Adventurers:
Kromden- Dwarf fighter
Tendious- Human Cleric of Tempus
Garriegh “Gary”- Human Cleric of the Storm (dude worships
Thor kind of…)
Paleus- ½ Elf warlock
Fenris- Wood Elf ranger
It is here that the party returns to meet with the
Bullywugs….. (Previous game link here)
- The wood elf ranger, Fenris, finally catches up with the party as they return to inform Yidrassyl and his bullywug ilk of their completed task. They have removed the Durbluk tribe from the ruins and have rescued (well locked him in a room full of goblin commoners to kill, play and feast upon) Calcryx the bullywug black dragon “pet.”
- The news of Durbluk’s and his followers demise makes the frog man quite happy. The additional news of the rescue of Calcryx just drives the point home that this party is all about helping the denizens of this ruin and possibly the entire swamp!
- Yidrassyl gifts the party with the key to the locked dragon door and offers them a small pittance of gold to boot. The party races off to see what is behind the dragon carved door!
- What they find first is a room full of five pedestals upon which four of them sit piles of broken glass. The fifth pedestal has a basketball sized glass ball sitting upon it. There is a faint blue grey light pulsing within it. Paleus moves to investigate this orb while the rest of the party mucks about in the room. As he approaches the orb seems to almost beckon him. He is compelled to touch it and when he does his mind is blown open! He sees the rise and fall of a dragon priest. He rituals and use of these orbs. He sees the decline of this stronghold. He gains knowledge in the use of this orb. He knows there is more power within it, but does not know how to attain it just yet. He pulls his hands back from the orb and sees that just seconds have passed since he touched the sphere. He quickly picks it up and the sphere quickly shrinks in size to that of a hand sized ball. He stashes it in his cloak and returns to the party. Strangely, no one else in the room is aware of what just happened or that there was even an orb there. It seems they were too busy preparing to open a door on the far wall.
- They open the door to what appears to be an elaborate burial chamber. A large sealed coffin sits at the far end of the room. A giant dragon sculpture rears up behind the coffin looking to strike at anyone in front of it. The two walls leading up to the coffin have three alcoves per side. Each alcove houses and armored skeleton wearing a chromatic dragon head helmet. At the foot of each skeleton lies the dried humanoid husk adorned in ancient purple robes. Roughly twenty feet before the coffin is a 10’ x10’x10’ pit that is full of vicious spikes. That seems a little strange but there is no time for discussion as the skeleton sin the alcove have animated and begun to attack the party. Seconds later the humanoid husks stand and reveal themselves as long dead dragonborn, each matching color for the evil chromatic dragons.
- The clerics pull their holy symbols and attempt to banish these undead creatures. Yet, as they exerted their holy might……a stronger, darker and more evil power rebuked their power. The undead creatures continued forward unfazed an continued to assault the party.
- Several minutes later and the undead were substantially dead once again. Now the party moved on to check the coffin. What follows next is a comedy of errors.
- Everyone sans the warlock just attempts to jump the 10’ wide pit of spikes….and they all fell into it.
- The warlock retrieves his new found magical orb and access it’s powers. He is led to the nearby wall and shown a small loose brick. He moves the brick and a portion of the wall slides up revealing a skinny hallway beyond. Paleus follows the hall which ends at a solid wall with another loose brick.
- He moves this brick and the wall in front of him slides open. He walks out near the coffin on the other side of the 10’ spike pit.
- The remaining party members eventually make it out of the pit with only a few minor puncture wounds. The group approaches the coffin and the menacing dragon statue.
- The coffin is stone and has five locks on the lid. Each lock has a small oval hole in the bottom. The dragon statue is made of granite and has a circular depression in its chest where something should fit. If only they had a thief……..
- The group soon remembers the five different gemstones they found in the dragon shrine room. Gemstones that were the color of the evil chromatic dragons! After several minutes they get the right stones in the correct locks. The locks click open. The lid can be removed!
- It takes three people to slid the lid open and reveal the body within.
- They find a juicy corpse wearing a chainmail shirt and simple tattered brown leather pants. The head is adorned with a silver helmet in the likeness of a black dragon. Across its chest is a silver mace. The head carved in the likeness of a roaring dragon. At his feet lies an apple core. A completely eaten yet still fresh looking white apple core.
- As the party investigates the coffin contents the dead body’s eyes flash green and it begins to rise.
 |
| Swap the helmet for a dragon head and the sword for a mace and that is what I was seeing |
- The dwarf and ranger are stricken by fear and flee back toward the 10’ spike pit. The two clerics try to channel their holy power to banish this undead creature, but they have no power over it. The long dead dragon priest has risen and his glowing green eyes look the party over and fixate on the warlock.
- The holy men begin to battle the creature. The ranger and dwarf cower. The warlock begins launching bolts of eldritch energy. All of it seems to do very little damage. The dragon priest zombie retaliates in kind swinging his mace is sweeping arcs. Eventually, the dwarf and ranger gather themselves and join the battle with axe and arrow. It is a task, but soon the dragon priest is returned to his state of death, this time permanently.
- The party focus is then centered on the dragon statue. They can’t seem to figure out what this small circular indentation is about. This is when Paleus excuses himself and wanders off toward the secret door and hall. Once there he activates the glass orb and begins to try to discover more about this area. He is able to glean that the holy symbol of Tiamat they found will fit in the statue’s chest and open a second doorway in this room. The holy symbol that Tendious destroyed just hours earlier due to it being a symbol of an evil deity.
 |
| A statue that looks like this, but with a chest depression for a holy symbol that was smashed. |
- Paleus learning this tries to remove his hands from the sphere but cannot! There is a blinding flash of light and then a low keening bellow. It sounds like a cry for help or possibly a summons. Whatever the nature of this bellowing cry it is answered from within the ruins. He quickly returns the orb to his cloak and rushes back to the party. As he does his vision switches. He is seeing dead goblins. A large room. Various destroyed bits of furniture. A closed wooden door that is quickly approaching.
- Paleus warns the party that he is sure something is coming and soon. The group seems skeptical, but they need to take some time to ted to their wounds.
- Paleus sees a wooden door bubbling and melting in front of him as large onyx claws pull it apart.
- Then a large hall full of dragon statues. A room full of dead goblins. A dragon fountain.
- Paleus is seeing through the eyes of Calcryx! He has answered the orb's call!
- The party positions themselves behind the coffin. Fenris takes aim with his bow across the spike pit toward the opposite door. Tendious levels a crossbow. Kromden readies his throwing axe. Paleus prepares his spells. Tiny electrical sparks snap between “Gary’s” fingers. The far door smashes open.
- Calcryx comes bounding and roaring toward the party with madness in his eyes. The party unleashes arrow, bolt and spell at the small dragon ( a good amount of damage was inflicted here as the dragon approached). Yet still he rushes forward. A single flap of his wings and Calcryx glides over the pit and lands in the midst of the party. Claws and teeth cut into the dwarf and clerics. The ranger steps back to let more arrows fly. Eldritch energy rakes the dragon’s flank. The beast rears back to spray acid upon those lucky few in front of him…..and then a dwarven battle axe is buried in the wyrmling’s chest. The little angry dragon falls over with a pathetic cry the look of murder in its eyes replaced with confusion as his head falls to the floor.
The party, sans the warlock, is confused to why the dragon
appeared to attack. They assume it is due to the reanimation and death of the
dragon priest. Paleus knows, but decides to go along with the theory everyone
else has.