Session 17

Members

 * Oleander Thorne the Fighter (Matt)
 * Naryrr the Druid (Natalie)
 * Jojo the mage (Brian)
 * Rolar the Ranger (Josh)
 * The Sorcerer (Daniel)

The Adventure
We begin our adventure in a 60 foot hallway. The far half is a thirty foot cylinder, apparently made of some light metal. Oleander tested it out and found that it was coated with a film of grease or oil. And it was spinning. And painted with a dizzying black and white spiral pattern. Naryrr noticed a small hole in the far end, two feet tall by about three inches wide. The wizard levitated and Oleander pushed him through. On the other side, Jojo got hit by arrows. The hole was a murder hole. He was on the wrong side. Tying his rope to the door handle, the wizard prepared to fight. Oleander made it to the end of the spinning corridor just to see Jojo fall to a critical hit. From the far side, Naryrr prepared a spell, and as soon as the enemies saw that she was not coming though, they launched flame arrows at Oleander, igniting the oil in the spinning cylinder.

The fighter threw a potion of healing on the wizard and then used his shield to cover the arrow slit. Naryrr changed into a rhinoceros and barged through. Stuffed like sardines in the 10 x 10 end of the hall, the fight began. Two burly guys opened the door and stabbed at the party with their spears. They seem to have learned tactics from the orcs, and shut the door after each attack. Naryrr demolished the door and put a stop to that trick though. The fight was going well until the enemies noticed they could parry some of the blows. After a big hit by Oleander, one of them yelled, "Hey Snarla, we need help out here!" and a strange wolf woman opened the far door and started raining flaming arrows onto the party. Oleander managed to survive a double crit, but went down later in the fight. The wizard dropped again (note to self: prep your mobs with more AOE stuff).

Eventually, the party won out and the werewolf begged for mercy. Naryrr thought about what Paldrag would do. While doing that Oleander struck the killing blow. Snarla's offer of lycanthropy was taken by no one. Oleander tried to save some of the cursed blood, but the curse ended with Snarla's life. Naryrr reasoned that Paldrag would wave wanted her cured of the curse, but she was already dead so too bad.

Snarla's inner sanctum was a beautifully ornate room. Fine rugs from Waterdeep covered the floor, shi9mmering curtains covered the walls, and silken pillows adorned the corners. Naryrr saw through the illusion here though. The room was dirty and dank. The bed just a pile of straw. Snarla's life was clearly not as nice as she wanted to be.

Moving forth, the party investigated the huge metal doors at the end of the main hallway. These huge doors were flanged on the north side and overlapped. Jojo recognized them from his criminal past. They were designed to keep water out, the pressure of the water making the flanged seal tighter as the water pressure increased. Turning the huge wheel, Oleander cracked the first set of doors open. The second doors were much the same. A third set of doors did seem different. The party could feel the heat and steam. They had reached the center of White Plume Mountain.

The next room was uncomfortably hot. A ten foot wide ledge reached out ahead and opened up into a larger area off in the distance. The walls and ceiling curved up and appeared to be made of a clear membrane. Light from the lava below and unknown sources from above gave the entire place an eerie aura. The hazy images visible through the membrane suggest that the floor of the area is actually a ledge in the middle of a gigantic water-filled cavern. It was clear that the strange water walls were all that was keeping the cavern system from flooding the Keraptis' entire lair.

That was about all the party could determine when a huge crab appeared. Bigger than any crab they had ever seen. The fight began. Jojo cast haste on Oleander and then went and hid behind the first set of doors. The fight looked tough, until a pair of strangers appeared. A ranger and a sorcerer. The two jumped into the fight and it was on. Oleander pierced the membrane and water sprung out like a hot tub jet, but 600x more powerful and way hotter. Naryrr summoned her wolves and they went to town.

The fight ended with only one death. That of the crab. The party would eat well that night ... or so they though. Naryrr looted the place and found a very powerful magic staff. By the end of the fight, the ledge was beginning to fill with water. The new sorcerer burnt his hands to mend the tear in the membrane so the water would stop pushing through. The party headed out and shut the flood doors. Then they went back to tackle the Merrow den. Naryrr created a watery funnel and the fight was on. They were much easier to kill when not submerged in the murky water of the dungeon.

In the process of moving the water from one edge of the room to the other, the party noticed two submerged rooms. After the fight, they found the Merro's loot and plundered it. With the three legendary weapons, the party thought they were home free. It was not to be though. Two huge efreetis stodd at the crossway. The familiar pile of bones not smashed to bits, "Not thinking of leaving are you?" one of them uttered. "You've been so entertaining that I can't let you go. Especially carrying those little collector's items that you have found.  Let me escort you to the Indoctrination Center.  Don't worry, you will like it here." Naryrr and the ranger were taken against their will, so oleander and the sorcerer has no choice but to follow along, but first the sorcerer was shrunk down in size for being a pain.

The Indoctrination Center lay deep in the heart of the volcano. Similar to Cerebro it was just a ledge out into a huge natural cave. Hundreds of feet below, magma bubbled and churned. The roof was covered in stalactites. Each adventurer was placed in a strange glass cage. Trying to break out, they soon learned that this was much stronger than glass. Oleander thought that it would take a man 600 years to tunnel through that cage. He was however cured of his curse as the legendary sword he carried was ripped from his body, but it was at the cost of half of his hitpoints.

XP
6,900 Each

Current XP: 43,000

Current level: 8; 5,000 XP until next level
 * Snarla: 5,900
 * Giant Crab: 7,200
 * Merrow: 5,000
 * Indocrtination Center: 1,000

Loot

 * 900 gp
 * 400 ep
 * 1,000 sp
 * 7 gems (50 gp each)
 * 4 gems (250 gp each)
 * Staff of the Woodlands
 * 6 +1 Darts
 * Luckstone
 * Wand of Scorching Ray (+6 to hit, 3d6 fire damage; 27 charges)