Traversing Loki's Gungeon
In the west of Ysgör, in the Giant territory passed the Ordloch Wall, a group of criminals had been sentenced to death by the traditional punishment of being sent beyond the wall to become fodder for the various giants that lived there. This group was made up of Jera Isalya, Drathir Lá, Wolteh-Liege, Glorick Ironbow, Baba, Bjorn Gormstead, and Jurnie Yorkson. The group had managed to survive together thus far after encounters with the elements and some of the Giants of the West, however on the third day of their travels a few of the party members' weapons began to go missing, causing them to immediately become suspicious of each other. Baba suggests they all put their weapons in the middle of the camp and turn around so that the thief could return the weapons without forcing them to confess. Once they turned back around, all of the weapons had been returned, with the exception of Drathir’s rapier had been newly taken.
Finally, the group began to spot a shadow moving through the trees, and Drathir’s rapier was dropped from above. Jera climbed one of the trees to investigate and came face to face with a deer skull headed individual, who held out their hand as if expecting an offering. She handed over a pelt and the being gave a warning of ‘three minutes’. The group quickly left and continued through the forest. Three minutes later, two dogs and a giant emerged from the trees and began chasing the group. The giant called for her sister who also joined in the chase and the group began to panic. Jeurni and Drathir were wounded quite severely in the chase when rocks were thrown by the giant sisters. One of the dogs attempted to take down Wolteh-Leige however Drathir managed to distract it just enough that he was able to dodge the creature's fangs. Drathir was then able to successfully create an illusion of a helpless person screaming on the floor that distracts one of the dogs who begins attacking the illusion instead.
Wolteh-Leige noticed that Drathir had been severly injured and called for Drathir to get close to him. Using some of his highest sphere of magic, Wolteh-Liege was able to teleport them both to a crack in the cliff face ahead of them where they were safe. The others managed to make their way there, however the Dwarf Glorick tripped on a branch and was quickly attacked, and knocked unconscious. Drathir poked his head out of the cave and yelled at Glorick that if he were to die he wouldn’t be able to kill Drathir himself, casting a healing word which revived him just enough that Jera was able to grab him and pull him out of the way. Everyone made it safely into the cave, however with the giants guarding the only exit with their dogs, the only way out was to try and find an exit through the cave system. After a quick rest to catch their breath, the group headed into the strange underground system. With the help of Drathir’s extended dark vision and dancing lights, they made it to an opening with three archways and a riddle inscribed above.
Upon crossing under the archway, each person heard a strange vibration and was unable to pass back through. After everyone entered the tunnel, Jera turned back and saw the pelt she had given the strange deer skull headed creature lying on the floor. With no way of going back, the party pressed forward once more.
They found an open cavern with strange shadows that Drathir’s light could not penetrate. On the other side of two natural pillars written in the dust on the floor was the phrase:
Once he inserted the shard into the slot, a rumbling started from the other side of the of the cavern, a door had opened to reveal another room.
This next room had a large amount of broken furniture and a pool of clear water. It was apparent that the shard would be at the bottom of the pool. Jera, the fastest swimmer of the group, was the one to dive in, but as soon as she did all of the air went out of the room and everyone else started drowning. Drathir immediately went for the door but was unable to open it, so taking a breath of air out of his water skin he dragged Baba and Wolteh-Leige to the pool. They were now unconscious but he managed to get Wolteh-Leige’s head under the water to try and breathe in Jera’s bubbles, but he quickly realized he didn’t need to; the water was breathable like air. He tried calling for Jera, waving his arms in a display of urgency. She saw him and hurried, with the shard in hand, to the surface. Finally, once she broke the surface of the pond, the room filled with air once more and the rest of the group began to slowly regain consciousness. Putting the second shard into the slot revealed a third room which had seven beds. Drathir immediately encouraged everyone to lie down, and the key was revealed on the ceiling. With everyone lying down, they were able to direct Jera to jump and grab the shard. The shard was placed in the slot and another room was revealed.
The next area was just a bridge across a large chasm, leading to a banquet of warm and delicious looking food. The bridge was old and rickety, and even though the group wanted to believe it would hold their weight so they could get across to the food they were doubtful. Drathir noticed that the bridge seemed broken on purpose and because he knew a bit about illusion magic, threw a rock towards the bridge only to see it land on an invisible platform nearby. He then waved his hand through the bridge and it passed through immediately. He approached the chasm and placed a foot over the empty space and was able to walk across effortlessly. The group watched him do this and attempted the same thing, however doubt was their enemy, as because they were unable to convince themselves of the existence of the bridge they fell through. Drathir caught them with a Feather Fall and they climbed up the other side. Glorick immediately decided to risk feasting on the mysterious meal and one by one they all succumbed to hunger and dug in. Only Baba abstained. They found the shard nearby and were all able to cross back over to the other side of the chasm successfully.
In the next room there was only a hole in the floor and strange patterns on the walls. Once everyone was inside, the door shut and the ceiling began to descend, threatening to crush them. Drathir, not having seen any other clues to the room, said that because the riddle at the beginning specified seven souls there had to be a way for them all to survive so this must be a test of trust. Not one listened to him and immediately Jurnie stabbed Baba in the back. This was all anyone needed to pounce on him and Jera quickly put an end to him. Bjorn was at the door trying to prise it open, and for a moment it seemed as if Glorick and Wolteh-Liege might fight but Glorick jumped into the hole instead. Drathir healed Baba and was able to convince Glorick that the room was a test and that he needed to get out of the hole. Everyone lay on the ground, with Wolteh-Liege lying within a close distance to the hole so he could roll in at the last moment. As the hole descended, his nerve caved in and he rolled into the hole just before the ceiling stopped its descent and rose, revealing the shard. Drathir was the first to stand and picked up the shard.
The group came across a carpenter’s bench and Drathir immediately got to work making a false key for the final slot. After finishing, it was revealed that someone simply had to make anything, however either way a key was presented. The group tried it in the keyhole of the door at the back of the carpentry shop, however it turned out that the door was already open and the key disappeared.
They emerged in a throne room with water, treasure, two braziers and a large throne with images behind it. After looking at it for a moment, Drathir was able to make out the word ‘Loki’ written within the images. He stepped up next to the braziers and presented his false key as a gift to the god, who was temporarily appeased and let the group leave the dungeon.
The group finally emerged from the 'Gungeon' and found themselves outside of an abandoned town.
Finally, the group began to spot a shadow moving through the trees, and Drathir’s rapier was dropped from above. Jera climbed one of the trees to investigate and came face to face with a deer skull headed individual, who held out their hand as if expecting an offering. She handed over a pelt and the being gave a warning of ‘three minutes’. The group quickly left and continued through the forest. Three minutes later, two dogs and a giant emerged from the trees and began chasing the group. The giant called for her sister who also joined in the chase and the group began to panic. Jeurni and Drathir were wounded quite severely in the chase when rocks were thrown by the giant sisters. One of the dogs attempted to take down Wolteh-Leige however Drathir managed to distract it just enough that he was able to dodge the creature's fangs. Drathir was then able to successfully create an illusion of a helpless person screaming on the floor that distracts one of the dogs who begins attacking the illusion instead.
Wolteh-Leige noticed that Drathir had been severly injured and called for Drathir to get close to him. Using some of his highest sphere of magic, Wolteh-Liege was able to teleport them both to a crack in the cliff face ahead of them where they were safe. The others managed to make their way there, however the Dwarf Glorick tripped on a branch and was quickly attacked, and knocked unconscious. Drathir poked his head out of the cave and yelled at Glorick that if he were to die he wouldn’t be able to kill Drathir himself, casting a healing word which revived him just enough that Jera was able to grab him and pull him out of the way. Everyone made it safely into the cave, however with the giants guarding the only exit with their dogs, the only way out was to try and find an exit through the cave system. After a quick rest to catch their breath, the group headed into the strange underground system. With the help of Drathir’s extended dark vision and dancing lights, they made it to an opening with three archways and a riddle inscribed above.
“Two lead to certain death, the other to freedom. What can fill a room?”After a bit of pondering, a few answers were suggested by various members of the group: silence, air, water and darkness. Drathir extinguished the dancing lights and after reilluminating them, the correct path and the answer to the riddle, light, are revealed.
Upon crossing under the archway, each person heard a strange vibration and was unable to pass back through. After everyone entered the tunnel, Jera turned back and saw the pelt she had given the strange deer skull headed creature lying on the floor. With no way of going back, the party pressed forward once more.
They found an open cavern with strange shadows that Drathir’s light could not penetrate. On the other side of two natural pillars written in the dust on the floor was the phrase:
“Seven keys, seven souls, seven ways to see the sun.”The group investigated the room and Drathir was the first to enter into the magical darkness.The group tied a rope around him before he ventured forth into the dark. He quickly found a concealled tunnel there and crawled through, and the rope was very quickly untied from his ankle by something unknown. He noticed but continued down the tunnel, eventually finding a skeleton and a torch that needed to be lit. Afraid of fire, he wrestled with himself for some time about whether to light it or not. He figured he had two options (three if he counted panicking in the tunnels for the rest of time on one hand he could go back and tell someone else to do it, but then they’d know he was afraid of fire and ‘burn him forever’. On the other, he could light it and just have faith that Sehanine would protect him so that he could continue his journey. He decided to light the sconce, but fully dissociated as he did, which put him into a very precarious state of sanity. This was furthered when lighting the sconce revealed another down the tunnel. There were seven in total, after which Drathir had completely lost it. When he finally found the glimmering shard that was clearly the key, he took it and emerged from the strange tunnel, which brought him out of the second pillar only a few feet from where he’d gone in.
Once he inserted the shard into the slot, a rumbling started from the other side of the of the cavern, a door had opened to reveal another room.
This next room had a large amount of broken furniture and a pool of clear water. It was apparent that the shard would be at the bottom of the pool. Jera, the fastest swimmer of the group, was the one to dive in, but as soon as she did all of the air went out of the room and everyone else started drowning. Drathir immediately went for the door but was unable to open it, so taking a breath of air out of his water skin he dragged Baba and Wolteh-Leige to the pool. They were now unconscious but he managed to get Wolteh-Leige’s head under the water to try and breathe in Jera’s bubbles, but he quickly realized he didn’t need to; the water was breathable like air. He tried calling for Jera, waving his arms in a display of urgency. She saw him and hurried, with the shard in hand, to the surface. Finally, once she broke the surface of the pond, the room filled with air once more and the rest of the group began to slowly regain consciousness. Putting the second shard into the slot revealed a third room which had seven beds. Drathir immediately encouraged everyone to lie down, and the key was revealed on the ceiling. With everyone lying down, they were able to direct Jera to jump and grab the shard. The shard was placed in the slot and another room was revealed.
The next area was just a bridge across a large chasm, leading to a banquet of warm and delicious looking food. The bridge was old and rickety, and even though the group wanted to believe it would hold their weight so they could get across to the food they were doubtful. Drathir noticed that the bridge seemed broken on purpose and because he knew a bit about illusion magic, threw a rock towards the bridge only to see it land on an invisible platform nearby. He then waved his hand through the bridge and it passed through immediately. He approached the chasm and placed a foot over the empty space and was able to walk across effortlessly. The group watched him do this and attempted the same thing, however doubt was their enemy, as because they were unable to convince themselves of the existence of the bridge they fell through. Drathir caught them with a Feather Fall and they climbed up the other side. Glorick immediately decided to risk feasting on the mysterious meal and one by one they all succumbed to hunger and dug in. Only Baba abstained. They found the shard nearby and were all able to cross back over to the other side of the chasm successfully.
In the next room there was only a hole in the floor and strange patterns on the walls. Once everyone was inside, the door shut and the ceiling began to descend, threatening to crush them. Drathir, not having seen any other clues to the room, said that because the riddle at the beginning specified seven souls there had to be a way for them all to survive so this must be a test of trust. Not one listened to him and immediately Jurnie stabbed Baba in the back. This was all anyone needed to pounce on him and Jera quickly put an end to him. Bjorn was at the door trying to prise it open, and for a moment it seemed as if Glorick and Wolteh-Liege might fight but Glorick jumped into the hole instead. Drathir healed Baba and was able to convince Glorick that the room was a test and that he needed to get out of the hole. Everyone lay on the ground, with Wolteh-Liege lying within a close distance to the hole so he could roll in at the last moment. As the hole descended, his nerve caved in and he rolled into the hole just before the ceiling stopped its descent and rose, revealing the shard. Drathir was the first to stand and picked up the shard.
“Was it worth it? I didn’t think so.”He went and placed the shard into the hole and came back to the room, when the question was raised of what to do with Jurnie’s body he said:
“Bury him in the hole that killed him,”The next room was strange, and the group decided to examine it from outside before entering. There was a table in the center and three grates on the floor, each with a phrase written in Old Ysgorian above it.
“Feed me the Heart. Feed me the Mind. Feed me the pain you wish you left behind. Feed me the greatest meal and the key is yours.”It quickly became apparent that the previous group of adventurers had taken this literally and forcibly removed the heart and the brain from one of their comrades and thrown these into the grates. It was also apparent that this was not the correct solution as each of the grates had bloody drag marks. Jera threw a stone down one of the grates and the group quickly heard something stirring. She went down to investigate the shaft she’d disturbed, the one marked ‘pain’. When she came in contact with the creature, she told it the story of how she’d murdered her adoptive father which seemed to appease it and she re-emerged from the shaft in tears with the shard. Finally, the last room of the 'Gungeon' was revealed.
The group came across a carpenter’s bench and Drathir immediately got to work making a false key for the final slot. After finishing, it was revealed that someone simply had to make anything, however either way a key was presented. The group tried it in the keyhole of the door at the back of the carpentry shop, however it turned out that the door was already open and the key disappeared.
They emerged in a throne room with water, treasure, two braziers and a large throne with images behind it. After looking at it for a moment, Drathir was able to make out the word ‘Loki’ written within the images. He stepped up next to the braziers and presented his false key as a gift to the god, who was temporarily appeased and let the group leave the dungeon.
The group finally emerged from the 'Gungeon' and found themselves outside of an abandoned town.
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