Session 35: Day 25 of Coldeven, Growfest, and the start of Planting

The team began our further exploration of the barrowmaze in the room where we vanquished the vicious rats. We determined that we had come in the south door, and the door to the north was unexplored. Naturally, Lhoss opened the door. 

The door opened to a corridor with two doors and an alcove with a brick wall broken outward. We explored the alcove to find there were scratches on the wall, but it was otherwise empty. There was also a bricked-over wall. Gnorcia pressed her ear to it, listened, but heard nothing.

Lhoss opened the door on the north wall to discover a table with three polished skulls. Calbach knocked them off with a pole; they fell with a crack, but nothing else notable occurred. Upon searching the room, Calbach found a catch in the wall. Lhoss triggered it to open a secret door. Behind the door a body was lying on the ground. Calbach checked out the body and found a burned out torch and bag. The bag looked pretty hefty! It appeared that the figure had crawled into the room to die. Surprisingly, it did not stink that much? There was nothing else remarkable about the room. We searched the bag to find it held 15 platinum. Nice payday!

Lhoss opened another door which led to a long hallway with more doors. Lhoss opened the door at the end, walked in and noticed there was writing on the wall. Upon closer inspection it read "the dead walk here." That was enough to scare Lhoss and she immediately backed out. 

There was another door that was partially open opposite a portcullis. Lhoss moved past it to a room with a broken door. Inside she saw a creepy figure and felt a cold sensation coming from within. Shaken and filled with fear, she fled posthaste. Lhoss is noping out a lot lately.

Gnorcia decided that pushing aside a slightly ajar door is not the same as opening a closed door (a task that usually falls to Lhoss). As she peered inside the room, she saw a skeleton with a bag next to it. Perhaps more platinum? One could only hope! She also observed a bas-relief with images of the dead entering into the afterlife. Seeking to recover the bag, Gnorcia moved silently into the room. Suddenly, a spider dropped down and attacked her! It dealt a fatal bite and infected her with its poison. Calbach rushed into the room and attacked the spider. Lhoss stabbed it with her dagger. Arnd swung and missed. Chiki bound up Gnorcia's wounds. The spider attempted to flee, but Lhoss succeeded in killing it. Armaziti was able to cure Gnorcia's wound, but she was being slowly poisoned. If the poison was not quickly neutralized, she would die. As we had no means to do that, a stretcher was made to carry Gnorcia back to the village of Orlane. The group hastily retreated from the dungeon.

Gnorcia was deteriorating and becoming delirious. The group made good time and did not encounter anything that would delay us. Knowing that the priestess Misha would be our best hope, we headed for the temple of Merikka. Lhoss ran ahead to rouse the attendants of the temple as we had arrived in the middle of the night. Getting the attention of the guards and summoning the priestess seemed to move in agonizingly slow motion. We did not know how much time poor Gnorcia had! Finally, Misha came out and dispelled the poison. At last, Gnorcia was safe, though weak. She had come far too close to death!

Realizing the close call we had just encountered, the group recognized the advantage of having a more powerful cleric. We decided to pool our money and treasure to allow Armaziti to train under Misha and become a priest. This training would take a week. Fortunately for us, it coincided with the changing of seasons (Needfest to Growfest) and the associated festival. We were able to join in the partying and partake of the delicious food. It was a welcome distraction from our dreary work in the barrowmaze. So began the month of Planting and low summer. Of course to us elves, the transition from the month of Snowflowers to the month of Blossoms is a less ostentatious affair, but when in Orlane...

Priestess Misha explained to us that the life force of Nerul is in the barrowmaze and is what is generating the evil creatures. She charged Armaziti with the sacred duty of cleansing the barrowmaze. We departed and returned to the barrowmaze without incident.

Gnorcia wished to claim the fangs of the spider that nearly killed her. We easily found our way back to the site of the gruesome attack. She was able to use her nimble hands to get two fangs and poison sacs. We identified the creature as a crab spider. Unfortunately, the bag near the skeleton was gone. In our rush to save Gnorcia's life, nobody thought to grab the treasure and another intrepid adventurer benefited from our haste.

Moving on, Armaziti, Gnorcia, and Arnd used their combined strength to open the portcullis. Behind it, there was an unremarkable room. Gnorcia found a catch on the wall. Armaziti pushed it and a door opened to reveal: zombies! Ach! Armaziti failed to dispel the undead. Lhoss threw an oil flask at the creatures and missed. Sensing a difficult battle Calbach threw the switch to close the door. The party regrouped and decided to open the door back up and defeat the zombies. The group engaged and dealt some damage to the brutes. Chiki managed to slaughter one outright. The undead monsters attacked and dealt a mortal wound to Calbach. With several precision strikes (and a cool acrobatic spin by Lhoss) the party finished off the zombies. Armaziti healed Calbach and Arnd who had also been injured. Looking around, we saw hundreds of octagonal burial tombs. Gnorcia, Arnd, Chiki and Lhoss searched the tombs and found many silver pieces. Who knows if it makes up for the bag of loot we lost in the spider's room, but it's something.

Session 34: Day 25 of Coldeven: Back to the Barrowmaze

Arnd (NPC), Armaziti, Calbach, Chiki (NPC), Gnorcia, Lhoss,

Preparing to leave Orlane and go back to the barrowmaze, we heard a rumor that there had been more raids along the road. It was a drizzly morning as we headed out toward the dim forest but we were pleased to find the road was now patrolled a little better by the sheriffs from Orlane. We traveled for the day, through the eerily quiet dim forest, finally reaching the barrowmaze and its gloomy darkness again.

Instead of going straight into the mound with the maze entrance, we poked around a bit and Lhoss began examining some of the mounds. First she found one that had a large and seemingly-ancient stone protruding from the mound. It was worn down and had a great skull on top of it, along with runes in a language none of us could understand. Sharp, dry, weedy grass grew around it in some unnatural-looking grey dirt.

Lhoss looked around at another mound and found one with a well-sealed rock entrance. She suggested we try to break it down so Calbach and Arnd started bashing on the door with our new sledgehammers. After about 10 minutes of a great racket with the sledgehammers, we noticed 12 men approaching. They wore armor, some leather, some chainmail, and one who appeared to be their leader was wearing plate armor. They all wore black robes and were carrying shields, swords, clubs, and slings.

As they approached the leader spoke to us, saying they were the Band of the Black Hand and demanding that we pay for protection. We refused, of course, and Lhoss tried to cast a sleep spell but several in the back started slinging stones at her, knocking her unconscious. They then charged at us! Three attacked Calbach, who was seriously injured. Armaziti bound up Lhoss’ wounds before she could bleed out and I cast phantasmal force in the large shape of the demon god Orcus. Several of the men were fooled into believing the phantasm and it knocked out two of them, who fell to the ground as if they were dead. One of the men, however, was not fooled and he yelled at the others, saying it was just an illusion. Our phantasm revealed and two of our party seriously wounded, we begrudgingly decided to pay 20gp each to send them on their way. They took our gold and faded back into the mist of the valley.

Armaziti healed Lhoss and Calbach and we decided to finish breaking down the door. Inside we found a wooden funerary casket in the shape of a man on a dais in the center of the room. Eight wall sconces with decorated amphorae lined the walls. We collected the pots and wrapped them up, placing them in the bag of holding. Apparently the humans could tell that whoever was buried there was a good person and they were not willing to disturb the casket so we decided to leave and head into the barrowmaze.

Back inside the large center mound and down the rope into the barrowmaze, Chiki suggested we head west down the hallway. We all agreed and found an iron door on the south wall. It opened to reveal a horrific smell. After coughing and spitting, we peered in and spotted two corpses impaled on the wall, their guts spilled out and eaten by something! We quickly closed the door and retreated back to the hallway. Across the hall was another door and Lhoss happily opened it. Arnd marched in and across the room to the north wall where there was a message scratched on the wall in charcoal. I followed as he read the message out loud: “Make no sound. They will seek you out.” I tried repeatedly to shush him but it took a minute before the meaning of the message got through his thick skull. Nothing happened, however, and we decided to stay in the room and re-memorize spells.

Finishing that, we went back out in the hall and noticed that the floor of the hallway to the west had about an inch of what appeared to be flour dusted across it. I was disgusted that someone would waste perfectly good biscuit-making flour by dumping it on the floor in a crypt. Calbach first poked at it with a pole and it moved easily like flour would, so I got out my goblin hat and dusted a path through it so we could pass without leaving tracks. A bit farther down the hall, we found another door with the familiar iron bands on it and Calbach opened it to reveal a room full of giant rats! He tried to slam the door shut but it was stuck and the rats turned to attack us. Lhoss cast her sleep spell and only three of them managed to evade it. We quickly dispatched the remaining rats, squished the sleeping ones, and finally Armaziti was able to get the door unstuck and closed so Lhoss could re-memorize her sleep spell.

Session 33: Return to Orlane Days 17 - 24 of Coldeven

After the events with the ghouls, the party went to examine their maps, and found them to by illegible. However, the group felt that they had some idea of the way back to the entrance, and after some trial and error, and recognition of different landmarks, the party was able to find their way back to the entrance to the Barrowmaze. 

The party made a decision to leave the Barrowmaze and go back to Orlane for several items, especially gauntlets for some members, sledgehammers, bedrolls, etc. The trip back to Orlane was rather uneventful, and the party arrived back in Orlane late in the evening, and found respite in The Slumbering Serpent. 

The next day was a shopping expedition, spending some of the hard earned treasure. Also, Chiki was able to pay for training to become a Warrior of the realms. This was partially accomplished by selling a collection of gems that he had acquired as his share from the expedition to the lair of Explicita. Sledge hammers, bedrolls, some gauntlets (with a special order for the gnome Gnorica), and many other items were acquired by the party. While resting for a week, enjoying the time off, and waiting for Chiki to be ready, the group became acquainted with a half elf named Adalean. Adalean expressed interested to join the group, but had to delay this due to some family concerns up in Hookhill. 

Session 32: Day 17 of Coldeven: Are All Dwarves This Mean?

 I (Lhoss) found myself briefly separated from the party, but soon was able to catch up and found that much had transpired in my absence. For one, a belligerent dwarf named Arnd who had joined our party took an immediate dislike to me. I had no immediate quarrel with the lad, but his rough attitude toward me disposed me to dislike him right away. I find myself enjoying "poking the bear" to get a rise out of him. Either I will have to win him over or bury my dagger in him. Time will tell how this will play out.

Our group healed up and readied our spells in anticipation of combat. We decided that we needed to return to the village for a few more supplies to adequately explore the barrowmaze completely, but we should do some more searching and set off toward the evening.

We headed northward and came upon a goblin, lazily leaning on a sign that said "No Crossing". He said that this part of the dungeon is under construction and we could not pass. Gnorcia spoke with the goblin and said that he is harmless. We gently prodded to see if we could move through, but were rebuffed. There were a few areas like this that had been set with a goblin guard that we were unable to proceed through. We decided to explore other parts of the maze that seemed available to us.

Gnorcia peeked through an open door and saw some broken tablets in a pile on the floor. I attempted to read them, but could only make out scraps. They seemed to tell about Nerul, Orcus, and Set. I saw a glint of silver beneath the pile. When I shifted the pile, I saw a silver war hammer. As the discoverer, I named the mighty hammer (as is my right). For such a majestic weapon, the appropriate name was obvious: Melissa. I gave Melissa to Aramaziti, as I could not wield it and he seemed the best candidate. Although he balked at the chosen name (I don't know why; Melissa suits the weapon perfectly), he was eager to put it to use. 

Gnorcia and I tried to pick a locked door. We were unsuccessful, so Chiki smashed it down with his mace. Behind the door was a robed skeleton with a bowl of platinum pieces at its head. I nudged the bowl away from the bones and Chiki swooped in and scooped up the loot. The walls of the room were painted with disconcerting frescoes of worshipers of Nerul. Feeling uncomfortable, we fled the room.

Rounding a corner, Calbach encountered five large glowing red beetles. One insect quickly attacked Martin, our torchbearer, killing him instantly. Poor, sweet Martin! In a wave of grief and rage, I cast a sleeping spell over the creatures and our party dispatched with them by stabbing and squishing them. Gnorcia realized that their antennae glowed even after they were dead. She quickly gathered up all of the appendages and gave them to those in our party that don't have darkvision to use in lieu of torches. In an impromptu funeral ceremony, I dragged Martin's body away from the slain beetles against a wall. I sang him a plaintive song to honor his passing. Overcome with emotion, the entire party covered their ears. I've never seen that form of mourning, but we all cope in our own ways.

Next, we entered a strange room with three colored pools: one red, one black, one purple. Gnorcia dropped crystal shards into the pools with no effect. I dipped a piece of bandage into the red pool. Again, no effect. I attempted to light the damp bandage, but it wouldn't ignite. Feeling that there was more to learn, we decided to leave the pools and return when we had a better idea what we should do there.

We approached a large portcullis that blocked our progress. Arnd thought he would impress us all by trying to lift it, but in the end, it took me, Arnd, Armaziti, Gnorcia, and Calbach working together to lift it. We progressed through and came upon five giant rats. The party took them down with some effort (and some damage). After their defeat, we discovered two platinum bracelets. In another room, I picked up two silver statues of robed women. Our aim of exploring the barrowmaze is twofold: find Derrik and gather treasure. At least one of our objectives is being met!

In another room we saw a ghostly figure that seemed to be reenacting their last moments before being killed. It was an eerie sight to see it looping what must have been a terrifying end. Aramaziti fortunately had the skills and knowledge to set this spirt free with a blessing. It seemed grateful to be released to the beyond.

The final room we entered had two corpses laying prone on the floor. I called out to them to see if they were truly dead. If you ask, they have to tell you. Otherwise it's entrapment. They did not respond. I tried to poke one with my staff, and the trickster devil sprang up! They weren't dead, they were undead! I was viciously slashed and lay bleeding on the ground. Luckily Gnorcia bound my wounds and she and Chalkboi were able to dispatch the two nasty creatures. With intent to return to the village, we healed up and rested ourselves.

Session 31: Day 17 In which we opened doors without Lhoss

After breakfast we found that Lhoss was mysteriously missing, but we just decided to go on with our exploration. We went back to the unopened door at the north end of the first hallway we had investigated. It was an oaken door with metal bands and no lock, set in a stone wall.

We opened the door, which swung outward toward us, and entered a room with pillars on two sides, a hallway at the north end, and another door on the south side, just west of the entrance. Calbach started to investigate behind the first pillar nearest the door and was surprised by a giant 10-foot-long rattlesnake, which hissed and then immediately bit him twice!

We all started slashing, smashing, and stabbing at the snake, and hit it a few times, but pretty quickly the snake managed to bite Calbach some more and poisoned him. Calbach finally managed to cut its head off, then stumbled to the floor in pain. Armaziti quickly pulled out a scroll from his pack and read it, healing Calbach completely.

Calbach carefully investigated around the other pillars across the room and found nothing. Chiki, Armaziti, Gnorcia, and torchbearer Martin moved to the pile of rubble in the center (which appeared to be collapsed from the ceiling) and Gnorcia poked with her staff at some coins in it, sorting through and finding 85 copper pieces, 10 of which we immediately gave to Martin for his daily payment. While we did that, Calbach looked around behind where the snake was and found a leather bag full of gems in what appeared to be the snake’s lair. We divided up the gems and the coin, and further investigated the rough stone walls but found nothing unusual about them.

Chiki mentioned that it would probably be a good idea to head back to the village at some point to pick up supplies such as oil and torches, as well as possibly hiring some more support, and we decided to finish out the day and then head back. Turning to the hallway to the north and found an alcove with another door in the west wall. As Calbach investigated the door area, he noticed footprints on the floor and noted that some appeared to be leaving the room.

Calbach opened the door to find a room that appeared to be a temple with a statue in a large alcove to the west side. The statue appeared to be Nerul, the God of the dead. There were inscriptions and tapestries on the walls and pillars, all of which appeared to be about performing rites and worshipping Nerul.

There was a faint sound which we investigated and as we got closer we could hear someone speaking dwarvish. It sounded like it was coming from the floor! We prodded the floor until it opened, revealing a dwarf named Arnd Cobblestone, who said he had fallen into a trap which then closed over him, and his cousins had abandoned him there. Calbach tossed down a rope and he clambered up and fell to the floor. He begged for healing and Armaziti complied. Calbach inquired as to what he was doing there and he said he was looking for treasure. We shared our quest for Naynor and he asked if we would be interested in taking him along. Armaziti gave him his extra mace and we agreed to supply him with some light armor as soon as we got back to the village. He said he was from the county of Ernst and came through Hochoch seeking treasure and adventure.

Arnd told us a tale about Nerul. He had two sons name Set and Orcus who attacked and dethroned their father. Arnd had heard there might be something in the barrowmaze with the two cults of Set and Orcus. 

We investigated the statue more closely and it appeared to be beckoning. There was also an altar with a bowl in it, at the base of the statue. I decided to see if it would do anything for us, and tossed in five coins. After a short pause, the statue moved, lifting an eyebrow! I got the feeling that more was needed, so I gave him 5 more copper, then a silver, and then a small gem. Worried about angering the god of the undead, we pulled a sapphire from the bag of gems Calbach had found, and added that.

Suddenly the coins and gems vanished and the statue animated, asking, “What is your question?” I said, “We seek a man named Naynor. Do you know where he is?” The statue responded “No” and then returned to a solid form. Chiki thought maybe we could ask it some more questions but we didn’t want to give up any more gems, and couldn’t think of any more questions.

From there we went northdown the hallway and through the door into a dim and more-dusty hallway. We could see dwarf-sized footprints that appeared to be gathering in the entrance and then moving to the north. There was also a door at the east end of that hallway. We could hear a muttering sound behind the door. I investigated and listened at the door, and it sounded like some people talking. We decided to peek in, and sent the people with lights (everyone but Chiki and myself) back into the other hall so they wouldn't give us away.

Peeking through the door, we saw a group of seven men in the room, dressed in leather armor with short swords at their sides, talking about their recent success plundering these tombs. Some were talking about going through the very door we were listening at, ands others talked about going back the way they came, through another door to the east.

We gently closed the door and went back to the other hallway, trying to decide what to do. Then we heard them starting to come through the door! I stepped back into the hall and asked, “Who are you and what are you doing?” The others followed me in and the man answered, pulling his sword, saying, “That be our business!” Calbach pulled out his bow and shot the first man, and Chiki cast a wall of fog spell behind him, causing some confusion in the room. We killed the first one and yelled into the room, asking them to back down, but they said that we would have to come in after them and face their swords. We barged in and attacked them, taking them all down more easily than we first thought it would be.

Calbach discovered a loose tile in the room, covering two bags of gold, which we quickly divided up, receiving 62 gold each. There was artwork on the walls with a funerary procession.

Session 30: A victory of law - Evening of Coldeven Day 16

 After resting and recovering in the burial room, the party - Lhoss (Leigh), Gnorcia (Lillian), Armatzi (Alex), and Chiki (NPC) were mutually surprised to find Calbach (Brad) back in their midst. There was some metaphysical discussion of how this occurred, and then the party began to explore some more, going northward up the passage. A graffiti message was found in an alcove that said "beware the pools". Also, an eye that seemed to be dead appeared in the wall, and examined the party. Gnorica tossed a dart a the eye, and it disappeared back into the wall. This seemed eerily similar to the mysterious eye that had appeared in the dungeons of Explicita the Naga. After a little discussion, the group moved onward.

Another entrance opened up to the east, and the party were surprised to see two crystal statues, carved to appear like unicorns. As they approached closer, the heads of the unicorns turned to face the group. After some discussion, Lhoss stealthily crept between the statues, but they took great offence to this, and attacked the party. Lhoss and Chiki were quickly knocked unconscious, and the party appeared ready to die an ignominious death, but a couple of things happened. First, the chicken that Chiki carries about as a pet let out a high pitch squawk, and the statues quivered. Second, Armatzi pulled out his scroll of dispel magic, and was able to destroy the statues with the potent spell. Gnorcia quickly scrabbled to collect many of the shiny crystal bits. 

Lhoss was able to detect a secret door that the status were guarding. Close examination revealed an indentation in the stone wall. There was nothing else noteworthy (the party looked carefully for any kind of trick or trap). Calbach was able to push the door open without much effort, revealing an inner room, with symbols and drawings of law and justice. Armatzi felt at peace in the room, and Chiki and Lhoss immediately stumbled to the walls edge to rest and eat (They had been healed by Armatzi, but needed time to recover). 

Further examination revealed a large mosaic, with a dais and pedestal upon it in the southern section of the room. A glowing gauntlet rested upon the pedestal. Calbach and Gnorcia worked together to examine the pedestal for traps, and how to obtain the gauntlet. Calbach lashed the two staffs of Gnorica and Lhoss together, and then attempted to pull the gauntlet off the pedestal. After failing spectacularly a few times, Gnorica gave it a try, and despite a height disadvantage, she was able to obtain the gauntlet after a few tries. When the gauntlet was removed from the pedestal, a blade sliced out, and would surely of disemboweled whoever had been standing there. Armatzi felt impressed during his prayer to go and get the gauntlet. He obeyed the direction, and was astounded to find the holy artifact: the gauntlet of St. Cuthbert. He put on the gauntlet, and immediately knew the powers available to him: detect magic healing, and turning the undead once a day; the turning power could also be used as a restorative on the party to restore faith lost due to the fear from the undead. The gauntlet also emits a strong light at command. 

After resting for a few hours (and recognizing the excellent location to rest - Armatzi recovered his spells twice as fast in the room), the party continued to explore towards the north. A section of four doors was found. The two closest doors, one on the west, and the other on the east, were examined first. The door on the right was ajar, and the party looked in to see a mess of rubble and bones. There were tiles on the floor that had curiously been crushed by a hammer in a pattern like a chessboard. Lhoss went into investigate, only stepping on the tiles that hadn't been crushed. After looking around for a time, a strange, invisible force lifted a broken tile piece and threw it at Lhoss, connecting. Lhoss fought down the fear that threatened to overwhelm her, and left the room. All of the party felt a shiver of fear come over them. The door was quickly closed with nothing further occurring. 

The party went to the north and checked a door that had been broken down. There were burn marks on the western walls and ceiling, and there were two rune tablets of clay on the ground. Lhoss went forward to examine them, and found that they had words that could possibly be read. However, a feeling of random chance came over her. Disregarding this feeling, she examined the first tablet, and found that it was a clerical spell of create water. She handed this over to Armatzi. The second tablet turned out to be a magic user spell of strength. Wiping a bead of sweat off her forehead for some reason, she retained the tablet and rejoined the party in the hall. 

The two western doors were examined; rather, the northern was, and it was determined to be locked. The second was also locked, but Gnorica immediately tried some keys she had on the lock, without looking for traps. She wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead when the decision proved to be moot. The keys (which were found in Explicita's dungeon) proved to be useless. Chiki pulled out his battle axe, and used it on the southern door, making quite a racket. After about 30 minutes, the door was broken through (and very fortunately didn't attract any further attention). The room proved to be the burial chamber of three skeletons which also proved to be normal skeletons - another bead of sweat was wiped off the collective parties forehead. 

The last door in the north west fell to Chiki's axe - the noise again failed to attract any unwanted attention. When the door was clear, a feeling of dread came over the party. A golden sarcophagus was seen in the room. The party discussed for a bit and were almost ready to leave the room when Calbach decided to go in and examine the sarcophagus closer. He noted that it was painted wood, and had a seam to lift and open. However, his courage failed at that point, and he decided he didn't want anything more to do with the tomb. The party were all for this and retreated back down the hall. 

The whole time, the party had been using techniques of searching walls (at times) through a visual examination followed by searching for crevices, cracks, and such with their hands. Also, Gnorica and Lhoss probed ahead with their staffs (somewhat ineffectively as they were only 6' long). Calbach led the group though, and felt confident with probing with his foot. He soon found the folly of this by falling into a pit (Lhoss secretly grinned as she had had a similar experience earlier when Calbach was mysteriously absent). Amazingly, there was another human in the pit who was hysterical at first, but then very grateful for rescue. 

When he was pulled out of the pit, he introduced him self as Martin, a torch bearer. He explained that he had been hired in Hochoch by another party of adventures, all human. He related that their names are Darius, Elspeth, and Zach. He had triggered the pit trap and for some reason they had left him in the pit. He pledged his loyalty to the group, calling Calbach "My Lord" and addressing Lhoss as "My Lady". He offered to continue employment with the group as a torch bearer for but 1 silver a day. 

After a few yawns, the party decided to go back to the holy room of St. Cuthbert (as they now dub it) and rest for the evening. After resting and having breakfast in the morning, the group is eager for another day of adventuring in the gloom tunnels of Barrowmaze. 

Session 29: Day 16 of Coldeven, in the barrow maze

We found ourselves in a basin surrounded by trees that seemed to lean in and over it, making it darker that the world above the barrow, which was completely silent and gloomy.

We noted that the week of training must have included chicken training because Chiki’s chicken now sits comfortably on his shoulder. Unfortunately, his tunic is also stained down the back with chicken poop. Whiskers stood up and waved goodbye with one foot, then ran back down the path in the direction we came from. We all waved back and called out our thanks and goodbyes as he scampered off.

Looking around us, we found piles of hewn rocks, each cut roughly in the shape of a skull and stacked on top of each other in a cohesive but somehow disquieting manner, as if they should be adjusted. They were each about 40-feet around and 15-20 feet tall. Lhoss examined a couple of the piles and I examined another. Lhoss even touched one of the rocks for a moment but felt uneasy touching it, as if she did not want to.

We also noted six hills around us, all covered in scrubby grass. Lhoss examined one that was surrounded by 13 large chunks of solid granite and basalt, walking around it for at least 150 feet. There was an archway opening into that hill and many footprints along the pathway both in and out of it, along with some drag marks.

I examined another hill that had a few stones protruding from one side. There were no footprints around this one but as I got closer to examine the stones, five skeletons in shabby chainmail suddenly popped up and headed toward me! Chiki jumped in and three attacked him, doing some serious damage. The other two attacked me.

We battled the skeletons and Armaziti used his Turn Undead skill to fear four of the five away while we dispatched the last. We then chased down the other four and destroyed them, but not before two managed to run through the arch and into the large hill! We hesitated to chase them but Chiki barrelled in after them and the rest of us joined him, destroying them just inside.

I passed Armaziti a candle so he could see in the dark room. Looking around, we noted that there was a broken stone door and also a foul smell coming from the interior. A short stone stairway descended into a 60x60-foot area and we went down into it where we found four huge stone columns supporting the structure, and a 6-foot tripod with a block and tackle over a hole in the ground, with a tope descending down into the hole. Chiki commented that this was most likely the main entrance, then dropped a torch into the pit. It fell about 30 feet into a room and we could see it light up frescos on the walls inside.

Lhoss immediately gripped her dagger in her teeth and started lowering herself in. Chicki quickly followed, then Gnorcia and Armaziti.

Inside we found dust, rubble and silence. There was an unlocked door on the east wall and a passageway to the west with two more doors. Chiki stood guard at the hallways and Armaziti at the unlocked door as Lhoss and I looked around. We examined the faded frescoes on the walls and found they appeared to be religious and burial rituals along with writing in a language we could not understand. Some images showed people being disemboweled and having brains put in jars. Others showed demons leering over sacrifices, including the demon Orkus, a man-like creature with twisted horns, the lord of the undead.

Beneath our feet, the floor was worn ancient limestone covered with sand, debris, and bones, as well as footprints leading in both directions. The ceiling had more murals all the way up to the entrance hole, which was clearly not part of the original construction.

Finishing our examination of the room, Lhoss opened the door to the east and revealed a passageway and a pile of bricks that had been broken down and scattered around. Behind the bricks was a dim alcove with a few bones on the floor. 

Lhoss saw some archways farther down the hall and headed toward them but tripped a pit trap, falling in and taking damage. Irritated that she had not checked for traps, she tossed her rope up to Armaziti, who hauled her back up, and we crept around the pit trap and onward to the archways. Between them on the south was another brick wall, mortared in place and unbroken, extending 15 feet up. Lhoss tapped on it with her staff and it seemed very sturdy, even blocking all sound from that direction.

The hallway extended east through the second arch, and to the north was another hallway with an alcove and more broken-down bricks. I ventured quietly and carefully to peer into this alcove and got the impression that something had broken down the wall from the inside. Peering in further I could see bits of torn clothing and torn flesh!

Continuing up this hall we found another brick-walled area but this time could perceive sounds behind it, shuffling and scuffling. We moved quietly past it to find a narrow passageway across on the west side with no bricks walling it off. Lhoss snuck down this hallway and discovered it ended in a small room with ten octagonal alcoves, each blocked up with a skull. Examining more closely, she found the skull was wedged in, blocking whatever might be behind it.

Lhoss pried at the skull with her dagger and dislodged it, revealing a sparkle of coins, but she decided she didn’t want to be a grave robber so she left the coin and replaced the skull. I then decided I don’t have a problem robbing graves for coin so I barged in, took out the skull, and pocketed the 9 electrum pieces.

At that, Lhoss remembered that she owed Chiki some coin and decided maybe grave robbery wasn’t such a bad thing. She pried out the next skull to reveal 7 electrum pieces behind it. We continued along, checking for traps and prying out skulls, revealing 33 electrum in the first seven alcoves.

In the eighth, Lhoss found 9 more electrum but also a handful of rot grubs that immediately burrowed into her hand! Armaziti recognized what they were, ran over, and immediately cauterized her arm, killing the grubs. That was enough grave-robbing for Lhoss, so I broke into the last two alcoves and used an old goblin cap from my pack to retrieve 30 more electrum from them.

We decide to rest for three hours so Armaziti could memorize his healing spells again, but on the second hour, five blood-seeking sturges—small birds with bat wings, six legs, and pointy snouts—came flying down the passageway and into the room. Two hit Chiki, attaching themselves and sucking his blood. Another attacked Lhoss and another attacked me, attaching to us as well.

Hearing our screams, Armaziti stopped praying and grabbed his mace. I stabbed at one of them on Chiki, damaging it, and both Lhoss and Armaziti smashed at it as well, prompting Chiki to yell, “Why didn’t you use a sleep spell!” At that, Lhoss remembered her sleep spell, cast it, and the sturges all fell to the ground. We quickly squished them dead as blood spurted out all over.

We rested again so both Lhoss and Armaziti could re-memorize their spells and divided up the 88 electrum, pocketing 22 each.