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With all their buff spells diminished, the party discusses the best course of action of purifying the basin, and ultimately decides to leave the water in its current unholy state. Perhaps they can report this to the venture captain, and have him send a cleric along to clean up, after all, ridding the crypt of the greater evil was our original task, and surely we should complete that quickly, before this necromancer that the pixie mentioned comes back, thinks Uldar to himself.
The matter settled, the party leaves the room to the one where they originally encountered the dwarf and halflings in order to get out of the basin’s aura, and give themselves an opportunity to heal up before they carry on.
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The party securely seals the dwarf and halfling in the room with the unholy basin, Aurus helps Seebonickk heal up , and the party winds its way through passageways and rooms, mapping the place and taking notes like good Pathfinders.
After some wandering the party finds itself in a grand chamber that contains finely carved stone, opulent in contrast to the rest of the crypt. The heraldry of five major houses are inscribed into the wall above five ornate sarcophagi. Each sarcophagus stands ajar and empty.
The party walks into the room. Jack immediately drops his weapons and begins wailing, bemoaning the fate of the town of Mordesha in loud cries that seem utterly out of character for the normally stoic ranger.
Meanwhile, the party fails to notice what looks like a 3-inch wide tear in the fabric of space hovering in the middle of the room, and both Aurus and Seebonickk take negative energy damage as they get too close to the black hole.
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Uldar recognizes the crests of houses Caliphvaso, Ordranti, Immarin, Kavapesta, and Siervage above the sarcophagi.
After taking a while to study the odd hovering black hole in the room, Uldar deduces that this is a planar rift that leads to the negative energy plane.
"I think this is the dark force we are meant to unravel. However, I think it would be best if you clear the rest of the dungeon before attempting Besnik's ritual, as being disrupted during the ritual might have dire consequences!"
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After Jack stops wailing, the party does one last sweep of the crypt, and though their search is thorough, finds no additional rooms or passageways, with the exception of the flooded stairway, which surely is not a part of their mission. The only way in or out appears to be the entrance--and of course the rift itself.
Nemrok confirms Uldar's findings, guessing that whatever haunts the crypt is being animated through the open portal.
The party returns to the room.
**********
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As the paladin recreates arcane symbols in the air, the party can see the rift waver and narrow. Meanwhile, Seebonickk lets loose a hideous wail. "Oh, for the shining crusaders! Brought back to life to reap destruction on the townsfolk of Mordesha!" The gnome drops his weapons and falls to his knees.
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Overcome for a moment by the gravity of what took place in Mordesha, Uldar wails and moans like Seebonickk and Jack before him. Then, gathering himself, he orates in great detail what he knows of the Shining Crusade and the brave soldiers heroic deeds, waving the wand of cure moderate wounds to add light to the darkness.
As he continues his speech, with the ranger standing guard, the party members see the rift continue to waver and shrink, until, with his fateful words, "We will close this tear so this rift can no longer pollute our world!" it finally closes forever with a final clap and shockwave. The party can feel the dread lift from the crypt instantly, its inhabitants finally allowed to return to their righteous repose.
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Cloudia would have aided by using her UMD skill to tinker with the source of the rift.
Though it looks like she only manages to put he fingers where they didn't belong and just got a bit of scorching for her efforts.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't much of a help. At least you guys knew what you were doing."
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Cloudia is able to determine that Nemrok has contracted the disease mindfire--likely that dusty arcane training room--though she has no cure.
The party decides the best course of action is to press on, and they make it back to Lastwall and the Uscalin Lodge, where Venture-Captain Shevar Besnik asks them if they found the crypt and were able to close the rift.
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Jack salutes Besnik smartly, then stands at ease to present his report.
"Sir! We discovered a long staircase going down, which entered a cavernous crypt, where we encountered some skeletal intelligent undead - former Shining Crusaders. After de-animating them with extreme prejudice, we explored the crypt, discovering the tomb of one General Dame Vheist; a worshipper of Aroden, they seemed to have died as part of a cavalry charge into a valley full of undead... There were also a few magical items of interest.
After that, we came across a small library; most of the books were quite dilapidated, but we did manage to acquire a well-preserved copy of the Barricado Arcanae.
From there, we encountered a series of crypts belonging to three aristocratic families. Respecting the rest of the dead, we left them in peace.
Following this, there was a long hall containing funerary urns, where we were assaulted by a haunt, that manifested as spectral warriors; after putting them to rest, we continued on, and Aurus was hit by a poison-arrow trap. Luckily, he managed to fight off the effects without too much difficulty.
After that, we found a partially flooded room, that had a magical gem hidden at the bottom of the pool.
From there, we came to a location where we encountered some... freelance entrepreneurs (a dwarf and two halflings)... who had also been exploring the site. After warning us about a terrible beast locked behind a door, they gave us the key in exchange for gold, and we forged ahead!
Initially, it appeared that the room contained a red dragon, but it turned out to be an illusion, and the room's 'threat' was an insane pixie. After putting them down, we were attacked by the dwarf and their allies... which turned out to be a grave mistake on their part! During the ensuing fight, we learned that healing in the room was hindered by the cursed water in a basin.
After that, we encountered a grand chamber, containing relics of five families - Caliphvaso, Ordranti, Immarin, Kavapesta, and Siervage. Unfortunately, the spirits of the dead did not lie easy, and I was momentarily overwhelmed, bemoaning the fate of the Town of Mordesha!
Luckily, the rest of the party was able to close the rift to the Negative Energy Plane contained within the room, purifying the crypt, and allowing the spirits of the dead to rest easily."
He then draws himself up, and salutes again.
"That is all, Sir!"
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Cloudia waits patiently and respectfully through the recitation, occasionally muttering a 'yep' or 'um hm'. When he is done, she puts her own slant on things.
"It really is such a shame that those devoted to good should be harassed after death at the whims of that evil, nasty liche. I'm glad we were able to give those poor souls rest at last. And the place is truly a historical marvel. I'm quite sure the scholar branch of the society will have a grand time unlocking even more history."
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Aurus nods appreciatively at Jack's rendition of their adventure. "Yeah, it was fun. These folks all did good, I barely did much at all compared to the last few missions. No bugbears beating me senseless this time, that's for sure." Aurus' face darkens. "Though I gotta say, not a fan of flying magic whips, that's for sure."
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“What a wonderful chronicle this will make once I’ve heard back from my other teams, who are also investigating passages from the tome,” says Besnik, waxing poetic after Jack’s detailed account.
“I knew you would triumph! Just goes to show I picked the right Pathfinders to seek out adventure while unknown dangers lurked. There could have been almost anything there! To think it was a pixie posing as a dragon, and a few of the Catspaw Marauders… I do wonder how they heard about the crypt before us. There is quite a bit of gossip in the Ace of Dreams, perhaps I should pay more attention…”
“Your wizard looks a bit, well, stupefied, if that’s a word. Go and rest while I put our report together for the Ten. Surely, this addition to the Chronicles will put Uscalin Lodge on the map.”
“And I must say, though I may joke about the pious behavior of the crusaders, they play a vital part in the service of good, and putting their dead to a final rest is surely a worthy task, though I may not be the most religious person in Lastwall. You have done important work, removing a pressing danger and putting the spirits of ancient heroes to rest. Well done, Pathfinders. I hope you are as proud of yourselves as I am of you.”
The party takes Besnik’s invitation to rest seriously, and spends a few days helping Nemrok to heal from “library disease.” (The dangers of too much reading.) He recovers quite well, and the party keeps an ear out for wherever the Pathfinder Society might send them next.
*****
END CHRONICLE
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