The Cast of Characters:

• Xrith'atiril
  • Khu'sut
• Lygan
• Jacob
  • Josalyn
• Lusia
• Kyara - Elf Thief, Abilities: 9,12,8,17,13,18, AC 7 (no armor), MV 12“, Doors 1-2, Hear Noise 15%, hp 5, AL NE, Tenn, age 112
• Thorgard
  • Tatrin
• Fandillas
  • Honji
  • Arusun

Wax in ears affords a +2 for saves.

We are in Mombafra.

Thorgard looks for Mercenaries.

• Pikemen (ignored)
• Sergeant
• Light Horsemen x5 - Hired for 6 days. 90 gp total.

It is 3 days to Gren and then 1 day to Nettin. We could stop in Gren but we decide that we will stop in Nob instead.

We head out and on the 2nd day of travel…

We are headed south to Qarn when we see a group of about 100 people and they are not carrying a banner. It Looks like a mix of people, with some that are mounted and some on foot in different clothing. They do not react to our presence.

They send out warriors to come parley with us, 8 total. These men have barding with the symbol of the god Cine set upon it.

They say that they are pilgrims traveling from a hamlet. The group is traveling as a conglomerate to reach Mombafra in order to engage in some sacred rites. It has been many years since they have been and they come this time to bring the younger ones. They are taking advantage of the good weather.

We ask, “Any news of what is going on where you are coming from?”

They say that some of them come from over 200 miles away. They did hear a rumor about a Roc that has taken up residence in the Hills by Gren. It is attacking horses and they dont know anyone from Gren.

Thorgard uses his medallion of ESP to listen to his thoughts. He can tell that the speaker is not thinking anything malicious but is just concerned about who we might be. He thinks that if anything happens their numbers will take us out. The group in front of us are a contingent of Rangers from the Sea of Grass.

The spokesperson gives his name and they ask why Fandillas is called the “Blade of Cine”. Fandillas proceeds to tell his story about the waterfall of Cine. They ask if it can it be safe to visit? Jacob intervenes and says that the Wood Elves are protective of their shrines because they can be quite hostile. Can they win the Wood Elves favor? There are other groups in the same area that you could not win the favor of.

The group rides up and gives us each a homemade wooden symbol of Cine. They hope to hear of us again in good news.

We eventually make it to Nob and are left to camp outside the thorpe.

The weather is clear and the next day we will head out over the Sea of Grass.

It is still Autumn.

We ride through the Sea of Grass until we arrive in Nettin, located at the edge of the mountains. Some people from our adventuring party are remembered by the people of Nettin for our past deeds.

Thorgard will track down the Great Niece of Lowir's descendants and finds that she is unavailable this evening but will be in the morning.

The party rests at the Inn and the next morning Thorgard is successfully able to locate the woman. Thorgard asks if she could lend him her prism in exchange of a 1,000 gp diamond. A reaction roll is made at +10%.

She says, though she understands the good intent of our quest, the prism is the last memory of her great uncle so she cannot provide it. Jacob throws in a valuable 10,000 gp ruby to sweeten the deal, which works! She loans Thorgard the prism jewel.

The small community of Nettin only has a House of Shrines and not a dedicated Temple of a god.

The woman says that the high value gem is too valuable to turn down, a 10,000 gp ruby. So she hands over the white rectangular prism gem. We have not seen this type of cut before and believe it could be a key of sorts.

She gives us the map to a secret entrance that goes into a cavern about a mile from the location of the actual burial. Was this the secret escape once used by her ancestor? Yes, they would not have been able to get out without finding this exit.

We discuss our two options, to travel to the cave or to the site of the burial?

The group decides to go to the burial.

We head for about 2 miles and the landscape changes. The grasses change to brown grasses that are bent and twisted into bushes and fans. Even the sky seems to dim as well, despite the Autumn sunlight. However, the sky has become cloudy.

Eventually we find a short, circular gray shrine that is like a large dais. It is 20' across and softly resting below the jagged grassline. We can see a statue of Louz riding on a steed and the Elven symbol of Scaepa shows upon a trapdoor. It looks like most of the area has an unfinished construction and is only a few hundred years old.

Kyara searches for traps (she has a 20% chance) but does not find any traps around the trap door. However, she does notice some unusual damage around the edges of the trapdoor. The door is made of stone and looks heavy, as in no single person could pull it up. She sees grinding damage between the trap door and the rest of the surface of the dais as though it was shaken violently or rattled against its inlay.

Fandillas casts Strength upon himself which lasts 7 hours, or 42 turns.

Tatrin casts Silence on a sling stone bullet while Thorgard goes to open the door. The Silence spell effects a 15' radius. Fandillas, Jacob and Josalyn will stay out of range while Xrith'atiril, Lygan and Thorgard stay together in the silence radius with Tatrin.

The trap door handles take some hefty strength to open. Xrith motions to the others to help open the trap door and we lift the thing out of its inlays and set it on the stone platform. The opening beneath goes down into the earth.

Looking down with some sunlight, we can see heavy damage to the stone steps. Huge chunks of the steps are missing and only worn broken rock remains. The stone is similarly taken out of the walls on both sides and likewise, lots of rubble has been pushed to the sides.

Thorgard examines the stones to take a look while he is tied to a rope with Tatrin. The walls and ceiling look extremely unstable to him as if this area has suffered a severe collapse before. The past collapse appears to have been caused by some external factor and he can see that after 20' there is an intersection.

Kyara will go down on her own as a thief Moving Silently while attached to a rope, with with Xrith and Khu'sut holding onto the other end of the rope firmly. The previously cast Silence spell is now over.

Tatrin gives Kyara a Continual Light ring so she can see better and she sees the intersection more clearly. After 30' there is a regular stone door (its actually wooden). She also sees another wooden door to the east and a passage to the left that turns to the right. The walls and the ceiling in the corridor look normal. There is rubble and dust on the base of the stairs but most of it lies pushed up against the southern walls.

Kyara searches the area for traps but does not find any. The doors are standard dungeon doors, wooden with metal reinforcements. Kyara walks down the passage further. Meanwhile we believe that moving on the stairs should not cause a collapse.

The thief, Kyara, covers up the light a bit and goes around the corner alone. She can see that the corridor turns back on itself.

We conclude for now that Elven Chain is exempted from the metal armor issue when sneaking.

Kyara goes around the corner and sees a stone wolves head mounted to the wall about 10' off the ground. It is facing north up a passageway. The carving looks to be made of common stone. She then looks further down the corner in front of the statue head of the wolf and can see that the corridor bends again and has another wolf head built to match the other one but is on the north wall.

Josalyn will cast Find Traps on the wolf head and indeed, she does detect a Trap on the wolves head! It is mechanical in nature and there is some trapped stones on the floor. We head back quickly and find that there are no traps on the doors further back.

Jacob, Xrith'atiril and Thorgard are on doors and both Jacob and Xrith both have continual light.

We open the wooden door leading east and are immediately accosted by a foul stench! There are a bunch of wall burials stacked up on the walls. There are 2 levels on the walls of the alcoves. There are also 3 alcoves to the right on the south facing wall. We see that all of the sarcophagi are thrown open and as we enter, we can see dark figures in the room.

There are 7 Ghouls.

• Arusun charges.
• Xrith charges.
• Khusut shoots.
• Josalyn auto-turns these type of undead.
• Kyara hides in the shadows.
• Thorgard charges.
• Tatrin turns undead.
• Lusia turns undead.

The nearest Ghouls are 1” away and we meet their charge. First are the turning checks.

All of the Clerics in our group that are turning are successful. Khu'sut hits one Ghoul with an arrow and does 1 damage. Lygan, Xrith, Fandillas and Thorgard charge in but we all must save versus poison. Xrith saves as do the others, except only Lygan fails his save!

• Xrith's attack misses.
• Fandillas hits for 8 damage.
• Thorgard hits for 7 damage.
• Lygan misses.

All of the Ghoul creatures are turned!

Khu'sut does not take a second shot due to all of the party being in melee. The charge bonus only applies to first attack in a round but does apply to multiple weapons, such as dual wielding. One creature is wounded several times in the melee.

• Fandillas attacks and Arusun charges.
• Honji holds open the door.
• Xrith attacks, Khusut charges in.
• Jacob attacks, Josalyn charges.
• Lygan attacks.
• Kyara sneaks back to guard at our rear.
• Thorgard attacks, Tatrin charges.

Lusia hits for 8 damage while Khu'sut fails her save against poison. Lusia also fails her save.

Josalyn does 7 damage to a Ghoul. Jacob did 11 damage. Fandillas did 8 damage.

We killed two of the Ghouls and Arusun hits another for 4 damage.

All the Ghoul creatures move to flee.

Xrith hits for 9 damage. There is another 8 damage from Josalyn and 6 damage from Arusun. Thorgard did 5 and Tatrin did 6 damage.

WE FINISH THEM ALL OFF!

Or does it…

The ghouls had managed to slightly open the door and immediately, all of us must save versus fear!

Xrith and Khu'sut had both failed their save. Tatrin failed. Jacob and Josalyn succeeded.

Those who failed are overcome with fear as the Groaning Spirit (Banshee) comes into the room!

Those in the group who failed their save are feared, unable to act and begin to flee.

• Lusia casts Silence on the Groaning Spirit.
• Jacob and Josalyn try to murder it.
• Thorgard attacks it.
• Fandillas attacks.

Honji casts Push on the spirit which can stop it from an attack for 1 round. He tries to push its mouth shut.

It is 5 segments to cast Silence and 1 segment for Push.

The Groaning Spirit wails but something inside us tells us that it's not using its full power. The wail still seeps into the pores of our skin but we are not overcome with its power. The floors and walls shudder with the force of the wail. It appears it is effecting the stone structure. We can hear the door rattle and the sound of rattling in the hallway.

Thorgard can attack and he hits the Banshee for 6 damage.

Jacob hits for 15 damage. Fandillis hits for 9. Josalyn hits for 10 damage.

Parting attacks are made and the Pseudodragon is also there. However, it failed its save and flees as well with the others.

Tatrin has an AC 5 and the Banshee hits with its touch doing 7 damage!

The feared creatures run in the direction of Kyara, the Thief. After several slices, the Banshee is vaporized under the strength of their blows!

Jacob looks down the right hall. Josalyn too. Kyara enters the room to look for traps on the door while Lygan is running into the daylight with everyone else.

Thorgard joins Jacob and Josalyn. Fandillas chases Glimmerwing and Arusun. Honji is still holding the door. Lusia checks the alcoves for solid walls.

Our screams fade away as we run through the brown grasses. Inside the chamber, they see that the wall burials are empty. Corpses were devoured. Alcoves end about 10' inside. Very cramped inside the alcoves. Jacob can see a single door on the right hand.

Honji hears a door open from around the corner. He yells that there is someone coming. Lusia braces for a charge. Jacob braces for a charge with Josalyn. Kyara takes out a spike and is spiking the north door. Josalyn is trying to turn instead.

Coming around the corner are more ghouls. 6 of them. Accompanied by something new. 6 buzzing insect creatures. They are blue in color. Similar to a wasp, thing and long. 2 bulbous eyes that are glued to the thin body. Make a buzzing noise with their faces pointed toward the party.

They come around the corner on segment 2. on segemet 4. Charging toward the room. They get to the door on segment 5. Josalyns turn is delayed Honji will blast them. This is the 11th charge on the Wand of Fear.

Cone is 1“ wide, hits everything. 3 Ghouls fail their saves and are now feared. All of the fly creatures fail their save!

3 ghouls that survived will try to tear apart Honji. Everyone else must save against Poison except those in the back.

Lusia takes a -2 to hit.

Thorgard hits for 10 damage, not enough to kill it. All of them are attacking Thorgard this time! 1 claw hit on Thorgard, for 2 damage. Save versus Paralysis. Does armor absorbing damage mean that a touch still requires a save? He just gets his armor bonus to saves.

Thorgard Fails and is Paralysed! 2 segments later Josalyn turns up to Spectres. She only effects 1.

Fandillas runs outside and sees the other group ran in all directions. He can see Lygan running down the trampled grass. He tries to mentally connect with Glimmerwing to get it to come back.

Honji takes a second blast with the wand. He is panicked. Lusia turns. Jacob attacks, Josalyn turns. Kyara has spiked the door shut. Moves to the south to look at the other door.

Jacob attacks first, he misses. Josalyn turns, Lusia turns for both 9. All of the ghouls/ghasts are turned.

They pass their save versus wands.

Jacob hits for 9 damage.

Honji backs away Lusia joins melee Jacob attacks Josalyn charges Kyara uses her listening horn on the door.

Jacob hits for 11 damage. Thorgard winks at Honji, thinks Thorgard is hitting on him. Winks back.

Ghasts and flies flee through the door where they came from.

Josalyn and Jacob carry the dwarf out. Kyara did not hear anything through the door.

They exit through stairs. The rest of us join the group, we have reconvened.

Ghouls and Ghasts paralyze for 1d10+2 turns which was actually not in the MM but in one of the Gygax modules.

Its currently in the morning and we wait for Thorgard to not be paralyzed anymore. 2 hours later, Thorgard becomes un-paralyzed and he only took 3 damage from the attack.

We head back into the room through the door and we can see that the sarcophagi burials have clearly been defaced and thrown open. The scent of the ages fills the room and we find that each of the burials are filled with coins.

• 12000 cp
• 500 sp
• Armors and Weapons - Leather, scale, scimitars, shields, longbows that are snapped. The metal armor and weapons are not rusted.

We open the north door. We find three ancient human skeletons sprawled out in the hallway, their clothes long worn away. One of them still wears a threadbare dark cloak but is mostly worn away with insects and Ghoul feet. Thorgard looks through the skeletons for items and other clues. They are all wearing the same type of cloaks but there are no other marks, nor did they have weapons. They did still have belts.

Beneath one cloak is a metal tube that is about 1' in diameter. It has a small key hole and a key is also found on the same skeleton. They have not been disturbed for a while and it is apparent that the cloaks were made by the same craftsman. It looks like the trimming was nice at one point and these were red cloaks.

Thorgard hands the tube to Kyara to check for traps. She sees that the tube looks smooth except for a cap on the end that flips on a hinge. There are no traps on it. The contents inside feel like something light and can move. Probably made of paper. We find that the key fits and inside is a scroll.

• Scroll Case with Lock
• Arcane Scroll.
• Key ID 59.

He opens it and there is a clicking sound. Inside, there is a rolled up piece of parchment. Lusia looks at the scroll first and sees that it has arcane runes on it. “We will check it out tomorrow,” so sayeth Fandillas.

Kyara looks around the corner to find a passage. It goes for another 20' before it opens into another chamber. She can see a table that is set with various metal instruments. These tools look too big for thieves and too small for carpentry. There is a cabinet in the back of the chamber and a broken stool, all the way in the back. Next to that is a skeleton wearing the same cloak as the others we found and it sits propped up against the wall.

There are corpses spread out on some tables and they are all covered in dust. This appears to be a prep room for dead bodies. On the skeleton is a scabbard of twisting black and brown but it is currently empty.

It looks like the scabbard was specially crafted but is of no Elf or Dwarf make. The scabbard itself could be worth as much as a longsword.

The cabinet is closed and there are 2 closed latches on the door. Kyara checks for traps but does not find any. She then opens the door and finds inside that there are mostly empty shelves. There are a couple of empty pots that are smaller than food bowls. There is also a small container shaped like a tobacco tin but its made of glass. It is dark glass with a dark green top and sealed. Kyara also finds a key.

• Key ID 63.
• Tin made of dark glass.

The container does have something in it and looks like a small flat jar. Kyara puts it in her pocket and finds that it weighs 5 coins.

We fail to open the door on the first try but we get it on the third try. Josalyn casts Find Traps but no traps are seen.

In this next room, we find that there are 8 sarcophagi with only 1 in the center. The center sarcophagi has Elvish script on it which says:

“Myryn the Great”.

Each of the other sarcophagi have an Elven sigil on them that looks like a seal that would be used by an adventuring party. It does not look government related but more like a company or an adventuring group.

The symbol is not familiar and nor are the names recognizable.

• Kyara stands by the door.
• Josalyn has her holy symbol out.

We open each of the sarcophagi and find 8 corpses of Elven Warriors.

They are all wearing plate mail of Elven make.

• 8 Elven Platemails.

The sarcophagi are all wealed with some kind of paste and the corpses are all arranged nicely.

• 10,500 sp.
• 3000 ep.
• 270 gp.

The center sarcophagi has a radiant light about it and on the breastplate of the Elven platemail is a longsword. It is glowing with a light blue color. The hilt of the sword is intricately carved with white dragons that are twirling around the hilt.

This sword does not appear to be a famous weapon but Fandillas picks it up. Thorgard recalls that he was not described the blade that he is searching for and we believe this may be it. Josalyn casts Detect Magic and finds that the longsword has powerful magic on it. The Arcane Scroll radiates light magic and there is no magic on the small flat jar.

Each of the longswords in the other 7 sarcophagi have a sigil on the sword blade, but they are also not magic. Fandillas claims the magic sword for now.

We also find that there are small urns scattered around some stone chests but there is nothing else inside the room. Inside the urns we find:

• 4000 cp
• 9000 sp

Each of the sarcophagi also contains a suit of Plate Mail, all Elven sized.

There is a wooden door to the north. We listen but hear only silence.

We go through and find a room with a door in the corner. There are some carvings on the wall that have fine detail, such as intricately carved blades of grass. The carving portrays a procession of humans with their faces turned away. There are also two dragons flying in the sky overhead but they appear small in the distance. The room is otherwise empty. On closer examination, the flying dragons in the carving appear to be two Bronze Dragons.

Khu'sut and Xrith look on the walls along with Kyara and Thorgard for any secret doors but we don't find anything. Arusun casts Find Traps.

We do not hear anything before we open the door.

We are not surprised.

Inside, we find another room with alcoves much like the other room. There are several wall burials that once had bodies with armor.

Our attention is taken, however, by the Ghouls standing in the room and some of the Insect things we encountered previously (Assassin Bugs?). The Ghouls and Insects are waiting for us…

• Khu'sut casts Sleep on the insects.
• Xrith will attack.
• Lusia turns undead.
• Jacob attacks.
• Josalyn turns undead.
• Lygan charges.
• Kyara falls back to hide in shadows.
• Thorgard attacks.
• Tatrin turns undead.
• Fandillas charges in.
• Honji holds the door.
• Arusun turns undead.

Jacob hits one for 12 damage, which kills it! One dead. Thorgard hits another one for 4 damage and it is still alive. Two of the Ghouls and two Insects will attack.

Both are on Jacob who has AC -5. They will be hitting on a 20 only. 1 hits and he takes 3 damage. Jacob must save versus paralysis. He saves but his Full Plate Armor absorbs 2 damage.

The 6 insects all shoot a projectile out of their mouth holes. It is some kind of projectile that is very fast. There is a total of 5 projectiles and they may hit the Ghouls in melee too. 3 of them are shooting at Ghouls while the other 2 on us. Two hit the Ghouls and they take 6 and 3 damage respectively. The other 2 on us:

• 1 on Thorgard misses!
• 1 on Xrith misses!

The other 4 Ghouls are charging into melee and they do get into melee.

• 1 on Thorgard misses.
• 2 on Xrith, one misses and the other hits for 3 (his Field Plate absorbs 1 damage). He fails his saving throw and is paralyzed!
• 1 on Jacob hits.

For our turn:

• Xrith is paralyzed.
• Josalyn turns only 1.
• Tatrin turns Ghouls and turns 4 of them!
• Lusia auto-turns Ghouls and turns 10!
• Fandillas uses the sword and finds that it is a longsword +2!
• Lygan hits an Insect for 3 damage.
• Jacob hits a Ghoul for 11 damage.
• Khu'sut's Sleep spell goes off and all of the surviving Insects drop! The Assassin Bugs are now on the ground!

There are only 2 Ghouls left that have not been turned yet.

• Josalyn charges.

The Ghouls attack also (but they are actually Ghasts). Thorgard and Lygan are being attacked. Thorgard is missed! Lygan has AC 1 and he is hit by all three, doing 3, 2 and 5 damage respectively. He must make 3 saves versus paralysis and he fails! Lygan is also paralyzed.

• Josalyn hits twice for 7 and 6 damage!
• Lusia hits one for 3 and they both KILL IT!

Are these actually Assassin Bugs? We don't know…

In this room, within the wall burials, we find scale and leather armor, glaives, etc. We also find some coin:

• 20400 cp.
• 2900 sp.

Khu'sut is guarding Xrith and Lygan since they are still paralyzed.

The rest of the party goes north. Beyond, lying on the ground against the corridor is a pair of small boots that are Halfling or Gnome sized. Another door lies beyond the boots. In the other direction is an open room with some prayer benches.

We can also see that the room is as shrine to Scaepa with some small objects on an altar. We can see another door on the west side and there are a total of 6 prayer benches.

Kyara takes a closer look. She can see reeds on the alter that are twisted into spirals. They are kind of like “palms on Palm Sunday” but they are bent fancifully into a windmill type shape. They look to be not more than a few months old. There is door on the far wall with a keyhole on it.

As we are waiting for some of the party to be unparalyzed (Xrith and Lygan), Kyara searches the north alcove but does not find anything there. After 8 turns we are all unparalyzed.

• Khu'sut gathers insect parts.
• Tatrin heals Lygan for 2 damage.
• Kyara uses the hearing horn but does not hear any noises beyond. She then checks the door for any traps. None were found.

The shrine is a very simple setup. It's just a slab with the reeds.

We don't hear anything beyond and the key we found before works to open the door! Tatrin casts Silence on a staff sling stone. Inside is a hallway and there is a door at the end of it.

This hallway has unusual construction to it. The stones in the wall all have decorative bricks that are a lighter in color, but only slightly. Kyara looks for traps and she realizes that there is a brick that can be depressed. She then sees that there are two others that can be depressed as well but they are not lined up.

We do not hear anything beyond the door and then we cast Detect Magic on the boots and take all of the Elven plate mail. There was no magic on the boots.

Jacob and Josalyn will be bringing along the body of Lowir's descendant with us. They wish to see if it is the bones of the fallen hero of their village.

9,400 sp is collected and taken with us as well.

We make it back to Nettin without incident.

Identify is cast on the sword by Fandillas and he is successful! The sword is a +2 longsword, +4 against any Dragon and against a White Dragon it does triple damage.

Read magic is cast on the scroll and it is a Treasure Map. The map leads to the same burial we are at but there are two symbols indicated on the map. Althought it does not depict the contents of the dungeon we can see that the symbols show a box with 3 lines going right and a box with 3 lines going down.

Fandillas does not claim the longsword and Lygan and Xrith'atiril roll off. Xrith claims the longsword +2, +4 versus Dragons and x3 against White Dragons. (id 169)

Plate Mail of the elves is worth 500 gp so Khu'sut claims the one worn by the Elf in the central sarcophogus.

We get 1750 gp in total

The balm found in the glass tin is worth 50 gp.

The total xp value of treasure is each 424.4.

Treasure Split:

• 218 gp.
• 314 ep.
• 988 sp.

The henchmen get half.

Henchmen get 324 xp. Khu'sut gets 574 xp. The PCs get 859 xp. Xrith gets 1,759 xp.