3/30/02

Goodmonth 19

After their brush with death, the party decides to retire for the evening to their rooms at the Inn of the Welcome Wench. They sleep the night and are not disturbed. The next morning, Minaret is again obliged to wake up Xaod (this time he's not sleeping in his armor or hung over, but is still a bit disoriented... being raised from the dead will do that to some people). The paladin is adamant about returning to the moathouse immediately to "get that vile bastard who killed me!" The party has no argument with that.

The group heads downstairs, and find that again Vesta has a great spread of pastries and fruit out for them. As the party grabs a quick bite, Vesta mentions that Redithidoor was looking for them yesterday. "He said that he had a very important meeting with you, and seemed disappointed that he couldn't find you. If he shows up today, where should I tell him he can find you?"

Minaret nearly chokes on a bearclaw. As soon as she can, she says, "Um, well, you can tell him that we'll be... around. Somewhere."

Vesta looks at the rogue knowingly. "You know, you really shouldn't pick on poor Redithidoor. He can't help it if he's a bit... cloying." The party responds noncomittally to this, so she shrugs and continues the morning cleaning.

After finishing their breakfast, the party departs once again for the moathouse. The journey is uneventful; there is no sign of Ol' Del, and Fletcher notices that the wildlife is not nearly as qiuet as it was the day before (the party jokingly speculates that it's because Ol' Del isn't around, then concedes that it must have been the dragon's presence).

They arrive at the moathouse at about nine in the morning, almost exactly the same time as the day before. They follow the same reconnaissance pattern: Soot is sent out for recon (he reports nothing moving), and Fletcher tests the pools of water in front of the bridge (no frog emerges this time). They cautiously enter the ruins.

The dragon's corpse lies where it fell, in the collapsed tower. After ascertaining that nothing else in the courtyard is going to attack them, the group begins a thorough exploration of the moathouse. They find many rooms with nothing but debris and smashed furniture. Immediately west of the large chamber that served as the dragon's lair, they find a stairway going down into darkness, but decide not to descend the steps immediately. Exploring to the south they encounter a gray ooze in the southernmost room. It attacks, but thanks to a few lucky dodges by the heroes, the ooze is dispatched without it causing any trouble. After exploring the rest of the upper level and finding nothing else of interest, the party lights up a torch and cautiously descends the steps to the lower level.

When they reach the bottom of the stairs, they find a room that opens up around and behind the stairway itself, with two pillars flanking the stairs. Abruptly, two gnolls pop out from behind the pillars, surprising the party. With a snarl, each simultaneously throws something at the feet of the party members. One object breaks open, splattering a thick, hardening goo all over the feet of Vangkor: a tanglefoot bag! Luckily the wizard manages to avoid getting rooted to the spot. The other object is smaller, and when it strikes the ground it emits a deafening bang: a thunderstone. All but Ian manage to escape its blast radius; the fighter, however, goes completely deaf (he continually shouts when he speaks, and soon refrains from talking at all until he can get cured). Although the surprise attack is nasty, the party manages to dispatch the gnolls without too much trouble. Their bodies are searched, but they carry no more of the tanglefoot bags or thunderstones. Interestingly, just as Ol' Del mentioned, these gnolls seem equipped with better-than-average armor and weapons, especially compared to the rag-tag bunch the party encountered before outside of Blasingdell.

While the rest of the party continues looting the gnoll's bodies, Vangkor uses his darkvision to explore the area southeast of the stairs, which opens into another room with pillars and many doors on the west wall. Unfortuantely, he's surprised by a rotting, stinking corpse that leaps out at him! He bravely withstands the nausea from the things stench, but the creature scores a lucky direct hit; Vangkor manages to get out a single shout before he is overcome with an immense chill and cannot move. The creature is a ghast, with a deadly paralyzing touch!

The others hear the shout and begin to carefully make their way over. Since only one torch is lit, the group experiences some difficulty trying to either stay within the torch's radius or move through the darkness without stumbling. When they reach the ghast, it proves difficult to bring down: Minaret is also paralyzed before Richter manages to turn the creature, causing it to flee into an adjacent room to the east. After a brief (and mostly silent) argument with Xaod over possession of the torch, Ian chases the ghast into the room, and is promptly ambushed by three ghouls waiting there for him. The rest of the party runs in to help, and after playing hide and seek among the pillars, the remainder of the undead are taken care of.

As Vangkor and Minaret recover from their paralysis, the party then engages in a series of painstaking searches of the area, focusing on the walls. They start in the room with the ghouls, and find nothing there. They then move into the room where they originally encountered the ghast. The many doors on the west wall each open into a small 10-foot square cell-like room. The party (especially Fletcher, for some reason) is very leery of these rooms, but after careful exploration these too reveal no secrets.

Moving back to the room with the stairs, they find two doors along the west wall. The southernmost door opens to an empty room, but opening the northern one reveals a cat sitting calmly just inside the door. It looks up attentively at Vangkor (who opened the door). Behind the feline is a human male dressed as a spellcaster, with hands raised. "Touch the cat and you die," the man warns. Vangkor doesn't immediately attack, as the man is alone and hasn't actually attacked them yet. Instead, the half-orc wizard asks the man who he is.

After brief and somewhat cautious introductions, the party discovers that the man is named Spugnoir, and that he runs the potion shop in Homlett. He apparently likes to go wandering about the countryside frequently to explore, and comes to the moathouse fairly often. He had the bad luck to be here when the cultists arrived. Then the dragon showed up, trapping both him and the cultists. He is surprised by the party's claim of defeating the dragon; he knows it killed a couple of the cultists. He says that if this is true, he must leave right away, as his daughter Renee has been running the store in his absence and must be worried sick. [BEHIND THE SCENES: One of the players, I can't remember who, snickers lecherously, "Daughter, eh? Heh-heh..." Spugnoir gives the character a cold look, stating flatly, "She's nine."] The party debates whether to trust this stranger, remembering that the last time they trusted a stranger (Chat), he betrayed the group and assassinated Xaod. They decide Spugnoir is trustworthy, and offer to escort him upstairs, and even to loan him one of their horses to ride back to Homlett. Spugnoir is surprised by and grateful for their generosity, and in return he tells what he knows of the cultists here.

According to Spugnoir, there are several human cultists in ochre robes, many gnolls, and a troglodyte. He (Spugnoir) managed to avoid being spotted by hiding in this room, but he managed to notice that the cultists had brought excavation equipment down into the dungeon. He overheard several of the cultists' conversations, and knows they are seeking some item or items here. He also knows the layout of the moathouse fairly well, having visited here many times before, and tells the party of a secret door located in the thick walls of the northeast-most room in the upper level. Beyond that, he knows nothing more of the cultists and their plans here.

As promised, the party escorts him upstairs and loans him a horse to ride back to Homlett. They ask if he needs an escort, but he says that he has enough spells still prepared that he can make it back with little problem. In return for the party's altruism, he promises to offer the party a lifetime discount at his store, which the party in turn is grateful for. He then rides off for Homlett.

After he departs, the party looks for the secret door described by the wizard, and indeed find one concealed in the rubble exactly where he described. Beyond it is another stairway leading down into darkness. Satisfied that everything has worked out well, the party returns below to continue their explorations.

Listening at door exiting north of room with stairs, the group hears hushed voices. They spend a minute or two deciding what to do next. They decide to go for it. They burst open the door, expecting to find enemies, but the room beyond is empty except for rubble. Another door leads east; listening at this door, the party again hears activity: no voice, but the stealthy scrape of metal against stone. The party forms a plan: based on their current underground location, the group hazards that the stairs behind the secret door upstairs must lead down to the room beyond the door. The group decides to split up: half the party goes upstairs and waits at the top of the stairs beyond the secret door. There they wait, ready to descned at the first sounds of combat below. Motioning the rest of the party to hide the light of the torch and move back a few paces, Vangkor casts invisibility and opens the door wide. Using his darkvision, he sees a room full of foes awaiting the party: about six skeletons, one of them large, along with two gnolls ready with drawn bows. The gnolls tense up at the opening door, but don't spot the invisible Vangkor, craning their necks wildly looking for a target. Vangkor then casts a fireball spell. The blast takes out all the medium-sized skeletons, along with one of the gnolls. Smoking but still on his feet, the remaining gnoll fires his bow at the now-visible Vangkor, and combat is joined. The party rushes in and a brief battle ensues. The stairs above indeed double-back and lead down into the room, and the party's combined forces make quick work of the skeleton and remaining gnoll. They congratulate themselves on a plan well-executed.

After a brief exploration, they find a secret door in the southeast corner of the room. This opens with little difficulty to reveal an empty 10' square room. Suspicious, the party searches for and finds another secret door on the opposite wall. This leads to a long hallway that turns southeast. Cautiously, the party advances.

They travel about twenty feet when they hear a voice shout "NOW!" A muffled thud is heard, then from above they hear the shriek of metal against stone. They look up to see a massive portcullis falling above Vangkor and Richter, directly in the middle of the party! Vangkor darts forward out of the way, nearly bowling over Ian and Minaret. Richter is not so lucky: the great iron portcullis rams him to the ground, pinning him under its immense weight. Fletcher and Xaod are trapped behind the portcullis. At this moment, the party hears a noise and turn forward again. The passage they are in ends in a T-intersection of sorts; from each branch of the intersection now steps a pair of gnolls, armed with bows. They begin firing at the party, and the battle is on!

It is a long, precarious combat. Vangkor and Minaret try to hold off the gnolls, while Ian, Fletcher, Xaod, and Richter himself attempt to lift the portcullis in vain. The massive iron grate simply will not budge. Meanwhile, two of the first gnolls are dispatched, but four more opponents take their place: three more gnolls (one of whom bears two swords in a manner similar to Fletcher) along with a female priestess wearing ochre robes. Vangkor is brought down under the assault, leaving Minaret frantically dancing about avoiding the attackers. Ian is forced to leave the portcullis and fight the enemy. He and Minaret desperately hold the narrow passage against the attackers while the others try again and again to lift the portcullis. Meanwhile, the female cleric tries repeatedly to target Ian with her spells, but the warrior seems to shrug them all off. The warrior's luck runs out eventually, however, as several gnolls gang up on him with battleaxes. Ian falls, and things look horribly grim for the party, when Richter calls upon all the divine strength he can muster, and with the help of his comrades heaves himself out from under the portcullis. The others manage to hold it up just long enough to slither underneath before it comes crashing down again.

The tide of battle turns. Fletcher faces off with the gnoll with two swords (apparently the leader of the gnolls), while Minaret and Richter take care of the other gnolls with spells. The female drags one of the fallen gnolls back around the corner and out of sight, just as three more enemy reinforcements arrive: another gnoll, a human male cleric wearing ochre robes, and a troglodyte... also wearing robes, though these are black in color. Minaret gives them no time to act: in a dazzling display, she takes out all three of the reinforcements with a carefully aimed color spray. Meanwhile, Richter rushes to the nearly dead Vangkor and applies some curative magic. Vangkor springs to his feet, just in time to see the female cultist race back around the corner, screaming and holding aloft a massive morningstar! She brings it down in a vicious arc... and misses! At that moment, Fletcher takes out the gnoll leader, and Minaret dispatches the helpless human male cultist. The woman cultist, seeing that she is the only one remaining standing, turns tail and tries to run back around the corner. Vangkor sends a fireball after her; it hits just as she reaches the corner, detonating with a massive bang and killing her instantly. Her corpse is fried against the wall, and the party hears the dying screech of another gnoll from around the corner (presumably the one she had dragged out of harms way before). Minaret quickly takes out the troglodyte before it can recover from her color spray. Breathing hard, the party waits for more reinforcements, but all is silent after the last echoes of Vangkor's last fireball die away. It appears, for the moment, that they have defeated all their enemies.

The party methodically search the bodies of their opponents. These gnolls also seem well-equipped than average, although nothing too extraordinary is found on the rank-and-file warriors. Fletcher takes the leader's magical studded leather armor, to replace the suit that was destroyed when he was brought down by the dragon's lightning. The male cleric, in addition to a robe, a symbol of the Elder Elemental Eye, and other magical items, carries a hand-written journal. Putting this aside for later, the party examines the stinking body of the troglodyte. The creature appears to be a cleric of some sort, but the black robes cause the party some confusion: why is he not dressed in ochre robes? Then they find the creature's holy symbol, worn about its neck: it is a dull black, and shaped in an inverted ziggurat or pyrmaid. Most of the party do not recognize it, but Vangkor narrows his eyes, and Xaod actually steps away in horror, whispering "...Tharizdun!". Party asks, "What is it?" Xaod looks at Vangkor. "Do you wish to tell them?"

Vangkor thinks. "I don't know much... only what I have learned in my studies. Tharizdun is an ancient god of madness and destruction. He is known by many names: the Dark God, the Nameless One, the Elder God... from what I gather, his single objective is the utter annihilation of the world. Nobody knows much about him, but it is thought that he existed before most of the gods of Oerth were even around."

Xaod continues, "The other gods rose against him, but could not destroy him. The best they could do is imprison him, and it took all of their combined strength just to do that." He looks down at the troglodyte. "I did not know any followers of the Dark God existed... it is thought they all perished long ago."

Disturbed, the party decides that they need to rest and assess their situation before continuing their explorations of the moathouse. They retreat to the upper level, making camp in the room where they encountered the gray ooze. They fortify the hallway leading to the main entrance, collecting the smashed and ruined furniture from the other rooms to use as barricades. They then hunker down and heal themselves up. They do not light a fire, but by the use of a light spell Vangkor reads the journal found on the dead human cleric. After reading it thorougly, Vangkor shows the rest of the party the journal and then falls into a troubled sleep.

Goodmonth 20

They are undisturbed during their watch, though Xaod at one point thinks he hears a noise: yet investigation reveals nothing, and the party is not disturbed. After hearing Xaod's report the following morning, however, Fletcher closely examines the ground in the courtyard, and finds fresh tracks... someone stealthily exited the moathouse while they slept. The party can guess all too well whose heavy boots left the tracks: Chatrilon!

After ensuring that the assassin is nowhere about, the party returns to their exploration of the dungeons below. They retrace their steps to the portcullis, somewhat surprised to find it still closed... how did Chatrilon escape? They fetch some broken furniture from upstairs and use that to prop the massive portcullis open. The wood creaks but holds the portcullis up, and the party slips beneath it. They reach the intersection where the massive battle took place the night before; the bodies still lie where they fell. After debating which branch of the intersection to take, the party decides to go south rather than east.

After a few twists and turns, the party encounters what must have been living quarters for the clerics: along with six old wooden beds, a brazier and an unlit lantern, there is a locked iron box. After getting sprayed by an acidic glyph of warding, Minaret manages to open it, and the party takes the treasure within.

A room to the west appears to be the quarters of the gnoll leader and contains nothing of interest. The party follows a passage south of the cleric's quarters, and reach another hallway branching to the west, where they are suprised when a ghast leaps out and attacks! Fortunately, the creature misses its attack, and Richter calls upon Boccob's might to send it screeching back along the hallway. Rather than continuing south, the party follows it down the new western passageway. After several minutes the ghast overcomes Richter's turning and returns, only to be turned back yet again. The party continues to follow, and this time the creature does not immediately return. The party soon finds it, however: it is waiting for them in a large crypt, where it has joined up with four other ghouls. A quick battle ensues, and the party again manages to avoid the undead creature's deadly enervating attacks. One by one they are cut down, and the original ghoul is dispatched. Catching their breath, the party prepares to explore the crypt...