Beginning at midday on Day 11 of Planting, we finished our lunch and decided to explore further down the hallway we were in. Our group consisted of the dwarf brothers Hoddour and Adelbertus Goldborne, Gnorcia, Arnd, Calbach, Blizzard, Armaziti, Kyro, and me (Tatania). Little did we know, it was going to end up being a very long day
Headed west, we passed by the door warning all to "Go No Further" that we'd found earlier, as well as a couple of other closed doors. Our goal was the doors at the end of the passageway. First Arnd and then Gnorcia checked the northern door for traps and then, as it appeared safe, Arnd attempted to open it. Unfortunately, it was stuck fast. Then, Adelbertus proved that he is a complete novice to Barrowmaze adventuring. He was talking loudly to Hoddour, probably to combat the eerie silence of the place, when we noticed that the southern door was ajar. A serpent-like hissing drew all attention as the door opened further and we saw to our dismay that a pair of ghouls were feasting on the body of a deceased fellow adventurer. The ghouls, disturbed by Adelbertus' loud voice, accused him of trying to rob them of their meal.
Obviously, this was the farthest thing from the case, but they nevertheless attacked the pair of dwarves. Adelbertus quickly tried to get his shield up while Hoddour swung his knife at the ghouls. As would become all too common that day, Hoddour missed his target. One of the ghouls got past the shield and scored a hit on Adelbertus, injuring him and leaving him paralyzed. Adelbertus' reflex swing with his staff as he collapsed also failed to hit. Gnorcia used her sneaking skills to get behind the ghouls and attack with her dagger, but the targeted ghoul dodged. Arnd swung his sword at the ghoul that attacked Adelbertus, hitting with a glancing blow that did little to no damage. Kyro tried to help, but his aim was poor and his arrow splintered against a wall instead. Armaziti tried using his gauntlet to drive off the undead, but it had no effect on our foes. I steadied myself and blasted the leftmost ghoul with a magic missile, burning it. It was beginning to feel like a comedy of errors when Calback shot an arrow at the right-side ghoul, and also missed his target. Fortunately, Blizzard used her light crossbow and skewered the ghoul I'd burned, further damaging it.
Then, as if things weren't bad enough, the north door that was solidly closed before opened itself, revealing shadowy figures. It felt as though the temperature had dropped several degrees. Using the distraction, the injured ghoul attacked Hoddour, but this time luck was in our favor as Hoddour escaped injury. He slashed back with his dagger, finally killing the ghoul in retribution. The uninjured ghoul mindlessly kept after poor Adelbertus, hurting him badly and knocking him unconscious. Gnorcia again attacked the surviving ghoul with her magic dagger, and again failed to do any harm. Kyro cursed under his breath, vowing to practice more, when his next arrow also went astray.
My attention was drawn to the three approaching menacing shadow forms, so I used my second magic missile on one of them. It was a solid hit, but the creature didn't make a sound. It was frustrating, as I was now out of spells and would have to rely on my meager physical skills.
Back with the ghoul, the tragi-comedy continued with first Calbach and then Blizzard failing in their attacks on the foul creature. Arnd expressed his anger with a loud bellowing scream while swinging his mace. As was almost becoming expected, the slippery critter managed to avoid being hit. Finally, Calbach harnessed all our outrage and sent an arrow right through the ghoul's head, killing it for good.
Unfortunately, we didn't have even a moment to celebrate that victory since the shades wouldn't allow us a respite. Armaziti swung Melissa at a shade and stumbled when Melissa just sailed through with no resistance. We probably should have realized it sooner, but it quickly became obvious that these foes required magic to damage. Kyro's third arrow was on target, but since it was not a magic attack, it was as useless as a miss. The three shades converged on Armaziti, proving that while we weren't having any luck in hurting them, the same was not true in reverse. He was hit repeatedly and quickly weakened. I took a chance and attacked with my silver dagger, but while silver has inherent properties against certain monsters, it wasn't enough against these undead. Armaziti successfully evaded the creatures and retreated to the relative safety of the other side of the hallway while Kyro swung his (non-magical) sword ineffectively. Calbach tried his magic short sword, but had no better luck in his attack than if he'd been using a stick.
Gnorcia decided to play to her strengths and easily crept behind our attackers. She tried to use her backstabbing ability, but the jinx that appears to have been upon us held and she missed anything vital. Blizzard proved her worth once again by arming her magic crossbow and hitting the shade on the right with a quarrel, hard. It was sorely shaken, with light bursting out from the site of the quarrel, although it wasn't enough to destroy the beast. Calbach managed to slice another shade, doing minor damage. Even so weakened, a hasty "Turn Undead" spell had no effect on them. The spell failure served to unnerve Hoddour enough that he began to retreat back down the hallway, alone. We called for him to come back, but I was afraid that he might not listen.
Arnd realized that Adelbertus was in a bad way and set about bandaging the poor stricken dwarf, stabilizing him until he could be helped further. Blizzard shot again at the shades, but her quarrel didn't hit its target. Gnorcia attacked again, this time severely injuring her foe. Hoddour, seeing his brother in such a helpless state and seeing tiny Gnorcia having success, finally remembered that his own dagger is magic and he regained enough courage to come rushing back. The shade Gnorcia had hurt turned its wrath on her but in doing so, turned its back on the returned Hoddour. This was a fatal mistake as Hoddour stabbed his magic dagger into its back, disbursing it to the aether. Of the two remaining shades, one attacked Calbach and hit him while the other tried to take me down. With my lack of fighting skills, I was sure it was only a matter of time before I was in a state similar to Adelbertus. I don't know how, but somehow it missed me. Gnorcia came to my rescue and her skill left that shade barely surviving. Then, Hoddour followed up and finished it off. I was so grateful to the two thieves, I decided to look the other way next time one of them decided to "acquire" something (as long as it doesn't take too much from the group collectively).
Calbach fought back against his attacker, but before he could get a solid hit in, Blizzard and her magic crossbow prevailed and the final shade fell away to nothing. There was a collective sigh of relief, but we weren't quite finished yet. Adelbertus still needed healing badly, so Armaziti cast "cure light wounds" and Adelbertus recovered sufficiently. Gnorcia timidly tapped Armaziti on his leg to beg healing for herself as well, and of course he obliged.
We did a casual search of the room that the shades came from, and found only frescoes showing offerings to the evil God Nerul. Now, I have a personal grudge against worshippers of Death Gods because of a trauma from my past. Even though I don't know for certain that Nerul was the one worshipped by the cultists I had earlier encountered, I felt the need to destroy these worshipful paintings. I used one of my oil flasks on the walls and ignited the frescoes with my torch. The room quickly filled with noxious smoke, so I pulled the door shut again and left it to burn.
In the room to the south, Gnorcia saw the possibility for treasure. Beyond the half-eaten corpse and the ghoul bodies were a series of burial alcoves. She quickly overcame her distaste over the fresh dead and searched diligently. She was rewarded with a bounty of 102 electrum pieces and four runic tablets, two of which were whole and two of which were too broken to read. As the main magic users in the group, Armaziti and I each were given a tablet to read. Armaziti read his and was cursed with a guaranteed failure of his next saving throw. I lucked out and was blessed with a permanent increase of +1 to my dexterity. As is usually the case, the tablets crumbled to dust upon being read.
I insisted that we honor the slain adventurer that the ghouls had been eating by interring his body in one of the vacant alcoves, and we then searched all the rest of the alcoves. I found a topaz necklace, Kyro found a fire opal and Gnorcia found a platinum ring. I told the group that although I intended for the necklace to be part of the common pot, I wanted to wear it until such time as we were able to sell it. Adelbertus checked the treasure for magic, and finding it all to be mundane, I put on the necklace and Gnorcia put on the ring. I have no idea if Gnorcia intends to allow the group to profit from the ring, but as I noted previously, I'm not going to mention it if she keeps it for herself. Kyro put the fire opal into the bag of holding. I was so ready for the day to be over, but it was only a few hours past noon, despite all the adventure. I hope nothing too traumatic happens before we can sleep again.
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