CHRONICLE VAULT 20080103, FROM THE LIBRARY OF RHAVUS THE FIEND-SAGE ...
Fireseek 4, 595 CY
The mysteries of Sodden Hold lay before the heroes as they stood in the prison chamber of the supposedly abandoned warehouse. Beyond the double doors lay what once was a loading dock for ships from the Selintan River. Much of the floor had rotted away, leaving only slimy beams crossing the treacherous waters ten feet below, which seemed to be filled with rusty swords, spears, and other debris. Argo Moleskin decided to go first across the beams, and made his way skillfully across. Shanks was not far behind him, and Argo made it about halfway through when WHOMP! something hit him. The halfling ranger was sent tumbling from the planks into the debris-laden water below, the sharp edges cutting him even further.
Nobody could identify what had happened, least of all Argo, and he swam through the waters to the opposite side of the chamber and clambered up to a semi-stable piece of floor. He looked around, cautious, when suddenly WHOMP! he was slammed again and sent back to the murky algae-infested water. Shanks approached the piece of rotted floor the ranger had been standing on cautiously. From the entrance to the chamber Duke brought up the fact that they might be facing an invisible stalker - a being from the Elemental Plane of Air composed entirely of forceful wind. With the skill and speed of a graceful elven monk Kaspar lightly stepped on the slimy boards and met up with Argo. He was hit by the slamming force as well, but he managed to keep his footing and return the blow, connecting with a semi-solid being. The success was enough to lift the spirits of the rest of the heroes. On his way to the fray, however, Kong slipped on the mildew and tumbled into the water. He sputtered and swam to a stable piece of ground and got back up, hefting the trident from the lizardfolk chieftain at where he guessed the invisible stalker was. His trident struck a glancing blow to the elemental and was immediately returned to Kong's hands thanks to the magic of the weapon.
Duke summoned up a flaming sphere and connected solidly with their invisible foe as well. Argo climbed down to the water's surface, filled a small bucket he was carrying with the algae-coated water, and threw it with true aim at where the invisible stalker should have been. The being was hit with the water and all could see that the elemental was a large creature. It disappeared after a moment and reappeared next to Kong, indicating the thing could fly as well. After a few slashes with the barbarian's greatsword the invisible stalker was defeated.
During the melee, Kaspar had danced artfully along the boards towards the exit of the room to see if it held any secret towards the defeating the invisible menace (it didn’t). But, it did contain an odd stone shaft, ten feet wide, leading down. After about thirty five feet the shaft was filled with water and a curious barrel. An iron ladder clung to the side of the shaft’s inner wall and stopped at the water level. After a few moments of head scratching, Argo decided to climb down and investigate. He found the barrel to be extremely buoyant and empty and the shaft continued down. The halfling took a deep breath and plunged into the icy waters, swimming down with the aid of his newly acquired ring of swimming. He swam down but discovered he couldn’t see a thing in the darkness of the water, but the shaft definitely expanded into a larger chamber. Argo made his way back up and related what he had found to the rest of his companions.
Duke cast a light spell on Argo’s gloves and it was decided that the heroes would investigate what was at the bottom of the shaft. Argo went first, followed by the quick strokes of Kong, the floundering of Kaspar, and the struggling of Shanks. Eventually the four of them reached the chamber at the end of the shaft, which contained a stone pillar in the middle. The pillar rose up higher than the water level, and they all broke the surface of the water to catch their breaths. A ladder led to the top of the pillar, where Kong discovered a lever. Quickly realizing its purpose the barbarian pulled the lever and watched with a certain level of satisfaction as the water (and pillar) began to descend. Up above, Duke managed to climb down and ride the floating barrel down the entire way. As the water drained away, a side passage was revealed halfway up the south wall leading to an airtight door. The ladder leading up proved stable enough, and Shanks checked the door for traps thoroughly. Assured there were no surprises, they opened it with a heave and stepped inside.
Beyond the doorway stood a hall running east to west. The hall was capped with iron double doors at each end, and four doors could be seen along the south wall with only one on the north wall. Shanks immediately set his sights on the left-side of the corridor, searching every inch for traps, while Argo checked the right side. The ranger did not find anything, but the rogue found a pit trap at the far end in front of the (false) double doors. It was neatly avoided.
The group then set upon determining which door to check first. It was determined by Kong, who went up to the first one against the south wall and kicked it down with the sheer force of his booted foot. The door buckled under the pressure, revealing living quarters for two individuals. Two individuals who happen to be in the room, and also happened to be doppelgangers. Their moment of utter shock was enough for the heroes to leap into action, cutting and slashing. One of the doppelgangers managed a clear shout of ALARM before dropping to Kong's swordblow. Two of the other doors opened, and out came two Greyhawk Nightwatchmen from each one. This caused momentary confusion but the guards were revealed to be doppelgangers in disguise. After a pitched fight the heroes were triumphant over their enemies.
Each room was given a thorough search, revealing chests of fine clothing and a small amount of jewelry. The last room on the wall seemed just like the others but was unoccupied. Shanks gave it a thorough searching and discovered the back wall was actually a clever illusion, revealing an antechamber with a plain door. Argo stepped up to the plate on this one and kicked the door, loosening it on the first attempt and knocking it down on the second. Beyond was an octagonal room with strange occupants.
Tied to individual chairs in the middle of the room were three Drakes, identical in every regard to one another. Their mouths were gagged and upon seeing the heroes they struggled to speak. This was indeed a conundrum. Were all three doppelgangers, or was one of them the real Drake the Slayer? The party decided to check by ungagging them one by one and asking specific question. The answers given were most unsatisfactory across the board, but they knew that Drake was known as not being the brightest latern in the night. After a small amount of deliberation, they decided to gag each one and beat each one into unconsciousness, hoping that doppelgangers reverted to their natural form in this state. Shanks randomly picked one and whipped him with his spiked chain through the muffled cries for mercy. That "Drake" fell into unconsciousness and stayed human.
So the halfling moved onto the second one. At the same time, Kong had grabbed the third Drake and had him locked in a bear hug. But these two decided it was time to tussle, and both freed themselves from their fake bonds and struggled against the heroes. Kaspar peppered the two doppelganger Drakes with arrows, Shanks turned his non-lethal attacks into lethal ones, Kong tried to break the neck of one of them, and Duke fired bolts of frost into the melee. The two doppelgangers were defeated, and the heroes found a secret cache under the seats that contained all of the real Drake's stuff. They took his potions and left the unconscious man in the room, since there was a door that needed investigating in the room.
Beyond it lay a maze of confusing mirrors, not unlike a circus funhouse. But the party was having none of it, so with Shanks in the lead whirling his spiked chain they decimated the mirrors as they circumnavigated the square room. A set of double doors were revealed leading south, and Kaspar found a secret door in the northwestern corner. Opening it revealed an apparent planning room with a large map of the city of Greyhawk against the wall. Duke checked out the stacks of papers and found that the doppelganger gang had infiltrated many areas of the Greyhawk political scene, including members of the influential Merchants and Traders Union and the ruling Directing Oligarchy. The heroes collected the notes and map and vowed to bring this information to the proper authorities once they were complete. This room also linked back to the hallway, completing their search of the inner Sodden Hold. Except for the double doors from the shattered mirror maze.
They went back and opened the doors (which were unlocked and not trapped), revealing a large chamber. At one end stood a strange device, with tubes and electrical discharges running along its length. It also held a seat and some sort of iron hat attached to the machine. At the other end of the chamber stood a throne upon a raised dais. And upon that throne sat Alustan the sage of Diamond Lake.
Alustan welcomed them to the "truth" of the situation, calling them fools for not having seen things as they really were. But the heroes were wary, and started to huddle up to whisper amongst themselves. Then "Alustan" threw a fireball, catching most of the heroes in the blaze, and they noticed that the man's features shifted - like that of a doppelganger. They also noticed that Kaspar fell unconscious from the blast, so after Duke cast a haste spell on everyone else (except for Shanks as he was creeping along the wall too far away) he ran over and administered a potion of cure light wounds to the fallen elf monk. Everyone else started running forward to confront the doppelganger imposter, who apparently was the leader of the doppelganger gang.
Argo pulled out a thunderstone from his pocket and hurled it with extreme accuracy, stunning the doppelganger wizard momentarily and deafening him. This had the added effect of causing him to stutter over the words to his next spell, ruining it. Kong saw the opening and charged forward ...
... and fell headfirst into a sixty foot pit trap lined with spikes at the bottom. The fall hurt the mighty barbarian more than he cared for, but with the effect of the haste spell he clambered up in no time. Meanwhile, Argo and Shanks confronted the doppelganger, who suddenly morphed into a raging orc barbarian! Kong joined his companions, and they fought tooth and nail against the doppelganger. After a pitched and difficult battle they emerged victorious, defeating the greater doppelganger gang leader and taking his stuff. On the forehead of their fallen foe was a strange symbol, magically etched there, depicting a spiraling set of tentacles. Searching the room they found a secret chamber behind the throne containing a strange magical mirror, which Duke would not leave without. They also found a note written in a strange handwriting that said "meet me under the cold forge, slave. I have a mission concerning some troubling small minds that must be dealt with."
So they lugged the huge mirror with the aid of Drake (who had regained consciousness during the fight) towards the room with the rising water. Duke devised an ingenious way to hook the mirror to the barrel and float it up to the top. Once they reached the room with the hole in the ceiling leading up to the main floor of Sodden Hold, they were shocked to find a secret door open and two drow elves standing in the doorway. Behind the two drow was a being straight of adventurers' worst nightmares - an illthid.
In the minds of the heroes they heard the voice of the mind flayer declare them as an annoyance and a pest right before it launched a withering mind blast. In their weakened state, all of the heroes were stunned by the power of the illithid, except for Argo. The mind flayer gurgled a harsh laugh and left down the secret passage, leaving the two drow to deal with the heroes. The halfling ranger kept perfectly still, feigning paralysis, as the drow approached with confidence. They were shocked to find Argo's whirling daggers and what followed was a dangerous game between the halfling and two skilled dark elves. Argo felled one of them, and then the mind flayer's paralysis wore off. The combined might of the heroes easily defeated the second drow.
This was a puzzling and disturbing turn of events. Kaspar checked out the secret passage and discovered it led into the sewer system below Greyhawk, and Duke discovered a phosphorescent substance called beggar's gold on the boots of the drow. Beggar's gold, the knowledgeable druid/wizard knew, was known to grow in the run-off from blacksmith forges. Clearly a clue as to the location of the drow outpost, and most likely the illithid's lair.
Watching their backs the entire time, the heroes managed to get the mirror and themselves up to the main floor of Sodden Hold and made quick tracks back to the Crooked House. It was early evening and the heroes needed their rest if they were going to confront an illithid in its sewer lair.
Session Updates
Good session. It seems like things are picking up, which is a good thing. Uh ... I don't really have anything to add beyond that. Sorry about this taking so long to get posted. Things have occupied my attention. Things like Tower of Doom. Mmmm ... Tower of Doom ...
Quest Cards Completed
* Investigate Strange Key from Doppelganger Body
Quest Cards In Progress
* What's Ilthane Up To?
* Negotiate Treaty with Lizardfolk of Mistmarsh
* Investigate Note Found in Doppleganger Lair
XP Recap
7th-level Characters 4,000
8th-level Characters 2,000
'Till next, Game On!
"Weird" Dave Olson
Dragonfyre Gaming Association
weird.dave.dfga@gmail.com
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