Session #216 – Negation Triumphant, Chamber of Death Breached

The sunrise of the next day (3/29) was particularly beautiful. Silverfish found Aderian and Jerker standing at the fore of The Ranger, out of earshot of Urgesh who fished from the aft. “Regarding the… incident of yesterday. Good heavens… such… thoroughness. One wouldn’t think such unrestrained physicality necessary. Especially given our… shared objective. My dear fellows, while I confess my understanding of the… robust methods employed by some is limited, I must inquire: was such… finality truly required? “

Aderian stared towards the horizon and explained that sometimes violence was necessary, even if it may have gone too far the day before. Then he pushed back against Silverfish condemning it, but the old man emphasized that he was also fascinated by the events as much as he was concerned over repercussions.

“The abject violence is fascinating. The raw, untamed id… A stark contrast to the delicate dance of the cosmos, wouldn’t you agree? One hopes such… enthusiasm can be channeled effectively towards the challenges that lie ahead on Sentinel Island. While I am no stranger to the less savory aspects of the world, I do hope this… incident does not attract undue attention. Delays, particularly those involving matters of local justice, would be most unwelcome with our limited timeframe. After all, Fate waits for no man, nor indeed, any half-orc with a particularly sharp blade.”

Presently, giant crabs were seen perched on a squat rock, barely reaching above the waves. Aderian wandered over to the dwarf at the wheel to advise him to steer clear.

The next day (3/30), the winds died away, and the little ship was lifeless in the water. They spent the whole day drifting. The only bit of cheer was produced by Urgesh pulling a Gag Grouper out of the deep. The day after that (3/31) was much more exciting, as they were attacked by a water elemental in the afternoon. For several moments, they watched as the giant wave rushed towards the ship from behind. Urgesh, by way of his magical ring, jumped to the surface of the water to battle the elemental with his magic spear. Despite it’s imposing mass, the wave failed to crash down on the half-orc, and with the help of magic missiles from the wizards, the elemental soon dissolved back into the ocean.

The new day (4/1) brought a fierce storm which drove them to the northwest for most of the day. When the storm broke, they turned east again, and in the afternoon (4/2), they spotted Sentinel Island in the distance, but much closer were seven large rocs circling overhead. The giant birds dove towards the ship in turn, sometimes in pairs. After a short battle, and two of the rocs being killed, the rest were driven away. The adventurers suffered little harm, with Elaria being hurt the worst. The sails of The Ranger were torn, but not enough to slow her down.

The bodies of the two slain birds were tied to the boat, and the crew did what they could to cut chunks of meat from them before swarming fish encouraged them to let the carcasses drift away. Urgesh managed to catch three bluefish from the swarm which averaged five pounds each. The roc meat itself must have weighed over a thousand pounds, though the forces of nature were soon working to spoil it. Ghevont intended to purify it each day.

Beyond the island, a ship was seen, but it was ignored and it sailed out of view. They knew they couldn’t get the ship into the protected cove without a careful guide. Saul once provided this service but had not been seen for many weeks. They rested at anchor for the night so that Hocuspo would do the guiding. The next day (4/3), he transformed into a whale so that the ship could avoid the underwater rocks and glide safely into the little cove.

Meanwhile, Tienarth performed experiments. He went to the island and proved that he could disable the force wall at the entrance with a dispel magic spell. Silverfish advised him the this effect was likely temporary. Tienarth also attempted to use a dimension door spell to get directly into the chamber where the death devil dwelled. Some force prevented the completion of the spell, though a second attempt successfully reached the hallway past the crypt where there were two devils. Silverfish posited that this was a typical protection applied to prevent teleportations into and out of important strongholds.

They waited another day (4/4) to replenish spells before going into the complex as a a group. Ferris stayed with the crew. A lengthy debate the day before resigned them to the need to go through the gauntlet of challenges in order. Tienarth was able to dispel the wall of force again, though it took two attempts. They waited for the blabbering mouths to run their course, then rushed the three devils in the next chamber. The devils were banished once again without trouble.

Past the crypt, Jerker dashed into the hallway with his cube blocking everything. The devils put up a wall of fire to no effect. Urgesh followed behind. Jerker pushed the cube against the helpless devils, driving them into the narrow hallway protected by the layers of magical color. The closed wall, red in color, made no harm to the devils, but the farthest was pushed deeper into the next wall and was burned up in acid. Meanwhile, a third devil was summoned, which Urgesh quickly dispatched. Jerker deactivated the cube and shoved the last devil into the acid wall. The wall of fire disappeared with the last devil.

Presently, the rod of negation was brought out and applied to the prismatic wall. As expected, the protection was completely removed. The chamber of death could be seen through the short hallway.

End Notes

• Days
  • 3/29 – 4/2 Sailing towards Sentinel Island, fighting a water elemental and large rocs
  • 4/3 – 4/4 At Sentinel Island
• Treasure:
  • none
• Combat: 20,695 xp
  • Water Elemental 3385 xp
  • 7 Large Rocs 1875 xp each
  • 3 Barbed Devils 945 xp each
  • 3 Horned Devils 450 xp each
• Characters (8 shares of 2587 xp)
  • Aderian (human, fight) 2872 xp
  • Elaria (hireling) 1294 xp
  • Ferris (present but not played)
  • Ghevont (human) 2846 xp
  • Hocuspo (hireling) 1294 xp
  • Jerker (human, fight, lead) 2897 xp
  • Nate (human) 2846 xp
  • Ollie (fight) 2613 xp
  • Tienarth 2587 xp
  • Urgesh (half-human, outdoors, fight, strength) 2794 xp
• The Ranger (Caravel)
  • HP 60/75 hardness 8
  • Crew (10)/Passengers: 10/10
  • Cargo: 0.5 of 75 tons
  • Food: 126 man/weeks
  • Water: 930 gallons
  • 1260 lbs of roc meat