Inverted Ziggurats Report

General Summary

1489 DR - Autumn - 29, Nightal (12) - White Plume Mountain

• After facing a straining battle with the Vampire, the party takes another breather in the previously darkened room.
• After recovering, they argue about the best way to traverse the wooden disks over the mud geysers and settle on stringing a rope across after Llewellyn makes the daring leaps across again. She makes the trip across in a tense amount of jumping and not just a few slips and near misses, and secures a rope for the others to climbs. they are again lamasted by the exploding mud geysers, and suffer more burns from the scalding clay.
• Once back across they reunite with Xifor, and Lucyan hangs back to try and recover some of his stamina from the exertion.
• The crew heads south into a room with 9 hanging globes, arranged about in a square pattern. They enter the room and the door slams behind them, locked with only a keyhole.
• After testing the wires and glass and shaking them for some clues as to the contents, they break one and discover a key, unfortunately not the right one, and not an insignificant amount of treasure. This sparks their greed and they begin smashing the globes systematically, still wary for dangers.
• The globes unleash heaps of rewards, each bearing a fake key, but also some dangers, subjecting them to such dangers as a pack of shadows, an air elemental and a gray ooze, which they deal with handily.
• The one with the real key also bears a single ring, that speaks to the party in their heads, explaining it's immense power it grants. After a brief bullying discussion, Llewellyn claims the ring and dons it, planning to attune it later.
• The party then exits the room and travels back to the last fork where they assume the final artifact rests.
• They easily avoid a revealed pit trap since the water has been drained, but find themselves stuck at an immensely deadly trap made of copper plates that heats metal.
• Oudman braves the tunnel to assess the danger, being the toughest and healthiest, but arrives at the other side covered in third degree burns, his clothing ashes from burning away, and near death. He takes some time to try and heal while the crew comes up with another plan.
• The others remove all of their metal and place it in the bags of holding to travel the pathway, excepting only Llewellyn's new ring, which thoroughly burns her finger when crossing, almost burning it off if not for the quick healing provided by Huden.
• As the crew begins to pull out their gear from their bags, they are ambushed by a pack of ghouls, hungry for their flesh now shucked from their protective shells, and drive mad by the nicely roasted smell of Oudman's shanks.
• The ghouls take a reasonable bite out of the parties remaining health before being put down.
• They climb stairs out of the damp lower level, only to encounter another trapped room.  A long impossibly slick hallway is cut off by two deep pits filled with rusty razors at the beginning and end, and after some initial testing it appears that much magic doesn't function in this tunnel, including flying and other things.
• After attempting a few tricks and debating over many ways to transverse the tunnel, Yasen manages to thunderstep his way across and secure a grappling hook on the other side fired by Oudman.  They explore a nonsensical illusory wall that seemed to add to the confusion over how to get across and explains why nothing was catching.
• They stop behind the wall to take stock and plan for the next potentially deadly trap.

To be continued...

Campaign

The Chosen

Protagonists

Lucyan Kilndar

Level 12 Shadar-Kai Neutral Evil Druid
(Outlander)

79 / 79 HP

Xifor

Level 11 Tiefling-Abraxus (Mephistopheles, MTOF) Chaotic Evil Wizard/Forbidden Lore (COBW)
(Raised by Fiends (Raised by Evil, COE))

/ 54 HP

Yasen Luzar

Level 11 Aasimar CE Hexblade - Warlock
(Expropriated One)

60 / 74 HP

Oudman - Fonkle

Level 9 hobgoblin chaotic evil artificer alchemist
(styx-tuched)

/ 80 HP

Llewellyn

Level 8 Half-Elf (Moon) Chaotic Evil Horizon Walker (Ranger)
(Turncoat)

85 / 70 HP

Huden Golman

Level 7 hooman chaotic evil bard
(charlatan)

/ 38 HP

Report Date

31 Jul 2020