Trollopulous Adjusted Session 109 (Machodor #62): Terraces, Ruins, and Scales: Lair of the Gynosphynx

"Speak your question and leave your offering."

 

Timekeeping

This session took place on 10/04/2025, and the PCs adventured for 1 day.

Player Characters Present

Slippery Pete (Level 9 Thief, wearer of the Hat of Disguise and wielder of the Black Dagger)

Sever the Wrathful (Level 8 Pegasus Corps Ranger of Machodor, wielder of Were'shbane and wearer of the Girdle of Cloud Giant Strength, rider of Mustang) with henchmen Thomas (C4) & Poindexter (M2)

Giuseppe (Level 7 Paladin of Rome, Brovenloft, wielder of the Dragonslayer and the Shield of Protection from Missiles, rider of Bonecrusher) with henchmen Bishoy and Tawadros (F5)

Gurt the Green (Level 6 Paladin of Machodor, wielder of the Liberator+3, bearer of the Fabled Ice Jewel of Frigia, rider of Artax) with henchman Solaire (F3) and Anri (M4)

Marty O'Tool (Level 2 Irish Cleric from Brovenloft, wielder of the Mace of St Patrick)

Downtime

During the week player characters had scattered to take advantage of the loot they had won, they dribbled back in over the last few days before this session began.

As commander of the forces at the Ice Castle, Giuseppe was first to hear reports of a something banging on the door to the under world. He gathered a party together and then investigated.

Slippery Pete had finally managed to secure a magical oil from Professor Dorol in Saint Raul, this oil enabled him to return to his previous height. He affected as though there had never been an issue.

Session Report

With Sheamus' player using an alternative character, Marty O'Tool, today; we had to do a little delving into his history. It turns out he was a member of the Machodor Order of the Rising Sun, those brave fellows who had saved the Sun some two year back; but not only this, he had adventured in the River Dungeon, and from there brought back a fabulous weapon versus evil, the Mace of Disruption that he  had dubbed the "Mace of Saint Patrick". In the intervening time he had forgotten that this wasn't just a cool name for his mace.

The tunnel beyond the door appeared pretty much the same as last time, Sever was able to identify the tracks of a large creature, or creatures, moving away; and there were also some small marks on the door. Though they were not deep marks, at more than seven feet height above the floor, they were disturbing. The party formed up and advanced down the tunnel. They made it back to the Ice Cavern and retracted their steps down the terrace there, then discovered that this terrace spilled out onto another heading down and switching back to the east. So there was more than one of these terraces; how many were there, where did they lead? 

Last session I realised that my outdoor scale map should be in yards not feet, but as I had already drawn up the terrace(s) as five squares or fifty feet wide, I figured I could just say the map was yards left to right and feet up and down. Would this confuse me later? Yes, yes it would.

A little later they stopped at a strange ice-over pool. It looks as though there was a depression here that had filled with liquid that had then frozen, and was now a series of icy shards similar to a broken mirror. It gave off a bad aura, to say the least. Slippery Pete, shortly followed by Marty O'Tool, bravely examined the obstacle, though at only 10 feet in diameter it was easily avoided. Both staggered back stunned; but after a few rounds recovered to report visions they had seen.

Marty saw: a vast white plane surrounded by a sea of mist. The vision was terminated by a horrible pale face with two red eyes looking at him.

Pete saw: a tall mountain with multiple connecting terraces leading down onto a vast white plane. The vision was terminated by a horrible gaunt face with two red eyes looking at him.

After some experimentation they decided to leave the pool and continue exploring. They soon found a cave entrance to the north, leading into a series of natural tunnels partially carved out in some areas. 

A well travelled path lead inside.

Heading west into a narrow spiralling corridor, they were greeted by a disembodied voice travelling out of a pit before them: "Who seeks the wisdom of the Sphynx? Speak your question & leave your offering." 

Slippery Pete offered a small gem and asked how he could gain Wisdom. The answer was: "Wisdom comes with time and experience."

Gurt offered a valuable ring asked asked for knowledge of a sage, expert in horse carriages. The answer was: "Seek the man known as Talmarand many miles to the south and west, in the city of Tyre."

Marty offered a bottle of space-cat blood (obtained from that same Traveller adventured way back), he had a good question but the bottle broke, spilling the blood over the floor; the sphynx returned no answer.

They considered all this when there was a scream behind them from Anri:

Combat #1: Dark Creeper

Rounds: 1

Result: Party (Pyrrhic) Victory

Highlights: From somewhere a small creature had appeared, snuck up on the party silently, and tried to pick pocket Anri's magic dagger. This attempt failed, causing general alarm; but, though it was easily dispatched by Sever, as soon as it was dead its body exploded into a searing bright light, leaving two henchmen blinded for over an hour. Happily though, the explosion left behind two gems in its wake.

It was about this point I realised that I had made no effort to describe the voice of the Sphynx (and certainly my range of voices doesn't stretch very far), so I mention that that it had been a sultry feminine voice. The players quickly re-evaluated the situation "Ah, a Gynosphynx!"; but in the end decided that she had treated with them in good faith and to leave her alone.

They returned to the central area of the caves and advanced north and then east, finally sending Slippery Pete forward to scope out a room at the end of a winding cave tunnel. As his Continual Light fell on some detritus at the far end of the room, a number of unhappy looking little furry heads popped up to see what who was disturbing them. Saved from surprise by his dexterity, the thief quickly backed up into the Ranger behind him.

Combat Encounter #2: Vapor Rats

Rounds:  1 

Result: Party Negotiated

Highlights: Not for the first time in the campaign; but rare enough to be noticed, Sever chose other than instant violence in response to potential danger. He cast Speak with Animals and threatened the creatures not to attack. To everyone's astonishment, they creatures responded by turning into vapor then rushing out past the party and going who knew where. 

A search of the rat lair turned up a badly decomposed and mostly eaten body (probably human), along with four electrum pieces and two pieces of jewelry (score!). They gathered these up and after checking the rest of the local cave system, when back outside. The glare, and freezing mist, was still there waiting for them.

They continued on and eventually rounded back onto another terrace, part way down this one they found another entrance into the mountainside. This one was some sort of ruin, before the entrance of which were the remains of two rows of columns, and among them they found the foundations of an old altar. The foundation stone hid a stairwell going down. Slippery Pete led the way and found an l-shaped room beyond a door beyond the landing at the bottom of the stair. He signalled the rest of the party to file in and start taking in the ambience of the place; an archway to the north east, a door in the western most part of the north wall, and a bunch of owlbears piling in from a natural tunnel just out around the corner of the l-shaped room, to the west.

Combat #3: 5 Owlbears

Rounds: 3

Result: Party Win 

Highlights: The creatures came up at the party and go into their faces, but in the end were pretty easily dealt with thanks to the front lines holding them away from the squishier low levels. Giuseppe took the brunt of the damage, while Anri wavered on casting Stinking Cloud, eventually casting Magic Missile. This was for the best, as she could have hit the fighters at the front with Stinking Cloud. (This isn't an old Gold Box game, after all.)

Sever was able to track the owlbears, noting the difference between Indoor & Outdoor tracking he was able to determine they had gone down a level and then outside onto a lower level terrace, that looked much like the ones they had already travelled. Here the trail went cold. They backed up and skinned the Owlbears, and bagged a lot of body parts for various reasons, then proceeded back down to search the lower level again. They gave the first room a good search and found, tucked into a little dead end tunnel, two sacks containing some gold shaped items (yes, that's what I said) and a trap that Slippery Pete was able to foil while Sever watched carefully over his shoulder. After this the retraced their step, secured the door in the Ice Castle, and made downtime plans.

Session Statistics: 

Wilderness travel: 1/2 Mile

Combats: 2

Combat rounds: 4

Treasure & Items

2,000gp worth of "snow flake and gem" gold figures

4 ep

2 Gems:50gp Tiger Eye,500gp Peridot

2 items of jewellery:3000gp silver head piece with gems, 1000gp silver armlet with gems

total value:6552gp 

Monsters

1 Dark Creeper 119 XP
5 Owlbears 2305 XP

8976 XP & 6552 GP Assignment

Slippery Pete (E) 1122 XP & 819 GP

Sever (E) 1122 XP & 819 GP

 and Poindexter (E) 561 XP &409  GP

 and Thomas (E) 561 XP &409  GP

Giuseppe (E) 1122 XP & 819 GP

  and Bishoy & Tawadros (E)  561 XP &409  GP

Marty O'Tool (E) 1122 XP & 819 GP

Gurt the Green (E) 1122 XP & 819 GP

  and Solaire (E)   561 XP &409  GP

  and Anri (E)   561 XP &409  GP

Graveyard

Paul (Henchman Paladin level 1), reduced to 0 hit points by white dragon breath when climbing down a rope ladder in session #108. Killed not by the fall; but by the sudden stop at the bottom. RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Ignatius the Smiter (Cleric level 1), horrifically mutilated and killed by double hit from a Shoggoth in session #106

Domby (Henchman with Dex 5), double surprised and turned into a pin cushion in session #87

Luke (Half elf Fighter/Cleric level 1), tragically killed by a normal hydra while trying to cauterise one of its neck stumps in session  #86

Gurt the Green (Paladin level 3),  killed by a hydra bite in session  #86 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Pleasance (Footman level 0), killed by a phase spider bite in session #81

Siegward (Henchman Fighter level 1), killed by a phase spider bite in session #81

Tawadros (Henchman Fighter level 4),  killed by a phase spider bite in session #81 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Patria (Footman level 0), killed by a two headed snake bite in session #81

Deltacron (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 1/1), threw his last flask of oil at, and was level drained to death by, a Vampire in session #76

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1), wrong place, wrong time; killed by Sever the Ranger in session #72 RAISED FROM THE DEAD

Petrov the Prestidigitator (Magic-user level 1), killed again by the toxic gas of an Achaierai in session #72

Red (Paladin Level 1), always popular with the ladies, he was eaten up by a female Roc in the Pizza Slice of Doom during session #67

Jacques Ocular (Magic User level 1), a fat green worm burrowed into his head and turned him into a Son Of Kyuss in Brovenloft in Session #43

Pino (Dwarf Footman level 0), Killed by a Frost Giant axe in the head in session #39

Paro (Dwarf Fighter/Thief level 2/2)  Killed by Winter Wolves and frozen in session #39

Zabib (1/2 Elf Fighter/Magic User level 1/1), Killed by Frost Giant rocks in downtime prior to session #39