Down the Rabbit Hole

The party was in a pub in Bath, having just listened to Avalon tell them that he believed that a rebel wizard from his home world of Arcadia, named Twynillios, was behind the recent attacks on the party. While they were still trying to digest this news, Joe received a phone call. He stepped out to take it, then returned and took Ice aside for a private conversation. When they returned, Ice was looking nervously over his shoulder, and Joe was even grimmer than usual.

The party spent some time discussing how to get some more armaments off the private jet that James and Mary had chartered to fly them to Cardiff. After a few hours, Joe slipped quietly away, and was gone for close to an hour. When he returned, he asked for the party's attention. It seemed he had continued to be in contact with the Qabbal, and that they believed that Joe and Ice were responsible for Harry's murder. He gave Jerry a URL that linked to a video from one of the security cameras in Harry's home.. It shows a well furnished room; the front wall is made of irregular stone blocks and a large, flat-panel TV screen hangs on it. The left wall is glass, although the darkness outside prevents you from seeing the view. A leather couch faces the television, and a man is sitting on it, watching Glen Beck on TV. You can only see the back of his head.

Suddenly, three people appear in the bottom of the frame. However, there’s no discontinuity in the television program being shown. All three have their backs to the camera at this point; the one on the left is a very large black man, the one in the center is of average height and wears a dark hoodie, and the one on the right is a stocky white man with close-cropped dark hair. A small object flies through the air from off-screen and hits the back of the couch; it’s impossible to tell just what it is (a rock?). Simultaneously, the person on the couch leaps to his feet and turns to face the intruders. You can now recognize that it’s Harry. He is shouting and gesturing (as if casting spells), but nothing happens. The person on the left rushes around the couch and grabs Harry from behind. You can now recognize that it is Ice! He pins Harry’s arms back and holds him while he struggles. The man on the right moves forward, unrolling a length of white cloth in his hands. He looks back, as if at someone off camera, and you recognize him as Joe. He wraps the cloth several times around Harry’s neck and pulls down sharply, forcing him to bend double at the waist. The third man moves forward. You can now see he is holding a katana at his side, but he keeps his back to the camera. He stands beside Harry, raises the sword, and in one swift motion severs his head. Blood sprays all over Ice and Joe, and Joe staggers back as the head he’s pulling on comes free. At the same moment, the hooded figure drops to the floor, out of sight behind the couch. Ice lets Harry’s body fall, and picks up the hooded figure. He (she?) is twitching, but his face is still invisible as Ice carries him off camera.

Joe explained that the Qabbal obtained this video from Costa Rica, and based on it, they believe that at least he and Ice (and maybe the rest of the party) killed Harry. They want Joe to come in to talk to them. They know that Joe's here in Bath, and they've sent a hit squad to stake out the hotel where they believe he is staying. Joe wants to go talk to them - he says they've always played it square with him, despite the fact that his study of the Hebrew bible has revealed that they are actually space aliens from another planet (?!?). However, he fears things could turn nasty, and asks if the party would give him some backup.

The party was surprisingly upbeat at the prospect of taking on the Qabbal, viewing it as a way of picking up some free weapons and saving a drive back to Cardiff. Joe led them to the hotel, pointed out the team that was unobtrusively covering all the exits, then he and Ice walked boldly into the hotel lobby. Two men got out of a van parked nearby and followed them in; the party saw them meet Joe and Ice in the lobby, and then head off towards the hotel bar, out of sight. The party waited anxiously outside for the sound of gunshots and explosions.

Which never came. About half an hour later, Joe and Ice reemerged, along with the two Qabbal members. One of them appeared to speak into a radio headset, and the hit squad members left their posts and converged on them. Again the party braced for combat, but instead the hit squad turned handed over weapons and ammo to Joe! Apparently Joe and Ice had convinced the Qabbal of their innocence, and had even gotten them to help outfit the party. They came away with a couple of silenced MAC-10's, a couple of Baretta's, and a stack of clips for each.

After picking up a few more guns from Cardiff (you can never have too many, right?), the party at last made their way to Stonehenge. Avalon faced the party with a solemn expression. “Once again, I have to ask too much of you. You were chosen by the gods, and I can avow that you were well-chosen indeed. I don’t know into what danger you now pass, but I know that the fate of our worlds is again in your hands. Go now with my gratitude and my respect.”

He will then began to invoke the ritual. As the party stood in the center of the circle of stones, they began to feel a faint humming in the air around them. The night had been overcast, but directly above them a circle of open sky appeared in the clouds. The stars are bright, and begin grow brighter. Their light takes on a bluish tint, and suddenly the pinpoints of light turn into streaks, red at their far ends and hot blue at the near end. The party feels as if they are being stretched impossibly thin, as thin as the streaks of starlight, and then everything went black …

The party tumbled down onto a hard, rough surface, surrounded by inky blackness. The surface on which they lay was cold and damp, and felt like stone. An occasional hard, irregular object clattered across the floor as they attempted to move in the darkness. Once they produced a light source, they found themselves at the bottom of a pit, roughly 40’ in diameter. The walls of the pit ascend out of the range of their lights. The floor is littered with bones, perhaps half a dozen skeletons-worth; they appear to be very old. There are no signs of any arms or armor, nor of any clothing. There are narrow cracks and fissures in the walls around them, but no doors or openings.

After examining their surroundings, and regretting the fact that Jerry had already used his only Fly spell to help James get weapons out of his plane without going through customs, James decided to try climbing the wall of the pit, while everyone else settled in to watch. When James was about 25' up the wall, they became aware of  a red glow coming from up the shaft, where before there had been only darkness. As they watched, it grew brighter, and they became aware of a strange sound, a combination of high-pitched chittering and a low whooshing roar. James began scrambling back down the wall and Chuck just had time and foresight to cast a Protection from Fire on himself, when the glow resolved itself into dozens of huge bats, each engulfed in roaring flames.

The bats began to attack the party, attempting to attach themselves and feed on their blood. The real danger, however, were the roaring flames surrounding each bat. Each party member (except Chuck) began to take damage. 

At the same time, they became aware of a new threat. While they were looking up at James and then the flaming bats, they hadn't noticed a group of crystalline creatures that had appeared, apparently emerging directly through the rock walls. Each had half a dozen stumpy, faceted feet, and a long appendage something like a scorpion's tail rising from the center of its body, which it used to stab at the party members. These quickly became the focus of the party's attacks, as their damage was even more debilitating than the flaming bats.

Several of the bats went down, but there always seemed to be more to take their place. Despite all the trouble they had gone to to equip themselves with firearms, most of the party was attacking with swords or maces, but they found that it was difficult to score a hit on the hard glassy surface of the crystalline creatures with an edged weapon; finally in exasperation Mary pulled out one of the MAC-10's and promptly blew away one of the beasts, while Joe managed to off another with Hito-kaze, his sword. Chuck, thanks to his Protection from Fire, was able to ignore the bats, and was casting spells at a furious pace, far faster than normal. Phil on the other hand was turning into the human torch; he had three bats attached to him and was spending all his time casting healing on himself just to stay alive. The party was in dire straits as the evening ended ...

DM Notes

This was our first time playing 2nd Edition AD&D rules in over a year, and it showed. Most people forgot to ask for Stoneskins from the party's MUs, and those that did get them forgot about them when combat started. In addition, as DM I forgot that Chuck's Protection from Evil 10' Radius spell would have given my critters a -2 on their To-Hit rolls. I'll think about how to retroactively correct for that before we start again next week. (And Dave, I did double check, and these creatures would not have been prevented from making physical contact by the spell. I'll explain why when the time is right.)

Also, I think folks might want to review the attack values for firearms, particularly the number of attacks per round. I think you may find that there were good reasons for hauling all those guns and ammo along with you. Also a reminder to keep track of your ammo use. You need to know when you need to reload, and at some point you'll run out of bullets.

We'll be at Joette & Rich's next week.