Please don’t forget to put your characters in DnD Beyond and to add them to the campaign:  https://ddb.ac/campaigns/join/2038241466181279

Oh, and don’t forget to level up if you have more than 300XP.  Woohoo!

It was a pretty day.  The party was enjoying a well-earned day off.  Most were at the inn, but Keeley had gone looking for her sister while Telfid was on an errand for the temple.

The peaceful afternoon was suddenly broken by cries for “Help”, “My baby”, “Get some rope”, and “Quickly, bring a ladder”.  As the party emerged from the inn, they saw that a large sinkhole had opened in the middle of the roadway.  Sytarii rushed to the edge to help and promptly fell in as the ground crumbled beneath him.  Thankfully, the dirt was soft and he took no damage.

After ignoring the town elders’ (including Albaeri Mellikho (Mellikho Stoneworks) and Ilmeth Waelvur (Waelvur’s Wagonworks)), requests to leave well enough alone, the party all went into the hole, where they found doors and tunnels leading to the east and north, respectively.  The north passage opened into the quarry.  To the east, they came upon some dwarven statues that turned out to be doors.  To the south was a long-abandoned privy.  To the north, the tunnel led to a charnel house where giant rats feasted upon some travelers’ corpses marked with the sign of the Cult of the Black Earth.  Flame magic destroyed the rats and the party moved on, but not before several were overcome by the stench.

In the next chamber, they discovered a large black rock, floating in mid-air.  After some experimentation and judicious use of Detect Magic, they discovered a column of magic was floating the rock.  Later, they would place an unwilling cultist in the column, spinning him just so until his nausea got the better of him and he found himself spinning in his own vomit as it floated around him.

In the next chamber, they found a petrified dwarf and a wishing circle of offerings that included a good sum of coin, and a +1 magic dagger named “Reszur”, which Sytarii now holds.  While collecting the coin, a group of 8 cultists  — the so-called Bringers of Woe — and a half-orc Thug named Grund came running into the room, attacking the party with scimitars, mace, and crossbows.  In a well-fought battle, the party dispatched the interlopers, knocking one out cold for questioning.

Taban heard a plaintive cry for help from the room to the west, and, upon investigation, discovered a young boy, age10-12, pinned beneath some large rocks as punishment for not delivering a message from his father, Rotharr Hatherhand, to Ilmeth Waelvur.  The young Braelen explained that the elders of the town council were a secret organization of Believers who guard the moving stones, and make sure no one disturbs the Delvers, who are entombed here.  They believe that the moving stones are a sign and can be interpreted, often foretelling of trouble.  After feeding him and much discussion, Braelen, scampered off down the tunnel to the west while the party proceeded to the east, where they found an old man, one Baragustas Harbuckler, a Believer, sitting on a stool, whittling a stick.

Baragustas begged the party not to move the stones or disturb the Delvers, and was promptly ignored.  Larrakh, a Black Earth priest, cast Spider Climb to hide among the moving stones, only to be dislodged from the ceiling by Noctavia’s Thunderwave.   A protracted battle ensued as Larrakh managed to hold his own against the party until Nastane shut him down with a well-placed globe of Silence.  This sent Larrakh running through a secret door to the southeast.  A few moments later, the party heard a loud crash as he triggered a cave-in to block the tunnel he was running down.

Constable Harburk is livid, appalled and frustrated by the tale told by the party members of the dead bodies, the rats, the Believers, the Bringers of Woe, and the priest, Larrakh.   Livid because he knew nothing of the criminal activity of the town’s elders.  Appalled by the history of the Believers.  And, frustrated by Larrakh’s escape and the lack of evidence – the dead travelers’ bodies were missing!

Alas, our tale pauses here, to be continued next week.

“Reszur” is a +1 dagger decorated with star motifs and a grip of night-blue leather.  The name “Reszur” is graven on the dagger’s pommel.  If the wielder speaks the name, the blade gives off a faint, cold glow, shedding dim light in a 10-foot radius until the wielder speaks the name again.

Please don’t forget to put your characters in DnD Beyond and to add them to the campaign:  https://ddb.ac/campaigns/join/2038241466181279

Oh, and don’t forget to level up if you have more than 300XP.  Woohoo!

Back in Lance Rock, the party, short a few members, turned right – into a room full of corpses and bones.  Upon contact, some of the bones rose up and four skeletons attacked.  They struck with vigor and before the party knew what hit them, Fenvalur had fallen, Ildon had fallen, and Sytarii and Telfid were unconscious.

After a short rest on the large stone slab in the main chamber, Telfid and Sytarii were able to slyly look around. After seeing the thin man with the black mustache and goatee, cutting open Fenvalur’s torso and playing with the innards, Telfid blasted him with sacred flame.  The necromancer turned around and with a “Tsk, tsk, we’ll have none of that,” touched Telfid’s shoulder, sending a chill through him and rendering him unconscious again.

Noticing his gear in a pile over there, Sytarii planned to get a weapon.  With catlike swiftness, he scooped up Ildon’s light crossbow and lodged a bolt in the shoulder of the nasty necromancer.

At that moment, Keeley returned from the town with reinforcements.  A dwarf wandered into the chamber, a strange, quizzical, unknowing look on his face.  Then a tiefling rushed at the necromancer yelling, “For Fenvalur,” and swiped at him with both scimitars.  Keeley followed, stabbing the necromancer from behind, while a gnome strode up and started casting spells this way and that.

A moment later, the necromancer disappeared, only to reappear a short distance away.  However, this evasion was for naught as he was cut down, dying in a puff of black smoke.

Unfortunately, poor Ildon and Fenvalur were beyond saving.

Telfid and Sytarii recovered in short order.  The party then executed the two remaining skeletons, hunted down some zombie actors in a danse macabre, and destroyed a zombie doctor, a handful of crawling claws, and a few more skeletons.  Scouring the necromancer’s living quarters, they found some money, some jet gems, a driftglobe and a wand of magic missiles.

After returning to town and healing up, the party finally decided to put Vallivoe’s ghost to rest.  They went to the graveyard and because they wouldn’t leave, the ghost (actually a Specter) attacked.  Rainar, the barbarian, decided to open the coffin in the Vallivoe tomb and was immediately attacked by a Flying Sword.  Both the specter and the sword were dispatched forthwith.  Upon investigation, the coffin turned out to have a false bottom, concealing a little treasure.

Alas, our tale pauses here, to be continued next week.