The Portal

Right now my players are working their way through a dungeon with a currently closed portal leading from the first level to the second level. Often this group of players gets frustrated with puzzles but this time they worked it out fairly quickly. But now that they have passed through the portal there is apparently no way back.

Session 125: The Portal

Lakima (human magic-user), Eathwund (human fighter), Alrix (couatl sorcerer), Aldus (human cavalier), Thistle Walker (human ranger), Fenris the Filch (human thief NPC), Domago (human cleric NPC), Ian of Darkhollow (human cavalier NPC).

The Company of the Black Dragon has passed through the Guardian gate and avoided a fight with a guardian skeleton protecting an altar dedicated to the Dark Lady.

A single door leads on from the temple. Aldus goes over to the door and with his enhanced strength he is able to force it open. They see a hallway and a stair leading down. This leads to another stair and another door. Aldus forces this second door open and the group finds themselves in a derelict chamber with a partially collapsed ceiling. Stone and wood debris litter the floor and there is a large cavity in the ceiling. Sitting amongst the rubble are three stone shelves with a few damaged books on them.

“There is no way out,” Domago says.

Alrix looks about and sees that there are no other exits from the chamber other than the one he is standing in. He rests a hand on the door to be certain it does not close.

Lakima casts a detect magic cantrip. A very large book, bound in red leather or reptilian skin, glows blue on a far bookcase. Lakima quickly goes over to the shelf and laboriously lifts the book down from the shelf and places it in the bag of holding. A few moments later, a non-corporeal human figure rises up through the floor in the center of the room. Everyone immediately spots it. The figure points at Lakima and floats across the room toward him. Lakima quickly pulls out the scroll of protection from possession and reads it. The scroll turns to dust as the ghost moves toward him. Aldus and Eathwund dash forward and swing their swords through the immaterial form. Domago raises his holy symbol and tries to banish the ghost. The ghost reaches Lakima and reaches out an incorporeal hand touching him. Lakima yells in pain as the ghost’s touch is freezing cold. The ghost pauses, turns, and reaches out a hand toward Aldus. The big cavalier freezes up and a strange blue glow comes from his eyes as the ghost seems to merge with his body.

“No!” Alrix yells.

Lakima raises his hand for silence.

“Return the book,” Aldus says in a low creepy voice.

“What is this book, why do you want it?” Lakima asks.

“Return the book, I am its guardian.”

Then the glow drops from Aldus’s eyes. He shouts in anger and whirls about swinging his sword. The ghost emerges from Aldus and floats near him. Eathwund slashes at it again. Alrix casts a magic missile, and bolts of magic smash into the ghost. Thistle Walker swings his axe at the immaterial form. Finally, the ghost vanishes, dissolving away.

“We should destroy that book,” Domago says. Alrix nods his head in agreement. Lakima looks at the disapproving faces of his companions. He argues that it is not necessarily evil, but he promises to destroy it if he finds it to be evil or dangerous.

“I’ll hold you to that,” Domago says. Aldus nods to Domago in agreement.

The adventurers set about checking the walls of the chamber looking for a secret door. Unable to find one, Lakima pulls out the Wand of Secret door detection and locates a door right near where he is standing. He activates a switch found in the wall and a section of the wall slides aside revealing a hallway. Lakima waves Fenris forward to take the lead.

Fenris leads them down several halls before he points ahead and tells them that he can see a large chamber. They approach cautiously toward the chamber. They see a large room with a 20-foot-high ceiling. Stone pillars, five feet in diameter, support the ceiling. The extent of the room is blocked by a large, red curtain stretching across the chamber on their right. Painted on the walls are numerous symbols. Immediately, they recognize the holy symbols of the Dark Lady and the White Worm. Other symbols are not recognized.

“That one is the symbol of the god Hool,” Domago states, pointing at a symbol that looks like the head of a dragon. He explains that Hool is a god of evil.

“Strange that anyone would worship a god of evil,” Alrix says.

Domago tells Alrix that Hool is also seen as a god of cold, winter, and sickness. Some pray to him in hopes of avoiding the cold or sickness.

Lakima waves at the curtain and tells Fenris to see if there is an opening. Fenris goes to the curtain and he finds it parts in the middle. Pulling the curtain back, Fenris sees that the chamber is even larger than suspected. In front of them is what looks to be a curtained-off temple. They see a large, red mandala painted on the floor, a raised pool of what might be water, an altar, and behind it a glowing red energy field.

Lakima suggests they check the two doors in the chamber first before venturing behind the curtain into the temple. Both entrances lead to small tombs holding a single, stone coffin each. Aldus opens the first coffin and they find a skeleton inside. Domago tells them it is not undead. They do not bother to open the second coffin, finding nothing interesting in the first. The adventurers pass through the curtain into the temple area. Everyone carefully avoids the mandala painted on the floor. Thistle Walker moves to his left behind more pillars and sees a faded painting of a beautiful woman painted on the wall. The woman's face is twisted in agony as she has been painted as if she is trapped behind the wall and desperately trying to get free.

Fenris spots a human body lying on the altar. He silently points it out to everyone. Alrix looks into the pool of what appears to be water and sees the sparkle of some small silver objects at the bottom. The pool appears to be only 3 feet deep. Fenris and Lakima move up toward the altar. A thin, male, human corpse rests on the altar, its throat slit open. A stain of dried blood lies on the stone about its neck. Less than one would expect. At the feet of the corpse rests a book made of metal. Three claw-like clasps hold it closed. Lakima grabs the book and places it in his bag of holding. He advances up toward the red disc of energy. Thistle Walker approaches as well and looks at the energy barrier.

“It’s a portal,” the ranger states.

Lakima looks over at the ranger in surprise. Thistle tells him that he has studied these things. He knows it is a portal but it could lead anywhere. Alrix comes over to examine the barrier as well. Lakima tosses a silver coin at the barrier and it bounces off. Alrix takes a short stick from his pack and presses it against the barrier but he finds the barrier to be solid like a wall. The adventurers walk over to stand near the mandala on the floor. Lakima tosses a silver coin into the pool. It strikes the surface which appears to be water and floats to the bottom.

Lakima takes out the book he found in the ruined library and opens it. The first page is covered in symbols in a language he does not recognize but which are not magical writing. He hands the open book to Domago. Using the Helm of comprehending languages, Domago is able to discern the meaning of the open page. He tells everyone that it is called the Book of Red Whispers. It was written by someone called Herbert the vivisectionist. The opening page says that this book will teach the reader about blood magic and making pacts with arch-devils of the abyss.

“It is evil, we should destroy it,” Domago says. Lakima takes the book back and places it in his bag. Lakima argues that it takes special preparations to destroy the book. Several of his companions do not seem pleased by this.

“I want to try something,” Lakima says, and he steps inside the mandala painted on the floor. After waiting a minute with nothing happening, Lakima takes out a silver coin and tosses it into the pool of water. Everyone watches the coin land right in the pool with a plop and sink. They then notice that Lakima is gone!

Thistle Walker runs over to the mandala where everyone else is standing, giving the symbol a respectful distance. He examines it and tells everyone that he thinks it is a one-way portal somewhere. The adventurers discuss what to do to find Lakima.

Meanwhile, Lakima finds he is standing in a small chamber an instant after the coin he tossed landed in the pool. The chamber is 10 feet square and lit only by the light of his staff of power. There are no exits. He takes out the wand of secret door detection and finds no secret exit from the chamber. The air already tastes a little stale. Doing some math in his head, Lakima guesses he has about 6 hours of air before he will pass out. He grasps the talisman of demon summoning and speaks the command word. Concentrating he makes a summons. He feels a being of immense power and evil hook onto his summons and suddenly an enormous demon arrives in the chamber. The demon has four arms, two ending in huge pincers. It has a horned head and hoofed feet. The demon regards Lakima with red glowing eyes.

“Little fly, why have you summoned me?” The demon speaks in a deep voice.

Confident in safety provided by the talisman, Lakima informs the demon that he needs it for a task. He then casts a charm monster on the demon. The demon regards Lakima for a moment and then laughs.

“You are not powerful enough to command the likes of me,” it states.

“What if I were to give you a soul?”

“Your soul?” the demon responds with eager interest.

Lakima shakes his head and produces the Soul Cage from his bag of holding. Offering the soul trapped inside. The demon complains that this soul is small and weak but eventually, he counters with an offer to aid Lakima in return for a favor to be performed within one year. Lakima amends this agreement to state as long as the favor does not harm him or those he loves. The demon agrees and produces a contract and a metal-tipped quill.

“To be signed in blood.”

Lakima takes the contract and carefully reads over the contents. Surprisingly, the demon does not appear to be trying to trick him. He signs the contract.

Lakima asks to be returned to his friends and the demon grabs Lakima in one scaly claw and transports them through a gate.

Back in the temple, the adventurers discuss how they can find Lakima. Lakima suddenly appears in a cloud of brimstone. Beside him is an enormous demon.

“Lakima, are you okay?” Aldus asks with concern drawing his sword.

Lakima waves him back and turns to the demon. The demon reminds Lakima of the promised favor and then vanishes through a gate.

“What have you done?” Domago says in horror. Alrix opens his mouth to admonish the foolish human mage and then just closes his mouth and shakes his head.

Lakima tells everyone that he was trapped in a small oubliette with only enough air for a few hours. He explains that he used his wits to escape in return for a tiny favor to a demon.

After some discussion with Lakima the group turned back to the problem of opening the portal. Lakima takes the book of metal out of the bag of holding and asks Fenris if he can get it open. Fenris does not want to touch the book so he asks Lakima to rest it on the floor. He then examines it. Fenris tells everyone that three metal clasps hold the books closed. They are hinged and could probably be levered open. However, Fenris says that there are magical glyphs on the clasps that would surely kill anyone trying to pry the clasps open.

Lakima then decides to cast dispel magic on the steel tome. The spell is cast and the clasps spring open. Lakima flips open the book cover and finds 21 pages of thin steel. The first page is covered in runes and symbols he does not recognize. Read magic reveals that the symbols are not magical. Domago is asked to examine the book. Using his helm, he finds he is able to read the book. Domago tells them that the book details a ritual needed to open the portal. The user needs to read a long incantation without error and there needs to be a sacrifice of human blood. Fenris drags the corpse off of the altar revealing a depression and several small drain holes. The adventurers argue about who should sacrifice some blood and how much. Domago tells them the instructions say it must be fresh human blood from a single sacrifice. Alrix then states that clearly, he cannot donate the blood as he is not human. Thistle suggests that as a dragon creature, his blood should be more magical. Alrix tells him that he is not related to dragons. Fenris suggests that he cut Ian the squire since he is not very useful to the group. Aldus growls at Fenris for this suggestion.

As the argument goes on Eathwund states quietly that he will do it. Everyone keeps arguing, having not heard him. Eathwund states that he will do it louder this time. Fenris hands a dagger to Eathwund. Domago tells Eathwund to wait so he can start the ritual. Domago starts speaking in a strange language and Eathwund cuts his arm with the dagger allowing the blood to drip into the depression on the altar. He allows it to bleed freely until Domago signals him to stop. As the ritual comes to a close, they hear a loud boom resound through the temple. The barrier of red energy clears to reveal a hazy sight. There is a second loud boom as Domago ends the ritual and the portal clears to reveal a dark chamber seemingly lit by their lantern light passing through the portal.

The portal is carefully checked to see if it is open. Once it is shown to be open Lakima and then Eathwund step through. Thistle steps through and then steps back to show that it functions in both directions. Soon everyone steps through.

“From what I read in the book,” Domago says, “I think it will only stay open an hour.”

Lakima tells everyone that they need to hurry. As they move into the chamber they are suddenly attacked by a horde of shadows. Lakima casts a fireball killing most of the creatures. The rest are hacked apart or peppered with arrows. The adventurers pick one of the many passages from the chamber and follow it. As they pass down the hallways, they see that the walls and ceiling are covered with a strange reddish vine. In some places, red flowers grow on the vines. Eathwund examines the vines and finds that they seem to move toward him and that the stalks of the flowers are covered in inch-long thorns. They continue along hallways careful to avoid the vines until they arrive at a chamber with an open door. Inside is a faded tapestry and a stone coffin. The tapestry depicts a mortician working on preparing the dead for burial. The mortician in the tapestry wears a gold circuit or crown on his head.

Aldus opens the stone coffin and they see a mummy lying inside. The mummy is strangely wrapped as if to provide movement and sight. The mummy's eyes slowly open and a dry, ancient voice asks who they are. Lakima questions the mummy and demands to know why it is releasing undead into the surrounding countryside. The mummy laughs or coughs and says that its master Gahernis is the one commanding him to raise the dead. He offers to take the adventurers to see his master.

Once the party agrees, the mummy slowly rises out of his coffin and steps on the stone floor. They noticed the gold circuit studded with gems about its head. The mummy reaches into the coffin and removes a longsword in a gilded scabbard which it belts to its waist. The mummy leads them down many passages and halls covered in vines and flowers. Soon everyone with the exception of Thistle Walker is completely lost. Then the mummy turns about and shouts.

“Rise my soldiers!”

As he waves his arms there is a rumbling and stone lids are pushed open on enumerable stone crypts hidden under the vines. Skeletons armed with swords and shields emerge from the walls all around the heroes. The adventurers find themselves attacked from all sides. But the skeletons prove to be fairly weak and soon they are being smashed to pieces by Aldus, Eathwund, and Thistle. Alrix ignores the skeletons and blasts the mummy with magic missiles. Lakima uses his staff to cast a cone of cold at the mummy. Once the skeletons have been dealt with, Aldus and Eathwund attack and kill the mummy. It collapses in a heap.

Not sure where to go, the adventurers wander through a maze of hallways. Now that they are aware of the tombs, they see rows of tombs hidden under the vines. In some places, the tombs have already been opened and emptied. They find a chamber with a locked door and inside lead-lined walls. Lakima is barred from entering by a glyph of fear but the others are able to enter. Fenris is able to open 2 of 4 chests he finds inside. One is full of junk but the other holds a pile of gold and silver. This is quickly scooped into the bag of holding. In another chamber, they encounter a stable for three nightmares - coal-black horses of the abyss. One of the nightmares threatens to attack so they flee the chamber and close the door.

Realizing that the hour Domago warned them about has passed, Thistle moves to the front and leads the group back to the entry chamber. But they are too late. The portal has closed.