Tomb of the skeleton king

The reference map

Session 7 [4 March 2005]: (...continued)

After descending back to the third level dungeon, the party decide to explore king leoric's tomb.  They go down slowly the stairs...

In a small room (a), the adventurers find themselves faced with a closed door.  Through metal bars they could distinguish some hideous forms.  Magnus and blog goth open the doors, (b) ready for their attacks!  In the meantime sadak fires a magic missile and hits their leader, warpskull.  The cleric starts to mumble the spell to summon a celestial dog, but then a lightning bolt shot through the darkness as one of the misshapen hits the barbarian and the cleric.  A second misshapen shoots another lightning bolt directed towards the barbarian, hitting him full force, narrowly missing the cleric.  A third misshapen hits the barbarian with his lightning bolt and also the sorcerer.  A lightning bolt passes by magnus.  Sadak, wounded by the lightning bolt shoots a magical missile hitting the misshapen.  In the meantime, the celestial dog is summoned and tries to bite but the misshapen is too quick for it.  Seeing the attack was futile, its master, lysander utters a sound burst and injures all of the demons, one of them actually getting stunned.  This gives time enough for blog goth to move in and cuts down one of the misshapen forms, while cleaving his attack, his vicious axe gets damaged.  The fighter joins n the battle, injuring another misshapen.  The demon bites into the barbarian's flesh, but sadak moves closer and from his burning hands, a cone of fire leapt onto the monsters, injuring them badly.  One of the misshapen gets burnt to ash.  The cleric engages warpskull, felling him with his morningstar.  The dog attacks the last remaining misshapen, clawing him badly, while both the barbarian and the fighter launch an attack to bring the monster down, but the demon dodged their weapons easily.  As the demon opened it's mouth to bite the barbarian again, a crossbow bolt sang through the air and pierced its throat.  The creature fell dead to the ground!  Among the cadavers, magnus finds 130 gp and sadak pockets 160 gp.

Lysander cast 2 healing spells upon blog goth, since the barbarian was badly wounded from the lightning bolts.  In a small room (c), with a lever, the adventurers encounter some hungry dead and burning dead captains.  Magnus immediately cuts down a hungry dead.  Seeing this, the burning dead captains shoot with their longbows but the arrows hit the walls, missing completely their targets.  The hungry dead tries to attack the fighter too but with a mighty blow, blog goth dismembers the zombie!  Lysander casts a turn undead spell, forcing the undead creatures to cower into a corner.  Sadak shoots a crossbow bolt and injures slightly one of the skeletons, while magnus hits another skeleton.  Blog goth steps to engage one of the burning dead, taking out his flail in the process.  Lysander attacks one of the burning skeletons, wounding it, while sadak shoots it again with his corssbow.  The fighter shatters the skeleton he was engaged with.  The other burning dead swings his longsword but narrowly misses blog goth.  The barbarian in turn swings the flail and hits the skeleton, giving it a good shake.  However it resisted his mighty attack, resisting also a successful morningstar bash from lysander!  The sorcerer shoots another bolt but this time hits the dungeon wall.  In response to the attacks, the skeleton tries to wound the barbarian but blog goth defended himself pretty well.  His flail swung round missing the skeleton by mere inches!  The morningstar once again bashes the bones of the burning skeleton but it was sadak whho killed him with a shot from his crossbow.  Among the corpses, sadak unsheats a handaxe which one of the skeletons was carrying.  He also found a composite longbow in the sarcophagus.  The fighter pulls the lever and far off a door could be heard creaking open!

Blog Goth peers in the distance through metal bars... and sees a small empty corridor (d).  Magnus opens the door and he and the barbarian walk cautiously towards the other end of the corridor.  Blog goth peers again and in the large room (e), a huge army of undead emerged slowly from the darkness.  Immediately, King Leoric attacks blog goth but it was difficult to hit the barbarian through the metal bars!  The cleric starts his summoning ritual.  In the meantime, a rain of arrows was falling harmlessly around the party, being shot from burning dead captains.  Goretongue approached blog goth and attacked through the metal bars.  However goretongue gets also injured slightly from the thorns on the barbarian's leather armour.  A burning dead skeleton opens the door and finds magnus blocking it's path.  It tries to hit him but the fighter dodged the strike.  More arrows from the burning skeletons shower the fighter, one hitting him slightly in the leg.  The mage immediately strengthened his defences with an armour spell.  The fighter retreats back to the first doorway, ready to strike down anything that dares come through.  Blog goth follows his move, supporting him.  Hungry dead move along the narrow corridor, advancing towards the party.  Magnus tries to bring down one, however he missed his target and the halberd got a little damaged from the blow to the dungeon walls.  King Leoric moves in and attacks but misses the barbarian.  A blinding light suddenly lit the huge hall as a hippogriff leapt into the room.  It immediately claws one of the hungry dead, killing it instantly.  It turns to bite another, it's teeth tearing away the rotting flesh of the zombie.  The hungry dead toppled down, lifeless.  The cleric steps back, casting a spell on king leoric, dooming him.  However the spell failed.  Now arrows started to rain upon the hippogriff, wounding the summoned creature really bad!  Goretongue engages the hippogriff but could do nothing against the large creature, and as a burning death skeleton tries to approach it, the creature claws the undead.  More arrows hit the hippogriff, but it resisted them all.  Blog goth moved aside, and swung his flail at king Leoric, hitting him, wounding him badly.  by stepping to the side, blog goth moved out of the sorcerer's way, as a scorching fire erupted from sadak's hands!  most of the hungry dead in the corridor got badly injured.  Magnus too moves aside, hitting king leoric in his attack.  In retaliation king leoric tries to stab the fighter, but it proves futile.  The hippogriff claws to death another hungry dead, while its master casts a searing light spell on king leoric, injuring him badly!  Burning dead captains shoot the summoned creature, hitting with a couple of arrows, while another burning captain attacks with his sword.  Goretongue narrowly misses when he attacked the hppogriff, as more and more arrows showered the cleric's creature from the burning dead skeleton's longbows.  Blog goth hits one of the burning skeletons, while all of a sudden, magic missiles rain down upon king leoric.  The king crumbled down, lifeless.  Magnus hits the burning skeleton crushing him down instantly.  The hippogriff tries t get at some more undead but they manage to escape its terrible claws and jaws.  The cleric utters the words of the turn undead spell, some of the undead actually being affected, as they cower behind the huge tomb in the middle of the hall.  It was then that the fierce hippogriff vanished as the spell got used up... The burning dead skeletons turn to shoot the cleric, most of them hitting him and injuring him badly!  Blog goth hits another burning skeleton, while the fighter gives him another bash too.  Sadak fires another magic missile, this time upon a burning captain...

Session 8 [11 March 2005]:

Lysander drinks a full rejuvenation potion while some burning dead attack.  However the party defended themselves very well.  3 burning dead skeleton shot with their longbows from the back, hitting the mage.  Magnus and blog goth both attack the same burning skeleton, the fighter hitting him with his glaive.  The sorcerer gulps down a healing potion.  In the meanwhile the cleric advances and starts to mumble the words of a summoning spell.  A burning dead captain sees the cleric advancing and shoots an arrow at him but misses, while another skeleton does not fail to hit Lysander.  The fighter bashes again the skeleton he is engaged with but the barbarian brought it down for good.  He hit another skeleton which was nearby.  The mage drinks another healing potion.  Suddenly a celestial light fills the hall and a large creature, a hippogriff materializes out of thin air.  It attacks the nearest skeleton, clawing it badly.  The cleric turned to face the barbarian, seeing him badly injured.  He cured him lightly.  The skeletons attack the summoned creature but he shook their attacks off, but two of them managed to wound the hippogriff slightly.  The fighter and the barbarian advance onto another burning dead however he managed to avoid their attacks, while from the back, the mage shoots a crossbow bolt straight into a burning dead captain, wounding him slightly.  The hippogriff turns and claws at a burning captain, while its master, lysander, drinks a mana potion.  A burning skeleton hits the hippogriff, while another skeleton advances and as he was stringing his arrow to his bow, the fighter sees him and swerves his glaive, hitting the skeleton.  But that was not all.  The fighter attacked and wounded the skeleton in front of him, while the barbarian brought it down with a mighty swing of his flail.  The flail hit also another burning dead which was closing the distance.  From behind, sadak was continually shooting crossbow bolts, hitting one of the hungry dead.  The cleric starts to utter some words of another spell, while the hippogriff hits a burning captain.  In retaliation the captain strikes back and wounds the hippogriff.  One of the skeletons hit the cleric while he was summoning another celestial creature, while a hungry dead hit the barbarian.  However the zombie gets wounded from the massive thorns sticking out of blog goth's armor.  Magnus finishes off one of the skeletons, while the barbarian retaliates to the zombie attack and finishes off two of them, while injuring another.  Sadak advances towards a burning dead skeleton and which fury unleashes a shocking grasp upon it, which jolted its bones! In the meantime the second hippogriff materializes out of the darkness and immediately attacks and claws to death a burning dead captain.  The other hippogriff injures badly another burning skeleton with its claws, while their master, the cleric moves up and attacks, wounding another skeleton.  The burning captain hits one of the hippogriffs while the skeleton hits the cleric!  One of the remaining hungry dead attacks the other hippogriff, wounding it slightly.  Blog goth makes a quick job out of a burning skeleton with his flail, while sadak shoots a bolt straight into a zombie.  Wounded, the hippogriff crushes down the captain, while the other hippogriff tears apart the zombie in front of it.  Lysander steps back, heavily wounded.  However he mumbled the words of a curing spell, healing his serious wounds.  Blog goth attacks and injures another burning skeleton, while sadak casts a disrupt undead on another.  One of the celestial creatures injures another skeleton with a combination of claws and bite attacks, bringing it down.  Lysander hits a skeleton, as they try to surround the party.  The fighter immediately puts down one of the burning skeletons with a mighty blow of his glaive, while blog goth moves up to a column to block the way to the skeletons.  Sadak gulps down a mana potion, regaining a spell.  The hippogriff advances towards the remaining skeletons, while it's master, lysander magically cures moderately blog goth's wounds.  The undead attack, but the barbarian was ready for them, hitting a skeleton as it advanced upon him.  The hippogriff attacks goretongue, hitting him slightly.  However it got hit but the same zombie and a burning captain.   Skeletons let off their arrows, one of them actually hitting the hippogriff.  Magnus swiftly moves behind the large tomb, blocking that way, thus preventing any evil creature to surround the party.  He immediately attacks a burning dead captain however his attack proved futile.  On the other side of the chamber, the barbarian injured another skeleton, while sadak tried to disrupt one of the undead but failed.  Suddenly, lysander uttered the words of his feared "turn undead" spell, which made 4 burning skeletons scamper away in fear.  The hippogriff attacks goretongue with his claws, tearing him to pieces.  As the undead creatures advanced upon the defending party, one of the captains shot an arrow at magnus, hitting him slightly.  However he struck back, giving the captain a good bash!  The barbarian wounded deeply the skeleton he was engaged with, while sadak cast a disrupt undead upon another.  The hippogriff attacked another skeleton, wounding it slightly, while on the other side, the same captain shot another arrow, hitting the fighter again.  Magnus struck him again, wounding him more.  Sadak continued to injure the skeleton in front of the barbarian with another disrupt undead.  Lysander moved up, hitting another skeleton.  Both skeletons attack the barbarian,, wounding him really bad!  however they got themselves injured from the spikes protruding out of his armor.  The fighter hits again the archer captain, actually killing him after another bash with his glaive.  The barbarian suffered under the attacks of one of the skeletons, now joined by a burning captain!  Suddenly, he fell unconscious, struck down by the burning dead captain!  The other skeleton hits lysander.  Sadak was all the time disrupting the undead, wounding them with his spells.  Now the cleric was suffering under the continuous attacks from the burning dead!  In another attack, sadak got injured slightly from one of the skeletons.  The fighter moved up to the other side of the tomb, rejoining his comrades, filling the space left by the fallen barbarian.  He immediately attacked a burning skeleton.  Suddenly, a magical missile rained down upon the skeleton, obliterating it completely out of the mortal realm.  The fighter continues to attack, hitting another burning dead captain, which was going to shoot at him.  Magnus bent down, pouring a healing potion into the barbarian's mouth, thus stabilizing him.  however in the process he let down his guard, getting slightly hit by a sword from a skeleton.  Lysander attacked but missed to hit the skeleton, while from behind him, the mage shot another magical missile onto the burning captain.  He shot another missile upon the skeleton engaged with the cleric, with the cleric giving the undead a bash with his morningstar.  However the burning dead retaliated and wounded the cleric.  The fight was still going on, and this gave sadak enough time to imbue his crossbow with a magical spell of flurry of arrows.  In another swing of his morningstar, lysander hit again the skeleton however it resisted his attacks, striking back with equal ferocity, wounding him more.  The fighter, who in the meanwhile was engaged with the burning captain, managed to finish him off after some time, turning his attention to another.  The mage closes distance with one of the undead and shoots his crossbow.  The bolt magically split into three, hitting the burning captain with full force.  The cleric hit again the burning skeleton, while sadak was continually shooting his imbued crossbow at the skeleton captain.  At long last the cleric managed to get rid of the skeleton he was engaged in battle.  However the burning captain was too swift for the cleric and attacked him, wounding him badly.  The fighter killed the attacking captain, giving sadak enough time to read the scroll and opening a town portal to the village of Tristram.  As everyone retreated, the cleric pulling the heavy barbarian behind him, magnus defended them.  Infact he got hit from a burning dead skeleton, while another captain shot him with his flaming arrows.  Back at the town the party visited pepin for a much needed healing.  Having fully recovered their strength back, the party went down once again through the town portal.  One of the skeletons was too swift for sadak, hitting him as he got out of the portal!  The cleric cast a searing light upon the undead, however getting hit by the undead in the process.  This caused him to lose concentration and nothing happened.  The spell had failed!  Enraged, sadak cast a dragon's breath upon the skeletons, killing two immediately from the cold attack.  The barbarian attacked and hit the burning skeleton, but it was lysander who finished it off.  Finally sadak moved up to the final burning dead captain and with a shocking grasp he crushed down the bones into dust!  Among the huge pile of corpses, the fighter picked up 532 gold, a cap and a large shield, which he immediately gave to lysander.  The mage found 260 gp among the bones, a falchion, a sickle and a pair of bracers.  The cleric searched among the remains, pocketing 399 gp, picking up a light crossbow from a skeleton and rags from one of the hungry dead.  The barbarian's findings were 106 gold, a sai, a leather armor, a magical boots.  He also picked up a bone crown, which king leoric once had worn!  The returned back to Tristram to recover their slight wounds.  Deckard cain identified the magical boots as grand adventurers boots while the crown he said it was the undead crown.

Session 9 [18 March 2005]:

Sadak takes the undead crown, lysander tries on the magical boots and Magnus sheathes his newly found falchion.  After the party traded their unwanted stuff and bought new stuff, they went to the tavern to rest and regain their health.  They go down to the main chamber of the tomb, and searching the sarcophagi, the cleric finds 174 gp, Sadak uncovers a scepter and Blog goth pockets 177 gp from the last coffin.  Blog goth went over to inspect one of the crucified ones at the corners of the chamber.  By coincidence he pulled down the hanging cadaver, and a faint click was heard.  He had triggered some sort of secret mechanism!!!  He then pulled down all the hanging cadavers and a door at the back of the chamber creaked slowly open.  On the floor (f) there was a helm, a mace, a short spear, a hunter's bow, a hide armor and a short sword, all of them magical!  They open the door to another room (g) but when they open the chests both of them were empty.  There was only one door remaining to be open.  Magnus ventured forth to open it (h), and suddenly out of the darkness beyond stepped out 2 hungry dead.  The barbarian immediately stepped inside and kills one of them while badly injuring the other.  The fighter downs the other quickly.  Among the remains the cleric finds 103 gp.  Back in Tristram deckard cain reveals the magical items, the mace was Civerb's cudgel, the helm was a Fool's crest.  The others were short spear of simplicity, glass sword (which the fighter immediately destroys and keeps its glass shards), hide armor of health and monk's hunter bow.