7Apr2014
After the aimlessness of the previous session, we started with a quick review of our possible options:
- Attack the Rahib (who is not Hasan).
- Investigate the room behind the curtain.
- Descent into the Well of Lost Souls.
- Leave and find a more interesting adventure.
The fourth option seemed unpopular with the DM, so we ran through the first three.
We decided first to try subterfuge and disguise, and get Alki and Tanara, who are elves, to check out the room behind the curtain relying on their disguise as Siswa and ability to speak Elvish (or Elven). We went to that doorway, and they entered. Beyond was a small, long chamber, with four Siswa sharpening large swords who glared at us but otherwise ignored us. Apart from this, the room was bare, and uninteresting, so we left.
This left options 1 or 3. We considered option three, but were concerned that someone would find our captives at some point and raise a hue and cry. We might then be cut off in the lower level if they found our rope. So we decided that we needed to bite the arrow and attack the Rahib in the temple. We decided that we would enter en masse, disguised as Siswa, and get as close as possible before attacking to give him less time to use his spells. The moment we were in range, or he appeared to be suspicious of him, Tanara would attempt to charm him and Titus would try and blind him with divine light. If neither of these affected him then the rest would attack with cold steel.
We descended to the lower level using the teleport corridors and opened the door to the temple. The Rahib was still there, so we advanced in. As the door opened, it scraped the door and alerted him. He turned, saw us, and raised his hands. Before we could cast our spells, there was a flash and a cloud of smoke, and he disappeared.
We advanced into the room and had a look behind the altar. We quickly discovered a trapdoor in the floor with a pull-ring. Checking behind the statue, Oin’s stonecraft also found another, more cunningly concealed, trapdoor as well, and a pressure panel on the rear of the statue that opened it. We descended this trapdoor, expecting that there was less chance the Rahib would be waiting for us in ambush, but after a half turn of a circular staircase it ended in a solid steel door that we were unable to open.
Returning to the temple, we opened the other trapdoor, which also descended via a staircase. No ambush appeared forthcoming, so we descended into a smaller octagonal room, with doors on the south, east and west walls. As we entered, a ghostly elven apparition appeared from the south door. Hasan recognised it as Rahasia’s father, Akbar. The ghost spoke to us, saying:
“By the Rahib’s hand was I here felled
And since, awaited you to come.
Rahasia’s pain I have dearly felt
But you have come to free her.
Hasan is in the dungeon south
My gold is toward the north.
An ally in the dragon guard
Waits before the gold.
The Rahib is just a pawn
A darker evil lies below.
The dragon guard knows the story
And guards the way below.”
We opened the south door, and were faced by four guards guarding a door in the other wall of the small room beyond. We said that we had been sent by the Rahib to check on the prisoner, but one of the guards said that he was ordered to only allow people past if accompanied by the Rahib himself. We argued briefly, but fruitlessly, so instead suddenly attacked, surprising them. The fight was brief, as they didn’t take much punishment, even though we were holding our blows so as not to kill them. Three were knocked unconscious, and the fourth surrendered, so we took their keys and opened the door beyond. We found a room of cells, so bound the guards and locked them in a vacant cell. In other cells we found Hasan, who was grateful to be rescued, and another human sellsword, called Baik Telor, who agreed to join us if we released him. We questioned the conscious guard, and he told us that to the west was the kitchen and the portal to the dining hall under the courtyard, while to the east was the Rahib’s quarters.
We armed Hasan and Baik with the swords and chainmail of the guards and returned to the octagonal chamber. We opened the east door and a corridor stretched out, ending in double doors flanked by single doors in each side wall at the far end. We chose the northern door and opened it, expecting that the Rahib’s quarters would be behind the double doors. Instead, the door opened into a library with a dark cloaked figure sitting at a table. Both the Rahib and us were surprised, but we recovered first and charged in, a lucky blow from Hasan ruining the spell that the Rahib was in the process of casting. Most of the rest of our blows were stopped by his armour though, and he dealt a savage blow to Alki in return with his mace. We kept up a flurry of blows, and Hasan struck him repeatedly, but he was a tough customer. Finally, as the Rahib began to back away from the fight, Tanara used the last magic missile in her ring of spells. The damage from those was enough to finally kill him.
We quickly grabbed his mace, and his armour, which was obviously enchanted given the amount of damage he had weathered, and also a large bunch of keys we found on him. Then we searched the room in detail, but found the books to be of little interest. In the niche in the north-east corner however, we found a secret door, which we opened…