After a hiatus last weekend due to illnesses, we resumed our adventure today. We were still missing a couple of players, but we pressed on. I was wondering if we'd actually complete the adventure today, but it worked out that we had to cut things short, so naturally we are at a climactic point.
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At the end of the last episode, the party had retrieved and recovered Keygan's nephew (in the form of a rat), and brought him back to the surface. Having been gone three days, Jenya was both surprised and pleased at their return. She had feared that the party might have been captured or killed in Jzadirune, but their return was very welcome even though they had not yet located the children. The information received from the friendly mimic was very encouraging, and the party was given the opportunity to rest and recover at the Temple of Duilanna at no charge. As they did so, Jenya, in collaboration with a local merchant of magical repute named Skie, was able to identify the various treasures they had recovered, including a couple of wands and several potions.
[DM's note: I did this to help streamline play; I know that in 1st edition it's much tougher to ID items, but these are new players and I want to give them an opportunity to get back into the story right away without worrying about item testing and such. Also, after XPs were distributed, Alexandria and Yaervan had both leveled up, with Jax not far behind them.]
In the morning, refreshed and ready to go, the party returned to the depths of Jazdirune, hoping to find a way past the final gear door that led to their goal. It was one for which they still lacked a key, and they were concerned about the potential for traps therein.
However, their fears were for naught, as Arthur spotted something on the way down that had escaped his notice on their prior visit: On the second landing of the staircase leading into Jzadirune, there was a hidden door. Opening it, they realized that this short secret passage likely led to the very room they were trying to reach. Eagerly, they searched for another door without success. However, one of the wands they had recovered in Jzadirune was made for just this purpose, as it was capable of detecting both traps and secret doors. Arthur, possessing the wand, used it for the first time, and they were rewarded with a glowing outline of a door that did indeed lead into the room they were seeking.
Before they rushed through, however, Erf the gnome cautioned them that this seemed too easy, and he carefully examined the door for any traps. His sharp eyes spotted a slightly discolored line on the floor, and he realized that he was standing on a trap door. Reasoning that it hadn't opened yet, he surmised that opening the door would cause the trap door to fall away. The party spent a few minutes debating how to get past this final obstacle, until Gandolf suggested that they simply return up to the city and buy some planks of wood to lay over the trap door.
This last thing accomplished, Yaervan and Jax pushed on the heavy, pivoting stone door together, forcing it open. Their efforts were rewarded with a pair of javelins being launched at they by the two hobgoblin guards within. Yaervan was struck, but shrugged off the blow and returned the hobgoblin's blow with one of his own, mortally wounding it. Jax was equal to the task of dispatching the second one, and the party now found themselves in what appeared to be a room-sized elevator.
Pulling the lever on the wall (after Erf's inspection to determine there were no traps present), the party began to descend rapidly into the darkness below. As they reached the end of their vertical journey, they found themselves in a room no longer walled with the hewn stone of Jzadirune, but by walls covered with pure malachite.
Opening the single door in this room, the party found themselves in a large, vaulted hallway in which stood a strange sculpture that resembled modern art produced by a deranged mind. They quickly discovered that the sculpture was actually alive when it attacked, striking Jax and sending him spinning to the floor. The stony creature proved stubbornly resistant to their weapons, but they soon found a vulnerable spot as Alexandria finally shattered it with a blow from her axe.
Before they could regroup after the brief but intense battle, a door in the wall opened up, revealing a huge, filthy ogre that bared its fangs in a hideous grin as it said, 'More carrion for my larder! Very nice.'
With their weapons still drawn, the party prepared to face off with the horrible monster. But Erf quickly stepped up and blasted it with a magical color spray, stunning it momentarily and allowing the party's warriors to quickly strike down the creature before it could recover and attack them.
Searching the room the ogre had come from, they found a treasure-filled chest in a room that looked like a shrine to absolute filth. While profitable, there was no exit from the room other than the one they had come through, and they saw no other doors here.
Reasoning from the room's shape that there must be another secret door in one of the corners, they quickly searched it and were rewarded for their efforts. This door opened into a large, square room in which stood a tall, majestic statue of a dwarf. There were also four hobgoblin guards standing before two sets of double doors, and the battle was joined.
Gandolf used his own newly-acquired wand liberally, spraying magic missiles at the hobgoblins as the opportunity presented itself. The rest of the party were more than equal to the challenge of the hobgoblins, taking them down in short order.
Looking around the room, they decided to look at the doors to the northwest, which were barred shut. Jax and Yaervan easily lifted the heavy iron bar, and the doors slid open with only a little effort on their part. On the other side, they found a bridge over a water-filled chasm, which lead to a rough, natural cavern from which a tunnel led steadily downward.
Since this was obviously not part of the fortress itself, they returned to the dwarf statue room and prepared to try the other set of double doors.
To be continued...
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