Episodes 8 and 9 -- Violent Happenings and an Escape from Monastic Ruins

Session 8 started with Daumpney, Lumi, and Arpina leading the way into the dungeon.  Mortimer stayed in the rear because he was feeling very distracted.  He had a slight headache and he felt like he had two people in his head.  He had a feeling that his mother's ring was working especially hard transferring psychic energy into his body today.  But in addition to that he felt like his mother's consciousness was slowly taking up residence beside his own in his head.  He did not mention this to the other party members for fear of being thought crazy.

The team found an infamous executioner's flail or morning star in a closet not far from the dungeon entrance.  Mortimer took care not to get close to it for fear that it was cursed.  No other party member showed such precautions.

The team entered a smelly room that had 5 cloaks on a far wall.  The smell seemed to come from a  round pond of a strange red syrup was in the room's center.  Mortimer telekinetically grabbed a cloak for himself after nearly being overcome by the smell.  He told the others he intended to use the cloak so that he might not look like an intruder when they finally meet someone in these tunnels.  The others got their own cloaks after deciding this was a good idea.

Mortimer thought he saw coins in the red syrup pool.  When he tried to fetch them telekinetically, a skeletal hand emerged from the pool to pull him in.  Everyone then avoided the pool as they left through another door of its room.

Next the team came upon a vestibule in which 5 hooded figures were sitting on separate benches apparently in prayer.  Daumpney stepped forward and broke the chamber's solemn silence by speaking to one.  In response the robed figure revealed its gross translucent skin, sharp claws, and jagged carrion eating teeth when it jumped up to attack him.  The other four figures also moved to attack Daumpney, Lumi, and Arpina as most of the rest of the team moved into the room to protect Daumpney's flanks.  Mortimer remained in the hall because there was not enough room for him near the chamber entrance.  But he was able to telekinetically push one of the ghouls nearest Daumpney back onto another ghoul, causing both to fall on the floor on their backs.  This stroke of luck allowed the team to quickly dispatch most of the ghouls one on one before the two fallen ghouls could get into the fight.  The ghoul Mortimer psychically shoved went passed Daumpney to attack Mortimer when it got up.  Mortimer easily dispatched it with his psychic blades before it got very far.  Arpina and Daumpney slaughtered the last ghoul.

Arpina found a thick book of names of monastery visitors in this room, which she placed in her backpack.

The team proceeded to another chamber beyond the ghoul's vestibule.  Before entering it they saw it had a number of large fierce looking creatures that were violently tearing apart some meat,  Lumi quickly destroyed them all by herself using some powerful fire magic.  Everyone was relieved by the completeness of her destruction.  Mortimer felt lucky she had used her magic while he was a safe distance from the targets -- especially since he still felt distracted and groggy from his mother's growing consciousness in his brain.  But he felt he would have all of his wits back in perhaps an hour.

This room Lumi had fire blasted had many doors leading out of it and it had a fireplace.  Mortimer's intuition told him the fireplace had something special about it.  He searched it and found it had no chimney -- or the chimney had been blocked off or collapsed during the monastery's long perioud of disrepair.  Further inspection rewarded him with a small sack of  gold and platinum coins someone had hidden behind one of the fireplace's bricks.

The team elected to open the south door of the fire blasted room first.  There they found a poorly lit room having two or three broken beds.  A lot of ominous gibbering was coming from the shadows in the shadows at the room's far end.

<-- Session 8 ended here -->

Session 9 started in the room in which session 8 ended.  Lumi, Daumpney, and Mortimer were on one side of an underground room in the abandoned monastery.  Arpina stood behind them in the hallway.  Mortimer was psychically linked to Arpina and Lumi but not to Daumpney.  

Out of the shadows of the far end of dimly lit room a fleshy almost liquid creature having innumerable mouths and long scaly tongues flowed noisily toward the party.  The creature spat acid at the a bed frame between Lumi and Daumpney.  Acid spattered onto their faces and bodies and into their eyes.  They both screamed, involuntarily putting their burning hands on their burning eyes as the their flesh melted and their bones and teeth and jaws dissolved faster than they could form words.  

Two views of the semi-liquid acid spitting creature

None of the acid hit Mortimer.  Daumpney had been between Mortimer and the acid impact point.  Mortimer telekinetically upended the bed frame that was between Lumi and the door in the hopes that Lumi might follow his pleas to stumble past it out of the room.  But she could not hear his telepathically delivered pleas over her own terrified screams.

Mortimer dove past Arpina to flee the room.  Behind him the monster advanced on Lumi and Daumpney as they melted onto the floor.  It flowed around and over their forms and immediately started digesting them as they died.  Mortimer was still psychically connected to Lumi as her lungs dissolved and all her limbs separated from the remains of her torso.  Mortimer cried as Lumi's final pleadings and psychically transmitted cries of pain filled his consciousness.  He ran to the next room and curled up in a fetal ball as he moaned and lost control of his bodily functions until Lumi was expired.  He remained this way for the next ten minutes.

Rather than retreat from the beast, Arpina lit it on fire.  Then at great risk and small injury to herself she retrieved Lumi's backpack off the floor near where Lumi had been standing.  Arpina closed the door behind her as the creature died in the flames she had lit.

Arpina found Mortimer after she sealed the monster's room.  He was still on the ground but slowly coming out of his catatonia.  When he was responsive again they debated whether to leave the monastery immediately or continue searching for the prince.  Eventually they realized they had to continue exploring the dungeon because the only door leading to the surface was magically sealed against them.

Arpina and Mortimer stepped through the unlocked door in the blasted chamber that was located opposite to the locked door leading out of the dungeon.  The door led into a long narrow passage that immediately turned left.  But there was also a 5 foot long section on the right of the door.  Mortimer sensed that this alcove hinted at a secret door that would allow the party to travel in the direction of the surface.  He searched very carefully, employing his psionic gifts as well as his thieve's training.  With an audible sigh of relief he found a loose stone, turned it, and caused the wall to slide sideways.  Beyond the sliding wall lay a moderately long dark passage to a room where a powerfully built armored man was reading papers on a desk as he was guarded by two hooded figures. 

Mortimer entered the room first.  He was disguised as a ghoul and he was wearing the bone necklace the red skinned girl had given him on the road to Oak Pine when he helped liberate her from the abusive bounty hunter.  The man an the two ghoul guards paid no attention to him as he pretended to be another guard starting a shift of duty in that chamber.

Then Arpina walked through the secret door into the chamber.  The two ghoul guards moved to intercept her while Mortimer stayed still.  The armored man shouted at Mortimer to also fight Arpina.  At five feet wide, the hallway leading into this chamber was only wide enough for one ghoul to engage Arpina at a time.  So Mortimer simply stood behind the other two ghouls.

Arpina quickly annihilated the first ghoul she came up against.  Mortimer thought the second ghoul would also fall quickly.  So Mortimer spun around and surprised the armored man with two soul blade attacks.  

Unfortunately, the second ghoul did not succumb to Arpina's attacks.  So Mortimer was alone against the armored priest.  The priest emitted a devastating magic bright light from his upraised palm.  Then he came around his desk at Mortimer and nearly killed Mortimer with his war hammer even though Mortimer had activated the blur effect of his mother's ring.  

The evil armored man

The evil armored man's war hammer

None of Mortimer's counter blows had any effect on the armored man.  So Mortimer struck the remaining ghoul in the back while Arpina was still fighting it.  Then Mortimer jumped away from the armored man toward the caged man in the corner of the room.

Arpina finally finished off the remaining ghoul.  Now she engaged the armored man.  Her armor was much better suited for fighting him than Mortimer's studded leather was.  She was also more resistant to his devastating blinding light attack.  But he was still winning the fight.  None of Mortimer's continued attempts to hit the armored man were helping.

The man in the cage asked Mortimer to release him.  The man said he could help against the armored man if he was released.  Mortimer quickly picked the cage's lock and the man promptly transformed into a wolf man before attacking the armored man.

The armored man quickly succumbed to the wolf man's attacks.  Arpina gave Mortimer a potion of greater healing when as soon as she could since he was very badly injured.

When the armored man was dead, the wolf man identified himself as the prince.  Mortimer grabbed all the papers on the desk.  Arpina grabbed the armored man's war hammer and plate mail.  Everyone left the dungeon as quickly as possible by the way they entered.  This was possible because all the magically locked doors were open now.

Shopping List for the next marketplace:

• bag of caltrops
• more rations
• a flask of whiskey
• 5-10 walloping crossbow bolts, if they work with hand crossbows
• healing potions
• anti toxin
• bola  aka meteor hammer
• healer's kit

Wish List:

• bag of holding
• glamour studded leather (+1)