Session 39

General Summary

The date is Tuesday, 15th August

The time is 11:00 AM The next chamber contained four undead goblin Wights and a big Ogre Zombie. Idris started the party by throwing a fireball into the chamber and then Tinnan rushed in. They were clearly not going down easily as the first wight ducked under Tinnan's swiping great axe. Sellis outlined the big zombie and one wight with a glowing spell. Chi teleported into the thick of things. Fyren fired off a shatter and Sigmund moved in to attack but had an unusually bad series of attacks. Idris blasted holy flames on a wight, leaving Tinnan to swipe heavily at the zombie again. Sellis blasted the ogre with cold and it collapsed into death. Fyren then unleashed a firebolt on a wight, crisping it, and saving Chi. The last two wights were quickly killed. We continue on to a large room, completely littered with bones that snap and crunch as we walk over them. The bones started to crawl towards each other and assemble themselves into long-dead goblins! The Skeletons moved in but Idris shined his holy light at them all, causing a number to collapse to the floor. But many more kept coming. Fyren caused an explosion which took out three more followed by a firebolt to take out a fourth, and the numbers looked much more reasonable. Chi took out a couple more with his fists and Sigmund smashed another with the butt end of his halberd, following up by destroying a couple more. The end came soon thereafter. Continuing on we came to a chamber with a chariot in it.

This room is piled with the kind of stuff that you would find in the baggage train of any army; barrels, buckets, crates, sacks etc. all are smashed and broken. Atop the heap is a wooden chariot, clearly goblin in design with short rusty scimitar blades protruding from the axles.

We sat down to take a breather, have a more detailed look at the items we had discovered and eat some rations. During our rest, Fyren told us that the reason he had told us to take the Staff of Anastaria back was that he had a vision from a gold dragon, known as Elduraurium, who had strongly advised him to replace it. Apparently, the gold dragon had rescued us from the orcs when we were tiny and he's had another vision from the dragon in past. The dragon also told him we had to head north for some important mission after we left here. Fyren had more information to tell us on this but was not quite ready to share it yet. After our nap, it was time to explore the next level down.

A wide stone stairway descends deep into the bone-strewn earth. Looking down the wide stairs into the darkness, you feel a chill run down your spine, you feel a sense of being watched as if a predator is waiting to pounce, and the air is thick with malice. The steep stairs open out into a circular chamber with a single central column. Several stone caskets are piled up on one side, many open and their contents spilt onto the ground. Around the walls, bones are crammed into alcoves.

As the last person steps off the stairs you hear the grinding of stone on stone behind you as the upper stairway rises into the ceiling, closing off the passage. Disturbed bones fall to the ground as goblinoid figures begin to crawl out of the alcoves.

A big fight broke out but a rested and prepared party were too tough for the goblin wights of this tomb. With the last wight still standing two more creatures came in from the eastern passage. One was an unusual giant zombie and the other was very strange. The giant zombie had a scimitar in hand which had a green tinge to it. Murdaz and Nightshade! Sigmund caught eye contact with the strange creature and fell down unconscious! Chi responded by dropping a sphere of darkness on himself and moving up to it, hoping to nullify its powers. However, it just moved off into the midst of the others. It glanced at Sellis who screamed in pain and then the ogre moved out of the darkness and slashed Idris with the Sword, cutting him deeply. He followed up with a pummelling bash. Idris was bloodied. Idris replied by calling upon incredible power and banished Murdaz (the ogre zombie) off to another plane of existence. Hence we were left only fighting the creature of the strange gaze. For now. Fyren blasted the abomination but it was resistant to his flames. So he followed up with a cold spell, which was also resisted. Chi ran in and grabbed the creature, trying to stop it from running from the darkness. It slapped Chi back hurting him badly. Idris then drew a dagger and tried to stab the creature, without success. He then stepped up and healed Sigmund, bringing him conscious again. Fyren blasted fire into the dark globe and scorched it a little more. Sellis moved away from the creature and called upon the earth to buckle and heavy under Tinnan, Chi and the strange abomination. Tinnan slashed in the darkness and the strange thing died. We set up ready for the imminent return of Murdaz and Idris snapped his fingers letting the ogre zombie return. Sellis lit it up with a glowing spell. We unleashed hell upon it. Sigmund cursed it as Tinnan slashed it. Sigmund then unleashed a barrage of strikes from his halberd, cutting it deeply. Chi ran in and pummelled him, smashing him and stunning him. Idris called holy fire on him and then Fyren threw a chromatic orb at him, burning him further. Sellis then frostbit him but he shook it off. Tinnan slashed it greatly with his axe, cutting it deeply. Sigmund then channelled all his eldritch power into his halberd and all but took him out. However, the creature was powered by undeath and would not so easily die. Sigmund continued to wail on it with his halberd and this time it stayed down.

Descending the stairs, you see a large dark chamber before you. Four columns of bone hold up the roof, spectral vapour seems to wreath them. In the middle of the room is an open, stone sarcophagus buried in the floor, the lid shifted to one side. Around it on the floor, coloured bones have been arranged into a ring.

Idris detected magical emanations coming from the bones surrounding the sarcophagus and lots of magic inside the stone tomb. An armoured skeleton lies within the sarcophagus, hands clasped over its chest. Strangely though, there are an extra pair of skulls in with it. As Sigmund crossed the threshold of the bones the creature in the sarcophagus gets up. It's a Skull Lord! Idris blasted it with a sacred flame to start the combat going. It responded by punching him with a ghostly hand which knocked Idris unconscious. Tinnan rushed in and threw a couple of javelins whereupon four Shadows emerged from the ... shadows and attacked us. Fyren lit up the room with a fireball which roasted one shadow but which the skull lord evaded. However, he could not dodge Fyren's follow-up firebolt. The first shadow moved towards the skull lord but Tinnan and Sigmund smote it as it moved past them. The skull lord then dropped a yellow-green fog cloud upon himself. Chi tickled one of the shadows and then it vanished off into the fog cloud and disappeared. Sellis cured Idris and the last shadow moved into the fog cloud and disappeared. Sigmund, standing inside the fog cloud, was choking on poisonous fumes (he was standing next to Tinnan so it was hard to tell the exact cause). He moved through the cloud and out the other side. Idris stood and tried to dispel the cloud of poisonous gas with great success! Tinnan, now able to see and rich the skull-lord, rushed in, enraged! He swung his axe but it bounced harmlessly off the creature's plate armour. The skull-lord replied by swinging back at Tinnan with his staff but the dwarf nimbly ducked. However, four more shadows then appeared from the pillars. Fyren let off another fireball, this time centring it on Tinnan! The skull-lord dodged it totally and Tinnan was only partially burnt. The shadows were singed but one was destroyed. Fyren rapidly struck the skull-lord with a follow-up firebolt. The skull lord then struck Tinnan with a spectral hand spell. One of the shadows moved into the skull-lord.

As the dark shadow reaches the skeleton, it seems as if the skeleton breathes it in, wisps of night entering its nostrils and mouths. The skeleton seems to grow in malice.

Chi tried to stun the skeleton but without any effect. Tinnan chopped up a shadow as it moved in but another one was subsumed by the skeleton. Sellis peeked around the corner from far off where she was staying safe, and then summoned a gargoyle into the fight. Sigmund moved back in and waylaid the skeleton. Idris rushed in and prepared to blast any shadows emerging from the pillars. The skeleton tried to swipe Idris but the cleric ducked. Tinnan was going insane and thrashed the skeleton with his axe mightily. The skeleton actually looked hurt! Four shadows popped out of the pillars and Idris let off a blast of light. He instantly obliterated all the shadows and hurt the skeleton. Fyren threw more fire but this time it just splashed off the armour of the skeleton. The skeleton then moved into a position where he lined us all up. He blasted us with a cone of cold and Idris and Chi collapsed. Sellis instantly had Idris back conscious again with a ranged healing spell. Sigmund waded in and slashed and pummelled the skeleton some more, knocking it prone. It looked very beaten up! Idris brought Chi back from unconsciousness and blasted the skeleton with holy light, but it dodged with some legendary effort. It then leapt to its feet and scuttled backwards. Tinnan chased him and swung his axe mightily at the skeleton. The first struck the plate armour but the second chopped all three heads off! We found some magical items in the sarcophagus and grabbed them. We rested for an hour and recovered from the ordeal.