Category The Tormentors

After returning to the Mouth of Doom, the adventurers rapidly make their way past the now hallowed temple of Orcus, pass through the portcullis and enter the area that lies beyond, After entering an amazingly large maze, they exit into an area that contains natural passages and a bridge arching over a chasm along which thunders a river. On the opposing side of the bridge are a pair of ambulatory brains. ‘Intellect Devourers!’ hisses the mage and the group retreats to plot.
When they return the brains are gone and the group breathers a sigh of relief. They explore a bit more and find small cavern that contains a water-filled depression. At the bottom, a passage extends into the unknown. Water breathing is arranged and they move onward, surfacing in an area that is hot and dry...

The plucky group of adventurers spends some more time investigating possible avenues of exploration. The elf opines that the tagalongs are likely to get slaughtered before too much time has passed, and given the large amount of loot they have collected – it might be time to head back above ground. After all, it has only been 62 days since they last saw the sun…It would be good to get some vitamin D again.

They pile the loot onto the wizard’s floating disc and retrace their steps towards the surface. There is a brief moment of fun when they encounter an 8-pack of Orcus priests heading towards the temple complex they just hallowed. The group slaughters them without too much trouble and resumes their march to the surface.

Within a day they are back in the sleepy fishing village and all the ...

After plundering the transmuter’s lair and stripping his shelves of books and journals, the group returns to the temple of evil. After three days of trying they manage to dispel the trap that guards the door and enter the room. Along the way, they discover that one of the mice is a transmuted monk, who – upon rescue – offers his services to the party. One of the other mice is a cockatrice – scary! They also use the rust shield to eat through the portcullis that bars their progress deeper into the complex and find a stair that leads down to a ‘T’ intersection that radiates traps and magic in both directions.

The group finally enters the temple and the priest begins the ceremony. As he chants, the rest of the party spreads out around the perimeter and stands guard...

Faced with a portcullis, and unwilling to touch it or expend magic to open it, they turn back to explore more of the crypts they previously encountered, in the hopes that other avenues of exploration may be discovered. They do find a secret door with a keyhole, warded by a spell-engine that prevents magic from affecting the door. With no key in sight, they return to exploring.

A previously discovered hidden doorway is opened and explored. A hallway lies beyond as well as a couple of rooms, the last of which is some sort of warped menagerie. All manner of twisted mutations in cages are placed in the room. There are monkeys with spider legs and spiders with monkey heads. A human torso is topped by a tiger’s head and the abomination has given birth to a litter of young...

The cleric uses the map o traps to disarm the magical trap upon the double doors and the Lad deals with the physical trap in the most direct way possible. He triggers it. The block of stone only inflicts a flesh woulnd and the cleric, paladin and Lad heave upon the doors and one ponderously grinds open….to reveal a terrifying sight.

Arrayed in front of the doors is a double line of spell-toting cleric/fighters. Behind them are a quintet of spell casters and in the middle of the room – atop a great set of stairs that straddle a pit of lava is another being. The room is huge, shaped like a six-pointed star and is decorated by a huge statue of Orcus – the demon prince. With that, the battle is joined.

The clerics cast various and sundry debilitating spells, dealing damage and attempting to h...