Session 2 - 14OCT2023

Attendees

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

Copy/Paste Source: ✅ ❌

Recap to Current Situation

• Group isfinished all togetherquest and isgot locatedon atretainer a town called Raedan inwith the nationCouncil of AciumFew
• TherFiguring groupout arewhat atto ando innfrom called The Sword and Board run by a retired mercenary
  here
• TheGroup groupleveled is tryingup to searchLevel for powerful magical artifacts
  

Beginning status:

Long rested with full health 2

Session Notes

•  EricaThe andgroup Walterhas 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 decidesdecided to go to theRizz's 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 upProvisions 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!