The Band of the Black Hand Loses for Once

By Arnd

We turned the corner and as Niki walked ahead, sweeping the floors for traps, she found herself face-to-face with a 10-legged creature—a pseuropod—that looked like a floating giant brain with a beak! It grasped her with two tentacles, paralyzing her, and pecked her with its beak.

Lhoss cast magic missiles and hit it, then Feno cut off one of the tentacles, allowing Niki to fall back and stepping in front of her. Feno was then hit by a tentacle and paralyzed also! 

Kyro stepped in and finished it off with an arrow and it fell to the ground next to Feno and Niki. We planned to rest for half an hour as they recovered from the paralysis and Lhoss memorized her spells.

As we waited and kept watch, Chiki noticed a strange pile of rubbish farther down the hall and then spotted a familiar glowing red light approaching: fire beetles. The beetles also appeared to be attacking from behind us around the other side of the hallway.

Feno immediately destroyed the first beetle to approach, Kyro hit another, and Lhoss interrupted her spell memorization to levitate a third. More fire beetles advanced on us and Kyro nearly killed one, firing point-blank with his bow. One hit me but I couldn't seem to hit anything. Lhoss tried hitting the levitated beetle but missed and it somehow managed to spin itself around with a leg on the wall and faced her down! Feno smashed two more into pieces and Niki and Chiki finished off the rest of them.

Chiki then examined the rubbish and noted that it seemed some of it had gone missing during the battle. Feno used a torch to start the rubbish on fire and smoke began to fill the hallway. We moved back north to the brick wall and decided to break it down. Four of us wielding sledgehammers made short work of it and we discovered it was hiding a room full of over 100 burial alcoves, plus a large, bricked-up space with the words "Vermingretrix the Reaver" written on it in ancient common.

As we were busy looting the alcoves, Feno—who was guarding the door—heard quiet footsteps in the hall. He stepped back in and the rest of us moved up to the north wall, prepared to ambush who or whatever was coming.

Someone called in to us, “Drop your treasure and come out and we won’t harm you!” We taunted the bandits to come on in after us and instead they tossed in two fiery vials of oil. One broke and splashed and I found myself hit with burning oil. Bother! We all stepped out into the hall and began attacking them.

It was the Band of the Black Hand! Feno smashed a couple. Kyro and I smashed two more. They stupidly kept coming at us and got in a few hits, but Kyro and I quickly damaged two more. One then turned to run and was immediately smashed by Feno. Kyro finished off another and the last one—nearly dead—dropped to his knees and begged for mercy.

He was a young man. We began questioning him angrily and as he blubbered about joining the band from his home in the forest. Chiki then slapped him across the face and he passed out, but several of us began feeling guilt about the kid. We discussed hiring him as a torchbearer. I decided to bind up his wounds and wash his face. Chiki slunk away back to the burial alcoves and Niki cast a healing spell on him.

Kyro then went through the pockets of all the dead and Lhoss gathered tokens of the black hand from their armor to take back to town for a reward. Lhoss also pulled out an old tunic that had once belonged to Derrick and Kyro pulled out some old pants with holes in them. I took those for the young man and stood guard over him as the others went back into the room to finish searching the alcoves.

Session 130: Mysteries of the Sphynx

It's late morning on Day 19 of Harvester and our small group of Feno, Niki, Arnd and me (Lhoss) approach the main entrance to the barrow maze. We've climbed down this rope dozens of times, but all of the strange happenings (the containers of body parts, the theft and teasing note from another group, the ghast) have put me on edge and I decide to have a look around. I am drawn to a scene by a delicious scent and what I see is most curious: a stone table set with a plate with beef, potatoes and gravy and a side of vegetables along with a silver goblet filled with some liquid. There are even tendrils of steam still rising from the dish. It looks tempting, but it is so perfect a display in such a dangerous place, that we all feel as though it may be a trap. Feno tosses a small pebble and it hits squarely on the chair sat at the table and bounces away, dismissing his suspicions that there may be an invisible person in our midst. The group splits to search the nooks and crannies and finds nothing. If we have interrupted someone about to enjoy and early lunch, the only direction they could have gone is down the rope. So we descend into that familiar gloom, with Feno going down head-first in a daredevil manner.

The scene is one we have all seen dozens of times, but considering the oddities we have just encountered, we are all eyeing the space with extra scrutiny. The room is partially collapsed on the western wall (has it always been in this condition, or are we just now taking notice?) and written on the southern wall are the words "don't go on" (how long has that been there?). There are also frescoes of a burial procession. As we gaze upon the painted picture, the figures seem to animate and move, then in a blink, go back to still. There are exchanges of "did you just see that?" and "what is going on?" and a general feeling of disquiet. We decide that we should pay attention to the bad vibes we're all sensing and retreat back up the rope. Curiously, the plate of food is now gone and not even a scent lingers. It's as though it never was.

Good thing we know of a second entrance. We head to and enter the barrowmaze through what I have come to think of as the secret passage. Suddenly, every member of the party is frozen in fear as a vision of horror plays in our mind. What entity has the power to cause our entire group to experience this sort of psychic terror? Everyone is contemplating our options when Niki's face transforms from a look of worry to one of beatific exuberance! She has received a message from her deity, Obad-hai, that it is her divine mission to seek the Font of Law. This is likely because the two driving forces leading this cause in our party, Armatzi and Chalkboi, have left the party and the group had grown ambivalent toward the goal. It seems cleansing the barrowmaze is a priority for multiple higher powers. Niki's motivation is enough to electrify the entire group such that we all overcome our hesitancy and push forward into the crypts. We are not even deterred by the gurgling cackle that is heard in the distance. When you are infected with quest fever, the only antidote is success!

Moving with our usual caution, Gnorcia notices a doorway that had been previously guarded by a goblin, but was now clear. Onward to new discoveries! The first thing the group encounters is a crumbing sphynx statue covered in moss and dust. The statue blinks to life and speaks. Apparently it has been in the barrowmaze for many millennia. It pegs us as adventurers and offers a trade: if we can solve a riddle, it will answer a question for us. Surely a being that has been here so long could lead us directly to the Font of Law. Somewhat impetuously, without inquiring about the terms of the contract, I agree to participate. The riddle is posed: "Close to the words stay I, but I wither, wane and grow dry." I am utterly befuddled. The sphynx suggests that we all discuss it over lunch, and by the way would we mind sharing some of our rations and water? We do so and the sphynx drains and entire water skin. Feno poses that perhaps the answer is tongue, as the sphynx was clearly very thirsty. That sounds like a good answer to me, but the answer we decide to give is parchment. The sphinx seems a little disappointed and informs us we are incorrect. The answer was a pressed flower. At that revelation, the sphynx crumbles to dust and a quiet sob is heard. One can only hope that the sphynx has simply moved to another room and we may encounter it again.

Moving along, Niki kicks up some poisonous mold with her 10-foot pole. She is knocked unconscious. I cast my continual light spell, but it does not neutralize the mold. Feno pulls Niki away from the mold and manages not to become infected himself. I was all for leaving the pole behind, but Arnd deftly retrieved it and cleaned it for further use. In time, Niki recovered and we pressed on. In the next room, as Niki probed the area with the pole, a trap was triggered and a steel cage came crashing down from the ceiling, snapping the pole in two. If a person had set foot in that space, they would have either been trapped or crushed. Fortunately, there is a second pole in the bag of holding!

Further along, we enter a room with piles of rubble and cobwebs on the ceiling. Niki probes one of the piles and disturbs more toxic mold. She is able to quickly retreat and avoid being poisoned this time. With a careful inspection of the room, Niki finds a hidden latch. She switches it and a passage is revealed along with a bricked off wall. What horrors are hidden behind it?