Icemonth the 2nd, 1:40 PM. After making sure the poolhouse remains had nothing else of interest in or about it, the group headed off to the pool itself. 200 feet by 400 feet, it had a 2’ wall surrounding it and the water was at least 2 feet down on the inside. It was seriously green and smelled heavily of algae. Ideas were floated to test the depth of it and eventually the paladin leaned over the side and using a goblin spear, trust it down into the pool (at least near the edge). Water seemed to be 2’ deep and even leaning out, it was most likely the same. Of course the pool was hundreds of feet wide and oval shaped so the middle could be deeper.
Eventually we thought about throwing a dead goblin in. So the half-orc was brought one and hanging as close to edge as he could hoisted the dead body up and then THREW it as hard as he could. 30’ and landed with a splash. It sunk a bit and then rose up, momentum carried it a bit further out until it stopped maybe 50, 60’ from the edge. Um. Ok. We were told it might sink in time and then gases would make it rise again.
Putting a pin in this for now, we went off to the middle building north of the bathhouse area and at the end of the columns. It was the same place the paladin had detected evil earlier. He walked the building until he was able to show on a scratched map in the snow the location of the 12 evil sensations he had, The taste was reminiscent of the same taste the skeletons in the snow had a day earlier. They were even placed and didn’t wander.
We went back to the west side of the building and the main entrance. A double door was here set in slightly from the wall itself. We talked about trip ropes to slow down the undead if they come out. We knocked on the side of the building with a hammer to see if the undead moved (they didn’t).
Eventually we had to work hard to force the doors open. The Old Tomb was sizable on the inside, 60’ at least per side. 15’ tall. There was a 12’ statue of a rearing horse in the middle of the far end. At least a dozen doors were around the interior, all closed. It was gloomy here as well and we needed to light a torch to see. Only a few of us entered (paladin, half orc and his skeletal servant, gnome), everyone else staying outside. Going to the closest door on the south and west side, we tried to open the door, it was stuck.
Eventually some serious muscles were needed but the door opened with a squeal and a skeleton in a leather tabard, ratty helm, and a sword painted yellow came out swinging. We returned the blows and danced back and then every other door in the tomb opened, and 11 more skeletons came out.
“I knew it!” The group drew up near the door on the outside, using the double doors as a barrier to slow the undead assault down, and funnel them to that area. The paladin and the half orc took front position, the cleric, druid, wizard were in back rank behind. Further out was the gnome, Halfling, half-ogre, and Thobar the porter – keeping a weather eye for anything else that might come.
The combat was tough and slow. The first skeletons took 3 or 4 solid hits to finally drop. Plus the use of spears were not as effective when they did hit but it was what we had for now. One fell, then another. After a third dropped the skeletons broke free a bit from the door, pushing into the courtyard slightly but the line held. Paladin and half-orc were getting scratched up and a bit tired.
For the other 4, the assassin thought he heard something and at the right time, looked up to see a dire wolf jump off the top of the tomb and slam into the 4 of them. It bit and savaged and attacked the party. The half-ogre took aim with his crossbow and fired – hitting the Halfling in the chest! The gnome was filling the air with arrows and the group tore into the dire wolf at the same time the other party dropped the 4th and 5th skeleton – pushing them back to the door again. As the Halfling’s hit points dropped to one, the cleric ran over to heal him, but the act of pulling out the arrow dropped the halfling to 0 hit points and he gasped and began to die.
Thobar used our 1st healing elixir as the Dire Wolf was killed. Some arrows were recovered and the gnome tried to remove a tooth for trophy purposes. If was here at the 6th skeleton taken down and the foes now only being half as much before us that another wandering monster resolved – this one was a yellow skinned Ogre, coming from the south. The group out by the outcut hid and the party’s cleric turned the undead – successfully sending all of them into the old tomb and by the far door. This cleared the entrance and we all ran in as the Ogre closed, shutting the door and then tying the handles in place as well as propping it with a spear. We corralled the undead into a side tomb and shit that door, then each of us hid in a different tomb and waited.
The Ogre did come, he was heard talking through the door. Then used his maul to bash the entrance down and stride in. He had some tracking and was sure that someone was here but was satisfied now we had gone. Mentioned telling Gavin what was going on and then he left. Once we were sure he was fully gone, we came out and looked around. 5 of us took out the last of the skeletons (opening the door and holding the ground to keep them in place. While the rest of us looked around for any treasure.
The gnome found a nice ornate dagger in a side tomb that glowed when drawn from its sheath. The Half-ogre and the Halfling noted the big horse statue in here had gem stone eyes so some climbing and then prying had 2 peridots come out (1 good, the other – a bit dinged up).
We walked out and looked around. The ogre had gone south and then east – and it took the dead dire wolf with it. We followed the tracks to a large break in the monastery wall, noting that it went sort of northeast into the woods – did not want to follow.
Back as the tomb, we followed the column back to the first one and checked out the bronze statue of Aine’s steed there – again it was pretty battered but still hole. And no, it did not have any gemstone eyes.
We went back to the garrison, laid in some more wood, and then ate dinner. We drew straws for watches, the druids and clerics all gave out what healing we could, then one by one we all took watch and slept the night. The next day was Icemonth the 3rd, and after an hour of studying and prayers the party was ready to head out again.
It was cold today, barely over 10, and a brittle snow had been falling for at least 3 hours so far – with more falling now. We trudged along northward to the main building in the complex. The double doors on the west wall had a carved heroic visage of Maglubiyat etched in the surface. The ground had been disturbed and the half covered prints in the snow showed that someone had opened the door, come out, walked around, and then gone back in.
We got the door opened and looked. There were 2 large stained glass windows on the west wall and numerous slit skylights 15’ up. 5 large rearing horse statues supported the ceiling of the sanctuary – maybe 80’ by over 120’ long. We entered and looked around. The dirty floor showed footsteps heading east for 20, 30’ feet and then fading as the feet grew dry. We checked out the area, hoping to find maybe a secret trap in the floor – nothing there.
We looked over the statues, they were without interesting features or hidden areas, they did support the roof above. The stained glass was undamaged, a thing that intrigued the paladin but that was all. There were no doors in the massive room so the party spent some time doing a long look over the walls, slowly and methodically. It took some time but we did find a secret door on the north wall in the eastern back end of the room – and the same on the south wall. Both doors would open with a hard shove and a slide to the side.
Remembering that the outside of the building showed a part of the south side with an extension, the group went out the south door first. We opened it up and looked about. Long dark hallway running east and west. A side passage cutting back north behind the back of the Sanctuary ran into the darkness. We lit a torch and after discussing, went west – towards the front of the building. The thought was to minimize anything that might come upon us later.
Through out the walk we came upon 3 doors, tow on the south wall, one on the far end of the hall on the west wall. The two south doors looked like they hadn’t been opened for a while, and the paladin assured us nothing evil was behind them (although evil had been done here in the past). The same went for the west door.
That door had a chain running through the handle and a clamp on the wall, 3 times and then sealed with a padlock. A look showed it to be a 4 tumbler lock (DC: 20). The group had two possible people to open in, the half ogre and the halfling. They each took a couple turns on it, but it was on the last possible attempt we got a lucky break and the lock opened.
We unwrapped the chain and with care opened the door.
Revealing a large store room. Filled with weapons and supplies. Enough for a small army.
Leather gambesons, shields, short and broad swords, spears, crossbows, quarrels, oil, food stuffs. Easily enough to outfit 40 or so people. And according to the group, the markings on a number of the swords showed they were forged by the Kethelin Smiths in Jector.
What the hell were brand new arms and armor doing up here, 5 days upriver from Jector in the ass end of a supposedly long forgotten monastery? We took a few things, trying to make sure that it wasn’t obvious that we did.. From there we were going to have to explore more and maybe find someone in charge to get some answers.
It was Icemonth the 3rd, about 9:15, and we were going to leave this room and relock it so that no one would know we had come in here as of yet. The longer we could maintain surprise, the better.
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