The date is Thursday, 29th June
Continue exploring. Link a main passage back to the hexagonal fountain chamber.
Unlike the marble-clad boulevards, this passage is bare rock and unlined. Row upon row of grave niches fills the walls, containing skeletal remains, dusty with age. Everything has clearly been ransacked. Nothing stirs but a few cockroaches.
Find an area of fresh blood and sewage. Hear guttural voices chanting.
Fyren uses his magic helm to try and understand but it's too quiet yet. Spot some large humanoid foot tracks. Sneak forward. Find a room of sarcophagi and some horrible creatures chanting "
We must serve Sazayaza, he gives us flesh to eat". A couple of them are very hefty indeed.
Burst in and a massive brawl breaks out. We swiftly kill them all, without really knowing what kind of creatures they were. Just as the dust settles, some
strange serpentine creatures with tentacles and beaks appear crawling along the ceiling, attracted by the carnage. These are both swiftly quelled though
Tinnan takes a nasty hit in the process.
We pause for a breather before resuming our exploration. We soon find another room full of chanting humanoids. Again we burst in and unleash hell. In the aftermath, we hear the sounds of more creatures approaching so we brace ourselves. It's more of the same strange humanoids. We hold them in the corridor and grind our way through them.
We continue exploring a network of tunnels until we hear whispering ahead.
Fyren's helm lets him realise they are saying they can smell something coming. Another lengthy tunnel battle ensues.
This chamber has been paved, and more care and attention have been lavished on it than the passages.
We rest.
Continue exploring back up the main corridor to the fountain room and beyond, up a long featureless corridor which finally reaches an archway to a chamber. A spiral staircase descends indefinitely. We leave it for the time being.
Return to the fountain room, and explore the final main corridor. Soon find a side passage - skilfully crafted, with clean, sleek lines, no joins are visible.
This leads to a T-junction with stairs going up one side and down on the other. We explore upwards. Strangely, heading downward meets up at the same place. Something very weird is going on, perhaps an illusion or something? We spend some time investigating but are somewhat baffled until
Tinnan uses his dwarven eye for detail to suggest the "flat" areas are actually sloping down gently. So it makes sense after all.
The passage zig-zags onwards before opening into a triangular room. It features an archway filled with opaque smoke, with gives a magical aura of abjuration and transmutation.
The walls are embossed with images of an old man on an eight-legged horse racing a frost giant on a horse with a golden mane. There are other depictions of the giant. Fyren is reminded of a myth about a race involving Odin against a giant.
The runes say "A Duergar's strength is more than arms.".
Tinnan tries to step through but discovers it to be solid.
Fyren uses a scroll of Knock to open it.
We continue along until a huge blob of green slime lands on
Chi (our lead scout).
Fyren sizzles it with a fire bolt.
Head onwards down very long, very straight corridors with only 90-degree turns, but no junctions or features. It eventually ends in a square room with an identical arch to the triangular room.
Each wall in this room depicts a giant. One strides the icy wastes, one stands in a lake of fire, one sits on the clouds of the heavens, and the last ploughs the earth.
"A Duergar's hardiness is uncovered."
The door is again impassable. We have no more Knock scrolls. We try and smash it down to no avail. Try various ways to interpret what we assume to be a clue, culminating in
Tinnan stripping naked! Amazingly he was able to step through! We are able to pass all his gear through, except his shield. The rest of us are all able to pass through once we remove our armour and shields.
We suspect the first door would have stopped us from bringing weapons in if we hadn't used Knock.
Leaving our armour and shields behind, we proceed further. Finally arrive at another room - hexagonal, with a smoky archway.
Each of the walls of this room depicts a different scene: A golden crown above a throne. A large boat with sails, on endless waters. A golden spear. A great golden boar trotting through the valleys. A golden ring dripping drops of gold. A mighty hammer wielded by a mighty warrior. Chi recalls legends about dwarven smiths who made weapons for the gods.
"A Duergar's craft is far from magical."
This time we realise we need to leave any magical items (even potions and scrolls) behind before we can pass through.
Still, we proceed. Another room.
The walls of this room depict eight battles. The dwarves are victorious and gather the spoils of war.
"A Duergar's riches are in his kin."
We take the hint, leave our coins and gems and are able to continue. We think we are finally at the central room, wondering what all the protections were in aid of.
Four large statues dominate this room. On the floor in crimson is the symbol of the Valknut. Part of the wall depicts the underworld ruled by Hel, another part shows Odin in Valhalla surrounded by the Valkyre. Another part shows Folkvang ruled by Freya and the final part shows some strange underwater world ruled by a half-humanoid aquatic creature.
Fyren recalls Valknut means "knot of those fallen in battle" and symbolises the brotherhood of warriors and the interconnectedness of life and death. It is also related to Odin's power to bind and unbind and to bring the dead back to life. The aquatic creature is the giantess Ran who looks over those who die in the sea.
We pause for an hour, spending it in prayer and contemplation. We then leave, collecting all our stuff on the way.
However, when we reach the door we bypassed with Knock we find we are unable to take any weapons through. We are forced to leave them behind.
Tinnan needs to find something to fight with. Again
Fyren's scroll collection comes to the rescue. He goes through the arch, picks up all the weapons and then uses Misty Step to bypass the barrier.
With that, we resume our exploration. The final main corridor becomes a bridge within a huge cavern, with running water down below. Blue light comes from a huge cluster of crystals.
Chi jumps down. A
giant, armoured, six-legged creature wanders the crystals, feeding on massive fungi that it delicately picks in its great claws. Its massive tail, curved over its back, ends in a spearlike barb. Its armour glows iridescent in the crystal light.
We decide to ignore the scorpion.
Looking downstream we spot another area upstream.
Chi wades through the stream to investigate but gets attacked by fish. There also seems to be a huge colony of strange
fishy humanoids.
We opt to retreat and return to the tomb protected by the stone lion. We apologetically engage it in combat. We blast it to pieces.
We immediately pushed open the door to the tomb beyond and press on in. A lightning bolt trap zaps us. That doesn't discourage us and we continue to the tomb.
Here lies
Vishnah Coalheart, founder of
Faern-Ol-Endar, sorceress, the scourge of the Gothi. We crack open the lid and retrieve some (magical) loot.
Here Endeth Season One of the Midgard Campaign.
