The group charges to do battle with the golem, but it vanishes and two hulking stone monsters uncloak and menace the party. The Lad unloads on the first one, pulping its head and slaying it with a single blow. With a whoop, the party piles on the other one and despite a few unlucky mishaps, they slay the beast in a matter of seconds.
At this point the golem teleports into their midst and begins blasting scalding gouts of steam and applying golem-sized beatdown to all within reach. The severe pummeling scatters the party as they try to regroup and counter the assault. Eventually they manage to win through the stout defenses and manage to slay it a second time. There is a moment of silence as healing is applied to the most damaged and then the golem cracks open to reveal a third — even smaller – golem inside. The red-hot construct is no more than 5 feet tall, but glows with heat. As it tries unsuccessfully to beat the life out of Bababobo, the group digs deep and attacks for all they are worth. More steam blasts and some savage blows later, the little golem that could trembles briefly before exploding in a fiery discharge that fragments the hapless ranger’s body. Well now, that is a bummer. The survivors lick their wounds and make some hasty plans. A few medium-rare chunks of the ranger are taken along for resurrection purposes and the remainder of the party gets down to brass tacks and opens the vault doors. Therein they find many chests and some ornate armor and a royal seal and the rulership rod that they sought. Oh, and a couple of books.
The cleric disarms the traps with the map of traps and they claim their hard-won prize, stashing the rod in the clerics handy haversack. Sweet! Now, how do we get back out? It appears that the door has vanished. Oh, no wait – just an illusion. Ha ha. Sweet. Now, how do we reset the third ring? Oh. Time to search the other two doors to see where they lead. More rooms with IOU filled chests and a five golden hearts motif. After some puzzling, it is remembered that one of the panels had hearts on it. They return and press the gold one five times, allowing access to the next ring out. From this point, they know how to reset all the rest of the rings and within a few hours they are once again above ground and ready to depart the area.
They journey swiftly, all day and night, before reaching the headwaters of the Great Imphras and they move with the current through the fringes of the Rotting Man’s sphere of influence. In the end they are mostly unmolested, though the cleric and paladin have to turn a horde of river zombies. After the minor annoyances of travel have been dealt with, the group makes its way to the closest army post, where the cleric commandeers horses and food for the journey to the temple of Torm.
The temple does indeed assist with the resurrection of the hapless ranger and they thank the group for their service. The druid likewise thanks the party, but decides to leave the group to take a more active role in the defense of the region from the depredations of the Rotting Man’s forces. The six remaining party members rest, investigate and dispose of treasure and consider what to do next.
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