I’ve been very remiss in my postings, and it’s been so long since the most recent D&D post and where the game is now that I need to play a little catch-up. I’ll try to include as many details as I can, but for the most part, the older the session, the less likely I am to remember every little thing. Anyway, here goes.
The group defeats the first group of Seiq, and moves further into the cavern. They are forced to crawl through a small, low-ceiling tunnel with Caelissa leading the way. As they reach the opening at the end, Caelissa is grabbed by a web and dragged into the room beyond. The team hurries out into the space and engages the Seiq in the next room. Lazan is dragged up the wall by one of the webs; Kevara responds quickly, and hits the Seiq with a powerful blast. The Seiq drops Lazan… and then promptly falls right on top of him, dropping Lazan to negative hitpoints – not dead, but very close. A Seiq queen – a human-looking woman’s body on top of a wasp’s abdomen – enters with two of her guards to survey the battle. As the team takes out the lesser Seiq, the queen’s guards join the fray. The queen moves to make her exit, plodding her way out. The team makes quick work of the guards, revives Lazan, and rushes out of the tunnel in time to see the queen escaping into the sky.
The group finds themselves many weeks away from Three Hills, low on food and in unfamiliar territory. By the time they make it back into the town, the group is exhausted, tired of foraging, hungry, and generally irritable. They return to the Sagemaster’s home on the following day after a good meal and a rest, and make him aware of the emerging Seiq threat. In thanks for their efforts, the Sagemaster offers to craft weapons and armor for them using the treasures they brought back from Camlain. Sufficiently outfitted, he introduces them to a Dragonborn Warlord, Abraxus. Sagemaster Volrane explains that Abraxus will be joining them on an expedition to investigate an earthquake far from Three Hills, and that they should go and report back with what they find. The group agrees, and the Sagemaster goes to work on their equipment. The following day, Abraxus meets them at the Sagemaster’s home, and he creates a portal near to the location of the quake.
The group travels for a few hours, discovering that the quake has unearthed a massive door cut into the side of a mountain. It is carved with runes that the party does not recognize, and its sheer size leads them to believe they could not open it by force. Some further investigation reveals two carved openings next to the door; the group quickly discovers that they are keyholes, of a sort, and that the dagger found in the skeleton’s chest in Darkhaven fits one of them perfectly. They do not have a second dagger for the second opening, but a few thievery checks and a well-placed sunrod triggers the mechanism – the door slowly swings open, and the damp, musty air within escapes. Shayla goes cold; the spirits have abandoned this place, and her spirit companion dissipated into nothing when the doors fully opened.
In the interest of brevity, the tomb was laid out in a labyrinth-like design consisting only of thirteen rooms, with each room having a puzzle of some sort. They required a little bit of thought; some were borrowed from my old gaming days, some were completely original, and some I found on the internet. Ultimately, their trek led them to a centralized area of seven rooms. Four of these rooms contained a sarcophagus, and six of the seven rooms had a strange panel with some sort of rune carved into them. The runes coincided with a set of gems they discovered in a previous room, and by installing the gems in the panel, a glass inlay in the seventh room would light up with each color, opening the door into an eighth chamber.
Inside the eighth chamber, a large sarcophagus rests in the center of the room, bound by chains. On top of the chains are two items. The first is an orb, roughly the size of a grapefruit and covered in runes. The second is a small book, no more than 4×6 inches, but thick with many pages. The cover is stained black, and has an odd, leathery feel to it. Kevara takes the book and skims it, finding that it is written in unusual script that she is unable to recognize at first glance. Abraxus enters the room, scans it briefly, then comments that they should probably take the orb to Volrane. Kevara agrees, and pulls the orb free of the sarcophagus. The chains, no longer bound by the magic that held them in place, slide away, and a horrific scream sounds throughout the tomb. The lid flips free of the sarcophagus as though thrown by a giant, and black energy shoots into the air. Kevara runs for the door followed closely by Abraxus, and Dorn moves in to cover their escape. To buy the rest of the group time, he thrusts his sword into the energy, and withdraws only the hilt – the blade has completely melted away.
Running back through the rooms, the group passes the sarcophagi and discover that the chains on these, too, have fallen away. Knowing that they are pursued by some dark force, they rush out into the open air where Abraxus reveals several figurines in his possession that become mounts for the group. They ride away to safety as the tomb behind them is blasted into powder by the force they have unleashed.
Unsure of where they are for certain, the team opts to camp for the evening. Abraxus finds a defensible place to camp, and watches are set. Kevara takes a little time to study the orb, and she discovers that it has been carefully crafted and enchanted with multiple spells. Curiously, the item seems to be empowered with spells tinged with good and evil, and there are eight paths of spells powered into the orb. Unsure of what to make of the item, Kevara tucks it away and rests. In the morning, a survey of the area gives the team some bearings, and Abraxus mentions a town about two days travel north. They are unable to use the figurines again while the magic recharges, so they begin walking.
The travel is uneventful, and the team finds an area to camp for the night. Watches are again set, and rest begins. Halfway through the night, the group is attacked by the four skeletal abominations they encountered in the tomb. The fight is over quickly, however, and the team takes them out with only a few wounds to show for it. Shocked that the creatures would have found them so soon, the group converses over the battle. Determining that they are safe now that the abominations have been dispatched, they prepare to finish their rest. Kevara studies the path of Knowledge on the orb and learns the following:
The following morning, the group sets out for the town. They arrive in the late afternoon, and procure several rooms for the night. A few short hours after nightfall, the alarm is raised, and the guards can be heard shouting, “Undead at the gates!” The team rushes to assist, and discover more of the skeletal abominations clambering over the walls. The guards are already engaged in battle with two of the creatures, but unfamiliarity makes the guards vulnerable to attack. Two of the guards are slain, and the creatures move forward to fight a new pair. The group rushes in to help as those two guards are slain, and they are understandably shocked when the first two guards rise again, transformed into the same creatures that killed them.
