Ep 24: "Tails' in the Crypt"

Finkoo, Pesk, Primeheart, and Lark were tasked to get ready for the Phoenix Dawn’s attack on the Castle during the ceremony. They were given a parchment and a map with instructions that they were not to open the parchment until they were in the crypt beneath the Castle. The map they were given seemed rough and inaccurate. The supplies they were given were teleported with them into the Castle immediately after the ceremony. They were told to stash the various implements inside the Castle and mark the locations with subtle signs. They attempted to do so quickly and quietly as instructed.

Pesk and Primeheart were found out by two servants and were very unsuccessful in their attempts to mollify them. Primeheart tried to grab one and failed, but Pesk successfully grappled the servant and covered their mouth, preventing them from alerting the castle guard. Hidden nearby, Finkoo knocked out the other servant with the butt of his dagger. They tied up both servants and Finkoo knocked out the one Pesk had grappled.

Elsewhere, Lark was stashing gear. Unfortunately, he didn’t pay attention to the instructions to put subtle marks and instead painted pictures of the items he had hidden on the locations where the items were hidden. In doing so, Juveha found him out and, through a grilling, tortuous interrogation learned that he and Seldanna were both members of the resistance.

The gang regrouped decided to wait and hide until “it” happened, not knowing what they were waiting for.

The Castle:

As the walls shook, Finkoo, Pesk, Primeheart, and Lark realized that they had discovered what “it” was and moved out to find GB and Cyl. They were found quickly during the quiet refrain of Aldion’s song. One of the caterers rushed over to the drawbridge mechanism and with little effort dropped the drawbridge and disabled the lifting mechanism. Finkoo's sabotage had been effective.

The group headed downstairs to the crypt and read the note. They were tasked with finding a hidden door at the end of the crypt, go through it, and split up. In their search of the crypt, they discovered a hidden passage behind a tapestry. As they attempted to push through, they lifted the tapestry. Once flesh touched the painting a trap was triggered, and skeletons arose and attacked. The party struck them down with great gusto.  Pesk, Lark, and Finkoo broke off to the right (Group A) as GB, Cyl, and Primeheart went straight (Group B).

Group A's confidence in the instructions fell when the saw that the room did not contain any cages as was described and reversed directions, only to be attacked by a giant tentacled monster hanging from the ceiling. They escaped and returned to their original direction only to be attacked by bat-like hook horrors in the next room. They slogged through a battle of attrition against them, but eventually were victorious. They continued through a maze of corridors and stairways, closed most doors but kept one open with pitons, until they got to the room where they had been instructed to wait for the other group. It seemed that the crypt was being used to hold prisoners in the cages described by the instructions.

Group B worked their way through the path, closed doors, and fought off bat-monsters with human heads. Upon reaching their destination, the groups were reunited. They headed into the last room and fought the “Keeper,” who summoned a water elemental to defend him. They were able to destroy the elemental, almost losing Primeheart and Pesk in the process. As the heat of battle died down, they learned that the Keeper had been dead for most of the fight, though was disguised as alive by GB’s use of the hold person spell. On their way out, they saved two of the prisoners and made sure that others in the resistance had saved the rest. During the rescue, Finkoo took a lasting injury causing his arm and hand to shake. The injury was marked with round, suction-cup like welts spiralling around his arm.