Scrolls of Nedev - May 3rd, 2023

General Summary

2nd day of Annotide, 12th Year of the Reign of Empress Sorsasta, 5728
From the Journals of Brother Xindge

Tonight Xindge, Tellem, Rankham and William gather their resources and come up with 449 gold pieces. Still 51 short. So we head back to the Lightbringer monastery and see what they came up with. William suspects that if we just walk away we might tarnish our reputations a little but its unlikely they would come after us. We ask for the Knight Captain, Grumur Peaceswift and he is in his office. We head in. They are not happy with our solution. But they are not willing to part with a single copper. We are trying to convince the guy. We convince him! 100 gold. So we won’t end up flat broke. We head to the Two Fish Tavern. We are given a small cask at the Griff Inn to put the gold coins into. Rankham goes in incognito an hour ahead of the rest of us. He orders dinner.
The tavern is crowded with sailors and fishermen. Songs are being sung, bongos bashed. A serving maid offers Rankham a table or a seat at the bar. He gets a table near one of the mantles. He orders a house ale. He gets served. She reads the specials. He gets a fish stew with the small oily fish in it. Some bread with garlic butter is included. An hour later William goes in and makes the drop. He takes a seat. Aluratasa engages him. She isn’t happy we went with the cash option but she says they will hold up her end. He takes her drink and walks out. She is not happy about it. William walks out with her drink and slugs it back. He walks out of the tavern towards the fish market. In the meantime, Rankham keeps an eye on Aluratasa. She waves over a waitress and gets another drink. She finishes it and walks to the mantle. She puts her hand on the cask to wiggle it and is satisfied. A few minutes later Charley the Bonebreaker comes in and sits with her. Rankham orders another ale. And half a bowl of soup.
Hours later, the two fiends are still sitting and Rankham gets up and leaves. As he exits, he notices there are some drunkards at the bar dozing. William hoots like an owl to get Rankham’s attention. We all gather back together we are done for the night.
Xindge and the gang heads back to the temple and there is a celebration going on. Hadraroth is there, a bit messed up but otherwise OK. They have the amulet. Whoopee. Jerry greets Xindge and Xindge says “you’re welcome” and walks back to his cell.
Tellem engages with the celebration, celebrations all around. Hadraroth is overjoyed to have been returned. Tellem joins in with the high priest and his acolytes and sees the amulet. The scuttlebutt is that no ransom was paid for his release.
Xindge takes a bath.
Tellem is trying to get information by asking fairly pointed questions. He doesn’t get much from it. Rankham and Tellem head back to the monastery and relates the tale of our success to the Knight Captain. Rankham attempts to convince the Knight Captain that they owe us one. He will tell the high priest our part in this caper. Tellem gets permission to add the symbol of St. Thardar to his garb.
At this point, we take the time to level up! Finally, a stopping point that works.
Tellem convinces local farmers to contribute towards the food cart.
2nd day of Annotide, 12th Year of the Reign of Empress Sorsasta, 5728

Two weeks go by. Xindge hears that underneath the temple is a secret catacomb that predates the church. Jerry says there is a rumor, the entrance is down underground near the vault but it has not been explored. It is not sacred ground so it’s not of interest to the church. Xindge goes in search of High Priest Olafradas Crysmir to get permission to investigate. The high priest agrees, on the condition that they seal the door behind us.
12th day of Skaltide, 12th Year of the Reign of Empress Sorasta, 5728
So here we stand, at the precipice of the catacombs. The door opens and a staircase down greets us. Xindge lights his dowel. Tellem goes first, followed by William, then Xindge and Rankham picking up the caboose.
We go down the stairs and come to the bottom, a large room is down there. The air is musty, stale and damp. Bereft of auditory cues. 60 feet wide and vaulted ceilings with pillars supporting it. We examine our surroundings, dark, dusty as they are. William notices on one of the columns some runes. We notice they are elvish. It is archaic but understandable. “The Greenwood Family paid for this pillar.” Odd it would be in elvish as they typically don’t make catacombs. Something just feels wrong. Other pillars have similar dedications. They don’t seem to be dark elf in origin. The walls have carvings, too. Burial niches with names and dates.
On the other side of the room are stairs going down and doors to either side. As we approach the stairs we hear what sounds like running water, like a trickling stream, from down the stairs. William goes up to one of the doors, it appears to be locked from the other side. He attempts to pick the lock. He is successful and the door swings open. A small chamber is on he other side. There is a stone sarcophagus in the room. The lid gets thrown off and a spectral female elf opens her mouth into a chasm.
WIlliam slams the door shut but it opens up again immediately. William shoots his crossbow and hits! He then backs up and hides behind a pillar. Tellem advances and swings his sword at the ephemeral enemy. He misses! Xindge singes her with a newly buffed Guided Bolt spell. Her jaw opens wide and lets out a hissing, howling noise. Tellem does not take the effect of the fear attempt. She strikes at Tellem with her claws. She strikes with one, misses with the other.
Rankham fires a magic missile at her and hits. Then a second spectral form appears, having glided through the wall, presumably from the chamber behind the second door. Tellem misses but Xindge’s guided bolt disintegrates the first spectre. The second one screams at Tellem, who remains unfazed. A scratch from a claw hits Tellem. Now, over to Rankham. He takes a step forward and hits Tellem with a Protection from Evil spell. He ducks out of the room to concentrate. William drops his bow and switches to his short sword, advances and swings. Misses. Tellem takes a swing and misses. Xindge blasts this new spectre, who bites at Tellem and claws at William. The bite fails. The claws also miss. Rankham fires a magic missile and hits with one. William takes a swing and hits. Tellem swings and misses again. Xindge misses.
The spectre attacks, missing with the bite and hits with one claw. Attack of opportunity, Tellem misses and it goes back through the wall.
So ends the current entry...

Report Date

04 May 2023