Sunday, January 2, 2011

Lazareth and the Ability Diamonds...Take 2

It is time for another installment of the D&D adventure that began about 5 years ago.
Once again, our roster includes:

Gunther the crazy wizard
Tolquin the Elvin archer
Mara the druid
And Lyda, the Halfling Cleric

The party left off having found the wisdom diamond. The 5th gem of 6 they have collected before the evil wizard Lazareth could get his hands on them. They return to the town of Myewiz to gather information and consider their next move.

The party immediately decides to head to the tavern. The archer announces their triumphant return and orders the finest ale available while his friends settled for a regular ale and elven wine. After some discussion of the surliness of the bartender, they manage to discover that strange harmless creatures have been appearing in town, and Tolquin determines the fine ale is not so fine after all. The guys refuse to bribe the bartender who won’t reveal more information without payment and the druid decides to go find a creature to talk to.

It is at this point that the party realizes that Lyda is no longer with them. Mara, unconcerned continues to search out a good creature. Gunther (critically missing a spot check) realizes that the church he had seen in town is gone now also. Tolquin, on the other hand, acts on a strange desire to dig a hole in the center of town (eventually he tosses in a harpy key then proclaims “nope, nothing in here” to the others when they show up). Gunther eventually finds Lyda at the church, and between her information and that gathered by the druid who talked to a unicorn, the party discovers that an evil fortress has been built on the nearby Mt. Foz. They find out that the fortress is running on a skeleton crew at the moment, and the only diamond Lazareth managed to get before them was being kept there.

Ready to head to their new destination, the party must first eliminate any unnecessary magic items that would attract certain creatures common in the area. They must also limit the amount of metal carried, as the mountain has a strange magnetic pull, causing Gunther to ponder the wisdom of the catapult he had been carrying for quite awhile.

The party decides to try for a back entrance, and quickly dispatches the two Kazmen (Ninja-like followers of Lazareth) who were guarding the entrance. Tolquin immediately takes of running (in a way the DM was ENTIRELY unprepared for, of course) and the others resign to following him. It is at this point that the druid decides to attempt to draw a map, unfortunately, the perform cartography check was not very high, leaving her with paper and crayons to crudely draw a map of the area.

They decided to leave a group of howlers in cages, and discover several empty rooms. In a kitchen area, a small lever was found which contained the inscription of SW. At this point, several ideas for what SW may stand for were discussed. While the druid sagely considered South West, Gunther thought “Single Walrus” was more likely, causing Tolquin to ponder if it meant “Stupid Wizard”. (Other guesses included whales and wallabies).

After pulling the lever and dispatching more Kazmen, the group decided to take a pizza break (causing the DM to smile since they were literally one room away from a designated resting area). As the group explored the fortress, other happenings of note would include:
- Tolquin failing countless strength checks to pull the levers, and once barely getting it done with Mara’s help.
- A room where each party member figured out a different way across tiles which would blast you with elemental magic (after Mara pushed Tolquin onto a tile to see what would happen). Mara=bat. Tolquin=fire immunity amulet. Gunther=Spiderclimb. Lyda=left behind (aww).
- A room full of grimlocks and hags were dispatched quickly to reveal fun treasures in the next room.
- A half-moon shaped room that triggered many jokes and disturbing comments.
- The druid preparing a Gaga-esque bear plan that never came to fruition.
- Tolquin managing to pin two bugbear heads together with a single well placed shot.
- Discovering that “one way in and one way out” means different things to different people. ;)

Due to the late hour, the group had to call it a night, vowing to not let another two years go by before they finish this truly epic adventure.