AtD #027: The Statue, the Gems and the Horror

With the goblins beaten back, the party decided to explore what lay beyond the sinister double doors. Harald and Thonn kicked the doors in to discover a small chapel decided to the dark god Braal. Menace and a lurking sense of pervasive evil oozed from the room. A statue of the dark god himself stood opposite the double doors. Crafted of crumbling black stone, the statue had glimmering purple gemstone eyes.

The party immediately decided the stones were valuable, but that the statue would animate any moment. Thus, they decided to destroy it from range. A barrage of missiles and spells only came to an end when Thonn chopped through the thing’s leg allowing brave Ozloc to topple the statue with a celestial blast.

Now, unfortunately, the statue lay on its front and the gems were inaccessible. The party had also made a lot of noise. As they rolled the surprisingly light statue over a secret door opened and three zombies staggered through. Although surprised, Thonn—the closest hero—managed to scramble back from this surprise attack—saved by his armour.

As the heroes leapt into action, a man stalked into the room. Clad in rusty chain mail and clutching a morningstar this grey-skinned man was clearly an acolyte of the Braal. Surrounded by a great mass of insubstantial skeletons that ripped and tore at Harald and Thonn the man seemed a great threat.

However, Saeldur’s devastating archery and the might of the party’s warriors—along with a cunningly cast sleep spell by Ozloc—laid the man low. Shortly thereafter, the evil priest was decapitated and his zombie minions destroyed. Now the party could get back to the looting.

But their trials were not yet over. As Ozloc pried the first gem from the statue, he heard a faint crack. As he triumphantly pulled the gem free a black shadow emerged from the statue and extended one fell hand to the half-elf. Ozloc screamed as the creature—a wraith—drained his life essence. As Ozloc scrambled back—looking more dusky and transparent than normal—the heroes attacked. Saeldur discovered his arrows did little damage to the creature, but Gromm’s magic glowing sword seemed fully effective. Unfortunately, this made Gromm the wraith’s primary target…