The group:
Feran: Ranger 6 (me)
Chance: Cleric 5/Rogue 1 (Ian)
Drow Cleric 4/ Fighter 2 (I think) Nathaniel (our resident trainee. This will become apparent)
Inquisitor 6 (Rob)
Mangonel: Human Barbarian 3/Druid 3 (Lion Shaman something or other) (Dustin)
Tiefling Magus 4/Rogue 2 (Dave)
*The cross class levels may not be correct. I didn't double check with the players on their level ups.
Climbing out of the crevasse to level 5, the first thing we see is a sphinx with a moai head, made from a black stone with magical runes all around it. As we approach to investigate, it turns toward the group and asks "Would you like to make a wager?"
Feran, being reckless like he is (and broke) says "I will wager my health" our Drow and Chance (I think) made the wager as well. The sphinx gives us a riddle, which we solve easily, giving us each 1 permanent point of Constitution.
Next we all proffered up some gold, and doubled our money. (Except the Barbarian who bet a hammock and got a masterwork one.)
Then I decided to bet the awesome dagger I found last session. Other members decided to wager different things, and we again won. The dagger became a +2 Flaming Great Axe of Spell Storing. The Drow's Flail became a living steel flail.There were other things in there too, but I don't remember what.
Again, we are asked "Would you like to make a wager?" This time, the Tiefling, Drow, Inquisitor (and Barbarian?) decided to wager their souls against a map of the entirety of the Castle. The riddle was:
(Sphinx made an illusion of a scale set and 8 balls.) "Weighing only twice, which of these 8 balls weighs less than the others?"
The party said weigh 2 groups of 4.Then they weighed 2 groups of 2, and guessed on a 50/50 (which our DM actually allowed) and got it right. We had a "GM moment of weakness" there, I think.
After that close call, we decided we had had enough gambling for a while and headed East, toward a double door. On the way, we encountered 3 owlbears. (Owlbear don't care.) We dispatched them fairly easily, and a gelatinous cube came wandering up while we were searching their alcove. Again, no issue dispatching that, so on toward the double doors.
This is where things get interesting. The doors were locked and barred from this side. Listening, we heard nothing, so we opened the door. There was a huge ochre jelly. We shut the door and made a plan of attack. We reopened the door, and attacked. It did a little damage, split once, then died.
Searching the room, we see 4 doors besides the one we came in. We check one of them to find a proverbial mother lode of books, worth about 30k gp to collectors. We then check another room, to find it full of junk.
A third room is checked, and inside it has 7 earthenware jars and a huge crystal cylinder with a lid tightly on it. The drow and the ranger check it out. The drow goes in, looks around, and comes back out. Then Feran decides to check out a jar. The drow (being our trainee) walks back into the room. Feran taps the jar with a sickle, and a crystal materializes between him and the drow. The drow is hit, grappled and encased in crystal. Feran makes a hasty retreat.
The party slams the door on the crystal, and the Mangonel and Feran run to get the bar that was on the entry door. Before they get back, the crystal shatters the door, and the party flees for the one door we had not opened yet.
We get over to the door, and find it to be barred from the other side. We hall ass back toward the entry door, and Mangonel decides to play hero, holding off the crystal while the rest of us escape. He dies to the 7d8+9 attacks of this thing.
The surviving members of the party head back to the sphinx, and gamble 3 living characters for 2 dead ones to be brought to us, alive. We win that gamble, and gamble a full recharge on all spells and abilities. We also win this one.
Then our drow trainee decides to attempt a riddle by himself. He bets his bones against an item that can shatter the crystal. He loses and dies.
So, back to full health and full strength (minus a drow), we head toward a different exit. This time we come to a room full of summoning circles. We encounter nothing dangerous, and decide to check a room off to the side. Here we find a pleasant djinn who we have tea and read books in his library. He has 37 years left in his bound service to the Mad Archmage.
From here, we head north and turn east. We decide to check one door on our way to the stairs, and hear giant speak from the other side. 4 voices. We bust open the door and attack. 4 trolls! We fight and drop one (yay flaming axe!), but 7 more come from neighboring rooms. We are in for a tough fight.
As the session winds down, we have killed all of the trolls from the room we broke into, Mangonel and the drow are dead (again), and we are in bad position against an onslaught of trolls.
No comments:
Post a Comment