SessionNineteen

January 17, 2009

After a brief rest from the attack of the annoying spectral undead, Osrik and Alecsa walk to the end of the short hall, across from of the stairway, to take a look at a metal plate on the wall. Written on the plate are the words "Push to enter." A hole is present directly under the words. Looking at the plate and whole contraption, Alecsa is of the opinion that it is trapped. Alecsa can't figure out how to disarm the trap, and uncomfortable with just trying to do it, she backs away to stand with the rest of the party, leaving it for Osrik to deal with. He bravely opts for the party to go explore the door at the west end of the hallway.

Being badgered by the dwarf the entire way, Alecsa sets to checking out this new door. She quickly notes that the door isn't locked, but it is trapped. With something magical. She bites the bullet and succeeds at disabling the trap. She is rather frustrated not knowing what the trap was supposed to do. Taking a close look at the trap, Cinoi is able to determine that it is a magic rune that would unravels the seams of your shoes. Yeah...

After Cinoi and Alecsa move away from the door, Osrik opens the door while Dex takes his place as the dwarf's backup. [Do we need to use the phrase "alleged backup?"] [No, probably not; he did good here, if not combat good.] The door opens to a room with a lot of cobwebs, dust, and a gem sitting nice and prettily, and suspiciously, on the far side of the room on a rock. The gem is 3" in diameter. Osrik, wondering what would attack your feet after the loss of one's shoes, reaches down to wipe at the floor. ...okay. Not having been attacked by evil dust, he advances into the room, with Dex coming in behind him. The "bookish types" hang back, Cinoi worried about why a gem in hidden in a room was guarded by a really weird trap. Alecsa's policy is to wait until the fighter types actually make it into the room without getting killed before she considers entering.

As if in answer to Alecsa's unanswered question of "Will the guys make to the other side of the room without something trying to eat them," a giant spider -- a Deathjumper - jumps on Osrik and bites him. Since the first spider totally missed the dwarf, his friend takes up the slack and not only bites Osrik, but knocks him down and leaves him to the mercy of its venom. Actually, it doesn't leave him to the mercy of the venom because it's impatient, but we'll get back to that in a moment. However, it does also slow down the dwarf. Missing out on the fun, a third deathjumper decides Dex looks mighty tasty and gives the fighter a love tap very similar to Osrik's.

Dex attempts to hit the spider from the floor and misses. The spider whacks him again, and Dex decides now is the time for a healing surge. Then, the spider takes that opportunity to hit him again but somehow misses. Gloriana casts Healing Word on Dex from a safe distance. Alecsa, forced to move into the room for a clear shot, missing Osrik's spider pal with a torturous strike maneuver. She steps back from the spider, which makes it think it can take a bite out of her. It misses. Miffed at missing Alecsa, the spider takes it's frustrations out on the prone Osrik, biting him again. It is possible that this series of events is what led to spider to not sit back and the let the venom do its thing. Chaedi casts icy rays on Osrik's spiders, immobilizing the first one. Cinoi curses Dex's spider and then attempts to hit Osrik's spidery pal with an eldritch blast, missing. Osrik manages to stand up and uses a healing surge. Feeling better, he is able to fight off any ongoing effects of the venom.

Back on Dex's side of the room, the spider he's been dancing with bites him as he stands up. Dex makes a run for the gem, grabs it, and takes off for the door. Osrik calls for a retreat from the room. Osrik's spider pal bites Alecsa, the bastard! Gloriana casts the last Healing Word on Dex then moves to a defensive position at the door, so she can defend her companions as they leave. Alecsa is bitten twice by the pain in the butt spider as she backs out of the room. She is able to fight off the venom and calls instructions to shut the doors when Osrik has escaped the room, bleeding all over the place in the meantime. [She nearly died!] The now mobile first spider tries to bit Osrik but misses. Chaedi moves up to the door and casts thundewave on Osrik and Dex's spiders, hitting Dex's jumper and pushing it farther into the room. She then moves back to allow Gloriana to again guard the door. Cinoi curses another spider and again misses with eldritch blast. Then, he moves to gain concealment. Osrik smacks a spider and runs out of the room. Dex slams the door shut.

After securing the door and healing up a bit, Alecsa confiscates the gem to take a look at it. When Cinoi asks what spiders need with a gem, she facetiously tells him they use as an incubator. Cinoi firmly declares that he will not carry the spider incubator. The party secures the areas back to the altar room (wayyyy up on the first floor!) to rest up after the nightmarish ass-kicking spider debacle. Looking the gem over, Alecsa notes that it is blue, is 3-inches in diameter, and looks suspiciously as if it could fit in that hole under the plate in the short hall. Makes her think what horrid thing is beyond the "elevator" (as Osrik calls it) when these killer spiders were guarding just the gem! And if the elevator "eats" the gem, then the party suffered for nothing! Cinoi gives the gem a wide berth.

Trudging back to the strange hallway downstairs, Osrik rudely +NOT!+ [So!] orders Alecsa to sniff and listen at the door on the east end of the hall. She retorts that she can't smell anything over the stench of old dwarf sweat. And inspection of the door yields nothing. Osrik opens the door to find three zombies and a deathlock wight! Alecsa votes to shut the door.

Chaedi casts icy rays on the wight and the zombie further in the room that looks like it's kissing the wall... She hits and immobilizes them. A zombie we will call #1 is standing right at the door and clocks Dex a good one. Dex pops it right back. #1's companion in the doorway, #2, takes a crack at Osrik but misses. The wight tries to pay back Chaedi with a bolt of necrotic energy but misses. Cinoi curses #1 and hits it with eldritch blast. Gloriana Turns Undead, pushing #1 and #2 to the far wall (or into the wight in the case of #1), immobilizing them and killing #2. Osrik moves in to mark the wight and attacks it with a crushing blow, which misses. Alecsa moves into the room, just to the right of the doorway, and hits the kissing zombie with a shuriken.

Chaedi uses her icy terrain spell at the wight and zombie #1, hitting the wight and knocking it prone. On the wight's bright side, it is no longer immobile. Dex strides up to the kissing zombie and rips into it, doing little damage. The wight stands and reveals its horrific visage to Osrik and Dex (who must not be paying attention to his own opponent, which is across the room from the wight), pushing Osrik away from it a bit. Cinoi curses the wight and hits it with dire radiance. Gloriana's attempt to turn the creatures with Lir's Radiance fails. Twice! Osrik misses the wight with his reaping strike move. Alecsa takes out the kissing zombie with a vicious torturous strike.

Chaedi hits the wight with Cloud of Daggers. Dex moves over to attack the remaining zombie #1 and misses it. In return, it cleans his clock! The wight tries to get Osrik with a claw and misses. Cinoi hits the wight with an eldritch blast and kills it. [Here, the players are tortured with a horrid poem composed by the DM.] Gloriana moves in to stand on the remains of zombie #1 and hits it with Blazing Beacon, giving aid to her companions' ranged attacks. Osrik steps up and finishes off the last zombie with his axe. When asked why he didn't throw his axe to take advantage of the Blazing Beacon bonus, he smartly respnds that letting his axe leave his hands is a fool's act.

Looting the ... bodies, Alecsa finds a green (emerald) gem, similar to the spider incubator, on the wight's breastplate. The party then rests up, contemplating taking on the spiders or playing with the stupid "elevator".

315 XP

SessionTwentyone