Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 108

September 30, 2024

Adventurers

Character	Class	Description
Riker	Magic-User level 1	A magic-user seeking glory or death.
Tarkus the Promising	Cleric level 3	Follower of Bachontoi, God of Red Wisdom.
Beorg the Gravedigger	Fighter level 3	Inspired to adventure after burying several adventurers.
Hagar the Hewer	Dwarf level 4	Imagine Conan as dwarf.
Ambros	Cleric level 5	Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time.
Heran Marod	Cleric level 2	Bearded, aging man with shaved head. Follower of Umannah, the Sun God, The Radiant Death.

Sunstrong 4th, Fireday

Hagar led a new party to the Den. Half of the men were clerics, armed with Cure Light Wounds and Hold Person, as well as one magic-user with two prepared Sleep spells. Once again the party had borrowed six horses from the Namelin stable, allowing them to reach their destination in six hours.

Two shabby towers as well as wooden palisades still surrounded the tree. No new sentries were to be spotted anywhere. Scouting the environs revealed no traces of ambush or anything suspicious. The party descended into the dungeon, and opted to march straight ahead through the open archway.

Long corridor gently slopped upwards, something Hagar spotted after fifty or so feet of marching.

SLAM!

A loud thud of wood hitting against stone wall could be heard up ahead. A large, six feet wide barrel rolled out of the darkness and towards the party. A lit fuse could be spotted on its right side.

Luckily the party was just at the junction so there was plenty of space to evade the rolling danger. Unfortunately two members failed to jump to the side. Stalwart Heran decided to hold his ground, shield raised up while agile Riker opted to jump upwards. The former was hit by the barrel, forcing him against the wall. The latter was hit by the barrel mid-jump, landing with his belly on the top.

Due to Heran's interference the barrel changed course, turning right and getting stalled in the corridor. Lying on top of the barrel, the burning fuse was just in Riker's face. Heran sprinted around the corner, some twenty feet away, and stopped, for whatever reason.

Magic-User tried to extinguish the fuse with his palm, but only suffered burns and blisters. This was one inch thick rope, soaked in flammable oil. Unwilling to risk any further, Riker slumped off the barrel and sprinted to the junction and then left.

Heroic Beorg charged from around the corner, leading with his polearm.

“I will cut the fuse before it burns up!”

Beorg the Legend reached the barrel just in time for it to explode, suffering maximum impact and fire damage. Those that lurked around the corner were singed as well as forced to the ground from shock.

Smell of burnt flesh permeated the corridor.

Clerics rushed to heal each other. Surprisingly, charred Beorg was carbonised but alive.

SLAM!

The same sound was heard once more. This time everyone ran left and around the corner, and then burst through the doors, slamming them shut just in time. Little flames surged from underneath. Dramatic, but harmless.

Catching a moment to breath, the party realised they fled into a familiar chamber. A small altar with the symbol of three crossed swords was in the middle. Bunk beds line all the walls.

“There should be a one-way secret passageway just there...”

Indeed, the adventurers had easily found the secret doors they perused in the past. From there they easily found their way to the bell shaped entrance chamber. But their way was barred!

First, they caught an orc by surprise. Pig-faced monster was waiting with a club, facing the doors leading into the entrance chamber. It certainly did not expect a bunch of adventurers to exit from the doors behind it. Monster was hacked to pieces in seconds.

Second, the doors were nailed shut. Without equipment, Hagar spent significant time to tear down plank by plank. Eventually the party broke through and fled back to Hara to lick their singed assess.

Sunstrong 6th, Airday

Healed but hairless, the adventurers returned to the den once more. One their way out of the town, Akasi Namelin derided Hagar for putting their plans into jeopardy. The dwarf had little patience for Namelin's eldest son.

Riker the Wise remembered to bring a magical construct which had been collecting dust in the companies vault. It was a palm-sized bee which can follow simple instructions and offer one to three word description of what it sees. Scouting the dark corridor from whence barrels rode revealed little but closed doors.

Checking remaining three doors in the bell shaped chamber revealed they were all barred from the other side. Hence the party decided to go through the broken doors. From there they rethreaded some of the chambers they've been through before.

Passing the stairs down, the party decided to explore southern portion of the dungeon. Alas, they were mostly empty and junk rooms. Peak excitement were a gelatinous cube guarding a completely empty room, and a finger ring-sized snake eating its own tail resting on a pillow under a glass dome. Beorg broke the later, and then one of the adventurers grabbed the ring. Nothing ill happened to anyone, despite the warning uttered to them.

“One last doors to check” led the party into a thirty by thirty foot trap chamber. The doors slam shut behind them, and green gas begun filling the chamber as magic mouth spoke:

“Unbidden, I come at night
Unasked, I am gone by morn.”

A set of glyphs appeared on the door in vertical line: a star on top, crescent moon in the middle, and a sleeping man on the bottom.

Half of the party immediately succumbed to the gas, dropping to the ground as if dead. Tarkus yelled the correct answer but nothing happened until he touched the correct glyph as well.

Gas stopped hissing and doors opened by themselves.

Tarkus dragged everyone outside and administered awakening slaps.

Once everyone got back to their senses, the party stopped to think about their further course of action. They were at the literal and proverbial junction.