Vecna: Eve of Ruin (#6) - The Mausoleum

After a good night's rest, we decided to carry on with our investigations at the last places each of the missing personages were seen. We knew that Sachell was last seen at his own house, so we didn't need to return there as we had already been yesterday.

Day 31 - Early Morning in Neverwinter

Our first port of call this morning was the House of Knowledge. Despite spending a lot of our time there yesterday researching other details we did not get to question any of the regulars. Upon asking around this morning, we were informed that Umberto spent a great deal of time studying and researching various deities and histories. One night, he left suddenly and headed towards Helix Street, halfway between the House of Knowledge and the graveyard.

Not being able to find any more clues at the House of Knowledge, we headed to the Dolphin Theatre to try to find out more about Indrana's story. The people there thought he was a bit up himself but otherwise harmless. He too was last seen heading towards Helix Street.

Finally, we ended our investigative journey at the Winged Wyvern and asked our questions of the patrons and bar staff there. We were told that Eldon was right at home with the rest of the robed gentlemen that frequented the inn, reading scrolls and various tomes. He was last seen reading some books when he suddenly got up and said that he was going for a walk. He too headed towards Helix Street.

Not getting anything more concrete, we decided to head to the graveyard via Helix Street to look for more clues.

Late Morning

Helix Street turned out to be a busy, wide thoroughfare that led from the castle to the graveyard. We looked for clues as we walked down the street but it was full of daytime vendors and local traffic so it made things difficult. However, down one side alley between an undertaker's shop and a florist, Gladreth and I noticed an old, soft stone brick with an "eye" symbol scratched into it - similar to what we were looking for. It was quite an old and worn carving so probably meant nothing.

The graveyard, when we found it, was surrounded by an eight foot tall wall with the occasional supporting column of stone.

Early Afternoon - The Helix Mausoleum

We passed through the open iron gates beneath a sign that stated "Neverdeath Graveyard," and into the pauper's graveyard. There were a few people wandering around paying their respects at one or other of the many simple grave markings; mostly wooden headstones with names carved upon them. Luckily we bumped into an old groundsman who, upon questioning, was able to tell us a little about the history of the graveyards: both graveyards were about 400-450 years old but the richer one was built slightly earlier and housed the original Lord of Neverwinter. However, he was unable to tell us whether any of the symbols we showed him matched anything in that particular graveyard. We decided to head to the older graveyard.

In the older section, the graves were far richer, with many families having mausoleums, so there was more likely to be details that we might be able to gather alongside the clues we already had. Navda managed to find a mausoleum with the family name of Helix written in an ornate scroll work. It was worth investigating as it matched the street name if nothing else.

On our way there, we bumped into another groundsman and asked him a number of questions too. He told us a bit more of the history of the graveyard; Lord Neverwinter had a big mausoleum at the highest point in the graveyard that overlooked the rest, he mentioned several other unimportant (to us) dignitaries from hundreds of years ago, but when we asked about Vecna he was taken aback and asked why we would be talking about him when he wasn't even entombed there. We made our excuses and left.

When we saw that no-one was looking we headed towards the Helix mausoleum; an unassuming square block situated right by the wall of the cemetery. We noticed a number of footprints and scuff marks that looked like someone with a limp had walked up to it, as well as dark hand prints on the occasional wall or upright stone. When we got to the big, stone double-doors, we noticed that the area out front had been swept clean of leaves and that a rusty chain and padlock had been cast aside. Navda investigated the doors to make sure that they were not trapped in any way and he found that the hinges were well-oiled. When he pushed on the great iron handles, the doors swung in easily.

We looked around to make sure no-one was watching and stepped into the pitch black of the interior and closed the doors behind us. I cast Light upon my holy symbol to illuminate the way, and we headed deeper into the mausoleum.

The first thing we noticed were a number of booted footprints upon the floor and six large sarcophagi arranged around the walls. Upon investigation we saw that they were old and were engraved with a variety of Helix and Holt family names with their dates of birth and death; the latest was more than forty years ago.

Not finding anything of interest we headed to the downward leading steps to the south. At the bottom of the stairs we discovered a huge subterranean chamber. There were six more sarcophagi, but more importantly there were five walking cadavers who had noticed us because of my light.

I noticed that they appeared to be undead warriors, so I tried to turn them. This was to almost no avail - only one backed away from my holy symbol. The other four advanced to attack us drawing their black-bladed long swords.

A Wight - courtesy of Fantasy Grounds

Druss ran in to protect us and took the brunt of their life draining sorcerous damage, whilst Gladreth and I cast whatever spells we thought appropriate, and Navda and Dharion shot at them with their bows from the shadows. We destroyed them fairly quickly despite a fair bit of fumbling around in the less than perfect lighting conditions. Once they were dispatched, we searched the bodies for anything of value, but decided against taking their swords in case they were cursed. The sarcophagi had all been opened and all but one had some kind of remains in the form of a few gnawed bones and rags of clothing. We did, however, find four woollen cloaks and two hats in good condition; these were not original contents of the cists.

Whilst searching in the coffins Navda noticed a faint breeze emanating from behind one of them. A quick search revealed a catch that opened a secret doorway. Dharion and Gladreth had headed off in the other direction to investigate the western-most chamber only to find a lot of collapsed earth and stones that covered a set of stairs to the south-east and a doorway to the north with a brand new padlock and an eye symbol above it.

We had a quick chat and decided to follow Navda beyond the secret doorway first - there was no way we were going to split up just in case there were more of the undead about. The corridor beyond led south to another doorway, this time made of metal. He could still feel the breeze coming from beyond the doorway. A quick check for traps showed clear and he easily slid the door aside to reveal a room full of pipes and interlocking cogs that appeared to need to go clockwise but were jammed. It seemed to be some kind of control room.

Inside the Helix Mausoleum - using the newly found (for us) "fog of war" feature

The only other curiosity in the room was the presence of four wheel-like handles attached to the pipes that could be turned by hand. Not wanting to tempt fate, we left them alone and headed for the door to the west. We noticed that a pipe ran through at ceiling level from the control room, above the door into the room beyond.

Navda set foot in the room beyond to see a large, deep stone basin with ethereal looking creatures moving about in the water. They didn't seem to bother him as he walked in so he traced a few of the pipes to see where they led. The control room seemed to hold the answers, but when we turned the handles nothing seemed to happen except for a few gurgling noises; most likely made by the water in the pipes.

Vecna: Eve of Ruin (#5) - Neverwinter

We managed to get around the virtual table top again last night for an investigative session in our newest adventure. Due to the experience points gained in the last few sessions, we were able to level up again - we are now all 8th level.

• Dharion - Ranger
• Drakkon - Fighter
• Druss - Barbarian
• Gladreth - Wizard
• Korum - Cleric
• Navda - Rogue

Day 30 - The city of Neverwinter

After defeating the drow at the dwarf mines, we hopped aboard a ship and headed another hundred miles up the coast to the city of Neverwinter, where we sought new adventures. Over a number of weeks we explored the environs and got to know many of the locals, including the Lord Neverember who sent us on a couple of minor adventures; to hunt down werewolves in the forest and so on. Our names were becoming known in town as trustworthy adventurers for hire, but the last couple of weeks had been a little too quiet for us despite the occasional excursion.

We were staying at the Lucky Dice Inn, spending our loot and investigating what we could when, one mid-morning, a squire from Lord Neverember sought us out and asked us to accompany him to the Hall of Justice.

Upon arrival we were ushered through the large iron-bound solid oaken doors, through a hall with ornate marble columns and into a small ante-chamber where we met with the lord. He cut to the chase directly and mentioned for one hundred gold crowns each plus a dwelling of our own in the city could we seek out and return four missing dignitaries; namely Eldon Keyward (a scholar of the Outer Planes last seen at the Winged Wyvern), Indrana Lansettle (a thespian last seen at The Dolphin), Umberto Noblin (a gnome historian last seen in the House of Knowledge) and Sachell Malinigosh (a sorcerer of the Outer Planes last seen in his house in Noble Street).

We agreed to the terms and we were given some purple tunics, plus the usual paperwork, to aid us in our investigations, just in case any doors refused to open to admit us whilst carrying out our enquiries. With nothing else to do, we decided to begin investigating right away by visiting the homes of each of the dignitaries in turn as they were all reasonably local.

Map of Neverwinter - from Fantasy Grounds

The home of Eldon was a modest two storey detached house. When we arrived we found that the door had been left slightly ajar, there were a few leaves on the floor, and it was quite cold inside; a sure sign that it it hadn't been inhabited for a few days and the fire had not been lit recently.

The ground floor room held a table with some left over lunch (three days old from what we could judge), a rocking chair (down the side of which we found an ornate letter opener), and many bookshelves. We investigated the bookshelves, and found that a few volumes were more worn than the others; a book on the Outer Planes and Oerth, and one each on Vecna, a lichlord, and Kas, a vampire lord. I placed these into my backpack for further study.

The first floor room appeared to have been more lived in and contained many more books on shelves. The only oddity we found was a bird cage with a large beady-eyed raven in it. The raven did not respond to any of our means to get a reaction from it.

The second floor was the bedroom, with nothing of any real interest.

The home of Indrana was a big building with multiple occupancies, recognisable as such by the many names on the door; Indrana appeared to live in G1 according to the list. A knock at the door was answered by a fellow housemate who rather joyously celebrated when he found out that Indrana had gone missing; he had last been seen four or five day ago and was assumed by the housemate to be rehearsing at the Dolphin. He swept off to his own room and began celebrating his rival's demise and packing his bags to move into Indrana's room, which was much larger than his own. Whilst the commotion was going on, we slipped into Indrana's room (with the aid of Navda's slight of hand) but with only a very limited amount of time we could but skim the surface of the very high quality clothing, expensive bottles of wine (some full, many empty), manuscripts and books strewn about the floor. We got to see a good likeness of Indrana from a huge painting of him in full acting regalia on the wall of his room.

The home of Umberto was a tiny bungalow set amongst a number of other tiny bungalows. The four foot high door led into a dark chamber with a small bed, a table and chair, and a bookcase. A search through the books on the shelves revealed many more well-worn books that mentioned lich lords, Vecna, the Outer Planes and several recurring symbols; pictures of an eye, a hand and a prince that wore a bejewelled crown. A brief search of the nooks and crannies had Navda find a loose floorboard beneath the table that housed a small metal box with five gold coins in it and a golden disk with an inscription in elvish that read Inspiration, Invention and Knowledge. We pocketed these two items.

It was getting late now and dusk was not far off. All the talk of vampires and lich lords had begun to play on our imaginations, so we decided to hurry up with our final bit of investigating for the day.

The home of Sachell was a crooked house, with the upper storey being larger than the lower one. Again, mysteriously, the door had been left ajar and the house had obviously not been inhabited for a day or so.

The ground floor room was dark inside and contained a few chairs, a table and a writing desk. A plate of food left on the table had been left for about a day according to the state of decay of a half-eaten apple that was still on it. The room had a very herby smell to it. Navda and Gladreth searched and found a piece of parchment with strange writing on it; a symbol of an eye that matched what we had previously seen, and some random phrases: "He is coming", "He will stop him", "They need more" and "Neverdeath".

The upper floor was larger than the ground floor as observed when we were outside. This plush room with a velvet covered chair placed in front of the fireplace, and an ornate walnut side table was very interesting. On the table was a diary that mentioned in the final few days' entries "I am being followed", "Men in black robes seen very often" and "two men in dark robes on Glissen Street". The final entry was "I have told Eldon, He is coming" and "Meet at the normal place and warn the others." We pocketed this diary but did not find much else of interest other than another of those caged ravens. I plucked up the courage and removed it from its cage only to find that the bird was a metal bird-shaped object covered in feathers. Its jewelled eyes, when I looked into them showed me a familiar sight; I could see Eldon's house as if through the eyes of his raven. I mentioned to the party that these would be a fantastic communication and observational apparatus so I suggested we go back to Eldon's place to collect his raven in a cage to see if my hunch was right.

On the way back to Eldon's place we decided that we needed more information on Indrana, the actor. So, we swung by his house again, only to find a party in full swing and that his room was being emptied of all of its effects, the painting had been taken down, and much of the wine had been drunk by his housemates. A fresh search allowed us to find a diary but it only contained lots of self-aggrandisements about his prowess as an actor.

We decided we could do no more for the day as it was almost dark, so we headed to the House of Knowledge; a place Gladreth and I were very familiar with during our stay so far in Neverwinter.

The building was made of pure white marble with brass coloured bands around several pillars, with crossed golden spears at the entrance. Above the doorway was the inscription Ogram God of Inspiration, Invention and Knowledge; the same words that were upon the disk we had found earlier.

We each set about investigating what we could in the time we had left in the day. We worked out that the paired ravens were indeed useful as observational and communication devices, albeit only via sight - no sound available.

Gladreth and I set about reading through the books we had picked up from Eldon's place and compared notes with other books in the library. We discovered many nuggets of information:

• The Book of Vecna and the Book of Kas each contained a history of the two beings; Vecna who used his power and magics to become a lichlord, and Kas, an elvish warrior of great renown, who was initially Vecna's general became a vampire lord

A picture of Vecna and Kas - from Fantasy Grounds

• Other tomes talked about them no longer being in our realm, destroying a world, Vecna's armies of undead and Kas's sword of immense power
• A number of books mentioned a magical ceremony that granted great power, an evil artifact, and that Kas later found a jewelled crown

This research took us until late into the night, so we headed back to our inn, vary wary of being followed, to grab some sleep. Our trusty rogue, Navda, assured us that we were safe, so we turned in for the night. Dharion posted himself as watchman as he no longer needed to sleep; a strange rangerly ability he had just mastered.

Before going to our beds we decided that we still needed to investigate the places that each personage was last seen, and the Neverdeath graveyards as they were mentioned in one of the diaries - which we would do that the following day.

Vecna: Eve of Ruin (#4) - The Mines III

The recent hot weather and football World Cup has meant that we have not been able to meet up online for several weeks. That said, we managed to get together last night, and that allowed us to finish this particular part of the current adventure.

The Mines - Day 3 (continued)

After Healing up as best we could, we decided that we should at least try to investigate and clear out the final cavern in the vicinity of the mine entrance. We had very few spells between us now, but we were almost back at full health - we just hoped that there was nothing too serious to overcome in the final cave.

Using my magical boots, I jumped to the island that separated the spit of land we were currently on from the final cavern's spur. There were lots of bodies that I could see on the opposite bank by the final cavern entrance; some even looked like they had been gnawed upon and possibly eaten.

Navda joined me on the small island and we tried to lasso some of the bodies and drag them into the water so that they could be shriven of their potential undead status. We managed to do this for about half of them, but then the rest were beyond our reach.

I then jumped across to beach opposite to see if I could push some of the bodies into the water physically, but as soon as my boots hit the gravel a massive roar emitted from the cavern followed by the sound of many metallic objects clashing and grinding together. The remaining zombies on the beach began to stir and move towards me so I jumped back to the island to bide us some time.

Dharion had unslung his bow by now and had begun shooting the zombies that he could see, felling several of them as Twerca, the dwarf warrior joined us on the island. Navda also began to loose arrows at the remaining zombies, but just as we thought we had almost got them all a few more emerged from the cavern.

Suddenly, one of the zombies was pulled into the cavern mouth at very high speed, which puzzled all who saw it happen. The remaining dwarf zombies were quickly destroyed by the archers - the beach was now clear. I jumped back across, but as soon as my boots hit the beach I was attacked by more zombies that emerged from the cavern. They beat me badly before Dharion destroyed one and the rest of the party could get across to help.

Twerca immediately charged into the cavern, but the rest of us slowed as we encountered a chest high mound of mud, debris and discarded weaponry. The clanging and grinding metal noise grew louder as we slowly entered the dark chamber, but Druss entered a berserk rage and charged in to aid the dwarf. Gladreth decided to cast Invisibility upon herself and snuck in further than the rest of us. Suddenly all was pandemonium; several more zombies emerged from the dark as another huge roar was emitted from a being deeper within the cavern. I was glad to have my magical mace as all non-magical weapons were suddenly ripped from my comrades' grasps; bows, rapiers, swords, all flew into the darkness.

The source of the roaring and the grinding metal noises emerged from the darkness - a Risen Reaver (as I was told later); an undead drow warrior much larger than any drow we had previously seen with four arms and his entire body impaled with weapons of all types, including our missing bows, rapiers and swords.

The Reaver jumped high and landed right between us all huddled just inside the entrance. Most of us fell to the ground with the impact and the Reaver proceeded to carve us up with its four sharply weaponised arms. The rest of the zombies joined the attack and we rapidly began to tot up all kinds of serious injuries. Twerca and Gladreth, whose invisibility fell from her as soon as she entered the combat, fell under the onslaught but I could not reach either of them to stabilise them. A Prayer of Healing, however, helped everyone, albeit temporarily.

The fight was rejoined in earnest by my comrades, but the Reaver kept us at bay and put Twerca down again. Finally a shot from Dharion's bow found its mark and the beast fell. Unfortunately my second Prayer of Healing could not revive Twerca in time from the horrific injuries that she had sustained in the fight.

The Final Cavern at the Entrance to the Mines

As soon as the Reaver died, the rain stopped and the sun emerged from the breaking clouds to start the process of drying the land. With the rain stopping, the water level in the channels began to recede and revealed all of the dwarfs that we had thrown in to spare them from undeath. We could now also see the entrance to the mine itself.

We explored the rest of the cavern for loot but didn't find too much other than the remains of a large number of partially eaten dwarfs. A couple of them still wore a few items of magical clothing (a cloak and a pair of boots), and there were a few magical weapons lying around that had not adhered to the Reaver which must have come from the defeated dwarf warriors.

We picked up what we thought would be valuable and buried the dead as best we could. We then returned to the village where we told the few survivors what we had found and what had happened. They were glad of the news and allowed us to rest up and Heal our weary bodies and souls.

This ended the current part of this adventure. Hopefully we will be moving onto some more intriguing parts of the scenario next time.

Vecna: Eve of Ruin (#3) - The Mines II

The party got together again last night and we carried on with our exploration of the Dwarf Mines so that we could get to the bottom of the mystery.

The Mines - Day 3 (Dawn)

There were no incidents overnight that affected the watches, so we awoke refreshed and fully healed. It was still raining and the water levels had risen overnight. The sky was still gloomy and overcast; the sun barely making its presence felt. We decided that we would systematically search each of the remaining caves in this area outside the mine before plunging into the cold, wet depths of the torrent pouring into the entrance.

It was a bit of a chore to get ourselves across to each of the intervening islands between the one we were on and the one in the north-east as the current was still swift and the jumps were too far for everyone bar myself and the magical boots I was wearing.

We managed to get onto the northeast island without incident and was greeted by the sight of many more dwarf bodies. Taking our cue from what the dwarf warriors had told us earlier, we began to place the bodies into the water. After the second one slipped below the surface, the rest began to stir and we heard a series of groans from behind the rocks in front of us.

The number of zombie dwarfs was quite large, so Gladreth launched a Fireball into their midst destroying most of them. The groans appeared to come from a red haired dwarf female warrior in plate armour. We took no chances, hit her a few times and threw her into the water. She sank under the weight of her plate armour.

The remaining zombies managed to hold their own against us for a while and then suddenly Drakkon could no longer move. At this point the red-haired dwarf warrior woman pulled herself from the water and tried to get into combat with the remaining zombies shouting a war cry in her own language that Gladreth understood; she was not a zombie, but on our side!

Several more zombies emerged from the cave we were headed towards, so to cut them off I ran forward and tried to destroy them with my god's radiant holy powers. It had no effect on them whatsoever, and I was swamped by the horde.

The Entrance to the Mines (second cave)

Luckily, the dwarf warrior stormed to my rescue, taking many hits that should have struck me. I was feeling terrible for striking her earlier when we did not know she would be an ally. At some point in the melee, a weapon appeared out of thin air but I managed to duck in time to avoid injury. Not knowing what this new threat was, I cast my single Fireball spell and destroyed a large number of the zombies; Druss and Navda destroyed the remainder.

Unfortunately, just as we thought that we could lick our wounds and take a rest, a drow sorceress appeared and tried to Hold me. My god was with me this time and I shrugged off the charm but she ran back into hiding within the cave as a fresh wave of zombies bore down upon us. The fighters in the party managed to down a few but even more appeared. This was becoming ridiculous. We must have fought and seen at least thirty or more undead dwarfs in this cave alone. Luckily Gladreth still had a few spells up her sleeves and her last Fireball destroyed most of them.

Drakkon, annoyed by the drow priestess as she had charmed him twice, managed to get up close and finally dispatch her with Druss's help. Dharion and the dwarf warrior maiden completed the demise of the remaining zombies.

When the last zombie fell, I Healed the party as much as I could, including the dwarf warrior. She was grateful for the attention and opened up a little by telling us that she was with a couple of other fighters sent to liberate their countrymen. We mentioned that we had seen the other two and had rescued them from the island that they had got stuck on.

We searched the drow priestess but only found a few useful items: a very nice warhammer, a spider emblem round her neck and spider rings on her fingers, as well as two vials of what looked like Potions of Healing. We stuffed these into our sacks and got ready to move on.

Vecna: Eve of Ruin (#2) - The Mines

Last night saw the regular D&D crowd get back together on Fantasy Grounds to play the next installment of the new campaign, Vecna : Eve of Ruin. It has been a few weeks since the last game as real life has taken priority, but hopefully we are back now for another run of games.

The Mines - Day 2 (Dusk)

We approached the dwarven mines by heading downhill alongside a torrent of water. The entrance to the mines had flooded from what we could see, and the water was very fast flowing. On many of the raised areas of drier land just outside the mine entrance we could see a number of dwarf bodies lying strewn around where they had apparently been slain.

Whilst we checked the bodies to see if any were still alive, and for clues as to what might have happened, we began to hear chanting coming from beyond a clusters of rocks. Some of the bodies began to slightly twitch so we moved forward to investigate further. A dwarf magician emerged from behind the rocks and Held Navda in place with an enchantment. Gladreth let fly a Fireball that reduced half of the rising bodies to ash. A short-lived fight ensued wherein Druss killed the dwarf mage, but he managed to throw an enchanted red gem at the floor that exploded into a Wall of Force causing a great deal of harm both to the party and to the remaining dwarf zombies before he died. The remining four dwarf zombies were quickly dispatched by Dharion, Navda and Gladreth's Firebolt.

Just as we finished off the last of the zombies, we heard the final clattering of a combat emanating from a small island a short distance away. The two dwarf warriors had just defeated a small number of adversaries. They beckoned us over, but I was the only one who could get there, using my Boots of Striding, without being swept away by the swift current. They explained that the dead dwarfs should be placed into the River of the Gods (the waters around our feet apparently), and that the river held powers over the dwarf dead. They also explained that the flooding and rain would stop if we could defeat the evil wizard. The strong current in the surrounding waters led directly to the mines.

As we didn't currently have the means to rescue the dwarfs we said that we would return and save them later. We placed the dead dwarfs reverently into the waters as requested and left the two living warriors on their island. We headed towards the north-west where we found a small entrance that led into a very dark cavern. Inside, Dharion's superior dark vision could make out movement but not a lot else. Fearing that it would be more zombies, I cast Light on a large stone and hurled it into the cavern.

Entrance to the Dwarf Mins

The light from the stone allowed us all to see the numerous zombies within the cave. I rapidly moved in and called upon the grace of Pelor to return these souls to their proper place, and four of the undead collapsed to dust whilst another four retreated from my god's awesome power.

A tall, very thin humanoid, whose head was covered in spiders emerged from behind a rock and also moved away from me, but not without first firing a poisoned arrow. The rest of my comrades moved in and combat ensued. Gladreth's Lightning Bolt made short work of the zombies but the drow was made of sterner stuff and did not appear to be affected by the lightning. A few moments later another drow dropped from the ceiling and blew a strange powder into Dharion's face, blinding and poisoning him. Dharion and I were able to remove those curses from him using our spell-craft, but moments later the drow did the same again to him.

Druss, in a Rage, charged the drow located deepest within the cavern and was treated to a cloud of the same dust, but it had no effect on him. In a few moments he had cut the drow down, whilst Dharion (even though still blinded), Navda, Gladreth and I dealt with the other drow in short shrift.

As we searched the body of the first drow, the spiders from around his head tried to run away, but we crushed them all under our boots. On the two drow bodies we found two capsules of powdered malice, four poisoned crossbow bolts and some very nice studded leather armour. We stashed everything away for future use and returned south to see about setting the two dwarfs free from being stranded.

A quick return to the camp outside where Drakkon kept watch allowed us to grab his water breathing helm and a length of rope. We pulled the dwarfs across and through the waterway one-at-a-time and bid them farewell.

As night was now rapidly approaching we made camp and set watches for a long night's rest to heal up and recover our spells.

Vecna (#1) - The Outpost

The usual crowd got together again on Thursday for our latest D&D outing on Fantasy Grounds. I actually thought that the Saltmarsh campaign had finished completely, but I think this seems to be a continuation as we started in Saltmarsh and the theme seemed to carry on. I will try to find out by next week whether this was a continuation of the Ghosts of Saltmarsh campaign or something that the DM has cobbled onto the end of it.

EDIT: It look like this is a new campaign - Vecna. I won't go looking anything up about it as I don't want to spoil anything. I will update the post headings a and when I find out more.

After a big battle at the Spire, the denizens of Saltmarsh narrowly overcame the sahuagin threat. 

A few months later...

Life began to return to normal in Saltmarsh, but we had become more well-known in town due to our exploits. As a result, we were invited by the local dwarf population to the one hundred year celebration of some copper mines that they were currently working.

The trip to somewhere called something like Duvagoia took several days by sea, and when we had landed, it took us and our three dwarven guides a further half-day on foot to reach an outpost, where we rested up for the night to get out of the heavy rain. We were generously plied with food and ale and left to our own devices - we did our best to escape the downpour.

The Dwarf Outpost

Gladreth was the only one of us that didn't get too drunk on the alcohol offered. Maybe because of this she was the most alert and therefore the first to be hit by an arrow that was shot from the undergrowth to our west.

It took us a while to come out of our drunken stupor, but by the time we had we were on the back foot against the attacking drow warriors. Gladreth, however, cast a Fireball that severely injured several of their warband thus buying us a little time to recover.

The fighters in our party rapidly gained injuries as the arrows sent our way were coated in some sort of green-gunk poison which added to the pain inflicted upon them. I managed to cast a Prayer of Healing to undo some of the damage, but the injuries kept piling on. As things looked like they were about to get worse for us, Gladreth spotted an opportunity to use a Lightning Bolt and some Magic Missiles to even the odds a little.

After the Drow encounter

It was a tough fight, but we eventually overcame the drow warband. We gathered their bodies for burial and stripped them of their belongings, amongst which were some small coins/medallions embossed with the likeness of a dwarf god. We drew lots for the watch rota and settled in for the night.

The night seemed to pass uneventfully, except for the constant rain, but when the dawn finally broke we noticed that somehow all of the drow bodies had been removed and our three dwarf companions had been taken. The place was covered in spider webs and a set of tracks headed off westwards towards the mines.

We followed the tracks for about two hours before we arrived at our destination. Many of the huts outside the mine had been burned and were still smouldering, and there were several dead dwarfs lying around the place in amongst pools of blood and silk cocoons. Many of the bodies had the same green gunk we saw on the drow weapons in their wounds. It was obvious that the celebrations had been interrupted by a savage attack which appeared to leave everyone dead or missing.

We scouted the area and managed to find a few maps of the mine and the surrounding area and a few ledgers of the mine's output and expenses (the mine seemed to be very profitable from the records).

Six hours later, the rain was still coming down, so we decided finish up our search and head towards the mine for some shelter. It was whilst we searched the last few huts that we managed to find a single dwarf survivor amongst the carnage - he had escaped by burying himself beneath a mound of his dead friends. He told Gladreth what had happened as she was the only one who could speak Dwarfish; the mine had been attacked out of nowhere by drow and spiders whilst the workers were celebrating the finding of a new, very rich, vein of copper - there were no survivors, and the rainstorm had washed away most of the blood by the time we got here. A short while later, the slain dwarfs rose from the dead and headed towards the mine.

We gave the dwarf directions back to our boat and finalised our investigation. In the final crate we searched we found three wands/rods that contained something that rattled when they were shaken. The box held a warning that they contained black powder.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh (#31) - The Spire VII

In the previous encounter we had taken a battering, so most of the remaining Healing potions were used up trying to get us back to some semblance of good health.

We decided to head westwards first, and the coral pink walled room we next encountered only contained a table and a few benches. However, the mural on the wall was quite outstanding; a large tentacled beast, some whales and giant squid were in action against what we presumed must be some mythological sahuagin heroes. On the table was a silver medallion engraved with a shark and twelve tridents in a star shape. We pocketed the medallion.

The next room was tiled in a deep green. As well as a large bed of seaweed along the north wall there was a spear, a mirror and a coffer with a slot in it the same size as the silver medallion we found in the previous chamber. Navda attempted to open the coffer with the coin, but he somehow managed to miss the trap blade which cut him. Inside the coffer was a bag of rubies, a small stone box with six green potions (which we later found out to be made from Rapture Weed), a gold statue of a shark, a very nice scaled cloak (Cloak of Protection) and a very expensive looking canvas bag. Navda expected the bag to contain something, and his hunch proved correct as his searches revealed a green gem in the lining.

The south wall revealed a hairline crack that denoted a secret door that led to another secret door that opened out into the corridor with the stairs down that we had encountered a while earlier on our travels.

As we had now run out of areas to explore westwards, we decided to head back east and explore that area before we headed down the stairwell. As we moved back towards the main throne room, we heard a bit of a commotion coming from that direction. Navda managed to creep forward and reveal that four sahuagin warriors had entered the throne room and were investigating the bodies and gore floating within it. We decided to go south instead to avoid them as we were not in a fit state for much more fighting.

Unfortunately, as we traversed the corridors southwards we heard more noise from ahead of us; we were about to be trapped. Drakkon could take no more and charged around the corner, the rest of us followed leaving Dharion as rear-guard.

The four sahuagin around the corner were taken by surprise but soon regained their composure when they realised it was only one warrior against them. The sudden arrival of Druss halted them, but one of the sahuagin cast a dazzling light spell that dazed them both. Navda tried to shoot round the corner, but he too was dazed. Luckily, light is my domain and I was able to overcome the spell and used my Radiance of the Dawn special ability. This hurt the sahuagin enough for Drakkon to recover just as one of the warriors rushed past him. He was able to add more hurt to its magical injury as it passed, and between Gladreth's Firebolt and Navda's and Dharion's archery the sahuagin warrior met its demise.

Drakkon was isolated by now and the three sahuagin warriors took him down. To stop any further desecration of our comrade, Dharion managed to kill one of the remining sahuagin with his trusty bow and Gladreth used her magical abilities to stop another from advancing. My Warding Flare stopped me from being attacked whilst tying to administer to Drakkon. Unfortunately, the other sahuagin warrior cut me down.

Whilst I was unconscious, Druss recovered from being dazzled and helped Dharion to kill the third sahuagin warrior. The fourth fell to a combination of everyone else's attacks, with the final blow dealt again by Dharion's archery. Using his last few Healing spells, Dharion brought Drakkon and me round again. We decided that as things were now too dangerous to stay around much longer we should head for the exit.

A final look at where we explored in the Spire

We retraced our steps further southwards towards the stairs out, but in the corridor just before the exit chamber we encountered a school of sharks. Navda and Drakkon quickly dispatched two of the sharks before us and Gladreth and Dharion another that was approaching from our rear. With one remaining shark before us, we could feel a larger commotion approaching the area; it felt like the whole complex was awakening. The last remining shark in our way was killed by Drakkon and we were then, finally, able to climb the stairs out of there.

The upper level was still empty luckily, so we were able to get out of the dungeon and to our rendezvous point in the marsh without any further encounters.

At the rendezvous, we were met not only with the escape boat, but with a small army. We reported to the commander the situation in the spire and gave him all of the intelligence we were able to gather. He called forth his troops and advanced upon the sahuagin hideout.

The return to Saltmarsh was uneventful, and we were ushered straight away into the presence of the town council. We were debriefed and then fully Healed before being given our 1,700 gold crown reward. We were also gifted with a magical longbow which went to Dharion, a magical shield that would catch arrows, and an ioun stone which I somehow managed to acquire, but do not know what to do with just yet.

With that, I think we have completed the whole of the Ghosts of Saltmarsh campaign. We levelled up - we are now all 7th level - and updated our character sheets accordingly. We divvied up the treasure and sold what we had found on our adventures. We then bought anything that we had the money for to enhance our character - I bought a stack of Potions of Healing.

I thoroughly enjoyed playing this campaign. Fantasy Grounds worked pretty well in allowing us to immerse ourselves into the adventure - along with Discord for the communications (voice) part, this felt as close to a face-to-face series of sessions as we could get. I recommend this setup to anyone that has a bunch of gaming buddies that cannot meet up often enough in real-life due to time constraints and distance circumstances.

The DM has another scenario lined up that we may use these characters again for. Or, maybe, we will roll up new ones if we feel like a change of pace. I guess we will find out what is happening next session.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh (#30) - The Spire VI

We decided to leave the room behind us, as we were only on this mission to gather information and not get into too many skirmishes - we were on a time limit and we had already used up half of our time. We decided to retrace our steps and investigate the other side of the entrance hall.

The first room we encountered from the last time that we had passed that way still had the sahuagin guards in it. We charged into the room in order to rid ourselves of any chance of being blocked on our way out if we needed to exit quicky. It was a short melee; Gladreth was badly hurt by the magic from one of the priestesses in the room, so retaliated angrily by Fireballing the room, which led to a third priestess emerging from the seaweed patch in the corner. Unfortunately for her, she did not get time to cause us any harm and was dealt with by my missile armed compatriots swiftly, as Gladreth Firebolted the last remaining sahuagin warrior. A quick search of the room revealed only a small treasure - a set of thieves' tools and a silver goblet.

We headed south from there and ended up in another chamber similar to so many of the others. This one had dark green walls, a light green ceiling and the usual table, coffer and beds. There was not a lot in here either, only a number of those harnesses we had previously found (but this time with silver buckles), a small bag of gold coins, and a locket on a chain with a picture of a small girl and a lock of hair inside.

We explored to the end of the corridor and eventually reached a door. Again, we could hear a lot of noise from beyond it. Navda stealthily opened the door a crack to take a look inside. It was a very large room with an indigo floor, dark blue ceiling and light blue walls, with three tables, several coffers and at least 30 sahuagin warriors inside. He just as stealthily reclosed it and reported back what he had found. We got away from there quickly.

As we had completed exploring the southern part of the dungeon, we headed back north to the entrance hall and went through the final exit in the north. We explored a few of the newly built corridors and decided upon finally heading westwards. At a north-south junction we cautiously went south and found ourselves outside a room where many sahuagin warriors, champions and sharks were cheering and shouting at a fight between a couple of very large lobsters. We slowly backed away and headed further north within the complex.

Lobster Fight

The corridor ended at a set of steps that headed downwards, but we retraced our steps and explored the corridor that headed east halfway along it. We passed a small chamber that was cut off from the main corridor by a portcullis. Beyond the barrier was a light green tiled room full of live starfish and shellfish, which we assumed was some kind of live feed larder.

The eastward leading corridor ended with a door which opened quite easily. Beyond the door was a huge ornate banquet hall. Several black pillars supported the coral white roof, and the walls were tiled with an array of black, white and coral pink tiles. A statue situated in an alcove above the floor level was of a lizardman head, only it was twice the normal size. Opposite the head was a gold-leaf door, which opened suddenly leaving Navda exposed.

The underwater dungeon so far

Beyond the door was a short corridor that opened out in to a large indigo walled, dark blue floored throne room occupied by a very large four-armed sahuagin lord seated upon a massive pale blue marble throne, a priestess on the dais beside him, a number of warriors and some sharks. 

The priestess performed a small ritual and Dharion vanished from the room. We were all shocked, Gladreth most of all, and she cast a Lightning Bolt the length of the corridor and into the room severely injuring four of the sahuagin. Dharion reappeared as suddenly as he had disappeared and we surmised that he had been Banished. The melee was hard and deadly, but without Gladreth's magic and lots of Healing we would have been defeated.

Upon reappearing Dharion killed a sahuagin warrior very quickly, and seemingly in the blinking of an eye he had killed the second champion. The rest of us helped keep the sahuagin lord at bay, but not before the priestess had cast a Guiding Bolt on Gladreth which felled her. I was on hand to bring our wizard round again and my skills were called upon very quickly thereafter to remove the Curse the priestess had put on Dharion.

Gladreth was really annoyed again by now, so cast a Fireball amongst the remaining sahuagin and sharks causing a huge amount of injury to them, but they all still fought or swam towards us.

The combat with the sahuagin and sharks began to take its toll on the fighters in the party, so I had to cast my third and final Prayer of Healing to make sure that no-one else fell to the spears and tridents of the sahuagin warriors.

Popping out from a shadow somewhere, Navda made a perfect shot with his bow and downed the sahuagin lord. This riled the priestess and she was able to Paralyse Dharion and take down Gladreth again with a Guiding Bolt. Luckily I was on hand to Heal Gladreth again and remove the paralysis from Dharion. In the meantime, the fighters had finally dispatched the last of the sahuagin warriors and sharks.

This just left the priestess to get a taste of her own medicine as I cast a Guiding Bolt back at her and Dharion finished her off straight after with an arrow to the heart.

We were in a mess after this fight but that did not stop us from searching the bodies and throne room for loot. We didn't find much except for the fine looking trident the sahuagin lord had used, a gold earring, some platinum armbands and a gold key; all of which we pocketed.

The Throne Room

The final battle should have been over a lot more quickly and with fewer injuries to the party than what actually happened - we managed to roll so many 1s and 2s in this, and all of the previous combats, we were lucky that we did not suffer a TPK. The use of the big hitting Fireballs and Lightning Bolts, along with plenty of Healing, allowed us to finally overcome our adversaries. The fighters absorbed so much damage it was unreal, and the dice gods (even though the rolls are randomly generated by software within Fantasy Grounds) were definitely not on our side tonight.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh (#29) - The Spire V

As the sahuagin warriors readied their arms and advanced upon us, the orc, hobgoblin and lizardman slaves began to rattle their chains in a bid for freedom. I Blessed the fighters, then Drakkon, Dharion and Druss charged into the room as the rest of us supported them with spells and missile fire.

The combat was over relatively quickly, but several injuries were accrued. We searched the bodies of the overseers and found the keys to the slave chains. We set the slaves free and gave them directions out of the dungeon to safety and told them where the rescue boat would be arriving and when. In return they gave us plenty of useful information regarding what they knew of the set up in this fortress; they had seen around forty sahuagin warriors patrolling the lair; the priestess had sacrificed the previous adventurer band by cutting out their organs; supplies arrived at the fortress in crates and barrels and were taken below; the water level is slowly rising.

After the slaves had gone, Drakkon put on his helm of water breathing and Dharion tried out my cloak. Both were able to swim around under the water without the need for any other apparatus or magic aid. They scouted out the first chamber below and reported back what they had found.

We had been in action now for maybe four or five hours, and what with our accumulated wounds, we decided to lay low for a while. As the fortress was deemed an unsafe place to rest, we headed back to the swamp to recover and restore our spells.

After about eight hours we returned back to where we had left off. It was strange that we did not notice any of the usual patrols outside the spire, and there was no sign of any movement within the fortress; at least from the sigils and signs that Navda and Dharion had set to detect any movement.

Those that did not have any magical items to aid with underwater breathing imbibed the potions with the "3" on them. After a few moments, gills appeared on our necks and our feet and hands became slightly webbed. As our breathing became laboured in the open air, we entered the water to find that we could survive the immersion.

Down to the underwater levels

We arrived at the first chamber that Dharion and Drakkon had already scouted out. There was no sign of any movement so we decided to head west, with Navda scouting the way. The first room he got to had an open door and within it he could see what looked like a guard room with dark blue tiles on the walls and light blue tiles in the ceiling; inside were a few beds, a table and a coffer, as well as four sahuagin guards. He told us what he had found and we decided to avoid a confrontation at that time, so headed back east.

After traversing a twisting corridor, we found our way to another room that was similar to the blue-tiled room. This chamber had a white tiled ceiling and dark green tiled walls. Inside was the same table and coffer set up, as well as a seven foot tall stand of seaweed. There were no guards in this room, so Navda, avoiding the seaweed, advanced upon the coffer. Inside he found six leather harnesses with gold accoutrements, a small bag with two large rubies and a silver mirror. We divided the treasures between us and carried on with our investigation.

Level 2 - the underwater dungeon

The south leading corridor turned east after a while and then, upon turning north, it ended at a stone door with a coral handle, beyond which we could hear a lot of movement and chatter.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh (#28) - The Spire IV

Thursday just gone we got back to our regular Saltmarsh campaign.

Leaving the dead adventurer behind, we headed along the westward corridor. We passed two rooms in a southern offset side corridor. Both rooms were identical in that they had pale blue tiles on the floors and walls, and each contained a table with a few chairs and a couple of empty velvet-lined coffers.

We left the room sbehind and headed further westwards until we came to a T-junction. Navda spotted a few Sahuagin guards patrolling the north-south corridor on his scouting mission, so we made plans on how to defeat them. A quick melee ensued and we backed up into our corridor as planned so that we could fight them with the corridor width to our advantage. Unfortunately, just a few moments later three more of their compatriots attacked us from the rear; they were some of the ones left that we missed when we encountered the adventurer. We were sorely pushed, even though Dharrion had killed one in the north-south corridor, so I cast a Radiance of the Dawn which injured every one of them as they were all in range of my god's radiant power. Gladreth then quickly took two of them out with her Burning Hands spell, and that just left two very weakened warriors to be dispatched; one by Navda, and after a short chase down the corridor the other by Dharion and Drakkon.

There was not much treasure to be found on the Sahuagin, so we hoped we might find a bit more in the room just to the south of us. Unfortunately, the very ornate door opened into a cold room; most likely a larder judging by the body parts hanging up in there.

As we wanted to cut off the chances of any more support from behind us we decided to explore the southern corridor and found that it all connected up to the hall with the adventurer. We encountered no other enemy on our travels but we did enter what looked like a tool storage room. Navda disabled a glyph trap set at the entrance of the room, so thought that there must be something in here that was worth guarding with magic. He did a quick search of the east wall and discovered a hidden stone door. The small room beyond was rather plain but it contained many treasures.

Drakkon claimed a suit of mithril plate armour and the party suggested I took the leather cloak that was lined with what looked like scales. There were also a couple of pouches that contained some gold coins and gems, as well as a small, locked casket. Navda got cut by the hidden blade as he sprung the trap upon opening it, but inside we saw five potions of some kind of blue liquid with the number "3" written on each of the vials. 

My new cloak

After donning our new items, we explored the only place that we could see that we hadn't been to yet. The door was very ornate and made from a semi-translucent material, but it did not allow us to see through it, although we could hear a number of voices and the sound of metal striking stone from beyond. Navda gently tried the door and found that it opened easily, so he stole a quick glance inside. He spotted three Sahuagin guards; one directly behind the door, and the other two a small distance away watching what was happening in the room. He quickly shut the door again, reported what he saw, and hatched a plan with Dharion and Drakkon.

Drakkon was to push the door open, but only so far as to block anyone to the right of it, and then at the same time Navda and Dharion would shoot the first guard with their bows. The plan worked flawlessly, the door was sprung open to the exact place it needed to go and Navda's shot took the first guard straight in the throat, killing it outright.

A quick glance around the room showed us several work gangs hammering away, overseen by several Sahuagin guards. As soon as the shock of seeing the dead guard topple over wore off and we were noticed, one of the other guards shouted "Save the princess", whereupon one of their number dived straight down the partially constructed stairwell.

Map of the dungeon so far

Note: the final door-opening act required us to roll high so that we could pull off the trick. Drakkon and Navda's players both rolled a natural 20, so the door opened and stopped exactly where we wanted it to, and the damage from the critical, aimed, shot out of cover caused a phenomenal amount of damage to the elite guard killing it outright.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh (#27) - The Spire III

Day 61 - continued

After waiting a minute or so at the ready, the threat did not materialise. Confused, at the no-shows, we set about returning to the entrance room to see what had happened to those that set off the silent alarm. We advanced cautiously, but when we got there we found nothing but footprints in the blood from the previous fight.

We decided to carry on with our scouting mission as we didn't have nearly enough information yet, but headed south this time. We entered a large room with two sub-chambers to the north. The main room was an armoury of some sort as it contained a large array of weapons (at least 120 spears, tridents and war hammers) and benches upon which to prep for war. The two northerly rooms were full of other war accoutrements; belts, buckles, straps and so on, along with hides, leathers and studs for making armour.

As there was not much in the way of loot (except a bit more of that glowing blue seaweed and some more shells - which we pocketed just in case), we headed south again into a very large chamber with a few extra rooms in it. There were several pillars holding up the vaulted ceiling and all the walls, and floors, like the rest of the complex, were made with quality stone. The three smaller rooms contained what looked like accoutrements for leaders - there were fewer beds and benches in them, but all were in complete disarray. These side-rooms were also, strangely, not as good quality as the main rooms.

Again, finding nothing of interest, we decided to complete the circuit back to the room with the sledge hammer and caskets of seaweed. Whilst milling around trying to figure out what was going on, Drakkon, our fighter on look-out duty, thought that he heard a groaning sound coming from the southern corridor.

Navda investigated the sound and returned to us saying that there was a room to the south with several Sahuagin milling about; including a couple of types we had not encountered before, and the room had three arches leading out of it. From his vantage he couldn't see much more. We decided to go and investigate and also maybe try to find out what the groaning noise could be.

We were spotted as we got towards the end of the dark corridor, and arrows and magic began to flow in both directions. One of the Sahuagin priestesses cast a Spiritual Weapon at Gladreth, which annoyed her royally. Not messing around, she Fireballed the entire room. This had the desired effect and we were able to mop up the survivors in short shrift.

Map of the dungeon under the spire

A Prayer of Healing or two returned most of us back to full strength, so that we could explore our new surroundings. We scouted each archway to see where they might lead and followed the sound of the groaning into the northern chamber via another portcullis system.

This opened out into a long room supported by four large pillars, behind one of which was a chained up human. There was a bowl of some foul smelling brown gruel in front of him, and upon investigation we found a huge trough of the stuff in the south corner of the chamber. The man wore spectacles and had ripped trews. It turns out that he was a member of one of the previous adventuring bands sent to investigate the tower but he had been captured and tortured. We tried to Heal him so we could get him out of there, but none of our spells or potions seemed to work. However, it did take him out of his trance-like state enough to answer a few of our questions.

Apparently to the south-west there was an underwater city with hundreds of Sahuagin inhabitants led by a powerful priestess. It would need specialist underwater equipment to get there, but his comrades had managed to acquire some to which he gave us directions. Unfortunately, the rest of his party were captured or killed there.

As we felt bad for the man, we freed him from his chains and tried to move him to his feet, but a gush of black-red fluid erupted from his mouth all over Navda. The man fell to the floor - dead.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh (#26) - The Spire II

Day 61 - Continued 

Navda, our trusty rogue, was quick off the mark with a well-placed arrow-shot that brought down the first of our assailants, before the main melee was joined. Our fighters, Druss, Drakkon and Dharion, went toe-to-toe against the three remaining Sahuagin. It was a bloody affair that required the use of my Healing skills, but the fighters dominated the combat and won through quite quickly with the aid of Navda's archery skills and Gladreth's magic.

There were three exits from this chamber, and after taking a quick peek along each corridor, east, west and south, we decided to travel eastwards. Dharion set an Alarm to alert him of any being that passed through that room.

After a short while, we came across a side chamber that was different to the rest of the complex; rather than the usual very well-dressed white marble that was throughout the complex so far, this room was completely covered in dark green tiles. It contained four coffers, one of which glowed blue, and a well-worn sledgehammer. Not knowing what this all meant, we just opened the coffers and took a look at the contents. One contained a pile of white sea-shells, two contained plain green and red-brown seaweed and the blue-glowing casket contained a blue-glowing seaweed. All of the seaweed was damp to the touch but not sodden. We pocketed a small amount of each.

Inside the Spire

Whilst the rest of the party investigated the chamber, Dharion and I were supposed to be watching the corridors. Unfortunately, my attention must have been elsewhere as I completely missed seeing the true-thrown spear from the southern corridor that hit me. Three Sahuagin warriors followed straight after.

I retreated into the room to nurse my wound and the fighters stepped forward to block the entrance. Druss took the first Sahuagin warrior down very quickly and then Drakkon joined the fray. Unfortunately another Sahuagin warrior, very well armed and armoured, joined the melee from the south, and Dharion was sorely pressed in the northern part of the corridor as a few more Sahuagin warriors attacked him; for some unknown reason he missed the Alarm that he had set in the last chamber we left.

Navda, shot his trusty bow from the shadows and managed to take down another one of the warriors, and Dharion's retreat from the Sahuagin in the north part of the corridor brought him face-to-face with the armoured Sahuagin warrior. He didn't break stride as he slew the champion and joined us in the room.

The last part of the melee was a bit of a blur. I cast a Prayer of Healing on my compatriots whilst they dispatched the rest of the Sahuagin warriors: Gladreth with a series of Magic Missiles, Navda with his bow, and Druss and Drakkon with their trusty swords.

After the melee we paused to catch our collective breaths, but just as we thought that we should get out of there, the padding of feet and war cries filled the air from the south, and Dharion's Alarm screamed at him that more warriors were on their way from the north. So much for sneaking in and out unnoticed.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh (#25) - The Spire I

Last night we managed to get together to start on the next chapter of the Saltmarsh campaign. It was a two-part session as we levelled up (to 6th level) part-way through - we will most definitely need that HP and skills boost if any of our past dice rolls and luck are anything to go by.

Day 60

It was inevitable that our days of rest and recuperation would come to an end. We were summoned to a secret council meeting in the marsh where the underlying threat to the lands around us was discussed. It was a long moot session, with the local lizardman and merfolk populations also involved; hence the location. Although we were there primarily to be on guard, we did pick up on the gist of the meeting; none of the local populations were involved in this threat - it seemed, from the evidence gathered, that there was a threat from a band of Sahuagin raiders.

Day 61

Just as we thought that we would not be called upon to act in this latest kerfuffle, we were summoned by the mayor of Saltmarsh to a council meeting. The town hall was heaving with dignitaries, guards, adventurers and general members of the town, when we got there, and we were announced to loud cheers. The mayor took us off to a side room to discuss the latest plans. From the meeting held in the marshes yesterday it was ascertained that a large Sahuagin insurgency had taken up residence in the swamp to the south, and the threat needed to be observed and calculated so an appropriate reaction and defence could be formulated. We would be needed to go to the encampment, a tower in the swamplands about an hour's journey south of the marsh border, and observe enemy movements, numbers, armaments and so on and then report these details back to the council within a two day period.

After some negotiation we settled on a suitable level of recompense and requested a restock of supplies, ammunition and means of getting there. We were given all we needed as well as a crude map for directions and a keel boat with two guards to take us here.

The journey only took a few hours to get to the drop-off point, where our guides told us to return to the following day at dusk. They would not wait for us either at this point or when it came to the pick up - we would be on our own. This would give us a little over a day in which to find the tower, reconnoitre the base and return with our information.

Luckily, the map showed our path would be along a wooden walkway that headed due south through the marshlands. This made the going quite easy despite the thick mists laying around about. After about an hour, the temperature dropped quite dramatically and the fog thickened. We began to notice small lights moving through the fog in the distance that winked in and out of sight on occasion, and the muddy ground to the side of the path showed the occasional set of footprints, that could have been from Sahuagin or, perhaps, crocodiles.

It was at this point that Dharion and Navda decided to scout ahead just in case we were heard; especially me in my heavy armour. After about an hour the scouts returned. The sun was beginning to wane meaning we only had a few more hours of daylight left to get to the tower and investigate what we could. They reported that what appeared to be the tower was only a short distance away, and that the flickering lights were torches carried by pairs of well-armed Sahuagin sentries - they had worked out the sentries' patrol patterns.

The Spires of Saltmarsh

We made our plans to infiltrate the tower and, when the guards had moved away from the man entrance, we headed for the large ledge upon which the smooth stone doors were ensconced. It took our rogue, Navda, but a few moments to work out how to open the doors and we made our way safely inside. It was pitch black, so I cast Light on a number of objects to help those of us in the party without infravision to see. 

Unfortunately, the Sahuagin in the room were waiting for us and attacked without mercy. We were stunned to begin with but soon took the guards down before any of them could sound the alarm on the large gong in the room. After the melee, we moved the bodies into a corner, out of sight, and mopped up the blood. We also disabled the gong and closed the entrance doors.

The walls and floor of the inside of the tower were very well made and not as rough as the outside of the tower would have us believe. We readied ourselves again and headed to the south as that was the only way that we could see to go. Unfortunately, the way was blocked by a heavy wicker portcullis. However, there was a mechanism on both sides of the portal that allowed us to raise it high enough for us all to pass under it. A counter-weight kept it in position so it did not fall back to the ground and block the corridor again.

Map of the Spire

Just as we began to pass under the wicker portcullis, we were made aware of several more Sahuagin in the room beyond. We would be in for another fight.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh (#24) - The Isle of the Abbey V

Thursday's gaming session was a relatively short one as we managed to complete this particular campaign section. If our rolls weren't so dire in all of the other encounters prior to this session we would have got here much sooner. I have never known so many sub-5 rolls (and more 1's than pretty much anything else) in a campaign. These dire rolls meant that not only did encounters take probably three to four times as long to play out than they should have done, but we went through all of our spell slots, and had several character KO's in each session meaning we had to take so many long rests to recover. I am dreading the next part of the campaign as, apparently, the danger level ramps up for us. TPK in the first session?

Day 52 - continued

The two figures within the heat-hazed room looked like they were made of iron; a smooth round ball of a head upon broad, squat shoulders. These beings were not tall but were powerfully built. The addition of a sword and hammer in place of arms and hands made for awe inspiring enemies.

Most of us still carried injuries from the previous encounters, and we were pretty much depleted magic-wise prior to this encounter, but Gladreth, Dharion and I still, thankfully, had one or two spells left each.

The fighters stormed straight into the room and attacked the metal beings but were sorely pressed and often knocked prone due to the strength of the metal constructs. The rest of us piled on missile pressure from our bows and slings, taking small chunks out of their iron hides. The fighters hacked away and also caused many great clefts in the statues' metal skins.

On one occasion, one broke through the ring of fighters and got to the second rank where it proceeded to spin its top half to great effect; the sword and hammer causing great damage to those unlucky enough to be caught by them. A Prayer of Healing restored most of us to full health but the battle raged on.

At one point I yelled out to Gladreth to use her Magic Missiles. She cast the spell within the next few moments and the first of the constructs, the one that had begun the spinning attack, finally fell with a loud clang.

A short while later, Gladreth spotted that the second iron golem had just run its top half into a spin whilst fighting Druss and Drakkon. Thinking that it too must be close to being destroyed, she cast her final Magic Missile spell and that one also fell to the floor with a clang.

Not knowing what dangers were still lurking, Dharion and I used our last spells to heal some of those most sorely injured, whilst Navda tested all of the chests and boxes for traps. After the healing was completed and all the chests were checked, we opened them to reveal a great hoard of treasures, that included gold coins, gems, jewellery, potions, fine armour, bolts of fine silk and a wondrous Bag of Holding.

The Abbey Dungeon in full

Not knowing how much more of this dungeon lay ahead of us, we traced our steps back towards the main entrance via the northern corridor. We discovered several more traps, but this time no-one succumbed to them. We had finally searched the entire maze and rid it of all dangers.

A few days later we returned to town and claimed our 2000 Gold Crown reward from the Mariners Guild. They were happy with the job we had done and set out straight away to begin building a new lighthouse and fortress on the island.

We hung around the town's taverns and inns telling our tales of daring and generally relaxing after all the troubles we had been through. We gathered though that it would not be long before we were called upon again to rid the town of some new danger.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh (#23) - The Isle of the Abbey IV

Thursday last week, we were able to continue with the online Saltmarsh campaign. It has taken a little longer than normal to get the session written up as a lot of real life got in the way over the weekend. Anyway, on with the show...

Day 52

We rested well for the rest of the day and then overnight but everyone had a nagging feeling that things were still going to be rough for us. We retraced our steps back to the large crystal minotaur and continued to follow the southern corridor.

We wound up in a twisted maze of corridors with many more traps. Again, even though I trod as carefully as I could, I fell into a poison-spiked pit. Navda also fell foul of a trapped door that shocked him with a bolt of lightning when he tried to open it. It needed Gladreth to Dispel Magic on the door to enable us to get through it.

The other side of the door revealed a large, square chamber full of chests and scattered treasures. It was presided over, from the centre, by a jade green statue of a beautiful elf maiden.

Navda made a lasso and managed to cast it at one of the treasure chests scattered about the floor, so he would not have to enter the room to retrieve it. Unfortunately, even though his first cast was successful and he began to draw back the chest, it was too noisy and the jade statue's head turned. The elf maiden's visage turned into a hideous be-fanged vampiric demon.

Gladreth swiftly cast a Lightning Bolt at the jade being but it had little effect - maybe we should have heeded what happened to Navda when he attempted to open the door? We would be in for another tough fight again. This time I had the foresight to Bless our main fighters, which helped them in the combat. The statue was damaged severely, but not without it causing carnage on the fighters that required a Prayer of Healing to restore.

Unfortunately, the bites of this vampiric demon led to the blood of several of our party to begin to boil. Luckily Dharion and I were able to arrest its development before it caused serious issues for those affected.

With the demise of the jade demon we were able to search the room, but it turned out that all of the treasure was false - all the coins were base metal painted to look like gold and silver, and all the jewels were paste.

The open way northwards just led back to where we had come from, so we looked for another way out of the room. It had previously been affirmed by the acolyte Odim, although he had proven a liar with other things he had said, that there was a great treasure here, so we kept our hopes up that we would eventually be rewarded for our efforts.

Navda was rewarded for his efforts whilst searching the room for secret exits by finding a false door in the eastern wall. He disarmed the dart trap and opened it to reveal a corridor with a fine granite floor with golden veins running through it. We initially avoided the room directly ahead of us when we found that we could not open the door, but the door that was ajar at the southern end of the corridor looked promising.

The door was slightly ajar, so Navda and Gladreth carefully approached it. After listening intently at it for a while and checking it for traps, they pulled the door open only for the ceiling above to collapse upon them. I used up pretty much all the rest of my spells Healing them. It was only when things quietened down a bit that we began to hear a ticking sound coming from along the corridor.

A bit more of the dungeon below the ruined abbey

Navda and I thought that it may be yet another trap on some kind of timer so we advanced along the corridor as quickly as we could, narrowly avoiding another pit trap set in the south-eastern corner.

The northern end of the corridor ended at a wooden doorway from behind which we could hear the ticking sound. Navda disarmed a trap set on the door and when the portal was opened the ballista behind it was also permanently put out of use. The ticking sound came from a large clock that had a second hand that was ticking but the pendulum was not moving. Gladreth realised that the pendulum needed to be restarted in order to activate it again, so Drakkon reached out and got it back into motion.

Just as the pendulum began to swing, we heard a shout from the rest of the party still at the unopenable door that the door had actually just swung open. We hurried back to join the rest of the party and found that the chamber beyond the door contained two massive pillars. The floor was covered in bags and stuff but what mainly caught our attention, were the two shimmering figures that were moving around.