Spurred on by the muffled screams, Grakk and Morvannon lead the way through the crypt. You pass several rooms full of sarcophagi and elaborate relief carvings on the walls, before coming to a T junction. The screams echo from the right hand fork, and after passing through a larger, more crowded room full of lesser gravestones, you reach another stairway, this one crude and unfinished, in a rough, uneven archway. The stone edges of the stairs and arch seem fresh and sharp, in contrast to the smooth, rounded stones of the rest of the complex. Grakk doesn't stop to examine the stonework, though; he goes pelting down the stairs and bursts into a room full of the walking dead.
The subterranean chamber is a large, high-ceilinged chamber, with smooth stone walls studded with torches in sconces at regular intervals, illuminating the scene in a flickering, smoky light. And a memorable scene it is: The center of the room is dominated by a huge, octagonal pit, full of viscous fluid that bubbles with an unnaturally sickening stench. A sickly glow swirls beneath the surface, illuminating the sour fumes with a ghastly light.
[sblock=Nature or Heal DC 10]Contact with the liquid would probably not be good for your health. [/sblock]
Suspended above the pit by eight sturdy chains anchored to short pillars at the corners of the octagonal pit is a large stone platform. A robed figure, impossibly large, stands on the platform with his back to you, facing a polished obsidian altar on which is bound an attractive young woman in purple and yellow silk. She is the source of the screaming, and as you enter the room she treats you to an achingly loud and threatrical sample.
In the flickering shadows around the glowing pit are perhaps a dozen other figures, all of them clearly undead except another attractive girl, bound and gagged in one corner of the room. Her eyes meet yours, pleading for help.
In the far corner behind the second girl is a bookshelf, containing various papers and half a dozen small glass vials. In the other far corner is a small pile of dead bodies, haphazardly stacked in a pool of congealed blood.
The far wall contains an door of heavy wood reinforced with iron, and barred on this side.
As you enter, all eyes (and empty eye sockets) turn to you. The ruined face of the creature on the platform splits, and a familiar voice emerges.
"Hold them off. I must not be interrupted." It is the voice of Slardazial, the rogue priest turned to Zal'Ekthees, who you defeated once before in Lauto's catacombs. He turns away from you again, and resumes a low, buzzing chant. The girl on the altar screams again, but Slardazial ignores it. The bound girl in the corner tries to scream, but the gag ruins the effect. The dead shamble slowly forward toward you...
[sblock=ooc]
Initiative:
Magnus 19
Kamotz 17
Vixo 9
Morvannon 8
Vrrsk't 17
Grakk 23
Enemies:
8. Rerolling the tie for Morvannon and the enemies:
Morvannon wins. So all the PCs go first.
[/sblock]
[sblock=status and initiative]
- Kamotz 31/31 hp, 7/9 surges
- Vrrsk't 33/35 hp, 10/12 surges
- Vixo 38/38 hp, 7/9 surges
- Morvannon 30/32 hp, 6/8 surges
- Magnus 29/29 hp, 9/8 surges
- Grakk 44/44 hp, 9/12 surges
- Wight unharmed
- Grave Drake 1 unharmed
- Grave Drake 2 unharmed
- Maw unharmed
- Rotter 1 unharmed
- Rotter 2 unharmed
- Rotter 3 unharmed
- Rotter 4 unharmed
- Rotter 5 unharmed
- Rotter 6 unharmed
- Rotter 7 unharmed
- Rotter 8 unharmed
Resources used:
- Grakk: AP
- Magnus:
- Morvannon: AP
- Kamotz: Beacon of Hope
- Vixo: Blinding Barrage, Duelist's dagger
[/sblock]
[sblock=Enemy stats]
Slardazial ??
Zombie Rotter 1 HP, a missed attack never damages them. AC 13, For 13, Ref 9, Will 10.
+6 vs. AC, 5 damage
Grave Drake: 49 HP, AC 19, Fort 16, Ref 15, Will 14
+9 vs. AC, 1d10+3 damage and the target is grabbed
Deathlock Wight: 54 HP, AC 18, Fort 15, Ref 16, Will 17
+9 vs. AC, 1d6 damage and the target loses a healing surge
Maw: 44 HP, AC 17, For 14, Ref 15, Will 14
+8 vs. AC, 1d8+2 damage
Chains: 15 HP each, AC 8, Fort 8, Ref 8, Will N/A
Chains have +12 to all defenses against ranged attacks from non-adjacent squares.
[/sblock]
[sblock=map and terrain notes]
The pit's surface is 5' below ground level.
[/sblock]
