Shard Saga – Frightful tremors part 3

In part 1, you read about hags and killer kitties. In part 2, you found a dangerous descending darkness. And here in part 3, you will face the most unimaginable horror of all…

“Straight ahead is a tunnel cloaked in gloom and black.” said the DM. “You hear some scuttling noises up ahead. The sound of metal hitting stone breaks the silence of the tunnel, but the expected clatter of metal rolling and bouncing was absent.”

I could feel the fear of my friends suffocating me…

“Instead, you hear the sound of rustling sand, faint and ominous. There was another series of scuttling from another part of the tunnel…” continued the DM.

“RUST MONSTER!!” roared the friend closest to me, and almost succeeded in deafening me. The other players almost literally went up in flames. The uproar was unimaginable. And somehow serene and beautiful, as evidenced by the ever so slight smile on my DM’s face.

“Oh yes, in the middle of the chamber, you see a sword and a set of plate mail.” beamed the DM. That started another series of swearing. I honestly believe I’ve never heard some of the swear words.

I’ve heard about this rust monster, but never seen how it elicited such emotions. This will be interesting…

So after the furore died down, we decided to explore the left tunnel first. Slithering and hissing sounds aside, a Medusa must be easier to deal with than a rust monster, right?

Entering the left tunnel, Kepler saw these:

Ok, those stone statues looked welcoming… Then Kepler saw a light at the far end. It illuminated a woman, its female silhouette clearly shown through the wispy silk screen. None of the party members were fooled. Each drew forth their weapons and charged. (Does this count as player fore knowledge? Would a character had known he was facing a Medusa?)

The avenger got hit by the Medusa’s stone-turning gaze. His movements slowed. Failed his savings throw. Then he got immobilised. Still failed his savings throw. The bard was getting worried. All of us were. If the avenger failed once more, his eyes would turn grey, and his flesh would turn to stone.

The d20 fell. It dropped slowly, spinning ponderously, as a leaf blown hither and thither by a breeze. The die bounced once. Then it stopped. A roar issued forth from the avenger player. “YES!”

“Hmm…” glanced the DM at the die.

The fight went on and the party defeated the Medusa. But their victory seemed hollow as they trudged back into the chamber leading to the rust monster’s lair. The fighter wearily walked over to the sword and plate mail. He sheathed his own glowing, magical and beautiful sword, and reached down to grab the dull, grey and lifeless metal sword. He sighed. Kepler could have sworn he saw tears. And that’s an awesome feat, because the fighter was a Warforged (a non-carbon lifeform. Basically an advanced form of robot).

Scuttling sounds.

The party braced themselves and walked in.

The sword of the fighter and the axe of the barbarian withered away as they attacked the rust monster. The rest of the party stayed away to keep clear of its rusting attacks. Kepler just lobbed Acid Orbs at it.

It died, and there was a sigh of relief from the players.

Then these came along.

Since it was still the same encounter, the rust effect was still on. The fighter threw the rusting normal sword away and drew his magic sword. The monsters weren’t tough.

After the fight, it was dinner time. I mean in the real world. I don’t think zombie meat tastes good.

One of the players had to go soon, so our DM wrapped things up. There was supposed to be one last encounter, one with a bronze dragon. The DM’s goal was achieved though. He wanted a theme of fear for the thunder shard. The fear was supposed to incapacitate a player with a -5 penalty to attack. I believe his bronze dragon would have fear attacks.

But I believe his rust monster struck real fear into the players’ hearts…