Rappan Athuk

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Scitzz
Hlobane Orc
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Scitzz »

Rappan Athuk Episode 25

In the warrens of the were rats, we go through their refuse and rubbish. Franklin had heard tales of lycanthropes, but never believed them, but making his shot and seeing it do no damage, has convinced him lycanthropy is real. Of course, seeing something that looked half human half rat becoming full human at death helped as well.

Anele is infected with lycanthropy at this point. Fortunately, Zor is familiar with the curse of the were rat, and offers to cure him. Unfortunately, he also has contracted filth fever. Burning incense, Zor slaps him and exclaims "BE HEALED," and so he is.

We hear this smacking sort of sound, with a stench coming down the corridor from
the North. We see Dungie coming down the corridor after us. The party decides to hide behind the rocks in the rat warren as Voryn sneaks down a corridor to the east to hide. in the hopes of looting the latrine. Dungie mills around in the cavern then Zee heads back up the corridor north. Hoping Dungie doesn't see him. Running as fast as he can, Zee goes for the latrine, He has found the secret door pushed open and climbs inside with a grappling hook anchored above. The rope around his waist, he begins to rappel down the 25 feet into the sift matter below.

Diving into the latrine, he is quickly covered in...well, shit.

Shit and urine.

He feels an urge to vomit. It becomes overwhelming, and he vomits into exhaustion. He actually passes out and lands in the waste. Finally waking up, he casts detect magic, and starts to find some items. There are a few hundred gold coins in here as well, but he is mostly passing them up. He knows there are three magic items, one is a bag near the surface. He grabs it. Digging through shit, he finds something shaped like a dagger. Across the way in this cavern, is a bottle. He goes for it. Luck being in his favor, he is able to grab 151 shit encrusted coins, as well as the magic items.

Although the urge to vomit is strong, he is becoming immune for now to the smell, and is able to run back to the cavern with the river. Dungie is preoccupied at the opening to the river into the cavern where the last were rat disappeared.

Zee runs to the far end of the river from Dungie and begins to clean himself off. He spends a couple minutes washing and Dungie doesn't notice him. He runs across the rocks, and Dungie looks as if he wants to cross the river, but he dallies.

Meanwhile the rest of us take the staircase down about 20 feet or so. The air here is foul, but more like a rotting dead animal, not of waste. Blood stains the walls, as well as body parts, as if torn apart by a wild animal. The north door, with a hand axe embedded in it, is scarred and scratched, with a key in the lock. There are three other doors here.

The other doors are of reinforced wood. Checking for traps, Franklin finds a loose tile on the floor. Sounds hollow and Amable lifts it up, and is greeted by the smell of stagnant water and inside are the bones of a small animal.

Approaching the north door, Franklin hears nothing. He finds no traps on the door. Beryn asks if we should open it. Franklin asks him to wait and checks all the doors for traps, finding none. Zee has caught up with us by now.

Beryn decides to open the north west door missing an axe. The door is locked. None of us are able to pick locks.

Beryn tries southwest door and it is locked as well. The last one is locked also.

Anele begins to hear something scraping across the floor from the top of the stairs. There is a weird kind of yelling noise as it moves about, sort of irritated. Then ghouls and ghasts appear. Franklin steps back a few feet and awaits for events to unfold, as Anele tries to turn the ghasts, but he is too weak to be effectual, and there is a Ghast Attack. The stench is overwhelming, and subdues Anele, and Zee.

They begin by attacking Marmaduke, to no avail. Zee is attacked by a ghoul as well without effect. Marmaduke tries to turn them but fails as well, while Amable sinks a crossbow bolt into one of the Ghasts, causing it to stumble badly. Zor is able to turn 3 of the ghouls. Zee is able to land a series of blows onto one of the turned ghouls. Beryn finishes him off.

With a couple of shots, Franklin finishes the injured ghast, and Zee turns the last three ghouls. He and Beryn have a chance to attack as they run, and manage to do some minor damage, as the last standing ghast claws and bites at Marmaduke, but he swats his feeble attempts away, before taking a chunk out of him. While Amable a Voryn are ineffectual, Zor almost takes his head off, and Beryn finishes the job. He says he is going to try to the northern door with the key, and when he does, nothing happens. There is a corridor, to the west is larger opening, and in the other direction a bloody spike is in the wall. Listening at one door, Franklin hears nothing and finds no traps. No extra evil is detected. Beryn tries the key from the other door on it.

It works! The lock opens! Beryn opens the door. The first thing we notice is a human arm stuck to the door with a knife. It is mangled as if chewed on, and we see that the are is empty but there are rats about. Some giant ones peep from holes. Looking up and down we see nothing special, and Amable smells grain, as if this was once a pantry. Beryn snatches the knife. We quickly close the door. Zee grabs the axe from the other door and locks it.

The next door, Franklin finds no traps, but it is locked and the key doesn't work on it. Amable and Beryn hack away at the door. With a sudden burst of strength, Beryn breaks right through it. Falling off the hinges, it slams into the floor. Eleven rat skeletons litter the floor, and another door is in the room. There is an old brass spittoon with a thick layer of liquid in it. Beryn tumps it over. From down the hall we hear someone coming down the hall. He is muscular, unclean, and almost seven feet tall with a wild look in his eyes. Dressed in leather armor and a loin cloth, he has a rat tooth necklace and swings a club.

"Who dares disturb Marthak Slayer."

"I see the priest is first, I love whacking priests."

Hearing this, Beryn literally dashes on his short legs from the room into the corridor to meet Marthak in the corridor. "Come out priest" he cries, "I will make you rat food, " then taunts Amable "And you green one," and charges him, as Amable replies "I am gonna take that necklace for my own." Amable makes it up to Beryn and meets the charge, as Amable hears the whoosh of air by his head. His zealotry in his charge leaves him unprepared for further attacks. Zee steps out and watches the door for any others to emerge.

Marmaduke runs past Beryn and the others to be ready to attack, as Zor steps in swinging wildly, jostled in the cramped corridor, and can not make a connection. "You cowardly rat spawn, piss drinking mother" Beryn cries as he buries his scimitar into his torso, then yanks it back, grinning viciously. Anele hangs back prepared to heal as Amable deals another deadly series of blows.

Marthak strikes furiously at Amable as he nimbly dances out the way. Marmaduke addresses Marthak saying "face me, not the green man fighting for love" and does nothing for all his talking. Zor, meanwhile hacks him hard, before Beryn buries his scimitar into his gut, twisting as the brute dies with a strange smile on his face, as if some of his sanity has returned in his death. Amable takes his necklace and dons it.

We also find a key attached to his loin cloth. His leather armor is covered in fleas. In the spittoon was a small gold chain with a ruby on it. Worth 300 gold.

Checking another door for traps, he hears nothing and finds no traps. The door is not locked, and Beryn opens it. It is a small room with stairs going down.

"Perhaps we should save this for later" he anounces and the rest of us agree.

Another door, not raps or nises heard, Beryn finds it locked but room 1 key opens it into a room with floors walls and ceiling of hard packed earth, looking up dirt falls to the ground, and about 20 smashed boxes and chests litter the room. Beryn expresses his dismay at the condition of the room, and inspects it closely, using his stonecraft, invoking the soul of the dwarf. He knows if he is quiet and cautious it shouldn't cave in. Utilizing his elven boots, Franklin creeps in and finds a very large grey ceramic bottle with liquid inside, and heavy, about four times the size of a typical potion bottle. He doesn't recognize it as a poison he knows. Beryn locks the door behind us.

Next door, no noise, no traps found, Beryn opens it to a long southward reaching corridor. Same at the next door, but Amable notices a fungus smell coming from the door, like a plant. Beryn opens it to find a cave of some worked stone, but ends in unworked stone and tunnels that narrow to almost nothing. To the North is a wider tunnel. The smell is stronger from that direction.

The room seems very unstable to Beryn, so we shut the door and leave it be. We head south down the another corridor, and the next door is Ebony, bound with gold, and very nice, but has rough runes scratched into it that make anyonw looking at it uneasy. Beryn wearing the helm of language can read them as

"“Saracek: In life a deluded slave of blinding light; In death a dark warrior-king.”

Beryn finds the door is locked, so tries the keys, and one works. It opens up.

It is a richly appointed anteroom, frescos show a man fighting, and depicting the man kneeling before a black altar with a demonic figure above him, and a door is depicted like the one we just entered leading to a tomb beyond. The images tell of a man that was with the army of light pursuing evil before Orcus turned him to evil. The rest is a description of his lineage.

There is a door in there that Franklin hears nothing from, and checking for traps, he finds a poisoned needle trap. He warns the rest that it is there, and that it is triggered when you use the key. Marmaduke knocks on the door, and asks for Saracek if he is home.

There is a reply! He tells us to leave anything on the door.

Beryn opens the door with the key as Marmaduke blocks the needle with his shield.

The door opens, and Saracek says "I told you to leave it on the doorstep!"

Marmaduke steps in, hands out, "Saracek, we need to talk, why have you turned against good?"

Saracek, a skeleton with a crown, and a sword, in chain mail, steps up from a throne. There are other skeletons on the floor around him.

"Damn you fools, I warned you! Now we will see who will fall first, I bet on the dwarf." Beryn replies "because I am closer to the ground?" Franklin sneaks closer to study him and finds no way to launch a death attack.

Hearing the commotion, Anele and Zee move into the adjoining room with Franklin.

"Foolish mortals, you all shall die, come foolish little man" he says to Beryn, whose only reply is to step close to him.

"I see you are first" Swinging his bastard sword, he connects not once but twice, first cutting in from one side, and back handing quickly in reverse dealing a damaging blow, as Amable rushes in to flank him, as does Zor, and Marmaduke, who tries to dissuade him from attacking. It doesn't work, as the group around him feel fear encroaching them. Franklin feels an overwhelming sense of it and so does Beryn, both running uncontrollably away. So does Zor, and Anele, leaving Amable and Marmaduke to face him alone other than Zee. So he attacks Amable dealing some damage, but not killing him. Amable tries to retaliate, but his attacks bounce off while Marmaduke flails away with his sword. Zee moves a little closer.

Amable is attacked again, and tries to fend off the attack, but his skill is strong, hurting Amable terribly, so bad that he can not connect on his attacks, as does Marmaduke, although he warns Amable to run, while Zee tries swinging the dagger he found in the latrine. Since it is a greatly magical dagger, it hits but only does some minor damage.

Focusing his attack on Amable, because half orcs are tasty, he glances a blow off his shoulder and wounds him again. This throws off Amables attack. Marmaduke can do nothing to him either, but he asks him who is his god before Orcus, but Saracek says none come before Orcus. Zee can't land a blow this time either.

Intent on the half orc, he lands a deadly blow onto Amable, as Zee hands him a potion of cure light wounds. Trying to juggle the axe and the potion, Amable can;t do a thing. Marmaduke feels the fight is going bad, but attacks and screams to the others to retreat. "Face me you coward" he screams as he hopelessly attacks.

Zee pulls out the bottle from the shit pile, uncorks it, rubs it saying abracadabra, and an afrit comes out. Crowned with horns, and covered in fire, it says " I will serve you master," so Zee tells him to slay the most evil character around. " He sighs. " "How boring." "Would you like me to attack with my weapon?" And Zee replies "Whatever will kill him,' so the Afrit casts wall of fire. The skeleton king is surrounded in a wall of fire. This does some damage to him, and the ring of fire continues to burn.

"Damn you, damn you" Cries the royal skeleton, who tries to attack through the wall of fire. "It is not to late to repent" cries Marmaduke, and so he lashes out at him. Being undead, although he slashes into Marmaduke, he also falls into a heap onto the floor.

" I have done your favor, may I go now? asks the Afrit, but Zee holds him to his oath to serve, and tells him to find what he can to the best of his abilities any magic items not belonging to anyone and give them to him." The afrit reaches down and hands the sword of the skeleton king to Zee, then casts detect magic, to find anything else.

Marmaduke, mouth hanging open, asks "what just happened?"

Going to another door in the room, the Afrit, finds it locked, and breaks it down. A large stone door, it falls and he finds a bronze chest inside. Standing back, Zee watches as he tries to open the chest, but a poison dart hits him. Inside he finds many coins of copper silver and gold, but grabs out a medallion of ESP and six arrows +1 from a rotten quiver, a shield, a potion to make you small(diminution), a potion to heal you, one to make you think you are healed. The +2 shield will flash light once a day and blind opponents to those abiding the law. and lays them at Zees feet. Going down the hall, he disappears, then we hear fighting and yelling down the hallway.

Loot found is 2500 CP, the bag from the latrine is a bag of holding 3219 SP 982 GP, 12 50GP gems.

As time goes by, the Afrit returns looking somewhat harmed, bringin back a potion, a dagger, a war hammer, and another potion. He says " Potion of flying master, but it may harm you, beware. it may cause you to be ill, might not be safe to drink, but if you let me go now, I will tell you the truth," Dagger minor, war hammer moderate, potion of treasure finding. I have cleared out all monsters to the south," and Zee tells him he is free if he tells him of the potion to fly, and he says the potion has soured, could kill you.

Amable and Marmaduke praise him, but Zee rubs it in that he found it in the shit that Marmaduke eschewed.
Bag of holding can hold (type 3) weighs 35 pounds carries 1000 pounds.

Dagger +1 and medallion(Franklin gets medallion apparently) to be determined. 2 handed +1 sword as well.

yetihermit
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by yetihermit »

Another great recap scitzz!

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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Treebore »

I think the following is confusing as to who is doing it. You and I know its the Efreet, but others not in our game may be conffused, and think its Marmaduke, or possibly Zee.

Marmaduke, mouth hanging open, asks "what just happened?"

Going to another door in the room, he finds it locked, and breaks it down. A large stone door, it falls and he finds a bronze chest inside. Standing back, Zee watches as he tries to open the chest, but a poison dart hits him. Inside he finds many coins of copper silver and gold, but grabs out a medallion of ESP and six arrows +1 from a rotten quiver, a shield, a potion to make you small(diminution), a potion to heal you, one to make you think you are healed. The +2 shield will flash light once a day and blind opponents to those abiding the law. and lays them at Zees feet. Going down the hall, he disappears, then we hear fighting and yelling down the hallway.

Just rewrite the beginning of the sentence as, "Going to another door in the room, the Efreet finds it locked... " and it becomes crystal clear.

Looking forward to compiling our mishaps into another PDF! Or maybe I shoudl combine it with the previous one, and just lable it "Book II: Further Adventures into the Dungeon of Graves.
Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Grand Knight Commander of the Society.

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Penny-Whistle
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Penny-Whistle »

Thanks for the recap!

Amable is still a little stunned that that cautious wizard was suddenly so powerful. He assumed he was going to die and is grateful to be alive. His fickle player had already started looking for replacement goblin pictures as he took one hit after another ... (haha)

LOVED Josh's Ifrit (sp?) improv. That jaded malevolent tone hit the mark. Robin Williams was notable for his frenetic genie but I liked this character just as much. His power was more like a resentful smouldering thing and I think that fit the situation perfectly. Who knows how long he was buried in crap.

Treebore
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Treebore »

My PC wasn't powerful, the Efreet was. Just we are very fortunate that his guess that the bottle was a Genie bottle (Bardic intuition for the win!) was correct, and that uncorking it, rubbing it, and speaking every "magic word" he could recall from genie lore worked to bring the genie out, and it being friendly. It did have about a 10% chance of attacking us, Which at the time I was not aware, as a player, what the odds were. I actually thought it was most likely the Efreet would attack, and that it being helpful was actually a long shot, but I figured since we were going to die anyways, a "small chance of success, versus certain doom" was the way to go.

So with the Genie gone my character is back to being his normal, very spell limited, self.
Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Grand Knight Commander of the Society.

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Penny-Whistle
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Penny-Whistle »

Amable, of course, wouldn't know any of that. He wasn't even aware that Zee left the group ...

All he saw was the wizard who normally hangs back was suddenly at his side and did something amazing.

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Kayolan
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Kayolan »

Great game all!

XP has been updated.

Several of you have reached the next level:

Anele is now a 5th level cleric!

Beryn is now a 5th level barbarian!

and

Zee is now a 5th level wizard!

Loot
2,500 cp
3,219 sp
1,133 gp
12 gems (each worth 50 gp)
small gold chain with a ruby on it (worth 300 gp)
bag of holding (type III)
+3 dagger
efreeti bottle (now empty!)
large ceramic bottle with liquid inside (magic, unidentified)
+1 two-handed sword
medallion of ESP
six +1 arrows
potion of diminution
potion of delusionary healing (2d6)
potion of heal
+2 shield (flashes with light once per day, may only be used by LG,CG,NG, or LN characters)
a broom that will sweep continuously on command
potion of flying that has soured, may cause sickness if imbibed
+1 dagger
potion of treasure finding
+2 warhammer

Treebore
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Treebore »

Woohoo! Fireball!
Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Grand Knight Commander of the Society.

yetihermit
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by yetihermit »

woot on 12 more HP for me :) 6th level will be much more interesting if I can survive to it.

Scitzz
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Scitzz »

Change made, thanks for the suggestion!

So, I am usually just trying to record what Josh and each person says, since this started out as just plain note taking and has been morphing into something else, something very cool in my opinion. Almost exactly like we are telling a story. I have said it before but seriously, if you guys come up with a cool line, a nifty insult to hurl, or a better descriptor than one I can think of in a few seconds, feel free to put them here or in the skype chat during session, and I will change it up.

It occurs to me, perhaps the Afrit should have been sent to challenge Dungie :D And that I should have spelled it Efreet or Afreet.

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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Treebore »

Scitzz wrote:Change made, thanks for the suggestion!

So, I am usually just trying to record what Josh and each person says, since this started out as just plain note taking and has been morphing into something else, something very cool in my opinion. Almost exactly like we are telling a story. I have said it before but seriously, if you guys come up with a cool line, a nifty insult to hurl, or a better descriptor than one I can think of in a few seconds, feel free to put them here or in the skype chat during session, and I will change it up.

It occurs to me, perhaps the Afrit should have been sent to challenge Dungie :D And that I should have spelled it Efreet or Afreet.
I thought about that, but decided the magic items were a better idea.
Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Grand Knight Commander of the Society.

Scitzz
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Scitzz »

It probably was the better idea but the battle should have been great, if what you guys said was true.

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Penny-Whistle
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Penny-Whistle »

Scitzz wrote:Change made, thanks for the suggestion!

So, I am usually just trying to record what Josh and each person says, since this started out as just plain note taking and has been morphing into something else, something very cool in my opinion. Almost exactly like we are telling a story. I have said it before but seriously, if you guys come up with a cool line, a nifty insult to hurl, or a better descriptor than one I can think of in a few seconds, feel free to put them here or in the skype chat during session, and I will change it up.

It occurs to me, perhaps the Afrit should have been sent to challenge Dungie :D And that I should have spelled it Efreet or Afreet.
Your write-ups are cool and do read like a story. I appreciate them very much.

Maybe the efreet will decide to attack US! The AD&D Monstrous Manual says, "Efreet are not willing servants and seek to pervert the intent of their masters by adhering to the letter of their commands ... Efreet are infamous for their hatred of servitude, desire for revenge, cruel nature, and ability to beguile and mislead."

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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Treebore »

Penny-Whistle wrote:
Scitzz wrote:Change made, thanks for the suggestion!

So, I am usually just trying to record what Josh and each person says, since this started out as just plain note taking and has been morphing into something else, something very cool in my opinion. Almost exactly like we are telling a story. I have said it before but seriously, if you guys come up with a cool line, a nifty insult to hurl, or a better descriptor than one I can think of in a few seconds, feel free to put them here or in the skype chat during session, and I will change it up.

It occurs to me, perhaps the Afrit should have been sent to challenge Dungie :D And that I should have spelled it Efreet or Afreet.
Your write-ups are cool and do read like a story. I appreciate them very much.

Maybe the efreet will decide to attack US! The AD&D Monstrous Manual says, "Efreet are not willing servants and seek to pervert the intent of their masters by adhering to the letter of their commands ... Efreet are infamous for their hatred of servitude, desire for revenge, cruel nature, and ability to beguile and mislead."
That was a possibility, the one I thought was most likely, fortunately we got the co operative result. Plus, now it is gone, freed from servitude.
Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Grand Knight Commander of the Society.

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Penny-Whistle
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Penny-Whistle »

Gone from your control but maybe waiting around a corner to vent some of his pent up rage. Hope so. That would be a fun fight.

Scitzz
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Scitzz »

Yikes! Franklin has yet to catch his breath from running in fear!

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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Treebore »

Penny-Whistle wrote:Gone from your control but maybe waiting around a corner to vent some of his pent up rage. Hope so. That would be a fun fight.
May I remind you of how easily he handled that Skeletal Warrior that was going to kill us. I am pretty sure he has at least 1 more Wall of Fire in him. May as well have an Ancient Green Dragon breathe on us. You want to play that Goblin that badly?
Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Grand Knight Commander of the Society.

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Penny-Whistle
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Penny-Whistle »

One difference: we might have the advantage of having the whole party. His abilities would guarantee a challenging and interesting fight. We would have to be clever to outwit him.

Not caring about any of my characters dying. In this kind of dungeon death is to be expected. I do look forward to playing Zorro. Who wouldn't?

Scitzz
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Scitzz »

I mean, I've got son of Mahrtiir waiting in the wings....

But I'm starting to like Franklin. I've got some more to learn about being an assassin in elven boots!

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Penny-Whistle
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Penny-Whistle »

Scitzz wrote:I mean, I've got son of Mahrtiir waiting in the wings....

But I'm starting to like Franklin. I've got some more to learn about being an assassin in elven boots!
Franklin is a fun character.

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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Scitzz »

Penny-Whistle wrote:
Scitzz wrote:I mean, I've got son of Mahrtiir waiting in the wings....

But I'm starting to like Franklin. I've got some more to learn about being an assassin in elven boots!
Franklin is a fun character.
That's funny, I'm digging Amable and his forlorn quest for Zerg.

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Penny-Whistle
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Penny-Whistle »

Thanks for saying! That quest is doomed of course so his story is necessarily tragic. But he isn't dead yet and I'd like to keep him for as long as possible.

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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Scitzz »

Rappan Athuk Episode 26

March 29th
Anele looks lovingly at the magic shield, stroking it and thinking of his deity, Kell, he asks if anyone would mind if he uses it. We all demur.

We are able to figure out the bottle is four doses of Stoneskin

STONE SKIN LEVEL: Druid 5, Wizard 4 CASTING TIME: 1RANGE: Touch DURATION: see text SAVING THROW: Wisdom negates (h)SPELL RESISTANCE: Yes (h)COMPONENTS: V, S, M This spell grants the target complete immunity to 1d4 physical attacks plus 1 attack per two levels. Damage dealing spells that aren’t a function of weapons,such as fireball, magic missile, or lightning bolt, aren’t affected by this spell.Multiple castings are not cumulative; a new casting will replace the previous casting. The duration is permanent until dispelled or no protection remains.Material Component: Granite and diamond dust sprinkled on the target’s skin.

We have decided to rest here. Doors locked and firewatch set, we manage to sleep well in the skeletal tomb. Zor sets off in the corner and flagellates himself for running in fear, then apologizes to the group, and we reassure him knowing that it was magic that caused him to run.

Franklin Harrumphs only. He ran as well, and sees no shame in it.

We spend a couple days there, healing and resting, when March 31st dawns. Beryn suggests we find where our flaming friend has been and what he has done.

We find a storage room with piles of wood and neatly stacked tools. A large box sits in the center of the room, looks to have been a place to make coffins, there are 120 8 foot long 2X4s, and even 10,000 rusty nails, still useable.

Another room is a very large broom closet. Everything has been smashed in this room, but it is all in one neat little pile, we think it is the room our magic broom came from.

Room 18 has a little tunnel heading out of it, and is a scene of carnage. 5 dead ogres have been hacked to pieces by a large bladed weapon. No burn marks around. 300CP are scattered about, and looking through their items, is a large great club, need a STR of 17, a sack with a human skull that rolls out. A hunk of uncooked, rancid meat. A simple silver ring of little value, and a map. Rolled up slightly, it is labeled as a map to stoneheart mountain. It also leads to the Tomb of Abysthor.

"Stoneheart" says Beryn, "Sounds dwarvish"

There is another door that as been bashed open, it leads to area 19, and there are 5 piles of skins, including a valuable Bear Skin. Well preserved and in good condition, but the rest are ruined. Buried in them is a silver edged 2 handed sword, a keg marked wine, and a bottle marked Brandy. There is another tunnel that leads off into a cave. In this cave everything is made of hard packed earth, and 2 large tunnels in the far walls. Earth trickles down, but Beryn knows that while it is not completely safe, if we are quiet we should be OK, so he warns us "tread carefully."

The tunnel to the North goes up, the one to the south heads down.

Another room 15, a lot of dead baby rats and a few large ones dead. They look to have been smashed and hacked apart, with slight singeing around them, and 66 CP in the nest, as well a blood covered childs doll, with a gem worth 20GP sewn into the hem. Seems likely the efreet was here. Moving to area 21 we also see what was probably a secret door that has been smashed open. Once again, Efreet style. Slightly cracked on the edges, it leads to a pentagram shaped room. There are 21 dead ghouls, and 6 ghasts, all sliced up and destroyed. Also destroyed are all the coffins in the room. Going through the carnage, we find 2301 GP, 4204 SP, 2910 CP, and all manner of common weapons and armor, dwarf sized plate mail, as well as other plate and chain mail, shields, bow, silver dagger, and other sundry.

Heading back to area one, we open a new door.

Heading down a corridor, and finding another door, Franklin hears a screeching and a tapping noise, not as if something living. Like something hanging against stone and rolling along. He warns the group, then checks for traps, but finds none.

"Be ready" Beryn warns, opening the door. What he sees on the other side is a huge stone coffin, with the mouldering corpse of a small humanoid next to it. There is a loud noise in the hallway to the north, as it gets louder and louder, scraping against the walls and floor, it is a spiky metallic ball bouncing down the corridor, it gets to the end of the corridor, then begins to roll away, ricocheting off the walls as the sound of it fades away.

The corpse could be a child or a halfling. Further inspection reveals it is not a halfling, maybe a goblin. He looks to have small puncture holes in his skin, but his insides appear to be eaten out. Beryn steps in a looks closer, but the metal ball comes back, stopping short of the opening. It is about 3 foot in diameter, and covered in sharp spikes. It rolls and bounces along with no noticeable source of impetus. Then it heads away. It's spikes appear too big to be the cause of the holes in the goblin.

The coffin in the room is stone, and has a lid on it.

The hallway with the spiked ball leads to another room, and the ball stops short of it, caroming back and forth down that one corridor.

Beryn and Zor decide to check the coffin. They get it about halfway open, and start to see in. Nothing moves inside, it is a body. There is a female wearing chain mail, all the flesh inside has been removed, and a rusty scabbard holds a sword. Voryn attempts to remove the sword without touching the corpse. Eventually it is removed, and appears to be in good shape, a long sword. He lifts it up, holds it, swings it, and can't identify if it is magical. It is nicely made but not expert. We seal her back in and check off with chalk the coffin to show it has been checked.

We move out of here and go to another door that indeed does connect to the hallway that contains the metal spike, which we can hear through another closed door, that Franklin finds no traps on. There is an empty room with smashed armor and not much else. There is a strange brown looking mold on the corridor of the metal ball, and a cold seems to leech into Beryns bones suddenly. He slams the door and we go back to where we first encountered Marthak. We find his bedding. Bones picked clean litter the floor. There are ceramic jars that Franklin checks out. The size of a closed fist. Various bones, a beaver pelt, a gold bar, 62CP, a spell book, small and leather bound. A grimoire. Magic sigils adorn it and a clasp to keep it closed. Beryn undoes the clasp and uses his helm to read it. It seems to be jargon to him.

He hands the helm and book to Voryn. There are several spells inside, detect magic, light, magic missile, levitate, hold person, AND a secret page inside the cover is a flattened scroll, folded in half, of cloud kill.

In the jars are green slime. The lid was hard to open, and had to be slid the right way, and the ceramic seems thin, and easily broken. Basically, three green slime grenades/ The unholy hand grenades of Marthak. Franklin wraps one in some of Marthaks bedding and slides it into his large belt pouch.

After much debate, we enter room seven and move down another level into the dungeon.

DUN DUN DUN

We go down well over 300 feet or so. The stairs seem endless, and only counting the stairs seems to clue Beryn in on how deep we have gone. The rest of us feel the oppressive weight of all that earth above us. We are entering a world we have never been in before and we can feel it. The air is cold as we breathe it in, and at the bottom, we hear the sound of running water, then enter a large open cavern. Above is pitch black, until we one bat, then another. There are occasional screeches of rats, stalactites, and stalagmites. Small boulders, all around in the cavern. A river runs through the cavern.

As we look over the top of the arch way, we see glowing green letters written in the wall, in common tongue. We have to look closer and wait for our eyes to adjust to read it. Very hard to make out at first, it reads.

“Beware of Purple Worms! Spiegel the Arch Mage.”

We do see very large droppings on the ground, droppings as large as a dwarf, "This is disturbing" Beryn exclaims. Amable asks if anyone knows of purple worms. Beryn says the earth will shake as they come up under you, with stingers on their tails, and try to bite, and swallow you whole. Only legendary dwarven heroes survive such by cutting themselves out. Movement alone can attract them.

There are patches of fungus growing around us. Some of it seems edible, other is poisonous. Beryn could possibly identify that which is edible, but doesn't mention it.

In the droppings are things that don't seem to belong, one hints at a copper coin, another seems to show a lantern handle. Beryn gives a nod to the wizard for diving into shit, and dives into one of them himself. He finds 15 GP, and 14SP, and moans "That is the most shit I have gone through for the least reward. "

There is a stone formation. It is a shimmering staircase with a landing, the shimmer is as if some mage had tried to hide it from view.

Inspecting the river, it seems fordable, and the smell down here is not as bad as before. The water is maybe 5 feet across and same deep. It moves swift enough that falling in unaware would sweep you away. Lassoing a stalagmite, we make our way across. Then head up the stairs.

The landing is a flat rock face that looks like it should go somewhere, but it just ends in a flat rock face. Beryn checks it out with his stonecraft and finds a secret door. Craftily designed, he knows it can be lifted up to be opened. Franklin listens and hears nothing, then checking, finds no traps. Backing away, we leave Beryn to lift it. As he lifts the door he sees a strange symbol, and a chamber beyond, with a marble casket. He begins to feel very strange and out of sorts as he stares at the symbol. He begins to lose his mind. (Glyph of insanity) He is in a permanent state of confusion. At this point though, the rest of us don't know this, but neither, of course, does he. The symbol disappears.

For the moment, he continues to act normally. He enters the room. He sees a marble casket. It has mystical runes engraved on it as well as the wall, but it is gibberish to him. They do speak of a great Arch Mage. It becomes obvious that this casket is his resting place, so he hands the helm to Voryn again, who reads it.

It is the Arch Mage burial tomb protected by great magic, and warns of burning flame if his remains are disturbed, and a curse on those who take his items, never being able to hold a coin or gem again without suffering damage. Doing so will cause you to whither away and die.

"Sounds serious" Says Beryn.

He then just stands absolutely stock still then sits down for twenty seconds. Voryn asks if he is ok, but he only rocks in place. He ignores anything in front of him as Marmaduke inquires as well.

Suddenly he snaps up and takes a drink of water, very slowly. Then he begins to count the coins in his pouch. Anele begins to wonder what is wrong with him, and can tell he has been affected by a magic that has caused him confusion, he may even be insane.

Right now, Beryn feels he has lost his necklace, the one his ma gave him, and he scrambles all over looking for it. He looks at the sarcophagus, and thinks it might be inside, but Amable says he has it in his pocket. Suddenly, Beryn feels normal, as Voryn tells him to hurry up and drink a potion of heal. Noting the urgency in his voice, Beryn does so. Suddenly the curse is lifted and he feels completely normal.

The sarcophagus is obviously fire trapped, according to the runes. They also warn to not take his staff of power. For all the riches of the world will be denied to you.

Franklin ponders, "who here wishes for riches? There is a staff of power here." But none take the bait.

Zor thinks of opening it. He even mentions that he is willing to sacrifice himself for it. Voryn plans on using a grappling hook and a long rope to pull the lid off the sarcophagus. He asks if we will catch him if he falls. Crossing his fingers behind his back he promises to try, and Amable nods knowingly at him, for they are on the same page.

Suddenly, Voryn pulls the lid off and a gout of flame comes out of the doorway as a the entire room is filled with fire. At the same time, the ground shakes, and rocks fall from the stone. The earth rumbles, and the flame disappears. Amable and Zor look behind them as something comes from the ground on the other side of the river. This something is a MONSTROUS purple worm, with teeth gaping.

Beryn and Zor are now holding singed ropes in their hands as the flames die away.

Splashing water goes everywhere, pebbles fall from the ceiling, and all is chaos as the worm roars. Marmaduke moves closer in an attempt to position for an attack, as Anele casts BLESS, for a plus one to hit for the party.

Voryn fires a magic missile at it. He deals decent damage but this is a deadly beast. Amable mails it with his crossbow, and dashes a short distance away. Then the worm makes its move. He lunges at Anele to try to eat him. He can;t swallow him, but he bites him, raking his teeth across his body, while Marmadukes sword bounces off.

Zor rushes in for an attack, and slashes away at the ponderous body of the beast, dealing a mighty amount of damage, leaving him feeling brave so he stands his ground. Beryn has heard stories from his pappy and knows the danger the party is in, so leaps down and strikes , gashing it with his axe, as Franklin dashes past him UP the stairs and studies this beast. Marmaduke looks into the mouth of the beast and is dismayed as he swings wildly at the beast. This does nothing to it, his sword glancing off the body uselessly. Aneles hammer does no damage, but Voryn skewers it with another magic missile. Attempting to help the Cleric that saved him, Amable wades into the fray and pierces it with his axe.

Focused on the cleric still, Anele barely avoids being swallowed, but is grazed with the teeth again, but Zor deals a bit of damage.

Beryn, pissed. " I will pet ya, you bastard," he slashes deeply with his scimitar, and Marmaduke is still unable to harm it. Anele is unable to connect with his hammer, but Voryn spends another magic missile while Amable scratches it again.

It tries to bite Marmaduke but while he can;t attack, he is able to dodge away.

"I'll finish ya, you miserable link" cries Beryn but he does nothing. Franklin has been studying for a death attack, but fumbles his arrow shot, but fortunately, between Marmaduke and Anele, the foul beast is felled, as it begins to fall. It slams into the water and the side of the mountain as it flails in its death throes, shaking the earth around us, before releasing a burp of foul gas, and lies still.

Beryn goes and hacks some of the teeth out, and passes them out to the party as a souvenir.

So we search the sarcophagus. Inside, there is a corpse of an unknown mage and a staff is held in his hand. Onhis wrist is a jeweled bracelet of platinum and emeralds. A huge ring set and a nice looking ring.

Brass colored plain looking ring, very shiny, as if it is on fire.

The bracelet and other items just look like nice jewelry

. 161 centimeters (63 inches) of the finest oleander form the base of this monumental staff. Feathers decorate the otherwise simple staff but leave the handle uncovered, which has been wrapped in cloth with gilded linings.The bottom ends in a thick sphere made of adamantium and has been decorated with glowing, triangular gems with smaller gems floating around them.The top is made out of grand wood and has been crafted into stacked wing shapes, which has been decorated with crafted leaves in various shapes and painted in vibrant colors

The Mage wears a deep blue robe and wizards hat. It is a skeleton.

Voryn casts detect magic.

The staff seems powerful, like 45 charges. The ring is magical to a lesser extent. A minor enchantment. It is a ring of fire resistance. The staff he has a clue about, it is a staff of power. That is a +2 weapon even out of charges. It can do many things. A magic missile, a ray of enfeeblement, a continual flame, levitate, lightning bolt, fireball, 2 charges cone of cold, hold monster, wall of force, globe of invulnerability. An extra charge can do double damage. Breaking it deals a retributive strike within a 30 foot radius, dealing 8 times the number of charges damage. 50 percent chance of being teleported to another plane of existence. Can be recharged with enough time. Worth 72K GP

Voryn asks Marmaduke if he wants to be his coin and gem man for the rest of us his life. Marmaduke refuses to swear to that. He will not take the staff either. Voryn takes the staff from the dead hands, and it feels as if there is resistance. The skeletal fingers crack off as he pulls it to him. Franklin says "here friend, have some gold" and hands him a GP, but nothing happens when he grabs it. Marmaduke hands him another, and nothing happens, so Franklin hands him a a gem of jet, one of the eyes of the gargoyle. AS he lays it in his hand, the hand begins to wither away as the jet turns to glass, and becomes worthless. Voryn falls lifeless to the ground, the staff rolling from his hand.

So, we carry his body back to Zelkors Ferry, with the bracelet from the arch mage and 3 eyes of jet liberated from the gargoyles outside the dungeon, and Ulman attempts to resurrect him. To his fortune, Voryn is raised from the dead.

It is now April 3rd.

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Penny-Whistle
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Penny-Whistle »

So cinematic! Lovely write-up.

EDIT:

Amable does remember predicting that greed was certain to lead to the death of someone. Orcs prefer to live lightly. Since he likes and trusts Anele's unassuming ways he decides to ask the cleric for a boon.

"Should I die I trust you to do right with my body and spirit. Please distribute my things to any who may want or need them. Afterwards, would you burn my body to release my spirit? If that is impossible, please cut my body into pieces so that my matter will return to the earth. That is the way of my people. I very much distrust messing around with the natural order."

alcyone
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by alcyone »

I fear the ride back to Rappan Athuk.
My C&C stuff: www.rpggrognard.com

Scitzz
Hlobane Orc
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Scitzz »

Aergraith wrote:I fear the ride back to Rappan Athuk.
Pffft. It isn't like we might run into a green dragon or anything. At least we have a wizard with a staff of power to sing us to sleep each night!

Treebore
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Treebore »

Scitzz wrote:
Aergraith wrote:I fear the ride back to Rappan Athuk.
Pffft. It isn't like we might run into a green dragon or anything. At least we have a wizard with a staff of power to sing us to sleep each night!
There is that. I do prefer poetic Edda's.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/
Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Grand Knight Commander of the Society.

Scitzz
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Scitzz »

Treebore wrote:
Scitzz wrote:
Aergraith wrote:I fear the ride back to Rappan Athuk.
Pffft. It isn't like we might run into a green dragon or anything. At least we have a wizard with a staff of power to sing us to sleep each night!
There is that. I do prefer poetic Edda's.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/
I need that in my life

Scitzz
Hlobane Orc
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Scitzz »

Penny-Whistle wrote:So cinematic! Lovely write-up.

EDIT:

Amable does remember predicting that greed was certain to lead to the death of someone. Orcs prefer to live lightly. Since he likes and trusts Anele's unassuming ways he decides to ask the cleric for a boon.

"Should I die I trust you to do right with my body and spirit. Please distribute my things to any who may want or need them. Afterwards, would you burn my body to release my spirit? If that is impossible, please cut my body into pieces so that my matter will return to the earth. That is the way of my people. I very much distrust messing around with the natural order."

Thanks! I was getting sleepy toward the end of the game and I see some grammatical errors, I can add this in verbatim, and maybe beef up my prose a little.

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Penny-Whistle
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Re: Rappan Athuk

Post by Penny-Whistle »

Scitzz wrote:
Penny-Whistle wrote:So cinematic! Lovely write-up.

EDIT:

Amable does remember predicting that greed was certain to lead to the death of someone. Orcs prefer to live lightly. Since he likes and trusts Anele's unassuming ways he decides to ask the cleric for a boon.

"Should I die I trust you to do right with my body and spirit. Please distribute my things to any who may want or need them. Afterwards, would you burn my body to release my spirit? If that is impossible, please cut my body into pieces so that my matter will return to the earth. That is the way of my people. I very much distrust messing around with the natural order."

Thanks! I was getting sleepy toward the end of the game and I see some grammatical errors, I can add this in verbatim, and maybe beef up my prose a little.
My bad: his warning was just something said in passing and doesn't change the action. His will is something I just added here on the forum and wasn't said in game.

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