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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hairy Minotaur" data-source="post: 5082063" data-attributes="member: 11574">And lives were changed pt. 1This session took place on Halloween so it has a distinct feel to it. I left it short so I could get the entire night in one update, so this is like the preface to the action. Enjoy:With the passing of the gnoll guards, Lord Horatius began exploring the crypt noting that most of the sarcophagi had writing on them. Unable to make the words out he noted that the words appeared to be fluid and fairy like and so concluded they must be elven, “Anybody read elvish?”“Elves don’t possess a written language.” The enermancer answered“Riiiight, anybody else?” Lord Horatius queried “I’ve seen some elvish in my day maybe I could make out a word or two, especially if there’s cussin’ going on.” Gramps offers“Why would someone deface a sarcophagus with elvish insults? And since when did elves bury their dead underground?” Discordia asked“You’ve actually got that backwards, see elves bury their living and then after a day in the dirt they rise up as immortals and live out their undead lives in the trees as they regard the earth with a frightening remembrance of their mortal lives. But the negative energy doesn’t build up real well so and any hedge witch could turn an elf without a lot of effort.” The enermancer interjects“Whoa, you’re like some sort of savant the way you call up facts like that. Have you heard of any cures for glandular problems?” Helga inquires of the enermancer“Yes, but your issue isn’t glandular, it’s more of a gravitational design flaw.” The enermancer answersLord Horatius turns his attention to one of the dozens of canopic jars seated in niches near every sarcophagus. The hexblade notes the peculiar design on the jars, something like a crude bullseye with an “X” drawn through it. Taking one jar he attempts to open it but finds the wax seal still very much in place, “Gramps, what do you make of this?” The enermancer tosses the jar to Gramps who wasn’t expecting the toss and the jar shatters on the floor near the dwarf’s feet. Immediately after breaking the contents of the jar spill out onto the floor, a black morass undulating in the dim light spread out and up Gramp’s legs.“Spiders!” Gramps shouts as he tries to stomp the critters off his legs“Swarm!” Discordia shouts “Clear!” Lord Horatius shouts as he tosses an alchemist fire vial onto the flailing dwarfThe death screams of the hundreds of spiders are drowned out by the panicked cries of Gramps as he tries to beat the spiders and the fire to death on his body.“Damn! If we only had a dead bard.” The enermancer decries“Why? What the hell would you do with that?” Helga asks“Dead bards are the natural enemy of fire; we could beat Gramps with the dead bard and put the fire out quickly.” The enermancer answersThe baron’s daughter races up to Gramps and douses him with a waterskin full of water, putting the fire out and washing off most of the rest of the spiders.“Quick thinking Penelope, you saved him.” Tethys comments“Where did you get that?” The enermancer demands“Your belt, that’s what you use to put out fires. Plus I figured the water would help get rid of some of the spiders too.” Penelope, the baron’s daughter replies“Did you now? Well I’m sure you think you’ve been educated real well by your father’s money, but none of that can replace real adventuring. So why don’t you keep to your pipe dreams and let the real adventures take care of the adventuring?” The enermancer explains“What were you going to do? Light his head on fire and hope the controlled burn would cause the fire on his legs not to spread to his burning head?” Penelope asked“You know far too much about me to be here by accident.” The enermancer answered astonished by the insight Penelope possessed of his mind’s workings“Whatever, glad I was here to help.” Penelope replies“I wonder if all of these jars have spider swarms?.................... which would mean they’re drow.” Lord Horatius connectsSlyphwhisper, quietly slipped a couple of the jars into his backpack while the rest of the party tended to the injured dwarf. “How are we going to get out of here?” Lavender inquired“We fight our way out, we’ve got the numbers and the hardware needed to overtake the gnolls.” Discordia answers“Secret door.” Gramps coughs, “under that.” The dwarf points to a sarcophagus next to HelgaThe sarcophagus lid is pushed aside to reveal an iron rung ladder descending into the darkness. With the sound of approaching gnolls, the party climbs onto the ladder and heads down. Lord Horatius goes last, waiting until the gnolls sounded like they were right outside the door before he throws two of the spider jars at the door and then ducks down into the hole. The escape to the surface was uneventful and just as dusk settled over the land; the party emerged from the escape passage and made plans for getting the baron’s daughter home as quickly as possible.  The party elected to camp for the night and then head out in the morning, the cave they emerged from was further to the south than they had been in the ruined temple. Heading back north was going to mean circumventing the ruined temple by a couple of miles in order to avoid any search parties of gnolls out on the prowl for their former hostages. Discordia and Gramps sighed in relief as they knew the next two days would prove to be the most challenging if they wanted that reward money. Financing a campaign against a lich-king had to start somewhere and Discordia was just a few days away. The rescue had gone about as chaotic as she preferred and it worked out just fine, she was spending the money in her head already. The sound of coins clanging off a wooden counter soothed her into a restful sleep.Discordia was awoken early in the morning with the despondent mourning of the enermancer as he lamented a sunrise clouded by rain clouds.“What’s his problem?” Penelope asked Tethys“I don’t know. I’m not a powerful enough cleric to waste praying for the cure whatever the hell your problem is spell.” Tethys answers“Don’t clerics live for the curing of humanity?” Penelope inquired“Not me, I live to be able to cast fireball at some undead chump who is all prepped for a turning. I dream of the look in their eyes when instead of the burning light of righteousness there’s a burning ball of oh yeah headed for their head.” Tethys answersLightening struck nearby and the acrid smell of ozone washed over the camp as the very air shook with thunder. The storm posed several travel problems; they didn’t want to wait here much longer for fear of having the gnolls follow them through the underground passage. Yet traveling in the dimness of the storm allowed the gnolls an advantage with the eyes that were built for stalking in low light conditions. The party packed up their belongings as best they could in the downpour and set out to the northwest, hoping the gnolls would search towards the main caravan route instead of heading towards the river to the west. The sky dove deeper into a grayish green as the wind began to turn the rain sideways, forcing the party to take shelter behind trees several times. Tethys surmised that if dryer shelter was not found quickly, sickness both the mild and fatal kinds could be facing the travelers. An infrequent smell of burning wood carried upon the fierce winds gave several members of the party hope that somewhere up ahead there was a house or an inn where they could stay. Another four hours of traveling brought the group to a water logged and heavily muddied path. From the edge of the woods a small village was visible in the near distance. It did not take any prodding to get the group to agree to press on until the village was reached. What appeared to be a short distance of perhaps a mile, turned into a three hour trudge through wet ground that became the consistency of a thick marsh as they made their way to the village. The village was horseshoe shaped with a large well in the center of the layout a two-story inn rose just beyond the well and the flicker of candle light could be seen in the inn as well as the first house on the left as they entered the village. Dreams of a warm dry bed were shattered as the raging storm above their heads was muted by the blood curling cry from inside the house to the left. The candlelight inside flickered, the storm battered them, the party blinked in curious caution and the sky above shed tears more heavily than anyone could remember.“Well? Do you want to see what that was?” Discordia asked</blockquote>

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