Shadowdark Stonehell Session 4

In our last session, the party continued their exploration of the canyon. They discovered the actual entrance to Stonehell as well as exploring some of the caves in the canyon’s walls. We ended after they encountered an obviously crazed individual and explored where this nut had come from. Let’s just say that this session went a little sideways. I made the “mistake” of asking if the players would like anything interesting to happen with an otherwise empty room that they had started to explore. We ended up spending this entire session in that room. Will I learn my lesson and not ask that question again? Probably not…yeah, definitely not. We pick up with it below the break.

Todd was missing this session so Collem was also missing. There are, of course, potential spoilers for Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls below; however, I don’t think there are too many this time around. My GM comments, as usual, are in italics.

4 Spring 1024

• The party had just finished their initial look around a room which appeared to be an old and ruined bed chamber. At first, there appeared to be nothing of interest. (But then I asked if they wanted something interesting in this room. The answer, as you might have guessed, was yes.)
• Clara, Beast, and Brielle were in the hall outside as Korgath finished looking around in the bed chamber. Ivy had also gone into the chamber. And then the door behind them slammed shut.
  • The temperature begins to drop significantly immediately and the air in the room begins to whip around. Frost starts forming on the floor and walls. Even outside of the chamber, the door begins to frost over as do the walls.
  • Neither those inside the room nor those outside can open the door despite their best efforts.
  • As the wind speeds up, Korgath and Ivy can hear what almost sounds like a voice and the can spot footsteps in the accumulating frost on the floor. The footprints are forming slowly and first move towards Korgath.
  • Soon, a form can be seen in the blowing snow…humanoid in shape. Korgath hands the torch to Ivy. As he does, the footsteps shift towards her.
  • The voice in the wind becomes more clear and they can hear and angry voice saying, “You dare!”
  • The form in the “blizzard” starts to reach out at Ivy. Korgath swings his axe at the form and it passes right through.
  • The form wraps its hands around Ivy’s throat. She has never felt such intense cold.
  • With as quickly as the temperature is dropping and as quickly as the wind is intensifying, Korgath and Ivy are doomed to die in just a few moments. Before they perish, they put out the torch.
  • Everything immediately returns to normal. The cold is again, the frost and snow has disappeared leaving no sign it was ever there. The door can be opened with no issue.
• After making a brief mistake of bringing another torch into the room and triggering the same response, the party learns to only use non-fire light sources (Clara’s light and Ivy’s witchlight spells). Some of the party remain outside the room and others begin to give it a careful search.
  • Most of the room has nothing of interest. It is just as it looked in the prior cursory look.
  • Tapping around the wall where the cold seemed to originate, Beast finds that it sounds hollow. Pushing in on the wall, it moves slightly and he can then slide it to the right. This reveals a small chamber beyond.
  • Within is a stone throne or chair. Sitting on it is a tall, some seven-feet, and very slim body. it is pale with long white hair and open, piercing glacial blue eyes. It was wearing a very fine chainmail shirt made of a metal resembling mithril with bracers of the same metal. A circlet set on the body’s head, made of the same metal as the chainmail, with an (you guessed it) icy blue sapphire set in the center. The gem was diamond in shape, unequal in area with the top being largely than the bottom. A sword and a staff were set across the figure’s lap with both hands resting atop.
  • The walls, floor, and ceiling of the chamber looks to be made from a similar metal as the chainmail and bear no seams, suggesting it is a single piece of metal.
  • The temperature in the small chamber is well below freezing and the body is motionless and appears frozen.
  • A grappling hook is used to snag the chair and the group slowly reel in the rope. They get the the chair and body close enough for the feet and front of the body’s legs to exit the chamber. As these parts of the body pass the threshold, they appear to immediately thaw. The skin seems firm and supple.
  • As the body/chair is pulled forward, the group can see that the gem on the circlet has some blue flames flickering in the lower part of the gem with an eye floating above the flames. The eye is tracking the movement of the party.
  • Despite this creepy movement, the party continues to slowly pull the body out in the hopes of obtaining the sword and staff from the body’s lap.
  • Once the body’s hands have been pulled across the threshold of the chamber. The body immediately flicks its fingers and cold and ice blast out. Beast was prepared for this and shoves the body back in as this happens. (A few of the characters are damaged, but Beast prevented any further damage by shoving the body back in.)
  • A different approach is taken. The body and chair are tipped over without physically touching either using various tools. The grappling hook is then used to reel the body closer again.
  • As the legs are brought out, Beast and Korgath work together to break the legs.
  • The body is then spun around so it will be pulled out head first.
  • Inch by inch, they move the body out with it instantly defrosting. Korgath slices at the head with each inch advance to slowly “dismantle” the body. This continues until the group can successfully remove the circlet.
  • The body is then pulled out quickly until the whole head is out. As it speaks, Korgath cuts off the head before it can finish whatever it was saying. The head is tossed to one corner and the circlet to another.
  • This pattern of behavior continues until the hands are out almost enough to remove the sword and staff that they grasp, but the hands twitch again and cold and ice blast the room. Both Beast and Korgath are nearly killed from the blast, but were able to shove the body back in the “freezer” room.
  • The others, who had remained outside in the hall, are able to save and stabilize the pair who remain unconscious. (Clara had already filled her spellcasting check for cure wounds earlier.)
• Resources depleted and with two party members unconscious, the conscious party elects to leave. They close the secret door with what’s left of the body inside. They take the head, burying it in the canyon’s valley, and then head to the caves, up the southern canyon wall, in which they had previously camped…even though it is only late morning.
  • Later in the day, the party spots another group of adventurers making their way through the canyon, along the northern wall. As the party watches, this group disappears behind the copse of trees that hides the the entrance to the chambers which the party had recently departed.

And that is where we ended the session.

So, technically, they did not spend the entire session in one room. They did go in and out of the hallway and then left that area completely to camp. They did, however, spend all of the “active” adventuring in the one room and secret freezer. That sounds worse than it actually was. They were actively engaging with things pretty much the entire time and not getting totally bogged down in analysis paralysis or decision-making.

Given the looks and reactions from the players, it was pretty tense…in the good way…multiple times during the session. Once when Ivy and Korgath were close to death from the wintry storm in the room and then multiple times as they were dealing with the body and trying to, well, lighten its load by taking the items. A couple of characters were very keen on getting the sword.

All of this was made up on the spot to give them something interesting in that otherwise boring room. I have now been writing up some additional information about the history of Stonehell and, of course, the history of this body and the small frozen–and hidden–chamber in which it was found. Will the party learn all of this new background stuff? Maybe…probably not. If not, will the players have to wait until they finish Stonehell to get filled in on all of this? Absolutely!