Ravenloft VI

Raising the Dead (16^th May 2018)

The Party

Bernard – Human Cleric

Grumbold – Dwarf Paladin

Malfeseus – Elf Rogue

Meegosh – Gnome Wizard

Millie – Half-Orc Barbarian

The Last Bowl (Day 9 - continued)

After clearing out three rooms of mummies, the rest of the party decided that they needed a rest to recover from the wounds they had taken and to re-sharpen their weapons. I, however, was still full of vim and vigour and ready to continue exploring. Whilst waiting for the rest period to finish, Grumbold and I explored the rest of the cavern and took a look at the arch and room beyond in more detail (but without crossing the threshold).

The bowls that the gaseous forms retreated to after the mummies were defeated were full of what appeared to be blood. The room beyond the arch held a great sarcophagus with two candelabra. Grumbold and I could not work out any more about the room from that distance, so returned to the rest of the party.

The fourth side room offered pretty much the same as the previous three except that the entrance glyph had already been set off. After a short battle, the final mummy expired and its spirit flew to the remainder of the four bowls. However, the effect this time was different. Once the fourth and final bowl was filled with blood they all began to bubble up and overflow, with the blood making straight for the sarcophagus in the room. Smoke escaped from the interior of the sarcophagus and the sound of an enraged being emitted from within. Within the space of a few short breaths, a fifth mummy burst from its tomb. The shout of “I am Kaga Ra” did not fool any of us and we put it down quickly under a hail of fire and sword strokes.

A quick search of the sarcophagus revealed a little treasure in the form of gold coins, a ring and a magical dagger. I warned people not to touch it, but the cleric was drawn to its false beauty. The candelabra, I revealed to my comrades, was a mechanism for opening a false bottom in the tomb of the false Kaga-Ra. Steps led down to another level of this dungeon.

Going Down

At the bottom of the steps was a huge room. Unlike the caverns above, these seemed to be carved neatly from the rock. In the middle of the floor of the room was a mouldering pile of bones. Several beings had met their fate here. There were several doors leading off of the main room but most of these were small cells that contained either dead bodies or had been totally ransacked. The few doors that did not close off a cell needed to be explored, and Millie set off to do just that.

After the door in the north-east corner was kicked off its hinges, a black mist rose from the coffins laid within and amalgamated into over a dozen spectral shapes. I didn’t hang around and shaped a couple of Fireballs that proceeded to destroy most of the denizens of the chamber. Unfortunately, the few that escaped could travel through solid stone and attacked me – well, why wouldn’t they try to be rid of their most potent enemy? I was sorely tested but still managed to save an ailing Brother Bertrand who had succumbed to their touch. Unfortunately, all the commotion attracted the attention of a couple more ghostly beings that wailed so loudly that several of my friends quailed in terror. A terrible battle ensued but we were finally victorious as they retreated back through the wall from which they came.

We all decided to take a short rest again and try to trace where these beings had come from. A short jaunt round behind the steps we had come down revealed their bed chamber and we finally put them to rest. A quick search of their rotten belongings revealed a page of writing with clues as to what had happened when the wailing banshees were living beings, but we could not decipher all of it.

Millie, as restless as ever, decided she wanted to go kick some more doors down. She passed through the double-doors in the main chamber like a hot knife through butter (my, that girl is strong!) and led us around a few short corridors to another bed chamber. The bed had an incorporeal incumbent who reluctantly rose and began to talk to us, revealing that her name was Mama-Ro – a name mentioned on the paper we found in the banshee room. I must admit, I found what she had to say rather boring and set off in search of the cup of tea she had promised us. Unfortunately, she must have had a thing about putting the kettle on in a certain way as she flew into a rage as I entered her kitchen.

I think I was the target of her attacks as she made a bee-line towards me (I wonder why they call it a bee-line? Bees never fly in a straight line). Luckily my trusty magic saved the day as a Gust of Wind kept her away from me and dissipated her to the four corners.

Well, after a quick search of the boudoir and kitchen revealed nothing of interest we headed back to the main chamber in search of the third and final door. Again, Millie did the honours and we all filed along a narrow winding corridor, accompanied by a grinding sound, which led to a room with a large, dark pool of water that had flowing inlets and outlets from north to south. To the left, just before the pool was a set of iron bars that stretched from floor to ceiling that separated us from a chamber full of cogs and spikes. Through the bars we could discern two more entrances (in the south and east) also with floor to ceiling bars. The grinding noises we had heard earlier seemed to emanate from this room.