Run Date: November 8, 2023
PCs
Ham:
Lv1 Fighter
Thea: Lv2 Barbarian
Lucy: Lv1 Thief
Hench
None
The Crystal Sanctum
Feels like forever since the last session. Today the players decided to examine a hook that came up in the last week regarding a strange man asking for help for his master. The party headed outside Sherbin and found the heavily cloaked and wrapped man lying against the wall of a dilapidated farmhouse. As they called out, he pulled himself from the various vines and roots that had started to grow over him.
The PCs didn't pay much mind to the situation, only noting that the man's face didn't move; as if he was masked. He explained that his master needed people for a service, and was well-laden with gold to give as reward. Given the various issues they've dealt with in the past, some simple work for gold sounded pleasant.
The man guided the PCs into the western hills. They continued to observe oddities, an uncanny valley of sorts in regards to their guide: he didn't run out of breath, showed no need to eat or drink, and his voice was always hollow.
The party arrived after nightfall. To their surprise, what greeted them was a village encased in crystal; frozen in time. As they navigated the streets, their torchlight danced and scintillated on the grass, buildings, and into the windows; where they swear they saw faces. Their guide lead them toward a mansion and allowed them to stay in the dining room. I forgot to mention that the guide specifically noted that the part would need food for their stay and they stocked up back in Sherbin. Their arrival to this village revealed why.
Through the night, the party's watches heard scraping and carving noises. Nothing came of it. The following morning, their guide returned and lead them to his master's sanctum. On the walk, the PCs questioned the guide; they learned that the crystal tower at the center of the town belonged to Ogavaka, the master of the domain. Ogavaka was a bit of a recluse and eccentric, rarely leaving his sanctum and only dealing with outsiders for business.
Upon arriving at the tower, the group was lead up a spiraling staircase and into a meeting chamber where a golden basin sat on a raised dais. The PCs were seated around a table and a large bell was struck. The vibrations resonated throughout the tower and echoed into the village. Shortly thereafter a hole opened within the ceiling and a floating sphere of mouths, eyes, and tentacles drifted down and toward the basin. There was immediate discussion as to whether or not they should flee. This was only exacerbated after the largest mouth on the monster spoke, "DO YOU BLEED?"
There was a stammering response, and the large mouth closed to allow a more diplomatic mouth to lead the conversation. The other mouths spent their time mumbling to each other. Master Ogavaka explained that he required the eyeballs of creatures for his work, and that they resided in a warded dungeon below his tower. He commanded Sarvus, the man that had guided the party, to show them the potential rewards. Sarvus stepped to an opaque crystal wall, knocked twice, and passed through into a treasure chamber. The steward then began to show off the various gold and gems from "behind the glass." This was enough to convince the party to continue.
The group spent some time discussing the specifics with the Master before being lead to the dungeon's entrance by Sarvus. Another knock revealed a rendezvous point with table and shelves, and a stairwell ending in a special door. The party learned about Metamphora (in this case, a crystalline jug with gold and copper bindings), and descended down the stairs. The strange door was blocked by what appeared to be a wide blade. In its fuller were stamped runes. Sarvus explained the mechanism, showing that one must cut themselves and "feed" the runes to release the seal. Thea, being the beefiest member of the group, followed the process and the party passed through. The delve began.
After descending a spiral staircase, the party arrived in an open chamber. At its center was a statue wearing a pearl necklace and scale mail. The group were hesitant to mess with the statue, and Lucy spent some time checking it for triggers. Upon finding nothing, they decided to go ahead and take the free loot. While doing so, however, heavy padding came from a hall to the east. The group quickly prepared for a fight.
Lighting can make for fun descriptions and build up, and I cheesed it up as the padding of a heavy creature continued its approach. After a few moments, the party found themselves confronted by an albino ape with flat, pink eyes. It huffed at them and beat its chest, warning the intruders to back off. The party, expecting blood to shed and thinking this creature had the eyes they needed, made the first move. Battle commenced as they charged and surrounded the massive beast. Thea drew the ape's blows to buy time for the others to flank it. It feel quickly, letting out a defiant roar before collapsing.
The party began listening for another patrol, and soon heard the roars and battle cries of more creatures coming from the hall. Lucy and Ham set themselves up around the corners of the hall while Thea prepared to distract whatever was coming. They soon spotted several more albino apes charging from the shadows. The group unleashed their ambush, heavily wounding (or killing?) the first ape. Soon after, mutated humanoids with sharpened sticks for weapons joined the fray.
It was a hard and bloody melee, but the PCs managed to hold the line. My low HD rolls and Thea's cleaves ensured the group avoided being overwhelmed, though not unharmed. After cutting down the last enemy, the party quickly cut out everything's eyes and returned up the stairwell. They met up with Sarvus, who examined the eyes within the jars and informed them that only some of them were what his Master wanted. Gold exchanged hands and the group headed back to the mansion to patch themselves up.
The following morning, they delved again. The process was identical; Sarvus guided them to the Sanctum, knocked on the wall, and awaited their return. This time, the group as armed with a bit more information on their targets' strength.
As the group returned to the main chamber, the decided to follow their blood trail. The bodies from the previous day were gone, and the trail lead into a chamber with refuse and piles of bones. There was a door to the northwest and a hall to the south. The group decided to head through the hall a little ways before checking the door, and were discovered by a patrol of the mutants. The party made quick work of them before returning to work on the door. Lucy discovered it was locked and spend a bit of time getting around it (2e allows Methodical for improved odds, but she still rolled low). Finally, the party pushed the door open and discovered an ancient office with a stone desk infested with giant centipedes.
The party hesitated and observed the centipedes for a few moments, and noticed that the creatures gave little care about their presence. Thea entered the room and began fiddling with the desk. Some of the centipedes gave her space and headed toward the other two at the door. Lucy and Ham stood aside and watched as the bugs followed the scent of carrion into the southern hall. Meanwhile, Thea discovered a full purse of silver in a stuck drawer of the desk.
Afterward, the party headed back south and turned a corner to discover a pair of large doors bearing Ogavaka's visage. They fiddled with it a bit and found it barred so Thea kicked it in. As the doors flung free their torchlight bled into a large chamber filled with albino apes and mutants feeding on the corpses of the previous day. The PCs quickly fell into a retreat as the skulled leader shouted orders to charge. Luckily, the apes were surprised and delayed. Lucy booked it back to the stairs and abandoned the others while Thea kept pace with Ham; who was quite slow. Spear after spear charged at the two, causing wounds but never landing a killing blow. Thea felled the weaker mutants and bought space for Ham, who had tripped while turning the corner, to get up and continue his retreat. The group continued to fall back until arriving at the stairs; the mutants and apes nipping at their heels. As they reached the top, the door was open and Lucy was preparing for potential breach. Thankfully, the party hit the door, slammed it shut, and the blades returned to seal it. Thus ended the second delve.
After selling off the few sets of eyes they gathered from the mutants, the PCs decided to rest then work their way back to Sherbin in anticipation for next week.
Rewards (Totals)
260
XP per PC
135 GP per PC
Fancy Scale Mail (Unidentified)
Afterword
The gaps in sessions lead to a lot of rust that needs to be shaken off. Reviewing rules and ensuring fairness is still taking more time than I'd like, and I still forget to check and test 2e's noise/visual rules (was the roar close enough to alert the nearby guards, was the light obvious enough to draw their attention, etc). The new session time leads to a delay in writing the report that may affect details. Today I forgot Thea's little hunt that lead to her fleeing a pack of demon wolves.
As a separate note, ACKS dungeon/treasure advice suggests placing something like 4gp per XP value when stocking. This dungeon was build with AD&D 1e's Appendix A, and I forgot to include it so full disclosure: sack of silver was me breaking my own rule of changing things. What's set should remain set, sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't. Nonetheless, something to keep in mind for the future. The payout for the eyes feels on the low end, but is appropriate to the morlock eye value and magical components in general; it also suits the risk involved.
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