Deeper Dungeons and Growing Dangers Report

Hearthseek 26, 2322

2022-10-05

Crasokk was the first to notice. On the upper levels there always seemed to be background noises, groans, shouts, clanks and knocks, this level of the dungeon was different, it was eerily quiet. The southeast passage out of the mushroom garden led to a staircase down. Demonic bas reliefs and mosaics of evil elementals in gory detail seemed to be untouched by the wreckage above. The effort put in to decorate almost every inch of wall-space showed that this was an important passage.   Heading back to the northeast passage out of the mushroom farm, took them to a southeast passage that opened into a circular room ringed with monstrous statues. The largest was a statue of a blue dragon, but several monsters and undead were represented. Each statue had an item which Elyot detected as magical somehow attached to it. Determining that the least dangerous of the monsters would be the wight, they opened the ancient pewter urn that it crouched before, and an explosion of dust filled much of the room, causing the companions to cough and sneeze to the point of choking. Luckily no one was seriously incapacitated. Surmising that each of the items must be trapped in some way, the companions moved on. Rudy the corridor explored north which turned west at a door in the north wall. The western corridor seemed to lead to a trashed storage room, but the companions chose to move back and explore east before fully investigating the northern passage.   The eastern corridor was a long corridor stretching out past even Adrea's twilight vision. Several passages headed north along the corridor. The first passage north led to a brightly lit room whose floor was covered in sand. The entire scene seemed to be a desert surrounding an outcropping of rock during midday. Two humanoid bodies lay atop the five-foot-tall outcropping and swarms of jackals lay dead all around the stone. Looking at the jackal bodies, which seemed to only be killed a few weeks ago, large clawmarks were likely the cause of death. Further searching found three slain gargoyles among the jackals. The fourth gargoyle body lay atop one of the humanoid forms.   Pulling the humanoid forms off of the outcropping, they Venatore discovered that they were jackal-headed, maybe some type of werecreature. One leg of each was chained to a ring in the center of the outcropping. One of their daggers stuck through the torso of the last gargoyle. Why would these evil creatures fight one another if they both served the temple? The smell of death soon became overwhelming and no other entrances revealed themselves in a quick search, so the companions returned to the long eastern corridor.   The corridor widen with an alcove in the south wall which contained a fountain where horrid faces vomited forth thin streams of foul-smelling water. Although the companions determined that the water was drinkable, it wouldn't be their first choice. Across from the fountain, another corridor headed north before briefly turning east and ending in a sunken pit sheathed in polished bronze. A narrow metal frame circled the pit at the corridor's level. In the pit, two large cages filed north and south alcoves. A ladder on a counterweight could be lowered into the pit from the corridor.   Climbing down, Rudy and Crasokk searched the room. In the southern alcove, Rudy found a small-sized pair of leather boots in fair condition, Crasokk searched the nest in the northern cage. Bloodstains covered the floor between the cages. This was certainly a fighting pit.   Heading back to the main corridor, Adrea spotted creatures in a natural-looking area to the east. The chamber, some 40 feet in diameter appeared to be a natural setting. The walls hewn to appear as boulders, and detritus spread by the walls. Jagged rocks protruded from the perimeter in seemingly natural manner. Even in the relatively open center, the floor is uneven, with cracks, ledges, and loose rock. The two creatures in this grotto were nearly the size of horses and stinking with abyssal energy. They mimicked the party's voices and words throughout the combat and were able to engage and retreat with ease, but they were no match for the Venatore.   A southern corridor in the grotto turned quickly west into another long and decorated passage ending in a grand staircase down, a mirror image of the one from the mushroom chamber.   With spells a-blazing, the party chose not to search through the grotto and quickly went to the last northern passage. There they encountered an armored ettin guard in a large chamber with four doors and a corridor to the north heading west. Each of the doors was locked with a large iron padlock, and large chains hung down from the ceiling above a central firepit, one of which held a large cookpot over the flames.   The battle begun, the ettin ran to the western corridor and yelled to "you scum" to come and help. Four trolls soon emerged from the corridor to help the ettin. The battle was nasty, with many of the monsters getting some brutal hits in. Elyot's fire spells aided the battle against the trolls greatly by shutting down their ability to regenerate, but they also made her a target. Balan's guan dao, Balathar's Breath hewed through the trolls. Soon the only thing left to do was burn the troll bodies enough to finally kill them.   Rostramthen noted another difference in this, deeper, level. Their foes seemed to be more monstrous whereas the upper levels were mainly humanoid troops.      

Hearthseek 26, 2322

2022-10-19

Heading into the northern corridor, they found the four troll dens laid out around a chamber of polished stone. Further west, a staircase headed back up to the second level. Flying Paisley up the stairs, Elyot learned that these stairs were in the secret corridor from the Air Temple to the Temple quarters. After searching through the four troll dens, each of which had a large iron key hanging on its back wall, they Venatore headed up the stars to rest.    

Hearthseek 27, 2322

After their rest, they Venatore headed back down to the ettin's guardroom. Using the four keys found in the troll dens, the started opening the south-most door. Rudy took the lead and discovered tow corridors branching south, each leading to a cell door. In both cells, corpses hung on manacles attached to the walls, their throats slit. Using his sparse knowledge of medicine, Rostram determined that they were killed about a month ago, roughly the same time as the jackals and jackalweres.   The second locked door led to an eastern corridor that turned north and led to a chamber tiled in alternating red and black stone. The walls plastered with scenes of cannibalistic feasts. Bones lay at the center of the six banquet tables, some still attached to the tables with chains and manacles. A thorough search turned up some silver place settings amid the cheaper dinnerware.   North of the checkerboard feasting chamber a great hall stretched, lined with skeletons. With almost thirty possible undead, the Venatore proceeded carefully. Balan's divine sense told him that powerful undead were near. The north wall was decorated with six shields paired with six sets of crossed swords. One of the shields was decorated with a white tree on a green background, the arms of Brineven.   Two staggered short corridors led out of the chamber on the west wall, the southern one lined in black stone and the northern one lined in red.   The black corridor turned west into a large black chamber, the walls, hangings, couches, chairs and even the tables all shades of black. As the party began to investigate, five wraiths materialized and attacked. Though the undead attempted to drain the very souls of the companions, through their superior arms and defenses, not one wraith was able to connect. Taking a few minutes to search the chamber, the companions headed to the red room.   On entering Rostram made some off-handed comment about from wraiths to vampires, what they found was much worse. Four blood-red mist-creatures floated hazily through the air, leaving a trail of bloody droplets on the floor beneath them. The mists didn't so much attack as just try to engulf the Venatore. While Adrea was initially able to dodge the mists, she, Rudy, and Balan ended up engulfed for a time before mustering the strength to push off the semisolid creatures. As the rest of the companions attacked with their magic and magical weapons, damaging the crimson mists, the mists fed on the engulfed companions, feasting on life-force along with the blood. Elyot magic was key to damaging the mists and Rostram's eldritch blasts kept pushing them at bay. Crasokk was quick enough to keep from being engulfed as he rained destruction upon the mists with his magical longbow.   They were able to defeat the crimson mists, but Rudy, Adrea, and Balan would require powerful magic to restore the life force stolen from them. Rudy, who had remarked that the wraiths were scary, nearly yelled, "NOW THAT WAS SCARY!" After gathering any valuables from the room, the party chose to return to Mav Mayot knowing that Abebane would be able to restore them.