Giving out XP now:
Please update your character sheets, and if your character receives an XP bonus for Wisdom, please also add that.



With Borimer flying, you push off in the boats per Kahan's suggestion (with Fingas taking Borimer's place):

Front  Middle   Last
Leo,   Tahldar, Fingas
Kahan, Geebo,   Shae

Flying: Borimer

The river is flowing at a rate of about 3-5 mph, depending on location (about 5-8 feet per second). This is fast, but not too fast that you can't briefly talk and adjust.

The first thing you notice as you go downstream is that the paddles help steer and push, but given that lava is much denser than water, it takes more strength.

The lava river width is generally 40-50 feet. I assume you go single file instead of side by side generally.

There are many little stone "islands" in the center of the lava (marked 24C). For each one passed, the following will occur:

Front of boat: Roll DEX to steer to avoid collision.
Back of boat: Roll STR to row away from island.
Roll is at -1/2 (rounded down) for every mph the river flows.
If either miss the roll, then every person in boat makes save vs. petrification. Failed save means I will roll on a secret chart for results, which could be from no effect to falling out of raft (ouch!).

You can alter these dangers as desired by trying other things too (spells or whatever).

You notice that the lava river seems to have many curves to the right. You pass the first curve.

You are now approaching the first island to evade.

You also see ahead that the current separates into two passages, one on the north and one on the south. The narrow tunnels are only slightly wider than a single raft (about 5 feet), will not allow oars to be used in the lava, and each raft will need to pick a tunnel (top or bottom).

Tahldar looks at the lava with great trepidation.  Knowing full well it's dangers he takes the time go give everyone a minor spell to help protect them.  It isn't much but everything counts he figures.

"Maybe Borimer can borrow Shae's spear and use it to help each boat avoid the stone obstacles?"

OOC:  I will cast a zero level spell resistance which gives a +1 to all saves to everyone except Borimer and Geebo.  I'm not sure how long it will last, maybe 1 turn per level? (10 total).  Also, if Kahan and Shae's proximity to Geebo will render it useless I won't cast it on them.

I'm thinking Borimer could use Shae's spear to give an assist to each boat to help it avoid the stone obstacles in our way.  I assume he could do so and still avoid Geebo's 10' radius.

OOC: We forgot about Shapfren. Her player has been really busy IRL but will rejoin shortly. So we should probably put Shapfren in Fingas' place and let Fingas wait back at the edge of the river.

For Tahldar: Keep in mind that anyone within 10 feet of Geebo's antimagic zone will have their magic removed, including those on the raft with him.

Shae helps steer around the stone island - hopefully. She hesitates but then says, "I don't have any basis for this, but I'm thinking we should go down the northern river flow since the tunnel seems to curve to the right. maybe the other raft wants to go on the south one?"

Tahldar casts a resistance spell on everyone, and the rafts push off from the bank. Near the first "island," you approach with trepidation.

But then you push off and around the first little island with no problems for either raft. (OOC: Probably a good think Kahan changed places or results would have been much different.)

Borimer has no problem flying around the obstacles.

Shae mentions going down the northern path and they start to steer their raft in that direction...

OOC: What about the second raft with Tahldar, Leo and Shapfren?

"We should probably follow them" Leo says pointing toward the north path where the other raft is headed.

You take the rafts in single file to the north, with Kahan's raft leading and Leo's just behind. The heat is oppressive, and you are all perspiring like the dead of summer. It is even hotter in the tight squeeze of the tunnel. You have to pull in your oars and let the raft drift, helping it along by pushing against the walls with your hands as it narrows to just 5 feet wide.

Borimer, flying slightly ahead of you, sees something and cries out in alarm, "Watch out!"

But it is too late. Kahan, at the lead of the first raft, is the first to see the two spike anchors set in the wall at about shoulder height as he sits in the raft. Stretched out between the two anchors is a thin line of rope.

Kahan is hit by the rope at his shoulder and it drags him back against the weak Geebo. Kahan manages to duck under the rope before being knocked overboard. (Saving throw made.) Geebo is so short that he also manages to avoid the rope.  Shae is not so lucky. (Saving throw missed.) Shae is caught and...slammed back against the hard rock of the raft, hitting her head. (3 hp dmg. Rolled 1 on effects table. Lower is better so she got lucky.)

By the time the second raft goes through, they are well warned and manage to duck down as the thin line of cord passes harmlessly above them.

The tunnel widens out to 40 feet wide again as it once more veers to the right.

Up ahead, you see two more of those rocky outcroppings on the north side of the lava river and on the south side, you see a spot where lava slowly drips from the ceiling at about the rate of one large globule every two seconds.

You can bypass the outcroppings again, or you can try to time the raft to go under the dripping globules of lava, where a miss will either land lava on the raft or allow a saving throw if it hits you to evade for half damage (i.e., for failure, out of 1d6, with 6 positions on raft, 1 in 3 chance of hitting a person (1 in 6 of hitting you in particular), 1 in 3 of landing in the spaces between you.

Tahlar looks at the lava and is very afraid of winding up dipping a toe into its "waters".

He sees the path ahead and he is unsure which way to go.  The mage offers no advice so as not to be seen as a back seat driver.

Shae says, "I think it might be safer to try to time the dropping lava just right. Even if we get hit by a little, that's probably less dangerous than getting knocked from the raft." If there are no objections, she helps steer the raft that way. If there are, she is fine going the other way too.

"Borimer, we are going to go under the dripping lava. Can you look for a large rock to try to block, or at least divert, the falling lava before it hits us?" Kahan suggests as he attempts to keep the boat from going too fast without making it go too slow either. Obviously they wanted to pass under the lava quickly but going too fast could mean certain death against another rock somewhere up ahead.

OOC: Note that you will have a total of about 10 seconds to make the decision and do whatever you are going to do.

Borimer does not see a giant loose rock and likely could not pick one up while flying. A shield might help (+2 to roll).

Kahan hands Borimer his shield instead. "After all, even if it gets damaged, we have a new, magical one I can use instead," he explains.

OOC: I'm kind of laughing to myself because Kahan and the group could use the shields themselves but instead are putting Borimer in danger when he could easily avoid it all.

The first raft goes to the left to the dropping globules of lava, while the second stays to go to the outcroppings.

The first raft goes under with Borimer ready with that shield. You try to time it just right with the oars to avoid being hit by lava...and you make it through without any problem. (Critical hit.)

The second raft navigates the outcroppings, pushing off and going around them...also making it safely. (Dex/Str rolls success.)

OOC: You guys had really good rolls on this one.

You continue down the river. It still continues to slightly bend to the right...

Up ahead, you see that a tributary enters from the right hand side, making the flow go much faster. The river then branches off to the right or left, again allowing for a choice of direction.

The left side appears slower and wider, and the right side appears more narrow but faster.

"I think we should go right, but try to monitor our speed with the rafts," the priest suggested, looking around to see what everyone thought.

"I think left might be better.  Slower and wider should be safer." Tahldar suggests.  But the mage knows at the best it's just an educated guess.  He could easily be wrong.

"I was thinking the smaller path might actually be safer as long as we stay away from the walls because of the fact it's going faster, that means there are less likely to be any obstructions," Kahan suggested, although he did not move to begin going down that path until at least somewhat of a decision had been made and agreed upon.

Shae will go either way. "I feel we are in pursuit of someone, so maybe fast is better. Then again, slow might be safer. In either case, we have to decide quickly."

Looks like the boat with Shae, Kahan and Geebo is steering toward the faster moving flow, and the Tahldar, Leo and Shapfren boat is moving toward the slower flow. Leo or Tahldar should make a final decision.

Tahlar mutters arcane elvish curses.  "Go the fast way!" he says excitedly, not wanting to split up.

You move the rafts to the faster moving right hand side of flowing lava. It narrows but is deceptively easy to navigate. When it widens again, you see that you made a wise decision. The slow moving lava to your left actually slowed into an almost solidifying, hard flow that is not flowing much at all and would have had you stuck in the thick, dark and solidifying lava that will before long be more rock foundations of this cave system.

The lava flow continues to curve to the right.

And then you see it. On your right, there is an alcove area and a small landing of hard dirt and rock. Moored there is the other raft. It is empty, but now you know where the other doppleganger has gone.

OOC: I realized after the fact that Borimer would probably have died back when he was holding the shield up for protection. As Geebo flowed under him, his antimagic ring would have dispelled Borimer's fly spell. We will assume Borimer managed to keep at least 10 feet away. Don't worry. I will try not to forget about that next time...as well as the other two rings he cannot remove from his fingers. So far, you don't know what they do.

Kahan can't help but smile at the results, turning to look at Tahldar who, he figured, had cursed him in Elvish for the decision he'd made. "Sometimes taking a risk is worth it," he smiled as he moored the raft.

Fear gripped fingers clutch the stone canoe with all their might.  Tahldar hates being this close to the liquid rock, and is nearly losing whatever grip he has left on his sanity as they start down the swiftly moving tributary.  Fearing a roller coaster ride down a torrent of lava, he calms as the faster flow carries them safely to where there the doppleganger has gone.

"I wish to never have to do that again." he says simply as they dock and he carefully makes his way onto dry land.

"Geebo needs to stay here.  We will all be safer here if stays behind." he adds with concern.

You bring in the rafts from the main river into the alcove area, as shown below:



You row the rafts into the area marked W1 and get a much better view of the area.

You can moor the rafts at any of the places marked "a", "b", or the center landing area between them. Areas "a" and "b" both have empty rafts. (Yes, this means there is yet another raft you have not seen before.)

Alternatively, you can row the raft up north to the area marked W3 if you don't want to moor the rafts.

This W1 area is very large and domed, with 20 foot tall ceilings. As with the rest of the lava tunnels, the walls are very porous, with large 6 inch to 2 foot wide round holes leading out scattered all around the walls and ceiling. These partly drain out the heat from the lava to avoid it becoming unbearably hot...but it is still very, very hot. You find yourselves drinking extra water and wiping away sweat constantly.

In the center of the area is a 10 foot wide round stone table-like object. It appears too smooth to be natural and the outsides are rounded as though to make grips. Rocks leading northwest block off your ability to move the rafts around clockwise. You would have to row back and forth. In a pinch, you could theoretically use the rocks as stepping stones, though it would be risky.

Tunnels lead away from each of the mooring sites.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:59, Wed 23 Sept 2020.

"One is as good as any." Tahldar says as he sees the options in front of them.  "How about there?" he adds as points to dock "a".

Kahan shrugs and nods. "Seems as good as any," he agreed as he headed towards that alcove.

You moor the rafts at the spot marked "a" next to the other one already there. It is pretty crowded as you all jump out and sidle down the narrow tunnel. The glow of lava all around makes it glow a pale orange, and the heat is overwhelming, yet it vents through the many small 1-2 foot tunnels in the walls and ceiling. The ceiling averages about 15 feet high here.

Looking ahead, you see an open area about 20' x 20', with a ceiling raising to about 25' overhead. Straight ahead past the opening is a 12 foot tall ledge. You can't see what's on the ledge.

In the center of the open area is a constant dripping glob of lava that falls every couple of seconds into a hole or pit.

Let me know if you want to go to the open area and explore further. There are two tunnels leading away, one to the northeast and one to the south. You would need to get closer to see where they lead.

You should also have a marching order for the narrow tunnels. I will use the raft order unless told otherwise.

This message was last edited by the GM at 03:50, Sat 26 Sept 2020.

"I suspect we need to climb that ledge, but I'd like to see what's on the right." Tahldar says as he looks around.

OOC:  5' Marching order:  Borimer, Kahan, Shae, Tahldar, Shapfren, Leo

As you move to about 10 feet of the dropping globules of lava, Borimer feels his feet fall. There is a board covered with dirt, and when he steps on it, it falls about 2 feet into a hole. The lever action of the board moving down pulls a rope lightly covered with earth that extends to another board beside the falling lava. That board swings up like a baseball bat, and lava bounces off it, flying straight at you...

Borimer (saving throw made) ducks and avoids the lava.

Kahan (saving throw failed) is hit by the fist sized lava. (6 dmg.) He manages to knock it off, but it burns his neck and part of his shoulder. Luckily, nothing catches on fire.

After making sure he wasn't on fire anywhere, Kahan looks at Leo. "Maybe we should let the rogue go first and look for traps?" he suggests in the most obvious way possible after they unknowingly tripped one.

Leo shrugs.  "Right or Ledge then?"

"We need to check for traps as we go." Tahldar says stating the obvious.

"I still would like to check the right hand passage." the mages replies to Leo.

You move forward around the lava trap to the center area and look down the corridors.

The central one goes a short distance south. The western one seems to wind south around a bend and then cuts back east to the other potential mooring spot.

You can't see atop the ledge or where it goes, but it seems to be a large roundish area at least 20 feet deep.

The eastern passage seems to open up to a bridge-like rock structure that goes directly over the lava.

"Well, it would seem the ledge is the way to go as I suspected."

"Borimer, care to give us all a lift up?"

OOC:  Let's move up to the ledge and carry on.

Shae will head east to where the lava area is and inspect what she can see about the bridge or up north for other potential dangers or paths.

Leo attempts to climb up the ledge to see what he can see.

The ledge is shadowed and one place that does not have a glow from the lava surrounding the area.

What are the party's light sources? (Note that the extreme heat in this area makes infravision very difficult to rely on.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:29, Wed 30 Sept 2020.

Leo climbs up and sees that it is essentially a round area that does not appear to have any exits. It is very dark.



Shae walks east to the stone bridge and looks around.

The stone bridge crosses about 10 feet over the lava to the eastern side, where it looks to end in a dead end trail.

To the north, you see a small lava waterfall that creates a current going north to south. You cannot see above the waterfall.

There is some sort of man made stone structure jutting from the middle of the lava (southwest corner of W4).


This message was last edited by the GM at 03:51, Wed 30 Sept 2020.

OOC: I seem to remember something about a Continual Light spell, but I can't recall what we had cast it on.

"There must be more to this room than what we can see. I wonder if the lava flow started after the construction of this place, whatever it may be," the priest mused out loud as he gave Borimer the light source to fly up to Leo.

I believe the continual light spell was dispelled by Geebo being too close with the rings or by the doppleganger earlier.

Also, for clarification, you mentioned that Geebo would stay with the rafts for safety, so he is at point "a" unless you want him moved somewhere.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:10, Wed 30 Sept 2020.

OOC: Yeah, you're right, Kahan will recast Continual Light on whatever the party thinks would be best. Maybe a rock? It would be easy to conceal should they need to.

Tahldar is glad for the new light source as he doesn't really have any good way to produce a source himself.  "Onwards and upwards." he says evenly as he readies himself for Borimer to ferry them up the ledge.

With some light up top, Leo sees that there appears to be a slight gas escaping from the north part of the round elevated area. Upon inspection, it appears that the rock can be slid to the side to allow a secret door passage to the north.

Tahldar takes his appointed place in the 5' marching order.  Soon he hopes they will find the Doppleganger and end his reign of terror.

It takes a few minutes, but all of you finally are able to climb the 10 foot ledge. As the rock door slides open with some hard pushes by Borimer--which is hard to do because it is all stone on some sort of rollers--you notice a greenish smoke emanating from within. This smoke is thicker and more noxious than the stuff in the previous challenge. Leo at once begins coughing and jumps back out of the way. His understanding of lore and poisons allows him to tell you one thing about the green fumes: they are poisonous.

OOC: Entering the fumes will cause each individual who is not immune to poison to suffer 2d4 damage for each 2 combat rounds (12 seconds) while in the smoke. Also, regardless of immunities, the sulfuric and high acidic contents will cause your eyes to burn (-2 to all rolls using sight while in it and for 2 minutes after leaving). And finally, the smoky mist is so thick that you can only see about 10 feet in front of you.

You may also hold your breath to avoid the damage part of the poison. Doing so means you have to roll save versus poison for each exertion (running, attack, etc.), and clearly casting spells cannot be done while holding breath. You can hold your breath for 10 seconds per Constitution point.

"I can try to disperse the poison, but if there is a large source of it within I fear the spell may end up encircling us all instead of pushing it away," Kahan comments as he tries to discern what the gas is, other than "poisonous".

"I can help with a minor spell to increase your resistance to the poison, but it's short lived and not very powerful.  My only other option is to use a flaming ball of fire to try to burn off the gas."

The gas is unfamiliar to you other than the strong smell of sulfur, acetylene and firedamp (a methane combination common in mines). You are pretty sure it is flammable, so any flame, torch or spell (or lava) will likely cause a huge explosion upon contact.

OOC: It would have been nice to have a dwarf or someone who could recognize these things, but I figure you are trying to figure it out.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:13, Tue 06 Oct 2020.

Shae says, "I have a slight resistance to poison and one neutralize poison spell. I'm not sure how well it will work here, but we can see. I shall go first. Please follow closely if we can't see.

Shae will go first, hoping the others follow closely behind her. She will hold her breath after taking a few deep cleansing breaths in meditation for the challenge to come. She will move forward touching the western wall to help guide her way. If anyone wants to hold onto the back of her shirt and go forward like a train, they can.

Tahldar begins to cast his spells.

OOC: Taldar will case his zero level resistance spell on Borimer, Tahldar, Kahan, Leo, and Shae.  (This will leave him w/o any zero or 3rd level spells for the day)  It's confers a +1 bonus to any save roll.

Shae starts forward. The passage is 10 feet wide, so you can easily stand two abreast if desired, but just seeing 10 feet ahead is problematic.

She holds her breath and squints through the acidic stinging at her eyes and moves forward 15 feet.

That is when the cavern opens up into a much larger room, though you can't see the size exactly. On both sides of the opening cavern are niches at various heights which are about 6 inches square and a few inches deep, which can be used as handholds. (See "c" on map.)

The handholds may prove useful because when the room opens up, the floor also gives way from rock to a soft quicksand.

OOC: If you go along the wall using the handholds, you will need to state whether you go to the right side (east) or left side (west).

As Shae stands there holding her breath and contemplating what to do, you all hear something strange from directly north and slightly east of her. It is a creepy cackling laugh. A moment later, you hear something in a foreign tongue. And then another. And then it switches to Common. "I know you are there. Where are you now?" The voice is high pitched but likely a male falsetto, and very disturbing at that.


This message was last edited by the GM at 00:58, Thu 08 Oct 2020.

Tahldar set's off to follow Shae, holding his breath as best he can.  He takes the left west handhold way around the quicksand.

Hearing the voice, Shae moves to the west side, using the handholds to go across carefully and slowly. "We're not afraid of you, Haklara. We don't want trouble."

Still holding her breath, Shae moves to the west side, with Tahldar just behind. Borimer follows both of them with his breath held.

The only response Shae receives to her challenge is a cackling laugh, which comes from about 15-20 feet east of where she stands.

As Shae continues, she is able to use the small niches like grips to avoid the quicksand below. Tahldar and Borimer also successfully move next to her (DEX checks successful).

She reaches the northwestern side of the round room. The sulfuric, methane gases still cloud vision and makes her eyes sting (as well as Tahldar and Borimer), but she sees a large hole in the north side of the room. It is about 8 feet in diameter, and there is flickering light from down below. It appears to go down about 30 feet.

Breath holding:
Shae: 1 minute
Tahldar: 48 seconds
Borimer: 36 seconds

OOC: I will progress at 6-18 second intervals depending on what makes sense. A failed Dex check will mean you lose grip and have to take a few seconds to readjust or a critical miss means you slip and fall into the quicksand. The toxicity of the air that makes your eyes water will cause -2 on to hit rolls.

Leo and Kahan have not yet left the safety of the ledge south of the area.

Tahldar holds his breath as best he can and scurries for the hole to the north.  He hopes clean air can be had that way as his lungs begin to protest.

There is no clean air directly over the hole, but it looks clear down the hole. The glowing, flickering light from down there seems to indicate a fire of some sort.

But you will need to find a way down the 30 foot deep, 8 foot wide hole to get to the fresh air down there.

OOC: Is Borimer's fly spell still active? I don't recall the length or how long it has been on. Total time elapsed since leaving on the rafts is about 1 hour.

Tahldar points to Borimer, points to himself and then down the pit in an attempt to say something...

OOC: I don't think I rolled for the number of turns the fly spell lasts.  It's 10 + 1d6 turns at Tahldar's level.  I rolled 16 total, so 2 hours and 40 minutes.  I will try to non verbally signal to Borimer to fly me down below.

17:21, Today: Tahldar of Tyrannia rolled 6 using 1d6.  Fly on Borimer (+10).

Kahan shrugged, and followed after the others, taking a deep breath before heading into the cavern. Seeing the quicksand, he does his best to hold onto the niches in the wall to avoid falling in.

Borimer nods, flies to Tahldar and takes the mage down the hole. Going down 30 feet, they enter a brightly lit area. It is brightly lit because there is a ring of flames like some sort of magical flame wall. The flame wall is 20 feet in diameter. The heat, even 5-10 feet away where Borimer and Tahldar stand, is intense.

They see something start to move within the ring of fire. It is impossible to tell out its form through the thick forms, except that it is humanoid in size. It cries out something in a male voice, then something else--all in foreign tongues. Then it switches to Common and says, "Help!"

Meanwhile, Kahan starts across (at the point marked C), grabbing onto the handholds and inching. He finds himself slipping and falls into the quicksand but catches himself, losing about 12 seconds to get his bearings and pull his body back up. (OOC: With a dexterity of 8, this will be a hard one for Kahan to maneuver.)

Shae, meanwhile, successfully gets to the edge of the pit that Tahldar and Borimer went down.

About 10 feet east of her, the cackling laugh pops up again. She seems to see something glowing through the mists with an eerie green fiery glow.

Leo is still back in the safety of the ledge with Shapfren.

This message was last edited by the GM at 01:52, Sun 18 Oct 2020.

After almost slipping, Kahan reaches into his backpack and pulls out his grappling hook and attempts to use it to help him along.

Borimer slices at the fire wall with his sword to see if there anything besides fire, and to tell if it is magic or normal fire.

Seeing the party split up, Tahldar presses against a nearby wall to escape the worst of the heat and wait to take action.

"Get the others!" Tahldar implores Borimer.

Shapfren climbs in after the others, but instead of going on the west side by Kahan, she heads to the east side to explore other exits. She holds her breath and tries to make it quickly.

Leo follows Shapfren hoping she leads somewhere safe.

Borimer tests his sword and finds that the flames appear natural. They do not appear magical but instead come from some gaseous fuel flowing up from tiny holes in the ground that are lit.  The figure inside continues to call for help.

Listening to Tahldar, Borimer flies up, grabs Kahan, and takes him down the hole to the ring of fire. Kahan still holds the grappling hook.

Meanwhile, Shapfren and Leo start along the right side using the niches...both make it without any problems.

When she gets to the point marked "d", Shapfren sees that there appears to be another tunnel leading east.

Time holding breath: 30 seconds.



As Shapfren holds onto the handholds to avoid quicksand and looks east, and as Leo is not far behind him, they hear the cackling laugh, followed by another, just to the north of them. And that's when through the green sulfurous smoky mist, the two green-flamed skulls come into view.

You have heard the arcane stories of these flameskulls. They are evil, undead, and have at least two fire based spells they can cast. And casting a fire based spell in this highly flammable area would be potentially deadly.

But for now, the two flameskulls cast a spell that Shapfren identifies as the blur spell. The two skulls become blurry to look at, shifting and wavering.

"Stick close." Tahldar says to Kahan.  "I believe it is Haklara in the flames.  We should wait for the others." he whispers to Kahan.

Shae will look for a source of the flames or fuel for the fire, as well as whether it would be possible to fly over the flames to save the guy. "I'm not so convinced that is Haklara. I could be wrong, but this seems rather extravagant.

This was bad, real bad. Not only casting would be impossible under the current conditions of the terrain, her spells wouldn't be able to hurt these things much. Holding the bow close, Shapfren ran forward. Getting out of the dangerous place was of the upmost importance.

Leo follows along hoping to stay away from these things and rejoin the rest.

Down below, Shae is looking around. The flammable gas causing the ring wall of fire comes from what appears to be holes drilled in the ground. She finds that there are two stone levers on the far wall (northwest wall) set into an ancient iron casting that goes from about eye level deep into the ground.

The left lever is in the up position and the right lever is in the down position. There are markings near the levers but you need to get closer to see, which may require you getting singed a little by the fire since the ring of fire is not centered and is about only 5 feet from the levers.



Up above, Leo and Shapfren move quickly to the east, each easily holding the handholds, avoiding the quicksand and moving to an opening that immediately leaves them at a bridge spanning the lava river. It leads generally northeast toward a small ledge that then leads north into a cave system.

But they have two problems: first, because of the thick poisonous and flammable smoke leaking out of the caves, to breath normally, they have to move about 10 feet out onto the 5 foot wide ancient bridge, which is old, made of corroding iron, and narrow; and second, the two flameskull creatures are following them out and casting spells:

Shapfren is hit by magic missile: 13 hp dmg.
Leo is hit by magic missiles: 16 hp dmg.


This message was last edited by the GM at 04:21, Sat 24 Oct 2020.

Shae looks at Tahldar, Kahan, and Borimer. "I have a protection from fire spell. I can use it on myself or one of you. The effects are different for each. Casting on myself, I get immunity to fire until I take a certain amount of damage from the fire. If I cast it on you, you get protection from the fire until the spell ends in a couple hours. What do you think? I can go either way on this one, but we need to get close enough to pull levers and see what the writing says."

(Shae is level 12 druid, so it lasts for 2 hours. If she casts on someone else, it gives +4 to saving throws for fire attacks, 100% protection from normal fires, and 50% protection from magic fires. Casting it on herself is complete protection from all fires, including magical, up to 144 points of damage. With all the heat expected to come up, it might be a good time to use it.)

Not being aware of the skulls, and not being aware of the levers to the north, Tahldar stays put.  "Cast it on yourself!" Tahldar responds tersely to Shae.

Shae does so, then moves to the levers to read what is written there. If she takes damage, she will quickly move back to the others as soon as she gets the information.

Pain, it took a lot of concentration not to be overcome by the painful concussive concentrated light. She was running out of time, and needed to press on.

The abyss below was scary, but she needed to breath, and staying behind was suicidal anyway. Shapfren moved forward while holding on to the rail, with some luck she would make it to the center point

Down below, Shae moves in close. She takes 14 damage, but it is absorbed by the protection from fire spell.

She sees the writings, one above the left lever and one above the right lever. They look like this:



Shae steps back out from the intense heat to discuss with Kahan, Borimer and Tahldar.


Up above, Leo and Shapfren are getting entangled with flameskulls.

They both escape to the ancient iron bridge. It has no handrails but is just an iron crossing. Falling over and into the lava is a worry.

They both make it to the center without being harmed but the flameskulls are gearing up for another attack as Leo and Shapfren turn to face them from the center rock, which is about 15 feet long and 10 feet wide. At last, they can open their mouths to breathe clean air.


This message was last edited by the GM at 01:52, Thu 29 Oct 2020.

Shae says, "That doesn't look like a language, but I don't know what they mean. Any ideas? I guess we could experiment and put both levers to the up position. That's usually the off position, I think."

"Try the left one!" Talhdar suggests.  "Borimer, check on the others!  They've been gone too long." he adds with concern.

"Now it is my turn." Now able to breath and in a relatively safe spot, Shapfren moved to begin her song. She hoped to finish on time before being interrupted or worse, hit by these things.

Cast fireball.

10:38, Today: Shapfren Diditlew rolled 30 using 10d6.  Fireball.

OOC: Where is the center of the fireball going to be located? Shapfren and Leo are in the center island area by W7. Also, need a move from Leo.


Down below, Shae pulls the lever on the left to the down position, noting also that there is a center position as she moves it.

Once down, the flames begin to grow larger so that no place in the round room is safe. (You have essentially increased the fuel being pumped into the flames.) You hear cries of pain from the center of the fire circle and you each take the following fire damage:

Borimer: 10 dmg
Shae: 5 dmg (from fire protection)
Kahan: 3 dmg
Tahldar: 7 dmg

You realize that you will continue to take damage unless something changes (as will the individual in the center of the fire).

Borimer is prepared to leave to help the others but looks expectantly in case anyone wants a lift out of the fire.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:01, Fri 30 Oct 2020.

Closer to the d point

Leo pulls his dagger and tries stays near the spell caster in case the skulls survive and move in to melee range.

Kahan hurries and moves the lever back up to the place it was when they got there. If that puts the flames back to normal, he will move the other lever down into the middle position, since he was already there.

Tahdar cowers and burns and hopes the flames can not only be reduced, but turned off entirely.  And soon.

Kahan moves to the levers and turns the left one up, which puts everything the way it was when you entered. Moving into the heated area causes him burn damage. (10 dmg.) Shae is also in that vicinity and takes burn damage against the spell. (18 dmg.)

Kahan then moves the right lever to the center position.

As he moves the lever to the center, the flames go off. However, you hear a loud hissing sound coming from the small holes in the floor that make the ring where the flames came from.

In the center of the circle, you see a gnome. You don't recognize him, but his clothes are tattered and worn, his hair and beard are long, and he is disheveled in every possible way. He is sitting on the ground rocking back and forth. Next to him are two holes. One appears to be filled with the bright bluish healing liquid called Earthsilver that you have used occasionally. The other is a hole apparently for waste.

"When is it?" he asks you. "When are we now? They put me here because I know too much. I know too much. I know too much." His time in the flames appear to have had an effect on his sanity.


Up above, Leo gets behind Shapfren as Shapfren casts fireball into the area with the flammable gas escaping the room. The effect is staggering.

The explosion magnifies the fireball's effect, essentially vaporizing the flameskulls. The entire inside room 30 feet above the others explodes in flame as the gasses combust.

The explosion is so powerful it also concusses Leo and Shapfren. Leo is burned for 14 points damage and Shapfren deftly avoids major damage taking only 6 damage. But they are thrown back by the explosion...

Leo fails his saving throw but Shapfren makes hers. Shapfren is thrown to the ground but lands on the center island. Leo is thrown off. He sees only lava below...

Leo's acrobat skills are all that save him from the lava. His right leg, hips and side dip into the lava, but he catches the side of the rocks with his hands and quickly pulls it out, but not before taking massive damage. (34 damage.)

The explosion also affects those below...


Upon turning off the flames, the gaseous fuel has nothing to burn it off, so the gases go up the 30 foot exit, creating a conduit for the explosion above to essentially ignite the room below. Shae, Kahan, Tahldar and Borimer are all engulfed in a massive explosion...

Borimer takes 40 points damage.
Kahan takes 38 points damage.
Shae takes 37 damage (absorbed by the spell).
Tahldar takes 25 damage.
The prisoner in the center takes 24 damage.

After the explosion, there is only a few moments' pause before you hear the hissing of gases coming up through the small holes again.

A lot is happening, and all at once.  Repeatedly Talhdar is burned.  He is hurt, but still standing.  Though his once fine clothes are now long since soiled and now singed by flame.

Hearing the gas still hissing, he begins to cast.

OOC: I will cast a wall of stone to fill and cover the holes.  At 10th level he can cover a wide area so I would expect this wouldn't be an issue.  He will cast it in a ring and as thick as possible.  I'm guessing 1" thick and 60' square feet in a thin ring should do it.

So this is on the ground? Not sure how this will work with people standing on the ground.

Shae sees Tahldar about to cast a spell and says, "Wait. Let's try this first." She will make sure both levers are in the center position since that stopped the flames when the right one was in center.

When both levers are turned to the center position, the flow of gases from the holes stops. You realize that the symbols were gas (left) and flame (right), and that "up" was low volume, "down" was high volume, and "center" is off.

Tahldar saves his spell (unless he still wants to cast it).

With the gas stopping, Tahldar saves his spell.  "I'm hurt." he says simply as he moves to the center of the room.

"My name is Tahldar." he says to the Gnome in greeting.

OOC: If there is any earthsilver left Tahldar will bathe in some.  And I won't cast wall of stone.

Kahan extinguishes the flames that are still lingering on his tattered clothes, and looks around to make sure everyone is still alive, at the very least. "Who put you down here?" he asks as he inspects the Earthsilver on the ground to see if its still viable to be used.

The gnome, badly hurt, crawls to the earthsilver and begins drinking it. His wounds are almost instantly healed. The earthsilver is bubbling up into a small area the size of a large bowl (not big enough for bathing but enough to scoop it out with your hands to drink). You realize that the gnome, however long he has been here, has subsisted solely on drinking the earthsilver.

Tahldar drinks the earthsilver and is also healed back to full.

The gnome doesn't look up at Kahan to answer the question. But he says, "Tarimar, Tarimar, TARIMAR!" Then he jumps up and runs to the tunnel leading up. He starts trying to scramble up the walls but is unable to do so. "Let me out. LET ME OUT!" He is extremely distressed and must have been here a long time.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:13, Mon 02 Nov 2020.

"LEo!" Shap was horrified by seeing the halfling fall to the lava. "Can you hear me?" She was beginning to fear the worst "Are you ok?" She hesitated on what to do, but finally decided she had to go and try to pull him out. Not letting go of her mandoline, she began playing once again.

Begin to cast fly
This message was last edited by the player at 15:46, Mon 02 Nov 2020.

Leo hangs on as best as he can and calls out in pain.

(Leo is a halfling btw. :) )

Casting fly on Leo? Or on Shapfren?

Now healed, Tahldar wonders just what happened above to cause the giant explosion.  But he has more immediate concerns with trying to calm the Gnome.

"What is your name friend?" he asks not knowing what else to say.

In reply to DM Heath (msg # 94):

It's a touch spell. Casting on herself to fly down and recover Leo

Kahan too partakes of the Earthsilver to heal his wounds. "We need to calm him down," he comments, getting ready to cast a spell.

Shapfren casts a spell and recovers Leo, bringing him back up to the bridge.

Down below, Kahan casts a spell and the gnome appears to settle down.

Tahldar asks him his name, and the gnome says, "Sark. My name is Sark. Sark Gurlek. Where is Jark? Where is he? Is Tarimar here? How long have I been here?"

Shae also drinks from the earthsilver, and then asks, "We don't know you or how long you have been here. We don't know who Jark is. We are looking for an escape ourselves. Do you want to come with us? We can probably help each other." Shae is anxious for Borimer to fly them out of here and get away from the exploding gas area.

Shae drinks from the water and is healed.

Sark responds, "Jark is my...brother. We translate...Xren Codex and Allevian...Annals." His speech is odd, as though he is waiting for someone else to fill in the blanks. "We are psychically...connected. Tarimar left me...and took him. Many years...have passed...I think."

OOC: If you want, Borimer can take everyone back up one at a time.


Up above, Leo is hurt badly and Shapfren is slightly hurt. Shapfren still has an active fly spell.

The poisonous mist in the cave appears to have dissipated after the explosion but is starting to slowly come back from below, though they can't tell exactly from the island what's going on inside.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:59, Thu 05 Nov 2020.

"I'm sorry to hear about your brother Jark." Tahldar says to Sark.  "I don't know where he or Tarimar is.  But what I do know is we have to get out of here." he adds as he beckons Borimer to ferry them all up and out.

"Thanks" is about all he has the energy to say to Shapfren as he gingerly hobbles over to drink from the earthsilver.

OOC: Moving this along...

Borimer starts ferrying people up. You see that the room above has cleared because of the explosion, but more of the mist is slowly rising from the ground again.

Leo is told about the Earthsilver. Shapfren flies Leo down and they both drink from the Earthsilver. (Everyone should be back at full health now.)

After a few minutes, everyone is at the center island at W7.

The narrow bridge continues across to the northeast.

The lava river flows north to south over some "lavafalls" at W11. There is another lavafall south of L7, and from above it, lava drips and flows down stalactites from the ceiling.


Sark is somewhat quiet but still in shock. His ordeal, being in that fiery circle for some number of years, has left his sanity somewhat shaken. He does not want to continue across the bridge.

"Borimer, can you ferry us across?" Tahldar asks the burly warrior.

"Sark, you can't stay here.  It's not safe.  The gas is building back up.  With Borimer's help we're going to get you out of here." Tahldar says the Gnome with concern.

"There's something out there." Shapfren pointed north. "We should hurry away from it. I don't have enough magic to keep fighting and this place is dangerous enough as it is"

Shae says, "We can't. We have to find the doppleganger. He has the cure we need that he stole off us. And we know he came this way. We have to proceed. She says this with some trepidation and regret, knowing the worst is probably still to come.

Not clear about this. Do you want Borimer to take Sark to where Geebo waits and the rest of you to the eastern side of the bridge? (Shapfren can also help since she has a fly spell on her too.)

OOC:  It would take too long to take Sark back to Geebo.  I am suggesting Borimer (or Shapfren) fly us over the bridge at W7.  We might be able to cross it on foot, but flying will be safer.

Kahan tests the bridge to see if its anywhere near stable enough to walk across.

OOC Shapfren wouldn't mind moving one or two people to the other side...

You all are able to cross the bridge successfully using fly spells. You then walk forward through a short stone corridor and see an expansive round room.



The room (W8) is about 50 feet in diameter, with an exit to the northwest. There are nine stone pillars around the room, rising from the floor to the ceiling which is 30 feet above. There is also an altar across the room from you which looks similar to the one you found in the other room near the giant spider.

A round room on the left (southwest at W9) looks like it has been lived in. There is an old rug on the ground, a stone wall of shelves to the north and a workbench on its west side.

There is also another round room to the northeast, but you can't see what's in it due to a floor to ceiling wooden fanned screen blocking your view.

Tahdar is glad they made it over the lava without incident.  He moves over to the shelves and begins to search.

OOC: Tahldar will search the shelves in W9.

"Tahldar, wait! Leo, can you check for traps please?" Kahan requests, putting a hand out to stop Tahldar before he goes in.

Tahldar stops at Kahan's behest.  He hadn't thought much about a possible trap here, but it's possible.

Shae goes over to inspect the altar.

Kahan watches Shae ignore his warning and shrugs. He wasn't going in until the room had been checked, that was all he knew.

Leo nods and goes over to check out the altar. (sorry it was a busy weekend)

OOC: I think we need to get timing of this clear, as there are things happening in the background and the order of search may affect ultimate timeline/effects. Each search will take 2 minutes. There are the following things to search:

9 Pillars (designate them as 1 through 9 going clockwise from the one on the right of the altar)

Altar

Shelves

Workbench

Rug

Suit of armor (You didn't see this upon entering due to angle, but it is above the W and is shown as a red icon)

Room to northeast

It appears Leo is first checking the altar, and Tahldar wanted him to check the shelves.

While the others wait back, Leo and Shae move to the altar. Leo searches it. The altar itself is ancient and has symbols of lava and a volcano on it, as well as some sort of giant lava giant. The top of the altar slides, showing a very small and narrow passageway down to darkness below.

2 minutes pass...

What size is the tunnel in the altar? Can people fit down in it normally?

Shapfren stayed a bit behind with her eyes set on the entrance the group came from. She readied her bow should the creature she caught a glimpse of before showed up. While keeping an eye at it, she also decided to inspect the pillar closes to the door.

Looking to maximize their efforts, Tahldar inspects the armor while others search elsewhere.

The tunnel is about 3 feet by 5 feet. It goes down into darkness about 15 feet before curving north. A halfling could navigate it with no problem; a gnome or dwarf would have a little problem but not too much; a human/elf would have to squeeze, and likely could not easily take equipment. (Think spelunking.)

The armor Tahldar inspects is made of red scales from some creature--dragon or reptile, apparently. It is human/elf sized and is propped up as if on display. It is full body size, covering from the neck down, except for feet and hands.

Kahan begins casting a spell and looks around the room.

"We should take this." Tahldar says in regards to the armor.  He begins to dismantle it.  "Kahan, can you lend me the portable hole?"

To keep this moving, I will assume Leo searches whatever item/area you ask him to without waiting for a response each time. Just remember the ticking clock and the items he can search are listed above.

Once the armor is loaded into the portable hole, Tahldar begins to search the rug.  After a visual once over, he will endeavor to roll it up and move it to the side to see if any secreted trap door lay beneath it.

OOC:  Can Borimer also help search?

"I don't see a reason to go down that hole, do you?" Leo looks around to the rest of the group.

"Tahldar, perhaps instead of putting the armor away, we should have Shae put it on, assuming it isn't cursed of course," Kahan suggested as he moves to search the shelves.

Shae says to Leo, "You can probably go down, but we probably won't fit. Let's finish searching around here first though." She will go try on the armor while others search. For modesty, she will go to the southern hall they entered from. "Don't look," she teases.

"If you want to, check it out.  If you need help just holler and we'll come." Tahldar says he pokes the rug.

Kahan couldn't help but chuckle at Shae. "All this time, the constant struggle for survival, it never occurred to me that you were... a woman, I suppose, not just another companion. That you would want privacy, like just any other person normally would," he grinned a forlorn smile at the days past that seemed so far away now.

Shae steps away to start changing...

Leo starts down the tunnel...

Tahldar pokes at the rug. Something is strange about the hollowness of the sound when he pokes it.  Tahldar lifts the rug and sees that there are a few very thin planks under the rug. One step on it and it would have broken through to the river of lava below.

Leo descends. When it cuts north, it is dark and curves slightly to the left beyond his view.

Shae gets into the armor. It is indeed some sort of dragon scale armor that seems imbued with magic.

4 minutes have passed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:39, Sun 22 Nov 2020.

OOC: Kahan was checking out the shelves, was there anything on them?

As Shae gets into the armor and Kahan checks the shelves, Taldar begins to inspect the workbench.

Shae smiles and stretches out in her new armor, testing it out while swinging around her ancestral spear to stab and slice at the air. "This will do nicely," she says. "I still defer to Borimer on the front lines. I am a druid and never considered fighting my primary calling. This red certainly will not let me blend in in a forest."

She casts identify magic to see if she can find out further information about the armor.

Shapfren chuckled at Kahan's comment. Certainly the whole situation seemed extremely distant from the times before. Her old life seemed like it had been centuries ago. She moved from the pillar 3 to the pillar 4 without taking her eyes from the tunnel. Paranoia was beginning to creep up.

OOC: I wasn't sure if you guys were having Leo check things out for traps or whatever before examining them closely, which is why I waited. If you are just checking informally with a layman's eye (like the rug) and investigating, that is fine too.

OOC: Well Kahan cast Find Traps, so anything he's looking at should (hopefully) be safe-ish.

Leo looks around cautiously for traps along the way and moves on slowly.  OOC:I was actually trying to see if anyone actually wanted Leo to go down there since the last time he went down a hole he got nearly taken out by the spider so he wouldn't be to keen on it...also he's not really that good of a thief.

In reply to Kahan Singh (msg # 138):

Got it. Sorry, missed that.

Leo: He can climb back up if he doesn't want to proceed forward in the tunnel. Your call.

ooc: It's alright, might as well have him go for it.

Leo proceeds carefully down the tunnel below...

Shapfren inspects the two closest pillars but finds nothing interesting about them. They are old and cracked.

Kahan looks over at the shelves. The shelves have one item on them. It is a golden flask that can hold approximately 1 pint, and it has a golden screwtop on it. But it's not exactly gold--some sort of alloy.

Leaning against the shelves are 10 one inch thick pipes made of the same alloy. Each pipe is about 6 feet long.

Tahldar inspects the workbench. On the workbench are two more of the pipes, along with some sort of wax candle that is very large (as large as a bucket). Someone has fused the two pipes together with the strange sticky wax.

Next to this on the workbench are two funnels made from the same type of allow.

Under the workbench are molds and a small anvil and hammer that apparently were used to fashion the strange pipes.

Shae casts identify magic. (She gets the same results as posted in the OOC thread. She also understands the two disadvantages of the armor.)

Leo emerges from the tunnel. His dagger is in his hand as he walks calmly over to where Kahan and Tahldar are inspecting the room.


Leo then suddenly plunges the dagger into Tahldar's back. The mage cries out in pain! (Backstab: 17 damage. Tahldar is poisoned. The magic blade also causes Tahldar to lose 2 hp per round due to uncontrolled bleeding and failure to coagulate.)

Leo removes the Frehelian Claw Dagger, his face a blank.


6 minutes have passed.

"I was mind controlled. I knew I shouldn't have gone down there.  There was a dark figure who forced me to leave." Lea says as he drops the dagger. "Perhaps it would be best if you just kill me now. I don't know if the person can get control again or not."

Tahldar shouts in pain as Leo's dagger pierces his back.  He turns to take action against the threat, but stops as he sees Leo drop the dagger.

"I've been poisoned!  Kahan or Shae I need your help." he gasps.

Shae will cast heal poison on Tahldar. She also casts cure light wounds on him. "They said he had psionic abilities. This must be one of them. We have to be on guard. I don't know what these pipes are for exactly, but he was up to something. I think we need to explore more. Anyone know what's over there?" She points to the room beyond the wall in the northeast area.

"Tahldar!" Shapfren ran to the side of the Mage, she was worried sick about him. Once Shae procured some remedy, she calmed down somewhat. "Will he be fine?" before she turned again "I knew I had seen something. How can we face something that will mess with our minds and turn us on each other?"

"We have to stick together. He can't seem to control all of us at once, only one at a time, or so I hope," Kahan comments as he makes sure Tahldar doesn't require any further healing. He will also try to figure out what metal the pipes are made out of, if its an alloy that is known to him.

Shae heals Tahldar and cures the poison. The blood stops flowing and Tahldar is back to normal.

Leo had seen the figure at the far end of the tunnel under the altar.

"We'll have to deal with him sooner or later, but the later the better." Tahldar says as he thinks about what to do next.

"Lets search the room to the northeast, and then once we finish there, go down the altar tunnel."

OOC:  Tahldar will head to the northeast room.

Shae says, "Kahan, maybe you can do that withdraw spell and see if you can get information about these pipes and that gold container. I think they may be important." Shae will stay with Kahan while the others investigate the room.

Leo gingerly picks up his dagger, sheaths it, and then searches the northeast.

"I can certainly try," Kahan agreed, taking the bottle and the pipe into his hands and casting Withdraw.

"Wait!" Shapfren hurried to Leo's side. "Don't go alone!" She rushed bow in hand.

Kahan withdraws...

Leo and Shapfren go explore the northeast area behind the fanned screen. What they find is another living area with a rough bed and blanket. There is also a wooden crate with a lid. The lid is closed and locked with an iron lock. Next to the bed is a very large leather sack about the size of a halfling. It is tied closed at the top.

There is also 30 feet worth of the similar piping that is in the area where Kahan is at.

A very interesting aspect of this room is that the fanned screen is lacquered with a substance that seems to completely block out the heat from the outside. Indeed, inside the bedroom area, it is a pleasant 70 degrees despite the outside heat, meaning that the screen also produces a cool emanation from one side. The other side (facing the pillars) is hotter than the room around it. The screen is 10 feet by 10 feet and is painted with a tree on each side.

"I'll leave that to you." Tahldar says to Leogold in reference to the lock on the wooden crate.

He begins to open the sack to have a look.

Leo apprehensively looks at the lock on the chest and checks for traps.

"This screen seems handy" Shapfren looked interested at the device. "Should we take it with us?, Is there room in the portable hole?"

Shae says, "That's a good idea. I think Kahan has the portable hole?" Shae will check the bag next to the bed.

PM

OOC: To sum up on the materials found:

You found one empty vial/flask (holding about 1 liter) with a stopper and a golden enameled interior alloy.

You found 102 feet of piping with a similar interior alloy.

A bucket sized waxy material.

You found tools for making the pipes (anvil, hammer, molds). You have not yet opened the box in the northern room.

You found two funnels to help catch a liquid material, and they fit snuggly into the alloy pipes.

There is room in the portable hole for the screen.

Leo investigates the chest and find that it is indeed trapped and locked.

Shae goes to the sack. For some reason, she is having confusion at untying the knot. Every time she tries to, she gets confused and ends up tying it tighter. She stands back from it, confused.

Tahldar also goes to the sack. He has the same experience trying to open it. His mind gets confused and blurry every time he tries to untie it and he ends up tying it tighter.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:38, Mon 21 Dec 2020.

"Curious." Tahldar says as he finds he can't open the sack.

He concentrates and tries to actually tie the sack tighter to see what happens.

"It appears our doppelganger friend here was trying to figure out a way to move Earthgold and Earthsilver without them drying out, and nearly succeeded," the priest explains, showing how the vial of gold is actually just a coated vial used for transporting the aforementioned liquids, along with the pipes. "The question, however, is why would he need to do that," he muses aloud as he looks around the room for clues as to why he would need to move Earthgold, or perhaps from, or to, where exactly.

"Looks like this thing is trapped" Leo looks carefully to see if he can figure out the nature of the trap.

OOC: You will understand better when you explore north. As for the Earthgold and Earthsilver, as a reminder, they degrade very quickly when removed from their source (within a few minutes), so this stoppered 1 liter, alloy-coated vial will allow for long term storage and transport.

The lock is mechanically trapped. It would require a pick lock and disarm trap check.

Tying the sack tighter simply makes Tahldar confused and lose track of what he is doing. it remains tightly tied shut.

Shae will cast detect magic on the sack. If it turns up negative, she says, "Why don't we leave this for now and explore up north a bit. Keep on guard. We are targets against what seems to be a practically invisible and crafty enemy."

"Lets take the sack, put it in the portable hold and deal with it later.  And we should take some of these tubes for the earthgold.  As many as we can."

"Leo, if you can disarm the trap I could try a knock spell to open it."

Leo takes a deep breath and tries to disarm the trap.

Leo... successfully disarms the trap.

Tahldar casts a knock spell and the chest unlocks.

Shae casts detect magic on the sack. She receives an image of blackness, emptiness, and does not know how to interpret this result.

Shae and Borimer go to the north and see the remaining portion of the cavern.

A raised stone inlet about 10 feet wide runs north like a peninsula above the lava to a dead end about 100 feet away. The path is about 10 feet above the lava below. At its end, two stone arched pillars rise like demon horns over an open platform similar to the coffin-like structure in the round room. Its top is open and you realize it is the end of the tunnel under the ground where Leo had started to crawl.

The stone horn pillars have two interesting features. First, leaning on each is a giant broadsword about 15 feet long which have both been lashed to the pillars. Second, each has a lever on it in the up position.

An even more baffling sight is in the middle of the lava about 20 feet beyond the path. You see a very lifelike statue of a fire giant standing over 20 feet tall. Its head is raised, looking up, and into its face flows a 5 foot wide circular flow of lava that then runs down the statue's body and to the lava flowing below. Upon inspection, it appears the circle of lava is only a few inches thick, and in its center is a flowing gold liquid substance.

Then the statue moves--or attempts to move--and you realize it is not a statue at all. It is a living fire giant stuck in something immobilizing it in that position. You have no idea how long it has been there.

Leo attempts to unlock and open the chest.

Tahldar's knock spell unlocked the chest, so Leo opens it. Inside, you find your things that were stolen earlier, including the formula for the healing potion.

"Let's gather up our belongings and carry the sack if we can.  I want to catch up with the others and not tarry here."

OOC: I want to gather our stuff and carry the sack. If we cannot carry the sack then I say we leave it behind

Kahan will put as many of the pipes as he can into his magical backpack, then slowly move up and approach the switches, trying to tell how long they've been in the upright position, and if there are any interesting details about the swords lashed to the statues.

Kahan, Tahldar, Shapfren and Leo begin putting everything found in the portable hole.

Meanwhile, as Shae and Borimer start up to explore the north area, a dark figure, mostly featureless, jumps--but that is too narrow a word--rather, the figure almost seems to fly upward, extremely spry, from the altar tunnel that connects to the one where Leo was at. The figure deftly balances with one foot on each side of the altar and points his hands, palms outward toward Borimer and Shae.

Borimer sees the enemy and begins charging with his sword Godslayer. He makes it only ten feet before a purplish black portal opens up in front of him. He has no time to avoid walking through it and...

...disappearing. The portal closes up behind him. Borimer is gone.

Shae stops up short, taking in the situation. The figure crouches in a squatting position, and you are not sure if it plans on performing some attack or fleeing with its incredible jumping abilities.

The figure itself is about 6 feet all. It most closely resembles a drow elf, but is even more dark toned than that, such that its features are hard to make out, almost like a solid shadow of a man-like figure with pointed ears. Its eyes burn red and gray, and its mouth opens in a half smile, revealing pointed teeth. It does not speak.

Tahldar, Leo, Shapfren and Kahan have stepped around the corner to see the creature as it stands there poised to do...something.

The figure is at the northern altar. Shae is at the point marked W12. Everyone else is in the neck of the cave to the south.

"What do you want from us, Haklara? Why not just kill us all if you're so powerful?!" Kahan shouts out across the ledge as he tries to come up with some sort of plan to deal with a crazed psychic monster.

OOC: What does Kahan know about psionics? I'm trying really hard not to cheat because I have no idea what people in this world actually know about psionics but I'm pretty sure I know more than him.

Shae sees Borimer disappear into the portal and stops in her tracks, hesitant and wary. She holds her ancestral spear ready but waits for a response. If there seems to be signs of an attack, she will throw the spear.

Tahldar begins to move up north towards Shae, but stops.  There's little, if anything, that he can do to the creature cloaked in anti magic.  But seeing what happened to Borimer gives him pause.  He begins to cast.

OOC: Tahldar will cast fly on himself and move to hover over one of the little rock islands to the east, whichever one is biggest.  But if the Doppleganger gives chase and gets near him, he'll land.  If the Doppleganger gets close he knows his spell will be dispelled and doesn't want to risk a dip in the lava.

Haklara yells back, "If I approach you, my antimagic field will close the portable hole forever, and I will not retrieve the items I need. I will let you live if you retrieve them to me and have one of you bring them to me alone. I have no need to kill you. I only need the items so I can escape."

"You return Borimer to us and we'll give you what you seek.  I want nothing more to get the healing and return myself and the entire group back to the Gnomes.  You can do whatever you like." Tahldar says as he moves to one of the small rock islands to the east.

OOC: I intend to separate myself from the group.  Tahldar will hover just slightly above the largest rock outcropping on the east side.

Tahldar casts fly and moves to the island to the east.

Upon hearing Tahldar's request, Haklara says, "I cannot do that. It is not within my power."

Kahan pulls the portable hole out of its carrying pouch and hangs it over the edge of the ledge. "Try that again, hmm? Perhaps it will not be within my power to hold onto this portable hole any longer, and it might just fall into the lava, with the items you need to escape," the priest threatens. "And besides, if we give you these items, how are we to leave? If you need them to escape, so do we!"

Haklara says, "Give me the items or die. Find your own way out. I care not."

"What did you do with Borimer?  Where is he?" Tahldar asks with concern.

"If I die, or I drop this hole, you'll die down here too, so choose your next words carefully," Kahan added. "I will gladly die down here to keep you trapped here forever."

"This 'Borimer,' I assume, is the warrior who was charging at me? I portaled him away. He is alive...somewhere."

Shae says, "Let's give him what he asks for. We can probably figure out an alternate way to get out of here. However:" And now she turns to Haklara, "It is on condition that you tell us what we are to expect if we try to get out, and why you need these items to escape."

Haklara hears Shae and says, "It is true, perhaps, that you may find a way, since you are a group and can use magics. The vials I need marked 'not air' will provide me the ability to move without breathing. You will need to hold your breath for an inhuman length of time. And the lead stopper container is to help me resist the electricity that would otherwise kill me. If you can find ways around those two obstacles, then you may be able to escape without them. Now, will you give them to me?"

"Kahan, don't give him anything until he returns Borimer to us." Tahldar says, adamant about getting their companion back.

Addressing Haklara directly he adds, "If you portaled him away, you can portal him back.  It's within your power."

"Also, from what I know of you, you radiate an anti magical field around you.  How do you propose to use these items you want if they will lose their magic the moment you open them?"

"And won't we need these items to escape as well?"

"Why don't you just portal yourself out of here?"

Haklara takes a deep, frustrated breath from his distance away. It is visible and he rolls his eyes. "So many questions. Just give me what I need and we will go our separate ways. The portal is a once per day power. It goes one way only. I do not know where it goes because if I try to approach it, the portal will disappear due to antimagic aura. The other items are not magic. They are chemical in nature. I don't know how they work exactly."

He shifts his weight as he continues standing atop the altar.

"Yes, you may need them, but there's not sufficient for your entire group anyway. Who will you choose to save or sacrifice? Should you not survive or perish together? Does that answer all your questions? I have waited a long time. Let's just be done with this. Throw the items to me from a distance. If you come too close, your magic will evaporate, whatever it may be. I will take the items and leave."

He waits expectantly.

"If I give you these items, you'll have to give us something in return. It appears you have nothing we want, but perhaps you have knowledge to share. You've lived down here a long time, tell us about this place. What is going on here? Who made this place? Why is there a fire giant trapped there?" Kahan asked, making no move to open the hole. Not yet anyway.

Shae says, "Let's just give him the things he needs and hope he doesn't double cross us." Then to Haklara, she says, "What can you give us in exchange for these items? Or are we just to surrender them empty handed?"

"Under no circumstance do I see giving him what he wants after what he's done to Borimer.  At least not without at minimum some way for us to save him.  He wants us to give him what he needs while offering nothing in return and done who knows what to Borimer."  Tahldar says to Kahan.

To Haklara he adds, "I am willing to wait here until you can use your portal again.  I will volunteer, myself and myself alone, to follow after Borimer to try to find him.  If I can locate him, I can then try to Teleport us both back."

"And if I don't find him or can't return us back then so be it.  I'm willing to try, even if it means my death or banishment."

Speaking to the others in his group he says "And that still will not be enough to give him what he wants.  He needs to offer more.  Whatever that may be.  But it better be good."

Haklara seems to lose patience with your bickering, and he seems to be concentrating as if digging into someone's brain and memories. "Enough of this. If you will not give it to me, I will see if ... Geebo or...Sark...will give me what I want after you are all dead."

With that, he slams the switch on the left pillar with one hand and quickly hops to the right pillar and turns that one.

The immense giant behind him moves and shudders, released from whatever magic bound him.

Haklara jumps with inhuman ability like a frog to the ceiling, where he then suspends from all fours like a spider.

The giant stumbles out from the lava waterfall, enraged. He spots your group.

Taking in the enormity of the Giant.  The urge to flee comes suddenly.

"Run!" Tahldar shouts as he flies as fast as he can south.

OOC:  I suggest we retreat to either W9 or W10 where hopefully we'll find some protection/cover from the Giant.  With Fly, Talhdar is moving 18 and can make it to W10 in one turn.  Where he plans on going (behind the bed).

Shae, who stands at the front of the group and closest to both the giant and Haklara, ignores Tahldar for the moment and throws her spear at Haklara with careful aim, and then recalls the spear to follow the others.

Anyone else doing anything?

"We are not responsible for putting you here. Your fight is not with us!" Kahan shouts as he backs towards the cavern mouth with the others, drawing his shield in case the giant threw some lava or something.

Shae hurls her spear...but misses. It returns to her as she begins retreating with the others.

One good thing that happens from her spear throw is that the giant's attention is diverted to the ceiling and to the changeling who is crawling across the rocky surface like a spider.

The giant swipes at the ceiling with a hard hit of its right hand, slapping Haklara, who grunts and flies to the ground near you with an "oomph" and injuring him. (He lands right where the W is in the map.)

Having been trapped for so long, the fire giant goes on a rampage. He begins by smashing the altar and two pillars at the end of the walkway and then starts walking south through the lava, his eyes on the retreating group and Haklara.

Haklara weakly pushes himself up, sees the approaching giant, and begins also heading south in your direction.

The party reaches room W8. Tahldar goes to W10 with his greater speed.

Seeing Haklara down and injured and vulnerable, Shae takes the opportunity to throw her spear at him again. "Your evil shall not see the light of day," she says in anger.

Kahan gets to the opening of the cavern and stops, turning to Haklara. "You let the giant out, you deal with it, or die here with us," he demands, holding out the enclosed portable hole where all the items he needs to escape are being held. If he tries to go past Kahan, they will be trapped in there forever with him.

"Belay that." Tahldar says to Kahan as he swoops into the main room.  He begins to cast.

OOC:  Taldar will cast wall of stone to close off the passage leading north out of W8.  Once cast it is permanent and non magical. It is his hope to seal off Haklara and the Giant.

Leo draws his weapon and hopes they don't break through the wall.

Shae throws her spear...this time hitting Haklara, who groans in pain and tries to struggle to his feet even as the spear flies back into Shae's hand.

Meanwhile, Kahan is yelling at Haklara and Tahldar is casting...

The group runs back to safety as the granite wall materializes, blocking you off from both the giant and Haklara. The last thing you see is the giant breaking off one of the stone pillars to hurl in the direction of you and Haklara.

OOC: FYI, I reread the description of wall of stone. It is negated by a dispel magic or disintegration spell, as well as by normal chipping and effects. Haklara is essentially a walking dispel magic spell, so keep that in mind.

Your vision of the beyond is currently blocked by the giant wall, but you hear something loud strike the ground outside and assume it is the flying pillar. You wait, poised for a few moments, but nothing dispels the wall.

Shae tells the others, "I hope that giant weakens or takes care of Haklara for us. In the meantime, maybe we should get prepared. Is there anything that can help us?" She will have her spear ready. "Can we make a trap? Maybe fling rocks or something at him with telekesis or something?" She is thinking out loud. She will stand near the southern pillar to take cover and throw her spear again if Haklara should show up.

"We are safe here for the moment.  Let's give it a few minutes and if nothing happens I'll fly around the corner and take a look." Tahldar says to Shae.

"With luck the Giant will kill or drive Haklara off.  Time will tell."

OOC: If after a few minutes it remains quiet I will fly around the corner to see if the coast is clear. Remaining as quiet as I can.

You catch your collective breaths, get positioned, and stare at Tahldar's wall of stone for a moment.

All seems to grow quiet from the other side of the wall. The stillness itself is disquieting.

Then, in a flash, you see the form of Haklara fly up from the tunnel below that connects the altar (the tunnel Leo went down previously). He lands on the ceiling above. You step back in surprise and shock. The only good news about this is that you see that Haklara is wounded, definitely not anywhere near full strength.

Haklara is directly above the altar. You are spread around the altars except Tahldar, who is at W10.

Kahan sidesteps towards the other open exit, pulling his sling out as he curses the fact he has no better ranged weapons. He attempts to hit the doppelganger with a sling bullet while working towards the exit.

Shae wastes no time in immediately sending her spear up at the doppleganger with all her strength.

Leo uses his blowgun on the off chance Haklara is vulnerable to poison damage.

Seeking to keep his flying spell going, Tahldar stays in W10, as far away from Haklara as possible.

OOC:  I could throw a dagger, but I won't as I don't want to get close to the dispel magic range.

You estimate that the dispel magic range is between 10 to 15 feet since if it were any larger, it would have dispelled Tahldar's wall of stone spell.

OOC: Surprisingly, great rolls on your attacks.

Kahan hits with his sling, knocking one of Haklara's hands loose as he clings to a stalactite above. Shae's spear finds its mark (critical hit), burying itself in Haklara's neck. Even Leo's blowdart finds its mark, embedding itself in Haklara's thigh.

The doppleganger grasps at his neck, falling from his perch above. If the attacks did not kill him, the 30 foot fall, landing square on his head, certainly does. He lands in the center of the pillared room and you each stand at the side away from him, staring down.

From outside, you hear a crash. Obviously, the giant is still out there.

OOC: Well that was anticlimactic.

Kahan backs away from Haklara as he falls from the ceiling, careful to stay away from his anti-magic field. "We need to move his body before we accidentally disenchant our equipment. Who is carrying the least magical items that can quickly remove them?" the priest asks the others as he checks the operation of his backpack to ensure it still worked.

Tahldar stays put while the other inspect Haklara.  "I need to keep my fly going as long as possible so I dare not go near him.  Someone is going to have to collect the earthgold and it'll probably be easiest flying."

"Maybe someone can just push Haklara aside?  Then we should wait a bit to see if the Giant gets bored and leaves."

OOC:  I suggest we move Haklara to the tunnel south of W10 and wait 5 minutes to see if the Giant leaves the area.

Leo hands Kahan his dagger and then goes over and tries to move Haklara out of the way.

You successfully move Haklara away, conscious that his antimagic aura still exists.

OOC: I thought it was a bit anticlimactic as well, but the dice and fate called the shots on this one, as well as your quick thinking strategies.

You still need to collect the Earthgold, which falls into the lava from above but is essentially encased in a circular tube of lavafall in the area where the giant is at.

The giant is making a ruckus. There does not appear to be any sign of him leaving. You figure he may actually be stuck due to the narrow passageway.

OOC: How tall is the stone wall Tahldar made? Can we see over it if we get close enough to it or is it too high?

Kahan gives Leo back his dagger and thanks him for moving the body before it did irreparable damage to his magical equipment. Approaching the wall, he called out to the giant, unsure if he could even understand him. "We can help you escape if you let us! We have no quarrel with you, you are an unfortunate victim of someone else's sadism," he explained.

Given Tahldar's high level and description at casting, I think it covers the entire area, else Haklara could have spider walked across the ceiling over it. There is still the tunnel that goes under it if you don't want to dispel it.

You call out to the giant, but it either does not understand, does not hear, or chooses to ignore you.

Kahan shrugs and begins crawling through the tunnel. Perhaps seeing things from another angle would give him some clarity into how to best handle their problems.

"Wait." Tahldar says to Kahan.  "Let's try to talk to him.  I have the tongues spell that I can use.  I might be able to get him to calm down."

"I also have the dig spell that I could use to make a way out for him if he's stuck."

He thinks for a moment and adds, "It just doesn't seem right to try to kill him since he's been stuck here so long.  Plus he might kill one or more of us if do fight him."

"And if we're lucky, maybe we can convince him to collect the earthgold in exchange for the dig spell."

"You talk to him, I'll monitor the situation from the other side. I won't do anything until I get some sort of signal, or I'll come back if he notices me," Kahan responds. He hadn't been planning on trying to kill the giant himself, just to come up with a possible way they could.

OOC:  Tahldar will cast mirror image (last 3 turns), then tongues (lasts 1 turn) and will fly cautiously around to the west and north along the flow of lava at W11 and try to parley with the giant.  Sticking to whatever cover he can find.

This way he'll distract the giant from Kahan's tunnel route in case things turn bad.  Hopefully they won't.

Number of images is 4.

14:22, Today: Tahldar of Tyrannia rolled 4 using 1d4+3.  Mirror Image.

Shae follows Kahan through the tunnel to see what can be done about the giant. He will generally follow Kahan's lead unless things get out of hand. Her ancestral magic spear is at the ready, just in case.

Climbing through the tunnel, you see that the fire giant (or perhaps lava giant) is wading through the lava as though through water. He does not presently see you but is mumbling to himself.

"Humans and elves did this to me. I will kill them all. Their race will come down at my hands. How many years? How many?"

While mumbling, he is looking south down the river of lava and then back to the larger and more spacious dead end to the north.

He then looks south and mumbles, "They must have boats. They cannot stand the heat. I will destroy them. They will be trapped like me."

He takes a step to the south.

Shae sneaks up and prepares her spear. She calls out, "We come in peace. Perhaps we can help you. What do you need?"

Kahan crawls out of the hole with Shae but stays close to it in case things go sideways. "You have likely been stuck here for years, we have only been on this planet for a few days. We mean you no harm, and if we knew you were alive, I for one would have saved you from that fate the moment I arrived here. Please, we can escape this place together! We are not your enemy," he pleads with the giant.

Tahldar waits to see what becomes of his parties parley and remains in the shadows for now.

Shae and Kahan try to speak to the raging fire giant that stands nearly 30 feet tall wading through lava and pounding its fists on the stone walls.

It turns at the voices, eyes narrowing, and then cocks its head to listen to the words. I will use the following for you talking to the giant, who clearly has a vendetta against humans and demihumans: 1/2 CHA check to turn him to your side, and then 1/2 CHA -2 for each additional attempt.

He hears Shae's words (fail) and calls out, "Elves imprisoned me. You shall feel my wrath."

He hears Kahan's response (fail) and simply roars like an angry animal in response, fists clenched. He beings wading toward you through the lava (which is only about 5 steps for him).

Shae takes one more shot at conciliation, "We can cooperate to get us all out of here and then go our separate ways. There is no need for conflict."

The giant looks toward Shae's final plea (critical miss), and then yells in rage, "Do you not see that there is no escape for me because of your kind? I brought here by portal and cannot escape except by same. We shall all die this day!"

He stomps forward, violence in his fiery eyes, with fists clenched.

You now see that the question in the back of your mind is answered. He cannot escape because he was not brought here through natural means. He has been an instrument to be tortured by some unknown reason, caught trapped for countless years, unable to move under the flow of a golden liquid that will not let him age or die--until he has gone quite mad.

"I was sent here by punishment of that Djinn and now will bring down all living I can reach!"

And now you have an answer to that. Some cruel being sent him here with a wish.

Tahldar doesn't like the sound of the Fire Giant's response, but still he is loathe to fight and kill him.  It just doesn't seem fair.

Looking to keep tabs on the situation he moves slowly north, looking to find a vantage point where he can see the giant in the event he attacks his group.

Shae calls out, "You give us no choice but to fight you, though we do not want to." She is ready with her spear as first line of attack but will not be the first to strike and only strikes if the giant strikes first.

She will also move slightly south away from the others (toward Tahldar's wall?) so that they are not all clustered together.

ROUND ONE
Tahldar moves north and are close to the altar (which has the tunnel that goes south to W8). That appears to provide the most cover.

Shae stays slightly south, able to cut either way under attack. Kahan moves slightly south next to her.

The giant is beyond reason.

OOC: My original intent was for this giant to be the final bad guy challenge of the adventure. As it turns out, I underestimated your good will to try to use reason instead of just muscle. So that's on me. I hope you can enjoy this battle, have some interesting moments, and see how the next part unfolds.

You might have noticed the trend here. First you met the old man with white hair who was chained to earthsilver for some years (in the dragon's den) until he went crazy and unable to think straight. Then you met Sark, who was entrapped within the ring of fire, also left with just earthsilver to survive and also losing it a bit. Now you have met this giant who has been trapped completely immobile yet conscious for perhaps centuries and being covered with a stream of earthgold to constantly heal him while he is unable to move but always covered in lava.

The fire giant rushes at Kahan and Shae's location, scooping up lava with both hands to fling at them. He screams in rage as he hurls it at them...

The giant's aim is not good. One scoop goes flying over their heads, and the other lands between them. You are conscious that he will be within arm's reach for the next attack.

Shae is ready for her counter attack, throwing her spear at the giant...The spear makes a solid hit (12 dmg) and then extracts itself (6 dmg) before returning to Shae's awaiting hand.

(Was not clear on Kahan's move. I hope everyone posts and joins in this.)

I will be posting an updated map today or tomorrow.

OOC: Kahan wasn't clear on his move either, and I forgot to come back to this later. That's on me, I've been busy with RL too.

Kahan sidesteps as the lava flings towards him, somewhat torn about having to fight this creature who is just a victim of his circumstances. But putting him out of his misery was just as much of a mercy as trying to help him escape, he figured, so perhaps they shouldn't have too much of an ethical problem with it. He began casting a spell and moved towards the hole next to the altar.

Leo tries to hide in the shadows and sneak around for a backstab type attack.

Here is an updated map with locations. Feel free for movement to state things like north 2 spaces, east 1, or whatever.

Tahldar has few spells available to him that will affect the fire giant.  He wishes he had at least one cold based spell, but alas he does not.

He begins to cast.

OOC:  Rolled 16pts for magic missile

09:10, Today: Tahldar of Tyrannia rolled 16 using 5d4+5.  Magic Missile.

Shae is also thinking of a spell to cast and throws her spear while running two squares south to spread out.

To Leo: You can climb through the tunnel and try to backstab by jumping on the rock just behind him but there is a chance of falling into the lava with a fail of -2 or more.

Shapfren climbs through the tunnel to help out, prepping something in her repertoire as she goes to the pillar next to the northern altar.

Leo takes a deep breath and goes for it...

Current situation:
Everyone is in the place marked in the map above. The wall created by Tahldar blocks access from W8. The tunnel between the two altars is the only way to get around the wall.

Leo is moving through the tunnel to get where he can attack/backstab.

The fire/lava giant is attacking straight on, focusing on Tahldar, Kahan and Shae. The party gets initiative.

ROUND 2
Tahldar casts magic missile. The giant is hit for 16 damage.

Kahan is casting a spell...

Shae runs south to spread out and throws her spear...it misses.

Leo makes it at full speed to the to top of the altar at the north. He has not been seen and can make his attack next round.

Shapfren is also making her way underground to attack but is a bit slower and behind Leo. She can attack from the altar location next round.

Kahan finishes his spiritual hammer spell...which hits the giant but with minimal damage. (5 hp dmg)

The giant slams his right hand down in an attack while scooping up lava and flinging it with his left.

The right hand goes after Shae...who successfully dodges it.

The lava sweeps out toward Kahan and Tahldar...
...Tahldar steps out of the way
...but Kahan is hit by smoldering hot lava that burns and scorches his flesh. (23 damage (of which 7 is burning damage).)



Lava giant: 123/162 hp
AC: -8


This message was last edited by the GM at 01:38, Thu 13 May 2021.

Despite having images of himself swirling around him, he still wants to be out of easy reach of the lava throwing Giant.

Backing up, he begins to cast again.

OOC:  Tahldar is flying so he'll move east away from the Giant and cast another magic missile.  He also still has 4 mirror images going that he cast not long ago and none have been hit yet.  In case he is targeted.

10:39, Today: Tahldar of Tyrannia rolled 17 using 5d4+5 ((2,3,2,2,3)).

If Leo sees an opening he will try to attack.

Edited to add Kahan's spiritual hammer.

Leo can try his backstab but needs to jump to the rock outcropping as mentioned earlier, with a chance of falling into the lava.

"Can anyone use poison, or perhaps a loud shrieking noise? That might work better!" the priest suggests hopefully, wondering if Tahldar or Shapfren had any such spells in their repertoire. He continues focusing on his spell while keeping himself distanced from the others if possible.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:18, Thu 13 May 2021.

Leo will attempt to jump over what he needs to...

Shae tries to distract the giant to attack her as she moves south, hoping her new armor will be of assistance. "Don't we have new spells or items that we found and can use? I remember an ice knife spell and other things in a scroll."

Then she braces herself and tries out the new spell she has been waiting to try as she tries to get the giant to attack her.

(Casting blade barrier.)

When Shapfren pops up out of the northern tunnel, she immediately begins singing and casting shadow monsters--calling forth a two headed troll .

ROUND 3
Shapfren pops up singing from the tunnel, distracting the giant while casting...

Leo jumps to the rock to begin his attempt at a backstab...

Tahldar flies east as he is casting. Magic missiles fly from his hands, hitting the giant. (17 hp dmg).

Shae is casting...

Kahan continues focusing on his spiritual hammer spell...

A two headed troll appears just south of Shae, roaring at the giant. (It can attack next round.)

Shae casts blade barrier, which erupts into a wall of circling, razor sharp blades that whirl and flash around the giant. (I am assuming around the giant since that would be the most harmful to him.)

Kahan's spiritual hammer strikes out...but misses the giant.

The giant focuses his left attack on Shapfren and his right attack on the two headed troll...

...his fist comes down massively on Shapfren, smashing her against the nearby pillar. (35 hp dmg)

...his spray of lava flies up but misses the two headed troll, creating a glowing red wall that splashes harmlessly against Tahldar's magic wall to the south.

And then Leo leaps, making an astounding backstab on the giant. (24 hp dmg.) The giant screams in pain. Leo is on the giant's back, holding onto his scorching hot hair as if holding onto reins. (He will have to continue to try to attack the giant from behind with the risk of being thrown off (and into lava or the ground area), or he can attempt to try to leap back to dry land.) (Giant failed save vs. poison and is now poisoned from Leo's Frehelian dagger. He also suffers from continued bleeding effects.)

The giant also squeals in pain from coming into contact with Shae's whirling blade barrier. (25 hp dmg.)

Lava giant:
57/162 hp
AC: -8
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:54, Thu 20 May 2021.

The battle is getting chaotic and frenzied...Tahldar keeps casting and dips again into his reservoir of spells.

OOC:  Tahldar will cast magic missile again.  14pts total.  (darn dice roller!)

10:11, Today: Tahldar of Tyrannia rolled 14 using 5d4+5.  Magic Missile.

Shae switches to her spear again, throwing and recalling it.

Kahan continues focusing on his spell, moving to the cover of the stone pillars.

Shapfren is reeling from the pain, now nearly unconscious. Following Tahldar's example, Shapfren also fires out a magic missile at the giant while she takes steps back.

Not clear what Leo is doing next. I may have to make a guess...

Leo will continue to try and damage the giant with stabs.

(not sure why I missed the post, it didn't show up red in my feed for some reason.)

ROUND 3

(Initiative to giant)

Shae aims to throw her spear...

Tahldar begins casting...

Kahan focuses on attacking with the magic hammer again...

Shapfren begins casting...

Leo gets a grip on the giant's hair (which is hot and burning him, especially directly above the lava) as he begins to try another stab in the back...

The giant slams a fist out at Shapfren, hitting her solidly and cutting her off in mid-spell (interrupted spell). The slam hits hard (30 hp dmg, taking Shapfren to -26 hp), smashing Shapfren, and you hear the cracking of bones. The impact is so hard and damaging that Shapfren does not even have time to scream before death takes her, and she is swept off the ledge by a  flick of the giant's fingers, plummeting into the lava below.

With his other hand, the giant is slinging another wave of lava, this time at the two headed troll conjured up. The lava falls harmlessly to the side, scorching the pathway between the troll and Shae.

Tahldar's magic missile hits. The giant dodges slightly but ineffectively. (14 hp dmg)

Shae's spear flies from her hand...and solidly hits the giant (11 hp dmg) before being recalled into her hand for the next round.

Kahan's hammer...misses but he moves to cover under the stone pillars, just steps away from where Shapfren was just swept into the lava.

The movement of the giant throws Leo off balance, so his attempt to strike at the giant fails.

Lava giant:
32/162 hp
AC: -8

This message was last edited by the GM at 00:16, Tue 08 June 2021.

Kahan continues his concentration on his spiritual hammer spell.

OOC: Did the Blade Barrier spell do any more damage? Also I assume Shapfren's player is either MIA or wanted to start a new character?

Tahldar considers briefly to try to save Shapfren, but there are more of his companions fighting the giant and he knows he wouldn't last very long swimming in lava.

Talhdar keeps casting.

OOC:  Tahldar will cast another magic missile.  Better damage this time, 22pts.

10:23, Today: Tahldar of Tyrannia rolled 22 using 5d4+5 ((3,4,4,4,2)).

Shae says, "I think we almost have him. Keep going!" She uses her spear one more time.

OOC: Thanks for the reminder. You guys are really getting me on the rules today. I forgot about blade barrier. Then I rolled and the saving throw was really close so I had to consult the rules closely. Here's the result.

The giant reels back after hitting Shapfren as his arms are sliced by the blade barrier, spouting blood and slicing muscle. He roars in anger in pain as he wobbles in weakness.

(Saving throw failed. 25 hp dmg from blade barrier. 7 hp left. He does not get initiative due to weakness.)

You assume correctly. Checking the cast menu shows he hasn't logged in since December. I did passive NPCing of him but I think enough is enough. I didn't fudge the rolls from the giant but did have him make Shapfren one of the targets because of this.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:02, Tue 15 June 2021.

Your attacks surprise the fire giant, who has not been harmed in countless years as he has been trapped under the healing Earthgold. He immediately turns to the north and you see his intention. He is trying to reach the Earthgold to be healed from your attacks. He leaps over the blade barrier, reaching out toward the falling Earthgold.

You continue to pelt him with assaults.

Kahan concentrates on the spiritual hammer...

Tahldar casts another magic missile...

Shae throws her spear...

Leo continues to stab...

Kahan's attack misses.

Tahldar hits the giant for 22 damage, wounding it severely.

The giant, though weakened, successfully jumps over the blade barrier. He lands in the lava, splashing it everywhere, including hitting Leo with the backsplash. Leo is covered with a wave of lava (16 hp dmg), and the sudden whiplash of the giant makes him miss his stab as he struggles to hold onto the giant's hair and avoid falling in the lava.

Shae's spear finds its mark (12 hp dmg), felling the giant when its outstretched hand is mere feet away from the healing Earthgold.

The giant's body begins sinking into the lava. Leo is still stuck on its back and needs to quickly escape falling into the lava.  He can (1) jump to the east and will need to make a DEX check and a scale walls check to succeed, (2) jump to the rock outcropping nearby and just make a scale walls check (but other checks to get back to the main area), or (3) something else.

Shae recalls her spear as she watches the giant fall. "The bigger they are--" she starts and then realizes the joke will fall short (pun intended).

She looks around to see the condition of everyone before saying, "I think we need to collect this Earthgold and get out of her post haste. What do you say?" She is not sure how to collect it through the waterfall of lava but is open to ideas.

See Leo in dire trouble, Tahldar flies as fast as he can to pluck him to safety.

OOC: Tahldar will try to rescue Leo and put him on dry land.

Leo looks to see if Tahldar can get to him in time.  If not he will jump east and climb.

Kahan grabs a rope from his backpack in case Tahldar needs help with Leo.

Since the giant is falling, there is only a fraction of a second to think. Tahldar speeds in Leo's direction. Leo leaps toward the east (toward both the cliff edge and Tahldar)...(fail)...he grasps out but Tahldar is not there in time and he finds no strong handholds as he slips down toward the lava, trying desperately to slow his fall and find a handhold.

He is merely inches from the hot lava and suffering from intense heat, which is only intensified by a chunk of lava (which as you will recall is flowing like a river from north to south) sloshes up on his calf. (10 hp damage.)

But then Tahldar is there reaching down...(saving throw made)...and he pulls Leo up to the ledge, where he plops down in pain from the heat but still alive and panting from the exertions.

Tahldar almost misses Leo's outstretched hand, but fortunately grasps him well enough to carry him out of harm's way and to safety.  "That was close!" he states to his singed companion.

"What next?  I think we need to collect the earth gold in the containers yes?  And if anyone's hurt drink a little to heal." he says.

"Shapfren's gone.  She's been under too long." he adds solemnly as he scans the lava for her, in vain.

Leo is clearly relieved but is in too much pain to actually say anything.

You will recall that there were pipes crafted to collect the Earthgold. you probably already figured this out (but might have forgotten), but you can connect the pipes and the attachment at the end to stretch if out past the lavafall and have the Earthgold flow directly into the container you found that will house it long term.  (You will recall that Earthgold and Earthsilver quickly deteriorate into uselessness when not in a viable container.)

You turn around and notice that Tahldar's magic wall is no longer behind you, allowing you to walk back to the main chambers without having to traverse the narrow tunnel below.

As you go south, you realize why this might be the case. Where Haklara's body was...is nothing. The body is gone. You can still see blood stains. You can see where you moved the body, but it is no longer there.

Kahan begins removing the gold pipes from his pack and works on assembling them into a straight line with the odd glue he found in Haklara's "bedroom", hoping it would be able to hold up to the heat from the falling lava. He tried not to think about Shapfren, there wasn't anything that they could have done to save her, and that wasn't something he could afford to dwell on right now.

Shae helps Kahan, also upset about Shapfren but moving forward. "Someone should act as a lookout just in case Haklara comes back for us," she says to the others.

"Shae, can you watch for him while I help Kahan with the earthgold?"

OOC:  Talhdar will first ferry earthgold to drink and heal to whomever is hurt.  Himself included.  Then he'll help Kahan collect it with the tubes.

Shae agrees. She goes south and to the bridge area to look and see if she can find traces of Haklara. She tries to use her druidic skills to look for signs of passing.

Kahan and Tahldar begin fitting together the pipes while Shae goes out to the bridge and acts as a lookout. You are keenly aware that Geebo and Sark are to the south still waiting by the two stone rafts next to the stone raft that Haklara came in to get here.

A few minutes into this, Kahan and Tahldar find success and begin pushing the bucket side out of the long hollow tube out to the Earthgold. The Earthgold begins to flow into your storage vial. Those who use it right away are healed.

Then Shae runs back to you. She had seen Haklara drop down the walls to the south and into his stone raft. He used the stone oars to push himself out of chamber and back into the river flow, but not before stopping momentarily at the circular pillar in the center and doing something to it.

As Shae is saying this, you realize what Haklara has done. In a burst, lava begins to triple or quadruple its flow from above, which causes two effects: first, the level of lava at the edge begins to rise at the rate of several inches per minute; and second, it creates a heavy flow south--so that if you don't hurry, your stone rafts might float away and leave you stranded.

You quickly fill up the remaining part of the vial/cup and stopper it up. You probably only have a few minutes to get out of here before your stone rafts float away--and who knows what is going on with Geebo and Sark.

Tahldar sighs.  He notes the increase in the lava flow and knows they must hurry and return to their rafts.  Time, as it usually seems, is short.

"We need to return to the rafts immediately!  And grab Geebo and Sark!" Tahldar says as he hurriedly helps Kahan prepare the earthgold tubes for travel.

OOC: If you want to keep the tubes (which are no longer necessary for the game goals), you'll probably need to put them in the portable hole, since they are long and awkward and heavy.

You gather your things and start putting what you can in the portable hole. This process takes about two minutes, and the lava level is rising. You start heading back. As you cross the bridge, you can feel the heat permeating from below and see that the lava level has risen. Not only that, but it is flowing more quickly like a river from north to south.

You hold your breath through nauseating fumes and make your way to the south. When you get there, Geebo and Sark are trying their hardest to hold back the two stone rafts from floating away. Their brows are covered with sweat from the heat and exertion.

"I told you they would be back," Geebo says to Sark, who merely shrugs in response.

By this time, Haklara has long since floated down the lava river through the south exit.

Tahldar is sweating heavily from the lava's heat, ruining whatever finery is left of his once well made clothes.  Long since sullied from constant adventuring.

"Let's get out of here!" he says, stating the obvious.

OOC:  Lets take the boats and leave as quickly as possible.  Tahldar is still flying, so he'll fly ahead slightly to keep a look out for danger.

Kahan, too, is hot and panting, wishing they would stop running into lava-filled caves finally. "Geebo, where's Fingas?" he asked, looking around for the dopey fighter before they left him to die.

OOC: Kahan will take the front boat with Sark and Leo, the back boat should be Shae, Geebo, and Fingas assuming he's still alive. It's been awhile but I don't remember him dying.