Session 2: Dungeons Deep

At the bottom of the ropes the characters find themselves in a vast chamber split by a rushing stream. The walls are lined with ancient columns and the ground is littered with debris; it looks as though stone steps once spiraled up the side of the pit but they have long since collapsed - just like the the bridge that once spanned the river.

The party quickly moves to the river as Moriban the ogre starts hurling rocks from above. He’s not a happy ogre.

V starts drawing a length of rope from her pack but before she can put it to use, Forester grabs the rope and leaps across the river, quickly securing the rope on the other side. The others are briefly impressed with Forester’s athletic prowess but have to quickly cross the river as more boulders fall. Miskar, V and Adrin cross the river with ease thanks to the rope; Ardyn doesn’t fancy getting his feet wet so vaults across the divide with the aid of his spear.

There’s no time for a round of applause; the boulders keep coming!

On the other side of the chamber, lights are lit and a deep pit is seen with a welcome, if eerie hot breeze rising from below. Beyond that a stout wooden door to the north and a passage to the east. A faint glow is witnessed in the east.

Forester is greatly perturbed at his inability to create light so offers what amounts to literally half his wealth to Ardyn (the most mercenary of characters) for one of his torches. Ardyn readily agrees, indeed he offers to light it for a further 5 coins! Fortunately for Forester, flint and tinder is not in short supply.

Following the light the party came upon an old man sitting in a cell reading a large book by candle-light. He speaks of how comfortable he was sitting there, reading and what a fine fellow that Nuromen was, wouldn’t hear an ill word said against him. After a stalled attempt at communication, V wanders into the cell and waves her hand through the illusion. By the old man’s cell is another door heading east. It’s black, ominous yet inviting, clearly they should explore further. The party ignores it! Instead they head back to the first door they encountered and push through into another vast but this time dust-filled chamber.

<Edit> on the way to the north door, the party stumbles across an opening to the south that I’d forgotten to tell them off initially and forgotten to record here! Within they find an octagonal room filled with wooden manikins, armour and weapons in varying states of decay. “Can’t be an armoury,” says Ardyn. “Not down here...” It’s an armoury and Miskar’s ‘treasure-sense’ kicks in, she starts stripping the dummies and quickly uncovers a chain hauberk that has escaped the ravages of time. It’s magical of course and she slips it on.

It would be much better to let one of the warriors take the armour but Miskar, being Miskar thinks otherwise and keeps it for herself.

Brad (playing Forester) calls the armour mithril - he’s made several comments that the halls of Nuromen are a little Moria-like. He’s right... <End edit>

The dust-filled chamber was once a mess hall, as evidenced by the crumbling beds, chairs, tables and footlockers. Miskar feverishly looks around once more, her treasure metre going into the red...

As Miskar plucks a pair of ivory dice from the dust at her feet, a skeletal hand rises to grip her arm! Four skeleton warriors rise to attack the intruders with wicked scimitars.

V immediately draws her sword and decapitates the first skeleton, Forester knocks down another and Miskar takes a futile swing of her own enemy (probably hindered by that magical armour). Adrin steps in to help Miskar and puts down the foe. Is that one of the six times he can assist before ‘being undone’? Ardyn thrusts deftly with his spear, completely missing his quarry, he gets clipped with a scimitar blade for his troubles and takes a hit.

The second round of combat sees Ardyn fell his opponent. Although they were only ‘henchmen’ level foes and easily bested, I’d (characteristically) forgotten that they aren’t hurt by thrusting or missile weapons, so Ardyn’s spear should have been worthless... Next time...

From the mess hall the party uncovers a side room lined with gibbets from which hang the ancient corpses of Nuromen’s foes. Not liking what they find, they head north again finding 3 doors. Behind one, a foul stench, behind another a room of fountains and necrotic plants hung in baskets. Another door is spied to the north but there’s a change of heart and the party decides to return to the door by the illusion (I may have dropped a hint). I am relieved since I was not completely familiar with the bit of dungeon the characters seemed intent on exploring.

Returning east, the party enters an L-shaped chamber replete with statues of many scholarly men. Forester rightly surmises that these are kinsmen of Nuromen, indeed two of the statues carry his name and are identical. After a quick investigation of the nearest duplicate, Forester twists its head revealing a secret door. Beyond, a cold underground lake, in the middle of which sits an island and on the island a heavy wooden chest.

‘Treasure of Nuromen...’ whispers Miskar...