Post by Dungeon Master on Nov 2, 2016 11:25:22 GMT -8
Session 17...
The party heads back to Zelkor's Ferry, deciding that the second abandoned keep isn't worth exploring, beyond poking their heads down the stairway they had discovered and learning that the catacombs beneath were extensive.
Back in Zelkor's Ferry, the party stocks up on rope, potions and rations. They head back towards where they believe the main dungeon entrance is. At least, to their best recollection based on what guards had told them, while they were part of the initial caravan to Zelkor's Ferry.
Without much difficulty they find a sunken graveyard, which they investigate. There are several crypt like structures along with a well and a statue of a forgotten dwarf hero. While within the graveyard, they become aware that creatures are watching them, but they don't manage to catch any of them, or even to get a good look.
The statue of the Dwarf hero warns people to not disturb his bones, so the party decides to honor that and leave the statue alone.
Aside from dropping coins (with 'Light' cast on them) down 'the Well', the well is also left alone.
Two of the smaller buildings are mausoleums, but they're basically empty and uninteresting.
The largest building contains freshly dug graves, along with engravings upon one of the walls in a kind of memorial, which mentions the names of fallen heroes along with something either about those heroes or regarding how they had died... Disturbingly, each of the PCs finds their name upon the wall, along with an epitath describing an unpleasant end.
The building is set within a depression within the sunken graveyard. There are a set of steps that lead downwards towards its front door. Blitzkreig, the rogue (Arcanist|Rogue 5) descends the stairs alone, as the rest of the party spreads out around the stairway leading downwards.
As he begins to tinker with the door, several of the Gargoyle statues (made of a strange green material) animate and attack. Four of the gargoyle like creatures swarm Blitzkreig and attack from all directions. Four more of the gargoyles fly to the top of the stairs and basically tie up the other characters. Alas, Blitzkreig's (12 AC) does not prove to be an effective defense against four creatures each with multiple attacks. He rolls poorly on initiative... they close the distance to him (and the party) in the surprise round and take him out in the first round of combat, prior to his getting to act.
The rest of the party manage to deal with the Gargoyle creatures without too much of an issue, although a significant amount of healing is expended in the process. The healer spends the majority of her time, wildshaped into a small dinosaur creature which then charges and rages (Druid|Barbarian); while her healing prowess is likely the worst to date, not as much healing is required when the primary healer is also the highest damage dealer in the party.
The party retreats from the Sunken Graveyard area, awaiting the arrival of Blitzkreig's replacement.
His replacement is Atom Waffe (German for atomic weapon), who is almost identical (Arcanist 5 | Rogue 5, having moved two points from Charisma into Dexterity, resulting in 13 AC unbuffed).
The gargoyle's are reforming on the roof, but Thor (the Dwarf) believes it will be around a week before they have fully reformed. The partially reforming gargoyles do not animate or attack.
Atom manages to unlock the massive doors of the mausaleum, but is not strong enough to open them himself. Freshmeat manages to slowly open the doors enough for each of the party members to pass through in single file. They opt to leave the doors mostly closed, to make the structure more defensible should the need arrive.
The structure is mostly empty, save for a sarcophagus near the back wall. As the party examines it, Thor starts to get a nagging feeling that something is wrong. He chooses to not concentrate on that feeling, but to instead ignore it. The sarcophagus contains a skeletal warrior of some sort, wearing oiled black chain armor and dual-wielding short swords. The creature is fast and hits easily, but not for that massive of an amount of damage. The party manages to defeat it fairly quickly.
Atom Waffe discovers a plate in the ground, which is far too heavy for him to move. Freshmeat attempts to use his muscles and a crowbar to pry at it, but the thing is nearly set flush so getting the crowbar to grip the flagstone is rather difficult. At this point, Thor decides to concentrate upon his nagging feeling and realizes that the very floor the party is standing upon is rising at a miniscule rate; for whatever reason, he does not share this information with the party.
All concentration and efforts are upon the slab of rock in the ground. Ulric is standing watch, near the entrance of the mausoleum, but everyone else is deep within. The doors suddenly slam inwards and close; Ulric almost jumps outwards but due to his heavy armors, is a little too slow. The floor continues to rise at a miniscule rate, and Thor now decides to inform the group that this is happening. It quickly becomes apparent that the rising of the ground has made it impossible for the doors to be opened. Everyone directs their attention to the slab in the ground, which is pried up and reveals a ladder which heads downwards. A massive steel plate is very slowly sliding into place, which will make the ladder inaccessible in the very near future.. Atom is pretty sure that if the party had been a little slower with the slab, that the plate might very well have already been blocking the ladder...
The party heads back to Zelkor's Ferry, deciding that the second abandoned keep isn't worth exploring, beyond poking their heads down the stairway they had discovered and learning that the catacombs beneath were extensive.
Back in Zelkor's Ferry, the party stocks up on rope, potions and rations. They head back towards where they believe the main dungeon entrance is. At least, to their best recollection based on what guards had told them, while they were part of the initial caravan to Zelkor's Ferry.
Without much difficulty they find a sunken graveyard, which they investigate. There are several crypt like structures along with a well and a statue of a forgotten dwarf hero. While within the graveyard, they become aware that creatures are watching them, but they don't manage to catch any of them, or even to get a good look.
The statue of the Dwarf hero warns people to not disturb his bones, so the party decides to honor that and leave the statue alone.
Aside from dropping coins (with 'Light' cast on them) down 'the Well', the well is also left alone.
Two of the smaller buildings are mausoleums, but they're basically empty and uninteresting.
The largest building contains freshly dug graves, along with engravings upon one of the walls in a kind of memorial, which mentions the names of fallen heroes along with something either about those heroes or regarding how they had died... Disturbingly, each of the PCs finds their name upon the wall, along with an epitath describing an unpleasant end.
The building is set within a depression within the sunken graveyard. There are a set of steps that lead downwards towards its front door. Blitzkreig, the rogue (Arcanist|Rogue 5) descends the stairs alone, as the rest of the party spreads out around the stairway leading downwards.
As he begins to tinker with the door, several of the Gargoyle statues (made of a strange green material) animate and attack. Four of the gargoyle like creatures swarm Blitzkreig and attack from all directions. Four more of the gargoyles fly to the top of the stairs and basically tie up the other characters. Alas, Blitzkreig's (12 AC) does not prove to be an effective defense against four creatures each with multiple attacks. He rolls poorly on initiative... they close the distance to him (and the party) in the surprise round and take him out in the first round of combat, prior to his getting to act.
The rest of the party manage to deal with the Gargoyle creatures without too much of an issue, although a significant amount of healing is expended in the process. The healer spends the majority of her time, wildshaped into a small dinosaur creature which then charges and rages (Druid|Barbarian); while her healing prowess is likely the worst to date, not as much healing is required when the primary healer is also the highest damage dealer in the party.
The party retreats from the Sunken Graveyard area, awaiting the arrival of Blitzkreig's replacement.
His replacement is Atom Waffe (German for atomic weapon), who is almost identical (Arcanist 5 | Rogue 5, having moved two points from Charisma into Dexterity, resulting in 13 AC unbuffed).
The gargoyle's are reforming on the roof, but Thor (the Dwarf) believes it will be around a week before they have fully reformed. The partially reforming gargoyles do not animate or attack.
Atom manages to unlock the massive doors of the mausaleum, but is not strong enough to open them himself. Freshmeat manages to slowly open the doors enough for each of the party members to pass through in single file. They opt to leave the doors mostly closed, to make the structure more defensible should the need arrive.
The structure is mostly empty, save for a sarcophagus near the back wall. As the party examines it, Thor starts to get a nagging feeling that something is wrong. He chooses to not concentrate on that feeling, but to instead ignore it. The sarcophagus contains a skeletal warrior of some sort, wearing oiled black chain armor and dual-wielding short swords. The creature is fast and hits easily, but not for that massive of an amount of damage. The party manages to defeat it fairly quickly.
Atom Waffe discovers a plate in the ground, which is far too heavy for him to move. Freshmeat attempts to use his muscles and a crowbar to pry at it, but the thing is nearly set flush so getting the crowbar to grip the flagstone is rather difficult. At this point, Thor decides to concentrate upon his nagging feeling and realizes that the very floor the party is standing upon is rising at a miniscule rate; for whatever reason, he does not share this information with the party.
All concentration and efforts are upon the slab of rock in the ground. Ulric is standing watch, near the entrance of the mausoleum, but everyone else is deep within. The doors suddenly slam inwards and close; Ulric almost jumps outwards but due to his heavy armors, is a little too slow. The floor continues to rise at a miniscule rate, and Thor now decides to inform the group that this is happening. It quickly becomes apparent that the rising of the ground has made it impossible for the doors to be opened. Everyone directs their attention to the slab in the ground, which is pried up and reveals a ladder which heads downwards. A massive steel plate is very slowly sliding into place, which will make the ladder inaccessible in the very near future.. Atom is pretty sure that if the party had been a little slower with the slab, that the plate might very well have already been blocking the ladder...