The Dungeon of Graves: Session 47

General Summary

“Abbot, more like a butt”

In the small hallway, the Damned were pinned in and between two insect plagues. One was triggered by a familiar and the other bestowed upon them by Abbot Grosso. Lothar gripped his holy symbol and with his shout echoing off the worked stone walls, he channeled the magic blessed to him by the Brume Wolf. The undead around him dissolved into the mist that flowed out from the cleric. One of the necromancer’s skeletons also fell victim but in the end Lothar’s move saved lives. The cleric wasn’t done. He then marched toward the Abbot, pointed his finger and told him to say hello to his little friend. Although it was very theatrical, Lupus was fended off. Near the door that started this entire mess, Galron attacked the undead Abbot Cyngamon, the wight that rushed into the hallway. The new member of the Damned landed a good hit dealing some extra fire damage. The paladin stayed his ground, withstanding the flying swarm of bugs. From one insect plague to the other, Lord Thevius moved slightly and landed one eldritch blast on the cleric before teleporting behind them and out of the plague.
Laying on the ground with his wounds bleeding out around him; Amo’s mind returned to the dark alley. He was running for his life, trying desperately to stay ahead of the looming threat. The skeletons that had poured out of their tombs and the initial insect plague had split the party. As Amo was dying across the hallway, Kaertas was debating about becoming a very large ape. However as the walls were nearly upon him he decided to place a Fireball on three of the undead instead of dropping it upon himself. Emil was forced to escape the plague by placing himself into one of the recently cleared tombs, as he stepped out he noticed the undead engaged with Galron. He believed that if this creature was indeed a wight he might be able to take control over the creature. The paladin had done this many times for the Shrike already and as he held his shield up with his holy symbol embedded into it and pointed his warhammer at the wight, a haunting green energy siphoned out from Emil’s helmet. It swirled out around his armored shoulder, down to his arm and through his warhammer toward the wight. The energy infused into the undead, their eyes glazed with a green hue and a tether was formed between him and the undead. Ignoring the pain, Emil crushed the undead under his feet as he marched south to the Abbot and entered the second insect plague.
After the Fireball and Lothar’s turning, only two skeletons were still animate. Instead of hitting the rogue, they continued their assault on Kaertas. One of them grappled the wizard and shoved him into one of the tombs that was in the insect plague. The other one had tried to hit Kaertas but only managed to brush their weapon against the necromancer. Emil’s new companion, Abbot Cyngamon, turned and rushed back through the open brass door. Galron did not know that they were currently on their side and turned to hit the fleeing wight as they followed the paladin’s orders. Vai’len was bleeding from the insects and although she wanted to leave Kaertas in his tomb she couldn’t. Sighing, she swung her shortsword at the skeleton in front of her, slaying the creature before she stepped around the one grappling Kaertas and headed slightly down the hall and more importantly out of the insect plague. Grabbing energy out of the air, Abbot Grosso turned to Thevius. With his grotesque bubbling arm he reached past the warlock’s defenses and gifted him a contagion. It was obvious that the Lord was scared as he felt the poison course through his body.
From Lothar’s shoulder, Baron von Hopp ate one of the insects before dispelling the southern insect plague. The cleric then moved up and had Lupus attack Grosso. With the wight gone, Galron turned his attention to Kaertas and the skeleton that had him grappled and stuck in the insect plague. Easily the paladin walloped the skeleton and removed the necromancer from the plague. Scared and poisoned, Thevius teleported farther away from the abbot, but before he continued down the hallway, he made sure Grosso couldn’t heal. As Thevius moved he could feel his skin sag against his bones. Kaertas moved down the hallway as his skeleton fed Amo a goodberry. Emil moved with a purpose toward Abbot Grosso and walloped them twice, smiting both times. Some of the magic he had used to control Cyngamon had lingered on his warhammer and as he brought it down upon the cleric of Tsathung he nearly killed him. Barreling through the secret door, the controlled wight joined in attacking the current abbot of his order. As the abbot wondered aloud if this was the end for his order, Vai’len sent her crossbow bolt through the back of his neck and his words gurgled as he slumped to the ground.
Mere moments ago it seemed like the Damned wouldn’t be able to escape their fate but as with other battles they managed to come out ahead. Not only had they slayed their target but they had gained a temporary minion. Luckily Lord Thevius restored himself to perfect health before the poison could take hold as it would have been worse than being turned into a frog, twice. Galron hadn’t dropped his concentration on the fiery smite he had sent into Cyngamon and as the wight was fighting for them they continued to burn. Emil just watched as the emblazoned mark upon the wight continued to burn. They all approached the open backdoor to Cyngamon’s tomb. Emil stepped upon Grosso while Amo used his staff to make sure the cleric wasn’t returning to the living. While they collected themselves after the battle, Vai’len apologized for not thoroughly investigating the area and listening to Thevius. As the Damned talked, Cyngamon watched sneering at them breathe, like a rabid dog on a leash. Thevius wanted to eliminate the wight and Lothar wanted to know his plans for the creature but it was clear that Emil would do what he wanted with his minion. They asked their captive wight what was in his tomb before Vai’len ventured into investigate. The gray stone room had a blue ceiling and was scented faintly with oils. Across the room was his sarcophagus carved in the living likeness and near that was a fountain. The fountain had evocation magic and seemed to contain pure water that healed those who came to seek Cyngamon’s guidance. He wasn’t the first of the order but he was the first here at this location. He was buried with relative wealth but most had been ravaged by time. Some of the Damned drank heavily from the clean water, healing their wounds. The only other thing in the room was the metal hatch that contained a shaft. At the edge of their vision they could make out more coffins. Galron, whose oath was to destroy evil, wanted to burn the coffins and after a failed attempt to light one of them with their torch they left the area as some of the skeletons were being burned in the hallway. The Damned had finished their vendetta and were now torn on what to do next.
There were a few options for the Damned. Snaggletooth was with the pixies awaiting their arrival, they could continue their investigation of the temple, and they could head back to the New Czira to spend some of the resources they had gathered on their adventure outside of the dungeon. At one point during their conversation Lord Thevius brought up the idea of them bringing Smir around with them as an assistant of sorts. Someone who would remain safely at camp and would have everything prepared for them when they called it a night. To many of the Damned, this sounded like the Lordling was wanting a butler but after some fun teasing they decided to let Smir make their own choice. The Damned figured that while they were here they would investigate for the day before falling back to New Czira. They would inform Snaggletooth via Amo when they were closer to the pixies.
Accompanied by Lothar, as Amo remained by the ladder, Vai’len scouted ahead of the group. They moved through the area stealthy. Cyngamon had informed that followers of their order would be buried with items they had earned, although as he was the first buried he wouldn’t be able to inform them what they had earned. Coming to a Y intersection, Vai’len asked Lothar which direction he would like her to take. Each way ended with a solid slab of metal door and indicated that they were tombs of other abbots. When the others joined they learned that the title ‘who is two’ would be reserved to those in the order that had a twin who acted in concert. Choosing to investigate Gwoth who it Two’s tomb they discovered a damp and moss ridden area with a ceiling that seemed close to collapse. In the middle of the room was a floor to ceiling glass tube that had something lying in the bottom. Feeling like she would come out with some sort of disease the rogue turned to Lothar as she had tapped one of the water logged coffins with her foot. They both decided that as her detect magic wasn’t pinging anything they would move on to the tomb of Kynos.
As with the other door, Vai’len assisted by Galron unlocked the door while Lothar opened it. Unlike the other door; however, this room was dry and almost hot as the cleric opened the door. Lothar was instantly greeted by a statue of Abbot Kynos and their beloved hellhound, the hound was in front of the statue while the undead abbot was behind. The battle that commenced did not last that long, only a couple of rounds with Cyngamon once again being forced to tear into his fellow members of the order. During the battle Amo continued his check-ins with Vai’len and the rogue responded with sarcasm but ultimately they did not need the warlock’s help. She might have laid it on a bit too thick and Amo had noted and responded in kind. As Cyngamon felled the last of the ghouls, he gently placed them on the ground declaring that they deserved better. Emil wouldn’t even allow the abbot to return them to their graves. The Damned pressed on and they arrived at a large rectangular room with a circular staircase that headed up, assumingly to the old cloister. There was a wrought iron door with a placard: “Here be they who were claimed by the red death, disturb them not for they are lost.” Abbot Cyngamon explained that their order often conducted research to hope to get closer to their inaethri. Deciding that they did not want to venture into a place called the ‘red death’ nor up the stairs to a rumored tainted cloister they headed back to the ladder. Cyngamon wanted to know what happened to their cloister and Vai’len explained what Smir had said and the abbot offered to investigate it for them but they decided to not continue their investigation as Emil refused the wight’s request.
When they had emerged onto the grounds, Cyngamon noted the differences; where there were once houses was now ruins. Deciding that they didn’t want to leave the area completely empty handed, the Damned turned their attention to the other vine covered stone arches. Knowing that the vines would animate when they approached they all readied their attacks and the creature did not even have a chance to respond before it fell. Amo and Vai’len quickly investigated the small cellar. It looked as if a gelatinous cube had come up through the earth and had cleaned the entire area out. Having seen the residue and smelt the citrusy clean scent in the dungeon they knew that it was cleaned by a dungeon Roomba.
They moved to the last stone archway and prepared to attack but this vine creature was a bit faster than the last and it seemed that these creatures liked the taste of fey as, like the original one, it reached out and attacked Amo. However, the creature did not survive long as the group wailed against it. Just after the battle, Lothar moved to return Baron von Hopp to the pond he had collected them from. Vai’len hadn’t been able to detect the faint magic that lingered on the frog until Lothar moved to return them. As Lothar moved to set them down, the frog returned to the cleric and as Lothar returned to the group Vai’len shared that she could detect magic on the frog. She explained that it was transmutation magic and looked a bit concerned at Lord Thevius.
Cyngamon was asked if they had turned people into frogs during his time and the wight responded that it was easier for some to embrace Tsathung. “Well it seems that our Lord is also a serial murderer unbeknownst to him it seems' ' Emil signed as Amo, Vai’len and Lothar moved into the cellar. Vai’len nearly disappeared into the shadows with Lothar holding his own; however, as Amo walked down the stairs his dagger snagged on the stone and alerted the stirges that had been hiding among the open and closed casks of wine. They swarmed the warlock seemingly also drawn to the fey blood. Amo didn’t even have a chance, as he reached for his dagger he fell to the ground. Vai’len was able to kill one but knowing that they would need to get the stirges off of Amo before they drained him. Kaertas at the top of the stairs seemed torn on what to do but after some quick thinking, he placed a fireball into the room, destroying the contents of the cellar but more importantly clearing Amo of the stirges.
While the Damned moved about the area clearing the stone archways, Zany the therapeutic awakened goat talked with Smir. The minotaur sat in rapt attention with a blanket wrapped around him. Kaertas helped Amo out of the cellar. After their fifth battle of the day, the Damned were spent and wanted to rest before venturing toward the pixies and New Czira.

Report Date

05 Sep 2021