Wow to you people! Last session we were only three players, and this session, we were at full capacity – six (!) players! BAM! (I just felt like writing that…)
Anyhow, you started out at the verge of the snake pit, right after your battle with your reptilian friends. Ivy mysteriously metamorphosed from a smelly, unpleasant human being, into a smelly, hyperactive and impatient dwarf barbarian called Hrothgar. You set out on the corridor leading out of the room, although you were already pretty tired out.
The first room you walked into was a large and empty room, dark, except for a spotlight aimed at the center of an obsidian table. At the head of the table, on an elaborately carved chair, sat a half-elf in flamboyant clothing (he later introduced himself as Jiorgin). On the table in front of him was a pack of cards, a set of bone dice and a fist sized emerald, which he produced from one of the many pouches on his sash.
“Care to play?” he asks, “the stakes are high, but so is the profit…”
Hrothgar decides that he is bored, and you should continue moving, at this point. Seamore tried to convince him, but to no avail, and then Verena has a bright idea:
“Hey Seamore, remember that door we couldn’t open?” [you should have rolled bluff at this point, before casting the spell, but I let it slide, because the idea was so good, and its execution was even better]
“What doo.. OH- THE DOOR! OF COURSE I REMEMBER THE DOOR JUST AROUND THE CORNER – THE DOOR WE COULDN’T OPEN BECAUSE WE ARE SO WEAK! HOW CAN I EVER FORGET IT? I WONDER WHAT KIND OF MONSTER OR TRESURE IS WAITING BEHIND THAT DOOR, AND WHO COULD OPEN IT FOR US?” Seamore replies.
“Door? Where? I like doors! I love smashing them! Where is the door, weakling dwarf who-is-too-clean? I will open it!” Hrothgar yells with glee.
“There!” Verena points outside, muttering and casting under her breath – praying that the spell will succeed.
“Harr!!!!”, growls Hrothgar, and goes down the corridor, to the illusionary door that Verena created, and starts smashing the wall, getting more and more frustrated as he sees the brave wooden door will not succumb to his brutal (and unprovoked) attacks.
Seamore and Verena smile knowingly at each other, and turn their attention back to Jiorgin, raising their voices slightly above the noise in the corridor.
Seamore asks Jiorgin for the terms, and he answers – “Choose your game and your player, and play me five rounds. If you win – you receive the emerald – quite an artifact.”
“And if we loose?”, asked Seamore.
“Then I take everything and anything on you. All of you.”
“High stakes indeed”, Verena mutters under her breath.
“But the prize is invaluable, and no one is forcing you to play”, Jiorgin smoothly replies.
“So, what shall it be?”
Verena and Seamore and Grenada have a short conference, before deciding to leave Jiorgin’s challenge unanswered for now, move on for a bit, and then return for the bodies of their dead friends, and maybe later tackling this room.
Meanwhile, in the corridor, Hrothgar was getting more and more frustrated, and roaring louder and louder with each bash. Suddenly, Seamore and Verena noticed that his roars have been replaced by a low, feral, growl. Looking at each other anxiously, they peep out of the room only to see a large brown bear standing where Hrothgar once was, and not Hrothgar in sight.
“ARGH!!!!!”, howled the bear, before giving one final *SMASH* to the door/wall, and crushing it to small pebbles.
[dramatic pause]
A second later, found the bear hot on the trail of Seamore, Grenada and Verena, with all three of them running towards the snake pit as fast as they can.
“Who had the silly idea *this* time, eh?”, huffed Seamore as he ran with all his might (more like a waddle, really)
“Shut up and run”, puffed Verena as she made her way around the corner and into the snake pit.
“I take back my ‘doors are good’ statement. That door definitely was no good. No good at all. “, Grenada quietly marked to herself, as she gracefully zigzagged between the bodies of the snakes, etc.
[We leave you now to tune into an outer-world broadcast, as Ivillious and Ringold wake-up after a fathoms deep sleep, and survey the world around them - a world composed mainly of trees and vegetation, with a stone temple in its midst, and the ground nowhere in sight]
“Were in the nine hells are we?”, Ringold says, grabbing a tree-branch above him, to steady himself, and wiping the sweat off his brow.
“I don’t know – but it sure is greener than that underground maze we just died in”, Ivillious replies.
“Wait – you’re right! We’re supposed to be dead!
Hmm…
Death isn’t what I expected it to be”, Ringold retorts.
“I think this place is great. It might be hotter than I’d prefer, but just listen to the birds and the monkeys! And did you see those butterflies? And the flowers? And the vines? And did you see the tree? They really are amazing!”, breaths Ivillious.
“It’s kind of hard not to notice the trees, considering the fact that we are standing on one. Did *you* notice the mosquitoes? And the heat? And the fact that no one is in sight and we have no idea where we are? And heat? And the fact that there is a strange, and perhaps hostile temple before us? And the heat? And the fact that we are alone, without backup, without any idea what the local language or customs are? And the HEAT!!!!!”, Ringold answers back to Ivillious, with a frown on his face (sorry about the edits guys. It’s more interesting this way, and the spirit of the encounter remains, so I’m allowing myself a few liberties. Not to mention the fact that it just shows how good role-playing can make any encounter a ball).
“Umm, yeah – it is kind of warm. You should have invested in Endurance – or in a portable fan”, Ivillious happily replies, “now let’s go explore!”
“Ngh”, growls Ringold and follows the bouncing, green ranger.
[We return to you in the labyrinth, and will be sure to update you if anything of interest happens here. Jungle, out]
*THUD*
“What was that?”, Grenada jumps.
“I have no idea”, Verena says, with a worried look in her eyes.
“Seamore, go and check it out”, say Grenada and Verena in unison.
“So much for equal right”, grumbles the dwarf, as he peers outside.
[back to the jungle, and are sweaty two friends]
“Shall we go in?”, Ivillious asks, standing outside the temple.
“If I say ‘no’, will you listen?”, Ringold tiredly replies.
“No. But I will let you go in first.”
Ringold casts Ivillious a frosty glance.
“What? I’ll cover your back”, Ivillious exclaims.
“More likely you’ll cover my corpse. Oh well, if we must – we must”, resigns Ringold, and steps into the dark and cool interior of the strange temple in the trees.
[back to the labyrinth]
“Come quick! It’s Hrothgar, and I think he’s dead!”, exclaims Seamore from the corridor.
Verena and Grenada rush to his side.
“Ho my gods! Poor Hrothgar! He died so young, and so… smelly”, mourns Grenada when she sees Hrothgar’s body on the floor.
“Wait – Seamore, did you check him to make sure he’s dead? Maybe he just passed out”, Verena logically claims.
“I’m not touching him – he’s dirty!”, Seamore indignantly replies.
“You’re a dwarf”, puts Verena.
“So?”
“You’re a *DWARF*”, Verena repeats.
“He’s disgusting even by dwarf standards. And healing is a touch spell – as is a heal check. I’m not feeling this guy over for a pulse”, Seamore insists.
“SEAMORE!”, exasparates Verena.
“OK, OK, hold on to your robes”, Seamore mutters, as he kneels beside Hrothgar, muttering incantations, and moving his hands in benediction above the lifeless body of the dwarf.
[We return to the jungles for a newsflash]
“Ough!”
[back to you in the labyrinth]
“What? Where am I? What happened?”, says Hrothgar as he gets up with a start.
“You’re in the labyrinth with us”, Verena replies, “You just turned into a bear and tried to eat us, before you fell to the ground and Seamore revived you”.
“I hope to the gods I won’t have to do that again in a hurry”, mutters Seamore as he wipes his hands secretly on Verena’s robes, “that was vile!”.
“A bear?! WERE? I love killing bears! They have good meat, and warm fur that you can wear afterwards”, exclaims Hrothgar, looking form side to side for any signs of a bear.
“Oh, brother that I do not have, let’s move on”, Verena mutters.
“You don’t remember that you turned into a bear?”, Grenada asks.
“A bear?! WERE? I love killing bears! They have good meat, and warm fur that you can wear!”, exclaims Hrothgar, looking from side to side for any signs of a bear.
“Great. Just what this group needs – a beserking barbarian that uncontrollably turns into a bear and attacks us at random intervals. Why did I leave Baldur’s Gate again?”, Verena asks herself.
“There’s a real doo… I mean another door at the end of the corridor. What do you say we try that out?”, Seamore says, cleverly changing the subject.
“Oh – a door! I *LOVE* smashing doors!”, Hrothgar cries out, leading the way.
[back to the jungle]
“Woa!”
“Oof!”
“Ungk!”
…
“Ringold, are you all right in there?”
[back to the labyrinth]
“Looks like someone beat you to the door, Hrothgar”, says Grenada with a smile.
“Let’s have a look”, says Seamore.
“OK – just this room and then we rest”, agrees Verena.
“I’m really tired”, yawns Hrothgar, “Let’s go to sleep”.
“But it’s just this doorway”, says Verena, “Then we’ll all go to sleep”.
Hrothgar peeks in, and says:”Boring. It’s empty. I’m going to sleep”
“Where are you going, Hrothgar?”, Verena asks.
“To sleep on a nice snake”, he retorts.
“???”
“Hey guys, look! There’s a painting on the wall”, says Grenada.
“And a large hole in the floor”, adds the more practical Seamore. “Be careful not to fall in.”
Seamore, Verena and Grenada stare at the large and washed out graffiti of a strange cross between what seems to be a mind flayer and what seems to be a dragon – a disgusting and unnatural creature, that’s sending what appears to be rays of pain to a group of adventurers surrounding it.
A gust of air blows out from the hole and breaks the silence.
“OK, let’s get out of here”, you all say in unison.
[Jungle boys, it's back to you]
Ringold hurriedly comes out of the entrance to the temple, with a javelin embedded deeply in his arm.
“No I’m NOT alright. There are some lizard-like creatures in there – two of ‘em – and they attacked me, as you can see. They missed once, but I wasn’t so lucky the second time.
I always thought death would be more peaceful. I almost wish I were alive again, just to get some peace.
No keep an eye on the doorway, while I pull this thing out.
Shoot anything you see. We’ll find out what it is later.”
[five minutes later]
“There! Much better. Thanks, Ivillious”
“No problem. What do we do now? I don’t think they’re going to come out”
“I agree. They’re probably setting us an ambush. That’s what I’d do.”
[pause]
“So we go in?”, asks Ivillious.
“Does it look like we have anything else to do here?”
“Hell, yes! We can look at the plants and birds and things, and climb trees, and I can gather some food, and build us a place to sleep in for the night, a…”
“And I can shoot myself in the head with a longbow.
Let’s go in and kill stuff”
“OK – that’s good too”
“I’ll go in first, and you’ll follow.”
And with that, the two go in.
[Meanwhile, in the maze, Seamore, Grenada and Verena have joined Hrothgar in the snake pit, and they all go to sleep - leaving no guards, and sleeping in Verena's Handy Hiding Hole. Surprisingly, they wake up in the morning, without their throats cut open. After completing their morning rituals, all that remains from the group, decide to try and get back to their dead friend's bodies.
I'll save you all the pain of the door that didn't open, the endless trips up and down, the "old man harassment society" that they founded right there, on the spot, and their final decision to move on, down the corridor. Our next, and last scene in the labyrinth in this session, was when they reached the next door, a large stone one, opened it, and discovered - in a stale and dust covered room - four ghost-like creatures, who attacked them.
Grenada and Seamore suffered strength draining, Verena took some damage, as did Hrothgar, and Grenada's life was saved by Verena's bubble tactics (a ridicules, but useful, spell). The undead creatures finally disapeared, and hear ended the session for the maze dudes]
Meanwhile, in the big, bad jungle, Ringold and Ivillious use some strange (and impossible. No doing next time, folks), burn tactics. They then made a full circuit of the temple, only to find it completely empty. They started looting the place, when Ivillious spotted a large entity quickly moving through the jungle, and in their direction.
He and Ringold prepared a stakeout/ambush at the entrance of the temple, and tried, in vain, to negotiate their way out. Surrounded by dozens of lizard-like creatures in various shapes, sizes and types, they finally fought their final fight – bravely to the end – dying at the end, but taking many, many critters with them.
RIP Ivillious and Ringold.
Or will they?
Join us on the next episode of “D&D Journal”, and find out!
