Seventh Post, A Little Truth

“I’m no demon you over muscled windbag’, snapped Surya, “you walked away from that glowing ball carrying an extra hundred lbs. Do you have any idea how long you’ll have to diet to drop all that extra weight?”

“I’ll not be mocked by the likes of you demon-spawn, for too long we have endured your barbs and your sinister company. I’ve allowed you to travel with us because to cast you forth would be to damn you do a certain death in this misbegotten place. Now I would welcome it, as your true nature has been revealed!”

“Enough! Enough I say!” cried Brother Corven. “I’ll have none here second guessing the purpose of the Gods of Light. This room is a safe haven in this Dungeon. The gods have revealed our purpose here today, to locate the means to reseal the cracks that have formed in this infernal prison and reseal them for the rest of eternity. We will rest here for a while, and I will pray and ask for guidance. The gods may grant me the power to auger the truth of Surya’s nature, and if they say that he is vital to our mission, than you have no business to deny their will. Will you abide this, both of you?”

Abdul, glaring at Surya nodded his head never taking his eyes off the Mage. Surya just sneered back and began to look for a comfortable place to bed down, as far from both of them as he could within the room. The Litorian and Half orc exchanged worried glances and Magela, apparently fascinated by this turn of events stared hard at Surya for several minutes examining her companion’s new appearance. Finally she asked, “Did it hurt? Much? Getting burnt all crispy like that I mean. You screamed when it happened.”

“Don’t you have a pet ass to go clean, oh wise leader?” snapped the Mage. With a hurt look Magela went over to see to both Bill and Barney.

During this rest period very few managed to get decent sleep, except it seemed Surya himself. Abdul didn’t sleep at all, spending nearly the entire night sharpening the already razor sharp blade of his Falchion and eyeing the sleeping Mage. Once Brother Cole had completed his meditations he approached the sleeping Surya and woke him gently telling him that it was time to be tested by the gods. Surya rolled his yellow eyes and sat up, “Perhaps I should brush my hair and put on some clean clothes… maybe a drop of perfume so as not to offend the sensibilities of the deities,’ he said sarcastically. Abdul growled deep in his throat, but Cole gave the giant a warning look, then began to chant a prayer. Once he stopped he examined Surya very carefully and then announced to everyone else, “Surya could use some lessons in manners, but the gods show me no evil of supernatural origin within him.” Looking over to Abdul he continued, “We are caught in this prison of the Gods with foes around us everywhere we go. We need every sword and spell we have at our disposal to survive and seal the cracks that threaten our world. We need Surya to remain with us, and so shall it be.”

Glowering at Surya’s self satisfied smirk, the Paladin began to pack his belongings, and the party quickly prepared to move out through the western door that had remained closed during the rest stop. Listening and checking for traps, Gregor was unable to find any danger, so Abdul stepped forward and opened the door. Golden sunlight streamed forth from beyond the portal and the rich scent of a spring pine forest followed. The party was astonished to be looking into a verdant forest, the ground covered in a rich and soft loam of needles and ferns, while towering evergreens soared into the sky allowing rays of the sun to shine down. The forest seemed to glow with a rich emerald aura.

“Impossible,” muttered the Litorian, “ we are hundreds of feet underground.” Stepping carefully into the forest, wary for ambushes or traps the party entered the room. Niko happily ran to the nearest tree, sniffing about and then marking it with a raised leg, then moving on to the next with a wagging tail.

“Aye,” said Grund, ”This is powerful strange.” The party began to search about and soon discovered a badly wounded orc laying upon the ground propped up by a tree. His leathers had been rended and deep claw wounds had been slashed into his flesh. Blood coated him nearly from head to boot, most of it seemly his own. It peered up at the party with glazed eyes, then looking at Cole a grin split its face and in weak voice it said, “Gurka gor’bah, exobar sklar.”

Grund snorted, “He thinks you are his village shaman come to guide him to the lands of the gods.” Cole frowned, and then bent down to examine the Orc’s wounds. Finding them to be mortal he closed his eyes and spread his hands out across the creature’s deepest cuts, and then said a prayer to his gods. His hands glowed with a soft light and the gashes and cuts from the Orc’s wounds closed and vanished. The Orc smiled and closed it’s eyes as the healing energy washed over it. Once the deed was done, still smiling it opened its eyes, and the expression of peace changed to shock. Suddenly, the forest about the party began to waver and shimmer in a sickening fashion and the Orc sprang to its feet. In the blink of an eye the forest vanished then, replaced with the familiar limestone floors, walls, and ceilings of the dungeon in a room whose size was identical to that they just exited. Turning the orc fled to the opposite wall where a door was set and flung himself through it. The vanishing forest stunned the party to inaction for but a moment and soon they charged after the fleeing Orc yelling for it to stop.

Abdul was the first through the doorway and what he saw stopped him dead in his tracks. Four other Orcs sat about in another large chamber with a large marble pillars in each corner, battle worn and apparently having just had their rest interrupted. What dominated the Giant’s attention though was the nine foot tall Ogre who stood in the middle of the room and had turned to face the commotion. With a bellowing battle cry the ogre charged the Paladin a huge spiked war club in its raised hand!

Sixth Post, A Little Suprise

For those of you who have been following this Blog thank you. I’ve not been updating this nearly as often as it deserves, however its my intention to get several posts updated this month. In the game the group has completed Region A, and has entered region E. So I have a lot more writing to do. May all your ventures into this vast dungeon be filled with action and adventure.

Best Regards,

James

Much was discussed during the three days of downtime. Collecting the rubble that lay about, a crude defensive wall was erected in the door frame with the missing door. Anything that wandered by was driven off with missile fire and long spears. It was decided by Magela that the group should continue East, then turn north into the hopeful center of the complex where things might get more “interesting”. Grund muttered that if things became any more interesting some creature would be wearing their skins for a jacket and Surya observed that a Half Orc jacket might not smell as bad. Only Brother Cole was able to prevent a fight from breaking out over it, and offered the opinion that by taking the area chunk by chunk and carefully examining each section there wouldn't be any possibility of missing an exit. Abdul wanted to head due east, the map was revealing that they were likely traveling across the southern wall of the area and he wanted to see where that would take them. Even so, over the course of the three days, Cole’s diplomacy overcame all objections. Magela was going stir crazy being cooped up in this boring room and was ready to agree to anything to be on her way. So it was decided to backtrack and try to map out where the west wall of the complex was, then square it off against the current map and search that whole area if possible.

This took them back to the hall where they rested a while back and encountered the strange four legged beast creatures that attacked them. The stink of the rotting corpses was powerful and they quickly moved on. Several curiosities were discovered, one being a cess pit that was explored briefly with a long pole by Abdul, and a series of three rooms connected by doors. In one of those rooms was the dried husk of an Orcish warrior, his armor and weapons intact, but his dried skin a shriveled sack against his bones. Brother Cole identified several Stirges in the third and last room that were likely responsible. These are bat like vampiric predators that typically attack in swarms and overwhelm their prey, draining them of blood and vitality. Fortunately, there were only four of the beasties and they were quickly dispatched. However, similar to most everything found in this complex, these Stirges showed signs of deformities, reddish fur, horns and ridges where the species typically had none. Brother Cole was beginning to think there was a demonic presence somewhere in this place, but not wanting to alarm his companions he kept the information to himself and decided he would pray to the gods of light for a detection divination during the next rest period.

From here they headed east and came to a doorway that was marked differently than the others they had seen so far. It's construction was very similar to the other portals in the area, save upon the center of the door at chest level to Abdul was a sigil engraved into the wood and inlayed with brilliantly polished silver. Brother Cole announced that it was a celestial mark for “Hope”. Encouraged by this they decided to enter into the chamber, and there they met an even stranger sight. The room byond was quite large, well over 50’ square with a door opposite that they used to enter with. Hanging 10’ above the floor was a softly glowing ball of milky white light perhaps two feet in diameter. The light it emanated was pearly and to all but Surya seemed to offer comfort and peace. Surya however was visibly disconcerted and stood behind Barney using the mule’s shadow to avoid it's direct illumination.

“Ahh, now here, finally, a sign that all is not evil in this pit,” said Abdul. Once everyone was in the room he strode over to the ball to get a closer look. As he approached the glowing orb began to lower itself to chest height of the giant. Feeling the rigors of the past days melt from him he reached out and placed his hand gently upon its surface which he found to be soft, yielding and warm… and was overcome by deep emotions. The glowing ball flared into brilliance for a moment and Abdul fell to his knees blissfully filled with feelings of love and certainly of purpose. He knew then that his being here, in this place, at this time was his destiny and the will of the gods of light filled him with determination. To the others, they saw the pure white light of the gods surround and engulf Abdul and at the same time a single pure tone, as though struck from a harp, filled the air. When he emerged the giant had noticeably grown in stature, being a few inches taller and broader in shoulders than he was before as well as filled with energy and wonder.

One by one each of the companions approached and lay their hands upon the orb, each experiencing their own personal communion with the gods, and each a bit stronger and surer of purpose than before. For each companion a harp cord was struck, though the pitch and tone of each varied, high and sweet for Magela, deep and throbbing for Grund. Brother Cole emerged from his experience with streamers of tears rolling down his cheeks and a look of exultation on his face. At last it came down to Surya, who had avoided even watching the proceedings, wincing painfully each time the invisible harp sounded. Each of the companions were now looking at him expectantly and he knew that either he had to approach the orb or risk being cast out, alone in this deadly place to find his own way home.

For the first time since they knew him the companions could see that Surya could indeed feel fear. He approached the orb slowly, and as he did so the ball began to dim, slightly at first but it darkened quickly the closer he approached. Coils of vapor began to rise from its surface as Surya moved within five feet of the orb, smelling vaguely of rotten eggs. By the time he stood directly next to it the once pure orb was a dull smoky grey with dark clouds swirling about within it. Abdul muttered a curse, and the other companions hands had moved to their weapons. Reaching out a hand to the now glassy surface of the orb Surya touched it and was engulfed head to toe in purplish energy. He threw his head back and screamed, and at that moment a thunderclap exploded in the room. The orb vanished then in a cloud of foul smelling vapor and Surya could be seen standing in the center of the room once the brackish smoke had cleared with an almost feral grin upon his face. His skin had taken on a crimson hue and his eyes a yellow cast.

“I’ll have no truck with demons,” shouted Abdul, “ this one journeys with us no more!”

Fifth Post, Rats!

Magela closely searched the secret door for traps, and finding it free of anything dangerous asked Abdul to use his strength to open the door as it was stuck fast due to the shifting of the wall from the damage about them. With a mighty heave he pushed the revolving door open and a blade sprung forth from the floor, at a 45 degree angle and slashed deeply across both his legs. Giving a mighty howl of pain, and swearing a litany of Holy Oaths, the Paladin glowered at the Rouge with accusing eyes. Magela had little time to offer her apologies before Surya hissed them to silence. From the darkness beyond the newly opened portal there came the chilling sound of hundreds of tiny scrabbling claws and screeching squeaks. Abdul had just time enough to back away from the door before a mass of angry red furred rats with glowing green eyes swarmed through it into the room. In the tight confines of the chamber the melee was once again desperate. The giant Paladin’s large weapons were all but useless lest he harm his own companions so he fell back as quickly as possible to let Gregor and Grund fight more effectively with their smaller and faster blades. However the fiends seemed to go wild at the scent of the giant’s blood and overran the entire party making all positioning pointless.

Surya could be heard off to the right swearing wildly in several different languages as he plucked hissing rats off his robes and burnt them alive with Magefire. Magela had retreated to Bill hacking about her with her strange sword axe weapon trying to keep the mule from being overrun by the vermin, while Bill himself was braying loudly and trying unsuccessfully to back out of the small chamber. Pots, sacks, and spare weapons were flying off the mule as he scraped and banged his packs upon the walls of the chamber creating a footing hazard to anyone near him. Brother Cole discovered quickly that unlike undead, the power of the God’s compassion and love impressed the diabolic rats very little and turned to his heavy mace for defense. Niko, barking and growling was the only one of the companions the rats seemed unwilling to attack. In this fight, unlike the battle with the spider, each fought for himself and the rats seemed endless in number, yet the end did come. Almost as though they had a collective conscious (the thought of which did nothing to comfort our heroes) the swarm retreated all at once, leaving the crushed and spitted bodies of their comrades still wiggling in some places amidst the rubble. Every one of the companions save Niko had taken wounds, Grund most seriously. So covered in bites and tiny claw marks was he that his armor glistened in the light of the torches red with his own blood.

The flush of victory was hollow. By now the constant battles had worn upon the spirits of the group as a whole. They were dangerously wounded, low on healing magic, and faced unknown dangers both before and behind them. They needed to rest and regain their strength, they needed to talk and plan a way out of this nightmare, and they needed a miracle. Miracles being in short supply at the moment, they decided that finding a defensible resting place would have to do.

Pushing thought the now open secret door and wary for the swarm they discovered a large chamber less ruinous than the one they left behind, though still showing signs of structural damage. An open doorway missing its door provided exit to more passageways to the north, while to the south in a relatively intact stretch of wall was a closed iron bound oak door. The room itself was bare of furnishings and littered with bits of fallen masonry and tens of thousands of rat droppings. The door to the south gave access to a bed chamber, with two featherbeds and a table between them. The beds were in excellent condition, however the table had been badly damaged by a chunk of masonry fallen from the ceiling above. The western wall of this chamber appeared a bit unstable, however the rest of the area looked sound and the only access to the room was the door they came through. Using the larger pieces of rubble from the other room to block the door, this became the parties hotel for three days as they rested, healed, prayed, and talked to each other of how they were going to escape this mess. No revelations came to the companions during that time. Well, that is unless you consider discovering that even a dog sustained by magic retains it’s instincts to mark its territory or rediscovering that Surya is a temperamental and unpleasant conversationalist revelations. By the time three days had passed each of our heroes was eager to quit the confines of the room, wounded or not.

Fourth Post, Flies In A Web

Since resting was apparently just as dangerous as exploring, it was decided that they should all leave. The bodies of the wicked dog beasts were drawn into the room and the chamber was sealed and abandoned. Since much of Brother Cole's power had already been expended curing their battle wounds, it was with quiet resignation that the group moved out into the unknown once again. They chose to enter the strange bedroom they had discovered earlier, where they had fought their floating ghostly enemy. The secret door into which it fled had appeared large enough to get a laden mule through, so they decided to follow carefully sidestepping the reset blade trap. This ingenious scything contraption seemed to be geared to the door hinge so that when it was opened the blades leaped out controlled by the swing of the door itself. It was decided that Brother Cole would be close to the front of the line for the time being, his holy symbol in hand. It took great effort on his part to conceal his terror at the thought of running across the ghost, and he whispered a litany of prayers as they pushed on. Magela on the other hand made absolutely no effort to hide her fear and looked ready to jump atop Bill at any moment and use him as a reluctant race horse if necessary to get away from any reappearance of the ghost.

The space beyond the door proved to be a hallway heading south for some distance then turning east deeper into the complex. There it ended at a door, which was thoroughly examined and declared free of traps. After a bit of shifting about Abdul stepped forward and opened it revealing another hall beyond heading due east and another going north. As he did so, as if a warning to stop and head no further, the walls about them began to shake and the ground trembled beneath them for a few seconds. From somewhere distant a collapse of rock was heard and something screamed in pain. The passage beyond led into an area that had been previously damaged severely by a much more intense earthquake than they had just experienced. The hall had bits of masonry lying about, holes appeared in the carefully crafted walls, and the floor and ceiling sported deep cracks. After listening for some time they continued east, bypassing the northern passage. Several broken chambers were discovered, heavily damaged with floors literally choked with rubble and masonry. Whatever furniture was once within the rooms were completely destroyed and hidden by the collapse of the ceilings. The passage they were traversing ended abruptly at a damaged wall, with an open door to the north and something strange emerging from it.

Three cables extended from the room beyond the door and anchored themselves against the wall opposite the doorway. The cables were as thick as a good hemp rope and were made of a milky white material which glistened in the torchlight. Abdul stepped forward with an ever burning torch and peered into the room beyond. So covered in white silky strands was it that it appeared as a winterscape. Not walls, floor, or ceiling could be made out, however there were several elongated cocoons hanging within the webbing that were likely bodies of some type. That was enough, and he pulled back. Removing his pack he handed the torch back to Cole and took the great axe he carried into both hands. With a mighty swing he cut one of the web cables apart and was hit in the side of the face with the handle as the cable snapped like a bowstring and took the axe with it into the room. Rubbing his jaw, he pulled forth his two handed sword and spit upon his palms. Taking a tight grip, he cut the second cable and then yelped as the force of the retreating web took his blade into the chamber, with him still hanging to its end!

Brother Cole jumped forward to find Abdul caught up in the super sticky webbing almost upside down and just below the cocoons. Some of the web had pulled away from the wall in several sections no longer supported by the missing anchors, and something very large moved beyond the damaged sections. Staring for a moment, Cole's eyes widened when a spider the size of a small pony crawled up over the damaged portion of the webbing, its chitin a slightly darker shade of the white that enclosed the room. Screaming he called to his companions that Abdul was in danger and fell back fumbling for something to throw at the creature. The one remaining anchor began to thrum the like the string of some vast musical instrument as Abdul began to franticly pull at the strands which held him. He succeeded only in trapping himself all the tighter.

The others moved to Abdul's aid. Bows came out, arrows were knocked and folks took turns stepping up to the doorway to fire at the spider then stepped away for the next archer to attack. The way they moved was beautiful to behold, like a well seasoned fighting unit that had campaigned together for years they pummeled the gargantuan arachnid. Fortunately for Abdul the creature was at first slowed by the catastrophic damage done to its home and once it gained its footing it was forced to deal with the irritating attacks of his fellows. Surging forward it moved directly over the giant and threw itself at the archers in the doorway. Gregor was its target, and only the grace and speed of the powerful Litoran saved him from being impaled upon the creatures salivating mandibles.

Abandoning their bows, the adventurers hurried to engage the beast emerging through the door with hand weapons. The hallway was awash with gleaming swords in the half light. Shouts of warning and the sound of metal weapons striking stone hard chitin echoed down the passageway behind them. Afterwards no one could say just who struck the telling blow, or how they had emerged from the fight without a scratch upon them from the deadly fangs of the spider. However they congratulated themselves when the arachnid, legs curled in upon itself lay in the web, its thick chitin armor cracked in dozens of places and covered in the foul ichors that was its lifeblood. Even Abdul, who lay helpless in the webbing during the fight, and had taken a wound from the spider as it passed over him was found to be in good health when he was freed. His stout armor had absorbed most of the blow, and he claimed that the blessings of the gods of light saved him from the spider’s deadly venom.

Though incredibly sticky and strong, the webbing melted away to ash in contact with a flame, and soon the room was cleared with burning torches. The bodies within the cocoons were almost unrecognizable as orcs, desiccated and dried as they were. Nothing of value was found upon them. An antechamber which had been hidden by the web was found, and amid the rubble within was discovered a completely intact armor rack, somehow spared from destruction from the rubble that had destroyed the rest of the furniture in the room. In one wall, revealed by the damage that the quakes had done was a wall safe. It was found to be trapped by finely scribed runes which Surya announced to be a harmless illusion called a Color Spray that might stun or temporarily blind a thief but wouldn't physically harm them. Magela deftly disarmed the trap by filing away some of the magical markings and the safe was opened. Within was a treasure. Sacks filled with thousands of silver coins that had blackened with age. Upon each coin was stamped the symbol of a sun on one side, and an eye upon the other. Celestial coins!

Excitement about this died quickly. The coins, when carried in bulk, where heavy… very heavy. The group was stranded in the middle of a vast unknown underground maze with no apparent way to escape other than to explore who knows how many miles of tunnels. By some magical miracle it seemed that they didn't need to eat or take water, however they still needed rest and lugging about hundreds of pounds of coins no matter how peculiar and valuable they might be was just silly. So a single bag was taken, while the remaining fifteen were left in the safe... and it was just after this decision was made that Magela discovered that a secret door was hidden in the eastern wall...

Third Post, A Nights Rest

As the adrenaline of the combat waned, it became obvious to everyone that they needed to get their bearings and try to understand the layout of the place they were trapped into exploring. Breaking out the precious few potions which they had carried with to Breysus’ palace, they used a few to refresh and heal themselves. Upon reviewing the crude map they were keeping it was decided to backtrack and explore into a few spaces that hinted the possibility of other areas passed by and left unexamined. First they opened the secret door to the south, being careful to avoid the scythe trap that was set upon that portal as well. Beyond was a dusty room containing an ancient table, a few chairs, and a deck of playing cards. Behind some broken boards was found a silk pouch which contained a small gold ring, though meager spoils they took them both.

Returning to the room with the magical doors it was decided to press the Orcs harder about the nature of the trouble here. Surely they must have more information about the strange goings on in this place. However once they returned it was discovered that the two Orcs had fled, their wounded companion having succumbed to his wounds. Disgruntled, the party next investigated the two northern doors they had found earlier. One led to a room filled with rotting corpses, so intense was the stench that their stomachs couldn’t stand further examination and the door leading to it was quickly closed.

Opening the next door caused another trap to set off, and half the party was inundated with sheets of flame. Fortunately, though hot, the flames were brief and the damage they did was limited by the heavy armor the delvers wore. The room beyond was a store room that was thick with the smell of molds. Lying upon the ground near the center of the room were the two orcs that had been spoken with before. They showed signs of having been scorched by the same trap that the group had just trigged, but their deaths were caused by something else entirely. Their faces were contorted and their swollen and blue tongues pushed from between blackened lips. Casting about uncovered broken shelving, sacks piled in corners and barrels that had long ago been broken open and raided. Growing upon everything was a fine mesh of black mold covered with a fine white fur that ended in nodules of dark spores. Backing away this room was quickly abandoned as it was assumed those spores were responsible for the deaths of the creatures on the floor.

Cole suggested at this point that a rest was needed, and he was backed up by Surya, which surprised them both for they had rarely agreed on anything else since they had met. A number of likely rooms had been passed over, and they settled upon an area that had obviously once contained as many as two score Orcish warriors as their bedrolls upon the floor still contained living fleas. Fleas are the ever present companions of all Orcs, and their black language has more words for the parasites and means to describe the scabs their bites leave than any other on Muerta. The site was easily defendable and out of the way, which made it the most ideal camping spot in spite of the current tenants. Even so, trouble still found them.

When one is far underground night becomes figurative. Though it was discussed how best to figure the passing of the days it was agreed the easiest manner in which to do so was to count the time when the gods granted their blessings to Cole to be the turning of a day. Now Cole’s Theological order was called to prayer for this purpose at the dawn of every new day, however trapped as he was under thousands of tons of earth he had to approximate exactly when this happy moment would arrive and had several false starts. This led to some frustration on his part, particularly when Surya made a few choice remarks about the limitations of faith. During this period, something large attempted to force its way into the chamber they were resting in.

The block that Abdul had made against the door prevented the visitor from bursting in upon them unawares and when coupled with the Giants great bulk and strength pressed against the back of the door it seemed unlikely that whoever the unwelcome visitor was, that they would be able to force an entry. Yet, if from some deep sense of curiosity, or an adventurer’s well proven desire to die young, it was decided to open the doors to find out who was responsible for this house call. Once everyone was awake and armed, Abdul removed the block and opened the door to face their guests. In the hallway beyond were two low but bulky creatures which stood upon four stout legs. A mass of hair much like a lions mane extended from all about their heads, and their faces were nothing but a huge protruding beak, devoid of eyes, nostrils, or any other feature that would at least identify them as at least being terrestrial. From them came an ear splitting shriek so devastating that many of the group stood rooted to the spot, too stunned to move even in self defense.

What followed could only be described as a frantic lesson in self defense as the beasts flung themselves into the immobile party. Recovering quickly the party scattered and began to fight back, and the floor of the chamber was soon soaking in the blood of all the combatants. The almost doglike beaked creatures fought with little regard for self preservation and inflicted huge gaping wounds with their enormous natural weapons. If not due to superior weapons and numbers the outcome would not have been a happy one for the delvers. As it was, once it was over and Cole finally did get the blessings of the Gods of Light, they were quickly used to recover from their rest.

Second Post, Into the Depths

The Cast:

Magela Oddfact - Rouge, Faen Female, CG - A librarian by trade, Magela was chosen to take the long journey to Opal due to her enthusiastic perusal of all things related to exploration. (The truth is that a representative of her diminutive race was desperately needed by the scholars, and she was willing and at hand.) Upon meeting her the other champions were so impressed by the expansive knowledge she kept in her notebooks that they voted her to be the leader of the venture (and as the most harmless member of the troupe she seemed the most capable of being trusted with the authority and least likely to be able to take advantage of it). Bill is Magela's mule, given into her care when she was sent upon this quest by the Order of the White Pen.

Grund - Champion of Freedom, Half-Orc Male, LG - Thick in arm and idyllic of philosophy, Grund has been taught of the need to be ever vigilant of the machinations of others though the harsh teacher of experience. As a half orc he often met with the distain and disapproval of others, and many were the times another sought to take advantage of the dim wits that are considered typical of his race. With Grund, such folks soon discovered that his mind was as sharp as his sword, and often the discovery involved dealing with them both.

Coleman Siflahn - Priest of the Gods of Light, Human Male, LG - Cole is a puritan at heart and a natural choice for the scholars when looking for a man to send to visit Breysus. Well educated in all manner of sorcery and history he possesses a natural fire and passion for the Gods that would be likely to endear him to the Titan. Further, he and his dog Niko had traveled extensively in the backlands of the Barrens and thus were weathered and used to travel in the region.

Abdul Al'Ashir - Paladin of the Gods of Light, Giant Male, LG - Master Al'Ashir is a young among his race, and still filled with the zeal and curiosity that many of his elders have grown away from. He had long studied the history of the Barrens and specifically the tidbits that his monasteries library still contained about the Titians and their message. When the call came for a member of his order to take the long perilous journey to the Palace of Breysus at the Spine of the World he enthusiastically requested the honor, and it was granted with gratitude as no other wanted the task.

Gregor - Mage Blade, Litorian Male, N - A particularly well built specimen, Gregor has devoted himself to that mysterious calling known as the way of the Blood and Blade. Well versed in the intellectual arts of the Arcane, and yet tempered with the cold steel of a warriors pragmatism Gregor lends a sense of balance and steadfast determination to those around him. The Litorian's are the one people of Muerta who never lost sight of the lore message brought to them by Breysus, and Gregor was sent as soon as word spread to the scholars of his people that a mission was being made ready.

Surya - Wizard, Elven Male, LE - Surya wasn't chosen by anyone to journey with the companions, he decided himself that he would make this journey. Presumably this means that the Elven champion who was actually chosen is still waiting impatiently for the others to arrive in an Inn within the Human city of Opal. Surya trusts no other to interrogate Breysus competently, and feels the stakes are too high to leave it for others to blunder. Though he brought with him a mule to carry his load, he gave no more thought to naming the beast than he did to naming his shoes, or the cord binding his long locks into a braid. His companions however considered this most inappropriate for some unfathomable reason and immediately set about discussing appropriate names for a mule undertaking such a grand quest. In a rare moment of magnanimity, Surya agreed to allow them to name the animal Barney, if for no other reason than to quiet the absurd topic.

The way down the fissure was rough, particularly for the animals. Bill and Barney found the footing difficult, but endured it with the rugged determination typical of most mules. Niko, bounced from the front to the rear of the line, raising the spirits of the spelunkers with his canine enthusiasm. Though the golden Mirmo pack dog wore the harness and bags the breed was made famous for, the bags were empty and so the animal was free to caper about and bruise its swiftly wagging tail on the sharp rocks of the crevasse walls. Only Surya found the animal's energy tiresome in this dismal foul smelling journey which had taken a bad turn from questioning a Titian in a comfortable civilized palace to winding through a freshly formed and filthy crack in the earth.

After a long dark hike the group came upon a room of worked limestone. The fissure spanned the area and broke into the far wall, continuing its destruction into the very bowels of the earth. The torches they brought with them only dimly illuminated the expanse of the place, and what light there was reflected in thin pools of water that filmed the smooth stone floor beyond the fissure. Careful examination revealed two doors set in opposing corners, each well made of stout oak and free of rust or other signs of age. Here an argument broke out, some were for continuing the march into the planets crust, curious where the break in the earth ended, while others were wary of the breach suddenly closing and crushing them in its grasp. Examination of the doors postponed the debate, and the curiousness of them ended it. Each door opened easily inward, but as it did so the surface of the door vanished into an opaque and obviously magical darkness. Excitement took over and soon several members had stepped though, for all purposes vanishing into the witchery. It took blindfolding the animals to coax them through, and though some felt that caution was the better part of valor, it was agreed that the need to know what happened to Breysus and to have an understanding of the nature of the threat to their respective people required they investigate.

On the far side of the strange portal the discovery was made that stepping back across was impossible. The blackness remained, however it was no longer permeable and was as smooth and hard to the touch as the stone which framed it. About them the found that they were in a chamber quite similar to the one they encountered on the other side of the doors but even larger. Searching discovered another door, and then a body. Lying upon the floor was the corpse of an Orc which to their horror had been slain recently by something which had drained the creature of much of its blood. A puckered white wound was found upon the Orc’s body, and its skin was unusually pale for the usually swarthy breed. Beyond the body was a pair of doors and the room expanded to the north beyond the range of their light. A cough caught their attention then, and two more orcs were found in the northeast corner of the room, kneeling over the body of a badly wounded comrade.

Grund was asked to speak with them, to ask them how they came to be here and what had become of them and their comrades. Grund insisted that the Orcs would have nothing to do with him and at first declined to speak with them at all, seemingly wary of even moving closer to the creatures. Eventually Abdul convinced him to try and their response was curt and to the point. They would tell nothing to a filthy halfer like Grund, and that all of them were doomed to a death they would soon discover in the halls beyond. Nothing more would be said. Angry, Grund explained this to Abdul and gave him a furious and accusing glare. The Orcs were left there to nurse their wounded and the group searched the circumference of the chamber to get an idea of how large it was. This examination discovered two more doors, all of them identical to the first set they found, but lacking the mystical darkness that shrouded them. It was decided that the southern doors would be explored first.

Many empty and unremarkable rooms were uncovered, and more orc corpses were located in a few of them. Some of the orcs died in the same manner that the first one they found had, while others had been killed by vicious and deep claw marks, their flesh slashed from them in an obvious frenzy of violence. While exploring Abdul was attacked by a creature identified as a Darkmantle. It was a strange octopus like beast that is capable of flight and can form a magical darkness to cloak its attacks. However this Darkmantle was larger and much more aggressive than most of its type who typically prey upon small vermin and lizards that inhabit the deep dark places of the earth. Also, its body had a reddish color to it, and many small horns and sharp thorns adorned its upper body which was all quite atypical of the species (thus identified by Cole, an expert on all manner of monsters). Obviously a mutant of some type, little thought was given to it until the next violent encounter.

While exploring a room near the one where the Darkmantle attacked them, the party was overrun by rats. Now a typical rat, while a nasty vermin, will generally only become aggressive when cornered, starving, or vastly out massing its prey. These vermin however conformed to none of the usual understandings of the species. They swarmed by the score out of the darkness, their eyes lit with an unnatural ruddy red glow. Quickly swarming the group, the pack animals began to panic and became uncontrollable. As the rats began to fill the room they started to climb up the armor and clothes of the party, biting and slashing with their small sharp teeth. It took all of them stomping and slashing about themselves with dagger and boot, fists and sorcery to break the tide of the seemingly endless flow of little demonic vermin. Once they had been killed or driven off Cole was hard pressed healing the wounds of the party with the blessings of the Gods of Light. Examination of the creatures revealed red fur and a ridge of sharp spines protruding from the base of the rat’s head down its back to the place where its tail grew. Now with this and the strangeness of the Darkmantle, they began to wonder what they had gotten themselves into.

Deciding that there was little they could do but continue their explorations they came upon a twisting hall that ended with a pair of double doors. Having only come across identical portals of oak and iron till now, they checked these carefully for any sign of trap or trickery. When no traps were located they entered the room beyond and discovered a bedroom of sorts. Chairs surrounded a large smooth foot high mound of dry dirt. A crude bed heaped with dirty animal skins, a table and bench, and a small chest completed the room’s furnishings. Nothing of value was found among these, however two cleverly concealed secret doors were discovered one in the south wall and one in the east. Excited at the discovery Magela opened the eastern portal and fell prey to a pair of scything blades set at a 90 degree angle to cut into the legs of anyone opening the door from this side. To make matters worse, something evil flowed from the open portal into the chamber.

Wounded and overcome with terror Magela fled the room, running as fast as her legs could carry her past her companions and through the double doors they had opened. What floated two feet above the floor within the chamber was ghastly. Covered in a tattered cloak was a figure that might have once been a man. In its left hand it held a short bladed sword that gave off a sickly green glow, while in its right it carried the severed head of a young orc warrior by the hair. The cloak, while covering all other parts of the figure was open at the chest, revealing nothing more than seven floating heads that slowly rotated about themselves. The face of each head was twisted into a silent scream of pain and terror, eyes wide and rolling to whites. The entire apparition had a strange translucent quality to it, as though you could almost see through it the room beyond.

With cries of horror and loathing the rest of the group scrambled for their weapons to defend themselves as the ghostly terror began to dance among them blade swooping and slashing. Yet to their dismay the weapons they fought with seemed unable to touch the body of their opponent, steel moving effortlessly through its form without touching anything of substance, while that evil green blade it wielded was indeed quite solid and capable of drawing blood. Soon all their efforts were turned to keeping that deadly weapon from reaching them. Coleman, remembering then the ancient and nearly forgotten stories of how the Gods of Light once embodied their servants with the power to burn and banish all manner of undead with the glory of their love pulled forth the eye and sun of his faith and called forth to the ghost to begone. Three times he did thus, beginning to fear that the stories were little more than that and bore no truth to them. However upon that third try the creature fled seemingly in fear of its unlife, and his battered and bloody companions swiftly closed the secret door and collapsed to the cold floor in pain and exhaustion.

(This ended session one of the delve into the World’s Largest Dungeon.)

First Post, The Setup

This Blog is to track the adventures of the Sanguine Sentinels within AEG's new product, the Worlds Largest Dungeon. This adventuring group of seven friends, some of whom have been gaming together for 26 years, purchased this product for their GM (yours truly) as a way to offer me a rest from running the regular D&D game as they have attained high level and sessions are getting more difficult and time consuming to design. The Worlds Largest Dungeon (ISBN 1-59472-029-0) is an 840 page adventure published by AEG. It comes with 16 poster sized maps that are labeled as regions from A - O. Each region may be played individually, or tied together into a single campaign that will take a game group years to complete. The book itself, contains text in 8pt print and covers all the regions completely describing nearly every room and working them into adventures with the idea of offering GM's a complete tool to use for running games.
Being the type of gamer that I am, I've reworked the first region of the adventure (A) and have added personal touches to the second region the players will be adventuring into (E). Therefore while reading this blog you may find that there are a lot of encounters that aren't listed in the book itself, however I attempted to control myself and keep the original text as much as I could allow myself so that this product would actually save me time (which was after all the reason why it was purchased). Region E has a LOT of empty rooms. This was due to the fact that the author of that area, Lee Hammock, submitted far too much material to AEG line editor Jim Pinto and a great deal of it had to be cut in order to maintain the targeted page count. Lee has kindly forwarded me the balance of the text that was deleted and I will send it to anyone who asks via email (jamesbeadle@sanguinesentinels.com). I used Lee's material to repopulate those rooms, and created a number of my own.
When considering the Dungeon, I was looking for a premise. I decided to use the one offered by the designers and to create only a skeleton of a game world around it. AEG's idea behind the dungeon is that it is a vast prison created by the gods to house and contain ALL evil.

~When the gods were looking for a new world to seed with mortals they came across one which was known by its inhabitants as Muerta, and was ruled by demons, giants, dragons, and all manner of other evil beings. Knowing that the young mortal races would be unable to survive for long in competition with such beings they designed a vast prison in a tall mountain range and planned to throw all the vile things of Mureta into it for eternity. However the Gods of Darkness demanded that evil be given its due, and so a deal was struck. For four thousand years the evil would be contained to allow the mortal races to mature and become strong, then the dungeon would be opened and the evils within allowed to leave. At that time the champions of the world would have to come forth to fight for their peoples.
The dungeon was then filled with the world’s woes and celestial guardians were set to watch, study, and contain them. The large temple like entrance and exit were then given to two brothers to watch, the Titians Breysus and Barcellus. It was left to Breysus not only to watch the entrance to the dungeon, but to teach the mortals of the world of the decision the gods made to imprison evil, and to help them prepare for the day that it would return. His lair, the entrance to the prison was made into a palace, and there the six races of the world came to worship and learn from him.
Centuries past, and the mortal races grew and expanded over all of Muerta. Though evil was imprisoned it wasn't impotent, and the races of the world bred their own evils among themselves. Temples to both the Gods of Light and Darkness were built, and the minions of each made war upon themselves. The many races came to loath each other for their differences, and more wars came to Mureta. Soon, worldly concerns eclipsed the words of Breysus and fewer and fewer came to him to learn. As the millennia passed the lore of the prison was lost to all but a few concerned scholars who tasked themselves with keeping the candle of knowledge burning. Thus when the first earthquakes shook the roots of the mountains only those few learned mortals took heed and wondered at what it meant as the Gods themselves were silent on the subject. They decided to send champions to visit the Titian Breysus to ask what the quakes, that had never before been known in that part of Muerta meant to the world. These champions were chosen, one from each major race of the world (Human, Litorian, Giant, Elven, Faen, and Half Orcish) and outfitted with the equipment needed to survive the long journey. As a precaution, each member was magically linked to another champion. Should the first fall, the second would be transported to the spot the first had died upon to continue the journey.
They traveled to the city of Opal, a sizable human trade center some three weeks from the liar of Breysus. There they met and continued the journey up into the Spine of the World, passing
long decayed and neglected shrines and icons along the path. When they finally reached the magnificent halls of the Titian they discovered his half rotted corpse seated upon his throne in the grand hall. There was no sign as to the cause of his death, and his halls were unplundered. Despair nearly overwhelmed the group and they were at a loss. After much fruitless searching was conducted to locate the answer that the scholars who sent them here so desperately sought, a fissure in the earth which emitted foul gasses was discovered rent into the back of the halls of Breysus. The crack seemed recent, and quite wide. The champions were divided upon what to do, however eventually they decided to explore the fissure and see where it led. Perhaps what or whoever slew the Titian had emerged from within. They gathered their gear and loaded their two mules, and then delved into the darkness... ~

As the players would only be adventuring in the dungeon itself, and would be trapped there once they entered I didn't need a lot of details about Muerta. However, as the adventure is so large I decided to place a city (Opal) at the base of the Spine of the World mountain range the dungeon is located in, just to give me an option to allow them to return to it should it later prove expedient. In addition I decided to simplify the gods of this world into the gods of light, and the gods of darkness without individualizing them, and did away with neutral gods completely. Though I favor good aligned champions, I decided to allow evil PC's into this game after the players understood exactly what they were getting into. Since they have been forbidden to play evil for over seven years now, I thought it was time to open that opportunity up to them.
In our games we play with the 3.0 rules using Monte Cook's Aranca Unearthed rules, however keeping the original spell system from 3.0.
The rules of the game are outlined below:

1) Druids and Druid subclasses (Greenbond) are not allowed (they would be all but worthless in the Dungeon).
2) Wizards can add spells to their spell books with more ease in this game. (You might find a sorcerer easier to play though.)
3) Feats that allow magical item creation are not available.
4) Due to the confined nature of a dungeon, spells that inhibit movement are overpowered, thus spells such as grease, web, and entangle are not available.
5) All players will start the game with two characters (with only one in play).The races in Arcana Unearthed ARE available for play, but no race may be played that has a racial level modifier (tieflings, drow, etc), but you could play an Aracana Unearthed Giant for example.
6) No more than two representatives of each race may be created including Humans. This means that since there will be twelve characters (two each) only two of those twelve may be human, elves, dwarves, Giants, Litorian, etc.
7) Six races will be represented as the major races of the fantasy world you are playing in. You as players get to choose which races you want to have in the game which are going to represent the major races of this world. For example if Trey wants to play a half orc, and Marco wants to play a Giant then someone else is going to have a play a half orc and Giant respectively and those will represent two of the six major world races.
8) Your two characters may not share the same character race or base character class. There can be six fighters in the group if you want, but you may only play one fighter between your two characters. Keep in mind that each of the path books contains new BASE character classes as well as those in the Arcane Unearthed and Players Handbook that are available for play.
9) Character stat generation will be your choice of one of two methods (and you can generate stats of each of your characters differently). You may assign stats using 32 pts to generate your scores as per pg. 20 of the DMG. Or you may roll two sets using 4d6 per stat, choose the set you want to use and assign the scores as you like.
10) There will be no resurrection magic available in the game as spells that characters can memorize. Instead raise magic might be discovered as you adventure but will be incredibly rare. Being raised from the dead no longer carries a level loss penalty, but requires the sacrifice of magical items equal to 2000gp per level of the character raised.
11) We will be using a GP standard for this game.
12) Metamagic feats no longer insure a casting level penalty; instead any metamagic feat can be used at will 4x per day minus the level penalty it would normally incur (with a minimum of one use per day). Thus Heighten Spell which normally adds 2 levels to a spell could be used twice a day, whereas Quicken Spell which would normally add 4 levels to a spell may only be used once per day.
13) Banish Magical Might is not available in this game as a feat.
14) For ease of play, Clerics worship the Good Gods, Neutral Gods, or Evil Gods, not specific deities. You MAY play evil characters in this game, but I advise you to consider that choice carefully. You may choose any two domains you would like to have EXCEPT the moral domains. Good Clerics may only choose good, Neutral may only choose Neutral, and Evil Clerics have access only to the Evil moral domain.
15) Each major race has two champions to send into the Dungeon, when a champion dies; unless he is resurrected he is dead. At that time the player may choose to activate a mystical connection to his other character and bring him into the game. Doing so renders the first character completely and irrevocably dead, even if at a later time he could have been resurrected. If both characters are lost in the game that player will have to find a character to play that is already in the Dungeon, which probably means he will be playing a monster! The mystical link between a players two characters serves to keep them at the same level, when one character levels up they both do.
16) Experience points will not be awarded in this game. Instead there are areas in the dungeon that you must uncover (some are secret and hidden so search carefully). When one of these areas is found and activated every person in the party will instantly level.
17) Every character enters the Dungeon equipped with two potions chosen from the minor potion list, and a masterwork item of choice.
18) If at any point every character from the original 12 is dead, the game is lost and the world will be plunged into darkness and evil for many millennia.