Characters:
Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster
Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
NPC: Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Charge!
The necromancer's puppet, this time some sort of craftswoman, was in much less ornate garb than usual, though still covered in caked-on makeup to hide the decay. Mielikki and his champions charged forward, nimbly dodging all of her spells, though Smugbrush's wrist was grabbed by her rotting hand and he could feel his life force drain away. With a mighty swing of the flat of his Sea Sword, Mielikki bent the undead's arm back at an unnatural angle, freeing his companion, who then followed up with a thrust from his spear.
The puppet grasped Mielikki's neck, but was beheaded by Felix before it could begin to strangle him. With their commander disposed for the moment, the undead hordes were driven back again, all the way back into the great stairwell that led down into the darkness of the Labyrinth. Granmarg's forces rushed up to reinforce them, while across the river, Pomegranite made his play. The temporary bridge bridge they had secretly prepared was deployed, and they crossed the river unopposed. Thicket fell back from the north to follow Pomegranite.
The three commanders descended into the Labyrinth, while Thicket took over the combined army to hold the entrance with Curzo, Morkral, and Barrend so more undead couldn't follow. At the same time, the necromancer's most recent puppet stopped moving, leaving the elven ghost as the only enemy commander on the surface. For the next while, wave after wave of undead crashed into them, while the ghost took its time to fly in, wear them down with repeated blasts of ocean water and green lightning, and then retreat before they could retaliate. Undead died by the hundreds, but under the ghost's assaults, Thicket fell and had to be carried from the field, leaving the dwarves and Curzo to assume command.
Into The Labyrinth
The undead continued to surge up from below to the point that their bodies blocked the entrance, and so the forces of Pomegranite, Mielikki, and Granmarg were kept busy digging a hole through the wall of flesh while the commanders and their allies descended into the narrow dungeon halls. After wandering around for a while in the maze of red stone passages, none of the three squads had made progress in finding the lair of the necromancer. They cleared rooms and halls, only to be attacked from behind the moment they turned their back. Finally, Mielikki happened to spot a blood stain on a wall that looked strange.
Further examination found a concealed door, and with the four of them prying with Garmnrag's short spear, they eventually forced it open, revealing a narrow spiral staircase down. They did their best to jam the door open, carved messages into the walls so that the others could find it, and then proceeded. The others eventually found the staircase as well, and so all were on the second floor when a black and purple lightning bolt flew over the heads of Pomegranite's team.
As they tried to find the source, they came across a hall full of a series of swinging axes, spinning blades, and ominous holes on the walls that suggested pressure plates. They ran through, with Pomegranite using the Path of the Moon to find the controlling mechanisms and destroy them. He took multiple heavy axe blows and a spear to the chest in the process and had to give up before completely rendering the hallway safe, rushing through and heading down the wide staircase at the far end.
Mielikki's team, fleeing from a giant swarm of undead, found the same hall, and destroyed the remaining traps on their way through. When Granmarg's team finally arrived, they simply walked down the empty hallway. Around another hour of battling undead in close quarters passed before another bolt of black lightning shimmered overhead, and this time Granmarg was closest to the source: a dead-end chamber with two mosaics separated by a stone pillar.
To the left, a mosaic of the moon. To the right, one of a mountain peak with the sun behind. The pillar was decorated with engravings of human sacrifice, with figures offering blood to the mosaics. Atop it sat a stone skull. After searching for traps and finding none, Ulrich was asked to solve this riddle. The spymaster sat and contemplated for a time before declaring that he had arrived at a solution. The pillar was clearly instructive, and they would be allowed to pass if they performed a human sacrifice. However, he also had another idea, drew one of his weighted scrolls, and hurled it at the skull.
The stone skull shattered and the pillar descended into the floor, exposing a narrow passageway behind. Ulrich retrieved his scroll and explained that they could also choose to destroy the being demanding the sacrifice. Using arrowheads, they scratched "DESTROY THE SKULL" into the floor before continuing on into darkness. By the time Pomegranite's and Mielikki's groups found the chamber, the message was almost entirely faded. They had known that the Labryinth repaired itself, but did not expect it to happen so quickly. Still, they passed the "riddle" without difficulty.
The next lightning bolt was seen by Mielikki, who found it came from a flooded stairway down. The Sea Sword's magic was clearly meant as an attack, and lacked the type of control he was looking for. Still, he fired the beam of water it produced into the pool with such force that a large volume sprayed back at them. They were now soaking wet, but it did result in the water level dropping somewhat.
They swam down, and while Felix struggled in his heavy armour, the rest were able to get him through and make it to safety on the far end. In time the other two parties were able to find the passage by the puddles of water spread out in the hallways all around it, and swam down as well. They continued to wander the next floor of the Labyrinth, fighting undead all the while, until Pomegranite spotted a green glow in the distance.
A section of the red stone bricks that made up the dungeon walls had been torn away, and a tunnel dug beyond to expose a chamber with a spiraling crystalline sculpture similar to the one they'd found in Amici. Where the other had been dull, this sculpture shone like a baleful green sun, its light reflecting off the gold laughing skull emblem on the doors opposite the hole in the wall. As they gazed upon it, the sections of their body facing the crystal began to burn, and they were forced to retreat.
Barbena shot her repeating crossbow at the crystal, and while it only created a small chip, cracks spread throughout the entire structure. The light dimmed and the burning lessened, but the hole in the wall knit itself back together partway. Not wanting to risk their only entrance closing, she then used her mastery of the Path of Earth to turn the stone beneath the sculpture to sand. It sank, with only the very tip visible, and the burning sensation was all but gone. They passed through the laughing skull doors and continued on.
By the time Mielikki's group found the chamber, the sculpture had risen partially out of the earth. Green light was once again bathing everything with a corrosive glow. With the Sea Sword, he and his companions carved out a section of wall and carried it as a sort of shield; their feet and hands were burned, but their vitals were protected.
When Granmarg's team finally caught up, they found that the hole had closed even tighter, and they would have to crawl through. Worried someone could get stuck, Granmarg resolved to punch his own entrance. He reared back and walloped the stone, shattering the wall for thirty feet in either direction from the impact. In a phenomenal stroke of luck, the stone fragments landed all around the sculpture, blocking its light. With the trap now rendered inert, and the knowledge that they could open a new entrance even if the original filled in behind them, they proceeded.
The other two groups had since reunited in an enormous chamber where an army of undead blocked a set of one hundred foot tall stone doors. They were steadily whittling down their foes while careful to avoid injury, and with new reinforcements the battle was swiftly ended. It took all of them together to force the doors open, and beyond was a room so cavernous their light sources did not reach the far end. A five-tier step pyramid dominated the center of the chamber.
Pomegranite swirled a cloak of Secrets over himself and cautiously ascended the pyramid. Up close, the stone was perfectly smooth, a level of craftsmanship typically only found in the work of the dwarves. He stopped at the third tier for a moment and realized that there was an inverted structure hanging from the ceiling above the pyramid. It absorbed the light that touched it, and he could only tell it was there because of the flickering torchlight on both sides.
He crept up to the fourth tier and could now see a stone box on the top of the pyramid, but had to go all the way to the top to get a better look. With one foot on the summit and crouched, he saw that it was an open sarcophagus, and someone, or something, was inside. Returning to the others, he informed them of what he had seen, and asked Barbena, as the only immortal present, if she knew anything of this place. She claimed she hadn't. Pomegranite thought she was lying. Ulrich thought she was telling the truth.
Notes:
Due to the death magic permeating Segreta, whenever anybody lost HP or FP they had to roll HT to see if they recovered. Most people were fine, but Thicket failed every roll, including a usage of Luck.
Both Thicket and Morkral found spare weapons to replace the ones that had been destroyed last session; Morkral crit the roll, so he will always find spares immediately after a battle where they are destroyed.
Thicket "died" in the repeated battles with the ghost, and at that point I stopped cutting back there because there are no longer any PCs involved.
When Pomegranite went to the top of the pyramid I started getting the battle map ready. "Why're you doing that?" " No reason"
Mielikki's player noted that it would suck if they had to fight any flying foes in the giant empty chamber. Considering there's a spooky ghost out there and Mindartis has yet to show up, odds are good.
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