Black Box: La Llamada de los dioses - Sessions 38 to 45

In today's post I gave you a quick summary of sessions 38 to 45 of the campaign La Llamada de los dioses (also known as the Black Box) I'm refeering with my usual game group at La Cofradia del rol, to read the previous campaign sessions you may follow these links: #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 #16 #17 #18 #19 #20 #21 #22 #23 #24 #25 #26 #27 #28 #29 #30 #31 #32 #33 #34 #35 #36 #37

The normal course of this campaign was interrumped by the Covid 19 pandemic, preventing us from being able to normally gather for quite some time and when we finally could do it not all of us could be present. All of these also caused the sessions to not be included in the blog (I really wasn't in the mood).

But now, with the situation seeming to improve (*) we are back into it with renovated encouragement anf due to this here you have this summary that, as always, can have spoilers.

(*) Yes, I know there's a war in Ukraine and the situation is worsening every day, but when I was preparing this summary the war hadn't began yet and as many others I didn't believe the situation would go so far.

Session #38

Assistant chronicler: Alex

In previous session the group reached a misterious door with strange inscriptions, but instead of going ahead they dedcided to closely study a door near to this, which had pretty carved elfic inscriptions about a once powerful king, and had the sensation that the place was brimming with magic.

At the rock near the door they saw the bloodstained eye the followers of Penumbra carved to spread their evil faith, which led them to closely watch the door, allowing Rhael the bucaneer (who they meet in session #37) to deactivate the electric trap that would fulminate any careless guy trying to open it.

Opening the door they found a passageway decorated with a black and white tiles checkered floor and, at the end, another door waiting them. Of course the passageway contained traps which would activate when they stepped on a given tile, so they were thinking for a while how they could pass, until they take into acount that the bloodstained tears of the Penumbra eye could be a map helping them to cross the passageway and Luna the half-elf activated part of the trap with a test throwing of a rucksack, which got incinerated when landed on a tile (and she nearly got roasted).

Mimic
Mimic by Kidgalactus on Newgrounds
(CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Guided by Belacqua, the half-elf magician, they crossed the passageway and reached the other door safe and sound, after opening it they discovered a magnificent room with 12 statues of kings of antiquity giving way to a lavish throne and three chests at their feet. Of course players knew that inside the chests could be treasure, but these could also be protected by traps and thus Rhael suffered the effects of a Death spell trying to open one of these (it didn't finish him) and Flynn the cleric had to face and defeat a mimic, a monster imitating one of the chests, which atacked him when trying to approach.

Here lies Rhael
He sat down where he should not

Once all the treasures that could be found were recovered the group was about to leave, but Rhael's player thought of sitting on the throne, something that immediately transported him to some other place and the other characters couldn't do anything to remedy it or helping him... Oh well, the player will have to make another character.

Session #39

Assistant chronicler: Ero

A chest...

After leaving the throne's room and the checkered passageway the group continued exploring the different caverns and reached a cave with a pedestal in the middle, with a chest lying over it...

Of course all of this was very suspicious, so they decided to take it easy and investigate he zone, something that allowed Flynn the cleric and Hassba the assassin to detecte and deactivate a trap, consisting in a net full of metallic remanants and other junk which would have fallen onto the group. After deactivating this trap they observed the chest from a distance, and because they were quite uneasy about some other traps it could contain they got creatives and Belacqua, the half-elf mage, and Alanna, the paladin, decided to shot two arrows against the two locks sealing it, so it opened and they could take a look inside discovering a Restore Scroll they proceeded to recover.

After this discovery the group retraced their steps and reached an intersection were, thanks to Alanna and her ability to Detect Evil, they discovered in time a procession of Penumbra followers formed by one of the evil clerics, a dark elf and an orc patrol. In the confrontation that took place afterwards Belacqua immobilized part of the orcs with a Spiderweb spell while the rest of the group faced the dark elf and the cleric and quickly defeated themwith the help of steel, spells and some Critical roll attacks.

Underground lake

After throwing off this so annoying company the group of characters went ahead exploring and reached a cave with an inner lake and a long-necked water creature living there (a catoblepas) that seemed to ignore them at first. Taking advantage of the cave walls being high enough Flynn used his ability to Levitate (lets remember that the character had acquired this marvelous magical ability due to player's compulsive mania of drawing cards from a magic deck they had discovered previously) and began to investigate the place, discovering at the bottom of the lake something that catched his attention and that seemed a helmet and carefully procedeed to retrieve it without suffering any mishap (although Alanna had to make a Saving Throw against Petrification to avoid the paralyzing gaze of the creature). The helmet, which was magical and gave benefits to the Armor Class (AC) was given to Alanna as a compensation for the scare.

Getting on with the exploration the characters got into another chamber where they discovered a group of orcs around a battered halfling who obviously had been tortured by them. Discovering this made them to jump into combat without hesitation and Belacqua made good use of spells Sleep and Magical Projectile while her companions joined the melee and two of the orcs died due to the strange ailment which in previous sessions afflicted others of their kind (you know: reddened eyes and blood pouring from their ears).

After having finished the torturers the characters tried to reanimate the poor halfling, but they couldn't do nothing for him because he had died from his wounds. Searching into his poor belongings they found a hand-written note with indications of something that seemed a treasure map so they took it with them.

The halfling
Hobbit by AngryCookie on DeviantArt
(CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

After praying to Valion for the soul of the poor halfling the playing characters carried on with the exploration and reached a cave, surely a temple, with a great number of Penumbra followers congregated there (clerics, orcs and an ogre) worshipping a strange and horrible statue that surely wsas consecrated to the evil god.

Of course the player characters jumped into battle, but they found some rather unexpected difficulties, because Flynn couldn't Levitate and Belacqua's Ice Storm spell didn't show up, which took the half-elf magician to notice the unusual detail of the statue seeming to slightly shine (which would mean there was a field negating use of magics). The situation seemed to got very complicated for the characters, because Flynn fell victim of the spell Retain Person casted by one of the clerics and his comrades were facing a horde of enemies giving no quarter, when they experienced again the strange phenomenon that took place other times: part of their enemies began to leak blood from eyes and ears while thye fell to the ground holding their head with shaky hands.

After they became victorious once more the characters decided to rest in the temple, but first they make sure to desacralize the horrible idol whith hammer-blows to disable the field annulating their magical powers. During the time they spent recovering in the temple they kept hearing noises and shriekings nearby, troubling those charged with watches...

The next morning the group of characters got back and reached one of the nearby caves, which also seemed to had been a temple and from there they heard howling that didn't seem to foreshadow anything good...

Session #40

Assistant chronicler: Angel

The player characters went inside the temple ruins they had discovered in the previous session and discovered some strange footprints in the dusty ground while they continued to hear some strange howlings echoing in the cavern.

Then Flynn decided to Levitate to better observe the cavern and discovered some gargoyles which immediately fell over the group, so he decided to Bless to help them in the battle that took place next.

Werewolf

While they fought the creatures they realized that a pair of reddened eyes were looking at them from the cave darkness and, before they could react, a frightful beast came out of the shadows and joined the melee: a werewolf that began to attack the gargoyles and the player characters alike, until they managed to finish the winged monsters and retain it, inflicting enough wounds to adopt his human form and realize that it was Meler, the mystic that had become a lycanthrope in session #19.

Shocked by this discovery the player characters tried by all means to heal their former comrade, but the attempt by Flynn of using the Cure Disease spell wasn't successful, the cleric looking at his mad eyes and acknowledging that Meler was beyond any help they could give him. Before they could do anything else the mystic hastily ran away and went into the caves' labyrinth.

After resting and recovering from the daunting vision of Meler and his current state the player characters went on exploring and reached a room with a locked door and a strange inscription, written with very old elfic characters:

“Stay away from my gate, visitor, because who has beholden the face of the Eternal, don't want your presence”

The player characters, a bunch of paranoics (rightly), soon suspected a trap in the door, so Belacqua decided that best option was to get away enough and attack the door with her Magic Missile spell, blowing up the explosive trap and the the door, allowing them to go inside some luxurious quarters they proceed to search for all that could be useful, finding some Cure Critical Wounds potions, a Paralyze Monster scroll and a Teleport one as well as a spell book and a considerable amount of mail between the dark elf Vardor (remember, the greatest enemy of the characters) and the Penumbra forces outside the island describing the terrible war the Darknes foreces are waging against those of the Light.

After these findings they decided to rest in the chamber and blocked the entrance with a barricade made of the door remains and other furniture, the players (a bit greedy and oblivious) also decided to push their luck with the magic cards deck.

Session #41

Assistant chronicler: Ero

After carrying out Flynn's levels up (by obtaining enough experience points and drawing out the magic card specifying it in the previous session) the group continued their course through the mazelike volcano bowels and, instead of going to the great cave with a lake of fire in it as they had decided (a bit cowards, isn't it?) they double back to face again the misterious portal they had discovered in session #37 and its inscription:

“No hay vida sin muerte, ni luz sin oscuridad.
Que la vía del destino te guie hasta Penumbra”

🔽 🔽 🔽

"There's no life without death, nor light without darkness.
May the way of fate guide you to Penumbra"

After some moments of doubt Flynn inferred that the inscription letters were part of a trap (logical, isn't it?), so Luna and Lena began to study one each and every one of the letters to reason (once they got the corresponding rolls to study its wear and tear) that the most interesting for them to study were those forming the word Vida (Life)...

And here Hassba touched the not so correct letter (no, I won't say you which one) and his character dissapeared thanks to a Desintegration spell and a failed Saving Throw, so in the next session Ero, the player carrying this character, will have to make a new one.

Here lies Hassba
He touched the not so correct letter

After the dissapearance of their companion, the rest of the group guessed the correct letter and the doors opened with a short creak, allowing them to behold a huge chamber plunged in the most absolute darkness...

Because the characters were unsure about penetrating this evil and godless darkness, they decided that it was better to proceed stucked to the inner walls of the cave allowing the enemies to come to them, and so it happened when dark elf patrols began to attack them while they were barely advancing.

Finally, after a time that seemed eternal to them, they reached the gates of a dungeon protected by a pair of dark elf guardians they easily defeated. Inside the prison they found a dying man, victim of countless tortures and with both legs amputated. Seeing the player characters he said his name was Rugious Elmegar, leader of the mercenaries tricked and killed by the followers of Penumbra, and asked them to finish with his missery killing him and also to avenge him. To achieve this he revealed them the existence of a secret chamber at the south of the temple, inside it there was a weapon so letal and terrible that even dark elfs will get frightened.

After fullfilling with Elmegar's last wish the player characters used a few quiet moments to prepare for the next attacks, then Luna changed into a duck (it's worth to remember that in session #34 she draw a card from the magical deck that wasn't very useful) and Belacqua decided to use the Restoration Scroll to remove the curse.

Drider
Spider Queen by slshimerdla on DeviantArt
(CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

A little later more dark elfs and driders (beings half woman and half giant spiders) moved against their position but the player characters succeed to resist their attacks, hoping to leave safe and sound of this complicated situation soon.

Session #42

Assistant chronicler: Amaia

The player characters keep resisting as they can the attacks of dark elfs with steel and magic, until Belacqua recognized at the middle of the temple a statue of Gorgost, the god worshipped by the dark elfs and, thanks to a timely and successful Arcane Knowledge roll, discover that its pressence may be helping their enemies, so the group decided to take the risk and went inside the temple facing all types of physical and magical attacks finally reaching The statue of Gorgost and attacking it, provoking more attacks by driders which were still near.

After the bloody combat the player characters cautiously retreated to the dungeons where they found Rugious Elmegar and decided to rest. In one of the watches they discovered, to their surprise, that an old acquitance of of Flynn and Belacqua was closing in: an individual known as Haidut (Ero's new character), a thief they meet at the Drunken Goblin inn and that also had been dragged by the blue light and energy vortex that had surrounded them dureng the fire and zombie attack (see session #21).

After comparing notes the group decided to search for the place refered by Rugious Elmegar, so they once more got across the temple and went near the hidden chamber where such a fabulous weapon was guarded, with Haidut activating its opening mechanism and discovering inside a stone sarcophagus with the inscription “Aerin” carved with golden letters in the tombstone and a wall painting of unsettling realism, showing a beautiful elf holding with his hands a bright sword piercing a dragon's belly.

Elf and dragon
Girl VS Dragon by SandraCharlet on DeviantArt
(CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Haidut began to examine the wall and conclude that the sword was hidden behind the painting and that the wall could be easily broken to recover it, said and done and after a light strike the wall break up and the got to recover it: a long sword shining in darkness with silver hues.

Having recovered a so marvelous weapon the player characters withdraw and keep exploring the underground complex, facing dark elfs that were keeping watch at the temple rear and easily overcoming them.

Session #43

Assistant chronicler: Ero

Player characters had explored almost all this sublevel and they have a few places to look at, so they began to search the way allowing them to keep going down to lower levels, although they aren't quite sure which way.

So they briefly explored a bridge descending over the lava lake until ending abruptly in a room with a couple of double doors flanked by four statues with empty eye sockets, two to each side, representing a demon holding a flame with his raised hand, an avatar fighting sea waves, a necrarium rising from earth depths and finally a strange winged spawn.

At their feet, over the room's floor, were the following gemstones: two blue aquamarine, two black onyxes, two crimson rubies and two translucent diamonds...

Morlock

You may be thinking that players wanted to do something with the gemstones, isn't it? Well, no. They decided to keep wandering into the cave system, taking them to contact an albino and ape-like humanoid tribe (morlocks) who weren't specially aggresive and refused to communicate with them, moving away when they got near, looking at them suspiciously.

The only benefit for player characters visiting the morlocks' lair was Luna discovering a tunnel descending to the lower levels of the complex, something that can be useful later on.

The next contact with ape-like creatures wasn't so benevolent, because they faced a cavern yeti and a group of white gorillas living near, which came to be very agresive and territorial, although this wasn't helpful when facing the player characters.

After the combat the group retreated to the morlock's lair to rest. To avoid them to feel akward with their presence or willing to attack them Belacqua used the Sleep spell, allowing all to rest and explore the secret tunnel discovered before, even though resting was something relative, because Lena spent quite a time turned into a duck (you know what happens when you start drawing cards from a magic deck in a crazy way...).

Once rested they returned to the hall with the strange statues and did what was logical: put the gemstones in the statues' empty eye sockets and doing it correctly to avoid any incident with magic tramps or suchlike (no, I won't tell you the right position, but it shouldn't be difficult to guess, isn't it?) and the double doors opened to show the entrance to the next level.

Did the player characters followed the recently opened way to the depths?

The black stone fortress...

No, they did not. Instead they decided to visit a huge cavern they had left behind in previous explorations, with a lava lake and an island in the middle and a granite bridge to access it. On the island an impressive black stone fortress rises, with battlements scraping the cavern's ceiling.

Looking at the bridge they saw it would be highly dangerous to cross it, because magma streams kept to splash the structure and also, in the other side, a pair of hell dogs were waiting, undeterred, and keeping watch.

How to cross then the fire chasm to explore the island and not have to face its guardians? Here the imagination and skill of the players to take advantage of the character's abilities intervened, because in one way or another (by spells or abilities given by magic cards) part of them (Belacqua, Flynn and Lena) are able to Fly / Levitate. Once the plan was devised they arranged in couples and with the help of binding ropes they ascended to the cave ceiling and began to cling on the rocks to reach the island.

And all seemed good until, when approaching the island, were surprised by gargoyles coming out from the fortress and atacking them, so they reached the cyclopean construction as quick as they could to take shelter and resist the attack, getting into an inner courtyard where they faced a rat horde, but nothing that some burning oil and a good fire couldn't sort out.

After this so rough arrival they devoted themselves to observe the fortress' structures and realized two things: it was a building showing obvious signs of antiquity and decay, it was also unusually large, gargantuan might be said. It was so much that when getting on the lock of one of the gates in the yard, they saw that half a body could pass through his eye...

Session #44

Assistant chronicler: Amaia

Fire giant
RIFT - Fire Colossus by bramLeech on DeviantArt
(CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

With player characters already inside the fortress they turned to explore it, trying to make full use of possible advantages the place could gave to them (Haidut, for instance, found a banded armour suit), and finally decided to face what they already assumed was waiting for them inside the fortress, nothing but a fire giant armed with war hammer fit to size.

The combat consequently was epic and for a moment they thought they couldn't defeat the giant, but thanks to the Ice Storm spell by Bellacqua, the half-elf magician, and Alanna's, the paladin, attacks they finally succeed in defeating him.

Underworld dog
Power of magma by Azany on DeviantArt
(CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

It might be thought that all was over, but the player characters wanted to continue investigating the fortress, so it took them to face the gargoyles still inside and then go up to the top of one of the towers, where they were discovered by the hell hounds that, worried by their master abscense, had began to scrutinize the building surroundings. Seeing them in the fortress the hell beasts began to climb it using their physical strength and taking advantage of any cavity where to secure their paws, something player characters thought to be impossible but they were doing it, getting dangerously near, so they began to attack them at distance with all they could throw, but this didn't avoid the underworld dogs reaching the top of the tower and incinerating Luna and Lena with their breath attack before Belacqua could kill them.

Here lie Luna and Lena
Both burned

Session #45

Assistant chronicler: El Dado Inquieto (Me)

And after nearly two years after the beginning of the pandemic we resume the campaign La llamada de los dioses having reunited almost all the players' group and some new incorporation, meaning that Kris has a new character, Bobby the explorer, replacing Luna (dead by the hot breath of underworls dogs in the previous session) and we also have Ecmo the druid.

Un dungeon en una página - 2017 edition

In this preparatory session the stars were Bobby and Ecmo an the other players were extras with characters created with the ruleset Vieja Escuela by Grapas & Mapas and the adventure played was Sangre para la Reina Abeja (Blood for the Queen Bee), winner of the contest Un Dungeon en una página 2017 edition and written by José Carlos “Kha” Domínguez (Un paladín en el Infierno | Twitter), author of the retroclone Axis Mundi, published by 77Mundos.

What will happen in next sessions?

As is customary to say:

To be continued...

The graphical elements of these post without proper credits are created with elements from

Freepik and Openclipart.

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