Lich In A Box

CaptCorajus' game turned into a life or death puzzle this session.

As you may have read in the last session report, the party fought off an iron golem and then rested before trying to open the next puzzle door. It then turned into a laugh riot for Chuckles the Bone Boy while we worked out the puzzle and unlocked the door.

Beyond the door was another set of stairs downward. Which the party was cautious about descending, all while Chuckles taunted from his undisclosed location.

Dividing the grand hall of a crypt was a wall flanked by two sets of portcullis. Behind them were a dozen skeleton archers, which once we figured out how to attack them and suffer minimal damage (poor wizard got hit with arrows from skeletons with held actions), the party destroyed a few and learned that their owner is dedicated to recycling. The skels were reconstituted and returned to the firing line.

We decided to explore the side crypts before dealing with the recycling issue. In those crypts we discovered areas that still remained consecrated, and uncorrupted by CtBB's evil. If we needed a rest (and we soon did) we could find relative safety there. 

In one we discovered an animated heroes sword and in the other a well of holy water. (Again, where is a stone bucket when you need one?). Eventually the sword would be used as a key to get us past the portcullis's and Roysen turned most of the skeleton archers. Torul moved near the reconstitution circle the try and keep things tied down so the rest of the party could come on through.

Having gotten into the back half of the grand crypt, Sophia discovered the lever that could shut off the factory that kept pooping out undead assailants. Thankfully it worked well because it was getting nastier with the crap it was sending the party's way. The last new undead was a minotaur skeleton with a huge axe. The switch not only stopped production, it caused existing ones to vanish. Sophia found this amusing and for a moment or two played with the switch. (Skels on/Skels off).

This did not amuse Chuckles the Bone Boy so he sent two flaming skeletons to give the party a warmer welcome. Fortunately Sophia had an Ice Storm to drop on them and that was that. The party broke the power system before more of those anorexic arsonists could be ported into the room.

It was off to the deeps of the crypts and soon to a face to face with Bone Boy himself.

Descending the stairs led into a long hallway lit by flickering glyphs moving from the stairs to a distant door and starting over, and over. Note: the d6 represents the Guardian of Faith Roysen had cast when we rested by the holy water well.

The door was carved to appear like an angel of the good faiths, though over time had become worn. Roysen figured around a thousand years. Mulva, the ever reluctant, was finally cajoled into examining the door for a mechanism to open it. She located a button hidden in the detailed carving, and refused to be near the door when eventually Torul and Roysen did the job.

Hello Chuckles!

Valendros the Wicked rose from his throne and stepped to the edge of the dais. "Come in" he laughed. His ancient, wrinkled, undead form was resplendent in robes as new looking as the day they were made. (Ah Ha! He does buy new on occasion! Faux hipster biatch!)

Roysen sent his Guardian of Faith forward and it ceased to be as it crossed the threshold. That gave the group more than enough reason to hang back in the hallway. (CR 21 Lich, damned right we were hanging back! CtBB has Legendary AND Lair actions with which he could swat the group to death in a single round.)

Conversation and repartee confirmed for us that this former Set worshipper had changed allegiance over to Orcus in exchange for becoming a lich, and after a millennium of running rampant in Traladar (our original neck of the woods) the immortal he betrayed put him in this cage and conveniently provided the tools to finish the bugger off for those canny enough to learn the means.

During the talk, the party was given a "gentle" coaxing to enter the room with the captive and not too happy lich, by the appearance of two Death Knights blocking our exit and advancing slowly. (Two CR17 heavy hitters either one of which could vaporize the party by launching a necro-fireball.) 

That is when the session MVP, Roysen, locked the group in with the lich and away from the death knights by casting a spell of shaping stone to put a 5' thick wall between us and them. There seemed to be a possible flaw in the plan, as in, only exit, however, maybe destroying Chuckles would get us a safe way out.

Torul broke open a canopic jar on a hunch and located a beating heart and after killing it, he found three arrow heads of obvious power. Roysen bashed open a treasure chest to spill thousands of platinum to the floor. (What the fark were you thinking! We could have carried that loot out!)

Eventually our recalcitrant halfling was cajoled into using the arrowheads and shooting the phylactery, destroying it. Good thing she hit on the first shot since Torul and Roysen had just released the lich thinking that was required for the arrow to reach the phylactery. Close call.

You'd think that being the Chosen One of Set she would have happily done in Valendros the Betrayer, but we had to bully her into taking this crusty cadaver of evil down for good. Torul hates having to bully the halfling because he absolutely despises bullies. He ends up angry and down on himself each time. Eventually Mulva may drive Torul to commit acts of great evil, which being the Chosen One of Set, may be her true purpose all along.

The Phylactery and throne exploded, destroying Valendros and sending reverberations throughout the dungeon. Quakes shook the tombs, and all undead in the region ceased to be and the party was able to break free of the stone wall. It was now a race to escape the crumbling ruins, back to the surface and help from the beastmen.

In their escape Torul managed to scoop up about 300 platinum coins out of the thousands scattered on the floor. Thousands of platinum coins, spilled, by the dwarf.

Zombies and Beastmen and Orcus, Oh my!

In a nutshell the Company of the Sage was in a bit of a tough spot. Beneath the disturbing red glow cast upon the snow by a magical gem atop an evil obelisk, zombies, like this description, began to pile up. Surrounded on three sides by undead, and the other by a cliff face, things were looking a bit bleak.

That's right, aside from our adventuring party, you are now among the few people to see Toilet Paper Mountain and live to tell the tale. It was a creative way to rapidly produce a prop just before play, and it set the tone perfectly - it reminded us we were in deep doo doo.

Sophia uncorked the Elven Snowflake artifact and used its power to blast the undead in a radius of 20 feet. Only a few fell, but it was obvious many more were weakened by the effect. The snowflake went dark and it would be of no more use in this battle. (rotten recharge rolls).

The enemy was closing in and despite trying our best to push forward, progress was too slow.

Worse yet, a giant zombie spider erupted from the blanket of white, immediately in our path. In short order it had grabbed Sophia and our wizard soon fell unconscious due to wounds. (Zero hit points) Torul rushed in to try and break the monster's deadly grip. Roysen prayed for healing and the wizard awakened and from her ring of spell storing released a healing spell Roysen had wisely cast into it earlier.

A hunting party of beastmen came screaming into the fray, shouting out "For Glory!" and fortunately for us began attacking the undead. Between their efforts and our own, a path was cleared and none-too-soon as three more giant undead arachnids arose just as the first one fell.

We noticed another wave of humanoid zombies coming behind the spiders and that is when the beastmen called the retreat and told us to run to their camp. We made it to their fortified encampment with undead hot on our heels. Safely inside we helped them rain down destruction on the enemy.

We helped heal their wounds along with our own and spoke with their leader. He explained that the strange obelisk and statue or Orcus thrust their way above ground, bringing the snows and undead with them, and that the undead never seem to run out.

A week ago? Yup, right about the time Set got poked in the eye. They really are taking deli-counter numbers to see who we have to deal with next.

Their owl faced leader told us there was a door at the base of obelisk with a puzzle lock and the beastmen had failed to figure it out before being driven away by more undead. If we could get in and try to solve the problem, they would be grateful.

The beastmen invited us to rest and prepare. During this time their chieftan taught Sophia three new spells - Fireball, Wall of Fire, and Ice Storm. (That's more like it!)

Rested and prepared, the party and the beastmen set out for the puzzle door. The beastmen would hold off the undead as long as possible while we tried to figure out the answer that would let us into the underground complex.

Anyone ever play the game Mastermind? Well, the puzzle lock consisted of 4 empty sockets and 6 gems of different colors that could be placed into them. The idea was to figure out the four correct gems and have them in the right order. Torul almost got it by accident on the first try simply by attempting to match the rainbow with existing colors. The group managed it in four rounds. (Yes, I still say rounds instead of turns.)

Inside was a rather deep chasm with a bridge and platform. Out in the abyss were four smaller platforms with mirrors on them oriented toward four small metal poles on the main platform. Two larger metal poles sat across from each other along the mid-line of the platform. (Of course it's a trap, you don't have to be Admiral Akbar to know that.)

Sure enough the whole thing powered up when Torul advanced across the center line. Some quick thinking and accurate attacks by the less dull-witted party members took out three of the four mirrors and the attack against Torul resulted in little more than a singe.

Moving forward, Torul discovered another puzzle lock door and an iron golem. Niiiiice. Just what we needed.

The battle with this metal monstrosity (CR 19 vs 7th level party) took time and almost resulted in some character deaths due to a mis-understood feature of the environment. Whenever it reaches a spot near the entrance, it teleports back to a spot in from of the interior puzzle door. Torul had lead it away and Mulva and Sophia went to try and work on the puzzle. He led it too far back and they got a rude surprise.

Then the plan changed. Roysen had determined that one section of bridge was weak and if we could get the thing on that spot and knock out the support . . . bye bye big metal badass.

The problem was, in trying to weaken the bridge further, Mulva and Sophia collapsed it too soon. That meant Torul would have to weather golem attacks until everyone else brought it down with ranged attacks and spells.

Going strictly into dodge defense, along with bolstering magic from Roysen, Torul's armor class reached an incredible 29. Even with a +13 to attack rolls, the golem managed to miss every attack.

Finally Torul sensed the golem was weaked enough and he delivered the final blow.

We left off with the party resting before attempting the door again.

I Feel Funky

In the Sunday game run by CaptCorajus we completed the adventure against the slimy cult of Juiblex. Of course Torul ended up completely covered in the stuff, how else would you expect things to finish?

When last we left off, the Big Bad Evil Guy (BBEG) and a handful of evil acolytes had come down a rope ladder and were blocking the party's way when we returned to cross the streams, I mean mix the slimes at the altar. See that green shield and sword drawn on the map between us and them? That was the spell Guardian of Faith. It does damage when you enter the 10' area surrounding it. That never seems to dissuade an angry half-orc. See the four acolytes surrounding the Evil High Priest (EHP)? Can you say cannon fodder? I thought you could.

Torul rushed past the Guardian of Faith and took 10 points of damage, but managed to get to the forward acolytes and immediately slay one. Roysen cast silence on Torul's shield so that he could cut off as much spell activity as possible from the enemies.

Another acolyte stepped in to take the first one's place and the EHP BBEG was able to get off a class ability engulfing the rest of the party in some sort of darkness in which they were also taking damage from unseen horrors. He then backed away and had one of his not-too-bright minions stand in front of him.

As the battle wore on it was becoming obvious that unless the party did something quickly, Torul was likely toast, soon to be followed by the others.

Mulva stepped out of the dark cloud and fired a crossbow bolt slaying the newest volunteer thus letting Torul to pursue the BBEG. She then confronted an acolyte who fled back up the rope ladder, wetting himself on the way, though already dripping with ooze who would know.

Sophia, our wizard, soon joined the fight and her barrage of the best combat spell in 5e failed when it reached the EHP (Brooch of Shielding).

Roysen kicked in the healing juice to keep Torul and the others on their feet.

 The BBEG was still proving resilient and resourceful, dropping another black cloud of unseen nasty on top of Torul, obscuring them both from the rest of the party. Despite taking a beating, Torul hung with the EHP hoping to tamp down spell casting and prevent the gooey jerk from getting to his altar of slime. Meanwhile Sophia cast web through the dark cloud of slimy misery, relying on memory of the hallway to pin it right on the BBEG (Morbion) and Torul. She ended up using inspiration to make it work. While Web normally doesn't require an attack roll to place it, Capt Corajus ruled (fairly I feel) to have her roll to place it with the amount missed from a taget DC affecting the distance off point and it would be a random direction. She initially rolled a 1 and the inspiration die fixed the problem.

Note the effort CaptCorajus put forth to make the evil slime altar/pool look presentable for company. He even got out the good candelabras.

Needless to say any time you think you have the BBEG cornered and nearly beat, they always have a trick up their sleeve. This one whipped out a lair power on our party and called forth from the pool/altar a slimy turd of enormous size to come save his wretched backside.

It didn't save him. He got cut all up and then finished off by Roysen with a cantrip. How embarrassing.

The party then did away with the giant sludgy brute and the looting commenced.

The party went on to find the missing 11 townsfolk and aid from a save place in the dungeon, managed to save them all. They even went exploring the rest of the dungeon, found the runaway acolyte (killed him when he refused to surrender). Discovered treasure that included a precious Elven Snowflake (minor? artifact) and the destroyed the rest of the slimy influence using the flake's power. Ta-Da!

Getting the people back to town, the party was praised, asked to become residents (they really need new DNA badly) since we would be able to protect them and all of their guards are dead. Instead the party opted to convert coins to gems, a mule, winter gear, a strong mule, and two kegs of ale.

Heading north they got into a very snowy area and eventually found a huge statue of Orcus amid some tall spires (obelisks?) with a magical crystal atop one, glowing a menacing red.  Of course the party would try to bypass as best they could based on the terrain impediments. That meant being with our backs to a tall cliff about a quarter mile from the statue, still within the glow's effective range.

We left off when undead all around, and under the party, started to rise and approach.

I think the evil immortals must have taken deli-counter numbers to see who faces us next. Set - CHECK! Juiblex - CHECK! Orcus - yup, sheesh! If they ever get back to the surface world, the only people that will believe their tales are the ones pissed off about being defeated!