Session 4


Home


Continued from the last session...

The hallway goes west and then north. Three doors are on the left hand side and each opens to reveal what was once a modest dormitory room, perhaps for the acolytes that served this temple long ago. To the right, they find washing rooms, with two tubs built into the floor. Brass spigots hung down from the ceiling and fresh water poured forth when a chain was pulled. Mosholu found a tin box filled with intact bars of soap and at first wanted to just take the box, but after careful perusal realized the soap was of high quality and could be sold at a market.

Past the washing area was a toilet, basically a rectangle cut out of the floor on one side. It was filled with sludge and sewage and Seika noticed the head and shoulder of a body floating in it. This body woke up and a shit-covered zombie and it's even stinkier brother came out, attacking Seika and Mosholu. Angry Pipe and Garfer couldn't get by to help with the attack, so it was up to the city-bred rogue and the country-bred monk to defeat these undead fiends. They did so with no little trouble and plenty of fecal matter. They were filthy, except for the remarkable robe that Seika now wore.

Because of the mess, they decided to bath in the tubs, using the soap that they found. They decided for modesty's sake to leave their clothes on. To their pleasant surprise, the bath refreshed them and even healed some of their wounds!

They left the bathroom. The hallway ended in an old surgery. Hanging from the walls were old surgical tools. A few were in good shape and they made a collection of them for Linear, to enhance his healing skills. They also found two healing potions. Angry Pipe drank one and Garfer the other.

They backtracked, going through the dining room, passing the hallway to the temple and continuing west. The passage went for some ways and finally ended in a landslide. Seika studied it and it seemed to her to be the natural result of age, erosion and water. To their left, a new hallway went far off into darkness to the north. To their right a door way led into an old classroom, strewn with debris. Mosholu went north quietly, listening intently. All he heard was the sound of wind.

Seika entered the classroom. In the southeast corner of the room was a door and it was ajar. But it was surrounded by the ruined remains of desks and chairs, intricately piled almost to the ceiling. Impetuously, she went to the doorway and opened it. A huge piece of wood came crashing down, narrowly missing her. Her quick reflexes saved her from what could have been a damaging blow.

On the other side of the doorway was a similar room. Junk was strewn about and the back was protected by a ring of broken furniture. It seemed to have been deliberately set up as a wall. Behind it, something hissed. Angry Pipe went behind the wall of debris and although he tried to be as quiet as possible, the thing behind was waiting for him and attacked.

It was a pale, ancient humanoid, hunched and shrouded in rags. It had raggedy claws for hands and it's body seemed almost translucent. When it attacked, Seika made a daring and dextrous tumble through a gap in the creature's debris wall. She landed facing it's back and made a wicked series of blows.

It turned and grabbed her. It seemed to be leeching from her, but her strong internal moral core protected her and it came away with nothing. Garfer tried to barrel through the barricade, but managed to find the thickest part and couldn't get through. Mosholu came into the room after hearing the sounds of battles and he too joined the fray. There was something fiercely malevolent about this creature and they dreaded contact with it. Even weirder was the mutterings about "the water" and "my thieving brother". All the party members managed to avoid the draining power of this half-dead thing and Seika's well-placed knifepalm strike felled it. It lay on the floor, rasping.

While the others searched the room, Seika listened to the story of the creature as it gasped out it's last breath. It turned out it was the brother of Eugia, the priest they had just killed and that the two of them had lived for centuries hear on the healing water of the olive fountain. But Eugia became selfish and stopped letting him drink the water. He was forced to suck on the fetid water from the mud slide and this had put him in this state of non-living.

Taking pity on him, Seika carried him back to the temple and the fountain which contained his precious water. She dumped him in and he immediately became revived, only to attack her again! Frustrated with his reaction, she slammed a chest blow home and left him dead by the water he'd lived his life for.

Back in the room, the party had found the rest of the set of the cooling goblets as well as some valuable cutlery, 3 vials of olive oil and some rope.

They returned to the windy corridor and followed it cautiously. Eventually it turned west and they saw the faint glow of daylight and heard the sound of the ocean. Along the way, they passed a small guard room which contained two sturdy backpacks and some armor and weapons. Most importantly, there were four oars and oarlocks.

At the end of the passageway, the walls turned into a natural cave opening, which looked to the light and heat of the midday. A long boat was pulled up to the edge and small waves splashed against the rocks.

Wishing to make haste, the party got into the boat and rowed out into the open water. They curved to the north and then east and headed for the ancient dock remains of the mainland. They could see wasted orchards to the south and some large ruins to the north.

The docks were defined by two giant breakwaters, massive walls of stone protruding far out into the bay. They appearred to be made from molded sand, as if they had been poured into the ocean by great industry or powerful magic. Their tips are deteriorated, after years of the oceanŐs licking.

Between the two breakwaters, the wharves spanned about a half-mile. Most of the actual docks were long gone, only irregular piles, made of the same hard sand as the breakwaters, remained as evidence that boats once threw their painters here.

As the party stepped on the dock, they felt a sense of sadness. The warm wind on the empty platform made them think of what once was here. This was a place of activity. Men once hurried, lifting and working, striving to do the works of some great civilization, where now only grains of sand flitted by their feet.

The party moved south first, towards bleak rows of dead olive trees. They were clearly once fertile orchards, but now all that remains are stumps or thin branchless trees at best. The smoothed over foundations of storage sheds line the fields. One still has it's south and west walls and there the party finds an old clay box with a pile of beautiful handaxes, identical to the one found in the church. Angry Pipe takes one to complement it.

They travel to the north, through the remains of a city only an archealogist could appreciate. Past that is a huge platform, supporting what may have been the spiritual and political center of this civilization. It is as large as a small town itself and ruined structures still stand at the back of it.

They climb wide stairs and find the crumbled remains of an ancient temple. By some clever searching, they find a room with no accessible door, but Seika discovers the wall is crumbingl and Angry Pipe punches through. Beyond they find a scimitar and a scroll.

The rest of the platform is flat, except at the back where the remains of a castle still stand tall. The party enters a throne room. Behind it, three doors lead into the castle. They pass two bronze statues of salamanders, coated in dust. One of them has fallen to the floor and is somehow cut cleanly in half. They pass the statues, triggering some unkown magic which awakens them. Heat grows from inside them. The one that is cut in half writhes on the floor and the other attacks. Seika attempts a strike with her bare hands, but burns herself. The others join the fray, finally taking the beast down.

They retreat into some kind of conference room, dominated by a huge stone table. Behind that they pass through a door into a reception room. Everything has been taken, but it is clear that this was once a place of great wealth and splendour. On the north wall is a beautiful mirror. Doors are on the west and east.

They go west and enter an ancient bathroom and behind that a smoking chamber. A beautiful brass hookah is bolted to the floor. Angry Pipe and Garfer inspect it thoroughly and though they realize that with time they could probably get it free, it probably weighs 300 pounds. They do discover a nugget of some black resin the bowl and after some hesitation, Angry Pipe says, "let's smoke it!"

It takes a while to burn, but when it gets going produces a nice cherry and a sweet, rich smoke. Gradually, the room transforms. The dust swirls away backwards, the tapestries and rugs become whole again. To the rest of the party, Angry Pipe and Garfer appear glazed. To them, they have returned to the palace at the height of it's existence. They hear laughter in the hallways and the smells of perfumes and soaps waft in from the bathroom. They are surrounded by silken pillows.

Presently, a rotund and cheerful man comes in, wearing splendid robes and jewelry. He has a squared white beard and a light purple wrap on his head. He lounges on the pillows for a moment until a gaggle of giggling palace girls come in. They are scantily clad, bronzed beauties, laughing and jumping and they surround the Caliph, tickling him and undressing him. Garfer and Angry Pipe watch, their jaws hanging, drool slipping from the corner of their mouths. Once naked, they help the fat monarch into the bath next door. They begin to scrub him but he seems to remember something and pushes them away. He gets up and they immediately wrap him in rich towels.

Once dry, he puts on a rich, silken robe and goes out to the room with the mirror. Facing the mirror, he opens his arms wide and turns backwards and walks through the mirror! Angry Pipe follows, saying "Dude, Garfer." And Garfer comes. The rest of the party, still trapped in the dust of the present, see them walk backwards through the mirror, their arms open. They copy them and pass through.

Mosholu and Seika enter a narrow room, empty except for rubble in one corner that may once have been a bed and a massive pile of what can only be "treasure". Gold, jewels, precious things reach to a peak as high as a man. In the middle is a bronze pot.

Angry Pipe and Garfer see the Caliph's bedroom, resplendent with fancy trappings. In the corner are chests stacked neatly. Almost obsessively, the Caliph opens one of the chests and begins counting the gems inside. Angry Pipe tries to open one of the chests, but his hand passes right through. Mosholu, walks past Angry Pipe and climbs to the top of the pile of treasure. The coins are intact and firm, held in place by some magic. He can't lift any of them.

At the top, he touches the pot. It does seem that he can move it. He opens the lid. There is a sucking sound and a bits of sand and dust blow out. They increase in volume and intensity until a small twister pushes the lid right off. Mosholu starts running backwards as the whirlwind that he released reaches to the ceiling. Dirt and sand is sent flying across the room and the party sees strange creatures, small homonculi riding their own miniwhirlwinds come flying out of the larger spiral.

The illusion of the acheesh smoke remains for Angry Pipe and Garfer, but they can also see the dust mephits as well. The first wave hits Mosholu as he desperately backs away from them. The rest of the party closes in. The little dust creatures blow powerful flumes of dust and dirt that blinds the party and tears at their flesh. They also have nasty, sharp little claws. Eventually, after taking much damage, the party destroys all of the creatures.

Mosholu rushes back to the pot, grabbing the lid and trying to put it on. But a larger, cleaner whirlwind blasts out, sending the lid flying. A giant of a man, bald with a pointed beard, his feet still of the whirlwind, arises out from the pot. He is coughing and looking around. He finally sees the party and looks upon them with a stern look.

The adventurers wait with baited breath. Then his countenance becomes gentler and he smiles at the party. "I must thank you friends!" He beams at them. "I've been spending windy centuries trying to clean out my home of those pesky mephites. You've done me a great favor--but what's happened to the Caliph's bedroom? How long have I been in my pot?"

He realizes that he went in for far too long and that the empire that he once served has now gone into the dust of time. He sighs with the understanding of the immortal and then rolls out a huge rug. In the middle of it is a giant feast, with food and wine of every taste. The party eats with the djinn and as they feast, he speaks with them and their wounds heal.

To be continued...