A group from Sophia’s rest, including some newcomers Courrox interested in the chance of archaeological interest and Azrol who is interested in finding out more about his new surroundings. Joined by Tan, Wolbolg, Gore and Beryl they venture out to a tomb just south of Anderson Farm. They let the newcomers take the lead and ended up taking quite a scenic route while trying to get to the apple tree by the shrine to Pan. Ending somehow north of Sophia’s rest they ran into some town guard’s and decided to be guided back to town and try again. This time keeping true they continue onto the tomb…
After a few days travel the group comes across a burial mound with a stone doorway inside. The gloomy underground structure seems to be humanoid in nature, but doesn’t not seem very arcane in nature, quite a simple structure. Azrol begins to search the area for traps taking the lead and they begin to descend into the dark. The came across a room with 6 ft. plinths carved with pictograms with some kind of radiant icon, with humanoids before it. Across the other plinths some of the carvings were faded and less decipherable, but possibly alluding to some kind of magic or unknown power. Courrox takes time to note down the pictograms and begins to suspect that whoever made this place used to sacrifice people for power. The room has several exits, but Abzol realises one of them has a trap with a thin frayed rope running across a set of stairs, as Courrox confidently heads into the next room through a different passageway, with Gore following him trying to reign him back from charging headlong into danger. This room has the remnants of a large firepit embedded a few feet into the ground, and broken pottery with a smattering of gold coins through out the room. Gore reaches out with his divine sense and gets a ‘bad juju vibes’ understanding that whoever built this place did what they could to protect their dead, including from us. However, reaching out he also feels the presence of an undead creature above and looks to see a creature creeping its way across the ceiling in the room we had just left.
Azrol dives into action, landing a perfect shot into the creature and backing away. Gore charges forward, raising his magical blade and just manages to leap and swipe at the fleshy ghoul, missing with his follow up swipe, but then roaring at the creature, causing the creature to shift away from gore, scuttling across the ceiling towards Courroux trying to leaping past everyone but Tan slams him into the wall halting the ghoul midair, marking him with hellfire as he does The ghoul lashes out with its tongue towards Tan in response, and he is hit with a burst of poison but manages to shrug it off as the creature turns to Courroux and swipes its claw at him, and Tan tries to take the opportunity to hit him but swings wide.
Beryl’s familair Puddle shocks the creature and uses the moment to flap away as fast as it can, a gleeful grin spreading across his face at its work as they into the pit but is suddenly surrounded by ghostly shades as they rise from the earth as they start to hiss and begin a low almost inaudible guttural chant. Beryl protects himself with a ward and rushes forward to get closer to his companion, Courroux takes aim with his bow, firing at the Shade Choir with an arrow that explodes with arcane force blasting several of the shades into silence. Courroux stows his bow and stands ready with his blade, his flames reflecting off his blade adding shadows across the room.
The choir begins to swarm towards the would-be tomb raiders, continuing their dark chant as they reach towards Courroux, he begins to pale as they drain his life force. Others go after Beryl and Puddle, with Puddle’s connection to this plane being extinguished. Beryl cries out ignoring his own pain as he watches Puddle vanish. Tan tries to strike the ghoul, missing him but marking him with another seal. Wolbolg weaves through some of the shades, sending two daggers towards the ghoul but goth skitter off the wall as he climbs onto one of the plinths to be out of harms way. Gore takes a leap into the fray, over the shades and ghoul landing in the middle of action reaching out with his divine power to bless Tan, Azrol and Courroux before calling on his patron to restore some of his power. The ghoul once more whips out with its tongue at Tan, this time the poison flooding into him and he begins to sway. Beryl looked worried by the shades surrounding him but shakes it off as the thought of avenging Puddle fills his mind and he reaches towards a shade, shocking it back to its final rest before blinking across the room out of harms way as Courroux starts to focus and cast a spell, before panicking and vomiting and a torrent of flame onto the remains of the Choir near him. The chant now wavering the shades begin to reach towards Courroux but Gore steps between them, a letting lose a low growl that causes them to reconsider as he blocks with their shield. Tan still woozy cant land a blow, but he takes a moment to stabilise himself clearing his head as Wolbolg leaps between plinths, sending daggers at the shades and condemning them to silence. Azrol carefully moves away from the action. Gore swings at the ghoul, smiting with his magical blade as Tan uses the opportunity to but the creature adding purplish hellfire to Gore’s divine blow, which vanquishes the creature as it lets out a death cry. Gore then rushes to help Courroux as they blast the remaining shades back whence –
they came. (damn message length)
The danger subsided Tan and Wolbolg try to work out how old the ash in the firepit is but can only discover it is ancient. Courroux investigates a clay jar with a wooden stopper in it reaching in his hand and finds a viscous liquid with a scent of honey and berries that seems to be some kind of ancient restorative and the party stash it away. Gore reaches out with his divine sense to seek out evil once more but feels nothing nearby. Azrol takes a moment to look around again and notices a swinging axe trap attached to another rope across some stairs leading into the same room as before that he points out to the rest of the party. Gore combat roles down the stairs, leaping over the rope, inspiring Wolbolg to follow suit as the party heads into the room. In the centre of the room an ancient coffin lays closed, Azrol heads forward starting bats that fly past causing him to jump, but he opens the coffin revealing humanoid remains, with a helmet and sword standing out as time seems to have marked them less than everything else. Fore asks Beryl to look at them and see if its magical. “Of course, I can!” he takes a while as the party hunkers down for a quick breather. They realise they have a short sword and a dread helm to bring back with them. Tan takes a minute to investigate and realises the remains are human.
The party finds an entrance into a more natural cavern and begin to quietly make their way through, Azrol and Wolbolg taking the lead. They head back into the main structure through another entrance, Wolbolg climbing onto the ceiling trying to imitate the creepy way the ghoul climbed but a smile beams across his face, while Azrol investigates a well in the centre of the room but as he peers over the edge and sees it leads to a room below, but finds another ghoul that reaches out and grabs him, pulling them both below falling 30 feet to the room below the ghoul landing on top of him slamming him into the ground, shocked as the ghoul takes the chance to surprise attack him.
Courroux surges forward, sprinting to his friends aid and throwing one end of a rope down the hole, keeping hold of the other end. With his other hand he produces a flame to reveal the room. Gore charges into the room jumping down the well, attempting to strike the ghoul but his momentum carries him too far but with a quick adjustment he catches it with a back swing. Beryl starts to glow and blinks once again into the room, the ground seeming to move and shift in the direction he reappears by the well and he looks down to see Gore holding a pose, his cape billowing in his three-point landing as Courroux’s flame works as a spotlight giving him a glowing affect, bathing him in heroic splendour. Beryl fires off an eldritch blast below, striking the ghoul. At this point the party notices another shade rises into the light from one of the coffins the party had yet to investigate in this room. Its ethereal form vanishes and reappears in front of Beryl and Courroux attempting to strike from both. Courroux feels his life force seeping away and is left just holding onto life, and the rope. Tan rushes into the room marking the Shade as Wolbolg crawls across the ceiling, sending a dagger at the shade before dropping onto the edge of the well. Azrol stands and strikes out at the ghoul with his blade, as the ghoul tries to hit Gore with his tongue but the steel of his armour.
Courroux attempts to heal his wounds, but it has no effect. He stabs towards the shade with his rapier, raising a ball of fire in his other hand. Gore pulls out his wand of winter and holds in both hands as it melts into him and he lets forth a burst of blistering cold from his mouth, freezing the ghoul solid and sending shards of ice at the shade, and catching Azrol too as the ground is covered with a layer of slick ice on both floors. Beryl fires off another eldritch blast at close range into the shade causing its form to fade back to nothing. Gore gets “mad spooky evil vibes” but notices a familiar stone archway with an orb that seems currently inactive. From that same room the party gets a foreboding sense of great evil, and after taking a quick moment to look around and gather some spoils, including a Soul Coin that Tan feels compelled to take the party decides to head back with an uneventful return to Sophia’s Rest.
Loot: Dread Helm, +1 Shortsword, 879 GP, Soul Coin, Scroll of Feather Fall, Scroll of Healing Word, Scroll of Snare
