The baby chimerae had breathed acid all over us, so we applied some of our scant remaining healing abilities and got Lycovyne, Gonchar and Flint back on their feet. Gonchar and Lycovyne both slammed a Potion of Healing.

It was time to get back to seeking the Hammer of the Mongoose. We noted that natural light had disappeared at the entrance, and night had fallen. No surprise at all, but the air in the entry-chamber was filled with dust blowing in from the desert outside, and suddenly 6 figures lurched down the corridor out of the dusty entry chamber. We had dragged the large chest to the location A marked on the map.

• initiative loss
• Cathal got hit for 6 points
• Seamus got hit for 8 points
• Menka got hit for 14 points
• Menka was able to turn them, and they buggered off
• 6 juju zombies

Hot on their heels we were approached by 3 utterly ghastly Sons of Kyuss.

• initiative tie
• Menka saved vs. magic
• Lycovyne failed and tried to run away
• Cathal failed to turn them
• Menka failed to turn them
• (the notes do not provide any further details for this encounter – no idea what happened next)

We formed marching order and headed to the southeast region of the complex. A door in the eastern wall was mortared shut (there was a plaque on the door with a crest, but the name and crest had been effaced), while the door immediately around the corner in the southern wall showed more recent mortaring. On that door was a plaque with the name “Mezzagano” and a worn crest in which a dagger could still be made out.

The door farther down the hall on the southern wall of the corridor was in fact unmortared. It was marked with a plaque identifying the occupant: “Here Lies Mochlari the Miser, who took his fortune with him”. Flint checked the single, heavy stone door for traps and found none.

Mochlari the Miser#

With a group effort we were able to push the door inward and enter the room. Inside, we briefly saw a large statue of an old man, with a long beard, at which point the door slammed shut, creating a cloud of dust. Menka cast Passwall from the Wand of Earth and Stone, giving us a 2 hour portal into the room. A portal formed in the door allowing passage into the room. The portal remained open though we could not see into the chamber due to the dust.

Gonchar handed his Rod of Smiting to Cathal, just in case. The knight entered the room and was immediately set upon by the stone figure. Of course.

• initiative loss
• the 9’ stone figure punched Cathal’s shield and the paladin slid backward, but took no damage
• Cathal missed, twice
• initiative win
• Cathal made room for Gonchar to enter the room – he hit the stone guardian with the rod but did not destroy it
• initiative loss
• Cathal got hit for 10 points and struck back for 13 points
• Gonchar chipped a nail
• initiative loss
• Gonchar got hit for 12 points, striking back for 10 points
• Cathal nailed the stone creature for 14 points
• At this point Frey and Flint raised the alarm that Ghasts of Kn’yan were approaching and a second, parallel battle began in the corridor (details follow)
• initiative loss
• Gonchar got pummeled for 13 more points
• Cathal hit it twice, hard, for 31 points
• Gonchar then nailed it with a natural 20 for 24 points, shattering it
• crypt guardian, 96 hp

Meanwhile, in the corridor, the rest of us fought off a band of attacking kangaroo ghasts.

• initiative loss
• Frey got bitten for 9 points but made his save vs. poison
• Flint got clawed and bitten for 10
• Menka was able to turn 2 of the 4 foul creatures
• Frey hit one twice at close range for 28 points of damage
• Flint hit the other one twice with sword and dagger for 11 points
• Frey saved vs. paralyzation
• Flint failed his save and fell to the floor, paralyzed
• initiative loss
• Frey got bitten for 2 points and made his save vs. paralyzation
• Seamus got bitten for 6 and failed his save, hitting the floor
• Menka cast Remove Paralysis on Flint
• Frey drilled his opponent for 14 points destroying it
• initiative loss
• Flint got bitten for 12 as he stood back up but made his save
• Frey hit the last ghast twice for 36 points, destroying it
• 4 ghasts of Kn’yan (2 turned, 2 destroyed): 40, 35, 35, 32 hp

Cathal doled out the battlefield medicine and we regrouped in the corridor. Flint used his Periapt of Healing twice, and Menka hit him with a Cure Light Wounds, getting him to 48 hp.

We searched the room with the crypt guardian while the portal was still in place. It contained 2 coffins, one of which was child-sized. It also contained 4 chests. Flint and Seamus checked all the coffins and chests for traps. As it happened all 4 chests had rusted hinges and locks and also needle traps. The boys were able to safely disable all 4 needle traps. All 4 chests were filled with pieces of gold! The large casket contained the mummified if otherwise unremarkable remains of a human man. The small casket contained 38 gems! The gold was divvied up (uncounted?) into Lycovyne’s and Menka’s Bags of Holding, while the gems went into Cathal’s Haversack.

Back in the corridor, we observed that the door directly across from the Miser’s tomb had a plaque that read “Here lies Vasila, Unlucky in Love”. The door there was sealed with mortar. The wall around this door had cracks and some bits of mortar on the floor, and dark stains and bits of …\ something …\ stuck on the wall around the cracks.

More Umber Hulks#

We formed marching order again and headed west down the corridor. At the far western end of the bone-filled octagonal room in the south we found a wooden door with a latch. A wooden door was a strange find in this place. Neither Flint nor Seamus found any traps in this door. We pulled the latch and pushed Cathal through. Beyond the wooden door the hallway continued west. Double doors stood open in the northern wall of the corridor with tunnel worm holes over the doors. The corridor turned sharply north beyond the double doors. An umber hulk covered in tunnel worm blood looked out the doors at us. Everyone among us but Kyril and Seamus save vs. magic.

• initiative win
• Gonchar hit the umber hulk for 26 points of damage
• Cathal hit it with a natural 20 for 38 points, felling the creature
• A second umber hulk appeared
• Menka said a Prayer
• the new umber hulk missed Cathal
• initiative win
• we all save vs. magic
• Gonchar hit it for 26 points
• Cathal hit it for 9 more
• Frey drilled it for 36 points, killing it
• 2 umber hulks: 59, 60 hp

The chewed up corpse of a tunnel worm lay on the floor in the room beyond. Apparently, the umber hulks had tucked in for a snack. The plaque outside the door identified the former occupant as one Marshack Warren the 1st, and included the coat of arms of the current rulers of Ruatha: a wolf on a field of stars.

Out of nowhere, a 3rd umber hulk appeared from around the corner. It seemed that only Cathal and Gonchar were within sight of the umber hulk.

• initiative win
• Gonchar save vs. magic
• Cathal is immune to mind control, so no need to save
• Cathal hit it for 18 points
• Gonchar nailed it for 30 more
• the creature struck back at Gonchar, doing 16 points of damage
• Cathal rolled a natural 20 on his second attack, doing 40 points, felling the creature
• umber hulk, 58 hp

The crypt in the room with the chewed up tunnel worm corpse had been thoroughly worked over and dined upon long before we arrived. A relatively fresh corpse lay on the ground near the crypt. A bearded, red-haired man, a fighter type, probably: gutted by a worm, his breastplate splayed open and the contents of his stomach splayed outward, not killed by the umber hulks. A dagger and a large pouch hung from his waist. He appeared to be dead less than a week.

The man’s chest and gut had been torn open and we saw 7–8 eggs pulsating in the cavity. As we examined the disgusting mess a worm launched out of one of the holes high in the wall, knocking Flint over and dealing 13 points of damage to him.

• initiative win
• Gonchar hit the worm for 12 points
• Cathal slashed the beast for 20 points
• Flint hit it twice with dagger and sword for 16 points
• the worm fled back into its hole

Cathal bound Flint’s wounds for 3 points, getting him back to (38/72). (Somebody burned the eggs, I think – Flint with the Flame Tongue maybe? The notes do not describe this act, though Cathal and Menka are fairly sure it happened.)

Menka checked the red-haired man’s pouch and other belongings.

Worm-slain fighter loot!

• handful of GP and PP
• 2 gems
• dagger (Kyril)
• rolled-up document — this turned out to be an excellent map of the southern area we were in, including a location for the Temple of Thoth!

Gonchar rummaged through the sarcophagus, finding nothing of value. The skeleton therein wore a signet ring with the same crest seen outside the door: a wolf on a field of stars.

The Far South - Temple of Thoth (Map)#

Across the hallway we found a door sealed with lead, not mortar. The plaque next to the door contained no writing, just the symbol of a circle with a vertical line through it. Menka knew this to be the sign of the plague. We left that door quite well alone.

A door to the south was lightly mortared. The plaque next to the door identified the occupant as a follower of crazed undead cult of Xirarix.

The door to the west displayed a more complex plaque in script familiar to the northerners among us:

Of course Cathal opened this door. The passage inside turned to the right immediately and vanished into darkness. The evil emanating from this room staggered the Knight of Diancecht. Hoping to pour some gas on the fire, Flint fired the Wand of Wonder into the darkness. We entered.

Getting Some ‘Ed#

The room was long and unnaturally dark, and smelled awful, like an unholy stink of death – three zombies – men of southern descent, with blank looks on their faces and who appeared to have very severe wounds, staggered out of the dark, faster than such undead normally are – and lunged at us.

• initiative win
• Cathal tried to turn the undead which attacked him but failed
• Flint had rolled a 50 with the Wand of Wonder, thereby hasting all the undead in the room. Great.
• one of the hasted undead nailed Cathal for 10 points of damage
• initiative win
• Cathal nailed the hasted zombie for 14 points
• Menka failed to turn them as well
• Frey drilled the hasted zombie with a natural 20 for 40 points of damage, dropping it (1 down)
• a new, larger undead entered the fray – we saw burning red eyes rushing towards us – and the light revealed a horrid, tall, grimacing – or was it smiling? – desiccated corpse of a man, with a bright red tongue, long, cartilaginous, and ending in claws flickering out from between its teeth, with ragged burial clothes, with a writhing mass of organs visible on the torso under the clothes which moved with great speed, wielding a great hammer.
• this new undead creature whacked Menka with the giant hammer for 10 points of damage
• Menka failed his save vs. paralyzation and hit the deck
• initiative win
• haste beat the initiative win (thanks, Flint) and it attacked Gonchar
• Gonchar made his save vs. paralyzation and hit the creature back with his axe
• Lycovyne hit it with Magic Missile for 13 points
• Frey drilled it twice for 36 points
• Cathal attacked one of the other zombies, hitting it for 15 points
• that same zombie retaliated for 6 points
• the larger hasted asshole attacked Gonchar again, hitting him for 5 points – at (21/100) Gonchar was in trouble
• Kyril cast Faerie Fire on the hideous Edward
• It attacked Gonchar again, hammer, claw and tongue (eeww???) doing 21 points, knocking him down to (0/100)
• Gonchar struck back from the shadow of death, hitting the creature for 36 points
• Flint threw 2 +2 darts at it, doing 7 points of damage
• Cathal, second attacks, hit the same zombie for 25 points
• it attacked Gonchar again, knocking him down to (-5/100)
• Gonchar hit it twice for 29 points
• Frey hit the big guy for 24 points, dropping it to the ground
• initiative win
• Cathal kept beating on his zombie opponent, hitting it for 12 more points
• Frey hit a zombie twice for 28 points
• Seamus hit Frey’s opponent for 8 points
• Flint attacked with dagger and sword, hit twice for 12 points, felling it (2 down)
• initiative win
• Cathal hit the last remaining juju zombie for 16 points
• Flint, dagger and a natural 20, hit it for 10 more
• Seamus hit it twice for 24 points, felling it (3 down)
• Lycovyne hit for 10 points (??)
• the big guy rose from the floor, eyes glowing, the rictus grin widening, limned in Faerie Fire
• it attacked Seamus, hitting him for 6 points and paralyzing the monk (did not think this possible?)
• Cathal grabbed the Staff of Curing off the paralyzed cleric and brought Gonchar back to 1 point
• the Staff of Curing now had 1 charge left
• Cathal hit the big guy once, doing 9 points of damage
• Flint hit it again with another natural 20, dropping the fell creature
• Kyril poured holy water on it
• Lycovyne cut its head off
• Gonchar, as the battle ended, collapsed, hitting the floor like an armor-clad, bleeding bag of bricks stinking of ale.
• Flint went nuts with his Flame Tongue sword and hacked the creature and its head to fiery bits
• Cathal dumped lots more holy water on it – blue fire and foul vapor arose from the mangled corpse
• this time, it stayed down
• Edward T. Hedley, 96 hp
• 3 juju zombies: 35, 30, 27 hp

One of the zombies carried a pouch with 50 gp. We examined the hammer carried by Edward. It was a lovely weapon engraved with symbols of Osiris. The haft was engraved with mongooses rending snakes with their claws. We’d found it, but we were in rough shape.

Cathal doled out some much needed battlefield medicine though, as a party, we had fuck-all left for healing spells or potions.

Gonchar was a mess, literally. Unconscious. Breathing only barely. Bleeding from multiple wounds, swollen from the hammer’s impact and out like a fading light. Effectively a large beer cask with legs and arms.

Cathal heard noises down the hall. We dragged the unmoving dwarf along with us and hid in the room where we’d found Valeria. Kyril cast Wall of Thorns down the hall, then used Stone Shape to close the door.

end