Session 0035 - Mabarran Manifestation Zone

Roster

List of characters who's player was in attendance

Player characters who's player is attending the game start with 1 Hero Point, and can get more during the session.

Absent

List of characters who's player was absent

Player characters for missing players do not start the session with a hero point, and can not get any more during the session.

Session Log

The session begins mid-combat. Ferdinand has a broken magic rapier, but he has a backup.
Alicia moves into the center of the room, drawing attention from one of the spellcasters who unleashes a spell that immediately injures her with extreme pain.
For the next couple of rounds, Sarroxtíoð remains one-on-one against the skeletal warrior trading the odd blow until he finally destroys the undead.
In the meantime Eriana runs up and tumbles past one of the spellcasters and injures them badly while Ferdinand runs up and tumbles by the remaining spellcaster and engages in melee with them. There is one undead summoned creature that engages with Alicia but the party decide to focus on the spellcasters on the assumption that if they are taken out the summoned creatures will disappear.
Harbek moves into the room and cures Alicia slightly, his magic not working quite as effectively here as it should.
In the far corner of the chamber Leodegar fires his hand crossbow at the spellcaster engaged in melee with Ferdinand. At one point he fumbles and injures his fingers and begins bleeding, but the bleeding stops fairly quickly.
Eriana is able to trip the spellcaster she is fighting, and it is badly injured. It does not stop the caster from keeping the summoned creature attacking Alicia. The caster is also able to cast a spell at Eriana that immediately injures her and causes great pain. At this point it is clear that they are unleashing Harm spells on the party, the opposite of a Heal spell.
The caster fighting Ferdinand summons another undead to defend itself, and the creature attacks the swashbuckler but does not fair well. Alicia nails it will her arbalest and it fumbles and gets tripped up by Ferdinand. The caster ends up dying before it can do much damage and the summoned creature disappears. The caster was killed by Sarroxtíoð who charges him after his fight with the skeleton and takes him out with a single blow. Ferdinand makes sure the caster is dead shortly afterwards.
With the other caster prone, Alicia runs up and stabs it with her crossbow bayonet but the caster survives. Eriana punches them and hits the caster critically, badly damaging on knee and knocking them out.
Meanwhile, Leodegar had run up to check on the first caster the party took out and realizes he has stabilized and is still alive.
Both unconscious casters are then tied up. The party have a quick look over the room and Sarroxtíoð opens a door to see it joins with the passage back to the previous room where they fought the skeletons. He sees a door in the hallway and opens it to reveal another burial chamber with a couple of chests, and the room is unoccupied.
Bodies are searched and nothing of interest is found. None of the casters have anything on them but robes a few minor belongings.
Several of the party members are badly injured and reeling from their wounds. They decide not to explore further, but to take the captives and head back upstairs and rest up in the burial chamber at the south end of the outside passage.
They manage to get there without incident and spend the next hour and bit patching themselves treating wounds and healing powers from Alicia and Harbek. During this time the two captives remain unconscious.
Upon reflection, they become convinced that deeper in the tomb the effects of the Maberran Manifestation Zone must be stronger. The lights were dimmer, it felt more oppressive and they suspect that vitality spells like Heal will be less effective.
When they are ready, Alicia attempts to revive the captives. The first one is unresponsive, but the one with the injured leg wakes up. They begin to question him and complain that they attacked the party. The caster looks surprised and says "What... but she (pointing to Alicia) came into the room and shot at us!" They brush past this, and ask him what he is doing here and quickly ask if the Emerald Claw has been here.
He says that they were here but left, and volunteers that they were "a-holes". They quickly learn that this caster and the others are necromancers - which is not unheard of, nor shunned upon in the Kingdom of Khorvaire. However, he does not know why the Emerald Claw were here, only that they were partners that helped them get into the tomb which was sealed. To know more he suggests the party should talk to his boss, Valgard.
Apparently Valgard is farther below in the crypt. He has not been seen for weeks, but this person seems confident that he is still down there. Valgard is another necromancer and the leader of the group - much more skilled than any of his followers. Apparently he has some important business down there.
This leads to questions about how to get to him. Initially the captive says "I don't know", but it is obvious he is a terrible liar.
Threats are made, and promises too. In the end the party agree to let him go if he helps them. He seems afraid of Valgard and says if he helps that Valgard will kill him - but the party threatens to kill him anyway, so he relents if they agree to free him.
He then relates the elaborate method to get past the sealed doors into the deeper tomb:

first, there is a wardstone with a rune on it that is needed to open the first set of double doors - it is hidden in the rubble where the party encountered the necromancers
this leads down stairs into a room with four statues, a fire pit and stone altars and another set of sealed stone doors
they must perform an ritual to open the doors:
- they first must light the fire
- each statue has to be anointed with sacred water while speaking a phrase of respect and gratitude (he relates the appropriate phases they can use)
- after each statue has been honored they must ring a bell and if everything has been done correctly the doors will open (apparently the bell is in an adjacent room to the one where they encountered the necromancers)

The necromancer looks at Alicia and asks if she knows what an aspergillum is. She nods yes, and explains to the others that it is a circular metal container with holes in the top and connected to a chain. It is designed to hold holy water and when swung by the chain will spray the holy water out of the chain. They are told that there is one in the chamber for the purposes of properly anointing the statues.
After relating all of this the party reluctantly decide to let the captives go. They revive the other one and send them on their way - watching them slowly clamber down the passage in the wind and snow until they disappear from sight.
Once they are gone, the party return to the tomb and head back to the chamber where they fought the necromancers.
Eriana and Alicia search the rubble in the room for the wardstone rune. The others search the burial chamber that Sarroxtíoð briefly viewed. Ferdinand examines the two chests in the room and does not find them locked or trapped. He opens them and finds that they are empty. Dust has been disturbed here, suggesting that they were emptied recently.
They also pry open the four sarcophagi, search the shelves and canopic jars and find nothing but bones, rusty armor and weapons and long dried viscera.
Alicia does succeed in finding the wardstone rune - a quite obviously polished stone with clear runes on it.
The party find the adjacent room where they hope to find the bell. The room has shelves with skulls, empty jars and several boxes full of food - presumed supplies for the necromancers. They also find a bell here, so they take it.
In this room Eriana becomes suspicious of an alcove and thinks it might hide a secret door. She searches in vain, as does Sarroxtíoð and Ferdinand.
Everyone then returns to the large chamber where they fought four skeletons - the chamber with the sealed set of double doors that are supposed to lead further down into the tomb.
Ferdinand examines the door and now that they know how it should be opened he spots a depression at about chest height that he suspects is the same size as the wardstone they found. He gets the stone from Alicia and puts it in place. It lines up with the other runes and there is an audible "click" and the doors move slightly. He then tugs on the handles and the doors swing open.
There is a wide set of stairs leading down into a chamber lit by the same magic braziers seen elsewhere in the tomb.
Four statues of ancient warriors stand against the north and south walls of this corridor. A large hearth, filled with burned-out wood, occupies the central part of the room. Leaning against the hearth is a small metal aspergillum.
They gather wood from the other fire pit and put it into the pit here. Ferdinand, Sarroxtíoð and Harbek all have a go at lighting the fire. The dwarf is the last to try and he manages to get it alight.
As they are about to perform the rest of the ritual Eriana stops them and suggests they check out the rest of the tomb above this chamber - just to make sure they don't miss anything.
Everyone agrees, so they head back up and out of this room, closing the stone double doors and leaving the fire pit lit.