After a quick pitch and a glass of the Slaughtered Hogs’
finest brew ( a mix of ale and blood from the slaughterhouse attached to the
bar, it’s a thing ) Lukas Fuddered had convinced the ½ orc barbarian, human
monk and elf bard to help him. They would all travel to the uncovered tombs and
split anything of value found 50-50. The small party was skeptical, but a few
hundred gold crowns on top of the 50-50 split sealed the deal. Lukas had a
bodyguard/muscle to accompany him to the trio of uncovered tombs.
Along the way Lukas had informed the party that he believed
this could be the lost tomb of the Crimson King. An ancient tribal barbarian
leader who had a passion for viciousness, bloodletting and hoarding of bloodstones.
The location of the tombs, the artifacts found around the area and the age of
said artifacts all point to the tribe of barbarians that the Crimson King was
part of and lead. If this was the case then these tombs could be full of loads of
treasure and artifacts of historic value.
After a day of steam carriage travel and another on the
backs of pack mules, the party arrived at the now covered and abandoned
excavation site. There was a light dusting of snow covering the ground and
tarps. The party dismounted and gave the area a quick once over. The main dig
site was still covered by canvas tarps as were two of the three tomb entrances.
However, one entrance had the tarp ripped away and it appeared that the doorway
had been smashed open. The group began to police the area. They quickly noticed
large humanoid footprints in the snow. They also found a few splashes of blood
frozen in the snow. They also discovered what looked like a quartet of large
clawed animal tracks. It was then that they heard the most horrible bellowing coming
from within the uncovered tomb.
As the party looked toward the door, out charged a wild eyed
ogre! He ran and stumbled past the party. Weapons were drawn but the ogre was
not engaging in combat. It appeared he was in flight, but from what? That
question was soon answered as the largest owlbear the party had ever seen
rushed out of the tomb after the ogre. Following behind were two more owlbears of
normal size (still very very large ). The beasts noticed the new smaller prey
and attacked. The barbarian engaged the giant alpha owlbear while Lukas, the
monk and bard faced off against the other two. Several minutes later the giant
beasts had been put down and the party members had only sustained a few minor
injuries.
Lukas ran off to explore the first stone door. It was
covered in strange script and had several small circular holes in the center of
the door. Lukas opened a small pouch and removed a handful of small
multicolored stones. He quickly began placing them in the holes in the door. As
the holes filled there was a small clicking sound and the door slowly rolled to
the left. The door was now able to be rolled to the side into a small recess
within the entry way. Inside was a set of stairs leading down fifteen feet.
Lukas said a few words of gibberish and suddenly a small ball of light began to
float over his head. He and the party
began to walk down this stairway tunnel only to discover that the tunnel looked
to have collapsed. After moving a few stones, it was obvious that the mix of
age and land slide had collapsed the ceiling of this tomb. There would be no
way to explore further.
They moved to the tomb that the ogre had ran from. The
doorway opened into another fifteen foot hallway and then into a large circular
stone room. Inside they found the partial remains of a deer or possibly an elk, a small fire and
a large pile of foliage debris. It appears the ogre had bashed in the door and looked
to make this a den for the coming winter. Well that was until the owlbears
grabbed the scent of the dead deer/elk and came looking for a snack.
The party spread out to investigate this room. They first
noticed that there were around 50-60 small alcoves in the walls. The majority
of these alcoves were housed small clay pots and urns. They also noticed
several of these had fallen and broken on the floor. The contest within looked
to be dried plants, bits of bone and stone jewelry and what appeared to be
ashes. As they investigated further they managed to find a few handfuls of
small gold and silver baubles in the shapes of animals and what looked to be
some religious icon or deity. Lukas confirmed that this was common for these
people.
After nearly an hour of searching this room the part found nothing
else. There was no hidden doorway, secret room or any hidden way out of this
room. The party began to gather up all of the tokens they could find. It would
be easy to melt down or sell the gold and silver for an equivalent amount. They
then moved to the last door. This had to be the entrance to the tomb of the
Crimson King!
Lukas worked his same trick to open this door as well. It
too clicked and slowly rolled into a recessed pocket in the wall. The doorway
also opened into a fifteen foot descending hallway stairway, but here there was
a second stone doorway! This stone door was
similar to the others , but the pattern of circular holes was different.
Lukas began to work on this door and noticed the clicks were a different pitch.
It was then that the entrance door rolled back into place. Then there was
another series of clicks and the sound of stone slowly scraping against stone. Lukas
looked back toward the party and then back up the stairwell.
The walls! They were closing in on the party!
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