Before them sat a ghastly beast of a man, stretched and mangled with ropey filaments of flesh from each wound, with ghostly apparitions sprouting from its tears like steam from the kettle. A true monstrosity that seemed more dead than alive. But make no mistake, it was very much alive, and in intense suffering.
This abomination towered above the party, with an obvious power far greater than what this group was willing to face, yet despite it’s overwhelming appearance, there was one soul brave enough, or foolish enough, to try and approach it. Klaatu, “Tongue of Tongues and Three-Pint drinker” came to the beast, to speak with it. And to the surprise of many, it responded.
The creature was once called Argyle, a being that lost itself within these tombs and experienced a terrible fate that it warned they may face if they continue. What was once fear and hostility slowly replaced itself with pity for the entity, and Hurass was tempted to try and help it with the use of his protection charm, but that only seemed to further agitate the spirits that inhabited it, as they began to cut and stab at its flesh with spears and swords. It was deemed best to leave the monstrosity be. They obviously weren’t helping, and if that thing were to become aggressive at their actions, it would surely attack. And the last thing anyone wanted, was something like that to attack them.
The party left…only for something like that to soon attack them.
With Hurass having used his protection charm to dispel a spirit that entered Klaatu, the party was left with no means of warding away the colossus that began charging at them through the hall. Propelled by its gangly limbs there was no feasible means of outrunning it, leaving them only able to brace themselves for the upcoming assault.
This creature made it abundantly clear how lucky the party was, that Argyle did not choose to fight.
Immediately it had ripped away at Berehal’s leg, leaving a gored stump of flesh in its place. Thankfully however, the party found a way to narrowly avoid the encounter with no lives lost, thanks to Hurass who did an overwhelming amount of the work involved in slaying it, and Oogi, who shot a couple of arrows and was happily prepared to take most of the credit.
With the party’s mobility handicapped by their now legless companion, they made the choice to return to the entrance-way leading downward, as the fountain is still available, and if they can reach it, Berehal could grow a new leg. With the time that had past, they had hoped that Argyle had left, which he did, so they finally descended into the deeper depths of the tomb. They had safely arrived, and after slowly feeding Berehal the sweet nectar of the crocodile, his leg began to slowly grow back.
As it begins to regenerate however, Argyle had wandered into to the doorway. What was once a sorrowful face that could be conversed with was now overtaken by a blind fury that the party knew would lead to their demise, so desperate to pretend death wasn’t staring them in the face, Halthor and Jolly slammed the door shut, pushing against it to keep Argyle out. Despite Argyle’s thunderous banging, the two of them were able to keep him from entering, but as they continued their efforts another figure passed through the room.
Hope began to fade from the party as they expected another monstrosity to enter, but thankfully as a mysterious woman entered the scene, she had made it clear that she had wished them no harm. She was merely some form of witch that entered the Tomb in search of a hidden sorcery that could be learned from the Brain-Grimoire that hid within the complex. To learn of the dark arts was tempting for some, but she had told those tempted that these arts are “not for the weak”, though Jolly may have had potential. She had then taken her leave, and with Argyle only being able to give an exasperated roar before leaving as well, the party continued along the walls of a massive dark room to their destination; the room with the skull pillars.
With everything they’ve gone through, it would be no surprise for the lever to open a trap door filled with acid, or for spikes to fall from the ceiling, but despite their concerns, Halthor pulled the lever, revealing a secret compartment with more silver and jewels than they could have imagined. A haul, so great that they had to begin leaving some of their possessions behind just to carry the wealth that they had come across. Finally, after all of their time and effort, they found something worthwhile, but of course, there was still the one issue that made this discovery somewhat bitter.
They still had to leave.
Wanting to take as little of a risk as possible the group began retracing their original path only to be immediately stopped by a damn dirty ape hidden in the darkness of the room whose walls they had trace. Now, having lost his leg not even an hour ago Berehal was understandably concerned that fate would dictate he suffers once more at the hands of another beast before leaving. Fate, being the malicious mistress she was, found the premise to be so entertaining, she ensured Berehal would be torn in half before the fight was complete. He was the only one who died by the time the encounter was over, with Klaatu driving an axe into the ape’s skull before the party picked up what they could from Berehal and began a desperate scramble to escape.
Narrowly avoiding another ape who dropped from the ceiling, the party scurried to the freedom of the surface, and took off with their newfound wealth, adamant on the idea of leaving that tomb alone for a while.
Session 7 Downtime Events
At the start of the week, it had stopped snowing but remained terribly cold. As the moon began to wane, heavy storm clouds began to gather and rain began to fall. As the week continued the rain grew worse and worse with thunder and lightning driving most of the inhabitants of Lestryhonia inside away from the rain.
Halthor returned to pray at the temple of Vodim and retreated into
Ymirist rite. He returned calm and serene the fear of death far from his mind.
Klattu and Oogi sought to find men who would join them in their expeditions. They noticed that they were followed by several cloaked men but when they sought to confront them, they were unable to chase them down. Later on they were approached by a man with red hair tied back into a braid, and four daggers on his belt, who introduced himself as Randon. He stated that he was the survivor of a shipwreck of a conclave of sorcerers and that he had means of sorcery.
During his time in Lestryhonia Klattu was approached by a cloaked man who revealed a pair of blue tattoes on his brow as he approached. He introduced himself as Eer-Caragh. He asked Klattu to assist him in parlaying with the Brotherhood of Strangulation and end the feud between them. He said that he would give Klattu a set of ancestral armor if he would help him achieve the task.
Oogi was approached by a man wearing a pair of silver rings with an eye-patch who introducedhimself as Krem of Letsryhonia. He explained how was searching for men to help escort merchants to a distant land and asked if Oogi would help him recruit members as guards.
Halthor was approached by a one-armed woman flanked on either-side by burly men. She introduced herself as Atha of Ketil and said she spoke on behalf of Nonose. She said she knew of Halthor and his companions assistance to the Sons of Kronus earlier and that Nonose would compensate them with a scroll of aged sorcery unearthed by a previous expedition into the Jotun's Tomb.
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