NIGHTWICK ABBEY: The Purple Eater of People Session 44

 

Previously on Nightwick

The party returns in a joyful mood having successfully, as far as they know, rid the Lady Ilg of her burden or at least put things in motion to have that happen.

Blossom (Rogue 4)
Sotar (Cleric 4)
Cherwe (Cleric 3)
Liminal Space (Changeling 3)
Mayfly (Magic-User 3)
Mechtild (Fighter 2)
Verinka (Changling 2)
Yevgeniy the Coward (Cleric 1)

At the Medusa's Head...

The party is excited about delving back down into the Abbey. They've been on a nice streak so far and feel reward close at hand. Mayfly throws out that Halfdan has demanded another example of the bizarre metal coil the party pulled out of the dungeon. The party discusses one alternative which would be to explore areas that have yet been charted, but agree a goal is often safer in the dungeon.

(PC NOTE: Elsewhere it has been pointed out by our other players that the group seems to have a pattern: crawl, hit an interesting room, retreat, delve again, target an interesting room, and remove the gold. Then start over again.)

...down in Nightwick Abbey...

WEST TOWER: Using the map of Level 1, the party charts a four-room route to the set of stairs that lead us to Level 2 (PC NOTE: Mapping works kids!). Halfway there, the party encounters a group of cultists who quickly run at the sight of the party. Cowards! The stairs to LEVEL 2 without incident.

LEVEL 2: As always, the descent is full of twists and turns and just before 70% of the party vomits, the party arrives on LEVEL 2. Mayfly casts ESP and beings a sweep of the north, south, and east doors. To the north, a very strange mind is detected- akin to a singular mind checking various other smaller minds. To the south, the common mental echos of the undead. To the east, where the party wants to go-- nothing.

COIL LAB & ACTING!: The party travels east then south and come to a door where they here both a faint buzzing and muted human/animal noises-- manimals! Sotar tries to pry open the door, but fails, causing the door, in the fashion of the Abbey, to spay slime everywhere. However, since Sotar had cast Protection from Evil earlier, the slime hits a sorta invisible shield and sprays all over the party members behind him. 

The voices grow more muffled, but now seem to be focused on the party's attempts to break the door down. After another attempt, the door gives way and the PCs are faced with five manimals ("Lost Souls" in Nightwick parlance). "Who are you?" says one with a crab claw for a hand.

Stepping forward Mayfly shouts, "You ignoramuses! It is I, the Master, returned in a borrowed body! Now which one of you has absconded with my mortal form?!"

There is some dissension and a dog-headed creature steps forward to mention something about how "Builder has stolen the skeleton and anointed themselves The Rulesmaster." But, he questions the Master's new form. Mayfly holds up the gold skull of the actual Master to reinforce his authority: "Fools! I told you I was back in a borrowed body! Now, seize this coward!". 

Rolls are made. The manimals seize the dog-faced one and Mayfly tells him to fetch the rest of his bones like a "good boy" or he'll get his throat slit. Then dismisses the rest of them with a wave of his hand.

(PC NOTE: And this is what I love about RPGs, the ability to do a bit of talky-talky to flip situations in your favor and avoid (hopefully) violent, character-killing conflict)

The PCs realize that the 5 coils here might match the 5 switches that were found on Level 2 in a previous delve in a room back west. When they were first found, the party was a little apprehensive about playing around with them too much- concerned they might release something dangerous. "Should we split the party? One set in the control room and one set here with the coils?" 

"Noooooope." Chrewe says firmly (PC NOTE: Player is also a veteran of a few Nightwick games). 

CONTROL ROOM: So the party, as one, arrives back to the Control Room and with a few pokes and prods presses what they think will turn off the power to the coils. Also, they turn off something labeled with a picture of a brain. Hmm. Wonder what that does.

COIL LAB: The party returns and begins making preparations to steal the shit out of one of the coils. The MU hireling Gerung cast Floating Disk (PC NOTE: Disk always seems like a stupid spell until you are trying to escape with heavy treasure-- so put heavy treasure in your games DMs). The PCs load up the coil and DM rolls for encounters on the way out. Nothing happen so the party was able to hide the coil at the top of the WEST TOWER. This will be a valuable sell to Halfdan (1000sp)

 (PC NOTE: Decision time: we have a few hours of daylight left which matters because once the sun does down in the Dark Country, Nightwick gets much worse. No additional Floating Disk spells, so the party elects to chart out a course to unexplored areas on Level 1. Again maps come in handy.)

WEST TOWER (RETURN): The PCs travel down the stairs and turn westward. Since a path was charted, the DM again rolls to see if the party encounters anything on the way to our goal-- no interruptions. 

THE CRYING LADY: This entity is new to Mayfly who was not with the party when they previously encountered it. There was a lot of discussion about how to get closer to her as she is apparently walled off. But eventually, it was decided her sorta "spectral claws" should not be messed with. The party turns south into another unexplored portion of Level 1.

THE BARRACKS & CAGE: The party moves south and bumps into another group of manimals (Lost Souls). Once again Mayfly steps forward with the soon-to-be-classic-Mayfly-"I-am-the-Master"-shtick. And again there are disbelievers among the manimals. 

Mayfly commands, "Bring the non-believer forward!" The manimal group shoves one of them forward. This one is kinda cute. The creature then pleads its case to its brethren to convince them against following Mayfly. As this creature's speech reaches its most damning evidence, Mayfly fires a crossbow bolt at its head! And... a miss! (PC NOTE: A miss at a +3 to-hit! Curse the stars above!)

Verinka saves the day by casting Sleep quickly. It drops the dissenting voice and one other devoted follower. To the others, Mayfly commands, "Slit their throats and then leave us! Spread the word...THE MASTER HAS RETURNED!" They scurry off into the bowls of the Abbey.

COLLUMED GRAND HALLWAY: Pushing south, the PC's who can see keenly in the dark spy a group of robed humans frantically painting several columns. As the PCs move into the hallway, the figures throw off their mortal disguise and adopt the twisted visage of cadaverites! The PC are quick to form ranks as two floating horrors engage the front-rank clerics. Mayfly is able to blind one monster who is further back with Light. The battle is tough as attack after attack is avoided by the undead horrors, but eventually, the party prevails! During a post-battle investigation, the party finds a sack full of coins (250sp) . With that done, the party decides to get out!

...Back to the Medusa's Head.

The surprisingly small area
that occupied our explorations