19980822 WhySnakes

<H1> Why Does it Always Have to be Snakes?</H1>
<H2> Role Call </H2>
<TABLE>
<TR>
 <TH> Name </TH>
 <TH> Profession and Level </TH>
 <TH> Player </TH>
</TR>
<TR>
 <TD> Borgar Evenhand </TD>
 <TD> 7th Dwarven Cleric </TD>
 <TD> Matt Miller (GM) </TD>
</TR>
<TR>
 <TD> Kieran McTernan </TD>
 <TD> 5th/5th Half-Elf Cleric/Mage </TD>
 <TD> Ray Chiang </TD>
</TR>
<TR>
 <TD> Sgt. Hull </TD>
 <TD> 5th Human Fighter </TD>
 <TD> John Speck (GM) </TD>
</TR>
<TR>
 <TD> Colin </TD>
 <TD> 7th Human Fighter </TD>
 <TD> Jim Yonemura </TD>
</TR>
<TR>
 <TD> Grackle </TD>
 <TD> 6th/6th Half-Elf Fighter/Thief </TD>
 <TD> Mark Whisler </TD>
</TR>
<TR>
 <TD> Ansrak </TD>
 <TD> 7th Human Thief </TD>
 <TD> Robert Giedt </TD>
</TR>
<TR>
 <TD> Miriam </TD>
 <TD> 4th Human Cleric </TD>
 <TD> Celeste Young </TD>
</TR>
<TR>
 <TD> Kill'Dar </TD>
 <TD> 5th/5th Elf Fighter/Mage </TD>
 <TD> Rick DiRicco </TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
<H2> Session Summary </H2>
<P>
The party continues down the stairs, leaving the 500-pound Borgar statue at
the top. The golem continues to pound away at the entrance, and the group
crosses its collective fingers that it won't reach him before they get
back.
</P>
<P>
The path leads down the stairs to a room whose walls are completely
mirrored. The room also has two large pillars, likewise mirrored.
</P>
<P>
[Note: As the GM describes this room, Mark (Grackle) and Ray (Kieran)
 simultaneously lay head in hands, thump-thump.]
</P>
<P>
The path leads to a spot on the featureless wall, which turns out to be a
secret door in one of the mirrored walls. The party enters, but the
narrowness of the passage behind the door means single-file only.
</P>
<P>
Ansrak (invisible) and Sgt. Hull (plainly visible) are tailgunners, with
Miriam directly in front of them. As she enters the hallway, she hears a
faint squishy noise. She immediately jumps back into the mirrored room. The
door is slammed shut behind her by the approaching Gelatinous Cube, which
then begins trying to eat Colin, who is next in line. Another cube seals
the passage in front of Grackle (who is point man).
</P>
<P>
Meanwhile, back in the mirror room, the pillars turn out to be hollow with
secret doors, out of which pop two ropers. One grabs Hull right away and
starts drawing him in (cue Star Trek planet-eater theme). The other
eventually snags Miriam after a couple tries. Ansrak moves to a flanking
position, unfolds his bow and starts shooting (turning visible).
</P>
<P>
The cubes are quickly dispatched, albeit with some scary paralytic-poison
saves. The party rushes back into the room (which they could see the whole
time; it turns out the walls are one-way mirrors, with an observation
passage surrounding the room). The ropers are slain after a pitched battle
in which Hull is nearly killed (he would have died but for his "amazing
resilience").
</P>
<P>
Following the path around through the observation passage, the party finds
another staircase down. This one fetches up in a cloakroom such as one
might find at the entrance to a normal home. The path now points straight
into a wall, which is solid (Dirgir says "10 feet of magically created
stone, then volcanic rock with gas pockets"). Figuring that the
usefulness of a "center of Blackvault" path is now at an end, the
group forms up, takes stock and decides to press on.
</P>
<P>
Opening the cloakroom door, the party is assailed by a heavy, musty scent.
Nobody can identify it for a while, until Colin the animal expert gets a
whiff. "Snakes," he says. "But for the smell to be this
strong, you'd have to stick your head right into their nest...." Nervous
looks are exchanged.
</P>
<P>
The door opens into a wide corridor, which encircles a large room or suite.
(Think of the end of an old-style key.) The central area has two ornate
double doors, and two smaller side doors. Other smaller doors dot the outer
walls of the passage (about six in all). The party - except for Ansrak and
Miriam, who are feeling decidedly squirrelly here - head down around to the
back of the encircling passage to check it out before opening any doors. As
they reach the back side of the suite, they round a corner and see a group
of four creatures. Two have the bodies of enormous snakes, human torsos and
arms (wielding two curvy swords dripping with something nasty), and
enormous snake heads. One has a snake body, human torso and arms, and a
human head. The last appears human, draped in an overabundance of cloth
(some is even wrapped around the top of his head). His eyes, however, look
strange...like snake eyes. He shouts, "Now!" and all hell breaks
loose.
</P>
<P>
All the doors to the passage fly open, disgorging a dozen or so
snake-beasts from all directions. The "leader" and his three
cohorts toss handfuls of harmless twigs...which change into angry serpents
in midair and rain down upon the party. A melee ensues.
</P>
<P>
Back at the cloakroom, Ansrak and Miriam are facing the huge double doors
as they are burst open by two snake-men and the biggest damn snake you ever
saw - at least a yard thick and thirty feet long. They fall back as fast as
they can, but Miriam is bitten by one of the snake-men (who has snakes for
arms!) and begins feeling...woozy....
</P>
<P>
The melee goes not well. Grackle and Colin, at the front, face the
two-swords-snake-head pair. They feel "someone sharing your head with
you," then the next round they are both -certain- that the next blow
from those poisoned blades will kill them. The snakes continue to nip at
everyone's heels, and Kill'Dar is spending every round curing poison. Things
look particularly bad when the leader casts a spell and Grackle is held
immobile, another snake-man from the rear casts a spell and Kieran turns
into a snake and Hull says the next blow will be lights out for him.
Kill'Dar goes invisible at the urging of the rest of the group - he's got
the helm and the ring, and there's always hope as long as he escapes with
those. With Ansrak and Miriam now fled up to the mirror room (the big snake
is blocking the stairway and climbing it very slowly), Kieran a snake,
Grackle held and Borgar a statue far above, the only combatants still able
to do anything are Kill'Dar, Colin and Hull - and Colin and Hull are within
one hit of death. Facing them are some 15 or more snake-men, their leader,
and thirty angry snakes swarming around their feet.
</P>
<P>
Just then, the leader (we'll go ahead and call him Siman Jed, since that's
what everyone's assuming by now) drops unconscious and Arik appears next to
him. Arik grabs Jed, putting a dagger to his eye, and shouting to the
snakes to back off, NOW. They do.
</P>
<P>
Up in the mirror room, Miriam passes out, and is looking really bad. Ansrak
searches her for loot - I mean, healing medicine - and finds nothing to
help. Getting an idea, he places his necklace of poison protection on her.
She stabilizes, but is still comatose.
</P>
<P>
Back downstairs, a nervous parley follows, wherein it is agreed that the
snakes give up the king and get their leader back. The first king they hand
over looks right, except for some physical abuse, but Kill'Dar detects him
as neutral evil, so Colin demands that they be given "the king of
Aquataine." The snake guys shrug and ask if it's all right to eat this guy
then. The "evil king" looks decidedly upset at this, but is hauled
away. The snake lieutenant grabs a snake from the pile at his feet and tosses
it towards the group. He hisses some words, and it turns into the king. This
one reads lawful good. Seledan swaps into Kill'Dar, ESPs the king-candidate,
and is satisfied.
</P>
<P>
The snake-men now demand their leader back. Their argument is, hey, we gave
you your guy. Now give us ours. You could, after all, just kill him once
you're out of our reach. A whispered conversation follows. The party
reconvenes - Kill'Dar fetches Ansrak and the unconscious Miriam from
upstairs - and it is decided that Kill'Dar should teleport out with the
king, the snakey Kieran, the paralyzed Grackle and the unconscious Miriam
while the remaining able-bodied folk try to rescue Borgar (returning home
via Arik's scroll).
</P>
<P>
The exchange is made, the cripples teleport out, and the survivors beat
feet upstairs. Arik stops to read a scroll at the cloakroom, which seals
the doorway with a wall of force. Sure enough, Siman Jed and his forces
smash up against it not two rounds later. Rushing up to the mirror room,
the next question is how to get Borgar down the still-trapped stairway (no
more find-the-path passwords). Arik tries to dispel the glyphs - nope. Then
he gets an idea. He feather falls Borgar (who can still be seen), then
casts an Unseen Servant to nudge him down the stairs (since he's now light
as a feather). It works! Borgar bounces gently down the stairs, Arik reads
his scroll and poof! Everyone's back home.
</P>
<P>
Arik bids you all farewell, takes the axe, and bails on foot. The king is
bundled off by Sentinels and priests for decontamination and recovery.
</P>
<H2> Foes Fought </H2>
<P>
</P>
<P>
Base Experience: 
</P>