Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 145 play-by-post
This report covers a solo adventure undertaken by Kho Rimbo, who split from the party on the evening of Meadowlark 1st, and returned to explore the dungeon. Report was written by Brulligrum, Kho's player, with minor edits by me.
Adventurers
| Character | Race | Class | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kho Rimbo | Human | Magic-User level 1 | A knife throwing wizard extraordinaire. Covered in ritual knife scars. Cuts himself whilst casting. Prone to being sarcastic. |
Meadowlark 1st, Airday
Although he had been gone for days no one had noticed that Kho Rimbo had gone missing. That's what happens when you are the torchbearer. People only acknowledge your existence when it is dark. In the the light they do not notice your presence at all. Well at least everyone is noticing me now! thought the wayward and previously unmissed mage.
He was still unsure why he had done it. Why he had remained behind when the others left. Something had taken hold of him. Something whispered promises of gold. Something whispered he could be more than a mere torchbearer. Thinking back he now thought that although the gold was real it was really just a ruse. The something had wanted him.
Ill prepared, with naught but a single flask of oil and but a day or two of food and water he slipped back down into Racoba's retreat. Alone.
Back he trod, along the same path he had recently travelled with many. On reaching the stairs to the ghouls lair he did the unthinkable and snuffed out his lantern. In the smothering ebon dark the only reality was the wall at his side, the ground beneath his feet and the booming thump of his heart. With every shuffling footstep he dreaded hearing the splash of water followed by the sound of wet slapping feet rushing towards him in the dark, but luck seemed to favour his foolish endeavour. When he believed he had travelled far enough he relit his lantern, the light hurt his eyes but he welcomed it none the less. Ahead were the stairs where the whispers had first assailed him, and like a fool he once again heeded their intoxicating call.
Down a spiral stair case he corkscrewed his way and at their base discovered a grand buttressed gallery. On the walls abstract paintings seem to ebb and flow in chaotic formations and Kho dared not gaze upon them scared of what they might reveal. With prickling neck and teeth aching from being gritted he slowly traversed the hall of horror.
As he crept forward he ignored various side passages especially a great arch from which evil emanated like demonic breath. At the hallways end he found stairs leading up, surely not the way to the whispered treasure. Perhaps it was through the archway he thought. A thought he could not be sure was his own but for some reason acted on it anyway. All this while he had failed to notice his lantern slowly dimming and the walls beginning to take on a deep red hue.
He passed beneath the arch and down a flight of stairs to a passage like unto the one he had just left, but here he could not fail to notice the deep red glow of the walls. As he moved on the feeling of evil became a palpable syrupy thing he had to force his way through. Somehow quelling his instinct to run he eventually came upon an overbearing set of double doors, doors that his frantic instincts begged him not to open, still he tried. They were locked. Finally allowing common sense to prevail Kho fled back up the stairs and through the great arch to the gloomy red gallery above.
Despite his obvious peril Kho was not ready to give up his search. Meanwhile twisted humanoid silhouettes had began to to form in the ruddy paintings but Kho tried to pay them no heed thinking surely they were only a trick of the eye.
He elected to explore some of the side passages he had passed earlier. The first led to a chamber of humanoid skeletons who's bones showed signs of violent deaths. It was here he realised his lantern was casting barely half the light that it had before. Further on he opened a door that opened to a blank wall and he was forced to return the way he had come.
Back in the gallery the walls pulsed with deep red light and the abominable humanoid outlines were unmistakable. A feeling of dread washed over Kho Rimbo but instead of fleeing for the stairs he bolted down one of the side passages. Looking back his blood ran cold as he saw the red glow and its accompanying shapes were now following him.
He fled down the corridor to find his way barred by a battered and dented iron door with an obvious heavy lock. He glanced behind him. Beyond his lanterns feeble light he saw the red glow bathing the corridor as it followed him and from it coalesced a creature, a form of no natural origin. With a force driven by terror Kho turned back to the door and hammered at the lock and against all odds it gave way. He battered his way into the room beyond without care for who or what may lie within and slammed the the door, he then set to jamming it shut with a handful of iron spikes. Barely had his frantic labours ceased before the the sound of scratching and thumping emanated from the other side of the door. He scrambled back and quickly tried to take stock of his surrounding, praying he hadn't just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. He hadn't, not yet anyway. The diminished light of his lantern revealed a room hung with tapestries of evil aspect but there was no obvious way out. Meanwhile the pursuing horror pounded at the door relentlessly. Hurriedly Kho began to check behind the hangings. They mostly depicted an evil wizard and a black tower looming over its surrounding mountains, behind these he found nothing but wall. Two stood out amongst the others. One depicted a a man being eviscerated by a hundred blades, the other was featureless and black. Behind the former was a dark passage and the latter he dared not touch.
Whist the door creaked and groaned from the tattoo of doom being beaten by the horror beyond Kho desperately tried to form a plan of action. He barely considered the passage hidden behind the eviscerated man as he was sure that route would lead to a bloody death. Boom, Boom, went the door.
A plan came to him to use a tapestry to envelope the monster so he could rush by, but when he considered the tapestries great size and his own fatigue he realised this was an illusion of grandeur that would lead to his death.
The door squealed and groaned.
He then considered turning out his lantern and waiting in the dark, hoping beyond hope that the creature would just go away. This seemed like little more than postponing an inevitable death. Boom, boom, groan. What about the black tapestry, what if...
The assault on the door stopped.
Kho stood stock still, the booming of his heart replaced that from the battered door.
Had it gone?
After a short wait in the eerie silence Kho tippy-toed to the door. It was bent and buckled, bulging in its frame. He tried to snatch a glance through a gap near the frame and barely leapt back in time as long taloned fingers slashed at his face. The pounding of the door and of Kho's heart renewed with fierce vigour.
Kho finally made his decision. He hurried to the black tapestry and whilst wincing he placed his hand on its ebon surface. It felt like the surface of a cold lake and his hand passed through. With a last glance at the warped door he clambered through the black surface.
Beyond he found himself enveloped in utter darkness and stilled silence, only the feeling of the floor beneath his feet told him he was not dead. From this point on touch became his only reliable sense. He found a wall and gingerly followed it with his fingers. Time was now fluid and had no meaning so he didn't know how long had passed before he collided with something in the dark. There followed a great crashing of metal, chain and wood. Overcome by terror and sheer exhaustion Kho passed out into a darkness of his bodies own creation.
Meadowlark 2nd, Waterday
From darkness he woke to more darkness, but resolute he got up and blundered on. He tripped over something heavy, righted himself, and took to examining his assailant. A wooden box with a lid. Was this it? carefully he opened the lid and then thrust his hand inside. It sank to the wrist in jingling coins. He pulled out his hand and coins fell between his fingers. He had found the promised treasure, but the irony was he could not even see it.
“Nooooooo” he howled “this is hell!”
From then on Kho's memories were jumbled. He didn't doubt he was at the edge of his sanity. He remembered fumbling around in the darkness and stumbling over countless more chests, all filled with coins. He might of slept but could not be sure in a darkness deeper than slumber.
How and when he found himself back in the tapestry room he did not know. Respite from the dark was short lived. He lit his lantern only to have it sputter out, the oil finally used up. The dark welcomed him back but he did not welcome it.
His blind flight back through the redoubt was literal. Looking back Kho got the feeling he had not escaped, but instead had been allowed to leave.
Meadowlark 4th, Fireday
About a day later Kho shambled into the camp around Cedarwade keep. “I found the treasure” he called out to the surprised faces that greeted him.
“Now if someone fills me a tub of hot water and Dalkanarion scrubs my back I will tell you how to get it.”
Kho's legs gave way beneath him and as he passed out he heard Dalkanarion's gruff voice “Not bloody likely!”
Now recovered the former torch bearer was ready to lead the band back to the treasure, but a sinister thought kept dogging him.
What if he had been led to the treasure and then allowed to leave? What if the evil below was using him to bring it tastier souls like those of Dalkanarion and Ambros?
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Meme by MLord.
Illustration by Brulligrum.
