Belated Session Reports 16-17: Stonehell Continued

It has been awhile since I posted a session report, but that does not mean that my adventurers have been inactive!  Far from it!  Delving deeper into the perils of the "Stony Hell," they have vanquished lizardmen, encountered hobgoblins, been harried by various undead, and have made a few startling discoveries.  So, galvanized by their noteworthy deeds and further inspired by this really terrific post by JB on the fun of recounting the tales of our adventures after we play them, I now present belated session highlights from Arandish Labyrinth Lord Campaign 2010, Sessions 16-17.

Last we saw our intrepid party, they -- Hazel the Fighter, Uncle Junkal the Bard, and Innominus the Cleric, along with Dwarven newcomers Dak and Yor -- were standing around a buried mummy's crypt, occupied by a huge stone sarcophagus filled with treasure, including gold, jewelry, potions, scrolls, and a +1 Flame Tongue.  Session 16 opened with the party searching around the burial chamber, Dak the Dwarf soon noticing an interesting glint of something shiny hidden in a cobwebby corner.  About to investigate, he was interrupted by yet another onslaught of enraged Lizardfolk -- fairly quickly dispatched by the party due to great damage rolls by Uncle Junkal (who threw flasks of flaming oil) and a natural 20 critical attack roll by Dak with his mighty battle axe.  About the worst damage the party suffered in this fracas was Innominus' shield being splintered by a Lizardman's thrown trident (see the recently updated Arandish House Rules for a description of the Shield Splintering Rule).

After dispatching this last desperate group of Lizardfolk defenders, the party returned to checking out the interesting glint in the corner of the mummy burial chamber.  Lo and behold, behind a somewhat weakened and flickering illusion of cobwebs was a small lever in the "down" position.  Dak pulled up the lever and the bottom of the stone sarcophagus dropped out, revealing a vertical shaft with a ladder down 50' to a large chamber with a minotaur statue in it.  The party quickly scoped that chamber and decided not to tangle with an area that might play home to minotaurs.  They climbed back up, pulled the lever back down, re-closing the sarcophagus trapdoor, and left the area, heading north out of the Lizardfolk caves and into a more architecturally "refined" area of the Stonehell dungeon.

As they headed north, then west, the party began encountering hobgoblins.  I will leave it to my collaborator to fill in any noteworthy details I may have forgotten, but suffice to say that the PCs made their way past one small group of three hobgoblins, turned south, and ended the session in a small, octagonal chamber featuring a central statue of a lizard-like serpent with an open mouth.  Just as the party began inspecting this statue, two wraiths swooped into the chamber from the south!  The leading wraith pointed at Uncle Junkal and hissed "Give it back, Bard!"  Thus ended Session 16.

Session 17 opened with Innominus attempting to Turn the wraiths, and electing to use up his once-nightly d30 roll (see Arandish House Rules) in the process.  He rolled a 30!  The wraiths were instantly Turned, and the party returned to their inspection of the lizard-serpent statue.

Dak the Dwarf discovered that the statue could be rotated on its vertical axis, so he spun the whole thing 45 degrees clockwise (to the east).  The statue spat poison gas into the room, instantly blinding Dak (the other party members had either cleared the room or made their saving throws).  Dak's player, Carl, has fairly recently blogged about Dak's blindness, so I will refer you to his post for more juicy details on that.  Suffice to say that in the wake of being blinded, Dak simply trooped onward, figuring out (with the help of Yor the Dwarf and halfling NPC Harry) that a hatch at the base of the statue could be pried open and the tank containing 17 more doses of the blinding poison could be removed.  For the next few sessions, Dak would be carried around from place to place by Uncle Junkal's charmed Rock Troll, carrying his container of poison at all times.

This poison came in handy a few rooms later, after the party doubled back and came across an as-yet unexplored chamber in the lizardfolk caverns.  Therein they found a lizardman shaman, his guards, and his followers, and had it not been for Dak's entering the chamber first and liberally spraying the blindness-poison everywhere, the party may have been sufficiently outnumbered as to have finally taken some much-deserved licks from the beleaguered lizardfolk.  But alas, three lizardman were instantly blinded, and one more killed outright by a well-tossed flaming oil flask from Uncle Junkal.  Then the rest of the party (Hazel's player had to quit this session a bit early so missed this final combat) moved in, Yor the Dwarf being particularly effective with his battle-axe, dispatching two foes and presenting such a formidable aspect that three lizardfolk broke ranks and fled the scene.  The PCs chased down and killed these poor lizardfolk retreaters, Yor killing one with his battle axe and Uncle Junkal scoring yet another critical hit with a flaming oil flask to dispatch the remaining two!

Finally, all the lizardfolk in a wide radius having been slaughtered, the party hunkered down for the night in a small room with a well.  The well-room had but one entrance, so Innominus spiked the door and the PCs got some much-needed rest.

To Be Continued . . .