Land of the Lost: Session 12 Report
General Summary
They had successfully gotten Cas Twyn and her guard to Sanctum, but not without some serious injuries. The ambush during the second night of their journey had left many of the Dryn barely able to walk and seriously questioning their decision to come on this venture. Even the party members required several days of recovery accelerated by magical healing.
Athena shared her vision from the Hermit with her party as best she could considering how recently she had started learning to speak. This took the form of song lyrics she had picked up from listening to the songs stuck in the head of her companions, which made her message difficult to decipher for all but Perry, who understood her perfectly. Fortunetly, Serqet and Ton had been working on a second bomb to bring down the column, but they wanted to be more careful concerning its placement to ensure this one was successful. Serqet volunteered to go with the party into the dungeon beneath the column to determine where to place the explosives and if Athena’s vision was accurate. This worked out well as Je’Olt, who had been brought to the brink of death multiple times since joining the party, decided to stay in Sanctum and take a break from adventuring. The party attempted to convince additional warriors of Sanctum to join them on their scouting mission and were able to convince six to join them.
The party set out the following morning and made it most of the way to the pillar before setting up camp in the city ruins. That night, there was little activity except for near the end of the night when Jack detected a large creature lurking near the main entrance to the column. He threw a torch in its direction, and it retreated back into the column.
The following morning, the party entered the column and quickly found where part of the floor had collapsed into the dungeon below. Descending into its depths, they began exploring the maze-like corridors. Jack was able to detect multiple life forces deeper in the dungeon and a strange presence that was reminiscent of both Athena and the Hermit. After some dead ends of detouring corridors, they found themselves in a large room with a long deteriorating table in its center. To the north was a set of double-wide stairs leading up into a smaller chamber with a large pile of rubble at its center. The strange presence Jack detected emanated from within this pile, so they set to work to uncover whatever was buried in it.
After a few minutes, they uncovered a chest that was magically sealed and anchored in place. Jack scanned the chest and saw that symbols had been carved into its surface. It took nearly ten minutes, but they were able to decipher the runs to say, “A Friend In Strange Times”, releasing the magic on the chest. Inside was a cloth that glistened as if tiny crystals had been sewn into it, a domed shield that clicked when struck and had a button on its forward grip, and a small flask with a dial on its side.
Before the party could investigate these items further, a large Sect charged them from the darkness. It appeared to be one of the undead abominations that had been created in this tower and somehow evaded being destroyed in the battle nearly ten days ago. This one was much stronger than the others and dealt devastating blows with its long, heavy arms. Fortunetly, Jack was able to magically pin its right arm in place, preventing it from making multiple attacks at once while the entire party attacked it in force. It took many hits, and the party sustained multiple injuries, but the monster eventually fell.
Following the fight, the party tended to their wounds and pressed onward. Not long after, they can across a large centipede-like Sect, hissing at the party from behind a pile of rubble. Without hesitation, Ahgythah and Perry charged forward, choosing to grapple the create a squeeze it to death instead of fighting it with their weapons. Unfortunately, there were ten large larvae hiding behind the rubble, that quickly attacked the aggressors. The fight was over quickly and only one member of the party was bitten.
Before moving on, the party identified a streak of red liquid pouring down from a crack in the ceiling. To investigate further, Ahgythah climbed onto Perry’s shoulders, and they combined their strength to strike the ceiling and see if they could find the source of the blood. The resulting blow caused the ceiling to collapse. Most of the party sustained injuries from the falling stone and Ahgythah, Perry, and one of their companions from Sanctum was buried beneath the rubble. Fortunetly, it didn’t take long to free them and their wounds, while extensive, were manageable.
Concerned with how many injuries they had sustained, the party cautiously continued their search, choosing to retrace their steps and see if they could find any more treasure or useful items. They eventually found themselves in a chamber that was empty except for something reflecting the torchlight in the corner. Suspecting a trap, Jack cautiously proceeded with a few of the less injured members of the group. This turned out to be a mistake as a large pale creature erupted from a pile of rubble behind the remainder of the party. This creature swung its massive arms at the whole group, knocking on of the unconscious. After a brief exchange of blows, another member of the party had dropped, but the creature had also taken numerous wounds. In response, it charged past the party, scooping up the two unconscious members in its arms and running off into the darkness. The party gave chase and continued to injure it. The creature opened up a set of large gills on its sides and released a thick red fog and filled the passage. Most of the party began to cough violently as their lungs filled with the fog, tasting strongly of blood. Those that were not overcome by the noxious mist charged forward and finished off the monster. However, it was too late for the two companions as they were beyond saving.
With two dead and most of the remainder of the party barely clinging to life, the party considered abandoning their quest, but they chose to push on just a bit further to find the pit Athena had seen in her vision. Fortunetly, they had already explored most of the dungeon and had identified that it was symmetrical around the large central chamber, so they were quickly able to figure out where to look next. As predicted, they found a room with a large pit the burrowed down deep into the earth. They very sight of it and the scratch marks covering the floors and walls of the rooms filled the party with dread. Having found what they had been searching for, they chose to leave, and quickly.
As they turned their backs on the pit, they heard shrieks echoing from the depths and the sound of claws scratching against stone; and the sounds were getting louder. Without a moment to lose, the party ignored their injuries and sprinted towards the exit. They could hear whatever was pursuing them growing close as they climbed out onto the main floor of the column and continued sprinting towards the main exit. Just as the party was sure they wound need to turn and fight, they rushed out into the dim sunlight of the Labyrinth and whatever had been chasing them halted their pursuit. It seemed the party was safe, for now, but these creatures’ aversion to light made it obvious what they were. They were called many things: the Sightless, the Unseen, the Dark Ones, the Devourers and many other names fitting of creatures that thrived in darkness and were unrelenting devourers of whatever they encountered. As long as the suns shown, the party was safe, which meant they only had a handful of hours before darkness descended on the Labyrinth and the monsters would be able unleashed. They would need to find a place to hide in order to survive the night because a fight, even if uninjured and with reinforcements, would likely end in their demise. The Hermit’s vision had been right: they needed to bring the column down in order to seal up that pit into the depths or Sanctum, and anything else dwelling in the Labyrinth, would be devoured.
Rewards Granted
An Anticoagulation Flask
A Kinetic Reflection Shield
A Magical Bandage
Missions/Quests Completed
Related Reports
Land of the Lost: Session 0 Report
Land of the Lost: Session 1 Report
Land of the Lost: Session 2 Report
Land of the Lost: Session 3 Report
Land of the Lost: Session 4 Report
Land of the Lost: Session 5 Report
Land of the Lost: Session 6 Report
Land of the Lost: Session 7 Report
Land of the Lost: Session 8 Report
Land of the Lost: Session 9 Report
Comments