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Into the Inner Sanctum
Darwin's Realm Campaign Journal
Session Date: January 23, 2004
Game Master: David K.
Journal Entry by David K.
Decor,
Def Lenard,
Grundall,
Hollicar,
John,
Kelson,
and Moradon
gradually woke up the next
morning after a night of deep, exhausted sleep. Most of the morning was spent gathering their
equipment that had been ransacked and scattered by the ogres while they killed the horses. A
badly wounded Hollicar silently gathered what gear of his he could find then departed without
a word. He was last seen walking inland toward the road.
After Kelson and John used their divine powers to heal
those that were wounded it was decided that the group had to get through the next door to
the dead wizard's inner sanctum. After several failed attempts the party finally broke the
wizard lock seal on the door without setting off any further traps. The adventurers
were far from out of danger, however, since a warrior mummy immediately pushed his way through
the now unlocked door and attacked the party with a vengeance.
The mummy, clad in chain and plate armor and wielding
a heavy battle axe, proved to be a difficult opponent even when weighed against the entire party.
He displayed an unnerving level of tactical sense for a type of undead normally incapable of
free thought beyond following their creator's instructions. The mummy used the close confines
of the doorways and chambers to force the adventurers into facing him one or two at a time. He
also used his considerable strength and speed to maneuver into positions that kept him out of
the line of fire for the party spell casters and limited his vulnerability to those who had
magical weapons.
The mummy was eventually put to rest but the cost was
high. At least three of the adventurers were disabled by their wounds and Ahriallen, John, and
Kelson were all depleted of their powers.
A search of the three rooms beyond the wizard locked
door yielded some items of interest. All three rooms had been engulfed in flame as indicated by
the blackened walls and piles of ash that used to be some sort of furnishings. Small pieces of
charred wood, broken glass and pieces of ceramic pottery littered the area.
One room proved to be the smithy were the dwarves were
working. It contained two anvils, one of which was broken, and a magical forge. The stone forge
held four inches worth of some sort of gravel that was red hot even though no billows, chimney,
or source of fire was present.
Some small, charred bones were found near the broken
anvil. Judging by the size and shape it was a reasonable guess that they were from the hand
or fingers of a dwarf. Also of note in this room was a hastily etched symbol scratched into
the stone side of the gravel-bed. The symbol depicted was the mark of Moradon's missing father,
an axe and hammer crossed on a shield, except that four extra symbols were also scratched into
the normally unadorned shield. Grundall made a sketch of the symbol for future reference.
The second room, the one that contained the most broken
glass and ceramic pieces, had a stone tub in one corner that seemed to have been filled with
salt water judging by the lime deposits left on the inside of the tub after the water burned
away. Also in the tub was the burned remains of a merman. His upper half was as badly burned
as everything else in the three rooms but his bottom half was not as badly burned. Presumably
he had been partially preserved from the fire by the water until it evaporated in the fire.
Under the merman was a corked, ceramic flask of the
same type that had been found previously on Morgan's men and in the ogre chief's possession.
Inside the flask was a small amount of a strong, vile smelling liquid. The flask was stored
for future investigation.
The third room of the wizard's inner sanctum yielded
nothing of interest except the remains of furnishings burned beyond recognition.
The party decided to spend another night in the lair
since they were so weakened and they wouldn't reach town until well after nightfall anyway.
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