The Demon Within

Lightday the 25th of Polvius, 2044

The party carefully descend into the bottomless pit, edging down the rope and stepping onto the ledge below. The pit drops beyond vision below and it is unclear what might where anyone might go should they fall down it. There is a faint ambient sound at the edge of everyone's hearing that sounds like wind rushing, whispers, hoarse screaming, or a combination of all three - nobody can tell. A tunnel leads from the ledge into the solid rock, and it is evident to the group that what they seek lies somewhere beyond. Anxiously they enter the tunnel and move through the darkness.

The party arrive in a central annex, a wide room with exits in all four compass directions. The party turn left into the west passage. They enter a room with two preparation tables and chemical stains on the walls and floor. Two large menacing skeletons lie still on each table, and Thorhal resolves to ensure they are not animated. It turns out that they are, but only from the waist up, and after a brief interlude of bone-crunching goodness they lie still again on the table. Actually they lie all over the place, but they lie still. The next room seems to be a prison, with manacles which seem to have been slid into the walls when it was liquid rock which then hardened. Attached to a set of manacles is Weracy.

'Help! Please, set me free.' he begs the party when he first spots them. They party are suspicious of trickery but find nothing suspicious and wrench the manacles open with Thorhal's crowbar and set Weracy free. Uther takes possession of the splinter. He explains his story: how he saw the maggots in the wagon; how he figured out that there must be an ulcer in the Stanor monastery; how he stole the holy relic from the temple; how he snuck into the ulcer; how the wind wraith captured him for a day while waiting for someone; and then chained him in the prison when that someone didn't show up. The party find it strange that nobody challenged Weracy, that the wind wraith seemed to be waiting for them, and that it didn't take the splinter from Weracy. The questions remain unanswered as the party proceed.

The room west of the prison has a cold point of light hovering at its center. Thorhal breaks a leg of the preparation table the skeleton was on and throws it into the light. The wood shrinks in mid-air, falls to the floor, and shatters into several brittle pieces. The party wisely leave the little light alone.

They return to the annex room, continue straight into the eastern passageways, and arrive in a room with five skeletons. Tungdil and Thorhal form a defensive shield wall across the passage, forcing the skeletons to attack two at a time. The skeletons look similar to those previously encountered, but they seem to be harder to smash, and Uther's Turn Undead doesn't destroy them like it did to the first batch upstairs. Instead, three skeletons turn and flee into the darkness, and the party pursue eastwards along a short corridor and into a large room.

As their torchlight beats back the darkness, milky white bone figures become visible. Skeletons, and even more skeletons. The party is out numbered three-to-one. Tungdil and Thorhal step back into the corridor, raise their shields, ready their blades, and brace for impact. A skeletal wave of undead rushes towards them and crashes against their shields. Uther raises his holy symbol and another five skeletons are driven off - at least for the time being. Tungdil finds Uther's morning star much more effective at dashing in the skulls of the countless undead hordes than his dwarven waraxe. Thorhal fights defensively, stepping and weaving to avoid the flailing claws, and albeit a few lucky strikes that make it past his guard he is mostly successful. The two fighters work together, weakening and finishing each opponent that comes against them, their weapons raising and falling in unison followed inevitably by the dry crunch of shattering bone. Fingers, joints, teeth, jaws, fractured ribs and splintered skulls scatter the hallway as the final blow dislodges the spine from the last skeleton. Its arms flail and the finishing blow is brought onto its cranium, stoving in the skull. The arms lie still.

The two fighters are a little hurt but still functioning. They decide to investigate the southern room they passed while chasing the fleeing skeletons. More skeletons! They employ the tried and true tactics and the battle is brief. There's another room to the north, and it's full of... skeletons?

The east and west wings have been cleared of undead. There's nowhere to go but north. Actually, the fighters are feeling pretty downtrodden and could use some rest. The spell-casters are spent, and continuing seems to be folly. They retreat through the tunnels, ascend the rope, and go topside to rest a while. They notice the pile of wind-wraith gear and haul it with them to their resting place. Uther reexamines his spell list, realises he had a detect magic the whole time, and casts it. The whole pile glows like a torch. Weracy helps to clean it and they try it on. The dwarf tries on the full plate - it resizes to fit him! It feels like no armour he's ever worn. Milo tries on the boots. He feels light, swift and springy! Running at top speed he is now able to move as fast as any human or elf! Thorhal dons the shield and longsword. The sword is expertly balanced, the grip perfect, and the blade cuts the air like no weapon he's ever wielded. The shield is light and maneuverable, the forged steel seems to be hard as stone. They eat, rest, and prepare for their third day of battle against the ulcer and its evil.

Fireday the 26th of Polvius, 2044

They rise early the next morning and return into the depths of the ulcer's corruption, making their way down to the hell layer, and then north past the annex room into a large room beyond. The room glows red from some unknown light source, and the air shimmers with layers of heat. Standing to attention is a massive skeleton which raises its great-axe and falls into battle stance. Uther, Tungdil and Thorhal flank it and start smashing. Thorhal maintains his defensive stance and eludes its blade while his comrades reduce it to a pile of bone and marrow.

The party now face three paths and three choices. Each path is labeled as one of the three paths of Sepinus, and Weracy cautions the party that all may not be as it seems. Sure enough when party walk the parth of Guile they encounter an obstacle that only a very lucky Einstein could overcome. It seems that each path is geared against the strategy by which it is labeled. Unable to solve the puzzle the party return to the southern passage, the path of Subtlety. When five shadowy men appear, salute and step into the shadows, it is apparent that subtlety is not the way to beat them. Thorhal steps forwards into the room, and suddenly finds a blade embedded in his back. 6d6 sneak attack damage. ouch. He spins to finds that the blade is attached one of the five rogues. Thorhal completes the circle by attaching his own blade to the ribcage of the rogue. A second rogue appears. Stab! It's okay. Thorhal is fortunate enough to possess two kidneys. The rogue takes his longsword full in the face. The rest of the party charge through to protect their comrade, and the remaining three rogues step from the shadows, salute once more, and then disappear. Uther patches Thorhal up with some cure spells, and they proceed with no further hindrance into a long hall with three entrances and one black metal set of double doors at the far end. They move towards the oppressive double doors at the far end of the hall.

Each of the characters dream. Thorhall dreams he is a paladin of Angenus. Tungdil dreams he has a gigantic horde of treasure. Wanda dreams she is returning home as a hero. Uther dreams he is at a fantastic party with food, women and wine. And Milo dreams he is a sexy shoeless god of war. They each attempt to shake the vision from their eyes and reawaken standing before the black metal double-doors at the far end of the hall.

A red glow can be seen through the cracks under the door, and the sound of the screaming, rushing wind is now clearly audible beyond it. Whatever it is that they're searching, it is behind this door.

The double doors swing open and a visage fills their eyes. A huge room opens to them. A great pit lies at the centre of the room, dark clouds and energies billowing from its depths. The maw of the ulcer. Stairs rise to the left and right of the maw, and lead to more stairs and balconies which skirt the walls of the huge room. Following the stairs to the ceiling, the characters can see a great wooden platform suspended 30ft above the maw, hanging precariously from chains set in the ceiling. A girl is on the platform, weeping dramatically. It is Karry. Beyond the platform is a balcony that can only be reached using the staircases. A forest of chains hang from the ceiling, and the only way to get to the platform is to swing from the balcony. However, upon the balcony towers a huge figure, red and scaled, a set of ram's horns curling from his brow. He howls in anger and draws a massive greatsword, preparing to do battle. 'Throw in the splinter! Do it now!' cries Weracy, but the party doesn't listen. Thorhal is certain it's a trick. Instead they charge for the stairs.

The ulcer defends itself, spewing forth green balls of energy which attack the characters as they ascend the stairs, knocking them against the walls and slowing their progress. The demon casts a spell which Wanda recognises as Protection from Divine. Tungdil and Uther take the left staircase and Thorhal takes the right, moving to attack the demon from both sides. The demon swings its greatsword and hammers it into Tungdil the damagetaker, breaking two ribs. Milo hides behind a set of stairs, aims his crossbow carefully, and shoots. The bolt takes the demon in the armpit. It roars with rage and yanks the bolt free violently, spraying droplets of blood across the room. That's odd... the blood isn't black. It's red. That's really odd...

'Hold! Don't attack. See what it does!' Tungdil and Thorhal lower their blades, expecting a combination of brutal attacks, but all the demon does is roars at them. They turn their gaze slowly towards the little girl. She casts a spell, and suddenly there are seven little girls standing on the platform, her sorrowful sobs changing slowly into a deep throaty chuckle. The penny drops with the force of an anvil. Somehow the demon has created an illusion and swapped places with the girl, lending its own powers to her, and fooling the party into attacking her.

Uther summons a magical weapon which attacks the little girl, striking one of the images and destroying it. Thorhal dives off the balcony, catching and swinging from chain to chain to reach the suspended platform in the middle. The seven little girls swell and bloat, shifting into seven massive greatsword wielding demons, all of whom swing at Thorhal as he lands on the platform. Thorhal dive rolls and although several huge blades pass through him, he somehow manages to duck the real one. He lashes out twice but is unable to get through the demon's fire-hardened hide. The demon casts a spell at him and a bright mirage of colours spray from the demon's hand. Thorhal drops to the floor with a thud like one of the countless hobgoblins falling prey to Wanda's spell. Milo and Wanda fire crossbows, hitting and removing several more mirror images of the demon.

Suddenly things are looking grim. Everyone has been already hit several times by the constant barrage of green energy balls from the maw. Thorhal is unconscious and Tungdil is already injured. Uther is running low on healing. 'Throw in the splinter' shouts Weracy. In an act of desperation Uther draws the splinter from his pocket and flings it into the maw. It spins and twinkles in the dark light, glowing and gleaming as it falls. The maw shudders and rumbles below. Volumes of black smoke erupt from the maw and dark energies lick the base of the platform above. Weracy cries out in desperation. Something is terribly wrong. It is as if the maw has been strengthened! Uther gets the distinct feeling he shouldn't have done that.

But all is not lost, Uther and Tungdil swing across the open expanse and land on the platform. The demon raises his blade on high and brings it down on the little dwarf, planting him into the boards of the platform. Uther heals him back to consciousness. Tungdil spits the blood from his mouth, wipes it with the back of his hand, and looks up into the vicious glowing eyes of the two demons before him, trying to figure out which is the real one.

GM's Notes:

• Combat Status (for my own notes):
  It was 1am, and the party are in one hell of a fix (pun not intended). Without Alex's experience the party wanted to call it a day.
  Uther and Tungdil are standing with the Demon on the platform. The demon has taken 19 damage so far. There are two images of the demon running (one image, one demon).
  Thorhal is lying on the platform unconscious, and will still be stunned for one more round.
  Milo is shooting crossbow bolts from the floor below.
  Wanda is also on the ground with Weracy by the enterance(/exit).
  
  
• Obstacles Overcome:
  Human Warrior Skeletons (5 + 5 + 5 + 15 = 30 x CR1) => 9000xp
  Fortified Human Skeletons (2 x CR3) => 1800XP
  Skeleton of Fire (CR3) => 900XP
  Super Thieves (2 x CR2) => 1200XP
  
  Total XP: 14400XP / 5 = 2880XP each.
  
  Milo, Uther and Wanda: 4327XP + 2880XP = 7207XP (level up!, 30% to level 5)
  Tungdil: 4427XP + 2880XP = 7307XP (level up!, 33% to level 5)
  Thorhal: 3390 + 2880XP + 50XP = 6320XP (level up!, 8% to level 5)
  
  
• Holy crap... the entire party pretty much gained an entire level in one session. That battle with the skeletons was pretty tedious, but man... that was an XP goldmine.
  
  
• The last fight is HARD. In fact, the entire bottom level is hard. I've been doing my best to go easy on the party (believe it or not, I really have), but there's only so much that one GM can do. I am reasonably confident that if I hadn't 'modified' the Demon (his name's Búmak by the way) a little, none of you would have even made it up the stairs. Well, I guess that's what you get for going into hell to surgically close ulcers, isn't it.
  
  
• Next session we're going to conclude the fight with the Búmak. You've all leveled. Wow. Maybe now you stand a chance at beating him... maybe.