2024-03-16 Decay in the Labyrinth
Player Characters
- Malivette
- Balasar
- Furifuru
- Auri
- Tarhun
Summary
The party entered the Labyrinth from the west entrance in the Fariel Columns. They traveled right from the first intersection, following path 2430.
As they walked through a wide hallway, two colossal gelatinous cubes descended from the ceiling on either side of them, trapping them. They whaled on one cube and destroyed it before the green walls closed in, then kited and destroyed the other one.
There was a fork. The path back was 15056. The left path was 17155 and the right was 11310.
The PCs took 17155. Along the way, they found a door with a simple chess knight puzzle. Completing it, they moved on.
There was a fork. The path back was 1705. The left path was 11009 and the right path was 19726.
They took 11009, which led to a large cavernous dead-end chamber. An artifical platform ceiling was supported by three glass pillars, each of which contained a treasure suspended inside. Balasar supported the roof with wall of force and Malivette carried out one of the pillars intact, which he loaded onto the wagon for later use. The party smashed the other two and collected gold, a blue primal crystal, and an imaginary friend glove.
Returning to the fork, they took 19726. The path led to another dead-end cave, this time with stinking fungi that were decaying in piles of rot. Some kind of parasitic mold seemed to have infiltrated the mushrooms. Balasar and Malivette burned away the rotten mod, and Auri flew over to mage hand some gold from a skeleton.
They backtracked and took path 11310. They smelled decay ahead. A haphazard hallway contained a few barbed demons led by a nabassu, which devoured a soul before the PCs' eyes during the fight. Whenever the demons landed a blow on a party member, one of their rations rotted. The party sent the demons back to hell before losing much food.
There was a four-way fork. The path back was 3317, left was 1272, ahead was 14768, and right was 2265. They decided to night rest here, as they had traveled for a day.
While Auri, Furi, and Tarhun rested in one tiny hut and Balasar stayed in the other, Mal cooked dinner outside. A group of adventurers rushed out of the darkness, demanding that food. They had apparently been starving after losing all of their food to the Labyrinth's pervasive rot. Mal allowed the four travelers to eat the five partially-cooked meals, which they greedily devoured. Afterward, the two parties chatted.
Bolvin (M dwarf warrior) was rude to Malivette, forgetting his name and demanding information. Amelda (F human wizard), was kinder, saying that her party should return home to recover and regather rations. Bolvin felt insulted, and did not want to leave, as they would be "operating at a net loss" from the journey. He refused to leave without finding treasure.
After Mal calmed them down, Amelda conjured a third tiny hut and everyone settled down for a night rest.
Auri tried to feed Daedelus and made it a comfortable cloth nest. Daedelus was unsure how to respond.
During that night, Mimi (N gnome cleric) cast dispel magic on Balasar's hut. The male elf rogue snuck over to Balasar, and Malivette, who was keeping watch, cracked his whip in warning. The thief retreated to their hut and pretended like they didn't know what Mal was talking about as Mal warned him not to cause trouble. Mal then whipped the elf to accentuate the warning, and the thief whined loudly. Auri dispelled the other party's hut, and Bolvin barked at Mal for attacking. The situation escalated into a fight.
Furi overwhelmed the rogue with needles raised with animate objects.
Tarhun entranced the cleric and fighter with hypnotic pattern. Amelda awoke to find her comrades losing the fight, and demanded to know what was happening. Mal struggled to convince her that her allies attacked the PCs first over Bolvin's shouting to the contrary.
They knocked out the noisy Bolvin and convinced Amelda to leave. She carried them and their equipment away with floating disc, traveling toward the exit path Mal had given them. Mal also gave her the promised breakfast rations, and Amelda thanked him by handing over a green primal crystal they had looted somewhere.
The party took path 2265.
They came to a small ancient thri-kreen settlement with a statue. The statue read "Parvik, the one who bought time". In the buildings nearby was a journal telling about the hero. Upon speaking the text, a secret door opened. The chest behind it was held shut by an immovable rod, which turned out to be its treasure.
Continuing ahead, they found a four-armed insectoid skeleton. They translated a journal on its person, which contained warnings about strange fountains that could provide blessings or deadly punishments.
They came across two such fountains: one with a lantern sculpture, and one with a cloud shape carved in. True to the journal, Malivette drank from the cloud fountain, which boosted his lowest ability score by 2 permanently. The others sipped as well.
There was a fork. The path back was 1341. The path left was 8227, and the path right was 6975.
The PCs took path 6975. They passed through another room of putrid rotted mushrooms, incinerating the contents on the way.
They entered a room with a bas relief of ten thri-kreen commoners and a magically sealed door. Four stone golems came to life to fight. During the fight, the PCs noticed that varying numbers of the carvings would magically change to a cheering pose, indicating a score out of ten. After the fight, they continued to try different actions to narrow down the highest-scoring action. Tarhun activated a hindsight lens, which showed Bolvin frustratedly banging on his shield, which resulted in 8/10 of the carvings cheering. Finally, Malivette banged on his pots and pans like drums, which satisfied the test and opened the door. The disembodied sound of beating drums played to confirm that drumming was the intended action.
There was a fork. The path back was 10818, the left path was 18012, and the right path was 19995. They took the latter.
They came across another chamber with two fountains, each with a different stone sculpture: flowers or bats. Mal drank from the flowers and gained temporary hit points. Tarhun drank from the bats and managed to resist the poison.
Continuing, they came to a circular room with small side rooms. In the center was another thri-kreen statue, this one about Bak'la, the one who impressed the dragon. There was a relevant journal. Speaking the statue's phrase opened a secret chamber spiraling beneath it, where a simple stone chest held an ioun stone of absorption. Afterward, they followed the next path beyond the room.
There was a fork. The path back was 1991, the left path was 18265, and the right path was 9870.
They took 9870. The halls led again to a fountain, this one with a spear sculpture. Tarhun drank from it, and once again resisted its poison.
The party decided to halt their progress and return home, having spent a lot of time in the Labyrinth. They would resume the journey shortly in 2024-03-16 Demons in the Labyrinth.
Documents found
Comments