Price of Immortality Session #2

Here is the campaign log from our second Price of Immortality (PoI) session. This was written by RJ (who plays Rodan and is a wee bit grammatically and spelling challenged). My GM comments are in [italics and brackets.]

Note: There are, obviously, spoilers for the Price of Immortality trilogy below. In this session, the party reaches the Crypt and begins exploring it.

[When we last left the party, they had reached the Serpent Gorge…the location of the Crypt of the Everflame…and had started to navigate down its steep and shifting slope. Serena and Cornichon had already made it to the bottom of the gorge. Rodan had begun to climb down, lost his grip on the rope, and had begun to fall…]

Damm…how am I to protect people if I die falling down the side of a ravine. Of course I have my armor down and I am scraping my body against the side of the ravine. Of course I hit my head on a rock, But at least I have stopped sliding. I am feeling a bit out of it but my companion Serna comes up and checks on me. She asks if I am ok, I mumble something incoherently. She takes my shoulder and starts to help me down. As we are heading down she slips but catches herself before she falls. I move out of the way just in case anyone else falls down and try to shake some of the cobwebs loose.

I look up and Monte is working his way down. He slips and starts sliding, but pulls his axe and slams it down to catch himself. It slows him down, but he lets it go. He gets down and Lilac comes down next with the grappling hook and rope. On her way down picks up Monte’s hand axe.

Monte looks around and states “we are right where we are supposed to be.” Then he says “give or take. Maybe off by a few steps.”

[The characters all had two pieces of parchment in the packs that they had been supplied before leaving Kassen. These were all pieces of a rather stylized map of the region showing the trail that leads to the Crypt. The players pieced them together but took the map a bit literally. The entrance to the Crypt is shown right at the end of the trail and is drawn on the map such that it makes it look like it is at the top of the opposite side of the gorge. Although I made a comment that the map was, well, stylized, it didn’t help much as you’ll see below.]

My companions and I are not sure if we should go east or west. On the map the opening looks like it is on the other side of the ravine maybe halfway up. Lilac volunteers to climb up the other side. He starts to climb up pretty easily but hits a loose patch and starts to slide down. He is coming down pretty quick and falls the last twenty feet. I go over and check him out, he looks pretty banged up. I ask Milani to look after Lilac and her glow surrounds me and she starts to look better. He gets back up and tries again, this time doesn’t get as far before he falls back down. Must be that city life. I ask Milani for help again and she heals him.

Serena decides to try with the same result. I go over and ask Milani to look after her, she starts to feel better.

[Lilac, played by Todd, is a female not male character. Although this was pointed out over and over and over again by Todd, it must not have sunk in with RJ.

Note: This is one area of inconsistency in the module. As you’ll see below, the party eventually finds some horses and ponies that some of Kassen’s residents have led to the Crypt. Just how did those horses and ponies get down the slope without mishap? How did they do so without leaving any tracks or signs of passage? I came up with my own explanation but the module is a bit lacking here.]

We head down stream about forty feet, there is an archway with a flam symbol over it. The rest of the arch looks like it is covered in moss. There are two wooden doors in the arch and one is cracked open a bit. Then there was the blood-there are two dead horses and three dead ponies.

I go and examine the corpses it looks like either a crude weapon or animal bite. Monte finds some saddle bags and thinks he has seen one of the horses before. As he is looking he sees a human femur sticking out from under a horse. He lifts the horse and there is a skeleton underneath. Monte kicks the skull off the body. He bends down and looks thru the saddle bags. There are two pillows (very strange), two days of rations, 10 blunt arrows, and two quarts of lamp oil.

[Animal bites? No one said anything about animal bites. It was crude weapons or claws. In fact, I believe the party determined that the claws of the skeletons they later encounter pretty much match some of the wounds on the pack animals. Two pints…not quarts…of lamp oil.

Monte also remembered having seen one of the horses in Kassen before. He couldn’t quite remember the name of the man that owned the horse but did remember that he was a friend of Mayor Uptal.]

Monte follows the tracks and sees that they come from the opposite way we came in. He tells us there are tracks for the five animals. We decide to put our armor back on finally since no climbing seems to be needed and head to the wooden door. Lilac goes and listens but doesn’t hear anything. Worried about the door creaking Lilac puts some of the oil on the hinges (after a grumbling Monte gives her some). But it still creaks just a bit as he opens the door.

[Monte also determined that a few humanoid individuals had accompanied the horses and ponies…anywhere from four to eight sets of such tracks.]

Inside the doors there is a long hall, several pillars, and raised platforms on both sides. There are steps on both side that lead up to the platforms and rails all along the platforms. There are two doors one on each platform. All over the hall there looks like there was a fierce battle; there are two bodies at the end of the hall and skeletons all around.

We come in, Monte grumbling about it and head towards the two bodies. Then we start to hear a wail like someone in pain. [The wailing was apparent before entering the room.] It’s coming from the east platform door. Cornichon casts light and we can see a little better as we turn to look the skeletons on the floor start to move and rise. They have broken scimitars and rusted chainmail on. I swing my morning star at the closest one and smash its head, it falls back to the ground motionless. Cornichon runs over to the east platform and climbs the rail; he starts a melody and I feel a bet stronger and quicker. I turn to look and Monte seems dazed and facing two skeletons. He comes out of it and smashes one down with his hammer. Serena is using her hands and it looks like she caught her arm on one of the skeletons ribs nasty cut. She uses her other hand and knocks it down. We get the rest knocked down. I ask Milani to look after us and her glow shines down and we heal up.

[I believe that there were at least two different critical fumbles in this fight by the party and I broke out Paizo’s Critical Fumble Deck. Monte dazed himself and Serena injured herself on the sharp bones of the skeletons.]

We look at the two corpses and realize that they are friends of the Mayor Gerald and Vark. They are carrying a pillow, two more quivers of blunted arrows, two smoke sticks, two days of rations, and a full water skin. The wailing is still going on.

[Just to avoid any confusion, the Mayor’s name is Uptal. Gerald and Vark are two of his friends that the PCs have noticed in the town.]

We head to the east platform and Lilac opens the door. We find more packs and three brooms. The packs are empty and it looks like the tracks are swept away. We come to the conclusion that maybe the people came here to trick us and play jokes on us but got caught up in the real thing. They came prepared for fooling us but weren’t prepared for the real thing.

Lilac takes a broom and she and Monte head forward. There are several hallways separated by square pillars, it makes this place look like a maze. As they both move forward down separate hallways, Monte sees a lever to the left. He keeps walking and catches himself before he falls into a pit. The floor just opens up. We look down and there are pillows at the bottom. Seems that this is part of the game they were going to play on us.

Monte continues forward and there is a door on the left. He listens and thinks wail is not coming from the door but from the other way. [Thomas rolled a natural 1 on his Perception.] Lilac hits a trap but jumps over it. Monte is walking around and another trap opens and he doesn’t jump this one. He falls about 10 feet and lands on pillow. He finds a pouch, inside it was five platinum pieces and a parchment ‘three to open but be quick for the door will only open for those who work together’. We help Monte out and we continue searching. Lilac falls himself and all in all we find 8 traps. We also find three levers. We believe that levers will open the door; we pull the levers with Lilac, Monte, and Serena pulling them. It stays open for a bit. We think of several ways to get everyone to the door quick, once we pull the levers. Finally, decide to try and hold the door open. It worked pretty good, once the door is open the wailing is louder.

[This turned in to one of those instances where, as GM, you just go, “Huh?” The players significantly overthought this whole maze. After pulling the levers once and seeing the door open and then close a few seconds later (i.e., one round), most of them seemed to be convinced that they would have to pull the levers and get through the door before it closed again. They tried to figure out if they were fast enough to do it without jumping the pits and who was best suited to be the farthest away. They spent a good amount of time doing all this before they decided to check to see if the door could be kept open. Obviously, as GM, I knew that it was as simple as just holding the door open and, obviously, as players, they didn’t have that certain knowledge. Still, sometimes players do things that just make you go, “Huh?”]

We are inside and there is a hallway to the right and another one to the right around a corner. We are a bit more cautious and Lilac is searching for traps. We head around the corner. She thinks there is one in front of us and jumps over it. But when Cornichon steps on it nothing happens. Not sure what is going on with it. At the end of the hallway there are bones in front of a door, as we get closer we see a crack in the doorway. Lilac looks in and sees crates and barrels just a few feet from the door. The wails are coming from behind the door. Lilac pulls out some tools and starts picking the lock. She puts her tools away and starts to open the door but it is stuck. Monte steps up to help Lilac push the door open and then a bolt comes out thru the crack and hits Monte. We pull back and I use my last request for the day to heal him.

Serena calls out “we are here to help”. Nothing happens but another bolt and hits Lilac. She goes down and I stabilize her. We decide to pull back and head outside and try to rest.

Monte pick up Lilac and we head back out. We go about 60 yards and set up camp. We are keeping an eye on the doors making sure nothing comes out. After a couple of hours Lilac is awake. Around dusk Monte, is watching the doors when he sees a shadow pass over head. He looks up and there are two Wyverns circling. Monte yells and the rest of us look up and see that the Wyverns coming in. We grab what we can and head back in. We close the door, but the Wyvern follows us in.

[Lilac had a mix of lethal and non-lethal damage. After a couple of hours, she had healed enough of the non-lethal to regain consciousness.

There was, apparently, a good amount of discussion as to what to do after the party had been bruised, battered, shot, and out of healing. I missed much of it…hey, even GMs need bathroom breaks! There was, however, some discussion that the party should return to Kassen since the Crypt was not what they had expected…thus the wyverns. I admit it was a bit a strong-handed of me but if the players and/or PCs are going to turn tail and run because they got a bit beat up, a little strong-handedness is in order. The wyverns were my way of making them stay at the Crypt…not prevent a rest…just stay at the Crypt instead of running back to a town two plus days away.]

We head back thru the east door, the Wyvern follows us. We close the door and use one of Monte’s hand axes and wedge it under the door. We all get to the door except for Monte, Serna, and Lilac who run to the levers and all pull them together. The door opens and I hold it open for the rest of the party. We get back in before the Wyvern can catch us.
We head to the right this time and come to a door, we can’t seem to get it open. Monte tries to run at it but it doesn’t budge. The wailing starts back up again. We think about resting here in the hall way but are unsure if we get enough rest. Decided to check out other room to find one more defensive.

[To be honest, I had no intention of the wyverns catching the party…at least not at this point. I could not, however, let on to that at this point and kept the fear of their stingers in the party. The kept following the party…even squeezing into the maze as they had the scent of some fresh prey. Will they still be there if the party tries to go back? Maybe…maybe not.

The wailing did stop a bit after the party settled down to rest in a hallway. It did not start again for the rest of the session…not that the players could know that would be the case. It was the wailing that seemed to be the prime motivation for continuing to explore in the hopes of finding a spot where they could limit its noise (e.g., a door they could close).]

Serena sneaks around a corner, down the hall way where the bolts came from, and turns to the right before the door. She goes to another door at the end. She opens it and sees a body sprawled on the floor with a beetle pushing the body to the corner filled with trash and filth. Serena comes back and we come up with a plan to get in the room and kill the beetle.

[Not just any beetle but a man-sized beetle. Another hallway was also seen to lead out of this new room.]

Lilac, Monte, and Serena will open the door and fire at the beetle. It doesn’t go as well as planed and Monte gets hit with acid and goes down. I come in and smash the beetle down. I stabilize Monte and we are getting ready to search the body when Lilac goes down another hall.

[Monte was out for the count. The beetle bit him and, I think, did max damage. That plus some earlier damage from its acid spray did the dwarf in. With one PC down and out for the moment and the cleric out of healing magics, the party pushed on or at least Lilac did.]

She is gone for a couple of minutes when we hear her yell “run save yourself…”

[Lilac found another room with a small fire burning at its center, letting off a thick, choking, oily smoke that reduced visibility. She took to crawling to explore the room in the hopes that it would both keep her from breathing much of the smoke and make her harder to see. Sadly for her, the latter was not the case. As Lilac crawled forward, something reached out with a wispy claw and literally raked through her back, leaving her chilled to the bone…and with six points of Strength damage. After this suprise round, we ended the session.

At this point, I will not be surprised if not all of the party survives their foray into the Crypt.]