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  1. Quests

Dungeon of the Mad Mage

Journal of Iriana Despana

Day 1

I found myself in the Cat's Meow, a somewhat ramshackle tavern in Waterdeep.  I had received a letter offering a grand adventure if I found my way there.  Naturally, I decided see what fortune held for me.

Apparently, this group of adventurers, led by Michael, had breached the Dungeon of the Mad Mage.  They did not tell me any particulars, but from the shadows in their eyes, it is clear that they have lost friends delving.

 Michael seems a serious fellow, the responsible sort.  Boots seems a pure mercenary. She thinks she's entitled to 500,000 gold.  Not out of my share.  James is silent, I don't have a great read on him.

Not wasting any time, this Michael led us straight to the Yawning Portal.

 

The first day in the Dungeon was unusual.  We met a revenant, Hallith, some poor soul murdered by his own party.  He seeks revenge against them, and is guiding us for now.  We found an enclave of goblinoids to north, but they seem peaceable enough.  Not particularly helpful, though.  While exploring, there was an oddly clean area.  I should have realized it, but I missed it: we had wandered into the hunting grounds of a gelatinous cube. It ambushed us, of course.  It died fast.

We found a pair of massive mirrors in the cube's lair. It seems clear that there is some purpose to them, but we haven't figured out exactly what it may be.

In an alcove, in a bas-relief was embossed the words: "Gaze upon me with bronzed visage, and secrets I shall reveal."

 

While exploring further, we found a few remains that seem to be displayed in a fashion. One of the remains, a tiefling changed to wall, had writ above him "Speak with me."  He was not a chatterbox, but a spell of speak with dead might be revelatory.

 

Shortly thereafter, we were ambushed by some odd bugbears and their goblin lackeys.  As the bugbears fell, intellect devourers leapt out.  While no one was eaten, two of our number were rendered insensible. James and I, along with Hallith, dragged out Boots and Michael.  Fortunately, it seems Michael has a few friends in town, and one of them, Melune, took us to Blackstaff Tower. There, we found a cleric who was able to restore Michael and Boot's faculties -- such as they are.  We decided to rest for the night before going back in to the Dungeon of the Mad Mage

 

Day 2

Much recovered, we descended into the depths of Dungeon once more.  We cut west through the Forest of Pillars, and found ourselves in a hall of mirrors.  Most of the mirrors seemed conventional.  However, one of the mirrors was false, showing no reflections.  Trying to touch the mirror resulted in Michael's hand passing through unmolested. Searching blindly, Michael found a bronze mask -- a visage, if you will -- depicting the face of Halaster himself. 

With the final two mirrors, we faced an ambush: our very reflections leapt from the glass.  Mine drained my strength -- it felt as though the reflection were trying to claim my shape as  its own.

Returning to the site of our battle with the intellect devourers, we found a macabre view.  A skeleton, dangling from the ceiling from ropes, as though some grim puppeteer has set up shop.  In the corner was a riven shield, which when reassembled read Nimraith.  Perhaps a name?

We decided to return to the bas-relief of the harp playing man. There, Michael wore the mask, and said he saw something different. As he stepped close to investigate, he disappeared. Shortly thereafter, the mask clattered back through the opening of the alcove.  James donned it next, tying himself about with rope.  He ventured through, only for the rope to be immediately severed.  Again, the mask clattered back through. This time, a note was attached, asking us to travel through once more.  I did so, and passed a message back to Boots, assuring her of the safety of the transport.

We were greeted by Halaster himself. He offered us three answers about Undermountain; two truths and a lie. We asked about the nature of Undermountain. We asked about the single greatest treasure on the first level. Finally, we asked what single piece of knowledge was most valuable in successfully delving to the 23rd floor and then escaping Undermountain.

- No teleportation magic works into or out of the dungeon

- Summoning magic still works

- The terrain cannot be altered magically

- There are many gates that allow instant travel between floor levels.

 

Treasure: - It's in the upside down throne room.
Surviving- That's easy. Respect and listen to me, and know the standard dungeon etiquette.

 

We decided to rest in a Tiny Hut after getting our answers. After an hour of licking our wounds, it was time to further our delve,

Traveling north, we found a room wherein a fresco was painted on the wall. A mountain full of dwarves hollowing it out.  Underneath, a fresco of a setting sun, and beneath that, a tub carved out of the stone, containing some adventurer's likely final campsite. We also found some coinage on a table.

Pressing onward, we found an odd contraption, with no discernible purpose.  Levers caused it to whirl and swing.  Two of our members rode the contraption, with one succeeding.  We abandoned the seemingly purposeless contraption, and made our way to a throne room.

There, and armrests of the thrones animated and damn near killed Boots.  Insult to injury, the chest they guarded was empty, already looted.

We searched a few more rooms, finding another, smaller throne room.  Sitting on the throne caused a wand to drop from the ceiling.

We found a basilisk's stone garden, redolent with those who had fallen to its fell glare.  Many statues were smashed, but a single intact statue of gleaming black stone remained.

As Boots smacked the statue with the hammer, the true danger was revealed: a black pudding. A desperate battle ensued, with Boots nearly dying.

We decided to rest once again.

Day 2 - continued

Having bandaged our wounds and steadied our spirits, we commenced debating the merits of aiding Hallith. I think my compatriots might be insane -- they actually argued to help the undead beast slay its former companions!

We couldn't come to a consensus, so we decided to ignore our problems and descend to the second level. We returned to the room where we pulled Hallith out of his pit.  The previously hidden door remained open, and we ventured forward, searching for the way down.

We came into a room that had a ceiling stretching 30 feet upward.  In the room was a statue of a dwarven king, with a deformed head coming from his shoulder.  After an inspection, we found that the king's warhammer could be turned, revealing a cavity underneath the plinth containing a circlet.  Boots promptly claimed it for herself, donning it immediately. I voiced a thought that it may be magical, but I certainly didn't want to try to pry it from Boots!

While we ruminated the potential magicks of the circlet, we were attacked by some Xanathar-marked bugbears. While we were fighting them, we were ambushed by a squad of goblins.  Fortunately, their aim was less than impressive, as I was able to bat away their arrows with my shields, both magical and mundane.  Eventually, they wore through my defesnses and left me a pincushion.

A running battle ensued.  We cut down the bugbears, only for a score of goblins descend upon us.  I tried keeping them away with wind, but it didn't quite work.  Michael strode forward, our wand of missiles clenched in his fist, and shattered a quartet of goblins utterly.  Most of the goblins were shortly killed, but the last squad ran away.  We chased, only to run into four problems: two ettins.  We slew the ettins, with no small risk to ourselves, and vanquished the remaining goblins.  The room contained a forge, as well as a large amount of copper and iron, at least enough to make today's delve worth something.  This hasn't been the most productive dungeon thus far.

Fortunately, Boots was able to form us a tiny hut, we rested for the night.  I wonder what waits for us upon the morrow.

 

Day 3

We arose within our extra-dimensional hut.  The night had passed quietly.  We continued south, finding a hallway with three statues.  The furthest south, of course, ended up being a mimic. I really am starting to dislike this place.  I tried getting away, but it walloped me, which meant I got stuck to it.  Michael was kind enough to drag me away.  We beat it down, but it bloodied us somewhat.

Continuing on, we found a room with discarded mining implements.  As we looked around, we heard a rustling of wing beats.  Michael slammed shut the door. I tried to sneak a peek, but the stirges saw us and boiled out in a fury. James was quickly smothered in stirges.  Boots summoned a gigantic bird to distract the stirges, but of course it went on a rampage.  We put it down without issue, only to find there was nothing of value in the chamber.

We rested for an hour, binding our wounds in another tiny hut of Boots'. Girding ourselves, we descended to level 2.  We found a marketplace of goblins, where Boots was able to obtain some new studded leather armor with only a moderate amount of chicanery.

Michael struck up a conversation with one of the goblin merchants, getting the lay of the land. We decided to meet with the goblins' leader, Yek the Tall.  Yek the Tall was not a goblin, but a human.  The goblins view him as some kind of leader. Michael spoke with Yek...

Day 3 - continued

Yek had captured a dwarf, allegedly for trying to kill some of his minions.  The Dwarf, shaven, was chained to the wall in some grotesque display. Michael tried to convince Yek to allow us a few words with the dwarf, but Yek proved stubbornly defiant.  

Boots took advantage of our distraction to communicate with the dwarf. After some shenanigans and bribery, Boots picked the locks of the manacles chaining the dwarf to the wall. Boots picked the lock and freed the dwarf, leaving an illusory duplicate in his place.

As James attempted to smuggle the dwarf out of the room, it seems he ran into an old acquaintance: Hallith.  It seems as though the imprisoned dwarf was one of Hallith's enemies, as Hallith killed him immediately.  Shortly thereafter, Hallith was absolutely pin-cushioned by the goblin rabble.

We had a brief confrontation with Yek, who banished us from the bazaar upon pain of death.  We left, journeying south. We came upon a limestone altar that seemed as though molten gold had been poured atop and left to cool.  After a few fruitless attempts to pry free the gold, we moved on. In the next room, we found a gargantuan gelatinous cube. I killed it from afar with my magic.  Moving on, we found a Xanathar guard-post, manned by a deformed drow. The drow, Shunn Shurreth, had eight crimson eyes.  He threatened us and forbade us passage. Stupid male. He and his intellect devourer ridden minions outnumbered us, so we backed down and continued exploring elsewhere.

We next discovered another gate, similar to the one from the first floor. This one had a dead tree inscribed atop it.  We were able to activate it with our own dead wood, but we weren't able to do anything else with this one either.  Traveling on, we found a human priestess, Midna, standing before a laden banquet table. She bore religious symbols: a black disc limned in purple, and a golden coin.  We questioned her, determining that she was a member of Hallith's party, and likely marked for death.

I pushed her, asking questions. I wasn't able to get much from her. Michael told her of the threat that the revenant Hallith posed. After a brief discussion, the Sharran Priestess left, heading toward the surface. Michael pried the continual flame sconces from the wall, but decided to leave the portrait of Halaster where it stood.

After exploring further, we found a pair of rust monsters. Michael looked at the Rust Monsters oddly, and began tossing them more sconces

Day 3 - Continued Again

We searched the spider's lair and found a halfling skeleton who had squirreled himself away in an armoire.  The body had a blueish ring, claimed by James, and a chain shirt, which I placed in our collected holdings.  We continued exploring the lair, burning away the webs as we went. We were ambushed by a handful of spiders, but we dispatched them easily enough. We found what I was suspect was the other halfling's party, somewhat charred due to my own antics.

With that, we advanced along the previous fork. We ran into an undead beholder to the south. I draped our party in darkness, so as to protect us from its rays. Thugs and bugbears boiled forth, bogging us down in numbers. A bloody battle ensued, and while I was able to neutralize the eye tyrant, keeping it from usings its rays, the minions overwhelmed us, eventually killing James.

The last one fled, and we pursued...

Day - 3: Escaping the Dungeon

We pursued the remaining thug into the next room, disturbing a group of bugbear miners. That damn escaping thug fed one of those brutes a Potion of Growth. Our skirmish continued, and I slew another bugbear with my spells. Boots retreated, and the secret door slammed shut behind her.  Rather than continuing the battle, Michael ordered for us to fall back and take James' body to the surface for clerical intervention.

As we retraced out steps, we came upon the Goblin Marketplace from which we had been banished upon pain of Death. Michael wanted to parley with the degenerates, but I mistrusted the look in Yek the Tall's eyes. Instead, I mocked up disguises for myself and Michael, and we proceeded through without interruption. 

As we prepared to ascend to the first level, we were accosted by Hallith. He claimed that something drew him to Michael. Michael possessed Hallith's holy symbol, dedicated to Waukeen. When Michael returned the symbol to Hallith, Hallith finally found peace.

We escaped without further incident. Michael used some of his contacts and a diamond from our loot to arrange for the resurrection of James. Despite his return to the land of the living, James didn't seem in the best of shape. We decided to rest for a few days so he could rest. 

That night... I don't remember it that well. Michael gave us an open tab at the Cat's Meow, and I took advantage.

Day 8

Having rested, decided to return to the Dungeon