Zoom 2023-08-01 21:00

Zoom omnibus, July to 1st August
So…. the party is in Clawthorn woods, heading East as we have been warned not to go South or West We are getting cold, and have just discovered that Create Food is wonky.
Various experiments with spells don’t show any other spell being affected (eg create water, purify food, temperature spells) except for Plant Growth, which only grows non-edible plants.
We carry on tramping, ensuring our camping arrangements are as secure/protected as possible. The next day we try as many Create Food spells as possible with these results: Wun 4 man days, then Riffraff 2 man days, Bazin 2 man days and another one from Wun producing just 1 man day. (My notes suggest that Bazin actually took some damage from casting the Create Food spell ?)
We start rationing food, and Francis goes on a proper hunt (previously we were just hunting opportunistically) and manages to bring down a boar. So that provides us with at least 10 man days of food, and we freeze (using Chill Metal on the pot) what we can’t eat. We come across – but don’t enter – the ‘hole’ in the middle of the northeast of Clawthorn woods – it appears to be a desert/shingle area, with the stumps of petrified trees (that appear to have been felled). The whole area is completely dessicated, and there is very little animal life there. There is no obvious reason for this area to be (or remain) in such a condition, but it’s boundaries to appear to be fairly fixed.
That night, our sleep is interrupted by a party of 6 Maratasen striding into camp – one of them contemptuously holding one of Garaf’s Magic Mouth stones. They are different from the Maratasen we have seen before – hunched over with more pronounced manes. One of them appears to be a Shaman bearing an old Wyldwood symbol. Once we get past the language barrier (with Q’s tongues spell) we realise that we are in trouble – though Brokev has made a good paladinic impression on the Shaman.
It appears that we have been guilty of hunting on this tribe’s grounds. We explain our necessity due to the failure of Create Food & Water, to which we are told ‘Of course – this is the Season of Death’. We seem to have two choices – we can have an outright fight, or we can engage in ritualised battle (not to the death), but they will take all our food if we lose. We ask if there is any possibility of a third way – and the Shaman says that he may be able to persuade the group to allow us a different way to make amends. After a bit of discussion (and a lucky roll of 01 on a D100) we are given an alternate task that we must fulfil instead: 4 hours walk to the North, in the dessicated area, is an old Maratasen tomb with a spear that they would like retrieved. As long as we don’t disturb/desecrate the bones of the Maratasen, we can take whatever else is there. They can’t say what is in or protecting the tomb.
They explain that you cannot use Create Water in the dessicated area, and any water you take with you will soon dry up. There will be giant scorpions in the area, but hopefully they will be mostly dormant.
We agree to this quest, and the Maratasen become our buddies – they are happy to share food and drink around the campfire with us, and promise to give us more food if we are successful. (Darrell – please give us the full details of the ‘Season of Death’)
The next day we learn (hopefully) appropriate spells, and head off to the tomb. We put waterskins into the bag of holding hoping that they may last in there. We take care going through the arid area to avoid any giant scorpions nestled in the sand – and Francis is able to lead us around the few that we come across.
We do, however, come across two very dessicated bodies. One has been killed by a massive puncture wound through his leather armour – but as the armour is obviously in good nick other than that, it must be magical/runic. Detect magic reveals other magical items – Plate Mail on the other character, plus 3 potions, a dagger and a mace. We collect all these items, and in a well timed manoeuvrer open the bag of holding, take some waterskins out and put the items inside it. We then pass round three waterskins as quickly as possible – the first two people get decent sips of water from each skin, but by the third person the water has become tainted – some people can down it, but others are sick because of it.
We continue on to where the tomb should be, and see a stone hill with a single entrance into it – with a statue of a massive scorpion by the entrance. As we approach the statue, Garaf is able to see a large number of large (ie a foot or two long) ‘invisible’ scorpions milling around it – though Garaf observes that a scorpion will often move to the statue and touch a foot. As we get nearer, these scorpions appear to become aware of us.
Although most of us aren’t sure what to do about these scorpions, Garaf knows exactly what to do. He fireballs the shit out of them.
With all the scorpions dead (though probably regenerating) around the statue, we go up to it – True Sight shows it to have a Holy Aura, which is neutral as far as Joshua is concerned. There are some magical and mechanical traps/glyphs that we need to deal with, but they are not a problem.
So the party marches confidently through the entrance and down a long, straight tunnel. Ahead there are alcoves on either side with statues of Maratasen in them. As we approach, they duly animate and lightning bolt us to hell. Twoo manages to get a lightning bolt off against them – but it heals them, which ain’t good. So the fighters+monk engage them and we bring them down OK – but it is a bit of a pyrrhic victory given the amount of damage we have taken – though Garaf’s minor globe of invulnerability saved a lot of damage after the first salvo. (Note: The statues only take half damage from edged/piercing weapons – blunt weapons were needed to be effective)
Onwards to a (damaged) door that seems to be the entrance to a large chamber. Garaf casts ‘knock’ on the door, then a ‘haste’ on us and in we charge: There is a central sarcophagus with a statue of a Maratasen wielding a (magical) spear that is penetrating a scorpion. There are also 4 more animating, lightning casting Maratasen statues, but as we are somewhat better prepared to fight them we succeed OK, but are now really quite battered.
We use a ‘locate object’ to determine that the spear we want is inside the sarcophagus, not the one wielded by the statue. So we shift the lid and look inside: There is a Maratasen skeleton with a magical spear, shield and ring. We take them all (being careful not to disturb the bones when we take the ring) and replace the lid. We then turn our attention to the spear wielded by the statue. Having determined that Wun has a ‘Remove Curse’, Garaf casts an ‘identify’ on it. It is a +2 lance that has some kind of anti-summoning effect on it. It is also, indeed, cursed, and Wun has to cast his ‘Remove Curse’ to enable Garaf to let go of it. We decide it is best to leave it in place.
We have some time to cast our remaining heal spells before we try to get past the Scorpion sentinels and make our way through the desert back to safety.