The Tomb of Ervaril II and The GEARS Central
Party:
♦ Alvana (deva avenger)
♦ Barrus (bugbear rogue)
♦ Elessar (goliath barbarian)
♦ Hakumen / Vornafein (drow assassin)
In the midst of the scene described above, each character tried to make their way inside, slowly uncovering what each of the traps did. Alvana stood behind, somewhat apprehensive of the initial jump over the spiked pit trap. Luckily Elessar helped her over, by extending her a rope and pulling her while she made the jump, and she was safely in the middle of the room, from where she spotted a few loose stones in one of the walls. Heading there to investigate, past one of the fire braziers which had been disabled, she found the entrance to a control room, and just in the nick of time, as Vornafein had been tossed into acid, and Barrus was struggling with the treasure he felt compelled to bury himself in. She disabled the traps in the room, and then slowly disarmed the traps in the entire tomb. In the control chamber there were also some treasure parcels, potions of regeneration which we split amongst ourselves, gold, and a scabbard with a large bastard sword which Barrus immediately claimed.
Also in the chamber in one of the chests we found the sealed Spellbook of Ervaril. The party rested here, tending to their wounds and diseases, before heading out of the tomb.
Outside of the tomb the forces of The Shadow awaited once more, though disconcertingly, this time they were Spider League Drow, like Hakumen, who also had a black dragon tattooed as a sign of allegiance to The Shadow.
. ___ . - ♦ - . __ ...--.--- ♦ ---.--... __ . - ♦ - . ___ .
The party then met the legate, Lilianne Caelys and Gloaming Guard Captain Varlanna who were thankful that we had recovered The Book of Ervaril, and tasked us with urgently finding Archmage Pynar in the GEARS Academy in Griffin’s nest, who would know how to use the book to save our friend. The Shadow had been spotted and was looking for something.
Due to a notice of intruders, all the compound’s laboratories were under lockdown. We use one of the floor maps in the lobby to locate Pynar’s room, and also spot a staircase going towards the lower levels. The archmage’s tower was relatively easy to reach, using an elevator which we first had to fix. In her chamber, Eveline lied at her desk almost dead. She told us that Rhakka was kept in stasis in A51 Laboratories, and that she was not certain what The Shadow was searching for, but with her dying breath begged us to keep the Book of Ervaril safe. In Pynar’s office, we found a key with a symbol which resembled the arcane markings on the Book of Ervaril, a master key to open locked down doors.
On the trek down, into the lower levels of the academy, we almost stumbled upon the Shadow, but thankfully we were able to sneak into a hiding place before he spotted us. It became apparent that he came into GEARS to look for the book, and finding that it was not with any of the archmages, turned into his dragon shape and left the compound.
After an urgent search, we found a passageway marked A51. The first chamber of it was guarded by undead creatures, no doubt The Shadow’s lingering forces. We dealt with an Undead Hulk, a giant undead who acted twice as fast as any of us in combat, could phase, and was insubstantial, but also some burning skeletons, essentially a similar combat to that in the Tomb of Ervaril. The chamber that followed was heavily trapped and not even our master key could help us disable the traps without experiencing them head-on. There was a spike trap, a loose tile, but most spectacularly, 2 braziers which were shaped like female statues, which released gas in a small opening around their bellybutton, while the tiles directly below it sparked continuously with a very low flame. Putting the two together, we had an almost impenetrable wall of fire (which Barrus failed to disable). Elessar braved the flames and opened the next door, which thankfully stopped the blaze. The next room was a summoning chamber, with runes of binding on the floor, and The Shadow’s creatures were trying to break down the door to our right, as we entered. Due to the arcane fluctuations in the room, mindless wisps appeared in the room. The combat was difficult, Alvana making use of all her resources aginst the undead monster that stood before her, including banishing the creature with her sword. The fight left Barrus and Elessar infected with Mummy Rot, but we managed to successfully clear the room.
That evening, Vornafein died from foul rotting, having struggled with the disease alone throughout the perilous adventure.
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