Session 12
General Summary
Continuing your forced venture into the depths of Ma’ar ancient stronghold, you found a gentle sloping hallway that seemed to spiral downwards with various alcoves tucked into the corners. In some, you found sagu’huin guards, others vicious traps that sapped the vitality of some of your party until they were cleansed. After considering and bypassing a branching hallway filled with stone and piled rubble, you found your way into a room with several guards around a descending spiral stairway set into the center of the room.
Quickly dispatching them, time was taken to carefully examine potential ways forward. Cas, on his scouting the hallway had found a secret door that begged to be explored further and the dark descending well of a stairway was the only obvious way to continue forward. After a quick trip by one of the Companions to see what may lie at the bottom of the stairs, all that was revealed was a continuing hallway with no other immediate signs of life.
Deciding the secret door was too tempting to pass up, a few of the group scouted ahead, finding an area that had clearly been left undisturbed by the denizens that seem to have taken up residence over the centuries. Carefully exploring the dusty rooms, several chambers were found; armor, battered weapons, and mirrored walls revealed the training hall for fighters along with what was likely pay coffers and strange charms that were, as Whisper prodded his spotty memory, likely awarded to their most proven fighters to give them an additional edge in the battles that had raged.
Further exploration revealed two large doors emblazoned with ancient elven runes that Whisper read as General’s Armory. Upon opening the door, two large, motionless statues faced the group from across the wide, empty room. As the first foot fell in the room, one began to move, taking a guarded position and a melodious chiming filled the air; recognizable only to Whisper as the ancient elven words challenged the party with an incomplete phrase. Backing out of the room caused the statue to return to its inert state and the party discussed how to continue as the doors behind the statues beckoned with potential promise.
Deciding to backtrack and check all possible avenues before attempting a guess at the password, the group checked the collapsed hallway they had passed before and a few members of the group were able to slip through a small opening left at the top of the rubble. Those that did found themselves in the dusty and rubble strewn remains of a bedchamber; signs and remnants pointed to it being a high-ranked member of Ma’ar’s military forces. Carefully exploring, Cas and Whisper were able to find a very solid clue to solving the minotaur’s challenge as well as a doorway that quickly allowed them to rejoin the remaining group members waiting by the doors to the armory.
After successfully providing the correct key-phrase to the guardian statues, the group was able to continue into the long-sealed armory finding several ancient weapons that had been left behind when whatever had destroyed the stronghold had taken place.
Report Date
29 May 2022
Primary Location