Participants
Rose "Silver" Thorn Russ'Ruk Bhitzaoji Ocitra Zinthu Jadegazer Stewart Kristoffen Elric Leonard Leighton Yrwin Ash
Locations The living dungeon in the Millennium Forest beyond Greenside Farmstead, currently relocated
Short summary:
Scouts were getting lost in the Millenium Woods, and we decided to investigate it. What we have found was a dungeon filled with tartaurs and their bigger cousins. A host referred to that place as 'Maze of Despair'.
Upon overcoming a series of trials and challenging our host's general, what we uncovered was that the dungeon itself was a living being, and we were unwilling examinators of a new member of the church of Baphomet that originates in Old World. Although possibility of their return was mentioned, there is only a faint likelyhood of that.
Full Report
On a faithful day, a group of valiant adventurers had been tasked to investigate issues with getting lost, and rumours of goat-headed beings possibly responsible for this predicament.
Upon exchanging information and hypotheses regarding the possible nature of the issue, we have decided to follow the direction scouts had spoke of. Upon arriving at the destination, what we encountered at first was not any goat headed creature, but multiple bears seemingly made of fruit. Only then we saw creature possibly responsible, who entered a trapdoor in the middle of the forest.
However, to reach said trapdoor, we needed to take care of the bears first. Our attempt at stealth went south, and we were forced to make a fruit salad out of the surprisingly dangerous creatures.
Upon finally reaching the trapdoor, Zinthu being a skilled lockpick he is, begun working his magic. Unfortunately, magic was cast on the lock itself, making it extremely difficult to pick. In the end, we relied on brute force of our kobold friend Russ'ruk.
Under the trapdoor, we have found a ladder that lead us into a room that a disembodied voice described as "First floor of the Maze of Despair!". Despite calling it a maze, its layout was really simplistic, and what we have encountered there was merely few of the creatures like the one we saw before entering through the trapdoor. Upon dealing with the hostile force of what we have discovered are called Tartaurs, we found ourselves in a chamber with multiple statues depicting the Demon Lord Baphomet, another tartaur and a bull it was taking care of. Upon considering our options, Zinthu offered a riddle, which the tartaur accepted, opening a hidden passageway to the next part of the maze. Or rather, to a hallway that lead us to stairway leading down to the second floor, where next challenge awaited us.
That happened to be a series of heavily trapped hallways, full of not only mechanical traps, but also magical ones and ones activated by resident tartaurs. Not unscathed, we managed to cross them all and descent upon the third floor.
There we have found another trapdoor, this time locked behind 12 locks which this time required us to gather all 12 keys:
- Six of them were guarded by larger versions of the tartaurs, also known as minotartaurs;
- One we snatched from a sleeping guard without waking it up, this one, however, was rigged to create a fiery explosion when used on its lock. This trap was rendered useless, thanks to magical hand that allowed us to trigger the trap from a safe distance;
- Two keys were given as a prize for a successful gamble - two minotartaurs fought each other, and clearly one was winning. Since small interferences were approved, some of us took advantage of the forgiving interference rules, and rigged the game in our favor, winning us two keys and some gold;
- One key was embedded inside a body of another tartaur, forcing us to extract it without triggering bombs that surrounded it;
- Final key was hidden in a chamber among other keys, forcing us to identify the right one.
With all 12 keys gathered, one final challenge stood before us - a tartaur general, referred to by the host as "Minoterrible"
He was a powerful and intelligent foe, challenging our strength and tactics. However, it appears that it was not his goal to kill us, given that when I, Stewart, foolishly exposed myself, summoned a tartaur doctor who made sure I didn't die, and who has done the same to Russ'ruk.
Once the fight was over, another entity reveled itself. As it turns out, what we have entered was a rare occurence of a living, sentient dungeon, a member of the church of Baphomet. As per their own words, now that the "examination" of our host was over, they will be returning to the Old World.
A possibility of return was mentioned, but nothing more.