Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 109

October 7, 2024

Adventurers

Character	Class	Description
Hagar the Hewer	Dwarf level 4	Imagine Conan as dwarf.
Ambros	Cleric level 5	Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time.
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.
Riker	Magic-User level 1	A magic-user seeking glory or death.
Leticia	Cleric level 1	Extremely righteous, borderline zealot, devout follower of Rasthri, Goddess of Strength in Revenge.
Almaric the Legendary	Elf level 1	Very smart and quite good looking; adventuring just for the money.

Sunstrong 6th, Airday

“Where are some beastmen to slay?! Show them and I'll kill 'em all!”

Akasi Namelin boasted to Hagar and his crew. The eldest son followed the party shortly after they left Hara. He was accompanied by Leticia and Almaric, just to make sure no ill fortune befalls him, despite marching with three dozen light footmen.

“Remember to keep the kid alive.” Riker reminded everyone.

“I'll go first, you right behind me!” Hagar commanded to Namelin's eldest heir.

“Yes! I'll be right behind you! Let's go!”

“Let me remind you that monsters here are intelligent. Don't rush forward blindly–” Riker attempted to educate young man, but was interrupted with brash “I have hunted before!”

“You might become the hunted here...” commentary went unanswered.

Heran Marod left the dungeon and waited for the party above, overseeing a Akasi's thuggish band.

“Where to next?”

The party had three possible venues: go down the stairs and deeper into the dungeon, go east and explore the beyond the ransacked library, or go north down the corridor with exploding barrels.

Afraid to go down or to face the fiery doom, they opted for the second option and went for the library. Nothing much beyond a large kitchen with adjoining pantry, and two dead ends with smashed statues.

Having adventured for nearly sixteen hours, the party withdrew from the dungeon and camped by the tree. Surely nothing would dare disrupt their sleep with their numbers.

Sunstrong 7th, Waterday

Well rested, the adventures continued their delve. They explored kitchen surrounding in the time it takes a lantern to burn through on filling of oil. Little did they find beyond more looted rooms. In an act of desperation they caressed and tapped many walls, hoping to find any secret shortcuts.

“We will have to go through that corridor. There is no way around it.”

“There was a large dinning table in one of the rooms. Let's break it and turn it into a mantlet!”

“What a great idea! Let's do that!”

More hours went by as they put their plan in motion.

Once in the bell shaped chamber, Beorg shot a lit arrow and hit the doors out of which, supposedly, barrels were rolling out of.

Nothing.

Next Leticia stripped her metal armour, lit a torch, and sprinted down the barrel corridor. Reaching the junction she jumped left and peeked around the corner.

Nothing.

So she ran up to the doors, knocked, and ran back.

Nothing.

Remaining party formed ranks and advanced up the corridor, with Riker and Ambros ready to unleash magical and divine wrath alike.

Nothing.

Almaric brought Leticia's armour on his Floating Disc, so the lady was armoured once more.

Reunited, the party marched to the doors.

Nothing.

A dwarf and an elf decided to listen at the doors.

Nothing.

Finally they pulled the doors open!

Empty barrel rack was all there was to be found. Besides three rusty levers, that is.

“Unbelievable!”

“Let's check the corridor we passed...”

Indeed there was one unexplored corridor leading east, then turning north. Faint smell of death and rot could be felt. Marching on soon revealed the nature of the challenge: a labyrinth. Multiple dead ends, sometime empty, sometime with insulting traps. Skeletons of long dead monsters and humans alike. One of the skeletons was a large human with a bull’s head. A rusty massive battle-axe rested next to it.

Hours and hours went on as adventurers trudged through endless corridors. At one moment the stench of death became almost overbearing. By now the adventurers had learned this must mean trouble. They carefully proceeded, ready for whatever might await them.

Hagar at the front turned the corner and came face to face with a horrible creature. A human female-looking face floated some eight feet in the air. Its eyes were almond-shaped; long, lanky black hair was stuck to its pale face; fangs and long split tongue protruded out of its slack jawline.

“Purge the Evil!!!”

Tarkus yelled and charged past Hagar; the dwarf charged too. Almaric and Beorg went right behind them, while others backed them.

True extent of the creature's unholy existence was revealed with approach of light. The face was not floating mid-air. No. It was attached to a tubular body made of most horrible make—mangled, broken, and headless bodies of women.

Hacking into the monster made it ooze slimy, dark purple ichor. The creature gazed into Hagar's eyes. Stout dwarf resisted voices in his head and struck the creature. Next the monster flew up in the air and swirled in circular motion. Almaric, Leticia, and Akasi dropped to the ground, sleeping soundly.

Riker's spell had failed to produce any effect. On the other hand Riker's Awakening Palm worked quite well on the sleeping members of the party.

In a moment of shock, the ghastly creature towered over Hagar and then bit him in the neck. Dwarf's eyes turned upside down and he went limp in seconds. The monster wrapped its long body around Hagar and flew off with him into the darkness.

Ambros pursued the monster without missing a beat, with Tarkus, Beorg and Almaric right behind him. Follow purple snail trail was easy. Moments later they caught up with the abomination and hacked it to pieces.

Tarkus the Promising delivered the killing blow straight to the face of this horrible creature. Its body fell apart, leaving a pile of mangled corpses on top of Hagar.

“What a blessed dwarf he is...”

“Oh no...” Akasi muttered, distraught.

The bite marks were already necrotic-black; the flesh rotted away. Hagar's veins were dark purple, bloated and firm. His eyes were completely white, with yellow pus on the lower lid. Spittle and foam caked his angled mouth.