Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 169

March 23, 2026

Adventurers

Character	Race	Class	Description
Arnulf Hetzer	Human	Thief level 1	A highly ambitious young man, aiming for great riches, awesome adventure, and not get broiled.
Ambros	Human	Cleric level 6	Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time.
Ignaeus	Elf	Fighter level 4 / magic-user level 5	A slightly weathered looking elf with dull blonde hair and chiseled features. Seeks wealth and knowledge.
Syd Grundy	Human	Ranger level 1	Tall, middle aged and scruffy looking man of the wilderness.
Thorinda Bung	Human	Monk level 1	She has blonde hair done up in a tight pony tail and wears light, loose suit.
Kenso San	Human	Fighter level 3	An arrogant and self-assured sellsword wandering Wilderlands to prove he can best anyone.
Tam o' Shanter	Human	Cleric level 3	A boisterous wine-lover of Losborst on a Great Crusade of the Grape.
Percy	Human	Fighter level 1	A career soldier dishonorably discharged due to his charismatic ways.
Idris	Elf	Fighter level 1 / magic-user level 1	An elf wielding a greatsword.

Blackmoon 20th, Spiritday

Ambros, Tam, and Ignaeus stood at the junction, soaked wet from recently tumbling down a pit trap into an underground river. To their right five zombies shambled towards them, and from their left a pack of ravenous ghouls were charging.

Ambros held his Gavel of Justice and thundered the holy words. Four zombies turned to dust. Ignaeus counter-charged the ghouls, preventing their advance. He fought on the defensive, well aware of his natural immunity.

Once the elf moved on the offensive he had slain two ghouls with great ease. Remaining two fled in the awesome divinity of Ambros, after he had destroyed the last zombie.

The soaked trio opted for a simple strategy—follow corridors, ignore doors. They walked left, passing doors, and then at the T-shaped junction they turned right, straight, left, ignored doors to the left and turned right again, past the doors to their left and turn right again. They followed the corridor until they reached another t-junction, where they turned left, straight past another junction, and into a square chamber. They cut it straight across, exited and turned left, then right, and then stopped at another junction.

To their right were stairs leading up!

⁂

Percy gingerly stepped forward through the doors that have opened for him. The corridor went left and right. He chose the former. He advanced carefully, ready for violence at any moment. He passed a T-junction, ignored the doors ahead of him, and turned right. Past another junction, straight ahead, towards stuck doors.

Forcing them open revealed a square chamber, some thirty by thirty feet, full of debris. Three of the walls were lined by crooked and bowed shelves. Inspecting the chamber did not reveal much beyond the following curiosities.

There was a chipped teacup resting on the shelf along the wall opposite where Percy came from; there were tattered spiderwebs to his left, with desiccated remains of humanoid shape; potter shards and fragments were scattered in one corner of the room; and there was a deformed brass candlestick, without candles, on the middle of one of the shelves.

Percy abandoned the chamber and backtracked to the first T-shaped junction he had passed. He turned right and followed a long corridor until he reached bloated doors. Oh how they stank! It was a mix of dried vomit, decaying flesh, and festering filth—truly eye watering..

Veteran decided to fall back to the cavern with the underground river. He swam across and rummaged through his backpack.

⁂

“Quickly, rope!”

Arnulf instructed Kenso, Thorinda, and Syd how to tie all the rope thy have so he can safely descend down the well. It took them some time, but they soon had a single piece of one hundred and fifty feet of knotted rope.

Thick Thorinda and Scrawny Syd held the rope while Keen Kenso stood guard and Agile Arnulf descended.

Alas!

The rope was still too short to reach the bottom! In fact, it was barely enough to reach slightly above the opening that Arnulf crawled through before—the one where the pit trap leads to—so thief tugged on the rope.

As he was draw up he heard whistling sound from below. Initially it was barely audible. It became stronger and stronger with each second, reverberated by the well acoustics.

“There is someone down, must be one of ours!”

“We must go back into the dungeon! Down the pit trap and then reach them!”

“But we are so weak, and so pathetic! We are the weakest adventurers in the party!”

All four agreed and ran back into Castle Yukanthur.

⁂

Percy's cheeks puffed and puffed, turning rose red.

He blew on the whistle intermittently.

First it was just long lines.

Then it was melodies he learned.

Then it was sad blows.

Then he stopped.

The stench was back.

Percy put away the whistle.

He took out his sword.

Being a left handed, he held torch in his right.

He advanced down the tunnel stench was coming from.

His stomach churned.

He entered the cave.

Three reptilian creatures were hunched over a river, stabbing at it with their barbed spears.

The stench was unbearable.

Percy heaved audibly.

He tightened his grip and charged the monsters.

They were not surprised.

Veteran parried their attacks.

But he could not see well.

His attacks did not connect.

One of the wicked spears got past his defenses.

It sunk deep.

It stung as the beast pulled it out, ripping chunks of flesh.

Percy jumped headfirst into the river.

Beastmen jumped after him.

He swum in pitch black.

He swum along the stream.

Then he felt hitting something hard.

And then all was black.

⁂

“Oh no!”

Arnulf, Syd, Thorinda, and Kenso reached the corridor where the pit trap was. Or at least they thought so, for now there was nothing but solid floor.

Arnulf tapped.

Arnulf jumped.

Arnulf tried.

But the floor was solid, and it did not give in.

⁂

Ignaeus led the ascent, with Ambros and Tam right behind him.

At the top of the stairs they could see a statue of warrior, very similar to the one at the entrance of the dungeon. Except this one held a wicked morning star above its head.

Elf slowly approached it, hugging the right wall. As he stepped on the last stair, the statues released an audible clang and its arms rotated downwards—but were immediately stopped as if the arms were stuck.

The trio quickly moved past it and advanced down the long, long corridor. They ignored one doors, and moved until they reached the end of the corridor, where another stuck doors greeted them.

Forcing them inward they entered a thirty by thirty chamber. There were two more doors in the chamber, one to their left, and one straight ahead. A grinning gnome statue was in the center of the chamber, holding a crossbow. The statue rested on a plinth.

Two adventurers rotated the gnome towards the wall, while another pulled on the left doors. The statue promptly turned around and shot at the adventurer pulling on the doors.

The doors led into a corridor turning left and then right. They ignored this corridor and opened other doors. Gnome turned again, released an audible click, but fired nothing since his crossbow was not loaded.

This doors led to a corridor heading straight and T-junction splitting left. The trio turned left and went on until they reached another doors. Forcing them open revealed a rectangular chamber with an elf wielding a greatsword.

After exchanging brief pleasantries, the trio grew into quartet. They exited the chamber into yet another long, winding corridor. They turned right, straight, left, straight, right, then few steps forward and then left again, until the reached a junction. There they turned right and walked straight for quite some time, passing doors, then turned left, right, left, right, and then straight until stuck doors.

They forced them open and entered a square chamber with many doors—four in total. They crossed the chamber diagonally across, where they entered serpentine corridor leading to hacked doors which opened up in a chamber with slain warrior, mage whose skeleton got free, a sack of plundered books, and two work benches.

“How did we end up HERE?!”

Tam cried in exasperation.

Knowing where they are, the quartet was able to head out.

⁂

“It's been a while...”

“We should head out before something nasty comes our way...”

Arnulf was still hopping on the pit trap.

Perhaps he was too light.

Perhaps he was not committed enough.

Perhaps the odds were not in his favour.

But he had no choice but to agree with his allies.

Adventuring life is not for everyone. And it is certainly not without peril.

Syd, Thorinda, Kenso, and Arnulf abandoned their efforts and exited the dungeon of Yukanthur.

They were delighted to find wet, but alive, Ambros, Tam, and Ignaeus. And were happy to meet the new elf, Idris, as well.

It was evening, with few hours before nightfall. The party found a safe spot an hour or so away from the castle ruins. Then they camped for the night. Around midnight Idris spotted seven gnomes whistling and singing as they marched in the direction of Castle Yukanthur. Judging they were of no threat, nor aware of the adventurers, he did not wake others up.

The party reached Ironburg by noon of Willowind 1st.

Willowind 3rd, Earthday

Adventurers returned to Castle Yukanthur once more. Its allure was too strong to ignore. They headed straight down, past the statue uttering its warning for the hundredth time.

They marched on and into the many doored chamber. From there they followed doors south-east, successfully identifying corridors that Ambros, Ignaeus, Tam, and Idris had traversed just days ago.

They managed to find the rectangular chamber where they met the elf with the big sword, they explored a chamber with nothing but black walls, and they had fun with the gnome chamber.

Adventurers pushed through west doors, and followed a long, winding corridor. “Just one more door.”

Thorinda and Ignaeus forced them open. Heavy stench of death and rot assailed them. A horde of lumbering corpses animated at their horror.

At the same time, Tam in the corridor observed a single, jaunty skeleton approaching from total darkness. It had a confident, if a little careless, gait.

Adventurers gripped their weapons.

“Thorinda’s View by Ironburg’s finest artist, Andrija Warhol” by Lord Jubalon Flux.

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