Session 110: Day 27 of Goodmonth, in the Barrowmaze

As we prepared to engage the rats in battle, Ronan and Calbach materialized alongside us. The rats charged and attacked Feno and Chalkboi, but of course they both avoided their attacks and Feno continued to taunt them. With their attention on Feno, Lhoss cast magic missile at one, exploding it in a ball of fire, and I jumped on the two nearest me, killing them both instantly. Kyro ran up and shot an arrow, but it flew poorly and broke on the Barrowmaze wall. Feno swung his longsword, Icing Death, instantly killing three and nearly killing a fourth. Filthfang then raised his dirty little paws and cast a spell. Instantly, Kyro, Zraith, Ronan, Feno, and myself felt like we were covered in biting rats and collapsed to the floor, screaming and writhing! Nikki tried to drag Kyro out of the way and was stabbed by one of the arrows he was holding.

One of the giant rats moved forward and bit me as I was incapacitated on the barrowmaze floor. Lhoss attacked and killed another, but Filthfang again raised his nasty paws and cast an incantation, summoning six additional rats behind us. Niki then turned and killed three of them and as another rat tried to attack her, suddenly Jack started meowing and the rat was raised up into the air! Calbach shot an arrow through another, killing it as another rat took a biog bite out of Chalkboi’s side. At that point, the spell cast by Filthfang wore off and those of us who had been affected jumped up, angry and ready to do some damage to the rats.

Lhoss then cast continual light, blinding Filthfang, and Feno swung and connected with the evil sorcerer rat, who suddenly disappeared in a poof of purple smoke, leaving only the smell of brimstone. It was as if he wasn’t even there at all! I began to suspect that there was some advanced illusion magic going on. Feno angrily screamed, “Coward!” as Kyro swung and killed another rat. I angrily lashed out at the first rat I could see and killed it instantly, and Feno swept his sword across the remaining rats, obliterating them.

Lhoss had the sudden urge to open some doors so I followed behind her in an attempt to keep her from getting hurt. Feno declared he actually wanted to kick down some doors, so Lhoss checked the first door in the hallway for traps and (finding none) Feno kicked it down, revealing a pair of carnivorous flies. One of them immediately flew at me and bit me with a nasty bite. Seeing the flies coming at us, Zraith began to sing a strange little song of penguin courage. It seemed to be mostly about fish, but it still filled us all with courage to fight. The other fly tried to bite Feno but couldn’t get past his armor and Feno immediately squished it. Lhoss then smashed the other one with her staff.

Feno and Nikki went into the room, sweeping the floor as they went. At that moment, Zraith heard a commotion down the hall and called it to our attention. Chalkboi used lay on hands to heal me and I snuck quietly down the hall, hiding in shadows, and peered around the corner. I could see two mongrelmen torturing a giant rat. Going back to the others, I suggested we go down and investigate further, but the group decided instead they wanted to open the door at the other side of the room Feno and Nikki just entered. I was going to sneak back down and watch the mongrelmen from the shadows, but Kyro insisted he was going to go with me. Not trusting his ranger skills to keep him hidden like a thief, I decided not to go. Kyro was a little put out by that, as he wanted to tell the mongrelmen to just kill the thing, but he came into the room with us and I closed the door.

Lhoss then picked the lock on the other door on the south wall and Ronan and Feno went in. They reported that room was filled with burial alcoves on the west and east walls, but the entire east wall was also covered in nasty and dangerous yellow mold. The rest of us who had previously encountered yellow mold refused to even go in at that point. Lhoss decided instead to re-memorize her spells. (Armatzi tried also but was too exhausted and nodded off for 15 minutes instead.) Her memorization complete, Lhoss then entered the room and cast continual light on the mold, turning it to a pale grey. We then began to search the alcoves. Someone found a pouch of gold, Lhoss found a finely-crafted holy symbol of Narul (made of silver) and a diamond ring, and I found a platinum cloak clasp. We divided the coin between us.

Session 109: Adventures Great and Small

Previously, the Saviors of Orlane had pulled an ambush on a group of the Band of the Black Hand and were ambushed in turn by a group of undead.  Things looked grim for our heroes for a time, but their might won out in the end.  Gnorcia, always looking out for her pocket, decided to search the remains for treasure.  Most of the group joined her, and some items were found.  Usually, undead are a waste of time when it comes to loot, but this time, Zraith lucked out.  One of the Juju (enhanced zombies) was wearing a pair of sandals that weren't the usual junk.  In fact, they looked like exactly what the poor little penguin needed to protect her bare, recently burned, feet.  Before she put them on, Niki cast a "detect magic" spell on the gathered treasures, and to everyone's surprise, the sandals were indeed magical in nature, as were a pile of arrows Feno found around the second Juju.  Zraith put them on her feet and they (amazingly) fit her (decidedly non-humanoid) feet.  She hopped up and started walking around in the magical sandals, proving one of their powers by confidently walking up the wall as if it were the floor.  Someone remembered that the Juju had been likewise walking on the walls, and it was agreed that Zraith was blessed indeed to get such a useful item.

As the heroes were readying to leave the barrow maze, an eerie green eyeball appeared from the wall and glared at them menacingly, followed by a mouth.  The grating voice that emitted from the mouth announced itself as belonging to Naynor, the main foe that they have been searching the maze for.  The evil being taunts the heroes by name, referring to them specifically as "The Heroes of Orlane", calling their deeds unimpressive and claiming that they will soon fall to his warriors and join his army of undead against their will.

Lhoss and Gnorcia attack the apparition, but as it is some sort of illusion, they have no effect.  Feno quickly turned and mooned the pseudo-face, which then faded away to the sound of echoing laughter. The strength of the magical spell was proven by the laughter lingering for some minutes.

Approaching the stairs chosen to exit the barrow maze, Lhoss is hit again by the wretched smell from a nearby room.  "I want to try to get rid of that smell," she said.  Her proposal was to gather the rotting remains from the room in the tarp that was in the bag of holding and then dump them in the charnel pit further into the maze that the adventurers had previously thrown bodies into, followed by a vial of green slime.  The slime had effectively consumed the biologicals, neutralizing the smell of them.  This sounded like a reasonable idea, since the smell of decomposition is truly horrible, so Kyro and Gnorcia agree to accompany Lhoss into the tainted room.  Unfortunately, before even entering the room, Lhoss was overcome by the stench and began vomiting.  

Gnorcia and Kyro felt a bit green, but persevered and started gathering the remains into a pile.  Gnorcia changed the plan since she didn't want to damage the tarp. "I like this tarp," she said, "so how about we just burn the mess and be done with it?"  

Kyro wasn't so sure, and asked, "What about noxious smoke?"  

"It hasn't been a problem before," Gnorcia responded.  "We've been tossing burning oil around in here all over the place."  Kyro was still doubtful, remembering the time Tatania had set fire to some frescoes honoring Narul, and all the smoke from that, but didn't feel it was worth arguing about.  Neither of the two noticed that the door to the room had closed behind them, so when Gnorcia tossed the lit oil onto the pile of rotting corpses, the room quickly filled with thick, dark smoke.  That was enough to overcome Gnorcia, who collapsed and began vomiting as much as Lhoss had earlier.  Kyro picked Gnorcia up by the back of her tunic, carrying her as he tried to find the door and get it open, but he passed out from smoke inhalation.  Gnorcia crawled over and got the door open enough for her to drag Kyro from the room before they would both have perished.    Feno suggested that Niki use her stone shaping spell to just completely seal that room off, but she was unable to because she didn't have the clay component available.  The fresher air was enough to revive all three of the group that had been incapacitated, and everyone tromped back to Orlane under their own power.

Due to the time taken to deal with the stinky room, our adventurers arrive back to base too late for supper.  The kitchen at the Foaming Mug had been closed down for the night and there was nothing available to eat.  Zraith, perhaps feeling generous because of her good fortune in gaining magical sandals, offered to cook up some fish for the whole group instead of just Armatzi like she usually confined her largess to.  Most of the group happily agreed, once Lhoss had convinced Zraith to demonstrate her fishing talents, thus ensuring the fish was fresh and not the day-old catch that Zraith had in her bag.  Zraith had offered one of those fish to Niki, but even Jack turned up his nose at it.  It seems that gaining the powers of the Lesser Ring of Jack has turned the cat into even more of a snob than cats are usually considered to be.  Jack claimed that he just has better taste now.  The sole abstainer to the meal was Feno, since he has a particular dislike for Zraith, even though she has been traveling with the group for a while now.  Perhaps this is understandable, since the penguin can be rather brisk when talking to anyone except Armatzi, whom she idolizes, and elves are a proud race that don't forgive perceived slights particularly easily.

On the morning of day 14 of Good Month, the group sold the non-magical treasures collected on the journey.  The magically enhanced small shield was identified as a +1 shield, so since Kyro was the only one who could carry a shield that didn't have one, he was allowed to claim it.  It greatly enhanced his armor rating.  The arrows Feno had gathered proved to be +1 as well, which says a lot about the skill of the Juju that lost them since he injured more of his own side than the heroes.

Chalkboi counted up his funds and decided that if he borrowed a bit from the bag of holding, he would be able to level up.  This left the rest of the group without the paladin for a week, so it was decided that a short trip to Hochoch was in order.  Armaziti needed to report in to the Temple of St. Cuthbert, several of the others wished to renew their adventurer's badges, and Lhoss wanted to revisit the grove within the city.  These tasks were easily accomplished, with Armatzi being lectured about the undead and their strengths and weaknesses.  The information he received may be of great benefit while clearing the barrow maze.  The badges were renewed on day 18 of Good Month and will be valid for another 30 days.

Upon returning to Orlane on the 21st, the bounty on the killed Black Hand members was collected and the newly trained Chalkboi rejoined the group.  The morning of the 22nd of Good Month saw the heroes returning to the barrow maze, grateful that the long heatwave had finally broken.  Instead of being oppressive, the weather was comfortable, and the countryside was beautiful.  

The good mood from travel was slightly dampened when the group entered the barrow maze and discovered that it appeared Naynor had been watching for them.  Naynor's eye and mouth again manifested on the wall within the barrow maze, and he tried to intimidate and taunt the heroes. He wasn't anywhere near as scary as he believed himself to be, and Lhoss and Gnorcia followed Feno's example from last time and mooned the apparition. A black smoke flowed from the false mouth, carrying a mild curse, "essentially a reverse blessing," Armatzi said, that wore off before the group encountered anyone or anything.  Returning to where the undead had ambushed them earlier, the rooms in that hallway were searched.  Niki happened to spot a lever that opened a hidden door, that lead to a hallway with a second hidden door and then a third hidden door.  This third door opened into the hallway that the Band of the Black Hand had approached the ambush from.  All that remained from them was a burned out campfire in the room at the east end of the hall, but there were multiple burial alcoves around the room which were searched for treasure.  A closed portcullis was discovered on the south wall of the room and the members of the group took turns attempting to raise it individually.  None were successful.  Before a group effort could be organized, Chalkboi raised the alarm from where he'd been guarding the hallway entrance.  Giant rats were approaching, and the Rat King himself, Filth Fang, called out to have Jack surrendered to him.  "No way," Niki called back.  Feno then yelled back his own challenge, "You've got a date with my sword, Rat King!"  One might get the feeling that Feno dislikes the Rat King, and who could blame him?

Session 108: Swinging Swords and Adventuring Assassins

 Day 108 Goodmonth (Continued):

The party, which consisted of Kyro, Niki, Chalkboi, Lhoss, Feno, Gnorcia, Armatzi, and Zraith, continued to explore the Barrowmaze, looking for the Font of Law: an artifact whose purpose was outline by the ghost knight Sir Guy.  Heading in a south/southwest direction, Kyro noticed a hidden latch on a wall, and called Lhoss to investigate. Normally, it is the elves Feno or Lhoss who make such a discovery. Lhoss confirms that it is indeed a hidden door, Feno undoes the latch, and being the impulsive elf that he is, enters the room. As the room starts unfolding before his eyes, he inadvertently triggers a trap by snagging a hidden tripwire. Sharp spikes suddenly jut forth from the floor. Due to quick reflexes, he dodges most of the spikes, though a couple of them hurt his leg. Seeing the chaos from another activated trap, Niki thought it wise to travel closer to Feno, and utilize the 10 ft pole the party had, and check ahead of Feno for any future traps. 

They proceed cautiously into the new room and see many burial alcoves. With a thorough searching, the group finds a number of electrum pieces, a pearl, and a gold signet ring. While the group was actively searching, Feno stood guard by the doorway. He hears the flapping of wings, as well as squeaks of an enemy just outside the room. He informs the group to get ready. Upon seeing that they are sufficiently braced for combat, he opens the door ready for anything. 

Four stirges (which look like giant mosquito creatures) rush into the room. They first set their sights on Feno, the death bringing elf. He sidesteps each stirge attack with relative ease. The penguin Zraith attempts to attack one stirge, but is unable to connect with his two hammers. Feno looks and sees the formation of the flying blood suckers and formulates an attack plan. He spins his body off the ball of his foot, and attacks the four stirges in the room, and kills all four in one fail swoop. Their bodies, or what remains of them, clang to the dungeon floor. Seeing an opening, the last remaining stirge flies into the room, ready to attack. Niki, sneaks behind it, and deals a killing blow to the last stirge. The group gathers their newfound treasure and continue to press on southward. 

Upon entering a possible dead-end, Niki discovers a hidden door. They enter and find an unusual, shaped room. Suddenly a flagstone golem is alerted their presence and attacks. Lhoss, channels some of her magic, and sends magic missiles at it, causing some damage to its body. Armatzi is next, and steps forward to attack with his war hammer and hits it, causing further damage. Gnorcia, utilizing her nimble size, decides to jump on his back and attempts to literally stab him in the back. However, due to his stony exterior, Gnorcia is unable to cause much damage to the 7 ft tall creature. Kyro, steps forward and attacks, but the golem deflects the attack. He lumbers forward and attacks Feno. Feno, upon seeing the telegraphed movement of the lumbering giant, easily sidesteps and dodges both attacks. Niki, capitalizing on the golem's focus on Feno, attacks, which causes further damage to the creature. Zraith waddles up to the creature, and swinging both hammers again, attacks. This time, due to the creatures focus on Feno, he connects on his attacks, dealing the killing blow. The flagstone golem crumbles to the ground in defeat. The group notices more burial alcoves in this room. As the majority begins to search and loot the newly discovered alcoves, Feno again gets into a guarding position near the southern door. The group in their searching discover more electrum pieces, a piece of jade, and a small shield. Niki decides to cast a spell, to determine where or not it has magical properties. Her spell causes her to conclude that it indeed does have those properties. Feno hears what sounds like a small adventuring group nearby. He hears their murmuring and muffled talking as they walk near the room the group was in. While listening near the doorway, He also catches a tripwire in the corner of his eye, that is attached to a large stone slab hanging overhead. Presumably, the slap would come down, pushing them into the room with the golem. He informs the group of this, and they disarm the trap. After storing their fresh loot, they proceed forward through the door and further south. They discover a passageway that goes east and west, as well as another passage south. Feno faintly hears the previous group and sees the faint light from their torches from the southern passageway. Lhoss, utilizing her ability for stealth, hands her lantern to Gnorcia for temporary safe keeping. She proceeds to cautiously head down the sides of the passageway, getting closer the other group. After getting close enough to the group to hear their conversation, she learns that they are members of the of the Black Hand. Hearing this her blood boils, and she quietly leaves to inform her party a few paces off. 

On the way back she discovers a hidden trap in the middle of the passageway, that she hadn't seen before. It has a pressure plate, wherein if someone were to step on it, it would cause them to fall into a pit. Upon her return, Lhoss informs the party of all that she learned, and they begin to talk strategy. After talking through a few scenarios, the group decides to lure them and ambush them. 

Lhoss moves down the passageway again, this time putting a bag's worth of marbles along each side of the trap, making it far more treacherous to cross. Gnorcia for her part, decides to use some illusionary magic, and creates a goblin illusion to trick and lead the assassin group towards the trapped trap. The rest of the party gets in position, with each member on opposite sides of the passageway, ready for the ambush. Gnorcia moves the goblin illusion towards the black hand members, and using her goblin language skills, gets the assassin's attention. Seeing the goblin, and potential easy mark for treasure, the group of assassin's sound the verbal alarm and follow the goblin down the passageway. As they proceed down, Lhoss's marble trap works, and 4 members of the black hand immediately fall in.  They hear screaming, and the sounds of battling some creature at the bottom of the pit. Lhoss, seeing the destruction her marbles decides to slink back towards the group. The assassin nearest to the pit, sees her outline briefly and yells to his brethren that they are not alone. They attempt to cross the marble pit area in pursuit. Lhoss, with a wicked grin after seeing a glimmer of fire in the pit, tosses some vials of oil she got from her pack and tosses them in. The vials of oil connect with the open flame and cause a huge explosion that knocks two more assassins into the pit. 

The rest of the assassins are able to make it across the sides of the pit and kick the marbles out of the way. 

Suddenly, the doors behind the group burst open, and a large group of undead rush towards party that is laying in ambush for the Black Hand. The ambushers, it would seem, have now become the ambushed. They undead charge, before the party can counter-attack, and attack Lhoss, who had moved next to Feno, thinking it was a good vantage point. As Lhoss was preparing to fire one of her magic missiles, an undead zombie hits her, disrupting her spell casting and causing minor damage. The remaining members of the Black Hand rush forward and attempt to destroy the goblin but are unable to dispel the illusion. Seeing the danger, the party has now been placed in, Feno rushes back to attack and kills one of the Black Hand members, in order to help clear a path for other member's attacks. After both the assassins and undead reposition themselves to get a better angle to attack, Armatzi attempts to use his clerical magic to turn the undead away. Unfortunately, but the spell has no effect, and the undead resume attacking Lhoss, who falls unconscious from the attacks. Gnorcia, trying to at least affect the members of the Black Hand, casts her spell color spray which causes bright colored lights to shoot forth from her hands. The Black Hand becomes blinded, because they looked directly into the light.  Meanwhile, Feno continues to rain death and destruction with every swing of his enchanted sword. As Gnorcia, and Niki methodically attack and kill each member of the Black Hand, Kyro, Feno and Zraith attack the zombie-like creatures. Zraith falls unconscious when a zombie hits the penguin with a hard claw attack.  Niki rushes forward and heals Lhoss before she bleeds out from her wounds. The leader of the Black Hand, sensing their demise, quickly runs away, abandoning his men to their deaths. And death does indeed happen, with each and every one of them falling to the weapons of Gnorcia and Niki. Feno cleans up the remaining zombies with relative ease, side stepping their attacks and inflecting righteous fury upon the walking corpses. Once the leader of the undead falls, the conscious members of the Saviors of Orlane tend to the wounded and unconscious prior to heading back to Orlane to divide the treasures unearthed as well as get proper medical attention. A good meal and good rest is long overdue. 

Session 107: Sir Guy de O'Veargne and the Fount of Law

The sun rose into a clear sky on the morning of Day 13 of Goodmonth and a warm morning quickly turned into a hot day. Chalkboi, Niki, Armatzi, Zraith, Gnorcia, Loss, and Kyro ate a typically delicious Orlanean breakfast before making the trek to the barrow marsh. It was a sweaty journey through the countryside and farmlands, then tempered by the cool, eerie Dim Forest. The brief temperature respite was shattered upon entering the barrow marsh which was hot and humid with a fetid mist that smelled more foul than usual. There was already a noticeable feeling of weariness among the travelers. The group decided to descend into the barrow maze and find a quiet spot to eat their lunchtime meal.

After moving away from an area that had a rotten smell (probably from some decaying corpses of a previous battle), a portion of rations was consumed and adventuring ensued. Armatzi walked headlong into the first room the party explored and was immediately attacked by three crab spiders that fell from the ceiling. As has happened too often of late, he was poisoned and began to froth at the mouth. Niki engaged the spiders and Armatzi was pulled to safety and Chalkboi administered a cure poison potion. Gnorcia quickly slew one and Jack used his yarning spin to hold another. The spiders were all quickly slain and the party beheld a shrouded corpse with a dirty silver circlet. The headpiece was retrieved while Gnorcia and Kyro harvested the poison sacs from the spiders.

In the next room, two disturbed skeletons on stone slabs were present in a room with hunting and fishing frescoes on the walls. There was also a pile of debris where two bracelets were found. Then to everyone's surprise, a mongrel man peered up from the debris. He was a pitiful creature that was part baboon, part cockroach, with a lobster claw for a hand. He called himself Kalen and told a sorrowful tale of being cast out by his kind and seeking refuge in the barrow maze. He went on to share that his people were sacrificed on the alters by necromancers. When asked any information on how to find these necromancers, Kalen cowered in fear and refused to communicate. Gnorcia promised that we were here to destroy the evil presence and would avenge Kalen and his people. The group left him with some rations and a spare water skin. To their amazement, Kalen sunk back into the debris pile and became nearly impossible to spot.

As the party trekked to the east, they collectively felt a sense of doom, danger, and evil. Attentive to the warning, all were hesitant to move forward. Chalkboi and Armatzi then felt a sense of holiness that led the group to retreat to the west. Along the wall, Niki noticed a hidden latch. After Gnorcia checked it for traps, Niki triggered it to reveal a hidden staircase. At the end of the stairs, it appeared to be a dead end. But upon inspection, Lhoss found crack in the wall which revealed a hidden door. Inside, dark peat-colored water dripped from the ceiling and collected in a pool in the center. Surrounding the pool were many burial alcoves lining the walls. Zraith went for a swim in the stinking water, which stirred up three giant leaches. They attacked the party but were easily slain. The group found treasure in the alcoves and also the remains of a knight who wore a winged and visored helm.

Suddenly a human specter appeared and introduced himself as Sir Guy de O'Veargne. He told the tale of his mission to close the pit of chaos, a portal to another realm that was allowing evil and undead creatures to pass into the barrow maze. He was to use the Font of Law, a glowing orb, as a means to sever the connection. Alas, he was betrayed, murdered, and unceremoniously dumped before his quest could be completed. As he began to fade from existence, he bequeathed his helm to Chalkboi as a holy paladin of St. Cuthbert and charged him and Armatzi with finding the orb and closing the portal. Armatzi and Chalkboi then took great care and reverence in properly putting Sir Guy to rest in one of the burial alcoves.

Session 106: A Column of Gems and Quest Reminders (Days 11-12 of Goodmonth)

Feno, Chalkboi, and Ronan stood guard at the door—which was now closed tightly and held by Feno—while the rest of us carefully chipped away at the gems. We then heard a noise from out in the hallway somewhere, like a door creaking open as if for the first time in centuries. Most of us stopped working on the gems and listened carefully, alert, but Kyro kept working away and got two more gems out while we waited. The sound had stopped and we realized all was still again in the barrowmaze. We went back to work on the gems again, and soon had 20 emeralds and 20 rubies, which we stashed in the bag of holding as we prepared to go back to town.

We returned to the exit we came in by, and out into the oppressive silence of the Barrowmarsh. Walking back through the Dim Forest, we started to hear the sounds of creatures stirring in the darkness of the ancient trees. Leaving the forest behind, we caught the golden hues of the setting sun as we emerged into the farmlands and hurried back toward Orlane, passing farmers and their farmlands on the way.

Back in town, we were happy to see the people there and quickly went to the Foaming Mug Inn for dinner. The meal was amazing and full of bright fruits and vegetables, accompanied by a wide selection of drinks.

In my new quest to increase my comeliness, I sent my clothes away to be washed and asked the servants to help me bathe and braid my crown into a crown braid around my head before bed. Soon we were all asleep in our beds.

When we awoke on Day 12 of Goodmonth, we found an invitation from Vilma to join her for breakfast. Everyone was happy to attend the meal, though a certain penguin decided to go fishing instead.

Vilma’s home was bright and comforting, and the food smelled amazing. We all sat at a long table and found scrambled eggs, bacon, and fruits, along with freshly-brewed coffee and herbal teas. Vilma regaled us with stories of her youth and the history of Orlane, and we were all happy to listen and enjoy our time there. She also went on about how the Barrowmaze seems to have some sort of wicked enchantment over it, making it more dangerous than it used to be.

After breakfast we all wished Velma well and headed over to have the treasure valued and split between us. We also went to the general store and purchased various items there, and I ordered new clothing from the tailor.

I put in an order with the tailor for a dark forest green outfit to wear under my armor, and a dark-green cloak with a hood, adorned on the edges with gold embroidery of tiny keys, stars, suns, and eyes, and a leather clasp embossed with daggers. I also gave him a drawing of a dragon to be embroidered onto the back of the cloak, using dark thread that blends in with the dark green fabric so it is barely visible unless you know to look for it. The dragon’s sinewy body is coiled around a large moon and its wings are spread wide, as if ready to take flight at a moment's notice. The dragon's eyes are piercing and seem to follow you as you move. I also ordered decorative embossed leather straps for my boots, with keys, stars, suns, and eyes, and matching embossed wristbands for my gloves.

We noticed that a thunderstorm was looming and decided to stay in town for the day rather than travel to the Barrowmaze. During the day, Feno commented to Ronan that he was given a hard time when we were in Hookhill because Ronan had not reported to the Knights of Hookhill about the hunt for Naynor. Ronan quickly went to the Slumbering Serpent and spoke with Bernard, and the rest of us followed him to see how that would go. Bernard chastised him for not reporting in, then let him know that he needed to report weekly. Ronan named Chalkboi as his second, to check in with them if he wasn’t able to.

Ronan started asking questions and Bernard said that Naynor had been connected to the cults in the Barrowmaze and raiding travelers going through the Dim Forest, and that the order of St. Cuthbert is also very concerned about all the undead being generated in the barrowmaze and believes there is something unnatural happening there. He reminded us that the band of the Black Hand appear to be raiding the tombs also and they seem to include Derrick the Assassin among their ranks, who is also a follower of Naynor.

Bernard suggested that Armatzi could petition the order of St. Cuthbert for assistance with spells to help find Naynor, and Chalkboi could use Caliburn to better know how to solve the mysteries of the Barrowmaze because of its holy purpose to defeat the undead. He then charged Chalkboi to find the source of the evil and defeat it. When Lhoss piped up and joined in the conversation, Bernard considered her for a moment, then added that there was a substantial reward offered for both evidence and the removal of any of these groups: Accolades of Orcus, Necromancers of Set, or any followers of Narul. Sufficient evidence would be (uh)holy symbols, garments, brooches, and other evidence they had been defeated. They were also offering 10gp per scalp for Band of the Black Hand. Lhoss perked up at that, and I sat quietly listening, hoping not to garner the attention of Bernard so as to avoid getting some sort of commission from him.

We then split up and Kyro went to the temple to pray for insight. Lhoss and I then went to visit Ramne, as Lhoss was searching for information about gauntlets of dexterity. The two of us then joined Feno to visit the elves, where he was asking if they had any information about Naynor. Twice, from both Ramne and the elves, Lhoss was instructed to consult the sages in Hookhill or Hochoch for insight into finding those gauntlets. I was reminded that I have some business there, as well.

We retired that evening, planning to return to the Barrowmaze on Day 13.

Session 105: Further adventures in the Barrowmaze

The group discussed marching order: Feno spearheading the front, followed by Armatzi and Chalkboi in the 2nd rank, Zraith and Niki in the third, and Lhoss and Gnorcia in the rear. 

The group adventured and explored a couple of rooms, including one with a bloody altar. They opened another door, which let out a blast of air, that blew out the torches and candles. Lhoss snuck into the room, and discovered a draft coming into the room. Chalkboi then swept the room with a 10' pole, clearing it. There was a brick wall to the north, that was crumbling. The group decided to bash that wall down, and were successful. This revealed a room with a glittering pillar of red and green. It was discovered that it had many small emeralds and rubies embedded in it. The group started to pry out gems, and this sound brought about a group of stirges, that somehow?! opened the door that had been closed. 

After fighting with the stirges and giving up some blood, they succeeded. Lhoss and Armatzi attempted to memorize spells, but were too frazzled to concentrate. 

Session 104: The Rat King Makes His Presence Felt

 Day 11 of Goodmonth

Following the battle with the undead, the group took refuge inside the barrow maze in hopes of finding a quiet spot for the magic users to memorize and recoup their spell casting abilities. Upon entering the second entrance of the barrow maze, the group's collective hair stood on end: they were being watched! Or at least that was the sensation they all felt. As they pressed forward, they noted the acrid smell of death and decay that was particularly strong this time of exploration. Upon arriving at some previously explored rooms, the group (which consisted of Feno, Armatzi, Lhoss, Nikki, Gnorcia, Kyro, Calbach, Chalkboi, and the animal companions Zraith and Jack) ventured into a side room that was attached to another room. Here the stench of death and decay was especially strong that caused everyone to be very nauseous. Most of the group quickly left the room, but a couple members were overcome with the nauseous feeling and lingered in the room longer than probably should've. Armatzi and Chalkboi, being overcome with the strong stenches emitted by the room, began to vomit uncontrollably. Finally, they leave the toxic room and rejoin the party in next room, falling to their knees upon exiting. Once cleared from the room, the group, and especially the magic users of the group get a fair amount of distance away from the room, in order to properly focus on getting their magic skills back. Both Lhoss and Armatzi are successful in the return of spells. While they are studying, little Gnorcia decides to play some bone dice with the sentient cat, Jack. Once the party has secured its magical abilities, they decide to press on, hoping to find more treasure. 

With each step into the unknown, they get a sense of foreboding, seeing weird shadows on the walls, and weird angles jutting out. The group stops, when someone notices glowing runes along the wall. Jack hunkers down in a mixture of fear and anxiety. Seeing the runes, he proclaims that it is a sign of the rats, sworn enemies of cats. Gnorcia, remembering that she had a crown of translation, translates the rune meanings. With its use, she gets a massive headache, but was able to translate it to a confusing statement that talked about the rise of rats and the fall of cats. Upon its translation, the runes lose their meaning luster and stop glowing. The group decides to press forward, arriving at a room with a pit the group had previously put slime into. With the aid of Zraith's flipper, Armatzi looks down into the pit, and confirms that slime was still inside. Pressing on, the group arrives near the juncture where they had previously been attacked by the undead cats. The same cats that nearly killed the party. They find a bashed in door near one of the rooms and decide to investigate. Inside they find many burial alcoves and pile of breadcrumbs in the middle of the room. As they search the alcoves for potential treasure, their presence and noise during this search alerts some furry enemies. They hear many padded feet and squeaks coming from the hallway. Both Feno and Armatzi rush out of the room to investigate these new arrivals, while the rest of the party stays in the room initially. Feno and Armatzi both see many, many giant rats, being led by the rat king Filth Fang. 

Rat after rat start attacking, mainly Feno, but a few attack Armatzi. None of these initial rat attacks are successful: they each repel the rodent attacks. Armatzi looking up towards his diety decides to say a small prayer, which assisted the party their ability to hit these creatures. Feno draws his blade and attacks, slaying 4 rats himself. This quick rat stomping enrages the leader Fang, who hisses an incantation in rage. He casts a spell that affects Feno, Lhoss, and Zraith causing them to immediately fall down. They have the mental sensation of being clawed and bitten, which causes them to flay about on the ground. Calbach decides to use a magical arrow in hopes of striking the rat leader. He fires arrow with his bow watching sail towards Fang. However, the rat leader catches the arrow in mid-flight, and, with a menacing glare, crushes both the arrow, and arrowhead into pieces. The group takes turns taking down the other rats while Lhoss and Feno continue to be afflicted the rat king's spell. Sensing defeat, Fang quickly disappears while the group is distracted. Once the last rat is finished off by Armatzi, the spell wears off both Lhoss and Feno. Zraith had fought off the effects earlier. Having remembered fearing the magical effects of the undead cats, and now this, Feno exclaims in anger and frustration, that the group should pursue the escaped leader, because "he has a date with my sword." The group, due to hardships and trainings of past encounters, opt to try to replenish their funds and search for more treasure. They continue onward and discover a room with an alter covered in fresh blood, as well as many burial alcoves and crypts. In their searching they discover more than 100 silver-plated skulls, and more gold pieces. They heard some stomping of feet in the nearby hallway, and decide to prepare for battle, bracing one door and waiting near the other.