Sign In
Register
Help
Subscribe to Kern's Log
Leave Comment
We're taking another break right now so I'll write down a bit more. The more things that I'm seeing, the more I'm realizing my life is more and more likely to come to a bad end... it's serving as something to keep me updating this journal so what happens to me isn't just lost.
We've managed to cover most of the main floor of this building. After the shadow-thing was driven off we decided to leave the room full of dead. The cleric, Frost, was busy blessing all the dead bodies... not sure if it's because of her religion or maybe to keep them from walking around like the things that attacked us outside.
Most of the rooms down here have been ransacked... not surprising since these places have had a hundred years to be looted, searched and picked over. Mordreth said that these were classrooms of some sort; there must have been quite a few people here at the same time to learn. We did find one interesting bit of treasure. One room seemed to be a lot more sturdily build - everything was made out of stone... tables, benches, cabinets and all. We found a skeleton under an overturned stone cabinet... a normal, not-moving one. Best guess is he was trying to open or move the cabinet and ended up pulling it down onto himself. At any rate, all his belongings were gone... taken by others or just rotted over time... all except for his weapon, a silver bladed short sword. While everything else was worthless, this still looked as good as new. No one else wanted it so I asked for it and got it. It seems that it might be nice to know how to use something smaller in case we end up in tight quarters and it's not a good idea to use my hand-and-a-half. I'll have to make some time to start practicing with it soon.
The only other real event of note was the chest. In all the rooms we've seen, everything was in shambles except this one room. In the middle of the room is a pristine, untouched chest. It screams out to me 'Trap!' and is something to be avoided or at least looked into very closely before it's bothered. Mordreth decided to walk right up to it and out of nowhere he was attacked... by the chest! Apparently it was some sort of shape changing thing or maybe a magical trap. All I know is that it was pulling the foolish wizard towards it and weapons seemed to stick to it when they hit. Surprisingly, Cham seemed to be able to stop it by using some sort of spell, though Sierian and I had both hit it soundly, too. Frost cast some healing magic on Mordreth to get him up and about and we moved along.
The last room on the first level seemed like a lot of the others, a ruined classroom of some sort. There was a fairly intact desk, though... Nagmar went to check it out. Even though the desk looked like wood it was apparently made out of stone. It also contained a nasty surprise in the form of some sort of grey slime or ooze. The nasty stuff got onto Nagmar... it ate a whole in his shirt and did something to his axe, too. Mordryth and Cham used some of their spells to weaken it then Nagmar smashed it with one of the drawers that were in the desk and it apparently started to dissolve. The barbarian stalked off after the thing was disposed of, but Opal and Mordryth searched the desk and found a few things.
From here we went upstairs. The only difficulty we had a first were a small group of skeletons. Opal set one of them aflame. I managed to dive through the front two and attacked one of the further back pair - they had bows so it was reasonably safe. I shattered the thing with one hit. Frost did the same sort of thing she had done to the shadow creature but obviously did it better... the remaining three skeletons shattered into pieces. I picked up one of the bows and a quiver full of arrows. I haven't practiced with a bow in a while but I do know how to use one; it's lighter than using the javelins, has better range and I can carry more shots a whole lot more easily.
We found a few more rooms up here that were much like the ones downstairs... basically everything of worth that had been left was long ruined. There was even some library that Mordryth said was infested with bookworms. I guess since he needs to learn his spells from books he'd know about things like that and not want to deal with them.
Another oddity which I guess we'll have to deal with another time was this strange door with a gnome behind it. Outside of this door is a pile of bodies... some skeletons, some zombie-like ones and some that look like they were probably alive before being heaped here. Nagmar tries the door and gets it open... he sees a gnome in there before getting thrown out of the room. He tried again and ran into the room but the door shut for a moment before whatever was in there threw him out again. Whatever the thing in the room is, it's awfully tough and strong. I'd just as soon leave it be; apparently everyone else agrees. We're getting tired and I guess all the magic wielders are starting to get close to their limits for the day.
Mordryth decides now, for some reason, it's time to get his crossbow. A few moments later some of the group hears him yell. The group goes scattering off in a few directions trying to find him. I follow Nagmar and we end up back in the first room we found... the room with the shadow. Apparently it was holding a grudge and decided to take it out on the mage. I wasn't sure what to do at first - Frost mentioned after the first time that you needed enchanted weapons or spells to hurt them... Grandfather's blade is very special but not magical - I thought of the strange silver bladed shortsword I'd picked up. I remembered the fact that it was in perfect shape with everything else around it was rotten... just like the chain shirt I'm wearing now and have found out is magical. I drew the blade, moved in and struck at the shadow... either Frost was wrong or there's something special about that little blade, as the shadow dissapated after I struck it.
A little further along we find an empty room... a completely empty room. We almost simply leave it but it just doesn't sit right. Mordryth placed the fact that there wasn't even any dust in the room. He stepped into the room and seemed to bump into something. He did a few more experiments (setting a crossbow down and having it disappear; apparently sitting down and floating in mid-air) and seemed to determine that everything in the room was invisible. While some of the others started exploring a bit I remembered something. I took out the odd lenses that Mordryth had found in the owlbear's lair and given to me and what he had said about them. Setting them into place I could suddenly see the whole room! There were books on all the shelves, lots of tables and a desk at the front of the room.
I spent a while exploring the desk; there were a total of 7 drawers in it - 3 on each side and one in the middle. One set contained writing materials, a teacher's copy of one of the books and some odds and ends. I've seen Mordryth cast some spells that have used some odd things like that, so I guess that's what they are. The other side contained some class notes and a little pouch with some gems and money! I wasn't able to open the center drawer and broke one of my picks in the process. I was warned that that could happen but this was the first time. The others were moving on at that point so in my frustration I grabbed the little pouch without really looking at it. There was a sudden bright flash of light; I guess it was some sort of magical protection... probably to alert the class's teacher if a student was trying to take things from the desk, I guess. I closed my eyes in time and other than seeing spots for a few moments, I seem to be fine. A lesson I managed to learn without much payment... I'm guessing that is probably the last time I'll get that lucky.
We made our way to a heavy door that seemed to be barred from the other side. Nagmar made short work of it and we went inside. Yet another lecture hall, though this one was relatively intact. There was also lots of dust, but Sieriean noticed some tracks. Most of them went in the direction we were going and over to some strange looking arch; a few skinny, scarce ones went back out the door. A guess is that those were the skeletons we ran across and that I took my bow off of. There's other doors here but everyone's interested in the arch; Mordryth says it's a magical gate of some sort that only lets certain people in. He gets Cham to prove it by walking into it and getting shocked by it. What no one else notices is that there's someone standing on the other side of the gate! I only saw him when I put the lenses on . I made some pretense of thinking we should stop and go rest in the courtyard - we'd already discussed setting up in the 'Invisible Room' so the others caught on luckily. Nagmar set up a few traps... one in the hallway to give us some warning, and something in the courtyard in case anyone looked for us there. Then we settled down in the odd room to get some rest.
We've managed to cover most of the main floor of this building. After the shadow-thing was driven off we decided to leave the room full of dead. The cleric, Frost, was busy blessing all the dead bodies... not sure if it's because of her religion or maybe to keep them from walking around like the things that attacked us outside.
Most of the rooms down here have been ransacked... not surprising since these places have had a hundred years to be looted, searched and picked over. Mordreth said that these were classrooms of some sort; there must have been quite a few people here at the same time to learn. We did find one interesting bit of treasure. One room seemed to be a lot more sturdily build - everything was made out of stone... tables, benches, cabinets and all. We found a skeleton under an overturned stone cabinet... a normal, not-moving one. Best guess is he was trying to open or move the cabinet and ended up pulling it down onto himself. At any rate, all his belongings were gone... taken by others or just rotted over time... all except for his weapon, a silver bladed short sword. While everything else was worthless, this still looked as good as new. No one else wanted it so I asked for it and got it. It seems that it might be nice to know how to use something smaller in case we end up in tight quarters and it's not a good idea to use my hand-and-a-half. I'll have to make some time to start practicing with it soon.
The only other real event of note was the chest. In all the rooms we've seen, everything was in shambles except this one room. In the middle of the room is a pristine, untouched chest. It screams out to me 'Trap!' and is something to be avoided or at least looked into very closely before it's bothered. Mordreth decided to walk right up to it and out of nowhere he was attacked... by the chest! Apparently it was some sort of shape changing thing or maybe a magical trap. All I know is that it was pulling the foolish wizard towards it and weapons seemed to stick to it when they hit. Surprisingly, Cham seemed to be able to stop it by using some sort of spell, though Sierian and I had both hit it soundly, too. Frost cast some healing magic on Mordreth to get him up and about and we moved along.
The last room on the first level seemed like a lot of the others, a ruined classroom of some sort. There was a fairly intact desk, though... Nagmar went to check it out. Even though the desk looked like wood it was apparently made out of stone. It also contained a nasty surprise in the form of some sort of grey slime or ooze. The nasty stuff got onto Nagmar... it ate a whole in his shirt and did something to his axe, too. Mordryth and Cham used some of their spells to weaken it then Nagmar smashed it with one of the drawers that were in the desk and it apparently started to dissolve. The barbarian stalked off after the thing was disposed of, but Opal and Mordryth searched the desk and found a few things.
From here we went upstairs. The only difficulty we had a first were a small group of skeletons. Opal set one of them aflame. I managed to dive through the front two and attacked one of the further back pair - they had bows so it was reasonably safe. I shattered the thing with one hit. Frost did the same sort of thing she had done to the shadow creature but obviously did it better... the remaining three skeletons shattered into pieces. I picked up one of the bows and a quiver full of arrows. I haven't practiced with a bow in a while but I do know how to use one; it's lighter than using the javelins, has better range and I can carry more shots a whole lot more easily.
We found a few more rooms up here that were much like the ones downstairs... basically everything of worth that had been left was long ruined. There was even some library that Mordryth said was infested with bookworms. I guess since he needs to learn his spells from books he'd know about things like that and not want to deal with them.
Another oddity which I guess we'll have to deal with another time was this strange door with a gnome behind it. Outside of this door is a pile of bodies... some skeletons, some zombie-like ones and some that look like they were probably alive before being heaped here. Nagmar tries the door and gets it open... he sees a gnome in there before getting thrown out of the room. He tried again and ran into the room but the door shut for a moment before whatever was in there threw him out again. Whatever the thing in the room is, it's awfully tough and strong. I'd just as soon leave it be; apparently everyone else agrees. We're getting tired and I guess all the magic wielders are starting to get close to their limits for the day.
Mordryth decides now, for some reason, it's time to get his crossbow. A few moments later some of the group hears him yell. The group goes scattering off in a few directions trying to find him. I follow Nagmar and we end up back in the first room we found... the room with the shadow. Apparently it was holding a grudge and decided to take it out on the mage. I wasn't sure what to do at first - Frost mentioned after the first time that you needed enchanted weapons or spells to hurt them... Grandfather's blade is very special but not magical - I thought of the strange silver bladed shortsword I'd picked up. I remembered the fact that it was in perfect shape with everything else around it was rotten... just like the chain shirt I'm wearing now and have found out is magical. I drew the blade, moved in and struck at the shadow... either Frost was wrong or there's something special about that little blade, as the shadow dissapated after I struck it.
A little further along we find an empty room... a completely empty room. We almost simply leave it but it just doesn't sit right. Mordryth placed the fact that there wasn't even any dust in the room. He stepped into the room and seemed to bump into something. He did a few more experiments (setting a crossbow down and having it disappear; apparently sitting down and floating in mid-air) and seemed to determine that everything in the room was invisible. While some of the others started exploring a bit I remembered something. I took out the odd lenses that Mordryth had found in the owlbear's lair and given to me and what he had said about them. Setting them into place I could suddenly see the whole room! There were books on all the shelves, lots of tables and a desk at the front of the room.
I spent a while exploring the desk; there were a total of 7 drawers in it - 3 on each side and one in the middle. One set contained writing materials, a teacher's copy of one of the books and some odds and ends. I've seen Mordryth cast some spells that have used some odd things like that, so I guess that's what they are. The other side contained some class notes and a little pouch with some gems and money! I wasn't able to open the center drawer and broke one of my picks in the process. I was warned that that could happen but this was the first time. The others were moving on at that point so in my frustration I grabbed the little pouch without really looking at it. There was a sudden bright flash of light; I guess it was some sort of magical protection... probably to alert the class's teacher if a student was trying to take things from the desk, I guess. I closed my eyes in time and other than seeing spots for a few moments, I seem to be fine. A lesson I managed to learn without much payment... I'm guessing that is probably the last time I'll get that lucky.
We made our way to a heavy door that seemed to be barred from the other side. Nagmar made short work of it and we went inside. Yet another lecture hall, though this one was relatively intact. There was also lots of dust, but Sieriean noticed some tracks. Most of them went in the direction we were going and over to some strange looking arch; a few skinny, scarce ones went back out the door. A guess is that those were the skeletons we ran across and that I took my bow off of. There's other doors here but everyone's interested in the arch; Mordryth says it's a magical gate of some sort that only lets certain people in. He gets Cham to prove it by walking into it and getting shocked by it. What no one else notices is that there's someone standing on the other side of the gate! I only saw him when I put the lenses on . I made some pretense of thinking we should stop and go rest in the courtyard - we'd already discussed setting up in the 'Invisible Room' so the others caught on luckily. Nagmar set up a few traps... one in the hallway to give us some warning, and something in the courtyard in case anyone looked for us there. Then we settled down in the odd room to get some rest.
Share This Entry:
