Session Forty-Eight (Graveyard of Empires Summary)
It’s time for the better-late-than-never session summary! 😀 Sorry guys, enjoy!
Thorfus, Finklemur and Pelgax have finished burning the Wight’s corpse. As they return through the basement, the see that the workmen from the town are working on some scaffolding, drilling a hole through the ceiling in order to complete thier task.
Clement explains that he wants to take advantage of our oxen, and hook up a capstan in the dining hall so they can lift the statue clean up into the basement. However, he points out that even though they can do that, there is still the problem of getting the statue out of the basement. It would be difficult at best to haul it up the staircase.
After much discussion, we decide that if he could hook the capstan even higher in the dining hall, and repeat Finklemur’s shrink trick, we can lift the statue clean up into the dining room. We leave him to complete the preparation work whilst we finish clearing out the dungeon.
Having discovered the zone of influence for the dungeon’s odd resurrection effect, the party quickly decides it’d be a good idea to remove the corpses of the creatures we had already slain in order to prevent any potential complications.
We take up the remaining sack of eels first, and after rekilling them for a final time, burn them, sacks and all. We then head to the general store to stock up on sacks, iron spikes and yet more oil. We also ask for the store owner to look to purchase a second boat or canoe, which Axel leaves 50 gold in deposit for. Chuq also buys a weighted net, thinking to dredge the water logged rooms more thoroughly.
Heading back up to the castle, we head straight for the dungeon’s brig. In the basement however, we find several skeletons in the eastern barracks. They attack, swinging against Axel, Thorfus and Uthruk. We struggle initially, Thorfus missing and Axel damaging his prized axe, though Uthruk scores a hit, slaying one instantly. With Chuq and Barmyr lending spear support, we quickly dispatch the others after Brice turns them away with her holy symbol.
Naturally, the party quickly fills a sack with thier bones, saving the armour and weapons for later sale. Though this will likely be hard with the armour, as it appears largely Imperial, coloured black and red.
In the dungeon we stop first to trap the other corridors with our salvaged jaw-traps from the ford. Checking the door, Chuq hears nothing, but Starchy definitely senses something. The corridor itself is clear however. We go through the rooms in turn, first dispatching of the animated legs, then arms, heads and finally torsos in turn. They stop moving when brought out across the line, and they pile them up and burn them altogether. Rather than the whole party running up each time, we send Arus and the other hirelings up with the sacks whilst we clear out the rooms. We also task Sturloc and Kottar to watch the hallway from the base of the stairs for added security.
We look to the spider room next. Chuq hooks his net over the door to catch the inevitable charge, then we open the door and let it do the work. Several spiders instantly get caught in the net. We go to work, dispatching those that get caught up with presicion strikes, otherwise fighting off those that aren’t fully caught. Once complete, we once more send up the hirelings to burn the corpses, and turn to the final door.
Ominously enough, the undead man within is knocking once more. For added precaution, we place both jaw-traps and the net outside of his door. After testing to see if he can communicate at all, we open the door, and it jumps out, catching in the net and one of the traps instantly.
We set to killing it once again, and it proves tough, surviving multiple strikes and even managing to grasp hold of Uthruk momentarily even through the net. It grasped his face with a bile covered hand, the force of the blow far less than the pain it inflicted on the half-orc, knocking him down.
Brice quickly responds with a healing prayer, returning him to groggy wakefulness. The dwarves quickly finish the creature of off before it can hurt anyone else, Thorfus laying the killing blow.
Not wanting to wait around, the party quickly wraps the body up in the net and makes to carry it out, stabbing it repeatedly along the way. Brice further heals Uthruk, allowing him to use his own skills to mend his wounds. After locking the dungeon thoroughly, we return to our corpse burning pit and add the zombie to the merry blaze.
Clemet passes us here, done with the days work, announcing they’re pretty much ready for us to pull the statue head out. Looking at the setting sun and feeling quite disgusting after a day’s undertakings, the party heads down to the Inn for a bath and a good night’s sleep. We fill in the Midmark party on the day’s progress.
Chuq requests a small supply of holy water from the priest, who is more than happy to give over a few vials.
Setting a customary watch the Inn, the party sleeps for the night. Thorfus, Chuq and Axel keep the watches, with Kottar, Arus and Brice assisting. The night is largely quiet, but we make sure to keep line of sight to our burning pit, just in case.
The next morning, after breakfast, we go purchase yet more sacks and a new net. The new boat we purchased has been delivered to the fort already, and Axel makes sure to get his leftover money back. Then, we head back up to the fort.
Again, it appears quiet, so we grab the new boat and head downstairs, carrying out our customary checks on all the rooms. Feeling pranky, Finklemur utilises his inquisitor half-mask to make his face half-Thorfus. We decide to start clearing out the north tunnel, the main Starchy Boyz loading up in the two boats, leaving the hirelings back to watch the staircase. As we row along, we make sure to trail the net behind the boats, so as to catch any swimming creatures before they can become a problem.
At the first door, we stop to investigate, and deeming it safe, attempt to force the door open. It seems to be stuck fast though, so we resort to merely smashing it open with our axes. The room appears to be a large bedroom, with multiple underwater beds and a number of sheets floating around. To be doubly sure, we toss a chicken through, Axel splashing it around to attract any potential danger. When nothing happens, we finish breaking the door down, and float in.
Chuq decides to gather up all the sheets with the haft of his spear and move them into the corner to clear line of sight, but as he moves the last one, it seems to begin crawling up his spear. He calls our attention, drawing another spear to stab at it. We all lash out, swords and even thrown rocks flying at the living bedsheet, but it seems incredibly agile, though Axel manages to slice off a corner.
Another corner whips out, narrowly missing Chuq, and he spins his spear around to try and dislodge it, and successfully pins it to the ceiling, whereupon it falls into the boat limp, getting slammed by Finklemur’s magic missile. As is our habit, it gets wrapped up in a sack ready for burning. Feeling paranoid, all the other sheets get gathered into the sack too. They get handed off to the hirelings, and Filthas, Arus and Kottar head off to take care of the burning. We also leave behind Barmyr and elect to bring Hart along instead to help check for hidden rooms.
During the search, we hear shouts from the foyer, and row quickly back. Recusson has seen humanoid shapes approaching up the southern corridor. Sturloc and Pelgax begin firing upon them, as they charge Recusson. The creatures tangle in the jaw-traps, delimbing one, but they keep coming, one striking the hireling, bringing him down. The two crossbowmen begin retreating up the staircase as reach the foyer and begin to disembark.
We charge in to rescue the beleaguered hirelings, quickly thinning thier numbers and pushing them back with Brice’s assistance and rescuing Recusson so the dwarven cleric can revive him. We chase them down towards the octagonal room to finish them off, realising that this was their point of entry. Uthruk cuts them off by outspeeding them to the open door and slamming it shut, and we surround and kill off the last few.
More sack filling then ensues, and the returning hirelings are sent right back out again. We then check out the octagonal room again, now seeing a previously hidden door in the north-eastern wall, leading into a hallway.