Session 24: Day 4 of Coldeven, morning

It was early in the morning, we reckoned, as we got our start exploring the caverns again. The freed prisoners were wary of following us further as we explored, yet were persuaded when Lhoss told them the party had encountered troglodytes in the Dim Forest and Gnorcia pointed out that many in Orlane had been turned by the naga so town would also be unsafe. The solution was that Chiki would fall back about 20 feet with the freed prisoners and protect them in the case of danger. They could be under the protection of the group without being near the battle, should danger arise.

These caverns are nothing but smelly muddy walls and the occasional door. The party came across one of those occasional doors. Lhoss, being inquisitive and a bit impetuous, yelled "I wanna open that door!" and did. Behind it was trouble. A cleric and his shadowy assistant were poised to attack, as if they had expected us. The cleric immediately intoned "Welcome to your doom!" and let us know that he would not be easy to defeat. We'll see about that!

The cleric immediately immobilized Armaziti and Ronan; Calbach was hit with ice. Lhoss attempted her sleep spell, but the cleric was too powerful and it was ineffective. Ramne launched magic missile and dispelled the magic that had immobilized Armaziti and Ronan. Angos attempted to double-dagger attack the shadowy figure, but it seemed to have no effect. Ronan tried to burn the creature with his torch, but the creature was able to evade his attack. Calbach, in a near-death experience, met his deity and learned the creature is a negative material plane wraith. We will need to ask Calbach what other divine secrets were revealed to him at another time. He was sent back to us because his work is not yet finished. Good for us! After much hard fighting (and Ramne's powerful spells), our work of killing the evil cleric and wraith were finished. I don't know if I'd say it was easy, but they were defeated. Gnorcia found a ring of keys on the cleric and pocketed them. Lhoss found a decorative hammer with a snake head.

The party wanted to be thorough in exploring the cavern, so we backtracked and attempted to make our way through all parts of the cave system. Ronan, taking the lead was surprised when a giant spider jumped on his back. Armaziti pointed out that two feet isn't a very big creature, but Gnorica chimed in that two feet is quite big for a spider! Thinking quickly, Ronan fell backward and was able to squish the arachnid. A few quick stabs from Angos finished it off.

In another cavern, the party found a chest. With fresh memories of the pair of chests containing vast wealth, Gnorcia examined the chest for traps. Finding none, she attempted to open it. Unfortunately, there was a trap and she activated it. Timbers supporting the room collapsed, trapping Ronan. Gnorcia attempted to see what was contained in the chest; she did not see anything. Calbach rescued Ronan and the entire party was able to escape the collapsing room.

Sensing the group was closing in on the naga, the freed prisoners did not desire to move forward. The adventurers  decided that the townsfolk should hole up in the cavern with the concealed treasure. As they were unarmed, Lhoss gave them the decorative hammer. Wishing to unburden herself from some weight, Gnorcia gave them a hammer she had acquired at some point. Chiki left a dagger. With a sense of apprehension, the band pressed forward.

As we rounded a corner, we saw what looked like a small tyrannosaurus rex chained to the wall. It did not seem able to slip its chain and if the group kept its distance, the monster could not reach us. It growled and howled terribly at us. Lhoss suggested trying to slaughter it while it was chained up ("What if it did get free? What then?") but she was overruled. Just past the scaly creature ("We even have a weapon that works really well agains scaled creatures! No? Ok.") there was a large boat that was big enough for our whole party and a pole to propel it across the lake it was floating in. It was mid-day and sensing that we were nearing our goal, we stopped to rest and prepare our spells. 

Session 23: Coldeven Day 3, late afternoon, through the morning of Day 4

Healed and rested, we set out again. We explored the last chamber to the south and found piles of bones, both humanoid and animals. From there we headed south through some mud and back to where we had already explored. We heard a low whistle which could have been the sound of wind whistling, or something else. As we moved eastward a little farther, the whistling stopped.

Lhoss found a door covered in mud and was able to open it. Behind it was a small closet with a 2-person boat. Loss and Calbach got in the boat and headed southeast until they found two wooden chests on a shelf. Callbach shot arrows at them and Lhoss checked them for traps, but was not able to pick the locks. She finally managed to break open one of them and when she did a poison needle shot out! Fortunately, it missed her! Inside she found a treasure of coins! Calbach smashed the top of the second and the sound echoed through the chamber so he didn’t try again. They decided to haul the chests back to the rest of the party.

It took a lot of work to get the first chest into the boat, and there wasn’t room for Lhoss so she stayed behind while Calbach ferried it across. As soon as Calbach disappeared, Lhoss saw an eye pop out of the wall and heard a mocking giggle! She stabbed at it but it quickly vanished back into the wall as she shouted, “I see you!” Two trips later, we were all reunited. Chiki was delighted to discover the treasure and when I wasn’t able to unlock the second chest, he gleefully smashed it open! Altogether we had discovered 300 platinum, 600 gold, 100 silver, 600 electrum, a bracelet, and 20 small gems! We divvied up the treasure into sacks and we each dragged a sack back to the cave with the bones, where Lhoss covered it in an old cloak and piled bones around it to hide it.

We then headed to the northeast of the boat closet and found a swollen door that Lhoss pried open to reveal a large square-shaped chamber with a pillar in the middle. A nasty, cadaverous figure, humanoid and zombie-like, started moving slowly toward the group.

Calbach shot an arrow at it and missed, Ronan charged it with his longsword and missed, and Aramazi ran in and smashed it with his mace, splashing gore around the room. Chalkboi ran and hit it, knocking it down, apparently dead. It then stood up again! Chalkboi, Calbach, and Aramazi all turned and ran in terror! The creature grabbed Aramazi as he started to run, wrapping his hands tightly around his neck. Ronan attacked it with magic missiles, nearly killing it, and Lhoss, Gnorcia (that's me), Ronan, and Chiki all tried to attack it but our weapons were useless and bounced off it!

Ramne shouted for us all to move to the west wall and we ran as he attacked it with a lightning bolt. The lightning bolt hit it, bounced off the wall, hit it again, and ricocheted out the door and into the mud wall outside. After the others returned from running in terror, we ate, slept, and re-memorized spells.

On the morning of Day 4, when we awoke, Lhoss tried unsuccessfully to open a door to the north. Aramazi came in and smashed it open, revealing a hallway with another door on the left. Lhoss picked the lock on that door and it opened to reveal four people behind bars. They said they were Frud, a merchant who had been headed to Hookhill, Fred and Claire, two children of the carpenter in Orlane, and Wendy, an Orlane farmer. They said the Naga’s charm failed on them and they have been held captive here ever since. They also said to beware the naga’s eyes because that is how it charms people! I was able to pick the locks on two of the doors and Aramazi and Calbach smashed open the other two locks. They were all grateful and excited to be free. 

Session 22: Day 3 of Coldeven

Armaziti: Human Cleric - Alex
Calbach: Human Ranger - Brad
Gnorcia Gnome Thief/Illusionist - Lillian
Lhoss Elf Thief/Magic User - Leigh
Ronan Human Fighter - Nick
Chiki Gnome Fighter, Ramne Magic User, Whiskers - Quint (NPC)
Angos Halfling Thief - Ryan
Miratara Human Cleric - Ash

After resting and healing, we headed back out into the corridor where we meet up with some friendly faces. Angos and Miratara are two adventurers that we met in in the Dim Forest. From what I understood, they were in the Dim Forest to bury one of their former adventuring companions who had died heroically. Being now just a party of two, they were eager to join up with us as soon as their duty to their fallen comrade was finished. Should they wish to further elucidate us on their backstory, I'm sure it will be included in these records of our adventures. Regardless, we were overjoyed to add to our party (particularly with a competent healer) in these dangerous tunnels.

Ronan led the way eastward out of the cave where he followed the sound of water. We came upon what we have come to call zombies at work hauling water in buckets utilizing a pulley system through the ceiling. It was determined that the zombies had been set to this task and took no notice of us. It was also noted that their work was probably keeping the tunnel and indeed this sub level from flooding. As they were doing no harm and in fact a useful skill (as well as they had proved very difficult to kill in previous encounters) we left them to their mindless task. Miratara and Armaziti corrected the group that these were not in fact zombies, but ghouls. Good to know.

Upon further exploration of the tunnels to the northeast and northwest, we came upon a group of troglodytes. One of the troglodytes threw a wooden crate. As it crashed to the ground, an angry viper sprang forth and attacked Angos. In the melee, Chiki was also attacked and both were rendered unconscious and bleeding out. The stench of the monsters was awful and weakened some of the party. Nevertheless, the band worked together, fighting and healing to emerge victorious.

In the aftermath of the battle, Miratara heard a hissing coming from a nearby alcove. She saw thousands of snakes and eggs on the ground. Calbach and Lhoss attempted to drench the serpents in oil and set them ablaze. In a comical effort, they clumsily threw their oil and candles, unable to produce the desired effect. Exasperated, Gnorcia expertly tossed a torch into the center of the den and burned everything inside to a crisp. In an inspired action, Ronan thought to check the second alcove where more eggs were discovered. Ronan burned these eggs as well and the party rested and healed.

Session 21: Evening of Day 2 of Coldeven / Day 3 of Coldeven

Armaziti: Human Cleric - Alex
Calbach: Human Ranger - Brad
Gnorcia Gnome Thief/Illusionist - Lillian
Lhoss Elf Thief/Magic User - Leigh
Chiki Gnome Fighter, Ramne Magic User, Whiskers - Quint (NPC)

Our party attempted to rest up in an empty cave, hoping that it would prove a defensible and secure space. Since many of us needed to memorize spells, and we all needed rest, we split into groups of two to take two-hour watches. 

On the first watch, Gnorcia and Calbach heard squeaking sounds coming from out in the corridor. Gnorcia snuck quietly out to investigate and discovered six giant rodents. You might even say their size seemed unusual! Gnorcia cast phantasmal force appearing as a snake and quickly dispatched one rat. Between Gnorcia and Calbach, all of the rodents were competently killed without the need to wake the others.

The next watch was Lhoss and Armaziti. Not long after Gnorcia and Calbach had fallen asleep, Lhoss heard moans coming from outside the cave. She peeked out to discover the source and saw disgusting, fleshy creatures slowly creeping toward the cave. She cast her sleep spell at the six monstrous forms, but it had no effect! Lhoss was savagely attacked and knocked unconscious, bleeding out. Armaziti woke Ramne who began to wake the rest of the party. It was clear that we needed all hands on deck to deal with these devils. A fierce battle ensued. Gnorcia again cast phantasmal force, this time in the form of a second Calbach. The party saw little success against the foes. Armaziti healed himself... a little. Fearing the party may be annihilated, Ramne cast magic missile and slayed the awful enemies. Lhoss was stabilized but needed rest. Examining the slain creatures, Calbach and Ramne agreed that these might have been zombies.

The night continued. On Gnorcia and Calbach's second watch: troglodytes! It's possible that they were alerted to our presence from the magic missiles. We just can't seem to catch a break (or our breath)! Luckily Ramne was able to cast a sleep spell and 3 of the 4 troglodytes were then killed. The last one sprinted away and Chiki chased after it. He wasn't able to catch it and retreated back to the cave. The numerous corpses of the slain were piled up at the entrance of the cave in hopes that they might offer a barrier against further attacks. Fortunately, rest of the night passed without further peril.

Session 20: Day 2 of Coldeven

Calbach - ranger - Brad
Armatzi - cleric - Alex
Lhoss - thief/magic-user - Leigh
Gnorcia - thief/illusionist - Lillian

Ronan - fighter - Nick
ChalkBoi - paladin - Josh

Ramne - wizard - NPC

Whiskers - weasel - NPC

Chiki - thief - NPC

Looking down those stairs into the darkness, I had the thought that maybe it would be useful to look around some more up here first, in case there was some treasure in some room we hadn't searched yet. But Chiki reminded us that most of the time there is more treasure deeper down, so we somewhat reluctantly agreed to continue down the stairs, deeper into the dungeon. The draw of treasure is greater than the fear of what's at the bottom of some dark stairs!

As we approached the stairs, Lhoss noticed a strange, scaly green patch on one of the mud walls. She tried to stab at it but it just slid away and vanished. Creepy and weird! We started down the stairs. Ronan, Calbach, and Lhoss went first, followed by Armatzi, myself, and Ramne, with a very quiet Chalkboi and Chiki bringing up the rear.

We found ourselves in another passageway with a room opening up to the north, and as we looked around we could hear sounds west of there, across a large patch of mud. We tried to follow where they seemed to be coming from, traversing through mud and along some slightly-less-muddy passageways. It was even muddier down here than it was above and the walls almost streamed with water. The smell was also much worse, which seemed unimaginable until it became all too real.

The passageway turned north a bit and as we entered one especially slimy field of mud, nine centipedes appeared and attacked, biting at the feet and legs of Armatzi and the others who had led the way into the muddy patch! They weren’t very big but they did have a nasty sting. We attacked and killed a couple before Ramne cast a sleep spell on them all and then we were able to quickly destroy them. Even asleep they made creepy squealing sounds that echoed through the chamber as they died.

Continuing on past that muddy section, we could hear water and other sounds to the northeast so we headed that way. Lhoss spotted another scaly green patch on one of the walls, but it changed back to generic mud before anyone could get a better look at it. Then, from a distance, Lhoss noticed three nasty undead and powerful humanoid creatures that she thinks might have been ghouls. These ran toward us and attacked both Lhoss and Ronan, knocking them out almost immediately!

As Ronan lay bleeding-out in the mud, Ramne stepped up and attacked the creatures with lightning bolts, burning them up and filling the chamber with an exceptionally nasty stench of seared, undead flesh. Praise Zuoken! I don’t know what we would have done without Ramne!

Armatzi ran forward and quickly healed both Lhoss and Ronan. As he did that, I went to look for a place to rest. I snuck westward along the passageway and discovered an empty cave. The others followed, carrying Ronan’s still-unconscious body with them, and retreated into the little cave. Ramne studied his spellbook and Armatzi prayed while Ronan recovered and Chalkboi and Calbach kept watch.

All was quiet for about three hours until yet another creature slunk down the hallway toward our hiding place. It was some sort of nasty green worm with tentacles, and it attacked as soon as it saw Chalkboi at the cave entrance! Calbach, Chalkboi, Armatzi, and Lhoss attacked but found their weapons not very effective against it. Chiki managed to get by and attack its softer belly with his mace, and they were then able to finish it off. After that we completed our five-hour recovery in the cave, unmolested by any more under-swamp creatures.

Session 19: Day 2 of Coldeven

Raime - NPC w/Whiskers - Weasel

Calbach - Brad

Armatzi - Alex

Lhoss - Leigh

Gnorcia - Lillian

Chiki - NPC

ChalkBoi - Josh

After resting in the rooms we had liberated on Day 1 of Coldeven (Map #14d), we continued on to investigate more of the dungeon.After leaving the area  we proceeded to go West from the corridor (Map 14) and came to a junction in the path. After looking south and discovering a muddy mostly blocked path, we proceeded north. At the end of the corridor the party encountered a watery den occupied by two large frog like creatures. The creatures were disturbed by one of the members of the party throwing mud into the center of the den. Once disturbed, the frogs attacked and caused some damage before  the party was able to destroy them

Once the area seemed to be secured, Calbach and Armatzi proceeded to search the room (Map #3). There was a door on the east end of the room which was the end of the corridor we entered on the first day in the dungeon. We were able to open the door, and see down the corridor. The rest of the room proved to be without anything of interest.

After leaving the room we headed south and one party member entered the mud covered room (Map #5) but only proceeded part way into the room before it was determined to be too treacherous to be  travelled by the entire party. We returned to the corridor and travelled east and then south coming upon a secret door (Map #14a) and entering a room filled with water. There was a boat at the shoreline. All party members climbed into the boat and we able to begin across the water (Room #15). While crossing the water, we encountered 2 crocodiles in the water, but we were able to avoid an encounter with them and crossed the water without incident.

After crossing the water we entered the corridor at the end. We travelled south and east and entered a closed room(Map #20a) at the end of the passageway. The room was occupied by 2 troglodytes who immediately attacked the party. As one confronted us, the second was pounding on another door. After we defeated the two troglodytes in battle, the door at the rear of the room opened and 4 more troglodytes attacked through the door. These were dispatched as well. After the skirmish, we moved into the next room (Map #20b) which turned out to be empty. The next room (Map #20c) turned out to be a sleeping area for the troglodytes. Beyond the last room, a set of stairs was discovered leading down into darkness. 

It was decided to take rest an recuperate in the sleeping area, where all were healed and all hit points from skirmishes recovered.

Session 18: Day 1 of Coldeven

 The adventurers Calbach, Gnorcia, Lhoss, Armatzi, and Chiki joined by Ramne peered down the deep, dark hole. Filled with dread, they knew that they must descend. There was a steep set of carved stairs that led down into the abyss. Led by Calbach, the group made their way down slowly as the steps were damp and covered in moss and slime. About halfway down, Ramme slipped and took down everyone in front of him (Calbach, Gnorcia, and Lhoss). In a heap, the disoriented group found themselves surrounded by four fighters who immediately began attacking. Our heroes valiantly defeated the foes and Gnorcia snapped off a spearhead to gain a staff to her inventory. A blunt weapon at last!

At the base of the stairs, there were passageways ahead, to the left, and to the right. It became clear that finding the Naga in this lair would not be straightforward; some exploring would be necessary. The entire underground passageway had an unpleasant, musty smell and the walls, floor, and ceiling all were damp and covered in the same slimy moss as the stairs. Even the doors appeared swollen and bulging as though warped by the wetness of the place. The band pressed forward and came to a large mound of dirt that Armatzi tromped right through, covering himself in mud. When the rest of the group pointed out his muddy appearance, he denied walking through the mud. Even though many saw it happen. It was a puzzling denial.

Moving forward, the group opened a door to find three fighters. One carried a mesmerizing, glowing sword. A fierce battle ensued with our heroes once again emerging victorious. Calbach claimed the enchanted sword and other upgraded armaments were obtained. 

Several rooms that appeared to be used as bunks for the patrolling fighters were discovered. One of these provided a safe and secure spot to stop and rest. Lhoss found a small carved serpent statue, possibly a likeness of the Naga, and placed it in her backpack.  In one of the rooms, a locked chest was found under a bed. Lhoss, being a thief, was tasked with picking the lock. In doing so, she tripped a trap that had be set and became paralyzed. While the spell ran its course, Armatzi found a scroll and some other items. The narrator doesn't remember much about what was in the box. She was paralyzed.