Oola agrees to give Vorstag the slave girl Ffion if he helps her get the slaves safe to Cheir. Party spends around 6 hours in the upper level of the dungeon beneath the Pyramid of Meng - fight three Mummy-Priests of Meng, get choked by poison gas trap, negate spike trap, loot treasures including 5 signet rings, take what treasure's left from the black gloop, take the mummified high priest's Cube of Meng (Cube of Force & inactive Dimensional Vortex), avoid fire corridor, free Zerda from amber petrification trap, fight horde of 13 skeleton slaves. Lots of arguing with Oola.
PCs
1.(Matt) Finnris, lvl 5 Dhari Outcast of the Narthan Highlanders (h-m), Barbarian-4>5
2.(Judith) Aeshma, lvl 5 Kalayan Sacred Slayer (h-f), Rogue-3/Fighter-1/Warlock-1
3.(Bill) Vorstag Iceslider, the Frost Giant's Son, lvl 4 Goliath Ice Reaver of the Tjokren Glacier (g-m), Rogue-3>4
4.(Jack) Zérda “The Defier” of House Saväschu, lvl 4 Atlantean Noble of Katagia (h-m), EK Fighter-3>4
5. (player absent) Cassandra, The Bearer of the Black Book, lvl 3 Quodethi (h-f) Sorceress-3
+ Oola. 3 guards & 12 slaves stay with Cassandra in the entry room, then in the cleared Mummy-priests chamber.
At the bottom of the descending tunnel the party and the escaped slaves find ourselves in a large room with several exits, most notably a wide shaft in the floor that drops about 100’ into a chamber far below where we can see a giant snake with an immense, glowing emerald held in its jaws – surely the fabled Eye of Meng. The smell of putrefaction comes from the shaft but we can’t see the source.
Outside we can hear a crowd of Degenerates gather and we hope we are correct in our supposition that this ancient ziggurat is taboo for them. Minutes later we hear the sound of ponderous flapping and the chatter of the Degenerates fades, as does the flapping and everything in very, very quiet.
We encourage the slaves to wait in the main antechamber with the guards while we start exploring the tunnels in the ziggurat. In a trio of storerooms we find dozens of jars sealed with black wax. On smashing them they reveal carefully packed human organs that look very recent, though are surely centuries old. Amongst the body parts we find 22 gems (100gp each) and a silver plated key.
Another room holds nine large upright mahogany coffins arrayed in a three by three grid. Between Aeshma’s Light spell and Zerda’s Prestidigitation, we can clean them up sufficiently to see the carving on them that depict humans showing the telltale signs of the Old Ones’ corruption: elongated fingers, tentacles, extra eyes or mouths. With a view to desecrating this unholy place we tip them over row by row.
Unfortunately some of the coffins’ inhabitants take exception to this and three mummies emerge, each with a ceramic mask covering its face. One tries to paralyze Zerda with its inhuman gaze but the Atlantean’s determination proves more than sufficient to withstand it. Attacking them as they emerge, we manage to destroy the mummies, avoiding the peril of the rotting disease they can inflict. Most of our weapons are of limited effectiveness against such ancient undead, but Zerda’s Moonblade cuts into their ancient corpses. The remaining corpses are smashed, just to make certain, and in the resulting debris we find five gold rings (100gp each).
After the fight we catch our breath and speak with Oola. She tells us that she owed Kurtubal 5000gp and that her girlfriend Rien had been taken as surety against her defaulting on repayment. Just before she left Quodeth, she had been sent Rien’s little finger to remind her of how seriously they took the debt. Her plan had been to use what funds she had left to buy the slaves and take them to Cheir to sell for a quick profit as the people of Cheir were notoriously lazy and slaves were a sought-after commodity.
Shortly afterwards we move down a narrow corridor ending in a wooden door carved with a demonic face. Before we get there we set off a poison gas trap and stumble backwards to the antechamber, dragging Vorstag who has succumbed to the poison. The poison gas drifts after us, but Aeshma notices it seems heavier than air so urges the slaves into the room where we earlier fought the mummies. Zerda revives Vorstag with a healing potion and we barricade ourselves in the room, blocking any gaps around the door with damp rags. An hour later we cautiously open the door – despite a foul odour, the gas has dissipated.
Much more cautiously we return to the corridor, checking for traps as we go. We locate the poison gas trap trigger – a pressure plate on the floor – then beyond that a series of holes in the floor from which spikes could emerge. Using the heavy coffin lids as a bridge we make it to the door even as we hear the floor spikes stab into the mahogany.
While taking so much time searching for traps Aeshma notices the outline of a doorway on one wall, but it takes Zerda’s skill to locate the mechanism that opens the secret door. Beyond is a small room, ceiling painted to resemble the night sky, and holding a single heavy stone sarcophagus. Aeshma, Vorstag and Zerda manage to lever the lid to one side to reveal the decayed form of a human showing similar deformation to the earlier mummies. Clasped in his hands is a cube rippling with unearthly energy. Aeshma, being cautious, makes a plan to grab it while being ready for the corpse to attack, but Zerda, lacking that same caution, just grabs it anyway. Fortunately the corpse does not animate!
There is a tunnel leading away from this room decorated with fiery swirls and Aeshma believes there may be some kind of magical trap down there. Zerda, one his attention can be dragged away from his new toy, concurs adding that it is some kind of invocation magic and, after our experience with other traps, we decide against risking it and return to the main corridor.
The keyhole in the carved door at the end matches the key we found on one of the mummies’ corpses. The room beyond is filled with treasure: a combination of coins, gems, and odd art objects in dubious taste. Wary of more traps we use first a rope and grapple and then a quarterstaff to pull items from the room. Once they pass the threshold, most deliquesce, but a few survive. It take a while but with Zerda’s Prestidigitation to help us we clean and bag any treasure that doesn’t dissolve. We leave carrying 3 art objects (prosthetic limb, vase, and a painting) each worth 50gp, 660gp in gems and 1000gp in coins.
Still searching for stairs to take us deeper into the ziggurat we return to explore other tunnels and this time it is Zerda who sets off a trap: purple mist coalesces around him before hardening into an impenetrable shell while still allowing him to breathe. Vorstag decides to use brute force to crack open the shell but does a fair amount of damage to Zerda in the process.
We continue to a crossroads with corridors leading to a door, a portcullis and a crypt. We investigate the latter and find several bodies neatly laid out on shelves cut into the walls of the room. None carry any wealth nor do they animate. Vorstag singlehandedly raises the portcullis until it locks back into place in the ceiling and we go into the ossuary beyond. Seconds later the skeletons knit together and attack us, but they prove to be little match for us as Finnris smashes them down with powerful blows from his mace-axe. Oola seems to struggle with them and takes some injuries before they are destroyed. With no further signs of movement in the room we take a rest.
Total Loot:
Cube of Force (Zerda)
4510gp
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