Session 10: A Threat from Below

General Summary

**This chapter began with a flashback, our heroes making their way to the stables in Barter’s Edge and bringing their horses and beloved fighting chicken back to the old keep for safekeeping.**   With malevolent shadows skittering about the cellar walls, our heroes prepared for a fight. As they did, two other entities joined the fray. Unlike the wispy black shadows, these forms shone in eerie violet; spectral visages of Ymmari dragonborn. Faced with so many opponents, Shadow took a step forward, held aloft her magic lantern, and invoked the name of her goddess, Lun Weia. The undead cowered before her as radiant light burst from the lantern. One of the specters and one of the shadows retreated through the cellar wall while the others hissed in hateful defiance.   With sword, spell, and Mysati harpoon our heroes worked against the remaining phantoms. Although their opponents seemed resistant to the blows of their weapons, Shadow of Fire’s lantern and radiant magic proved doubly effective. During the fray Keokan dropped to his knees when a shadow drove its cold ethereal hands into his chest, draining the goliath’s strength. Aaura was quickly there to raise him to his feet, and as a team they eventually defeated their undead assailants.   When the battle ended, Faelyn moved to inspect the wall that the spirits had fled through. During the battle his spells had fired wide but their impact on the far wall had opened a sizable hole. Peering through the hole, Shadow of Fire could see a hidden passage beyond.   They were soon joined by the rest of the Serpents Six, and after a short conference it was decided that our heroes (having had experience in Ymmari Ruins before) would explore the passage while the Serpents Six remained above to prepare for tomorrow’s full moon.   As the groups broke to rest themselves, they looked at the dead body of the man, still manacled to the wall. With dark necromantic energies active in the ruins below, they decided that leaving the body in chains was probably the best, albeit grim, alternative. Garrig placed a shroud over him, and said a quiet prayer.   Somewhat exhausted by the encounter with the shadows, a watch was set (aided by members of the Serpents Six) and the heroes decided to rest and prepare themselves. Shadow of Fire stayed close by in the cellar, in the event that they were harried again with undead.   Setting a watch proved to be a good idea.   It was during Aatavi's watch, as he was having a quiet conversation with Yurdi (the curious gnome member of the Serpents Six) that the manacled body hanging on the cellar wall began to stir.   Aatavi watched as from underneath the shroud, a slim black shadow began to creep up the wall of the cellar. Wasting not a moment, he interrupted Yurdi in mid question by hurling his harpoon against the wall. It penetrated the soft loam between the stone blocks and stuck hard in the wall, momentarily pinning the encroaching shadow. Yurdi wasted no time, quickly donning his helm and powering up his gleaming armor. As he did so, the shadow moved to attack Aatavi, its icy grip lashing out at the barbarian. Aatavi proved too quick, however, and the shadowed hand swiped harmlessly overhead. Now powered up, Yurdi blasted the shadow with a bolt of electricity. It tore through the wispy form, annihilating it. The danger had passed but the watch remained vigilant through the night.   In the early hours of the morning the heroes bid the Serpents Six “Good Luck” before they widened the hole in the wall and stepped into the gloomy passageway.   The air was cold and dry. Thick cobwebs hung from wall to wall as the passageway became a staircase descending into the gloom. The old stone stairs ended in an open chamber with rounded walls and a domed ceiling. Intricate, slightly larger than life-sized Ymmari bas reliefs rimmed the far edge of the chamber. Examining them closely, Aaura and Faelyn deciphered the olde draconic runes on the outside and determined that each statue bore the record of a personal history. To Shadow of Fire, they seemed like obituaries.   Manipulating a pair of strange orbs with magic, Faelyn opened access to two hallways exiting the chamber. As he did so, a dark blue glow spilled into their room from one of the passages. Drawing closer they saw the hall open up into another, larger, domed chamber. Affixed in the center of the ceiling, an orb cast indigo light down on the room below. As in the previous chamber, the perimeter of the room was lined with Ymmari bas reliefs, but the heroes quickly noticed that one of them was cracked and broken. Closer inspection of its hollow interior revealed its true nature. It was not merely a statue, it was a sarcophagus. From the broken rubble at its base a trail cut through the thick dust on the floor, exiting out a far passage.   The heroes did not have much time to consider, as the orb above began to flash and flicker. They watched in horror as a skeletal shape suddenly apparated in the distance, only to vanish again as quickly as it had appeared. With each burst of indigo light, more and more skeletons appeared and vanished in the room, moving closer to the heroes with weapons drawn.   The fight that ensued was chaotic and panicked, with our heroes steeling themselves against the onslaught, striking when they could, and often spinning around as they were beset from behind. The horns and frames of the skeletons marked them as Ymmari dragonborn but their ancient bones were no match for the heroes. Each hero found their mark whether they used steel or spell, might or magic. As the last of the Ymmari skeletons scattered to the dusty floor, the orb above stopped its flickering and cast a constant indigo glow over the room.

Character(s) interacted with

The Serpents Six