Dungeons of Thistlemoor 08 // Fangs 🦷
November 11th, 1025, Winter
PARTY: Greedo the Dwarf, Raden the Cursed, Wispo the Elf, and Grimnir the Dwarf. Torchbearers Sidwel (eyepatch, grumpy) and Euphemia (loyal, brutish). Both are human.
Led by the dwarves, the party has decided to venture together to explore a recently discovered tomb near Westpeak. There they hope to find religious artifacts to sell to Majnek, Priest of Lunasol.
They spend part of their morning watch preparing.
- Greedo speaks with the Sorcerer Dagunn about time magic and learns that most magic that affects time is not found in script but artifacts.
- Raden speaks with those at the Inn about the King’s Road, hearing of the highwaymen that have been causing trouble and the dog-headed creatures that hunger for human flesh.
- Wispo advertizes archery lessons. Most aren’t interested until he is better than most at archery (Dexterity of 4 or more).
- Grimnir hires Sidwel and Euphemia as torch and supply bearers. They’ve worked for the party before and are happy to join.
The next two watches are spent traveling to Westpeak and are uneventful.
In the side of a washed out bank, a black hole.
THE TOMB
- Sidwel lights his lantern and Grimnir takes the lead. The first rooms are simple. Wooden coffins with clay snake-men warriors inside. The second one has a sword. Grimnir uses his spear to create distance and break it which releases a poison gas. Safe. They follow the same procedure with the following two rooms and find two golden snake amulets. In one, Wispo puts on a fanged ring which magically splits his finger in two and grows snake fangs. He is surprised but glad to have it.
- At the end of the main hallway they approach a stone door. Grimnir looks up to see a massive stone hammer trap. After much deliberation, they find a way to control the trap and get the hammer to smash open the tomb door.
- Inside three snake warrior skeletons erupt from their wooden coffins and attack! At first, it doesn’t go in the party’s favor. Their armor dents and rips. But once they realize hammers and bludgeoning does the trick, they pulverize the skeletons to pieces using a warhammer and a shield.
- They find a secret passageway in the back of the room along with a massive marble statue of an ugly snake god. Wispo tries offering fruit and bones to it with no response. Eventually they open up the stone coffin in the middle of the room expecting something worse. Nothing happens. What they find are three clay skeletons made to look real inside. They damage two but Greedo sets aside a snakewoman clay skeleton for later thinking it will be of value.
- Down into the secret passageway they go. Euphemia lights a torch in addition to Sidwel’s lantern. They are up to 5 Light Dice again.
- Behind a snake statue, Greedo finds a secret room with some silver polearms. A black-water pool is found in the next graveroom. Something they assume to be dead is pounding on one of the stone doors. They poke the pool and see a fish jump out—or was it a hand? Greedo thinks the water looks oily and has Euphemia try to light it. As she does a black mummy hand leaps out, runs up her arm and begins to strangle her! The torch falls in the pool and the shadow of Euphemia and the black hand are cast upon the wall by Sidwel’s lantern light.
- The dwarves barely save her as another hand runs out of the pool. Over and again, the hands climb, strangle, and are thrown about by the party. Raden accidently shoots a dart into Euphemia. Wispo stabs Raden with a crit fail. The party is frantic. Finally, Wispo tears one apart. Then the dwarves pummel another one into the stone.
DELVE OVER
- 9 rounds (1h30m).
- 0 encounters
- 4 supplies used to make armor repairs
- 3 light dice lost from Sidwel's lantern and a torch lost
- 5 NPC's defeated (3 snake warrior skeletons and 2 mummy hands)
- Loot: They make their way out with 3 chainmail sets, 2 silver snake polearms, the snakewoman clay skeleton, and all 6 of them lug out the marble statue.
The watch back is rough, sweaty, and tiresome. 6 people literally carrying a massive marble snake idol. Just as they see Fourtower in the distance, they see a merchant with two bodyguards who are stopped by the Kings Road. The man has a scar on his head that has given him a bald spot. He tries to parley the group with a grin, offering to help them sell their statue. Greedo asks Euphemia if she knows him. She whispers he is a seller of wares found in Stonehell. The party wants nothing to do with him and head back without further discussion. "What are you scared of?" he jeers as they grumble past him.
At Fourtower they lay out the loot and Lady Majnek looks over the finds. A max reaction roll lands them 1000gp for the marble idol and they sell off the rest of the pieces for decent prices. She offers 50gp for Wispo’s ring and he refuses (mostly because of the possible aputation it would cause him).
Resources used:
- Tomb of the Serpent Kings by Skerples
- Western Thistlemore by Paths Peculiar
- Fourtower Bridge by Paths Peculiar