Meanwhile, back in the tunnels below Doukreg, the Raiders still pondered the seven mirrors. Presently, they spied the familiar faces of Urgesh and Azrak. With them were the elf Ylyndar and a goblin they later learned was named Tess who came from Azrak’s goblin gang. Aderian gave a shout and dashed off towards the entrance chamber, miles above them. Tienarth had no chance to stop this rash move. Up the long tunnels he ran. Curiously, Saul and his lion followed, as did Hocuspo, the hired wizard who attended to Tienarth. Half an hour later, they were seen in the mirror making greetings.
Before long, the rest of the party also joined them, and they all headed out of the tunnels, but not before facing a giant beetle thundering down to face them. Without much trouble, they pounced on the huge insect, bashing in mercilessly. Aderian used his ring of jumping to land on its back and deliver a wicked blow. The pour beast was dead in moments.
Ferris called out to split open the carcass, which Urgest did gladly. He sampled the viscous ichor that spilled as he tore open the black shell. None of the others wished to eat it. He also pulled out a fist-sized stone, which he wiped off. It looked valuable and he tossed it to Ylyndar. They later learned it was worth 100 gp.
Back in the mine, they engaged in a tedious discussion about how to attack the iron automaton they found but not had not disturbed. Consensus identified it as an iron golem, about which Tienarth had read in some ancient tome. Urgesh was not at all interested in an attack on the golem, and Ylyndar deferred to the half-orc. Saul and Hocuspo also declined to join this mission. The danger seemed high, and the value of the bag at its feet was not certain.
The next day (7/16), Aderian stripped down to wearing only his girdle. He held an iron spike in one hand and a small worm in the other hand. Tienarth polymorphed the worm into a rust monster. The monster wriggled to get to the tasty iron spike which Aderian cautiously offered. The spike withered under the touch of antennae, quickly turning to dust as it was consumed. An air of satisfaction passed between all present with the new knowledge that the iron-consuming ability of the rust monster was inherent rather than purely magical. This enabled their plan to sic rust monsters on the iron golem.
Presently, the rust monster twisted out of Aderian’s grasp. Azrak made to smash it, but missed. Jerker tossed a net over it, stopping any mischief it could make. A bit later, still naked, Aderian carried the rust monster in the net down into the tunnels. As mentioned before, Urgesh, Ylyndar, Saul and Hocuspo remained in the mine.
Halfway down the entrance tunnel, they faced a bright light shining up at them. A hulking beast with metallic skin marched up on six spiked legs. The front of it was a glowing orb that shot a beam of light. From it’s back protruded a flexible neck that ended in a pair of fearsome jaws. A long tail ending in a ball of spikes trailed behind it. They faced The Collector!
Aderian hurled the rust monster. It sailed wide, tumbling down the corridor. The rust monster died and slowly transformed back into a puny worm. Jerker stepped up to grab Aderian by the belt and tried pulling him away.
The neck of The Collector angled down. Jaws hinged open, and a blast of fire passed over everyone. They each minimized the damage by ducking behind shields or twisted away, but all felt some burns. The goblin Tess was burned beyond recognition. The intensity of the heat told them it was not ordinary fire, and likely they had been quite fortunate to avoid most of the blast.
Tienarth muttered a haste spell and everyone else but Azrak ran at full speed to the exit.
Azrak stayed to fight as Tienarth turned to flee. He advised the rash dwarf to flee as well, but first the awesome foe attempted a collection. The enormous jaws clamped down with tremendous force around the dwarf. Without his armor, his bones would have been mush. The next moment, he turned and fled, too.
The Collector did not follow or emerge from the tunnels. The party returned to the mine to rest and heal. This required an extra day of rest so that Tienarth could use his Haderaxian spells. One of the Grubbycheek’s miners commented on the dangerous elf magic that came from a demon lord.
Now (7/18), the iron golem was forgotten and The Collector, as dangerous as it seemed, was the prime target. They marched back into the tunnels, this time with Urgesh. Azrak remained in the mine along with Saul, Hocuspo and Ylyndar.
They returned to the level of red sandstone, with Ollie checking a map. They found one more chamber, one with a smoky odor coming from a pile of half-burnt garbage in the center of the room. The only identifiable item was a filthy blouse. In the pocket of the blouse Ollie found a brass ring.
The room also featured a circular door with a u-shaped handle, six feet across. Behind it was a glass-smooth tunnel angling down. Jerker tied a rope around Aderian’s waste and lowered him down. His feet found no purchase, so slippery was the tunnel that continued to slope and twist farther than the rope length. Ollie spiked the door closed and they moved on.
In the northern part of the red sandstone area another larger tunnel led downward. They considered this a good sign and marched down for more than a mile through the 30-foot passage. Eventually, they came to a place where the tunnel narrowed down and they were presented with an intersection.
Moving to the left, they soon found a large chamber. In the center was a six-foot hoop of steel apparently filled with green fire. Tienarth likened it to the portals to the realm of Haderax. When they moved into the room a voice was heard to say “Not shall ye seek great riches!” It did not repeat.
Aderian tossed a rock through the hoop, and it disappeared. Beyond the hoop was a toppled altar that once hid a passage to the north. This led to a smaller room, empty.
A passage to the north seemed clogged with many steel rods, but Aderian soon found them to be an illusion. Inside the illusion was an iron trunk, which he dragged back into the empty room. It was neither locked nor trapped. Inside were many oddly-shaped coins which were scooped into the magic bag. Beneath the coins was a fine shield that Ollie knew was made of the strange metal aluminum. It crackled with electricity when he hefted it. He kept this for his own.
Next, they moved through the illusion into another chamber. Ollie faced a 10-foot tall automaton. Behind it was an enormous manat made of gold on a pedestal. The figure whirled, gave the dwarf a scornful glance and then bellowed “I am the lord’s avenger!” before attacking. The fighters converged on the monster, and as their blows landed, molten metal burst forth. For the most part, they dodged these emissions, though Jerker was scorched a few times. The Avenger pushed past the others to attack Nate, perhaps due to his holy alignment, but within a few moments, the blows brought down.
With the foe defeated, Urgesh attempted to lift the golden manat, but it was 500 lbs. Aderian and Jerker carried out, aided by magical giant strength. Having secured a great treasure, they immediately made for the surface. Over the next few days, they traveled back to St. Orlan by way of the river camp and the ruined tower.
Once at home, they found Benabil’s tent empty. Fortunately, Tienarth was able to analyze the magic items found the days before. The shield was obviously magical and the analysis discovered little more. The brass ring was found to convey a type of magic sight. It allowed the wearer the continuous ability to see through solid objects, penetrating 10 feet of rock or 2 feet of most metals (1-9 on 1d10 to check a type of metal). However, living beings appeared to be riddled with worms that crawled around their visible bones. Such was the disturbance produced by the ring, normal vision became impaired (penalties to most vision-based skills, e.g. -4 AB).
In the first 11 days of returning to the homestead, Jerker convinced Tienarth to try enchanting his armor once again, and once again the enchantment failed.
End Notes
- Days
- 7/15 exit the tunnels and return to the mine
- 7/16 back to the tunnels, interrupted by The Collector
- 7/17 rest and heal in the mine
- 7/18 defeat The Avenger
- 7/19 – 7/21 return to St. Orlan by way of the river camp and ruined tower
- Expected downtime 7/22 – 8/4 (13 days)
- Tienarth failed enchanting 7/22 – 8/1
- Treasure
- Black stone taken from beetle guts 100 gp, given to Ylyndar
- 1500 cp, 600 gp, 100 pp from an iron trunk, put in the bag
- Medium Shield +1 that crackles with energy, taken by Ollie
- 500 lb golden manat symbol worth 25,000 gp if melted down
- Brass ring of penetrating vision, given to Jerker
- Combat
- Giant Rhinoceros Beetle 1,300 xp
- The Collector 0 xp (party ran away)
- The Avenger 5,650 xp
- Characters 993 xp (7 shares)
- Aderian (fights, strength) 1,112 xp
- Azrak (bonus only for attacking The Collector) 640 xp
- Ferris 1,092 xp
- Jerker (fights, strength) 1,112 xp
- Nate (protect, fight) 1,112 xp
- Ollie (rugged, underground, fights, lead, in front) 1,043 xp
- Tess (died)
- Tienarth (patient, avoid combat, use magic) 1,023 xp
- Urgesh (aggressive, wealth, fights) 1,023 xp
- Ylyndar (bonus for seeing beetle fight) 500 xp