11/06/14 Stoned

Fire raged from the trap filled with burning oil and decaying zombies. The creature focused its gaze upon the priest once more. He was unable to overcome it.



Turn To Stone by Electric Light Orchestra
The dying embers of the night,
a fire that slowly fades till dawn,
still glow upon the wall so bright :
BURNING, BURNING, BURNING!

The tired rats that hide away,
from here to everywhere they go,
roll past the door into the day in our blue world!

Abelorn Cole's final thoughts...

“I turn to stone when hope is gone, I turn to stone.

Turn to stone when am I comin' home, I can't go on.
I turn to stone when hope is gone, I turn to stone.”

And with that, he is petrified. The cleric that devoted his life to the domain that sustains life, vitality and health, has the life drained out of him. He stands motionless and is a stone statue. But how did this happen?      

 * * * * * *

Humphrey crawled out of the spider filled trap. He didn't look so good. Physically he said he wasn't hurt, but we insisted on checking him out, no bites. Mentally he was spent. He was an emotional wreck. Who could blame him? Knocked out by gargoyles; surrounded by an army of orcs; totally engulfed by the gelatinous cube and now falling into a pit full of spiders. He'd been through a lot, but then we all had. He wasn't taking it so well though. So we left the dark, dangerous dungeon to the relative "safety" of the cellar. It wasn't much, but he was content with the improvement. Leaving him to rest on his bedroll, we locked the dungeon grate behind us and returned to the trap.

Like shooting fish in a barrel, the spiders in the pit stood no chance against multiple Firebolt blasts from Booyow.  Leorio felt confident that he'd disabled the trap and hadn't found any on the door that it had guarded.  Opening the door we found stairs descending into the darkness below and heard moans and scuffling coming up.  We quickly closed the door, enabled the trap again and took up positions beyond it. Moments later scratching and thumping could be heard behind the door. Speculating that whatever was there could not open the door, and putting a lot of confidence in the set trap, the wizard cast a spell. He gestured and spoke "Give me a hand!" and the mage's spectral floating hand appeared in front of the door. He opened the door and walking dead emerged!

Decaying men, covered with giant rats, poured out the door. The rodents didn't trigger the trap, but the undead did. Like lemmings they followed each other into the pit! Leorio's tendency toward pyromania served us well as he poured a flask of oil into the pit. "Flame on!" moments later from Booyow set it ablaze with his Burning Hands spell and some rats and zombies were burnt as well. Abe, Dolphin and Gervase dealt with whatever rats or zombies got past the fiery blaze. "Fall back!", shouted the cleric as reanimated corpses continued to pour out the door. The pit was quickly filling. "Gunter, Glieben, Glauten, Globen! Its better to burn out than to fade away!", spoke the wizard and his Flaming Sphere appeared beyond the trap. What mindless dead did get past it and the pit didn't have much left. Leorio poured more oil into the inferno ensuring that the dead stopped walking for good. Gervase fell in the battle and Abe pulled him back and stabilized his wounds. Little did we know that the half-elf wouldn't get a chance to thank the holy man for quite some time. 

We finished off the remaining rats and undead. The fire on the door was extinguished, but the rage in the pit would have to burn out.  Booyow followed his sphere down the stairs far enough to see more rats scamper and that the stairs continued for quite a distance. He dismissed the sphere and closed the door back. We searched the corpses and then cremated them and the rats in the fire pit.

We were ready to head back, but realized the door leading to the cistern had been closed. When Abe tried to open it, it was spiked from the other side. Using his crowbar, the resourceful cleric was able to pry the door open. Beyond it we saw three lizard-like men, drinking from the cistern, and their large reptilian pet. A battle quickly ensued where two of the men were quickly vanquished. The Basilisk, as we would confirm later it was, proved more powerful. Booyow was the first to feel the power of its stare as he was able to avoid it. He warned the others "Watch its gaze!" Leorio tried to move in the room to get a better vantage point, but triggered another trap door. Although we'd been over the area before, this time the rogue fell in. "By the power of Pelor! Hammer Time!", shouted Abe and his trusted Spiritual Weapon appeared. As Dolphin and Booyow continued battle with the Basilisk and lone Lizardman, Abe moved in to help the elf.  Moments later the thief was out of the pit. Abe must have been turning around as he was unable to avoid the creature's gaze. We saw the life drain from the cleric devoted to life, as he turned to a stone statue before our very eyes! His spiritual hammer disappeared with him.

Dolphin was the only one left engaged with the huge reptilian beast now and he wasn't looking well.  He disengaged and started running for one of the doors behind us.  Leorio had barely avoided the power of the beast twice now and Gervase lie unconscious on the floor near it. Things were looking pretty grim.  Booyow was out of spells and barely had enough health to move himself.  He pulled out his scroll and read from the parchment, casting a fiery spell.  Seconds later, a huge Fireball exploded and engulfed the Basilisk and last Lizardman! They moved no more, just like our lifelong friend. Ironically the one that just moments before had urged us all to fall back had fallen himself in battle.  Although he would remain standing forever as a stone statue without powerful help.

We found a bag of treasure near the cistern and returned Gervase to the cellar. We awoke the sleeping Humphrey. Between Leorio, Dolphin, Booyow and Humphrey, we were able to move the heavy statue of Abelorn Cole to the base of the cellar stairs. Ascending the stairs and out of the keep would prove more difficult. We retrieved a pulley that was up in the tower.  As we were attaching it and rope to the cellar grates, we were approached by another rat man and his three rat companions! The Wearrat "Nigel", as we learned he was called, was thankfully wanting to engage in conversation and not melee.

It seems there is an ongoing battle between the Lizardmen and Wearrats and he was offering us a truce if we'd team with them. Putting forward his best bluff face, Booyow heard the rodent man out. Nigel would call off the rodents.  He also told us that the liquid in the cistern helped against the effects of the Basilisk. Furthermore, they would help us get the statue outside if we'd help them by eliminating a foul creature that was on the lower levels. If we were willing to do additional jobs, we might even be able to join their gang. This was an obvious win for our beaten down and dwindling party, so Booyow agreed to return after seeking help for our stoned companion. The unlikely allies did in fact stay true to their word. The three rats transformed into men and after the statue was outside, Leorio asked about a cart. The "men" said they could find one and departed. Shortly thereafter they returned and sure enough had a cart. Not really wanting to know the answer, we didn't ask where it came from. We carefully loaded Abe on the cart and thanked them again. We promised to return and left.

Not far from the keep we discovered how the cart was acquired. An older lady and younger boy both lied knocked out on the ground and vegetables were strewn everywhere. We revived them both and explained our predicament. After much rejection from the elderly woman, they came with us to Trefall. The cart made it much easier, but started failing outside of the Jenkins farm. Derris helped us on into town with a horse and wagon, where we went to the church. Leopold told us that his power wasn't great enough to restore Abe, that we'd have to return to Waterdeep. We safely placed Abe where he had always been most comfortable, in the house that he and so many others gathered to worship. Here he would rest until we could make our journey homeward.