Session 1: Call to Crackstone

General Summary

On the task of the great ruler of Üstermark, Count Walter Heisenberg, the party travelled to Crackstone to investigate the stop of trade. The elderly treasure hunter and tinkerer doctor Hanz Kramph along with his rusty mechanical st:bernards decided to get off his old bum and get back out in the world. Him and his wife always talked about adventuring together, but never really managed to get out there. Now that his wife has passed away, he finally decided to honor her memory and go on the adventures they never had time for. Along for the journey he brought his old friend the dwarven holy warrior Ùshrir Gusilurdim Akrul, the former commander of a dwarven rear guard on the frontlines towards Valakia. Hanz had saved Ùshrir after his squadron was killed by an unknown force. The dwarf was hoping that this adventure might give him a chance at vengance. With them was a third figure. The halfling prankster and antiestablishment activist Pander who just kind off tagged along unprompted.    As they went, Ùshrir brought them down into a the giant ravine that gave Crackstone its name. After establishing a campsite for the night, the crew sighted and were later set upon by a group of undead skeletons. Ùshrir, who was used to fighting the undead, quickly spotted them and funneled them into a chokepoint, preventing them from overunning the party. With his hammer he easily dispatched any foe that apporached him. In the meantime Pander and Hanz pelted them with ranged attacks, whilst Hanz' mechanical dog took its time to get started. Ùshrir examined the corpses and noted that they bore the emplem of a valakian noble house.    After the battle was won, Pander went out to scan the area which he deemed empty. He then took his turn to keep watch. During which he hid behind the dwarf, and missed an approuching torso from a skeletal straggler, until it was far too late and the beast bit into Ùshrir. Panic beset the camp before they managed to destroy the beast. After the chaos, Ùshrir personally decided to scan he area using his divine senses. To his surprise he sensed a strong undead presence staring down at them from the top of the ravine. Its red eyes disappaered behind the ridge and the party decided to press on.   The next morning they made the last stretch to Crackstone where they were halted by some guards who took them to the Lord Gilthur Fireforge. He told them that the towns aristocracy had been fooled by a vampire. The dark creature had fooled them into getting access to the ancestral tombs. Which just happened to run down the same halls as the larder, meaning that they no longer had access to their goods for trade. Having fulfilled their task, they offered to help them after hearing about the magical artefacts that were kept in the tomb.    Pander revealed his ability to turn invisible, and offered to scout the halls that the dwarves had shut off. Whislt Ùshrir began to bless some water and Hanz tried to fix his dog, Pander delved down into the halls. He found the upper floors filled with skeletons, and as he managed to sneak past them and enter the lower floors he found them beset by something worse. Strange ghoslty figures that passed through walls, as well as an orange insectoid being. Too curious for his own good, Pander dropped his invisibilty to try and find magical items. This eventually revealed him to the spiritual beings who chased him as he turned invisible again and fled bakc out to the rest. Narrowly escaping the spirits, Pander just made it to his comrades. But instead of being scared away, the promise of what he saw lit a fire in him and his comrades. For as he tried to search for magical items the tombs lit up like a night sky.