H, Smallfang and Arno make their way across the mold and slime covered rope bridge that leads further into the caves carved into the mountain behind Diderius's complex. They have recently lost one of their companions, Lithariel, who had met her death inside the bone boulder inside the complex.
Moving through the narrow tunnels, they find themselves in a larger cave which is well kept and smoothly hewn out of the rock. It seems to be a shrine to some sort of snake deity. A large statue of a snake occupies one wall while an old suit of armor is crumpled upon the ground near another wall. As H tries, without success, to open the locked door at the other end, the group notices that the opposite end of the room is writhing with small snakes coming out of the many small cracks in the wall.
The Meditation Chamber 4,600 XP Smallfang and Arno try a few magical spells to dispel the multitude of snakes but the continue to enter the room. A vast number of the snakes seek refuge from the damage inflicted by the adventurers within the decrepit suit of armor. The armor begins to move with the snakes inside and soon rises to its feet. The suit of armor begins to attack them. Bullets, swords and many types of magic seem to not hamper the moving suit of armor, as the many snakes killed are simply replaced by more snakes entering the room and slithering up inside the suit of armor.
The noise of battle is heard by two prisoners of the Yuan-ti. Bishop, a gnome whom the adventurers have come across before and an elf, Yethaniel are imprisoned in a small cave with only a small barred window on the door to look out of. To short to look out the window, Bishop simply waits as Yethaniel is unable to spot anything outside the door. Turning to mist, Yethaniel begins to move through the cave complex seeking out the source of the battle noise.
Along the way she spots several yuan-ti and lizardfolk. They off course do not notice him as she moves across the floor as a thin veil of mist. Finally, she spots the groups battle with the snake animated armor and returns to the prison area where she discovers both her's and Bishops belongings. Returning to Bishop, she presents him with his equipment and creates a portal to step through. The exit the prison cell and enter the battle.
The extra help is needed as the sound of battle has also attracted several lizard folk and a yuan-ti. The battle is hard fought but finally won. Trying to find a way out of the room, H begins again in earnest to try and unlock the door barring their way. Smallfang, who is still imbued with the magical knowledge of the universe rattling around inside his head, tries to recall how to pick the lock. He begins to recite a litany of facts regarding the make of the door and lock, and when he finally comes to the mechanics of the locking tumbler system, H is able to utilize this to unlock the door.
Yethaniel, uses her necromancy to raise the numerous dead lizardfolk into a small entourage that leds the way. Yethaniel takes a moment to probe the minds of one of the dead lizardfolk. He sees flashes of images:
watching the cultists move into the complex looking for the divination pool
watching as Varram tries to use the pool but the pool reveals nothing, until Varram begins sacrificing some of his own cultist members. As the blood spills into the pool the dwarf peers into the pool and is enraged at whatever he sees
images of battle as the yuan-ti surprise the cultists and kill the remaining members and capture Varram
MetaGame Spoiler Inside
(DM Note: I really enjoyed being able to fill in some of the backstory as to what happened using the dead lizardfolk. It's not often I get to relate what has happened "behind the scenes" in some of the story lines.)
The Yuan-Ti Sleeping Quarters 3,300 XP
Moving through the corridors they find themselves in a darkened room where the floor is covered in dozens of circular holes. Smallfang decides to peer down one of the holes and discovers that there is a sleeping yuan-ti, a snake like creature, sleeping within. This is how they sleep. The group debates as to the best course, while H simply sits down to have a pull at his flask.
Bishop, bravely steps out and begins to walk across the room to the door on the far side. Unfortunately, the gnomes heavy armor begins to make its usual metallic racket and the group steps back into the shadows of the corridor. A snakelike head appears out of one of the sleeping holes and blearily looks around. After not seeing anything, the head descends once again.
It is decided that Yethaniel will cast flying on Smallfang, while the gnomes ride along on his shoulders. The others will make their way across the room using light steps, luck and courage.
Travelling down the next set of corridors the adventurers move to towards the sounds of draconic speech coming from a far room. As they turn the corner they encounter two lizardfolk who, upon seeing the group, set off at a run into the next room.
A few of the group try to stop the two lizardfolk before they can escape to warn others. H fires but one of his guns misfires. Smallfang throws one of his javelins but the lizardfolk continues to run, albeit a little worse. The group pursues. Yuan-Ti Temple 9,300 XP
Rounding the corner they enter a large ornate temple. There they see several yuan-ti and lizardfolk. Near a large shrine in the form of a head of a python looming large over a dais, the leader yuan-ti holds a knife to the neck of a dwarf.
The dwarf is clothed in tattered purple robes. He is clearly the dragon cultist, Varram The White.
The lead yuan-ti asks the group if they are a part of the "desecrators" that were led by this dwarf. They tell the yuan-ti that they are not but they wish to have the dwarf.
The negotiations are short lived. The group begins the killing. The battle is long and hard. H spends his time moving to vantage points in order to keep out of harms way but still be able to fire upon the enemies. Bishop conjures a wall of wind to protect himself and H, while still allowing H to fire through the wall.
Arno uses his trusted cloud of daggers to great effectiveness. Yethaniel commands his army of undead lizardfolk and the group watches as the lizardfolk have to kill their own. Smallfang, with Arno still astride his shoulders approaches the main yuan-ti and the two battle. It is fortunate that Arno is atop Smallfang as he succumbs to the fear spell that the yuan-ti try to ensnare the group with. Smallfang tries his best to keep Arno from seeing the yuan-ti in order for the gnome to be any use.
At one point Arno is hit into unconsciousness and has to be revived by his friend Smallfang. Finally the room is littered with the dead and they now have Varram at their swords end. He begs for his life. He is willing to give all the information he has about the cult in exchange for his release. He cannot return to the cult as Severin will certainly kill him for his losing the White Dragon Mask. He tells them:
The cult is now ready and is probably already started the ritual to bring Tiamat into this world
The amount of treasure is not as much as they had hoped for (thanks to this group)
They will have to offer more sacrifices as well as sacrifice some of their dragons, which were raised for just this eventuality
The lack of the White Dragon Mask will also make the ritual more difficult.
All the group has to do is interrupt the ritual long enough that the portal will fail.
If Tiamat comes through all is not necessarily lost. She will be weakened by any failing in the ritual and hopefully can be overcome.
The group listens and notes everything Varram tells them. Then they kill him.
They travel back to Boareskyr Bridge and find themselves back at Bolo's Tentside Inn. There they encounter the Ward, a member of the Order Of The Obsidian Dagger. He seems confused and troubled. Upon questioning, it would seem that he in in possession of the White Dragon Mask but cannot remember why he has it or how he came to have it.
The group doesn't care. They take it from him and he leaves, probably to wander aimlessly for what ever remains of his days.
Arno and Smallfang puzzle over their new find and, after testing out the fit on H, that is has some amazing properties:
it can absorb cold damage
it adds to your armor
probably gives you some sort of dragon breath attack
allows you to understand, but not speak, draconic
probably gives you some sort of Legendary Resistance
and.....probably more but they're not sure.
MetaGame Spoiler Inside
(DM Note: I only thought about this after the evening was over. No one searched ANY room for loot. That's unusual for this group.)
Dusk falls upon the group as they approach the ruins of a settlement at the base of an ancient temple. H begins preparing the defenses for his horse drawn cart while Smallfang accompanies Arno as the gnome begins the ritual to prepare Leomund's Tiny Hut for the groups rest. Before Arno is able to complete the ritual two trolls come out of the trees, grab Arno and jump down into an ancient sewer pulling the rusted grate closed behind them.
MetaGame Spoiler Inside
(DM Note: Arno's player had to go to a party. Briefly thought about killing Arno out of spite, but then came to my senses. This was just a way of dealing with Arno's absence. At no time was there any harm done to any gnomes during this game.)
The Abduction Of Arno
Smallfang rushes to the spot where the trolls took Arno into the sewer. Lifting the old grate, he peers down into the deep and dark shaft. Even with his newly crafted ability for darkvision he cannot see the trolls, his friend Arno or the bottom. He calls to the others for aid. H rushes to the side of Smallfang but his normal human vision is no further help. H grabs a nearby rock and drops it down the shaft. He counts for what seems a very long time until he hears the faint splash from far below.
Meanwhile, Lithareal has taken to exploring the ruins. First she transforms into an eagle to view the area from above. The area is old and ruined. Ancient buildings are no more than rubble outlines of walls, sometimes even just the remnants of stone foundations. She lands and walks towards a cave like entrance which lies in the mountain above a rocky landing some thirty feet above the ground. As she walks towards the landing, she passes before two large stone statues old and crumbling. They come alive as the elf approaches and even with portions of their carved human bodies missing they address the elf, asking the intentions of the new visitor. "Diderious extends wisdom and Diderious offers knowledge. Which do you seek?"
Lithareal responds defiantly, "Who are you and who is Diderious?"
The statues turn their heads down in disappointment and do not converse with Lithareal further. The elf climbs a ladder, conveniently left in place at the foot of the landing and climbs up. Before being able to explore further she hears the loud whistle of H's and returns to the group. There she finds that Arno has been taken and quickly decides to pursue. Pulling 50 feet of rope from her pack, throwing one end to Smallfang and tossing the rest down the shaft, Lithareal rappels down. Smallfang braces for the wait, and H jumps to grab on as well, but there is no resistance. Lithareal is unable to get a grasp on the rope and plunges down the shaft. Thirty feet of shaft fly by, and in a panic Lithareal transforms into a spider to protect herself from the fall.
Unfortunately, it is a giant spider, which is too large for the shaft and the creature becomes wedged facing upwards, feet reaching skyward and unable to move. She tries wiggling, trashing and finally spinning web, which simply results in a splat of webbing against the side of the shaft, all without any resulting freedom. Finally she transforms back into an elf, grabbing the rope and is hauled back to the surface by Smallfang and H. Seemingly unable to pursue, the group decides to seek out other possibilities of rescue from within the temple.
The Watchful Statues
They approach the landing, briefly explored by Lithareal, passing in front of the two statues, as Lithareal did before. The statues move to life again and speak the same question. Lithareal pipes up again with the same question to their question and Smallfang simply shrugs. H begins to drawl irreverently and the statues again move their heads down in disappointment. Moving on the group climbs the ladder and comes to the entrance of the temple carved into the mountain.
The entrance is beautifully and intricately carved with depictions of past heroes and ominous future visions. Smallfang glances along some of these and exclaims, "Hey, I think this is my dad!"
They pass into a passageway, moving away from the dying light outside. The corridor is lined with three large statues on each side. Each a hooded figure holding a staff, looking downwards, their faces hidden by their cowls. As Smallfang and H, now holding a torch, approach a statue to inspect further they note the dozens, if not hundreds, of bones scattered along the floor.
The statues move and Smallfang and H both look up into the rising face still hidden in shadow. They both feel the rush of magic as their minds try to grasp the multitude of knowledge that pours into them. Smallfang feels elated and for a moment seems to know everything. All secrets. All knowledge. After the initial rush, he is able to retain, at least temporarily, much of this knowledge and he is quick to answer most of the groups questions with ease for the next long while.
H has not fared so well with the onslaught of knowledge. He is drooling, babbling and wandering aimlessly. Lithareal who up to this point had been examining the carvings on the wall has missed what had occurred with the statues and now sees H as a babbling idiot. He tries to use remove curse to help H but to no avail. Smallfang simply lifts up H and carries him cradled in his arms while Litharael removes H's weapons from his hands. They move through the remaining corridor and into the next room.
The Mosaic Chamber
They enter a beautifully tiled room. The walls, floor and ceiling all depicting various scenes in a mosaic of brightly colored tiles. They see a warrior wielding a sword against a chimera and a large and yellow colored sun which appears in the middle of one of the walls. H finally coming to his senses takes his weapon back, at gunpoint, from the elf and retrieves his torch. Litharael, without pause or inspection opens one the doors in the room.
The doors lead to a darkened room in the middle of which is a large pit. Dropping down a magically lit torch, Lithareal watches as the torch dwindles in sight and finally coming to rest, some 60 feet below in water. The pit is ringed with a large patch of mushrooms which are the color of fresh blood. Lithareal collects up several of these in a a bucket which was nearby on a long thin chain. H takes the chain from the bucket. (never know when a chain might come in handy). Along the wall there is a small ramp, at the top of which is a small basin with a plug at the bottom. Lithareal experiments with the lever near the basin and it would seem the lever controls the plug.
H moves up the basin and begins to relieve his bladder into the basin. Once finished, throws the lever ad watches his used water drain down below the basin and the group hears his urine flow through some sort of piping from within the walls. H asks is anyone else has to use the facilities and when no one takes him up on the offer, shrugs and they return to the mosaic room.
As they return to the chamber, H catches movement out of the corner of his eyes. It looked like the tile image of the chimera had moved. Just as H is puzzling over this, the chimera pulls itself off of the wall and attacks. The group quickly finds the battle easier when attacking the side of the chimera, since it is made of tiles, it is hard to hit when directly facing it. Soon the room is filled with the sounds of clacking, moving tiles as well as the sounds of smashing and breaking of tiles as the group soon finishes off the mosaic chimera.
As they catch their breath, some of them notice that some of the tiles have moved of their own accord, one the broken tiles mending itself. The group moves quickly to scatter and stow several of the tiles and decide to quickly move on.
Boulders of Stone and Bone
Lithareal rushes to the large double doors at one end of the room. The doors are covered in copper engravings of several priests surrounding a pool, kneeling and raising their hands upwards with a larger priest at the top. The doors are quite obviously buckled in towards the room the group is currently in. The hinges broken and barely holding on. Lithareal pulls them open.
Opening the doors unleashes an avalanche of boulders, rocks and other rubble which sends the two doors flying across the room. Lithareal is badly hurt and half buried under the rubble. Smallfang and H are injured but not grievously. Smallfang begins to pull rocks off of Lithareal until the elf can stand again. It would seem that the passage way beyond the double doors is impassable. Looking for other passages the group begins inspecting the walls and H finds a passageway concealed behind the large mosaic sun.
MetaGame Spoiler Inside
(DM Note: Note to self: Try not to remove so much Fog Of War that it shows secrets doors! So stupid!)
As they enter the descending passageway behind the rotated sun, the move single file down towards the bottom. As they do, they hear the clatter of what they will soon realize is hundreds of bones and bone shards collecting into a large bone boulder. The bone boulder is hoisted by itself, using the multitude of hands, feet and arms that are incorporated into the boulder, into the passageway and begins to propel itself towards the trio. Smallfang and H are able to run and make it to just outside the mouth of the passage and take only minimal damage as the boulder passes them.
Lithareal though who is behind the others, is grabbed by the multitude of skeletal hands and is pulled inside of the bone boulder, her body slashed and pierced by the sharp bones.The boulder picks up speed as it descends, with the elf now trapped inside, until is smashes upon the opposite wall of the room at the bottom of the passage. Lithareal is smashed against the wall and lies unmoving and unbreathing. Smallfang who had watched in amazement rushes to the dead body and lays his healing paladin hands upon the elf, reviving her.
Throne Room Antechamber
Once everyone is back on their feet again, they inspect the room. The room is richly adorned with tapestries hanging on the walls and the room is filled with the scent of incense. The group inspects the tapestries and each depict various stories or situations but common between them is the presence of priests using a divination pool to direct people who have come seeking assistance. Each of the seekers of knowledge are kneeling in supplication with their hands raised above their heads.
As the group moves to richly adorned doors, H kneels in the pose that is depicted again and again in the tapestries. The door opens and no harm comes to the group.
MetaGame Spoiler Inside
(DM Note: Nice catch H. Wasn't sure if anyone was going to get that.)
The Throne Room
Just have to picture him sitting on a massive throne
The enter a room which holds a dais upon which sits a massive throne. The dais is carved out of stone to look like a cloud and sitting on the throne is a massive human male. Easily seven feet tall, the figure does not move when the group enters. He simply looks at them and tells them that if they are seeking the wisdom or knowledge of Diderius, they must leave a tribute.
At the massive figure's feet are the offerings of centuries of individuals or groups who have come seeking the help of Diderius. A huge treasure hoard is before the group. Gold. Silver. Platinum. Weapons. Potions. Scrolls. Trinkets and Personal Items.
Smallfang is intrigued by more than a few items. He inspects a particularly fascinating potion, which with his newly found encyclopedic knowledge, he knows to be a potion of fire breathing. In the meantime, H pulls out one of his handmade bullets and reverently places it at the foot of the dais. The figure nods solemnly at H. Smallfang sighs and places a page torn from his precious prayer book. Lithareal takes a moment to decide, finally placing one of her swords down among the treasure.
The group begins to ask all of their questions which they are seeking answers to but the figure stops them, telling them that Diderius will answer their questions at the Pool of Divination. He turns and gestures with his look towards a door off the the side.
The group moves through the door and up a small set of stairs. They can hear talking, arguing and laughing. Entering the room, they see five hooded figures in filthy clothes playing at dice on a massive and ornate marble table. When the group approaches them, they realize the hooded figures are actually bearded devils. The devils like to gamble. Unfortunately, so does H.
A Twisted Contest
After each side tries their best to deceive one another with loaded dice and marked cards, the devils propose a contest of skill. The one to come closest to the elf, without hitting her, wins. Surprisingly, Lithareal bravely steps to the wall and waits, as one of the devils pulls two massive daggers out and H pulls out his guns.
H, without hestating, fires two shots. The explosion of his guns echoing throughout the chamber. When the gunsmoke clears there are two holes in the wall near Lithareal's head. The elf simply looks bored. The devil then throws his two daggers, the daggers go straight at Lithareal's head and only with a bit of magic, Lithareal is able to deflect the daggers to the side.
Shrugging sheepishly and smiling a wicked smile, the devil's conceit defeat. The offered assistance to the group and they now debate how to best fulfill their vague promise. They offer knowledge of a great collection of treasure which lies in the room off one end of this chamber but warn that others had gone there and none had returned. They suggest if the group wishes to live then they should just admit their shortcomings and avoid the room. Reinforcing their advice, is the fact that scrawled in chalk on the wall beside the exit to this room is the word '?DAnGeR'. The devils also tell the group that they have been sworn to stay here and kill anyone exiting the other door. Their dwarven, cultist leader, Varram, had days ago went through that door, but has not yet returned. They are devils and have all the time in the world. Besides, when their job is done, they have to return to Avernus. They are in no rush to do that.
The group, decides for now, that their priority is finding their gnome friend, Arno. They move through the other door.
The Divination Pool
The room they enter is a large room with a huge basin at one end. Surrounding the basin are dozens of bodies. They range from old rotted corpses to freshly killed humans....in Cult Of The Dragon garb. There is no sign of the dwarf Varram but the walls here show signs of battle. Several arrows are stuck in the walls and some bodies.
The bodies though seem not to have died by arrows but each has had their throat cut and some are still lying half in the basin. The basin is no longer filled with water but there is a sheen of fluid which smells strongly of urine.
MetaGame Spoiler Inside
(DM Note: I briefly thought about having the divination pool work with urine instead of water....but no. That's just to weird.)
Lithareal, who by now cannot resist a door to open, moves to the massive double doors at one side of the chamber. The double doors are adorned with carvings, this time no longer depicting numerous priests but only one main priest who's hands are raised to the sky.
Inside the chamber they are welcomed by a warmly lit room with oil lamps already lit. The room holds a large sarcophagus sitting on a large and ornate pedestal. As Lithareal approaches, she hears a loud and strong voice issuing from the coffin. It says it knows why they have come and that their friend Arno can be found in the company of two trolls at the bottom of the well in the other room. H asks about the whereabouts of the dwarf Varram and the dragon mask. The voice says Varram is with the Yuan-Ti and he will show them the way.
With a loud rumbling sound of rock grating, a section of the wall on the other side of the room begins to lower showing a passageway beyond. The air emanating is hot and humid. The group is torn. They need to retrieve Arno first but they do not wish to battle the devils. By doubling back they will exit the door the devils warned them that they were told to kill anyone who exits. After much debate Smallfang and Litharael each ingest a potion of gaseous form. passing through the rubble strewn passage way that is the most direct route back to the well. H is left behind but he spends it trying to put the finishing touches on the firearm he has been trying to get to work.
The Rescue Of Arno
As they return to the well room in gaseous form they travel down the well until the enter the sewer system which soon leads them to a bound gnome, Arno. A little further down the sewer are the two trolls which are arguing on how to best divide up such a small meal.
MetaGame Spoiler Inside
(DM Note: Yay! Arno's player is back from the party!)
Returning to their normal form, they cut loose Arno and together they battle the trolls. They first try to send the trolls running with a command spell but only one troll temporarily flees. They are able to inflict much damage on the remaining troll before his companion, comes to his senses, returns. As they try to dodge claws and teeth they, together, hatch a plan.
Arno casts water breathing and Lithareal takes control of the vile sewer water and fills the passageway with water. As the trolls struggle within the water, the group grabs onto Litharael who transforms into a shark and pulls them quickly up and out of the sewer and back into the well room.
Unfortunately, the trolls have decided to pursue the group and they must fend off the trolls who are relying on their regeneration to aid them in their battle. Smallfang's sword helped in negating their much needed regeneration and the group is able to kill of the trolls.
Rushing to return to H and continue the pursuit of Varram the group moves swiftly along the familiar corridors. But perhaps to swiftly.
The Bone Boulder (Again)
MetaGame Spoiler Inside
(DM Note: All I have to say is....Really?!?)
Lithareal jumps back into the passageway in which he was earlier almost killed by the bone boulder trap. He runs into the passageway while Smallfang yells out a warning. Sensing it is already too late, Smallfang retreats into the well room, not wanting to be in the same room as the quickly collecting skeletal remains.
The boulder forms and begins rolling down and quickly grabs the elf again. This time as the bone boulder crashes into the far wall, the body of the elf is beyond healing. Smallfang and Arno soon follow along and sadly pick through the elf's belongings.
Finding H again, they have to explain the absence of the elf and H shrugs and they move on.
This time when Diderius moves the stone wall again for them, there are lizard folk and yuan-ti awaiting the group. They have to fight taking massive amounts of damage from the lizard folk's spears and the yuan-ti's arrows.
Finally, Smallfang has to abandon his favorite great sword, Hazirawn, pulling out his shield for extra protection. Finally swords and bullets prevail but the group is severely battered.
MetaGame Spoiler Inside
(DM Note: Isn't it nice to know then that everyone levels up. Hooray!)
Smallfang and Arno try a few magical spells to dispel the multitude of snakes but the continue to enter the room. A vast number of the snakes seek refuge from the damage inflicted by the adventurers within the decrepit suit of armor. The armor begins to move with the snakes inside and soon rises to its feet. The suit of armor begins to attack them. Bullets, swords and many types of magic seem to not hamper the moving suit of armor, as the many snakes killed are simply replaced by more snakes entering the room and slithering up inside the suit of armor.
