Session 113: The Discovery of a Royal Dwarf (or Two)

Feno, Armatzi, Niki, Lhoss, and I (Gnorcia) took the hallway back north, through the portcullis, and went west out of the portcullis room. In that hallway, Lhoss opened the second door to the left, which appeared not to have been explored before. It also didn’t appear to be trapped, but there were scorch marks on the door, and inside we found a device on another door on the south wall of the room. It was a sort of clock with a code next to it. Lhoss started puzzling over it, mumbling a bunch of numbers, and then exclaimed that she thought she had figured it out!

The rest of us stood back as far as we could as Lhoss dialed 15, 13, 12... We all jumped every time it clicked, but then the door opened. We peered through and saw a funeral slab and the long-dead remains of a dwarf, wearing armor and holding a hammer, with a coffer at his feet. Niki cast detect magic and the hammer glowed, as did something inside the coffer. We checked the coffer for traps and opened it to find a ring of white gold with a reddish aura about it, and a vial of cyan blue liquid with a whitish aura, glowing with power. We added those to the bag of holding.

Recognizing the value of a dwarven-made coffer, I picked it up to carry it out with us, just as Lhoss reached to take the armor and hammer. But apparently that dwarf didn’t want to lose his stuff because doing so set off a trap. The door slammed shut and poison began to fill the air. Trapped inside, Lhoss and I started choking and banging on the door. Feno quickly dialed the numeric sequence again, opening the door, but as it opened he was also hit with the poison and started to choke as well.

Armatzi and Niki grabbed a vial of cure poison from the bag of holding and another from Feno’s backpack, administering them to Feno and Lhoss. They both began choking and vomited up the poison, but seemed otherwise ok. We had no more vials of cure poison so Armatzi cast slow poison on me and I fell unconscious but was still alive (obviously, since I'm writing this.) Feno then grabbed the hammer, armor, and coffer, adding them to the bag of holding, and hoisted my unconscious body over his shoulder like a small sack of potatoes. The group hurried out of the barrowmaze and through the barrowmarsh. Feno later told me that Lhoss, Niki, and Armatzi were all very quiet and Lhoss kept her head down, looking quite defeated. We proceeded this way through the Dim Forest and back to Orlane, arriving late for dinner, though I could hardly have eaten anyway in my condition.

The entire group went straight to the temple and alerted a guard who hurried to find Priestess Misha. She scurried out carrying a vial of cure poison, which she poured down my throat. Waking up, I coughed and choked up the poison, nodded my thanks to Priestess Misha, then curled up in Feno’s arms and fell asleep again. At that point, apparently Lhoss determined to purchase all the remaining vials of cure poison that Priestess Misha had, adding them to the bag of holding. Everyone had a ration for dinner, since we had missed the meal, and Lhoss and Feno stayed up for an ale at the Golden Grain Inn. 

The next morning I felt completely recovered but hungry. Going down to breakfast, we found Arnd and asked if he could try reading the runes on the hammer we had found. As we showed it to him, Arnd gasped and fell to his knees. "This is the regal dwarven thrower of the clan of Thazuun," he read. Apparently that is Arnd’s clan, and that poison-loving dwarf skeleton was the long lost ancestor Arnd originally went into the barrowmaze searching for! He told us that the weapon is a +2 Dwarven warhammer, meant for throwing. When wielded by a dwarf, it gives +3 to hit and to damage. When thrown, it has a 60-foot range and a boomerang-like quality. It also does triple damage against giant-size creatures.

"Where did you find this?" Arnd exclaimed, and we told him the tale of its discovery. Feno then took out the armor and presented it to Arnd, who immediately put it on. He then explained that it was ornate dwarven plate mail, and that he was actually no ordinary dwarf. It turns out our dwarven friend Arnd is a prince of dwarves! Even Lhoss looked impressed.

We finished our breakfast and the group determined to spend a week in town so Lhoss and I could complete some additional illusionist training.

Flying Penguins and Falling Elves

 Day 23 of Goodmonth

Feno awoke with the smells of the blooming summer flowers and native plants around Orlane. After getting ready for the day, and enjoying their usual tasty breakfast served at the Foaming Mug, the group decided to get a few errands out of the way before heading out to the barrow maze. Feno, headed alone initially to the temple to hopefully be cured of the curse that had befallen him from the needles of the previous day. After being initially rebuffed, he left feeling agitated by the encounter. Lhoss persuaded him to head back there with her, and, due to her being much more persuasive was able to convince the temple to perform this ritual to restore his life essence back to normal. This spell, which cost 1000 gold pieces (this was a reduced rate, thanks in part to the group saving and doing good deeds in town) was successful and caused him to become extremely hungry immediately afterwards. Fortunately for him, the temple provided adequate food for him to wolf down, to ease his feelings of being famished. Once complete, both Lhoss, as well as Feno thank the temple for this work, and head back to the inn to rejoin the group, who are all enjoying the summer morning. As they begin to communicate with each other about what just happened, a loud buzzing sound starts to emanate from the direction of the temple. Initially believing that it a swarm of bees or something similar, Feno brushes it off. The group, consisting of Gnorcia, Calbach, Ronan, Niki, Armatzi, Kyro, Zraith, and Lhoss decided to see what the buzzing noise was all about. Feno decided to follow the group in their investigation as well. When they arrived at the location that the buzzing noise was coming from, they were greeted by appearance of an angelic like messenger penguin, who recited a poem to request Zraith back to his homeland. He said:

"Oh Zraith whose presence we long to see,
 a messenger arrives to urgently plea.
 From the folk of Zraith, a heart-felt cry,
 implores you to return, and don't deny.
 In their humble abode they await your return,
 for your wisdom and guidance they truly yearn.
 Troubles have befallen their peaceful land,
 and they seek your aid, lending a helping hand.
 They speak of darkness creeping near,
 of shadows cast, spreading fear. 
 Your presence, dear Zraith, is their light,
 to dispel the gloom and set things right. 
 The folk of Zraith, with hope and dispair,
 beg you to come swiftly with utmost care.
 For in your hands lies the power to mend,
 to restore their homes, their hearts to mend.
 So heed this call Zraith, fair and bold,
 answer their plea, let their story unfold.
 Bring your wisdom, and magic divine,
 for the folk of Zraith, your presence will shine.
 With haste they await your triumphant return,
 to guide them through darkness, that their fires burn. 
 Oh Zraith, beloved and cherished by all,
 come back Zraith, and answer their call."
    

At its conclusion, Zraith (whom Feno always found a bit annoying) bid the party goodbye, accepting the messengers request of heading back to his homeland. Upon his acceptance, he suddenly utilized some magical wings of his own, flies up, and then teleports to wherever magical penguins call home. He leaves a small pouch for the party upon leaving upwards. Seeing indifference from Armatzi upon its discovery, Lhoss opens it up and discovers 9 healing potions inside. She puts them into the groups bag of holding for safekeeping, and for future use. After much discussion, and the errands they needed doing, the group heads back once again to the barrow maze. They arrive at the dim forest at lunchtime, opting to eat here, on the edge of the forest, instead of the middle of the marsh, which often draws unwanted attention from the denizens there. Feno especially enjoyed the smells of nearly harvestable grain that was growing at the farms along the way: it reminded him of his early childhood. Once the usual, somewhat bland taste of their rations was complete, the group once again went through the dim forest and into the barrow marsh.

The barrow marsh greeted them with thick mists hovering over the soft ground, as well as buzzing and chirping of the insects flying about. They head back and into the usual entrance to the barrowmaze, hoping to find more unexplored routes. More routes, means more treasure. Following a previous route southward, the air in the barrowmaze was noticeably cooler, more so than usual. The passageways were also seemed darker, exuding dark and oppressive feelings throughout its many hallways and passageways. As they continue to move southward towards unexplored areas, the air becomes quite cold. Due to one of the benefits of his enchanted sword, Feno experiences minor cold, whereas the rest of the party, shivers and chatter from the very chilly environment. 

While exploring a new hallway, Niki inadvertently triggers a trap, activating and opening the doors on each side of the party. Skeletons, who appeared to be a mixture of crystalized calcium and bone, attack the party. The skeletons, seemingly drawn to Calbach, attack and hit him a few times. The party dispatches the skeletons, each taking their turn to destroy the crystalized undead bone people one by one. Once defeated, the group heals those that need it, including Calbach, and head down the hallway, only to find a brick wall blocking their progress. Lhoss, being the leader of the group, tells the strongest of the party, "Mr. Feno, tear down this wall." Kyro, Feno, and others bring the wall down with relative ease. 

The party then enters the newly discovered room on the other side of the wall, where they spot a large pile of runic tablets. As they draw near to it, the tablets come together and form a runic golem.  

The newly formed magical creature then attacks. The group take turns in attacking the magical construct, and in turn most are silenced as a result of their attacks on the magical creation. Feno, feeling a little full of himself, and a little impulsive, decides to attack the creature, knowing full well the magical ramifications that would more than likely occur. After dealing some damage to the creature, the golem unleashes a torrent of magical missiles cause a moderate amount of damage to the impulsive wood elf. The group defeats the creature, which leaves two runic tablets upon its destruction. Not wanting to tempt the gods that be, the group places each of the tablets into the bag of holding and decides to rest and recover spells in this new room. Still feeling a little impulsive, and very impatient, Feno decides to head towards the mirror towards the southern part of the room. In a momentary lapse of judgment, he forgets that they had not yet explored this room for traps and triggers a trap door near the mirror. He screams loudly in surprise as he falls downward. Using some quick reflexes, and quite a bit of luck, he manages to grab an edge of the pit with his fingers, thus avoiding a most certain death. Seeing their strongest seemly fall to his death, the group looks towards the area in shock and horror. They look inwards towards the bottomless pit, as Feno slowly climbs out of it. Visibly shaken by this new chain of events, Feno quickly moves to the entrance of the room, trying to get as much distance as he can from that pit. The rest of the group recover their spells and methodically search for traps and treasure in the room. They find nothing in the way of either, while Feno rests near the front door of the room. 

Session 111: Further Exploration and Treasure in the Barrowmaze

Feno, Niki, Armatzi, Zraith, Gnorcia, Lhoss, and Kyro continued their exploration of the Bareowmaze on Day 22 of Goodmonth. The party decided to bash down a brick wall, so Feno, Kyro, and Armatzi heaved sledgehammers while Lhoss and Gnorcia kept an ear out for trouble. Luckily, no evil undead appeared and the party found themselves facing five doorways to the south. Niki swept the area with her pole searching for the rumored bottomless pit and found the space to be clear. One door was off its hinges and hanging open, leading to an empty room. Following a protocol of safety (that was occasionally adhered to) Lhoss checked the easternmost door for traps and noticed a glyph of warding. Though it was faint and nearly blended into the door, the protective cleric symbol was detected. The remaining doors were also checked for runes, but none were seen. It’s possible that the detected rune was old and therefore easily discovered and the other doors were protected by stronger glyphs… nonetheless Gnorcia was able to remove the trap with her nimble thief skills. The next barrier was a simple lock. Gnorcia is always eager to try her collection of keys, but none of the collected artifacts fit the lock. She picked it instead. What a useful thief! (Take some notes, Lhoss!)

Armatzi opened the door to find a skeleton and some debris from a minor collapse in the ceiling. The somewhat inhuman form clutched an excellent shield with the heraldry of a gold hawk on a purple field. Armatzi cast detect magic on the shield: it was magical! On instinct, he touched the shield with Melissa and a crypt shade emerged. The battle was short and the shade was easily defeated. Feno claimed the shield, making him nearly invincible to physical attack, though we know his weakness to magical attack. Shhh! Stop talking about it!

Lhoss picked a lock to another door (atta girl!) to see a room with two funerary boxes. After examination, they were opened to show jewelry and a runic tablet. After a brief internal struggle with her impetuous nature, Lhoss read the tablet only to have it ignite and singe her eyebrows (really, Lhoss?). 

The next door was opened to an empty chamber. The last door was locked and couldn’t be opened by either thief. While contemplating bashing it down, Lhoss noticed a hidden switch that she immediately threw and revealed a hidden room (getting a little sloppy with the safety protocols, there). Luckily there was no trap, but what was revealed was gruesome: a black altar gleaming with imbedded blood stones and covered in dried blood. The stones were pried free rather easily. Feno noticed a hidden door and proceeded to open it and was stabbed with a poison needle. Whoopsie! I’m sure that this incident will compel the party to be more careful about being diligent in their safeguarding and looking for hidden traps! Anywho, there was a big bag of platinum as a reward for his recklessness. 

The group went back to the last locked door and bashed it down with sledgehammers. Inside was a table on a dusty floor and a bag of electrum. Feeling flush with riches, the group made their way out when Kyro pointed out a room that had been overlooked. Inside was a beautiful sight: walls encrusted with gold scarabs. Never ones to pass up treasure, the party took the time to pry each one out and still made it back to Orlane in time for dinner. What a triumphant and enriching day!

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.