Having narrowly escaped death, Tienarth’s Raiders camped outside the cave to mend wounds. On the second night, a horde of zombies shuffled out of the forest. Ghevont turned many. A lightning bolt from Tienarth’s finger blew up four zombies in a line, painting the trees with putrid blood and viscera. When all foes were silences, they counted at least 20 bodies.
Rethinking camping in woods, they rode back to their home near St. Orlan. And after four more days, they were completely healed and ready to return to the tomb. A plan hatched in the previous week included tossing nets over the giant scorpions they knew nested near a deep pool. They also discussed murdering the trolls.
Back in the Cave
After entering the cave, no trolls nor cave worms remained. Did they take advantage of the now open cave entrance? Aderian considered the money-making potential of putting down trolls ravaging the area. Just as likely, the trolls retreated down the deep pool from where they came.
With some impatience, Ghevont tossed his ever-glowing rock past the pool. Immediately, five scorpions surged to attack. Ghevont, Aderian and Tienarth all tried tossing nets. Only Ghevont’s net landed, but the scorpion squirmed out from under the net with no trouble.
The next moment, Tienarth summoned arcane powers to stretch a magical web that ensnared three of the scorpions. Azrak stepped up to face the two left free to attack. Ferris danced around, stabbing the ones left stuck. Ghevont charmed one of the scorpions as another squirmed free of the web.
Tienarth produced his wand of paralyzation, speaking a secret command word while pointing at a scorpions. A purple light washed over the giant monsters, but it had no effect. Ghevont called forth another spell that allowed him to speak with the now-charmed scorpion and he begged it to defend him.
A scorpion clasped both pincers on Azrak and then landed a tail strike. His companions paused as the dark stain of poison marked the wound and began to spread. Azrak breathed deeply and dismissed the poison as ineffective against his lucky dwarven lifeforce.
The charmed scorpion crunched the shells of the other scorpions and before long they were dead. Ghevont ordered it into the webbing where it was caught and then stabbed to death. Ferris began carefully breaking open the stingers, squeezing venom into a glass jar.
Opening Elf Graves
Beyond the pool, they found the grave in the ancient elven style of stacked stones. Aderian began disassembling it and a spectre rose to speak the following before fading away.
“I am Edhror, blackmailed to duel my brother who slew me. No gods watch this world, for only ill fate followed me.”
Inside they found a scroll tube and a sack of diamonds. Next, they turned over the graves previously guarded by displacer beasts and a black pudding. As before, ghosts rose from the graves to speak a few hollow words before fading away.
“I am Lurosaer, deemed a failure by my father, the king. Too late to city gates, I was captured by the Orcish horde and catapulted over the castle walls in five pieces.”
Within this grave they found a coffer filled with aquamarines and three scrolls. Two of the scrolls offered protection from an elven faith lost to history. The third scrolled contained mage spells.
Like the previous two graves, the third grave also produced a ghost when disturbed.
“I am Aegamras, founder of the silvan house of healing. My blood as an elixir cured any illness, but to escape enslavement to a hoard, I spilled it all into the river Belianassa!”
Inside this grave they found a delicate statuette of an elven maiden carved from jade. They also found three scroll tubes. The first was a map describing the inner configuration of six elf graveyards, two of which they immediately recognized as the Ebahi and Ophin tombs. The other two scrolls of the elven faith, one able to turn sticks to snakes and one offering protection from magic.
Turning around and going past the chamber with the mural of the elf warrior and the white dragon. Down a steep decline of loose rock, they came to a lifelike statue of an owlbear. Ghevont tossed a net over it. Suddenly a lightning bolt shot forth to strike him as the statue came to life. The rest of them surged forward to pummel the beast with blows and it lay lifeless.
Ferris bent over the corpse to collect stomach acid and blood. Aderian began tossing aside rock, which produced another ghost.
“I am Lionaeli, lady of murder. I was trampled in the chariot races of Palmus. I wait in midnight slumber for the god of death to return me to life.”
The skeleton in the fourth grave held a jeweled sceptre in one hand and three scrolls in the other. One scroll offered protection from lycanthropes. Another contained six wizard spells. The last was a map showing the elven tombs south of the Belianassa River. With this map, they could excavate four other graveyards, hopefully as rich as the last.
Returning Home
Satisfied with their haul and convinced the area to be clear, they rode back to St. Orlan to sell the loot to Bremlai for gold. With winter snows anticipated, they retreated to the homestead for training and study of the magical texts acquired.
While cold, The Month of Dawn produced no snows. Tienarth spent the month carefully transcribing spells from scrolls into his books. On the 29th of Dawn, Ghevont finished prayers and shared the good news of increased powers from Anointed One.
Meanwhile, Ferris studied his book of alchemy. On the third week of study, he understood the formula for creating a strong acid. Using the acid from the owlbear, he produced two vials of acid.
Endnotes
- Treasure:
- An arcane scroll with three spells: Detect Evil, Detect Magic, Dimension Door
- Sack of diamonds exchanged for 12,235 gp
- Coffer of aquamarines exchanged for 8,520 gp
- A scroll offering the blessings of the Silver Oak
- A scroll offering protection from undead, marked with the Ophin family seal
- An arcane scroll with three spells: Locate Object, Mirror Image, Protection from Normal Missiles
- Jade statuette exchanged for 5,850 gp
- A scroll of the elven faith turning sticks to snakes
- A scroll offering protection from magic, marked with the Ophin family seal
- A jeweled sceptre exchanged 15,760 gp
- A scroll of the elven faith offering protection from lycanthropes
- An arcane scroll with six spells: Clairvoyance, Hold Portal, Lightning Bolt, Wall of Fire, Wizard Eye, Wizard Lock
- Characters present: Tienarth/Tre, Ghevont/Jeff, Aderian/Jason, Ferris/Henry, Azrak/Nick
- Virtues: none
- Vices: none