This post is a highlight reel. Instead of listing room-by-room
encounters and the minutiae of the Stonehell experience, I’m just going to list
what I perceive to be the most significant events and observations of the past
four games.
The death of Ingrid. We came across
a room dominated by a large, black stone treasure chest, set atop a pedestal.
Around the chest, a cold miasma siphoned away our life-energy. Creepy stuff.
Ingrid offered a reward of 50 silver pieces to anyone brave enough to open the
chest, and one of our henchmen, Ammulius, rolled high enough on his morale dice
to give it a go. He made an impromptu body board out of his shield and slid
across to the chest, but couldn’t roll well enough to open it. The chest was
really stuck tight; four others, including Atemnus and Ingrid, body-boarded up
to the chest and offered help.
Now, it should be noted that Gwen had access to
protection from poison, but she had messed with an elaborate statue earlier in
the dungeon, and her reward for such meddlesome behavior had been the temporary
loss of her hands. She still had hands, but they’d become ambulatory and
detached themselves. Someone was holding on to them in a burlap sack. She had
no ability to cast spells in this state, and no one was patient enough to wait
for her hands to sort themselves out.
So, when the chest sprung open and unleashed a cloud of
toxic gas, there was nothing for it except to roll saving throws. Only Atemnus
passed. It was a tragic, yet heroic, loss of life – for inside the chest lay over
1,000 gold pieces. The survivors pledged to honor the fallen by spending money
on their monuments.
The slaughter and enslavement of the orcs of
the Open Sore. I was absent from Session 9, but tales of the bravery of
Atemnus and Septimus still reached my ears. While exploring an unknown passage,
a great orc chieftain was encountered, slain, and his enchanted axe was looted.
Septimus wields it now. Other orcs of that tribe surrendered after the loss of
their chief, and the party made a tidy profit selling those captives in
Aquilea. Some Open Sores still remain in the dungeon, but their strength is
diminished.
The golden dragons. While traveling
back to Stonehell from Aquilea after gathering supplies and fresh mercenaries,
our party was surprised by a trio of golden dragons. They were surprisingly
amiable – in fact, they wished only to discuss politics with us. Draconic
politics. Apparently, they have heard rumors of a dragon in Stonehell, and they
wish to speak with it. These dragons promised us a tidy reward if we could
convince the dragon to make an appearance in three days’ time, then took
flight.
We were shaken. Gold dragons are no joke. But, undaunted,
we went back down, exploring the kobold caves and hoping to find something
dragon-like, but not actually draconic. We encountered a giant gecko.
Brilliant! We captured it with nets and brought it up to one of the bunkhouses,
where we kept it fed and watered until the dragons appeared.
They were good to their word. While disappointed with the
obvious falsehood of the rumors, the dragons nevertheless rewarded us with two potions of longevity before taking
flight once more.
On Goblins, Kobolds, Orcs, and Men.
The dungeon has a particularly complex social dynamic right now. Kobolds are
lowest on the food chain and the target of bullying by orcs. Goblins are
second-lowest, but they’ve been largely eradicated by the orcs. Some remain—they’re
referred to as the Wolf Clan—and nobody likes them. They’re pretty much
kill-on-sight. The orcs belong to the Open Sore clan, and they are now
scattered and leaderless, but still a threat. There are humans in the dungeon,
also. A group of brigands lairs here, feeding off mushrooms and rainwater. They
have a close relationship with Old Smokey, the bear in the canyon. Apparently
they’re all cave-dwellers, and the bear protects their hovel? They are
dangerous but reasonable, at least. It remains to be seen what we’ll do with
them. They have a defensible hovel which makes their swift eradication a
complicated affair, should violence be called for.
Also, there are rumors of madmen living on the second
level. And lizardfolk. And we’ve already encountered cultists of Baal, cannibals,
and other strange wretches, so who knows? The dungeon’s ecology is apparently
quite vast. Mushrooms are plentiful, and pools of stagnant water are common.
Dwarves. We encountered several
dwarf adventurers who were studying an ancient fresco. They are Snorri,
Sigvald, and three masons whose names I cannot recall. After an amiable meeting
and a discussion of ancient architecture, we convinced them to join our camp as
expert stonemasons. We paid them for 2 months of their time, and we are excited
to see how their presence affects our fortifications.
The Gauls. The brigands we encountered told us that the runic man, the chief
of the Gauls whom we encountered in our first session, was here not long ago.
He studied an ancient fresco, now ruined by fire, and made conclusions which
were supported by a scroll he carried with him. Although there is no way for us
to understand the ruined fresco, it is worrying to think that there is a
treasure beneath the city that our characters have yet to uncover…
A ticking clock. As of this post, we
have 84 days before the rumored Gaul attack commences. We are concocting a plan
whereby we will meet the Gauls in open combat and, hopefully, rout them, but
that is a subject for another time...
Magic Items Recovered
Potion of Gaseous Form
Staff of Set (Cleric only, counts as a spear, +1 to hit and damage, incapacitates a foe for d4 turns on command)
Scroll of Protection from Elementals
2 Potions of Longevity
Potions of Healing (several)
Pavo's Gambit (Ring of Fire Immunity)
Sword of Gregorious (Sword +1, +3 versus dragons)
Orcish Battleaxe (Battleaxe +1)
Wand (unidentified)
More deaths, as of session 8, 9, and 10
Lucius
0th Level Fighter
Crushed by falling masonry
Nonus the Mighty
0th Level Fighter
Mortally wounded by a giant ferret
Proculus
0th Level Fighter
0th Level Fighter
Cut down by an orc’s arrow
Iosephus
0th Level Fighter
Mutilated by fire beetles
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