Still day 236 (1st of Fireseek CY 577)
As the guards came from the south, they continue along the corridor that went east that Room 133 branched off from. Turn 1 gets them out into the corridor at a good clip, 2/6, NRE [14:20]. On the second turn of movement, they reach a south-west passage that Dounil said matched the map for the north-east going passage from Room 125. They finish the turn at the door to Room 149, where they just avoid rolling any encounters and Dounil steps on the pit trap and drops, taking 1 damage from 10 feet, HP 17 -> 16. Celest asks if he can climb up but Dounil can’t, worst, the pit begins to flood. Dounil must cast Levitate to escape, which he does. Though this was all observed from the spyhole in the door and now there is no surprise chance against the guards.
Feeling wet, sore and irritated, Dounil is the one to throw open the door to Room 149 and the pair face 14-armed men, arranged in two rows. The heroes are not surprised, and I rule the guards prepared their actions so go first.
R1, Celest is missed by one point by a javelin from the front rank, who change to swords after throwing. Dounil is missed by one point by two crossbow bolts. Breaking on their armour and shields. One of the leaders’ javelins hits Celest, doing 2 damage, HP 14 -> 12. Dounil does 4 HD damage with his sword Fray, battering away at the line. Celest does none, reeling. Their main attacks though do 2 and 4 HD damage respectively, Dounil focusing on getting to the leaders and Celest hewing at the guards. 8 guards are dead and a leader goes from HD 3 -> 1.
R2, the guards here don’t even get to check morale because the pair go first, Dounil finishes off the remaining guards, cancelling out Celest’s Fray as she is below the HD level of the leaders. Dounil finishes off the wounded leader and Celest does in the other. A bandage and riffle through the pockets and weapon racks find nothing except money, they will have to cart this stuff back to the cleric chamber for testing later. Two bronze medallions with a raised triangle (20gp x 2), 12sp 64ep, 16gp and 6pp. HP 16 -> 17 and 12 -> 14, the random encounter is 10, which is the patrol from this room and so discounted, 3/6 [14:30].
On a hunch, Dounil looks at the three doors, one in the southwest of the door they came in and one in the north-west corner, going north. He opens the southern one and edges along the corridor, as there was a lip around the other trap. After 20 feet (counts as half movement) he stops bac onto the middle. Going to the door beyond takes 2 turns but he establishes the door opens into the ghoul area they cleared, Celest probes the floor with her feet, finding the floor trap on the third turn and allowing them to cross it and rest 1/6 [15:10].
They advance north but find themselves going west, Celest points out the corridor that branches south 30 feet along ends in a slanted wall. They investigate and Dounil finds the secret door and shortcut. Back to the corridor where they just were. They also ee a north-west diagonal passage and follow that, 4/6 [15:40].
Unfortunately, 10 feet along in that passage, they find 4 ghouls, which they had hoped they had all slain. The heroes are surprised. Fortunately, their magic armour and shields lowers their AC so far, the ghouls can’t hit.
R1, the heroes go first, Dounil’s Fray misses but in total they do 8 HD, just enough to wipe out the ghouls. One has 5gp.
More of a brief encounter that will be deducted next time they have an odd-minute rest. Another turn of movement, rest and movement again up the corridor brings them to a junction and an encounter with 5 gnolls. The gnolls are complaining the temple seems dead and disappointed in the offer made by the fire temple below. But neither of the pair understand gnoll or know they came via the back entrance to level 2. No surprise for either. Heros in initiative.
R1, the Heroes do 6 HD, slaying 3 of the gnolls outright. The last gnoll passes morale and screams a cackling battle cry as it charges to break through. It does not hit.
R2, Celest kills it and now everyone knows they are here 3/10 rounds 1/6 turns [16:10]. Elmo left 10 minutes ago, so they are either going to have to walk home in the dark or sleep in the temple.
To see if there is a safe sleeping area, the move slowly west into Room 152, spending half the turn advancing and down the steps. They see the turnkey and the bugbear torturing the victim and the screams do drown out their footsteps (roll of 3). They have surprise.
SR, their Fray wounds the bugbear HD 3 -> 1, as they focus their attacks on the turnkey, slaying him.
R1, Celest kills the bugbear.
This and the half a turn of movement neatly cover 10 minutes of time and so I’ll just add a turn to the counter 3/6 [16:30], no random encounters come to assist.
There is the victim on the rack, a man. Two women in cell a, and two orcs in cell b.
By the light of the charcoal brazier, Celest busies herself with looting and freeing the man on the rack while Dounil interrogates the rescued captives. Celest finds a bronze ring with a triangular setting of jet (50gp), 5sp, 1ep, 23 gp, 1 pp, a rock crystal (50gp) and a lump in the turnkey’s surcoat which is she needs to cut, turning out to be four tourmalines (100gp x 4).
The women are local country folk, (I assume either Woodfolk or from Nulb) and want to go home, the orcs were just wandering monsters and say they will fight if it means getting revenge on the temple, being opposed to their lawful natures. Dounil has an idea, He asks the orcs if hy know anything about the temple and then he has an offer, the orcs sensing work and maybe loot, tell Dounil about the entrance below to the 2nd level, found in Room 153, just one further turn up.
Dounil though knows they need to get out of the dungeon. He offers the orcs all the weapons they and armour they can carry, if they abide by two terms: they will assist in escorting the party out of the temple and back to Nulb and they will immediately leave the Nulb area. If they refrain from attacking or robbing anyone on the way there or out, they will not be pursued or hindered by the pair. The orcs were hoping for fighting inside the temple, but as the alternative is to be left here, they agree. The pair rest to reset their time, NRE [16:40].
Escorting the rescued people, they must retrace their route to Room 149, where weapon racks are plentiful and then out. Dounil at the front, then the orcs, the humans and then Celest. Four turns to get to Room 149 and the wounded prevent them from moving above exploration speed. The humans are given a torch from the wall, though Dounil still has his bullseye lantern for colour vison work. This is obvious though and the pair quietly agree with the orc’s grumbling about losing their infravision.
On turn 3, as the heroes are explaining how to get around the pit trap on the floor, Celest is ambushed from behind (surprised) by 5 gnolls, who had travelled to the temple to join their brethren and found only bodies scattered about the place. No hit though from the flurry of throwing axes.
R1, amid the yelling and confusion as only Dounil, the man at arms and the orcs are armed (flail, battle axe and bastard sword) behind now the women. Celest, then the gnolls and then the rest go. Celest kills 1 gnoll. And the rest fail to hit her with axe or sword. Dounil decides he won’t push and fires off his spell Fray, killing another gnoll. The orcs shove the humans aside and charge, one hits and kills another gnoll.
R2, In the swirl of melee, Celest kills the remaining two gnolls. The orcs are disappointed to find no money but eagerly strap on more weapons with the gnolls’ belts, 3/6 [17:10].
Inside Room 149 the orcs help themselves to chainmail, shields and fold even more weapons and armour into bundles they tie with belts to the spears. Now encumbered, they still all move only as fast as the wounded man. It will take 5 turns to leave the level and get into the main temple. The party must rest in the corridor on the western side, leaving 3 more turns to go [17:40].
It is 3/6 [18:10] when they reach the surface. There have been no random encounters. Two turns to exit the grounds and confirm there is no Elmo or horses, NRE [18:30]. Only a large owl which flies away when it sees them. The pair hope it’s Elmo’s owl from the brigand attack. The party rest outside the walls and the half-elves and orcs fan out to avoid the torchlight.
It is [18:40] when they reach Nulb, and it is dark and cold. They tell the orcs the bargain is fulfilled, and they are free to do s they wish elsewhere. The orcs leave; happy they can return with loot and their lives. The humans are taken to Mother Screng, who fusses about payment but winks at the pair for their good deeds.
Otis and Elmo ae happy to see them, the owl was indeed Elmo’s animal companion. As for the payment, the heroes tell him of the immense fortune they left in a locked iron chest and a room of evil luxuries.
What they brought with them was the Ring of Shooting Stars, two bronze medallions with a raised triangle (20gp x 2), 17sp 65ep, 39gp and 7pp, a bronze ring with a triangular setting of jet (50gp), a rock crystal (50gp) and four tourmalines (100gp x 4). The Platinum pieces and 30 gold pieces cover Elmo’s daily fee. And he said he will hep them move the chest at no charge. They quietly toast toe death of the Earth temple for hopefully forever. As they know the apprentice is Nulb snitch.
The total monster and magic treasure XP since the attack in Nulb is 263 FXP and 251 MUXP. At the current rate, the characters gain 125 Solo XP for every 2000 XP won in the base module. Treasure wise, they bought with them only 52FXP and 50MUXP.
Day 237 (2nd of Fireseek CY 577)
They spend another 4sp and 46ep the next morning for the bill of the night before, everyone knows their money is good in Nulb, though many worry about more retaliation from the temple.
As they ride for the temple, they debate yet more logistics. Elmo is having his horse pull Otis’s cart, which he is renting out for another 10gp a day as a cover. They grumble it’s an expensive cover. The party hope to clear and gather than material of the floor, then Detect Magic on it all to see what is worth. Elmo thinks they will crash the market in second-hand weapons by next Needlefast. Once they come up, Elmo will return with them to load the chest and spare furniture onto the cart. Though he may need to hitch all three horses to it at the description of what they left behind.
Arriving, they unhitch the cart at the foot of the temple side doors and Elmo says yet another goodbye.
The pair make their way down the left-hand stairs and beeline for the jails and where the passage to level 2 is supposedly located. It will take them about 2 hours of careful movement, going from [9:30] to [11:30], with two resting turns. At [10:10] they have a random encounter in the north-going corridor approaching the door going north-east towards Room 149. Five ghouls, still coming out of the nooks and crannies of the temple even though there are no ghasts to lead them. They surprise the party at 70 feet distance.
SR, the ghouls advance and attack, it’s three against 2 in the 10-foot corridor but none hit.
R1, Celest then the ghouls then Dounil. Celest kills 3 ghouls. The back two surge forward and fail to hit either, Dounil kills 1 and wounds the other, HD 2 -> 1.
R2, Celest goes first and ghoul goes last, ghoul is killed but her sword Fray as she side-steps. They find 22gp.
Moving with great care as they pass partly up the corridor that serves as the jail, they duck into the noted corridor and after a long passage find themselves resting at the top of a spiral staircase. They want to thoroughly explore what was left and check if the jail cells house prisoners, so they retrace their steps, moving silently in a vain attempt to not alert anyone to their metal-shod feet. It takes 30 minutes and 3 turns to reach cell c and f [11:00], NRE x 3.
Seeing 3 prisoners in cell c while cell f is empty, they whisper to them, but the prisoners don’t move. When checking the door, they find it is not locked. Upon opening the door, the prisoners suddenly roll over, Celest swears and the dead faces that yet still move as the 3 zombies stumble to their feet. Dounil says to be careful, he knows from bitter experience zombies care more dangerous than one might think. Good thing they always go last in initiative.
R1, while the zombies take half damage from sharp weapons, Celest’s 2 HD of Fray damage wounds 1 HD 2 -> 1. The AC of 8 means even’s awful roll of 2, modified to a 6 hits them. Half of 8 HD of damage is enough to destroy 2 of them. The zombie hits with might but fails to get through Dounil’s AC.
R2, Celest’s sword Fray catches the zombie as it stumbles back and destroys it. A search fins nothing.
Next turn they find a bound gnome in cell e (locked) and two more cells with three prisoners curled up in each. Recognising a pattern, they ready themselves and open cellblock b and then a, triggering two fights one after the other.
Cell b, round 1, Their use of magic for their Fray to get around the half sharp weapons damage rule hits a snag where Dounil’s Fray fizzles, but they do 2 HD after their main sword attacks, destroying one of the 3 zombies. The zombies fail to hit.
Round 2, magical Fray and then swords destroy the remaining two.
Cell a, round 1, magic Fray and swords destroy all zombies, nothing is found on any bodies.
There are no random encounters, but since the fighting and the searching has taken 10 minutes of time from the ghouls to now, I am going to tack on a turn to the tracker and say they must rest here [12:30], NRE.
The door to the gnome’s cell is locked. But the heroes have the key. The turnkey’s key is never mentioned in the text as being on him in Room 152 or in his possessions in Room 151. So, I assume it was on his person and was looted last session. Removing the gag let’s loose a rush of thanks and words. This gnome was Wonnilon and he is an adventurer of the fighting persuasion and was captured while exploring the temple. They took his gear and he would be willing to serve with any fellows who could assist him in replacing or finding said gear. For an equal shar of the treasure of course.
Dounil and Celest asset the options. This is another body to assist them with their expedition, but they already must pay for two lots of training apiece and have been slowed down in the past by having to carry fellows who proved to be untrustworthy or slow (in-universe reasoning for why it’s taken them so long to level up). They decide to be Neutral Good about it; they offer to recover his gear with no strings attached. Then he can roam and hunt treasure to his heart’s content, as they have cleared out many foes here. But Celest warns him if they are not back in 2 hours, he should make his escape.
Celest explains as they round the corridor, out of earshot, that that is to stop him finding the chest. They pause at the junction with a door to the north and south. They go north into Room 146 and the turn ends before they turn west down the second set of stairs down, 1/6 [12:40] NRE.
As they step down the stairs and onto the floor, the whole floor and part of the wall tip forward, as they combine weigh more than 100 pounds. Dounil takes 1 damage, HP 17 -> 16, Celest takes none as she was cushioned by Dounil. They are attacked by 24 giant rats and neither get their shield or Dexterity bonus, making Dounil’s AC 2 and Celest’s AC also 2. They also lose initiative. Of the 12 which attack Dounil, 1 hit and no damage. Same for Celest and neither infected. On their turn, Dounil’s misses, but his wild swings kill 4 rats, and Celest’s more deliberate swings kill 12.
R2, as another 24 giant rats emerge (out of a total of 144), the heroes regain their shield and Dexterity AC bonuses. They also win initiative; 14 giant rats die and 18 attack. None hit as they need 20s to do so. It takes 11 rounds in total to slay all the giant rats, with Dounil’s HP being 6 Celest’s HP being 9. Dounil had to defy death twice. Dounil casts levitate to get himself out of the pit and first takes Celest’s bags then uses rope to haul her to the lip.
The rest of the time till [13:00] is spent bandaging and scraping the disgusting bloody mush off their boots with their swords, 4/6 NRE x2. They don’t even try and search the wider room. They just stump up the stairs, avoiding the noxious pit, Dounil’s HP 6 -> 8 and Celest’s HP 9 -> 11. Celest must take first in the lineup for the future. Shoving their way into Room 147, they encounter the three bugbear gaolers. The heroes are of course, surprised.
SR, Celest is hit twice but Dounil is not, HP 11 -> 8.
R1, heroes go first, Dounil gets a few swings with his sword Fray but Celest takes revenge with magic and sword, killing 1 bugbear and wounding another HD 3 -> 2. Bugbears miss.
R2, Bugbears go first and hit Celest for 1 damage, HP 8 -> 7. The pair kill them back. While Celest heals, Dounil searches the bodies; 45sp, 42ep and 30gp altogether. The remaining three minutes are spent on the random encounter, as brigands open the door to check if anyone is still alive on the level, no one is surprised.
R1, heroes go first, as they slam into the 7 brigands and level 2 leader. 5 HD of damage kills the leader and 3 brigands. The brigands fail their morale and begin to back off, offer terms that they saw nothing. Celest is out for blood though and Dounil is happy to fight humans with normal HD. No brigand hits.
R2, the pair go first and kill them all. The looting rounds out the turn and they find 55gp, 4/6 [13:10].
After bandaging, HP 7 -> 9, they move into the large processional chamber that is Room 148, they can seem the triangles on the floor even in the dark. They decide to head the other way, turning right to the west after heading south, resting 10 feet down the corridor, [13:30] NRE x 2. Another turn of moving south allows Dounil to draw a line on his map through to the bend that came after Room 149, 1/6 [13:45]. They keep going south-west to reach the junction leading up to the prison cells, 2/6 [13:55], NRE x 2.
Returning to Wonnilon, he asks if they found his gear. They have not and he said the turnkey took it. The description of his gear does not match what they took off the turnkey yesterday, so he must have stashed it somewhere. Wonnilon said he the turnkey came up from the south when he appeared. That matches the torture room in Room 152, but there was no office there. Dounil stares at the map, OSE permits roll under saves for ability scores and I decide that passing on for intelligence (roll of 8 out of 13) clues Dounil into there being a larger than normal blank space between this corridor and one off in Room 148. It would touch the top or bottom corridors though, so he spends 1 turn search cell a. This is it’s because it is the narrowest point. Celest searches cell c as the turnkey comes from that direction. The description of the eastern cells says after careful inspection, they find the tiny slit of the spy hole and the metallic sound of the cover, 3/6 [14:05] NRE.
The know the hidden area is the length of the cells, so they star with the southern wall first. Not finding anything on the first 2 10 spaces, they move onto the next. Celest would rather Defy Death to escape this puzzle, the first time this day so she rolls d4s and loses 2 HP, HP 9 -> 7. Therefore, they find the secret door 4/6, NRE [14:15].
It takes 3 turns to search Room 151 and a turn of rest, 2/6 [14:55] Unfortunately, they are ambushed by 5 gnolls investigating if anything remained on this level or they should go home.
SR, the gnolls miss with their throwing axes.
R1, the heroes charge in and kill 3 gnolls, the remaining two pass morale and fail to hit.
R3, Dounil goes first, killing 1 gnoll and wounding the other. That gnolls fails morale and flees, pursued by Celest, who uses her magic Fray to kill it at range. Two more minutes are spent arguing on whether they explore below or the processional chamber. They agree to do either option after they have healed, 3/6 with the left-over time to round up to [15:00].
They find the turnkey’s chest, which is opened with the keys, and they take the contents for themselves, as Wonnilon said to find his equipment, which is nearby. They do wonder if this was his money, but they decide to return it to him if he proclaims his money was lost. He does not, only become enthused at the sight of his equipment. He is quite happy to hear about the wine, and food rations also present, saying he’ll move the bodies, so it looks like the pair fought outside in the corridor and reseal up the secret passage. He does not mention the money even then.
The haul from the chest is: 411cp, 151sp, 90ep, 55gp, 27pp, and a small wooden box with two potions.
The heroes bid farewell and move quickly towards their past haul in Room 137. They move at triple speed, not advisable after a day where foes could have shuffled around or come wandering in. I roll twice on the wandering monster tables for the three turns it takes to reach their treasure pile with a rest on the way, NRE x 7 [15:40]. Putting down the potions, Dounil stands back and casts Detect Magic. The bevy of light excites them both. Chain mail + 2, mace + 1, battle axe +1, 3 potions of healing (though one is in the chest brought from Room 136), a potion of speed and a scroll of two cleric spells (animate dead and prayer).
The battle axe is used to smash open the lock from the wooden chest from Room 316, though Dounil tries not to let it break the inside contents. They decide they should probably go via Hommlet tomorrow; they might be rich enough to level up and anyway they need to liquidate so much furniture and jewellery.
They pile the magical items, gold and jewellery into the chest. Dounil’s casting of magic disc means they can make a run for it at triple speed but at double encounter rolls. None happen, 4/6 [15:50]. They put the chest in the wagon and signal to Elmo with a wave. They discuss with Elmo the possibility of going back for more, He’s willing to give them an hour more but no longer. They rest and at [16:00] descend back for to Room 136. At [16:40] the pair arrive back at the furniture pile; they use the rope from the Room 136 chest to sling the bullseye lantern and the linen around the brasswood stick and hang the lamps from the brass stand. Each carried lengthways across the shoulders. The rugs maybe later. This turns out to be even more awkward than the chest would be as they must travel in single file and stop to rest. It is [17:30] when they reach the wagon and Elmo is not impressed by the haul, he still must bring the horses around and hitch them, luckily there were no random encounters below but as the wagon is hitched a cry ring out.
11 bandits are out, maybe raiding, maybe trying to convey a message to the clerics below, but they see the wagon and move to intercept. They are surprised and 120 feet away.
SR, Celest unslings her bow and nocks an arrow. Dounil advances 60 feet.
R1, Celest first, Dounil last. Celest fires, her failed Fray means her shot was not spectacular enough to kill multiple people, but she kills a bandit with her main attack. Four bandits fire at each with their light crossbows and none hit, the leaders advance to attack Dounil, both miss. Dounil uses his sword Fray on the second in command who is level 3 and directs him main attack at the level 5 leader. He wounds the second, HD 3 -> 2 and the leader HD 5 -> 1.
R2, Celest goes first again, her bow Fray only killing another bandit. Dounil cuts down the second in command as a narrative casualty of his duel with the leader, who he kills. The bandits pass morale and fight on, none hit Celest or Dounil.
R4, Celest, bandits and Dounil. Celest kills 2 bandits, no bandit hits anything and Dounil charges forward to kill the rest.
After all of that, they beat a hasty retreat towards Nulb, hoping they encounter nothing on the roads, they do not. 11pp covers the ranger brothers’ fees. The XP from going and monsters slain is 372FXP and 355MUXP.
