Navero 33
From rec.games.frp Tue Mar 20 18:15:47 1990 Path: uci-ics!orion.oac.uci.edu!usc!jarthur!dparsons From: dparsons@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Daniel Parsons) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp Subject: Navero XXXIII Keywords: Navero, of the Correct and Unalterable Way Message-ID: <5239@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> Date: 21 Mar 90 01:52:59 GMT Organization: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA 91711 Lines: 334
Spring Break was very relaxing, thank you. Good to be back.
The Night Hag had been thrown off the roof, and seemed to be dead; at least, it wasn't making any noise. It was now getting on to late afternoon, and we decided to explore the rest of the keep.
- Navero, male human cleric, 4th level
- Dania, female 1/2-elf MU, 4th level
- Kortul, male human fighter, 4th level
- Razuli, male human fighter, 4th level
- Arlor, male dwarf thief, 4th level
- Kory, male elf bard, 3rd level
- Topash, male elf druid, 3rd level
- Meth, male ? thief, 3rd level
We tried to keep the conversation business-related, and succeeded to a small degree; Dania quit grumbling after a while. The hallway continued on for a while, and turned south; there was also a door in the south wall at the corner. It was quite ordinary, except for the rug protruding under the door; the room was carpeted. The door wasn't locked, so we looked in. The room had very little furniture; desk and chair, bed, etc. which indicated that it had been someone's room. All the furnishings looked very old, but there was very little dust. A humanoid's bones were scattered in one corner, with a large wooden stake thrust into the ribcage; we elected not to disturb them. The closet was empty, the bed collapsed when jostled, and all the desk drawers were all missing. Prolonged search revealed a roll of paper hidden in one of the broken bedposts; it was a map, but not of the keep. It looked like some sort of cavern system, with one place marked "Histidyn." We had no idea what this meant, so we kept the map and forgot about it.
We left the room and went south. On the right side of the corridor, arrow-slits and narrow windows looked out on the hills west of the keep; the wind was starting to blow colder, indicating that the sun would be setting soon. The corridor had one door on the eastern wall, which opened onto a stairway which led downstairs to the first floor.
Dania: "Alright, do we stay up here? I wanna find that Hag's lair."
Kory: "Well, I wanna find that bloody rock and get outa this place. This is the most gawdawful place I've seen in the last few hours, and I don't want to be here much longer than that either. Let's go downstairs, find the thing, rub our magic ring three times and GO!"
Topash: "Yes. The Hag may not even be dead. Time is thus of the essence."
Razuli: "Look, it's dead. Let's find its cash and get outa here. Duke Dipshit can wait."
Meth: "Err.... look, even if it isn't QUITE dead, it WON'T be bothering us. We are, shall I say, the least of its concerns at the moment."
Dania: "Then there's nothing to stop us from looting the place. Let's go."
Navero: "Shouldn't we get the bloodstone first? I mean, night will be soon, and this might not be a good place to be at night. And the Duke did say he needed it soon, I think."
Topash: "Quite right. There is indeed something to stop us from `looting' here, and I suggest we use our remaining time wisely."
Dania: "Navero, if you see anything, dispel it."
Navero: "Huh?"
Meth: "Err.... Him, our mighty protector...?"
Razuli: (A-hem!) "Magic-user, do you know who you're talking to? If there's gonna be undead I'd just as soon split. OK, its decided! We'll go downstairs, get the thing, and get out before sunset. OK? OK! Yer buffness, you go first."
Kortul: "Catacombs."
Dania: "Huh?"
Navero: "Uh, yes. There would be catacombs down there, wouldn't there?"
Kory: "Of course! We'll have undead up to my pointy ears unless we get out of this place. Really, Dania, I don't see why this you want to stay in this awful place. Does it remind you of home?"
Dania: "Up to your pointy head, I think, and..."
Topash: "Children..."
Razuli: "Speak for yourself."
Kortul: "Sun setting. Find room with one door to defend."
Dania: "Yes. Let's go. We can clean this place out in the morning. Plenty of time."
Navero: "What about that room back there?"
Razuli: "You want to sleep with a dead vampire? C'mon."
The corridor turned east. There were more arrow slits to the south, and doors on the north. None of these were locked. The first room had many barrels, casks, and other containers; some of these seemed to be leaking, and the smell was very unpleasant. The liquids in the casks was smelly, oily, and unidentifiable. The barrels had various things in them, including bones of unknown origin, bones of known origin, various internal organs in brine, powders (including some more of the `cleansing' powder) and slabs of rotten-seeming meat. We didn't stay long.
The second door opened onto a large room with many, many old shelves; a library. The shelves were mostly empty, except for a decaying lump that might once have been a large worm of some kind. There were three doors in the room, two from the south and one on the east wall. The eastern door opened onto a smaller room. The floor and ceiling had collapsed, and it was very chill inside; is was impossible to tell what the room had been used for. We saw several largish spiders in one corner, and didn't bother them. Then, one of the doors in the south wall of the library creaked open.
Party: (Whirl around and bristle with assorted weapons)
2 Skeletons: RATTLE RATTLE RATTLE RATTLE
4 Zombies: SCHLOPSH SCHLOPSH SCHLOPSH SCHLOPSH
1 Wraith: WAFT WAFT WAFT WAFT
Party: "AHHH!"
Dania: "BOLT!" (Staff fizzles, small spark stings her thumb) "SHIT!"
Navero: "By the Lords of the Correct and Unalterable Way, of whom I am holy representative, go away!" (Rolls an 8. Skeletons and Zombies leave through open door. Wraith hesitates.)
Kory: (Sings battle song)
"Fight fiercely Hahvahd, fight fight fight!
Impress them with our prowess, do!
Albeit they are an ugly fright,
Nontheless, we're ugly too!"
Kortul: HACK MAIM DESTROY ETC AD INFINITUM
Wraith: (Exeunt)
Meth: "Hey, why don't we go someplace and hide for a while? I do not like our situation, and these people don't party at all."
Razuli: "Where? The Dead Vampire room or the broom closet?"
Topash: "I think perhaps the Vampire room. It has two doors, but the closet will be too small for us all to spend the night."
Navero: "Shouldn't there be a room here?"
Dania: "What?"
Navero: "I've been drawing a map. This section is totally blank, but there aren't any doors leading into it."
Kory: "Ah HAH! A secret chamber! Where? (Looks at map) Oh, this is easy! The hidden door must be right here. Or maybe here. Or possibly here."
Dania: "Gimme that. Where... Probably here."
Topash: "Have you noticed that to go there, we will have to cross through this room, with the collapsed floor? Can you fly and open a door at the same time, dear magic-user? I certainly cannot."
Navero: "It's either here, from the corridor, or the larvae room."
Kortul: "Or the roof."
Dania: "What?"
Kortul: "Holes in roof. Go down from above."
Topash: "And the secret entrance should be easy to find from the inside."
Dania: "Alright, good thinking. Let's get over there before any of those things come back."
Out in the hall, we saw 2 skeletons and 4 zombies in a corner. They fled when we appeared. We quickly went east, then north, and turned the corner to go west. However, right around the corner, the corridor turned black as night, and seemed to be moving.
Navero: "By the goodness of our Lady of The Sunlight and Flowers, begone!" (Rolls 18, all Shadows flee.)
Dania: "Good going! All praise our Lady."
Navero: "Um, yeah. Wow!" (Looks rather pleased with himself.)
Razuli: "Right, right. Lets go before any more show up."
The roof was deserted, thankfully. We looked for a hole in the right place, but they all seemed to have been patched in that particular section. Kortul solved the problem by finding a weak section of the roof; the fall didn't hurt him too much. Once inside, he whirled about with his Sunsword, but nothing attacked.
Kory: "Oh, Great Weight lifted from our shoulders? Do you see anything?"
Kortul: "Small room. Smell very bad."
Topash: "Yes, we can tell. Is there anything inside?"
Kortul: "Several boxes, caskets. Some are opening. Get down here."
Dania: "Get some rope! Lower a lantern so he can see!"
Razuli: "Magic-user, he's got a glowing sword."
Dania: "Yeah! Kortul! Drive them away with the Sunsword!"
Kortul: (Grumble)
Navero: (Fumbles with rope. It's gotten tangled in his pack.)
Kory: "Here I come!" (Jumps down)
Undead: GARGLE SNORT DROOL (2 corporal undead appear from caskets.)
Kory: "Yuck! I didn't want my mummy!"
Kortul: "Shut up." (Hacks Mummy.)
Dania: "Burn them! Razuli, get in there!"
Kory: "Burn them?!?"
Razuli: "Get in there!?!"
Navero: "Return to the sleep you were supposed to have!" (Rolls a 5.)
Undead: (Both shamble out of caskets, moving slowly.)
Kortul: (Destroys his Mummy.)
Kory: "Ho Ha Ha Guard Turn Parry Dodge Spin Thrust!" (Does 3 hit points.)
Meth: "Hey, you're dead. Be mellow."
Topash: "Your technique seems somewhat ineffective." (Pours flask of oil on the remaining mummy.)
Kory: "Hey! Don't light that thing! We're down here!"
Navero: "Can't you just stay away from it?"
Dania: "Yeah." (casts Burning Hands on Mummy.)
Mummy: (FLOOM!)
Kortul: (grumble grumble curse) "<expletive deleted>"
Kory: "Are you NUTS!? Get me outa here!!"
Navero: (Throws down rope.)
Mummy: (Attacks Kory, flaming all the while.)
Kory: "YOU STUPID BITCH!! WE'RE DOWN HERE WITH IT!! AHH!!" (Runs frantically about, shouting many words which Navero does not recognize.)
Meth: "That may not have been the smartest thing to do, magic-user."
Kortul: (Climbs up rope. Kory grabs rope, is pulled up.)
Topash: "Well, that was exciting. How long will it take to burn out?"
Navero: "Probably a while. Look, that box caught fire..."
Kory: (To Dania) "YOU DO NOT TORCH OTHER PARTY MEMBERS!!"
Dania: "Look, I don't like fire either, but it's the best way to kill it."
Kory: "Oh yeah? Look: boxes full of stuff down there, right? The Hag's treasure hold, right?"
Dania: "Right! What the fuck's the matter with you? It's a stone keep, it isn't going to burn down or anything."
Kory: "The Hag used magic several times, right? So it must have scrolls and spellbooks, right? Which are flammable, right?"
Dania: "Uh... maybe."
Meth: "Including, possibly, wands or staves? WOOD staves?"
(Pause.)
Dania: "Nav, how big is the fire now?"
Navero: "Well, everything in there was old and dry. Just about everything is burning very hot now."
(Another pause.)
The party scattered to the edges of the roof. Flames licked out of the hole in the roof, fierce and hot; the mortar between stones caught in a few places. Then, there was a tremendous **KA-WHOMP!** and the remainder of the room's ceiling flew apart into the air. The whole building shook and creaked as a great sparkling ball of violet, flaming radiance rose up out of the chamber. It filled the sky, and spread into the heavens, for a moment seeming as a small sun. Then it faded away into the night, leaving only the smell of smoke and ozone in its wake. We picked ourselves up and examined the room. The fire was out, and the inside of the small chamber was almost completely covered with some sparkling black ash. No identifiable bits of treasure remained among the debris.
Kory: "Well, looks like they're all dead now."
Dan Parsons
"I hate to think what will happen when she gets Fireball."
MAP - SECOND FLOOR OF THE RUINED KEEP
to roof
|
-----------------------------------------------------
| | |
| +---/ ---------+/ +--/ ----+--------+/ -----+-+ |
| | | || | | /u| |
| / Dead vampire | || broom | secret |Larvae |^|--|---from first floor
| | room | v| closet | | ||| |
| |------------+ |up| | | ||| |
| / ----> down |-+--+--------+------+S+-------+-+ |
| |------------+ | | |
| | | / | |
| | storage | library | collapsed | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
| +---/ -------+--/\------------/\--+-----------+ |
| |
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