D&D post game 3-18 (longer than usual)

Our intrepid group of adventures was hired for a quick run down into the dwarven steam tunnel labyrinth in search of lost ruins.

 A upper lower level archaeologist hired them for a guard detail for a paltry 10 gold a day. Well it could have been more, but the charisma filled bard really botched the negotiation roll. Like amazingly bad. 

 A two day rail car ride and the gang plus archeologist made it to the abandoned section of tunnel and found the doorway to the supposed Halls of Healing.

 Strange that the doors looked to have been opened more recently than a few hundred years? Plus what was that lingering smell of ammonia or chlorine about?

 Well with no stealth involved at all they opened the doors and marched into the empty hall and into a trio of ogres. As the last ogre fell, a door in the next room flew open and a deep voice bellowed.

 “What is all the noise?”

The voice came from a hill giant who had a couple more ogres in tow that were all too keen to stop whomever was intruding. The party positioned themselves in the hallway to receive the bulk of the big brutes heading their way.  The ogres engaged while the hill giant tossed hunks of broken statuary at the party. The ogres fell quickly, but they and the previous trio did their best to wear down the adventurers. The hill giant waded into combat to try and finish the job. He swung a  hunk of tree as a club and tried to put the monk and bard in the ground, but just couldn’t get the job done. A few minutes later and five ogres and a giant lay dead.

Now they entered the entryway to the Halls of Healing. It didn’t look as abandoned as they were told. It seems that the big guys had been living here for some time. Lukas the archeologist started his study of the area, while the party looted bodies and searched the area. This is also where the ½ orc in the barbarian really came out to play.

As Lukas was exploring various alcoves he discovered one was being used as a privy for the ogres/giant. The barbarian shoved him and of course the archeologist fell into a pile of ogre excrement.

The party move onto tot explore the  room the giant came from. Here they found the official living quarters. A stew of goblin and orc bits was simmering in a large cauldron. They also found various fur, bits of bone, wagon wheels, various rocks for tossing at people, a few empty and one half full wine casks and bag full of various animal parts that might be snack food. They abandoned the room to move on to the next room.

Here they found a small raised reflecting pool and a hole in the floor about 10’ across and very very  deep. As they searched the room, Lukas came in to look at the statues near  the reflecting pool and to examine the dwarven design of the stonework surrounding the pool. It was here that the barbarian shoved the archeologist in the pool. As he was enjoying the  wet and sputtering human, the sound of a lot of scratching was heard coming from the hole in the floor.

It was then that an explosion of humanoids burst from the hole. They were mostly naked or had some manner of animal skin on them. They were thin, grey to mottled in skin color. Some held small crude weapons, while others had long filthy finger nails. The most striking feature though was their lack of eyes. 

They leapt upon the party as they came out of the hole, clawing, swinging of trying to bite anyone they could. The first group was put down quickly, but seconds later a second wave of them sprang forth to continue the assault. The barbarian using his brute strength began dropping statues down the hole. This seemed to slow the creatures down a bit and killed a few in the process. However, they still kept climbing up to get to the tasty party of heroes. The barbarian then started to destroy the pool to send a wave of water flowing down the hole, and to destroy the structure to annoy the archaeologist . The party kept the creatures at bay and at the same time Lukas ran back and started to slowly push the giant cauldron from the previous room.

The majority of the party went to help and speed up the cauldron pushing. At the same time, the barbarian decided to wander off down a nearby hall way. He discovered a flight of stairs and headed down them.

The rest of the party got the cauldron to and into the hole. It careened down and finally got wedged in real good. Thus blocking the hole and stopping the onslaught of the bitey humanoids.

Meanwhile the ½ orc discovered an elaborate metal basin at the bottom of the stairway. He looked at it  and then set upon it with his huge battle hammer. He seemed to relish the vandalism and knew it would vex the archeologist even more. He then started back up the stairs, as the rest of the party came down the stairs. As the barbarian reached the top of the stairs he could hear the wailing of Lukas upon seeing what had been done to another bit of a dwarven artifact.

The party searched the small landing and found what appeared to be a secret door, and that it appeared to open if one could fill the metal basin. The same metal basin that had been wrecked just minutes prior. The spigot and handle needed to draw water was beyond repair.

The group headed up to search one final room. A room that looks to have been blocked off by the giant. Here they found what must have been the infirmary. A large room full of dilapidated beds. A giant statue of the dwarf god Moradin. Various shelves full of empty flasks, rotting bandages and dried potions. A second ornate basin was also located at the far side of the room. There was also a small cell that was probably used to quarantine the truly mad or the very infectious. Inside the cell were a male dwarf and female elf. Both in clothes that where mostly rags now. Both had bowls of the stew the giant had been making. Their hands were calloused. They both had a glassy eyed 1,000 yard stare and were completely unresponsive as well.

Oh yeah! There was also a second deep hole like the one full of biters from earlier. It wasn't long before another wave of bitey guys was climbing up for a snack. After the first wave was dispatched the barbarian took it upon himself to push the statue down into the hole crush dozens of creatures and blocking the hole. Plus he took great pleasure in destroying the statue as well since it was a old piece of art that Lukas would probably fawn over.

The rouge attempted to pick the lock to the cell, and failed miserably twice. The barbarian intervened and smashed the lock. The cell opened and the dwarf and elf were questioned, yet they said nothing. The party continued searching about for clues about the who, how and why of the existence of the two captives. The barbarian bored with it all moved toward the main entrance.

The archeologist examined the basin and figured he could salvage bits to get the broken spigot working and maybe open the secret door.  He and the remaining party members headed back down the stairs and got the basin working. As the water was turned on it slowly filled the basin and the once secret door slowly opened. A small hallway with several scones was behind the door. One torch lay on the ground. They lit the torch and Lukas moved down the hallway. Meanwhile, the dwarf and elf suddenly turned their heads and began to move through the rooms toward the staircase. The barbarian noticed this and followed them.

With the torch raised high, Lukas moved down the small hallway. He knew that beyond had to be the hidden healing pools that this place was known for. He heart beat wildly with excitement. His third step and a floor tile shifted under foot. He looked back to the group to say shout a warning, but it was too late. A quartet of spears struck him in the chest and pinned him to the far wall.

The monk, bard and rouge looked at each other in shock. The elf and dwarf arrived followed by the barbarian, who made sure to chide the rest of the party for their incompetence. The dwarf stopped to lift the lit torch and place it in the first empty wall sconce. A door at the end of the hall opened and a few clicks were heard coming from below the tiled floor.

The party rushed down the hall and into a giant room with several small braziers and a giant pool at the far end. Sitting idly by the pool was an elf male in green and gold robes. He looked up and slowly stretched. He waved off the dwarf and elf. They both turned and walked back up the stairs.

He now knew who and what was responsible for the noise upstairs. He also welcomed the party. After a quick back and forth, the elf offered to take the giant dwarven battle hammer from the barbarian. The ½ orc had already used his magical “sight beyond sight” helmet to discover the true identity of the elf. He relinquished his hammer and other items of value. He was 100% willing to walk away from this place with nothing but his life. The rest of the party refused to follow suit.

The elf shrugged and figured to get all the party’s fancy baubles he would have to do it the old fashioned way. He stood up and polymorphed into his true form a giant green dragon. Now the chemical smell of the area and the water made sense.

The party set up the dragon who waited to unleash his breath until three people were within range. The rouge , monk and barbarian too the brunt of the noxious chlorine gas cloud, but still held their ground. The bard hung back to bolster everyone with his songs of valor and tried to heal what damage he could. The dragons claws and teeth took a slow toll on the warriors and then a second blast of his poisonous breath hit the party. The rouge staggered, but kept his feet. The monk and barbarian shrugged it off a second time, but their wounds were mounting. The drag stuck out again wounding everyone near him. He then took in another huge gulp of air. It was then that the monk struck the giant lizard with a series of lightning punches and vicious short sword thrust. The dragon reeled, swayed to the right let out a death roar and collapsed.

 (here is where we ended as the night had passed into very early into the next day)