llot session 3 - high mistral

Session #3 of the Lorn Labyrinth of Tsathoggus, an OD&D 3LBB megadungeon campaign run over at the OD&D Discussion Board Discord Server.

The Expedition

The party of Sebed and Athona the fighters, Eless the magic-user, and their two hired men-at-arms decided to once again set out on an expedition into the Lorn Labyrinth. During the previous week the party brought on a new member Lando, a fighter. In the previous adventure, Eless was given a strange orb which she spent time investigating. She uncovered it to be a Censer of Controlling Air Elementals, which summons a powerful 12 hit die elemental under the control of the item's user. In her research a warning was given, if the censer is disrupted while the elemental is summoned, it's enslavement is broken and it may turn on its master. The air elemental was identified by the name High Mistral, a mid-tier demon of the realm of air. With their new magical artifact in tow, they set out quickly and arrived with no resistance to the labyrinth by late morning.

The Labyrinth

The party found themselves lowering into a four-way corridor. They went to work setting up the censer and summoning High Mistral to their aid. Pressing east the party quickly saw a flickering torch 60' distant to the north. The torch bearing party called out: "Your light tells us you haven't become like one of the others. Let us parley and join forces against the darkness in these halls!". Eless immediately starting attempting to bend their will with her helm of telepathy and High Mistral was sent forth with violence. A large gust of wind followed extinguishing both the party's and the stranger's torches. Attempting to fight back the strangers pressed their spears against High Mistral but they passed through its non-corporeal body as he rended them to pieces. Meanwhile, a man-at-arms in their back rank became mind controlled by Eless who began stabbing his allies in the back to their confusion. By the time the party arrived, the strangers lay in pools of blood and their new "friend" stared at them mindlessly. They collected up their belongings including a scroll case found on the body of the slain robe-wearing leader.

As the party pressed on, Athona spoke up: "There is something strange about this place. I can't explain it completely, but being down here blurs the lines between good and evil. We killed those men in cold blood, but there was no way to know they wouldn't have stabbed us in the back given the chance. In the labyrinth its us or them. We can't take the risk. Its just part of adventuring in this cursed place." Her monologue indicated something had changed within the party's conscience. No longer were they free agents in the cosmic struggle but found themselves aligning with the tenets of chaos.

Following the path from which the slain men came, the party continued, checking doors along the way. Within a corner room they found a spider which was quickly dispatched by High Mistral. Wrapped in a silken cocoon was a corpse drained of all fluid but packing several coins in a rotten backpack. Continuing on, Eless detected the thoughts of some men in a nearby door. The party prepared themselves then burst into the room, unleashing death. Before all fell, Eless bound their leader to her will, finding herself with a 2nd level fighter thrall named Fredrik. The party did an inventory of their newly acquired loot from their foes and decided to relocate the censer to the previous room with the spider, a more defensible location. They left Fredrik and a man-at-arms to stand guard.

Having a look at their mapping so far, the party realized they had been encircling a central collection of rooms and sought out a way to explore. Soon they found a door and began searching through this sub region of the dungeon. Quickly Eless' helm revealed the thoughts of an less intelligent creature to their east. With little difficulty, Eless brought it under her influence. They met with the creature on the other side of a door, turning out to be an ogre named Glugark. He spoke of his old master Garlo who disappeared on day, never to return. Now that he had a new master, he was glad to show them around.

Glugark took them through a bedroom containing an mahogany bed frame complete with filthy silken sheets. In the bed lay a marble statue of a maiden. The party quickly rummaged through the room being sure to take the statue and Glugark's several hundred gold coins with them. In the final room they found a strange portal surrounded with the carving of a distorted face with a wicked grin. The party detected familiarity and pressed into the portal finding themselves in a semi-flooded region of the dungeon, an unknown distance away from their original location.

The party, having stumbled upon a room filled with frog-spawn and a peculiar frog fountain, found themselves in a familiar environment. As they explored, they encountered a group of frog-men. The party, perhaps motivated by a desire for riches, decided to intimidate the frog-men into revealing the location of their treasure. The frog-men, intimidated and fearing for their lives, reluctantly complied, leading the party deep into an area where familiarity faded. The frog-men took the party to a small room containing a statue of a frog. During the walk, Eless had taken impressed her mental will on two of the creatures using her helmet. After seeing the statue, a sense of desperation and fear overcame the frog-men who remained unaffected by Eless' mind-altering magic. In an attempt to escape the impending threat, the frog-men made a break for it. Unfortunately for them, the party, fueled by a combination of determination and avarice, pursued relentlessly. The confrontation reached a brutal climax as the party, showing no mercy, caught up with the frog-men and engaged them in a deadly battle. The air was filled with the sounds of clashing weapons, desperate pleas, and the croaking of the frog-men. Ultimately, the party emerged victorious, leaving the lifeless bodies of the frog-men in their wake.

The party returned to the room with the statue and used the frog-men thralls to move the statue, underneath which contained several hundred coins and a fancy looking sword in an elaborate sheath. Counting themselves successful in the delve, the party decided to turn back and make their way out of the labyrinth. Making it to the exit (not before retrieving their allies and the censer), they utilized Glugark to help them heave their sum of treasure out of the dungeon. The frog-men and Glugark refused to leave, which the party postulated was due to some sickness or curse as indicated by a black film which covered their eyes. Wishing to leave allies below, the party decided to spare them and had them return from whence they came. During these discussions Eless detected another group of men traversing to the west but the party decided to avoid the encounter and return back to Croy.

The Return

The party arrived to the outskirts of Croy before nightfall with no resistance. After calculating up their earnings they found they had several hundred gold coins, a scroll, and a mysterious sword. Each received ~300XP.

⇦ back to all posts