When we last looked in on The Clerics Three, they had come across the Two-Faced Shrine, an ancient place dedicated to the demon lord Demogorgon. They began their explorations, gained entrance to the shrine’s inner sanctum, defeated a number of foes, and found some hidden treasure. They had depleted their resources and abilities and needed to find a safe place to rest, relatively safe at least. That is where we’ll pick up after the break.
There are potential spoilers for “Troll Trouble” from Gary Whicker and from “Here There Be Monsters” from Dungeon Magazine #142. Both smooshed toegher and significantly modified for our use. This write-up is from RJ and my GM comments are in [brackets and italics] as usual. Muse was missing. Bridgett joined us and played Otilia.
One thing that I had forgotten to include before is the music station we’re listening to while playing. This started in our first session when the Rusty Armadillo “house band” became Orctallica and we had Pandora playing a Metallica station in the background. Each general location has (and will have) a musical theme. The village was a Dolly Parton station because Nefton’s wife’s name was Waldine and that made either Muse or Rachel (or both) to draw the comparison to Parton’s song Jolene.
Station: Queen. Clem is an ogre. Ogre Battle is a song from Queen, specifically the album Queen II. Queen II was one of the albums that we listened to a lot while playing D&D back in high school. đŸ˜‰
Having gotten, perhaps, a bit over our heads, we needed to find a place to rest for the night. Should we retreat or find a spot here within the “inner sanctum?” If we stayed, we’d have to do something about the bodies we had left behind. We tried to push one through the mirror that we entered near. It didn’t work. I put my hand on the mirror and it starts to swirl and the portal opens, at least we know that we can leave. As we were doing this, the sinister “snake lady” in the blood pool below kept trying to convince us, individually, to sacrifice one of our allies. Most of us just ignore her, but Chuck seems to have more in-depth conversations with her.
After a bit of discussion, we decided to rest in the hidden room with the two chests. We left the bodies where we felled them, hoping it would like a bunch of adventurers had come in and then left. Chuck casts a spell on the door of the “throne room” as well as on the iron grate in the room. If anyone enters via either, he’ll be notified. We crowd into the secret room and pull the throne back into place behind us. It is cramped and very dark. We set watches and attempt to get some rest.
During my watch [I believe it was the second watch], Chuck wakes up and signals that his alarm on the iron door had woken him. We quietly wake up everyone else and stay as quiet as possible. Alaric and Pallas [closest to the entrance of the room] hear movement and some muffled orcs voices but cannot make out what is said. After a few tense moments, Chuck whispers that his alarm has gone off again, letting us know that all four creatures that had entered have left. We settle back down and finish our rest.
When we wake up Alaric and I are pretty tired still, it was difficult to sleep well given the cramped quarters and threat of discovery. I felt it important to stay awake the whole time since none of my companions can see in the dark like a dwarf. Fortunately, everyone else got an adequate rest.
[Given how cramped the space was, the need to avoid touching one of the chests and possibly setting off its flame trap again, and the stress of the situation, I ruled that everyone would need to make a successful DC 10 Constitution check or suffer a level of exhaustion…but still benefit from a long rest. Everyone agreed that was fair. Alaric and Delg failed.]
We crawl out of our hiding space and stop to listen at the iron door. We don’t hear anything and unlock the door. As we step out into the “blood cavern” again, the serpent lady is again asking for a sacrifice. Chuck summons his magic hand and gives here a rude gesture. A loud roar comes from the far end of the cavern as a large creature with two heads, one an orc and the other human, rushes across the stone bridge at us. Alaric rushes forward to meet the charge, spotting four orcs following behind the monstrosity. One of the orcs grievously slashes across Alaric’s torso with its greataxe. The two-headed monster drops the club it was carrying and grabs Alaric, trying to toss him off the bridge!
[Alaric also recognized the human face…it looked like a merchant that he had seen previously on his travels. The group drew the conclusion that he had probably been one of the two individuals that Clem said had been taken from the wagon by the orcs.]
Alaric lands hard but on the bridge. Between the axe and the forceful landing, he is knocked out, teetering on the edge of the bridge. Pallas rushes to his aid and magically revives him. The monster continues forward towards us. I call forth a sphere of flame and position it to keep the orcs contained on the other side of the bridge while the others focus on the monster. Otilia lets loose with a divine blast [guiding bolt], striking the thing in its chest and continuing all the way through its back! [A crit! We have a house rule that a critical hit is maximum damage plus a roll of the damage dice.] With their creature down, the orcs retreat. We rush forward and slay three of the four, but the last escapes into the bone room and closes the door behind him.
As we give chase into the bone room, we can hear the howling and hooting of monkeys, but it then stops. The set of double doors leading out are open and lead to a corridor with many alcoves containing large demonic monkey statues. Alaric takes the lead and as he heads down the corridor, the monkey statues start up their ruckus again. It seems to be an alarm system of some sort. A chain with manacles at the ends is wrapped around the leg of one of the statues, blood stains at the base of the statue.
Continuing down the corridor, we find another iron door, locked. The key we previously recovered from one of the orcs worked. Beyond was a large room with four alcoves to the sides, with more large demonic monkey statues, and a huge statue of Demogorgon on a raised area at the far end of the chamber. Near the middle of the room is a large pit, glowing with a sickly green light. Four orcs are within and a human chanting and standing near the Demogorgon statue. Two of the orcs man the crank of a crude crane device, lowering a small cage into the pit. The cage holds a fifth orc and human woman. It is obvious that she’s been beaten and brutalized and barely looks conscious. The orc seems excited and eager. The final two orcs are charging towards us.
The human at the back yells to the charging orcs to not let us disturb the ritual as the other two continue to lower the cage. Chuck weaves his way past the orcs, now blocking our path into the room, and summons a disc beneath the lowering cage with part of the disc resting on the edges of the pit. [Although the disc wasn’t really large enough to cover enough of the pit and prevent the cage from descending, it certainly would delay the descent momentarily. Great use of the spell!]
The human asks if we are here to defy him. When we answer yes, he taps his staff against the ground. Hoots and howls of monkeys come from the pit. Otilia lets loose with another divine bolt, striking the human and killing him! The orcs don’t seem to care that their “leader” has fallen. If anything, they seemed pleased and the orcs manning the crane redouble their efforts. Demonic monkeys, similar to those that had come out of the throne the prior day, swarmed out of the pit. I summon my sphere of green flame [GREEN FLAME!] next to these orcs, but they don’t leave their post despite the burns they start to suffer. Chuck’s disc can’t hold the cage any longer…it falls into the pit and the cage continues it descent as well [and I started chuckling…explanation to follow.]
Before the cage is lowered fully below the edge of the pit, Pallas decides that a quick death would be more merciful for the woman than whatever evil awaited her in the pit. He shoots and his crossbow bolt flies true, striking the woman and appearing to kill her.
The monkeys swarm over Chuck and he goes down. The orcs burn as the cage is lowered. Pallas is able to revive Chuck.
As we fight the monkeys and remaining orcs, we hear a huge roar from the pit. Another two-headed monster starts to pull itself up out of the pit. One head is that of the orc while the other is the woman’s but looks dead. The creature has no legs. Instead, it is floating on Chuck’s disc!!! [Thus my prior chuckling.] Chuck tries to dismiss and then control his disc but is unsuccessful. [The disc is no longer his to control.]
It was a tough fight, but we prevailed. Alaric struck the killing blow on the brute, beheading it!
With all our enemies defeated, we take a better look around the chamber. The pit drops about ten to fifteen feet down and the bottom is filled with green flames. [GREEN FLAME!] Alaric and Pallas head to the big statue of Demogorgon. Alaric notices a small golden statue of Demogorgon at its base. Assuming it is evil, Alaric swings his warhammer down upon it. Upon striking it, the warhammer explodes, sending shrapnel flying and both Alaric and Pallas sprawling away. Alaric heads back to the statues and reaches out to pick up the golden one as the rest of us look on, fearing what will happen next.
[And that’s where we stopped for the night.
It appears that the Two-Faced Shrine…or at least the pit within…creates monstrosities, combining them into abominations. Perhaps this explains all the strange creatures that the group had encountered in the hills nearby. So what was this guy up to? Why did the orcs seem pleased when he was killed? Who (or what) is the snake lady thing? She also mentioned something about her lord…who is it? Perhaps more importantly, is there anything that the Clerics Three can do about this pit or about the Shrine as a whole?
Beer Log: Here’s what we sampled this session, using, as always, our hit, miss, crit, and fumble rating scale.
- Orpheus Over and Over: Thanks to RJ! A slightly sour ale with pineapple. Not bad but not great…I actually expected more given how much I’ve liked other Orpheus stuff. Just a hit.
- Phantom Carriage The Serpent’s Egg: Thanks to RJ! One of the remaining beers from RJ and Bridgett’s trip to CA. Very nice sour with a tart, tangy, and fruity flavor. Solid hit!
- Sour Cellars Shuvly Kouse: Hmm…blackberries and barrel fermented…yum. Everything from Sour Cellars so far has been really tasty, fruity and really sour. A near crit for me.
