Episode Sixty-six - Tomb of Horrors
General Summary
Vampire of Valhalla
A jolt hit Calaeriel as she enjoyed a meal once more among friends. An aspect of herself had returned from the world of the living, an aspect of darkness that carried on the will of her gods. She had died that day in the house of the innkeeper of the Moonstone Mask but a part of her, she knew then, must have remained. As she gain her aspect's memories, she rejoiced in her battles and raised mead to her deeds. Though the fight for the universe was far from her hands; she worried not, for she was home. Calaeriel then looked up to a tall, worn statue that ascended before her. It depicted a warrior as she witnessed, all around her, a grand hall full of feasting warriors of barbaric proportions. Through the open windows of the hall she heard the roaring of falls as a mist beset a brilliant field. There was much cheering and joyous celebration all around her in that beautiful stone hall and soon there would be battle for all in the euphoric fields. Lo there do she see her ancestors among the Vikings she had come to know well. Lo there do she see Thor often and Loki battling with axe and blade. Lo there do she see great names of all the realms of Odin. Lo there do she see the line of her people, back to the beginning of her Elf kindred. Lo there they did call to her, where they once bid her take her place among them, in the halls of Valhalla, where her brave soul would live on forever.Part One
The surviving members of the party all found themselves in the gazebo at the manor of Sir Ursas. A light rain had beset the day and thunder rolled off in the distance overtop the small town. His hedge knights, mercenaries one and all, moved up and surrounded the stairs of the tree-like structure. As the party gathered their bearings, Sir Ursas exited his house and walked toward them through the warm drizzle. Their heavy clothes delivered them harsh heat in what felt like summer as Sir Ursas demanded, "Servant, report transmutation." "Malfunction, return date incorrect. Error caused by lack a stellar navigation. Seven lifeforms returned." "Well, I thought that might happen. The outlands have no real stars, but very well; you all aren't far off. Its summer now, the 27th of Kythorn. Welcome back." A line of questioning helped both parties to make sense of the situation. The crystals were returned to Ursas, though he didn't expect so many, and then they went inside and met an old friend of Arion's. Inside, none other then Kelaryn ran up to him and hugged his neck. She told him that her god had sent her back and that the gods of Hârn wanted them dead. She told him that she had been returned to her body and was immediately summoned to the meeting room. She told him that his patron wanted to speak with him and that after her conversation in the mind of J'onn J'onzz, she rode to Olostin's hold with her father. They then all agreed to stay at the local inn and set out as they awaited the results of the crystals' viability. They dropped in and visited the blacksmith, where they paid Varis' debt for the smoke powder pistol he'd ordered made. Kelaryn helped pay for it with the income she'd taken from the Deepwinter Estate. They were then gifted Aldrich's Band of Giantslaying on the promise that they'd keep the pistol hidden in town. They then went to the tavern where they had a meal and Kelaryn introduced herself. Sol introduced himself, then, as being from Balder's Gate and he asked the date, to which he was told and he was told that he was in 1479 DR. He admitted that he was from 1388 DR and then learned he was in Olostin's Hold, in the future. After a meeting in the Cosmic Meeting Room, the other members of the party were formally inducted into the Champions of Destiny, Aldrich, Annabelle, and Sol. Back at the inn, they ordered food and a room and slept in for the night. On the morning of the 28th of Kythorn, 1479 DR, the Champions of Destiny awoke to meet with the wizard Dresden Tormaq. He offered little advice but answered Arion's question about Thessalar's cloning process. He also informed them that Arion and Kelaryn, as well as the rest the party that entered Rick's dungeon, had clone versions made of themselves and that if they wanted to learn more about cloning they should speak with the foremost authority on it, Rick Sanchez. From the wizard's tower they then met with Sir Ursas once more. He informed them, somberly, that the crystals would not work, that more were needed. Agreeing with the outcome and what needed to be done, the Champions of Destiny returned to the past, this time to the fabled Tomb of Horrors. Over the hill, through the campsite, past some docile Umber Hulks, they spoke with a tiefling named Shela that told them that Moghadam ran the work site to construct the Tomb of Horrors for Acererak. The group then approached Moghadam and Arion simply told him that he'd forgot hiring them. Given passes, they entered the tomb unmolested. Deep inside, they reached a chapel where the chanting heard throughout the tomb originated, whose pews were filled with more than two dozen worshipers and, oddly, with two large chunks of rough black stone. The chapel appeared dedicated to Vecna, decorated with artwork and symbols in honor of the god of evil secrets. The worshipers, all humanoid, appeared exhausted as they continued their chant. As the party watched, one of them collapses and was suddenly and horrifyingly petrified into another chunk of black stone. At the far end of the chapel, a handsome priest stood behind an altar block that glowed an opalescent blue. The priest was missing his left eye and hand, but had a second set of arms grafted to his body. All three of his arms gestured as if directing the worshipers like a conductor. Two girallons flanked him, each of them also missing an eye and hand. The priest smiled and gestured for the party to enter the chapel and take a seat. The chanting then filled their minds with a desire to obey but only Kelaryn did so as the rest faked it. Arion and Aldrich approached the altar, in that order, where Arion drew his sword. The priest declared, as he looked up, "look at them master, should I fall." Then cried out, "Vecna has seen you, should I fall he will hunt you to the end of time." Sol controlled the battle field as they fell, one by one. After Arion battered the priest with his sword, Annabelle killed him with her Sacred Flame. Then, with the help of Aldrich and Annabelle as Aldrich took a beating from the girallons, Arion killed the other two girallons by severing their spines. Annabelle met well a gold half-dragon paladin named Pentival in the service of Pelor. The separated only briefly as Aldrich gathered the three crystals of the machine, the party navigated some traps, found a pit to The Abyss to summon a balor named Tarnhem, and found a workshop that contained some plans, three large diamons, and a jeweler's kit. Returned to the chapel, the party discussed encountering the balor before going back into the temple proper and encountering it. Slipping by, with Pentival along though leaving the rest of the chapel that were weak, they nearly exited but encountered a Sphere of Annihilation. Running, they encountered the balor once more and learned that it sought Acererak. Claiming to be the lich's father, Tarnhem allowed the party to live and went further into the dungeon. Arion tried to save some of the people that were in the chapel room that the balor started to kill for fun but when Annabelle appeared behind him and asked for two specifically, it took those two and left. Leaving the workers behind, the party made their way to the temple exit and encountered a thief trying to escape. He claimed that he'd come up with a magic item to escape and would make them one should they help him, that he'd name after himself and call Nolzur's Marvelous Pigments, and leave some for them with Farnsworth at the Deepwinter Estate. Arion established the command words to retrieve the item as magical pigments and left with the thief. As the party considered what to do next, they looked to Pentival who wanted desperately to kill Moghadam.Part Two
The party sided with Pentival and decided to seek out the tomb's architect. When they reached him, Moghadam shouted an invisibility spell, Sol later determined, and then disappeared. He left behind a spectral, jeweled, skeletal, head which watched the party before they made camp in the worker's camp above the Tomb of Horrors. In what felt like the morning, after having no luck locating Moghadam, the heroes decided to travel once again to the Temple of Moloch where upon Pentival and Nolzur departed, heading for a Stellar Gateway. Pentival especially wished Annabelle a heartfelt goodbye and the two set out for Faerûn. In the Temple of Moloch the party, lead by Arion, ordered about ten lizards and their leader to leave the temple with their lives intact and never return. Deeper in, the heroes assured Thessalar had no more clones and then ventured to his lab. As Arion smashed though his door Thessalar shouted, befuddled, "you again? Oh no!" His horror had been well founded, Arion immediately smashed a potion of healing over Thessalar's head and his blood gave to a violent reaction, just as they had read earlier in the dungeon. Before they had come to Thessalar's lab and after they had checked on his cloning room; Sol had found a journal of of Thessalar's in his bedroom. Reading it, Sol had determined that Thessalar's blood would react to healing potions as if they were acid. As Thessalar turned to goop, the heroes watched on and hoped that the mad alchemist was dying for his final time. Further into the dungeon a deep voice cried out through an open doorway ahead, it was quickly responded to by a second voice. "So! You come to honor Emmanuel, right head of the Demogorgon!" "No! You honor Hebediah, left head of Demogorgon!" Befuddled, Arion offered ease as he saw the filthy chamber was occupied by an ettin who was the source of the bellowing. The right head of the creature sported a stylish beard, while the left head had a large, curving mustache. Silver wires extended from a large pouch hanging around the giant’s two necks and it connected directly into the beast's chest. A pig snoozed on the floor at the ettin’s feet and a putrid smell drifted from the room. "Stand still!" one head roared. "My steward Slippy will present you for a formal audience." "No! My steward Sticky will present you!" Both heads then ignored Arion and the rest of the heroes as they began bellowing over one another for Slippy and Sticky to attend them. Beyond, the heroes found a boggle that claimed to be both Slippy and Sticky, whom hated his job. Annabelle suggested that the boggle leave and escorted him to relative safety. In a hallway, not to far off, the heroes found more then a dozen statues. They smashed them all and found amongst them, the Thessalheart; suggesting that the Thessalhydra was alive once more. The heroes met the temple's second, then made first, in command. He was named Ard-Sagart and he offered the information that a secret passage behind his fireplace lead below to the Thessalkraken. Back the way they came, they turned and found a gemsmith locked away, named Seondra. They determined that she worked for Moghadam and Acererak and that she had created the jeweled skull they had seen the prior day. Further on they found four strong lizards, one of which blew upon a horn and called the Thessalhydra to their location. Arion and Aldrich charged in for the fight and as they struck the first beast, Annabelle struck it down with her Sacred Flame. They then held the line as Kelaryn and Sol cast at range. Arion then cleaved one of the lizardfolk's hands off before Aldrich slashed it with his bonesword and kicked it into Sol's magical bonfire. They began to hear heavy stomping back the way they came but there was no time, the fight was on, and Arion took his chance to lop off the arm of the second to last lizardfolk. As the casters saw that in fact the Thessalhdra and two lizardfolk were coming their way, Arion ran around a table to assist Aldrich in fighting the last of the strong lizardfolk only to watch as Aldrich's blade smashed through the lizardfolk, glowing green. Blood blasted out of the back of the creature and onto Arion as Sol turned his magic on the Thessalhydra and the reinforcements. As the lizardfolk were charging Sol, he crafted a brilliant maneuver in his mind. Casting a web, the lizardfolk and the Thessalhydra became entangled and stuck, allowing the other heroes the time they needed to prepare themselves. Annabelle fired her crossbow, Kelaryn pulled her trusty warhammer and cracked the first lizardfolk though the web in the head, knocking out its eye, as Arion arrived followed there after by Aldrich. The Thessalhydra's rage would not be vanquished so easily however. Surprisingly, it spit forth acid and it burned Arion, Kelaryn, and Sol but the wounds were superficial. As Aldrich reached the scene, he cast down a moonbeam from the ceiling of the dungeon and seared away the last of the lizardfolk reinforcements. As Annabelle cast to protect Sol, the Thessalhydra leaned upon wisdom and made a retreat. Arion gave chase and met the beast's ambush but was just in time to weather the assault well as it chewed into his shield. Still caught in the clutches of the beast's tail, he slashed at it mightily as Aldrich charged up to them both. Planting his feet firmly, Aldrich cracked his whip with a fury greater then most gods and devastated the beast. As the Thessalhydra died, it released Arion and the Champions of Destiny gave a sigh of relief. Their work was far from over however. They journeyed through the temple once more, having seen nearly every square inch and came once more to the alter that held the famed Statue of Moloch. In a nearby room they found several workers making statues. Aldrich, Arion, and Kelaryn sundered those statues but one of the workers took great offense. He slipped off, past Kelaryn, past Sol, and right by Annabelle and then delivered the news to the Sacred Statue itself as Arion moved that way and Annabelle snuck up behind him. As the statue awoke Aldrich dashed a cultist sculptor with his whip just as Kelaryn blasted another one with her Eldritch Blast. Another slung a spell at Aldrich and he took a beating for it from Aldrich as Arion maneuvered around the Sacred Statue and Annabelle dueled the cultist. Lizardfolk then poured forth from a secret tunnel and swarmed Sol as Kelaryn rushed to his aid but was intercepted by lizardfolk herself. Sol Astair cried out in his desperation, "Aldrich? If you have the time, we could use a hand here. Beyond the expected malicious statuary, some of our reptilian hosts have taken umbrage with our presence." His plea was heard as he dodged claws but nothing could be done. Sol was then clawed into a bloody pool on the floor as Aldrich fought his way there. As he reached Sol, a lizardfolk slammed into him and knocked him to the floor. From that vantage Aldrich saw Arion desperately batting the stone statue to no avail as he dodged its two massive fists. He heard Annabelle playfully quipping against her dueling opponent in a compact hallway. He then turned to stand and watched as Kelaryn was cut to the ground by claws herself. As claws battered his armor, Aldrich put his shield up and took a beating as he made it to Sol, whom was clinging to life, and laid his hand upon Sol to heal his mangled flesh. Arion maneuvered his way into the hallway with Annabelle and they fought back to back against a lizardfolk and a cultist sculptor. As Aldrich was overwhelmed by lizards outside the hall, Arion became vexed and hacked down the lizardfolk in a violent rage. Annabelle then ran to the aid of the others as Arion traded places with her. As she healed Sol, who was being hemmed into a corner with Aldrich by lizardfolk, Arion smiled at the cultist and proclaimed, "you've just made your last mistake in this life." A lizardfolk punched Sol unconscious as another grabbed Kelaryn's leg and ripped it open with his teeth. As Annabelle closed in, in her attempt to render aid sent with encouragement from Arion, she found only death as the Sacred Statue pummeled her into the stone floor. Her mangled corpse presented a pile of bone and blood as the Sacred Statue of Moloch then stepped forth and stepped on Sol. Aldrich committed to a tactical retreat to a position just beside of Kelaryn's body as he heard Arion cut down the cultist who had awoken the statue. Their revenge at hand, Aldrich lifted his shield and felt his legs snap as the statue crushed him into the floor. As he wailed in agony, he gritted his teeth and bore obstinance instead and then he watched as the world faded away. His compatriots dead, Arion snarled, "come for me cowards, come for me."Rewards Granted
Part One 660xp
Part Two 1500xp
Missions/Quests Completed
Quest of Fate Continued, Subquest Forging Fate Continued, Sidequest Infernal Machine Rebuild Continued
Character(s) interacted with
Moghadam
Notes
Notable Party Damage:
- Aldrich is mangled and dead.
Noted Effects: Dead. - Annabelle is mangled and dead.
Noted Effects: Dead. - Arion came from Arda with a scar that won't seem to heal.
Noted Effects: Minor Scar (Head). The scar doesn't have any adverse effect. Magical healing of 6th level or higher, such as heal and regenerate, removes the scar. - Kelaryn is mangled and dead.
Noted Effects: Dead. - Sol is mangled and dead.
Noted Effects: Dead.
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