Before we got to that, however, we started with the arrival of a caravan in Helix from Ironguard Motte. The caravan was in the employ of the Silver Standard Merchant Caravan, and had hired double the usual number of guards: a company of adventurers called the Fearsome Fivesome AND a bunch of independent adventurers. It was reported that the reason for this heightened security was a sharp rise in attacks by undead along the roads, some bearing the mark of the Black Legion. The PCs decided to hire some additional muscle before returning to the Barrowmaze, and so approached the independent adventurers (I used the pregen characters published with Barrowmaze for these characters): they ended up hiring Freelik of Glossimir (High Elf Fighter 1), "Killer" Kelg Barrelgut (Hill Dwarf Fighter 1), and Brother Binford (Human Cleric of St. Ygg 1) at a rate of 2 gp/day each. The increase in "firepower" was assumed to be worth the split in XP . . .
The roster of characters:
- Tanya - Sariel Moonblossom (Half-Elf Cleric of Arcantryl 2)
- Eli - Omarion Zolond (Drow Necromancer 2)
- Aidan - Alivin O'Harris (Human Ranger 2)
- Christopher - Feles Pugnat (Tabaxi Fighter 2)
- Hireling - Freelik of Glossimir (High Elf Fighter 1) - 2 gp/day
- Hireling - "Killer" Kelg Barrelgut (Hill Dwarf Fighter 1) - 2 gp/day
- Hireling - Brother Binford (Human Cleric of St. Ygg 1) - 2 gp/day
- Mongrelmen Hirelings: Kasmut, Kenamon, Qalhata, Somintu, and Werenro
5th Day of Hardfrost, 1000 GCY
The party set off for the Barrowmaze a bit later than usual (by about half an hour) because of the time taken to negotiate the hire of the hirelings. Along the way, they spotted two withered corpses along the path. They investigated, only to be set upon by two coffer corpses. The party quickly realized that non-magical weapons had little effect on the monsters, and switched to their meager magical daggers and spells to defeat them.
Arriving later than usual at the Barrowmaze, they explored the first mound to which they came - it was sealed, and so required some work with sledghammers to open. They found two skeletons (not animated), bowls of coins, and two decorated but fragile amphorae.
They then investigated a second mound, another one sealed requiring sledgehammer work to open, and found a sarcophagus; they opened it and faced a zombie draped in black cloth. In the battle the amphorae from the first mound were shattered. They defeated the zombie and claimed its treasure - a gold necklace with a jade scarab and a ring of protection +1 (claimed by Omarion, for the first time raising his Armor Class from 10 to 11!).
At this point, having spent much more time than expected hammering away at sealed tombs, the party decided to return to Helix before it got too much later. On the way they could hear the snarls and growls of the terrors of the Barrowmaze, but they managed to get back to Helix without incident.
6th Day of Hardfrost, 1000 GCY
The party got their usual early start to the Barrowmaze, intending to return to the dungeon beneath the burial mounds today.
This time they decided to explore a passageway to the north that they had previously bypassed. They entered a quiet crypt in which there was some graffiti ("Beware the Minotaur"), to which Feles added his own ("Feles was here"). They entered a second quiet crypt where they fought a giant spider and retrieved a hoard of electrum coins. Then they entered a defiled crypt in which they faced a phantom and found a runic tablet detailing the History of the Tablet of Chaos.
As a side note, this was randomly rolled - there are many runic tablets in the Barrowmaze, most of them bearing curses, but this one was purely informative, and of potentially epic importance, too. The tablet told of the ancient death-god Nergal and his Tablet of Chaos, which had power over death and the undead. It was said that the ancestral builders of the Barrowmaze brought the Tablet of Chaos to this place, and that it is possibly the reason the Barrowmaze is such an accursed place swarming with undead. It even hinted at the method of destroying the Tablet of Chaos (possisbly by sundering a law-aligned magical item or artifact against the Tablet of Chaos, thus destroying both!).
After this, the party explored a seemingly empty room beyond a portcullis, then found a secret door to a hidden chamber where they fought six zombies.
Finally, they explored one more chamber, smashing through a bricked up doorway to encounter a room with four shadows. They defeated the shadows in a hard-fought battle, then retreated back to Helix to recuperate . . .
Valhalla (R.I.P.)
- Imeni the Mongrelman, beheaded by Varghoulis the Dread Knight and his Crypt Knights of the Black Legion (1/3/1000)
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