Session 12

ERALION'S END

12th Longrass, 4433
You aren't sure how long you spent in the forest.

Characters:

Gorr, ranger 3

Suba-Jin, cleric 3

Robert the Swift, fighter 2

Meep, dwarf 2

*****

In the Keep

The party had just defeated a red fire-spirit when the doors of the chapel beneath them opened. They saw a satyr emerge that looked just like the revellers they met long ago, or the ones they had gambled with in the Sage's temple. They hoisted him up with a rope and pumped him for information before letting him down. They learned that the shadow-mage Eralion himself was below in the chapel!

They made a plan, and climbed down the tower stairs. Wielding their magic weapons, the group swarmed the wizard shade. Despite his protective aura of darkness, their attacks hit home and Eralion fled at top speed. A chase throughout the ruins ensued and Eralion seemed about to escape into the woods when he was brought low with a trick shot by Robert the Swift [a lucky hit at a penalty, with a vial of holy water tied to his arrow]. The shade vanished, leaving only his two-crescent pendant and engraved copper bracers behind.

One of the four demons of the realm mentioned by the Sage of Lune had been destroyed. Where were the other three to be found? It was unclear at this time. The group was now free to loot Eralion's ancient tomb, finding some loose papers they couldn't read, a broken flask, and a pile of loot in his sarcophagus.

Gorr planted an acorn from Grandfather Tree in the courtyard of the ruined keep.

Exploring the Moonlit Zone

A path beckoned from the ruined fort, leading deeper into the dark & crowded forest. The group decided to press further and see what could be found. At a T-intersection, they found a signpost pointing to Fesgate in one direction and Fesgate Tower in the other. They opted for the tower, along the way sneaking past another fire spirit which was chasing around some forest wildlife.

The tower itself was a simple affair, circular and about six or seven stories. Against the starless sky, outlines of strange structures could just be seen around the peak. The group climbed the inside of the tower, sealing another fire spirit inside a vault on the way, and passing by rooms guarded with carved runes, some still glowing with magic.

In a room of hanging cages they found a dead knight with a broken sword, his plate mail pierced through the heart. He carried a journal, but nobody could read the language.

At the tower's peak, narrow bridges stretched outside, connecting to smaller towers floating out in the open air with no support structure. A few shrivelled bundles wrapped in silk hung from the ceiling, and the corpse of a dog-sized spider rested in the dust. Gorr wanted to try and harvest poison from it, but changed his mind.

The group avoided two of the bridges: one covered in spiderwebs, and another leading to a room of glowing green crystals and sleeping giant moths. In the third tower they found a few prison cells full of bizarre creatures, and rescued a man. Wearing rusted full plate and a closed helmet, he identified himself as Lord Fesgate. He seemed not to know how much time had passed since his imprisonment. He had no knowledge of the state of the kingdom or its curse. The group reasoned that the tower cells froze their occupants in time, so to the prisoner only moments would elapse between incarceration and freedom, even though it might have been centuries.

Fesgate told them a few facts:

 - The tower prisons were built in the moonlit zones in ancient times to contain monsters & enemies of the realm. They were commissioned centuries ago by First Lord Raeldus, with the help of the Immortal Sage. (Is that the same as the Sage of Lune? It is unclear.)

 - This tower once imprisoned great numbers of needlemen, gryphs, giant spiders and monstrous hounds, among other monsters.

 - He was thrown into his cell by First Lord Raeldus on some trumped-up charge.

by Chris

Fesgate joined them for now. On their way back down the tower they met an even stranger being. Surrounded by a swarm of moths (and trailed by six of huge size), a giant with a head like the moon confronted them at the top of the tower. He introduced himself as Howroch, the Full-Headed. He said Fesgate was a traitor and it was foolish to let him out (the Lord denied this). He seemed sad, and didn't feel inclined to fight about it after all these years. 

The group learned more interesting facts:

 - The moonlit zone prisons are weakening after all these years, and many dangerous monsters have escaped already. Some "much more dangerous than these common spiders."

 - Each prison was guarded by a Moon Giant. Not all Moon Giants are strict and Lawful like him: there are also Half-Headed (Neutral) and Eclipsed (Chaotic and dangerous).

 - He would help in the fight against Uthummaos if he could. He told the group about two mighty weapons of legend lost in other moonlit zones: Sun-Eater, a flail that absorbs light once held by a fallen paladin. The Moonlight Sword, rumoured to be a powerful wizard's weapon.

Howroch accompanied the party back down the tower and let them out. They proceeded away from the tower in the opposite direction from whence they came. Howroch parted ways with them and they found what was left of Fesgate Village, long since deserted. After fighting a pack of huge, six-legged black birds in the main meeting hall, Lord Fesgate finally seemed to accept that things had changed in his homeland, and might never be the same again...

*****

Enemies Defeated:

Eralion the shade - 1260 xp

black six-legged bird - 121 xp

345 xp each

Treasure:

Eralion's treasure hoard:

  27 gold

  200 silver

  156 copper

  eight gems

  six pieces of jewelry

  1 scroll

  1 potion

  ceremonial dagger

  Eralion's copper bracers

broken sword

8 gp

knight's journal (foreign language)

sack of 100 silver

Session 11

A RUDE AWAKENING

3rd-12th Longrass, 4433

Characters:

Young Joe Spruce, druid 1

Gorr, ranger 3

Robert the Swift, fighter 2

Suba-Jin, cleric 3

Meep, dwarf 2

Eric Withakay, cleric 4

*****

[DM's Note - Sorry guys, I waited too long to write this report because of the holidays & assorted things. My memory of the session is now a bit hazy. If I missed anything or got any details wrong, let me know and I'll correct it.]

A Night at Seven Visions

The gang blew a ton of money on gambling, wine, women & song. Most held their liquor, except for Robert and Joe. Their encounters with the courtesans of Seven Visions were bizarre & psychedelic, becoming ever more dreamlike and surreal as the night progressed, eventually becoming terrifying psycho-sexual dramas - their innermost fantasies come to life. Each was thoroughly scarred by the experience [gaining 1 fear point] and afterwards could never be sure how much was real and how much a bad dream, nor exactly how things ended.

During the night Fred, the last man-at-arms in the service of Young Joe Spruce, was overcome with fear at his companions' deaths and deserted the company.

In the early hours of the morning, while sleeping off their night of partying the group was ambushed in their beds by knife-wielding assassins. These rough-looking men with faces covered, wrapped in layers of ragged finery could take serious punishment. They were high on a drug called BLACK, the same tarry substance found hidden in Morthevole's shop. One of them was subdued and gave up Morthevole's name before he died of his injuries when the drug's effects wore off. Robert's arm was injured badly in the fight and would require a few weeks of bed-rest to heal.

The establishment's madame Zvezdana Ozi apologized for the mistakes of her security force and told the group she would compensate their next stay. Women, drinking, drugs, whatever they wanted. She used her occult knowledge to identify the ancient golden shield Suba-Jin found [a shield +1].

About Town

The group ran a few errands. First they found a jeweller in Hightown named Tibor Stefandis, who was wealthy enough to buy the ruby they found in Morthevole's basement. They settled on 370 gold pieces, a princely sum for a single gemstone! Stefandis recognized the ruby's design, and told them a strange story about it:

"This is a legendary gemstone. The Ruby Heart of Sanghé Shriwar the Slicer, a goddess long-ago fallen out of favour in the city. She was sometimes depicted as a beautiful dancing-girl in an overgrown garden, sometimes as a multi-armed vision of terror & destruction. She was associated with the moon, and vengeance. The center of her worship was in the Riverside district amongst several noble families. They may yet live in that area, but their fortunes have now fallen along with hers."

The group visited Morthevole at his shop in the Nest and sweated him (after fighting some albino monkeys on the way). He admitted that the "blackthroats" (as such addicts are called) came to his shop, and he sent them after the group for an easy score. Suba-Jin rubbed the last does of BLACK on his neck, and the group swept his shop before leaving him thoroughly terrified. 

To the Night Wolf Inn

Reasoning that it would be a great way for Robert to recover, the gang headed for the Night Wolf Inn, to rest up in the Forest of Dreams where time passes more swiftly than in the normal world. After a cramped (subjective) month in the Inn room, Robert's arm had healed up and the gang had mostly recovered from their encounters with undead in the crypts below the city [everyone lost 2 accumulated fear points].

At fighting strength, the group pressed on further into the forest. With Young Joe Spruce in their group, navigation was easy and travel swift. 

Returning to their allies in the Forgotten Village, they learned of more activity in the ruined castle of Eralion the wizard: a pack of ravenous shadow-hounds had been raiding from within the Moonlit Zone!

Venturing back inside that dark & cryptic region, they heard the baying of these spectral dogs in the distance but never encountered them. Creeping into Eralion's keep once more, they spied a man of elemental fire dancing madly in the courtyard. Defeating it with a combination of magic weapons and holy water, they suddenly heard the great doors of the chapel below their feet begin to creak open...

*****

Monsters Defeated:

Man of Flames - 370 xp

3 Blackthroats - 107 xp

Treasure:

40 silver pieces - 40 xp

3 gold pieces - 30 xp

selling off the Ruby Heart - 3700 xp

TOTAL:

91 xp each for this session

617 each for those who found the Ruby Heart

Many of you leveled up after last session. As usual, once you return to a safe area (in this case, the room's furniture) and rest a day, you can gain the benefits of your new level. Some of you had the experience after selling the ruby, but we ended last session in the middle of the action, so it doesn't make sense to do your levels right now.

Session 9

THE SAGE OF LUNE 

15th-18th Meadowlark 

Characters: 

Gorr, Ranger 2
Suba-Jin, Cleric 1
Robert the Swift, Fighter 1
Eric Withakay, Cleric 3
Lothos the Undesirable, Elf 2
Meep, Dwarf 2 

The Trade

Continuing from the cliffhanger last session, Lothos & the 'talking book' Pheldrazash discussed using the crone statues so that the book could use Lothos' body in exchange for teaching the elf some of its magic. After discussing it back and forth, they asked the statues to go ahead. There was a pause, and then they said "IT IS DONE!"

Lothos felt a bit dizzy, but not that much different, and the group decided not to press the issue further. Many odd wonders were discovered on the second floor of the temple:

-Talking wooden statue holding up the ceiling, covered in graffiti. It offered to explain the workings of a few rooms, and asked for an offering in return (explanations are written in the room descriptions). After some sullen negotiations, Eric threw it a few of his (fake) gold coins.

-Candlelit room with a tiny coffin, filled with severed skeletal hands & arms. Pictographs showed a man severing his own hand in a ceremony of some kind. The ceremony allows anyone to make contact with a true Power of the universe (god or demon), at the cost of a hand or limb.

-Room with illusionary walls of a dense, sunlit forest inhabited by naked, giggling nymphs. They responded to the players. Gorr managed to convince one to come closer and take one of his magical cherries and an acorn from Grandfather Tree. He asked it to come out of the wall, but it seemed too scared.

-A bare room with a 4' crystal sphere in the middle, filled with churning smoke. Once in a while, a great golden eye would press itself against the glass from the inside.The group tried rolling the sphere around, but ultimately decided to leave it here for the time being.

In the room with four pillars, Meep the dwarf discovered a hidden switch on the pillar guarded by the brass soldier. It opened on a set of stairs, leading upwards. The group managed to distract the brass man enough that almost everyone could dodge past.

Meeting the Sage

Lothos, Robert, Suba-Jin and Meep climbed the stairs. At the top, a broad cupola was dominated by a pool of still water reflecting the moon. Nine brass soldiers stood at attention, but took no notice of the group. A (real human, not a shadow!) woman wearing delicate robes and ornate jewellery (a gem-studded silver ring, a silver sceptre, silver brooch and an engraved brass bracelet) greeted them warmly, apologizing for any mistreatment by the mechanical soldiers.

Her manners were welcoming, but little details were odd. When she walked in her thin slippers, her feet made a ceramic clack-clacking on the stone floors. Close up her face looked inside-out or inverted, like an optical illusion or something.

The Sage of Lune said that she almost never received visitors and offered to show the group visions in the reflecting pool of past and present things:

Suba-Jin asked about the origin of the land's curse and how it might be stopped: 

This land was once held in balance between the sun and moon. A cultist of Uthummaos, the God of Empty Darkness, drew that evil deity's attention to our world. This grim god spread his demons and shadow creatures throughout the land, and has plunged the world into a perpetual twilight, with no day or nighttime. I do not know how to break the curse, but Uthummaos has four demonic lieutenants in this world who enforce his will. If anything is at the core of the curse's power, it is them. The pool showed a man with indistinct features at the candle-lit shrine, cutting off his own hand and throwing it in the small coffin. Then hordes of shadowy monsters climbing forth from the deep, misty crevasse below Wakelinus' Folly (session 4).

Robert the Swift asked about these four demons and where they might be found:

I know three of their names, but the fourth eludes my sight. Eralion, who dwells deep beneath his old fortress in the moonlit zones. Varthatov, who presides over the First Temple of Uthummaos, somewhere beneath Wakelinus' Folly. Vashundara, the snake-demoness. The vision showed first Eralion's fortress, then the ruined colosseum again, then a woman with coal-black skin sleeping on an opulent bed covered with cushions, wearing only golden jewellery. A gold key hung on her necklace, and her belly was bulging and distended.

Lothos asked a question, but the Sage required a kiss in return. He was unwilling to do this, feeling the situation was too suspicious.

Meep asked about the crystal sphere filled with smoke, and the group learned about the cave squid inside and the ancient cult which once worshipped it. Finally, the group asked if the Sage had any useful items or magic that might assist them in their quest - she mentioned the shrine to Usham Ta, the lucky cat, might contain some treasure if they made the right obeisances, which she demonstrated for them. Not everyone had asked a question, and the Sage begged them to return later so she might grant them further visions.

Investigating the cat shrine on their way out, the religious gestures opened a secret compartment with a chest and a message: 'Tis better to give than to receive! Donate, so the chest never remains empty! They looted some valuable bricks of incense, and left some silver coins and an ornate dagger.

Return

That night when they camped, Gorr felt seized by a blind, unreasoning fear, and could not figure out its source.

Eric had a vision during the night: The forest was light by bright sunshine, and an armoured knight with kindly eyes reached out to him. He knew this was Solaris, the almost forgotten god worshipped by Shandril and a few others. Solaris praised his valour and wisdom in wielding the enchanted mace Lua Saka, asking Eric to abandon his current faith and follow a new path. Eric shook his outstretched hand feeling a sense of joy, acceptance and relief. The god departed, fading into the overwhelming radiance.

After returning to the Forgotten Village, Shandril showed Eric the rites of his new religion and the group decided to return to Viridistan with their loot. 

Returning found the Night Wolf's tavern packed with strange people from the far corners of the world. A stage-hypnotist was performing for the crowd. Eric spotted a group displaying a solar insignia and went over to talk. They followed a deity called the "Unconquered Sun," spoke with strange accents and said they called The Wardale Rogues from Verulamium. They had never heard of Solaris, but seemed friendly enough.

Returning to Viridistan by the coast road, the group passed through the Moon Gate in the great wall and over the Emperor's farmlands. Entering on Market Avenue, they were back in familiar territory for the moment: the greatest city in the empire, beckoning adventure from every door and alleyway!

Remember, temporary bonuses such as the +1 luck from the cat shrine have long expired now. 

If you haven't already gotten back to me with downtime actions (carousing, studying, rumours, etc) please do so!!!

Treasure: 

A huge amount of treasure was redeemed from the last 7 sessions in the Forest of Dreams. Having arrived in Viridistan, it can easily be offloaded & converted to local currency in the city's grand bazaars.

220 electrum coins (worth 3 sp each - 660 sp)

3846 silver

10 copper (1 sp)

50 gold (500 sp)

ancient china tea set (400 sp)

gilding pried out of skeleton's helmets (300 sp)

7 bricks of Forest of Dreams incense (3500 sp)

animal pelts (1100 sp)

coat of chromatic peacock feathers (700 sp)

ivory Y 'crucifix' (1000 sp)

scented Forest of Dreams woods (1000 sp)

cracked quartz disk (400 sp)

TOTAL LOOT VALUE: 13,407 sp

I've deducted cost-of-living (1% of total xp) from your awarded loot automatically, since we're starting next session in the city.

Per character

Suba-Jin: 2289 sp

Robert the Swift: 2287 sp

Gorr: 2128 sp

Lothos the Undesirable: 2075 sp

Eric Withakay: 2081 sp

Meep: 1563 sp

Aladar IX: 500 sp

Viegar Thricescarred: 157 sp

Current XP totals

Gorr, Suba-Jin and Robert the Swift have gained levels! If anyone wants to carouse, let me know before next session.

Session 5 & 6

CRUCIBLE OF THE SUN

Between two and three days

Inside the Night Wolf Inn, room I - The Forest of Dreams

Characters in Session 5

Gorr, Barbarian 2 (Chris)
Suba-Jin, Cleric 1 (John)
Robert, Fighter 1 (Steve)
Meep, Dwarf 2 (Spencer)
Lothos the Undesirable, Elf 2 (Mike)
Eric Withakay, Cleric 3 (Justin)

Characters in Session 6

Gorr, Barbarian 2 (Chris)
Suba-Jin, Cleric 1 (John)
Robert, Fighter 1 (Steve)
Lothos the Undesirable, Elf 2 (Mike)

*****


The Forgotten Village

The group's new acquaintance Shandril led them through the shadowy, ethereal forest kingdom to the nameless village she called home. Along the way, they were ambushed by emaciated grey-green humanoids covered in spikes, like living cactus-men. They attacked by firing bursts of tiny needles from their bodies. These bizarre creatures didn't last long under the hail of fire sent down by the group.

Shandril said that needlemen raids were a constant problem for her people. They lived in regions called "moonlit zones," and sallied forth only to cause mayhem.

The unimpressive village of grimy stone houses was built on a low hill, clear of huge trees. The residents cultivated fields of colourful, glowing flowers. Many of the local shades behaved erratically: standing perfectly still, circling aimlessly or repeating the same tasks. She said that some were like this always, and only the power of her deity Solaris could keep them from degenerating completely.

The sacred relic that made this possible was the Crucible of the Sun, kept in an open-air Temple of Solaris decorated with simple stone pillars and an old statue, long ago knocked over and shattered. The crucible was of intricately carved silver, and radiated a warm & comforting light. Shandril's murky form seemed more solid while she stood near it.

The group learned more of the strange settlement. Nobody could recall its name, but the inhabitants had lived there since before King Wakelinus went mad. They didn't seem to need food, and cultivated the strange multicoloured forest flowers to trade occasionally with strange visitors who used them in the creation of magical powders. 

Rumours also circulated: 

-Bandit & outlaw groups were in open rebellion, but the villagers were reluctant to discuss it. Even Shandril preferred to avoid drawing the King's wrath by dealing with them. 

-King Wakelinus' wizard Eralion had owned a fortress nearby, now fallen into ruin. It was inside a dangerous region called a "Moonlit Zone," and reported to be the home of a vampire!

The gang explored the town, visited the watch-tower to inspect its defenses and buy ammunition, and met some other residents: Baran, a sullen guardsman missing his right hand; and his lieutenant Lauriel, who wore Solaris' symbol prominently on her armour.

Shandril allowed the group to use one of the unoccupied stone houses to rest in and heal. During their sleep, they were woken by the alarm bell on the watch-tower. They assembled at the tower and saw smoke coming from the Shrine. Rushing over, they discovered that some needlemen and launched a raid, stealing the Crucible from under their noses! Without it, the whole village would fall into the soulless madness that threatened to consume the kingdom. Shandril implored the group to help, and sent Lauriel and another spry village guard along to guide them through the woods. 

She also pressed her enchanted mace Lua Saka - its head a smiling bronze sunburst - into Eric's hands, imploring him to use it to punish the needlemen and whoever else was behind the theft, as long as he returned it.


Pursuit

Led by Lauriel, party followed the needle-men's trail into an area of densely-packed trees. It was so tight that only only a narrow road through the woods could be followed. Here the soft, ethereal twilight of the forest gave way to a black & starless night lit only by a full moon glimpsed distantly overhead. They had entered one of the dread Moonlit Zones!

After an hour, Gorr noticed a side-path that could be accessed by squeezing between a few trees. His keen eyes spotted needles littering the ground, and the group deduced that their quarry had gone this way. Taking this side-branch in hot pursuit, a distant light revealed seven needlemen carrying the Crucible triumphantly. The group fell upon their foes from ambush, the first charge bowling over not a few of them. After a short battle, the enemy was destroyed, dissolved into black mists like all beings in the forest, and the Crucible was theirs.

Lauriel advocated for immediate return to the village, but the group wanted to see where the needlemen were going. A key dropped by one of them provided a clue, and after some debate she reluctantly agreed to a scouting expedition but insisted on holding onto the Crucible herself.


The Keep

The path led to a crumbled-down fortress, long ago patched and re-patched with timber and rocks. A bell-tower could just be seen over the wall. The needlemen's key opened the padlock on the door, but Gorr climbed the tower to get a better look at things. Crawling along the outer curtain wall, he was able to knock out the lone sentry in the tower, and take over the vantage point and its artillery piece for himself. Robert joined him up there to provide long-range support for the group.

The rest of the party pressed inside the tower, bypassing some green slime on the floor, and began exploring the ruined fort. They set fire to a tower with a giant spider inside. Inside a tower to the south, they found a hideous sleeping creature - like a massive human with five legs and a hideous sucking lamprey's mouth. Eric whispered "... Istus says hello" before clouting it with Lua Saka. Unfortunately not a fatal blow, the mutant jumped up and began coating itself in icy armour as the temperature in the room dropped.

The sounds of battle drew attention from below. Needlemen began to pour up the stairs. At this point the situation progressed into a general melee. The group retreated outside where Robert and Gorr could blast any needlemen who strayed into the courtyard, and the party began to lay waste. The battle ebbed and flowed inside the tower and outside as the needlemen attacked & retreated. Robert even managed to bullseye one with the scorpion mounted in the bell tower!

There was a tense moment was when a 9' tall shadowy skeleton dripping in red slime climbed up the wall. Its eyes were like two ghostly lamps. It hissed "The doom of Uthummaos shall descend on you!" as it attacked Suba-Jin and Lothos, while engulfing Gorr & Robert in magical darkness. The crew handled this foe with aplomb, as Gorr brought his Continual Light candle out to dispel the darkness and Lothos dealt it a lucky killing blow. As this strange demon dissolved into black mist, the ornate, glowing axe it had carried clattered to the floor. The last of the keep's denizens seemed to be defeated!

[DM's Note: By the end of this session, I had lost track of a few things in my attempt to keep the action moving quickly. I completely forgot that Lauriel and another villager were accompanying the party! They didn't participate in the combat at all. Oops!]


Exploring the Keep

Now in relative safety, the gang set about exploring the keep. They discovered many strange items and not a small amount of treasure:

The strange two-handed axe dropped by the demon on the roof was a sinuous epsilon shape, with an ebonywood handle. It emitted a black 'halo', like a reverse lens-flare. When Lothos tried to pick it up, his hand was blasted away by magic! Some experimentation allowed the group to pick it up with a rope, wrapping it in a cloak for investigation later.

The small chapel below the bell tower was once dedicated to Solaris. Inside stood a tall white statue of a woman cradling an infant with a sword. An elaborate, jagged yellow halo circled her head. Behind a curtain in what would be the priest's quarters was a stone chest full of coins, an amulet engraved with two crescent moons, and an enameled metal seal, depicting a black hole with purple light radiating outwards. Lauriel was frightened by this last item and said the seal was the symbol for Uthummaos, although she was vague about who or what that was. 

Gorr climbed down the well in the center of the courtyard. The water was drinkable, but tasting of minerals and strangely effervescent. Just above the waterline was a leering face carved in stone. In the moonlight, Gorr could just see a stone tongue jutting out from deep in the mouth. He tied a rope around it and pulled - there was a mechanical clank as the rope was sliced off, and the wall opened to reveal a secret room. Inside he found a huge haul of ancient & corroded square silver coins, and a metal engraving that looked valuable.

At some point during their expedition, the party discovered strange pools of rainbow-coloured liquids dripping from their feet. Using his barbarian logic, Gorr first tried to burn it off, and when that didn't work, he turned the most colourful thing he had, and ate a few cherries from the tree of Fading Beauty. The group moved on in haste, thinking it might have been something they had stepped in.

In the base of the needlemen's tower, the floor was covered in filthy carpets. Clearing these aside revealed a trap door:

In the basement was a round room filled with debris, and another trapdoor. This one was shut with silver nails, and someone had wedged silver coins into the cracks! Strange runes in flowing script were etched into the wood, and the same double-crescent symbol seen earlier. The rumours of vampires were echoed by Lauriel, but the group proceeded anyway. Removing the nails & even prying at the trapdoor failed to open it, but Suba-Jin produced the amulet found in the chapel, and it opened as if by magic.

On the second level, six mailed statues stood around a disused laboratory, tables cluttered with jars & bottles. Gorr descended on a rope, trying to reach the door, but within moments the 'statues' were revealed to be armoured zombies! He scrambled up the rope and the group threw down flaming oil, burning the zombies and creating a rancid cloud of black smoke.

The side-room was a small bedroom. A brick of incense in a large burner was still intact, and two books rested on the bedside table: The Starless Stars (looked like a spellbook), and Obliteration Without Glory (a strange tract written in code, with anatomical diagrams of human bodies & organs).

Finally, despite Lauriel's exhortations, they opened the last trapdoor. Beneath were seven tombs. On the large one in the center, a withered body lay dressed in fine robes, an amulet around its neck. It clutched an engraved staff in one hand. A shattered bottle lay on the floor, and papers drifted around. Gorr tied a rope around his waist and the group lowered him down. As he attempted to take the staff, a voice echoed round the room, as if down a long tunnel:

"Wakelinus, my liege. Is that you? It has been so long..."

"I'm here, brother." said Gorr.

"Why? After a thousand years? Oooh, so much time has passed and I ache..."

"Our old enemies have returned" Gorr improvised, while cracking the corpse's withered fingers off the staff. He snatched the amulet from the corpse's neck and frantically made the signal to be lifted up!

"Oh, my King? Is it really you? I thought... NO!" The voice changed its tone as Gorr ascended.

On the second floor, the group slammed the trapdoor shut and Suba-Jin began frantically wedging silver pieces into the cracks while the others climbed. A shadowy silhouette soon crept across the ground: first a head, then shoulders, then long thin arms. When it touched him, Suba-Jin felt the strength being drained from his body. He abandoned his task and the party fled up the ropes as fast as they could! The malignant shadow drained him again, but Suba-Jin climbed up before it could strike him a third time. 

Slamming the last trapdoor shut behind them, the party took up their treasure and fled the fortress as fast as they could. On the path back, they saw a bright light through the trees - but it was too far away to make out anything.

Return

They also noticed the strange liquid colours on their feet, dripping from their bodies at a further rate. It seemed frightening, and some wondered if all the colour was slowly draining from their bodies! Gorr ate a few of the cherries from the Tree of Fading Beauty, and that seemed to bring colours back into his body. He passed out some to the rest of the party, who all ate and were suffused with strange feelings.

Shandril was overjoyed (comparatively speaking) to see the return of the Crucible. She offered for Eric to keep the mace Lua Saka if he wanted as a reward. The party could take a well-earned rest!

Enemies Defeated

15 shadowy needle-men
1 five-legged mutant
1 shadowy red skeletal demon
6 zombies

Monster Experience: 

Meep, Eric - 214 XP each

Lothos, Robert, Suba-Jin, Gorr - 257 XP each


Treasure

The Crucible of Solaris

2 deer pelts, 2 wolf pelts, 1 lion pelt

3830 silver coins

50 gold coins

1 etched metal plate showing a child playing and a sunburst

black & purple seal of Uthummaos

two-moons amulet

brick of incense

black-haloed battle axe

carved wizard's staff

silver cylindrical amulet

The Starless Stars

Obliteration Without Glory