Hall of the Howling Pillars (12/05/2010)

The group was missing Mark and Scott this week, although Scott will return next week. Mark has one more week remaining with his southeast Asia trip. The adventurers had ended the previous session having walked into a room that featured pillars made of compressed body parts that writhed, twitched, and moaned. After having stepped cautiously past several of the pillars to get a better look at the as-of-yet unseen corners of the room several hands shot out from the pillars and grabbed Renny, Bogar, and Jenneth.

All three were able to break away from the grabs, but each of the party members made an effort to give the pillars a wide berth as they investigated the remainder of the room. Regardless, the pillars struck again, this time spewing acid on unsuspecting party members. By now the party had made its way to the back corner of the room where, besides three more pillars of flesh and bone (a total of six) there was a solitary altar with a bell sitting all alone atop it. Akta crept into the room where the altar was but before he could get to close monsters jumped out of each of the six pillars.

The five pillars closest to the front of the room each had a misshapen horror that while basically humanoid, it's dark twisted body could only be that of an Evistro, a carnage demon. The demons took a second to materialize, giving the party members a chance to attack, but it was what came out of the sixth pillar that gave the party a fright.

A Barlgura also appeared, and one that was plenty perturbed at having been disturbed. In the immediate turmoil it was Oester who decided that discretion was the better part of valor so he swooped in, grabbed the bell off the altar, and began to make a run for the door. The possessor of the bell seemed to draw the interest of the demons and soon Oester found himself surrounded by bad guys. Krstic and Akta were there to help Oester, but the rest of the party had their own demon problems.

And then the pillars struck again, this time pushing several players - and several of the demons - up to three squares. The battle lines reformed and the battle continued when the pillars then threw a real twist into the mix - more than half the party and monsters were teleported to random places in the room. With new opponents often looking at them directly in the face any battle plans soon evaporated and an all-out brawl ensued.

So of course the pillars then teleported half of the adventurers and monsters yet again. The Barlgura had kept Oester in his sights as Oester had continued to work his way toward the door. With a spurt of speed the well-bloodied Oester finally reached the door, and in doing so rang the Bell of Fury's Calling that he had picked up off the altar. Waves of crimson energy engulfed Oester, Akta, a demon and the Barlgura, putting all four of them into a fit of rage (-4 to all defenses, +2 to hit and damage).

Luckily for the party Krstic and Miave were able to finish off the Barlgura, but it was at this point that Oester stopped running and turned to vent his rage at the closest opponent. Bogar and Jenneth took down demon or two, and Renny and Eldred took out another. With only a few of the demons remaining it took only two more acid attacks from the pillars for the party to kill the remaining demons and safely exit the room.

As the party looked around they saw:

5 Evistro (Carnage Demons)

1 Barlgura

For having overcome the traps and defeated the monsters therein each member of the party earned 250 XP for the encounter. The adventurers had also found the third of the four artifacts they were looking for, a bell called the Bell of Fury's Calling.

The party members earned another action point for this encounter, but the consensus was that perhaps it was time for an extended rest. A review of the map revealed there were two areas not yet explored, through a door near the cell rooms in this area and there was also an eastern hallway back at the beginning that had not yet been explored. But after a day full of battles many of the party were pretty wore down, so when we resume next week the party will be well rested (DM note: insert maniacal DM laughter here) and ready to finish the Well of Demons.

Score Card: With the completion of this encounter the party had accumulated an additional 64 GP and 0 GP in gems. With the 250 XP earned during this encounter the party had accumulated 8820 XP (10000 needed to reach Level 7). Including this encounter Renny was sitting at 5940 XP (5500 needed to reach Level 5).

DM Note: I will have a 5th Level character sheet for Renny next Sunday.