Report: Venture to the Goodgub Mines
General Summary
Our group set out for the Goodgub Mine at the behest of Foreman Marblemane, who has visited the Spring Festival to report an undead infestation in the newly excavated mine shaft. The first shaft dug a year prior had had no issues.
Arriving at the mining camp, we came upon several miners recovering from injuries. A small group had ventured into the mine and were attacked by an undead, skeletal beast. Some did not survive.
The mine shaft lift fits only 3 at a time. Argren, Basilio and Jene descended first, sending winged familiars ahead to scout. Minutes pasaed like hours, filled only with the sound of the creaking winch. To my relief, we reunited at the bottom of the shaft without incident.
The party assembled once more, Jene sent his familiar ahead into the large cavern before us. A flash of green light and a sharp skreik came next. There would be no sneaking up on this monster. We mustered our strength and strove into the cavern.
Bodies littered the floor - the miners had not fared well. But the rancid stench betrayed an older source. By the light of faerie fire we faced a hulking corpse-like mass. Human arms protruded limply from its ribcage like prisoners.
As we dispersed from the entrance, the monster hurled an explosive blast of necrotic energy. Corpses dropped from the collection within its skeletal belly, then rose to their feet to fight.
Argren rushed forward bellowing a challenge, and it turned toward the dwarf in response. As his axe struck its skeletal frame, I took my position at the far end of the cavern and began loosing arrows, with bees in pursuit.
Basilio’s bullets seemed to the beast no worse than biting fleas at first. He looked down at his gun in dismay before reloading. Jene fired a bolt of frost, meeting its mark as surely as he had in the festival archery tournament. Pale Moon released a blast that rocked the beast from behind, and we thought for sure that we had it.
Two more zombies dropped from the Bone Collector.
Argren hacked away, his axe finding purchase like a hatchet to a tree. I buried three more arrows in the beast, the third one sinking to the feathers. At last, Jene fired a single magic missile and the bone collector staggered. It began to glow green and suddenly burst, sending volley of bone shards at the nearest adventurers.
Seeing that everyone was still on their feet, the zombies were dispatched quickly. Patrick and Pale Moon immediately rushed up to the bone rubble to begin searching through the rotten corpses. Jene offered last rights to the dead in the cavern.
Our group rested a short while before venturing further into the mine, intending to clear out the remainder of the cavern before returning the bodies of the fallen miners to the surface.
We soon discovered a crack in the tunnel wall where something appeared to have forced its way through from the other side. Beyond the crack, stone stairs descended into the darkness. This was evidently the source of the undead infestation.
Pale Moon sent his bird down first to scout, and seeing the route empty until a far door, we followed. Patrick theorized that it is connected to the New Torovian cave network, and we studied the map. Perhaps this is the Arcane Ward entrance? Only one way to find out.
Argren pushed up his non-existent sleeves and pushed the ancient door open with a loud scrape.
“Well this certainly lends credence to the idea that this might be the Arcane Ward!" Jene pipes. Sarcophagi lined the walls, and ghouls stumbled forward from the darkness. Argren rushed in first, flinging a handaxe. Arrows and bullets followed. Jene wounded another ghoul with a ray of frost, but its injuries recovered rapidly with a green glow. We have to focus our attacks on one at a time, or else we can't make a dent.
Argren held the line with Basilio at his side, chopping away as three ghouls shamble down the corridor to us. Now the hall was lit with Patrick's faerie fire casting dancing shadows on the walls. Another volley of arrows dropped the first ghoul just before it reached Basilio, and Pales opened fire on the one behind it.
The hall glowed even brighter as Jene summoned a bonfire where the ghoul had fallent, cutting the remaining ghouls off from the reloading Basilio. The ghouls healed once again, their full strength regained. One stepped into the bonfire and slashed Basilio as a second lunged at Argren, sinking its yellow teeth into his bare arm. The dwarf returned the favor with a bite of his axe.
Finished reloading, Basilio shot the flaming ghoul before him. It crumpled to the floor and burned at his feet. A final bee-laden arrow finished the last one. The room now cleared, Pales began investigating the plaques on the tombs. He translated: “...dedicated to the first few who perished in the attempt to master the new weapon of Torovia.” Patrick knelt by the fallen ghouls to harvest a dark essence.
A fountain of clear fluid stood at the end of the hall. Pale Moon cast a ritual which revealed the liquid to have beneficial effects. Some of the group were excited to collect it, while others stood aside in distrust.
We carried on. A statue stood in disrepair, depicting a man in mage’s robes. A plague in Torovian script was mounted at its feet. Pales translated again: “Grand Magister Kass, who led us towards understanding new magics and the salvation of the Torovian people.” Patrick seemed to recall the name from somewhere, though it was not familiar to me.
The sight beyond the next door gave us pause. Several objects - a sword, skulls, and a suit of armor - floated suspended in the air. A brief investigation from a distance revealed the armor to be enchanted, but no other magic was present. Jene took a tentative first step into the room, reached forward and poked the object with his staff. It met resistance before it make contact, like a wall that was invisible… and squishy.
Patrick quickly cast faerie fire, revealing the presence of a massive gelatinous ooze just as it writhed and attacked.
Enraged, Argren charged in and struck the ooze but was splattered with the refuse. Patrick fired his crossbow into the ooze, followed by Basilio’s gunshots. A burst of gunpowder launches from the pistol and the ooze flinched back like a startled cat.
Two of my arrows joined Patrick's bolt floating in the gelatinous mass.
Pale Moon's fire bolt mirrored Jene's ray of frost, which seemed to slow its looming creep. Argen, already burned by the acidic gel, dealt the final blow and was further doused in oozing acid. The objects fell to the ground with an echoing clatter.
Patrick and Basilio collectes samples from the puddles while Pales investigated the armor to learn more of its qualities.
Ghouls again! The next chamber held tables littered with calligrapher's supplies. It seemed to have been a scribe's workshop long ago. The ghouls took notice as we entered the room. Argren approached close enough to land a handaxe in the first one, but was quickly swarmed by the three biting, clawing ghouls.
Owlbert the owl swooped in to Argren’s aid, allowing Patrick to heal him. A fourth ghoul rushed out of the chamber at Jene and Patrick, who cartwheeled out of its way. Basilio shot the ghouls in an attempt to get them off of Argren. One died as a burst of electricity emitted from the bullet wound, but injuring Argren as well.
I shot the nearest ghoul threatening Jene and Pale moon finished it off. Jene released his spiritual weapon and fired a ray of frost, dispatching another ghoul before it can recover. Argren hacks and hacks at the ghouls surrounding him, but to no avail. They glow with a green aura as their wounds recover, and resume their onslaught.
With the ghoul in the hall dispatched, everyone focuses their attention on dientangling the remaining ghouls from the struggling Argren, and it is over quickly.
Amazingly, the dwarf had managed to stay on his feet after facing the onslaught himself.
At this point, the air had gotten quite thick and we were forced to returned retreat to the surface to recover. We warned to the miners that the worst of the danger was cleared, but that some rooms remained unexplored. We would return to finish the job.
When we did, it started out with a bang.
“We got ghouls!” Pales shouted.
“Uh… shut the door?” suggested Basilio.
Pausing fire, Basilio twirled his gun and blew on the barrel.
Once again a ghoul latched onto Argren, digging into his torso with claws and teeth.
Pale moon hit a ghoul with a fire bolt, obliterating it, then misty steps away as Patrick cartwheeled by. The room is filled with the stench of burning flesh as the ghouls stumble through Jene's bonfires. Another ghoul joins in gnawing on Argren. At this point his exposed torso is covered in fresh half-moon bites.
We cleared the room in good time, and some of the party set about graverobbing and monster harvesting. They justify themselves with the concept of "archeology", as if their plunders had anything to do with historical research. At least the tomb is of the long dead with no known living relations presiding… I busied byself with tending to Argen's wounds.
In the next room were several strange orbs and a deep well with a gaseous fog resting at the bottom. Pales sent his familiar ahead to investigate, revealing a pitfall trap triggered by touching one of the orbs. The room also contained some pages of the New Arcana, which described new spells that were discovered by the New Torovians and long since forgotten. It referenced the Daybreak spell, which it described as a combination of divine and natural magics, and how it was useful in combating the undead.
We also discovered a spellbook. Pale moon mentioned feeling some familiarity with the author, although they were surely an ancient Torovian. He couldn't elaborate on the feeling however, since he didn't seem to understand it yet himself.
We were stumped by one massive door, at least ten feet wide and immovable. An enchantment sealed it shut. A mystery for another day, perhaps.
At last we came through an archway to what seems the last explorable chamber. In it lay a large tomb with a carved figure of a woman holding a book, "The Paradox of Existence." A ghostly figure of the woman appeared then, shrieking, and attacked.
At the sound of the shriek, Pale Moon and Patrick frooze in terror, and we watched as Patrick’s hair silvered before our eyes. The change was subtle but rapid as he appeared to age by ten years.
Argren bravely marched toward the spectre and hurled his trusty handaxe at her. She lets out another ghastly wail as Pale Moon and Basilio open fire. Argren, the only one close enough to be affected, is wracked with thunderous force.
Jene ripped his amulet from his robes and shouted to us above the fray. “Take heart friends, while this place may be devoid of light, celestine is with us!" He sent forth his spiritual weapon, a flaming blue blade, and our morale bolstered.
Amidst the onslaught targeting her, the spirit suddenly faded. The room was still for a moment as we braced for where she might reappear. I then felt an icy chill like being pulled under water as she materialized next to me, hand outstretched to touch.
I shot her at proximity, and the bees took their cue. She was swept back by the emerging swarm, wailing again, even as my second shot followed.
Argren, now behind her, took the opportunity to
Pales and Basilio peppered her with magic and metal missiles, but it was Jene's floating sword that finished it. It pierced her straight through the back. Her wail shook the chamber once more as she shifted from her sickly green aura to a brilliant light, and then dissipated.
“May your next rest be more peaceful,” Jene said.
The plaque on the woman's tomb identified her as Apprentice Valys and the author of the spellbook we had recovered. This document and others will be archived in the library so that her story will be known.
Penned by Robin Foster
Adventuring Party: Jene Dark, Patrick Smith, Pale Moon, Robin Foster, Argren Silveraxe, Basilio Morales
Adventure Date: 14APR22
Report Date
14 Apr 2022
Primary Location
Related Characters
Comments