The party consists of:
Anvil (Lv1 Cleric, Acolyte of The Eternal Forge of All-Glorious Blacksmith) - played by Sam.
Grungebeard (Lv1 gregarious Dwarf, exiled from the Flintmason clan) - played by Ollie.
Marceline ‘Mouse’ Castel (Lv1 Thief, murderous & rude & always well-dressed) - played by Fran.
Winnie (Lv1 Cleric, Acolyte of Ygrrd, minor goddess of Hearths & Homecooking) - played by Michael.
 |
| Wilderness map |
The group share rumours that they have heard about the legendary dungeon of Stonehell.
Anvil says that “one section of Stonehell, called The Hothouse, is filled with exotic and dangerous man-eating plants”.
Mouse has heard that “an exiled holy man lives in an ancient crypt, where he talks to the dead. He offers solace and healing to weary adventurers”.
Winnie reckons that “all the cisterns, pools, and fountains of Stonehell are guarded by powerful elementals, who will punish anyone not knowing the proper rituals”.
Whatever truth there is to these wild and fantastical rumours, nobody can say.
The party set out from Drigbolton and journey 15 miles west through the wilderness before arriving at the gatehouse of Stonehell just before dusk. They survey the crumbling gatehouse, and spot some movement within through the arrow slits on the first floor. Cautiously, they decide to enter via the main gate. A rusty portcullis guards the way, but the bars have ben bent open wide enough to allow access. Inside, the gatehouse is strewn with rubble and they wall are covered with graffiti in chalk and charcoal: one particularly intriguing message reads “Down past the living caves theres gold nuggets the size of APPLES!”. As they are passing through the Gatehouse, they hear sniggering voices from above. Grungebeard recognises the language as Goblinspeak, and calls up a greeting. The high-pitched voice replies that "the Warty Nose Tribe demand a ‘toll’ be paid for safe passage". Grungebeard asks what the ‘toll’ is. “WHAT YOU GOT?” shrieks back the Goblin toll master. Mouse says that she has a pocketful of acorns and the goblins get extremely excited. “ACORNS? YESSSSSS ACORNS!”. A small green-skinned hand pokes out from a hole in the ceiling and greedily grabs a handful of Mouse’s acorns, then retracts into the hole. Sounds of jubilation and celebration are heard from above.
The party pass freely into Stonehell canyon as the sun is setting behind the jagged mountains to the west. They ignore the various cave openings in the canyon walls and head straight for the massive stone archway in the western wall of the canyon. An inscription carved above the archway reads:
"Beware All Who Enter
These Blighted Halls Of Stone.
Within Lies No Solace
Nor Any Comfort Of Home.
Toiling For Our Crimes
We Must Dig Where We Dwell,
With No Freedom Or No Mercy
In Our Vast Stone Hell."
Passing beneath the ominous message, the party light torches and the flickering light illuminates a huge, cavernous stone hall, with pillars reaching 50’ up into the gloom of the vaulted ceiling. The hall is littered with vast piles of detritus, including plenty of broken, discarded adventuring gear, armour, and weapons. Strewn around the great hall are dozens of ashy remnants of campfires, long gone cold. A gaping, circular hole in the floor, 30’ across, bears a set of smooth stone steps carved into it’s walls, spiralling downwards into the pitch black void. The walls of the vast hole are unnaturally smooth, like something huge bored straight through the rock. Anvil kicks a rock down the hole - it disappears from view and she manages to count to 10 before she hears an echo resounding, of stone hitting stone. The group slowly and silently begin their descent, taking great care as there is no handrail to prevent falling, and the steps are smooth and slippery, worn by what must be centuries of footsteps.
Finally reaching the bottom after 10 minutes of descent, the group emerge in a circular hall. The stone walls are decorated with bas-reliefs of scenes of toil and labour, massed columns of identical figures raising pick-axes to strike at the earth as one. There are 5 exits from the hall. The archway to the NW is carved into the rather unwelcoming shape of a fanged beasts mouth, but the party decide to head that way anyway as Anvil could hear the familiar and comforting sound of iron striking steel in the distance.
They reached a crossroads with a signpost banged into the ground. The rickety signpost pointed towards a cave tunnel to the west and bore a message, scrawled in a white, chalky substance, that read “To da DRAg0Ns dEn!!!!”. The ammonia stench coming from the cave tunnel was almost eye-burningly unbearable, but in they went.
Mouse stopped the party when she noticed a lantern light glow from the cavern ahead. Peering around the corner she saw a group of 5 small creatures gathered around a lantern, quietly arguing with each other in hushed, yapping voices. The creatures were barely 3’ tall, and were scraggy and spindly, like a cross between a scrawny chihuahua and a rodent. Their skin was scaly, a rusty-clay brown colour, with tufts of coarse hair on their snouty faces. They each carried a bulging sack that leaked with ammonia-stinking, whitish goo.
The party approached the group and startled them. One ran away to the north. The rest yapped and yelped in fright, before their leader hushed everyone and reminded them all to be quiet “cuz da dragon might hear us”. The party parlayed, and the leader introduced himself as Grik, and said he and his work-crew creatures gathering bat-shit from the caves to take to someone called Trustee Sniv. He exclaimed that Trustee Sniv was very generous, and paid a handsome reward of one rat-on-a-stick for each sack of bat-shit. The party declined Grik’s offer for them to join his work-crew, and headed down a tunnel to the west, despite Grik’s warning of that way being where ‘Da Dragon’s Den’ was located.
 |
| Grik |
The tunnel came to a fork. A soft green glow came from one fork, a whistling breeze from the other. Grungebeard’s highly-attuned dwarven senses smelled the unmistakable scent of gold from both directions. They headed towards the whistling. A stone well stood in the centre of the cave, the whistling sound was the wind blowing up the deep well-shaft from below. The party pulled up the rope attached to a winch, and found a bucket on the end of the rope. Inside the bucket was smattering of gold and copper coins, and a note tied up with twine. The note read "Dear wishing well, if you get this, i wish that he would come back." Winnie made a wish and tossed a coin down the well into the darkness. It hit something and a chorus of guttural shrieks and grunts erupted from below, followed by a volley of stones and rocks thrown up the well-shaft. The party left and headed back towards the Dragon's Den.
Following a narrow, twisting tunnel, the party passed some mushrooms that gave off a soft, green luminescent glow, and then arrived in a large cave. The ceiling was so high that their lantern-light would not even reach up that far. Filth and muck covered the rocky floor, and a pool of greyish stagnant water filled the far end of the cave. A pile of bones lay next to the pool, possibly human bones. Anvil called upon the divine power of The Blacksmith Of The Eternal Forge and cast Detect Magic. She sensed something resting at the bottom of the pool, emanating strong magical energy.
 |
| Da 'Dragon' |
Before Anvil could investigate further, Winnie let out a shriek of alarm as a large four-legged reptilian creature dropped down from the gloom above right on-top of her. She barely had time to react and bring up her shield to fend off the Giant Gecko Lizard's bite and claws. Winnie summoned all her strength and flung the frenzied reptile off her shield and against the cavern wall. Anvil tossed her hammer and struck the lizard, then Grungebeard and Winnie charged in with their weapons raised. Their combined attack was brutal and ferocious, and soon the lizard's blood was leaking from it's crushed skull and flowing into the stagnant pool (50xp).
 |
| Circlet Of Fire Resistance |
Anvil used her 10' pole to fish out the magical item from the now bloody pool, and discovered a ornate golden circlet studded with fire-red garnets. Her Detect Magic spell gave her the sense that this circlet would grant her kinship with flames (Circlet Of Fire Resistance). Winnie expertly butchered the 'Dragon' and took a slab of belly meat for her stew-pot, whilst Grungebeard removed the lizard's head as a trophy. They then decided to leave and head back to Drigbolton for a hearty 'Dragon' stew.
 |
| Area of Stonehell explored this session |
No comments:
Post a Comment