Session 5 3/5/4726 Keshani Account

 

1. Deeper and Deeper… We return to the Gauntlight ruins and meet up with the Mitflits where we accidentally discover that mitflits reproduce through mitosis… The Mitflits guide us to a secret door beyond which are stairs down. Keshani descends first to scout around. Everything seems still, but she can hear the sound of hammering and engineering in the area. We start to explore and find a series of long, processional corridors, and though we hear sounds indicating inhabitants, for the time being we manage to avoid them. One door in particular exudes peculiarly powerful occult energies and a faint green glow. Crocus is able to translate the runes on the door as “WC”. While morbidly curious as to what could have happened in a toilet to cause this, for the time being we decide against trying to open the door. From behind another nearby door Keshani can just about hear sounds of natural disasters, but they sound weird and unnatural. Again we avoid that door. The corridor ends with a room in which is a substantial armoured pile of bones which, unsurprisingly, rises to attack but is soon defeated. It’s wearing ancient, but still serviceable bronze half-plate armour which we take with us. Around a corner we find stairs heading downwards to a small quayside that smells damp and mouldy. Grognar spots the patch of brown mould at the base of the stairs as easily sweeps it aside with his greataxe.
2. However, our presence does not go unnoticed… From the murky water of the underground cave beyond emerges a draconic head – Freznelkesh the Swamp Dragon who the mitflits warned us of. Freznelkesh spits acid at the group. Grognar ducks and Valeros raises his shield to divert the spray, but unfortunately diverts it straight at Crocus! With the acid eating his skin, Crocus flees backwards to try to douse himself with the contents of his waterskin, assisted by Kyra. In the meantime Grognar, Valeros and Keshani manage to defeat Freznelkesh. With the acid still not nullified, we dunk Crocus in the underground lake, but it takes Grognar vigorously scrubbing Crocus with soap to finally get ride of the acid that was stuck to him. We cut off the drake’s head as proof we killed it, and Keshani goes swimming in search of the drake’s lair in case it had any treasure worth taking. She finds some gold (36gp), a Wayfinder, a Retribution Axe and a Wand of Force Barrage. On the far side of the lake we discover the Morlocks… a group of degenerate bug-eyed creatures led by Graulgust. Crocus sweet-talks him and he tells us that he is King of the Ghost Queen Morlocks who ousted the Mitflits from this level. When we reveal we’ve killed Freznelkesh he appears very pleased, takes possession of its head, and appoints us ‘Lackeys of the Ghost Queen’. He takes us on a tour of his domain, warning us of a trapped corridor and introducing us to his grothluts: flesh-warped pets who had apparently escaped from a cage below and were now bound to his service. He also advises us to beware of the Major-Domo, an undead creature in the crypt close by
3. He then offers us a choice: remain as his lackeys, or descend to a lower level to confront his enemies: the Cult of the Canker – a group of heretic ghouls. He goes on to tell us that about a year ago something new appeared deep in the vaults below, and it was powerful enough that many other denizens were pushed from their original lairs. The Morlocks had once dwelled lower in the vaults, but were forced up here, and in turn pushed the weaker Mitflits to the surface ruins. One of the Morlocks shows us to the stairs leading down to the ghouls’ lair, but we demur, saying we have to ascend first to ‘seek the blessing of the Ghost Queen’. The Morlock finds this excuse totally reasonable and leaves us, so we re-cross Freznelkesh’s lake and start to retrace our steps, taking the drake’s talons as proof of its demise to show the Mitflits as Graulgust now has its head. At the top of the stairs Grognar spots a secret door in the wall which conceals another flight of stairs downwards, presumably also towards the ghouls’ domain depending on how extensive it is.
4. We investigate a few nearby rooms and find Belcorra’s punishment chamber and also an odd, circular room bearing the skull and moss motif of Nhimbaloth. We decide after some further searching that this is some kind of elevator platform. In a large circular room nearby – which we decide is the foundation or basement of the Gauntlight Tower based on its size and shape – we find the giant, desiccated corpse of a purple worm. Knowing that such creatures swallow enemies whole, we decide to check if there’s anything valuable in its stomach and find the remains of a dwarf still holding a magical Warhammer. Back on the surface amongst the ruins Crocus tries to convince Boss Skrawng that we have defeated the Swamp Dragon, however this time his silver tongue fails him. Furious at Crocus’ apparent betrayal, he orders his Mitflits to attack. Despite the support of multiple giant maggots and even a sun spider, we defeat the Mitflits. Grognar takes the magical Morningstar that had been propping up a skeleton, and we return to Otari to rest.
5. Total treasure from last session: 60gp (12gp each); Wand of Force Barrage (Crocus); Retribution Axe (Grognar); Wayfinder (worth up to 28gp - sell?); Warhammer +1 (Valeros); Morningstar +1 (Grognar); Bronze half-plate (Grognar).