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Starring:
Montana Jackson, level 10 human Fighter/Inquisitive Rogue
Moxxi Floxxi’s Son, level 10 dwarf Life Domain cleric
Ms. Plissken, level 10 yuan-ti pureblood College of Lore Bard
Thumper, Level 10 harengon Ancestral Guardian Barbarian
Tom, level 10 tabaxi Arcane Trickster Rogue
It starts with a rumor, legends of a lich and a tomb, somewhere out in the mountains. One group of hardened adventurers dares seek it out: the fabled tomb of the archlich Acererak.
Tom recalls a particular piece of actionable intel, and the party trek up to the location. The cliff face looks promising. They just need to find a way inside.
After some investigation, the group finds a suspicious piece of rock. Tom carefully employs his invisible mage hand to poke and prod from a safe distance, and the rock suddenly slides, unlocking a 20-ft hallway inside.
But this group isn’t a bunch of impatient fools (yet). Montana, Tom, and Thumper cautiously make their way inside toward the door at the other end, looking for anything suspicious.
Turns out, the entire ceiling is sus! The large stone block comes crashing down, and the trio scramble outside, dinged up but lucky to be alive.
The group finds two more paths, one of which is blocked by rubble, and another by a similar secret sliding door.
While Thumper and Moxxi Floxxi’s Son work to remove the rubble, Ms. Plissken summons an unseen servant, one of her old students. She bids it to pick up a stone and walk to the end of the hall.
The rest of the party sees the floating stone move down the hall, when suddenly the walls come crashing together! Another deadly trap, but at least no player characters were harmed.
With only one entrance left, the party clears the rubble from the central path, unlocking a distressingly long hallway filled with colorful murals along the walls, and a marked red path on the mosaic floor.
It all looks incredibly ancient, which gets Montana Jackson excited. But everyone waits for Ms. Plissken to summon another unseen servant student, and send them forward along the path, just in case.
About a third of the way, the floating stone suddenly vanishes as the floor beneath them drops out, hinges swinging over a pit. Stupid tricksy path, that’s just mean!
Frustrated, Montana Jackson leaves the path to take a closer look at the walls, and almost immediately drops down another nearby trapdoor. His experience with traps and fast footwork keep him from falling in, but he confirms that the pits are full of nasty spikes.
Thumper offers to take point, poking the floor with his rabbit foot warhammer, which Ms. Plissken lights up with the light spell. The rest of the party follows at a safe distance.
But even with Thumper’s caution, his perception fails to notice a change in the floor, and he’s sent tumbling down, landing hard on the spikes.
Thumper’s ready to smash every spike and floor tile, but the party makes it to the end of the hallway without triggering any more trapdoors.
The hallway ends in a sinister green statue to the south, and an open archway to the east that shimmers with colored lights.
Ms. Plissken casts detect magic, and immediately lights up both areas as magical. The statue gives off some evil energy that freaks her out. She sends another unseen servant student through the archway, and it disappears, losing all connection to her.
That’s three servants down, but at least none of them were PCs!
Tom casts find familiar to summon Jerry, a little fey mouse, and sends him through the colorful archway.
Jerry disappears like the servant, but Tom can quickly recall and resummon him. The familiar looks disheveled and terrified, speaking of a darkness and something lurking within.
Most of the party grows concerned, but Thumper is actually delighted at the prospect of having something to fight.
Suddenly everyone in the party sees a message forming along the path behind them. By traversing the mean-spirited route through the trap-filled hallway, Acererak’s hidden message is revealed in a long, mocking monologue that nonetheless contains several cryptic clues and teases.
The party deciphers these clues over a short rest while debating their next move.
Live post-session discussion:
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