Session XXXII - Radagast Faces His Maker (2002-06-25)

Next morning, the party healed up and cast enchantments for the day.

They started checking out the tunnels leading out with the one that was easiest to reach. The tunnel came to a door with a brass star in the center. The rest of the party well back, Radagast tried opening the door. Even though they had checked for traps they failed to notice the somewhat loose stones in the ceiling, and Radagast was buried under them as soon as he tried the door mechanism. Luckily Jobric was there to heal him.

For the next entrance Quintus cast levitate on Radagast who went to the tunnel entrance and then lowered the rope so that the rest would be able to climb up. That tunnel also ended with with a statue of a dinosaur like creature (probably a demon of some sort). They did not investigate that tunnel further, and went for the next.

The third tunnel ended in what looked like a cave in, and when they approached the end the stones rose from the floor. They thought that was not a good sign and went for the last.

The last tunnel divided up. The left went to a door with a brass star that they did not try to open. The other tunnel went up a few stairs, and ended up with a door with mace and a mother of pearl embedded into it. The rest of the party again backed up while Radagast went to open it. As he touched the door, the stairs dropped down, and Radagast slid down a cute to the bottom of a pit decorated by spikes! Only one spike hit him as he desperately tumbled around the rest. Still alive, he was worried to see the ceiling have some kind of strange studs, one of which started to glow an eerie light. He yelled for help, and started climbing the chute back up. The glowing stud became some kind of creature that shrieked horribly. Radagast shook off the effect of that easily, and killed the creature with two well placed magical bolts from his finger. Then the party lowered him a rope and he easily climbed out the rest of the way.

That left the last door they had not touched. Suspicious, watching for loose tiles in the ceiling and door, Radagast approached the door, once again leaving his party a safe distance back. To his surpise, onc he twisted the opening mechanism there was just a faint click, and the door pressed in a little bit. Looking up and down, still not quite believing what he was seeing, he pushed the door open.

The room had six pillars supporting the room. At the far end was some kind of portal, and in front of it an altar. To the right was a door. When Radagast stepped into the room followed by the rest of the party, the chains at the altar moved. They had vicious looking hooks in them, and could easily reach everywhere in the room. They heard mental voice in their heards asking who came, questing if it was the wizard, and complaining that his service was long since done and he wanted to be released. The party realized it was some kind of demon imprisoned by the wizard to do his bidding. The creature named himself as Ramsash.

Gronthor came forward and bargained with the demon. Gronthor explained that if the party let the demon go, it should not attack the party and it should explain how the portal worked. He also explained that the party could easily leave, maybe even kill the demon, so it was in its best interests to operate unless it wanted to wait a few more hundred years for the next party that happened to figure out the ancient clues. The creature gave its word, and explained the rituals needed to operate the portal (which were horrible enough so that nobody was tempted - including virgin sacrifice with knife made without natural flame) and Gronthor lifted the lid of the sarcophagus with Radagast. The creature vanished with a puff of smoke. Feeling slightly bad about releasing a demon, although glad that they did not need to fight it, they turned to the door.

Radagast opened the door and stepped in, immediately becoming confused and wandering into the room. Quintus also become confused, first standing still and the wandering away into the corridor where they came from. Jobric and Gronthor seemed to unaffected. Jobric realised it was a spell, and tried dispelling it but failed. He then cast a spell on Quintus which paralyzed him. He told Gronthor to keep whacking him with a sock full of coins until he went unconscious. When Gronthor went to stop Radagast from wandering away from the room, he touched a coach and turned into a smelly demon. Luckily Jobric realized what happened, and did not kill him on sight. Jobric then paralyzed Radagast, and Gronthor smacked him on the head until Radagast lost consciousness.

Jobric detected magic in the room, and found several objects which he tucked into his backpack, including a wand and several vials.

In the morning, after several tries, Jobric managed to turn Gronthor back into human. Radagast and Quintus were still confused, which seemed to indicate the condition was permanent until Jobric could do something about it. Gronthor checked Quintus' gear while he had the change. It took several days and several spells until Radagast and Quintus were back to normal, and they were almost out of food (although Jobric could make more food from thin air if he had to).

In the room was also a door. It lead to a short corridor, and opened into a beautiful chamber with tree like pillars carrying marble statues of animals, a pool, mirror, cushions and so forth. As the party entered, two monkey statues fell from the tree and expanded into huge beasts with too many arms!

The ensuing battle was fierce, and for Radagast, short. He managed a few good strikes, went down under the blows, got healed by Jobric, and then got ripped in half by one of the monsters. The party, shocked, retreated into the tunnel, blasting everything they got at the creatures. Lighting bolts, searing beams of light, grease and other bolts of magical energy flew at them, some fizzling to nothing before reaching their target, and occasionally reaching the wrong target as Jobric learned, trying to stand up from the greasy floor just to get on the way of a powerful zap of lightning. In the end they triumphed, although they were greatly saddened by the loss of their friend. They decided to deliver Radagast's possessions to his parents. There was an unbelievable amount of treasure in the chambers. The mirror showed strange views of the distant past, perhaps, with no dust nor damage from the fight in the room.

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