Session 29

The party:

• Ploikal, orange MU6 (TM)
• Pholgon, purple F4 (MG)
• Gorakal, orange T4/F1 (JH)
• Xull, orange F2 (JW)
• Konn, orange F2 (NtH)
• Gunn, blue F2 (HB)
• Umut, Faruk & Vugar, non-combatants; Zayn, Gita & Pervin, light foot; Saida, heavy foot

Treasure: 

• Altar cloth
• Braziers ×2
• Bowls ×7
• Scroll w/ 3 spells
• Lab equipment
• Jars of rare ingredients
• Specimen containers ×6

XP: 9,179

Casualties:

• Vugar, fled into the desert
• Pervin, killed by mummies
• Gita, killed by spiders
• Zayn leaves after being gassed

Report:

Day 1

The party prepares for a massive expedition to the serpent man citadel. After hiring numerous retainers and stocking up on supplies, particularly water, they depart from Batbeng. Their journey takes them south through the Mirror Hills, where they encounter nine Crystal Harvesters. They reach the Yellow Flats desert but decide to turn back before nightfall, making camp in the hills. The night passes uneventfully.

Day 2

The party ventures into the desert again, searching for and locating the serpent man citadel mostly submerged in sand with only one tower visible above the surface. They confront a desert constrictor that has made its lair there. During the battle, Gunn is swallowed whole, and Vugar flees in terror. Despite this setback, they eventually prevail, decapitating the snake and freeing Gunn, who miraculously survives.

As they inspect the tower for entrances, eight rainbow-scaled snakes pass by without engaging them. The party struggles to break through the citadel’s roof until the robot Sterling suddenly appears. Ploikal uses Visitor language to persuade Sterling to help, and the robot cuts open the tower roof with its laser. Though Ploikal repeatedly tries to convince Sterling to join them, the robot refuses but agrees to remain outside on guard.

The party descends through a series of rooms: first an unremarkable chamber, then a room with a disarmed arrow trap, followed by one decorated with sigils. They reach a large irregular octagonal room filled with motionless mummified humanoids wearing snake skull masks. When they attempt to douse these figures in oil, the mummies animate and attack. In the ensuing battle, Pervin dies from a poisoned knife wound, but the party eventually triumphs.

As they search the room, three acid scarabs burrow through the floor but don’t engage. Continuing down a spiral staircase, they enter a circular room infested with seven large spiders and covered in webs. Another fierce battle ensues, claiming Gita’s life before they emerge victorious.

After looting the room for an altar cloth, braziers, and offering bowls, they’re confronted by three reptilian humanoids with huge black claws. The party quickly surrounds and dispatches these creatures, though the fighters feel an unsettling tingling sensation where they’re spattered with the monsters’ gore.

From this room, they find a cranked platform leading down and a door leading northeast. Behind the door, they glimpse a massive colonnaded hallway extending east into darkness. They opt for the platform.

Descending, they enter a room with ominously vibrating air and a raised platform. As they finish searching, a massive serpent/crocodile hybrid with bony plates and vestigial limbs crashes through the east door. Surprisingly, the creature—Vushk—is friendly. Ploikal communicates with it telepathically and strikes a deal: Vushk will lead them to a spellbook. The creature explains that its kind wants to turn this level into a nest around power cores, but magical wards are interfering.

Vushk guides them through a massive room with a summoning circle guarded by two snake-human hybrids with dragon wings and spiked tails. They carefully skirt the circle and sentinels, passing through an archway into a room with floating crystals and orbs, where two more of Vushk’s kind reside.

Vushk directs them to a southern door behind which lies the promised spellbook, warning them about an automaton inside. Opening the door reveals a bronze bull automaton and a materials lab. While Ploikal summons an invisible servant, Gorakal sneaks in to plug the bull’s nostrils with oily rags as the servant tries to grab the scroll. The plan partially succeeds, but the bull makes a terrible noise and releases a cloud of gas. They barely escape, with only the tails of Gorakal’s cloak being petrified.

The disturbance agitates the sand serpents in the room with the orbs, and Vushk warns them to leave. Instead, they try another door to the south, finding a room with green vapors hanging near the ceiling. When they send in two retainers, a trap is triggered, filling the room with corrosive gas that damages Pholgon’s armor. Zayn abandons the expedition.

The party makes one final attempt at the lab with the bull. They open the door, cast Knock on the bull, and quickly shut it again. They hear metal falling apart as the bull partially disassembles. They swiftly loot the room’s valuables while the increasingly agitated sand serpents lurk nearby.

Checking the lab’s southern door, they find it opens onto a long hallway extending east. Deciding it’s time to leave, they promise Vushk to help remove the wards another time. Miraculously, they escape without further incident, emerging from the citadel in the late evening. They thank Sterling for its service and make camp.

Day 3

The party travels back to Batbeng without incident.