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<blockquote data-quote="Dr Midnight" data-source="post: 7247" data-attributes="member: 69"><p>Undead still bad, but compared to what happening now, undead at least killable. </p><p></p><p>Looking into the face of certain death in the form of four giants, (in addition to the 1,000-foot drop to their right) Aerik and Skippy each took a deep breath and moved forward slightly (and away from the cliff’s edge). The giants asked them what they wanted. When Aerik and Skippy told the giants they were looking for Desatysso. The giants informed them that Desatysso had been gone a long time and they were his employees, and they were a little peeved that they hadn’t received any pay in awhile. Aerik noticed that these were mountain giants, not hill giants who attacked them earlier. Perhaps it was not these giants that attackled us, but then again, they did not deny it. The sun was setting over the hilltops this winter evening and the giants asked Aerik and Skippy to join them for dinner. These giants certainly had good manners. Desatysso taught us good to be nice. Over dinner of very-rare sheep sweet-meats there was some drinking, an impromptu mime performance by Skippy (which got him dragged out of his invisble box) and soem not-unpleasant conversation. During dinner, Rainsong climbed over the side of teh cliff, looking none the worse for wear. Rainsong climb big cliff, climb like ... rainsong can’t think of good climbing animal. Monkey’s can climb well, Skippy chimed in. Rainsong not like monkey. The giants were courteous enough to allow Rainsong to kill one of their sheep so she coudl join them for dinner. Apparently also lioving in these cliffs were the hill giants they had encountered earlier (they the ones that smash Desatysso’s home, we not do it.) and trolls (good workers, rocks crush and they grow back. Don’t like fire though) Their dislike of fire was painfully aware when Skippy went to the downward tunnel’s entrance with a torch to investigate where the stones that kept hitting him the back came from. The trolls shrieked slightly and backed away. One of the giants demonstrated the trolls fortitude by beating him to a bloody pulp, just for fun. But fire bad. Skippy found the very bloody Nepiol lying low at the passage’s entrance. One of the giants caught sight of Nepiol and immediately came over to see what Skippy was looking at. Nepiol washed up a little and joined them for the dinner festivities. Aerik asked if there were any papers or books that Desatysso had that they knew of. The mountain giants said that most of that stuff was in the tower but they, no the hill giants, destroyed most of it. A young mountain giant spoke up saying that there was one thing they couldn’t get open, a chest with legs. </p><p></p><p>Thsi immediately interested Aerik. The giants said if they could open it they could have anything that they didn’t want. But they wanted stuff in return. The Band finally came up with a suitable list, and had to also throw in several of their valuable items, into a pool in case they couldn’t deliver on their promise to open the chest. Nepiol even placed his beloved trident in this pile. The giants said they would sleep and tomorrow they could try and open the chest. One part of the negotiations that Aerik was not pleased with was the fact that he had to be the cuddle toy of one of the female giants for the evening ("Him pretty. Me not hurt, we just cuddle.") </p><p></p><p>Aerik did not sleep well that night, fearful of his person being violated. In the morning he had an almost porcelain complexion, and it wasn’t due to his being a dandy. After a hearty breakfast of oatmeal, the party reluctantly placed their goods in a pile. Nepiol’s trident ("big fork") was immediately picked up by one of the giants who proceeded to start giggling and ran down the passage to the valley below. The band saw him spear the ground and rocks and chase birds. Nepiol grimaced at seeing his beloved trident used this way. After breakfast, the giants blindfolded the band and placed them facing out over the cliff, their toes hung over the edge, as they procured the chest with legs from it’s hiding spot. The Band looked at the beautiful ebony desk in wonder. One of the giants threw it against the cliff wall which produced a loud crash, but nary a scratch on the enchanted desk. "Chest funny, we try to break it, but it not break. Not like we, err I mean stupid hill giants, broke Desatysso’s castle." Aerik studied the desk and inside the mouth of the dragon that adorned it’s top found a small key hole. Nepiol produced the key he found earlier and, even though Aerik didn’t want to place his hand with the ferocious looking (albeit carved from woo) wyrm’s mouth, he did so and turned the key. The desk opened and inside several boxes of large cigars (apparently faves of the giants) were found, most of which were bent and waterlogged due to teh potions contained within having spilled over when the attempted breaking of the desk shattered their containers. This did not stop them from lighting up, much to their merriment. The Band watched as the giants rummaged through the desk for other goodies, throwing aside a "stupid stone" which when thrown past Nepiol’s head, began to orbit. After the giants decided there was nothing more of value in the chest they let the band search. The finally came upon an old journal, most of which had been acid-damaged and the ink had run. They found one readable page which described how Desatysso was going to contact a man named Falon who resided in Panderlach. Nepiol discussed the finer points of Tiburon with Krag, an especially stupid giant, who he had converted with his rousing oratory the previous night. Krag wanted to worship Tiburon also, although his method of praying (bashing his big head against the rocky ground) wasn’t exactly proper, Nepiol promised to return to speak more to him and train him in the ways of the great Tiburon. After the giddy giant returned with the big fork, the band took their leave of these great creatures and returned to Panderlach. </p><p></p><p>Nepiol performed a holy cleansing ritual on Aerik who claimed he’d been forever tainted by his experience with the giantess. After the ceremony, Aerik seemed more himself. Asking around town for information on Falon, the party came up with nothing for the first day. Finally realizing that their best bet (although expensive) might be to contact the sage Ahrens again, they went back to him. He came back to them with information that Falon resided now at the end of Elmwood Street. He also had an assistnat who seemed quite interested in keeping company with the party. He claimed to be a Loremaster, one who chronicled the information not readily available in dusty tomes (this phrase drew an ireful glance from Ahrens). He went by the name of Reynald, and he stated he had many skills which could aid them in their investigation of the Devourer. Reynald directed them to Elmwood, which was outside the city walls, and they were slightly confused to find a graveyard. Asking the caretaker about Falon they were directed to a gravestone over which stood a mountain of a man. The man was standing over the grave of Falon, who it stated had died over 20 years ago. The man introduced himself as Grunther, and he was a friend of Falon’s. He was missing his left hand, but strapped across his back was a mammoth battle Ax. Grunther explained (as best he could, it was quite obvious Grunther wasn’t very bright) that he and Falon and the pretty lady along with other friends went to a very bad place with the wizard a long time ago and he and Sather, the pretty lady were the only one’s who survived. Grunther was mad at the wizard because he hadn’t come to Falon’s funeral, stating "One should do what’s right." This very bad place intrigued the party and asked Grunther if they would be able to talk with Sather. Grunther told them she lived in Pitchfield, which was about 2-3 days from here, and that he would take them there. Grunther tough, no one tougher than Grunther. Grunther mentioned the Devourer (though he had trouble pronouncing it) and when shwon the picture given to them by Ahrens, he shriekd, claiming teh big green mouth cut off his hand. Nepiol finally got rid of the corpse that had been lying under his bed, Skippy bought a slew of equipment, including some new clothes (the most interesting article of which was a winter-jacket with alternating smiley and frown faces for buttons), Aerik seemed more himself, though he did not do much in the way of whoring, and Rainsong longed to leave the city. Rainsong not understand cities, so many people living so close when there is beautiful land all around. </p><p></p><p>A day and a half into their trip, they came upon a small town that was quite uninhabited. Save for the gutted corpses of several dogs and livestock, they were no signs of anything that was once living in the village. Scratched into the side of one of the houses was the sign of the Devourer, which Grunther wouldn’t let anyone approach, lest they lose their hand too. They found an empty house to camp in for the night and everyone looked slightly confused when Grunther took out an extremely detailed map of the area with no words on it. He plotted the course they had taken and the course they would take. Without a word he rolled the map back up and placed it back in his bag. When they found themsleves in Pitchfield, Grunther directed them to Sather’s, who started to cry upon seeing her long-time friend. Sather was once obviously very beautiful, but walked with a limp now and the years had taken their toll. When Grunther told her they wanted information on the Devourer, she shuddered. She told them what she knew on the stipulation that they never return to her (Grunther included). The tale she told was quite chilling, how she watched most of her friends die horribly while the obsessed wizard kept pushing forward. In her time of greatest need her goddess abandoned her and she has since lost her faith. She handed the party a satchel which she claimed contained their party’s equipment from their fateful journey to that Tomb of Horrors! </p><p></p><p>Inside they found a plethora of magic items, including several haling potions, two folding boats, a tribal spear which Rainsong laid claim too, a quiver of heavy crosbow bolts which Nepiol kept, a deck of many things (with a note attached which red "We may just need to call upon the luck contained within.") which Skippy quickly snatched up and an elvish tome which detailed some of the secrets of bladesinging which Aerik perused with much interest. Reynald took the magical sling bullets which he knew were especially devastating with an accurate hit. At camp that evening, Skippy couldn’t stop playing with the Deck of many Things, wondering if he could channel it’s chaotic nature. Nepiol seemed intrigued and asked if he could draw from it. Skippy agreed. The first two cards he drew, the Thief and the Gypsy had no immediate effect, but both were black which everyone knew was bad. Trusting in the chaotic nature of his god, he drew once more. Thsi time there was an effect. Everyone watched, horrified to see his life essence be sucked from him, his body left still functioning, but his spirit , his soul gone. The deck vanished from his hands. Seeing this upset Aerik greatly, Nepiol was after all his oldest friend. The next morning the teleported back to Panderlach, mercifully ended the automaton's life and threw him into Tibuon’s magnificent ocean in a brief funeral ceremony. They then witnessed a curious thing, Nepiol’s body dissolved into water. </p><p></p><p>They teleported back to their campsite and continued on towards the Dire Fen, where the map contained within Desatyso’s journal they had received from Sather indicated the Tomb of The Devourer was located. The journal also had other interesting information: the Devourer was actually a mage named Acheronius who centuries ago transformed himself into a demi-lich. Acheronius was a cambion, borne to a human mother, teh child of a lower-planar entity, it seems his evil nature came from the abuse he took as a child from others. The notes also made mention of a City and Citadel beyond the Tomb where Acheronius lay in wait with a great reward for any who could find him. Reynald knew of the Tomb of Acheronius and informed the rest of the Band that they were in for dire times indeed. Skippy cast a sending spell to other past-members of the Band of the Wandering Tempest, informing them of their situation and requesting assistance. Journeying into the Dire Fen, they steadily made their way forwad. Grunther led, having been to the Tomb before, and being teh only one with knowledge of how to operate a boat efficiently. Their first night in the swamp, camping on a small piece of land, Rainsong was startled while on watch to hear Grunther screaming. She looked over to se a humanoid figure crouched over him sucking the blood from his neck. She was too startled to act and by the time she awakened her party-members and moved to assist Grunther the creature flew away, but not before yelling out "Enjoy the sunrise, it will be you last. You will hear from the Dim Triad again. The Devourer will have your souls." With everyone now awake, they decided to take double shifts on watch. With the spell casters needing at least 8 hours sleep, the majority of the watch fell on the shoulders of Rainsong and Grunther. The rest of teh evening passed with occurrence and the following day they continued their journey into this wretched swamp. When the Dim triad struck that evening they were ready. Grunther (armed with his ax Elsie) and Rainsong actually destroyed two of the vampires before the third fled. The physical damage was not much to the party, but the life-draining effects of the undead were certainly felt, especially by Grunther and Rainsong. The days that followed were passed with further attacks from undead or anything actually. Finally they apoproached teh location of teh tomb, but wee startled to see a mammoth city wall erected around where only the tomb once stood. They docked their boats (and folded them up) and slowly made their way across the bog. The bog consisted of very thick floating vegetation that passed for hard ground. However, with every step, the ground actually moved a little bit. Aerik approached the wall, with thoughts of investigating what lay beyond, He made his way halfway across when up from underneath the bog rose several undead. Having come out of nowhere, no one was quite prepared. Aerik fought valiantly against them while his party-members rushed to his aid. From the North came the familiar cry of Theran Blackforge, the party’s dwarven member who had answered Skippy’s call for help. Theran unleashed upon the walking dead with his lightning fast heavy crossbow while the rest of the party entered melee. Several of the creatures tried to pull Grunther into the brackish water. After many minutes of heated combat, they finally felled the foul beasts. Theran ran to the aid of Rainsong who had taken a considerable amount of damage. Taking stock of their situation, they moved forward. As they approached the black city walls they noticed huge holes in the stone throughout. As Aerik thought of scaling the walls, several human faced gigantic snakes emerged from the holes and instructed them to enter only using the front gate. The party approached teh 15-foot high gate, which was comprised entirely of bones and the skull at it’s top spoke "Who will stand on the right hand of Moebius." To which Aerik responded "Me." The party then watched as the gate slowly unfolded into a gigantic skeleton like creature. It let out a wicked shriek, upon hearing which Aerik dropped dead of fright. Everyone else fought the great creature as best they could and finally dropped it. Theran ran over to Skippy and unrolled a scroll which brought him back to life. There was definitely a change within him now. The fire in his eyes was gone, he had a defeated, yet determined look on his face. They entered this city and were quite startled to see zombies and skeletons roaming amongst the thousands of gravestones and numerous houses. Grunther pointed towards a Skull shaped building located on the hillside. "That is where tomb is." Before making their way towards the tomb amongst the undead milling about everywhere they spotted a blind man standing beside a large painting on the wall. The man seemed to be quote deranged and described his masterpiece to the interested party. It depicted various scenes concerning Acheronius. Surprisingly, there were no other living souls visible within the city. Cautiously they made their way towards the tomb. Rainsong shuddered with fear at the great multitude of undead everywhere who paid no attention to them. </p><p></p><p>Entering where the tomb should be they found a black temple, dedicated to no god. Behind the alter were three entrances into the hillside. Finally deciding on which to enter (Grunther seemed very confused as to which was the correct one) they entered Acheronius’ Tomb of Horrors. Looking down the corridor they made out some ancient runes inlaid into the floor. Rainsong wrote down the riddle contained with which was translated by Reynald. Aerik was the first to fall prey to one of the traps contained within as he activated a pit which contained poison stakes at the bottom. Badly damaged he climbed out and they continued onward. Theran led the way tapping the floor with his great maul searching for other pits. The going was slow, and finally, at the end of this first hall they found the great green face, in whose mouth was absolute darkness. "That where Grunther lose hand." Finding an archway filled with mist, Aerik boldly stepped through. Reynald pressed the glowing gems at the arches keystone and the mists vanished. They entered the arch and found themselves in a room with a statue of a four armed gargoyle, one of the arms was detached and lay on the floor. Realizing that Aerik was probably another victim of this horrific place and having taken a considerable amount of damage in getting there, they decided to rest for the evening. Reynald informed them that the Tomb was not known for the creatures contained within, so they should be relatively safe. Their sleep that evening was restless, each having nightmares of what they had seen already and what lay ahead of them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dr Midnight, post: 7247, member: 69"] Undead still bad, but compared to what happening now, undead at least killable. Looking into the face of certain death in the form of four giants, (in addition to the 1,000-foot drop to their right) Aerik and Skippy each took a deep breath and moved forward slightly (and away from the cliff’s edge). The giants asked them what they wanted. When Aerik and Skippy told the giants they were looking for Desatysso. The giants informed them that Desatysso had been gone a long time and they were his employees, and they were a little peeved that they hadn’t received any pay in awhile. Aerik noticed that these were mountain giants, not hill giants who attacked them earlier. Perhaps it was not these giants that attackled us, but then again, they did not deny it. The sun was setting over the hilltops this winter evening and the giants asked Aerik and Skippy to join them for dinner. These giants certainly had good manners. Desatysso taught us good to be nice. Over dinner of very-rare sheep sweet-meats there was some drinking, an impromptu mime performance by Skippy (which got him dragged out of his invisble box) and soem not-unpleasant conversation. During dinner, Rainsong climbed over the side of teh cliff, looking none the worse for wear. Rainsong climb big cliff, climb like ... rainsong can’t think of good climbing animal. Monkey’s can climb well, Skippy chimed in. Rainsong not like monkey. The giants were courteous enough to allow Rainsong to kill one of their sheep so she coudl join them for dinner. Apparently also lioving in these cliffs were the hill giants they had encountered earlier (they the ones that smash Desatysso’s home, we not do it.) and trolls (good workers, rocks crush and they grow back. Don’t like fire though) Their dislike of fire was painfully aware when Skippy went to the downward tunnel’s entrance with a torch to investigate where the stones that kept hitting him the back came from. The trolls shrieked slightly and backed away. One of the giants demonstrated the trolls fortitude by beating him to a bloody pulp, just for fun. But fire bad. Skippy found the very bloody Nepiol lying low at the passage’s entrance. One of the giants caught sight of Nepiol and immediately came over to see what Skippy was looking at. Nepiol washed up a little and joined them for the dinner festivities. Aerik asked if there were any papers or books that Desatysso had that they knew of. The mountain giants said that most of that stuff was in the tower but they, no the hill giants, destroyed most of it. A young mountain giant spoke up saying that there was one thing they couldn’t get open, a chest with legs. Thsi immediately interested Aerik. The giants said if they could open it they could have anything that they didn’t want. But they wanted stuff in return. The Band finally came up with a suitable list, and had to also throw in several of their valuable items, into a pool in case they couldn’t deliver on their promise to open the chest. Nepiol even placed his beloved trident in this pile. The giants said they would sleep and tomorrow they could try and open the chest. One part of the negotiations that Aerik was not pleased with was the fact that he had to be the cuddle toy of one of the female giants for the evening ("Him pretty. Me not hurt, we just cuddle.") Aerik did not sleep well that night, fearful of his person being violated. In the morning he had an almost porcelain complexion, and it wasn’t due to his being a dandy. After a hearty breakfast of oatmeal, the party reluctantly placed their goods in a pile. Nepiol’s trident ("big fork") was immediately picked up by one of the giants who proceeded to start giggling and ran down the passage to the valley below. The band saw him spear the ground and rocks and chase birds. Nepiol grimaced at seeing his beloved trident used this way. After breakfast, the giants blindfolded the band and placed them facing out over the cliff, their toes hung over the edge, as they procured the chest with legs from it’s hiding spot. The Band looked at the beautiful ebony desk in wonder. One of the giants threw it against the cliff wall which produced a loud crash, but nary a scratch on the enchanted desk. "Chest funny, we try to break it, but it not break. Not like we, err I mean stupid hill giants, broke Desatysso’s castle." Aerik studied the desk and inside the mouth of the dragon that adorned it’s top found a small key hole. Nepiol produced the key he found earlier and, even though Aerik didn’t want to place his hand with the ferocious looking (albeit carved from woo) wyrm’s mouth, he did so and turned the key. The desk opened and inside several boxes of large cigars (apparently faves of the giants) were found, most of which were bent and waterlogged due to teh potions contained within having spilled over when the attempted breaking of the desk shattered their containers. This did not stop them from lighting up, much to their merriment. The Band watched as the giants rummaged through the desk for other goodies, throwing aside a "stupid stone" which when thrown past Nepiol’s head, began to orbit. After the giants decided there was nothing more of value in the chest they let the band search. The finally came upon an old journal, most of which had been acid-damaged and the ink had run. They found one readable page which described how Desatysso was going to contact a man named Falon who resided in Panderlach. Nepiol discussed the finer points of Tiburon with Krag, an especially stupid giant, who he had converted with his rousing oratory the previous night. Krag wanted to worship Tiburon also, although his method of praying (bashing his big head against the rocky ground) wasn’t exactly proper, Nepiol promised to return to speak more to him and train him in the ways of the great Tiburon. After the giddy giant returned with the big fork, the band took their leave of these great creatures and returned to Panderlach. Nepiol performed a holy cleansing ritual on Aerik who claimed he’d been forever tainted by his experience with the giantess. After the ceremony, Aerik seemed more himself. Asking around town for information on Falon, the party came up with nothing for the first day. Finally realizing that their best bet (although expensive) might be to contact the sage Ahrens again, they went back to him. He came back to them with information that Falon resided now at the end of Elmwood Street. He also had an assistnat who seemed quite interested in keeping company with the party. He claimed to be a Loremaster, one who chronicled the information not readily available in dusty tomes (this phrase drew an ireful glance from Ahrens). He went by the name of Reynald, and he stated he had many skills which could aid them in their investigation of the Devourer. Reynald directed them to Elmwood, which was outside the city walls, and they were slightly confused to find a graveyard. Asking the caretaker about Falon they were directed to a gravestone over which stood a mountain of a man. The man was standing over the grave of Falon, who it stated had died over 20 years ago. The man introduced himself as Grunther, and he was a friend of Falon’s. He was missing his left hand, but strapped across his back was a mammoth battle Ax. Grunther explained (as best he could, it was quite obvious Grunther wasn’t very bright) that he and Falon and the pretty lady along with other friends went to a very bad place with the wizard a long time ago and he and Sather, the pretty lady were the only one’s who survived. Grunther was mad at the wizard because he hadn’t come to Falon’s funeral, stating "One should do what’s right." This very bad place intrigued the party and asked Grunther if they would be able to talk with Sather. Grunther told them she lived in Pitchfield, which was about 2-3 days from here, and that he would take them there. Grunther tough, no one tougher than Grunther. Grunther mentioned the Devourer (though he had trouble pronouncing it) and when shwon the picture given to them by Ahrens, he shriekd, claiming teh big green mouth cut off his hand. Nepiol finally got rid of the corpse that had been lying under his bed, Skippy bought a slew of equipment, including some new clothes (the most interesting article of which was a winter-jacket with alternating smiley and frown faces for buttons), Aerik seemed more himself, though he did not do much in the way of whoring, and Rainsong longed to leave the city. Rainsong not understand cities, so many people living so close when there is beautiful land all around. A day and a half into their trip, they came upon a small town that was quite uninhabited. Save for the gutted corpses of several dogs and livestock, they were no signs of anything that was once living in the village. Scratched into the side of one of the houses was the sign of the Devourer, which Grunther wouldn’t let anyone approach, lest they lose their hand too. They found an empty house to camp in for the night and everyone looked slightly confused when Grunther took out an extremely detailed map of the area with no words on it. He plotted the course they had taken and the course they would take. Without a word he rolled the map back up and placed it back in his bag. When they found themsleves in Pitchfield, Grunther directed them to Sather’s, who started to cry upon seeing her long-time friend. Sather was once obviously very beautiful, but walked with a limp now and the years had taken their toll. When Grunther told her they wanted information on the Devourer, she shuddered. She told them what she knew on the stipulation that they never return to her (Grunther included). The tale she told was quite chilling, how she watched most of her friends die horribly while the obsessed wizard kept pushing forward. In her time of greatest need her goddess abandoned her and she has since lost her faith. She handed the party a satchel which she claimed contained their party’s equipment from their fateful journey to that Tomb of Horrors! Inside they found a plethora of magic items, including several haling potions, two folding boats, a tribal spear which Rainsong laid claim too, a quiver of heavy crosbow bolts which Nepiol kept, a deck of many things (with a note attached which red "We may just need to call upon the luck contained within.") which Skippy quickly snatched up and an elvish tome which detailed some of the secrets of bladesinging which Aerik perused with much interest. Reynald took the magical sling bullets which he knew were especially devastating with an accurate hit. At camp that evening, Skippy couldn’t stop playing with the Deck of many Things, wondering if he could channel it’s chaotic nature. Nepiol seemed intrigued and asked if he could draw from it. Skippy agreed. The first two cards he drew, the Thief and the Gypsy had no immediate effect, but both were black which everyone knew was bad. Trusting in the chaotic nature of his god, he drew once more. Thsi time there was an effect. Everyone watched, horrified to see his life essence be sucked from him, his body left still functioning, but his spirit , his soul gone. The deck vanished from his hands. Seeing this upset Aerik greatly, Nepiol was after all his oldest friend. The next morning the teleported back to Panderlach, mercifully ended the automaton's life and threw him into Tibuon’s magnificent ocean in a brief funeral ceremony. They then witnessed a curious thing, Nepiol’s body dissolved into water. They teleported back to their campsite and continued on towards the Dire Fen, where the map contained within Desatyso’s journal they had received from Sather indicated the Tomb of The Devourer was located. The journal also had other interesting information: the Devourer was actually a mage named Acheronius who centuries ago transformed himself into a demi-lich. Acheronius was a cambion, borne to a human mother, teh child of a lower-planar entity, it seems his evil nature came from the abuse he took as a child from others. The notes also made mention of a City and Citadel beyond the Tomb where Acheronius lay in wait with a great reward for any who could find him. Reynald knew of the Tomb of Acheronius and informed the rest of the Band that they were in for dire times indeed. Skippy cast a sending spell to other past-members of the Band of the Wandering Tempest, informing them of their situation and requesting assistance. Journeying into the Dire Fen, they steadily made their way forwad. Grunther led, having been to the Tomb before, and being teh only one with knowledge of how to operate a boat efficiently. Their first night in the swamp, camping on a small piece of land, Rainsong was startled while on watch to hear Grunther screaming. She looked over to se a humanoid figure crouched over him sucking the blood from his neck. She was too startled to act and by the time she awakened her party-members and moved to assist Grunther the creature flew away, but not before yelling out "Enjoy the sunrise, it will be you last. You will hear from the Dim Triad again. The Devourer will have your souls." With everyone now awake, they decided to take double shifts on watch. With the spell casters needing at least 8 hours sleep, the majority of the watch fell on the shoulders of Rainsong and Grunther. The rest of teh evening passed with occurrence and the following day they continued their journey into this wretched swamp. When the Dim triad struck that evening they were ready. Grunther (armed with his ax Elsie) and Rainsong actually destroyed two of the vampires before the third fled. The physical damage was not much to the party, but the life-draining effects of the undead were certainly felt, especially by Grunther and Rainsong. The days that followed were passed with further attacks from undead or anything actually. Finally they apoproached teh location of teh tomb, but wee startled to see a mammoth city wall erected around where only the tomb once stood. They docked their boats (and folded them up) and slowly made their way across the bog. The bog consisted of very thick floating vegetation that passed for hard ground. However, with every step, the ground actually moved a little bit. Aerik approached the wall, with thoughts of investigating what lay beyond, He made his way halfway across when up from underneath the bog rose several undead. Having come out of nowhere, no one was quite prepared. Aerik fought valiantly against them while his party-members rushed to his aid. From the North came the familiar cry of Theran Blackforge, the party’s dwarven member who had answered Skippy’s call for help. Theran unleashed upon the walking dead with his lightning fast heavy crossbow while the rest of the party entered melee. Several of the creatures tried to pull Grunther into the brackish water. After many minutes of heated combat, they finally felled the foul beasts. Theran ran to the aid of Rainsong who had taken a considerable amount of damage. Taking stock of their situation, they moved forward. As they approached the black city walls they noticed huge holes in the stone throughout. As Aerik thought of scaling the walls, several human faced gigantic snakes emerged from the holes and instructed them to enter only using the front gate. The party approached teh 15-foot high gate, which was comprised entirely of bones and the skull at it’s top spoke "Who will stand on the right hand of Moebius." To which Aerik responded "Me." The party then watched as the gate slowly unfolded into a gigantic skeleton like creature. It let out a wicked shriek, upon hearing which Aerik dropped dead of fright. Everyone else fought the great creature as best they could and finally dropped it. Theran ran over to Skippy and unrolled a scroll which brought him back to life. There was definitely a change within him now. The fire in his eyes was gone, he had a defeated, yet determined look on his face. They entered this city and were quite startled to see zombies and skeletons roaming amongst the thousands of gravestones and numerous houses. Grunther pointed towards a Skull shaped building located on the hillside. "That is where tomb is." Before making their way towards the tomb amongst the undead milling about everywhere they spotted a blind man standing beside a large painting on the wall. The man seemed to be quote deranged and described his masterpiece to the interested party. It depicted various scenes concerning Acheronius. Surprisingly, there were no other living souls visible within the city. Cautiously they made their way towards the tomb. Rainsong shuddered with fear at the great multitude of undead everywhere who paid no attention to them. Entering where the tomb should be they found a black temple, dedicated to no god. Behind the alter were three entrances into the hillside. Finally deciding on which to enter (Grunther seemed very confused as to which was the correct one) they entered Acheronius’ Tomb of Horrors. Looking down the corridor they made out some ancient runes inlaid into the floor. Rainsong wrote down the riddle contained with which was translated by Reynald. Aerik was the first to fall prey to one of the traps contained within as he activated a pit which contained poison stakes at the bottom. Badly damaged he climbed out and they continued onward. Theran led the way tapping the floor with his great maul searching for other pits. The going was slow, and finally, at the end of this first hall they found the great green face, in whose mouth was absolute darkness. "That where Grunther lose hand." Finding an archway filled with mist, Aerik boldly stepped through. Reynald pressed the glowing gems at the arches keystone and the mists vanished. They entered the arch and found themselves in a room with a statue of a four armed gargoyle, one of the arms was detached and lay on the floor. Realizing that Aerik was probably another victim of this horrific place and having taken a considerable amount of damage in getting there, they decided to rest for the evening. Reynald informed them that the Tomb was not known for the creatures contained within, so they should be relatively safe. Their sleep that evening was restless, each having nightmares of what they had seen already and what lay ahead of them. [/QUOTE]
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