Session 10

ADVENTURE 10: Death to the Tiger-Man: It turned out that Ashrems attacker wasnt Scramge at all, but one of his were-rats, disguised by an illusion. The real Rakshasa was in the loot chamber, and suddenly appeared, attacking and wounding Sithdar! He was in a terrible rage, knowing that he was just about beaten, but unwilling to run and give up all of his wealth and pride. It was a short battle, as the characters easily defeated the wounded villain, then burned his foul corpse afterwards. As far as treasure goes, they found most of Welbys, Tyros and Ruklons old gearas well as a curious little teakwood box that was magically locked somehow, a strange shield made out of rusty scales, and a ring of three limited wishes (the first was immediately used by Sithdar to restore his lost constitution). Also present was a large amount of money, although two thousand platinum of it proved to be merely an illusion. The sorcerer Plendok (now known as Plendork), decided to open the last chest, and was surprised as a cone of cold shot out of it and froze him solid, nearly killing him. So, after a bit of arguing about the treasure, the characters were ready to go. As they were exiting the area, Ashrem heard a curious sound up aheada squishy, oozing noise, coming down the hall. They were quite frightened by it, and everyone decided to lock up Scramges room and rest until the noise went away. The next morning, it was still there, so they went out into the hammer-shaped hallway and confronted it: a huge mass of black ooze, many skeletons inside of it, twisting and undulating horrifically. It nearly ate the rogue, but the party was able to defeat it, while Tyro took control of one of the skeletons that it shot out.
Upon further exploration, the characters encountered an odd area, inhabited by several priests of Orcus, who were a rather easy fight. The whole area was a shrine of sorts, with numerous demonic rooms and odd imagery, all leading to a single chamber where rested a lone skull in the center of a pentagram. As they approached, the skull arose and spoke, identifying itself as an oracle. The oracle could answer any question for the right price, or so it said. If they wanted to know something, they could give it an item, or a bit of life force, and they would get the answer. Ashrem almost got into a fight with the floating skull, but was stopped by the others. They then left, heading for the south corridor.
Down here they discovered several traps. The first was a single gold coin on the floor, which would have activated some kind of dart trap, but which was quickly disarmed. The second was in a small side room, and consisted of a table at one end with a pouch on it, and a hidden pit between. While Sithdar walked over to check the pouch, he fell into the pit, and as the opening closed, he found himself trapped in a dark pit with an animated skeleton, while water quickly rose. Only by the clerics aid did he live, for a quick stoneshape spell soon opened the trap door up again. In the final room they found another tomb, filled with caskets, and many ghouls too, most of which were successfully controlled by Tyro, the others rapidly slain. In the room were some interesting items, including a bright glowing longsword, a single large rounded pillar was in the middle of the room, and another chamber led off somewhere.

DM’S COMMENTS: Scramge finally got his due! By this time, he was almost out of spells, low on hit points, and the PCs had already started looting his lair. The proud Rakshasa went into a rage and made his final stand, and they finally defeated him. Not too bad, considering he took out four PCs. One thing detracting from this night’s gaming was Plendork the sorcerer. The player (the same guy who played Karosian and Welby) acted like a total idiot the whole time, as you can see with the above frost trap event, which almost killed him. During the fight with the ghouls, he decided to run up and take the front line, preventing the fighter from getting in there, then refusing to move out of the way. The fighter was annoyed enough to hit him on the head with a shield and knock Plendork out. While the rogue was drowning in the pit trap, Plendork just sat there, and decided to randomly cast a levitate spell on himself. He’s not a regular, fortunately. But other than that ass-clown, the game was fun enough. At this point, it looks like they might go down to level four. I’m sure the clerics of orcus will be very happy to see them! Anyway, I thank all of you guys for the positive feedback. Good luck in your own games!