This session we had an sausage and steak pizza, extra-large, which turned out to be a good idea as I had a large turnout.

Games are on Tuesdays sometime after 5PM at World's Best Comics, 9714 Warwick Blvd Newport News, Virginia 23601. For purposes of this message, that means 9 December, 2014.

++++ START OF SESSION ++++

After the death of Lucky last week the Players explored the room of the Hellhounds and found nothing in the room which was also a dead-end. They rejoined with Weasel back where he had chased the Imp that had just teleported away. From there they backtracked past a turn not taken only to find another T-intersection that ended in a busted door, and looking the other way, a hallway that went on as far as they could see.

Looking for volunteers, (since Lucky was gone) Kmaregh handed Arnold a torch and sent him down to investigate the busted door. While the lead members of the party peered around the corner of the intersection, they watched as Arnold passed by 10 feet of hallway lined by very conspicuous looking spider webs. Once in the doorway he awoke four very alarming looking two-foot wide giant spiders. The obvious solution of course was to set fire to the webs all around him, which Arnold dutifully did. The nature of the Spiders became apparent however when the fire made the four Spiders grow to four-feet in width (they were Hellspiders). In any case, the spiders chased Arnold back down the hall as he fled, losing an honor point in the process.

Kmaregh had the presence of mind to have a spell ready, and he cast "Sleep" which put two of the Hellspiders in slumber which allowed Arnold to immediately turn around and bravely kill one of the sleeping ones. Huang and Honda killed the another two each and Arnold killed one in real combat. A search of the room after the webs burnt out revealed nothing further of value.

Undaunted, Arnold volunteered to explore past the other busted door of the Hellspider lair. With his brightly lit torch in hand, he found a 30 by 50 foot room with 6 openings, one of which looked built, the other five dug from the bare rock. At the far end was a locked iron chest which he immediately dragged back towards the party.

The party investigating the box opened it handily enough obtaining the contents within, 7,000 gold and 4000 silver, and another eight inch rectangular KEY. Deciding against what else may be waiting further down this chamber, the party decided to check out what was the opposite direction of the Hellspider room. Going down about 140 feet it turned left and ended in another set of unopenable stainless steel doors from two sessions back.

The party at this point decided (once again) to double back and go to the opposite end of their explorations to an one of the exits past the bugbears. The chosen corridor was only 20 feet long and ended in a 20 by 20 foot room bordered on one side by an impassable curtain of beads which could also not be seen through.

The party pondered and debated what to do for 10 minutes.

The party finally decided to blast their way through using another one of Weasel's High Tech Blaster Rifles (Model S3 obtained at least a dozen years ago in Play time) using the "disintegrate" setting and depleting its charges.

Burning a hole through the beads, they party had to defeat a group of six Gnolls in another 20 by 20 foot room. Once done they were two doors, one to the North and one to the West. Taking the one to the West, they found themselves in a 20 foot wide corridor 80 feet long ending in 5 cubicles that would fit one person each.

Kmaregh, taking the initiative, stepped into the center cubicle.

The cubicle immediate spun around sealing him off from the rest of the party and carried him down like a car in a carnival ride (but without the safety bar) and deposited him on on a yellow 10 foot square in an 80 by 80 foot chamber marked by grey and other multicolored 10 foot squares. There was another Yellow 10 foot to the forward left of him and he immediately stepped on it.

At the far end of the room straddling a gray and yellow square was a 7 foot tall statue holding a sword down in one hand and the other was holding out his outstretched palm.

Meanwhile the carnival car spun around and headed back towards the rest of the Party.

Five of the rest of the party decided to enter one of the five cubicles at once to the same effect. Except for Krazzak, they landed on different squares. Elefus landed in the same place as Kmaregh had. Weasel landed on a gray square on the Northeast Corner, Krazzek landed on a white square next to Weasel, Slim landed on a white square on the Southeast corner, and Numrendir landed on a green square exactly 20 feet South of Elefus and Slim.

If the reader doesn't get this by now, the Party landed on a chessboard. Except for the gray squares, the colors were a ruse. Although one of the astute Players noted the light colored square should always be on the right, instead of one of the gray ones Weasel landed on. Disregarding that module writer's faux pas.

Weasel and Krazzak both moved one square diagonally Southwest and each took 5 points of damage, with no saving throw.

Although I couldn't tell the Players, the general idea was that since Weasel and Slim landed on a Rook space they could move horizontally and vertically without taking damage. Numrendir was supposed to move diagonally like a Bishop, Krazzek and Slim were supposed to move like Knights.

While I kept meticulous round by round records, suffice it to say most of the Party except Kmaregh simply took to flight or stayed put. Weasel and Elefus flew giving rides to Numrendir and Krazzak while Slim stayed put. Kmaregh didn't seem to have this problem since all he had to do was move one square at a time like a King.

Making it to the statue the found that behind it was another 20 foot wide corridor filled with rubble. After some experimentation they found by touching its outstretched palm opened secret panel in the statue's chest, revealing another eight inch stainless steel KEY.

They party decided NOT to dig through the rubble behind the statue. (The party seems to have forgotten Weasel's magical Pick Axe of Tunnel Ease.) Going back they way they came and following one of the rails down the carnival ride the ended up behind one of the cubicles. Pulling the OSHA mandated emergency exit lever behind the cubicle, the party was back in the 20 by 80 foot corridor.

The party debated what do next.

1) Attempt to assemble the four KEYs to open the frequently found stainless steel doors?

2) Explore the remaining otherwise ignored tunnels to see what other clues they may find?

++++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR ++++

BT






BBBB

++++ CHARACTER ROSTER ++++

PLAYERS

Count Elefus, Human Male Deacon
Sir Weasel, Human Guild Soldier, Enchanter, & Myrmidon
Sir Kmaregh Dismal, Human Evoker
Sir Huang - Human Monk Sub-Master
Dame Honda - Human Samurai Bushi
Numrendir - Human Coercer
Arnold - Human Rutterkin.
Krazzek Thunderkeg - Dwarf Tracker.

NPCs:

Slim, an Elf Presdigitator/Apprentice.
Special Ed - A Human Risk Mage

MISSING CHARACTERS (captured)

Junkbot Jackson - Tracker/Adept
Gerry Castagere, Human Fingersmith, and ever loving devotee of Elefus
Fundisha - Half-Elf Swordsperson