Re: Actual Play - Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords (Session Four)

Session Four continues:

In the southern wall of the torture chamber a heavy door stood ajar, and
Tali cautiously pushed it open wider to investigate. The room beyond
contained bits and pieces of a table and several chairs, as well as the
destroyed remnants of dozens of books and scrolls. Tharl recognised the
script upon them as ancient Thassilonian, but could decipher little beyond
fragmentary concepts - "pacts", "binding", "demons", and so forth.

Three more doors, each including a small window covered by a metal plate,
took up the southern wall. Upon each metal plate was emblazoned a strange
symbol resembling a seven-pointed star - the same symbol which was
emblazoned upon the book carried by the red marble statue at the entrance to
these catacombs. Tharl racked his brains, trying to remember what he knew
about the occult significance of the number seven - all he could call to
mind was the fact that the native sorcerers of Varisia sometimes tattooed
themselves with a symbol representing one of the schools of magic, which
improved their command of spells from that school. Though Tharl had been
trained to recognise eight schools of magic, the Varisians considered
divination to be part of the general study of magic, not a school in its own
right, and so they numbered the schools at seven - abjuration, conjuration,
enchantment, evocation, illusion, necromancy, and transmutation.

Each of these doors proved to be unlocked, and each contained an ancient
skeleton, obviously deformed by magic in some fashion. The first had a
grotesquely misshapen skull, bulging out in asymmetrical fashion. The second
proved to have a third arm growing from the side of its lower spine. The
third was the most deformed of all - its enormous ribcage stretched far down
past where the pelvis should have been to a set of shrunken hips and
gnome-sized legs, though its skull and arms were normal for a human.

Disturbed by this discovery, our heroes turned to a locked door in the
eastern wall of the torture chamber. Tali was able to rapidly pick the
lock - drawing surprised comments from her companions as to her obvious
skill and experience - and the door opened to reveal a flight of stairs
descending thirty feet to a dimly-lit room beyond an archway. Aaron reached
out his mind to seek the presence of evil, and detected a stained soul
lurking in the room beyond.

Aaron charged boldly down the stairs into the room, only to find himself
confronted by a dreadful sight. Crouched on the floor, surrounded by several
wooden lids carelessly dropped over black pits in the ground, was a
hideously mutated goblin. Several stunted limbs, mostly arms but including a
few disturbingly twisted legs, sprouted from the back and shoulders of the
awful thing. In its (relatively) normal hands it held a sword and an axe,
but one of its spurious arms was also holding a shiny dagger. Wearing only a
dirty loincloth hung with teeth and metal rings, it sprung to meet the
paladin, spitting hate through needle teeth.

None of the heroes were willing to try standing on one of the lids over the
pits, but they were quickly able to surround the freakish goblin by standing
in the safe spaces between. The sounds of some creatures moaning and wailing
from the pits accompanied the clash of steel in battle. The goblin proved to
be immensely strong for its size, dealing Aaron a mighty blow with its axe
only partially mitigated by the paladin's armour. Nartana and Tali were each
wounded in turn as they struck at the creature. Tharl stood back and
summoned a fierce hound from the celestial realms, knowing how much goblins
*hate* dogs, then moved to enlarge Aaron with a second spell.

Aaron got a terrible shock as the foul thing coughed up blood from its
innards which burned like acid. In return, Aaron managed to nearly gut the
goblin, but the little monster screamed in rage and tore into the paladin
despite his greatly increased size, striking home with both his sword and
his dagger and leaving Aaron bleeding to death on the floor of the chamber.

Nartana rushed to his side and stabilised him with a minor prayer of
healing, but was unable to do much more after exhausting Desna's favour
following the previous battle. Thinking quickly, Tharl remembered that he
still carried with him the potion they had found among Tsuto Kaijitsu's
possessions. He had been unable to identify it from its smell and taste -
seaweed mixed into white wine - but took the chance that it was neither
poison nor some spell of enhancement and poured it down the paladin's
throat. His gamble was justified as Aaron opened his eyes, barely able to
move but back from the brink of death. Another minor prayer of healing from
Nartana, and he was fit to move - slowly - out of the dungeon.

Before our heroes left, they checked beneath the wooden lids, and found each
of the eleven pits in the room contained a shuffling, emaciated zombie. It
was only a few minutes' work to dispatch the piteous creatures from above
with their crossbows, and then the companions cautiously made their way back
to the surface along the route by which they had entered.

(In this session, Tali discovered that the magical dagger they had picked up
from the quasit's body was actually a returning dagger. I'm also pleased, in
a small way, with the way I described the potion tasting - it will be fun
coming up with flavour combinations for future potions, and seeing how my
players interpret them when they haven't properly identified the items.)

--
Christopher Adams
Sydney, Australia

I'm waiting for the rain to come
I'm waiting for the light to go
My hands are shaking
My eyes are dry
I'm waiting for the clouds to cover up the sky


.

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