August 22, 2009 - The party invades Bhal-Hama and fight Kuo-Toas and a demon in a 70 ft. tall, 3-floored evil shrine.
Rewinding slightly: When returning to Cauldron with Gottrod's corpse, the Stormhammers spot a dazed, soaking wet armored man stagger out of some bushes. He stares at them before falling unconscious. The party looks at each other, shrugs, and takes him into town with them.
When he awakes he introduces himself as Ragnarok, and says he comes from a strange, burned-out ashen world where everything is cinders and blackened. He fell into a dirty, sooty lake and woke up in this world, with lush plantlife and wildlife. Confused, but pleased, he tentatively joins the Stormhammers.
The next day, the party prepares to leave to head to the Pit of Jaws. Yggdrasil receives word that his magic shoulderbow is ready for installation, so they grab it before heading out of town.
Upon arriving at the location Crazy Jared marked on their map, they find the Pit of Jaws is a large, squarish hole in the earth with rickety metal stairs descending along the walls to the bottom (about 80' drop). The stairs are grated and rusty, and creak ominously when walked upon, but the party descends without trouble from the stairs.
When they near the bottom, a slithering, hissing form with four heads lunges out of the darkness and attacks - a hydra. It bites and lunges, and misses, so Huron, Ragnarok and Vico leap down to fight it. It bites at them as they drop down, but continues to miss...really, it sucked. Yggdrasil and Brigs stay on the stairs and blast it from afar, but the hydra starts shooting back by breathing blasts of cold at them. Meanwhile down below, the melee characters are surprised when one of the dirt walls explodes outwards and a large lizard with enormous, scissor-like jaws lunges out and seizes Vico in its maw. However, Vico quickly teleports behind the beast before it can bite down.
Partly through the fight, another new member of the Stormhammers arrives - a minotaur paladin named Razeteron. He hurls his magic axe down into the pit as he makes his way down, not having any other ranged attacks. Soon after he arrives the two beasts are slain. While searching the bottom of the pit, the party finds a broken-legged corpse of an adventurer clutching a magic amulet which protects its wearer from dangerous falls.
A tunnel at the bottom of the pit leads deeper underground, and after traveling for a long time, the party emerges into a huge cavern with a large dark lake. Heavy fog floats atop the lake, and phosphorescent light can dimly be seen through the fog. As the party is looking around the bank of the lake for a boat, they become aware of a large boat slowly drifting through the fog towards them, with a humanoid shape standing in it. They ready weapons, and as it draws near they see a Kuo-Toa with a long pole slowly pushing the boat across the water. They decide not to attack and instead wait to see what will happen. The boat comes to a stop and the Kuo-Toa asks them what they seek. They tell it that they seek Zenith, and it responds that it will take them to Zenith. Warily, they get in the boat and the kuo-toa starts pushing the boat across the lake.
While drifting, they ask the kuo-toa some careful questions. It responds vaguely and cryptically, seeming fond of referring to "the cold, wet dark" and how Zenith was protecting the kuo-toas. He also mentioned how Zenith is "amidst the darkness, but he sees things beyond the dark." The party is pretty creeped out but don't do anything. The boat arrives at the opposite shore, and the kuo-toa steps aside to let everyone get out. Someone hands him a coin or two, and the kuo-toa slowly puts them into a pouch at his waist. Someone then hands him a meat on a stick and again, he puts it slowly into his pouch. He then pushes back off into the fog.
The party looks up at Bhal-Hama, a huge stone building shaped like an immense fishlike structure, with a long set of stairs leading up into its mouth. Faint phosphorescence glows from various openings or windows, and faint, sporadic croaking can be heard coming from inside. The party ascends the stairs but are ambushed by four kuo-toas perched in the eyesockets, who hurl gooey javelins down on the party, immobilizing some of the party. The party starts returning fire, and the kuo-toas leap out of the windows at the party, armed with javelins and shell shields coated in some gooey slime. The eyesockets glow blue as they leap, and the kuo-toas drift gently down and don't take any falling damage.
During the fight, Vico and Brigs end up in the doorway, and glancing inside, don't see any other enemies. Brigs devastates three of the four kuo-toas by turning into lightning and running through them, wounding them before returning to regular form a safe distance away. One of the kuo-toas blocks a strike by Vico with its shield, and Vico's sword gets stuck to the goo and pulled from his hand to the floor. Unbothered, he mentally summons it back to his hand and continues fighting. After a brief fight, the kuo-toas are dispatched fairly easily. Huron grabs all of their javelins and they throw the goo shields into the bag of holding.
Inside the temple the floor is wet and slippery, and the entrance chamber walls are covered with tiled frescos depicting kuo-toas marching through underground caverns. Opposite the entrance is a heavy set of stone double doors, covered in carvings. To the left of the double doors is a fresco of a kuo-toa wielding a strange, two-pronged spear; on the right of the doors is a squat humanoid in plate armor with a black sphere where his head should be. Heavy curtains block off a passage to the left, and a portcullis blocks a passage to the right. What looks like porcelain shards cover the floor. Some examination reveals that the paint on the humanoid fresco is much fresher than the other designs in the room. Yggdrasil, Vico and Brigs all immediately sense powerful magic emanating from the double doors.
They head right, pulling a lever that lifts the portcullis with a horrible screeching noise. Inside is a long chamber with jail cells. Two creatures are sitting dejectedly in separate cells - a shifty, dirty looking human, and a halfling wearing tattered robes. Upon seeing the party enter, both start begging to be released, while at the same time shouting that the party should not release the other prisoner. Both accuse the other of being a spy for the kuo-toas and cannot be trusted. Deciding to speak with the halfling, they tell him they'll set him free IF...he opens the large double doors. He pales visibly and gulps, but agrees, so long as Yggdrasil will heal him if it happens to be trapped.
Meanwhile, Razeteron and Ragnarok head down a set of stairs in the room into a moist, wet hallway. The hallway opens into a room with large water pits in it, and they decide to return and come back here later.
Huron bodily grabs the human prisoner, and they return to the entry chamber. Razeteron stands guard on the halfling, who is looking increasingly nervous. Everyone else stands back a safe distance. After summoning his nerve, the halfling gingerly lifts the handle of the doors AND IS COMPLETELY OBLITERATED as a thunderous sonic explosion erupts from the doors. Only a pair of smoking boots are left on the floor. Razeteron gets blasted too and has to heal. Much laughter ensues, then debate on what to do with the other, now-terrified prisoner.
Someone: Should we let the other guy go? Someone else: I dunno, we might need to open more doors...
Eventually they "ask" him to fully open the doors and then he is free to go. He pushes them open, wincing, but nothing happens. He turns and sprints out the front entrance. Before heading inside, the party decides to check out the curtained room first. Vico and Huron peek inside and spot a number of sleeping kuo-toas. They steathily pad inside and kill them silently, though the last one wakes up abruptly just as Huron stabs it in the face with the pointy end of his t-rex mordenkrad. They head up some stairs in the room and find the now-empty guard posts in the fish eyesockets, and a small armory with a number of shields, some with the goo coating already applied, generic spears and leather armor, and more javelins. They take the goo shields but nothing else.
Returning to the double doors, they cross a short hall and open another set of doors, emerging onto the middle floor of an enormous, three-floor chamber. At the far end of the room, an immense, 70-foot tall statue of a lobster-headed and lobster-clawed woman carved out of black obsidian towers from the floor, through an elevated platform, and stretches all the way to the ceiling, its eyes glowing crimson and illuminating the room. The three floors/balconies are connected by steep staircases, and their edges perilously have no railings. A number of kuo-toa minions, Whips and soldiers are scattered about the room, and immediately attack. The Whips start hurling lightning at the party, drawing and conducting more powerful blasts from being close to each other. Two of the Whips hang back next to the statue, which starts ominously thrumming.
Returning to the double doors, they cross a short hall and open another set of doors, emerging onto the middle floor of an enormous, three-floor chamber. At the far end of the room, an immense, 70-foot tall statue of a lobster-headed and lobster-clawed woman carved out of black obsidian towers from the floor, through an elevated platform, and stretches all the way to the ceiling, its eyes glowing crimson and illuminating the room. The three floors/balconies are connected by steep staircases, and their edges perilously have no railings. A number of kuo-toa minions, Whips and soldiers are scattered about the room, and immediately attack. The Whips start hurling lightning at the party, drawing and conducting more powerful blasts from being close to each other. Two of the Whips hang back next to the statue, which starts ominously thrumming.
Vico sprints along the lower balcony and fey steps over to the central platform to engage one of the Whips in melee, while the others head the other direction, returning ranged fire. They don't get far before one of the Whips hits most of the party with a slime wave, obscuring their vision and knocking them prone. Brigs casts spectral claw at a Kuo-Toa on the top balcony, grabbing it and hurling it off the edge. It plummets 70 feet down and splatters on the floor. One of the Kuo-toa guards on the center platform rushes at Vico, but it critically fails and falls down, sliding right past and off the edge. It falls to the floor, injuring itself.
Huron and Yggdrasil end up on the ground, fighting some of the Kuo-Toas in melee, while Ragnarok and Brigs keep firing ranged attacks from the right side of the middle balcony. However, one of the Kuo-toas uses one of the strange pronged spears and grapples Ragnarok, then pushes him off the edge, so he falls to the floor as well. Vico wreaks more havoc on the center platform, teleporting around and injuring both Whips, who are trying to channel divine energy into the statue, which continues to hum ominously.
As the Stormhammers whittle down the number of Kuo-toas opposing them, there is a large burst of energy that erupts from the statue, and a large, winged demon appears in a cloud of smoke at the room's ceiling. Wielding a giant bow, it starts firing screaming arrows down at the party, which explode loudly upon impact, deafening the party. Vico rushes up the stairs to the top balcony as Brigs and Ragnarok fire chaos and crossbow bolts back at her. Meanwhile, Huron runs up onto the platform and starts climbing the statue.
Vico arrives at the top level and draws a new sword as he fey steps to the center balcony, close enough to slash the surprised demon. He cuts her and the sword magically slows her, but she flies easily away from him, shooting him. Huron continues to climb up the statue. She continues to fire indiscriminately at the party, but then fails her save which then immobilizes her. She falls 60 feet to the floor and is heavily injured. Meanwhile, Huron reaches the top of the statue.
Mike: I'm going to charge and leap down on her!! Party: :O DM: :O Demon archer woman: :O
Huron hurls himself off the top of the statue, screaming down and just mauling the demon, shattering both of her legs and greviously injuring her. He lands in a broken, bloody heap but is then consumed in flames before reappearing, healthy and full of fight. Terrified, the demon teleports to the middle balcony away from him, but Vico leaps off the top balcony and stabs her in the spine, killing her. They grab her bow, an oversized screaming bow and shove it in the bag of holding for Gramps.
PARTY LEVELS UP TO LEVEL 8.
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