Seeing nothing alarming in this room, the party quietly headed up the stairs until they reached a door at the top. Listening at the door, the sounds of gnolls talking were heard. Everyone crept back down the stairs. A quick survey of the room and Atalaya with help from some of the others upturned the table to provide a barrier to shelter them as they attacked the gnolls they hoped to entice to come down the stairway. They used the pillars to help keep the table in place.
Mac and Ivar positioned themselves behind the pillars and the rest of the group moved behind the table. Once everyone was ready, Tifinin created the illusion of the smells of gnoll foods roasting in the fireplace.
After a few moments the sound of the upper door opening could be heard. Two gnolls began creeping down the stairs, sniffing as they went. Tif added the sounds of pots and spoons banging as if they were preparing more food. Another gnoll starts to creep down the stairs.
Macterah steps out from behind the pillar and sends a lightning bolt up the stairs trying to hit the gnolls. The middle gnoll goes up in flames, turning into a stinking burning mass. The other two jump off the stairs and try to swat out the flames engulfing them.
Ivar targets and shoots at one of the two remaining gnolls as Mac sends off a round of magic missiles at the other. It goes up in flames. She then sends her remaining missiles at the remaining gnoll. It also goes up in flames.
The rest of us hear activity coming from the top of the stairs. There is a lot of commotion and guttural voices. Atalaya watches as a gnoll peeks out of the door and starts to head down the stairs. Seeing the dead gnolls he high tails it back up the stairs and through the door uttering urgent cries in his hideous gnollish language.
Tif makes an illusion of one of the dead gnolls sitting on the edge of the table chomping on a bone.
There is a huge clap of thunder that pulses through the room. Atalaya, Sorrow, Vaz, Ivar and Cirilli stagger as the sound physically explodes across their bodies. Atalaya, Sorrow and Cirilli were so affected by the noise that they needed several moments to shake off the effect of the sound before they could re-engage in the fight continuing around them.
Following the thunderclap, the doors on the west side of the room open and Atalaya sees about 4 gnolls entering the great hall. The first of the gnolls sees Joan and tries to shoot her with his bow and arrow, but misses.
Ivar shoots back at that gnoll and hits him so hard that he goes flying back and is pinned to the wall with Ivar’s arrow.
Tifinin shoots at a different gnoll using one of his Thunder crossbow bolts, but misses his target.
Mac raises her Wand of Missiles and fires at each of the three remaining gnolls and then ducks behind the table.
Atalaya, picking one of the gnolls threatening them, shoots two of her magicked arrows at him, hitting each time. This gnoll also goes flying back and is pinned to the wall. The sound of his head hitting against the wall is heard above the other sounds of mayhem in the room. Atalaya watches as his dangling feet briefly kick out, trying to dislodge him as he dies and then hangs limply against the wall.
Sorrow points his finger at one of the remaining two gnolls and in a low intense voice says, “Freeze!”. The gnoll immediately freezes, remaining as still as a statue.
Cirilli takes a shot at the last remaining gnoll, but still slightly affected by the loud thunderclap, misses her shot.
Joan, using her longbow, shot two arrows at the gnoll Cirilli had aimed at and “takes him down”. The last gnoll, the one that had been frozen in place by Sorrow, is killed by an arrow shot into him by Vasilya.
After picking up their arrows, Atalaya, Joan and Sorrow head up the stairs. Easing the door open, they see a sitting room. On the walls of this room are many hooks and rotting wooden frames of various sizes and shapes. A round table sits in the middle of the chamber, and a rusty suit of decorative plate armor stands on the east wall near the massive fireplace to the north. To the west is a set of double doors and two doors are closed on the southern wall. Opposite the fireplace on the southern wall is a staircase leading down. Just north of the staircase is another closed door. This room looks “semi-civilized.”
As the trio creeps along the hallway out of the room (heading north) Vasilya joins them. Vaz then calls out “Behind us!!” Within a second of his warning there is another loud sonic thunderclap of sound from behind the party. As Atalaya recovers and turns to look behind her down the hallway, she sees a man with a bald head (Thegger Grynn) holding up his hand which is glowing.
Vasilya turns and shoots an arrow into the magic user as Sorrow, shaking off the stunning from the sound calls out again in his low intense voice “Freeze!”
The bald headed man freezing. Atalaya walks up towards him as Vasilya pointing at his tattoo says, “He’s a Thayian.
Atalaya then paralizes him using her wand of paralysis. Vasilya ties him up as Atalaya gags and blindfolds him. Opening one of the doors on the south wall of the sitting room near the southwest corner of the room, they find a linen closet. Atalaya and Vasilya toss the Red Wizard into it and close it back up.
The double doors on the west end of the sitting room now stand open and appear to be where the Thayian came out of. Atalaya begins to search his room, finding it to be his bedroom.
While Atalaya is searching the bedroom Vasilya searches the Thayian. He jumps as a skeletal hand comes towards him and then grabs him. Vasilya begins to shiver as the hand grasps him. Atalaya, hearing the commotion outside the bedroom, rushes over towards Vasilya, her sword out in her hand to try to stab the skeletal hand or otherwise detach it from Vasilya. But as she readies the sword to try to knock it off him, Tif, who heard the sounds of fighting, has rushed up the stairs. He casts a dispel magic spell and the hand disappears in a mist.
Vasilya moves away from the door. Macterah uses a spell and turns her Magic Missile wand into an elemental weapon and shoots the wizard as he lies tied up in the closet. She then shoots him with a crossbow bolt just to be sure that he is really dead.
While this is happening three more gnolls come upon the group from the hallway they had started to follow towards the north.
The first gnoll shoots at Joan and misses her. The second takes a shot at Sorrow and also misses him. The third, moving a bit more deliberately, takes a moment to actually aim and hits Joan, causing some (9 points worth) damage.
Joan turns and fires, missing with her first arrow as the gnoll’s arrow grazes along her thigh. She immediately fires off another arrow with her longbow and this one hits one of the gnolls, who growls and readies another shot.
Vasilya attempts to shoot at the gnolls but fumbles and is more vulnerable to the next attack against him.
Sorrow attempts to cast “Hideous Laughter” on one of the gnolls, but it doesn’t seem to phase the gnoll.
Macterah quickly moves over to Joan and touches her quiver and turns 12 of her arrows into flaming arrows.
Ivar, pulling out his bow, shoots at the gnolls and misses.
Grinda is hiding behind Tifinin in the corner of the room.
Cirilli moves over to the closet, kicks the door closed and holds her shot until she can get a clear shot at the gnolls.
One of the gnolls tried to shoot Sorrow but instead fell down as he pulled back on the bowstring. He lands face down on the floor, but has managed to maintain his grasp on his bow.
Another of the gnolls shoots at Joan, but misses her.
Atalaya fires her two thunder arrows at the gnoll who shot at Joan. He falls down and is pushed back 5 feet.
A different gnoll shoots at Atalaya and hits her causing minimal damage, just grazing her.
At this time the southern door (not the closet door) opens and three more gnolls are seen entering the room.
Joan, hearing the door open, pushes past Ivar and shoots with her longbow at one of the new gnolls. Her second arrow hits causing both piercing damage and fire damage. She then lets fly a third arrow at one of the gnolls standing next to her initial target, hitting it and causing both piercing and flame damage again.
Vasilya moves into the room and shoots at the first gnoll that Joan had targeted, but misses him.
Sorrow targets one of the gnolls and casts Hideous Laughter. This gnoll starts laughing uncontrollably.
Macterah casts shots from her magic missile wand at the gnoll that had attacked Joan, and at another of the gnolls. One of the gnolls falls down.
Ivar, who had hidden in the bedroom, runs out, takes a shot at a gnoll, killing it, and then jumps back into the bedroom.
Grinda, using his shortbow, shoots one of the gnolls, hitting and doing some damage. Cirilli then shoots at the same gnoll, but misses it. However, the gnoll, looking at the armed party facing him, backs out through the door in the south wall and runs away.
Tifinin puts on his ring of flying, picks up Grinda and flies to the corner of the room where the fireplace is.
The large hyena-like gnoll takes a shot at Joan, misses her and then falls back through the southern door into the room behind it and closes the door.
The gnoll that had been laughing stops laughing.
The door that the gnolls had fled through was locked. Tif casts a “Knock” spell and opens the door. Behind the door is a trophy room. This room holds the remains of scores of hunting trophies-- furs, mounted heads, skulls and small beasts stuffed whole-- of which only a few still hang on the walls. Four wooden bookcases, their shelves broken out, have been laid on the floor and filled with grass and furs. A stairway to the south leads downward.
Before exploring further, Atalaya, Macterah, Cirilli and some of the others loot the gnoll bodies, finding an equivalent of 68 gp in coins and gems.
Ivar is actually able to complete the search of the wizard’s bedroom (Phylund Lodge Room 16) that Atalaya had attempted but been called away from. He finds:
A desk with a spell book and journal on it,
A white bowl and a copper cup,
A black ceramic bowl with a spindle shaped magic lodestone.
As Atalaya and Mac search the wizard, they find:
A dagger with a faint aura of magic
A potion of healing
An unknown potion
Set of platinum rings set with a black pearl
Keyring with keys
When Ivar tries using the keys on the locked chest it opens revealing what looks to be the wizard’s personal effects (i.e. clothing).
Deciding not to go through the Trophy Room, but rather down the hallway leading to the north they pass a couple of windows, noting nothing of import through them as they pass by.
The hallway ends at a landing where they see a partially opened door. Deciding that was probably where the gnolls came from, they choose to go through that door. (The walls of thi s landing are decorated with hundreds of wooden crests bearing the emblems of noble families. Some crests have been removed, some have fallen to the floor, and all have faded with age and weather. A large hole in the ceiling explains the weathering of this area.)
Going through the partially opened door they find 4 doors and stairs winding down. Skipping checking out the closed doors, the group heads down the stairs (and ends up in the Old Keep Hall).
As they enter the hall, Grinda becomes excited at the traps on the doors he finds, explaining how the spiked wooden planks would come swinging down and crashing into anyone who pushed their way through the doors into the room they were now in. There are 3 doors in the room and traps on each of them.
The stone walls of this room are bare and aged. Part of the rune engraved monolith on which the structure is founded is visible in the southwest corner, and a fireplace has been carved into it. The room contains disorderly piles of containers, as well as rugs, blankets, cloaks, furs, vases and other earthenware. The stairway they used to enter the room is on the northern wall. In an alcove to the southeast is a descending stairway.
After looking at the 3 trapped doors, they decide to head down the stairs to see where that will go. They find there way into a small wine cellar. Looking around they find several bottles of elvish wine and decide to keep 3 of the bottles for themselves.
In the east wall of the wine cellar is a door. Ivar checks it and doesn’t think that it is trapped. After opening it, they see a hallway that goes east for a short distance and then turns southward. Tifinin sneaks down the hallway and peeks around the corner to see what he can find there. He comes back and tells us that there are “things” down there, he’s not sure whether they are alive or undead, but he is sure that he was hearing something down there. After further listening, we decide that we are hearing creepy doggish/wolfish-like sounds. We think that there must be more of the hyenas we have seen in other places around the lodge. Deciding that we really don’t want to get into a fight with a bunch of hyenas in the closed in space of the hallway we head back upstairs into the Old Hall.
After returning to the Hall we got Grinda, Ivar and Vasilya to untrap the doors leading into that room.
Tifinin then opened the door on the eastern wall. This led into a kitchen. This old kitchen had been recently cleaned and put back into use. Near the fireplace, neatly stored in a wooden casket, are several cooking utensils. A tarnished copper pan punched with multiple holes hangs on the wall near the entrance. This kitchen appears to be in pretty good shape and like it has been used recently. Further searching reveals some edible food. There is another door in the southeastern corner of the kitchen on the eastern wall. The door appears to be locked from the kitchen side.
When Tif tries to open it, it sticks and is hard to push open. Once he is able to open it he finds that a sack of chestnuts was blocking the door. We take the bag of chestnuts and add it to our stores. Looking out the door we see hyenas patrolling the yard. We head back into the kitchen and lock the door behind us.
Checking the south and western doors reveal that they also open to the outside. There is a well outside the south door. We can also see the rock that the fireplace is carved into from the outside. We go back into the hall and lock the doors.
After a little more discussion we head down the stairs to the wine cellar and into the hallway, preparing ourselves to fight the hyenas we expect to find there.
Mac, Joan and Atalaya lead the way and encounter two wolves. Mac sends flames at wolf 2. Wolf 1 bites Mac. Ivar pushes his way forward and shoots wolf 2 killing it.
At this point a hyena-like gnoll attacks Macterah but slips on the wolf blood on the floor stumbling as he tries to swing his weapon at Mac. He recovers and takes a second swing with his halberd. This swing hits her and she takes 10 points of damage from it.
Vasilya moves forward through the hallway, but doesn’t have a viable shot.
Sorrow moves from the wine cellar to where the hallway turns south, mentally running through the spells that he might use. He realizes that he doesn’t have much casting ability left for the day. He feels that he can cast Vicious Mockery spell and does so. (But I don’t know what he cast it on.)
Joan, using her flaming arrows that Mac had bespelled earlier, shoots two arrows at the hyena-like gnoll, hurting it. She then shoots a third arrow at one of the wolves. It dies.
Atalaya shoots at the gnoll hitting it with both her shots. It bursts into flame and we see the demon Baazka leave its body. There is a smell of burning hair in the air around the gnoll.
Atalaya, Joan and Mac take some damage from the fire as the gnoll bursts into flame.
Once the fighting is over, Atalaya actually looks at the area they have been fighting in. She sees that the walls of this square room are brick lined. In the room are three empty barrels and an upturned chest. The rotting shards and rusty hoops of a few other broken barrels are scattered here and there on the floor. The stench of burning fur lingers in the air of the room. What is left of the body of the hyena-like gnoll that the demon had been using smolders on the ground
The room (Phylund Lodge, Room 22) is searched/looted and we find the following:
A small copper pot that holds a pair of worry dice. And a metal bucket. They also find 6 gp, 13 sp, and 35 cp.
Deciding that we had already passed a long day and were tired and hungry and hurting we returned to the Great Hall. Dinner was made, making use of the kitchen. After eating, and then resetting the traps on the doors leading into the hall Tifinin and Sorrow cast a Leomund’s Tiny Hut spell, making two safe huts for us to spend the night in.
GAME ENDS.
