Experiments & Escapes

The party carefully contemplated the closed door and the golems that lay in wait beyond it. Bench McSmashy (not to be confused with Bench, the bench that Bench McSmashy attacks people with) wanted to burst eagerly through the door, but the party managed to convince them to wait. Din Morat used the opportunity to sneak inside behind one of the golems and assassinate it. Unfortunately, its construction was too durable for it to be destroyed in a single blow, but it was a great start, and the rest of the party quickly leapt into action to join Din Morat in the room. Bench McSmashy and Wei Clumsy Grumpy Wizard worked together to splatter golems and learned that the golems explode when destroyed, damaging people around them. Din Morat agilely dueled a golem with the aid of nearby torches and managed to explode it without injury. Briar used the cooking pot as her weapon of choice and ended up blinding the golem by putting the cooking pot on its head, allowing Bench McSmashy to easily smash it into paste with a bench.

With the golems defeated, the party continued exploring and found a row of cells. One of them had an ominous blood trail leading from it, and the others contained vacant-eyed humanoid creatures. As they investigated more closely and decided whether to try to let one of the imprisoned creatures out, an unknown figure crept out from a side room and pulled a lever, releasing all of the creatures to attack the party! The party defended themselves from the newly released prisoners while the figure dashed back into the side room. The prisoners seemed to have their arms imbued with elemental magic that they channeled to attack the party - or at least primarily Bench McSmashy, who took the front line while the rest of the party used ranged attacks or chased the figure. The party finally defeated the creatures after an energetic battle and turned their attention to the figure that escaped them.

The mysterious figure apparently escaped into a small office room, but there was no sign of where it had gone. The party investigated thoroughly and finally found the thin outline of a hidden door in the wall where the figure must be hiding. They decided to smoke it out, so Wei set up a small fire and directed the smoke into the hidden room, ensuring that the creature would suffocate if it didn't escape. With their smoker in place and Bench McSmashy holding the door closed, they began interrogating the person. He said his name was Melvin and desperately pleaded with the party not to kill him and promised to tell them whatever they want to know, so they let him out and asked him what was going on. He explained that he worked for a powerful wizard named Alistair who kidnapped people from Praxis to fuel his terrible experiments. Alistair had originally hired Melvin to help organize things, but now Melvin was trapped and just wanted out without being used as fodder for the experiments. He gave the party a key to open the trapdoor and warned them about a monstrous experimental hybrid that Alistair kept lurking in the basement.

Armed with the key to the trapdoor, Din Morat crept up the ladder to find out what was on the other side. The trapdoor opened into a small bedroom in what appeared to be a somewhat run-down tavern. When the trapdoor as opened, a hidden spell emitted a magical pulse, summoning a booming voice that demanded to know why Melvin was daring to leave the tunnels. Melvin awkwardly gave some nonsensical excuses to buy time while the party scrambled out the window. Alistair did not seem to be particularly convinced by the excuses, but the party ran for the woods before anything terrible happened.

Join us this week as the party navigates the unfamiliar woods to make their way back to Praxis!

Stupid Awards

Din Morat: "Bench" McSmashy: Briar: Wei Clumsy Grumpy Wizard: