Session Thirteen Summary (Graveyard of Empires: After the Fall)
Session 13, September 30 2020
Introduction
The party's initial foray into the troglodyte lair did not go to plan. After Braadlur summons evil spirits from the Elemental Plane of Earth that animate ancient dwarven statues, the party flees with their charmed troglodytes. A major explosion, cave-in, death, and several brushes with death later, the party finds its way back to the lair. What have the statues been doing in that time? That answer will be revealed when we rejoin the group as they sneak back towards the statue room at 11:30AM on the 11th of Tenrilden ...
Session Summary
The party comes upon a gorup of troglodytes carefully carrying shallow bowls with liquid. We assume they are flammable with the troglodyte young. Rallion shoots one and it explodes. One trog throws his bowl and it lands on Braadlur and the young try to bore into him, before Lambertus and Oskar can dispatch them with a torch.
Two of the trogs go up some stairs, one is one of the remaining charmed by Rallion and it signals for Rallion to follow.
Another charges Peronnel, adn Laris backstabs it.
Then a creature with a squid face in black robes steps forward.
Rallion shoots and hits another bowl that explodes and sets off several more.
Aquidface does something and all in front except Rallion and Laris are affected. Rallion charges and hits hard, and Laris backstabs. Rallion and Laris cut off its head.
the remaining trogs attack, but Rallion shoots another bowl that exploded and Click Thump crashes through the wall and smacks a trog into the wall. The remaining trogs flee.
We wait about ten minutes for those stunned to recover from the mind trick.
Laris finds a satchel with 3 vials and hands it to Rallion. Braadlur tastes one of the orange yellow vials and it appears to be a potion of clairvoyance, the other is poison, but it only gives Braadlur a headache and sour stomach and terrible taste in his mouth. Squidfaces robes are magical for which Kauri sees a blue glow. Laris can read the silver thread that weaves among the black robes and it repeats a message about blocking the mind.
We go into the area from an entrance under the scaffolding we saw from the first door we entered from and see one of the statues carving on the dragon.
We shoot and shatter that statue and another resumes carving and two others charge. We easily drop the two that charged.
The dragon head then turns around as a portal opens and the statue doing the carving falls away. The giant dwarven head and "block head" and the dragon are all that remain.
the dragon breathes and kills 3 of Zaki's gnomes. We try to hit it, Click Thump hits it soundly. Oskar is dropped. A giant hand at the end of an are comes from the portal and is huge.
the dragon breathes and kills the rest of Zaki's gnomes. the giant hand smacks and shatters Click Thump.
We all charge the dragon, which no longer breathes fire on us, but it chomps first Felix then Braadlur.
Kauri charged in to save Oskar, then Felix, then Braadlur in the midst of combat.
The giant hand can't hit us.
We finally slay the dragon statue with the symbol of a portal. When the portal closes the arm is cut off and falls. The two remaining heads cease moving.
We gather up the wounded and head to the entrance we first saw this place, and move the round stone "door" so that we can close it from the other side.
Laris’ Journal
Troglodyte Tadpole Flambé, Calamari and Dragonfire roasted Gnome served alongside a dry Stone God Severance Chardonnay!
Tenrilden 11
Late morning about 11:30am
After the encounter with the troglodytes at the overhead passage and Clickthump’s information on the unknown doings of the StoneGod animated statues, we more directly make our way toward the cavern they’re in. We run into a group of troglodytes carrying bowls of something. We think it’s likely their progeny and having heard that what their young live in, Rallion starts shooting flaming arrows at their bowls, I slink off to the side and the rest of the party attack with flying crossbow bolts. The flaming arrows do their job of blowing up the bowls of flammable troglodyte tadpoles. Setting off the occasional chain reaction. Braadlur gets a bowl in the face and the little tadpoles try eating him for lunch wounding him rather badly. He burns them off with torch. One of our troglodyte opponents is covered in dust, one that Rallion charmed, and he runs off down a side passage waving for Rallion to follow. He wisely lets him go. Rallion and Peronell have the front line solidly held, I’m in the shadows lining up an opportunistic strike. It looks like we’re handily going to take care of these guys and head on toward the main cavern when this creature is ushered into the room by the troglodytes. Ushered is too strong of a word, more like the troglodytes moved away to allow their big dog to come in and deal with the interlopers. The humanoid creature sweeps into the room taking in the situation through dark shark like orbs for eyes. I stay hidden and coat my blade with the drow sleep poison the alchemist sold us. I hope the guy didn’t try and stiff the topside folks. The creature wriggles his chin tentacles, gazes at the group all nicely lined up in front of him and all but Rallion in his sight go slack jawed and get a far off stare. I finish equalizing the odds in our favor as Rallion charges Squidface and hits him as well placed a strike as I’ve seen him land. That sets up a nice hit from my side and I sink my blade into his kidney. Squidface falls, still breathing. I guess the alchemist was honest enough. I grab the thing’s head and Rallion strikes it off at the neck. At this, the remaining troglodytes attack howling with rage! Between Rallion’s well placed flaming arrows to their bowls of flammable babies, and Clickthump’s pulverizing fists joining the melee the rest are quickly dispatched or run away.
We search Squidface and find 3 potions and interesting clothes. I hand the vials to Rallion and don the things accoutrements. The fine silvery runes in a complex geometric pattern imply mind protection of some kind. I’m able to add some runes to my book denoting the protection, mind blanking and shielding thoughts. I also wrap Squidface’s head and stuff it in Peronell’s pack.
Once everyone comes back around from their stupor, Braadlur checks the potions out. 2 are clairaudience and the other is a poision. I take the poison one for future violent introduction to opponents that need killing quickly.
We make quick time to the statue’s ritual. Clickthump is quite insistent, urging us forward. He says they’re almost done with what they’re doing becoming more agitated as we discuss our plan of attack. We enter the room, set up a firing line with the gnomes and all able bodied missile weapon wielders and unleash. We drop the one working on the dragon head with some tools and get their attention. Two charge us, one goes back to the dragon head, continuing the work and two that can’t move well glare menacingly in our direction. Clickthump moves in on the ones that charged us and between our combined attacks and Clickthump, they all fall down.
The last one finishes his carving on the dragon head, and something strange happens. A stretching and widening of … reality? near the dragon head starts bending and warping to what looks like a giant hole going down into nothingness or maybe a place like the elemental plane of earth. There’s a glowing fancy rune on the snout of the dragon, Kauri and I think it means Gate or Opening. The dragon breathes fire and takes out the gnomes and a giant hand emerges from the hole. Half the party charges and starts wailing on the dragon head, it breathes again and the giant stone arm rains blows down on the party, missing for the most part. Clickthump takes one massive strike to the head and is pulverized. Peronell and I shrug and charge, dodging flying fists and dragonfire. Kauri charges too to pull the injured away and bind their wounds. We all wail on the dragon head for what seems like an eternity and Peronell lands the killing blow with a well placed solid strike with the same precision as Rallion’s hit on Squidface. After the dragon head crumbles, and the glowing rune fades, the rent in reality closes in severing the giant stone arm that just moments ago was smashing away at our puny forms.
As the quiet descends, the dust settles we take stock. All but Zaki of the gnomes have been incinerated or killed. The rest of us have varying degrees of bumps bruises and cuts. The arm of a god, or close enough, is sitting here. We shut the door we came through entering the troglodyte lair and rest a bit.