Azimuth 2 - Session 44 - Bugs, Fire, and Dust
General Summary
Pillar Mine
Rock-Eating Roaches
The angry, buzzing rock roaches rushed to attack the Lightbringers as they reached the lower level of the Pillar Mine. Ditching stealth, the group rushed into combat; Arwin and Ilmendwyth quickly shot the closest roaches, and Demitri and Romsca moved forward to the front line. Farther back, the casters funneled magic at the approaching bugs. Romulus pulled a vial of spiders from his staff and enlarged them, sending three giant spiders to bolster the line. Gertrude and Mortimr cast Fireball spells to the far side of the cavern. The roaches recoiled but the webs on the stone pillars didn’t seem to burn. Chaka tried to hypnotize them, but their eyes were immune to the effect. As Romsca rushed in, she just saw a nearly invisible set of webs right before running fully into them. It wasn’t like the white, dusty webs everywhere else, and as she looked, it started to glow an alluring, pink light. Gertrude, Demitri, and Arwin were drawn to the light and ran through the angered roaches. Gertrude was fully enveloped in the sticky web and Demitri’s hands were stuck, too. The roaches seemed immune to the alluring glow and attacked with biting pinchers and acid spit. As arrows fell two of the bugs, more roaches were drawn into the chamber from burrow holes in the walls. The roof of the cavern began to shake. Rocks fell and a section of the entrance tunnel collapsed. The falling rocks shunted Mortimr to the side, but Chaka was fully buried in the rubble. The shaking originated from the same place as the glowing thread. Romulus ordered two of the giant spiders to climb and find the source.Angler Worms
In a burrow above the chamber, the spiders saw a huge, spiked angler worm reeling Gertrude to it. A second worm wriggled through and descended into the chamber towards the fight. At Romulus’s direction, the spiders spun their own webs to hold the massive worms away from the group. The glow faded and the charm effect ended. Gertrude realized she was stuck and in danger, and tried to cut at the webs but couldn’t get any leverage. Cinis flew in and in a flash of fire, teleported Gertrude and Demitri to safety. With her allies out of the way, Romsca summoned a massive wall of fire stretching nearly across the full chamber, scorching the angler worms and rock roaches, and cutting off the burrow holes. Arwin and Ilmendwyth fired at the upper worm. The giant spiders kept spinning webs, holding the worm in Romsca’s fire even as they died. Mortimr summoned a wolfthorn to charge in and gnash the softer underside. The worm coiled around to crush it, but the wolfthorn burst through the worm’s throat, killing it, and then dissipated into rose petals. The lower worm tried to break the webs holding it and lure the party towards its maw. As it burned in Romsca’s wall of fire, Mortimr and Gertude exploded more Fireball spells. Romulus then sent a sheet of flames into the worm’s mouth, burning its insides to ash. The remaining rock roaches were territorial, rushing forward and away from the fire. Romsca smashed, Demitri stabbed, and Arwin shot the rest. The bugs in the chamber were quickly killed. They heard more skittering in the walls, but no more roaches threatened them.A Wall of Stone
After the battle, they started to work on the rubble burying Chaka. They could tell he was alive, but Chaka wasn’t responding to their calls. On the far side of the chamber, Ilmendwyth investigated the out of place wall. It was made of the same stone as the rest of the cavern, but unnaturally straight and even. It had some pockmark damage from the rock roaches, but webs were missing from a part of it. Gertrude found a hidden door designed to appear like stone, and she kicked it in. A small hidden safehouse was on the other side. There were two metal cages situated beneath pitfall trapdoors. The room appeared untouched for at least several months, and whoever was here last had left in a great hurry. They scavenged some dusty and forgotten items that had been left behind, finding some coins and other items stashed here. Romsca ritually cast Identify on them, revealing them as a pouch of Dust of Dryness, a Horn of Silent Alarm, and Boots of Elven Kind.Questions and Words
However, there was no sign of Rudok in either the cavern or the secret hideout. In fact, they didn’t find any tracks at all among the untaken supplies. They questioned if Rudok had even come into the tunnels, wondering if his trail to the entrance had been just obvious enough to make a trap. Ilmendwyth recognized the make of the elven boots. While looking at them, he found a note written in Thieves Cant. He read it to the group, “Crown hunting Rabble’s birds, scatter to homebase and tozak”. Demitri and Arwin recognized the orcish words homebase and tozak. Demitri felt homebase could refer to town of Aktrout, but he didn’t know where tozak could be, just that it meant “west swamp”. Meanwhile, the last of the rocks were moved and Chaka was pulled from the rubble. He had been knocked unconscious by the rockfall, and the party saw his closed eyes moving and the glyph on his neck glowing green.
Report Date
02 Apr 2025
Primary Location
Related Characters
22 Adroth 5A 352