An Ugly Dwarf That Was Also Large#

Cathal did not detect evil when he levitated up to the eyes, prior to the battle. The wolves wandered away, though Kyril warned that the wolves’ friendship would time out at some point. Flint was now carrying the Dust of Diminuition .

We entered a large hall through the maw of the dwarf. Frescos lined the walls, and a long trail of bones littered the floor. Something large had crawled into the cavern, and died, leaving only dust and bones.

A single hallway left this large hall, heading north. Old, rusted, long since sprung lance traps lined the hallway as we made our way forward. Flint and Seamus took the van, searching for functional traps. Flint got zapped by a somewhat functional trap for 1 point of damage, which was quickly mended by Cathal.

The hallway ceiling was 20’ high. Passing the rusted lance traps we found two large, golden, heavily dented statues of dwarves. One of the dwarves seemed to be holding the skull and spine of a long dead ogre, or something similar.

Beyond the statues we found large blocks which had fallen from the ceiling, 6’ apart. Crushed bones beneath and around them showed them to be a sprung trap as well. Beyond these blocks the hallway terminated in a large room with 3 sets of stairs: down west and east and up, to the north.

The room was 20’x30’ and littered with broken statues and plaster. The statues once had elaborate metal gilding, but it was long gone.

The party decided to go up the northern stairs but found the stairway collapsed, completely. Perhaps this is where the dwarves collapsed the tunnel intentionally to destroy the marauding monster.

Back in the large room. West and east, the stairs went downward but the ceilings above the stairs did not. Reflecting, the party realized that Cathal had not in fact levitated up to the eyes or investigated higher up above the dwarf’s face. The party decided to head back to the entrance and re-examined the area.

Cathal levitated, while Menka, Lycovyne and Tim ascended on the carpet. As soon as we reached eye- level we were attacked by 3 creatures. Large eagles with the heads of stags.

• initiative loss
• Cathal, mid-air, got nailed by the horns of a peryton for 9 points (50)
• Menka snuck in a Sanctuary spell
• Lycovyne called out “spell” but meant “wand”
• Tim cast lighting bolt at one of the creatures, zapping it for 31 points of damage. It seemed to careen off course and fly away.
• Menka’s Sanctuary spell fended off one peryton, praise Thoth!
• A peryton gored Lycovyne for 7 points of damage (38)
• He hit it back with a Cone of Cold from his wand for 27 points of ice damage
• Cathal fought back for 12 points
• It is noted here that Cathal does indeed have Heward’s Handy Haversack
• The creature Tim zapped had indeed left the field
• Tim cast magic missile, killing a peryton weakened by Lycovyne’s cone of cold
• initiative loss
• a peryton missed Cathal
• As it passed Cathal missed it, then hit it for 7 points
• Gonchar threw his new hammer with a natural 20, doing 48 points of damage, killing that same peryton. The axe returned to his hand.
• 3 perytons (30, 29, one escaped)

Cathal mended himself for 2 points and Lycovyne for 1. As you were.

Cathal levitated up to the eyes, followed by Lycovyne, Menka and Tim on the carpet. It got colder the higher he got. He aligned himself with the eastern side of the left eye. The eyes were 10’ wide, and the paladin detected significant evil behind the eyes. Pure, concentrated evil. And it was very, very cold. He informed the folks on the carpet just below him and moved on.

Rising higher he noticed that the dwarf’s helm was shattered and collapsed. It was also much less cold higher up, near the shattered helm, than it was in front of the eyes. It was then that he realized that there was still a peryton around, as their nest was within the shattered helm.

• initiative win
• It attacked Cathal, and he missed it, badly
• The peryton nailed the paladin for 10 points, though
• initiative win
• Cathal smote the peryton with heavenly force and it fell to the ground, where it landed on Flint, doing 120 points of falling damage, killing the dwarf outright
• 1 peryton, ?? hp

The 3 heroes on the flying carpet hovered up to the height of the peryton nest. Dried, crusted blood everywhere, and a dead duergar. Its heart was gone, of course, and the evil dwarf had been dead about a week. Interesting.

Heedless of the blood and guts, the carpet party debarked and searched the nest. Tim found a sealed vial of liquid and Lycovyne, a scroll of some sort.

Cathal cast cure serious wounds upon himself, thanks to his sacred weapon, getting him to 57/67.

The Devils We Know#

The 4 heroes aloft dropped down to eye level and Menka, Lycovyne, Tim and Cathal entered the skull through the eyes. We braved the cold, but took cold damage on the way in. Tim lost one point, Menka 3 and Cathal and Lycovyne each took 2. Lycovyne actually got blown off the carpet by the gale of cold wind coming through the eyes but Tim caught him and kept him from falling to the ground.

We entered the top floor through the eyes and found ourselves in the dwarf’s skull chamber. In the middle of this chamber stood an evil statue we had seen before. A winter cloud with glowing red eyes. The damaging cold wind seemed to be emanating from the statue.

More yeti materialized near the statue and attacked!

• initiative win
• Tim nailed all of the yeti with a fireball, though the flames seemed to channel harmlessly around the statue
• Menka cast resist cold from a scroll, delayed effect
• As it happened, Tim’s conflagration killed them all, though Cathal put several of the wretches out of their misery
• ??? yeti, (??? hp)

Menka’s resist cold kicked in and he was safe for a while. The rest of the party was not, and Flint, Gonchar and Kyril had joined us behind the eyeballs by now. Immediately the party attacked the horrifying statue to destroy it. As soon as we attacked it, we heard a howling from down the hallway behind the statue. Soon enough, we were attacked by a creature with six legs, emanating cold. It was like a foul mix of a snow leopard and a rhino or unicorn.

• (no initiative to attack the statue)
• Cathal took 6 points of cold damage
• Magical cold, Menka made his save, no damage
• Tim took 1 point of damage, while Lycovyne took 2
• Lycovyne attacked the statue with his sword, hitting it for 8 points
• Cathal hit it for 6 points
• Menka missed the stationary object
• Flint, Cathal and Menka (failing his save) took 1 point of cold damage
• Kyril took 3
• Seamus was unaffected
• (Surprised by the 6-legged creatures)
• Cathal got clawed for 3 points, then 1 more point of cold damage
• Flint attacked the creature, hitting it for ?? points
• Menka hit the statue with his mace for 10 points of damage, praise Thoth!
• Cathal hit the attacking creature for 34 points!
• Seamus missed, then hit the creature for 6 points
• Gonchar hit the creature for 13 points of damage
• Kyril nailed the creature with his staff and a natural 20 for 14 points, destroying it
• ??? (?? hp)
• Tim also missed the stationary object, despite all of Cathal’s encouragement
• Lycovyne hit the statue for 9 points
• The cold from the statue continued to bite:
  • Cathal and Kyril: 2 points, Gonchar 6 points, Lycovyne 3 points
• 2 more of the icy cold 6-legged creatures appeared and attacked!
• A different, larger, older (?? elder?) creature also attacked!
• initiative win
• The creatures had very thick fur, though they seemed to bleed like normal beasts
• Lycovyne hit the statue with his Sword of Sharpness and a natural 20 and lopped its ’ead off - the statue fell to pieces and ceased its chilling effect
• Seamus hit one of the creatures with a natural 20 for 20 points, then missed
• Cathal hit it for 12
• Tim hit the other one for 14 points (with his dagger?)!
• Flint hit one for 5 points, and then got clawed for 5 himself
• Menka case cure serious wounds on Cathal getting him 16 points
• Everyone in combat took 3 points from the creatures’ cold emanations (Menka missed his save)
• initiative win
• Tim cast Evard’s Black Tentacles, ensnaring all 3 creatures and killing the weaker one outright
• Cathal and Gonchar took 3 points of cold damage
• Cathal also got gored by the 6-legged creature for 2 points
• initiative loss
• Both creatures missed their attacks and took 23 points of damage from Tim’s testicles tentacles
• Cathal struck the older/elder thing a mighty blow, killing it
  • the creature leaked blue blood and was entirely evil
• Menka missed
• Flint nailed the remaining creature for 18 points
• Seamus missed, then hit it for 10
• Gonchar hit it for 11 points
• Menka, Flint and Gonchar took 3 more points of cold damage
• initiative loss
• Flint nailed the creature again for 14 points, killing it!
• 2 creatures (?? hp)

Finally, the frigid cold ceased, completely. Kyril cured Lycovyne’s lighter wounds twice, getting him 16 points. Seamus offered to heal Cathal but was rebuffed and, instead healed Flint for 11 points and Gonchar surreptitiously for 7 points. Menka cured his own lighter wounds for 8 points.

Pure, Concentrated Evil#

Lycovyne had found a scroll of Protection from Cold, but never used it (??). We formed a marching order and headed north with Seamus and Flint in the van, scouting ahead. 20’ in, a hallway went left but the way was blocked by frozen thorns, floor to ceiling. 30’ farther down the main corridor on the left was a double door, barred from our side.

Across from the barred double doors, Gonchar entered a room (A) that seemed to be the lair of the creatures that attacked us. The room reeked heavily of an animal presence, and the remains of several mostly-eaten corpses littered the room. Gonchar poked around and found some loot!

Cold Monster Loot#

• Map, A?
• 102 cp
• 70 ep
• 24 gp
• 15 pp
• 50’ of rope in good condition
• 1 potion

Cathal entered C (yes?) and immediately rolled initiative, failing. 4 more yeti attacked!

• initiative loss
• Cathal took 5 points of damage
• they missed Gonchar, though he nailed one for 13 points
• Seamus hit one for 6 points with his flagon
• Cathal nailed one for 14 points
• Menka whacked one for 10, praise Thoth!
• Kyril hit one as well for 6 points
• initiative loss
• Gonchar got clawed for 12 points, ouch!
• Likewise, Cathal got clawed for 4 points
• They beasties missed Seamus and Kyril
• Gonchar hit back for 21 points, killing his foe
• Cathal dropped his opponent at the same time
• Menka missed, thoroughly
• Tim hit one for 5 points (with?)
• Flint missed with both weapons, but with charisma
• Right about then a much larger yeti joined the party, easily twice the size of his comrades
• initiative tie
• Seamus went first, but missed 4 times
• Cathal got whacked for 6 more points
• Flint hit the big guy twice for 12 points
• Tim missed
• Menka hit the big guy (I think) for 10 points
• Cathal whacked the big guy with his sacred sword and a natural 20 for 34 points
• Gonchar hit his opponent for 13 points
• Kyril hit one for 8 points, killing it
• Lycovyne nailed the big guy for 13 points, killing him as well
• initiative loss (one yeti left)
• Flint got hit for 5 points
• Cathal missed
• Seamus grazed one for 3 points
• Menka thrashed the last yeti with the Flail for 9 points, killing it
• 5 yeti (55, 29 x 4)

We searched down the main corridor a bit more and found their nesting place (B?). In that room, a human skeleton was frozen and stuck to the wall, though it was beginning to thaw. It was wrapped in fur and had a deer’s head, with raw meat stuffed in its eyes. While we gazed at the thing in horror, it became animated by the cosmic satyr.

He congratulated us on the destruction of the Windwalker and dispelling it. We asked him what made this visit worth his time. He chuckled and told us that something similar or related was arising from the sea near the Hibernian home temple, back in the vicinity of the Monastery. As quickly as he appeared, he departed. The idol remained horrifying.

There was nothing else of value or interest in the room so we moved on. The room across the hallway (C) was empty, though it did contain human remains. The bones were clothed in a fur-lined robe, indicating a priest of a human deity, not a dwarven deity.

Further down the hallway we found a room (D) with a bunch of half-eaten creatures. There were 3 of them, and they seemed to be part of some sort of sacrificial slaughter. They had been dead less than a week.

Across from that room we found a hallway, stacked with heads of all makes and types. While we examined the hallway we were attacked by a group of cold-weather savages, like evil Eskimos crossed with sand people.

• surprise, or initiative loss?
• they all missed Cathal
• Gonchar got hit for one point and made his save vs. poison
• Seamus missed
• Gonchar nailed one for 18 points
• they were smelly, nasty critters
• Kyril stayed out, fearing the poison
• Menka hit one for 8 points
• initiative win
• Cathal hit one for 24 points of damage
• Seamus hit twice, for 9 and 5 points each
• Menka broke a nail
• Gonchar nailed one for 15 points, killing it
• Flint missed, twice
• more of the nasty creatures joined the fray, including a huge one, attacking with a battle axe
• initiative win
• Flint hit a creature twice for 7 points both times, killing it
• Menka chipped another nail
• Cathal whacked the huge guy for 10 points
• Gonchar hit a smaller one, killing it
• Lycovyne sliced one open for 9 points
• Menka got hit for 7 points
• initiative win
• Menka struck back for 8 points
• Seamus bottled one for 7 points
• Gonchar hit one for 11
• They missed Gonchar, though Menka got hit again for 3
• The huge creature with the axe missed Cathal
• initiative win
• Flint missed, as did Menka and Lycovyne
• Cathal hit the big guy again for 10 points
• Seamus flagoned his opponent twice for 8 and 4 points, though it was not dead yet
• Gonchar nailed a new one for 13 points, then again at the end of the round, killing it
• They missed Cathal, Menka and Gonchar
• initiative loss
• They missed Seamus and Menka
• The big guy hit Cathal with his axe, hard for 11 points
• Flint hit one twice for 13 points, killing it
• Menka hit one with his mace and a natural 20 for 14 points
• Gonchar and Lycovyne hit the big guy for 18 and 9 points
• Cathal ran the big guy through, killing him
• Worshippers of Ithaqua (37, 37, 37, 38, 38, 38, 60)

We searched the room (F?) the creatures used as a den. It was foul and disgusting, though Gonchar did find sacks of gold and platinum coins of an ancient, dwarven design. Not in circulation for many years.

Ancient dwarven coins, 200-300 years old:

• 500 gp
• 250 pp