Can't tell what day it is any more, been in these damned tunnels for too long. What does the sun look like? Don't remember. Air and rations are both stale. The buggers are all around. Guess if you're going to die, might as well do it underground and save 'em the trouble of digging you a hole to lie in. They'll never let us out of here alive.
The screaming felt good though. Made me feel like a warrior again, like the old days in the pits. Seemed to keep the bugs away too. Ran out of breath eventually, and stalked the tunnels in silence, just us and the dead down there. Found some bugger eggs and made a pretty good meal of 'em. Better than stale rations, if you don't think about that you're eating unborn children. But that's the way of this world, isn't it? A boot stamping on a human face, forever. A fist pounding a bugger's thorax, forever. Do they feel it too? Do they feel despair?
Things got strange. Fungus everywhere, slime, chittering (thought about tasting the fungus, but fungi are always a bit dodgier than eggs). Came back to our old fort in the depths and discovered the enemy's nest just a tunnel away. Scouted the place out and it was a deathtrap. Was suggested that we set them up the bomb using that black powder we found a while back. Was it just a few hours ago? Time loses all meaning down here.
Pressed on through the fungus, bomb in my hand and the wizard behind with his lightning-thrower. Two buggers tried to stop us but we fought 'em back and pushed through. Lobbed that bomb, gave it everything I had, and the wizard did good. Damned good. A little fire, a lot of noise, shrapnel everywhere. Wasn't much left to do after that, just a few mercy killings. Wonder if the buggers saw it that way. Guess it doesn't matter now, they're just as dead.
Queen bugger got away though, we found her tunnel. Chased her to a cavern over a lake and sent the wizard down on a rope. They traded lightning for venom but the wizard fell in the end. Went down after them then, one hell of a big bugger in the water and all us splashing down on top of her. Battle went quick after that and she sank into the murk. Never saw the bottom. They say some pools go down forever. Maybe she's still sinking.
- Wultgar
We play D&D. In our company's board room. Every Monday evening given enough players.
Monday, 26 September 2011
Monday, 19 September 2011
Session 7: Dead Goblins, More Kruthik, Enemy Spotted
tl;dr - extended rest, followed left wall, thorax-punching fight, found mystery scroll, tunnel leads back to original room, ends with running around screaming
This cavern contains four exits: the ceiling, two tunnels to the west, and one tunnel to the east.
The cleric attempts to anchor a rope back to the hole in the ceiling using a detached leg from the insect creature. The attempt fails, clattering against the cavern ceiling or not embedding deep enough to support a person. The party laments the lack of teleporting assassins or a clement dwarf upstairs.
The heroes talk at length about setting up camp to lick their wounds. There is concern against setting up camp against the bare rock wall, as the insect creatures are capable of burrowing through rock. Surveying the area, they find large beams of half-rotted, half-petrified wood. The remains of some tower-like foundation litter the area. The bard finds no loot. The party agrees to build a little fort and take watch. The rest lasts for ten hours and passes without incident.
The party travels through the northern-most west exit. The tunnel is coated in a mild slime which irritates the skin, but otherwise appears harmless. Travelling about eighty feet, there is a T-junction. The party decides to use the old "hand on wall" approach and sticks to the left wall.
The party approaches a small cavity with a low ceiling, perhaps sixty feet across? Something like that. In the centre were a few humanoid corpses surrounded by the insectoid creatures. The bard bravely rolls around in the slime to blend in. The party deals the first strike.
The bard leads with his abstract sonic attacks. The fighter fumbles early in the battle, his whip flying across the room from his buttery fingers. As a result, the fighter spends the majority of the battle punching thoraxes (thoraces?), eventually moving onto more obscure anatomical features as the other sites transform to mushy patches of ichor. The subesophageal ganglion was punched at one point. The warlord also joins in the fray. The cleric hangs back as support artillery, as does the mage. At one point the bard realizes he doesn't have any armour.
The battle progresses handily, our warriors handily containing and dispatching most of the enemies. One dives into the rock face and escapes. There is a sneak attack from the rear: an insect latches onto the mage, riding him for the rest of the battle like a cowboy on a frail glass bronco. The mage's numerous escape attempts fail, and his cries for help are largely ignored by the rest of the party (who are busy crushing thorax elsewhere). The insect which escaped into the rock reappears, opening up a new tunnel next to the mage.
One of the corpses reveals itself to be alive and crawls towards an exit. The bard loots the other corpses in the middle of the battle. The rest of the party turns back to the mage, as they have run out of thoraxes to pulverize. At this point the mage is losing consciousness and has used up another charge of the fulgurating wand. The mage finally escapes from the first insect and flees, confident that the fighter will intercept. Alas, the insect just jumps over and latches onto him again. With a little help from his friends, the remaining insects are dispatched.
The cavern now has six tunnel exits: two created during the battle (which end up looping on itself), one the party entered from, and three others. The corpses found were goblin-like, dressed as the goblins found at the Circle's villa. On his person are pouches: one contains gunpowder, there is also a scroll found written in unknown language. At the bottom of the scroll is a familiar seal of the House of Five Blades (or was it Swords? The one that jerk Colter is with.).
Rather than pursue the escaped corpse immediately, the party takes a ten minute break to rest. Continuing the "hand on left wall" trick, the party follows the next exit and find themselves in the first crypt room (the one with the pile-of-skulls centrepiece). A trail of blood leads to the goblin which crawled away. He is dead and pouches are ripped from his body. Footsteps are heard travelling away; the party pursues to the brazier room, but finds no one. Frustrated, the party runs screaming from one place to the next. At this point, it's kind of a blur, really.
 |
| Supraesophageal ganglion(5), Subesophageal ganglion(31) (source) |
Last episode: The heroes made a dramatic entrance and barely defeat the insect creatures that lay waiting below.
This cavern contains four exits: the ceiling, two tunnels to the west, and one tunnel to the east.
The cleric attempts to anchor a rope back to the hole in the ceiling using a detached leg from the insect creature. The attempt fails, clattering against the cavern ceiling or not embedding deep enough to support a person. The party laments the lack of teleporting assassins or a clement dwarf upstairs.
The heroes talk at length about setting up camp to lick their wounds. There is concern against setting up camp against the bare rock wall, as the insect creatures are capable of burrowing through rock. Surveying the area, they find large beams of half-rotted, half-petrified wood. The remains of some tower-like foundation litter the area. The bard finds no loot. The party agrees to build a little fort and take watch. The rest lasts for ten hours and passes without incident.
The party travels through the northern-most west exit. The tunnel is coated in a mild slime which irritates the skin, but otherwise appears harmless. Travelling about eighty feet, there is a T-junction. The party decides to use the old "hand on wall" approach and sticks to the left wall.
The party approaches a small cavity with a low ceiling, perhaps sixty feet across? Something like that. In the centre were a few humanoid corpses surrounded by the insectoid creatures. The bard bravely rolls around in the slime to blend in. The party deals the first strike.
The bard leads with his abstract sonic attacks. The fighter fumbles early in the battle, his whip flying across the room from his buttery fingers. As a result, the fighter spends the majority of the battle punching thoraxes (thoraces?), eventually moving onto more obscure anatomical features as the other sites transform to mushy patches of ichor. The subesophageal ganglion was punched at one point. The warlord also joins in the fray. The cleric hangs back as support artillery, as does the mage. At one point the bard realizes he doesn't have any armour.
The battle progresses handily, our warriors handily containing and dispatching most of the enemies. One dives into the rock face and escapes. There is a sneak attack from the rear: an insect latches onto the mage, riding him for the rest of the battle like a cowboy on a frail glass bronco. The mage's numerous escape attempts fail, and his cries for help are largely ignored by the rest of the party (who are busy crushing thorax elsewhere). The insect which escaped into the rock reappears, opening up a new tunnel next to the mage.
One of the corpses reveals itself to be alive and crawls towards an exit. The bard loots the other corpses in the middle of the battle. The rest of the party turns back to the mage, as they have run out of thoraxes to pulverize. At this point the mage is losing consciousness and has used up another charge of the fulgurating wand. The mage finally escapes from the first insect and flees, confident that the fighter will intercept. Alas, the insect just jumps over and latches onto him again. With a little help from his friends, the remaining insects are dispatched.
The cavern now has six tunnel exits: two created during the battle (which end up looping on itself), one the party entered from, and three others. The corpses found were goblin-like, dressed as the goblins found at the Circle's villa. On his person are pouches: one contains gunpowder, there is also a scroll found written in unknown language. At the bottom of the scroll is a familiar seal of the House of Five Blades (or was it Swords? The one that jerk Colter is with.).
Rather than pursue the escaped corpse immediately, the party takes a ten minute break to rest. Continuing the "hand on left wall" trick, the party follows the next exit and find themselves in the first crypt room (the one with the pile-of-skulls centrepiece). A trail of blood leads to the goblin which crawled away. He is dead and pouches are ripped from his body. Footsteps are heard travelling away; the party pursues to the brazier room, but finds no one. Frustrated, the party runs screaming from one place to the next. At this point, it's kind of a blur, really.
Monday, 12 September 2011
Session 6: Berrian Trapped, Discovery of Tower Foundation
After completing the exploration of the puzzle chamber, Berrian tries to fling the eastern doors wide open but Nath'umbe steps in and they cautiously look into a pitch black stairwell. The Circle continues the exploration by taking some of the unholy fire from the braziers and cautiously going down the stairs. The corridor looked worn and much older than the previously explored caverns, though containing the same type of carvings. When we reach the bottom of the stairwell, we see a small unmarked chamber, and Nath'umbe tests the sturdiness of the floor before venturing further and is not satisfied with the results. The adventurers contemplate many options going forward, from leaping across the chamber to tossing the dwarf. Finally Berrian stealthily shifts across the distance and decides to explore the far stairwell alone. As he is doing this, the rest of the party proceeds back up the stairs to the chamber, planning to lug a statue down the stairs to test the room. Before they get to a statue, Berrian cracks open the door at the top of the stairs and both sets of stairs turn to slides and the doors slam and bolt shut.
Berrian slides down what used to be a set of stairs and falls through a trap door at the bottom chamber, just managing to cling to the trap door as he falls through. He manages to climb back up and gets hit by a falling spike from the ceiling. A little bloodied Berrian notices eyes staring at him and after a brief skirmish with a creature; he ends up back through the trap door into a pit of mechanically shifting spikes.
Meanwhile, back in the puzzle chamber, the rest of the team is trying to find a way to get back through the doors to Berrian. After unsuccessfully trying to use the puzzle tiles, and seeing if one of the reptilian tunnels will lead into the sealed chamber, the muscular Mikren, Wultgar, as well as Amex and Nath'umbe grab one of the statues to use as a battering ram against the door, causing a good size dent.
Berrian manages to leap out of the pit and onto more firm ground and uses his great stealth abilities to hide from the eyes around him. Fortunately at this point a second attempt to batter the door with a new statue breaks the poles binding the door and the stairs return to their previous state. Berrian takes advantage of this and races to safety with the rest of the group.
The Circle then decides to continue its exploration in one of the reptilian tunnels. They attach themselves together with rope and start out through the tunnel. After traveling some distance they come to a drop into a rough naturally hewn chamber. They throw down some "sun bars" and see several of the reptilian all over the chamber. Through a tough battle where Wultgar managed to block the majority of the team from the chamber by being grabbed at the mouth of the tunnel, and where he and Berrian are nearly killed, the Circle emerges victorious.
Berrian slides down what used to be a set of stairs and falls through a trap door at the bottom chamber, just managing to cling to the trap door as he falls through. He manages to climb back up and gets hit by a falling spike from the ceiling. A little bloodied Berrian notices eyes staring at him and after a brief skirmish with a creature; he ends up back through the trap door into a pit of mechanically shifting spikes.
Meanwhile, back in the puzzle chamber, the rest of the team is trying to find a way to get back through the doors to Berrian. After unsuccessfully trying to use the puzzle tiles, and seeing if one of the reptilian tunnels will lead into the sealed chamber, the muscular Mikren, Wultgar, as well as Amex and Nath'umbe grab one of the statues to use as a battering ram against the door, causing a good size dent.
Berrian manages to leap out of the pit and onto more firm ground and uses his great stealth abilities to hide from the eyes around him. Fortunately at this point a second attempt to batter the door with a new statue breaks the poles binding the door and the stairs return to their previous state. Berrian takes advantage of this and races to safety with the rest of the group.
The Circle then decides to continue its exploration in one of the reptilian tunnels. They attach themselves together with rope and start out through the tunnel. After traveling some distance they come to a drop into a rough naturally hewn chamber. They throw down some "sun bars" and see several of the reptilian all over the chamber. Through a tough battle where Wultgar managed to block the majority of the team from the chamber by being grabbed at the mouth of the tunnel, and where he and Berrian are nearly killed, the Circle emerges victorious.
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