The B-Team formed up outside the door. Baylore checked in on everyone, "How's everyone doing? Any injuries? Are we ready? Good, let's go!"
They opened the door and were met by four swordsmen. The room beyond contained a table and some chairs and was lit by a lantern hanging from the ceiling. The door on the opposite wall was open.
Suddenly, from around the far corner of the hallway outside the room came a trio of attackers - two swordsmen and a captain wielding an ornate trident!
CHAPTER 37
"THE PATRIARCH OF THE DRAGON GOD"
The B-Team:- Avastana "Aella" Kádár - Neutral, Half-Elf Outlander and Storm Sorceress from Ket, daughter of the king of the sea elves, Deck Sorceress of the Sea Ghost.
- Alot Aname - Neutral Good Warforged Fighter, ancient sentinel of a wizard's fortress, spent several decades deactivated underwater, Bosun of the Sea Ghost.
- Captain Baylore - Neutral Human Pirate and Pugilist (Monk), Captain of the Sea Ghost.
- Brenna "The Sea Witch" Myrasdottir - Chaotic Good Human Sailor and Divine Soul Sorceress, long-lost daughter of Whaler, First Mate of the Sea Ghost.
- Bordar Graniteshaper - Lawful Good Dwarven Bearer of Grudges (Barbarian), exiled from his clan, Ballast of the Sea Ghost.
- Bruma - Neutral Good Human Swamp Guide (Ranger) for the smuggling cartel known as "the Organization", given a mission to find and kill Sakatha the Lizard King.
The Captain
Bordar killed one of the two men blocking the entrance into the room. Bruma pushed his way past and made his way into the room. Bordar and Bruma cut a bloody swath as Brenna entered behind them. Soon all five of the guards in the room lay dying on the floor.
Meanwhile, outside in the hall, Aella found herself confronted by two swordsmen and their captain wielding an ornate trident. Alot was once again stricken with brain jellies so Baylore moved in between the captain and Aella. Aella cast a chaos bolt spell at one of the swordsmen. It burst into acid and disintegrated him. The bolt bounced off him and struck his companion with poison.
Alot shook off his brain jellies and joined the battle. The captain put up a terrific fight. Eventually even he fell before the combined might of Aella, Alot, and Baylore.
Careful Advance
The B-Team made their way carefully down the corridor from which the captain emerged. They explored a door on the right almost directly opposite the door to the officer's room with the table. Within they found quarters with two beds. A quick search revealed nothing of interest.
The next door on the right were more quarters, larger than the previous but housing only one bunk and with spare furnishings.
As they moved farther down the corridor Bruma took the precaution of destroying each of the lanterns hanging on hooks on the wall.
A door on the right turned out to be a store room filled with chairs, some broken.
The corridor took a 45-degree angle to the left. Bruma reconnoitered. He found a room featuring a large idol of a black dragon flanked by two fonts filled with water. The floor was splattered with blood as if spilled in sacrifice. A large tapestry hung from the wall displaying the triumphant black dragon Aulicus, his wings spread over the battlefield. Behind him loomed a dark and foreboding silhouette of a lizard man with glowing eyes and wearing a crown, his clawed arms outstretched as if scooping the dragon and the battlefield into its eerie embrace.
Another corridor mirrored the one from which they entered. There was a closed door on the left wall and a closed door on the right wall. The room was illuminated by a lantern hanging on the wall.
The Library
Bruma opened the door on the left wall and found a corridor that turned to the right. Baylore opened the door on the left wall. He found a small ten-by-ten corridor ending in another closed door. Despite Alot's concern that the floor contained a trap, Baylore moved ahead and opened the next door. Within was a table and a lit by a lantern. Seven black ceremonial robes trimmed in silver hung from pegs on the wall. There was a door on the right wall.
Alot moved into the room Baylore retreated to guard the rear with Bruma. Alot turned a corner and opened the door at the end of the short corridor. Within was a library. There were shelves filled with old books and tables for transcription. A large leather-bound book lay open on a tall reading stand on the far wall. The book was heavy and affixed to the wall with a durable iron chain.
Aella and Brenna watched cautiously from the corridor as Alot strode forward to examine the book.
The book appeared to be a treatise on dragons. It was written in the draconic tongue and contained dark spells and rituals to summon demons to serve dragons. Alot picked up the book and tried to yank it from the wall.
Suddenly there appeared a small explosion of sulfur and embers near the entrance to the room. From the dissipating cloud emerged a ten foot tall demon resembling a humanoid vulture! It stretched its long serpentine neck and its bulbous beak hissed. Drool dangled from its beak as it bared its claws!
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Alot moved quickly to attack the beast with his short sword. Aella and Brenna cast chaos bolts and flamestrike spells from their position in the corridor.
The demon opened its beak wider and regurgitated a brownish yellow cloud of spores that quickly spread out in all directions. The trio managed to resist the choking miasma and the spores settled into yellow dust on the floor.
Bordar ran around the corner and attacked the creature with his axes. Additional attacks from Alot, Aella, and Brenna defeated the creature. It disintegrated into a cloud of sulfur and embers leaving a pile of acrid dust on the floor.
Wandering Trolls
Baylore thought he heard something large moving down the corridor from whence the party came. He instructed the others to be circumspect and listened more intently. Bruma kept watch around the corner.
He made out the dim shadows of three trolls moving through the complex. They seemed to be exploring the side chambers and stopping to eat the bodies of the slain guards. They were not a part of the complex. They, too, were intruders.
The party prepared themselves by putting out all the lanterns and hiding in the room with the table and the robes.
The trolls were taking their time.
Bruma sighed. That meant the trolls weren't yet aware of them. It was better to deal with them now than worry about them wandering around. He moved out of hiding and yelled at them to get their attention.
The trolls came running after Bruma who retreated into the room. The trolls could only move down the ten foot wide corridor in single file. When they reached the 45-degree bend, the trolls were forced to squeeze and push through.
The B-Team used this to their advantage and attacked! The lead troll tried to defend himself from his attackers. He called out, "Hey! What's your problem? Hey! Stop that!" The troll recognized Alot,"Hey! Check it out! It's that metal dude!"
Alot recognized the troll, "Hey! I remember you! Hey Aella, remember this guy? From the swamp?"
Aella gave Alot a dirty look, "No. I had brain jellies then, remember?"
The troll smiled, "Awesome! So, we're, like, buddies, right? How about you give us your gold and let us eat you?"
Alot was taken aback, "No!" and continued stabbing the troll with his magical short sword.
"Come on! Not even a little? Just a nibble?"
Alot stabbed the troll in the head and it fell to the ground. The troll behind it crawled forward to attack.
Aella cast a fire bolt spell at the fallen troll. The fire prevented it from regenerating.
The second troll suddenly withdrew in horror and fled back down the corridor. It was reunited with its third companion. A brief summary informed the third what had just happened and the third troll joined the second in flight.
DM Note-
The trolls were a random encounter. I had them enter through the same doorway through which everyone else entered, following the smell of blood. I moved them around the map while the party continued exploring. Every time the trolls came to a junction in the corridors or a door, I'd roll randomly to see which direction they went. They were exploring randomly. Bruma's player said, "Ha! They're truly WANDERING monsters!"
Acolytes
A bald man wearing a silver and black cassock emerged from the open door on the right. He saw the the intruders and the aftermath of the battle. Before anyone could act he closed the door.
Baylore moved quickly to reopen the door. He caught a glimpse of a group of cult acolytes wearing black cassocks retreating around the corner to the right. Baylore wated for the team to form up around him before moving into the corridor.
They moved around the dog-leg in the corridor and saw five cultists in cassocks huddled at the far end. There were open doors leading to five cells, three on the right and two on the left. Two of the acolytes were banging on a painting hanging on the wall at the end of the corridor. The painting was large enough to occupy every inch of the wall, floor to ceiling.
The acolytes put up a pitiful defense with prayers to call down flame from their draconic god and were soon eliminated by the intruders.
The team walked over the bodies of the dead cultists and examined the painting. It resembled the tapestry in the room before. Aulicus triumphant with the dark looming figure of the lizard king. Beneath Aulicus were depictions of his worshipers - holy warriors and devout acolytes.
They obviously sought shelter beyond it. There was no visible way to open the door. Baylore noticed that the paint on one of the holy warriors was smudged as if someone rubbed it with a finger.
No amount of rubbing or touching or poking produced a result. Aella finally had the thought, "Maybe they had to anoint the warrior, like with holy water. Is there any holy water around here?"
Alot said, "Yes, there were two fonts back in the room with the tapestry. Hold on."
Alot re-entered the tapestry room and dabbed his metal finger in water. He returned and gently touched the painting of the holy warrior.
The painting swung opened revealing a passage beyond and another door.
Patriarch Ul-Lon
Alot opened the door and the space was suddenly filled with thousands of tiny glowing black dragons. The tiny black dragons nipped at Alot's armor and tore at his softer tubes and bladders.
At the center was a man clad in plate armor and wielding a mace with the head of a dragon. To his right was a large altar to Aulicus and two burning braziers. Alot ignored the swirling vortex of tiny dragons and charged the man.
In response the man pointed his mace at the entrance. There suddenly appeared a ten foot tall spectral black dragon. The dragon appeared ethereal but radiated hatred and pain so strongly that it became difficult to approach it.
The man shouted, "Who dares disturb Patriarch Ul-Lon, chosen defender of the Dragon God?"
DM Note-
Casting Guardian of Faith was the greatest thing I could have done for Patriarch Ul-Lon. It occupied the 10x10 entrance, blocking anyone from helping Alot. It also does not take damage. The player characters just kept attacking it to no effect. It was driving the players nuts! The only real way to defeat the Guardian of Faith is just take its damage but my players were very unwilling to accept that.
On top of that, the Spirit Guardians were doing a great job doing additional damage to anyone who stood near the Guardian of Faith. The players were starting to get nervous.
Ul-Lon had positioned himself around the corner and away from the ranged attacks and spells of everyone in the corridor. Alot and Ul-Long clashed at the foot of the altar.
Aella and Brenna moved away from the dis-spiriting presence of the spiritual guardian and out of the vortex of tiny dragons. Bordar and Baylore moved forward and attacked the spiritual guardian but neither could land a blow upon it. The semi-ethereal entity had a repulsive force that prevented any contact. Bruma's arrows simply arced away from it.
Alot jumped up on to the altar and used his shield to push Ul-Lon back, shoving him into view of the others. Ul-Lon saw though this ploy and quickly re-positioned himself around the corner.
The team in the corridor became wary of the painful force before them. No one dared approach it. Baylore finally said, "Enough of this!" He moved as close as he could to the spectral dragon. Baylore's body became wreathed in black tendrils as he absorbed all of the dragon's painful negative energy. The dragon reared up and glowing cracks appeared in its semi-solid form. The cracks widened and the dragon exploded into shards of black energy which dissipated into nothingness.
Baylore rushed into the room. He ran up to Ul-Lon and punched him as hard as he could.
Patriarch Ul-Lon fell to the floor unconscious.
The party breathed a collective sigh of relief. The battle was over and they could rest for a short while.
As they sat there gathering their breath, Baylore took out the companion to the magical ring that was used to control the mind of the duke. He slipped it onto the finger of the unconscious Patriarch Ul-Lon.
To be Continued...
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