Dicing with Death: Episode 013

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==Balrog Recap==
The episode starts with the Dirge of Solomon.
When the episode proper starts, Balrog and Patty are in the town of The Pit in the Cooling Sands Desert. The town is named for the 200 foot diameter pit that is seemingly bottomless with a pair winding stairway going down the outside edge.
The city itself is walled and there's a constant patrol of slaves in the city who sweep up the sand that blows over the walls every day, keeping the city very clean. The refuse is just dumped into the pit, some people have issue with this but it's actually one of the cleanest cities in the world. There are tall buildings made of stone, and most most of the smaller buildings are also made of stone, however there is some lumber every now and then.
Balrog gets himself a room and a meal at the Red Feather Inn. The next day Balrog heads to the indoor bazaar to pawn off the silks he purchased. While one of the vendors is suspicious of Balrog, another vendor does buy the silk.
Balrog then finds Patty highly inebriated, and he asks Balrog to plan the next heist since Patty did the last one. Balrog goes and sits by himself at a table starts reading the books he stole from the temple. While is reading the coins he got from the merchant for the silk begin to vanish, eventually they all turn into faint balls of light and float away. Balrog gives chase.
The light heads across town and into the actual pit and down one of the stairs and into a crypt dug into the side of the pit. Balrog breaks into the crypt. The crypt is full of remains. As he explores he is attacked by a swarm of rats. After he kills half of the rats, the rest of the swarm flees. Balrog continues exploring. He comes across a room with a statue called The Undying Warrior before coming across another locked gate. 
Balrog breaks in and finds the room feels unnaturally cold and stale. Inside the room is pot full of gold coins. Engraved on the floor of this room is the words "the treasure of the family awaits the victor". Balrog starts filling his pack full of coins, but one of the skeletons with a sword comes to life but Balrog takes control of the skeleton with Turn Undead.
Balrog commands his minion to fight him so to fulfil the demands of the inscription. His undead skeleton minions kills Balrog. 
Yet somehow, Balrog wakes up a few days later. Balrog fails to get a healing spell from his gods, but gets a feeling of disappointment and failure flow though him instead. Balrog stands up and "kills" his skeleton minion so he can be the "victor".
A ghostly apparition appears briefly to deliver a message.
:You have brought the curse of the family down upon you. The victor will be decided later. 
After the ghostly apparition disappears, Balrog puts the defeated skeleton back in its alcove in the crypt with care. Outside Balrog sees that it is nighttime and the gate has a new lock on it. Balrog breaks the new lock and opens the gate. 
There is a crowd at the top of the pit that look down at Balrog. A Cleric of Astair at the head of the crowd announces that the world does not tolerate the undead, and for Balrog to return to the depths he came from. Balrog mocks the cleric, then the cleric casts turn undead, and Balrog feels supernatural fear and flees down into the pit, as the crowd cheers.
Balrog finally stops running, and is out of sight of the crowd. He checks for his pulse and finds none. He tries to drink water but gains no benefit from it. He doesn't feel hunger either. Balrog doesn't feel tired. Balrog then prays for a healing spell, but he is given Cause Light Wounds. He tests using Holy Water on a finger and it burns.
For the next three days Balrog prays for a spell, and on the 3rd day he gets the spell. He casts the spell on himself and it damages him, and knocks him back unconscious. Balrog wakes some time later. He prays now for a Cause Light Wounds then uses it on himself, which somehow heals him. He does this again the next day and heals himself to full. 
Another day later Balrog learns the command spell and surfaces during the night. He makes his way to the temple of Astair to find that cleric. He tries to open the temple door, but the touch burns his hand. He then instead to find the cleric quarters. He knocks on the door. The same Cleric of Astair answers the door, and Balrog uses his command spell to force the cleric to follow. Balrog then murders the Cleric of Astair.
Balrog heads back into the pit and returns to the chamber with the pot of gold in it. Balrog demands to see the champion he must defeat. There is no response. 
Exp: 955 (477.5 each class)
Total Each Class: 794 Exp
Balrog prays for the Cause Fear spell. During the next night he returns to the surface and goes to the town's library. The librarian lets him in after Balrog explains that he has been cursed and seeks a cure. As Balrog starts researching books, the librarian returns with the elder librarian. Balrog goes into the detail how the sunlight burns him and fears he is no longer living. The elder librarian casts detect undead and confirms this diagnosis. He says he has lost his soul and it is with the goddess Felumbra, to get his soul back, Balrog will have to break the curse. 
A lot of the books are theoretical about the purpose of the pit with no conclusions. Another books explains who is buried where in the crypts and the room Balrog was cursed doesn't appear on the list. The book on curses explain permanent curses are rare, but every curse has a cure.
Before morning rises Balrog retreats back into the pit. Balrog finds the gate is locked again. As Balrog breaks the new chain, 2 guards come down to investigate. Balrog casts Cause Fear on one of them, and that guard flees in terror. The other guard flees as well. Balrog breaks the gate itself so it can't be locked again.
As he is working, the two guard returns with a young cleric. The young cleric first mistakes Balrog for a grave robber, then orders Balrog to be attacked after he reveals his undead nature. Balrog finishes breaking the gate and enters the crypt. The cleric retrats to collect holy water and other anti-undead measures as the guards wait outside.
Balrog heads to the statue of the The Undying Warrior. Balrog puts a torch in the statue's hand and asks it fight him. The apparition reappears and welcomes Balrog into the family and he should descend the starts to join the rest of the family. 
Balrog leaves the crypt and murders the two guards waiting outside. Balrog then heads down the stairs.
Some unknown amount of time later Balrog arrives at a landing with a door with branches on it. Balrog knocks on the door, but it opens on its own. Inside is a semicircle room. On the altar, on a raised dias, sits a wizened old man. There are other people sitting in the other areas of the room. Balrog recognises the Old Man as the ghostly apparition he saw before.
The Old Man greets Balrog, saying he was expected. Everyone in the chamber have the same 'curse' that Balrog has, "the family" were the ones to set up the trap in the crypt with the pot of gold. They plan to take over the world one day when their numbers are great enough, but they are patient. The old man is 500 years old and expects to wait anouther 1000 years before they start their plan.
Balrog sits with the group on the floor and finds it an eerie silence. No one speaks or moves for a time. Balrog starts a conversation and discovers that the merchant who purchases his silks has been stealing the gold from the chamber, and it magically returns after 24 hrs. After at least a day of sitting in the room, Balrog stands up and leaves the chamber. He decides to get revenge on the merchant and heads out of the pit. It is night time when he gets to the surface.
He heads to the bazaar and finds the merchant easily and confronts him. The merchant runs away and calls for guards, but Balrog murders him. Balrog fights his way out of the bazaar, killing 2 guards in order to make his escape. Balrog flees into the pit.
Arriving at the crypt, Balrog sees all 150 cursed gold coins are back in the pot and he still has no pulse. Balrog heads back down back to 'The Family' down the stairs. Eventually he returns to the chamber. The Old Man isn't happy that the merchant is dead, as he has lured many people into joining his undead family. Balrog says he was trying to remove to curse on himself, to the Old Man's disgust. The Old Man threatens Balrog, so Balrog casts Control Undead on him and the others. 
Balrog takes control of 10 of the undead, and he commands them to stand and old back the 50 others. The Old Man casts a control undead to counter Balrog's spell. Balrog attacks the Old Man and interrupts the spell. Balrog then kills the Old Man. Balrog checks his pulse, but it still hasn't returned. Balrog searches the dead man and finds an amulet of Malkis on him. 
Balrog tries to get answers from the congregation. The Old Man had been the first here in the chamber with the curse. They claim 'the family' caused the curse, but they are 'the family' at the same time.
Exp: 3910 (1955 for each class)
Total Each Class: 2749 Exp
Fighter levels up to level 2
Cleric levesl up to level 2
HP + 13 (Total 25.5 HP)
Balrog prays to Malkis, trying to understand what is going on. All he gets back is a feeling of amusement.
Balrog gives up trying to free the undead in the room, and leaves them to their eternal waiting. Balrog decides he'll find no answers here in the pit and will head to "The temple at the end of the world" aka "The Lower Rift", where allegedly all souls go after they die to meet the goddess Felumbra.
Balrog leaves The Pit and arrives in Bright Rock and tries to a donkey, but the animals freak out when he gets close. Balrog then goes to an inn and buys a room, food and drink. However the food and drink taste like ash to him, and he finds he is unable to sleep. He also notices in his reflection that his complexion is now very pale. The pot of cursed gold then disappears. 
The next night Balrog leaves Bright Rock and gets half way to Sands Edge when 16 Sand Kobolds jump out of the sand to ambush him. The kobolds demand Balrog's money, but Balrog casts Cause Fear on the one talking with him, causing the Kobold to flee. Balrog kills 9 Kobolds before the rest flee, but Balrog kills 3 retreating Kobolds.
Exp: 200 (100 for each class)
Total Each Class: 2849 Exp
Category:Dicing with Death Episodes
Category:Balrog Blacksteel Episodes