2025/03/14: Searching Pirate Isle Part 2

General Summary

Malakai, Buzz, Knight, Rusti, Kal'vus   Kelsey withdrew to coordinate with the Kaelund navy and organize some assistance with transport and possibly a defense against a potential undead army. The rest of the party prepared to venture into the trap tunnel and find Zen Hwan.   Before heading for the traps, Rusti and Kal'vus opted to check on the secret door, beyond which Carlsby indicated his treasure lay. A passwall spell allowed entrance. On the other side was a very cramped old cairn. Kal'vus tossed some ball bearings covered in glow dust around to the corners to identify the bounds of the room, then turned back to report. The only findings were old dried flowers, bones, and what looked like a partial room collapse.   After some discussion and preparation, the party decided to put Buzz and Malakai in Knight's inventory and Rusti (shrunk) in one of Knight's belt pouches. Knight and Kal'vus would run the gauntlet.   Heavy investigation of the trap corridor. Nearly inescapable traps, and a long path of them. Huge variety, rotating activations. Dream realm version was a cheerful army of zombies in a more open version of the place competing to try to get through the gauntlet, with announcers and crowds. None got through more than 2/3rds of the course. Huge variety of traps. One particularly agile zombie getting the farthest, yelling "parkour!", though even he doesn't get past the walls of spikes.   After discussion, the party eventually decided to turn back and try the other route. Maybe the place would be less awful if the source of the necromancy was disabled.   Fought four skeletons with scimitars and molotov cocktails. When Knight healed himself via Focus, he discovered that something had drained his SOUL reserves, and he felt all tingly as the Focus worked. Whatever ritual was happening below was draining life and soul energy. Knight grumpily declared that he was going to go "get that back". Through stabbing.   The party headed down the second passageway. They passed a set of strong double doors that had been knocked in. Inch and a half of solid metal, knocked in as if by a battering ram.   On the other side was a 70'x70' room that appeared to have been carved uniformly from the solid rock. The far (north) wall was dominated by a tapestry depicting a pirate ship at sea. To the east of the tapestry was a locked and barred metal door. The party unanimously concluded that the tapestry was the trap, perhaps to the extent of flooding the room and forcing a naval fight against the woven pirate ship. The party didn't bother to try to bypass it. As they passed the room's halfway mark, the ship's undead crew began to climb from the tapestry to meet them.   The crew was a varied lot:

A ghoulish-looking guy with not much in the way of clothes, with sharp claws on his feet and hands and a mouth full of pointy teeth.

The captain. A "black leather aficionado" wielding a pair of fine-looking sabres embossed with skulls. Superhuman dexterity and agility. Vampire.

An Egyptian-looking woman with crescent sickle things. Dextrous, scantily clad, clearly a mummy variant.

A huge, hulking guy with almost no dexterity. 8' tall and 6' wide. Longsword and shield. Dull grey skin, stitching all over him. The ground quaked from impact as he landed.

A guy in a black robe. Possibly a skeleton. Teleported down so as to not attract as much attention.

A red and violet cloak with a ghostly woman with long flowy hair attached to it. Her instrument marked her as a bard, and possibly a banshee.

38 ghouls.

Knight, still frustrated from his earlier encounter with the skeletons, wasted no time. He activated Ghost Blades, teleported next to the bard, and unleashed a rain of blows. The undead agility fighters counter-charged. The flurry back and forth was epic, but the undead were left stumbling back in surprise with fresh wounds. Then Kal'vus activated Fourth Stance, dashed in, and bisected the vulnerable captain and bard. Rusti, still in Knight's pocket, followed up by evaporating the mage in an apocalyptic blast of boosted lightning.   Malakai took slightly longer to arrive but still made it before the undead counterstroke. He put a giant slash mark through the mummy's chest and prepared to intercept attacks on Knight, who was still dominating the enemy's attention. The mummy learned that the attack had hit something vital when she stepped back in a dodge and found herself hitting the floor in two pieces.   Lots of back-and-forth followed. The chief ghoul was almost the party's end: Kal'vus got paralyzed, while Malakai was briefly stunned. Knight and Rusti, their parries exhausted by the swarm, accidentally dodged into the tapestry and found themselves exploring the 3D still image of the ghost ship. For a moment, Buzz and Malakai were the only living combatants left standing.   That was alright. The attrition on the enemy had been enough. In a burst of miraculous energy, Buzz made the mountainous flesh golem alive again, and that new friend (or at least enemy's enemy) rapidly finished off the remaining ghouls. By the time Rusti teleported herself and Knight back to the battlefield, only the friendlies were left standing. The fallen undead evaporated, and on the far wall, the locked door slowly swung open.

Rewards Granted

3 xp