• Vras - ASN 5, AC 1
• Ithimyr
• Gruhl - FTR 4, AC 3/4, Magic Medium Shield, Doors 1-3
• Dan
• Morric

We are going back to Delbo.

The day is chilly and it is snowing. The snow is coming down diagonally but we only need to ride out 12 miles to get there. We take our mounts, along with the Ox and the cart.

The party ties our cloaks tight. Dan's robe is lined with fur.

We head for the hills though any armies would not perform at their best if they could see.

The party makes it to the hills and the edge of the city. We hear nothing across the ruins. We approach from the south and through a 20' opening and then into the keep. We scale the elevated portion of the city. It appears that the structure has not been occupied but there are corpses that have signs of Jackals feeding on them. They were Goblins.

We head to the trap door that we found previously but did not get far into the dungeons. There were lots of Skeletons and a Hell Hound here.

For every hour of exploration we have to spend 1 turn resting.

We use the wilderness modifier / reaction roll from wild animals rather than having them simply attack.

There were many Jackal tracks, but no Humanoids among them. We find nothing by the trap door.

We head down…

But, the trap door is stuck. We snap open the trap door and leave it open.

Ithimyr listens after 1 minute but does not hear anything unusual.

We shove open the door and find the remnants of the Skeletal Guards. There is a door to the left that is just as wide as the one we came in. Vras examines the door for traps and finds that the door does not have damage nor any sign of a trap. The keyhole and knob have signs of regular use by people wearing gauntlets.

Ghrul opens the door with the key. The tumbler rolls and the door is unlocked.

We open the door and find a 10' x 10' chamber. Hanging on the wall are 2 suits of old banded mail. Three is also a wooden box, 6 torches, a broken chair, and a 30' rope. The banded mail is unmarked and is Half-Orc and Human sized.

Vras checks for traps on the box and believes it is untrapped, or it looks untrapped. Morric lifts up the weak latches and removes the lid.

This is actually a full sized chest next to the mail, not a box…brief retcon.

Inside the chest is:

• 2500 cp
• 665 sp

There is a rag bundled in the bottom of the chest and a very large amber gem rolls out.

With the help of the porters, we remove the coins and load it up on our cart along with the banded mail.

Ghrul tries on the Banded Mail and has AC 2/3.

We go back inside the dungeon and Vras checks the portcullis for traps. The mechanism for opening and closing it connects to the portcullis and the ceiling to places unknown. Someone else can control the portcullis from elsewhere.

We go to the right and our torch illuminates a door on the back wall. There is also a wooden desk with a sign on it. that says:

“Sign here.”

There is also a logbook and quill as well as a clay pot sitting next to it.

Ithimyr looks at the writing, there are 4 lines:

• Bellenwick
• Tomm
• Sora
• Rupernick

They are all signed in ink but the ink well is completely dry. We can see a powder on top. The clay pot does not have a top, We find a few coins, 3 sp and 1 gp.

Vras mixes water to the ink well and signs his name into the book. The other door has a lock similar to the other table. Just behind the book is a key hanging up in the back. Ghrul unlocks this door as well.

In the next area we find:

• 2 more suits of banded mail.
• 700 cp
• 30 sp

The armor looks grubby and the chair is not broken. We also find 30' of rope.

In this area, the stone floor sounds sturdy. We move the chest to block the portcullis open.

We take a turn to rest with the cart and drop off the stuff at the cart. Afterward, we head back inside and proceed back down the stairs. At the forward party, liquid starts to rise up around us.

A raised pseudopod rises up toward Morric's party. This ooze is clear with a thin and dextrous moisture.

Ithimyr attacks the pseudopod with his +2 sword.

Ooze rises and undulates to the size of full grown man and goes for Ghrul.

Ithimyr hits it for 12 damage.

The pseudopod does 11 damage to Ghrul. The armor melts off Ghrul's chest as it strikes.

We do a significant amount of damage to the creature and hit the thing again. The Ooze is beaten and slashed and then it collapses, glistening in the torch light.

Our weapons start to smoke and sizzle. They must save to make sure they do not melt. All of our weapons saved!

Ithimyr heals Ghrul for 5 hp using Cure Light Wounds.

The chest is still present under the portcullis.

There are archways leading in 3 directions. Ithimyr stops and listens but hears nothing beyond. We can see a prison cell door in the wall to the west. Hallways continue onward to the east and south.

All of the prison cells appear empty. We discover that this cell has bars on the back side of the wall and see into another cell next to it. There are more cell door to the north. The entire room is segmented into 10' x 10' cells.

Dan shines his bullseye lantern inside. The hallway goes back 60' and there are 3 more solid cell doors. There is a closed door to the south of the cell room. In the two far cells, we can see humanoid bones, left here as though forgotten.

We move into the cell room and listen at the doors. When we get to the second door, the cell bars to the south quiver as though made of rubber. They suddenly shift and shut, splitting the party into two.

Ithimyr, Morric and Dan are now separated from the others. Both groups are caged in by the bars. All of the bars have been moved and are segmented. Vras looks for pressure plates from his side of the cage. It appears as if the bars just grew out of the ceiling and walls.

Vras finds no pressure plates and then we push into a 10' x 10' cell. There is a desiccated corpse wearing plate mail and grasping a falchion. There is a note that we read dimly in the torchlight:

“Let it be known in the year 494, Tomm was abandoned here by his party, the bastards left me here. A CURSE UPON RUPERNICK!”

Ithimyr spikes open the cell door and he, Dan and Morric are inside the cell with the corpse.

Suddenly, one of the henchmen screams and drops to the ground. His chest rattles on the floor.

We are surprised 2 segments less.

We watch as the porter drops to the ground and the others freak out and back up. We see no movement. What terrible beast killed the porter?

Another porter screams as his eyes roll back in his head and he drops to the ground. A terrible smell fills the air.

Ithimyr tries to turn undead. Everyone else goes melee.

We must hit AC 7 to attack a Shadow. Morric slices the Shadow and it reforms, its shadowy body reforms.

Dan, using Shocking Grasp, jams his electrified hand into the Shadow and a wave of lightning turns it into flitters of shadow and fade away. All falls silent.

Dan has been sapped of 1 point of Strength.

The two fallen porters are still breathing. Ithimyr starts searching the cell for secret doors. Meanwhile, they search the backpack. Inside the backpack are the following:

• 200 sp
• 150 gp
• a map case.

The map case includes a scroll with unintelligible writing (of an arcane nature).

The plate armor looks old and uncared for. Morric notices the back of the door and a bolt on the inside.

We drag the corpse and the bony fellow out along with the weapon and armor. We manage to get the spikes out of the wall and see that the door is very heavy. We close the door and the bars do not respond.

Ithimyr turns the bolt and the cells return to their original configuration.

They use part of the ooze to melt the metal on the bars but the bars stay in the same configuration. Ithimyr squeezes out and we head left. These cell doors are not unlike the ones that recently trapped us and there are more cell doors on the north and south. There is not a peep to be heard.

The end of the passage has a door. These doors are made roughly the same size as the cell doors. However, these do not have metal parts on them as they are not meant to be opened often. The far door at the end of the hall is not a cell door.

We look to the empty cell and see that the door is open.

The party must rest for a turn. We see the 10' cell in the north along with an old body wearing a loincloth. They appear to have died lounging. In another cell, there is another corpse of a dwarf. It appears to be emaciated as if not fed for a long time. In the next cell, next to an empty cell, is another human body, curled up on the ground. It clutches a small silver spoon. In the last of the side wall is the last empty cell.

We check the door at the end.

The surprise die is rolled.

We dont see anything but a 10' x 10' room and a curious door in it. It is the same size as the other hall door and made of heavy black iron.

Ithimyr can tell that the symbol that is drawn across door is holy in nature. He has never seen the symbol before but can tell it is a seal of good and looks like its made of shining dust. It covers the entire width of the door. We believe it has a protective nature. The symbol might have been painted because the material is like chalk and has the appearance of fine crystal, a high quality material. The crystallization is connected by a very fine web of crystal. There is also a weird mixture of dust, connected by thin branches.

We head south.

At the end of the passage, it drops into a pool of water. There is a 20' gap that goes 5' to 6' down and below lie the murky depths which glisten of small pieces of metal scattered about. Farther down the way, a bridge of stone lies across the pool connecting to the other side.

The water goes under a tunnel in the stone wall at the same level as the bridge. The opening is 5' wide and the hallway continues to another section past the bridge where we see another cell door. The ceiling after the second cell door climbs down a bit, revealing stairs going down.

Ithimyr shines the bullseye lantern across the bridge. The stone from the bridge extends suddenly and a PSEUDOPOD emerges like a stone and shoots with lightning fast speed towards Dan!

Dan takes 7 damage and is taken in mid air off the ground.

The bridge opens up to a wide mouth and speaks to us, “HELLO THERE” as it holds Dan aloft.

The bridge says to Ghrul, “AND I HAVE NO QUARREL WITH YOU HALF ORC, DO YOU HAVE FOOD BESIDES THIS” (Dan)?

We ask the Bridge if it would like some wine. It says that it would not mind some wine. “I SUPPOSE I COULD HAVE SOME WINE BUT THIS IS PRETTY SIZABLE”. It says that Rust Monsters taste awful.

The Bridge shifts suddenly and then shudders, Dan is pulled under water. A shape comes moving along the bridge. One movement, and a Rust Monster disappears into the Bridge's mouth. The Bridge chews on an entire Rust Monster. It tastes awful, but we bring it a pile of dead Goblins. We grab the other six Goblin bodies. It says, “YOU DO NEED TO BRING THE OTHER SIX”.

The Bridge sets Dan down on the ground and its pseudopod arm retracts into the Bridge. It says, “I WILL LET YOU PASS UNHINDERED” and we agree to bring more bodies of Goblins in exchange for passage. The bridge feels sturdy like a bridge that has been here for decades. We make it to the other side without incident. We find a wall and stairs that descend a ways. There is also a portcullis and some stairs going down.

Ithimyr heals Dan for 2 hp using a Cure Light Wounds spell.

The bottoms of the cages to the right are slightly disintegrated and everything else is made of stone.

We get a surprise roll of 1.

The cell in the back is further divided into another cell. We are in the corridor and Ithimyr shines his light down the hallway. There is a massive blob of some kind of Green Ooze. There is a door to the left that it seeped out of.

At the same time, we hear bony footsteps come down from the north end. Before the bridge, is a brigade of sword and shield wearing skeletons. Their bones are solid black.

They have all caught us by surprise and the Skeletons break into charge. They move 24“ and get into melee distance with us. There are 5 of us and they crash into our group and overtake us.

Silently, and un-breathing, they swing swords with their arms of solid black.

There are 2 attacks against Ithimyr. They need to hit my AC 2. One hits doing 1 damage.

4 go after the Magic-User, Dan. They only need a 7 to hit, Dan takes 10 damage in total. DAN IS DROPPED TO -1!

Another swings at Ithimyr but misses. There are a total of 8 black skeletons.

Ithimyr tries to turn undead but the 8 skeletons attack first. They do not hit Ithimyr this time.

After successfully turning, all of them are cowering from the visage. Morric drops one and Vras destroys one in a single blow. Ghrul destroys another one.

The remaining Skeletons are destroyed.

We bind Dan's wounds and carry him toward the bridge, then proceed out of the dungeon. By the time we get to the stairs, Dan has woken up.

It is freezing cold out now but we make it back to Qarn unscathed. Dan will need to be on bedrest until the 20th.

Back in Qarn, we will hire some porters and the banded mail x2 will sell for 90 gp.

The Sun is dim in the sky and once we cross the wall we see a mist covered graveyard, one large and one small in structure. The general layout is rectangular with a circular platform in the south west. We take a left of the keep toward the east.

Suddenly there is a mist that comes from nowhere, with a small shed in the far right, north west corner and a shrine with a rectangular building on a base. It is religious in nature.

We make our way across the graveyard, broken tombstones and headstones, only some are full standing tombstones. There are also only a few sarcophagi with heavy stone slabs laying across them, fully sealed. When we get to the shrine. It has a domed shaped and is in the “Riswan” style. We see pillars that rise up that are crossed with staves standing up. It is a rectangular building that is still standing amidst the ruins. We can see a small door on the side as we approach.

There are stone double doors along north side wall and another door on the east side wall. There is also a circular platform that has a gazebo roof over it which is the same roof of the shrine. All along the circular perimeter are crossed staves and pillars, a common architectural style of Riswan shrines. The double doors are carved to depict Priests blessing Explorers.

Ithimyr estimates that it was constructed over 500 years ago. We check the eastern door, which has a chain and padlock and appears very old and partially rusted. Vras easily picks the old padlock and removes the chain. We push the door inward. Inside is a room where there are stone pegs with old ragged brown cloaks that are dusty with age hanging from them. It is the same style of the Priests from front door carving. In the back corner of the shrine room is a stone font that is 10' long and a yard deep but is otherwise empty.

Vras listens at the door and Morric looks at the font.

Ithimyr does not find anything inside the cloaks, which appear to be plain and practical with ties that go around the neck. They have been moth-eaten. Morric finds a 1' x 1/2' panel that could be concealing something. There is nothing nefarious about the panel so Morric tries to open it. The panel comes off easily and a floor below is open as cold air comes out. You can see that the ground of the shrine has been partially dug out to allow a man through and it drops down to a tunnel below the shrine. The font is not attached but it could be lifted up. The lantern light drops about 15' into a tunnel with dirt and rock at the bottom.

We open the door to the north…

We push through the door and enter the main hall. The entire section is open.

Standing amongst the main shrine area are 4 human sized figures wearing the same brown cloaks we found in the other room. They all look at is in unison. Under their hoods are faint yellow dots for eyes and dark messy teeth. Coffer Corpses.

Ithimyr rebukes all 4 of the forms using turn undead.

The party charges and can strike at +2 for their charges. They did 6 and 8 damage. Ghrul eviscerates one of the forms and then pushes the body, it lies motionless. Morric snaps one a bit and it is not destroyed.

Ithimyr charges while Morric finishes off one. Ghrul deals a might blow and Ithimyr finish off one, another one is engaged with Vras at the door.

We move into melee to engage and Vras hits for 7 damage. It is overtaken by the Assassin and falls on its back, holding its arms up. One of them moans lowly in the corner, another Coffer Corpse. We easily dispatch the remaining Coffer Corpse.

We check through their tattered remains but there is not a hint of gold on them.

Moving onward, we open the south east door but it does not move at all. It is blocked by a bar or a lock but we cannot unlock it.

There is also a western door. We do not hear anything beyond so we open it. In the room before us is a large circular pan made of stone with 4 standing candle holders. Along the edge of the pan lies a golden ring, a wooden box, and a smooth blue green gem. We hear the faint sound of a distant river from here.

The room displays no Theological aspects. Ghrul tries on the ring, it fits loosely. Then he asks, “Whats in the box?”

Vras opens the wooden box and we find:

• 300 gp.

The candles in the candle holders were not recently set alight.

We push open the door to leave…

Percentile dice are rolled to surprise.

We return to the main chamber and along the wall is a dark figure with wild hair on all fours. It has teeth covered in black death and it smells of undeath. We attack the Wight. Morric hits for 9 damage and it swings its claws back at the dwarf. It rolls a 1! Morric blocks the life draining attack.

Ithimyr attempts to turn it but it is not turned…so he begins casting Prayer.

Ghrul blocks the Wight's attack. Morric and Ghrul drive their spears into the Wight and its jaw snaps off in fury. It begins to shakes violently and then hangs limply. Was it a re-animate? No, it had to be created through a great magical power.

We go back into the other room and grab the chain to secure around the bars and loop the lock. We try to open the south east door and use the crowbar as well as crashing into the door. Eventually, the right side of the wooden door cracks off and we try to unlock the door through crack. We can see a few chests in the back right corner of the room. Propped up next to it is a skeleton in leather armor next to a backpack.

Ghrul sticks his hand inside and pushes into the room. The corpse looks like a female human with leather armor, a short sword and a dagger. The backpack contains some stuff: Ghrul finds a mess kit, some thieves tools, and some parchment. There are also some small amount of coins.

• 25 pp
• short sword
• dagger

Morric unrolls the piece of parchment and finds a restraining order issued 10 years ago. From someone named “Glimmerfit” on someone named “Sorah”. The restraining order is from a town called RLENKA. On the back is written the phrase:

“Extra treasure in graveyard, check it out while they are sleeping. Money in shed?”

The chest is checked for traps by Vras, who finds no traps. These are all unlocked chests:

• 1550 ep
• 600 gp

The skeletal thieves hand, as it falls off, bears a gold ring. It is not unlike the one Ghrul is wearing. One of the corpses hand is smaller in size.

Ghrul puts on the other ring.

We move to the misty graveyard. There are no signs of danger around so we continue into the mist. We pass by one of the few sarcophagi and note that it bears the imprint of a leaf in the center of the lid. The leaf is that of a tree of Wun'ra, the great Elven forest in the north. It is very small considering the size that they can get there. It is about 2” in length from tip to stem.

We hear a growling, low and guttaral noise. Emerging from behind the sarcophagi are 6 Ghouls!

No one is surprised.

Ghrul instantly silences one Ghoul. There are now 5 Ghouls and 3 of us.

One Ghoul misses Ithimyr and Ghrul knocks one away.

There are 3 on Morric. Meanwhile, Ghrul takes 9 damage and becomes paralyzed! Morric is also bit for 6 damage but is not paralyzed.

Ithimyr tries to turn undead.

We lose initiative this round and the Ghouls target Ithimyr. He is struck and fails his save and then becomes paralyzed! Morric also takes 7 damage and becomes paralyzed!

It is at this point that the party has been defeated in the Delbo Cemetery and the Ghouls disappear behind us into the mist…

Ithimyr is slain. Morric and Ghrul are also slain. We are eaten by the Ghouls and will likely turn into a Ghoul. Before dying, we try to pray, there might be something that can be done…but it does not work.

We will have to replace our slain characters with a new character.

Half-Elf Cleric 5 / Ranger 4