The Mouth of Doom: Session 10
General Summary
The Pit
Report Date
12 Dec 2020
7th of Zhira, the Wrenjer’s and their allies slept through the night protected in their little gully from the weather. The clouds are thick and heavy but Ferric doesn’t smell rain in the air but sense that it will get cold enough to drop snow on them. Ambrose uses the time before they head back to the castle to change their platypus companion to a flying monkey, dark gold in color with fluffy white angelic wings. They discuss what they should do about the large flying creature they have yet to see but they all agree that they should quickly and safely move into the castle as that might be the best way to fight such a creature. Over the night some of them had learned some new tricks to help with today’s siege. And as they travel back to the familiar rock, just outside Castle Calaelen, Ferric warns them all to be ready for any ambushes since this was the path they had used to flee the night before.
Retracing their steps they all stand behind the rock looking at the castle. In the daylight, Castle Calaelen looks more like a rundown ruin, an empty decrepit castle, than the ominous fortress they had experienced the night before. Jalen offers to scout the area again before the others move in. Ambrose uses one of his new spells and makes Jalen invisible while Meadbh makes him quicker. Keeping Jalen invisible will take the wizard’s concentration and they joke about how easily he gets distracted, Rain offers to make sure the wizard stays focused thus keeping Jalen safe.
As the rogue moves in, the party waits patiently. The gatehouse seemed to be deserted, though as he stepped into the courtyard he could now see skeletal figures shuffling through the arrow slots, scanning trying to find something. He moves in, glancing about. A low hanging mist hovered around the pond in the back corner of the courtyard but nothing else seemed disturbed. The rogue could hear the skeletons’ bows go taunt with arrows ready for anything moving; however, they could not sense the halfling moving about the courtyard under them. He continued checking the doors, moving from the smithy’s to the double doors leading into the main keep, both locked. Moving to the tower, he opens the door to come face to face with two dead gnolls that are unable to see Jalen. The rogue leaves, not trying to hide the sound of his retreat, but with nothing being able to see him, no skeleton let loose their arrows.
Tapping the paladin’s shoulder, Jalen explains what he has scouted to the group’s leader. “It looks like all of our enemies have been turned into skeletons” and Uzadi was afraid of that. The group wonders why the skeletons sprouted into action when he stepped into the courtyard than always being on alert. Ferric wonders if it was some innate ability that these skeletons have to sense the living while Ambrose and Meadbh think of what spell could have altered them. Together, they all surmise that whatever created the skeletons also laid an Alarm spell at the gate that would have alerted the caster of someone crossing over the line and thus let them communicate to their minions to attack anything they could see. Ambrose seemed happy with himself that the new spell seemed to work and Ferric turns to Rain and thanks them for keeping the wizard focused.
Jalen explains that the way they moved in yesterday should be how they move in now, except at a quicker pace and protected by the Ferric’s fog. Uzadi sends Jalen to move in before the group, as they are still invisible and if the rogue could set the skeletons off earlier then it could help the group approach. As the rogue and the party move up to the gate, Jalen notices only one shadowed figure at the arrow slits. The party holds for the rogue once again. He moves in; disarms the ballista at the inner keep doors, unlocks them, and moves back to the paladin.
They all hold outside the arrow slits range until Uzadi steps forward drawing the fire from the hidden skeletons, unfortunately for the skeletons, Uzadi is fast and dodges them all. They move in as a unit all taking caution until Rain marches up right at the gate where she takes three expertly placed arrows. Ferric moves in and lays their fog above them and they all move in. Uzadi moves up grabbing Rain to move her safely against the wall. Jalen moves to the door and opens them, throwing a lit torch against the wall behind the ballista.
As the torch flips top over bottom hitting the rampant unicorn and clattering to the ground, the rogue is able to see the massive pit that the undead must have carved and littered with ballista bolts. Uzadi runs in and cleanly lands making a loud noise as they do so. Above her, Meadbh doesn’t hear any response from the arrow slits as if they might be abandoned with the fog cloud. Rain rushes in and attempts a long jump but misses, landing on the spikes but able to climb out. Ambrose tries very hard to make the jump but fails and lands on the spikes quickly bloodying the wizard. Jalen lassos the secured ballista, tying it off for his companions, and while he did this maneuver, he had noticed he was now visible as the wizard’s fall broke their concentration.
Uzadi moves into the tea room asking the rest to wait but is thrown into battle with two skeletons. Meadbh and Croaker use the rope and join the fight not wanting to leave the paladin alone. A chill rests upon the area as a bunch of skeletons move in. A battle commences with the group working well together to dispatch the creatures. Ferric calls down their new companion a smaller and fiery version of themselves where flames erupt from where, on Ferric, there is metal and the wooden bits are charred and blackened. Once summoned, a fiery blast damages those around the being and when Ferric calls the mini elemental creature to them, they deal more fire damage to the skeletons.
Uzadi downs two of them, followed quickly by Croaker smashing one. Meanwhile, a skeleton steps up and pushes Ferric into the pit. Rain responds with firing the ballista at the skeleton. Her epic shot taking part of the creature’s ribcage with the bolt, hitting the opposite wall. Jalen moves to one of the side halls to investigate, he leaves a torch there and when he rejoins the group he can see the torch flicker for a moment. The bard, trying one of her new abilities, causes one of the skeletons to flee away from her. The skeleton was in the hole above the rope in the tea room, firing at the party.
Before all moving up the rope, together, Ferric pushes open the double doors to where they had gathered up the bodies the night before. It looks like whoever had raised the dead were unable to make use of all the bodies, yet, as some of them were still lying on the ground. Uzadi moves up the rope first followed quickly by everyone else. Nothing assaults them in the room above the tower and while they spread out, Rain takes some of the games that were left. Moving through the doors into the unscouted second story of the castle, they move together and as quietly as they can. The halls are dark and the art on the walls looked to be ravaged by time. Many of the pieces look like they were shredded and smashed to the ground. They are able to see a staircase heading down in the far corner of their torchlight and another hall past that. One of the doors seemed to be reinforced, the one that seemed to be above the room that was magically locked on the first floor. They move into an unlocked door and the smell hits them first. A rank, unkempt goblin smell unlike the members of the Xhogumal are used to. These goblins seem to be lying in their own filth. They move out to the hallway once again. The door that seemed to be fully reinforced had a subtle skull door handle.
