During a few days of rest (12/10 – 12/14), Tienarth flew from Doukreg back to the homestead to fetch Ferris and Aderian. Ferris brought with him several flasks of anti-venom, which he distributed generously to the rest of the party. Urgesh returned from Hammerstone with a human warrior called Frei, plus Jack and Ylindar. Azrak and Violet left the mine for parts unknown. Mirana left the mine to wander the wilderness surrounding Doukreg, seeking a place of quiet contemplation.
Urgesh helped the inexperienced Frei by lending him a suit of field plate armor. He’d convinced the fighter to come along into the tunnels below Doukreg with tales of great treasure. Little was said of the extreme danger. The party assembled also included Aderian, Tienarth, Hocuspo, Ferris, Nate, Ollie and Saul, whose one loyal lion remained by his side. No one said anything about Urgesh’s dog.
They made haste, descending the spiraling stair into the first level of the caverns. After a brief deliberation, they crossed the flooded room and followed the tunnel down. A thin stream of water running down the tunnel soon turned to ice. Before long, the entire passage was clogged with thick ice. Presently, they arrived in an icy chamber (Room 1 of Level 5). The frigid air turned each breath into a cloud of mist, and none of them could help shivering from time to time.
A red light blinked from a small box half-embedded in the frozen wall. Aderian chipped it free with this dagger. He handed it to Ferris for examination, and after about ten minutes, he detected no traps. The experienced thief pressed an indented spot on the box which produced a telepathic message beaming into each of their brains.
Hello, Daddy! You are the best daddy. Please kill all those bad bugs and come home to me.
Deeper in the ice, they saw the figure of a skeleton. Aderian extracted it as well, and noted it was the size of a human child. Ollie produced his magic ring and used its power to speak with the residue of consciousness left in the frozen bones. “Why are you here?” he asked. “To deliver a message to my daddy,” was the reply. “Who’s your daddy?” asked Ollie, producing a chatter of chuckles that echoed off the icy walls. After a series of questions, it was clear the skeleton was of a young child named Sharla whose father killed bugs. The conversation ended unsatisfactorily.
Urgesh pushed onward to the south and surprised a number of giant ants. At first, he charged in to attack, and as his missing blow clanged against the floor, he realized there were more ants than he could count. Using the advantage of speed, he urged the party to retreat back the narrow passage. As he stepped back in the first chamber, Hocuspo filled the passage with a magical web, into which a pursuing ant was soon entangled. Suddenly, ants arrived from another entrance into the room. Urgesh and Aderian stepped up to fight them and hold them from entering the room.
Tienarth, in the form of a golden dragon, cast a spell that produced a poisonous cloud. It vanquished the ants in half a minute, including the one stuck in the web. The rest of them pushed into the room to rustle through the ant nest. They gathered up 800 cp, 200 sp, 400 ep, and 296 gp, all of which were poured into Aderian’s sentient bag, Irenduel. They also found a Protection from Elementals scroll.
Ollie explored further to the west and found a large chamber (Room 5) with a lake of green goo attached. Faint ripples moved over the liquid that somehow resisted the extreme cold. Aderian approached with a torch. The surface of the lake undulated wildly followed by a thousands of worms that crawled out of the goo and up the former pirate’s legs. Urgesh merrily pour oil over himself, touched a torch to light himself and stomped towards the mass of worms. A magical ring provided proof against the fire. It was a tactic he’d been waiting to try.
Ferris hurled a self-igniting flash of oil at the lake edge. Aderian batted at the worms with a lit torch. And the worms advanced. One clump crawled all over Aderian. Another surrounded Urgesh, with a few dying in the fire. A third clump moved towards Ollie. The dwarf tried throwing a flask of burning oil, but it sailed long, landing in the lake with a gloop sound. Saul attempted to command the worms to disperse and was ignored. After much swatting and burning, the worms were killed. The three fighters now wore a few distinct badge of honor, oozing worm bites. Nate offered some healing to Ollie.
They found Room 6 to feature another hoop of steel filled with red fire. The room also had two small door, each of which opened with a some application of brute force to free the ice around the. Behind the doors were four-foot tunnels, one smooth and one rough. Neither the tunnels nor the red fire portal seemed worth exploration, and they moved onward to Room 7. There they found five metallic cylinders standing in a semi-circle. A small window of glass allowed a view into a frosty, motionless face.
Four of the faces looked like men. One was a woman, but she did not match the vision of the woman seen in dreams or via the crystal ball. Ollie noticed a seam that might be pried open to release the occupants, but Tienarth argued strenuously to leave them as they were. The primary theory offered was that opening the cylinders might do harm to the preserved bodies. Ollie was convinced, and they retraced steps to explore back near the ant nest.
North of the entrance chamber (Room 2), they triggered a deluge of loose ice. A few of them shrugged off blows from the ice, and then they examined the room. Aderian noticed another body embedded in the ice which he worked free. Frozen arms hugged a metal case. The burly fighter pulled the arms off the body and cracked out the case. Inside was a shield that crackled with blue electricity. Nate discarded his ordinary shield for what was clearly magical protection. His new shield resembled Ollie’s, and as the two shields came near, an attraction was felt between them.
In the last room of the level (Room 3), they found a skeleton encased in clear ice. Beyond it was a doorway filled with purple fire. Aderian chipped out the body, child-sized. Upon its finger was an iron ring with the face of an demon. Ollie snatched it and tossed it to Frei, who slipped it on without much thought. No immediately effect was observed.
Urgesh announced his intent to enter the purple portal. He expected it to operate exactly like the green portal he heard about from the week before. Ollie encouraged him and said he’d count to 30 and follow. The half-orc barbarian stepped through and found himself in a small chamber where four statues faced away from him. A matching purple portal was there, too, as well as a small cask on a table.
The statues were of glass, the shape of women wearing snakes rather than hair. Suddenly, they whirled and advanced. The cat-like reflexes of the barbarian helped him dodge many blows from the crystalline fists. A few moments later, Ollie arrived in the room, and between the two fighters, the statues were busted up.
Urgesh grabbed the cask, made of a light metal, and twisted the top off. He tasted the liquid inside and experienced a warmth on his tongue. Soon, the two traveled back through the portal to rejoin the rest of the party. Some debate ensued about where to explore next. Urgesh argued for going through the red portal in Room 6. Tienarth argued for caution, and in the end, they agreed to return to the surface.
After resting for a day in Grubbycheek’s mine, Tienarth examined the iron ring. The wearer, through concentration, might summon an imp once per day. The imp would stay for one turn and fight of the ringbearer. Frei kept the ring. The old elf also examined Nate’s new shield and determined it to be cursed. Nate planned to pray for a blessing from the Anointed One for the removal of the curse.
End Notes
- Days
- 12/10 – 12/14 Downtime
- 12/15 Exploring the tunnels
- 12/16 Analyzing items in the mine
- Treasure
- 800 cp
- 200 sp
- 400 ep
- 296 gp
- Protection from Elementals Scroll
- Iron Ring of Imp Summoning
- Cursed Shield -1
- Combat 5,260 xp
- 16 Giant Ice Ants 240 xp each
- 3 Insect Swarms 280 xp each
- 4 Living Statues 145 xp each
- Characters (9.5 shares) 554 xp each
- Aderian (fight) 615 xp
- Ferris 609 xp
- Frei (fight) 615 xp
- Hocuspo (avoid combat) 615 xp
- Nate (fight, heal) 620 xp
- Ollie (underground, fight, leads) 571 xp
- Saul and Lion 609 xp
- Tienarth (manipulate with words) 560 xp
- Urgesh (acting, fight) 565 xp