Welcome, Sergius Radizki, to our crazy adventures

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shadows of the Necropolis: A Tale of Obelisks and Bones

 Day 4 of Harvester

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

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

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

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

Session 116: Spider Lhoss climbs like a spider does

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

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

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

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

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

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

Session 115: An Ooze, Foul Decay, and the Cry of an Angel

Feno, Niki, Kyro, Gnorcia, and Chalboi went east down the hallway and found a room with ornate, silver-plated decorations on burial chamber doors.

We began to search and found nothing but dust until an ooze-like creature appeared out from gaps between the chambers, using a psuedopod to attack Kyro, burning him like acid and causing him a lot of pain. I cast hypnotic pattern but it did nothing against the creature. Chalkboi attacked and killed it with Caliburn, chopping it into pieces. Chalkboi and Nikki then both healed Kyro. The acid seemed to simply slip off the magical weapons used against the slime, as well as Kyro’s armor, though his clothes began to fall apart beneath.

Finishing our search, we found nothing else in the alcoves, and the silver decorations appear not to be removable without extensive work. We explored a hallway to the north, finding a room we had been in before, with decomposing bodies that were pinned to the wall. We quickly closed the door to close-off the smell, and went back to investigate another door to the south, discovering it was a hallway we had previously explored, where we had an encounter with the Band of the Black hand.

We then closed all the doors and Kyro, Feno, and Chalkboi used sledgehammers to break down a brick wall on the south wall. As they did, we all heard an inhuman sound from the northwest which both gave us chills and energized us. The sound faded away as the wall fell and we peered into a room with more burial alcoves. All of us except Chalkboi then searched the burial alcoves and found a golden holy symbol, silver earrings, and a small topaz. I handed over the golden holy symbol to Chalkboi as it appeared to be a symbol of St. Cuthbert. We put the rest in the bag of holding.

Chalkboi then said of the sound we heard, “That sound seems familiar... I'm pretty sure I've heard that as an angelic voice from one of St. Cuthbert's servants.” We decided to go north and chose to take our chances against vomiting by going through the putrid room up the hallway. We all held our noses and ran through the putrid room with the decomposing bodies, making it safely through without anyone getting sick.

Session 114 - Back to the Maze, Again

Well, it's Day 3 of Harvester already.  Time sure seems to fly by sometimes!  It's hot and overcast when we set out toward the Barrowmaze, Feno leading out followed by Niki and Ronan, then me (Kyro) and Armatzi, with Gnorcia and Calbach at the rear.  I note that the crops in the fields we pass are growing well although one field of wheat looks a bit anemic.  I'm thinking that farmer should grow a crop of beans next year to balance out his soil nutrients. Rotating crops gives a much better yield, even if you can't usually get as much income from beans as you can with wheat.

The dim forest is surprisingly calming instead of so gloomy today.  I don't know why that would be, but I'm grateful for it.  Unfortunately, the change distracted me enough that I forgot to remind Niki to get fresh holly and mistletoe while we were there.  I hope that doesn't come back to bite me later since a druid needs her reagents, and fresher is always better with these plants.

As expected, the swamp is horribly muggy and there are swarms of biting insects.  I think about refreshing myself on my pest-repelling cantrip, but that would require me to visit the temple of Merrika, so I can't do anything about it now (when it would be handy).  Instead, we all hurry into the maze through the entrance we think of as the primary entrance and settle in the initial room to eat our lunch.  I light my lantern and torches are lit by Gnorcia, Ronan, and Feno, so we have plenty of light.  Fortunately, nothing disturbs us while we eat and recover from the outside heat in the cool yet eerie interior of the maze.

It's been a while since we've come this way and memories are somewhat dim, so we decide to explore to the south and see if we can find the Font of Law that we've been tasked with obtaining.  On the floor, there are a pair of scuffed lines made from some sort of grey powder.  Armatzi looks closely at them and can't figure out what the powder is or why the lines are there, and Ronan experimentally lights the powder on fire (it burns with a sullen, low flame and nasty smell) but quickly extinguishes it to avoid attracting negative attention.  We continue through a series of rooms that I know we've been through before but only vaguely remember.  It seems that my sketchy memory is common since nobody else seems to be any better.

Eventually, we come to a shrine to Farlahgan (sorry, he's not my Diety and I don't know how to spell his name, but I did my best) that I remember gave us a tiny boost last time, but it's been defiled and sorely neglected so we can't expect anything from it now.  Niki considers rededicating it, but she only has some older holly and no mistletoe on her, so can't help.  It is made more hopeless since she worships Obad-Hai and not Farlahgan, so her deity won't assist like he would if it were his own shrine.  Sadly, we leave the shrine closed up as much as possible since the door was broken by whatever creature defiled the shrine in the first place.

Armatzi and Ronan notice some tracks heading further south and we follow them.  We find a pit in the floor but safely skirt around it without incident.  Just past the pit, there is an arch over the hallway that is guarded by a pair of evil-looking goat-headed stone creatures that are mounted on the wall, about 9 feet up. The normal creep factor of the maze bumps up a notch, but we all pass under the arch without incident, except Gnorcia and Calbach (being last through) both note a glint of red in the eyes of the sculptures.

Suddenly, Gnorcia hears a noise and she hands her torch to Calbach before going back to the pit to investigate.  Her gnomish dark vision is sufficient for her to peer around but she doesn't see anything of note.  Upon turning to rejoin us, she sees that the goats' eyes are pulsing with red light and she feels a spell attacking her.  Fortunately, her saving throw against spells is successful and with effort she is able to pull herself from the enchantment.  She quickly informs all of us to avoid looking at the statue eyes.  Calbach gets the idea of bashing one of the goat heads with his mace but miscalculates how high it is and misses.  For his trouble, he is hit by a blast of hellfire from the demonic entity the statues are dedicated to (most likely Narul).  Armatzi heals Calbach while Niki shakes her head in bafflement over the idiocy of trying to blindside a dedicated statue.  We've had experiences with such things in the past and most of us have learned the futility of it.

After Calbach had been healed, Armatzi falls into a trance regarding the location of the Font of Law.  He says he was told to backtrack to an east-west running hallway and to there find a set of double doors with steps leading downward.  I'm not sure if the steps are inside of the doors or outside, but I'm not in charge of this quest so I don't much care about that kind of details.  Just lead me there and I'll bash what I need to.  We go toward the nearest east-west hallway and Armatzi notices an old skeleton lying on the floor.  For some reason, he feels the need to tap the skull with Melissa (his war hammer) and the skull shatters.  When Armatzi just kind of shrugs about the destruction, a dark spirit cloud emerges from the skeleton and curses Armatzi temporarily.  I am a bit disturbed by the lack of respect he showed, but don't really say anything at the time.  We find a door that nobody remembers exploring and Gnorcia searches it for traps.  Behind the door is a room filled with burial alcoves.  I decide that if I can find one that is empty, I'm going to move the skeleton Armatzi damaged into it.  I know it's a bit strange that I have little problem with looting the alcoves while at the same time want to show respect to the dead, but ... I'm a complicated kind of guy, I guess.

So, we searched the alcoves for about a half hour before noises from down the hall to the east let us know that we're about to have company. Six zombies shamble down the hall and Ronan throws a vial of oil into their path.  Niki tosses her torch and ignites the oil, damaging some of the zombies.  Feno, with a single swing, demolishes a zombie before anyone else has time to do more than blink.  That elf is amazing!  Calbach, not to be outdone, uses The Banisher to eliminate his own zombie but it had a companion close behind that then attacks Calbach and injures him.  Even worse, the second zombie was on fire from the oil and Calbach gets burns on top of the slashing damage.  Feno splats another zombie with ease while Calbach takes out the zombie that hurt him.  Armatzi hurries over and heals three points of damage on Calbach. During all of this, I've been stuck behind everyone, still in the room with the burial alcoves, unable to do anything to help.  It's a good thing all my fellow adventurers are so skilled that my assistance isn't so much needed this time around.  Ronan manages to hit the fifth zombie of the six who attacked, and while he did damage, it wasn't enough to destroy it.  Niki takes on the sixth one and kills it, while Gnorcia chases down the one Ronan had injured.  Unfortunately, she skids in the gore on the floor and misses with her attack.  I know that if it weren't for that bit of bad luck, she would have gotten it, and then Feno was right there to end the menace completely.

Everyone comes back to the room I'm in to finish searching for treasure, and we end up finding a bunch of silver along with a nicely tooled belt and buckle that Ronan discovers.  Armatzi and Ronan get bored and wander out into the hallway, and then Feno and Niki hear some sort of noise and they go in search of whatever was making it.  I didn't see exactly where they went but they described finding a strange pyramid made of slate that was almost unnaturally symmetrical.  Just hearing about it makes me feel a bit creeped out, but apparently, they didn't discover anything more and barely remembered anything about it when I asked later for clarification.  That's actually extra creepy, but ... it is what it is.

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.