Vaults of Vyzor, session #8

ROSTER

• Sigismund von Flegelschnecke, gnome fighter/illusionist (Alexei McDonald)

  

  Moar Lût

• Gary Oldman Badger, badger (NPC pet)
• Yohey the Carpenter, LotFP specialist (Anthony Fournier)
• Harold the Adequate, fighter (Adam Thornton)
• Moar Lût, chalicothere pack ape (NPC)
• Rose Royce, halfling (Kiel Chenier)

I was really stoked about this session as Anthony Fournier and Alexei McDonald had been cool guys to play with in previous sessions and I knew Kiel Chenier (vote for Blood in the Chocolate for Best Adventure) was a cool cat.  And Adam Thornton's Harold the Adequate is a survivor of my two previous online game outings.  I knew I had a stellar bunch and, sure enough, we had a good ol' time.  I am super pleased that Adam was able to bring both Harold and his prehistoric pack ape to the Vaults of Vyzor.

Furthermore, Kiel's PC Rose is the first PC in my campaign to be run under the brand new random halfling advancement rules, just posted yesterday.  Rose got result 59-61:

You may befriend any one monster of animal level intelligence.  It must be solitary when encountered and you must have some tasty treat to offer it.  No dice rolls are necessary, you simply make a new friend who will follow you and be loyal as long as you treat it well.    You may only use this ability once.  Reroll if you get this result again.

This turned out pretty darn great for the party when they opted to explore the vaults below the Verdant Scriptorium.  They explored the northern door in the chamber of the Bargain Wolves, which was surprisingly wolf free this session.  This northern door has been omitted from at least one map of the Verdant Vaults, leading me to suspect that I failed to mention its existence at least one time.  Beyond this door they found a series of small chambers.  One of which is an elevator room that seems to lead as far down as the sixth level, though the party was unwilling to actually exit the elevator and see what was beyond.

Rose Royce

They also found a giant porcupine trapped in a small room by forces unknown (spoiler: it was those dang orcs).  The sound must have cut out a bit as I described the critter, because Kiel had thought that he had befriend a normal porcupine.  It was only much later that he discovered it has 6 hit dice, more hit points than any other party member, and will fuck your shit up.  Seriously, if you've got a first edition Monster Manual, check out how wicked this thing's attacks are.  Warning to FLAILSNAILers: Do not mess with Rose Royce if her pet Pokey is in the room.

They also found in the porcupine room this little stone frog vessel holding a few hundred silver pieces.  Rose declared it the most adorable treasure chest she had ever seen and made sure to haul it out with her when the party exited the dungeon.

The party did a pretty darn good job exploring and mapping out some more of the first level of the Verdant Vaults.  The wandering monsters were just not showing up, much to my disappointment.  This meant that they had free reign of the Great Hallway and adjacent regions, though they steered well clear of the area suspected to be the abode of the giant killer bees.  In one spot they listened through a door and heard a couple-three orcs arguing and searching for something, but what it is that they seek remains unknown.

They also discovered the upper entrance to a pair of dungeon granaries.  One was empty, revealing the access doors at least one level down.  The other had a bunch of grain in it, as well as a dangerous amount of grain dust in the air.  The original key called for an automatic dust explosion in the presence of an open flame, such as the two torches the party were using.  But I decided there should be a small chance the dust doesn't ignite immediately.  That die roll plus the party quickly recognizing the hazard saved their skins.

But we would have had such fun!

But the most interesting discovery by the party was a corridor connecting the first level of the Verdant Vault with part of the dungeon under the previously-inaccessible dungeons below the Azure Tower!  Here they slew a minotaur in bondage gear, who was apparently working as the jailer for a couple of Type V demonesses shackled to a wall with cold iron chains.  After some debate, and a stern talking-to by party old man Harold, they opted not to free the mariliths.  When asked why they were chained to the wall, one replied "because the King of the Elves is a douchebag!"

(Thanks to Skerples at Coins and Scrolls, one of the PCs carried out the biggest hunk of minotaur meat they could manage.  That blog rules.)

The party didn't make it very far into the Azure Vault--the inhuman screams of agony sorta dampened the mood--but thanks to finding the back way in as well as the elevator down, the Vaults are now officially unlocked for higher level characters.  FLAILSNAILS penalties will no longer be applied to PCs above 6th level.

The party safely returned to the surface with all members plus one giant porcupine.  A couple PCs caroused, with Rose borrowing money from Harold the Adequate to do so.  Harold didn't carouse.  In my first online campaign he failed carouse rolls, leading to his marriage to the local alewife, her cuckolding him, and Harold burning down a church or a village or something.  I'm more than half convinced that Harold the Adequate used to adventure for fame and riches, but now he keeps going back because he has a death wish.  Anyway, Rose failed her carouse check and ended up with a bad tattoo for her troubles,  All agreed it had to be a type V demoness with the motto "The King of Elves is a Douche."