Empty Halls and Avenging Ghosts Report

Deepwinter 1

2022-11-02

After three days at Mav Mayot, the Venatore recovered their strength, with some magical help from Abebane, and headed back to the Temple. Working their way back to the third dungeon level, they still had two of the four iron padlocked doors to investigate. The third door led into a fully stocked kitchen area which showed signs of use. Further up the hallway another fountain filled with somewhat questionable water lay opposite a doorway. Beyond the door was a lavish bedchamber, plastered with signs of decadence and depravity. As the entered, the room's temperature dropped and a weird mumbling began before a ghost manifested casting a spell. Rudy, Rostam, Balan and Adrea were all in the room and within the spell's circle, feeling the cold necrotic grip of the void. Luckily they had entered this room refreshed and at their best, and it wasn't enough to slay any of them.   Crasokk immediately opened fire with his longbow as Adrea moved in to attack. Elyot's magic missiles tore into the spectral warlock while the rest of the companions attacked in fury. The ghost reached out to drain Adrea's life force, but was unable to strike. It never got a second chance.   Searching the ghost's valuables, the companions found a coral scrolcase holding a small note which read:     The corridor continued around several corners to a dining hall. Its furnishings well-made but not overly so. Any valuables had been stripped from the room.   The fourth bound door opened into a corridor heading north-west. After a few twists and turns the northern corridor split into three. A door ahead to the north, and northeast and northwest passages. Choosing the northwestern corridor, the Venatore found an old trophy room and a looted storeroom. The trophies in the room seemed more nostalgic than valuable, although some minor treasures were sprinkled among the more grisly trophies.   The northern door opened into a long east-west scriptorium. Just north of the door a rocky pillar seemed out of place. Splitting up to investigate, the companions were surprised when the column came to life and shot rope-like tendrils out at the companions it could see. Rudy was able to strike it first, though Adrea's first strike bounced off its rock-like skin. Unfortunately, this opened Rudy up to a tendril, and the thing tried to reel her in to its maw. Elyot was able to misty step away from its reach while continuing to attack its mind. Crasokk used his magical ring to ram the creature, hitting it perfectly while Rostam blasted it with eldritch energy.   Adrea took point while Balan stood behind her with the greater reach of his flaming guan dao, Balathar's Breath. Everyone trapped by the roper's tendrils managed to free themselves until the creature flailed out again with its multiple tendrils. Elyot finished the monster off with her magic missiles.   The scriptorium was only the front (southern) section of a massive magical laboratory, with materials and equipment enough for at least two fully-stocked labs. Two alcoves in the east were storerooms, and while the northern alcove was typical, the southern alcove held a corpse, atop a table in the middle of a protective circle. Not getting too close, the companions could see the sewn-up scars circling the corpses head. One of its legs was that of a bugbear, while one of its arms was gray and stony, like that of a gargoyle.   Even with multiple bags of holding, there were a lot of valuable reagents and equipment here. Choosing not to take the lab equipment, the companions focused on the valuable reagents, and enough magical ink for Elyot and the other wizards at Mav Mayot, to scribe many, many spells.   Back to the three-way intersection, the Venatore moved up the last, northeastern corridor. The corridor split and led to two rooms. One was a laboratory storeroom with basic supplies, chalk, oil, charcoal, bottles, flasks, etc. Though none of the materials were valuable enough to pack. Many of the boxes and crates were opened and more than a few were empty. Near the storeroom, a southern door led to a short hallway ending in a stairway up.   The second chamber was another magical laboratory, and possibly a summoning chamber. Inscribed on the floor were permanent protective circles and a teleportation circle. As the companions looked around the room, Elyot inscribed the sigil sequence for the teleportation circle into her notes. The most valuable thing in the chamber, beyond the teleportation sequence, were pounds of precious metals in both powders and chunks.   While they seemed to come to a dead end, Adrea was certain they missed something and pressed her companions on to checking the corridors for secret doors and chambers.   Back in the western corridor, they found one such door, leading to a small shrine. The walls and floors were layered in black stone, but the altar was draped in gold-colored cloth. A silver lamp was alit on the altar and a silver holy symbol hung from the wall behind. A small statuette of Apollo stood on a display in the northern alcove. Being a cleric of the Olympians, Adrea noted that it was odd to use silver in a shrine to Apollo, gold was his preferred metal.   Searching for yet another secret door, the companion found a hexagonal room sheathed in black stone. A skeleton may near the secret door, a black iron coffin the only contents. The coffin's lid was skewed and inlaid with a silver cross. A forgotten scrollcase lay atop it.   The scrollcase contained a spell scroll of two spells enhancing one's strength, the other scroll contained the message, "Let the Good ones use their newfound strength to seal in the horror of darkness to prove their faithfulness to right and justice. We who wrote this lacked the power to do so."   That was when Elyot, always the librarian, noticed something odd. The word Good was capitalized in this note, and Evil was capitalized on the scroll in the coral scrollcase. "On three, in six, lies nine" could mean they were on the third level, in a six-sided room. "Vile Good cloaked by Fair Evil for eternity" implied illusion magic hiding a source of good. Taking the time to detect magic, the vampiress was cloaked in illusion. Dispelling the illusion, her features transformed to a woman wearing an older uniform. Adrea, being from Sarten, identified it as an antiquated commander's uniform from the Queen's personal guardians, the Gendarmes.   Pulling the figure out of the room, she began to awaken. She introduced herself as Nova Crystallis, commander of the Queen's Gendarmes. Adrea had grown up on stories of Nova. It was said that she and her adventuring team had uncovered the plot to destroy Arvanor and were able to defeat the infiltrators and close the cities gates just before the hobgoblin armies attacked. She had discovered that this was all plotted by a cult known as the Daughters of Erythnul, demon lord of hate and bloodshed. The last thing she remembered was being on the trail of one of the Daughters, named Hedrada, who was rumored to be consolidating another base in the hills north of Brineven.   Nova began to recover her strength as she gauged the Venatore. A skilled warrior would have noticed that she was careful to keep her distance when possible and was prepared for attack. She asked about her rapier, Farslayer, and when she called it, what appeared to be the silver cross imbedded on the coffin shook free of its bonds and its own illusion and flew to her hand as a rapier.   Fascinated by the weapon, the companions asked of it and Nova shared that Farslayer was one of the twelve Swords of the Gods, crafted by Hephaestus. Farslayer was the Sword of Artemis and had chosen Nova during one of her adventures.   Escorting Nova to the surface, they gave her directions to Brineven City and also to Mav Mayot, hoping to see the rescued hero again.