The Proving Grounds

Mar 14, 2015

PCs present:
Osirian Silvertongue
Zaya
Fluffy
'Boy'
and introducing 'Erdrich'

W8 - Hall of the Howling Pillars
1,750 XP

Cool, but as columns not very structural

After resting following the water tasting adventure the previous day, the group decides to retrieve the items necessary to perform the ritual to open the door to the 'Inner Sanctum'.  They decide to tackle the room to the south first.

Entering the room the group is excited to see a room with pillars made from random body parts intertwined and all the while moaning and reaching.  They rightly deduce that staying away from the pillars is an important safety tip, unfortunately there is not enough room to avoid the first spray of acid that covers most of the group.  It is then that carnage demons emerge from the pillars throughout the room.

Battling the carnage demons while trying to avoid the pillars proves difficult at first but Osirian casts his 'Scathing Rebuke' and now can move among the demons without fearing any attacks will do any damage.  The group also finds a small area where the pillars effects cannot reach them.  It is then that the barlgura appears and finds certain party members separated from the main group and starts to seriously damage them.

After defeating the demons and the barlgura the group still has to contend with the pillars and find themselves variously grabbed, teleported radomlly and burned with acid.  'Boy' discovers the foretold bell at an altar near which the barlgura appeared from.  After the party hotly debates whether or not he should try to ring the bell.  Finally 'Boy' rings the bell only to have spikes emerging from the handle skewer through his hands.

(DM Note: Had the group discovered the bell which is the 'Bell Of Fury's Calling' and rang it before all the monsters where defeated they would have found themselves flying into a fit of rage and given bonuses to their attacks while receiving minuses to their defenses.  An interesting twist that never happened.  Oh well.)

Leaving the room seems to puzzle the group temporarily until Osirian decides to just run for it.  He manages to evade any attacks from the pillars but when Zaya decides to try the same tactic she gets sprayed with acid.  One by one the group finally emerges from the room without too much wear.

W7 - Hall of the Crimson Whip
1,250 XP

The group then decides to tackle the room to the west.  There they discover a room with 2 large pools of blood with large minotaur statues in the middle of each.  There on the far side they see the knife the need to retrieve.  Unfortunately, it is in to pieces on opposite sides on the far side of the room.

Osirian decides to lasso the nearest minotaur statue and anchors the other end to a nearby statue to make a rope bridge to cross hand over hand to the base of the large statue.  Unfortunately, as he tries to cross the statue awakens and begins to move and attack, while root to it's base.  Dropping into the blood pool Osirian makes it across with the help of the fighter, Erdrich.  Erdrich is in fact instrumental in helping both Osirian and Zaya cross and return from the pools of blood, while 'Boy' and Fluffy remain safely on dry ground attacking from afar.

The group discovers that the blood pools conceal 3 carnage demons within it's depths.  While Zaya easily crosses the pools and is able to retrieve the pieces of the dagger, she is constantly hit by the far side minotaur statue and is repeatedly hit and thrown into the blood pool where she has to contend with a carnage demon.  Once she has both pieces and puts them together the blood pools start to churn and large waves make it difficult to make it back to the exit.  Only with the combination of 'Wild Step' and the assistance of Erdrich, Zaya is able to make it back.

Also  thanks to Erdrich, Osirian is able to return to the exit by a well placed halfling toss.  The group is able to leave the room somewhat more bloodied (in the literal sense).

W6 - Hall Of Enforced Introspection
1,250 XP

Moving on to the last room to the north, the group enters a room curtained off by thick velvet curtains.  Moving the curtains aside they discover a clean empty room, save for  numerous mirrors scattered throughout the room.  Erdrich enters the room and sees his reflection in the mirror in front of him, only his reflection is sickly and weak.  Erdrich immediately feels the draining effects of this mirror and he is damaged.

The others enter the room while careful to stare at only the ground at their feet.  Finding it difficult to navigate the room, effectively blind the walk until they encounter walls.  Osirian boldly runs into the room without guarding his eyes.  He immediately catches a glimpse of one of the mirrors which only shows a shimmering reflection.  He then finds himself in a small bright room in which his only companion is an insane gnoll.

Seeing his mentor teleported away, 'Boy' immediately approaches the same mirror and now finds himself in the same room beside Osirian.

(DM Note: They have discovered the Oubliette Of The Empty Mind which I interpreted as a sort of alternative dream-like dimension.  Overly bright white with physical properties that aren't quite real.

Zaya moves along the wall she has found and travels along it still staring at her feet.  She soon hears shuffling and then sees skeletal feet in front of hers.  She is being attacked by 2 boneshard skeletons and being damaged by their necrotic scimitars.  Eventually, she realizes she must look up in order to minimize the damage they are inflicting on her, only to find herself pulled into the nearest mirror and teleported to the same room beside the now battling Osirian, 'Boy', and the gnoll.  The trapped group handily defeats the gibbering insane gnoll and begins to inspect their prison.  They can find nothing of interest or help.  Osirian decides to try and break his way out by striking the walls only to find that any damage he seems to do, vanishes when he inspects it.

That leaves only Erdrich who alone must battle the skeletons after he finishes destroying the mirror in front of him that had injured him.  Eventually he is able to defeat both skeletons and moves along the wall blindly until he reaches the inner altar protected from the mirrors by another heavy curtain,

There he finds a mask and a minotaur sized hand (hoof?) print in the center of the altar.  After being coached by some inner voices, he decides to lay his hand in the indentation and his teammates appear beside him at the altar.  Wondering if the enchanted mirrors have been deactivated, Fluffy stares at the nearest mirror teleported to the far side of the room back near the entrance and feeling a fair bit of damage.  As the rest of the group removes the curtains surrounding the altar they move under its cover back towards the entrance.

Fluffy on the other hand has other ideas.  He sees the skeletons and their scimitars which so quickly damaged Zaya with their necrotic damage.  He decides to retrieve them....only to glimpse a mirror which teleports him back into the prison.

Having to backtrack Osirian returns to the altar carefully and releases Fluffy from the prison.  They both look into the mirror which just recently transported Fluffy to the other side of the room to have the same thing happen this time.  They find themselves emerging from the mirror nearest the entrance safe if a little more damaged from the teleport.  But before leaving Fluffy is insistent on gaining a scimitar (or two) only to find they are just plain, non-magical, scimitars that are coated in a rotting necrotic ooze which is quickly dripping off of it.  Disappointed, he tosses them back on the floor and the part leaves this room......never looking back.

W9 - Proving Grounds
1,800 XP

Having finally obtaining the four necessary magical items to perform the ceremony to open the door to the Inner Sanctum the party returns to the Proving Grounds complex and discusses their strategy.  Osirian rightly guesses that the Proving Grounds is where each one of them will be tested in their separate rooms where they must place the items on the circle or runes.  After preparing, the group readies their items of each of the circles and at the countdown and go from Osirian they place down their items simultaneously.

As they do so the entire complex bursts to life and the group hears a thunderous dragon's roar.

Zaya, is in the Temple to Baphomet and the small minotaur statues roar to life shake her to her core forcing her to run into the inner circle with the thought of fleeing the complex.  She quickly regains her senses only to find herself being chased by a Doom Sphere which ball of black force energy which in its relentless course moves over Zaya and inflicting a lot of damage and leaves her lying on the ground.

Erdrich is in the room with broken minotaur statues and when his item is placed on the circle 2 crossbow turrents drop from the ceiling and begin to fire upon him.

Fluffy and 'Boy' are in the room with the pools and as they place their item, an Elemental Vortex emerges from the blue pool and attacks them.  Fluffy, using his dwarven greaves, he is able avoid being grabbed by the elemental.  'Boy' on the other hand is grabbed and hurt badly.  Fluffy rightly senses that attacking with 'Wrath Of Winter' would give advantage over a water elemental and successfully lands an attack.  Temporarily frozen the elemental cannot attack and the two use the opportunity to flee the room.

This is what happens when you don't clean up the bodies after a battle.

Osirian is in the room with several skeletons chained to the wall and as he places his item, the skeletons begin to stir back to life.  Casting his 'Scathing Rebuke' again the skeletons who have low Will are unable to inflict any damage to the halfling.  Feeling invulnerable Osirian strides out of the room to aid his companions.

Outside of each of their rooms finally, the find themselves in the inner rings of the complex and find themselves caught between the relentless circuit of the Doom Sphere and a Young Green Dragon which flies out of the large well in the center of the complex.  Pleased with finding a long awaited for sport and a meal, the dragon constantly flies by the group picking off separated PCs and inflicting poisonous bites and gouging claw gauges.

Zaya is bitten and has trouble shaking off the poison for several rounds and is scarily close to death at least a couple of times and has to use a Second Wind and relies on Fluffy for a couple of healing spells.  Erdrich is clawed at a few times as well and he too must rely on the aid of Fluffy to keep from dying.

Whenever the group comes together in order to be healed the dragon moves in and tries to use it's dragon breath on them.  Fortunately for the group, none of the dragon breath attacks does much damage.  Osirian tries to goad the dragon into a battle of wits and failing that tries to get it taunt it into coming closer but the dragon will have none of it.

The group finally finds their warrior spirits and very quickly, hit after hit, begin to take a toll upon the dragon and finally defeat it.  Erdrich who only had his one hammer for a ranged attack  and had already used it, ran by Fluffy who had proffered a crossbow as Erdrich moved on towards the dragon.  Erdrich took aim and fired into the damaged scales of the dragon.  Finding it's mark the bolt killed the dragon.  Unfortunately at the time of it's death, the dragon was overtop of the well from which it emerged and after dying it plummeted into the depths below


MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note:  the group had to survive at least 10 rounds and then the complex would have started to shut down and the dragon would retreat.  The group made it to round 9. It was very close and some of the group was very close to death a few times.)

After a whole evening of collecting up magical items only to have to use them up for a magical ceremony for which they are rewarded with almost dying.  The party was desperate to try and find some sort of treasure.  They were extremely disappointed the dragon died only to plummet back down a 100 foot deep well.  Zaya decided she would be lowered down the well on a rope by the others only to find herself in complete darkness about a quarter way down.  Osirian tossed down a torch to the bottom where Zaya commenced carving up the dragon for horns, teeth, scales and claws.
Looking farther in she noticed an adjoining natural cave and within, a small pile of treasure.  It was a collection of coins, gems and random fun and junk.
(everything from a lump of coal to an old game board and pieces)


MetaGame Spoiler Inside

(DM Note: the campaign book didn't specifically give any treasure for this complex but the group seemed so excited to defeat a dragon that actually felt like a challenge and were intent on finding it's treasure hoard. I quickly used a random treasure generator online and was super pleased everyone was excited over a small amount of loot and even random junk like board game and pieces. It was a fun gaming moment for me.)

The evening was an extended run.  I was happy we completed it but the night was long and the morning came soon so if I have mis-remembered things or forgotten cool things you want in here let me know or jot it down in the comments.