The Skaveling, an undead Bat, let's out a horrific screech stunning some in the party. But not the big Barbarian that gets bigger. Garrath becomes Enlarged. And with a enlarged Greatsword, he swings the big blade nearly splitting the creature in two. The undead Bat falls dead....again.
Victory!
The cave is littered with bones and debris.
On the corpse of one of the sets of remains you find a pearl ring worth 300 gp, an adamantine longsword, a torn traveler's outfit and a hat. There was also a scattering of 72 gpcs.
Beyond the cave is a tunnel that leads to a pool of water. Above the pool of water is about a 100 foot shaft leading straight up to outside.
After a bit, Brandark picks up his trusty axe, and looks around the area.
Good hit Garrath, good hit.
Confering with her familiar Elektra dicerns the identiy of the corpse.
The hat radiates magic.
"Have we finished down here? That maniac is dead and it seems his wife is now at peace. Let us head back to Sandpoint, rest up and then head north to Magnimar and find this Xanesha creature from the letter."
"I would not mind a few days of respite. Just to gain a free head and finish some work I would like to do!"
Let us finish clearing this building, and then we can probably burn it down. Then we can rest.
listen
if needed
"Ok, if you insist." and Kelvin leads the way up the stairs to the second floor and the nearest door that he has not been thru.
The first door up from the caverns to the basement level was open. However, the next door is a locked iron door. Kelvin will not find a trap on it. He also fails to pick it.
"Well, now that has not happened before. Garrath, Brandark, one of you want to bash it down?"
The key found does not open this door. Kelvin tries the lock again. Kelvin continues to struggles to pick the lock, but then Stone comes up and calls forth upon the Elf a Touch of Good. The door opens as if helped from a divine hand.
When Brandark enters the room, it looks to have once been some sort of arcane workshop, although it now lies in ruin. A row of soggy books sits on the northern end of a workbench along the western wall. At the other end of the workbench, what looks like three iron birdcages sit, each containing a dead diseased rat. To the east, two stained-glass windows loom. The northern window depicts a thin man with gaunt features drinking a foul-looking brew of green fuid, while the southern one shows the same man but in an advanced state of decay, as if he had been dead for several weeks. His arms raised and head thrown back in triumph, his rotting body turns to smoke and spirals into a seven-sided box.
There is a door next to the one you just passed through. It too is locked.
When Shalelu enters the room, she looks at the stained-glass windows. She then moves to the workbench and begins to look through the Soggy books. She falls into what looks like a trance. "It is Vorel." Shalelu looks again at the stained-glass window. She points at the window, "It depicts his wicked desires to turn into a Lich. He is becoming bound to the puzzle box. But something went wrong. Badly wrong! That something is still... " She pauses, "The mold and fungi in the cavern below. It is Vorel. Somehow he still lives through that growth. It touches everywhere in this house. The evil that he wrought effects everyone that has ever lived in this place since." The normally quiet Elf is not so quiet. Shalelu then doubles over in pain.
She struggles for a moment but manages to shake off the effects, breathing heavily.
Elektra ponders for a moment?"Fire? Divine power, channeled by a priest? We have to destroy it!"
Elektra ponders for a moment.[b]"This is a thing of pure evil,a necromantic accident, an undead scourge, we do need a way to banish it for good. It is a fungus, so it can not leave, but there are ways to make a place inhospital for undead. Stone, that would fall in your area, do you have an idea. Maybe hollow this area?"[/ooc]
"Are we not doing that already? We are cleaning out the insides. The place will soon be hollow."
books
birdcages
keys
Without touching anything, and holding his breath while he inspects closely, Kelvin looks at the books and the birdcages to see if there is any useful knowledge to be gained.
He also looks carefully at the keys, to see if any of them would fit any of the locks we have encountered so far.
"Stone, let me see that puzzle box for a moment, please. Just put it on the workbench." He looks at the puzzle box to see if it has a keyhole, and if so, does any of the keys on the ring look like they will fit. As he will have to turn the box over at least once to expose the underside, he takes a dagger and uses it to tip the box.
Kelvin will determine that the keys will not fit any of the locks encountered so far.
The Puzzle Box is beyond repair. There is no keyhole. It offers no additional clues than what has already been provided.
The books are in a sorry shape.
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Elektra ponders for a moment."This is a thing of pure evil,a necromantic accident, an undead scourge, we do need a way to banish it for good. It is a fungus, so it can not leave, but there are ways to make a place inhospital for undead. Stone, that would fall in your area, do you have an idea. Maybe hollow this area?"
I believe it is beyond my current strength. But I will commune with Sarenrae in the morning.
Garrath moves to catch Shalelu, and offers her support till she recovers and catches her breath. He then looks at the rest of the group,"What about the fungus around the whole house? Is it natural? It seems to start from the room that Kelvin wanted to eat it from."
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From all we have found out so far. I believe the fungus does start there and from there controls the entire house. I'm guessing someone tried to make themselves a Litch but didn't have enough power to complete the process.
I will require help to overcome the evil in this place. I suggest we finish looking around and get out of here. So I can have time to properly check us all out to make sure we do not bring anything back to Sandpoint.
As Stone talks, and holding on to Garrath, Shalelu goes back briefly into a trance, "It was Kasanda, Vorel's wife. She managed to make it down to Vorel's sanctum in the Caverns. It was she that destroyed the puzzle box, causing Vorel to turn into that hideous growth. Vorel in his rage reached out to attack the only thing that mattered to Kasanda, their daughter Lorey. In the end, the fungal growth overtook both mother and daughter." Shalelu comes out of the trance breathing heavily. "There was so much tragedy in the place. She buries her head into Garrath's shoulders.
"These cages are from a place in Magnimar, Pug’s Contraptions. I guess with that note, we should be heading there after we finish here. And these rats are diseased. Maybe the same disease that I am beginning to feel."
Then let us finish clearing the house, and put the souls to rest in a cleansing flame.
Brandark will gather anything that they say is important, and will push on.
Opening the other door out of the room, Kelvin leads the way down to another door. Once the jostling stops behind him, he listens for any noise beyond, checks it for traps and if needed disables them then steps aside.
"My part done Brandark." he grins.
Kelvin will not notice anything unusual with this door at the end of a long hallway. He will likewise not notice a trap or find it locked.
When Brandark opens the door and begins to wander in, he sees a large oaken table, its surface covered with moldy stains and rat droppings, sits in the center of this large kitchen. Shelves line the walls, and an oversized fireplace dominates the northeast portion of the room. The shelves in the southwest wall are in a much greater state of disarray, and two one-foot wide cracks in the wall near the floor lead south into
the earth beyond the basement walls.
There are stairs leading up off this room.
As the party enters the room, they will soon hear squeaking, a lot of squeaking. And then a cacophony of movement beyond the walls.
"Those stairs lead back to the main floor and we have been there already, so no need to go back now. Three doors, shall we take them right to left?" Kelvin suggests.
Assuming no substantive debate, he heads over to the right hand door and checks it out.
"Sounds sensible Kelvin!"
Kelvin does not hear anything through this door. The door is not trapped or locked. Brandark opens the door and sees two bunks stand in this room, relatively free of dust and mold. A single chair lies on its side between them. But at about the same time, two swarms of rats flood into the kitchen.
Round One
That works for me, but I am not liking the sounds of that squeaking. Be wary, as there has been to many things in this house that have attempted to bite us.
Thinking quickly Brandark reaches back over his shoulder for a little used longsword.
Two distinct swarms come over the party. One over Brandark and Kelvin. And one over Garrath.
Grabbing the sword in a 2 handed grip, Brandark swings hard at the swarm coming in on him.
As the rats swarm over him and Brandark, Kelvin swings with his dogslicer.
Garrath moves quickly, attempting to use his quick reflexes to destroy the rat swarms.