Session 56 – The Underground Sea

Started by avisarr, January 02, 2007, 10:42:27 PM

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avisarr

Session 56 – The Underground Sea

The party was attempting to drain the next section of the dungeon, which was submerged. They separated it from the previous dungeon with a stone wall. They were using the Pilfering Rings of Mallaked to drain the water (the water rushes in one ring and is instantly teleported to the other ring where it drains over the wall). However, this was taking too long. It seemed that So, Ugita struck upon the idea of using the stasis spheres from Saramuthak. The spheres could store the equivalent of a 10 foot diameter sphere, or several hundred cubic feet of water. With eight spheres, the party set up a chain of hands, passing the spheres back and forth, filling and emptying them with water and dumping the water over the wall. This method rapidly drained the dungeon area before them.

Forty feet in, the floor dropped and the players found themselves knee deep in water. They were pestered several times by five foot shark like creatures, but these were easily dispatched.

The party waded through the slimy water, following the twists and turns of the maze, Various traps were sprung... portcullis gates came crashing down, whirlpools tried to suck them in, etc. , but the party deftly avoided them all. 

Finally, the party came to a huge cavern. The water filled dungeon emptied here and this cavern held a small lake, with a rim of stone around the perimeter. They were attacked by a huge sea serpent. A volley of spells scared it off, but not before it had swallowed Grimnoth whole. The party pursued as best they could around the edge of the small lake. Soon they encountered Grimnoth, covered in blood, walking back to meet them. Beyond him was the sea serpent, lying on the shore, a gaping hole in its belly where Grimnoth had cut his way out.

The party continued along the edge of the underground lake, following Ugita's "Find the Path" spell until they came to the cavern narrowed and then opened up into another chamber. The chamber beyond was a vast cavern. It was roughly circular and over a mile wide and 500 feet tall. It held an enormous underground lake, almost a sea. At narrow strip of beach circled the edge of the cavern. At the center of this underground sea was an small island. Its stony cliff walls jutted abruptly out of the waves. A great staircase rose from the waves to a great iron door set in the side of the stony island cliff.

Near the island, in the distance, the party could see a sail. Tyron cast invisibility on himself, shapechanged into a dragon, and then flew over the sea. He did a recon of the entire cavern and checked out the ship. The ship was a small fishing vessel crewed by a number of small furry humanoids. They had sarthak runes burned in their foreheads. Clearly, these were more mentally dominated slaves of the sarthak. Their sarthak master was probably nearby, perhaps guarding the very shrine that the party sought.

The party windwalked across the body of water to the island. They avoided the small fishing boat and landed on the stairs on the side of the island. These stairs went up from the water to a pair of huge iron doors set in the side of the cliff.

Maintaining his form as a dragon, Tyron led the group in. They forced the great doors open and ventured in. The party ignored all side passageways and corridors and headed straight in. The first entry hall was empty. The second was a large circular chamber with a double set of balconies. The balconies were filled with archers and other creatures lurked in alcoves ready to spring out.

Tyron, in dragon form, breathed fire and filled the room with flame. This took out many of the lesser creatures. These were most likely the minions of whatever sarthak lord had the job of guarding the shrine.

The party then encountered a floating probe  - it looked like a mechanical construct, a bronze sphere with six faces plates – each face plate held a glowing gem. The first gem unleashed a bolt of energy which struck Tyron and neutralized all magic on him. His shapechange spell was unraveled and he reverted to his normal form. Several of his magic items were drained as well.

Not willing to let the probe fire that weapon again, Tyron quickly threw up a wall of force, sealing off the passageway.

The probe, unable to get past the wall of force, retreated... probably to approach the party from one of the side corridors.

We ended Session 56 here.