Session 3 (Spoilers)

ADVENTURE 3: ON THE BALL: The PCs decided not to investigate the skeleton further after a detect magic revealed nothing magical in the room. They continued onward, detecting the pit-trap in the hall, and coming to an intersection, going left and right. They avoided the left path, for they could smell the scent of dung, and wanted nothing to do with the rumored monster. So they headed right, going down a long hallway. While looking for traps, Sithdar discovered a secret door in the walland behind it was a ghastly undead thing that might have once been a merchant. He was promptly slain, and his treasure taken.
Further down, the hall opened up into a cavern, with a river at the far end. The whole cavern was filled with rats, and all attacked a woman, who seemed helpless. Though suspicious, the characters decided to help her. A sound blast spell from Tyro managed to kill all the rats, but also injured and stunned the woman, though it did not affect the two were-rats attacking her. The PCs easily dispatched both, and briefly spoke with the woman: her name was Filaar, and she had come down here with her adventuring party. They were attacked by were-rats, and she thought some might still be alive, in a hallway beyond a pile of rocks, not far from here. Filaar ran forward, along with Kerit, and both scaled the rocks easily, to see no people before them, only more ratlike beings. Tyro and Karl both got atop the rock pile, while Kerit moved back down to make room for the others to get across. Suddenly, just as the battle was starting, Filaar threw a vial of some kind of substance down onto the back part of the party. It exploded when it hit the ground, filling the air with some kind of choking dust, which burned their lungs and stunned them for nearly the whole battle. Thus, it was up to Tyro and Karl to win the whole fight! Another sound blast took out all the rats, and thus it was only Filaar and the two were-rats left. It was a tough, long battlewith both sides managing to avoid blows effectively, and the clerics cause wounds spells making the biggest difference. Karls bow broke in the middle of the fight, and he was forced to try to stab the rat-monsters with his arrows. Finally, the others came out of their coughing fit, and with everyone joined in the battle, the were-rats quickly went down. After the fight, the PCs decided to wait on investigating their lair, and instead set up camp in the cavern, keeping a careful watch. The first night was uneventful, a good rest. The second night, Karls watch was interrupted by a terrible smell from the north: the dung monster! A shambling mass of wretched feces, it slowly rolled towards them. He quickly awoke all. After running a good distance away, the PCs tried the hurt the monster with arrows and spells, but the dung monster was unhurt, seeming to chug it all down with glee. They decided not to fight it, and ran over the rubble pile and down the stairs to the second floor, to explore it.
This floor was much dryer, but stank of smoke and urine. They first discovered an odd false tile in the floor, and nothing under it except a dead rat. In that same hallway they unlocked the two doors in front of them, but avoided the side passages. They went in the right door first, finding a simple hallway that soon wound left and took them into another roomwith a huge spiked metal ball, careening back and forth at a chaotic rate. Just as Sithdar was investigating it, they all hear a sound behind themlike the opening of a passage and the clattering of many bones. All turned around to see a sphere of pure darkness, skeletal forms barely visible within it, coming towards them! Tyro briefly tried to turn the undead menace, but with little success. Karosian did the smart thing and shut the door, holding it closed with his body while the skeletons on the other end banged on it. Karl, meanwhile, was trying to find a way around the ball. When he saw the odd brown mold growing on the west wall, he decided to look through itto his own dismay, as it began sucking the heat from his body. He also failed to avoid the ball, as it crashed into him and caught him. It also caught Sithdar and Ashrem. Kerit got to the other side fine, as it seemed the ball was slowing down from having three full-sized people stuck to it. Karosian was still holding the door shut. Eventually, they all got to the other side of the ball safely, though not without Karl and Sithdar nearly dying. Karosian then kicked the door inward, towards the skeletons and distracted them while he made a run, and was fortunately pulled off the ball before it could kill him. Now all were on the other side of the room. They waited for the darkness to come. Three of the skeletons, including the one radiating the darkness, were caught on the ball for some time, while the PCs battled the three who escaped it. Kerit managed to push one skeleton back into the ball, trapping it as well, while the others started to free themselves. Now faced with five black skeletons, and wounded badly, the party is threatened with its very life. Yet their opponents are also quite damaged. The adventure ends in a cliffhanger.

DM’S COMMENTS: A great time. I was a little disappointed, but at the same time proud of them, because the players were so vehement about avoiding dungie. The rat ambush didn’t go quite as the rats planned, due to the initial sound blast also stunning Filaar, therefore allowing them to kill half the were-rats before she could use the dust. Stil, the dust very nearly killed Ashrem from Con loss. The ball trap was great, and I applaud them for their inventiveness, trying to use it against the skeletons. Hopefully everyone will be smart next adventure and survive. They’ll be pissed when they find out that the whole skeleton-ball area is circular and totally optional!