Here is the latest from our Known World campaign from RJ…I believe it was our ninth session. The party is continuing their trek across the Isle of Dread and there continue to be potential spoilers below the break for the original Isle of Dread (X1) and the more recent version in Dungeon Magazine #139. When we last left the party, they had discovered a passage through some mountains and were planning on continuing their journey.
We had traveled for miles under the mountain before discovering some sort of Olman outpost. Stairs led out of the initial entry chamber and we could hear running water from that direction. Breaking out some torches just in case any of our magical lights went out (as had happened too many times before), we headed down the stairs.
Signore Meravanni noted the celestial bodyguard I had summoned and asked how much it would cost for me to provide him the same type of servant. I was speechless. How would the Twelve react if I charged for such a service? I was quite naïve back then. Regardless, I summoned another guardian for Meravanni and he nodded his approval.
The steps led through an archway that was flanked by a statue on each side. Each was covered in grime and mildew and so Quintus set about trying to clean them up some. Using my bodyguard to boost him up, he cleared away enough to reveal part of the statue’s face and to see that it was definitely of Olman design.
As I stepped through the archway, something struck me on my shoulder. Spinning around, I saw a gigantic centipede–easily as long as two men and as thick as my torso–hanging from the wall above the arch. Another skittered down the wall and tried to bite me. I barely got out of the way. Soon all of my allies came to my aid and, by the Twelve’s Grace, none of us were badly injured before we dispatched the creatures.
As we got a better look into the room, we could see that it was a large natural chamber with a worked floor. Some twenty feet or so in, the floor fell away and we could make out water some twenty to thirty feet below. The floor–or perhaps, as we would soon learn, bridge would be a better description–extended both to the right and the left. We went to the right.
At the end of the bridge, a large stone door blocked our way. As the rest of us started to work to open the door, Quintus showed his naturalist side yet again. He got on his belly with a torch and leaned over the edge of the bridge. He noted that there were fish in the water and asked if someone could lower him down on a rope for a closer look. Meravanni quickly put an end to any such scientific endeavors so we could press on.
The room beyond the door held various bits of rubble, what looked like a broken table, another stone door off to our left, and a large puddle of water in the corner of the room. The water was dark and the walls around it rough and mildewy. Niccolo came over and started to prod around in the water with his staff. He declared that it was only about a foot deep at the edge but appeared to slope away. He also spotted something glittering in the water.
After some discussion, we decided to have one of my summoned guardians to enter the pool and fetch whatever it could find. Reaching under the water, it pulled forth what looked to be a skeleton with a something glittering around its neck. As my guardian started back, there was a loud sucking sound and it disappeared from sight. The water began receding and quickly disappeared as well. Once it was gone, we could see that the floor did slope away and culminated in a hole.
Meravanni came forward, looked out towards the hole and asked me what I was going to do to retrieve the treasure I had just lost. Niccolo tried to explain that we didn’t even know if any valuables had been lost. I suppose that we should have expected the response as Meravanni asked how we planned on determining if it was treasure or not. Apparently, although there was not any time for Quintus to pursue his studies of the flora and fauna, there was plenty of time to pursue possible treasure.
[Quintus has shown a remarkable lack of concern for the dangers of the various fauna (and flora) of the island and a consistent curiosity and desire to study pretty much everything he comes across. Actually, he’s shown a pretty consistent lack of concern for pretty much any danger if it means learning something. Hmm…I wonder if he has the Curious Hindrance.
Meravanni, on the other hand, is quite obviously and unabashedly a greedy sob…just in case anyone hadn’t figured that out yet.]
I believe somewhat reluctantly, Niccolo used his magics to transform himself into a bat and fly down the hole. Captain Rizzo, in jest, pointed her gun at Niccolo-bat…or at least I hope it was in jest. I’m not so sure, however, as it was Meravanni’s stern look that got her to lower her gun. All of us were beginning to worry more and more about Rizzo. The stress of our journey and the loss of nearly half her crew in the process seemed to be taking its toll on her. Earlier when Niccolo had offered to place a protection spell on her, she refused and even threatened to kill him if she touched her.
It wasn’t long before Niccolo returned and changed back into his normal form. He let us know that the hole lead down to a large body of water and everything must have fallen into the water. Meravanni just stared at Niccolo, clearly intending that the wizard should get on with finding the lost valuables. A few moments later, Niccolo transformed himself into a crab and made his way back down the hole.
[It is quite amazing how an NPC can do so much by doing so little. Meravanni’s stares appear to have become quite influential on everyone. Such fun!]
After another short while, Niccolo came back and transformed back to himself…a wet himself. He found various rubble and the skeleton but could not reach it as a huge catfish, about the length of a room, was nosing around all of it. As he watched, a giant crawfish as large as a pony took notice of him and soon began to swim after a certain crab. Given the difficult choice between another stare from Meravanni and becoming a snack, Niccolo left without acquiring any of the potential treasure. Meravanni just stared as Niccolo relayed his tale and then moved to the other stone door.
It took some effort but we forced open this next door to reveal an interesting room. Directly across was another a stone door but that was the least interesting feature. To our left were two marble pedestals, one made of red marble like the squared rod that we had found in the entry chamber and the other was made of black marble.
Of most interest was the large iron door to our right. It was covered with brass decorations depicting sea creatures and, according to Quintus, images of the Olman sea god. It had no handles and when we pushed against it, it would not budge.
Each pedestal had a hole in the top and it looked like the squared rod we had found would fit in it. It was pretty obvious that this was related to opening the iron sea door…not that we thought too much about the sea part at the time. Everyone agreed that we should try and find the second piece so we forced open the other stone door.
Beyond the door, we found catacombs. Alcoves, long enough to hold a body, had been carved into the walls about five or six deep from floor to ceiling. Each of the alcoves that we could see from the doorway looked to hold a shroud covered body. The floor and ceiling had carved murals of skeletal hounds and a skeletal humanoid, both intertwined with snakes. Quintus noted that this was a depiction of the Olman god of the dead.
Rather than disturb the dead, we elected to had back to the bridge and take the path to the left. Like the way to the right, it ended in a stone door. Just like the most recent door we had opened, this one also led to an alcove filled catacomb. With no other way to go, we began our walk amongst the dead. I don’t remember who, maybe Niccolo, but one of us moved one of the shrouds to get a better look at what was beneath it.
That’s when the dead started to drop out of the alcoves. First one but then several more dropped down and all started to attack us. They didn’t prove to be very resilient however. Each had a gold necklace that, of course, Meravanni took and placed in his pack. We searched the various alcoves in hopes of finding the second rod but had no luck.
We moved further into the catacombs and found one wall that was free of any alcoves. Instead, it had a large carving of the Olman death god, complete with skeletal hound and snakes. It seemed a bit suspicious and so Mick set about examining the wall. He noticed that the skull of the hound had a narrow crack all around out it and so he pushed on it. The skull sunk into the wall and the wall slid aside revealing a hidden room.
Inside the room was a large stone sarcophagus decorated to look like a man in a feathered headdress, holding a stone knife and a squared rod! The walls were covered with the same carvings as throughout the catacomb. We hurried in as our prize was in sight. I positioned my guardian in the doorway to hold the door open in case it might shut as part of some trap and we readied ourselves for whatever undead creature might reside within the sarcophagus.
Mick and Moe had barely moved lid when we heard a click. Small spears shot from the eye sockets of the skeletal carvings on the walls. My companions were lucky enough (or agile enough) to avoid being struck but I was not. With several of the projectiles having pierced my armor and flesh, I moved out of the room and called upon the healing flames of Berelain to burn away the wounds.
[RJ has done some work to apply various trappings to Erica’s spells. Her healing spell has a fire trapping that burns away the wounds without harming the target or their belongings…the fire gives off no heat that the target can feel. We also established that Berelain is one of the Twelve and the goddess of healing and, if I remember correctly, protection.]
As I tended to my wounds, the others proceeded to finish removing the lid of the sarcophagus. This time they ducked down below the level of the lid and it was a good thing that they did as more spears shot forth from the walls.
[Heh heh…the players were so concerned about some undead being in the sarcophagus and the door closing to trap them in that they never thought about looking for other traps.]
With the lid removed, Niccolo and Mick examined the contents within. Moe immediately decapitated the body within. Niccolo reached in but I couldn’t quite see what he lifted out. They came out of the room with a black marble rod, a fraternal twin to the red one that was already possessed. Meravanni asked if they had found anything else and the response was no. Despite receiving one of Meravanni’s stares, Mick and Niccolo held fast to their answer.
[Needless to say, they did find more…a flint dagger and a gold necklace like the others found so far. Niccolo stashed the dagger and Mick the necklace. I guess they kind of had their fill of Meravanni hoarding all of the valuables found despite the agreement that they’d all get a percentage of all valuables found…not that the percentage was ever actually established.]
With both “keys” in our possession, we went back to the room with the pedestals. Placing the rods in the appropriate pedestals, we pushed them down until handles popped out about midway up the pedestals. The pedestals turned fairly easily and the door began to open. As it did, water began to flood into the room and brought with it a very large crab. Moe quickly stepped up and with a strong thrust in a weak spot, killed the thing.
Mick and Moe sloshed through the open doors and found that it led outside! Stairs under the water led, unfortunately, down. It looked like we’d have to swim to get clear and back to solid ground. As they looked around, I spotted some movement in water…two more of the immense crabs were approaching. Moe had little difficulty dispatching the one and the other scurried away into the depths.
As we argued about how we’d get out and to dry land, Quintus asked if we could see a high tide mark. We could not. That meant that if we just waited awhile, the waters might recede and we wouldn’t have to swim. Niccolo hacked of one of the crab claws so we could have some fresh meat while we waited. We headed back to the bridge…the closest dry area…and settled down for a wait. At Niccolo’s request, I reluctantly used the holy flames of the Twelve to sear the crab meat and we settled in to wait for the tides to change.
Quintus took this as an opportunity to study some of the wildlife in the cavern’s waters. With our aid and some rope, our curious guide was lowered from the bridge to the surface of the water. He wanted to see the fish and, of course, saw some once we lowered him into the water. After we pulled him back up, he said something about trying to see if any were aggressive. Getting out some crab meat, he had us lower him back down into the water. A few moments later, he jerked on the rope and, as he broke the surface, was yelling for us to pull him up. After we got him back on the bridge, he confirmed that yes, indeed, there are definitely some aggressive fish in the water.
After the tide finally receded, we head back out the iron door. We were able to walk down the stairs to a small strand by a bay. It was still going to be about a forty to fifty foot swim to a beach and cliffs, a beach with a path leading up the cliffs.
Niccolo volunteered to investigate; he transformed into a bird and flew to the cliffs. After several minutes, he came back and told us that the path did lead up and that he saw an abandoned village with some canoes. One of the boats looked to be in good shape. Meravanni simply stared at the wizard and asked why he hadn’t brought the canoe back with him. Niccolo claimed that he was unfamiliar with canoes and the merchant just gave him an impatient look.
Captain Rizzo apparently had had enough. She stripped herself of her gear and, saying she’d go get the canoe, dove into the water. Niccolo transformed into a bird again and set off for the canoe as well.
[That’s almost where we ended the session. Niccolo reached the abandoned village. He took out the dagger from the sarcophagus that he had pocketed and set about learning what magics it held. Before I told him the answer to that, that’s where we ended the session.]
