This blog post serves as a campaign log for my Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition character, Pyria Almareth.
Session #8 (08/08/2019)
They had less than half an hour before Sagrath’s telepathic communication spell would wear off. Pyria turned to Sehl and asked, “Sehl, how far are we from the brothel?”
“About a 5 minute walk,” replied Sehl. He hesitated and said, “but, I feel like I have to go back, and check on Locklier. You guys go on ahead.”
Pyria’s eyes welled up. She said, “no, I’m coming with you too!”
Backtracking to the entrance took a couple minutes. Sehl and Pyria ran up to Locklier. He was still there, breathing, but unconscious. Feeling impatient, Pyria contacted Sagrath via the telepathy spell. She asked, “Sagrath, when is help coming?”
“I’m working on it,” replied Sagrath. Pyria sensed the wizard was feeling rushed. She meekly replied, “Locklier is no longer conscious.”
“Yes, yes,” answered Sagrath. “I’m attempting to deal with this situation. There are a few problems.”
“What problems,” asked Pyria.
“There’s no time for that,” replied Sagrath. She ended her communication with the wizard.
“To be honest,” Sehl spoke up, “I am a little weary of Sagrath. I don’t trust him. This was a powerful, magical trap.”
Pyria was a little surprised by Sehl’s suspicions. Sagrath worked along side her father long before she was born. The man had never done anything to make her doubt his loyalties. She assured Sehl, the wizard could be trusted and said, “Sagrath has been with our family for many years. I don’t have a reason not to trust him.”
“Hmm, perhaps,” replied Sehl. “I don’t feel well leaving Locklier behind.” Sehl made a few steps towards the exit and said, “I’m going to find Little Hector and ask him to get help.”
As Sehl approached the exit, he could hear the sound of a foghorn coming from the direction of the brothel. A moment later a streak of brown descended down the ladder revealing Sagrath. The wizard limped towards Locklier. He removed a sticky liquid from his component pouch and dropped it into his hand. He clenched the substance and pointed his hand towards Locklier. A heatwave formed around the prince and he began to levitate. Sagrath pulled Locklier from the bars and his body slowly fell to the ground. Sagrath knelt next to Locklier. He looked towards Pyria and Sehl and said, “You must go! The alarm has been raised.”
Pyria and Sehl caught up with Jessicat and Ohana. The sound of the siren grew louder as party made their way down the sewers, until it stopped once they were a few steps away from the entrance to the brothel. The group approached a set of stone stairs with a steep incline. At the top of the stairs stood a metal door. The basement of the brothel was on the other side of that door. Ohana walked up, and inspected the door for traps. Everyone was still on edge after triggering the trap that ensnared Locklier. Ohana gave the all clear.
The door swung opened, and a barrage of bolts rained upon the party. Two cross bolts pierced Sehl. The elf stumbled back, surprised. It was an ambush! Inside the room, Pyria could see several men with bludgeoning weapons. A few thugs were holding crossbows pointed at the opened doorway. Further back stood some more Kua Toas. They held pole arms. Pyria spotted a few figures decked in all black: black cloaks and black leather armor, much like the Guild of Death members they had previously encountered. These men were equipped with long swords and crossbows. The room was dimly lit from a few candle lights. Pyria squinted and could make out one more person in the basement. This individual looked odd. He looked dead. He was a bald man with a hawkish face, pointed nose, pale as death, and adorned in black ropes. He held a sinister staff. The man gazed at them with a devilish expression. It was as if he had expected their arrival.
Three darts of magic erupted from the undead wizard. The magical darts whizzed through the room, zipping past the allies of the wizard. They were headed straight towards Sehl. The poor elf was not able to avoid the magic missiles, and Sehl was gravely injured from the attack.
The dark wizard rallied his allies and spoke in a distant, elderly voice. He said, “Behold the power of your god! Invoke it. Embrace it. The time has finally come.”
Ohana telepathically communicated to the other squads. Frantic, he asked, “Where are the others?”
“Waiting on your command,” replied one of the squad leaders.
“Go! Go! Go,” yelled Ohana.
Through the grates, a new barrage of arrows came through. Pyria was worried at first, but her apprehension disappeared once she noticed the new wave of arrows were from her allies. Their arrows clanked against stone and flesh. Four Koa Tuas were hit in the attack, and the grate swung open.
The thugs, with crossbows aimed at the doorway, fired a new wave of arrows. Sehl was hit again. His blood splattered everywhere. He could barely stand on his feet. It was a chaotic scene. Women could be heard upstairs screaming, the clang of steel upon steel echoed throughout the room. Pyria had never been in a fight this large and dire before. She gulped. Things were not looking very optimistic at the moment, but she had to be brave. For her city. For Locklier.
Pyria stepped forward and clapped her hands together. She shouted, “You can’t touch this!” Three illusory duplicates of herself appeared.
Jessicat wiped the blood of Sehl off her face and fired a pair of arrows with her longbow. She hit two of the thugs. Sehl removed a potion of healing from his bag and downed the liquid. A few of his wounds began to heal.
From the distance, a bolt of lightening erupted from the dark wizard’s staff. It bounced around the room, striking several soldiers of Carse. They fell, dead.
Another wave of arrows rained upon the forces of the wizard. A few more dropped. As the party’s allies flowed into the room, they ripped off their cloaks to reveal their tabards of Carse. Meanwhile, two thugs at the door way approached the group with their weapons drawn. One attacked Sehl with a crud hammer. The other had a club, but his swing missed Ohana. Pyria fired an Eldritch Blast at the man in front of Sehl. He dropped. She jogged up to Sehl and handed him the healing potion Sagrath gave her. Jessciat landed a critical hit on the thug in front of Ohana. The man let out a howl of pain.
Sehl consumed the potion Pyria handed him. As he drank the liquid, he noticed movement near his feet. The hands to the corpse of the man Pyria killed were twitching. Sehl called out, “Guys! They’re going to come back to life! Burn them!” Sehl looked at Ohana and said, “Say your prayer!”
The dark wizard turned around. He held out his empty hand and launched a huge blast of fiery energy. The attack obliterated a huge group of the party’s allies. Barrels and furniture in the area caught fire. A constant flame formed at that corner of the room.
Ohana noticed the twitching figure, and screamed at the top of his lungs, “To all that can hear: You’re god has no power here! I rebuke you!” Several Carse men barreled through the flames of the dark wizard’s spell. Some were caught on fire. They fell back. Some were able to make it into the room. The screams upstairs were dying down, and the sounds of combat were closer now.
The man next to Ohana swung his club. Pyria tried to hit the dark wizard with a new spell, chill touch, but her attack failed. The body of the thug next to Sehl grabbed him at the ankles.
“It moving! Burn them! Burn them all,” shouted a Carse solider.
Via telepathy Ohana relayed the information, “They are rising. Burn them!” The goblin ripped off an arm of the undead thug latched onto Sehl. Not satisfied, Ohana then kicked off the undead man’s head. Impressed, Sehl said, “Dude, that’s hardcore.”
More cries could be heard in the basement. “Oh my god, it’s alive! it’s ali-.” Silence. “Fall back! Fall back,” shouted another.
The dark wizard grinned and said, “we have waited so long for this. We will not be stopped by the likes of you! Corellon will not save you from me.” One of the Guild of Death agents started to walk towards the door way before he darted and plowed through the group. He moved between Pyria and Jessicat. He slashed at Pyria and tried to stab Jessica with his sword. Fortunately, his blade hit one of Pyria’s doubles. It dissipated. The man’s other attack punctured Jessicat.
In the distance, Pyria noticed a flash of light coming from the sewers. The light grew larger and larger and larger before Sagrath appeared behind them. The wizard blasted one of the animated corpses and attacked a few more thugs. Sagrath cried out, “Zorasis! It cannot be!”
Zorasis replied, “Yes, yes, yes, I was once called that. Yes.”
“This is impossible. You were killed in the avalanche,” Sagrath said.
Ohana moved next to the Guild of Death agent that stabbed Jessicat. The goblin swung his quarterstaff and completed a spinning kick to the man’s gut. More soliders of Carse pushed through taking out a few more Kua Toas. Pyria attacked the Death agent, but missed. Jessicat lunged forward with Shigga’s spear. She stabbed the man. He was left with a burning wound from the spear. Sagrath sent a wave of magic missiles through the doorway taking out a pair of men. Still shocked by Zorasis’ presence, Sagrath said, “I saw it with my own eyes, Zorasis. Castle Dreknor fell. How are you here?”
“None of this matters,” replied Zorasis. “I’ve accomplished what I wanted.” The dark wizard waved his hand in a semi-circle motion. A blue portal appeared where he was standing and Zorasis entered it. Through the portal, Pyria could see the sparkles of stars.
“No! After him,” yelled Sagrath.
Ohana attacked the Guild agent again. Guards and the undead collapsed to the ground as the last wave of Carse troops moved into the basement. Sixty of Carse’s finest and only a handful of them remained. Some of the Kua Toas fellback to block the entrance into the basement. They stood in a defensive position. Pyria attacked one with her Eldritch Blast, but her attack missed. Sehl incapacitated one of the Guild of Death agents.
Sagrath took a few steps forward. He pulled out a vial, dropped the substance into his hand and created a force field around Zorasis’ portal. It looked like the same spell he used to free Locklier from the mesh grate. The wizard yelled, “If Zorasis escapes, Locklier is as good as dead!”
Session #9 (08/15/2019)
Ohana ran into the room. The goblin fired off a rapid amount of punches to the Kua Toa’s blocking the doorway. He elbowed one to the left of him and retreated back towards the sewer entrance. One Kua Toa followed Ohana after his retreat. The fish creature swung and missed Ohana.
A pair of Kua Toas blocking the entrance to the basement began to chat in their foreign tongue. The pair dropped their weapons and pulled out a net. Disturbed by their actions, Pyria shouted and asked Sagrath, “What are the saying?!” She didn’t get an immediate response.
The remaining Guild of Death agent charged towards Sagrath. The man tried to tackle the wizard to the ground. He aimed for Sagrath’s legs, but Sagrath effortlessly kicked the Death agent away with his knee. “How odd,” mused Pyria, silently. “For a man that walks around with a limp and a cane, he is surprisingly strong.” Sagrath interrupted her thoughts with, “They are trying to prevent you from making it to the portal. Go! I can’t hold it for long.”
Pyria turned her attention to the portal. Most of Sagrath’s research revolved around time manipulation. Pyria could tell Sagrath had altered the time around the portal. She looked back at Sagrath and asked, “You want us to go inside of the portal?”
“Fly you fools,” he shouted.
Pyria had to get into that room, but the Kua Toa’s blocked the entrance. She jogged up next to Sagrath’s side, and began to taunt the creatures. She tried to make her best silly fish face, but the Kua Toa’s weren’t phased by her actions.
Sagrath continued to focus on maintaining his time spell around the portal. He glanced at the Kua Toa in front of Ohana and shouted, “Down!” The Kua Toa dropped to the floor.
Inside the room, Sehl noticed an undead creature plow through the rest of the group. Oddly, the creature grabbed a torch off the wall and dropped into a barrel. A new fire started. Meanwhile, Ohana moved back to the Kua Toas at the door. He landed a solid punch in the face to one of them.
As the fire spread in the basement, two of Zorasis’ allies and one Carse guard were consumed by the flames. One Kua Toa with a net slung it towards Sagrath. Fortunately, Ohana was next to it. He lifted his quarterstaff and interfered with the toss. The net fell to the ground a few feet from Sagrath.
The Kua Toa Sagrath forced to the ground stood, and moved to flank Ohana at the door. He was cornered, but these creatures were sloppy fighters and their attacks missed.
Pyria fired off an Eldritch Blast at one of the Kua Toas blocking the door, but she whiffed. She was fighting so poorly. Jessicat moved up and stabbed the man in front of Sagrath with Shigga’s spear. The man died. Sehl pushed forward and stabbed one of the Kua Toas blocking the doorway into the basement. The creature died. There was finally and opening into the room.
Sagrath took a few steps forward. He starting an arcane chant. Pyria heard the sound of thunder. Several of the enemies at the doorway were pushed back many feet from the force of Sagrath’s spell.
The undead creatures Sehl noticed earlier were now at the doorway. One looked like she was from the brothel upstairs. The undead woman held a dagger in her hand and attacked one of the Kua Toas. “What,” thought Pyria. “They’re attacking their own!” The other undead person, a male, also attack the Kua Toa. It died. Sehl took a closer look and gasped. He recognized the woman and man. They were scoffers! It was clever to disguise themselves as the undead. The Illusive Man had upheld his end in the deal. Sehl quickly introduced them as Rosalie and Bastilion. Bastilion as went by the nickname Filth.
Ohana used the opening in the doorway to sprint towards the portal. He jumped in and then every slowed. Sagrath’s time spell was effective at delaying the portal’s closing.
Using the telepathy spell, Pyria asked Sagrath, “Who all should go into the portal?” She looked at Sagrath. The wizard was too busy to respond. “To the portal,” she shouted.
The fire in the room continued to grow. A Carse solider grabbed a torch from the wall and approached the doorway. It looked like the man was waiting for the party to clear the door way before burning down that portion of the room. The remaining Kua Toa tried to hit Sehl with its spear. Sehl was able to swat the attack away. The Kua Toa dropped its spear and pulled out a net. Pyria started to make her way to the portal, but paused when she noticed the net the Kua Toa was holding. She fired an Eldritch Blast at the creature and it dropped dead.
“Go,” shouted Sagrath toward Pyria. She nodded and turned to move to portal. Jessicat moved into the portal, followed by Sehl. As Sehl passed his scoffer buddies, he shouted, “Come through the portal!” Rosalie and Bastilion followed Sehl.
The dead Kua Toas began to rise. One stood and bit Sagrath on the side. Another grabbed at the wizard’s neck. More dead man began to rise.
Via the telepathy spell Ohana said, “I see something interesting.” Ohana relayed what he saw on the other side of the portal. There was a partially destroyed city. In the distance was a large castle with 5 spires to the top. The middle one was pitch black. It was a solid black tower with no stones.
Pyria stopped right before she entered the portal. She glanced back at Sagrath. The wizard was being overwhelmed. Pyria was concerned, she asked, “Sagrath, are you alright?”
“Go! I am burning this place down now,” replied Sagrath. The wizard was preparing to cast a new spell.
“A fireball,” she thought. Her eyes widen. To the remaining guards she shouted, “Go through the portal now!” To Sagrath, she said, “Sagrath, when you get safely out of the basement, let me know.” Pyria jumped into the portal. Four guards also escaped through the portal.
“An unfortunate loss of life,” said Sagrath via the telepathy spell. “You don’t have much time. There is a poison flowing through Locklier’s veins. Zorasis will have the cure.”
“The scene you described Ohana, that is Castle Dreknor. I once knew Zorasis. He was the court wizard of Castle Demok. This creature we saw, this was not the Zorasis I remember. He should have been killed in the avalanche. There are so many questions. I am sorry I can not be of more help.”
Pyria asked, “How much time does Locklier have?”
“With the time spell, probably a month,” replied Sagrath.
“A poison,” thought Pyria. She didn’t recall seeing him poison. Impaled yes, but poisoned? They had inspected the bars before the trap was tripped. She asked Sagrath, “How did you know Locklier was poisoned?”
The wizard answered, “I brought him back to my tower, and whatever it was that pierced his body left something.”
“Is Locklier still unconscious,” asked Pyria.
“Locklier is completely incapacitated,” replied Sagrath. “If this goes on for too long, I fear he will pass. I will seek out the local healers. If you find any clues to what this disease is, find a way to contact me. When you are done, go south to North Warden and seek out Baron Stovokor. Tell him Sagrath sent you.”
The telepathy spell wore off. They were in a foreign land and on their own now. From Carse, Demok was 2000 miles away, by boat 3000 miles. They needed to find Zorasis and fast. There were no signs of the undead wizard. He was long gone before Ohana entered the portal. The scoffers looked for clues to where the Zorasis went off to. They noticed some tracks on the ground, but not the tracks of a person: hoofs. The hoof prints headed straight towards Castle Dreknor.
It had been a long day. The sun was setting, and everyone was tired and exhausted from the day’s events. They agreed to rest for the evening before tracking Zorasis. The city was abandon, and the buildings appeared to be untouched for many years. Some buildings were completely destroyed, but others were in tact. There was a forest around the village where wild weeds grew. There was no edible food to be found inside the homes. Sehl went out to hunt.
The rest of the group found an abandon house to setup camp for the night. Pyria was cold. She found a dusty old blanket, and huddled up in the house. Dreknor was a significantly colder environment than Carse. She wasn’t dressed for the weather and did not enjoy the cooler temperatures. Pyria sighed. “A life without Locklier,” she shuddered at the thought. Pyria initially loathed the idea of an arranged marriage, but she was now sure of herself. She loved the prince, and would do anything to save his life.
Pyria made small talk with the Carse guards. Their names were Yemen, Vale, Rufus and Adrian Dubblephart.
Meanwhile, Sehl struggled to find anything to hunt. There were very few signs of wildlife in the woods. He glanced at the castle, and noticed light coming from a few windows within the castle. There were signs of life. Sehl continued to search the forest. He gave up on meat. Instead, he was able to gather some berries and a small assortment of edible leaves. It was enough food for everyone. The elf made his way back to the abandoned village. He heard the sound of a loud thud as the massive iron doors of the castle slammed shut. “Odd,” he thought aloud. Those doors weren’t opened before.
“Guys,” exclaimed Sehl. “There were some lights at the castle, and the doors slammed shut at one point.” The elf continued, “They are pretty active up there. I don’t know how many, but its more than just one. Zorasis is not alone.” Sehl finished relaying what he saw while he hunted and forged for food. He shared what he gathered.
Pyria stuffed a couple of berries in her mouth and replied, “That is odd. Sagrath said the city was abandoned 25 years ago.”
Ohana remembered old rumors about Demok. He shared, “Demok was formly the Dreknor empire before the 42nd got involved. Alyana was taking the throne, but she had important business to do. There were threats against the kingdom. She had since disappeared for many years. She left Corath in charge.”
“Demons emerged. Corath was holding them back at North Warden. The Demons came from the North. It was assumed Dreknor had fallen. Rumor has it that the 42nd saved the steward of Dreknor’s life. That group of adventurers have not been seen since. Many assume they had been slain in the battle. More rumors have it that the 42nd were seen on that day and that is why Corath did not die.”
Jessicat recognized Castle Demok. She saw it in a vision at Sagrath’s tower. In her vision demons were erupting out of the castle and into the city, not from the North as Ohana relayed.
The party retired for the evening.
[Ohana’s journal entry capturing the day’s events from his perspective.]
The next morning, Pyria summoned Pip. She was delighted to be reunited with her pseudo dragon companion. Sehl looked towards the castle and said, “We should scout out this castle.”
Pyria agreed and added, “Yes, and see if we can find a secret entrance.”
“I don’t know Sehl,” said Rosalie. “Do you know if there are people in there?”
Sehl nodded and replied, “Yes, I saw it with my own eyes.”
Rosalie glanced around and said, “Look at the city, this place is abandoned.” The scoffer wasn’t convinced searching the castle was worth it. “Do you think this castle has treasure.”
“Yes, definitely,” replied Sehl enthusiastically. “You ever heard of a castle with no treasure?”
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” replied Rosalie. Despite her uneasiness about the castle, she agreed to search it.
“I think we should scout around and find another entrance,” said Sehl. “Let’s be sneaky about this. We’re scoffers after all.” The three scoffers and two guards scout out to the right of the castle. Pyria, Ohana, Jessicat and the remaining two guards scouted out the left of the castle. Each group met up on the other side of the castle. On the back side of the castle was another, smaller bridge. Next to it was a set of open doors.
“Who’s first,” asked Rosalie.
Sehl asked, “Are we crossing the bridge?”
Bastilion stepped forward. He said, “I’ll go. I’ll go check it out. Wait here.” The man sneaked off. He approached the bridge and crossed it in a crouch. He slouched around and disappeared inside the opened door. A moment later his head popped out and he beckoned for everyone else to follow.
There was a set of large, iron double doors. The doors could not be barred shut. Oxidation had rusted off the back side of the door. No wonder it remained opened. Inside the door was a flagstone room. Set into the wall was a solid metal door with no hinges or handles. Sehl walked up to inspect it.
“Wait,” said Pyria. “Let me check it out for magic.” She examined the door. There were no signs of spell components or anything. She stepped back and said, “Well, there is no magic involved.”
Ohana aided Sehl in looking for anything out of place. They were unable to get the metal door to budge.
Bastilion pointed and said, “The horse came this way. I don’t know where it is. I saw its tracks outside the bridge.”
Sehl asked, “Did it cross the bridge?”
Bastilion shook his head and said, “I don’t think so.” He shrugged. “I don’t know where it went. The tracks stopped at the door.”
“So, the horse vanished,” asked Sehl.
“There’s got to be a way,” replied Bastilion. The scoffer reached into his theives kit and pulled out a crowbar.
“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa,” said Sehl. “Let’s figure this out.”
Pyria tried to move the metal door with mage hand, but nothing happened.
Sehl looked up and started to climb the walls.
Session #10 (08/22/2019)
Sehl started to climb the castle wall, but the elf struggled to get a firm grip between the bricks. He removed some climbing gear from his backpack. He held some pitons, a hammer and rope. Sehl hammered the pitons into the wall. The sound of the hammering echoed around the quiet area. Someone would hear this. Uncomfortable with the loud noises from Sehl, Ohana scanned the area. The goblin did not want to be surprised with an ambush.
Sehl made it several feet off the ground before he slipped and fell. It was a short distance and he landed on his feet. He tried again. The elf made it further up the wall the second time around, but Sehl looked pale. He stopped. He looked as if he was about to hurl, and he was not the only one. Pyria started to retch onto the floor. Jessicat also looked very ill. She emptied the contents of her stomach onto the ground. One of the guards ran around a corner. Pyria could hear the sound of his trousers unzip followed by the splatter of diarrhea.
Alarmed by the sudden illness of everyone, Pyria tried to determine if some kind of foul magic was at play. Unfortunately, she could not recall a spell that would trigger these effects. Ohana determined their illness was likely due to the food Sehl had provided them last night. Whatever he gathered was toxic, and everyone was starting to feel the affects of it. Some took it worse than others. Pyria felt awful. The food poisoning left her feeling exhausted and weak. Jessicat did not look any better. The Tabaxi looked drained.
Sehl pushed down the urge to vomit, and continued his climb. He pulled himself over the castle wall and out of the view of the party below. A couple minutes later, he returned to the edge. He called out, “Guys, a lot of skeletons are up here. Weird stuff too.”
“Let’s scale,” said Ohana to the others. Ohana climbed the wall effortlessly. He tied a rope to one of the battlements and tossed it to the ground. Pyria was grateful. She still felt very queasy, and off balance, but with the help of the extra rope, she was able to climb up the wall. The sick guard leaned against the wall, “I’m going to have to catch up.” He looked pale as a ghost.
At the top, Pyria gasped and covered her mouth in shock. It was a massacre. The south wall of the castle was littered with the skeletons of many bodies. Piles and piles of humanoid bones. There were strange things among the pile of bones too. There were the remains of some kind of winged creature. Probably an large insect Pyria assumed. Ohana uttered prayers at the sight. Sehl scanned the remains of the fallen for something useful.
Huge oil pots were tipped over the southern wall. It looked like the castle was invaded from the south. “Odd,” pondered Pyria. “I thought the demons attacked from up North.”
Sehl looked around and then up. He said, “I think we should keep going up. As high up as we can.” He walked off to search for a safe path to climb higher up the castle. Jessicat followed him. Ohana covered more ground from another path. Pyria needed a moment to rest. Her world was starting to spin. She took a seat on the ground, several feet away from the pile of bones. “Remind me to never eat food from Sehl again,” she whispered to Pip.
Sehl lurked around the third level of the castle. He turned a corner and noticed a double wooden door. He paused and rested his ear against the door. He heard a tapping sound coming from the other side of the door. It stopped and started again. Sehl alerted the others with his discovery, “Be very, very quiet. Someone is behind the door.” Ohana met up with Sehl and Jessicat. Pyria slowly made her way to the group as well. Sehl continued to move down the hallway. However curious, Jessicat stopped following him. She approached the door and listened. The noise from the other side sounded like metal tapping against stone. The tabaxi slowly reached for the door handle. Sehl turned and noticed Jessicat. He started to run back waving his hands in the gesture for no. Rosalie and Bastilion dove into hiding spots. Jessicat cautiously opened the door. Inside she saw many beds with little foot lockers at their ends. Half of the beds in the room were smashed and in disarray. There was also company: three giant eye balls. Each eye ball was attached to a metal structure with three metallic legs helping it walk around. The eyes on these mysterious creatures looked very much like a real, giant flesh eye balls. The moving creatures all stopped and then rotated to face the doorway.
Unable to resist her curious nature, Jessicat entered the room. Sehl ran in after her. One of the metallic eye ball structures walked up to Jessicat. It stood staring at the tabaxi. The other two eye ball creatures started to rotate. Ohana flung the doors to the room wide open. He enter room followed by Pyria moving at a much slower pace. Jessica pulled out Shigga’s spear and poked the odd creature in its eye ball with the tip of the spear. A flash bang went off. Jessicat was temporarily blinded by the intense light. The three eye ball creatures all began an unnatural screech. It was an alarm of sorts. Sehl ran up to the creature Jessicat poked. He swung his longsword and slashed the creature in its eye. Smoked started to billow out of the giant eye ball. The elf moved up to the next eye ball. Ohana ran up to the eyeball next to Jessicat. He attacked the creature with his quarterstaff. The eyeball jumped back and dodged the goblin’s attack. Ohana tried to punch it instead. His fist knocked the creature over. When the creature collapsed to the ground a gas began to spread from its corpse. The fumes reached Pyria, but the toxic substance did not phase her. Jessicat collapsed. The fumes put her to sleep. Ohana shouted a warning to the others outside of the room, “Keep your distance!”
Rosalie lept into the room and tossed two daggers. The creature she targeted ducked and the daggers clattered against the wall. Flich entered the room. He thew a dagger and missed as well. Three of the Carse guards, entered the room with their crossbows aimed at one of the creatures. They rained arrows. Sehl swung at the eye ball creature in front of him. Both of his attacks whiffed. Ohana tossed a dart at one of the creatures that had been previously hit. He ran to another and kicked it. Pyria fired two Eldritch Blasts into the room. The creature she attacked tipped over and gas filled the room. Fortunately, no one was within the range of the gas.
Rosalie moved into the room to get a better shot at the remaining eye ball creature. One of her daggers hit and the other missed. Flich hit the creature with his dagger. The eye teleported and appeared right behind Pyria! The guards used their crossbows as improvised melee weapons and swung at the creature. One was able to hit the creature with the butt of his crossbow. The unnatural screeching continued. Sehl moved to attack the final creature. The elf swung his sword and ended the creature. As it toppled over with a cloud of gas Sehl shouted, “Hold your breath everyone!” Two guards fell unconscious.
The battle was over. Pyria examined Jessicat and the two unconscious guards. They were sleeping. Hopefully, the effects of the fumes would wear off soon. Pyria stood and scanned the room. There were in the castle barracks. Dusty old beds filled the room. Some were in good shape and others were shattered. Each bed had a footlocker. A simple wooden door was located at the back of the room. Sehl asked one of the guards to keep a look out.
Ohana pointed at the sleeping party members and said, “Bring them and set them on these beds. And close the doors.” Ohana then heaved one of the eyeball creatures (the one that teleported earlier) over the south wall of the castle. The creature’s body fell into the moat below.
There was a false wall in the room. Someone had already pushed it opened. It led to a dark hallway. Pyria searched for recent footprints. It was really dusty, but she couldn’t make out any tracks. Sehl rummaged through the footlockers. They belonged to soldiers. Inside the lockers he found clothing bearing the Demok emblem. The only of thing of value he found was 40 gold pieces.
“Anyone wants the gold,” Sehl asked.
Rosalie responded, “That’s definitely something we’re going to bring back. We’re going to get as much as this as we can.”
A few minutes passed by before Jessicat started to stir and awaken. The two guards woke a couple minutes later. Ohana moved to the hidden hallway. The goblin peered down the dark corridor. It was a narrow hallway with several non-descript doors. Ohana slinked into the hallway and inspected the first two doors. Silence. He moved to the third door and heard the sound of something slamming shut. The goblin moved the the final door in the hallway and listened. It was quiet. He returned to the third door and waited.
Meanwhile, back in the barracks, Pyria stared at the plain wooden door. She walked up to it and leaned her ear against the door. She heard no sounds coming from the other side.
“Hey Sehl,” she called out. “You want to check out this door?”
“Yeah,” replied the elf enthusiastically. Sehl joined Pyria at the door and inspected it. Convinced there were no traps, he opened the door. Pyria stood behind him ready to attack. Weapons and armor lined the walls in the small room. Some items were tipped over on the floor. Three massive iron chests stood near the back wall of the room. Sehl’s eyes widen. “This is awesome,” he exclaimed. “So many weapons!”
“There are some chests. Maybe there’s something awesome to aid in the fights.”
“Indeed, indeed.”
Bastilion slinked into the room and opened a chest. Hundreds of arrows were inside the chest. The scoffer started pulling out arrows and grabbed a shortbow off one of the weapon racks. The other guards entered the room and restocked on ammo and supplies as well.
Rosalie entered the room. “Y’all going to open the other chests,” she asked. She flipped open the second chest. The contents glowed before the light dimmed away. Rosalie reached inside the chest and pulled out a suit of half plate armor. Her eyes watered from greed and excitement. The armor was either gold plated or solid gold. It sparkled from the little light that entered the room.
“What is it,” asked Pyria.
“This…this is what I call a find,” exclaimed Rosalie. “The Illusive Man will be very pleased with this. Bastilion, you have got to see this!”
Bastilion slithered over. “We’re pretty far away from ole Carse,” he said. “I think we can take this and make our own way if you know what I mean.”
Rosalie and Sehl scowled at Bastilion.
“Fine, fine,” he replied. “Just sayin’, just saying. Think about it.”
Sehl firmly replied, “You owe the Illusive Man your life. Don’t forget about it.”
“We got to pay for our journey home somehow,” countered Bastilion.
“This is my family. I will not turn on them for sheer greed. I’m sure we’ll be rewarded handsomely for this,” replied Rosalie.
Bastilion looked discontent, but backed off.
Sehl asked, “How are we going to get this out of here? Are you going to wear it?”
Rosaline pointed to the guards, “I believe one of these men will make use of it. Just remember this is a loan my friends. Finders keepers, but it will serve you better in here.” Rufus donned the armor.
Pyria used mage hand to open the final chest. The arcane hand opened the chest and a gas cloud (similar to the one released by the destroyed eyeball creatures) dissipated out. Fortunately, no one was within range of inhaling the fumes and nothing happened. Pyria used mage hand to pull out the contents of the chest:
- flasks with oil for burning (14)
- more flasks with a special seal: alchemist fire (6)
“Let’s go check on Ohana. He has been gone for a while.”
Rosalie grabbed a bunch of arrows and a longbow. Sehl backtrack to retrieve Dubblephart. He returned with the guard who still looked very ill from the bad meal.
They found Ohana in the hallway. “I heard a noise,” he said.
Sehl replied, “From where?”
“From this door.” The goblin pointed to the door in front of him. Sehl inspected the door and listened. “I don’t hear anything man,” he replied. “Should we open?”
Ohana nodded and replied, “Yes.” He flung the door open and ran into the room. Centered to the side of the room stood a fine canopy bed. Next to it was an elaborately crafted desk with hand carvings. On top of the desk was an ink vial and a feathered pen. Several chairs for lounging were scattered in the room. Tapestries with various landscape scenes lined the wall: a mountain, a desert, and a beach ocean scene. The room was dusty, but filled many things of real value. The furniture had gold beads and gold pens. Rosalie and Bastilion plucked off the bold beads from the bed. Sehl started to rummage through the drawers in the room.
Pyria joined the drawer search. She was hoping to find letters or some writing about what had happened at the castle. Pyria approached the desk in the room. Ohana ordered one of the guards to close the room door. Sehl found an amulet in one of the drawers. It was a circular golden locket. Inside were words written in a strange script. Sehl held it up and said, “I don’t know what it means. It’s not in a language that I can comprehend.” No one recognized it.
With a little magic, Pyria was now able to comprehend foreign languages. She took the amulet from Sehl and read, “With love, Lim-Shargolf.”
Ohana noticed something strange about one of the drawers. There was a wooden switch. The goblin flipped the switch and a hidden compartment slipped open above the drawer. He reached inside and grabbed a cold, metal object. It was the official seal of Demok. “Why would this be hidden,” mused Ohana aloud.
“If you stamp something with this, it’s an official document of Demok. My father guards the seal of Carse as well,” replied Pyria. She continued she search for documents. She noticed a ledger with an account of goods for the castle. It was a list of normal items such as food supplies, ale, and weapons. All the dates were 20 years ago. Insider the ledger Pyria found a note being used as a book mark.
Count: P&C Bnps
Pyria pulled out the bookmark and asked, “Can anyone make anything of this?”
Sehl replied, “I can make something out of this. I can make a paper airplane.”
Bastilion stared at the seal in Ohana’s possession. Ohana looked at the man with an unmistakable, “No,” expression. Ohana tucked the seal away into his pouch and turned around to continue searching for a secret door. Something in this room was the source of the slamming sound he heard earlier. He was determined to find it. Sehl aided the goblin.
“Jackpot,” Pyria thought as she found a leather bound book with thin fine paper. The pages of the book were lined with gold. She flipped through the book, even the ink was in gold. Pyria soon learned book was journal belonging to a someone named Corath. It outlined his day to day business:
Today, I made audience with three citzens of Demok. This first one…
It was an account of him running the castle. Pyria flipped to the final entry in the diary. The last entry ended like most of the others:
I miss you greatly, Lim-Shargolf.
Pyria pocketed the journal for reading later. Something was really strange. She considered all the bodies against the wall as they were defending against some kind of siege and no clues for it in the journal. Pyria concluded the people of this castle were not expecting any kind of war. If they were Corath would have written about it in his journal.
