Session recap, 6/22/2011

CAST
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Gutboy Barrellhouse the Cleric (3), his dog Rufus, and his henchman Serlo the Elf
Mongo the Fighter (2), and his henchmen Leroy Brown the Cleric and Jimgar the Elf
Netal the Elf (1), his slave Krogo the Fighter, and his dogs Bitey and Moe
Justin the Dwarf (2), and his dog Bailey

Netal and Justin spent the night in the common room at a flophouse - they woke to find another dead hobo lying sprawled across their feet.  Netal showed restraint, and decided against gutting the hobo to see if he had eaten any treasure.

The two of them went to Mongo's, and banged on his door.  Mongo refused to open the door to them, fearing his landlord would find out, so the two spiked his door shut.  The practical joke failed miserably, as Mongo's apartment door opened inwards - he exclaimed "free spike!" as he finally answered the door, and the trio headed off to the Bazaar Incomparable for some shopping.

Bullets previously ordered were picked up, and the gunsmith still had no idea what a "silencer" was, so Justin led the party to the Temple of Science, hoping to commission something to quiet his guns.  He accosted the attendant at the door, asking to meet with somebody.

Attendant:  "What do you need?"
Justin:  "I want a suppressor for my gun.  Can you make me one?"
Attendant:  "I don't think you understand.  We aren't craftsmen.  We are here for the worship of Science."
Justin:  "Well, how do I go about getting a silencer?"
Attendant:  "I suggest you pray, and perhaps Science will see fit to enlighten you."
Justin:  "OK, I'll try that."

The attendant led Justin into the temple, where they both knelt before the 10' tall black step-pyramid within, the numbers at its top quietly ticking down to 0.  The attendant recited, and Justin repeated:  "Oh great Science, we humbly pray that Justin receive a vision of this silencer he speaks of, so that his gun may be quieted in battle, and we pray that the people of this city learn the glory of Science, so that your glories may abound evermore.  Amen."  An unsubtle request for a donation was made, and Justin gave the attendant 50 gp.

Justin:  "So when do I get my silencer?"
Attendant:  "You must keep praying, and should Science see fit, you will be enlightened."

After this burst of religious fervor, Justin rejoined the party, Gutboy showed up, they purchased an extensive collection of rope, and headed off to the dungeon.  A war-band of moktars was encountered on the way, but other than some spear-shaking and grunting, the encounter was non-hostile, and the two parties departed without bloodshed.  The night's rest was interrupted by the return of the dread red mist, and Serlo the Elf once again groaned in his sleep and took some damage.  The party surmised that Serlo must have done something to become cursed - when asked if he remembered anything during the night, he said that he dreamt that Netal was drinking his blood.

Dismissing that nonsense, the party headed into the dungeon, and made their way to the morlock lair.  Finding some morlocks on the way, they asked for Bilibub, and their friendly cannibal arrived, eager to get his claws on the promised person-meat.  He was quite disappointed to be handed only a day's worth of iron rations.  Gutboy asked for directions to "big bugs" and again was told to head north down the hall, and go down the well.

Heading north, the party passed a few side doors and passages, and eventually the thirty foot wide corridor ended at a circular wall.  In the middle of the floor was a 10' wide hole - it looked to be at least 100' deep, with a red light coming from below.  Gutboy and Justin tied 150' of rope together, with a spike on the end, and lowered the rope to see if they could hit bottom - but with the rope played out all the way, they still hadn't made it to the bottom.

Deciding to put off exploration of the well, they headed to a side corridor, and discovered many small corridor branching off it.  Following one of these side tunnels north, the dogs in the lead fell into a pit trap, and the lid sprang shut, trapping the hounds within.  Light pressure was enough to push the lid open again, and the dogs were extracted - further exploration revealed many pit traps in a 70' square area of tunnels, and a pair of double-doors along the southernmost tunnel.

Opening the doors, the party discovered a small art gallery, with a massive crystal chandelier hanging from the 30' high ceiling.  On one wall hung a painting of a woman with a mysterious smile, on the other a somewhat abstract depiction of a swirly sky with swirly stars, and against another a well-sculpted marble statue of a naked man.  Showing a remarkable knowledge of pre-apocalyptic art history, the party identified these as the Mona Lisa, Starry Night, and Michelangelo's David.  Justin pulled out his protonium-metal dagger, and cut the paintings out of their frames, rolled them up, and shoved them into his sack.  This done, Gutboy then went and collected the empty frames.

The party went back to contemplate a descent into the well.  Unsure of how to get down, they went back to the morlocks and asked how they did.  "Tie gut-rope to pole, climb down rope."  "Can we borrow your pole?"  "You wait, I ask chief... (few moments later)  No.  Chief say mongos no get pole."

The party went back to the well, stared dejectedly at it again, and then wandered off into another side tunnel.  They passed through a few empty rooms, marveling at the familiar looking footprints in the dust.  Eventually the realization struck that they had been here before, there was no loot to be found, and it was back to staring at the well.

Finally, a plan began to take shape - tie the rope off around a 10' square section of stone in the nearby tunnel-area and then keep tying ropes off from there, running them down to the bottom of the well.  Further sounding with the rope & spike found that the depth was just around 150' - the three ropes tied together were just a smidge short.  A plan for descent finally in place, they decided that they had spent enough time underground and should try to get some loot back to Denethix to sell.

The party went back, six of them grabbed the statue, and they headed back out of the dungeon.  There was a remarkably one-sided fight with a group of hostile fire beetles, over in seconds with the aid of a sleep spell, and otherwise the party escaped unmolested.  Another episode of the red mist occurred during the night, and even after an overnight stay in the town of Retennis, where the party kept no watch, Serlo woke up feeling drained and looking pale.  Justin once again used magical healing to rejuvenate his henchman, and there was much speculation as to how Serlo became so afflicted.

Finally, Denethix was reached - and the party went to sell their priceless works of art.

"Huh.  It's kind of cut up, and this stuff is pretty old fashioned.  I'll give you 120 gp for the lady, 200 for the stars, and 500 for the statue."
"How can this be?  These are ancient artifacts!"
"You can't step outside without tripping over ancient art.  Who likes this old-fashioned stuff anyhow?"
"But this is marble!  This stuff's expensive!"
"What are you talking about?  Just go to any of the ruins, take some blocks from some of the old buildings.  You can get it anywhere."

Grumbling, the party sold their looted art, and retired for the evening.