Barrowmaze: BRAGging Rites

[Rex]

Orgoth

Orgoth recovers his javelin and stands watch from the entryway between the rooms.

[redwarrior]

Isvand recovers his boomerang and then helps with a through search of the room, but ready to move on.



Search [1d8]=5

[OGRE MAGE]

Sven urges everyone to join in searching the first room.

Random D8 [1d8]=8

He looks over the urn the dead man dropped, moving into the next room once the first is fully searched.

He pokes through the pile of items left behind, hoping to find something interesting, replacing used oil and torches where possible.

"Lets cut these cocoons apart before we check this next hallway any further. These poor victims might have had something valuable on them yet."


The next room and narrow hallway look something like this?

1033E9EA-ADCE-4484-ACF5-F02451487C6A.jpeg (33.21 KiB) Viewed 494 times

[Rex]

Orgoth

Orgoth will take a turn searching while someone else stands watch.

Search [1d8]=4

[sastaz]

Gerdal avoids the alcoves for now, focusing on the two adventurer's bodies (of which one or possibly two has exploded in maggots). From a safe distance she tries to distinguish if they seem to have anything interesting on them. Weapons, jewelry, backpacks etcetera.

[Spearmint]

The next room and narrow hallway look something like this?

yes, that is spot on!

Exploring beyond the Long Corridor

Searches in the first room turn up several 'bazaar' standard trinkets as always, I just lump them together and give rounded value back in Helix, interesting oddments to decorate a hearth. You can note that the crossbow traps only come from the middle two layers of the alcoves, so someone crawling on the floor or creeping in the ceiling might not be injured by a triggered trap. After the initial flurry of bolts being triggered, (they are triggered over one turn and reset the next day) as Gnimish fiddles with one cog mechanism and counting the wheels teeth, assessing movement and drawback of the trap pulleys. He says the actual bolts must be loaded by summoning magic or supernaturally, for none are present in any trap. He would need rolls to disable traps but understanding how they work, you can leave them intact.

The two bodies are of long dead adventurers. The vase one has is decorative and perhaps the most valuable trinket item, appraised initially around the fifty gold mark.

From the gear upon them and in the adjoining chamber, you can add a lantern and four oil flasks to your supplies. you are not in short supply of anything but minor stuff can be found; candles, door wedges, holy symbols, torches, tinderbox.

Of the fiends trove, their personal goods account to 'shiny gems worth circa 150gp'. Searching the cocooned bodies.

Rot grub infested body. Eruption of maggots 1-2 [1d6]=6

You note one body writhes with fattened maggots, best not to disturb this cadaver. The others are covered in silky threads, not unlike spider silk, but not gluey, just a black sooty thread, woven more in order to wrap a victim than to trap one.

One alcove has some graffiti scrawled on, a map portion though having explored to the north, you recognise it as 'the Metal Door' room 72 and a code for the levers use.

One cadaver has a quiver of unused arrows (x20) which a character may equip but there is no bow present.

anymore searching and actions please.

[OGRE MAGE]

Sven has the group look around all three rooms a second time for any secret doors or similar things before packing up what they've found.

"If there is nothing else here, I suggest we head to the next unchecked door."

He leads the party up the next hallway where the zombies were caged, listening at the first door there.

"Lets check this door for traps and see what's inside."

The idea would be to investigate the 2 northern rooms we didn't open last time, while staying clear of the caged grabby zombies on the other side of the hallway.

[Rex]

Orgoth

Orgoth will keep an eye on the zombies while we mess with the doors in case opening the doors releases the zombies.

[OGRE MAGE]

Oh, great idea!!!

I didn't even think of that.

[Rex]

Everything seems to be trapped somehow so was trying to think of the obvious.

[Spearmint]

Sven has the group look around all three rooms a second time for any secret doors or similar things before packing up what they've found.

"If there is nothing else here, I suggest we head to the next unchecked door."

Any secrets to find? [1d100]=4[1d100]=8[1d100]=37[1d100]=55

So I will use the above macros for each character searching among those alcoves and narrow passage. With the low result being a positive in your favour, you note that the very northernmost wall of the extended slim passage has a secret door fixed into the stonework.

It is not a door that is frequently used. Much cobwebs and grime cover the surface, the hinges are well rusted and tight. Unopened for decades or centuries, the secret door kept its location from the ghoulish fiends. It takes some time from Gnimish for him to brush rust away with a metal scrubber, lubricate moving parts and hacksaw through any stuck bolts. But eventually, you can push open the door. It opens into the back of a burial alcove. A small square chamber with shelves of bones, some of which fall and clatter upon the floor as the door is opened. Despite the faux pas, nothing else is disturbed. An archway opposite, 10'ft away leads to an east-west corridor with more arched alcoves set along its length. The place is pitch black, (normal darkness not magical), the usual eerie feel and fetid, rotten smell. An occasional drip of water the only noise.

Amos gives the report.

You can close the door to come back to this later and action your exploration by the Ravenous group or explore this unknown.

[Rex]

Orgoth

"I am fine going either way but this does look very interesting."

[sastaz]

Gerdal rubs her wound from the crossbow bolt.

"If you'll excuse me I'll stay clear of those alcoves for the time being. I think we can agree I'm more useful to the group when still conscious. By the way, care to tell me about this 'zombie cage' you mentioned? It's litterally a cage full of zombies?"

[OGRE MAGE]

Sven smirks mischievously at the thieves revelation, forgetting all about that other door.

“Yes Gerdal. Zombies. Mean, Ravenous ones. Locked in a cage. Right around the next corner.” The young mage looks at his friend sideways for a second. “Do you think you can……..control them, somehow?”

He pokes his head through the hatch and nods.

“I hope this is another secret area containing a piece of Palanthas’ armor or something. Wait. What do I care about armor?”

He lights a torch, then another. “I don’t mind if a couple folks want to stay out here to stand guard, but I’m going in. These firebrands should help with any webs, and hopefully with the stink. You know I can’t resist checking these long forgotten areas. Lets do this.”

[Rex]

Orgoth

"Excellent." Orgoth will head in as well. Spear at the ready.

[redwarrior]

Isvand pipes up Secret doors always go to the most interesting places! Let's explore!

[Spearmint]

Exploring beyond the Long Corridor.

Excited to explore 'beyond the grave', the intrepid group advance past the cocooned bodies in the narrow passage alcove, step through the secret door in the brickwork and into another long corridor with burial crypts set off against its length.

I will try and describe the area. The corridor is at least a hundred feet long and each square has an archway on the south wall that leads to a 10x10'ft burial chamber. You have entered one such alcove, the secret door in its south wall. If you labelled the small crypts left to right as A, B, C to J then you have come into crypt B which is the penultimate crypt at the west end of the corridor. At the very eastern end, the corridor turns up Northwards. None of the crypts have doors as found in the Mausoleum Corridor, each just has a stone arched entry.

To your left, a portion of unstable wall at the end of the corridor. It looks as though 'something' or ;somethings' burrowed through, for it is quite churned up with exposed earth that sprouts many bulbous mushroom type growths.

In fact most of the corridor has fungal sprouts along its length; blossoming on long, thin stalks that grow from between cracks in the flagstones or spread in bioluminescent patches on the walls.


Pairing up to explore, the first take their torches and step into the corridor turning right, the second pair go left. Outside of Crypt A, by the unstable wall, that pair see the first alcove contains a swarm of large centipedes. The multi-legged critters gnaw upon the lichen and mossy growths that cover the shelves and bones stored upon them. Those nearest the archway can temporarily ward away the critters with a waft of burning firebrands, estimating probably a score or more of them scuttle within.

Those outside of Crypt C, looking in see that this room also has shelves set against each interior wall. Upon each shelf, four to a wall, are skeletons. At first glance, you might think each wall has a 'family group' for smaller child sized skeletons are in lower shelves and from style of ragged dress, a mother figure on the shelf below the family patriarch who lies upon the top shelf. Those skeletons might be interred in some form of armour and rusted helm.

actions to explore this corridor.

[Rex]

Orgoth

"How do we want to search this? I think we should stick together."

[OGRE MAGE]

Sven takes a deep breath and moves inside.

"Don't mess with that pile of rubble. We cant afford another cave-in. This overgrown fungus is concerning as well. Let's keep one eye on that stuff as we search."

He applies a little heat from the torch to the strange fungus to see if there is any reaction before moving on.

"I can try a Sleep spell on those creepy crawlies, so we can search the alcove properly, but lets check a little deeper in here first."

He checks through the debris they knocked from the shelves in alcove B, looking around for any valuables. Then checks the shelves containing the skeletons over more closely, cautiously climbing up to the top shelves to check for goodies or secrets.

He speaks loud enough for Gerdal to hear in the last room. "I count 10 alcoves here. I thought one of our past divinations revealed something about the "ten who came before us" or something like that? Anyone remember that? Coincidence maybe?"

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[Rex]

Orgoth

Orgoth will take a look at the rubble area and try and see if he can tell if it is just a short tunnel and then it comes out in another room/corridor.

"Can I take a look at the map Sven? Thanks. Maybe we should look for another secret door leading to the Nergal statue area?"