The Band of the Black Hand Loses for Once

By Arnd

We turned the corner and as Niki walked ahead, sweeping the floors for traps, she found herself face-to-face with a 10-legged creature—a pseuropod—that looked like a floating giant brain with a beak! It grasped her with two tentacles, paralyzing her, and pecked her with its beak.

Lhoss cast magic missiles and hit it, then Feno cut off one of the tentacles, allowing Niki to fall back and stepping in front of her. Feno was then hit by a tentacle and paralyzed also! 

Kyro stepped in and finished it off with an arrow and it fell to the ground next to Feno and Niki. We planned to rest for half an hour as they recovered from the paralysis and Lhoss memorized her spells.

As we waited and kept watch, Chiki noticed a strange pile of rubbish farther down the hall and then spotted a familiar glowing red light approaching: fire beetles. The beetles also appeared to be attacking from behind us around the other side of the hallway.

Feno immediately destroyed the first beetle to approach, Kyro hit another, and Lhoss interrupted her spell memorization to levitate a third. More fire beetles advanced on us and Kyro nearly killed one, firing point-blank with his bow. One hit me but I couldn't seem to hit anything. Lhoss tried hitting the levitated beetle but missed and it somehow managed to spin itself around with a leg on the wall and faced her down! Feno smashed two more into pieces and Niki and Chiki finished off the rest of them.

Chiki then examined the rubbish and noted that it seemed some of it had gone missing during the battle. Feno used a torch to start the rubbish on fire and smoke began to fill the hallway. We moved back north to the brick wall and decided to break it down. Four of us wielding sledgehammers made short work of it and we discovered it was hiding a room full of over 100 burial alcoves, plus a large, bricked-up space with the words "Vermingretrix the Reaver" written on it in ancient common.

As we were busy looting the alcoves, Feno—who was guarding the door—heard quiet footsteps in the hall. He stepped back in and the rest of us moved up to the north wall, prepared to ambush who or whatever was coming.

Someone called in to us, “Drop your treasure and come out and we won’t harm you!” We taunted the bandits to come on in after us and instead they tossed in two fiery vials of oil. One broke and splashed and I found myself hit with burning oil. Bother! We all stepped out into the hall and began attacking them.

It was the Band of the Black Hand! Feno smashed a couple. Kyro and I smashed two more. They stupidly kept coming at us and got in a few hits, but Kyro and I quickly damaged two more. One then turned to run and was immediately smashed by Feno. Kyro finished off another and the last one—nearly dead—dropped to his knees and begged for mercy.

He was a young man. We began questioning him angrily and as he blubbered about joining the band from his home in the forest. Chiki then slapped him across the face and he passed out, but several of us began feeling guilt about the kid. We discussed hiring him as a torchbearer. I decided to bind up his wounds and wash his face. Chiki slunk away back to the burial alcoves and Niki cast a healing spell on him.

Kyro then went through the pockets of all the dead and Lhoss gathered tokens of the black hand from their armor to take back to town for a reward. Lhoss also pulled out an old tunic that had once belonged to Derrick and Kyro pulled out some old pants with holes in them. I took those for the young man and stood guard over him as the others went back into the room to finish searching the alcoves.

Session 130: Mysteries of the Sphynx

It's late morning on Day 19 of Harvester and our small group of Feno, Niki, Arnd and me (Lhoss) approach the main entrance to the barrow maze. We've climbed down this rope dozens of times, but all of the strange happenings (the containers of body parts, the theft and teasing note from another group, the ghast) have put me on edge and I decide to have a look around. I am drawn to a scene by a delicious scent and what I see is most curious: a stone table set with a plate with beef, potatoes and gravy and a side of vegetables along with a silver goblet filled with some liquid. There are even tendrils of steam still rising from the dish. It looks tempting, but it is so perfect a display in such a dangerous place, that we all feel as though it may be a trap. Feno tosses a small pebble and it hits squarely on the chair sat at the table and bounces away, dismissing his suspicions that there may be an invisible person in our midst. The group splits to search the nooks and crannies and finds nothing. If we have interrupted someone about to enjoy and early lunch, the only direction they could have gone is down the rope. So we descend into that familiar gloom, with Feno going down head-first in a daredevil manner.

The scene is one we have all seen dozens of times, but considering the oddities we have just encountered, we are all eyeing the space with extra scrutiny. The room is partially collapsed on the western wall (has it always been in this condition, or are we just now taking notice?) and written on the southern wall are the words "don't go on" (how long has that been there?). There are also frescoes of a burial procession. As we gaze upon the painted picture, the figures seem to animate and move, then in a blink, go back to still. There are exchanges of "did you just see that?" and "what is going on?" and a general feeling of disquiet. We decide that we should pay attention to the bad vibes we're all sensing and retreat back up the rope. Curiously, the plate of food is now gone and not even a scent lingers. It's as though it never was.

Good thing we know of a second entrance. We head to and enter the barrowmaze through what I have come to think of as the secret passage. Suddenly, every member of the party is frozen in fear as a vision of horror plays in our mind. What entity has the power to cause our entire group to experience this sort of psychic terror? Everyone is contemplating our options when Niki's face transforms from a look of worry to one of beatific exuberance! She has received a message from her deity, Obad-hai, that it is her divine mission to seek the Font of Law. This is likely because the two driving forces leading this cause in our party, Armatzi and Chalkboi, have left the party and the group had grown ambivalent toward the goal. It seems cleansing the barrowmaze is a priority for multiple higher powers. Niki's motivation is enough to electrify the entire group such that we all overcome our hesitancy and push forward into the crypts. We are not even deterred by the gurgling cackle that is heard in the distance. When you are infected with quest fever, the only antidote is success!

Moving with our usual caution, Gnorcia notices a doorway that had been previously guarded by a goblin, but was now clear. Onward to new discoveries! The first thing the group encounters is a crumbing sphynx statue covered in moss and dust. The statue blinks to life and speaks. Apparently it has been in the barrowmaze for many millennia. It pegs us as adventurers and offers a trade: if we can solve a riddle, it will answer a question for us. Surely a being that has been here so long could lead us directly to the Font of Law. Somewhat impetuously, without inquiring about the terms of the contract, I agree to participate. The riddle is posed: "Close to the words stay I, but I wither, wane and grow dry." I am utterly befuddled. The sphynx suggests that we all discuss it over lunch, and by the way would we mind sharing some of our rations and water? We do so and the sphynx drains and entire water skin. Feno poses that perhaps the answer is tongue, as the sphynx was clearly very thirsty. That sounds like a good answer to me, but the answer we decide to give is parchment. The sphinx seems a little disappointed and informs us we are incorrect. The answer was a pressed flower. At that revelation, the sphynx crumbles to dust and a quiet sob is heard. One can only hope that the sphynx has simply moved to another room and we may encounter it again.

Moving along, Niki kicks up some poisonous mold with her 10-foot pole. She is knocked unconscious. I cast my continual light spell, but it does not neutralize the mold. Feno pulls Niki away from the mold and manages not to become infected himself. I was all for leaving the pole behind, but Arnd deftly retrieved it and cleaned it for further use. In time, Niki recovered and we pressed on. In the next room, as Niki probed the area with the pole, a trap was triggered and a steel cage came crashing down from the ceiling, snapping the pole in two. If a person had set foot in that space, they would have either been trapped or crushed. Fortunately, there is a second pole in the bag of holding!

Further along, we enter a room with piles of rubble and cobwebs on the ceiling. Niki probes one of the piles and disturbs more toxic mold. She is able to quickly retreat and avoid being poisoned this time. With a careful inspection of the room, Niki finds a hidden latch. She switches it and a passage is revealed along with a bricked off wall. What horrors are hidden behind it?

Session 129: Forest Encounters

Notes by Gnorcia

End of Day 17 of Harvester

We began moving through the thick mists of the Barrowmarsh, which felt more menacing than ever. It was as if some terrible presence was closing in on us. We tried to engage in casual conversation along the way, but it felt very superficial and everyone’s faces looked strained.

As we moved through the forest, we came to the same area where we had found something on the trail before and saw aother something. It appeared to be a body with something sticking up out of it! Calbach suggested throwing a torch at it, I suggested casting dancing lights, and ultimately Lhoss cast continuous light on the entire area.

In the light, the figure appeared to be a human with two arrows protruding from its back. Niki swept the path carefully toward the body and used the pole to push it over. It's face was frozen in a look of horror and it was missing both of its eyes! We didn’t recognize the person—a male human dressed in worn clothing in woodland colors, and it appeared to have had a purse that had been cut from its strap. Kyro deduced that the eyes were cut out post-mortem.

No one wanted to touch the corpse, but we determined to move it off the path so Calbach and Kyro lifted it off the trail and off to the side, and the group gathered leaves and a few branches to try to cover it a bit. Lhoss then dispelled the continuous light and lit a candle, Calbach lit a torch, and we continued our march back to Orlane.

The sun set about half an hour after we left the quiet, creepy forest and we hurried to arrive at Orlane before dinnertime ended. The farmers we passed on the way seemed in a hurry to finish their tasks and get back inside their homes. We made it back in time for dinner and were met with a relatively quiet atmosphere in the common room of the inn. Innkeeper Florin mentioned that there may be another shopkeeper setting up shop soon.

Day 18 of Harvester

The next morning we slept a bit later to recover from our late travel, then decided to spend the day in town. At breakfast, Calbach took extra bacon and stuffed it in his pockets for a snack later. Lhoss, Niki, and Kyro spent some time just outside of town, searching for rose petals and holly, and Calbach went down to the lake where he practiced hopping between rocks and managed to fall in a few times.

The group then went to visit the mayor and show him what we had found in the Barrowmaze. He was very interested in everything but especially in the Barrowmarsh Scroll and the lost journal, and offered 100 gold pieces for the scroll and 150 for the journal. He also said we should consider going to Hookhill and approaching the local gentry to see if they would be interested in the Gran March Royal Edicts, and that the codex and the alchemical grimoire would probably be very valuable in the right hands (such as an alchemist) as well. He suggested taking the mummification documentation to a house of worship.

Calbach was dripping water, munching on soggy bacon, and behaving a bit rudely so we set him on “guard duty” outside and “helped” him out. Lhoss told the mayor that she would bring the journal at the end of the day after she had read through it and transcribe information of interest to our group.

We then went to the temple and Kyro took the mummification scrolls to Priestess Misha. She was thrilled at receiving them and said the temple would be willing to give a gold credit for future healing or items, or to trade some holy water and healing potions. We purchased 10 healing potions and now have an 820 gold credit.

Calbach was behaving a little oddly so Misha had some acolytes help him to a resting place to teach him meditation. I decided to stay with him and make sure he didn’t wander off. Niki went with Lhoss to have Ramne identify the magical studded leather armor, which they learned is +2 to AC.

Calbach leveled up so he will be spending 2 weeks at the temple and will be back on day 5 of the Brewfest festival, and Chiki the Turtle has now joined the group in his place. I also leveled up so will be back in 7 days, and Arnd has now joined the group in my place.

Notes by Arnd

Day 19 of Harvester

We ate a hearty but oddly-meatless breakfast—methinks this must be similar to the strange diet of elves—and headed out for the Barrowmarsh.

The group filled me in on what happened during their last trip through the Dim Forest, and when we got to where they had left the eyeless body, we discovered it standing! It then began to shuffle toward us and with that motion we quickly recognized the movement and foul stench of a ghast. It headed straight for Niki, managing to hit and paralyze her. Kyro and Feno both ran in and attacked, destroying it but stinking up the woods even more with its nasty corpse.

Chiki kept trying to slap Niki's face to wake her up, but I lifted him by his collar and set him to the side. After a tense minute, Niki came to herself and could move again. We quickly continued on our way and made it to the Barrowmarsh, which seemed even more cold, dank, and smelly than usual.

Session 128: "Your Mother!" and Assorted Creepiness

Gnorcia and Lhoss return to the cul-de-sac with the cold room and attempt by turns to pick the locks to the east and west, but are unsuccessful. Feno has had good luck forcing open stuck doors, but these locked would not be budged. And if Feno can't bust down a door, whomst among us could?

Feeling itchy to explore something new, Lhoss and Feno backtrack to the brick walled-off room that is giving off odors of death and decay. What earlier seemed like a bad idea was suddenly worth a try. To their shock, words appear on the wall: "Foolish Orlanean group, why do you tempt fate?" and three death symbols that fade into and out of sight 💀💀💀. The group doesn't immediately take the hint and contemplate what this could possibly mean! Then the words "Do you have a death wish?" appear. This is enough to push Kyro to declare that this place is unsafe and we should all leave. The group doesn't require any more prompting and retreats toward the catacombs. Incidentally, the note that had been left by the thieving adventurers was now gone.

Calbach reveals himself to be more chaotic than previously known when he declares he wants to lick the lichen on the walls. Gnorcia's most recent encounter with a fungus inform her actions to physically restrain him and talk some sense into that wild brain of his. Calbach is contented to merely poke at it instead. The group winds their way through the catacombs looking closely at dead ends for hidden doors (well, the two elves in the party do) and hoping to find something they've missed. Lhoss hears squeaks and chatter and Feno sees shiny sparkles on the floor and hears flapping wings. Then the whole party sees a group of stirges descending upon the heroes, thirsty for blood!

In a dash of dexterity one of the stirges actually bites and attaches to Feno. Less surprising but still upsetting, another two attach to Niki and Gnorcia. Calbach engages with a battle cry of "your mother!" but doesn't actually hit anything. Lhoss explodes the creature feeding on Gnorcia with a magic missile and Feno sunders the one feeding on him... and all but one remaining bloodsucker in a flurry of swinging steel. Calbach attempts to intimidate the remaining pest by calling out "Buzz off, you hit like a lady bug! And... YOUR MOTHER!" This has the unfortunate effect of enraging the stirge which attacks and attaches to Calbach. Gnorcia blinks in surprise at the turn of events then collects herself to vault into an attack. She and Lhoss both miss with their strikes, but Feno is able to finish it off. Calbach kicks at the bloodstain and utters a final "your mother!" while the party collects the clutch of gems they had seen sparking earlier.

The group eats lunch and chats then further explores the catacombs. They come upon an open space that smells strongly of a strange rotting stench. Suddenly, Lhoss is swept up and viciously attacked by a cave fisher that is perched on a ledge. Feno uses his grappling hook to climb up. Gnorcia considers throwing some darts at the creature, but Lhoss is badly injured and a missed shot could knock her unconscious. Instead, she attempts to have Calbach boost her up to administer a healing potion. She gets the boost, but is unable to maneuver into place to get the vial to Lhoss. Lhoss fires a magic missile at the creature, but it does not release her from its grip. Niki is able to climb up Feno's grapling hook as well and heal Lhoss to get her out of the danger zone. Gnorcia lands a blow and Feno kills the fiend. The treasures of the cave fisher include some studded leather armor and a partially destroyed scroll which reads "red, black, purple" in Elvish. 

The group heads out, Orlane bound and comes across another disturbing urn. This one is filled with severed ears. Is someone collecting battle trophies in the barrowmaze? The group also notes some warmer air coming from beyond the arches but does not investigate further as it is a disquieting thing to notice temperature changes in the tombs. The group exits into the barrow marsh, and makes toward Orlane.

Dusty Tomes and Frigid Gnomes

Day 17 of Harvester

Feno and Eldriel both awoke to the delicious smell of breakfast coming from the kitchen of the Foaming Mug. After getting up and ready for the day, they both made their way down to the common area and enjoyed breakfast, and the company of their fellow companions, namely Gnorcia, Niki, Lhoss, and Kyro. Eldriel went back upstairs to his normal daytime routine, while Feno and the rest decided to get an early start on their day to try to claim the silver they had hidden in the barrowmaze the last time they were there. They head towards the dim forest in the now familiar path towards the barrowmaze. 

As they enter the dim forest, the group has a collective sense of foreboding and gloom befall them. Each of them in their unique way, feel as though they are being watched. Feno, initially though, is too preoccupied with his own thoughts to pay any attention to these feelings or those of the group and wanders ahead. Lhoss, ever cautious, asks the group to stop, and they all agree, including Feno. While Lhoss climbs a tree to get a better view of her surroundings, Feno starts to break apart a dry ration into small chunks. The rest of the group take better strategic positions, and Feno begins to toss the ration pieces into forest in an attempt to flush out the creature/creatures that have spooked everyone else. Fortunately for the group the food has no effect on drawing anything out of the woods. They agree to keep moving and move at a much faster pace to try to get out of the dim forest, hoping that doing so will alleviate the feelings of gloom and fear. When they arrive at the barrowmarsh, however, the feelings are still there, and more intense than before. They move and arrive at the entrance of the barrowmaze, and enter. 

Upon entering the barrowmaze, the group is surprised the over-powerering feeling sense of doom and gloom that had followed them since the dim forest had seemingly disappeared. They proceed to follow the winding paths and passages through the underground labyrinth towards their hidden riches. While heading towards that particular area, Niki spots a hidden worn brass urn along the wall that they hadn't seen before. Upon investigation, the urn is filled with a large number of teeth, of various types and lengths. Gnorcia and Lhoss are particularly disgusted by this, and the group continues towards the area the coins are located, leaving the urn alone. They soon arrive at the obelisk room and discover to their surprise that it has been completely restored (the group had previously destroyed it in a previous visit). They move towards the area that leads to the natural caverns to the east of this room. 

In the area that leads to the caverns, the group discovers a boot print heading away from the caverns. After briefly looking at each other's feet, and comparing boot prints, they conclude that it came from someone not in the party. Kyro steps up, examines it, and determines that it is a human boot print in this particularly muddy area. The group makes their way through the cavern paths, and twists and turns, until they reach the room where they storied the silver and copper under their camo tarp. Instead of money they find a note that reads:
"Thanks for the goodies, Saviors of Orlane!"
The loss of the hidden coins, and the tarp, annoy the group, especially Lhoss. Wanting to get something out of this adventure, the decide to continue exploring and soon discover a nearby room that contains a 16 ft statue of a four-armed demon. With quick inspection, they see that upon each hand is a skull engraved with a corresponding symbol: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. They also feel the air becoming noticeably colder. Niki sweeps the area and discovers a hidden pit trap near a hallway nearby. This room has two doors: a door south that reeks of death and decomposition, which the party opted not to open, and the door north, which they opened. This door opened up to an ancient library filled with shelves of ancient tomes of knowledge of ages long lost.  Having a flashback to when Titania was lost to a magical book, the group asks Niki to cast detect magic, to see if anything is magical inside this library. Fortunately, nothing is found to be magical. What they do find, after doing some searching, is:

1. The Barrowmaze Codex - A beautifully bound book with an ornate leather cover, embossed with the sigils of long-forgotten wizards. The pages are yellowed and filled with meticulously hand-written incantations, rituals, and maps of the Barrowmaze. It is said that this ancient codex contains the secrets of unlocking the maze's hidden chambers and lost treasures. 

2. The Barrowmarsh Scrolls - A collection of delicate, rolled scrolls sealed with wax and bearing the official seal of the Gran March. These scrolls contain detailed historical records, describing ecological changes in the Barrowmarsh over centuries and the various attempts to reclaim the land.  They are considered valuable for their historical insights and ecological data. 

3. Grand Marsh Royal Edicts - Official proclamations issued by the Gran March's rulers, written on parchment in elegant calligraphy and sealed with the royal crest. These edicts detail land rights, taxation policies, and governance structures in the region, including the Barrowmarsh. They are valuable for understanding the regions political history and legal framework. 

4. The Barrowmaze Alchemical Grimoire - A collection of loose, weathered papers covered in cryptic symbols, formulae, and diagrams. These hand-scribed notes contain the research and experiments of an alchemist who once sought to harness the unique properties of the Barrowmaze's flora for their elixirs and potions. The grimoire's secrets are still sought after by modern-day alchemists. 

5. The Lost Journal of Barrowmaze Explorer - A worn and tattered journal filled with the scribbled notes and sketches of an early explorer of the Barrowmarsh. The journal details their encounters with mysterious creatures, local flora, and interactions with the indigenous people. It also contains a hand-drawn map of the region, offering unique insights into the uncharted territories of the Barrowmarsh.

6. A Unique Scroll of Mummification - The scroll outlines the process the people of the Barrowmarsh use to mummify remains. 

After discussing the best methods to keep this ancient knowledge safe, they store them (using the bag of holding, a secure chest, and a few scroll tubes) and continue to explore the surrounding area. Niki and Gnorcia proceed to the room to the north and discover a room with three other doors. They try to open the doors, but the cold temperatures seemingly affect them, and they are unable to open the doors. Niki heads back to the the library and Lhoss joins Gnorcia in trying to open the doors open up. With their lock picking abilities, they are able to unlock the door to the north, which Lhoss cautiously opens up. Both Lhoss and Gnorcia are hit with an icy blast of cold air, and are just able to shut the door, but not before taking icy damage. They both return to the library shivering from the cold and requesting some healing from Niki. Gnorcia bear hugs Feno, since the cold is not bothering him, trying to steal some of his body heat. The group closes both doors to the library, and Niki heals both Lhoss and Gnorcia in turn. While doing so, Feno begins to search the library more extensively, and discovers a leather scroll tube among the books. Kyro and Lhoss join in, and discover a scroll tube made of wood, a tube made of bone, and another tube made of leather. Niki sits downs and rememorizes the spells she has spent so far on the adventure, fearing they may be needed sooner rather than later... 

Session 126: Fear in the Forest

Day 16 of Harvester

We gathered up all the gold and managed to fit some of it into our bags with the remaining piles of gold piled onto cloaks and then levitated by Lhoss so that we could carry it back to town. We laid out the camouflage tarp to cover the remaining silver and copper, and slowly made our way out of the barrowmaze and back into the marsh. From there we moved a ways into the Dim Forest before pausing to eat (Hilja fed Lhoss, who was concentrating on levitating the gold).

As we finished eating, Feno noticed something about 10 feet down the trail, hanging from a branch on a bush. It appeared to be a roughly-rectangular textile. I snuck closer to it and saw that it appeared to be torn from clothing. There were also many booted footprints on the floor of the forest path. I checked the area for traps and picked up the cloth. It had blood on it, and there appeared to be more blood on the plants and earth there as well. We continued carefully down the path, watching around us as we went.

As we traveled, Lhoss began to whisper that she felt we were being watched. She was trying to maintain her concentration but sweating profusely with the effort. The rest of us looked around carefully but saw nothing. Lhoss' strain continued and she soon lost all concentration, letting the gold-filled cloaks sink to the floor of the forest path. She insisted we were about to be attacked and was especially concerned about the area off to our left in the forest. Feno fired an arrow where Lhoss pointed, but it merely embedded in a tree. We waited, weapons drawn, but nothing happened. The forest seemed even more silent than usual, but none of us other than Lhoss could see or hear anything that might be a sign of danger.

When nothing happened, Lhoss agreed to continue the march to Orlane, despite her anxiety. Hilja and Kyro assured her they would keep her safe so she sat in the path next to the gold and re-memorized her levitate spell as the rest of us guarded and watched carefully all around us. We saw nothing for those 30 minutes. Although Lhoss was still worried and hearing sounds in the forest that the rest of us could not hear, she cast levitate again and we marched forward with our floating gold.

As we left the forest, the sunlight and warmer air of the fields helped Lhoss feel better, but she still whispered that there was something watching from behind us. Hilja and Kyro reassured her again and she appeared to slowly calm down as we moved closer to Orlane.

Arriving in the town a few hours before sunset, we went straight to the jeweler’s. We traded the gold for platinum and gems, then traded the coin and gems the party had in the bag of holding for a 1000gp ruby for the group, dispersing the coinage and gems between us. Our heavy load lightened, we returned to the inn for dinner and retired for the night.

Session 125: Rock, Parchment, Dagger!

The situation: Gnorcia has just lost her arm and is slowly being sapped of energy due to blood poisoning. The solution: Feno carries Gnorcia like a football and leads the party back to Orlane. It is a warm, late-summer day as the group (Feno, Niki, Sergius, Calbach, Gnorcia, and Lhoss) trek through the steaming marsh. It is cooler in the Dim Forest, but not in a welcoming way. The oppressive gloom eventually gives way to farmlands, dotted with farms both familiar and new. Where the farms used to keep a healthy 5-6 mile distance from the edge of the forest, they encroach ever closer, some as near as a mile. Hopefully these farmers have stout hearts and strong swords to face any straggling fiends they might encounter. Nevertheless, the Saviors of Orlane will strive to wipe out the source of danger so all can live in safety. The band is hailed by friendly farmers who know of the heroes' reputation and offer fresh milk and apples to sustain them on their short journey back to town. A most welcome gesture.

The majority of the party heads to the bustling common room of the Foaming Mug where it seems some sort of drinking celebration has many townsfolk enjoying the local ale. Gnorcia downs a quick plate of fruit and then makes her way wearily over to the temple. Misha Devi is most concerned about Gnorcia's blood poisoning and missing arm. The blood poisoning can be cured with a cure disease spell and the temple will do such for an offering. Luckily Gnorcia knows a certain practitioner of St. Cuthbert who will probably do it for free. As to her missing arm, Misha gives several avenues. There is a powerful spell that could restore the arm, but the priests of the temple of Merrika are not powerful enough to help. She could possibly find help at the temple of St. Cuthbert (at the name Misha makes a face) in Hochoch or Hookhill, although as she is not a member of that faith, she should expect a steep price tag, perhaps as high as 15 thousand gold pieces. But there is also a rumor of a powerful baron to the west who had possession of an enchanted ring that is able to regenerate a limb. Gnorcia is at present surprisingly unbothered by the lack of an arm (at least it isn't her stabbing arm!) so she thanks the priestess for the info and seeks out Armatzi who graciously cures her.

Back at the inn, Calbach decides it will be great fun to teach a game to the locals: rock, parchment, dagger. But the locals he first encounters are so deep in their cups, they can't wrap their heads around his explanation. Soon they are bobbing their heads in agreement and buying Calbach round after round of ale because they believe it is a drinking game. While Feno rubs his head in embarrassment and Lhoss watches from a distance with a level of amusement, Calbach keeps at it thinking if he keeps talking, eventually the drunkards will get it. They never do. Calbach gives up and walks away from the table, leaving the two ales purchased for him untouched. Then, as a somewhat revived Gnorcia re-enters the inn, Calbach is inspired to carve her a new arm. His first attempt is a rough oak limb that is as long as Gnorcia is tall. He scampers back out to try again and an exhausted Gnorcia goes up to bed. Calbach brings in a surprisingly thoughtful arm he has crafted with linen straps to attach to her stump, but he will have to give it to her in the morning. A joyful crowd of locals is hoisting their mugs in the air, swinging them to the left and shouting "rock!", to the right and cheering "parchment", and then shouting "dagger!" and downing the contents. What an enjoyable game!

The morning dawns cold and dreary. The group decides not to travel today and instead busies themselves with errands around the town, buying supplies, selling treasure, and donating crab spider poison to the temple. By mid-morning it was pouring rain, and the party was grateful to not be traveling in the bad weather. During their day in town, several rumors are heard; Gnorcia hears that hill gnomes have gone to offer their services against the giants; Armatzi hears that there is a growing schism between the followers of Merrika and St. Cuthbert; Niki and Kyro hear grumbling about newcomers who are taking valuable farm land from locals; Lhoss hears from old timers in Orlane who insist that all entrances the the barrowmaze are trapped. After a quiet day, everyone retires and prepares for an early journey back to the crypts.

A crisp, cold morning greets the adventurers, but also a new delight: cocoa! The local farmers worry that the frost will damage the late-season crops, but the brisk air makes for a nice travel morning. The entrance into the barrowmaze is pleasant in the fact that it is actually warmer, but not in any other aspects. The stale, dry air carries the smell of rot and squeaking sounds that get stronger the deeper the group moves. Moving through a maze of tunnels, the group comes upon a pale green caterpillar-shaped creature with 10 tentacles feasting on a humanoid. Sensing fresh blood, it turns on the party. The creature attacks and paralyzes Sergius and Niki. Lhoss does some damage with her magic missiles and Feno finishes the brute, the sundering slice sending frozen chunks flying. There is a tantalizing glint of mounds of treasure, but first Sergius and Niki notice a ghastly writhing something beneath their skin. Feno quickly cuts out the worm from Niki and Gnorcia deftly removes the one from Sergius. The party then discusses the best way to transfer all these riches out of the dungeon!

Session 124: Gnorcia and the No-Good, Very Bad, Day

The group, consisting of Gnorcia, Lhoss, Feno, Kyro, and Niki (the others were mysteriously teleported off or disappeared through mysterious circumstances) continued to explore the underground caverns deep underneath the barrowmaze. As they proceeded to explore the various tunnels, they eventually discovered a small cavern filled with fungi and mushrooms of various sizes, as well as a small pool of liquid, presumably water. As they approached the fungus, two of them started to scream. This surprised the group a little, especially Feno, as he had never seen or encountered screaming fungus before. As the two were screaming, another, larger fungus with multiple limbs started to walk menacingly towards the group. At nearly the same time, the group hears the familiar sound of skeletons shuffling towards them from the opposite side of the room. With their glowing blue eyes, the group sees the familiar forms of sapphire skeletons approaching, drawn by the screaming fungus it would seem. Niki, Feno, and Gnorcia, being near the front of the group, try to attack the fungus, but surprisingly, perhaps due to the screams of the mushroom creatures, miss their attacks. The skeletons attack Kyro in the rear, and cause minor damage, but he has cuts and bruises he didn't take care of from a previous fight, so this attack especially hurts. The mushrooms finally reach Gnorcia, and attack, hitting her with a seemingly poisonous attack. It appears to be a particularly debilitating poison that quickly begins to corrode her left arm, causing it to rot from within. Lhoss, using her enchanted gear, gets on the ceiling quickly and a skeleton tries to attack her, but she is well out of its range, having climbed the ceiling like a spider. She tries to hit the skeleton with her staff but was unable to do so for some reason. One of the fungi attacks Niki and hits, but fortunately her druidic powers protect her momentarily from the poison's effects, and she shrugs it off. Feno and Lhoss both watch as the poison takes greater hold upon Gnorcia, now traveling to her leg. She tries to drink a cure poison, but quickly discovers that it is a disease that has afflicted her, and no a poison as previously thought. Fortunately, the next few attacks of the fungi on her miss. Unfortunately, the disease takes root in her arm, and it falls off, completely rotted away. 

The gods, finding mercy on the group perhaps, summon the paladin Chalkboi into their midst. Quickly surveilling the situation and with a grave look on his face, he lays his hands upon Gnorcia and uses his innate abilities and cures Gnorcia of the disease. While the arm still lay on the ground withered and rotted off, she was no longer in danger of dying thanks to actions of this paladin. Feno, with a flurry of blades and a in a fit of rage, destroys all the remaining mushrooms in the room, whether they were a threat or benign. Lhoss tries to utilize her levitate magic to neutralize a skeleton near her from being able to attack the party, but it shrugs off the spell, having no effect. Fresh off of curing Gnorcia, Chalkboi attempts to turn the undead, but perhaps due to the strength of these skeletons, or the dampening from the barrowmaze, he is unable to do so. Gnorcia sneaks behind a skeleton, and destroys it, causing it deep blue sapphire eyes to fall to the ground. Kyro, sensing Feno near him, disengages, and allows Feno to take his spot into the skeleton battle foray. Feno swings his mighty sword, but still having ringing from his ears from the mushrooms, misses again. Lhoss and the rest of the group take turns and eventually destroy the remaining skeletons, and the eyes, preventing them from regenerating. 

Following that battle the group decides to explore a little more and look for a quiet place to eat and meditate (for those that are magically inclined). They stumble upon some fire beetles, which attack the party. They are fast and hungry, and attack both Lhoss and Gnorcia first, biting each for minor damage. Lhoss hits one with her weapons for minor damage, but Gnorcia misses, perhaps thrown off from her missing appendage. Feno squeezes into the area with the beetles to attack. With a fine, icy mist emanating from the enchanted blade, he strikes true, dealing instant death to the fire-based creature. Gnorcia steps up and does her usual aerial maneuver and flips behind a beetle to attack, destroying it. One of fire-beetles, especially hungry, attacks Feno, nearly biting him. Feno attacks back and destroys it in vengeance. With his fighter bloodlust he steps up and destroys another one, this one near Gnorcia. Finally, Gnorcia, steps up and kills the last one with ease. With the final beetle destroyed, the group gathers the glowing glands (that are similar in torchlight in terms of glowing light) and finally sits down to eat and memorize spent spells. Feno takes the role of guard, and watches the entrance to the cavern they are in. Just as the group started eating a Feno sees a group of undead in tattered clothing approaching. He lets the group know before preparing for battle. Chalkboi once again tries to turn these undead known as Huecava but is unsuccessful. Gnorcia, filled with large sense of bravery perhaps, rushes forward to attack these new undead creatures. Her attacks do minimal damage to their bony exteriors. They attack back and hit her with their poisonous claws, infecting her with a new blood poison. She suddenly feels very tired and drained. Feno, seeing this familiar scene unfolding, rushes toward Gnorcia, and picks her up under his arm and runs back toward the rest of the party. The undead try to take advantage, but Feno easily dodge their attacks. Kyro throws a vial of holy water, causing it to smash on one of the Huecava, causing moderate damage. The group take turns, and eventually kill the new undead with Feno dealing the final blow to the last Huecava.

Session 123: Adventuring in Orlane

We had lunch at the inn and Lhoss shared that she had overheard some talk about another band of adventurers in Orlane. We thought to find out where they were and see if they are friendly or not, so we headed over to the Golden Grain Inn. There we saw two older men engaged in an early drinking game, and at one corner table there was someone in a hooded cloak

Innkeeper Bertram welcomed us and Lhoss asked about another adventuring party. He said three people, including a strongman, were looking for torchbearers, and they stayed the night. He thinks they found a couple of farm lads looking to make some extra money, and he thought he heard something about either Hookhill or Hochoch, but he can’t remember. He suggested talking with Molly, who spent more time serving them.

Molly, a young woman with braided blonde hair, comes out from the kitchen. Molly said they were two men and an elf, and they seemed decent enough people, paying good coin for torchbearers. Their leader was a thin man named Sly, who did most of the talking. There was a larger man who seemed interested in her, and an elf who seemed aloof. They were going to the barrowmarsh in search of adventure, calling themselves “The Boon Companions”, and they had talked about going to the jeweler for something important.

We found that interesting and left to see the jeweler, Haskell. He said some other adventurers had come by the day before but had little to share. We then decided to split up around the town and watch the roads, as well as ask around if anyone else had seen the adventurers.

Lhoss went to Ramne’s to chat and to watch the northern road. He had a lot of questions about how she is using her spells and generally getting on as his pupil. He made dinner and they stayed the evening on the porch and were entertained by Whiskers.

Kyro went to the Temple and they greeted him warmly. They had lots of tasks for him and while working and chatting he learned there was some conflict with the clerics.

Hilja went to the Slumbering Serpent and spent time drinking, eating, and listening to conversations. She heard a lot of talk about the newcomers in the area, those building new homes, and how Orlane is changing. The talk had a somewhat negative tone and there was some grumbling about the land being divided up.

Feno and Eldriel went to the elves’ house to see if they had seen the other adventurers. They had not, but said they would keep a watch out for them. They also talked about elven matters and how Orlane is primarily a human town and nation, and how they are politely received but sometimes hear rude comments and experience faux pas from humans dealing with elves.

Arnd went back to the Golden Grain Inn, ordered some food and quite a bit of ale, and watched for the possible return of the other adventurers. He did not see the man in the hooded cloak again. Not too many people at the inn were interested in talking, but they were interested in him and asked some questions about dwarves that he found a bit odd though not offensive.

Gnorcia went to Hewitt Twain’s farm where she collected a dozen eggs and shared a meal. The Twain family had seen a fair number of people about, as the town is bustling and still growing. At least ten new farms have been pitched this year. She intuited that prices are going up a bit and it’s a sort of boomtown right now. There was also talk of a militia being put together from Orlane and Hewitt’s sons were ambivalent about joining. After dinner, Gnorcia excused herself to the porch and watched the road.

After about 10 minutes a group of adventurers appeared that seemed to match the description from earlier. Gnorcia shadowed them to the Golden Grain Inn.

As Arnd was eating dinner, a large group of men came in and went upstairs. One of them was an elf. They were wearing armor and the elf was wearing distinctive red chain mail. As they were going up, Gnorcia stepped inside just long enough to motion to Arnd that she was going north, then headed up to find Lhoss.

As she approached the bridge over the river, she saw another large party and hid by a nearby barn to watch. One of them was an elf, two were dwarves, and two were humans, one male and one female. They went to the Slumbering Serpent. Others who appeared to be day laborers also came down the road and went to the Golden Grain Inn. Gnorcia then hurried off to find Lhoss and the two of them split up again, Lhoss to retrieve Kyro from the temple, and Gnorcia to retrieve Feno and Eldriel from the elves’ house.

After explaining what she had seen, Gnorcia invited Feno & Eldriel to go to the Golden Grain Inn to possibly speak with the elf in the red chainmail. Dorian & Llewellen were also curious and accompanied them. We returned to the inn and foundArnd, who waved us over to his table. Arnd said the group had changed their dirty armor for clean clothing, and had come back down and ordered food. The elf was then dressed in a blue hood and tunic. Dorian and Llewellen said they weren’t familiar with the red chain mail, but they did note that the elf was a high elf, like themselves. Feno, a wood elf, decided to introduce himself to the high elf, who was with the group crowded around a large table. Eldriel (a grey elf) stayed with Dorian and Llewellen at Arnd’s table and watched with curiosity.

Gnorcia and Arnd then decided to see if the dwarves at the other inn were friendly, and excused themselves, heading north to the Slumbering Serpent. As they entered, they found Lhoss and Kyro speaking with Hilja, who had been drinking quite a bit and was rather tipsy. Just then, a group of adventurers came down from upstairs and ordered dinner. Kyro and Lhoss immediately had to wrangle Hilja back into her seat and give her another ale, as she seemed intent on approaching the other group and they didn’t want her doing that in her condition.

Gnorcia, Arnd, Lhoss, and Kyro then left Hilja at her table and moved closer to the other adventurers. Arnd whispered to Gnorcia that the dwarves were Hill Dwarves, whereas he is a Mountain Dwarf and doesn’t associate much with Hill Dwarves. Lhoss noted that the elf was a male high elf with dark hair and he appeared to be both a rather young elf and the one in command of the group. The dwarves were sitting near each other, and the humans were sitting either side of the elf. The male human appeared to be wearing some sort of religious garb, but the female human was oddly spinning utensils on her fingers as she ate. She was also sitting with her back to the wall, watching the room, and appeared to recognize that the group was watching her. Lhoss meet her gaze but soon looked away, intimidated. Kyro stepped up next to Lhoss and glared at the woman, who then looked away dismissively.

The rest of their group then took note of our party before turning back to their food. After about an hour, the room cleared up a bit and the woman and one of the dwarves got up and seemed to go up to their rooms. Emboldened, Lhoss went over to the remaining group and introduced herself. She explained that we were adventurers and were curious about what they were doing. They weren’t very friendly and the elf said that as long as we stay out of their way, there shouldn’t be a problem. Lhoss asked if they were exploring the barrowmaze but got silence in return. We then left and returned to the Foaming Mug where we met up with Eldriel and Feno, and shared what happened in both places.

Feno told us he had introduced himself and the elf at the other inn, who responded by asking him cooly, “Do I know you?” Feno shook his head and asked, “What brings you to these parts?” The elf replied, “Well, that’s my business.” Feno had continued, saying, “I make it my business to keep an eye on elves traveling about with humans.” At that, the others at the table gave him inquiring and slightly hostile looks, but quickly turned back to their food.

Feno said that Dorian and Llewellen didn’t recognize him. Irritated by the elf;s cool responses, Feno convinced one of the bartenders to serve them bad ale. They then got into an argument with their server and the barkeep over the ale and Feno gave the bartender some gold for his trouble. After discussing the results of our evening adventures, we determined that maybe in the future we should try buying ale for folks before we start asking them questions.

The next morning we had breakfast by 5:00 am, and were on our way by 6:00, dragging Arnd and Hilja, who were both a bit hung over. We saw farmers loading food into wagons and heading toward Orlane, and talked to one who was delivering food to the Slumbering Serpent that day. We arrived mid-morning at the barrowmaze, not having seen anyone else along the way. As we were talking about which entrance to go to, a group of skeletons attacked! Hilja immediately cast entangle and five of the seven skeletons were caught in vines. One slowly stumbled out and headed toward Feno, who completely obliterated it. Arnd then stepped up to the other skeleton and obliterated it with his newly-acquired warhammer as well. After that, Arnd demonstrated the hammers throwing feature, destroying all of the remaining skeletons (despite a few bad throws.)

We then went back to the main entrance of the barrowmaze and wound our way through to the obelisk room. From there, we went east and into the catacombs where we had previously discovered a cavelike structure at the end of one of the halls. Arnd led the way with his 10-foot pole, and we wound our way through the cave, finding a few forks and three dead ends before we determined to go back to the first fork in the cave.

Session 122: Physical Therapy and Friendly Fire

In the aftermath of the paralyzing hug bestowed on Calbach by Roots, the rest of the party (Sergius, Niki, Gnorcia, Lhoss, Chalkboi, and Kyro) find themselves at a loss as to how to help their motionless comrade. As they stew over ideas, an eye and ear appear on the wall. Kyro, quick as lightning, fires off an arrow and strikes true. With a curse, the apparitions vanish. Still, the problem of a helpless teammate remains. Lhoss removes Calbach's boot and instructs him to wiggle his toes. He does. A little. He is also able to wiggle his fingers, but nothing else. Kyro splashes a small amount of water on the patient and he twitches, but nothing more. Lhoss ambulates his limbs, circling his arms and legs in an attempt to reanimate them. It helps. A little. Lhoss determines that the best course of action is to re-memorize her levitate spell and float Calbach to Orlane and figure it out from there. Meanwhile, in the midst of study, Calbach recovers and wearily stands back up. Wryly, Gnorcia offers a hug which Calbach declines with a tinge of chagrin. Time to get back to the task of searching the upper hallway alcoves.

In the first hallway, a skeleton lies in repose upon a slab. As Niki enters to sweep the room, it animates and grabs her by the throat, strangling her. Kyro is the first to act and fires off an arrow, but in the struggle between friend and foe, Niki shifts into the path of the arrow and is hit. Eyes already widened and bulging from the force of being throttled, are cast back to Kyro who immediately fills with shame and regret. Once again, the group is reminded of the danger of firing ranged weapons into melee. Calbach and Lhoss attempt to swing their blunt weapons to disengage the bony figure, but are unsuccessful. Niki herself uses her warhammer to shove the creature away. It falls to the ground, seemingly defeated. The group takes a collective breath, but then the undead foe jumps back up, ready for more! With deft action Gnorcia finishes it off using Vengeance. Calbach pulls the arrow from Niki's arm and the party resolve to finish searching before heading back to Orlane. The group finds a hand axe with dwarven runes that name the weapon Brilnok, which means light. There is also a dwarven shield that is claimed by Sergius. Calbach contemplates destroying the slab and pillar until it's pointed out that they're made of granite and unlikely to be damaged without great effort and is dissuaded. Additionally the party finds a sling and cloak. The hour is getting late, so they all depart for Orlane, hungry for a delicious dinner.

They arrive in town earlier than they customarily do and find the dinning room humming with patrons. Several of the townsfolk are curious and interested in their adventures, so the day's activities are recounted (with just a few flourishes to display the strength and bravery of the Saviors of Orlane) and as a treat, Niki casts detect magic on the found items to wow the crowd a bit. It turns out the sling, axe, and robe are magical. Along with the coins found, not a bad haul for a day's work.

Broken Bones and Putting Down Roots

Day 12 of Harvester

Beads of sweat form along the brow of Feno after the long training sessions with Dorian. Feno has learned a few things from his fellow fighter these past few days while the rest of the group went back to the barrowmaze. After seeing the group show up suddenly one evening and being told of the problems of their latest adventure, Feno decided to recommit to and focus on more training to become a better fighter, and perhaps, a better elf. Later that day, while wandering around the grounds of Orlane, fireflies seemed to be attracted to Feno, and congregated all around him. In a large swarm they danced and danced, and in but a moment, he was transported back to the barrowmaze with the rest of the party.

Lhoss wanted to finish the skeletons off that attacked and nearly wiped out the party last time, and thought it was time to develop a strategy to accomplish that task.

After some discussion about plan of attacks and strategy, Feno suggested utilizing the door as a bottleneck of sorts and forcing the skeletons to come through that choke point. This would prevent both the party from being overwhelmed like last time, as well as being stabbed in the back. Hearing this idea, Gnorcia agrees that this is the best and safest idea, and the rest of the party agrees. 

Hearing approval of his plan, and seeing the group take tactical positioning, Feno opens the ancient burial door towards the skeletal crypts and walks towards the fateful are nearly wiped the party previously. With the torch that Kyro had given him moments before, Feno uses it as a helpful distraction by throwing it down the hall. With a smirk of elven confidence, he brandishes his sword in his right hand and his shield in his left, and bangs them loudly together, mimicking a dinner bell, trying to draw the skeletons in. And boy does it work. The previous horde comes quickly out of the alcoves ready for Feno. Having gotten their attention, Feno backs slowly into the next room, leading them into the ambush point that the party has set for them. He enters to the side of the fallen obelisk room as the skeletons shuffle in; only to be greeted by the rest of the party. Lhoss uses her arcane abilities and launches a couple magic missiles at a skeleton, blowing it to pieces. Feno, not wanting to be shown up, attacks a skeleton near him, and likewise, demolishes it. The rest of the skeletons adjust their movements and then attack. The party for the most party dodges their attacks, with Lhoss, Chalkboi, and Calbach being the exception. They get struck by the swings of the blades of the skeletal creatures. Gnorcia, as she tries to attack a skeleton, stumbles a little and completely misses her target. Niki is successful at destroying a skeleton, as is Kyro.

As the battle rages on, the underground room reverberates with the clash of metal and bone, the hiss of magic, and the war cries of the adventuring party. Exhaustion begins to creep into their limbs, and the chilling atmosphere threatens to sap their spirits, but they fight on, driven by a shared determination to cleanse this cursed place. Lhoss fires more magic missiles, injuring a skeleton. Chalkboi, using his self-aware sword, and upset over the strikes by the skeletons, destroys the skeleton he engages with. Feno with rage in his eyes destroys a pair of skeletons, beginning with the one skeleton that is nearest to him first. Another skeleton, whether he was particularly brave or just plain suicidal, attacks and cuts Feno lightly on the cheek with his short sword. It was short lived victory before Feno quickly cuts that particular one down. The group take turns killing skeletons. While most of the group simply defeat them, Sergius and Feno completely destroy them. With the group killing most of the skeletons in the room, Feno moves into a tactical position towards the door again and kills another skeleton that rushes towards him. With the much smaller remaining group of skeletons, Calbach, tries to do an aerial maneuver, similar to what Gnorcia sometimes does, but fails spectacularly instead. He runs forward to try to jump, and then trips over Gnorcia, and goes headfirst towards the nearby wall, knocking the wind out of him. The rest of the group kills the remaining few skeletons, with Sergius dealing the killing blow to the last skeleton. Gnorcia picks Calbach's dropped mace from the ground, walks over to his semi-conscious body, and drops the mace on him in retribution for his recent behavior.

The group, upon the defeat of skeletons, regroup in the room of the obelisks, and the magically inclined party members memorize their spells. Upon the conclusion of their studying, the group moves to the alcoves the skeletons came from in hopes of finding untold treasures. The group find the usual gold and platinum, but Lhoss also find a hidden lever that opens up a new passageway. The hear the cries of someone calling for help as they proceed forward down the new passageway. Pressing down the passageway, the stench grows from bad to worse as they get closer to the pleading and begging for help. They arrive at the source of the cries: a sarcophagus, with the sounds of clawing and scratching coming from inside. As they approach the crypt, Calbach opens it up and a figure emerges and introduces himself as Roots. Roots offers to hug Calbach in gratitude, and Calbach naively accepts, and is paralyzed as a result. He turns to Feno and Gnorcia and blames them for what just happened. Lhoss casts levitate, bringing him towards the roof. In retaliation, he spews a noxious breath attack at Niki causing her to choke. Feno, having enough, swings his sword at it, causing some damage, but surprisingly not killing it. It cries in pain. Kyro draws an arrow from his quiver and puts it into his bow and fires. Then another. Both arrows find their mark and kill this unknown creature, Roots. Feno sees in the sarcophagus an enchanted bow and a platinum figure. Upon their removal Lhoss puts the lifeless body back inside the sarcophagus.

Session 120: A Horde of Skeletons Attacks

Recorded by Gnorcia:

We stayed the day in Orlane and had a wonderful but not exactly memorable day. Lhoss and I spent the day checking in on the mayor, Vilma, and the elves. The next day was Day 6 of Harvester. Feeling refreshed, we arose early, had our meal, and were on our way toward the Barrowmaze by 6:30am. It turned out to be a gloomy, rainy day. Sergius grumbled about the rain because for some reason he did not have a cloak, but the rest of us just pulled our cloaks over us and started the march down the road. I loaned my cloak to Chiki, who also did not have one, knowing it would require cleaning after a day around that gnome and his chicken. Also in our party were Kyro and Eldriel the Grey.

It was a somber, melancholy march with no sunlight and a steady pour of rain. We could smell Sergius and his increasingly-wet chain mail. The road got muddier as we went, then the trees from the Dim Forest dripped on us as we traveled through there. The Barrowmarsh trail was even wetter and murkier than usual, with a supernatural-looking fog. Despite the gloom and rain, we were excited and determined to find more treasure and possibly the Font of Law. We entered the Barrowmaze and made our way back through its silent hallways to the room we had been exploring two days before.

Peering through the portcullis, we saw a lot of dust and cobwebs and two doors to the left—one of them broken down in pieces on the floor. We raised the rusty portcullis and Kyro began sweeping the floor for traps. He soon discovered a large pit right in front of the second, broken door! Avoiding the pit, Kyro peered into the room and was immediately attacked by three crab spiders that dropped down from the ceiling. Lhoss ran in and attacked one and I leapt onto the back of another, destroying them both. Sergius then ran in and attacked the last spider but it turned and bit him, poisoning him. He dug a poison cure and a healing potion out of his bag and drank them down. I managed to harvest the poison sacks from the crab spiders and carefully packed them away as Lhoss and Eldriel did a quick search for hidden doors or anything on the walls. We then headed back out to look into the other room.

The other door was ajar and Kyro pushed it open, revealing two open sarcophagi. He looked carefully at the ceiling—which appeared normal with no hidden crab spiders—and began to sweep the room. The skeletons lay still in their sarcophagi—as skeletons should. We determined to head back out and try the closed door in the large room to the west. Kyro entered the room and began to sweep the floor for possible danger. At one point he found a hollow-sounding spot on the floor and Sergius hit the floor with his battle axe, revealing the seam of a pit trap in front of the first door on the south. Kyro continued sweeping and found yet another pit trap to the northwest in front of another door there. Beyond that, the floor appeared to be safe.

Kyro then began sweeping the floor in a hallway to the south and discovered a large group of 23 skeletons that began lumbering toward us from both hallways, north and south! One attacked Lhoss and another attacked me. Fragile elf Eldriel had gone wandering off across the room and found himself attacked by two skeletons at once. As the skeletons swarmed we all took some damage and Sergius quickly fell to the floor but Chiki grabbed him and dragged him out into the hallway, then poured a healing potion down his throat. He immediately jumped up and sort of stumbled around the room, mindlessly. In the meantime, the rest of us determined to get out as well. Kyro and I both turned and ran out the door, taking a hit from skeletons as we did so, but were able to escape.

Lhoss then cast magic missiles on the two skeletons attacking her, disintegrating one and distracting the other enough that she could jump up onto the wall and climb quickly to the ceiling of the room, beyond their reach. She then doused her lantern just as I closed the door, leaving her and Eldriel alone with a horde of skeletons in the dark dungeon room. As the skeletons bashed on the door, trying to get out to us, Lhoss scrambled along the ceiling to where Eldriel was trapped in the corner by the bony undead creatures. She then cast levitate on him just as he fell to their attacks and passed out, bleeding. After Eldriel floated up to the ceiling, Lhoss bound up his wounds and poured a healing potion down his throat. She then tied him to herself so he would float along behind her as she silently moved across the ceiling toward the door. She noticed that the skeletons had stopped banging on the door and were click-clacking their way back to their hidey holes.

At the door, Lhoss made a low whistle and Kyro—who was waiting outside for her signal—quickly opened it to let them through, then closed it again. In the meantime, Chiki had cast a wall of fog to obscure the rest of us, just in case any skeletons got through, but it wasn’t needed as the skeletons had disengaged. Lhoss poured more healing potions down Eldriel’s throat and swallowed another dose herself. The poor druid looked drained, but we were all safe from the skeletal threat.

Session 119: At last, a gelatinous cube

Feno, Niki, Arnd, Sergius, Lhoss, Chalkboi, and Kyro could tell they were in the vicinity of the Font of Law, but they had thoroughly explored the current corridor and found nothing. They decided to retrace their steps back to the obelisk room and search beyond the eastern door. Upon opening the door, Feno was greeted with an odd sight: beyond some rubble stood a man with his back to the group; one arm was raised and frozen in place as if to ward off or wave. The figure did not respond to Sergius' calls, which was... disturbing. The party took in the rest of the room and noticed the walls of dark granite and limestone, distinct from the rest of the barrowmaze, as well as a rusty portcullis. As Niki moved further into the room to probe with her 10' pole, she noticed an odd ripple in the air. Immediately though, she was able to discern its true form: a large cube of transparent material... and it was moving toward her! The jiggling form attempted to advance and engulf her, but Niki outmaneuvered it. She struck out at it but it was Feno that delivered the destroying blow, absolutely demolishing it. The human figure, no longer supported by the gelatinous cube, fell and revealed to the group that he had been half devoured by the goo. Upon close inspection, it was believed that the half-consumed man had been a member of the Band of the Black Hand. Ah well, no great loss.

Sergius was the first to begin exploring a passageway to the south. He found burial alcoves and limestone walls that turned into rougher walls. There were eight hallways, each containing many differently-shaped burial alcoves. The adventurers closed the door behind themselves, as not to be snuck up on, and worked together to systematically search the alcoves. It was clear they would not wrap up in time to be back to Orlane for dinner, so the group ate a hasty dinner of bland rations and tried to make quick work of the searching. The haul was impressive: a gold circlet, brass cup, circular polished stone, ivory carving, bracelet, fire opal, glass box, jade idol, earrings, copper inkwell, ornate plate, mithril brooch in the shape of an elven tree, necklace, coral, and a healthy amount of gold, silver, and electrum. Feeling good about the day's work, everyone was prepared to head back to town. Feno carved a small star into the wall as a reminder that he had been here.

Alas, behind the door, the way was not clear to depart. A swarm of three stirges barred the way with a pair of sapphire skeletons advancing in the background. Two of the enormous mosquito-like creatures attacked Niki and began to suck her blood. Arnd swung out with his throwing war hammer and squished one. Lhoss used her spider climb to hang from the doorway and strike down at another, killing it. Unfortunately, this put Lhoss in a vulnerable position and she was stabbed by both of the skeletons. Feno squished the last stirge. Working swiftly, Chalbkoi and Sergius felled the two skeletons, their sapphires glowing ominously. This group has fought enough of these skeletons to know that they can only be fully defeated if their sapphires are smashed. Kyro and Chalkboi cleaved one each and the valuable shards were gathered up. The group headed back to Orlane as night fell.

The treasures were tested for magic and two items proved to be imbued with powers - the brooch and the polished stone. The group decided to divvy up some of the magical items and potions they had acquired. Anyone willing to pay the price to identify a potion could claim it. Feno claimed two and Lhoss claimed one. In addition, the ring the group had previously found was identified as a ring of fire resistance and given to Sergius. The polished stone was determined to be a luck stone and given to Feno. The brooch was shown to turn any fine cloak into a cloak of elven-kind (and therefore decrease the odds of being perceived) and given to Kyro. The rest of the treasure was sold to the jeweler Haskall with the proceeds split among the party for a handsome payday.

Welcome, Sergius Radizki, to our crazy adventures

 In circumstances that only make sense within the Barrow Maze, we've had a new member join our adventures.  Niki was healing herself and Ronan from their injuries while Chalkboi healed himself with his Paladan ability, when I looked around for Armatzi, only to find that he was nowhere to be found and instead there was an unknown mountain dwarf standing with our group.  I honestly have no idea where he came from (aside from the mountains, obviously) or how he got here so quietly but he introduces himself by saying, "I'm Sergius Radizki, and I'm a mountain dwarf."  

Someone asks, "What can you do?" and he says, "Uh, I'm really strong?"  Everyone kind of shrugs, says "OK" and boom, he's part of us now.  I think that Arnd is pretty excited to have another dwarf in our midst, even though Arnd is a hill dwarf and not a mountain dwarf.  Of course, I'm none too clear on the distinction there, so maybe they're actually as compatible as Hookhill and Hochoch are (ie only on the surface, with a ton of unseen conflict underneath).  I hope that things keep going smoothly, since some snarky banter like Niki and Armatzi share is pretty funny but having companions that actively look down on others (or even hate them) is way more drama than I want in my life.

Anyway, Lhoss examines the spell book that the recently defeated necromancer had left behind and discovers that it holds three spells.  Sleep (which is unsurprising since he'd used it on us), Magic Missile, and an unknown spell.  She says that there are also several additional blank pages, so maybe one of our magic users will be able to use it as a backup?  I don't know, since while I've heard tales of rangers that prove their dedication to nature enough to be able to do Druidic magics, I'm nowhere near that level yet, so I'm not worrying about it at the moment.

Niki dutifully uses her pole to sweep the room for traps and pits finding none.  There are four tall marble pillars holding up the ceiling, and in the middle of the room is a rune-encrusted obelisk that gives off waves of malevolence.  The writing is a combination of Elvish, Dwarven, and some sort of ancient common in addition to the cryptic runes.  Lhoss can read enough to let us know that it's describing nasty rituals in the worship of Nerul.  Immediately, everyone except Calbach decides that the evil thing needs to be toppled.  Calbach himself is still very wary about statuary dedicated to the death deity, recalling his injuries from trying to destroy that goat-headed bust that was guarding a hallway.  

Lhoss quickly scrambles up the 30-foot obelisk with a 50-foot rope that she ties in place, then while she and the others begin to tug, Feno and I use sledgehammers to break up the base.  Our efforts are soon rewarded with the stone crashing to the ground and breaking into chunks, the largest of which is a mere four feet long.  I'm glad my companions are as nimble as they are since Sergius came close to being smashed beneath the rubble.  As we watch, a smoky black shade with glowing red eyes solidifies above the wreckage, glowering balefully.  Everyone tenses in alarm, but the shade doesn't attack; it simply dissipates into the Aether.  Once it's gone, we all go toward the door to the south.  I whack the largest chunk with my sledgehammer as I pass, causing several chips of stone to fly off.

The passageway past the door is dark and murky, and it has several doors in pairs off either side for as far as I can see.  The doors are decorated like burial crypts rather than like what we now consider to be standard Barrow Maze doors.  My lantern begins to gutter, so I quickly refill it with oil, and several of the others in the group light fresh torches to improve visibility.  The first door we come to is unlocked, and when opened reveals a dirty but otherwise nondescript room.  There are not even any places to search for treasures.  The second door is locked, but Lhoss examines it and says that there doesn't appear to be any traps.  When her lock-picking skills aren't up to the job, Feno just uses his great strength to force it open.  The second room is equally dirty and dusty, but there is a slab of stone where a shrouded skeleton is lain out.  We've been attacked by skeletons many times in the past, so are on guard, but this one seems to be inanimate.  Niki sweeps the room for dangers and discovers a runic tablet on the floor.  I feel a bit nostalgic for a moment, remembering when Armatzi and Tatania would sort of compete to see who could read the most runic tablets, but feel no desire to read this one myself.  Sergius, on the other hand, snatches it up and quickly reads it.  As I feared, a negative effect quickly begins, with a grey mist appearing and attempting to penetrate Sergius's head.  Fortunately, he seems to have some natural resistance to such attacks since he fairly casually shakes the mist off and remains unaffected.

Feno and Lhoss decide to examine the skeleton closer, but don't find anything of note.  Feno goes so far as to remove the shroud, but the skeleton has its arms crossed over its chest in peaceful repose and remains still.  With a shrug, Feno puts the shroud back and tucks it around the resting skeleton.  We close the door behind us and continue to search down the hall.

Lhoss checks the next set of doors for traps and doesn't detect anything out of the ordinary.  The door on the east side of the hallway is cautiously opened, revealing a damp room with water dripping from several spots on the ceiling.  There are four sarcophagi arranged around the room, absent lids but filled with slimy peat-colored water.  It's impossible to see what, if anything, is in the stone boxes so Feno attempts to push one over to drain.  The dripping water has caused a lot of mineral calcifications, sticking the sarcophagus rather firmly to the floor and it doesn't want to move.  Before anyone could go offer assistance, an equally calcified skeleton arises from each of the sarcophagi and spikes fear in all those who were unfortunate enough to be outside Chalkboi's holy aura's radius.  The skeleton closest to Chalkboi swings its mineral-encrusted sword at Chalkboi but misses him by quite a bit.  Niki retaliates with her war hammer, breaking off bits of the skeleton.  Ronan is right there with his cudgel in an attempt to assist, but his swing goes wide as well.  As we've come to expect, Feno turns his foe into powder with a single hit and Sergius proves his claim of being "really strong" by doing the same.  Arnd misses his attack, followed by Lhoss attempting to utilize her spider-crawl to arrange a back-stab which she likewise misses on.  I use my magic sword, Dynasty, to smash the third of the skeletons and nearly stumble into the icky water so I miss seeing who takes out the final skeleton, but I know someone did it since it's gone by the time I recover my balance.  Now that the skeletons are no longer an issue, Feno resumes pushing on the sarcophagus to dump out the water while Arnd, Niki and I work on a second one.  Ronan, Chalkboi, Lhoss and Calbach tackle the third and Sergius manages the final one by himself.  The rush of fetid water is accompanied by the jangle of coins hitting the floor.  A quick search gathers a total of 72 gold pieces which we quickly divide between ourselves.

The door across the hallway is locked, but Lhoss uses her lock picking skills to open it.  Feno opens the door but when a skeleton inside stirs, it raises a cloud of yellow mold dust that billows towards the doorway.  I'm very grateful for Feno's superhuman level reflexes since he gets the door slammed shut before even a single spore of the mold can escape.  Something, probably the skeleton we'd seen in there, is scratching at the door and trying to get out, but it can't.  Lhoss readies her "Continual Light" spell since we've seen that it can neutralize the deadly yellow mold and Sergius prepares to attack the skeleton, hoping to catch it by surprise.  Timing everything to perfection, the door is swung back open just as Lhoss's spell is cast, sanitizing the mold and leaving it a dull grey in color.  Unfortunately, Sergius didn't catch the skeleton by surprise, nor did he even hit it, but it had no better luck in attacking him.  Lhoss proves how nimble she has become with her new gauntlets by scrambling right over the skeleton and attacking it from the rear, but it moved just at the wrong moment, and she didn't get her strike to connect.  As I was right there in the correct place, I use Dynasty to shatter yet another foe.  Niki is preparing to sweep the room with her pole but before she gets a moment, Calbach stumbles his way into the room and slips on the mess that was left over from denaturing the mold, falling hard onto his back and rattling his brain.  He is rather dazed for a bit but recovers quick enough.  Hopefully he won't do that again, since repeated concussions will lead to brain damage which is not something that any sort of adventurer can afford.  Nothing more is found in that room, so we move on.

The next doors appear to be the final set in the hall, and Lhoss checks them over for traps.  She is pretty confident that the door on the east is in fact safe from traps, but it has a lock that is beyond Lhoss's skills in lockpicking.  Feno tries to use his strength to bust in but doesn't quite manage so Sergius applies his muscles and finishes the job.  This room holds another sarcophagus, which isn't much of a surprise all things considered.  Niki successfully sweeps the room, finding no pits or other traps, and Lhoss decides to check the sarcophagus for traps as well.  Unfortunately, in doing so she surprises a trio of spitting cobras that had set up house there, and they surprise her in return by spitting at her with their venom.  The venom falls short, so Lhoss is uninjured.  Feno quickly beheads two of the cobras with his sword and uses his wisdom and dexterity to harvest their poison sacs.  He knows that he can take the prized items to the Temple of Merikka where they use such things in making helpful potions.  Unfortunately, the third cobra was bashed with Calbach's mace, and the poison sac is too damaged to be harvested.  Checking out the empty nest, Calbach spots a pair of gold chalices which he puts into the bag of holding for later.

The final room of the hallway is opened to the disgusting sight and sounds of a pair of ghouls gnawing on the bones of a previous victim.  Sensing fresh prey, they both attempt to bring down Feno, but they are sorely outmatched and badly miss in their attacks.  Niki tries to get one of the ghouls with Mr. Paws, but just doesn't seem to be as effective with the weapon without Jack beside her, and she fails to do any damage.  Feno isn't about to let the ghouls have another chance at him and so he slaughters the nearer ghoul while Sergius destroys the other.  I kind of wonder what our next step is going to be since I suddenly remember that we were supposed to find the Font of Law in this area of the Maze, and not only didn't we find it yet, but we seem to be running out of places to look for it.  I can only hope that Chalkboi is open to promptings from St. Cuthbert, since without Armatzi here, Chalkboi is our only hope.

Shadows of the Necropolis: A Tale of Obelisks and Bones

 Day 4 of Harvester

The group awoke to the smell of breakfast being made at the Foaming Mug. Lhoss eagerly hopped out of bed and hurried to get a plate of the hot goodness. The rest of the group enjoyed their meal before discussing the plans for the rest of the day. Once finished, Lhoss, unsure she take ownership of the newly discovered magic gauntlets, ask if any of the group would like them as well. The group decides that they would be best served in Lhoss' capable elven hands. Sensing an opportunity to test them out, as well as to show off a little, Lhoss steps outside of the inn, and decides to scale the wall. She climbs up to the second-floor balcony with little effort. The party stares in wonder and amazement. She leaps off the balcony doing a backflip and midair flourishes. It is clear that the gauntlets enhance her existent abilities to new levels. Following all of this, Feno decides to head to the jeweler to get some money exchanged. Kyro heads off to the tailor to get some more clothes, as his were previously acid washed. A few members of the group join Feno a little later to see if they can get the equipment to remove the silver that inlayed in one of the walls of the barrowmaze. They discover that the town of Orlane does not carry the tools or expertise for that endeavor. Following their errands, the group decides to head back to the barrowmaze. Upon entering the dim forest, Niki decides that it is a good idea to harvest some holly, so she can do her spells. They arrive at the barrow maze and have a quick lunch before continuing on their quest to find the Font of Law. 

As they descended into the depths of the barrowmaze, the walls were covered in their usual dust and dirt of ages long forgotten. Torches in hand, the adventurers pressed forward, their footsteps echoing through the cold corridors. After consulting with the Ronan, the resident cartographer, the group heads toward the set of ancient double doors. As they enter the double doors, they discover a hallway with doorways on each side. As they enter the first doorway, they are met with eerie silence, as the room is filled with debris. Lhoss, presses the group onward, and the next room, they are met with 4 zombies. Armatzi, is summoned away, and the rest of group quickly destroy them before moving on their quest. 

Torches illuminate the next room, revealing ancient tapestries from civilizations long past. The group experiences excitement, mingled with apprehension as they venture deeper into the cold stone labyrinth. They reach the end of the hallway and find a staircase downwards. At its bottom, they discover a lock door. Per protocol, they search it for traps but find none, so they proceed inside. The room opens up to a vast cavern with four obelisks in the central part of the room. Feno, Niki, and Ronan proceeded into the vast room with caution, with Niki sweeping ahead for hidden trap doors. As they neared the southern portion of the room, a door that was near them, opened, revealing a horde of skeletons led a necromancer named Kilmock. This sudden reveal sent a small shiver of fear down each of their spines. Feno draws his sword in anticipation, and Ronan steps forward to engage the skeletons head on. The skeletons advance and attack, but don't find success in their attacks on their attacks. Clad in dark tattered robe and wielding a staff, the necromancer Kilmock, responsible for raising the undead, revealed himself. The necromancer's baleful eyes locked eyes onto Niki, Ronon, and Feno. With a wave of his wrist, he cast a powerful sleep spell that washed over the heroes. Niki succumbed to the enchantment first, followed closely by Ronan. Hearing the clashes of battle, the other members of the group sprinted towards the fray. The skeletons advance on Niki and Ronan, and finding them defenseless and asleep, strike with deadly accuracy. They both lay unconcious, as blood starts to form from their new wounds. Seeing her comrades fall from the necromancer's spell, Lhoss prepared a spell of her own. She extended her hand conjured forth two orbs of magical energy - the iconic magic missiles. The orbs hummed with arcane power, each one representing Lhoss's mastery over the arcane spell.

With a swift flick of her wrist, Lhoss sent both missiles streaking through the air towards Kilmock. The missiles homed in unerringly on their target, the pulsating spheres of energy leaving trails of incandescent light in their wake. As the first missile struck Kilmock, it exploded into a burst of vibrant energy, crackling with magical potency. The necromancer staggered, his concentration momentarily broken, but he quickly reasserted control over his skeleton army. The second missile found its mark, dealing significant damage to the necromancer, but Kilmock's dark resilience held firm. With a malevolent grin, Kilmock turned his attention to this new threat. Lhoss, contemplated her next move amidst the swirling currents of arcane energy that permeated the chamber. Feno advanced on the nearest skeleton, attacking it. With each attack Feno's sword danced with deadly precision, cleaving through bones with each swing. As he swings and destroys, he is also able to dodge the pitiful attacks of the lumbering skeletal minions. The skeletons strike again on the unconscious bodies of Ronan and Niki, causing them to bleed more aggressively. The rest of the party arrives and joins in on the action. Lhoss fires another arcane missile at Kilmock, killing him before he could fire off another spell of his own. Undetered by the fall of their leader, the skeletons continue to attack. Feno destroys another skeleton, and the rest of the party are able to sidestep and block the skeletons poor attacks. Seeing reinforcements arriving, Feno put his sword in his sheath quickly and grabbed his only healing potion from his gear. His focus was on another matter entirely: the fallen companion laying before him. Feno knelt beside Niki, his concern evident in the furrowed brow that graced his scarred elven features. Gently cradling Niki's head in one hand, Feno carefully uncorked the small vial of healing potion with the other. With a soft and reassuring smile, he held the vial to Niki's lips, tilting it just enough to allow it go down her throat but not enough to spill. As the potion took effect, a faint warmth spread through Niki's body, mending wounds and revitalizing her spirit. Feno's keen senses detected the subtle change - a sigh, a fluttering of eyelashes, and a faint hint of color returning to her cheeks. He remained by her side, his gaze unwavering, his presence a source of comfort. She slowly stood up, still weak from what had just happened. A skeleton rushes forward to attack Lhoss, and she counters and attacks it with her staff. With her focus on that skeleton, another skeleton takes advantage and strikes Lhoss, successfully cutting her in the attack. Calbach attacks a skeleton with his mace and destroys it. Feno destroys another skeleton. Niki uses her druidic magic, and heals Ronan, but not fully: he has a wound that won't heal quite right. He stands up, dazed from the ordeal. Calbach moves to search the fallen necromancer. He finds the necromancer's staff, a spell book, some dark necromancer robes, a money pouch with a few platinum coins inside, and the parts of his broken mask. After Feno and Ronan advised him to put it in the bag of holding, he did, and the group gathered around to discuss what to do next. 

Session 116: Spider Lhoss climbs like a spider does

The super-sized party of Feno, Ronan, Niki, Chalkboi, Armatzi, Lhoss, Gnorcia, Kyro, and Calbach continued their current quest for the Font of Law. Heading eastward, they encountered a door that Gnorcia dutifully checked for traps. Finding none, Lhoss opened the door to find a common 10-foot pit and the rubble of a collapsed wall. Beyond the pit were two archways. Niki probed the rubble and found only harmless spiders. In an open room to the right, the group noticed mummies, grease spots, and evidence of a battle. The mummies had clearly been looted. Calbach felt a desire to show respect to the dead and rewrapped the corpses and, with the aid of Kyro and Gnorcia, placed them in the room's alcoves.

Moving onward, the heroes saw a set of double doors. Double Doors! A thrill ran through the party; were they on the cusp of discovering the Font of Law? Before anyone could so much as check the doors for traps, a swarm of carnivorous giant flies set upon the party from where they had been buzzing around a giant statue. Gnorcia in rare form, struck out solidly with her daggers, injuring one fly which was finished by Feno. Lhoss shot out the flaming sparks of her magic missile and exploded a second while Ronan slew the third. The insects were falling like flies. Armatzi healed Chalkboi who had sustained an injury. Gnorcia with deadly accuracy and a double attack skewered the final two flies and ended the battle. 

Moving toward the statue, it was sensed by several in the party that it had been a holy statue, but as it was severely defaced, no one could determine who it was meant to depict or glorify. Kyro and a few others brainstormed ideas to restore the statue, but it became clear that none of the party had the requisite skills to do so. Some rudimentary cleaning was performed before the group moved on.

The double doors were opened to show a set of descending stairs. Seems like this is the right way... Niki swept the area and noted a door to the left (containing a corpse), a door to the right (containing four corpses), and a granite arch approximately 30 feet in the distance. Moving into the room on the left to probe it with her pole, Niki was attacked by the corpse which was in fact a ghoul. Owing to her half-elf protections, she was luckily not paralyzed by the creature. Gnorcia, once again the hero, sprung into action and killed the brute. The ghoul was searched and, to the group's surprise, a pair of magical gauntlets was discovered tucked into its clothing. Lhoss' elf ears perked up at the mention of gauntlets. She had long quested for a pair of Gauntlets of Dexterity. Being a middling thief, she hoped these magical artifacts might improve her skills. Lhoss persuaded the team to let her have the gauntlets, slipped them on, and tried to pick Niki's pockets. While successful, Lhoss didn't think the gloves had actually aided her. Then she felt an urge to climb the wall. Don't get me wrong, Lhoss can climb a wall, but she scaled this dungeon wall with such speed and deftness and then perched so easily on a spot with no visible ledge, it was clear what the true power of the gauntlets was: climbing ability.

The party decided to pause to eat and contemplate next steps. Calbach made the grievous error of eating his rations in the hallway instead of joining his compatriots in the room. This move had previously been known as "pulling a Chiki", but Calbach just might have given cause to rename it because the reckless act drew some ravenous dead. Gnorcia attacked one by jumping on its back and Chalkboi used a "powered up" Caliburn to sunder another. Lhoss attempted to use her new skill in combat by climbing along the walls to achieve an advantageous position, but needs to develop this skill more and was unsuccessful. The remaining dead were killed... again.

A plan was formed to clear the room on the right, since it was suspected those four corpses were in fact ghouls. Feno and Gnorcia lobbed two vials of oil each, acting as Molotov cocktails to set the ghouls and room itself afire. In the melee, two ghouls succumb to the fire, and the other two are slain by Feno and Calbach, but not before the foes paralyze Gnorcia and Chalkboi with their terrible venom. Eventually the paralysis wears off, the group finds a runic tablet (added to the bag of holding), and shakily return to Orlane.