The Dungeon of Graves: Session 42
General Summary
The Number of the Day is 12
Report Date
01 Aug 2021
Outside in the courtyard, Lord Frogius had found a nice patch of mud. He burrowed deep, watching for insects as well as the other frogs in the pond. It was clear that they were watching the new frog but unlike the last time Thevius had been near the pond, they were not giving him death stares. Although Amo had not gone down the staircase, he knew that there was an insect plague trying to kill his companions. He moved back to the door they had used to first enter the temple. Figuring that the combat was happening underneath him, he summoned a ghost and had them move down through the stone. On the other side the ghost had been given instructions to attack anyone that were not their companions. Ace had a similar idea as Amo, but his did not include an undead creature Instead he quickly moved across the temple, heading to the first set of stairs they had stumbled on.
After a quick glance around the room, Lothar could read that his companions that had followed him down the secret door were gravely injured and were glancing back at the door, obviously wanting to leave. He returned his attention to the zombies in front of him. It was clear that they would continue to grapple the cleric out of the area to shove him back into the dangerous plague. Taking a breath, Lothar attempted to dispel the magic but Tsathung’s magic held strong. He turned to leave and only made it to the door before the insects wrapped him up and as he was about to fall, Amo’s Death Ward triggered, keeping the cleric on his feet. The others don’t know where Kachuun heads off to but they always seem to return when they are needed most. From the illusionary bush in the courtyard, the wee kobold dashed across the stones, heading toward the Damned.
Knowing that they needed to get out of the area, Sinestra moved back up the staircase. She wasn’t able to move out of the plague and before the insects attacked, the druid was able to down one of her health potions. They needed the magical insects to disappear or they would lose more than just their pride in the basement. Kaertas was fairly magically tapped out but he did have two scrolls of dispel magic. The wizard attempted to dispel the magic but once again the devotion of the cleric to their inaethri was too strong. With the insects still harassing his friends, the wizard moved as far away from the center of the spell as he could, although much like Sinestra he was still being assaulted by the bugs. In the thick of it and nearly dead, Vai’len rushed past the others up the stairs and ended right outside the insects. She could see the bugs trying to get at her.
With the ghost joining the fight, the priests turned their attention to the creature while the abbot proclaimed “No, you will consummate your mistake.” They then turned their attention to Lothar and downed the cleric of Vrokíva. There were two choices for the paladin. He could follow his companions and make his way back or he could press forward. The latter would get him out of the insects. Taking the offensive move, Emil attacked the zombie in the doorway. His weapon walloped the undead with the extra smite making sure the zombie didn’t survive. Emil then marched into the room. He approached the cleric of Tsathung and struck them and out of inaethri power a spiritual weapon appeared and smacked the cleric. Even through two mighty hits, the cleric withstood their concentration. The zombies continued their tactics but instead of grabbing Lothar and shoving him into the insect plague they grabbed the paladin and shoved him back through the doorway and into the bugs.
Burrowing deeper into the mud, Lord Frogius readied himself for a passing bug. Both Amo and Ace run down the second set of stairs, across the rooms from where the others were being bombarded by insects. Kachuun had made it just inside the secret door and could see the insects flying about. Tapping into her magic the bard attempted to dispel the magic. It was almost as if Tsathung was in the room bolstering the cleric’s magic as the spell withstood another attempt. From her position on the stairs, Sinestra could see through the antechamber into the main temple. She summoned eight lights and thrust them forward. Her flock of raptors moved to attack the cleric, swarming the toadman. Kaertas once again tries to dispel the magic with his last scroll and his magic still can’t penetrate the plague, the wizard fell back further and downed another potion. Still nearly dead, the rogue takes a healthy step back from the insects and downs her last health potion. Inside the lower temple, the priests finished off the ghost who had served their glorious purpose of distracting them from the party members. They then approached Amo and the dancing rapier of Ace.
The cleric of Tsathung brought out a sickle and sliced through the raptor in front of him. He then moved further into the room, heading toward the bubbling cauldron, ignoring the raptors’ attempts to strike him. However, the second bite from Sinestra’s swarm managed to knock the cleric’s concentration enough to drop the insect plague. Emil noted the spiritual weapon as it dissipated but turned their confusion to the zombie blocking his way to the cleric. Emil nailed the zombie, kicked it to the side and stepped on its face before taking a step forward. The last zombie tried to shove the paladin but was unable to make him budge.
From his position in the mud, Lord Frogius launched his tongue at the insect that found its way near the pond but the newly frogged frog missed and hit the leaf. Finding himself among the priests, Amo donned one of his forms of dread and swung the staff of Blasting at the nearest priest, dealing a massive amount of damage. Ace tried to insult one of the priests but it seemed that they were too distracted with Amo but they did get the point of his dancing rapier. Poor Lothar had been laying on the stone floor for a few moments now but hadn’t succumbed to his wounds yet. Sinestra moved in to attack a priest with her eldritch energy before falling back to the stairwell. As she passed Lothar she healed the cleric. The raptors moved to the cleric of Tsathung and only landed a hit on the armored toadman. Kachuun had moved into the stairwell and held a group heal until both Kaertas and Vai’len moved into the area. Kaertas moved forward while Vai’len moved down the stairs and eliminated the zombie hindering the paladin. Kachuun’s spell releases healing most of the Damned.
Inside the room the priests turned their attention to raptors, slaying most of them while one of the priests healed their fellow servant of Tsathung. When they got up off the stone floor, the priest called out for someone named Bog. Amo and Ace could hear prisoners rattle their iron doors while down the hallway they could hear someone running towards the battle. One of the priests near Amo managed to land an inflict wounds on the warlock. Meanwhile the cleric of Tsathung had made it the large statue and slipped into a secret door, making their escape. Emil had noticed the door close and for a moment they thought about pursuing the cleric but turned their attention to cleaning house. The priest that had delivered the hit to Amo got a full retaliation blow from the warlock. Amo slayed the priest. Ace turned his attention to the one who had been healed, insulting their ability to properly die but they missed with the joke but nailed it with another stab by their dancing weapon. Finding their feet, Lothar moved to the lower temple and brought Lupus into the battle, meanwhile Kachuun moved her attention to the Hallow in the area but figured it was bound to a shrine or statue. The others continue their onslaught of the priests.
When the hulking powerfully built half orc ran by the jail cells, the keys on their belt were taken by one of the prisoners. The final fantasy looking individual emerged from the jail cell looking rather worse for wear but still the barbarian rushed the half-orc and grappled the greataxe out of Bog’s hands. But soon after the prisoner had gotten the weapon Bog turned and grabbed it back before taking his actions against Amo. Breaking through the magic on the last priest, Emil knocked them unconscious, stepped on and over the servant of Tsathung before they approached the secret door. Unable to spot how to open it he turned to Lothar and signed for one of the smarter companions to investigate. While the battle was wrapping up, Lord Frogius was still near the pond trying to find another hiding spot away from the other ‘creepy’ frogs that kept staring at him. Amo had turned to move away from the barbarian but he got clipped in the leg and had to remain there so he turned his staff upon Bog before he called out for assistance. Bog withstood slicining and magic but finally fell to Kachuun’s eldritch energy. With the battle finally completed the Damned moved quickly to investigate the area.
One of the Damned handed out a Goodberry to the prisoner while Kaertas and Vai’len moved to the statue. The rogue noted the particular mole that needed to be pressed but she doesn’t press it as they remember what happened to Kaertas when one of his spells touched the altar above them. It was obvious that Kaertas wanted to move through the secret door but the others are able to make him feel guilty enough that the wizard abandons his idea. Emil had moved to the unconscious priests and rendered them incapable of casting magic, removing their tongues and breaking their fingers. Xor, the barbarian who had freed himself from the jail started to remove armor from one of the priests and only starts to move cautiously when instructed by the paladin. Kachuun had slipped back upstairs and had gathered Lord Frogius before returning to the group. Xor shared that the cleric of Tsathun was Abbot Grosso and the priests were torturing the prisoners.
The keys are eventually given by Xor to Ace who unlocks the other jail cells, although it seemed that Xor did not care for their companions, not even their brother. . More goodberries are shared with the injured prisoners. Sinestra had been consuming enough goodberries to regain their health; they also passed out enough for both Kaertas and Amo to heal fully. Vai’len brought out Kaertas’ wand of detect magic and popped a charge while she worked each room with Kachuun. The rogue had coaxed Frogling onto her shoulder while she did this, Vai’len enjoyed having a familiar even if they were a polymorphed friend. While the group was dealing with the unconscious and searching the room, Sinestra once again moved on her own down the hallway looking into each jail cell and finding the torture room. They continue down the path and find that they hadn’t fully excavated the area.
The exploration of the room found that the large statue of Tsathung radiated magic as well as two large chests in the alchemy antechamber. She pointed out the magic on the statue and indicated that they shouldn't touch it. Each chest had a glyph of warding and necromantic aura but the rogue deftly opened the locks with Kachuun’s guidance. Within it they found a lot of alchemical and magical items. Ace successfully releases the prisoners and the torture victims and they all escort them upstairs where they take a short rest while Emil continued his gruesome work and they gathered whom they could on the wagon. Their plan was to attack the altars after Amo rested, restoring his pact magic. The rogue sat a bit farther away from the group, nursing her wounds and taking a breath. If she had messed up the lock she would have been dead as she was still bleeding from the insects. Kachuun brought Lord Thevius back from his froggy form and as he went to finish off the frogs, Vai’len stopped him by explaining that they might have been like him and be people stuck in frog forms. Lothar spent some of his rest luring one of the frogs out and named him Baron von Hopp.
