Session 4: New Companion in the Crypts Report

General Summary

Despite the looming darkness before them, the adventurers made haste entering the Aerdaris crypts. As they descended the steps, they were quickly brought into the action of a fight unfolding in the crypt entrance. At the base of the stairs, they found a lone human war priest fighting back against five zombies. It appeared that the room had been ransacked and partially burned, and a dead priest laid draped over the cistern in the center of the room.   Most of the party quickly jumped into action to help this mysterious man. As the priest grabbed his holy symbol and turned the undead, Omar ran into the room, attempting to knock over a lit brazier in hopes of sending hot coals all of the floor. However, he found the weight was too much for him to handle alone, so he took a step back away from the fighting. The rest of the group ran in to provide aid to the man. Marnie rushed to his side and engaged in melee combat with the zombies, while Vallis and Nahar focused on the group.   Vallis channeled his bladesong to help him in the fight, and Nahar called upon his connection with nature to wildshape into the form of a tiger. Nahar pounced upon the zombies, ripping at them. Vallis cast Thunderwave, sending the zombies, and unfortunately Nahar and Omar, flying back a few feet into the walls.   While the fighting continued, Omar, having not learned from his previous escapades in thievery, took the opportunity to selfishly move over to alcoves along the northern wall and began stealing possessions of the buried from their graves. He did this while knowing well that his allies were engaged in a deadly fight against the zombies. He also disrespectfully pulled a dagger from the back of the priest draped over the cistern well, and then pushed his body into the water.   Omar's actions led to another zombie rising up from out of the alcoves, and while the group was busy with the remainder of the zombies, this new undead was able to attack Omar and knock him unconcious. This caused Marnie to have to adjust her tactics and feed him her last Goodberry to keep him from bleeding out. After waking up, Omar still did not learn the lesson to aid the team, and attempted to loot another alcove. As he tried to run from the zombie, it attacked him again, once again rendering him unconcious.   The party managed to defeat the remainder of the zombies while Omar was unconcious, and once they were all dispatched the priest graciously healed him and woke him up. They took a moment to introduce themselves and learned that this priest was named Dane Tormail and that he was a member of the greater clergy organization that maintained these catacombs. After some conversation, and reprimanding of Omar for his actions, Dane agreed to join the group, at least for the time being.   The group took a short rest to recover from the skirmish and to look around the room. Nahar dove to the bottom of the cistern and found a scroll tube that had been dropped in by the slain priest. Dane was able to learn that is was a scroll of Detect Evil and Good. He used the scroll, and they checked their surroundings to learn if there were any other awakened undead nearby. They learned there was one to the west, and they moved one of the braziers to block off the entrance to its room and trap it inside. Meanwhile, Omar kept to himself and foolishly went back to the alcoves to steal more riches from the dead. Luckily, to his knowledge, this time he woke no dead and did not alert the party to his thievery.   Afterwards, they moved off to the eastern passage and found a long corridor that had been damaged in some sort of explosion. Ash coated the floor, a crack ran the length of the wall and ceiling, and a charred body laid slumped in the corner near a scorch mark on the floor. While the party entered this room, Omar decided to hang back and watch.   Dane led the way into the corridor and quickly realized that dust was dropping from the ceiling, and that it was at risk of caving in. At the same time, Marnie found that three sets of footprints had passed through the ash left from the explosion, but only one had returned. The group decided to move on and they all successfully passed through the corridor.   Though, with them gone, Omar once again decided he wanted to loot the alcoves in the entrance. While he took his time doing this, a loud crash echoed through the crypts and the earth shook, as the passageway's roof collapsed, separating Omar from the party. And, at the same time, two zombies began to rise from the alcoves, disturbed from their slumber by his thievery and ill-will towards their rest.

Rewards Granted

• Dane: A scroll of Detect Evil and Good (which he also used), scroll tube with brass inlays.
• Omar: Roughly 27gp, 17sp, and 6cp (give or take a few coins), a holy symbol with imagery of Eiso , life,and Vitria  and a scroll tube w/ scroll.
• Marnie: A dagger with slightly curved blade resembling the tip of a burning flame.

Missions/Quests Completed

Dane Tormail joined the adventuring party following their introduction after the initial zombie encounter.

Character(s) interacted with

• Dane Tormail, a human war cleric, and the party's newest member.

Notes

Omar has been blocked off from the rest of the party due to the cave-in of the passage leading deeper into the crypts. He decided to steal again, which lead to two zombies animating and attacking him while he is isolated.