The party retreated to the room south of where they killed the mimic. It was a lounge, and though dusty, still comfortable, especially for the two dwarves. They spent two days there, feasting on the dead mimic. Bale dragged it’s corpse across the hallway to the kitchen, which he found next to the dining hall. He roasted the meat over pieces of the ruined benches and tables. The meat was woody with a surprising aftertaste. Without much notice, the calendar turned over to the year 5549.
Meanwhile, Aderian and Urgesh were sailing for Beoll-Dur. On the third day (1/3), Bale happened to be making a check of the entrance. He called from them down the long hallway. He brought them before Duinor, the dwarven cleric transformed into a glowing crystal column. Like Ollie, Urgesh reached out to touch the pillar and was zapped by crackling electricity. Bale introduced the two additional adventurers and assured Duinor that they didn’t need to be tested with a fight with a pyrohydra.
Exploring Level One Together
The party was together again in the lounge and made a plan for more exploration. They tried the doors on north wall of the east-west passage. Ferris unlocked them, and Aderian pulled one of them open. A blast of frigid air confronted them. A brown mold grew all over stairs leading down. Urgesh brought forth an eagle from his magic bag and sent it into the stairwell. It immediately died of exposure to the cold. Next, Urgesh tried hurling a flask of flaming oil into the stairwell. The mold seemingly doubled in size, spilling out into the hallway. Aderian swiftly shoved the door closed, scraping the mold from the floor, but he suffered some damage from the intense cold.
Temporarily flummoxed, they went for a door on the south wall a little east of the lecture halls. Behind the door were twin living areas of little note, past which was a bathing area where a four inches of water remained in a sunken tub. Urgesh experimented with the sword of cold by activating it and touching it to the water. As he did, the water rippled with sluggish life followed by the water around the blade turning to slush. They pondered the situation, wondering what might be alive in the greenish water.
Eventually, the half-orc grew impatient, thrust his fist into the slush and pulled out a glob of green goo. It dripped down over his forearm with a bit more speed than gravity could explain. As he cried out in alarm, Ollie stepped up with a torch and burned away the stinging, sticky substance. From there, they tried a door near the living areas. Behind it stairs descended, and there was a moment of rejoicing. The idea of getting to the lowest level to fight the invader salamanders was first on their minds.
As they descended, a pit opened up and the first four of them (Aderian, Urgesh, Jerker and Nate) fell twenty feet. They worked around this inconvenience to reach a landing at the foot of the stair where Ferris examined a door for a trap he could not find, so that when Aderian opened the door, four darts burst out to stick into his face. Behind the door was nothing but a blank wall with eight holes. Fortunately, as this drama unfolded, Saul discovered a secret door back on the stairwell.
Behind this door was a passage leading to another circular chamber and a glowing, crystal pillar. Duinor, the former dwarven cleric now a living pillar, extended from the level above. He congratulated them on finding the second level and offered healing for their wounds. He also directed them to notice an adjoining room where he said there were three clerics of his transformed into crystal cones. He instructed the adventurers not to disturb them until after the monastery was rid of the invaders. After that time, the cones could be broken to restore those clerics to life.
There seemed to be no exit from this area, so they climbed the stairs back to the first level and back to the main east-west corridor. By this time, they were ready to try a few more ideas. Urgesh tried opening the door to the mold-infested staircase just a crack and striking the mold with his sword. The mold seemed damaged in that spot, but the barbarian hesitated to make a task of chopping at all of the brown mold.
Saul then explained he could pray for a spell that would produced small globes of frost. If their theory was correct, that cold damaged the mold, the spell might clear the way. So, they returned to the lounge to spend hours of rest. The next day (1/4), Saul had two instances of the Produce Cold spell ready. Aderian threw open the door and Saul hurled a blue ball at the mold nearest the doorway. It shriveled away. This raised spirits considerably. It only took a short while to toss ball after ball at the mold, completely exterminating it.
Down to Level Two
The stairs ended in another set of double doors, locked and opened by Ferris. They were in another east-west corridor, now on the second level. They moved past one door on the south wall and tried the second. Behind was a library of moldy books. The shelves in the southeast corner tilted in to reveal a secret room. This room held more books, of all which were decayed enough that their covers could not be read. Ollie picked up one and leafed through the pages. It seemed to be about another monastery of dwarves. He stuffed it into his backpack. Tienarth noticed no scrolls, and interest in examining the books held no fascination, so they returned to the hallway.
A portcullis was raised to gain access to the north-south hallway. To the north, they wound their way to a fountain where water turned into jewels that covered the floor. Irenduel, the pouch kept on Aderian’s belt, cried out to the former pirate, demanding that he gather the jewels. He spent some time scooping handfuls into the pouch until it was full. Ollie, ever suspicious, took a pair of diamonds and placed them in a pouch, somehow resisting his greed and not filling his backpack. The others seemed to consider the whole scene an illusion or some other trick.
Immediately after exiting the fountain room, the jewels reverted to water. Now Irenduel was full to the brim, and a little water leaked out as Aderian walked. The pouch had trouble speaking. They found an empty prison nearby and then went south where they confronted a fire giant and his three hell hounds. Tienarth and Hocuspo transformed into dragons and a short battle ensued. Urgesh made a great show of cutting down two hell hounds, delivering tremendous damage to the first and then acting with speedy fury on the next.
The giant kept a small treasure hoard which they took after Irenduel insisted that Aderian empty him of all water. Into the pouch went 5,400 sp, 600 pp, and 4 gems worth 250 gp each. Ferris spent time gathering the fingernails and blood from the fire giant, aiming to use them for potion ingredients if they ever returned to St. Orlan.
South of the fire giant’s lair was a twisting maze where they had a lot of trouble tracking where they were. Eventually, they came to a door that opened to a room divided by a crevice. The temperature on the second level was hotter than the first, but even more heat rose from this crevice. A long board joined the two sides of the collapsed room.
End Notes
- Days
- 1/1-1/2 Downtime in Beoll-Dur
- 1/3-1/4 Exploring Beoll-Dur
- Treasure:
- 5,400 sp
- 600 pp
- 4 gems worth 250 gp each
- Combat: 3600 xp
- Brown Mold 100 xp
- Fire Giant 1670 xp
- 3 Hell Hounds 610 xp each
- Characters (9 shares of 400 xp)
- Aderian (human, fight, strength, lead) 452 xp
- Elaria (hireling) 200 xp
- Ferris (human, skills) 444 xp
- Hocuspo (hireling) 200 xp
- Jerker (human, fight) 444 xp
- Nate (human, fight) 444 xp
- Ollie (suspicious, underground, fight, guards rear) 416 xp
- Saul (clever spell use bonus) 880 xp
- Tienarth 400 xp
- Urgesh (action oriented, half-human, fight, strength) 432 xp