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The second 7th day of Dros, 250 AD

Ghoulish Light

by Tink Coppertail

Well, it wasn't a dwarven tomb specifically but a fortress of the dead type thing. Historically this place is supposed to be sacred. Maki even mentions that the various colossal statues are about 1200 years old. He even found that the sword the statues had were actually sheathed. I looked a little closer to see that the swords were actually forged from various pieces of metal due to the shear size by Gruber Rost. This whole place is dedicated to him. It's was a shame to leave them berried to never be used but it would have taken a half dozen Kobolds to move just one it was so big.
Lily stared wandering down a little side area behindish one of the statues and I warned her not to explore too much without the rest of us. Skel, Maki, and I ended up following her down a path with stale air to what looked like a tripped trap cable. On the ground around it was some blood and footprints but no trap bits. On the ceiling were a few sets of holes for the mechanism. Skrel pulled on the cable and eventually cut it effectively disarming a permanently triggered trap. To say he released the counterweight and the ceiling spears stayed down. We walked a bit further and Maki found the trap tripper lying in a corner. Skrel read the journal he had with his last thoughts and whatnot. He did mention an interesting bit about a "green zone" as we walked back to the main group.
While we were taking a side trip, RRRoshin and his watchers were working on opening an arcane seal. Kinana said that she sensed death beyond the door which felt about right as it smelled like death when they got it open. It was a long dark hall of some kind. Well nobody was particulary happy with the look of it so Skrel cast light on one of Eval's arrows for him to send out. Turned out to be a pretty good idea.
The arrow flew almost all the way across the room to light up part of a group of ghouls in the area. Skrel called out a warning not to get hit due to their disease or something and casted Haste on most of us. I tried to tell everyone to fall back down the stairs for a defensive position. The watchers were already in the room a bit when one of the ghouls called out in undercommon to get us and eat us more or less. Then a pair of putrid dire boars smashed into some watchers. With the fight under way I found RRRoshin calling for Calistria's blessing to no avail. I guess whatever deal he had struck for his power angered her. Well he looked a little worse for wear since being down here. My guess was that being plant baised and all that some sunlight would go a long way. I also expected the ghouls to retreat out of it, but no. I used the late Coprl.'s glove to summon the Daylight staff and cast it on RRRoshin himself. I then retreated down the steps partway.
Something must've hit RRRoshin hard because just as a few more watchers made past the door it closed! Four Watchers of the Abyss and I were the only ones to make it through so I started to work on getting it open with them. I figured it would take too long and hoped that they could stay alive in the mean time. Just after we started working, the doors disintegrated with Maki standing on the other side with a bleeding palm. I wouldn't have taken him to using blood magic, but dire times....
Seeing that the group had chosen to fight, I exchanged the Daylight staff for the Chain Lightning one. It was extra good because the ghouls happened to be grouped up pretty well. I zapped four or five my first shot just as Eval was starting to look line a pincushion of arrows. I yell to Maki to grab a healing potion outta my bag for him. One of the ghouls was of some necromatic quality as he raised the fried group back to their feet while simultaneously draining the life of RRRoshin, Kniana, Skrel, and a Watcher. I also hit Eval with some healing from my mending marker modification. RRRoshin seemed to be forsaken by Calistria as he decided to instead cast Pillar of Flame himself. I noticed afterward that the tattoos he had were profusely bleeding. That serves as a good idea about the degradation of the body with tattooed magics... I hit the ghouls with another zap and dropped a few again. The necroghoul channels again and fewer get up this time, but four still rush Eval and me. I asked Vesuki to forgive me as I pusher her Lightning staff one more time.
The flash went off and when I looked around I was somewhere else entirely. Well, I was still in the crypt, tomb, grave place, but somewhere else in it. I looked around to see a half eaten corpse out of a coffin. I pulled out the Daylight staff again so that I could blind any thing else that might be lurking around the area. After the brief moment of well, not exactly panic, I remembered my cave whistle and hoped that Maki had his. Pretty handy having a whistle that only Kobolds and Dragons can hear. I tooted the lost/ trapped pattern and got the receiving toot from the distance so I stared making my way toward the sound. After rounding a corner I saw a coffin with dust disturbed around it. I peered in to see an insectoid cocoon. It looked arachnoid and from the Underdark and not a good species at that. I saw Maki shortly after and followed him past the trap we found earlier and back into the main room.
Eval seemed relieved to see me again and asked if I could use some magic to clean him up. Prestidigitation being so easy and all. We walked down some steps to see RRRoshin in a messed up runic circle. he told the watchers, "You know what needs to be done." and they each disembowel themselves at the circle. Their blood flowed over the lines and filled out the runes and the circle activating it. RRRoshin reminded us we had seven days and that we would meet him later as he teleported away. Maki quickly got into the circle and pulled out a baby rabbit. He apologized to the rabbit as he snapped it's neck and cut it open as well. I quickly asked him which way we should go and he pointed to a spider-webby looking area...great. With that he also teleported out and left his bag behind.
Well Skrel didn't seem happy with everyone teleporting so he too started bleeding and opened up a portal and teleported out. With everyone gone the rest of us decided to take a rest and redistribute gear to were it would still be useful. I looked over Maki's bag to find out it was HIS apprenticeship capstone project. Functionally similar to my cart, it is a backpack that out folded into a tent with an extradimentional workshop. He even had the portable alchemy setup and about two weeks of rations. Confusing since we both wear Rings of Sustanance, but probably was for emergencies with Gina. She was a good noodle.

Continue reading...

  1. Fest Day One
  2. The library scuffle
  3. The party meets
  4. The Shop and the Competition
  5. Afternoon Events
  6. Dawn of Fest Day 2
  7. End of the Fest
  8. Meeting Gina
    The first 8th day of Myr, 250 AD
  9. First Week On the Road
    The first 8th day of Myr, 250 AD to the 2nd 8th
  10. The Wildflower Forest: Post Combat
    The second 8th day of Myr, 250 AD
  11. The Blinkdogs and the Ambush
    The second 9th day of Myr, 250 AD to the third 7th day
  12. The Ambush
    The third 7th day of Myr, 250 AD
  13. Forest Fey Party
    The third 8th day of Myr, 250 AD to the 1th 8th day of Dros
  14. The Town of Brentwood: Day 1
    The first 8th day of Dros, 250 AD
  15. The Town of Brentwood: Day 2
    The first 9th day of Dros, 250 AD
  16. The Town of Brentwood: Day 3
    The first 10th day of Dros, 250 AD
  17. Wedding Bashers
    The first 10th day of Dros, 250 AD
  18. Wedding: Aftermath
    The first 10th day of Dros, 250 AD
  19. Dragonfall
    The first 10th day of Dros, 250 AD to the 2nd 3rd?
  20. Plans of Inaction
    The first 10th day of Dros, 250 AD
  21. Split Decisions
    The first 10th day of Dros, 250 AD to the 2nd 1st
  22. Raiding Requests
    The second 1st day of Dros, 250 AD to the second 3rd day.
  23. Crystal Caverns
    The second 3rd day of Dros, 250 AD to the second 4th day
  24. Crystal Kobolds
    The second 4th day of Dros, 250 AD
  25. Even the Slimes are Crystal
    The second 4th day of Dros, 250 AD
  26. The Crystals are Spirits?
    The second 4th day of Dros, 250 AD
  27. Skull Jelly
    The second 5th day of Dros, 250 AD
  28. I am but a Humble Merchant
    The second 6th day of Dros, 250 AD
  29. Trust is a Fleeting Resource
    The second 6th day of Dros, 250 AD
  30. The Lure of Adventure
    The second 6th day of Dros, 250 AD
  31. Grab and Go
    The second 6th day of Dros, 250 AD
  32. The Runes and Return
    The second 6th day of Dros, 250 AD
  33. Maki and the Cursed
    The second 7th day of Dros, 250 AD
  34. United Plans
    The second 7th day of Dros, 250 AD
  35. Ghoulish Light
    The second 7th day of Dros, 250 AD
  36. Weapons of Old
    The second 7th day of Dros, 250 AD
  37. CAN Y'ALL JUST LET ME MAKE ONE THING
    The second 7th to the second 8th day of Dros, 250 AD
  38. Hot and Cold
    The second 8th day of Dros, 250 AD
  39. Trades of The Traveler
    The second 8th day of Dros, 250 AD
  40. The Spider's Game
    The second 8th to the second 9th day of Dros, 250 AD
  41. And Out
    The second 9th day of Dros, 250 AD
  42. Beat Feet in the Heat
    The second 9th to the second 10th day of Dros, 250 AD
  43. Five Hours a Minute
    The second 10th day of Dros, 250 AD
  44. Silky In-greed-ients
    The second 10th day of Dros, 250 AD
  45. Crafting Elsewhere During a Lore Dump
    The second 10th day of Dros, 250 AD
  46. Split Decisions 2 Tink 2 Handle
    The Third 1st day of Dros, 250 AD
  47. Running Colors
    The Third 1st day of Dros, 250 AD
  48. Who's Who in Life and Death
    The Third 2nd day of Dros, 250 AD
  49. The Scorpion Squad
    The Third 2nd to the 3rd day of Dros, 250 AD
  50. Calistria's spit, SPITE
    The Third 3rd day of Dros, 250 AD
  51. The Damned Redeemed
    The Third 3rd day of Dros, 250 AD
  52. Arms in Sleeves, Not Sheathes
    The Third 3rd day of Dros, 250 AD
  53. The Nap and the Necromancer
    The Third 3rd day of Dros, 250 AD
  54. The Return of a King
    The Third 3rd day of Dros, 250 AD