Wednesday, July 12, 2017
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The party immediately engages the hideous vargouille in combat, and the creature kicks things off with a shrill shriek that paralyzes Niko for the duration of the combat. Krask and Silas pursue the creature, leaving Niko alone in the darkness. Silas corners the aberration near a pool of water lined with humanoid skulls and deals the killing blow.
Cognizant of their limited resources, the Sandpoint Three continue their exploration of the caverns. They enter a room with a well-preserved wooden walkway that extends above a series of prison cells filled with starved skeletons. As they descend the stairs, a pair of sinspawn ambush the group. The fight is quick and relatively painless. Afterwards, a thorough search is performed of the room, yielding naught but bones and a faint magical glow surrounding the walkway.
Continuing along to the next door, the party stealthily enters a room containing several archaic torture implements. As Krask and Silas inspect the tools, Niko notices a strange set of scribbled runes etched into the stone above the table, softly glowing. With an incredible Linguistics check, Niko is able to make out a single word, “WRATH” written in Thassalonian. Thinking quickly, he pulls out a piece of parchment and makes a charcoal rubbing for posterity. But it doesn’t last. As he pulls the paper away from the wall, Niko sees the engraving fade before his eyes, and his charcoal rubbing is blank. Even stranger, Silas and Krask never saw the runes. Intrigued by this mysterious event, Niko throws caution to the wind and confidently walks down the ramp to the next room.
Koruvus is waiting for them. The mutated goblin hero catches Niko and Silas in a thick spew of acidic blood. Nimbly maneuvering over the eight covered pits contained in this room, Silas engages the three-armed goblin in close-quarters combat while Krask fires his crossbow and Niko burns his final channel. Exhausted but determined, Silas deals the killing blow and is rewarded with a +1 longsword for his efforts. Krask takes the silver dagger and masterwork handaxe, the latter of which will be exchanged for a purse he can add to his growing hoard. Moaning is heard coming from the pits.
After the battle, the party is torn about whether they should continue on. There were several passages and rooms that hadn’t been investigated. Krask shares his final potion of cure moderate wounds with Silas, leaving the party with no sources of magical healing. The strain of this cavern is taking its toll on our heroes.
Before a consensus is reached, Niko looks down the hallway and sees a second set of runes shimmering on a stone door. Another rune appears on the wall, slightly closer, followed by several more. The runes travel towards Niko in sequence, illuminating the length of the hallway…beckoning. Again, Silas and Krask cannot see these apparent apparitions, and watch in anticipation as Niko approaches the door. The runes lining the hallway dissipate as Niko walks past them, leaving the single set of runes scribbled on the door. He detects magic, but not where he expected.
Beyond the door, a fifteen-foot sphere of magical energy is revealed by the spell. The runes disappear.
What is the source of these mysterious Thassalonian runes? Is Koruvus connected to Nualia’s demonic transformation? Will they be able to resist knowing what lies in the pits?