Session 35

The following morning, the group set out to the north in search of Lillandra. About two hours into their searching, Sir Didymus discovered indications of wolves in the area. They had found what they were looking for. They followed the tracks to the east through the Keelram Woods for another hour until at last they arrived a small clearing. In the stone-covered clearing, they saw the ruins of an ancient keep overgrown with vines and time. The remains of siege engines and broken stones were scattered everywhere. This was Dordington Stronghold. The tracks led right into the courtyard of the keep, but the Party held back in the treeline.   Typhon released his familiar, Hootie, to scout the area before the group advanced. Almost immediately, Hootie spotted a pair of dire wolves laying in the keep lazily. The Party crept around to find a better vantage point and Typhon launched a fireball into the center of the courtyard remains. Tree branches and stone flew all over the place as one of the wolves was killed outright. The other dire wolf rolled on the ground, quickly smothering its burning hide. It turned to the Party and charged. Sir Didymus and Bloodbane finished off the best with an arrow and a javelin. The massive creature came crashing down into the ground with a thunderous boom.   The group entered the seemingly deserted ruins, searching for any signs of activity. Sir Didymus noticed one of the the torches on the wall looked off somehow. He went to examine it and when he gave it a tug the floor opened up revealing a spiral staircase leading into a dark crypt beneath them.   The group proceeded carefully, with Typhon illuminating a small object for Sir Didymus, Kasras, and Parker Adams to use as a light. As soon as they arrived at the bottom, they were immediately beset upon by a pair of werewolves. Kasras fired the first shot, his silver tipped arrow tearing into the beast's body. Sylrieth cast polymorph on herself, transforming herself into a giant ape and then smashing the other werewolf into a bloody pulp. Sir Didymus attempted to engage the remaining creature, but was bitten and had to withdraw. Bloodbane was able to successfully cut the creature down with several swings from Ravager, his mighty battleaxe.   While Vigwalin raised a zombie from the defeated werewolf, Bloodbane gave the newly infected Sir Didymus about half of a waterskin's worth of the lycanthropy cure. Alas, this had no effect and the ranger vomited some of the concoction due to the sheer volume of it. Sylrieth remained in her giant ape form and held on to the halfling while the rest of the group proceeded to explore.   Vigwalin and Typhon entered a hallway to investigate the next door. Halfway down,Vigwalin noticed some odd markings on the ceiling. Typhon instantly recognized it as a glyph of warding and was able to dispell its magic. Bloodbane listened closely at the door and heard a dripping sound on the opposite side of the door. He realized there was something there. He pushed the door open anyway. In that instant, a black pudding dropped from the ceiling and attacked the half-orc barbarian. Bloodbaned hacked and slashed with his axe, but it only made the ooze split into smaller entities. As the group retreated from the hallway, Bloodbane continued to do his best to stave off the entity, but the creature kept dividing with each successful swing. Once they were out of the narrow passageway, Typhon was able to finish it off with a spell.    The group searched the room - an ancient tomb with three sarcophagi with strange symbols carved into them. Typhon recognized the language but was unable to read it. It belonged to the Phasnosh Civilization and was similar to what he had read while in the Byrne estate. Typhon searched through the tombs and found a key hidden in a compartment under the lid of one of the sarcophagus lids. The rest of the crypt lay before them, along with whatever horrors lay within...