# Return to the Known Lands - of Stone Men and Spider Cults
# Sessions #33 and #34 (9/26/21 and 11/7/21)

## PCs:

* Frakus (Dwarf FM 2)
* Osan (Elf F/MU 4/2)
* Omes (Half FM 4)
* Arro (MU 3)

## NPCs:

* Marnes (Cleric 4)
* Burdar (Dwarf FM 1)
* Toetag, Turmyr (FM 1)
* Truck (charmed ogre)

## Hirelings:

* Arvay (Wagon driver)
* Samtik (Porter)

## Session Notes:

The party returned to the dungeon on the hill as soon as they were
rested and back to full strength. At the dungeon entrance, they
found the same tent but this time staffed by an Ogre and eight
Gnolls, but still demanding a toll for entrance. Judging from the
bodies strewn about the ruins atop the hill, Arro surmised that this
group had replaced the last one forcefully.

There was a tense negotiation which almost ended in blows, save for
Osan's charm spell. He was able to convince Truck the now-charmed
Ogre to join them in the dungeon, and the group wasted no time.
They made a beeline for the second level, to an area they had not
yet explored.

The group descended a long stair, entering into a finished chamber
where they saw six of the stone-skinned humanoids (Kamenni) they had
previously encountered on the first level [0]. These Kamenni did not
know the party, and were not as friendly as the last group they had
encountered - the Kamenni rushed and attacked as soon as the party
entered the room (LL note - terrible reaction roll).

While the Kamenni were outnumbered, one of them was able to petrify
opponents with a touch, and both Omes and Truck were stone statues
by the end of the melee. On the body of that Kamenni, Arro found a
pouch of gems and a vial of dark red liquid (LL note - basilisk
blood). He decided to taste a small bit of the liquid, and felt his
limbs briefly stiffen and then return to normal when but a drop
touched his tongue.

Frakus hoisted the stone body of Omes onto his shoulder and the
group started back to town, however after exiting the dungeon, and
as they were walking down the hill, Omes returned to flesh
form. Realizing the petrification effect was short-lived, they
rushed back to the second level, intent on finding Truck the
Ogre. They got back too late, however, and Truck was gone by the
time they returned. In his place was a Kamenni woman, who demanded
to know who had killed the men in her clan. Osan, thinking quickly,
told her the party was searching for an Ogre and that the Ogre had
most likely killed the six Kamenni men. The woman vowed to hunt and
kill the Ogre, with the help of a pet lizard she called "Spot".

She led the party east into a room with straw on the floor and a
large leather harness hanging on the wall but otherwise empty. The
female Kamenni said that Spot must have wandered again, and ran off
to tell the other females in the clan what had transpired.

The party decided to leave the Kamenni for now, and headed north,
with Frakus and his darkvision scouting ahead. Frakus soon came
running back, telling the party that he had seen a large lizard,
maybe a basilisk, in the corridors up north. They decided it was
best to avoid the lizard and headed east, through a door into a
large chamber.

This appeared to be a library, or was at one time. Inside they found
a hidden strongbox with 50 gold spider-embossed coins, and several
tomes with odd-looking writing. To the south was a smaller room with
an altar, on top of which was a large spider frozen in an
amber-colored, hard substance. Next to the spider in amber they
could see a dagger and several more of the spider coins.

Frakus grabbed the dagger, and Omes went to gather the coins - but
as he lifted the first coin from the altar, the amber exploded,
releasing the spider. Both Omes and Turmyr were wounded by the amber
shards, but the party made quick work of the spider. Inside a hidden
compartment in the altar's base was a dark metal amulet on a chain
with a spider inscribed on its face. The party gathered their loot
and returned to town.

## LL Notes:

The players were disappointed they lost yet another charmed
Ogre. They were never able to find him in the dungeon that day.

The Kamenni I made a bit tougher by having some of them drink
basilisk blood, which gave them the limited turn-to-stone
power. Other humanoids who drink basilisk blood are not immune to
its effects, and can be turned to stone permanently by the smallest
taste. Arro got lucky with his save after tasting the blood.

Back in Larm, Arro used a read languages spell to study the tomes
recovered from the spider temple, gaining a "spider climb" spell for
his spell books. The spider amulet worked as a general ward against
spiders of all sorts, as long as the bearer were not themselves
attacking.

[0]: gopher://gopher.smolderingwizard.com/0/rpg/play_reports/known-lands/return-known-lands-21.txt