t doing much against those monsters.” He pauses. “It was like I wasn’t doing anything at all.  They were ridiculously hard to hit, and even when I did it was like it didn’t hurt them at all.” He looks up at the mage. “Could that be some sort of magic? And if so, is there a counter?”

“The question now is what changed when this mirror broke”.

Marcel is thinking about the Pixies, and the elves. Are previous relationships still holding and are the elves still seeking the statue.

“We’re in a bad shape, here. We are also in the middle of the land of feys. I gather that this mirror may have had an effect spanning much beyond this room.”

He scans the room. “I’ll poke my head out of the temple for a minute. Anyone care to join while we find a way to get everyone safe back to shore. And oh yea, what do we do with the statue in the end. My head hurts just thinking about it, and it did before we got hit”.

Griffin says weakly, “Whoa, whoa, whoa!  Slow down, cowboy! No sense goin’ lookin’ for more trouble while we’re as beat up as we are.”  He reaches into his bag and pull out some bread and cheese. He helps himself and then passes it to the soldier.  “Here, take a load off. Have a bite. That statue isn’t going anywhere.”

“Of course, we could try and decide how we’re going to get it off the island once we DO go up.  Snatch and grab?  Magumical tricks? Remember I promised I wouldn’t touch it, so I can be a distraction or something…”

“Griffin, my friend. I didn’t mean to steal the glory but scout ahead. You’d do it if you didn’t look like you got dragged behind a horse for a while. Wouldn’t you?”

Griffin groans, “I’m certainly not feeling the need for glory right now, my friend, but I would be up for scouting if the rest of you were ready to back me up.  Which we’re not.”

Marcel steps up and pace around the room a bit. “This place is too weird to hold loot, I bet.”, He looks around every nooks and crannies, seeking something of value or, if all else fails, something any weirder than what he has seen so far today.

The fact is that Marcel is worried about Dragons. He has this sinking suspicion that the maps isn’t lying about this. They should not be here. Granted, the chain of even flows nicely and leads to this room: but things aren’t adding up in his narrow mind.

“First the goblins, then the pixies acting out of sorts.”, his mumbling trails off as he tread lightly out of the hall to listen up the shaft where the electric ladder still stands. He pokes it one more time, then listens as carefully as he can.

As Marcel pokes the ladder with his spear, he notices quite a few more sparks than the previous time he had poked it while up above. It seems that maybe the metal ladder has built up another electrical charge. The young warrior ponders this development.

Marcel remembers the marks at the other end of the ladder. He assumes that damaging the runes dissipated the magic. He pokes around to make more sparks and makes his way to the others...

Remar seemed to consider Griffin’s question for a few moments, oblivious to the musings of Marcel, and then answers that he is not quite sure whether or not magic was intrinsic to the creature or if they were merely strong naturally.

Still muttering to himself about this, Remar takes the time to investigate the others for wounds and to determine if there is anyone that requires healing other than himself. Kneeling down next to Ree, he begins reaching for his magic to try and heal her, and then tries to heal himself and Marcel for the most he is capable of. His first attempt with Ree did not seem to work quite well, but he did begin to feel his own pain lessen in intensity and believes he also managed to succeed in healing Marcel. “Better, Marcel?”

Griffin chuckles, then winces, “Hey, Remar, think you could share the love a little this way?”

The Dark Mirror's frame - it looks valuable!

Chastising himself for forgetting Griffin, Remar slowly makes his way over to him and also tries to help him with his wounds. He feels himself get incredibly tired, but is satisfied by the result of his spellcasting seeming to be successful. He needs rest now; he performed a great deal of magic.

Everyone is feeling much better, though only Draven is back up to full strength, everyone else feels that they can at least keep up. While continuing to rest, the room is searched and nothing of any interest is turned up with the exception of the now empty mirror frame. It is large, heavy and made of gold, encrusted with many sparkling gemstones.

“That looks like it might be a bit difficult to carry with us, even when we climb back up. I do wonder if it could be… subdivided…”

Griffin visibly pales. “Subdiv.. Oh, no no no. Don’t you know what this could be? I’ve heard stories, old tales at my father’s knee. This could very well have been the Cursed Mirror of BluÖyCu. Why, that frame alone could be worth a thousand gold!”

“But you’re right - it would be difficult to carry, even on one of the horses. We may have to leave it here until we can come back for it.”

Cocking an eyebrow at Griffin, Draven reconsiders his words. He was sure that the hardened treasure hunter would be the first to draw a knife and start jimmying precious stones free of the gold filigree. “I’m sure it’ll be safe here. We can gather it upon our return. And you can wear it about your head like the halo of an immortal while we ride back!”

The young rogue looks sideways at the priest, with a half-grin. “You really think my head is that big, Draven?” as he gestures at the empty frame.

Marcel enters the room while the others are discussing about the mirror. He walks to Remar.

“I never thought that I’d ever say this, but I think that I’ll need your magic to lift me up to the upper level. The ladder seems to have regained dangerous magic, I think that I’ll need to discharge it from above again.”

He approaches the frame, raises and eyebrow.

“Well, at least I’ll need your magic just before we decide that we’re good to go again.”

“Hang on, Marcel.  Ree, can you help these two out?  Combines magic and traps - could be right up your alley.”

Remar looks at Marcel with a very apparent grin. “Right. Let’s get going, then. Should we bring the mirror with us?” He looks over to the mirror and gestures with his hand in an attempt to try and emulate something hovering.

Griffin shook his head sadly. “Alas, my friend, I think it would be a little too unwieldy for us to cart around while we continue our search for Stephan. My hope is that once our mission is complete that we can return and recover it. The wagon will be a good place to store it until we can get back to Kelvin.”

“So, no ideas on how to retrieve the statue? A Zanzibar Marketplace? Maybe a Follow the Lady?” He is met by blank stares. “A Smash and Grab? Seriously?”

Remar does indeed stare blankly at Griffin. “Smash and Grab sounds so rudimentary and uncivilized, though. Why don’t we call it Deep-Sea the Pixies?”

Griffin frowns and shakes his head. “Deep-Sea the Pixies? We don’t have enough people, and where would we find a trained cat down here?”

“Remember, ideally we are already across the lake before the pixies know the statue is gone.  The Elves are happy, we get paid and an Elven guide, and the pixies are long behind us.”

Going Up?

After a short rest to catch his breath and regain some of his magical energy, Remar says he is ready to take a look at the ladder. Ree has already checked it out but reported that she didn’t really think she could help with it, though she did confirm that it seemed as if the ladder was again charged to give a shock to anyone that touched it.

“Well then, we’ll have to get back up without using the ladder.”  He eyes the shaft going up, and turns to Marcel and Draven. “Care to give me a boost?”

The two companions step forward and try to boost Griffin up to the shaft opening. As they lift the young Thyatian, Draven stumbles and they nearly drop their friend. “Let’s try again,” Griffin encourages them. Again the two men hoist Griffin up toward the shaft opening. This time, however, Marcel calls out and drops Griffin back to the floor. He grabs his shoulder, grimacing in pain. “I think I pulled a muscle,” he exclaims. Marcel looks at Griffin then up to the shaft and shakes his head and looks away.

Watching her companions fail at their attempts to climb up, Ree starts the motions of casting a spell. After a moment, she balls up her fists and throws her hands down in anger. “Dammit!” and stomps off a bit.

Remar steps up and says, “Let me try,” and gets into position with Draven to boost Griffin up. Again, Draven is unsteady in his lift, but it is enough to get Griffin up to the lip of the shaft. The nimble Griffin is able to grab the edge and start to pull himself up into the shaft.

With a loud grunt, Griffin pulls himself up into the shaft and starts to climb up the shaft and about halfway up, he loses his grip. As he starts to fall, he remembers the ladder behind him and contemplates grabbing it.

Feeling himself sliding backwards, Griffin thinks fast.  Fall and get hurt, or grab the ladder and get hurt? It seemed like last time the ladder zapped him and then the others could climb down. “Falling!” he yells, and reaches out to grab on to the ladder.

Griffin manages to turn and grasp the ladder. As he does so, a burning shock courses through his body, nearly making him lose his grip on the cold metal ladder. Amazingly, he holds on. He pauses for a moment, catching his breath and weakly calls out down below, “Not falling.” He then slowly starts climbing up the ladder. “I think the ladder is safe to climb now,” he adds as he nears the top.

“Alright, Marcel, let me get a look at that arm…”

Draven is pretty sure that Marcel just strained his shoulder, but can’t’ really do anything about it through the armor and short of putting it in a sling, which he doesn’t have, it will have to wait until later to do anything about.

Not waiting for the others, Ree comes back and grabs the ladder and begins to climb before Griffin is done. She smiles briefly when it does not shock her and quickly she ascends. The others follow, Marcel taking a little longer to climb because he can only use one arm, and within a few minutes, everyone is gathered in the room with the destroyed skeleton horde.

“Good enough for me,” says Draven, and starts up the ladder after Ree. “I think I’m about done with dungeon crawling. Griffin made it out to be much more fun than we’ve been having…”

Remar thought it was unfortunate that Marcel and Griffin had got hurt, but, really, there did not seem like an end to the pain today. Maybe it really is time to get things resolved with this statue. “So, Deep-Sea the Pixies?”

Marcel is looking up, holding his sore muscle. “I wish that I’d understand your banter here”.

Okay, note to self, when in a shaft like that, brace against the walls instead of trying to climb a flat vertical surface.  “Well, Remar’s proposing a classic con using three shills, two smurfs, a roper, some muscle, and a trained cat. Although we don’t have a trained cat, and I don’t know why we’d want to convince the pixies we’re rug merchants from Ankara. Remar?  Care to elaborate?”

Remar ponders a moment. “The cat I can conjure as a very believable illusion. Some variations do not need shills. We have a roper and some muscle. We just need two smurfs and then we can run out, distract them with the cat and rope, take the statue, and run away while dragging them into the trap we place in the water.”

Griffin frowns. “Ah, that’s what I was afraid of… Why hurt the pixies if we’re already clear? A bit bloodthirsty, aren’t you?” He ponders a second. “Now that I think of it, you almost ruined everything up top by attacking the pixies while we were still talking.” He pokes the mage in the shoulder. “You need to take it back a notch or three. Self-defense is fine, pre-emptive strikes are not.  Clear?”

Remar pokes back, and then begins to examine Griffin. “Hold up, you’re really hurt, Griffin. Stand still a moment.” Putting his efforts in casting a spell to heal Griffin, the mage lets his magic begin to take hold over his friend. Unfortunately, his efforts seemed to be in vain as the spell seems to fizzle out. “Well, that didn’t work. Sorry, Griffin. Looks like you’ve had enough for today.”

Once everyone is where he can get them to stand still, Draven sets about looking into wounds, on both Griffin and Marcel’s shoulder injury, taking his time to be thorough.

After another hour of medical treatment, both Griffin and Marcel are in better shape. Marcel can once again move his arm fully and Griffin does not have to lean on anyone else in order to walk around.

“So, really, are we going to spend the rest of the day down in this dark, wet hole, or are we going to get up there and get that statue back for the Elves?” Ree blurts out. “I’m ready to get out of this pit!”

Griffin smiles. “Well, heaven forbid we inconvenience you any more, Ree. Here’s the plan.  Marcel, when we get topside, you grab the statue.  I’ll yell at you a lot, but you march it to the raft. When we get there, Ree, you’re the trained cat - make us a good distraction. We’ll make the switch then.  Remar, make your illusion of the statue and Marcel will walk it back and leave it.  Then we all pile on the raft and make haste for the shore.  Sound good?  Then let’s go!”

With that, Griffin starts climbing up the ladder.

As he hangs there, he pauses for a moment. “Oh, and if we have to abort, the signal is ‘Petunia’.  Got it?”

By the time the members of the Company reach the surface, the day has grown long and the sky has started to darken. The wind has picked up considerably and the few scattered clouds race across the evening sky. A quick look shows that the statue is nowhere to be seen. As Griffin starts to curse, the sound of loud and hearty laughter can be heard coming from the direction of the beach.

Griffin jerks his head towards the trees and says simply, “Ree?” The young girl nods once and slips off, disappearing into the trees. “Well, gentlemen, as my Aunt Petunia used to say, ‘What’s all that ruckus?’  Shall we go find out?” And he gamely limps down the trail to the beach.

The Resolution

The Company heads down the sandy path to the beach and when they round the last stand

Akaios is in a much better mood

of trees, they see an unexpected sight. Akaios is sitting on a log on the beach surrounded by Pixies. They are all talking and laughing. A few of the Pixies are doing flips in the air nearby. The statue of the beautiful woman is laying on the raft, tied down with a few lengths of rope. 

When the Pixies see the group approaching, they immediately end their frolicking and approach, floating very slowly and low to the ground. They all have their heads down, some of them even begin crying as they approach.

The  Pixie in the lead, the one that had done much of the talking during the previous parley, moves forward and drops to the ground. The two foot tall Fey takes a knee and spreads his arms out wide. “Please, mighty heroes of the Grey Company, accept our eternal apologies for the pain and strife we have caused you. We wish to make amends to you and yours, the statue we freely surrender and take claim to the responsibility for absconding with it in the first place. It was not rightfully ours, we had no reason to steal from our good friends the Elves. Some evil magic had been holding sway over us, this we now realize, but now that evil hold is gone and we see the errors of our ways.” He bows low. “Please accept our apologies and let us know if there is anything within our meager power to help set this right.” All the other Pixies have landed on the beach and take up similar penitent positions.

Pixie leader

Griffin sits down so he’s not towering over the pixies so much (and cuz sitting down feels safer right now.) “Friends, it warms my heart that the pixies are freed of the curse hidden in the temple.  Of course we forgive you!  Twas a foul magic indeed that could put you at odds with us and your cousins the Elves.” He looks around, then calls out, “Ree?  You can come out now!”  He turns back to the pixies. “My friends and I faced some fell forces down below, but eventually Remar and Ree solved the riddle of the Cursed Mirror of BluÖyCu and destroyed it, freeing you.”

He points to himself, and Remar, and Ariadne. “Of course, it was not easy. Have you a healer among you? Ours have pushed themselves to their limits, and myself, Remar, and Ariadne are still wounded.”

The Pixie leader goes on, “Oh, of course, of course. You have been wounded by the great evil that has enthralled us, and in the process, saved us. Of course we can help with your wounds. We have a healer!” He turns to the gathered Pixies and calls out, “Petunia, Petunia, come forth and help our friends!”

A cute little Pixie female flutters forward. She is wearing a shimmery silver robe and has a ring of what looks like tiny stars circling around her head. She approaches each injured member of the Company in turn and heals them of all their wounds. 

A Healing Leaf

The Pixie leader continues, “We would also bestow upon you these gifts of our appreciation.” Several other Pixies flutter forward, each of them bearing several shimmery necklaces with a single golden leaf hanging from it. “In times of need, simply eat the leaf and it will help with your wounds.”

The necklaces appear sized for Pixies, but as they are placed around each person's neck, they magically grow to the right size. "They must be consumed immediately after being removed or they will lose their magic," the Pixie warns.

“We thank you for these generous gifts, my friends. I have two more requests for you, if I may.  First, I don’t know if you plan on staying on this island now that you are free of your curse, but if you do, I would mention that there is still danger under those ruins, and I would caution you to keep out yourselves, and also to discourage others.  There is something we will hopefully be returning to recover, and we would hope to still find it there.

Second, we seek a friend who has been taken by Goblins. If you know anything of the whereabouts of Goblins in the area, could you help us find their camps so we might hopefully rescue our friend?”

Remar shakes his head and mutters under his breath, “So much for our plan.” It is a pleasant surprise, of course, but Remar was almost absolutely certain they could have taken the pixies on had they still been adamant about keeping the statue. At least he thinks so. Maybe sort of. Possibly? No, for certain. Absolutely certain.

Continued on GDA17 - What Does the Elf Say?

Cast of Characters: 

Garrett "Griffin" Constantine, a Thyatian rogue of a gambler from Penhaligon rolled by +Arne Jamtgaard 
Remar Umerus, an Alphatian battle mage that escaped forced service in the Thyatian army (conjured by +Ben Lipe and) piloted by +Alex Safatli 
Marcel Maas, a down on his luck Traladaran soldier turned mercenary commanded by +Christian Blouin 
Draven Rickart, a Thyatian Acolyte of the Church of Karameikos piously played by +Jason Packer 
and +Jason Woollard as the DM

Grand Duchy 15

Grand Duchy of Adventure

Session 15
May 6, 2014

The Black Mirror

Session Summary

The Grey Company waited outside the stone door separating them from a horde of undead they had previously been unsuccessful at defeating. Griffin was eager to return through the door to explore the shaft and ladder leading further down that he had spied during their first encounter with the skeletons. Draven was determined to destroy this mob of abominations and he prayed to the Immortals to give him the tools he needed. In an epiphany, he realized that he knew the chant to potentially harm or drive off a whole army of undead, he just hoped he knew it well enough that it made a difference. Remar and Marcel were both just itching to fight, though both were wary of the uneven odds behind the door. Ree continued to be distant and pessimistic, but she let the others know she was ready to fight when the time came. The members of the company lined up to keep shields to the outside and when the doors were opened, everyone was told to stay together and not leap out into the room.

The skeletal horde!

The opening of the door was timed with Draven's prayer and just as he finished, Griffin and Marcel shoved the heavy stone slap to the side. As the golden light from Draven's glowing holy symbol flooded the room, so did his words of divine power. Nearly all the skeletons in the chamber shuddered, as if hit by a sturdy mace. One of the walking dead exploded into a cloud of bone shards and a handful of them turned and fled the front lines. The Company fell on the skeletons, using the flats of their swords and shield bashes to great affect. Remar's bolts were particularly effective, smashing skeleton after skeleton. Ree was able to help out with her magic, apportating several skeletons off the ground and out of the fight. Draven's divine magic shielded him from everything the skeletons could throw at him and withing a few moments the horde was reduced to piles of bones and splinters around the room. The few that had fled or been forced away were dispatched with little to no trouble.

Griffin immediately moves toward the metal ladder that can be seen leading down into a darkened shaft. He takes his time and examines the entire alcove for traps or anything else unusual while the others take a much needed rest. Eventually, when he thinks that the area surrounding the shaft and ladder is safe, he approaches and receives a jolt and shock when he touches the metal. Pulling his hand back he quickly summons Remar and Ree to check the area for any further traps. Remar notices fine lines of magical runes on the ladder, that to Griffin's eyes had only looked like scratches or grooves in the metal

Remar checked out the magical runes

ladder. He realizes that they are some form of magical trap and has Marcel scratch them out with his spear tip. Small arcs of lightning can be seen at the tip of the spear for a moment, but they quickly die down.

Bravely, Griffin grasps the metal again, this time with no accompanying shock, and leads the way down into the darkness. Another level of the dungeon is discovered below with a passage leading back to the east ending in yet another stone door. Griffin quickly moves to examine the hallway and door while the others back him up. He finds two loose stones in the floor just in front of the door and thinks they might be pressure plates. He calls Ree up, hoping her sharp Half-Elven eyes will help him better understand it. She spots tiny holes in the wall on each side of the door, just even with the pressure plates. She assumes they are for darts to shoot out of. Being careful to not trigger the trap, Griffin has Marcel and Draven block the holes with their shields as he finished checking out the door.

Gargoyles!

The door is opened with no issue and the next chamber seems to be so black that it almost absorbs the golden light shining from Draven's holy symbol. The walls, floors and ceiling are all black. At the far end of the room stood two dark pillars. Between these pillars stood a dark rectangular shape. Between each pillar and the wall stood tall, dark statues of demonic looking creatures. As the Company stepped
into the room to begin their exploration, the stone statues came to life, charging quickly across the room and attacking with sharp stone claws! The Company immediately went on the defensive and tried to get into better position. It is quickly discovered that the stone gargoyles are formidable opponents and much thought is given to defense as the attack options are not being very effective.

After a short time, Ree and Remar begin moving toward the back of the room to check out the large object between the pillars, hoping that it might have something to do with the unstoppable gargoyles. Rounding the nearest pillar, Remar sees that it is a large black surfaced mirror with an ornate, gem-encrusted frame. Upon looking into the mirror, though, he is surprised to see not his reflection, but a twisted and warped reflection of himself and his companions struggling in an evil black landscape. After a moment of gazing at this scary image, Ree begins trying to pull the mirror over, seemingly unhinged and angry at it. Remar, figuring she is on to something, gives her a hand and begins smashing the obsidian surface with his staff, eventually shattering it!

Facing off against the stone guardians.

Ree was happy for a change.

As Remar's staff cracks the surface of the black mirror, it explodes into millions of tiny black shards, which tear through Ree and Remar's clothes and embed themselves in their skin. At the exact same moment, the stone gargoyles explode as well, sending sharp, rocky shards into everyone else. Griffin nearly collapses from his wounds and everyone else is reeling. And though she was considerably wounded by the shards of glass, Ree was laughing and proclaimed that she felt better than she had in a long time!

Continued on GDA16 - Returning the Statue

Cast of Characters: 

Garrett "Griffin" Constantine, a Thyatian rogue of a gambler from Penhaligon rolled by +Arne Jamtgaard 
Remar Umerus, an Alphatian battle mage that escaped forced service in the Thyatian army conjured by +Ben Lipe and piloted by +Alex Safatli 
Marcel Maas, a down on his luck Traladaran soldier turned mercenary commanded by +Christian Blouin 
Draven Rickart, a Thyatian Acolyte of the Church of Karameikos piously played by +Jason Packer 
and +Jason Woollard as the DM

Grand Duchy 14

Grand Duchy of Adventure

Session 14
April 25 - May 5, 2014

Going Down

Tserdain 20th of Thaumont, 1001AC

Where Does This Ladder Go?

It goes down.

Inside the small building on the island in the Lake of Lost Dreams, there is a stone shaft leading down into the darkness. A crude ladder of stone ledges is carved into one of the walls. Eager to see what mysteries lie at the bottom, Griffin clambers into the narrow shaft and begins climbing down, followed quickly by Marcel, Draven, Remar and Ree. Draven’s glowing holy symbol sheds just enough light to be able to see. Behind him, Draven hears Ree muttering something under her breath. As he turns to look at her, she curses under her breath and shoves him in the shoulder and sneers, “Come on, get going!”

“As her ladyship commands!” he says, voice pitched only for her to hear, and proceeds down the ladder with rather more surety of grip than he’d expected. The light from his symbol provides a good view of the rungs, and gives him ample opportunity to not only avoid the dangerous footings, but to provide commentary to Ree and Remar behind him of where those are as they proceed with their climb.

Draven tries to call out some instructions to his companions coming after him, but he realizes that his instructions are not very helpful as his companions are not very sure about which spots he is talking about. Fortunately it seems that they are able to maneuver the stone ‘ladder’ well enough. Draven does notice that his climbing skills seem to a bit more intuitive than he remembered from the last climb he made.

Remar shakes his head sadly at Ree, sad to see such behavior from a woman. But then realizes she is a woman and possibly recounts his own opinion. Taking a look at the hole, and then at Ree, and then back at the hole, the mage decided to not take any chances with his rather poor ability to climb. Muttering a rather short incantation, with himself as a target, the mage attempts to cast Climbing. With an added confidence in his grip, the mage descends slowly behind Draven.

Griffin steps to one side as he clears the bottom of the ladder. His eyes adjust quickly to the gloom and he checks the room for any signs of danger.  Dad always said that it’s never too soon to look for traps.  Or snakes.

Griffin searches around the landing at the bottom of the ladder as the others climb down but he does not find anything obviously dangerous. The landing is a small square chamber about 10 feet across with an arched tunnel leading out of one side. The floor is covered with several inches of old, rotting leaves, moist and spongy. The passage leading out is about 6 feet wide and no more than 8 feet high in the center. About 30 feet down the dark corridor it ends in a wide stone door.

A tunnel and a door!

Marcel notice Remar floating down the shaft. “Pace yourself, Remar. We don’t know how deep and how dangerous this place is going to get.” He runs the tip of his spear on the tiles ahead of him and look for signs on the ground. The ruckus of the climbing troop gets in the way, and he steps 2 yards ahead into the gloom and tries to listen.

“Whatever profane gods this temple was established to serve seem to have abandoned their flock. It seems it’s been some time since anyone set foot down here.” Seeing Marcel moving ahead, Draven turns and takes a half step towards him, giving him the benefit of his light.

Griffin is torn between being all professional and giggling with glee.  His first dungeon! Dad would be proud. “Okay, guys, let’s take it slow while we can, and hope things don’t get too exciting.  I’ll be looking for traps and tripwires, Draven, you’re our light, so stay central.” Before heading down the hallway he checks the room the ladder is in for any secrets.

Marcel does not hear anything except for the slight whistle of the wind blowing through the building 30 feet up at the top of the shaft.

Remar suggests one of them should check to see what is past the door, and if it is locked. “This place does not really appear to have been occupied for a great deal of time, as the pixies had said. I feel a little worried about what this entails about its contents.”

The door is stuck!

Making sure his shield and club are at the ready, Draven lets his holy symbol hang loose at his chest, illuminating the passageway. “If we find ourselves in a spot, I can call upon the Immortals for guidance as to the presence of other living things around us, but I dare not do it often lest I anger them with my constant demands.”

The Grey Company carefully moves down the passageway, illuminated only by Draven’s glowing holy symbol. The thick layer of rotting leaves gives way to rough stone floor as the shaft is left behind. While the walls and arched ceiling of the tunnel appear to be dry, the floor has numerous puddles of dark, stagnant water, probably from rainwater coming down through the shaft. The solid looking stone door at the end of the tunnel is flanked by columns, similar to the ones holding up the roof above. Some lines and etchings can be seen on the surface of the door, though they are faint and covered with a thick layer of cobwebs and dust.

Knock-Knock

Griffin steps forward and examines the door and immediate area for any type of traps that may be present. Draven moves to the front of the line to give his companion some light to see by. After about 10 minutes he finally comes to the conclusion that the door is safe. There is no knob or handle visible and it looks as if the door opens into the next chamber. Griffin looks to his companions then back toward the door.

Before he can begin pushing on the heavy looking door, Ree shoves her way to the front of the line. “Hold on! I’m as eager to see what’s on the other side of that door as you are, Griff, but let’s be careful about this. There could be anything there. Let me try something.” The young Half-Elf girl steps up to the door and begins moving her hands and feet in a complex ritual. She then speaks some unintelligible words in a strong, firm voice. Magic. As she finishes her spell, Draven’s light seems to intensify for a moment, making Ree’s shadow grow on the stone door ahead. The young girl seems to radiate power for a brief moment then it all goes away. Her shoulders slump and her head leans forward. “Dammit!” she yells and hits the door with both of her hands. The young girl then turns and starts pushing her way back through the gathered crowd. “Back off, you were crowding me! You ruined the spell!” When she gets through to the end of the line, she stomps off back down the tunnel to the base of the shaft where she slumps against the wall, occasionally striking the stone walls or kicking at piles of rotting leaves on the ground.  

A chagrined look on his face, Draven - making a point to hold his holy symbol high, lest he leave everyone else in the darkness, walks back to where Ree is leaning. He puts a hand on her shoulder and trots out his very bad grasp of Elvish. “You be… gooder than this. Not… you be mean, be angry to you.” Dropping back into his native tongue he continues, “you were onto something there. Maybe you could try again?”

Ree pulls away from Draven’s touch then she yells at him, her words echoing through the narrow corridor. “Leave me alone! Don’t touch me!” She buries her head into the corner. Draven can hear her sobbing. He pauses for a moment then she turns and looks at him, her eyes wet and narrow. Draven sees her hand gripping the hilt of the knife at her waist. “I said leave me alone,” she hisses at him through clenched teeth.

Taking a deep breath, Draven centers himself, remembering his training - when ministering to those in need, one’s ego is the last thing that needs to enter into the picture. Keeping his voice low and soothing, like speaking to an enraged mother bear, he whispers “You’d never stab me. And if you did, it wouldn’t be me you were trying to hurt at all, would it?” He deliberately turns back to the others. “Might as well open that door, Griffin. If there’s anything evil on the other side, we’ve got our own wild woman ready to tear it to ribbons.” He heads back towards the door, the better to light the way.

Griffin swears, “Aw, hell.”  He stalks back down the hall. “Hey, Ree, what’s the hold up?” He sees the knife, and stops, close but not too close. His voice lowered, he continues. “Hey look, I need you up there. I need you to have my back. You’re the only mage who I trust to know what to look for.  Remar’s a soldier who shoots first.  Draven? Not his bailiwick, I’m thinking. Magic is your thing, and I get that’s it’s tricky. We crowded you - it’s not like we’re used to working with an entourage, right? There’s a learning curve.”

“So next time, we give you more room, okay? But right now, I’m waiting on you, and they’re waiting on me. Is there anything you want to try before we open the door? Or like the priest said, should we just open it and turn you loose on whatever’s on the other side?”

Remar feels a little socially incapable to recover the situation with Ree and decides to go up to the door and, saying that he feels pretty confident that whatever is behind the door is already alerted to their presence, he goes to open it. Making sure someone is with him and giving him cover, he will continue with his action and slowly open the door. “Whatever you were planning to do, do it fast, Griffin.”

The young mage puts both hands on the door and starts to push. He can feel it waver a bit, but the stone slab is too heavy for him to push on his own.

Marcel ignores the drama, gears for a clash and offer to Remar to be in front of him when the door opens. He will, however, wait for Griffin to come back at the ready before doing anything.

Ree, her head down merely shrugs her shoulders at Griffin. She relaxes a bit but keeps her head down and refuses to make eye contact with anyone as they rejoin the group. When prompted if she wants to ‘try anything else’ up at the door, she grunts and shrugs her shoulders again, declining. Griffin makes his way back to the front of the line where Remar and Marcel are contemplating the best way to open the heavy stone door.

Griffin gives the door one last look over, then glances over his shoulder. “Well, c’mon folks. I think this will need several shoulders worth of effort.” He demonstrates as he starts to push  against the large stone slab.

Not the beefiest of fellows, but Draven puts his shoulder into the push alongside Griffin, hoping that he’ll be enough to swing the door open, but keeping in mind the necessary prayers for a quick spell if there’s anything awaiting on the other side of the door.

Together, several sets of hands and shoulders push against the stone door. A slight grating sound can be heard but the door does not open.

Griffin steps back and takes another pass at the area.  First he tries to discern more about the lines and etchings on the door’s surface, first brushing it off and then blowing the dust away. If that proves fruitless, he will turn his attention to the columns next to the door, searching in their vicinity for any indications of how the door used to open (hidden buttons or switches, wear marks on the columns or floor or ceiling, or on the door itself.)

Marel likewise begins to look for mechanism on either side of the door by running his fingers over the masonry.

Skeletons in the Closet!

No visible catches or latches are found anywhere on the smooth, stone slab nor on the fluted columns to either side. All together, in a coordinated effort, the four companions shove on the door. A slight stone on stone grating sound is heard, then, unexpectedly, the door shifts and swings open. The light from Draven’s holy symbol floods into the chamber beyond, revealing a 15’ by 15’ space. There are two passages leading out to the right and left and a narrow alcove in the far wall. Griffin, who had been pushing extra hard, stumbles into the room as the door opens and quickly looks around. Immediately he spots the danger as several skeletons lurch forward from the near corners of the room toward him. He spots two more standing in the far corners as well. Before he can even call out a warning to his friends, he sees many more skeletons in each of the side passages, ready to stream out into the room!

A horde of undead!

Griffin stumbles back into the doorway. “Skeletons! Form up!” he yells, as he readies his shield and sword. He takes up position to Marcel’s left.

“Draven!  Can you and your gods dispel these foul creatures?”

“Others of my order have such gifts, but mine are in other areas. Ranged attackers, get behind me!” Draven begins to concentrate on a prayer to bring up a holy shield to protect him, so that he might be a bulwark against which the wave of skeletons break.

Griffin grips his sword and Waits for a skeleton to step into range.

Remar moves to Draven’s rear, shooting a bolt of energy at the nearest skeleton to his left. “I am certainly not surprised there are skeletons here. Draven, hurry up with that shield!”

Remar steps back behind the Acolyte and sends a magical bolt soaring over his head at the nearest Skeleton (to the left). The eldritch bolt slams into the undead abomination, shattering most of what is left of its ribcage, sending it reeling back several feet.

“Lords of holiness protect me!” cries Draven, his holy symbol flashing against his chest. A shimmering shield forms up in front of him and he prepares to fight the next skeleton to close the distance.

Marcel opens with his signature dual attack on the skeleton adjacent to him, then takes a step forward to open the way. “There are many of them, keep the defensive position of the hallway to avoid being cut-off.”

The Skeleton nearest Marcel manages to dodge Marcel’s shield bash as it lumbers forward.

The skeletons surge forward, filling the room. One steps inside Marcel’s shield and claws at him with his bony hands while the others move in to attack. Griffin, quickly strikes at the Skeleton that has stepped up into his range.

Thinking quickly, Griffin swings at the skeleton with the flat of his blade, hoping to shatter the brittle old bones!

The approaching Skeleton, the same one that had been hit by Remar’s bolt, crumbles under the strength of Griffin’s blow.

Flush with an early victory, Griffin swings at another skeleton, again with the flat of his blade.

Griffin’s blade connects with another skeleton solidly but it stays standing.

The battle rages!

Marcel attempts a knee strike on the skeleton in close but misses and takes a step back to encumber the skeleton sandwich between him and Draven.

“Everyone back down two steps!” as Marcel feels a little crowded by skeleton at this time.

Taking advantage of the close quarters, Draven lashes out at the skeleton between himself and Marcel, hoping to open a way for Marcel to step back into a defensive position.

Remar is incredibly surprised at the sheer number of them at this point. He feels as those some stronger magic would be nice, but his training has still not given him access to the sort of magic that would be most useful to deal with multiple enemies. Before taking a step back, as Marcel has suggested, Remar uses his magic to fling the skeleton directly in front of Griffin back into the ones behind.

Draven strikes the nearest skeleton as Marcel backs up near him and Remar forces the skeleton in front of Griffin to move back, bumping into another skeleton behind it. Taking a cue from Remar, Ariadne steps forward and speaks the magical words of power, weaving her hands in a mystical pattern, but once again, nothing happens. “Noooo!” the young Hallf-Elven girl cries in desperation.

Meanwhile, the skeletons push forward again, their bony fingers reaching out, grasping at both Marcel and Griffin!

“Gah!” says Griffin, flailing as he jumps back into the doorway.  He lashes out with his broadsword to try and shatter the foul creature, but swings before he has regained his balance.  His sword goes wide!

“Marcel! Pull back! Quick!” he yells.

Taking another step back, the mage throws out another bolt of eldritch energy at the skeleton directly in front of Griffin, yelling out, “What are we doing? Fighting or running? It’s not that I don’t enjoy a fight, but there’s a fair number of them. You alright up there?” Remar sends the skeleton his magic has hold over back one further yard into more of his brethren.

Marcel maintains a rear-guard in All-out defense and steps back if possible. The party is now in an advantageous tactical position, but he is still unsure whether they can take care of so many opponents.

“Everyone, run!” shouts Marcel.

The press of animated bones pushes the entire Company back some, eventually back through the doorway. As Griffin and Marcel slide back past the threshold, it seems that the skeletal attackers stop their pursuit. Then suddenly, the sound of stone grating on stone can be heard and the door swings shut with a low thud. The narrow stone corridor is quiet except for heavy breathing, the air is damp with sweat and fear. Soft sobbing can be heard from the back of the line as Ree has slid to the floor, her hands in her face, crying quietly.

After a moment, Griffin says, “Did you see it?” Everyone looks at him questioningly. “You didn’t see it? Across the room, there was another ladder, leading further down. I could see the top of a metal ladder coming up out of a hole in the floor, straight across the room. There is something more down there! Those skeletons were GUARDING something!”

Remar sighs. “What I would do for a giant fire right about now….”

“If we’re going back in there, it must be now or the protection I currently carry will be for naught! I will gladly take a front-rank position, if Marcel will stand at my side, but that means the rest of you must be ready with your missiles or arcane tricks," says Draven.

Marcel looks around and realize that no one got hurt in this incident.

“Did the skeletons really attack us after all? Was this some kind of trick played on us.”, he turns to Ree and Remar, “Were there skeleton real or just a trick played on our senses?”.

“Yea, none of us got hurt! I think with a little better tactics, we can keep them at bay while the rest of us break them into little pieces," adds Griffin

“Marcel, I think you and I should switch sides. I’m left-handed, so that would put our shields towards the outside for better defense!”

“What do you say, guys? Let’s get this door back open and give it another go!”

Cast of Characters: 

Garrett "Griffin" Constantine, a Thyatian rogue of a gambler from Penhaligon rolled by +Arne Jamtgaard 
Remar Umerus, an Alphatian battle mage that escaped forced service in the Thyatian army conjured by +Ben Lipe and piloted by +Alex Safatli 
Marcel Maas, a down on his luck Traladaran soldier turned mercenary commanded by +Christian Blouin 
Draven Rickart, a Thyatian Acolyte of the Church of Karameikos piously played by +Jason Packer 
and +Jason Woollard as the DM