2023-05-20 Delve: Haunted Castle, pt 2
Player Characters
- Wiznt
- Val & Soonie
- Tarhun
- Malivette
- Amartherui
Summary
Before the mission, Tarhun and Quasar performed an experiment with the twogleam potion, testing if/when it would activate at different heights and different times of day.
The PCs returned to The Haunted Castle.
They traveled up the spiral staircase and went to the audience hall, but found fewer ghouls. They destroyed the remaining ghouls and beholder zombies. Wiznt collected both beholder eyes.
They pulled some gems out of the throne, and found more secret doors, one which led into another thin and dusty servant's hall. They found the royal dining room, and fought wraiths, ghouls, and a flameskull.
The party continued to the royal bedchamber. Inside were five armored ghouls, and a large well-dressed ghoul man with a crown up on his head. The wizards and the ghoul king exchanged powerful spells while the warriors faced off against the ghoulish royal guards. The Ghoul King was annoyed by Malivette's bright lantern. The queen entered during the fight and unleashed a banshee wail, which the PCs were able to resist. They defeated the ghoul king, whose last words were a complaint about Soonie messing up the royal bed.
A horde of ghouls began to pile in from one entrance to the room. The party prepared spells and attacks, and exploited the bottleneck to bring down the ghoul army.
Afterward, they stepped over the countless ghoul bodies to search the royal family's closet and bathroom, finding valuables and magic items. They claimed the king's crown and scepter as treasure.
Val discovered a secret door in the royal bedchamber. Upon pulling a secret lever in the room, the door into one of the four major marble pillars opened, revealing that it was hollow and contained a downward spiral staircase.
Malivette's lantern lit the way as they traveled down, down, past the first floor and into the basement. The door led out into a creepy chamber with operating tables and chairs covered in restraints. Sharp and dangerous-looking medical equipment dangled over the seats from the ceiling, and countless rusted surgical implements lined dusty shelves. One ghoul was strapped to a chair; they put it to rest.
The party found a journal and an orange primal crystal in the dark laboratory. There was no way out, save for carving slowly away at its sealed entrance, so they returned up the staircase.
They traveled downstairs to the basement. The main basement area contained many abandoned rooms that had once quartered castle guards and servants.
They entered an armory with a chest sitting in the middle. Malivette attacked the rug, which animated to attack the party along with every other object in the room- except the chest. The PCs destroyed the floating swords, chains, and armor.
The searched around the outer areas of the basement, then closed in on the center. They passed through an infirmary, lounges, and the morgue. Tarhun forced himself to put up with the stench in the morgue, and found extra treasure.
The PCs entered a dungeon. One cell contained a skeleton with the ghost of a conehead girl sitting quietly. The party talked to her, but she was somewhat despondent, talking about how the world was gone. The PCs encouraged here to travel out and see how the world had changed, and how it was different now, but she insisted there was nothing that mattered, nothing to see.
Tarhun held a blue crystal up to the ghost. She vanished, and the crystal became a little brighter.
The party continued exploring. They found an accounting room with a few chests (one was trapped with acidic gas) and countless rotted scrolls, along with some gold.
The next room contained royal catacombs. Some of the bodies had been gnawed on by ghouls. The PCs slayed the ghouls and searched the room. Mal found a hidden puzzle box under one corpse pedestal. The party solved and opened it, finding a cloak of arachnida.
Val searched carefully for secret doors, and found one hidden in the accounting room. Inside were huge piles of gold. Wiznt skimmed through, checking for illusions, and saw that one small pile was an illusion concealing an electrified wire connected to the real piles. He dispelled the illusion and wire, and the PCs collected an enormous haul of treasure.
The party traveled out the front basement entrance, which led to a hall that spiraled downward inside the hill. Occasionally arrow slits would poke out, allowing them to see the spiraling staircase outside. At the bottom of the underground battlement was an armory with a few potions.
Documents found
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