Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Menexenus" data-source="post: 3324683" data-attributes="member: 8951">Session 10: Burying Killian4th of Flocktime.  The party emerged from the temple of Hextor laden with swag.  They brought it all (including Killian's dead body) to Lady Parrin's residence.  Killian's father was there when the party arrived, and he took the news of his son's death very hard.  He was consoled by the fact that Killian died protecting his comrades and the town as a whole.  He gratefully accepted Killian's effects and the party promised him a full share of all of the loot they sell from the Hextor temple.  Killick promises to give Killian's father his share as well, in exchange for Killian's Circlet of Wisdom.  Killian's father gratefully accepted the party's offer of a full share and also consented to Killick's trade.  He told Killick that he hoped the circlet would help the party carry on the fight against evil Killian's name.    After this emotional scene, the party reported to the Sheriff's office to give their depositions.  Each character gave a separate deposition, telling the whole truth but omitting any reference to the Whispering Cairn.  After being the first member of the party deposed, Killick took his leave of the party, saying that he would return within the next couple days.  After giving their depositions, the rest of the party returned to Parrin's for some well-earned sleep.     5th of Flocktime.  After a long rest, the party set out bright and early to sell their loot.  The party liquidated the mundane equipment collected from the Hextorites for a total of 4900 gp, making each party member's share 700 gp.  Tidwoad, the gnome jeweler, seemed to be driving some very hard bargains for the gems and jewelry, though.  The party agreed to sell only the evil idols and holy symbols to him.  Tidwoad explained that he could only afford to pay 10% of market value for those items, because he is going to have to melt them down for scrap metal.  The party agreed to this (with vociferous objections from Alees) because they were happy to see such symbols of evil destroyed.  Rather than sell the remaining gems and art object to Tidwoad, the party members purchased many of the remaining valuable pieces from the party out of their own funds and divided the cash value of these sales among the other party members.  A few items were still being carried by party members for eventual resale to someone willing to offer more money - a jeweled bracer, a dwarven bust made of gold with a jeweled crown, and a golden chalice.    With this cash in hand, some characters went off to buy items that they wanted, like masterwork weapons and armor.  Now that the party was through examining the Whispering Cairn, Alexander felt comfortable confiding its location to Allustan.  Allustan was excited by the news of an under-explored cairn so close to Diamond Lake.  (He seemed more interested in the potential historical and archeological information that might still be discovered, rather than any material wealth.)  He asked Allustan about the adamantine loop that the group found in Zosiel's true sarcophagus (which was immune to an Identify spell).  Allustan recognized the object as a legendary item known as a Talisman of the Sphere.  It is of ancient construction and allows a person to move a (normally immobile) Sphere of Annihilation.  Allustan indicated that this item would be of extraordinary value to any party that knew the location of such a sphere.  (Allustan admitted that he did not.)  Alexander also showed Allustan the black shards that he found beneath the broken oval "mirror" in the cairn.  Based on the magical aura surrounding the shards, Allustan suggested that they had probably been part of some kind of teleportation portal.  Alexander also showed Allustan the demon horns that the party had found in Zosiel's true sarcophagus.  Allustan said that these horns were probably the remains of a powerful member of the demonic horde that the Wind Dukes had fought so long ago.  Allustan offered Alexander some cash for these items (the broken shards and the demon horns), and Alexander accepted.      Alexander returned to Parrin's residence and began crafting a pair of Boots of Striding and Springing.  In the mean time, the rest of the party returned to the Whispering Cairn and found that the pedastal of unusual red metal and the brightly colored lanterns had all been removed from the cairn.  When the party returns to town, they determined that the other band of adventurers who had been searching the Stirgenest Cairn must have found out about the Whispering Cairn and looted it of its remaining valuables while the party was down fighting the temple of Hextor.     6th of Flocktime.  Another day passed while Alexander is crafting his new boots.  Tarric made donations to all 3 of the churches that had assisted the party in their time of need.  When he spoke with Father Jierian of the Church of St. Cuthbert, the Father seemed to be in a state of shock regarding Killian's death, bordering on disbelief.  He is adamant that St. Cuthbert himself had come to him in a vision and had told him that Killian was destined to help save the world.  St. Cuthbert could not have been wrong, so it was impossible that Killian was dead!  He promised to meditate further on this apparent inconsistency.  The church of Wee Jas offered to help Killian's father hire a masterwork stone mason for Killian's monument in the cemetery.  The church of Heironeous was still celebrating the fall of the temple of Hextor (Heironeous's archenemy).  Tarric was virtually dragged to the Spinning Giant, where he was bought many an ale by his former friends and coworkers and was begged incessantly for accounts of the party's victory over Heironeous's nemesis.    Lady Parrin was also in a celebratory mood.  Her archenemy Smenk had been arrested, and it seemed that the kidnapping charges that Parrin and Katawan had leveled against him were just the tip of the iceberg.  Once the rest of the town heard that Smenk was under criminal suspicion, more and more accusations kept coming from anyone who had ever been wronged by him.  He was officially charged with a list of offenses so long, they had to be written on a scroll rather than a piece of parchment!  The offenses included murder, kidnapping, grand theft, extortion, blackmail, arson, and rape.  Kullen's gang had also been placed under arrest (for doing most of Smenk's dirty work), as well as Ragnar Dourstone (for aiding and abetting banned cults).  Filge is also awaiting trial for graverobbing and unlicensed creation of undead.  Generally speaking, the people of Diamond Lake are happy that there is finally going to be some justice.However, on the flipside, the arrest of 2 of Diamond Lake's most prominent mine managers had sent the economy of the town into a tailspin.  All of Smenk's and Dourstone's mines had halted operation until the trials are resolved, so there were lots of miners out of work, desperate for a way to make ends meet while they are layed off.  The churches in town are bursting at the seams with people begging for alms and/or free meals. 7th of Flocktime.  Killian's funeral took place in the morning.  Father Jierian led the service.  When speaking in public, Jierian was usually quite inspirational and resolute in his beliefs, but at the funeral he seemed overwhelmed with emotion, confused, and almost defiant.  He definitely won no converts that day.  And the crowd was quite large.  The story of the party's exploits had quickly gotten around town, and many townsfolk attended the funeral to hail a town hero.  (Plus, many of them were unable to go to work, so why not show up at the funeral?)  At the end of the service, Killian's father announced to the throngs of people in attendance that he had commissioned a monument in Killian's name.  He also announced a large donation to the church of St. Cuthbert (including Killians weapons and armor as well as a significant amount of cash) to help the town in its time of need.  And he was seen giving silver pieces to the destitute, who thank him profusely.  However, he refuses the thanks saying, "This is what Killian would have wanted.  Thank him in your prayers."  After the service, Krastor approached the PCs beseeching them to continue their assault on the evil temples beneath Dourstone's mine.  When the party agreed, he gave them an official document giving them access to Dourstone's mine and granting them full legal salvage rights to any and all property held by any member of an evil church residing under Dourstone's mine.    After the service, the party retired to the Rusty Bucket for a quality meal.  After eating their fill, they headed back down into the Dourstone Mine (which had been closed and placed under armed guard pending Dourstone's trial).  The guards allowed the party to enter, after seeing Krastor's seal, and they descended once more into the depths of the earth.      First, they checked the temple of Hextor to ensure that nothing new had taken up residence there.  They noticed that some of the bodies had been removed.  (Only the tieflings and zombies had been left behind.)  They used the Wand of Shatter to destroy the shabby wooden door that guarded the entrance to the Erythnul temple.  After going down some roughly hewn winding stairs, the party came to a small room/cave filled with stalagmites and stalactites.  Katawan entered first and was quickly surrounded by 3 creatures that seemed to come out of the stone itself.  The creatures had rough gray skin (that helped them to blend into their subterranean surroundings).  And disturbingly, they had no eyes in their eye sockets.  They were wielding crude stone axes.  After a few lucky blows, Katawan was knocked unconscious, but the rest of the party soon caught up and dispatched the nasty brutes with relative ease.  Thorash shared that these creatures were frequently encountered in the Underdark and were known as "Grimlocks".      Katawan was healed up and the party continued on down another rough-hewn stairway that opened into a larger room with stalactites and stalagmites.  An arrow came whizzing past Katawan's head out of the darkness.  When Tarric brought the light further forward, two dog-like animals pulled the skin back from their faces, creating a horrific visage.  They also emitted a frightening howl.  However, Tarric and Katawan stood their ground.  The rest of the party entered the room bringing more light, revealing a Grimlock wearing studded leather and carrying a bow standing near a ledge at the far side of the cavern.  Katawan moved into melee with one of the dog creatures.  It attacked Katawan, biting him, while the other one shrieked again.  While most of the party stood firm, Katawan began running away from the dogs in sheer terror.  The dogs were quickly dispatched by massive blows from Tarric while Thorash cast a Fear spell on the remaining Grimlock.  It cowered in a corner for a few seconds, but then grabbed its battleaxe and returned to the fight.  It dropped Thorash before succumbing to more of Tarric's mighty blows.    Alees healed Thorash.  The party looked around and saw that the ledge looked over a subterranean cliff face.  They noticed that there were iron spikes in the cliff face, allowing one to climb down to the ground about 45 feet below them rather easily.  There was another vertical cliff face about 20 feet across from them.  There was an opening and a ledge on this opposing cliff face about 20 feet below the ledge they were standing on, as well as another opening on the far wall at the base of the cliff below.  The party heard movement from somewhere, and decided to camp for a few hours to allow Thorash to recover his spells.  In the mean time, Alees found 4 agates and a ruby near the Grimlocks camp, while Alexander spied 2 potions on the dead Grimlock's belt.  He tasted one of them and determined that it was healing of some sort.  He was unable to determine the magical effect of the other potion, but he was quite certain that it was not healing.    After about 8 hours of rest, the party decided to descend the cliff face using ropes tied to stalagmites as well as the iron spikes.  First Alexander cast Web into the ledge that is midway up the far wall.  The party immediately heard plaintive squalling from someone in that tunnel who seemed displeased.  With his Boots of Striding and Springing, Alexander made it to the bottom of the cliff in 2 rounds easily.  However, when he arrives at the bottom, two Chokers come out from their hiding places.  Alexander was able to fire off a Magic Missile spell before the creatures closed with him.  They stretched their arms out and attempted to strike him with their tentacled hands.  Three of the four attempts were successful.  Then each of these hands attempted to grapple his throat, and one hand from each monster was successful.  Alees shot at the creatures from the top of the ledge while the rest of the party hurriedly tried to get to the bottom to aid their comrade.  Katawan and Thorash both took falling damage when they stumbled while trying to climb down.  Tarric made it down without falling.  In the mean time, though, Alexander and Thorash were both knocked unconscious by the Chokers' constriction damage.  Thorash was given a potion to get him back to consciousness.  He then cast his remaining healing spells on himself and Alexander while Katawan and Tarric killed the Chokers.  Alees made her way down just as the fighting stopped.  Among the debris at the bottom of the shaft, she found a leather necklace with 4 rubies as well as a coldiron longsword.    The party decided that they were too depleted to continue onward.  They climbed back up the shaft and camped at the same place they had been camping just a few minutes earlier.  They decided to wait a full day to allow both Alees and Thorash to refresh their spells.</blockquote>

Verification