The Mouth of Doom: Session 39

General Summary

“The Mouth of Rooms”

Te’Leyuura and Vadim fell back to be able to provide assistance if the rest of the party became trapped between teleporters. The rest of the party buffed and went into (room 3) to fight shadows. Less than expected, only 3.
Experimented with the dials using Zetwuzadi’s wren-spirit to scout the destinations until it was covered that the north dial connected to (room 1) and a north branch of (room 9)
The south dial connected to a southern branch of (room 9), and a previously unseen room (5) that had two dials in it.
Returned to (room 4) to continue charting out the southern dial with the wren-spirit, arrived at (room 8) to be immediately attacked. Before it was discorporated, Zetwuzadi was able to see through its eyes that the assailants were large insects that the party guessed to be more giant ants (shortly thereafter proved correct), and that there were three more teleportation dials in the room. The teleportation destination had a nest built up around it, and it was obvious that the ants had learned ‘food’ appeared in that exact spot and were ready to receive it. Had it not been for the scouting of the spirit, the ants would have easily had the party by surprise. The ants were tough, with stingers and grappling mandibles, but eventually each one was put down, with Artem’s arrow being the killing blow each time. The ants were found to be branded, similar to livestock, with a symbol that invoked the Master. Of the three dials in the large, but otherwise featureless room, only two were operational. The third dial appeared unfinished, and radiated no magic. With the tressym-spirit and the wren-spirit in slumber, Ansible recalled her cat-spirit from her Pact-vessel, and Misha continued the teleportation scouting. The west dial was determined to travel only to (room 5), and the east dial revealed two more destinations: another ‘junction’ room (6) that was featureless except for two dials, one in the north and one of the south of the room, both pointed north; and a room (11) that had two dials facing each other in the west and east, with an area of green bubbles between them at the far side of the room. The bubbles did not react to Misha’s presence in any discernible way, and the spirit reported that the room smelled bad and unnatural.
After discussing which way they wanted to try next, the party opted to go deal with the room previously determined by Erukoesk to contain spiders. The room (2) was choked with restraining webs that made movement difficult and fire ill-advised. Hidden amongst the dense webbing were two massive spiders that descended upon the party, biting with venomous fangs. After putting down the spiders (also branded?) and taking time to carefully clear away the webs, the two teleportation dials were uncovered, along with the bodies of two bugbears that were weeks-old, desiccated from being fed on, and wearing attire similar to other Greznek goblinoids they had seen previously. It was determined that the north dial went only back to the first room (room 1) while the south dial returned to (room 4) and advanced to a large room (7) that had ten incredibly life-like statues in it that looked like a mule, a minstrel, (I forget the rest) with two carrying a chest between them. There was some deliberation about what sort of creatures or spells could turn living people into stone, and what sort of countermeasures the group could bring to bear, but ultimately it was determined that reverting petrification was currently out of their scope. Some further investigation through Familiar and Steed senses revealed that the most likely source for this petrification was the result of a Prismatic Spray, and so the risk of the party becoming petrified themselves was low. Entering the room, Ansible was able to peer through the chest with her Ghostly Gaze to see that there was a sizable number of coins… and also that all of the stone figures were indeed petrified people, as she could discern all of their calcified inner workings.

Report Date

10 Jul 2021