The Amazing Maze [18.1.08]

Session Date: 18.1.08
Game Date: 385 TME (to The Modern Era) Spring
Present Players: Mickey (Verena), Koby (Tristan), Effim (Diadora)
Day 30 in the Maze.
Time: ~16:00
NPCs Met:

• In the inn you saw Thaeryn the vanishing and reappearing mage.
• You saw Dendrick the aging ranger, whom you spoke with, and bought some information from, on the maze within the maze(location and hazards).
• You also met your friends from before: Thaemond, Bromaryn and Aaredan.
• You later met up with Tibur, the maze’s smith.

Rooms Explored\Things Done:

• You began your session by finishing off the battle with the strange, flying, gargoyle-like, undead creatures (just to remind you – they weren’t ethereal, just invisible). The creatures, who apparently summoned the “army” of shadows you dealt with last session, were pretty pathetic without their ethereal guard. They did manage to drain some charisma from Tristan, and to grapple with Verena, but due to Diadora’s original use of Faerie Fire their invisibility was no longer a shield for them, and they had to take to using ethereal jaunt and friends. Tristan’s weapon seemed to have little affect on them, Diadora was sorely missing spells against undead, and Verena’s spells did a very small amount of damage, so it looked to be a long battle. Ironically, however, Verena’s escape attempt, after one of the creatures seized her and was prepared to drain charisma from her, destroyed the grappling creature, who was shocked to death (pun intended ). His fellow in undeath did not wait out the battle, and wounded, without minions, and without his companion – he fled.
• Tristan and Verena had a heated and prolonged discussion on the influence of the gods on their lives. After a few minutes, Diadora lost patience, and dealt with the manner (since they were both completely ignoring her) by casting a spell that pushed Verena back against the wall. Verena was puzzled as to the source of the power that did that, and for a long time flipped through all her books, to find any likely explanation to it. Diadora was, however, pleased since the group moved on.
• You then reached the room of Tibur, the smith (whom you know nothing about, since Verena obviously didn’t pay enough attention in history class). He was rather unpleasantly impatient with Tristan, who tried to talk to him, and intimidated Verena, who tried to peek into his “Recipe Book”, but you did manage to garner from him that he was put in this maze as a punishment from the gods (who else was placed in the maze by the gods? why? hmmm…). Tristan lead the way out of Tibur’s room in disgust, while Tibur called out after him: “Come back when you’re ready to buy something!”.
• You then returned to inn (having decided not to try and tackle the riddle door again), and rested there for a while. Verena went on a shopping mission for scrolls and tried to swap spells with Aaredan. Diadora had a short talk with Thaeryn, but having no new ideas why nature punished him so severely for ignoring her rules so brutally for so long (*hint*, *hint*), she left him be and talked to Dendrick instead. After a short while, she bought from him the information he had on the location and hazards of the maze within the maze.
• You went to sleep, woke up refreshed, and set out to the maze within the maze (30 minutes walk to there. It’s North-East of the inn), ignoring all the rooms on the way (you’re going to have to enter some of them – at least to earn some cash).
• You entered the first part of the maze within the maze, where magic ceased to function and every 5 minutes or so of walking (in the light of torches), you were stopped by a purple haze which let you through (i.e. turned transparent and less dense), one by one, only after you truthfully answered the questions it posed in your head. While the first four questions could be answered in your head, the rest of the 19 questions had to be answered out loud. Here are the questions as they appeared in your head:

• • What is your favourite bard song?
  • What is your favourite food?
  • What is your favourite drink?
  • What place would you most like to visit?
  • What is your most treasured possession?
  • What things could you not live without?
  • What annoys you the most?
  • What are your most annoying habits?
  • Who were your parents?
  • Do you, or did you, have any role models?
  • Do you believe in the gods?
  • Name seven things you hate in others.
  • How do you generally treat others?
  • Who would miss you should you go missing?
  • Do you have any close friends?
  • Do you have any bitter enemies?
  • What is the worst thing someone has done to you?
  • Describe your worst nightmares.
  • Do you have any dreams or ambitions?
  • If your life were to end in 24 hours, what 5 things would you do in those remaining hours?
  • What is the one task you would absolutely refuse to do?
  • Why have you chosen to risk your life as a career?
  • Are you who you claim to be?

Enemies fought: Two Ethereal, undead, flying, gargoyle like creatures which seemed to be made from darkness.
Things found: Where the maze within the maze is. Why were these questions asked? Is it part of the labyrinth’s threat to change all those who enter within its doors?
One liners/Character interaction: see Rooms Explored.
End Point: ~12:00. You’ve spent three hours in the maze inside the maze. Likely you will want to stop, eat and rest for a bit before trying out the second part.
Notes: Diadora, Tristan and Felix – you only have 6 days left to complete your mission. Assume that you’ll spend two, maybe three days in the maze within the maze.

D&D Journal: Damn things won’t die already! [28.12.07]

General Notes:
We didn’t play last week ’cause I couldn’t make it.
Alex joined the group with the Cleric/Auspician of Tymora Felix.
Koby switched characters (from Seamore the dwarf cleric to Tristan, the half-orc barbarian/fighter/frenzied berserker).
Efim switched characters last session to Diadora the druid.
A lot of great role-playing, especially character and NPC interaction. Also a lot of original use of spells. A great session!
A 7 1/2 hour long session – whew! And we didn’t even plan for a marathon…

The Journal:
Session Date: 28.12.07
Present Players: Mickey (Verena), Koby (Seamore), Effim (Diadora), Alex (Felix)
Game Date: 385 TME (to The Modern Era) Spring
Day 28 in the Maze.
Time: ~10:00
Start Point: In the corridor on the way to the room with the screaming skull, after Verena fainted in her bubble.
Sleep Time: ~23:00
NPCs Met:

• Thaeryn - an arcane caster and a man of god, you (understandably) mistook this green robed human to be a druid (what with all the nature theme). Thaeryn seems to believe that he’s cursed for using to many spells, especially teleportation spells, in the maze. Diadora, who was the first to meet him, quickly lost interest in helping him, and shoved him unceremoniously into Verena’s hands. Is it possible that Verena’s power of the arcane aren’t what’s needed now? Considering that she couldn’t help Thaeryn (even though he offered spells in exchange for help), and that he himself couldn’t help himself, perhaps another sort of caster is needed for the job. You left Thaeryn patiently waiting in the tavern.
• In the tavern you saw (but did not speak to), Gloviel (female human), Vitpek (male half-elf who was weeping) and Belyunduil (male elf). The three do not appear to be related, but do appear to belong to a group. Arios mentioned that you can trust them, in her letters.
• You also met your friends from last time: Thaemond, Bromaryn and Aaredan.

Rooms Explored: The inn, the dragon room (with a vampiric red dragon in it, this time), and some characters had detours of their own. On your way to another room in the maze you ran straight into two large humanoids, wielding greatswords and composite longbows. They had metallic dark blue skin, blazing yellow eyes, white tribal scar marks on their cheeks, and an hawk carved onto their breastplates and dyed with blood. Although non of you could recognize the species, by the way they got up after you had apparently killed them, you tend to think they might be related to trolls. However, fire seems to have little effect on them, so that theory remains to be proved. Also, they failed to display any of the mindless stupidity usually associated with trolls, actually using tactics to get behind the lines and attack weaker opponents, as well as focusing their attacks on Tristan, the main damage dealer.
Enemies Fought: the friendly humanoids from above.
Things Found: Arios’s letters, and a bit of background about Arios. I’ll not expand on the letters, as they are private.
One liners/Character interaction: “I’m itching everywhere”, Verena after gaining consciousness; “I drank milk!” Verena happy after drinking spiked milk; “That’s my inn! Now I’ll have to redecorate!”, Tristan is unhappy after Verena tries to turn off the lights and blasts her room wall; “He looks like a parrot”, Diadora dryly identifies Felix’s species; “This should be simple – I’ll go in, ask the dragon for his blood, and then go out”, Diadora makes battle plans to handle a dragon; “I haven’t much luck today, have I?”, Felix and Alex have little success with god consulting/coin flipping.
End Point: In one of the corridors of the maze, after killing (?) the electric blue humanoids.

D&D Journal: We Got the Emerald! [14.12.07]

Long time no journal… Well then, we also had a three months of not playing…

Session Date: 14.12.07
Present Players: Mickey (Verena), Koby (Seamore), Effim (Diadora)
Game Date: 385 TME (to The Modern Era) Spring
Day 27 in the Maze.
Time: ~17:00
Start Point: On the way to the first part of the maze
Sleep Time: ~12:00

NPCs Met:
In the tavern:

• Thaemond- A human cleric/ranger of Lathandar who hates undead. Tanned, with dark grey eyes, this member of the clergy is quite a good-looker, and helped you quite a bit with information about the Ruby gem, as well as the location of the Sapphire gem. Is in the maze to kill as many undead as possible – the harder the better. Displayed absolutely no inclination to leave the maze, and was very interested in hearing about Seamore’s Travel domain.
• Bromaryn - a well-built man who likes to eat a lot and talk very little. Although Diadora attempted to chat him up, her social skills were somewhat lacking, and Brom (as Thaemond fondly called him) remained mostly silent. Thaemond and Aaredan seem to trust him completely when it comes to being the “brawn” of the group, and he appears to be more experienced than them in the ways of the maze. Thaemond mentioned that he’s very eager to leave the maze.
• Aaredan – an extremely attractive young man who seems to have found a unique way to combine sword and spell. Verena was very taken with him and they had a very nice chat about spells and spellcasting. Aaredan has an innate knowledge of the arcane, and seems to have a good grasp of Abjuration spells. He very patiently looked at Verena’s giant book of legends of yore, and suggested that they swap scrolls. He also mentioned that Bromaryn managed to obtain the Ruby gem single handedly, but didn’t have much to add, for apparently he had joined up with Bromaryn and Thaemond only recently. He has been in the maze for “three very long years”, and both he and his team mates intend to stay in the tavern until they amass a group large enough to tackle the third part of the maze again. When Verena asked him how he returned from the third part of the maze, as she’s heard that no one returns from there, Aaredan simply said “We didn’t get very far there”, and changed the subject.

Rooms Explored:The room with the oval obsidian table and Jiorgin, the half-elf who challenged you to either a riddle contest (“contest of mind”), a dice contest (“contest of skill”), or to draw from his deck of cards (“contest of fate”). You chose the contest of mind, and after about two hours solved all five riddles – thus obtaining the Emerald gem, the third gem out of the seven you need to find.
The you returned back to the tavern (See NPCs met), and from there set out in a search for the Sapphire gem. The gem, however, was to be reached through the corridor that leads to the room Valencia and Seamore died in (two sessions ago, and about 24 hours ago, in game time). While Seamore and Valencia (now mysteriously replaced by Diadora) seemed little affected by this, Verena recognized the hallway immediately, by the stone door carved with a skull in a circle of spikes. She had a flashback to yesterday, when you were all walking in the corridor, on your way to the room with the blasted door and the magic-craving creatures, and rushed into the door with the skull, “to save Seamore and Diadora”. She activated a particularly nasty trap, which weakened her and froze her bones so badly that all in the corridor felt the chill. Diadora then sent her bear in, to move Verena from the door before she injures herself, while casting a spell that would petrify Verena into stone, thus disabling her. The bear grappled Verena, while Seamore tried in vain to calm her down (even using the power of the gods in his aid), but the grappling only sent Verena deeper into her PTSD guilt trip, and she easily escaped from the bear’s grasp. Seamore then followed her, casting an antimagic field around him and trying to convince her that he and Diadora were not under attack. The antimagic field further convinced Verana that the aberrations were chasing her, and so she stepped out of the field and called a swarm of daggers to surround her. Seamore continued to cry out to her, and finally she succumbed, and fell on her daggers, almost killing herself. Diadora quickly came in with healing, calling to her bear to “guard that door!”, and when Verena awoke Seamore gently held her and tried to explain that it was all just a dream. She got up, stepped back from the anti-magic field, cast a protective bubble around herself, and fainted.
Enemies Fought: Verena, ironically.
Things Found: Seamore thinks the Ruby gem must be obtained by some show of honour. The Sapphire gem can be found in a maze within the maze, or in a large cavern, worshiped by a group of humanoids or monstrous humanoids. The only way to reach the cave, however, is through the room in which Lady Valencia and Seamore died in, after being attacked by alien creatures who veiled themselves in antimagic fields and grappled fiercely with their opponents.
One liners/Character interaction: “Do you come here often?” Verena hits on Aaredan in the tavern.
End Point: In the corridor on the way to the room with the screaming skull, after Verena fainted in her bubble.