Session 08

General Summary

Logistics and Preparation (27th - 28th)

After securing the 100 platinum bounty for Vormoth, the party prepared for their next move. Haldrick purchased a basic shield for 10 gold, while Asira gathered Lullaby Lavender and updated her mentor, Faelan, on their situation. The party successfully hunted a deer for 60 lbs of venison and continued their ongoing efforts to decipher The Book of Norvus.

The Tomb Infiltration (29th - 30th)

Magistrate Noreeno commissioned the party to enter a nearby ancient tomb to retrieve a mysterious sphere, warning them to finish within three days and avoid the tomb after dark. Inside, the group solved a complex mathematical puzzle involving the "holy number" 107 and used a blood ritual to open a hidden passageway. On the 30th, they navigated deadly traps and discovered a room filled with chained, mummified remains. The session ended as Mariana set a mummy on fire, filling the chamber with smoke.

Notes

27th of Highwinter

Haldrick goes shopping for a shield in town, they are too expensive so he starts looking at the security measures of the 1 story building. There is also no place to hide until they’ve closed up shop. Investigates all the shops to find the one with the lightest security, none provide viable options for clandestine thievery. He decides to buy a basic shield instead for 10 gold.

Dubak decides to see if deer hunting will be fruitful for a feast while the Kimchi ferments. Mariana decides to join him. They spend an hour but are unable to find a deer. He pivots to small game traps, and after an hour 2 rudimentary traps are set.

Asira goes out to find Kingsfoil and Lullaby Lavender, and she finds a field of Lullaby Lavender, which she gathers. Then she heads back to camp and sends a letter to Faelan to update him on their current situation being stranded.

28th of Highwinter

Mariana and Dubak head back out to check the traps, and nothing came of that, but they tried again for a deer and got one. The yield is 60lbs. of venison.

Asira heads out for a nature walk, and heads back to take care of the horses.

Dubak starts spicing and drying the jerky and then heads into town to fry up the venison bacon to sell.

We decipher another page of Norvus that evening

29th of Highwinter

Dubak tries to sneak up to the meeting with the magistrate, Nooreno gives no indication that he spots Dubak.

Nooreno is there with his Cleric, the area (a 1hr walk from camp) is nice at dawn, with rolling hills. It looks like a large stone has been moved from the opening recently.

He instructs us to go into the deepest chamber and retrieve a sphere. He can’t guarantee we’ll be alone in there as the last he tasked have not reported back. He hands us a gem that glows with the sun to track our time and warns us not to rest inside the tomb after dark. He also warns us not to speak of this to the superstitious townsfolk. He will return each day at sundown to check in on us and if after the third day he will seal the tomb again. It is his understanding that the sphere will not harm anyone and he intends to pass it on to a third party.

We decide to head to the city to look for things that can help us with the undead if we encounter them and to try and gather information.

Dubak heads to Desna Temple to try and look like he belongs, he somehow pulls off a pantomime of what others are doing. He finds out from an elder that there is a lot of talk and speculation about who or what is buried out there. The elder is uncomfortable with the offer that Dubak presented to accompany him and his party into the grounds. He gives the elder some deer bacon.

Mariana and Asira head to a large Apothecary to look for things that help with the undead or speak with dead, and potions of greater healing.

Potion of Greater Healing is 150 gold

They have nothing to help with the undead

Asira mails her letter to Faelan

We all meet up in the street and head to another Temple dedicated to a dwarvan god of death, fate, and the underworld. Haldrick, Asira, and Mariana head in.

Haldrick asks for Holy Water and we pay the 25 gold, it takes an hour.

We take time to ask questions about the burial area but get tight-lipped responses and get no other helpful answers about the undead. We leave and give Dubak the nod.

Dubak walks in and tries to look visibly frightened but ends up looking vaguely confused. He tries to convince the leader to bring his order to help and gets kicked out.

We head back to the tomb which we notice is well made and at least water tight if not air tight when the stone is covering the opening. It looks well preserved and gives a sense of reverence.

We decide to check out the opening to the left first. There is writing on the walls that looks very ancient that makes it tough to translate but references to an ancient dwarvan kingdom and an alliance with elves can be discerned. We can also read “Proof of Life of the Righteous Living” over the cistern. We gleen that to mean “The Element of Life” “The Stuff of Life” or “The Blood of Life.”

Asira (at the back of the party) goes to peer into the other room which has 7 levers above them is a display that uses lit up gems that spells out all zeros, with different writing that says something about the gnomes' holy number. She remembers something about some ancient group of gnomes, that 107 was an important number to them. Asira goes back and tells the others what she saw, read, and remembered as they plan to bleed on the cistern.

Mariana lights a torch and Haldrick slices his hand to bleed on the cistern. We hear a click from the passageway. As we pass through the antichambre we see that one of the gems is glowing.

Dubak pulls the far right lever and clicks and the output above the levers now says 001. He now pulls the far left and it changes to 064. He now pulls 2nd from the left and see 032. 3rd lever 016, 4th lever 008, 5th lever 004, 6th lever 002. We flip all the levers back and then pull the far left two, the far right two and the one in the middle to equal 107. Asira, standing in the antichambre calls that the second gem lit up and the door before her opened, the rest of the party joins her to peer down the new hallway.

We have about an hour and a half left of daylight.

We see a humanoid figure presumably dead 15ft. Down the hall from us. Dubak can’t see it but decides to throw a dart at it, upon trying to retrieve it, he narrowly escapes a blade swiping down from the ceiling. With inspection, Haldrick spots the trigger plate and sidesteps it, inspecting the body. He recognizes a patch on his cloak as that of mercenaries based out of the continent to the west of us. The body is about a week dead.

We move further down the hallway and Haldrick peers around the corner. He sees debris, a dead body, and a statue. He moves forward another 10ft or so and sees at least another two pressure plates.

We decide to leave for the evening, pulling a lever to open the door from the inside and exit, pleased to reunite with Beck and the horses and breathe fresher air.

Mariana and Haldrick hang out by the tomb and talk to Nooreno when he shows up. He lets them know that the last time he sent in 4 people. They make small talk and he leaves.

Asira and Dubak head into town.

Asira spends 1 gold, 1 silver, 5 copper spent for Cinderroot, Graveflower, and Nightshade. Visit the general store and buy a jar of molasses and 5 carrots, and 5 sugar cubes for 3 silver. Then heads back to the tomb entrance. I feed the yummies to the horses.

Dubak checks on his ventres and returns to the tomb to leveling up his spice game.

Asira casts Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow to protect the party and Haldrick and Mariana take first and second watch and don’t see anything through the night.

30th of Highwinter

So we woke up at the crack of dawn and entered the tomb with the same steps as the day before.

The body we can see in the room with the statue is charred and broken. Dubak peeks around another hallway and sees nothing, he turns another corner and sees a bunch of chained up coffins, there are no names just bad vibes. He backs out and checks the statue room for more pressure plates, and finds one and avoids it as he approaches another archway. He looks around the corner and peers down a long hallway (approx. 55ft long) and walks down the hall with abandon, but has to leap back and takes 4 radiant damage from something on the wall.

Haldrick tries to open the other door but it’s locked. Mariana kicks the door down. The room beyond is filled with more chained up coffins. Haldrick decides to break one of the coffins to see what we’re dealing with. He hacks at the wood and peers inside it’s empty. The next one he hacks open and sees humanoid feet and tickles its feet, it appears almost mummified. Mariana lights the mummy on fire with her torch and smoke starts to accumulate in the small space.