Munasukaru's Embrace

Deep beneath the House of Withered Blossoms, the party had fought their way past the outer defenses of the oni’s stronghold, oddly named “Munasukaru’s Penance”. They’d rescued two slaves who had been impaled on the gates, and learned that somewhere beyond the closed door to the east was a vast cave full of scores of hobgoblins, ruled by a cruel and gluttonous overlord known as the Swine Shogun. And that the hobgoblins feared and worshipped even more fearsome creatures, somewhere deeper in the vast complex. Just another day at the office.

Bella inspected the eastern door, and found no sign of traps. With a nod to everyone else, she quietly pulled the door open. The group had been shocked at the sight of living prisoners impaled on the keep’s gate spikes, but even that had not prepared them for what lay beyond the door. Grotesque bas-relief carvings of sex, gluttony, violence, and oppression decorated the walls of this chamber, seeming to leap from the walls. The broken bodies of half a dozen humans, their flesh seared, hung among the vile imagery, becoming part of the disgusting tableau.

The long room appeared to be empty, and another closed door could be seen at the opposite end. Bella and Shinjiro scanned the room carefully, made doubly cautious by the trapped rooms they’d already encountered. Sure enough, they could see there was something not quite right about the floor some ten feet in from the door. Bella decided to try a quick and dirty method for trap detection: she removed the head from one of the hobgoblin warriors, and bowled it across the room. The head rolled and bounced the length of the room, but nothing happened.

Taking a deep breath, Bella slunk into the room, scanning the floor carefully and keeping close to the wall. As she got closer, she became sure the area she’d noticed earlier was some sort of trap door, and she spotted another along the north wall in the center of the room. She moved carefully into the middle of the room, avoiding this new trap, and detected yet another opposite it along the south wall. She turned to silently point out these new traps to the rest of the group, waiting at the doorway, when suddenly she found herself at the center of a hurricane of arrows. The vile carvings on the walls concealed a myriad of arrow slits, and unseen archers now focused all their fire on the rogue. She turned and ran back for the doorway, leaping over the hidden trapdoor, but several arrows found their mark before she ducked behind the door. The archers continued shooting at anyone in sight through the door; Sandoval and Nicki were both hit, while Shinjiro disdainfully batted the arrows aside.

Zhustin cast Haste on the party as people ducked for cover and tried to decide what to do. Nicki cast Greater Invisibility on himself, and moved into the room unseen. Unfortunately, the narrow arrow slits provided total concealment to whoever was firing the arrows, giving the spellcasters no targets for any of their spells. Presumably, the door at the far end of the room would allow them to engage their unseen foes, if only they could get it open.

Sawyer wasn’t one for waiting around. Activating Suishen’s Air Walk (for the third and final time today) he dashed the length of the room, skating above the floor and any traps it might hold. He took temporary cover in the far right corner of the room, figuring that only half the archers could target him there. To his dismay, he saw Marie, wings unfurled, hot on his trail. “What are you doing in here?” he shouted, annoyed that the party’s healer had once again put herself in harm’s way. “Same as you – getting that door open!” she replied. The archers continued their rain of arrows, but the hasted Marie and Sawyer had crossed the room so quickly that all their shots missed badly.

With a growl, Sawyer threw himself against the door, but it held fast, apparently securely barred from the far side. He took a breath and prepared to slam against the door again, but Marie grabbed him by the arm. “Let’s do it the easy way,” she said. She squinted through the nearest arrow slit, got a clear view of the area on the other side, and Teleported herself and the big fighter through the wall.

They found themselves in a large alcove, with narrow halls extending back behind them on the north and south, presumably to where the archers were firing from. Indeed, a Withered Blossom Warrior stood at an arrow slit just across the door from them, in mid-draw of his bow as they suddenly appeared. Ahead of them a short flight of stairs led to a pillared balcony. On the balcony stood a pair of hill giants, with a dozen small boulders piled around their feet, along with an ogre mage, apparently the commander of the keep’s defenses.

The hobgoblin warrior dropped his bow, drew his morningstar, and charged Sawyer, as the hill giants chucked boulders at Marie and Sawyer. The boulders narrowly missed, shattering into shards as they struck the wall. The warrior missed Sawyer, who unleashed his full fury on the hapless hobgoblin. The Hasted fighter was a killing machine, and he landed four blows in the blink of an eye, the last separating the hobgoblin’s head from his shoulders. But the archers had heard the commotion, and they came pouring around the corners from both side passages, intent on overwhelming Marie and Sawyer.

Everyone else was still waiting anxiously for the door to open. They’d seen Marie and Sawyer disappear, and could hear the sounds of battle, but had no way to help. Nicki cast Gaseous Form and slipped through one of the arrow slits, drifting invisibly to a vantage point in the corner of the room, but in his intangible form he could do nothing yet to help. Marie saw that she would soon be surrounded by foes, but she stepped in front of the door, and lifted the heavy bar that kept it shut. As she turned to face her attackers, she shouted in Varisian, “The bar’s off the door!”

That was the cue Bella had been waiting for. Taking full advantage of the Haste, she dashed across the room, skirting the traps she’d found. Unfortunately, there was another trap she hadn’t discovered yet. As she neared the far door, the floor suddenly gave way beneath her feet. Only her cat-like reflexes kept her from dropping 50-feet into a pit filled with spikes. “Um, there’s another trap here,” she offered helpfully, as if no one would notice the 10-foot square hole yawning in the floor. Sandoval charged across the room, followed by Shinjiro. They slammed into the door, but unfortunately, Marie and Sawyer were standing in front of it, preventing it from opening.

Ogre Mage

The Ogre Mage fried Sawyer with a Scorching Ray while the giants lobbed another volley of boulders (which again went wide). Sawyer ignored the hobgoblin warriors converging from both sides, and Air Walked directly to the ogre mage, hoping to take out the leader. There seemed to be several versions of the ogre mage flickering in the same space, and Suishen’s decapitating cut only served to dispel one of the Mirror Images.

Marie heard and felt her comrades struggling to get the door open. She stepped out of the way, and dropped a Flame Strike on the two hill giants just as the Withered Blossom Warriors arrived to surround her. But now the cavalry arrived. Bella slammed the door open, and sank her rapier into the nearest hobgoblin. Sandoval and Shinjiro stepped into the doorway, looking for something to kill, and the ogre mage took that opportunity to unleash a Cone of Cold on everything in front of him, friend and foe alike. Sawyer swung as he was casting the spell, but only succeeded in dispelling another image.

Sandoval sank his echoblade deep into one of the Withered Blossom Warriors, it’s sonic power liquefying his internal organs. Shinjiro hammered another with a Flurry of Blows, while Zhustin pounded one with a volley of Magic Missiles. Marie, herself surrounded, unlimbered her mace and laid into the hobgoblins around her. Nicki had rematerialized by now, and attempted to Dominate the ogre mage, but the general proved to be too strong-willed.

The giants abandoned their fruitless rock throwing, and charged at Sawyer with clubs, defending their commander. But Sawyer ignored their pounding, and kept his focus on the ogre mage general. His next flurry dispelled the last of the Mirror Images, and finally Suishen was able to bite deep into oni-flesh. But the general was tough; the blade did less damage than Sawyer would have expected, Suishen’s flame didn’t seem to touch the ogre mage at all, and his wounds were closing almost before the sword left them. He abandoned his spellcasting, and drew an enormous greatsword. Its first blow nearly took Sawyer’s arm off. “At last - a worthy opponent!” Suishen shouted gleefully.

The battle below was furious as well. Bella was in her element, with enough allies around to keep her foes off balance and allow her to strike with maximum effect. Her rapier took the head off one of the hobgoblins, then she spun and in the same movement buried both rapier and shortsword in another, sending it to the ground as well. Zhustin decided the time for reserving high-level spells was past; he wriggled his fingers in intricate patterns, and the room was filled with thunderclaps as bolts of Chain Lightning leaped from enemy to enemy. One of the hobglobins fell, and one of the hill giants was left tottering, cross-eyed and with every hair on his body standing out.

Nicki saw that Sawyer had his hands full with the ogre mage, and decided to try to help. He cast a Ray of Exhaustion that left the general weakened, then followed immediately with another, leaving the commander panting with exhaustion. Sawyer took advantage of the opening to hit the general three times, while the ogre mage missed him badly, seeming to find it difficult now to lift his huge sword.

Marie killed one of the hobgoblins assaulting her, and Bella finished off another, then dashed up the stairs. Sandoval launched a deafening Soundburst on the hill giants, and the one that had been tottering, tottered over. The bard then shifted his song to Inspire Greatness on Bella and Sawyer, while his harmonizing echoblade continued singing Inspire Courage. Shinjiro leaped up onto the balcony, and his Flurry of Blows dropped the last surviving hill giant.

Sawyer thurst Suishen deep into the general’s guts, and Bella did a Spring Attack, darting past him to stab him from behind. With a guttural groan, the ogre mage collapsed onto the floor. Marie and the final hobgoblin warrior were still trading blows, but Nicki’s Magic Missiles put him permanently out of action.

Unfortunately, the ogre mage wasn’t permanently out of action. As Bella began rifling his pockets, he suddenly brought his sword up into her guts. She’d forgotten about his regeneration! Zhustin hit him with an Acid Dart (and then a couple more, just to be sure), and this time he stayed down.

As Marie began doling out healing to the badly wounded party, they all wondered – if this was just the outer line of defense, just how bad would it be farther on?

The PCs earned 5,943 XP for the night, putting them at 177,205 XP, with 220,000 required for level 12. We’ll be at Joette & Rich’s next Sunday.