Previous Next

It's About Sending A Messenger

Last week, the party continued their quest to explore every last room in the dome. They were stopped briefly in their quest by a group of cultist guards, but they easily intimidated the guards into ignoring them, allowing the party to explore the dome with impunity. In the various side passages, they found a motley assortment of monsters and minor treasure, which they variously ran away from and took for themselves. Eventually they found a room with cryptic writing in a strange language, which Lester the Jester studied. He learned several useful secrets that could affect the party's actions, and accordingly reported back to the party that the writing was mostly meaningless. After Lester was pressed for information, he admitted that the writing was like a journal of a fellow mind-controlled cultist, but that it didn't have much of interest beyond a focus on the Messengers among the guards. Partially inspired by the writing, the party decided to kidnap one of the Messengers and interrogate him1.

In order to kidnap a Messenger, the party had to identify which guard was a Messenger. Lester the Jester created an illusion of a guard and convinced the Messenger to go into a side passage, and while he was gone, the party charged the rest of the guards. They killed most of the guards quickly, but before they could finish, the Messenger ran out of hiding and tried to make a break for the next group of guards. Fortunately, the party quickly knocked him unconscious before he could escape, allowing them to finish off the remaining guards.

After the fight, the party rested and interrogated their captive with the combined force of three different massive Intimidate checks, backed up by a total of five or six2 heavily armed, obviously competent, and very angry ex-cultists. To their surprise, the guard was inspired to abandon his service to Demogorgon and help them willingly. He introduced himself as Bob Stonybrook, and explained that he had the power to enter and leave the Pit by controlling the Levitators stationed around the outside. Intrigued, Lester the Jester studied him and noticed magical auras on his hands and feet that sparked a memory: he knew how to perform the ritual that granted the Messengers their power. This proved critical when Bob revealed that the party would lose control of their actions if they entered the Pit without that protection. The party changed their plans and waited while Lester performed the ritual on each of them, allowing everyone to enter the Pit safely.

Now protected by the ritual, the party stood on the levitators and simultaneously descended into the Pit3. Fortunately, the ritual protected them, and they were able to act in the pit, though it still slowed their movements dramatically. They made their way to the center, where they had seen the Sage descend. Along the way, they picked up a pig, a chicken, and a dwarf4. In the middle of the room, the found another Levitator and descended into the unknown depths. On the way down, the chicken, pig, and dwarf were released from the magical effect of the Pit and started clucking, oinking, and swearing in Dwarven. Craggles spoke to the dwarf and managed to get him to calm down slightly. He explained that his name was Durgos Bronzebeard. He was shaken by his experience in the Pit, but eager to fight the cultists, and Craggles gave him his axe so he could fight.

The Levitator descended for another five hundred feat before taking the party into a room with five cloaked Sages performing a ritual. They attacked the Sages as the platform descended, and the Sages retaliated by taking control of the platform and dropping it down, knocking Taito Uguisudani off the platform and onto the floor below. A difficult fight followed, as the party struggled to kill the Sages before their magic could kill them. A squad of guards in nearby rooms arrive late in the fight to help the Sages after being distracted by Lester, and used combined volleys from their longbows to fell Taito and Craggles. Eventually, the Sages were all killed and the surviving guards retreated, and Taito and Craggles were saved by heroic efforts from Ione (with some help from Brand).

Tonight, the party will explore the tunnels below the Pit!

  1. The novelty of the party creating a concrete, reasonable plan of action before executing on it is difficult to overstate.
  2. It should be noted that there were seven people involved in this process.
  3. An interesting strategic choice, especially given that they had been told that the Pit had a powerful mind-controlling effect...
  4. This actually happened.

Stupid Awards

Cayosin Ione Shanky Taito Lester Craggles Brand Durgos Bronzebeard Guard The Sage Everyone
Previous Next