Session 18 - "The Pain Train, Ruins of Gauntlight - Part 5"
General Summary
Toliday, 4th of Desnus, 4721 AR
Gauntlight Keep - Ground Floor
Nhimbaloth Shrine
1.41p
Still in the Nhimbaloth Shrine, the party's further examinations show that two of the once glowing skeletons appear to be in possession of something of value. A gold tooth (5 gp) glitters in the ruin of the grinning skull and another wears a necklace of braided wire and silken cord with a small cage housing a piece of polished tektite. Kaliff carefully examines the item and remembers reading about certain necromantic rituals that quite naturally at their culmination involve raising the dead, and the act of transitioning into undeath it is a quite violent process. The necromancer can't always say with absolute certainty that the undead will follow their commands once raised, but if they are able to gain control over the monster, there are certain magical objects that can be used to help protect them. Once such item grants protection from priests of life, but in counter it also protects from harm: a Channel Protection Amulet.
Sanctum
1.51p
Eager to put the cold, unsettling feeling behind, the party makes its way through the secret passage and emerges back into the sanctum. They decide to look around for anything of interest.
2.01p
Under a moldering divan, a rusted ring of keys is discovered. There are six iron keys and two bronze keys. One of the bronze keys has a small emblem etched on it that looks like one long line with a circle at the top.
Office
2.11p
Within the desk, where a secret drawer was once, are several small vials filled with liquid. Kaliff finds a loose set of shelves that could possibly be rotated slightly. Moving it produces a slight clicking sound and a section of the wall releases to show a small, narrow landing with a flight of stone steps descending. The scent of mold and mustiness wafts out of the passage. Moving down, the party finds itself at a stone door with a simple latch and no locking mechanism. With a simple push, Tristan opens the door.
The secret staircase...
Servants' Quarters
Abandoned Guard Post
Revealing a small stone room with three old, but not rotted, wooden chairs and a closed wooden door to the west. It appears much more functional as compared to the rotten wooden ones above. The ceiling stands at about 10 ft. with cobwebs in the corners and moisture beading on the walls. The silence is total and complete. Kaliff transfers his light spell from Kalitos to Tristan. The party gathers to the west and Tristan listens at the door, but hears nothing.
Meeting Room
2.21p
The door opens into a long rectangular room with a long wooden table, six plain wooden chairs, and a green cushioned one with what appears to be the remnants of a star of some sort. A wooden door sits to the south. Tristan notices that the dust on the floor has been disturbed quite a bit by small, humanoid footprints.
The south door gives way to a short passage that dead ends, but Tristan immediately notices the outlines of a hidden door. Listening again, the fighter hears the sound of clattering and banging as if someone is working on heavy equipment. Straining his ears, he also hears the sound of grunting, but only from one source.
The meeting room
Servants' Room
2.31p
Pushing open the door, a group of small, gray humanoid creatures turn and snarl in his direction. They have large eyes and wear dirty, worn clothing. The first closest to Tristan raises its hands to cover its eyes and hisses in pain as it begins to back away from the light, banging into and tripping on debris on the floor. Tristan moves into the room and advances on the creature. A number of doors and an opening become visible as he makes his way. The creatures appear to be malnourished and pale. The fighter brandishes his Smoking Sword and slices in the first and it cries out. The second creature begins backing away, and Tristan strikes out at it but misses. It continues backing away, bumping haphazardly against the walls as it goes. Ehrn strides into the room and pierces it with her glaive. The creature cries out again, "No MORA PAIN!" Kaliff calls out a translation. The third and fourth creatures move and round the corner out of sight. Kaliff moves into the room and takes in the sight. Zor'ahn begins to move and Kalitos dashes ahead. Zor'ahn enters and strikes out at one of the morlocks, opening a large gash. Not common, a race of humans lost and living underground for eons. The last morlock begins moving blindly towards the opening. Kalitos follows after it and hits it with an ignited spellstrike. The pitiful creature screeches out its protests.
The first morlock reaches out to one of the wooden doors, opens it, and calls out, "Intruders! They come for us!" before plunging through it. Tristan advances and commands the flame on his sword burst forth. The fire immediately sears the morlock's sight, sparing it from the vision of the fighter cleaving it in twain. Tristan make his way into the hallway and squares off against the first morlock. Ehrn follows but does not land her attacks. Kaliff fires a salvo of cold iron needles, stitching the brothers' opponent with pain. It then moves quickly around the corner and out of sight. There is the sound of a door opening. Kalitos moves to the hallway, but stops at its pitch blackness and waits for Kaliff to arrive with a light source.
A morlock moves away from the small gathering of attackers around him and rounds a corner. Tristan follows and finds himself squaring off against three additional morlocks holding what appears to be jerry-rigged crossbows. Piles of junk lay heaped in the corners of the room. He continues pressing his attack and chops at pint-sized creature with his sword. One of the new aggressors takes aim at the fighter and fires a bolt of rusty metal at him, but misses wildly. It appears to reload the contraption. The second crossbow fires and misses as well. Ehrn moves up, but finds her footing precarious. Two of the original morlocks continuing fleeing away. Kaliff follows after his brother, revealing several more morlocks at the ready. Kalitos moves forward and fires an electric arc that barely has any effect. Zor'ahn launches forward and slashes his opponent. Then suddenly the ranger's shadow dances around the creature and beheads its shadow, its physical form following suit. One of morlocks moves against Kalitos and scores several slashes.
The southern advance...
The northern advance...
Report Date
08 Sep 2024
Primary Location
Related Characters
