-The PCs are on these stairs going down into the tomb.
-It smells
terrible, it's completely dark, and there's a draft.
-They decide to head down the
stairs, and then they come to a fork (right or left).
-To their left
they can hear heavy breathing (it's Wulf).
-Stebe lights a torch.
-Edward sneaks to the left to
investigate the breathing. He enters a room where there's a bunch of
debris and shit and a stone sarcophagus.
-Stebe's rat pendant begins to
get even warmer and its eyes begin to glow red.
-Wulf, hearing Stebe, cries out
for help (he thinks he's sprained his ankle haha).
-So, they find
Wulf; he's sitting on the ground and leaning against a stone sarcophagus in the
middle of the room.
-There's
also a different room separated from them because the ceiling has caved in
which blocks the corridor between the two rooms, although they can maybe
squeeze through to get to the other side.
-Suddenly, they here a huge
crash and a loud roar. The demon has broken open the entrance!
-Erasmus then says a prayer for
10 minutes which heals everyone for 12 HP.
-Ignoring Erasmus, Edward opens
the sarcophagus.
-Inside is the
skeleton of a paladin of the Morninglord (they think at least).
-He has
rusty plate mail armor and a light mace.
-Wulf mentions that there's
another sarcophagus in the other blocked-off room.
-Edward squeezes
through and investigates the other sarcophagus.
-It is
more ornately decorated than the first one.
-Edward opens the
sarcophagus and looks inside to find another paladin, but this time the corpse
is wearing a high-quality half-plate and a huge heavy mace (just a ball) which
begins to brightly shine with crackling energy seemingly powered by the light
above (due to the collapsed ceiling). Edward is temporarily blinded
because of the light!
-Unfortunately, because Edward
made so much noise opening the sarcophagus, there's suddenly the loud flapping
of wings and a loud roar. The demon is flying over to the collapsed room!
-Edward throws the
mace to Stebe through the debris blocking the corridor and Edward manages to
squeeze through the cracks before the demon is able to use his breath weapon.
-The PCs then use
that opportunity to run past the dungeon entrance in order to go further into
the tomb (since before that it had been blocked by the demon's breath weapon).
-At this point, Stebe's rat
pendant is getting so hot that he has to take it off.
-Stebe casts
identify on the rat pendant.
-It is a
"Rat Stone of Myrkul" - if it is ever around any rat (alive or dead)
that has ever carried a magickal plague created by Myrkul, you're able to
control it; you can't inhabit its brain or sense its thoughts or communicate
with it, but it will follow your will. It also glows and gets hot
whenever it's around one of those rats. The original plague rats were
created by Myrkul to spread plague throughout the multiverse, but of course this
plague soon spread to other non-magickal rats.
-Stebe is incredibly confused but starts to use his pendant to control a
half-rotten rat carcass. It's very bizarre, but somehow gives him great
joy as well. He decides to name the rat Galadin (after the Tomb of the
Unknown Paladin haha).
-Stebe tells Wulf what the pendant is and asks if he knows
anything about it, and Wulf tells him that Myrkul unleashed a terrible plague
in Baldur's Gate some time ago. Perhaps Stebe's father was involved, or
at least was a secret follower of Myrkul?
-Wulf starts
talking about how in the East they have a concept called "karma" and
explains what that is, and soon the conversation shifts to the murder of Violin
Boy and Wulf finds out that they killed an innocent Vistani child (whom Edward
still maintains was secretly a hag in disguise).
-Erasmus
starts talking about how what really needs to happen is for the party to rally
around Lathander so that they can liberate the people of Barovia (after they
get more experience).
-Wulf is clearly a bit disturbed by all of this.
-Before moving on,
they find out that Galadin has green slime (dangerously acidic) coated on it.
-The party continues deeper
into the dungeon.
-Marching order is
Edward, Erasmus, Wulf, Stebe.
-They open a door
into a room- inside is debris but in the middle of the room is a casket and on
top rests a single burning candle sitting inside of a hollowed-out skull.
-Edward
checks for traps around the casket and then opens it but there's nothing
inside.
-Investigating
what's written on the casket/sarcophagus in this room and looking around (with
his Glasses of Language Comprehension or whatever, Erasmus finds out that this
is the burial site of St. Bogden (and his followers) dedicated to the god Pelor
(a sun god similar to Lathander/The Morninglord), who is worshiped in the land
where Wulf's treasure is kept.
-Wulf also
mentions that he used to adventure with a paladin of Pelor named Finn Allunia.
-The PCs then move on to the
next room. It's a hallway with some stairs that go down to another door.
-It opens into
another room. Sitting in the middle of the room in a wooden chair is a
skeleton still wearing tattered rags, its mouth frozen open in a hideous
cackle. Ants crawl over it.
-Strewn
all over the floor are Tarokka cards.
-They start to
hear weird noises, like crackling, rattling, and clicking. The room also
smells awful.
-Edward
then tips over the skeleton from the chair, and as it falls to the ground its
head breaks from the body and it rolls across the floor.
-They continue through another
door, which opens up into a hallway. They can go left or right.
-Wulf listens and
discerns that to the left is the rattling, clicking sound, and to the right he
can hear running water.
-Everyone
else wants to go to the water, but Wulf wants to go where the danger is because
he wants to find treasure. Stebe slowly agrees as he begins to descend
into madness because of all the weird rat pendant shit.
-He lights Galadin on fire (since the green slime is flammable) sends him
down the hall to the left to investigate. They watch as Galadin runs down
the hall and enters into what seems to be a huge room with debris and shit.
-The PCs decide its safe so
they go down into the big room. The clicking and rattling sound gets a
little louder. Debris is strewn about the floor, bookshelves line the
wall.
-Erasmus looks
around and faintly hears the sound of a heavenly choir, and he opens a cabinet
and finds 6 bottles of holy water.
-Edward finds a
beautiful green and red glass bottle.
-Wulf
explains that it resembles something that he's heard of from the East- a bottle
which contains a spirit which can grant you wishes (but you can't ask for more
wishes). However, if the spirits don't like you they can also kill you.
-Edward rubs the bottle and Stebe
joins in, but nothing happens (it needs to be opened).
-Distracted by the
clicking and rattling noises, the PCs decide to hold onto the bottle for now
and check out the noises instead.
-Galadin is sent into the next
room where the rattling is. It suddenly stops. The PCs decide to go
in and see what's going on for themselves.
-They find that in
the middle of the room, going up to the ceiling of the dungeon, is a pyramid of
skulls and bones.
