Tunnel under hallway Elvish lord Human female in full plate Ferranifers chambers Bed chambers Secret Room Library Skeleton with rusty scythe Burly dwarf Demonic skeleton Telekinesis + water trap Barbarian Warrior Secret door to Black Academy Secret door Secret door Inner iron door Torture Chamber Dr Moreau would be proud The Sign of the Devourer False Door Dead end Hallway to Tomb of Horrors False Entrance Tomb Entrance False Entrance The Tomb of Horrors Tomb of Horrors

Chapter 7: Deja Vu

"I think their best option is to stay in here to be shackled up and eaten." -- Rosvenir

Z Tomb of Horrors em and Kurik bound their wounds in the main chamber of Ferranifer's quarters while the rest of the party scoured the place looking for magic and loot. Unfortunately only a few additional items of magic were detected. The top of the dresser in Ferranifer's bed chamber radiated a slight dweomer, which Rosvenir identified as a Trigger spell. Likewise the door to the bedroom was enchanted. Mystical shooshed everyone out of the room and stood in the doorway. Casting Telekineses, she lifted a silver brush from the top of the dresser. The bedroom door slammed closed, forcing her backwards into the main room. Haer cast Stonesight to watch as a fireball grew in the center of the bedroom and exploded outwards, burning everything to ash in seconds.
  The party had been exploring the Black Academy for many hours without sleep. Ferranifer's quarters seemed the safest place available: no one would dare barge in unannounced on the Headmistress of the Academy. While the rest of the party rested Haer spent time puzzling over the inscription on the portion of the Amulet of the Void recovered from Ferranifer. Desatysso's journal had said, "What a devilishly simple key it was, after all. For those who follow me on my journey of discovery, apply this key to the runes on the Amulet: subtract three, then read." Applying this key to the Amulet led to an interesting translation: "The Face of the Fiend does more than devour"
  Guards were posted, and everyone got a few hours of sleep. Rosvenir cast Dream to know of the Face of the Fiend, the second half of the Amulet of the Void, and the location of Desatysso.

Rosvenir's Dream
Flying... Flying... Flying through a tunnel... brightly painted with murals. It is the entrance to Acerak's Tomb... Fly to the end of the hallway, a screaming human face... it is the face of Desatysso... the face shifts and morphs, and becomes the Sign of the Devourer... Fly through the inky black sphere in the mouth... Beyond is the Amulet of the Void, whole and complete. It splits into two pieces, and one falls down into the blackness... the other piece falls into my hand as the dream ends.

Day 20
  Returning to the hallway outside of Ferranifer's quarters, Rosvenir cast Merging to explore the areas behind the sarcophagi in relative safety. Two seemed promising: the crypt to the north (through which Haer had seen an iron door with light streaming through) led to some sort of torture chamber. The crypt to the southeast led to a secret hallway.
  The party ventured to the northern crypt first. Finding no traps, the door was opened. Inside twelve weak, pale humans hung shackled from the ceiling. Seeing no enemies to confront, Haer quickly unlocked all of their bonds while Kahlen and Mystical cast healing spells to restore their strength. One of the prisoners was dressed in clothes which had once been quite fine. He was Count Hazendel, and after being healed he recounted what had transpired since his capture. Three male vampires would come in to feed, and indeed all of the prisoners had several bite marks upon their person. Occasionally one of the vampires would bring a new captive in, or remove one. Whenever a prisoner was removed the vampire would drop a chit into a small box near the entrance, and occasionally the box was emptied. The Count said that he had never seen a female vampire come into the chamber.
  The question loomed of what to do with these captives. Marching them through the Academy and into the City seemed suicidal. Leaving them to their fate would simply guarantee their death. Mystical concentrated, and announced that she remembered the cabin at the edge of the Great Swamp well enough to teleport the prisoners to it. Haer fished out some food and spare weaponry from the Bag of Holding, and a few gold pieces to see them through. One by one Mystical teleported each prisoner two hundred miles to the north. The rest was up to them. Demonic Golem
  Having desecrated the coffins of three vampires, killed the monstrous abomination being created in the lab, destroyed the Headmistress of the Academy, and now freed a dozen prisoners, the party sensed it would not be long until someone or something began looking for them. The hallway Rosvenir had seen behind the southeastern crypt seemed the most promising exit. The crypt door was shaped as a twisted demonic skeleton holding a scythe, and Rosvenir had been unable to identify the spells enchanting it. Mystical cast Intangible Object upon the skeleton, making it insubstantial to the touch. When Haer began searching for a way to open the secret door the skeleton animated and stated in booming voice, "None shall pass!", as it swung its scythe in a wide arc. The insubstantial scythe passed harmlessly through the halfling's head. Haer did his best to ignore the ghostly thing attacking him as he checked for traps and pulled the concealed lever to open the door.
  Unfortunately, the insubstantial demon followed them into the secret hallway. Noting that it ducked as it passed through the doorway Kurik got the thing's attention and led it back out into the crypt, its huge scythe passing repeatedly through his body and the walls of the hall. Suddenly reversing direction Kurik darted back through the secret door and pulled it closed behind him. The golem was far too stupid to realize that it could pass through the door.

  The hallway beyond held a secret door halfway down its length. Proceeding cautiously into that next hall, the party came to a large chamber lit by thousands of candles. The far wall of the room was composed of dirt and loose rock. This was the boundary between the stone of the Black Academy and the original hillside. Cut into the hill were three tunnels. The middle tunnel was brightly lit, its plastered walls painted with scenes of rural life and wizardly work. It looked exactly as it had twenty years prior when Haer, Kahlen, Chaste the Mighty, Jobe, and Silk had originally explored it. Even the areas of plaster broken away during that earlier expedition had been carefully repaired and repainted.

Day 21-22
Editor's note: At this point the party entered the Tomb of Horrors, magically restored to its condition exactly as Haer and Kahlen remembered it twenty years prior. As the players in this gaming group had completed the Tomb of Horrors adventure less than a year ago we skipped going through again and jumped directly to the final chamber to face the demilich. The scenes described below are purely for fun. Several days of game time passed while the adventurers made their way through the Tomb.
  At first Haer and Kahlen guided the party cautiously, checking carefully that their recollections still held true. After many hours of exploration with every trap as remembered and every lock just the same, they began to proceed more confidently and to anticipate the many dangers the Tomb of Horrors had in store.
Haer: Kurik, you stand there to the right of the altar. Zem, stand to the left. Mystical, face the altar and take two steps back. Good. Now on the count of three, Kurik swing at about head level, Zem across the middle, and Mystical from straight on.
Mystical: Why are we doing this?
Haer: You'll see. One.. two.. three!
With that the diminutive thief touched the pulsing altar dedicated to some nameless dark god. A shimmering patch of air coalesced into the form of a heavily armored warrior, his helmeted visage shaped as a grinning skeletal dragon and his breastplate bearing the sign of Chaos. An enormous sword was strapped to his back while numerous other weapons hung at the ready in the unlikely event his sword were to fail him.
Anti-Paladin: NOW YOU SHALL KNOW THE WRATH OF <gack!>
falls messily, cleaved into three pieces
Haer: Well, that worked.

later...
 
Kahlen: Oh Haer, this is the room where your foot hair got eaten by acid, remember?
Haer: (glares at Kahlen)
Endira: What happened?
Haer: (glares at Endira)
Kahlen: The furthest of the three vats on the floor contains an ochre jelly. Haer poked at it with a stick, and it enveloped him.
Haer: (glares at Kahlen)
Endira: That sounds painful.
Haer: (glares at Endira)
Kahlen: Yes, we pulled him unconscious from the creature, and he was bleeding badly. I repaired the damage to his legs, but the scar tissue prevented the foot hair from regrowing for, what, five years Haer?
Haer: (glares at Kahlen) I'm going to scout ahead. The rest of you join me when you've recovered the key from those vats.

still later...
 
Haer: Zem, Kurik, grab that table.
Zem and Kurik: (look at each other) Why?
Haer: We'll use it to get past the poisoned spikes.
Zem and Kurik: (in unison) What poisoned spikes?
Haer: (proceeding out of the room) The poisoned spikes at the bottom of the pit trap in the next hallway.
(peeks his head back in) Well, are you coming?

Day 23
 At long last, through dangers untold, the band of intrepid adventurers stood at the threshold of the true Tomb of Acerak. [Editor's note: and at this point we rejoin the actual events of the gaming session.]
  The vault was constructed entirely of mithril, enough to make a grown dwarf weep. An inset ring in the door allowed it to open easily. Inside the chamber was an altar upon which lay the remains of Acerak. Only the bejewelled skull remained intact, the ancient body having moldered to dust aeons ago. Kahlen had told the party how the demilich destroyed Tim the Enchanter and Chaste the Mighty, and begged everyone to not provoke it. As soon as the door opened Mystical created a Wall of Stone to encase the altar, so that the skull would not be accidentally disturbed.
  Haer immediately dove for the treasure pile in front of the altar, and emerged triumphant with the second half of the Amulet of the Void. The two halves slid together with an audible click. With a few scribbles on a page he translated the complete message:

The Face of the Fiend does more than devour. With the least of my form, tis the gap to power.
  "The least of my form" was the subject of some debate, but presumably referred to the dust from Acerak's decayed body. "The Face of the Fiend" was almost certainly the Sign of the Devourer at the entrance to the Tomb, where a Sphere of Annihilation lay to destroy the unwary. The issue of how to collect some of the lich dust was solved by Kurik's quick Commune to Pandeos: "Will disturbing the dust awaken the demilich?" "NO", came the unearthly reply, and Kurik strode forth to gather some up. Mystical obligingly dispelled the Wall of Stone to allow him access.

Mystical
  I wanted to destroy the thing immediately. All minions of Orcus must die. Kahlen prevailed upon me not to. The lich had almost destroyed her party, and it had destroyed Grunther's party. Attacking it directly would be suicidal.
  After Kurik collected some of the dust I put up another Wall of Stone. Searching through the pile, Haer picked out all of the magic items and gems. His bag of holding was already bulging at the seams from all the loot of the Tomb, and the rest of the stuff on the floor wouldn't fit. He was pretty upset when Kurik took all of the gems as tithe to Pandeos.
  Later, when we left, I hung back to bring up the rear guard. Just before leaving I created about a ton of solid ice on top of the altar. I just wish I could have stayed to see it fall when the Wall of Stone expired.

Day 24
  The trip back through the Tomb took a day, during which time the party identified the magic items they had recovered from the pile in front of the demilich. Finally arriving at the Face of the Fiend, a quick experiment was done by sprinkling a stick with a pinch of dust. Satisfied with the result, everyone dusted themselves and jumped through.
  The party arrived in a place which was obviously not the Prime Material Plane. It was deathly cold, and dimly illuminated though no sun shone in the sky. The group stood on a thin causeway erected over a yawning chasm. Mists concealed the depths below, and a fog blanketed the sky. Numerous black towers could be seen in the mist. Indeed, the party stood roughly equidistant between three such, and similar causeways connected each tower to several of its neighbors. In front of them stood a black obelisk, with lettering in Common.
Acerak is impressed; you now stand under the darkling sky that most never dreamt of. Your only path is forward through this crumbling demiplane of broken piety. The journey shall task you to your mortal limits. However, this verse may help you on your way to me within the Void, where you shall receive a fitting prize for your persistence:
The City That Waits was the city of Moil
Where dreams truly died, but bodies yet toil
In slumber unrelenting they lie yet in wait
Biding their time to seal your fate.

Discovery of the Void and my Fortress within
Demands exploration through peril again.
Find amid towers degenerate the single key
And resolve the dilemma of problems three.

Beard the brine dragon in its frozen hollow;
Remove the Key, avoid its starved swallow.
Beneath webs of glowing emerald
Hangs a riddle-box, ripe to be solved.

The darkweaver endures the cold in her lair;
Grasp your fate with consummate care.
The lifeless dream that marks the crime
Is the Vestige that guards the sand of time.

Each resolution removes one obstacle
For those who peruse this written oracle:
The Phantom released flies you in fashion
To my inevitable Fortress of Conclusion.

Mystical
  COLD! Let me amend that: DAMN COLD! Orcus always was a melodramatic SOB. We'd arrived in the demiplane created to hold the city of Moil. My mother told me about it a long time ago. It was a city that revered Orcus above all other powers, and was the very jewel amongst his worshippers. Over the centuries the denizens of Moil slowly lost their reverence to Orcus, picking new gods to worship who paid more heed to their needs and less to their deaths. To punish them for their insolence Orcus decreed that all of its people would sleep until they were touched by the light of the Sun. To ensure that the Sun never shone on Moil again he removed the city to a demiplane. This demiplane, apparently.
  The cold was overwhelming. We all pulled on whatever heavy cloaks and clothing we possessed. The fact that we had just been in a humid swamp didn't help. Haer produced a few items of clothing from his bag, mostly halfling sized. He also found a few circular blankets, which we cut into makeshift cloaks.

Appendix I: Rules for extreme cold:

  1. Infravision is useless.
  2. unprotected characters take 6 hp of damage per hour while awake, and 2 hp/hour while asleep. Partial protective clothing (like a heavy cloak) will cut this damage in half. Full protective clothing (including headgear, gloves, and heavy boots) will negate the damage.
  3. cold damage does not heal naturally. It must be magically healed.
  4. magical healing is doubly effective against damage from cold.
  5. damage from cold must be healed before other damage when using magical healing spells.
  6. if a character has incurred more than 40 points of cold damage he will have suffered frostbite and gangrene becomes a danger.

Prev: Good 1, Evil 0 | Entrance | Next: The City That Waits
Experience awarded for this session:
Due to the rapid progress made, an extraordinary allotment of experience was granted. In addition everyone received 5,000 XPs for figuring out how to get to the City That Waits.