241127 Light bondage as a warm up
General Summary
It is with mixed feelings that this lowly archivist of high adventure has to report that the Bugle will be shutting down over the festive period. The dwarvern print presses will no longer ink pages with the Baldur’s Gate news, tales of great deeds or indeed, the serialisation of the trials of the Band of Tomb Robbing Assassins. I think, dearest of readers, that you too will need a rest after this episode, so let’s recount the tale forthwith.
“Bugger!” said Drogon as the female guard captain called back to the troop, again expressing concern that the way was not safe and why on earth would anyone wish to travel down here. Sentinel waxed lyrical about this and that but the others tuned out, knowing she’d sort it all out. And sort it she did by bribing the guard captain, but the team was wary now about their chosen path.
Apparently, the tunnel led to both Illithids and a river that was “uncrossable”. Clearly this Drow had never encountered the ingenuity of Griff and his unerring ability to use everyday spells to do strange and wonderful things. They did learn though that the guard post was manned by a yet unknown
house. House Tauntor, run by one ‘Queen Mab’.
The team squeezed past the two slugs they had seen earlier without an issue. They appeared to be quite happy eating fungi, rather than adventurers. A note for future encounters that perhaps a handful of mushrooms might save a slimy, rubbery fight. They continued down the corridor, spotting the occasional slime trail, with piles of rocks and rubble strewn all over. It was clear that this was yet another tunnel travelled infrequently. Never a good sign as either boredom or unspeakable terror could kill them all at any time.
As the group were looking for a place to make camp, they came across a wider area in the tunnel filled with bodies of Drow. They counted five bodies; all showing tooth or claw damage and had been dead for perhaps a week. Luthiel was doing some maths, figuring she was the only one
qualified, after sizing up the fighter, the half orc and the cleric. She counted at least a further five sets of armour that weren’t filled with decaying flesh. The armour was also showing signs of acid damage. No Illithids had done this, that’s for sure. Mind flayer kills tend to leave the tell-tale signs
of crossed eyes and a drooling mouth. A quick search revealed another Fighter’s Society token.
The team moved away from the corpses a little way before conjuring the mansion for a good night’s rest after tromping through the uneven terrain. Griff decided to work a bit on Kurog’s armour, seeing as it had caused a few issues recently. And by a few issues, we’re talking full-on evil take-
over. Griff’s investigation revealed that the armour was evil and had been created by using a Wish spell, this made the team do a double take, powerful stuff indeed. Griff also ascertained the strength of the magic protection had improved since he’d last looked at it. There was something
else too, but Griff couldn’t seem to pin it down other than it was cursed in some way. A problem for another day, as Kurog was not about to be prised from the steel encasement.
The morning saw the band fully refreshed and eager to proceed on their adventure, apart from Drogon, who was still in the grips of the darkness of his depression. The thought of more days in the damp and dark set him on edge.
The group were only marching for fifteen to twenty minutes, before finding a large open cavern. There were some notable rock features, including what looked like a platform. Drogon went in to scout and sneaked his best sneak before declaring the room safe. He did note a large number of
stalactites and stalagmites and that the fungi set a beautiful purple light to the room, making it quite appealing and peaceful even. He sauntered back to the team and gave them the update, even mentioning a lone sword hilt he could see in a pool of slime.
The group marched forward and all admired the calm and prettiness of this cavern. A moment of tranquillity in a sea of turmoil and chaos. That was until it became a sea of turmoil and chaos when a tentacle struck out from a stalagmite next to Kurog and tried to grab him. This was quickly
followed by more tentacles, all lashing with a huge force into the hapless half-orc. The team ground to a halt and faced the now one-eyed Roper, this example had grown beyond anything they had seen before, larger, stronger and uglier. Before the team could move into action another Roper
made itself know on the ceiling and crushed Jude in its grip. Both Kurog and Jude were severely wounded by the surprise attack and left reeling.
Battle was joined, and also joined by two further Super Ropers, that attempted to ensnare the delicate Luthiel, but she daintily fled backwards out of the tunnel. Every sword, axe or dagger blow that landed was like chipping into rock and any real damage was hard won, as these creatures were
incredibly tough. Jude found herself healing the group, never great as it meant they could be caught in a loop of defence and heals rather than damage. Team Heavy Metal, including a flaming and battle ready, hastened Thorg, and Team Caster, featuring a cowering couple, had some luck with various blows and spells leaving one Roper dead. Allowing the team to move on to the next. But, all of this was not without cost, Jude and Kurog continued to take massive amounts of pain and wounds from the heavily muscled tentacles.
For the record, Luthiel blessed the team and then proceeded to use her bow to try and help. Sentinel had to take it off her at one point in the fight, to stop her from hurting herself or any of the team. Luthiel stamped her foot at Sentinel but was relieved that she could just cower next to the
wizard. Also of note was a moment when Griff moved forward towards an actual threat, yes reader I know! To be fair he cast his spell and was soon rushing back to the cover of a rock wall, but it is progress. Baby steps.
After a long and hard-fought battle, our band were victorious but also badly hurt. Nothing that a short rest couldn’t fix of course. Whilst the wounded tended to cuts and bruises, Griff and Sentinel dissected the creatures. Low and behold, they found that the stomach was full of a strong acidic fluid, so the mystery of the missing Drow corpses was solved. Amongst the gloop the team discovered some treasure. Five gems, one of which was a large diamond and big enough to be used for Jude’s resurrection spells. There were three others worth one hundred and fifty gold pieces and
the fifth was worth about two hundred and fifty gold. Also, they found a dagger. Griff set to appraising it and found it to be strongly magical. It had a decorative hilt, carved with the shape of a ‘nightmare’ known to be the sigil of the house Norquar. Griff could detect that the dagger had a further function or purpose, but its exact nature eluded him at this point.
Further exploration revealed little of interest, so after their rest, the team carried on ever downwards into the dank, dark depths. After a few hours they reached a crossroads of sort and tried to place themselves on the map, without much success. Sentinel noticed some small, almost child-sized, foot prints on the ground heading towards the larger south/right tunnel. There was an intriguing tunnel leading north/left that was much narrower than the others. Drogon was turned into a bat by the ever-resourceful Griff and he set off to explore the narrow passageway at bat-speed. Whilst the others waited for him to return, they discussed which way to go next.
Drogon returned and returned to halfling-form and told the team what he had discovered. A glowing archway with some runic writing above it. He attempted to draw the runes for Griff to examine and they quickly discovered that the runes might have been written incorrectly as the whole team, even including Jude, could work out they probably didn’t say “Inflatable Ogres for sale”.
Jude expressed her curiosity in exploring the side passage and used a catch phrase that they hadn’t heard for a very long time. “What could possibly go wrong!”. That phrase usually preceded many, many, many things that could, and invariably did, go wrong. The party moved off, single-file, into
the tight passageway. After a few hours, they arrived at the ornate and definitely magical archway. A shimmer filled the doorway. Drogon had flown in, when in bat-form, and seen a circular room but had few other details. Griff glanced up at the runes and correctly translated them to be “The
Domain of Xekurch the Magnificent”.
Jude, figured that if it was safe for a bat it’d be safe for her, so she walked through. Inside she found what was undoubtedly a lab, formed of three circular rooms. The main room was lit by a very bright light source way up in the ceiling somewhere. The room itself was ornate and well maintained with no dust or dirt in evidence. Although she could detect an odd odour that she couldn’t place. Something not musty or old, just something ...odd.
Sentinel, ever wary, wanted to make sure that Jude was in the same plane as them, so Jude stuck her hand out and through the magical shimmer so that Thorg could grasp it. All seemed ok, so the team moved in and began to explore. There were lab benches around the outside of the first circle
room, in the second room to the right they could see five glass cylinders each containing a humanoid creature. Two humans, an elf, a dwarf and an Orc all suspended in some sort of fluid. At a quick glance it couldn’t be detected whether the “samples” were alive or dead.
Drogon and Jude headed over to the third room to look at a giant bench and found it full of a partially dissected slug. The team settled down to do some serious investigation but were interrupted by a booming voice “GREETINGS UNINVITED GUESTS!”. Let’s chalk this up to one of those things that “could possibly go wrong.”. Whoever the voice belonged to, was quite interested in Drogon, declaring him to be something he’s not seen before. Xekurch announced that he would graciously allow the rest of the team to leave if they left him behind. Drogon was comfortable that the band wouldn’t do that to him, but he was slightly nervous to see Sentinel and Thorg discussing something whilst pointing at him. Eventually, the team refused the offer of the disembodied voice.
It was then that Drogon began to rise up under the effect of a levitation spells. He was heading upwards in the first room, towards the bright light source. He soon could look the owner of the voice in the eye, well eyes. It was a huge Beholder (see Baldur’s Gate Bugle edition #121431: An underground criminal Master Mind revealed). The creature, a huge levitating, pulsing sphere with dozens of eyes on stalks protruding from its warty body, seemed pleased with its prize as it floated in the air. It seemed less pleased when it was struck by spells and arrow.
Without warning, the five glass cylinders all smashed open and the five warriors suspended within all stepped forward to fight our adventurers. The spell casters all dug deep and used their high-level spells to try and take down what would be a formidable foe, before it killed them all. The first few
rounds seemed to go well until the Beholder started blasting the band members with various rays. Jude was hit by a necrotic beam that seemed to almost dissolve her very soul. Whilst Sentinel, Luthiel and Griff were hit was a magic nullifying beam. That was going to be a major problem. As the teams squared up to each other, a second of silence filled the room, broken by Jude.
“Should have tried the Lich...”
And with that you’ll have to wait until next time to find out how the party worked their way out of this new problem. If they did at all... Enjoy the seasonal break and I look forward to lifting you off the tenterhooks you have now been placed upon.
Report Date
27 Nov 2024
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