Post by hubertbartels on Dec 10, 2023 14:33:56 GMT -5
Underneath Zeno’s Tower
After a night’s rest in the abandoned Master Bedroom, we went downstairs to the base of the spiral staircase. Rissa turned the banister's finial and opened the way into the basement. Then she picked up one of the Everburning Lanterns and descended with the others. The completely enclosed spiral staircase opened up into an ancient crypt. Our light revealed dried corpses laid into niches, their bones disarrayed as someone had searched each body for whatever loot they once held. Passageways led straight, left and right – we choose the left hand passage.
As we moved through the crypt, we noticed how well it was kept – there was no dirt on the floor, no cobwebs on the ceiling and the bones had been neatly kept in their niches. Still choosing to turn left at every intersection, we went deeper into the crypt.
Up ahead, Lindsey and Rissa heard a faint murmuring. Signaling the others to stop, Lindsey could make out the sounds of chanting. When the chanting suddenly stopped – we rushed a short distance into a large chamber where four robed and masked figures turned to look at us. They had been chanting over a body. At the body’s head, there was a ugly idol.
As the masked figures rushed at us, they reached for us with long claws. Rissa noticed that they smelled bad – like something dead and rotting. There was a short fight but we destroyed the ghouls. Revus examined the idol and identified it as an idol of Nerull.
Our explorations continued. In one room, we found ten sarcophagi, of which four had been opened. We did not chose to open any more. From their inscriptions, they were all minor nobility from the region. The crypt was probably originally part of the abandoned graveyard we encountered traveling to the tower.
Another chamber in the maze of the crypts was covered in spiderwebs. After burning away the webbing, we killed the four spiders hiding inside.
Part of the crypts led to a door which opened to a sea cave. Typical of the caves used by smugglers, the sea cave could entered from the open water at low tide. There were some bodies of pirates and sailors here. After killing the giant crabs, we found a chest containing several sealed bottles and minor magical items.
We used the moment to take a short rest and cook the crabs over a fire of driftwood and shattered rowboat, then returned to the crypts. One leg of the intersection led to an oval room partially filled with sand. Lindsey spotted a partially buried chest. Opening it revealed various gems and pearls and a few magical items.
Going the other way, we ended up in a rectangular room fitted to be a sitting room. The room, long left to rot, contained four zombies. After destroying the undead, we saw that these were the missing adventuring party we had been sent to find. One of the zombies even had the missing Boots of Elvenkind that we needed. Among their belongings, we found the missing volume as well as volumes one through four. There was also a Bag of Holding.
After identifying the magical items, we returned upstairs to the Master Bedroom. In the morning, Rissa planned to roll up the magical mattress and tuck it inside the Bag of Holding. Then we would continue on to the Marshes of Hool.
After a night’s rest in the abandoned Master Bedroom, we went downstairs to the base of the spiral staircase. Rissa turned the banister's finial and opened the way into the basement. Then she picked up one of the Everburning Lanterns and descended with the others. The completely enclosed spiral staircase opened up into an ancient crypt. Our light revealed dried corpses laid into niches, their bones disarrayed as someone had searched each body for whatever loot they once held. Passageways led straight, left and right – we choose the left hand passage.
As we moved through the crypt, we noticed how well it was kept – there was no dirt on the floor, no cobwebs on the ceiling and the bones had been neatly kept in their niches. Still choosing to turn left at every intersection, we went deeper into the crypt.
Up ahead, Lindsey and Rissa heard a faint murmuring. Signaling the others to stop, Lindsey could make out the sounds of chanting. When the chanting suddenly stopped – we rushed a short distance into a large chamber where four robed and masked figures turned to look at us. They had been chanting over a body. At the body’s head, there was a ugly idol.
As the masked figures rushed at us, they reached for us with long claws. Rissa noticed that they smelled bad – like something dead and rotting. There was a short fight but we destroyed the ghouls. Revus examined the idol and identified it as an idol of Nerull.
Our explorations continued. In one room, we found ten sarcophagi, of which four had been opened. We did not chose to open any more. From their inscriptions, they were all minor nobility from the region. The crypt was probably originally part of the abandoned graveyard we encountered traveling to the tower.
Another chamber in the maze of the crypts was covered in spiderwebs. After burning away the webbing, we killed the four spiders hiding inside.
Part of the crypts led to a door which opened to a sea cave. Typical of the caves used by smugglers, the sea cave could entered from the open water at low tide. There were some bodies of pirates and sailors here. After killing the giant crabs, we found a chest containing several sealed bottles and minor magical items.
We used the moment to take a short rest and cook the crabs over a fire of driftwood and shattered rowboat, then returned to the crypts. One leg of the intersection led to an oval room partially filled with sand. Lindsey spotted a partially buried chest. Opening it revealed various gems and pearls and a few magical items.
Going the other way, we ended up in a rectangular room fitted to be a sitting room. The room, long left to rot, contained four zombies. After destroying the undead, we saw that these were the missing adventuring party we had been sent to find. One of the zombies even had the missing Boots of Elvenkind that we needed. Among their belongings, we found the missing volume as well as volumes one through four. There was also a Bag of Holding.
After identifying the magical items, we returned upstairs to the Master Bedroom. In the morning, Rissa planned to roll up the magical mattress and tuck it inside the Bag of Holding. Then we would continue on to the Marshes of Hool.