Episode 45
"Where Fools Dare"
(c) 2002 by Matt Grossman and J. Sage Schreiner

Tron, a lucky elf, Matt Grossman
Norel, a battle-scarred ranger, Tom Morin
Nigil, a mysterious noble from a distant land, Kevin Osborn
Tarilian, an elvish troubador of unsurpassed skill, Sonny McKnire
All others, J. Sage Schreiner

The party proceeds down the stairs to the next level of the dungeon.
The stairway ends in a door. As Tron is checking it for traps...

Vampire Spawn: (materializes behind Nigil and attacks) [swish] Hurh?
Nigil: Hey!

The party is crowded in the stairway, and only Nigil can fight the
monster.

Nigil: [poke] Come on guys, what's the holdup?
Vampire Spawn: [swish] Urh.

Tron finishes checking for traps and flings the door open,
revealing... another vampire!

Vampire Spawn#2: Raargh!
Norel: Siddown! [bamf]
Tron: Come on guys!

The elf leads the charge out of the stairway. Another vampire spawn
springs from hiding and attacks him, but is dispelled by Laurallie.
The first vampire spawn turns gaseous and disappears.

Nigil: Stay frosty, people.

The room they are in contains an altar, with a statue of a large red
dragon behind it. It is very dusty and appears to be unused. There
is one door leading out of the room. They search the room carefully
but find nothing of interest.

Tron: False god! (tries to push the statue over, but it weighs too
much) Come on, help me out here!
Nigil: No.
Tron: Fine! (urinates on the statue) Take that!
Tarilian: Does he do this often?
Laurallie: All the time.

The party prepares to open the next door.

Tron: Clear! (opens door)

The next room contains several girallons, all "hiding". One is
pressed up against the wall opposite, another is crouching in the
corner. They do not move, although they clearly are alive and see the
party.

Nigil: What are they thinking?
Norel: Stand aside Tron, I'll handle this. [flex flex]
Tron: Be my guest. (moves to the back of the party) I hate those
things.
Norel: [twang twang twang] (shoots one of the girallons, wounding it)

Suddenly all the girallons in the room charge the doorway. It turns
out that there were two more hiding behind the door.

Nigil: Oh shit! [hack parry dodge]
Norel: Let's rock! [bash hack bash hack]

One girallon is cut down, but the others charge the door. One pushes
Nigil back completely across the room and into the wall next to the
altar on the far side. The others swarm into the room. Norel is
surrounded and cut off from the rest of the party.

Norel: For the forest! [bash]
Girallon: Raaargh! [claw claw claw claw rend]
Norel: Urk. [thud]

From an unopened door, half-a-dozen Wights spill forth and push into
the room from behind the girallons.

Laurallie: (Holds up her holy symbol) Go away, nasty things!

Several wights dissapear in a flash of holy fire.

Tron: (tries to use his tumbling skills to get into a position to
backstab a girallon, but is attacked anyway) Damn it! Take that!
[stab]
Girallon: Urgh? (turns to face Tron)
Tron: Uh-oh.
Tarilian: (attempts to heal Norel, but is distracted by the fighting
and unable to cast his spell)

The battle rages on. Laurallie turns the remaining wights. Tarilian 
is unable to heal Norel, and in fact is forced to retreat across the 
room. Fortunately the girallons do not maul the unconscious ranger. 
Laurallie and Nigil are backed into a corner. Nigil seems dazed by the
ferocity of the monster's attack and is unable to administer the 
coup-de-grace. Suddenly, three vampire spawn materialize and attack.

Tron: Ouch! (level drained)
Tarilian: Ouch! (level drained)
Laurallie: Ahem. Begone!
Vampire Spawn: [bamf]
Tarilian: (sings an inspiring song, strengthening the party)

Tron kills one girallon (the one he had backstabbed previously), then
tumbles across the room and attacks the monster fighting Nigil, badly
wounding it.

Nigil: [stab] Finally!

The remaining monster is quickly dispatched. All of the party are
badly wounded, and Norel is hovering near death. Laurallie quickly
heals him, but the party will need to rest before undertaking any more
dungeon delving. Tron decapitates all of the dead girallons so that
they cannot rise as undead.

Norel: Hey, did one of you take my mace? It's gone.

The party searches thoroughly, but cannot find the mace.

Norel: This sucks. That was my only magic weapon, and it was really
useful against these undead too.
Tron: I have a magic dagger I can loan you.
Norel: That'll help. But you know, we left a lot of rooms unsearched
on our way down. I think we need to be more thorough. I say we go
clear out every last room above. We're going to need more magic
weapons to defeat these monsters, and I'll bet there's some good stuff
in some of those rooms.
Tron: Sounds like a good idea.

As they head back up the stairs, they have the sensation of being
watched.

Tarilian: I bet there's one of those symbols around here...
Tron: There it is!

Sure enough, one of the "watching symbols" is carved into the ceiling
of the stairwell. With some difficulty, Tron gets up to it and
hammers it out of existence. They then proceed up to the roof.

Tarilian: So the monsters usually stay where they are and don't come
up after you?
Nigil: Yeah, this place seems to be pretty nice that way. Though it
seems that something knows we're here...

They spend the rest of the day and night resting. Laurallie heals the
party and restores Tron and Tarilian's lost energy. After an
uneventful night, the party heads down to the third level... the site
of the mysterious tomb. First the check the other doors on that
corridor, but find nothing. Then they check the tomb door.

Tron: There was a trap, but I disarmed it. I think.
Norel: Tarilian, can you tell anything about the art on this door?
All these tentacles and limbs and contorted screaming human faces?
Tarilian: My art history training tells me that it's... um... scary.
Tron: Clear! (opens door)

The party sees a medium-sized chamber, built against the outer wall of
the spire. It is empty except for a cylinder, covered with a cap,
that sticks out of the floor. It looks like the top of a tube which
goes down through the floor. The cylinder is carved with the same
hideous bas-relief of the doorway.

Tron: Come to think of it, there was an area on the level underneath
this which we never got to.
Norel: This tube might be a useful shortcut to the bottom of the
dungeon.
Tron: There might be treasure down there.
Norel: We should open it.
Tarilian: Am I the only one who thinks this is a bad idea?

They find that the cap twists off. Soon it is open, revealing a
soot-filled tube that runs down into darkness. It is about five feet
across. Laurallie casts light on a coin and tosses it down the
shaft. After a long fall, it comes to rest at the bottom.
Unfortunately the air of the shaft is thick with ash, and the party
cannot make out any details of what the light might have landed on.

Tron: Hmm... nothing's attacked us yet... there might be all kinds of
stuff down there...
Nigil: Here it comes...
Tron: I'm gonna climb down there and check it out.
Nigil: Here we go again.
Tarilian: Sure. _You_ can climb down there.
Laurallie: (whispers) Obad-Hai forgive me. (speaks) I think it's a
good idea.
Tron: You see?

They tie a rope around the scout's waist.

Norel: I'll stand by with a grenade in case you need help. [snicker]
Nigil: Yank twice on the rope if you're in trouble, so we can put
the lid back on. [snicker]
Tron: Very funny, guys.

The chimney is narrow enough that the elf can climb down just by
walking along the sides. After he has gone down about forty feet,
Tron finds himself in almost total darkness. The air in the chimney
is full of soot. Suddenly the light of the coin at the bottom of the
shaft blinks out.

Tron: ... (continues climbing down, listening carefully)
Vampiric Gibbering Mouther: (attacks Tron six times, hitting four
times and giving him eight negative levels)

Meanwhile, at the top of the chimney...

Tarilian: Musicals are great. I especially like "Pomade", which is
an elven musical about young elves in the fifties... the 050's, I
mean.
Nigil: I hate musicals. Unless they're the kind with scantily clad
wenches in them.
Tron: (shouts something unintelligible from down the shaft)
Norel: What was that?
Nigil: Did he say "throw the grenade"?

Gibbering Mouther: (starts gibbering)

The sound of the monsters many voices crying out in anguish instantly
drives Tron, Norel, and Nigil insane.

Tron: Die, monster! (stabs the Mouther, inflicting some small amount
of damage)

Tarilian uses his bardic powers to defeat the monster's sound
attack. Quickly, he strikes his lute and sings a song about the
power of music:
	 'Tis nature's voice, thro' all the wood and creatures
	 understood,
	 The universal tongue, to none of her num'rous race unknown.
	 From her it learned the mighty art
	 To court the ear and strike the heart,
	 At once the passions to express or move,
	 We hear and straight we grieve or hate, rejoice or love.
	 In unseen chains it does the fancy bind.
	 At once it charms the sense and captivates the mind.
	 
The gibbering mouther's sound effect is broken, and sanity returns to
the minds of the party.

Norel: Pull Tron out!

Norel and Nigil grab the rope and run for the door, hauling Tron up
the shaft. As soon as he reaches the top he flees too, narrowly
avoiding tripping on the rope. Tarilian and Laurallie follow. The
monster bursts up out of the chimney behind them and follows.

Nigil: Feet, do your stuff!	 
Laurallie: We've got to fight it! (stops in the corridor and turns to
face the door)
Norel: (stands next to her, grenade ready)
Rest of Party: (flee around the corner)
Mouther: (bursts out of room and advances)
Norel: (throws the grenade, missing the monster)
Laurallie: Back, fiend! The power of Obad-Hai compels you!
Mouther: Urk. (turns and flees back into the room)

Laurallie advances after the monster, holding up her holy symbol. The
creature gibbers and mews, but retreats down the chimney. At once
Tron and Norel rush up and replace the lid, screwing it down tightly.

Nigil: That was too close.
Laurallie: But, Tron, think of all the treasure that might be down
there! What if the crown is in there?
Tron: I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only
way to be sure.
Tarilian: Huh?
Tron: Never mind.

Laurallie removes the negative energy from Tron, and the party decides
to go up to the top level and open up the sarcophagi that they left
undisturbed.

Norel: If the horse throws you, you gotta get back on.

They open up the sarcophagi and do not find any notable treasure.
One of the "corpses" attacks when they do this, but Laurallie
quickly dispels it without any harm coming to the party. After
doing this, there is still some daylight left, so the party decides to
continue their exploration of the fourth level.

Behind the door leading out of the girallon room they find a corridor
with several doors leading off of it. As they try to figure out what
to do, they hear a raspy voice calling from behind one of the doors.

Voice: Hey! I hear you out there! Hey! Let me out! Help me!

They move cautiously down the corridor and stop outside the door.
Something is written on the door in draconic.

Tarilian: It says "Rhunad is interred here. Leave him be."
Nigil: Maybe this is some kind of trick?
Voice: It's not a trick! Please let me out! I've been in here for a
long time!
Tron: How do we know you're not undead?
Voice: Do I sound undead?
Tarilian: Who are you?
Voice: I'm Rhunad! Gulthias trapped me here! I've been stuck in here
forever!
Tarilian: What will you do for us if we let you out?
Rhunad: I can tell you stuff! Listen, you guys hate Gulthias, right?
Did you know that he's back? Somebody, I don't know who, pulled a
stake out of him.
Nigil: Tell us something we don't know already!
Rhunad: I know a lot of other stuff. Listen, just unlock the door,
just unlock the door and I'll give you a tidbit. That won't let me
out! I'll still be stuck here! But just open the door!

The party goes down the hall and has a whispered discussion. In the
end they decide to open the door.

Tarilian: I don't trust this guy. I'll use my persuasive ability to
get info from him and leave him here.
Norel: I don't know about that. Every time we try to do something
clever, we fail.
Tarilian: You didn't have me around then.
Tron: I'll go open the door then.
Nigil: We'll wait here.
Tron: What?
Laurallie: It's not that we think you're incompetent. We just don't
trust you.
Tron: Bah.

Tron goes up to the door. He discovers that it is trapped, and
disarms the trap. As he is picking the lock, another one of the doors
opens and a massive blow strikes the elf from behind.

Rhunad: Oh yeah, watch out for Mr. Stitches!

An enormous flesh golem and two smaller flesh golems have emerged into
the corridor. The larger one seems to be constructed from a
combination of an ogre and some sort of dragon-like humanoid. The
smaller ones are still about the size of a girallon.

Tron: I'm outta here! (runs back to the room where the rest of the
party is cowering.

The monsters follow and soon menace the party from outside the door.
Nigil and Norel stand in the door, and the rest of the party is
arranged behind them.

Nigil: They'll have to come at us one at a time.
Norel: Now we know what made those big footprints.
Mr. Stitch: (inhales, and breathes a blast of fire, wounding almost
all of the party)
Rhunad: Oh yeah, he breathes fire too!

The party falls back before these huge monsters, and they storm into
the room. Nonmagical weapons are ineffective against them.

Norel: I wish I had my mace!
Tarilian: Take my sword! I'm not fighting that thing.
Norel: Thanks!
Tarilian: I'll cast haste on you too!
Norel: Hoody-hoo! [stab hack chop poke slice]
Nigil: Hey, haste me too!

Tron digs into his small cache of magical arrows and fires three into
Mr. Stitches, badly wounding the monster. Laurallie also blasts the
golem with a bolt of searing light.

Mr. Stitches: (falls to the ground without uttering a sound)

The party quickly defeats the two smaller monsters. Nigil and Norel
are both formidable fighters when hasted, able to make a whirlwind of
attacks while being much harder to hit.

After the battle is over and Laurallie has healed the characters
somewhat, they return to the door.

Tarilian: You disarmed the trap, right?
Tron: Sure, it's safe.
Tarilian: (opens the door and is blasted by a bolt of lightning)
Dammit, Tron!
Laurallie: What a surprise.
Tron: Mr. Stitches must have reset it.

Inside the room the party sees a pentagram, and sitting in the
pentagram a vulture headed, winged humanoid... a vrock! It appears
very thin.

Rhunad: All you have to do is break the pentagram. I'll tell you
what I know. Do you know how Gulthias became a vampire?

The vrock tells the party the history of the cult of Ashardalon.
At first Gulthias was the high priest of the cult. After Ashardalon
was killed by the druid Dydd, Gulthias returned with the cultists to
Nightfang Spire. They cut out the dragon's heart and placed it in a
vault inside the spire: the "Core". Then they all committed suicide
and were raised as undead by the power of the heart. Later, Gulthias
was defeated and staked. The heart is still beating deep inside the
spire. Somewhere there is a key that is needed to open the vault.

Rhunad: Now you're going to let me go, right? Right?
Norel: I guess so. But you have to promise the leave this plane
immediately and not molest us.
Rhunad: Cross my heart, hope to die, stick sharp chunks of obsidian
in my eye.

The party breaks the line of the pentagram with the spear.

Rhunad: Yes! Free! Free at last! Oh, I'm soooo hungry... (stares at
the party and starts to salivate) Soooo hungry...
Nigil: (blows his horn of protection from evil)
Rhunad: Bah. You losers. (vanishes)
Tarilian: You guys realize you did just release a demon?
Nigil: We've done it before. More than once.

They decide to return to the top of the tower. As they pass through
the room where they fought the girallons, they see Rhunad sitting in
the corner chowing down on dead girallons. His belly is massively
distended.

Rhunad: (slurp gobble munch swallow) Sooo hungry...
Norel: Say, you'd better leave if you don't want Gulthias to catch
you.
Rhunad: Uhhhh, oh fuck! (vanishes)
Norel: We don't want him hanging around.

They spend the night uneventfully at the top of the tower, and in the
morning return to the dungeons. As they descend the stairs to the
third level they hear the sounds of someone coming up the stairs
towards them. Tron scouts ahead and finds a zombie carrying a bucket
and mop. It is having some difficulty climbing the stairs because
both of its legs are broken and supported by boards nailed to the
sides.

Tron: [spuck]
Zombie: [thud]
Tron: All clear.

They explore the rest of the fourth level but find only rooms filled
with embalming supplies. They descend to the fifth level. The first
room is filled with five-foot tall urns, apparently containing ashes.
In the distance they can hear the dull roaring of a furnace.

Norel: What could they be doing with all these ashes?

They explore the level further. In the next room they find several
zombie janitors, which Tron kills. This room is also filled with
urns. Tron listens at the door to the next room, and hears a
breathing sound. Cautiously, the elf opens the door. The roaring
of the distant furnace is more pronouced.

Tron: Hold on guys, there's something going on here.

In the room the elf sees a pair of eyes peeking out from under the lid
of an urn. As the elf watches, another urn starts rocking and falls
over, shattering. Inside is a zombie, which sits on the floor with an
"I'm still hiding" attitude.

Nigil: Bah, just zombies.
Tron: Wait, there's something else in there.

The elf pokes his head around the door and almost has it taken off by
a girallon.

Nigil: I'll handle this. Stand aside.

The fighter leaps into the room... and is immediately paralyzed by the
mohrg hiding on the other side of the door. A confused skirmish
quickly develops; Tron charges into the room and engages the mohrg,
while Norel faces off with the girallon. The two zombies are quickly
destroyed by Laurallie.

Tron: [dodge spin parry] I could do with some help over here!
Norel: [hack stab chop] I'm working on it!

Eventually the monsters are defeated, but not without some party
members being seriously wounded. They decide to withdraw and clear
the rest of the level next day.

TO BE CONTINUED...