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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DM-Rocco" data-source="post: 1693023" data-attributes="member: 14451">Session 20 module The Tomb of HorrorsDelvin closed her eyes as the wind blew through her hair and she reflected upon what had happened in her life leading to this point. After many years of traveling with her dearest friends they had inadvertently been wrapped up in a power struggle with the Slaver Lords and the merchant families along the coast of the Land Locked Sea. Then there was the trip to the Abyss, the journey to the Mausoleum of the Lost Gods and now the sojourn over the mountain wall through the Vast Swamp to find a hidden and long forgotten tomb belonging to a old and powerful wizard, and why would we go there, why to find something to help slay Vecna, the most powerful wizard/Demi-God in the realms, why else?Of course, none of this compared to events in his most recent past, his brush with a God. His friend and dearest companion had died, a loyal servant of the God of Pelor, defender of the weak and bane to all undead, had died by the hands of a Dread Wraith. She shed a tear in memory of her friend but then her tears turned from sorrow to contempt to anger. Why had the light of Pelor failed his most trusty and divine agent of good? It was a question that she wanted the answer for, and question that she asked, and a question that she got answers for.In the city of Kalistrad, Delvin had a brush with a God, and the mark of his presence still lingered with her to this day. She had been changed, from a proud youthful and strikingly beautiful woman into a horrid and putrid wench. Her eyes had been melted away from their sockets when she looked upon the back on the Avatar of Pelor and where the fluid from her eyes fell upon her cheeks, the fluid burnt into her skin, scaring her face, making her look older than she was and maiming her perfect features forever more. She had challenged the Gods and lost.Following that day in the city square her and her companions drudged on. They re-supplied, more serious in intent and purpose this time, they made good on sparing no expense for the journey this time. In addition to the mass amount of supplies they purchased, they had bought trained Griffins to carry everything they needed, one for each of them; Delvin had names his Sir Beaks-O-Lot. Brakka, a merchant Elven bow maker had decided to accompany them on this task, as did Rupert, a sneaky thief by trade, an Incantrix human sorceress named Andaria, a monk who called himself Nameless and a barbarian from the south land named Shump. Together with Delvin, the stone blind Divine Sentinel, Gren Karlson, Tomb Radier, Stonecracker Boulderwacker, the dwarves defender of Helm, and Oaklin, a half elf from Hawking who joined them on their merry quest to rid the world of Vecna they flew towards the legendary Tomb of Horrors, in search of a rumored object of power to aid them in this task.Sir Breaks-O-Lot made a final dive, after three days of riding on the back of Sir Beaks-O-Lot, Delvin new what this meant, Sir Beaks-O-Lot was landing. She could hear the voices of the others, even though they could barely hear each other over the sounds of the winds. Her brush with a God had scarred her features, but he had improved her hearing to past the point of perfection. She could hear the sounds of a mouse’s heartbeat from half a mile away; she could easily her the party shouting over the wind. They were talking about a mound in the vastness of the swamp, which, in and of itself was not unusual, but this particular mound had a flat top, about 200 yards wide and 300 yards long. Only ugly weeds, thorns and briars grew on upon the steep slopes and the bald top of the 60 foot high mound. The basic description of the mound seemed not to differ to terribly from those of other mounds in the area, in fact, the other mounds looked the same as this with one notable exception, this mound had a series of black rocks upon the top of the hill and these black rocks formed from this height the shape of two eyes, a jagged nose and a row of teeth, forming a human skull.Sir Beaks-O-Lot dipped to the right, making a long circular slow decent. It was obvious to Delvin that they were not only landing but they were doing so as to gain a view of all sides of this mound before they did. He could hear them discussing the north side of the mound, how the cliff seemed to crumble in the middle of the face. Then, Sir Breaks-O-Lot lurched upward for an instance has he came to a halt on the ground below. “This has to be it,” said Oaklin, “The shape of the black rocks, that has to be the marker for the tomb, it has to be the marker for the entrance, those rocks could not have formed naturally.”“That may be,” replied Gren as he too dismounted, “but if the enterance is in this mound, I suggest that we search for the warren ruin first.”“What need you of warren ruins, they will tell you nothing,” bellowed Stonecracker Boulderwacker as he gave his trusty halberd Law-Bringer a good practice swipe through the air, “I have a debt to repay this wizard buried below and the sooner we get there the better I can kill him, again if need be.”“I understand your frustrations, I too miss our holy friend Khael, his death has marred our heart with sorrow, but by finding the warren ruins we can unlock the secrets of those who built the tomb, a valuable insight to what may be with in.”“I agree with the dwarf,” bellowed Shump’s opinion, “we should take the direct route and charge in.”“Excuse me,” came the reply from Brakka, “I am unfairly with the warren ruins, what are they?”As if asking a question that seemed obvious to everyone in attendance, they all gave him a helpless look of ignorance.“Warren ruins,” began Gren in a patient and scholarly voice, “why every tomb has them because every tomb has those who either were paid handsomely to build the tomb or those who broke their backs in slave labor. It is the burial place for those that has lost their lives building such a place. Each warren ruin has information that the spirits of the dead know, and if you know how to ask the questions, they will give the answers. Even if no one dies, there is always a warren ruins. It starts out as a head quarters for those who build the tombs, and in this head quarters, if you will, they house all of the information of the tomb, from floor plans to traps meant to protect the resting spirits of the dead. When someone dies while building the tomb they bury their bodies under the warren ruins, to protect the secrets of the place from those who might try to find them, if no one dies, which only the dwarves nations has such a record, then the warren ruins are set with traps of their own.“From time to time the warren ruins give false information, sometimes there are many different warren ruins, meant to fool and provide false information, but if you now what to look for and how to read the signs, you can tell much of the original tomb and those that are buried below. “Well,” said Delvin as he dismounted from Sir Beaks-O-Lot, as the Nameless monk went to her aid, “I am in agreement that we should find the warren ruins, I want my revenge as well, but we must be better prepared. Khael would most likely be alive today if we had been more prepared.”None of them could argue that point and a compromise was made, half of the party would break of from the rest and search the surrounding swamp lands for the warren ruins while the other half would try to find the entrance to the tomb itself. Delvin, being newly blind and wholly useless in searching, spent long hours trying to divine information from the Gods.Hours turned into days and days into weeks. Half of the party sectioned off the hill itself into a grid and at first tried to just search with their eyes and hands, but the thorns and brush was to thick. It quickly became apparent that they needed a way to poke and prod through the thick brush. First they tried to bath the reign in balls of fire, but the heavy brush was to thick and wet to ever light for more than in instant before going out. Eventually they each grabbed a pole and searched the face of the mound one step at a time, poking the ground with the tip of the pole, feeling for anything that was amiss.Gren had taken the rest of the party in an Arial surveillance with the aid of the griffins. Usually from a high distance you could get a better feel for the surrounding lands and the best location for a warren ruins. After exploring countless tombs, he had a really good idea where it should have been, but from this height, the thick cover of the swamp prohibited much of anything in the way of answers. They too eventually landed and broke into a grid like search pattern. The ground was boggy and slick, but not as hard to search as the mound, so they made a better effort of searching the surrounding lands than the rest of the party did the mound.Today, one week after having landed at the base of the suspected tomb no one had gained any further insight as to where an entrance may be.“Sorry to disturb you your holiness,” said the Nameless One as he entered the tent with a tray in his hands, “you have been in silent contemplation for hours now and I thought you might like some food and drink to replenish your strength.”Delvin opened her eyelids, her hollow sockets penetrating the soul of the monk as he drew near. Since their arrival she had done what she could to help, but without the gift of sight her help was both the most limited and the most helpful. While she could not aid in searching in the physical sense, she could still cast spells. For the last weeks she had been scrying the planes and using every divination spell she knew to seek aid from other sources. Delvin rubbed the Ring of Pelor that fit snug around her neck, both a gift and a curse of Pelor, she had an artifact of one of the Gods, placed around her throat. At first she thought it a curse, a way for Pelor to watch his unwilling servant, to bondage her, to enslave her. In recent days however, she was starting to understand to true power of the Ring of Pelor, but much of it was hidden to her. What she could gather so far was that it increased her connection with her God, infusing her with the powers of Pelors Domains. Most Clerics have knowledge of one or two aspects of their Gods power, most commonly referred to as Domains. The Ring of Pelor seemed to be a direct link to Pelor himself, granting use of all of his Domains with out hindrance to limit. She had lost all of her arcane powers when Pelor had consumed her soul, but he granted her a small portion of her former talent in the way of the Magic Domain, in honor of her sacrifice. For the last week she had been trying to divine information that may prove useful, so far, nothing.“How goes your divination pursuits,” Nameless One had said as he handed her a cup of tea.“”Thank you,” she said as she fumbled for the tea, she had only been blind for two weeks now and she was still having trouble adjusting. “I can not find anything so far,” she continued, “whether Pelor is trying to further teach me a lesson in humility or the fact that Vecna is continuing to interfere with divination spells is hard to say, but regardless, it is the same result, divinations are failing.”“That is to bad, without another dedicated cleric in the party, you where our last hope for this type of information.”“Yes, I do feel useless,” said Delvin, a hint of anger welling up to the surface of her emotions, “and thanks for twisting the knife in a bit deeper.”“Delvin, I did not mean,”“I don’t care what you mean,” she screamed at him and he tried to avert his eyes from her empty sockets.* * *“Damn it,“ Rupert cursed again as he pulled his finger from yet another thorn. One week of searching the side of the suspected tomb had lead to nothing so far other than thousands of tiny torn pricks and scratches. He grabbed his long ten foot pole and began to whack at the side of the thorny bush in wild frustration. In his haste he pricked himself yet again, but rather than stop and complain, he took his revenge on the thorny bush, until something unexpected happened, he had hit something solid.“What’s this now,” he said as he tapped his pole on the surface below the thorns again. “Hey,” he shouted to Andaria, “I think I found something.”Andaria turned from her work of prodding to look at the short and stealthy Rupert. He was flailing his arms about madly, but Andaria didn’t seemed so impressed. In the last week she had seen Rupert get excited many times, but there was never anything to show for it. Still, she made her way over to Rupert to see what it was this time.“Andaria, I think I found the entrance to the Tomb,” he said, “I have hit upon something solid and hard, I know it is here, I just know it.”“Stand back,” she said and he did. In the early days of the week Andaria had tried using balls of flames to burn away the thick brush from the side of the mound, but the brush was way to thick and wet to ignite and the flames did little more that warm the thorns. Now, however, whenever someone thought they had found an entrance, she would not waste time with balls of flame, no, she went right for the big guns, Disintegration spells.“Duthfrate-calista,” she said in the spidery language of magic and a small cone of greenish-blue light emanated from her small hands. The cone covered a ten foot area and everything thing it touched disappeared, replaced with a fine dust. Underneath what was once thick thorn bushes she could make out the tiny ledge of a marble shelf“Is that what I think it is,” said Shump as he approached from the top side of the brush.“I believe it is,” replied Andaria as she traipsed over the fine dust left behind from the spell. Once to the ledge she angled another disintegration spell to her left, along what she thought might be the direction of the marble ledge. As the spell finished it path it cleared yet another ten feet of thick brush and thorny vines. She let loose another from right side to the same effect.“Get the others,” she said, finally with a look of excitement in her eyes,* * *Gren finished casting another divination spell to no avail. One week of searching for the warren ruins had lead to bitter disappointment. It had never failed him in the past that he would find a warren ruins and he had looked in the usual places, but nothing.“What if the this wizard Acererak had never built a warren ruins,” questioned Sir Darian. He leaned heavily upon a long spaded shovel, his body deprived of armor, the humidity of the swamp had forced him to abandon it for a simple cotton shirt, and that was wrapped around his waist, leaving his massive chest bare.“It is possible, but in the history of tomb building, everyone had always left warren ruins. I think they are here somewhere, just hidden from our eyes right now.”“You may be right, but I am giving up hope.”“Gren!”They both turned in the direction of the shouting. From the distance, they could make out the small form of Rupert running at them at full speed. They waited until he got near and then offered him a drink of water.“My thanks, but let us make haste,” he said in between labored breathing and gulps of water, “we think we have found the entrance to the Tomb.“Hold my hand,” he said to the two of them as he gathered his gear from the ground. As soon as the two of them had gathered their gear about them he closed his eyes and mouthed the words of a spell that would bend distance to his will, a Dimensional Door.* * *“Silence,” yelled the Nameless One as he reached for her and held her in his firm grip, “silence and listen, I will not pity you like the others do, what Pelor did to you was of your own doing, not ours and certainly not mine. If you wish to dwell in pity, then by all means feel free, we can go back to the streets of Kalistrad and dump you there. The city is full of those who would give into pity and sloth. If you chose to accept what you are and what you have become, then and only then can I aid you.”Delvin paused a moment, she knew that he was right, from the moment of her loss she had been a pain to all those around her, blaming them for her choice.“You are right,” she said after a long moment of silence, “it is not easy for me to admit it, but I did bring this curse down upon myself. Please forgive me.”“There is nothing to forgive,” he said with a soft smile that she could not see. Then, he saw her head move the slightest bit and he spun on his heel to see who was behind him. He could hear the griffins in their bins squawking loudly as if something was disturbing them; then he saw her. She was stunning and statuesque and extraordinarily beautiful with flawless skin and raven hair. Her form, draped in a seer lace slip was tempting, from her tight and well formed legs to her firm and perky bare breast, she was tempting, too tempting. She walked into the tent like she had been here a million times, like she owned the tent, like she owned everything within.The Nameless One stood transfixed by the sight of her, unable to move he was helpless before her as she bent in with her thick full lips and planted a gentle kiss on his lips. He felt a bit strange after the long slow kiss, but something inside his mind wanted another, something begged for it and he did not resist her when she pulled him closer. She kissed him again and he felt weak in the knees, his head began to spin but in the throws of passion he held her close and kissed her again. “Lawbringer,” came a cry from behind the woman and a steak of silver narrowly missed the Nameless One’s neck. The blow however, did manage to sever the head of the strange woman, relieving the body of the burden of a head. The Nameless One stared blankly for a moment at the headless corpse in front of him and then at the shaking body of Delvin holding the dwarfs precious halberd clutched in both hands.“What manner of beast was that,” exclaimed the Nameless One, “and how did you hit her, you could have hit me?“That my friend is a Succubus, a agent of evil from the infinite layers of the Abyss,” she said “or I am a wart faced toad. As to how I could hit it, I could see her, as clear as you surely can see me I can see her, as if the blackness was a backdrop and the evil about her was all I could see, but in fine detail, a glowing object of evil in a world of darkness.”“I,” he began, but she stopped him.“Here,” she said as she handed him a potion, “drink this, it will cure what ails you.” She moved outside the tent, she could not see them, but she heard the sounds of the straps breaking and the poles cracking and the beating of wings as the griffins flew into the air. She knew that they would not be back, not anytime soon, evil was about and they would have no part of it.In the distance she scanned the horizon where the others had told her the mound was. She had no need to guess, now in place of empty black she could clearly see the outline of the entrance to the tomb, a stark contrast to the blackness of emptiness.“They do not know what they are doing,” she said, “they do not what they face.”“I will warn them,” said the Nameless One as he closed his eyes to slip between the strands of time and space and slide across the dimensional barriers. He opened his eyes only to discover that he was right where he was a moment ago, not his intended destination of the base of the mound. He closed his eyes again and tired it again.“What are you doing,” she cried but it was already to late. In the distance she could see a portal rip open in the sky and a large grotesque creature that seemed a blend of an ape and a corpulent boar. It stood on its hind legs, rising more than three times the height of a human. It stretched a pair of feathered wings that seemed ridiculously small compared to the rest of the body. She turned her gaze back towards the direction that Gren and the others had been searching for the warren ruins only to see a creature appear in the sky above, glowing in the bright light of evil. It looked like a cross between a large human and a huge vulture. It had strong sinewy limbs that was covered in small gray feathers, a long neck with a vulture head and a set of vast feathered wings.“You tried to take an Abundant Step didn’t you?”“Yes, but it doesn’t seem to have any effect.”“That is where you are wrong,” she said as she tightly clutched the mighty blade Lawbringer in her hands. The blade grew hot to the touch and then it began to fade, and then it was gone.* * *“Don’t do it Andaria,” warned Shump.“You worry to much Shump,” she said, “It is only a quick peek, what can that hurt,” and with that she finished her spell to make herself ethereal. She wanted to take a peek inside while the others came, she hated living in Gren’s shadow, this time she would prove that she was better than Gren, she would be a step ahead of him. She swayed as if trying to move in a way foreign to her body and then caught herself, nothing.“What,” she said confused, “I don’t understand, why didn’t it wor…,”Shump looked at Andria as she stopped in mid sentence. She was fiddling with her cloths. She moved a bag of components around and Shump could see it, a long thin metal blade had protruded from the right side of her waist. She reached to grab it and another blade exploded from the left side of her waist, pools of blood forming on her soft silk robes. Her body jerked and she instinctively reached for the other blade. Then one and then another thick straight blades burst through bone and muscle, ripping two large gashes in her chest. She tried to scream but another blade burst through her lung and then she felt a slight pressure against her neck and her head began to spin violently. She could not tell which way was up and which way was down. Finally the spinning stopped, but she was rapidly growing tired, her eye lips felt very heavy, blackness was taking her. In the dimming vision she could make out a headless body dressed in silk robes with five gleaming blades protruding from its body. She had a terrible sinking feeling as she realized that it was her body she was staring at and before she could think another thought, she slipped into oblivion.* * *The creature let out a wailing bellow that shook Gren to his bones. He could see the creature making a final decent towards him but their was nothing he could do, he was paralyzed with fear. He watched as the creature landed in front of him, he recognized the creature from his previous visit to the Abyss, this was a Vrock, a large vultures looking creature. He watched as it emitted spores from its body. He was helpless to watch the spores dig into his skin and as the vines grew in place of spores, he just hoped it would be quick and painless, but he knew of these creatures, it would not be swift or painless.Four arrows pierced his thick flesh and the Vrock screamed in pain. He turned to this new threat and as he did four images of the demon appeared in front of Gren. This was one of its few defensive spells. A moment later Gren could make out the flash of an arrow as it wiped past him. The arrow exploded in the air between the demon and Gren. Gren, finally able to break free of the wailing grasp and the snake vine spores, managed to dodge out of the way at the last moment, but the Creature was not so lucky. The arrow struck him in the head and then burst into flames, melting a part of the demons face. He flapped his wings in the air a flew away, but another arrow hit the demon in the wing and again the creature cried out in pain as the arrow again burst into flames. The demon, unable to maintain flight, crashed upon the swamp bed.* * *Shump watched helpless as Andaria had sword after sword after sword after sword after sword after sword pierce her flesh. He felt sick as her head rolled from her shoulders and he almost passed out as the six gleaming swords all went into different directions and he watched Andaria’s helpless body get rended to shreds. From behind the fallen body of Andaria came the otherworldly form of an attractive female human with six arms and a long snake like body tipped with a tail. Her height varied depending on how much of her reptilian body she chose to use to stand on. An unholy aura surrounded her and with but a thought she sent the approaching Oaklin flying through the air with some unseen force. He landed end over end along the side of the thorny bushes of the mound, finally coming to rest entangled in a mass of thick brush and thorn vines. She stared at Shump and then lashed out at the dazed man with her mighty tail, It coiled around him tightly and began to constrict very tight. She paused a moment to lick the blades clean of Andaria’s blood and then slithered towards Shump.* * *Gren stood over the body of the nearly dead Vrock, with a quick motion he untangle his mass of chains from around his waist and struck the beast with three decisive blows. The creature screamed a final time and then died. Gren began to wipe off the vines that had grown in the skin where the spore had hit him, they caused pain in every movement and he wanted the pain to end. He almost had the last of them removed when he felt a racking scrap across his back. Two powerful claws dug in deep down his spine. He spun on his good foot to confront the demon but the demon was quicker and he let loose a mighty roar and cold cocked the unsuspecting Gren, causing him to go flying through the air.* * *Shrump struggled to free himself from the constricting tail of the Marilith, but even placing himself in a frenzied rage failed to grant him the strength to break its grasp. She pulled him closer, dragging him to her, six wicked blades gleaming in the moon light. The coils continued to constrict with each breath he took, every draw of air brought pain and every exhale brought a further constriction. He anger and rage welled up inside of him, he felt a bit stronger, but it was a fleeting strength, he knew, since he was about to pass out. He could see her draw the blades high, ready to strike him down, then it happened.“Lawbringer,” he heard Stonecracker Boulderwacker cry and from behind the Marilith he could see the glowing might of the dwarf’s mighty weapon. The blade cut through one weapon after another, breaking each with a strong show of force as if the weapons of the Marilith were made out of paper. The blade hummed in anger and in came the dwarf in wild abandon and in a few moments it was over and the dwarf was quietly whistling to himself as he tied a second Marilith head to his belt.“That makes two,” he simply said matter-of-factly.* * *The Nalfeshnee swung his ape like arms into the air and crashed down hard upon Gren’s exposed back. He felt his ribs crack and break and he tasted his own blood as it freely flowed from many wounds, both internal and external. He tried to stand to get away, but the demon was on him every moment. Sir Darian came in strong with his massive clamor, slicing a few minor wounds on the beast, but the blade over all seemed to have very little effect on him. The Nalfeshnee jumped into the air, meaning to bring down the full force of its 8,000 pounds of blubbery body weight to crush the remaining life force of Gren. White light shot through the air and impacted everything for hundreds of feet in every direction. When it touched the Nalfesnee his body sizzled with the holy energy and then the light attempted to vanished the Nalfesnee from the prime material plane in an explosion of white light, but its resistance to spells caused the effect to fail and the Nalfesnee came crashing down hard on the exposed backside of Gran. Delvin emerged from the misty night to cast another holy word at the demon but it too did not seem to affect him. The Nalfesnee lost interest in the unconscious form of Gren. The Nalfesnee let out a wild yell as he charged down on the helpless Delvin and he was almost upon him when a lone figure came flying out of no where to smash his fist into the chest of the demon who fell back and staggered. The nameless One stood up from the ground and stared at the demon as it struggled to stand itself. It made a long echoing bellow and charged forward. The Nameless One stood his ground and simple waved his hand in a series of small vibrations. The Nalfesnee staggered for a moment and then collapsed in a heap upon the ground, dead.Delvin stepped into view and ran to the sounds of Gren’s labored breathing. She bent low and cast a spell of healing upon him. Instantly he could feel the bones in his chest begin to reform and mend.They all made their way to the mound after that to count the loses. The griffins were gone and Andaria had died, they needed to make a descion, they needed to determine if they would leave and live or stay and die.* * *In a far reaching plane, deeper than the infinite layers of the Abyss and further than the Nine Hells, in a realm unknown to even the wisest sages and seldom known to any, including many of the Gods, Acererack’s corporeal body roamed, gathering knowledge that only he would find useful. Eons had passed on the prime Material Plane and seldom did he ever need to return to his Tomb of Horrors. In ages past he had been a User of Magic and a dedicated Cleric to demons of the Abyss and when even his long life span of his demon bloodline brought about the end of his days as a mere mortal, he sought to extend his life by making himself a Lich, a Wizard of incredible power that can defy death by becoming undead. Over the score of years that followed he continued his pursuit for power, he even allied himself with Vecna and Arrazznecronakk, one a very powerful lich like himself and the other a simple human who had achieved the divine blessing of becoming a Demi-God. The former had been kicked out of the heavens and then sought power from the hells. Eventually Arrazznecronakk was over throne by a band of Heros and Vecna was betrayed by his own lieutenant. Acererack withdrew into the Vast Swamp and sheltered himself in his keep, which was built over the Tomb of his burial. There the lich dwelled with hoards of ghastly servants in the gloomy stone halls of the very hill where the tomb is today. Eventually even the undead life force of Acererack began to wane, so for the next eight decades the lich’s servants labored to create the Tomb of Horrors. Then Acererack destroyed all of his slaves and servitors, magically hid the entrance to his halls and went to his final haunt while his soul was free to roam strange and unknown planes.While gathering a bit of important knowledge he had been seeking for a century now, he paused, something had distracted him. The fail safes for his tomb had been broken, someone had found the entrance, something that had not happened in many years, something that delighted him. He smiled to himself, and then reflected on the last time he had smiled, it had been a long time indeed, but no need to return to the tomb just yet, they had only found the entrance to the tomb, which meant that they were smart and resourceful. That proved nothing. He needed smart and resourceful, but he also needed powerful and they could have been luck in finding the tomb. Time will tell he had a need to return to the tomb, but for now, a strange new plane of power called him to attention and he had no need to waste any more time with his intruders just yet. The tomb would take care of them.</blockquote>

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