Play Day 10 - 28/09/2012

Date: Toilday, 30th Gozran.

The party begin this session in a large rectangular room where the heroes had just fought off an attack by two foul Ghouls, that had jumped out of a pair of stone sarcophagi that had suddenly opened when Elamros had failed to disarm a trapped door.

The Monk of Irori stood holding his arm as blood dripped from a bite wound inicted by one of the Ghouls. Isabella moved over quickly to examine the wound, a look of grave concern on her face. She examined the wound closely, "It is as I thought. The wound is infected with disease. You suffer from Ghoul's Fever. If my healing powers were stronger I could remove this disease but alas I can not. Your body will have to ght it. It may take many days and you may grow weaker as time progresses but until we can get to a healer, let us hope Monk that your body is strong."

Again Elamros attempted to disarm and open the door, prodding the key lock with his various tools. He looked up smiling, "Alright .... It should be safe and unlocked now." As he nished saying this the metal door handle fell off onto the stone ground with a loud clank and a couple of small cogs then dropped out of the hole that was now visible from where a handle should be. "Far be it from me to question your great skill but is it supposed to do that?" asked Krondor.

"Probably not," replied Elamros, "Maybe I should have pushed that rod rather than pulled." The door, now having no handle or latch, slowly swung open a few inches.
"I guess it's safe to enter then," spoke Isabella as she grabbed the door and swung it open the rest of the way.

Entering the small and very dusty room the party can only nd a wooden chest in the room. Covered in dust but obviously very well made and with some carvings on it. Elamros sheepishly goes over to the chest and again examines the chest for traps. As he does so he wipes off some of the dust revealing a carving of a dragon. Isabella recognises the dragon as Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon, one of the Good and Lawful gods. It is the same dragon that was on the shield of the undead knight Sir Keegan that the party meet above. Opening the chest the party discover stale, mouldering clothes of a young boy and girl. Various personal items and toys are located, marked with the name of Drystan Keegan and Ceinwein Keegan. The party realise that these items must belong to the dead children of Sir Keegan. They decide to take the items and return them to the undead knight. One item however they discover is enchanted after Isabella uses a Detect Magic prayer.

The amulet, engraved with a pair of dove wings, is taken and examined by Isabella but she is unable to determine the exact magical properties of the item. The Monk of Irori takes it and wears the item around his neck. *********

Making their way back round to a larger room, the heroes arrive at a set of double doors on a southern wall that they had previously seen but not ventured through. After Elamros checks the doors for traps, the set of doors is opened. The 30 foot high room looks like a memorial. To the west, a 20 foot high statue of a warrior in plate armour stands atop a raised dais and holds an outstretched sword. In the corners of the eastern wall sit two statues of crouching dragons. Further to the south, an entry way leads to a set of double doors. In the entry way stand four more statues of small, cherubic gures holding vases above their heads. Some of the party notice that the dust on the stone oor is disturbed around the large warrior statue and there is a slight charing of the stone oor near where the two dragon statues sit. Isabella speaks, "I've got a bad feeling about this, stick to the walls and make our way slowly to the far side."

"I'll lead the way," speaks Krondor.

The party go single le, Krondor, the Monk, Delina, Elamros and Isabella bringing up the rear. They slowly make their way round the large chamber, eyeing the stone statues suspiciously. Eventually they make their way to the southern entry hall. Now closer they can see that the vases that the four cherub statues hold above their head have arcane symbols etched upon them. Isabella comes forward to read them. After a few minutes of examining the vases she speaks, "It's hard to read some of the symbols as they have aged but I can make out something about conjuring water and energy but as to the specics I am not sure." Elamros is looking closely at the oor in the middle of the southern hall, "I've got a bad feeling about this hall. The oor in the middle of the room looks slightly marked."

"You sure? I see nothing," mumbles Krondor.

Elamros keeps looking at the oor intently, "Trust me. That oor is different. Cleric can you detect any trace of eldritch energies?" Isabella bows her head down and closes her eyes, praying to her god. As she opens her eyes again she is momentarily taken aback as everywhere she looks is ooded with arcane energy. She focuses her eyes and looking around carefully sees that the stone oor around the all the statues in the previous room and the stone oor in the middle of the southern hall are glowing the brightest.

"Our Rogue friend is correct," speaks Isabella. "We must not step on the oor in the middle of this hall."

In single le again, the party carefully make their way through the southern hall to the set of metal double doors that stand impressively on the south wall.

Elamros carefully checks the double doors for traps but can not detect any devices. Isabella yells, "These are lesser zombies. Quickly to arms!"

Opening both doors, the smell of rotting meat pours forth from a visibly large chamber. Gnawed, partially eaten humanoid corpses are strewn everywhere. And standing visible, lifeless undead creatures turn their unholy eyes towards the party.

The party moved into action immediately. Krondor, the Monk, Isabella and Elamros quickly dispatch zombie after zombie. The slow, unsteady creatures pose no match for the party. But more and more of the creatures keep appearing and start to surround the heroes. Isabella holds up her hand, wielding her holy symbol like a weapon, "Creatures of shadow, I cast you from the light!" Yellow, warm light issues forth from the holy symbol. Each of the zombies turns its head away, unable to stand the glare but all hold their ground except one. One of the zombies turns and runs away, disappearing into the shadows to the south. The battle continues for more minutes and the party slowly make their way into the large chamber that branches off to the west and south. Isabella nds herself separated from the rest of the party when suddenly during the chaos of battle, from the shadows steps forth a larger undead creature. One that the Cleric immediately recognises, "A Ghoul! To me! Quickly before we all perish!" The ghoul jumps out at Isabella and it's claws barely miss the Cleric who is now ghting for her life. Delina runs towards the Cleric and stretches out her hand, shouting words of power. Flames erupt from her ngers and engulf the Ghoul and the zombies surrounding it.

The ames cause the zombies and Ghoul to stop their attack against Isabella momentarily. With that small respite, Isabella quickly grabs her holy symbol and shouts forth, "In the name of Cayden Cailean I condemn thee!" As she speaks these words blue divine energy erupts from her body and spreads forth like a wave around the chamber. Half a dozen of the lesser zombies immediately break apart and collapse onto the stone oor defeated. The Ghouls esh burns blue and large chunks of it break off. The smell of decay is over powering. It turns its hateful red eyes towards the small gure of Delina and jumps forward. Before the Gnome witch can react the Ghouls claws rip apart a large wound on

the witches arm. She stumbles back and her body goes stiff. Unable to move or to balance the witch slowly falls over and hits the ground hard. Her body still apart from her quick, fearful breaths.

The Monk of Irori, seeing Delina hitting the oor, moves with lightning speed towards the injured Ghoul. The Monk leaps into the air, twisting his body into a horizontal position with his two feet pointed towards the undead creature. Both his feet hit the creature full on. The ash from the blessed martial wraps, that cover his legs, is almost blinding. The Ghoul is hit backwards and as it crashes onto the oor its limbs break apart from its broken body.

Elamros res one last arrow at a single zombie and the creature hits the ground.

The party stand, sweating and panting, victorious once more. The Monk goes to check to see if Delina is alright, as she is still laying paralysed on the cold stone ground. From the south comes for sound of a single lesser zombie, desperately trying to claw its way away through a stone wall. It is the last of the creatures left and is still affected by the turning effect of Isabellas faith.

Krondor speaks, "I will nish this last one off." "Do you need a hand?" asks Elamros standing forward. Krondor laughs, "No, no Half Elf. I think I can manage one zombie!"

The Dwarf moves forward into the dark shadows, leaving behind the light cast forth from the parties lantern. Krondor, sees easily in the pitch black, his Dwarvish Dark Vision needing no light.

The party wait patiently, listening. "Take this you vile creature!" bellows Krondors voice from the darkness. They hear a swing and then a wet thud, "Argh!!! My foot!" Elamros shouts into the darkness, "You sure you don't want a hand?" "I'm ne!" shouts a very irritated Krondor.

Again the party hears a swing of a battle axe and then it just stops. "What the! Give that blasted axe back you undead scum! That's mine!" Krondors shout lls the chamber.

"Are you sure you don't want a hand?" Elamros shouts towards the sound of battle.

"Nothing to worry about here," shouts Krondors voice back, though he sounds like he is straining. A loud, wet thud is heard through the darkness, followed by a yell of pain and outrage from Krondor. Suddenly a loud crash his heard and a moment later, from the darkness emerges a sweating and panting Krondor, who now has a cut on leg. Krondor looks at Elamros, "Don't - say - a word!"

*********

Exploring the large chamber, the west and south branches join up. A small, narrow passage way, that appears that it has been dug out of the stone wall, is on the west side. The party choose to ignore this and instead explore a set of very wide stone steps that extend further into the depths of the dungeon. The stairs end at a small hall that has a set of elaborate metal doors in it. Carved with patterns and shapes. The door is both beautiful and yet implies a sense of dread.

Elamros checks the doors for any traps but can not nd anything out of the ordinary. With some dread, the party open the large, ominous doors.

Beyond is an entry hall made of polished stone oor. A red carpet lays on the oor, beautifully made and with elaborate patterns on it. A set of double doors is visible just to the north and another set is at the far eastern end. Soft, faint blue light is visible coming from the edges of the eastern doors. An open doorway is on the southern side, the wooden doors that once would have stood there have long since collapsed. Visible past the open doorway are stone walls - some of which have collapsed.

There is very faint chanting or singing coming from the east.

"How about we go rest up before continuing? I have a bad feeling about this place and I have used up most of my divine energy for the day." speaks Isabella is a low voice. The party readily agree and turn back, leaving the large metal doors open. They make their way back to the northern area where they slept last time and again use the same chamber, with a portcullis. Breaking out camp, the party lower the portcullis and take turns keeping watch. During the watches, sounds of feet walking around near by, as if searching for something or someone can be heard throughout the night. No one comes to portcullis and after a length of time the party once again raise and prepare for the coming day. *********

Food is eaten, equipment readied, prayers spoken, spells prepared and meditation under taken. Once all the gear is readied for travel the party raise the portcullis and again head back to the southern area, carefully avoiding the statues along the way and make their way back to the large and ornate metal doors that they left before. When they return to the doors, they nd them closed - even though the party had left them open. Elamros places his head next to the door and then whispers to the party, "There is someone standing very close to the door. I can hear breathing."

The party ready their weapons and stand alert at the door. Isabella whispers to the Dwarf, "Krondor, knock on the door and then fall back with us."

Krondor knocks three times on the door and then moves back with the rest of the party, just short of the door.

One of the metal doors open and standing there is a powerful human clad in dark leather armour and carrying an axe; his spit ecked lips moving in unending prayers. Before he can move or respond, the Monk, Isabella and Krondor swing their weapons at him. Elamros res an arrow that hits him squarely in the chest. The badly injured and bloody man ignores his wounds and moves forward to attack quickly. Another male, similar in appearance to the rst, moves to the doorway. The battle is erce but quick. As the enemies can only come out one at a time the party have the advantage and the two mighty foes are quickly dropped.

But now another threat emerges from the shadows. Quick moving humans, pale skinned, with red eyes and long teeth, race towards the party and emerge from the door. The party stand their ground and attack this new threat. The pale creatures move quickly but they are easy to drop, seeming to take very little damage or injury to stop.

In the confusion, Elamros accidentally drops his bow onto the ground.

The undead creatures keep coming. Just as the party are thinking little of this new threat, and make the mistake of not taking enough care, one manages to grab hold of the Monk and sink its teeth into his arm.

The Monk cries out in pain, the bite hot and throbbing. The dove wing amulet that the Monk wears feels suddenly warm and a faint glow comes from it. The burning and pain from the bite on his arm stop. Isabella shouts a warning, "Do not let these vampire spawn bite into you else you risk becoming one!" The party, no longer taking this threat lightly, ght for grim life. One by one the pale creatures are dropped to the ground but yet still more come. Isabella holds up her hands and begins to pray. Blue energy spreads forth, dropping numerous of the undead creatures to the ground.

Eventually no more emerge from the shadows and the party stand alone. Isabella speaks to the Monk, "How is your arm, does it burn?"

The Monk exes his arm, his lean muscles glinting in sweat, "No it feels ne."

Isabella looks relived, "Praise Cayden Cailean." *********

And that is where the play session ended.