A return to the Barrowmaze

Joell had ventured into the Barrowmaze along with Mac and some other adventurers and was so excited by the prospect of more loot that he talked everyone else into heading in again, though Gorlock spent some time gambling (and winning, for once!) and Greeba recruited another assistant (a delicate-looking half-elf, more's the pity). So, they headed in, bringing along Ted, Mac's half-brother, who always seemed to be smoking...something. And Liam, a halfling that Ted was well acquainted with.

The weather was surprisingly good and they made their way through the forbidding area with little trouble. They neared one barrow (33) with human boot tracks outside, already open. Inside they find an open sarcophagus with a mummy lying face down on the ground nearby it. Taking no chances, they torched the mummy. Gorlock with his jeweller's eye, spies a fancy ring (530 gp) and grabs it.

They continue on to a still sealed barrow (38) and Eamon gets to work.  It was a narrow crypt 10' wide by 40' long. Gorlock sent in Tiff with a light and she reported back that the floor was made of metal plates and, on the far end, was a dias with a golden urn. Above the golden urn was a jewelled horn. Inspecting closer, they found elemental symbols etched onto the floor and faces carved into the wall--the mouths like blow holes. As they were discussing how it felt like a warning against air, perhaps, Eamon decided to step onto the plate marked with the air elemental symbol. Darts flew from the mouths, but he was able to narrowly avoid being poisoned. Joell attempted to prod the plates, and not getting a reaction the second time, chose to also step on the air plate while everyone (other than Eamon) reacted with some horror. Darts again flew, but he too was luckily not stricken down by poison which would have surely killed him immediately. He then stabs his javelin so hard at the next set of metal plates that he breaks it.

Before any more traps could be sprung, Gorlock cast flight upon Eamon, who then flew across and grabbed the golden urn (500 gp). He passed it to Nathia and then went back for the golden horn. He and Gorlock examined it and found it looked like a Nar Horn of the Dead, which could summon undead warriors.

Retreating from the barrow, they continue on to another sealed one (37) to the northeast. This one was marked with the skull symbol of Nurgal, but that did not deter Eamon from getting the door open. Inside was a large chamber with skeletal statues flanking the entry. Three piles of rubble marked places where bits of the barrow had collapsed. A throne with an ancient warrior sat upon it was at the other end, along with three chests.

As they were inspecting it, Ted had a thought and reached into his pack. "Blurb! My druid friend! Been meaning to give this to you. Thought you could use it." He gives the firbolg an amulet marked with the face of Herne the Hunter (which grants +1 level one spell slot to a druid or nature cleric). Blurb clapped his friend on the back and put it on.

Liam decided it would be good to send in Marlon the rat to inspect the room. The rat found nothing in the debris piles and was still sniffing around when Gorlock sent poor Tiff into the room with instructions to poke the skeletal warrior on the throne in the nose. He immediately came to life and swiped at the poor sprite, but happily did not crumply-dumply her. He creaked to his feet, but that was not all that happened. Dust and debris swirled around and formed the figure of a Barrow Abomination in the room. It was a foul thing, and large. It eyed them balefully.

Gorlock cast Shadow of Moil, covering himself in shadow. Marlon, sensing where things were going, hightailed it out of the barrow, followed by Tiffany (who was doubtless cursing Gorlock internally). Nathia went the other way and attacked the abomination. Liam, hiding behind Eamon, attacked with his magical shortbow -- a deadly attack that shattered one of the skulls the creature was made from. Greeba, not to be outdone, wallops the creature with a blow so wild that it staggered back.

The skeletal warrior strode forward with a rattle and attacked Nathia, hitting her a solid blow. Ted, with a grin, pulled out his wand of magic missiles and sent a barrage of them at the warrior. It seemed things were well in hand...but then the abomination made a whirlwind attack, hitting everyone within 20 feet. Nathia, Blurb, and Joell, all fell. Even Arnor felt the sting of it's attack, though his horror was more on seeing the goliath fall. 

Eamon, still up, managed to stun the enemy, but then he ran, not willing to chance another attack like the last. Arnor hit the abomination a heavy blow and then misty stepped to Nathia's fallen form, straddling over her to try and protect her. 

Gorlock, following Eamon's lead, blasted the abomination and then ran for the stairs. Nathia, though she could feel Arnor's presence above her, felt herself weakening. Liam killed the abomination with a well placed attack and Greeba went after the skeletal warrior, but was not able to kill it before it went after Nathia, hitting her even with Arnor trying to block him. The goliath breathed out her last. Ted, his trusty wand in hand, was able to take out the warrior, but looked in horror at the fallen. 

Arnor, hoping that the paladin had some healing that could help, ran to Joell and fed him a potion of healing. Gorlock, remembering that Nathia had bought a diamond on their last visit to Helix for this very purpose, rummages in her belt pouch and casts revivify on her, the diamond shimmering and then disappearing. Arnor gives him a bone crushing hug, briefly marking up the warlock's fancy clothes, but they immediately repair themselves to their former glory.

As Nathia, Blurb and Joell catch their breath, the rest find much treasure:

• 6,340 gp in a chest
• very large gemstones in another: azurite (910 gp), moonstone (725 gp), lapis lazuli (875 gp), and a stupendous aquamarine (1,200 gp)
• A +2 greatsword glowing with a greenish ghostly light (Joell) on the skeletal warrior
• and jewellery in the last chest: an ornate clasp (650 gp), a buckle (1,075 gp), brooch with a black pearl (1,025 gp), coral band (660 gp), necklace with jade (950 gp)

(they pledge to split it all once they return to Helix: 1,930 gp each with previously collected items)

Gorlock, seeing the state of his friend, loans Blurb his periapt of wound closure. After a rest, they continue on to another barrow (40). The doors here were made of bronze, covered in verdigris. Two statues with bejewelled eyes greet them. Tiffany, doubtfully, pokes them, but they do not move. Liam inspects them closely and sees some ancient Nar runes. He manages to translate them with Greeba's help: "He who would blind me, be blind in turn." They decide to leave the gems where they are.

Inside the barrow they find a suspicious set up. A dab of wax with a scarab symbol and the door roped and locked from the inside. A sarcophagus was the only thing there. Liam inspects it and finds it is also marked with a scarab imprint. Jackals are engraved on the walls. 

Arnor and Greeba open the sarcophagus. Inside is a skeleton with a golden crown. Arnor hears a scuttling sound. Tiffany, probably really annoyed, follows Gorlock's orders and pokes the skeleton. Nothing happens. Liam uses his mage hand to try and get the crown. Two scorpions skritch out and attack.  Greeba makes short work of them. Liam checks out the golden crown (600 gp) and sees that it has an inscription to Myrkul on it. 

Ted tries to extract poison from the dead scorpions and manages to get some from one, narrowly missing being poisoned himself by the other. 

Opening another door, they find an altar with four black urns, also seemingly dedicated to Myrkul. Tiffany flies around and determines that three contain ashes, but the last has silvery gold coins. Liam lifts the coin filled one with his mage hand, but it is too heavy and settles back down. Too late -- needles shoot from the walls, but luckily miss everyone. Eamon break dances into the room, lithe and rhymically, and manages to get the jar out. Inside they find 900 electrum pieces (450 gp).

They continue on to another barrow (41). This one was dry inside and hid a round room with four pillars. Strangely, there was a boat with a warrior or king's body wearing a fancy helm and surrounded by piles of treasure and chests. All of it glowed with a light blue shimmer, especially the helm, which had a cold, frosty light. The dead man clasped a dagger in one hand and a pot of coins with the other. 

Eamon hit the body and the blue shimmering light vanished! But the treasure was not treasure; it was mimics! Six of them that had been held there in a stasis field, now dissipated by Eamon's blow. Arnor, not entirely surprised by this, manages to kill one quickly. In a Battle of the Loot, Eamon and Arnor find themselves grappled by boxes and crates. They manage to subdue all the mimics in the end in a strange and surreal battle. 

Liam quickly leaps in to the boat and takes the +1 dagger, exclaiming he'd been looking for just such a thing. Eamon takes the helm, which turns out to be a Helm of Frost Resistance. Joell finds a +2 Hand Axe that deals an extra +2d6 damage to spell casters. And they count up 75 platinum pieces (1000 gp) in the jar.

As they are dividing and counting things up, they hear a noise from above. Hungry crocodiles! Ridden by a crocodile-like creature: Droggle, whom Ted and Liam recognise. They manage to talk Droggle into feeding his hungry family the dead mimics (slightly chewy) and Liam casts an illusory stone door to slam shut in their face. The crocodiles wander off, appeased. 

Eagle-eyed Liam eyes a bricked up bit of wall and Arnor breaks it down with one mighty blow (probably some pent up anger issues). Inside are two stone sarcophagi, perhaps brothers of the King from the boat. "Er, Greeba, perhaps you too would like a weapon with some reach?" asks Nathia, and passes the half-orc a +1 glaive. 

Blurb casts moonbeam upon one of the undead mummies, while Eamon attacks. Ultimately, one disintegrates in the moonbeam while Liam takes out the other with his new dagger. They find a type of gem that starts with a "ch" that Nathia can't spell (100 gp) and a silver scarab with a carving of a dung beetle. Gorlock inspects it and determines it to be magical, but as he touches it, it attunes to him and he finds himself cursed! He can only move slowly and half as much as he used to. Liam kindly casts Tensor's floating disk for the warlock to ride upon. 

They head southwest to another barrow (30) near some willow trees. As they try to break in, six giant horned beetles, attracted by the noise, attack. Blurb immediately summons help in the form of a bear and three wolves. They dispatch all the beetles. Wisteria, who had been wandering the area looking for them, finds them, exchanging some pointed looks and words with Ted and Liam, though the rest weren't sure what was going on. There were accusations of impersonation and evil? Bugbears?

Once they break in, they find bas reliefs of the Elder God of Rot: Imperax. There are images of vulture heads holding eyeballs in their mouths. Four stone slabs held mummies, with a bowl of coins in front of each. Tiffany poked one and turned black, crumbling into dust. Nathia looked to see if Gorlock had a reaction, but he seemed remarkably unconcerned. She mused once again to herself that warlocks were another breed entirely and not understandable.

They talk amongst themselves, trying to recall any relevant history that might help and determine that Imperax was a god of pestilence and disease, so it would make sense that any of his followers be riddled with nastiness. But, it did not seem like something that would stretch to the coin, so Liam used his mage hand to carefully empty them into his sack (140 platinum pieces). They back out of the room and Nathia uses a javelin to bolt the door shut just in case. 

The next room was full of bottles and jars and much clutter. Blurb discovered, happily, a jar of Keoghtom's Ointment which still had four uses inside as well as five pouches of magical dust -- 3 of one kind, and 2 of another, but he wasn't sure what type it was. 

An ornate door led to a round chamber with a sarcophagus. A sinister figure rose up. "Welcome priestess of Myrkul," he said, "Why have you disturbed my rest?"

Wisteria, who had been stewing over the excuses she felt she was hearing from Ted (and Liam, who had been hiding very studiously from her), greets the figure warmly and before they know it, has explained to him that the rest are there to rob him and should be driven out. The former priest immediately attacks, turning his gaze of insanityf upon all within 30' of him, other than Wisteria. As his gaze fell on Arnor, Nathia cried out, "You can resist him!" and the Shadowfey did manage to keep his wits about him. In fact, he managed to kill the priest. 

Wisteria, still mad at the actions of those who had impersonated her and killed some of Myrkul's followers, tries to shank Ted, but he manages to stop her. Liam keeps to the shadows. 

Eamon, unconcerned by any shivving or shanking, inspects the sarcophagus. He finds 3 fragile amphori worth 600 gp each for 2400 gp total) and very carefully stores them in his bag of holding. They also find assorted clerical scrolls that Wisteria takes:

• protection from poison
• create undead
• control water
• control weather

Behind the last door they find a plethora of books and scrolls dedicated to Imperax. Suddenly inspired by the sight, Wisteria decides to bring back worship of the god. After searching, she finds a text with training instructions for new priests, the perfect thing to start with (worth 600 gp). 

The rest had been standing around, wondering at this turn of events. Liam and Eamon, perhaps fearing what might happen if Imperax were returned, stare meaningfully at each other than then pour a flask of oil and attempt to torch the library. Wisteria is unable to stop the blaze, though Eamon grabs a few random books to send back to his temple to be studied. As they flee, the library burns merrily behind them.

They return to Helix, where they are met by cloaked figures, who ask Wisteria if she was able to avenge the deceased Myrkul necromancers. She smiles fiercely, declaring she will take care of things.

Nathia decides to never get on her bad side. Ted, for his part, seems slightly smitten.

Total XP for everything: 2,633