Back to Notes 1, Greenlake Barony, Laketower

Session 11

The PCs left Penney early the day after they finished exploring Frog Island; they traveled down to the Mines where Bexa was unable to track the dwarves who had attacked Baron Dmitri - she lost them in the woods, which isn't surprising as it had been at least 4 days since the attack. Her best guess is that they went southwest. Continuing to Greywhisper Castle, they let the occupants know they had arrived - the tribe agreed to watch their horses, and assured them of a safe place to sleep or shelter at need. The PCs explored the area around the mausoleum and old battlefield with care - as they drew near the mausoleum, they were sure they were being watched from the woods, but not even sharp-eyed Revian could see what was watching.

As they circled the mausoleum, a trio of ghouls lurched out of the bushes at the base of the structure; Vivian turned them easily, and the PCs had no trouble slaying them. Only Thori was bitten, once. On exploring the mausoleum more closely, they found an ancient text around the ceiling that honored the dead in the name of Aragh, written in 2nd empire script, which Eric can read. Aragh was the 2nd empire's premiere God. Inside the mausoleum, steps led down into a cryptlike dungeon below. Thori bashed open a number of doors to several rooms which held empty coffins, and a giant rat body infested with a strange green slimy stuff. They burned it without incident. Beyond this room,  a set of steps led further down. A trap on the step maimed Thori, with a spike that had fresh poison spread on it. The party retreated at this point, back up to the Castle. The Greywhisper tribe's adept cast Lesser Restoration for Thori, restoring the strength the poison had drained away, and they descended again into the dungeon. The room at the base of the stairs held a strange skeleton mounted in a chair, covered with red ants gnawing away at the last traces of flesh on his bones. Beyond, a passage led north and south; the northern direction led to a cavern with a smashed open door, and several ancient skeletons. Within the room, a desk held 3 bottles of embalming fluid and one sealed bottle of what might be water. A secret door (left ajar!) led to a privy, which the PCs decided to leave unexplored. It smelled as if it were still in use, making everyone quite suspicious.

Down the LONG south hallway, they bypassed a wooden hatch on the wall, presuming it to be some sort of trap. Revian found it, and spiked it shut at Eric's suggestion. The end of the passage led to a rough tunnel into a huge room with a stream across it. On the near side of the stream, an elven woman was positioned, her back to another tunnel half-blocked by rubble. She screamed for help, and was apparently being attacked by dire rats. Revian, quite oddly, tried to convince the others that she was in need of rescue - the rest of the PCs were very suspicious, and Eric attacked her with a burning hands spell; a critical hit caused massive damage, and she died at once. She shifted form as she died, becoming a giant dire rat - she was a wererat! The dire rats were also easily slain, although Thori was bitten, and contracted filth fever from the bite.

Searching the room revealed a number of small tunnels, and a larger tunnel beyond the rubble with some niches in the walls that seemed to be just big enough to hold foes, and a set of stairs plunging down into darkness. Revian, at Eric's prompting, threw a flask of lit oil into one of the niches, with a shout of "Fire!". Scurrying and scraping was heard, then silence. Eventually, the PCs determined that the niches were tunnels and found that some of them led to a rat nest/warren. There, they found traces of someone named Jarvik, who had received letters from a person using an old-fashioned religious title - Dominar (only ever used by priests of Aragh or Mikar in 2nd empire times). The letters directed Jarvik "and his men" to spy on Greywhisper Castle. The PCs recovered a whole lot (143) of ancient gold Aureus coins, a rapier with a crystal set in its hilt, and a bag of caltrops. 

Further back, on the other side of the stream, the PCs discovered a tunnel that connected to the rat warren and also led outside; a further branch of that tunnel plunged deeper underground. The outside tunnel ended at the trees where the PCs had earlier been spied upon. 

At this point, being low on spells and ready for a night's rest, the PCs retreated again to the Castle. There they were able to get a good night's sleep, and the Greywhisper Adept taught Vivian how to cure filth fever with a particular set of herbs. 

Session 12: (8/22/21)

After recovering from their first attempt at the caves and dungeon under Greywhisper Castle, the PCs descended again in the morning. They went down the stairs beyond the wererat tunnels, and found a constructed dungeon area. On a main hall, there were four doors, which they explored carefully. One door had a handaxe embedded in it, which Thori claimed, and a key, which subsequently opened many of the other doors. Two doors (on the west wall) had interesting tunnels, and the others led to blander cross-tunnels. Exploring the southwest door led to a coffin with a body in it, and an everburning torch. The body was infested with rot grubs, which Vivian cleverly burned out. The body had a shield on it, which