Game Session Twelve

Game session Twelve: Saturday January 12, 2002

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The game session started on the 6th day of the Festival of  Richfest, 3080 YE with the party still in the small cave just after the fight with the hill giant. As the game opened the party members heard a loud, deep feminine voice calling out "Rapport, Rapport" from within the large caves beyond. They figured out that it was the mate of the hill giant they had just slain when her cries turned to ones of anguish as she discovered the body.

As her cries mounted there was a tremendous shaking and grinding noise as the complex was shaken by another earthquake. As the party picked themselves up off the ground they could hear sounds of dragging from the large cave. Ulfgar sent his familiar Dweezil to spy out what was going on. Dweezil could see the giantess dragging the body of the dead hill giant away. As the weasel was following her the giantess spotted the familiar and paused to throw a rather large rock at it, which missed. Ulfgar decided that it would be better if Dweezil returned to him.

The adventures debated what they should do about the giantess for a long time, time enough for her to return. As they stepped out to engage in missile combat with her they discovered that she had armed herself with several large throwing rocks. After a short fight in which she took several arrows, she retreated quickly back into the caves. The party started chasing after her with the result that they ended up being stretched out in several groups, mostly dependent on how fast they moved.

As they were stretched out the lead group was attacked by a band of carrion crawlers which, unfortunately left them all paralyzed. The rest of the party work feverishly to prevent the carrion crawlers from dragging off the bodies without getting paralyzed themselves. After the heavy fighter were rescued they decided to rest a day, let the fighters heal up a bit and spend a night recovering spells. The plan was to attack the giantess the next morning.

The next morning the party reentered the caverns, this time in a single group, with light provided by a sunrod. They advanced down into the cavern in the direction the giantess had run to the previous day. As they came to what looked to be the back of the caverns they suddenly found themselves under attack as the giantess started throwing rocks at the people within the sunrod's light. Bravely pushing onward through the rocks the party had just about decided to split up with the demi-humans (who didn't need light) pushing forward when 4 large creatures burrowed up from the ground next to them. Suddenly there was not just the giantess throwing rocks but also four ankhegs attacking also.

As the party turned their attention to the ankhegs the giantess rushed the party and started pounding with her club. The adventures were hard pressed and both Cebo and Corian were knocked unconscious and came with a whisker of dying. They were saved mostly because Moss had managed to get behind the giantess with his new bow and pepper her with arrows. Looking about the players looted both the giants lair and they found a bunch of loot where the ankhegs came from. Besides some loose coinage and raw gems they found some old scrolls with arcane spells (including some they have never heard of), some masterwork chain shirts that radiated magic, a pirate treasure map that showed a island with an "X" marked and the inscription "Rest ye here, if ye brave the Sirens Isle", some rotten giant food, and a plain iron key.

All the party was in pretty bad shape with Cebo and Corian hurting the most. They decided to hole up in the caverns to rest. For two days they rested and recouped hit points and spells. They did have to fight off one attack by carrion crawlers but were otherwise undisturbed.

After resting they explored some more and found another exit from the caverns leading to the west, a passageway that sloped downward. After a short bit the passageway open onto a grand chamber. Mosaics covered the entire walls, even though a substantial portion of the walls were fallen and cracked. All the mosaics seemed to build up to the picture of a prominent frog-like humanoid on one of the better preserved walls. A fissure on the opposite side of the room lead out of the chamber. Along the west wall, sitting in a niche, was a large stone statue shaped like a monstrous frog-like being. It had looked like the earthquakes had taken it's toll on the statue. The frame of the niche was cracked and entire chunks lay on the floor, the statue's left arm lay next to it's feet and half of it's lower jaw was chipped off. The statue resembled the wooden one they had found in the sunken amphitheater earlier.

As the party stepped into the room to investigate it a loud gong-like sound reverberated twice from the area, echoing down the passageways. At the same time the statue leaped from it's niche and attacked. After a short combat they easily defeated the creature. Looking about the room they could see that behind where the statue had squatted was hidden door. Nothing else of value was found in the room.

Behind the hidden door was a natural passageway through the rock. The party went down this passage until they came to large grotto filled with water. Slick moisture dripped ran along the walls and dripped from the ceiling. Eerie noises echoed from the water droplets landing in the water. Testing the depth they saw that it was only a couple feet deep. Cebo went in first sticking close to the southeast wall and prodding with his sword. A short way into the pool his feet slipped and he almost slid into a much deeper portion of the pool. With the water over his head he returned and Eldon, using spider climb, went across with a rope. With the rope attached across they stared crossing the deep pool. After a couple had crossed there was suddenly a commotion as four shambling zombie-like creatures crawled out of the water and attacked the one crossing. Rhino's attempts at turning the undead failed so the party members on both sides of the grotto attacked and made short work of the creatures. After this the party discovered that the water was only deep on one side of the grotto and so the rest safely crossed. At this point it was decided to end the game for the night.

The game ended in the afternoon of Reaping 2, 3080 YE with the party on the far side of the grotto.
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Unanswered Questions:

• You know the location of the forgotten Dwarven Stronghold "Glitterhame", are you going there?
• What is this disgusting disease most of you have? If it is a disease and not some horrible curse of the Frog God.
• And, if it is a curse, how are you going to get rid of it?
• What effects is it having on you? All but Eldon have been infected for 4 or 5 days and your entire body is now covered with oozing scabby sores.
• Who, or what is Tsathogga, besides the most obvious, some sort of Frog God?
• Just what else is in this ancient temple worth looting?

Session Twelve Experience

Page Last Updated Monday, April 29, 2002