July 16th, 2017

The Tomb of Stairs and Statues Part Two: the Change-Up and Final Challenge

From my left:

Zack playing LaVeya the 5^th level human druid

Connor playing -nameless- the 1^st level human cleric

Matt playing Mirin the 3^rd level human spellsword

Nick playing Merrick the 6^th level human rage-zombie fighter

Catherine playing Ydee the 6^th level half-elven thief

Paige playing Keeva the 1^st (2^nd) level halfling infiltrator

Sarai playing Desorna the 6^th level elven axe-maiden

Hunter playing Flever Graveltoes the 1^st level gnome ranger (a combination that is not allowed in LOL, but Hunter has had a rough time with character survival, so this is his gift from the DM)

and Chris playing Deckard the 3^rd/6^th level human ex-fighter/thief

The last game paused when the party opened another door to find a twenty by thirty room, and it restarted at that same point with a small change. Justinia Faith disappeared and in her place was a human cleric and a gnome ranger. Also, Mirin had been with the party all the time, but no one had noticed. With these substitutions completed, the room was entered. All that was visible in the room was a diamond shaped pit, ten feet on each side, in the center of the room. A glance down into the pit by Merrick seemed to reveal a bottomless pit. LaVeya threw a sling stone into the pit which banged once or twice off of walls before being lost in silence. There was another noise that some heard at this point: a faint clunk then a grinding noise. No one could figure out where it was coming from until a glance upward showed that the ceiling was getting closer. Panicked but still reasonable the party tried to open the door on the far side of the room only to find that it seemed to have been wedged shut. Merrick hammered an iron spike into the floor and tied a rope around it so he could rappel into the pit to escape crushing if needed. LaVeya use a stone shape spell to make a hole in the door and remove the wedge. She then pulled the door open and most of the party scrambled out into the hall beyond while Keeva and Desorna did their best to reel in the dangling Merrick who was almost literally at the end of his rope. The rescue attempt almost went very badly indeed but as he started to slip Merrick managed to grab on to the edge of the pit and dangle by his fingertips for a moment before scrambling up and making a rush for the door. They all had a narrow escape and watched the ceiling hit the floor with a thud. It rose again a moment after and the party continued onward.

The passage beyond was another twenty foot long hallway ending in another door. The adventurers carefully opened the door to reveal the expected thirty by thirty foot room beyond with the doors in the center of the left and straight ahead walls and a stone throne with a motionless robed skeleton sitting in it against the wall to the right. As the party moved to examine the skeleton, it turned its head to watch them. It spoke in a language no one understood and in an attempt to communicate Deckard took out a quill pen and paper to offer the creature. It responded by pointing at him, saying something else in its language, and Deckard was gone. At this point the party attacked.

The fight was not as difficult since the skeleton never left its seat, but it would just point and another person was gone. As party member after party member vanished the remaining characters began to worry as only low level characters and Ydee were left. Finally Ydee rushed the damaged skeleton and killed it with the Dagger of Evisceration. The creature died in a blinding flash of light that rendered everyone in close combat with it unconscious and leaving Keeva alone and a bundle of nerves until the other two awoke. Once they awoke, the surviving members of the party looked around they noticed something odd. There was most of an arrow floating in midair, about three or four feet off of the ground. Careful examination showed that the arrow was stuck in the back of some sort of unseen metallic figure. Further investigation led to the realization that the missing party members were not gone, but had instead been paralyzed and made invisible by the powers of the undead creature. And Desorna had unfortunately taken a good amount of damage from friendly fire from Keeva.

Once the paralyzed and invisible members recovered, the party searched the room. Flever noticed that the seat of the throne was loose and he managed to move it to reveal a compartment underneath. A large sack was in this hidden chamber, and as Deckard moved closer to try to examine it for traps, Flever leapt past him and opened the sack, causing a fine mist to spray into his face. Flever managed to make his saving throw and only had to deal with his eyes being irritated by the effects of the spray while Deckard cautiously opened the bag to check out what was inside. The contents included another two dozen chunks of gold ore and a box that contained six cut crystal vials, each containing some sort of powder that had once been a potion. These items were carefully stored away and the party continued on.

Through the door in the far wall lay another twenty foot long hallway as the symmetry continued. Deckard continued checking for traps and found one on this door. It was disarmed and the door was opened. The expected twenty by thirty foot room was revealed beyond the door, with another door opposite the one they entered. In its center was a three foot tall sloping-sided pyramid with a flat top. Three feet over the top of this floated a softball-sized multifaceted clear gemstone. Cautiously approaching it, the party tried to examine it and finally Deckard reached up to grasp it. As he did so his hand passed straight through it and a flaming skeleton with a bastard sword of fire appeared in each corner of the room and moved to attack the party. The damage dealt by the swords was severe, and worse when the skeleton was killed it exploded in a ball of fire, damaging those nearby. With the opponents out of the way Deckard tried to grab the gemstone again. Unfortunately it was still impossible to grasp, and four more firey skeletons appeared. These ones were unarmed and instead of making physical attacks they rushed toward the center of the room and detonated, once again injuring a good number of the party and in these deaths the nameless cleric was reduced to zero hit points and Flever the ranger was nearly killed. In the aftermath LaVeya tried to stabilize the gnome, but ended up just casting a minor regeneration on him instead to ensure that he would survive. As the gnome staggered to his feet supported by others, the party insisted that Deckard leave the gem alone so they could continue on. He did convince them to search the pyramid before leaving and they did so discovering that there was a reddish section near the base that looked to be a compartment of some sort. After carefully prying at it they discovered it was a reddish stone that was ten inches by ten inches by four inches. As this matched the previously located green stone it went into the bag of holding for future use.

The far door led to another short hallway and another door to a fifty by fifty corner room with the now familiar raised areas and statue, this one pointing to the northeast corner. The skirt of this statue was slightly greenish and Deckard climbed the statue and tried to see if the green stone from the previous session would fit in the hollow of the hand that he expected to find. It fit perfectly in the space though nothing seemed to happen when it was inserted, and it could not be removed. But after confirming what was expected, Deckard climbed back down and the party continued on.

Through the door was another hall and after the door at the end of that hall another room. All that was visible in this room was a simple stone pedestal with a lever sticking out of the top. Carefully Merrick, Deckard, and Desorna approached it and examined it. No traps were found and so Merrick pulled the lever. When this was done the three fighters were hit by something gelatinous falling on them from above and trapping them within it. Desorna was paralyzed by the gelatinous cube and all three took some damage while the remaining members of the party tried to help them kill the cube. A couple of people were paralyzed and injured before the battle was done, but once the fight was finished the badly damaged party moved on.

Down the next hall to the next room the bedraggled party went, helping half carry their new gnome ally. The next door was opened revealing another thirty by thirty foot room with a door to the party's left and another straight ahead. A large stone sarcophagus lay in each corner of the room, the head of each in the corner and the feet pointing to the center of the room where a large faintly glowing glyph was inscribed on the floor. Tying a rope around himself, just in case, Deckard tried to cross the floor to the left hand door without looking at or coming near the glyph. Merrick was holding the other end of the rope and trying to steer the ex-fighter/thief so he would avoid the rune. They were not competent at this plan, but the curious synchronicity of their incompetence led to the endeavor being a resounding success as Deckard reached the door with no problems after taking the long way around thanks to Merrick. As the rest of the party attempted the crossing, Merrick couldn't help but look at the rune. He hesitated when he caught a glimpse of it, then stopped and stared for a second before shaking himself and continuing along.* There were some minor concerns about this, but Merrick said he was fine, just fine, really, so the party continued on, back to the central room where they hoped to get some rest,spell points, and healing before returning.

Merrick had first watch and soon after the others had gone to sleep two spectres came through the doors and moved to attack. Several members of the party were awakened for the battle and after a round of combat Merrick said something to them in a language no one understood,** and the spectres hesitated and then left. There was some confusion over this, but since no one was losing xp they all went back to sleep leaving their trusted fighter ally Merrick on watch.

The rest of first watch passed uneventfully, as did the second watch of Desorna. The third watch of Deckard seemed to pass uneventfully except for the time when Deckard, apparently overcome by tiredness, dozed off for a bit before shaking himself back awake and finishing his watch.

In truth during third watch a tall skeletal figure clothed in black robes and menace appeared in the center of the room and slept Deckard and cast a spell to make him forget seeing the figure. By some stroke of luck Desorna was awake during this and feigned sleep while keeping an eye open to see what the thing was going to do as she slowly, silently reached out to have her hand on the haft of her axe.

The figure moved over to where Merrick was sleeping and stooped down to touch his shoulder. Merrick woke up at the touch and a quiet conversation began in an unknown tongue.*** After a few minutes the conversation was over and the figure vanished and Merrick went back to sleep. A bit later Deckard awoke and resumed his watch with no memory of what had happened, and Desorna closed her eyes and attempted to return to sleep in spite of her uneasiness.

Upon awakening after their rest the party was healing up and preparing for the next stage of their adventure. Merrick was champing at the bit to be underway and impatiently urging the party on so they could get the remaining stones and finish up. This attitude seemed odd to the others, but Desorna kept quiet about what she had seen and the others shrugged and went about their business. Merrick started to the east door first and when asked why he said it was the way to the light blue stone. Though confused by his knowledge and his insistence the party prevailed on him to return to the south where they had most recently been. Grumpily allowing himself to be convinced, Merrick went along with the plan.

Under the prodding of Merrick to hurry up the party went back south and through the door to the east. Down the hallway they came to another door which Merrick opened and they entered another twenty by thirty foot room with six pedestals, three against the left wall and three against the right, with one of the odd looking stylized heads similar to the ones on the statues in the corner rooms on each. Moving purposefully Merrick walked to the center pedestal against the right hand wall and turned the head to look at the wall, then did the same at the center pedestal on the north wall. Then he moved to the center of the room he stepped on a part of the floor that apparently released the lock on a trapdoor next to it. Opening the trapdoor he pulled out a white stone like the previously found green and red ones, handed it to Deckard, and said that it would be more direct if they just went back through the central entry room and down the east hall instead of dealing with the other obstacles. The party was becoming more and more concerned by Merrick's odd behavior, but they went along with it. Returning to the central room and then to the east Merrick quickly pushed the hidden release for the locked door and continued on. Entering the unexplored thirty by thirty foot room the mummified figures against the far wall came to life and started to move toward the party, but some words from Merrick in a harsh unknown language sent them back to rest against the wall.**** Merrick led the way north out of this room, down the short hall, and into the next room.

In the center of this twenty by thirty foot room was a small raised dais with an odd metallic statue that had a crookedly spiraling central column with many odd phalanges sticking off of it, some stretching several feet away. Merrick walked over to the statue and pushed a shorter of the many protruding pieces on it, announced that it was disabled, then stooped to open a hidden section of the base and remove a faintly light blue stone from underneath which he handed to Deckard. “Now,” he said, “we can get to the center chamber of this place.” And then all hell broke loose.

A wild look came into Deckard's eyes and he tensed up, seeming to be in great pain. His hands curved like claws in this rictus, and then after a moment he began wildly punching himself in the face, screaming “The power of Shay compels you! The power of Shay compels you!”***** repeatedly until he collapsed in a heap with blood trickling from his ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. After a moment of this he scrambled back to his feet and said “Do NOT use those stones!” He then proceeded to explain to the party the situation (given in the footnotes below if you haven't read therm yet), and explain why the party does not want to use the stones and confront Mneh-Ptah. Basically, “He'll kill us all.”

However, and beneficially, Merrick does retain enough of Imhotep's memories to identify where there are other treasures in the dungeon (in the center rooms on each side of the outer box), though he strongly suggests not pursuing the treasure in the mummy rooms as he can no longer command them. However the treasures UNDER the sarcophagi can be reached though he does know that under no circumstances should the sarcophagi be opened. He doesn't remember what is within them, only that they would likely be killed if the sarcophagi were opened. He also tells the party one other piece of information he remembers from his possession: the chamber of Mneh-Ptah does not need to be entered to allow the party to leave. If they had turned the snowflake key counter-clockwise instead of clockwise they would have been teleported out of the tomb. Live and learn.

The party leaves the spindly trap room by the north door to avoid the room of mummies and to return to the central chamber. Desiring treasure they return south to the sarcophagus room and loot the four treasure compartments there, gaining more gold ore and four more boxes of items. Hurrying back to the central room to make their escape they find that they have been in the tomb long enough for the key to be missing and Merrick tells the party that the four pieces have returned to their rooms. LaVeya casts resist elements on Merrick and Deckard so they can be on point, and the party begins the inner loop again. LaVeya and the nameless cleric remain in the center room to wait as they are low on spell points. This lasts for a brief while until a tall skeletal figure cloaked in black robes and menace appears in the center of the room. Panicking, and with initiative in their favor, the two run screaming out of the room and catch up with the rest of the party. With the two gone the figure vanishes again.

The battles are slightly easier this time as the party knows what to expect, with the exception of the toughest of them all, the poison giant in the acid room. Much of the party is badly injured once again before the key is reassembled and the party takes it back to the center room and turns it two clicks counter clockwise. There is a flash, and the party finds themselves back in the Silver Eagles Aerie. They seem to be alone here, and only three sides are lit instead of four (the third side being golden after the red and blue of previous sides). The party waits for a week, allowing their new gnome friend to recover from his near death experience, without the Silver Eagles returning. After a week the party decides to head back to Treefold to see Glykras.

The trip is relatively uneventful, and Glykras is happy to see them and to get the news of their discoveries. He makes a deal with them to identify the items they have and to add the identify spell to Mirin's spellbook in exchange for half of the gold ore they recovered. After some internal debate the proposition is agreed to and Glykras sends them to relax in the guest bunk chamber while he does his identifying. From the various bags of treasure the party had found a full dozen potions that have not been identified yet, two wands, a dagger, an amulet, and the ring from the gelatinous cube. The wands are identified as an obsidian wand of blindness and a bloodroot tree wand of summon insects, the dagger is a +1 returning dagger, the ring a ring of protection +1, and the amulet an amulet of survival (similar to a necklace of adaptation). Glykras tells them that there are three powdered potions of healing, three potions of essence, one of avian control, one of reptile control, one of stone giant strength, two of levitation, and one of longevity. Wine must be mixed with the powdered potions to make them effective again, but this can be easily arranged. The potion of longevity is the rarest and potentially most valuable of the potions, and the party, having no need of it, debates what to do with it. In the end, with Glykras' advice, the decision is made to sell it with Glykras acting as their agent. Glykras gives them some idea of its worth, they set an opening price (5000 gold pieces) and a rock bottom price (4000 gold pieces), agree on Glykras' cut (10% of the sale price), and the arrangement is made. Glykras agrees, excuses himself for a moment, and when he returns he tosses Merrick a heavy bag containing 405 platinum pieces (the midway price between the two extremes, minus his cut), pockets the potion of longevity, and tells the party “Thanks.”

While in town the nameless cleric goes to the shrine of all faiths feeling certain that he his much to learn after this adventure (and he is correct since he will get enough xp to level) and LaVeya goes in search of someone to train her as well.

Meanwhile, the short people have decided to form a family. Keeva and Flever have decided that they want to raise a child together, and that this child should be a chicken. After several misbegotten attempts to otherwise acquire a chicken through stealth(?) which involved sneaking into barns and looking for a likely child, they finally found a very rare Okerney Black chicken (since they wanted a black chicken. I don't ask why, I just nod, smile, and go on with things like one is supposed to do with madmen/women) which Keeva happily paid 25 gold pieces for. And now they have a child and are odd. I mean happy.

And with that bit of madness taken care of, we ended for the night.

Experience points for the party:

LaVeya: 1583

-nameless-: 1583

Mirin: 1425

Merrick: 1741+ 250 for possession

Ydee: 1583

Keeva: 1583 +50 for chicken madness

Desorna: 1583

Flever Graveltoes: 1583 +50 for chicken madness

Deckard: 1741

Side notes: LaVeya has done all her rolls for her training, but the others who will need training will need to go through that routine too. Nameless earned enough xp to level this session, and Keeva already could level and may be able to level again now, so that will have to be taken care of too. LaVeya knows how much her training will be, but next session we will go through the process of discovering how much money the party has for training and expenses.

Footnotes:

*- And we welcome Merrick to the wonderful world of possession. Hope you enjoy your stay. Merrick's personality is subverted by that of Imhotep (as I add to the Aztec/Maya concept by the addition of Egyptian names, in this case the supposed architect of the great pyramids) who helped create this tomb for his king Mneh-Ptah. Merrick knows this, but cannot act upon it.

**- Effectively “Begone! Leave these to me!”

***- Mneh-Ptah “Bring these living vessels to my chambers. We shall use them in the Ritual of Living Blood to return me to flesh so I can resume my rule.”

Merrick/Imhotep “Yes, my King. It shall be as you say.”

Mneh-Ptah “I have waited too long for this opportunity to come. The priests did too well sealing me away in the darkness. Dispense with the pretense of being their companion and just take the most direct steps to get them to the central chamber. I wish to live and taste the joys of flesh again.”

Merrick/Imhotep “It shall be done as you command, my King. All glory shall return to you.”

Mneh-Ptah “Command the guardians to stand aside and lead them directly to the remaining tablets, then unlock the passage to the center chamber. Once there we shall immobilize them and their viscera shall feed my rebirth. And you shall be rewarded with that which you most desire.”

Merrick/Imhotep “Thank you my King. It shall be done as you command.”

**** “Your King, Mneh-Ptah, commands you to be at rest! These vessels are for his purposes.”

***** Shay, Merrick's wife and the mother of his three children, is an elven woman and a spellsword of some skill and more ability (levels) than Merrick possesses. Merrick loves his wife dearly though she still manages to intimidate the heck out of him. Her 'control' over him apparently helped him to resist the possession and regain control of himself. Shay's current whereabouts, and those of their children, are unexplained by Merrick. But Merrick's rage against many things is apparently related to the situation with his family.