Once again, our intrepid band gathered, intent on eliminating the goblinoid threat to the commercial exploitation of natural resources in the Silverton region. I suppose they are PMCs, in modern parlance. But we'll just call them "adventurers."
The Adventurers:
- Oak, a warforged fighter
- Sol Sirvius, a mul cleric of Pelor
- Custodes, a human paladin
- Gellen Peakclimber, a human ranger
- Kaworu Nasisa, an elf rogue
- The Sorceress With No Name, a halfling sorcerer*
*The Sorceress With No Name is a spare character, waiting for her player to arrive. In the meantiime, she is played by Oak's player.
In this, our second session, exploration, traps, and magic swords were the name of the game.
Retracing their steps through the secret tunnel discovered in Part 1, the party returned to the second guard room they had cleared out. Two doors led from the room. Eventually, both would be followed, but the party began with the north exit. Kaworu volunteered to scout slightly ahead of the party, advancing near silently to a distance of some forty feet beyond the rest of the party. That mine tunnel led past another secret door, which Kaworu's keen elven senses once again detected as if by magic.
The room discovered held only a single chest, to first appearances. Oak fearlessly opened the chest, only to feel something ding into his finger. Further inspection revealed a poisoned needle trap on the chest! Fortunately, Oak is one tough warforged, and no harm was done. The chest proved to be empty. A thorough search of the room by the entire party [each character took a section, then 'took twenty' on the Search] revealed a loose slab of rock in the flooring. Underneath that slab was a sword, wrapped in mouldering parchment. Made of alchemical silver [as determined by the sorceress, trained in Alchemy], Sol Sirvius prayed for divine insight into its properties; Pelor's gift allowed his humble servant to detect the blade's enchantments, and the party gave it over to Custodes, as it seemed a fitting weapon for a champion of Heironeous. The parchment provided an important clue to the party.
Continuing on through the winding tunnels, the next chamber explored was some sort of shrine to a rat god. a large statue made of green marble, with ruby eyes, and in the shape of some sort of hideous half-man, half-rat hybrid dominated the room. Custodes and Sol demanded the idol be destroyed, but not before Kaworu pried the ruby eyes from its head. Using rope, the party pulled the idol down, smashing it upon the hard stone floor.
The next chamber, a bedroom of some sort, provided some candles and a shield, but an important clue might have been missed. Retracing and taking another turn, the adventurers arrived in a large audience chamber. Three goblins, one much larger and hairier than usual, were in the room. The large goblin spoke to the party in badly accented and grammatically lacking Teroi (the most common of human tongues). After asking their names, Rez-Zomar ordered his guards to kill the intruders. As the goblins advanced, Rez-Zomar's form shifted and changed, until a large, goblin-rat hybrid creature stood in his place. The party handily defeated the bodyguards, but had some trouble with Rez-Zomar until Oak landed a particularly heavy blow, followed up by a slash from Custodes' silvery blade. A quick search of the goblin's body revelaed an iron key - the lock remains undiscovered. A silvery grate, locked, gives access to a ladder leading downward. The bars of the grate were inscribed with symbols, both arcane and divine in nature. Feeling unready for that challenge, the party decided to continue exploration of the several tunnels on this level that they had yet to clear out.
Returning to a crossing to back track, the party stumbled upon a trio of zombies. Sol tried to turn the undead abominations, to no avail. Rather, the party slashed them into quivering gobbets of decaying flesh as the slow zombies failed to land any serious blows in the short skirmish.
Passing through yet more unexplored mine shafts, Kaworu's keen senses found yet another cunningly hidden doorway. Opening the door nearly proved deadly, as it triggered an undetected trap, and a volley of arrows struck Kaworu and Oak! Oak's tough hide saved his life [reduced to 1 hp, but he has DR2, and three arrows hit him], and Kaworu's quick reflexes prevented the two arrows which struck him from piercing his vitals. After some healing from Sol, the room was searched. Inside, a stone sarcophagus lay in the center of the room. After a great deal of effort by the entire party, the lid was removed. Inside were the remains of an armoured human, the armour rusted away, but clasped in his bony hands a bastard sword that appeared new-forged. Oak took this mighty weapon, which later investigation would reveal held some sort of enchantment. Also within the coffin was a small chest holding potion vials, potions that would heal injuries and prevent disease. Whoever this mighty warrior had been [Knowledge Nobility check failed], his burial goods would serve the cause of good once more!
Carefully resealing the hidden tomb, the party continued down the tunnel. The next door opened upon a nightmarish scene. Dozens of skulls - human, dwarf, elf, and halfling - hung from the ceiling on fine steel chains. Two beds rested against one wall, and between them, the crucified body of an unfortunate halfling. The adventurers removed this sad victim, and took his body to the consecrated tomb, hoping to offset the potential bad karma of their grave robbery with the good karma of a proper burial for the poor victim.
Returning to the hunt, another shrine was located. This one featured a statue of a large rat, and two large living rats defending it. These were easily dispatched, and the idol destroyed. Sadly for the belt pouches of our heroes, it lacked the bejeweled eye sockets of the first destroyed idol. Again, the tunnel proved to be a dead end. Spells exhausted, and the day having been long and arduous, the party chose to replenish their strength. They returned to the dining chamber discovered in the last gaming session and made camp. The following morning, they returned to explore some more
The final room explored this night was nearly empty. A table and chairs, a single silver candlestick, and an empty weapon rack were all that appeared. Careful searching discovered a yellowed slip of paper, with another clue to the curse that tainted the Gannu mines in the first place.
At this point, the game was halted. Experience points were doled out, and the characters ascended to their second level. We did all the bookkeeping required for that, and called it a night. We hope to continue on Wednesday this week.
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