Summary
The party finishes clearing out the prison area on level 6, mostly by being constantly interrupted by wandering monster checks while they're trying to do stuff.
Party Members
- Verasha - Level 5 Druid
- Pipam the Younger - Level 5 Thief
- von Plarf - Level 3 Elf
- Zoltan - Level 4 Dwarf
- "Rusty" the Talasum - Level 4 Fighter
Followers
Jaro (Verasha's war boar); Grub (Verasha's other war boar); Alois (Porter and Cook); Walter of Potsdam (Man-at-Arms); Tatana (Woman-at-Arms); Baba Tonka (a brown bear); Bluey (War Dog)
Session Recap
After 5 weeks of downtime, spent preparing the party return once more to the prison sub-level on level 6, determined to explore the two final doors they hadn't been through (well they saw what was behind one of them, but didn't want to bother with it at the time).
Beyond the door in the northern part of the dungeon, they found....another door! And a pair of suspicious looking iron statues in the forms of prison guards (hooded faces and menacing looking spiked clubs in hand). With their recent encounters with animated statues, the party decided to test these guys out. They did not seem to respond to being roped, toppled over or even dragged out of their little alcoves.
Satisfied the party went ahead with the extremely noisy task of using hammers and spikes and crowbars to break apart the statues just in case they do animate once the door they were guarding is open. However the noise kept attracting the weirder denizens of the sublevel, the party having to constantly stop, pelt with arrows/flasks of Sunfire an array of orange jellies, gelatinous cubes, thouls and carrion crawlers.
However, finally, with the statues dismembered (taking off an arm and a leg off of each) Pipam the Younger went to the last unknown door to attempt and open it. The door was locked, as expected, and so the thief settled into try and get the lock picked which...took her close to an hour of failing and retrying. Eventually the lock clicked, her picklocks turned and with that she and Zoltan the dwarf could hear the faint sound of snakes hissing beyond the door.
Calling out to whoever was in there, they only heard muffled and incoherent shouts back. Exercising caution, they used a mirror and one of their Continual Light enchanted coins that power their lanterns now, to check what was in beyond the door.
Cracking the door slightly, chucking in the coin and looking into the mirror they do, in fact, see a Meduza - a mass of snakes adorned with a woman's face. This one appeared gaunt and starved, and clearly not used to seeing light as the coin made her lose her shit once more. The party quickly slammed and locked the door again.
Beyond the door in the northern part of the dungeon, they found....another door! And a pair of suspicious looking iron statues in the forms of prison guards (hooded faces and menacing looking spiked clubs in hand). With their recent encounters with animated statues, the party decided to test these guys out. They did not seem to respond to being roped, toppled over or even dragged out of their little alcoves.
Satisfied the party went ahead with the extremely noisy task of using hammers and spikes and crowbars to break apart the statues just in case they do animate once the door they were guarding is open. However the noise kept attracting the weirder denizens of the sublevel, the party having to constantly stop, pelt with arrows/flasks of Sunfire an array of orange jellies, gelatinous cubes, thouls and carrion crawlers.
However, finally, with the statues dismembered (taking off an arm and a leg off of each) Pipam the Younger went to the last unknown door to attempt and open it. The door was locked, as expected, and so the thief settled into try and get the lock picked which...took her close to an hour of failing and retrying. Eventually the lock clicked, her picklocks turned and with that she and Zoltan the dwarf could hear the faint sound of snakes hissing beyond the door.
Calling out to whoever was in there, they only heard muffled and incoherent shouts back. Exercising caution, they used a mirror and one of their Continual Light enchanted coins that power their lanterns now, to check what was in beyond the door.
Cracking the door slightly, chucking in the coin and looking into the mirror they do, in fact, see a Meduza - a mass of snakes adorned with a woman's face. This one appeared gaunt and starved, and clearly not used to seeing light as the coin made her lose her shit once more. The party quickly slammed and locked the door again.
 |
| The last prisoner left in the prison. |
Nobody was eager to get petrified by looking at her or try and fight her only to have one of her many, many snakes poison them. So the group devised a plan to make the creature petrify itself with its visage.
Before that though they went and cleared out the four crystalline statues in the room they were trying to get into last session, finding that unfortunately there was nothing else of interest in there except the guardian statues themselves, and a trapped false bottom of a wardrobe that was guarding nothing but dust.
Recruiting a gaggle of the sturdier Talasum and going to level 5, where they took down the large mirrors they found in one of the rooms there, and began the slow and meticulous process of getting those dragged to the prison. Several talasum did end up killed by the various nasties in the dungeon while doing so, but eventually the party had set up a series of mirrors right outside the door of the prisoner.
Von Plarf was positioned at the end of the series of hallways, armed with a hand mirror and a wand of paralysis as a plan B, while Pipam the Younger took off her armor and equipment, approached the door and, after picking the lock open again, swung it open and ran back as fast as possible.
Soon the Meduza had apparently realized her cell had been opened, and ran out, the party hearing the thunk! and shatter of a mirror being knocked over and falling on the ground, before the approaching hissing and shouting got cut abruptly silent.
Carefully approaching behind the bend, the group found the poor being petrified by her own visage in one of the mirrors, although despite being now entirely made of stone they could still hear the ghostly echoes of snakes hissing and muffled shouting. Clearly the being was cursed in some way, and the group decided to decapitate the statue and break it apart, finally putting her out of her misery for good.
In her cell the group discovered an absurdly large horde of jewelry, the personal possessions of the meduza and with those, along with the parts of the now silent statue, the group returned back up to their manor.
The manor construction efforts were making good progress, with the fortified first floor now completely done, and the wooden timber frames for the second floor being up too. However with the approach of the holiday season, and the celebrations of the Sun Lord's Ascension that marks the beginning of the new year, the party might need to wait for a bit longer before their laborers are willing to finish the building.
Before that though they went and cleared out the four crystalline statues in the room they were trying to get into last session, finding that unfortunately there was nothing else of interest in there except the guardian statues themselves, and a trapped false bottom of a wardrobe that was guarding nothing but dust.
Recruiting a gaggle of the sturdier Talasum and going to level 5, where they took down the large mirrors they found in one of the rooms there, and began the slow and meticulous process of getting those dragged to the prison. Several talasum did end up killed by the various nasties in the dungeon while doing so, but eventually the party had set up a series of mirrors right outside the door of the prisoner.
Von Plarf was positioned at the end of the series of hallways, armed with a hand mirror and a wand of paralysis as a plan B, while Pipam the Younger took off her armor and equipment, approached the door and, after picking the lock open again, swung it open and ran back as fast as possible.
Soon the Meduza had apparently realized her cell had been opened, and ran out, the party hearing the thunk! and shatter of a mirror being knocked over and falling on the ground, before the approaching hissing and shouting got cut abruptly silent.
Carefully approaching behind the bend, the group found the poor being petrified by her own visage in one of the mirrors, although despite being now entirely made of stone they could still hear the ghostly echoes of snakes hissing and muffled shouting. Clearly the being was cursed in some way, and the group decided to decapitate the statue and break it apart, finally putting her out of her misery for good.
In her cell the group discovered an absurdly large horde of jewelry, the personal possessions of the meduza and with those, along with the parts of the now silent statue, the group returned back up to their manor.
The manor construction efforts were making good progress, with the fortified first floor now completely done, and the wooden timber frames for the second floor being up too. However with the approach of the holiday season, and the celebrations of the Sun Lord's Ascension that marks the beginning of the new year, the party might need to wait for a bit longer before their laborers are willing to finish the building.
GM Observations
So, this was a rather short session mostly focused on fights, of all things. With the prison section of level 6 being occupied by unintelligent and actively hostile creatures like slimes and undead, it really does not offer much in the way of interaction with enemies besides just killing them. A definite issue in the last two sessions, I noticed.
I personally enjoyed the plans the players had for dealing with the iron statues and the meduza. The statues are explicitly written that they only move to stop people if they try and open the door, but not in self defense. So the party simply took them to the side, broke them apart and while, yes, they did animate as Pipam opened the door, all they could do was mostly just....flail around uselessly as the party finished them off.
Lining the hallway leading out of the cell with giant mirrors was also a good plan and even more so, one utilizing a seemingly irrelevant room feature in an upper dungeon floor. However there is no such thing as an irrelevant feature, as anything that exists in the dungeon is subject to being used in creative ways, such as this!
This game is winding down no, with me travelling soon, but it has been an enjoyable and relatively low stress thing focusing on just the one single dungeon. Plus repairing and reestablishing the fortified manor on top is an excellent long term goal which leaves a notable mark on the land. And while I will likely not be returning my campaign to this specific part of the setting for a while (unless I continue this one of course), it brings me at least satisfaction to know that the manor is there.
I personally enjoyed the plans the players had for dealing with the iron statues and the meduza. The statues are explicitly written that they only move to stop people if they try and open the door, but not in self defense. So the party simply took them to the side, broke them apart and while, yes, they did animate as Pipam opened the door, all they could do was mostly just....flail around uselessly as the party finished them off.
Lining the hallway leading out of the cell with giant mirrors was also a good plan and even more so, one utilizing a seemingly irrelevant room feature in an upper dungeon floor. However there is no such thing as an irrelevant feature, as anything that exists in the dungeon is subject to being used in creative ways, such as this!
This game is winding down no, with me travelling soon, but it has been an enjoyable and relatively low stress thing focusing on just the one single dungeon. Plus repairing and reestablishing the fortified manor on top is an excellent long term goal which leaves a notable mark on the land. And while I will likely not be returning my campaign to this specific part of the setting for a while (unless I continue this one of course), it brings me at least satisfaction to know that the manor is there.
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