Stonehell: Blood, Bad Gas, and Lizards

Session 32 was played on 4/7.

Wilhelm, drunk Dwarf 5 (Julia)
-Helmut, war dog
-Xerxes, Human Fighter 2 (Henchman)
-Yolanda, Human Fighter 2 (Henchman)
Orphious, Human Fighter 1 (Henchman)
-3 torch bearers (Z, A.A.Ron, JJ)
-6 men at arms (U, CC, DD, EE, FF, GG, HH, Aye-Aye)
Eiric, wizard 2 (Kat)
Bisimwa, Human Fighter 1 (Jordan)
Prior Varial (NPC)

Stayed in town
(Matt)
Leroy, human fighter 3 (Mike)
Unnamed, Elf 1 (Nicole)
Sarin the Ugly, Human Fighter 2 (Josh)
Menchi, Human Cleric 1 (Laural)
Karlaih, Human Thief 5 (Mollie)
Tink, a pretentious Elf (but I repeat myself) and former barkeep (Hanna)
Shelly, a vegetarian recovering alcoholic halfling Thief 3 (Nadia)
Frank, halfling 1 (Emily)
Yaqen, elf 1 (Shaun)

Over drinks, Wilhelm discussed what to do next with his friends; either returning again to Stonehll, or following up on what was going on at the jewelers. Eventually it was decided that hitting the jewelers would wait till they had someone a little more experienced with the more subtle ways of B&E, so off to the city square to recruit some more meatshields. FF, GG,HH the Dwarf, Aye-Aye the Elf, and JJ the torch bearer joined up for the usual forking over of gold.

Once in the dungeon, they headed right for Rocky, but spied a group of Ghost Beggars coming out of Rocky’s room. They backed carefully away from the party avoiding a confrontation. They then entered the Quiet Halls and moved directly south toward the Kobold Korners. The way is barred however… literally. And chained.

Wilhelm borrowed Orpheus’ magic hammer and smashed the lock. It was loud, and as they moved along to the next room, the barracks of kobolds were ready for something… but not the party. While they weren’t happy to have something come in through the back door, that it was Wilhelm and crew did relax them some. Not enough to let them pass, however. One ran off to get… Trustee Sniv? Reinforcements? Who knows, as the party turned around and reentered the Quiet Halls.

Taking the stairs just before the entrance to the Kobold Korners, the party descended to the second level of Stonehell. With a variety of options, they picked a corridor at random and came upon a low stone plinth with the shattered remains of a stone snake on it’s flat surface. This tickled something at the back of Wilhelm's memory, and he flipped through his various maps, and realized how close they were to the elevator! Opting to fill in the map, they headed back to the stairs, and then down a different hall.

The hall split and the party continued to the right, which opened into a large chamber with a chain hanging from the ceiling. A fairly fresh leg of a humanoid dangled from a hook on the end of the chain. Wilhelm noticed the pit trap under the meat right away, and safely triggered it. The glistening spikes were the only thing in the pit

With no other apparent exits, the party returned to the split, and went down the left hand path. This slightly smaller room had a large wooden table running down it’s length covered in gold and silver coins. It was quickly discovered that they were glued to the table. As the party debated what to do, there was a yell from the rear of the group still in the hallway! 4 big lizards had decided that the party was worth snacking on! With most of the heavy hitters in the room, it fell to Yolanda to rally the henchman, but it was a bloody fight. U and CC were dropped by the lizards almost instantly. Orpheus smashes one of the drakes in the skull with a well placed crit with his magic hammer, but FF ends up in the jaws of another, desperately trying not to be swallowed. Wilhelm starts pushing his way forward, but it’s almost 4 rounds before he arrives, and none too soon, as the hirelings were taking heavy damage. In the end FF was beyond recovery, and CC lost her arm at the elbow. 2 of the lizards were skinned.

Resting for a minute, Wilhelm assigned a few hirelings to work to get the coins off the table, while the rest of the party continued on. The short hall off the table room Eiric found a slicing blade trap, which was easily disabled. Beyond was a large room with 4 big toads happily eating away at the fist sized beetles covering the ceiling. Wilhelm decided that they’d be easy picking, and the party attacked! Unfortunately for them, the toads, and their long tongues were hardier than expected, and poisonous! Aye-Aye and DD both were poisoned, and badly hurt. DD’s arm was shattered, and Aye-Aye had some suspected internal bleeding.

Since the party was down 2, with 3 others injured, Wilhelm sent them back to town with a fat purse.

Of the 2 exits from the room, one had a spike with a skull on it blocking the way. The skull had some carving on it, but no one could read it. The other passage turned after a relatively short distance offering 2 different doors. The closest was checked and no traps were found, and no one responded to the knocking. The door was a little stiff, but Wilhelm shoved it open, and a great gust of noxious air blew out. Taking the brunt of it, Wilhelm keeled over, along with GG, Z, A-A-Ron, Xerxes, Orpheus, the Prior, and Helmut. Everyone else coughed and gagged at the smell, but didn’t pass out.

Checking over those unconscious, Wilhelm, Xerxes, the Prior, A-A-Ron, and Helmut all suffered from respiratory arrest and never regained consciousness!

The remaining party all turned to Eiric for direction. She looked back at them and said “I didn’t ask for this!” No one cared. She ordered the bodies looted, and then they ran for it! Luckily the only thing they encountered on the way out was a great bloody smear and Aye-Aye’s lifeless head and shredded neck stump.

Gains: 300gp
Kills: 4 giant toads, 4 draco lizards
Losses: 100gp, Wilhelm, Xerxes, Prior Varial, A-A-Ron, Helmut, DD, CC, Aye-Aye, FF, and U