A week was spent on the ships, anchored at Sentinel Isle. Elaria spent some time copying spells from Tienarth. Ghevont looked for divine truth by way of a deep trance. He wondered if the party should be following the quest. Dreaming, he found himself in a jungle where masses of bugs gathered. On one side were insects. On the other were spiders. He had the feeling that the Neh Rod, whatever that might be, could bring peace, but at a terrible cost. Futhermore, he felt there was something false or wrong about the rod.
The next day (2/21), Hocuspo, in dragon form, ferried each of them over to the island one by one. They were Ollie, Jerker, Elaria, Ghevont, Urgesh, Aderian, Tienarth and Nate. Additionally, Silverfish and Bale Shezzar came along because there was optimism that the entrance to the workshop of the telescopes was to be found that day.
On the island, once again, Urgesh deactivated the force wall with the ring. The gibbering mouths appeared again. Jerker used the cube to protect himself from the effects and before a minute had passed, the mouths disappeared. They wanted some time and the mouths did not return. Then, they filed into the next room where they found the devils had returned. “Back again for more punishment?” they asked as spells were hurled at the party.
Ollie was held in place, but Tienarth dispelled the effect. Nate blanketed the room in silence, hoping to stop the devils’ spells. A noiseless melee ensued, and it was shown that the silence failed to stop the natural abilities of the devils. Aderian was held, with Tienarth once again freeing him from the effect immediately. Ollie had extraordinarily bad luck in the combat despite being hasted. The wizards fired magic missiles and Ghevont threw a spiritual hammer. In some cases, these magic attacks seemed to have no effect, and the devils managed to summon one other comrade, but in the battle ended with the four devils banished once again in clouds of sulfurous stench.
The group moved through the secret door, back into the crypt where two sarcophagi were pulled from niches and broken open. Several dozen niches were presumed to contain more sarcophagi. A careful investigation was conducted without much luck. Everyone entering the room felt a strong chill, both physically and emotionally. And anger in the room urged them to leave. Even Urgesh felt this.
After some time in the room, those there felt the need to fight off the feelings of anger, and so they retreated. Then, Ollie re-entered to use his ring to speak with one of the dead bodies. He asked four questions.
- “How do I defeat the thing in this room that is blocking us?” “Nothing in this room is blocking you.”
- “Where is the exit to get out of the room precisely?” “I might have known once, but I do not know now.”
- “What kind of creature is in this room?” “A dwarf.”
- “What’s the most dangerous thing in this dungeon besides us?” “Strong magic.”
Following this, Urgesh, impulsive as ever, pulled another sarcophagus. A veil of insanity fell across his eyes. Presently, he attacked Ghevont. Jerker and Ollie acted to subdue the half-orc. Moment to moment, Urgesh had moments of clarity followed by naked aggression. Eventually, both the ring and his belt of giant strength were taken away. Aderian hogtied him. He continue to rave while they continued to investigated the room. Aderian tried carrying the struggling barbarian back into the room and awkwardly tapped his hand with the ring against the wall.
Suddenly, it occurred to them to act with benevolence towards the crypt. An effort was made to put the bodies back into the niches, and the anger of the room subsided. Following this, Jerker, who still had the black ring, tapped it on the far wall to reveal another secret door. He crept forward and looked around a corner to see a hall ten feet wide and forty feet long. The walls were a moving picture of the island from afar, exactly as the island appeared from the deck of their ships. Incidentally, Aderian, who stood beside Jerker, could not see the pictures on the wall.
At the end of the hall were two devils holding tridents. They said “Only death lies beyond this chamber. You have but one chance to flee.” Then they began chanting. The party turned and retreated from the complex.
Back on the ship, the party rested for two days. On the second day (2/23), Ghevont discovered a prayer to cure disease brought sanity back to Urgesh. Meanwhile, Elaria gazed into Tienarth’s crystal ball to scry the complex. She saw the three devils had returned, and the two devils with tridents remained.
End Notes
- Days
- 2/14 – 2/20 Downtime on the ships
- 2/21 Exploring
- 2/22 – 2/23 Trying to cure Urgesh
- Treasure:
- none
- Combat: 2835 xp
- 3 Devils 945 xp each
- Characters (8 shares of 354 xp)
- Aderian (human, fight, strength, in front) 400 xp
- Bale (merely present)
- Elaria (hireling) 177 xp
- Ghevont (human, key tenet, preaches, healing) 400 xp
- Hocuspo (hireling) 177 xp
- Jerker (human, fight, lead, strength) 400 xp
- Nate (human, fight) 393 xp
- Ollie (underground, fight, strength) 365 xp
- Silverfish (merely present)
- Tienarth (avoid combat) 358 xp
- Urgesh (half-human, action-oriented, fight) 379 xp