On the 17th of Cricket (11/17), Aderian joined a crew leaving the mine for more exploration of the Doukreg tunnels. With him were Jerker, Nate, Ferris, Tientarth, and Hocuspo. They moved quickly down the incline to the first level and then looped around to the large tunnel connecting to what their map called Level 2. Once there, they reviewed the pile of broken crystalline men. Aderian had previously gathered all the heads. It jarred their memory of crawling through a short 4-foot-tall tube. Rather than retrace this path, they turned to the right.
Jerker stood at the corner of a triangular room (Room 3) about 50 feet wide at the far side. A strong metallic odor invaded hist nostrils first, then he noticed a A 12-foot-tall figure clad entirely of iron slowly swiveling its head, scanning for prey. The ₼ symbol was engraved on its chest. A blue light ran up and down the length of a longsword clutched in its right fist. “Exterminate!” blasted into their minds as the figure stepped forward.
Tienarth, in the form of a golden dragon, let loose a lightning bolt, striking the iron exterminator. Its limbs slowed. Jerk stepped up and struct it, producing an echoing clang. The next moment, a blast of noxious gas enveloped the young warrior. His eyes and mouth scrunched closed just in time to ward off the effects. Aderian, Ferris and Nate slipped around the exterminator, hoping to limit gas effects to one person at a time. Meanwhile, Tienarth cast Haste, and many blows rained down on the iron figure. Nate landed a solid blow that earned him a blast of poison gas that he managed to survive. A final blow by Aderian cracked open the exterminator and it was defeated. Jerker pried open the trunk and pulled out a mass of wires and irregular bits of metal which he stuffed into a bag.
Moving on, they found a chamber (Room 6) where stone had been chiseled away to extract a 4’x3’ object, which was no longer present. A few items of garbage remain in a pile: candles, short chains, a gold ring, a ragged blanket of silvery materials and a human leg bone. Jerker snatched the gold ring.
Jerker lead them into another nearby chamber (Room 7) where he faced an enormous worm, similar to the one that swallowed Ollie the week before. Hocuspo cast Slow on it and the two fighters easily cut it up. Aderian pulled the coiled worm out of her nest made of wires and pulled out a slate of dark glass. Unrecognizable runes lit up on the surface as he held it. He stuffed it in a bag for later examination.
Next, they passed through a chamber (Room 5) with several exits and then to the edge of a larger chamber (Room 8). A damp chill hung in the air, and columns of ice reached from floor to ceiling. Ice filled the passages to the east and west. They stood at the entrance and pondered the situation for some time, eventually turning away from the room to head south, back through the chamber with multiple exits to reach a chamber just north of the entrance chamber.
A strong metallic odor still drifted in from Room 3. A group of loadstars hovered in the air and began drifting towards them. At the urging of the party, Tienarth produced a wall of fire over the spiky vermin. They crackled and exploded like popcorn. The few that survived the fire were quickly smashed up.
Floor of this chamber was polished, shiny. Thumb-sized holes in the floor describe a rectangular shape. Ferris conducted a careful examination of the holes. They were not part of a trap. Each of the 20 holes was approximately 1 foot deep.
Presently, a dwarf in leather armor announced himself by remarking, “no, it’s not trapped!” He explained he had been exploring the tunnels for some time and had examined this room previously. He pointed a faint seam in the stone inside the holes. Ferris knocked on the floor inside and outside the shapes, and inside the seam sounded hollow.
Feeling stumped, they agreed to return to Grubbycheek’s mine. They invited Drashem to come along. He declined.
Back in the mine, Tienarth resumed his ordinary form and fetched his magical glasses that allow reading any text. He first reviewed the glass tablet held by Ollie, found on a pile of salt. It contained a schedule of work for salt miners. Aderian handed over the tablet taken from the worm nest. While able to read the words, the concepts instantly scrambled his mind. He clutched the glass so intensely that it cracked and the symbols disappeared.
Endless equations danced around his thoughts, and he was unable to concentrate. Effectively, he was must less intelligent than before (-4 INT). In fact, he found it impossible to recall any spell or even contemplate memorizing another. A wizard who cannot cast spells is just a feeble liability. The party hoped the effect was a curse to be lifted by the blessing of the Anointed One. Nate offered such a prayer, but he could not call upon his deity for another week.
They agreed to return home. Lah might also remove a curse, though visiting him would require two extra days of travel. On the 18th, they made for the river camp and then on to the ruined tower the next day. During that night, a rabid gnoll charged at Jerker who easily subdued it. The next day (11/20), he marched it back with the party and locked it in a cage at the homestead. Tienarth, still muddled, complained about the danger of keeping a gnoll captive.
End Notes
- Days
- 11/17 Exploring Doukreg
- 11/18 – 11/20 Return home
- Treasure
- Mass of wires and irregular bits of metal equivalent to 1,400 cp and 200 sp
- Gold ring taken by Jerker
- Combat 7,965 xp
- Iron Golem 3,890 xp
- Purple Worm 2,975 xp
- 11 Loadstars 100 xp each
- Characters 1,328 xp each
- Aderian (fight) 1,474 xp
- Ferris (thief skills) 1,474 xp
- Hocuspo 1,461 xp
- Jerker (fight, lead, in front) 1,501 xp
- Nate (fight) 1,474 xp
- Tienarth (collect magic) 1,341 xp