Home > Campaigns > Book 2, Chapter 4 - Elven Nightmare
Elven Nightmare
We traveled back to the tombs without incident. As we stood in front of the arched stairway, we could hear ourselves breathing. Every step down echoed loudly, disturbing the deathly silence. Below was a tremendously large room. The ceiling was so low Lagasse kept ducking his head. We searched the three alcoves there; there were skeletons in all of them.
Five stone doors encircled the room. The two on our right had inscriptions over them: "The Court Entertainers," and "The Court Noblemen." The door at the end of the hall had a long inscription as well: "The Fell Riders of Drannor Reach-Eternal Damnation to Those Who Disturb Their Peace." Lagasse looked concerned when Mical translated the elven words for him. I remarked that maybe we should make certain to NOT disturb them, but was outvoted. I really was curious to see what was in there, so maybe I didn't argue very convincingly?
We entered the rooms on the left first. Room one was circular and had an empty sarcophagus. The second door, however, was locked, and gurgling and scraping noises were audible through the stone. After I picked the lock, Mical started calling to whatever was in there. It heard him. Two pale human-like creatures opened the door and stumbled out. They had long nails and teeth, and grotesquely long tongues that curled toward us like giant worms. Uggghhh, they smelled so bad! We blasted them with arrows without even really thinking about it, and they collapsed. That was much easier than we had feared. The room they were in was littered with rotting flesh from who-knows-what. We searched holding our breath for as long as possible and found two scrolls and a small box. (Yippee!)
The next door was the one claimed for the nobles. It opened into a small room with four alcoves, and continued on. Carved above the alcoves were the words, "The Court Scribes." Each one of them had a skeleton lying peacefully holding a quill pen. I guess these really had been scribes. The room past the scribes was completely empty, although there were places where the missing nobleman should have been.
I was unable to pick the lock to the entertainer room, so Lagasse and I broke the hinges. Immediately four elven zombies, dressed in jester clothing, lurched toward us. Mical turned them with his holy symbol. While they cowered in the corner, we searched for treasure. All we found were mundane items, small coins, and an especially fancy jester hat. (Which later I found was called a liripipe. Lyra also told me that she cannot turn undead. Something to do with her being a nature priest.)
Another door in the jester room bore the inscription "The Ladies of the Court." Hmmm, wonder why the ladies were with the entertainers. Turned out the ladies were also zombies. We released all of the zombies we had run into so far from their unholy bondage. Their state was particularly repugnant, considering they were once elves. We don't really fear death, but toying with those who have died is horrible and evil.
Before we went on to the 'damnation' door, we opened the small box. It was lined with velvet and held a horn spoon. How odd that someone would make such a special container for a spoon, and one made of horn at that! I held on to it, just in case it was something interesting.
The lock on the door was broken and not pickable. Lagasse pried it open with his sword. The short hallway beyond had two skeletons lying in it, wearing rusty plate mail and holding corroded swords. They were not moving, but we were wary of them nevertheless. We gathered their swords and threw them into the room behind us.
There was a mural on the north wall of a great elven battle on Elf Leap. The elves in the painting were holding off a horde of orcs. I tried to estimate its value, but it seemed priceless. Something with such historic value couldn't be sold for a fair price, and anyway, it couldn't be moved without destroying it. Unfortunately, while I was appraising the mural, I found a door concealed behind it. We couldn't figure out how to gain access without damaging the mural, so that is what we did. I really wish we could have avoided the damage. It was beautiful work.
A long hall extended past the door, further than we could see. It was dark, hot, and musty, and an annoying drip regularly echoed down the hall's length. We trudged down the corridor and entered a long room lined with alcoves. Each one had a skeleton in shiny plate mail lying in it, for a total of ten. As soon as we started looking around, all of them rose with weapons held before them. As Lyra and Lagasse ran out of the room, Mical started firing his bow and I blasted one with magic missiles.
Seeing we hadn't followed them, they returned to help us. Lyra killed one that was attacking me, and Mical successfully turned three, which retreated to the rear of the room. Then one of them sliced into my arm, and I had to back out of the room, parrying while bleeding all over the floor. Eventually, Mical had to stop turning them to help attack. The bony ones were kicking our fleshy butts. Finally, they were all killed, and we settled down to bind our wounds. Luckily, Lyra had made some goodberries earlier, which healed us partially. After a bit, we managed to get up and search. We found some coins and decent gems, as well as a painting of an elven house in the forest. Since the frame was broken, we removed it and rolled up the painting, discovering a map in the process. (Wheee! Maps are great!)
A banner on the wall said "For the Glory of Lord Mirconowen," and behind it was another concealed door. I picked the lock, allowing us to enter another dank, oppressive room. Another mural was painted on the wall, depicting an elven king with five elves in plate mail on his left, and five noble-looking elves on his right. Five stars were painted in the background on each side above the people's heads. The inscription above it said, "When Nobles And Knights Come Together, the Path Will Be Made Clear."
A sarcophagus in the center of the room bore the inscription, "Here Lies the Great?" The last word was smudged out. Skeletons, all wearing rusty field plate, lay in four alcoves. I took all four swords in case the dead were going to rise here too.
Lyra noticed a secret door was on the wall of the mural just as I noticed that the heads of the people, except for the king, were all separate stones. They easily came out, but the holes they were in were just that: empty holes. Then we tried to put the plate helms from the skeletons in the holes, and nothing happened. Then we switched the heads of the knights with those of the nobles and still nothing.
We then opened the sarcophagus, fearing a lich was going to jump out and zap us all. A dried body lay within, wearing tarnished plate armor and a beautiful long sword. A small bag sat beside his head. Lagasse wrenched the sword from the dead hands, so I grabbed the small bag. The sword said "Orcslayer' on it, which sounded quite promising. The bag had two rubies and an emerald in it, yummy... Mical took the plate mail and put it on, and dressed the body in his chain mail. I know all this sounds gruesome, but we decided the king didn't have any use for these items, and we definitely did.
Suddenly, one of us (I don't remember who) was inspired. We went back to the mural and switched only the heads of the two elves wearing hats. The door started to open as we slapped each other on the back. The hall we entered seemed to be of dwarven construction and had very smooth walls. Ten feet into the hallway and the floor collapsed. Mical and Lagasse fell in and were not hurt, luckily. But, just past the hole, Lagasse was looking around the corner and tripped over a wire. The ceiling fell in and he dived out of the way just in time. Resting seemed like a good idea at that point. In the morning, we would be better able to dig our way through the rubble. We knew there must be something good down here for all the traps we had found.
Seeing we hadn't followed them, they returned to help us. Lyra killed one that was attacking me, and Mical successfully turned three, which retreated to the rear of the room. Then one of them sliced into my arm, and I had to back out of the room, parrying while bleeding all over the floor. Eventually, Mical had to stop turning them to help attack. The bony ones were kicking our fleshy butts. Finally, they were all killed, and we settled down to bind our wounds. Luckily, Lyra had made some goodberries earlier, which healed us partially. After a bit, we managed to get up and search. We found some coins and decent gems, as well as a painting of an elven house in the forest. Since the frame was broken, we removed it and rolled up the painting, discovering a map in the process. (Wheee! Maps are great!)