OSRealms -- Session 142
Session map
The next room to the northeast had two strange vases, filled with earth and decayed flowers of some kind. u-Heury collected some in case they came in handy, and we found small bones that had been broken as if to suck out the marrtow, but a search turned up nothing else of interest in the room at first.
We had posted guards near the eastern entrance, and that turned out to be a good decision. They heard quite a lot of squeaking, enough to give us warning of an incoming rat swarm. With the door providing a natural funnel for the swarm, I thought quickly and poured oil there, and had one of our torchbearers set it alight. The rats diverted away from the fire, and we finished our search.
OSRealms -- Session 141
Session map
Pusha made crowns for the St Yggian feast of virgins, and then took us to a curiousity shop. We were discussing various job opportunities, and not really coming up with anything local. Without u-Heury to keep the troglodytes’ attention, we weren’t confident of defeating them in a straight up fight, so we brainstormed tactics and evaluated alternatives. Eventually we settled on a strategy for the troglodytes: a chest of rotting fish left as bait, laced with pest-control poison from Nifty’s contacts, followed up with my spell of magical slumber from ambush as they suffered the consequences of the poison, Nifty and Morin to assassinate and backstab simultaneously, and as many hirelings as we can bring to back us up in the fight with the remaining fish-men. I guessed that the enchantment would likely be sufficient to remove either the chieftain or his two bodyguards from the fight, but not all three at once. We would need to be prepared to mop up whoever was left.
OSRealms -- Session 140
Feverborne called me in to help with selling three books in elvish the group had recovered some time ago and wanted to read before deciding whether or not to sell. I read a chapter from each, and decided two of them were worth reading more thoroughly. Worlds Beyond described alternative planes and dimensions, and Libraries of the Ancients was all about libraries and why elven libraries were better than all the others. Since some of the Glorious Blades have repoorted strange things happening in libraries, there might be some useful information. The third, Sense of the Beyond, was a fictional account of a romance with a ghost. That one we sold. I’ll read the other two over the next few days.
OSRealms -- Session 139
There were three trogolodytes, one for me, one for Punchman, and one for Pusha. Verminbane sliced mine in half deftly; I took only a small scratch in return. The others did not fare as well, both falling to their opponents quickly. Morin, however, struck from the shadows and killed one. The remaining creature fled down the ladder into what I assumed was their hideous larder of rotting flesh. Trusting Morin to hold the lantern and watch over our friends, I followed the creature down the ladder, hoping to slay it before it could find reinforcements. My luck was no longer with me, however, and the thing escaped. A quick glance around showed a circular chamber filled with carrion, larger than expected. I swiftly ascended the ladder to help revive my friends, and by the time I finished – healing Pusha through Clocea’s grace – there were more trogolodytes climbing up out of the pit.
OSRealms -- Session 138
We spoke with Bryce and Tristan, getting directions to the place their friend went missing. I took the opportunity to buy a bullseye lantern and oil, hoping that the longer range would help our explorations, and the ability to close the lantern to shut off the light would help us avoid notice.
We descended into the sewers, following the directions given to us by the guild of sewermen. A slippery path downwards led to a long passageway north. A semicircular pool area preceded a porticullis blocking the way, but a lever set into the wall released a wave of water and lifted the porticullis. Shortly after that we were attacked by giant rats from the south. Somehow, they had gotten behind us. Verminbane made short work of the first, cleaving the rat in half in a single blow. Death to vermin!
OSRealms -- Session 137
The amulet and potion turned out to be magical under Pish’s examination, the rest did not. We estimated the value of the dagger at 1500gp, but determined that no one is Eastdale would want to buy such a thing after Retep the antiquities dealer lowballed us. We determined that the best chance to get full value was to travel to a larger city, either Threshold or Prigswort, and determined to go to Threshold as I had other business there. We took a caravan to Threshold and managed to sell the dagger for 2000gp, with Nifty claiming the magical amulet for “testing”.
OSRealms -- Session 136
Session map
We spent the next day hunting and recuperating. Nifty and Pish hunted up a nice fat deer, which was roasted over a fire. We kept watch over the entrance to the grotto, hoping to get some warning if the strange ooze creature left. It did not, at least not that we saw. We spent a second night, and Closea’s grace healed my wounds. The platinum ring turned out to not be magical. We went back down the next day, finding that most of the frog corpses had been dragged off, or perhaps consumed. There were drag marks leading east, and an awful stench. I suspected the trogolodytes, but the drag marks led in the wrong direction. We checked the remaining corpses for treasure but found nothing.
OSRealms -- Session 135
Session map
We left u-Heury negotiating with the slime monster and headed north, hoping to find the killer frogs by the underground stream and explore further. On the way, Nifty found all sorts of trouble: first she tried to dust the pillar of skulls and nearly died when it triggered some sort of magical effect. Then, in the next room, she bumped into a floating dust ball and had to be tied down with a rope to keep her from floating away. Just as we finished dealing with that, noises to the south suggested matters with u-Heury had come to some sort of conclusion; we met up with u-Heury again, who reported that the mysterious monster was free and hostile. We decided to continue with the frogs, as that plan would let us stay well away from where the slime monster was likerly to go. We were just returning to the frogs’ area when the killer frogs arrived and attacked.
OSRealms -- Session 134
Session map
We met in Eastdale, hoping to finish exploring the Grotto. With Morin along, we hoped to open a door that had previously been locked and impassable; beyond that, there were areas on the second level that we had yet to explore. While the undead areas might hold serious danger, the river with the frogs seemed possibly safer. Eastdale itself was not at all friendly to elves; Pish had some trouble getting inside the walls, though she spoke little of it. The paladins of Ygg there charged me to bring proof of Ygg’s approval of my lady Closea, which I planned to satisfy by asking Forrest from Threshold (originally a paladin of Ygg himself) to write a letter of introduction. That would, however, require travel, so I put it off.
OSRealms -- Session 133
Somehow we managed to escape the supernatural pull of the henge, and decided it was time for a break from adventure after that close call.
I passed the tip about Aster’s fashions and the market in Prigswort to Oscar, who made an obscene amount of money trading on it.
Nottanis spent some time researching the ivy ring we found, which turned out to be capable of magically controlling plants. I’m sure he’ll find that very useful. I’m more useful hitting things, but his weak elf arms aren’t as strong as mine. The half-elf was also smirking about something he wouldn’t talk about, so no doubt he’s got some sort of surprise cooking.
