Aderian, Jerker and the rest spent another week in Grubbycheek’s mine while Tienarth and the less-experienced adventurers were at home selling off loot and splitting the gold (see Session #164). It meant 602 gp for each of them. On 10/18 Tienarth transformed into a dragon and flew to the mine with Hocuspo on his back. When he arrive, Aderian asked him to analyze the ring he’d found several days before (see Session #162). It was declared a ring of luck that gave the former pirate a second chance at reversing an unlucky circumstance.
On the 27th day of Octopus (10/27), a steady rain fell over Doukreg, sending streams over the canyon walls. They carefully climbed up into the ruined city and made for the tunnel entrance at Molokatu’s feet where it was dry. Not long after descending the familiar route, they met an elf in gleaming plate armor. He introduced himself as Mohab, a champion of the World Tree. His left arm was badly swollen from a loadstar strike.
The cleric related having the same dreams of the woman in the glass tube. He also dreamed of her holding his hand and leading him onto a ship. They pressed him for information about the tunnels and he mentioned seeing the ruined robots that the party had destroyed weeks and months before. He noticed Ollie’s brands and how he’d seen insects wearing the same brands. As he turned to go, Aderian offered an impassioned pitch for him to stick with them and go back down. He accepted, and they went down together.
They briskly moved beyond the first level and onto the fourth. On the way, they met another sampler bot, again requesting they they submit to being stabbed with needles (see Session #159). Jerker tussled with it briefly and ripped off both arms. Now broken, it began a distress signal. The adventures wondered what would show up, suspecting it was the larger bot they’d fought three months before (see Session #158).
After ten minutes, there was still no sign, but they resolved to wait an hour, and after another 30 minutes, the sound of metal on stone were heard from deeper in the tunnels following by glints of light soon afterwards. They stood read in the 30-foot wide tunnel, except Ferris who melted into the shadows. The light grew brighter, coming from around a bend. Presently the bright light from the front of the Collector showed itself.
Tienarth had transformed into a dragon with seven mirror images. The entire party waited for the monstrosity. The serpentine appendage coming from the top of the body pushed the clamping jaws forward and unleashed a stream of fire at them. This instantly deactivated the sampler bot, which was still periodically making noises until then. Mohab and Hocuspo were blown backwards, both striking their heads against the unforgiving floor. Tienarth’s prized wand burned up while still in Hocuspo’s hand, but the action of falling backwards protected the spellbook in his pack. This marked the second time Hocuspo was overwhelmed by fire (see Session #141). Though hurt badly, this time he didn’t die. The blow to his head reduced his intelligence.
Aderian, too, suffered the full effect of the fire blast, but he managed to get his shield up quickly. The fire did crack his lucky ring and it fell to the floor. Also, the net filled with boulders burned up.
Shrugging off the attack, Tienarth cast a haste spell. Jerker and Aderian charged at the giant automaton, striking it and producing loud clangs. Tienarth, in dragon form, stepped up and unleashed a fury of claws and bites that demolished it. The six legs let go, and the cylindrical body cracked as it fell to the tunnel floor.
Ollie slipped through the crack in the body to examine the insides. He found a collection of valuables including many coins and gems. He also found a potion and three scrolls. Jerker scanned the Collector with his x-ray ring and pointed Ollie to a box into which he could not see. Ollie identified it as lead. He hacked it apart with his pickaxe.
Tienarth healed Mohab and Hocuspo so they were well enough to walk and they made for the exit. On the way out, they met a dwarf named Usko who had been left in the mine by Mohab. They all retreated to the mine to rest for three days (10/28 – 10/30). During this time, much healing magic was applied to all in response to the burns. Tienarth also examined the items taken from inside the Collector. The potion of undead control and the scroll of protection from undead would work well together. Another scroll held a prayer to summon a monster of indeterminate type. The last scroll was a map showing eleven different areas of the tunnels. The details of each level were obscure, but Ollie recognized how the levels matched those they’d already explored.
On the 31st, the sky was clear and they left the mine to explore more of the tunnels. Mohab and Usko declined to go with them.
On the way into the mine, they met a digger bot on the first level of the tunnels. It was crossing the first room and heading into the area to the south flooded with water. They prevented from moving on and fiddled with the controls on the back. It attempted to move on, but they would not allow it. Eventually, they carried it out of the tunnels and into the mine.
Ollie quizzed Grubbycheek about mining robots, and he had a lot to say of little substance. They attempted to demonstrate the digger bot, but it had become completely inert sometime after leaving the tunnels. Jerker attempted to jam a rock in one of the wheels, hoping to keep it from moving, and they then returned to the tunnels.
Eventually, they made it to level 4 where they faced loadstars. A spike lodged in Nate’s back, but he fought on. When the battle was over, Aderian lanced growing mass of flesh. Orange goo flowed out along with a tiny loadstar embryo.
Ollie noticed a backpack on the floor of the chamber and picked it up. It was made a silvery material. When he looked inside, he saw a vast expanse of space, like looking at the night sky. He reached his hand in to touch a handful of coins. He called it a “backpack of holding,” apparently having some knowledge of such. He dumped most of his possessions into the packpack and slipped it on.
Moving south, they came to a chamber they recognized as the one that Ferris had see while crawling up from a tunnel in the floor (see Session #163). A large tunnel headed down and to the east, and they knew this lead to another level by looking at the map. A smaller passage led south. But first, Ollie was drawn to a barrel. Jerker peered inside with his ring and saw a mass of smaller cylinders inside. Ollie grabbed the barrel to open it, and it exploded. The damage was slight, though he took the full force of the blast.
Next, Ollie led the group to the south where he faced two iron statues of dwarves. They advanced while raising their fists. Behind them were two boxes. Ollie and Jerker moved in to fight the statues. Aderian leaped over the statues to stand behind them. Ferris scrambled up the wall to attack from behind. They statues were quickly broken up.
Ferris spent twenty minutes checking the boxes for traps and found none. Inside the first box was a mix of various coins. The second box contained a unique suit of plate armor sized for a dwarf. The outer metal was aluminum while it was connected with a silvery fabric underneath. Ollie exchanged it for the custom suit of plate armor built for him by Jerker’s father. Later, under analysis by Tienarth, he found it to be magical. Acquiring both a magic backpack and magical armor earned the dwarf an outsized share of the loot.
At this point, they left the tunnels for home, going the usual route by way of the river camp and the ruined tower. One night at the tower, three boars wandered near while Jerker was on watch. He charged them to engage in a wrestling match. Each boar was grappled and then thrown a great distance. When the others woke in the morning, they found three butchered boars in the smoking tent. As the smoking of the meat required most of a day, they relaxed at the ruined tower as best they could given the rain. The next day (11/4), they walked back to St. Orlan. Wolves were spotted on the road, and Ollie was keen to kill them, but Aderian threw a huge chunk of meat to them, which was distracting. When Ollie ran up to attack them, they scattered with the meat. Jerker wasn’t able to catch them.
End Notes
- Days
- 10/19 – 10/26 Eight days of downtime
- 10/27 Doukreg tunnels
- 10/28 – 10/30 Rest in the mine
- 10/31 Doukreg tunnels
- 11/1 – 11/4 Travel home
- 11/5 – 11/9 Expected downtime
- Treasure
- A mass of wires pulled from the collector equaling 3,500 cp (taken by Olllie)
- 17,000 ep
- 3,900 pp
- Aquamarine 500 gp
- Carnelian 75 gp
- Malachite 10 gp
- Amethyst 1000 gp
- Peridot 100 gp
- Scroll of summon monster (usable by anyone)
- High-level map of the tunnel complex showing 11 levels
- Potion of Undead Control
- Scroll of Protection from Undead
- Backpack of holding containing 100 cp and 200 sp (taken by Ollie)
- 700 cp
- 100 sp
- 400 ep
- 300 gp
- Plate Mail +1 sized for a dwarf (taken by Olllie)
- Combat 3,720 xp
- Sampler 145 xp
- Collector 1,480 xp
- 11 Loadstars 1,100 xp
- 3 Boars 435xp
- 2 Iron Living Statues 560 xp
- Characters 531 xp each before bonuses
- Aderian (fight) 589 xp
- Ferris (thief skills) 589 xp
- Hocuspo 531 xp
- Jerker (fight) 589 xp
- Nate (fight) 589 xp
- Ollie (Rugged, underground, extra share, fight, lead) 558 xp
- Tienarth 531 xp