After Action Report: Cauldron Session 4

'I'm right over here,' Locke told the dwarven cleric. Tenkar stretched out his hand trying to find the opening to the gear door and what he hoped would be the relative safety of torchlight and friends. 'I've got you,' said Locke, grabbing the cleric's hand. Tenkar's darkvision did not allow him to see the seemingly invisible figure that approached from behind. He heard the rustle of robes as a dagger slid into his side. Magical darkness was replaced by unconsciousness. From the other side of the gear door, Locke felt the cleric's hand go slack....

After more than 13 straight hours exploring Jzadirune without a break, our little band of adventurers has almost lost its first member. Perhaps it was fatigue that pushed them to investigate one more room.... But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Five hours earlier, the party had successfully navigated an adventure with a tentacled creature below the stage the gnomes used for their theatre. One of the items they found in an old chest was a gnomish key with the letter J on it. Hoping that it would unlock some of the gear doors they had been unable to open, they set out with new enthusiasm. The party explored the SE corner of Jzadirune. Along the way they killed a couple more of the humanoids that have been sneaking up on them, they found an empty art gallery of some kind, a map room and a room with a sleeping gnomish king. Fonzig discovered a secret compartment in the throne and found 75 gold pieces and 2 more keys with the letters N and E. Further encouraged by this discovery, the party set of to open more of the gear doors. This eventually took them into the room where they had killed a couple of spiders earlier in the day.

A body was still hanging in the webbing above the fountain in this room. They had been interrupted by the spiders earlier and didn't finish cutting it down. They completed the job this time and found a shriveled humanoid corpse. There was also a pouch containing 2 gems and a stone. The stone, when released, began to circle above Camlin's head. An Ioun stone! There was a J gear door in the fountain room and that's when the party decided to push just a little further.... The open door revealed what looked like a dining hall. There were birds chirping in a room to the north, but there was an E gear door to the east. The party chose to open the door....

Kurgan, Tenkar and Fonzig entered the room and had just enough time to see a couple of large fireplaces before darkness descended. This darkness did not allow the dwarves and the gnome to see with their darkvision. The party standing outside the room saw pitch blackness when they looked into the room. What was going on here? That's when Fonzig heard footsteps. Something began to attack Tenkar and Kurgan in the darkness. Tenkar and Fonzig managed to make it out of the room again into the light, but soon the dining room was also plunged into darkness. The party was, for all intents and purposes, blind. There was a mad scramble west to find the gear door to the fountain room. The explorers brushed past or ran into each other and only through sheer luck (or fear) did they avoid attacking each other. Discipline disappeared quickly as it was everyone for themselves. Kurgan was the only one brave (or foolish) enough to stand and fight. He felt something stabbing at him with a dagger, but he fended off the attacks. He managed one mighty swing with his axe in the darkness, but only achieved a glancing blow....

Locke was the first to make it back to the light and he used his voice to guide the others. Cadfan, then Camlin made it to the relative safety of the fountain room. Fonzig, desperate with panic ran in the direction he thought was west. His body soon made contact with the west wall at full speed and he went down in a heap. Fortunately, his large nose cushioned the impact, but it may be broken. It's definitely bloodied. Tenkar moved more surely westwards, but something was following closely making stabs at him with a dagger. It finally caught up to him in the moment of his exit. The last anyone saw of Kurgan, he was swinging his axe wildly in the dark at a figure he could feel, but not see. All the while fending off dagger thrusts. Can the dwarf survive?