Session 45: Day 11 of Planting, part three

One of the oddities of the barrowmaze (the appearance and disappearance of party members seemingly at random) led to a curious reshuffling of our group. Yldarb, Chiki, Lhoss, Hilja, and Ronan appeared just as Blizzard, Hoddour, and Adelbertus seemed to disappear into the dark of the underground tomb. Aramaziti, Gnorcia, Arnd, Tatania, Kyro, and Calbach relayed the difficult encounter they had all just endured. In fact Aramaziti and Tatania had both exhausted their spells and were in need of some time to recover them. But Lhoss, being selfish and impetuous (and feeling fresh as a daisy), was itching for an adventure. Aramaziti found a quiet, secluded room and began to pray, with Chiki watching on. Tatania, on the other hand, tried several spots to memorize her spells, but kept finding her attention pulled by various distractions. She finally settled in a room separate from Armaziti and the rest of the group with Kyro guarding the entrance. So the party was separated into three groups. This seems unwise...

Lhoss, being an absolute pill, began to inch closer to the first door she wanted to open. She moved toward it like a youngling mischievously sneaking up to the pine boughs on the first evening of Needfest, eager to sneak a peek inside the knitted socks. Yldarb uttered a word of caution, which prompted Lhoss to closely examine the door before she opened it. Inside, a low table was standing in the center of the room with a bowl and black urn resting on top. Ronan began to cautiously move toward the table when Hilja rushed in quickly to stand beside him. Slightly distracted, Ronan bumped the table which upset the bowl and spilled 48 silver pieces onto the floor. Lhoss and Yldarb entered and picked up the coins. Ronan scooped up the bowl and absentmindedly handed it to Hilja who took it as a sign of affection. She jauntily placed it on her head and gave Ronan a huge grin and a wink, which he pretended not to notice. Balancing the bowl, Hilja closely inspected the urn which appeared to have something stuck inside. Using her dagger, Lhoss managed to scrape off a few unidentifiable black flakes. Ronan tipped a torch onto the flakes, deciding to see if they would ignite. Indeed they did and the entire room quickly filled with acrid smoke. Lhoss quickly grabbed the urn, Ronan grabbed Hilja, and all four exited the room with Yldarb closing the door behind him. Gnorcia rolled her eyes and asked that we stop setting rooms on fire.

Calbach noticed a south door that was slightly ajar. He pushed into the room and saw the room had bas-reliefs depicting the raising of the dead. Ronan also entered the room and noted that there were several vacant slabs protruding from the walls and sets of footprints that led out of the room. Aside from that creepy vignette, the room was empty.

Refusing to wait for their vital party members who were occupied preparing their spells, the transfixed party followed the footprints that led out of the room to a door with a keyhole. Gnorcia and her collection of keys were called upon to see if she could open the door. The silver key that she had just acquired was too small, but luckily she tried each of the rest of her keys and one actually opened the lock. Though unlocked, the door seemed to be stuck and difficult to move. Lhoss was unable to budge it, but Gnorcia opened several inches. A stale, dusty scent wafted out. Gnorcia gave a mighty heave and pushed it open a few more inches, enough for she and Lhoss to peek inside. They observed a gnome-sized body wrapped in white strands laying on the floor. Ronan slammed his shoulder against the door and created just enough room to slip through, which Lhoss did with characteristic lack of forethought. Seeing that the door was slamming shut behind Lhoss, Ronan reacted instinctively and dove through. The pair found themselves trapped in a room with two giant spiders. They had to act fast to avoid ending up like the poor adventurer on the ground! Lhoss whacked one with her staff while Ronan attempted to crack another with his cudgel. Fortunately they were able to dodge the spiders' nasty pincers. Hearing the fight inside, Gnorcia swiftly unlocked and opened the door. She, Calbach, Yldarb, and even Chiki and Kyro sprung into the room to engage the foul arachnids with the door slamming shut again behind them. Gnorcia landed a killing stab, slicing one of the beasts down its back. But she was the only one to have such luck as the rest of the party and the spiders engaged in a dodging dance with neither weapon nor pincer able to gain purchase. Finally, Ronan's cudgel struck true and caused the second spider to explode in a disgusting shower of gore. 

Lhoss cut away at the spider webs that had encased what was found to be a dead halfling. She and Gnorcia found on the body a pouch filled with 43 electrum and what appeared to be a dagger. Gnorcia picked up the dagger and realized the treasure she now possessed. In the hands of a human or elf, it would be an ordinary dagger. But wielded by a gnome or halfling, it acted like a short sword. In fact, Gnorcia realized with a start, this was the legendary Stout Blade dagger, given to heroes and was especially useful in the hand of a thief. To possess such a weapon, Gnorcia was happy to pass down her old magic dagger to Lhoss. The party glanced around the room and saw large frescoes depicting the temple of Nerul. There was a muttered agreement not to tell Tatania about what was on the walls to avoid another fire today. Gnorcia unlocked the room from the inside using her key and the group exited.

The group's pride at defeating the spiders unscathed was somewhat tempered by the chastisement from Armaziti and Tatania who had been entirely excluded from the afternoon's exploits. Moving forward, we all agreed it would be wise to pay attention to the needs of each party member. It's just that our group has swelled to such a large and unwieldly size. But fate has a way of balancing things out. It may be that this barrowmaze and it's inexplicable powers may find a way to limit our numbers.