By the end of our last session, the party of PCs had made their eighth foray into the moathouse…after finding numerous body parts that had once belonged to Griff in the woods south of Hilltop. For this last foray, they had bulked up the little group with four–somewhat shady–mercenaries from Verbobonc that Lady Katerine had hired. They encountered more undead, another ogre, and then began exploring an area of tunnels that they had not yet ventured into. We pick up with this exploration after the break.
RJ rolled up a new character…just in case Griff hasn’t survived his “vacation” with Leighton. Labaash is a gnome thief. There are definite spoilers for T1 The Village of Hommlet below the break. I also grabbed one of Dyson’s maps and borrowed some stuff from different adventures I’ve read and threw together the “tomb” in less than an hour. This recap is from yours truly and my comments, as usual, are in [brackets and italics]…although it does seem strange to be commenting on my own recap.
The tunnel that Brenwyn had been exploring opened up into a larger chamber. As she entered, skittering noises could be heard as rats scurried into small tunnels from some pile…a pile of bones, some with a little flesh remaining. Atop this pile was the body of a gnome. [Gee…I wonder who that might be.]
Si came into the chamber and approached the pile and body. He went to stab the body but Brenwyn told him to stop. In his less than endearing fashion, he eventually relented which was fortunate for the gnome…he was, as Brenwyn had noticed, still breathing! Despite having been gnawed upon by the rats that had fled, he was still alive and Brenwyn revived him. As she was doing so, a massive–and undead–rat attacked Cowle. The less than live rodent was taken out relativeley quickly.
Si and Cowle spent a good amount of time searching through pile of bones and body parts. It was messy and disgusting work but the pair did appear to recover a good amount of coin. Meanwhile, back in the crypts, Haemon had been searching for loot himself but with no success.
The revived gnome introduces himself as Labaash. He explained that he had been traveling with some merchants, from the Duchy of Ulek and heading for Verbobonc, and they had been taken during the night while sleeping. Labaash had been traveling with Kai! He had seen the other merchants tortured and then killed by a man named Leighton. He had narrowly escaped himself and had fled into these tunnels while fleeing a chasing ogre.
[Isn’t it amazing how new PCs show up in the most unexpected places?]
The group spent some time exploring the rest of the area below the moathouse. The areas that they had seen previously had been cleared out. The areas that had not been explored previously looked like they had once been camps or barracks but had also been cleared out. One of the new areas did have something interestin…a few reddish hairs that looked like they might have once belonged to Karl! [Brenwyn’s brother and a prior PC who had been missing for a bit.]
A long tunnel was also discovered that headed to the east. After a distance, they came upon an area where the mortared walls of the tunnel had been torn down to reveal a set of doors. Beyond the doors was a room with a dais with a stone statue of noble or holy looking warrior, holding a sword point down in his hands. Griff’s tortured and flayed body was tied to the statue, he was obviously dead. [Sorry RJ.] Aroud Griff’s neck was a thong with a pouch. Inside was a single platinum piece and a note reading, “For your dowry.” Another taunt.
One corridor led from this room with stairs leading down. As Haemon started down the stairs, they all collapsed into a ramp. Down he slide and right into a pit at the end. Sadly for Haemon, a prior victim of the trap was also in the pit…a merchant zombie! Happily, Haemon dispatched it easily.
Ropes helped the rest of the party around this trap and for freeing Haemon from the pit. Another corridor led away, at a perpindicular angle to the right, with a door midway down to the left and at the end of the corridor. Beyond the left door is a small room with a gold statue of the same “paladin” as in the entry chamber but with a large ruby in the pommel of the sword. Inscribed on the statue were the words, “Reap your reward.”
Haemon and Si were the only ones here at this point. Haemon goes in and trys to take the ruby. As soon as he touches it, five creatures appeared. They looked like partially melted people stooped over with nasty claws. Haemon was surrounded and didn’t stand a chance; he was downed in a few seconds. Si, choosing survival over solidarity, closed the doors as Molly approached. Molly refused to leave Haemon behind and opened the doors. The creatures were gone and Haemon was saved from an ignoble death. No one else was willing to risk touching the statue after this.
After the whole party had regrouped in the corridor, they pressed on to the doors at the end of the hall. These turned out to be fake and only opened a little. A trap was triggered. A small pedestal dropped down from the ceiling and three crossbows fired at the group, one struck Cowle.
The group noticed a hidden door that was slightly open. Opening the door completely, stairs leading down were discovered. At the bottom was a large chamber with a dais at the opposite side. Atop it was a sarcophagus. Approaching closer, Brewnwyn and Molly could make out that the lid had been partially slid off. There was also engravings on the stone of the coffin, “Rafael the Righteous. Beloved of the Archpaladin.” [The Archpaladin is a title of Heironeous, the god of justice, honor, war, chivalry, and the like.] Once the pair was close enough, a hand reached out from within and a gaunt and red-eyed creature pulled itself out. A few moments later and Molly and Brewnwyn had cut the undead thing down…another apparent merchant brought back, presumably by Leighton.
Inside the sarcophagus was another body, one that didn’t rise up to attack. It was clothed in a shroud and it had been recently defiled with unholy and necromantic type symbols. Recognizing that undoing this defilement was beyond their capability, the group placed the lid back and planned on reporting this to Lady Katerine in the hopes that she could get word to the Church of Heironeous about this.
After giving the chamber a good search, the group headed back to the main chamber. Molly cut Griff’s body down from the statue of, perhaps, Rafael the Righteous and wrapped the corpse in a blanket. It was then decided to finish exploring where the long corridor led before trying to take Griff’s body back to Hilltop for burial. The tunnel eventually sloped upwards and exited into some woods. There was an obvious trail and some wagon tracks that led away.
Heading back to the “Tomb of Rafael,” the group decided to gather Griff’s body and head back to Hilltop via the moathouse and to follow the tracks through the woods another day. Molly, carrying Grigg’s body, was the last to leave the tomb, swearing retribution for what had been done to her brother. As she was leaving, she heard the sound of stone grinding on stone behind her. Alerting the others, she turned to look in the chamber. The statue on the dias had shifted. Originally it had been facing the entry doors. Now it had shifted to face more to the right as one entered the chamber. Searching the chamber, Haemon first found a hidden handle that could reset and lock the collapsing stairs.
Molly found a door near where the statue was now facing. Despite pointing out this door to everyone else, no one else could see it. [Hmm…I wonder why that is…] It opened easily for her and beyond was a short corridor ending in double doors. Beyond these doors was an oddly shaped room with two sets of double doors, a table with a small stack of coins and a red globe hanging by a chain above it. As the room is entered, a voice (from the sphere?) speaks, “Ten and eight, eight and ten. Life comes full circle before it can begin again.” There were ten small circular identations on the table that circle around another such indentation and connect via spokes. The stack of coins numbered eleven and each had a number, from one to eleven, engraved upon it.
Brenwyn first placed the coins in numeric order. As the last coin as placed in its indentation, the red sphere exploded outward with fire. All in the room were struck by the flames, incapacitating many of the group. On the second attempt, the coins are placed such that each “row” adds up to eighteen. [Kudos to Forest for figuring this one out.] The sphere exploded outward but this time it simply disappeared and silver key dropped to the table. It was shaped like a lightning bolt, the holy symbol of Heironeous.
One set of double doors leading from the room was locked but this silver key [of course] unlocked the door. Stairs beyond lead up to another chamber with three sets of doors, one straight ahead, one to the left, and one to the right. One each door is engraved the same phrase, “Follow the path of the righteous for the faithless have not.” The first of the three doors tried was the one to the left. An undead creature dressed in robes and wearing a sundered holy symbol of Heironeous steps out and attacks. It was a vicious fight, especially after the damage from the exploding red sphere. Only Molly and Po-Po remained conscious. Stabilizing everyone, the pair brought everyone into the room with the table, closed the secret door, and took turns keeping guard.
In the morning, everyone wakes from their wounds except for Si. Upon closer examination it is discovered that there are marks around neck, marks that look like big hands. Molly pulled Po-Po aside and asked if he had killed Si but the large man refused, rather uncomfortably and too obviously, avoided answering. [I’m pretty sure that everyone thinks Po-Po did it]. A search of Si found that the loot he had taken was also missing. Haemon did, however, help himself to the dead man’s armor and weapons.
Checking out the other double doors, the group found another small chamber. Within were four more stone sarcophagi, standing upright. Each had a name engraved upon it [which I didn’t share until the next session but here they are for continuity]: Gaudry, a true friend and warrior; Diodore, who found his way out of the wilderness but never left the woods; Barral, actions speak louder; Basina, a truer love one could not ask for. Choosing caution over risk, the group didn’t explore thoroughly and, gathering up Griff’s corpse, headed back to Hilltop after closing the secret door…which, again, only Molly could see once it was closed.
[That’s pretty much where we ended the session.]
