6 Thaumont 1000AC - What's more superlative than deadest? Deaderer?

Having examined the sarcophagus for traps, and being satisfied that there are none there as far as they can tell, Elias moves to the doorway and loads his crossbow. While he does this, the others question Callinicus about the sarcophagus. 

I'm sorry," says Callinicus, "I know nothing about this symbol. I can only presume that it is a representation of mortal remains left behind while the soul flies to the lands of the immortals, but I cannot be sure. Perhaps it means that the deceased in the sarcophagus was a particularly evil person. Who knows? I'm only a novice in the Church of Karameikos and am here to learn as much as to help you. I could pray to the immortals but they do not speak directly to me, so I doubt that I would get a suitable answer."

Lacrimos and Miroslav move to the ends of the sarcophagus and prepare to lift the lid off while Breccia steps back to join Elias. Callinicus moves to the side so that he will not be in the line of fire but is ready to smite should smiting be needed.

Lacrimos and Miroslav count to three and then heave. The heavy stone lid slides slightly. They strain against its weight again and suddenly it is sliding free, crashing to the floor with a thunderous thud and raising a huge cloud of dust that makes everyone's eyes water. Had the group not been holding their collective breath, they would be choking now.

The silence after the lid falls is deafening, as everyone grabs their weapons just in case. As well they did, for a skeleton rises from the sarcophagus with a sword in one hand and an old rotting wooden shield in the other. It is dressed in rags that must once have been fine clothes. Reacting instantaneously Miroslav swings his axe at the creature, cleaving and smashing bone as he does so. Elias then fires his crossbow barely missing Miroslav. The bolt smashes against the wall behind the skeleton. The skeleton then launches a flurry of blows at Miroslav but he is able to fend them all off. By now Lacrimos and Callinicus have joined the fight. Lacrimos' sword smashes into the skull of the skeleton, crushing the bone and causing the creature to fall, lifeless and unlifeless to the floor. Callinicus practically sprains his wrist as his mace thumps into the floor nowhere near the now completely dead skeleton.

With no further threats, there is time to search the room. It is empty. The only saleable items are the skeleton's sword and a small silver ring that it is wearing on its finger. These are quickly stowed in Pushka's pack, along with the other items that were found. Further investigation of the Tor shows that the whole tunnel system has been explored. It is now mid-afternoon and any journey back to Threshold will see the group camping outside the town walls, because they have arrived too late to be let in.

6 Thaumont 1000AC - Dead, Deader, Deadest

Lacrimos moves into the room and takes a quick step to the left, keeping his back to the wall. Miroslav does the same but steps to the right.Elias and Breccia take cover in the entrance to the chamber with Callinicus just behind them. As the group moves, the body on the plinth stirs and sits up. Lacrimos and Miroslav react simultaneously and without hesitation, both charging forward to attack the slow-moving creature. Disturbed by the nature of the undead creature, both warriors miss. Breccia throws one of his daggers at the creature and also misses, while Elias looses a crossbow bolt that tears a large hole in the creature's throat. Callinicus holds up a twelve-pointed star that he wears on a chain around his neck.

"In the name of Zirchev I command you to rest again, creature," he bellows. 

The creature hesitates briefly before drawing the sword at its side and attacking Lacrimos. However, it is too slow and the shining steel of its blade just scratches Lacrimos' shield. Breccia throws his second dagger at the creature striking it a glancing blow, while Elias hastily reloads his crossbow. Miroslav grits his teeth and puts all his strength behind his swing. His axe carves into the creatures neck and takes its head off. Its body slumps to the ground. A quick survey of the room shows no further immediate dangers, so Elias and Breccia have a quick look around. The room and its contents do not appear to contain any traps, so the group searches the room. While they do this, Callinicus places the body back on the plinth and puts its head between its knees before saying a prayer over it.

There are six clay pots at the foot of the plinth. Five of them are empty, but contain traces of old wines or foods that would have sustained the creature on its journey into the afterlife. The sixth contains treasure and the group counts out 90 tarnished silver coins of an unknown king, whose face resembles the bearish cast of the creature. Also in that same pot are three golden arm rings, a small gold torc, a silver finger ring and several hammered strips of silver. The sword that the creature was using also seems serviceable. Despite its age it has not rusted, but it is unremarkable in any other way, being a well-used shortsword with a few nicks along the edge that attest this usage.

With this treasure stowed in packs, the group returns up the passageway to investigate the one remaining passage. It leads to a single chamber containing a sarcophagus. Carved into the lid of the sarcophagus is a death's head design with bat's wings extending from the skull. There is no other ornament or decoration surviving in this chamber. Elias and Breccia check the room and the sarcophagus and are certain that there are no traps present.


The Chambers under the Tor:

6 Thaumont 1000AC - Return to the Tor

As dawn breaks the group are on their way to the Tor once again. Breccia's optimistic desire to be there at breakfast time was just that: optimistic. It is half a day's travel to the Tor and the group breaks its fast about half way there, arriving at mid-morning outside the entrance to the cave. The day is overcast but not raining. Quickly the group prepares to enter the Tor. Armed with torches and lanterns for light they quickly progress to the chamber at the end of the long passage. It is clear that there has been little disturbance, although the bodies left by the group's previous foray have been chewed upon by various creatures but there is no sign of these creatures at this time. 

The room where Breccia smelt gold lies just ahead. The light from the torches reveals a chamber with a large stone plinth in the centre about eight feet long by five feet wide. A large humanoid creature lies in its last rest atop the plinth wearing the rotten remnants of clothing resembling a modern knight's. It's tabard is brown with age and disintegrating and it has dry leather belts around its middle. A scabbarded sword lies on its chest and a rusty shield by the plinth itself. This was clearly once a person or creature of status. However, they are now just as clearly dead, with dried flesh being all that clings to their bones.


The creature looks familiar to Breccia but he cannot quite remember.

At the foot end of the plinth there are several sealed clay jars, probably grave goods for the creature. Other than these there are remnants of wall-hangings that have crumbled and browned with age but little else of interest in this room.

2 Thaumont 1000AC - Spider venom

Breccia reckons his odds and then springs forward to attack the spider. As he does so, he yells at the top of his lungs, "BIG SPIDER, POISONOUS!" The shout reverberates along the hall and stops Lacrimos and Miroslav in their tracks. As they turn, Breccia is thrusting at the spider with his short sword. It chitters madly and dodges out of the way of the thrust, darting in to try to bite Breccia, who manages to dodge too. 

Lacrimos immediately breaks into a run and heads for the chamber where Elias lies helpless. Miroslav turns and sprints towards Breccia.

Breccia tries to hit the creature again but it dodges his clumsy swing once more and sinks its fangs deep enough that the blood spurts down Breccia's arm (6 damage). Breccia's shout of pain echoes down the halls of the tor.

Miroslav redoubles his efforts to reach Breccia.

Wiht pain lancing up his arm and blood spurting down it, Breccia struggles on. Gritting his teeth, he steps in close to the spider and thrusts hard. His sword slices into its lower mandibles and out of the top of its head. The spider slumps to the ground and twitches uncontrollably for a second and is then still. Breccia steps back, breathing hard. By the time that Miroslav reaches him twenty seconds later, the spider is dead and he is trying to bandage his wound.

In the light from Miroslav's torch, the pair can see that the room is covered in the half-eaten corpses of rats and that the spider, although large, seems emaciated and ill-fed. A whole dwarf must have seemed like a feast to such a creature.

Seeing that Breccia is still mostly in one piece, Miroslav begins to search the chamber. It is singularly lacking in anything but bits of rats and rocks from the ceiling and walls. There is no treasure and no spider eggs are to be found either. One can only surmise that this poor male spider became trapped and has had to live off anything else that got trapped in here.

Lacrimos bursts into the chamber where Elias lies unconscious muttering about rats in a garbled and feverish manner. All is peaceful there.

Oh what a tangled web we weave ...

Breccia bravely tells the others to return to Elias while he scouts the area. His infravision works better without the interference of other light sources, so this may be a sensible move. While they return the way they came, Breccia looks around. Ahead he can make out a room and the cold stone of a large table in its middle, with a cold figure or carving atop it. He can smell bits of gold in the dust around the table. As agreed, however, he sneaks down the longer chamber through ancient dust and bits of stone. Within five minutes he has reached the edge of another, smaller room. The floor of the room is covered in small lumps making an uneven surface. Bending down, Breccia investigates and realises that they are the corpses of rats. He is about to step further into the apparently empty room, when a shape detaches itself quietly from the shadows, emerging out of a previously unseen hollow in the floor. A giant spider! And not 15 feet from Breccia!! 

So this is what the world looks like through infravision!

2 Thaumont 1000AC - Deeper into the Dark

With the treasure divided up and the belt added to Pushka's load, the group makes Elias comfortable before gathering their weapons and armour and setting out into the labyrinth. After a brief discussion, the group decides to investigate the central passageway. 

Breccia leads the way. As a dwarf he understands the underground. Miroslav and Lacrimos follow behind with a lit torch, but staying far enough behind that the torch does not interfere with Breccia's infravision. The passageway continues on for about 150' before opening into a larger chamber. The chamber is furnished with cracked, mouldering tables on which lie rusty iron implements. The storm is still raging outside, as the group can tell from the rain and hail that is falling into the chamber through a hole in the ceiling. This hole is the base of a shaft that must run all the way to the top of the tor. From the bottom of the shaft a rope dangles, swinging slightly. A drain in the centre of the floor allows the water to escape, but old darker stains suggest a different fluid was carried away down that drain years ago.

On the opposite side of the chamber from that which the group entered by, another passageway leads on into the dark. Searching the chamber reveals nothing further of interest and no clue as to why there is a rope hanging down into this chamber, so the group decides to press on. Breccia moves off into the passage to check it out. His infravision reveals nothing but he soon comes to a junction with the main passage continuing straight ahead while another passage branches off to the right.

1-2 Thaumont 1000AC - Hobgoblins!

Breccia rolls to his feet, sword in hand. Espying the creatures attacking Miroslav he recognises them from their brethren's assaults on his mine. 
"Hobgoblins!" he shouts.
Quickly he moves to the corner of the passage and checks for more of the creatures, knowing that they generally hunt in packs. His infravision is blocked by the firelight and he can see no further than the edge of the area illuminated by the fire, but there are no more hobgoblins in immediate view.

Meanwhile, Miroslav is back-pedalling away from the hobgoblins, fending them off, while trying to draw them away from the passage. Seeing a gap in the hobgoblin's defense, he pauses in his retreat, lunges with his axe and catches the hobgoblin a mighty blow that half tears its head off. It collapses to the ground never to move again as blood and brains spatter all within several feet of the creature.

Lacrimos charges from his bed and charges the hobgoblin nearer to the passage, almost falling over Breccia as he does. The hobgoblin slams into the wall with a sickening thud and fresh blood spurts over Lacrimos' hand as he withdraws his sword from the body. The hobgoblin slumps to the floor dead.



The hobgoblins are dead. A quick scout of the passageway shows that there are no more in the immediate area and no sounds of alarm can be heard.

Returning to the bodies, the group recovers two short swords, two javelins and two small shields that have seen better days. The Hobgoblins have 8 Royals and 12 Crona between them. One of the Hobgoblins is also wearing a well-crafted thick leather belt covered in brass studs that might have some value.

The rest of the night passes uneventfully (unless there is an argument over the treasure!) and the group awakes in the morning ready to continue their journey or explore the tor. Elias is still unconscious though and will be for at least another two days as his body recovers from the terrible rat bites that it endured.

1 Thaumont 1000AC - Night Manoeuvres

The group debates the merits of giving the blue liquid to Elias for what seems an age before deciding to settle in for the night. Elias is tucked up in the corner, still unconscious and his wounds only seeping a little now. The rest of the group agrees the watch order: Miroslav, Breccia and then Lacrimos. Each is to take a four-hour watch. With that sorted, Miroslav tucks into a hearty meal of dried meat, while the others dine well on rat prepared by Breccia. This uses up all the rats, but leaves them with full bellies. Then Miroslav divides up some gold coins that he found in the room. Each group member gets 25 of them, although it will be fewer when they are exchanged for legal currency. By now the fires in the main room have died down and the only light comes from the fire in the side chamber where the group is. 

Miroslav takes the first watch. The night wears on. His eyes become heavy as he peers into the gloom and listens for the enemy but he hears nothing. Suddenly a javelin arcs out of the darkness hitting him in the shoulder (2 damage). Another follows it almost immediately, thumping into the ground next to Miroslav. Stunned he watches as two large humanoids suddenly sprint yelling into the firelight with swords drawn. Desperately Miroslav defends himself, only just turning the blades of his foes as they press their assault. The noise has awoken Breccia and Lacrimos, who leap to their feet unarmoured but with weapons to hand.

Moving camp

Deciding that the chamber that Miroslav has just checked out would be a better place to camp, you spend an hour moving everything into there. The chamber has no secret doors, false walls or anything else as far as you can tell, so it seems safe enough. It contains a small stone chest full of ancient fruit pips in the centre of the floor. A stone lid lies next to the chest and small darts are scattered around the dusty floor of the room. Old faded and peeling paintings on the wall show humanoids (the paintings are too faded to determine if they are humans, elves, goblins or what) approaching a tomb with baskets of food on the walls to your left and right. On the far wall is an image of the tomb. The painting of the tomb shows a catafalque with an armoured warrior atop it at the centre with a small table in front of it. The humanoids are placing offerings on this table. 

Ratatouille ... with real rat!

As thunder crashes outside, a diminutive figure steps through the main entrance to the room from the outside. The dwarf, who had introduced himself as Breccia Feldspar on the journey northwards, was soaked. It would appear that he had got separated from the group. Now that he was with you, he immediately set to helping to bandage the injured. With the casualties bandaged, he began gutting the rats to prepare food for later. Lacrimos was sorting out the fire now that he was bandaged. With the main tasks dealt with, Miroslav took his axe into hand and set off down the western corridor. A short while later, a dusty thump was heard in the distance. Soon Miroslav returned, reporting a chamber at the end of the corridor with no exits and no enemies. 

Rat Attack Tat!

Pulling yourselves together you quickly respond to the rats' attack. Elias draws his sword and skewers a rat. Miroslav grabs a burning brand from the fire and his axe and starts moving towards the rat pack. As he closes, he throws the burning brand but the wood falls wide of the mark, narrowly missing Elias' pack. Lacrimos draws his sword and grabs his shield before moving towards the rats. Meanwhile, the rats have swarmed all over Elias, although his armour protects him from any serious harm, but he is knocked to the floor. Elias struggles back to regain his feet but fails as the other two sprint to save him and the rats seek an opening in Elias' armour, eventually finding one (4hp damage). Elias' body ceases to struggle and goes limp under the rat horde! Both Miroslav and Lacrimos strike at the horde of rats, killing more of them. The rats turn their attention to Lacrimos and attack him instead but his armour is proof against their onslaught and he manages to stay on his feet despite the rat's swarming onto him. Lacrimos strikes at a rat crushes its skull underfoot, while Miroslav, careful to avoid hurting his ally is unable to strike a telling blow. He tries again and this time hits. The rats squirm in their fury and find gaps in Lacrimos' armour (5 damage) but Lacrimos returns the favour and another rat dies. The other rats quickly run away out of the door and into the storm. The room is still once more. 



Elias is alive but in need of urgent care or his lifeblood will leak onto the dusty floor of this ancient tor. Otherwise, once you have treated your wounds, you are free to search the area or to just bed down for the night.

Inside the Tor

The sound of hissing rain, pounding hail and howling wind from outside is interrupted only by the occasional crack of thunder. You are pleased to be in the dry, even if you have all chosen to light your own fires and seem to be very distrustful of each other. As you settle in to rest up, the thunderous clamour from outside picks up and the three doors in the room seem to tremble with every new blast. Suddenly, the room is lighted from without by a blast of lightning that makes the hairs on your arms stand up. An almost simultaneous thunderclap shakes the teeth in your heads. All three doors break open and fall to the floor disturbing centuries old dust and revealing passages beyond them. Seconds later the room is filled with squeaking as a horde of rats, their nest disturbed, charge in from the central door. The suddenness of this all surprises you and you stand slack-jawed momentarily as the rats race into the room and then swerve towards Elias as the fire in the centre of the room scares them around it.

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