Varus' Journal: Entry #7, The Dungeon of Sythren’daal

Episode 7, The Dungeon of Sythren’daal

The next morning, Unagi and Valentia stayed to guard the wagon and intercept anyone approaching the temple, while the rest of us headed deeper into the woods. We soon came to a clearing with a temple in the middle; it was surrounded by huge briars and brambles. The temple was a simple ziggurat style with three levels. There was a door on the second level, and steps led up to it. Pillars surrounded it; the ones near the temple were still standing, while those near the edges of the clearing were broken or in disrepair. Basel broke the silence.

“I believe that inside this temple is a burial chamber. Below that might be an entrance to the dragon’s caverns!”

“Why do you think it’s a burial chamber, Basel? I thought it was a temple.”

“I do not know! But we will find out.”

The door on the second level of the temple was made of stone, with no apparent handle or lock. We inspected the grounds to see if we could discern a way in. On top of one of the short columns was a pair of stone feet, as if a statue had been knocked down and only the feet remained. Basel climbed up and inspected the feet, and found they were actually hollow, like a pair of shoes. There was a pressure plate inside. Basel pushed it down, and heard a noise, but did not have the strength to keep it pressed down. He announced his findings to the rest of us.

We searched the grounds, and Flidais found a pair of stone feet on the side of the temple. Each one was quite heavy, weighing over 100 pounds! Basel came over, and with a mighty heave, got the first foot across the grounds and up on the pedestal. He came back for the second one, but couldn’t budge it, even with Tomeck’s help. A loud rumbling started in the dense forest and the ground started shaking. After a moment, a huge stone figure crashed into view from the back of the clearing. There was a symbol on its chest, but it was dim and had been scratched over. The symbol of the Cult of Five blazed on its forehead. This must be the stone creature that Valentia described, the golem. Now controlled by the cult.

It started across the clearing and Tyala and Varus hit it in the forehead with prepared arrows, to no apparent affect. Flidais jumped up on the pyramid and headed to the door. The golem gestured…and cast a spell that slowed the agile bard. Varus could not resist it. Slowly he turned…and headed for the temple door.

With a mighty effort, Basel managed to lift the second stone foot, and placed it on the pedestal. A magical statue started to form from the feet up. It soon reached full height, and resembled the golem. The door opened by sliding down into the floor. Tomeck cast a web spell over the golem, webbing it to two of the columns. It tried to break free, but could not. Varus activated the ring of invisibility as he moved slowly up the stairs; then his concentration broke the effect of the golem’s spell. Flidais dashed through the door, followed quickly by Basel and Tyala. Tomeck shot a firebolt, but it deflected around the golem. He dashed through the door, followed by Varus. The golem did not try to pursue us. Inside was a small chamber with a stairway leading down.

We walked down the stairs for a long time, descending at least a half a mile underground. We started seeing ancient frescoes on the walls; a history lesson unfolding as we descended. A view into an ancient culture, where the lizard men evidently ruled above all, and elves were the first slaves. It was the lizard men that first summoned Tiamat, and these frescoes showed her terrible reign. The subsequent frescoes showed the good dragons and their allies overthrowing Tiamat and banishing her to the Abyss.

After that, we reached the bottom of the stairs and a huge 20’ by 20’ stone door. The painting on the door showed a maelstrom of chaos and a giant hydra figure emerging from it. It looked like it had been painted much more recently than the frescoes on the stairs. We noticed that one corner of the huge door had been broken into, and we carefully squeezed inside.

This room was in bad shape. The walls of the room were deformed, as if under pressure. In place, briars pushed through cracks. There was a large pile of rubble in the middle of the floor. Above us, there had been a glass ceiling. The glass was broken, and soil and roots were visible. It seemed the forest was intent on taking over this room. There were two doors, one across from where we entered, and another one on the right. A large statue of a lizard man stood in one corner.

Varus thought it looked like the walls or ceiling could cave in (further) at any minute. He quietly moved in and found kobold graffiti and symbols on the walls. He inspected the door to the right. It once had a lock; now there was a rope handle with a knot in it. He was no rogue, but kobold handiwork seemed likely.

Tyala quietly moved to the other door and found it did not lock, but was braced from the other side and would not budge.

Basel decided to check out the pile of rubble and found several boulders in the pile. He looked up to see rocks in the ceiling.

“I say, this ceiling looks unsafe!” His voice was enough to send boulders falling from the ceiling, and Basel had to jump out of the way to avoid being crushed. Fortunately, it did not bring the whole ceiling down on us.

Tyala chuckled as she came over and checked out the rope lock, and said it was recent. She asked for a volunteer to pull the rope but to leave the door closed, then looked at Basel. Basel did so. There was a twang and an arrow point burst through the door. He opened the door safely. Varus grabbed Basel’s shoulder and signaled for him to wait, and he and Tyala moved silently into the hallway. We moved up to a door and peered inside. There was a long table full of delicious, mouth-watering food that smelled wonderful, a veritable feast! It was lit by torch and candlelight. Varus was astonished. This must be an illusion for some sort of trap. While they were inspecting it, Flidais suddenly ran right by them and into the room. She activated a pressure plate. Holes opened in the floor outside the room, and darts shot out. Tyala dodged but Varus was struck and poisoned. Basel came up and cured the poison. Then he went into the dining room, touched the food, and started eating. Varus and Tyala looked at each other and then had to laugh. We were surely going to die in here.

“Tyala, I don’t think you have to disable any more traps. Just let Flidais and Basel go first…and stand far back!” he laughed.

Tomeck searched the hallway and found two pressure plates in the floor. Tyala investigated and found one of them had been wedged shut. She then wedged the other one shut. While she was working on this, however, Basel decided to proceed through the mess hall after finishing his repast. The floor opened beneath him, and he had to jump backward to avoid falling in. The loud crash clued us in. Basel was quite good at discovering traps!

While searching the area, Tyala found a secret door and successfully picked the lock with her thieves’ tools. There was a small room, and inside there was a gnome. Not a live gnome, but very strange one made of brass and bronze and other materials. The stomach was a large glass container that contained some type of liquid. Below the glass sphere, there was a spigot at crotch level.

The robo-gnome animated and talked to us.

“Hello, I’m Tipsy 3000! Don’t be a bigot, drink from the spigot!”

Basel went over to the gnome, grabbed the spigot, and drank deeply. Really, Varus would have been surprised it if Basel hadn’t drunk from the spigot. Maybe Rao was also a god of luck.

“I feel inspired!” announced Basel.

“Thank you for enjoying Tipsy 3000.” Varus could have sworn the gnome said it with a smile. Several others drank from the spigot and received different magical benefits.

Fascinated and creeped out, Varus inspected the artificial gnome more closely. On its backside, there was a plaque with an inscription. Halaster Blackcloak. Something seemed familiar about that name, but Varus could not place it. He noted it for future research. It must have taken significant magical knowledge to create something like this. Further below the plaque was an opening of some sort that seemed to access the inner workings. Varus manipulated it until he could feel a release valve. He emptied his water bag and held it under the opening, and then triggered the mechanism. Different colored fluids flowed into the bag. Red first, then green, turquoise, grape, and cherry mixed together in his water bag. He wondered why he felt so dirty.

We moved on, and Tyala came to a T-intersection. To the left was the door to the first room that had been blocked. It turns out it was blocked by a huge column. To the right was a hallway riddled with holes in the wall. The rogue started looking for a trigger to this obvious trap and found a lever. She pushed it up and heard the trap fire. Then she heard voices in a room near the switch. She peeked in. There were two half-dragons, one green, one black. There were arguing over a card game. She retreated and reported back. We decided to lure the half-dragons past the trap. Varus and Tyala would hide around the corner past the door to attack them from behind.

When we fell back to our positions, temporal portals suddenly open beside Basel and Tomeck. Giant dragon claws slashed out of the portals barely missing them. To their horror, they also saw a five-headed dragon. Tiamat was starting to come through to this plane. The ceremony must be underway!

Varus created the sound of human voices to lure out the half-dragons. The first half-dragon turned right, towards the rest of the party. The second half-dragon turned left and headed towards Varus and Tyala. Varus saw him coming, grabbed Tyala, walked up the wall to the ceiling, and froze. Tyala covered them with her cloak and hid. Being a wood elf has its advantages. The half-dragon, intent on executing a planned pincer movement and not expecting anyone, ran right past them.

The effects of the summoning harassed our party. A large, monstrous roar was directed at Basel and Tyala that could have scared even the bravest. They resisted the effect, but were still shaken.

The first half-dragon charged the group. Basel, Tomeck, and Flidais missed, and the half-dragon breathed deadly gas on Basel and Tomeck. Flidais was otherwise occupied. The ground underneath her feet seemed to disappear, as smoke billowed and flames shot out and burned her. The black half-dragon ran down a parallel hallway. It ignited its flaming sword and yelled its battle cry and kept running.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” The yell stopped as he was distracted by Tipsy 3000.

Flidais missed and Tomeck hit with acid spray, but it seemed to have no affect. Tyala and Varus came around the corner at that point. Tyala’s arrow missed, but Varus sang a song of holding…and the half-dragon froze in place.

As Basel managed to miss the frozen half-dragon, Tiamat roared again. Flidais dropped her bow ran down the hallway. She triggered the pressure trap, burning herself and the approaching half-dragon, but the burn allowed her to break through the fear.

The frozen half-dragon could not break free from the bard’s spell, and Basel struck again. This time he struck true with a might blow of the axe, and smashed through the half-dragon’s armor. Tyala hit it with a sneak attack, and Varus finished it with an arrow through the neck.

Flidais activated the fire trap, grabbed her bow, and ran. Another temporal portal opened and she saw Tiamat! A beam shot from one of her eyes and hit the wall beside Flidais as the portal closed. We fell back towards the half-dragon’s room and readied our attacks. Tomeck spread some ball bearings in front of the room.

Another portal opened; dragon heads glared at Basel and Tomeck. Your muscles have turned to stone. They just said no. The black half-dragon hit the ball bearings and did not fall, but wobbled in front of Basel, who unloaded with his axe and slashed the half-dragon. Nicely played, Tomeck, nicely played. We quickly finished him with our attacks.

Between the two of them, they had a metal shield, a magical (obviously flaming) short sword, a magical morning star, and a few coins. A deck of cards in a wooden box and glass lid was on the table. Tyala requested those.

We crept up to what appeared to be a kobold bunk room. Varus disappeared and sang a lullaby on four of them. Tyala rushed in and blasted a fifth. Tomeck missed the last one. Another portal opened, and the gaze of Tiamat was on Basel and Tomeck. Basel could not resist and was frozen, but called upon Rao (the god, not the horse) and he resisted. The last kobold turned towards the wall and pushed something on the wall. Giant pendulum blades swung out in the hallway and sliced Basel and Flidais. The ranger drank a healing potion and dashed out of the hallway, then Varus took down the last kobold with an arrow. We found 4 garnets and some lembas bread. Those that ate the lembas bread found that they could cast another spell that day!

We decided to take…a short rest. Varus sang a set of elven swing music to help everyone heal up. Basel drank from the flask of many potions and was inspired. Varus then drank and recovered a spell!

We move on to a large room filled with books, obviously a library. A statue of minotaur drew our attention to the center of the room; upon further inspection, there was a pit on the right side of the room, which Varus thought seemed strange for a library. Most of the books appeared to be in bad shape unusable. When Basel instinctively went over to inspect the books, the minotaur statue animated with the sound of clanking gears. It rushed Basel and tried to bull him into the pit. Basel met it his shield, and then dug in, exerting his full strength. The minotaur slowed, then stopped. The smell of smoke and sound of grinding gears, and he stops it.

We scoured the bookcases and found one small section that appeared undamaged. It seemed these must be magical to still be intact. There were several titles. The first book was It's A Trap!; second, Cockatrice Writer, third, a spell book with wizard spells, fourth, a Manual of Constitution; fifth, Patronage: A Warlock’s Choice, sixth, five crafting recipes. Quite an impressive collection, and quite valuable. We carefully put them in the bag of holding.

Down this hallway we found another large room. A statue of a large bird with lights on its wings dominated this room. Braziers burned on either side. On one side there was a table with several items. Tyala inspected and found a scroll of magic missile, as well as a switch.

Varus inspected the statue, which turned out to be a roc. He knew the legend of roc, pulled out his dagger, and cut himself. He healed a hit point and received inspiration! Tyala tried it but took damage. Tomeck tried it, and felt lucky that he was not judged for his dwarven background. We retreated out of the room, and Tomeck and Varus used their mage hands to pull the lever. The room filled with electrical energy discharges, which finally dissipated, and the door opened. 

This room was square with a huge square hole in the middle. Purple light glowed from the pit and we could see the vines disappearing into the darkness. A narrow walkway skirted the room, and we carefully crept around it and headed down a long hallway. This ended in a room with a fountain and two chests. At the bottom of the fountain was a large stone. Tyala checked out and opened the first chest, which contained a few coins. The second chest looked strange to her. She investigated further and found openings in the floor in front of it. Varus and Tomeck tried to open it with mage hand, but it was locked. Tomeck tied a rope to it and we tried to haul it down the hallway. Then something pulled back. He pulled again, hard, and felt something move. He pulled harder, but it pulled him forward…along with everyone else. He threw the rope away, and we saw it slowly being pulled into the room. Varus had heard of creatures that “fished” for prey and shuddered. No one was anxious to investigate further, and we pushed on.

We soon came across two dead cultists that seemed to have sacrificed themselves. Another seemed to be partially transmuted to stone. Part of the summoning ritual, no doubt. Just beyond that we came to a 20’ by 15’ room with circles, squares, and triangles in the floor. Flidais found corresponding buttons on the wall. She pressed a circle on the wall, and a jet of black energy shot up and enveloped Basel, seriously reducing his maximum hit points (to 25). We pushed several combinations, but could not deactivate the floor. Finally, Varus used the ability of his spider climb leather armor to move across the room on the ceiling and to the other side, where he found another a panel of buttons. He and Flidais tried different combinations, but could not deactivate the floor.

Varus conceded and decided to send his leather armor back by mage hand, and everyone had to don it and walk across the ceiling to get across safely. We gladly left room of geometric doom behind, and Tyala found a secret room. Inside, on an altar, was the fifth and final green gem. We took it, of course. After that, we found another staircase, leading down. We prepared to descend and stop the summoning ceremony.

Loot

·        4 garnets

·        metal shield, magical flaming short sword (+1?) (Tyala), magical morning star (+1?) (Flidais),
90 cp, 40 sp, 9 gp

·        Magical tomes!: The first book It's A Trap!; second, Cockatrice Writer, third, a spellbook with wizard spells, fourth, a Manual of Constitution; fifth, Patronage: A Warlock’s Choice, sixth, five crafting recipes.

·        8 pp, 6 gp, 4 sp