ADVENTURES IN THE NORTHERN REACHES #8

Session #8 (5-20-12) : The Journey Through Quasqeton Continues

The group spends a few days back in Eastbrook resupplying, hiring a new man at arms named Hilag, and performing funeral rites for their fallen comrades. They also ran into Callam the Knowitall whom they thought they had left behind in Barrowcrest and he decided to join the group as they made another foray into the Caverns of Quasqueton.
After a days journey back to the site location, the group entered and discovered the secret door they had propped open with a iron spike was closed again. Worried that they would be ambushed again by more berserkers, the group quickly set up a plan to draw them out. After oil was laid, Thad and Mutlik set off the Magic Mouth Alarm at the third set of alcoves, and as suspected, the one way secret doors opened up and the berserkers came upon them once more. The pools of oil were lit as the wild men rushed across them setting them on fire and Cadfael and Golar moved into do combat with the rest of the men. Orien shot with his bow and missed often. Myra laid down a Sleep spell to hasten things along and with the help of the halfling thief, the group quickly did away with the threat.

The room beyond the second door was checked and found to be similar to the room beyond the one they had been to before. The berserkers had no treasure on them, so the group decided to continue the way they were used to going, making their way back to the staircase that descending into the caverns below.
On the way they passed by a door that they discovered on their first passing through the area that had been locked. Since they now had Callam with them, he decided to give his skills at lock picking a try. Success!! Beyond they found a room with a strange crystalline structure protruding from the back wall. The rest of the group  entered the room.  As their torches shined upon the stone, it glistened and sparkled. Golar and Callam went up to investigate but did not find any signs of traps or other unusual features. The dwarf wasn't even sure what kind of crystal it was, but said it seemed to have been fused in some way to the stone.

After a thorough search of the crystal, it was determined it served no function that they could see and so the group decided to head back out of the room and back down the corridor to the end. But as they opened the door at the end of the hallway they had been through numerous times, they discovered something had changed. The layout of the corridor beyond was different somehow. "That's not right" Orien said with a perplexed look on his face " I think you have us in the wrong spot". They closed the door and reopened it again, thinking it some kind of illusion magic. But when they reopened the door, they found it to be the same. "Must be some kind of Teleportation magic" Cadfael surmised. Myra agreed "Its the work of the powerful wizard Zelligar no doubt, but why is it placed in such a manner?"

Frustrated at now being lost in the dungeon,  the group moved cautiously through the new doorway. A door opposite the one they entered led into a supply room filled with a stack of doors, lumber, bricks, mortar and other dungeon upkeep materials. As they were exploring this room, Thad and Mutlik were surprised from behind by small green reptilian like humanoids. Quickly the party moved into action as the little monsters swarmed upon the group's rear guard. Orien shot with his bow and missed often. Myra cast Sleep, but to her dismay, the humanoids were unfazed by the spell " They are immune to my magic for some reason".

Cadfael suffered a few minor wounds then retreated around the corner to safety while the rest tried to hold the swarming creatures at bay long enough to shut the door and spike it closed. They spent some time discussing what to do with the strange monsters, and Cadfael suggested using his net he purchased in Eastrbrook as a trap to capture some of them. Orien thought they were kobolds but wasn't sure why they would be immune to Myra's magic. So the net was laid out at the door way and the group hid behind the corner while Golar and Cadfael held onto the snare rope. And the waited...

But nothing happened, the creatures were still clawing from beyond the door. It was then realized that they had left the spike in the door and the creatures had no way of getting through ( DUH!). So, Orien the swift ran into the hallway and worked to unwedge the spike from the door. As he did so, the door  burst open and the swarm of green humanoids poured through on Oriens heels. Golar and Cadfael pulled the rope of the net and managed to capture several of them, but the rest continued to swarm into the hallway. Thad entered the fray with Golar and Cadfael, while Callam snuck through the combat to get a better aim with his sling, and Myra did her best to direct the hirelings. Hilag was most effective in the second rank with his spear, attacking the "kobolds" that had been ensnared in the nets. Once again...Orien was useless with his bow.

Soon the battle was over, and the group searched the creatures over for treasure, but they had none. Myra closely inspected the "kobolds" and even cut one open to determine if they were illusions or something. What she discovered was that the "kobolds" were magical in nature, their skin and bones and even their innards being synthetic and somehow incomplete. She proposed the idea that these creatures were somehow created magically, perhaps with kobolds somehow being used as the basic component for their  creation. That was the only reason she could come up with as to why they were immune to her Sleep magic.

The group continued down the hallway, and found another door which they entered and found a forge room of some kind. There was an anvil, forging tools, workbench, and a hole in the ceiling over a fire pit. Everyone moved into the room and closed the door and did a proper search. Myra found a very nice hammer which the dwarf determined was a throwing hammer. Callam checked the two other doors in the room, and once satisfied they were safe to pass, the party opened one of the doors. Beyond they found a room that contained a pile of coal and some wood- fuel for the forge Golar informed them. Cadfael stepped forward to investigate the coal pile with his 10' pole and was attacked by a bunch of giant centipedes that laired there. " AHH- centipedes are poisonous- I'm out of here" and out the door Cadfael dashed, leaving the Golar the dwarf surrounded by the nasty insects. " Why is it you have all that plate male again if your never going to use it" retorted the halfling.

Thad quickly jumped into the fray to help out the dwarf. Callam, found his aim with his sling was ineffective, so he grabbed his dagger and jumped in to help as well. This time Orien was rather successful with his bow " Huzzah!!!!" Unfortunately, a badly placed blow by Thad nearly took out the halfling in one shot and a second  attack broke his master work long sword completely. Lucky he had a follow up short sword to continue in the battle. Golar got bit by the centipedes  a few times but his sturdy dwarven constitution saved him every time from the poison. So soon enough the giant centipedes were dead. 

After the group bandaged up and Healing spells were placed on the wounded halfling, the room was searched. The coal was  piled against another door in the room and after clearing it way, the thief checked the door. They noticed the door should open into the hallway they came down, but when they went back out and checked for secret doors, the found nothing. When they opened the door they found a stone wall, the door led to nothing " A false door, very curious" remarked Myra. 

Beyond the other door, they found another room with a pile of lumber in it and a 3ft round hole in the floor. Cadfael went up to investigate ( to prove he was not a coward, even if he did run from a few bugs in the last room). And as he peered down the shaft in the floor, a large, green and yellow worm like creature with a mass of tentacles lunged from the pit and attacked the cleric. Quickly he was paralyzed by the Carrion Crawlers grasping tentacles, and dragged down into the shaft below. The group scrambled in the room to assist, Finn casting his torch down the hole so they could see and aid the elf in casting a Sleep spell on the worm, but all they could see was Cadfaels body filling up the entire shaft as it was quickly being dragged downward. Orien began to tie a rope to a iron rung near the pit, Callam quickly began to scale down, and Myra prepared a Feather Fall to cast on Golar and he jumped in. 

The monster pulled Cadfaels body out of sight, but the torch still burned from the floor of a cavern far below. Callam and Golar quickly dropped into the chamber where to their horror, they could see the Carrion Crawler had half devoured the clerics body. Callam, hid in a niche in the wall, afraid the creature might see him and attack.

Up top, rope tied off, Orien grabbed the rope and repelled down as quickly as possible, followed by Thad who was making his way rather slowly. As Orien reached the bottom and took stock of the situation, he cast his Sleep spell on the monster. The Sleep spell worked, it stopped moving. Callam moved forward to pull the cleric from the creatures maw, but Orien warned that such an action would wake the beast up again. So, Callam positioned himself nicely above the Carrion Crawler and lunged in with his dagger, driving it deep into the creatures cranium and killing it with a cou de gras. 

They pulled the clerics body from the mouth of the worm and were surprised to see he was still alive, but barely ( he had made every Save vs Death roll, lucky him...). They tied the cleric with some ropes and Thad and Mutlik worked to bring his body back up top. Callam noticed a large pile of offal in the corner, and some sparkling coming from it. So he dug in with his hands and began to search through the shit pile for treasure. What luck, he found 4 garnets worth 100gp each and a gold ring. 

Once everyone was up top, the group decided to seal off the room and rest until Cadfael was awake and well. Myra cast her last spell, Detect Magic, on the items they had found and determined the ring and the throwing hammer were magical. What a find. Cadfael was happy to get to live another day......