Legacy of Death Part I: Most Infamous Danger
- Thread starter TerraDave
- Start date
TerraDave
5ever, or until 2024
readings from that book (a last reminder)
….
“Perhaps the most famous tomb outside of the ruins of Ta’Khem, in the Shadow Coast!...Built even as the dwarves still ruled, a testament to the degree of their decadence—or perhaps the untamable nature of those lands—and the deadly foresight of its creator. For of course the region would become a wilderness that would rival the Blight and perhaps be even less accessible.”
“Five centuries ago, a philosopher turned malicious sorcerer king in the waning days of Illumaria’s might [a reference to the last great empire]. His real name was carefully removed from all records and shielded from practically all divination. This acolyte of Vecna, just as that other lich’s cult was rising, would seek his own path to undeath that would rival his master. He is known to us as Acererak.”
“We took the old North Road. In bad repair, but passable. After about 15 days (it would have been less had we approached this with more focus), we came to the statue, or part of a statue, of a great dwarven head. My own notes seemed to indicate that this was key clue, and with much searching we found the trail, barely a path, east.”
“The signs of the old dwarven settlements are found here and there. We made the mistake of exploring some. Too much time taken, and the first lives lost….”
“Trust nothing here! The savagery was too great for the Old Kingdom of the dwarves, and is to great now. Also, beware the elves. One snow clan was helpful, but others had degenerated badly [unreadable]”
“We climbed high into hills, and then, barely visible through the mists, was the face! But first, into a swampy valley did we have to travel. There was an opening to some old settlement nearby. This we avoided.”
“The entrance to the place is well concealed, and takes digging! In any case, its in the middle of the hill, or should I say below the middle of the ‘face’”
“From the entrance on, the duplicity and trickery here is astounding! One deadly choice and trick after another. I will attempt to take careful notes of what I find.”
"There is no end of the distraction and confusion, hiding what are sometimes the simplest clues. Acererak delights in presenting a picture drawn from his strange and terrible lore to divert from the most banal twist or turn."
"The Tomb is certainly small compared to great dungeons and ruins, yet it feels vast, with many strange links and no end of trickery and death. And the clues, and even the needed items are here, but knowing them and finding them is something else."
"I wondered, and its clear that the deep magic of this place allows it to gradually restore itself to a condition very much designed by the ancient lich. "
"Disaster has struck. A sudden melt of snow flooded our swampy campsite, many notes have been lost."
"Beware the mist! (unreadable)."
"Ahh, of course! The ultimate trick! Trust nothing here, even your greatest victory!"
"Much here should be avoided, but it is in vain unless the true tomb is found! A trap leads the way, and magic (unreadable)."
"….key of two parts...."
"That which charms is charmed and the false way is true!..."
"There are just a few of us know. The treachery continues unabated. I wonder on the purpose of this place, and how many have died here."
"...and two keys...and a key that is not"
"I am lucky to be alive, and to have the means to return through magic. It seems amazing that I have retrieved this book, but it will be my memento and evidence that I survived the Tomb."
"It is clear that Acererak was in fact “demi-lich”, destroyed in body, but free in its corrupted spirit, and capable of finding much dire lore."
….
“Perhaps the most famous tomb outside of the ruins of Ta’Khem, in the Shadow Coast!...Built even as the dwarves still ruled, a testament to the degree of their decadence—or perhaps the untamable nature of those lands—and the deadly foresight of its creator. For of course the region would become a wilderness that would rival the Blight and perhaps be even less accessible.”
“Five centuries ago, a philosopher turned malicious sorcerer king in the waning days of Illumaria’s might [a reference to the last great empire]. His real name was carefully removed from all records and shielded from practically all divination. This acolyte of Vecna, just as that other lich’s cult was rising, would seek his own path to undeath that would rival his master. He is known to us as Acererak.”
“We took the old North Road. In bad repair, but passable. After about 15 days (it would have been less had we approached this with more focus), we came to the statue, or part of a statue, of a great dwarven head. My own notes seemed to indicate that this was key clue, and with much searching we found the trail, barely a path, east.”
“The signs of the old dwarven settlements are found here and there. We made the mistake of exploring some. Too much time taken, and the first lives lost….”
“Trust nothing here! The savagery was too great for the Old Kingdom of the dwarves, and is to great now. Also, beware the elves. One snow clan was helpful, but others had degenerated badly [unreadable]”
“We climbed high into hills, and then, barely visible through the mists, was the face! But first, into a swampy valley did we have to travel. There was an opening to some old settlement nearby. This we avoided.”
“The entrance to the place is well concealed, and takes digging! In any case, its in the middle of the hill, or should I say below the middle of the ‘face’”
“From the entrance on, the duplicity and trickery here is astounding! One deadly choice and trick after another. I will attempt to take careful notes of what I find.”
"There is no end of the distraction and confusion, hiding what are sometimes the simplest clues. Acererak delights in presenting a picture drawn from his strange and terrible lore to divert from the most banal twist or turn."
"The Tomb is certainly small compared to great dungeons and ruins, yet it feels vast, with many strange links and no end of trickery and death. And the clues, and even the needed items are here, but knowing them and finding them is something else."
"I wondered, and its clear that the deep magic of this place allows it to gradually restore itself to a condition very much designed by the ancient lich. "
"Disaster has struck. A sudden melt of snow flooded our swampy campsite, many notes have been lost."
"Beware the mist! (unreadable)."
"Ahh, of course! The ultimate trick! Trust nothing here, even your greatest victory!"
"Much here should be avoided, but it is in vain unless the true tomb is found! A trap leads the way, and magic (unreadable)."
"….key of two parts...."
"That which charms is charmed and the false way is true!..."
"There are just a few of us know. The treachery continues unabated. I wonder on the purpose of this place, and how many have died here."
"...and two keys...and a key that is not"
"I am lucky to be alive, and to have the means to return through magic. It seems amazing that I have retrieved this book, but it will be my memento and evidence that I survived the Tomb."
"It is clear that Acererak was in fact “demi-lich”, destroyed in body, but free in its corrupted spirit, and capable of finding much dire lore."
Poem
Nice, but we don't need all that. We have the poem:
And into the columned hall you'll come,
and there the throne that's key and keyed.
The throne itself is the key to the impassable door (or the scepter perhaps) and there is something which acts as a key to activate it. I dare say the activation will trigger a guardian of some kind.
The gem is perhaps a key? Is there a place for it? We need to be looking for places to insert something. The throne 'is keyed'.
Nice, but we don't need all that. We have the poem:
And into the columned hall you'll come,
and there the throne that's key and keyed.
The throne itself is the key to the impassable door (or the scepter perhaps) and there is something which acts as a key to activate it. I dare say the activation will trigger a guardian of some kind.
The gem is perhaps a key? Is there a place for it? We need to be looking for places to insert something. The throne 'is keyed'.
TerraDave
5ever, or until 2024
They stand about the throne, and eventually the elf wizard has the nerve to pick up the scepter, and touch the silver knob to the silver crown on the throne. The throne sinks down and reveals a passage.
They wisely decide to leave the great glowing gem.
They come to mighty valves of mithril. Before them lies a key. On the valves is a key hole, inside a concavity. Again, the elf, confirming his in-human intelligence, places the gold ball of the scepter inside the concavity, and opens the mighty valves.
Inside is a tomb, with a sarcophagi, and a vast smoking urn, and chests. And great iron statues. Almost certainly the ones alluded to in the poem! But they party stops short. Seeing too much danger, they return to the columned hall. Where they invite more danger by spending several hours…
The bearded devil and his hell hound, soon to be joined by his other hell hound, should have had an easy time with the depleted party. If only the first hound had not been put to sleep or the devil himself dismissed by the cleric. He soon finds himself and his dogs back in hell, and the party resumed their rest.
They return to the chamber. They are careful…and wonder, how to advance? The sarcophagi, which has a glyph saying “Acererak”, is opened. In it lies a broken skeleton with a broken staff. The mighty wizard? Speaking of wizards, the parties fails to find any secret doors….but that information allows Nar-Heru to guess that the statues or chests might be concealing one. The chests, opened by the brave tiefling, are full of gems and gold! (well, sort of…). Still no exit.
Finally, Forge starts moving an iron statue. It does not animate and attack. But 2 efreeti emerge from the urn. And Lucian…starts talking to them! Successfully! They are delayed, and a little confused, and start talking about “infinite planar loops”. The party tries to figure out how to disable or destroy the urn, and two more efreeti pop out. These attack. One is destroyed, but another pops out (or is it the same one?)!
But the parties delaying tactics pay off, and use a mix of arcane energy and some arrows and rags stuffed in the mouth of the urn, cause it to burst, freeing how many ever efreeti where actually trapped by it. As a reward, they restore the damage taken and powers used by the party that day.
Forge and Ghen move the statue, and another tunnel is revealed. They too quickly advance, looking for the exit, and find it. Uncanny doors that lead right back…into the hall by the intersection and unfortunate siren’s cavern (but, due to their extra dimensional nature, could never be found on the other side). But what else is there?
They continue their obsession with the over-explored room of columns and throne, but, as if being reminded by their conscience, they eventually realize they did little exploring after leaving the last “tomb”. They return to check the walls and find a key-hole. The elf continues his streak, taking the two “keys” from the vat chamber, and putting them together to make one. This fits, and causes the wall to sink into the floor.
An empty, crypt like room is found and explored. Another key hole on the floor is revealed. Ghen is in the room, sticks in second key they found (on the steps just the previous day). Nothing happens. They bring in Lucian. Not much. Finally Buckthorn takes it and everyone else is out of the room. The Halfling turns, and turns…and the floor starts to rise up. He leaps back, and suddenly a new chamber rises to fill the old, closed by mithril doors on which are no key holes, but a great pull ring.
(And again, the luck of the party continues, as none were crushed by the sudden upward thrust of the vault. Just as they missed the consequences of using the wrong keys or scepter ends at various points. Most curious.)
They enter. Some treasure is scattered about. And across the way they see a platform with a skull and some dust. The usual precautions are taken, and it is noted that the skull has great rubies for eyes and big diamonds for teeth. Eventually, the shifter shaman starts to shovel treasure into one of the party’s magic bags.
The room shifts and the walls fade, to be replaced by a vortex of dark aetherial energy of shadow and death. The skull rises on its pillar. It’s looking for souls.
The band of 5 (plus two spirits) react. Attacking the skull may not cause it much damage, but it brings a sudden curse on the attacker and pushes them towards the vortex. The vortex pushes the interlopers farther out, and bring darkness and necrotic harm. And the skull—the demi-lich Acererak—uses an eye gem to begin slowly draining the soul.
Lucian knocks the skull off its pedestal, only to have it return. But Ghen is not deterred. First through this spirit, and then with his mace, he brings a wave of holy harm to it, bringing it nearly to rupture (3 crits total over the combat by the cleric). Buckthorn riddles it with arrows, Forge throws and hits it with both axes, Nar-Heru calls forth a flaming sphere.
It reacts. Cursing almost everyone, and uses both eyes to drain souls. As it drains souls, it seems to slowly recover from the inflicted harm.
Forge is the first to have his soul sucked out. Then Ghen is targeted. But survives, and is targeted again..and again. Even as he heals his comrades and continues to pound on the skull with spirit and mace.
It becomes a scramble for survival. Buckthorn becomes a back up healer. Nar-Heru desperately examines the treasure from the chamber, finding an invisibility potion, and using cover from that, examines the rest. Lucian tries to do enough damage to offset the regeneration. Buckthorn and even Lucian calls on their respective goddesses.
And Ghen invokes his god and starts regenerating himself. He is given a potion to resist necrotic damage by the elf. It isn’t enough, and his soul joins Forge in the adjacent eye.
But Buckthorn has the mace. First a miss. Lucian fails to blind it. Nar doesn’t seem to have anyway to damage it.
Forge and Ghen’s bodies decay at an accelerated rate.
Finally a hit by the halfling! And it is crushed.
Not only do the three survive the Tomb, but through an incredible bit of luck, both trapped souls return to their bodies.
They do not linger. The Tomb of Horrors is successfully completed.
They make camp.
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TerraDave
5ever, or until 2024
You have no food, and no components specifically for rituals related to healing or nature.
You find the smaller animals (maybe they could hide more easily?): Buckthorn’s pony, and the mule. You probably also find some of the remains of the 4 other animals, together with those funny, big, feathers.
You face a journey of at least a few weeks on the Shadow Coast, though if you can get back to Borivostok, a reward is supposed to be waiting.
It has been almost a month since you left that city. It is cold.
You find the smaller animals (maybe they could hide more easily?): Buckthorn’s pony, and the mule. You probably also find some of the remains of the 4 other animals, together with those funny, big, feathers.
You face a journey of at least a few weeks on the Shadow Coast, though if you can get back to Borivostok, a reward is supposed to be waiting.
It has been almost a month since you left that city. It is cold.
dyermaker001
Explorer
Treasure Summary
Here my summary of our treasure. Please fill in any blanks. Date of play or Post Number shown for Reference, location found in Italics:
2/19 - No Treasure
#89 -
3/19 -
#163 -
4/10 -
#380 -
6/12 -
7/2 -
Summary:
Total Monetary Treasure: (1758gp equiv.)
8pp
880gp
500sp
2800cp
Gems:
6 - Pearls 60gp ea.
2 - Pearls 100gp ea
30 - Gems 50gp ea.
4 Big Gems
50 Small Gems
1 Moonstone
1 Jade
Here my summary of our treasure. Please fill in any blanks. Date of play or Post Number shown for Reference, location found in Italics:
2/19 - No Treasure
#89 -
Pit
60 GP Pearls (6)
60 GP Pearls (6)
3/19 -
Chapel
600gp 500sp
600gp 500sp
#163 -
False Lich Room
Mace of Disruption +3 (Ghen)
Mace of Disruption +3 (Ghen)
4/10 -
False Lich Room
- Jade Coffer
- 5 potions healing (1 Each)
- arcane ritual scrolls (Nar-Heru)
- 480gp
- 50gp Gem (30)
Vat Room
Arcane Components (Nar-Heru)
Arcane Components (Nar-Heru)
#380 -
Bouncing Room
- 8pp
- 1 moonstone
- 1 jade
- 2 pearls
6/12 -
Female Spirit
Eye Gem
- Some gems I think missing records
- Heward's Handy Haversack - Forge
- Light Stone (Ghen)
- Potion of Clarity (Nar-Heru)
Eye Gem
7/2 -
Efreeti Room
2800gp2800cp-
250 gems
Lich room
- 50 small Gems
- 4 Big gems
- 1 ring of feather fall (Nar-Neru)
- 8 potions, some used (Buckthorn)
- Black Dragon Breath
- Kruthik Potion (sp?)
- Fire Resistance
- Resist Psychic Damage
- 3 arcane ritual scrolls (Nar-Heru)
- Long Sword of Terror +3 (Forge)
Summary:
Total Monetary Treasure: (1758gp equiv.)
8pp
880gp
500sp
2800cp
Gems:
6 - Pearls 60gp ea.
2 - Pearls 100gp ea
30 - Gems 50gp ea.
4 Big Gems
50 Small Gems
1 Moonstone
1 Jade
Last edited:
TerraDave
5ever, or until 2024
As you inspect the treasure, you realize that 2800 "gold" from the effreeti room is actually low value coper and the gems are little better then glass.
Everything else seems OK, though:
*the mummy eye gem, carried by Forge, has some kind of enchantment.
*you used 3 pearls to get the gargoyle to open its hand and give you a flat gem that you can see through, used once or twice, and then promptly forgot about
*you may have used some of the healing potions
Also, the ancestral axe was taken from gnolls, and nar-heru does not have that ritual.
Everything else seems OK, though:
*the mummy eye gem, carried by Forge, has some kind of enchantment.
*
*you may have used some of the healing potions
Also, the ancestral axe was taken from gnolls, and nar-heru does not have that ritual.
Last edited:
dyermaker001
Explorer
ahem! Wizard
dyermaker001
Explorer
I think we used the 9 saphires from the Gargoyle's collar for the statue to give us the gem. I used my healing potion, for sure.
