Campaign of the Month: May 2009

Forgotten Realms: The Savage North

Wandering around the secret second floor

In which we bust open a bunch of treasure chests and totally piss of a purple mold

We continue to explore the second floor, traveling through hexagonal chambers with undead, fleshy tapestries hanging on the walls. We ultimately find a laboratory with many floating shelves with a variety of experiments brewing on them.

We are able to recover an assortment of minor magical items:

  • 4x thunderstones (Area burst 1 within 10; +23 vs. Fortitude 2d4 thunder damage; on a hit, the target takes 1d4 thunder damage, is pushed 1 square from the center of the burst, and deafened (save ends).)
  • tanglefoot bag (Ranged 5/10; +20 vs. Reflex; on a hit, the target is immobilized until the end of your next turn, at which point the creature is then slowed until the end of its next turn.)
  • 3x alchemist’s frost (Ranged 5/10; +19 vs. Reflex; on a hit, the target takes 2d10 cold damage and is slowed until the end of your next turn; on miss, the target takes half damage and is not slowed.)
  • 8x astral effluvium Hopeless souls trapped in an ephemeral silver liquid (Area burst 1 within 10; +19 vs. Reflex; on a hit, deal 3d6 psychic & necrotic damage; on miss, deal half damage.)
  • 3x alchemists’ fire (Area burst 1 within 10; +19 vs. Reflex; on a hit, deal 3d6 fire damage; on miss, deal half damage.)
  • 6x netherflame (Area burst 1 within 10; +19 vs. Reflex; on a hit, deal 3d6 necrotic damage; on miss, deal half damage. Creatures that start turn in burst take 5 necrotic)
  • 6x alchemists’ acid Area burst 1 within 10; +19 vs. Reflex; on a hit, deal 3d6 acid damage; on miss, deal half damage.)
  • a flask of unidentified silver liquid

Everyone gets:

  • 2x astral effluvium
  • netherflame
  • alchemists’ acid
  • alchemists’ fire

Reserved for Sammael:

  • 2x alchemist’s acid
  • 2x netherflame

Going through the other hallway, we find that it quickly turns into an undulating, ectoplasm cylinder ending in a swirling grey portal that is apparently deadly to living creatures. We find a secret passage nearby and follow it to a large chamber. Inside is a devil sits in silver circle. An obsidian shelve circles the room with twelves different, distinct chests on it.

The chests (all locked):

  1. Fashioned from astral driftmetal, lined with spikes
  2. Alchemically-treated wood, with a death slaad’s skull molded into its lid
  3. Mortared illithid and githzerai spines, adorned with illithid skulls
  4. Bronzewood sculpted in the likeness of a dragon, painted with red scales and a locked shaped like a dragon’s head
  5. Alchemically-treated wood, wrapped in demon skin and adorned with horns and protrusions
  6. Darkwood, glazed githzerai eyes set in the curved lid
  7. Thick gold dragon hide with iron handles and fittings
  8. Iron with clawed feet, iron handles and a built-in lock shaped like a leering githyanki skull
  9. Alchemically treated human skin stretched over a frame of bone, with iron fittings and bone handles
  10. Jade, covered in green slaad skin with githyanki symbols engraved on the lid
  11. Hardened grey spider silk, adorned with a black spider’s eyes and legs
  12. Simple wooden chest, covered with a 5’ patch of purple mold

We bash our way through the first chest and find a rune that blasts our minds. Everyone but Sardon appears possessed and walks out the secret door back to the ectoplasmic hallway. We shake it off just before being moving sidewalked to our death.

In the chest Sardon finds very valuable books in the chest. They re-arrange their lettering to allow him to read them. They are the:

  • Manual of Gainful Exercise
  • Manual of Quickness & Action
  • Manual of Bodily Health
  • Tome of Clear Thought
  • Tome of Understanding
  • Tome of Leadership and Influence

We try to detect more pieces of the astral driftmetal key and are able to determine that one of the potions we had gotten from Zamkress’s lab is actually a piece. Pouring it over the key, it reforms a quadrant of the key.

Bashing open the chest #4, we find four crystal vials filled with green, ectoplasmic fluid. It radiates very strong necromantic (pure life force) magic. Everyone gets one.

We look at chest #8, but it’s got extremely strong evocation, so we pass on it.

We look at chest #10 and it’s radiating faint necromantic magic and the githyanki inscription says “In Gith’s name, we shall conquer all.” Busting it open, we find 15 illithid-slaying arrows and 10 githzerai-slaying arrows and the slaad skin apparently forms a +6 green slaad cloak (resist 10 thunder, resist 5 acid, cold, lightning, fire; daily power: see invisibility for encounter).

Next, #7: Faint magic. Smash lock. Inside: gold bracelet set with amethysts, silver goblet with 8 sapphires, bejeweled platinum coronet, emerald scarab pendant (+5 magic neck-slot, protects from necromantic effects) and 5,000 gp.

Theren puts on the scarab and it starts to burrow into his chest!

Smashing open the spider chest, it is filled with 42,250 gp worth of gems.

Smashing open the chest #2, it’s full of vials of poison (one of each kind of assassin’s poison).

Smashing open chest #3: 4 illithid brains (non magical) and 10 githzerai hearts (eat to heal undead, harm living).

Smashing open #10: 3 githzerai heads with black gems (holding a pinpoint of light) stuffed in their mouths. The gems are apparently the equivalent of magic jar spells.

Smashing open #6: six green flasks with more ectoplasmic green liquid.

Smashing open #9: full of ectoplasmic mucus, filled with risiduum. This is apparently an ancient technique to combined large amounts of ridisuum with the life force of sentient creators as part of the process to create intelligent magic items. Loakan submerges his mace and it becomes a +6 sentient item.

We throw alchemist’s frost and then alchemist’s fire on the purple mold and it just fills 2/3rds of the room. We find another secret passage on the western wall and Loakan jumps through, finding what looks like a library filled with scrolls and three books on a lectern. Floating in the middle of the room is a humanoid figure covered in wrappings, wreathed in black flames. It points at him and curses.

The creature begins to murder Loakan. Actually, it tries to turn him to stone and then floats there, doing nothing much. He backs out and apparently it lets him.

At a loss of what else to do, Sardon drinks one of the ectoplasmic potions and it turns him into some sort of undead creature (a temporary lich).

  • Considered to be medium shadow humanoid (undead)
  • Immune to poison & disease
  • Resist 10 necrotic, vulnerable 10 radiant

We then jump through the swirling grey portal at the end of the ectoplasmic hallway. We arrive in a spooky room notably with eggs on a table, dragon bones all around an a big mirror facing the door. Upon entering, it feels like something is trying to pull at our souls.

Through the mirror, we see a horde of githyanki wandering and banging on the other side of the mirror. Some appear to be glamored to look like githyanki, though.

Through the left-hand alcove is a green portal leading to a network of caves made of a black, crumbling stone – they are carved into the body of Tu’narath.

The right-hand alcove holds another portal leading to dimly lit chamber with obsidian walls and floors. A short hallway leads to double-doors and stairwells on either side head up. It radiates heat.

We decide to head back to fight the floating guy in the library-like room.


