December 12, 2017 Session

Setup

The session begins with the party assessing their potential courses of action as they reexamine the structures on the floor of the Vale of Alluria. Ser Shadow leaves the party to return to Highbridge, unwilling to face the dangers likely to lay ahead. For a moment, echoes of Bakdor Hammerwang's voice echo through the night as if he is approaching. As time passes though, only the occasional growl of large cats in the Black Forest dusk break the silence until a shout from Corliss as he dives from ridge surrounding the vale into the waterfall's plunge pool. As Corliss rises from the water, a Displacer Beast emerges from the gloom.

The Beastie Attacks

After a moment's standoff while the cat-shaped beast and the party size each other up, the cat leaps forward, blurring as he slashes and swipes at Corliss with two massive tentacles emerging from behind its shoulder blades. Quickly, the party falls into action. /wiki/spaces/CAM/pages/74285137 takes point, fending off the attacks of the beast. Rhagal emerges and reemerges from the shadows, each time stabbing at the flanks of the cat. Corliss and Yornan buff the party before descending upon the beast from behind. The tactics work well and the Displacer Beast is felled after a short but fierce battle.

As night has fallen by the end of the battle, the party makes camp in the vale and waits for morning.

Descent into the Tomb

The next morning, the party begins by descending down the stairs through the tomb entrance built into the valley wall. Gronth is leading the way and immediately triggers a trap at the foot of the stairs. A wooden fence falls from the ceiling separating Gronth from the party and two skeletons leap from the darkness. Gronth destroys each with a single blow before the party can force its way through the barrier. The room at the foot of the steps is filled with empty and overturned coffins and two stone sarcophagi, but whatever bodily remains they must have housed is long gone. The only notable fixture in the dank room is a polished white stone door that stands in contrast to the rough stone walls. The door itself is almost perfectly smooth with the exception of four slight depressions in the center arranged in a diamond pattern.

The party remembers the four gems that they had seen in the cistern on the valley floor. They head back to aboveground and peer down the cistern, seeing four large gems about twenty feet down. The cistern is approximately six feet in diameter, so the party sends Corliss down, sitting in the bucket used to draw water from the cistern, with a second rope tied around his waist. The bard scoops up the four gems, but as he is being raised back out of the water, a serpent that had previously been invisible wrapped its body around Corliss and began constricting. The party quickly pulled Corliss from the water and with varying degrees of concern about his safety, smote the serpent with the flat of an axe and the well-placed strikes of a rapier. A combination of skill and luck led to the serpent's death without additional damage to Corliss.
Image above the high table in 
the great hall in the Vale.

With the gems in hand, one each of emerald, sapphire, ruby and diamond, the party remembered the image that appeared painted in the great hall. The placed each of the gems in the depressions in the door, aligning the color of the gem with the position of each of the images representing the four elements. Upon successful placement of the gems, the door slid open. Quickly, the party jammed pieces of wooden coffin under the door to jamb it in place. A sarcophagus was also dragged over to prevent the door from closing. The party then stepped into the final chamber.

The Final Chamber

At the far end of the chamber, weeping and hunched over in a small chair, sat an emaciated figure. Upon noticing the party, he stood, blaming the party for having destroyed his last remaining memories, imploring them to explain why they had done so. The figure itself, upon standing, appeared to stand over six-and-a-half feet tall, was so ancient as to defy description, and looked fragile enough to be broken in half by a single strong blow. Surprisingly also, he appeared to sport the pointy ears that inhabitants of The Riding associated with those whose blood contained sufficient traces of elven blood.

Upon being asked what this room was, the fragile being explained that it was the tomb of Alluria the Huntress, one of the twelve children of Lathander but that she died and he had never been able to recover and return her body to its intended final resting place. A sharp quip from Gronth ("Was she hot?") enraged the speaker, who revealed himself as the necromancer responsible for the Vale. A quick blast from Gronth's Minor Ring of Wind Gusts was sufficient to unbalance the ancient spellcaster and gave Gronth the opportunity to rush forward and attack. The necromancer was unable to respond, but his two zombie pumas leapt forward to intercept the charging dwarf. Soon after, the necromancer himself cast Witch Bolt on Gronth, and a horrible blast of force lightning stretched from him to his target, arcing and spitting and it discharged its electric current.

The remainder of the party replied by attacking. As Yornan kept them healthy, Rhagal and Corliss attacked the undead pumas from behind, killing each. Gronth concentrated on the necromancer and despite continuing to absorb the on-going damage from the Witch Bolt, eventually reduced the ancient spellcaster to the edge of death. At this point, the necromancer Aerni pleaded for his life, but Gronth's heart was hardened and he split the necromancer from head to groin with a single, final blow of his two-handed axe.

The party collected the magic items that they could find in the tomb complex, winding up with a small wand, a doorknob, a porcelain bowl, a dagger, and a bow lifted from the empty coffin intended for the body of Alluria. A folio of papers discussing an ancient battle between elves and orcs were also retrieved. As the party left, they also pried the large gems from the door to the final chamber, causing the stone door to slide almost shut. The sarcophagus in the doorway was crushed, only the flat plane of one side of the stone structure turned out to be able to resist the closing, and its presence kept the door from sliding the final six inches shut.

Aftermath

Upon arriving in Overtown, the party headed to The Rusty Spigot to plot their next move. The knew they had to return to The Last Chance with Ser Shadow's portion of their haul, but wanted to identify each of the magic items before making any decisions. Some negotiations between Corliss and Grenn the Bartender - which Corliss promised to keep secret - turned out to be fruitful. Grenn offered up  the location of a shop - Good Sundries in the The Artificer's District in The Narrows of Highbridge - where the proprietor could identify the items. as well as free ale and rooms for the night if Corliss performed.

Grenn shooed the house band, Orc Vomit, off stage and Corliss got on stage to perform. A slight moment of stagefright and a different musical style threatened to turn the regular crowd of The Rusty Spigot against Corliss, but Gronth yelled out to play "Poopy Poopy Sit Shit". Without a clue as to what that was, Corliss improvised lyrics and a tune and won over the crowd with his stellar playing and a series of crude but humorous lyrics.

The party decided against getting completely drunk and retired to their rooms above with the intention of getting their items identified in the morning.