Morning of July 18th, in Camp

Continued from The Mine

The DM: As before, the temperature of the air drops and the stairs are steep going down. They come to a landing about 25 feet down, revealing another flight of stairs below that, descending on the left. The air is thicker, somehow; your torches seem to have trouble permeating it. Detectably, there is the slight odour of raspberries mixed with the smell of rotting meat. Do you wish to continue descending?

The DM: It occurs that I should ask for your marching order.

Pandred: Me, Vaf, Lex, Arduin? Is that acceptable guys?

Vafrandir: Let's do it.

Lexent: Fine by me. We continue down in that order.

Pandred: Onwards then. "Hroagh!"

Marcule: I will take the back.

The DM: 50 feet down now, you find yourself addressing a heavy reinforced door, like you’ve seen before. There are two dead flies carcasses on floor in front of the door, like those you saw above. The light from the torches seems strangely orange in colour, rather than yellow.

Lexent: I set my godentag down to the side of the door.

Pandred: I'll test to see if it's unlocked. If it is, I'll check that everyone gets ready, that Marcule and Lex have a chance to call for a spell before I open it.

Lexent: I cast Protection from Malevolence and discharge it on myself.

The DM: It's stuck.

Pandred: Stuck ain't locked. I'll HROAGH it open.

The DM: You're not as strong as you used to be.

Pandred: But stronger in spirit! HROAGH! Vaf, you'd probably have better odds.

Vafrandir: I'll try it!

The DM: Roll a d100. Corrected.

Vafrandir: 96.

The DM: No, that door is stuck.

Vafrandir: A question of DM mechanics, if you'll allow: I know you normally don't "roll for success"; either we're strong enough or not. Why the d100 here? Just curious.

Vafrandir: The sappers can handle this, no doubt. So it'll have to wait.

The DM: Been thinking about this. It’s a game, right? So the strongest person should be able to attempt the game. So while yes, you’re either strong enough or you’re not, from a metagame point of view, you don’t know that you are or are not strong enough, yes? And so there’s a “chance” you are ... and a chance is calculated by dice.

Is the die a bafflegab? Perhaps. I’d like to invent a structured determination for stuck doors that supersedes my decision, but I’m still working on it in my mind.

Vafrandir: Makes sense. Thanks!

Vafrandir: Shall we investigate the small tunnels? I think only the gnomes can do that.

The DM: Can you think of another way to get through this door? Or the other stuck door on the first level (d.)?

Lexent: Would Pandred and Vafrandir be able to employ a crowbar and attempt it together?

Lexent: Scratch that. I don't see a crowbar anywhere in our supplies.

Lexent: Also, where are the hinges?

Pandred: I mean, we can hack the door down. That is an option. It just seems like a waste since "stuck" implies to me at least that the door just swelled up with the humidity or something. But hell, we don't plan to live here. Are we against hacking the door open now that we've already alerted what's on the other side?

Marcule: Can i cast chill on the door to see if i can shrink it?

Vafrandir: Ice expands.

Lexent: But chilling an object (Metal specifically) causes it to contract.

Pandred: Sure, but enough to make a difference? We're not even 100% sure I'm right about what "stuck" means. There could be something like a bar on the other side of the door, or more furniture.

Pandred: Alexis hasn't said what side the hinges are on, and I presume he's had time to see the question, so I'll take that to mean either there aren't any for whatever reason or that we can't see them. With that said, I'm hacking. Battleaxe. Hroagh. Etc. This door is coming down.

The DM: Page 66 of the DMG suggests: "Evil Areas: You may wish to establish areas where evil has made speciol power bases, i.e., an evil shrine, temple, or whatever. Such areas must be limited, of course - the shrine to perhaps a 10" by 10" area, the temple to twice that area. Such areas will automatically reduce the chonce of any cleric affecting undead or other creotures within their precincts by a previously stipulated factor - perhaps 1 or 2 in the shrine area, 3 or 4 in the temple area." I've long considered this to mean that the "rules" change when encountering certain kinds of creatures in the setting.

The DM: As it happens, Pandred, the door was designed by the goblins, so the hinges are on this side.

Lexent: I attempt to remove the hinges.

The DM: Using what?

Lexent: An Iron spike and a hammer.

The DM: An iron spike isn’t thin enough or hard enough to work out the hinge.

Lexent: Dang. Any other thoughts, guys?

Pandred: Take my handaxe. Dig it into the hinge plate somewhere and hammer it in. Or just hack to bits. Should be single-headed so that leaves a flat-ish (or at least unbladed) metal bit opposite the head to hammer on.

The DM: if you use the hand-axe, you could fracture the blade and I’d increase the chance of it breaking if you dropped it. Your axeblade isn’t made of carbide steel.

Pandred: I get that. A question for the future: would a woodsman's axe avoid such a danger? Is there such a tool for these situations? Either way, I'm willing to risk it. I want in this door, and at this point the axe is just a potential gp cost to do so.

The DM: the proper tool would be a chisel. If you used a wood axe, you’d be free from the break problem because of its not used as a weapon, but if you notched the blade, it would take longer to cut wood and would be an unpleasant experience. As a cook, I can tell you that working with a dull knife, even one that is very slightly dull, is annoying as all hell.

The Sigh

The DM: make a d20 roll for saving the axe against a “normal blow”. The hinge comes out.

you hear a deep, resonant sigh echo through the door from the other side, like a great beast suddenly taking notice of something.

The DM: A good cliffhanger for Tuesday. Out.

Pandred: 5.

The DM: It fails Pandred. The axe breaks on a 1 or 2 when a roll is required.

The DM: In.

Vafrandir: In.

The DM: Push on through the door?

Marcule: In.

Pandred: In but on phone.

Vafrandir: We push on.

The DM: Pandred works out the other hinge and the door falls forward with a bang into a large room.

Vafrandir: Well, dang. Looks to be a pretty big jelly?

The DM: The room seems to be some sort of temple, with a line of large 16 in. wide columns running through it. The green blob you view through the pillars is in motion, with three large eyes, each the size of a human head, floating in a miasma of goo and jelly. It roils gently and the pupils of its eyes fix upon you.

The DM: The stairs beyond the jelly can’t be easily seen, but they lead down.

The DM: you don’t see a mouth of any kind, but a disembodied voice reverberates through the room, making your teeth ache in their sockets.

“The Interlopers”

Marcule: "After this I am building the biggest jelly arsenal kit you have ever seen."

Lexent: "Another of Grond's minions"

“I am not a minion”

Lexent: "What, then? Do you oppose Grond?"

“I am Grond’s gaoler”

Lexent: "Then perhaps we have similar goals."

Lexent: "If you are Grond's jailer, what has happened that allows his influence on the world?"

“I know not. He has brought about the death of my children. I sense the last of them have perished now. In part by your hand.”

The DM: when it speaks as long as this, it begins to hurt your head, so much you have to press a hand against your temple.

Lexent: "Our apologies. We were under the impression that all here had been corrupted by Grond. What can you tell us of him? And are you able to communicate in a manner that is not so loud?"

Vafrandir: "We regret your loss; Grond's power precluded peace."

“I am what I am. All here was corrupted by Grond. The goblins are my children.”

Vafrandir: "We intend to deal with Grond. Perhaps that will be some solace. What is he?"

“You are not strong enough to defeat Grond. He has gorged himself on rothe to double his power.”

Lexent: "How may we weaken him?"

“You cannot. He must starve.”

Lexent: "Is he contained enough that he will do so?"

“He cannot get past me.”

Vafrandir: How long will it take?

“A year.”

The DM: there are numerous obvious questions the party seems not to be asking. Relax, take your time. If it was going to kill you, it would have started by now.

Pandred: The goblins were dropping Rothe down here. Why would they want to feed Grond? And for that matter, how is it you can stop him?

“The goblins were in thrall. They wore submission chains.”

Vafrandir: "Who is Grond?"

Marcule: Now I am worried, What is Grond

“Grond is an enormously powerful wight dwelling beneath the stairs behind me.”

“Your people would say ‘cavewight’.”

Lexent: "Who are you?"

“I am Mok-Losh of the Silver Gates. I was summoned here by the magician.”

Arduin: "Who? To guard against Grond, or for some other purpose?"

“To guard against Grond.”

Lexent: "The Magician? Is this his staff?" I display the staff.

“That is the cleric’s staff.”

Lexent: "How does he get the food if you are blocking him?"

The DM: Lexent, remember how there was evidence of dead ghouls all over the surface, the missing rothe and that the remaining herd of rothe were all thrown down the hole?

Lexent: I do, I'm concerned that if Rothe can get in, through that hole, that seems like an avenue around Mok-Losh.

Vafrandir: "Who is the magician?"

“The magician of the goblins, Xsant. The wizard locked himself against the undead.”

Lexent: "How long ago was this?"

Marcule: sorry guys out for the day. see you tomorrow

“Ten Days Ago.”

Arduin: "Where is he now?"

“Summoning me killed him. He is in his room.”

Lexent: "And how long has Grond been corrupting your children?"

“I cannot answer. I have been here for ten days. I know what is happening now.”

Lexent: "What if we were to work with you? Do you think our combined power would be able to overcome Grond?"

“I cannot wage war on this plane of existence; I can defend. That is all.”

Lexent: "We are concerned that Grond will find a way around his imprisonment or send his servants to cause harm. What do you think we might do to prevent this?"

“I have closed every exit. He cannot escape but to fight me. He knows he cannot win.”

Pandred: "What else remains here? Is there anything that could harm you? What can we do to aid your mission?"

“I have trapped the crypt thing. There is Grond. There are my flies. All else has been freed from this existence, small human.”

Pandred: "And when Grond is gone, what happens to you?"

“I will return home.”

Lexent: "What of the living shadows?"

“None remain.”

Pandred: "That's a relief." I'll address my fellows here. "What then lads? Tell the Father, come root it out? Finish our work above? What else is there to know here?"

Lexent: "Do you know of any who should be informed of what has happened here? Another tribe of goblins perhaps to properly mourn their lost kindred?"

“There will be many who mourn their kindred; look to the north, upon Roxot Horn.”

Lexent: Is that name meaningful to any of us?

The DM: No, but presumedly you can investigate it. Arduin, remember, knows of the existence of goblins east of where he was born, that he mentioned before.

Lexent: "I'm not sure, Pandred. We could bid farewell to Mok-Losh here and go upstairs to discuss the matter."

The DM: Okay. Until tomorrow. Out.

The DM: In.

Lexent: In.

Vafrandir: In.

Vafrandir: Let's bid farewell to Mok-Losh. Once upstairs, we'll discuss it further. I'm in favor of taking the fancy shield to Roxot Horn, and alerting the Father.

The DM: Is that agreed?