[AD&D1e] 2020-08-18 Tiwesdæg Myrgþ | Dungeon of the Mad Hermit 3

"Attack on Titan"

Wolly Willy Wanderers

Hælen Whelmette, a Ranger
Kruger Kannon, an Archer
Gorlim Cowl, a Baby Seal Clubber
D'Corry Ladykiller, a Temptor
Missing Raven Express and Areyn Aktshion

Diary of Hælen Whelmette
So there we are facing a Titan-sized skull, mostly buried with four Fire Giant skeletons holding up the ceiling.

We talk about tossing some weight into the room while I spike the elevator down. Entering the room, the elevator attempts to rise but I spiked it good. There is unexpected movement from behind the far side of the half buried head. Zombies!?! Gorlim immediately steps forward with his holy symbol out, commanding them to 'go back.' The zombies movement continues unabated however the giant skeletons suddenly flee to the back of the room and the ceiling collapses.

"Don't break the ice!"

Gorlim grabs onto the skull. I lunge out of the room into the elevator (3xDex=27, roll 06). Seeing me, Gorlim attempts the same (needs 30, rolls 95) but gets crushed by the ceiling as it crashes into the floor leaving nothing but rubble and his broken arm reaching up. Not sure it's even still attached... They're all dead.

Raven is mysteriously whispering in my ear that he is still owed the thousand paper cranes from another hermit which Valerius mentioned could be used as a Wish. I exit the dungeon and ride out to Magnificent to see if the hermit has finished the cranes. I hear Kruger's voice mention along the way that the group had previously encountered Gnolls who dressed up and pretended to be zombies even when it wasn't Hallow's Eve! I acquire the cranes and Wish for our whole party to be fresh, back at our camp. The camp now has an Irish Spring in the middle. Weird.

We renewed Zest, we head back into the dungeon and head to the left from the Purple Ooze living room. Picking the lock we do not find the Displacer Beast! Instead there is webbing everywhere. Torches! I point out the big ass spider just as D'Corry escapes it's clutches. I step back and whiff. Gorlim flails the arachnid while I try to jam a torch into it. The eight legged freak bites Kruger who goes stiff as a board from it's venom, positioning it just right for me to conquer any arachnophobia with an amazing slash. Gorlim whiffs. D'Corry shakes his head of arachnicide as it phases out. Someone swears "Aragog."

We find no treasure nor secret doors. The main exit is locked and Areyn picks it, just dodging a poison needle trap. A wide-eyed Areyn looks like she lobs herself from the doorway (yeah, there's another spider reference for good measure - hope you counted the movies above) as I pull it open. Displacer Beast! It slams the door shut.

I rush into the room to be slapped. FWAP! Gorlim steps in to help take damage while D'Corry peeks through the door trying to find an opportunity. Despite being careful, the beast dings both he and Gorlim. We all proceed to whiff and then it connects with myself and Gorlim. Unperterbed, Gorlim tags it and D'Corry jumps into the air with his battle cry, "I am charming!" and comes down with a critical blow.

Visibly afraid of us it attempts to escape. Gorlim and I miss while D'Corry breaks his weapon in our attempt to finish it off. The beast disappears through a wall and I rush after him. Obviously the wall is an illusion is what I'm thinking when I wake up staring at the ceiling. That wall hurt.

Once I get back up, I rush into the hallway looking for Mrs. Displacer.

The rest of the party watches me run off growling with presumption that they are all following me to finish this battle once and for all. After I go they drag Kruger to the swan fountain in the middle of the room and test the water on him. He immediately regains his motor functions. They hear me yelling victoriously and then the air from my lungs escaping quickly. Not hearing anything else they explore the room. "Help! Where are you guys?"

"Did you hear something?"

After awhile they make their way into the hallway carefully and find my unconscious body. Luckily someone thinks to stabilize my wounds. We go back to the swan room and I fill my waterskin while D'Corry starts making untoward advances on the swan. "This isn't Annie May!"

Well, we could be The Warriors of Annie May. Perhaps that is our group name. Some of us have metal armour and if they learned some alchemy.... Food for thought.

Gorlim searches the fountain while D'Corry and I plan a play about people and swan fountains. No, really. We actually had this conversation. We also talk about names for our sixy group. Y'know, because there are six of us and we're.... Anyway names like Willy Nilly Avengers and the Woolly Willies come up. Nobody likes my Sinister Six (I mean, the spider reference builds itself!).

Suddenly D'Corry rushes down the hallway I came back from. We hear him exclaim, "Eihtch ee double hockey sticks!" He returns saying he tried to parley with the fire breathing dog (previously encountered one down the other side of the dungeon) but it said he shall not pass or asked him for a gruff goat named Billy or something like that.

"By the hair of my chinny chin chin we need a plan! Let's go attack it. C'mon guys."

The rest of us look at D'Corry and get ready for him to lead the way.

"Wait a second, let's consider this more carefully."

I sort of keep quiet as they discuss the merits of ranged attacks and the crossbow over the long bow. I realize as they talk D'Corry is crafting something out of a hammer. Apparently Elves are quite quick and accurate with a long bow but not so much with a crossbow. I hear a bubbling noise. Is D'Corry smoking his hammer? Where did he get the water? The fountain? He made a water bong out of his hammer and Sweet Water.

Without even realizing it and maybe due to second hand smoking, the troupe (minus me) realize they've walked into the Hellhound's room as it warms them all with fire. Smells like toast to me as I stay by the nice wet fountain. Kruger shoots it, taking advice from the earlier discussion about using a long bow over a crossbow... or maybe not; he's still using a crossbow - everyone is distracted by Gorlim yelling, "This looks like a job for Captain Caveman!" while tossing his club. The dog watches it fall and rattle to the ground beside him. There's a moment where no one does anything but look at the thrown club lying on the floor. The K-9 bolts passed the troupe who's busy looking at a shrugging Gorlim.

The dog rushes into the fountain room and I hop on the fountain and yell "Shooo!" as it runs out the way we came.

They turnover the hooch's room but the only thing of note is a door in the North wall. I join them. Areyn hears nothing beyond the door and D'Corry opens it. Goat! I shoot my bow but D'Corry closes the door too quickly and the arrow harmlessly bounces off the door.

Something tells us the goat might be an Imp. Gorlim decides to enter and talks with the goat finding out it is indeed the same one we encountered previously. Suddenly as he planned it (I guess... He didn't tell anyone) he splashes the goat with Holy Water. It somehow stings him but he shows not the ill effect from last time. Backing off Gorlim engages the goat in conversation and it gets upset and says it's leaving. Poof. Gone just like the Phase Spider. Next door opens to a Nightmare. This is the point (I know you're laughing) we realize these rooms are the same rooms we reached from the right fork out of the living room.

Kruger goes mute. (Internet issues - controlling player is gone) D'Corry chooses to heal Kruger. We make a plan and decide to sleep in the hound's room. During the second watch a man opens a door from a vegetation room and has a familiar dog and little Imp with him. He jumps with a start when he spies us and steps back closing the door.

I track the wizard and lose him in the fountain room. I figure he has a room adjacent to this one and a pass through stone or similar spell. Good vibrations perhaps? I look up to see D'Corry standing on the swan. I look no further in this room and check on the spider room and it ambushes me. I knock it back as the group enters to aid me. We all take turns inflicting harm upon it despite it biting me twice. I feel it's poison in my veins but persevere.

We go back to the dog room to sleep and think. Hellhound, Imp, Nightmare, Satyr, Titan... Dog, goat, horse. Is there a pattern? Imp's can take on the form of spider. We set a trap for the wizard in hopes he returns. D'Corry doesn't wake the next person to watch and stays up extra time. He spies a centipede entering under the door and my eyes pop open to the noise of him shifting and looking at the centipede. I immediately squish the centipede. D'Corry uses a divine healing on me. We sleep another night.

Nightmare room is now empty but the next room contains the Satyr. I inspect Christopher Robin's corner (where it poos). It sounds odd however we're looking for other exits and entrances or just a way to snag the Mad Hermit. No luck. Everything works and seals too well. Eg. the toilet is a drawer. D'Corry kills the poor Satyr. He feels a tug from his deity Hela Brightaxe (battle & luck) and despite his demeanor we all see a change in him. Gorlim worships Athena (which explains why he searched the nearby municipality for a shrine to her. You'd think we would have figured that out.

Anyway, after killing the innocent fey creature; I mean, who likes those lousy stinking fairy after they killed Fritz! I decide the horns and hooves could sell for magical ingredients. Shouldn't let the tragedy be in vain. D'Corry straddles the corpse and says he will now defend it from desecration and challenges me to a duel. His stature is odd; unlike him. I pull my sword and say "Let's do it," then bonk him on the head. He shakes it saying he feels better now. He was getting surly from being too sober and the concussion is like being drunk which is his natural state.

We make it down to the now whistling Titan room and the Dwarves we met previously are digging out the carnage. Yup, they whistle while they work. After salutations they show us how to work the elevator (buttons we previously couldn't find). At least it clears up whether this was magical or mechanical. The Dwarves are just excavating around the head while I dig around the walls. I ask Areyn to check the domed ceiling but she loses her grip and falls. Feeling responsible I move like a professional dancer and catch her. Phew. We spin a few times for fun. She giggles. We all smile.

As the head of the Titan is cleared, it starts to turn to flesh and there's an earthquake. We freak out as it seems like the Titan is trying to free himself and doing so will kill us. He gets the message and lets us dig him out. D'Corry works out that if he moves sideways, the damage will be minimized and the Titan offers to let us leave via the elevator before he clears himself of what's left. We flee.

The ground starts shaking as we move up the elevator and through the various rooms, careful not to touch any purple ooze and flee the dungeon just as it collapses and from the wreckage rises a Titan, ten Dwarves high.

He says that he's now off to the Aerie. His story is not dissimilar to the Satyr's. D'Corry says that the Wizard killed a Satyr in there and the Titan says if that's true he will find the culprit to the good creature's death and exact vengeance. D'Corry calms him and convinces him not to look into it any further. "It's all good big guy."

We get gifts for freeing him. The Dwarves say we should go on another 'dig' together. We discover their captain is Memnus and we can find them at Spiders (Tavern).

Loot:
Hælen - Bastard Sword +1
D'Corry - Shiny Stuff
Kruger - Long Bow (replacing his crossbow) +1
Gorlim - Flail +1
Raven - Brass Knuckles
Areyn - (it's a secret)
Dwarves - Axes