What the Hell Hound (Session 84)

Summary

With Tristan’s healing and the identification of their magical items complete, the party continued through the warrens, searching for a route upward toward Lyssa. At a junction, they encountered a pack of two-headed death dogs. The party, with Tristan, defeated them, though Kipp suffered a bite. Exploring the ruined passages afterward, the party found scattered bones and an empty sarcophagus. They also discovered that Tristan’s shimmering aura offered nearby companions protection against evil and fear.

In a chamber filled with crimson-tinted mist and the smell of blood, vampiric mists attacked the party. One slipped beneath Pyreece’s armor and enveloped her, feeding upon her while blows against it also injured her. Neither turning undead nor Protection from Undead could help against these creatures, and her Protection from Evil scroll failed to dislodge the mist. Realizing that it healed itself whenever it fed, Elenor destroyed it with Magic Missiles, leaving Pyreece badly wounded. Tristan healed some of her injuries and then cured Kipp after recognizing that his death dog bite had caused a potentially fatal disease.

Before resting, the party checked the chamber’s exits and opened its ornate sarcophagus. Inside lay a skeleton in old military regalia wearing a gold commander’s ring, possibly belonging to Roland Ashcombe or Commander Armand. Oglesby removed and appraised the ring, but Pyreece returned it and blessed the body. Pyreece and Audra rested against the doors while Tristan watched the passage. During the night, he woke Pyreece after sensing a canine presence and smelling brimstone outside. They remained quiet and let the suspected hellhounds pass, completing their rest and recovering their spells.

After discussing how to share the protection of their three Protection from Undead scrolls when facing Lyssa, the party continued upward. Kipp scouted a damaged landing with several routes, but two hellhounds approached before the party could arrange further scouting. The creatures noticed their light and attacked, burning Kipp while Pyreece’s ring protected her. Tristan’s keening howl killed one wounded hound, and Elenor’s Magic Missiles destroyed the other after Audra used her Boots of Levitation to move over her companions and land behind it. Four more hellhounds arrived; three fled from Tristan’s howl, while the party killed the one that continued attacking.

The party pursued the three fleeing hellhounds into adjoining passages. Audra protected Brandy while she fired her bow, and Kipp killed another hound with his two weapons. Pyreece and Tristan joined the fighting, with Tristan suffering a burn from a hellhound’s breath while Audra remained protected by her ring. Brandy killed the hound facing Audra, and Elenor struck the last one with her staff sling before Kipp finished it. With the hellhounds defeated, Tristan pointed out another stairway to the east, and Kipp scouted ahead to a narrow landing with doors on either side.

Oglesby heard nothing at either door and found no traps; both were unlocked. The party chose the eastern door and entered a circular chamber containing a statue of a weeping woman. Audra briefly saw its face become monstrous as she looked away, but it appeared normal whenever she looked directly at it. Beyond a northern door, they found a small study with a recently used desk, a burning lantern, and shelves crowded with journals, maps, and papers. Pyreece began sorting through the research, which appeared to belong to Magister Vhalen.

Vhalen’s journals described the mist as a living boundary between worlds and recorded his experiments on Lyssa’s behalf. Early attempts proved disastrous: subjects died, disappeared, or returned horribly altered, with one partially merged into the gateway itself. Later, blood from the Zarovich line greatly improved the portal’s stability. Recent notes reported that it could remain open for more than twenty minutes, allowing small objects and undead subjects to pass intact. An elegant note praised the progress and ordered the next attempt to use prisoners, which the party connected with the people they were trying to find.

Among the papers on the shelves, the party discovered a warning addressed to whoever found it. Its writer now believed that the mist had been studying him, and that Lyssa was wrong to think she could master the boundaries of her dread realm. Every success had come at a greater cost, drawing increasing attention from something beyond the gateway. The warning urged its reader to destroy the portal and stop Lyssa, ending with the fear that something was trying to open the passage from the other side.

That is where the session ended!

Please start the recorder!

Exp: 1145 + 115 = 1260

Detail

With Tristan’s healing and the identification of their recovered magical items finished, the party prepared to continue through the warrens.

Tristan knew that they needed to go upward, but he could not give them an exact route. He had arrived through a portal, and the stairs near the place where he had appeared led only to an empty room. The party chose to explore the other passages together.

As Brandy advanced toward a junction, low growls echoed along the corridor, seemingly from both directions. Crimson eyes appeared ahead, followed by a large, two-headed dog. Both the party and Tristan recognized the creatures that had attacked them before: death dogs.

Elenor remained behind the others while Brandy moved forward to meet the first dog and struck it with Longtooth. More dogs charged from the adjoining passages. One bit Kipp, leaving a small wound. Oglesby stepped forward and struck another with a sling stone, while Kipp killed the dog in front of him. Tristan rushed another of the creatures but missed his attack. The narrow passages left Pyreece struggling to get past her companions and into the fight.

Audra circled behind the dog Oglesby had struck and killed it. Brandy finished her first opponent, then attacked the remaining dog. Tristan followed with a bite that killed it, ending the fight.

They checked the passages from which the dogs had come. The surrounding chambers were in ruins. Bones lay scattered across the floor, and an empty sarcophagus appeared to have been disturbed long ago. Nothing remained inside. A nearby door led back toward the area the party had already visited.

Farther along, Tristan stopped. He heard nothing, but he sensed something nearby. A shimmer surrounded him, like heat rising from a road. When Kipp and Brandy approached, they felt a strengthening sense of goodness. Tristan’s presence offered protection against evil and fear.

Kipp examined the floor for tracks. There had been traffic through the area, but he could not identify anything recent. Oglesby noticed a narrow passage, and Pyreece brought her continual light gem forward so they could see into it. They pointed it out to the others, but the party chose to investigate the larger chamber ahead first.

The chamber was square and filled with a thick, swirling mist. A faint crimson tint colored the cold, damp air, which smelled of blood. An ornate stone sarcophagus stood within, its closed lid covered in ancient runes. Doors opened to the northeast and southwest.

Pyreece entered murmuring a prayer. The mist seemed to coil around her as though it were alive. Brandy briefly saw what looked like a face in it. Pyreece called out to ask who was there, but a creature formed from the mist and slipped beneath her armor, biting her.

Elenor sent Magic Missiles into one of the mist creatures. Tristan and Brandy attacked another, and Kipp stepped forward with both weapons to finish the creature Elenor had struck. As Tristan joined the fight, the protective shimmer around him faded.

Another mist coalesced around Pyreece. It bit her and enveloped her body, working its way beneath her armor. Audra held back, unable to see a way to strike it without hurting Pyreece. Pyreece tried to turn the creatures, but they were vampiric mists rather than undead, and her attempt had no effect.

Brandy continued attacking the other mist. Kipp hesitated to strike the one wrapped around Pyreece, knowing how much damage his weapons might do to her. They considered the Protection from Undead scrolls but determined they would not help against these creatures. Once Tristan and Brandy turned their attacks against the mist around Pyreece, their blows injured her as well. The mist continued feeding upon her and became more substantial and redder as it did so.

Audra struck it too, and Pyreece again suffered part of the injury. Pyreece used a scroll of Protection from Evil, but the creature remained attached. Brandy landed another powerful blow, further wounding both the mist and the priest.

Elenor and some of the others realized that the mist was healing itself whenever it fed. Leaving it alone would only allow it to grow stronger. Elenor cast another volley of Magic Missiles. The spell hurt Pyreece, but it finally destroyed the creature. Mist still swirled through the room, though the party no longer sensed anything moving within it.

Pyreece had been badly hurt during this encounter but Tristan approached and licked her, healing some of her wounds. Meanwhile, Kipp began to feel sick to his stomach. With Pyreece’s available magic exhausted, the party discussed stopping to rest.

Tristan began to shimmer again. Asked about the effect, he explained that his protection extended to those close to him and could drive away evil creatures, though it could not keep a vampiric mist from attacking as this one had. He offered to watch the approach while the others rested.

When the party learned that Kipp was feeling ill, they questioned him and learned about the bite. Kipp could not recall enough about death dogs to explain what was happening, so they asked Tristan. He warned that a death dog’s bite could carry a disease capable of killing its victim within twenty-four hours. He examined Kipp’s wound, licked it, and cured the disease. Kipp immediately felt better and thanked him.

Before settling down, the party checked the chamber’s exits and the sarcophagus. Brandy opened one door and looked into the corridor beyond. She saw stairs leading upward and what appeared to be an opening to the west farther along the passage. She closed the door and reported that the immediate area looked clear. Kipp checked the other door and found that it connected to the narrow passage the party had noticed earlier.

They slid the sarcophagus lid aside far enough to look inside. A skeletal figure lay dressed in fine military regalia from a distant age, its arms crossed over its body. A bright gold ring rested on one finger. The others were ready to close the coffin, but Oglesby reached in and removed the ring.

Tristan watched him disapprovingly. Oglesby examined the ring and estimated its value at about one hundred and fifty gold pieces. Its markings identified it as a fortress commander’s ring. The body might have belonged to Roland Ashcombe or Commander Armand, though they could not be sure. The ring gave no indication of being magical.

Oglesby placed it on top of the crypt. Pyreece placed it back inside the coffin, said a blessing over the body, and asked forgiveness for disturbing its rest.

The party settled down in the chamber. Both doors opened inward, and Pyreece rested against one of them, Audra against the other, while Tristan kept watch back down the passageway.

During their rest, Tristan woke Pyreece by nudging her face with his nose. He sensed something canine beyond the door and smelled brimstone suggesting a hellhound. Pyreece wanted Audra alerted, knowing that the two of them had rings that protected them from fire, but Tristan advised her to remain still and quiet. He thought it would be better to let the creatures pass.

Tristan reminded her of the dogs that had pursued him in the woods. This was where they had come from. He did not know how many Lyssa had left, though her attention had been turned away from defending the fortress for some time. Pyreece stayed quiet and ready. Eventually, Tristan believed the creatures had gone. He settled down nearby, and the rest of the party’s eight-hour rest passed without incident, allowing them to recover their spells.

Afterward, Pyreece quietly told the others about the hellhounds outside. The party also discussed how to use the Protection from Undead scrolls when they encountered Lyssa von Zarovich, with companions staying close enough to share the protection. Pyreece gave one scroll to Elenor and kept the other two. They did not use them yet.

Audra opened the door. Her continual light gem and Pyreece’s illuminated the misty passage beyond. Tristan believed the hellhounds had been moving back and forth, as if patrolling. After considering whether to follow them south, the party chose the nearby stairs, remembering that they needed to go up.

Kipp crept up on his hands and knees, keeping low enough to look over the top without exposing his whole body. Bones cluttered the damaged floor. Staying in the shadows, he saw a passage leading northwest, another opening northeast toward a larger room, and a door to the southwest. He returned to describe the routes to the others.

Tristan asked whether he had smelled brimstone. Now that it had been mentioned, Kipp thought he had noticed a faint trace of it. Tristan told them the hellhounds were close.

The party discussed having Oglesby scout ahead with a borrowed ring of fire resistance. Before they could put the plan into effect, Kipp heard claws clicking against stone to the northwest. Two hellhounds appeared, sniffing at the floor. He ducked down and signaled that there were two of them.

Audra and Pyreece concealed their light gems, but the hounds had already noticed the light. As it disappeared, they quickened their pace and began to howl. The planned exchange of the ring had not been completed.

The hellhounds rushed forward and breathed fire down the passage at Kipp and Pyreece. Kipp suffered a burn, while Pyreece’s ring protected her. Elenor could see the glow of the flames but could not yet get a clear view of either hound, so she waited for room to move.

Kipp struck one hellhound with his weapon. Brandy moved against the wall and fired her bow up the stairs at the other. Pyreece advanced and struck that same hound. Tristan moved forward and began a keening howl. The wounded hellhound died under its effect. The other shook its head in pain and grew more enraged.

Oglesby moved out of the way. Audra used her Boots of Levitation to rise above her companions and work her way through the cramped space, landing behind the remaining hellhound. The maneuver left her unable to attack immediately. Elenor finally stepped far enough into the hall to see the creature and killed it with Magic Missiles.

More hellhounds charged out of the darkness. Audra called a warning as four approached. Three turned and fled from Tristan’s continuing howl. The fourth pressed forward and breathed fire at Audra, but her ring protected her from injury.

Kipp attacked and missed. Brandy moved to the top of the stairs and struck the hound with an arrow. Pyreece circled behind it and landed a blow, and Audra finished it with her sword. With that creature down and the others gone from sight, Tristan stopped howling.

Audra and Pyreece uncovered their lights, and the party followed the fleeing hounds into the adjoining passages. Brandy’s infravision revealed one waiting in a far corner. As it charged toward her, she fired an arrow and hit it. Audra moved in front of it and struck, keeping herself between the hound and Brandy.

Kipp went along the other passage and saw two hellhounds charging toward him. He killed the first with both weapons, scattering its remains like ashes across the floor. Pyreece moved over to help him while Audra held the other approach. She and Tristan attacked the remaining hound together, but both missed.

The two surviving hellhounds breathed fire again. Audra was unharmed, but Tristan suffered a burn. Oglesby moved forward and watched a nearby door while Brandy fired two arrows into the hound facing Audra, killing it.

Elenor found room to use her staff sling against the last hound and hit it twice. It remained standing until Kipp moved past the one he had already killed and struck with both weapons. The final hellhound collapsed in a small, fiery heap.

Tristan looked east and pointed out another stairway. Kipp asked those carrying lights to stay back while he scouted. He crept upward again and found that the stairs ended at a narrow landing with doors to the east and west. He returned to tell the others that they could safely come to the top.

The party climbed in single file and squeezed into the narrow passage, with Tristan behind them. Oglesby made his way forward and listened at both doors. He heard nothing and found no traps. Both doors were unlocked.

They chose the eastern door. Beyond it lay a circular chamber about fifteen feet across, dominated by a statue of a beautiful, weeping woman covering her face in sorrow. Another door stood to the north.

As Audra moved around the statue and looked away toward Kipp, she thought its face suddenly changed into that of a hideous monster. She looked back, but it was once again only a weeping woman. Whenever she looked directly at it, the statue appeared unchanged. She warned the others about what she had seen.

Audra listened at the northern door and heard nothing. Oglesby checked it for traps and found none. It was unlocked, and Audra opened it.

The doorway led into a surprisingly small study. A wooden desk stood against the south wall beneath a burning lantern. Dust coated most of the room, but the desk and chair showed signs of recent use. Shelves along the eastern wall bowed beneath rolled parchments, leather-bound journals, maps, and loose papers.

The air smelled of old paper, candle wax, mildew, and chemicals. Quills, ink pots, measuring tools, and handwritten pages covered the desk. Pyreece began sorting through the notes, and the party suggested that Elenor examine them as well. A small passage also led away from the room.

The journals appeared to belong to Magister Vhalen. His early entries described Lady Lyssa’s theories as sound, as he recorded that the mists were neither wholly physical nor wholly magical. They behaved more like a living boundary between worlds. His first experiments had shown promise.

Entries from a few months later told a different story. Three subjects had been lost, and none had survived transit. One had returned partially merged with the gateway itself, screaming for nearly six hours. The portal could open and remain open, but nothing survived passage. Living tissue suffered catastrophic degradation, and even summoned creatures emerged altered.

In increasingly erratic handwriting, Vhalen had repeatedly asked why the mist rejected passengers.

One experiment lasted forty-three seconds. Its subject reached an unknown destination, but the magical tether was severed and return was impossible. Another lasted two minutes and eleven seconds. The gateway stabilized long enough for four skeletal servants to be sent through, but none returned, and Vhalen presumed them destroyed.

A later entry recorded a significant breakthrough: blood from the Zarovich line dramatically improved the portal’s stability. Lady Lyssa had ordered more testing.

The most recent notes claimed that success was close. The gateway could now remain stable for more than twenty minutes. Small objects survived transit undamaged, and undead subjects remained intact. Further improvements were expected to allow living servants to pass through.

Beside those notes, an elegant hand had written:

You have done well. Once perfected, no realm shall be beyond my reach. The failures have been instructive, and the next attempt will be made using prisoners.

The party connected the planned use of prisoners with the people they were trying to find.

Searching the shelves yielded little else of interest until they pulled out a document that stood askew among the others. It was addressed to whoever found it:

I was a fool. I believed I studied the mist. In truth, I now believe the mist studied me.

Lyssa seeks freedom from the limitations of her dread realm. She believes she can master the boundaries. She is wrong.

Every success has come at a greater cost than the last. Something beyond the gateway has begun noticing our work. And it notices us more with every opening.

If the portal still exists, destroy it. If Lyssa still lives, stop her. I fear we are no longer merely opening a door.

I fear something is trying to open it from the other side.

That is where the session ended!

Please start the recorder!

Exp: 1145 + 115 = 1260