Quick Summary
Yaggle Daggle’s corpse is looted, yielding a clockwork orrery from one of his pockets
Gaerfinas harvests four types of mushrooms from the farm
Party loot the burial chamber, retrieving a chalice and a greatsword
The party rest and leave the burial chamber, watching the statue carefully
As the party leave the chamber, a statue animates and chases them
The party withdraw to the trapped corridor, and spring the trap
Our adventure picks up after the diplomacy-void slaying of the two headed giant 'Yaggle Daggle'. Other than the giant's corpse, the room is set with a fungal-array of mushroom breeds, some goblin giblets and skins but most importantly, a sizable pile of giant's excreta. The air had a fetid quality which is unsurprising from a room full of rot, fungus and poo. This, however, doesn't stop our heroes from persisting in the area while they loot everything they possibly can.
Kelnor scavenged what he could from the fresh corpse of the giant, finding a mysterious brass-clockwork mechanism made up of concentric rings within a rectangular frame. Trying his luck rummaging through the pile of goblin-rot does not yield anything other than strong requirements to bathe and to maybe hold himself to higher standards going forward.
Noting the potential for a possible 'spiritual hang-out' with his god 'Helm', Gaerfinas looks to the bouqets of mushrooms that saturates the room - finding 4 different breeds and picking some of each.
With everything heartily looted the party progress up a considerably moist staircase. The moistness is soon discovered to be emanating from a moist sarcophagus that they find in the middle of this new (moist) room. Despite being sealed with a giant stone slab, a liquid is seeping from the edges of the sarco's lid as though water is being pumped into it from some internal source. Surrounding the sarcophagus are two statues - one damaged and fractured into pieces and quite frankly an embarassment, the other - in great condition wielding two giant halberds, standing tall and menacing as was likely the creator's initial intention. But the group are sure these are just ornamental and nothing to worry about...
It's about 5pm, as betrayed by the slight fading of the sunlight beaming in through the raised windows. Kellen opts to cast 'Detect Magic', a spell which despite the ambiguity of its name, is used to detect magic. Low and behold magic is detected in not just the sarcophagus, but also the surrounding statues.
Closer inspection by Gaerfinas finds a dedication plaque on the plinth reading 'Son of Dorn, Brightblade Clan' but the meanings of these names elude him.
Going to work on the lid of the sarcophagus, Gaerfinas and Artus flex their core strength and try to heave the big stone topper off. Like a stale biscuit the heavy stone lid breaks into sizable chunks throwing a cloud of dust into the air with water splashing everywhere as the stone pieces crumble and plunge into the water-filled sarcophagus.
Kelnor lights up the sarcophagus as they peer inside noting three items: a sword, a chalice and – most expectedly – the skeleton of a dwarf.
Grabbing the white-gold, gem encrusted chalice from the sarcophagus, it soon became evident that this was the source of the mysterious overflow. Tipping it on its side would cause an endless stream of what appeared to be fresh water to flow from it, whereas – when upright – the cup would fill to the brim and stop. Kellen astutely points out that this cup is imbued with magical properties and the group feel lucky he was here to help with that observation.
Rania, without pause, takes a hearty swig from the self-filling chalice, testing and proving the theory that it is in fact fresh water while moving herself ever closer the inevitability of natural selection.
Gaerfinas, unable to acquire the sword through graceful means, throws himself into the sarcophagus bath and thrashes around trying to free the sword from under the chunks of stone sarco-lid, desecrating the dwarf skeleton in the process. After making a scene, Gaerfinas retrieces the sword. The group decide to rest and – as they meditate on their finds – determine the sword has an ‘elemental bane’ quality.
Everyone takes a short rest while Kelnor remains perplexed by the jewelled egg he found previously.
As the group begin to leave the burial chamber, a voice bellows 'Do not despair sons of Dorn' and as a shock to absolutely nobody, the intact statue slowly comes to life and the group prepare for an altercation. Finally putting the egg away, Kelnor sharply concocts a plan and seals the immovable bar in front of the statue’s shins, hoping to slow its progress. Rania, now well hydrated, takes this and every subsequent opportunity to flee from the scene.
The statue appears to notice and is not hindered by the immovable rod. It steps over the rod with ease, subsequently swinging one of his giant halberds towards Artus and narrowly misses him. Kellan responds with a bolt of fire into an unoccupied section of the room, causing some confusion. Gaerfinas makes an attempt with his light crossbow, somehow missing this lethargic giant.
Kelnor makes a dash for the valuable immovable-rod, securing it and athletically escaping the range and rage of the statue. The party charge from the room, hoping to bait the statue to the trapped corridor, poised to bring down a heavy walkway on top of it as it gives chase.
During the attempt to flee, Kellan is slow on his feet and caught off-guard by the extreme reach of the statue's halberds. He is brutally sliced into by the menacing fiend. Unconscious and bleeding, the group take a few moments to ponder whether they should help him, weighing up whether his return was a pre-requisite to their success. Heroically deciding to not let him die, Gaerfinas casts a healing spell bringing Kellen back from the cusp of death but leaving him in place and still without consciousness.
Artus also springs to the aid of Kellan by casting Sanctuary over his unconscious body and generates a protective shield as they run from him.
Gaerfinas clumsily gets too close to the animated stone beast and his flesh welcomes a savage swipe from the razor-sharp halberd edge – crippling him.
Kelnor, in a bid to hide from the statue and surprise it on its way down the stairs, dives into and flounders about within a small crop of mushrooms that barely obscures him. This, if anything, ensures the statue's attention is fully-drawn to himself and he takes a slice from a halberd for his trouble.
Gaerfinas, having learned nothing from the events from mere seconds ago, fires off another crossbow bolt into the darkness.
Artus steps up to heal himself and the wounded Gaerfinas as the party escape to the trapped walkway. As the statue-baiting continues, Kelnor (who is now at the back of the party and closest to the statue due to his mushroom shenanigans) drops a number of ball bearings on the floor behind him - aiming to cause the statue to stumble as it pursues.
Kelnor runs to the balustrade with grand plans of gallantly leaping over and joining his party below without taking the long route. After gauging the drop, he decides that the fall would likely kill him or, worse, embarrass him, but makes a successful hop over the smaller section instead.
The whole party (minus Kellan) are now away from the statue and have gathered at the trigger for the trap. The statue rolls on Kelnor's balls, before stumbling down the corridor into the trap's presumed area of affect as Rania pulls sternly on the rope...
Experience:
Artus (50) - XP for Session 12 log
Gaerfinas (0)
Kelnor (0)
Rania (100) - XP for Session 13 log
Rio (0)
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