Session 52 - A Monster's Tears
29th July 2022 - 19:45 - 11:00
In-game timeline: Start of session: 1489DR Nightal 3. End of session: 1489DR Nightal 3
Our "Heroes" consider their options for rescuing the children. They return their attention to the picture on the wall. And the chalice containing horrible smelling liquid. Derrick unsurprisingly tastes the liquid and almost throws up. They spot light moving in the picture and they quickly hide - Jaxii and Iwee pressing themselves against the wall, and Karoshi and Derrick diving out of the room. Iwee creates an illusion of the sound of beating drums in the room. This confuses Derrick, though that is no reflection on the quality of the illusion.
None can see the picture from their positions, and after a short while Derrick wanders back into the room and the picture seems back to its previous, "normal" state. The group senses that Derrick is getting bored. Which, based on previous experience, is dangerous. They start to act a little quicker. Derrick is still annoyed that his "ascendency" in the previous session was not recorded for posterity in the blog.
Fiddling around with the chalice, the runes on the table, and the picture seems to have no effect. So they rub the rune that is faintly drawn behind the picture off of the wall. They are not surprised when this seems to make the picture disappear, leaving only a thin-lined frame drawn on the wall. They the wonder if this was a good idea. So, pretty much like the last time they did the same thing.
They then thought about the consequences of their actions. Possibly people below would now be aware of their presence, so how best to face them?
They decide to head downstairs and wait to face any enemies in the corridor. They ignore the marvellous bas relief carvings in the stairwell, and prepare themselves at the base of the stairs for when the door opens.
They wait.
Then get bored waiting. Karoshi and Iwee go to the stone door and decide to open it. Just as they are about to open it, the door actually is opened before them!
It seems that the lizardfolk on the other side of the door are as surprised as they are. Three of the four creatures in the room beyond are similar to the guards that they faced on the surface. The other is much larger and more beast-like, though still obviously a lizardfolk of some sort. One seems to run off out of another door from the room, possibly to get reinforcements! The party need to act fast.
So they talk for a while about what their plan should be, then resort to the usual "kill everything that moves" strategy that has served them so well so far.
The two fighters bravely throw javelins from a distance while the healing paladin and singing gnome face the wrath of the mercenary lizardfolk. The lizards fight well, and do significant damage, primarily to Karoshi, but the tiefling responds in kind and manages to score a perfect hit, and smite, as the large beast rushes past him, heading for Derrick who had insulted his wiener.
With a gap now available for the fighters to approach, Jaxii and Derrick rush into the room and take on the two remaining guards, eventually disposing of them, with the help of Karoshi pinning one of them in a corner with a chair.
But the one that got away had enough time to fetch some help, in the form of another lizardfolk guard. And this one seemed to have magic at his disposal. As Karoshi prepares to face them, a large, spectral maw opens up above him and snaps down at the paladin.
With all the other guards taken care of, this one doesn't stand much of a chance, faced with the impressive might of the party. He tries to run, but Derrick chases him down and disposes of him with no mercy. Derrick gains another large, iron key to add to his collection for his trouble.
The group return to the door that is in the centre of the corridor. The Tresendar Manor key surprisingly does not fit this lock, so they use the key they found on the guard. It fits!
Opening the door they are faced with a tall, humanoid creature that seems to be made up from body parts of different people, or creatures. Large stitches seem to only just hold together the pieces of body as it turns to face them. As the group see, and hear, a number of small children cowering in the back of the revealed room, the creature seems to snap out of its 'trance' and starts to move towards them.
Trying an alternative tack, the group tries to reason with this creature, but unfortunately it either cannot, or does not want to, listen to their arguments and it rushes towards them, smashing into Derrick.
The battle progresses, with damage dealt on both sides. Iwee, being a sensitive soul, seems to get the impression that this creature does not want to be here, or to be fighting. She even thinks she sees a tear roll down the patchwork face of the creature. As the warriors before her cut the creature's flesh away, Iwee puts it out of its misery with a final vicious mockery and it drops to the ground.
The party run into the room and close the door behind them. They discover a group of cowering children at the back of the room. Suriel is with the children, and she recognises them and calms the other children down.
After talking to the children, they find out that Lispeth brought them here through the picture that was once in the village, which seemed to lead into a corridor on a lower level of these ruins. The creature just killed, who was apparently called Beryl, was here to guard the children. All the children are here, except for two - Hansel was taken a few days previously and has not been seen since, and Poppy was taken yesterday. They do not know where there were taken.
Our "Heroes" decide to short rest in this room and recover some of their health and abilities before pressing onwards and, presumably, downwards…