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Theatre of Horrors: Act II

Written and Directed by Chris Bailey

Adapted for Session Report by Keith M. Sandler (Slight Misplay)

DM – Chris Bailey

Wruze “Roo” – Gab-tron
Osrick – Clark
Phalxen Phlox – Laura
Sawiya “Boo” Bu – Sarah
Captain Valla – Erin (not present this session)
Jarren – Keith

Scene i

Int., Dungeon, Day/Night???

JARREN: Guys! We could use a little help in here?

Jarren fires his crossbow at the approaching gelatinous cube. Osrick does the same before falling back behind Jarren toward the two doors.

JARREN: So help me if you open that other door, Osrick.

Osrick eyes the other door as other party members come to assist, shooting at the disgusting but geometrically organized intruder. The cube puts forth a hand… tentacle… thing towards Jarren, attempting to throttle him. Jarren is too quick and dodges beneath he pseudopod, slicing at the strangeness with his pair of short swords.

SFX: Phlip!!!!

A new cast members appears in the large room where the rest of the party originated in this dungeon theater. She is short. She is plucky. She has a whip. She is extremely disoriented. She is Phlaxen Phlox.

The gel cube pursues Jarren further down the hall, cutting off the door to the south. His only remaining choices are to go through the door to the north, be squished and absorbed by the gel, or… fight his way through the cube? He steels himself for just this, when his comrades from the south door are able to reduce the gelatinous abomination to a puddle of inert but still caustic goo.

“What colour is the gelatinous cube?”

“Clear.”

“Oh, gods… it’s not even flavoured Jell-o. No grapes. No tangerines. No marshmallows. What sick and twisted fiend would create such a thing and let it loose upon our world?”

“…”

Jarrin wipes the ooze from his weapons and snatches up the amethyst which is now lying on the ground before him. He also finds the sword which Osrik has been eyeing and hands it to him.

JARREN: This what you were so interested in?

OSRICK: Yes!!!

Jarren rolls his eyes. Osrick does not notice or does not care. The rest of the party collects the other shiny bits (gems and coins) found in the disintegrating remains of the gel, the acidic sludge burning several of their fingers as they do so. The party regroups back in the mannequin room… except for Osrick who decides to open the north door in the hallway, and Osrick Jarren who follows him with an audible sigh… which Osrick again does not notice or care about.

Scene ii

Osrick opens the door. The room beyond seems well appointed, containing a bed, a table, and a tapestry on the east wall. It also contains two hyena-headed demonic-looking humanoids muttering about “killing them all.” They spot Osrick, so they’ll start with him. Battle ensues!

Again, Jarren calls out to his comrades for help. Phlox has recovered from her teleportation sickness and joins the rest of the group in the hallway as the beasts emerge from their room to combat the party. Osrick falls back out of the fancy room into the hallway, followed by one of the nasties who is taking up the doorway. These baddies are much harder to hit than the gelatinous cube. Because they’re not just semi-sentient jell-o.

Roo takes a shot with her hand-crossbow, trying to thread the needle and shoot past Jarren. She critically fails, hitting Jarren in the thigh.

Boo contemplates faerie fire, but it doesn’t seem to be worthwhile due to the positioning of everyone, so she casts Sacred Flame, hurling a ball of divine fire at the beast in the doorway. Phlox lashes out with her whip at the assailant, trying to spin him back into the room behind him at Jarren’s urging. It doesn’t work out, but she does give the creature some severe whip-lash. (Hey-o!) Roo bests the creature, and the one remaining in the room advances on Jarren who had flung a hand-axe at him unsuccessfully a moment prior. The two spar for a moment before the beastie decides we’re not worth dying for, at which point he turns and flees. Jarren takes the opportunity to throw a dagger into the back of his neck, taking him out.

Jarren gives Roo back her crossbow bolt after extracting it from his leg.

JARREN: I believe this is yours?

The group is now a bit worse for wear and explores the chamber ahead with an eye for defense to see if they can take a quick breather before further exploration. Their efforts prove fruitful— a potion is found, as well as some loot on the fallen monsters including the third amethyst! Yoink! Also, the tapestry conceals a hidden door! There are no plates on the wall near this one, the party notes. Also, Roo’s keen eye for Under-architecture detects the presence of a secret door on the west wall, apparently operated by a moving brazier beside it.

Roo gives Jarren the remains of her healing potion, and the group takes a bit of respite after sealing off the doors as well as possible to prevent any intrusions and pulling down the tapestry to gain a clean view of the door in case any unwanted visitors should call upon us.

Scene iii

After the rest, Roo opens the secret door.

A battle rages within the large chamber beyond. A group of gray-skinned deep gnomes (svirfneblin!!!) are engaged in combat with more of the hyena-demons (gnolls) including a larger one who appears to be their leader. Jarren wants to explore the north door to see if the party can flank whoever emerges victorious, but Roo’s hatred of the deep gnomes gets the best of her, and she fires her hand crossbow at one of the svirf’s (Larff) provoking a cry in Undercommon:

“What the fuck?!”

The party then closes the secret door, hoping to wait out the battle. Roo explores the door beyond where the tapestry had been. Jarren proceeds north to look for a tactical advantage.

In Roo’s room, she discovers another amethyst (wait… a fourth???) with a note attached to it with alchemical advice. Roo also finds a costume jewelry crown.

Jarren’s room is well-appointed as the previous one was, with a door on the west wall, apparently leading into the chamber with the gnomes and gnolls. (That’s a lot of gn-words, but we haven’t seen any gnu’s yet.) That’d be gnarly.) Upon the table in this room is some sort of seeing stone, containing within a scene of a monologue apparently cut short by the performer’s flight from the stage. Jarren searches the rest of the room, but as he does so, the door to the battle chamber is forced open. Jarren slams it back shut, overpowering those on the other side. Once again…

JARREN: Guys! I could use some help here…!

To be continued….

Theater of Horrors

Act I

Scene i

Theater of Horrors

Written and Directed by Chris Bailey

Session Report by Keith M. Sandler (Slight Misplay)

The Players:

Jarren – Keith (Slight Misplay)

Sawiya – Sarah

Captain Valla – Erin

Osric – Clark 

Wruze – Gabi

Phlaxen Phlox Wombleale – Laura (absent this session)

Scene i

Int.  Dungeon.  Day?/Night?

The party awakens, with the world’s worst teleportation hangover, in what seems to be the backstage area of some sort of theater.  Predominant in the room is a large pile of junk, mostly wooden left-over scenery and prop pieces from our take of it, as well as a large tapestry depicting a slice of life from a small town.  On either side of the tapestry, mounted on the wall, are two plates, decorated with icons.  One is of a hand, one is of a sword.  Also in the room are about a dozen of what appear to be mannequins. 

[DM Note: There are 2 skeletons–(one now destroyed, the other still in-animate.]

These life-size figures depict different characters or archtypes— a knight, a hobgoblin, a skeleton, an old lady, a barbarian, a priest, and an elf forest-warrior.

The party rummages through the rubble in the room, looking for anything of use or a clue to where they may be and why.  Our memory is hazy on or purpose here.  We don’t find any clues, but there is a door hidden behind the rubble on the west wall, adding to the doors on the north and south walls as additional points of exit.

Gabi wastes no time in causing mischief, putting her hand on the hand plate.  Instantly, she disappears to the rest of the party, finding herself in the town depicted by the tapestry.  She is very content to stay there for a while.

Jarrin decides to test a theory.  He crosses the room intending to drag the skeleton’s hand to the plate, but before he can work on his hypothesis… the skeleton animates, attacking him!  A battle ensues, and a hobgoblin zombie mannequin also animates, drawing other characters into the fray.  We remember that Erin was careful not to touch the priest mannequin on her way across the room.  The zomb-goblin seems to be exuding some sort of effect which plays on our emotions, but we are too strong of spirit for it to have much of an effect on anyone at this point.

We defeat our strange assailants, Gabi returns, and we trek through the south door as we remember some of our purpose here— we must find pieces of a magical staff for our employer.  We may be in or near the Underdark (UNDERDOOOOOM!!!!)  We know not what dangers may be present, but there must be some, otherwise, why would a group of rough and tumble adventurers such as us be sent on such an errand?  

Scene ii

In the south room (after a small connecting hall), there is a wardrobe full of costumes.  Gabi, now back with us and extolling the virtues of tapestry-land, rifles through the clothing looking for any objects of our quest… or anything flattering for her to wear.  Further back in the room is a desk with some pages on it.  There’s also another southerly door.  Through it Jarrin goes.

The room he discovers contains two busts on tables, one of a man, one of a woman.  Jarrin picks up the woman head, and it immediately animates and begins spouting speeches even as it glows in different colours.  The colours change seemingly with the personality of the voice.  Is this some sort of idol to theater gods/goddesses?  As the head glows black, Jarrin drops the bust on the floor as he shouts to his comrades to come join him and help in this investigation.  As he proceeds back to collect his party, the male head animates and begins speaking… in riddles…

[DM Note: Note that you vaguely recognized the, white at-rest version of the head as a statue of Neutralia, goddess of neutrality, and patron goddess of the theatre. As the head animated, it seemed to give speeches that corresponded to various different alignments. Also, you remember that the object you are looking for is called the Staff of Neutralia.] 

The party gathers, and the riddles are cleverly solved (by party members better at this sort of thing than Jarrin).  As the correct guesses are made, gems spew forth from the mouth of the male bust.  One of them is one of the items we are looking for!  The others are shiny and somewhat valuable.  

Scene iii

The head being out of riddles and the other head being exceedingly annoying (drama chicks… amiright?), the party heads back to the room they started in.  Two more mannequins have been animated— the old lady and the barbarian.  Neither seems as zombie-like as they had before.  They seem confused and not very helpful.  Gabi wants to slay the remaining mannequins outright.  Jarrin takes issue with this.  They haven’t caused any harm, and some of them, when animated, seem to be innocent, at least for now.  Should they threaten us, we can make that call.  The issue seems to be settled for now.  

Scene iv

Jarrin and Clark head through the north door.  It’s dark in this room.  There’s a dead end to the left, and the corridor proceeds further to the right.  Clark has a torch and sees the glitter of copper pieces on the floor by the dead end.   He enters to collect it despite Jarrin’s protests to exercise caution.  Clark proceeds down the corridor and spies… a floating sword!  Being a swordsmith… sorry, being the WORLD’S GREATEST SWORDSMITH, he proceeds to investigate, reaching for the sword.  It’s now apparent there are other items floating in the hallway.  

JARRIN: WAAAIT!!!!

It’s too late.  Clark’s extendedhand slows as it enters some transparent but visceral substance.  

JARRIN:  Fuck. 

Jarrin realizes also, that he’s left Gabi in the room with the mannequins.

JARRIN:  (calling back to party)  Guys!  We need some help in here!!!

Jarrin draws his bow and shoots at the symmetrical gelatinous monstrosity sliding down the hallway, Clark’s hand still within. 

Annnnnd SCENE.