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The Furious Fated - The World of Low'verok (Updated 10-26-03)
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<blockquote data-quote="Isida Kep'Tukari" data-source="post: 1112090" data-attributes="member: 4441"><p>Ok after a hiatus of two months, the World of Low'verok newbie campaign is back on track! We've lost two of our original group (Jon and Annabelle), so we're left with only Rianna. I asked a couple other people I knew had some gaming experience, and both were interested in gaming, so the group stands at three again. One of the new people, a woman, has had minimal 3e experience, and the other, a guy, is a history buff that plays several historical games, as well as having played Call of Cthulhu.</p><p></p><p>Our new cast of characters is as follows:</p><p></p><p><strong>Alarian</strong> - male half-elven fighter 3. The player wanted him to be a black-sheep noble's sun, searching for a way to redeem himself in his father's eyes. The player modeled him after a Russian boyar, so he's a horseback rider and archer.</p><p><strong>Uianya</strong> - female steam para-genasi druid 2. When I told Uianya (apparently that's pronounced EE-ana) about the prevalence of genasi, she was interested, and so picked the steam para-genasi out of Dragon #297. She also wanted a squirrel for a companion. Now, while I'm playing 3.0, there are some bits from 3.5 that I think are good changes. Scaling animal companions are one of them. I decided to give her a dire squirrel companion, using the dire template from Tome of Horrors (slightly modified). For instance, anything smaller than Small was supposed to end up Medium, at which I put my foot down. I didn't want her <em>riding</em> the squirrel, or the squirrel to be bigger than her! She wields a mighty (+2) nagaika (from Masters of the Wild, glass-studded whip), which I allowed for her as a druid. It doesn't do a lot for damage, and it's only useful at 15 feet (can't do anything outside or inside that range), and I felt it imitated enough of an animal's natural attacks to allow it. And it's cool. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite6" alt=":cool:" title="Cool :cool:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":cool:" /> </p><p><strong>Rianna</strong> - female halfling rogue 3. The only player from the original group. The player plays Rianna as very interested in wealth, quite afraid of oozes, and rather happy and cheerful.</p><p><strong>Jenna Se'ben</strong> - female half-elven ranger 1/cleric of Fharlaghn 2. NPC healer that provides a little archery support in a pinch.</p><p><strong>Gorf</strong> - male flumph wizard 2. Rianna's party saved him from imprisonment by kobold raiders, and he feels he has a life-debt to her.</p><p></p><p>Because we ended up shuffling the group around so much, I had to come up with some plot or plan as to why Rianna had parted ways from Jon and Annabelle. I basically decided they (the original party) had gotten to Albon (where they had been supposed to deliver two bags of song pearls to two different guild halls). They tried to deliver their stuff, but the guilds said the song pearls (a collection of payments and fees from the guilds in the eastern part of the country) were needed in some different locations. The miner's guild wanted theirs taken north, while the jeweler's guild wanted theirs taken south. Rianna decided to go south with Jenna and Gorf, while Jon and Annabelle went north. </p><p></p><p>I recently purchased a Dungeon Deck from <a href="http://www.gamers-rule.com/index.html" target="_blank">Gamers Rule</a> (home of the 30 second dungeon, it's pretty sweet, give them a try), and decided to use that as I had little time to prepare due to the beginning of the semester. And what better way to introduce two groups of adventurers than by discovering a "dungeon," beating the snot out of some monsters, and getting some loot? We played on Labor Day, because we had it off. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /></p><p></p><p>I decided to have the two groups (Alarian and Uianya, Rianna, Jenna, and Gorf) meet randomly as they were walking on a road, and discover the recently uncovered archway to an old tomb.</p><p></p><p>Alarain and Uianya had fought side-by-side in a goblin raid; Alarian was camping with members of a caravan he was traveling with, and Uianya was traveling in the woods, coincidentally nearby. A clan of goblins attacked the sleeping caravan, hoping to steal gold, better weapons, and horses (for food). Uianya saw the raid coming, and was able to give some warning, which prevented a slaughter. When fighting the goblins, she ended up back-to-back to Alarian, who saved the life of her squirrel companion by cutting down no less than three goblins. Uianya has been traveling with Alarian as he searches for some ways to redeem himself in his family's eyes. They were on their way to Andeluvay (the capital of my world) to try to visit his father.</p><p></p><p>Rianna, Jenna, and Gorf were on their way south to Port Lyalee, a trading town on the coast, to deliver the song pearls to the jewelers' guild. There had been a recent rainstorm with a great deal of lightning the night before, and thus the road was somewhat wet, and branches and leaves were strewn everywhere. Both groups of travelers came upon each other at the same time, but more importantly, they also come up upon an usual sight.</p><p></p><p>About a hundred feet off the road was a long, almost fifty-foot high cliff, which followed parallel to the road for almost four hundred yards. The trees along the cliff were fairly sparse, and the one rather large one had fallen down near the base of the cliff. However, it had revealed something wondrous. There was a large, arched doorway with pillars flanking it carved into the face of the cliff. (I gave them the visual cue of, "Think of the Temple of the Grail near the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. But smaller. And carved out of gray granite instead of red sandstone.") It was a ten-foot high doorway, recessed into the cliff face, the sides of it carved with tall men in robes, wearing crowns. </p><p></p><p>The two groups met each other, exchanged their names and bit of their history and profession, then both expressed great interest in this terribly unprecedented door. They went to it, and inspected it carefully. Alarian thought that it might be a very ancient tomb of some long-forgotten king, as the style of the carvings tickled his memory. </p><p></p><p>Curiosity got the better of them and tried to open it. Rianna couldn't get it open the first couple of tries, so Uianya tried to stuff some grass in the lock and had Gorf set it on fire with magic to try to deform it enough to get it to open. Alarian just shook his head at this however. He had some knowledge of weaponsmithing and realized that there was no way a bit of burning dried grass could deform the lock enough to have any effect. When the grass burned out, Gorf tentatively touched it, and found it to be cold, not the slightest bit warm at all. Rianna tried to pick it again, and this time succeeded. </p><p></p><p>They pulled open the doors and lit a torch. Inside was a long hallway with thirty-foot high vaulted ceilings. There were two doors on the right, two doors on the left, and one door at the end of the hall, all carved out of stone. </p><p></p><p>Jenna suddenly cried out in fear, as she saw some utterly enormous spiders on the ceiling. There were three really big ones, and two slightly smaller ones. One was coming down from the ceiling, so the party fired their arrows at it, and Gorf tried to land on it with his spikes. He got it once, and so did Rianna, but then it landed and bit Uianya and Gorf. The party kept firing at it and another came down, the but last big one and the two little ones scuttled along the ceiling and left. Alarian tried to shoot at them as they left, but missed. One of them managed to bite the squirrel before he died. The poison seems to make all three of the bitten somewhat clumsy, so all had to move carefully.</p><p></p><p>After the spiders, the party did a more careful inspection of the ceiling and corridor. Jenna also detected magic and found all the doors were somewhat magical. The party moved to the first door on the right. It took Rianna several tries to pick the lock (it was magically enhanced).</p><p></p><p>When they got in, the room was sparse except for carvings on the walls of robed kings and warriors. There was a stone sarcophagus in the middle of the room, from within came the sound of moaning. Alarmed, the party decided to open it. Alarian and Jenna went to take off the lid while the rest of the party stood back with weapons readied. Between the two they slid the lid off, and the rotting, moaning corpse of a helmed warrior dressed in chain mail and wielding a mace sat up. </p><p></p><p>The party reacted with arrows, <em>magic missile</em>, and nagaika, while Jenna tried to turn (failed) and Alarian finished it off with a sword thrust to the chest. Jenna told them they had to cut off the corpse's head, and she had to bless it to return it to rest. This was done, and the party removed the corpse's jewelry, lapis lazuli-inlaid mace, and helm with a sun-in-glory along with them. After examining the sarcophagus they discovered it had the name of "Lord To-maj of Wedefar, King's Champion" carved on the side.</p><p></p><p>They went to the next room, which, after picking the lock, was filled with cobwebs and a standing statue in the middle of the room. The party threw a torch in there, then opened it up a minute or two later when all the cobwebs had burned. The room was somewhat blackened, but now free of debris. The party walked into the room, were startled, yet unharmed, as several darts flew towards them. Investigation of the floor found there to be a pressure plate that had triggered the trap. The party moved more cautiously after that.</p><p></p><p>The statue was of that of a man wearing a crown, armor, and royal robes, with a sword carved at his side with an elaborate sun-in-glory pommel. The base of the statue declared this to be Prince Rokat of House Kosar. Investigation of the statue found it to have a catch in the back, when triggered revealed a hidden compartment in the statue. Inside was the actual sword that had been carved on the statue, which Gorf declared to be magical. They also found a gold signet ring that had a sun-in-glory with a ruby chip in it.</p><p></p><p>The went across the hall (second door on the right), and Rianna got that one open. This room was wet and smelled moldy. This one also contained a statue, that of a woman. There was a puddle on the floor in front of the statue. Utterly paranoid at that point, Alarian shot the puddle with an arrow. As the arrow dissolved and the puddle started moving, I suppose the party was justified in their paranoia. </p><p></p><p>Several arrows later, the ooze died. The statue of a crowned, robed woman held a small box with a butterfly in her hand. The name of it was Princess Melair of House Kosar. Investigation of the base found a similar catch to Rokat's room, along with an actual box like the one represented on the statue, which was filled with pearls and jewelry.</p><p></p><p>Finally, they went to the first door on the left. This one had some scratches on the lock and was a bit easier for Rianna to get open. This one contained neither statue nor sarcophagus. Three slabs of the tiles on the floor were moved aside, and ashes and bones were scattered about. When the party moved in the door, the bones animated into three slightly scorched skeletons. Jenna turned one, and Alarian and Uianya managed to kill the other one. Gorf and Jenna killed the one that was turned. They managed to find three silver collars, which Alarian recognized as being old slave collars, as well as a silver ring in one of the holes. </p><p></p><p>The images on the walls were of subservient individuals serving crowned, robed figures. The writing said, "We of the Moon House will serve our lords in the afterlife."</p><p></p><p>After that, the party went to the door at the end of the hall. Rianna picked the lock, but only with great difficulty. They opened it up, and looked inside. The room had high vaulted ceilings like the hallways. The peak of the ceiling was gold-leafed with a sun-in-glory. The inside had an utterly huge stone sarcophagus, as well as a large statue of a kingly man. </p><p></p><p>Rianna carefully inspected the room all around, and found a low trip-wire that would have triggered a pendulum blade to slice across the doorway as they went through. She disarmed it and they went on. The statue of the kingly man had the name King Ammel of House Kosar. Alarian finally recognized the name. Apparently it was the name of the noble bloodline that had ruled Low'verok several hundred years ago. The king's two children were slain through treachery, and were buried here where they died, along with the king.</p><p></p><p>The statue held in its outstretched hands two small representations of the prince's sword and the princesses' jewelry box. He had a box with the sun symbol on it at his feat, and a huge sword sheathed at his side. The statue wore a breastplate with the sun symbol as well as royal robes.</p><p></p><p>Checking the statue, Rianna found the same catch that she had found on the other two, but there was also a trap. She looked up and saw that one of the ceiling blocks was rigged to fall. Nervously she was able to disarm it, then open the compartment. The only thing they found was the actual box from the statue's feet. They thought that the rest of the things might be in the sarcophagus, but after their experience with the first one, were reluctant to mess with it too much.</p><p></p><p>They wanted to examine it, and found it airtight and sealed with wax. Between Rianna's knowledge of traps and Jenna's knowledge of burial practices, they thought that there might be poison gas sealed in the sarcophagus. So, while everyone else left the tomb, Alarian made a makeshift fire arrow (tearing off a strip of cloak, wrapping it around the arrowhead, and soaking it in oil) and fired it from the doorway of the king's tomb, then ran. The arrow stuck in the wax, and began to melt it.</p><p></p><p>The party camped across the road with little incident. Uianya foraged for some food and found some raspberries. However, Rianna's player was so paranoid at this point that she questioned the raspberries. I quickly explained they were normal, immobile raspberries without teeth. And then I laughed for the next five minutes. </p><p></p><p>Anyway, the next day the party went back to the tomb, and while there was a faint bitter smell, it wasn't too bad. They proceeded inwards to the tomb, and Alarian and Jenna got ready to push off the lid while the rest of the party readied themselves. The two wrestled it off, revealing the well-preserved corpse of a man, his face shiny with resin and his body dry as old leather. He was mostly as he appeared on the statue, though he clutched a scroll case in his hands rather than the small sword and box.</p><p></p><p>When nothing untoward happened, the other party members came over. Gorf detect magic, and pointed to nearly everything the king was wearing ("This is magic, and this is magic, and this is magic, and this is magic, and this is magic...") as being magical. However, just at that moment, the king sat up. He pointed at the party with an accusatory finger and boomed, "You! Betrayers! You have killed my children!" The party let loose a volley of arrows, which didn't have a whole lot of effect, then ran away. The king shuffled after them, holding his enormous sword in one hand. </p><p></p><p>The party skittered down the hall, and Gorf tried to burn him with <em>burning hands</em>, which seems to have some effect. Seeing this, Alarian took the time to make a makeshift fire arrow and shoot the king, which had some effect. Rianna threw her torch at it, which clattered at its feet and caused him some harm. Uianya's squirrel dashed to the horses tethered outside and got another torch. Uianya tried her own weapons, but missed. Jenna attempted to turn with bad results, so just continued with archery to mediocre effect.</p><p></p><p>Alarian ran outside to the horses and unsheathed the sword the party had found in Prince Rokat's tomb. He cried out, "We didn't kill your children!" And then of course the king screamed, "Grave robbers! Blasphemers!" And then Alarian goes, "Oh &*%$"</p><p></p><p>While the rest of the party did their best with arrows and hurling torches, Alarian got on horseback and charged the king as he was swinging at Rianna. Both missed, and Alarian swung around for another charge. As he hit the king, the sword burst into flames, and the king started burning.</p><p></p><p>As the kind slumped to the ground he said, "My children, I tried to avenge you." Then he crumbled into dust and the fire went out. The party collected his armor, crown, sword, and jewelry, then hightailed it out of there. They went to a town and paid a sage to identify and appraise their items and discovered they were filthy rich.</p><p></p><p>The scroll they found in the king's possession essentially outlined the following:</p><p></p><p>The actual story behind the Tomb of Kosar - King Ammel had two children, the only heirs to his kingdom. Through infighting and assassination, the noble house of Kosar has been reduced to only the king and his immediate family. His wife died shortly after giving birth to his son, leaving him with a baby and a two-year-old daughter to raise. He lavished love on them, giving them the best tutors, and letting them work by his side to learn the intricacies of rule. </p><p></p><p>Rival noble houses plotted to kill both heirs, as they both were strong-minded and would not yield to the political pressure of the other nobles once they ruled Low'verok. While all three were traveling in the south of the country on a political visit to the southern nobles, the king's party stopped and camped on a long road between two towns, very near the base of a steep cliff that was the only real feature in this forested landscape. During supper, both the prince and princess drank tea that was laced with a deadly poison. Both died within minutes, and efforts at reviving them came to naught. The religion of House Kosar, the worship of a sun god called Gebel, forbade attempts at resurrection.</p><p></p><p>The king was absolutely devastated by his children’s' deaths, and refused to move a single step until they had been buried. He decreed that his artisans and stonemasons would build a mighty tomb out of the rock of the cliff. He spent years there, supervising the tomb, which also included tombs for him, as well as two other rooms.</p><p></p><p>King Ammel blamed those closest to his children for their deaths. Four hundred years ago slavery was very common, and House Kosar had an entire house of slaves that served them. They called themselves House Isyrathis, but the nobles called them the Moon House, as they worshipped the mood god Huru, in contrast to the sun-worshipping nobles.</p><p></p><p>While Ammel's children were ritually cremated, a far bitterer fate awaited the three members of the Moon House that had been serving Rokat (the prince) and Melair (the princess) that night. They were forced to drink some of the poisoned tea that had killed the royal children, then burned alive as they began to feel the effects of the poison. Their flesh was reduced to ashes, but their bones remained whole, unlike the prince and princess, to mark their shame.</p><p></p><p>In addition, the king's champion, Lord To-maj of Wedefar, was supposed to be the food taster for the king's family, in addition to his other duties as their protector. But due to his duties to the king, he didn't realize the children were having tea before supper. The children felt safe with the members of the Moon House, and often got tired of To-maj having to be around so much. To-maj never showed up, they children drank and died. For his punishment, To-maj had to drink the dregs of the poisoned tea. He was not cremated, but buried whole, a mark of highest disgrace.</p><p></p><p>The poison in the tea was a magical one, meant to reanimate the dead drinker into an undead abomination. It was ineffective if the person's body was not at least partially whole, which was why the servants animated as skeletons and To-maj rose as a zombie later.</p><p></p><p>Just prior to the tomb being sealed, one of the members of the Moon House tried to get into the room where the three disgraced servants had been laid to rest (to serve in the afterlife). He clumsily picked the lock, and left scratches on the door. However, he got in, but was surprised as the three blocks that marked the graves of the servants shifted aside and skeletons climbed out, shedding ashes everywhere. Needless to say, he ran, leaving the mess the players found.</p><p></p><p>The reason Rokat's tomb was trapped was because Rokat had the powerful magic sword. The king arguably feared tomb robbers would try to come for it, so he had the dart trap installed. The pendulum and falling block trap were installed in own tomb more for the necessary prestige of the king than his own insistence. He cared more for the protection of his children's things than his own. </p><p></p><p>Ammel had his high priests magically mummify his body and allow it to animate if the tomb was violated. It was a particularly ancient ritual of Gebel, and he didn't let anyone else know aside from the priests.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Isida Kep'Tukari, post: 1112090, member: 4441"] Ok after a hiatus of two months, the World of Low'verok newbie campaign is back on track! We've lost two of our original group (Jon and Annabelle), so we're left with only Rianna. I asked a couple other people I knew had some gaming experience, and both were interested in gaming, so the group stands at three again. One of the new people, a woman, has had minimal 3e experience, and the other, a guy, is a history buff that plays several historical games, as well as having played Call of Cthulhu. Our new cast of characters is as follows: [b]Alarian[/b] - male half-elven fighter 3. The player wanted him to be a black-sheep noble's sun, searching for a way to redeem himself in his father's eyes. The player modeled him after a Russian boyar, so he's a horseback rider and archer. [b]Uianya[/b] - female steam para-genasi druid 2. When I told Uianya (apparently that's pronounced EE-ana) about the prevalence of genasi, she was interested, and so picked the steam para-genasi out of Dragon #297. She also wanted a squirrel for a companion. Now, while I'm playing 3.0, there are some bits from 3.5 that I think are good changes. Scaling animal companions are one of them. I decided to give her a dire squirrel companion, using the dire template from Tome of Horrors (slightly modified). For instance, anything smaller than Small was supposed to end up Medium, at which I put my foot down. I didn't want her [i]riding[/i] the squirrel, or the squirrel to be bigger than her! She wields a mighty (+2) nagaika (from Masters of the Wild, glass-studded whip), which I allowed for her as a druid. It doesn't do a lot for damage, and it's only useful at 15 feet (can't do anything outside or inside that range), and I felt it imitated enough of an animal's natural attacks to allow it. And it's cool. :cool: [b]Rianna[/b] - female halfling rogue 3. The only player from the original group. The player plays Rianna as very interested in wealth, quite afraid of oozes, and rather happy and cheerful. [b]Jenna Se'ben[/b] - female half-elven ranger 1/cleric of Fharlaghn 2. NPC healer that provides a little archery support in a pinch. [b]Gorf[/b] - male flumph wizard 2. Rianna's party saved him from imprisonment by kobold raiders, and he feels he has a life-debt to her. Because we ended up shuffling the group around so much, I had to come up with some plot or plan as to why Rianna had parted ways from Jon and Annabelle. I basically decided they (the original party) had gotten to Albon (where they had been supposed to deliver two bags of song pearls to two different guild halls). They tried to deliver their stuff, but the guilds said the song pearls (a collection of payments and fees from the guilds in the eastern part of the country) were needed in some different locations. The miner's guild wanted theirs taken north, while the jeweler's guild wanted theirs taken south. Rianna decided to go south with Jenna and Gorf, while Jon and Annabelle went north. I recently purchased a Dungeon Deck from [URL=http://www.gamers-rule.com/index.html]Gamers Rule[/URL] (home of the 30 second dungeon, it's pretty sweet, give them a try), and decided to use that as I had little time to prepare due to the beginning of the semester. And what better way to introduce two groups of adventurers than by discovering a "dungeon," beating the snot out of some monsters, and getting some loot? We played on Labor Day, because we had it off. :D I decided to have the two groups (Alarian and Uianya, Rianna, Jenna, and Gorf) meet randomly as they were walking on a road, and discover the recently uncovered archway to an old tomb. Alarain and Uianya had fought side-by-side in a goblin raid; Alarian was camping with members of a caravan he was traveling with, and Uianya was traveling in the woods, coincidentally nearby. A clan of goblins attacked the sleeping caravan, hoping to steal gold, better weapons, and horses (for food). Uianya saw the raid coming, and was able to give some warning, which prevented a slaughter. When fighting the goblins, she ended up back-to-back to Alarian, who saved the life of her squirrel companion by cutting down no less than three goblins. Uianya has been traveling with Alarian as he searches for some ways to redeem himself in his family's eyes. They were on their way to Andeluvay (the capital of my world) to try to visit his father. Rianna, Jenna, and Gorf were on their way south to Port Lyalee, a trading town on the coast, to deliver the song pearls to the jewelers' guild. There had been a recent rainstorm with a great deal of lightning the night before, and thus the road was somewhat wet, and branches and leaves were strewn everywhere. Both groups of travelers came upon each other at the same time, but more importantly, they also come up upon an usual sight. About a hundred feet off the road was a long, almost fifty-foot high cliff, which followed parallel to the road for almost four hundred yards. The trees along the cliff were fairly sparse, and the one rather large one had fallen down near the base of the cliff. However, it had revealed something wondrous. There was a large, arched doorway with pillars flanking it carved into the face of the cliff. (I gave them the visual cue of, "Think of the Temple of the Grail near the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. But smaller. And carved out of gray granite instead of red sandstone.") It was a ten-foot high doorway, recessed into the cliff face, the sides of it carved with tall men in robes, wearing crowns. The two groups met each other, exchanged their names and bit of their history and profession, then both expressed great interest in this terribly unprecedented door. They went to it, and inspected it carefully. Alarian thought that it might be a very ancient tomb of some long-forgotten king, as the style of the carvings tickled his memory. Curiosity got the better of them and tried to open it. Rianna couldn't get it open the first couple of tries, so Uianya tried to stuff some grass in the lock and had Gorf set it on fire with magic to try to deform it enough to get it to open. Alarian just shook his head at this however. He had some knowledge of weaponsmithing and realized that there was no way a bit of burning dried grass could deform the lock enough to have any effect. When the grass burned out, Gorf tentatively touched it, and found it to be cold, not the slightest bit warm at all. Rianna tried to pick it again, and this time succeeded. They pulled open the doors and lit a torch. Inside was a long hallway with thirty-foot high vaulted ceilings. There were two doors on the right, two doors on the left, and one door at the end of the hall, all carved out of stone. Jenna suddenly cried out in fear, as she saw some utterly enormous spiders on the ceiling. There were three really big ones, and two slightly smaller ones. One was coming down from the ceiling, so the party fired their arrows at it, and Gorf tried to land on it with his spikes. He got it once, and so did Rianna, but then it landed and bit Uianya and Gorf. The party kept firing at it and another came down, the but last big one and the two little ones scuttled along the ceiling and left. Alarian tried to shoot at them as they left, but missed. One of them managed to bite the squirrel before he died. The poison seems to make all three of the bitten somewhat clumsy, so all had to move carefully. After the spiders, the party did a more careful inspection of the ceiling and corridor. Jenna also detected magic and found all the doors were somewhat magical. The party moved to the first door on the right. It took Rianna several tries to pick the lock (it was magically enhanced). When they got in, the room was sparse except for carvings on the walls of robed kings and warriors. There was a stone sarcophagus in the middle of the room, from within came the sound of moaning. Alarmed, the party decided to open it. Alarian and Jenna went to take off the lid while the rest of the party stood back with weapons readied. Between the two they slid the lid off, and the rotting, moaning corpse of a helmed warrior dressed in chain mail and wielding a mace sat up. The party reacted with arrows, [i]magic missile[/i], and nagaika, while Jenna tried to turn (failed) and Alarian finished it off with a sword thrust to the chest. Jenna told them they had to cut off the corpse's head, and she had to bless it to return it to rest. This was done, and the party removed the corpse's jewelry, lapis lazuli-inlaid mace, and helm with a sun-in-glory along with them. After examining the sarcophagus they discovered it had the name of "Lord To-maj of Wedefar, King's Champion" carved on the side. They went to the next room, which, after picking the lock, was filled with cobwebs and a standing statue in the middle of the room. The party threw a torch in there, then opened it up a minute or two later when all the cobwebs had burned. The room was somewhat blackened, but now free of debris. The party walked into the room, were startled, yet unharmed, as several darts flew towards them. Investigation of the floor found there to be a pressure plate that had triggered the trap. The party moved more cautiously after that. The statue was of that of a man wearing a crown, armor, and royal robes, with a sword carved at his side with an elaborate sun-in-glory pommel. The base of the statue declared this to be Prince Rokat of House Kosar. Investigation of the statue found it to have a catch in the back, when triggered revealed a hidden compartment in the statue. Inside was the actual sword that had been carved on the statue, which Gorf declared to be magical. They also found a gold signet ring that had a sun-in-glory with a ruby chip in it. The went across the hall (second door on the right), and Rianna got that one open. This room was wet and smelled moldy. This one also contained a statue, that of a woman. There was a puddle on the floor in front of the statue. Utterly paranoid at that point, Alarian shot the puddle with an arrow. As the arrow dissolved and the puddle started moving, I suppose the party was justified in their paranoia. Several arrows later, the ooze died. The statue of a crowned, robed woman held a small box with a butterfly in her hand. The name of it was Princess Melair of House Kosar. Investigation of the base found a similar catch to Rokat's room, along with an actual box like the one represented on the statue, which was filled with pearls and jewelry. Finally, they went to the first door on the left. This one had some scratches on the lock and was a bit easier for Rianna to get open. This one contained neither statue nor sarcophagus. Three slabs of the tiles on the floor were moved aside, and ashes and bones were scattered about. When the party moved in the door, the bones animated into three slightly scorched skeletons. Jenna turned one, and Alarian and Uianya managed to kill the other one. Gorf and Jenna killed the one that was turned. They managed to find three silver collars, which Alarian recognized as being old slave collars, as well as a silver ring in one of the holes. The images on the walls were of subservient individuals serving crowned, robed figures. The writing said, "We of the Moon House will serve our lords in the afterlife." After that, the party went to the door at the end of the hall. Rianna picked the lock, but only with great difficulty. They opened it up, and looked inside. The room had high vaulted ceilings like the hallways. The peak of the ceiling was gold-leafed with a sun-in-glory. The inside had an utterly huge stone sarcophagus, as well as a large statue of a kingly man. Rianna carefully inspected the room all around, and found a low trip-wire that would have triggered a pendulum blade to slice across the doorway as they went through. She disarmed it and they went on. The statue of the kingly man had the name King Ammel of House Kosar. Alarian finally recognized the name. Apparently it was the name of the noble bloodline that had ruled Low'verok several hundred years ago. The king's two children were slain through treachery, and were buried here where they died, along with the king. The statue held in its outstretched hands two small representations of the prince's sword and the princesses' jewelry box. He had a box with the sun symbol on it at his feat, and a huge sword sheathed at his side. The statue wore a breastplate with the sun symbol as well as royal robes. Checking the statue, Rianna found the same catch that she had found on the other two, but there was also a trap. She looked up and saw that one of the ceiling blocks was rigged to fall. Nervously she was able to disarm it, then open the compartment. The only thing they found was the actual box from the statue's feet. They thought that the rest of the things might be in the sarcophagus, but after their experience with the first one, were reluctant to mess with it too much. They wanted to examine it, and found it airtight and sealed with wax. Between Rianna's knowledge of traps and Jenna's knowledge of burial practices, they thought that there might be poison gas sealed in the sarcophagus. So, while everyone else left the tomb, Alarian made a makeshift fire arrow (tearing off a strip of cloak, wrapping it around the arrowhead, and soaking it in oil) and fired it from the doorway of the king's tomb, then ran. The arrow stuck in the wax, and began to melt it. The party camped across the road with little incident. Uianya foraged for some food and found some raspberries. However, Rianna's player was so paranoid at this point that she questioned the raspberries. I quickly explained they were normal, immobile raspberries without teeth. And then I laughed for the next five minutes. Anyway, the next day the party went back to the tomb, and while there was a faint bitter smell, it wasn't too bad. They proceeded inwards to the tomb, and Alarian and Jenna got ready to push off the lid while the rest of the party readied themselves. The two wrestled it off, revealing the well-preserved corpse of a man, his face shiny with resin and his body dry as old leather. He was mostly as he appeared on the statue, though he clutched a scroll case in his hands rather than the small sword and box. When nothing untoward happened, the other party members came over. Gorf detect magic, and pointed to nearly everything the king was wearing ("This is magic, and this is magic, and this is magic, and this is magic, and this is magic...") as being magical. However, just at that moment, the king sat up. He pointed at the party with an accusatory finger and boomed, "You! Betrayers! You have killed my children!" The party let loose a volley of arrows, which didn't have a whole lot of effect, then ran away. The king shuffled after them, holding his enormous sword in one hand. The party skittered down the hall, and Gorf tried to burn him with [i]burning hands[/i], which seems to have some effect. Seeing this, Alarian took the time to make a makeshift fire arrow and shoot the king, which had some effect. Rianna threw her torch at it, which clattered at its feet and caused him some harm. Uianya's squirrel dashed to the horses tethered outside and got another torch. Uianya tried her own weapons, but missed. Jenna attempted to turn with bad results, so just continued with archery to mediocre effect. Alarian ran outside to the horses and unsheathed the sword the party had found in Prince Rokat's tomb. He cried out, "We didn't kill your children!" And then of course the king screamed, "Grave robbers! Blasphemers!" And then Alarian goes, "Oh &*%$" While the rest of the party did their best with arrows and hurling torches, Alarian got on horseback and charged the king as he was swinging at Rianna. Both missed, and Alarian swung around for another charge. As he hit the king, the sword burst into flames, and the king started burning. As the kind slumped to the ground he said, "My children, I tried to avenge you." Then he crumbled into dust and the fire went out. The party collected his armor, crown, sword, and jewelry, then hightailed it out of there. They went to a town and paid a sage to identify and appraise their items and discovered they were filthy rich. The scroll they found in the king's possession essentially outlined the following: The actual story behind the Tomb of Kosar - King Ammel had two children, the only heirs to his kingdom. Through infighting and assassination, the noble house of Kosar has been reduced to only the king and his immediate family. His wife died shortly after giving birth to his son, leaving him with a baby and a two-year-old daughter to raise. He lavished love on them, giving them the best tutors, and letting them work by his side to learn the intricacies of rule. Rival noble houses plotted to kill both heirs, as they both were strong-minded and would not yield to the political pressure of the other nobles once they ruled Low'verok. While all three were traveling in the south of the country on a political visit to the southern nobles, the king's party stopped and camped on a long road between two towns, very near the base of a steep cliff that was the only real feature in this forested landscape. During supper, both the prince and princess drank tea that was laced with a deadly poison. Both died within minutes, and efforts at reviving them came to naught. The religion of House Kosar, the worship of a sun god called Gebel, forbade attempts at resurrection. The king was absolutely devastated by his children’s' deaths, and refused to move a single step until they had been buried. He decreed that his artisans and stonemasons would build a mighty tomb out of the rock of the cliff. He spent years there, supervising the tomb, which also included tombs for him, as well as two other rooms. King Ammel blamed those closest to his children for their deaths. Four hundred years ago slavery was very common, and House Kosar had an entire house of slaves that served them. They called themselves House Isyrathis, but the nobles called them the Moon House, as they worshipped the mood god Huru, in contrast to the sun-worshipping nobles. While Ammel's children were ritually cremated, a far bitterer fate awaited the three members of the Moon House that had been serving Rokat (the prince) and Melair (the princess) that night. They were forced to drink some of the poisoned tea that had killed the royal children, then burned alive as they began to feel the effects of the poison. Their flesh was reduced to ashes, but their bones remained whole, unlike the prince and princess, to mark their shame. In addition, the king's champion, Lord To-maj of Wedefar, was supposed to be the food taster for the king's family, in addition to his other duties as their protector. But due to his duties to the king, he didn't realize the children were having tea before supper. The children felt safe with the members of the Moon House, and often got tired of To-maj having to be around so much. To-maj never showed up, they children drank and died. For his punishment, To-maj had to drink the dregs of the poisoned tea. He was not cremated, but buried whole, a mark of highest disgrace. The poison in the tea was a magical one, meant to reanimate the dead drinker into an undead abomination. It was ineffective if the person's body was not at least partially whole, which was why the servants animated as skeletons and To-maj rose as a zombie later. Just prior to the tomb being sealed, one of the members of the Moon House tried to get into the room where the three disgraced servants had been laid to rest (to serve in the afterlife). He clumsily picked the lock, and left scratches on the door. However, he got in, but was surprised as the three blocks that marked the graves of the servants shifted aside and skeletons climbed out, shedding ashes everywhere. Needless to say, he ran, leaving the mess the players found. The reason Rokat's tomb was trapped was because Rokat had the powerful magic sword. The king arguably feared tomb robbers would try to come for it, so he had the dart trap installed. The pendulum and falling block trap were installed in own tomb more for the necessary prestige of the king than his own insistence. He cared more for the protection of his children's things than his own. Ammel had his high priests magically mummify his body and allow it to animate if the tomb was violated. It was a particularly ancient ritual of Gebel, and he didn't let anyone else know aside from the priests. [/QUOTE]
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The Furious Fated - The World of Low'verok (Updated 10-26-03)
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