Session 1 - 27AUG2023

Attendees

• Tim ✅
• Walter ✅
• Erica ✅
• Jin ✅
  
• Nick ✅
  
• Alex ❌
  

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

• Group is all together and is located at a town called Raedan in the nation of Acium
• Ther group are at an inn called The Sword and Board run by a retired mercenary
  
• The group is trying to search for powerful magical artifacts
  
• Beginning status:
  • Long rested with full health

Session Notes

•  Erica and Walter are part of a mercenary guild
  
  • Picked up Nick along the road on the way to Raedan
  • Jin is along for the ride, but is not very talkative
• Group decides to go to the Council of the Few to learn more about a potential lead on some old ruins
• Council keeper tells group about ruins a couple days walk north of town that was recently discovered
• Promised reward of 10 gold per person with chance for more if valuable artifacts are found
• Group sets out to the ruins
• First day passes uneventfully as they travel through grasslands
• Evening falls and Walter takes first watch and will switch off with Jin
  
  • Walter hears varmint noises during the night, thought he saw a shooting start, switches off with Jin
  • Jin sees what looks like a boar moving through the grass
  • Jin casts minor illusion to make flames appear near where he saw the boar-like thing
  • This causes a yelp to sound out and some cursing in an unkown language (table talk: Goblin language)
  • This causes the thing to move away from Jin
  • Jin wakes up Nick and and lets him know about what he saw
  • Nick runs in the direction of the noise
  • Nick catches up to a suspiciously well dressed goblin, causing the creature to fall down and beg forgiveness
  • Nick brings the goblin back to the group as they are woken up
• The group confronts the goblin to find out more info
• He claims that he is being paid by Rizz to conduct market research on mercenaries by following them
• Jin threatens the goblin and the goblin fesses up that he is lying, but starts panicking thinking that his mind has been read
  • He is actually working for Rizz, but was actually following the group to scavenge the ruins behind the group
  • The group allows Cloc to join the group on this trip
  • Cloc grants the scout of the group advantage on checking for and disarming traps that we encounter
• Rest of the night happens uneventfully
• Group continues the next day towards the ruins
• On the second day, group comes across a geographical landmark....a small knoll ~4 ft in diameter
  
• Jin investigates the knoll and notices the ground is softer at one point, when pressure is applied there, the dirt gives way and there are stairs revealed going underground
  
• Erica creates a fire magically at the base of the stairs, illuminating an antechamber at the base of the stairs in front of stone doors
• Jin decides to push Cloc down the stairs, but Cloc catches himself and he proceeds down and makes it to the bottom safely
• Nick decides to charge down the stairs after Cloc, the rest of the group follows
• The stone door in the room is a giant monolith that appears seamless
• Vases are at either side of the door, containing flowers that appear gray/colorless, but not dried/dead
• Nick checks out the flowers, but as he approaches, his breath is enough to cause the flowers to crumble into ash, with a sulfurous smell
• Jin checks the remains of the flowers for traces of magic, decides that no magic left by the flowers
• Erica investigates the flowers for signs of magical tools, determines that the flowers were dried out completely at a molecular level
• Walter bangs the door to see what happen, rolls a nat 20
  • Cracks start to form and the door gives way
• We have solved the door puzzle!
• Jin looks through the door and sees a room made of stone
  • The room is 20'x10'
  • Along the perimeter of the room, funerary slabs are arranged, 6 in total
• Erica magically creates a bonfire in the room, burning away cobwebs from the room
• Nick pushes the door open
• Cloc tentatively walks into the room, nothing happens and signals that the room is clear
• Walter walks into the room and bangs the door, knocking the door off its hinges
• Nick uses Firbolg Magic to cast Detect Magic
  • He sees that there is a faint green light coming from the far side of the closed door
  • Green light indicates that it is from the school of Necromancy
• Erica investigates the slabs and finds a switch on the lip of the lid
• She presses the switch and the lid lifts and then slides into the wall
• Inside is a skeleton...that is just a skeleton, not imbued with magic of any kind
• Walter walks up to the skeleton and smashes the skull of the skeleton
• Cloc jumps into the sarcophagus and starts stuffing his pockets with stuff
• After a threat from Erica, he shows the group he has just grabbed a couple rings and finger bones
• The group opens the rest of the 6 sarcophagi, finding four other humanoid skeletons and 20 gold worth of non-magical objects
• Jin threates Cloc into laying down in one of the empty sarcophagi in a burial pose
  • Nick lays down in the other empty sarcophagus
• Jin determines that there is not really any mechanical way to trigger the coffin to close
• The group pushes open the door and Erica and Jin peek through
  • They see a landing of some kind with stairs that continue down...but can't see walls or a ceiling
• Cloc moves into the next room as Erica moves her bonfire into the next room
• Cloc is scared as he looks back toward the group and the group hears a noise similar to bones cracking
• Cloc says that he sees two heads and starts running back to the group, clinging onto Walter in fear
• Nick casts Hidden Step to sneak into the room unseen
• Once in the room, he sees two skulls in the room looking at the doorway, they do not react as he passes
• Walter decides to try walking into the room, the skulls follow him with their gaze as he walks around
  
• Erica walks into the room, one skull looks at Erica, one at Walter
• The bonfire and torch is extinguished, but the skulls still follow Erica and Walter with their gaze
• Erica and Walter decide to continue down the stairs to try to get out of the range of vision of the skulls
• After ~60 feet, the skulls reset
• The group makes it through 2 at a time and are on the stairway down further in to the cavern
• Walter and Erica make a glowing rock and Walter throws it down the stairs, watching it tumble down for an additional 100 feet before coming to a rest on a stone floor at the base of the stairs
  
• The group decides to at least go to the bottom of the stairs to see what is there before deciding whether to head back or not
• At the base of the stairs is a large clearing which has what looks like a stone building 2 stories tall
  • The stone seems to be seamless, formed in the shape of the building
  • As we proceed into the space, there are more buildings visible, a whole village worth of buildings
  • There are no lights in the buildings
• The group decides to short rest near the base of the stairs (1 hour)
• During the short rest, Cloc is shuffling a deck of cards to pass the time
  • The group also determines there is a slight air current in the cavern
  • The air is cool and humid
• There are suspiciously no living things (insects, newts, etc.) in the cave
• After the short rest, the group decides to check out a building to see what is inside
  • The house is made entirely of stone, seamlessly constructed
  • Inside are decayed remains of furniture, and some stone furnishings
• Nick racks his brain about history (history check) and is able to recognize that there are a lot of familiar features in the architecture to dwarven structures as well as elven architecture
  • However, this stone is melded from a single, seamless stone, like it is grown
  • Also, elven architecture is made from natural materials and not stone
• Going further into the village, other buildings are similar in construction and contents
• Proceeding further, an open area like a town square is in the middle with a large dome structure and four large doorways in the sides of the dome building
• Looking through a doorway, Erica sees sarcophagi lining the interior wall of the structure as well as an inverted dome at the summit of the building
• Nick casts detect magic and the entire building is lit up with the green light of Necromancy magic
• The group decides that their investigation is complete and decides to return to the surface
• Nick casts a fog cloud and it prevents the skulls from following the group with their gaze
• Jin decides to try to telepathically speak with a spell, but takes 4 psychic damage instead
• The group moves past the heads and then proceeds further out and make it to the surface
• The group makes it back to the Council of the Few uneventfully and reports the findings
  • Cloc left the group to go back to Rizz's provisions
• Gosnold is shocked by what he hears and decides it is above his pay grade
• He writes a message to somebody which is magically delivered and the group waits a couple hours for the response
• A satchel of money appears with a note where Gosnold sent his message. In it is 50 bonus gold for each party member
• Gosnold asks, and the group agrees, to be place on retainer for the Council of the Few
• The group members are given a small pin to wear as proof of this relationship
• The group advances to level 2!