Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 82

March 12, 2024

Adventurers

Character	Class	Description
Hagar the Hewer	Dwarf level 1	Imagine Conan as dwarf.
Orist	Elf level 1	An elf.
Ambros	Cleric level 2	Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time.
Darius	Cleric level 2	Follower of Dacron, God of Craftsmen.
Rorik	Fighter level 2	A fighter.

Thawmist 5th, Spiritday

A small party of four men-at-arms—Trocalus, Dragicus, Eterius, and Fluonaedra—led by Hagar and Orist found a statue they were looking for. Their intelligence was spot on.

“Not even half a day away from Hara!”

A tall bronze statue stood on a stone dais. Its humanoid figure was obscured by its blocky nature—not a single curve in sight! It was cube on top of cube, connected to another cube. A field of red roses surrounded the dais.

Hagar and Orist had decided to go on a little adventure of their own whilst waiting for Llyfed, Nolmbork, Derennan, Tarkus, and Oberon to return from the dungeon underneath the ruined tower south-west of Hara. They went there with a silver orb—a valuable one!—on some spurious idea that it might activate some portal.

Hagar and Orist, on the other hand, are much more pragmatic. They are more interested in places that have wealth, treasure, and magic! And so they hunted down some leads to some ancient tomb. And then they hired the last capable people in Hara, for there were almost none left after Invincible Overlord's recruitment campaign.

And now they stood in front of a statue where the tomb should be, but there was no tomb, and no doors, and no other clues.

Scanning the environs revealed that stone is more spent behind the statue. It didn't take long to realise the statue can be pushed. Lo and behold, a spiral staircase was underneath it!

The dwarf and elf led the descent, whilst their retainers followed. They found themselves in the center of dank junction. Floor was nothing but packed dirt. Wooden beams and frames gave structure to corridors. This was one shoddy tomb, even for humans.

Moving north the party ran into a rotting wooden casket. Poking it provoked its inhabitant to shamble out. A decayed corpse sluggishly exited and mindlessly went for the closest person. It was no match for a party of six.

“Orist! Behind!”

Two more corpses shambled from the junction.

“There's more!”

Fluonaedra yelled as even more corpses shambled in, this time from narrow tunnels to the left and right of the casket.

“Tighten up!” Hagar yelled whilst fighting off three zombies.

Orist turned around to face the two undead attacking from behind. Dragicus froze, his morale broken, and watched in horror as Fluonaedra was disemboweled and eaten alive. Her screams did not echo for the soil dampened the sounds.

Hagar smashed one after another zombie, but he himself was being worn down as well. Claw after claw, bite after bite. The dwarf couldn't withstand forever.

Dragicus soiled himself and tried to escape. Alas, he was caught by two undead. They broke his spine, scalped him, and then took out his brain.

Trocalus killed one zombie, but was soon killed himself as well. At least his death was quick. Orist soon succumbed to wounds as well, having killed only one undead.

The dwarf escaped death twice. He and Eterius managed to destroy remaining undead. A Pyrrhic, treasure-less victory.

The duo dragged Orist's corpse back to Hara. Others were left behind to rot.

Thawmist 11th, Airday

“Fellow adventurers, do you maybe know how to cast Raise Dead? No. That's fine. May I interested you in an adventure instead?”

Having recovered from his wounds, Hagar went on for another hiring spree. Rorik the Fighter, Ambros the Cleric of Aniu, and Darius the Cleric of Dacron joined him. All three were newcomers to Hara. They were ambitious enough to pick up on anything with “treasure” in its description whilst disregarding any red-flags, like for example, heavily scarred dwarf promising them riches underneath statue in the field of roses.

Either way, new party of above four plus Eterius—whom had now became an adventurer himself, demanding a proper share!—returned to the tomb. The statue was still pushed to the back and spiral staircase was wide open for anyone.

The corpses were where they left them, albeit in much worse shape. Maggots were feasting and flies were buzzing. Moving north led the party through a series of simple caves littered with open wooden caskets, rusted mining equipment and tools, and pools of water sipping through the cracks.

North east cave connected to both north and east spoke of the junction. Three small chambers, each containing a stone coffin with a motif of rose on top, adjoined along the south wall of the east tunnel.

Rorik and Hagar peeked into one. The corpse inside starred back at them. They shut the lid. The undead opened it, unhappy to be disturbed. Clerics turned it and then fighters smashed it to a pulp. This corpse was dressed in weathered blue robes.

Illustrated by kickmaniac

Darius considered the fact they might be plundering a tomb of Lawful deity, but he couldn't connect rose motifs with any known deity.

Although there was nothing in the coffin, the party had decided to check other two sarcophagi in the same way. The same situation repeated itself twice: an unhappy undead turned as it tried to get out, and then destroyed as it tried to get back in.

“Nothing! Empty!”

Following the south tunnel led the party to a human statue seated on a bronze throne. The statue held a spear in its right hand, a mace on the hip, and a shield rested by its left side. Ground in front of the statue was slightly depressed, as if something heavy left a mark.

Everything but the spear seemed to be made from one piece. Hagar pulled on the spear. It came out effortlessly. Although plain, it was well balanced and felt very solid.

Two narrow tunnels flanked the statue. Both led to a small chamber with large stone coffin, each adorned with an elaborate rose motif.

“Let's check the coffins before we do anything else with the statue...”

The party opted to check the east chamber first. To surprise of no one, this sarcophagus also held a corpse that was unhappy with being disturbed. What was different this time though, that other corpses had risen to protect it.

Adventurers destroyed them all with gusto.

“Shall we pull the throne with statue?”

Indeed, a staircase leading down was hidden underneath the throne.

Rorik and Hagar went down. It was a small chamber with wax-sealed jar, chest, and crate. After a bit of deliberation and prodding, the party decided to take them all to Hara. They left all the corpses to rot, friend or foe.

Once back in town they counted their spoils: 976 silver pieces, a small agate, a small azurite, a tiger eye, a turquoise, an exquisitely carved bone comb, a brass candelabra, and a wrought silver necklace. Nobody dared to open the jar.

“What if it contains an angry spirit?”

“Hey, where are Llyfed and co? They still haven't returned?”

“Deidamamina, the porter they hired to carry the silver orb has been spotted in Hara.”

Attronarch's Athenaeum