Session 68:Tomb of the Keeper Report

General Summary

Session 68 – Wednesday January 31, 2024 – Entering the Tomb of the Keeper

4-hour Social/Battle session 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM

The Stone Bearers. Party of 5

It is the 25th day of the month of Nightal (The Drawing Down) in the 50th year of the Age of Enialis (Late December.)

• Abrash – Wood (Desert) Elf, L11 Druid – Jacob Munson (Remote)
• Ajani– High Elf, L11 Wizard – Nathan Gioconda (Absent)
• Gazlowe – Goblin, L11 Artificer – Josh Pozsonyi
• Cassidy – Human, L11 Blood hunter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
• Isabella – Forest Gnome, L11 Barbarian – Jackie Armstrong
• Juan Peyote – Gnome L11 Paladin – Will Johnson

Chillin’ with the Hobgoblins

Cassidy sneezed, Ajani disappeared and Juan appeared. Juan used his hammer to get the hooves from the Unicorn. The Hobgoblins offered to exchange women as a traditional way to celebrate a new partnership formed in victory. Isabella and Cassidy politely declined the offer. The hobgoblins offered a feast. They told the party that they had no treasure to offer but they knew a tribe of Kuo-toa who worship a magical bag of holding and a magical portable hole. The party was interested. The Hobgoblins told the party that if they wanted to go in and slaughter the Kuo-toa for the magical items, it would be totally fine. In the meantime, they feasted on the fallen hobgoblins (as an honor to the fallen dead) and the delicious unicorn.   The party explained their desire to go to Kortar in search of an Illithid colony. The Hobgoblins promised to help them by clearing the ancient passage. But the Hobgoblins explained the passage is long and they’ll need help clearing it. They party offered their assistance. The hobgoblins explained the passage has been closed for a very long time. There are magical wards and lots of rocks that need to be removed. In addition, after the passage is cleared, they’ll need timbers to reinforce the passage. The party enjoyed the feast and took a long rest.   Gazlowe created an eternal flame for the goblins as both a gift to them and a means to transport back to their encampment quickly. In the morning the Hobgoblins were joined by some Orcs, Trolls, and a hill giant. Varrox told the party that excavation will begin immediately but he offered to take the Stone Bearers to the Kuo-toa first.

Kuo-toa don’t speak common?

Varrox escorted the party to the door leading to the Kuo-toa Chamber and left them. The stone bearers stealthily opened the door to a very large area. There was a priest at an altar that held a bag of holding. The party entered quietly andd only the priest noticed them. There was a large pool in the room where about a dozen Kuo-toa were standing plus about 6 others within the large room. Cassidy encouraged a quick slaughter. Gazlowe wanted to trade them his magical boat for the bag of holding. Isabella said, “Let’s do both.”   Gazlowe created a magical device and had Isabella say “I am god.” He put it in the folding boat so that whenever a Kuo-toa says the word “god” the boat says, “I am god!” Gazlowe then approached speaking loudly, “I bring a gift!” All the Kuo-toa turned to look. However, everyone quickly realized that Kuo-toa only speak undercommon, and nobody in the party could speak in that language. Abrash peered into the mind of the Kuo-toa leader to try to gauge his understanding as Gazlowe spoke slower and louder and used exaggerated gestures with his arms and hands.   Gazlowe was having difficulty communicating the idea of exchanging the boat for the bag. Abrash sensed that the Kuo-toa were becoming very sensitive to the idea of losing the bag. Juan realized that they could do Ogre head Kabuki theater. He pulled out a head and a cloak and go others to successfully mime the exchange. Juan had his Ogre head mime getting down and praying to Gazlowe’s boat and then Gazlowe had gold coins fall from his pockets in front of Juan. The performance was quite convincing. The Kuo-toa arch priest walked over to Gazlowe and held out his hands wanting the boat. Gazlowe got the Kuo-toa to say “god” and the boat said back “I am god!” The Kuo-toa excitedly took the boat carefully back to the alter and placed it between the Bag of holding and the portable hole.

Can we kill them now?

The Priest got Gazlowe to bow at the alter as all the Kuo-toa gathered into a close fireball range. Isabell carefully slipped back as the priest and Kuo-toa started worshiping the boat. With his party safely away, Gazlowe stood up and slammed a fireball bead down on the altar. The Kuo-toa were surprised by this sudden but inevitable betrayal. The 10 kuo-toa minions were immediately killed, and the others were injured.   The party took advantage of the surprise and made quick work of the Kuo-toa. Abrash cast Faerie fire on most of the remaining Kuo-toa. The Arch priest was only able to get one reaction hit on Gazlowe before he was killed. Juan channeled divinity and left all but 1 frightened in his menacing aura. With surprise, advantage and the Kuo-toa unable to move, the party cleaned them all up very quickly with Vor’pat making the final blow to the last remaining Kuo-toa.

What’s in the bag?

During the battle one of the Kuo-toa spoke into the bag of holding a three-word phrase three times in Undercommon, “Un houa kho.” Isabell asked, “I wonder what’s in the bag?” Cassidy looked in the bag and saw nothing. Gazlowe opened the portable hole and saw that it too was empty. Cassidy recalled what the Kuo-toa said, and repeated the phrase, exactly as the Kuo-toa said it, 3 times into the bag. She waited but nothing happened.   Gazlowe searched the Kuo-toa. A couple of them had staffs for bludgeoning, the priest’s staff was more of a scepter. The priest also had some spell components (see Treasure found.) Cassidy showed Isabella how to use the portable hole. Cassidy went in and searched the portable hole but found nothing.

Urban Legends

The party went back and told the hobgoblins that they killed the Kuo-toa. They also mentioned that the Kuo-toa were speaking to the bag. Varrox explained that they probably believe in the urban legend of the “Bagman.” The party wasn’t familiar with this urban legend, so Varrox explained in a quiet creepy voice:

“The Bagman is an urban legend about an adventurer who sought to escape doom by abandoning his party and hiding inside a bag of holding. When he tried to leave, he became lost amid a constantly increasing number of extradimensional storage spaces. Over time, the strange forces of this magical in-between place transformed the adventurer into a monstrous creature. Now, every night, the Bagman slips out from a random bag of holding. If he doesn’t find his home, he drags someone back into the bag with him and leaves behind some trinket from his hidden kingdom of lost junk. Some say that if you speak too loudly over an open bag of holding or whisper ‘follow my voice’ into a magical storage space three times, the Bagman will come for you.”

Varrox then laughed and assured the party it’s just an urban legend meant to scare folks, “Just because the Kuo-toa, worshiped the bagman doesn’t make him real.” Cassidy however recalled the lore of the Kuo-toa; their minds can actually manifest their beliefs.

The passage to Kortor

The hobgoblins, orcs, trolls, and giants were busy clearing the passageway. Varrox told the party that they could use some help. He told them there are magical wards placed throughout the tunnel and he pointed to some runes they found within the first 10 feet that they uncovered. Varrox told the party his workers are making good progress but to clear the mile long passage will take about 20 days at their current rate. Plus, they’ll need help getting rid of the magical wards and putting up some beams to make the passage secure.   Cassidy and Gazlowe examined the runes and determined that runes were placed there to cause a collapse and they can be triggered again if not dispelled. Gazlowe pulled out his sonic screwdriver and created a set of mason’s tools that he was suddenly proficient with. He examined the stone that had been removed and determined that not all of it was from a “collapse” of the tunnel. Some was brought from outside to purposely block the passage. Gazlowe dispelled the runes. Cassidy stepped between the planes and walked into the rubble in the hall. She found that the tunnel is filled with rubble at least 90 feet more. The party worked well together to cast spells, use the portable hole, and use their other skills to clear the tunnel faster. With the labor of the Hobgoblins and friends and various skills of the party, they could clear the tunnel in about 10 days. For entertainment Isabella arm wrestled the orcs, trolls and hill giant. She didn’t beat the hill giant.

The Bagman

The party worked hard the first day so much that both Abrash and Juan were out cold as soon as they hit their beds. Gazlowe, Isabella and Cassidy took a few shifts of watch. During Cassidy’s watch a gaunt humanoid creature with long unkempt hair and cold grey skin, silently crept of her bag of holding. It got behind Cassidy and quickly grappled her. Cassidy gasped and the Hobgoblins on guard yelled. Abrash and Juan were out, but Gazlowe and Isabella woke up and saw the creature trying to drag Cassidy back into the bag of holding.   Isabella grabbed her sword, yelled “Flame on!” and ran up to the creature and landed a blow. The bagman bit Isabella and then stuffed Cassidy’s head into the bag, blinding her. Cassidy lit her whips and tried to hit the bagman but missed. Juan woke up and rubbed his eyes. Gazlowe shot grease at Cassidy to make it easy for her to escape the grapple. Vor’pat and Abrash both woke up and rubbed their eyes as a hobgoblin ran towards Cassidy.   Isabella landed a critical blow on the bagman causing the grease to burst into flames. She then hit him once more. Badly hurt, the bagman pulled Cassidy’s head out of the bag and tossed her to the side. The Bagman then jumped into the bag. Isabella and Cassidy both landed a blow on the creature as it fled. Cassidy opened the bag and looked in but saw it was empty. Cassidy immediately said, “Follow my voice” three times. But they would have to wait for another night for the Bagman to possibly return.

Clearing the tunnel

The party spent the rest of the ten-day helping to clear the passageway to Korpor. They found a magical Beholder eye of dispel magic in a gap within the passageway. At that location they also found the bones of a long dead fey’ri that must have gotten trapped there. They party examined the eye set in a magical rune with very sophisticated magical runes. They tried but realized they couldn’t remove the eye without destroying it. However, they were able to cover it in such a way to disable it.   Over the next 9 days, Cassidy stared at the bag of holding every night, but the bagman did not return. On the morning of the 11th day, they broke through to a small chamber with a door on the other side. The hobgoblin Varrox told the Stone Bearers that his oath is now fulfilled, and he wished them luck as he and his men left the Stone bearers. Isabella gave him a hug.

The Outer door

On the door they saw written, “The tomb requires a willing sacrifice of decay to prove your loyalty to the guardian—or if you have no magic to offer, give us your blood and we will empower the decay.” Cassidy and Gazlowe recognized the sign as referring to necrotic damage. Cassidy cast “chill touch” on the door but it had no effect. Rather than casting chill touch on herself she simply cut her hand and put some blood in a small cup in the door. A green lightning bolt from the door then struck Cassidy and did 20 points of necrotic damage to her.   With the accepted sacrifice, the door then opened, sliding into the wall to the right. They saw a very long stairwell going down. Every step was a different length and height. Traversing it was not overly difficult but one could form no rhythm to go quickly. The party went down the steps and traveled for a mile with Cassidy in the front with her glowing whips. Abrash turned into a giant spider so that he could easily walk on the ceiling. Bird and Juan tripped a few times hurting themselves. Juan smacked bird, healing it.

The antechamber

At the bottom of the stairs was another door. It was unlocked and the party went in. They saw rusted and decayed weapons fused into the walls of the antechamber. Clay jars crowded on glass pedestals stood in the northwest corner of the room, while barrels and crates occupied the other corners. They opened a barrel of wine and Gazlowe and Juan drank from it. It was cursed. Gazlowe was able to shake it off, but Juan became dazed by it. see -> Dazed M    There as one door to north. Abrash listened at it and heard nothing. Cassidy looked at the jars on the table. There were 56 jars. Gazlowe opened one and saw a beating heart. Juan picked up a jar and shook it. Cassidy yelled at him, “Don’t!” Cassidy and Gazlowe examined the jars in detail, and they spotted a small black raven carved into the bottom of just 6 of the jars. Cassidy recalled that Ajani had read a book about the Elven guardian Ashyra and her symbol was a raven. Cassidy realized that if they carried her organs with them anyone who had one can gain a single advantage on an attack against her or a save from her for each jar they carry. She told the party to each carry one. Gazlowe took a jar with Ashyra’s heart, Isabella took a lung Juan took her liver, Cassidy took her kidney and Abrash took the spleen. They gave the 2nd lung to Vor’pat.   In the other crate, they found 100 shirts made with gold thread (worth 50gp each). Gazlowe examined the architecture and realized that ancient elves made this room. The stonework was amazing. They looked at the weapons fused into the wall and discovered at one point they were decorative, but they have decayed over time.

The workshop

They went through the north door. There was a strong scent of fresh cut flowers. Small orbs in the walls illuminated the area. The chamber was part workshop and part library. A loom stood in the southwest corner. Along the walls, benches and shelves held tools and books. Eight cloth-wrapped humanoid corpses lay on the floor. The room was surprisingly clean. Juan wanted to give the bodies some grave dirt, but Cassidy threatened him if were to do so. Juan used his divine sense and sensed the 8 bodies were undead, but they weren’t moving. They decided not to disturb them.   In the workshop they spotted tools of various kinds. Cassidy took a set of calligrapher’s supplies and Gazlowe took a spool of gold thread. They went to the door to the east. Gazlowe suggested they take care of the 8 undead mummies now, but Cassidy suggested that’s a problem for future Gazlowe. The party made it through without touching the mummies.

Burial Chamber

They entered a massive dark room where marble pillars ascended toward the ceiling. The room was completely dark, but Cassidy’s whips were glowing. They saw dozens of intermittent niches lining the walls but only 6 contained bodies of wrapped humanoids. The party looked around, but nobody noticed the 4 creatures sitting atop the pillars until Isabella shut the door and the creatures leapt from the pillars to attack…

Rewards Granted

Treasure found:

• A Kuo-toa scepter (a fancy non-magical club)
• A bag of spell casting components
• A small crystal ball (non-magical) worth 1,000gp that is used for scrying.
• Incense worth 50gp.
• 100 shirts made with gold thread (worth 50gp each)
• A spool of gold thread worth 50gp.