EoD 004: Desperate Battles in the Dark

A brief, whispered discussion led to the party advancing along the curved, wider corridor. The corridor curved past an imposing-looking stone door and a tapestry hanging on the wall opposite. Beyond, the corridor narrowed again, and a set of steps led upwards to the south. The party eventually discovered this smaller corridor led back to the small chamber with the broken font or well.

Back in the wider, curved corridor, Helmia watched the stone door while Elmo investigated the tapestry. He quickly discovered a narrow passageway behind it leading into a large split-level chamber dominated by the statue of a seven-foot-tall battleaxe. This seemed like a shrine or temple, and so the heroes investigated. It was not long before they awoke the chamber's guardian.

The gigantic stone axe was no mere statue but a fell guardian. It rose up into the air and moved to slaughter the interlopers. A desperate battle ensued. The statue seemed immune to many of the party's magical attacks and particularly robust in the face of their assault. However, weight of numbers eventually told, and the statue was finally destroyed by a volley of magic missiles from Dimble.

Searching the chamber, the party quickly realised that something might lurk hidden in the altar. Elmo and Lion levered it up, and both felt something moving and shifting inside. Turning it over on its side and then smashing the lid revealed a coin-hoard that slithered noisily out of the altar and onto the floor. The coins were old and primitive--little more than circular disks--but they were treasure nonetheless!

After resting and dividing up the coins amongst them, the party returned north to investigate the stone door. Words were etched deeply into the face of the door, but no one present could understand the words, and thus their message remained a mystery. No matter: something lay beyond the doors, and the party meant to find out what it was!

Lion forced the door open. Beyond lay a narrow room. Portcullises blocked the passageways leading away to the east and west. An altar lay against the far wall, and candelabras stood about the room. Tapestries old, brittle and dusty hung from the ceilings behind the portcullises, blocking vision of what lay beyond. The portcullises seemed immovable but Lion--experimenting with one of the candelabras discovered that it acted as a lever for the eastern gate. Slowly, it clanked open.

Lion and Theoden crept forward to investigate. A small room lay beyond the portcullis. In a niche in the northern wall, a bronze statue--covered in verdigris--glared into the room. Lion decided to investigate it. In short order, he discovered the front of the statue was hinged, and so he opened it. Within, he discovered a mummified hobgoblin clad in ornate half-plate armour. The mummified warrior's eyes blazed with unholy light, and it stirred from its deathless slumber. Battle was joined!

The mummy slashed Lion badly with its axe, and--terrifyingly--another axe lying on the altar rose up to attack. Theoden helped the mighty half-elven warrior hold off the mummified horror, but things quickly grew desperate. The animate axe blocked the short corridor leading to the room, and only when it was destroyed could the rest of the group surge into the room to help their friends.

Again, the party's superior numbers told and in short order--although it took a tremendous amount of punishment--the mummified hobgoblin was destroyed. The party were jubilant, and Polumya claimed the thing's ornate half-plate armour for his own (although, he mused, he couldn't actually afford to get it fitted at the moment...)

This post is a session summary from my weekly 5e D&D Edgelands of Darkness campaign set in the Duchy of Ashlar.