Session 23 Recap & Experience Points Awards

The battered Wildcats rose from their hard-earned rest.  Echoes of the fearsome umber hulks’ ambush still rang clear through their minds, but they’d left treasure behind in there—and unexplored caverns beckoned.  Down the stairs they marched, steeling their minds and gripping their blades tightly.

They came first to the umber hulks’ lair, where the company dug through debris to find a smashed silver tea service and a dirty brown bottle that the cleric Gambol promptly identified as a potion of healing.  Packing these prizes away in their precious bag of holding, the group soon resolved to explore the hulks’ deeper tunnels.  Gambol called a light cantrip to illuminate their path, and the company set off single-file through the narrow burrows.

When a passage at last widened into a bit of a nook, however, disaster suddenly struck.  The floor gave way, and four party members—the mages Greyndalf and Onog, the cleric Gambol, and the warrior Jowdain--suddenly found themselves neck-deep in a spectacular pit of quickmud, and sinking fast.

The ranger Unagi and the gnome Schlemeel acted quickly to rescue Jowdain, throwing him a rope and pulling him from the pit.  But as they did so, their remaining comrades slipped below the surface.  While the crushing weight and pressure of the mud frustrated most of their spellcasting, the wizard Greyndalf did manage to conjure a mage hand to cover his mouth—helping him avoid suffocation and preserving some ability to utter magic words.   Onog and Gambol, meanwhile, probed the sand with their weapons, but found little success as the relentless mud sucked them further and further down.

Before long, the submerged characters began chocking and suffocating in the deep quickmud.  As the rescue efforts grew more desperate, the gnome Schlemeel used his own mage hand spell to carry a rope down into the pit, where the cleric Gambol fortuitously caught hold of it.  Meanwhile Unagi affixed another rope to his ankle and dove fervently into the quickmud, determined to find and retrieve his comrades.

Before, long, Jowdain and Schlemeel managed to pull the cleric back to the surface.  But Unagi reached the end of his 50-foot rope and without managing to find Greyndalf or Onog in the ever-sinking muck.  He probed furiously, first with his own limbs and then with his longbow, but to no avail. 

It was then that Greyndalf pushed himself to the wall of the pit, fished two arrows from his quiver, and jabbed them into the wall like pitons.  Ever-slowly would the mage work his way back toward the surface, gasping and choking in a race against time.

For the sorcerer Onog, however, prospects looked grim as the inexorable mud pit pulled him past forty feet and threatened to pull him past fifty feet of depth.  It was only here that his sinking form finally brushed against Unagi’s probing limbs, however; the ranger released his longbow to embraced the half-orc, and over several tense moments Gambol and Jowdain gracelessly tugged them from the pit.

Greyndalf, for his part, climbed his way to within a foot of the surface.  But just as he was about to finally free himself, the mage’s hand slipped from one of his makeshift climbing pick.  Luckily, a couple of his extricated companions spotted the movement just within the mud, and were able to grab and pull Greyndalf out.  Seconds later, the gnome Schlemeel dragged Unagi’s mud-soaked longbow from the pit, having absurdly snagged the weapon on a makeshift grappling hook.   With that, the entire company had escaped the treacherous mud pit.  They had come out alive, if it hadn’t come clean.

After a brief respite, the Wildcats resolved to eschew the remaining umber hulk tunnels for now and explore the lower reaches of the salt brick dungeon.  Returning the way they came, the company found the next descending staircase and found at the bottom a great hall, complete with a raised stone dais and the remains of a gem-studded throne.  Like the floor above, this level too had been breached from the outside, and the hall was badly smashed and ransacked.  But the throne remained firm enough to bear a man’s weight, and the hardy dwarf Jowdain promptly ascended to the chair to test it.

The dwarf found the throne comfortable enough in spite of the damage.   But as soon as he was seated, his attention—and that of his companions—was instantly drawn away from the throne and onto a the gentle reddish hologram that appeared the center of the hall.  “No conversation with her lasts but three exchanges,’ ranted a bald, robed elf.  “Ever the smallest talk only. “  The figure carried on, lamenting the unseen woman’s appetite and disinterest in all things, and reasoning that he could not have been the cause of on account of her propensity to “never deviate from that same accursed landscape.”

Just as suddenly, the vision was gone and the room fell silent once more.  The rogue Schlemeel chipped a small aquamarine gem off the side of the throne, and pocketed the same as the Wildcats tramped down yet another staircase.

Here the company came to a smooth landing, flanked by doors to either side of thick stone railing, behind which the uppermost branches of a leaf-covered poplar tree that started several floors down somehow filled the air of this sunless environment.  Proceeding through both doors simultaneously, the Wildcats found an old meditation chamber of sorts, the floor overlapped with old rugs and the salt brick walls a uniform gentle violet.  In the center, a polyhedral crystal the size of Jowdain’s head stood on a black rock stanchion.

Almost immediately, the crystal grew cloudy and flashed, and then displayed another strange vision—that of a beautiful elven woman in the trembling glow of a campfire, who ran to mount the back of a resplendent white unicorn.  She rode away—and yet somehow remained at the fireside.

The Wildcats pondered this vision as they settled in for a rest—a most profitable rest, it would prove, owing undoubtedly to some ambiguous magical enhancement of the chamber.  But the mage Greyndalf took the opportunity to mediate himself, and ere long the crystal would show them another vision.  It was much less pleasant this time; the intense red face of some fierce demon filled the crystal, and cursed at the party members in its unspeakable, infernal language.  “Smiz uw zmy pyilulq ao zmuw? the being asked,  “wma vory haf? “  Inexplicably the company understood these questions, knowing the demon to ask them their names, and the meaning of the interruption.

The mage Greyndalf tried in vain to answer the demon, identifying his company as The Wildcats and proclaiming their of exploration and adventure.  But the demon showed no interest in the wizard’s information, and presented only a final, ominous question: “Wmiz wyrjuty sudd haf eyroarp oar puqmzh sfxqaryq?” This, the party heard in their native tongues: “what service will you perform for mighty Suzgoreg?’  The demon laughed, and vanished.

Upon further mediation the crystal produced a third vision—an old woman, digging in snow beside an old grey hut and a foul, vicious canine, while the same graceful unicorn paced in the distance.” 

Now clutching the crystal, Greyndalf resumed his meditations and a fourth vision appeared—again a scene of malevolence.  Raging water filled the crystal—coursing whitewater, raging like an alpine stream.  The crash and roar filled the room, and suddenly the water did too—or so it seemed.  Perhaps misunderstanding the peril, the dwarf Jowdain simply opened a door in hopes the flood would simply run out.  But the freezing water was in fact the factious bodies of two river elementals, which the crystal had seemingly conjured from air. 

Instantly they attacked the Wildcats, flooding into the dwarf Jowdain and freezing him almost solid, then doing the same to the rogue Schlemeel.  At this, the Greyndalf quickly invoked his spider climb to scramble up a wall, Onog dashed around a far corner, and the ranger Unagi leapt over the stone partition and into the nearby poplar tree.  Though Schlemeel quickly shook off the cold to rejoin the battle, another blast of cold water splashed over the cleric Gambol and Jowdain shivered to approaching doom.

The company fought back with magic spells.  Though Greyndalf’s burning hands showed little effect on the water-based monstrosities, Onog’s frost-based incantations quickly proved devastating.  As the battle raged, Onog pummeled one elemental with a screaming fury of snowballs, withering the enemy to a fraction of its initial strength.  Schlemeel then buried his dagger in the frigid foe to end its reign of belligerence.  Greyndalf then called forth a lightning bolt to blast the remaining elemental into a million liquid pieces. 

Peace restored, the Wildcats snatched Jowdain from the threshold of doom, reviving him with blankets and curatives.  The battered company retreated from the vision crystal’s sight and camped on the smooth stone landing, anxiously awaiting whatever next may come.  

Adventure Notes:

·         Potion of Healing.  The cleric Gambol instantly recognized the red liquid inside the dirty brown bottle as a potion of healing.  Its consumption instantly restores a modest amount of health (2d4+2 hit points) to the imbiber.

·         River Elemental. Most have heard tell, in legend if not in fact, of the great elemental planes of air, earth, fire, and water.  Yet some say these planes are not separate, but distinct poles on multi-dimensional continuum, between which lie untold numbers of so-called “demi-planes” that blur, combine, or otherwise obscure these distinctions.  So it is that clouds, smoke, mud, and countless other amalgams of core elements each find their own places.  This is not a theory to which you had given much thought previously.  But having faced elemental beings seemingly combined of water and cold, it does find some purchase in your minds.  And this was not an encounter you will soon forget, with the dangerous river elementals swarmed with a fearsome “hypotherm” attack (save to avoid being frozen; if frozen, each round must use action to “shake off the cold” or sustain 2d12 cold damage and remain effectively paralyzed) and lashed out with powerful slams (6-20 damage).  Other elementals you suspect have different powers, but are likely similar in stature and vitality (AC 16, ~ 95 hit points).

Experience Points & Inspiration 

            Combat/Encounters

The company defeated two river elementals in this session, worth a total of 3,600 XP.  But undoubtedly the most fearsome encounter was not with a living being, but an impossibly deep[*] pit of quickmud that nearly sucked several PCs into oblivion.  Given the potential lethality of the trap, the challenges the quickmud posed in limiting spell and item use, the complexity associated with having to rescue multiple characters (who were not themselves available to assist until rescued) and the time factor produced by the rates of sinking and damage acquisition through suffocation, the quickmud pit may have been the most perilous encounter the Wildcats have yet faced.  The party is awarded 9,000 XP for overcoming this challenge.  These awards total 12,900 XP, for a cool 2,100 XP per character.

            Interactions/Role-Playing/Quest progress

The Wildcats obtained numerous pieces of information in this session which they believe may be clues to unlocking the mysteries of their surroundings.  Though the DM is tempted to delay an experience award for these discoveries until the significance of these clues becomes apparent, to do so would be unmanageable.  Therefore, the company is awarded:

• ·         250 XP for triggering the hologram by sitting in the dilapidated throne;
• ·         125 XP for the receiving the unicorn rider vision in the meditation crystal;
• ·         125 XP for the receiving the old woman vision in the meditation crystal.

These awards total 500 XP, or 83.3 XP apiece, which we will round up to 85 XP per character.

            Inspiration

The mage Greyndalf nearly rescued himself from the dangerous mud-pit  by punting himself to a wall and improvising climbing gear from his arrows.  The adventure gods looked on with great anticipation as the wizard drew close the surface, and with one final flurry nearly crested the surface.  But it was not to be—the elf’s luck failed him, and he was saved with the timely intervention of his colleagues rather than purely of his own efforts.  Close, they say, counts only in horseshoes and fireballs.  And maybe frantic climbs out of mythical evil quickmud pits. 

Final Session 23 totals:

·         Jowdain acquitted himself well in battle, garnering 2,185 XP.

·         Gambol pleased his deity and is rewarded with 2, 185 XP.

·          Greyndalf remained a cunning and resourceful (and mostly naked) adversary, earning 2, 185 XP and one point of inspiration.

·         Schlemeel still don’t give a f*k, but he picked up 2, 185 XP.

·         Onog played it cold as ice, and acquired 2,185 XP.

·         Unagi looked fresh as ever and gained 2,185 XP.

 

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[*] Yeah, so according to the internet it’s pretty much in real life to drown in quicksand and the pits don’t usually go down more than a few feet, let alone over a person’s head.  But hey!  Fantasy!