Game Session Eleven

The game session opened on the morning of Wealsun 21, 3080 YE with the party staying at the Cliffwatch Inn in the city of Greenswabs. After splitting up their booty from previous adventures the party went on a buying spree in Greenswabs. Buying mainly upgraded armor and weapons, they had little money to buy magic weapons liked they would have wished, instead spending it on masterwork items and several mighty composite longbows. They did manage to purchase a lot of magic +1 arrows though. Cebo outfitted his new henchman Moopo in a chain shirt and masterwork weapons. After three days of outfitting they started off on foot towards the Cloudrift Tor, following the map to Glitterhame.

The first five days travel was uneventful, traveling the roadway to Cudgel. After leaving Cudgel they took the Dwarf-Road to the north. After two days travel along the Dwarf-Road they met up with a large caravan of dwarves from Goldenhorn in the pass through the mountains . Over two score dwarves mounted on war ponies were guarding 8 wagons loaded with weapons bound for Greenswabs. After a short chat with the dwarves both parties went on their way. The next day the party left the Dwarf-Road and followed a small path that lead through the rocky hills towards the village of Obaltion.

Mid-day on their journey to Obaltion the spotted several dead sheep in the hillsides along the path. Checking it out they also spotted the body of a young halfling girl. Both the girls and the sheep looked to have been battered to death by some blunt instrument. Looking about they noticed where a recent rockslide had opened up what looked to be a corridor leading into the hillside. It appeared as if a recent earthquake had caused the entire hillside to collapse, creating a large cliff and spreading debris and rubble all over. Amidst the debris were the obvious remains of masonry and marble columns. In the base of the cliff was a dark passageway guarded by the remains of two large pillars carved into the rock. Investigating the shards of broken mosaics outside the opening they noticed what looked to be stylized pictures of frogs and frog-like creatures, none of the party recognized anything about the pictures.

After burying the dead girl the party entered the dark passageway. Eldon fired off one of his sunrods as they entered. The passageway went into the hillside for about 80 feet before it ends abruptly at a large chamber. The entire chamber was filled with putrid water, with the corridor leading down into the water on one side and up out on the other. The walls were covered with cracked plaster with disturbing images of men bathing themselves under the watchful eye of some sort of grotesque Frog God. The recent earthquake appeared to have taken it's toll on the ceiling and islands of plaster sat atop the slimy water as if afraid of being devoured by the viscous substance. The air in the chamber was cold, like a cave or a deep cellar.

Checking the putrid water they found it was only about three feet deep so they all waded across, Eldon barely keeping his head above the water. The slimy water coated their armor and clothes. The large chamber on the other side contained a large sunken amphitheater that dominated the room. The stone stairs and seats were bowed from years of use. Dust covered everything. A giant fire pit in the center was apparently the focus of worship here and strange things jutted from it's ashes. The walls held more mosaics of humans worshipping a Frog-like god. On the opposite side of the room. sitting in a sunken niche in the wall, was a wooden statue shaped in the likeness of a humanoid frog, two large emerald eyes seemed to watch over the entire room.

Carefully entering the room they looked over the statue which was made of a reddish-brown wood and smelled faintly of pine, the eyes were indeed two large emeralds. They also listened at the doors, hearing nothing. Moss and Eldon checked out the fire pit which was filled with ash a couple feet deep. As Moss stirred the ashes looking through them a cloud of choking ash came up. Quickly backing away they waited for the ash to settle. Looking through the fire pit they saw bone fragments and remains of several halfling sized creatures. They also found a dagger, seemingly untouched by fire. Engraved on its blade was the word "Neferon". As Eldon held the blade and said the word "Neferon", the blade was coated in icy cold frost.

While Eldon and Moss were looking through the fire pit Rhino and Corian were making plans to pull the statue out it's niche with a grappling hook and rope. While the rest of the party separated and made ready, Rhino grappled the statue and pulled on the rope. But as soon as the grapple touched the statue it made a huge leap out into the room attacking Cebo. The party started pounding the statue with everything they had. The wooden creature seemed to b made of a wood so hard that a lot of their blows and arrows did little damage. Eventually though they did manage to kill it and Eldon pried out it's emerald eyes.

They went to the southwest door and Eldon checked it out for traps. He noticed an ancient brass plate that was covered with hieroglyphics of frogs and an inscription that no one was able to read. Eldon also spotted a hidden latch that allowed the brass plate to slide up. Carefully moving the plate Eldon revealed a small hole in the door that was stuffed with a rolled up piece of paper. Looking at the paper they saw written on it some sort of prayer or chant in common; "Tsathogga, Tsathogga, Tsathogga, we love ya". No one had ever heard of a Frog God, or anyone else called "Tsathogga".

Opening up the door they saw a short corridor that led to a 30 x 30 room. Old oak cabinets, warped with age and neglect were set against one wall. Other cabinets were entirely covered with racks of ceramic containers. The smell of rot and decay oozed from the third wall, lined with shelves of books decomposing were they sat.

Eldon entered the room first, as he started examining the cabinets a swarm of small frogs appeared around him, jumping and biting him with sharp little teeth. As he fled the room the swarm disappeared. After that they took turns entering and searching the room, as each person started searching another swarm of frogs appeared. Each person stayed in the room, taking damage, as long as they could stand it. The majority of the party ended up near death and sorely hurt before Ulfgar thought of reciting the prayer they found before going in. This stopped the swarms of frogs from appearing, and with the help of a detect magic, they quickly looted the room.

The haul of booty was impressive. Several carved items in the likeness of a frog were worth money, there was much loose coinage, including a bunch of copper coins only coated with gold. They found several magic potions and divine scrolls. Moss also noticed a secret door in the northwest wall of the room.

The party was seriously hurt from the frog swarms though, Rhino healed everyone up as much as he was able but several were still hurt bad. They decided to retreat outside and rest, once again wading through the slimy water of the outer pool.

They spent three days outside resting and healing back up. During this time everyone but Eldon came down disgusting wart-like lesions on their bodies, these scabby warts started oozing puss and were quite ugly to behold. Having no way to cure any kind of disease, if that was what it was and not just a curse of Tsathogga, they just pressed on.

Coming back inside the frog temple they went to the secret door Moss had discovered. Opening it, after checking for traps, they saw it led to a large "L" shaped hallway. The hallway was cluttered with broken masonry, rock and dust. Two large sections of the northwest wall were collapsed into darkened sinkholes. The remaining walls all have the faint image of hieroglyphics and mosaics. They all seemed to depict crazed followers of Tsathogga parading about in a flurry in the presence of their amphibian lord.

Going first to the southwestern sinkhole they could see debris that littered the natural cavern. What was once a chamber of finery was now scattered wreckage. Pieces of wooden furniture, broken plaster, and torn remains of clothing suggested that the room that once above this sinkhole must have been of great importance. A thin layer of rust can be seen on the floor near the back of the grotto. Entering the cavern they saw two passages one to the northeast and one to the northwest leading down. They went to the northwest passage first. The twisting narrow passage led to a crack that breached a wall and opened up into a room. The room was once obviously a lab, broken glass bottles and metal stands jutted forth from the piles of wreckage covering the floor. The entire left half of the room was buried in solid rock. At the north end they could see two shiny, greasy puddles.

Entering the room the players spotted a small man-like creature that was well hidden in the ruined lab. The small creature attacked and was quickly destroyed. They checked out the lab and found nothing of value. The only odd thing was the two shiny, greasy puddles. As they approached them the puddles moved away from the players, finally moving into the rubble and out of sight.

Moving back to the passageway to the north, they were blocked by a patch of russet-colored mold that blocked off the passage. The party back-tracked to the "L" shaped corridor and the other opening.

This sinkhole lead to an even larger natural cavern, again filled with rubbish consisting of old brick, natural stone, broken chairs and fractured tables. There was water falling in droplets from broken stalactites, producing an eerie dripping noise. There were three crevasses that lead out of this grotto. The passage to the southwest lead downward to a stagnant pool of water. The surface of the pool was calm and it's depths unknown. Across the pool was another entrance that they assumed connected up to the passage blocked by the mold. Listening at the passage to the north the party could hear faint thuds and rashes, which decided them going in that direction.

The passage lead to a large grotto covered with debris, the ground sloped down and several lost their footing and slid down to the floor with minimal damage. At the north end of the grotto was a narrow crevasse that sloped sharply downward forcing the party to travel single file. The party could clearly hear thuds and crashes of rock coming from beyond the opening. Cebo was the first down and in doing so lost his footing and slid into another large natural cave. The inside of the cave was dripping with stalactites and covered with a green-orange fungus. There were small pools of dampness in the floor. Broken furniture, rubble, and plaster lie in clumps near one of the cave walls.

As Cebo recovered his footing, and the rest of the party came down the slide, a large 9' long carrion crawler attacked. After a short battle in which none of the party was paralyzed by the creature, they managed to kill it. As they quickly finished off the carrion crawler they heard a deep voice calling out to them from the northeast part of the cave.

In the northeast was a narrow opening that had the feel of leading to a much larger chamber. From tis opening came a deep voice in common calling out for the "tiny morsels" to come out and play with promises that there would be no harm to his "delicious friends", in the dim light they could just make out the 10' tall figure of a hill giant. Figuring that there must be booty beyond this, and the fact that it was "only one hill giant" the party prepared to attack. Cebo and Rhino rushed out into the cave beyond in order to attack with melee weapons while the rest stayed at the opening and used spells and missile weapons, getting a chance to try out their new longbows.

Needless to say the combat went badly, with the giant hitting twice a round with devastating damage. The giant concentrated his initial attacks on Cebo, who was doing good damage with his greataxe, leaving Rhino alone in the beginning. After just a few rounds though Cebo was near death and knew he would not be able to take another blow from the giant's club, so he retreated leaving Rhino alone. All the while the giant was getting pounded by arrows and magic missiles from the rest of the party. Rhino gave it his all but with one swing of the giant's club he was bashed unconscious and near death. Luckily for him the rest of the party, with some lucky rolls, managed to finish off the hill giant the next round. Quickly retreating back into the cave the party healed Rhino almost to full strength and poor Cebo as much as possible.

The game ended on the 6th day of the Festival of Richfest, 3080 YE with the party still in the small cave just after the fight with the hill giant. Everyone in the party, with the exception of Eldon, has come down with some kind of disease and are covered with scabby warts that are itching and oozing pus. Most everyone is down some hit points, with Cebo down the most.
Link to Next Session:

Character Name	Starting Experience	Session Experience	Total Experience	Notes Next Level
Cebo	12,157	1,185	13,342	15,000
Moss	5,082	295	5,377	6,000
Corian	3,432	1,185	4,617	6,000
Flairian	7,027	1,185	8,212	10,000
Rhino	3,474	1,185	4,659	6,000
Ulfgar	8,743	1,185	9,928	10,000
Eldon	6,952	1,185	8,137	10,000
Moopo	0	295	295	1,000

The Party at the Start	The Party at the End
Cebo - Human (Ftr5)	Cebo - Human (Ftr5)
Moss - Half-Elf (Rng3)	Moss - Half-Elf (Rng3)
Corian - Human (Sor3)	Corian - Human (Sor3)
Flairian - Half-Elf (Brd4)	Flairian - Half-Elf (Brd4)
Rhino - Human (Clr1/Ftr2)	Rhino - Human (Clr1/Ftr2)
Ulfgar - Human (Mnk1/Wiz3)	Ulfgar - Human (Mnk1/Wiz3)
Eldon - Halfling (Rog4)	Eldon - Halfling (Rog4)
Moopo - Kobold	Moopo - Kobold (Ftr1)