The Village People were almost happy to get back to the relative serenity of the dungeon. They decided to follow the dwarven map to find Borin.
Village People Expedition:
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Tariq the Harvester – Lvl 5 Mage (Necromancer) – Black Lore of Zahar, Alchemy (x2), Healingx2, Collegiate Wizardry, Soothsaying – INT +3, CON -1, WIS +1, CHA +1. Extremely short necromancer wearing expensive black robes with skull on the shoulders (covered by a cloak in town) – has wand of magic missiles. New Spell – Dismember – shoots a bone needle from his fingertip that hits victim and rots the flesh of the victim it hits, causing limbs to rot away.
<ul style="list-style-type:circle"> <li><strong>Lenny Davos </strong>– Lvl 2 Fighter – (Legionary) – FS (Weapon +Shield), Siege Engineering – STR+2, INT -1, WIS -1, DEX +1, CON +1, CHA +1 – Heavily muscled former soldier from Adamas, wears Plate + Shield, fighting w/ spear or a silver short sword. <ul> <li><strong>Mysty</strong> – pixie familiar – Animal friendship, tracking.</li> </ul> </li> <li><strong>Mycah Pyrus</strong> – Lvl 3 Shaman – (Snake Healer) – Divine Health, Laying on Hands, Healing – STR, DEX, CON -1, WIS +2 – Armed with a staff. <ul> <li><strong>Reggie</strong> – small python – HD 2</li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li>
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Eduardo aka ‘Keyser Soze’ – Lvl 6 Thief (Cat Burglar) – Cat Burglary, Gambling, Precise Shooting, Lip Reading - DEX +2, CON -2, WIS +1, CHA +1 – Budding real estate tycoon and mastermind. Wears leather and armed with Imperial Legion X-Bow
<ul style="list-style-type:circle"> <li><strong>Ukla the Quick</strong> – Lvl 3 Barbarian (Pit Fighter)–Running, Combat Reflexes, Gambling – STR +1, CON +2, CHA -1 – Ex-gladiator turned adventurer – fights with net and trident.</li> <li><strong>Onde Vrazic</strong> – Familiar imp – Mimicry x2, Arcane Dabbling, Alertness</li> <li><strong>Delwyn</strong> – Lvl 1 Village Witch – laying on hands, healing x2, familiar – Str -1 Int+1, WIS +1, DEX +@, CON -1, spell signatures based on potions, salves, balms, or foodstuffs. <ul> <li><strong>Bernard – </strong>Familiar – golden lab – laying on hands, soothsaying (sniffs butt), animal husbandry</li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li>
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Dave ‘the Pure’ Carrin – Lvl 5 Cleric (Hermit) of Hera – Laying on Hands, Naturalism, Command – STR +1, DEX -1, INT -1 CON+1, WIS +1, CHA -1. Wears custom made plate (with symbol of Hera) + large shield with Embossing of Hera on the front (+2 AC and enc.) Simple, uneducated, but intuitive.
<ul style="list-style-type:circle"> <li><strong>Angela of Hera</strong> – Lvl 3 Cleric (proselytizer) – Divine Health, Diplomacy, INT -1, WIS +1, DEX +1, CON -1, wears Plate and armed with a billhook (polearm). </li> </ul> </li>
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Jace – Lvl 5 Mage (Elementalist) – Elementalism (fire), Naturalism, Alchemy, Magical Engineering – STR+1, DEX -1, INT +2. has wand of fear and wears flame red robes with a ruby tipped staff. Quiet pyromaniac. New Spell – Fireball – opens a portal to the elemental plane of fire at a distant point, releasing an explosion of flame into the world.
<ul style="list-style-type:circle"> <li><strong>Nakai</strong> – Altrusian (ancient lizardman) Elder Skull – Labor(culinary)x3, Labor (butcher), Knowledge (Gems), Knowledge (Altrusian Culture)</li> </ul> </li>
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Illyrio Sicarus – Lvl 5 Assassin (Bravo) – Fighting Style (two weapons), Intimidation, Acrobatics, Manual at Arms, – STR +2, DEX +1, CON +2, CHA +1 - Wears leather
<ul style="list-style-type:circle"> <li><strong>Tuccia Florio – </strong>Lvl 3 Explorer (pathfinder) – Tracking, Precise shot x2, DEX +2 – wears chain and armed with a crossbow and hand axe – sent to scout a path to the ruins of Lloreac. She has with her two hirelings (potentially henchmen): <ul> <li><strong>Shalla of Athena</strong> – Lvl 1 Bladedancer (Bringer of Mercy) – Laying on Hands, Healing, wears leather under robes, armed with curved swords and a x-bow.</li> <li><strong>Mala</strong> – Lvl 1 Barbarian (Death Dealer) – Ambushing, Climbing, Survival – DEX, CON +1, wears leather, armed with spear. </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li>
(And a guest appearance from a member of the Raiders:)
- Dante – Lvl 6 Paladin – wears Plate w/ Large Shield and armed with Dwimmersmite – an intelligent talking +2 sword that hates elves and arcane spellcasters and can detect hidden and invisible people and things.
The Party did load up on healing herbs (for a change[KC1] ). They entered through the dwarven door and travelled through Issacs’ moon pool operation. They followed the map to the stairs to level 2B. There they found a large number of Crimson Band mercenaries. They would not allow them to go downstairs. Illyrio confronted them, but they were told they had to talk to the Crimson Band to get permission.
Dante, who travelled with Isaac into the dungeon, heard the commotion and met the party. Illyrio, angered that the Crimson Band would ignore the despot’s orders, had to be talked out of fighting. The Chandler brothers, retrieved by a merc, showed up. The Village People and the Raiders agreed to sign a non-compete pact on the 1st level and level 2b (both of which had been relatively cleared). They travelled to the Crimson Band’s fortified portion of the 1st level to sign an agreement.
When they got to the front entry of the dungeon, a misty doorway magically appeared in a wall (which had never happened before). The party ignored it and signed the agreement. Dante agreed to join the party for their expedition (perhaps to make sure that he could make clear that the Azoth belonged to the Raiders).
On the way to the 3rd level, the village people stopped at a room with symbols on a series of pillars. By pressing the symbols in the right order, Tariq , Jace, and Dave were hit with a surge of divine energy. Jace (Remove Fear) and Tariq (Fellowship) were able to handle it and gained the ability to cast a divine spell. Dave tried multiple times (being drained of HP until next level) but eventually was successful (Detect Danger).
The party made it through to the 3rd level (the reservoir). They were amazed to see a working azoth fountain (although covered by a dome of clear material). They entered a room with a worn mosaic showing a partial map. The party followed the dwarven map to a room with a crack in the floor. Suddenly 8 giant ticks entered the room from the crack.
The party fought the ticks but found out that once they ticks bit someone, they became affixed to the victim. Attempts to hit the tick resulted in Angela being struck by a party member. Eventually Jace figured out that he could just grab one and pull it off (STR vs. STR roll), throwing it away from the victim. The victim was hurt as the tick was pulled off. They also figured out that they could strike any tick affixed on their own person very easy to hit. As they were recovering, a final tick, almost twice as large as the others, came from the crack. The party managed to kill the ‘tick king’.
The party spent some time healing up before continuing to explore. A wandering monster check ended up with 8 more ticks, who came up behind the party. As battle ensued, 8 more ticks entered from the next room, attracted by the noise. By the time the party was finished they had killed 23 giant ticks in under an hour.
SPOILER ALERT
The party passed a statue of Vulcan (the god of craft, who appears as a dwarf) with his head replaced with Terms Termax. They also discovered a room with an unaltered 9 ft tall Vulcan statue, columns, and a curtain to the south. When they pulled back the curtain, revealing some stairs down, the statue animated. Thinking quickly, Eduardo pulled out the rod given to him by Thoric and the statue went back to it’s pedestal.
They next room held three doorways on a raised circular platform. When Eduardo approached the doorway marked on the dwarven map with the rod, a shimmering misty doorway appeared (like the misty door that appeared on level 1). The party entered the mist and found themselves in a small 20 by 20 foot room with the stone form of a dead dwarf.
SPOILER ALERT OVER
They entered into a large open area covered with grey black metal and alchemist resin on the floor. They saw a fight going on between two groups of dwarves, although one of the groups was outnumbered 6 to 3. The party yelled at the battling dwarves and asked if they knew Borin. One of the 3 outnumbered dwarves claimed HE was Borin. The party joined the combat to help out Borin’s group.
As they joined in the combat they got a closer look at the dwarves they were fighting. They were a little less stocky, with more angular faces and gray toned skin. They turned out to be tough opponents, as they were both hard to kill and heavily armored. The party turned the tide of battle, however one of the strange dwarves escaped, and one of them made it to a southern hallway, screaming for help before being killed.
His dying cries were answered by a rampaging earth elemental and the sound of armored dwarves charging. Jace started casting and a small portal opened to the elemental plane of fire, resulting in an explosion of flame that damaged the earth elemental (and killing several advancing evil dwarves). Before the party could investigate the room they came from, they heard arcane chanting and the elemental was all of a sudden caught in heavy webbing, blocking the hallway to the south.
Borin and his two dwarven allies thanked the party. They explained that the other dwarves were evil copies of dwarves created by a group of Termaxians. Borin refused to give details of what happened, but the Termaxians were a problem in Dwimmermount. When the party offered to help, that it was a dwarven problem. The party asked him to return home, as requested by his cousin Thoric. He refused to leave, saying his mission was not done, and that it was a manner of honor. He did ask the party to take a message back to Thoric to “send reinforcements. Tell him ‘Sparky’ sent you”.
They found a small jeweled box left by the Termaxian dwarves. They also briefly explored the level and found:
- 4 strange suits of clothing, each with a helmet of see through vitreum
- A series of storage lockers containing
- 2 apple sized metal spheres with a single button on its surface and
- 24 metallic packets containing food. Later experimentation revealed that eating them removes any fatigue and allows the eater to heal an additional 1d3 HP overnight
- A hallway blocked purple colored mold (which the party ignored).
- A large room with a large table and blank vitreum screens on the wall.
- Mold covered latrine with toilets.
- Found quality crossbow bolts (later determined to be +2).
The party fought another wandering earth elemental. Tariq used his necromancy to fire a bone needle, which rotted away the legs of the creature, allowing the party to take it down. The party went back to the closet, activated the portal, and returned to level 3b.
Before returning to town, the party decided to check the other two mystic portals. One led right to the 1st room of the dungeon (where the party had seen it before). The other ended up in some caverns, which led to hallways carved from the stone. The carving lacked the precision of other areas. It led into hallways with statues of a being in strange armor.
The hallways encircled a large chamber with a spiraling stairway down a large pit. At the top were columns covered with a black vine material recognized as shadowstuff, full of negative energy. At the bottom of the pit was a larger statue of the armored figure holding aloft a glowing lantern. No one recognized him, but Dante drew Dwimmersmite. The sword recognized the statue as being of ‘The Iron God’. He was a champion of law who battled undead and became the leader of a small cult of followers. The sword reminded Dante “don’t trust those spellcasters” as he was put away.
Dante and Dave touched the glowing lantern and felt the divine power of law flowing through their body (healing Dave of his drained HP!). They also touched the statue and felt as if they were protected from undead.
When they came up from the pit, they decided to take the shadowvine (for Tariq). It was dangerous to touch, so they put on the suits (which they believed were protective suits). Although it wouldn’t cut with normal weapons, the party had magic weapons to cut it down and put it in some boxes they found in the level with the dwarves (level 6B). (Of course, by using two of the suits, they could no longer sell them for XP!).
Using the misty portals, they made it out of the dungeon without issue.