Adventure Log #17

Adventure Log #17 (Hard Pass)
Aki-Professional killer
Magnus-Mage
Marcus-Paladin of Chaldisaya
Morgan-High Priestess
Paladin Henry-How long have I been gone?
Serrif-Fighter with an “evil” twin
Scalla-Mage
Ulysses-Rogue

The party dusts themselves off from the fight with the Basilisks and decides to hold up in the room to get their spells back for what they believe is the final push. After warding the entries they are woken up as two more basilisks wander in. Although easily slain they make the party rethink sleeping here if they’re going to be constantly bothered by wander monsters. Marcus suggests they travel a bit forward and after finding a room with a door on it (and one obvious exit) the party beds down for the night in such a room. Scala has placed a ward on the door to let them know if they’re about to be attacked. After being woken up as a basilisk sniffs at the door she turns the spell off and tries to get some sleep.

On the second watch Morgan and Marcus are talking about the adventure when a Phase Spider walks through the wall and bites Morgan (Morgan saves for once) and Marcus makes spider chow out of the monster. The rest of the party wakes up just in time to see Marcus kill it, splattering spider guts everywhere.

The next morning Scala tells Morgan that she has decided to spend some of her time studying for the priesthood in order to become an Andurn in the Chaldite temple. Morgan and Marcus are happy and they kid her that they get to boss her around since she’ll be a novate for a while. Ulysses discovers a box with a scroll in it that was hidden under some refuse. The spell on the scroll is Gaseous Form so he hands it over to the spell users. The rest of the party searches the room (again) but still finds no treasure, they decide to move on.

As they move down the corridor they come upon strands of web like material clinging to the walls. The material is obviously spider silk but it glows with an otherworldly light. They figure that they are approaching the lair of the phase spiders they met earlier. Indeed up ahead the walls and such are completely covered with web leaving a single file tunnel through the area. Led by Marcus they find a room beyond the webs. Marcus sees dark shapes in it and prepares for combat. When light is brought up he sees that the shapes are piles of discarded clothes, some of which are so old that they are rotting.

Pushing through that room the party comes to another filled with implements of torture. Beyond the room is a gate like device covered with flapping strips of what appears to be flayed flesh. While the rest of the adventurers are discussing the possible gate, Ulysses is playing around with the devices in the torture chamber. He comes to the conclusion that these devices are special in that they are designed so that a person can torture themselves rather than others. He admires the workmanship and tells the rest of the party what he’s found. Additionally he finds rolls of human flesh that’s been torn by the devices and thrown away in a bucket. The party agrees that they need to go through the gate.

After making appropriate saving throws the group ends up in a huge cavern with scores of naked mutilated bodies in it. In the center of the cavern is a large hole, which the wind is whistling out of. Hanging above the hole, is a large milk white stone protrusion hanging down. The rock is sweating a vicious liquid down into the pit. Scala uses a spell to look down the pit but doesn’t see anything so the party continues to explore the room. Off to one side are two pools of water (the smaller of which) also has a dripping stone above it. Looking into the pools they see that they are in fact window like panes of glass, beyond which they characters see shadows flit by. In the smaller of the two window/pools a demonic face stares back at them.

At one point Paladin Marcus accidentally brushes one of the pools/windows When he does his is transported high above a dark world. Hanging by only his cloak he sees all manner of creatures killing each other while in turn being killed. As he hangs above the landscape the things suddenly look up and see him. The noise of battle suddenly stops and the creatures race to climb up where his is. In a flash he is back on the prime plane looking somewhat disheveled by the sheer hate he felt directed towards him from the creatures.

Morgan, Scala and Serrif are searching the rest of the room and uncover a trio of statues on the far wall. After a detailed inspection Morgan says that she thinks they are representations of the three main evil gods on Avalyn, Yelg Semeth “The Thing That Breathes The Night Air, Smioth “The Prince of Leaves” and Snargassie “The Bear”. Morgan tells the party that from her readings of the Chaldite holy book (The Book of Deeds). She knows the story of how Yelg Semeth escaped from a place called, “Before the Barrier”. When he got to the prime plane he gave forth the other two gods. They party decides that somehow these pools are gates to the time before the Barrier. As a large drop of water hits the smaller of the two pools/windows the statue of Sanrgassie comes to life and summons something out of the smaller pool/window (the thing with the demon face). The creature jumps out of the pool and attacks the party. After a brief struggle the party decides that they need to get away from the pools so they can plan. They decide to destroy the smaller of the dripping rock formations. A spell destroys the rock and a huge torrent of water falls out of it and into the pool releasing three of the same creatures. Morgan manages to banish one of them while Scala attacks another with her spells. The third goes after Marcus who puts the creature down.

The group decides that they cannot destroy the pools (gates) so they block the entrance leading to the room. After placing wards and such on the entrance the party makes their way back up through the dungeon without incident. Upon returning to the surface they meet Lanmier. They decide that there wasn’t something taking individuals rather evil folk were being summoned to the place and their souls being used for something, possibly trying to break down the barrier. The party trusts in the runes and wards placed on the exit as well as the tons of stone the gate way is under.

Lanmier rewards them with some gold and inquires about where they are heading next. The party says that they intend to stick to the original plan of going to Modem (Kodai) via Red Jack. Lanmier asks them to look into the arrest of one of the local brigand leaders a young man called Alyene (Al Seen). He wants to know if it is true he’s been arrested. Lanmier describes Alyene as a sort of Robin Hood type of character. The characters say they will look into it.