It was very late in the day (9/5), after dinner the Ithusar. The party was standing in a sewage-soaked chamber after having crouched over some distance of 5-foot drain pipe. The chamber was a 20-foot cube. Ten feet up the western wall was a ledge. As they contemplated scaling the sodden wall over which a steady stream of fetid water poured, Jerker and Elaria emerged from the pipe. The St. Orlan native and his elven wife had watched the party from the temple via a crystal ball, and upon seeing them enter the pipe, made their way to the river district to follow them.
With the complete crew reunited, they quickly came to the agreement to hoist Jerker up to the ledge. There he found a locked, iron grate which proved little challenge to force open. Aderian led the way, deeper into the tunnels which were now a more comfortable ten feet wide and tall. The slow-moving water was followed until it came to a junction. The water was flowing from the south. To the northwest were crude stairs, which they followed.
Presently, they came to chamber where even the softest murmur echoed relentlessly. Three small piles of stones lined the southern wall, partially obscured by loose gravel. Aderian could not resist the temptation to disturb them, which released an elven apparition. The experience was similar to those they’d had years before. The spirit rose from the grave to deliver a mournful statement before dissolving into nothingness: “The compass always points inward now. Outside is but a fleeting dream.”
Moving west, they came to a chamber where rested a colossal, sealed clay jar wrapped in bronze chains. This was left undisturbed, and before they went deeper, they backtracked because Aderian asked his sentient bag to locate the closest treasure. In his typical abrasive style, Irenduel criticized the former pirate for not digging through the elven graves. This also produced a short exchange between the bag and Ghevont in which the cleric once again promised to restore the former magic-user to his true, elven form.
Vantin the Golem
When they returned to the grave chamber, they faced a hulking golem who introduced himself as Vantin. Ghevont greet him with “hail, Amalgus” and the golem responded positively. He had been sent to follow them after they were seen enter the drain pipe. He agreed to continue following them but only intervening if the situation seemed dire.
Settling that encounter, the went back, past the chained jar, intending to walk between a pair of stone pillars. From behind them jumped two ghasts, their foul odor expanding into the space. Ollie rushed to battle them beside Aderian, and while the stout dwarf suffered a clawing, he was not paralyzed. The party stepped over the vanquished foes to come to a smaller chamber that featured a statue of an elven knight in archaic black plate armor.
The party recoiled from what they guessed was a black knight, a particularly fearsome foe. The statue was motionless, and Ghevont reckoned it was harmless. He tapped it with his mace. Suddenly, the statue fell away into innumerable shards, leaving a ghostly visage that matched the statue’s form. It reached out, plunging its hand into his chest. Icy cold radiated throughout this body, delivering a double dose of negative energy. His face was instantly haggard. (Two negative levels. -2 to all attacks and saves. Lost 12 hit points. Can be reversed by restoration) The spectre was easily dispatched by the fighters.
A deadend passage lay behind the spectre, so they turn to the north, where they soon found a room with a large pile of black river stones. These were left undisturbed. They took the eastward passage to come to a room where two mummies stood before five devotees. The standing mummies wore wrapping covered in thousands of tiny, fading elven runes. The five humans who knelt before them were draped in loose wrappings, almost a parody of the mummies. One of the humans turned to the intruders, then cried out to the mummies, “master, who are these strangers?”
Mummy Cultists
Without hesitation, Aderian rushed one of the mummies, attacking it. The rest of the fighters followed his lead. Jerker slew the human who had spoken, splitting her in two. Ghevont joined in the slaughter of the humans. Ollie suggested “We should save of them,” meaning the humans, then added “but not this one!” With just one human left breathing, Nate knocked him out easily. After some time, the captive regained consciousness and was questioned.
They learned that a cult of humans followed the mummified elves. He claimed humans were preyed upon by the vampires but protected by the mummies. He acknowledged that Ithusar and Kheset, high priest of the mummies, were enemies. The interrogation ended abruptly when Ghevont blessed the cultist, said he forgave him and then twisted his neck until it broke. Vantin noted the brutality delivered upon the human cultists. Some justification was offered based on them being evil for following mummies.
Aderian gathered up wrappings from the dead cultists in order to disguise himself as a mummy. And with no other exits from this chamber, they returned to the room with pile of black stones and descended a narrow stair deep into the ground. The glowing fungus that illuminated the upper chambers gave way to utter darkness. Aderian led them by holding fast to his magical bag which could grant him darkvision.
The stair ended in a large chamber where nine conical shapes stood silently. As Aderian approached, he saw they were perhaps 8 feet in diameter and stood on four squat legs. They were foul otyughs, and they advanced into battle. Three savage tentacles ending in pads filled with razor edges whipped through the air. The top of the conical body opened into a beak-like mouth will with more razor teeth. When the tentacles found purchase, they stuck and continued to dig in.
Otyughs
Ghevont was the first to engage with one of the beasts. He swung his torch in a spectacular arch that landed firmly on the rotund form, and despite the torch not being much of a weapon, it produced a thunderous impact the threw flaming sparks into the clammy air of the underground chamber. Seeing this, the fighters were filled with enthusiasm for battle.
Indeed, that first round of melee went well for Tienarth’s Raiders, but they were soon to learn the dire consequences of fighting a large group of these excrement-devouring monsters. Ghevont soon found himself wrapped up, slowly being crushed to death. Jerker turned his back on the otyugh he faced to help slash Ghevont’s opponent. Ollie also found himself in a serious situation.
Pleas were made to Tienarth and Elaria to intervene. Magic missiles from Elaria found their mark, and Ghevont was able to slip away from this defeated otyugh to stand beside Tienarth, away from the melee. Tienarth made one attempt at firing his wand which fizzled. A second attempt landed with the expected results. Also during the battle, Aderian’s sword, Hestrin’s Chisel, turned one of the otyugh’s to stone, an effect seen only once before.
When all the monsters were dead, the bag informed them of gold mixed in with the refuse. They found a number of soiled gold coins and two gemstones, azurite and garnet.
Ghevont and Ollie were quite injured but they dared not to cast healing magic lest it trigger a surge. Also, Ollie clearly suffered from mummy rot, which made him immune to magical healing. They found no passages going deeper into the underdark, so they climbed back up the stairs and returned to where the water was flowing from the south.
Presently, they found themselves in a chamber with a sarcophagus with a cracked top. Inside was only a thin layer of dark goo. The bag suggested there was treasure inside. Ollie used two flasks of oil on the contents to no notable effect. Then Aderian tipped the container over to spill the goo over the floor. A number of dead rot grubs spilled out along with the goo. The shine of silver was spotted in the goo. Ollie plucked out a bent, silver stylus.
Now it was quite late, and they agreed to retreat back to the safety of the temple. Before leaving, They raided the three graves from the first chamber explored. Aderian removed stones from the other two graves. The second spirit said, “Knowledge is the greatest treasure, but heavy to carry. I buried my mind here.” The third said, “I copied all secrets, yet understood none. The true knowledge is the emptiness.” Treasure extracted included five scrolls, two books, a sack of gems, an ornate goblet and an enormous pearl.
Resting at the Temple of St. Orlan
They encountered no trouble on the way, and they found some troubled rest for several hours, during which time the spellcasters regained magical energy. Ghevont felt a fever coming on, but he had prayed for spells to cure disease which he cast on himself and Ollie. Now cured of mummy rot, Nate was able to heal Ollie.
Ghevont determined which of the treasure was magical, an all but one item was readily identified. This last scroll was unrolled by Tienarth who cast a read magic spell on it. As he read the words he imagined himself as a gerbil and the rest of the party observed him polymorph into a tiny rodent. Elaria dove at him, try to snatch him up, but failed. Fortunately, Ghevont was ready with with dispel incantation which reversed the curse. Tienarth returned to his aged elf form.
End Notes
- Days
- 9/5-9/6 Inside the mist-shrouded St. Orlan
- Treasure:
- Sack of aquamarine gems 5,850 gp
- Map to the Nelaser Family Tomb
- Scroll of Protection from Lycanthropes
- Ornate goblet 5,750 gp
- Book describing the sealed Ithrel Collection
- Elven Cleric Scroll of bless
- Enormous pearl 5,951 gp
- Diary detailing the location of buried treasure
- Scroll of Protection from Undead
- 1800 gp
- Azurite 9 gp
- Brown-green Garnet 110 gp
- Silver stylus (bent) 10 gp
- Combat: 6755 xp
- 2 Ghasts 125 xp each
- Spectre 610 xp
- 2 Mummies 450 xp each
- 5 defenseless humans 0 xp
- 9 Otyugh 555 xp each
- Characters (6.5 shares of 1039 xp)
- Aderian (human, fight, in front) 1164 xp
- Elaria (hireling) 520 xp
- Ghevont (human, smite undead, healing) 1164 xp
- Jerker (human, fight, protect) 1164 xp
- Nate (human, smite undead, fight) 1164 xp
- Ollie (underground, fight, in rear) 1070 xp
- Tienarth (magic collector, patient, avoid combat) 1070 xp