Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 52
Adventurers
| Character | Class | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Harker | Fighter level 1 | Top heavy hunk with skinny legs, wielding a massive great-axe with rose-motifs. |
| Edimus Gorgon | Cleric level 1 | An elderly looking gentleman—despite his young age—dressed in long cape caked with dirt and grime. Worshipper of Pernatam, God of Sculptures. |
| Eon | Fighter level 3 | Silent and imposing tall, wiry ebony man adorned with plate mail, orange scarf, and necklace of skeletal finger. |
| Hellmuth Mithaft | Fighter level 1 | A bold mercenary with glorious red beard and pearly facial hair. |
| Rashomon | Elf level 1 | A dangerous looking elf. |
Thistleburn 13th, Earthday
“How about we visit that spooky house at the north edge of the town?”
“The one by Assassins' Guild?”
“Yeah.”
“Sure, why not.”
A brisk walk, a bridge toll, and a loud nobleman later, the inquisitive quintet reached the dilapidated two story house that fit the description of various drunkards they've spoken with the previous day.
Most of the windows were caked with dirt and grime. Still, that did not prevent the party to circle it. They split up, and each individually tried to look like a casual local just going for a relaxing walk around supposedly haunted house in the shadiest part of the town. Nothing suspicious about that.
The entrance to the house was in the northwest corner of the building. The doors were broken off the hinges and were simply leaning onto the door frame. Two windows on the north side were caked with mud from the outside—it was impossible to see inside. Other windows revealed that insides are even worse looking than outsides. Dirt, dust, broken furniture, debris... you name it.
Following a brief discussion, the party set in motion their penetration plan. Rashomon and Edimus stood guard, inconspicuously of course, by the southwest corner. Harker, Eon, and Hellmuth subtly stormed the entrance hall of the building. Having found no opposition, they summoned the two guards to join them.
Since haunted houses are best explored individually, the party immediately split up.
Edimus followed the south corridor. He felt uneasiness as he approached the doors midway through. This was the entrance into the room with mud-stained windows...
Hellmuth returned the doors they gently removed from the frame. Eon added few iron spikes—a little trap for anyone trying to follow them from behind. Harker swept the floor, seeking who knows what.
Finally, Eon and Rashomon opened wide creaky double doors to the east. A decayed dinning room with a webbed skeleton in the northeast corner is what greeted them.
Edimus and Harker couldn't resist the call of the forbidden room, so they promptly entered. Alas, they were rewarded with few rotten books, parchments, and some candles. Harker did manage to recover a book of really bad poetry, though.
Hellmuth went further south, peeking into a room that was full of debris: broken bed frame, destroyed chairs, torn mattress and shredded cloths—all piled up by the south wall of the room. He could swear he could see some of the debris sliding on the floor. He moved on.
Eon and Rashomon, experienced adventurers they are, carefully approached the webbing.
“You know what this means?”
“Skeleton?”
“Yes.”
“Yes!”
“Treasure!”
The treasure being two large spiders lunging from behind the skeleton, one above it and one beneath it. Both were dispatched in a single round. Both spiders, that is. Scanning the room revealed no other treasure. Adjacent kitchen, in even worse shape, had even less to offer.
As Edimus neared the room with debris that Hellmuth just passed, he felt sick to his stomach once again.
“Something isn't right.”
Flying furniture pieces confirmed that suspicion. Cleric and fighter avoided them all, and quickly alarmed the rest of the party of the invisible danger.
Eon and Rashomon, experienced adventurers they are, quickly brought the dinning table—with Hellmuth's assistance, to block off the passage towards the room that was catapulting debris at them.
“Oh, I had enough! I'll cleanse this evil myself!”
Harker—perhaps trying to appease the Oathkeeper—ran around, through adjacent room, and into the room with levitating furniture.
“I'll turn it myself!” Edimus enthusiastically announced and ran with him.
“This kids will get killed without me!” Rashomon sighed and ran with them as well.
Eon and Hellmuth kept their mouths shut as they tried to keep the doorway shut.
“Begone evil spi–uh, I forgot they stole my holy sy–”
Edimus's forgetfulness was awarded with a flying furniture piece hitting him straight into the forehead. That sent him screaming back whence he came from.
“Reveal yourself, apparition!” Harker demanded.
Rashomon jumped into the center of the room and sprinkled holy water all around.
“Can't you see it, boy? It's right next to your pointy friend.” a stern voice boomed in Harker's head.
And indeed! He could see a vague human shape juggling broken furniture pieces and various debris.
“Begone!” the boy yelled as he cut it down in half. All levitating objects fell down to the ground.
Eon and Hellmuth tackled the screaming cleric. They pinned him and helped him come back to his senses with an array of modern soothing methods.
“Let's move on. We aren't done yet.”
“Sounds good.”
“Hey, we haven't checked these doors yet.”
South-most doors on the west side led into a small room with solid workbench and an assortment of tools for carpentry. A set of stairs around the corner led into a damp cellar.
“We should see what's in the basement.”
“Could you wait until I make myself a wooden holy symbol? I'll saw a small cow.”
Two hours and few cuts latter, Edimus had something resembling a cow. Kind of. Finally, the party descended into the darkness.
The large chamber was damp and smelly. Rotted shelves lined the west wall. Two doors were on the east wall. The first were bloated and nailed shut from the outside. The second were as plain as walls of Hara.
“Hmmm...”
There were a few benches in the alcove underneath the stairs. An orderly pile of firewood was arranged in the southeast corner. Both areas had significantly less dust.
By this time, Eon was getting impatient. He went for the bloated doors.
“That looks like someone tried to keep something inside. Perhaps we should start with other doors?”
So he opened the other doors, only to find what seemed to be a wine storage. Eight large barrels were neatly arranged in the southeast corner of the room. A dozen or so minutes later, the ebony warrior discovered a poorly concealed trapdoor. Iron handle was in a depression on the cover.
Unwilling to risk his fingers, the warrior jammed in an iron spike, and used the leverage to open the doors upwards. Stale air, dark hole, and rusty iron rungs descending into the darkness.
“Pass me the torch.”
Eon inhaled and went down.
Click.
Two scythes suddenly sprung and cut deep into his palms. Gritting his teeth, the warrior lost his grip, and fell into the darkness.
Rashomon was quick to react, and quickly scaled the ladder himself. He kept his blade out, just in case there were any other scythes to be triggered.
Click.
He picked up on the subtle sound just as he was about to step off the ladder. No scythes came out, but a chunk of debris fell from above. Although he managed to avoid some of it, the elf did not escape completely unscathed.
“Let me bind your wounds and then we'll get you out!”
When Eon fell down, his survival instincts kicked in and he immediately rolled to the side, seeking the safest spot to orient himself.
The ladder led into a dark chamber of hewn stone. A dark corridor was in northeast corner. Reinforced doors were in the northwest corner.
Rashomon tied a rope around Eon's waist, and then they pulled him up. The elf followed.
“Should we retreat, heal, and then return?”
“Whomever set these traps will know someone has been snooping around.”
“Maybe we should lay in ambush here?”
“How about we split? You go rest, while a few of us goes down to see what's there?”
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