Day Fourteen

(Continued from the previous entry)

Hilda ate a bean and suddenly shrunk down to half her size. We found a secret door that led into a hallway that was only 3' x 2'. The rest of us ate beans and we entered the hallway. Whilst exploring it, we were attacked by three clockwork rats, but easily defeated them.

The hallway took us to a room with a toy gatehouse in it. Standing before it were four ogres of different colors. We noticed that we had returned to normal size. We approached the table that the toys were on. We then heard the green ogre say that Yellow was not first. The pink ogre said that green is between pink and yellow. Then white said that pink is between green and white. The yellow ogre said that we must choose an order quickly, do not touch and we will avoid a fight.

We figured out the puzzle and Solathis spoke the order aloud. White, Pink, Green, Yellow.

The roof of the toy gatehouse opened up. Inside we found a blue key. We found a secret door that took us back to the very first room of this tomb. We walked back to the god room. Laranthir placed his lock picks in the bowl in front of the god of thieves. He received a +4 bonus to his Dex. Hilda put a piece of armor in the bowl before the god of strength and received +4 to her Strength. Vikathra placed her morningstar in the bowl in front of the god of slaughter and was cursed. Tambar removed the curse.

Vikathra then removed the lock picks from the bowl and put them back in. She received the bonus. Everyone else did the same and got the bonus. Hilda tried it too, but did not receive a bonus.

Next, we went to the Blue door that had sprayed acid on us. We put the blue key in the keyhole and a secret door opened to our right. We entered this room, opened a door and found a room filled with various bits of equipment including Solathis's ring, weapons, armor and a climber's kit.

We went back to the room with the coin puzzle and the red sphere. We found a secret door in the alcove to the north. Laranthir and Solathis walked down the hallway. It ended in a dead end, but when they were within five feet of the end, gravity reversed and they fell thirty feet upwards into a shaft in the ceiling. There was a door to the east here. Tambar walked over to the edge of the gravity reversal field and threw an end of his rope up into the pit. Laranthir tied the climbing equipment to it and Tambar hauled it up. He attached a piton to the wall, tied the rope to it and we all climbed up into the pit.

We took the door into a room. On the east wall was a carving. It was a box divided into a 6x5 grid.

Y S T S A
U G H I N
T U I S E
O N Y S A
I T P U Z
S I E L Z

We figured it out pretty quickly. We followed the letters in a strange way and read the phrase, "This is an easy puzzle is it not you guys."

After saying the phrase aloud, the letter blocks recessed into the wall and slid aside to reveal a shelf. On the shelf were a sword and a book. The cleric cast Detect Magic. Only the sword was magical. The bard picked it up and was overwhelmed by feelings of sadness and melancholy. The cleric picked up the book. It had many pages, all of which were blank except for the first one. It read:

This sword is a reaper of evil (+5 to hit, +10 vs evil creatures, INT 18, EGO 18), a weapon placed on this plane to demolish the foes of good and order. It can turn undead 3 times per day as a 15th level cleric, it can cure disease with a touch, and it can allow the user direct contact with whatever good deity he or she worships, once per year. Sadly, however, it behaved in Yeager's hands as a mere longsword +1, as it is currently in a state of catatonia. Upon claiming this weapon from a dragon's hoard, he used the blade to fell a skunk, remove dragon poo from his shoes and clear a path through a field of bile-weeds. After the sword fully ascertained that this warrior was the last person on earth who should be allowed near magical items, it attempted to leap from his grasp, accidentally ending the life of a rather saintly monk who was picking flowers nearby. It is believed that the sword will need years of therapy or a miracle to return to its full strength.

We returned to the cistern. The soldiers were done piling up bodies. The corpse piles had been burned and were now smoldering. We spoke to some of the guards briefly, telling most of the tale of what happened. We spoke of Victor, puzzles and traps, but did not mention the holy weapon we had claimed. We returned to the city and found an inn. We ate, drank and rested.

(And so ends the chapter of Jeff's Campaign "Lost in Sembia." This campaign will be put on hold to give Jeff a break. Jim will start his new game in a few weeks time when our personal lives have settled down and we have a moment's peace in which to game.)

Day Thirteen

Immediately after the battle, reinforcements arrived to relieve us. We heard that the fighting was worse at the West gate. They had hill giants over there helping the other enemy soldiers, but they fought them all off. There was no news of the fighing underground at the cistern. We decided to head down there to check on Victor.

We went to the guard house in the middle of town and headed down to the cistern. The cistern was a large pool of water in a massive cavern. There were dead kobolds everywhere. We asked a guard for news of Victor. He said that he was there and fighting. He said that we need to be careful down here, he thought he saw Drow casting spells at them, but he is not sure. The guard mentioned that he spoke of Froderick's Tomb being down here. That there was a sacred treasure inside. Froderick was a thief that set up tombs all over the world that have treasure. He said that when he mentioned that there may be a treasure of the gods there, Victor demanded to be taken there immediately. We asked the guard to take us there, we needed to find our friend. He acquiesced.

We arrived at the tomb and walked through an archway into a room. (We started in the room at the bottom on this simple map I drew.) We approached the East door. An illusory face appeared and said, "Choose another path, this way leads to death."

We checked the north door and the same face appeared and said the same thing. We went back to the east door and got through it. We walked down the hall, the Ranger in the lead. Just before the first hallway to the north, he fell into a pit trap with spikes at the bottom. He took some damage and was suddenly teleported back to the first room. His only magic item, a ring of accuracy, had vanished. From this point forward, the cleric led the way, prodding the floor in front of him with his pole arm. We checked the first hall to the north and found a circular room. The walls were rotating and the doors to the north and south were only open when the corresponding openings in the wall aligned with them.We could see a lever on the wall outside of the north door.

We then checked the next hall to the north. It turned east and led to a dead end. We checked for secret doors. We found one, but could not open it. It seemed like it opened from the other side.We checked the last bit of hall that led east from the first room. It ended in a door. The bard checked for traps and picked the lock. He opened the door and found a blank wall behind it. Then we heard the trap activate. A panel dropped from the ceiling behind us. Three crossbows were mounted on it. They fired and two of us got hurt. The other bolt missed.

We returned to the circular room. The bard tried a mage hand spell to flip the lever, but there was a silence spell on the room. We couldn't get close enough to the room to dispel it. We returned to the first room and went north through the illusory face. (This door is labeled with an A on the above map).

We walked down the hall towards the T intersection. There was a pit trap that the cleric sprung with his pole arm. We skirted around it and walked to the right. This hallway led to a door with a marble plaque on it upon which was carved, "To pass this warded portal, you must face a challenge mortal." The cleric cast detect magic. The door was indeed magical. He then successfully cast dispel magic.We entered the room (B).

By this time, we were pretty tired, having fought all day in the city above. We spent the night here and woke the next morning well rested.

We went through the North-East door. The hall led to a blue door with a golden plate on it that had a keyhole. The golden plated keyhole was magical. The sorcerer cast Knock on the door. The door unlocked and swung open. Behind it was a blank wall with a spout in it. Acid sprayed out and struck the sorcerer in the face and chest. She was gravely wounded by it, but the cleric restored her to full health. We returned to room B.

We went through the North West door and followed the hall to a red door. There were no traps or locks on the door, so we opened it. The room was oddly shaped. On the north wall, there was an altar with the statues of three deities. On the left was a good god of strength. In the middle was a neutral god of slaughter. On the right was an evil god of thieves. In front of each was a bowl.

The cleric suggested that the barbarian flex in front of the first one. The cleric pricked his finger and dropped blood into the bowl of the middle one. The bard swiped the bowl of the last one. The only result was that the bard was cursed. The cleric fixed that and the party went back to room B. We took the north door to room C.

This room was full of water. On the far side was a platform with a door. The bard stepped into the water and a large snake appeared. He ran out of the water. The cleric cast a speak with animals spell and entered the water. The snake appeared. The cleric said, "Wait! Let us speak!"

The snake replied, "DIE!"

We fought the snake and triumphed. We opened the door on the platform. We followed the hallway to room D. Inside was a sarcophagus on the south wall. Above it were embedded two large rubies and two large diamonds. We detected magic and the gems were indeed magical.

We opened the sarcophagus and found only a pile of dust and a scroll. The scroll read, "Congratulations, you have found one of Uncanny Froderick's false tombs."

The barbarian got mad and struck the sarcophagus. This shifted the ashes around. Buried under them was a set of clothing and jewelry reminiscent of those that Victor wore. We figured that he touched one of the gems and was burned to ash.

We returned to the T intersection after the first room. We entered room E. It was full of toys. There was also a bowl containing five beans labeled with "Eat me." The beans were clearly magical, though none of the toys were.

We were at a loss. The cleric prayed for guidance. He suddenly had the notion of "we are not yet strong enough, we need to collect more things."

We went back to the spinning room. The ranger managed to jump through the openings in time and flip the lever. The room stopped spinning and the openings aligned. The rest of the party walked through. This way led to room F.

In room F, there were two alcoves to the north and south. To the east was a table with a red sphere wrapped in chains hanging above it. On the table were eleven coins. Embossed into the table was a circle with ten circles surrounding it. The bard touched the coins and we all heard a voice say, "Ten and eight. Eight and ten. Arrange the coins or face death again."

We thought about the puzzle for a while. Eventually, the bard figured it out just before the sorcerer did. Each coin had to go in a circle, with one in the middle. Each line of coins had to equal eighteen. Once the coins were in place, the sphere opened and a red key fell out. We took it and returned to room E. Hilda ate one of the beans and shrunk down to half her size. Her equipment did not.

To be continued...