EoD 018 Chill Horrors of the Undercrypt

Descending the stairs—with doughty Elmo and Lion in the lead—the group crept ever downwards. However, stealth was not to be when Lion tripped and scraped his armour and shield along a wall. Whatever lurked below likely knew danger approached.

It got noticeably colder as the characters descended the stairs; cold water dripped from the ceiling, and grey sludge lay splattered about the floor. Eventually, the stairs gave out into a corridor, but here, the floor had collapsed into a 20-foot-deep pit. Black, foul water filled the bottom of the pit, and here and there, tumbled stones broke through the still, stagnant water. The heroes were suspicious. Elmo threw Polumya's light stone into the water to see what would happen. A few moments later, two sodden, decomposing corpses—probably once humans—rear up from the fetid water. Fixing Elmo with baleful, hateful eyes, they began to slowly, torturiously climb out of the pit toward the party. The creature's progress was slow, however, and this gave the party vital time to prepare.

Elmo hurled his javelin and Lion quickly tied his shield to a length of rope and tried to use it as an impromptu ranged weapon. however, the burly fighter failed to tie the knots properly and promptly lost his shield. Undeterred, he then muscled past Elmo and hurled himself at one of the climbing things. By now one of the creatures had been destroyed. Unfortunately, Lion slipped as he launched himself at the creature and promptly fell into the pit. Seeing this, the remaining undead thing dropped from the wall onto the unfortunate half-elf.

Help was at hand, though, when Elmo hurled himself into the pit to save his friend. With his help, Lion slew the last of the two creatures.

An hour later, after a short rest and clever improvisation with ropes and pitons, the party were across the pit and exploring rooms to the east. Here, the air was colder, and grey sludge covered the floor. To the south, the ceiling seemed to sag slightly, and the air grew even chiller. Sensing a danger of some unspecified, but no doubt terrible, kind Polumya urged the party to head east. There, the characters discovered a shrine dedicated to Kalron (N hero-god of battle, martial skill and heroic struggle). Here, the ever-present sludge lay deep on the floor, and black mould grew on the walls. Eventually, they looted the place—amazingly without the two statues flanking the altar animating—of a few minor treasures and continued southward along the only corridor leading away from the chapel.

Beyond lay a macabre discovery. Behind a freezing door, the characters found a scene of horror—a prison of sorts. Here, bones lay deep on the floor, and skulls hung from chains in the ceiling. Something that looked like a silver mace hung from a chain in the centre of the room. As Elmo entered the chamber, four skeletons—wreathed in frost—emerged from the piles of bones, and the skulls hanging from the chains animated. The skulls gnawed upon several of the party as the heroes fought the frosty skeletons. Polumya, however, brought the warriors precious time by casting his divine radiance into the chamber. The resultant burst of holy energy and a follow-up shatter spell from Theoden—destroyed one of the skeletons and destroyed a vast amount of the biting skulls. The party fought on…

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

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