Stonehell: Reptile House of Horrors!

Session 37b was played on 5/5.

Eiric, wizard 3 (Kat)
- torch bearers (JJ Swats)
- men at arms (C, D)
- Namish (dog)
AARon, Thief 1 (Henchman)
Orpheus, Human Fighter 3 (Yann)
Matthias, Dwarf 4 (Julia)
- men at arms (M&M, Nnnn, Ood, P.P.)
- Herrick (dog)
Sarin the Ugly, Human Fighter 1 (Josh)
Menchi, Human Cleric 1 (Laurel)
Daryll (NPC Cleric 2)


Back in town, Matthias hosts a reserved beer tasting. AARon sneaks off and joins the local thieves guild. His experience with dungeon traps is something the local guild is sorely lacking.

Gathering everyone together, and picking up the stock of beer for the Tavern at the Korners, they head back into the dungeon. The trip was uneventful and the handoff of the beer went smoothly (aka no one (Sarin) was required to mop kobold shit). Eiric asked about going out the back way from the Korners into the Quiet Halls, but the kobolds objected to the party stomping in through the back door of their holdings, especially if they keep breaking the locked door. Eiric pointed out that they wouldn’t have to break the lock if they had a key.

Trustee Sniv saw the logic of that, and decided that the kobolds were better kept on the party’s good side. He handed off a key, but demanded a promise that they would keep the door locked.

• And that they wouldn’t let anything follow them in.
• And that they’d hand over their weapons to a check point that he’d set up just for them.
• And that they wouldn’t just go stomping through their homes, and upsetting the pups.
• And that the occasional luxury good might happen to find its way to him....

Eiric promised, and the party went on its way through the back door of the Korners, into the Quiet Halls, and down the stairs into the Reptile House. Almost immediately they encounter a kobold hunting party returning with a chunk of unidentified meat, as well as their usual tools and weapons. The parties gave each other room to pass, and each continued on their way. Checking out the room the kobolds were leaving, they see a spiked pit trap with some fresh liquid on the spikes.

The next chamber they check has an assortment of elaborate pictographs covering the walls but there’s no time to examine them, as a hunting party of lizardmen lies in wait, and attacks the party! Unfortunately for them, they’re vastly outnumbered and the 4 creatures are cut down. The party has little to show for their efforts, as they were carrying nothing of value.

Moving on they follow along the path that brought them to the room where they lost half the party last time they were down here. While the faint odor of swamp gas still lingers, the area is clear, but also empty of anything of value.

Backtracking to the stairs, the party comes to a chamber with a pedestal atop which is the broken remains of a stone serpent. Beyond they discover the passageway that connects this area to the Asylum. Recognizing now where they were in relation to what they’d previously explored (or the previous members of the party had mapped for them) they went past the elevator into unexplored territory.

A large hall with 4 pillars carved with a variety of stylized reptilian creatures opened before them. From the shadows another lizardman hunting party attacked. As before they were cut down quickly, and once again they carried no treasure. Beyond the pillared hall, the passage became less worked, and the floor was covered in mud with lots of lizardman footprints. Following the twisting passage they came to a lizardman watchpost, with both more lizardmen and a giant crocodile! The party worked hard to concentrate on the massive reptile, taking some hits before killing the creature, then the lizardmen. One tried to escape further down the passage, but only managed a loud warning cry before being cut down.

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The session was running late, and we knew we’d all be playing again in 2 days, so we broke my usual rule about ending the session in the dungeon, and paused the game here for the night.

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Gains
Kills: 15 lizardmen, 1 giant croc
Losses