Session 62: Unethical Eyebrow Waggles | Fall
Tombrobbers on the Crystal Frontier | Played on May 29, 2021
The party returned to the Keep on the Borderlands just as the leaves were starting to turn, and discovered Fon the wizard fiddling with a strange instrument and constructing a new portal lattice. He seemed particularly concerned with precisely positioning a rod towards the sky, on which he had affixed a peculiar soft pink stone. When he had a moment to explain, he told the party that the stone was an object of some fascination. It had apparently fallen from the sky to land on a farm about 3 days closer to the Goodly Human heartland. Fon described it as being “constructed of a fusion of unknown minerals and unknown magics, and resonating strongly with a particular point in the sky.” Fon was in the process of opening a portal to that point, and would love the party to explore it for him.
While Fon finished his work the party set about some business. Wob hired a disgraced groundskeeper named Abbott who had recently been fired for being lazy. They also rented some horses and headed into the woods to see what the Alchemist Hermit had cooked up recently. They learned from Abbott that Madeline the Medusa has made the woods notably safer by bringing the Ambush Mice to heel. The party purchased a significant section of the Alchemist’s stock for 600g, gave him the Sad Dwarf Ichor from session 60 to experiment with (if he can figure out anything good to do with it, he’ll hire them to get him more). Wob also presented Lil’ Bottle Boy to the Alchemist, explained how he takes on a new personality based on whatever fluid he’s filled with, and suggested to the alchemist that it might be interesting to make something explicitly to see what personality (or abilities?) it would produce in Bottle Boy. There was also some talk of selling Troll’s blood, but the party’s captive troll is still too small to give up much blood, and anyway Ecco decided it was time to release him. Once he’s big enough, the Alchemist offered the Troll 30g per pint, which is significantly more than the Troll was able to get in his former home territory where trolls were more common. The party gifted the Troll with some basic supplies (food, spear, copy of Suzan the Spectacular. Basic stuff.) and suggested that he might find a place to live in the Caves of Chaos with Madeline. The troll seemed to take to that idea, and departed with the understanding that he and the party would defs still be enemies if they met again in the future.
The party returned to town. Adelaide proposed to her girlfriend (who said “yes”, but also, “let’s talk about this when you’re not setting out to proably go die in a new portal.” The party applied to Fon, who confirmed that the area on the other side of the portal is safe enough for them to travel through, and also gave them his magic wagon as a gratuity for their efforts on his behalf. It’s a little more durable than most wagons, able to float, and balance itself, and grip on to slopes all a little better than average. Its most notable feature, though, is the trap door which reveals a staircase that leads into an extradimensional cellar. Peculiarly the cellar has a door in it which Fon says is locked from the other side, and he’s never been able to open. It’s probably nothing. The party loaded the wagon with water and other gear, and passed through the portal onto the Crystal Frontier.
They found themselves in a dusty plain of red dust, sprawling and arid in every direction. There were mountains in the far distance, but the closest landmark was a rise of red stone, and a little human settlement beneath it. The party approached Scarlet Town: a collection of hundreds of tents, dozens of mud-huts, and only two proper structures. One built from wood imported from lands that have trees, and shimmering edifice built of crystal brick. Both of these are merely two stories and modest in their architectural flare, but appear like palaces compared to everything else. The party took a winding path into town towards the crystal brick building, where they met a peculiar death cult of people with crystals growing out of their bodies. These folks were polite and placid, and the party strongly disliked them for it.
After leaving in disgust, the party encountered a woman named Adipose Mab standing on a soapbox, declaring that she was getting a fresh expedition together, and using as inducement the fact she has a reputation for bringing back more people than she leaves behind. (At least 51% over the course of her career as a Tomb Robber!). A number of young greenhorns fresh in town signed up with her right away, and the party joined them. She recognized the party both as ignorant outsiders who would be easy to fleece, and as competent doers of violence who it would be a mistake to fleece. She struck an arrangement with the party where she would use her knowledge to get them to a rich tomb, and get them a safe entry into the tomb, and provide a safe camp for them to rest in outside the tomb, and in exchange she expected 1 full share of treasure (with which she would also pay her other people), and full details on the layout of the tomb and any dangers found within, so she could send the greenhorns in to scrape up whatever the party left behind when they were done.
The trip out to the tomb took 2 weeks. Much of the time was spent navigating the trecherous paths leading through a range of mountains as Mab followed a map that she kept private to herself, and her close companions Flash, Karro, and Cotto. She explained that a more reckless Gem Robber named Murkvey had made a huge find a few months ago, but hadn’t been seen since and was presumed dead. She’d managed to pick up on some of the clues he’d been acting on, and with her superior research ability had been able to pinpoint the same site he’d been so excited about, and she expected a big haul. During the two weeks the party bonded with the Greenhorns, mostly illiterate youths from neighboring lands where they were on the bottom rung of society. All of them were confident they’d easily be heading home in a year or two, laden with enough treasure to live as minor nobility. The party also learned from talking to them that Fob’s fabulous rock was a hunk of worthless Tomb Crystal, and ought to be treated carefully as Tomb Crystal is terribly poisonous.
Finally the convoy reached their destination. A crater in the top of a plateu, hidden from much of the surrounding area. Spires of purple crystal suggested a massive structure burried beneath. A massive treasure haul surely awaits below. Wob prepared by animating a little rock creature, while Flash set about his work creating an opening in the crystal through which the party could descend.
With a few careful taps of his hammer, Flash popped a slab of crystal out of place without releasing toxic Tomb Crystal Poison. They way into the dungeon is open.
======
LOOT:
Wagon with an extradimensional wine cellar in it.
Potion which, when imbibed, grants the wielder 20 minutes of the power to imbue people with a pissy attitude via non-damaging lightning bolts from their fingers.
Potion which can cure a single riddle. (Cure, not solve). What this means is open to interpretation.
A potion which makes the imbiber 11-outta-10 attractive, but saps them of any social skills. Lasts 1 day.
A potion which turns the imbiber to slick goo for 1 minute, after which they reconstitute. Can’t control their movements, immune to most damage.
A potion of charm-vomit.
A potion which surges through your body and grants you absolute peak physical condition, but also makes you blackout drunk. Player retains control, and may indicate the thrust of their actions, but the referee will determine how they actually go about the details of those actions while in their drunken state.
======
ANIMATED GRAVITY ROCK:
3HD (14hp), AC 4, Bludgeon d8
Weapons that couldn’t serve as mining gear suffer half their damage range as a penalty to damage. (eg. d6 = d6-3)
ABBOTT SLACKANAPE
1HD (hp1) Fighter, AC 9, Sharpened Bow Rake d6, Morale 4
Session 63: An Uncommon Lack of Distractions | Fall
Tombrobbers on the Crystal Frontier | Played on June 12, 2021
Retroactively, Elrica spent the 2 weeks journeying with Adipose Mab’s team trying to convince some Greenhorns to join First Son among her “children.” She had Bluepie and First Son both hyping her up as a good mom. Some of this definitely sank in, but these are kids who just got away from parents, and haven’t yet had a hangover bad enough to want a parental figure in their life. Adipose Mab has her eye on the situation. She doesn’t like the idea of a cult developing on her crew, or whatever it is Elrica is trying to accomplish.
Jumping back to the path into the dungeon being opened: Mab set a rope in place, and the party descended. Wob’s animated rock creature took the lead since it can levitate, followed by Elrica since she can see in the dark. There was then a gap, followed in order by Ecco, Bluepie, First Son, Wob, Abbot Slackanape (torch bearer), Ornoc, and Adelaide. Zeehaw stayed on the surface to stay out of danger, represent the party’s interests on the surface, and learn a bit of local music from the rest of the crew.
Within the first few rooms the party crushed some delicate crystal formations which exposed them to Tomb Crystal Dust, but only Abbot Slackanape failed his save. Elrica and Bluepie saw shadowy visions of a crowned king in a throne room using burning ray weapons built into the walls to melt a pleading nobleman. Wob cast a second animation spell combining Honey and Air to hopefully help protect against tomb crystal dust. The party discovered a huge chamber filled with lith crystal zombies. They gave Bluepie a torch (never a good idea) and had the levitating rock creature carry her across the chamber to a gate, which was locked and Bluepie couldn’t open.
While the party was making their way across the ledge to reach the gate in force, a pair of spectral eyes floated up behind them. The eyes only seemed to want to watch, but rather than proceed on their way, the party drew an impromptu ouiji board and asked the eyes if they wanted help with anything. The eyes indicated “yes,” and darted off back the way the party had come. They led the party rapidly through a series of corridors which the party wasn’t able to get a good look at. There was a brief battle with some Glass Crystal Spiders, but the party were able to smash through them in the first round.
Just as the eyes were indicating that the party ought to follow them into a damp 3′ square passageway, another creature appeared. A swarming whirl of tinkling tomb crystal blades in the shape of a woman. The woman gave a stern shake of the head and hands, forbidding the party from following the eyes further, and the party chose to obey her. They asked if there was anything they could do for her, and the windchime-woman indicated back the way the party had come once again. This time towards a little niche with a door in it. The party dutifully followed the path she’d indicated, and the eyes came back to follow behind them at a discrete distance.
The room she wanted the party to enter was obviously and intimidatingly trapped. It held 5 crystal coffins, glowing & humming crystals, and an elaborately tiled floor. The figures in the coffins clearly had some wealth on them, and the woman-shaped-thing clearly wanted the party to enter, so the party opted to have Ecco detach one hand and one eye, and send them into the room first. It was able to follow a path straight from the door to the nearest coffin safely, and see that the figure within was well preserved, and had a dried blue foam around his mouth. Then Ecco directed his hand straight across to follow the tiled path to another coffin. This path activated the room’s deadly ray traps, completely vaporizing Ecco’s hand and eye.
At some point while this was happening, the woman-shaped-windchime-blade-thing disappeared, and the party took the opportunity to stop messing with this scary laser room, and follow the nice safe friendly eyeballs again instead. They crawled into the damp 3′ square corridor, which went on for a long ways before opening near the ceiling of a room filled with black brakkish water, with a lone figure squatting on a pillar in the middle, many more spectral eyes floating above his head.
Next session will begin with a conversation with this mysterious figure.
LOOT:
Copied minor magic runes of warding against madness and contagion.
======
INJURIES:
Ecco lost 1 hand and 1 eye.
Abbot Slackanape has Stage 1 Tomb Crystal Poisoning
======
WOB’S HONEY AIR CREATURE
1 HD (4hp)
Animated air, can only be injured by magic weapons, vaccuums, etc.
Able to blow gusts, and create bubbles
Will last for 1 day.
Session 64: “I Don’t Think There Are ANY Good People In This Dungeon!” | Fall
Tombrobbers on the Crystal Frontier | Played on June 26, 2021
The session opened with the party on a ledge, in parley with the creature on the column who apparently controls the spectral eyes. This creature, The Stylite, offered the party the dubious “opportunity” to go back to the tiled room in which Ecco had lost his hand and eye, and kill the sleeper. The Stylite seemed to believe that simply doing this service was reward enough. To be of use to one’s betters is surely all that such pitiful little creatures could want out of life. But the Stylite also recognized this was impolitic, and offered also to let the party keep the red crown from the Sleeper’s corpse, and to leave the dungeon unharmed. He dismissed the idea that the Hunting Echo has anything to do with The Sleeper, insisting that it’s more likely a spontaneous formation created by unseen interactions between Tomb Crystal, Occulith Radiation, and the local atmosphere. The party “agreed” to do as he asked, and returned to the room with the pressure-plate tiles, and the thrumming laser crystal ceiling.
The party experimented a bit with the room: sending the floating cluster of animated rocks into it (didn’t touch the pressure plates, safe). Sending Ecco’s one remaining eye into the room with the rocks to examine all the bodies (All but one had the blue foam crust on their mouths), they used a weighted fishing line to touch some of the pressure plates they weren’t certain of, and watched the ceiling crystals obliterate every part of the line that was in the room, targetting it precisely. They then used their one safe path to open the one tomb they had access to, scraping away the gold which sealed it and dragging both the corpse and the tomb crystal coffin lid out of the room. They then tried the fishingline trick again, but this time they covered part of the fishing line with the tomb crystal coffin lid, and the lasers were unable to penetrate that substance. Somewhere around this time they were also approached by a haughty, crystal-studded mummy who didn’t take kindly to their impudence. They managed to shove him into the room, and the crystals in the ceiling obligerated him before he even touched a pressure plate. The room does not like undead.
With all this information in hand the party carefully cut the tomb crystal coffin lid in half (taking all precautions against tomb crystal dust). This made it light enough that the animated rock creature could carry it on top of itself, forming an effective shield between itself and the ceiling lasers. It was then directed to test every tile in the room systematically, revealing which tiles were safe, and enabling the party to loot all of the coffins except for the one in which The Sleeper lay. They called out to her, in hopes she would respond, but she didn’t, and the party decided not to mess with her any further. The consensus is that she’d probably kill them.
The Stylites eyes seemed displeased by the party’s actions, and eventually wandered off as they set about examining the nearby burial niches. There was an open coffin filled with red water, which the party swirled a stick through. There was some stuff clanking around in the water, but the few items they fished out were just bones, so the party moved on. Another niche had hundreds of little alabaster figures, most of which were ravaged by age. Searching through them for a bit revealed 5 in good condition which the party slipped into their pack. There were child coffins stacked like lincoln logs, in which child mummies were burried with curious alien toys, which the party cut from their wrappings. A lifesize statue, gorgeous in its construction, was briefly studied but ultimately not messed with by the party.
Lastly, there was a nest of glass strands. A funnel web for glass spiders, unknown numbers of which were no-doubt camoflaged within. The party sent in their rock golem again, and though it took some damage from the glass spiders, their bites were largely unable to overcome its resistance to harm, and they were all smashed, enabling the party to loot the niche of its two luminescent occuliths before we ended for the week.
======
LOOT:
(None yet extracted from dungeon, and thus their GP/XP values are not yet revealed)
Gold scraping from the seals of 4 coffins
Gold Chased Loincloth
Amethyst Paneled Helmet (Being worn by Wob)
Tunic of blue lapis lazuli tiles
Bangles of clear green jade
Golden and citrine chain wrappings and yellow silk gown.
12 Empyrean Children’s Toys
5 Alabaster Statues
2 Occulith Sparks
1 Occulith Ember
Wob collected the crusty blue foam from the lips of 16 corpses
Ecco grabbed an Empyrean hand and eye to fix himself up with later.
======
INJURIES:
Wob has cast 3 spells today so far.
Animated rock creature took 4 damage.
======
WOB’S HONEY AIR CREATURE
1 HD (4hp)
Animated air, can only be injured by magic weapons, vaccuums, etc.
Able to blow gusts, and create bubbles
Will last for 1 day.
WOB’S ANIMATED GRAVITY ROCK:
3HD (10/14hp), AC 4, Bludgeon d8
Weapons that couldn’t serve as mining gear suffer half their damage range as a penalty to damage. (eg. d6 = d6-3)
Session 65: In Which a Growlyhoot is Not Encountered | Fall
Tombrobbers on the Crystal Frontier | Played on July 10, 2021
Having just finished clearing out the burial niche filled with spiders, Elrica and Wob decided to return to the very first niche in the series, where they’d earlier found a coffin of red liquid. They fished about a bit more, filled Bottle Boy with the stuff to see what he could tell them (not much, but he behaved haughty and wisened). Ultimately they just decided to upend the whole of the sarcophagus, spilling the red fluid everywhere and revealing some hex-themed treasures.
Returning then to the later niches, the party encountered another Lith mummy, haughty as the first one and curious if the party had seen her husband. She was haughty, the party were sassy, and the encounter ended in violence. The mummy was destroyed, and the party moved on to investigate some coffins twined with silver. After removing the first of these a revenant burst free, killed quickly by Wob’s magic-using-creature-slaying-scythe. The party opted not to take the silver wire from the second coffin, but did climb the nearby statue to remove the silvered Kopesh from it.
In the next, and final, set of burial niches, there wasn’t so much to find. Just heaps of bones, fur, green feathers, and a hole in the ceiling from which a pale light filtered through. The party opted to climb up the passage, which switched back on itself awkwardly several times as it made its way upwards. Eventually Wob’s head poked out of the hole which Mab had dubbed “Murkvey’s Slop.” Tubbs, the greenhorn tasked with guarding it, panicked and swung his sword at Wob, but missed. The party took this opportunity to drop their loot off on the surface, and take a nice long rest. First thing next morning Wob animated a second Honey Air Creature, then the party returned down Murkvey’s Slop, and moved through all the niches to the stairs, which led up into an octagonal chamber that smelled of nutmeg and echoed with faint weeping.
The party descended a well, and saw there a horrible, diseased creature wallowing in an ankle-deep pool of its own tears. Elrica absented herself from dealing with this encounter, and encouraged Wob to leave the horrible beast alone. But Wob was moved by pity, and attempted to put the suffering beast out of its misery. He animated the creature’s own tears to try and drown it, but it did not need to breathe. He then animated an ooze of flaming oil, corn starch, flour, honey, and soft wax, which was more effective in harming the creature—though it was clearly able to regenerate harm done to it rapidly. With the addition of some projectiles fired by Wob, the creature was reduced to a black sludge, but Wob’s fire ooze was also destroyed. In the end the whole encounter profited nothing: there was absolutely nothing of interest here at the bottom of the well, and as Wob looked the black sludge was clearly regenerating. Defeated, Wob was forced to leave the creature to its suffering.
The party then moved to a large pair of double doors which exited the hexagonal room. They were sealed together by silver, but this was easily removed. The doors were opened, and revealed on the other side a massive horde of lith zombies. The doors opened into the same chamber where the party had first encountered the Stylite’s spectral eyes, but now they were on the lower level with all the undead, rather than above them on the ledge! The party swung the doors closed right away, and did their best to spike them shut for good measure.
======
LOOT:
(Not yet extracted from dungeon, and thus GP/XP values are not revealed)
Golden pectoral of interlocking hexagons.
Pair of hexagonal jade cufflinks
One coil of silver wire.
Chips of silver chiseled out from a door’s seal.
Silvered Kopesh. Two hander, d10, damages weapon-immune creatures. (Taken by Elrica)
Hexed Bronze Dagger, d4, damages weapon-immune creatures. (Given to First Son)
======
INJURIES:
Wob has cast 3 spells today so far.
Animated rock creature took 8 damage.
======
WOB’S HONEY AIR CREATURE
1 HD (4hp)
Animated air, can only be injured by magic weapons, vaccuums, etc.
Able to blow gusts, and create bubbles
Will last for 1 day.
WOB’S ANIMATED GRAVITY ROCK:
3HD (2/14hp), AC 4, Bludgeon d8
Weapons that couldn’t serve as mining gear suffer half their damage range as a penalty to damage. (eg. d6 = d6-3)
WOB’S SALINE OOZE
6 HD (24hp), AC 9, Grapple/Drown
Slow movement. Difficulty moving up elevations. Will dry out in direct sunlight. Immune to non-magical attacks.
If in the same space as a target, it may make a grapple check to climb up their bodies. If successful, it will begin to drown them.
Will last 1 week.
Session 66: Abbot Slackanape Was a Liar Who Deserved What He Got | Fall
Tombrobbers on the Crystal Frontier | Played on July 24, 2021
The party backtracked through the dungeon to reach the upper tier of the geode cave filled with hundreds of zombies. A few well placed bow shots caused those standing near the door to fall, hopefully preventing it from being opened. Wob then sent his animated anti-gravity rock creature to “play a game of snake” with the zombies, so that Wob could explore the lower level of the room more thoroughly. He also took an invisibility potion, just to be safe. The animated rock creature was destroyed, and Wob found nothing of value, so the whole thing was kind of a bust. Before his potion ran out he went up the stairs to the bronze gate, and had his saline ooze pick the lock. The ooze wasn’t very good at it, but after 30 minutes or so the gate was finally open.
In the next room the party pried some eye-gems out of some murals. They spotted some holes in the ceiling, noticed that one of the stairs leading out of the room was a pressure plate, and also noticed that the elaborate geometric patterns on the stairs included a shape which matched the shape of the “safe path” in the room with laser-crystals in the ceiling. They pushed on the shape, which turned out to be a button, and found that the pressure-plate stair was now locked, and safe to step on.
The next room was adorned with 4-armed monkey braizures which the party completely ignored because they were so irritated by the circular puzzle door. They tinkered with it for a bit, turning plates to create different paths, and ultimately were able to find a solution and get the door open.
The next room had some big crystals and creepy whispered pain noises, which the party completely ignored. A square room with doors on 3 out of 4 sides struck them as suspicious. They tinkered around with the wall that had no door in it, and indeed discovered a secret door! Beyond which was a secret hallway, leading to another secret door in the wall behind the statue which Elrica took her new sword from. The passage was notably undisturbed, and would likely be a great place to rest if need be.
Back the way they came, the party turned North towards a room which glowed bright white as soon as it was touched by the light they carried. They found they couldn’t look directly at it as they appoached, but without light it was too dark to see their own hand in front of their faces. They shuffled carefully to the doorway, then opened their lanterns briefly. In the instant before they were blinded, they got a vague sense of the room’s contents: half taken up by some kind of thorn bush? A hallway to the East, and a large archway into another room to the West.
Working in the dark, the party sent the saline ooze into the room to mess with the thorn bush. It didn’t make any sounds or animate to attack them, so they figured they were safe from it. Then they told their magic rope to snake its way over to the Western room, which opened directly off this room. They followed the rope, and were surprised when they banged directly into a wall. Backtracking to where they’d started from, Wob fired an arrow at the wall, and heard it plonk off of Tomb Cyrstal. Risking another brief flash of light, wob saw that the arrow had apparently struck a barrier between this room and the next, leaving a mark in mid air and coming to land on the ground.
As the party’s eyes were recovering from the bright light, they were attacked from behind by 6 Lith Zombies, who severely injured both Abbot and Zeehaw in the first round. The party darted past the zombies then, running back the way they came. Abbot lagged behind and was torn to pieces, but the rest made it to the room with the trapped staircase, and took a flying leap down it. The zombies, close on their heels, actiavted the trap and were skewered by spears shooting out of the holes in the ceiling. From there it was a simple matter to finish them off. Zeehaw is the only one who seems sad about Abbot’s death.
The party removed the spears from the trap, and finally gave proper attention to the monkey braizures. Each contained space-incense which the party figures must be valuable. Using his powers of animation, Wob brought two of them to life to serve as mounts. This was a particularly powerful animation which took a lot of time. Complex runes drawn around the braizures, the sacrifice of the Saline Ooze, as well as the 2 occulith sparks the party looted from an earlier session. The party armed the animated monkeys with spears, and climbed into the bowls to ride through the rest of the dungeon in style.
======
LOOT:
(Not yet extracted from dungeon, and thus GP/XP values are not revealed)
14 Bronze shatfs tipped with sharp blades.
4 Braizures-Worth of Space Incense.
20 gems that were used for eyes in a mural
======
INJURIES:
Wob’s Animated Gravity Rock was destroyed.
Wob’s Saline Ooze was sacrificed.
Abbot Slackanape was torn to pieces by Lith Zombies.
Zeehaw is at 0 HP, and has advanced to Tomb Crystal Poisoning level 1.
======
WOB’S HONEY AIR CREATURE
1 HD (4hp)
Animated air, can only be injured by magic weapons, vaccuums, etc.
Able to blow gusts, and create bubbles
Will last for 1 day.
WOB’s ANIMATED GORILLA BRAIZURES (x2)
4HD (12HP), Damage Reduction 1
2 Attacks attacks per round. d6 / (d8 with spear)
Will last 1 month
Session 67: Coffin Tippin’ | Fall
Tombrobbers on the Crystal Frontier | Played on August 7, 2021
Riding their animated monkee braizures, the party swung a right from the room with all crystals screaming in torment, and came to a room with a huge hulking knight walking in circles. Ecco crept forward enough to see that the room contained some corpses, some busts in wall niches, two exits, and a foot-deep groove in the floor worn over the eons of the knight’s pacing. Invisibility potions and torches were employed so the party could loot some of the corpses. They experimented with dropping torches in the room, and noted that the knight had enough awareness to notice the torches, but apparently not enough intellect to go searching for their source? After a glance he just returned to his pacing. Curious behavior.
The party exited to the North West, into a room with eight coffins.
The first coffincontained a youth wearing a golden wire crown, with a purple crystal swirling with orange motes resting on his chest. Opening the coffin released a demon from the crystal, who was bound to prevent the coffin from being disturbed. The demon, Rime On The Eye Of Dead Saints, said it was a very boring job. However, because its contract had a bit of latitude with how he dealt with tombrobbers (so long as the coffin’s contents were left undisturbed, Rime offered a bargain: If one character gave their soul to Rime, and they closed the coffin with all treasures still inside, the demon would let them leave peacefully. A bit of parley back and forth with the demon revealed that they lived in a nice little hell dimension, and were often disturbed by these Empyran tomb protections. It had been tricked into the first one eons ago, and the technique had been passed down among Empyrean royalty, such that there were now more than thirty tombs it had to defend. Being interrupted by tombrobbers every dozen years or so was annoying. Releasing Rime from its contract was impossible, but destroying the gem would prevent Rime from manifesting in this tomb. Of course, he would then be required by the contract to leave his hell dimension on his own to hunt them down. A little sweet talking made the idea of one fewer tombs to protect appealing to the demon, who suggested that it might take some hundred or more years to properly prepare to hunt them down. With a wink-wink-nudge-nudge agreement between the two, the party destroyed the gem, and Wob collected the shards.
The first tomb they opened being so dangerous put the party on edge, and their exploration of the remaining seven took much of the rest of the session, though most were fairly straightforward treasure caches, the loot from which is indicated below.
There was one protected by a warding glyph. However, Wob was wearing the Talisman of ZUR when he opened it. (Acquired in session 57) So, instead of being cursed, the curse entered his mind as a known spell. The talisman shattered, but wob kept the neck chain cuz it looks cool.
There was also a coffin with no seam, which required the party to break tomb crystal to access. They took adequate precautions to protect themselves from the dust.
Finally, there was one coffin which had its seam sealed with lead. The party decided not to mess with this one.
From here, the party turned their attention back towards the blindingly bright trap room. One of the crystal coffins was an oily black color, nearly opaque unless you pressed your face to the glass. The party removed the body from this coffin, and held it over their collective heads as a shield against light. The coffin is incredibly heavy, and only the exerted effort of the whole party (including some very strong characters) is able to make it managable. The party also attached a blanket around the edge of the coffin as a skirt to keep out even more light.
This will defs work against the bright light trap, but it makes the party incredibly vulnerable to encounters. And, as it happens, they did roll a monstrous encounter while travelling towards the bright light trap room. Fortunately for them it was the Haunting Echo, and the reaction roll determined that it was more interested in communicating its desires to them than it was in hurting them.
After some finagling to establish a baseline of communication with the non-verbal monster, the party learned that it very definitely wants the party to open the coffin The Sleeper is in, and that the sleeper will wake up. It also said the Sleeper would be friendly towards the party, but it hestitated when answering, and the party thinks it’s lying. The party has promised that they will release the sleeper before they leave the dungeon, and for now the Haunting Echo seems content with that. Though how long her patience will hold out is uncertain. She continues to linger behind the party as they heave their coffin-conveyance forward into the blinding light trap room.
======
LOOT:
(Not yet extracted from dungeon, and thus GP/XP values are not revealed)
3 Ruby Vials
Golden Wire Crown
Black Cyrstal Staff with spooky ghosts engraved on it.
Lizard skin purse
2000 hexagonal gold coins
Torc with white stones
Opal signet ring
Copper-Chased half plate
Cain-equivelent armor fluted and filigreed with lilies
1 Vial’s Worth of Poison
Broken Guardian Demon Crystal
Wob got “Glyph of Max-Damage Curse” in his brain.
Sanguine Rod: A length of greyish, nacreous ivory
a foot long. It’s topped with golden filigree
depicting long-finned whales with too many eyes.
When touched to a wound, the rod heals it (1D6/2
Healing) by draining life from the next intelligent
being it touches (1D6 Damage). Both touches
require over a minute of direct contact, meaning
the rod is ineffective as a weapon. However, the
willingness of the donor is not necessary.
Mask of Command: A spired helm of gray
Empyrean alloy with a gilded mask that flips down
to cover the face. Its smiling visage is an Empyrean
ideal, though non-Empyreans will find its bony
profile off putting. Words spoken through the
mask boom with the authority of firm command.
The wearer may call out to fleeing allies, who can
then reroll their failed saving throw or morale
check. If successful, they are compelled to follow
any commands given through the mask until the
current conflict is resolved.
======
INJURIES:
Zeehaw is at 0 HP, and has advanced to Tomb Crystal Poisoning level 1.
======
WOB’S HONEY AIR CREATURE
1 HD (4hp)
Animated air, can only be injured by magic weapons, vaccuums, etc.
Able to blow gusts, and create bubbles
Will last for 1 day.
WOB’s ANIMATED GORILLA BRAIZURES (x2)
4HD (One has 16hp, the other 21hp), Damage Reduction 1
2 Attacks attacks per round. d6 / (d8 with spear)
Will last 1 month
Session 68: Cashing Out | Fall / Winter
Tombrobbers on the Crystal Frontier | Played on August 21, 2021
Before the party could really utilize their elaborate light-trap defeating contratption, Elrica arrived. Elrica, with her ability to sense in the dark, was able to easily navigate the room. The “bramble” noticed previously was in fact an elaborate razor-sharp artwork surrounding a massive silver crown. If one couldn’t sense they’d tear themselves to shreds reaching for it, but Elrica managed it easily. The party then debated briefly on whether to try and get Flash the gem cutter to give them access through the transparent wall into the next room, or whether they ought to check out the crystals that hummed with tormented cries, or the giant knight walking in his eternal circle, or perhaps try to make it into the room beyond that?
Ultimately they settled on retreat. They’d earned enough from this dungeon already. First thing was first though: unless they wanted to fight the haunting echo, they must awaken the sleeper. And so the party ventured back to the sleeper’s tomb, and chipped away at the seal keeping her in. She awoke immediately, and patiently waited for the party to finish opening her tomb. The moment she did awake the Haunting Echo faded from existence. Upon emerging The Sleeper behaved with the sort of gratitude a haughty aristocrat might show to a servant who has done an above-average job. She thanked them, gifted them with a ring, and when she was told where the Stylite was she set off towards him as the party skeedadled outta there.
The group returned to the surface, split their loot with mab as agreed, and she gave them a map to another claim on the Crystal Frontier. It seems unlikely the party will ever wish to return, though. This place is too dangerous. They made the long trek back to their portal, and returned to the keep for some well deserved rest and relaxation.
Addelaide finally got married to her beau Molly the Keep Candlemaker, and they spent some time enjoying a quiet honeymoon.
Wob worked his magics to make his animation of the two Monkee Braizures permanent, and worked an additional permanent animation of a suit of half plate taken from the Tomb, with enough animus for it to serve as a proper hireling.
Glint enjoyed some quiet hibernation out in his cottage by the road, while Hibub went off to do a little solo adventuring.
Elrica found some craftspeople to winnow away the blade of her massive two handed Kopesh, so it could function as a one-handed weapon, with its damage range reduced to 1 lower die. She also wrote bad poetry. Really just…terrible, edgy trash.
Ecco did stuff I don’t recal, so I’ve gotta tag them and ask if it was anything important.
A couple weeks after the solstice, Hibub returned from his solo adventuring with a letter for the party. He and Glint enjoyed a happy reunion before everyone was brought together to read the note. Hibub had visited the Caves of Chaos during his travels, and Madeline the Medusa was interested in hiring the party’s services at their earliest convenience. The party, now rested and filled once more with wanderlust, set off.
On the way to the Caves of Chaos they visited the alchemist, who had gone through a period of only modest activity. He had produced a potion which caused the imbiber to produce an orb of stench so powerful that they’d be completely ignored / fled from by any creature capable of smell. Wob purchased this potion for 470gp, but was unimpressed with the Alchemist’s meager work, and paid him an additional comission of 5,000gp to put into research. Have some better potions next time! Wob also picked up his previous comission of several doses of potion which would protect the imbiber from a medusa’s gaze attack.
Madeline had not been idle in the time since last the party saw the Caves of Chaos. The place was bustling with new activity, and new inhabitents. A massive wall had been constructed at the mouth of the valley, and the process of doming over the valley to better serve the needs of its mostly subterranean / noctrounal populace. She greeted the party in a veil, but was delighted to learn about the potion they’d concoted to protect themselves from her gaze. She didn’t seem terribly concerned that it would make her less fearsome, especially since the only alchemist who knew how to make it was close by enough that she seemed confident she could control how the supply of the potion was distributed. It would be nice to be able to give it to people so she could have face-to-face meetings with them!
Eventually she got down to her business: Before being captured by the Cult of Evil Chaos, she had just been travelling through this area. See, she had a sister named Medeel with whom she was not as close as she wished. Her sister had been living far to the North, past the Empire of the Giants, and had a sweet gig as god to some backwards village of peasants. But it had been over a hundred years now since she’d had any letters from her sister, and she wanted to check up and see if she was alright. Unfortuantely, governing the Caves of Chaos was too demanding a task for her to walk away from. She asked the party if they wouldn’t mind checking on her sister for her, and they agreed.
======
LOOT:
The Sleeper’s Ring (100gp)
Silver Crown (11,000gp)
3 Ruby Vials (1,500gp)
Wire Crown (1,200gp)
Hexagonal Coins (2,000gp)
Lily Fluted Armor (200gp)
White Torc (1,000gp)
Opal Ring (500gp)
Eye-Gems from Murals (400gp)
Gold Interlocking Hexes (1,000gp)
Hex Jade Cuffs (400gp)
Silver Wire (50gp)
Silver Door Chips (100gp)
Scraped-out gold from 4 coffin seals (400gp)
5 Statuettes (75gp)
Empyrean Toys (120gp)
Gold Chased Loincloth (10gp)
Amethyst Paneled Helmet (500gp)
Tunic of blue lapis lazuli tiles (1,000gp)
Bangles of Clear Green Jade (800gp)
Gold and citrine chain wrappings on a yellow silk gown (1,000gp)
Ghost Staff (Worth 1,000gp, but purchased from the party by Wob for future use).
Space Incense (Worth 4,000gp, but purchased by Wob.)
The total treasure was thus 28,355 for this adventure, divided in even shares between Mab, Wob, Ecco, Glint, Addelaide, and Elrica, for 4726 gp/xp each.
Mab also gave the party a map to another potential claim which she didn’t have the inclination to take for herself. (Leads to Maw of Snails, also on the Crystal Frontier)
INJURIES:
Zeehaw has Tomb Crystal Poisoning level 1.
======
WOB’s Half-Plate Hireling
Level 1 Fighter
WOB’s ANIMATED GORILLA BRAIZURES (x2)
4HD (One has 16hp, the other 21hp), Damage Reduction 1
2 Attacks attacks per round. d6 / (d8 with spear)