Session #11 - "An Eye for an Eye"

[avisarr]

Session 11 – "An Eye for an Eye" - Summary
Friday, November 2, 2007


While the soldiers of House Quaigen were busy cleaning up the aftermath of the assault on the subterranean bandit lair, the heroes returned to their guild house. Upon arriving they were visited by Rethkilrin, the Master of Letters. Rethkilrin had finished studying the map (the map that Lady Alia had given to Sir Hugh as a gift) and had identified the village named. He returned the map to Sir Hugh with his notes for translation. The heroes now had what they needed to find the lost tomb marked on the map.

Aruzmathel and Oliff were sent on a hurried errand to the Guild of Sorcery. They would be occupied for some time. There was some discussion among the rest of the party – Torgren, Paragon and Sir Hugh. If the map was correct, it showed the tomb of Gromsha, a once great orcish chieftain, and the final resting place for a magnificent weapon that was buried with him... Draco Occidare – the Dragon Slayer. It would still be several days before the guild finished its investigation into the kidnapping and the bandit's lair. The party was no longer needed. The two warriors and the priest decided not to wait for their two wizards. With permission from the House, the three heroes loaded up their horses and headed to the north, toward the village of Cytheron, which was marked on the map.

Before leaving, the party reviewed the five magic items they had recovered from the bandit lair. Fanigun identified the items for the players. The items were as follows...

A small onyx and silver ring that protects the wearer in battle. Torgren, the dwarf barbarian, claimed this.

A small glass and iron sphere. A "rust grenade". The party decided to leave this behind.

A shimmering pale blue liquid in a small round glass bottle. This potion is a Potion of Phased Invisibility, allowing the imbiber to turn invisible and walk through walls. But it had a very short duration.

A bright, glowing yellow potion in a triangular glass vial. This was a Potion of Ignition. It ignites the imbiber in flames which are harmless to the imbiber but will cause damage to those nearby. It also had a short duration.

A dagger enchanted to be very effective against undead creatures.

And finally, a skull with a blazing burgundy gem set in one eye socket. It was identified as a unique gem which had to be placed in the eye socket of a living person in order to work. When so placed, it functioned as a magical eye and allowed the user to see about 10 seconds into the future. Indeed, this was a powerful magic item indeed. Torgren and Sir Hugh were horrified at the nature of the item, but Paragon was committed to possessing this item. He took out his dagger, took a deep breath and then plunged the blade into his left eye. With a grunt of pain, he cut the eye out. While the blood still flowed, he cut the gem free from the skull and thrust it into his own bloody eyesocket. Instantly, the gem lit up and magically grafted itself to his skull. He could feel its power coursing through him.

He tested the eye several times. He found that, if he concentrated, he could see what would take place (within his field of vision) out to about 10 seconds into the future. A powerful advantage, though he found that it actually showed the most likely outcome, but it was not always accurate.

With his new eye functioning, Paragon and the others left the guild house and headed north. They traveled for 2 days. After following the map for three days, they found a great ancient oak tree at the end of a long hill. Upon their approach, the roots of this tree parted revealing a stone door in the side of the hill. The door bore the same sigil as traced on the map.

There were several faint brown streaks upon the door. Sir Hugh guessed that this might be blood. He took off his gauntlet, cut his hand and smeared the bright red blood upon the stone door. The sigil flared to life and the stone door slide open.

Within they found stairs leading down into the dark belly of the hill. Torgren led the way, allowing his dwarven eyes to peer into the gloomy depths ahead. Sir Hugh lit his flaming sword and Paragon cast a light spell. So prepared, they entered the tomb. At the bottom of the stairs they found a small entry chamber and a large door. The door was already open, slightly ajar. Above the door was an inscription in the stone in orcish. Although Torgren could speak orcish, he had never learned to read it. Paragon cast a spell to translate. The inscription read...

Within Lies The Tomb of Gromsha
Thieves Turn Back, Only Death Awaits You Here

Paragon recognized the architecture as Traxxian. The orcish inscription was much more recent. Only a century or two old where as the Traxxian stonework is over 2000 years old. This was likely a Traxxian tomb, possibly ransacked by the orcs and then used to bury their chieftain, Gromsha.

Passing through the door, the passed through a short corridor and into a dark square chamber. On the floor were five skeletonized bodies, three human, one elf and one grum. Also, there was what looks like a shattered statue on the floor next to the three bodies.

The room was filled with four large bas relief carvings depicting orcs victorious in battle. One of these had a body shaped depression where the orc warrior WOULD be.

The door on the far side had a metal etching on it depicting a large orc wielding a great spear. There was a large, complex locking mechanism on the door with four key holes.

Upon entering the room, the heroes watched as the carvings came to life. The orc champions depicted in each one stepped out of the carving and changed from stone to flesh and blood. They drew their blades and step forward menacingly. There was a faint blue glow to them and their eyes were glowing bright blue. The orcs attacked. The battle was fierce and the heroes were forced to use some of their healing magic. One by one, the orcs were slain. The first was felled by Sir Hugh. Upon collapsing the orc reverted back to stone and the bluish glow enveloped Sir Hugh who promptly collapsed. Torgren fell the second and Paragon the third. Each time the orc reverted back to stone and the bluish glow enveloped he who had delivered the killing blow.

Within seconds all three heroes were back on their feet. The bluish glow flooded each of the heroes with a new found energy and strength, seemingly revitalizing them. Some of their wounds healed and they felt energized. This slight boost to them was permanent. The players did not understand why this had occurred (but admittedly they had done no research about Gromsha before coming to his tomb and knew nothing about the tomb). They assumed that this was an intentional effect and no doubt related to Gromsha somehow. In any case, they decided not to question it and simply enjoy the effect.

The heroes checked the bodies of the three fallen orc figures they had just slain. Around the neck of each was a key. They took these. They also searched the skeleton corpses on the floor. They took a healing potion from the elven skeleton and Torgren drank it. From one of the human skeletons, they found another key. They now had four identical keys (which fit in the four keyholes of the door exiting this chamber, they assumed).

Besides weapons, armor and miscellaneous gear, there was nothing else of value upon the skeletons.

Using the four keys to unlock the door, the party moved into the next corridor. In the next chamber, the heroes found a great pair of stone doors on the far side. Each of the four corners held a great altar devoted to a specific element. One altar was carved of stone and a number of rocks floating in mid air above it. The second alter was composed entirely of iron and many metal crafted pieces floated in mid air. The third altar was fashioned from lava or volcanic rock. The entire altar was in flames. And the fourth was composed of flesh and oozed blood.

From each of these altars arose a monstrous thing... the first was a broad humanoid shaped being carved of living rock. From the second altar came a mechanized construct which assembled itself from the gears and crafted pieces of metal. With whirring and clicking, it walked out on metallic feet. From the third altar, a living flame assumed a vaguely flicking humanoid shape and walked out. From the fourth altar, a thing emerged. It was flesh and tendon and muscle and covered in blood. Blood flowed from two empty eyesockets.

These four golem-like creatures attacked the party. Sir Hugh grasped his long sword and used its magical ability to control fire. He willed the fiery humanoid to be extinquish. A battle of wills began as his will strove against the will of the fire. Sir Hugh was victorious and the fiery creature was extinquished living a semi-solid creature composed of hot rock and lava. It took all his might to maintain his concentration and he was barely able to defend himself against the other three.

Torgren fought the blood creature while Sir Hugh defended against attacks from the stone and metal creatures. Paragon cast spells and sent beams of white hot energy in.

The battle was long and fierce and the party expended every ounce of strength, every healing potion and every spell they had. But in the end, all four of these creatures were destroyed. Each creature, upon dying, collapsed into a pile of its respective element – rubble, broken metal pieces, ash and a pool of blood. From each of these, the party found a vial of something. The first vial had powdered stone, the second had a silvery liquid metal. The third was filled with bright yellow glowing fiery liquid. And the fourth contained blood. Paragon was able to detect a strong magical field emananting from each of these but had no way to identify them. The party gathered these four precious magical elixirs in hopes of identifying them later.

The party retreated into the first chamber and, using the four keys, locked the door. They rested here for many hours. Once Paragon had rested fully, he prayed to his deity for additional spells. Paragon then cast powerful healing on Hugh and Torgren. Now healed and rested, the heroes felt ready for whatever may lay ahead.

Passing through the chamber with the four stone altars, they opened the doors and headed down the next corridor in to the next chamber. It was a large chamber with a huge stone sarcophagus which was raised vertically and facing them. As soon as they entered the room, the great stone lid of the sarcophagus began to slid away. Inside the stone coffin was a very large orcish skeleton, arrayed in heavy orcish bone armor and clutching a magnificent 12 foot long spear. A ghastly green light flickered in its dead empty eyesockets and the thing stirred. It stepped forward from the sarcophagus and attacked. The party quickly responded. Sir Hugh and Torgren flanked the great skeleton, fighting on either side of it so that one of them was also behind it. Paragon fired more of his fiery beams of energy at it.

The weapon it wielded was clearly a great and powerful weapon of ancient design. Not orcish or Traxxian, this thing was crafted in another place and time. A vaporous blue mist rolled off of the great spear continuously and its glowing bladed head almost hummed with power. Torgren was struck and the spear pierced him clean through. The weapon left a terrible wound. Torgren was struck twice more before the three heroes were able to beat the skeleton to the ground and break its bones, finally killing the monster. The spear was taken from its bony fingers. Sir Hugh, recognizing that this weapon could be used as a lance, lay claim to it.

The room is filled with many treasures, but here is where Session 11 ended. Stay tuned to find out what loot they found in the tomb next time.