Session 20 - The One Where TC Fought A Rug - And Almost Lost

19th Mar 2021 19:30 - 22:30

In-game timeline: DR1489 Elesias 24 - Eleasias 24

Our "Heroes" are very tired… of opening doors. But they have no choice. So they open another.

This time they reveal an ornate and grand hallway, that was obviously once resplendent, but has since been somewhat neglected. A grand staircase leads up to the floor above, and large double doors seem to imply the main entrance to the manor. This room is lit with torches in elaborate sconces in the walls, enabling those without darkvision to actually see where they are going for a change.

It didn't help TC, however. As he walked across the hallway to look out of the windows, he stepped on an old, and somewhat tatty, rug that was lying at the base of the stairs. To his, and others, surprise, the rug rose up and wrapped itself around TC, giving him a squeeze that was not as friendly as TC had hoped. He was trapped!

Carro ran over and tried to meticulously dissect the rug, rather than to randomly stab it, given that TC was inside. He managed to do some damage to the rug, but the soft furnishing reacted by squeezing TC harder, causing him some pain. The rest of the group had to rethink this tactic.

Unfortunately they did not have very long to reconsider. The innocuous mining tools that were displayed on plinths around the hall suddenly lifted from their mounts of their own accord and flew towards the group. Whilst TC was busy relaxing inside a rolled up carpet, the other three were assailed by a hammer, a pickaxe and a shovel, which all seemed to be not only flying, but also swinging wildly at their heads!

With his 'friends' distracted by flying tools, TC was relieved to be helped by Mahtis, who managed to pull the rug from TC, allowing him to once again breathe. Mahtis' attention was however immediately grabbed by the pickaxe trying to bury itself in her head. TC got a good hit on the rug, but it then managed to wrap itself around the paladin once more, and this time his pals were too busy protecting themselves to help him.

Carro struggled with a shovel, but managed one or two hits on it. He couldn't decide which weapon was best to use, and spent a lot of the fight swapping from bow to sword.

Kandi was in close combat with a hammer, and was not really used to such melee fighting. His wild swings often missed, and he was getting frustrated at his inability to cause any real damage to the mining tool.

Mahtis meanwhile was performing only slightly better on her pickaxe, but was managing to whittle down its health, somewhat literally, but it continued to swipe at the dragonborn.

Meanwhile TC was having to heal himself within the confines of the carpet, which seemed to squeeze him tighter every round. He was unable to attempt to escape as he needed to avoid dying instead. Eventually the squeezing eased off slightly, and TC tried to escape the rug… and failed. Luckily, however, Mahtis had just managed to see off the pickaxe, knocking it to the floor with her double-attacks, and she turned to help her friend, managing to pull the rug off of TC before he suffocated completely. This gave Thomas the break he was looking for and he bashed the rug with all his might, managing to coil a thread of wool around Dragonsboon and unravelled the rug until it could harm him no more.

Carro eventually decided upon a weapon, and managed to knock the shovel from the air and it clattered to the floor, no longer rising again. Kandi wasn't far behind - he had finally worked out how to hit something nearby, and put his new knowledge to good use, eventually bashing the hammer to the ground, and then proceeding to take it apart, rivet by rivet.

Exhausted, after a good 30 seconds of fighting, the party discuss their options, briefly, then press on. Heading up the stairs they reach the unlit landing. They take a little time studying the large family portraits hanging in the hallway, and piecing together a Chadstone Family Tree - you can never be too busy for a bit of genealogy.

The party is dismayed when they are faced with more closed doors. They had hoped that the upper level would be open-plan, but unfortunately the Scandinavian influence has yet to reach Faerun. They are keen to find Tarmon before they collapse - either with exhaustion over too many injuries and not enough healing, or with boredom over opening too many doors. They pick a door and open it.

And are faced with a room containing strange runic symbols on the floor, weird graffiti over the walls, a big, curved mirror hanging from the ceiling and a mysterious pedestal. TC is too busy checking that there are no carpets or rugs on the floor, whilst the others check out this worryingly strange room. The dark stains on the floor and large cage in the corner do nothing to allay their concerns. They decide to open another door.

And find themselves in a very large, and very impressive library, covering two floors. Carro generously donates two minutes of his time to look over the books, and unsurprisingly, given the small amount of time he allocated to the task, finds nothing of interest. The group head downstairs. Then head back upstairs again. And back into the "mysterious room". It would be disingenuous of this narrator to suggest the group is wandering aimlessly.

Back in the strange room once again, TC checks out the pedestal, which seems to have a weird mechanism to it. They stop and chat for a bit, and find some stairs heading back to the servants area - at least they left most of the doors in that area open.

And so we leave our group of "Heroes" in a mysterious room, with strange graffiti. In a quiet and dark mansion. That they have broken into. Trying to find evidence to prove their innocence of another crime. And trying to come up with a definite plan for all this before anyone, or anything, finds them…