Eduardo del Cuchillo, Thief 1
Matt
Su’zhan Thatcher, Barbarian 1
Mike
Johan Krausenburg, Crusader of Amai 1
Mitch
Hardwin Tiedemann, Fighter 1
Dolor (Sept) 2, 1181 EC
An unlikely set of adventurers found themselves in the lone inn and tavern in Rosenfeld, a tiny hamlet in the northeast of Ostheim, in the forested foothills of the Bulwark Mountains.
Two outlanders - a wanderer from Berra and a Caelian barbarian - sat with a poor hermit and a gruff veteran. The group was immediately immersed in the talk of the town - a missing hunter named Markus. He’d gone missing four days before, and two men sent to look for him hadn’t returned. After a tearful plea from Markus’ wife, Karla, the party and some villagers set out and searched Markus’ cottage for clues. Eduardo found a bit of silver, but under the watchful eyes of the villagers he refrained from thievery.
They learned that Markus had taken his grandfather’s weapons - a silvered sword and dagger, and that he had spoken to his wife of something that would make them rich. They immediately suspected undead, and Su’zhan set about finding a village woman to stitch silver coins into his fist-wraps. Father Alric, the village priest, shared their suspicions.
Dolor 3
The following morning, the party set out with a village lad who knew Markus’ hunting routes. After 3 hours of searching the forest, they came across a campsite. There, they searched the area and came across a man unconscious and dying in the underbrush. Johan used Lay on Hands to save the man’s life, and he turned out to be Hans, one of the villagers who had gone after Markus.
Hans told his story: after finding the camp, he and his cousin Konstantin had followed Markus’ tracks uphill to a cave. Inside they’d seen a glint of gold, but a skeleton had come out and attacked with a knife. Hans had been slashed in the back while running away.
The party sent Hans on his way home, and followed the trail up to the cave, which they could clearly see had been revealed by a recent rockslide. Eduardo snuck up to the mouth of the cave and looked in. It was a hexagonal room, clearly man made, with a pedestal in the center. On the pedestal was a golden idol - a thin, robed figure with a lizard head and twelve garnet eyes.
Two skeletons inside spotted Eduardo and attacked, but Su’zhan and Hardwin charged up and dispatched them. They then inspected the room, finding the shredded and boneless remains of two men at the foot of the pedestal, and a weakened, bug-eaten wall on the left. From the remains they pulled out a sword belt with a silvered sword and dagger, positively identifying Markus’ fate. Johan meanwhile had identified the idol as Kaleth, Cthonic gods of madness and forbidden knowledge. They figured that they must not touch the idol, and set about finding ways to destroy it.
With great caution they stepped out of the cave, and Johan used his precious daily spell to cast Holy Circle. Eduardo stood inside the circle to shoot his crossbow at the idol. After a few shots, he struck the idol, shattered a garnet eye and knocked it to the ground. Johan then smashed the idol repeatedly with his staff until it was a misshapen lump. Covering it with a blanket, they stuffed it in a sack.
Su’zhan inspected the wall with insect holes and used some lamp oil to burn away insects. Johan identified the bugs as stone termites. Then Su’zhan smashed through the weakened wall with a hammer, revealing a tunnel behind it.
Eduardo snuck down the tunnel and came to a branch, with tons of bugs on the left. He followed the right trail and found it ended in another weakened wall, behind which was another man-made chamber.
The party came up to the fork and Eduardo snuck down the bug infested tunnel, with the goal of not leaving enemies behind the party. He found the termite queen in a large chamber and decided to sneak attack with his crossbow. The shot was perfect! (DM note: this was a spectacular set of rolls. A 20 on the stealth roll, followed by a hit and max damage on the 2d6 sneak attack)
Eduardo’s bolt pierced the queen's brain, killing her instantly, and sending the termites scattering. The party searched this room thoroughly, but found nothing of value. Johan identified that the queen's mandibles were valuable, but nobody had the skill to harvest them properly.
The party proceeded to the weakened wall. Peeking through the holes, they saw a large chamber with huge stone statues of soldiers and a stone coffin, as well as animated skeletal dogs. Johan remembered that these giant statues were a peculiar part of the rituals of Kaleth’s cult.
Su’zhan squirted lamp oil at the dog skeletons and lot them up, and Eduardo shot bolts at them until they left the room. Then Su’zhan smashed through the wall with his hammer and the party dispatched the skeletal dogs.
Victorious, they spent a turn searching for traps, then opened the stone coffin. Inside was a mummified body, wrapped with once-fine robes. In his hand was a wooden staff with a wavy pattern and gold cylinder at the top. Johan grasped the staff and it became a viper!
Although Johan quickly dropped the snake and it missed striking him, a wild melee ensued with the party attempting to kill the powerful and fast-moving snake. As if it was fated to make up for its initial missed bite, the viper found Johan’s ankle and delivered a terrible bite.
The snake was finally hacked to pieces, but it was too late for Johan. He died, foaming at the mouth from the deadly poison.
Treasure (not yet returned):
Silver sword, Silver dagger, Lump of gold from the idol of Kaleth, 11 garnets
Enemies defeated:
6 skeletons (78 xp)
1 termite queen (20 xp)
1 4HD insect swarm (135 xp)
1 Viper (29 xp)
XP total: 262
66 per PC
Current XP totals:
Eduardo: 66 / 1,250 (level 1)
Su’zhan: 66 / 2,250 (level 1)
Johan: dead
Hardwin: 66 / 2,000 (level 1)
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