04.04 Big Ugly Women

Entwhistle wakes up and stretches and looks around rather confused – we appear to be in some caves.
Footsteps are heard approaching us and weapons are drawn, some big ugly unit steps into view, this massively tall female half orc says she has been following us and can help us, she carries a letter which validates her claim, this could be helpful as we are short handed with the recent demise of Rogan Josh.
Before we have finished breakfasting another woman appears, this one is much more pleasing to the eye and is some sort of extra planar being, she warns us not to trust her sisters inside and something else, but Entwhistle was so busy admiring her hot body, he paid little attention to what she was saying.

We move deeper into the caverns, a loud noise is heard on a regular basis and we appear to be getting closer to the source, finally the cave opens out and we see some tubes which emit the loud noise as well as a slippery slope down to a steamy cavern floor with a portcullis barring the exit. The scout makes his way down gingerly and warns the others of the hazards, others start slipping and sliding down when some form in the steam is attracted to the noise, it then flees towards the portcullis as arrow fire is directed towards it. The half orc jumps over the edge and appears little damaged by the leap, the party stumble towards the gate and attempt to lift it, at this moment a huge arm appears and hurls a rock at the archer, damn that hurts, manage to get an arrow back at them. The gate appears immovable even with half the party straining to lift it. More rocks are thrown and the sorcerer yells out fire in the hold as he detonates a fireball through the opening above the portcullis, shouts are heard inside followed by a loud crash. The scout climbs up to the opening and peers inside, the platform the Giant was standing on is partly demolished, once inside others join him and together with the team below manage to lift the portcullis.

We stand at an intersection and hear movement down one branch, an Ettin charges the party and through fireballs and arrows does not make it to within sword swinging distance, a disgruntled dwarf and half orc then charge into action to take on the remaining creatures. A bored Leorn wanders down the other corridor and is followed by Oskar and Entwhistle, soon the Cleric runs into a another Giant, battle ensues and Leorn takes a pounding but we drive the creature away.

We regroup and continue our explorations of the rooms, we come across some sort of fountain and Leorn has deciphered the pictogram we possess and drinks from the fountain, he becomes much stronger but less wise. We then enter a room where three angelic beings appear chained to a higher level in the room, some symbol is drawn on the floor, being very dubious and heeding the words from the chick earlier we approach with weapons drawn and quiz them, they beseech us to tread on the symbol to free them. Not being born yesterday we do not and it is not long before they reveal their true hideous form – a type of hag and move to attack us, the fight rages back and forth around the room as they can fly and become invisible, every person is involved in the combat and we eventually triumph. We exit their chamber and enter a room with four skeletons in the corners and a chest at one wall, as soon as the chest is approached the skeletons animate and attack, we fall back as they have a devastating explosive attack which badly injures the party. We are in a largish corridor and assume with two doors which we spike one and know the room with the skeletons is a dead end is a safeish place to rest.

We set a watch. Soon noise is heard at the spiked door and the party are woken up, not long after some shiny creature opens the other door where the explosive skeletons reside, a flurry of blows and arrows take the creature out, puzzling how the creature came through this way we spy a mirror and put an arrow through it surmising that it used the mirror as some sort of gateway. We therefore decide our position here is vulnerable (must redefine safeish) and make our way out of the complex to find a safer spot to recover. Before we get too far we hear Giant footsteps and prepare for the worst. A very large Fire Giant rounds the corner and spells, arrows, Dwarves and Half Orcs are unleashed at the huge foe, the half orc is invisible but with the giant flailing in huge arcs connects several times and sends her to the ground unconscious, we take the big critter down and search around for an invisible friend, another shiny creature lurks at the edge of the combat, but does not join in.

Going back to our hidey hole in the caves we fully rest and recover our spells and slide our way back to the complex. We appear to have dealt with most of the creatures and move cautiously around the areas. We come across the Fire Giants forge. An intricate cage made of precious metals triggers memories of another cage we saw in the caverns at the edge of town. Also, the fire in the forge seemed unnatural, not wanting to poke anything where it doesn’t belong we quickly loot the area and make our way to the other portions of the complex.

The skeletons in the chest room are taken out from a distance and we find a well hidden magic staff, which appears to be useful against demons, of which we have heard from legend.

The last room holds a large mirror and a throne facing it, we see Alex Tercival slumped in the throne. Entering the room the image changes to one of the shiny creatures which attacks us, more creatures step out of the mirror and hurt us with crystal shards flying from their swords. We manage to defeat them and explore the room. The throne is surrounded by a circle with various colored points around it, this triggers memories and we pull out our pictogram which translates to a series of numbers. In the mirror we glimpse an image of Tercival. Much searching of the room and standing at various points around the circle manage nothing. Entwhistle probes the mirror and finds it to be liquid which his hand can pass through. Tying a rope around himself he steps through, the rope is cut and he swears, the others in the room can still hear him, though faintly. He stands in a pentagonal room with five colored exits which correspond to the colors in the main room.

Using the numbers from the pictogram and counting around the circle in the throne room, Entwhistle passes through the corresponding colored exits. It takes several attempts to get the sequence right but eventually he enters a room with a very weak Alex Tercival laying on the floor, the Paladin tries to defend himself, the Rogue can’t believe his reputation has preceded him this far but realizes the man is delirious with thirst and even with comforting words cannot control the weakened man. The rest of the party are summoned through the mirror, as it appears to be a one way trip with the exit to the room barred by large doors which Tercival tried to hack through with his sword to little effect. Leorn heals some of Alex’ wounds, but the main is still very weak. With the combined might of the party the doors are broken down and we enter a room with sunlight streaming down at the far end.

As the party enter the room some huge red creature bellows out that Tercival will not live past this room, insults are returned and battle looms………………

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01 May 2024, 16:40:44