RoT 3: “Chasing Varram”

For two and a half days you follow the trail left by Varram and his entourage into the Serpent Hills before finally coming upon a place known as the Tomb of Diderius whom you were told was once a well known wizard who lived in the Serpent Hills. People would come from all over to seek his wisdom.

You check the area below the cliff face first, finding fairly recent seven shallow graves and three bedrolls near a burned out campfire. There are signs of struggle here with drag marks leading toward the well, which curious since the well is too narrow for even Brehana to fit down.

As you approach the 40 foot high edifice you pass between two huge statues, now mostly ruined. The left-hand colossus is a bearded human male wearing exotic clothes, but its face is smashed beyond recognition. It holds a balance in its right hand and a cudgel at its side, its left hand raised as if in warning. The colossus to the right of the entrance is a young human male wearing similarly exotic clothing, the left half of its head cracked off and lying at its feet. The statue holds a shepherd’s crook in its left hand and a sword at its waist, its right hand raised in warning as well.

As you approach the statues, you hear the sudden sound of grinding stone. The colossal figures turn their massive heads, their shattered features staring down at you. Two voices issue forth in unison, booming out as though erupting from the deep earth. “Halt. You come before Diderius, ether walker and conduit of clairvoyance. Behold ye now his wondrous triumphs. Diderius extends wisdom, and Diderius offers knowledge. Which do you seek?”

Malice Bloodmoon and Brehana Warpip both answer “Wisdom” while Pubert and Rikon look on without saying anything. The statues respond, “Diderius shall grant you what you seek, but only if you heed him and continue to show proper respect!” They then revert to their original positions.

You then climb up the latter leading to the top of the edifice and enter the tomb. The first few rooms are fairly barren save for the bones of would be looters long dead. The first room however, is a bit creepy in that all six of the hooded statues heads turn to watch your movements through the room. You hear a voice say, “Some secrets are not meant for mortal minds to know. Look away from the darkness in which such knowledge hides.”

The second room features a mosaic made of tiles of a knight fighting a chimera. The door to the west also has the word “SAFE” written in chalk upon it. Preoccupied with deciding if the marked door means that way is safe or if it contains a safe, you almost do not notice the tile chimera come to life before it attacks. While Brehanna is badly wounded and Rikon Oakenhelm drops his sword during the battle, you manage to prevail rather quickly, with Pubert Adams finally scattering the tiles that make up the animated beast all over the room.

The “SAFE” door leads to a room with a well in the center and a cistern and lever high on the wall to the north, with steps leading up to it. Pubert uses the well bucket to fill the cistern and pull the lever, which causes the cistern to drain but you find nothing else of interest here except for several bedrolls and a sign of struggle similar to the one at the well outside.

Heading west back through the mosaic room and down the hallway that angles downward 15’ or so, you make it almost to the end of that hall when Pubert steps on a pressure plate. A magical ball of skeleton appears and rolls at you at great speed. Rikon manages to dodge it but the rest are all picked up by skeletal hands and pulled int to the ball as it rolls past and into the next antechamber. Just before it crashes into the far west wall, Puber and Malice manage to break free, but Brehanna does not fair so well and is still in the ball when it smashes into the wall. Thankfully, there’s magic and Beef Jerky of Healing handy to get her back on her feet.

Once you gather yourselves you notice the room has six sarcophagi and the same voice you heard in the beginning says, “Humility proffered in the manner of Mystril shelters those opening the way to seeking knowledge.”

Brehanna recalls that followers of Mystril, as a sign of humility to the fallen goddess, would bow their heads while raising their hands. You each do so while entering the double doors to the north, which leads to a grand throne room. Upon the throne is a twelve-foot-tall, regal and well-muscled humanoid male with a flowing white beard and purple toga. Surrounding the dais is a treasure pile with both valuable coins and jewelry as well as bits of pottery and trinkets. As you approach the humanoid speaks, “Ye who seek Diderius’s insight must first furnish tribute, that Diderius might work his mighty magic. Lay such tribute at my feet or depart.” You each place a coin or gem in the pile and then seemingly are allowed to move about free of retribution by this figure.

To the south you find what used to be library which contains no books or any kind, just dust and cobweb covered shelves and tables. You are confronted here by a ghost who wants to know why you are here. She says she is the apprentice of her master Diderius, or was until one of his favorite tomes went missing and she was banished. Now she is trapped here in the library protecting the collection of her master until the missing tome is found and returned. Malice though has other plans as his Warlock Patron has commissioned him to destroy the undead and so, after getting this information from her, decides to “set her free” by casting Guiding Bolt. Pubert assists by finishing her off with Hazirawn .

From there you go back through the throne room to the door to the west. On the other side of the door, you see once you open it, is written “? Danger”. You proceed up the stairs to a room with a large marble table in the middle where there are five Bearded Devils seated, intently watching the spiked shut door to the south, which is marked “DANGER”. When questioned they simply say that Varram ordered them to watch that door and kill anything that comes through it. As you came out a different direction, they seem to care less about your activities. You choose to exit the room to the north and leave them be.

You find a large gallery room with a large pool in the west end. There are arrows and a clear sign of battle here and a dead cultist lays next to the pool (which is currently empty). Inspection of the room and body determines that the cultist was likely sacrificed with a dragontooth dagger, not killed by an arrow. The arrows are carved of stone and their heads are in the shape of fangs, set with the symbol of a cobra with a crown above it. A stone sluice runs from the southern wall to empty into the pool.

Continuing to the double doors to the north, you enter what is obviously a crypt, a 20-foot-high chamber lit by braziers imbued with continual flame. A massive stone sarcophagus sits atop a stepped stone dais at center. The walls are decorated with life-sized frescoes showing the lost gods of Netheril and Anauria.

As Malice comes within a few paces of the sarcophagus, a voice speaks, “You approach Diderius in repose. I know what you seek. Yuan-ti have taken the one called Varram beyond their portal in the northern wall. Be prepared, for I shall open the way to peril.” As Malice answers, “We will be prepared,” a secret door is revealed in the northern wall and begins to slide open…