RPG Recap: Beyond the Temple of the Abyss, 2012-05-19
Sunday, the 15th day of the Red Moon, 937
After their narrow escape from the sword-wielding city guard, the party rode quietly in the back of the robed men’s wagon all the way to the city’s massive and crowded stadium. The driver said, “The undercity is death. Turn back.” The party forged ahead.
They spent some time searching for a doorway down, eventually finding one when they spotted a little green-robed goblin emerging from one. Once he’d gone, the adventurers headed down below and began their trek. After several hundred feet, the came to a huge section of broken tunnel. Below the floor, another level of undercity was revealed. Sinister shadows moved at the edge of the party’s torchlight. As the group waited for Delian to summon a floating disc to carry them across, a wizard approached from the other side, carrying a green torch. The wizard urged the group to turn back, but Rocky negotiated a deal with him: Rocky would hand over his prized troll head and the wizard (who Rocky named Gary) would guide them as far as “the gardens.”
Halfway there, they ran into another group of men (or man-like creatures, for some of them were of outlandish color) who were stunned to see Rocky, a doddering old man, being escorted through the tunnels. Their leader explained that if Rocky really was headed for the undercity, they’d have to descend another level. Asked whether it was dangerous, he described his great fortune at having once escaped from it, losing only half his party’s number. He could, not however, find the words to describe the things he’d seen. When Rocky said he’d push on, the man gave him a sword, so that at least he could die “like a man,” armed to fight. He would.
“Gary” led them to the gardens, where the tunnels were overgrown with roots and vines, many of which clutched withered remains, and there he parted ways with the group. He noted that in about a mile, they’d pass under the zoo. “Do not tarry there.”
The group made it through the overgrown tunnels without incident, but were soon stopped by another collapsed section of sewer. They decided against descending just yet, especially after espying the moving shapes and glowing eyes below. Instead, they crossed on a floating disc and encountered and slew four large and hungry lizards.
Moving on, they passed by a strange coin-operated fountain, and soon found the tunnels widening and forming more complex networks. They encountered another group of delvers, these in masks, and they passed by each other cautiously. In a side tunnel, they found a long-dead corpse, which rose to attack, but was easily put down. The dead man’s belongings were meagre: a scraps of cloth, some wooden pencils, and a nearly-illegible book with the title “Answers in the Time of Questions.”
Further along, the group saw another man, holding a spear and finishing off a large serpent. After some discussion, they decided to approach him: all the other men they’d met had been friendly enough. This man, it turned out, was not. He demanded a toll, payable in platinum, and when the group declared that it couldn’t pay, he told them the tunnel was closed. The conversation was not a cordial one, and although they slunk back down the tunnel from which they’d come, everyone agreed to turn back and kill him.
Rigby snuck expertly through the shadows and drive his stiletto into the spearman’s back, dealing a vicious wound. The rest of the group sprang from hiding and ran in to finish him off, but it was fruitless: the man spoke a word of power and they all fell to the ground asleep, save for Delian the Elf. Delian fought one-on-one with the man in green, who moved with lightning speed, but was suffering badly from his wound. It was a close thing, but Delian laid the man low and immediately sank to loot his body.
No sooner had Delian pocketed the man’s spellbook than another trio of lizards emerged from a nearby passage, making right for the sleeping adventurers. Delian roused them all and they made to fight, but without the advantage of range, things went poorly. Rocky was soon downed, and one of the beasts knocked Tamara down and bit her head clean from her body. Delian and Rigby tried to drag their friends bodies, still laden with gear, but it was soon clear that they couldn’t escape with such a load. Rigby cut Tamara’s bag free of her shoulders and the two turned and ran, fighting off the lizards as they went, until finally the creatures all turned back toward the easier meal.
In Memoriam
R.I.P., Rocky the Soldier
R.I.P., Tamara the Proselyte
XP
Rigby = 402 + 72 = 472 (Level up at 1200)
Delian = 1636 + 216 = 1852 (Level up at 4000)