Session 8: The Tomb of Captain Johar Zander Report

General Summary

Upon defeating the denizens of the collapsed cave, the heroes took a moment to rest and recover from their injuries. Dane took time to tend to the wounds of the group, while Nahar took the remainder of his time in a spider form to climb into the ceiling tunnels and drag out the remains of the carrion crawler. He resumed his original form and took time to gut the creature and remove its paralytic venom for some future use. Once patched up, the group followed Nahar's directions, cutting their way through the long, dense webbing the spiders had created, and then eventually finding themselves at the base of another cave-in into the crypts. After multiple attempts of trying to scale the wall, Omar managed to reach the top and throw down a rope to his companions. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful in his knot tying attempt, and the party was not aided much by his rope until Nahar also climbed up to help him. After everyone was up they ventured back into the crypts. Immediately they found themselves in a bone-littered hallway with a collapsed ceiling and strange cloud of smoke billowing in the corner. They spent a bit of time investing the source of this strange smoke until Vallis decided to bravely waltz into it. He found inside a severed arm clutching a sword, its scabbard lay on the ground next to it. He retrieved the items and found that the smoke began following him, so he sheathed the sword. Within a matter of moments the smoke began to fade from view, so he determined the sword was magical in some capacity. Dane, being a combat medic, proceeded to inspect the arm. He found it had been recently ripped from the torso of a man, and that the arm had been impacted by the paralytic effects of carrion crawler venom. It also was wearing an intact brass ring, similar to those worn by the Children of Cinder. The group continue to search the crypts, eventually going down into the lower levels that were dedicated to the less wealthy citizens. They searched for what felt like hours before finally finding the entrance to a private burial room with the label "Zander" carved into the stone door. Upon entering, they found a stone coffin in the middle of the room, and whatever riches Johar Zander had at the time of his death. All of them searched for any sign of his journal, but not luck. Vallis took time to channel his connection to The Aether and deduced that there was some presence of magic within Zander's coffin. But, upon opening it, they found nothing inside except the corpse of the legendary pirate. The heroes agreed to use the scroll they had found on one of the fallen priests to ask Zander a few questions. Dane produced the scroll and repeated the divine incantations to return a semblance of life to the corpse, enough to allow it to answer questions based on the memories of its life. As it sat up, Marnie noticed a small, almost imperceptible slit in the stone beneath him, a secret compartment. Dane began asking questions, meanwhile Marnie began trying to open the compartment. Dane asked Zander three questions, and got the following responses. He first asked, "how did you return from The Shrouded Sea?" Zander replied that the Tear of Selindria allowed him safe passage through. Dane followed up by asking, "where is this tear?" Zander replied that is was destroyed, or consumed in order to allow him safe passage. Finally, Dane asked, "Are there more of them, and where can we find this tear?" To which Zander replied, "Yes, beyond the veil, within the Shrouded Sea." While Dane was asking Zander these questions, Marnie nimbly opened the compartment located beneath the corpse and pulled out an antique leather bag. Emblazoned on the bag was the symbol of a coiled leviathan pierced by a lightning bolt. Inside, she found an old leather bound journal bearing the same symbol, a flintlock pistol decorated with cobalt plates and lightning motifs, an electrum coated compass, and an ornamented spyglass. With all the items retrieved, Dane put Zander back to rest and prayed for his rest to be restored, and they made their way out of the crypts. They backtracked through the twisting hallways of the lower levels, back upstairs through the collapsed cave, and out through the new exit they had created in a private burial room some hours ago. Upon reaching the staircase, they could see the first cracks of dawn pouring down the stairs like blinding light. They traveled up the steps and back into the Temple of the Departed, where the morning sun was casting light through the stained glass windows; their first time seeing sunlight in almost two days. However, Nahar felt something uneasy, a strange instinct he had like he was being watched. He took a long look around the room and saw that men in cloaks were stalking behind the statues of Vitria and Necruus. He alerted his allies to their presence, and the men stepped out in ambush!