Session 5. - Deeper Into Salsvault
General Summary
30th of Bleakwind, 1439 A.P.
The party set no guards. Relying heavily on the weapons wedged into the doorframe to keep out any unwanted visitors in the night. Several times in the night, they woke to shuffling and strange noises in the hallway, but nothing came to the door. When they awoke, they were refreshed but the bone chilling cold from outside still sat in their bones, no matter how close to the meagre fire they sat.
Deadeye, refused to wake up. In an uncharacteristic fit of pique, he curled up near the fire and went back to sleep, ignoring his compatriots. After arguing futily with him, they decided to leave him for the time being and went to searching for the cure to Frigid Woe, hopeful that they would find it quickly and make it back to warmer climes. They first explored the room across the hall from Ferrol Sal. It turned out to be a half-flooded library. On the far side of the icy pool they saw an frozen statue standing as if to grasp a book from a shelf. Unfortunately the statue's arm looked like it had broken off. Arbor noticed that the frozen arm was floating in the pool of water and looked like it was holding something. Knowing the dangers of freezing water, the group were very hesititant to swim out to find out what the arm was holding. Arbor thought about using his Mage Hand spell but it was too far out of range. They debated a number of different options before Oorr suggested climbing over the bookcase to where the statue was and using the spell from there. Oorr managed to climb with ease and examined the statue. Arbor decided to risk the water and swam across. The icy water burned his skin and he was almost across when something struck at him from the water. A giant octopus reached out of the water and grabbed him with its tentacles and almost pulled him under. Thankfully Urith was paranoid about large bodies of water and had been keeping watch from the shore. He feathered the beast with an arrow, giving Arbor enough time to scramble to the far shore. The octopus was persistent and tried following Arbor up onto the shore but Oorr slashed at it with his swords, again driving it back. The party stayed out of the water and attacked the beast at a distance as much as possible. Eventually they managed to drive it away and it disappeared into the depths in a cloud of dark ink. Utilizing his Mage Hand spell, Arbor pulled the arm closer and discovered it was holding a scroll case. They then moved on to the door across the hall from where they slept. Angrar suggested that the door had a red X painted on it for a reason and perhaps they should come back to it, especially when they heard faint sounds of yelling and banging coming from behind the door. The others were much more intrigued by the noises and wanted to investigate. Angrar relented and they opened the door. Inside they saw a magic circle inscribed in the floor, glowing redly. Two cages sat in the far corners of the room, with humanoid shaped occupants wrapped in furs and robes visible in each. In the center was an elven female dressed in similar furs. She was banging on an invisible barrier that sent energy ripples around the field. She was screaming hoarsely but stopped suddenly when the party entered. She begged for their help in heavily accented skaldic. The party were extremely suspicious and questioned her. She told them her name was Ela Darine. She was an adventurer from Syren's Vale and had been trapped by Ferol Sal. He'd been experimenting on her friends (she paused and looked sadly at the figures in the cages) and she feared she was next. She begged them to release her so she could exact her revenge on Sal. Oorr and Urith continued to question the elven woman while Arbor examined the magical circle itself though he discovered very little about it beyond that it was well made and powerful. They wanted to know about the disease and Ela was able to tell them there was a cure in another part of the complex and if they let her out, she would show them as soon as she dealt with Ferol Sal. When the group told her that Sal was dead, she at first didn't believe it and demanded to see his corpse. Eventually the group was satisfied, though still suspicious of Ela, and they got Angrar to flip the lever she pointed to on the far wall. When he did, the magical barrier dropped and the cage doors sprang open. The party held its breath and tensed up momentarily, expecting an attack but nothing came. Ela looked at them puzzled before demanding that they take her to Sal's corpse. Before they left the room though, Suljurn went over to the cages and examined them. He discovered that the humanoids inside the cages were actually statues. They were frozen in place and resembled the other victims of Frigid Woe that they'd encountered. There was a human male, a small wildling male and a lithe Benghar female, all frozen in place with expressions of pain and anger etched in their faces. The party led her to Sal's corpse, thankfully still crumpled and unmoving, in the research lab where they'd left him. Ela spit on his corpse and turned dismissively away. She then bruskly led the others back to the main entrance of the complex and took the door north that they hadn't explored before. It resembled some sort of research lab though it was completely ruined. When asked what was behind the doors, Ela stumbled over an explanation and triggered the underlying suspicions of the party. Realizing that the gig was up, Ela sighed and muttered "Oh bother." in old Meradic and dropped her disguise. The image of a northern elven maiden disappeared only to be replaced with that of an emaciated, ghostlike creature that attacked immediately. The fight was vicious and the undead Ela cast several spells that the party overcame with surprising ease, with only Angrar feeling any real ill effects. Thankfully, they had the numbers and were able to quickly overwhelm their foe despite her hard hitting attacks. The wight went down without much damage being done to the group so they pressed on with their exploration. There were some chests in the room and Oorr was able to disable the trap on them. They were ever hopeful that the cure would be inside, but they only found more of the blue vials of frigid woe. Arbor pocketed them, knowing that The Buyer back in Syren's Vale would purchase them. They weren't able to open the western door, despite Oorr's best efforts so they tried the eastern door and it opened up into a long hallway. Several zombies shuffled up and down the hallway, somewhat oblivious to the party until Oorr charged forward and attacked. The three zombies they could see shuffled forward to attack and the narrow hallway made it difficult for everyone to easily engage them but they managed. Oorr agilely dodged forward through the undead only to notice more coming from around the far corner of the hallway. The first few zombies fell easily enough, but as more and more continued to appear, things got tougher. While they were able to concentrate their attacks and slowly whittle away at the horde, the zombies kept getting back up after their attacks. It wasn't until Suljurn called upon the wrath of his God that they finally stayed down for good. Once the horde of zombies were put down, they saw several doors leading off the passage to both the east and west and the corridor itself ended in a T. They started with the most southeastern door only to find it locked with a metal plate with scratches all over it. Above the door in Old Meradic were the words "Emergency Exit". While the key they'd taken from Ferol Sal worked, the door still would not open. They gave up for the moment and started with the next door along on the western wall and discovered it was a dormitory of sorts with two more of the statues standing in the room. Angrar and Oorr stepped into the room to see what was in the footlockers at the bottom of each bed and Suljurn wasn't far behind. As soon as Angrar stepped close to the locker at the far side of the room, everyone got a shock as the statues came to life and started attacking them. The statues hands were coated with a dusting of frigid woe. Thankfully, the constructs were slow and missed several attacks against the party. With an effort the managed to smash both creatures. A quick search of the room revealed a couple of healing potions. One of the rooms on the southern wall was similar, right down to the statues, however they did not spring to life when the group stepped in and the lockers were empty. The last room on the eastern wall held rubble and debris and what looked like an expensive tapestry or rug partially buried underneath. Suljurn's senses detected magic from the rug so the group decided to clear off the debris, thinking they might have found a possible way to get back to Palebank Village quickly. However, once the rug was uncovered, it immediately wrapped around Arbor and started smothering him. Oorr attacked the rug, only to injure Arbor in the process. Angrar and Suljurn pooled their strength and eventually managed to tear the rug, freeing the goblin, who was a little worse for wear from the experience. They downed a couple of potions and decided to explore the western part of the T intersection. It led to a small nook with a bookcase, a door and what was once a dining area. In the dining room were two more zombies and a frozen statue. The party made short work of the zombies and attacked the statue as well, despite it not moving. When it didn't move, the decided to push it over, "Just in case". They opened the door on the Eastern wall and when they saw that it was a small kitchen, they left it without exploring further. They headed back to the bookcase, and Suljurn looked it over, but found it was empty of everything but a thick layer of dust and frost. They opened the door and discovered a small office and living quarters. Compared to the dust and mold of the other dormitories, this one was relatively clean and spotless. There was a stone chest bolted to the floor, a desk and a large bed. They searched the desk and found a note from Ferol SalTo whomever finds this: All my people are dead: my family, my friends, and my workers. I, too, am dead. Were it not for my quick thinking and prowess with necromancy, our important work at Salsvault would be over. I continue to labor in my undead form, trying to find a sickness that can infect Dhamoc himself. If I have perished, I implore you to find my lab, find my notes, and finish my work. he must pay for the Bhanjax invasion and Aeor’s destruction. —Ferol SalOorr didn't find any traps on the chest and was able to open it easily. Once it opened however, a tiny swarm of undead snakes leapt out and bit him. The tiny creatures delivered several vicious hits against the faun before being destroyed. The chest contained a large amount of coin. When they exited the room and looked ahead there was another statue standing in the hallway ahead of them. They approached it cautiously and when he was close enough Oorr poked at it with his shortsword. It didn't respond. They knocked it over anyway. The door on the northern wall had another red "X" marked on it and was locked. Oorr was able to open it easily though. Inside was a disaster. Rubble, debris and destroyed furniture lay everywhere. Running around the room was a patchwork creature in rags. It's skin stiched together haphazardly. One of its arms was dangling, barely hanging on by a few bits of thread. It screamed in rage and attacked them. The golem hit Angrar hard and the party quickly realized that their attacks were doing very little damage. They worried that they might have bitten off more than they could chew. Arbor summoned his most powerful spell and blasted the golem with a jolt of lightning, only to watch in horror as the electricity healed the creature, erasing all the damage they'd done and then some. Thankfully Suljurn's spells were more effective and the creature was eventually defeated. They found nothing but debris in the room after the golem went down. With two doors left, the party was starting to panic as they had not yet found the cure. They tried the last door down this branch of the hallway and were greeted with another semi sunken room. In the far corner, they saw what looked like a stone chest underwater. However, they also saw several giant crabs scuttling about both on the shore and in the water between them and the chest. Urith took aim and shot at the largest crab that hung back in the water while the others attacked the smaller ones that swarmed the shore. Knowing the deadliness of the freezing water, none of the party were keen on fighting in the freezing water. After several of the crabs were killed, the remaining couple hid in the kelp but Urith's arrows still managed to find them and soon the only obstacle in the room was the water itself. Angrar volunteered to dive into the water and investigate the chest. He tried to pull it back to the shore, but it was bolted or mounted to the floor and wouldn't budge. He swam back, grabbed the key from Arbor and unlocked the chest. Inside he found several small vials of a sparkling golden liquid and a heavy silver ring. The vials matched the description they'd been given for the antidote and both Oorr and Arbor immediately snatched and drank one each without hesitation. There were no immediate effects but it did leave a sweet citrus taste in their mouths. They went back to the one door that they hadn't been able to open and took a closer look at it. After a thorough search, the discovered a tiny inscription etched in the metal plate. It bore one word in Old Meradic: "Life". They puzzled over this for a bit before deciding that a life was needed to touch the plate while the key was in place. Suljurn stepped up and placed his palm on the plate and turned the key before anyone else could argue and the door finally opened. It hissed as if a seal was broken and led into a long dark hallway. The hall continued East, sloping slowly downwards towards another large pool. In the dim light, they could see a tentacled creature's head bobbing just above the surface. On the far wall behind the creature was a giant ring embedded in the wall, flanked by two lion statues. Fearing the giant octopus was back to haunt them and the water would cause excessive shrinkage, they were nervous to get closer, despite the intrigue that the wall presented. The creature didn't move or respond to them when they shot at it or yelled. Eventually, Angrar got fed up and waded out and discovered that the creature was in fact the top of a statue of some sort. Arbor swam out, cursing the icy cold water and examined the statue. He could feel the magic radiating from it though he could understand little of how it was made. He was able to determine that it was some sort of activation device and after a few attempts, the runes on the side of the statue started to glow an eerie purple colour. From the mouths of the lion statues, a similar purple coloured flame belched forth and started to swirl around the ring. When the flames encircled the whole ring, there was a sudden jolt and the room shook, knocking some of the party off their feet, along with several blocks of stone from the roof above. When the group looked back at the ring, they saw images flicker quickly past, like they were looking through a window at a distant scene. They saw a sandy beach swarming with giant lizards; a reddish hellscape of lava and heat; an endless desert with dunes of sand flickered past. They saw a tiny fishing village situated on a barren coastline and several other scenes. The images started to speed up and then it became a silverly mirror. As soon as the mirror appeared the water underneath them started pouring away in a flood, staggering those in the water. Arbor noticed that the flames around the ring were slowly fading. He shouted back to Urith to hurry back and get Deadeye. Urith, who was still outside the water, ran back and grabbed the Kenku making it back just in time to see Arbor slip as the current flowed around him. He disappeared through the mirrored portal.
As soon as Arbor went through, Angrar stopped fighting and slid through the portal as well. The others all quickly followed. When they passed through, they had the sensation of a molten hot fish hook enter their stomach and pull. Every nerve ending was on fire and the world went white. Mercifully, they passed out, unsure of their fate.
Rewards Granted
- 339 xp
- A scroll case with 2 scrolls in it.
- 4 Potions of Healing
- 1006sp, 201gp, 45ep
- Heavy Silver Ring
- 13 Vials of Frigid Woe
- 7 Vials of Frigid Woe Antidote
Notes
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Oorr Rosetta del Hilltopple
Chaotic Good [Tar] Faun (City Watch / Investigator)
Rogue 4
Sorcerer 1
Rogue 4
Sorcerer 1
37 / 37 HP
STR
10
10
DEX
18
18
CON
12
12
INT
8
8
WIS
12
12
CHA
16
16
Urith Thane
Suljurn sah-Ghad
Arbor Nox
Angrar Ironbrow
Report Date
10 Dec 2022
Primary Location
Secondary Location
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