Session Seventy-Five: Death Has No Mercy

Note: For those unfamiliar with Dark Sun, psionics are called the Will for wild talents and the Way for trained psionicists.

The group explored the monastery and met several of the monks. There were many races, mostly human and dwarf, and were all practitioners of the way. The group gathered in their small room and decided to explore the monastery, to look for the Lord of the Senses. They ate a communal dinner with the monks. The food was simple, but enjoyable.
Shade began a systematic search of every room, beginning with the empty dorters, looking for a secret door. Alaxander attempted to teleport out of the monastery, but discovered an invisible barrier blocking him. He tried to exit the monastery using other mind powers, but was unable to do so. Vashti attempted to walk out of the front door, but was politely turned away by two of the monks.
Vashti spoke to Nabil and disclosed to him that they were seeking a gem, that was able to use the way. Nabil took her to a locked room, were the monastery kept their gemstones. She looked through them and could easily determine that none of them were the Lord of the Senses.
The group then went back to their small room and discussed what they found and what to do next. They talked about being trapped by the monks, but did not believe they were in any real danger. They talked about fighting their way out, but discarded that idea. The gem was nearby and they did not want to make enemies of a large group of monks trained in the way. They decide to wait until everyone was sleeping and continue to search the monastery.

When the monastery fell quiet, the group went to explore. The door was still being watched by a couple of monks. Shade continued searching the walls, targeting the empty public areas, looking for a secret door. After a couple of hours, he found a slight indention, in the otherwise smooth walls of the library. He pushed his finger into the indent and his finger broke through a false stone veneer.

He gathered the group together in the library and told them what he found. They gently moved a scroll rack and had Kalino, Kiara, and Vashti keep watch. Then, Shade, Julius, and Alaxander slowly broke away the false stone. Alaxander used the way to dampen the sound.
Behind the false wall, there was a doorway into a small, square room. The room had an ancient agarfari door, with copper fittings. The fittings were green with age. Julius rushed forward and began trying to pry the copper off of the door.
Shade stopped him and searched the door for traps. He found none and pulled the door open. The stale air of the room choked everyone in the library and it took them a few moments to recover. On the other side of the door was a large room. There were four additional agafari wood doors, as well as two statues. The statues were of ogres, Shade knew, as he'd seen them in his visions.
Julius began taking the door apart, while Alaxander called Kiara, Kalino, and Vashti inside. While Julius was busy, the others had a discussion in the doorway. They decided to move inside.
Shade lead the group inside and promptly fell into a pit. When he did so, the two ogre statues began to move and rushed toward the group. They moved far faster than the group had expected and began pummeling Vashti and Shade.

The battle was immediately against the group, as they were having difficulty harming the statues. Alaxander finally discovered that blunt weapons, enhanced with magic or psionics, were the best weapons to use. After this discovery, the battle became more balanced, but it continued to be very difficult.

To make matters worse, there were hidden pit traps in the room, that Alaxander and Shade kept discovering. Alaxander used one of the pits to his advantage and pushed one of the statues into it. It climbed out, but bought them some valuable time.

One of statues struck Vashti several times and she refused to flee. She fought bravely, but the statue eventually wore her down and delivered a devastating blow. Vashti collapsed to the ground, in a bloody heap.

In the end, the group defeated the statues and could clearly see that they were hardened clay, not stone. Kiara rushed to Vashti and checked her body. Kiara took a deep breath and told the group that Vashti was dead.

The group gathered around Vashti's broken body. Her blood, mixed with sap, stained the stone ground below. Minutes passed and no one said a word. Kalino could hold it in no longer and openly wept, forfeiting his moisture to his grief.

Join us in two weeks for another exciting session of Adventures Under the Dark Sun. 
2nd edition AD&D Dark Sun Cast of Player Characters 
Julius: Human male psychokinetic. 22 years old. Played by Dave. Speaks Balican, Tyrian, and Giant. 
Alaxander: Human male psychokinetic. 18 years old. Played by Ben. Speaks Balican, Tyrian, and Elf. 
Vashti: Human female clairsentient/water cleric. 20 years old. Played by my wife. Speaks Nibnese, Gith, Tyrian, Balican, and Urikite. 
Shade: Half-Elf male ranger/thief, 18 years old. Played by Chad. Speaks Balican, Elf and Tyrian. 
Kalino: Human male fighter/preserver. 20 years old. NPC. Speaks Rammin, Tyrian, and Balican.
Kiara: Human female fighter/templar, 22 years old. NPC. Speaks Urikite, Raamin, and Tyrian.