Darves Hill Sept 2012 Summary (Last Session)

 DH #58

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfCnl8J9IvQ

They started out on Level 4. They traveled through the rooms and they saw that many of the rooms were recently emptied of monsters… it felt empty and that somehow was worse. Francis the Frail returned to the group and reported the death of Martriss the Elf that was killed by the spreading Death Effect around the ruined town of Nahm. He also saw Gronn the one-eyed Giant/Ogre thing had survived and was possibly the cause of the death and destruction there. He had followed Francis to Darves Hill as well.

Kergil the Dark Dwarf looted all of Goddess’ potions from her temple. Two other Dark Dwarves decided to stay on with Blevins the Halfling as his retainers. The rest of the the Dark Dwarves fled to the mountains to the North.

The first stairway they came to on the 4^th level was covered in the skin of human slaves. This skin was actually the faces of the dead. As they stepped down them the faces muttered words and curses. On the middle of the stairwell one of the faces cast Sleep on them, and most of them tumbled down the stairs asleep.

Below the stairwell they found a room that was covered in silver discs that were nailed in the center. Kergil interrogated one of the faces and it said that the Sleegos made them, and that they shouldn’t touch them. Abraham touched the walls, and almost was petrified. The coins jingled and the sound passed down the hallway and into the distance. They assumed that this was a warning to those further in the dungeon.

The group decided to run down the hallway, but they found no one there waiting for them. They came to an area with massive hallways that were tall and wide who’s edges were not even visible. They saw evidence of more fighting, and assumed that the Withered Legion was here as well. Their skeleton foot prints were there in the dust.

The eerie silence of the dungeon began to disturb the members of Grunka’s Company. They then thought they heard the sound of small wings. Stinky the Quasit Demon returned… but it would not land on Cyr’s shoulders because of the girls possessing him and Targ.

The group started to feel waves of strange heat from the Hellfire pits that were starting to erode away the layers of the dungeon. As they would go further down they would find more and more of the lower levels being destroyed in this same fashion, as if Hell itself was encroaching up to the mortal world slowly but surely. They found a hole drilled down to the next level. In the process of lowering themselves down one of the Dark Dwarves fell and managed to survive the fall. Abraham died from the fall… but then his healing amulet popped and cured him of the damage instantly, though he was still very sore.

The Hellfire pits felt worse and just wrong on the lower levels. They felt like they were slowly being corrupted or perhaps getting sick when they were near to the edge of them. They came upon a disgusting corrupt green underground river and they felt that this river also went down to lower levels. They decided wisely to avoid the putrid river to find another stair down to the next lower level.

They went out of the way to investigate one of the side passages and they found hundreds of human slaves that were horrible slaughtered. Kergil cast Animate Dead and animated 6 skeletons to aid him and carry him like an Emperor.

An Otyugh was blocking and guarding the stairway down, and after a fireball and the onslaught of attacking skeletons the creature was no more. It took some effort to get around the burning carcass of the creature and then headed down to the next level. The group thought they heard The Withered Legion.

Two Wyverns attacked Percival since the rest of the group fled at the sound of the pit. Percival cast Pyrotechnics on Hellfire and horribly wounded the Wyverns. Percival died in the process. Another Otyugh was blocking the next stairwell down. Abraham died in the smoke inhalation from Francis’ Fireball spell killed the creature.

The group found some ancient Dwarven wrighting that he couldn’t read. Then they found a silver axe of Haste. They then heard the sounf of dying Wyverns. They heard cursing in Giant. They then heard bones breaking. They thought it might have been a Minotaur or Gronn.

Gronn the one-eyed giant/ogre was running towards the group and hit Cyr’s Protection from Evil spell that prevented the demon possessing him from crossing it. As he fell 4 of his “God Rocks” rolled out from his bag and this seemed to change Gronn’s personality. Kergil stabbed him in the eye twice blinding him. Francis cast a web spell, and Targ read Gronn’s mind. Targ learned that Gronn had the Demon trapped within him but the God Rocks had broken the Demon’s hold on Gronn.

One of the Dwarves grabbed the Black Death sword and he was disintegrated. Black Death was then grabbed by Blevins and used like a lance and used to attack the Otyugh which eventually died.

Perfect gold filigree was everywhere and looked like it was made by Demons. Hellfire pits were everywhere. Onyx tiles laid out the ancient symbol of the two primal Gods Mar and Umar. The symbol was holy and the girl’s possessing Targ and Cyr told them that the symbol was keeping Lekorh on this level.

Francis then tried to make a deal with a Demon to kill Lekorh… but his fellow adventurers killed him and threw his body into the Hellfire pits. The Demons said they would not intervene in the future battle.

DH #59 (Last YouTube Video, End of the Last Session)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=codjQtMCdc8&feature=watch_response

The group saw a strange pathway of red stones lead off into the Hellfire pits where the girls possessing Targ and Cyr told them to go to find Lekorh's throne room. Lekorh's throne room seemed to be straddling two planes of existence. There was a large archway leading into Lekorh's palace. Two Withered Legion guards were standing on either side of this archway. They were holding long poleaxes that had a black hawk motive with sharp wings. A gray tunnel appeared and lead off into the misty distance. The tunnel was approximately 1 mile long.

At the end of the gray tunnel they entered a large pillared room and in the distance they saw some strange glowing angelic light. The group got an idea that this beautiful room was Lekorh's prison.

In the throne room they saw Xernatha the Necromancer, a horribly mutated Old Manx, a beautiful dancer, a small metallic automaton, a Slavemaster, and finally Lekorh dressed in white glowing robes that also seemed like part of his prison. The group approached and the figures were strangely silent.

There seemed to be a strange spell in the room that made it hard to reveal the truths of Lekorh and the throne room. One of the possessing girl spirits told Cyr that there was a depression under Lekorh's throne where the two broken pieces of Cyr's coin artifact needed to go.

Xernatha the Necromancer began to cast but a Fireball spell went off in the throne room that wounded many of the things in there. El Rashid tried to run up to throw Lekorh off of his throne, but he hit an invisible wall of force and was hurled to the ground. Targ used his Frostbrand sword at Lekorh... and missed. Lekorh was covered with small shards of frost and ice. Blevins charged Xernatha the Necromancer with the sword Black Death (held like a lance) and he killed the twisted magic-user without him being able to get a single spell off. The Dark Dwarves attacked the Automaton, and he proved easy to hit but hard to damage. Stinky appeared on the Dancer's face and stung her right in the chest with his stinger. The group wasn't sure why he chose to attack... her.

Lekorh cast Power Word Kill on Cyr, but instead of Cyr dying... the girl possessing him took his place in death and Cyr didn't die. The Dancer grabbed Stinky by the tail and smashed his face against the corner of one of the platforms. The Autamoton tried to leave but the Dark Dwarves kept attacking him. The Slavemaster stabbed one of the Dark Dwarves in the chest with a poison sword and he died.

The Dancer was swinging Sticky around by the tail and she hit El Rashid with him. Old Manx poured out of the barrel and flopped onto the floor. Old Manx told them to kill the girl. A giant crushing hand enveloped Cyr. The Gereral of the Withered Legion then appeared. El Rashid then attacked the Slavemaster but missed. Blevins rammed Black Death into the guts of the Dancer. Targ slashed at Lekorh and hit. Blevins noticed that the Dancer was “bleeding” black dust. She pulled out the sword and hit Blevins in the chest with it. The remaining Dark Dwarf kept hitting the fleeing Automaton. El Rahid dispelled the Crushing Hand and Lekorh's Protection Sphere spells.

El Rashid cut the top half of the Dancer off and it spun and flopped on the ground. Lekorh then screamed horribly. Lekorh's bones fell out of the cloak and he ceased to be and a horribly disgusting frog-like demon side-stepped out of him. The girls assumed that a more powerful Demon would have been in him. Cyr and Targ connected the coins and pressed the artifact into the Demon which hurled it back against the wall.

The General of the Withered Legion hurled himself into the battle and attacked Kergil the Dark Dwarf Cleric. The screaming hawk weapon made Kergil fill ill even when it missed. The Hezrou Demon lunged across the room and slammed into El Rashid. Targ and Cyr threw the throne over and put the coin artifact into the depression in the floor.

Targ was covered in holy light and blasted the Demon with a mighty blow of his weapon. Cyr attacked and killed the Hezrou and it shattered into a thousand ice crystals which then melted on the Helfire warmed floor. The General, the Slavemaster, and the Automaton were the only targets left standing.

El Rashid was disintergrated by the General's Black Hawk Pole-axe. The Automaton was fleeing and screaming, “Darves Hill is going to collapse!” The Slavemaster pulled out a dagger and jabbed it in Blevin's throat, but the tough little Halfling survived the wound. The General then horrible missed Cyr.

The ground started to crumble around everyone and Hellfire light was starting to bathe the room in reddish light. Darves Hill was crumbling around them. Kergil fell down through the cracks in the floor and died in Hellfire. Blevins with Kergil's curse on his forehead but he managed to save vs. death and lived.

One of the Dark Dwarves, Blevins the Halfling, Cyr, and Targ all made it out of Darves Hill before it collapsed in a violent display of hellish fury. Blood, bodies, Hellfire, and chunks of buildings flew into the air and then only a very small hill was left where Darves Hill once was.

The group then headed back to the town of Nahm to see what had happened there. Gronn the now blind Giant was rolling the 4 God Rocks toward the center of town, and that seemed to be slowly removing the Death Circle that was emanating from the center of the ruined town.

The last remaining members of Grunka's Company helped Gronn and then they left to go kill the Goblins that had previously committed genocide vs. the Elves.

THE END OF DARVES HILL

Thanks for playing everyone, I had a ton of fun running this game.

This was my response to an anti-3D6 straight down video

RPG Stats Are Guidelines Not Shackles (For Fun & Role-playing)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWAYEErj4Rg

Darves Hill August's Summary (DH#56 & #57)

Cyr’s Broken Coin  DH#56

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiGkMN_Jdrc 

Blevins the Halfling, Percival the Wizard, Francis the Magic-user, Martriss the Elf, Cyr the Thief, and Targ the Fighter remained in the dungeons.  The group did not challenge the moving crystal statue with 4 arms, and instead went around the long way to avoid the deadly looking adversary.  They traveled through the corpse tunnel of the Purple Wyrm, and talked with some of the Dark Dwarves (their current allies).  Some of the Dwarves came with the party to help them clear out some of the rooms in the Dark Elf territory. 

In the next room they explored they heard coughing, wheezing, and also the sound of liquid hitting the ground.  Some of the underground human slaves were there and they seemed very sick or infected with some magical ailment.  They had horribly pock-marked skin with puss leaking out of wounds.  A path of slime and phlegm was behind them.  The group fearing to get sick from the gross humans unleashed violence upon them.  When their weapons hit them, slime and gross blood splattered on the walls of the tunnel. 

Some of the adventuring crew got splattered with their rotten blood and felt horrible, that made it difficult to continue the fight.  They killed and torched the bodies of the fallen disgusting things like in John Carpenter’s The Thing.  Six more came around the bend, and these also died by fire after they were saying, “Take us to the surface, we’ve heard rumors about you!  We’re free!”  FLAMES!

They went back to Kergil the Dark Dwarf Highpriest to get healed of their strange disgusting illness.  On the way there they pass Bugbears that were allies of the Dark Dwarves, and they were permitted to pass because of their Dark Dwarf guide.  They then passed a magical spider when their guide showed them how to pass.

They saw a silver ringed fountain that had crystal clear water in a pool beneath it, and it was off to the right.  Kergil had a hippogriff with him, and when the party arrived the creature with a magical collar shrunk when the Dark Dwarf gave a command word.  He told them they looked like Hell.  He went around and cured them of their ailment.

Kergil told them that the fountain used to be in Dark Elf territory and they think it would be death to Dwarves if they drank it.  Martriss went over and tried to take a drink.  When he touched the surface of the water invisible coins appeared to him, but no one else saw them.  He grabbed them and showed them to the others.  He poured some water on the floor, and nothing happened.  He then quaffed a large cup of the water (and then I passed over a “Backstab Note” to him saying that he had gained a massive amount of XP). 

Kergil wanted a cut of the coins at the bottom of the water but he wouldn’t drink it.  Francis drank next (Backstab Note saying his stats increased and he also gained lots of XP).  Blevins then drank as well as his master Percival.

The group that wasn’t drinking from the pool heard strange Elven spellcasting, but they ignored it.  Cyr’s Coin started to release white mist and this mist was surrounding the nearby door.  Just after this the door started banging violently, and they guessed the door would have collapsed had the mist not been holding it in place.  White misty letters started to fill all the surface area on the ground, and it seemed to be some arcane lock to hold back something…  It was very strange almost three-dimensional writing.  Cyr and Targ also heard the whispers of little girls when this was happening.

Stinky began to wail, and Cyr thinks that it was bleeding on his back.  Then the bleeding Stinky fled into the dungeons in absolute terror from the white misty writing.  Targ thought that the writing was a powerful warding against Devils or Demons. 

Cyr’s Coin then broke and the spirits of the two twin girls inside of it then inhabited Cyr and Targ, but their possession of them was not violent, and instead they were just along for the ride only wanted to help eliminate Lekorh, whom they seem to have a huge grudge against.  The other members of the party could tell something had happened, but they weren’t sure what just happened.

((We took some time to level up characters)).

The girls possessing Targ and Cyr told them the spell broke the artifact, and that the mist around the door was holding one of Lekorh’s most powerful allies.  They told Targ that the things on the other side of the door were a distraction, and a waste of time.  They said that they were sent to kill or weaken the group.  They also said that their prison was not permanent, but that it would hold them for some time.  There was also a group of The Withered Legion on the other side (the intelligent skeleton army of the dungeon).  The Dark Dwarves were told about this, and they started to fill in the tunnel and room where this door was.  They hoped they could completely bury the things behind the door.

When the group walked under the giant evil spider… it turned into ashes.  It seemed the power of the artifact was made manifest in Cyr and Targ. 

The girls possessing Targ and Cyr told the group that Lekorh is both a Lich and that he is also a Demon.  He is essentially a very powerful creature that will be very hard to destroy.  The group loaded up on Holy Water.  The girls said that Lekorh may be unaffected by Holy Water.   

“The Annihilation of Nahm” DH#57

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dys9uOsJCqU&feature=relmfu

Cyr and Targ then showed the group the broken coin artifact, and explained what had happened to them.  A history of the coin was then revealed, about how it was dedicated to the primal two gods that are no longer worshipped.  The coin had proved to be a holy artifact that was also a bane vs. Demons.  Cyr and Targ then explained that they were possessed by little girl souls. 

They told the Dark Dwarves that they would most likely be exterminated if they remained in the dungeon.  Any allies of the adventuring party would most likely bring the wrath of Lekorh.  Some of the Dark Dwarves decided to come with the party, while the others fled into the upper levels of the dungeon, and perhaps they would flee to the mountains in the North.

The girls told the group that Lekorh is an Abomination.  They said that there was some connection between Lekorh and Darves Hill.  They don’t believe that Lekorh can leave his place.  The girls weren’t sure what the exact nature of this relationship between the two is, but they know there is one.  The girls renewed their dedication to help destroy Lekorh.

The Archmage from Larm appeared and seemed angry and disturbed.  “What did you guys do?!  Have you been to town lately?  It’s Gone!  There is a crater filled with smoldering ashes in a 50 mile radius around the town.  Did you piss someone off, did you break something, what did you do?”  The group told the mage that Lekorh is most likely behind it all.  He noticed that something was different about the group, and he seemed disturbed by the girls possessing Cyr and Targ.  He told them that Lekorh felt Cyr’s Coin breaking.  The girls told the mage to stay out of their business, and the mage took a few steps back.  The mage told them to keep him updated with the magical messenger birds, and then he left.

Back in town the group wondered what had happened to the one eyed Ogre with the Black Death sword, what happened to the goddess’ body in the Temple.  The girls felt that the Dragon was a distraction and unimportant.  They also said that the Giant Mystics who participated with the dragon parts might have been breeding dragons. 

The group remembered that many of the buildings on the surface of Darves Hill were built to keep things locked within the dungeon.  The girls told the group that if Lekorh is close they will be able to feel him.  On the surface of the hill they saw the plume from the town of Nahm.  Cyr warned Marnal the Dwarf on the surface of the Hill about all of the danger.  Marnal was a friend of Old Manx who sold them the maps.  Cyr told Marnal to flee.  He decided to move to Larm.  He gave them more maps since they warned him.

They then went to the Gnomes of Slurred Speech and warned them too.  The one they were talking to swore like crazy when they spoke of the danger, but they packed all of there statues onto wagons and left.  The girls told them that the statues were the souls of all of those that used to live on Darves Hill…

Then they went to warn the Green Dragon on the top of the Temple and woke him up.  The Dragon told them that it had destroyed Nahm before as well, he said that it was, “Nice work.”  The Dragon was appreciative of the warning, and then unceremoniously flew away.  It flew around the town of Nahm, and they assumed it was curious, and then it collapsed out of the air into the center of the town of Nahm.  They also noticed that the “dead zone” around the town seemed to have increased since the last time they looked at it.  They remembered that the sword Black Death did have a Demon trapped in it… and the one eyed Ogre did have it…  Francis the Frail and Martriss the Elf then went to see what happened to Nahm.  The Dragon’s corpse then exploded, and bloody chunks flew in all directions.

They noticed that there were runes that said “Death” and “Lekorh” written out in the dungeon.  They felt like Death referred to Mwerkef the God of Death.  Then they weren’t sure if Lekorh wrote those words in rooms, or if others had.  They also noticed the Hellfire pits on the maps.

When the group walked into one of the surface rooms four invisible spirits were destroyed by the girls possessing Cyr and Targ in a horrible fashion.  They dug out one of the hidden secret doors… but they found a magical circle on it.  They didn’t want to break any more seals keeping things in Darves Hill, so they didn’t open / break it.  The door was a warmer and warmer the deeper they dug. 

Martriss the Elf noticed that there was a Circle of Death surrounding the town of Nahm, and that it was slowly spreading outward (1 inch per hour). 

The group then planned a path through the dungeon levels going from stairway to stairway.

Martriss the Elf then stuck his sword over the threshold of the Circle of Death that was surrounding the town of Nahm… failed his save vs. death and then his body exploded in a gruesome display of gore.

I forgot to give out XP last time.  Main characters got 2,000 XP, and retainers got 1,000 XP.

Darves Hill June Recap (54-55)

Darves Hill YouTube Playlist
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL75D43B1452D63A43&feature=edit_ok

54

Thimple (Halfling) & Joshua (Cleric), Abraham Cleric & his Dwarf retainer Morc, El-Rashid (Fighter) & Silus the Sickly (Cleric) & Kergil (Dark Dwarf Cleric), Blevin (Halfling) & Percival “Percy”, Martris “Tris” (Elf) & Francis the Frail (Magic-User), Cyr (Thief) & Targ (Fighter).

Vloxaxis was the name of the Dragon. Joshua remembered it in his dreams. Kergil the Dark Dwarf cursed Tris because he was bad mouthing his people. They stumbled upon a wide hallway where Dark Elves and Dark Dwarves were battling against each other. The Dark Elves had the upper hand, but Grunka's Company lead them to a grisly end. Stinky added to the chaos and death by ripping out the eye of one of the Dark Elves. The group looted off of them some poisoned weapons, and leather and studded leather armor that cast Cure Serious Wounds once per day.

They found hyenas on short chains that they guessed travel with the Dark Elves on patrols. Joshua was able to cast Speak With Animals and talked to the Hyenas. Joshua turned them, and they started serving the group instead.

In the next room they found 10 blackened iron cauldrons where Dark Elves were bathing in strange liquids. They unleashed the hyenas in the room, but the cauldrons were too high for the hyenas to attack them. Underneath the cauldrons were small black spheres that were generating heat. They dumped out one of the cauldrons and a naked Dark Elf spilled out... to be chewed apart by the hyenas. Another cauldron was spilled out, and then the spells started flying at the party. They were able to interrupt the spells of many of the bathing Dark Elves, and Joshua cast Silence on a bunch of them. In the end they stood over the corpses of all of them, and got a few poisoned scimitars out of the piles of clothing at the base of the cauldrons. The clothing was very fancy, and they found a good amount of coinage. They also found 10 sets of Elven Boots (100% Move Silently).

A bunch of the cannibals came up from behind them, and they seemed to be immune to the Sleep spells that they cast on them. They managed to kill the ones that came into the room, and closed the door before more came in. They piled up a bunch of Dark Elf corpses in front of a trapped door, and a Dark Dwarf then let them into another room. Joshua cast Putrefy Food on the corpses to hopefully poison the corpses. The cannibals came pouring in to feast on Dark Elf flesh and the trap killed them all. Silus the sickly fell in combat...

55

The Dark Dwarf guard told them about some of the stuff going on in the dungeon. They learned that Kornas (the younger Minotaur brother) was probably located nearby.

They encountered a Dark Elf creepy guy wearing stained brown robes standing in a pool of ichor. He had some powerful abilities that didn't seem to be spells. He was able to turn into sludge, and turn into a brown mist that could control those that walked through it (and failed their save). In the end Sinjen through a torch on the Dark Elf's robes and burned them. This seemed to kill the creature. The mist animated some of the Dark Elf corpses. They fought 3 more Dark Elves with crossbows, and then looted the chest in a nearby room. They found a bejeweled floating spellbook with some powerful spells in it and lots of coins.

They healed up and rested, and then went to the frontier of the next Dark Elf area. There they found what they assumed was a dead Purple Wyrm that was in a long hallway with it's mouth spiked open. The digestive juices inside the Wyrm ate through the boots they were wearing. They spiked the mouth shut, and squirmed over the back of the creature and had just enough room to crawl. When they crawled they heard digestive juices spraying inside of the belly of the creature. They heard someone screaming inside that was speaking Elvish, and then a blade stuck out of the back of the Purple Wyrm at the crawling adventurers. They moved around more and they believed that the digestive juices were killing those Dark Elves inside.

They got to the other end of the Purple Wyrm and it's anus was spiked open. It had a poison tail but it was very weak. They saw a Dark Elf with a guard by it. Thimple killed it under the cover of a Silence spell that Joshua cast.

Twelve human slaves holding slaves, a giant hawk with its wings severed off were being prodded along with two Dark Elves that were holding wands. Abraham let them all pile into the Purple Wyrm, but the wingless Hawk turned around and was standing guard. The slaves and 2 Dark Elves died horrible deaths inside the belly of the Purple Wyrm. A lightning bolt was cast inside before they died and blasted into Blevins.

They attacked the wingless hawk next and it seemed to have acid for blood and a nasty serrated beak. It didn't last long, and crumpled over bleeding acid everywhere.

There was a room with a hidden lever. Inside a spinning mess of traps was protecting floating gems with spellcasters caught inside them. There was an emerald, a ruby, a diamond, and an opal. COLLECT THEM ALL! ;)

In another room they found an animated crystal statue with four arms and wielding poison short-swords. It seemed like it was guarding a doorway to another room.

They retreated to a safe room and then held up for the night.

Darves Hill May 2012 (52 & 53) Recap

DH52 & 53 (May)

52

Tom: Mescillius (fighter) & Metham (cleric of Aemano). John: Blevin (halfling) & Percival (magic-user). Damon: Tristan (elf) & Francis “the frail” (cleric). Chris: Singen (magic-user) & Padre (cleric). Luke: El-Rashid (fighter) & Silus “the sickly” (cleric of Fornast). Jeff: Thimple (halfling) & Joshua (cleric of AeBalt).

Singen & Padre showed up (having heard of the groups infamy and they signed up to help explore the Hill with our group of misfits. The group was relaxing in town and did some drinking. Gronn told them that he “blesses the God-Rocks” every day. He does seem to have low-level cleric spells. The group took some of the Withered Legion's armor, and picked through the weapons. Then they headed back to the Hill from town.

When the group arrived at the bottom of the Hill, the Green Dragon looked down at them. The dragon smashed the side of the temple that it was wrapped around. It bellowed “TRIBUTE! GEMS! GOLD!” Joshua gathered up about 1,200 gold pieces and held it out in front of him. He was shaking like a leaf, and he couldn't remember the Dragon's name. Some of the other characters went up with Joshua. The dragon blessed the small group of characters that came up with him. The dragon wasn't sure why Joshua looked so familiar. It seemed to not remember fighting the Withered Legion.

The group descended into the lower levels. In a nearby room they heard the sound of weapons clashing. They found clumps of bloody fur, and blood trails where they assumed the bodies were dragged. They followed them. In a room there were mud tubes on the walls, ceiling, and floors. They reminded them of termite mud tubes, if the termites were dog sized. The group heard various buzzing noises in the tunnels. The group had a difficult time getting across the room, and some of the characters fell into the tubes angering the insects within.

They saw a dark dwarf that asked him who they served, and they didn't give a good answer. He rang a bell and then they killed him. He cursed in the name of Murgulta the Blood Moon Goddess. They entered a very large room with a meteor of iron with an alter on the side of it. There were 7 dark dwarves in the room. On the altar there was a beautiful humanoid woman of an unknown race.

Metham cast Hold Person and four of the Dwarves froze in place. The high priest unleashed a ray of black energy that turned into and through Thimple. Blevins went and attempted to destroy the woman on the alter and smashed her knee. Francis put three more of the asleep. The priest turned out to be Undead. Francis was lucky to have his amulet when another necromantic blast of rats flew through his soul. Metham with his Death to Death warhammer smashed into the high priest but it didn't put him to a second death. Whoever damaged the high-priest was cursed by him, and a unholy (holy) symbol of Murgulta was burned upon their foreheads when he died

The woman had a strange alien beauty to her. She was strangely perfect. They found her breathing shallowly in a deep sleep. She didn't detect as evil, and they healed her smashed knee. Joshua picked up the naked woman and carried her out of the room.

They then talked to one of the dark dwarves that was asleep after they woke up up from the magical sleep. “If you kill me, those with the mark of Murgulta will follow me down into death. I'll take them with me.” Metham thought that the curse mark on their foreheads would make it very easy for a cleric of Murgulta to use spells on them.

53

They kept talking to the captured Dwarf. He said that he now served the brother Borgius, since he had the better claim to the Minotaur's throne. He told them about the different brothers fighting each other for the throne. He told them that the group has lit the hornet's nest on fire and started a civil war. He asked them about the cannibals, and he was shocked to learn that the group unleashed the cannibals into the room.

Francis attempted to kill the woman, and Joshua cast Hold Person on him. Joshua was NOT happy with him. Metham came out to find out what was happening and put a stop to the confrontation.

The Dwarf told them Mardus was the eldest and ruling Minotaur until the group slayed him. Borgius (the next oldest brother) is fighting against his younger brother Kornas. The various factions are lining up behind one or the other Minotaur. He told them that the Dwarves were hired by Borgius, though they haven't fully decided to officially support one or the other brother. El-Rashide was an eloquent spokesperson to try to use one side againt the other.

The group told them that they might offer them more than Borgius would. This was very interesting to the Dwarf. He told them that some of their number had fallen in the war, but also that the cannibal hordes had taken a toll. The Dwarf tod them they wanted to use the woman's healing properties for their side. They are getting hired by Borgius for 50 silver each per month. The group discussed moving the Dark Dwarves to Nahm, to help populate the town, be soldiers in the militia, and to run the local temple, or to at least help with the running of it.

Those in the party that were injured were completely healed. Characters that were horribly wounded suddenly became healed. Mescillius' eye grew back, Thimple's dead patch of skin on his face healed. Her powerful healing abilities were very evident.

Singen handed out a torn piece of cloth so that those with Murgulta's Curse mark on their foreheads could hide them. Some of the characters refused and considered it a battle scar to keep.

The Dwarf's name was Kergil (cleric of Murgulta). The offer was to give them 6 gold each for serving them. He set up a time and place to meet them. They told them to meet them in the room above the burrower insects. He told them when they land on your face that they breed, so they wanted to avoid those insects. The Dwarf wanted the girl back, but they did not give into this demand. He told them that the plan was to have the girl heal their soldiers faster than the other side. He told them that he would try to convince the Dark Dwarf leader to meet them. When they let the Dwarf go he showed them a trick to put the buzzing mud tube insects asleep. They let him keep the amulet off of the old high priest. He just got a promotion, so he wasn't too upset by it all.

Joshua carried the woman out of the dungeon, with the rest of the group in tow. He then walked up towards the Green Dragon on the surface. The Dragon looked surprise to see Joshua again. “You gave tribute, why are you here?” The woman healed the injuries, the growth, and his scales grew back where they were missing. After one hour it seemed like it was completely healed. The Dragon told him that, “They no longer needed to give him tribute. The Hill is yours, the Temple is mine.”

The woman was muttering something under her breath. Blevins thought that she was saying something in some Divine tongue, perhaps some sort of Song of Creation. They were trying to figure out which god or goddess had a domain of healing. When Joshua started praying to the statue of MurGwala (the Green Moon) in the Temple in the town of Namh, the statue... changed to look just like the healing woman. They guessed that the woman might possibly be the goddess of the green moon.

They did some research on the solar and lunar eclipses, and the books in the Temple said that during such times that the gods were closer to the mortal material plane.

They brought Gronn in and told him to see and then guard the goddess. During the night, those that slept in the Temple had very violent dreams about nature, and the animals in nature.

The next day the lunar and solar eclipse seems like it is starting to go away. The moons will go out of alignment in this order: Blood (MurGulta), Green (MurGwala), and then White (MurAlta). Plants started growing in the temple around the goddess, and worshipers from the town have come to revere and pray to the goddess. The donations to the Temple increased dramatically with the goddess there.

The group headed back to try to meet up with the Dark Dwarves. They talked with the leader of the Dark Dwarves. They told the leader that they could still work for Borgius but that they REALLY would be working for them. They told them that they got along with the Dark Elves, but they wouldn't mind if they could be... eliminated. They gave them a map explaining what areas they had control over. They told them that some Sleegos were aiding their side. Half of the pink ones sided with Borgius, and the other half support Kornas.

Kergil pulled out a Murgulta Blood Dagger. The leader cut his hand with it, and then held it out. He then grasped El-Rashid's hand. He told them that there were 50 in total, and that not all of them could be here. They paid them for 20 for the full month, and promised to pay the rest of them. Metham paid for the rest of the month for the Dwarves.

They promised to give them refuge in the Dark Dwarf territories. They were also given a message to perhaps allow them to pass by The Withered Legion without being harmed. Of course since Lekorh knows about them... this might not work.

Darves Hill March 2012 (50-51) Recap

March (50-51)

On the last day of the group's vacation they did some shopping, and one of the Clerics made scrolls during the 3 weeks off. They decided to head off towards Darves Hill once all the preparations were made.

When they arrived in the evening at Darves Hill, they saw a gigantic boil on the green dragon's back. They headed down into the depths to the dungeon. Cyr failed to disable a trap but luckily it failed to work. In the next room some etherial eyes were looking down at them from the ceiling. The group found 2,000 silver pieces in a small chest buried in the back corner of the room once the Cleric turned the Shadows. They also found a ring that said, “To my celia.” It made the wearer much more lucky (Saves were all two better).

In the next room the door opens, and there was a Shadow there, and it bowed to the group. “Are we free to leave? We were bound to serve, but you have a thing that has semi-released us. That was our wedding ring.” They were released by the power of AeBalt. “Is there a final question before we leave?” They asked what the meaning of life was, and the Shadows said, “Lekorh (the Lich) rules us all, here and later.” As a GM I was shocked that they didn't ask anymore questions, and that they so quickly released them to the afterlife. Hehe.

While they were thinking on what questions they could have asked, they heard some Gnolls speaking, and they were talking to another person or thing. “Where's the Minotaur lately, his brother has been making a presence lately in his absence...” They heard a knock on the door. “In the name of the Horns, who are you?” They gave a flippant answer. “Slego cast.” The mages thought clairvoyance was cast, and they were looking through one of the character's eyes. Then they heard them walking away from them.

The group then heard the sounds of what they assumed was marching skeletons. They could hear their bones hitting the hard stone floors coming in their direction. They heard, “Company halt! Slego cast!” They thought he cast the Massmorph spell which is an illusionary spell. The walls, doors, basically everything in a 240' radius turned into what looked like a forest. Those that cast the spell were nowhere to be seen.

They found 4 Gnolls stabbed to death in a nearby room. Each body was stabbed 20 or 30 times. The ceiling was cracked, water was flowing through it, and it seemed pretty dangerous. They found a natural spring. The ceiling collapses and half a ton of rocks fell down on top of everyone's head. Those that avoided the falling ceiling were able to dig out the rest of the party members. The hallway back was completely buried so they had to go forward.

They found a teleporting circle but they didn't know where it would end up. One of the new guys Francis (the Frail) decided to volunteer to test it out. He teleported... somewhere. He found himself in a room with tapestries on the walls that had arcane symbols on them. He was completely alone, and he was standing on top of another teleport circle. There was a strange cinnamon-like smell in the air. They were various colors and each one had a different symbol on it. Francis heard more of that Slego chanting again. Francis grabbed one and then teleported back up.

They think that Stinky was telling them that the Slego's sometimes use sacrifice victims to help cast their spells, or perhaps for worship of their strange gods.

They overheard two Gnolls talking about what side they were going to support. They heard some names mentioned, and talk about a brother. They were guessing that some sort of power struggle is going on with the power vaccum. Mardus they think was the name of the Minotaur that they killed. Kornas & Borgius are two other names that seem like they have some power in the dungeon. They grabbed the tapestries and teleported back up to the surface.

They started to hear a strange humming noise coming from the tapestries. They think that the tapestries each have a different note. Cyr thought about the strange giants that used sounds during their magic chants to summon the dragon. When they separated them their notes reduced in sound, and then when they put them together they were louder. They unrolled them and then stacked them on top of each other. They seemed to interact with each other in some strange way. The tapestries seemed to have a calming affect on everyone.

They noticed the 3 moons in the sky (the red, the green, and the white) were all close to one another. They guessed that in a couple of days all three moons would be on top of one another for a rare lunar eclipse. They slept on Darves Hill for the night.

The whole group teleported down to the room with the tapestries and six slimy pink humanoids with sagging skin and tusks coming out of their faces were waiting for them. These were said to be the Sleegos. Two of the characters were frozen in place by the Sleegos' spell. They cast Sleep and many of the Sleegos fell over. The creatures smelled like very strong cinnamon. They tied two of them up and killed the rest of them.

When they woke up the two Sleegos they turned towards each other and seemed to be communicating. Sleegos have unsettling red eyes. They then heard bone feet marching in this direction. They had robes that were the same color with the same symbol as the tapestries.

The group was talking about what to do, when a skeleton opened up the door, and two other skeletons rolled a barrel with a lit wick into the room. The skeletons were armored, they had a shield, crossbows, short swords, and helmets. They seemed really intelligent, and there were 20 of them standing in formation. The barrel erupted into flames, and the group was thankful for the healing amulet. They put themselves out after they teleported upstairs.

DH51

They noted that many of the skeletons had amulets on (black spere). Then after a few moments the skeletons started teleporting after them. The skeleton's short sword had a Minotaur's face on the pommel. Inside the shield it said, The Withered Legion.

They sent the fiery magical bird to send word to the Mage in the city of Larm about the weird humming tapestries. They put on the magical Minotaur crown and learned that the arcane symbols on them stood for: Blue Peace, Green Patience, Red Release, Yellow Harmony. The colored robes that the Sleegos were wearing had the same symbols meaning the same thing.

The group then headed off to the town of Nahm. They put the tapestries on the walls of the groups dwellings. They wanted to have the mages scribe some more scrolls. At 9AM the next day the 3 moons eclipsed each other and then the sun itself, and the skies went black with slight tri-color coloration to everything from the light of the moons. The militia bells started ringing and then men started to man the walls.

Hundreds of soldiers could be seen far off in the distance, and then the group started to hear the drums of battle begin. The leader of the militia hadn't sent out any runners, so Cyr used his Dust of Disappearance and his Elven Boots to sneak up on the army to see what was going on. He saw rank upon rank of intelligent looking skeleton troops wearing chainmail and platemail. There were skeletons riding Hell Hounds. He guessed the ones wearing platemail were the leaders. Cyr heard them saying many times, “It's great that someone finally broke the seal!” Cyr guessed / realized that the tapestries must have been a seal to keep these undead in Darves Hill.

Grunka's Company recruited the one-eyed ogre named Gronn (who moves the “god rocks” every day to make the pantheon symbol by the side of the Temple) to help defend the walls. They told him to hurl the god rocks at the Skeletons. Then they decked him out in the Minotaur armor and gave him “Black Death” the Minotaur's sword. Overhead they saw the Dragon flying over, seemingly checking out what was going on below.

The mage from Larm showed up in the Temple in town, and the group went off to see what he could tell them.

This wizard (who has not given them his name yet) sighed when he saw what tapestries. He told them that all of the buildings on Darves Hill were meant to keep the things inside the hill. He said they could not be replaced. A ritual was performed and those tapestries were originally set up. The wizard told them that the Minotaur's impressive armor and sword must have belonged to someone of very high rank to have such powerful items. One of the retainer's souls was offered to the wizard and he shook his head. He told them that they should go get the Elves to help... with a smirk on his face. He knew that the Elven genocide started here in Nahm. He told them that they made their bed and now they have to sleep in it. He told them to contact him again if they survived and found more artifacts.

The skeleton army marched and came just out of reach of arrows. Gronn started hurling his god rocks out at them. Joshua drank his Fly potion and then when he got within 60 feet of the Green Dragon he drank the Control Dragon potion. They had 12 rounds of Drgon Vloxaxis (they asked him his name) fury. He told Vloxaxis to destroy the Withered Legion. Joshua blessed and protected the Dragon from Evil.

The Chlorine gas breath weapon killed the Hell Hounds, and then it made many sweeps at the army. It then landed in the midst of them and destroyed them. Maybe 40-50 skeletons survived. They fled to the North back to Darves Hill. Joshua flew after them and made sure the Dragon was also heading back to the Hill.

They inspected the field of battle, and they noticed that Gronn the one-eyed ogre could also cast low level healing spells. They found 120 amulets, 160 short swords, 100 shields, and 110 suits of chainmail, and 30 suits of Platemail. Gronn was collecting his god rocks. They let Gronn keep the armor and sword. Gronn asked for forgiveness for hurling a rock near Thimple in the past. He asked if Militia would tell him if town needed help. Uldritch was the leader of the militia now. He told them that the Dragon “ate the town” when he was young.

Even though they defended the town from the Withered Legion, they reminded themselves that the seal was broken, and that things in the dungeon could now exit through the surface. Thus ended the session.

Darves Hill February 2012 (48-49) Recap

February (48-49)

48

We got some new recruits with the change of location that have joined up with Grunka's Company. I've gotten pretty terrible at taking notes since I started recording the audio files, and I really need to include the names of the characters that show up (since I never can remember so many names).

New Characters (I think). Theodius, Blevins, Percy, El-Rashid, Tristan, & Gabriel.

The new recruits saw the giant green dragon that was wrapped around the ancient temple on the very top of the hill. At this point the group had explored all of the surface buildings, the 1^st level (currently filled with blood), 75% of the 2^nd level, and a few areas of the 3^rd level. The new guys noticed how gnarly, scarred, and beat-to-hell the surviving members of Grunka's Company were.

They noticed more of those black swarms of insects traveling from the South and heading North. They had no idea where they were coming from or where they were going to.

Down into the depths of Darves Hill the group went. They found several deadly traps, but they were able to disable them. One of the traps wasn't disabled but it failed. They found old blood smeared all over the floor of a hallway.

They found more blood smears in the rooms, and they assumed that these wounds were caused by some of the traps in the area. Somebody or several people came to a bad end here it seemed.

In another room the group heard spellcasting going on, and then many of them were held in place by a spell. They didn't see who cast this spell on them. They heard the sound of a dragging chain coming closer to them. There was a scene where people were running in a hallway and others were hurling javelins and darts into the darkness. It was rather silly, but surprisingly no one got hit in the gut.

Thimple drank his Mist potion and turned into a Gaseous Form and then drifted down to the end of the hallway, where he popped up behind the 4 Gnoll Spellcasters. Everyone else was hurling weapons at them. Then the Gnolls unleashed a barrage of Magic Missles on the party. Thimple killed two of them by stabbing them in the back after he turned back from being mist. Surprisingly the casters didn't notice, and then Thimple killed off another one.

The last Gnoll raised his hands, and said he would answer any questions. Thimple killed the last Gnoll. He doesn't have a great track record when it comes to people that surrender.

They heard more booted feet coming towards them from behind one of the doors. An undead creature of some sort (Wight) was armored and had a horrible looking beast on a chain. The dog-like creature belched forth flames and they thought it was a Hell Hound.

Targ sliced off one of the front legs of the Hell Hound and it crumpled to the ground dead. The Wight was quickly killed. In a back circular room there were torture devices. Thimple killed the living Kobold and tortured humans there. Cyr put on a ring and his hand turned black. Cyr touched the Cleric Gabriel's back. 2D12 was the number of days till he died from it. The skin withered to gray. There was almost a PvP situation but it resolved.

They heard more booted feet and another possible Hell Hound coming near them.

49

They ambushed the oncoming Hell Hound and destroyed it. They found a black flame brazier, 15 emeralds, and all kinds of disturbing plaques with taxidermy faces, arms, hands, etc. They kept messing with the black flames in the brazier until they finally broke it. It gave off twice the amount of heat as a normal torch but it gave off no light. They thought it was the dog dish for the Hell Hound. The brazier cracked when the Cleric put his holy symbol into it.

The group heard the sound of lots of bells ringing...

They realized the room they were going to enter had a way up to the rooms that were not flooded with blood on the 1^st level. They heard the sounds of breathing. They broke in the door and saw an impressive looking minotaur. The Cleric Joshua cast a Hold Spell off of a scroll and the Minotaur failed (Natural 1 rolled). They killed the minotaur (that was overseeing the fights in the Arena). He had a black metal greatsword, and impressive platemail armor and plenty of gold and silver, a signet ring, and a crown. The platemail, sword, and crown were magical.

The signet ring had a symbol of a minotaur head with broken swords crossed. In it they found a small dose of poison. From behind them they heard lots of booted feet (perhaps summoned by the ringing bells).

They went upstairs because those outside the room they were in started burning the wooden door. The smoke started to fill the room upstairs where everyone was. They debated about opening up another door with all of the blood on the other side (which would have drowned them). Luckily they didn't do that. They were coughing on the smoke, and debating what to do. They were caught between fire and blood.

ESP was cast to see what was going on below, and they learned that there were 8 Gnolls down there that were piling up furniture and burning it. The smoke was filling up every room between the group and freedom. Thimple bravely covered his mouth and attempted to close the secret doorway to reduce the smoke without success and he took some smoke inhalation. They started to break small holes in the door keeping the lake of blood back. The room continued to fill with smoke... They were thinking that they would flood the fire out below with the blood, but this would have more than likely ended the session with a TPK (Total Party Kill).

Theodius died from the smoke. Below the Gnolls noticed the blood flowing down so they retreated from the burning door that was put out and then spiked the doors to the adjoining room so that they blood would be contained. The characters realized that if they waited long enough they would die from the smoke inhalation or by drowning in blood.

They managed to break open the doors spiked by the Gnolls and as they were exciting, doors opened and shadowy forms emerged. Gabriel the new Cleric cast Light on one of the Shadows as everyone else fled upstairs to flee the dungeon (since they were all nearly dead). Gabriel died a horrible death and galently dying to help the others escape. He crumpled under the pain inflicted upon him by the Shadows.

The rest of them breathed deeply when they broke the surface, thankful to be alive. They divided up the 6,000 GP, and 5,000 SP. There were also the 15 emeralds (75 GP each).

The group hung out in town for 3 weeks to identifying all the Minotaur's item. His crown was a helm of comprehend languages and read magic. The Minotaur King's Great Sword made from a dark black metal, “Black Death” was +4 and on a 19/20 2D8 dmg, the target hit by the sword needs to make a Save vs. Death or die. They got the feeling that it was a very well known item, and if anyone sees them wielding it would know where it came from. They also found out that a demon is trapped inside of it, though it isn't an intelligent item. The plate mail was +2 and Climbing at 99%. It also had the Minotaur's crest on the chest.

2,400 XP for the main characters, 1,200 XP for the retiners.