Lark's Landing, Episode 28

Colonial Caerdia: Lark's Landing is a story being told through a 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign I'm running at a local hobby shop called the Devil's Bench. If you aren't familiar with this ongoing story, you can follow this link to Once Upon a Tabletop on YouTube to hear the start of it or read the brief summary I wrote when I switched from video to blog.

You can find the previous episode here.


28-29th of Waning Summer, 0AL

As everyone stares on in horror, one Kordak attacks the other. The attacked Kordak's features change, turning into a creature of flaming molten metal. The creature roars and hisses at them, then turns and runs.

Everyone chases after - except for Akta, who follows at a more leisurely pace, because what's the point in chasing something when it's already running from them? Balasar is in the lead, coming out into the cat room and seeing no sign of the creature. Taking a guess, he runs to the closest door, where he sees the creature turn to see him, hiss, and turn into him.

Balasar is beginning to regret dashing ahead when Stor comes up behind him - blowing the magical whistle, allowing him to fly at incredible speed. Seeing the two Balasars, he decides the one further down the hall must be the fleeing creature, so he lashes out with a water whip. The creature, seeing all his enemies keeping pace, continues fleeing around the corner, but isn't fast enough. Balasar gets close enough to hit it with an arrow, then Stor zips up to it, making two quick spear-jabs - the second one going straight through the creature's throat, killing it.

Balasar, having just seen a friend viciously stab him through the throat, doubles over, vomiting. The sight of the creature melting into a bluish-grey goop does nothing to help matters.

Akta catches up to everyone, only to be put under close scrutiny. She certainly appears to be the real Akta, but the others are going to keep a close eye on her.

The group decide to get moving again, but T'Zaric hesitates. They're in the hall where the ball game was played, and he's considering going back for the jade items in the pit that everyone thought it was a bad idea to touch. He shares his thoughts with Extang, who is also interested, and they tell the others to go on ahead. The two go back to the pit, carefully retrieving the jade plaque and six jade statuettes with their mage hands and determining that they don't appear to be magical. Packing away their loot, they run off to catch up with the others.

Meanwhile, the other four make their way back to the room with the dead willow-like tree in it. Akta immediately starts skirting the room, heading for the doors on the far end, but the other three stop by the water, curious about the tree. However, as they get close, the tree quivers and comes to life. Stor quickly dashes in, trying to score some hits with his spear, then dashes out again, before the tree whips out long branches at all of them, managing to wrap around Kordak and Akta. Kordak tries to cut himself free, but in his awkward position can't land a solid blow on the tough bark. Balasar pulls out his obsidian-edged wooden sword, which is particularly effective against plants, and cuts Akta free. Together, they back away to the doorway, Akta casting spells on the tree. They are joined by Stor, dealing heavy damage to the tree with his water whip ability.

In spite of their attempts to get out of reach, the tree manages to grab them all and reel them in, bringing Kordak right up to its trunk - which opens up a gaping maw and bites him. Terrified, they fight as hard as they can, trying to take down the tree before it can eat them. That's how Extang and T'Zaric find them as they come rushing in, joining the battle. The tree is tough, but it eventually falls limp as Akta drains the last of its life with necrotic energy.

Everyone is ready to move on, but when T'Zaric and Extang suggest harvesting some of the tree for potential magic uses they're happy to spend some time collecting a few samples, but the poisoned air encourages them to move on. Through the doors and down another hall, they inspect and open another door. This one leads to a very large, rubble-filled room. There are some corpses crushed under some fallen masonry in the middle, and chewed baboon corpses throughout the room. There is also a hole near the ceiling with very faint daylight coming out of it, and four shrieking baboons on a narrow ledge nearby. One of them tries to climb up the hole, but dislodges stones and dirt and ends up on the floor, dead and buried.

The most notable thing about this room, however, is that the haze that has been in the air throughout the ruins isn't in this room. As they watch, some of it drifts in, being sucked towards and out through the hole.

The first thought is that there is clean is in this room, and they'll finally be able to take a proper rest and heal! Kordak holds them back from rushing in, pointing out the baboon corpses and the likelihood that there is something dangerous in the room. Stor spots something under the rubble, and, with his direction, Extang antagonises it into coming out with his mage hand.

From under the rubble slides a huge snake with a head at each end. The adventurers waste no time in killing it, as well as the baboons that rushed down to attack as soon as the snake was dead.

Having secured the room, they decide it's time to rest - but before they take a full, long sleep, they wait to make sure the poison is actually gone in this area. It is, and they breathe a sigh of relief, set watches, and go to sleep.

Nearing the end of the final watch, T'Zaric hears something muffled and voice-like coming from the hole, which the faint daylight has faded from. Unsure of what to make of it, he wakes up Kordak - although very carefully, and from a distance while using his mage hand. Kordak takes a listen, and is able to make out a few words, such as "lost" and "camp". He's also pretty sure he recognises one of the voices as Siha, who they were trying to find when they fell into this place. However, he doesn't think there's much they can do about it right now, so he tells T'Zaric to let everyone get their rest.

Once everyone is awake, they share the news, and Stor makes some attempts to get up the hole - quickly determining that it won't be possible. They can't hear voices anymore, but they believe this is because the group is likely sleeping. If they can only get out of this place fast enough, it should be relatively easy to track them down. After Extang does a card reading that he believes means they will make it out today, they move on - first checking the single doors off of the room and determining that they most likely lead back the way they came, before going through the double doors. After a long, winding hallway, they come to some stairs which, upon inspection, seem perfectly safe. However, as they come close to the top, a giant stone statue of a dragon rolls to the top of the stairs, breathing scalding steam on them and making the steps very slippery. Stor nimbly scrambles to the top and ties a rope around the dragon's neck, allowing all the others to get up safely just before the dragon releases another blast of steam.

They continue on along another winding passage that eventually comes to a T intersection - with double doors to their tight, and a room to their left with a big pile of gold. Everyone is immediately suspicious of the gold, but T'Zaric really really wants it, so the others watch as he creeps towards it. From a distance, he uses his mage hand to retrieve the sword that's sticking out of the pile - finding it to be only a hilt, with the blade rusted away. He throws it, knocking a skull with a spider in the eye socket off the top of the pile, then scoops up a handful of the gold with his mage hand. I cloud of yellowish spores erupt in his direction, but don't make it as far as him, and the handful of coins pulled from the pile turns into a powdery yellow substance. Disappointed, but not entirely surprised, T'Zaric returns to his friends.

Trusting the pile even less, Extang hits it with a firebolt. The pile bursts into flames and is reduced to ashes within moments. With the hazard cleared, Balasar is curious about the sword hilt, so he goes down the hall to check it out - noticing and pointing out two secret doors along the way. Sadly, he finds nothing interesting about the hilt, but he keeps it in case he can find a use for it later.

They check the first secret passage, which leads them down a narrow tunnel to a descent sized room lit by a golden light coming from a liquid in a well. However, the sight of several mirrors around the walls - some of them obviously magical - makes them immediately turn around and head back out, deciding it isn't worth the risk. They try the other secret passage, and once again come up short upon seeing a mirror at the end of the hall, beside a door. T'Zaric is curious, though, and goes to examine the mirror. As he draws close, he feels something within the mirror trying to pull him in, but he shakes it off and steps back. He tries to break the mirror with a crossbow bolt, but its magic protects it. So, he uses his mage hand to lift it off the wall and put it face-down on the floor so he and his companions can proceed.

They gather around the heavy door and, after inspecting it and finding it to be free of traps, open it up to reveal a wide passage opening up into a circular room. I the centre of the room is a strangely carved pillar on a raised dais with four sets of stairs leading up to it in a cross shape. Between each set of stairs is an alcove with a shelf covered in shiny trinkets. Across from the stairs to the right, a jade death mask hangs on the wall. T'Zaric is the first into the room to explore, while Kordak doesn't bother to enter, not seeing anything of interest. A quick circuit of the room shows that there is something different about each set of stairs - one is carver with the heads of various gods, one has a pool of blood at the bottom and a statue at the top, one is cloaked in shadows only Akta's eyes can penetrate, and one has different coloured lights illuminating each step.

T'Zaric carefully lifts the jade death mask from the wall with his mage hand and, thanks to his distance, avoids being trapped in a cage that erupts from the floor. Proud of his avoidance of the trap, he puts the mask on and scoops up an armload of the treasures on one of the shelves.

The door slams shut, and there's a brief flash of magical energy around it. T'Zaric drops his load back on the shelf, but it's already too late. A voice fills the room, informing them that they have trespassed in a sacred temple and that they are now breathing a toxic gas which will kill them. However, in case their transgressions were accidental, there is a cure in the middle of the dais, if they can solve the puzzle and reach it by the proper route.

Casting dark looks at T'Zaric, the others each run for a set of stairs. Balasar steps onto the stairs carver with the god heads and they start jabbering - the dragonborn cleric is overcome with a feeling of weakness and simply sits down on the steps. Akta yells for Kordak, telling him they are in danger, while T'Zaric tries the shadowed stairs - only to fall back down to the bottom. Extang begins climbing the coloured stairs, and seems to be doing well until he looks back down and discovers he's making no progress. Stor, blowing his whistle, flies up the stairs - as he approaches the statue, it comes to life, attacking.

Just then, the door bursts open as Kordak forces it from the outside. Seeing the way open, T'Zaric re-grabs his pile of treasure and bolts out of the room, immediately feeling relief from the mild sickness they were all starting to feel. Stor follows, dodging a swipe from the statue and pausing long enough to get get Balasar on his feet from the steps. Akta and Extang also make it out, with Balasar bringing up the rear as the flying statue gives pursuit, striking at him. He bursts into the passage, and Kordak slams the door shut again, blocking the statue's path.

They all glare at T'Zaric, who dumps the armload of treasure into the bag of holding and casts a minor illusion to give himself a dunce cap. They then move on to where they suspected the way out was in the first place - the double doors.

Through the double doors is an enormous room filled with dioramas of various parts of the underworld. There ate two paths - one leading to a door on the far side of the room, and one leading to the middle of the room where there is a hill with a diorama of people trying to roll a boulder up a hill while being whipped by a demon. Something hanging above the hill is producing a soft light.

They first follow the path to the bar door. Seeing nothing beyond but a bound of dirt and a few objects on the shelves of a small room, they turn back and take the path to and up the hill. Here they find that the light is a spell cast on the base of a shaft going up into the ceiling. With the help of Akta's darkness-piercing eyes, they find that the shaft - 30 feet above them - goes up for about 60 feet, then has a pewter cap that looks like it can be removed.

They begin planning how to get up, as it looks like a tight fit for everyone except Stor. While they are planning, Extang leaves the path - intending to move the boulder in the diorama, but instead he falls and rolls down the hill. He lands in the grassy plain diorama, where he immediately feels something tugging at his mind, encouraging him to stay in this lovely place forever. He is able to push the feeling aside, but, as he climbs to his feet, he's not certain he's out of danger yet.


And that is where this session ended. Come back in a week to discover what happens in Episode 29.