Post by David on Jan 12, 2009 14:22:37 GMT -5
The heroes (Dion, Marc, Mikhail, Sky, Daj, Pepper, Cliffy, Alec, and Paullie) continued exploring the Interdicted Temple. The group located the Temple's war-room, complete with battle plans and a map of all the Temple's holdings during its hey-day 30 years ago. Included in the list, Daj notes, are several hidden shrines that she and other parties had recently tackled as well as at least one that was unknown. Cliffy copied the map and the heroes also cut down and brought with them the original.
During the time a vrock showed up, but the heroes were able to very quickly put down the demon. Later, the heroes found a very large weapons cache, including nearly 50 magical arrows as well as a magical bow!
The heroes continued, returning to the room with the mushroom figurines and toadstool stools. The group hacked a couple of stools to pieces before discovering that they were really shriekers under some sort of spell which is broken by touch with a person. Daj, meanwhile, pocketed all the artwork as a gift to Slee.
The group continued and found another room with earth in the center. From this floor erupted six violet shriekers with branch-like appendages as well as more than four dozen smaller mushrooms with evil dimples resembling faces. The smaller fungi, however, seemed to burn from the light of Dion's light club, so the cleric of Apollo tossed it into the room, destroying all the smaller foes. The larger ones, meanwhile, very slowly advanced, moving from the earth and onto the stone. The heroes used missile weapons, but Marc and Sky went into melee to prevent the purple fungi from entering the main entry to the Interdicted Temple. One of the branches nicked Marc's arm and it quickly began to rot away, spreading toward his chest! Dion saved him with his cure disease ability, but the arm was still slightly damaged. Meanwhile, the rest of the party killed most of the violet fungi, but they did manage to get into the massive entry chamber. There, Dion began using his arrows, accidentally shooting Mikhail in the gut and nearly killing the young psi.
Using herbs, bandages, and spells, the group stabilizes Mikhail, but he's in no shape to move lest he reopen his wounds. So the heroes rest and wait for the young man to recover. Cliffy took this time to go through the party's scrolls, finding five excellent scrolls with a number of new and unique spells. The sixth scroll, however, was cursed and turned the elven mage/thief into an ELVEN barbarian. He quickly developed a hatred for both Paullie and Alec (in his new goblin form), but Mikhail managed to psionically disrupt these memories before the heroes finally incapacitated the hapless former-mage.
Two hours into the rest, a glabrezu arrives and mutters about "her treasure". It uses fear to drive off about a third of the heroes before being forced to teleport away -- Marc, Sky, and Daj were able to bring the demon near death! Unfortunately, although Dion went looking for the monster, it found Paullie and bit off the poor gnome's head while his mind was still victim to the fear. Marc charged to avenge the little thief, but the demon used telekinesis to pick up the stocky warrior and hold him to one of the elemental glyphs. The beastmaster disappeared in a flash of flame. Sky went after him after finishing off the glabrezu. Despite his wounds, Mikhail got to his feet and went after his two closest friends in the party, saying that he would be "back soon via his mental powers."
Hours passed without a sign of the three. Dion gathered the party and holed up in the room the heroes had previously slept in. They heard noises outside in the entry hall, but kept the door closed. After more than 20 hours, the group emerged and quickly slaughtered a fire mephit. But still there was no sign of the three. Pepper cased the entire dungeon looking for any secret doors, but the only remaining room is the one with the magically-trapped furniture. After 13 more hours, the group releases Cliffy and tries to find another way out of the dungeon, only to run afoul of a pair of vrocks looking for "Zuggtmoy's great horde" and demanding the party tell them where "her treasure is".
The demons nearly defeat the party as Cliffy, in his magic-fearing state, attacks Daj instead of the demons. Alec is dropped and Dajamira stuns herself twice. Pepper proves fantastically brave and Dion dishes a couple of good hits on the demons. Stupid, the demons are fooled by a pair of illusions from the gnome, but each time they touch the phantom treasure, it disrupts. Barely on their feet and nearly dead, the heroes vanquish both demons and reason from the monsters comments that among the treasures is a ring of wishes.
The group finds the ring, but cannot verify its powers nor agree on what to do with the wish. Dion wants to simply wish the party back to Klarr, but Dajamira points out that were it that easy, why did Zuggtmoy remain trapped in this Temple/prison for three decades -- surely she had access to the ring. Moreover, the half-dryad points out, Mikhail was unable to teleport out of the Temple so even the wish might fail. The group also discusses wishing Marc, Sky, and Mikhail back to them, although there is some serious fear that the three are dead -- after all, Mikhail said he would be back in a few minutes and it had been a day and a half. Surely only, Sky could survive in a fire plane so long... Daj suggested wishing for more allies to be brought to the party, including either her father (which she acknowledged was a bad idea) or her old friend, Gor, Gamoth's lizard man apprentice and a powerful druid in his own right. Another thought was to wish Cliffy back to his former body and class, but Pepper has some reservations of using the wish at all in the Temple.
And yet, nothing the heroes do seems to be able to take out the huge bronze doors trapping them in...
Current status:
Alec: 7 of 21 (and a goblin), cast detect evil
Dion: 8 of 45, only has two 1st and one 2nd left
Pepper: 20 of 32, cast PA x2, hyp, d. invis, IP, SF
Daj: 17 of 38, cast invis, slow
Cliffy: 2 of 39 (as a barbarian)
p.s. -- Daj points out that she's fairly positive Gor could stone shape a tunnel out of the Temple and a dispel magic would close it right back up, leaving the prison intact. The escape would require some of Daj's spells, but should work with "any decent druid".
During the time a vrock showed up, but the heroes were able to very quickly put down the demon. Later, the heroes found a very large weapons cache, including nearly 50 magical arrows as well as a magical bow!
The heroes continued, returning to the room with the mushroom figurines and toadstool stools. The group hacked a couple of stools to pieces before discovering that they were really shriekers under some sort of spell which is broken by touch with a person. Daj, meanwhile, pocketed all the artwork as a gift to Slee.
The group continued and found another room with earth in the center. From this floor erupted six violet shriekers with branch-like appendages as well as more than four dozen smaller mushrooms with evil dimples resembling faces. The smaller fungi, however, seemed to burn from the light of Dion's light club, so the cleric of Apollo tossed it into the room, destroying all the smaller foes. The larger ones, meanwhile, very slowly advanced, moving from the earth and onto the stone. The heroes used missile weapons, but Marc and Sky went into melee to prevent the purple fungi from entering the main entry to the Interdicted Temple. One of the branches nicked Marc's arm and it quickly began to rot away, spreading toward his chest! Dion saved him with his cure disease ability, but the arm was still slightly damaged. Meanwhile, the rest of the party killed most of the violet fungi, but they did manage to get into the massive entry chamber. There, Dion began using his arrows, accidentally shooting Mikhail in the gut and nearly killing the young psi.
Using herbs, bandages, and spells, the group stabilizes Mikhail, but he's in no shape to move lest he reopen his wounds. So the heroes rest and wait for the young man to recover. Cliffy took this time to go through the party's scrolls, finding five excellent scrolls with a number of new and unique spells. The sixth scroll, however, was cursed and turned the elven mage/thief into an ELVEN barbarian. He quickly developed a hatred for both Paullie and Alec (in his new goblin form), but Mikhail managed to psionically disrupt these memories before the heroes finally incapacitated the hapless former-mage.
Two hours into the rest, a glabrezu arrives and mutters about "her treasure". It uses fear to drive off about a third of the heroes before being forced to teleport away -- Marc, Sky, and Daj were able to bring the demon near death! Unfortunately, although Dion went looking for the monster, it found Paullie and bit off the poor gnome's head while his mind was still victim to the fear. Marc charged to avenge the little thief, but the demon used telekinesis to pick up the stocky warrior and hold him to one of the elemental glyphs. The beastmaster disappeared in a flash of flame. Sky went after him after finishing off the glabrezu. Despite his wounds, Mikhail got to his feet and went after his two closest friends in the party, saying that he would be "back soon via his mental powers."
Hours passed without a sign of the three. Dion gathered the party and holed up in the room the heroes had previously slept in. They heard noises outside in the entry hall, but kept the door closed. After more than 20 hours, the group emerged and quickly slaughtered a fire mephit. But still there was no sign of the three. Pepper cased the entire dungeon looking for any secret doors, but the only remaining room is the one with the magically-trapped furniture. After 13 more hours, the group releases Cliffy and tries to find another way out of the dungeon, only to run afoul of a pair of vrocks looking for "Zuggtmoy's great horde" and demanding the party tell them where "her treasure is".
The demons nearly defeat the party as Cliffy, in his magic-fearing state, attacks Daj instead of the demons. Alec is dropped and Dajamira stuns herself twice. Pepper proves fantastically brave and Dion dishes a couple of good hits on the demons. Stupid, the demons are fooled by a pair of illusions from the gnome, but each time they touch the phantom treasure, it disrupts. Barely on their feet and nearly dead, the heroes vanquish both demons and reason from the monsters comments that among the treasures is a ring of wishes.
The group finds the ring, but cannot verify its powers nor agree on what to do with the wish. Dion wants to simply wish the party back to Klarr, but Dajamira points out that were it that easy, why did Zuggtmoy remain trapped in this Temple/prison for three decades -- surely she had access to the ring. Moreover, the half-dryad points out, Mikhail was unable to teleport out of the Temple so even the wish might fail. The group also discusses wishing Marc, Sky, and Mikhail back to them, although there is some serious fear that the three are dead -- after all, Mikhail said he would be back in a few minutes and it had been a day and a half. Surely only, Sky could survive in a fire plane so long... Daj suggested wishing for more allies to be brought to the party, including either her father (which she acknowledged was a bad idea) or her old friend, Gor, Gamoth's lizard man apprentice and a powerful druid in his own right. Another thought was to wish Cliffy back to his former body and class, but Pepper has some reservations of using the wish at all in the Temple.
And yet, nothing the heroes do seems to be able to take out the huge bronze doors trapping them in...
Current status:
Alec: 7 of 21 (and a goblin), cast detect evil
Dion: 8 of 45, only has two 1st and one 2nd left
Pepper: 20 of 32, cast PA x2, hyp, d. invis, IP, SF
Daj: 17 of 38, cast invis, slow
Cliffy: 2 of 39 (as a barbarian)
p.s. -- Daj points out that she's fairly positive Gor could stone shape a tunnel out of the Temple and a dispel magic would close it right back up, leaving the prison intact. The escape would require some of Daj's spells, but should work with "any decent druid".
