Session 46: Great Treasures and Further Adventure in the Catacombs of Nerull on Day 11 of Planting

Having thoroughly explored most of the rooms in the hallway, our group went back east to the room with the door-opening levers. Lhoss manipulated them and opened the south door, then set the levers so it would to stay open. We then went south into the next room and through the door on its west wall. Moving to the end of the hallway behind that door, we found some rubble that had collapsed off the wall, though the remaining wall was intact. There the hallway turned south and we noticed a round circle imprinted on the floor, about 2 feet in diameter. As Calbach was looking at it and prodding it a bit, Yldarb noticed a movement on the wall and discovered a small alcove had opened to reveal a leather pouch. Peering carefully into the pouch, he found 5 darts. None of our magic-using party members had memorized a spell to detect magic so we added the darts (inside their pouch) into the bag of holding for later investigation.

I (Gnorcia) turned back to the circle, stood inside it, and turned around in a circle, but only managed to get dizzy from the spinning. Bored with the circle, Lhoss, Tatania, Adelbertus, Yldarb, Calbach, and I searched 57 square catacomb alcoves in another hallway to the east. In addition to finding some mummified remains, I discovered a coral shaped into a funny little fat man, Yldarb found a pewter chalice, and Tatania found a broken spear and a bag of 35 gold pieces.

Searching 49 hexagonal alcoves down another hallway to the west, we found some gnawed bones. Armaziti also found a circlet and a small wooden coffer, Calbach found a sparkly diamond, and Tatania found a much-less-sparkly dented helm. Lhoss examined the coffer and discovered a needle trap, and I was then able to disarm it, revealing a poison dart.

All this time, Hoddour, uninterested in searching, had been standing out in the hallway and staring at the wall. Fortunately his squirrel companion, Squirbo, was paying attention, recognized the poison on the dart, and ran excitedly in circles as a warning. Tatania carefully took the dart and placed it in a vial closed with a cork, where it would be safe. I then handed the box back to Armaziti, who opened it to reveal a large, human-size, gold ring. He was hesitant to put it on but it was so beautiful and sparkly that I excitedly grabbed it and slipped it onto my biggest finger. Amazingly, it shrank to fit and I felt an instant aura of protection. It was a +1 magic ring of protection!

As the group discussed their findings, I sneaked down to the next hallway to the south and discovered 51 triangular alcoves. The group soon followed and began searching there. Adelbertus discovered 54 copper pieces, another golden circlet, and a silver spear point, and I found a beautiful amethyst. The next hallway to the east contained 50 circular alcoves, each with a silver-plated skull over it. Lhoss poked at one of the skulls with her dagger and discovered she could pry it off, so we went through and pried off all the silver skulls. They were a little heavy so we added them to the bag of holding. Searching through these catacombs, Calbach found a bracelet, Adelbertus found a ruby, Lhoss found an ornate figurine, and Tatania found a small locked metal box.

Keys are very useful in opening locks so I got out my ring of keys and tried the small silver key in the lock. It opened the box! Inside was an ornate scroll and a silver dagger. Tatania carefully took the dagger in her hands and instantly bonded with it. She could tell that it was a +2 silver dagger and named it Sylvia. Looking back into the box, she lifted the scroll and discovered beneath it a pair of spectacles. The scroll was magical and written in magic language that she couldn’t read. Holding up the spectacles, she squinted through them first, then bravely put them on her face. Blinking, she discovered they magically enhanced her eyesight and she could read the scroll! They were glasses of comprehending languages and reading magic. Reading the scroll through them, she could tell then that it was a scroll of protection from missiles, a 3rd-level magic-user spell. Looking through the glasses again, Tatania pulled out the previously-unreadable spellbook that was in the bag of holding, discovering that she could now read those spells, and noted that they were the level 1 spells sleep, light, read magic, and detect magic, and the level 2 spell web.

Heading south again in the main hall, we could then see to the end of the hall and were surprised to discover a large statue of Nerull, standing in an engraved circle with a star inside it. At his feet was a sword! Hoddour suddenly got really excited about the sword, crying out, “Dibs!” and ran toward it. Unfortunately, the sword was merely an illusion and as he raced up to it the floor collapsed and Hoddour fell into a pit full of green slime! The slime began to grow across him and he instantly started screaming in pain. Lhoss quickly pulled out her rope and threw it down to him, yelling for him to climb out. Once he was out of the pit, Calbach used his knife to scrape the slime off Hoddour and was able to get it all off. It settled into a puddle on the ground and the statue appeared to be smiling at the scene. Adelbertus quickly healed his brother as Yldarb retrieved the 5 glass jars we had in the bag of holding, filling them all with the slime and stopping up the lids with wax seals. There was still some slime left on the floor of the hallway so Lhoss tried to push it back into the pit with her staff, but it instantly latched onto the staff and started growing up it toward her! She hastily grabbed her sword and hacked at the end of the staff, trying to get the slime off, but only managed to destroy her staff in the process. Throwing the staff with the slime into the pit, she cleared her throat and spat angrily down into it. The slime in the pit quickly consumed everything and wobbled with a strangely-satisfied gelatinous shimmer.

Hoddour carefully crept around the edge of the pit and began examining the statue, which was now fully grinning. One of its eyes appeared to sparkle and he poked it with his knife. Suddenly a feeling of intense nausea overcame him and he fell back, puking all over the floor in front of the statue. Disgusted with the result of his investigation, he attempted to direct his vomit onto the statue but discovered he could not, and in the process nearly stumbled into the pit again. He tried glaring at the statue but quickly found its malice was overwhelming and he was forced to avert his eyes.

Turning from the frightful statue, the rest of the group began to search the catacombs in the final hallway to the west. It was filled with square alcoves and we found they were all disappointingly empty. The last hallway to the east contained 50 circular alcoves and we continued our search through them. Adelbertus found a beautiful golden statuette, Lhoss found a bloodstone, and I found a spear that was more than three times my height. Yldarb took the spear from me and found that it felt marvelous in his hands. He quickly granted it the name of Falstaff and discovered it was a +3 weapon, so powerful and wonderous to him that he realized he had a preference for it over any other weapon.

As Yldarb stood holding the spear in great wonder, Lhoss noticed a catch on the wall at the end of the hall, and did what Lhoss does. She hastily tripped it. The hallway opened, revealing…