Session 5 Recap

The party:

Chert, a dwarf

Coco, a Thorcin magic-user

Thalia, a Thorcin thief

Capdoffer, an Imperial goblin

As the party regrouped in the basin chamber and discussed their next move, Batengis began to feel unwell and decided to retire to the Inn of the Broken Head, passing his Feather of Maat to Capdoffer who he met along the way. The party decided to take their leave from the dungeon and inter their dead friends on the surface to avoid their rising again as undead. On their way out they paused to further investigate the sarcophagus they discovered earlier, cleaning the dust from the lid and lighting the candle, neither of which had any visible effect. As Capdoffer and Thalia kept watch from the hallway leading out Chert and Coco began to push the lid of the sarcophagus. Their efforts were quickly helped by the inhabitant of the tomb, a mummy who sprung from his crypt. The party, already on edge, seized the initiative and ran en masse down the hallway and into the large natural cavern.

Not a morning person. Image courtesy of Kim Diaz Holm.

Retracing their steps the party was disheartened to find the bodies of their former party members missing once again. With no reason to return to the surface at this point, the party regrouped in the entry chamber near the large statue of Thoth to discuss their next move. As they looked over the map, Thalia asked about a locked door she saw noted in a room not far north of the entry chamber. Chert and Capdoffer told her and Coco of the locked bronze door and their failed attempts to pick the lock. The party proceeded north to allow Thalia an attempt to unlock the door which she was able to easily do.

Peering into the chamber they found the entire room covered in a thick layer of dust, including a (quite recent judging by the smell) corpse along the south wall and a brass halberd leaning against the north wall, along with a door in the northwest and an open passageway to the southeast. As Thalia entered the chamber to investigate, a small eddy began to form in the dust in the middle of the chamber. Seeing its continued growth Thalia retreated out of the chamber at which point the whirlwind subsided. At this point Coco cast Protection from Evil as a ritual and entered the chamber, dragging the corpse to the door and returning to collect the halberd. As she did this the whirlwind grew into a large dust devil which attempted to pummel her with large sandy fists but was unable to. Fighting through the disorientation caused by the swirling dust and sand Coco returned to the party as they examined the items she had brought over, finding a golden ring inscribed with a name (“Gregor”), a potion, and a flask of water on the corpse. The brass halberd was found to be extremely well made, with Thoth iconography artfully carved into the mahogany handle.

The party proceeded to quickly walk the through the chamber to the northwest, taking care not to tarry long enough to allow the dust devil to reach full strength. A small chamber was investigated, the only content of interest being a dry rotted gilt writing desk and chair which crumbled when Thalia began to examine them. The gold leaf was carefully collected and the party proceeded through the exit to the north and found a narrow passage which terminated in a one way door leading to a previously explored chamber.

Returning to and hurrying through the dust devil room the party explored the open passageway to the southeast. After a short distance the passageway terminated in a door, beyond which was a small triangular remnant of a sword stone chamber beyond which yawned a huge chasm. The limits of this chasm lay well beyond the reach of Coco’s Light spell in all directions but from the sounds of their echoing voices the party knew it to be large almost beyond their comprehension. Lighting a torch to help with visibility the party saw a narrow stone bridge with no guard rail leading northeast across the chasm to the remainder of the room. Capdoffer noted that this area looked remarkably similar to a map fragment he had found in the Catacombs of Thoth showing this area of the dungeon and indicating the presence of tombs beyond. Looking northwest into the chasm a large tangle of spiderwebs was noted and to the southeast another room fronting the chasm was seen with a low, rough stone wall along the edge. Shortly a small head poked up above this wall and the incredulous voice of one of Plumthorn’s halflings asked the party how they had arrived at their location. The party temporized and carefully made their way one at time across the narrow Stonebridge (which was found to have no guardrail) to explore the opposite side of the chasm.

Crossing the bridge with no problems the party found themselves in a large, thirty foot tall chamber with empty torch sconces on the north and east walls. The spider webs in the northwest part of the cabin slightly intruded into that corner of the room, and hermetic imagery of the Thoth cult covered the walls. A battered skeleton was discovered in the northeast corner, inspection of which indicated that it had died by massive blunt trauma. This caused everyone to warily eye the massive (fifteen foot tall) basalt statue of Thoth (as the Knower of Secrets) which sat with hands on knees near the northeast corner of the room. Three doors leading from the north and east walls were found to be unopenable and after examination Thalia posited that they must be magically locked. While Thalia examined the doors the party liberated the skeleton of its belongings, finding a dagger, some platinum pieces, and a spell book that Coco gleefully added to her backpack.

Close examination of the statue revealed the same seams at the shoulders that the party had noted on previous large statues of Thoth that they had encountered, and Chert posited that manipulation of the arms might allow access through the magically locked doors and the presumed riches laying beyond. Chert lifted both arms above the statues head, at which point a secret panel to the north of one of the doors in the eastern wall slid open revealing a small empty room which was presently filled by the materializing form a large, muscular, ibis-headed human male who began to enter the room with obvious hostile intention. The party readied itself for a fight but before Chert could test his brand new halberd a Sleep spell from Coco dropped the ibis-headed form and it was dispatched with little fanfare.

A short period of experimentation revealed that each arm had three positions: raised in the air, covering the eye, and resting upon the knee. Leaving the left arm raised in the air, Chert moved the right arm back to the knee which caused a large clicking sound emanating from from somewhere to the southwest. Leaving the right arm on the knee the left hand was then placed on the eye which caused a magical darkness to spring forth which was mutually negated by Coco’s light spell. Leaving the left hand on the eyes and raising the right arm opened another concealed panel in the southeast side of the room. With no Sleep spell available the foe proved less easily vanquished, and it started by emitting a loud earsplitting shriek which dazed Coco and Capdoffer. Chert finally got a chance to try out his new halberd, and was joined in combat shortly as Coco and Capdoffer shook off the effects of the ibis-things shriek. A few hits quickly dropped the creature to half its health, as it invoked a magical darkness that luckily did not impair Chert and Capdoffer’s infravision. Bringing its fists and beak to bear on Chert the creature dropped the dwarf and then turned its attention to Capdoffer as Coco scrambled in the dark to find the potion of Extra Healing that Chert had taken pains to point out he carried prominently on his belt. Her timing was impeccable as she returned Chert to the fray just as Capdoffer was felled by the creature’s blows. A few swings of the halberd felled the beast and Coco began attending to Capdoffer’s wounds. At this point the party retreated across the bridge and back to the entry hall. After settling up with the halflings (who were curious about how the party were able to find a way to the chasm but ultimately declined a trade of that information for reduced taxes) they returned to the surface and began the long walk to Gosterwick to sell some of their loot and consult a sage about some of their magic items.

After a meal and a night’s stay at the Yellow Cloak Inn (during which Coco copied those of her spells which were not duplicates into the new spell book she had acquired), Capdoffer decided to spend the whole day recuperating from the wounds he suffered at the hands (and beak) of the ibis-thing while the rest of the party conducted their business. Chert sold a mundane weapon at a local blacksmith while Thalia was able to find an interested buyer for the gold leaf they had found in the local goldsmith. Coco’s attempts to sell her now superfluous spell book at the Arcane Practitioner’s Club was met with haughty suspicion. A local scribe suggested that a newly opened business, The Rarities Factor, may be willing to do business on that particular item.

After conversing with the staff at The Rarities Factor she was allowed to meet with the proprietor, a charming Imperial goblin named Wicktrimmer. After allowing his staff to examine the spell book he said he would purchase it from her for 400 gold, or a voucher for three sage consultations. The party accepted the latter option, immediately using two of the consultations for the cat statuette that they had found on their first day in the ruins and the brass halberd that Chert wielded. The sage was able to tell them that the cat statue was a Statuette of Feline Friendship, which provides its owner a bonus for interactions with felines and feline-like creatures as well as allowing the owner to summon a local incarnation of Bastet once a month on the full moon which will answer any three questions that are put to it in the language of cats. The halberd was identified as a named weapon, Set’s Bane. In most peoples’ hand it functions as a magic weapon of the least enchant, but in the hands of someone with the highest moral character its enchantment increases, and increases even more against evil clerics and especially clerics of Set.

Full of increased confidence with their recent success in the Halls the party once again eschewed hiring retainers and returned to Arden Vul the next day. Proceeding back across the chasm they continued their experimentation with the statue. They found that in their absence the arms of the statue had returned to resting on the knees. Chert raised both arms to cover the eyes, which opened the southern door on the eastern wall.

Proceeding down this hallway the party eventually discovered a twenty foot by forty foot tomb containing three sarcophagi. As Chert entered the room to examine two skeletons found near the westernmost sarcophagus he noticed that the floor was covered in a series of holes about 3/4” in diameter. After some examination it did not appear that anything was imminently emerging from the holes and the rest of the party entered to examine the room. Examination of the skeletons revealed some rusted and useless armor, a scroll case, a rotting backpack with 27 ancient silver pennies, and a well crafted and still gleaming metal shield. Thalia was able to ascertain that the holes would likely be triggered by an attempt to remove the lids from the sarcophagi, which was corroborated by the wounds evident on the skeletons. Additionally a rough hew tunnel leading south out of the room was noted.

After a brief discussion the party attached a grappling hook at rope to the far side of the lid of the western sarcophagus, and then restarted to outside the chamber in the northern passage. As Coco and Capdoffer began to pull the rope, iron spears began to shoot out o the holes on the ground, not stopping until the lid had crashed to the chamber floor. Proceeding cautiously into the chamber the sarcophagus was found to contain a (non animated) mummy and an ornate jade necklace. The same procedure was repeated with the second sarcophagus, and the last sarcophagus was opened with Coco and Capdoffer dragging the second lid over and standing on it to protect them from the spikes. Both of these sarcophagi had similar contents and the party paused to bask in their success and consider their next move.

R.I.P.:

None

Foes defeated:

Two ibis-headed humanoids