Ghastly Encounters (13th-14th of Bearguard, Rose: 47)

It was eventide on the 13th of Bearguard.

Elan and Siegride and Tamroohk had entered the Cloak of Starlight.

I think I've described this space before but I'll do it again. 

It's dark, perhaps midnight, and it's a clear night sky with bright stars; there doesn't appear to be any ambient light anywhere except for what you generate/bring with you. The surface is a gray grass and in the distance you hear the lapping waves of a distant ocean. There's a small slit of light that hangs about five feet in the air - that slit, when parted, returns one to the real world. There is a horde of goodies here that belong to the party and/or Siegride.

All of the possessions look very old. Dusty, covered in a grime. The books, spellbooks and journals that are here look weathered, like their pages are becoming more brittle with age. The treasures made of metal, gemstone, coins, and so on, look entirely unaffected, just covered in a dust. 

Elan, your nose bleeds here. Bad. Siegride has noted that a constellation is missing from the night sky. 

A quick, onsite inventory of the stuff that was stowed here shows that the following things were consumed by the Black Pudding:

7 bedrolls ~7 each

2 iron pots ~ 10 each

2 lamps ~1 each

2 buckets ~ 2 each

16 empty sacks ~1/2 each

Small stone statue of Barronar Truesilver ~?

fishing tackle ~4

2 shovels ~5 each

61 iron spikes ~5 (for 10)

2 Climber's kits ~12 each

The two angry +3 battleaxes are still here, sitting in a cleared, burned space where this other material used to be.

There is a burned, scorched-earth trail that leads away from this space, where the grasses and topsoil have been consumed, and Elan and company decided to follow it.

They follow the trail into the darkness for what rationally feels like 45 minutes. All around them is darkness and grass. They never, at all, catch a glimpse of the sea or the oceanside; the terrain elevation never changes; there is simply grass in all directions; they lose sight of the slit of light after stepping 30' away from it, and have only the burned trail to lead them back.

Elan is disturbed for she soon notices that there is absolutely nothing different with every twenty feet of steps she takes. That is: the pattern in the scorched earth repeats itself exactly every twenty feet; the grasses sway exactly the same every twenty feet; the landscape and horizon is exactly the same for every twenty feet. 

Her nose bleeding, she soaks it with a spare cloth held up to her face. Testing a theory, she turns around and marches 20' back the way she came. The space then opens up, the party's possessions are seen, and the slit hangs in the air. 

Elan looks back into the darkness and then back at Siegride and Tamroohk in a WTF moment.

Meanwhile, outside the cloak, three hours pass. The cloak sits there, unmoving, on the ground, everyone else resting and sitting in the pews of the dwarven chapel at the end of the mine. 

Tolman reads from his Diary of Correspondence. More news. "Good word to you, Tolman of Aymes Parish, and it's all the good words I can impart, for nothing else good is really to say. I've decided on a more ... prudent tact. I leave Rhackdalia within the next few hours. I make south to Shyn-Bhokerdown to catch a transport vessel I've brokered off of the island. Rhackdalia, most certainly, is lost. The rich evacuate; the poor pray; able-bodied are conscripted; there are enormous lines for food and clean water. The farms along the hillside that feed Rhackdalia are destroyed; merchants and farmers slaughtered. Word comes to me that Shyn-Pastore has been burned to the ground and its citizens slaughtered or chased into the nearby wood. Shyn-D'hnare is under assault; people are fleeing Shyn-Levenson by boat, or, taking their chances into the fens and marshes. I will be silent for a while now as I preserve my breath for my own life. Believer in fate, good Tolman? I am. We shall meet again!"

Meanwhile, the pseudodragon was curled up for a nap on the abandoned Cloak of Starlight when suddenly Siegride returned, and the little dragon was ejected to the floor. It hissed sleepily.

In playing around with the Cloak, the party noted the severe time dilation that occurs when the Cloak is occupied. When the cloak is worn, anyone still inside the cloak experiences an hour for nearly every second in real-world time. It would seem that, when the Cloak is opened and being used by its wearer, it creates a rift that alters that effect; slows it down in random ways.

Just in case you missed it, here are the tributes that you found within the chapel:

There were six tributes here. Master-works dedicated to the gods. They are the same origin as the mace found earlier in the adventure.

• A Light Dwarven Crossbow +2. 1d8 Piercing. 5lbs. Range 80/320. Light, loading, two-handed. Bluish silver, wood, handle, crafted steel. Decorated in outstanding blue Kyanite. When in varied light, it shows Berronar reaching out at the aggressor with a clawed hand.

• A Heavy Dwarven Greataxe +2. 1d12 Slashing. 7lbs. Heavy. Two-handed. Bluish silver, polished steel and laced with silver, decorated in Kyanite. In varied light, it shows Berronar’s kind face staring back at the possessor.
  
• A Shield +2. Round. Silver. 6lbs. Bluish silver, polished steel, large Kyanite gemstones. When in varied light, shows Berronar praying.
  
• A Heavy Dwarven Hammer +2. 1d12. 10lbs. Two-handed. Silver, blue, Kyanite. On the hammer, in the light, it shows Berronar in an angry scream.
  
• A Dwarven Battleaxe +2. 1d8/1d10 Slashing. 4lbs. Versatile. Silver, blue, Kyanite. On the axe, Berronar in prayer.
  
• Three Dwarven Daggers +2. 1d4 Piercing. 1lb. 1 is blue, silver, kyanite, the blade catches one-half of Berronar’s face. 2 is red, rubies, depicts half of Abbathor’s face; 3 is green, emeralds, depicts one half of Clanggedin’s face.

• The armor on the corpse is Dwarven Half-Plate +2. Blue, Kyanite. Dead dwarven hero. In the right light, along the breast plate, it shows Berronar’s torso in prayer.

After a rest, there was much discussion about possessions, the state of affairs in Rhackdalia (apparently under siege), and what to do next. To assist in their efforts, Siegride pulled out a scroll of Berronar Truesilver's followers, written in Dwarvish, the spell Speak with Dead. They cast it on the hero's corpse that was found in the underground church.

The corpse said that, in life, his name was Andersol Hammerhand, Son of Bakar. When asked, he said that his intention was to use the tributes to vanquish what was in the Pit in Drake, but he never had the chance; he and the miners were trapped on this level when Barrelborn sealed the Drake and locked everyone in the mine. The tributes were thought blessed by Berronar Truesilver's clerics and would aid him in his efforts. The Pit, he explained, wasn't what York thought it would be (the Khannel Duergar - the underground path to the mythical Dwarven exiles). His time expired, the corpse was finally silent.

When the party descended in the spindle to Drake, they found a foul forest of white vines and tree trunks that grew out of the very stone. The smell of sulfur and ammonia hung in the air; a dense mist or fog clung to their feet; it was seemingly entirely alien. These mine shafts were erratic, no artistic value like the upper levels, and seemingly lacking purpose, taking odd courses through narrow passageways without any regard for finding minerals or gemstone deposits. The upper levels seemed so planned and methodical; this layout seemed unplanned madness. Earlier the party had forced air into this level of the mine through the central control panel on Jackal; if they hadn't done that, they seriously doubted they'd be able to breathe this air.

It didn't take long for their exploration to lead to a tight corner in a narrow hall where the white trees and vines wrapped up around the walls and ceiling. Within the crevasses and crawl spaces of the foliage, movement, and corpses with pale white flesh, wicked claws, and horrendous fangs began to stir. The undead breathed in the breath of the living, and they rose to attack!

It was a bloody battle of a noxious stench, claws, poison, vomit, blood, earth-shattering spells and divine intervention! When the dwarven tribute weapons were used, everyone could hear a high-pitched tone like an inhuman (indwarven?) shriek with every time the weapons successfully connected with the flesh of the undead! The party found themselves beset by fourteen Ghasts coming at them from all directions, climbing through the trees along the wall, floor, and ceiling, swiping and biting them, ripping their flesh off their bones! But when the battle was over, the party members scraped by.

It was around 9am on the 14th of Bearguard when the party regrouped and prepared to trudge further into the Drake, to learn more of its awful secrets.


R

Descent into the Basilisk's Lair (12th-13th of Bearguard, Rose: 47)

The party rested for nearly a day and a half in the mines of York & Barrelborn. They sealed themselves in the apartment again and took ample time to heal.

They returned to the 3rd Tier of Jackal and investigated its adjacent mine shafts. They also activated the control panel to both unlock the church and open air to Drake, conceivably the lower-most level of the mine. After four hours, they found nothing of particular interest except for an increasing volume of white vines growing from the rock and walls of this place. They descended further.

It wasn't long before they encountered webbing along the walls, floor, and ceiling, then statues of large giant spiders ominously in the corridor. When arriving at the 4th Tier of Jackal, they found the corridor to their right was sealed by portcullis but to the left it hung open and couldn't be closed.

Suddenly, a giant spider rushed the party from behind the closed portcullis! Its arms flaying, its body pressed up against the iron bars. More spiders came, and the party was thrust into melee. Spiders were on the walls and ceiling, rush the party from deeper in the mine shaft and from the open portcullis. The spiders tried hitting the party with bites and webbing.

Meanwhile, during this pitch, glowing orange eyes appeared. It was a basilisk! Some in the party made their saving throws, but not Tamroohk, whose body began turning to stone! Luckily, Tamroohk made her next saving throw and the process stopped.

The spiders kept coming and the party was fighting two adversaries, when suddenly, more orange eyes from the darkness! Another basilisk! Soon the party realized that their deadly gaze was only good for 30' feet, and backed out of its effect range so they could smite the creatures with arrows and magic missiles. It wasn't too long before the third and final basilisk, Mama Basilisk, came rushing out of the darkness! Tolman did a daring move and backstabbed the creature, risking his own life by looking into its eyes as it turned its head in pain. But Tolman made his saving throw! No turning to stone for him!

It wasn't long before all the creatures were dispatched and the party explored the final tier of Jackal. There was a relief of a church carved into the side of the wall here, and its large double doors cracked open (as they opened the doors from the control panel on the 3rd Tier).

On the inside, just three rows of pews and thirteen dead dwarves, remarkably preserved. There were idols for the dwarven gods of greed and fighting, but a much larger bas-relief of Berronar Truesilver behind an altar bearing the body of a former dwarven hero in bluish-silver half-plate armor. And along the side walls in six alcoves sat tributes to the gods: a slew of dwarven weapons - a crossbow, an enormous hammer, a battleaxe, a great war axe, a shield, daggers, and of course, the half-plate armor.

Just then, at the doorway, a light appeared. The ghost of the dwarf holding the lantern was there, and he waived for others to follow him, back up the mine shaft! The bodies of the dead dwarves - their eyes suddenly became alight with a blue radiance, and all of the dwarves (Tamroohk, Vongur, and Gorbash) felt in their heart of hearts to follow this apparition! To run with it!

Yet only Tamroohk headed the cry within her spirit! She ran after the ghost (and Siegride raced after her) as it raced back up the mine shaft! Behind them, a bevy of ghostly forms materialized, emerging from the floors, walls, side mine corridors; Siegride and Tamroohk could hear their shouting "It's closing! Hurry lads! Before it's too late!" They could hear their breathing, pounding legs, racing up the mine shaft with them!

Racing towards the spindle, the lead lantern-carrying dwarf reached its wall and extended his arm to the ceiling, grasping at a way out of the mine. Knowing just what to do, Tamroohk lifted the spindle's control and placed it to RAM, and the device started spinning clockwise and rising to the upper level! The ghostly forms rushed in, amassing above their heads, racing around in circles, screaming, crying for a way out! And when the spindle stopped turning and arrived on RAM, they gushed out, racing towards the top of that mine shaft!

Siegride and Tamroohk raced along with them, rushing up the stairs and arriving at the door switches that would open both the internal and external doors to the entrance. They flipped the switch, and the blinding light of daylight (which they hadn't seen for about a week!) caused them to shield their eyes, as a brilliant rush of blue, ghostly energy fled the mine and rushed outside. When there were no more noises or ghosts, they re-closed the mine, and returned to the church at the bottom of JACKAL.

Once there, the party started taking inventory. Ma'yah collected the blood and guts of the basilisks (which Ma'yah appears apt to do when encountering magical adversaries), and a plan was hatched by Elan, Tamroohk, and Siegride to go into the Starlight Cloak to rid it of the Black Pudding that had taken up residence there. One by one, Siegride wrapped her cloak around both of the other players, and they slipped into an alternate dimension ...

... and that's where we left off, around eventide of the 13rd of Bearguard, Rose: 47!

R

Last Words of the Damned (12th of Bearguard, Rose: 47)

The party retreated to Barrelborn's former residence. There they obtained clothing for Ma'yah and secured the door so they might secure a long rest. During their rest, a light source was seen moving around in the outside mine, the light shining under the door and moving across the floor, as if the light source itself was also moving. They also heard moans. Finally, at 3am on the 12th of Bearguard, the party suited up, unbarred the door, and stepped out into the mine ... only to find darkness.

Descending to the 2nd Tier of Jackal, the party explored the veins to the left and right. Both were devoid of any monstrous encounters but the party did find things of interest and value.

• The party encountered mine carts filled with unrefined ore and rock laden with uncut gemstones.

• They found hidden and stowed packs from survivors attempting to preserve their belongings. Some had gemstones and Dwarven Doubloons. Most of the food and water rations in these packs had been plundered.

• They found more traps that had been tripped and disarmed. They avoided the others.

• Eventually, they would encounter more statues of Dwarves raising their arms to their face in terror, to block their sight.

• The party also encountered statues of what must have been three Svirfneblin wearing exploring gear and packs; all three look surprised and terrified. They are all bald (males); their packs (now turned to stone) contained maps and gemstones, now all simply rock.

• They encountered a ghostly apparition again bearing a lantern, waving for others to follow him; he disappeared into the darkness of the mine.

• But in a more disturbing twist, the party began to encounter living vines with buds and leaves, thick trunks of plant, weaving itself through the stone. All alive - all white, devoid of chlorophyll, and when cut, smelled of ammonia - living vines deep within the heart of the mine, coursing through the rock as if it were fertile soil.

• They encountered the preserved corpses of dwarves that had been intentionally stripped of their flesh - potentially cannibalized.

• Finally, they encountered a final refuge. Bed rolls, packs, provisions were found here; small treasures and flowers and roses carved from the rock itself laid by various packs as remembrances. There were last words, rites, curses, epitaphs, letters to friends, lovers, families, sons and daughters and strangers, carved into the mine wall, all writ in Dwarvish tongue. Last words from those who were trapped in the mine and left to survive for possibly months in absolute darkness. And there was a poem:

Knowing.

Knowing each and every day is your last;

Knowing you die with every scratch upon the wall;

Knowing every breath poisons you further;

Knowing that you must sculk this darkness, that you must hide, and that your must prey upon your friends;

Knowing that you must harvest the meat from your brother’s bones;

Knowing what you can’t consume the cursed orange eyes will take.

Knowing that you’re buried, your voice silenced and you are forgotten;

Knowing that death is the only way out.
Fuck this knowing.

The party found a scant treasure horde in the midst of the refuge. A black opal (perhaps worth 1,000 Crowns); 1 silk robe with silver embroidery, clerical (250 Crowns); 1 corked/sealed steel vial with liquid; 1 scroll, sealed with wax and sporting the seal of Baronnar Truesilver.

Gorbash and Tamroohk spent time making rubbings of the family letters so they could eventually be read by their intended readers. They retrieved some coal sticks and parchment, and rubbed the words for taking with them.

Thoroughly bummed, the party continued the descent into the mine - to the 3rd Tier of Jackal. There, they encountered another control panel to the mine - similar to what they found on the 3rd Tier of Ram - except, this time, an access to a crawl space had been lifted from the floor and set aside. The crawl space was tiny and Gorbash volunteered to go looking within it.

Meanwhile, the party found that the combination to unlocking the control panel worked here, too. The center console ejected and revealed four stones in programming order: JACKAL, CASTLE (the Dwarves would say that the icon depicts more of a church than a castle), LOCK, PEGS (0 of 5 pegs filled).

In the crawl space, prone and armorless, Gorbash crawled under the mechanism and between large gears, taught copper cables, and very dangerous springs. He found a preserved corpse of a dwarf miner with three other control blocks in his possession: DRAKE, STARBURST, and a CIRCLE (with arrows long its parameter); in a pouch, he had three wooden pegs. He had tools and gear with him, indicating that he was trying to get to the console but may not have had the pass code to eject it.

Silently, a dreadful thing was happening near Ma'yah. A small slip of black ooze was cascading from the ceiling and spilling into the crawlspace with Gorbash. The black ooze was coalescing in the crawlspace, and the party was thrust into melee!

It was horror! Gorbash knew he was in trouble: prone, without his armor, at disadvantage and adversaries at advantage against him! Gorbash grabbed the corpse of the dwarf and threw it in front of him, in order to distract the ooze and buy him some time as he skittered five feet out of its reach! The ooze enveloped the corpse and began consuming it, all the while gaining more mass and form. Gorbash looked frantically everywhere for an exit, and looked up through the console to see Siegride's face ... completely unable to get him out!

The party was attacking the ooze! Trying to save Gorbash. Just then, Ma'yah saw it ... a cloaker from the north passage, coming towards the party! Then Tamroohk saw two more cloakers, closing in from the south passage! The party was in full swing!

Gorbash took some terrible acid damage from the ooze and it was eventually killed, but he had to wade through the remains of the ooze to climb out of the crawl space, ejecting into the corridor for healing! The battle raged! At one point or another, members of the party were wrapped in the manta ray-like wings of the cloaker, its mouth eating them alive!

Then, another ooze emerged and in a pitch battle with Siegride, its pseudopod like tentacle arm reached out to hit her. Missing, the arm passed right through into the space of her Cloak of Stars! Then, suddenly, the ooze split - detached the pseudopod - leaving a bit of itself inside of her cloak! Enraged, Siegride unleashed the tempest on the thing, blasting it back 15 feet and disintegrating the bars of the closed portcullis. Llew was nearly dead, making his death saves; Tolman was whittled down to just one hit point at a time; Ma'yah was casting as much as she could against available targets; Elan was sending arrows into everything she could shoot ...

It was a terrible battle. The player characters were severely wounded; Tolman at one point even encouraged the party to return home with him and he'd teach them farming. Still, at the end of it, the cloakers dead, the ooze dispatched, the party was victorious!

But alone. Very alone. The dark deep mine of York & Barrelborn, sealed shut 259 years ago following an unspeakable calamity, trapping the souls of tens if not a hundred dwarves, deep within the heart of the earth. And that's where we left off, around 11am on the 12th of Bearguard, Rose: 47!

Next week: THE FINAL BATTLE! AND THE EPIC CONCLUSION! ... or is it?

R