Once More Into the Void - Session 19

“You guys scout out the area, I’ll check out this door!”

Talrek silently edged up to the wooden door set in the wall of the cave. A flickering light was shining around the edges of the door. Reaching out he was surprised to find the surface of the door was a little wet and sticky.

Something must be dripping from the ceiling he mused.

Pressing his ear to the door, Talrek listened intently. Nothing to hear. In the distance he could hear Mukah scouting the rest of the cave.

“Talrek, Let’s scout down this tunnel”.

Talrek could hear Mukah calling for him in the distance. Pressing his ear against the door Talrek listened carefully, once more. Nothing. Oh well, time to move on.

As he went to move his ear stuck firmly to the surface of the door. Looking quickly at the door Talrek stared incredulously into an eye forming in the surface of the door and staring directly at him.

Once more into the Void - Session 19. When is a door not a door?

Previously, in the last session, the heroes again fought off the attacks of the ettercaps and their spiders. After fighting the ettercaps to a standstill they moved back to a safer location.

The heroes moved north again, passing quickly through the caves where they fought their previous battles with the ettercaps. Moving down a side passage they find another cocooned corpse. This corpse appears to be a Dwarven merchant. Talrek checks the body and finds a pouch with some gold and some copper coins. Moving along the main passage, the cautious delvers note more holes in the tunnel ceiling, like those the ettercaps attacked them from earlier.

Coming to a choke point in the passage, which Otrivush is not certain he can squeeze through, Talrek gets out his mining gear and deftly smashes a stalagmite blocking the passage. A few steps into the new tunnel Mukah is unlucky enough to trigger yet another poison dart trap. The dart hits him squarely in the arm. Moments later giant spiders led by one ettercap appear from the webs and attack.

Almost immediately, Talrek and Alcor are bitten by the spiders. Alcor is poisoned and paralyzed but manages to utter his Hellish Rebuke on a spider. Then Alcor falls to the ground unconscious. Talrek incinerates one of the spiders with Guiding Bolt and his Spiritual Hammer crushes in the head of the ettercap. The last spider retreats into the webs and through a hole in the ceiling.

Talrek manages to revive Alcor with Lesser Restoration and the heroes pause for a short rest to catch their breath.

Continuing to walk to the north, the heroes are thrilled to finally leave the web-choked caves behind. They enter a large cave marked by a crude sign in goblin that helpfully warns “Spiders”. The cave has seen the passage of many booted feet, there are some broken wooden benches lying on the floor and to the south there are two wooden doors set into the cave wall. A flickering, dim light can be seen around the edges of the doors. Talrek stations himself at one door and listens intently but hears nothing.

Mukah moves further into the large cavern followed by Thyrell and Tinda scouting ahead. Otrivush moves to a raised ledge that gives him a good view of the cave. During his scouting, Mukah finds a natural dias with a broken wooden throne upon it. He finds the corpses of three goblins hidden behind the throne. The goblins appear to have been pummeled to death. The corpses look to have been here for a few months.

Finding a passage continuing to the north, Mukah calls for Talrek to leave his post listening at the door. Talrek attempts to move, but finds his ear is firmly stuck to the door! Talrek sees the door transform into the teeth and eyes of a Mimic. A pseudopod extrudes from the “door” and strikes Talrek in the head.

That's not a Door!

Alcor is the closest to Talrek, he realizes Talrek is in trouble and runs back but is blocked by a second Mimic disguised as the second door. His spear and then his foot become stuck to this second mimic. Alcor falls and gets tangled up with the mimic stuck to it upside down as it lurches toward Talrek and the first mimic. After some desperate pulling, Talrek manages to pull his ear off of the first mimic and move away from it.

By now everyone has become aware that Talrek and Alcor are under attack. Otrivush cast Magic Missile striking the mimic holding Alcor. Mukah runs to the scene and hurls his javelin, missing completely, bouncing it off the cave wall. Thyrell fires arrows at the mimic. Tinda manages to bite a Mimic and gets stuck to the creature. The wolf is stuck at the shoulder and head. Alcor struggles and gets one hand free which he promptly punches the creature with and gets stuck again. Alcor kills the first Mimic with Guiding Bolt, the creature splits open and a vile, sticky liquids pours onto the cave floor. Mukah strikes the creature holding Tinda and Alcor with his longsword and immediately lets go of it, knowing it will get stuck. Tinda yelps and manages to break free losing a lot of fur, but a pseudopod extrudes from the creature and grabs Tinda again. Throwing caution to the wind, Thryell charges and stabs the creature with both his short swords, both of which become stuck. Finally, Talrek hits the creature with Guiding Bolt, burning a hole completely through it and the creature deflates into a sticky puddle on the cave floor. The mimics are done.

The heroes pick up and clean their weapons. Mukah scouts the cave beyond the two “doors” which were actually mimics. The cave looks to be a former campsite or rest area. There is an illusion of a fire pit in the center of the cave, some broken chairs and debris. A narrow tunnel leads to a cave in. Mukah finds a goblin crushed beneath the stone. Leaving the cave by a tunnel to the north, the heroes emerge into the sunlight on the side of mountain. A path leads from a ledge and forks into two paths. One path leads down the mountainside. The other path leads to a plateau on the side of the mountain. A ruined castle sits on the plateau.

The heroes move back into the caves and set up camp to prepare for entering the ruins of the castle. Could this be the lair of the Necromancer?