Session 13: The Dead Don't Die

General Summary

Thorbjörn announced his dwarven heritage, which apparently softened the greeter's heart. After a brief discussion, she revealed herself as a duergar named Ghared, and gave permission for the Dragon's Bane to explore the northern part of the complex while refusing entry to the southern part because of 'their business'. After the heroes announced their wish to obtain treasure, Ghared revealed that a dragon had made its lair in the level below, and probably was the one keeping most of the valuables in the area. She said that the group is allowed to go to lower level's entryway if accompanied by a duergar escort. The group postponed their plan to mess with the dragon for the time being, and approached the first door leading to the northern area. After taking note of an orcish warning carved on the door, they entered a chapel with a massive and beautiful tomb near the back wall. When approached, the nearby corpse and surrounding bones formed into a fearsome battle with the undead. Thankfully, Kethra's Turn Undead made the endeavor a lot easier. The tomb turned out to be Durgeddin's final resting place, that had some defenses left here by the orcs a long time ago.

At first glance, nothing else interesting was found, but Shava and Kethra's sharp eyes did discover some spell scrolls among the bones and a secret door in one of the walls. The door lead to a corridor expanding the area with several doors lining the walls. Thorbjörn started opening them, and behind the first one ran into a horde of skeletons in a barracks who once again formed from the piles of bones lying around. The heroes hacked down half of them one by one, and Cora's Burning Hands took care of most of the rest. The group opened some more doors, but these didn't reveal anything nearly as interesting. It was still early afternoon, but the adventuring had worn out the party so much that they decided to call it a day and go to sleep. After setting up inside the barracks and barricading the door, that's what they did. Unfortunately, their sleep was interrupted by a ghost who attacked through the walls. This proved quite a challenge for the tired party, but Shava's clever use of holy water saved the day (or night).

14 Flamerule, 1393 DR (Day 15)

The next day, the exploring continued. The corridor stopped in a room with a dried out water pool and continued on the other side of it, and so did the various doors. The next one revealed a big and beautiful room clearly once belonging to someone important. It was once again Thorbjörn who did the first steps into the room, after which he was attacked by the room's CARPET. Luckily, it didn't pose much of a threat. In the room, Thorbjörn found the diary of Arundil, a dwarven mage who once lived here. He described his cowardice in the face of the orcish invasion, and the horrible guilt that resulted from it, which eventually drived him to the border of insanity. He had animated some of the objects around the fortress to defend against future invasions, and had also apparently summoned a fiend before he died and started wandering the halls as a ghost. Meanwhile, Damian used some Mage Hand shenanigans to open up Arundil's treasure chest under the bed and made the group considerably richer in the process. Continuing on along the corridor, the next room seemed to be a weapon storage of sorts. Unfortunately, no useful equipment was found. Next to it, an armory opened up and while trying to find something worth salvaging here, Thorbjörn was ambushed by... a set of armor on a stand which animated and attacked.

Campaign

Tales from the Yawning Portal

Protagonists