Once the group had finished exploring the now empty
barbarian camp they make their way towards the cave entrance. As they
approached the 10ft wide cave entrance they noticed approximately two dozen
sets of footprints leading into the cave.
Bob and Miro are the first to head into the cave which after
40ft the passageway opened into a chamber of pale stone with streaks of
oxidised iron ore running through it, as they entered they could hear a voice
casting a spell and the smells of sulphur in the air.
Otto began by casting Haste,
Boss necks a potion of Bears Endurance,
The spell casting stops just as a massive barrier of blades
races towards the group catching Vaneer, Bob and Boss within the whirling
blades.
Miro and Hugo moves through the barrier further into the
chamber noticing the two robed female figures (two of the three clerics of Gyronna that accompanies Armag to this site) and a Glabrezu Demon, waiting for them at the
other end of the chamber.
Natalia attempts to dispel the barrier but fails and so
moves through the barrier whilst Bob charges through and races towards one of
the spellcasters.
Vaneer finally manages to move through the barrier and
manages to cast a healing burst over the party.
Otto tries to blind the enemy and manages to blind one of
the two robed figures,
Boss moves through the blade barrier, manages to reach one
of the spell casters and lands a critical blow,
The robed figure then casts a Harm spell on Hugo doing some
serious damage,
The other robed figure completes another spell which injures
the group,
Demon casts a stun spell at Vaneer causing the cleric to be
stunned for a short period of time,
Hugo hits one of the robed casters and damages her further,
Miro attacks the blinded caster and manages to kill her,
Bob attacks the other caster and kills her,
Natalia starts casting a spell,
Vaneer stands stiff like a statue,
Otto attempts to cast a disintegrate on the Demon and
manages to hit dealing some damage,
Boss attempts to attack the Demon and hits,
Demon steps towards Bob and attacks the badger,
Hugo moves to the Demon and attacks the creature,
Miro flanks the Demon and manages to land a successful blow,
Bob rages against the Demon and hits the creature,
Natalia’s spell completes as she summons an Earth elemental,
The Earth elemental attacks the Demon but misses,
Natalia casts Magic Fang over Bob,
Vaneer still pretends to be a statue,
Otto attempts to cast another disintegrate spell and hits,
Boss shoots his bow at the demon but misses,
After taking a lot of damage and fulfilling part of his pledge to the clerics of Gyronna (two of whom are now dead), the demon decides to turn tail and
return to his home plane (his deal with the clerics meant that he would secure the soul of the first cleric that died).
Vaneer eventually manages to start moving and heals the
group up.
The group take some time to investigate the chamber and soon
find two sets of doors leading out of the chamber.
They decide to east into a room with three passageways each
of which were filled with thick fog.
Also in the room was a statue of a warrior standing and
pointing his blade towards a plain wall, the group tried to move the statue to
see if it could rotate to one of the three fog passages but it wouldn’t budge.
Eventually Miro found that the sword was pointing towards a secret door in the
wall.
The door opened into a passageway also filled with thick
fog. As they made their way south through the passageway which then descended
into a corridor amass with large spider webs.
As they continue through the fog they begin to hear the
sound of buzzing,
Vaneer casts shield of faith on himself,
Boss throws a javelin of lightening ahead of them into the
fog,
Otto casts a lightning bolt spell down the fog filled
passageway,
Miro gingerly moves forward through the fog and soon finds
himself encompassed by a swarm of wasps,
The party attack the swarm but do very little damage,
A swarm of centipedes soon join the fray,
Natalia shuffles closer to Miro,
Vaneer casts sound burst which kills the wasp swarm,
Hugo uses fire to attack the centipede swarm,
Centipede swarm attacks the group,
A large creature emerges out of the fog next to Miro, the
creature had five arms and legs and a gaping maw (War Spider) [GM: The party were unable to figure out that this was a Derghodaemon. A soul eating insectoid daemon that personifies death from being eaten alive by predators]
The creature attacks Miro and summons a swarm of bats at the
same time,
Natalia dispels the fog revealing the massive spider to the
rest of the group,
Bob attacks the war spider but doesn’t seem to damage it,
Vaneer uses his wand of dismissal but the demon resists,
Otto fireballs the group to kill the swarms of insects, but
he only manages to destroy the bat swarm,
Hugo throws an alchemists fire at the remaining centipede
swarms but to little effect,
The massive spider attacks Miro (HARD!!!!) dealing severe
damage and drains a chunk of the rogue’s life force,
The spider continues with a strange clicking noise which
causes Hugo and Bob to become drooling mess’,
Natalia casts a magic fang spell,
Vaneer tries the wand of dismissal but the spider clicks in
delight as it resists again,
Otto fireballs the group again which finally kills off the
centipede swarm,
Boss shoots at the spider but deals no damage,
Miro attacks and manages to land two successful blows,
The spider shrieks and chitters as it hits Miro again,
Natalia casts a spell at the spider but the magic fails to
affect the creature,
Vaneer uses the wand again and to the cheers of his comrades
finally succeeds at sending the demon spider back to his home plane,
With combat over Vaneer sets to healing and restoring the
group.
The group continue down the passageway, paying little heed to the strange sigils that adorn the passageway walls [GM: These sigils are personal runes for Gorum's skeletal warriors which give them the undying ability, but this never became a problem for the PCs], until it abruptly ends
at a stonewall.
Miro investigates the wall and finds a secret door within in
the stone work.
Miro opens the secret door which opened into a large dome
shaped chamber with a towering suit of spiked armour standing in the centre
motionless.
As the group investigate the room the suit of armour
suddenly animates (Iron Golem) as it moves to attack the group.
Boss attacks the Iron Golem but misses,
Otto casts lightning bolt at the golem but misses,
Miro moves to flank the opponent,
Hugo moves to attack but misses,
Vaneer starts to cast a summoning spell,
The Iron Golem attacks Hugo and sends the warrior flying as
it releases a poisonous gas,
Bob attacks the Golem which smacks the badger back both
hitting each other,
Natalia starts to cast a spell,
Boss shoots at the Golem which hits but appears to deal no
damage so he backs away from the gas,
Otto casts another lightning bolt which hits the Golem,
Miro attacks the Golem but deals little damage,
Hugo attacks but misses,
Vaneer’s spell completes as he summons 2 water mephit’s to
aid the fight,
Vaneer’s mephit’s use acid arrow on the Iron Golem,
Vaneer then casts Mass Bears Endurance over the group,
Iron Golem attacks Miro,
Natalia calls down a lightning bolt and strikes the Golem,
Natalia starts to cast another spell,
Boss moves to aid Hugo’s attacks against the Golem,
Otto casts Acid splash,
Miro attacks but misses the giant golem,
Hugo manages to land a successful blow with Boss’
assistance,
Vaneer’s water mephit’s use their acid breaths on the Golem
doing a decent amount of damage,
Vaneer casts Barkskin on himself,
The Golem bashes Hugo into the ground,
Natalia’s spell completes as she summons another Mephit,
Natalia’s mephit uses acid arrow at the Golem and hits,
Natalia changes form into a huge earth elemental,
Otto casts Haste over the group,
Hugo manages to land another blow thanks to Boss’
assistance,
Miro tries to hit but misses,
Vaneer administers some emergency healing to Hugo,
Iron Golem attacks Hugo again undoing Vaneer’s handy work,
Natalia’s mephit uses its acid breath on the Iron Golem,
Natalia casts magic fang on herself,
Otto casts another Acid splash,
Hugo attacks the Golem again and lands a successful blow,
Miro also manages to land a hit against the Golem,
Vaneer heals Hugo again,
The Golem lands a critical blow on Hugo reducing the warrior
to a stagger,
Bob finally manages to land a successful blow against the
Golem causing it to clatter to the ground in a metallic clatter,
Vaneer spends a decade healing up Hugo and Miro.
Miro finds that there are three sets of double doors which
lead out of the current chamber.
The group discuss options and decide to head south east
which when opened revealed another fog filled passageway which eventually
opened into a natural cavern with a single stone column in the centre.
The group notice another door leading north at the far side
of the cavern as well as many skeletons on the group to one side, airing
caution they decide to ignore the skeletons and head straight for the door.
Not surprisingly the door opened into another fog filled
corridor which lead to a cross section where the passages to the left and right
lead to some sort of make shift art gallery.
The final passage leads into a large chamber that contained
two churning fountains and four rows of intricately carved columns, standing
between the columns in front of a large set of stairs stood a large figure
wielding a large spear.
The group cautiously
approach the figure whom engages them in conversation, the group soon learn
that the figure is Zorek who was a cleric of Gorum. The group are standing in
front of the temple of faith, having already overcome [or bypassed via the secret passageway] several tests they needed to succeed
should they wish to retrieve Armag's weapon (and carry on living).
The next test involved intimidating Zorek to be allowed to
enter the temple, Miro steps forth and cracks his knuckles several times which
seems to do the job as Zorek steps aside and allows the group to climb the
steps to the temple entrance [GM: if Miro had failed this then the PCs would have needed to fight Zorek], but not before the High Priest of Gorum applied some healing back to the group and through Gorum's grace gave spell slots back to the party [Gorum appreciates a fair fight, especially in order whether Armag is worthy of wielding the weapon that was interred in this site].
The next test turns out to be
the final test as Armag stood in the chamber beyond the doors (alongside a small number of skeleton warriors), waiting for them
whilst surrounded by the bodies of his escorts and a hag of Gyronna, felled by the legendary weapon now held in the barbarian lord's hands.
Otto casts Mirror image on himself whilst Vaneer tries to
engage the barbarian leader in conversation which clearly fails. Armag see's the heroic PCs as His final challenge in order to prove himself worthy of wielding the legendary sword, unite the scattered barbarian tribes and sweep across the lands, claiming the nearby kingdoms as his own.
Otto casts Hold Monster on Armeg which doesn’t take hold,
Boss shoots at Armeg and hits,
Miro and Hugo decide to wait and see what the barbarian's
first move is before running into battle,
The surrounding skeletons shoot arrows at
the group hitting Natalia, Boss and two of Otto’s images,
Armeg screams in rage and rushes towards Hugo where he hits
the warrior and lands a critical blow on Vaneer.
Miro and Hugo work between them to flank the barbarian,
Miro stabs Armeg and lands his own critical, but not before the barbarian manages to pull off a surprising strike and land a heavy hit on the group's rogue.
Hugo manages to land three successful blows himself on
Armeg, but the Barbarian lord is so powerful that this amounts to only a small percentage of his vitality.
Vaneer works round to heal Hugo,
Otto casts Enfeeblement upon Armeg but the legendary sword somehow negates this.
Boss shoots again but misses,
Armeg attacks Miro twice each time being successful and very damaging. The barbarian coupled with the sword prove to be a might force of destruction.
The bony corpses shoot at the group hitting another two
of Otto’s images,
Hugo attacks and hits Armeg twice,
Miro also manages to hit Armeg twice,
Natalia starts casting a spell,
Bob attacks Armeg but misses,
Vaneer casts a prayer spell to aid the group,
Otto casts scorching ray at Armeg hitting thrice,
Boss shoots twice and hits both times,
Armeg attacks and hits Hugo, Miro and Bob with a single large and devastating sweeping attack
The skeletons shoot again and hit another of Otto’s
images,
Miro attacks and hits Armeg three times,
Hugo attacks and hits Armeg three times,
A contingency triggers and Armag is healed of a number of his wounds.
Natalia summons an Elemental before striking Armeg with a
lightning bolt,
The elemental attacks and hits Armeg
Natalia then casts a flamestrike on two of the
skeletons
Vaneer moves behind Miro and casts a Heal spell on the
rogue who is at death's door.
Boss shoots Armeg twice,
Otto tries to cast disintegrate which kills Armeg, who
whilst in his death throes manages to land another blow on Miro, almost sending
the rogue with him to the afterlife.
Vaneer scrapes together what spells he had left to help heal
Miro and Hugo.
Taking their spoils, including Armag's spiked breastplate and impressive Greatsword, the group find that the skeletal champions have stopped attacking them and reverted back to a waiting stance.
In one final chamber is a massive raised dais supporting a coffin of black stone, housing the body of the original Armag. Turning their backs on this place the group head out, exchanging friendly parting words with Zorek who is unable to leave this tomb as it is his solemn charge and sacred duty. They then head back to the first chamber where they fought
the Glabrezu demon and set up a camp to rest.
With the legendary sword safely housed in Miro's bag of holding, nobody notices anything amiss when the sword starts to communicate with the halfling rogue...
[GM: The party failed to spot another secret door in Armag's Tomb and also chose to retread their way back to the first chamber through the same passages and so missed several 'tests' and subsequently around 100,000gp of loot]
