Session 59: Day 8 of Flocktime Continues with Some Very Bad Skeletons

Before we continued searching the Barrowmaze, the party paused to discuss how the strange trash-covered creatures came to be, and Tatania wondered out loud if they might be the results of some unethical magic going on in the Barrowmaze. Tatania then sat and memorized spells while the rest of us ate some lunch and quietly considered the foreboding oppressive sense of evil in this place.

We started down the hall to the west of the room with the strange creatures—Tatania munching on hard tack as she walked—but seeing more hallways with questionable rubble in them, we reconsidered and returned to the unopened door in the previous room. Lhoss examined and then opened it to reveal a seemingly-empty room with yet another door. Opening that door, she discovered a skeleton on the floor and a glowing ball that started, somehow, throwing bits of burial urns at us all!

As clay pieces crashed around us, I cast color spray on the glowing thing, but all it seemed to do was to paint it and make it more angry. It continued tossing bits of clay as Lhoss stepped forward and swung at it with her staff, but she missed. Arnd then squeezed through and swung Bonesplitter at it, hitting it square in the center. The creature instantly vanished and in the process sprayed back magically-colored paint on Lhoss and Arnd.

Examining the room further, we discovered it was lined with many burial alcoves. We began searching and found a few coins but not much else. As we continued our search, we heard steps coming down the passageway to the east. We couldn’t see anything yet, but we quickly prepared for whatever might be coming. Arnd, Armaziti, and Kyro took the front line facing the hallway and Armaziti cast a blessing on the group. Soon we could see a faint blue light and a sense of dread came over us all as we remembered previous encounters with glowing creatures.

The creatures approached and we were troubled to see they were skeletons with glowing sapphires in their foreheads—something we have met before. Two approached Armaziti and Arnd. Armaziti swung and hit but Arnd swung and missed. Tatania fired a magic missile at the skeleton in front of Armaziti and Lhoss quickly finished it off with a second magic missle. I then ran up and easily catapulted over Arnd to land on the back of the skeleton in front of him, but the skeletons behind them advanced, one moving up to face Armaziti and the other behind me, hitting me hard. Armaziti swung and destroyed the gem of the skeleton in front of him as the skeleton I was clinging to swung and hit Arnd. Arnd returned an attack but missed and I was tearing up from the pain and couldn’t hit it properly either.

As we battled, Lhoss, Hilja, and Tatania grumbled amongst themselves about how they wished they had some vials of holy water that they could lob over the top of the fighters in the narrow hallway ahead of them. Of course the cost of such a holy weapon was more than the group could afford earlier, so we had dismissed the idea.

At that point the battle began to rage in a flurry of fighting. Lhoss targeted the skeleton in front of Arnd and hit it with a magic missile. Tatania did the same, destroying it right under me and I leapt down as it crumbled, turning to face the evil creature behind me. Armaziti swung at the skeleton in front of him again, hitting it with a loud crack as Kyro swung one of the sledgehammers into the gem on the crumbled skeleton.

Both Arnd and I attacked the last skeleton and damaged it but it was still fighting and hit me again, knocking me out so I missed the rest of the fight, which was recounted to me later. As I fell, Hilja moved in and swung at the skeleton on Armaziti, who also swung and hit it again, crushing it to dust with his hammer. Arnd swung and hit again as Hilja then turned to bandage me before I lost any more blood. Kyro smashed the third gem on the skeleton that Armazi had downed, as Lhoss ran forward and swung her staff at the last skeleton, destroying it. Tatania then sprung forward and destroyed the last gem.

Whew! Everyone breathed in relief as they looked around at the rubble of skeletons and Tatania carefully collected shards of the blue gems in a bottle. Armaziti healed me but I was exceptionally exhausted from the battle and we retreated to one of the rooms we had just traveled through to rest and re-memorize spells.

 

Session 58: Day 8 of Flocktime - silliness ensues

 The party of adventures (Ronan, Yldarb, Gnorcia, Tatania, Calbach, Arnd, Adelbertus, and Armatzi) decided to go back south and explore there some more. After consulting the map and discussing, the group entered through a room they had previously gone through, and then examined a room with graffiti written on the back wall in chalk - "They are coming". This proved to be true, as a group of skeletons attacked the party from the east. The party managed to defeat the threat. 

Searching around some more to the east revealed a secret door with a latch. Tatania used her dagger to open the latch, which revealed a small, inverted 'L' shaped room. In the room were found two backpacks full of coins, and a variety of other equipment. The party took all of this. 

The party then explored a bit further to the south, and did some resting in the halls, Tantania deciding that was the best place to rememorize her spells. The group split in two, checking some different doors. One revealed a room full of rubble, fungus, trash, and other oddities. This wasn't immediately investigated, but Calbach came back to it after some vagaries that occurred. This caused several misshapen abominations to drop their disguises (which were literally trash) and flee. The party half-heartedly called after them, but they fled out back the way the party had come from. 

That proved to be more then enough for Yldarb, who was very tired. 

Session 57: Day 28 of Planting through Day 8 of Flocktime: Lingering in Orlane

Our group (Ronan, Yldarb, Gnorcia, Tatania, Lhoss, Adelbertus, and Armaziti) thought our stay in Orlane would be a short one, but I think that we find that the cheerfulness of the town makes us look for reasons not to head back to the gloom of the tomb. At any rate, the group (save Armaziti, who was under the watchful care of priestess Misha at the temple) woke to an early lunch at the inn. We noticed that the town gets busier each time we return, with the only arrangements available to us being the common room of The Slumbering Serpent. In fact, all three inns (The Slumbering Serpent, The Golden Grain, and even The Foaming Mug) are filled with visitors. Truly, Orlane has returned to prosperity.

We headed over to the temple to check in on Aramaziti and found him snoring lightly. Misha had been able to lift the mummy's curse, but the cost would be substantial - 1,000 gold pieces. Many in the party balked at the price. Misha, sensing the burden and seizing on an opportunity presented an alternative: a holy sword named Caliburn is rumored to be in the barrowmaze. It is a lawful good intelligent sword and a holy relic of the order of paladins dedicated to Merika. Knowing our reputation, Misha offered a loan against the healing for the return of the sword. Some in the party suggested that the sword may be worth more than the 1,000 gold we would essentially be trading it for. But Misha intimated that such a sword would not respond well to back-alley dealings. It was decided that this noble side quest was a good trade to have our dear Armaziti returned to us in full health. As a show of his usefulness and gratitude, Armaziti used his gauntlet to remove the fear from our party.

Armaziti was healed, but still too weak to travel, so we decided to visit our friends in town and sell off some of the trinkets we have acquired. Unfortunately, Llewelyn and Dorian were off adventuring; Lhoss was longing for some elf company. Fortunately, Vilma is always welcoming with warm bread and hot gossip. Ronan went to the shop to stock up on oil and found that the price of oil had gone up due to increased demand. He also attempted to sell some weapons that he had taken from the slain followers of Orcus and Set. But as they were emblazoned with their wicked insignias, the shopkeeper didn't want them. But the blacksmith would take them off our hands for scrap. Better than hauling them around. Ronan also sold an arrowhead that was attributed to Hern the Hunter. It fetched a good price, so he next tried to sell an arrowhead affiliated with Nerul. Not only was the shopkeeper not interested, he appeared disgusted and almost offended at having been offered it. Lastly, we sold off the gold headband and scepter recovered from the mummy which were quite valuable! Feeling flush with gold, we determined that two in our party should get additional training, which meant another week in Orlane. Well, if we have to...

The morning of day 8 of Flocktime (or Violets if you're an elf - isn't that so much prettier?!) we headed back to the barrowmaze with Gnorcia a newly minted cutpurse and our priest Armaziti. It was an uneventful and pleasant enough hike until we settled into the oppressive gloom surrounding the foreboding burial grounds. Studying our maps, we decided to go to an area that was as yet unexplored. We found a room that held nothing more than a statue with no way in or out. Suddenly we were set upon by six clattering skeletons! 

Yldarb engaged first with his cursed staff. Luckily, he hit and did a nice bit of damage. Ronan missed with his swing while Tatania connected with one of her magic missiles exploding the enemy. With these three gathered around the doorway that separated us from the skeletons, there was no way for the rest of us to engage in melee. Sensing Gnorcia's desire to join the fray, Lhoss offered her a boost to get over and into the scrum. It was not a great hoist, but Gnorcia's dexterity allowed her to land in an advantageous position that she was unable to capitalize on. Adelbertus attempted to use a spell to turn the undead, but was unsuccessful. Armaziti, however, calling upon his advanced skill was able to conjure the spell and the skeletons began to flee. Taking attacks of opportunity, Gnorcia missed, while Yldarb and Ronan hit. Unwilling to let these creatures survive, we pressed our attack until we had crushed every last one. Smashing skeleton skulls? Just another day in the barrowmaze.