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Initial Characters :
- Millicent, a militant wetnurse.
- Otily, a handsome, but gloomy, scribe.
- Wendelfred, a philosopher.
Replacement Character :
- Naomi, a brutish, but serene, deserter.
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The last thing any of them remembered was being fed a warm, soporific draught. Otily wakes up naked, cotton-mouthed, bound in a sack. There is a clasp-knife in her hands, with which she cuts herself free, along with the other three prisoners struggling in the shallow stone bowl. As they all stand up, feeling around, they hear the door creak open and a huge, lumbering shape squeeze itself inside; fetid, heavy breathing; wet, slimy noises. Silently, they find the wall, and creep over to where they thought the door was. As they find the threshold, they hear a strangled scream and the sickening crunch of break bone. Stumbling out into the pitch black of a corridor, they smell a barnyard stench coming from the east.
Otily, being the only with a knife, decides to go back for the others, and Millicent follows her, while Wendelfred stays at the door. They manage to sneak over to one of the stone bowls easily enough, but just as they've freed someone, the Lamb takes notice. A bite from out of the dark removes a chunk of her arm (dropping her to 1 HP), but she and Millicent and the newly freed prisoner manage to scramble away and bolt out the door, which Wendelfred slams shut on the Lamb. It hits the door full force and squeals in pain, but the door holds. The next blow is heavy, however, and Wendelfred knows he can't keep it shut for long. They all dive into the room to the east, following the barnyard scent, with Millicent in the lead. She trips over a goat and into a pile of hay. Everyone goes to ground and listens to the Lamb snuffling and sniffing in the corridor. Groping, Wendelfred finds a wooden bowl on the floor and flings it out of the room; the Lamb pursues the sound, south and away.
Silence. Breathing easier, Wendelfred and Millicent (now in charge of Sam and Gert, the two others freed) search the room, while Otily slinks back into the room with the bowls to free the remaining prisoners. The group sorts itself out, quietly, amid the cold, damp stone. The goats' collars and bells are collected and muffled, the living goat brought along on a piece of twine, and Millicent tasks Sam and Gert with carrying one of the dead goats between them. They also collect scraps of burlap and twine from the bowl room. Then, heading south, the party comes to a junction, with light coming from the east, and a vinegar scent from further down the southern corridor. They choose to pursue light, and come out onto the landing.
The burning torch is seized, as is the fire-striker, while one of the new henchlings is delegated to carrying the tar-soaked chest. Wendelfred and his lackeys also take the time to pry the metal pole free, while Millicent soaks some of the burlap scraps in the leaking pitch in order to augment the already guttering torch.
Moving further east, in pursuit of a truely repulsive stench, they come out into a huge, vaulted room, dominated by a slimy, effluvia-slick pit at its center. Listening at the north door, they hear irregular splashing, which greatly tempts them, cotton-mouthed and dehydrated as they all are. But first, they circle round to check the south door. As they do, a croaking voice rises out of the pit, asking if anyone is there. Initially they are suspicious and don't answer, but as the voice pleads and begs, they change their minds. They learn that the woman is named Akina, and she has been living at the bottom of the pit and surviving by eating parasites off the Lamb and drinking vomit. They also learn that they are beneath the White Temple. Wendelfred, a philosopher, is thus able to supply some lore about Vandoh, the god the temple is dedicated to, leading to much speculation. They promise to free Akina later, when they have rope or some other means of getting her out. She is dejected, but hopeful. They also think to toss the dead goat they've been carrying into the pit for her to eat.
Opening the south door reveals a room full of piled bone pellets. They shrug, and circle counter-clockwise around the pit to the north door and Millicent (who has been leading, carrying the burning torch) opens it. The first thing they see is a slimy pool and a fountain of a fish with hands. Then they notice the huge, wallowing bulk within it. The Lamb emerges out of the water and for the first time they see the beast, illuminated by the flickering torchlight. It is huge, grotesque, resembling an obese cow, covered in nodules at its milk lines. From out of the fleshy coil where its head should be, a bloody horse skull peeks out and tastes the air.
At the same time as they see this, Millicent, who had just stepped over the threshold, collapses to the ground, flopping as she violently hallucinates drowning in heavy armour. Someone manages to snatch the torch and drag Millicent away; they retreat along the eastern edge of the pit as the Lamb squeezes through the doorway. But it hesitates on the edge of the torch light. Thinking fast, they glance into the room to the east, and upon determining it has exits, retreat into there. The Lamb crawls after them. They pass through crab mural room and into the abacus mural chamber, still dogged by the Lamb. Seeing the pole supporting the sagging ceiling, a plan is rapidly devised.
Wendelfred positions himself with his iron pole to batter the post down, while two of his henchlings (Naomi and Ithel) confuse the Lamb with ringing bells to either side. As the torch light recedes behind them, the Lamb enters, squeezing its way into the room, but hesitates at the onslaught of noise. Wendelfred hits the post. Once. Twice. Thrice. It gives way. Naomi makes it through the door first. Poor Ithel trips and falls. And Wendelfred leaps to safety just as the roof collapses in a chaos of masonry. Everyone—save poor, crushed Ithel—is alive, if dusty. They take a moment to breathe. They can hear the Lamb slowly digging itself free underneath the rubble. Then they explore the room, noting the moldy door to the east, the door to the west, and the cobweb filled crack on the south wall, from which comes afresh breeze.
They bash the moldy door in, and investigate the room beyond, but are turned off by the corpse-shaped fungus mound on the floor, and don't go any further. The western chamber proves more fruitful, revealing an unused torch, a crawlspace, and a stone sarcophagus. Wendelfred reads the inscription on it ("Shadrakul, who will not meet her apprentice in this life."), noting that it is written in Elegiac, the language of the greater undead and magicians. Upon opening the sarcophagus, they hear a mechanical noise, but find it empty, save for a seam along the bottom. First, they put their living goat in, and are pleased when they hear it bleat in alarm briefly, but then hear the tinkling of bells as it moves about somewhere below. Next, they convince one of Millicent's henchlings (Jody) to climb in, taking the torch with her. She reports back that she's fine, having landed on some soft rugs and that there's a skeleton in robes down there. They then contrive to turn the sarcophagus lid so the weight is pushing down the rim (surmising that that was how the mechanism worked) and manage to crack the bottom open enough that they rescue Jody with their iron pole and some climbing.
Wendelfred decides to climb down, landing on a pile of fancy rugs. There is indeed a a seated skeleton in robes, offering up a black iron spellbook and balancing a delicate crystal goblet on one knee. He takes the spellbook briefly leafs through its pages, barely grasping the arcane formula put down on the metal pages. Then, he reaches for the goblet. Something stirs within the skeleton's rib-cage; he grabs the goblet nonetheless. A skeletal serpent darts out and strikes, sinking its fangs into him. The poison floods Wendelfred's body and he collapses, dead.
Meanwhile, everyone else was busy using the sarcophagus lid to break open the tarry chest they'd been lugging around, and find a flask of oil and another torch inside. Eventually, one of Wendelfred's henchlings, Naomi (the new PC), decides to go down into the sarcophagus hole to see what became of him. She finds the goat munching on a corner of rug and the dead Wendelfred prostrate on the stony ground. From him, she retrieves the spellbook, and chains it around her waist. She also loots the skeleton for its black art-deco-esque robes, which she puts on.
After helping Naomi climb back out, the party investigates the crawlspace, sending Millicent through first. They discover it opens up onto the bone pellet room. One by one, everyone files through, and begins searching the pile for anything of value—save for Naomi, who sits down to run her fingers over the metal pages of her new spellbook and feel arcane secrets pushing at the edge of her mind.
Nearly an hour passes. With all their rooting around, they turned up a silver bracer styled like veins, and a mysterious vial of black fluid. From the whispering words of the iron tome, Naomi has gleaned the secret of casting fear (and one magic die to cast it with).
The party decides to sneak out of the bone pile room and around the edge of the pit, heading westward to the landing. Their plan is to seek out the vinegar smell, because it would be something to drink, hopefully. Stopping at the landing, however, they decide to explore the corridor southward. From a closet along the passage, they loot a broom, small hammer, and gong. Then they investigate a chamber which is dominated by a fish with hands holding stone discs with numbers on them; a tumbler lock. There is also an acrid, milky pool of liquid—prodding it with the broom sizzles and burns the straw.
Shrugging, they head back north, but as they come out onto the landing, they see the Lamb squeezing its way out of the eastern corridor. It does not seem deterred by their torchlight any longer. Panic. Naomi steps forward, feeling the formula come unbidden into her mind, and word fear rings out like a tolling bell. The Lamb writhes, squeals, and calls out "father!" before turning and fleeing. Disturbed, the party makes haste westward. They re-explore the bowl and goat room, but don't discover anything new. Then, while passing the junction, they meet the Lamb once more. Again, Naomi casts fear, this time with even greater effect, but she can feel the magic has sapped her of strength (no more MD for the day). She uses the Lamb's ongoing terror of her to pin it in the northward passage, while her companions hasten southward following the scent of vinegar.
They find two rooms. The eastern room behind a locked door, which one of Naomi's henchlings, Theobold, begins to break down. Everyone else crowds into the western chamber, where they find two stone troughs—one is filled with vinegar, in which bobs a wine bottle. Quickly and greedily they drink it up, ignoring the burning sensation, happy to have any kind of refreshment (vinegar has electrolytes; the -4 modifier for dehydration is at last banished). They also fill the wine bottle for Naomi and Theobold, then bustle over to the now opened eastern room.
Inside, they find a table with a weird fruit on it, a wooden chest, and an iron and lead chest bolted to the floor and wrapped with linchpinned chains. The wooden chest contains some sort of masked helmet with a pipe that slots into it, purple powder, and a torch. They grab the whole chest to carry, and toss some excess items inside it. Then Otily goes to open the iron and lead chest, and gets a splitting headache as she removes the first linchpin. A nosebleed follows the second linchpin. She decides to put on the masked helmet and light the pipe, thinking it is some sort of defensive measure pair with the iron chest. The smoke makes her drowsy. She finally opens the iron and lead chest, and what looks like a deformed elephant's skull shoots up into the air. She—and the others standing round—watch as parts of their skin violently sloughs off and spirals through the air to begin wrapping around the floating skull. Rapidly, the demon head reconstitutes itself, bellows out "I, Davok, am free at last!" and then geases Otily to carry him out of the dungeon, and drops into her arms.
Everyone runs north, reuniting with Naomi just as her torch gutters out. The Lamb is lurking somewhere in the darkness. They take the junction eastward, booking it as fast as they can, pausing only to briefly ask if Davok can blow open the locked door on the landing (to which it grumbles something about being tired). Finally, they make it back to the bone pile room and hastily crawl one by one back into the safety of the sarcophagus chamber, where they catch their breath.
Someone passes the bottle of vinegar to Naomi, who slakes her gnawing thirst. They take stock. The room is fairly safe all things considered. And they are dead tired after however many hours creeping and running through the dungeon. It is decided that they will all sleep together in the safety of the sarcophagus hole (while leaving some people above to keep watch). First though, they spend some time making a rope out of the carpets, with Otily cutting strips with her knife, and everyone else tying then together. Naomi reads her spellbook. The living goat (still down the hole) is hastily butchered and eaten, the hot blood further quenching their thirst. Eventually, they sleep, and a night (or possibly day?) passes in the damp, cold dungeon.
They wake, less tired, if still aching and sore, and variously wounded. Climbing out of the sarcophagus hole and heading into the room with the city under water mural, they consider the crack running along the south wall. Millicent takes the lead and begins burning cobwebs away, causing a flood of little red spiders to wash over her. She makes it all the way to the far end of the crevasse, glimpsing daylight from a small, fist sized hole, and hearing the shouts of a chicken vendor, before one bites her. The party drags her out as she wheezes and coughs mutely.
They confer. Chipping away at the hole with the iron pole is considered, but it would take far too long. Then Otily has an idea: she lifts up the demon-head and entreats with it, trying to convince it to geas the chicken vendor so that he will go forth and hire some labourers to widen the crack. Davok grumbles, but remarkably, agrees. So, Otily squeezes her way into the crevice and holds the demon-head up to the hole, so that it can call out, imperiously commanding the chicken vendor and promising him rich rewards. Overcome, the vendor cries "of course master!" and dashes off to fetch labourers. By the time Millicent's wheezing fit has worn off, he has returned and the party hears the sound of picks breaking stone. Bit by bit, the hole widens. And then, all of a sudden, it's big enough to pass through. With delirious cries of joy, they clamber out into the sunlight, blinking and squinting.
They find themselves on the edge of the market square, beneath the walls of the White Temple, behind a line of stalls (somewhat hiding them from the bustle of people). The labourers standing around with their picks and prybars look on them with wonder, while the chicken vendor looks expectant.
But it's not over yet. Naomi and Otily and Millicent agree, they need to go back in for Akina, who is still down in the pit. A few of the henchlings have already slipped away, and the others are hesitant to go back in the dungeon, so they rally the labourers and go charging inside, taking the coil of carpet-strip rope with them. Through the sarcophagus chamber, along the crawlspace, and out into the bone pile room. They pause here, and peek out the cracked door into the chamber with the pit, to check for the Lamb, and found it empty. Skulking out, they call to Akina and lower their makeshift rope into the pit. She clambers out; a bedraggled, wizened, filth covered woman looking desperately happy. Hastily, they beat a retreat they way they came, with a quick detour by Otily to grab the skull of the robed skeleton in the sarcophagus hole. At long last, they escape the dungeon.
Back in the bright sunlight of the market square—the White Temple gleaming in the sun, the crowds loud and bustling, the colours brilliant—they note a merchant conferring with the guard at the temple gate, pointing toward them. Some shirts and cloaks are procured from the labourers. Otily, carrying the demon-head, scurries off, pursued by the chicken vendor eager for his reward, and the labourers demanding their pay. Naomi follows, with her spellbook and skull, trailed by Theobold, still carrying the iron pole. But Millicent lingers, then decides to march over (trailed by Sam and Gert, as well as Akina, who stuck around), to harangue the confused temple guard, before also making off into the crowd.
They meet up again in a quiet courtyard, amid the city's bustle. The chicken vendor was paid off with the silver bracer. Akina tries to give Millicent a ruby ring that must be worth a fortune, and they comfort the poor woman. Meanwhile, Noami and Otily sit on opposite sides of a fountain and interrogate their respective patrons' heads. The necromancer's skull is pleased to finally have an apprentice to teach the secrets of the quiet world too. While, Davok is just happy to finally be freed after a century of confinement, and begrudging offers to take Otily on as his warlock, for her reward. They also learn, from the demon-head, some facts about the Lamb (such as that it is the child of Vandoh) and the dungeon. The sun shines down on them, wonderful and warm.
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Deaths :
- Unknown (eaten by Lamb)
- Ithel (crushed by collapsing ceiling)
- Wendelfred (poisoned by skeletal snake)
- Goat (eaten by party)
Favorite Quote :
- "We have been set up in such a gameic environment, it is terrifying to inhabit."
Favorite Proposal :
- Since Millicent's a wetnurse and everyone is thirsty, a potential solution presents itself, à la Grapes of Wrath.
Speculations :
- This is all some sort of trial or tribulation.
- The Lamb fears bells, which is why the goats were unmolested.
- The code to the tumblers was in the abacus mural in the room they collapsed.
- The Lamb has been trained to expect something when illuminated.
- Shadrakul, the necromancer, was the Lamb's father.
