Adventure 61 – Caverns Under the Quarry (Dark Tower)

Tetranac – Drow: Ranger (lvl 7)
Gubikla – Gome: Magic User (lv 8)
Talin – Dwarf: Fighter (lvl 7)
Othello – Gnome:  Thief (lvl 8)
Bone – Hauman: Fighter (lvl 8)

Did Cloverdung get in a duel with Robin Hood for making a pass at Maid Marian?
Not so much a duel as more of a double-penetration.

Now that the battle with the Lich is over, for now.  The party searches the bodies  and the room.  They find a few trinkets and blank scrolls that had been used.  Othello and Talin search the room and find nothing of interest.  The party heads back out to the larger room where the battle with the mummies took place.  They search the sarcophaguses where the mummies came out of.  They find some runes but nothing that are of significance.  They also see about a half dozen Carrion Crawlers feeding on the remains of the mummies.  The party dispatch of these creatures fairly quickly.  Yet the one in the back manages to escape out the Goblin made corridor.  The party searches the stone sarcophagus again and Talin finds a earring in the salt like substance, but nothing else of interest.  But as Othello and Talin are searching the sarcophagus they realise that the west wall of the Lich room was warmer than the others.   They go to the Lich room and search the area again and happen upon trigger that opens a secret door.

The secret door leads to a corridor out to a ledge that looks to have been seared off by lava eruption.  The ledge drops about 20 feet then slopes steeply down then comes to a crevasse where the other side is also a steep slope.  The party sees a ledge about 20 feet higher on the other side of the chasm.  Tetranac says he can levite and we can throw him over to the other side and he can tie off a rope.  So Bone tosses the Elf  out into the chasm and he goes about 20 feet.  The party pulls Tetranac back and Talin goes I can do better and throws the Elf with gusto.  Tetranac hits the wall of the ledge on the other side but bounces away before he can grab on and now is to far away to do anything.  The party pulls Tetranac back and this time gives him another room that he can tie off on a grappling hook that he can latch on the the ledge with.  This time both Bone and Talin throw the Elf together but they were not coordinated so the Elf spins across the chasm hits the wall on the other side but does not bounce away this time.  Tetranac throw the grappling hook with the rope up and it latches on and pulls himself up and secures his end of the rope.  Talin hammers in a crowbar and ties off the rope on his end.  Othello looks at the rope and then shoots a bolt and appears on the other side next to Tetranac.  Talin the Dwarf shakes his head and climbs the rope over to the other side.  Gubkila case Dimension Door and walks through the portal to the other side.  Bone reacts quick enough to jump through the port before Gubkila closed it.  

Now that the party is on the other side of the chasm, Othello and Tetranac do their best impression of Half Orc and “sneak” up to the Dark Tower.  There is a door that has a large face with one eye.  It looks around and then says something that no one understands.  Othello tells the door to “Open” in Abyssal as that is what he remembered the floating eye speak.  The door responds with “Who goes there” in Dwarven, Elven, Draconic, and some other language.   Talin yells out in Dwarven, “Talin of the Firebeard clan”.  Tetranac tell the door in Elven, “Tetranac from the underdark”.  Othello not to be out done tells the door, The party of Talin Firebeard in Draconic.   The door response in Dwarven, “Present yourselfs so I can inspect you”  The party member that had spoken stand up on the ledge.  The door tells the party to come closer.  Talin relays the message and the three move up to about eight foot away from the door.  The door continues to speak in Dwarven and ask what is our business.  Talin tells the door who we are and how we have been exploring old Dwarven ruins and came across this tower.  The door response that is interesting but what is  your business.   Talin converses with the party and then responses “we are seeking Mr. Doomsnake”.  The door response “That is a shame as Doomsnake has been dispatched.”  Talin tell the door that it was the party that dispatched Doomsnake but the door does not believe him.  So Othello sings a tale of the battle the party had on his lute.  The door is impressed with the tale even if he was not particular of the loot.   The door tell the party that he wishes he could let us in as Doomsnake had some stuff inside but he could not let us in without the password.  He suggest that as we have release the first spell by killing Doomsnake that a Dispel Magic might free him from the door and then we could enter.  The party negotiates that the door keep watch for us as we rest and we will try to free him then.  He agrees, so the party setup camp in the Tiny Hut that Gublika brings out and the party rest while Othello keeps watch.

Othello see someone appear in front of the door and say something that he could not make out then goes inside.  Othello goes out to the door and ask who that was.  He said one of Doomsnakes minions.  I ask him what he said and the door tells me he can’t.  Othello ask him how many minions have the password.  The door says about six.  Othello ask if the minion that went inside was a magic user.  The door confirms he is. Othello goes back to the hut and hangs out and about four hours later someone else appears and goes inside.  Again Othello could not determine what he said. Though he thinks it was in the first language that the door spoke that Othello did not understand.  The Hut disappears after eight hours and Othello wakes up the party.  Gubkila cast Dispel Magic from a scroll and the party can tell the doors anticipation and once released yells out “yes free at last”  and a spirit flies off.   

Othello goes and pushes the door open.  Inside the Dark Tower is a large blue carpet in the center of the cylinder room, with a long red carpet laid over it that ends at the door.  To either side of the door are two sets large suits of armor. On the far side of the room is a throne on a raised marble step with serpents statues coiled  next to it.  Nest to the serpent are another pair of suits of armor.  Making a total of eight suit of armor.  Tetranac notices that on the ceiling about forty feet up in the middle of the room is a globe of darkness.  He cast Dancing Lights and send them up to the darkness and the disappear when the enter the darkness.  Othello stars heading south around the edge of the cylinder room and finds a weird ornate greenish tapered cylinder thing that has the same green metal wheels attached on either side.  Othello tried to move and or tilt the cylinder but it won’t budge.  Talin hits one of the armour and it make a ringing noise but nothing happens.  Bone pokes the blue carpet with his sword and it sets it a fire.  He quickly stamps out the fire.  Tetranac starts heading to the north side of the room and see another one of the cylinder with wheel things.  Bone starts rolling up the blue carpet.  Talin is trying to figure out how to get the door off the hinges and end up getting his hand stuck.  Tetranac shoots a lightning arrow at the darkness and it passes through the edge of the darkness and it comes down and hits Othello in the back.  Gubikla summons some invisible hound and send it to the middle of the room.

Othello goes up to the step in front of the throne to investigate.  This is when he sees the Armour left up their halberds and pond the ground and he hears cranking noise where the wheeled cylinders were.  He teleports back to the side of the wheeled cylinder he had investigated.  The Armour start moving to the nearest party member.  The wheeled cylinders rotate to point towards Tetranac and Othello.  Bone starts attacking the suits of armour that activated close to him.  Gubkila calls his hound back to himself and cast Acid Splash against the two next to him.  Talin attacks the two that came south from the throne.  Othello scramble up on to the wheeled cylinder.  Tetranac does the same for the one next to him but it swing upward and knocks him off.  Othello use a couple of thunderstick charges to blast the approaching armours.   Tetranac ends up levitating and rising thirty feet up and the wheeled cylinder would shoot fire but it could not reach him.  The fire cannon knock Othello off and blast him with fire.  Othello teleport away and appears next to Gubkila.  Bone takes out the armours next to him and head to help out Tetranac.  Talin continues to battle the armours next to him.  After Gubkila takes a fire blast from the cannon that pursued Othello gets feed up and cast Fireball that takes out the two armour next to the cannon.  He also sets the carpet on fire.  Othello shoot a bolt at the cannon and finally destroys it.    Tetranac is shooting arrows down at the armour and fire cannon.  Bone comes over and takes out the armour.  Talin finishes off the armours next to him.  Gubkila finish off the cannon under Tetranac.  

CoD =  Talin for negotiating with the door.