Recap from 4/1/2011
Taleth the Ranger managed to successfully follow the werewolf tracks to their den and we gathered up some copper and silver pieces they had stashed in their lair. Coupled with the loot from the Ketch’s lair it was a reasonable amount of coinage, but overall pretty disappointing since we had to turn back without even reaching the Labyrinth of Zingalis. When we got back to Medea’s Gate, we dropped off Rena with a doctor and used the loot we had gathered to buy healing potions. Then we went to the Dominion’s local guild house and traded Shadaar’s traveling spellbook that we found in the Barrow Mound of Gravemoor for some magic items. It contained three 5
th level and one 6
th level wizard spells (mostly having to do with summoning and binding demons) so it was worth quite a bit of cash. We never sold it thinking we could use it one day but realized it would be better to sell it to purchase more magic items for the group. Taleth got a +2 longsword that was +3 against giants (handy for a ranger) and a matching set of +1 Banded Mail with a +3 shield. This improved his AC quite a bit making him a much better front line fighter and the sword gave him quite a bit more punch in melee as well. We also acquired a ring of Telekinesis (50 pounds) and gave it to Gradwyn, another magical sword that we gave to Naas the Elven Magic User/Thief and a few other potions that we handed out to the other party members.
Thus re-equipped we provisioned up and got ready to set off for the tower once again. We asked Brummbar the Dwarven Cleric to accompany us because our other clerics weren’t feeling well. We had no trouble making it to the tower this time and went back in through the smashed gate and the Cyclops’ old lair behind the secret door. We went down the hallway past the summoning or transmuting circle on the floor and made a point to stay to the left of it, lest we get turned into goats or worse. Since we were badly in need of loot at this point, having been to the tower many times before and come out almost empty handed, we decided to focus this expedition on finding the treasure that we knew had to be there. Lucias had a potion of treasure finding and decided that now was a good a time as any to use it, since we knew that the Horned Devils we had fought on our previous visit had to have a lair and loot in the complex somewhere. It showed the strongest reading straight ahead of us through one of the doors at the end of the hallway and a couple of other indications of treasure in a few other directions that weren’t as strong.
We opened the door and went in. The room was empty except for what looked to be a manhole cover sized trap door on the rear of the floor of the room. It was surrounded by three sets of arrows inscribed on the floor that were all pointing to the hatch and there were also Brimahri runes carved into the floor around it as well. The spellcasters translated the runes to read “TARP”. This was odd because their was a similar warning also written in Brimbahri on the floor next to the summoning circle in the hallway but that one said “TRAP”. So we figured that either the laughing mage had a sense of humor or he was dyslexic and accidentally inscribed the wrong letters on the floor unless it was some sort of trick or even an anagram for trap. Since the crazy wizard’s ham had given us a pleasant surprise on the last visit, we assumed it was some sort of whacky joke or something. Taleth used the Chime of Opening to open the trap door and sure enough, there was a tarp inside the hold covering a mound of treasure!
We gathered up the loot from the lair of the Horned Devils and kept exploring the complex. We went back into the hallway and opened the next door which was next to the one we had just opened. In this room was another oubliette in the floor with a grate over it and as we walked up to it to have a look, a giant snake like creature with a dragon’s head slithered out of a gap in the wall above the grate and attacked! This was obviously one of Zingalis’ crazy abominable creations. There was a brief combat and the group managed to slay the creature and found more treasure in its hidey hole over the grate. There was also a statue of Zingalis in another corner of the room. Upon further investigation, it appeared to have grooves in the floor where it had been previously moved. Lucias grabbed a hold of it and pulled it sideways and it slid to one side revealing a small hidden compartment under it carved into the floor. The compartment also held a small amount of treasure. We gathered up the coinage and continued to search the room.
One of the adventurers found a secret door in one corner which led into a small room. Inside the room was a chest and three barrels. Naas started checking out the chest and the rest of the group went back into the other room in case it was trapped to explode or something. As we were milling about shooting the breeze, we were surprised to hear Naas exclaim, "what the…" and then we heard a loud thud! When we turned around and looked into the room, he was invoking a spell and cast a magic missile on the chest! We were surprised by this and it took us a little while to realize that the chest wasn’t a chest at all but was a Mimic, and that one of his hands was stuck to the “chest” while he cast the spell on it with the other one. The group belatedly came to his aid and attacked the sticky chest shaped monster and eventually, Lucias killed it with a fierce blow from his sword. Right before it died it said “wait, I’m willing to negotiate” and then its guts were spattered all over the wall behind it in a gooey mess.
We found a little bit more loot in one of the barrels and decided to rest up for the evening and that’s where we called the session. We started out saying we were going to focus on finding loot and we managed to find a decent amount of it for a change including a magical broadsword that was under the “TARP”. We still aren’t sure what to make of the laughing mage – his insidious traps killed two of our comrades but so far he does appear to have an odd sense of humor. Between the baked ham reward for opening the double doors and the beware of “TARP” warning, we were starting to see why he was called the Laughing Mage.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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